APPLICATION

[quiteagooddonor]

User Name/Nick: Ang
E-mail: grayaceofdisturbia [at] gmail.com

Character Name: Tommy D.
Series: Never Let Me Go
Age: 28
From When?: The night after returning from his Littlehampton trip, before his third donation.

Inmate/Warden: Warden, because Tommy is an honest, caring, compassionate, good guy who likes making people feel better.
Item: A small, black notebook filled with extremely detailed sketches of mechanical-styled imaginary animals.

Abilities/Powers: Tommy is extremely athletic. In school, he was the best at football/soccer, running, etc. by noticeable measure. Though this is reduced by his missing half of his left lung, it still balances him out to about normal or slightly better but with a longer recovery time. He was also noted as being exceptionally strong, energetic, active, and resilient (just a fit/peak human). In art, Tommy has an extremely stylized way of doing art, but is remarkably talented in that style. No powers.

Personality:
Tommy would be described primarily as good-natured and sweet. Always preferring to talk about others instead of himself, he sincerely cares more about his friends' well being than his own. He most often looks people in the eyes when they're talking, showing that he respects them, though his attention may be prone to wandering in his distracted nature. He's the kind of guy who is always trying to absorb everything all at once and getting so many pieces of so many things that he rarely gets the full image of much of anything. It can take him awhile to come to understanding things for this reason; that is, he's not stupid, but he may have difficulty picking up on subtle hints or gestures/insinuations learned through practice that he never learned directly.

He is a passionate person who takes things to heart. When things fail to live up to his expectations, he's disappointed or disheartened by it, even if it's entirely his own fault that it is that way. He's eager to be helpful and rarely remains calm when speaking about something he cares about. Tommy isn't afraid of appearing childish. In fact, he is often viewed as “child-like” because of his tendency to be excitable and honest without much care for his reputation.

The guy wears his heart on his sleeve. He was bullied as a kid because, whenever they would pick on him, he would yell and scream out of hurt and anger. When he was happy, he was beaming and would practically prance around excitedly. His emotions were always on his face as a child and he could never hide how he was. As Tommy grew and was forced to keep his anger and other emotions in check, he did learn to hold back and to remain stoic at times, becoming a generally calm and collected presence. Within that calm, however, he still has difficulty lying about what he's feeling or hiding it completely unless he feels it's remarkably important that he does.

Learning to control one's emotions is not easy, but his were made harder by the fact that he had a wicked temper as a child which continued into his adolescence and adulthood. Kathy described it as a look he gets in his eye before he screams at the top of his lungs, flailing around with nothing to restrain him. It happened often as a child and rarely as an adult, but Tommy commits to things completely with his whole heart and it always kills him to be ultimately, extremely disappointed on the occasion that it happens. When he was a child, everything mattered completely; as an adult, only some things did, but they still provoked much the same reply when they cut him so deep. For the things that did not upset him so profoundly, he mastered a reserved silence which got him through confrontations.

Tommy doesn't like arguing with people. Because he's open with his emotions most of the time and a good person who likes the people he cares about (and everyone, really) to be happy, he prefers not to argue unless absolutely necessary. In general, he's actually quite protective by nature and prefers to diffuse situations than to escalate them. He prefers to joke about it to relieve the tension, or to leave the conversation until he can calm down and talk about it without so much emotional attachment. As a mature and intelligent person, he's quite capable of talking things out, but he just doesn't like to be taken by anger (especially with those he cares about).

That said, he can be a real idiot when it comes to social situations. Because Tommy tends toward casual honesty, he can sometimes be tactless or otherwise oblivious to social cues. His tendency to miss insinuations or hints only makes this worse, as he's likely to ramble on with the truth of what's on his mind. Of course, he doesn't want to hurt anyone and won't be mean-spirited, but he's bad at being diplomatic or political and sometimes fails to realize how much a remark might hurt someone.

Because of the way he was raised combined with all the things that were kept from him, Tommy believes more than anything else in being open. He hates manipulating or coercing others. He's honest to a fault and wants others to be honest with him, even if it's about things that aren't entirely necessary (such as when he explained to Kathy about how to look at porn magazines because she wasn't doing it the normal way). When the question arises whether it's better to be educated and sad or ignorance and happy, he chooses to want to know everything. He has always wanted to know everything, even as a kid. He was raised in a group setting where everyone could trust everyone for the most part and even the friend who manipulated him eventually came round; there was never any particularly malicious intent against him in his mind, even with the boys who bullied him. As he got older and learned about how much had been kept from them (about what it truly meant to be a clone and the way the real world was and all), it only angered him. He hates feeling left out of things, and that includes being kept out of big secrets, greater truths, or general “common knowledge.” On the Barge, he'll probably tell his inmate everything that he can outside of those things which will severely upset others or the wardens as a whole.

The only time Tommy generally lies is if he believes it to be absolutely important, it's obvious that he's lying and he's doing it because he feels that's what people do (even that is rare), or by pretending he's forgotten something or that something is less important than it is if he's afraid or doesn't want to talk about it. As mentioned above, he's non-confrontational and would rather pretend to forget an argument than to yell at someone about it, though he still tends to bring it up in his own way later to sort out. Of course, if he's nervous and does want to talk about it, he's most inclined to blurt it out without the more socially accepted form of working up to it.

In addition to being angered by people forcing ignorance on him, he doesn't like to be thought of as stupid and can react poorly to that as well. It's why he'll often defend his views or beliefs with evidence even when it may not be necessary.

Despite his efforts to know everything Tommy did grow up in a very sheltered and protected environment. He grew up with generally the same people, two of them (who he spent the majority of his life with) being his best friends. They were kept from the outside world for the most part and taught very specific things and specific exercises without any real idea of how things worked. Though the trips he and his friends took from The Cottages into town and the time he spent as a carer helped give him a better idea of the world, it still did very little for his practicality. As a result, he's very sheltered, has a very specific vocabulary and different understanding of many ideas, and his sense of morals and priorities are skewed based on the world he knows (meaning things like keeping healthy and knowing everything he can learn are more important than not stealing or watching tv; books and old culture are more important than films and pop culture). Related to this, many of the gestures that he's learned as having significant meanings come directly from watching television shows. This kind of lifestyle also taught he and the other clones very specifically how to band together and look out for each other without giving much care to the people in charge of them (respecting them, but not caring for them).

Combined with his child-like nature, it means that Tommy can be pretty vulnerable in an emotional sense. He's not a push over or easy to bully like he used to be, but when someone gets to him, it really hurts him. This is not helped by the fact that he trusts easily, likes giving people many chances to redeem themselves, and is terrible at holding grudges.

Tommy has a very different and unique way of viewing the world. Even within the already different and sheltered lifestyle of Hailsham and The Cottages, he stood out as being unique. Because of, as already mentioned, his tendency to view many little pieces instead of any one whole, he tends to construct grand schemes which vary widely from conspiracy theories to being a remarkably accurate understanding of mass psychology. He understands people as a group well and how they act (such as recognizing that Hailsham taught them the things they did the way they did so that the children would come to understand it as law before being old enough to give it proper scrutiny), but not individuals. He remembers everything and pieces puzzles together that may not even exist (such as when he concludes the Gallery is for deferral petitions). It's also, in a simpler sense, the reason his art is bizarre from a distance despite being meticulously pristine up close (and why he draws imaginary creatures while giving thought to how they might reach things or survive) or why he pictures splashing around in the water as a celebration of every time he scores a goal.

The guy will have a hard time adjusting to strict wardening, in a sense, because he'll have difficulty ordering people to do anything. That said, he's extremely dedicated and passionate and will do everything he can to help whoever his inmate is. Though ports will be odd things to deal with, they can't be any more bizarre than the real world Tommy didn't experience much and so he will be eager to explore and to learn. Floods he will take with the same sort of curious optimism he approaches most things with. He's extremely humble, gracious, and giving, but it's still actually hard to take advantage of him, because he's also extremely honest and is more than willing to stand up for himself; that is, some may take advantage of his ignorance, but he's a quick learner and will catch on. Having learned many of his social ways of being from observation (of others and of television), he will have to go about learning and re-learning a lot of things, but will be eager and happy to do so.

The strangest thing for Tommy to deal with will probably be that people can come back from death. He may view it as an awkward sort of alternative to his life as a 'student of Hailsham' (read: clone), but will come to be grateful for it over time. Dying will simply be like giving another donation rather than full completion.

Path to Redemption: N/A

History:
“Never Let Me Go” is about a group of three friends who travel through life together, facing different social difficulties of bullying, isolation, unrequited love, prejudice, etc. Eventually, Tommy and Kathy find love with each other. The twist is that they're all clones based off of people in the 'real world' (in a general sense; like how people may donate plasma for money in real life) because their purpose in life is to donate organs until their completion/death. They are raised in very special schools to know what their purpose is without ever truly understanding it (generally; Tommy and Kathy come to learn the truth of it to some extent). Some work as “carers” who help emotionally support the donors, but even the carers become donors eventually. Their organs are used by the rest of mankind as a cure to diseases. Please understand that the world “clone” is only used once late in the book and never in the film because they see themselves as completely human (and they really are).


Tommy spent a lot of time being humiliated and teased in his time at Hailsham (the school they were raised in). It began one day in Miss Geraldine's art class with a painting of an elephant he did for no reason in particular. Because he was praised for the immature and simplistic art work (by a guardian who most likely feared his being teased), the others began to resent him. It began slowly, because his art didn't match the others of his grade, but it progressed.

By the time he was in Senior 2 (12-13yrs), it was a regular event and other groups even knew about the plots and enjoyed watching them unfold. He couldn't help his temper getting the better of him. He was too eager to be accepted, too hurt when he was rejected, and too naive to realize that many of the things he did would end poorly. Trusting too much in others, he opened himself up to be hurt over and over again, forgiving the last offense each and every time without qualm or complaint. He could never keep his cool, wearing his heart on his sleeve, and so they continued to tease him to see those flailing tantrums of his where he would bellow and yell for minutes on end.

Despite his continued reputation for being low in “creativity,” the teasing slowly began to stop when he stopped reacting to it. As people got bored, he began to make friends. His reputation improved and soon he was as any other student.

Back during one of his tantrums, a student called Kathy had come to talk to him and he had accidentally hit her, not really realizing how close she was. He later apologized. It was nearly forgotten until she beckoned him over a couple of months later, asking what had changed and how his temper had gotten under control. When he explained to her about Miss Lucy telling him that creativity wasn't important (so long as he tried), Kathy became curious. Over time, the two became friends, often sharing conversations and strings of questions in regular talks by the pond (at Hailsham). Later, he became a couple with her best friend, Ruth.

In his last year at Hailsham, Miss Lucy once called to attention everyone present for that particular game of rounders in order to tell them a little more about how their future was laid out for them, about their organ donating, and how they shouldn't have dreams because they could accomplish nothing outside of donating (and, if they were lucky, serving as carers for years beforehand).

After Hailsham, at the age of 16, Tommy, Ruth, Kathy, and others went to live in “The Cottages.” He and Ruth remained a couple for most of their time there (despite a breakup near the end of Hailsham) and the lot of them spent their days conversing, reading, enjoying the countryside, and just generally being social with no responsibilities.

Also during their time at The Cottages, their friends Chrissie and Rodney, asked them about the rumor that some Hailsham students had gotten deferrals if they could prove they were truly in love. He and Kath admitted to not knowing about the rumor, but Ruth led them on about it.

He began drawing again while at The Cottages, becoming familiar with art in a way that wasn't particularly accepted at Hailsham. Tommy filled whole notebooks with extremely pristine and obsessively detailed images of imaginary creatures. He got it in his head that the art they had done as children that landed in The Gallery was the way the heads of Hailsham looked into their souls to tell if they were truly in love if applying for a deferral; he never had any art accepted into the Gallery as a child and was making up for it. A couple months after he finally got up the courage to show them to Kathy and Ruth, Ruth made an offhand remark about how silly they were and then told him about Kath having a laugh about them as well and things were somehow never the same after that.

Tommy and Ruth split before they left The Cottages and he eventually ended up at Kingsfield Recovery Centre after his first donation. He did his second and third donations at Kingsfield. Eventually he reunited with Kathy and Ruth and Ruth apologized and admitted to being with Tommy mainly not to be alone, but said she wanted to make it up to he and Kath because they belonged together and gave them the address for the head of Hailsham in order for them to apply for a deferral.

Some time later, they went to Madame's house (the head of Hailsham) to ask for a deferral and were met with the ultimate disappointment: not only had the deferral never existed, but Marie-Claire/Madame and Miss Emily (the head guardian at the school during their time) told them that the only reason they collected the art was to see if the “poor creatures” had souls at all. The pair also told them about the way the clones were viewed in the real world and how things were less humane before and now again because of a scientist experimenting with genetically modified children. Miss Emily said they should appreciate the quality of life that they had, despite all the sheltering and lies, because they would not have been the same without it.

Tommy exploded with anger after that meeting and yelled until his throat was raw for the first time in ages. Kath had to calm him down. That night, after they returned, he made the deal with the Admiral to come warden in exchange for more time before the call for his fourth donation.

Sample Journal Entry:
[The audio turns on and there's a short pause before a young, eager British voice speaks.]

Hello! ...Uh... My name is Tommy D. I'm a new warden here. I know I'm not the best out there, but if you give me a chance, I'll work hard and I expect I can surprise you. I heard that the inmates are assigned to us. Is that right? Do I.. Do I talk to the Admiral about it or is that sort of thing automatic or... ? Sorry. I'm rubbish at this sort of thing. I promise I'll be better once I've gotten to know how it all works.

Sample RP:
Tommy sat perched halfway out of his seat, leaning forward, anxious for the meeting that was to come. In some way, he had returned to being a child again. Anxiety, fear, excitement, rage, confusion, and every other emotion brawled within him for their turn at his consciousness and, only because of his age and experience was he able to temper them. Despite his medical “condition,” being three donations in, the energy within him still boiled over into an unconscious habit that made his leg bounce. His shoulders hunched, his eyes wandered about the familiar room that seemed as if it had been lifted directly from The Cottages, and his elbows draped freely on the table's edge; he had never learned proper table manners at Hailsham. Not like the rest had. But, of course, there was no one here to witness his faux pas and so what did it really matter?

He stared at the clock. Fourteen minutes was not the lifetime it used to be when he was younger, but it still gnawed at his serenity as he waited. He was like a molecule– burning, churning, moving. Waiting did not suit him. Yet here he was, staring.

Ah, thirteen minutes now.

The warden stood, hurrying to his door despite time to kill. He stode down the hall, paused, and pivoted around to turn back to his room again. He had a better idea than arriving early. Returning to his room, which remained forever unlocked, he punched out a message on his communicator to one of the kind people he had met earlier that very day. Perhaps they could give him a tour!

..No, there was not enough time for that. Perhaps simply a chat then.

Tommy got precisely the chat he wanted and, sixteen minutes later, it came to a close. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he was now running late and hurried out the door to go meet with his new inmate, running the whole way there because there was no reason not to. Although being tardy wasn't a particularly good first impression, it did suit him in some way. Kath would have chastised him for it, but here, he was his own man. He could be a few minutes late if he wanted.

Or he could run the whole way there and apology profusely when he caught his breath again.

Special Notes: It's never clarified in either canon (beyond vague references), so I'm assuming his donations were most of his liver (which has partially grown back already and will grow back completely on the Barge) and half of his left lung, respectively. I'm playing Tommy mainly from the film, but will be supplementing his history and information about the various locations and such with the book.