Application for Coraline Jones (Coraline, Neil Gaiman)

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

((OOC: I'm playing Coraline based on the book, which is why she has a PB (Ariel Gade) rather than movie icons. Nothing against movie!Coraline, I just haven't seen the film yet. If you're reading this later and want to play Wybie or the movieverse version of anyone, PM me and we'll work something out.

Also, spoilers for the whole book.))

It was a rainy, dull Saturday. Coraline had played with all her toys and grown bored with them all, and counted every yellow thing in the house, and was now amusing herself by lying across a chair with her head hanging backwards over the side, trying to make herself believe that she could walk on the ceiling. It wasn't until she started feeling dizzy and sat up again that she realised the room had changed.

She stood up, quickly, looking around the room. It didn't look familiar to her at all, which was a sort of relief. At least it wasn't trying to trick her into thinking she knew it. There was a door, but it wouldn't open, even when she pulled as hard as she could.

There was also a table in the middle of the room, with a piece of paper on it and an old-fashioned quill pen floating just above it. Coraline went over and examined it. Her father had a pen on his desk that floated like that. It worked by magnets.

Coraline didn't think this one did.

"Is anybody here?" she asked, and jumped a little as the pen wrote the words down. The paper was a sheet of questions, she saw now. Answering them seemed the obvious thing to do.

1. What is your favorite cheese? Why is it your favorite?

"Proper cheese. The kind that is yellow and goes on pizza or in omelettes. Not the runny or smelly or mouldy kind."

2. Who would you kill first, Barney or Carrottop?

She frowned suspiciously at the paper. "Barney is probably a T rex," she said, after some thought, "which is a carnivorous dinosaur. If he tried to eat people or stamp on their houses the army would come to shoot him."

That didn't exactly answer the question (although it was something she'd wondered about), but it was a worrying sort of question to be asked. It seemed safer to pretend not to quite understand it.

3. What time is it where you are?

Coraline looked around the room again. There wasn't a clock anywhere.

"It was half past three at home."

4. If you were Albus Dumbledore returned from the dead, which member of the Order of the Phoenix would you sexually harass? How would you harass them? If you are Albus Dumbledore, please answer as if you were Sirius Black.

"...urgh."

She skipped that one. She wasn't completely sure what it meant, but she knew enough to know these questions were probably not meant for her. At least she hoped it wasn't meant for her.

5. If you are pushing to be in:

A. Slytherin - please state the clever, witty name of the bar in which you bartend, in the dark.

That was another grown up question, but not as uncomfortable as the first one. Coraline had seen bars on television, normally while looking for something more interesting to watch. "The Old Well," she said, after a moment. It sounded right.

B. Gryffindor – Debate whether Harry should ultimately end up married to Fred or George. Use examples from a variety of world mythologies to bolster your argument.

'Mythologies', she was fairly sure, meant 'stories'. "In books it's always the one who is bravest, or cleverest, or most handsome. Or who passes a test. Being handsome and nothing else is boring, though. Harry should marry the one who is brave and clever, and then go on more adventures with them."

C. Ravenclaw – You guys are supposed to be smart. Explain why my desk is inundated with paperwork at all times, even though I’m constantly disposing of it.

"My mum and dad have lots of paperwork too," she said, slowly. That might not work, but it was worth a try. "They both do things with computers. If you let me go home I will ask them."

D. Hufflepuff – Prove you are not useless.

Now this one she could answer. Coraline stood up straight, taking a deep breath, and tried to sound as grown up as possible, to give anything listening the impression that she was not to be trifled with.

"I rescued my parents from the other mother, when she stole them away into her world. I found where she was hiding them, and I also found the souls of the children trapped behind her mirror and brought them away. And then I locked her up in her own world, and trapped her right hand down our old well when it came to get the key."

6. Offer a bribe to the members of this community so that they will not squib you. Items used in bribery do not necessarily have to belong to the person offering the bribe. Do not threaten us rather than offering a bribe. A threat indicates you either don't really want to be here, or don't have enough sense to answer the question properly. The hat will automatically squib you, regardless of other votes, if you do.

"I don't have any money. Just some things." She emptied her pockets. Her mother had washed her jeans recently, so there wasn't very much in them. Only three blue and two yellow paperclips, a pine cone, and some interesting pebbles. One of the pebbles had a small hole in it, and she slipped that one back into her pocket, laying the rest on the table.

"I have read the hogwarts_hocus faq, and understand it is a crazy, cracktastic sorting community and RPG. _Coraline Jones_
I have read the hogwarts_hocus rules and agree to abide by each and every one of them. _Coraline Jones_.
I agree to be a good sport and not get my knickers in a bunch. _Coraline Jones_.
One day, marmalade will rule the world. _Coraline Jones_"

Comments

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"Yes, eventually you get home, but some people stay years and never leave or they return. There is a room with giant popcorn kernels that has a list of names of those who are currently not in this world." It was discouraging to find nothing that gave even the tiniest bit of a hint of how to get home.

Rika thinks she might be acting too serious around the girl, so she puts on a smile and says, "I hear that we return to the time we were taken from so no matter how long we stay here, back home it is as if nothing happened."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Oh. No one mentioned that." Coraline relaxed, just a little. She was still going to try her best to find a way out, of course, but if no time was passing at home then it wasn't urgent for her to find it. At least not yet.

Which reminded her of the other thing the girl had said. "Who are the people to avoid? I think I met one of them. If he counts as a person."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"The biggest threat I am currently aware of is a demon named Karasu. I have not met him personally, but he attacked someone I know here. Not all demons here are bad though," Rika adds the last part in so the girl doesn't fear every demon she sees. "I have been lucky with the people I have met, so I am not really sure how many others should be avoided, but to allow Karasu in proves that this world isn't picky with who is allowed to stay."

Since that answer isn't definite she adds, "Mii. Perhaps we should make a list of names of dangerous people to avoid. It would be silly to be paranoid all the time when the majority are good people."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"...yes." She nodded slowly, frowning in concern. "And descriptions, if we don't know what they look like. The - person I met might have been a demon. He said his name was Ryuk. He was tall and spiky and dressed in black, and could fly, and his eyes looked a bit like stuffed olives, red in the middle."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"I do not think I've met Ryuk. How is he dangerous?" Rika asks. "By the way, my name is Rika."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

She offers a hand. Rika presumably has read her name already. "He had a notebook that he said he could kill people with, by writing their names down. And he thought I was amusing."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

Rika isn't used to the custom of hand shaking, but she has watched news programs where westerners would greet others that way, so she was able to mask her initial confusion quickly and shakes Coraline's hand. "There is a no kill rule in this castle that prevents people from killing others in here. I do not think there is something to worry about if Ryuk's only power is to kill."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Coraline scowled, indignant with Ryuk and a little annoyed with herself for being tricked, although she couldn't have been expected to know about that rule. "Well, he didn't tell me that."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"That may be why he thought you were amusing." Which is annoying. "What have you been told about this world by the others you have met?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Probably. He doesn't have much of a sense of humour." She may have words with him, if she sees him again.

"I know we're in a magic school, in Scotland. And about the hat, and the different houses."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"I think some other things to know is that this is most likely not the world you came from and the even date may be different. To me, this world is about twenty-six years in advance. And not everyone here is alive back in their own world, some come here directly after their death." Rika explains.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraine nodded. "I'm going to try to send a letter to my parents when I get out of this room. To find out if this is my world or a different one. And then if I can't I'll look for another way back."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"Good luck," It would be best for Coraline to find that there is no answer on her own, Rika thinks. "I'll try to get a list of dangerous people made. I'll ask for names, descriptions, and reasons why they should be avoided, do you think I should add anything else?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

She thought about it. "What to do if you can't avoid them, or run into them by accident?"

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"Since this is a magic school it would be best to learn some spells if one is confronted, but it will defiantly help to know of alternatives," Rika agrees.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Will we have magic wands?" Coraline asked, as it occured to her that she hadn't thought much about the 'learning magic' side of things yet. "And broomsticks?"

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"Mr. Wednesday, the Runes professor, has a box of magic wands that you can pick one from. There was once a class held to teach us how to fly on broomsticks, so there must be a closet around here somewhere with spares." Otherwise Rika could always owl Ron and ask for some broomsticks if she even had the need.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"What are the classes like?" She was wondering now how much magic school would be like ordinary school. If she was going to be stuck here she ought to make the most of it.

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"They are optional to go to or participate in and teachers put up a notice in advance what their class is going to cover, so you can know if you want to go or not. That makes them more interesting to go to than a regular school, aside from the subjects taught not being anything like what I had to learn at my school back home. And the classes aren't held regularly, more on the whim of the teacher than anything else." So not really like an ordinary school at all.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"That's a strange way to run a school." She remembered Zel telling her that the Hat wasn't very good at anything except sorting people. That probably explained it. "I wish I didn't have to go to some of the lessons at home. But if they're magic lessons everyone probably wants to do them, anyway."

Vote: Gryffindor

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure if any classes teach spells, what I do know I learned from reading in the library." After going home seemed hopeless Rika went to the library to study what could be useful in this world.

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"What spells have you learned?" It would be good to know what might be helpful. Of course, she'd be reading as much as she could, too.

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"I was not thinking of dangers when I was learning earlier, so I learned transformation spells so that I could change the appearance of clothes or make something useful from something just laying around. What I had in mind was using that for playing games." And Soichiro did look nice in that tutu.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"You could use it for disguises, as well," Coraline suggested. "And hiding places."

[fatedjune.livejournal.com]

"I think there might be a spell that we can use to turn invisible. And there are a lot of subjects I haven't looked through, so there could be a spell for just about anything," Rika says.