[Re/Al App]

[kick_astromech]

Player Information
*Name/Alias: Aya
*Your Journal: N/A
*Age: Way over 16!
*Contact Information: disposable_ninja [at] hotmail [dot] com; AIM:Anryuu Nata; trilobite_punch
*Characters already in the game: Ventus

Character Information
*Character Name: R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo)
*Character Canon: Star Wars
*Age: Granted I'm doing the math right, roughly 32 years.
*Race: Droid; Astromech
*Timeline/Pull Point: Episode IV; when he and Threepio are hiding aboard the Death Star, waiting for Luke and the others to rescue the Princess.

*History:
     Suffice it to say, Artoo has experienced a lot more than one would expect of an astromech droid. He's definitely surpassed the expected warranty- after all, patching up ships in the middle of a space battle is practically suicidal, especially when the opposition wants anything but for you to get shields working again.

     Artoo began his career in Naboo, serving as a maintenance droid aboard the royal starship for Queen Amidala herself. Unfortunately his debut thrust him right in the midst of enemy fire as Trade Federation ships sought to maintain their blockade of the planet, wishing to use the Queen as a bargaining chip to have the recently passed taxation on trade routes in their vicinity revoked. One by one, Artoo saw his fellow astromechs blasted away, but stubborn and persistant (because they don't program you to turn tail), he succeeded in getting the ship's shields back up so they could make their escape.

     Considered the hero of the hour, Artoo was given special recognition by the Queen, and permitted to hang out with the rest of them rather than go back to storage. That had to be an ego boost for him. It might have even spoiled him a little, but from then on, the droid tagged along with his new human friends, two of whom happened to be Jedi and one the queen in disguise. They found themselves taking a detour to a sandy dustball of a planet called Tatooine, in need of obtaining repairs for their starship so that they could make the jump to Coruscant and the Senate. Simple task? Not so much. The silly Jedi hadn't counted on their credits being absolutely worthless in Hutt territory, so they had to embark on a side quest to get a replacement hyperdrive. It was through this series of events that Artoo first met C-3PO, a refurbished protocol droid that had been repaired by a young boy by name of Anakin Skywalker. He and Artoo got off to a jolly start, the astromech not wasting any time in embarrassing the taller droid. It was the beginning of a timeless friendship.

     The abridged version of their trip in sandland was that Qui-Gon became addicted to gambling and cheated with the Force, winning not only their much needed hyperdrive but Anakin as well after the kid won the annual podracing event. Thus they were all off finally to Coruscant, and Artoo would have to say bye to his new droid friend because someone clearly had to keep the humans out of trouble.

     Sadly the Senate was unable to help Queen Amidala as expediently as she was hoping for, and Anakin's Jedi dreams were simultaneously crushed by the Jedi Council. So it was back to Naboo for the group. Artoo was stuck babysitting Anakin while everyone else had to fend off against the Federation's droids. So the two went to space to carve their own path in history, single-handedly taking out the Federation's droid control ship, which subsequently helped out their friends planetside as it shut down the Federation army.

     The day was saved and everyone had a party, Anakin was reluctantly allowed to begin studying how to become a Jedi, and Artoo got to hang out with the Queen on a regular basis.

     Hang on, got three more movies to go. Just be glad we're cutting out the cartoon series and the comics and novels.

     It was roughly ten years later that Artoo was once again on his way to Tatooine, accompanying a once again incognito Amidala since she's apparently everyone's favorite target even when she's no longer queen of Naboo. Politics, what do they do for you. Artoo did his best to play bodyguard for her, but he didn't expect short assassins to slip under his radar. This was when Anakin Skywalker, now a Jedi Padawan and no longer just a bleach-haired beansprout, came to the rescue and makes hungry eyes at the senator.

     Obviously it wasn't a safe place for the girl to be in, and with the reassurances of the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Amidala once again departed for her home planet with Artoo and Anakin Skywalker sent along to guard her. Artoo made sure the two were properly fed during their trip since they were traveling incognito, but alas, they didn't have any cool disguises for him. It was nice to be back in Naboo, but Anakin kept having nighttterrors about his mother, so without much objection, they were all headed to Tatooine. Ugh, sand planet.

     Artoo was told to stay and watch the ship while the two humans ran outside in the sand, which was totally fine by him. He tried very hard not to tattle on Anakin and Amidala to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who requested that his urgent message about his own mission's findings be forwarded to the Jedi Council back in Coruscant. Piece of cake! Artoo figured the humans should know too, so he went to go fetch them. After having his message helpfully translated by a newly plated C-3P0, the humans forwarded Kenobi's message and then decided to go and save him since it looked like the Jedi was in trouble. Threepio found himself along for his first adventure as he was given ownership once more to Anakin Skywalker.

     They arrived on the planet of Geonosis, which didn't look any more fun than Tatooine, only that it had less sand. Once again Artoo was left behind while the humans ran to look for trouble, but this time he had company. Threepio proved to lack that adventurous spirit that the little droid had obtained, so he needed some encouragement. Good thing too, because their humans were, naturally, in trouble. Anakin was engaged in becoming a victim of foreshadowing while Amidala was stuck in a melting pot, so Artoo went to go rescue his owner. Anakin was a Jedi-in-training so he could take care of himself. Right? Right.

     No one every pays attention to the droids, so even in the later ensuing battle that errupted between the Geonosians, Trade Federation droids and Jedi reinforcements, Artoo was able to roll through the battlefield to rescue Threepio who had somehow become temporarily enlisted as a Trade Fed. droid. Funny as it was, he supposed the protocol droid probably wanted to have his own body back. The humans and other organics, in a hurry as always, rushed off to finish the rest of the movie without them. Don't worry, they picked up their two favorite droids later on, and so Artoo and Threepio became the sole witnesses to Anakin and Amidala's secret marriage back on Naboo.

     Hang on, two more to go.

     Amidala thought that it would be awesome to give Artoo as a wedding present to Anakin, and likewise Anakin gave Threepio to Amidala to better make use of his protocol abilities. Anakin got the better end of the bargain. Artoo accompanied Anakin on many a mission, and eventually the two along with Obi-Wan Kenobi found themselves in search of Count Dooku and a kidnapped Chancellor. Once again, Artoo was told to stay behind while the two Jedi went off their own way. At least he wasn't going to get too bored this time, because two B2 battle droids came to play with him.

     The ship started going crazy right when Artoo was kicking ***, but he expected no less of the silly humans. He suspected they'd ask him to fix everything, and he was right. Really, what would they do without him? Probably crash the ship. And they did, save that Artoo helped them do it in style.

     Since everyone seemed to selectively forget he was around, Artoo found himself privy to many a secret between Anakin and Amidala. Unfortunately there was a lot of tension growing between the formerly happy couple, and it wasn't something that the little astromech could fix. Dutifully, he continued to accompany his master, even when Anakin had fallen to the Dark Side and taken up the title as Darth Vader. He had to draw the line when the man nearly killed his own wife. Sorry Anakin. If he wasn't going to take care of Amidala and her unborn babies, Artoo would. With Threepio's help, they took her to safety, however the damage had been done. Later on, accompanied by Obi-Wan Kenobi, the three were among the select few present as Amidala gave birth to twins, and not long after, she died. As both droids were now masterless, they were turned over to a new owner by Bail Organa, who adopted Amidala's daughter while her son was given over to Anakin's step-brother, Owen Lars back on Tatooine.

     And finally, a long but not so long as the prior, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away- but not really because it's the same as the one that everything's been happening in....

     As their luck would have it, Artoo and Threepio would find themselves once again in the midst of a battlefield. Still technically under the ownership of Raymus Antilles who was captain of the ship they were currently aboard, the two were temporarily separated as Imperial Troops boarded. Many things had changed since the Chancellor Palpatine revealed himself to be a Sith Lord and claimed for himself the title of Emperor and control of an empire. In the depths of space his ultimate weapon was being constructed and had been in the process for the decades past, and now those plans had been stolen, suspected to have been smuggled aboard the ship. Little did Artoo know that he'd be charged with the important task of keeping those plans safe and deliver them to an old friend. Threepio as usual had no idea what he was doing, so it was up to Artoo to get him moving. They hijacked an escape pod and where did they end up, out of all the potential places in the galaxy? TATOOINE.

     This was where Artoo found out that Jawas don't play fair and that humans have very short memory spans. Or maybe they didn't recognize him because he was all dirty from dumpster diving in the Jawa's sandcrawler? Owen Lars bought back his own droid and ol' Threepio worked that golden silver tongue of his to get his buddy in for the deal. Once again they were under the ownership of a Skywalker after the man's first choice "mysteriously" blew a gasket. Of course, Threepio didn't remember because he had his memory wiped way back. Artoo still hadn't lost his penchance for finding trouble though, but unfortunately he nearly got his new master killed when continuing on his secret mission to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Everything worked out fine in the end because the old Jedi found them all, but of course, he didn't seem to recognize either droid. The sand must've gotten to his head.

     Artoo was finally able to deliver his message, recorded by the Princess Leia Organa. Revealing what the R2-unit carried, she implored Obi-Wan to take the droid back to Alderaan. Obi-Wan decided he would do so, but he wanted Luke Skywalker to come along. Hesitant as the boy was at first, he wasn't left with much other choice once he found out that Imperial Stormtroopers had killed his aunt and uncle and destroyed their home searching for the droids. Their small party headed to Mos Eisley in search of a ship to get them to Alderaan. Artoo learned how very discriminative people had become of droids, so while Luke and Obi-Wan sought out a pilot for hire, he and Threepio did what Threepio liked to do best, hide.

     The humans finally found a smuggler named Han Solo who was willing enough to transport them, and so they hurried to his rattlely old ship, making a narrow escape as Imperials closed in after them. Yet, shortly after making the jump to hyperspace, they found themselves in the midst of an astroid field, or more appropriately, the remnants of the planet they had been heading for, now fallen first victim to the Empire's new super weapon. The large station was still within the area, and unfortunately their ship was caught in its tractor beam, pulling them in. In order to keep from being caught by the Imperial soldiers, the group hid themselves in the smuggling compartments of the ship until the coast was clear.

     Han and Luke borrowed some armor off a pair of Stormtroopers, and their ragtag group took temporary cover in a control room while trying to iron out their plans of escape. While they argued amongst themselves, Artoo did more productive things, like find out the Princess was being imprisoned within the enormous station. Obi-Wan decided that he would split off from them to take care of the tractor beam for their escape. Giving the others directions, Artoo left them to it while he and Threepio waited in the control room, the protocol droid keeping contact with Luke over a tiny comlink. Things would have been fine, but more Imperial troopers came to investigate what had happened in the hangar, so the droids decided to make themselves scarce. And hid.



*Personality:
     Certainly not behaving like your typical droids, R2-D2 has established quite a unique character for himself. Having well-exceeded the standard expectations of a droid's lifespan, the little astromech has definitely been through plenty of experiences that have likely lent to forming his punky personality.

     As an astromech droid, he knows what's expected of him in terms of performance and ability, and he's very good at doing the jobs he's been designed to do. Artoo however goes the extra step, willing to think out of the box to do things, whether it's fixing circuitry or even aiding in the rescue of his friends. Perhaps it's because of his model that he's a very unassuming accomplice. The astromech is a veritible box of surprises for the things he comes equipped with, but it's the creativity with which he employs even his most standard equipment that is most notable.

     Loyalty seems to come standard with this droid package. Artoo has been ever a faithful droid to his masters and their comrades. He goes beyond his expected functions to serve them, and putting his own safety on the line for the sake of theirs is nothing uncommon for this little astromech. He's been caught in the midst of the heat of battle many times, and even though he's not outfitted for combat, he makes do with what he has and more than once has proven himself quite capable of taking care of himself, not to mention getting everyone else out of a tight fix. His quick thinking and ingenuity have been pivotal in many a narrow escape.

     He's surprisingly sentimental for a droid, and one might even say empathetic. He knows when his friends are suffering or upset, and he expresses concern. In fact, Artoo appears to be quite capable of expressing a wide range of emotions for a droid. To be expected, the little droid has developed something of an attitude. While he's a little more lenient when dealing with his organic associates, he's not afraid to backtalk a bit, especially when it comes to dealing with other droids. Sometimes he can be downright rude, and when it comes to being around his counterpart, C-3PO, it becomes more of a natural part of their ongoing banter. When it comes to these two in particular, it seems that Threepio would be the voice of reason while Artoo would be the one to boldly charge off into danger. He's stubborn, and when tasked with something specific to his abilities, he's very tenacious when it comes to making sure it gets done. Perhaps it's because there's an anticipated sense of peril in being an astromech droid that rolling through a barrage of laserfire is no different from making a hasty repair to a space transport- it's an occupational hazard. Call Artoo brave, daring, or crazy, but he's certainly not stupid.


*Powers/Abilities:
     As an astromech, Artoo is well-versed in mechanics and capable of repairing a variety of space vehicles. His functions when mounted into particular spacecraft include navigations as well as hyperspace preparation, emergency repair and so forth. However, he has also proven himself capable of manipulating and even flying spacecraft on his own. His familiarity and skills in repair are not limited to such though, as he's helped reassemble Threepio a few times.

     Although not a combat droid, Artoo can certainly make use of weaponry aboard the vehicles he's plugged into, as well as whatever he might have access to through the systems he's gotten into.

     Perhaps one of his most notable abilities is in slicing into computers, effectively obtaining data or accessing systems to open doors, disable security alarms, and locate positions, just to name a few. He's a very skilled slicer and often relied upon to get the job done, and he does just that. Sometimes he doesn't even have to slice at all, just strike up a friendly conversation with the system to give him a rundown on things. Threepio's scolded him for talking to strange computers before.

     Being so close to key players of the Rebel Alliance, and even long before the rise of the Empire, Artoo has been privy to important and often secretive information. For all his years of service he's never been memory-wiped, a detail sometimes taken for granted by those that have owned him. As one of his functions is a holoprojector and recorder, let's just say that the droid has amassed some interesting records.


*Inventory:
Plans to the hornless Unicron Death Star (yep, still in his noggin.) Otherwise most everything else is built in and part of his standard design equipment. Here is an overview of what he has, some of them can obviously be left out.)


*Starting Polarity: I got nothing. I defer to mod judgment!


Writing Samples
*First Person Sample:
[At first there's nothing transmitted but a repetitive alarm-like sound, followed by a spattering of modulated beeps.

After an awkward pause, there's a low, even uncertain-sounding electronic hoot before text begins to come up.]

[[Seeking...1 protocol droid, gold plated - Easily excitable. May offend without intention. Very chatty. Identification code: C-3PO_]]

[There's a long pause before another line of text rolls out.]

[[Additional query... What star system? Current location unknown_

Cybertron = No match

....could have picked a better name.

Artificial light; artificial planet?_]]


[An appreciative whistle sounds.]


[[....that is one big pile of scrap._]]


*Third Person Sample:
     For the record, it was all Threepio's fault if he went and got himself lost again. Protocol droids didn't exactly have navigational sensors and radars built in. ...not that having them was being really helpful at the moment.

     The cylindrical astromech hooted a sigh as he retracted his equipment. There was no doubt about it, he had absolutely no idea where in the galaxy this could be. Usually he could find some sort of signal from a nearby establishment, but there was nothing to ping his sensors. Perhaps he'd have to resort to that strange network that he'd found himself connected to by default when he'd powered on again. Now that had been interesting. It was one thing getting an unwanted upgrade, another thing entirely when the first thing that came across your optical receiver was a massive droid unlike any you'd ever seen before. ...He supposed he could have been a little more cordial in greeting the thing, but usually when you found giant droids looming over you, it wasn't with the nicest of intentions. He'd apologized for zapping the thing in the face, at least. He just wasn't sure that he'd been understood. Oh well.

     This planet was apparently full of them, the monstrous droids. He wondered how Threepio had taken that bit of news. The droid practically jumped at his own shadow. It would probably be fun to see his reaction if they ever came across any of these giants themselves.

     Of course, first Artoo would have to find him. Whistling inquiringly to himself, he began to trundle ahead again, skirting the large piles of debris and random objects that he had come across. It looked like quite the junk heap, and he was certain many a Jawa would have a field day here. Such made the astromech have to wonder if there were any such scavengers about.

     ....he'd better find Threepio, and fast.



Final Notes: Granted he gets in, would it be acceptable for Artoo to try zapping an Acolyte? Probably wouldn't do much, but he'd try it anyway and get thrown out of the temple haha.