application to exsilium

[saluted]

» PLAYER INFORMATION
Player NAME: nadya
Current AGE: nineteen.
Personal JOURNAL: nadezhda
IM & SERVICE: a i m: lenavoit31
Player PLURK: lexi_
Current CHARACTERS: none

» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Irene Adler
Canon & MEDIUM: Sherlock (BBC) - tv series
Canon PULL-POINT: after the events of Scandal in Belgravia.
Character AGE: mid/late twenties. Stated in canon that she was born in the 80's.
Character ABILITIES:
→ intelligence; she's smart. clever. and most importantly, knows how to use that to her advantage. she's manipulative - she's a dominatrix (a professional scolder for those who're into that sort of thing); and as much as the profession makes her very well off, it's the information and compromising photographs that she acquires that really make her powerful and dangerous. it's her 'insurance'. she can threaten blackmail of the (very) high officials she acquaints herself with, if she needs something- if she needs to disappear, or get a different set of information. She exploits, and isn't at all phased at using her sexuality to get herself a better position (no pun intended). Basically, she will do anything to ensure she will have protection from those who might potentially want to kill her.
→ self-defense: she is able to defend herself, to a point. She knows hand-to-hand combat, and knows how to use a gun, but not on a professional level. She knows enough to survive, and to gain an advantage, or knock someone out. She also seems to be nearly deadly with a riding crop.
→ with abilities, there comes weaknesses. first and foremost, she is human. entirely so. she will bleed and die like the rest of them. as for personal faults, she is proud. she considers Sherlock Holmes to be an equal, mind wise - after all, she was the woman who beat him. But he in turn beat her, so technically, he is a weakness of hers.
She is also a bit cocky, and more often than not, has a great deal of self-confidence. Which in turn lead to a major plan of hers falling through.

Character HISTORY:
❨ BBC-specific page ❩ ❨ A Scandal in Belgravia ❩ ❨ ACD's Irene Adler ❩

Character PERSONALITY:

Irene Adler is a truly unique woman. At first, she might seem shallow; but then it takes about five seconds to realize that she is a woman full of deceptive complexities.

Irene Adler: I don't understand
Sherlock Holmes: Try to.
Irene Adler: Why?
Sherlock Holmes: Because you cater to the whims of the pathetic and take your clothes off to make an impression. Stop boring me and think. It's the new sexy.

It might come as a shock to say so, but this in case, Sherlock's assessment of her is quite false. Sure, at first glance she may seem to have more beauty than brains, and is the shallow sort of woman who relies on taking her clothes off to leave an impression. Simply, she isn't afraid to use her sexuality and appeal to her own advantage. She's manipulative - she knows what people like (because it's her job), and she'll cater to those likes if the situation calls for it. She knows how to be in control of a situation, even if at first glance she might not appear to be. Her first priority is self-preservation, and everything else really does come afterwards.
Her occupation is far from a noble or delicate one; she misbehaves. That's how she gets by in this world, and what others think of her is far from her concern.

Her manipulation, her ability to gain surprising control over people is in part what makes her so dangerous. Compromising photographs, top-secret information, documentation - it's all kept on her mobile phone, which thus makes the item priceless to her. It's her insurance and her safety. She can blackmail anyone she ever came in touch with, anyone high up in the government, or anyone with some certain power she needs to use. It's also her security - against anyone who might want to kill her. And there are those people out there, considering how many she's compromised by simply "knowing what they like". Her misbehavior doen't get her into as much troubled as would've liked simple because she knows how to play the game right, and win. For the most part.

She 'wins' a lot though, in most games she chooses to play. And with that, with her intelligence, comes that certain cockiness, and confidence. While self-confidence is not always a bad thing, having too much of it can very well harm more than benefit. cocky - sure of her win, and will take time to gloat about it. she knows she's smart, as she can keep up with Sherlock Holmes - something not a lot of people can actually do. She views him as her only equal, which should speak volumes about her ego.

On a personal level, she's hard to get to know. I think she wears a mask (though she does say that disguises are always self portraits); she acts, and deceives, and it is perhaps easy to get lost in. She's guarded; it's easier to pass something off with coy humor and smugness. That said, she is not safe from her own emotions; and as it turns out, it's exactly her sentimentality that makes her lose to Sherlock Holmes in the end. Her sentimentality, which makes her set her password on the mobile phone containing her entire secrets - her insurance, photos, documents - to "I AM SHERLOCKED". That, and her over-confidence, and her urge to taunt the flaunt in from of the consulting detective. When he proposed that it was "love", her initial reaction was mocking denial - she laughed at him, at the fact that he thought that everything she had said actually meant something - but he outsmarted her by one simple fact: he took her pulse. Accelerated, and pupils dilated. That's how she lost, which then led to her losing her entire leverage - her phone - and how she got herself almost killed, if it wasn't for Sherlock Holmes.She let her heart lead, and in that I believe she will be even more cautious to let it happen again.
When the man revealed that he knew Irene's passcode, she asked if she should beg, and he answered with a 'yes'. She replied in kind, asking for help, saying she won't last even a day. This shows that, when it comes to surviving, Irene Adler is not beyond a form of begging, if the need be. If someone does make it to the limited list of people that actually matter, she does the capability of being loyal, and isn't above using her information and advantage to help that someone out. But this would be a terribly rare case, albeit not impossible.

You don't know a lot about her past, and that's the way she prefers it to stay. She isn't one to exactly dwell on her past, unless it's a proud moment, like when she beat Sherlock at his own game. She's deceptively complicated, with an air of sophistication to her - even her 'profession' is portrayed as something of a glamorous one, seeing as she caters to the whims of high-standing politicians, and anyone else from whom she can benefit - and she seems to like her job enough, because she enjoys the power play. That's what really makes her a dominatrix - the fact that she predominates some of the most powerful families of Great Britain, and that in fact, she has enough leverage to control them is she has to; she's proud, and adaptable; she's manipulative, and with that manipulation, there comes a need to be in control. In control of a situation, or of a person if it is useful to her at the time. But she prefers to have things predicted, and if not exactly that, then simply controlled, simply knowing that the situation can be changed if she wants it. And usually, it's exactly that, so if the control is taken away, she can become harsher, and will try her damn hardest to regain it.
Otherwise, she is composed - and that goes along with control, in this case self control. Like i said before, she isn't immune to emotion, and will show it, but at very rare moments. Most other times, she keeps a smug pokerface, and a relaxed, yet composed posture.



» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON:
→ rapier sword , with an intricate and delicate handguard, and a thin blade; thin enough to have some form of elasticity (though not a lot). Why? Because Irene Adler was very good with a riding crop, yielding it like a sword, or actual whip. I feel like her having the rapier sword is also a show of her lethal elegance. She's dangerous with wit and games; she's sophisticated, despite her professional occupation. And just like the thin blade of a rapier sword, she can be easily underestimated, which would only prove a mistake.

Chosen SKILLSET:
I wouldn't say she is a fighter, exactly. She will fight, and defend herself if or when the need will arise. She is more clever - able to use her intelligence, and manipulation to get what she wants. i am not going to say that I would prefer her not to be in combat - I think it would be interesting, but I will say that she is not a deadly killer; she knows what she needs to, to survive.
So, strategy wise, she is far more well-versed in getting the information, or using information to gain an upper hand, through means other than combat.
That said, her skillset is quite closely linked to her abilities. She's clever, manipulative; a survivor. She's resourceful, and good at working her way around politics.


» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
→ video

[ the woman on screen regards it with a look of mild disinterest, and subtle irritation that comes across from a simple raise of her brows from an otherwise smug face. ] Oh, this place is desperate, isn't it? [ nevermind the fact that she truly believes it's almost impossible. But she's here, others are here. No amount of pinching, or trying to convince yourself this is a dream of any sort will change this.] As much as I'm flattered at being picked to fight in this city's war, I have much more interesting endeavors awaiting me back home. [ A beat. ] Besides, I'm not exactly 'rebellion material', as they say. [ Though she was The Woman who brought at entire nation to its knees. But that didn't mean she'd be willing to help. Unless she benefited from it in some way. And for now, she saw little benefit. ]

[ A sigh, gaze flickering to red-painted nails for a short moment, before returning back to the screen. ] I'm guessing if they took the time to get us all here, they'd make sure there's no way back, right? What a terrible inconvenience. [ There's another pause. ] So, consider me willing to suspend my disbelief of this being real, who exactly are we all expected to fight against, mm?

[ Another pause, as she cants her head to the side. ] I'd also appreciate any advice from all you veterans out there who've been here longer than I.

[ A smile, faint and sharp. And the feed ends. ]

Third PERSON:

This was it, wasn't it. She said she wouldn't survive even two months. Though she in fact, had survived a bit longer, it didn't make this any better. She stood on her knees, the coolness of the ground seeping through the black robe she wore. Karachi. She was going to be beheaded in Karachi. Her throat had gone almost unbearably dry - whether from the dust, or from apprehension and fear, she didn't know - as she took a deep breath, fingers folding over her mobile, still held in her hand.

It's odd. She knew a day like this could certainly come - she played with fire, she played with power. Control can always change, and in her life, she's been good at ensuring the control stayed with her. But her insurance was gone; she had lost to Sherlock Holmes when she thought she'd won. Because of emotion, emotion she refused to acknowledge. It was sentimentality, it was her heart that had betrayed her, wasn't it. She was simply paying the price for it. She would say she wouldn't make a mistake like this again but it was a bit too late for that, wasn't it. One mistake had in the end cost her her life.

One text.

Her fingers deftly hit the keys, with slow, pained precision as man beside her rushed her, a looming shadow of her executioner to her left. She closed her eyes. But then - a sound. A text. He was here. It wasn't a wave of relief, not exactly, but she was sure if she wasn't on her knees already, she would've been then.

A smile, her eyes suddenly dry. It's a small curl of her lips. Her muscles tensing, ready to run when he tells her. When the words come, she springs, maneuvers away. There's a short pause when she looks back, eyes seeking to lock to his. It's an unspoken gratitude; and unspoken smugness, sudden and yet so characteristic of Irene Adler. Of The Woman. Because it meant that perhaps it wasn't only her that wasn't safe from sentimentality after all.

» ADDITIONAL NOTES
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