application
Your name: Catie
Your personal LJ: orlanstamos.livejournal.com (sadly not updated in a very long while)
Who do you currently play at Tabula Rasa?: Calvin O'Keefe and Peter Pan
Please list the dates of your participation requirement threads or posts for each pup for the previous calendar month: Three of Calvin's threads: July 26 with Sam Tyler, July 23 with Tyra Colette, and July 7 with Dairine Callahan. Peter had an EP on the 19 of July.
Have you dropped any pup since your last application? Nope
If so, why did you feel the need to drop them?
What month and year is this application for?: August 2007
Your character's name: Shadow
Your character's canon: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
What type of canon is it (Book series, film, etc.): a book
Your character's LJ: palmthemoon.livejournal.com
Is your character living or dead at their time of entry?: He is alive, but just barely
Does your character have any pre-existing disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature?: (paralyzed or missing limbs, AIDS, barren, schizophrenia, etc.) No
Your character's personality: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing the major aspects of your pup's personality. This is NOT the same as background information.)
Shadow is more than he seems. Everyone is, really, but Shadow more than most. People think he's a big dumb guy, and while he's certainly big he's not dumb. Just that he doesn't feel the need to correct people's perceptions of him, because he doesn't really care. The people he really loves, mostly Laura, they know it's not true and that's enough. He's got that sort of quiet confidence about him, even though he doesn't have any real idea of all the things he can do. Quiet everything, really, when it comes to Shadow. He likes magic tricks though, coin tricks and little illusions. Not because they're magical, or beautiful or anything other than learning how to move your hands in just the right way. But, for some reason he can't exactly describe, they please him. He's hard to pin down. Practically impossible to read, because, well, sometimes Shadow doesn't know what he's thinking. His focus is scarily good, good enough to effect the weather conditions in Chicago and broadcast dreams across the country for those who know what to listen for. But for all of that, sometimes he's not really there. Shadow is amazing at fading into the background, at making a room feel empty. It's because he hasn't quite known himself, inside and out. That's starting to change. He doesn't commit himself lightly to thinks, idle conversation or loyalty. When he does things he means them. Shadow is a man that follows through. Thanks to that, he has a rather extraordinary sense of duty about everything he is. With his wife, with his job, hell, with living in a town. Those all come with duties, and if Shadow is going to do anything with his life it's fulfill those.
Why do you want to play this character?: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's general ability to contribute to the fictional community of Tabula Rasa.)
This sounds so silly, so basic, but I want to play Shadow because I love him. For any number of reasons but most of all for this little section right here from American Gods (page 363) "Shadow always had high hopes for haircuts, but they never lived up to his expectations. After every haircut he looked more or less the same, only with shorter hair." This is a book about gods and battles and fairly important things, but at the center of the story is a man who has high hopes for his haircuts. He's got so much to him that is only touched upon or mentioned, because in the novel there's a story to tell and important things to do. I want to see Shadow when he's got the time and the place to be comfortable. I think that he is really and truly something rather magnificent when he hasn't got to cope with down-and-out gods and their wars. I think quiet and not having to be so afraid will do wonders for him. And that's why I want to play him. More than that, I think Shadow would do as much for the island as it would do for him. If he's going to live on this island he's going to work for this island and that doesn't mean just collecting food or building houses though that's not all of it that's part of it, but there's more to it and Shadow understands that and he wants that. Shadow wants to be part of something, where he can be quiet because he wants to be not because he has to be. Shadow wants to fit somewhere, and the island would be lovely for him.
Tell us about your character's background: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's past and present. The future may be included, if relevant. Also be sure to include the point at which s/he is leaving canon)
The last few years of Shadow's life can get summed up pretty easily: Laura, prison and gods. He was married to a woman named Laura, and she was far and away the best thing that ever happened to him. But she got him mixed up in a bank robbery that went south, and Shadow lost his temper and whaled on a couple guys. For that he went to prison for a few years, where he spent most of his time reading or learning coin tricks or waiting around for the time to pass with his cellmate Low Key Lyesmith. When he got out, Shadow had found the world had changed. Laura had just died, and suddenly everything Shadow had been waiting for was gone. A man named Mr. Wednesday offered him a job, and while Shadow didn't want it, he didn't have anything else left. With three cups of mead the deal was sealed, and Shadow found himself working for Odin as a war was coming. He was there for muscle and to run errands, and something much more important but it took him a while to work out what. He went with Wednesday across the country, meeting gods, getting caught up in a war that he wanted no part of. But for all that it wasn't his fight, he took a side against the new gods, more powerful than anyone on his side. He spent time in a town called Lakeside that was lovely and quiet, even if he didn't quite fit there. But things went to hell when his boss got killed, and the war was rushing into one great battle. But Shadow tied himself to a tree instead, a vigil to hang for nine days in honor of Wednesday. He was dying up there, starving and dehydrated with a spearwound in his side, but Shadow started to understand things. In the middle of a thunderstorm and tied to a tree, he was starting to understand the joy of being properly alive, all the way human. Shadow was about to die, about to understand the whole picture, and that's when he shows up on the island.
Your character's initial personal inventory:
-Several long ropes
Your character's entrance post: (This may be altered once you actually post your pup in, but our primary goal here is to ensure you have put a modicum of thought into how you will go about portraying your pup.)
They say that death is painless, and that's not quite true. Being dead, that's painless.
But Shadow wasn't dead yet. He was dying and that hurts like hell.
When he had closed his eyes, Laura had been there with offers of rescue. That wasn't the point. If Shadow had wanted to get down before this was all over, he would never have gotten up here in the first place.
Somewhere, underneath the intolerable pain, he was alive. The ropes were digging into his skin, every breath was like knives in his chest, but he was alive. Not for much longer, but this was enough.
With a shuddering cough, he opened his eyes. Everything was dark, the dawn threatening just under the edge of the horizon. Distantly, absurdly, Shadow hoped that it would be a nice day out, the sort with fluffy clouds and a cool breeze.
Then the pain renewed, worse than before. A crashing and a pounding in his head, beyond the pain of a migraine, beyond all pain. Closing his eyes, Shadow tried to listen to his heart beat, the shallow gasping of his breath. The whole world was a riot color and pain.
His heart was slowing, barely beating.
And then, from far away there was morning sunlight dappling his naked body.
In the god business, it's not the death that matters. It's the opportunity for resurrection. Shadow wasn't a god, and he wasn't quite dead. But this was close enough.