Rygdea

[MATHIS RYGDEA]

Damn if this wasn't a long time coming.

On most days, having a bunch of Academy troops going out and spending an evening doing nothing more than getting drunk would have Rygdea giving them hell the next morning. Tonight, Rygdea didn't mind it one bit. Heck, he encouraged it. After what these men and women had been through, going to war with a foreign army, fal'Cie and a time guardian and coming out on top, they deserved to have a little fun. As he stood with arms against the counter of a bar that had catered to distraught soldiers and spur-of-the-moment trysts, Rygdea witnessed and all kinds of congratulations, drinking games and expressions of emotions all shared by a bunch of people glad they'd finally won that good fight they'd been working at ever since the Academy had been formed. A two-drink limit had been imposed, and Rygdea had willingly let them loose. It was good to see these people genuinely happy for a change.

With a shake of his head at the happenings around him, Rygdea turned back to face and lean on the bar, gulping down the last of his drink just before a young lady - a major - with the reddest head of hair he though he'd ever seen offered to buy him a fresh one. He gave her an apologetic look, or something close. "'Fraid I'm full-up fer the night, but thanks," he let her down easily, before putting a strong grip on the shoulder of the guy beside him whom he'd been talking to for the past several minutes. "Now this man, on the other hand... Took out sixteen Milites on his own an' hasn't had a drink all night. Give 'im a hand with that problem, will ya? The two of ya can get ta know each other." Stepping away from the two of them with a wink, he crossed through the troops on his way towards the other side of the room.

Rygdea was here to have a good time and let the troops know they'd done a damn good job against impossible odds, but he'd mostly wanted to make sure the troops were going to stay in line and not spill out into the streets like wild bucks as the night went on. They were celebrating this occasion right, though, and they didn't need Rygdea hovering around to babysit them anymore. He did have his own matters to attend to now that the burdens of the past few years had finally been kicked in the ass, hopefully for good. Heck, Rygdea had missed the past few months of this madness in a fancy crystal, sleeping his life away. Something had always told him he'd be coming back eventually. Call it more of that old idealism that Raines had driven into his mind back during the Cavalry days. But, hey, Rygdea had been right. And a few things that had occurred to him he needed to take care of when he woke up were fresh on his mind with the battle over, specifically some details involving a specific tan, leggy brunette he was about to be late for a meeting with, if he didn't get out of this place as soon as possible.

He rapped on the wall loudly a few times with his fist to get everyone's attention. "Sorry ta leave the party early, fellas, but it turns out Pulsian huntresses don't take waitin' around too patiently," he announced, giving them all a casual salute to a chorus of boos, whistles and comments, plus a few returned salutes. With a smirking grin, he turned to get out of the place, before looking like he remembered something and stopping to turn back. "An' buy Raines a drink on my tab if he ever shows that flat face of his, ya hear me? Etro damn 'im if he doesn't need one after all these years." With one final chorus of calls, Rygdea stepped out into the night, glad that it didn't feel like the sky was falling on his shoulders for once.

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[MATHIS RYGDEA]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; height: 380px; background-image:URL(http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/brooklynlolli/x0r3w0.png); border-left: 10px solid #1e1e1e; border-right: 10px solid #1e1e1e;] MATHIS RYGDEA HEY THERE, THEY CALL ME RYGDEA AND I'M CURRENTLY 38 YEARS OLD. I'M FROM THE WORLD OF COCOON WHERE I AM A PILOT AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE ACADEMY. I GO FOR GIRLS AND I WILL THROW MY WEIGHT BEHIND THE ACADEMY. ------------------------------------------------- Weapon: Assault Rifle: Rygdea has specialized for years as a marksman, and the most diverse weapon for him as a marksman is an assault rifle. He uses a specific weapon that can switch from fully automatic fire to three-round bursts to single-shot rounds used when precision is the toast of the day. Rygdea hasn't modified it heavily over the years, preferring stock to any fancy upgrades that could throw off his aim. Abilities: Piloting: Rygdea got into the military for his piloting, and it's the man thing that's made him such a valuable soldier over the years. Rygdea is an ace at the hands of a smaller fighter, able to keep up with anyone else in a dogfight, but he can also steer bigger ships around without a problem, too. He hasn't had a chance to just sit back in the pilot's chair for quite a while, but he's going to be changing that now. Marksmanship: Though he's not as proficient with his marksmanship as he is with his piloting, Rygdea finished fourth in his graduating group in shooting scores back when he was a cadet, so he's no slouch with a gun. He mostly only dabbles in the common assault rifle, though, never sniper rifles - he says people with more patience can sit there and watch a single target for an hour without a chance at a shot. Leadership: Though he never really saw himself as the type who wanted much responsibility as a military officer, Rygdea's assistance in creating the Academy thrust him into a position of leadership in forming the military. Rygdea's gone on to find he does have some capacity for leadership, and probably more than he'd admit to. That said, he doesn't get along with his troops because he's the most naturally gifted leader, but because they listen to a guy they can relate to - a guy who knows what everyday life as a soldier is like and is willing to listen to all problems. Personality: With his drawl and long hair, one would think Rygdea wouldn't make much of a good soldier. He'd be too much of a slouch or a jokester to have any chance at succeeding, right? Well, kind of right. One can tell by seeing him trot around with his hair, stubble and slightly unbuttoned uniform, all against military protocol, that Rygdea isn't the type to color within the lines all the time. In his day, he'd talk back to an officer or go off on a hangar technician for not letting him land within a decent amount of time. It got some people mad with him, yeah, and Rygdea probably bothered them even more by taking them all in stride. That's probably one of Rygdea's greatest strengths as a soldier and as an officer, though - he takes things in stride, and he manages to turn them into something fortuitous. Since becoming responsible for making the Academy military go, Rygdea has straightened up his act a tad. He's still got the hair but shaves more often and bothers to keep his uniform looking nice for business meetings. He still does not color between the lines, though, and that influence has passed down through the ranks of the current military hierarchy to some degree. But people want to stay in line, at least partially, due to the fact that they like Rygdea as a charismatic leader. No doubt he has his charming ways of helping people, and he's so down-to-earth, even refusing to take high-ranking positions in the military despite helping to form it, that the troops feel as if they can walk up to him at most any time and have a chat - and they can. Doesn't mean Rygdea's going to let everyone get away with everything. He's got himself a temper when it comes to people being genuinely stupid or outright malicious to anyone else. More personally...Rygdea's a lot of the same way. He's a loose-talking charmer who tends to befriend people easily. He also tends to not have a single bit of shame about him in his dealings. Oftentimes, he'll be the one providing the light, lazy jokes and offering to buy everyone a drink. Rygdea's basically just a guy you'd like to be around. History: Born in a pretty quiet, isolated town in Cocoon, Rygdea's love for the skies came from his dad's career as a spice freighter, carrying expensive spices from city to city on the far ends of Cocoon. Rygdea was always a good-but-not-genius student prone to trouble sometimes. He grew up strong and capable, though, helping out on their little farm. He wasn't going to stick around toiling in the dirt, though, with his eyes on the skies. Always having a love for the nuances of the military, Rygdea joined the Sanctum Military Academy as a cadet at the age of seventeen, after his dad had retired from his freighting job. Rygdea was a good trainee, only prone to charming the female cadets a bit too much and chastised a little for his "do only what needs to be done" attitude. For his skills and passion for piloting, though, he graduated in the required amount of years, first getting a position as an escort for shuttles carrying military personnel before the new unit known as the Wide-Area Response Brigade, or Cavalry, was formed under the leadership of one Cid Raines. Rygdea was hand-picked as one of the aerial unit's pilots. He and Raines hit it off from the start, both having opinions on how the government was getting screwed up by fal'Cie rule, as Rygdea like to put it. Due to their rapport, Rygdea slowly ascended the ranks to become one of Raines' highest-ranking lieutenants on his flagship the Lindblum, a position he would hold once the l'Cie crisis began. Rygdea served as a pilot several times for the l'Cie, working closely with the Pulsian Oerba Yun Fang and Snow Villiers, especially, while they were being sheltered by the Cavalry. Though he was all-for working against the government to help the l'Cie, Rygdea would find his superior wasn't all he claimed to be. Left to lead the Cavalry by Raines, Rygdea wouldn't learn of the older man's betrayal until later, when he prepared to lead the Cavalry in an assault on Eden to capture Raines, now serving as Primarch, and destroy the corrupt fal'Cie, Orphan. Rygdea hadn't a clue that Orphan's destruction would be exactly what the fal'Cie wanted. Though he did get to Raines, the former Cavalry commander asked his friend to kill him to release him from his servitude to the fal'Cie, which Rygdea was willing to do. He then went on to lead the attack, though many of his men were turned Cie'th in the process. Though Rygdea's force was stopped, he did escape to Pulse with many of Cocoon's citizens. There, though, he knew he couldn't sit idly with all that had happened. Joining with a former Sanctum official, Bartholomew Esthem, Rygdea helped to establish what would start out as a temporary governing body and grow into a permanent one. Rygdea would be on the council for the Academy, along with a number of other members, that would get no publicity but build up the infrastructure from the inside. Rygdea would be elected to run the military, but once he'd helped to structure and rebuild it in certain ways, he elected to step down to more of an advisery position after a few years, resuming his work as a pilot to the best extent that he could. After the death of Bartholomew, he elected to time-travel to the future of 400 AF to assist with the ascent of Bhunivelze and keep an eye on his son. Obviously, he did not opt to join the PSICOM forces when they broke from the Academy, and has again been thrust into a leaderhip position with the military to cover for all the officers lost to PSICOM and attempt to cobble their forces back together.

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THE PERSON BEHIND THIS WONDERFUL CHARACTER IS GENERALLY CALLED KENT AND SITS AT ALMOST 22. HE LIVES IN THE EASTER TIMEZONE AND FOUND THE SITE THROUGH PONIES. THE CUSTOM TITLE FOR THIS CHARACTER SHOULD BE...

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