We have a lot of work to do
Mun Name: jao
Journal: jaokolad
Contact Info: Aim: zigziggon
Other Characters: Belldandy, Tamaki Suoh, and Toki Wartooth
Name: Caroline
From: Portal 2
Appearance: Picture from the game
Age: Late twenties, maybe early thirties. ( Taken from 1954 and assuming she was in her early 20's when hired after the salt mine purchase in the late 1940's. )
Gender: Female
Personality: Sweet, polite, patient, punctual, pretty, knowledgeable, efficient; all good qualities of the personal assistant and secretary to the great Cave Johnson, owner of a new scientific laboratory. Each attribute undeniably belonging to her, much like how she may own the necklace around her neck, or the dress she wears without wrinkle or loose thread. Caroline puts them on, for the sake of her job, for the sake of her misguided boss. However; like a necklace or dress, those attributes are only what lies on the surface.
For what she wants and the things she's passionate about, Caroline will do anything. Able to influence the tests and engineering done in the labs from her position, she runs the facility under Cave's nose. Allowing him to believe it's all his vision, she smiles, bends the truth and manipulates his aggressive male tendencies to keep her position of power. She holds a simultaneous understanding of the expectations of a perfect personal assistant, and a silent deep hatred and disrespect for its limitations.
She must be in control and there must be an order to the things around her. Running a company such as Aperture and cleaning up after Cave Johnson and his antics requires a constant knowledge of what is going on around her. Being in her 'personal assistant' position and keeping the illusion of her submissive career role requires her to also keep a perfect professional appearance. The power of a beautiful woman has been proven in her own experiences with Cave, so it's treated the same as preparing for any experiment; a necessary step before science can begin, and is treated with careful attention to detail.
While not interested in social activities, Caroline knows the importance of networking. Her priorities lie with science and not with making friends. She does understand that she can't do everything herself so she'll keep the contacts that are most advantageous to her and her efforts. However, she's not cold or cruel. She's just simply uninterested in most social activities and feels more comfortable with her true work.
Backstory:
A woman must know what she's good at, and Caroline was good at science. Being a woman in the late 1940's, however, made it extremely difficult to find a job where she could put her true talents to work. Undaunted, she followed the rules of society and earned the submissive position of personal assistant of a start-up scientific laboratory. Clerical work with true science just out of reach.
Lucky for her, Cave Johnson was more salesman and science fan boy than scientist. The proper smile, the ability to understand the scientific reports coming in, the right sway of the hips and a mindless 'yes sir, Mr. Johnson!' allowed her the opportunity to gain his trust. While he was busy thinking of more asinine experiments, Caroline was running the facility. The paper work all went through her hands and scientists would come to her rather than Mr. Johnson in fear that he may fire them on a whim. The company grew and soon Aperture Science was the second most successful laboratory in the country. Cave Johnson was accredited with the breakthroughs, but that didn't bother her. Caroline knew the truth, and the power that she had and the science that she was accomplishing was all that mattered.
Caroline comes to Ink City while Aperture Science is still in its peak. The prototype of the portal gun has been tested and declared a success. Repulsion gel, while still some-what dangerous, is also a scientific breakthrough and the super colliding super buttons and weighted storage cubes are well on their way to perfection. Aperture Science holds the second largest contract with the United States Military, just under Black Mesa. She doesn't know of propulsion gel, conversion gel, the hand held version of the portal gun's success, the impending lawsuits, Cave's illness or GlaDOS. or any technological breakthroughs that happened after 1954, so computers, cell phones things like that
Moral Standing: Lawful neutral. Caroline saw many test subjects injured and lives lost in the name of science. For the things she believes in and the furthering of science, she understands that there is a price to pay and emotionally detaches herself from the thought of good or bad. If she has to use someone, or someone gets hurt, science makes it worth the cost.
Dreams: To keep pushing the realms of known science and grow Aperture.
Fears: The failure of Aperture.
Extra:
About her feelings for Cave Johnson: While I believe that she may have used Cave Johnson's misguided-ness, she would never want any harm to come to him. As the figure head of the company, it would be very disadvantageous if Cave was hurt or discredited. I believe she looked after him, much like a mother may take care of a man-child. Cave, however, sounded very found of her in the game's recordings. If they implied any romantic feelings, I believe them to be one-sided. After all, women were still somewhat looked down on in the 1940's and 1950's in the work force. To publicly announce to people with the sort of social standing of astronaut or olympian that a woman was the backbone of the company was a very big deal and reflects how much he held her in high regard.
The way that Cave talks about science, though filled with enthusiasm, isn't based on any useful application and I don't think she would find that attractive. He handles the staff rudely and does more things to hinder the process of science than help it. It would be like loving the guy in group projects that comes in late, has no idea what's going on, offers horrible ideas and then leaves without doing anything for the project, dumping it all in her lap and getting all the credit for it later. Caroline regards him as a necessity, and is thankful that his ignorance allows her his power, but at the highest may perhaps regard him as friend, but never truly an equal.
Edit: That's not to say that her mind won't change now that they're out of their normal setting. There are a number of things that could alter her relationship and opinion about Cave, such as information about GLaDOS' creation and the influence of other CR. The idea is to start near the beginning and let the characters and their dynamic evolve in the game, whether for good or bad.
Why this aggressive take on her character?: Cave Johnson was a shower curtain salesman with no scientific understanding and money to burn. I don't feel that he would be able to understand the reports coming in and would need someone to translate all of it. I can't believe that the mindless happy parrot of a woman in the recordings was the same one who would looked over the company making such big scientific breakthroughs. She certainly wasn't the same that would later be the base for GlaDOS. There has to be so much more to her than that. If Cave couldn't truly understand the science happening, and if Caroline really was the happy yes-woman she appears to be from the tapes, then there would have had to be some other leader behind the scenes that helped build the company into the giant it once was.
Based a little on how we see GlaDOS and based a little on 1940's and 1950's women's rights in the work place, Caroline would need to be somewhat aggressive to gain her position and somewhat methodical to keep it and run everything successfully. I don't believe she was cruel. She just had higher priorities than making friends, finding love, or even being too social with those around her.
Samples:
Writing Sample:
[ The world is spinning before she even opened her eyes. A catastrophic miscalculation must have occurred in the test chamber she had been overseeing and while she still laid there, Caroline is already re-running the data in her mind. It had been a simple repulsion gel chamber, so the most logical conclusion was a meltdown within the portal tunneling device. The subject would most certainly be dead, a letter and compensation would have to be made, a new chamber, revisions to the device, the list went on. This could potentially delay the experiment for weeks. With a deep breath, Caroline lifts her head from the floor and opened her eyes to see...sky? ]
[ In a few swift moments, Caroline scrambles to her feet and brushes her skirt off, smoothing the wrinkles from her shirt. Tucking some hair behind her ear she closes her eyes again. ] No need to panic. My location is from the error, nothing more.
[ Calm quickly replaces any worry that had briefly broken her composure. Eyes open, they finally fall on the sign by the well. The calm blank expression on her face shifts to annoyance, to skepticism, and finally hints at confusion before she glances around and spots the cell that had filmed her this entire time. Caroline dips down to pick it up and examines it with curiosity. The expression drops immediately to a sweet smile. ]
Oh, Mr. Johnson, you certainly got me this time. [ giggle ] This is your most elaborate prank yet! If you could please tell me how to return to the lab, I would like to go back to over seeing the tests now. We sure do have a lot of work to do!
Journal: jaokolad
Contact Info: Aim: zigziggon
Other Characters: Belldandy, Tamaki Suoh, and Toki Wartooth
Name: Caroline
From: Portal 2
Appearance: Picture from the game
Age: Late twenties, maybe early thirties. ( Taken from 1954 and assuming she was in her early 20's when hired after the salt mine purchase in the late 1940's. )
Gender: Female
Personality: Sweet, polite, patient, punctual, pretty, knowledgeable, efficient; all good qualities of the personal assistant and secretary to the great Cave Johnson, owner of a new scientific laboratory. Each attribute undeniably belonging to her, much like how she may own the necklace around her neck, or the dress she wears without wrinkle or loose thread. Caroline puts them on, for the sake of her job, for the sake of her misguided boss. However; like a necklace or dress, those attributes are only what lies on the surface.
For what she wants and the things she's passionate about, Caroline will do anything. Able to influence the tests and engineering done in the labs from her position, she runs the facility under Cave's nose. Allowing him to believe it's all his vision, she smiles, bends the truth and manipulates his aggressive male tendencies to keep her position of power. She holds a simultaneous understanding of the expectations of a perfect personal assistant, and a silent deep hatred and disrespect for its limitations.
She must be in control and there must be an order to the things around her. Running a company such as Aperture and cleaning up after Cave Johnson and his antics requires a constant knowledge of what is going on around her. Being in her 'personal assistant' position and keeping the illusion of her submissive career role requires her to also keep a perfect professional appearance. The power of a beautiful woman has been proven in her own experiences with Cave, so it's treated the same as preparing for any experiment; a necessary step before science can begin, and is treated with careful attention to detail.
While not interested in social activities, Caroline knows the importance of networking. Her priorities lie with science and not with making friends. She does understand that she can't do everything herself so she'll keep the contacts that are most advantageous to her and her efforts. However, she's not cold or cruel. She's just simply uninterested in most social activities and feels more comfortable with her true work.
Backstory:
A woman must know what she's good at, and Caroline was good at science. Being a woman in the late 1940's, however, made it extremely difficult to find a job where she could put her true talents to work. Undaunted, she followed the rules of society and earned the submissive position of personal assistant of a start-up scientific laboratory. Clerical work with true science just out of reach.
Lucky for her, Cave Johnson was more salesman and science fan boy than scientist. The proper smile, the ability to understand the scientific reports coming in, the right sway of the hips and a mindless 'yes sir, Mr. Johnson!' allowed her the opportunity to gain his trust. While he was busy thinking of more asinine experiments, Caroline was running the facility. The paper work all went through her hands and scientists would come to her rather than Mr. Johnson in fear that he may fire them on a whim. The company grew and soon Aperture Science was the second most successful laboratory in the country. Cave Johnson was accredited with the breakthroughs, but that didn't bother her. Caroline knew the truth, and the power that she had and the science that she was accomplishing was all that mattered.
Caroline comes to Ink City while Aperture Science is still in its peak. The prototype of the portal gun has been tested and declared a success. Repulsion gel, while still some-what dangerous, is also a scientific breakthrough and the super colliding super buttons and weighted storage cubes are well on their way to perfection. Aperture Science holds the second largest contract with the United States Military, just under Black Mesa. She doesn't know of propulsion gel, conversion gel, the hand held version of the portal gun's success, the impending lawsuits, Cave's illness or GlaDOS. or any technological breakthroughs that happened after 1954, so computers, cell phones things like that
Moral Standing: Lawful neutral. Caroline saw many test subjects injured and lives lost in the name of science. For the things she believes in and the furthering of science, she understands that there is a price to pay and emotionally detaches herself from the thought of good or bad. If she has to use someone, or someone gets hurt, science makes it worth the cost.
Dreams: To keep pushing the realms of known science and grow Aperture.
Fears: The failure of Aperture.
Extra:
About her feelings for Cave Johnson: While I believe that she may have used Cave Johnson's misguided-ness, she would never want any harm to come to him. As the figure head of the company, it would be very disadvantageous if Cave was hurt or discredited. I believe she looked after him, much like a mother may take care of a man-child. Cave, however, sounded very found of her in the game's recordings. If they implied any romantic feelings, I believe them to be one-sided. After all, women were still somewhat looked down on in the 1940's and 1950's in the work force. To publicly announce to people with the sort of social standing of astronaut or olympian that a woman was the backbone of the company was a very big deal and reflects how much he held her in high regard.
The way that Cave talks about science, though filled with enthusiasm, isn't based on any useful application and I don't think she would find that attractive. He handles the staff rudely and does more things to hinder the process of science than help it. It would be like loving the guy in group projects that comes in late, has no idea what's going on, offers horrible ideas and then leaves without doing anything for the project, dumping it all in her lap and getting all the credit for it later. Caroline regards him as a necessity, and is thankful that his ignorance allows her his power, but at the highest may perhaps regard him as friend, but never truly an equal.
Edit: That's not to say that her mind won't change now that they're out of their normal setting. There are a number of things that could alter her relationship and opinion about Cave, such as information about GLaDOS' creation and the influence of other CR. The idea is to start near the beginning and let the characters and their dynamic evolve in the game, whether for good or bad.
Why this aggressive take on her character?: Cave Johnson was a shower curtain salesman with no scientific understanding and money to burn. I don't feel that he would be able to understand the reports coming in and would need someone to translate all of it. I can't believe that the mindless happy parrot of a woman in the recordings was the same one who would looked over the company making such big scientific breakthroughs. She certainly wasn't the same that would later be the base for GlaDOS. There has to be so much more to her than that. If Cave couldn't truly understand the science happening, and if Caroline really was the happy yes-woman she appears to be from the tapes, then there would have had to be some other leader behind the scenes that helped build the company into the giant it once was.
Based a little on how we see GlaDOS and based a little on 1940's and 1950's women's rights in the work place, Caroline would need to be somewhat aggressive to gain her position and somewhat methodical to keep it and run everything successfully. I don't believe she was cruel. She just had higher priorities than making friends, finding love, or even being too social with those around her.
Samples:
Click to view
Writing Sample:
[ The world is spinning before she even opened her eyes. A catastrophic miscalculation must have occurred in the test chamber she had been overseeing and while she still laid there, Caroline is already re-running the data in her mind. It had been a simple repulsion gel chamber, so the most logical conclusion was a meltdown within the portal tunneling device. The subject would most certainly be dead, a letter and compensation would have to be made, a new chamber, revisions to the device, the list went on. This could potentially delay the experiment for weeks. With a deep breath, Caroline lifts her head from the floor and opened her eyes to see...sky? ]
[ In a few swift moments, Caroline scrambles to her feet and brushes her skirt off, smoothing the wrinkles from her shirt. Tucking some hair behind her ear she closes her eyes again. ] No need to panic. My location is from the error, nothing more.
[ Calm quickly replaces any worry that had briefly broken her composure. Eyes open, they finally fall on the sign by the well. The calm blank expression on her face shifts to annoyance, to skepticism, and finally hints at confusion before she glances around and spots the cell that had filmed her this entire time. Caroline dips down to pick it up and examines it with curiosity. The expression drops immediately to a sweet smile. ]
Oh, Mr. Johnson, you certainly got me this time. [ giggle ] This is your most elaborate prank yet! If you could please tell me how to return to the lab, I would like to go back to over seeing the tests now. We sure do have a lot of work to do!