Siren's Pull application/Character Info
Player Information
Name: Kern
Age: 21
AIM SN: hatcamouflage
email: hatcamouflage[at]aol[dot]com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Landels five years ago, briefly.
Currently Played Characters: n/a
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Baccano!
Canon Format: Light novels, anime
Character's Name: Claire Stanfield
Character's Age: 22 [BS guess based on characters we do actually know the ages of]
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a
What form will your character's NV take? A 16mm camera, rather like this one around the size of a hardback book. Records video in the typical way. Also has a modern built-in microphone and slide-out keyboard. Videos and holograms are projected through the lens or seen privately through the viewfinder.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Nothing superhuman. Extremely agile, dextrous and strong: capable of consistently dodging bullets and close-range attacks. Accurate marksman with handguns.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? Claire will do literally what he figuratively claims to do in canon - he will become the Rail Tracer. At first this will be only a visual effect which can arise in fights. In conflict situations he will start to look somewhere between a ragged, spindly version of himself and (as the power develops) a swirling, ill-defined humanoid shape - but always drenched in blood. If he manages to control this it could be used purposefully to intimidate people, otherwise he’ll just accidentally use it when he gets wound up. Later there’s the possibility that he’ll develop actual properties of the monster, making his body invulnerable for short periods of time as attacks will pass through. This effect will be short - two turns, and his head and eyes would still be vulnerable. After that he will be slower and have less endurance than if he hadn’t used the power- it would be a choice between being briefly invulnerable and then dropping to the level of a fit human or being vulnerable to attacks but keeping his almost-inhuman stats. As this effect is largely borne in the mind of his opponent it will only work on sentient beings- creatures in the bestiary will not be affected.
Weapons: A handgun small enough to fit in an inner-jacket pocket.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Little information exists about Claire during the time up to and including to the death of his parents. He was born around 1910 and their deaths seem to have occurred at some point between 1915 and 1919. It’s unclear how much of an impact this had on his outlook and personality. We do know that he ended up being adopted by the Gandors, a small mafia family with three young sons of their own, which likely familiarised him with the criminal underworld that he’d later be a part of. At some point during his teens he ran away from his new home to join the circus in a wonderfully clichéd gesture of youthful independence. There he trained as a trapeze artist, achieving success and physical prowess. Eventually he returned to the world of organised crime his stepbrothers had inherited. Luck, Berga and Keith had become heads of the family and were embroiled in running their protection rackets and protecting their territory. Claire found independent work as an assassin. Although he doesn’t work directly for the Gandors his friendship with these three along with their childhood friend Firo Prochainezo seems to be his longest sustained relationships. This doesn’t stop him from taking out a contract against them at one point- although when the time comes to kill them he does reveal that the sum he’s asking for is impossibly high, leading us to guess that it was a joke all along. This is fairly typical of the relaxed view he takes of his work due to quirks which I will elaborate on in the personality section. Despite this attitude he is said to be one of, if not the greatest assassins of his day and his commitment to a contract would normally guarantee the target’s death (contracts taken for the lolz notwithstanding). Along with a reputation for success he has become infamous for creating bloody and unpleasant deaths for his targets, picking up the nickname “Vino” in reference to how he, his victims, and the crime scene will tend to end up drenched in wine-red blood.
By 1931 he was working as a train conductor and using his access to the transcontinental railroad to travel from city to city carrying out assassinations. The end of that year marked his first journey on the famous luxury passenger train Flying Pussyfoot. It would be the last journey made by that train and would mark the end his conductorly cover job. The train set off from Chicago to New York City carrying a wealth of characters of varying degrees of savouriness (Claire being somewhere in the middle, as it turned out). As night fell without event and the train moved on he wound up swapping stories with his fellow conductor, telling an urban legend about the Rail Tracer, a monster which stalks trains. Before he finished the story the other conductor turned on him, revealing himself to be a member of one of the gangs. Claire was able to retaliate and kill the conductor and a member of the second gang who had killed his mentor. He then went on a killing spree against members of the two gangs, claiming to have become the legendary monster in his story. Claire moved along the roof and sides of the train, breaking in to deal with any Lemures or Russo family members he came across by dragging them out onto the tracks below. He also had what seems to be his first encounter with an immortal, one Czeslaw Meyer. After learning that Czeslaw was trying to arrange the deaths of a number of the passengers Claire marked him out as a target, and showed repeatedly that his brutality can extend to children (or at least those with a childlike appearance) and indeed to people he can’t actually kill. Eventually his rampage was stopped when he came across a face-off between Chane Laforet of the Lemures and Ladd Russo on the roof of the conductor’s room. Although set to kill members of both factions he was moved by Chane’s dedication to her father and her unwillingness to harm the passengers. Rather unconventionally (although not unusually, for him) he proposed on the spot, bloodstains and all. With two against one and by using Ladd’s possessive nature against him the battle was won. By morning most of the gang members disarmed or dead and the innocent passengers had been kept safe by one group or another. The players went their separate ways. There was a note carved into the roof of the train with no definite answer, only telling Claire to go to Manhattan.
In 1932 the conflict between the Gandors and the Runoratas comes to a head, just in time for Claire’s arrival. He found himself without a name as he had supposedly died in the Flying Pussyfoot incident. Using (unwilling) connections in an Information Brokers office he was able to acquire the identity of Felix Walken, a retired assassin. By pretending to take contracts from the Runoratas under that name Claire was able to get involved with, and help in the dissolution of the conflict to the advantage of the Gandors.
With that prior commitment taken care of the recently renamed Felix was able to search for Chane in earnest. They were eventually brought together again by a case of mistaken identity and kidnapping carried out by Graham Specter.
Point in Canon: January 1932/post Drugs & The Dominos and Grand Punk Railroad Revisited. He has closed his contract with his the Gandors and is in the process of settling down in his old hometown of New York City with a view to court Chane Laforet.
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: n/a
Character Personality: To people meeting him for the first time under everyday circumstances Claire comes across as an exuberant and friendly young man, if a little self-centred. His habits can be frustrating as he will happily talk to complete strangers about personal matters or brush off lifelong friends, depending on what suits him. He is boyish in his manner as well as his self-centredness, the kind of person who seems to naturally attract descriptions like “he wouldn’t hurt a fly”.
One unusual facet of his personality that comes out over time is his solipsism. His self-centredness isn’t just a part of his slightly childish demeanour. He foregoes talk of malicious demons or mad scientists creating an illusionary world - to Claire the world is a dream of his own creation. He believes that he is literally the centre of the universe, the prime mover and the people around him no more than interesting characters. He seems to have held this belief for most of his life. It has lead to him training physically to be able to oversee his world without interference from others who might not agree with his strong but idiosyncratic moral code. Most of us will have read stories where we wish we could reach into the world to inflict revenge on a villain or rescue the protagonists that appeal to us. Claire lives this out with the world as his story and its inhabitants as characters. He sometimes goes out of his way to help people he likes, as if bestowing a happy ending on a favourite character. More often, likely due to his immersion in the violent underbelly of society, he ends up exacting punishment on those who don’t fit in with his own ethics. Said punishments fit in with the MO that earned him the nickname Vino: brutal, messy and often ending in death for his target.
This isn’t to say that the personality he presents to people who aren’t enemies is a front. Claire’s manner is an honest expression of his self, and his brutality stems from a core desire to protect people. That he can be both extremely kind and unspeakably cruel is not a contradiction in his mind, probably best summed up by his own comment: “Pity and compassion are privileges reserved for the strong. And I am strong.”
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: n/a
Character Plans: AGI and SERO have definite similarities to mafia organisations and as such he might end up on the fringes of one or the other. However it’s unlikely he’d be interested in getting more involved in their tactical and philosophical conflicts. Most likely he’d be drawn to jobs with certain independence, like bounty hunting. It will take some work getting him used to not being the biggest fish in the pond anymore without unbalancing his egocentric mindset. The dormant power might be important here as it’ll give him a potential for growth. I’ll be slowly dealing with that while settling down in what he’ll probably think is just a new dream.
Appearance/PB: Figure left of centre.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
The way I figure either it’s like that greeting feller said, or I’ve somehow wound up in a dream. A different dream, I mean. It feels different even if the city smells about as bad. [he pauses for a moment, examining his clothes and hands then running them over his face, slightly squashing his features up between them to illustrate to the camera] But I feel about the same. So I ain’t too sure what’s going on right now.
Either way this ain’t New York, or even America. Which oughta clear up that little problem I was having with names and registers and all that legal jazz, if nothing else. And to be honest I guess I’m feeling a little attached to that old name what with it being part of where I’ve come from and heritage. I’m thinking of just going back to it for old times’ sake. [He internally mulls over the pros and cons of name changes for a while, pinching at the bridge of his nose in an exaggerated fashion and humming nasally. He seems to have forgotten about his presumed audience or thinks he’s interesting enough to hold their attention throughout this intermission]
Well I’m stuck, so for now let’s just go with Rail Tracer or Vino, I can decide on a proper name later!
Third Person Sample
He’s distracted on the way home by a would-be mugger who turns out to be a would-be something worse. The motley assortment of objects in the man’s pockets suggests that he’s out recruiting for the labs or the slave markets; something that people generally don’t get involved in if they’re conscious. He could have gotten away with a broken nose if they hadn’t fallen from his jacket when Claire threw him against the wall thinking he was just a slightly stupid thug. Claire dislodges a syringe from the man’s eye socket and feels like he attracts this sort of company, but he’s not complaining. After all, it all works out in the end, there is always some train of events like the one that lead from his acquaintance coming at him with a knife to becoming the still, dripping mess he is now. Funny how these things all come together. Some would say the death of one criminal in a back-alley is a drop in the ocean in such a rundown and crime-ridden area, when you think in terms of the bigger picture. Luckily Claire never does, or, more accurately, he thinks he is the bigger picture. He’s not feeling tired yet either, only a kind of cathartic calm.
He pulls on the coat he had the foresight to shed earlier and runs a bloody hand over his similarly bloody face, redistributing gore rather than actually getting any off. The scent will attract attention from the darkness soon enough but they should go to the source first. If not, well, he won’t lose. That’s what he believes.
He jumps up to catch a nearby fire escape and vaults onto it with unnecessary flair but minimal noise. Rooftops are the way to go with a face like this.
Name: Kern
Age: 21
AIM SN: hatcamouflage
email: hatcamouflage[at]aol[dot]com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Landels five years ago, briefly.
Currently Played Characters: n/a
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Baccano!
Canon Format: Light novels, anime
Character's Name: Claire Stanfield
Character's Age: 22 [BS guess based on characters we do actually know the ages of]
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a
What form will your character's NV take? A 16mm camera, rather like this one around the size of a hardback book. Records video in the typical way. Also has a modern built-in microphone and slide-out keyboard. Videos and holograms are projected through the lens or seen privately through the viewfinder.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Nothing superhuman. Extremely agile, dextrous and strong: capable of consistently dodging bullets and close-range attacks. Accurate marksman with handguns.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? Claire will do literally what he figuratively claims to do in canon - he will become the Rail Tracer. At first this will be only a visual effect which can arise in fights. In conflict situations he will start to look somewhere between a ragged, spindly version of himself and (as the power develops) a swirling, ill-defined humanoid shape - but always drenched in blood. If he manages to control this it could be used purposefully to intimidate people, otherwise he’ll just accidentally use it when he gets wound up. Later there’s the possibility that he’ll develop actual properties of the monster, making his body invulnerable for short periods of time as attacks will pass through. This effect will be short - two turns, and his head and eyes would still be vulnerable. After that he will be slower and have less endurance than if he hadn’t used the power- it would be a choice between being briefly invulnerable and then dropping to the level of a fit human or being vulnerable to attacks but keeping his almost-inhuman stats. As this effect is largely borne in the mind of his opponent it will only work on sentient beings- creatures in the bestiary will not be affected.
Weapons: A handgun small enough to fit in an inner-jacket pocket.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Little information exists about Claire during the time up to and including to the death of his parents. He was born around 1910 and their deaths seem to have occurred at some point between 1915 and 1919. It’s unclear how much of an impact this had on his outlook and personality. We do know that he ended up being adopted by the Gandors, a small mafia family with three young sons of their own, which likely familiarised him with the criminal underworld that he’d later be a part of. At some point during his teens he ran away from his new home to join the circus in a wonderfully clichéd gesture of youthful independence. There he trained as a trapeze artist, achieving success and physical prowess. Eventually he returned to the world of organised crime his stepbrothers had inherited. Luck, Berga and Keith had become heads of the family and were embroiled in running their protection rackets and protecting their territory. Claire found independent work as an assassin. Although he doesn’t work directly for the Gandors his friendship with these three along with their childhood friend Firo Prochainezo seems to be his longest sustained relationships. This doesn’t stop him from taking out a contract against them at one point- although when the time comes to kill them he does reveal that the sum he’s asking for is impossibly high, leading us to guess that it was a joke all along. This is fairly typical of the relaxed view he takes of his work due to quirks which I will elaborate on in the personality section. Despite this attitude he is said to be one of, if not the greatest assassins of his day and his commitment to a contract would normally guarantee the target’s death (contracts taken for the lolz notwithstanding). Along with a reputation for success he has become infamous for creating bloody and unpleasant deaths for his targets, picking up the nickname “Vino” in reference to how he, his victims, and the crime scene will tend to end up drenched in wine-red blood.
By 1931 he was working as a train conductor and using his access to the transcontinental railroad to travel from city to city carrying out assassinations. The end of that year marked his first journey on the famous luxury passenger train Flying Pussyfoot. It would be the last journey made by that train and would mark the end his conductorly cover job. The train set off from Chicago to New York City carrying a wealth of characters of varying degrees of savouriness (Claire being somewhere in the middle, as it turned out). As night fell without event and the train moved on he wound up swapping stories with his fellow conductor, telling an urban legend about the Rail Tracer, a monster which stalks trains. Before he finished the story the other conductor turned on him, revealing himself to be a member of one of the gangs. Claire was able to retaliate and kill the conductor and a member of the second gang who had killed his mentor. He then went on a killing spree against members of the two gangs, claiming to have become the legendary monster in his story. Claire moved along the roof and sides of the train, breaking in to deal with any Lemures or Russo family members he came across by dragging them out onto the tracks below. He also had what seems to be his first encounter with an immortal, one Czeslaw Meyer. After learning that Czeslaw was trying to arrange the deaths of a number of the passengers Claire marked him out as a target, and showed repeatedly that his brutality can extend to children (or at least those with a childlike appearance) and indeed to people he can’t actually kill. Eventually his rampage was stopped when he came across a face-off between Chane Laforet of the Lemures and Ladd Russo on the roof of the conductor’s room. Although set to kill members of both factions he was moved by Chane’s dedication to her father and her unwillingness to harm the passengers. Rather unconventionally (although not unusually, for him) he proposed on the spot, bloodstains and all. With two against one and by using Ladd’s possessive nature against him the battle was won. By morning most of the gang members disarmed or dead and the innocent passengers had been kept safe by one group or another. The players went their separate ways. There was a note carved into the roof of the train with no definite answer, only telling Claire to go to Manhattan.
In 1932 the conflict between the Gandors and the Runoratas comes to a head, just in time for Claire’s arrival. He found himself without a name as he had supposedly died in the Flying Pussyfoot incident. Using (unwilling) connections in an Information Brokers office he was able to acquire the identity of Felix Walken, a retired assassin. By pretending to take contracts from the Runoratas under that name Claire was able to get involved with, and help in the dissolution of the conflict to the advantage of the Gandors.
With that prior commitment taken care of the recently renamed Felix was able to search for Chane in earnest. They were eventually brought together again by a case of mistaken identity and kidnapping carried out by Graham Specter.
Point in Canon: January 1932/post Drugs & The Dominos and Grand Punk Railroad Revisited. He has closed his contract with his the Gandors and is in the process of settling down in his old hometown of New York City with a view to court Chane Laforet.
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: n/a
Character Personality: To people meeting him for the first time under everyday circumstances Claire comes across as an exuberant and friendly young man, if a little self-centred. His habits can be frustrating as he will happily talk to complete strangers about personal matters or brush off lifelong friends, depending on what suits him. He is boyish in his manner as well as his self-centredness, the kind of person who seems to naturally attract descriptions like “he wouldn’t hurt a fly”.
One unusual facet of his personality that comes out over time is his solipsism. His self-centredness isn’t just a part of his slightly childish demeanour. He foregoes talk of malicious demons or mad scientists creating an illusionary world - to Claire the world is a dream of his own creation. He believes that he is literally the centre of the universe, the prime mover and the people around him no more than interesting characters. He seems to have held this belief for most of his life. It has lead to him training physically to be able to oversee his world without interference from others who might not agree with his strong but idiosyncratic moral code. Most of us will have read stories where we wish we could reach into the world to inflict revenge on a villain or rescue the protagonists that appeal to us. Claire lives this out with the world as his story and its inhabitants as characters. He sometimes goes out of his way to help people he likes, as if bestowing a happy ending on a favourite character. More often, likely due to his immersion in the violent underbelly of society, he ends up exacting punishment on those who don’t fit in with his own ethics. Said punishments fit in with the MO that earned him the nickname Vino: brutal, messy and often ending in death for his target.
This isn’t to say that the personality he presents to people who aren’t enemies is a front. Claire’s manner is an honest expression of his self, and his brutality stems from a core desire to protect people. That he can be both extremely kind and unspeakably cruel is not a contradiction in his mind, probably best summed up by his own comment: “Pity and compassion are privileges reserved for the strong. And I am strong.”
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: n/a
Character Plans: AGI and SERO have definite similarities to mafia organisations and as such he might end up on the fringes of one or the other. However it’s unlikely he’d be interested in getting more involved in their tactical and philosophical conflicts. Most likely he’d be drawn to jobs with certain independence, like bounty hunting. It will take some work getting him used to not being the biggest fish in the pond anymore without unbalancing his egocentric mindset. The dormant power might be important here as it’ll give him a potential for growth. I’ll be slowly dealing with that while settling down in what he’ll probably think is just a new dream.
Appearance/PB: Figure left of centre.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
The way I figure either it’s like that greeting feller said, or I’ve somehow wound up in a dream. A different dream, I mean. It feels different even if the city smells about as bad. [he pauses for a moment, examining his clothes and hands then running them over his face, slightly squashing his features up between them to illustrate to the camera] But I feel about the same. So I ain’t too sure what’s going on right now.
Either way this ain’t New York, or even America. Which oughta clear up that little problem I was having with names and registers and all that legal jazz, if nothing else. And to be honest I guess I’m feeling a little attached to that old name what with it being part of where I’ve come from and heritage. I’m thinking of just going back to it for old times’ sake. [He internally mulls over the pros and cons of name changes for a while, pinching at the bridge of his nose in an exaggerated fashion and humming nasally. He seems to have forgotten about his presumed audience or thinks he’s interesting enough to hold their attention throughout this intermission]
Well I’m stuck, so for now let’s just go with Rail Tracer or Vino, I can decide on a proper name later!
Third Person Sample
He’s distracted on the way home by a would-be mugger who turns out to be a would-be something worse. The motley assortment of objects in the man’s pockets suggests that he’s out recruiting for the labs or the slave markets; something that people generally don’t get involved in if they’re conscious. He could have gotten away with a broken nose if they hadn’t fallen from his jacket when Claire threw him against the wall thinking he was just a slightly stupid thug. Claire dislodges a syringe from the man’s eye socket and feels like he attracts this sort of company, but he’s not complaining. After all, it all works out in the end, there is always some train of events like the one that lead from his acquaintance coming at him with a knife to becoming the still, dripping mess he is now. Funny how these things all come together. Some would say the death of one criminal in a back-alley is a drop in the ocean in such a rundown and crime-ridden area, when you think in terms of the bigger picture. Luckily Claire never does, or, more accurately, he thinks he is the bigger picture. He’s not feeling tired yet either, only a kind of cathartic calm.
He pulls on the coat he had the foresight to shed earlier and runs a bloody hand over his similarly bloody face, redistributing gore rather than actually getting any off. The scent will attract attention from the darkness soon enough but they should go to the source first. If not, well, he won’t lose. That’s what he believes.
He jumps up to catch a nearby fire escape and vaults onto it with unnecessary flair but minimal noise. Rooftops are the way to go with a face like this.