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[toldinthebook]

Out of Character Information

player name: Kerry
player journal: justsay_goodbye
playing here: None
where did you find us? Through Mary
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes

In Character Information

character name: Emma Swan
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Timeline: 122 A Land Without Magic
character's age: 28

powers, skills, pets and equipment:

Emma has made mention in the past of a super special ability to know when people are lying, although it isn't a magical ability itself (especially as Storybrooke has no magic) - Emma has just become incredibly good at telling when people are lying, with the exception of those that she is close to due to her emotional involvement clouding her judgement. Other than this (or including this) Emma is a normal human being with no magical or supernatural abilities.

canon history: emma @ wikia

personality:

Emma is a strong woman who knows exactly what she wants although not always how to get it, although this doesn't prevent her from being resourceful in her attempts to try and get what she wants. Emma has been through a lot in her life, a lot that according to others has left her damaged, but it has strengthened who she is - it takes a lot before she will break down from things (or people, Regina) that are getting to her and she also has incredibly strong morals and beliefs. Emma believes in what is right, doing the good thing and not hurting anyone, but she also has a very strong view of the world and what is around her, although lately she's finding that belief a little shaken.

Emma was born in the land where fairy tales exist, although she was sent to the real world as a baby due to a curse that the Evil Queen was enacting. Pinocchio had been sent with her to protect and guide her but as a child he left their foster home, leaving her alone with their cruel parents. Due to being alone it has hardened Emma's view of the world - she doesn't believe that good can win because they play by the rules (but it doesn't prevent her from being good and trying) and she doesn't believe in fairy tales or magic, and has enough of a disbelief that when Pinocchio (August) shows her his leg turning back to wood she just sees a leg, unable to see the wood because it is part of the fairy tales and magic that she doesn't believe in.

One of Emma's constant battles since arriving in Storybrooke has been Mayor Mills - the adoptive mother of Emma's son Henry, who would prefer that Emma had nothing to do with Henry due to it being a closed adoption but also because Henry is pulling away from her, or at least that's the reasons that she'll give to the world. Emma has seen herself challenged in first her attempts to be a part of Henry's life but also in living her own life in Storybrooke. After the Sheriff died Emma fought to take on that role rather than allowing Regina to simply insert someone into the job that was on her payroll. Emma enlisted the help of Mr Gold in this as he knew Regina, although that was a decision that she regretted when she discovered his methods were not as good as her intentions were. Emma won the election for Sheriff by standing up to Mr Gold and revealing what he had done at the cost of herself, wanting no part in his 'dirty' plans, wanting to stay true to good and to try and show (especially for Henry) that good can win by being good. Even though Emma later stated that although she doesn't approve of Mr Gold's methods (but she does like his results) she is now reluctant to work with him due to that incident.

Emma is a good person, something that is strengthened by her beliefs and morals. She acts to do the right thing, although sometimes (especially around Mayor Mills) that backfires. When Emma became pregnant she gave her baby up for adoption so that it could have a good life, something that she didn't believe that she could do. When Henry came and found her Emma initially didn't want to be a part of his life, not believing that she would be good for him but after seeing Storybrooke, his relationship with Regina and getting to know him Emma has wanted to be there because her presence makes him happy, and she wouldn't take that away, but also because she's wanted to be there for him, to protect and help him. As the Sheriff of Storybrooke Emma investigates any incidents that happen there, trying to do everything by the book (as good does) as well as doing the right thing, even if her friends are involved and in trouble. Since arriving in Storybrooke Emma has also started to believe in people and particularly the good in them. Although Emma will always have her doubts and believes that bad people usually get to do bad things because they don't play by the rules a few of what Emma has done and seen sine arriving in Storybrooke has shown her a different light to people, although she doesn't yet believe in happy endings, not when bad things still happen.

Emma has been described on multiple occasions that she is damaged - she doesn't connect to people, she doesn't settle down and she has a big wall around her making her unreachable and untouchable, something which Emma agrees with when pointed out to her. Emma has always believed that her parents didn't want her as she was found abandoned on the side of a road (so she believes), and since then has kept herself distant from others to protect herself. Emma has done what she can to survive but when she's alone on her twenty-eighth birthday with no friends around it it does hurt. When Emma first moved to Storybrooke she lived in her car after Granny refused her a room, refusing Mary Margaret's offer of being her roommate as she 'does better alone'. It was only after it was pointed out to Emma that she had no home, had never made any roots and was constantly moving that she accepted Mary Margaret's offer, becoming her roommate and in the process good friend. To be a part of Henry's life Emma realised that she had to change things about herself, and that she needed roots if she was going to be able to be in his life and look out for him. Although Emma settled in at Storybrooke there have been a few times when she has still been ready to leave, particularly when the battle about Henry with Regina became tough and she realised that if she stayed and fought that he would get hurt and instead was ready to leave to protect him.

Although Emma tries to fight for what is right and to protect other people she can be incredibly impulsive, particularly when she is fighting for something that she believes in - particularly Henry. There have been multiple occasions when Emma has acted out against Regina without fully thinking, something that has ended up backfiring back onto her - although against Regina even with careful thought the other woman always seems to be one step ahead. When Emma believed that there was nothing that she could do for Henry in Storybrooke and that she would never win custody against Regina Emma asked if he wanted to live with her before taking him (or attempting to take him) from Storybrooke as she believed that was the only way they could be together. Emma's emotions are strongly tied with her impulsiveness and when something hits her emotionally she hits back quickly with little thought to the consequences - when Henry was taken to hospital after eating a slice of pie that Regina had baked her Emma hit back at Regina, pushing her into a supply cupboard and yelling at her, wanting to know what she had done and why. Although Emma knows that her rash decisions are not good (in hindsight) and that the consequences are usually worse than she expects it does not prevent her from still acting on impulse, although the occasions that she has done so as Sheriff (when something has not been linked to Henry but to a crime instead) her impulse and 'gut instinct' tends to pay off instead, even if she has a hard time proving it with a lack of evidence.

why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?

Emma was born in a land where fairy tales were very much real, although due to a curse that the 'Evil Queen' (Regina) was enacting her parents (Snow White and Prince Charming) sent her through a magical wardrobe into the real world. Due to the curse and being sent to the 'real world' Emma has no knowledge of magic or the lives that everyone lived beforehand until she is told of it, although she doesn't believe it (and is such a disbeliever that she refuses to see the 'magic' that is right in front of her). In Storybrooke Emma works as Sheriff of the town and, under the guise of believing in 'Operation Cobra' (the mission to break the curse) Emma is battling to try and take down Regina Mills (the Mayor of Storybrooke) in order to get back her son - Henry. Even though she doesn't believe in the fairytales Emma's true destiny (as prophecised and told by Rumplestiltskin) was that 'on her twenty-eighth birthday she would return and engage the Evil Queen in the final battle' - the latter has yet to occur.

Writing Samples

Network Post Sample: here

Third Person Sample:

It was all starting to make sense, even if Emma still didn't really understand it, or believe in it. Everything that Henry had said, even August... she didn't understand how it could all be possible, how everyone that she had met in Storybrooke was a fairy tale character. Fairy tales weren't real, they didn't exist but somehow... somehow this was it. She wanted to ask how again but she wouldn't get any answers, with the exception of the answer that she already had - the Evil Queen.

Regina.

Henry had said so much about her, so much that was apparently not just his imagination or a story. Emma may not have liked Regina but she'd never have thought that she would have done this, the curse, everything that the book had said. Apparently some masks were just that good that she couldn't see through them, and now Henry was suffering for it.

She'd tried to leave, tried to stop him from getting hurt but it had happened anyway, all because of her. That woman hadn't been able to let her go, she'd tried to poison her and now Henry was suffering, unconscious in the hospital and it was because of her. Them. She should never have come back, that was all that she could think. She was supposed to be some kind of savior and yet all Emma was able to do was hurt people, her the people that she cared about, that she tried to protect - hurt her family. What kind of savior did that?

A bad one, or someone that wasn't a savior at all. But now she couldn't leave, that Emma knew - she couldn't leave Henry, she had to make certain that he was okay. She had to save him. Emma didn't know how she would do it just that she would - she had to - for good.

For Henry.

Anything else? Hi *waves*