Application || Consignment

[alwaysatthebar]

PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Parsnip
✖ Contact: Plurk: parsnip or AIM: parsnipchan
✖ Are You Over 16: yes
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: n/a

CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: April (codename, no alternate name has been given)
✖ Canon: Darker than BLACK, post S1, pre S2
✖ Character Appearance: here
✖ Character Age: 25ish, undisclosed
✖ Pick A Number: 863 or 112

✖ Canon Setting:

Ten years prior to the current present, two Gates appeared. One was located in Brazil and the other was Tokyo, Japan. How these Gates appeared or why, no one knows. All anyone knows is that was the day the moon disappeared and the stars were replaced with a new landscape: the stars of an uncountable number of contractors. Yes, that's right. Contractors are individuals who were changed on some level into acquiring special abilities such as the ability to conduct electricity, the ability to take over the body of another human or animal, the ability to defy gravity or the ability to teleport oneself via the transfer of matter. There are many different kinds of abilities but they all come with a price. It's a contract after all and nothing is ever given for free.

Failure to meet this price results in beings called "dolls" who are emotionless creatures that can be "programmed" with a personality like Chiaki in the first story arc in which they had taken another person’s memory and loaded it into said doll, or (as with Yin and July) to have a barebones personality and her role within a small team as an reconnaissance expert. These dolls do have one common ability and that's the ability to send an "observer spirit" elsewhere in the nearby ether to act as the eyes and ears of said dolls. These spirits are usually linked to an element such as Yin with water or the astronomy division's dolls who run on electricity lines. They actually come in quite handy for a team specializing in espionage.

However, getting back to the price of the contract itself, it comes in many forms such as the compulsion to smoke a cigarette or to fold down the page corners of a book. In many instances, these prices are something the contractor resents either because they have to do it or because it's a practice they abhor. However, this is not always the case such as April's love of drinking. In addition to the physical price one must pay to complete their remuneration each time an ability is used, there is also the price of becoming a contractor at all: they have to sacrifice their emotions, that thing that makes a person irrational, so that they can become the perfect rational killing machines they were meant to be.

Outside of the contractors, there is also the Gates, the start of everything that happened all those years ago. No one knows why the gates appeared or how, but what is known is that they appeared at polar opposites on the earth. Hell’s Gate is in the northern hemisphere (Tokyo) and Heaven’s Gate is in the southern (Brazil). These gates caused turmoil and panic to spread across the world because not only did the stars and moon disappear, but strange things started happening as contracts were made. We don’t know what kind of panic there was or even what the initial reaction to contractors were, but we do know that at some point in the first five years, contractors were hired by almost every major governmental secret agency to be their spies and troops on the ground.

In those five years, war broke out over Heaven’s Gate and who controlled it and the sheer number of deaths is unknown or even incalculable because, you see, at the end of those five years something unexpected happened: Heaven’s Gate disappeared taking a huge chunk of Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean with it.

Essentially, this became an impenetrable no man’s land.

With only Hell’s Gate left to them, the world revised their thinking (implied, not substantiated) and created PANDORA, the Physicalquantity Alternation Natural Deconstruction Organized Research Agency within the walls surrounding (and closing off) Hell’s Gate from the rest of Tokyo. This organization was designed specifically to allow the international community to come together and perform research on the Gates themselves.

A result of this research (or research prior to Heaven’s Gate disappearing) was the “M.E.” Or Memory Extractor technology which allowed a scientist to imprint (as with dolls), extract (like they did with the real Chiaki’s memories) or erase. It’s the latter that is quite ruthlessly used throughout the show as we see prolific evidence of governmental agencies using this technology to erase the memories of people who have come into close contact with contractors and realized they were “different.” It’s never really stated just how much the populace knows about contractors and the gates, but it is implied that any direct contact with a contractor did result in memory loss. The exception would be those who must work directly with it like the scientists at PANDORA or the police who might run into them.

Another bit of technology that has been developed is the ability to read the “stars” in the sky because each star is a physical representation of every contractor on Earth whose light “resonates” each time a contractor ability is used. Some stars are dormant and never resonant such as with either a regressor like Havoc who gave up her contract in order to be normal or maybe even the dolls. In addition, should a contractor die, the star will become a falling star and disappear from the night sky.

And that is the world that was created for Darker than BLACK. There is a great deal more I could get into regarding the politics of the situation (such as the fact that Gate technology/artifacts are a huge black market ticket item) and how, in the end, it’s shown that the Syndicate (a secret organization who uses contractors to gather up said missing gate artifacts) is actually an international organization that was created by government officials and scientists and others who hold a position of authority to both simultaneously keep a leash on contractors but also who’s ultimate goal is to eradicate their threat. The EPR (Evening Primrose) is the unknown contractor organization lead by February/Amber that seeks to stop them. But I’ll get more into that in the personality section.

In addition to the politics, there is one more subset of “new species” that were created when the Gates appeared and, while the contractors lose their humanity in return for something and dolls simply choose to give everything up in order to fade into the background where they can observe unnoticed, there is also the other “volatile” being: the Moratorium. The Moratorium are individuals who can’t choose and therefore “fail” to sign their contract by paying a price. These individuals have an ability that is unstable and often activates itself against the individual’s will. It is said that most Moratorium turn into dolls or die by their own ability and there’s only been one instance (DtB’s second story arc) of such a person fulfilling their contract after the fact.

✖ Character History:

Much is unknown about April because she tends to take a back burner to November 11’s lead and works more as a support to his abilities throughout the show. What we do know is that she is part of MI-6 and probably has been for over five years since it’s implied that April became November’s partner after February defected to the Syndicate prior to the disappearance of Heaven’s Gate (which we know was true because February was part of Hei’s team and he has always been Syndicate affiliated that we know of). But, considering this is all we know (explicitly, that is) about April’s past, I will focus on her present day history.

April is November’s partner and she often stays behind the scenes to ensure mission success while November takes on the hand to hand combat and information brokering duties. The reason for this is because April has the ability to manipulate water and, therefore, supplies November with an endless supply of ammunition since his contract is the ability to turn water into ice (and often to deadly effect). She also takes on the personal care of July, their team’s doll, which is shown by holding his hand as they walk places and the fact that July is always sitting with April even when the team splits up. The exception to this is when April goes out drinking at night.

April’s first canon mission that we are witness to is the collection of Havoc from Romania. This was an important mission on several levels, but the primary one was the fear that Havoc would somehow regain her contractor power: the ability to create a vacuum over a large area of effect and instantly kill everyone within it. On top of this, she must then seek out the blood of a child in order to satisfy her contract which makes her an especially fearsome contractor. All in all, it is a gruesome ability and one that (supposedly) MI-6 does not want to see returned to Havoc despite how she has been a dormant star for these past five years.

Taking Havoc to Japan under the guise of turning her over to the UN at PANDORA, April and November also have the added mission of gathering intelligence on the Syndicate and use her as bait to do so. A third goal was simply to discover what really happened at Heaven’s Gate but, unfortunately, Havoc seems to have lost all her memories of the incident. What they didn't plan on was going head to head with BK-201 (the star Messier code assigned to each Contractor when their star is born) because it is maintained that no one knows who he is as no one has survived to tell anyone. This man, of course, is Hei (although his real name is never actually given) and he is the main character in Darker than BLACK. Therefore, the MI-6 team are in a fairly unique position and are charged with finding out the identity --and if possible the termination of-- BK-201.

After a few more story arcs, we once again see April in Episodes 15 and 16 although only at the very beginning and end of this arc. She does, however, play an important part in each scene she is shown in. At the beginning of episode 15, she is exits a club after a night full of drinking and spots February/Amber, an old renegade agent of theirs, down the alley and across the street. As her long standing mission has been to gather any intel on the missing February, she immediately gives chase and calls November 11 to give him all the facts as she knows it: name, description, description of the companion she was with including distinguishing eye color, etc. Considering the distance and the detail with which she gave, we can see April is extremely observant and has excellent vision despite the glasses we usually see her wearing.

However, the chase doesn't last very long as the area next to April explodes, throwing her and the taxi she was about to give chase in across the street. She does survive, albeit in a temporary coma after surgery, but it's her message which prompts the story arc and actually gives rise to the overarching plot for the remainder of the series. At the end of this story arc, we find out April is alive and well (even if severely damaged and in need of crutches) since she manages to arrive on the scene just in time for her to use her contract to give November 11 an untainted source of water (Maki, the contractor he was fighting against, can turn any substance that he has touched into an explosive) that he can use as a weapon.

This scene actually highlights several things that makes April, April and that’s her dedication to her team and the flawless way they work together since the only real way she would have been able to find November in time is if July had been guiding her there since the beginning.

The next and last time we see her is in Episode 22, the second half of another 2-episode story arc. It's here that we actually see her operating without November 11 for the first time, mainly only because November 11 has gone AWOL as he researches further into the Syndicate and the EPR. He can acknowledge that there's something more going on than meets the eye with both friend and foe alike, especially since there are quite a few discrepancies involved, starting with PANDORA's ties to well… everything and the Syndicate which is supposedly a terrorist operation, more like the Mafia in some regards.

However, a distinguishing feature here is that while April is still doing her job (looking out for July and doing what MI-6 tells her), we also see that she's confident in her partner and isn't actively looking for him even though it’s hypothesized that he’s been kidnapped by the EPR. If November 11 doesn't want to be found, he won't be. It’s really as simple as that (and you have to admire the rational that she’s using here because why expend the effort on a fool’s chase?).

But she is willing to team up with the Japanese police force (re: Misaki Kirihara) to look for him anyways because she is concerned despite how she doesn't try to show it. When she’s given the signal by July who has located him, she infiltrates the building that November was taken to in time to give November 11 the support he needs, although it isn’t much (just another rain shower). However, she does help Hei escape by distracting Misaki’s attention which is actually a huge step considering she doesn't know the back story behind everything and simply does what she thinks November would want her to do (especially since he’s been revising his life philosophy as a contractor based on what he’s seen Hei do). As far as April knows, she should be trying to apprehend Hei, not give him an opportunity to escape with the help of his friends.

It is a little sad, however, when we see her in the final moments of this story arc. She stands over November’s site of death and speaks a few words to Misaki on behalf of November 11. This arc wasn't the first time they had teamed up with Misaki after all and he had shown a bit of interest in mentoring her. So, in a way, April's continuing her partner's will because that's how much she trusts him and saw him as a real partner.

However, she can’t fully shake her contractor roots because even though November died as an act of revenge, almost, against their superior, Decade and MI-6 in general, for their role and support in the Syndicate’s attempt to kill off every contractor using Hell’s Gate, April still keeps working for them. Once a contractor, always a contractor, right?

And that's what we know of her role in canon. A supporting role, but pivotal for getting November 11 to where he needed to be at the very end and for helping Misaki untangle the web she found herself neck deep within as well.

✖ Character Personality:

April is, for the most part, a rational being. She's a contractor. That's what they're supposed to be but even with that in mind, April seems a bit more laid back than most. She stands in the shadows, watching, waiting, guarding November 11's back and keeping a close eye on July, the third member of their three man cell, but she doesn't make it seem like she is at all. She just stands a bit behind and to the side, seemingly paying attention to nothing but herself. That's how laid back she appears.

In most cases when we see her, she is almost always in the company of July and that's because November 11 does all the field work and skulking in their group. April's there to make sure she has a way of contacting her partner on the off chance July learns something from his observer spirit, a glow-like glob that acts as an extendable pair of ears although a bit more elegantly than my description would imply. In July's case, he can move his spirit through glass; in another doll's case, it was water.

But, April is usually on standby and so has learned to cultivate a great deal of patience.

She can have a temper, however, which we see at the beginning of episode 15 when she kicks the club sign over after she managed to out drink every single host in the place. Is it really so much to ask for a reliable drinking partner? One that can go one on one with her without passing out? Apparently so.

April also likes to joke around, although I'd like to think it's because she's spent so much time with November 11. One has to have a sense of humor when around him since his jokes are (supposedly) deliberately terrible. But we do see her joking around in the club, telling the club owner to make her receipt out to the British Secret Intelligence Service. Oh. But just put down the initials. S-I-S. It's a wonderful little scene because we see her confidence and charm in full force, and it actually shows us that she's an agent for a reason. She's got a deft touch, even if she usually lets November do all the smooth talking. Likewise we also see another insight into her personality. On this alone, I would say that April doesn't like to lie. Sure, she'll deflect and skirt around the issue, but she's not going to lie and she'll even be blunt about it too. So much so it automatically turns it into a joke. Another trait she shares with November 11.

She also comes prepared, often keeping a spare beer or two in her coat, even if she's not wearing much else underneath it. She's quite willing to share her booze too since she offers some to Misaki at one point. It would seem that she really does hate drinking alone.

Drawing on the little details, we can also tell that April has a keen sense for appearances as she tends to be stylish both in clothing, keeping her hair short-cropped (not to mention it’s sensible if she’s called upon to fight), but also in how we see her grooming and manicuring her nails while she’s waiting.

She’s also laidback and easygoing as she tends to walk rather lazily even in the midst of a battle (probably because she has full confidence in November and their teamwork) and she enjoys smiling whenever she can. Being moody just isn’t really her favorite thing. Case in point, after saving November 11 at the end of episode 16 (really, she shows up covered in bandages and definitely the worse for wear), she still manages a smile and a joke despite how close things actually got in that moment. She’s also intelligent because in Episode 22, when November has finally been found, she knows that it’s because November wanted to be found, not because of any inherent mistake on his part. Therefore, she immediately comes prepared for everything which could potentially explain why she allows Hei to go even after she had cornered him in the building.

April also has a hidden maternal side although she doesn't really show it all that often. The caring side of it that is. But she handles July well, leading him by the hand and making sure he’s safe if he has to veer away from it (although how much is real caring and how much is simple prudence, we don’t’ know). However, even if we can’t tell what her real motivations are, there is still a definite amount of tangible trust that can be seen whenever April, November, and July are together. They are a group that trusts each other explicitly and that is something contractors shouldn’t really be able to do. After all, if something better comes along, there shouldn’t be anything to stop them from taking it, is there? And yet even with November’s supposed defection, April still keeps her trust in him.

And, above all, she's content. She enjoys what she enjoys and dislikes what she dislikes. She's a very mellow person, can't be moved easily but she gives off a definite feeling of warmth. In no instance does she ever appear cold or distant. Just warm, but even that is a block to getting to know her. How does one get past the smile she’s always wearing to the real person beneath?

The answer is simple, however. You won’t.

✖ Character Powers & Skills:

Contractor Ability: April has the ability to manipulate water, specifically atmospheric conditions as she is seen creating artificial rain showers over a wide area of effect to both give November the ammunition for his ability, but to also create an unfavorable environment for November’s opponent. Since November is used to sudden downpours and reduced visibility, all of these things become an advantage for him.

In season 2, we also see that her abilities more closely match those of a water bender from Nickelodeon’s Avatar franchise such that she can condense water molecules together and use it both as a water bullet or to wrap a swath of water around an individual’s head in order to suffocate and drown them.

However, since April is a contractor, she must pay a price and that price manifests itself in the requirement that she must drink something alcoholic after she’s done. Hence why her alcohol tolerance is so dang high.

It should also be noted that it is uncertain what happens if a contractor fails to pay their price, but it’s safe to assume that they’ll enter a moratorium status such that they must not only handle the possibility that their ability might go haywire, but also that they’ll regain the things they’ve “lost” such as human emotions. It certainly causes them a great deal of anxiety at the very least.

Another miscellaneous note on contractor abilities (just to note it) is that each time an ability is used, a blue glow surrounds them which gives their opponent a split second to counteract or get away if they need to (assuming it isn’t too late already).

Skills:

Most of these are implied due to her training with MI-6 and as such, could be subject to modification if so desired. It’s safe to assume that April would have hand to hand combat training, a decent proficiency with a firearm, and some skills with computer hacking (either in the simple aspect of deactivating an alarm system or something more advanced).

Likewise, her work with MI-6 would imply some language proficiency in the following: Portuguese (due to Heaven’s Gate), English (native language), Japanese, Russian, and some French and/or Spanish.

CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV:

here and here

✖ Third Person POV: Write us, in prose or brackets, how your character is recruited by the CDC. If your application is accepted, this section of your app will become part of your character's game canon.


She could feel the ache still in her bones from the accident and she limped slightly as she carefully maneuvered down the hall to her flat. It had been a few months since things got a bit shook up at Hell’s Gate and April had no shortage of work to handle even though she’d been taken off field assignments to sit at a desk.

Being half blown up did that to a girl, you know. But the days were still long and while progress was decent, it just wasn’t the same. Smiling a little to herself, she reached for keys, looking up to mark the distance to her door when her hand froze. Her steps, still measured, continued limping along and was at odds with the sudden tension in her face and hands.

The door was cracked open. What an amateur mistake.

Letting her purse fall to her side, keys in hand, she started humming, pretending that not a single thing was amiss as she crept nearer, her fingers ever at the ready before she dashed forward suddenly, a blue glow surrounding her as water from the vase at the end of the hall slammed against the door up high while she dived in close to the ground.

She tumbled, looking towards the dark areas in the room and looking for new shadows to catch her gaze. Her water cloud shoot through the darkness, following her eyes as she twitched her fingers. It didn’t take long to spot the shadow at her kitchen table, smoke rising from the ashtray she still didn’t feel inclined to pitch now that November no longer visited. Screaming towards the stranger, the water thinned out, forced by gravity into one long stream before it suddenly exploded in front of the man’s face, diffusing into nothing. Neutralized.

Picking herself off the floor, April straightened her clothing, looking as nonplussed as though this was how she always entered her apartment and the man at the table chuckled before nudging a can towards her.

“Have a drink and take a seat. We’ve got a few things to discuss if you’re interested.”

Flashing the strange man a smile, she tugged on her sleeves to keep the fur from tucking underneath and then strode forward, ignoring the ache and smoothing out the limp. No room for weaknesses and all that. “Thanks, I was feeling a bit parched after the day. Care to join me?”

Of course the answer was no, but she could at least try first, couldn’t she? And as she settled in at the table, drink in hand, the man outlined his proposal, coaching it in simple terms. A universal organization that destroys a whole world and how they could both benefit from the other. Cut, dried, and exactly as a contract should be.

Nursing her second beer, April leaned her elbows on the counter. “So my choices are join you or watch the whole world get destroyed, hm? It’s not much of a choice, is it?” Understatement and normally she’d just shrug her shoulders and do whatever it takes to survive, but it wasn’t quite that way anymore.

There was still July though he’d been assigned another team while she was laid up at a desk.

She just didn’t want him to lose what little bit of family he had left, but… Her gaze trailed to the picture she still kept on the mantle and she sighed.

“Ah well, it doesn’t sound like a terrible deal. Sign me up, but only if you to tell me how you did that thing back there. By all rights, you should have been dead.”

She at least had the confidence in her own abilities to believe at least that much. And anyway, just because she signed a contract, didn’t mean she couldn’t delve into the real deal behind all this. If they were really interested in destroying her planet, it was bound to happen regardless of what she said.

They could’ve solved this whole issue by just spending a bit of money for almost any contractor on planet for that matter. Curious and curiouser. MI-6 was going to owe her quite a bit of hazard pay if she ever made it back to work.

CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team:

Orange: The appeal to this team is because they are the back-up, basically, to every other team which is what April was, in many ways, to November in canon. She’s good at reading a situation, aiding in reconnaissance, and putting facts together. But more importantly, she is combat ready, but she does seem to have a preference for sitting more on the sidelines then putting herself out there more than necessary. As such, she could end up being a good mentor for others on the team because it’s more important to fill in the weak spots of another team rather than necessarily charging in and getting in the way (especially for the less battle-ready members of the team).

Red: With her training as an MI-6 field agent, April is particularly suited to this team. In addition, her status as a contractor makes it so that she can choose that ambiguous grey area so long as it benefits her in some way. Considering she values teamwork highly, she’d likely place the team over herself (assuming she still has a reasonable chance to continue living).


✖ Reason for Joining the CDC: April’s reason for joining the CDC centers primarily from the fact that she’s recently witnessed others sacrifice everything in order to give “contractors” a chance to survive in her world rather than being summarily eliminated in one attack. As such, joining the CDC would be her way of giving everyone else on Earth a chance to work things out which, likewise, means that the sacrifices of November and even February would not be in vain. As for planet destroying itself, it’s like with anything in life; everyone has a fighting chance. If it’s not meant to be then April (and everyone else for that matter) will mostly just end up dead instead.

✖ Mission Freebie: an unlimited bar tab for the duration of the next mission at whatever port of call they end up at.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: A framed picture of November, April, and July all together.
✖ Character Inventory:

her pink coat with fur trimming, an emory board, nail polish, and 2-3 cans of Guinness all stuffed inside her purse.