Application: Bigger (The Almost Guys)
User Name/Nick: Amanda
User LJ: on file
AIM/IM: on file
E-mail: on file
Other Characters: Amanda Young, Laura Palmer
Character Name: Bigger
Series: The Almost Guys
Age: 34
From When?: A few weeks after the events of the film.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Although morally gray in terms of method, she's a good person who cares about the well-being of others. She's what you might call "chaotic good," if you're familiar with Dungeons and Dragons alignments.
Item: A walkie-talkie.
Abilities/Powers: Nothing superhuman.
Personality: Bigger epitomizes the phrase "tough but fair." She's generally no-nonsense, and doesn't mince words, especially when what she wants or expects is concerned. She is more than willing to help others, even strangers sometimes, at risk to herself...but not without some form of compensation, and doesn't allow herself to be shortchanged, either. Unfortunately, this sometimes causes her to be self-serving enough to demand more than she really deserves; however, she'll never cut anyone else out completely, even when she's being greedy. When people around her are being stupid or not considering the full ramifications of their actions, she doesn't hesitate to call them out on it; she's fairly blunt, and can be rude, but not so much that it veers into the territory of meanness often. Past statements along these lines have included "You're cute, but you're a box of rocks" and "I get that you want to do something clever, but I really don't think that's your style." However she is fair and is perfectly willing to give anyone a chance, or the benefit of the doubt, and tries not to be overly judgmental. She's quite positive as well, and smiles often.
She's also very trustworthy; even her ex-husband, with whom she had a very dysfunctional relationship, trusts her unconditionally. People can come to her with their problems, or requests for assistance, and if she agrees to help then she'll see her promise through to the end. She isn't a fair-weather friend, and is prepared to stick around through rough times without wavering, even when success seems like a dim or nonexistent possibility. She'll also keep whatever secrets are entrusted to her (within reason, of course; if you tell her you're going to go murder someone, that's a completely different case).
For all her emotionally stalwart traits, she's also very quirky and sweet. She's been described as "cute" by friends and strangers even at her most dysfunctional and unattractive, and she assigns friendly, teasing nicknames to people on occasion. A lot of her behavior falls into the "gently teasing" category, in fact, and although she tends to poke fun at people she doesn't mean any genuine offense and isn't afraid to give out compliments either. She's perfectly open with her opinions and preferences, even the ones that others might consider odd; she's announced her intense sexual attraction to hairy men to near-strangers, for example. She's not afraid of being teased or put down, because she is, for the most part, comfortably settled and satisfied with who she is.
She enjoys spending time with people, and hosting others in her home. She also loves to cook elaborate meals, for herself and others, but she's terrible at it; "can't cook for shit" has been used to describe her, and it's pretty apt. She loves to have fun, whether she's hosting a pool party or a movie marathon for friends (or strangers!), and she likes/plays well with children. In addition to being friendly, she's smart, confident and down-to-earth, and often ends up being the most logical and practical person in any given situation. She's a firm believer in "less is more" and prefers to keep things simple when there's no requirement for them to be complicated.
Bigger has an eating disorder. She's a compulsive overeater, and this disorder is triggered only by certain conditions. When in relationships with (or knowing herself to be an object of attraction for) men who are bad for her, she binge-eats in a subconscious effort to gain weight and render herself unattractive to the man (or men) in question. She unconsciously sabotaged a marriage this way, and gained quite a lot of weight before seeking therapy and divorcing her husband. Although now fully aware of what causes her to be triggered and why, the behavior persists when around her ex-husband. The only difference is that now, she's consciously aware of what drives her actions as she continues to overeat. She's not ashamed of her disorder, and is entirely open about it (and the therapy she's in to treat it) with others. In fact, the nickname "Bigger" comes from her ex-husband, and is a jab at how heavy she became during their marriage. She isn't fazed by the nickname and doesn't mind when he calls her that in front of others, or even when those others begin using it too. Neither is she embarrassed enough to binge-eat in private; she has and does stuff herself in front of other people, regardless of how well she does or does not know them. She's also remained friendly with her ex, despite the problems he causes for her.
When she arrives on the Barge, she'll go by "Bigger" in order to avoid giving her real name to violent criminals.
Path to Redemption: N/A
History: "Bigger," real name unrevealed, was born and raised in California. The only child of a loving, stable and financially secure married couple, her childhood was a good one without any atypical problems or traumas. Raised to believe in her own abilities and shoot for her dreams, she eventually graduated from a fashion school and launched her own line of swimwear. While only sold in a select few areas of California, the business paid enough for her to live well, independently.
After years of dating and more serious relationships, Bigger fell for Jim Maxwell, a professional baseball player. A pitcher in the minor leagues, he swept her off her feet, and the two married after a year and a half of steady dating (she would be his first of four wives). At first, things seemed great; together, the two of them made enough money to live more than comfortably, and they were in fiery stage of a new marriage. As time passed and the fire faded, however, it grew clear that the two of them weren't at all suited for each other. Jim, while attentive to her and nice in general, displayed all the emotional and mental maturity of a 14-year-old boy, and focused more on how sexy he thought she looked than her interests, personality, or anything less physically. Despite the depression facing her at the prospect of spending the rest of her days with an idiot, she was resolved to keep working at it; after all, if she'd fallen for him to begin with, there must have been something deeper there.
She could only hold out for so long before the depression got to be too much. Unwilling to end the relationship consciously, she began subconsciously sabotaging their marriage in an effort to drive him away. She began overeating during meals, and quickly progressed to eating her food at a grotesque pace and stuffing herself between meals as well. During these binges, she repressed understanding of what she was doing. After gaining a lot of weight in a short period of time, which not only alienated Jim but worsened her depression, she sought therapy. It took two months and thousands of dollars for her therapist to make her realize that she was intentionally getting fat because she knew Jim was bad for her, and wanted to render herself unattractive to him. One more month of therapy later, Bigger finally filed for divorce after deciding she couldn't live that way.
Jim was gone, and with him, her only trigger. She remained in therapy, and after being prescribed some anti-depressants and starting a new diet and exercise routine, she began to recover her former attitude (and healthy body) as she "found herself" and expanded her line of swimsuits to include plus-sized wear. She remained casual friends with Jim, despite all the grief their marriage had caused her and the way she continued to overeat whenever he was around. He began calling her 'Bigger'; in his own words, "when we first got together she was really hot...and then she kinda got bigger." It didn't bother her, and so he continued to use it, and it stuck.
One day, a fair number of years and three other marriages later, Jim turned up on her doorstep with two other men and a young boy. All four of them were on the run after unintentionally foiling a staged kidnapping, and needed a place to stay. She graciously welcomed them into her home, despite not knowing most of them, and Jim related to her that the other three, Rick Murphy, his son Buddy and "the Colonel," were pretending to have kidnapped him. After allowing himself to be "kidnapped" by his hair stylists in the hopes of getting some of the ransom money, Jim, at that point a pitcher for the major leagues, was discovered in the trunk of the stylists' car after Rick and the Colonel had repossessed it. Now on the run from the original "kidnappers," they themselves were trying to turn Jim in for the ransom money, which they all agreed to split.
Bigger quickly agreed to go along with their plan...for half of their take, in exchange for "harboring fugitives." The other men agreed, as there really wasn't anywhere else they could stay, and she began exchanging ideas with them in order to formulate a plan. After making a small romantic connection with Rick, who had displayed interest in her even after seeing her stuff her face in front of Jim, a plan was decided upon (after being suggested by the little kid, of all people): they would all guide the person bringing the ransom money to a bridge. The person would then throw the money in a bag over the bridge to the ground below, where Bigger and Buddy would be waiting to collect it; Rick and the Colonel, on the bridge above, would then hand Jim over, unharmed. With that decided upon, the four "kidnappers" disguised themselves by painting their faces like the members of KISS and taking Jim to the rendezvous point.
Once there, their solid plan crashed and burned. The Massimos, Jim's stylists, had finally tracked them down and walked out onto the bridge with guns, demanding the money. Bigger's group and the Massimos argued over who the ransom should go to, and the delivery man, thoroughly confused, only managed to drop half the money over the side before gunfire broke out. Jim ran out of hiding and admitted to staging everything when it looked like Rick had been shot; however, Rick had just strained his hernia and nobody was injured, due to everyone being horrible shots. The situation dissolved and Bigger's group, minus Jim who was retrieved by his team, met back up to split the million dollars (out of the two million they would have gotten, had things not blown up in their faces). $500,000 in hand, Bigger said goodbye to the two men and gave Buddy a ride to his mother's house.
A couple of weeks after everything had blown over, Rick and the Colonel came by her house again, revealing that shortly after parting ways they'd had their car stolen, with the bag of money inside it. With the two of them being out of a job after ditching work for the kidnapping scheme, she invited them to stay with her until they got back on their feet. The Colonel found another job, leaving only Rick staying over, and that's when Bigger was offered a deal from the Admiral: graduate an inmate, and she could get Rick's share of the money back. Wanting to do something nice for a guy who was always down on his luck (and whom she had a bit of a thing for as well), she agreed.
Sample Journal Entry:
Y'know, I've been involved in my share of crazy stuff. In my life so far, "crazy" is pretty much par for the course. It's been that way since I got married, anyway. Never a dull moment, and I honestly don't really mind. It keeps things interesting, and I've always thought life needed a little excitement to be worthwhile. If you don't shake things up once in a while, you get complacent, and let me tell you...that can be the end of everything.
Still, looking at the sort of things you guys have been writing, I've started to wonder what I've gotten myself into. I've also started to wonder if I should alter my own definition of "crazy." No offense, but you guys can be pretty screwed up. Christ.
Anyway, I'm a warden here starting today. You can call me Bigger. Anyone out there feel like showing a newbie the ropes? Honestly, I'd appreciate it.
Sample RP:
She shouldn't have been surprised. When you accept some magic space daddy's offer to work on a prison-boat full of convicts, you should expect things to be fucked up (or so she figured; this was really her first time experiencing it. Offers like that don't exactly come along all the time). While she shouldn't have, she was, as stupid as that may be. Criminals from her world could be pretty messed up, but in her experience, there was a much smaller concentration of dedicated mass-murderers and mad scientists among the prison population as compared to, say, thieves and drunk drivers and people who committed crimes of passion.
Still, she'd made a deal and she didn't intend to break it now. Bigger didn't play like that, never did--not even when backing out would have been the wiser option. Against her best intentions, she'd always had a bit of a self-destructive impulse and when she crashed and burned, she usually went down in flames enthusiastically and completely committed. Besides, she was doing this for someone else. Throwing up her hands and retreating would have just been an awful thing to do. She could be self-serving sometimes, she'd be the first to admit that, but she didn't want to be that big of a douche. She really liked the guy she'd gone all in for.
With that in mind, she'd swallowed her nagging (more like screaming, really) doubts and gone exploring. For all the network posts that bragged about murder and burning down villages and other such stuff, the boat at large seemed pretty peaceful. Not on that; it was also probably the cushiest prison in existence. More like a hotel than anything, really. Celebrity rehab, just for ordinary people hooked on death and destruction rather than heroin and cocaine. They even had a pool! That, she intended to make her second home (or third home, since her Barge room was really her second, when she thought about it). She hoped to make some friends as soon as she could. Things always seemed easier to handle when someone had her back.
Special Notes: A lot of the stuff in her history that wasn't in the film, I got from a site that appears to be an official viral promo for the movie. I made sure everything fits with what was actually in the film.
User LJ: on file
AIM/IM: on file
E-mail: on file
Other Characters: Amanda Young, Laura Palmer
Character Name: Bigger
Series: The Almost Guys
Age: 34
From When?: A few weeks after the events of the film.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Although morally gray in terms of method, she's a good person who cares about the well-being of others. She's what you might call "chaotic good," if you're familiar with Dungeons and Dragons alignments.
Item: A walkie-talkie.
Abilities/Powers: Nothing superhuman.
Personality: Bigger epitomizes the phrase "tough but fair." She's generally no-nonsense, and doesn't mince words, especially when what she wants or expects is concerned. She is more than willing to help others, even strangers sometimes, at risk to herself...but not without some form of compensation, and doesn't allow herself to be shortchanged, either. Unfortunately, this sometimes causes her to be self-serving enough to demand more than she really deserves; however, she'll never cut anyone else out completely, even when she's being greedy. When people around her are being stupid or not considering the full ramifications of their actions, she doesn't hesitate to call them out on it; she's fairly blunt, and can be rude, but not so much that it veers into the territory of meanness often. Past statements along these lines have included "You're cute, but you're a box of rocks" and "I get that you want to do something clever, but I really don't think that's your style." However she is fair and is perfectly willing to give anyone a chance, or the benefit of the doubt, and tries not to be overly judgmental. She's quite positive as well, and smiles often.
She's also very trustworthy; even her ex-husband, with whom she had a very dysfunctional relationship, trusts her unconditionally. People can come to her with their problems, or requests for assistance, and if she agrees to help then she'll see her promise through to the end. She isn't a fair-weather friend, and is prepared to stick around through rough times without wavering, even when success seems like a dim or nonexistent possibility. She'll also keep whatever secrets are entrusted to her (within reason, of course; if you tell her you're going to go murder someone, that's a completely different case).
For all her emotionally stalwart traits, she's also very quirky and sweet. She's been described as "cute" by friends and strangers even at her most dysfunctional and unattractive, and she assigns friendly, teasing nicknames to people on occasion. A lot of her behavior falls into the "gently teasing" category, in fact, and although she tends to poke fun at people she doesn't mean any genuine offense and isn't afraid to give out compliments either. She's perfectly open with her opinions and preferences, even the ones that others might consider odd; she's announced her intense sexual attraction to hairy men to near-strangers, for example. She's not afraid of being teased or put down, because she is, for the most part, comfortably settled and satisfied with who she is.
She enjoys spending time with people, and hosting others in her home. She also loves to cook elaborate meals, for herself and others, but she's terrible at it; "can't cook for shit" has been used to describe her, and it's pretty apt. She loves to have fun, whether she's hosting a pool party or a movie marathon for friends (or strangers!), and she likes/plays well with children. In addition to being friendly, she's smart, confident and down-to-earth, and often ends up being the most logical and practical person in any given situation. She's a firm believer in "less is more" and prefers to keep things simple when there's no requirement for them to be complicated.
Bigger has an eating disorder. She's a compulsive overeater, and this disorder is triggered only by certain conditions. When in relationships with (or knowing herself to be an object of attraction for) men who are bad for her, she binge-eats in a subconscious effort to gain weight and render herself unattractive to the man (or men) in question. She unconsciously sabotaged a marriage this way, and gained quite a lot of weight before seeking therapy and divorcing her husband. Although now fully aware of what causes her to be triggered and why, the behavior persists when around her ex-husband. The only difference is that now, she's consciously aware of what drives her actions as she continues to overeat. She's not ashamed of her disorder, and is entirely open about it (and the therapy she's in to treat it) with others. In fact, the nickname "Bigger" comes from her ex-husband, and is a jab at how heavy she became during their marriage. She isn't fazed by the nickname and doesn't mind when he calls her that in front of others, or even when those others begin using it too. Neither is she embarrassed enough to binge-eat in private; she has and does stuff herself in front of other people, regardless of how well she does or does not know them. She's also remained friendly with her ex, despite the problems he causes for her.
When she arrives on the Barge, she'll go by "Bigger" in order to avoid giving her real name to violent criminals.
Path to Redemption: N/A
History: "Bigger," real name unrevealed, was born and raised in California. The only child of a loving, stable and financially secure married couple, her childhood was a good one without any atypical problems or traumas. Raised to believe in her own abilities and shoot for her dreams, she eventually graduated from a fashion school and launched her own line of swimwear. While only sold in a select few areas of California, the business paid enough for her to live well, independently.
After years of dating and more serious relationships, Bigger fell for Jim Maxwell, a professional baseball player. A pitcher in the minor leagues, he swept her off her feet, and the two married after a year and a half of steady dating (she would be his first of four wives). At first, things seemed great; together, the two of them made enough money to live more than comfortably, and they were in fiery stage of a new marriage. As time passed and the fire faded, however, it grew clear that the two of them weren't at all suited for each other. Jim, while attentive to her and nice in general, displayed all the emotional and mental maturity of a 14-year-old boy, and focused more on how sexy he thought she looked than her interests, personality, or anything less physically. Despite the depression facing her at the prospect of spending the rest of her days with an idiot, she was resolved to keep working at it; after all, if she'd fallen for him to begin with, there must have been something deeper there.
She could only hold out for so long before the depression got to be too much. Unwilling to end the relationship consciously, she began subconsciously sabotaging their marriage in an effort to drive him away. She began overeating during meals, and quickly progressed to eating her food at a grotesque pace and stuffing herself between meals as well. During these binges, she repressed understanding of what she was doing. After gaining a lot of weight in a short period of time, which not only alienated Jim but worsened her depression, she sought therapy. It took two months and thousands of dollars for her therapist to make her realize that she was intentionally getting fat because she knew Jim was bad for her, and wanted to render herself unattractive to him. One more month of therapy later, Bigger finally filed for divorce after deciding she couldn't live that way.
Jim was gone, and with him, her only trigger. She remained in therapy, and after being prescribed some anti-depressants and starting a new diet and exercise routine, she began to recover her former attitude (and healthy body) as she "found herself" and expanded her line of swimsuits to include plus-sized wear. She remained casual friends with Jim, despite all the grief their marriage had caused her and the way she continued to overeat whenever he was around. He began calling her 'Bigger'; in his own words, "when we first got together she was really hot...and then she kinda got bigger." It didn't bother her, and so he continued to use it, and it stuck.
One day, a fair number of years and three other marriages later, Jim turned up on her doorstep with two other men and a young boy. All four of them were on the run after unintentionally foiling a staged kidnapping, and needed a place to stay. She graciously welcomed them into her home, despite not knowing most of them, and Jim related to her that the other three, Rick Murphy, his son Buddy and "the Colonel," were pretending to have kidnapped him. After allowing himself to be "kidnapped" by his hair stylists in the hopes of getting some of the ransom money, Jim, at that point a pitcher for the major leagues, was discovered in the trunk of the stylists' car after Rick and the Colonel had repossessed it. Now on the run from the original "kidnappers," they themselves were trying to turn Jim in for the ransom money, which they all agreed to split.
Bigger quickly agreed to go along with their plan...for half of their take, in exchange for "harboring fugitives." The other men agreed, as there really wasn't anywhere else they could stay, and she began exchanging ideas with them in order to formulate a plan. After making a small romantic connection with Rick, who had displayed interest in her even after seeing her stuff her face in front of Jim, a plan was decided upon (after being suggested by the little kid, of all people): they would all guide the person bringing the ransom money to a bridge. The person would then throw the money in a bag over the bridge to the ground below, where Bigger and Buddy would be waiting to collect it; Rick and the Colonel, on the bridge above, would then hand Jim over, unharmed. With that decided upon, the four "kidnappers" disguised themselves by painting their faces like the members of KISS and taking Jim to the rendezvous point.
Once there, their solid plan crashed and burned. The Massimos, Jim's stylists, had finally tracked them down and walked out onto the bridge with guns, demanding the money. Bigger's group and the Massimos argued over who the ransom should go to, and the delivery man, thoroughly confused, only managed to drop half the money over the side before gunfire broke out. Jim ran out of hiding and admitted to staging everything when it looked like Rick had been shot; however, Rick had just strained his hernia and nobody was injured, due to everyone being horrible shots. The situation dissolved and Bigger's group, minus Jim who was retrieved by his team, met back up to split the million dollars (out of the two million they would have gotten, had things not blown up in their faces). $500,000 in hand, Bigger said goodbye to the two men and gave Buddy a ride to his mother's house.
A couple of weeks after everything had blown over, Rick and the Colonel came by her house again, revealing that shortly after parting ways they'd had their car stolen, with the bag of money inside it. With the two of them being out of a job after ditching work for the kidnapping scheme, she invited them to stay with her until they got back on their feet. The Colonel found another job, leaving only Rick staying over, and that's when Bigger was offered a deal from the Admiral: graduate an inmate, and she could get Rick's share of the money back. Wanting to do something nice for a guy who was always down on his luck (and whom she had a bit of a thing for as well), she agreed.
Sample Journal Entry:
Y'know, I've been involved in my share of crazy stuff. In my life so far, "crazy" is pretty much par for the course. It's been that way since I got married, anyway. Never a dull moment, and I honestly don't really mind. It keeps things interesting, and I've always thought life needed a little excitement to be worthwhile. If you don't shake things up once in a while, you get complacent, and let me tell you...that can be the end of everything.
Still, looking at the sort of things you guys have been writing, I've started to wonder what I've gotten myself into. I've also started to wonder if I should alter my own definition of "crazy." No offense, but you guys can be pretty screwed up. Christ.
Anyway, I'm a warden here starting today. You can call me Bigger. Anyone out there feel like showing a newbie the ropes? Honestly, I'd appreciate it.
Sample RP:
She shouldn't have been surprised. When you accept some magic space daddy's offer to work on a prison-boat full of convicts, you should expect things to be fucked up (or so she figured; this was really her first time experiencing it. Offers like that don't exactly come along all the time). While she shouldn't have, she was, as stupid as that may be. Criminals from her world could be pretty messed up, but in her experience, there was a much smaller concentration of dedicated mass-murderers and mad scientists among the prison population as compared to, say, thieves and drunk drivers and people who committed crimes of passion.
Still, she'd made a deal and she didn't intend to break it now. Bigger didn't play like that, never did--not even when backing out would have been the wiser option. Against her best intentions, she'd always had a bit of a self-destructive impulse and when she crashed and burned, she usually went down in flames enthusiastically and completely committed. Besides, she was doing this for someone else. Throwing up her hands and retreating would have just been an awful thing to do. She could be self-serving sometimes, she'd be the first to admit that, but she didn't want to be that big of a douche. She really liked the guy she'd gone all in for.
With that in mind, she'd swallowed her nagging (more like screaming, really) doubts and gone exploring. For all the network posts that bragged about murder and burning down villages and other such stuff, the boat at large seemed pretty peaceful. Not on that; it was also probably the cushiest prison in existence. More like a hotel than anything, really. Celebrity rehab, just for ordinary people hooked on death and destruction rather than heroin and cocaine. They even had a pool! That, she intended to make her second home (or third home, since her Barge room was really her second, when she thought about it). She hoped to make some friends as soon as she could. Things always seemed easier to handle when someone had her back.
Special Notes: A lot of the stuff in her history that wasn't in the film, I got from a site that appears to be an official viral promo for the movie. I made sure everything fits with what was actually in the film.