Application
Your name: Deense
Your personal LJ: deense
Who do you currently play at Tabula Rasa?: Toshiko Sato, Teyla Emmagen, Anthony DiNozzo
Please list the dates of your participation requirement threads or posts for each pup for the previous calendar month:
Tosh: Post 14 & 25 April + tags
Teyla: Post 11 April + tags
Tony: Post 12 & 30 April + tags
Have you dropped any pup since your last application? No
What month and year is this application for?: May 2007
Your character's name: Anya Jenkins
Your character's canon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
What type of canon is it (Book series, film, etc.): TV Series
Your character's LJ: oddly_literal
Is your character living or dead at their time of entry?: dead
Does your character have any pre-existing disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature?: (paralyzed or missing limbs, AIDS, barren, schizophrenia, etc.) No.
Your character's personality: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing the major aspects of your pup's personality. This is NOT the same as background information.)
As her username says, Anya's defining characteristic is that she can often be oddly literal, which can lead to her seeming to be tactless. She does not understand a great deal of human interaction or niceties, and she consistently says exactly what she's thinking. Often it comes out wrong, or makes her seem snarky or inappropriate. This trait frustrates her greatly. She desperately wants to fit in and be part of the gang, to be human and normal. But after spending so long as a demon, she truly doesn't get the why. Why people interact the way they do and what motivates them. She doesn't consider herself human; she refers to people as being separate from her.
However, she also likes being part of things, and this can make her quite needy and clingy, especially with Xander. She always wants to know what it is she's done that is wrong, and the why of it, so she can try to assimilate. She doesn't understand how her actions are different then those of others. This also makes her a very bad liar.
She is quite intelligent, for all that she cannot pick up on nuances. She has over 1000 years of memories to pull on, and this can make her very resourceful. She often comes up with an idea or solution seemingly out of left field.
She was a cold-blooded murderer who really felt no remorse for what she had done, until the second time she found herself a demon. Even after that, once she was human again, she could refer to atrocities she committed with a flippancy that seemed sometimes shocking.
Anya also has an overwhelming appreciation of money and commerce that most people likely see as greed. To her it represents security and stability in a tangible, literal way.In the end, she does care deeply for the other scoobies, she just doesn't know how to show it. When she dies at the end, saving Andrew's life, Xander says with pride, "That’s my girl… always doing the stupid thing."
Why do you want to play this character?: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's general ability to contribute to the fictional community of Tabula Rasa.)
Anya is a character that has always fascinated me. After a human life of only twenty years, she was transformed into a demon, over a millenium ago. The experience is so far behind her it’s unreal.
When she finds herself human again, she doesn't know what to do with herself, but she manages. She tries. She builds relationships and friendships with those around her. She often screws up, she has a complete lack of tact and no understanding for how the simplest things work, though it's obvious she is quite intelligent. But despite so many things about it making no sense to her, humanity fascinates her as much as it occasionally infuriates her.
When she is left at the altar by Xander on the day of their wedding, she is deeply hurt-to a level she’s never experienced before. She becomes a demon again, then realises that she can no longer BE a demon; her heart is not in it. She’s developed morals and a human perspective. She gives up the demon life and goes back to being human, but she’s a different Anya than before. She is darker now, more cynical than she was before, but she still does not have a true understanding of what it is to be human, or of the complexities of human relationships. That is really just sinking in at the finale when she is killed.
I think Anya still has a long journey to go on. She is human, but she isn't. She doesn't truly understand what that means and she’s just beginning to learn. On the island she will be forced to continue that journey without any influence of magic or otherworldiness-aside from the island’s own innate magic. I don't think she will quite know how to deal with that, as it has been a constant in her life for practically forever. I can see her finding Death quite interesting especially, as in a way they have a similar sort of experience with now being human. At first though, I suspect she will want to stay close to those she knows, and who know her, mainly Faith and Spike.
How she looks at humans, how she's changed, and how she's made their issues her own, but she still has so far to go is epitomized for my by a quote from s7e32:
ANDREW: So how come you’re here? I mean, you could just go, right?
ANYA: Yeah. I did once before.
ANDREW: Before what?
ANYA: Well, there was this other apocalypse this one time and… well, I took off. But this time, I don’t know…
ANDREW: Well, what’s different?
ANYA: Well, I guess I was kinda new to being around humans before. But now I’ve seen a lot more, gotten to know
people, seen what they’re capable of and… I guess I just realized how amazingly screwed up they all are. I mean,
really, really screwed up in a monumental fashion.
ANDREW: Oh.
ANYA: And they have no purpose that unites them so they just drift around blundering through life until they die… which they know is coming yet every single one of them is surprised when it happens to them. They’re incapable of thinking about what they want beyond the moment. They kill each other, which is clearly insane… and yet here’s the
thing. When it’s something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they’re lame morons for fighting but they do. They never… they never quit. So I guess I will keep fighting, too.
Tell us about your character's background: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's past and present. The future may be included, if relevant. Also be sure to include the point at which s/he is leaving canon):
Anya was born in 860 A.D. in Sjornjost, Sweden, and originally named Aud. Always different than the rest of the village, she raised bunnies and never got on well with the villagers. Her partner (Olaf) at the time cheated on her, and she sought revenge by turning him into a troll. Because of her skill and initiative she was offered a job by D'Hoffryn as a vengeance demon, which she accepted. Providing women with a means of vengeance for the men that betrayed them seemed appropriate and fulfilling. D'Hoffryn renamed her Anyanka, an identity she would embrace for the next millenium She dedicated herself completely to the cause of vengeance as seen ] in a conversation during season 7 with Hallie, another vengeance demon and her only friend. Anyanka claimed that vengeance was truly her life.
Anyanka first appears in S3 of Buffy, arriving to provide Cordelia with vengeance against Xander for cheating on her with Willow. Cordy wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, and a horrifying alternate world is shown. At the end of the episode Anyanka is made human through the destruction of her centre of power, a necklace D'Hoffryn had gifted to her. Although she develops a crush on Xander, she flees Sunnydale at the end of Season three when an apocalypse is pending, only to return in season 4. Xander and she quickly develop a relationship, but she often finds herself at odds with the rest of Buffy's gang, mostly due to her tactlessness.
She eventually becomes an important, if still odd, part of the gang, going into partnership with Giles in the Magic Box, a local magic shop. She and Xander get engaged in S6, but he leaves her at the altar after being confronted by a man claiming to be a future Xander, showing how miserable he was later in life because of her. In truth, the man who appeared to Xander was a man named Stuart that Anya cursed, seeking vengeance of his own. Heartbroken, vulnerable and betrayed, she accepts D'Hoffryn's offer to become a vengeance demon again.
In season 7 she comes close to being killed by Buffy for murdering an entire fraternity house to grant a vengeance wish. Xander and Willow both intercede on her behalf, and in the end she asks D'Hoffyn to make her human again. He asks for the life of a vengeance demon in exchange and she agrees, thinking he means hers. Instead he takes Hallie, which hurts her deeply.
Returned to a mortal life, she begins to work with the scoobies again. She and Xander never do truly get back together, but their relationship is hinted at and it is clear they both care deeply for each other. She is killed in the series finale, helping to defend Sunnydale--and the world--from The First. It is from this point that she is brought in.
Your character's initial personal inventory: (This is a detailed list of everything on a person when they first arrive on the Island. It should include clothes, accessories, carried items, etc. Should your pup be in possession of a device that requires a battery, please include the power level of the battery/ies. This list cannot be too detailed!)
Sword
Jeans
Black flats
Pink T-shirt - slashed at one shoulder and bloody
Blue striped jacket - slashed at one shoulder and bloody
Gold earrings, hoops
Black bra and panties
Your character's entrance post: (This may be altered once you actually post your pup in, but our primary goal here is to ensure you have put a modicum of thought into how you will go about portraying your pup.)
Waiting. The waiting was the worst bit. They could hear it. The Vampires' cries of rage as they charged out of the Hellmouth. It echoed through the halls of the school. It sounded like there were a lot of them. Too many of them. Far too many. Anya stood there nervously, sword clenched in her hands, rooted to the floor. This feeling in her stomach, what was it? This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
"I think they’re coming." Andrew paced behind her, sounding ready for--what, the hordes, it had to be hordes that were to come.
"Oh, god." Anya couldn't stop shaking, her words rushed and voice high, "I’m terrified. I didn’t think- I mean, I just figured you’d be terrified and I would be sarcastic about it."
"Picture happy things." Andrew held the sword at the ready behind her. "A lake, candy canes, bunnies…"
Her breath caught with his final word, her hands not shaking now. "Bunnies," Her voice was cold as she raised her sword in front of her. That thing, that feeling in her stomach was gone, replaced with resolve. "Floppy, hoppy, bunnies."
It was enough. Enough that she could face them, fight them.
Before long there was no time to notice any fear. She was fighting, killing. She didn't leave this time, didn't run away, she fought with them. Vampires becoming dust, demons dying, Andrew doing his part. She heard him faintly and turned, seeing him against a wall. Then another vampire went down because of her sword and Andrew was fighting again.
Then she felt it, before the thoughts even really had time to register. That she was doing this. She hadn't left, she had stayed and fought with them. That now she really was one of them. That Xander would be so proud of her for this. The pain cut through all of that. Oh gods, the pain, as she stiffened and fell, her eyes wide in shock, the world fading out to black.
It was the coughing that woke her. Her coughing, blood of all things. "Am I dead?" She jerked upright, her hand flying to her neck where she'd been cut. She could remember that, the feel of the blade, just for a second. Her hand came away bloody, but there was no wound, nothing there. That was when she noticed; this wasn't the school. It was a beach, the water in front of her. "Did I die and end up in some sort of heaven?" This had to be some sort of joke. There was no way this was possible."Xander? Buffy?" Maybe this was a trick. It could be a trick, right? It was the sort of thing that D'Hoffryn would do--well, she would have done it to someone, make them think they'd gone to heaven, then whammo! hell dimension. She sat, ignoring the sword beside her, not sure what do to. "D'Hoffryn?"
"Anybody?"