APP FOR route_29

[fauxtography]

Player
Name: Typhie
Personal Journal: typhie
E-mail: typhlogirl@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: AIM | typhlogirl and typhie
Timezone: GMT +10
Current Characters in Route: Dr Kato (katostrophic) and Celestia Ludenberg (divinitea).

Character
Name: Emmeline "Emmy" Altava
Series: Professor Layton
Timeline: Just after leaving Layton at the conclusion of 'Professor Layton 6: The Azran Legacy'.
Canon Resource Links: Here is the series in general on Wikipedia, and here is Emmy's page on the Layton Wikia.

Personality: Like most girls, Emmy Altava has a number of favourite hobbies, a close circle of friends, and a dark secret. On the outside, she's a charismatic and friendly person who enjoys photography, martial arts, and cooking for her friends. Unbeknownst to those friends, however, she's secretly working for a criminal organization dedicated to finding the exact same archaelogical sites her boss - one of those friends - is searching for, and he's never quite managed to puzzle out why they always seem to be a step ahead of him.

But to Emmy, that's just her job. It's not really betrayal if you were never actually working for someone in the first place, is it?

Throughout the three Layton games (and one movie) that she appears in, Emmy displays a clear and vibrant personality. She's fiery and confident, unafraid of the dangers of chasing a thug across rooftops, or fighting off some unsavoury characters, and she throws herself into those tasks with glee and abandon. She's always stood out against the calm, rational Professor Layton due to that impulsiveness, that go-getter urge that often finds her running off after something while he shakes his head in her dust. But while they have their differences, there's also something that brings them together - a mutual love of puzzles and the mysterious, a desire to find the truth where others have failed to unearth it.

Even if photographs of that 'truth' were promptly sent straight to that criminal organization mentioned earlier.

What makes it complicated, however, is that that criminal organization - Targent - is run by the man who took her in when she was orphaned, and raised her as if she was his own daughter. He was the one who asked her to work for Layton, to eventually betray him if the situation required it, and she agreed without hesitation. She owes quite a lot to Bronev, and is clearly very fond of him - she calls him 'uncle'. As long as he's asking her to jump, she'll simply want to know how high, and will attack any tasks with her normal furious determination.

Emmy is highly driven, and doesn't like to give up, or experience failure. In her own words, she hates being wrong. In fact, she shows a surprising amount of self-hatred when confronted with (even fairly benign) failure - if you fail one of her puzzles in PL4, she says 'I'll never be a good assistant!' with quite a bit of emotion behind it. Unfortunately, that dogged determination to avoid failure can lead her to make some dark decisions. In PL6, when Layton is refusing to give Bronev an artifact he needs to complete his mission, Emmy grabs Luke and holds a rather sharp icicle to his neck. Needless to say, Bronev gets his artifact, and Emmy gets the job done. Just as he wanted.

Even with her deceit of Layton and Luke, Emmy still possesses a sharp sense of justice and righteousness, and isn't afraid to let her feelings known when she doesn't approve of something. When the three of them arrive in Hoogland, during PL6, and discover it's horrifying tendency to sacrifice young women to the gods, Emmy will not be silenced. She constantly mentions how barbaric, how unfair, how unjust it all is! It's not right! She can't be calmed until they reveal the tradition for a sham.

Does her love of truth and justice make her actions hypocritical? Not really, actually, because she simply...doesn't believe she's doing anything wrong. Oh, there is quite a bit of guilt, and she chooses to leave Layton's employment at the end of PL6 in order to atone for what she's done to him, but overall? Her loyalty to Bronev was simply stronger than the respect she had for the Professor. Yes, what she did wasn't really very nice, but she was doing it a) because her uncle wanted her to and b) because she believed she could help to ease his obsession with the Azran Legacy. It was unfortunate that she had to hurt Layton and Luke in the process, but if she had to choose between them and the man who took her in and raised her...it isn't a hard puzzle to solve.

That's what makes Emmy so interesting. Yes, she's confident and ferocious and righteous, yet she's back-stabbing the main character of the series...for righteous reasons. At her core, she a very kind-hearted person; she's quick to take Aurora, the Azran girl, under her wing in PL6, and she does her best to take care of young Luke through all their escapades. She does care for them, really, and it was nothing personal. That's probably what makes it hurt the most, for her; as much as she wanted it to simply remain a job, she clearly grew to care for Layton and Luke, and meant them no harm.

But it's alright. She may have left, but she's going to atone for what she's done, and once she has, she'll visit the Professor once more - and if there's one thing you can count on with Emmy, it's that she doesn't give up.

Especially not when it concerns those people who are dear to her.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

✔ Loyal: Even if it was to the wrong side, Emmy's loyalty to Bronev is admirable. Throughout her entire arc in the games, no matter how much she bonded with Layton and Luke, she never wavered from her duty. Bronev took her in when she needed him most, and he raised her with kindness; she would let nothing stop her from repaying him for that. It's quite likely that if Bronev hadn't required her to work for Targent, that loyalty would have been centered on Professor Layton, after he helped her escape a (false) conviction some years before she went to work with him.
✔ Courageous: Emmy has no problem taking on the most terrifying of foes with just her fists and feet, whether it's a group of village thugs or a pack of literal wolves. She'll punch a wolf, she doesn't give a...er, yes. Many of the adventures she followed Layton on involved a fair bit of danger, but she never faltered or stopped to ask questions. She's also not afraid to yell at the odd villain, as evidenced by the way she furiously accosted Descole in Last Specter, despite how dangerous he'd proven himself to be.
✔ Confident: Whether fighting a villain or just having a friendly chat, Emmy oozes confidence, charisma and charm. This also extends to her, erm, driving - she's rather reckless on the road, but she has enough confidence in her abilities to ensure that she never has an accident (or, at least, none that we see...). She does have some moments of self doubt, but they're rather rare.
✔ Driven: Emmy's determination to succeed and get the job done is one of her strongest characteristics. She won't back down from a challenge, and tends not to let anything phase her, whether it's a terribly hard puzzle, a group of rogue youths, or inconvenient feelings for the friends she's about to betray.
✔ Skilled fighter: When she's not kicking wolves in the head, Emmy is hurling mooks around or knocking criminals unconscious. Her fighting skills (courtesy of Targent, as we learned in PL6) are second to none, and she's definitely the sort of person you want on your side. Especially if you want certain sensitive parts of your body to remain intact. Plus, on the off-chance that she doesn't manage to knock her target down, it's all good. They won't be getting away.

✔/✖ Not a morning person: Despite all her athleticism and drive, Emmy isn't the biggest fan of early starts, and sometimes has difficulty awakening quickly. Especially if there's no tea around!
✔/✖ A large appetite: While a healthy appetite is a positive thing, Emmy can get hit pretty hard by hunger when it's been a while between meals. That'll be fun out on the Routes!

✖ Rash: She has a tendency to leap into situations without fully considering the consequences or thinking things through, even with Professor Layton yelling at her to stop. Admittedly, she always handles the situations well and comes out on top, but it's usually considered a good idea to stop and think for a moment before you go chasing people across rooftops.
✖ Quick to anger: It doesn't take much to get Emmy angry, particularly if she feels something is unjust. She spends most of her time in Hoogland angrily raging against their horrible traditions, and how utterly unfair it. While her heart was most definitely in the right place, yelling at people isn't the most diplomatic way to show you disagree with them.
✖ Impatient: Emmy is a woman of action who dislikes having nothing to do, as witnessed by her annoyance when forced to sit around waiting for Misthallery's specter to appear. Layton's presence was a calming influence on her, so she may struggle to find patience without him around to bring her down to earth.
✖ Adamant: The entire reason why Emmy worked for Layton was to provide Bronev, the leader of Targent, with information about the Azran and ensure he was always a few steps ahead of the Professor. Even when it was becoming very clear that Bronev was going too far, and that Layton had the right of it, Emmy was still convinced that helping her Uncle was the right thing to do - even if it involved placing a sharp piece of ice at Luke's throat.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Lillipup (Lvl 15) and Scraggy (Lvl 5)
Justification: I know that Lillipup is a starter that is forbidden for Rockets, so I thought I'd explain my justification for why I would like Emmy to have one! It also involves me explaining just why she's going to be in Team Rocket, so I'll cover that first.

The reason I'm putting her in Team Rocket, rather than having her start in New Bark, is because of the fact that she was revealed to be a part of the criminal organization Targent in PL6. While she definitely didn't engage in the cruelty the members were known for, she did manipulate and betray both Professor Layton and Luke, and the main reason why she leaves Layton is because she feels she doesn't deserve to be his assistant any more, and she needs to atone. I want her in Team Rocket so that she gets that chance to atone; since she's completely familiar with Team Rocket, having spent most of her previous time in Route fighting against them, she's immediately going to want to pick up where she left off. This way, though, she gets to backstab the evil organization she's a part of, instead of the kind people helping her. I'm really fond of that parallel, and I think it will give Emmy a lot of determination and hope, in the face of everything that has happened - she can make up for her crimes with Targent by fighting against Team Rocket from the inside, using her knowledge of how they work, and she can show the Professor that she's making up for what she did to him and Luke.

(Of course, I'm not saying she's going to be able to get away with all this backstabbery - but that's the fun of it!)

There will also be a lot of room for her to angst over whether or not she deserves to be in Team Rocket, after her antics with Targent - at her core, however, Emmy is a very kind-hearted person who most definitely does not belong in that band of criminals. It just might take her a bit of character development to really realise that, and I'm excited about being able to play that out!

Now, that brings me back to Lillipup; I'm really fond of the idea of Emmy having a starter that also 'doesn't belong' in Team Rocket. She obviously won't know that, but I like the symbolism! I also chose Lillipup because its entire evolutionary line...pretty much sums her up. From their Pokedex entries:

1) Lillipup is a very brave, smart Pokemon that will face its opponents with great courage - that's Emmy in a nutshell.
2) Herdier are known for how loyally they follow their trainer's orders - Emmy did absolutely everything Bronev told her to do, due to how loyal she was to him.
3) Stoutland rescue people trapped at sea or in the mountains - Emmy flew in to help Layton and Luke when they were trapped on Ambrosia's island, and there have been many times where her martial art skills have kept the three of them out of trouble.

So that is pretty much it! If this explanation is unsatisfactory, please let me know, as I can definitely expand on it if needs be. Otherwise, I do have a back-up choice of starter for her!

Password: Swedish Fish

Samples
First Person Sample:

[There's a rather odd feed happening on the network today, although thankfully for all involved it's the one locked to Team Rocket members. In view, there's a petite young woman, dressed in the typical Team Rocket grunt uniform. However, she's not facing the camera, or appears to be aware that she's being filmed at all - instead, she's yelling at someone who is off-screen.]

I am not removing my tights!

[Those familiar with the uniform might have noticed that the woman has made a few...adjustments that are outside the dress code - she's wearing a pair of white tights underneath her miniskirt, and a pair of dark green boots rather than the long, grey boots female grunts are supposed to wear. Apparently, someone else in the Team has taken issue with her fashion sense, and she's not having any of it.]

How do you expect me to get anything done while I'm panicking about my skirt riding up?! Are you a Team of perverts?! It's simply unacceptable!

[Whomever she's arguing with releases a rather unsatisfying reply, judging by the rapidly intensifying look of fury on her face, although the words can't quite be caught. It doesn't matter, however; the woman is more than happy to supply a few of her own to cover it.]

I don't care if those are the rules! You can glare at me all you want, you big creep, but I'm not changing!

[Apparently, she is most determined not to change, as that remark is punctuated by a furious stamp of her foot. Suddenly, she turns to face the camera with a look of surprise, clearly following the lead of the person with whom she was arguing - especially since their hand is now coming down over the camera, with an angry yell of "WHOSE POKEMON IS THIS-?!"

..well. Training of the new grunts appears to be going spectacularly.]


Third Person Sample:

The Ice Path was not new territory for Emmy, and she was pleased to realise that the manic sense of glee she'd felt last time she traversed it was not abated by familiarity. There was something so exciting about sliding through the caves and paths, shifting your body weight just enough to ensure you skidded past a boulder but didn't quite lose your balance, and puzzling out the right way to make it into the next chamber. Frankly, the whole experience reminded her quite a bit of home. Or, at least, certain parts of it.

Laughing, she zoomed past a particularly icy rock and spun around, still moving forward and apparently unbothered by the fact that she now couldn't see where she was going.

"Come on, Lily! I thought you said you were going to keep up with me!"

Lagging behind her, her Herdier was struggling to keep up the pace, stuck in the same spot as she was. Despite herself, Emmy couldn't help but giggle at the sight; her poor Pokémon's paws were doing a fine job of polishing the ice, but weren't much use when it came to travelling across it. But then again, Lily had been a little on the ungainly side since her evolution. At least her Golbat wasn't having any trouble, although she made no secret of the fact that she was freezing by firing off the occasional anguished wail.

"Alright, alright! We're going as fast as we can, Zoe! You go on ahead if you're cold-"

Suddenly, Emmy twisted her feet and forced herself to a stop, causing Lily to crash into her legs in a rather unladylike manner. She barely noticed, however, as all her attention was focused on the wall in front of her. It was smooth, shiny, completely covered with ice, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

"Oh..."

In a flash, memories started flooding into her head, of her adventures in a similar cave with a similar wall, where her companions were far less furry and batty, but no less fond of her. Where such a memory should have caused happiness, instead, Emmy could feel her stomach dropping, her former joy slowly trickling out of her body as painfully familiar wave of guilt started to flow through her. Would it ever go away?

...

Did she deserve to have it go away? She didn't really want to think about it.

"Professor..."

Sighing, she tore her eyes from the wall, leaning down to run a hand across her concerned Herdier's head.

"It's alright, girl. It just...reminded me of something, that's all. But! We can't stop for long - Mahogany Town awaits, and I just know you'll love the Lake of Rage! Besides, I think poor Zoe might just leave us in here if we take any longer!"

Forcing herself to laugh again, Emmy figuratively pushed the dark feelings away and literally pushed Zoe along the ice, skating alongside her and making sure they stayed together. Like real friends should. She had some real friends back home - that, she knew.

It was time for her to learn how to be one.