Siren's Pull Application
Player Information
Name: Elizabeth Creegan
Age: 39
AIM SN: books_beth
email: ecreegan@pobox.com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? No
Currently Played Characters: None
Conditional: Activity Check Link: N/A
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Uncanny X-Men, Generation X, Emma Frost
Canon Format: American comics
Character's Name: Emma Frost
Character's Age:
- Chronological (the years she's actually lived through): 59
- Biological (the general state of her health): 38 and in excellent condition for her age
- Apparent: (what you seen when you look at her): depends how familiar you are with plastic surgery
- If you've never seen plastic surgery: 25
- If you're reasonably familiar with plastic surgery: 30-45
- If you're good at looking for the signs untreated by plastic surgery, 38
What form will your character's NV take? A silver blackberry with her name written on the top in embedded crystals, and a silver wireless chording keyboard with crystal keys. The back of the the backberry is smooth enough to be used as a mirror, which she's likely to take advantage of frequently.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities:
Taking advantage of your offer to simply refer to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Frost#Powers_and_abilities
As wikipedia says, the writers are inconsistent about her telepathic power and her diamond form.
For the purpose of this app, as far as sheer power goes, Emma is at the bottom of the top tier of telepathic ability. If you have a shield that might hold off first-rank telepaths, she has no chance of forcing her way through it. However, she's extremely deft, even for top-tier telepaths. If there's a spot that shield doesn't cover, she's very likely to spot it, and she's likely to be sneaky inside your mind.
Again, for the purpose of this app, the problem with Emma's telepathy in diamond form is that her brainwaves aren't human: she's using the wrong form of psychic energy for telepathy for humans, or indeed anything much else. If rocks thought, at a speed she could perceive, she'd be telepathic with them. She's superhumanly strong in her diamond form, but only moderately so (lift a car, yes; lift a van, probably; lift a bus, no.) By contrast, she is extremely resistant to damage when in diamond form, even by superhuman standards.
At er current point in time, her diamond form is brand-new, whereas she's had her telepathy for about two decades; she's going to default to telepathy unless clearly inappropriate until she's had quite a bit of practice in her diamond form.
Conditional: N/A
Weapons: N/A
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Frost#Fictional_character_biography
Point in Canon: Just after the destruction of Genosha
<> Emma continued broadcasting directions, her viewpoint jumping from one pair of eyes to another as the Sentinel moved and/or her viewpoint died, as the lights died and the minds around her winked out. As the roof caved in, she felt a twist and the last of the minds vanished.
Conditional: N/A
Character Personality:
Emma was raised to be the perfect businesswoman and that still shapes the way she sees the world. She can and often does evaluate anything - a gift given or received, a hug, a conversation - in terms of transactions and profits and losses. She's not as cutthroat as her father and tends to take the long view - certainly she wants as much gain as she can get, but if the person she's dealing with also profits from the exchange, she's more likely to get repeat customers. However, between her early upbringing and being repeatedly burned with early relationships, she rarely gets emotional about people: she has many business connections but few personal friends.
Note that Emma was raised to be the *perfect* businesswoman: her father didn't tolerate failure, and he considered anything less than perfection to be failure. Emma's standards regarding the rest of the world are somewhat more merciful, or at least more realistic, but she doesn't tolerate less than perfection in herself. She still blames herself for the deaths of the hellions, even though she bent to asking her enemies for help to save them. She's had repeated plastic surgery to make the beautiful body she was born with into the ideal body she thinks she should have. On occasion (headcanon) she's gone as far as performing mental surgery on herself.
No one can live up to such demanding standards, and Emma knows it, but she can't let her ideals of perfection go. Perversely, she blames herself for being unrealistic and therefore imperfect, and finds herself suppressing a vicious circle far too often. As a telepath who doesn't like herself and is aware that her attitude is self-destructive, Emma is prone to taking on the attitudes and opinions of people around her; as a master manipulator, she tends to *appear* to have adopted the opinions of the people around her to an even greater degree than she has.
Emma is indeed a master manipulator, willing and able to persuade people to do as she wishes. She's willing to use telepathy for this on occasion, but she's fully aware of the risk of that backfiring - logic, emotional blackmail, bribery, and sex appeal are preferred tools when dealing with anyone who has or might gain a shred of telepathic awareness. Being a manipulator doesn't mean she doesn't care about people; while she doesn't care about many people, those she does care about she cares about deeply. But she doesn't see this as a reason not to manipulate them, whether for the greater good, their own good, or her benefit. She just sees the risk of harming them with her manipulations as a cost to be weighed in the cost/benefit analysis through which she views most of the world. On the flip side, she is very aware of the downsides of manipulating people and is surprisingly likely to decide to back off and stop pressuring people to decide things her way.
Emma is also a cold-blooded bitch more generally. If circumstances require her to hurt someone, she won't hesitate, regardless of whether that "someone" is a stranger, an enemy, an ally, or a close friend. She may or may not feel regret if forced to hurt someone she cares about, but she's unlikely to admit to it even if she does: it was necessary, and feeling regret is irrational and imperfect. This plays into being a manipulator in both directions: she's willing to actively hurt one friend rather than passively stand by and let several be hurt ... and she's willing to stand aside and decide that someone should be allowed to make a mistake because in the long run the burnt hand teaches best.
And at heart Emma is a teacher. She truly enjoys bringing people's minds to fuller capacity and deeper thoughts. She's good at it - her Hellions met sticky ends, and Generation X fell apart, but it wasn't because they were poorly taught. It's what she enjoys most - she's been a hero and villain on occasion (though her main stint is in her personal future), but it's so much more efficient, not to mention less painful, to inspire others to do the work for you. And if you do it correctly, it's usually even good for the people you inspire.
Emma does best as part of a group. She's good with people, she can inspire them to do their best, and they inspire her to do her best. She doesn't need to be the most dominant member of the group, but she needs to be one of the members of the leadership -- perhaps she wouldn't if she met a group led by a cabal all of which she thought was more competent than she considers herself, but it's never come up. She's happier when in a romantic or at least semi-romantic relationship, but she has high standards for romance (though not for sex) -- to interest her as a partner, a man (or a woman, but she's heterosexual by preference) needs to be brilliant, strong-willed, powerful, and at least somewhat ruthless. Being a telepath would be a bonus, but it's not something she's used to and it's not a big deal: she has enough telepathy for two.
Finally, Emma is highly vindictive when injured and is carrying around a terrible case of survivor's guilt which she can't even admit to because it's illogical and therefore imperfect.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: N/A
Character Plans: Emma will try to find a support network immediately, both because she's happier with one and because in a place where powers are this powerful she feels she needs one. Once that's accomplished, or after giving up on it, she's likely to play the economic game, primarily basing it on Newcomers -- what Newcomers have abilities that aren't being exploited and how can she make money (and help them to make money) using those abilities. Of course, she's likely to use telepathy in the process, but she's hardly the only telepath on the island - though she may be the only one who is also a brilliant businesswoman in her own right.
Appearance/PB: Icons in comments
Revised Writing Samples
Revised First Person Sample
[Before picking up the NV, Emma pulls the top sheet off the bed and folds it rapidly into a toga. She picks up the blackberry and sits on the disheveled bed, her back to a window. Carefully considering her reflection in the back of the blackberry, Emma redrapes the toga into a slightly more revealing form. She then holds it up at arm's length and flicks an icon.]
"Hello. I understand introductions are sometimes conducted this way. I'm Emma Frost, a Newcomer as of three hours ago. If anyone I know hears this, please say hello; I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are the sort of people to whom interdimensional kidnapping is likely to occur.
"To anyone from my world, acquaintance or no, I understand people are plucked from different points in the timestream. I'm from (exact day Genosha was destroyed.) If you are from my future, I do not want to know what the future holds, so please do not put me to the inconvenience of wiping my own memories. If you are from my past, please do not ask: I will not tell you. That aside, I'd welcome a chance to meet anyone from home.
"To anyone at all, a personal request: due to circumstances beyond my control, I arrived with nothing but the communications device I am using now. I understand I'm expected to find a job quickly. Clothes would help in that endeavor. Mine ... aren't salvageable.
"Thanks to all for your time."
[The view lurches for a moment, revealing one of the Newcomer apartments, as Emma twists the blackberry to bring the off button in reach of her thumb. She immediately presses it and the feed cuts off.]
Additional Third Person Sample
A diamond woman wearing diamond rags entered the dingy apartment and looked around the space expressionlessly. She shut the door behind her, looked around again, and carefully sat down on the ground. After several minutes her body changed into flesh wearing silk rags. She started to sag, and her hands went to her temples as she grimaced.
"All right, Emma," she whispered, "looks like something kicks in worse in human form. But telepathic diagnosis says pain and disorientation. Make the pain go away and get oriented. Now. You're wasting daylight."
After several minutes she stood, moving smoothly, turned on the shower, stripped off what was left of her clothes, and stuck just her head under the cold water.
"Much better," she said aloud, and crossed over to the bed, where she sat crossed-legged and quietly reached out with her mind.
She winced slightly, stopped reaching outward, and twisted her perceptions so that she stood inside her own mind in what appeared to be an office.
"First item," she said to herself, "I'm not dead. Second item, several million other people are. Item two - alpha, that's in another universe and is entirely moot for now unless this place has kidnapped other people from my Earth. Third item, I'm alone, confined by unknown powers to an dangerous island. Item three - alpha, finding out if I have potential allies or enemies who know me already should be a high priority. Item three - beta, determining more about this location should also be a high priority. Item three - beta - one, not currently capable of telepathic sweeps; perhaps after mediation, perhaps after some recovery. Item four, I will need funds, therefore a job. Item four - alpha, I do not know enough about the island to know how best to search for a job, but it seems likely that lacking clothes would be a handicap."
In the privacy of her own mind, Emma permitted herself a show of temper, upending a shelf of books before she picks up a blank one from the floor and putit on her lap. "Since I seem not to be at my best, I had better have a specific plan of action," she continues, her words appearing as black ink on a stark white page. "First, two hours of mediation. Second, another attempt at a telepathic sweep. Third, exploration of the capabilities of the blackberry that appeared with me. Immediate actions after that to depend upon second and third, but I should acquire something in the way of food before nightfall. Then two more hours of mediation before sleep, and reevaluate in the morning."
Emma flipped open the formerly blank book and nodded in satisfaction as the works she had just 'spoken' were printed neatly in it. She closed the book, placed it on the shelf, replaced the ones she'd thrown to the floor, and opened her eyes inside the Newcomer apartment, where she stood, stretched, and returned to the bed to sit down again and begin restorative meditation.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
Emma picks up her blackberry and studies it carefully, looking through the menus of several applications. After several minutes, she puts it down and looks around the apartment with a nose-wrinkle of distaste. She stands, and her form changes from crystalline to human flesh. She sighs, as a headache began and rapidly takes hold.
Hands rubbing her temples, she paces around, apparently indifferent to her nudity. However, before picking up the NV, she pulls the top sheet off the bed and folds it rapidly into a toga. She picks up the blackberry and sits on the disheveled bed, her back to a window. Carefully considering her reflection in the back of the blackberry, Emma redrapes the toga into a slightly more revealing form. She then holds it up at arm's length and flicks an icon.
(Video begins here.)
"Hello. I understand introductions are sometimes conducted this way. I'm Emma Frost, a Newcomer as of three hours ago. If anyone I know hears this, please say hello; I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are the sort of people to whom interdimensional kidnapping is likely to occur.
"To anyone from my world, acquaintance or no, I understand people are plucked from different points in the timestream. I'm from (exact day Genosha was destroyed.) If you are from my future, I do not want to know what the future holds, so please do not put me to the inconvenience of wiping my own memories. If you are from my past, please do not ask: I will not tell you. That aside, I'd welcome a chance to meet anyone from home.
"To anyone at all, a personal request: due to circumstances beyond my control, I arrived with nothing but the communications device I am using now. I understand I'm expected to find a job quickly. Clothes would help in that endeavor. Mine ... aren't salvageable.
"Thanks to all for your time."
(Click)
Third Person Sample