[ OOC | Application for beyondtherift. ]

[reactivates]

ϟ C H A R A C T E R
Name: Claudia Donovan
Series: Warehouse 13
Canon point: 3x10, "Don't Hate the Player"
Age: 21
Height: 5'6"
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Red
Abilities:
Hacking, inventing, making age jokes at Artie, general excelling at the snark, also putting her foot in her mouth (uh, not literally).
Rift-given abilities:
Generation and manipulation of electric current. (Think Elle Bishop of Heroes.)
Residence within Chicago:
To be decided.

ϟ A P P L I C A T I O N
About You - The Player
Name: Sarah Danielle
Age: 23
Contact: favors (primary), gleefulgiggle@gmail.com (secondary), hesladyfabulous@AIM (third).
Past Role Playing Experience: I've been roleplaying in general since I was a preteen, while livejournal/journal-based RP I've been doing since my teen years. Most games I've been in are rather obscure, some I even modded/co-modded myself. More recently I've been in lastvoyages though. With Claudia, even. I was there for several months but ultimately had to leave due to things that were happening in my life (job-wise, living-arrangements-wise, etc, I was too stressed/busy). While I love that game, and maybe someday want to bring Claudia back to it, the premise requires another person to rely on you very heavily (you are helping teach them and bring them redemption, essentially) and right now that's hard for me to handle. Since then (and before that as well) mostly I've played in memes. I'm interested in this game because it has a broader plot, I love the premise, and the activity check requirements seem like something I could more easily handle at this time. (Last Voyages moved pretty fast in terms of plot.)

The Character
Name: Claudia Donovan
Age/Birthdate: 21 (Birthdate unknown)
Species: Wanderer
*Type: The rift has given her the ability to generate and manipulate electric current. (Similar to Elle Bishop of Heroes.)
Canon: Warehouse 13
*Pre-existing powers: None
Dreamwidth: reactivates
Played By: Allison Scagliotti
Icon: http://www.dreamwidth.org/userpic/3299788/1593141

Appearance: The first thing generally noticed about Claudia would be her hair. She's a natural redhead, and often will dye a streak (or a few streaks) of another color into her hair - usually vivid colors, but on occasion she's done blond and black as well. Her style has been described as "junkyard chic", though could also be considered punk, or a little Hot Topic-esque... and jeans are pretty much a constant. She's got multiple piercings in both ears, and tends to wear jewelry - not the expensive kind, usually more on the quirky side. Often wears black nail polish, occasionally eyeshadow and some sort of lip gloss. Scent would probably be your basic everyday soap - she's not very girly, I don't think she goes for perfumes or scented body wash. Height's around 5'6".

Personality:

When meeting new people, Claudia has a tendency to be a bit awkward and has, on several occasions, wound up putting her foot in her mouth. Despite that, she's fairly easy-going and open - not at all hard to get along with (so long as the other party can handle her snark). Some people might see her as rude, but her intentions usually aren't meant to hurt or offend, more just attempts to be playful. She tends not to take herself or others too seriously, and occasionally makes light of serious/dangerous situations, or uses humor to alleviate tension, probably in an attempt to keep herself from panicking. It doesn't always work.

While for the most part she doesn't seem to care too much what other people think of her (in that she wears what she wants, mostly says what she wants, and dyes a streak of her hair a different color almost every week), she does want to prove herself useful. Respect can be hard for her to earn, though, as she still has some immature/child-like qualities. For instance, she's probably about as selfish as your average teenage (having a tendency to put her own feelings before others, unless of course it's someone she's close to), and she has a habit of doing before thinking, as well as saying exactly what's on her mind (and many times voicing thoughts out loud, essentially talking to herself). The way she talks and her normal vocabulary don't help give her a very grown-up image, either, but it's still something her friends and family appreciate. (Not to say she sounds unintelligent, just immature. "Dude" is one of those words she uses often enough to give evidence to this fact.) She's perfectly content with breaking a few rules if she deems it necessary (and when curiosity is involved, sometimes she just can't help herself), but overall her heart is always in the right place.

Family is the most important thing in Claudia's life, because during a good chunk of her childhood and teenage years it was something she desperately sought. We aren't told much about the foster family she went to after her brother disappeared, but just the fact that she never talks about or even mentions them I think goes to show she wasn't very close with them. Once she was welcomed into the Warehouse, her coworkers became her family - she even says in the beginning of the second season that they are the only family she's ever had. Adjusting to being without them here will be hard, particularly since she's already "lost" family and friends before.

Claudia is an ace with the computer (namely, hacking) and isn't afraid to gloat about it. She's also quite handy with inventing things, repairing things, or upgrading things. "Things" referring to mostly objects of an electrical/mechanical nature.

Given a challenge, Claudia will dedicate herself to it, almost to a degree of obsession. When she first started seeing Joshua and believing he wasn't dead, just stuck in between dimensions, she began obsessing over rescuing him, and over finding Artie to assist her in doing so. The walls of her apartment at that time were covered in handwritten notes to herself, pictures, and articles. Another example is during season two, when she begins to suspect Todd of not being who he says he is. She digs up information on the internet (presumably through hacking) and winds up with a file about the size of three novels. She's also given evidence that throwing herself into something will also sometimes mean avoiding asking for help from others.

Events: [For fandom characters, please, describe two events in their history that have made them who they are today and describe how/why it impacted them.]

First off I want to make note that Warehouse 13 is a little funny when it comes to continuity of Claudia's age/events. They did not do their math correctly. The first event I will be mentioning is stated to have happened when Claudia was ten while also it's supposed to have happened twelve years before Warehouse 13's timeline, and yet Claudia is stated as being nineteen in the first season. Since ten plus twelve does not equal nineteen, I will be adjusting the canon facts so that the first event happened when Claudia was seven, thus, you know, making all the math correct (given other references to her age, changing when that event happened makes more sense than changing the others).

The first event that changed Claudia was when her brother Joshua disappeared, and was assumed dead. At the time, Joshua was her legal guardian as both of their parents had previously died (it's never stated when that occurred, how old Claudia was at the time, or how it even happened). Joshua was experimenting with an artifact known as Rheticus' Compass that can supposedly teleport a human being. Feeling rushed by Artie (who he believes at the time is a professor wishing to give him a grant for his work on the compass), he doesn't gather all of Rheticus' "rules" on the compass before he attempts to use it. Thus, he gets stuck in between dimensions for twelve years. At first he's believed to be dead. Claudia gets sent to a foster home for the rest of her childhood (possibly even more than one, we're never given the details, but considering she doesn't ever mention them I think it's safe to assume she never got very close to them). Then she starts seeing/hearing Josh. She thinks at first she's losing her mind and even checks herself into a psychiatric clinic. She only spent a period of a few months there, but we learn (in 3x10 "Don't Hate the Player") that only those few months had a profound effect on her. Her biggest fear is that she isn't sane, that she's actually still in the psychiatric hospital and that nothing that's happened since is true or real, it's all in her mind. While this may not have been immediately evident prior to that episode, going back it may explain why she doesn't often hesitate to follow where her instincts or where her curiosity takes her, rules and sometimes other people be damned. Because if it's all in her mind anyway, then what, really, are the consequences of her actions?

The second event that really affected Claudia happened during the first season, and basically it's having a real family for the first time in her life. Instead of one specific event it's a little more general/ongoing, but it starts in the first episode she appears (1x04 "Claudia"). She finds Artie and, with his help, rescues Joshua. Since Joshua, before disappearing, spent a lot of his time raising and taking care of Claudia when he could be doing other things, she felt that she owed it to him to find him and, afterwards, for him to find a future doing something worthy of his brilliance. He leaves to Switzerland to take up a position at CERN for this reason, leaving Claudia with Artie. She winds up taking a job there at the Warehouse, despite her lack of a college education or any formal training like the other agents have. She's accepted into the little family the group of coworkers make, is given a room at Leena's Bed and Breakfast along with Pete and Myka.

Writing Sample:

For a few seconds, Claudia freezes, watching Artie in case he gets back up. She doesn't wait too long though, she knows he'll wake up eventually. Carefully, she puts the Tesla in her jacket pocket, then turns and runs out of the kitchen, meanwhile making a new plan of action in her mind.

Step one: Using a letter opener, cut the artifact-y painting in order to escape the house. Step two: Obtain goo from nearest neutralizing station. Step three: Return to imposter B&B with neutralizer and gloves, and...

Oh, right. He's on top of the coat.

"Fantastic," she whispers under her breath, setting the neutralizer container down and moving closer to her unconscious boss. When she reaches the knife, she kicks it farther away, so that it slides underneath the fridge, where it's pretty much irretrievable. "Don'twakeupdon'twakeupdon'twakeup," she murmurs, cringing slightly as she inches closer... She grabs hold of the edge of the coat (thankfully having remembered to don the gloves), and pulls, gingerly.

It doesn't budge. She's not surprised. "I swear we're getting you a treadmill when this is over." Hesitantly, she gives Artie a nudge, trying to get him to roll off of the coat so she can throw it in the neutralizer. "Come onnn..."

Still, no budging.

...Well, fine then. She lets go of the artifact!coat with a disgruntled huff, then looks over at the neutralizer. And looks back at Artie. And repeats the process. "...hmm."

She has an idea. She's going to get yelled at for it, she knows this, but it's not like she has many options left. So, leaving Artie where he is, she goes back to the neutralizer container and opens it before returning to Artie's side with it. Thinking the idea through again, she looks down at him, and ultimately makes her decision.

"I'd apologize in advance, but after the creepy knife stuff? This'll probably be something of a catharsis." She dumps the goo over man and artifact. And she was right: it does indeed make her feel better.

Original thread for this sample RP located here. Let me know if a newer, less in-universe-style sample is needed? Also wish to note that the events were planned out with the other player beforehand, so don't worry: there was no god-modding involved.