☣ application :: soul campaign
[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]
Player Name: Bella
Age: 23
Timezone: GMT +11/10
Personal Journal: bamboozle
Contact Information: adriastra@gmail.com | AIM: karmacharging | plurk: tridisaster
Current Characters: --
Links to Activity Check: --
Beta-reader: Yes!
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Ellie Linton
Age: Actual and apparent age are both 16/17
(they lose track of time after the war starts, but since she is from late in canon I tend to assume she's either just or will soon be seventeen.)
Gender: Female
Canon: The Tomorrow Series (book, not film canon)
Timeline: Ellie will be coming in from the fifth book, Burning for Revenge, after the kids make their attack on the airfield and are hiding out in Stratton.
Character History:
• Wikipedia: the Tomorrow series
Character Personality:
To get a good idea of the kind of person Ellie is, it's necessary to think about a few different factors; who she was before the war, the effects of the war itself and the people she has been surrounded by. Since she is the story teller of the series, the reader is presented with a clear picture of how she views the world and the way things work in her mind. Even the things that she doesn't talk about are pretty telling, in their own way.
The circumstances of her life before the war are pretty standard for someone living in rural Australia. Her parents owned a sheep farm near the town of Wirrawee, surrounded by bush lands. It's a pretty wild area, in some regards. Ellie's parents are two very strong willed people, and she often talks about stories that her parents told her, or events with her parents - lessons from the farm which she tries to draw strength from and apply to the new situations they are thrown into. For her, being raised on the farm, going to school in Wirrawee, her friends, playing netball, all the normal aspects of life that we come to take for granted, are integral to who she is. As she says herself, people are all made up of stories. Her life before versus her life now, and the conduct of people she admires (or can't understand) are frequently matters of contemplation.
To put her childhood briefly, however: the local area is her entire world. She knows it well and respects it. She's tough. She's had to work on the farm, help with cattle and sheep, can drive a lot of vehicles. Ellie's strong, really, and independent. A little stubborn and bossy, though - self righteous, sometimes, too. Before the war, Ellie was a likeable, rough and ready teenager who wasn't afraid to take the initiative and who could hold her own against the farm boys around her area.
The fact that she was chosen to be the record keeper for the group during the war also says something about her personality. She is chosen because, out of the seven, she is the most frank. The most brutally honest, and the one least likely to skim over unpleasant details.
Ellie is blunt, honest, strong willed and determined, all of which are pretty admirable qualities. They are also things that get her in trouble, and the way she just exposed everything, threw her feelings and observations down on the page actually bothers her friends a lot. In some ways, Ellie is not an easy person to get along with; probably because she is so strong willed that she won't back down, and finds it hard to admit fault. If she says something, or writes something, it's the truth as she sees it. Her strong will, however, and ability to stick to her guns made her a very strong leader for the kids in Hell, although she didn't hold that mantle alone.
With that aforementioned strong will comes a tendency to see things in black and white. Not all things, of course - a lot of introspection and thought (and prompting from Robyn, as well, who empathises with the invaders) brings her to see some things as grey area, even sympathising with why their country has been attacked and taken over. When it comes to people, however, and in particular those close to her, Ellie has an awful habit of categorising them, and defining them in simple terms. A major example of this is her attitude towards Fi; after nearly twelve months in Hell together, Ellie still hopelessly underestimates Fi at almost every turn, seems shocked every time she shows awareness that she lacked previously. At times it's like she loves Fi, knows she has done great things, but still expects her to be a bit hopeless and maybe even shallow. Another would be her attitude towards Robyn, who the others often disagree with and find overbearing; Ellie doesn't seem to register that at all, idealising her and referring to her as one of her greatest role models, no matter how much she can rub the others up the wrong way.
Alongside that wonderful stubbornness, Ellie is also something of a nitpicker and perfectionist. It seems to be a habit learned from her dad, who from all accounts is rather similar to Ellie. A repeated mantra of hers is “time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted”, which she got from her father.
Ellie isn't fearless by any means. In fact, she is frequently afraid, but forces herself to “think brave,” as suggested by Homer, and it becomes another mantra. Overcoming her fear and carrying on despite it is something she managed to do again and again. Self reliance - and almost an inability to put total faith in the others, at times - come to mean that she volunteers for different challenges again and again, until it becomes expected of her, almost. While she doesn't always trust the others to do things as well as she could, she sometimes resents the way they lean on her. She's conflicted between pride at being a leader, and exhaustion at being someone the others turn to. She's also just as dependent on the others at they are of her, in many ways. Combined with her stubbornness, this attitudes leads to her putting her life in danger because she won't trust other people to get the job done. She tends to resent people for not stepping up, too, and isn't especially forgiving.
As the war goes on, she seems to become more judgemental and humourless. The moral dilemmas and constant traumas of the war really break her down a lot, in terms of being a pleasant ball of sunshine. It isn't that she's an awful person, but the war makes her incredibly harsh and closed off, and she has to try really hard to be aware. Alongside that she develops a nasty tendency for mood swings, hypervigilance and some pretty intense anxiety, at times, which sometimes seems to get replaced by an overwhelming apathy, or something just out and out anger, at everything and everyone. She gets a shock when one of her friends pulls her aside and rips into her about how awful she's been. It takes a while to settle in, but eventually she tries to modify her behaviour. When it evens out, Ellie has her good qualities, and her bad ones. The good do seem to outweigh the bad, though that isn't always very apparent, and a lot of it comes from the influence of her friends. Her problems are definitely heightened by being in a war zone, but since Death City is a very different environment to what she is facing at home, she'll eventually get back to being a bit more like her old self again and not so much of a time bomb.
Landing in the game is likely to leave her out of spirits and drained, especially since she's coming just after they had a big (life-threatening) victory. The separation from her friends, even though it's a removal from the war in her world, will drag her down - as will being thrown into a brand new war zone. She'll pick herself up because she always does, but at first she's likely to be pretty down, negative, and hostile unless someone manages to catch her interest in a positive way (reminding her of one of her friends, for example). Depending how things go she'll get back to her spit-fire ways faster or slower, but she probably won't really be that friendly or nice to hang around with for a while, unless people enjoy arguments with a side of incredibly bitter.
Character Abilities you would like to expand on further:
She knows about the land, but no more than most kids bought up near the bush would, and she is familiar with life on the farm. These might be a little more unusual skill-wise, if you aren't from the country. She also has a lot of good leadership qualities, is strategic, can keep a level head, is an excellent shot, good at controlling her fear. She's imaginative, which has gotten them all out of a few scrapes. Due to their adventures, Ellie has some limited knowledge of preparing home-made explosives, stealth developed from practice, and has a developed a very strong, tough mentality so she can cope.
In terms of supernatural powers or anything of that kind, not a thing. If ever they should need help birthing some animals or help fix a shed, she's totally the go-to girl. Oh, she's also listed under the Drives Like Crazy trope, and she will try to drive anything at least once. This might actually be a weakness, more than a strength.
Character Weaknesses you would like to expand on further:
Ellie appears to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder; I'm going entirely off things I've read online, so I'm no expert, but her insomnia, anger and intense mood swings, hypervigilence and maybe even way the she goes over things in her head over and over, could suggest that she's suffering from it. (At the end of the third book a medical review says she has acute anxiety, and that's before being sent back into the war zone and experiencing more hideousness.) Even if she isn't suffering from PTSD, she's very psychologically damaged and has very poor sleep patterns, both of which make her vulnerable. She's been living on very limited rations at her canon point, and she's got a bad left knee that she seems to miraculously manage to fall on whenever there is a time for knees to be endangered.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What abilities will your character retain in Soul Campaign?
Ellie is from a normal world, so she has no supernatural skills. She is reasonably athletic and strong from hard work, but it's strong for a teenage girl despite very harsh living conditions, so nothing extraordinary.
→ amazing/terrifying driving
→ rifle shooting
→ being stealthy
→ limited knowledge of home-made explosives
What weaknesses will your character lose or gain in Soul Campaign?
Ellie has quite a few weaknesses and things that make her vulnerable, but they are parts of her personality, like such as her pride, determination to do everything herself instead of trusting other people, being a judgemental jerk, and so on. She also she gets claustrophobic, sometimes.
→ weak left knee
→ insomnia
The wish Death the Kid made to the BREW in 2009 was to “rescue Death City and stop the waves of Madness from overtaking the world.” By whatever means necessary. Pretend you are the BREW. Why would you choose to bring this character to Death City?
Ellie Linton is an excellent candidate to be brought to Death City. She's intelligent, experienced with combat, resourceful and brave, all of which could be valuable qualities for saving Death City from the Madness, despite the more difficult aspects of her personality.
If your character has difficulty verbally communicating or can’t verbally communicate at all (mute or non-humanoid), elaborate on how this will be treated in the game.
n/a
[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]
Why is your character a Meister and not a Weapon?
Ellie is a very physically active person, and not inclined to trust very easily outside of a specific group. Being a weapon and putting herself in someone else's hands (literally) would really go against the grain for her in terms of freaking her out, even if they are as equals. Making her a weapon would be forcing her hand if she wanted to take action, and would probably be detrimental to the synchronising with anyone and her dealing with being thrown into this bizarre scenario.
Furthermore, I think that being the meister and having someone else whose safety is in her hands would make her buck up and deal with things better - even if she is a massive jerk about it sometimes, Ellie is someone who does anything for people counting on her or relying on her for something, so while the relationship is an equal one, she'd just generally cope with being a Meister much better than being a Weapon.
What is your character’s Meister Ability? Why?
Manly Soul; Their soul has the power to inspire confidence and morale in comrades and allies.
Ellie is one of the leaders in their ragtag group, and she has said that it was her and Homer's jobs to provide the positive ideas and positive energy to keep people going. She isn't always (or often) positive later in canon, but she is proactive and is kind of the rock that helps keep people going, no matter what. She gets them through everything, no matter what - even if she is a jerk about it.
Soul Adrenaline; Makes them stronger the longer they fight, like a chain combo in a video game.
In the books, Ellie talks a lot about adrenaline being the thing that keeps them all going, even when they are exhausted and falling apart. Whenever they go out to do things, she's absolutely pumped on adrenaline and the further they are into a plan, the more things they do, the more wild the things she are doing seem to be doing become, because of all that adrenaline. Through the war, she gets stronger and more vicious as they go through it, so it's a bit of a reflection of her growth in canon, where they start planning bigger and bigger schemes to hurt the invaders.
Soul Determination; They are able to take a mortal blow once and withstand it. While it does not heal them, they are given the strength to continue on in battle.
Ellie is a fighter. Even in the face of terrifying circumstances and when she's beaten and hurting, physically and emotionally, she keeps going. She has a grim determination that just doesn't let her give up, even if part of her would like to. She's stubborn and proud, and it's just not in her to give up, that determination to keep pushing and overcome everything, even her own fear, is a defining part of her personality. She's overcome some hideous physical and psychological injuries in canon, so being able to survive a mortal blow is fitting for her.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Describe your character’s soul with six adjectives.
Critical, stubborn, proud, honest, brave, reflective
What does your character’s soul look like? Be creative.
Grey, darker at the bottom and lighter towards the top, with what looks like a low ponytail. By default it looks kind of grumpy.
[ SAMPLES ]
Provide a First Person style sample in the form of a post to the DEMISE network.
( voice. )
( There's a bit of a pause before anyone speaks. when the voice does start, though, it's pretty low. Flat, almost, like the speaker is tired, and her voice sounds pretty rough and husky-- and distinctly Australian. She sounds decidedly detached from what's just happened, considering it's her first entry. )
So this place is Death City, huh? Interesting name. This gadget's pretty interesting, too. More fancy than anything I've ever seen. Homer'd probably have a fit if he knew I had this while he's still trying to keep that radio from crapping out on us. ( A brief pause, and you can just about hear the frown; ) Or them, now, I guess.
( She doesn't linger on the fact, just lapses into silence, and clears her throat before she starts talking. ) I remember, once when I was a kid. One of the shearers bought a kangaroo to the farm - not alive, though. It was roadkill. I couldn't tell you if... he hit it, or if he just found it. I don't know if that matters.
Anyway, he brings this dead 'roo over in the back of his ute, and hauls the thing off his trailer. I'm surprised he got it on there, to be honest. He and my dad, they took it over to one of the sheds and started butchering it. It was already dead, but they still went through all the steps they use for lamb or cattle if we're gonna be using them for food. Slice the throat, first. They took the whole thing apart, until there was just this... steaming carcass, and then they froze the meat for dog food, buried the guts so that the foxes couldn't get at them.
That's a bit what I feel like right now. Like I'm a carcass that someone picked up and dropped off here. It doesn't matter if I was alive or not when they found me. ( She laughs a bit, but it's a bitter sound. ) I'm here now, aren't I? Like all the things we did back home didn't make a bit of difference; either I've gone bush crazy and I'll be dead soon, or I'm already dead.
( And on that happy note, there's a pause, before her tone gets a little blunt, more harsh: ) My name's Ellie. Ellie Linton. I don't know if names mean much to the dead, but that's it.
Provide a Third Person sample set during the last minutes on their world and/or their first few moments in the Kishin Chamber.
“Like we can count on him talking to us. That guy's full of it.” Sometimes, Ellie can't stand the sound of her own pessimism, but that doesn't do much to keep it from spilling out, anyway. She hated herself for saying stuff like that, watching Fi deflate and Homer silently draw lines in the ground with the end of a stick, but it seemed like someone had to say it anyway - like she needed to hear it herself, if nothing else.
She needed to hear it, because it was childish thing, really. Wanting the approval of adults, a “well done!” or a slap on the back, or even one of those silly smiley faces that Miss Evans used to draw on our Maths tests when you did a good job. Right now, though, that was about all Ellie wanted: comfort would be nice, safety and being yanked out of this bloody mess of a war would be sweet as, but the desire for a little pat on the head was overwhelming just about every other want she had. Ellie suspected she was well past logic and sanity, but that was a given. Sanity strolled out the door a while ago, and she wasn't sure just when or how, exactly, but logic was certainly shot several times today. Climbing onto the back of a zig-zagging truck during a high speed chase and wielding a rifle at the same time - that definitely wasn't the kind of thing logical people did. Going back into a war that you'd managed to escape wasn't logical, either, but Ellie was pretty sure that didn't count, when they'd been all but forced back into it by Colonel Finlay, her pride being the only thing that kept her kicking and screaming the whole way.
She's still mulling it over when she curls up on the ground, not especially close to any of the others, still soggy from their traipse through the river and just hoping that the tiny fire would be enough to give her some time in dry clothes before the trek continued the next day. Wanting the approval of adults who let the world get this way in the first place was stupid, but that wasn't doing much to quell that pathetic little desire. With a derisive snort directed only at herself, Ellie pillows her head on her arm, and closes her eyes. Sleep doesn't come right away, but it rarely does, when you have a window for it and most need it. That's the time when all those things from the last twenty four hours, twenty four weeks come crowding into your head. It's just another little war, but this one's with your own conscience, and Ellie isn't sure how to win a battle with herself when she's so damn stubborn.
Another irritated sigh, and she sits up, wiping her eyes in case of any dirt. There is no dirt, and though she hasn't noticed it yet, what texture of what she's lying on is going to her any second, realisation slamming against her like the wave of heat from the explosions at the airfield. A quiet groan, a stretch, and finally her eyes are opening, adjusting to the light so she can grab someone who's awake - hopefully Fi. No matter what, Fi is good for a chat.
The lack of quiet crackle from the fire should have tipped her off, and the lack of leaves rustling and all those nature sounds you take for granted. What her ears fail to tip her off to, her eyes make painfully apparently, sending a shock through her system.
“Shit.” Not eloquent, but justified. “Shit.” Hissed, just to herself, and she's scrabbling up off the ground, clumsily palming at her sock for her fruit knife (God, what a stupid weapon). Her mind racing a hundred k's a minute, a blur with too many thoughts; where are the others? where am I? where is the bloody fruit knife cramming into her head at once, and now answers are apparent. This is both totally alien and agonisingly familiar. At least there's one question she can use, but it's cold comfort she grabs at the nearest person with something of a feral snarl. “Where the Hell are we?”
[ NOTES ]
Since Ellie's canon is dark and quite violent and graphic at times, which might be reflected in her prose and internal narrative, I would be more than happy to put up a permissions post for players to opt out of being tagged by her, if they prefer.