Snowbound and Irate

OOC Information

Player's Name/Preferred Nickname: Chris

Age: 34

Time Zone: Pacific

Preferred Contact Method: Email - porpentine@gmail.com; AIM: bpendennis

Prior RP Experience: Two and a half decades. Fear.

Are you a returning Negability player? Yep!



Vital Statistics

Name: William Makepeace Pendennis, much more commonly known as Bill.

Gender: Male

Previous Incarnation: William Makepeace Thackeray

Journal Name: b_pendennis

Character Age and Birth Date: July 18, 1990

Played By: Kal Penn

Year in School: First

Major/Minor Course of Study: Undeclared.

Residence: Bartos Hall, sharing a room with Hemingway.

Occupation: Probably looking to get a gig doing political cartoons for one of the papers on campus.

Extracurriculars: Planning to run a D&D game after settling into campus life. Also more devious plans which will come to fruition after meeting the right people...

Fraternity/Sorority/Student Affairs House affiliation: None.

Significant Other/Important Relationships: Bill's most significant relationship is with his younger sister, Neela. He also left behind one ex-girlfriend-slash-stalker in Miami. See background below for details.

Major Details: Born and raised in Miami, Bill is ill-prepared for the cold and already bitter about Winter coming. Back home, he was what one could politely call a serial monogamist; bluntly, he's an absolute manwhore. He's no interest in cheating at all, but he's a terrible flirt who tends to salve the end of one relationship by jumping into the next. It's not that Bill -wants- to leave a string of girlfriends behind him, but on the surface of things he seems to never take anything seriously. Really, those who take themselves too seriously are his favorite target for skewering, be it with sharpened wit or simple practical jokes. Having fun, often with a mojito in hand, is one of his favorite ways to spend time. But a lot of it is all a cover for how deeply he cares about his sister, and how truly upset at the universe he is for doing that to Neela. However, the last thing he wants to do is be one of those emo bastards whining about how things aren't fair, or so lost in his own morose little world that he wants to chant "down not across" until he's blue in the face. So the constant stream of social commentary, wild schemes, and the antics that bounce from one focus to the next are all his way of fighting back against the tide the only way he knows how. For all he comes across as being as deep as a wading pool, he would move heaven and earth for anyone he's decided matters, whether they know they're on the list or not.



Character Information

Appearance: Bill stands at an average height, just a couple inches under six feet. He dresses like he belongs on the set of /Dexter/, but only as an extra: jeans, tee shirts, thin overshirts. He's got a perpetual easy smile, short dark hair, and may very well be able to charm a cobra when he whistles.

Personality: On the surface, Bill is all about good times: having fun, enjoying music, good drinks, and above all making people laugh. If he can poke holes in the egos of the self-righteous while he's at it, the joke is even better. He's also a terrible flirt; at the end of the day, Bill simply loves -women-. He'd never cheat while he was in a relationship, or even consider it, but he spends as little time as possible single. Beyond all this, Bill is simply shameless. If it seems like it might be fun, he'll do it with no hesitation. He tries his damnedest never to do anything that he'd be ashamed to admit to -- those are the people who drive him up the wall the most, who hide from themselves.

Backstory: Born and raised in Miami, most of Bill's life has revolved in one way or another around his sister. Two years younger than he is, they had a relationship typical of most siblings: pulling her pigtails one minute, sharing his toys with her the next. All that started to change when he was six, and Neela started having what their parents simply called "episodes." All the tests they could afford, all the doctors they could see, and no one ever could adequately explain why Neela would have periods of simply being...not there, like absence seizures but without any of the usual neurological signs.

Thus was born the Bill we all know and love today. Seeing his sister scared, he did everything he could to distract her from what was happening. It didn't matter how crazy, everything was all right if she laughed. And the last thing he wanted to do was make her, or their parents, worry about him, so he did his best to hide his own worries. At first, the episodes didn't even happen often, and the family could almost forget...until the next one happened, and the next. But by the time she was twelve she was gone more often than she was there. Needing constant watch in case she "went away" in the middle of something that could hurt her, the family broke down and had her put in the best private facility they and their insurance could afford.

All during high school, Bill did his best not to bring up his sister at all -- but at least once a month, and on every holiday, he'd take trips up to see her. By senior year, he was taking those trips on his own. He couldn't blame his parents, entirely; how do you deal with having a daughter who's alive but simply not there? She wasn't even on life support so they could pull the plug. But in the end, part of his decision to go to Meridian was so that he'd be closer to the facility where Neela was. The fact that it also let his parents get away for the first time in over a decade was simply icing on the cake. The day he got on the train for college, he started off by driving them to the airport to take a three month trip to Europe. Bill himself would deny being a martyr; he genuinely loves his sister, and being close enough that he can afford to be there for her more often is something he really -wants-. But there is a quiet voice in the back of his head that's bitter about the fact that he's letting his parents off the hook. He knows, logically, that it's a miracle they're still together given the statistics connecting divorce and the lost of a child, but part of it still feels like abandonment -- and he's not happy that he's helping to facilitate it.

In the end, though, college marks a new start all the way across the board. Home is two thousand miles away at best, he has no parents to run back to immediately if things go bad, and he's even got a bit of respite from his own past mistakes. The only thing to do is see what the next day brings.

Skills, Talents, and Likes: Bill is fairly functional as a classically trained artist -- portraits, basic sketches, the like -- but he excels at cartooning and parody. He's also not half-bad as a singer, though he's never had training. Coupled with his complete lack of shame or hesitation to make a fool of himself, he'd be completely content on a stage in front of an audience. Someone would have to suggest theatre to him, though, as he's little drive to seek the center of attention.

Flaws, Drawbacks, and Dislikes: Bill's outward demeanor often gets him labeled as a flake at best, a clown and a show-off at worse. Since he tries not to make a production out of the things he takes seriously, he's often marked down as someone who can't take -anything- serious. His sister's condition sometimes hits him in strange ways, leaving him distracted or upset at little things he won't talk about. His reticence to discuss her at all, and thus bring someone else "down", has sometimes gotten him accused of lying, or hiding other things. More than once, he's been dumped because the girl in question was sure he was seeing someone else; the fact that he would inevitably be with someone else a week later simply "confirmed" this, whatever the truth really was.

Journal-Entry RP Sample: Sample Here