It's okay to be scared

THIS IS YOUR STANDARD HMD POST. Let me know how I'm doing with Norman.

.Contact Information.

[E-Mail] wudaistarwind at gmail dot com
[Instant Messengers] Jamadadayo
[Plurk] golgothas
[Other]
[Preferred] AIM is good, yo

.OOC.

[Backtagging] Always
[Threadhopping] Always
[Plotting] Always
[Offensive subjects] Use your head. This is really a case by case question. I'll let you know if it ain't cool.

.IC.

[What's okay to mention around him/her] Nothing comes to mind. Don't diss ghosts around him.
[Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character? Special physical features, special abilities, etc] His hair defies gravity, he talks to ghosts, and he gets visions everyone once in a while.
[Can I hack that strike or otherwise find out information they'd prefer to keep hidden?] He's not very journal savvy, so it wouldn't be hard, just know he'd probably flip out if some got into his stuff.
[What would be a suitable way of disciplining them?]
[Can I troll/mindscrew/mess with in general?] Norman's seen bullying before so do your worst. It's gonna take a lot to get under his skin. As for villain type things I am all for some healthy conflict and crazy plots.
[Can I spit at/jinx/step on/etc? (i.e. fighting)] Just shoot me a message and we will talk.
[Can I flirt with/hug/kiss/use other means of non-violent physical contact with this character?] Sure, just let me know whats going on. He will probably spazz the hell out with any of these options.
[Anything else?] Nah. Just this kid isn't used to kindness from the living, so if he comes off abraisive, skittish, or just quiet, that would be why. It'll take a lot to get him to open up.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Jami
Contact Information: golgothas
Time Zone: EST
Characters Played: Eiji Hino (Kamen Rider OOO)


CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Norman Babock
Character Canon: ParaNorman

History: Wiki on the movie itself

AU History:

Norman's history starts with his family. His family line can be traced back to the name "Prenderghast" a notorious family that took up residence in the Ninetales Vale. Like a lot of enlightened that associated with the ghost type, they were regarded with more suspicion and wariness than other types. It honestly didn't help that a lot of Prenderghasts were kind of cuckoo bananas.

So the rumors went, anyway. The real problem was that the Prenderghasts were unusually sensitive to the spirit world, and something like that wore on a person after a while. So, yeah. A few of them were kind of raving lunatics who yelled about the end of times, or read stories to trees or whatever, but you would be too, if you saw what they did.

Unfortunately, a lot of the notoriety lead to the Prenderghast line petering out in recent years. The only remaining family now would be a deranged old man who lives alone in the more decayed part of the Vale and a Sandra Prenderghast, now Sandra Babcock after marriage. The Babcock family wasn't terribly remarkable by any standard, though interestingly enough, hailed a number of enlightened fairy types through the years. Hilarious.

Perry Babcock, Norman's father and Sandra's husband, had endeavored to pull them as far from the Ninetales Vale as he possibly could. It was less that he was concerned about damaging the family reputation and more that he wanted his family to have a chance to grow up normal. Unfortunately "normal" was never in the cards for Norman.

It was no secret from day one that Norman was a ghost-type enlightened just like many of his descendents before him. From falling through floors, disappearing, and just periodically talking to the air as a small child, the Prenderghast blood still has it's claws in the Babcock family.

Without meaning for it to, this caused a strained relationship between Norman and his father. Perry, who desperately wanted to keep Norman safe, did so by trying to deny Norman of his gifts and abilities, and Norman, who was upset by his father's inability to understand him, were constantly at odds.

Understandably this caused Norman to seek out the Ninetales Vale all on his own. It was there that Norman fell in with the Kurain school. Turns out they were all related. Meeting the other side of the family finally caused Perry to compromise a little. He could study with the school and spend time in the Vale so long as he kept his grades up and took out the trash. Still, that didn't keep Perry from being suspicious of the influences the Vale would have on Norman, but it looked like for now, he had to watch at a distance and hope the Prenderghast madness didn't afflict his son like it had so many people before him.

Canon Personality:


Norman likes being under the radar. He doesn't like sticking out and being noticed, because that usually means negative attention on him. His entire modus operandi is to make it through with as little confrontation or social interaction as possible. The unfortunate truth of it all is that, in his town, blending in is impossible. It's sort of an inescapable reality to a kid born with the gift of speaking to the dead. It doesn't make you all that popular in school. Or at home. Or anywhere, really. Alienated by most of his town? Yep. Treated as a troubled child by his family? Check. Fiercely bullied at school? You bet.

However, in spite of that, Norman never treats himself like a victim. He doesn't cry about the way things are. Sure, he laments that he never asked to be born the way he was but does he try to deny his gifts? Hell no. He knows that he isn't normal and he has no intentions of trying to pretend otherwise. Even if all he wants, is to duck his head and get through it the best he can, he doesn't try to change himself to suit others. Unfortunately this attitude has led Norman to becoming a loner. Until recently, he saw no real need to make friends, feeling that once they get to know him, they'd just think he was a freak anyway. As such he's come to be very comfortable on his own, and prefers to just rely on himself.

Of course its a little different when he talks to ghosts. Where Norman shuts himself off to the living, to the dead he's perfectly cheerful and friendly. Going so far as to help his town ghosts with any little task they might ask of him. He knows this doesn't make his case better for the living, but the bottom line is that he doesn't care. Time and again, Norman's learned to value the company of the dead over the living.

But despite what seems like hostility and distrust, he does cares about other people and he has a strong moral sense of right and wrong. Even people he doesn't like all that much, he'd never purposely harm, and even go so far to help in a dire situation. Given the opportunity to really show his stuff, Norman can also be very brave and determined, willing to risk his life for what has to be done. His sense of duty is also very strong and once he sets out to do something, he takes it very seriously. Really underneath that anti-social facade he puts up, Norman is just a lonely kid who's had to put up with a lot of pain simply for just being who he is. He's a tough kid who can take a lot of shit, and he never should have had to.

Towards the end of the movie, Norman started to learn how to open up to others. Realizing that his own bitter attitude could very well be his undoing. And while he's still wary and sarcastic, he can be a very sweet and friendly kid. All he really wants is some place where he doesn't feel he's going to be punished for being himself.

Of course Norman opening up and being friendly should never be mistaken for Norman being a push over. He's stubborn and blunt, and he will tell you when you've done something stupid. He can be terribly full of sass when he wants to be- which is often. He'll listen to authority, but when its other people- specifically teenagers or just jerks, he will tell you what for while probably making jabs at your intelligence. ("Oh god they're gonna eat our brains!!" "I think you'll be fine.")

AU Deviation:

Norman is going to still be the equivalent to his early movie development. He's still prickly and a little bitter about the overall suspicion and sometimes disdain for ghost types. He's upset about his family situation, where he constantly butts heads with his father, and is overall just a ball of anti-social sass.

The big difference is that he actually has living people in his life that don't treat him like some kind of plague. While these people are mostly ghost-type enlightened, its still a step in the right direction and it won't take him long for him to ease out of his bitterness and to be a genuinely happy kid.

Canon Abilities: Norman is physically, for the most part, a completely normal 11-year-old kid. What makes him stand out is his connection to the dead. Norman is able to see and communicate with the afterlife, which doesn't just mean ghosts. In the movie it also meant that he could effectively communicate with zombies who, otherwise, just made a bunch of groaning noises.

He's also shown to be able to receive visions of the past, omens, and sometimes even relive memories of spirits.

Enlightened Abilities:

Kindred Soul.

Being a ghost type himself, he's not only able to understand ghost pokemon, but he's extremely sensitive to the spirit world. He's able to see mortal spirits and other supernatural shenanigans without having to try. In fact, he can't turn it off. sometimes it's a huge nuisance.

In addition to that, Norman is able to do a few other minor ghost tricks. He can walk through walls, go briefly invisible, and hover for a short period of time. He's able to use a few low-level ghost moves for self-defense. (astonish, shadow-sneak)

His first evolution will lend more to his secondary typing. He'll be able to channel electricity and carry out minor attacks. Unfortunately they'll be tied heavily to his emotions and could be unpredictable or dangerous.

His final evolution will grant him mastery over both of his types, and while his electricity would still be emotion-fueled, he'll be in much better control over it. At this level, he'll be able to wield ghost-type attacks with ease.

His appearance, as he levels, will make him look more and more ethereal. For now he just looks like a pale-skinned kid who doesn't get enough sleep. Looking closer, you'll find that his irises are octagonal-shaped, rather than round, and the scarf he wears all the time, moves on it's own.

Starter Pokémon: Romero the Duskull and Hopkins the Hoothoot.


Notes/Special Considerations: It has been discussed with Maya-mun that he has ties to the Fey Family! So long as everyone else is okay with it, he will be a ghost-cousin.

SAMPLES
(NOTE: You may link a previous entry or thread, including testrun or musebox threads (but NOT Dear Mun), for one or both samples. However, we want to see the character in the setting of Brave New World and specifically in their AU for at least one sample.)

First-Person: Makes ten if you count the actual journal entry.
Have a second thread just in case.

Questionnaire. Probably being interviewed by a teacher.

-What do you seek for humanity’s future?

It would be nice if people stopped acting like jerks all the time.

-To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?

Um ...a lot, I guess. I mean, if they're friends then I would do everything I could. I don't know a lot about traveling and I haven't been to the forest very often, but I bet there would be ghosts I could talk to to help find them and get them out.

-What does the story of the Savior mean to you?

Wow, uh... it's a good story. The Savior was a good person who wanted to save humanity, and she promised humanity would learn from it's mistakes. It's too bad that humanity hasn't really changed much.

-The gods of old have returned. How would you be judged if you were chosen as a representative of humanity?

Why would anyone choose an eleven-year-old for something like that? That's stupid. I'd still go, I guess, but I don't know how well I'd do. Seriously, this is a dumb question.

-A human has attacked a wild Pokémon who retaliates in defense. How do you respond and whom do you defend?

I would try to stop the fight, if I could, but I would definitely take the Pokemon's side if the human was just being a bully.

-When encountering a rare and powerful Pokémon, what is most important? Researching it, bonding with it, or defeating it? Why?

What's wrong with just leaving it alone? I mean, they're rare for a reason, it probably doesn't want anything to do with me. We kind of almost destroyed them in the past, remember? If I ran into it, I'd try to make sure it knew I wasn't going to bother it, and probably leave because that's what I'd want if it was me.

[The feed starts suddenly, but nothing can really be made out. It's dark and there's a bit of talking that can be heard. It looks like the Pokegear was left on his backpack and got turned on when he set it down.]

[There's a conversation that can be heard some distance away. Mostly the voice of 1. Norman Babcock, and a number of pokemon- ghost pokemon. He's in Sprout Tower.]

--eally nice talking with all of you. It's um- getting pretty late though I shoul- Hey! Put me-!

You can stay here forever if you like! (Gas gastly gas!)

No, no, I really- Aaah! Romero!

[The feed ends with Romero bursting out of his pokeball, disrupting the pack and gear. A loud SKULL! can be heard just before.]

[The pokegear flips on and there is a very confused, somewhat bewildered looking kid looking into the camera.]

Okay, um. I ...really don't know what's going on here. This isn't my house, or my mom, and this place is definitely not Blithe Hollow.

Is anyone listening on this? I- this is crazy. I'm walking around this place like I got trapped in a video game- I don't think I've even played this version. What does- Ack!

[And it's at this point, Norman gets cut off because he's being bodily tackled by his pokemon, which can be seen as a Duskull shaped blur. Norman grumbles off screen as he's at the mercy of its affection.]

I'm just making a call, I'm not going anywhere- Okay, okay we can go in a minute. I kind of need you to get off me first.

[The funny thing is that he's actually also having a conversation with it.]