APPLICATION for LAST VOYAGES

[cannulalingus]

User Name/Nick: Mal
User DW: mustakrakish
AIM/IM: cognitiverecalibration
E-mail: deanpants @ gmail.com
Other Characters: Will Graham (mirrortouch)

Character Name: Cosima Niehaus (pronounced "kah-SEE-mah kneehouse" basically)
Series: Orphan Black
Age: 30
From When?: Post-S02E08, "Variable and Full of Perturbation"

Inmate/Warden:

Warden. Cosima is unabashedly loving, intelligent, and remarkably good at looking at the bigger picture as well as the smaller details in between. She psychoanalyzes Helena with barely more than a slim profiling and a picture of a knife, and she often counsels Sarah (as well as some of the other clones, Beth included) throughout the show with certain problems (despite her own going on). Overall, she's willing to put others ahead of herself and really and truly help, and that's what's going to make her perfect warden status.

Item:

Her laptop. A USB drive removes from the port and can be used as a key.

Abilities/Powers:

+ WIBBLY WOBBLY, HUMANY WUMANY: Cosima is simply a (cloned) human being and is therefore constrained by the boundaries of average humans, and the pros and cons that come with it.

+ WEIRD SCIENCE: She happens to be remarkably smart, however, especially in a scientific sense - her major in particular is focused on evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo, for the non-tongue-twister). With it comes a knowledge of computers, including some mild hacking and some extremely honed Google-fu when it comes to figuring new shit out. She has some rudimentary engineering experience, seeing as she built a working mini-cannon out of a fire extinguisher and a freakin' pencil.

+ I'M SICK, DELPHINE: Though it's not an ability per se, it's certainly worthy of note that Cosima's molecular structure is, well, unstable. Her synthetic DNA is simply organized in some of the wrong ways - it happens, with some of the clones, but this is technology from the eighties that's gone particularly wrong. Not only is she barren by design, but she carries a particular respiratory illness that other clones before her (namely, Katja and Jennifer) have exhibited. The disease is largely unknown, though Cosima (with Delphine's help) may have identified the source: Growths on the uterine wall that may have broken away, spread to the lungs as polyps, and could perhaps explain both her condition and her infertility.

Personality:

COSIMA: So, this spiral, this is the golden ratio and it's a mathematical pattern that just repeats itself in nature, in flower petals and honeybees, and you know, the stars in the galaxy, and in every molecule of our DNA.

Picture, if you will, a typical SanFran kind of Californian. She's pierced, she's tattooed, she's dreadlocked, and she's ready and rearing to go with all the liberal, bisexual tenacity you can think up and all the pot-smoking that you could possibly dream of. Everything's down to a tee when you review the stereotype, really, except for that whole 'typical' problem.

Ostensibly, Cosima isn't very surprising as a person. She likely came from a comfortable, semi-wealthy (upper middle class or thereabouts) background, in an open and expressive environment, and it really shows in her regard for the world. She's laid back, she's down to earth, and she's definitely got her chill on. There's a kind of insouciance to her whole appearance, a strangely complimentary dichotomy between the ways that she chooses to present herself. Though she's got her dreads and a nose piercing, she dresses fashionably and professionally (though for comfort), which makes a statement right from the get-go. Cosima Niehaus is a bit of an oxymoron, right down to her her tattoo and her lab coat, parts that shouldn't mix and mingle that are most certainly mixing and mingling.

At first glance, on a surface level, Cosima is most certainly a warm and fun-loving kind of person, easily accepting of those that are outcasts and that which is different. She is, after all, a clone, is perfectly aware of the fact, and is capable of categorizing this as she goes along, right down to passive joke remarks about intrusive medical experiments. She loves her sarcasm, and she loves her 'dude's and her 'like's, but mostly she just kind of loves. She welcomes new people with open arms. Perhaps too open sometimes.

A later Cosima is certainly a more jaded Cosima than she started at the beginning, but then again, plenty has happened since she was a grad student, things that she tends to try to take in stride, often with strangely lackadaisical regard. That's not to say she can't be betrayed and she can't get upset, but she does tend to be rather blase about some detrimental issues. When Sarah sees a clone die right before her eyes, all Cosima has for advice after her initial shock is, "Like, buy a shovel." She's constantly belittling larger issues (her health, for instance, is a large one that she tends to downplay, if not downright hide), either for the sake of the team, the greater good, or simply her pride.

Which isn't to say she has no backbone whatsoever. That pride is something she holds very strongly within herself, as Cosima is very self-aware. She knows her strengths, she's becoming aware of her weaknesses, and particularly as her condition progresses and she has to become more comfortable with the idea of dying, she matures as the show continues. Outside, she acts young for her age. Inside, she hones a much wiser sort of regard for the world, tending to look at it through other people's eyes rather than selfishly through just her own. She puts herself in Helena's shoes the more she learns about her, and even though the woman has killed off four other clones that they know of, she still has sympathy for the devil, even embraces her warmly when she gets to meet her in the finale. (She's from before this point, naturally, but the forgiveness is still there and still stands.)

That wisdom doesn't come without its smarts. Within those strengths, one of Cosima's greatest feats is her intelligence. Not only has she studied at UC Berkeley, but for much of the first season she's working towards her PhD - specifically, in experimental evolutionary developmental biology at the University of Minnesota. She certainly knows her stuff, which is kind of a benefit to being a clone. Cosima is fascinated by her own physiology, constantly thirsting for knowledge and looking for any opportunity to learn more about herself, even if it means she's not going to like what she sees. She's the first to learn, for instance, both her subject/patient designation (324B21), and she's the one that deciphers the clones' DNA makeup to the point of discovering the patent put on them hidden within all those T's and G's and such. She's incredibly bright, but book smarts have never particularly been the problem. (She's been clever since she was, like, six.)

Naivety was something that plagued her for a while, perhaps because she came from a comfortable upbringing and she hadn't really been exposed to a lot more of the dangers and treachery of the world until the whole clone discovery thing came along. She's been learning through experiences how to distrust rather than to throw herself blindly at people, learning who's the enemy and who's the potential ally. The further she goes along, the more discerning she becomes, even down to shutting out her own girlfriend because of certain betrayals that have happened in the past. Delphine has both given information on the other clones to the Dyad Institute (the clones' makers and, really, their sworn enemy) and lied to Cosima about the source of the stem cells that were affecting the treatment for her respiratory illness. The first time, Cosima dismissed Delphine (angrily, bitterly, in tears), though she came back around to her. The second time, Cosima even went so far as to lock Delphine out of her lab because of how miserably betrayed she had felt.

Cosima doesn't trust easily anymore, even if she's forgiven Delphine both times and fairly thoroughly so, but she does have her circle of friends and loved ones that she embraces fully and would do anything for, even if it means lying to them in order to protect them.

Beyond her smartypants dance, and naivety aside, Cosima remains a very optimistic (though incredibly realistic) person. She doesn't know what to expect from what's to come, but that's okay. (As she says, speaking as an evo-devo student in particular, "Whenever somebody talks about the future, I always say, 'Show, don't tell.'") She knows a lot, but she doesn't know everything, and that's also okay. She's willing to learn and grow as equally as she's willing to educate and guide, fairly open and honest about her feelings and her opinions - though she plays her cards close to the chest, these days.

Coming to terms with her inevitable and impending death has changed her in more ways than she's probably given herself credit for. It could lend, in large part, to how much she's matured since the "geek monkey" from the first season, a happy and bouncy and eager woman with all the exuberance and the zest for life as a teenager fresh out the gates. It's not to say she's childlike by any means (though she can be childish, particularly when it comes to arguments), but rather that she reacts to the world with the kind of curiosity that a newborn pup might sniff at the new furniture.

(She'll insist that Delphine is the puppy. She's not entirely right.)

Overall, what makes Cosima stand out is her strength in the face of adversity. It's not just the fact that she can keep her head in a crisis, building macabre pencil-guns out of fire extinguishers and a lick and a prayer. It's more so her general lack of regard for her own safety and health for the sake of her loved ones - she'd do anything for her friends and family, but more importantly she would do anything for these other women, these clones. Maybe her disregard can be written off as recklessness, or even a passive sort of negligence when it comes to her own body (it's not everybody who coughs up blood and continues on through her day without telling anybody about it). The fact of the matter still remains that she is a particularly brave woman, and she has not only a thirst for knowledge and science, but a big heart and a warm personality to go along with it.

As she'd probably say herself, with confidence ... she's quite the catch.

Barge Reactions:

So, being a clone can only make you so blase about your surroundings. The Barge is definitely going to be a trip for her, if not just because of the whole, y'know, giant space boat prison thing. It's something she can get used to fairly quickly as Cosima seems to be the most accepting of the clones as things proceed and more information is revealed, but it is going to take some time for her to make her adjustment. (Some complimentary weed would be extremely appreciated.)

Most of all, once she's gotten past the initial shock and uncertainty of the place, she's going to be met with a new kind of awe. Cosima will unabashedly want to know everything about the place, including its passengers, their powers, their biology, and even details about the ship itself. She's a warm and friendly person, so while she may not get along easily with some of the - erm - bitchier people here (seriously, inmates, attitude adjustments!), she'll probably be making friends fast.

Her biggest concern is Helena. Cosima's presence on the Barge will undoubtedly raise a riotous reaction out of the other woman, one that Cosima won't necessarily be expecting because of their different canon points. She's hopefully not going to get murdered right off the bat, but she will try her best to aid in Helena's rehabilitation in any way that she can. Despite Helena having murdered four other clones, Cosima views her as a tragic case and knows that she can be helped with proper patience and therapeutic methods.

Path to Redemption:

Deal:

Should Cosima be accepted, she's going to happen to be very sick at the time. Because of a flaw in the clones' creation, she has a rare and semi-unidentifiable respiratory disorder - coughing up blood, having to be hooked up to an oxygen tank 24/7, the works. From the point she's taken from, she was even driven to a seizure because of her condition. Her deal would most certainly be for a cure for this condition, perhaps one that could be distributed to her by the infirmary so she could get exponentially better by the week, as she goes along.

History:

Cosima @ the Orphan Black wiki

Sample Journal Entry:

( VIDEO )

[ There's a dreadlocked face on the screen, pushing thick cat eye glasses up to the bridge of her nose as she smiles a crooked smile and introduces herself with a small wave. There's a cannula directly attached, looping around her ears and threading somewhere offscreen, but she doesn't seem to pay too much mind to it. ]

Hey, guys and gals. Name's Cosima. Or, I guess, Doctor Niehaus if you're feeling frisky. [ A beat, as she shakes her head minutely. ] Don't feel frisky. I'm not used to being titular.

It's, ehm, well, see, it's come to my attention - obviously, quickly, and incredibly jarringly - that there are a number of differences out and about the ship! Specifically, I'm looking at you all of a different species, or - dare I say as a budding comic book geek with an embarrassingly large collection - superpowers?

[ She bites her lip, eyebrows raising a bit hopefully with her voice in octave as she gets a bit shyer about it, but none the less curious. ]

This is so not one of those automatic, mandatory kind of things, mind, because how douchey would that be? Ten minutes here and making demands. Let's call it an opt-in instead of an opt-out, and if anyone would like to spend a little time talking [ and she coyly cups a hand about her mouth ] or, let's be honest, bragging [ okay the hand is gone ] about what they can do and what their specific abilities might be? That would be -- flipping fantastic.

Thanks, folks.

[ With a thumbs up and a mild clearing of her throat, she cuts the feed. ]

Sample RP:

She's been here two days and none of this is getting any less weird, but weird is the new normal and normal is certainly the watchword when it comes to this place. So long as they were still combining the 'weird' and 'normal' thing.

It's not that it's taking her too long to adjust to the Barge. The Admiral's been accommodating with her condition and, well, if that isn't a help, she doesn't know what is. Treatment. Actual treatment that she's going to be receiving in daily injections. For the first time in a while, she lets that sprig of hope start to blossom into something else. She knows this place comes with its trials and tribulations, that much was a fair warning straight from the get-go. Floods, ports, and all that fun jazz that came with being on a magical spaceship prison floating its way through the very stars themselves.

Can she even fathom? She's on a magical spaceship prison that's floating its way through the very stars themselves. If that doesn't spell 'television show and/or movie series somehow containing the word 'star' in the title' out loud then she doesn't know what the hell does.

It feels kind of like a dream, being here. Not necessarily her dream job - as a warden, she's still unaware of how she's going to be, particularly with some of the, er, nastier people who happen to be here. She's met nary a one as of yet, but they have to exist. She's not an idiot. She knows where she is, even if she doesn't know what these people have been through, but that doesn't stop them from being here for a reason. But she has a supreme new opportunity to study what should be the impossible (like human cloning? that kind of impossibility?), and, hey, they even gave her her very own bed from home. Down to the last detail, actually, her room is, and that's kind of uncanny, but she can deal with uncanny so long as she's got soft sheets and a pillow that smells like her own deodorant.

She sits on that very bed now, several books checked out from the library next to her, and she coughs into a tissue, blood spattering the white cotton as she wipes it from her mouth and clears her throat for the umpteenth time. Okay, so not everything here is perfect, not yet, and it certainly won't be. But accommodating. She still stands by the accommodating. The stairs are hard. The oxygen tank is harder, a bit of an embarrassment to wheel around behind her, but it is what it is. Everyone's got their hardships here, just like back home. She could start complaining, but what good would that do anyone? She's just arrived.

With a grasp at the handle of said tank, she pushes her way painstakingly off the bed, shakily moving her way across the room - her cane sits leaning against her headboard, at hand in case she needs to use it. Hopefully it won't be for long. Hopefully, hopefully, she can hope, she can dream, and she will dream, because it feels like she's in a dream, and at the end of the day, it's just her saying the word 'dream' a lot in her head, really. But it's not time to be a sickly hermit, not in a place like this. Everything's so fresh and so clean clean new, and, goddammit, she can't help herself.

"It's time, my friend," she starts to say to herself in her mirror, pressing back on her hair and smiling a bit lopsided into the glass; her voice is croaked and her breath feels like she can't quite catch it, but she finished regardless, chin high, eyeliner game incredibly strong -

" - to explore."

Special Notes:

i can't even take credit for the pun