Hotel California application
PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name/Pseudonym: Kathryn
Your personal LJ: spoofmaster
Your email: lordofthefries@wwdb.org
Your chat handles: thspoofmaster (AIM)
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character's name: Norman Bates
Character's canon: Psycho
What type of canon is your character from? (eg, book, movie, tv show, etc): Movie (Hitchcock's 1960 film primarily, but minor information may be pulled from the sequels)
Character's LJ: alittlemad
Brief history of your character (100-200 words):
Norman Bates was raised primarily by his mother, Norma Bates, after his father died when he was five years old. They had enough money to live comfortably together in their old house outside of Fairvale, CA, and did so for some years. Their relationship was an intense one, as Norma was (in the words of a psychiatrist who would later evaluate Norman) a "clinging, demanding woman," and Norman had been mentally and emotionally unstable since his father's death. Indeed, Norman spent a period of time in an institution sometime between the deaths of his father and mother, an event that has made him very wary of such places since. Norman loved his mother dearly and would afterward insist that he had a very happy childhood, but when she took up with a new boyfriend sometime in Norman's teens, with whom she built the Bates Motel right in front of the home she and Norman had shared as he grew up, that would all change very quickly. Norman perceived that his mother had chosen this new man over him and became insanely jealous of their relationship. His jealousy eventually drove him to poison both his mother and her beau, but he was so overcome with remorse at his act of matricide that afterward he was unable to accept that his mother was even dead. He stole her corpse before it was buried and hid it in the fruit cellar, later to preserve it as best he could with the same chemicals he used in the taxidermy he did as a hobby. Since then, Norman has gone on believing that his mother is still alive. He keeps her corpse in her old bedroom, carries on conversations with her (to which he provides both sides), and even dresses as her from time to time and walks around the house as if to reassure himself of her presence. He lives like a hermit, and goes on tending the Bates Motel years after the highway is changed and the motel ceases to bring in any but the most lost of travelers.
It is roughly ten years after his mother's death that Norman is brought to the Hotel California, having just killed Marion Crane a few days before in the guise of Mother. Norman assumes that Mother is as jealous of his relationships as he was of hers, which was why his Mother persona felt the need to kill Marion, in whom he had taken an interest. Since her death, which Norman covered up for Mother's sake, Norman has convinced himself that Marion was a wanton woman and that Mother was right to kill her, having no doubt done the same regarding several other young women who have been killed at the Bates Motel over the years.
Brief synopsis of your character's personality (100-300 words):
Norman is a charming and affable, if awkward, young man. He is passionately protective of his mother, whom he believes to be alive, despite the fact that she (or rather, the Mother persona that lives in his mind) continually torments him and assumes the worst of everything he does. He believes her to be ill and "not herself," but is adamantly opposed to seeking professional psychological help for her after his own experience in an institution at a young age. He lives like a hermit in their mansion, keeping to the same bedroom he occupied as a child, and stuffs wild birds as a hobby. He's friendly with strangers after years of experience running the motel by himself, and smiles often, but in reality has a tendency to be shy and to focus on his relationship with his mother to the exclusion of the outside world. He is always considering his mother's thoughts and desires in regards to everything he does, loving and caring for her obsessively even as he resents her stranglehold on his life.
When he arrives at the Hotel California, Mother is at least temporarily excised from Norman's mind. He still believes her to be alive in the home he has left behind, but she is no longer present to speak to him or drive him to violence. She may or may not make an appearance at a later point during the game.
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION
What is the point of your character's canon in which you are introducing your character?: Several days after "Mother" has killed Marion Crane, before anyone has come to the motel looking for her--so Wednesday, December 16, 1959.
Is your character alive or dead at the point of entry to the game?: Alive
What skills does your character have?: Taxidermy, keeping house, committing murders while unaware he is doing it, covering up said murders.
When your character is shown to his/her room, he/she will find ten personal items belonging to them, which the Hotel has supplied. These things can ONLY be things they would typically have in canon. This will be known as his/her initial personal inventory. Please list what these things would be:
Tools for taxidermy--sewing equipment, sawdust, chemicals, etc
Several of his stuffed birds, including the large owl
His record player from his room
A small collection of classical music on vinyl records
A photo album from his childhood
His toy rabbit, as seen here.
The quilt from his bed back home
Several paintings from the house and from the parlor behind the office in the motel, including a portrait of his mother from when she was alive
A bag of candy and a magazine (both of which he is carrying upon arrival)
Please create a voicemail post for your character and provide a link to it in this application. This will be used for any character who wishes to get in contact with your character.
Voicemail
Write your character's entrance post (minimum 200 words. You will use this to post your character's entrance into the game.):
Norman knew that Mother hadn't been feeling well after everything that had happened with that woman who had stopped at the motel earlier that week. She hadn't left her room since then, and when he'd tried to talk to her about it all she would say was that she wouldn't have her son eating dinner with loose women from out of town. He had to admit that she'd been right--thinking back on it, he should have known that that Marion woman was up to no good when she came by in the middle of the night, pretending she was just lost from the highway--oh, he'd seen her, alright. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he'd known, deep down, and Mother had known even before he had. He still felt sick when he thought of it--all that blood--but it couldn't be helped.
It made him nervous, though, too, that someone might come by and start asking questions. It had been several days, though, and no one had even been to the motel at all, so it seemed like things were going to be okay just like the other times. So he was back to spending his days around the motel office, reading his books and magazines and passing one day after another waiting for the visitors who never came anymore. He was thinking of starting a new project--another bird, of course, maybe another raven, since he hadn't been quite satisfied with the way the last one turned out--but for now he was content to wile away the time with other things.
Norman trotted down the steps set into the hill between the house and the motel, having made sure Mother was settled in alright for the day. He held a bag of candy in one hand, ready for another day by himself. He thought, idly, that he ought to change the sheets on all the beds today. They hadn't been slept in, of course, but he'd never liked the smell of musty old sheets, and it gave him something to do.
He stepped inside the office to grab a magazine to read while he sat out front (it was far too stuffy to sit inside the office, even in the middle of December--and anyway, it wasn't very cold, even for California), but when he opened the door and stepped back outside, the strangest thing happened. Beyond the strangest thing, really, like something that would only happen in the science fiction novels he'd read once or twice that Mother had hated. Because instead of stepping back out onto the covered porch in the mild Californian winter, Norman suddenly found himself knee-deep in a snow drift. For a second he thought they must have had a freak snow storm--that happened, didn't it? They had flash floods, so why not flash snow storms--but that wasn't right, things like that just didn't happen! And, as he gaped around himself in utter confusion, Norman realized something else: his house was nowhere to be seen! The parking lot, the old highway, the hill, the mansion--all of it was gone, and all that was there in its place was one big expanse of white.
Or not quite. In turning around to stare at the scene around him, Norman made one further discovery--that he was standing at the doorway to a crumbling old hotel. He stared up at it, uncomprehending, before turning back to glance sharply around at the snow.
He began shivering violently, sticking his fingers into his armpits as he realized how cold he was. He'd never even seen snow before in person. Not real snow. It was a lot wetter than he'd thought it would be. A lot colder, too. He'd never been this cold in his entire life, and it was that thought that got him to turn around and pull open the door to the building behind him. He'd read about hypothermia, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to try it.
Inside was a lobby that made the Bates Motel look like an outdoor shed. Norman, still shivering, arms wrapped around his stick-like frame, stepped all the way inside, shutting the door firmly behind himself. It was warmer in there, but he couldn't get his teeth to stop chattering, and his trouser legs were soaked from the snow drift he'd stepped into outside. He took a few tentative steps toward the center of the room, an expression of pure bewilderment on his face. Where was he?
Your Name/Pseudonym: Kathryn
Your personal LJ: spoofmaster
Your email: lordofthefries@wwdb.org
Your chat handles: thspoofmaster (AIM)
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character's name: Norman Bates
Character's canon: Psycho
What type of canon is your character from? (eg, book, movie, tv show, etc): Movie (Hitchcock's 1960 film primarily, but minor information may be pulled from the sequels)
Character's LJ: alittlemad
Brief history of your character (100-200 words):
Norman Bates was raised primarily by his mother, Norma Bates, after his father died when he was five years old. They had enough money to live comfortably together in their old house outside of Fairvale, CA, and did so for some years. Their relationship was an intense one, as Norma was (in the words of a psychiatrist who would later evaluate Norman) a "clinging, demanding woman," and Norman had been mentally and emotionally unstable since his father's death. Indeed, Norman spent a period of time in an institution sometime between the deaths of his father and mother, an event that has made him very wary of such places since. Norman loved his mother dearly and would afterward insist that he had a very happy childhood, but when she took up with a new boyfriend sometime in Norman's teens, with whom she built the Bates Motel right in front of the home she and Norman had shared as he grew up, that would all change very quickly. Norman perceived that his mother had chosen this new man over him and became insanely jealous of their relationship. His jealousy eventually drove him to poison both his mother and her beau, but he was so overcome with remorse at his act of matricide that afterward he was unable to accept that his mother was even dead. He stole her corpse before it was buried and hid it in the fruit cellar, later to preserve it as best he could with the same chemicals he used in the taxidermy he did as a hobby. Since then, Norman has gone on believing that his mother is still alive. He keeps her corpse in her old bedroom, carries on conversations with her (to which he provides both sides), and even dresses as her from time to time and walks around the house as if to reassure himself of her presence. He lives like a hermit, and goes on tending the Bates Motel years after the highway is changed and the motel ceases to bring in any but the most lost of travelers.
It is roughly ten years after his mother's death that Norman is brought to the Hotel California, having just killed Marion Crane a few days before in the guise of Mother. Norman assumes that Mother is as jealous of his relationships as he was of hers, which was why his Mother persona felt the need to kill Marion, in whom he had taken an interest. Since her death, which Norman covered up for Mother's sake, Norman has convinced himself that Marion was a wanton woman and that Mother was right to kill her, having no doubt done the same regarding several other young women who have been killed at the Bates Motel over the years.
Brief synopsis of your character's personality (100-300 words):
Norman is a charming and affable, if awkward, young man. He is passionately protective of his mother, whom he believes to be alive, despite the fact that she (or rather, the Mother persona that lives in his mind) continually torments him and assumes the worst of everything he does. He believes her to be ill and "not herself," but is adamantly opposed to seeking professional psychological help for her after his own experience in an institution at a young age. He lives like a hermit in their mansion, keeping to the same bedroom he occupied as a child, and stuffs wild birds as a hobby. He's friendly with strangers after years of experience running the motel by himself, and smiles often, but in reality has a tendency to be shy and to focus on his relationship with his mother to the exclusion of the outside world. He is always considering his mother's thoughts and desires in regards to everything he does, loving and caring for her obsessively even as he resents her stranglehold on his life.
When he arrives at the Hotel California, Mother is at least temporarily excised from Norman's mind. He still believes her to be alive in the home he has left behind, but she is no longer present to speak to him or drive him to violence. She may or may not make an appearance at a later point during the game.
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION
What is the point of your character's canon in which you are introducing your character?: Several days after "Mother" has killed Marion Crane, before anyone has come to the motel looking for her--so Wednesday, December 16, 1959.
Is your character alive or dead at the point of entry to the game?: Alive
What skills does your character have?: Taxidermy, keeping house, committing murders while unaware he is doing it, covering up said murders.
When your character is shown to his/her room, he/she will find ten personal items belonging to them, which the Hotel has supplied. These things can ONLY be things they would typically have in canon. This will be known as his/her initial personal inventory. Please list what these things would be:
Tools for taxidermy--sewing equipment, sawdust, chemicals, etc
Several of his stuffed birds, including the large owl
His record player from his room
A small collection of classical music on vinyl records
A photo album from his childhood
His toy rabbit, as seen here.
The quilt from his bed back home
Several paintings from the house and from the parlor behind the office in the motel, including a portrait of his mother from when she was alive
A bag of candy and a magazine (both of which he is carrying upon arrival)
Please create a voicemail post for your character and provide a link to it in this application. This will be used for any character who wishes to get in contact with your character.
Voicemail
Write your character's entrance post (minimum 200 words. You will use this to post your character's entrance into the game.):
Norman knew that Mother hadn't been feeling well after everything that had happened with that woman who had stopped at the motel earlier that week. She hadn't left her room since then, and when he'd tried to talk to her about it all she would say was that she wouldn't have her son eating dinner with loose women from out of town. He had to admit that she'd been right--thinking back on it, he should have known that that Marion woman was up to no good when she came by in the middle of the night, pretending she was just lost from the highway--oh, he'd seen her, alright. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he'd known, deep down, and Mother had known even before he had. He still felt sick when he thought of it--all that blood--but it couldn't be helped.
It made him nervous, though, too, that someone might come by and start asking questions. It had been several days, though, and no one had even been to the motel at all, so it seemed like things were going to be okay just like the other times. So he was back to spending his days around the motel office, reading his books and magazines and passing one day after another waiting for the visitors who never came anymore. He was thinking of starting a new project--another bird, of course, maybe another raven, since he hadn't been quite satisfied with the way the last one turned out--but for now he was content to wile away the time with other things.
Norman trotted down the steps set into the hill between the house and the motel, having made sure Mother was settled in alright for the day. He held a bag of candy in one hand, ready for another day by himself. He thought, idly, that he ought to change the sheets on all the beds today. They hadn't been slept in, of course, but he'd never liked the smell of musty old sheets, and it gave him something to do.
He stepped inside the office to grab a magazine to read while he sat out front (it was far too stuffy to sit inside the office, even in the middle of December--and anyway, it wasn't very cold, even for California), but when he opened the door and stepped back outside, the strangest thing happened. Beyond the strangest thing, really, like something that would only happen in the science fiction novels he'd read once or twice that Mother had hated. Because instead of stepping back out onto the covered porch in the mild Californian winter, Norman suddenly found himself knee-deep in a snow drift. For a second he thought they must have had a freak snow storm--that happened, didn't it? They had flash floods, so why not flash snow storms--but that wasn't right, things like that just didn't happen! And, as he gaped around himself in utter confusion, Norman realized something else: his house was nowhere to be seen! The parking lot, the old highway, the hill, the mansion--all of it was gone, and all that was there in its place was one big expanse of white.
Or not quite. In turning around to stare at the scene around him, Norman made one further discovery--that he was standing at the doorway to a crumbling old hotel. He stared up at it, uncomprehending, before turning back to glance sharply around at the snow.
He began shivering violently, sticking his fingers into his armpits as he realized how cold he was. He'd never even seen snow before in person. Not real snow. It was a lot wetter than he'd thought it would be. A lot colder, too. He'd never been this cold in his entire life, and it was that thought that got him to turn around and pull open the door to the building behind him. He'd read about hypothermia, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to try it.
Inside was a lobby that made the Bates Motel look like an outdoor shed. Norman, still shivering, arms wrapped around his stick-like frame, stepped all the way inside, shutting the door firmly behind himself. It was warmer in there, but he couldn't get his teeth to stop chattering, and his trouser legs were soaked from the snow drift he'd stepped into outside. He took a few tentative steps toward the center of the room, an expression of pure bewilderment on his face. Where was he?