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poly_chromatic
Nov. 24th, 2012 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maoser[nick / name]: Katie
[personal LJ/DW name]:llamafordrama
[other characters currently played]: Korra | Legend of Korra |anatural
Nyota Uhura | Star Trek VI |universaltranslator
[e-mail]: partyinthehermitcave@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]: Preferred contact is![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
teabending
[series]: Darker than Black
[character]: Mao (Ricardo)
[character history / background]: Wiki knows what little there is to know.
[character abilities]: Mao has the ability to transport his consciousness into the body of an animal. Unlike most Contractors, he doesn't have to pay every time he uses his power; he paid his contract in full when he lost his human body.
Because he is forced to live in a cat's body, he also has a mental link with the Syndicate's servers, which house a portion of his mind since a cat's brain isn't sophisticated enough to handle it all. Whether it's because of this or because of a skill he developed while still human, he's a proficient hacker.
[character personality]:
There are certain things believed to be true about Contractors. They are emotionless. They are selfish. They are cold realists.
At first glance, Mao appears to be a typical Contractor. He acts very cynical and detached. Two times the Syndicate he works for orders the execution of his teammates -- first Yin, and then Huang -- and Mao appears to have no reluctance or reservations about it. His logic is simple. If he doesn't follow orders, the Syndicate will kill him. Ergo, he will follow orders -- a rational, self-serving choice.
But the truth is…he's kind of a wuss. What appears to be rational self-interest is actually fear -- a subtle distinction, but it gives lie to the idea that Contractors have no emotions. Moreover, he doesn't just fear for himself. When Hei refuses to follow the orders to kill his teammates, Mao argues with him, when the rational choice would have been to report him to the Syndicate. He may shout "I'm not getting involved with this!" and run away, but he doesn't turn the others in. He gets angry when they risk themselves for his sake.
He cares about his teammates. He hides it behind snark and the illusion of apathy, but his loyalty to them supersedes Contractor logic and his natural inclination to avoid danger. Not that he would admit it. The most he will say about Hei is that he finds the other Contractor interesting. He doesn't understand the emotional way Hei makes decisions (nor does he recognize that he too makes emotional choices). The difference between Hei and Mao is that Hei actively risks his life on the basis of his illogical decisions, while the risks Mao takes are passive. Mao is not a fighter by nature; he will help Hei by acting as a diversion sometimes, but he very rarely fights. This is very much a choice on his part; with his ability to possess animals, he could easily take on a form better suited for combat, but he does not.
He likes being a cat. Honestly, he's a little bit of a hedonist. He can frequently be found being petted in Yin's lap, and he says one of the advantages of being a cat is nobody cares if you sleep all day. The one surprising thing is his disinterest in sex. As a human, he had been quite the ladies' man, but as a cat, he displays no interest in human women and a strong disinterest in female cats. He hates the spring because it's mating season and he gets chased by lady cats.
Unlike Hei, Mao is a Contractor through and through. But he is living proof that everything you thought you knew about Contractors is wrong.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post episode 20
[journal post]:
[video]
MREAAAOW!
[Splash! Water gets all over the screen as a cat lands in the fountain.
Mao claws his way out, looking drenched and miserable. He shakes himself off and looks around, the fur on his back sticking out like porcupine needles. It's clear that this is no ordinary cat, even before you see his purple eyes.]
Hei?
[His voice is soft. There are too many people around for him to risk speaking louder, but if the other Contractor is around, Mao is certain he will hear.
Nothing.]
Damn it.
[A passerby stops and looks around curiously. Shit, he'd spoken too loud. Mao quickly licks his paw, adopting a look of feline innocence. When the passerby moves on, he relaxes, and finally takes note of the device. He bats his paw at it, and the screen goes black.]
[twenty minutes later]
[voice]
[Wherever he is, he's cut off from the Syndicate's network. Not a good sign. Even worse, he can't find a way into whatever network exists here, except through this extremely cat-unfriendly device. He's going to have to do reconnaissance the inefficient way…once he figures out how.]
Where is this place?
[Not very smooth. He's spent so long pretending to be a cat, he's no longer sure how to pretend to be human. But it's a start.]
[third person / log sample]:
Mao yawned and stretched. One of the best things about being a cat? Falling asleep in a patch of sunlight. His fur felt pleasantly warm & toasty, despite the winter chill in the air. He was tempted to settle back down and nap once more, but cat or not, he couldn't spend all day sleeping. Even without the Syndicate to direct him, there was plenty of reconnaissance to be done.
That Hei. Mao began to groom himself as he thought. Things would be so much easier if his teammate didn't have such a knack for trouble. Too many people here knew that Li Shenshung was not what he pretended to be. Letting his cover be blown in such a fashion was one thing, but the worst part was, Hei hadn't even dealt with the problem. Whether or not these people would talk was irrelevant; the point was, they could. All it would take was the right set of circumstances. The logical course of action would be to wipe their memories, but Hei had failed to do so.
Mao's tail twitched. He was being emotional. It was a quality Mao had always found fascinating in the other Contractor -- this tendency to make illogical decisions based on emotions Contractors didn't have -- but it was a dangerous one.
Ah, well, it meant he'd never be bored. Mao finished cleaning behind his ears and stood up, stretching again just for the pleasure of it. As much as he enjoyed the freedom to sleep all day and lull about useless, he still had the mind of a Contractor. Unlike a real cat, chasing lasers would not chase away boredom. There was no Syndicate here to direct him. Spying on Hei's liabilities gave him something to do with his time.
He jumped up onto the windowsill and accessed the network, checking to see if there was any curse today that would make going outside a bad idea. Plenty of the usual posts from people, complaining about their so-called "captivity." It made him laugh. As far as he was concerned, the curses were nothing more than an inconvenience during a mandatory vacation. Any world without the Syndicate in it was an improvement in his book.
He pushed the window open and jumped outside. Maybe he'd visit that little Russian friend of Li's. It was always a pleasure to watch a good hacker work, and the boy seemed to like animals. Mao might even get a treat out of it.
Not a bad way to start the day.
[personal LJ/DW name]:
llamafordrama[other characters currently played]: Korra | Legend of Korra |
anaturalNyota Uhura | Star Trek VI |
universaltranslator[e-mail]: partyinthehermitcave@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]: Preferred contact is
[series]: Darker than Black
[character]: Mao (Ricardo)
[character history / background]: Wiki knows what little there is to know.
[character abilities]: Mao has the ability to transport his consciousness into the body of an animal. Unlike most Contractors, he doesn't have to pay every time he uses his power; he paid his contract in full when he lost his human body.
Because he is forced to live in a cat's body, he also has a mental link with the Syndicate's servers, which house a portion of his mind since a cat's brain isn't sophisticated enough to handle it all. Whether it's because of this or because of a skill he developed while still human, he's a proficient hacker.
[character personality]:
There are certain things believed to be true about Contractors. They are emotionless. They are selfish. They are cold realists.
At first glance, Mao appears to be a typical Contractor. He acts very cynical and detached. Two times the Syndicate he works for orders the execution of his teammates -- first Yin, and then Huang -- and Mao appears to have no reluctance or reservations about it. His logic is simple. If he doesn't follow orders, the Syndicate will kill him. Ergo, he will follow orders -- a rational, self-serving choice.
But the truth is…he's kind of a wuss. What appears to be rational self-interest is actually fear -- a subtle distinction, but it gives lie to the idea that Contractors have no emotions. Moreover, he doesn't just fear for himself. When Hei refuses to follow the orders to kill his teammates, Mao argues with him, when the rational choice would have been to report him to the Syndicate. He may shout "I'm not getting involved with this!" and run away, but he doesn't turn the others in. He gets angry when they risk themselves for his sake.
He cares about his teammates. He hides it behind snark and the illusion of apathy, but his loyalty to them supersedes Contractor logic and his natural inclination to avoid danger. Not that he would admit it. The most he will say about Hei is that he finds the other Contractor interesting. He doesn't understand the emotional way Hei makes decisions (nor does he recognize that he too makes emotional choices). The difference between Hei and Mao is that Hei actively risks his life on the basis of his illogical decisions, while the risks Mao takes are passive. Mao is not a fighter by nature; he will help Hei by acting as a diversion sometimes, but he very rarely fights. This is very much a choice on his part; with his ability to possess animals, he could easily take on a form better suited for combat, but he does not.
He likes being a cat. Honestly, he's a little bit of a hedonist. He can frequently be found being petted in Yin's lap, and he says one of the advantages of being a cat is nobody cares if you sleep all day. The one surprising thing is his disinterest in sex. As a human, he had been quite the ladies' man, but as a cat, he displays no interest in human women and a strong disinterest in female cats. He hates the spring because it's mating season and he gets chased by lady cats.
Unlike Hei, Mao is a Contractor through and through. But he is living proof that everything you thought you knew about Contractors is wrong.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post episode 20
[journal post]:
[video]
MREAAAOW!
[Splash! Water gets all over the screen as a cat lands in the fountain.
Mao claws his way out, looking drenched and miserable. He shakes himself off and looks around, the fur on his back sticking out like porcupine needles. It's clear that this is no ordinary cat, even before you see his purple eyes.]
Hei?
[His voice is soft. There are too many people around for him to risk speaking louder, but if the other Contractor is around, Mao is certain he will hear.
Nothing.]
Damn it.
[A passerby stops and looks around curiously. Shit, he'd spoken too loud. Mao quickly licks his paw, adopting a look of feline innocence. When the passerby moves on, he relaxes, and finally takes note of the device. He bats his paw at it, and the screen goes black.]
[twenty minutes later]
[voice]
[Wherever he is, he's cut off from the Syndicate's network. Not a good sign. Even worse, he can't find a way into whatever network exists here, except through this extremely cat-unfriendly device. He's going to have to do reconnaissance the inefficient way…once he figures out how.]
Where is this place?
[Not very smooth. He's spent so long pretending to be a cat, he's no longer sure how to pretend to be human. But it's a start.]
[third person / log sample]:
Mao yawned and stretched. One of the best things about being a cat? Falling asleep in a patch of sunlight. His fur felt pleasantly warm & toasty, despite the winter chill in the air. He was tempted to settle back down and nap once more, but cat or not, he couldn't spend all day sleeping. Even without the Syndicate to direct him, there was plenty of reconnaissance to be done.
That Hei. Mao began to groom himself as he thought. Things would be so much easier if his teammate didn't have such a knack for trouble. Too many people here knew that Li Shenshung was not what he pretended to be. Letting his cover be blown in such a fashion was one thing, but the worst part was, Hei hadn't even dealt with the problem. Whether or not these people would talk was irrelevant; the point was, they could. All it would take was the right set of circumstances. The logical course of action would be to wipe their memories, but Hei had failed to do so.
Mao's tail twitched. He was being emotional. It was a quality Mao had always found fascinating in the other Contractor -- this tendency to make illogical decisions based on emotions Contractors didn't have -- but it was a dangerous one.
Ah, well, it meant he'd never be bored. Mao finished cleaning behind his ears and stood up, stretching again just for the pleasure of it. As much as he enjoyed the freedom to sleep all day and lull about useless, he still had the mind of a Contractor. Unlike a real cat, chasing lasers would not chase away boredom. There was no Syndicate here to direct him. Spying on Hei's liabilities gave him something to do with his time.
He jumped up onto the windowsill and accessed the network, checking to see if there was any curse today that would make going outside a bad idea. Plenty of the usual posts from people, complaining about their so-called "captivity." It made him laugh. As far as he was concerned, the curses were nothing more than an inconvenience during a mandatory vacation. Any world without the Syndicate in it was an improvement in his book.
He pushed the window open and jumped outside. Maybe he'd visit that little Russian friend of Li's. It was always a pleasure to watch a good hacker work, and the boy seemed to like animals. Mao might even get a treat out of it.
Not a bad way to start the day.
