Application for sortinghat_rp

[whatforbiddenforrest]

Player Information
Name: Takato
Timezone: GMT+10
Personal Journal: basekind
Players Contact/AIM/MSN/YAHOO: soulscandalous or milesforking @ AIM
Email Address: alterniashope@gmail.com
Former/Other Characters in the RP: previously a whole bunch, currently only Karkat

Character Information
Name: Denley Onceler (the Once-ler)
Canon Origin/Series: The Lorax
School Year: fifth
Gender: male
Age: 15
Out of school living location: Spalding, Lincolnshire, East England
Blood status: Pureblood

Personality:
"Happy yet? Did you fill that hole deep down inside you? Or do you still need more?"

The Once-ler does have quite a big hole inside of him. Underneth the large amounts of optimism that keep him dreaming up pipeline ideas that everybody laughs at, he's really quite insecure. Seen as a failure by his family, he's had to compete for attention with two older brothers from an early age, driving him to be ambitious and dream big. If something isn't a success, while his first impulse is to grow frustrated at himself and quit, he will often turn around and proclaim people have no idea what they're missing out on. He never admits defeat. Despite being somewhat of a mama's boy, he doesn't really know when to draw the line at coming across as being needy when it comes to attention. He likes it. He's something of a showman, and even a tiny bit of approval is better than absolutely none.

Once-ler is fairly self centered. With his status in the family as a laughing stock and least favourite son, even through his seemingly endless optimism, he cannot find it in himself to truly trust other people. Although even after the Lorax threw him into the river on his bed and he nearly drowned while he was sleeping, in the end he went back on his promise. Greed flashed before him and he took the opportunity to further his name and sell thneeds. He's only interested in furthering his own dreams, something which causes him to agree to his mother's suggestion of chopping down 'a few trees', which ended up turning into the entire Truffula crop. His carelessness over this one detail is something that comes back to bite him, and he proceeds to spend years boarded up away from people drowning in his own regret.

He has a habit of switching between teasing someone and being very bluntly sarcastic with them. Even though he's mostly a derp and immature, it's probably better you don't get in his way of what he wants to do unless you want him to resort to violence. He has quite the artistic flair for things, a lust for life many people probably don't display. He tries way too hard for all the wrong reasons, but he's not a bad person.

Really!

He's the good guy here.

Canon Background: the original Lorax novel by Dr. Seuss and the 2012 film.
Background (AU!Canon; HP):
[sayonara]
Born into an old pureblood family living in a country house known to the locals as Ayscoughfee Hall, it was clear that from a young age Denley Onceler was far from his mother's favourite child, not that she had much fondness for her children at all. He didn't display the magical potential his two older brothers - Brett and Chet - possessed and for a long time it was believed that he was a squib when no accidental magic happened until the age of seven once his brothers were already attending Hogwarts. His childhood had been fairly uneventful up until then, being homeschooled by his aunt was even less in his favour. When he was eight, he came upon an old lady sitting by the Welland - a river that ran through the town - knitting. Fascinated, he asked her to teach him, and he was introduced to Norma Wiggins.

Norma became pretty much Denley's only friend. He'd never fit in with his family and none of the Muggle children in the village were interested in playing with him. Pretty soon, he was spending nearly every other afternoon with her once his schoolwork was done. She was an old Muggle who saw him for what he was - just a lonely boy whose family didn't believe in him much. She gave him the chance to dream, and the seed for his first Truffula tree. By the time his Hogwarts letter came, the back yard was full of Truffula trees, extending through the Onceler family property.

His first few years were fairly uneventful. Sorted into his House, he very rarely had to put up with teasing for his extreme optimism, even though most of it came from his brothers who were a couple of years ahead of him anyway. It was nothing he wasn't used to. He had a knack for herbology, and an aptitude for potions making. Even though his first two school years barely involved any trouble, he came home for the summer of third year to discover one very horrible thing - his Truffula tree crop had been chopped away at for fire wood during the winter until there was only one left in the entire field. He didn't blame his mother or father or aunt for it though, he blamed himself. Spending his summer afternoons with Norma came to a halt, and he spent much of fourth year going into a downward spiral. He picked himself back up at some point during fifth year and became his old, overly zealous self, intent on making a name for himself in the wizarding world come graduation.

His crop was growing back after all.
[livejournal]

How would your character fit in to each House?
Gryffindor:
Once-ler is attracted to fame and changing the world, much like many Gryffindors are. He was certainly brave enough to step out on his own without the support of his family the first time, and he's quite chivalrous when it comes to women, even stating to the Lorax "You wouldn't hit a woman!" when the Lorax was going to punch his aunt. He doesn't really have a good head on his shoulders, as is demonstrated by his greed once things start going right for him, and his nerves are a bit lacking. He's a bit of a bragger when he feels like he's done something good.

Hufflepuff:
Once-ler has had to work hard for himself in order to make his own business. He set out on his own and set up things in the Truffula tree forest by himself, even though the concept of failure is hardwired into his brain due to his family's negativity about his success. He lets other people get the better of him, often depending more on their opinion than anything else and is only interested in his own selfish needs rather than display any kind of loyalty.

Ravenclaw:
As an inventor, the Once-ler has a very large artistic flare for things. His invention of the thneed, although he declaired it was beyond its time when nobody would buy it, was rather ingenious. It could be anything you wanted it to be - a sock, a hat, a blanket, a mop, you name it the thneed could be it. His mansion also displays some of his creativity throughout the How Bad Can I Be montage, becoming bigger and shinier and more intimidating as the months (and possibly years) rolled on. He's got quite the sense of humor, however sarcastic it might be, and his wit has no end in sight.

Slytherin:
The lyrics to How Bad Can I Be pretty much state how the Once-ler sees the world. He knows it's survival of the fittest, something that's been imbedded into his mind since he was a kid considering he's "just doing what comes naturally". He's selfish, childish when he doesn't get his own way, and ambitious to a fault where it almost becomes annoying. He's only interested in making money and a name for himself, showing resourcefulness in his inventions and leadership in running his own company. He's also a pureblood.

RP Samples:
DR post sample
DR thread