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notwalking) wrote2024-12-11 02:08 pm
notwalking) wrote2024-12-11 02:08 pm
LABYRINTHUM APP
OOC INFORMATION
Player Name: Caitlin
Pronoun Preferences: She/they
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
mackleberry / paragonish on Discord
Are you over the age of 18?: Yes
Invitation Link: Current player
Current Characters: Takuto Maruki (Persona 5 Royal)
Link to Permissions: Here!
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Charlie Dalton
Species: Human
Canon: Dead Poets Society
Canon Point: Immediately post-expulsion from Welton at the end of the film.
Character Age: 17
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Just A Guy!
Powers and Abilities: Absolutely none, he's a normal teenage boy from a world without any sorts of abilities.
What Did Your Character Wish For? For Neil Perry to be alive again.
What Potion Did They Receive? Blue
Did They Drink It? Yep!
If Yes, What Element/Animal? N/A
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
Charlie is undoubtedly most bonded to the protagonist of Dead Poets Society, Neil Perry. The movie establishes up front that the core group of boys have attended Welton together and been friends for some time, but Charlie and Neil have the closest relationship among them. Charlie could be considered the right hand man to Neil's leader – he's the first to agree with Neil's plan to reestablish the Society, and they are the two who throw themselves headfirst into what it means to be a Dead Poet.
When Neil achieves his dream of getting the lead role in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Charlie is the first one he runs to; when the Dead Poets attend opening night, Charlie can't contain himself from standing up from his seat in excitement when Neil first takes the stage. As Neil is led away by his father after the play, Charlie chases after him, tries to reason with his father to let Neil go – and later that night, Charlie is presumably the first one to find out about Neil's suicide, as he is the one who breaks the news to his roommate, Todd. Neil's death and the subsequent blame being placed on the teacher who inspired them to live deliberately, Mr. Keating, is what incites Charlie to punch Cameron and get himself expelled from Welton. At the end of the film, when the boys rally behind Mr. Keating one last time, it is profoundly marked by the physical absence of Neil and Charlie. Really, Charlie's bond with Neil is what drives nearly all of his actions in the film, for better and for worse.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Charlie's greatest fear is living out the perfectly successful, comfortable life that has been laid out for him by his father. His family is wealthy and well-to-do, a preparatory school as prestigious as Welton has him set on course for the Ivy League, and he mentions that his father wants him to go into finance and be a banker. While Charlie never voices his dissatisfaction with this as loudly as Neil does, he's clearly not enamored with the idea and wants more out of his life. For whatever it's worth, the closest thing we have to word of god on what Charlie's post-canon life would be comes from his actor saying that after the film, he steals his father's Jaguar and moves to New York to start his life over again, so there's that! I think that following his father's blueprint and living that sort of conventionally normal life would kill him faster than anything.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Charlie is quick to anger, and just as quick to act on that anger. More specifics about this will be covered in the fight/flight question, but his emotional weakness is absolutely his short fuse. While it's not necessarily easy to get under his skin, once something does, he has to bite and claw at it until he either destroys it or himself – or both! When he's acting on his anger, he has no foresight for the consequences of his actions, nor any real concern for what will happen to him.
His greatest mental weakness stems from the canon point he's taken from: He's mired in the sudden, all-consuming grief of his closest friend's suicide. It shatters any sense of stability that he had and clouds his judgment even further. Even if he is reunited with Neil, that's a formative traumatic experience for a young adult and he isn't going to be okay for quite some time.
Physically, Charlie is teenage boy from a normal world without powers of any kind. He's athletic, can throw a good punch and is shown in the film withstanding pretty intense corporal punishment without breaking down, but at the end of the day he's just an average human. Compared to those with enhanced physical or magical powers in-game, he's weak and squishy.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Charlie is for the most part a what you see is what you get sort of guy. He puts on much less of a front than his classmates do – he's less concerned with his academic and extracurricular success, far less deferential toward authority figures, and actively rebels against the school where the rest of them do not. He doesn't bother putting up the front of being a dutiful son and scholar bound for professional success.
However, Charlie does present himself to the other boys as being cool and cocksure, so confident that he's nearly aloof. While this isn't untrue, it does belie his sensitivity that hides beneath. It's unlikely anything at Welton could have broken him as much as Neil's death did, so I have to imagine that when Charlie is openly crying, comforting and grieving toward the end of the film, it's the first time his friends have seen him like that. It's not a side of himself that he would ever show unless under duress (and we can also blame 1950s masculinity standards for that!) so I believe that the greatest discrepancy between Charlie's inner and outer self is the true depth of his emotions beneath that cool exterior.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
Charlie's wish may be for Neil to be alive again, but that's a product of the extreme weight of grief he's under at his canon point. What would truly make him happiest would be freedom from the expectations of an upper class 1950s life. He doesn't want an Ivy League college, a stable career, a mansion and a wife and kids. He wants to be able to live fully, freely and deliberately – to follow his whims and passions, wherever they take him.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
Charlie has a high opinion of himself, and he needs someone who he places on that same level. Someone meek and self-effacing who gives in to what others want is not someone he could ever happily be with – his ideal partner would be someone who is just as determined to follow their own path in life as he is. He needs someone daring, courageous, exciting. Someone who doesn't roll their eyes at his wild ideas and who has just as many of their own. Someone who can challenge him when he's acting too selfishly, who can get him to see past his knee jerk reactions and take in the bigger picture.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
In all likelihood, no. There's one instance in the movie where one could argue Charlie sacrifices himself: After printing an school paper article in the name of the Dead Poets Society demanding that girls be admitted to Welton, he takes responsibility for it in front of the whole school (albeit by doing another reckless act of rebellion) and is severely punished for it. Even while being beaten, he refuses to give up the names of the members of the Society. He takes all the punishment on himself to ensure their safety – and rightfully so, considering it was his fault they came under scrutiny to begin with.
Barring circumstances like that though – the sacrifice being something he should take responsibility for, or the people he's saving being those who are closest to him – Charlie is not a particularly self-sacrificing person. Unless it's to save someone he truly, deeply loves, he'll save his own skin first every time. It isn't even necessarily out of selfishness; if the chips were down, I believe he would find more importance in sticking around and fighting to save someone than laying down his life or livelihood for them.
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
While there's a case to be made for Charlie telling his younger self to somehow prevent Neil's death, I believe that with a little more perspective, Charlie would rather tell his older self to remember what it meant to be a Dead Poet. To not give in to the pressure placed on him by his family and school to conform and keep his head down, to follow his dreams even if it means getting in trouble or getting hurt, to continue sucking all the marrow out of life. Knowing that his future self leads an ordinary life would devastate him, so he would do his level best to impress this upon him.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Without question, fight. Charlie's default when presented with adversity is always to choose action. This is true whether or not the circumstances are dire, honestly – whether he's taking initiative to confront something himself or he's backed into a corner, he would never back down. To flee, fawn or freeze simply isn't in his nature, and in many cases he'd even consider those options worse than fighting and losing. He has a fire in him that burns too hot at times, and he has no problem taking the fall if it means taking someone else who deserves it down with him.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
There's no indication in the film that Charlie has suffered much in his life. Neil's suicide is undoubtedly the worst trauma he's experienced. It's a wish made in a moment of pure, outraged grief – after all, in the immediate aftermath of a friend's death, who wouldn't wish for them to reappear again, alive and whole and happy? There's nothing on Charlie's mind but Neil in the moments when he punches Cameron and seals his expulsion from Welton; there's nothing else to wish for.
Samples:
Log sample
Network sample
Player Name: Caitlin
Pronoun Preferences: She/they
Contact:
Are you over the age of 18?: Yes
Invitation Link: Current player
Current Characters: Takuto Maruki (Persona 5 Royal)
Link to Permissions: Here!
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Charlie Dalton
Species: Human
Canon: Dead Poets Society
Canon Point: Immediately post-expulsion from Welton at the end of the film.
Character Age: 17
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Just A Guy!
Powers and Abilities: Absolutely none, he's a normal teenage boy from a world without any sorts of abilities.
What Did Your Character Wish For? For Neil Perry to be alive again.
What Potion Did They Receive? Blue
Did They Drink It? Yep!
If Yes, What Element/Animal? N/A
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
Charlie is undoubtedly most bonded to the protagonist of Dead Poets Society, Neil Perry. The movie establishes up front that the core group of boys have attended Welton together and been friends for some time, but Charlie and Neil have the closest relationship among them. Charlie could be considered the right hand man to Neil's leader – he's the first to agree with Neil's plan to reestablish the Society, and they are the two who throw themselves headfirst into what it means to be a Dead Poet.
When Neil achieves his dream of getting the lead role in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Charlie is the first one he runs to; when the Dead Poets attend opening night, Charlie can't contain himself from standing up from his seat in excitement when Neil first takes the stage. As Neil is led away by his father after the play, Charlie chases after him, tries to reason with his father to let Neil go – and later that night, Charlie is presumably the first one to find out about Neil's suicide, as he is the one who breaks the news to his roommate, Todd. Neil's death and the subsequent blame being placed on the teacher who inspired them to live deliberately, Mr. Keating, is what incites Charlie to punch Cameron and get himself expelled from Welton. At the end of the film, when the boys rally behind Mr. Keating one last time, it is profoundly marked by the physical absence of Neil and Charlie. Really, Charlie's bond with Neil is what drives nearly all of his actions in the film, for better and for worse.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Charlie's greatest fear is living out the perfectly successful, comfortable life that has been laid out for him by his father. His family is wealthy and well-to-do, a preparatory school as prestigious as Welton has him set on course for the Ivy League, and he mentions that his father wants him to go into finance and be a banker. While Charlie never voices his dissatisfaction with this as loudly as Neil does, he's clearly not enamored with the idea and wants more out of his life. For whatever it's worth, the closest thing we have to word of god on what Charlie's post-canon life would be comes from his actor saying that after the film, he steals his father's Jaguar and moves to New York to start his life over again, so there's that! I think that following his father's blueprint and living that sort of conventionally normal life would kill him faster than anything.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Charlie is quick to anger, and just as quick to act on that anger. More specifics about this will be covered in the fight/flight question, but his emotional weakness is absolutely his short fuse. While it's not necessarily easy to get under his skin, once something does, he has to bite and claw at it until he either destroys it or himself – or both! When he's acting on his anger, he has no foresight for the consequences of his actions, nor any real concern for what will happen to him.
His greatest mental weakness stems from the canon point he's taken from: He's mired in the sudden, all-consuming grief of his closest friend's suicide. It shatters any sense of stability that he had and clouds his judgment even further. Even if he is reunited with Neil, that's a formative traumatic experience for a young adult and he isn't going to be okay for quite some time.
Physically, Charlie is teenage boy from a normal world without powers of any kind. He's athletic, can throw a good punch and is shown in the film withstanding pretty intense corporal punishment without breaking down, but at the end of the day he's just an average human. Compared to those with enhanced physical or magical powers in-game, he's weak and squishy.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Charlie is for the most part a what you see is what you get sort of guy. He puts on much less of a front than his classmates do – he's less concerned with his academic and extracurricular success, far less deferential toward authority figures, and actively rebels against the school where the rest of them do not. He doesn't bother putting up the front of being a dutiful son and scholar bound for professional success.
However, Charlie does present himself to the other boys as being cool and cocksure, so confident that he's nearly aloof. While this isn't untrue, it does belie his sensitivity that hides beneath. It's unlikely anything at Welton could have broken him as much as Neil's death did, so I have to imagine that when Charlie is openly crying, comforting and grieving toward the end of the film, it's the first time his friends have seen him like that. It's not a side of himself that he would ever show unless under duress (and we can also blame 1950s masculinity standards for that!) so I believe that the greatest discrepancy between Charlie's inner and outer self is the true depth of his emotions beneath that cool exterior.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
Charlie's wish may be for Neil to be alive again, but that's a product of the extreme weight of grief he's under at his canon point. What would truly make him happiest would be freedom from the expectations of an upper class 1950s life. He doesn't want an Ivy League college, a stable career, a mansion and a wife and kids. He wants to be able to live fully, freely and deliberately – to follow his whims and passions, wherever they take him.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
Charlie has a high opinion of himself, and he needs someone who he places on that same level. Someone meek and self-effacing who gives in to what others want is not someone he could ever happily be with – his ideal partner would be someone who is just as determined to follow their own path in life as he is. He needs someone daring, courageous, exciting. Someone who doesn't roll their eyes at his wild ideas and who has just as many of their own. Someone who can challenge him when he's acting too selfishly, who can get him to see past his knee jerk reactions and take in the bigger picture.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
In all likelihood, no. There's one instance in the movie where one could argue Charlie sacrifices himself: After printing an school paper article in the name of the Dead Poets Society demanding that girls be admitted to Welton, he takes responsibility for it in front of the whole school (albeit by doing another reckless act of rebellion) and is severely punished for it. Even while being beaten, he refuses to give up the names of the members of the Society. He takes all the punishment on himself to ensure their safety – and rightfully so, considering it was his fault they came under scrutiny to begin with.
Barring circumstances like that though – the sacrifice being something he should take responsibility for, or the people he's saving being those who are closest to him – Charlie is not a particularly self-sacrificing person. Unless it's to save someone he truly, deeply loves, he'll save his own skin first every time. It isn't even necessarily out of selfishness; if the chips were down, I believe he would find more importance in sticking around and fighting to save someone than laying down his life or livelihood for them.
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
While there's a case to be made for Charlie telling his younger self to somehow prevent Neil's death, I believe that with a little more perspective, Charlie would rather tell his older self to remember what it meant to be a Dead Poet. To not give in to the pressure placed on him by his family and school to conform and keep his head down, to follow his dreams even if it means getting in trouble or getting hurt, to continue sucking all the marrow out of life. Knowing that his future self leads an ordinary life would devastate him, so he would do his level best to impress this upon him.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Without question, fight. Charlie's default when presented with adversity is always to choose action. This is true whether or not the circumstances are dire, honestly – whether he's taking initiative to confront something himself or he's backed into a corner, he would never back down. To flee, fawn or freeze simply isn't in his nature, and in many cases he'd even consider those options worse than fighting and losing. He has a fire in him that burns too hot at times, and he has no problem taking the fall if it means taking someone else who deserves it down with him.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
There's no indication in the film that Charlie has suffered much in his life. Neil's suicide is undoubtedly the worst trauma he's experienced. It's a wish made in a moment of pure, outraged grief – after all, in the immediate aftermath of a friend's death, who wouldn't wish for them to reappear again, alive and whole and happy? There's nothing on Charlie's mind but Neil in the moments when he punches Cameron and seals his expulsion from Welton; there's nothing else to wish for.
Samples:
Log sample
Network sample