Player: Molly Contact:marvelousmith Age: 24 Current Characters: none atm!
⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: River Tam Age: 18 (pooooosssibly 17 but I'm pretty sure she had a birthday offscreen, haha) Canon: Firefly/Serenity Canon Point: post-Leaves on the Wind
Personality: It’s hard to know where to start with River. When lucid, she’s sweet and playful. She plays tag with her friend Kaylee, draws and colors, and listens to gossip about boys. But in less favorable circumstances, she’s cryptic, blunt, and even violent. She throws packs of medical equipment around, explains how the crew would freeze to death in space before asphyxiating, and slashes a crewmate across the chest with a butcher knife.
These opposing traits exist in her mainly due to the medical and psychological experimentations she underwent as a teenager. Her brother, Simon, recalls how she acted before the experiments: hyperintelligent and hypertalented – to the point of being “more than gifted…she was a gift”; sometimes “a real brat” but still dearly loved by him and their parents. His descriptions – as well as several flashbacks that are scattered throughout the series – indicate that the friendly and sweet personality is the original.
Unfortunately, the experiments performed on her by the government – which included at least one partial lobotomy – left her scarred and unstable. It is unclear what the experimenters’ purposes were, but it seems that they were turning River Tam into an assassin. They conditioned her into responding to certain codes, both visual and aural; at least one exists to trigger her into “mindless killing” mode (as seen in the movie, when she incapacitates an entire bar’s worth of people), and one to “put her to sleep” (which stops her from hurting her captain in said bar). They took her natural intuitiveness and attempted to expand upon it – perhaps to the point of her becoming “psychic”. There are times when it does seem that she can read minds, knowing things that she couldn’t have known before; at other times she’s just hypersensitive, reading everything about a person from their voice, their body, their inflections. What is certain about her intuitiveness is that she can’t control it. The partial lobotomy – which removed her amygdala, the part of the brain that controls emotions – left her unable to filter or hold things back; as a result, “she feels everything. She can’t not”. Although it would be inaccurate to say that she always explains herself (she definitely doesn’t, and when she does it’s often cryptic and layered), she does have trouble knowing when to say things and when to keep quiet. (For example, at one point she and Simon are kidnapped by a town of old-fashioned folk, who come to believe that River is a “witch” and must be burnt. The pastor/village elder reacts kindly to her at first – perhaps this is just a misunderstanding, and she is simply a strange little girl. Unfortunately, River reads him and reveals that he gained his position of power by murdering his predecessor, “proving” that she’s a “witch” and causing him to proceed with the witch-burning.)
Her unstable moods sometime leave her morbid, such as when she decides to lay down on a (filled) coffin; childish, such as when she refuses to give Shepherd Book his Bible back; or generally inappropriate, such as when she calmly watches Kaylee and Simon consummating their relationship in the engine room.
Despite all of this, in her saner moments she reveals that she cares greatly for Simon and the rest of the crew. She is aware that her brother gave up everything he had to save her, and feels guilty for it (“You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken. It's hard for you.”). As aforementioned, she can be very nice and “pleasant enough” to be around; it all depends on her mood. After the events of the movie, she does seem to be more stable as commented on by her brother and Mal, but still continues to say odd things and jump around hitting people with knives.
Abilities: River's powers are somewhat difficult to describe; the short story is, she's a psychic assassin trained in being ridiculously fast and calculating. She appears to be able to read minds, sometimes in a more subtle way - seeing what people are feeling by observing them very closely, and having enough empathy to get some of that emotion in herself - and sometimes in a more mysterious way - knowing the pasts of the people around her, even when there is no conventional way for her to possess such knowledge. Her empathetic telepathy/psychometry probably has something to do with the missing parts of her brain. Her great power is tempered by the fact that she cannot control it.
Simon also mentions in his exposition for River that “Everything she did, music, math, theoretical physics -- even-even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us.” Since her time at the Academy, River has developed her almost surreal grace for both dancing and more deadly combat situations. She is able to incapacitate an entire bar after being triggered by a secret code broadcasted by the government, and also seems fairly proficient with a variety of weapons, including guns and axes. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Russian.
Alignment: Daimonia (grief-joy). As aforementioned, she "feels everything" and the gambit of happiness to sadness seems to encompass the most. There are a few iconic scenes of River being both joyous (dancing in the fair, playing chase with Kaylee) and grief-stricken ("You found me broken. It's hard for you. You gave up everything you had."; Sessions 22 of the R. Tam Sessions).
Other: River will be carrying a plastic toy dinosaur with her upon arrival.
⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: (In canon characters interject English with Chinese words and phrases. I will include the translation in hover-text when River does this.)
He would’ve liked it, she mused to herself as she toyed idly with the (his) plastic dinosaurs on the dashboard. Everything had been remade with love. She had watched Inara carefully paint Serenity’s face again, making her shine with new life. She had heard the new life in Zoe, and was excited to know that she would no longer be the youngest on board. (“I want her to call me dà jiě jie,” she’d said to Zoe, who’d been confused. She hadn’t even known about her own family, growing inside of her.) She had been pleased to know that Simon and Kaylee had finally found each other, pleased for him because her brother had finally figured out how girls work and pleased for her because she would be a real part of the family now.
She had wanted to keep his things on the dashboard. The rest of them agreed. They felt like it was a tribute to him. She decided it meant that he was still with them. People put themselves into their possessions. When his and Zoe’s baby was born, she would show the things to her. Then it would be like he was still here to be a father. He had always wanted to be one; she had heard him talk about it, time and time again, when the whole crew was together and when he thought he and Zoe were alone.
The ‘Verse had an ironic streak, to take him away just before he got his wish. She would’ve been upset at the unfairness of it all, but she’d already known how unfair life was.
Carefully, she placed the hula-dancer doll at the head of the dinosaurs, making sure it was secure. It was time for Mal to take the wheel.
(It wasn’t actually a wheel. That was an old anachronism, from the days of ships on water, on Earth-That-Was. They were steered via rudders, which were controlled via wheels. Which were controlled via humans, at the helm of the transport.)
It was time for Mal to take the controls. That was a more appropriate turn of phrase for Serenity. It was morning (another anachronism: in space, without the guidance of a star or a planetary orbit, traditional times of day had little meaning. It was the end of the crew’s sleep cycle) and that meant her shift was over. He wouldn’t want to be up, and he’d complain at her as he got ready, but a deal was a deal.
She found the hatch to his room unlocked and was climbing noisily down it when he cried out at her. He claimed not to be decent. She knew what men looked like. It didn’t seem like an issue, in her mind. But then her mind was never quite like the others’. So she climbed back up and waited at the top for him.
After a few moments he started.
“You know…little one…I’m not saying an early rise ain’t good for a man. But I’m thinking your impression of ‘early’ might be a little different than the rest of us. Pretty sure I just fell asleep a minute ago and now you’re sayin’ it’s time to get up…”
Above him, she smiled. He’d complain, but a deal was a deal.
River Tam | Firefly | not reserved
Player: Molly
Contact:
Age: 24
Current Characters: none atm!
Character: River Tam
Age: 18 (pooooosssibly 17 but I'm pretty sure she had a birthday offscreen, haha)
Canon: Firefly/Serenity
Canon Point: post-Leaves on the Wind
Background: Wiki page for the series (wiki 2: electric boogaloo, wiki 3: revenge of the wiki)
Personality: It’s hard to know where to start with River. When lucid, she’s sweet and playful. She plays tag with her friend Kaylee, draws and colors, and listens to gossip about boys. But in less favorable circumstances, she’s cryptic, blunt, and even violent. She throws packs of medical equipment around, explains how the crew would freeze to death in space before asphyxiating, and slashes a crewmate across the chest with a butcher knife.
These opposing traits exist in her mainly due to the medical and psychological experimentations she underwent as a teenager. Her brother, Simon, recalls how she acted before the experiments: hyperintelligent and hypertalented – to the point of being “more than gifted…she was a gift”; sometimes “a real brat” but still dearly loved by him and their parents. His descriptions – as well as several flashbacks that are scattered throughout the series – indicate that the friendly and sweet personality is the original.
Unfortunately, the experiments performed on her by the government – which included at least one partial lobotomy – left her scarred and unstable. It is unclear what the experimenters’ purposes were, but it seems that they were turning River Tam into an assassin. They conditioned her into responding to certain codes, both visual and aural; at least one exists to trigger her into “mindless killing” mode (as seen in the movie, when she incapacitates an entire bar’s worth of people), and one to “put her to sleep” (which stops her from hurting her captain in said bar). They took her natural intuitiveness and attempted to expand upon it – perhaps to the point of her becoming “psychic”. There are times when it does seem that she can read minds, knowing things that she couldn’t have known before; at other times she’s just hypersensitive, reading everything about a person from their voice, their body, their inflections. What is certain about her intuitiveness is that she can’t control it. The partial lobotomy – which removed her amygdala, the part of the brain that controls emotions – left her unable to filter or hold things back; as a result, “she feels everything. She can’t not”. Although it would be inaccurate to say that she always explains herself (she definitely doesn’t, and when she does it’s often cryptic and layered), she does have trouble knowing when to say things and when to keep quiet. (For example, at one point she and Simon are kidnapped by a town of old-fashioned folk, who come to believe that River is a “witch” and must be burnt. The pastor/village elder reacts kindly to her at first – perhaps this is just a misunderstanding, and she is simply a strange little girl. Unfortunately, River reads him and reveals that he gained his position of power by murdering his predecessor, “proving” that she’s a “witch” and causing him to proceed with the witch-burning.)
Her unstable moods sometime leave her morbid, such as when she decides to lay down on a (filled) coffin; childish, such as when she refuses to give Shepherd Book his Bible back; or generally inappropriate, such as when she calmly watches Kaylee and Simon consummating their relationship in the engine room.
Despite all of this, in her saner moments she reveals that she cares greatly for Simon and the rest of the crew. She is aware that her brother gave up everything he had to save her, and feels guilty for it (“You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken. It's hard for you.”). As aforementioned, she can be very nice and “pleasant enough” to be around; it all depends on her mood. After the events of the movie, she does seem to be more stable as commented on by her brother and Mal, but still continues to say odd things and jump around hitting people with knives.
Abilities: River's powers are somewhat difficult to describe; the short story is, she's a psychic assassin trained in being ridiculously fast and calculating. She appears to be able to read minds, sometimes in a more subtle way - seeing what people are feeling by observing them very closely, and having enough empathy to get some of that emotion in herself - and sometimes in a more mysterious way - knowing the pasts of the people around her, even when there is no conventional way for her to possess such knowledge. Her empathetic telepathy/psychometry probably has something to do with the missing parts of her brain. Her great power is tempered by the fact that she cannot control it.
Simon also mentions in his exposition for River that “Everything she did, music, math, theoretical physics -- even-even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us.” Since her time at the Academy, River has developed her almost surreal grace for both dancing and more deadly combat situations. She is able to incapacitate an entire bar after being triggered by a secret code broadcasted by the government, and also seems fairly proficient with a variety of weapons, including guns and axes. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Russian.
Alignment: Daimonia (grief-joy). As aforementioned, she "feels everything" and the gambit of happiness to sadness seems to encompass the most. There are a few iconic scenes of River being both joyous (dancing in the fair, playing chase with Kaylee) and grief-stricken ("You found me broken. It's hard for you. You gave up everything you had."; Sessions 22 of the R. Tam Sessions).
Other: River will be carrying a plastic toy dinosaur with her upon arrival.
Sample:
(In canon characters interject English with Chinese words and phrases. I will include the translation in hover-text when River does this.)
He would’ve liked it, she mused to herself as she toyed idly with the (his) plastic dinosaurs on the dashboard. Everything had been remade with love. She had watched Inara carefully paint Serenity’s face again, making her shine with new life. She had heard the new life in Zoe, and was excited to know that she would no longer be the youngest on board. (“I want her to call me dà jiě jie,” she’d said to Zoe, who’d been confused. She hadn’t even known about her own family, growing inside of her.) She had been pleased to know that Simon and Kaylee had finally found each other, pleased for him because her brother had finally figured out how girls work and pleased for her because she would be a real part of the family now.
She had wanted to keep his things on the dashboard. The rest of them agreed. They felt like it was a tribute to him. She decided it meant that he was still with them. People put themselves into their possessions. When his and Zoe’s baby was born, she would show the things to her. Then it would be like he was still here to be a father. He had always wanted to be one; she had heard him talk about it, time and time again, when the whole crew was together and when he thought he and Zoe were alone.
The ‘Verse had an ironic streak, to take him away just before he got his wish. She would’ve been upset at the unfairness of it all, but she’d already known how unfair life was.
Carefully, she placed the hula-dancer doll at the head of the dinosaurs, making sure it was secure. It was time for Mal to take the wheel.
(It wasn’t actually a wheel. That was an old anachronism, from the days of ships on water, on Earth-That-Was. They were steered via rudders, which were controlled via wheels. Which were controlled via humans, at the helm of the transport.)
It was time for Mal to take the controls. That was a more appropriate turn of phrase for Serenity. It was morning (another anachronism: in space, without the guidance of a star or a planetary orbit, traditional times of day had little meaning. It was the end of the crew’s sleep cycle) and that meant her shift was over. He wouldn’t want to be up, and he’d complain at her as he got ready, but a deal was a deal.
She found the hatch to his room unlocked and was climbing noisily down it when he cried out at her. He claimed not to be decent. She knew what men looked like. It didn’t seem like an issue, in her mind. But then her mind was never quite like the others’. So she climbed back up and waited at the top for him.
After a few moments he started.
“You know…little one…I’m not saying an early rise ain’t good for a man. But I’m thinking your impression of ‘early’ might be a little different than the rest of us. Pretty sure I just fell asleep a minute ago and now you’re sayin’ it’s time to get up…”
Above him, she smiled. He’d complain, but a deal was a deal.