application | boomtown
Aug. 16th, 2014 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twostepsPlayer's Name: Alex
Are you over 16? Yep.
Characters Played Here: Jason Bourne
Character: Soren Émile Tamesis
World Description: Soren comes from a world much like our own - practically identical, in fact.
It’s the Otherside that’s different.
Otherside is a world of lore and legend, a dreamworld that people sometimes access of their own free will and sometimes are dragged to kicking and screaming. It is not commonly known to be a thing that exists, but is usually referred to as a fairyland of some sort, and exists alongside our own world. Many people visit in their dreams unawares. Others simply relax their minds and travel there, of their own free will, in their own heads. The world is malleable to the thoughts and desires of sentient beings, including the ones who live there already. Every interaction there is a battle of wits and wills, each being trying to shape the world and the reality to fit their desires.
And the veil between these worlds is thinning. Otherside is beginning to break into the waking world, and people from the waking world are stumbling through fairy doors and ending up there bodily, not just in spirit. Many people who are aware of Otherside are working to stem the tide and repair the torn and thinning barrier, and Soren is part of a group of his fellow students who know about Otherside and are part of the repair effort.
History: Soren was born to two loving parents in Nice, France. He was a happy little boy, creative and hyper. Around the time he turned eight, however, he began to act strangely, becoming paranoid and trying not to sleep. He also began to display night terrors, which deeply frightened his parents, who thought that something was seriously wrong with him. Even after they were told that it was a relatively normal phenomenon, they were still worried.
In addition to the night terrors, Soren also suffered from sleep paralysis and incredibly vivid nightmares. Even when he crawled into his parents' bed for comfort, the nightmares and hallucinations rarely subsided. He grew an almost crippling fear of the dark, and tried to keep the light on when he slept. Nightlights didn't help one bit - as soon as he started to feel sleepy, the light seemed to be snuffed out in a flash. Moving to the U.S. when he was twelve did not help these problems one bit - in fact, it seemed to exacerbate them. Even if Soren knew the monsters weren't real in his head, he still felt like they were real and that everyone else just couldn't see them.
The little boy was exhausted, and seeing monsters even while he was awake in broad daylight. He withdrew into himself, drawing the monsters and other frightening beings that appeared in his dreams. This disturbed his parents even more than before. What would disturb them more was if they knew, as their son did, that all of these monsters were real. The monsters were denizens of the Otherside that had squeaked between worlds. Soren had a special ability to see and hear them, but he could not touch them, nor they him. But as he grew older, he learned to suppress his reactions to them. He lied and told his parents that he was doing better, that they were imaginary terrors, and for a little while he even managed to convince himself of that. He kept having odd dreams, which he would not recognize as visits Otherside until later.
When he was in high school, after transferring due to a move, he met a girl named Kath and her friends, and noticed something unusual about them. The monsters he saw avoided them. He gathered his courage and walked up to her, bold as brass, telling her about what he saw.
Instead of laughing in his face, she listened. And she told him the truth. She told him about Otherside, and that she and her friends were also drawn there to fight a great evil, and that since he could see them in the waking world, he could help. From then on, Soren became part of their little group, and his nocturnal visits Otherside began to take on more structure. He began to train himself to combat the enemies, finding that when he was Otherside he had a particular affinity for working with water and the weather - that is, controlling it. He is even beginning to gain, to his surprise, minor control over his powers in the waking world, but only if he has a focus. (His particular focus is a blue gem on a collar that rests at the hollow of his throat. If it is lost, he can make another, but it’ll take a lot of time, effort, and energy.
At the time of his fluxing into New Dodge, he has been sent on a quest by the Pale Princeps, a regional monarch whom he loves fiercely, and is Otherside. So, when fluxing shocks him back into his body, he will not be happy.
Personality: If one got to know Soren very well, it would be seen that he is a very chipper, happy person. However, it's tough to know Soren. He rarely opens up to anyone, usually with his nose stuck in a book or his eyes staring out the window. His parents can't understand what it is that made their wonderful, happy little boy so aloof and distant, so frightened of the world - because they’ll think he’s crazy if he tells them. So he keeps them in the dark instead and tries to put on a brave front. He finds it much easier to be honest with his friends, who not only do not judge him, but know exactly what he’s going through.
He's become paranoid over the years, and has to fight the urge to skulk and hide at the slightest sound he doesn't recognize or movement seen out of the corner of his eye. This has made him the subject of ridicule and bullying in the past, and given him even more good reason to flinch. He's cautious, perhaps overly so, but flashes of bravery shine when he's called upon to do something difficult. What he fears is the unknown and darkness - heights do not affect him.
Soren finds solace in his faith. He is a devout Catholic, and is beginning to consider his ability to see the monsters to be a gift rather than a curse. He has a clear sense of right and wrong, and is patently nonviolent; he just wants his monsters to go away, he doesn’t want to kill them. He just wants to keep them from coming through the veil, and, if he can, to get himself to have something resembling a normal life. He is even coming to pity the beasts that threaten him. In the meantime, though, he will not stop fighting for that goal, even if he looks small and frail. He is a lot tougher mentally than most people would figure; spending half your life thinking you’re losing your mind and figuring out how to deal with it is its own crucible.
Why do you think your character would work in this setting? Soren is not going to take fluxing in well, especially since he’ll be coming to in the middle of the Silent Hill-ified town. Once Silent Hill ends and he can get properly integrated into New Dodge, he’ll adapt. He is surprisingly resilient for someone who seems so frail. He’ll choose to stay if he acquires friends or mentors and can get a grip on his powers; otherwise, he’ll want to return home.
The sci-fi setting will be unusual for him, but he’s dealt with some pretty weird - though more fantasy-like - things Otherside. It won’t be too much of a struggle for him to get used to it.
What will your character do for work? I’m thinking crew for the theatre.
Inventory:
x1 set of clothing: socks, shoes, jeans, t-shirt, hoodie, underwear, cross necklace
x1 journal/sketchbook, one-quarter filled
x1 backpack
x1 iPhone and charger
x1 rosary bearing the image of St. Michael
assortment of pens and pencils
Samples:
Third-Person Sample: Some fresh air was just what Soren needed. His parents had been trying to put on a brave face, but he could tell. He knew. He could see it in his mother's eyes, the sorrow, the terror when she looked at him; he could see the new silver-grey threads in her blonde, wavy hair. He was killing them inside, and that hurt him.
He'd made a pledge to himself that he would get better. If it took him months or years or decades, he would get better so he could hug his mother without feeling the chill of lurking monstrosities waiting to tear him apart with rotten-scented breath.
He blinked, and abruptly the daylight washed into his eyes. The lake was certainly beautiful today. At least he could come out here and enjoy the sun. A light breeze blew, stirring the water, and the sunlight glinted off of it. That sun-glint continued to rise out of the water, gaining form, far off but still threatening.
It was a spider. A spider made of knives. Soren gripped the grass like an anchor, suddenly dizzy from the realization that he was not safe even here. I'm never safe. And that was why he had made his choice to fight them. He'd decided to remove the monsters, and become safe once more. Safe for people to be around, and safe inside his own mind.
I mustn't scream. If I do, it'll know where I am, and it'll come for me. He took a deep breath. "Go away," he whispered. "You're not real. Tu n'existes pas!"
Telling the spider that it didn't exist was unhelpful. It paused, and turned, skittering across the surface of the water. Oh, God, he could hear it coming for him, making fell noises like metal grinding, like knives being sharpened, like the singing of a steel sword pulled from its sheath. He tried to focus on something else, anything else, to make the world go back to normal. The pills he had taken didn't work too well - but then, what did, on these walking nightmares? The boy tried to reorient himself to the world of light, but it failed to be effective. He swayed in place, still clutching the brown, brittle grass like a lifeline. The spider was coming, and trailing darkness along with it - a spider with too many limbs, an organic/mechanical construct that wanted to devour him alive, but not before it had drained him dry and fed off his fear...
First-Person Sample:
They came back again.
I’m not afraid anymore, though. Not really. Not as much as I used to be. Aly, Kath, Ginny...they’re all helping me deal with them. And now I know what they are. They can’t hurt me if I’m not where they come from. Kath told me that if I go where they’re from, if I go Otherside, then I can learn how to fight them. I’m a little scared of doing that, actually! But I guess I don’t have a choice. I know why I can see the monsters now. It’s a gift, it has to be. They can lead me to rifts. And if I find the rifts Otherside...I can help.
Maybe if I learn well enough, I won’t have to see them anymore. Maybe I can be normal.
Are you over 16? Yep.
Characters Played Here: Jason Bourne
Character: Soren Émile Tamesis
World Description: Soren comes from a world much like our own - practically identical, in fact.
It’s the Otherside that’s different.
Otherside is a world of lore and legend, a dreamworld that people sometimes access of their own free will and sometimes are dragged to kicking and screaming. It is not commonly known to be a thing that exists, but is usually referred to as a fairyland of some sort, and exists alongside our own world. Many people visit in their dreams unawares. Others simply relax their minds and travel there, of their own free will, in their own heads. The world is malleable to the thoughts and desires of sentient beings, including the ones who live there already. Every interaction there is a battle of wits and wills, each being trying to shape the world and the reality to fit their desires.
And the veil between these worlds is thinning. Otherside is beginning to break into the waking world, and people from the waking world are stumbling through fairy doors and ending up there bodily, not just in spirit. Many people who are aware of Otherside are working to stem the tide and repair the torn and thinning barrier, and Soren is part of a group of his fellow students who know about Otherside and are part of the repair effort.
History: Soren was born to two loving parents in Nice, France. He was a happy little boy, creative and hyper. Around the time he turned eight, however, he began to act strangely, becoming paranoid and trying not to sleep. He also began to display night terrors, which deeply frightened his parents, who thought that something was seriously wrong with him. Even after they were told that it was a relatively normal phenomenon, they were still worried.
In addition to the night terrors, Soren also suffered from sleep paralysis and incredibly vivid nightmares. Even when he crawled into his parents' bed for comfort, the nightmares and hallucinations rarely subsided. He grew an almost crippling fear of the dark, and tried to keep the light on when he slept. Nightlights didn't help one bit - as soon as he started to feel sleepy, the light seemed to be snuffed out in a flash. Moving to the U.S. when he was twelve did not help these problems one bit - in fact, it seemed to exacerbate them. Even if Soren knew the monsters weren't real in his head, he still felt like they were real and that everyone else just couldn't see them.
The little boy was exhausted, and seeing monsters even while he was awake in broad daylight. He withdrew into himself, drawing the monsters and other frightening beings that appeared in his dreams. This disturbed his parents even more than before. What would disturb them more was if they knew, as their son did, that all of these monsters were real. The monsters were denizens of the Otherside that had squeaked between worlds. Soren had a special ability to see and hear them, but he could not touch them, nor they him. But as he grew older, he learned to suppress his reactions to them. He lied and told his parents that he was doing better, that they were imaginary terrors, and for a little while he even managed to convince himself of that. He kept having odd dreams, which he would not recognize as visits Otherside until later.
When he was in high school, after transferring due to a move, he met a girl named Kath and her friends, and noticed something unusual about them. The monsters he saw avoided them. He gathered his courage and walked up to her, bold as brass, telling her about what he saw.
Instead of laughing in his face, she listened. And she told him the truth. She told him about Otherside, and that she and her friends were also drawn there to fight a great evil, and that since he could see them in the waking world, he could help. From then on, Soren became part of their little group, and his nocturnal visits Otherside began to take on more structure. He began to train himself to combat the enemies, finding that when he was Otherside he had a particular affinity for working with water and the weather - that is, controlling it. He is even beginning to gain, to his surprise, minor control over his powers in the waking world, but only if he has a focus. (His particular focus is a blue gem on a collar that rests at the hollow of his throat. If it is lost, he can make another, but it’ll take a lot of time, effort, and energy.
At the time of his fluxing into New Dodge, he has been sent on a quest by the Pale Princeps, a regional monarch whom he loves fiercely, and is Otherside. So, when fluxing shocks him back into his body, he will not be happy.
Personality: If one got to know Soren very well, it would be seen that he is a very chipper, happy person. However, it's tough to know Soren. He rarely opens up to anyone, usually with his nose stuck in a book or his eyes staring out the window. His parents can't understand what it is that made their wonderful, happy little boy so aloof and distant, so frightened of the world - because they’ll think he’s crazy if he tells them. So he keeps them in the dark instead and tries to put on a brave front. He finds it much easier to be honest with his friends, who not only do not judge him, but know exactly what he’s going through.
He's become paranoid over the years, and has to fight the urge to skulk and hide at the slightest sound he doesn't recognize or movement seen out of the corner of his eye. This has made him the subject of ridicule and bullying in the past, and given him even more good reason to flinch. He's cautious, perhaps overly so, but flashes of bravery shine when he's called upon to do something difficult. What he fears is the unknown and darkness - heights do not affect him.
Soren finds solace in his faith. He is a devout Catholic, and is beginning to consider his ability to see the monsters to be a gift rather than a curse. He has a clear sense of right and wrong, and is patently nonviolent; he just wants his monsters to go away, he doesn’t want to kill them. He just wants to keep them from coming through the veil, and, if he can, to get himself to have something resembling a normal life. He is even coming to pity the beasts that threaten him. In the meantime, though, he will not stop fighting for that goal, even if he looks small and frail. He is a lot tougher mentally than most people would figure; spending half your life thinking you’re losing your mind and figuring out how to deal with it is its own crucible.
Why do you think your character would work in this setting? Soren is not going to take fluxing in well, especially since he’ll be coming to in the middle of the Silent Hill-ified town. Once Silent Hill ends and he can get properly integrated into New Dodge, he’ll adapt. He is surprisingly resilient for someone who seems so frail. He’ll choose to stay if he acquires friends or mentors and can get a grip on his powers; otherwise, he’ll want to return home.
The sci-fi setting will be unusual for him, but he’s dealt with some pretty weird - though more fantasy-like - things Otherside. It won’t be too much of a struggle for him to get used to it.
What will your character do for work? I’m thinking crew for the theatre.
Inventory:
x1 set of clothing: socks, shoes, jeans, t-shirt, hoodie, underwear, cross necklace
x1 journal/sketchbook, one-quarter filled
x1 backpack
x1 iPhone and charger
x1 rosary bearing the image of St. Michael
assortment of pens and pencils
Samples:
Third-Person Sample: Some fresh air was just what Soren needed. His parents had been trying to put on a brave face, but he could tell. He knew. He could see it in his mother's eyes, the sorrow, the terror when she looked at him; he could see the new silver-grey threads in her blonde, wavy hair. He was killing them inside, and that hurt him.
He'd made a pledge to himself that he would get better. If it took him months or years or decades, he would get better so he could hug his mother without feeling the chill of lurking monstrosities waiting to tear him apart with rotten-scented breath.
He blinked, and abruptly the daylight washed into his eyes. The lake was certainly beautiful today. At least he could come out here and enjoy the sun. A light breeze blew, stirring the water, and the sunlight glinted off of it. That sun-glint continued to rise out of the water, gaining form, far off but still threatening.
It was a spider. A spider made of knives. Soren gripped the grass like an anchor, suddenly dizzy from the realization that he was not safe even here. I'm never safe. And that was why he had made his choice to fight them. He'd decided to remove the monsters, and become safe once more. Safe for people to be around, and safe inside his own mind.
I mustn't scream. If I do, it'll know where I am, and it'll come for me. He took a deep breath. "Go away," he whispered. "You're not real. Tu n'existes pas!"
Telling the spider that it didn't exist was unhelpful. It paused, and turned, skittering across the surface of the water. Oh, God, he could hear it coming for him, making fell noises like metal grinding, like knives being sharpened, like the singing of a steel sword pulled from its sheath. He tried to focus on something else, anything else, to make the world go back to normal. The pills he had taken didn't work too well - but then, what did, on these walking nightmares? The boy tried to reorient himself to the world of light, but it failed to be effective. He swayed in place, still clutching the brown, brittle grass like a lifeline. The spider was coming, and trailing darkness along with it - a spider with too many limbs, an organic/mechanical construct that wanted to devour him alive, but not before it had drained him dry and fed off his fear...
First-Person Sample:
They came back again.
I’m not afraid anymore, though. Not really. Not as much as I used to be. Aly, Kath, Ginny...they’re all helping me deal with them. And now I know what they are. They can’t hurt me if I’m not where they come from. Kath told me that if I go where they’re from, if I go Otherside, then I can learn how to fight them. I’m a little scared of doing that, actually! But I guess I don’t have a choice. I know why I can see the monsters now. It’s a gift, it has to be. They can lead me to rifts. And if I find the rifts Otherside...I can help.
Maybe if I learn well enough, I won’t have to see them anymore. Maybe I can be normal.
