Comment, crit, advice, etc. etc. goes here! Comments are screen, so have at~! Also, got an idea and want River to be in on it? Comments~

Of the epic variety, because I have failed a LOT over the past couple of months. I am very very sorry and I probably should have gone on hiatus but...I didn't. Because I'm a fool. But my life has been very hectic since the beginning of the year, really: in February I came out to Hawaii to be with my mother and help her with my 5 younger brothers and sisters, as she was having hernia surgery and was off her feet for a month. Then in April it was back to the mainland just in time to move from Maryland to Ohio (to visit grandparents) then to Tennessee for actual moving. It was there we learned that my husband would be shipped off to Iraq soon and, in a fit of not wanting me to be living alone in an unfamiliar state (again), he sent me BACK to Hawaii to live with my mother and family until he returns. Cue me flying in June, and spending the next two weeks madly trying to sort out school.

But life, it seems, is starting to settle and I'm hoping this means I can pay more attention to River and CFUD in general. I just wanted to extend a formal apology to all of you I've left hanging. I really am sorry. T__T

As noted in the previous post, River is psychic. Or, at least, has the abilities of one, it appears, since she can often sense trouble (she knew the Reavers were coming) and knows things she otherwise shouldn't (see: Jayne).

That said, I thought I'd put this up to ask: what do you not want River knowing? What do you want her knowing? I'll admit to being very, very clueless about a LOT of fandoms, so if there's something you think River definitely should/shouldn't know, please respond here so that I don't dig myself into a hole. I broke my shovel and I don't want to get dirt under my nails.

Secondly, I didn't keep up with the previous River player that well (bad, I know), but River won't remember anything before. However, I like being informed. Did you character know River before? Did they have some kind of relationship? Is there anything you think I should know? (Del-mun, I'm eying you here.)

Age: 17
Height: Summer Glau is 5'8"
Weight: About 115 pounds soaking wet

Medical Info: It's all in her head. I mean that literally. Her brain has been given the this-is-your-brain-on-drugs treatment; basically, she can't filter out her emotions, which is probably one of the most notable side effects of said treatment.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown (and generally looks like it needs a good washing)

Physical traits:  Willowy and graceful, which is just a fancy way of saying there's nothing to the girl.

What's Okay To Mention Around Him/Her: As far as canon goes, pretty much anything. Unless I think of something, in which case I'll change this.

Abilities: River is a schizophrenic ninja. She's referred to as a reader during the movie (to use Mal's wording, "sees into the truth of things,") and thus has  some psychic abilities.  She was also trained by the Alliance to be  an assassin and managed to take out a room full of hungry horny Reavers by herself, so it might be a fair assumption to say that she kicks a little ass. Though this isn't an ability that she employs very often--unless she's activated. Since, you know, the government totally implanted triggers into her subconscious so they could "activate" her even if she didn't WANT to fight. Simon Tam, Malcolm Reynolds, and Ishida Ryuuken all know how to "deactivate" her, as well as issue her meds.

Notes for the Psychics: If you peek into River's brain you're going to get a whole lot of echo, probably a lot of OTHER people's thoughts, and maybe under all that a lot of Alliance-type secrets (like using PAX to try and calm a whole planet's population that instead resulted in a whole mess of let's lay down and die and the creation of the Reavers, whoops). Of course, her thoughts are in there too, and it's probably mostly to do with Simon or the Serenity crew.

Can I shapeshift/bodyswap/spit at/step on/etc?: Uh, I suppose? Maybe? I'll consider it? Warn me before you do?

Maim/Murder/Death: Ask! :D

Cooking: She'll be helpful and remove the pesky informative jar labels for you. =D

Character: River Tam
Series: Firefly (Official Website; Wikipedia article)
Character Age: 17

Canon: River Tam was a child prodigy the likes of which parents dream of; at the age of three, she was correcting her brother Simon's spelling, and he was by no means an idiot. Her intelligence eventually led to her being enrolled (as was her desire) into an Alliance-sponsored school known as the Academy. The government was not interested in helping River develop her intelligence; the Academy instead spent the next two years turning her brain into Swiss cheese, transforming her from a sweet if bratty teenage girl into a schizophrenic ninja with no capacity to filter out her emotions. Still vastly intelligent, an unfortunate side effect of all the playing around with her brain was lack of coherency--River ended up often speaking in riddles or long metaphors, making her difficult to understand but nevertheless insightful.

Her brother threw away everything and came to her rescue. He broke her out of the Academy and gave her the Han Solo treatment, before getting them (him and his sister-in-a-box) passage on board a Firefly-class vessel called Serenity. Far from being safe, however, River Tam and her brother became fugitives, targets of the Alliance government. It seemed that River picked up a few secrets that she shouldn't have, and the Alliance was more than keen to get their project back before she did something they didn't want her to. Finding a home on Serenity, captained by a man more than happy to give the Alliance a certain finger, River and her brother have thus far managed to evade capture, though they've escaped by the skin of their teeth so often that it's a miracle they don't have dentures yet.

Note: River is being taken from the end of Serenity, the movie.

Sample Post: Why do we call it the black? Space is interrupted with light and life, hardly just black. Breeds confusion, expectations that can't be met and it crushes hopes. Smash, crumble, fall like the egg that sat on the wall. Eggs can be laid but can't sit. In the end gravity always wins, except in the black-interrupted-by-everything.

This black is uninterrupted. Rectangular. Smaller than space, no stars, no ships, boundaries just above and below and all around. Another box. I've seen the insides of too many boxes. What packaged food must feel like. Am not food, for Reavers or zombies or worms. High in sugar, will go straight to your hips.

Should be sleeping, why aren't I sleeping? Can't sleep, the gorillas will get me. Don't want to be in the box anymore, want to be out of the box. This black is too heavy with atmosphere and clouds and weather and people. Recycled air, but all air is recycled. Breathe in, breathe out, carbon dioxide is good for plants. Am not a plant, have no leaves.

Who's singing? The black is too small to dance in and the recycled air is getting too hot to breathe in--

--oh, the man is singing. Mail. No, male. I'm the mail. Shipped in a box. Simon likes putting me in boxes--thinks the sights will see me if my feet hit the ground. Don't want to be mail, though, want to get out. Muscles are all cramped from imitating food.

Signed for? The girl has to be signed for? Signature on the dotted line, x marks the spot.

...You misspelled "confirmation" on your form. And there's only two L's in liability, not three. Also, the structure of the entire form is unnecessarily perplexing, like trying to--

--I don't want to go back into the box.

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Voting took place here; got in with 98.3% o_O