Rush

Name: Rush

Age: 14

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Hair: Rush has medium length red hair that reaches just below his ears. It's spiked up, as most kids in the village have it, and flows easy, giving Rush an excuse not to fix his hair when he wakes up each morning.

Eyes: Black. His eyes are rather bizarre as the irises are as black as the pupils.

Weight: 90 pounds

Height: 4 feet 9 inches

Theme Music:
Mischievous Duo

Weapon: Rush has a steel short sword, built about a foot and a half long. When not in use, it is fitted into a leather sheath on his right side. He can use the blade pretty well for someone who has never been trained to fight with it. He usually aims to wound his enemy, rather than killing them, so he most often stabs at limbs instead of the body or head.

Accessories:

Crucifix:
For superstitious reasons more than religious ones, Rush always wears a crucifix around his neck for the fear of running into vampires or other dark creatures.

Cards
He has fifty four of them exactly: The normal 52 plus the two jokers. They're all stashed inside Toofy's skull when not in use. Toofy is the only one with power over these cards, only he has no hands to wield them with. In order to pull off a proper attack, Rush does the motions while Toofy conjures the magic required. They must be in perfect sync to perform the techniques correctly, otherwise things could go wrong.

To restock on cards, Rush simply has to buy a normal pair wherever they’re sold. Toofy's power over the cards can work on any sort of deck.

2-10: (Skill: Novice)
These cards, when used, fly from Rush's hand and are lethal according to the number scribed on them, and according to how hard they are thrown. 2 is the weakest, while 10 is the most deadly. 2 will leave a mere cut while 10 will leave a painful gash, possibly severing limbs. When these cards are used, they move fast. They don't need to be thrown, but they fly. They move with their own intentions, rarely missing their target, curving in the air toward the focal point for a more accurate strike. Still, they require a small amount of throwing effort, something Rush has yet to master.

Jack: (Skill: Novice)
- Quantity: 4

When this card is used, it causes one item of Toofy’s choice to disappear from his opponent’s person and given to Rush. This can be anything the person has on them, even if Rush can’t wield it properly. However, not only must Toofy be able to concentrate on the desired item but Rush must also be able to distinguish the same thing. This often gets a bit confusing and results in grabbing the wrong object.

Queen: (Skill: Average)
- Quantity: 4

When this card is used, a clear, silvery box is created around the target of choice. There is no way inside or outside of this box. It is invincible, generating a closed universe so that the target is encased in a miniature dimension that cannot be exited unless the barrier is closed by the wielder of the Queen card. nothing is allowed inside our outside of it no matter how powerful the prisoner is. It can be used as a protection technique, or a move to subdue a wild foe. The box will only disappear if Toofy wills it. His enemy may overexert themselves to try to escape, not knowing they're in an enclosed universe, which plays to Rush's advantage. The prisoner can't be harmed when the box surrounds them so overall this move isn’t powerful, just very amusing. Any attempts to teleport out of it will just result in them reappearing back inside the box, due to the nature of the closed universe.

King: (Skill: None)
- Quantity: 4

When this card is used, it flies high into the sky. The card is often forgotten about for a while as nothing seems to happen, but when Toofy wills it, the attack will unleash. From the sky above his opponent’s head, the card simply floats. When Toofy believes it’s time, it will suddenly transform into an enormous pile of gold coins. The cold coins will fall from the sky and crush his enemy beneath them. It’s a win/win situation really: If his enemy survives, at least he becomes a little richer.

Rush doesn't use this card because of its dangerous nature. The first time he tried to use it he was trapped under a massive pile of gold, nearly killing him. He's a bit scared of the card now and never uses it.

Ace: (Skill: Novice)
- Quantity: 3

When the Ace card is used, it merely vanishes in Rush's hand. From behind his enemy, an enormous swarm of supernatural griffin feathers pelt into their back at unrelenting speeds. This move is easily voided with a type of wind attack due to the feathers’ light weight, but otherwise this move might be very irritating, especially if you’re allergic to griffins. Other than allergies, this move will poke you with over 10,000 feathers. If you’ve never been poked by a feather quill, go poke yourself with one right now. They hurt, and when there are 10,000 of them they hurt even more. Because these are griffin feathers, they have magical properties and can pass through any magical barrier, save for Toofy’s Queen Card. Because of this, Rush often uses the Queen card in combination with the Ace cards so he doesn't kill himself.

Like with the King card, much to the annoyance of Toofy, Rush hardly ever uses this power. He was nearly killed by it before, getting multiple puncture wounds all over his body.

Joker: (Skill: None required)
- Quantity: 2

The Joker card is designed to create an exact duplicate of Toofy to help him fight. However, since Toofy is merely a severed head now, the cards only create copies of his severed head. Toofy has the ability to jump his consciousness from one to another, but it does little else. This doesn't provide much usefulness at all and Rush finds this card as being virtually useless.

Ace of Spades (Skill: Master)
- Quantity: 1

Not to be confused with an ordinary Ace card, the Ace of Spades has a completely different power. It is considered the best of all the cards in the deck, though it is Rush's least favorite. Toofy favors this card above all others.

The Ace of Spades has the ability to swap the souls of two individuals for a short period of time. Almost every time he uses it, Toofy swaps souls with Rush. When this happens, Toofy gains full control of Rush's body for a full hour (or less if he decides to switch back early for whatever reason) and Rush is stuck in Toofy's skull the entire time. When Toofy is in control, Rush can jump much higher, move much faster, and is far more skilled at fighting than he normally is.

Due to the strange nature of the curse placed on Toofy, whenever he swaps souls with someone, their flesh disappears leaving only bone and cloth. The reason for this is because Toofy's curse is attached to his soul; switching bodies only carries the curse with him. When he switches back, however, the person's flesh will return to them.

Armor: Rush doesn't have armor, or rather he can't afford it. He usually holds Toofy in one hand, able to use him a shield due to his indestructibility, but the Queen card would be a more sure-fire way of keeping alive.

Strengths: Rush has no strengths to speak of other than his sheer determination for victory. He never gives up in a fight, either verbal or physical, and only runs away if it doesn't mark him as a coward (ie: To escape an inevitable explosion or something). Otherwise, he fights until capture or death. He relies a little too heavily on Toofy's power, however, and believes that he'll help him in times where he might not be able to/want to.

Rush is fast for his age and height, but nothing beyond human limits. He can outrun the average, un-exercised adult, but his maneuverability is limited by his size.

Toofy is his main source of power, and primary strength. The fool's skills and peculiar insight have aided Rush through all his trials. He's wise, though rarely displays his wisdom. His age and experience in the world have extended his knowledge of things, but the skull himself is blind to most of this wisdom. What else can be said? He's a fool.

Weakness: Weak physically and spiritually, Rush is vulnerable to virtually every sort of attack. Whether magic, sword, or fist; he will fall without much struggle. His speed helps him avoid most direct hits, but a few well placed strikes will render him inert (given Toofy hasn't interfered in some way).

He gets hot-headed very easily, doesn't back down when it's the smart thing to do, and can't distinguish his limits quite well.

Skills/Magic:

Voodoo
Through Toofy's various travels, he's learned a small portion of voodoo magic. When the target's blood makes contact with Toofy's skull, whatever happens to Toofy will happen to the victim. However, because Toofy is not whole, the victim cannot die by this technique. In fact, they can't even be injured. All this spell can do is affect the victim's nerves. It's quite effective, but rarely lethal. Once Toofy makes contact with the person's blood, the battle is usually won.

Rush can stab Toofy through the eye socket and his enemy will feel like his eye is being gouged out, but his eye will only actually be injured by the enemy's own frantic clawing. It hurts only the nerves, but it also grants the slight chance of putting the victim into a paralyzed shock, when the pain becomes too severe.

Appearance:
Rush has medium length, red hair that reaches just below his ear-line. He always looks a little out of place, but manages to come across as a decent looking child. He's usually dirty, however, as he doesn't like taking baths or keeping up with his appearance.

He wears a brown, hooded tunic, hood usually drawn back unless it's raining. He wears tattered, tan pants that are in desperate need of being replaced. On his feet, he wears a pair of wooden sandals that, unlike the rest of him, seem to be in good shape.

When not in use, his dagger is sheathed on his right. On his left side he carries a small bag, which he keeps Toofy's head as well as small essentials. Toofy doesn't like being confined, however, so Rush usually carries him. When he goes into public areas he tends to want to keep Toofy out of sight. The bag is wear the skull reluctantly stays during these times.



Personality:
Rush is a menace. He loves playing pranks, irritating people, and being an all-around pain in the neck. This is all mostly due to his desire for attention, but it usually just gets him into more trouble than what it's worth. Still, he doesn't know when to quit. He enjoys a good laugh, but not if it actually hurts the person.

Deep down, Rush has a true love for people. He knows they are flawed, that some are evil and it can't be helped, but he believes every person has good in them somewhere. This makes it hard for Rush to even consider killing someone. He knows that despite the darkness in human hearts, they can be redeemed.

Biography:
Rush doesn't remember anything about his parents. His earliest memories were on the street. He was taken care of by other street urchins until he was able to steal food for himself. From then on, he was by himself. Even the other orphans wanted nothing to do with him. He was weird from the moment he could talk. Something was different about him, something off. Whether it was how his eyes seemed just a shade too dark, or his voice seemed just a little eerie. He always talked about strange things, had weird views on the happenings in the city, and believed in super powers and the undead. The kids didn't like him.

This city was called Shale. It was a large civilization built in the center of an enormous, dried up lake. The village was filled with numerous rumors and legends, most of them surrounding the sword embedded in the ground at the center of town square. In reality, it was just an average city. The weirdest thing about Shale would have to be the restriction of drinking the water in the river to the east, but that was only because it was toxic.

Shale was Rush's home. It wasn't the best place to grow up, but he managed to survive. He was ignored by the good people, punished by the bad. Maybe he deserved some of what he got, being a thief and all, but he only stole to survive (and when it was the most entertaining). The life of a street urchin was all Rush ever knew, but that lifestyle was suddenly changed.

Rush stole from the wrong vendor. He needed something for defense so he snatched a knife from a blacksmith's shop. The blacksmith, to his dismay, was well muscled and twice his height. The behemoth of a man grabbed the boy and called for the guards. During the commotion, Rush was able to cut the man's hand and run into an alley. The guards were already on the way, hot on his heels.

The chase carried him through the streets, but no matter how many shortcuts he took, no matter how quick he was, they still managed to cut him off. His only escape was into the woods to the east. He made it outside of the city walls. After that, the guards figured a mere thief wasn't worth the effort and continued their duties. Rush, just to be safe, escaped into the woods.

It was his usual spot: An abandoned stone bridge that crossed the river into the forest. He'd sit on the edge, contemplating whether the black water below him was really toxic, or just smelled funny. Several times he was tempted to taste it, but knew he'd more than likely die from its poisons. He didn't want to risk death so easily. Instead, he'd just watch its swirling waters flow by.

Every time he came to the bridge he wondered if it was even worth returning to Shale. The people simply wouldn't accept him, and he wasn't so sure he liked them back. Sure, there were a few good people in Shale, but the bad outweighed them on a tremendous scale.

In all his years living in that god-forsaken city, he never made a single friend. It's said that solitude is deadlier than death itself. Rush knew that all too well. That was why he made himself an enemy of the common merchant. Stealing, pulling down skirts, throwing eggs at the fat nobles. It was all good fun and it kept him from getting lonely. The days he was chased out of the city, he had nothing to do but stare into the water. These days, he would sometimes see faces in the water; like how one can see shapes in the clouds.

This time, the face he saw was real.

At first he thought it was a rock, but as it floated by he swore he saw a set of teeth pulled back in a freakish smile. Jumping to the river's shore, he followed alongside, scanning for the object he had spotted. He picked it out quickly, its gray form lodging itself in the mud.

His curiosity was piqued. He risked getting his hands wet and grabbed hold of the white object. He pulled it carefully from the mire.

The skull, now clasped between Rush's hand, pulled its jaw wide open. “Ah! Fresh air at last!”

“The hell!” Rush threw the skull to the ground, stumbling back into the grass. He fell on his rear, mind spinning. What the hell was that? He was at a loss of words. That skull talked! He shook his head sharply, trying to jog his brain. Surely he'd imagined it.

“Hey, what's the big idea? Pick me back up, you imbecile!”

Rush slowly sat up, carefully eying the skull from his spot on the grass. Could it move? It looked pretty helpless.

“Hello, are you still there? I don't particularly like the taste of grass.”

Rush was shaking, he couldn't say anything. He knew that undead were real, but he never thought he'd actually ever see one.

“Look, if you're not going to say anything, the least you can do is turn me over for the love of God!”

This time, Rush moved. He crawled toward the figure, lifting it gently with both hands. He turned the skull so he can look it in the eyes (or lack thereof). He looked at it long and hard, wondering if it would talk again. He hoped it would speak again. Just one more time, would be enough. He needed to know if what he just saw was real or not.

“I'd tell you to paint a picture, it would last longer, but that would be a lie.” the skull chuckled.

“So you did talk!” Rush shouted, jumping to his feet. He couldn't believe it. This was too cool.

“Of course I talked, what the hell do you think I was doing?”

“Well, I'm sorry but... I've never seen a talking skull before!” He was too excited to think straight. This was the most amazing thing ever.

“Well I have to thank you, sir. You've rescued me from that river. I've been floating down that thing for who knows how long. You have my gratitude.”

“No problem, Mr. Skull. The pleasure is mine.” Rush wasn't really sure what to say. He never conceived this situation before.

“Call me Toofy, runt.”

“Well, I'm sorry about that. You can call me Rush.”

The skull chuckled. “Ah, Runt! I was close!”

Rush laughed along with him. He didn't really find it funny, but he was simply amazed. A talking skull! It was the most fantastic thing he'd ever heard of. He sat with the skull for hours, talking with it about various things, asking it all kinds of questions. He'd never talked to anyone for so long before. The skull didn't even seem to mind. They both had a lot of the same views on things, though the skull was a bit more gruesome and violent in his descriptions. Still, he was a funny character. It wasn't until the sun began setting that Rush realized what time it was.

“Ah, I didn't realize it was getting so late!” Rush groaned. He leaped to his feet. “I need to return to the city before the gates close.”

“You sodding idiot, don't leave me!”

Rush froze in his tracks. He'd forgotten the skull couldn't move on his own. He had already established how bored he had gotten while floating down the black river. It probably wasn't much fun at all. In fact, if Rush were in his position he would have gone completely mad. Actually, the two of them weren't that much different. They had both experienced a long period of solitude, both had no one to turn to. In Rush's eyes, they were destined to be allies.

He took the skull back into the city, hiding it in the bag he used to store his stolen goods. He went on a full week this way, but the skull grew irritated as the days went by. Soon, it was more bored than ever. It desired adventure and constantly babbled on about how he no longer had a body. In fact, that was one thing the skull hadn't stopped talking about since he found him: His long lost body.

“Ok, so why is it you're just a skull? What happened to the rest of your body?” He asked him.

“Ah, it's a little complicated. To put it in short terms, I was cursed a couple thousand years ago. The curse gifted me with immortality, but at the expense of my flesh. My bones wouldn't break, but I would never feel anything. The only way I could regain my mortality was if I fell in love.”

This got Rush laughing. “Wait just a damned second, you fell in love?”

The skeleton growled. Rush was thankful he didn't have any arms to kill him with at that moment. “It was a ****ing mistake! She'd played me for the fool that I was. She was a mercenary, hired to kill me. This had to be only two years ago, I'm not sure. I've lost track of time.”

“How did she kill you?”

The skull paused his story for a moment, as if trying to remember. “Well, she didn't kill me, as you can obviously see. Someone found out my weakness and informed her. She exploited it by toying with my emotions, God knew I had any left. What a human I was. Being a fool is one thing, but being stupid is another. I was stupid. The moment I fell for her was only a split second. All I wanted to do was see her naked, get in her pants, explore her netherlands, etcetera. But... when she drew me close I should have seen it. Who the *uck would kiss a skeleton? This thought should have played through my empty head, but it didn't. Made no sense. As her lips were about to meet mine, flesh formed around my teeth and our mouths locked. It was in that exact moment her dagger flew through my neck. I didn't see it coming, I didn't know what she had planned, but as I flew back through the air the pieces fell into place. She didn't love me back. In that same moment, I didn't love her either. Backstabbing is great, don't get me wrong, but not when it's done to me. You just can't prank the prankster. It's poor taste.”

“So how did you end up in the river?”

“Well my head bounced off the balcony and, well, into a river. It wasn't as black as that one, but I'm sure the rivers merge at some point. I've been floating in the water for a year or two now, using nothing but my jaw to steer me.” His laughter brightened the mood again. “But I need you, Rush.”

“Wait, need me for what?”

“You've freed me, and I think you can help me. By the gods, I hate kids, don't get me wrong there. Don't think for a moment that you're an exception, boy. Still, I need someone to get me back to my body.”

Rush didn't expect anything like this. “What? You want me to take you all the way back to where you came from?”

“It shouldn't be hard!” He stifled a laugh. “My grave will be the only one marked 'Toofy.'”

Rush smirked, he instantly wanted to do this. For the longest time he'd been wanting to leave the city, but he'd never had an excuse to do it. Something about the place, something other than the despicable people, sickened him. It was a dark and depressing land. He was ready for a change in scenery. His story was reaching a beginning.

It was destiny.

Originally Posted by Skermefaten

? This is the Shoe Checkout area..

Please, do not post in other people's character threads.

Edit: Very interesting, Quark.

I still love his Queen card. xD Reminds me of the 'Chocolate Box' incident.

Oh, and ~*Approved*~