Application for hellpointe
Application
Player Info
Player Name: Shamera
Player LJ: tsukishirou
Player Instant Messenger Type and Handle: AIM: kl0tho
Player Email: klotho@gmail.com
Are you 18 years of age or older? Yeap.
Character Info
Character Name: Anna
Character’s Age: 40
Fandom: V (2009 remake)
Timeline: After Mother's Day (series finale)
Appearance: Anna is extraordinarily beautiful, but in a way that doesn't call to herself, but rather just lingers in people's minds. Her posture and attitude contribute to this until her beauty becomes a paragon. Her features are flawless and her complexion is always perfect-- for a reason, though.
Here and here.
History: Yay, here!
Personality: Oh, Anna. Where can I start with her? Let's break this down in the sections of what people see when they look at her, who she is, what her people see when they look at her, and then her motivations.
Anna is the epitome of beauty and grace. She is kind and she is patient; always ready with a smile and a soft word for everyone, ready to take their hands and grieve with them or encourage them to do what they believe is the right thing. For an alien invader, Anna is... peace. She is the hopes and dreams of humanity come into one, that there are beings out there who are as wonderful as she is and so willing to help the human race while asking for so very little in return. Her first speech explained that her people were "far from home and require water and a mineral which is common and abundant on earth in order to sustain [themselves]" and in exchange, she would share with them technologies that would make the human race better than they were. She was also very clear that it was not an invasion and that they would leave Earth, "hopefully better than we found you."
And through the series, Anna has proven time and again to the human race that she is nothing but benevolent and kind, peaceful and full of a passive naivety that mankind was taking advantage of. Through her two years on Earth, she has been patient with governments and religions, politicians who denounce her as taking advantage of the planet, and religions who speak as if she were the Devil come to take worship away from God. And through all of that, Anna has remained ever sweet to mankind, continuing to give her gifts of healing and energy that would reduce pollution, even creating "red rain" for the planet that would reverse the effects of all the terrible things humanity has done to the environment. And has created vaccines for illnesses, healed those who had been told would never recover, and save hundreds of people when disasters struck and governments were too busy arguing to save lives. And step by step, she has been doubted and feared, attacked by terrorists and accused of terrible things. Any passerby would easily be able to see that Anna is only trying her very best to help an ungrateful race, and that she really should take her people and leave not because she was a threat, but because humanity was a threat to her.
Yet if they look closer, they would still be terrified. There is something about Anna that strikes fear almost as much as she strikes wonder and awe. Despite her gentle smiles, there is a sense that telling her 'no' is something akin to a death sentence. Perhaps it is because she really is an alien and therefore foreign to the human race, or perhaps it is because she is so beautiful and human despite that. For an alien race, the Visitors looked and acted human-- it was remarked that they were all extraordinarily beautiful and graceful, and there is almost nothing to distinguish them from a regular person. And Anna is at the very center of that: beautiful, kind, elegant, and ever the most gracious and patient person. It's no wonder that her people made her their leader.
But below what the human race knows of her, Anna is not an elected leader but actually the queen of her people. And the Visitors are not a race who look and act like humans at all. Rather, they are reptilian in form and hide under a layer of skin made to look human. Visitors are borne from eggs, eggs which all come from the queen mother. They all have assigned purposes to them: soldiers, scientists, hunters... they're not even born with stages; rather, Visitors are born fully grown and mature, with the complete knowledge of what they need in life. That is the side that humanity never sees, and Anna is the reason they will never see it.
To her people, Anna is a queen. Queens denote respect and obedience not only because she is the one who would create the next generation, but also because in exchange for their services, queens provide a feeling called Bliss (this will be covered more in abilities). And as such, the Visitor race follow their queen in whatever decision she should make, whether it is into a losing battle or whether it is to calmly masquerade themselves as humanoid.
Another thing that should be mentioned of Visitors is that they are not born with emotions. Emotions are a weakness; a hindrance. To act emotionally is to become weak, and weakness is something that Anna will not tolerate in her people. She considers them 'better' than any other race out there, a feeling that is not limited only to her, but to most of her people as well. It is an entire history of encountering various species and interacting with them that has brought about this sentiment, and with good reason. The Visitors were not ones who would engage in outright war-- instead, the queens plan and with every new species they encounter, they find the very best of everything in that race... strongest, fastest, best immune system, metabolism... it didn't matter. With every Visitor generation, they would incorporate that DNA into themselves, assimulating the best traits of each species.
During Anna's reign, this meant the human race. But there was only one glitch in her plans-- human emotions. Anna in equal parts fear and hate humanity for taking away some of her people-- those who have succumbed to human emotion and are out reach for her Bliss. In her mind, she is doing the best for her race and creating a better future, and those infected with emotions are a flaw to her plan. And while she plays the part of a loving queen, she also has no stipulations against brutally killing those who no longer follow her, in front of her people. Those with human emotions were a danger to the Visitors and needed to be eliminated before they destroyed her, and with her, the entire future of her people.
When dealing with Visitors, Anna's masks drop only a little. She is still kind and benevolent, always looking out for the good of her species, but she is also ruthless and merciless. Any means to an end. The best example of this is her sacrifice of her daughter Lisa by whoring her out to prime candidates of humanity, and then ordering Lisa to be beaten and broken when she needed humans to sympathize with her cause. She left Lisa in an alleyway with both legs broken and beaten within an inch of her life so that she could later cry in front of an audience about the terrible actions of mankind against her daughter.
And this is something to be remembered: Anna is the perfect actress. Despite her inability to comprehend human emotion, she is perfect at imitating it and understanding how people work. She can cry on command and look entirely sincere, to the point where not a single person in the entire would would question her sorrow. In that aspect, Anna's skills are perfect. But all Visitors on Earth wear human skin, and it slowly infects everyone who dons it, whether they are a queen or not. It is only the slow influx of humanity on her that caused her to falter and start showing signs that something was off. It is not until she experiences human rage for the first time when a group of terrorists infiltrate her ship and destroy her unhatched eggs that she first realizes she may be infected with emotion as well. And it is only then that Anna starts to... slip. Starts sounding somewhat manipulative and a little insincere when talking to people. Not enough to call her on it, but a drastic change to the benevolent alien leader in the beginning.
What has to be understood is that Anna's plans at the beginning did not include human emotion as part of it, and when she realized she may be infected, she ordered her best doctor to search out and destroy what she had been informed as the source of human emotion-- the soul. She was fanatical in her search to destroy it, and in creating plans and back-up plans in case things should fail like they had when her eggs were destroyed. It is in that turning point that Anna starts to lose control of herself and become more human-- and not a good human. Her manipulations became more transparent and her plans hasty, enough that it allowed for several people to make fools of her, which only led to enrage her more.
But the keystone that led to her final transformation came from little Amy... a girl who was half human and half Visitor, borne from a Visitor who fell in love with a human woman, and who Anna had described as an abomination and nearly killed the moment she was born. Instead, Amy became a tool for Anna to experiment on, using the baby to blackmail Amy's father into working for Anna again. She deliberately caused Amy pain that only her Bliss could cure, and used her as an experiment to further her plans as well as an excuse to extract a little human girl and kill her. But it was Amy who eventually became Anna's downfall into human emotion, and caused her realization that perhaps there was something to emotions after all. Amy's unconditional love for Anna was something she had never before experienced, not for her mother and certainly not for her own daughter, and by the end of the series (without going into details and spoilers), it is plausible that Anna might do just about anything for Amy. By then, she also understood that human emotions could be a strength. She was stronger when she was angry and determined, fiercer in her silent fury.
It can be argued that Amy is still nothing more than a pawn in Anna's plans, certainly, even if Anna is starting to feel something for her. But my take is that Anna realized in Amy that this half-human, half-Visitor girl would be the one she wants to succeed her, even if it is Lisa and not Amy who carries the next generation of Visitors. Within Amy, Anna realized that she is done, in both senses. She is finally finished with her lifelong work of molding a new queen for her people. Lisa never met her expectations, but Amy might.
But there was still a crucial detail missing. Despite her supposed understanding and acceptance of human emotions, Anna still does not truly understand it. Her success failed to teach her lessons she might have learned upon failure; in the end, Anna still believes her methods are right and just, and that if she can not persuade someone to help her on their own, then they forfeit their right to choose at all.
One misunderstood aspect of her is that while Anna is extremely prideful, she genuinely cares for her people. She takes her promises seriously, and despite the idea that the series tries to implant that Anna cares only for herself, this is not true. She is honestly ready to die in order to fulfill her promises to her people, and to empower them. Should it be asked of her and and she feels that there is decent leadership to succeed her, Anna would be willing to lay down her life in a heartbeat for her subjects.
Powers/Abilities: As a Queen, Anna has an ability to communicate with the rest of her race telepathically through a ritual that her race calls 'Bliss'. It's basically like a mind control drug and ensures that everyone loves and adores her to the point that they would kill themselves should she casually ask it of them. And despite its manipulative manners, Bliss is... peaceful. Calm. It is happiness and light and a feeling of connection.
This is a perfect example.
And while the mass effect of this ability only extends to Visitors, there is a subtler effect on humans, giving them joy and calming them down, creating happiness and peace for a brief while. It is subtle on humans, while the effect on Visitors is to the point where they would lose their wish for anything other than pleasing her, because their queen was the representation of everything that was good for their race.
Anna is also able to Bliss humans... but rather than the entire race, she can only Bliss one person at a time and it causes her great pain and exhausion, which she overcomes through sheer willpower and the pride that she can do something like that.
Anna can control the way she looks, as well. That's how she's always so beautiful-- she can wave through her complexion and simply push away anything that might make her look ill, weak, or generally less than perfect. All she needs is a mirror to see her end results.
Also, as a female of her race, Anna has a long, long tail that she keeps tucked under the skin of her back. The tail is bladed on the end and insanely strong as well as fast-- she can whip out the tail and pierce through bones before people can react, or cut with such pinpoint accuracy that she tears away only the skin of one's face but leave the bones untouched-- the entire face. It can also wrap around a person and suspend them in the air for her to gloat over their death. It is seen to extend several meters (enough to wrap around a person several times and keep them not only in midair, but far enough away from Anna so that the person could not attack her), although it's unknown if that is the limit of the tail or not.
Limitations: Anna is already severely limited in Bell Pointe. Her greatest strength are her people and their technologies, as she is not someone equipped with the knowledge on how to build all of that-- at best, she may be able to provide templates. She carries that knowledge in her, but it is not accessible to her... only to her progeny designed to become scientists or engineers. She also won't have the strength and devotion of her people to back her up, meaning that she's now in very dangerous territory.
Another limitation would be her eggs. Anna is like a queen bee, and when she lays eggs, they're in the hundreds-- therefore, here, she won't have the ability to have children at all (so not to overrun the town), although should anyone dare to become intimite with her... well, she'd still eat her partner afterward. It's just a a species thing, no hard feelings.
But the most obvious limitation would be her Bliss. While normally it brings people under her complete control, while here, she will not be able to completely Bliss people. It wouldn't be painful when she tries-- it just wouldn't work. Her normal Bliss, however, works the same way except weaker-- there are no Visitors here for her to Bliss, after all, so the effects would just be that should she bother to help, her Bliss would linger to make the people feel... lighter. Happier, and calmer. But she can in no way control them using that power-- she's going to have to rely completely on her winning personality now.
Would like to keep her tail as it is, seeing as it is a part of her and not really considered an ability or power by her. However, her 'human skin' is now really a part of her, not just a shell. Should she cut herself, it will hurt as it does for normal people. And her tail cutting out of her skin would be quite painful, although she would be able to cover up the pain of it from her control over her own skin. It would still be a wound and it would still hurt, but she can at least look like it doesn't bother her.
Also concerning her tail-- while it is strong outside of her body, it can easily be stopped before it breaks out of her skin. Enough pressure on a certain point of her back and she would be unable to utilize her tail, bringing any attacks from that to a complete halt.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
She woke up with a smile on her lips, so very different to far too many days in the past two years where she had woken stressed and angry. There was nothing else in her way anymore, not with Amy by her side. The little girl was a miracle; Anna's little miracle. She may not be Amy's mother by birth, but she certainly was by right. She had been the one to raise her; she had been the one to shape her into what she was today. Amy was the most promising child she had ever met in her life.
But the smile was quick to fade when she realized that this was not her normal quarters. Her ceilings were smooth chrome, not... stucco. That was a human invention, was it not? Pitiful. And her blankets were of the softest materials from the last world they had passed... she couldn't even remember its names. But it was of no consequence anymore.
This was cotton. Stucco and cotton, completely human inventions. So very crude. With one simple motion, she sat up in bed, eyes open to access her situation. This was not her ship. She was on land. She had slept on land. How in the universe had that happened?
No matter, though. It was unlikely of humans to rebel now, especially since her Amy had calmed them. Curious, though. Had the Fifth Column broken through the Bliss? Had they kidnapped her somehow, spreading their diseases thoughts through her ship to bring her down here, out of the reach of her people? They must have a death wish. Despite the recent... upheaval, her people would riot without their queen. Without Bliss.
She swung her legs out from the bed with a simple, graceful movement, eying her human skin for a moment. But it was the price that she would pay for her people, to stay in this skin the rest of her life. She had known that the moment they applied this skin to her. And she would wear it with pride, no matter how sick and filthy it seemed. It would be Lisa's children who would be free of the skin, off to a new world to find another race compatible with theirs.
But not until she found her ship again. A cursory glance out the window (sunlight was a good sign. She was still on Earth, at least.) showed that she was not in a major city. She could have easily gotten into contact with a ship were that the case.
The called for more exploration, as well as caution. But there had been nothing chaining her to the bed. No guards at the door. The windows had been easy to open, and the bed soft (as soft as human beds were).
Something was amiss.
And with a smile on her lips, Anna got up and left her room, more than ready to take on whoever had taken her from her home. And perhaps ensure that they would not be able to do so ever again.
First Person Sample:
My name is Anna.
[Was there ever a person who looked so serene about arriving in this town?]
And I'm afraid that I have been kidnapped and am in need of help. I hesitate to say that it was done with a violent motive as I was unbound and alone when I awoke. But I must request aid to return to the New York mothership.
[There is a smile. Not sheepish, not assuming... just peaceful and if you look carefully, perhaps slightly admonishing. Almost like a calm parent telling a child not to have cookies before dinner.]
As there was no harm done, I can assure people that all will be well. But I must find a communications device that may relay my position to my ship. There is much that I need to tend to, and little time.