Anne Lister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackthelass) wrote2020-06-22 10:10 pm
jackthelass) wrote2020-06-22 10:10 pm
Aren't we lucky to be alive? To have life?
User Name/Nick: Lieke
User DW: n/A ; poliorketes @plurk
E-mail: n/A; poliorketes @ plurk
Other Characters: Arthur Morgan
Character Name: Anne Lister
Series: Gentleman Jack
Age: 42
From When?: Episode 8, during the storm at sea on her way back to England. It’s only one of two moments in the series when she’d be desperate enough – having lost the woman she loves, having run into desperate trouble financially, and now on the brink of being gone when her surrogate mother might pass away.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. She knows right from wrong, and expects people around her to do what's right, while recognizing that a lot of people won’t. She can suss out a bullshit story and run rings around it, instinctive about people putting up fronts and confident in her own ability to do something about it. She has a lot of privilege in her own day, being a reasonably wealthy landowner in 1831 England, but she got there through relentlessly proving to everyone around her that she deserves to be seen and heard. Because of that, she knows what it feels like to be seen as less than. First as a woman, and now as a woman who openly defies the role society saw for her. She’s also very proud of who she is, despite 99% of the people around her telling her she shouldn’t be. Why not, when God has made her who she is? Shouldn’t she celebrate everything there is to celebrate?
She’s had that personal struggle and has fully processed it by this time. She could help an inmate with low self-esteem or a distorted self-image. She has a stubborn streak a mile wide, and will stay with someone even if they keep giving up, or if they keep pushing her away. She sticks up for herself, but the moment someone is in her inner circle she will fight like hell to defend them. For those inmates who have a tendency to manipulate, her emotional intelligence will help her to not get drawn in by a sob story meant to deflect. She wouldn’t let an inmate get away with ‘the easy way out’, when hard work needs to be done. She could help an inmate who’s grown angry or harmful because they were marginalized, and focus on positive empowerment. She has practically endless energy and would 100% hound that inmate, keep them from isolating or alienating others and try to find the positive side of their situation – and if she can’t do that, she’ll be absolutely sure they can find some other solution.
Item: Her pocket watch.
Abilities/Powers: A Positive Lesbian Attitude, Ability To Walk Anywhere In 25 Minutes.
Personality: Anne is relentlessly positive, though it can come at a price. She’s energetic, infectious, a real go-getter, hardy, stubborn – all the kinds of things a woman of her time isn’t supposed to be. She’s known she was different from other women since childhood, and has embraced it, knowing she couldn’t change it. She’s been lucky to inherit an estate that lets her travel and pursue her interests, which are: science, medicine, geology, and women. She loves learning new things and getting her hands dirty, and is just a little obsessive about her record-keeping and reading. It helps her keep things straight. She's been very successful this way, for a woman of her time, and always has several business or other projects going on at the same time. She's very personable, well-read, knows how to be around just about everyone. She isn't sweet, but she's very charming.
In her private life she's been rather less successful, though not for lack of trying. Though certainly not a hopeless romantic, she’s always wanted to be with a woman who felt the same way she did: never to marry a man for appearance’s sake, able to be together, even unofficially marry, and to be true to herself. She believes that she was made the way she is, and that to live unauthentically would be an offense to God. That’s why she’s always pushed through the negativity to live the way she does. In her youth she was rebellious, rambunctious, a little angry; now that she's in her forties she's managed to channel that energy into work, into learning, and into just living. Inheriting an estate further enabled her to travel, but more importantly: be herself, pushing at the confines of society.
She’s a genuinely strong person, bouncing back time and again from disappointment and heartbreak, but because of that she also finds it very important to keep up that front at all times. She doesn’t crack easily, hates admitting that she might not be okay. If people inquire, she’ll simply tell them I’m always okay, because she has to be. The only place she’s completely honest is her journal. She really enjoys when people are open with her, when she gets them to be open with her, but if it’s her having to do the opening it’s a lot harder. This means that any friendship she makes is very worthwhile to her, and she’s tireless in keeping in touch with those people. To be fair, in the 1830s that mostly involves a lot of letter-writing. But it also involves giving people around her endless chances. She’ll be really angry, and ready to fully sever the relationship – but one letter pleading for her help and she’ll cave and be running right back. She’s had her heart broken countless times, and every time keeps asking: will you come with me now? Will you love me as I wish to be loved now? When would you? It’s endlessly frustrating to her and drives her to desperation, but she also can’t stop herself. It’s a result of her optimism and strength, even though she can’t help but see it as a weakness sometimes.
She’s used to confusing people by being strange and unusual, and uses it to her advantage. She’s whip-smart, and knows just when to pull out the big calculations to confuse a stupid man, or when to call an arrogant man on being patronizing - or when to look at a woman with a smile and a compliment, and have her wrapped around her little finger. She’s weaponized the perceived femininity that has trapped her, though she hates having to do it in any other way than the way she’s set out for herself. That is to say: if she can trip a man up and get a better deal, she's fine with it. But she won't be charming or pretend to be sillier than she is, just to live up to expectations and maybe be treated with mercy. In fact, she relishes when men finally do treat her as an equal, even if that means being beaten and cheated. She’s stubborn about a lot – if she decides she wants things done a certain way, she’ll be damned if it doesn’t happen that way. She’ll bite down on a project and keep at it until it’s done, and to her perfect satisfaction. Even if she has to get her hands dirty and rip up the hedges herself, or if she has to be a little manipulative. She’s not usually malicious about the manipulations (unless she wants to get back at someone or take revenge, which isn't often but very appropriate when it happens), but she believes most people need a little nudging to see things her way.
Because she does believe that she’s right. About most things. She really is a lot smarter than most people around her, but she’s also successful in a way that’s very hard to attain, and she’s had to do a lot more soul-searching and thinking about the world than most people she knows. Even the women she has affairs with often end up marrying some eligible bachelor within a few months or years, and she’s left alone to fend for herself. The people she should be taking into account when making her plans are so used to her just steamrolling over them that she doesn’t often consider the fact that she might actually be wrong - maybe her family has just given up trying to change her mind when she's wrong. But honestly, she hardly ever is, and when she is, she has the good grace to be charming about it. People tend to like her despite their misgivings, and she goes through life knowing just what having an infectious personality (and some real estate) can get you.
Barge Reactions: She’s going to be absolutely pumped about being on the Barge. Honestly, after a while she’ll lose her confidence in needing the deal, and figure that she might not even need it, especially compared to some – but by then she’ll be heavily invested in the place and its people, and not want to leave until she’s graduated an inmate, for their sake if not her own. She’ll say yes to the Admiral in a moment of weakness, and once she sees that other people are literally getting a whole planet to come back to life, she’ll be more than happy to give it up for someone else.
She’s very inquisitive and interested in just about anything, so she'll love the library. She also likes getting her hands dirty, so she’ll take up any job she can. Even during the boring moments on the Barge, she’ll have to keep busy. She’ll love ports and will generally enjoy breaches, because you can always learn something new there. Some floods will be interesting (though a gender swap would be Very Uncomfortable), but the more invasive ones (like memory sharing/dreams/etc) will be difficult for her. She’s used to being very closed-off about her own emotions, and unwillingly giving that away will make her angry and restless. Being cooped up will also cause her temper to flare at times.
She’ll have to get used to not being an oddity, to women having voices as strong as her own – she’s used to being the odd one out, it’ll throw her for a loop to have people even more forceful than herself around. She’ll really have to reconsider what it means to be a woman around other women like her. And, to be honest, she’ll really have to get used not to have servants around her. She isn’t rude to servants, but she does consider the aristocracy she’s a part of as a natural part of the world and will probably ruffle some feathers voicing those opinions if they come up.
Deal: Anne would ask for a safe arrival back home to Shibden Hall to make sure she sees her aunt before her aunt passes away.
History: Link!
Sample Journal Entry:
[Video]
Well, that was just fascinating, wasn't it? [She's still beaming, recently returned from port. Her hair is sticking out every which way from the bun on her head and the rolls over her temples. She's stuck to the hairstyle like armor over the months she's been on the Barge, just like she's stuck with the corset and vests and the jackets and the top hat.
One does have a certain responsibility to look sharp, of course. As a warden, not as a woman.]
Do you know, I always thought the undead would have a rather more unsteady gait. Lurching, on account of severe muscle decay. But they were really rather fast! And then they were followed up by those homunculi yesterday - honestly, if I had a more reliable manner of defending myself, I might have asked the Admiral to stay longer, so as to study them. Shame. What have been your favorite ports?
Sample RP: She’s been exhausted for what feels like weeks. It started with the flood, falling into dream after dream, which quickly turned into nightmares. She still got dressed and did her hair every morning for the first four days or so, but by the end of the first week she’s done away with the corset, done away with the rolls at her temples, can’t get the energy to try and look the part anymore. Most people are in shambles, staggering around, their tempers shorter than ever. And then, after the flood ended, some idiot got it into their head to put up a magical forcefield. Supposedly it’s there to protect them, but all it’s done for Anne is put a high tone in her ear that doesn’t ever go away. She would pry her own brain open to get rid of it.
Anne needs to work, though. If she stays in her cabin waiting for sleep she’s going to lose her mind. She starts her days with a good breakfast (now less good, because the kitchen staff is exhausted too, and porridge and bread and fruit is now the very best they can do), and writes her journal. Recording the time feels silly, but necessary, and she keeps to it meticulously.
Then, to the greenhouse. She puts on the trousers given to her when she first got here, and feels immediately lighter for it. She feels even better when she pulls on the gloves for gardening, and gets on her knees in the dirt. She spends an hour like that, and finds herself surprised when she checks her watch and finds that so much time has passed. Then, to the art room. She's not much of an artist herself, but she distracts herself by sketching for half an hour. She helps out custodial by cleaning, then on to maintenance to help with a valve - fascinating stuff, if only her headache would go - and then back to the kitchens to help out. Her hands may be unsteady, she's not so disoriented that she can't chop carrots and onions. It's one of those skills she learned on the Barge, and she treasures it.
Finally, after doing some kind of work in almost every room on the Barge, she goes back to her room. She checks the network - and halfway through reading through her crossed eyes, the noise suddenly stops. She looks up, puts a pinky finger in her ear - does she have a hole in her bag of marbles? But it's real. It's finally stopped. She can finally sleep.
But first, to update her journal. She <i>was</i> rather busy today.
User DW: n/A ; poliorketes @plurk
E-mail: n/A; poliorketes @ plurk
Other Characters: Arthur Morgan
Character Name: Anne Lister
Series: Gentleman Jack
Age: 42
From When?: Episode 8, during the storm at sea on her way back to England. It’s only one of two moments in the series when she’d be desperate enough – having lost the woman she loves, having run into desperate trouble financially, and now on the brink of being gone when her surrogate mother might pass away.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. She knows right from wrong, and expects people around her to do what's right, while recognizing that a lot of people won’t. She can suss out a bullshit story and run rings around it, instinctive about people putting up fronts and confident in her own ability to do something about it. She has a lot of privilege in her own day, being a reasonably wealthy landowner in 1831 England, but she got there through relentlessly proving to everyone around her that she deserves to be seen and heard. Because of that, she knows what it feels like to be seen as less than. First as a woman, and now as a woman who openly defies the role society saw for her. She’s also very proud of who she is, despite 99% of the people around her telling her she shouldn’t be. Why not, when God has made her who she is? Shouldn’t she celebrate everything there is to celebrate?
She’s had that personal struggle and has fully processed it by this time. She could help an inmate with low self-esteem or a distorted self-image. She has a stubborn streak a mile wide, and will stay with someone even if they keep giving up, or if they keep pushing her away. She sticks up for herself, but the moment someone is in her inner circle she will fight like hell to defend them. For those inmates who have a tendency to manipulate, her emotional intelligence will help her to not get drawn in by a sob story meant to deflect. She wouldn’t let an inmate get away with ‘the easy way out’, when hard work needs to be done. She could help an inmate who’s grown angry or harmful because they were marginalized, and focus on positive empowerment. She has practically endless energy and would 100% hound that inmate, keep them from isolating or alienating others and try to find the positive side of their situation – and if she can’t do that, she’ll be absolutely sure they can find some other solution.
Item: Her pocket watch.
Abilities/Powers: A Positive Lesbian Attitude, Ability To Walk Anywhere In 25 Minutes.
Personality: Anne is relentlessly positive, though it can come at a price. She’s energetic, infectious, a real go-getter, hardy, stubborn – all the kinds of things a woman of her time isn’t supposed to be. She’s known she was different from other women since childhood, and has embraced it, knowing she couldn’t change it. She’s been lucky to inherit an estate that lets her travel and pursue her interests, which are: science, medicine, geology, and women. She loves learning new things and getting her hands dirty, and is just a little obsessive about her record-keeping and reading. It helps her keep things straight. She's been very successful this way, for a woman of her time, and always has several business or other projects going on at the same time. She's very personable, well-read, knows how to be around just about everyone. She isn't sweet, but she's very charming.
In her private life she's been rather less successful, though not for lack of trying. Though certainly not a hopeless romantic, she’s always wanted to be with a woman who felt the same way she did: never to marry a man for appearance’s sake, able to be together, even unofficially marry, and to be true to herself. She believes that she was made the way she is, and that to live unauthentically would be an offense to God. That’s why she’s always pushed through the negativity to live the way she does. In her youth she was rebellious, rambunctious, a little angry; now that she's in her forties she's managed to channel that energy into work, into learning, and into just living. Inheriting an estate further enabled her to travel, but more importantly: be herself, pushing at the confines of society.
She’s a genuinely strong person, bouncing back time and again from disappointment and heartbreak, but because of that she also finds it very important to keep up that front at all times. She doesn’t crack easily, hates admitting that she might not be okay. If people inquire, she’ll simply tell them I’m always okay, because she has to be. The only place she’s completely honest is her journal. She really enjoys when people are open with her, when she gets them to be open with her, but if it’s her having to do the opening it’s a lot harder. This means that any friendship she makes is very worthwhile to her, and she’s tireless in keeping in touch with those people. To be fair, in the 1830s that mostly involves a lot of letter-writing. But it also involves giving people around her endless chances. She’ll be really angry, and ready to fully sever the relationship – but one letter pleading for her help and she’ll cave and be running right back. She’s had her heart broken countless times, and every time keeps asking: will you come with me now? Will you love me as I wish to be loved now? When would you? It’s endlessly frustrating to her and drives her to desperation, but she also can’t stop herself. It’s a result of her optimism and strength, even though she can’t help but see it as a weakness sometimes.
She’s used to confusing people by being strange and unusual, and uses it to her advantage. She’s whip-smart, and knows just when to pull out the big calculations to confuse a stupid man, or when to call an arrogant man on being patronizing - or when to look at a woman with a smile and a compliment, and have her wrapped around her little finger. She’s weaponized the perceived femininity that has trapped her, though she hates having to do it in any other way than the way she’s set out for herself. That is to say: if she can trip a man up and get a better deal, she's fine with it. But she won't be charming or pretend to be sillier than she is, just to live up to expectations and maybe be treated with mercy. In fact, she relishes when men finally do treat her as an equal, even if that means being beaten and cheated. She’s stubborn about a lot – if she decides she wants things done a certain way, she’ll be damned if it doesn’t happen that way. She’ll bite down on a project and keep at it until it’s done, and to her perfect satisfaction. Even if she has to get her hands dirty and rip up the hedges herself, or if she has to be a little manipulative. She’s not usually malicious about the manipulations (unless she wants to get back at someone or take revenge, which isn't often but very appropriate when it happens), but she believes most people need a little nudging to see things her way.
Because she does believe that she’s right. About most things. She really is a lot smarter than most people around her, but she’s also successful in a way that’s very hard to attain, and she’s had to do a lot more soul-searching and thinking about the world than most people she knows. Even the women she has affairs with often end up marrying some eligible bachelor within a few months or years, and she’s left alone to fend for herself. The people she should be taking into account when making her plans are so used to her just steamrolling over them that she doesn’t often consider the fact that she might actually be wrong - maybe her family has just given up trying to change her mind when she's wrong. But honestly, she hardly ever is, and when she is, she has the good grace to be charming about it. People tend to like her despite their misgivings, and she goes through life knowing just what having an infectious personality (and some real estate) can get you.
Barge Reactions: She’s going to be absolutely pumped about being on the Barge. Honestly, after a while she’ll lose her confidence in needing the deal, and figure that she might not even need it, especially compared to some – but by then she’ll be heavily invested in the place and its people, and not want to leave until she’s graduated an inmate, for their sake if not her own. She’ll say yes to the Admiral in a moment of weakness, and once she sees that other people are literally getting a whole planet to come back to life, she’ll be more than happy to give it up for someone else.
She’s very inquisitive and interested in just about anything, so she'll love the library. She also likes getting her hands dirty, so she’ll take up any job she can. Even during the boring moments on the Barge, she’ll have to keep busy. She’ll love ports and will generally enjoy breaches, because you can always learn something new there. Some floods will be interesting (though a gender swap would be Very Uncomfortable), but the more invasive ones (like memory sharing/dreams/etc) will be difficult for her. She’s used to being very closed-off about her own emotions, and unwillingly giving that away will make her angry and restless. Being cooped up will also cause her temper to flare at times.
She’ll have to get used to not being an oddity, to women having voices as strong as her own – she’s used to being the odd one out, it’ll throw her for a loop to have people even more forceful than herself around. She’ll really have to reconsider what it means to be a woman around other women like her. And, to be honest, she’ll really have to get used not to have servants around her. She isn’t rude to servants, but she does consider the aristocracy she’s a part of as a natural part of the world and will probably ruffle some feathers voicing those opinions if they come up.
Deal: Anne would ask for a safe arrival back home to Shibden Hall to make sure she sees her aunt before her aunt passes away.
History: Link!
Sample Journal Entry:
[Video]
Well, that was just fascinating, wasn't it? [She's still beaming, recently returned from port. Her hair is sticking out every which way from the bun on her head and the rolls over her temples. She's stuck to the hairstyle like armor over the months she's been on the Barge, just like she's stuck with the corset and vests and the jackets and the top hat.
One does have a certain responsibility to look sharp, of course. As a warden, not as a woman.]
Do you know, I always thought the undead would have a rather more unsteady gait. Lurching, on account of severe muscle decay. But they were really rather fast! And then they were followed up by those homunculi yesterday - honestly, if I had a more reliable manner of defending myself, I might have asked the Admiral to stay longer, so as to study them. Shame. What have been your favorite ports?
Sample RP: She’s been exhausted for what feels like weeks. It started with the flood, falling into dream after dream, which quickly turned into nightmares. She still got dressed and did her hair every morning for the first four days or so, but by the end of the first week she’s done away with the corset, done away with the rolls at her temples, can’t get the energy to try and look the part anymore. Most people are in shambles, staggering around, their tempers shorter than ever. And then, after the flood ended, some idiot got it into their head to put up a magical forcefield. Supposedly it’s there to protect them, but all it’s done for Anne is put a high tone in her ear that doesn’t ever go away. She would pry her own brain open to get rid of it.
Anne needs to work, though. If she stays in her cabin waiting for sleep she’s going to lose her mind. She starts her days with a good breakfast (now less good, because the kitchen staff is exhausted too, and porridge and bread and fruit is now the very best they can do), and writes her journal. Recording the time feels silly, but necessary, and she keeps to it meticulously.
Then, to the greenhouse. She puts on the trousers given to her when she first got here, and feels immediately lighter for it. She feels even better when she pulls on the gloves for gardening, and gets on her knees in the dirt. She spends an hour like that, and finds herself surprised when she checks her watch and finds that so much time has passed. Then, to the art room. She's not much of an artist herself, but she distracts herself by sketching for half an hour. She helps out custodial by cleaning, then on to maintenance to help with a valve - fascinating stuff, if only her headache would go - and then back to the kitchens to help out. Her hands may be unsteady, she's not so disoriented that she can't chop carrots and onions. It's one of those skills she learned on the Barge, and she treasures it.
Finally, after doing some kind of work in almost every room on the Barge, she goes back to her room. She checks the network - and halfway through reading through her crossed eyes, the noise suddenly stops. She looks up, puts a pinky finger in her ear - does she have a hole in her bag of marbles? But it's real. It's finally stopped. She can finally sleep.
But first, to update her journal. She <i>was</i> rather busy today.