Welcome to the world of Pokemon, Caroline! You have been accepted for the role of Sid Chopra. To get started, please consult the new trainer checklist.
OOC INFORMATION
NAME: Caroline, Caro
AGE: 28
TIMEZONE: EST
PRONOUNS: She/her
PRIOR EXPERIENCE: I’ve been roleplaying for about five years now. You can find a list of my accounts here.
OTHER: Nope!
CHARACTER INFORMATION
CHARACTER: Sid Chopra
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS CHARACTER?: Like Sid, I consider myself a glass half-full kind of person who came from a family that tends to look at things with a more half-empty perspective. I know what it’s like to sometimes keep things from your parents so they don’t poke holes in your happiness but to still want their approval in spite of that. I would like to see Sid in the long term maybe find some peace with his parents’ disapproval and find a found family that accepts him for who he is.
CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY: Nope, I wrote it so I’m pretty cool with it.
POKEMON
HAVE YOU BEEN EXPOSED TO POKEMON PREVIOUSLY?: I used to watch the anime on WB Kids every Saturday morning until Misty and Brock left and broke my heart. At one point I tried to watch the Black & White anime, but I couldn’t get over how they pronounced Unova and had to stop. I’ve also played almost every game ever, but I only got to Hoenn recently. Somehow I managed to miss two whole generations of Hoenn games, but I got Alpha Sapphire a few months ago and finished it.
WHAT BABY POKEMON WOULD YOUR CHARACTER BE MOST INTERESTED IN HAVING?: This is a hard question because I feel like Sid wants most of the baby Pokemon because a lot of them are part-Fairy or Psychic which is kind of his groove. However, I feel like Happiny would be his be-all, end-all. He is a nurse after all and Chansey is the OG Kanto Joy helper. He’d also be happy with Igglybuff, Togepi, Smoochum, Azurill, Wynaut, Chingling, or Mime Jr though.
WHAT EEVEELUTION WOULD YOUR CHARACTER MOST LIKE TO HAVE?: Sid likes Fairy- and Psychic-type Pokemon the best so my guess would be that he’d be most attracted to the idea of Sylveon or Espeon. I think beyond the type preference, he’d like that they level up through affection since he’s a nurse and not a trainer. I think the idea of Pokemon that grow through bond would just mean more to him.
WHAT LEGENDARY OR EVENT POKEMON WOULD YOUR CHARACTER MOST LIKE TO HAVE?: I have always imagined that Sid’s parents would have been part of a Hindu-like cultural before they moved to Unova. I think iconography is such an important part of that, with symbols being such a big part of most religions. So I think to Sid while he might not necessarily seek to possess any particular Legendary Pokemon, seeing Ho-oh would mean a lot to him. Ho-oh is said to only to appear to the pure-hearted and that those who spot it live with eternal happiness and I think even though he’s pretty rational, there’s probably some childhood part of him that’d think he was blessed forever.
IN CHARACTER QUESTIONS
In lieu of a writing sample, please answer the following questions in your character’s voice so we can get a sense of their characterization.
1. Do you believe that people are simply good or evil?
No, I grew up in a family that had very black-and-white ideals about right and wrong and I didn’t live up to them. And I think most people would agree that dedicating your life to taking care of Pokemon and eating cotton candy occasionally wouldn’t make you a giant disappointment, but my parents disagreed. So I think good and evil is mostly in the eye of the beholder. Although I do think there are some things that you just can’t come back from, obviously, but people who would commit such acts are few and far between. Most people have more innate good in them then innate evil.
2. If you could travel to any other region in the Pokemon world, where would you go and why?
I’d like to go to Kalos because I’ve heard they’ve got some amazing pastries. No offense to Unova or Kanto, but they’re too heavily focused on chocolate. Which don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling out chocolate! I’m just saying that I’d rather have a croissant with some fruit-filling occasionally. Preferably a really good apple turnover. Also, Kalos has a lot of cool historical sites to see, I’d love to learn about some of the history there and visit the stones as Geosenge Town. And to see some of the Fairy-types that are native around there.
3. What Pokemon type do you believe best represents your personality and why?
The type of Pokemon I probably like the best are Fairy and Psychic. I always loved the idea of being a Psychic as a kid, if only because I watched too many of Sabrina’s battles on the television and wanted to freak people out by reading their minds and bending spoons. I don’t seem to have any latent Psychic ability though, just some crummy magic tricks. Whereas Fairy-type moves and Pokemon tend to have a lot of charm, just like yours truly. Just kidding, I think I’m more awkward but I’m good at taking care of things. And I think if you look at most Fairy-types, they have a lot of healing potential. Also, they come off as truly non-threatening but they’ve got a good amount of strength to them. Although it definitely wouldn’t be physical strength in my case.
4. You have chosen to leave home to raise Pokemon on the road, braving rain, cold, and heat. What do you think you can gain from being on the road that you couldn’t get from staying in your hometown?
Some days I think I’m truly crazy to have left home. I miss the sounds of Nimbasa City when I’m sleeping, riding roller coasters at night when the whole city is lit up from the top, and hanging out with my friends at the local burger joint. And let’s not forget my nice warm bed. But I guess what I wanted most was independence. I didn’t leave home for college like a lot of people and even though I still chose my own path, it felt like everything I did was criticized by my parents - the way I did my laundry, what I wore to work, what I did with my free time. And I’m old enough that I was sick of living under someone’s thumb. Kanto was a big leap, but it’s a test of my ability to be on my own and make my own decisions without my parents to hum and haw or a Nurse Joy watching over my shoulder to see if I’m doing things the way she would.
5. Professor Oak can never remember his grandson’s name, signifying a possible larger issue with their relationship. How would you describe your relationship with your own family?
I feel like you can already guess from my other answers that my relationship with my parents is not what I’d like it to be. I would characterize it as difficult, which is kind of a cop out word in some ways. I guess some other adjectives would be: distant, disappointing, unclear. I feel like there’s just a disconnect between what I say to my parents and what the words they hear a lot of the time. When I was younger they just shut me down on everything and were like “this is the way we do things and that’s it”. So I learned kind of early on that the best way to handle them is to tell them one thing and do another. They just overreacted to a lot of things growing up, like if I wanted to learn to skate they’d act like I’d asked to go to the skate park and snort coke specifically. I know they’re country people and that they have a lot of irrational fears of the big city but they were just never happy unless I was studying. And when I got so good at studying that I was constantly getting A’s it still didn’t really make them happy, it just allowed them to brag to their friends. I just feel like they’re upset no matter what I do so I might as well be happy even if they’re not.