PERMISSIONS POST
Jan. 31st, 2013 04:56 pmSo York is an infiltrations expert and she's adept in most manners of security, both digital and physical. Moreover, though, lockpicking and the like is just as much of a hobby as it is work, and she likes picking apart difficult security setups, seeing how it's put together, that kind of thing, and she likes to use her skills. (Keeps her in good practice, don't you know.) SO I've set up a permissions post to let me know if it's okay or not okay for York to do any of these things in a way that would directly affect your character. (And if you haven't responded, I will always ask you first.)
Is it okay for York to try to break into your character's apartment? If they have unusually high security, is it okay for her to succeed?
Is it okay for York to steal from your character's apartment? (Feel free to specify certain kinds of things she is or isn't allowed to take)
Is it okay for York to steal from your character's person? (Same goes for the above)
Is it okay for York to break encryptions on your character's network activity?
GENERAL REVERSE PERMISSIONS
backtagging: yes
threadjacking: ask first
fourthwalling: ask first (probably no)
offensive subjects: yes
hugging this character: yes
kissing this character: ask first
flirting with this character: yes
fighting with this character: yes
injuring this character (include limits and severity): ask first (but most likely ok)
using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: ask first (i'm pretty game for this stuff though)
Is it okay for York to try to break into your character's apartment? If they have unusually high security, is it okay for her to succeed?
Is it okay for York to steal from your character's apartment? (Feel free to specify certain kinds of things she is or isn't allowed to take)
Is it okay for York to steal from your character's person? (Same goes for the above)
Is it okay for York to break encryptions on your character's network activity?
GENERAL REVERSE PERMISSIONS
backtagging: yes
threadjacking: ask first
fourthwalling: ask first (probably no)
offensive subjects: yes
hugging this character: yes
kissing this character: ask first
flirting with this character: yes
fighting with this character: yes
injuring this character (include limits and severity): ask first (but most likely ok)
using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: ask first (i'm pretty game for this stuff though)
OUTSIDERS APP
Jan. 23rd, 2013 11:05 pm PLAYER INFO ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
runawayballista ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
runawayballista (preferred)
( app )
Name: Madi
OOC Journal:
runawayballista
Over 18? yes
Email/IM/Plurk:
AIM: runawayballista
Current characters: N/A
( app )GENERAL PERMISSIONS POST: AGENT YORK (AU)
Jun. 12th, 2012 09:51 pmbacktagging: yes
threadjacking: ask first
fourthwalling: ask first (probably no)
offensive subjects: yes
hugging this character: yes
kissing this character: ask first
flirting with this character: yes (although if anyone tries to pursue her seriously, she's not going to return the favor -- but feel free to try)
fighting with this character: yes
injuring this character (include limits and severity): ask first (but most likely ok)
killing this character: ask first
using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: ask first (i'm pretty game for this stuff though)
threadjacking: ask first
fourthwalling: ask first (probably no)
offensive subjects: yes
hugging this character: yes
kissing this character: ask first
flirting with this character: yes (although if anyone tries to pursue her seriously, she's not going to return the favor -- but feel free to try)
fighting with this character: yes
injuring this character (include limits and severity): ask first (but most likely ok)
killing this character: ask first
using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: ask first (i'm pretty game for this stuff though)
SINGULARITY APP: REVISIONS
May. 28th, 2012 10:22 amSetting: In the middle of the 26th century, human civilization has developed faster-than-light travel and spread out across space, having colonized several planets for human habitation. However, their civilization is being threatened by an alien race known as the Covenant, with whom they are currently at war. They are outmatched by the Covenant in almost every way -- the human race is no match for their advanced weaponry, and they have been on the losing side of the war for decades; as a result, the United Nations Space Command has been giving more and more leeway to various research programs, all trying to come up with the solution to win the war. Additionally, the UNSC is also focused on fighting off the Insurrectionists, a group of political rebels who are waging a civil war with the original Earth government and the UNSC in the name of a better government that would treat the outer colonies more fairly. This is the basis for the Halo series, which focuses on the Spartan program, originally developed to fight off the Insurrection.
Red vs Blue, however, is a machinima series set in the Halo universe, and although it utilizes many aspects of Halo canon, it mainly focuses on its own plot, namely, another one of these programs: Project Freelancer, headed by Dr. Leonard Church. Church has organized a small group of specially trained soldiers in order to test various enhanced armor equipment, and later, artificial intelligence programs implanted in the agents to help in combat; Freelancers are seen fighting a specific group of Insurrectionists in Season 9, but it isn’t touched on very clearly, and details are pending new canon, although CT is likely involved.
However, as the UNSC granted Church the use of only one “smart” AI -- an AI patterned after a human mind -- which was not sufficient for his experiences, he had to work creatively. As far as the agents are concerned, all of their AI were copied from Alpha, the AI that was created, based on Church’s mind, but such a thing is not actually possible. Church instead split Alpha -- he proceeded to torture the AI, putting him through vicious scenario simulations until Alpha began to fragment pieces of itself away to stay sane. As is noted by Wash in canon, it was like “reverse-engineering a multiple personality disorder”, and every fragment that broke away from Alpha was harvested by Church for use in the program. Many of these fragments were later implanted in agents; York received Delta, Alpha’s logic, and Wash received Epsilon, who contained all of Alpha’s memories. However, as a result of the trauma Alpha suffered, Epsilon was highly unstable and eventually self-terminated in Wash’s head, leaving all his memories behind.
Project Freelancer’s agents are all given codenames corresponding to US states, and they are ranked according to their performance in both training and missions. Although the agents are expected to cooperate on joint missions, the ranking system is publicly displayed, and it fosters competition as well as animosity between agents, and although a few Freelancers seem less concerned with their rank on the board, it can make for a hostile work environment, and some agents distinctly do not play well with others.
Another large piece of the Freelancer program is the simulation bases. There are a number of bases spread out across the war, populated by soldiers known as simulation troops. These soldiers aren’t fighting the Covenant; rather, they are sorted into Red and Blue armies, locked in stalemate conflicts against one another. These armies exist only for the purposes of training, of giving the Freelancers realistic combat situations in which to test their equipment and abilities, although they seem largely unaware of the fact that they aren’t even fighting a real war. Additionally, Blue outpost in Blood Gulch Canyon has served as a hiding place for the original Alpha, where the Director had him secretly moved after the fragment harvesting was complete.
Technology in the Halo/RvB universe is sufficiently advanced, with powerful armor, weapons, and extraordinary advances in computing technology. However, civilian culture seems to be pretty close to its 21st century counterpart, only with more technological advances. In fact, 21st century Earth culture in particular seems to have had a lasting effect on human civilization, as many references to its pop culture are preserved.
If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across? The major point of AU is that this York is (biologically and identifying) female; everyone else in her universe, however, is the same as their canon counterpart. She and Wash have been involved in a romantic relationship for several months prior to her entry to Sacrosanct. There’s also a deviation from canon during Project Freelancer’s active period; not too long after Epsilon’s self-termination, every agent has their AI removed and they are stored securely, so nothing involving the Meta or Epsilon after the end of Project Freelancer occurs. Additionally, CT’s implied betrayal of Project Freelancer is not addressed in this AU, but may fit in later as more canon information is provided. Since the project is quickly deteriorating after the removal of the AI, York decides to bail and breaks Wash out of holding, getting them both to safety on a nearby colony and under the radar. York is taken from after Delta has been removed from her, but before she was able to escape with Wash; as a result, none of post-Freelancer canon applies to her, particularly the events involving helping Tex track down Wyoming and Omega.
York as a woman is essentially the same as her canon counterpart -- she is still given to jokes and witty remarks, still fairly laid back and relaxed, and although she casually flirts with just about everyone, it’s mostly with men. Since by this point in the future gender equality is fairly widespread, the differences stemming from her being socialized as a girl growing up are pretty minimal; she’s still fundamentally the same character. There are some people who might treat and react to York differently as a woman than they would as a man, such as how men react differently to women flirting with them than women do with men, but it’s on a smaller scale than might be expected of gender roles today -- it doesn’t affect her rank or her ability to assume authority, and is not a major issue in her life. Although she’s not really any more or less bothered by her scar and her bad eye than canon York is, she’s still getting used to it, and she’s aware that some people might react to it differently than if it was on a man.
The other significant point of AU is that York has been involved in a romantic relationship with Wash for some months by the time of her entry into Sacrosanct. Although there is an emotional connection between them, strong enough for York to feel the desire to help Wash after Epsilon’s self-termination and his subsequent breakdown, their relationship has been carefully kept a secret up until this point and hasn’t been the sole focus of their lives; rather, it has been something that they maintained on the side where they could find time, while still doing missions and training in Freelancer. It started out as a casual sexual relationship with brief, intermittent hookups, getting together only when they could manage to do so without being detected, mainly just to relieve the tension and stress from the difficult nature of their jobs. However, after a short while, Wash wanted something more from her, which York initially rejected, because she thought that it’d be an unwise risk to take and an overall bad idea. Wash was not to be deterred, though, and after the incident in which York’s eye was damaged, he managed to convince her to at least give him a second chance, and she reluctantly agreed. Over time, though, that second chance developed into a closer relationship, and although they’ve developed an emotional connection, their relationship has been strained under the stress of their work and the efforts they’ve gone to to keep it a secret; they have rarely let themselves be seen together in any kind of non-professional capacity so as to keep their relationship from both their superiors and their fellow agents. Only adding to that stress was the introduction of the AI program, and although York had relatively few problems with Delta, much like in canon, Wash had considerable difficulties with Epsilon. Although in this AU, he used his relationship with York to try and better cope with Epsilon, in the end, the results were the same: Epsilon self-terminated while still in Wash’s head and Wash suffered a severe breakdown that led to his confinement.
Her relationships with other Freelancers are mostly the same as in canon; she’s pretty close to Carolina in this AU, in that they’re pretty solid partners on the field and have always got each other’s backs, and they can depend on each other. However, as Carolina began deteriorating after she received her AI, she became less dependable and more and more withdrawn, and it was pretty difficult for York to watch her partner go through that when there was little she could do to help. She’s also friendly with North, much the same as with the other agents, enough that when North worked out that she and Wash were in a relationship toward the end, he kept it to himself, although part of the reason was because at that point Wash was already having pretty severe problems with Epsilon, and since their relationship didn’t appear to be influencing their actions on the field but seemed to help Wash when they were off duty. As far as the other agents go, though, she mostly only has a working relationship with them, although she’s more or less friendly with all of them.
It was originally Delta’s idea that she break Wash out of confinement and flee Project Freelancer, citing his need for some kind of treatment to recover from the trauma inflicted by Epsilon and the fact that those in charge of Project Freelancer were likely less concerned with getting him help than they were with extracting data. York was also inclined to help Wash; even though their relationship had been under a lot of strain and was at times tenuous due to the nature of their work, she has grown to genuinely care about him, and the news of his breakdown was something of a blow to her, as was the realization that he was most likely not getting the help he needed. As of this canon point, she is planning on using her infiltration skills to break him out of confinement and flee, and find someone who can help him recover from the trauma induced by Epsilon. However, she has also taken the loss of Delta particularly hard; over time, he became her closest friend in the program, someone she could confide in and lean on even more than she could with Wash -- especially as both Wash and Carolina both began to deteriorate quickly -- and the fact that she was unable to find a way to prevent his removal is still sticking with her pretty hard. The thought of going out with Delta, her partner and closest friend, is a tough one to endure, and since it’s been less than a day since his removal at this point, she’s still trying to adjust to his absence.
Since she’s interacted with Epsilon a little more closely as a result of her relationship with Wash, she has particular reservations about Epsilon; she resents him on a more personal level for what he’s done to Wash, although at this point Wash has told her nothing about Epsilon’s origins or any of the memories he has, and she doesn’t really understand the relationship between Wash and Epsilon, as Wash was unwilling to explain it to her.
Here is an excerpt from the AU, right before the canon point she’s being taken from, which covers the reason why she no longer has Delta.
Red vs Blue, however, is a machinima series set in the Halo universe, and although it utilizes many aspects of Halo canon, it mainly focuses on its own plot, namely, another one of these programs: Project Freelancer, headed by Dr. Leonard Church. Church has organized a small group of specially trained soldiers in order to test various enhanced armor equipment, and later, artificial intelligence programs implanted in the agents to help in combat; Freelancers are seen fighting a specific group of Insurrectionists in Season 9, but it isn’t touched on very clearly, and details are pending new canon, although CT is likely involved.
However, as the UNSC granted Church the use of only one “smart” AI -- an AI patterned after a human mind -- which was not sufficient for his experiences, he had to work creatively. As far as the agents are concerned, all of their AI were copied from Alpha, the AI that was created, based on Church’s mind, but such a thing is not actually possible. Church instead split Alpha -- he proceeded to torture the AI, putting him through vicious scenario simulations until Alpha began to fragment pieces of itself away to stay sane. As is noted by Wash in canon, it was like “reverse-engineering a multiple personality disorder”, and every fragment that broke away from Alpha was harvested by Church for use in the program. Many of these fragments were later implanted in agents; York received Delta, Alpha’s logic, and Wash received Epsilon, who contained all of Alpha’s memories. However, as a result of the trauma Alpha suffered, Epsilon was highly unstable and eventually self-terminated in Wash’s head, leaving all his memories behind.
Project Freelancer’s agents are all given codenames corresponding to US states, and they are ranked according to their performance in both training and missions. Although the agents are expected to cooperate on joint missions, the ranking system is publicly displayed, and it fosters competition as well as animosity between agents, and although a few Freelancers seem less concerned with their rank on the board, it can make for a hostile work environment, and some agents distinctly do not play well with others.
Another large piece of the Freelancer program is the simulation bases. There are a number of bases spread out across the war, populated by soldiers known as simulation troops. These soldiers aren’t fighting the Covenant; rather, they are sorted into Red and Blue armies, locked in stalemate conflicts against one another. These armies exist only for the purposes of training, of giving the Freelancers realistic combat situations in which to test their equipment and abilities, although they seem largely unaware of the fact that they aren’t even fighting a real war. Additionally, Blue outpost in Blood Gulch Canyon has served as a hiding place for the original Alpha, where the Director had him secretly moved after the fragment harvesting was complete.
Technology in the Halo/RvB universe is sufficiently advanced, with powerful armor, weapons, and extraordinary advances in computing technology. However, civilian culture seems to be pretty close to its 21st century counterpart, only with more technological advances. In fact, 21st century Earth culture in particular seems to have had a lasting effect on human civilization, as many references to its pop culture are preserved.
If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across? The major point of AU is that this York is (biologically and identifying) female; everyone else in her universe, however, is the same as their canon counterpart. She and Wash have been involved in a romantic relationship for several months prior to her entry to Sacrosanct. There’s also a deviation from canon during Project Freelancer’s active period; not too long after Epsilon’s self-termination, every agent has their AI removed and they are stored securely, so nothing involving the Meta or Epsilon after the end of Project Freelancer occurs. Additionally, CT’s implied betrayal of Project Freelancer is not addressed in this AU, but may fit in later as more canon information is provided. Since the project is quickly deteriorating after the removal of the AI, York decides to bail and breaks Wash out of holding, getting them both to safety on a nearby colony and under the radar. York is taken from after Delta has been removed from her, but before she was able to escape with Wash; as a result, none of post-Freelancer canon applies to her, particularly the events involving helping Tex track down Wyoming and Omega.
York as a woman is essentially the same as her canon counterpart -- she is still given to jokes and witty remarks, still fairly laid back and relaxed, and although she casually flirts with just about everyone, it’s mostly with men. Since by this point in the future gender equality is fairly widespread, the differences stemming from her being socialized as a girl growing up are pretty minimal; she’s still fundamentally the same character. There are some people who might treat and react to York differently as a woman than they would as a man, such as how men react differently to women flirting with them than women do with men, but it’s on a smaller scale than might be expected of gender roles today -- it doesn’t affect her rank or her ability to assume authority, and is not a major issue in her life. Although she’s not really any more or less bothered by her scar and her bad eye than canon York is, she’s still getting used to it, and she’s aware that some people might react to it differently than if it was on a man.
The other significant point of AU is that York has been involved in a romantic relationship with Wash for some months by the time of her entry into Sacrosanct. Although there is an emotional connection between them, strong enough for York to feel the desire to help Wash after Epsilon’s self-termination and his subsequent breakdown, their relationship has been carefully kept a secret up until this point and hasn’t been the sole focus of their lives; rather, it has been something that they maintained on the side where they could find time, while still doing missions and training in Freelancer. It started out as a casual sexual relationship with brief, intermittent hookups, getting together only when they could manage to do so without being detected, mainly just to relieve the tension and stress from the difficult nature of their jobs. However, after a short while, Wash wanted something more from her, which York initially rejected, because she thought that it’d be an unwise risk to take and an overall bad idea. Wash was not to be deterred, though, and after the incident in which York’s eye was damaged, he managed to convince her to at least give him a second chance, and she reluctantly agreed. Over time, though, that second chance developed into a closer relationship, and although they’ve developed an emotional connection, their relationship has been strained under the stress of their work and the efforts they’ve gone to to keep it a secret; they have rarely let themselves be seen together in any kind of non-professional capacity so as to keep their relationship from both their superiors and their fellow agents. Only adding to that stress was the introduction of the AI program, and although York had relatively few problems with Delta, much like in canon, Wash had considerable difficulties with Epsilon. Although in this AU, he used his relationship with York to try and better cope with Epsilon, in the end, the results were the same: Epsilon self-terminated while still in Wash’s head and Wash suffered a severe breakdown that led to his confinement.
Her relationships with other Freelancers are mostly the same as in canon; she’s pretty close to Carolina in this AU, in that they’re pretty solid partners on the field and have always got each other’s backs, and they can depend on each other. However, as Carolina began deteriorating after she received her AI, she became less dependable and more and more withdrawn, and it was pretty difficult for York to watch her partner go through that when there was little she could do to help. She’s also friendly with North, much the same as with the other agents, enough that when North worked out that she and Wash were in a relationship toward the end, he kept it to himself, although part of the reason was because at that point Wash was already having pretty severe problems with Epsilon, and since their relationship didn’t appear to be influencing their actions on the field but seemed to help Wash when they were off duty. As far as the other agents go, though, she mostly only has a working relationship with them, although she’s more or less friendly with all of them.
It was originally Delta’s idea that she break Wash out of confinement and flee Project Freelancer, citing his need for some kind of treatment to recover from the trauma inflicted by Epsilon and the fact that those in charge of Project Freelancer were likely less concerned with getting him help than they were with extracting data. York was also inclined to help Wash; even though their relationship had been under a lot of strain and was at times tenuous due to the nature of their work, she has grown to genuinely care about him, and the news of his breakdown was something of a blow to her, as was the realization that he was most likely not getting the help he needed. As of this canon point, she is planning on using her infiltration skills to break him out of confinement and flee, and find someone who can help him recover from the trauma induced by Epsilon. However, she has also taken the loss of Delta particularly hard; over time, he became her closest friend in the program, someone she could confide in and lean on even more than she could with Wash -- especially as both Wash and Carolina both began to deteriorate quickly -- and the fact that she was unable to find a way to prevent his removal is still sticking with her pretty hard. The thought of going out with Delta, her partner and closest friend, is a tough one to endure, and since it’s been less than a day since his removal at this point, she’s still trying to adjust to his absence.
Since she’s interacted with Epsilon a little more closely as a result of her relationship with Wash, she has particular reservations about Epsilon; she resents him on a more personal level for what he’s done to Wash, although at this point Wash has told her nothing about Epsilon’s origins or any of the memories he has, and she doesn’t really understand the relationship between Wash and Epsilon, as Wash was unwilling to explain it to her.
Here is an excerpt from the AU, right before the canon point she’s being taken from, which covers the reason why she no longer has Delta.
SINGULARITY APP
May. 14th, 2012 02:28 pmPlayer Information
Your Nickname: oliver/madi
OOC Journal: runawayballista
Under 18? nope!
Email/IM: runawayballista@gmail.com
runawayballista
Characters Played at Singularity: Harry Lockhart
Character Information
Name: Agent York / Natalie van der Haast
Name of Canon: Red vs Blue
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: AU (genderbend)
Reference: http://rvb.wikia.com/wiki/York
Canon Point: Shortly after Epsilon’s self-termination and Wash’s subsequent imprisonment
Setting: In the middle of the 26th century, human civilization has developed faster-than-light travel and spread out across space, having colonized several planets for human habitation. However, their civilization is being threatened by an alien race known as the Covenant, with whom they are currently at war. They are outmatched by the Covenant in almost every way -- the human race is no match for their advanced weaponry, and they have been on the losing side of the war for decades; as a result, the United Nations Space Command has been giving more and more leeway to various research programs, all trying to come up with the solution to win the war. This is the basis for the Halo series, which focuses on the Spartan program.
Red vs Blue, however, is a machinima series set in the Halo universe, and focuses on another one of these programs: Project Freelancer, headed by Dr. Leonard Church. Church has organized a small group of specially trained soldiers in order to test various enhanced armor equipment, and later, artificial intelligence programs implanted in the agents to help in combat. However, as the UNSC granted Church the use of only one “smart” AI -- an AI patterned after a human mind -- which was not sufficient for his experiences, he had to work creatively. As far as the agents are concerned, all of their AI were copied from Alpha, the AI that was created, based on Church’s mind, but such a thing is not actually possible. Church instead split Alphta -- he proceeded to torture the AI, putting him through vicious scenario simulations until Alpha began to fragment pieces of itself away to stay sane. As is noted by Wash in canon, it was like “reverse-engineering a multiple personality disorder”, and every fragment that broke away from Alpha was harvested by Church for use in the program. Many of these fragments were later implanted in agents; York received Delta, Alpha’s logic, and Wash received Epsilon, who contained all of Alpha’s memories. However, as a result of the trauma Alpha suffered, Epsilon was highly unstable and eventually self-terminated in Wash’s head, leaving all his memories behind.
Project Freelancer’s agents are all given codenames corresponding to US states, and they are ranked according to their performance in both training and missions. Although the agents are expected to cooperate on joint missions, the ranking system is publicly displayed, and it fosters competition as well as animosity between agents, and although a few Freelancers seem less concerned with their rank on the board, it can make for a hostile work environment, and some agents distinctly do not play well with others.
Another large piece of the Freelancer program is the simulation bases. There are a number of bases spread out across the war, populated by soldiers known as simulation troops. These soldiers aren’t fighting the Covenant; rather, they are sorted into Red and Blue armies, locked in stalemate conflicts against one another. These armies exist only for the purposes of training, of giving the Freelancers realistic combat situations in which to test their equipment and abilities, although they seem largely unaware of the fact that they aren’t even fighting a real war. Additionally, Blue outpost in Blood Gulch Canyon has served as a hiding place for the original Alpha, where the Director had him secretly moved after the fragment harvesting was complete.
Technology in the Halo/RvB universe is sufficiently advanced, with powerful armor, weapons, and extraordinary advances in computing technology. However, civilian culture seems to be pretty close to its 21st century counterpart, only with more technological advances. In fact, 21st century Earth culture in particular seems to have had a lasting effect on human civilization, as many references to its pop culture are preserved.
Personality: York is overall pretty laid-back and easygoing for a highly trained special agent; she’s pretty friendly as far as Freelancers go, although she’s just as given to wisecracking and teasing, regardless of the target. Although it’s perfectly within her capacity to be serious, she jokes around a lot, especially to relieve tension in tight situations. She’s a bit of a flirt, too, although half the time it rarely means anything; it’s just her way of easing the tension and closing the distance between herself and the people around her. Her easygoingness extends to her sense of morality as well; York’s morals are fairly flexible, and she’s had no qualms doing most of the work she’s done for Project Freelancer. After all, she’s been breaking into places she doesn’t belong long before she joined Freelancer. However, her moral flexibility has its limits -- she starts having problems with her work when innocent bystanders start getting hurt or dragged into the conflict, particularly when those people have no way of defending themselves. She doesn’t have a problem committing so-called “victimless crimes,” or giving people what they’ve got coming to them, but she’s far from heartless, and she doesn’t believe in cruel or unusual punishment.
York is relaxed most of the time, and it shows in her posture and the way she talks. She also oozes an effortless self-confidence, and when it comes to her confidence in her own skills, her conviction is damn near unwavering (and maybe a little arrogant); she doesn’t think she can do it, she knows she can do it. Having been one of the top-ranked agents in Freelancer for most of her service, she’s pretty okay with being in charge, and although she’ll just as happily defer to someone she trusts, like Carolina, she doesn’t have any problem with taking the position of authority when it needs to happen. She’s pretty easygoing even when she’s in command; that said, though, it doesn’t tend to inspire a strong desire to follow in her fellow agents, and when they don’t listen, she gets exasperated and a little frustrated.
York’s pretty clever -- she’s a quick thinker, good on her feet, and she’s a top-ranked agent for a reason. This lends itself as much to her ability to work as it does to her tendency to be snarky and make cracks at everyone’s expense, including her own. It helps foster a sense of camaraderie in her fellow agents, though, and she’s usually the last person in an argument to resort to violence, although if she thinks a quick punch to the head will be the quickest way to solve a problem, she’s not above it. She’s more of a talker than anything, sometimes to a fault, and she always likes to get the last word in. As much of a fast talker as she is, though, she’s a terrible liar, especially under pressure. She’s a little less competitive than her fellow agents, although that has a lot to do with the fact that she’s already successful. Once that success is threatened, though, she does get a little competitive.
York enjoys what she does, though, almost to a fault -- if it weren’t her job, it’d be more of a hobby. She enjoys taking things apart and putting them back together, she likes puzzles and things that make her think, and she likes opening places up just to see what’s inside. She is occasionally curious to a fault, although she’s less inclined to pry into people’s personal lives than she is to break into their house and look at all their stuff.
Compared to most of her fellow agents, York’s the good guy of the group -- she’s genuinely nice, and she’s a people person, and she generally plays well with others. She’s not hard to get along with, though she has the capacity to be selfish about things or people that she cares about; the Freelancer life isn’t exactly an easy one, and she puts herself first most of the time.
Abilities and Weaknesses: York has fairly formidable skill in combat, both armed and unarmed, and although she’s handy with firearms, hand-to-hand combat is really her forté. Her real skill, though, lies in infiltration of all kinds; security of all kinds is there for her to bypass, and she’s not half bad at setting up complex locks and security herself. She’s also pretty good at wisecracking and smooth talking where it’s needed. Occasionally, though, her self-confidence gets ahead of her, and although she’s pretty level-headed and forward-thinking, there’s been more than one occasion where it’s gotten her into trouble.
Overall, though, she is a normal human being and perfectly killable (even if the armor helps protect her). She does, however, have an AI slot in the back of her neck, originally meant for Delta. Her only major weakness is her left eye, which has been seriously compromised as a result of a grenade blast that got a little too close to her face; the vision is pretty poor, blurry at best, and York is still adjusting to the blind spot she now has on her left side, as it’s only been a few months since her injury. She does have the use of a healing unit installed in her armor, but she can’t run it as efficiently without Delta.
Inventory: Armor, pistol, lockpicking/infiltration tools, dogtags, healing unit
Appearance: (PB: Cobie Smulders http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/cobie-smulders.jpg)
York stands about 5’10”, a few inches taller than that in full armor. She looks a good deal like male York (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/328/6/9/agent_york_by_montyoum-d4h7yzw.jpg) except for the fact that she’s a woman. She has a slightly smaller constitution, although she’s still very athletically built. She wears her hair longer, a few inches past chin-length, but otherwise she looks pretty much like her canon counterpart, bad eye and all. She has a small assortment of scars all over her body, new and old, although the most conspicuous one by far is the one around her eye.
Age: 33
OC/AU Justification
If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across? The major point of AU is that this York is (biologically and identifying) female; everyone else in her universe, however, is the same as their canon counterpart. She and Wash have been involved in a romantic relationship for several months prior to her entry to Sacrosanct. There’s also a deviation from canon during Project Freelancer’s active period; not too long after Epsilon’s self-termination, every agent has their AI removed and they are stored securely, so nothing involving the Meta or Epsilon after the end of Project Freelancer occurs. Additionally, CT’s implied betrayal of Project Freelancer is not addressed in this AU, but may fit in later as more canon information is provided. Since the project is quickly deteriorating after the removal of the AI, York decides to bail and breaks Wash out of holding, getting them both to safety on a nearby colony and under the radar. York is taken from after Delta has been removed from her, but before she was able to escape with Wash; as a result, none of post-Freelancer canon applies to her, particularly the events involving helping Tex track down Wyoming and Omega.
York’s not terribly different as a woman, and although she casually flirts with just about everyone, it’s mostly with men. The differences between her and canon York stem largely as a result of her being socialized as a girl and the fact that the people around her treat her a little more differently. She’s a little more sensitive about her bad eye and the way the scar looks, partly because she’s still getting used to it and partly because people react pretty differently to a major facial scar on a woman than they do when it’s on a man.
York’s relationship with Wash has affected her as well. The relationship started out fairly casual in nature, and York was content to keep it that way, given the nature of their job, but over time they developed a stronger emotional connection and sort of grudgingly (at least on York’s part) fell into a committed relationship, although she became more and more comfortable with it over time. They managed to keep their relationship discreet, and they’ve been fairly happy with each other, all things considered; their relationship has also helped them both cope with the additional stress of the introduction of the AI program, and although York had few problems with Delta, their relationship made it a little easier for Wash to cope with Epsilon up until his breakdown. Although York has always been pretty friendly and a team player, up until her relationship with Wash she was still sort of inclined to fly solo, like most of the Freelancers, especially as the nature of the program and its ranking system encouraged competition between agents. By now she and Wash are pretty close, tending to rely on each other for emotional support.
Since she’s interacted with Epsilon a little more closely as a result of her relationship with Wash, she has particular reservations about Epsilon; she resents him on a more personal level, although at this point Wash has told her nothing about Epsilon’s origins or the memories he has, despite how close they are.
Here is an excerpt from the AU, right before the canon point she’s being taken from, which covers the reason why she no longer has Delta.
Samples
Log Sample: York doesn’t remember falling so much as she remembers hitting the ground. Well, that and every obstacle on the way, it feels like, and thank God she’s got her armor because this already hurts like hell. She lands flat on her face in the middle of...well, what looks like a space junkyard on steroids, and she picks herself off the ground with a groan. She’s sore and a little beat up, but not too much worse for the wear, and she’ll be better once the healing unit kicks in. It doesn’t work as well as it used to, not without Delta, but it’ll do for now. Of course, nothing works quite the way it used to with Delta -- it’s been less than a day since he was removed, and she’s still keenly feeling his absence, that gaping hole in her consciousness she can’t quite fill up.
This doesn’t look like the training room, or anything on the Mother of Invention, unless the ship’s got a secret junk storage room no one told her about. She’s not sure how she got here -- she’s tired and a little worn down from lack of sleep and all the training, but she knows that it’s wrong and unfamiliar, and it’s not where she’s supposed to be. She’s supposed to be getting Wash and her to safety, getting ready to break him out with the plan she and Delta had worked out together, and she sure as hell can’t do that if she’s here.
She jumps a little when the three-tone chime sounds overhead, her head jerking up to its source. “Welcome to Sacrosanct,” comes a voice. “Please watch your step.”
York rolls her shoulders as the healing unit starts to kick in, pulling a face behind her helmet, and she scuffs at the ground with one armored foot. “Little late for that, thanks,” she mutters, and starts to make her way through the ocean of debris, one hand going to her pistol. It’s shaping up to be a long day.
Network Sample: [ The video feed shows York without her helmet, hair pinned back out of her face. The milky white of her bad eye is pretty stark against her otherwise normal features, and she’s half-grinning, but she looks a little baffled all the same. ]
So I guess fancy computer bracelets are the way of the future, huh? Too bad. I always liked those clunky VR headsets you’d see in cheesy old movies.
[ She clears her throat a little. ]
So I’m just gonna go out on a limb and assume we’re all stuck here. Am I right? I mean, not that I’m not holding out hope or anything, ‘cause I was kind of in the middle of something back home, but -- hey, when you’re screwed, you’re screwed, right?
[ Still, she pulls her face into a frown, raking a hand back through her hair. ]
And I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask, so -- are there any UNSC personnel around here? Anyone? I mean, hell, this place is enormous. Odds’ve gotta be good.
Anyway, the name’s York. Figure as long as we’re all stuck here together, might as well be neighborly. Not a bad place, as far as prisons go, though. Pretty fancy, actually. So who wants to be a good neighbor and point me in the direction of the good booze? Could kinda use a drink right now.
Your Nickname: oliver/madi
OOC Journal: runawayballista
Under 18? nope!
Email/IM: runawayballista@gmail.com
runawayballista
Characters Played at Singularity: Harry Lockhart
Character Information
Name: Agent York / Natalie van der Haast
Name of Canon: Red vs Blue
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: AU (genderbend)
Reference: http://rvb.wikia.com/wiki/York
Canon Point: Shortly after Epsilon’s self-termination and Wash’s subsequent imprisonment
Setting: In the middle of the 26th century, human civilization has developed faster-than-light travel and spread out across space, having colonized several planets for human habitation. However, their civilization is being threatened by an alien race known as the Covenant, with whom they are currently at war. They are outmatched by the Covenant in almost every way -- the human race is no match for their advanced weaponry, and they have been on the losing side of the war for decades; as a result, the United Nations Space Command has been giving more and more leeway to various research programs, all trying to come up with the solution to win the war. This is the basis for the Halo series, which focuses on the Spartan program.
Red vs Blue, however, is a machinima series set in the Halo universe, and focuses on another one of these programs: Project Freelancer, headed by Dr. Leonard Church. Church has organized a small group of specially trained soldiers in order to test various enhanced armor equipment, and later, artificial intelligence programs implanted in the agents to help in combat. However, as the UNSC granted Church the use of only one “smart” AI -- an AI patterned after a human mind -- which was not sufficient for his experiences, he had to work creatively. As far as the agents are concerned, all of their AI were copied from Alpha, the AI that was created, based on Church’s mind, but such a thing is not actually possible. Church instead split Alphta -- he proceeded to torture the AI, putting him through vicious scenario simulations until Alpha began to fragment pieces of itself away to stay sane. As is noted by Wash in canon, it was like “reverse-engineering a multiple personality disorder”, and every fragment that broke away from Alpha was harvested by Church for use in the program. Many of these fragments were later implanted in agents; York received Delta, Alpha’s logic, and Wash received Epsilon, who contained all of Alpha’s memories. However, as a result of the trauma Alpha suffered, Epsilon was highly unstable and eventually self-terminated in Wash’s head, leaving all his memories behind.
Project Freelancer’s agents are all given codenames corresponding to US states, and they are ranked according to their performance in both training and missions. Although the agents are expected to cooperate on joint missions, the ranking system is publicly displayed, and it fosters competition as well as animosity between agents, and although a few Freelancers seem less concerned with their rank on the board, it can make for a hostile work environment, and some agents distinctly do not play well with others.
Another large piece of the Freelancer program is the simulation bases. There are a number of bases spread out across the war, populated by soldiers known as simulation troops. These soldiers aren’t fighting the Covenant; rather, they are sorted into Red and Blue armies, locked in stalemate conflicts against one another. These armies exist only for the purposes of training, of giving the Freelancers realistic combat situations in which to test their equipment and abilities, although they seem largely unaware of the fact that they aren’t even fighting a real war. Additionally, Blue outpost in Blood Gulch Canyon has served as a hiding place for the original Alpha, where the Director had him secretly moved after the fragment harvesting was complete.
Technology in the Halo/RvB universe is sufficiently advanced, with powerful armor, weapons, and extraordinary advances in computing technology. However, civilian culture seems to be pretty close to its 21st century counterpart, only with more technological advances. In fact, 21st century Earth culture in particular seems to have had a lasting effect on human civilization, as many references to its pop culture are preserved.
Personality: York is overall pretty laid-back and easygoing for a highly trained special agent; she’s pretty friendly as far as Freelancers go, although she’s just as given to wisecracking and teasing, regardless of the target. Although it’s perfectly within her capacity to be serious, she jokes around a lot, especially to relieve tension in tight situations. She’s a bit of a flirt, too, although half the time it rarely means anything; it’s just her way of easing the tension and closing the distance between herself and the people around her. Her easygoingness extends to her sense of morality as well; York’s morals are fairly flexible, and she’s had no qualms doing most of the work she’s done for Project Freelancer. After all, she’s been breaking into places she doesn’t belong long before she joined Freelancer. However, her moral flexibility has its limits -- she starts having problems with her work when innocent bystanders start getting hurt or dragged into the conflict, particularly when those people have no way of defending themselves. She doesn’t have a problem committing so-called “victimless crimes,” or giving people what they’ve got coming to them, but she’s far from heartless, and she doesn’t believe in cruel or unusual punishment.
York is relaxed most of the time, and it shows in her posture and the way she talks. She also oozes an effortless self-confidence, and when it comes to her confidence in her own skills, her conviction is damn near unwavering (and maybe a little arrogant); she doesn’t think she can do it, she knows she can do it. Having been one of the top-ranked agents in Freelancer for most of her service, she’s pretty okay with being in charge, and although she’ll just as happily defer to someone she trusts, like Carolina, she doesn’t have any problem with taking the position of authority when it needs to happen. She’s pretty easygoing even when she’s in command; that said, though, it doesn’t tend to inspire a strong desire to follow in her fellow agents, and when they don’t listen, she gets exasperated and a little frustrated.
York’s pretty clever -- she’s a quick thinker, good on her feet, and she’s a top-ranked agent for a reason. This lends itself as much to her ability to work as it does to her tendency to be snarky and make cracks at everyone’s expense, including her own. It helps foster a sense of camaraderie in her fellow agents, though, and she’s usually the last person in an argument to resort to violence, although if she thinks a quick punch to the head will be the quickest way to solve a problem, she’s not above it. She’s more of a talker than anything, sometimes to a fault, and she always likes to get the last word in. As much of a fast talker as she is, though, she’s a terrible liar, especially under pressure. She’s a little less competitive than her fellow agents, although that has a lot to do with the fact that she’s already successful. Once that success is threatened, though, she does get a little competitive.
York enjoys what she does, though, almost to a fault -- if it weren’t her job, it’d be more of a hobby. She enjoys taking things apart and putting them back together, she likes puzzles and things that make her think, and she likes opening places up just to see what’s inside. She is occasionally curious to a fault, although she’s less inclined to pry into people’s personal lives than she is to break into their house and look at all their stuff.
Compared to most of her fellow agents, York’s the good guy of the group -- she’s genuinely nice, and she’s a people person, and she generally plays well with others. She’s not hard to get along with, though she has the capacity to be selfish about things or people that she cares about; the Freelancer life isn’t exactly an easy one, and she puts herself first most of the time.
Abilities and Weaknesses: York has fairly formidable skill in combat, both armed and unarmed, and although she’s handy with firearms, hand-to-hand combat is really her forté. Her real skill, though, lies in infiltration of all kinds; security of all kinds is there for her to bypass, and she’s not half bad at setting up complex locks and security herself. She’s also pretty good at wisecracking and smooth talking where it’s needed. Occasionally, though, her self-confidence gets ahead of her, and although she’s pretty level-headed and forward-thinking, there’s been more than one occasion where it’s gotten her into trouble.
Overall, though, she is a normal human being and perfectly killable (even if the armor helps protect her). She does, however, have an AI slot in the back of her neck, originally meant for Delta. Her only major weakness is her left eye, which has been seriously compromised as a result of a grenade blast that got a little too close to her face; the vision is pretty poor, blurry at best, and York is still adjusting to the blind spot she now has on her left side, as it’s only been a few months since her injury. She does have the use of a healing unit installed in her armor, but she can’t run it as efficiently without Delta.
Inventory: Armor, pistol, lockpicking/infiltration tools, dogtags, healing unit
Appearance: (PB: Cobie Smulders http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/cobie-smulders.jpg)
York stands about 5’10”, a few inches taller than that in full armor. She looks a good deal like male York (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/328/6/9/agent_york_by_montyoum-d4h7yzw.jpg) except for the fact that she’s a woman. She has a slightly smaller constitution, although she’s still very athletically built. She wears her hair longer, a few inches past chin-length, but otherwise she looks pretty much like her canon counterpart, bad eye and all. She has a small assortment of scars all over her body, new and old, although the most conspicuous one by far is the one around her eye.
Age: 33
OC/AU Justification
If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across? The major point of AU is that this York is (biologically and identifying) female; everyone else in her universe, however, is the same as their canon counterpart. She and Wash have been involved in a romantic relationship for several months prior to her entry to Sacrosanct. There’s also a deviation from canon during Project Freelancer’s active period; not too long after Epsilon’s self-termination, every agent has their AI removed and they are stored securely, so nothing involving the Meta or Epsilon after the end of Project Freelancer occurs. Additionally, CT’s implied betrayal of Project Freelancer is not addressed in this AU, but may fit in later as more canon information is provided. Since the project is quickly deteriorating after the removal of the AI, York decides to bail and breaks Wash out of holding, getting them both to safety on a nearby colony and under the radar. York is taken from after Delta has been removed from her, but before she was able to escape with Wash; as a result, none of post-Freelancer canon applies to her, particularly the events involving helping Tex track down Wyoming and Omega.
York’s not terribly different as a woman, and although she casually flirts with just about everyone, it’s mostly with men. The differences between her and canon York stem largely as a result of her being socialized as a girl and the fact that the people around her treat her a little more differently. She’s a little more sensitive about her bad eye and the way the scar looks, partly because she’s still getting used to it and partly because people react pretty differently to a major facial scar on a woman than they do when it’s on a man.
York’s relationship with Wash has affected her as well. The relationship started out fairly casual in nature, and York was content to keep it that way, given the nature of their job, but over time they developed a stronger emotional connection and sort of grudgingly (at least on York’s part) fell into a committed relationship, although she became more and more comfortable with it over time. They managed to keep their relationship discreet, and they’ve been fairly happy with each other, all things considered; their relationship has also helped them both cope with the additional stress of the introduction of the AI program, and although York had few problems with Delta, their relationship made it a little easier for Wash to cope with Epsilon up until his breakdown. Although York has always been pretty friendly and a team player, up until her relationship with Wash she was still sort of inclined to fly solo, like most of the Freelancers, especially as the nature of the program and its ranking system encouraged competition between agents. By now she and Wash are pretty close, tending to rely on each other for emotional support.
Since she’s interacted with Epsilon a little more closely as a result of her relationship with Wash, she has particular reservations about Epsilon; she resents him on a more personal level, although at this point Wash has told her nothing about Epsilon’s origins or the memories he has, despite how close they are.
Here is an excerpt from the AU, right before the canon point she’s being taken from, which covers the reason why she no longer has Delta.
Samples
Log Sample: York doesn’t remember falling so much as she remembers hitting the ground. Well, that and every obstacle on the way, it feels like, and thank God she’s got her armor because this already hurts like hell. She lands flat on her face in the middle of...well, what looks like a space junkyard on steroids, and she picks herself off the ground with a groan. She’s sore and a little beat up, but not too much worse for the wear, and she’ll be better once the healing unit kicks in. It doesn’t work as well as it used to, not without Delta, but it’ll do for now. Of course, nothing works quite the way it used to with Delta -- it’s been less than a day since he was removed, and she’s still keenly feeling his absence, that gaping hole in her consciousness she can’t quite fill up.
This doesn’t look like the training room, or anything on the Mother of Invention, unless the ship’s got a secret junk storage room no one told her about. She’s not sure how she got here -- she’s tired and a little worn down from lack of sleep and all the training, but she knows that it’s wrong and unfamiliar, and it’s not where she’s supposed to be. She’s supposed to be getting Wash and her to safety, getting ready to break him out with the plan she and Delta had worked out together, and she sure as hell can’t do that if she’s here.
She jumps a little when the three-tone chime sounds overhead, her head jerking up to its source. “Welcome to Sacrosanct,” comes a voice. “Please watch your step.”
York rolls her shoulders as the healing unit starts to kick in, pulling a face behind her helmet, and she scuffs at the ground with one armored foot. “Little late for that, thanks,” she mutters, and starts to make her way through the ocean of debris, one hand going to her pistol. It’s shaping up to be a long day.
Network Sample: [ The video feed shows York without her helmet, hair pinned back out of her face. The milky white of her bad eye is pretty stark against her otherwise normal features, and she’s half-grinning, but she looks a little baffled all the same. ]
So I guess fancy computer bracelets are the way of the future, huh? Too bad. I always liked those clunky VR headsets you’d see in cheesy old movies.
[ She clears her throat a little. ]
So I’m just gonna go out on a limb and assume we’re all stuck here. Am I right? I mean, not that I’m not holding out hope or anything, ‘cause I was kind of in the middle of something back home, but -- hey, when you’re screwed, you’re screwed, right?
[ Still, she pulls her face into a frown, raking a hand back through her hair. ]
And I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask, so -- are there any UNSC personnel around here? Anyone? I mean, hell, this place is enormous. Odds’ve gotta be good.
Anyway, the name’s York. Figure as long as we’re all stuck here together, might as well be neighborly. Not a bad place, as far as prisons go, though. Pretty fancy, actually. So who wants to be a good neighbor and point me in the direction of the good booze? Could kinda use a drink right now.
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