Application

[harding]

Player's Name: Kim
Are you over 16? Yep
Characters Played Here: Martha Jones, Seven of Nine, Ana Lewis.

Character: Jessica Harding
Series/Canon: Jurassic Park: The Game
From When? A few months post-game.

History: For most of her life, Jessica was a normal kid, living with her mother and father in Texas. Her father was a veterinarian at the Fort Worth Zoo, so she was always around animals. However, when she was twelve, her parents divorced, and her father Gerry ended up taking a job in San Diego, which meant that Jess didn't see him all that much. This seemed to be a bit of a habit with Gerry Harding, as he often didn't talk to his other daughter Sarah for extended periods.

When she turned fourteen, Jess started acting out in typical shades of teenage rebellion. She had an interest in aquatic life and wanted to take scuba diving lessons, which her parents vetoed. Instead, her step-father paid for them, earning a period of time on the couch. Feeling that her father had too much say in her life without actually being around in it, Jess started to attempt to cut him off. He had a hate for smoking (as one who was a former smoker does) so Jess took up smoking. Gerry hated drinking, so Jess took it up in a typical teenage way.

Part of her plan was finding a group of friends whom she knew her father would have hated. Among these friends were her boyfriend who plays in a band (probably a metal one, but not death metal) and other older kids who tended to do things like shop lift. After Jess got busted for stealing a t-shirt from a mall, her mother sent her to her father to straighten her out.

Sadly, he was no longer in San Diego, and instead was now the head vet at Jurassic Park.

Following the game, Jess grew closer to her father for a time, but following the Ingen non-disclosure agreements, she grew angry and colder towards him once more, feeling an increased sense of betrayal that she went through this harrowing experience and wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about it. Likewise, she was unable to speak to Nima or her daughter again either.

Personality: In many ways, Jessica Harding is a typical teenage girl who is the product of a divorced home and an absentee parent. While she doesn't feel unloved, she often feels the need to act out in order to attract the attention of her parents. That's one of the reasons that she has taken Eli up on his offer. Disappearing for six months is a sure-fire way to make your parents pay attention to you when they start to disappear again, as Gerry has following the non-disclosure agreements about the Isla Nublar Incident.

Jess feels betrayed by having one of them signed on her behalf as well, considering that she didn't consent to it. While Ingen did provide for her college education, she doesn't feel like that is enough to stay silent. Though she knows that people will believe she's crazy (come on, dinosaurs?!), Jess hates that she wouldn't even be able to talk about things to a therapist. The way that Jessica sees it, the piece of paper isn't valid here, so she can talk about it as much as she wants. And right now, she wants to talk about it so much that it's driving her crazy.

That said, like many teenage girls, Jessica can be prone to exaggeration, especially while she is upset. That is to say, it's more than a streak of the dramatic within her: while fighting with her father in a situation that's already bad, she gets angry enough to tell her father that not only is she getting married to her boyfriend when his band takes off (the aforementioned death metal band), but that her mother has already signed the emancipation papers, and that to take it even further "oh, she's pregnant." That's something that shouldn't be offered at any time, never mind when you have nearly been eaten by a raptor and are trapped in a room in a power plant that is about to explode.

But that said, Jessica has a real empathy for both people and animals. Despite the fact that dinosaurs have been attempting to kill her since the storm, and since the security system has failed, later when talking to Dr. Sorkin, Jess sees the beauty in them. Not only does she see the beauty in them, but she's persuaded by Dr. Sorkin to help her bypass the security measure that Ingen has put into place (in the form of a dependency upon provided by the Lysine Contingency) at risk to herself, in the form of adding lysine to the main park water supply.

Even when the humans in party betray them, Jessica has an empathy towards them. Together, with the help of Dr. Sorkin via radio, the Hardings save Nima Cruz after she has been attacked by a dinosaur. However, the woman had been part of a team who had come in to collect the dinosaur embryos that Dennis Nedry was supposed to smuggle out of the park. Upon finding the can, Nima takes the Hardings prisoner and tries to bring them to the boat on the island. Upon hearing that Nima was one of the indigenous people on the island, Jess softens towards her, and softens towards her entirely upon hearing that she is only doing this in order to be able to provide for her daughter to get her out of the ghetto.

Also, despite learning that Dr. Sorkin has behaved stupidly with dinosaurs, creating ones that are dangerous and letting them breeds, she still prevents Yoder from murdering Dr. Sorkin in cold blood. This is a decision that comes back to bite her later when Dr. Sorkin takes the entire party hostage in order to attempt to secure the dinosaurs' right to survive, but Jess refuses to let Billy kill her.

That said, Jess can be incredibly vindictive as well. After learning that Billy intends to take the dinosaur embryos and sell them, leaving the Hardings and Nima in the underwater facility to die (because he threw a grenade to block the underwater exits) she steals the can from his pack. If he gets to live, is her reasoning, then he shouldn't get to be rich as well.

Despite her experiences on Isla Nublar, where most of them with humans ended up being negative, and many people died in front of her, Jess still can trust people, especially women or people of her own age. Also, being aboard the island made her feel more capable, and more strong than she had felt before. Had it not been for her quick thinking (and her reflexes) Jess, Gerry and Nima would have died more than once. It is the quick thinking, intelligence and empathy that would benefit her at the New Dodge Settlement.

Why do you think your character would work in this setting? Jess will work in this setting because she is both tough and social, as well as smart. She will come in to work with the animals, and can definitely handle anything Eli throws at her.

She will be coming in as a "safe" way of running away from home, and a running towards a place where she can talk about anything that she wants to talk about. While she doesn't know that her sister is there, Jess will be incredibly relieved, though the two of them were never really close due to the differences in their age and marriages.

Inventory: Five outfits, (including underwear, socks and shoes)
PJs.
A bathing suit.
Her scuba gear
Her nintendo and a selection of games.
Some books (TBD, but including some vet books she stole borrowed)
Toiletries
Loads of tampons, because she is paranoid.
Her walkman and a collection of tapes.

Samples:

Third-Person Sample: The nightmares had stopped, and that had been the first step. Since Jess had gotten back from Isla Nublar, she had often felt like she was quietly screaming, and it was something that was only allowed to come out at night. Dinosaurs had been real for a brief period of time, and she had seen them, touched them, and nearly been their food, but she couldn't tell a soul. Oh, Jess wanted to tell people. The secret hovered on the edge of her tongue, and it felt like the silences between herself and her parents were always filled up with the words that Dad's stupid company had never allowed them to say.

She wasn't even allowed to write them down, nothing where anyone could see. It was more than the money, they would take away her dad's career, and crazy people got locked up. Once upon a time, Jessica Harding thought that John Hammond was a nice man, but now she didn't. How could she after his lawyers had told her that no one would ever believe her? And that if she offered a peep, then her life would be ruined?

Here, in this place, Jess could scream the words at the top of her lungs. She could shout em or sing them or do any other sort of things. Telling whoever she wanted was freeing, especially when all she wanted to do was to tell someone who wasn't there and have them understand. They didn't even need to believe, just being able to say those words would make her feel better. So, in the center of the square, outside the saloon, Jessica Harding stops.

For a moment, she just looked around, and then she said quietly, "dinosaurs are so real. I've seen em. Loads of em. Like ones you don't even think are real. Raptors are the worst. And T-Rexes are scary too. Maybe scarier. But raptors are more dangerous." And then she looked around again before adding: "but I survived. All right!" She shouted, "I am a survivor!"

First-Person Sample: So hey. I'm Jess. I'm like new here and stuff. I know it seems really weird and whatever, but I gotta figure that eventually things will become more or less normal, even in their weirdness. [She's trying to be deep here, you guys.] I'm here to help with animals. I've had loads of experience with them. Some you wouldn't even believe! When I'm done here, I'm going to go to vet school, and figure this will be great work experience!

So, does someone have a TV? I brought my nintendo.