Application for sirenspull
Player Information
Name: Sarah
Age: 29
AIM SN: hervictory
email: hervictory@hotmail.com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yep!
Bonus: How did you hear about Siren's Pull? Originally on ATP.
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Ergo Proxy
Canon Format: Anime
Character's Name: Pino
Character's Age: hahahaha what. She’s probably existed for a year or so.
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. Well, she’s an AutoReiv - an artificial intelligence unit that appears to be human. But even if she had no “family” here (which she does) she’s technically a machine and doesn’t require food and sleep to stay alive - just to have her battery recharged. But she does have the personality of a child, even if it’s just programming.
What form will your character's NV take? A stuffed rabbit.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: The ability to be freakishly cute? Pino is programmed with knowledge that she obtained inside of Romdeau where she was created and has something like a GPS programmed into her as well. She’s also much stronger than a child, or even an adult for that matter, and as an infected AutoReiv has a mental connection to Ergo Proxy (Vincent Law).
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? n/a
Weapons: …nothing.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: When Pino was originally created is unclear, but she is a Companion-type AutoReiv; an artificial intelligence robot that was created to emulate a human child. The time period that the story takes place is a time in the future when people have been sterilized and all life is created by a device called the WombSys. The population of humans that exist inside of the city of Romdeau were all created inside of this machine. A couple applies for a child with the correct agency and waits for one to be grown for them. There are several different types of AutoReivs - some used for combat or protection, others used for administration duties, and types like Pino meant only as companions to potential parents. As such, she was programmed to give off the persona of a young child, approximately 7 - 10 years old in terms of intelligence.
However, she’s also quick to learn new data and is capable of learning whole libraries of information easily, but her speech patterns and the information that she’s willing to give most of the time are still only that of a child.
After being created, she was given to Raul Creed and Samantha Ross to act as their surrogate child. While Raul played with her, took her out and taught her how to play the piano, her mother never saw her as anything more than a robot and refused to give her any sort of affection. She would anger easily over the fact that Pino wouldn’t help with the housework or other things that some AutoReivs were programmed to do and even tried to have her decommissioned when word came in that the Creeds were to be given an actual human child. Even though she was aware that her “mother” wished for her to be sent away, she ignored it and continued her day to day life.
All of this changed one day on a trip to the shopping mall with her mother and new baby brother. A proxy attacked Vincent Law while he was working, and in the chaos of the chase, Samantha Creed and the baby were killed. Instead of going home and waiting for Raul (who was there and saw the whole event) she instead starts wandering along the edge of the city - near the exits out of the dome into the outside world. Humans that were born inside of the dome aren’t able to survive in the air outside, not easily at least. Infections and air quality keep the doors sealed shut at all times so that the citizens of Romdeau are kept safe.
Sometime during her journey she became infected with the Cogito virus. The virus, which infects only AutoReivs and is transferred from close contact, allows the AutoReiv to become self aware, or suddenly in possession of their own soul. Their programs become useless and they start making decisions on their own. The Entourage type AutoReivs (those used as personal assistants/servants) that become infected began killing humans, while Pino simply started disobeying them. While the original thought was that the virus also makes the AutoReivs more violent, this wasn’t the case at all with Pino. If anything, it enabled her to only understand more of a broad range of “human” emotion and learned to interpret them into herself.
It’s soon after her infection that she meets back up with Vincent Law while he’s trying to escape the dome. Even though he asks her to leave, she follows him, going as far as to show him the closest way to the outside. Even though Re-l follows him and attempts to stop him, Pino unlatches the door, allowing them access into the poisoned air outside. She goes as far as to follow him, even as he jumps to what he’s hoping is his death .
When they wake in a commune below the dome, Pino started becoming more aware of herself. She tried to make friends with a boy her “age” there. After he was killed, though she understood the concept of human death, she wasn’t sad about it at first. It wasn’t until later when his mother (and person she considered herself close to) was killed that she finally understood this emotion of sadness that she was coming to feel. Slowly the rest of the commune was killed as they attempted to flee towards a different dome, and eventually only Vincent and Pino were left alive to make the journey on their own.
During this time, Pino grew to love Vincent as though he were always her “family”. Though she was no help on fixing the ship when it was broken or finding supplies, she was still a companion that stood by him as he visited the many different domes on his way to Mosque - what he believes to be his original home and where he can find information on the Proxies. Throughout the journey, she manages to keep a sense of subdued and tunnel-vision logic, able to see through the illusions created by the many Proxies that they encounter.
Eventually Re-l caught up to them and, after a series of events surrounding her own infected AutoReiv, ended up tagging along. At first, Pino was wary of the “scary” woman, but after a time living in close quarters with her for so long grew to also see her as a close friend, even if Re-l didn’t at first. She treated the woman with the same kindness that she showed Vincent, but as she was infected, refused to cater to any of Re-l’s demands for complacency and obedience. The journey with the three of them together landed them in many domes run by different Proxies. A gameshow world where Pino and Re-l were forced to sit by and watch Vincent answer questions about his life, an empty world that duplicated a person and gave them an alternate personality, a dome whose inhabitants managed to invade Pino’s “mind” while she was shut down and her battery was charging, warning her and her ship not to land there lest their visit bring about the end of the world.
After the long journey to Mosque, they come to find that the dome-city has been destroyed at some unknown time in the recent past. Receiving few answers at the site, they turned back around and headed back to Romdeau. Even though the city was still there and standing, the citizens have been thrown into chaos and collapse of the entire system at the hands of the infected AutoReivs and Raul’s call for revolt. Vincent disappeared from the ship upon arrival and Re-l ran off to find him, leaving Pino alone on the ship. She decided to go out looking on her own for the two of them, which is the point in canon that she would then be brought to Siren’s Port.
Point in Canon:During Episode 23 when she’s searching for Vincent Law and Re-l with Kristeva.
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: n/a
Character Personality: As an AutoReiv programmed to be a companion and emulate a child, that is exactly the sort of personality that Pino gives off. She’s immature, ignores responsibility and enjoys coloring and reading. But she’s also very much a robotic personality - speaking stoically and deadpan before she becomes infected. She doesn’t react to things exactly as a child would. She chastises her mother for not doing the housework and speaks of things mechanically; as lists of things that she knows and has learned rather than extrapolating feelings from her knowledgebase.
But she’s still obedient within her parameters. She practices the piano when told, but learns that things like the housework are not her responsibility. It’s assumed that it was her father, Raul Creed, programmed her in a fashion that she would not be required to take that sort of responsibility, against the wishes of his wife. Samantha would have preferred an AutoReiv that cooked and cleaned, and even went as far as to call in the AutoReiv Disposal Unit, claiming that Pino was infected just so she could be rid of her.
After her infection, Pino goes through a period of genuine self reflection as she follows Vincent Law into the outside world. She learns to smile, and also to frown. She makes an effort to understand sadness and even gets to a point where she can compare it easily to happiness. She loves to spend time with others and play games, like regular children do, but with subtle differences. For example, she loves to color, but at first can only make copies of what other people are drawing. It’s not until the end of the series that she’s really able to use the full extent of the imagination that she’s learned to use. Her self awareness manifested itself - not in violent ways - but simply in ways that allowed her to be able to feel and to experience true emotions. While other AutoReivs had learned bitterness and turned against their masters in their search for their true selves, as one with a child’s mind, she never had a real chance to learn that bitterness.
She’s has the capacity to be both selfish and selfless, but also is slowly learning the concept of compromise and mutual benefit. She’s prone to pouting and also quick to laugh. During a visit to one of the domes, it’s said that her smile is the most genuine and vivid that the AutoReivs there have ever seen, and just from her happy expression, they all learn to also smile on their own. But it’s a realization that most of the infected AutoReivs would come to in time had they not all been killed so quickly - the idea that they’re able to “feel”. By the end of the series, Pino admits that not only does she understand what each emotion means, but she understands that other people have them too, even people like her perpetually stoic-faced father, Raul.
But she’s still a child, easily distracted and even more easily amused. Even in a world of technology she prefers picture books with paper and crayons and enjoys trying to use her imagination. She also claims to understand the concept of “love”, friendship, sadness, fear and annoyance, but seems to yet have experienced any of the more negative emotions like betrayal, jealousy and bitterness, even if she’s seen them.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: n/a
Character Plans: Namely, character development. The end of the series left off on a very open note for Pino, as she finally started to really understand what her self awareness really meant for her as a single entity and not as a group, as the AutoReivs had been considered since the beginning of the infection. Though she’s not human, she’s starting to act more like one and I’d like to attempt to continue to develop that.
Appearance/PB: Right here!
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[When the video clicks on, it shows a somewhat close up view of the back of one of the walls at the baseball field. One of the previously unmarked spots now free of graffiti has been filled in with something new - thousands of tiny red X’s in neat and tiny rows now line the wall bottom to…well, not quite top, but as far up as the little girl drawing them can reach. Which, for her short stature, isn’t very high. And despite the number of X’s that she’s drawn, she doesn’t look particularly tired. No, more like incredibly bored and a little annoyed. Her voice is droning, mechanical as she counts out each one of her marks.]
Twenty thousand five hundred and forty two rabbits. Twenty thousand five hundred and forty three rabbits. Twenty thousand five hundred and…
[She cuts her words off with a loud sigh and flops down onto her rear, the hood of her rabbit costume falling backwards to reveal long, straight purple hair. Her arms cross over her chest and she pouts at her work, letting out an annoyed groan.]
I’m tired of waiting for him to come back. Where do you think he went, Mr. Rabbit? [She looks right at the NV, obviously addressing it directly.] Do you think Vince wants me to go find him? He’s probably having fun without me. Maybe he wants to play hide and seek! Let’s go find him!
[The stuffed toy is then picked up and the video feed cuts out.]
Third Person Sample
The feeling of waking in a place that didn’t make much sense and was potentially dangerous wasn’t a new feeling for Pino. For months now she and Vince had been visiting the various domes that existed outside of the cities of Romdeau and Mosque - each one more nonsensical than the last. But it had been a fun adventure! And best of all, she’d gotten to share it with Vince and Re-l! Not only that, she’d learned so many new things along the way. She learned that people can be sad when others die, that Re-l could be irritated very easily and that throwing a ball just between two people could be a really fun game.
She’d also learned that she was right to trust her instincts in the beginning by following Vince. She was right to help him find his way out into that tainted air and locate the source of his lost origins. She and the other infected AutoReivs had been fighting to locate their own raison d’etre - the reason behind their existence. They’d dropped to their knees and cried out to their creator for the answer to this question. No longer could they simply be told what it was - the answer had to come from within.
Pino’s answer hadn’t come from the mouth of the creator like her fellow AutoReivs had asked, but she was starting to understand that by following the voice of the creator, she might just be able to figure it out for herself, now that there was no one to tell her. The path that she would follow would have to be decided along the way.
Right now, upon arrival in this strange place, her path was leading towards Vincent. Carefully, she listened for his voice as she moved through the city, playing the same slow, droning melody over and over again on the pink recorder that she’d arrived with. The notes were nothing compared to the intricate tune that one could play on both ends of a piano, but it was familiar and soothing all the same. Maybe if Vince was still too sad and shy to call out to her, she would call out to him instead.