Post by Mrs. Brisby on Feb 5, 2011 14:36:05 GMT -5
~~~Welcome to Dreaming of Utopia!~~~
~~~The Basics~~~
Character Image
Character Name
Mrs. Hope Brisby
Character's Origin
The Secret of NIMH
~~~About My Character~~~
What is your character's history? Are they a hero, or a villain, a sidekick or guardian? What has happened to them in their lives to make them the way they are today?
Unlike most of her peers, Hope Paige never spent any of her childhood dreaming about going off on an adventure, or living any sort of extraordinary life. She was content to keep to herself and perhaps live in a nice house if she was lucky, so meeting someone as incredible as Jonathan Brisby was far more than she had ever expected for herself (she wasn’t aware of his modifications, or that the rats viewed him as a saviour, he was just incredible to her). Even though they were still quite young at the time, Hope knew that their love was true and thus agreed to marry him and become Mrs. Brisby. Within only a few years they had added four children to the family (two girls and two boys), however their happily ever after was cut tragically short when Jonathan was suddenly killed whilst attempting to drug Dragon, the cat who lived on the same farm as them.
The now widowed Hope Brisby kept going as best she could, trying to stay strong for the sake of her children. Unfortunately disaster seemed to have developed a taste for the Brisby family, for one day whilst out walking her youngest son, Timothy, was attacked and bitten by a vicious spider. Mrs. Brisby barely left his side, however in spite of her best efforts to nurse him back to health his condition soon deteriorated into a fever. Desperate, Hope went to see and old friend of her husband, Mr. Ages, who gave her both some good news and some bad. Timmy’s illness could be cured with the help of some medicine that he gave her, however he would have to stay in bed for at least three weeks, when moving day (the day when the farmer’s plough would destroy the area where they lived now) was due to arrive any day now.
Under the advice of a rather bitter childhood friend, Agatha Shrew, Mrs. Brisby went to consult the great owl on how to deal with the situation. He advised her to visit the rats who lived in the rose bush, whose technology would be able to movie the Brisby house to safety without Timmy ever having to endanger his life by getting out of bed. Fortunately for Hope she found that Mr. Ages was a friend of the Rats, and he was able to get her an audience with the wise-man of the rats, Nicodemus. He revealed to Mrs. Brisby the truth about the rats origins at NIMH and how this connected to her husband, and passed on a mysterious amulet that Jonathan had intended her to receive one day. The rats agreed to move her house to safety, and in return she agreed to attempt to drug Dragon. In a way it was fortunate that she was captured by the humans whilst doing so, for it allowed her to overhear that NIMH was coming to destroy the rats.
Mrs. Brisby managed to escape from the cage she had been trapped within and hurried back to her home, only to find that something had gone direly wrong with the moving process: her house had fallen into the mud, and was beginning to sink. Just as it looked like her children would be stolen from her just as her husband had been, she managed to tap into the power of the amulet and use it to lift her house again, placing it safely out of the path of the plough. Her more impetuous children attempted to convince her to keep such an item of power, however Hope chose to pass it on to Justin, the new leader of the rats, in order to aid his efforts to move his people to a new, safer home in Thorn Valley. The danger now gone, Timothy made a full recovery, and once again Mrs. Brisby was able to live in peace.
Describe your character's personality. What are their strengths and weaknesses, what are their passions? What qualities do they have that are good or bad?
Mrs. Brisby has a heart that is far larger than her diminutive size. She is incredibly kind, rarely failing to offer a helping hand wherever it is needed, even if the situation might place herself in danger. This only escalates when someone she dearly cares about is in trouble, in which case she will almost completely disregard her own safety until she can be sure that everything has been put right. Although she is mild and timid, she will show enormous courage if she needs to in order to save those who are important to her. She will always try to see the best in people, and find something to like about them even when other people cannot. Manners are important to her, so she always ties to be polite, and not say anything bad about others if she can avoid it.
~~~Sample~~~
Give us a small sample of how you will play your character. Give us at least three paragraphs.
An ominous rumbling had been coming from the sky for some time now, however in spite of her best efforts Hope Brisby had only managed to get half way back to her home when the clouds burst, unleashing a deluge of rainwater down onto the world below. This occurrence would have been innocuous enough under normal circumstances, however when she had left the house that morning it had seemed like a bright and warm day, thus she had not taken the precaution of bringing anything waterproof to protect herself. Her eyes widened in alarm as the rain began to fall in thick droplets and she quickly changed course, darting beneath an abandoned wheelbarrow for cover.
“Oh my,” said Mrs. Brisby in a distressed tone as she peered up at the sky, “It looks like a full storm! I hope the children aren’t too alarmed.” The rain seemed to be growing in force with every passing second, however it was only when a flash of forked lightning fiercely lit up the sky above her that she was finally forced to admit that these conditions were too dangerous to travel in. She probably would have risked it had there been any sense of urgency to the situation, fortunately as far as she knew everything was fine back at home, so there didn’t seem to be any harm in delaying her return for safety’s sake. Besides, there was something oddly tranquil about the sound that the rain made as it hit the hard, wooden surface above her, even if every peal of thunder or flash of lightning shattered any sense of calm completely.
“To think that the rats can manipulate electricity,” she muttered to herself as a particularly large flash illuminated the stormy sky, “it seems so uncontrollable when it’s like this.” Of course, even though she wasn’t aware of there being anything wrong at home, she couldn’t help but worry about her children, so began to concentrate on counting the time between the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder in an attempt to take her mind off it. Unfortunately for Mrs. Brisby this turned out to be a rather counterproductive choice of activity, for every time she counted it revealed that the storm was growing closer and closer.
“Oh I do hope it dies down before it reaches us,” said Hope nervously, “I don’t know how much protection this thing will offer me.” She glanced up at the wheelbarrow as she spoke, anxious eyes noticing the amount of metal fixtures there were holding the wood together; if just one of them were to attract the lightning then the whole thing could go up in flames!
“Oh my,” said Mrs. Brisby in a distressed tone as she peered up at the sky, “It looks like a full storm! I hope the children aren’t too alarmed.” The rain seemed to be growing in force with every passing second, however it was only when a flash of forked lightning fiercely lit up the sky above her that she was finally forced to admit that these conditions were too dangerous to travel in. She probably would have risked it had there been any sense of urgency to the situation, fortunately as far as she knew everything was fine back at home, so there didn’t seem to be any harm in delaying her return for safety’s sake. Besides, there was something oddly tranquil about the sound that the rain made as it hit the hard, wooden surface above her, even if every peal of thunder or flash of lightning shattered any sense of calm completely.
“To think that the rats can manipulate electricity,” she muttered to herself as a particularly large flash illuminated the stormy sky, “it seems so uncontrollable when it’s like this.” Of course, even though she wasn’t aware of there being anything wrong at home, she couldn’t help but worry about her children, so began to concentrate on counting the time between the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder in an attempt to take her mind off it. Unfortunately for Mrs. Brisby this turned out to be a rather counterproductive choice of activity, for every time she counted it revealed that the storm was growing closer and closer.
“Oh I do hope it dies down before it reaches us,” said Hope nervously, “I don’t know how much protection this thing will offer me.” She glanced up at the wheelbarrow as she spoke, anxious eyes noticing the amount of metal fixtures there were holding the wood together; if just one of them were to attract the lightning then the whole thing could go up in flames!
~~~Bonding~~~
Why this character? What draws you to them, what makes you want to play them? Do you have anything in common with them?
The thing that I really like about Mrs. Brisby is that she’s not the usual type of heroine that you find in animated movies. She’s not a princess or a teenager out to prove their worth by saving the day; she’s just a mother trying to save the life of her son, and I think she’s a much stronger character because of this. It also makes her very easy to relate to, because she’s always acting from a very realistic motive.
What would you like your custom title to be? This can be anything you like in reference to your character and will appear under your name.
Courage of the Heart
Who else do you play here?
Alice Liddell and Ariel
