❦ ataraxion planetfall application.

P L A Y E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Ca
OOC Journal: nothingtofear
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: n, 26
Email + IM: cltonabun@gmail.com / n0tJesus
Characters Played at Ataraxion: N/A

C H A R A C T E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Ned (the Pie Maker)
Canon: Pushing Daisies
Original or Alternate Universe: AU
Canon Point:

Apped OU to CNC with Canon Point 2x11 “Window Dressed to Kill” ( played 06/2011-12/2011 )
Re-Apped to CNC with Canon Point 2x12 “Water & Power” ( played 10/2012-07/2013 )
Apped CRAU to Ataraxion ( played 09/2013-03/2014 )
Apped CRAU to Teleois ( played 08/2014-10/2014 )
Return to Canon for Update 2x13 “Kerplunk”

Setting: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Daisies )
History: ( http://pushing-daisies.wikia.com/wiki/Ned )

Personality: Because of Ned's power he doesn't like to be touched, or touch others. However, he knows that people appreciate human contact sometimes and tries to step out of his comfort zone when he thinks someone might need it. There are a few times when this backfires on him, not being as adept at telling when touching is truly appropriate. For example when he touches Vivian's hand after Chuck's death to console her and she looks ridiculously more uncomfortable. But then, later on Vivian kisses his cheek as their friendship develops. This can also be seen in his unwieldy friendship with Olive in which his comforting touches are held by some hopeful part of her heart that believes they can still be together. 

Ned can be very uncomfortable and socially awkward, but he always tries to do what's right. This can manifest itself selfishly (as with the undeading of his mother, Digby and Chuck), but he also holds a great deal of care and sympathy for other people. Despite his best efforts, he forms very close connections with his group of Olive, Emerson, Randy, Vivian, and even begrudgingly Lily. And obviously Chuck, whom he forms the closest relationship with and despite the fact that they cannot touch come to be involved romantically. He showcases his innovation by developing plastic devices that will allow them some modicum of comfort. He develops a sleeve so that he can hold her while she sleeps and a plastic divider in his car with a glove so that they can hold hands while driving. It's here we see that even Ned wants human contact, despite all evidence to the contrary. 

Though he often seems like a pushover and will usually roll over in favor of other people's opinions, Ned has an obstinate streak in him. He's determined to get his way even when it's a bad idea or could put them in danger. As seen in Chuck and Ned's short lived quarrels however, even at his most determined Ned is powerless when Chuck's feelings are involved. He will always put her first no matter what other factors come into play. This is what prevents him from taking Emerson's advice in redeading her father and why he blames himself when Charles Charles leaves. All of this is apparent in Ned's quickly inflammatory but even quicker to deflate nature. 

At the beginning of the series, Ned is almost always hesitant to touch dead things, knowing all too well what the consequences will be should they stay undeaded for longer than a minute. But we see him build confidence as it progresses until the untimely and unfortunately permanent reawakening of Charles Charles. It is here we see Ned's largest inner conflict of character in which he calls the two sides of himself Superman andClark Kent. He decides to say 'no' to super and 'yes' to man in a defiant and short-lived attempt to lead a normalish life. He even ditches his storeroom full of dead fruit for live and vows never to touch dead things again. But when his friends need him most, he and his magic finger prevail and he finds that even if it's a little selfish, he likes being super, even for sixty seconds. 

Also in constant progression is Ned's need for order and for things not to change. He has an explosive reaction to Chuck wanting to introduce "cup-pies" to his menu in an attempt to add a little of herself to the Pie Hole. Ned is firmly against the idea until he caves and once again accepts Chuck's happiness as his own. In the systematic way in which he times each minute to his deliberately monochromatic wardrobe, we see a man clinging to the past and eager to make sense of all the nonsense in his life. From beginning to end, Ned slowly works towards accepting change into his life and often doesn't even question it more recently. It's yet another beautiful thing Chuck has introduced and he's afraid of the new, and yet afraid to miss out even more. 

At his core, Ned is still that abandoned child vying for his father's devotion. He is often petty and immature and reacts defensively when things are his fault. Having spent so much of his life essentially alone, Ned struggles with the addition of so many new people to his life all at once. It's a juggle he sometimes loses, as with the initial rejection he gives Randy Man. But as he comes to accept that these people all care about him, he's much warmer in his reception of them and seems to mature at not-quite-thirty more than he ever has in his life. 

Which is how Ned comes to have a relationship with his younger (half) brothers Maurice and Ralston. They never knew he existed but after his father abandoned Ned for his new family he has harbored resentment and terrible jealousy for them. After their father ditches the twins as well and Ned reunites with them haphazardly, he comes to care about them and realize that they all are much the same. Except Ned is much more fucked up, a fact he owns up to. Ned's father was a magician which is why magic gives him acid reflux, but the twins have overcome this to become magic acts in their own right. It is through them that he reacquaints himself with the concept of family, and wherever he's traveled he's taken that close to his chest.

At his core, Ned is still that abandoned child vying for his father's devotion. He is often petty and immature and reacts defensively when things are his fault. Having spent so much of his life essentially alone, Ned struggles with the addition of so many new people to his life all at once. It's a juggle he sometimes loses, as with the initial rejection he gives Randy Man. But as he comes to accept that these people all care about him, he's much warmer in his reception of them and seems to mature at not-quite-thirty more than he ever has in his life. 

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Ned can bring dead things back to life with a single touch. But with a second touch, the undeaded thing is dead again forever. There's a catch: if he undeads a dead thing for more than 60 seconds, a second "equal" thing must die. Usually the closest in proximity, but always random. 

As long as the undeaded thing doesn't touch Ned again, it will live a long and healthy life. Ned's dog Digby was undeaded 20 years ago and is still pretty lively. 

i.e. If a person were to be undeaded a person would have to die. If there are no dead things in the immediate proximity that are within the same species it goes by size. For instance, a squirrel died to save Digby. Nothing but a human can replace a human life, presumably. 

Inventory:
(1) golden retriever roughly 22 years old, name Digby ( https://tvatemywardrobe.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/pushing-daisies-digby.png )
(1) set Cape & Cowl issued dog-tags “Ned” on one side and “The Pie Maker” on the other with “Hero” transcribed underneath
(1) Teleois Communication bracelet that functions by Telepathy (unsure if this would be nerfed completely and fall off upon arrival or would remain low-level until/if which time Ned gained a higher telepathic ability)
(1) brass key on a long black cord
(1) analog wristwatch ( http://watchesinmovies.info/img/f/PushingDasies-Larget.jpg ) with 60 second timer capability
(1) queen honey bee ready for hive-building
(1) fake mustache
(1) diary chronicling his time in the City, on the Tranquility, and in Teleois
(1) large & tall black peacoat
(1) pair of gray Chuck Taylors, size 12

Species/Race: Human
Appearance: Lee Pace ( http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/cb/ef/03/cbef03e58e7ed0ef60d225735f62d746.jpg )
6'3 and slim, shaggy dark brown hair, blue eyes with no notable scars or markings but one tattoo from his last jaunt aboard the Tranquility that reads 022 >> 009
Age: 30 + 3??? off-world birthdays

AU Clarification:  Ned is less hesitant and awkward with forging friendships, and his anxiety is much less crippling than it once was. After spending two years in the City and just shy of a year on the Tranquility, he has become a highly functioning adult more or less. He's learned about the internet, the future, space, he's met people he recognized from media and people he didn't. He's had such a vast array of experiences that included being best friends with the greatest Magician in the world (Zatanna Zatara). His acid reflux is still something he struggles with when he's nervous or afraid, but he has 'toughened up' considerably since leaving his home world. 

He has also become much more confident in himself entrepreneurially. He has now opened three new branches of the Pie Hole, one for each place he's gone. He expects the unexpected and he is still very much Ned. Awkward, repressed, has trouble with touch, but he's emboldened by his experiences and will be excited to return to the Tranquility and its surrounding area to help any way he can.

In the City he fought supervillains and on the Tranquility he fought space monsters. Back in Papen County he fought murderers. He will be very proactive in establishing relationships with people who want to get things done and want to do good. 

As mentioned above, he comes from a family of magicians. When he was a child, he did perform magic but after his father's abandonment he turned his back on it. After he meets Zatanna in the City and the two become quick friends, he begins to overcome his fears and accept magic back into his life. This was catalyzed by Maurice and Ralston but he never could have gotten over it without Zee, and after a year in the City he even performed his own magic act over the network. When he meets the Harry Potter cast in AX, he's still a bit nervous, but he comes to be very close to Sirius as well and be cool with his witch and wizard bros. 

In the City as well, he consulted with Jack Bauer who was on the police force at the time. They went through many bumps but their relationship was very similar to that of his and Emerson's in canon and it kept him grounded. Jack was arguably the closest and most complete friendship he has ever forged and they both trusted one another with their lives. Jack made him feel like a hero within the City and he misses Zee and Jack terribly today.

Ned's two greatest idols in canon are Luke Skywalker and Superman. One of his best friends in the City is Han Solo, a frequenter of the Pie Hole and he's even taken Ned up on the Falcon a few times. Ned had a cardboard cut-out custom made for the Pie Hole in the City and was more than delighted to find Han aboard the Tranquility. But Han did not remember him and it caused some serious inner turmoil for him. He was able to come to terms with it and try to rebuild their relationship, but Han never trusted him fully and it tore him up. 

Instead, on the TQ, he turns to fellow inventor Tony Stark. Tony had lost an eye on board and made a bionic one and Ned begins checking up on him each jump to make sure he's getting on alright. Tony is unsure of him at first but they become close. One jump Tony is gone and he's devastated, but Pepper arrives and Ned and she help each other get through the loss. That is until another Tony arrives with no recollection of earlier goings-on (and both eyes). Ned quickly befriends him as well and the three of them become something of a unit. 

When he first gets to the ship, Chuck and Digby are there to greet him. He hasn't seen his girlfriend in two years and it's very emotional for him, but awkward because he had (apparently) been on-board all along. Their relationship changes from canon slightly. They become more independent and less joined at the hip. Ned doesn't worry about her as much because he was away from her for so long, and he knows it's selfish to constantly be around someone you can't touch. Their relationship actually seems stronger for this; less desperate, and perhaps a bit more healthy. 

He's learned technology (haphazardly), learned how to defend himself (perhaps even more haphazardly), and is much more proficient at social exploits. In Teleois, he also began getting close to Pepper Potts and relayed his experiences in the City and on the Tranquility to anyone who would believe him.

S A M P L E S
Log Sample: Ned spits up blue jelly as the breathing tube is yanked from his throat. A familiar sensation overcomes him as he spills into the grav couch, coughing harshly as he pushes slick hair out of his eye. His memory harkens back to the first time this happened to him, and a strange mirthless grin comes over his face. He never thought he would see the ship again and it feels oddly like returning to the bosom of a welcoming friend; and even Chuck's description of a hug “spitting out your anxiety in a wet wad” seems apt, now. Without thinking, acting purely on instinct, Ned goes to retrieve a jumpsuit and pulls it on, tugging at the communications bracelet still wrapped firmly around his wrist. Teleois wasn't a dream. Neither was the City. And now that he's back here – it feels so much more real than the carpet of Chuck's aunt's living room under his feet just moments before.

Alarms are blaring, something is wrong. This homecoming doesn't feel so much like coming home anymore, and he jumps into action, pulling his shoes onto his still-wet feet and grabbing the items in his locker out of habit as somewhere a dog howls. Wait. That's his dog. “Digby!” he calls through the chaos, enlisting someone to carry him out while Ned keeps his distance. When it's his turn for rescue, he goes quietly, squinting up at the foreign sky. It's a full minute before he steels himself to look back over his shoulder, at his fallen ally. His Tranquility is in danger, but he can't worry about that now. He needs more and different information, and he asks it at rapidfire from anyone who isn't covered in blue goo. This is a man who knows the drill. He's unafraid, but still plenty worried.

“What jump is this?” “Where is Chuck?” “Chuck, Charlotte Charles?” “Is she still here?” “What happened to the ship?”

But soon he grows weary of the questions, or more especially the answers. He knows what happens now, he just doesn't want to acknowledge it. He joins the ranks of this new village the same way he has three times before. Some people here are as familiar to him as all the rest, but he's too tired now to approach them. It's just as likely that they won't recognize him as that they will, and if they do will they know the version of himself that he knows or another? Sometimes he feels utterly jaded by all this multiverse travel.

When he thinks he is alone with his thoughts and his dog, he traces a weird-looking stick on the ground and talks to himself. His diary is on the dirt next to him, Digby at an ever-safe distance. He doesn't dare open it, even if he can't remember things he's sure he should be able to now. The first time he left the City he discovered what people said was true – that while at home (though where was that, anymore?) it was impossible to reach these memories. It was only upon returning that they crashed back into his mind, sometimes barreling at a painful frequency while other times they came at a frustratingly slow pace, leaving off vital details he needed only to become moot days later when he remembered.

“Haven't I done enough Superman-ing? I was looking forward to an extended period of Clark Kent. ...Am I being selfish again? I don't not want to be here.” Not that he's even sure where here is, just yet. He shouldn't wish Chuck were here. She was supposed to be here, except things never worked that way. She had been here and Teleois, but not like him. She didn't remember. “What makes me specially equipped for this interworldly mingling? One magic finger only gets one so far.” Though apparently, that now included this galaxy, which to his limited knowledge of astronomy certainly wasn't the Milky Way.

He glances back at the ship, it's getting dark now. Cold. He should rest. “I'm sorry, girl. I wish I could touch you back to life.”

Comms Sample:

→ http://capeandcowl.dreamwidth.org/4057146.html#comments