App for Rode of 'Trode
Aug. 30th, 2012 04:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nextstopeverywhereI: PLAYER INFO
Name (or internet handle): Ronen
Age: 26
Contact: (Email) rorodiculous@gmail.com, (AIM) RoRodiculous
Current characters in Road of 'Trode: None!
II: CHARACTER INFO
Name: Melody Pond/River Song
Dreamwidth Username:nextstopeverywhere
Fandom: Doctor Who
Age/Appearance: Exact canon age is unknown, but at least 50. She appears to be around that age, perhaps a little younger. 5'7" with a pile of blonde curls. Grey-eyed. Curvy.
Wiki Links: @ The TARDIS Index File.
Canon Point: near the end of The Wedding of River Song, i.e., just after receiving her Doctorate as an archaeologist, being kidnapped by the Silence to murder the Doctor (again), and nearly destroying the universe in an attempt to not kill him. She and the Doctor are now married. She has not yet been imprisoned in the Stormcage.
Personality: River is an example of nature winning out over nurture. When she was only days old, she was kidnapped by the Silence to be raised as a weapon of war, a 'perfect psychopath' with one singular goal: eliminate the Doctor. As it turned out, their indoctrination was not enough to override her natural empathy or her independent will.
Two things convinced Melody Pond to save the Doctor's life the first time they met: the care he showed for her own parents, and his insistence that she was 'River Song,' a woman he put a great deal of faith in. This gave her the opportunity to see herself as something greater than she'd been brought up to be, a person with her own agency. A taste of freedom. The Silence had taught her to be ruthless, but the Doctor convinced her she could be courageous.
When she sets a goal for herself, she approaches it with methodical, focused and intellectual drive. When she became determined to find the Doctor again, she did not simply wait for him, nor did she set out to scour the universe in hopes that their paths would cross again. She enrolled in a University, in an area of study where she knew that sooner or later, evidence of the Doctor would fall right into her lap.
When given the opportunity, she is an incurable show-off. She knows what she's good at and she delights in it without shame. Along with this confidence comes a natural charisma - which makes her an excellent liar - and also a cheeky flirtatiousness that can show itself even in the midst of heightened danger. That is, provided she's in the mood for flirting.
She has a tendency to flout authority. Even before she parted ways with the Silence, she paid little-to-no mind to any authority that wasn't them - their word was the only one that mattered. This changed after she broke from them, when she became River Song, but the amendment was a small one: now the only word that matters is that of her own will. River does not, however, use that will to deliberately harm others or be selfishly cruel. While she will, without hesitation, take up a gun if the situation necessitates it, she otherwise takes measures to avoid doing physical harm (her preferred 'weapon' in canon is hallucinogenic lipstick, which only causes temporary disorientation).
With that said? God help you if you harm or threaten to harm someone she loves. River loves with a deep, unbending loyalty that many would describe as 'to a fault': she was, after all, willing to literally let the universe burn rather than kill the Doctor.
Reason for playing: I wanted to take something of a departure from my current RP trope, which has for a long time been 'Smart, Skinny Men With Issues.' At the same time, I wanted to find someone who was interesting to me in their own right as a character, not just play 'someone different' for its own sake. River is attractive to me because of her passion and drive, which feed into both her romanticism and how she strives for personal success. I am looking forward to exploring the balance between her love of independence and the fact that she is deeply enamoured (even obsessed) with a man who, on the Ark, may be no more than a fantasy. And yes, she is both smart and issue-having. Can't seem to get away from that bit of the trope.
III. ARK HISTORY
Name: River Song
Age/Appearance: 44 years old. Appearance is unchanged.
History: River was born to Cara and Midas Song who were, respectively, an advertising model and a naval officer in the Capitol. Like most Capitol-born citizens, her upbringing was simple but comfortable. She was an only child.
Midas was away most of the time, stationed on his ship, but there was never any doubt he loved his daughter. They spoke often over the network while he was away. It was from him that River gained the urge to travel and her love of the sea - plus her knowledge of gun safety. When at the age of ten she got her hands on his weapon and undid the safety in a matter of seconds, that lesson came fast.
Cara had a particular fondness for luxury goods, and would buy from the black market when Midas was away, always with a wink and a smile to her daughter: "Our little secret." She was witty and remarkably adventurous for a Capitol citizen. It was from her that River got most of her personality.
It is difficult for her to remember a time when she wasn't fascinated with life outside the Capitol. It began as a childish obsession with what was different, unknown and exotic, a general dissatisfaction with the familiar. She went through several phases: reading whatever she could about the Weaving, De La War, the rumors of what lay in the uncharted lands... when she reached University age, she easily settled on anthropological studies. It was an escape route, a way to get out and see all the things she'd only experienced through vicarious descriptions and VR simulations.
She settled on studying the islands in the Butterfly Sea, somewhat to her father's dismay. There were pirates out there, he said, and people who lived to defy the Capitol. He insisted that he was only concerned for her safety, but River would not be dissuaded, and her mother stood by her choice. All things considered, it was a minor point of contention, but Midas continued to fret for years after River began her post-graduate research.
She received permission to travel to the islands, to observe and document them for the sake of the Capitol. Over the last twenty years, she has traveled back and forth between the islands and the Capitol several times. She goes to the islands to do her work, to live among the people and document their culture. She goes to the Capitol to compile her gathered data, to take classes and keep her methodology fresh, and once or twice to teach a class herself... but her heart belongs to the islands, to the sea and to travel. It's why she still hasn't taken up a permanent position as a Professor.
Residence/Job: Anthropological researcher. She has made the islands in the Butterfly Sea her specialty, and has been traveling between them and the Capitol ever since her schooling ended, often remaining on one island for years at a time.
Skills/Powers: River is handy with a gun, although not to the level of her delusion. Most of her experience comes from blowing off steam at a range or in a field, but she has gained some practical experience over the years, mostly during pirate raids of the islands she visits.
She is, like her delusion, a naturally talented actress who would make a rather good con artist. So far, this charisma has mostly gone toward talking her way into the societies she intends to study.
She possesses a mild form of technopathy that allows her to properly use any form of technology after only a moment of study (the same way canon River was taught to fly the TARDIS by the TARDIS itself, in seconds). This does not give her an inherent understanding of why a thing works - it only allows her to make it work with zero learning curve. For example: if she were getting into a car for the first time, she would figure out in under a minute where she needed to put the key to start it up, and that she then needed to pull the lever this far and press this pedal to make it go in the direction she wanted. She would not be able to describe the internal combustion process, build a car herself or fix a broken one - not without researching things the old-fashioned way.
Resources: As she is still technically a citizen of the Capitol, River receives an allowance of credits, enough to fund her research and any related travel costs. She has also published a handful of downloadable 'books' on the islands (which include video and audio material) that bring her a little extra income from all around the Ark.
IV. SAMPLE
Arrival: "Then you may kiss the bride."
"I'll make it a good one."
"You'd better."
The Doctor - that mad, brilliant, beautiful man - leans forward and their lips meet. River can feel time start moving again, the clock ticking, forward momentum. She is at the top of the pyramid, inside a spacesuit, at Lake Silencio, kissing the Doctor, watching him die...
"Miss Song! Miss Song!"
She is awake. She knows she could open her eyes if she wanted, but they feel heavy and full of sand, even as her pulse races under her skin. She can still feel his lips on hers...
"Miss Song!" ...she knows that voice. It's Benjamin, the youngest son of the Pratts, the family next door. His little hand is on top of hers, shaking it. She opens her eyes. Stone walls, a rough-hewn table, the sound of gulls outside. The tiny cottage. Her home for the past year. It hurts to breathe.
"Oh, good Lord." Her voice feels unused, her head is spinning... and there's little Benjamin, his eyes wide and worried.
"I walked in and you'd fallen over," he says. "I was scared."
"Oh, sweetheart." She reaches out to pet his hair, tries to swallow. "No need to worry. I was -- I was only sleeping. Thank you for waking me. Could you bring me a glass of water, please?"
"Yes, ma'am." He scurries off. River's hands threaten to shake as she peels off the electrodes. They - her hands - flutter down into her lap and clutch themselves as she breathes, trying to calm her racing heart.
She drinks the water Benjamin brings. Her hands shakes as she lifts the glass. Her watch tells her she couldn't have been asleep for more than five minutes. Five minutes, and a lifetime. All those wonderful things...
"Mom wanted me to remind you about the Salt-Fish Festival tomorrow," Benjamin is saying. "She said everybody needs to do their part getting it ready."
"Yes, I remember. Thank you, dear." She smiles at him again, and he nods and runs out. Poor thing. He must have been terrified.
Once he's gone, River leans back in her seat, eyes unfocused, staring at something far beyond the wall. She listens to the sound of the gulls, the waves lapping at the rocks not far from her front step. The distant shouts of fishermen on their rigs and boats. Those sounds have often had the ability to calm her when she's been restless, or wound up from too much time spent in the regimented society of the Capitol, but now it helps only a little. Her mind is far afield, among stars and alien worlds, the horrible, horrible things she'd almost done... and, above all, with him.
...him. An irresistible genius, a dashing time traveler, her own personal hero... hundreds of years old, and looking like he'd just barely got out of University. River begins to laugh because really, how could you not? No matter how much she wouldn't mind finding a man that young and that brilliant and that invested in her, it was nothing more than a fantasy - and the entire fantasy was nothing short of absurd.
She laughs for a long time, and when she's finished, her heart has stopped feeling like it's trying to hammer its way out of her ribcage.
Name (or internet handle): Ronen
Age: 26
Contact: (Email) rorodiculous@gmail.com, (AIM) RoRodiculous
Current characters in Road of 'Trode: None!
II: CHARACTER INFO
Name: Melody Pond/River Song
Dreamwidth Username:
nextstopeverywhereFandom: Doctor Who
Age/Appearance: Exact canon age is unknown, but at least 50. She appears to be around that age, perhaps a little younger. 5'7" with a pile of blonde curls. Grey-eyed. Curvy.
Wiki Links: @ The TARDIS Index File.
Canon Point: near the end of The Wedding of River Song, i.e., just after receiving her Doctorate as an archaeologist, being kidnapped by the Silence to murder the Doctor (again), and nearly destroying the universe in an attempt to not kill him. She and the Doctor are now married. She has not yet been imprisoned in the Stormcage.
Personality: River is an example of nature winning out over nurture. When she was only days old, she was kidnapped by the Silence to be raised as a weapon of war, a 'perfect psychopath' with one singular goal: eliminate the Doctor. As it turned out, their indoctrination was not enough to override her natural empathy or her independent will.
Two things convinced Melody Pond to save the Doctor's life the first time they met: the care he showed for her own parents, and his insistence that she was 'River Song,' a woman he put a great deal of faith in. This gave her the opportunity to see herself as something greater than she'd been brought up to be, a person with her own agency. A taste of freedom. The Silence had taught her to be ruthless, but the Doctor convinced her she could be courageous.
When she sets a goal for herself, she approaches it with methodical, focused and intellectual drive. When she became determined to find the Doctor again, she did not simply wait for him, nor did she set out to scour the universe in hopes that their paths would cross again. She enrolled in a University, in an area of study where she knew that sooner or later, evidence of the Doctor would fall right into her lap.
When given the opportunity, she is an incurable show-off. She knows what she's good at and she delights in it without shame. Along with this confidence comes a natural charisma - which makes her an excellent liar - and also a cheeky flirtatiousness that can show itself even in the midst of heightened danger. That is, provided she's in the mood for flirting.
She has a tendency to flout authority. Even before she parted ways with the Silence, she paid little-to-no mind to any authority that wasn't them - their word was the only one that mattered. This changed after she broke from them, when she became River Song, but the amendment was a small one: now the only word that matters is that of her own will. River does not, however, use that will to deliberately harm others or be selfishly cruel. While she will, without hesitation, take up a gun if the situation necessitates it, she otherwise takes measures to avoid doing physical harm (her preferred 'weapon' in canon is hallucinogenic lipstick, which only causes temporary disorientation).
With that said? God help you if you harm or threaten to harm someone she loves. River loves with a deep, unbending loyalty that many would describe as 'to a fault': she was, after all, willing to literally let the universe burn rather than kill the Doctor.
Reason for playing: I wanted to take something of a departure from my current RP trope, which has for a long time been 'Smart, Skinny Men With Issues.' At the same time, I wanted to find someone who was interesting to me in their own right as a character, not just play 'someone different' for its own sake. River is attractive to me because of her passion and drive, which feed into both her romanticism and how she strives for personal success. I am looking forward to exploring the balance between her love of independence and the fact that she is deeply enamoured (even obsessed) with a man who, on the Ark, may be no more than a fantasy. And yes, she is both smart and issue-having. Can't seem to get away from that bit of the trope.
III. ARK HISTORY
Name: River Song
Age/Appearance: 44 years old. Appearance is unchanged.
History: River was born to Cara and Midas Song who were, respectively, an advertising model and a naval officer in the Capitol. Like most Capitol-born citizens, her upbringing was simple but comfortable. She was an only child.
Midas was away most of the time, stationed on his ship, but there was never any doubt he loved his daughter. They spoke often over the network while he was away. It was from him that River gained the urge to travel and her love of the sea - plus her knowledge of gun safety. When at the age of ten she got her hands on his weapon and undid the safety in a matter of seconds, that lesson came fast.
Cara had a particular fondness for luxury goods, and would buy from the black market when Midas was away, always with a wink and a smile to her daughter: "Our little secret." She was witty and remarkably adventurous for a Capitol citizen. It was from her that River got most of her personality.
It is difficult for her to remember a time when she wasn't fascinated with life outside the Capitol. It began as a childish obsession with what was different, unknown and exotic, a general dissatisfaction with the familiar. She went through several phases: reading whatever she could about the Weaving, De La War, the rumors of what lay in the uncharted lands... when she reached University age, she easily settled on anthropological studies. It was an escape route, a way to get out and see all the things she'd only experienced through vicarious descriptions and VR simulations.
She settled on studying the islands in the Butterfly Sea, somewhat to her father's dismay. There were pirates out there, he said, and people who lived to defy the Capitol. He insisted that he was only concerned for her safety, but River would not be dissuaded, and her mother stood by her choice. All things considered, it was a minor point of contention, but Midas continued to fret for years after River began her post-graduate research.
She received permission to travel to the islands, to observe and document them for the sake of the Capitol. Over the last twenty years, she has traveled back and forth between the islands and the Capitol several times. She goes to the islands to do her work, to live among the people and document their culture. She goes to the Capitol to compile her gathered data, to take classes and keep her methodology fresh, and once or twice to teach a class herself... but her heart belongs to the islands, to the sea and to travel. It's why she still hasn't taken up a permanent position as a Professor.
Residence/Job: Anthropological researcher. She has made the islands in the Butterfly Sea her specialty, and has been traveling between them and the Capitol ever since her schooling ended, often remaining on one island for years at a time.
Skills/Powers: River is handy with a gun, although not to the level of her delusion. Most of her experience comes from blowing off steam at a range or in a field, but she has gained some practical experience over the years, mostly during pirate raids of the islands she visits.
She is, like her delusion, a naturally talented actress who would make a rather good con artist. So far, this charisma has mostly gone toward talking her way into the societies she intends to study.
She possesses a mild form of technopathy that allows her to properly use any form of technology after only a moment of study (the same way canon River was taught to fly the TARDIS by the TARDIS itself, in seconds). This does not give her an inherent understanding of why a thing works - it only allows her to make it work with zero learning curve. For example: if she were getting into a car for the first time, she would figure out in under a minute where she needed to put the key to start it up, and that she then needed to pull the lever this far and press this pedal to make it go in the direction she wanted. She would not be able to describe the internal combustion process, build a car herself or fix a broken one - not without researching things the old-fashioned way.
Resources: As she is still technically a citizen of the Capitol, River receives an allowance of credits, enough to fund her research and any related travel costs. She has also published a handful of downloadable 'books' on the islands (which include video and audio material) that bring her a little extra income from all around the Ark.
IV. SAMPLE
Arrival: "Then you may kiss the bride."
"I'll make it a good one."
"You'd better."
The Doctor - that mad, brilliant, beautiful man - leans forward and their lips meet. River can feel time start moving again, the clock ticking, forward momentum. She is at the top of the pyramid, inside a spacesuit, at Lake Silencio, kissing the Doctor, watching him die...
"Miss Song! Miss Song!"
She is awake. She knows she could open her eyes if she wanted, but they feel heavy and full of sand, even as her pulse races under her skin. She can still feel his lips on hers...
"Miss Song!" ...she knows that voice. It's Benjamin, the youngest son of the Pratts, the family next door. His little hand is on top of hers, shaking it. She opens her eyes. Stone walls, a rough-hewn table, the sound of gulls outside. The tiny cottage. Her home for the past year. It hurts to breathe.
"Oh, good Lord." Her voice feels unused, her head is spinning... and there's little Benjamin, his eyes wide and worried.
"I walked in and you'd fallen over," he says. "I was scared."
"Oh, sweetheart." She reaches out to pet his hair, tries to swallow. "No need to worry. I was -- I was only sleeping. Thank you for waking me. Could you bring me a glass of water, please?"
"Yes, ma'am." He scurries off. River's hands threaten to shake as she peels off the electrodes. They - her hands - flutter down into her lap and clutch themselves as she breathes, trying to calm her racing heart.
She drinks the water Benjamin brings. Her hands shakes as she lifts the glass. Her watch tells her she couldn't have been asleep for more than five minutes. Five minutes, and a lifetime. All those wonderful things...
"Mom wanted me to remind you about the Salt-Fish Festival tomorrow," Benjamin is saying. "She said everybody needs to do their part getting it ready."
"Yes, I remember. Thank you, dear." She smiles at him again, and he nods and runs out. Poor thing. He must have been terrified.
Once he's gone, River leans back in her seat, eyes unfocused, staring at something far beyond the wall. She listens to the sound of the gulls, the waves lapping at the rocks not far from her front step. The distant shouts of fishermen on their rigs and boats. Those sounds have often had the ability to calm her when she's been restless, or wound up from too much time spent in the regimented society of the Capitol, but now it helps only a little. Her mind is far afield, among stars and alien worlds, the horrible, horrible things she'd almost done... and, above all, with him.
...him. An irresistible genius, a dashing time traveler, her own personal hero... hundreds of years old, and looking like he'd just barely got out of University. River begins to laugh because really, how could you not? No matter how much she wouldn't mind finding a man that young and that brilliant and that invested in her, it was nothing more than a fantasy - and the entire fantasy was nothing short of absurd.
She laughs for a long time, and when she's finished, her heart has stopped feeling like it's trying to hammer its way out of her ribcage.
