ａｐｐｌｉｃａｔｉｏｎ (tushanshu)

[ifiwin]

PLAYER INFORMATION
NAME: Till.
AGE: 18+.
CONTACT: (AIM) lyckatill.
GAME CAST: --


CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: Gary Smith.
CANON: Bully.
CANON POINT: CHAPTER 5; The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hopkins; Aged 15.
AGE: Sixteen.
REFERENCE: BULLY; wikia.

SETTING:

"and you should be grateful you're not the victim for once"
GENERAL
It is noted throughout the wikia and general knowledge that the timeline of the game is unclear when it comes to the aesthetics of the world. Throughout the items found within the game, from buildings, cars, posters, and vinage monochrome-screen computers, the setting visually can be from anywhere in 1980s to 2008. Yet, most of these things can be a habit of a institution, or the town in general, maintaining a lower quality of standard when it comes to the general economy. Perhaps not the richest or progressive location, where older items of possession and the design of the buildings can simply be chalked up to history. The developers state that the world of Bully takes place in 2006 in the fictional town of Bullworth, a place which resembles the visual layout in places such as Connecticut with the style of New England being predominating. Considering this, the setting of the game would exist within the sphere of the New England area of the United States during that year; fictional town and academy set aside, there is nothing supernatural or abnormal occurring that would cause the geographic, political or social sphere to be any different than it was in that day and age which is considered essentially modern. Events to consider paramount to the time are primarily political in nature and for the sake of setting since it takes place in the Untied States the focus will be on what is happening on home soil, as International affairs are not prevalent in the game though in characters throughout and as well as issues happening within the storyline itself it does reflect on the era in which is was produced in.

In 2006, the United States was headed by George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney whom where steeped in the war happening abroad in the Middle East. The country itself was in a dilemma of constant rally for or against the war as well as other primary issues such as gay marriage and abortion. The idea of religion as a basis for political rule was considered unconstitutional but was happening despite circumstances. Economical issues due to the warm stimulated a massive uprising of unemployment and foreclosures on homes and local businesses while in the realm of technological advancement items were on the rise. Other than that, what was happening at the time and in the realm of 2006 the setting is not obscure or abstract in anyway and holds complete and utter similarity to the setting in which those existing at the time knew it to be. Boarders were the same, global warming was messing with the weather patterns and natural disasters happened accordingly to when they did in the year in our factual world. The only thing that differed was the fact that there was now a fictional town, Bullworth, that existed on the map in the state of New Hampshire and in that town was the infamous Bullworth Academy which is where the primary setting takes place.

THE TOWN
As a town, Bullworth maintains six main districts, districts that most North East costal lining cities in the United States tend to have and are divided up by. Rather small, with a population of all combining boroughs of 128,000 (as the WIKIA states), the town is aesthetically pleasing, and while run down in some areas, tends to follow the visual idea of most towns that maintain prestigious academic academies; rooted in old history with a city centre like structure. The districts are split up according the game setting; Bullworth Academy, Bullworth Town, Old Bullworth Vale, New Coventry, Blue Skiles Industrial Park and the Happy Volts Asylum.

As most games do, all the districts maintain their own look and style to them and represent varying social classes within the town itself. The town itself is a essentially commercial borough that maintains many of the shops within the area as well as the town hall. Like any small town, most of the shops are local businesses able to stay afloat thanks to the rather rich cliental that the academy tends to attract as well as the patrons living within the town itself and the area is generally clean and decently upscale asides a few dirty alleys. Though, that is not to say that the town isn't without its homeless and ruffian populace. The Old Bullworth Vale holds two main areas, one of the being a smaller set of shops compared to the centre of town that includes more middle-class housing and the other the primary a topnotch residential area, housing most of the wealthier residents as well as some of the educators that teach at the academy across town. The area is generally kept up to speed with the requirements of those with need to keep rubbish off the streets and maintain a look of a beauty. With this, the borough also faces an ocean inlet, the same inlet that houses the carnival grounds nearby that seems to be open to the public all year round. Every town has the areas are that are considered home to the down trodden and luckless candidates of life and New Coventry is the urban-poor borough of the town, maintaining mostly tenement housing that looks as if it has seen better days. There are few shops there, but those that do exist fit the aesthetic and carry at times questionable goods as well as cheaper options for those unable to afford the fancier qualities of life. Akin to a Camden like neighbourhood, there is a historical district within but its hidden amongst the industrial parks that surround the area, one of them being Blue Skies Industrial Park. Asides from a small residential area, the borough is dominated by factories and warehouses that are scattered throughout. The homes in the area are something akin to a stereotypical view of the Southern United States with furniture on the lawn and boarded up and broken windows aplenty. A set of abandoned train tracks run through the area and lead onward to one of the towns less appealing aspects, the Happy Volts Asylum which is essentially as it reads; a psychiatric hospital. Located within the woods, the area is one of those places that kids like to come up with rumours about and dare each other to travel to the location at night. The title of the institution is regarded as a off-handed and rather tasteless comment to the inclination that they might practice electroshock therapy on the premises.

Yet out of all the districts within the setting of the game, Bullworth Academy is the primary and prevalent location worth defining.

THE SCHOOL
An independent boarding school located within the town of Bullworth, Bullworth Academy is known for it's prestige as well as its rougher quality of life, run by headmaster Dr. Crabblesnitch. Accepting kids from all walks of life, students range from rich children whose parents brought them there for the academics and teachers, and other parents who enrolled their children to simply get them out of the house, or to educate them in more prevalent social morals when seemingly too over aggressive or antisocial. As far as the staff at the school is considered, they range from regard worthy teachers to others that are not so kind, nor exactly sober or honest. Providing twelve major classes within the curriculum; art, biology, chemistry, english, geography, gym, history, home economics, math, music, photography and shop, the school assures that any student attending, or at least willing to learn, will get a well-rounded education. The athletics department is a massive feature of the school as well, and while it expresses such sport as soccer, boxing, and wrestling, the unit at the top of the game is American football, the team that plays called the Bullworth Bullhorns who practice on the campuses football field and maintain a full gymnasium at their disposal.

Designed visually in a neo-gothic manner, the school itself resembles Fettes College in the city of Edinburgh yet despite it's all around exterior, it's been claimed to be one of the toughest and worst schools in the country by those who inhabit it and are not paying their way through their school years. Bullworth Academy houses 60 students (claimed by the WIKIA), not including the prefects who are essentially the lowest level of authority at the school, responsible for general enforcing of the rules. Consisting of nine main buildings, the school maintains a boys and girls dorm, the central building, the library, the auto repair shop, Harrington house (a private dormitory for those with more money in their pockets), the gym, the jocks clubhouse and the observatory. While other buildings do seem to exist, they play no major role within the setting of the game and are not expanded on. Yet the buildings throughout the game vary depending on who inhabits them. The boys dorm is one floor and is quite dirty, rats frequenting the surroundings at night as well as constant vandalism. The girls dorm is much bigger despite the fact that the boys outnumber the girls on campus. It is two stories tall and is much cleaner, decorated with more class and holds better furnishings. The dorms for the girls are patrolled by an individual named Mrs. Peabody and unlike the boys dorms, there is a strict code of of not allowing a member of the opposite sex to enter. The main building maintains the design of most of the campus and houses a majority of the classrooms within. It is normally clean and well kept and is patrolled often, as are the school grounds, by prefects who assure an intense no-trespassing rule after curfew which is in place in the evenings. The library and the gymnasium are standard buildings with no great defining features that are out of the ordinary for any traditional school found in the United States during the time period though are larger and more university style with their immense space.

The school itself varies from stereotypical high-school life to something more over the top where constant harassment is the norm and it is the social cliques that exist within the school that make this possible. Like waring gang factions, they are found all over campus and pray on those different than them. More run by the cliques than the faculty, it is the primary function of the game and the focus of the entirety of the academy as it will make or break whoever the students there depending on which role in the pecking order they fall under.

SOCIAL CLIQUES
A game based around the varying social classes within school life, the idea of social cliques is massively important to the setting and akin to small countries, each clique follows its own political protocol, holds its own style of fashion and has a base at their own building within the academy or in the town of Bullworth itself. The cliques are split up into six different classes are primarily stereotypical to how any media portrays them. The cliques themselves are the nerds, the bullies, the preppies, the greasers, the jocks and the townies. Each clique is important to note as it's how Gary notes social situations in canon. Beginning with the nerds; they are stereotypical and are often found at the library or at the local comic book store called Dragon's Wing. The observatory is their hideout and as a clique they are the smartest on the campus yet also the weakest at the school, the traditional view of them being at the bottom of the pecking order of the social scheme. They might be poor at fighting but in the game Gary claims that they are sneaky bastards and not as harmless as they look.

Coming along the line are the preppies which again are pretty much as any other person in reality would describe them by the cliched view. They are rich and come from old money, snobbish and look down on anyone who isn't like them. Some of them even put on a fake accent to look like they are better and more cultured than everyone else, a faux upper-class English accent or a trans-Atlantic one is the most common. The greasers are their largest conflict point when it comes to the social structure of the game. They dress in leather or denim jackets and quite obviously grease back their hair. Akin to some kind of 1950 stereotypical throw-back, they most come from Italian-American heritage and tend to hang around the auto shop or in the New Coventry area of the town. They normally come from the working class side of life and don't have as much money, hence their rivalry with the preppies.

Where the nerds are the bottom of the pecking order, the jocks rule the top and according Gary within the game run the school. Mostly athletic students, they are found often in the gym and the football pitch as the male members of clique are primarily on the American football team and the girls are cheerleaders. They are the enemy of the nerds primarily and negatively associate with them. Where all the cliques have their own interaction with each other it is the bullies that remain completely and utter neutral and hold no social status in the run of the campus as far as students are concerned. They don't care much for the order of things and lack their own place to hand out or any sort of structure to their group where others have heads and second-in-command members. Its more of a clique of friends who focus on bullying weaker students and those outside of campus. The other cliques rarely bother the bullies out of their lack fo interest in the pecking order or out of fear. The townies, while not a group on campus, are non-students that hold a massive resentment for the school, the students there and the faculty. Normally they are kids who were unable to pay to go to the school or where kicked out for some reason or another. They tend to hang around the industrial part of town or the graveyard behind the towns church and are never seen on campus grounds.

PERSONALITY:

"because I can, because making little people like you and the morons who run this place eat out of the palm of my hand feels great."
An antagonist is not without their stereotypes, as it can be said for many characters that walk on the villainous side of creative media. Yet with Gary Smith, it is his honest and blatant characterisation of these tropes makes him original in a way and along with the brutal honesty of his own knowledge of his character as well as those surrounding him that causes him to seem rather unique. Entitled by the other students at Bullworth Academy as a sociopath, who enjoys torturing people, Gary is never one to deny this of himself and from the beginning of the game is rather straightforward with the fact that he has various disorders, and begins the series on behaviour medication to combat them. Yet, despite his directness in his issues, it's clear that Gary likely suffers from much more than just an underlying condition that is easily solved via pharmaceuticals. It's his character development throughout the game that makes this most obvious as he goes from potential comrade to enemy in a short amount of time once he halts taking his prescribed pills.

Highly manipulative, Gary maintains the ability to weasel his way into people's good graces and then turn on them completely to gain his own desires. An actor of sorts, while being honest about his character and his needs to complete his own agenda, he can charm his way into someones existence before proverbially digging his nails in to twist them to his whim. In the game, Gary holds control by force and tongue of the majority of the social cliques within the school and exists for the sole purpose to completely undo all of the protagonists hard work that he completes throughout the plot-line, to in turn twist his good deeds to Gary's desires of hostile takeover Within the game, it is his desire to know everything and be well informed, he is socially and politically aware of the dealings within the school and the cliques as they exist, and because of this, he is able to network and weasel his way within; through the simple knowledge of how they exist and wear. Hence, in the beginning of the game it is Gary that shows the main protagonist around the school, explaining the ins and out in sarcastic and amusing detail and honesty. He knows where to stick his nose and when, and more importantly he finds and seeks out weaknesses like a wolfhound, and will mock and exploit them more often than holding back as he has no social filter when he can get away with it.

Yet, despite being as smart as he is, Gary holds fault like any other character and like many antagonists it is his own fault for his undoing. Where he could have taken the track to actually befriend and trust the protagonist of the game, someone who willingly gave him his trust and friendship in return, Gary's own paranoia was his downfall. Narcissistic, and over suspicious, he always has his guard up, even if he never seems it. Feeling like there is a perpetual knife at his back is common for his character and likely it is his superiority complex that goes along with it, fuelling the constant concern of being turned upon and therefore the motto is do not trust a soul but yourself. In his mind, Gary is more intelligent and more capable than anyone around him and he is the one that must take care of everything. He cannot relinquish power and has a hard time believing anyone else can handle a situation like him. Trust issues are obviously massive in his life and while that can possibly be linked to his childhood someone, it's never discussed because in a way Gary is an enigma. Completely devoid of all morals, he does what is needed in his eyes to achieve his goals which at one point not only included manipulating the entire faculty and student body into fighting against one another but getting one of the teachers are the academy falsely admitted to a mental institution. Whether be a mental block he was born with or simply developed, he holds little regard to others health or stability and when it comes down to it, Gary is indeed a sociopath, as much of his fellow students state early on within the game.

Without his behaviour medication, something he had stopped taking around October of the canon year the game takes place within, something becomes a little more unhinged. While he is naturally a rather nasty individual, quick and cutting in dialogue and action, without the stability that the drug applies, he has little to no inhibition. In this state, in his reality of everyday interaction and function, Gary is almost incapable of becoming anyones friend. Throughout the majority of the canon year, Gary spends it working behind the scenes which shows what an affective antagonist he is. After his falling out with the protagonist around November, Gary is not seen from or heard of asides via word of mouth of other people and even that is minimal. He is smart enough that he takes all of the academies cliques and pits them against one another, then against the protagonist before wrapping his little finger around the lot of them and bringing him to his cause; taking over the school, taking over the town.

Cruel, sadistic and capable of sending a stable situation into complete and utter chaos. Gary takes the protagonists united kingdom and with a snap of his fingers breaks it apart. He holds arrogance about him and is always delighted by his own scheming. His disrespect for others lives is even placed on the line when in the final fight occurs between him and the hero of the school, he even attempts to throw the other off the top of the building, unashamed of the possible death it could cause. He taunts and provokes when it comes down to the wire of the situation and his manipulation and underhanded charm has fallen out. Essentially, he is a cliché like many villains are, even to the point where in a classic manner during the last fight he taunts and reveals all his secrets the entire way up a climb upon a series of falling platforms, laughing the entire time and claiming that the protagonist will indeed meet their imminent defeat.

Remarkably intelligent, a hero without morals, Gary is confusing when it comes down to it but as a master of manipulation, he is logical in the most illogical ways and that is what makes him terrifyingly brilliant.

Upon finding out that he is a world that is in-between life, death and dreaming, Gary will likely not be so overwhelmed by it as one may think. It's a foreign land, it's a restart to be able to build up the network of people that he can further manipulate; otherwise, it's an opportunity. Though of course there will be confusing with the exist of what is this world that exists between all these spheres as he is a thinker, not really one to just brush the ideology of something like that away. He will be intent on questioning his repercussions and capabilities and seeing what the structure is of these individuals who have all been brought together unwillingly and how the work with and against each other. Ultimately, he will be intrigued and willing to see what his limitations are. Though, that's as long as whatever is left over of his medication is still within his physical self.

APPEARANCE: (IMAGE) Appearance wise, what is most noticeable about Gary is that he bares a scar over his right eye that separates his right eyebrow near the edge of his face. He is commonly seen wearing a teal vest over a grey collared shirt which he rolls his sleeves to the forearm. A silver watch on his left wrist and leather band on his right he bares the symbol of the school on the vest like any other would that attended his academy. Gary has short brown hair that parts to the left, and maintains a tall, slim and solid physique for someone his age. From concept and in-game details he has brown coloured eyes and more of an olive completion compared to his fellow students. He has a small gap between his bottom front two teeth and his lips seem often cracked and dry.

ABILITIES: Far from holding an abilities considered supernatural, Gary isn't abnormal in his strengths by any means but that isn't to say for his age that he isn't able to take care of himself. For the situation he exists within the setting of the game he is considered fairly strong. He maintains a good knowledge of hand to hand combat and while his fighting skills are not always fair he knows how to throw his fists and feet around in the rough existence of school scrapping but to an extreme extent. In the game he's seen pulling his weight in various situations that come to fighting and works together well in a group environment in the extent of massive brawls. From climbing stories of buildings to walking across piping from one ledge to another he knows his way around balance and a battle, one to one or in a group of many but what puts Gary against the rest of schoolyard bullies is his level of intelligence and manipulation. As expressed in his personality, Gary as a character is a master manipulator and that is a huge part of his abilities. Due to his age in life, this gives him the massive benefit when it comes to meeting others and putting on a facade of assistance, friendship and above all innocence. In the game he is not able to only wrap his finger around all of the social cliques and manipulate them with his words but also the faculty of the entirely of the school. He is exceedingly intelligent which allows him to be able to manipulate people to his doing it the circumstance are right and if all else fails, he will create his own circumstances even if it envolves pretending to be someone he is not. In the game Gary as a character fades from the picture before midway through the plot yet even though he is not present he is pulling all of the strings despite physical presence, he is essentially moving along the plot of the story simply by force and his words into undoing everything the protagonist does to create his own standing in life with a snap of his fingers and fancy wording. Even during his fights physically, he uses his words to degrade his opponent and bring others into the fold for his fight. Ultimately, despite his age he is good in a fight and a good strategist which makes him a double edged sword. What it comes down to is that Gary is a double edged sword where often his own mind and his own paranoia is his downfall.

INVENTORY:

➊ Clothing.
➋ Slingshot.
➌ Marbles.
➍ Jewellery: watch & leather band.

SUITE: (METAL) As for housing concerns, Gary is used to living in rather dire conditions considering that his dormitory has rats crawling about. Yet it's not the wealthy nature of the surroundings that would be good for him but more the people he is around and the style. Seemingly more modern, the metal district will have a touch of familiarity to him with more modern appliances and for a guy who seems to enjoy climbing things the tall buildings will remind him of the more industrial likes state that Bullworth as a town seems to hold. With only a small amount of organised crime in the sector, it will seem like a good place to be able to put his foot down and if anything Gary is eccentric, if you put his bipolar personality in kinder context. He claims himself that he is always thinking and so being around other intellectuals might calm him a little more than being surrounded by locals who don't then to use their heads before acting. He himself, despite often putting on a front of being welcoming, isn't very welcoming to those around him and in canon maintains a lack of an inner circle of friends due to his manipulative nature. So being viewed as someone not wanted by the locals residing in the area won't bother him in the slightest. As far as floor arrangements for him though, whatever is smallest will fit him the best since compact is the way he seems to live and is more comfortable in a zone that he feels is his own.


IN-CHARACTER SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON

He hit the ground and the world suddenly went dark. Sensations still attached, he could remember being dragged, he could remember ebbing along the edges of consciousness but ultimately it was dark as the blackest night. Where Gary had been knocked out before this was nothing like it had felt in various times he had found himself dripping in and out of consciousness, his senses not about him. This was like a hangover, like a night imbibing in drink, an illegal, illicit activity for a individual of his age. Yet when was Gary the one to listen to what he was told? Certainly, he remembered his body being moved, the burns upon his limbs and face, the hold upon his the edge of his collar, but it was the drop, his body feeling as if he was sinking through the floor he was being pulled upon that really stood out. It was that sensation that he remembered and if anything he remembered like he was floating through space, through the existence of time. He might have been smart, he might have thought himself intelligent but when he awoke, it was nothing that he could comprehend for the moments when his eyes flung open and breath filled his lungs again.

Consciousness once more, and Gary for once didn't have an word to say, and idea on what to do. He simply sat up, gasping for breath as if he had lost it once again--it was literally all he had.

If he could remember anything he could remember his hands shaking as soon as he found himself aware, within his own mind. Broken and shattered perhaps, but it was his mind nonetheless and even as he was silent, his thoughts were fragmented, running a million miles an hour to sort out the situation he had found himself in, to place together what was he was looking at because the surroundings were certainly not familiar. The place held a grander he was certain that only the rich and elegant were able to maintain, it was otherworldly and for a moment Gary Smith thought he had died from that fall and for that moment he hoped that Jimmy Hopkins had suffered right alongside him. Yet if this was hell, if this was any sort of heaven, whatever god existed, they had a warped sense of humour as he looked down at his hands and noticed the off colouring of them, noticed how it trailed up and under the sleeves of his attire.

These strange locals, these individuals that greeted him upon his arrived? They could explain all they wanted, they could speak all they desired. Yet the weakness in his body, the disoriented feeling, the insanity that crept along the edges, all they could receive in turn was a laugh. A laugh that echoed in the halls, a laugh that tethered itself to the edge of stability, a laugh of a mad man. Unfortunate for them, unfortunate that Gary Smith was just a boy in reality, and unfortunate that it was all he could do because fresh start or new beginning, his words were absent and all he could be was amused.

After all, what else can one do when they are told they are between death, life and dreaming? It was like a cliched script, it was a like a play on words and what was he to be asides anything else but a star?

NETWORK

[Amusement is the best way to describe it, and perhaps that's because he's feeling a bit toned down after his arrival, something akin to jet-lag. The gears aren't turning as quickly as they usually are but in all honesty, they won't take too long to kickstart again. Lacking in rounded mental stability though, it's likely for the best that it's at the beginning of his arrival that he makes the choice to sit down in front of the console in one of the cafe's and do a little one-on-one with the rest of the populace.]

So this must be the social network of the lost and forgotten, the purgatory attendees, those once still living and those brought back to life like semi-intelligent zombies.

[Feet propped up on the table that the station was sat upon, he leaned back in the chair and gave a small role of his shoulders before crossing his arms, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he continued on, his voice calm and steady, because if anything for a kid, Gary is good at lying, good a putting on face--and this is one he wears often.] I guess we start with what really matters. Is it fight or flight? Individual people who feel that are the all knowing, self-important members of society spurring the group onwards or good old fashioned team work all around?

If you can't follow--the question is; what are the rules of the playing field around here? Are we split up into teams or is everyone going for the cliched one-big-happy family sort of deal? If it's the latter don't bother explaining, it'll just make this place immediately uninspiring.