realityshifted: Application
Player Name: Melissa
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228
Timezone: EST
Other Characters: Tenth Doctor (human) (d.9) handysparehand
Character: Annie Cartwright
Series/Fandom: Life On Mars
Deviance: Deviance 1
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Canon Used: Television
Appearance:
Psychology:
She has a strong need to prove herself. There is a huge amount of self doubt lingering there as well. These two qualities combined with the "boys club" environment of CID cause her to go a little further in an attempt to prove herself, yet she is always intimidated to go that extra mile at the same time. Almost afraid that if she does and is proven wrong, she'll end up back where she began. She has gained a certain amount of self confidence because of Sam's belief in her. This has pushed that need to prove herself more towards the surface. There is also a certain amount of "fear of failure" which is part of that self doubt. It can be seen in the hot and cold type of behavior she displays towards Sam in particular. If she plays it off as if she's not interested, then there can't be any embarrassment or awkwardness if he does reject her. She also has a tendency to be defensive at times, which also contributes to this hot and cold behavior.
She is also very patient when given a huge amount of things to deal with. She is able to absorb a lot of things that might break other people's brains. Just see her entire reaction to Sam Tyler. She is able to step back from situations and try to view them in the most rational way possible. Overall she is down to earth. She may have her moments where she acts impulsively when trying to prove herself, but on a larger scale she is dependable and reasonable.
She is very much a contradiction. She can be fearful and fearless. Proud and intimidated. A big part of this comes from the environment at the time, and a sense that the sort of ambition she has within the police force is somehow "not right" from the general attitude towards female police officers as well as her family's attitude towards her becoming a police officer.
She realizes the obstacles that the era she is in presents to her. She doesn't view them as obstacles though, she just views them as the way of things. She works with and around the system, finding ways to make things better but never really shaking up the status quo. She will speak up for herself, but she is able to tolerate the attitude of those around her, assuming it is normal (which it is for the time). This is reality and the best you can do is work within the system and try to get ahead playing by those rules and standards.
She is inquisitive by nature and gregarious. She is clever and enjoys working things out. She might be a little hesitant at first to speak up, but when she does she will gain her momentum and get into her comfort zone.
She also has a strong desire to help people, and this can also be seen in her relationship with Sam. At the same time, she invests herself heavily in them, and when they're not what she thought they were, it is all that much worse. She enjoys taking care of other people, and it gives her a sense of purpose. She is trustworthy and if asked to keep something in confidence, she will do this. She usually won't gossip beyond a few light hearted jokes. She has a sense of humour, but will cringe a little if it's too much at the expense of someone else.
She is loyal and despite any fear or hesitation, she will stand up and speak up for what she feels is the right thing, even if there are consequences.
Her life isn't invested in CID and she finds a way to keep busy with things outside of work. She is pretty well adjusted and has a healthy social life, although nothing very exciting.
Other Skills/Abilities:
She has a degree in psychology, so she has a strong understanding of behavior and motivation. She has basic first aid skills. She worked as a barmaid before going to university. She can make an awesome mix tape. She has dorky dancing down to a science. Being a police officer, she has some basic self defense skills. She never received proper fire arm training, but this might have been remedied after Gene gave her a gun.
Other Weaknesses:
This need to prove herself, as well as a bit of a stubborn streak cause her to sometimes jump first without thinking. Generally she has most human weaknesses. She is not generally the strongest or the fastest. She is in fairly good physical shape and she can hold her own in a sink or swim situation, but she isn't the most dangerous or strongest individual.
History:
Annie was born in 1944 to a middle class family. She is the second of three children, an older sister and a younger brother. She was bright and did fairly well in school. She passed her O-levels and took some time off between secondary school and university. She worked for a little while as a barmaid during this period.
Once in university, she took a liking to psychology and took this on as her major. During her psychology studies she took a course in criminology and took an instant liking to the topic. After graduation, she applied to join the Women's Division of the Manchester and Stratford Police Department. Her family did not approve of their career choice, feeling it was not a fitting job for a woman or for someone with her education.
Upon becoming a member of the Women's Division, she spent about five years working as a WPC. She did her job, had some mates at work, had a flatmate, had some mates outside of work. Woke up, went to work, went out with friends, a boyfriend here or there. Some of them were asses (see Neil), but overall she led a fairly normal, boring life.
Then we hit 1973. Enter Sam Tyler. He enters CID with a possible concussion and a severe case of the crazies. So they send him off to get checked out by one of the WPCs. And Annie's world gets hit by the craziness. Sam fills her in on the fact that he's really from 2006 and her and her entire life is just a figment of her imagination. He seems nice enough though, and he did just get a good knock on the head, so she just gives him a pat on the back, and then a good solid hit because he asked for it (literally) and decides she likes Sam despite the craziness. That doesn't stop her from thinking he's crazy. It doesn't help that she has to convince him not to jump off the roof of the Police Department. But she does, so we get two seasons of Sam's 1973 shenanigans!
During this time she also progresses through the ranks of the police department. She starts out as a WPC, and Sam immediately begins involving her in what is going on in CID. It starts with a psychological profile. Then she is left to safeguard a witness - which doesn't go as expected because of some people's failure to stay in a car in one spot. It all turns out all right, though. Things continue happening and her involvement keeps escalating. From volunteering to go undercover as a nurse in a hostage situation, and nearly dying to going undercover as a barmaid to try to discover an over eager football fan who turned to murder. Eventually Sam confides to her that a possible suspect might be his father, despite the fact the man is younger than Sam. She thinks he needs help, but she never brings herself to tell anyone. Instead she follows Sam's possible father into the woods, nearly getting herself killed. All the time though, all this effort gets her more and more involved in CID. To the point in fact where Chris trusts her with an incriminating tape, which she keeps from Sam to protect her fellow officers.
Time goes on and she gets closer to and more confused about Sam all at the same time. There is also an opening for a new DC in CID. After a long search, CID finds a new officer. WDC Annie Cartwright. Now she is out of uniform and is becoming more confident and self assured. She finds her independence and her own stride during this time. She is less afraid to speak up and talk back when necessary. She comes into her own while going undercover investigating a couple that are into wife-swapping, with Sam as her undercover husband. Later, Sam is out for the moment due to over-medication (devious hippies) and CID is left to solve a kidnapping involving an old murder case without his assistance. Annie finally calls Gene and the other members of CID into question for possibly rushing the investigation because they wanted it solved and not thoroughly investigating. The reaction is not very good and despite her fear that this puts her back into uniform, she still pushes the issue, and leads CID to the real kidnapping culprit. She also gets to keep herself out of uniform and may have earned herself some extra respect from her co-workers. She continues pushing herself harder and harder, showing her worth as a member of CID. She may or may not have found herself bound and gagged by a drug ring. It all ended up all right, though. And that is where we leave Annie at the moment.
So Sam brings the crazy, helps Annie along in her career, and she might like him a lot, despite his issues. So Saturdays are lost to making mix tapes or going to the cinema or just normal every day things. Five days a week after that though, Annie has been going undercover, getting kidnapped, solving mysteries, standing up for truth and justice and stuff and trying to figure out what exactly her not!boyfriend Sam Tyler's deal is.
Reality Description:
Her reality is 1973 - going on 1974 Manchester, England. This is a working class city that might be described as a bit stagnant. There are still ways to find entertainment. Night clubs, concert halls, cinemas, country clubs, etc. There is also a dark underbelly to the city. Murders, seedy boxing clubs, drug rings, corrupt cops, and other .
The members of Manchester's finest congregate at the Railway Arms, a local pub. Throughout the city there are other pubs as well, some dedicated to certain football clubs. There are also a few record shops, a canal, factories and so on and so forth. Most everything seems to be a little less than new (even for the era) and just a little gritty and worn in.