we didn't even get lines

[Anyone who knows Scar or has spoken to him before will recognize his voice. But he's sounding... a little worn out. Frazzled. The tiny mews of a dazed Espurr can be heard in the background, along with the steady thumps of something far more solid than rain hitting the hotel roof.]

The Pokémon that are falling out of the sky. Do not unfold their ears. Just... don't.

[This has been a public service announcement. He had just been trying to give it a bath!]

[action: goldenrod restaurant, may 6]
[That afternoon, Scar can be found looking particularly sorry for himself. Sure, he's usually bitter and angry and unapproachable... But right now, he's just plain miserable.

He's been hanging around in Goldenrod since before the carnival, lingering by the breeding center as his Skitty egg incubates. If something manages to go wrong, he wants be near people who know what they're doing. At the moment, though, he's sitting at the table of a small, outdoor restaurant, talking into his Pokégear.]

...Yeah.

[He closes it and sets it aside. His Zangoose and Teddiursa are both sitting with him, looking concerned. Yaminah, the Teddiursa, jumps into his lap, and he reaches to pat her on the head. Things really are much more bearable, with them around.]

[voice, may 7]
[Scar is in an unusually good mood, and it's obvious in his voice to anyone who's already spoken the guy for any length of time. This is a huge change from yesterday. His Skitty has just hatched (FINALLY) and he's... excited about it. Or, at least, as excited as Scar ever gets about anything.

He does need some advice, though.]

I'm assuming hand-raising a Pokémon is different from training one that was caught from the wild.

[The soft mews of the young Skitty can be heard in the background.]

How much constant attention and care does a baby Pokémon require, exactly? Is it more similar to raising a dog?

[A valid question, Scar thinks, given the obvious intelligence of Pokémon. The way they bond and how they communicate is almost frighteningly human.]

[action: goldenrod public area, may 7]
[In a much better mood than yesterday, Scar can be found with his three Pokémon, Miriam the Skitty being the newest addition to the team. The baby Pokémon is slightly unsteady on her feet, and just figuring out her attacks. She's working with Zangoose and Teddiursa, chattering and playing and occasionally breaking for naps and food

...And frequently running off to greet strangers and collect flowers.]

Player
Name: Lauren
Personal Journal: latiaos
E-mail: laurenkrugh.art@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: n/a
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: none!

Character
Name: Scar
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 series)
Timeline: End of episode 42
Canon Resource Links: Scar's page on the FMA wiki. Please note that there are inaccuracies for a few specific details, and that Scar is a very different character in the manga and the 2009 anime compared to his 2003 counterpart. Only information regarding the 2003 series pertains to this Scar.

Personality: The first and most important aspect of Scar's personality is that he the product of a very hard life. Although he has not even lived 30 years, Scar has endured more suffering and loss than most people experience in a lifetime. To say that he even "endured" it is not entirely accurate. He may have survived the loss of his family, the genocide of most of his country, homelessness, and running from the most powerful military force in his world, but Scar is unrecognisable when compared to himself some 15 years ago. He is bitter, depressed, and withdrawn, and hasn't known any semblance of normalcy in a very long time.

In day to day conversation, Scar is pretty much the "strong, silent type." He doesn't set aside time for chatter, or much social activity at all. He doesn't do things for fun, he does them for practicality. His speech patterns can often come across as stiff, overly proper, and often a touch melodramatic. Ask him about his personal life, and you'll be met with a frown, not that he really has a personal life to speak of. He has no family left, and he won't speak of his deceased brother except in extreme circumstances. He hasn't had a friend in the traditional sense of the word since the war, and has severe issues with trust. Often times, a stranger is guilty until proven innocent. Scar has some serious tunnel vision, and will fixate on minor details, often to avoid a difficult emotional topic at large. It's a defence mechanism, similar to his anger. In emotional or difficult personal situations, he will quickly grow frustrated and angry- both as a coping mechanism and in frustration for his own emotional stuntedness. In many ways, he is aware that he does not react to situations the way he should, and this can make him angry at himself and aggravate his self-loathing tendencies. He is very quick to point out and prod at faults in others that he also sees in himself, and he has a severe lack of tact in conversation. Sometimes, this is completely intentional. Scar is a spiteful, bitter man, and he tends to push that onto others. He's pushy and incredibly stubborn. When he sets his mind to something, it's his way or no way. Scar has little regard for authority figures for a similar reason. He will rebel against someone just because he doesn't like them.

Though he no longer considers himself a proper Ishbalan because of the atrocities he as committed, Scar still adheres to many traditional Ishbalan tendencies, and is very judgemental of those who live outside certain social boundaries that he considers acceptable. Women should be "decently covered." Public drunkenness is shameful; he almost never touches alcohol. He frowns upon casual sex and would be That Guy who "accidentally" sprays the PDA offenders with a hose. He can be a huge, fun-sucking stiff. You know those people who just liven the party when they walk in? Scar is the opposite. He will sit in a corner and sulk about how he has to be there. He can really be a giant, overgrown manbaby. If someone flirts with him, there is approximately a .001% chance that he will notice. He has always been clueless in that department, and the events of his life have only fostered this. This "who, me?" tendency carries into his platonic interactions as well. Scar isn't used to people reacting positively to him. He doesn't expect anybody to go out of their way for him. He always assumes that people think the worst.

In spite of the blank, angry mask he presents, Scar is an extremely emotional person. He lets emotions bubble and store inside him until they spill out, sometimes suddenly, sometimes over time. These feelings can be positive or negative, depending on the situation. Positive ones, he tends to hide meticulously, epseically if they are about other people. He is a very polarized and self-contradicting person, prone to bouts of behavior that could very well completely go against what he was saying five minutes ago. He can be perfectly calm one minute, then see something or hear something seemingly innocent and be triggered to rage. There are few things that won't set him off in one way or another. Racial discussion, talk of war, an attempt to control him, or any sort of threat to what few things he holds important could trigger rages. Topics that remind him of his guilt could send him into deep depressive states. The value he places on human life is disturbingly warped. He knowingly and willingly sacrificed thousands of lives for the sake of one, and will very quickly throw his own life away. And yet, he still shows signs that he is aware of the wrongness of his actions. Why he still does these things, even he isn't sure. All in all, Scar is extremely emotionally unstable.

The deeper part of Scar that is rarely put on display is the source of many of his problems. The only thing that can truly terrify Scar is loss. Fear of his own death is warped and pushed to the side, because of both his emotional troubles and his obsessive protectiveness of the few things he holds dear. Scar shows affection by taking stupid risks. In many ways, he has a childish, ego-centric view of himself as some kind of "other." No, he can't have friends because he's him. Why would he have a normal life? He's Scar! Scar gets trapped in a delusion that it is simply not possible for him to lead a normal life or to find happiness. He often justifies this as some sort of divine punishment.

Those who get close ('close' being relative in most cases) to Scar might notice some smaller behavioral ticks or personal issues, many of which he is loath to let onto. Thanks to his experience with human alchemy as well as the war/genocide, he suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Scar sleeps poorly, and has frequent nightmares revolving around the violence of the war, the horror of human alchemy, and his loved ones' roles in all of it. He is notably paranoid about the supposedly bad intentions of others, and he struggles to shut off his mind and stop thinking. To stop being worried all the time. He struggles with situations that cannot be solved by force or strategy, and he can easily be described as a brute. Scar always has an escape path in mind. He walks on the more sheltered side of the street. He keeps his eyes on the sidewalk. On bad days, it's like he never left the war behind. In addition to this, he exercises meticulously, and will read for hours when he has books available. Anything to keep his depressed and anxious mind busy. When he is certain he's alone, Scar will talk to himself, mostly to his brother and less frequently to God.

During the years following the war, Scar molded himself as a tool for revenge. His self-worth became entirely focused on his hatred for Amestris and for his brother for befalling such tragedy on his life. He was more like a machine than a man, citing God as justification for his murders when even he knew that they were morally wrong. There's that self contradiction: Scar insists that he is carrying out the will of God by killing State Alchemists, yet he insists that he is such a stained man that he cannot accept the hospitality of his people. He kills alchemists with alchemy, a forbidden practice, yet insists that he is only doing "what his arm instructs him." Scar is always looking for someone to blame, even if his conclusion makes no sense. In a situation post his death and by extension the "completion" of his revenge, he is a man without purpose. A decade of blinding hatred has made him forget what it means to simply live. This affects his already dangerously low sense of self worth. He threw his life away for revenge because he had nothing left. Now what does he have? What is his purpose? He doesn't have one.

Scar is a person who will often fail to see what he has until it is threatened. Because Scar makes such scant few connections with people, those who do grow close to him really stand out. Almost always, if he connects with someone, it is because they remind him of some positive aspect of his life that existed in the past. Before people are themselves in Scar's eyes, they represent someone else. They can grow out of that in his eyes, but usually, that shadow will always be there. He projects what he wants to see on others, and he does not connect to people in a normal way. This is most evident in his relationships with Lust and the Elric brothers, Lust being a literal manifestation of someone he loves, and the Elrics representing his younger self and his brother, as both families share many connections. When he makes these kinds of connections, they are a constant struggle of wanting to cling to them and wanting to push them away. This is his fear of loss at work; Scar has never known permanence, and though it is an impossible thing to fully attain, he thinks it even more improbable than it actually is. Everything is taken away from him. It's like the universe is out to get him. Again, that egocentricism. Maybe some people can find happiness, but not him. He was denied that in life. This takes a heavy toll on Scar's would-be relationships with people. He can be extremely possessive, yet cold and dismissive. He can't tell a person simply that he cares about them, yet he will relatively easily put his life on the line for another.

With Scar's tendency to bottle his emotions and let them stew comes some strange and highly charged outlooks in the long term. Scar sat on his hatred for his brother for years, clinging to it and letting it fuel him. It wasn't until his dying moments that he finally let it go, confessing that he had loved the other man. Post-death, he has to live with the constant regret and guilt of how he treated his brother. This is something that has been weighing him down for over a decade, but he has only just started to face it. He also struggles to face the reality and implications of Lust, both in her mere existence and in who she is to Scar. She is a perfect duality, representing both his greatest traumas and regrets as well as his only constant and potential source of something that even resembles happiness. She brings out his worst and his best. Lust stirs his impulsiveness like no one else can, yet he over-analyses her every move. He can't think around her, can't ignore her, can't even stay angry at her much to his frustration. Again, this is mostly because "Lust" technically had her foot in the door a long time ago. Scar never let go of his feelings for his brother's fiancee, ashamed of them as he was, and now she's suddenly back, a walking, talking *slap* in the face of everything Scar held sacred. It's like some horrible, supernatural soap opera. Lust is a crazy, unlikely exception to many of Scar's usual tendencies. He doesn't normally form romantic attachment, but with the old, twisted feelings to build on, the possibility is now there. She both baffles him and draws him in. She becomes his anchor, both repulsive and alluring in her very nature.

Although Scar is a largely dysfunctional person in many angles of his life, he is extremely intelligent. He was able to transmute the Philosopher's Stone, after all, something that even the most advanced alchemists can only dream of. Yet Scar was able to do it by using his brother's scattered notes and the advice of an old Ishbalan exile. He is a triple treat, you could almost call it. He is scientifically and mathematically brilliant, evidenced by his alchemic prowess. He is a physical force to be reckoned with, with his speed, strength, and training. He is a surprisingly effective manipulator when it serves his pre-outlined cause. There is a reason that the Amestrian military didn't corner him until he decided he wanted them to. Scar can effortlessly appeal to a group of people at large, especially an angry group of people. In canon, he successfully convinces an entire oppressed city that one young woman is their Holy Mother, and gets them to fight on his behalf while he plots the destruction of several thousand Amestrian troops. When his cause is cold and detached enough, Scar can be cult-leader levels of charismatic. This is not something that he frequently takes advantage of. For the most part, Scar prefers to keep his methods to himself, refusing to rely on others as coincides with his approach to everything else in his life.

If all of this rage and emptiness is Scar's "nurtured" state, the result of his life, his "natural" personality may appear to be the exact opposite. Throughout his youth, Scar was quiet and gentle. He is the way he is today because what happened over the course of those four years twisted his good nature into something grotesque and nearly unrecognisable. He holds very dearly the people he loves, and would protect them at any cost. A threat to someone Scar cares about has always triggered a rage in him that used to be scary, because how could such fire come from such a mild-mannered boy? When looking back on Scar's personality before life dealt him a steaming pile of shit, it becomes more clear as to why he is the way he is today. With this being said, how much of this younger self is truly dead? The truth is, a lot of it is still in there. Scar's lifestyle of violence exhausts him, and his obsessive anger has led him to become completely burned out. He so willingly walked to his death because he didn't know how he could possibly keep going like this. It is not in Scar's nature to be an empty killing machine. That "self" was artificially shaped by both himself and the events around him, and he has grown to despise it, because it ruined what little chances of a life in his home world he had left. The entire persona of "Scar" is not him, and living as "Scar" has finally worn him to the last thread. He states openly in canon that he doesn't deserve his old identity. That his old self is dead. But, in yet another self-contradiction, his nature shines through. His gentleness, devotion, and protectiveness, evidenced mostly by his interactions with Lust and the Elrics, remain the most base of his attributes. He has a fondness and comfort with children that would shock those who only know the gruffer facade he puts up. Throughout both Fullmetal canons (which are drastically different) he comes to serve as a father figure for other characters. His protective nature makes him prone to taking care of things. Scar does emotionally better when he knows that someone is depending on him.

He also really loves cats.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

+Scar is a survivor. He grew up in the harsh desert and has lived on the city streets and successfully crossed the wilderness alone. He thrives in harsh environments.
+He has an incredibly high tolerance for pain, and his stubborn, nearing brutish drive makes him a force to be reckoned with in anything he chooses to set his mind to.
+Even without alchemy, he is a very accomplished fighter. Fast, agile, and very strong.
+Scar is highly intelligent, and picks up on new concepts at almost an alarming rate.
+Connects very well with animals (and by extention, pokémon), often much better than he does with people.
+Surprisingly soothing toward children.
+Brave. Bleeds Gryffindor Scarlet. It's almost a fault.

-He works best when he is alone, and struggles when forced to cooperate directly with others.
-Life's more... delicate subjects completely elude him. Ask him to talk about his feelings in any capacity? He's outta here.
-He is highly manipulable in that the people whom he cares about can easily be used against him.
-Scar doesn't think clearly in intense situations when others he cares about are involved. He reacts upon pure instinct, and his instincts... aren't always the best.
-Notably, he also cannot swim and is very wary of large bodies of water. He sinks like a rock.
-Scar's emotions are volatile, bordering on out-of-control.
-Takes poor care of himself- Is never well-rested.
-Diminished sense of self-worth.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Zangoose
Password: Caramel, Popcorn

Samples
First Person Sample:
[Scar has already been in this world for a few weeks, but this is the first time he has made any sort of public posting on his... Pokégear, they call it? That doesn't matter. He turned his back for one moment and some snake-like Pokémon had come out of the woods and attacked Skitty. And now... Now it isn't getting any better.]

Hello? My pokémon was just attacked by a... [Damn it all! Checking the Pokédex...] by an Ekans, and I think she's poisoned. I don't have a proper antidote on me, and nothing I do seems to be working-

[There's a rush of anger and a small note of panic in his voice. Scar hasn't come to quite believe yet that a pokémon attack can't be fatal, and if anything were to happen to this one, how can he forgive himself? He's days away from the nearest Pokémon Center. How has he managed to be so ill-prepared?]

I just need something. A fast solution.

Third Person Sample:
"Dammit-!"

Once again, Scar had slipped and landed flat on his backside thanks to the slick floors of the Ice Path. A tiny voice in the back of his mind told him that it had been foolish to try coming here, but he ignored it. That woman in the Pokémon Center had said that "trainers" of his caliber shouldn't be taking on this cave yet. That he should have more "badges" under his belt. But Scar had little interest in badges. He simply wanted to reach Blackthorn City.

That was, if he ever made it out of this frozen hell. A man (boy, really) several years younger than he stopped, clearly concerned.

"Sir, are you all right?" He reached down and offered his hand, but Scar didn't take it as he pushed himself precariously to his feet. He ignored the bewildered stranger and continued on his uneasy way, his pride more than a little wounded.

Scar pulled his jacket more closely around his shoulders. He wasn't built for the cold, at least not cold that lasted this long. Nights in the Eastern Desert grew frigid, but what about a night that never thawed? The Ishbalan had expected to be through this place in a few days' time without issue, but now he had gotten himself completely stuck. He looked down to the Pokéballs on his belt, and his frown deepened. Could they feel the cold in there, he wondered? He couldn't let them out into this, even if that were the case. It didn't take a master to realize that the creatures lurking in this cave were far more powerful than the young ones Scar carried with him.

Adjusting to this world was proving difficult. People fought with these 'Pokémon' as if it were nothing, yet all Scar had been able to see upon arriving was a bunch of brightly colored chimera. He could fight for himself if he needed to; using these strangely intelligent creatures to do his dirty work for him was nothing short of barbaric. Yet, it had quickly become obvious that he would need their help to make his way in this world. That was what had made him set out researching, and research was what had landed him on course to Blackthorn. Powerful Pokémon.

Scar dug the heel of his boot into the frost, craning his neck to look up the steep, icy incline that lay before him. It was foolish to continue, but he had already come this far. He turned to address the trainer who had offered him help.

"How much farther does this lead?"

"Right now, I'd say you're about halfway."

He nodded in silent thanks to the other trainer, and started up the frozen slope. Four more days. What were four more days, really, to a man who had crossed miles of desert on foot?

You know the drill! Tell me how I'm doing, ICly, OOCly, whatever. Concrit is very much welcomed, but please just make it constructive.

Comments are screened and anon is on.