( application )

[qaw]

Player: Kei
Contact: begleiter@plurk.com
Age: 36
Other Characters: Shadow the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog

Name: Qrow Branwen
Canon: RWBY
Canon Point: End of volume 8
Age: Not clearly stated, but probably early 40s

cw: alcoholism for the rest of the app

Backstory: RWBY Wiki

Personality:

+Default emotional state and temperament:
Pessimistic and anxious. In many ways this mindset is justified. Literally all Qrow's Semblance does is cause bad luck, and his predictions of misery and failure often turn out right. But there are a lot of good things in his life as well! And while Qrow certainly appreciates those good things—even fearfully clings to them, to an extent—that pessimistic and anxious attitude works against him in a lot of ways. He deliberately distances himself from the people he cares about for fear of hurting them.

Qrow is a monster hunter by trade and a huge pain in the ass as a hobby, and he's not above picking fights to relieve his boredom or frustration. Despite all of this, Qrow is regularly seen trying to deescalate situations before they dissolve into fighting. Giving his enemies a chance to walk away, negotiating for time to talk, or even just using flat intimidation to convince someone it's not worth it. Even when he's actively picking fights with someone he much prefers goading his opponent into attacking him, rather than just throwing a punch. Qrow is definitely not above jumping straight to violence in the right situation (at one point he tries to shoot his own sister on sight) but he's often eager to avoid it.

+Motivations and goals:
Protecting the people he cares about. Qrow's bad luck made him a pariah among his tribesmen. A kid that was actively bringing misfortune to everyone around him wasn't someone anyone wanted around, and they made sure Qrow knew it. Coming to Beacon and meeting Summer, Taiyang, and Ozpin had a huge impact on him. He remarks that Ozpin gave him a place in the world and a chance to do some good, and it's clear that both of these things are essential to Qrow's identity and sense of purpose. And even when he's at absolute rock bottom and needing to be dragged along for the ride, Qrow still shows concern for his nieces and makes some effort to continue to protect and look after them. It's not a lot of effort in those moments, but it's still more than he puts in to anything else.

This is also what's pushing him along his road of self-improvement. Realizing that not only was not longer someone his nieces and their friends could rely on as a mentor or a source of protection is what finally snapped him out of the worst depressive spiral of his life, and this time it seems to be sticking! He's quit drinking and is now making active efforts to improve himself, even though the situation has been getting consistently worse as of late.

+Regrets and fears:
Qrow's biggest regret is being the person he is. Right now he's in recovery and, to all appearances, doing really well. That doesn't change the fact that Qrow just really isn't a fan of himself or who he is as a person. He's let his fear and depression get in the way, put his trust in people that didn't deserve it, allowed himself be blinded by loyalty, and didn't trust his pessimistic instincts in moments where it really mattered. While he's actively working to improve himself, that doesn't mean he's really forgiven his own past failures.

+Breaking points:
Being betrayed by the people he trusts. Qrow seems to exist in a constant state of moderate to severe anxiety and self-loathing. However, the moment he starts to really spiral out of control, when his drinking escalates to the point that it nearly gets him and his nieces killed, is when he realizes the extent that Ozpin lied to him. As mentioned above, he credits Ozpin with helping him feel like he has a place to belong in the world. He deeply resents having that security yanked out from underneath him and it leaves him feeling cast adrift and unsure of how to proceed. And when his behavior in the wake of that betrayal nearly gets him and his party killed, he doesn't shape up; he just turns all of that contempt inward.

And after he finally, finally fully recovers from that first bout of betrayal, it happens all over again. Qrow's longtime ally and more-or-less friend James Ironwood goes off the deep end, declares martial law, and orders the arrest of Qrow, as well as his nieces and their friends. In the ensuing fallout, Qrow's friend Clover also sides with Ironwood, which results in Clover's death. Qrow is left stewing in a potent mixture of grief, frustration, and rage. While this ends up being less disastrous than when Ozpin betrayed him, he still spent some time wallowing in a myopic desire for revenge.

+Values:
If called upon to name one positive thing about himself, Qrow would cite his dedication to his family and his loyalty to the people he cares about. He follows his nieces across an entire continent trying to protect them. He wades into monster-infested territory to rescue Ruby, and then does it again to retrieve Ozpin's weapon. He even asks Raven to come back and rejoin the war effort nearly two decades after she left. When he cares about someone he cares about them a lot, and it takes some pretty dramatic circumstances to make him stop caring.

+How do they handle change and trauma?
Very poorly. To Qrow's credit, he keeps soldiering on despite the avalanche of tragedy and misfortune that is his life. He does not soldier on with a great deal of grace, however. Depression spirals, fits of anxiety, alcoholic crash outs, and aggressive reactions to others trying to see the best in a situation are all behaviors he's displayed in response to bad news.

All that being said, it's important to reinforce that Qrow is also someone that keeps going. Weirdly, this is a situation where his intense pessimism works to his advantage. He's always ready for things to go poorly, and always ready for the idea that he'll have to keep moving forward despite that. His extreme downer attitude and extensive experience with bad news have both served to make Qrow surprisingly resilient.

+Closing statements:
tl;dr: Qrow Branwen is a huge mess who is stubbornly forcing himself to grow as a person.

Powers/Abilities:

Aura: Aura is the 'manifestation of one's soul' in Remnant. Aura is primarily used in a defensive manner, cloaking the user in a shield that protects them from damage and can even reduce the discomfort and harm of being exposed to extreme temperatures. It can also be projected in a more tangible way via the use of a Semblance (detailed below), and will passively speed the healing of any injuries its user may have. Qrow won't be recovering any lost limbs (and at one point a case of poisoning poses a real risk of killing him) but it can allow him to survive wounds that would normally be fatal. Any use of Aura will steadily deplete it, though it can be recovered via rest. Once it's gone, Qrow can be injured just like any other human and will no longer enjoy any other Aura benefits.

As a final note, Aura needs to be intentionally activated to have any benefit. Qrow's very good at bringing his Aura up on reflex, but sneak attacks or genuine surprises can still catch him unawares.

Semblance - Misfortune: Qrow suffers from a passive, always on Semblance that causes bad luck to Qrow and everyone around him. Always getting bad hands in card games, something breaking right when he leans against it, rooftops collapsing when someone steps on them, and so on. Misfortune can strike Qrow and anyone in his vicinity, and who it targets seems to be pretty random. Qrow can't control it (though it's implied that one day he may be able to) but he is very good at taking advantage of any misfortune that befalls his enemies. That said, Misfortune can't cause anything actually impossible to happen. Qrow might get a bad hand in poker, but his opponent isn't going to somehow draw 5 aces.

Bird Form: Qrow can change into a crow, and that's really all there is to it. He retains his intelligence, but he can't speak, use his weapon, or really do anything that a normal crow couldn't. The transformation only takes a second and doesn't require any sort of incantation.

Inventory: His clothing; scroll (cellphone); Clover's pin; and a photograph of himself and the rest of team STRQ

Game Plans: At Qrow's current canon point, he has reason to believe that Yang, Ruby, and Blake may all be dead. So for now he's just going to enjoy that they definitely aren't dead. I think it'll also be fun to have him get invested in the idea of protecting the Convoy.

Monster Choice:

• Zoanthrope - Werecat: Black cats are associated with bad luck
  
• Infernal - Cerberus: It would be funny to compound his anxiety with doom sense
  
• Volare - Harpy: He's already a bird some of the time, so why not be a bird all of the time?

Vehicle Choice: A vintage hearse with the tough quality.

Sample: here