APPLICATION;
Jan. 3rd, 2011 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atrytone[series]: Battlestar Galactia
[character]: Sharon "Athena" Agathon (although, please note: from the pullpoint I have chosen, she has not actually been given the callsign "Athena" yet)
[character history / background]: Brief BSG plot summary on Wikipedia, Sharon on the Battlestar Wiki, Humanoid Cylons generally on the Battlestar Wiki
[character abilities]: As a Cylon, Sharon has some inherent advantages over humans. She's substantially stronger and has greater endurance. She can also interface with machines but only by physically cutting down to her own wiring and plugging herself into them, which she probably won't have the right hardware for in the City. She is also resistant or immune to radiation and most disease, including ones that affect Cylons more generally due to the antibodies generated while carrying her magic prophecy baby (don't ask).
She's also canonically capable of an ability called "Projection," which involves voluntarily inducing an incredibly realistic hallucination of an artificial environment that she can create and change at will. This can have obvious recreational/relaxation uses but can also be used for more practical purposes such as creating a mental map of a real location or disconnecting the mind from the body while being tortured. Sharon can also share her projections with other Cylons.
[character personality]: Sharon shares common memories with Boomer (the first Cylon of her model to show up in the series), including of her childhood in a mining colony on Troy as well as some of Boomer's early memories from her time in the fleet. She has the same sarcastic, playful streak and, in a crisis, the same brusque, military manner. She might not have been personally trained by the Colonial Fleet, but she remembers it as if she has, and she can carry herself like a soldier when it's required of her.
She also shares common programming with other Eight models. As such, she has many traits in common with these others. She's more prone to be affectionate and caring than other Cylon models. The Eights, for example, are the only ones to refer to their fellow Eights as "sisters." Eights are also generally impulsive and emotional. As the showrunner once put it, despite their caring nature, Eights are also the most likely to "shoot things they don't like."
All of this is true of Sharon as well, but it's tempered by calm confidence. Unlike Boomer, Sharon's known who she is from the beginning and unlike the other Eights, she's established her independence and makes her own choices. Consequently, she stands behind the choices she does make and is fierce loyal to the people she chooses to side with, even when it hurts her to do so.
She doesn't fully trust humans, however, having been treated so poorly by them since defecting to the fleet. Though she believes in much of the fleet's cause and (most of the time) truly wishes that their search for Earth will be successful, she holds a lot of bitterness inside over the pain that's been caused to her and to her family by humans.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Sharon is fiercely protective of the people she loves. There is no one she cares about more than her family and very little she wouldn't sacrifice or do to protect them. Most of the time, she'll approach problems calmly and logically but when something threatens a loved one, Sharon's impulsive/emotional side can take over in a second, and she doesn't hold back.
From the pullpoint I am choosing, Sharon has had some time to emerge from a very dark place: the depression and nihilism she dropped into following the apparent death of her baby (lies) and her consistent ill-treatment at the hands of humans generally. There's still a very deep sadness in her and the aforementioned bitterness and occasional regret at betraying her people but with the support of her husband and the few others on Galactica who she's connected with, she's managed to find her centre again and a new purpose, if not a new home yet exactly.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: In the latter part of Precipice/early Exodus, Part 1, after Sharon has been made an officer again and has been sent down to New Caprica but prior to reuniting with Anders and the resistance.
[journal post]: [ For a second, there's just the sound of loud breathing, like someone has been running and hasn't been stopped long enough to catch their breath. Then: ]
Agathon to Galactica. Do you read, over.
[ A short pause, expectant, waiting for an answer. ]
Agathon to Galactica. Agathon to Galactica. The drop is O.B.E. We have failed to make contact with the resistance. Repeat, we have failed to make contact with the resistance. Last known coordinates are 70.37 west, 140.08 north. I've lost sight of my unit, and I-- [ She falters momentarily and then rallies. ] I don't think I'm in New Caprica anymore. [ She lets out a wry half-laugh, sounding both weary and amazed. ] Frak, I hope someone's hearing this. Agathon to Galactica. Come in, Galactica.
[third person / log sample]: There's been a lot of time for thinking over the last year, not all of it wanted, very little of it sought after. Sharon is both used to solitude and completely unused. Before, even when she was entirely cut off from everyone, locked away in work or preparation, there was always the knowledge that her sisters were out there, that the wider collective of the Cylons surrounded her, a home she could carry with her wherever she went.
In the fleet, there's just solitude and the four walls of her cell, broken on occasion by Helo's visits when he can get away, which is less and less these days, and now Adama's, which are happening more and more. Adama looks at her sometimes like he thinks she can soder together his broken parts, bang out the dents that were left when they abandoned half of humanity on New Caprica. And while Sharon was built to look like a human and think like a human and feel like a human, she's not sure she knows how to fix one. She's not sure if they can be fixed.
When they leave, the sense of connection does too, and the thoughts have room to roll back in. The death of her child looms large and unignorable as always but just a bit dimmer every day, a field cauterization that she'll always feel but which stings less now than it used to. Sometimes she spends whole days considering the central paradox of her life: how she can love her people but still want to see them defeated.
There's a moment she keeps coming back to. The day she was first given her mission, the first thing in her life that was entirely her own. The humans say the Centurions were built unable to differentiate between the members of the models because the models feared rebellion. The Ones and the Twos and the Threes say it is because that's how harmony is preserved, equality.
Sharon knows better now. She knows what utter crap the rest of this is. She knows that the five built them the way they did because individualism slips in so silently and gently that you don't even notice it happening. One day you're just an Eight and then suddenly you're Sharon, and it's like meeting a stranger you've known all your life. All this time to think has given her a chance to get to know Sharon better. She's stubborn and impatient. She fights. She wants her uniform back so much it makes her skin itch sometimes. She cares about these people.
Frak, she doesn't even know why most of the time, but she does care.
[character]: Sharon "Athena" Agathon (although, please note: from the pullpoint I have chosen, she has not actually been given the callsign "Athena" yet)
[character history / background]: Brief BSG plot summary on Wikipedia, Sharon on the Battlestar Wiki, Humanoid Cylons generally on the Battlestar Wiki
[character abilities]: As a Cylon, Sharon has some inherent advantages over humans. She's substantially stronger and has greater endurance. She can also interface with machines but only by physically cutting down to her own wiring and plugging herself into them, which she probably won't have the right hardware for in the City. She is also resistant or immune to radiation and most disease, including ones that affect Cylons more generally due to the antibodies generated while carrying her magic prophecy baby (don't ask).
She's also canonically capable of an ability called "Projection," which involves voluntarily inducing an incredibly realistic hallucination of an artificial environment that she can create and change at will. This can have obvious recreational/relaxation uses but can also be used for more practical purposes such as creating a mental map of a real location or disconnecting the mind from the body while being tortured. Sharon can also share her projections with other Cylons.
[character personality]: Sharon shares common memories with Boomer (the first Cylon of her model to show up in the series), including of her childhood in a mining colony on Troy as well as some of Boomer's early memories from her time in the fleet. She has the same sarcastic, playful streak and, in a crisis, the same brusque, military manner. She might not have been personally trained by the Colonial Fleet, but she remembers it as if she has, and she can carry herself like a soldier when it's required of her.
She also shares common programming with other Eight models. As such, she has many traits in common with these others. She's more prone to be affectionate and caring than other Cylon models. The Eights, for example, are the only ones to refer to their fellow Eights as "sisters." Eights are also generally impulsive and emotional. As the showrunner once put it, despite their caring nature, Eights are also the most likely to "shoot things they don't like."
All of this is true of Sharon as well, but it's tempered by calm confidence. Unlike Boomer, Sharon's known who she is from the beginning and unlike the other Eights, she's established her independence and makes her own choices. Consequently, she stands behind the choices she does make and is fierce loyal to the people she chooses to side with, even when it hurts her to do so.
She doesn't fully trust humans, however, having been treated so poorly by them since defecting to the fleet. Though she believes in much of the fleet's cause and (most of the time) truly wishes that their search for Earth will be successful, she holds a lot of bitterness inside over the pain that's been caused to her and to her family by humans.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Sharon is fiercely protective of the people she loves. There is no one she cares about more than her family and very little she wouldn't sacrifice or do to protect them. Most of the time, she'll approach problems calmly and logically but when something threatens a loved one, Sharon's impulsive/emotional side can take over in a second, and she doesn't hold back.
From the pullpoint I am choosing, Sharon has had some time to emerge from a very dark place: the depression and nihilism she dropped into following the apparent death of her baby (lies) and her consistent ill-treatment at the hands of humans generally. There's still a very deep sadness in her and the aforementioned bitterness and occasional regret at betraying her people but with the support of her husband and the few others on Galactica who she's connected with, she's managed to find her centre again and a new purpose, if not a new home yet exactly.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: In the latter part of Precipice/early Exodus, Part 1, after Sharon has been made an officer again and has been sent down to New Caprica but prior to reuniting with Anders and the resistance.
[journal post]: [ For a second, there's just the sound of loud breathing, like someone has been running and hasn't been stopped long enough to catch their breath. Then: ]
Agathon to Galactica. Do you read, over.
[ A short pause, expectant, waiting for an answer. ]
Agathon to Galactica. Agathon to Galactica. The drop is O.B.E. We have failed to make contact with the resistance. Repeat, we have failed to make contact with the resistance. Last known coordinates are 70.37 west, 140.08 north. I've lost sight of my unit, and I-- [ She falters momentarily and then rallies. ] I don't think I'm in New Caprica anymore. [ She lets out a wry half-laugh, sounding both weary and amazed. ] Frak, I hope someone's hearing this. Agathon to Galactica. Come in, Galactica.
[third person / log sample]: There's been a lot of time for thinking over the last year, not all of it wanted, very little of it sought after. Sharon is both used to solitude and completely unused. Before, even when she was entirely cut off from everyone, locked away in work or preparation, there was always the knowledge that her sisters were out there, that the wider collective of the Cylons surrounded her, a home she could carry with her wherever she went.
In the fleet, there's just solitude and the four walls of her cell, broken on occasion by Helo's visits when he can get away, which is less and less these days, and now Adama's, which are happening more and more. Adama looks at her sometimes like he thinks she can soder together his broken parts, bang out the dents that were left when they abandoned half of humanity on New Caprica. And while Sharon was built to look like a human and think like a human and feel like a human, she's not sure she knows how to fix one. She's not sure if they can be fixed.
When they leave, the sense of connection does too, and the thoughts have room to roll back in. The death of her child looms large and unignorable as always but just a bit dimmer every day, a field cauterization that she'll always feel but which stings less now than it used to. Sometimes she spends whole days considering the central paradox of her life: how she can love her people but still want to see them defeated.
There's a moment she keeps coming back to. The day she was first given her mission, the first thing in her life that was entirely her own. The humans say the Centurions were built unable to differentiate between the members of the models because the models feared rebellion. The Ones and the Twos and the Threes say it is because that's how harmony is preserved, equality.
Sharon knows better now. She knows what utter crap the rest of this is. She knows that the five built them the way they did because individualism slips in so silently and gently that you don't even notice it happening. One day you're just an Eight and then suddenly you're Sharon, and it's like meeting a stranger you've known all your life. All this time to think has given her a chance to get to know Sharon better. She's stubborn and impatient. She fights. She wants her uniform back so much it makes her skin itch sometimes. She cares about these people.
Frak, she doesn't even know why most of the time, but she does care.
