Application to We the Lost

[keep_smiling]

Player Name: Lan
Preferred Pronouns?: she/her
Player Contact: plurk: hellglass
Other characters in play? Theo Crawford sanctus_dei

Character Name: Elmer C. Albatross
Canon: Baccano!
Game Transplant: Exsilium
Original App: here
Game Summary: People from all over time and space were conscripted to fight in a rebel war with the Initiative, against the tyrannical United Earth. Their headquarters was a small portion of what was formerly England, and now known as Exsilium. Set in the far future and post-apocalypse, most of the Earth was uninhabitable and ruled by the UE. The UE had agents all over the multiverse, tracking worlds they could exploit for resources and materials. The Initiative fought back with one of the only technologies the UE didn’t have - time travel. The Transports, as the PCs were known, were sent all over Earth’s timeline to perform missions that would alter the future - hopefully in their benefit. Most of the time, it was, but towards the game’s end, the consequences were starting to be felt. Time and space began to fall apart around their ears. It was at this point that Elmer was dragged out.

How long was your character in Game: Around a year and a half

History of Character in their Game: Elmer was never meant to be a fighter. He knew that. The first thing he did upon arrival was tell the Initiative that their aim was off - clearly they meant to take Nile, his soldier friend whom he was with at the time, and not Elmer. But he was there now, and Elmer felt like he has certainly been in worse situations. As usual, his optimism kept him moving forward.

Since he wanted to be helpful, Elmer often volunteered for side missions, and always participated in Initative-wide missions to the best of his ability. Not that Elmer has a lot of abilities, but that didn’t stop him. While his surprising knowledge of science could sometimes carried him, what usually motivated him to the front lines was his immortality. He didn’t have to worry about dying in the frequent UE attacks.

The title and role he gave to himself, however, was that of Chief Morale Officer. After all, keeping smiles on the faces of the often defeated and hard-pressed Initiative and Transports should be his number one concern. Whether it was over the network or taking a more direct approach Elmer kept doing what he has always done - worked to get the smiles from people he always wanted. Something like a time/space war wasn’t about to get in the way of his self-serving goals, after all.

A few months after he’d arrived, the chance the Initiative had been waiting for finally arrived - the ability to send Transports home safely and accurately. Until this point, the Initiative could only bring Transports in. Elmer volunteered, and was chosen at random to return to his time and place. The Initiative was only off by a few days, and sent Elmer home along with a few Transports to keep an eye on things. Everything seemed to have worked fine, and after a few days, the other Transports were brought back to Exsilium, and Elmer was left behind to return to his life.

It didn’t last long, though. One of the Transports on the mission was Adam Jensen, a cyborg. The UE managed to hack him quietly, and then follow his signal to Elmer’s world. They managed to open their own portal to it, and sent in their full forces to an unexpecting world. In a matter of hours, the UE managed to take it over entirely. The small might of the Initiative wasn’t enough to make a difference, and they had no choice but to let it go and withdraw. Elmer was luckily rescued by Transports who found him on the eastern shores of Japan. His cruise ship had been sunk and he had been separated from his fellow immortals on board, and spent days swimming westward in hopes of reaching land. He was brought back to Exsilium, where he attempted to rally the disheartened and defeated troops, but most figured he was suffering from shock and hadn’t even registered everything that happened. Elmer might be crazy, but he was more concerned with the smiles on the faces in front of him, of those in the Initiative, than those of a world lost to him forever.

It wasn’t much later than that than a few familiar faces in his life began to show up. While no one from past 2002 could arrive in Exsilium, Elmer still had 300 years of friends and acquaintances. One of them was none other than Huey Laforet, Elmer’s best friend whom he hadn’t seen in centuries. The last they had seen each other was in 1711, after they parted ways after the Advenna Avis. Huey had been up to a lot in that time, continuing with alchemy and treating the entire world and everyone in it as if it was his experiment. Everyone, that is, except for Elmer. Elmer was thrilled to see his best friend again, of course, but there was one little snag. A few weeks earlier, another friend by the name of Monica Campanella arrived - Huey’s deceased lover. Their history is a complicated one, and optimistic, opportunistic Elmer saw this as a chance for the two to get back together. Of course things weren’t that simple. Things between the couple were tense, and it was even quite awhile until they even spoke. But that didn’t stop Elmer from trying to help them. After all, he had a promise to Huey he had to keep.

Back after the events of the Advenna Avis concluded, and before they parted ways, Huey asked Elmer to promise him one thing - never change. Huey thought that if Elmer remained his bright, smiling self, that maybe he would be able to find his own smile again someday. Naturally, Elmer agreed completely, even though Huey knew it was a completely selfish act on Elmer’s part. Elmer wanted Huey’s smile no more and no less than he wanted everyone else’s, after all. Elmer knew it would be worth it, and for his best friend’s sake, kept with it for three hundred years. Huey and Monica’s arrival in Exsilium didn’t change that, since their relationship was very strained. Elmer’s job wasn’t done.

Unfortunately, things wouldn’t be resolved before the end of Exsilium. A whirlwind of bad events happened one after another. The UE finally got tired of the Initiative’s meddling, and decided to end it once and for all. The Transports made it away safely, but most of the Initiative and all of the innocent natives were killed in nuclear blasts that wiped them off the map. The Transports retreated to a moon base they managed to capture a few months back, and tried to regroup from there. Things were beyond difficult, with little resources and power in a cramped, closed space. The UE left them be, not knowing they could continue their missions in time from there. Through a lot of hard work, in a few months the Transports were back on the surface - to a dramatically altered Exsilium unrecognizable from the last. The grim landscape and constant rain from nuclear winter were replaced by actual winter. The climate had changed to that of constant snow cover, like mid-winter Alaska all year round. The UE, Initiative and locals still existed, albeit in a difference sense than before, and the Transports had to restart a new life among them. Elmer was acclimated to living in such a climate in the years leading up to the point where he’d be originally brought to Exsilium. He spent several years in a small village close to the Arctic Circle, so he spent the time not on missions and supply runs helping people get sheltered and properly adjusted to such a life. Elmer had even spoken with Caesar Silverberg, another Transport who had plans to fix Elmer’s world even before the moon base debacle even happened, and had planned to move forward.

As soon as the Transports were getting used to life back on Earth, things started to fall apart. So much alteration to time and space wasn’t without its consequences. Reality began to break down, and it was at this point that Elmer, like a lot of people, slipped through its cracks. With his home world in ruins, Elmer really didn’t have anywhere to go - until Zephyr stepped in.

How did they change from their canon personality wise (Please explain what caused it to happen?) What should be noted about Elmer isn’t how he changed - because he didn’t. What’s important is that he didn’t change, and won’t, and that his nearly 300-year-old promise to Huey held up. Perhaps if things with Monica and Huey had gone better in their time in Exsilium, and had patched things up, perhaps then Elmer would have been free of his obligation. But even then, he probably wouldn’t have. 313 years with one very steadfast worldview that fits his goals won’t just disappear overnight. Even so, things never were resolved between his two friends, and they were all separated again. As far as Elmer is concerned, they can all meet again someday. Being whisked off to different worlds and times showed him that the impossible can happen, and there’s nothing stopping it from happening again. Maybe someday his world will be fixed and he can return to it. Maybe one day Huey and Monica will be together again. Maybe someday, his promise to Huey to remain the same for Huey’s sake will no longer be needed. But he’ll wait for those days to come, and in the meanwhile, will stay the same old Elmer C. Albatross that’s graced this world for the past three centuries.

How did they change from their canon physically (Please explain what caused it to happen?): N/A. As an immortal, Elmer doesn’t physically change.

Powers: Details on how the immortal ability in Baccano! works is outlined here. Basically, he is unaging and recovers from wounds in moments to minutes, depending on severity.

Possessions: Elmer didn’t have much in Exsilium, and as someone constantly traveling back home, has never had a lot in the way of possessions. The only possessions from Exsilium I’d like him to have was the old and worn violin he managed to find, and the photobook Carol gave him a gift - it’s full of photos of his fellow Transports and friends smiling, taken by Carol herself. His home will include a collection of handheld video games, books ranging from comics and novels, to science and alchemy texts, photos of his friends back home, and plenty of cooking supplies. This will be the first time he’s had a place of his own like this in a very long time.

Please provide three samples from your previous game, at least one will have to be third person with context:
Sample One: 1st person network: Elmer weighs in on the mutiny (with a bonus counseling session with Monica)
Sample Two: 1st person interaction: Elmer has his fortune told
Sample Three: 3rd person: Elmer has a talk with Christopher, one of Huey’s homunculi.