carol denning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
classifieds) wrote2022-05-16 04:23 pm
classifieds) wrote2022-05-16 04:23 pm
Entry tags:
app for returnjourney
OOC Info
Player: Ven
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
venoms
Age Confirmation: over 18
Other Characters: n/a
IC Info
Character: Carol Denning
Canon: Orange is the New Black
Canon Point: Flashbacks, after the fallout with Frieda
Age: 21
History: Here
CRAU: Carol was in Last Voyages for about 8 months, during which time she improved in some directions and backslid in others. On one hand, she did find some people she actually cares about, which is pretty new for her and although she'll be upset that they're gone she's aware that the possibility of forming decent relationships with other people is there.
On the other hand, she also started a gang and fell into some cult-adjacent activity that reinforced her desire to be violent. She also decided that the Admiral is her enemy and graduating would be a betrayal of everything she stands for, and was hurt and confused when the people closest to her decided to work on graduating anyway. She's likely to have similar feelings about the Navarch, but will think more carefully about announcing those feelings to the world just in case she decides to graduate after all. Just in case.
About: Before her arrival at Litchfield, Carol was the neglected middle child and black sheep of the Denning family. Compared to her younger sister Debbie (a talented gymnast who received most of their parents' attention) and her older sister Barb (who was popular at school), Carol was a bit of a social outcast. Although she had some hobbies (like chess club and art) that afforded her a circle of acquaintances, she didn't seem to have any close friends and when she told her family she had plans for the night, no one believed her. It wasn't just a matter of not fitting in (though she certainly didn't, especially compared to her sisters), it was also because of her off-putting behavior towards others. Carol has never made much of an effort to be polite or conform to the most basic social expectations, something she'd personally see as being "fake".
Carol is the sort of person who'd describe herself as brutally honest, and who would see it as a virtue that she tells it like it is and doesn't sugarcoat anything (when in reality she's just being rude and mean). She doesn't have much in the way of a filter, she says what's on her mind and seems to delight in being vulgar and provocative and making other people cringe. On the other hand, she detests people who pretend to be nice to get what they want (and let's be real, she assumes a vast majority of nice people are just pretending) because she sees it as underhanded and cowardly compared to her own more direct style of communication. She lies, too (either because she's convinced herself that she's right about something when she's not, or just to pick on people for 'sport mindfucking'), but justifies it to herself because it's not the specific 'fake nice' form of dishonesty she hates most (which, not coincidentally, is Barb's M.O.).
Although she's always been aggressive, she used to be able to keep her more violent impulses in the realm of fantasy (drawing gory pictures of whoever's pissing her off right now being killed in various ways) or to schoolyard scuffles and destruction of property at most. After going through with Debbie's murder, any restraint she had has disappeared and she will threaten and brutalize people at the slightest provocation. She's got a big sadistic streak and has fun tormenting others, but also has some big anger management issues that prevent her from being as effective as she could be. Carol's very clever when she wants to be, but could use someone more reasonable to hold her back so her anger doesn't get the better of her (a role that has been fulfilled at times by both Barb and her former second-in-command, Frieda Berlin). After Frieda's betrayal, she's realized that she needs to start incorporating more cold and calculating qualities into herself instead of relying on someone else to balance her out, but at her current canon point she's not quite the ice queen she'd eventually become.
Her biggest flaw (in a sea of many, many flaws) is probably the extent to which she holds grudges and acts upon them. Carol doesn't tolerate betrayal or disrespect, both because she's very proud and because she needs to maintain her position at the top of the prison hierarchy, but even when she's older she still clings to petty squabbles and prioritizes revenge over anything else. It might be reasonable to hold a grudge over something like thirty years of extra prison time, but that starts to fall apart when she holds an equally intense grudge over a mildly amusing story that both she and her sister wanted to take credit for (when it in fact belonged to neither of them).
Being in prison brought out a whole different side of her: where she was once a loner and an outcast, the very qualities that got her shunned in the outside world made her a force to be reckoned with on the inside and gained her some quick allies. She was able to emerge as a leader, and has a knack for inspiring others to be emotionally invested in her battles and fight for her benefit. Although she's overly domineering and tends to use fear to secure her position, she can also be a capable leader and would go on to secure C-Block better jobs and better conditions than D-Block had. She's still more of a hothead than she'd eventually grow to be, but she's refined her impudent teenage attitude into something more commanding and assertive, and most of the C-Block girls willingly follow her.
She still has a vulnerable and emotional side, no matter how much she tries to hide it. She's jealous of the fact that Barb always had a boyfriend in school and she didn't, and immediately got emotionally attached to Frieda, the first person she saw as a real friend. The fact that her parents will only visit Barb in prison and not her also bothers her, although she pretends not to care. Her high school outcast past still haunts her, and deep down she's desperate for some real affection even if she copes by convincing herself that all she needs is hate and that other people's relationships are probably fake and manipulative anyway.
Skills and Abilities: She's a regular human with no special powers. She can fight and make a shank out of lots of different things, and has valuable gang leadership experience, but that's about it.
Why is your character an inmate? Carol solves all of her problems with violence and believes she is correct to do so because, in her view, might makes right and the strongest and most ruthless people deserve to thrive. She sees kindness as an inherently dishonest social construct perpetuated by people who are too weak to make a shank and cut a bitch. Not to mention the fact that she has never let go of a grudge and would absolutely sacrifice her own life if it meant dragging someone she hates down with her. Prison may be miserable but her presence there has only made it worse for everyone. Also, she's a child murderer.
But despite all of that, she's not a cold, emotionless killer. Although she'd never admit it she is actually quite emotional and sensitive, but her bad attitude, untrusting nature, and lack of strong relationships growing up has made it difficult for her to form genuine bonds with others. She's not a naturally kind person and she may never be the type to be good for the sake of goodness, but she can accept that her worldview is wrong and that her constant cycle of violence and revenge has ruined her own life along with many others.
She'll be a challenging inmate to reform, but she's also someone who made some terrible choices very young and was locked away for life before she had a chance to do better. We know how she ends up after 30 years in prison, it'll be interesting to explore how she could have ended up under different circumstances.
Charges:
Murder (of preteen sister)
Attempted murder (of older sister and former best friend)
Violent gang activity
Graduation: If Carol graduates and returns as a Warden, the number one thing she can do is undo Debbie's murder and erase the criminal charges she and Barb both have. At this point in time she'd say it's unfair that she has to do all the work when Barb still gets to benefit, but part of her graduation would mean accepting that having good relationships with others means not keeping score all the time.
Even without a windfall, she could still choose not to go back to prison and make something positive of herself (and stop pitting the other poor inmates against each other whenever she's cranky about something). She can be a good leader when she doesn't let her anger get in the way, and she's strong-willed and not afraid of much, so she could be someone other people (especially other women who are ex-cons or in troublesome situations) could rely on for support and tough love.
Sample: 1 | 2
Player: Ven
Contact:
Age Confirmation: over 18
Other Characters: n/a
IC Info
Character: Carol Denning
Canon: Orange is the New Black
Canon Point: Flashbacks, after the fallout with Frieda
Age: 21
History: Here
CRAU: Carol was in Last Voyages for about 8 months, during which time she improved in some directions and backslid in others. On one hand, she did find some people she actually cares about, which is pretty new for her and although she'll be upset that they're gone she's aware that the possibility of forming decent relationships with other people is there.
On the other hand, she also started a gang and fell into some cult-adjacent activity that reinforced her desire to be violent. She also decided that the Admiral is her enemy and graduating would be a betrayal of everything she stands for, and was hurt and confused when the people closest to her decided to work on graduating anyway. She's likely to have similar feelings about the Navarch, but will think more carefully about announcing those feelings to the world just in case she decides to graduate after all. Just in case.
About: Before her arrival at Litchfield, Carol was the neglected middle child and black sheep of the Denning family. Compared to her younger sister Debbie (a talented gymnast who received most of their parents' attention) and her older sister Barb (who was popular at school), Carol was a bit of a social outcast. Although she had some hobbies (like chess club and art) that afforded her a circle of acquaintances, she didn't seem to have any close friends and when she told her family she had plans for the night, no one believed her. It wasn't just a matter of not fitting in (though she certainly didn't, especially compared to her sisters), it was also because of her off-putting behavior towards others. Carol has never made much of an effort to be polite or conform to the most basic social expectations, something she'd personally see as being "fake".
Carol is the sort of person who'd describe herself as brutally honest, and who would see it as a virtue that she tells it like it is and doesn't sugarcoat anything (when in reality she's just being rude and mean). She doesn't have much in the way of a filter, she says what's on her mind and seems to delight in being vulgar and provocative and making other people cringe. On the other hand, she detests people who pretend to be nice to get what they want (and let's be real, she assumes a vast majority of nice people are just pretending) because she sees it as underhanded and cowardly compared to her own more direct style of communication. She lies, too (either because she's convinced herself that she's right about something when she's not, or just to pick on people for 'sport mindfucking'), but justifies it to herself because it's not the specific 'fake nice' form of dishonesty she hates most (which, not coincidentally, is Barb's M.O.).
Although she's always been aggressive, she used to be able to keep her more violent impulses in the realm of fantasy (drawing gory pictures of whoever's pissing her off right now being killed in various ways) or to schoolyard scuffles and destruction of property at most. After going through with Debbie's murder, any restraint she had has disappeared and she will threaten and brutalize people at the slightest provocation. She's got a big sadistic streak and has fun tormenting others, but also has some big anger management issues that prevent her from being as effective as she could be. Carol's very clever when she wants to be, but could use someone more reasonable to hold her back so her anger doesn't get the better of her (a role that has been fulfilled at times by both Barb and her former second-in-command, Frieda Berlin). After Frieda's betrayal, she's realized that she needs to start incorporating more cold and calculating qualities into herself instead of relying on someone else to balance her out, but at her current canon point she's not quite the ice queen she'd eventually become.
Her biggest flaw (in a sea of many, many flaws) is probably the extent to which she holds grudges and acts upon them. Carol doesn't tolerate betrayal or disrespect, both because she's very proud and because she needs to maintain her position at the top of the prison hierarchy, but even when she's older she still clings to petty squabbles and prioritizes revenge over anything else. It might be reasonable to hold a grudge over something like thirty years of extra prison time, but that starts to fall apart when she holds an equally intense grudge over a mildly amusing story that both she and her sister wanted to take credit for (when it in fact belonged to neither of them).
Being in prison brought out a whole different side of her: where she was once a loner and an outcast, the very qualities that got her shunned in the outside world made her a force to be reckoned with on the inside and gained her some quick allies. She was able to emerge as a leader, and has a knack for inspiring others to be emotionally invested in her battles and fight for her benefit. Although she's overly domineering and tends to use fear to secure her position, she can also be a capable leader and would go on to secure C-Block better jobs and better conditions than D-Block had. She's still more of a hothead than she'd eventually grow to be, but she's refined her impudent teenage attitude into something more commanding and assertive, and most of the C-Block girls willingly follow her.
She still has a vulnerable and emotional side, no matter how much she tries to hide it. She's jealous of the fact that Barb always had a boyfriend in school and she didn't, and immediately got emotionally attached to Frieda, the first person she saw as a real friend. The fact that her parents will only visit Barb in prison and not her also bothers her, although she pretends not to care. Her high school outcast past still haunts her, and deep down she's desperate for some real affection even if she copes by convincing herself that all she needs is hate and that other people's relationships are probably fake and manipulative anyway.
Skills and Abilities: She's a regular human with no special powers. She can fight and make a shank out of lots of different things, and has valuable gang leadership experience, but that's about it.
Why is your character an inmate? Carol solves all of her problems with violence and believes she is correct to do so because, in her view, might makes right and the strongest and most ruthless people deserve to thrive. She sees kindness as an inherently dishonest social construct perpetuated by people who are too weak to make a shank and cut a bitch. Not to mention the fact that she has never let go of a grudge and would absolutely sacrifice her own life if it meant dragging someone she hates down with her. Prison may be miserable but her presence there has only made it worse for everyone. Also, she's a child murderer.
But despite all of that, she's not a cold, emotionless killer. Although she'd never admit it she is actually quite emotional and sensitive, but her bad attitude, untrusting nature, and lack of strong relationships growing up has made it difficult for her to form genuine bonds with others. She's not a naturally kind person and she may never be the type to be good for the sake of goodness, but she can accept that her worldview is wrong and that her constant cycle of violence and revenge has ruined her own life along with many others.
She'll be a challenging inmate to reform, but she's also someone who made some terrible choices very young and was locked away for life before she had a chance to do better. We know how she ends up after 30 years in prison, it'll be interesting to explore how she could have ended up under different circumstances.
Charges:
Murder (of preteen sister)
Attempted murder (of older sister and former best friend)
Violent gang activity
Graduation: If Carol graduates and returns as a Warden, the number one thing she can do is undo Debbie's murder and erase the criminal charges she and Barb both have. At this point in time she'd say it's unfair that she has to do all the work when Barb still gets to benefit, but part of her graduation would mean accepting that having good relationships with others means not keeping score all the time.
Even without a windfall, she could still choose not to go back to prison and make something positive of herself (and stop pitting the other poor inmates against each other whenever she's cranky about something). She can be a good leader when she doesn't let her anger get in the way, and she's strong-willed and not afraid of much, so she could be someone other people (especially other women who are ex-cons or in troublesome situations) could rely on for support and tough love.
Sample: 1 | 2