app for cerealia

[itsmyturn]

Applicant Info

◎ Name: Eq
◎ Journal: dreamofpast
◎ Contact: AIM: equalsuffering

Character Info

◎ Character's Name: Atem
◎ Character's Canon: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
◎ Character's Age: 3,015 - 3,017 (Counting time within the puzzle).
◎ Canon Point: Post-Canon (BBT Included).
◎ Background/History: Here!
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? Not really a hacker but he can sense and see spirits, so...

◎ Personality:
At a glance, Atem seems to command the presence of someone important, whether it's by his punk rocker look, or probably by his severe expression his face that's usually there when he's not engaged in a conversation. Of course, to those who knew him, it's a different story entirely, but for those who doesn't, he might be a liiittle too intimidating to make contact with if he's not the conversation starter. Fortunately, if he's the one speaking, people tend to find that he's just that kind of serious person who opens up with the right topics. Namely, games in general.

Like Yugi, he shares a similar passion for games, whether it's Duel Monsters or new games he or Yugi hasn't heard of in general, he's interested in them. It could be said that this love of games originated from the times he's spent with Yugi, as well as having access to Yugi's memories when he still has no clue on his true nature. Regardless whenever he's interested in games or learning about them, this period of time is where he's most open and friendly to those sharing this same passion with him. This is shown in one of the moments he had with Anzu during a date, where he was awkward throughout most of the date, bar the part where he's opening booster packs and rambling about how Yugi would like these cards to her. Furthermore, there's also a period of time where he and Yugi spent the whole night discussing on whether to put a certain spell/magic card into the deck too. It's clear that regardless of his own muddled past or not, games are something that Atem is passionate about in general.

Once you get close to Atem, though, you might find that he's not as severe as he once looked, and that he's not all about card games too. In fact, you might find him to be that guy you can lean on for most of your problems. He's always encouraging people to do better, or maybe even coach them on how to achieve their goals (just don't take his fashion advices, they're a bit too... bold for most people's taste.). In any case, he's definitely interested in your welfare and will definitely support you in your time in need. Not only that, he has complete faith in you that you can succeed and surpass others as long as you continue to fight and not give up.

Opposite people who shows disregard over their friends, or even their personal belongings, though... Yeah. Atem's definitely not a fan of them, but depending on their actual worldview and strength, despite their differences, Atem will show respect to them. To Atem, strength is a lot of things, whether it's resolve, critical thinking skills, or even pulling things out of your head in a heated duel; He respects those who has convictions to follow with their plans, as well as their tenacity, as shown with Kaiba. At the same time, he also respects Judai and Yusei, who, despite having only met him for a few minutes shared the same goals to stop Paradox's rampage through time. In any case, if you are strong in any given area, Atem respects that part of you even if you're hell-bent on killing him.

Though, there's always people who has no shred of morality whatsoever. To those people, Atem's hatred can be a scary thing indeed; from losing his composure completely, to even come close to outright murder during his duel with Kaiba's then new dueling system. This is not accounting the fact of Atem's base personality before he got to know Yugi properly, whereupon he gives retribution to people that wronged Yugi and his friends by challenging them to games with ironic penalties that fits the challenged person's twisted personalities. In any case, it's pretty clear that the former Pharaoh is no one to be trifled with, especially if it involves his friends or rivals.

If there's one thing that can be considered a flaw to the otherwise skilled King of Games, it's his arrogance itself. There had been numerous instances, especially within his first appearances where he's depicted as a more arrogant and brash version of Yugi. Compared to Yugi's low self-esteem, Atem's is really confident. So confident, that losing is rarely in his dictionary. He plays his moves with confidence, and when he's getting into the heat of the match, it's clear that most of his plays tend to be the type of risky gambits that always succeed thanks to his ludicrous luck. And naturally, there has been a point where he desperately needed victory that he tapped upon forbidden powers. While in the manga this doesn't happen thanks to his canon point, it's shown within the Doma arc where he used the Seal of Orichalcos just to defeat his current opponent, leading to a disaster that left him broken.

Atem's devoted to his friends, and if he should lose one of his friends AND if their loss is related to him in a way, well... He's definitely the type to beat himself up over his mistakes. While this isn't shown that clearly within the manga, the Doma arc within the anime showed how exactly he took on Yugi's loss. The guilt consumed him to the point where he couldn't even duel properly without getting angry that he would perform moves that are less on the moral side of things within duels. In other words, regression. The pain of losing someone can cause him to regress to his old self in terms of his playstyle. The joys of playing a game is absent and only the guilt remains.

◎ Powers/Abilities:
Being the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle, Atem has access to numerous powers that's related to darkness. But of course, knowing the nature of the series, it revolves around 'Games' rather than an actual weaponized power.

Shadow Game: Any Millenium Item that hosts a spirit (eg. Millenium Puzzle / Millenium Ring) or has a holder (eg. Shadi w/ Millenium Key, Pegasus w/ Millenium Eye, Malik/Marik w/ Millenium Rod) enables either the spirit or the holder to conduct what is known as a Shadow Game. Basically a game that has consequences to the loser called Penalty Games, from the mild punishments as seeing leaves as money and making you look dumb to breaking your psyche literally.

And also deaths, but that's par for the course for the series really.

Spirit Caller/Communer: In addition to those, Atem is able to call upon spirits engraved in stone tablets back during the ancient times using his life force, called "Ba", these monster spirits that appears from these stones are called "Ka". In present times, however, he's only able to commune with Duel Spirits, basically souls that are present in the card themselves, and can call upon their power only during duels.

Game Master: Atem is also a skilled player in any games he's played, especially games that he's made up on the spot for some of his Shadow Games, which is obvious since he created those games by himself. Though in other games, this shows by Atem grasping the basics at an alarming rate, and at times, his luck can be borderline insane as he could either roll 20s in a tabletop RPG with ease, or that he tends to always draw the right cards at the right timing in card games. In any case, facing Atem in even grounds is possible, though! After all, there are a lot of duelists that can match him play for play in the anime.

◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:

CEREALIA-Specific

◎ Element:
◎ Sense:
◎ Seven Character Traits:

Samples

◎ First-Person Sample:

◎ Third-Person Sample:

◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories?