application
Jul. 17th, 2013 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
voiceofOOC Information:
Name: Aisu.
Are you over 15? Yes.
Contact: Skype is afteralways, you can PM me here, whatever works.
IC Information:
Name: Cecil Baldwin (whether that's his last name pre-incarnation, or whether he even has a last name, is not entirely clear.)
Canon: Welcome To Night Vale
Age: 30; preincarnation age unknown.
Preincarnation Appearance: Please keep in mind that this is 100% headcanon, given the entire 'entirely verbal medium' thing. Still, Cecil is tall and thin, with pale skin and pale (slightly receding) blonde hair slicked to the side, pale blue eyes, and a handful of pale scars here and there. He dresses neatly, tends to favor ties, and generally tries his best to look professional. He also wears thick-rimmed black glasses. For icons, I'll be using Stephen Merchant.
Any differences: He's basically the same, except for the loss of the scars.
Preincarnated History: Understand that the world of Night Vale is unclear, potentially self-contradictory, and vague, and Cecil's life is even more so. He may or may not be human, for a small example. Because of this, there is some headcanon in here. At the same time, so much happens in Night Vale that I cannot possibly list all the potentially major plot points.
Night Vale is a desert community somewhere in the southwestern US (but not in Texas), and also possibly on a different plane of existence altogether. Its residents have gotten entirely used to being run by shadow governments, having demons attack from the darkness, being turned into shadow creatures, not being allowed in the dog park because only hooded figures are allowed in the dog park, etc. They also have to deal with PTA meetings, their bitter athletic rivalry with neighboring Desert Bluffs (which is possibly even worse), and all the other issues of small town life. Basically, everything is constantly surreal and horrible, to the point where the surreal horror is now mundane and just a part of life to deal with.
Cecil, by Night Vale standards, is almost perfectly normal, which means that he had two biological parents (he does, at least, mention a mother on the show), fairly few extra organs and no extra limbs, etc. He lived a normal-by-Night-Vale standards life and reached adulthood successfully, which was quite a milestone. He took a trip around Europe (or something like Europe, at least, although many of the countries he visited do not exist in our world and one ceased to exist after his visit). He then, somehow, acquired a job doing nightly news reports on Night Vale's community radio station, which presumably was difficult given that station management consists entirely of thrashing, screaming horrors from beyond our reality.
Since then, Cecil has been the Voice of Night Vale, delivering the news, editorials, and the weather (the last in the form of seemingly randomly-chosen music), keeping Night Vale informed. While his various interns seem to all end up dying in the service of community radio, Cecil has managed to survive thus far, despite some close calls with management, hovering, sentient, malevolent clouds, and much, much more.
Eventually a scientist came to Night Vale to study it - Carlos, who according to Cecil was absolutely perfect, and whom Cecil fell for instantly. (On the same day, the dog park was opened, but this is probably unrelated.) Cecil fell more and more in love, although Carlos mostly seemed to want to discuss the fact that time did not actually work in Night Vale and similar subjects.
Cecil also adopted a cat, which was problematic because the cat was, in fact, hovering four feet off the floor of the men's bathroom in the station, unable to move from his position. Still, he came to love the cat, and took good care of Koshek and his kittens (which were also hovering at various heights).
During the next year, Cecil got a brief glimpse of hated rival Desert Bluffs, or at least the recording studio in Desert Bluffs. It appeared to be covered and/or made out of blood and various body parts, and Cecil panicked and left quickly. He also discovered that he had a counterpart - Kevin, who gave the morning news broadcasts in Desert Bluffs and who looked almost like Cecil (except for the eyes, and the smile).
Eventually, after a number of other events, including the arrival of the Whispering Forest, the first appearances of the Man in the Tan Jacket, and similar, the perfect Carlos was nearly killed by the tiny residents of a miniature city underneath the pin retrieval area of lane 5 in a bowling alley. In the aftermath, he apparently had new revelations about how he felt about things, and he and Cecil became an item (as Cecil gleefully broadcasted to the world).
Life since then progressed mostly normally, with the Faceless Woman Who Lives In Your House announcing that she wanted to run for mayor and the town briefly all turning into terrifying shadow-beings. Normal, everyday events.
Reincarnated History: Cecil Baldwin is an actually normal resident of Locke City, born to perfectly average parents. A talent for journalism in high school and a voice that seemed to be made for radio steered his career young, although he briefly considered becoming a poet. (He was a fairly terrible poet.)
He ended up finding himself loving being able to reach people from miles away, and figured it was a path where he could use his talents. In addition, radio became a bit of a compensation mechanism for the slight isolation he felt from the world, although he never admitted it to himself - his tendency to over-share and ramble made him few friends, and he mostly only got to speak to anyone through a microphone.
He did college radio all through his time at LCU, getting a reputation for his voice and his slight, dry humor. Out of college, he started working for a small public radio station (call sign WTNV), and after a year or two working other jobs he ended up becoming a broadcaster. Currently, he does evening news broadcasts, focusing on local community events, interviews with Locke City residents, and similar public radio events.
He's far from famous, and the pay is such that he can only afford a tiny apartment in a bad part of town, but he enjoys his work (for the most part) and that's what matters. He does have a few fans, if not many, and to most he's just an anonymous voice when they end up listening to talk radio for whatever reason. He's also recorded a few audio books for a bit of extra income, and finds himself enjoying the work.
At the moment he's settled into a comfortable point in his life, if one that sometimes seems a tiny bit lonely and lacking.
First Echo: One day, as he was driving to work, he decided to vary his route a little to spare a little time. On the way, he passed a dog park, which happened to be apparently abandoned. The sight triggered a sudden flash of memory - high, black, smooth walls, with something's mutilated body laying just beyond them. He nearly crashed his car into a post. Since then, he's had a certain amount of wariness around dog parks in general, a certain sense that they're all unsafe.
Preincarnation Personality: Cecil is, under the vast majority of circumstances, calm and unflappable. While part of this is a normal part of growing up in Night Vale, he also prides himself on staying professional, and on reporting the facts as evenly as he can. In most conversations, he comes off as polite and friendly, if a tiny bit distant.
However, certain circumstances can alter this impression. One is love. Cecil falls in love quickly and deeply, although he's picky about who he falls for, tending to favor intelligence (and curly hair) along with a number of factors he couldn't really name. When in love, he'd do anything for his beloved, and will in fact basically worship them. He has no need for them to return the feeling, although he'd certainly enjoy it. He also has a tendency to gush about his feelings openly. However, he sometimes loses all his conversational skills when actually talking to people he likes, and this is a source of embarrassment to him.
In addition, while Cecil is slow to anger, once someone has pushed him too far he never shows forgiveness. He's far from a violent man - as he puts it, "I just don’t believe violence is ever the answer. It is a question. The real answer is far more terrifying." - but he will make his dislike for those who have pushed him very clear, and can get very bitter and angry when talking about them. He also has a low tolerance for stupidity and bigotry, and this shines through on occasion.
The last circumstance is extreme fear. While Cecil generally smiles politely in the face of things that some men would scream in terror at and offers them a microphone for an interview, once in a while something gets under his skin and he melts down, breaking into sobs. In times like this he often clings to any shreds of professionalism he can manage, often badly. Points of fear include an overabundance of organs (a few are probably okay), tentacled horrors, and the thought of those he loves dying.
He does sometimes go into digressions on his show, mostly strange and poetic, often about those he has fallen in love with. He has a slight tendency to ramble when allowed to, public or private, and only barely keeps himself in check at the best of things. He has a somewhat nihilistic sense of the world that shows through in these ramblings, although he keeps a sense of good cheer about it.
While he has a certain sense of humor, mostly dark, he rarely, if ever, laughs. He smiles often, though, although it's a rather thin, small smile.
He is always honest, except when he is forced not to be by external forces, and is utterly committed to delivering what he sees to be the truth. He considers himself and his job key to his community, and he is quietly proud of all he has done.
He also tends to expect everyone else to be as honest as he is, and he can be somewhat overly trusting and quick to believe. The quickness with which he falls in love reflects this - he trusts people he loves to be what he expects them to be. Any betrayal is a quick way to earn Cecil's unrelenting anger.
Because of this natural trust, he tends to be loyal to authority figures, although he's not afraid to criticize what he sees as poor choices by them. In general, given orders to obey or broadcasts to relay, he trusts the government and other authorities to know what they're doing unless he has good reason not to.
He also has a weakness for cute cats and cute cat videos, although he claims to not be a cat person.
Any differences: Cecil is much less unshakable than his preincarnation version, at least on matters of horror. He tends to avoid horror movies, and he gets very squeamish at the sight of blood. While he's not particularly overly fearful, he tends to prefer brightly lit spaces and comforting sights. This is thanks to not being deadened to horror when a child. He's also fairly skeptical about the supernatural and the strange.
His reporting style is slightly more bland, without his former tendency to digress constantly. He also sometimes cuts himself off in conversations when he notices he's starting to go on a tangent, while he would have simply run with it before and let it happen.
He is much less open about being in love and much shier, after a few early incidents with trying to show how much he cared and being labeled as 'clingy' and 'creepy' for it. In addition, outside a few flings in college, he has not managed any relationships. He's slightly pessimistic about love in general.
While he'd never admit it, Cecil is discontent in a way he never was in his old life, feeling like he could do more than he is. While he's settled into his routines, and while he does enjoy his job, he knows that nearly no one listens to him and that his reporting is largely fluff pieces. Still, he does his best to continue on.
Abilities:
Cecil, while he had very little control of it and may not have even been aware of it, was clairvoyant. He was able to tell what was happening in Night Vale without any real need for eyewitness reports, able to speak on things that were mean to be unknowable like the Shape In Grove Park That Nobody Acknowledges Or Speaks About or the first meeting of the Council of Elders, sometimes able to report on the future, and, in one memorable case, able to report on every detail of what was happening in one specific person's day. This knowledge came to him organically and naturally, but he had little choice over exactly what he knew and didn't know, and it was anything but reliable.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person: Coffee was always a blessing, in the mornings. The bitter taste was almost as effective as the caffeine in waking him up, the dark grounds contrasting with the brightness of the day. It's like life, he thinks. Dark and rich and a little bitter, but with the sun shining overhead.
He's not entirely certain what cream and sugar would indicate.
He swirls the coffee in his mug, studying it, noting the way it stains the walls of the cup a pale brown for a few moments. The cup has a kitten on it, and the kitten is also in a cup. With a frown, he tries to remember when he even bought that mug.
But then he finally notices that the little light that indicates that he goes on air soon is blinking, and he tries to put thoughts of coffee and mugs from his mind for the moment. He's needed.
He clears his throat, slides on his headset, turns the mic to face him.
"The sun is setting, the sky is clear, and, as always, the news is ready to be told. I'm Cecil Baldwin, and welcome... to Locke City."
Roleplay Sample - Network: [Voice post. A few people - at least, those who have nothing better to do with their evenings than listen to news radio - might recognize the voice as belonging to a Locke City news broadcaster. It's certainly a nice voice.]
I swear I'm dreaming about those numbers lately. I keep--Oh. Hello. That's new. Did I turn on voice commands somewhere...?
It's recording me, I suppose, which is particularly strange as I hadn't even plugged my headset in yet. Most likely just picking up noise, given.
Well, then. Not as if I'm a stranger to being recorded. [He clears his throat, his voice taking on a new, more even cadence.] Good evening, and if anyone's actually listening, I'd appreciate it if you could explain to me what you've done to my computer, or at least choose a more subtle method of listening in on me. I do rather need access to my computer. I hope you'll understand.
...Am I actually trying to reason with a virus?
Any Questions? Nope, think I'm good! <3
Name: Aisu.
Are you over 15? Yes.
Contact: Skype is afteralways, you can PM me here, whatever works.
IC Information:
Name: Cecil Baldwin (whether that's his last name pre-incarnation, or whether he even has a last name, is not entirely clear.)
Canon: Welcome To Night Vale
Age: 30; preincarnation age unknown.
Preincarnation Appearance: Please keep in mind that this is 100% headcanon, given the entire 'entirely verbal medium' thing. Still, Cecil is tall and thin, with pale skin and pale (slightly receding) blonde hair slicked to the side, pale blue eyes, and a handful of pale scars here and there. He dresses neatly, tends to favor ties, and generally tries his best to look professional. He also wears thick-rimmed black glasses. For icons, I'll be using Stephen Merchant.
Any differences: He's basically the same, except for the loss of the scars.
Preincarnated History: Understand that the world of Night Vale is unclear, potentially self-contradictory, and vague, and Cecil's life is even more so. He may or may not be human, for a small example. Because of this, there is some headcanon in here. At the same time, so much happens in Night Vale that I cannot possibly list all the potentially major plot points.
Night Vale is a desert community somewhere in the southwestern US (but not in Texas), and also possibly on a different plane of existence altogether. Its residents have gotten entirely used to being run by shadow governments, having demons attack from the darkness, being turned into shadow creatures, not being allowed in the dog park because only hooded figures are allowed in the dog park, etc. They also have to deal with PTA meetings, their bitter athletic rivalry with neighboring Desert Bluffs (which is possibly even worse), and all the other issues of small town life. Basically, everything is constantly surreal and horrible, to the point where the surreal horror is now mundane and just a part of life to deal with.
Cecil, by Night Vale standards, is almost perfectly normal, which means that he had two biological parents (he does, at least, mention a mother on the show), fairly few extra organs and no extra limbs, etc. He lived a normal-by-Night-Vale standards life and reached adulthood successfully, which was quite a milestone. He took a trip around Europe (or something like Europe, at least, although many of the countries he visited do not exist in our world and one ceased to exist after his visit). He then, somehow, acquired a job doing nightly news reports on Night Vale's community radio station, which presumably was difficult given that station management consists entirely of thrashing, screaming horrors from beyond our reality.
Since then, Cecil has been the Voice of Night Vale, delivering the news, editorials, and the weather (the last in the form of seemingly randomly-chosen music), keeping Night Vale informed. While his various interns seem to all end up dying in the service of community radio, Cecil has managed to survive thus far, despite some close calls with management, hovering, sentient, malevolent clouds, and much, much more.
Eventually a scientist came to Night Vale to study it - Carlos, who according to Cecil was absolutely perfect, and whom Cecil fell for instantly. (On the same day, the dog park was opened, but this is probably unrelated.) Cecil fell more and more in love, although Carlos mostly seemed to want to discuss the fact that time did not actually work in Night Vale and similar subjects.
Cecil also adopted a cat, which was problematic because the cat was, in fact, hovering four feet off the floor of the men's bathroom in the station, unable to move from his position. Still, he came to love the cat, and took good care of Koshek and his kittens (which were also hovering at various heights).
During the next year, Cecil got a brief glimpse of hated rival Desert Bluffs, or at least the recording studio in Desert Bluffs. It appeared to be covered and/or made out of blood and various body parts, and Cecil panicked and left quickly. He also discovered that he had a counterpart - Kevin, who gave the morning news broadcasts in Desert Bluffs and who looked almost like Cecil (except for the eyes, and the smile).
Eventually, after a number of other events, including the arrival of the Whispering Forest, the first appearances of the Man in the Tan Jacket, and similar, the perfect Carlos was nearly killed by the tiny residents of a miniature city underneath the pin retrieval area of lane 5 in a bowling alley. In the aftermath, he apparently had new revelations about how he felt about things, and he and Cecil became an item (as Cecil gleefully broadcasted to the world).
Life since then progressed mostly normally, with the Faceless Woman Who Lives In Your House announcing that she wanted to run for mayor and the town briefly all turning into terrifying shadow-beings. Normal, everyday events.
Reincarnated History: Cecil Baldwin is an actually normal resident of Locke City, born to perfectly average parents. A talent for journalism in high school and a voice that seemed to be made for radio steered his career young, although he briefly considered becoming a poet. (He was a fairly terrible poet.)
He ended up finding himself loving being able to reach people from miles away, and figured it was a path where he could use his talents. In addition, radio became a bit of a compensation mechanism for the slight isolation he felt from the world, although he never admitted it to himself - his tendency to over-share and ramble made him few friends, and he mostly only got to speak to anyone through a microphone.
He did college radio all through his time at LCU, getting a reputation for his voice and his slight, dry humor. Out of college, he started working for a small public radio station (call sign WTNV), and after a year or two working other jobs he ended up becoming a broadcaster. Currently, he does evening news broadcasts, focusing on local community events, interviews with Locke City residents, and similar public radio events.
He's far from famous, and the pay is such that he can only afford a tiny apartment in a bad part of town, but he enjoys his work (for the most part) and that's what matters. He does have a few fans, if not many, and to most he's just an anonymous voice when they end up listening to talk radio for whatever reason. He's also recorded a few audio books for a bit of extra income, and finds himself enjoying the work.
At the moment he's settled into a comfortable point in his life, if one that sometimes seems a tiny bit lonely and lacking.
First Echo: One day, as he was driving to work, he decided to vary his route a little to spare a little time. On the way, he passed a dog park, which happened to be apparently abandoned. The sight triggered a sudden flash of memory - high, black, smooth walls, with something's mutilated body laying just beyond them. He nearly crashed his car into a post. Since then, he's had a certain amount of wariness around dog parks in general, a certain sense that they're all unsafe.
Preincarnation Personality: Cecil is, under the vast majority of circumstances, calm and unflappable. While part of this is a normal part of growing up in Night Vale, he also prides himself on staying professional, and on reporting the facts as evenly as he can. In most conversations, he comes off as polite and friendly, if a tiny bit distant.
However, certain circumstances can alter this impression. One is love. Cecil falls in love quickly and deeply, although he's picky about who he falls for, tending to favor intelligence (and curly hair) along with a number of factors he couldn't really name. When in love, he'd do anything for his beloved, and will in fact basically worship them. He has no need for them to return the feeling, although he'd certainly enjoy it. He also has a tendency to gush about his feelings openly. However, he sometimes loses all his conversational skills when actually talking to people he likes, and this is a source of embarrassment to him.
In addition, while Cecil is slow to anger, once someone has pushed him too far he never shows forgiveness. He's far from a violent man - as he puts it, "I just don’t believe violence is ever the answer. It is a question. The real answer is far more terrifying." - but he will make his dislike for those who have pushed him very clear, and can get very bitter and angry when talking about them. He also has a low tolerance for stupidity and bigotry, and this shines through on occasion.
The last circumstance is extreme fear. While Cecil generally smiles politely in the face of things that some men would scream in terror at and offers them a microphone for an interview, once in a while something gets under his skin and he melts down, breaking into sobs. In times like this he often clings to any shreds of professionalism he can manage, often badly. Points of fear include an overabundance of organs (a few are probably okay), tentacled horrors, and the thought of those he loves dying.
He does sometimes go into digressions on his show, mostly strange and poetic, often about those he has fallen in love with. He has a slight tendency to ramble when allowed to, public or private, and only barely keeps himself in check at the best of things. He has a somewhat nihilistic sense of the world that shows through in these ramblings, although he keeps a sense of good cheer about it.
While he has a certain sense of humor, mostly dark, he rarely, if ever, laughs. He smiles often, though, although it's a rather thin, small smile.
He is always honest, except when he is forced not to be by external forces, and is utterly committed to delivering what he sees to be the truth. He considers himself and his job key to his community, and he is quietly proud of all he has done.
He also tends to expect everyone else to be as honest as he is, and he can be somewhat overly trusting and quick to believe. The quickness with which he falls in love reflects this - he trusts people he loves to be what he expects them to be. Any betrayal is a quick way to earn Cecil's unrelenting anger.
Because of this natural trust, he tends to be loyal to authority figures, although he's not afraid to criticize what he sees as poor choices by them. In general, given orders to obey or broadcasts to relay, he trusts the government and other authorities to know what they're doing unless he has good reason not to.
He also has a weakness for cute cats and cute cat videos, although he claims to not be a cat person.
Any differences: Cecil is much less unshakable than his preincarnation version, at least on matters of horror. He tends to avoid horror movies, and he gets very squeamish at the sight of blood. While he's not particularly overly fearful, he tends to prefer brightly lit spaces and comforting sights. This is thanks to not being deadened to horror when a child. He's also fairly skeptical about the supernatural and the strange.
His reporting style is slightly more bland, without his former tendency to digress constantly. He also sometimes cuts himself off in conversations when he notices he's starting to go on a tangent, while he would have simply run with it before and let it happen.
He is much less open about being in love and much shier, after a few early incidents with trying to show how much he cared and being labeled as 'clingy' and 'creepy' for it. In addition, outside a few flings in college, he has not managed any relationships. He's slightly pessimistic about love in general.
While he'd never admit it, Cecil is discontent in a way he never was in his old life, feeling like he could do more than he is. While he's settled into his routines, and while he does enjoy his job, he knows that nearly no one listens to him and that his reporting is largely fluff pieces. Still, he does his best to continue on.
Abilities:
Cecil, while he had very little control of it and may not have even been aware of it, was clairvoyant. He was able to tell what was happening in Night Vale without any real need for eyewitness reports, able to speak on things that were mean to be unknowable like the Shape In Grove Park That Nobody Acknowledges Or Speaks About or the first meeting of the Council of Elders, sometimes able to report on the future, and, in one memorable case, able to report on every detail of what was happening in one specific person's day. This knowledge came to him organically and naturally, but he had little choice over exactly what he knew and didn't know, and it was anything but reliable.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person: Coffee was always a blessing, in the mornings. The bitter taste was almost as effective as the caffeine in waking him up, the dark grounds contrasting with the brightness of the day. It's like life, he thinks. Dark and rich and a little bitter, but with the sun shining overhead.
He's not entirely certain what cream and sugar would indicate.
He swirls the coffee in his mug, studying it, noting the way it stains the walls of the cup a pale brown for a few moments. The cup has a kitten on it, and the kitten is also in a cup. With a frown, he tries to remember when he even bought that mug.
But then he finally notices that the little light that indicates that he goes on air soon is blinking, and he tries to put thoughts of coffee and mugs from his mind for the moment. He's needed.
He clears his throat, slides on his headset, turns the mic to face him.
"The sun is setting, the sky is clear, and, as always, the news is ready to be told. I'm Cecil Baldwin, and welcome... to Locke City."
Roleplay Sample - Network: [Voice post. A few people - at least, those who have nothing better to do with their evenings than listen to news radio - might recognize the voice as belonging to a Locke City news broadcaster. It's certainly a nice voice.]
I swear I'm dreaming about those numbers lately. I keep--Oh. Hello. That's new. Did I turn on voice commands somewhere...?
It's recording me, I suppose, which is particularly strange as I hadn't even plugged my headset in yet. Most likely just picking up noise, given.
Well, then. Not as if I'm a stranger to being recorded. [He clears his throat, his voice taking on a new, more even cadence.] Good evening, and if anyone's actually listening, I'd appreciate it if you could explain to me what you've done to my computer, or at least choose a more subtle method of listening in on me. I do rather need access to my computer. I hope you'll understand.
...Am I actually trying to reason with a virus?
Any Questions? Nope, think I'm good! <3
