01. Applications

[justttkidding]

complete

PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: xandrei
✖ Contact: plurk @ vaulkner, aim @ knifesxedge
✖ Are You Over 16: Y
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: none

CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Simon, Jack || (11, November)
✖ Canon: Darker Than Black, episode 22
✖ Character Appearance: Normal version, episode 22 version
✖ Character Age: ~28
✖ Pick A Number: 44, 74

✖ Canon Setting: Darker Than Black takes place on Earth– or rather, an alternate universe of our current Earth. The countries are the same as of a time period circa 2006-2007. However, the biggest difference is that 10 years prior to the initial setting, a war labeled as "Heaven's War" was occurring in South America. It's never quite stated why the war started, but many countries were taking part in it. 5 years into the war (and prior to the canon timeline), two scientific anomalies occurred. These anomalies were labeled "Heaven's Gate" and "Hell's Gate", appearing in South America and Japan respectively. Most of the prior events that are brought up in canon (references to the War) are set in South America. Besides the war, the appearance of the Gates began to affect great changes.

Before getting into the changes, though, some clarification on the Gates themselves: they're less of a physical "gate" and more a sectioned off piece of land. Within the section, unexplainable things happen– people hallucinate, they go crazy, bodies show up, those thought previously dead re-appear, people kill each other, etc. There's no real limit, canon-wise, to what can happen in the realm of the Gates. It's mentioned in the series that it's a place where wishes could come true. Whether that's factual or not is never really clarified to a certain extent.

As previously mentioned, the Gates seemed to provoke changes in the environment and the human race. For one, the sky itself became a hallucination of sorts, with the real stars and atmosphere disappearing. Taking the stars place are new stars that corresponded to what become dubbed as "Contractors". Contractors are people who develop a supernatural set of powers (ability to use sonic sound waves, anti-gravity, etc). Moreover, each Contractor is usually identified with a specific fake star and Messier catalogue number. When they use their powers, the star reacts and in turn, if they die, the star falls. A sub set of people with passive abilities also appear (known as Dolls); they can be programmed, and are more used for long reaching surveillance. Most of them communicate or "see" via contact with such things like water or glass (like a scrying mirror). Furthermore, Dolls don't have to pay the "price" (ranging from dog-earing book pages to breaking their own fingers) that Contractors (true to their moniker) must pay after using their powers. Instead, the trade off is that Dolls don't have as much of a will of their own and usually have to be instructed or pointed in the correct direction. Both sets of supernaturally gifted people usually end up working together in missions, balancing each other out. They also tend to be hired by secret service operations (MI6, CIA) due to the fact that neither Contractors nor Dolls feel as much emotion anymore, showing no regret when murdering in cold blood as they base all of their decisions on logic and self-preservation.

✖ Character History: November 11th (who also goes by pseudonym "Jack Simon") first appears in Episode 5: Red Giant Over Eastern Europe. He's first seen in talks with a group of what can be construed as thugs or at least, an underground operation. They promised to deliver goods, November 11 has provided money via his affiliation with British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The talks don't start off on the right foot. One of the thugs tries to light up a cigarette and November quickly asks him not to, then citing off his famous "secondhand smoke" speech (which can be found here). When the thug refuses, November gets up to leave. Hastily, the boss gets him to come back and they begin to talk again. Unfortunately, it goes completely south when the boss realizes how much the "goods" are worth to November and decides not to sell. November tries to leave, but the smoking thug cuts him off and blows smoke in his face. This sets him off, and he uses his Contractor powers to freeze the man's arm clear off. Eventually, he's able to get the whereabouts of his goods from the boss who tried to run, thanks to the help from the other two members of his team (April and July). After the exchange, he's shown paying his contract– ironically he smokes a cigarette, something he obviously detests. It's finally seen that his package is a woman named Havoc, a once-powerful Contractor from Heaven's War.

As things progress, Havoc is taken to the research division Pandora in Japan, where they are trying to test if her powers are coming back. During the interrogation, Division Chief of Police Misaki Kirihara is shown partially observing in order to stay informed. She ends up having a conversation with November 11, who introduces himself as November Simon from the British Foreign Ministry. They end up working together as Kirihara helps escort him and his team to rendezvous with where they're transporting Havoc next. The mission seems to go bad as they think the CIA is trying to get their hands on Havoc and intercept them. November 11 is one step ahead though, and actually had Havoc tucked away in the trunk of the car he was riding in, citing that the Japanese police had many leaks and he wanted to ensure no one else knew this would happen.

When the mission resumes and they head towards the UN-led Pandora building, a figure darts out in front of the car November's in with Kirihara and her second hand, Saito. Saito stops the car with haste, and for a brief moment the figure can't be seen. However, July (a Doll) tells November via phone that "they're here", presumably seeing the culprits from another vantage point linked via glass. April gets out of her car and creates a rainstorm just as the protagonist Hei steps out onto the road to face off against November. The two fight, Hei's teammate Huang gasses Kirihara and Saito and makes off with Havoc. Later, Kirihara asks November if he meant for that to happen or if Hei (known as the Black Reaper or Messier code BK201) had gotten the better of them. November explains if he had known that would happen, he would've made better preparations, so it had indeed taken him by surprise.

Kirihara and November continue to work together into episode 6, where the mission picks up again. Hei, in possession of Havoc, convinces her to go to Hell's Gate to get her memories (and powers) back to see if she can recall what happened to his sister Pai (who disappeared in Heaven's War). Even though MI6 could technically sit out the search for Havoc, November 11 talks Kirihara into letting them help, since he states he feels bad about the last mission going as badly as it did. Kirihara capitulates and through the help from the observatory (Astronomics), they're able to pinpoint activity coming from Havoc's star and Messier code. This leads them to Hell's Gate, where it becomes a game of cat and mouse between Hei, Havoc, and MI6. However, in a moment of panic upon the return of her powers, Havoc begs Hei to kill her, and because the resulting exchange loses them time, they're not able to escape April, July, and November. November kills Havoc with shards of ice and then faces off with Hei again, almost trapping him completely if Hei didn't distract him long enough for Huang to bail him out. In the end, neither Hei's group (Syndicate) nor MI6 get a hold of Havoc.

November and his team don't show up again until episodes 15 and 16. The episode starts out following April, who after coming out of a host club, spots an old colleague known as "February". She immediately runs towards February and the young boy she's with, calling November at the same time. November doesn't pick up his phone and she leaves a voicemail, getting into a cab to follow the car the picks up February and the "odd eyed" boy. While the cab is idling and waiting for instruction once April gets in, an explosion occurs. Said explosion puts April in the hospital, which is where it picks up next with November arriving to meet his supervisor Decade and other team mate, July. There, they discuss the reappearance of February, who had previously worked for MI6 but eventually defected. Decade instructs November to forget all other missions and instead pursue February instead.

When November and July are leaving the hospital in the parking deck, they are confronted by BK201. November asks where February is, who now goes by the codename "Amber" in Hei's organization. Hei is shocked and then angry, telling November that he should be asking him that. In the midst of the conversation, November figures out that February played them both, hence the confusion. They don't exactly fight, since November is in a car and Hei is standing on his own– instead, November and July leave (not without trying to clip Hei first). The scene switches after November calls into the intelligence service, asking for more information about the terrorist bombings that have been happening throughout the city. He's able to logic out where the next hit would be and takes off towards it with July in tow. They arrive near the site too late, but he's able to see the odd-eyed boy that April had described being with February near the place of the bombing. Before going after the kid, he gives July instructions and an address to contact someone in case something goes wrong. November then confronts the strange boy (Maki) and the two of them fight. It first appears as though Maki's self-detonating hand print powers destroys November, but the older Contractor actually makes a split second decision to quell the force of the blast using his ice talent and the puddle of water he's standing in. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much more power after that, and with one of Maki's companions Amagiri showing up, he's outmatched. They take him with them to meet February.

Once November's taken, July is shown wandering through the city, apparently with a goal in mind. When he's seen again, it's just as Misaki is leaving the Police building in her car– she stops when she sees the younger boy in front of the building and goes to talk to him. July tells her that November instructed him to come find her if something went wrong and lets her know he has a lead on his partner. Misaki agrees to help him find November.

Later, November hasn't been able to meet February yet, since Amagiri and Maki are keeping him in their hideout until they can rendezvous with her. Amagiri tries to convince November to join their cause known as EPR (Evening Primrose), in order to right the world again. They have a philosophical discussion about what is and isn't logical for Contractors (November brings up BK201's illogical decisions from a fight they'd had previously in episode 6). When prompted again to decide whether he'll join EPR, November refuses, just as Misaki comes busting in the room with an armed guard. The guard seems to have Amagiri and Maki under control as November reveals to Kirihara that Maki is the cause of the building explosions. This triggers Maki, who detonates his handprints (scattered all over the room). November tackles Misaki to the ground to avoid the blast and Amagiri and Maki slip out in the chaos through an escape door.

Eventually, November gets to face off against Maki again. This time, it's after he tells Kirihara to go after the sign of the Contractor she's been chasing (BK201). He and July follow Maki into an abandoned home, where Maki taunts them, telling them that all the things with water in them have prints on them that he can explode. July helps November navigate through the room and saves him from getting a door blown on him. Just when Maki thinks he's defeated November, he opens the door to the room he's been hiding in and finds November standing there in the middle of a downpour. November stabs Maki through the chest with a large icicle– the rain had been provided by April, who shows up in the nick of time to help out.

It's another while before November and company show up again (episodes 21 and 22). Episode 21 starts off with the American Embassy in Japan possibly being targeted for terrorist movements. Moreover, one of the research scientists from Pandora (Dr. Schroeder) is kidnapped, with his signal potentially showing in the embassy itself. The Japanese police (including Kirihara) are trying to convince the Americans to let them help guard the inside and outside of the building in case of threats. The Americans refuse, leaving the police force outside the gates of the building. November shows up briefly to talk to Misaki, giving her fair warning that something's up, in a very subtle manner. Later, after Hei and Mao infiltrate the embassy, causing a ruckus, Misaki spots November walking past the chaotic crowd and right on through to the embassy itself. She follows up but doesn't find him in time. As for November, he finds Dr. Schroeder and his kidnapper (a Contractor named Brita) who he asks to take him to see February as they're affiliated. Brita uses her teleportation powers to send them to February (an unfortunate side effect of this power is it leaves the teleporter and teleported completely naked). Mao is kidnapped by a nearby Amber. Mao and November end up speaking to Dr. Schroeder at the behest of Amber. They learn that Pandora has been working on a weapon that if successful, will wipe out all the Contractors in the world. In conjunction with Pandora, many other secret service operations have been working with the same goal, including November's very own MI6.

Once he learns this, he asks Amber what's going to happen, to make use of her Contractor power in order to give him a real answer. She says that after he leaves the building, he'll die. Eventually, Misaki, April, July, and Hei all end up converging where November and Mao are held. November leaves in the midst of the chaos, where he goes to confront the MI6 director, Decade. Decade is in his east-asian headquarter office, and he first notices November has come in because the whisky in his glass has frozen solid. When asked what information he's gotten, November procures an entire book of the dealings MI6 has with Pandora, in terms of the plan to kill all the Contractors. Decade reveals he didn't want to lose his best operative, didn't want to tell November until the very end. A group of armed men come in and it's assumed a fight happens. November's then seen out on the street, hobbling and very injured. He calls someone (it's inferred to be Misaki), attempting to leave a voicemail, but his message is too long and gets cut off. In too much pain, he ends up crumpling to the sidewalk, lighting up a cigarette to pay his contract. With too little energy left, he decides that paying his contract in full is not worth it, flicking the cigarette to the side. The flow of his blood on the sidewalk extinguishes it.

His death is confirmed by Huang, later, in a conversation he has to Hei and Mao. Huang says the "MI6 dandy is dead", to which Mao reacts with shock, since he knew about the exchange between Amber and November.

Next to nothing is known about November prior to the series. All that can be inferred is that he took part in Heaven's War and is therefore one of the first Contractors to appear on earth.

✖ Character Personality: Even though he's a Contractor, November shows some of the most personality out of any of the characters in the series. At his core, he's extremely logic driven and self-preserving, as most Contractors are. However, beyond that, he's shown to be sharp witted and mentally agile. In any of his fights, he thinks things through and thinks of them quickly. One of the biggest examples of this was when he fights Hei at the Gate in episode 6: he comes prepared with rubber boots so that Hei can't use his electricity via the water on the ground to zap him. He studies his enemies and keeps that information tucked away in order to beat them effectively. What's more, is that he is the type to have several contingency plans. In episode 5, he has a backup plan in place just in case a group tried to take Havoc away due to the possibility of leaks in the Japanese police force. Later, after he's defeated by Hei and Havoc is taken, Misaki asks him if he'd planned for it, to which he responds– if I'd known about it, it seems odd that I wouldn't have planned for it, so in other words, no. He takes pride in his planning and organizational skills in this aspect. This is what makes him MI6's top agent.

What's more is that he actually doesn't mind being a Contractor, as he states in a conversation with Amagiri. It seems as though the logical decision making and overall detachment is something he doesn't actually mind as much. Considering his profession, it's made life in MI6 considerably easier than it would be as a normal person. Contractors are usually called monsters in this world, and he's sure to have had that particular insult thrown his way. Unfortunately, he doesn't care about people's opinions in that way, taking it in stride and even perpetuating the stereotype that they're cold blooded by making off-color jokes. There are several times where he makes these jokes; when asked by Saito and Kirihara if he's been in Japan before, he says yes, stating that he's been there for assassinations (only punctuating it by 'just kidding' after their horrified reaction). This kind of amusement in people's reactions to his jokes (even if they don't yet know he's a Contractor, it seems like he finds privately hilarious) continues through the series. In fact, the only thing that seems to truly annoy him is that he absolutely despises his contract payment (remuneration), which is smoking. April even mentions that his payment is hard to watch, since he inhales the smoke and then coughs pathetically afterwards. His reply to her is waspish, rather un-Contractor like in the delivery.

Furthermore, November has a lot of qualities that develop a little later that set him apart from other Contractors. As the series progresses, he's shown to develop deeper attachments to his team and then to Misaki Kirihara. After April is put into the hospital because of the explosion Maki caused, November takes the attack fairly personally. It's seen mostly when he goes after Maki, saying with a a very vengeful expression that he needs to give the kid his "just desserts". There's no pity or mercy for Maki for what he did, Contractor logic aside. His relationship with July is a little more subtle, as it starts from July's end, when he calls November his "partner". Misaki mentions as such, and November almost seems bewildered at first. Again, in the fight with Maki, though, he seems to finally understand July and what their teamwork means to him. He trusts July to be able to get him through the situation. Lastly, his attachment to Misaki; it's fairly peculiar, as it appears to come on very suddenly. He messes with her almost incessantly in the first episode he appears– calling her by her first name, joking about leaving her with the clean up of the potential mission disaster, cracking morbid jokes. As she starts to understand where he's coming from, though, the connection between them becomes more two-way. In episode 6, she makes a morbid kind of joke on his character, which he's surprised about. She's the first person he directs July to "in case something happens", and he turns around to risk himself for her when Maki detonates the furniture in the room Misaki saves November from.

These attachments are something that prove that Contractors may not feel as much, but they can still feel something. November's one of the more developed Contractors in terms of emotions, since he shows a fair variety of them, even going so far as to essentially sacrifice himself in the end. It's something that April brings up to Misaki, letting her know he wouldn't want to involve them in the problem, obviously cared about his team and Kirihara enough to keep them out of the loop so they wouldn't be at risk.

But, along with being more attached to people, he also shows some of the uglier sides of emotion. They aren't as demonstrative since November tends to keep his cool in most situations. When he makes the snap decision to kill Havoc as her powers are coming back, Misaki mentions something about him being more afraid than she thought. To her, it's a joke, but something in the surprise on November's face insinuates it may not have been entirely untrue. With Havoc's powers being potentially one of the most dangerous, he didn't want to take the risk of them coming back and turning on him or his team– it's logical but also tinged with fear. Later, when he goes after Decade, there's a mix of emotions on the situation. He's just learned his superior officer wanted to keep the truth about being involved in eliminating all the Contractors away from him. November goes into Decade's office obviously very serious, catching his attention by freezing the man's drink by way of announcing he was there. In his short talk with Decade, he shows a bit of a conflicted attitude: he's disappointed and betrayed, there's a slight hesitance to go through with the plan. However, his anger with the situation wins out, which is ultimately the thing that allows him to kill Decade and the armed officers that show up. As he's dying, too, he shows a sort of desperation when he tries to make his last call, face falling when his voicemail message gets cut off. At the end there's a bitter acceptance, something that is shown when he decides not to fully fulfill his contract by smoking his cigarettes.

In a nutshell, he's very much a Contractor– he has no qualms about murdering in cold blood– but he shows many more layers under that: a quick mind, dry (and sometimes dorky) sense of humor, and a genuine connection to the people he trusts and cares about.

✖ Character Powers: As he's part of MI6 and the British Secret Intelligence Service, November likely has training in base military combat, as well in espionage, interrogation, and quite possibly torture methods. His athleticism is seen in many portions during the series, so even without his powers he could probably hold his own. However, the biggest portion of his power comes from his being a Contractor, which allows him to freeze liquid he may not necessarily have direct contact with. He demonstrates this in several different (and creative) ways during the series. The first instance his powers are used in canon is when he's talking to the thugs in episode 5. When the smoking thug tries to stop him from leaving, he freezes the blood in the man's arm, causing the limb to snap clean off. Within moments, he also uses a nearby cup of tea as a weapon, splashing it towards another thug and freezing it in mid air so it could be used as a sharp projectile. In conjunction with April, he'll usually freeze whole swathes of water on the ground, effectively trapping people's feet and legs in place so they can't run. During his fight with Maki, he splashes up a significant portion of water from the puddle he's standing in, freezing it around him in order to field off the brunt of the explosion Maki creates. This hearkens back to his quick and creative thinking, something that Amagiri is impressed by.

Moreover, being a Contractor essentially makes him an equivalent to someone with anti-social personality disorder (sociopathy). He doesn't feel regret or guilt over killing or even using people to his own ends, approaching everything with logic, reason, and self-preservation in mind. The only downside to this whole Contractor business is that he has to fulfill his compulsory remuneration by smoking cigarettes after he uses his powers.


CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV: TDM thread || CR thread

✖ Third Person POV: [Of all the ways to die, bleeding out on some back alley street in a foreign country was not the way he'd imagined it to go down. Maybe it was naive to think that he'd go in some fashionable or dramatic way, but he'd always thought it would be something like that. Working for MI6 kind of gave one grand illusions, whether that fit a logical sense or not. And unlike in those Hollywood spy movies, his last phone call was anti-climactic, the voicemail box cutting him off because his message was too long. Part of him wanted to reach over and call again, to just up and get a redo in before he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. It'd be easy, hit redial and secretly hold out hope that his last number picks up.

Unfortunately, he's just now starting to feel light headed from blood loss, eyelids heavy and everything just screaming at him to shut down. Maybe that phone call doesn't sound so simple.

Sounds that resemble footsteps momentarily pique his focus (what little of it is left, hard to focus when your legs are numb) and he tilts his head just to the left. There's a woman standing there, in some kind of cosplay (or is that a uniform?), her expression very level and serious. She opens her mouth to say something, but he cuts her off, desperation creeping into his tone.]

If you're going to watch me die, that's all well and good– this whole plan was fairly idiotic after all.

[Idiotic was understatement of the century. Still, there aren't any real regrets. Thinking about that bastard Decade still makes his blood simmer.]

But, if you're here to save me… my answer is yes, to whatever you want me to do. Barring killing myself at a later time, I suppose, that wouldn't be very nice of you.

[Honestly, from how little the woman was saying, he almost thought he was hallucinating. Was he just talking to himself because he was dying? How dreadful. The sound of heels clicking on the pavement happen once more, and he blacks out to the words Welcome to the CDC.

He isn't prepared for the afterlife to have visions of rhino-unicorns and barbed tails on places that look nothing like Earth.]

CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team: Red

✖ Mission Freebie: Being completely healed and alive on his world.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: Pack of his preferred brand of cigarettes.

✖ Character Inventory:

Black suit, tie, purple dress shirt, pack of cigarettes, lighter.