Natalie Rivers Dobson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hiddenstrengths) wrote2006-06-13 07:46 pm
hiddenstrengths) wrote2006-06-13 07:46 pm
OOC Info
Okay, here are the rules about Nat, and her powers, as they stand.
Natalie looks, and smells, like an ordinary prepubescent human female. She's nearing puberty but is about two years away from her first menstrual cycle. There's nothing about her physical appearance that would signal "half-alien!" And nothing about her scent that would do this either. Pups with an ability to sense electromagnetic distortions, or "read auras," would definitely have an awareness that something is different about her. However, they would have no way of knowing the cause, and she'd probably just have the same "spectral" appearance as a strong psychokinetic of Earth origin. No Godmoding the "alien factor."
How Natalie's language thing works:
Natalie only appears, to the native English speakers around her, to speak English. Exactly what she does speak is rather mysterious, because attempts to record her actual vocalizations always fail. She can be considered telepathic, but she has no ability to read minds willy-nilly. What she hears is the intention behind the communications people make, when they make it. They have to be trying to communicate in order for her to hear it at all. This means that any conscious organism that is attempting communication is going to get its message through to her, and get hers in return. This could be a squirrel, a dolphin, a Frenchman, an African Bushman, a Yautja, etc.
People who talk with Natalie think she's speaking their language, and won't believe otherwise if you tell them that she isn't. She doesn't know she isn't, either, and recording what she is saying, in an attempt to prove just which language she's speaking in, does no good. The playback won't have anything on it. Nat's voice doesn't record, and she also fails to show up in photographs and video recordings. This has, in the course of her short life, been dismissed as a glitch and, after the first few times it happened, she began making a conscious effort to avoid such situations.
Because what Natalie really hears is the intentions behind the words, it's a little harder to lie to her than to most people. If you're thinking it, and it's part of what's motivating your speech, she will probably hear it as an intrinsic part of what you said. She hears a lot of subtext as if it were text. She's incredibly uncomfortable around people with ill intentions, and people with mental illnesses that result in disconnects between thought and speech, or incoherent thought behind very coherent-sounding speech. She will hear the incoherent thoughts, even as everybody else is reacting to something that sounds perfectly reasonable. On the plus side, this also means that if you misuse a word -- due to malapropisms or aphasia -- she'll understand what you really meant to say.
((Muns: Please work with me on this. If your character is saying one thing to Nat and really meaning something else, unless they have powers of their own that would allow them to shape what she hears, please clue me (and her) in to what she'd really hear and understand. This isn't a godmodey thing, she just gets different messages from insincere words than most people and if your character is going to interact with hers, it needs to be taken into account. I won't use it to pop bubbles or break plots, but Nat needs to react authentically, even if nobody else understands why.))
This communication issue also applies to sign languages, although again, if Natalie replies to someone in sign languages, she'll probably really just be making random, gibberishy gestures that are in and of themselves meaningless and undisciplined. The person she makes them to, however, will genuinely think that they were replied to in their own sign language. Once again, there's no way to prove them wrong by a recording.
And speaking of recordings, Natalie cannot understand them. Movies, television, radio, and CDs... none of them make sense to her. She can see the images and hear the sounds, but because there isn't an actual, living consciousness projecting out from them, she can't understand them. For her, sitting through any movie is like watching a foreign film with no subtitles. Music is just pretty sounds to her; the only way she ever knows what the songs are about is if someone prints out he actual lyrics for her to read. She can read, and she is literate, but her whole way of processing spoken and heard language is very inhuman.
Locks:
Locks just open for Natalie. It's not something she's all that aware of either. To her knowledge, she's just never encountered a locked door, window, gate, etc. Explaining to her that you have to do more than simply tug on a padlock or combination lock to make it open will get you a confused look and a "but it always works." This is done psychokinetically and very much unconsciously and instinctually. It applies to physical locking mechanisms, especially ones made of metal. Most of the standard electronic locks also respond to her, since they need fairly simple electromagnetic input. (Her power can simulate a card-key as well as a physical key.) Locks that require specific combinations, and/or interaction with a computer database, however, will not open. Nat cannot hack computers with her mind. At least, not yet. (Probably not ever.)
Cameras and other recordings:
Almost any Earth technology from prior to 2300 will be incapable of recording Natalie's presence. Technology made after 2150, or modern technology specifically designed to record electromagnetic field disturbances, may manage to record some sign of her existence, but you won't be able to tell by looking at/listening to it that it's recorded a human girl. Muns: post here if you want to discuss further refinements.
Family:
Natalie's mother is dead. End of story. No Nexus-LOL-ing her back, either. Nat's a pretty stoic girl, so she just avoids talking about that much. If it comes up, she'll seem more angry than hurt, but if pushed, she'll cry bucketloads about it.
Natalie's father is alive, somewhere. I haven't decided yet exactly what's happened to him (still figuring that plotting out) whether he left Earth (and might return) or whether he's still on Earth. He may or may not know Natalie exists. If anyone is interested in playing him, let me know and we'll discuss things in more detail. No bringing him in until we do. He's still my character even if I haven't really figured out much about him yet.
Roger Hamlin; same deal. He's somewhere out there and I haven't decided what to do with him yet. If someone's interested in playing him, woo hoo, let's talk. But he's still mine until/unless someone knocks my socks off with an idea for him.
Natalie looks, and smells, like an ordinary prepubescent human female. She's nearing puberty but is about two years away from her first menstrual cycle. There's nothing about her physical appearance that would signal "half-alien!" And nothing about her scent that would do this either. Pups with an ability to sense electromagnetic distortions, or "read auras," would definitely have an awareness that something is different about her. However, they would have no way of knowing the cause, and she'd probably just have the same "spectral" appearance as a strong psychokinetic of Earth origin. No Godmoding the "alien factor."
How Natalie's language thing works:
Natalie only appears, to the native English speakers around her, to speak English. Exactly what she does speak is rather mysterious, because attempts to record her actual vocalizations always fail. She can be considered telepathic, but she has no ability to read minds willy-nilly. What she hears is the intention behind the communications people make, when they make it. They have to be trying to communicate in order for her to hear it at all. This means that any conscious organism that is attempting communication is going to get its message through to her, and get hers in return. This could be a squirrel, a dolphin, a Frenchman, an African Bushman, a Yautja, etc.
People who talk with Natalie think she's speaking their language, and won't believe otherwise if you tell them that she isn't. She doesn't know she isn't, either, and recording what she is saying, in an attempt to prove just which language she's speaking in, does no good. The playback won't have anything on it. Nat's voice doesn't record, and she also fails to show up in photographs and video recordings. This has, in the course of her short life, been dismissed as a glitch and, after the first few times it happened, she began making a conscious effort to avoid such situations.
Because what Natalie really hears is the intentions behind the words, it's a little harder to lie to her than to most people. If you're thinking it, and it's part of what's motivating your speech, she will probably hear it as an intrinsic part of what you said. She hears a lot of subtext as if it were text. She's incredibly uncomfortable around people with ill intentions, and people with mental illnesses that result in disconnects between thought and speech, or incoherent thought behind very coherent-sounding speech. She will hear the incoherent thoughts, even as everybody else is reacting to something that sounds perfectly reasonable. On the plus side, this also means that if you misuse a word -- due to malapropisms or aphasia -- she'll understand what you really meant to say.
((Muns: Please work with me on this. If your character is saying one thing to Nat and really meaning something else, unless they have powers of their own that would allow them to shape what she hears, please clue me (and her) in to what she'd really hear and understand. This isn't a godmodey thing, she just gets different messages from insincere words than most people and if your character is going to interact with hers, it needs to be taken into account. I won't use it to pop bubbles or break plots, but Nat needs to react authentically, even if nobody else understands why.))
This communication issue also applies to sign languages, although again, if Natalie replies to someone in sign languages, she'll probably really just be making random, gibberishy gestures that are in and of themselves meaningless and undisciplined. The person she makes them to, however, will genuinely think that they were replied to in their own sign language. Once again, there's no way to prove them wrong by a recording.
And speaking of recordings, Natalie cannot understand them. Movies, television, radio, and CDs... none of them make sense to her. She can see the images and hear the sounds, but because there isn't an actual, living consciousness projecting out from them, she can't understand them. For her, sitting through any movie is like watching a foreign film with no subtitles. Music is just pretty sounds to her; the only way she ever knows what the songs are about is if someone prints out he actual lyrics for her to read. She can read, and she is literate, but her whole way of processing spoken and heard language is very inhuman.
Locks:
Locks just open for Natalie. It's not something she's all that aware of either. To her knowledge, she's just never encountered a locked door, window, gate, etc. Explaining to her that you have to do more than simply tug on a padlock or combination lock to make it open will get you a confused look and a "but it always works." This is done psychokinetically and very much unconsciously and instinctually. It applies to physical locking mechanisms, especially ones made of metal. Most of the standard electronic locks also respond to her, since they need fairly simple electromagnetic input. (Her power can simulate a card-key as well as a physical key.) Locks that require specific combinations, and/or interaction with a computer database, however, will not open. Nat cannot hack computers with her mind. At least, not yet. (Probably not ever.)
Cameras and other recordings:
Almost any Earth technology from prior to 2300 will be incapable of recording Natalie's presence. Technology made after 2150, or modern technology specifically designed to record electromagnetic field disturbances, may manage to record some sign of her existence, but you won't be able to tell by looking at/listening to it that it's recorded a human girl. Muns: post here if you want to discuss further refinements.
Family:
Natalie's mother is dead. End of story. No Nexus-LOL-ing her back, either. Nat's a pretty stoic girl, so she just avoids talking about that much. If it comes up, she'll seem more angry than hurt, but if pushed, she'll cry bucketloads about it.
Natalie's father is alive, somewhere. I haven't decided yet exactly what's happened to him (still figuring that plotting out) whether he left Earth (and might return) or whether he's still on Earth. He may or may not know Natalie exists. If anyone is interested in playing him, let me know and we'll discuss things in more detail. No bringing him in until we do. He's still my character even if I haven't really figured out much about him yet.
Roger Hamlin; same deal. He's somewhere out there and I haven't decided what to do with him yet. If someone's interested in playing him, woo hoo, let's talk. But he's still mine until/unless someone knocks my socks off with an idea for him.