App: Underworld Wars
|| Player Information ||
Name: Brooke
Personal Journal: N/A
Time zone: Everchanging... Either GMT - 7 or GMT +8
Contact: Email: brooklyn2181@gmail.com AIM: nomodquestions Plurk: Brooklyn2181
Current Characters: None
|| Character Information ||
Fandom: Torchwood
Name: Gwen Cooper
Canon Point: End of TW Season 1 - Jack has just come back to life and run out after the Doctor. TW: End of Days, DW: Utopia.
Is this character dead? No
History: Wikia
Personality: Gwen has a very set idea of right and wrong and her stubborn nature makes it all but impossible to change her way of thinking. Fiercely loyal, there is nothing she wouldn't do for the ones she loves, regardless of the sometimes catastrophic consequences. She is the woman you want on your side but perhaps not somebody you can trust to remain level-headed and logical. She will choose to do what she thinks is right rather than consider the greater good, an endearing yet dangerous way to be given her line of work.
Getting involved with Torchwood may have opened her eyes to the possibilities of the universe, but has also left her feeling as though she doesn't completely belong anywhere. She is still in many ways clinging to the life she has always known but without the bliss of ignorance she can no longer relate to people the way she used to. Perhaps that is why she tries so hard to focus on the human element of everything she deals with. She is trying to force her two worlds to coexist with each other and try as she might, it's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
She has however learned a lot of things about herself, and not all of it has been things she likes. She considered herself to be an honest and good person until coming to Torchwood but has been on a gradual slide into moral ambiguity. Forced to conceal the truth from her friends and family, avoidance has turned into deceit and as the lies pile up, she finds it easier to do other things she never thought herself capable of, from cutting ties with her former best mate and beat partner Andy, to cheating on her long-term boyfriend Rhys. Though Jack insists she needs to keep her old life in order to retain the very thing that makes her special, it seems that in doing so she is failing at both.
Gwen is the sort of person who doesn't know how to leave well enough alone. Her curious mind was what made her an excellent cop and also led her to become a member of Torchwood but tied in with her stubborn nature can make her almost impossible to deal with. Once she has an idea in her head, you cannot sway her from her path no matter how illogical it may be.
Though you wouldn't go so far as to call her a sarcastic bitch, Gwen's combined quick wit and ability to state the obvious when others won't can leave you unsure of where you stand with her. You know she likes you or at least feels comfortable in your presence when she is happy to take the piss out of you. She will call you out on the embarrassing moments you are trying to pretend aren't real, but will do it with a wink and a smile.
As the newest member of Torchwood, it has taken Gwen time to get closer to some of her colleagues than others. Owen was the first to really welcome her into the fold, and what started as an antagonistic relationship developed into something more after a life and death situation ended in a kiss. Though Gwen was involved with somebody else, she found that Owen offered her not only an escape, but was somebody who actually understood what she went through with her job. Things have ended romantically between them and the relationship is somewhat frosty as a result. He is a constant reminder to her of what she is turning into.
Her relationships with Tosh and Ianto are less developed. Though not immediately apparent, Gwen and Ianto are very similar, especially when it comes to those they love. Both have shown that they can be reckless and selfish in order to protect what matters to them and though far from close, Gwen can strongly empathise with what Ianto goes through. Gwen and Tosh on the other hand are so completely different that its hard for them to connect. While Gwen will often wear her heart on her sleeve, Tosh's reserved nature is in stark contradiction to everything Gwen is. She has tried to understand the girl, has even tried to reach out in her own way but they have never completely warmed to each other.
Her relationship with Jack is almost symbolic of the struggle she faces in life. He is the man who opened her eyes to the world yet the choices he makes within Torchwood leave her torn between loving and loathing him. Jack has shown that he will risk the lives of a few to save the masses and though she can almost admire him, she finds herself disgusted at the same time. Her instinct is to always be loyal to him and yet her head, and even heart tells her that he is wrong. It took almost losing him for good for her to realise that no matter what he does, a life without Jack in it, is no life at all.
Her relationship with Rhys has become strained since coming to Torchwood. She knows that she has been unfair to him, that he deserves better, but she doesn't know how to get back what they lost or how to move forward. She neglects him, lies to him, takes her frustrations out on him and yet no matter how hard she pushes, he keeps coming back for more. The guilt she feels consumes her and yet she doesn't want to be honest with him because she is both scared of losing him, and scared to be alone.
Skills | Powers: Nothing of the super variety. Gwen's greatest asset is in many ways her greatest weakness. She always sees the human element in a situation and will always try to make sure it can be resolved without harm coming to anyone. That being said, she doesn't believe in sacrificing others for the greater good. She is more than capable with a gun.
First Person Sample: 001: Video
[The camera shows an angle view of a wall, then shifts quickly to the floor as the woman holding the tablet turns it around.]
Oh right, there we go...
[Her thickly accented voice sounds somewhat flustered as she settles herself on on top of a cabinet, blowing her fringe out of her eyes.]
Hello... [waves]. Nice little piece of equipment this, very flash. Would have been better had it come with an instruction manual but... yes
So, I don't know if you're getting this but Jack... [All humor draining from her features]. I'm not an idiot. I know you have something to do with this so why don't you start by telling me where the bloody hell I am!
Third Person Sample:
Gwen blinked, a single tear trailing her cheek as she stared at the lifeless body of the man who had changed her world. She wasn't crying. Crying meant that she'd lost hope. Crying meant she believed that the enigma that was Jack Harkness was never coming back to her and that was unacceptable. She was just exhausted, the combination of lack of sleep and the bright fluorescents making her eyes sting that's all. At least that was what she told herself.
Gwen felt as if she'd run a marathon and yet she'd barely moved from this spot since they'd laid him here, waiting for him to open his eyes, for that trademark smirk to curve his lips, for him to make a sarcastic remark before he sprung into action. She knew the others thought she was stupid but that didn't matter. Nothing would matter anymore if they were right, if he really was gone.
“You lied to me Jack.” Her brow furrowed as her eyes traced the dark bruises under his eyes, tentative fingers reaching out to touch his hair. She'd never known how soft his hair was until now. You could look at a person every day and yet miss the simplest things about them. She liked to touch his hair. It was easier to think of him as sleeping when she didn't feel his icy skin.
“You're not supposed to be able to die - You told me, you couldn't die and I know you're a lying bastard but...” She shook her head, just saying those words hurt too much.
She'd contemplated her own death. It was a hazard in her line of work. The life expectancy of a Torchwood agent was comparable to a carton of milk. She didn't want to die, she'd fight tooth and nail to live if it came to it, but she accepted the fact that it could happen and she was ok with it. She wasn't afraid of her own mortality, but a life without Jack? That was like trying to imagine a night without the moon.
“Come on Jack... Just, open your eyes for me.... twitch a finger, something.” She stared at him, holding her breath as she waited for something to happen, her heart pounding in her chest the only sound in the room.
“Wake up!!!” Her voice bounced off the walls, the echo rung in her ears and a silent sob heaved in her chest as the little energy she was clinging to drained out of her. Gwen collapsed against Jack's body, her head resting on his chest as if hoping to hear the beat of a heart that would never come.
He didn't even smell like her Jack now. That musky scent that she knew so well, the one that could make her smile even when she was angry at him. She'd catch a hint of it and the corners of her mouth would pull up before she would remember to look stern again. Now he it was just, nothing. Cold and empty.
“I need you Jack.” She whispered, tears she was too exhausted to fight off rolling down her cheeks.
“We all need you... but I need you.” She took a shuddering breath, his hard lifeless body like a stone beneath the warmth of her own. She wanted him to hold her then, to reassure her that everything was going to be ok, to stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head, but he wouldn't and though it was literally destroying her to accept it, she realised he was never going to do any of those things again.
Jack Harkness. The man who couldn't die was now the man who wouldn't live. And she, Gwen Cooper, was the one to blame.