Application

[harvesthoney]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Laura
AGE: Over 18
JOURNAL:laura_suzuki
IM / EMAIL:laura_suzuki@zoho.com
PLURK: N/A
RETURNING: Already in game with one character - Abigail Hobbs.

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Lacey Burrows
CHARACTER AGE:  31
SERIES: Corner Gas
CHRONOLOGY:  After the end of the television series and before the movie.
CLASS:Hero
HOUSING: Housed with random roommates, any city.

BACKGROUND: 

Lacey is from a sitcom series.   Her world was 'normal' in that there were no supernatural elements.   The television series took place in the town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, which generally followed a sitcom pattern of any problems being resolved by the end of an episode.  There was a movie, set after the series, which started with the town experiencing a severe financial crisis.  Since Lacey is taken from in-between the series and the movie, she is aware of the town's financial difficulties, but not of the degree it reached or how it was resolved in the movie.   I have not included the animated series in her canon.

Lacey was born in Toronto and was the only daughter of a critical mother and a negligent father.  As a young child, she often sat in front of a television set, watching an image of a burning log on the screen. The reason she loved the fireplace channel as a child was that she overheard her father commenting he was happy it kept her quiet and she wanted to please him.

Once she was past the age where she could stand to watch a log all day, she searched for ways to please her parents where she could actually get them to interact with her.  One day, she asked her mother to play a game of cards and her mother sarcastically told her - "You don't have fashion sense, a sense of humour, or a sense of direction, and no common sense. Maybe you have card sense."   Lacey took the comment literally, and began to play cards with pride.  She also began to play board games, especially scrabble, and sports.   She became very upset when she lost at any competition and very happy when she won.

Lacey thought she could gain her parent's love if she was a winner.  She began to see even the faintest hint that her dad acknowledged her existence at all, or mom didn't put her down, as love.  This constant search for validation was the first step in her developing an extremely competitive streak that continued into her adult life. 

It should be noted that Lacey was not completely ignored in her childhood.   Her Aunt Ruby was very loving and attentive.  Despite Ruby living far away in Saskatchewan, the two developed a very close bond.  While Ruby is never seen in canon, she is remembered positively by Lacy and others in Saskatchewan. 

Lacey went straight to university after high school, where she worked hard for good marks.   She met Stephen there.  He was law student with a promising future ahead of him, a gentleman, and everything that her parents wanted in a son-in-law.   They had good times together.   By the time she graduated university, she was engaged to him. There was only one problem.  Stephen was too nice and didn't challenge her in any way. She realized he wasn't the right one for her.

As her wedding date approached, Lacey busied her self with ceremony and reception details to take her mind off the fact that she was feeling trapped.  She felt she couldn't disappoint everyone, especially her parents.  Then tragedy struck - her Aunt Ruby suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.  Lacey inherited her Aunt's coffee shop and that felt like a sign to her.   She called Stephen's parents to tell them the wedding was off and moved to the small town of Dog River, Saskatchewan to run the restaurant.  

Lacey's arrival in Dog River created some small tension with the locals.   She wanted to change the decor and expand the menu with fancier items.  The locals worried she would make too many changes to the coffee shop, which was a fixture in the town.    There were complaints and one man tried to stage a protest.   Lacey mostly won the locals over when she re-opened the coffee shop and named it the Ruby Cafe after her Aunt.  She also agreed to keep chili cheese dogs on the menu, a popular item with one local in particular.

As a newcomer to the small town,  Lacey often felt that she didn't fit in.  She knew nothing about small town life, and was in general rather gullible; the locals had fun playing small jokes on her and making sarcastic quips at her expense.  She also tried to make improvements to the town and to the lives of the people in it and was usually met with resistance; she was seen as being too meddlesome.  There were frequent misunderstandings, often due to Lacey rushing in to help with a situation before she was aware of all the details or when her help was not needed/wanted. Any such misunderstandings were resolved quickly and Lacey generally enjoyed her Dog River life.

Lacey developed friendships with all the members of Dog River.   Her closest friendship was with Brent, the man who ran the gas station attached to her cafe.   He was frequently at the counter in her cafe, chatting with her and they became very close.  He helped her to joke with her new neighbours, make friends, fit in and lighten up a bit.  In turn, she helped him and the rest of the town see that some change could be a good thing.   In the Corner Gas movie, Lacey and Brent were in a romantic relationship; however, Lacey is taken before that change in their relationship.

PERSONALITY:

Lacey is motivated to please everyone around her.   She wants to do anything to make others happy and adapts herself to their likes and interests.  She is willing to help almost anyone with anything.  There are a few exceptions, for example Lacey does not like to help with moving furniture, even when the furniture being moved is her own. 

Lacey is competitive and driven.  She pushes herself hard to succeed in simple tasks such as an eating contest, or a round of golf - as well as to win larger goals such as becoming the first female hockey coach in Dog River and working so hard to help a woman she nominated for an award, to win it - that she won the award herself.    She tends to gloat when she wins.

Related to her driven spirit is her attention to detail.   She likes to do things the right way, which in her mind is her way.  She enjoys compliments and can be unwilling to listen to criticism. She wants things to be perfect and come across as overbearing.   She genuinely cares for others and wants to make things perfect for them, which can make her nosy and cause her to give unwanted or unnecessary advice.   

Lacey is cheerful and optimistic.  Despite her parents' treatment of her, she thinks back fondly on them and on her childhood.  She made it through leaving her fiance, a major move, and taking on a new business, with relative ease.  She views herself as incredibly talented in almost everything, even when that isn't the reality and frequently assumes that the men in her life have crushes on her.  She's kind; she often has a wide smile on her face and words of encouragement for those who seem to need it.  It is unwise to trust her with a secret; she will break a confidence, especially if she thinks it's to help.  She can be gullible and naive, thinking the best of others in any circumstances. She is generally a bad liar, unable to deceive those around her.

Beneath her optimistic nature, her childhood insecurities still exist.  This is seen when she loses at anything, even a simple contest.  She is still a sore loser; she will become withdrawn and sullen, invent excuses for why she lost, or insist on a rematch. Fortunately, this sore loser attitude does not last long and she is able to snap back to her happy self.  She also has times when she worries about people not liking her and will seek out reassurance.  She strives to make and keep friendships, and will even put up with rude behavior for the sake of a friendship.   She can be clingy and needy.  

After years in Dog River and through her relationships with the townspeople, Lacey has developed a sharper sense of humour.   She can more easily understand sarcasm than she could with her mother.  She has developed a broader view of the world. Small town life may not have been what her parents wanted and yet it was right for her.  Her dreams changed from being a trophy wife of a successful man, to being the successful owner of the Ruby Cafe. She learned that she could put her wants first and she began to see her friends as a type of family.  She realized she can be imperfect and relax without losing her relationships with others.  Her biggest fears are no longer her own failure and disappointing others. Her biggest fear is the town of Dog River experiencing financial difficulties that cause the townspeople to leave and the town to disappear.

Lacey suffers from globophobia, an irrational fear of balloons.  There is no known cause; she's simply always feared them.

POWER:

Lacey has no superpowers in her cannon, these are all created.

Optimism Inducement:   Lacey can cause others to feel hope, confidence and happiness, in any given situation.   The use of this power requires direct physical contact, for example a pat on the shoulder.  

Nutritional Manipulation:  Lacey can change the nutritional values and calorie content of any food without changing the taste.  For example, she could take a chili cheese dog and make it healthy, full of vitamins and low in calories.

Electrical Generation:   Lacey can produce beams of electrical current from her fingertips.   If used as a weapon, they would have an effect similar to a taser.   She can also generate an electrical shield around herself for self-defense.   Anyone touching the shield would receive a shock similar to touching an electrical fence.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉

COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

[Lacey starts a video feed with a bright smile.]  Hello?  Can people see and hear me?  [She waves.] 

Gosh!  This really isn't a prank!   It would have been the best one ever.   A lot better than gulli-bolonga.  Hi!  I'm Lacey from Dog River, Saskatchewan.    Any other Canadians here?   It's good to know we're not considered too polite and reserved to be imported heroes.  [She gives a small, nervous giggle.   That's a joke.  I knew some people back home who did not fit either of those stereotypes at all.  [Her smile falters.]  I miss them.  It's  a lot to take in, you know?   

[She grows quiet for a moment.  Self-pity is not the first impression she wants to make.]    I've been reading this information they gave me.   It is very helpful and hard to believe at the same time.  Porters, nanites,  superpowers.  It's like something right out of the movies.   To be honest; it's not really the type of movie I'd watch.  It would be appeal more to Brent and Hank.  Maybe Davis. Those are friends of mine.   Brent owns a gas station attached to my cafe and always has lunch at my counter.  Davis is a cop that stops in often for coffee.  And Hank, well, he hangs out at the cafe too. 

[She has to take another moment to drive away the home sickness and get herself back on track.]  Anyway, they'd go to see a movie with superheros, other worlds and everything else.  I'd decline; I'd think it was all too far-fetched to watch and tell them to have fun.  Yet here I am and they're back home.  Isn't it strange how things work out?

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

Lacey walked along the sidewalk, climbing a hill and pulling a small wagon behind her that was loaded with groceries.  In her mind, she was writing a polite letter  to the government and local newspapers, suggesting that imports be given cars along with housing.   She considered that cars might be too costly.  A short supply of taxi vouchers or perhaps a bus pass might be more acceptable.   She mentally revised the letter and finished with an appreciatively, Lacey.  Perhaps that sounded too assumptive.  Respectfully might be better.   Lacey found herself wishing she had her friends from home to voice her thoughts out loud with; she knew that Wanda would chime in with the proper phrasing.  Wanda's know-it-all nature was an amazing asset.

Lacey was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a thud behind her.  She glanced behind her and saw one of her grocery bags had fallen out of the wagon.  The bag was rolling down the hill, spilling its contents on the ground.  She chased behind it, grabbing as many groceries as she could while holding onto the wagon with one hand.   She had almost caught up to the first bag when another one tumbled off the wagon.  "Oh, C'mon."   She muttered to no one in particular as she scrambled to grab the second bag.

FINAL NOTES:

None.