Distant Skies: Application
Feb. 9th, 2013 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
someonetocarryABOUT YOU
Name: Gail
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: NA
CHARACTER
Name: Zoe Alleyne Washburne
Canon: Firefly
Age: 34
History:
x Firefly wiki for Zoe Washburne
Zoe Washburne-- born Zoe Alleyne-- was born vessel-side, in a time when Earth was a half-remembered myth and a new system of planets had been terraformed for human life. “Vessel-side” meant aboard a space ship, so travel was in her blood from the beginning. Not much else is known about her past, until she wound up in the military, fighting for the resistance against Unification, the “browncoats”. She joined for money and profession, and perhaps because she was simply good at battle: she was “career military”, rather than a volunteer who believed in the cause of freedom for the rim planets against the Alliance of central planets.
By the time the war ended, Zoe had reached the rank of Corporal, for all the good it did her. The resistance lost. She did, however, have a new partner, the one man who survived the Battle of Serenity from their platoon with her, Sergeant Malcom “Mal” Reynolds. He was a volunteer and a believer in the cause of freedom from the Alliance, and he won over both her respect and her loyalty, and even some of his belief. When the war ended badly for them, he went on to purchase a small Firefly-class transport vessel he dubbed Serenity, and she joined him as his originally reluctant and dubious first mate.
Somewhere in the years after that, she married Hoban “Wash” Washburne. The first time she met him, with Mal trying to get him hired on as Serenity’s pilot, and she found something about him disturbing, but obviously she got over that. She wanted to have children with him, but they never got the chance, in part due to his reluctance to bring a baby into the lifestyle they led. Most of the work they found to keep them running was illegal, since Mal hated the Alliance and preferred to avoid them or even stick one in their eye, if he could. They picked up more people along the way, including a preacher named Book, a Companion named Inaura, a young doctor from one of the Core planets named Simon, and the doctor’s disturbed and dangerous sister, River, who they eventually discovered was also a Reader-- a psychic. That’s where the television show leaves off.
Point in canon: After the end of the show Firefly and before the movie Serenity.
Window Location: On a small moon, Dyton, orbiting the planet Greenleaf, behind a boulder she was using as cover in a firefight
Universe:
x Wikipedia page
x The ‘verse
Zoe’s world is not Earth, but its history began on Earth-that-was: an overcrowded planet, plagued by war, environmental upheaval, and a desperate lack of space. The United States and China joined up together and expanded outward to find a new home, discovering the star system the series takes place in and terraforming most of the planets and moons there. The core planets are run by the Alliance, a united government high on promoting peace and order at the detriment of freedom and autonomy. The outer worlds, with less technology and a more individualistic culture, tend more towards separatism. Though the war for unification is over, the outer planets are still not particularly pacified, and are still dangerous places.
Space travel is ubiquitous within the star system, with core planets enjoying a high level of technology, from automated trash collecting droids to three-dimensional holographic record-keeping to tampering with the brain to create a psychic assassin. Culture on the core worlds is urbane and artistic, but you’re often at risk of breaking a minor law, and career paths are fairly circumscribed.
The outer worlds and smaller moons, however, weren’t graced with quite so much to work with. Most of them resemble the Old West of America in its childhood, with revolver pistols and simple automatic weapons rather than lasers or gravity-well guns, and horses and carts rather than hovercraft and sonic-speed cars. Crime is more rife on these planets, as well, and survival is often more important than morality.
Abilities:
x Firepower: Though Zoe is adept at hand to hand fighting and some limited melee weapon skills, her preference and real talent is for munitions. She has a steady hand, superb aim, and the calm mind to focus on where to put those bullets.
x Tactical experience: She was an officer in a war, and the first mate on a ship that got into a lot of tough situations. She’s got a lot of experience with tactics, planning, leading, and figuring out good ways to get out of tough situations.
x Unflappable: After war, thievery, the treachery of the Alliance, and the rare tangle with cannibalistic Reavers, Zoe has seen plenty, and she isn’t shaken by much. Not even seeing body parts ripped from a living person-- one she cares about, no less-- makes her more than twitch.
Possessions:
x Her clothes (leather vest, form-fitting trousers, loose tunic underneath; necklace; sturdy boots)
x Her repeat-fire shotgun, half loaded
x A fully-loaded six-shooter and a knife in thigh holsters
x The contents of her pockets (some spare change, some spare bullets, a wallet, a small photo of Wash folded inside that).
Personality:
The “warrior woman” to the core, Zoe Washburne is tough, powerful in battle, protective of others, and possessed of a strong sense of fair play. She is mostly serious, especially when there’s trouble, though with a dry wit when she does loosen up, particularly when in the company of her jovial husband Wash-- Hoban Washburne-- or her captain in his lighter moments. With strangers, she is private and tight-lipped, but she’ll regale a friend with a story or try to comfort someone (not always well) when they’re worried. Still, she isn't afraid to tell someone the truth, either, even if it isn't the most optimistic thing to say, like reminding Kaylee that sometimes the captain's plans weren't necessarily the best plans. If Mal sees the crew as a family, Zoe is the den mother, albeit the strict den mother with high expectations for her children and an over-protective streak. Even in the war, she never stopped trying to teach those under her and Mal's command, so they wouldn't get themselves killed, and didn't have any qualms about using a nickname or two to drive the point home-- "little one" was a favorite, for younger privates.
Despite her preference for being fair, Zoe doesn’t mind that her current line of work is mostly outside of the law, because they steal from those who either have too much already, like the wealthy Earth-That-Was collector; who no longer need what they’re taking, like the dead; or have the means to replace what was taken, such as the Core planet hospital which could be restocked within a matter of hours. Stealing from the Alliance doesn't bother her at all, since she sees them as patently unfair, hoarding goods that others could use and trying to run people's lives. The criminals who fence their goods are less savory, but they are necessary, and Zoe is also pragmatic: you have to play by the rules of the outer planets to get things done, sometimes, and even the dangerous ones have their own code. When she knows that something planned or done is actually unfair, however, she and Mal always try to do the right thing: for example, when they realized they'd stolen medicine needed by a local mining town, they returned it as soon as they had the chance, despite earning themselves a powerful enemy.
Zoe lives by her head, not her heart, and rarely lets emotion cloud her judgement when in the heat of the moment. Of course, the emotion is still there, just often masked behind a deadpan poker face, and not allowed to sway her if it goes against the practical and intelligent choice. She is calm in the face of danger of all kinds, from a gunfight to a bar brawl, to even negotiations with a wealthy sociopath for her wounded husband and captain. It’s very rare that she lets her heart run away with her when it shouldn’t, and it only takes place in the face of emotional extremes-- and even then, she might wear a stoic mask the whole time, showing emotion only in her actions, not her face.
As former career military, Zoe has a great respect for leadership-- if said leadership is deserved, and has been earned. She is loyal to a fault, once her respect has been earned, sometimes causing friction with her husband when he envies the respect she shows Mal. She is most comfortable when she knows someone’s role in the situation, and is content to keep people in roles they may have since outgrown, such as Mal’s role as her Sergeant in the war, and she tends to follow his lead in many things despite her own ability in leadership. She is capable of doing something other than following his orders blindly, of course, but usually in situations where the captain is not present-- such as when she regained consciousness to find he'd ordered the crew off the ship so he could "go down" with it alone-- or when she thinks it is none of his damn business-- like when he told her not to marry Wash.
On the other hand, while she loves structure and order in her own life, that does not mean she loves rules and regulations. She has a strong distaste for being controlled or ordered about by someone she does not respect-- such as the Alliance authorities on the Core planets. Her feelings towards the Alliance are not as strong or as personal as Mal's, but she doesn't particularly like them, either, and would rather just avoid them if she can. She feels the Core planets are stifling, places where you can get arrested for littering, or so she claims. She goes so far as to avoid even setting foot on one when they dock for legitimate reasons, despite Wash wanting to partake in all the tourist sights on them.
Thread Sample:
Zoe on the test drive meme.
Prose Sample:
Zoe’s back slammed up against the safety of the boulder, and she scrambled to reload her shotgun. There were the sounds of fighting all around her, between the grunts and thuds of fists meeting flesh and the sharp claps of bullets bouncing off her current cover. The door to Serenity’s cargo bay buzzed and creaked as Kaylee, inside, hurried to close it and keep the fighting well outside and away from her and the other civilians.
Zoe approved. Her man didn’t need to be subjected to anyone with a gun.
When there was a breath’s pause in the firing, she ducked out and around to fire again, laying out a fellow with a six-shooter who promptly fell off his horse. In that moment, she saw the shepherd administer a flat-palmed hit to one of their assailants’ faces-- someday she really needed to hear his story about how he learned to fight so damned well-- and saw the captain duck a swing from another. Jayne was down, throttling some poor soul who didn’t know not to cross him. She also spotted company coming from beyond the brush.
Managing a second shot before fire came back to her, Zoe whirled back around. “Incoming riders!” she hollered, to get the captain’s attention.
“Zoe, I need some cover fire, here!” the captain hollered back, and she immediately came back out to aim and fire at one of the horses that had just come in range.
“Hurry up, sir,” she called. “Can’t avoid bein’ shot for too long!”
“Aw, stop complainin’!” Jayne growled, standing up and spraying the incoming with bullets, himself. “I got this!”
Since his spray missed a couple of them, and they were coming hard right for her hiding place, Zoe had to dive back again, this time further back. One horse came careening past, a pistol aimed for her, and she leaped out of the way--
--and landed not in dirt but onto pavement, and into the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life. Her last thought before she blacked out was that she must’ve been shot, and dying hurt a whole lot more than she’d hoped it did.
Plans:
Zoe is a warrior at heart and a protector by nature. She would be good as a soldier, particularly a soldier with someone under her command, as well as good for training and some stealth missions.
Notes:
Hopefully some canonmates will follow :) I know at least one current player is planning to bring in a River not too long after me.
DÆMON
Name: Rex
Sex: Male
Form: American Wolverine
Additional notes:
Between his partner and his truncated name, it’s no surprise Rex is stocky and brawny, even for a compact species. His coat is silvery-brown coat with trademark gold stripes down his sides, though he is lacking the silver face mask some have, having instead a face that’s nearly black from which pale brown eyes stand out. He has particularly large paws, and a very deep, soothing voice-- when it’s not growling, anyway.
Why this form:
First, there’s the physical: while they don’t exactly match, Rex’s dark, shaggy appearance suits her strong but slightly frizzy appearance. He’s strong and fierce, and she is also strong and fierce-- unexpectedly so, him due to his size, and her due to her sex. Zoe may be tall, but as a woman she is still often underestimated. Wolverines are aggressive creatures, primarily fighters and opportunists rather than stalkers and plotters, and while Zoe knows her strategy, she really shines in the thick of things. They are thieves and carrion-eaters as much as they are hunters, making do with what is available and taking advantage of the failures-- and sometimes successes-- of others.
Among their own, wolverines actually form long-term bonds. A male will visit females in his territory frequently, whether or not they’re in season, and sire multiple litters on each one unless they move from his territory. He will even check on his own pups as they’re growing. A male’s children have been known to follow him after leaving their mother’s nest. While Zoe is a bit more monogamous than a real wolverine, she does form strong bonds with more than just her chosen mate.
Name: Gail
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: NA
CHARACTER
Name: Zoe Alleyne Washburne
Canon: Firefly
Age: 34
History:
x Firefly wiki for Zoe Washburne
Zoe Washburne-- born Zoe Alleyne-- was born vessel-side, in a time when Earth was a half-remembered myth and a new system of planets had been terraformed for human life. “Vessel-side” meant aboard a space ship, so travel was in her blood from the beginning. Not much else is known about her past, until she wound up in the military, fighting for the resistance against Unification, the “browncoats”. She joined for money and profession, and perhaps because she was simply good at battle: she was “career military”, rather than a volunteer who believed in the cause of freedom for the rim planets against the Alliance of central planets.
By the time the war ended, Zoe had reached the rank of Corporal, for all the good it did her. The resistance lost. She did, however, have a new partner, the one man who survived the Battle of Serenity from their platoon with her, Sergeant Malcom “Mal” Reynolds. He was a volunteer and a believer in the cause of freedom from the Alliance, and he won over both her respect and her loyalty, and even some of his belief. When the war ended badly for them, he went on to purchase a small Firefly-class transport vessel he dubbed Serenity, and she joined him as his originally reluctant and dubious first mate.
Somewhere in the years after that, she married Hoban “Wash” Washburne. The first time she met him, with Mal trying to get him hired on as Serenity’s pilot, and she found something about him disturbing, but obviously she got over that. She wanted to have children with him, but they never got the chance, in part due to his reluctance to bring a baby into the lifestyle they led. Most of the work they found to keep them running was illegal, since Mal hated the Alliance and preferred to avoid them or even stick one in their eye, if he could. They picked up more people along the way, including a preacher named Book, a Companion named Inaura, a young doctor from one of the Core planets named Simon, and the doctor’s disturbed and dangerous sister, River, who they eventually discovered was also a Reader-- a psychic. That’s where the television show leaves off.
Point in canon: After the end of the show Firefly and before the movie Serenity.
Window Location: On a small moon, Dyton, orbiting the planet Greenleaf, behind a boulder she was using as cover in a firefight
Universe:
x Wikipedia page
x The ‘verse
Zoe’s world is not Earth, but its history began on Earth-that-was: an overcrowded planet, plagued by war, environmental upheaval, and a desperate lack of space. The United States and China joined up together and expanded outward to find a new home, discovering the star system the series takes place in and terraforming most of the planets and moons there. The core planets are run by the Alliance, a united government high on promoting peace and order at the detriment of freedom and autonomy. The outer worlds, with less technology and a more individualistic culture, tend more towards separatism. Though the war for unification is over, the outer planets are still not particularly pacified, and are still dangerous places.
Space travel is ubiquitous within the star system, with core planets enjoying a high level of technology, from automated trash collecting droids to three-dimensional holographic record-keeping to tampering with the brain to create a psychic assassin. Culture on the core worlds is urbane and artistic, but you’re often at risk of breaking a minor law, and career paths are fairly circumscribed.
The outer worlds and smaller moons, however, weren’t graced with quite so much to work with. Most of them resemble the Old West of America in its childhood, with revolver pistols and simple automatic weapons rather than lasers or gravity-well guns, and horses and carts rather than hovercraft and sonic-speed cars. Crime is more rife on these planets, as well, and survival is often more important than morality.
Abilities:
x Firepower: Though Zoe is adept at hand to hand fighting and some limited melee weapon skills, her preference and real talent is for munitions. She has a steady hand, superb aim, and the calm mind to focus on where to put those bullets.
x Tactical experience: She was an officer in a war, and the first mate on a ship that got into a lot of tough situations. She’s got a lot of experience with tactics, planning, leading, and figuring out good ways to get out of tough situations.
x Unflappable: After war, thievery, the treachery of the Alliance, and the rare tangle with cannibalistic Reavers, Zoe has seen plenty, and she isn’t shaken by much. Not even seeing body parts ripped from a living person-- one she cares about, no less-- makes her more than twitch.
Possessions:
x Her clothes (leather vest, form-fitting trousers, loose tunic underneath; necklace; sturdy boots)
x Her repeat-fire shotgun, half loaded
x A fully-loaded six-shooter and a knife in thigh holsters
x The contents of her pockets (some spare change, some spare bullets, a wallet, a small photo of Wash folded inside that).
Personality:
The “warrior woman” to the core, Zoe Washburne is tough, powerful in battle, protective of others, and possessed of a strong sense of fair play. She is mostly serious, especially when there’s trouble, though with a dry wit when she does loosen up, particularly when in the company of her jovial husband Wash-- Hoban Washburne-- or her captain in his lighter moments. With strangers, she is private and tight-lipped, but she’ll regale a friend with a story or try to comfort someone (not always well) when they’re worried. Still, she isn't afraid to tell someone the truth, either, even if it isn't the most optimistic thing to say, like reminding Kaylee that sometimes the captain's plans weren't necessarily the best plans. If Mal sees the crew as a family, Zoe is the den mother, albeit the strict den mother with high expectations for her children and an over-protective streak. Even in the war, she never stopped trying to teach those under her and Mal's command, so they wouldn't get themselves killed, and didn't have any qualms about using a nickname or two to drive the point home-- "little one" was a favorite, for younger privates.
Despite her preference for being fair, Zoe doesn’t mind that her current line of work is mostly outside of the law, because they steal from those who either have too much already, like the wealthy Earth-That-Was collector; who no longer need what they’re taking, like the dead; or have the means to replace what was taken, such as the Core planet hospital which could be restocked within a matter of hours. Stealing from the Alliance doesn't bother her at all, since she sees them as patently unfair, hoarding goods that others could use and trying to run people's lives. The criminals who fence their goods are less savory, but they are necessary, and Zoe is also pragmatic: you have to play by the rules of the outer planets to get things done, sometimes, and even the dangerous ones have their own code. When she knows that something planned or done is actually unfair, however, she and Mal always try to do the right thing: for example, when they realized they'd stolen medicine needed by a local mining town, they returned it as soon as they had the chance, despite earning themselves a powerful enemy.
Zoe lives by her head, not her heart, and rarely lets emotion cloud her judgement when in the heat of the moment. Of course, the emotion is still there, just often masked behind a deadpan poker face, and not allowed to sway her if it goes against the practical and intelligent choice. She is calm in the face of danger of all kinds, from a gunfight to a bar brawl, to even negotiations with a wealthy sociopath for her wounded husband and captain. It’s very rare that she lets her heart run away with her when it shouldn’t, and it only takes place in the face of emotional extremes-- and even then, she might wear a stoic mask the whole time, showing emotion only in her actions, not her face.
As former career military, Zoe has a great respect for leadership-- if said leadership is deserved, and has been earned. She is loyal to a fault, once her respect has been earned, sometimes causing friction with her husband when he envies the respect she shows Mal. She is most comfortable when she knows someone’s role in the situation, and is content to keep people in roles they may have since outgrown, such as Mal’s role as her Sergeant in the war, and she tends to follow his lead in many things despite her own ability in leadership. She is capable of doing something other than following his orders blindly, of course, but usually in situations where the captain is not present-- such as when she regained consciousness to find he'd ordered the crew off the ship so he could "go down" with it alone-- or when she thinks it is none of his damn business-- like when he told her not to marry Wash.
On the other hand, while she loves structure and order in her own life, that does not mean she loves rules and regulations. She has a strong distaste for being controlled or ordered about by someone she does not respect-- such as the Alliance authorities on the Core planets. Her feelings towards the Alliance are not as strong or as personal as Mal's, but she doesn't particularly like them, either, and would rather just avoid them if she can. She feels the Core planets are stifling, places where you can get arrested for littering, or so she claims. She goes so far as to avoid even setting foot on one when they dock for legitimate reasons, despite Wash wanting to partake in all the tourist sights on them.
Thread Sample:
Zoe on the test drive meme.
Prose Sample:
Zoe’s back slammed up against the safety of the boulder, and she scrambled to reload her shotgun. There were the sounds of fighting all around her, between the grunts and thuds of fists meeting flesh and the sharp claps of bullets bouncing off her current cover. The door to Serenity’s cargo bay buzzed and creaked as Kaylee, inside, hurried to close it and keep the fighting well outside and away from her and the other civilians.
Zoe approved. Her man didn’t need to be subjected to anyone with a gun.
When there was a breath’s pause in the firing, she ducked out and around to fire again, laying out a fellow with a six-shooter who promptly fell off his horse. In that moment, she saw the shepherd administer a flat-palmed hit to one of their assailants’ faces-- someday she really needed to hear his story about how he learned to fight so damned well-- and saw the captain duck a swing from another. Jayne was down, throttling some poor soul who didn’t know not to cross him. She also spotted company coming from beyond the brush.
Managing a second shot before fire came back to her, Zoe whirled back around. “Incoming riders!” she hollered, to get the captain’s attention.
“Zoe, I need some cover fire, here!” the captain hollered back, and she immediately came back out to aim and fire at one of the horses that had just come in range.
“Hurry up, sir,” she called. “Can’t avoid bein’ shot for too long!”
“Aw, stop complainin’!” Jayne growled, standing up and spraying the incoming with bullets, himself. “I got this!”
Since his spray missed a couple of them, and they were coming hard right for her hiding place, Zoe had to dive back again, this time further back. One horse came careening past, a pistol aimed for her, and she leaped out of the way--
--and landed not in dirt but onto pavement, and into the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life. Her last thought before she blacked out was that she must’ve been shot, and dying hurt a whole lot more than she’d hoped it did.
Plans:
Zoe is a warrior at heart and a protector by nature. She would be good as a soldier, particularly a soldier with someone under her command, as well as good for training and some stealth missions.
Notes:
Hopefully some canonmates will follow :) I know at least one current player is planning to bring in a River not too long after me.
DÆMON
Name: Rex
Sex: Male
Form: American Wolverine
Additional notes:
Between his partner and his truncated name, it’s no surprise Rex is stocky and brawny, even for a compact species. His coat is silvery-brown coat with trademark gold stripes down his sides, though he is lacking the silver face mask some have, having instead a face that’s nearly black from which pale brown eyes stand out. He has particularly large paws, and a very deep, soothing voice-- when it’s not growling, anyway.
Why this form:
First, there’s the physical: while they don’t exactly match, Rex’s dark, shaggy appearance suits her strong but slightly frizzy appearance. He’s strong and fierce, and she is also strong and fierce-- unexpectedly so, him due to his size, and her due to her sex. Zoe may be tall, but as a woman she is still often underestimated. Wolverines are aggressive creatures, primarily fighters and opportunists rather than stalkers and plotters, and while Zoe knows her strategy, she really shines in the thick of things. They are thieves and carrion-eaters as much as they are hunters, making do with what is available and taking advantage of the failures-- and sometimes successes-- of others.
Among their own, wolverines actually form long-term bonds. A male will visit females in his territory frequently, whether or not they’re in season, and sire multiple litters on each one unless they move from his territory. He will even check on his own pups as they’re growing. A male’s children have been known to follow him after leaving their mother’s nest. While Zoe is a bit more monogamous than a real wolverine, she does form strong bonds with more than just her chosen mate.
