ooc Ω application for meridian_rpg

PLAYER INFO
Name: Jelle
Main Journal: ofmarionette
Contact Info: aim: Lunixhime | email: queeningsquare[at]gmail[dot]com | plurk: queeningsquare
Played Characters: N/A
AC Reminders: email would work best for me!

CHARACTER INFO
Name: Alice Liddell
Age: 19
Species: Human

Series: American McGee's Alice / Alice: Madness Returns ( the original game and the sequel, respectively. )
OU/AU: OU
Canon Point: After the second game's ending.
History: over at the wiki.

Personality: There's one thing that must be first and foremost said about Alice, since it's practically something you can't deny while playing through the games. Alice is crazy. Quite literally, too - she has spent several years stuck in an asylum after her house (and the rest of her family still in it) burned down. The incident in which her family died and her years in the asylum combined were enough to literally make the little girl go insane. Of course, Alice has always been somewhat prone to wandering off into her own world; anyone who has read the Alice in Wonderland and Beyond the Lookin Glass books can attest to this. But the incident and the asylum only made this habit worse. She suffers from constant delusions in her own world, up to a point where right before the third chapter of the second game starts her reality and Wonderland start blurring. Mushrooms grow on the streets, the skies turn red and a big fantastical train runs across the sky in the middle of a city, Wonderland is slowly seeping into the real world for her. (Her delusions should be controllable (or at least more controllable) from the canon point I'm taking her from though, since she has solved most of her problems by then.) The corruption of Wonderland from a more or less happy and surprising place into a dark and grim place in the games symbolizes what happened to Alice. (Certain parts of the game even directly mirror some things in her real life, like the asylum and Tweedledee and Tweedledum (based on actual helpers who bullied her in the asylum) in the first game.) Because of everything she was corrupted as well, growing up from a young, innocent and curious girl into something else, a broken and insane young woman.

Along with this change Alice's attitude has changed a bit as well. She is the kind of person who always speaks her mind, even if her thoughts might be more than just a bit rude. Because of this she can even come off as insensitive at times, or just downright rude - even the Cheshire Cat remarks in the very beginning of the first game that Alice has 'picked up a bit of an attitude'. She's very to the point in her conversations and dislikes having long detours during said conversations. Alice is used to people speaking vaguely or in riddles (since most Wonderland inhabitants seem to be fond of doing that) but she still doesn't tolerate it, instead forcing her own question or point across to them and trying to have them answer. She's often very snarky or sarcastic during her conversations; at least Alice seems to have kept her wits even throughout her insanity. It's demonstrated by pieces of game conversations like these:

TURTLE: And I'm not ungrateful... You're an honorary reptile!
ALICE: Lucky me...

JABBERWOCK: You've kept me waiting, Alice. Have you never heard that punctuality's a virtue?
ALICE: You and my dentist's assistant have much in common.


Because she speaks her mind a lot, it's easy to guess her opinion about people. She doesn't speak positively about people unless she really does like them or consider them a friend. Even the Caterpillar, who helps her out pretty often, is often somewhat trashtalked by her. ('I remember him well. Thin-skinned. Ill-tempered. Smokes too much. Disagreeable smell. Why do I need him?') You really have to earn respect with Alice before she will give you that respect in her conversations with you. She also doesn't particularly seem to like relying on other people a lot or having to follow someone else's lead - she complains about the unseen oracle in the cave of oracles when it tells her what she has to do to defeat the Red Queen. ('Obscure allusions to chess are fine, but it troubles me that anonymous oracles know more of my business than I do.' And then, later on: 'It talks like I'm on holiday, Cat. Wandering about, having a bit of fun. The oracle's an idiot.')

Alice is a very determined person. Once she has a goal or an idea in mind, it's hard to convince her to give up on it or change her mind - she will carry it out until the very end, one way or another. Then again, Alice is the kind of person who doesn't give up easily in general. She doesn't have much of a reason to give up usually - she's pretty much fearless, especially at first impression. She faces hideous monsters with little to no fear ever passing her face. She keeps her calm in the most dangerous of fights. When someone tells her that she shouldn't face the Red Queen or her minions since they're too powerful, she just replies with 'I'm not afraid of her, or her creatures. Never was, really. You should stand up to them.' And the sentiment is genuine; she really doesn't fear the monsters. She doesn't even fear death, as she admits to the Caterpillar that she isn't afraid to die. In fact, she has even welcomed death at times (possibly since she would rather die than live on without her family in the asylum). Hatter, however, reveals that it's not completely true, there are things Alice does fear; like the confrontation with her past (the incident with her house burning down and the memories of the asylum) or the loss of the people she cares for.

ALICE: I fear nothing.
HATTER: False. You fear much... a return trip to the asylum, for example... the memories that drove you there... more years in, shall we say, supervised hospitalization... ah yes, you fear much.


Alice is a violent person as shown by her fighting style, in which she mercilessly takes on monsters with her weapons - some are even decapicated, stomped on by her in giant form or slaughtered in other gruesome ways. But she isn't unnecessarily cruel - she only becomes violent when someone has true enraged her or they deserve it. When Tweedledee and Tweedledum taunt her about her past in the asylum in the first game, she becomes enraged and slaughters them. The same happens to Bumby in the second game, as she shoves him under a train without remorse for everything he has done to her and her family (and the other children). One could say she practically lives off one of the quotes the Cheshire Cat gives us in the game - 'Confront what frightens or offends you. Reckless or insulting talk should never go unchallenged.' Alice does tend to somewhat go over the top at times, for example when the Cheshire Cat tells her to give a book a tap and she instead shoves the entire book off a platform so it falls all the way to the ground. ('You call that a tap? Fortunate I didn't suggest force. You might have pulverized it.') Alice is, as her very direct and speaking-her-mind attitude implies, not a very subtle person. And it shows in her fighting style as well.

All of that being said, Alice might be cynical, rude and violent, but she is not uncaring. She seems to be at least somewhat friendly towards the people she genuinely likes and cares for them a lot, like the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit. She's sometimes a little bit teasing in her friendliness though. (To the Cheshire Cat: 'And if not, there may be more than one way to skin a cat, if you'll pardon the expression.') She also seems sympathic to some other people she doesn't know as well, like the insane children in the Dollhouse part of the second game. Perhaps this is because they have suffered similar fates to her and she can understand their suffering. There's an unused line for Alice in the first game file: 'Curiosity can kill I suppose; but apathy is lethal.' She isn't unfeeling, when she's confronted with the insane children's suffering she can't help but feel sorry for them. In fact, she does help people out a lot in both fo the games. In the second game it's suggested by someone else that she might have an hero complex - since she wasn't able to help herself (at least during the games, she couldn't save herself from her insanity just yet) or her family, she tries to help out other random people to make up for it. She stands up against a guy unfairly demanding money in the second game, even though it ends up with her being knocked out by a punch from said man. She also helps out things in Wonderland, for example the Origami Ants who are being threatened by the Samurai Wasps in the third chapter of the second game. She isn't always particularly friendly about her helping though; when she approaches the Mock Turtle in the first game while he's crying she at first tells him to 'stop that wailing, won't you?'

But as much as she tries to put up this strong and usually uncaring front, Alice is pretty fragile past all of that. She's just a girl even throughout the insanity and attitude, after all. She's struck with plenty of fears and worries. She particularly worries that she might have been the cause of her family's death due to her accidentally starting the fire. (She knows who actually did it though during the canon point I'm taking her from.) Alice is struck with survivor's guilt, especially since she wasn't able to help out her family while they burned to death - she was the only one who came out of the burning house. Whenever she's confronted by these facts and fears in the game (for example the Red Queen and the Jabberwock who tell her about it) she completely breaks down sobbing for a few moments. She actually has plenty of insecurities and worries, only admitting them to close friends (right before the Gryphon dies, she tells him 'I'm not sure I know how to lead' in a moment of weakness and loss). She cries and breaks down over her friends' deaths as well. Loss is something she fears as well, particularly the loss of the people she loves. She loses plenty of allies to death in the first game, and every single time it takes its toll on her as she's shown sobbing each time. In particular after the White Rabbit's death she admits her fear as she speaks.

ALICE: Everyone I love dies violently... unnaturally. I'm cursed. Why go on? I'll just hurt others...

Powers: Alice has about average strength for a girl her age and size, but she seems fairly apt at using the weapons she's given in the series - more on those in the possessions section. Without weapons it would be fairly easy to beat her tough, especially if they would be bigger or stronger than her.

In the game Alice has a few other abilities. (Please don't mind to power her down if it's needed, she's rather overpowered most likely.)

→ Alice can dodge attacks by turning into a group of butterflies moving in a different direction (away from the attack) for only a few seconds before she turns back to her regular self.
→ Alice can slowly float down for a few moments after she jumps, so she can float slowly towards a platform rather than just instantly falling down.
→ Alice has had a Drink Me potion in the game ( - rather, she has practically bathed in it - ), allowing her to shrink at will. She can't fight while shrinked though (since she's just that tiny) and can't walk around very fast either, making it easy for other things to catch up with her. She can enter small areas while in this form though.
→ When Alice is down to her last bit of health she can enter 'hysteria mode', in which she becomes completely gray-toned all over, except for the red blood on her clothes and weapon. She can't be hurt while in this state and her attacks cause more damage, but it only lasts for a very short time.

( meridian addendum: All powers and possessions are kept intact. Hysteria Mode's visual effect will only be present in Alice's own mind, and rather than taking no damage, she will simply be unable to feel additional damage received. )

Weaknesses: As stated in her powers section, Alice has normal strength for a girl her age. She's pretty good with her weapons, but without them she doesn't really have any combat means. Hand-to-hand it would be very easy to beat her, as demonstrated by easily being punched out by an older guy in the second game.

As much as Alice presents herself as a powerful and snarky person who doesn't take any trashtalking from anyone, she's actually pretty fragile. The memories from her past - the fire - still haunt her, even though she knows the truth about the incident from the canon point I'm taking her from. The memories itself are bad enough though, as she can clearly recall her family's screams as they burned and she was unable to save them. The same counts for her memories from the asylum. As the Hatter in the first game states, she does fear having to return to the asylum and going through the things and the rough treatment there again.

It could also be said that Alice fears loss. She fears having to lose more of the people dear to her again, just like how she lost her family in the past. She cries repeatedly every time someone dear to her dies in the games (which happens a lot, especially in the first game as almost every ally of her dies in that one). When the White Rabbit dies in the first game, she admits this fear somewhat as she asks herself why she should still go on if everyone close to her just dies an unnatural violent death.

Possessions: Aside from her usual / default blue dress and omega necklace she usually wears in the game, Alice will just have the weapons she's capable of using in Alice: Madness Returns with her. (She seems to pull them out of hammerspace in-game.)

→ The Vorpal Blade: her trademark weapon, it looks like a kitchen knife and practically functions like one. It's mostly usable for close one-on-one combat, and while it's not super strong it's fairly quick.
→ The Pepper Grinder: a pepper grinder that shoots pepper. Apparently letal pepper, as it's able to damage enemies. It's not a very strong weapon, but it can at least be used as a ranged attack. It's capable of making pigs (or at least, their snouts) sneeze when used in-game too. It can only be used for a few moments at a time since it needs to reload after that.
→ The Hobby Horse: a.. well, hobby horse-shaped weapon, which she can use to smash enemies with. It's a very, very slow weapon and can only be used on one enemy at a time for obvious reasons, but it's the most powerful weapon out of her collection. Random fact: sometimes it's neighs when it's used.
→ The Teapot Cannon: another weapon, this time shaped like a teapot. It's capable of shooting boiling hot tea at enemies over longer distances, capable of hurting big groups at one time. It needs to be charged for a few moments though, leaving Alice open to attacks.
→ Umbrella: an umbrella Alice can pull out to block attacks with; it can also deflect enemies' ranged attacks, but only weak ones as stronger ones will easily break through it. She can't attack while using the umbrella, though.
→ Clockwork Bomb: a time bomb which looks like some sort of toy rabbit. Alice can throw it and detonate it (it will go off by itself after a while otherwise), but it's mostly used to solve puzzles or distract enemies since it barely does any damage by itself.

Marking Location: In the middle of her upper chest, a little bit below her neck.

Miscellaneous: "Every picture tells a story. Sometimes we don't like the ending. Sometimes we don't understand it."

First Person: Curiouser and curiouser.

[ Her tone is laced with something akin to sarcasm, as if she isn't saying it because it's true (even though it's a good way to describe the situation) but perhaps for nostalgia's or irony's sake. ]

So, does anyone feel like enlightening me yet as to what this is all about? I can't say I particularly care for unnecessary and unannounced changes of scenery without giving approval in advance. It's much like having a tea party without friends - a waste of time and effort.

[ A pause lingers for a few moments, before she seems to think of something else. ] Yes.. It's just like Rabbit has told me plenty of times by now. [ Her next words come out slowly and perhaps a bit patronizing, like the way one would talk to a little child. She's obviously trying to imitate someone else. ] 'There's no time at all!' 'Don't dawdle, Alice, you've already missed the train!' [ Her tone returns back to normal. ] And look at me now.. If there honestly is as little time to spare as he always claims there is, I'm sure he would disapprove of my stay here. ... At least, if it will be prolonged.

That's why I'd like to be shown the exit by now. Or, if a certain cat is hiding around here.. I'd prefer if we could cut out this game of sorts and return to the more or less usual order of things, even if it is just as predictable. [ 'Because this is unnerving'- she doesn't admit it out loud. ]

Third Person: At first it didn't seem like such a strange thing to suddenly find herself in the middle of a place she didn't recognize. Unpredictable was one of the few words that could actually describe Wonderland pretty well, after all, and this change of scenery had certainly been unpredictable. In fact, in her younger days she might even had murmured 'curiouser and curiouser' at such a development, but now she had grown older (and wiser, she liked to think) she just stared around in silence instead with a somewhat interested look on her face.

After a few moments of silence, she took out the knife - the Vorpal Blade - from her apron's pocket and idly stared at that for a few moments as well, tracing the sharp edge in the air with her finger. It wasn't like she had a particular use for it anymore, with Wonderland more or less being restored to its old state once again after Bumby's death at her hands, but she liked to keep it around. For nostalgia's sake, perhaps.

... When the silence lingered, the look on her face shifted a bit. Perhaps one could even call the look on her face annoyance now, almost like a little child who had its expectations betrayed. Maybe she had expected something to happen by now, but it was just as quiet as moments before.

Alice let out a deep sigh, perhaps a bit exaggerated. "Come on, Cat." The annoyance was thick in her voice as well, but at the same time there was something almost friendly in it. Almost. "I haven't gotten all day. Isn't this the part where you are supposed to pop up and give me a piece of horribly vague and generally unhelpful advice?"

She seemed to supress the urge to roll her eyes at the end of that sentence as well, instead opting to take another look around as if the cat might suddenly be sitting behind her instead. She waved the knife in the air somewhat idly, and the sigh repeated itself when there wasn't an answer even after minutes.

The look on her face shifted just slightly though - to worry. Not for herself, but it wasn't like the Cheshire Cat to let her wait this long for no reason.

With a slow but determined step she started to walk forward. If he wasn't around for one reason or another to help her out with her questions about the rather sudden change of scenery, she would find the answers herself. She wasn't unfamiliar with that sort of thing, after all.