OOC || Application
Player Name: Rae
Player LJ: aircrash
Contact: AIM (lend me your power) or LJ Message, please!
Character Number: 2!
Character: Simon Tam
Fandom: Firefly
Personality: Simon Tam is a bit of a tough nut to crack. He’s a very guarded man, and as such, his full personality isn’t immediately apparent at first glance, or even at second glance.
Consider Simon as we’re first introduced to him on Firefly. His manners of dress, speech, and bearing all mark him as a member of the aristocratic class - “a moneyed individual,” as Captain Malcolm Reynolds synopsizes on a later episode. Simon’s terse in his first interactions with Serenity’s crew, keeping mostly to himself, aloof but not necessarily impolite. He even appears somewhat suspicious in comparison to the other passengers and crew on board; before too long, it’s assumed he’s an agent of the Alliance, the overarching, semi-authoritarian government.
Then - a twist! We learn that Simon is not, in fact, an Alliance mole; he (along with his smuggled sister, River) is actually a fugitive on the lam from the Alliance. See, even wealthy people have legal troubles sometimes! Well, formerly wealthy. As it turns out, River had been a captive in an Alliance stronghold posing as an elite teen academy. In the process of breaking her out and turning both of them into runaways, Simon had depleted his financial resources, as well as alienated his parents, who hadn’t taken too kindly to their son’s less-than-legal dealings and the subsequent besmirching of the Tam family’s social standings. Here we are introduced to another facet of Simon’s personality - the highly courageous, dedicated, selfless (while still possibly a little selfish, depending on which philosophical lens you look through) aspect. He’s so devoted to his sister, in fact, that he gave up everything else he’d ever known to save her: the rest of his family; his societal standing and connections; his comfortable lifestyle; and a prestigious career as a top surgeon, on the fast track to wealth, power, and everything else he could’ve asked for.
But as magnanimous as he can be, Simon’s still no saint. He is very much a product of his privileged upbringing, and failure to recognize this is perhaps his greatest character flaw. He can be a bit pompous when talking informally to other people; things Simon says sometimes paints him in the light of a classist jerk. He’d lived his whole life prior to rescuing River on one of the “civilized” central planets, and he makes more than a few disparaging remarks about the “backwards” outer planets Serenity’s crew visits throughout the series. His attention to detail on what is “proper” lands Simon in hot water with Kaylee, Serenity’s mechanic and Simon’s potential love interest, on more than one occasion (cf. “Safe,” [1] “Jaynestown,” [2] etc.) He’s not malicious, though - merely ignorant, due to a somewhat narrow world view. That, combined with his unfortunate tendency to speak without thinking and then continue speaking when he should be shutting up, leads to a fair amount of foot-in-mouth scenarios.
Yet, despite his habit of saying stupid things, Simon is actually quite intelligent. He explains to Serenity’s crew, as a way of introducing his story about River:
I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months. "Gifted" is the term. So when I tell you that my little sister makes me look like an idiot child, I want you to understand my full meaning.
So he’s smart, and he knows it. Most of the time, he manages not to lord it over everyone else, too.
Besides the genius intellect, Simon’s also quick-thinking in a crisis and a fairly good strategist. In “Arial,” he’s able to quickly devise an elaborate plan to sneak himself and River into an Alliance-run hospital on one of the central planets while Zoe and Mal loot the hospital’s supply stores for goods to be sold on the black market. Not just anyone can develop a heist on the spur of the moment, but Simon’s plan is flawless (with the exception of Jayne’s sudden but inevitable betrayal).
Simon’s a fairly somber individual, though he isn’t gloomy or pessimistic; he’s just a firm believer in decorum. He’s serious, most of the time, but he’s not a total stuffed shirt - for example, at the beginning of “Objects in Space,” he’s shown recounting a tale wherein he and his fellow Medacad grads celebrated by getting properly drunk and a naked Simon took it upon himself to climb a statue of Hippocrates and begin singing. He will get angry, especially if River is threatened, and while he does seem to have some grasp of hand-to-hand combat, he isn’t aggressive, and in fact tends to be more on the receiving end of punches than the delivering side. Simon actually tends to default to sarcasm when he’s upset (unlike some of Serenity’s other crew members [i.e., Jayne, Mal], who favor violence and threats thereof), and when he is thrown into situations that require the use of force, he favors subduing his opponents with nonlethal means.
Peel away all the outer layers, and the core of Simon is an incredibly loving, kind, quietly warm man who wants, above all else, to make sure his beloved sister is safe.
[1] - for example, consider the following transcribed scene:
INT. GENERAL STORE - DAY - CONTINUOUS
Inara and Kaylee are browsing. The store's light is dim and yellow,
shelves are cluttered with cheap knick knacks.
INARA
Does it seem every supply store on every
'water planet has the same five rag dolls
and the same wood carvings of... what is
this? A duck?
KAYLEE
That's a swan.
(beat)
I like it.
INARA
You do?
KAYLEE
(stroking swan)
Looks like it was made with, you know,
longing. Made by a person really
longed to see a swan.
INARA
Perhaps they'd only heard of them
by rough description.
KAYLEE
(holding up a painted plate)
You think this would make a nice gift?
INARA
A gift? For whom?
KAYLEE
I just kinda like it.
(beat)
It's rich, you know?
INARA
Ooh. For Simon.
KAYLEE
I didn't say that.
INARA
(chuckling)
You don't do a very good job of hiding
your interest.
KAYLEE
He's just so [shuai - "handsome"]. You
just wanna take a bite out of him all
over, you know?
INARA
(softly)
Careful.
Inara indicates something behind Kaylee. Getting it, Kaylee turns to
greet Simon and River, who have just entered the store.
KAYLEE
Morning, you two.
INARA
Don't usually see you two out and
about planet-side.
SIMON
Yeah, we're... we're trying something
different today.
(to River)
River, be careful with that... that's, um...
(to Kaylee)
What is that?
KAYLEE
It's a post-holer. You dig holes. For posts.
SIMON
(separating River from the post-holer)
It's, uh, it's dirty. And sharp.
(to River)
Let's come over here.
(picks up plate Kaylee was looking
at earlier)
Jiangyin prairie paradise. Good god.
They're asking money for this crap?
KAYLEE
(somewhat crestfallen)
Hard to believe ain't it? Glad you're out.
SIMON
Mm.
KAYLEE
Give you a chance to have a little fun.
SIMON
Fun. Right, yeah.
(runs to rescue knick knacks from River)
I, uh, I consider this fun. It's fun, being
forced to the ass-end of the galaxy. To get
to live on a piece of [luh-suh -"crappy"] wreck.
And to eat molded protein. And to be bullied
around by our [boo-tai jung tzhang duh] of a
captain. It's fun.
KAYLEE
(hurt)
[Luh-suh? - "Crappy?"]
SIMON
Sorry?
KAYLEE
Serenity ain't [luh-suh - "crappy"].
SIMON
No, I... I didn't mean --
KAYLEE
Yeah you did. You meant everything you
just said.
SIMON
Well, no. Uh, actually I was being ironic,
so in-in-in the strictest sense --
KAYLEE
You were being mean, is what.
(beat)
And if that's what you think of this life,
then you can't think much of them that
choose it, can you.
Kaylee exits the store. Inara follows, giving Simon a significant, "You
screwed up," look as she exits. Simon sighs heavily, then turns around.
River's nowhere to be seen.
[2] - another transcribed scene:
INT. WORKER-TOWN - MUDDER BAR - DAY
KAYLEE and SIMON asleep together on bench. MAL
approaches.
KAYLEE
(sleepily)
Hey, Captain.
(wakes up more; sits up)
Captain!
SIMON
Hey...Mal, uh, Mal... No, nuh-nuh-nothing
happened. No, there was, uh, there was some
drinking, but, uh, we, no we certainly didn't.
No, I would never ! Not with Kaylee...
KAYLEE
What do you mean, Not with me?
MAL
Yeah, uh-huh. Where's my hero?
Jayne enters from upstairs, his arm around a woman,
and walks down to the bar area.
JAYNE
(singing)
My love for me now ain't hard to explain
The Hero of Canton
The man they call...ME
(speaking, now)
Eggs. The living legend needs eggs.
Or maybe another milk.
MAL
No, the living legend needs to come with us.
He's got a little appearance to make.
JAYNE
He does?
MAL
That's right This job here's gone way past long
enough.
JAYNE
Yeah, all right.
(To woman)
Well, you go on now, I've got me important
hero-type stuff to do.
MAL gathers his crew and begins to walk off.
KAYLEE
(to Simon)
Where you going?
SIMON
I'm going with you.
KAYLEE
Mmm, I don't think so. No, maybe you ought
to stay here. It's about the time for a
civilized person to have his breakfast. That's
the sort of thing would be appropriate, don't
you think?
SIMON gapes. Rest of crew leaves.
SIMON
(sighs; to Bartender)
Excuse me, could I see a menu?
BARTENDER
A what?
History: Have some Wikipedia for Firefly and Simon, and also some bonus Firefly and Serenity Database for Simon.
Timeline: After “Objects in Space” but before Serenity.
Abilities: Simon’s just a regular ol’ human, though he is extremely intelligent - a genius, some might say - and very dedicated (especially to his sister, River). He’s trained as a doctor, and has previously worked as both a trauma surgeon in prestigious, well-funded hospitals and an all-around medic in less than state-of-the-art surroundings. He’s very good at his job! He even got a hamster named after him for reattaching a girl’s leg this one time ...
He’s calm under pressure, which is a quality you want in a trauma surgeon and field medic alike, and an excellent strategist. Simon’s not especially trained for combat, but he can get physical, if the situation calls for it - although more often than not, he’ll end up playing the part of the punching bag. To his credit, Simon takes a punch - or even a bullet to the leg! - fairly well.
Link to an image of the character: Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.
MISCELLANEA:
- Age: 28 (born in late November, c. 2490)
- Home world: Osiris
- Residence (thoughtformed): SOUTH 404 (w/Alois Trancy)
Player LJ: aircrash
Contact: AIM (lend me your power) or LJ Message, please!
Character Number: 2!
Character: Simon Tam
Fandom: Firefly
Personality: Simon Tam is a bit of a tough nut to crack. He’s a very guarded man, and as such, his full personality isn’t immediately apparent at first glance, or even at second glance.
Consider Simon as we’re first introduced to him on Firefly. His manners of dress, speech, and bearing all mark him as a member of the aristocratic class - “a moneyed individual,” as Captain Malcolm Reynolds synopsizes on a later episode. Simon’s terse in his first interactions with Serenity’s crew, keeping mostly to himself, aloof but not necessarily impolite. He even appears somewhat suspicious in comparison to the other passengers and crew on board; before too long, it’s assumed he’s an agent of the Alliance, the overarching, semi-authoritarian government.
Then - a twist! We learn that Simon is not, in fact, an Alliance mole; he (along with his smuggled sister, River) is actually a fugitive on the lam from the Alliance. See, even wealthy people have legal troubles sometimes! Well, formerly wealthy. As it turns out, River had been a captive in an Alliance stronghold posing as an elite teen academy. In the process of breaking her out and turning both of them into runaways, Simon had depleted his financial resources, as well as alienated his parents, who hadn’t taken too kindly to their son’s less-than-legal dealings and the subsequent besmirching of the Tam family’s social standings. Here we are introduced to another facet of Simon’s personality - the highly courageous, dedicated, selfless (while still possibly a little selfish, depending on which philosophical lens you look through) aspect. He’s so devoted to his sister, in fact, that he gave up everything else he’d ever known to save her: the rest of his family; his societal standing and connections; his comfortable lifestyle; and a prestigious career as a top surgeon, on the fast track to wealth, power, and everything else he could’ve asked for.
But as magnanimous as he can be, Simon’s still no saint. He is very much a product of his privileged upbringing, and failure to recognize this is perhaps his greatest character flaw. He can be a bit pompous when talking informally to other people; things Simon says sometimes paints him in the light of a classist jerk. He’d lived his whole life prior to rescuing River on one of the “civilized” central planets, and he makes more than a few disparaging remarks about the “backwards” outer planets Serenity’s crew visits throughout the series. His attention to detail on what is “proper” lands Simon in hot water with Kaylee, Serenity’s mechanic and Simon’s potential love interest, on more than one occasion (cf. “Safe,” [1] “Jaynestown,” [2] etc.) He’s not malicious, though - merely ignorant, due to a somewhat narrow world view. That, combined with his unfortunate tendency to speak without thinking and then continue speaking when he should be shutting up, leads to a fair amount of foot-in-mouth scenarios.
Yet, despite his habit of saying stupid things, Simon is actually quite intelligent. He explains to Serenity’s crew, as a way of introducing his story about River:
I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months. "Gifted" is the term. So when I tell you that my little sister makes me look like an idiot child, I want you to understand my full meaning.
So he’s smart, and he knows it. Most of the time, he manages not to lord it over everyone else, too.
Besides the genius intellect, Simon’s also quick-thinking in a crisis and a fairly good strategist. In “Arial,” he’s able to quickly devise an elaborate plan to sneak himself and River into an Alliance-run hospital on one of the central planets while Zoe and Mal loot the hospital’s supply stores for goods to be sold on the black market. Not just anyone can develop a heist on the spur of the moment, but Simon’s plan is flawless (with the exception of Jayne’s sudden but inevitable betrayal).
Simon’s a fairly somber individual, though he isn’t gloomy or pessimistic; he’s just a firm believer in decorum. He’s serious, most of the time, but he’s not a total stuffed shirt - for example, at the beginning of “Objects in Space,” he’s shown recounting a tale wherein he and his fellow Medacad grads celebrated by getting properly drunk and a naked Simon took it upon himself to climb a statue of Hippocrates and begin singing. He will get angry, especially if River is threatened, and while he does seem to have some grasp of hand-to-hand combat, he isn’t aggressive, and in fact tends to be more on the receiving end of punches than the delivering side. Simon actually tends to default to sarcasm when he’s upset (unlike some of Serenity’s other crew members [i.e., Jayne, Mal], who favor violence and threats thereof), and when he is thrown into situations that require the use of force, he favors subduing his opponents with nonlethal means.
Peel away all the outer layers, and the core of Simon is an incredibly loving, kind, quietly warm man who wants, above all else, to make sure his beloved sister is safe.
[1] - for example, consider the following transcribed scene:
INT. GENERAL STORE - DAY - CONTINUOUS
Inara and Kaylee are browsing. The store's light is dim and yellow,
shelves are cluttered with cheap knick knacks.
INARA
Does it seem every supply store on every
'water planet has the same five rag dolls
and the same wood carvings of... what is
this? A duck?
KAYLEE
That's a swan.
(beat)
I like it.
INARA
You do?
KAYLEE
(stroking swan)
Looks like it was made with, you know,
longing. Made by a person really
longed to see a swan.
INARA
Perhaps they'd only heard of them
by rough description.
KAYLEE
(holding up a painted plate)
You think this would make a nice gift?
INARA
A gift? For whom?
KAYLEE
I just kinda like it.
(beat)
It's rich, you know?
INARA
Ooh. For Simon.
KAYLEE
I didn't say that.
INARA
(chuckling)
You don't do a very good job of hiding
your interest.
KAYLEE
He's just so [shuai - "handsome"]. You
just wanna take a bite out of him all
over, you know?
INARA
(softly)
Careful.
Inara indicates something behind Kaylee. Getting it, Kaylee turns to
greet Simon and River, who have just entered the store.
KAYLEE
Morning, you two.
INARA
Don't usually see you two out and
about planet-side.
SIMON
Yeah, we're... we're trying something
different today.
(to River)
River, be careful with that... that's, um...
(to Kaylee)
What is that?
KAYLEE
It's a post-holer. You dig holes. For posts.
SIMON
(separating River from the post-holer)
It's, uh, it's dirty. And sharp.
(to River)
Let's come over here.
(picks up plate Kaylee was looking
at earlier)
Jiangyin prairie paradise. Good god.
They're asking money for this crap?
KAYLEE
(somewhat crestfallen)
Hard to believe ain't it? Glad you're out.
SIMON
Mm.
KAYLEE
Give you a chance to have a little fun.
SIMON
Fun. Right, yeah.
(runs to rescue knick knacks from River)
I, uh, I consider this fun. It's fun, being
forced to the ass-end of the galaxy. To get
to live on a piece of [luh-suh -"crappy"] wreck.
And to eat molded protein. And to be bullied
around by our [boo-tai jung tzhang duh] of a
captain. It's fun.
KAYLEE
(hurt)
[Luh-suh? - "Crappy?"]
SIMON
Sorry?
KAYLEE
Serenity ain't [luh-suh - "crappy"].
SIMON
No, I... I didn't mean --
KAYLEE
Yeah you did. You meant everything you
just said.
SIMON
Well, no. Uh, actually I was being ironic,
so in-in-in the strictest sense --
KAYLEE
You were being mean, is what.
(beat)
And if that's what you think of this life,
then you can't think much of them that
choose it, can you.
Kaylee exits the store. Inara follows, giving Simon a significant, "You
screwed up," look as she exits. Simon sighs heavily, then turns around.
River's nowhere to be seen.
[2] - another transcribed scene:
INT. WORKER-TOWN - MUDDER BAR - DAY
KAYLEE and SIMON asleep together on bench. MAL
approaches.
KAYLEE
(sleepily)
Hey, Captain.
(wakes up more; sits up)
Captain!
SIMON
Hey...Mal, uh, Mal... No, nuh-nuh-nothing
happened. No, there was, uh, there was some
drinking, but, uh, we, no we certainly didn't.
No, I would never ! Not with Kaylee...
KAYLEE
What do you mean, Not with me?
MAL
Yeah, uh-huh. Where's my hero?
Jayne enters from upstairs, his arm around a woman,
and walks down to the bar area.
JAYNE
(singing)
My love for me now ain't hard to explain
The Hero of Canton
The man they call...ME
(speaking, now)
Eggs. The living legend needs eggs.
Or maybe another milk.
MAL
No, the living legend needs to come with us.
He's got a little appearance to make.
JAYNE
He does?
MAL
That's right This job here's gone way past long
enough.
JAYNE
Yeah, all right.
(To woman)
Well, you go on now, I've got me important
hero-type stuff to do.
MAL gathers his crew and begins to walk off.
KAYLEE
(to Simon)
Where you going?
SIMON
I'm going with you.
KAYLEE
Mmm, I don't think so. No, maybe you ought
to stay here. It's about the time for a
civilized person to have his breakfast. That's
the sort of thing would be appropriate, don't
you think?
SIMON gapes. Rest of crew leaves.
SIMON
(sighs; to Bartender)
Excuse me, could I see a menu?
BARTENDER
A what?
History: Have some Wikipedia for Firefly and Simon, and also some bonus Firefly and Serenity Database for Simon.
Timeline: After “Objects in Space” but before Serenity.
Abilities: Simon’s just a regular ol’ human, though he is extremely intelligent - a genius, some might say - and very dedicated (especially to his sister, River). He’s trained as a doctor, and has previously worked as both a trauma surgeon in prestigious, well-funded hospitals and an all-around medic in less than state-of-the-art surroundings. He’s very good at his job! He even got a hamster named after him for reattaching a girl’s leg this one time ...
He’s calm under pressure, which is a quality you want in a trauma surgeon and field medic alike, and an excellent strategist. Simon’s not especially trained for combat, but he can get physical, if the situation calls for it - although more often than not, he’ll end up playing the part of the punching bag. To his credit, Simon takes a punch - or even a bullet to the leg! - fairly well.
Link to an image of the character: Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.
MISCELLANEA:
- Age: 28 (born in late November, c. 2490)
- Home world: Osiris
- Residence (thoughtformed): SOUTH 404 (w/Alois Trancy)