Player Information

Name/Alias: den (den-chan denden)

Personal Journal: den_chan 

Email: earthly.intervention@gmail.com

I am 18+ years old

Do you have other characters in game? Heard from Saint (Loki-mun)

May we post and/or link your application for others to see as an example in the future? Yes

***PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THIS APPLICATION HAS HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE GAME BEYOND TWO SOULS***

Character Information

Character Name: Jodie Holmes

Canon: Beyond Two Souls

Canon Point: After the “Black Sun” chapter, where Jodie has to make the choice between life and beyond.

Character Journal: fastened

Appearance: Jodie appears to be quite short in game and as her character model is based off of Ellen Page it’s safe to assume that her height is somewhere between 150-160cm. She has a slim build and when she has a choice of clothing she dresses casually in jeans, t-shirts and hoodies. She has a pale complexion, light brown hair (which is usually kept long with a side fringe or shaved) and brown eyes. Jodie has a few items of jewellery which she wears that have a vaguely ethnic look to them; rings, dog tags (possibly relating back to her time in the CIA) and leather straps are worn around her neck and on her wrist. She is conventionally quite pretty but rarely makes an effort to appear feminine.  She doesn’t wear a lot of make-up or formal clothing in the game and has a very tomboy look to her.

Game artwork / renders: 1, 2, 3.

Age: 25 years old

History: Here.

Personality: As a child Jodie is extremely quiet and withdrawn. It’s stated in the game that she grew up being able to see the dead, leaving her traumatised both physically and mentally. She rarely speaks, often communicating by gesture and comes across as imbalanced or even deceitful as she quietly obeys her parents while Aiden disobeys them as soon as their backs are turned. Although Jodie’s adoptive mother sees past most of these transgressions her father complains about her behaviour a lot and on one occasion threatens to hit her (until Aiden causes a distraction elsewhere).

Jodie’s relationship with her parents is unsettled at best and when they leave her to the DPA she severs all connection to them. Over time she becomes very attached to Nathan Dawkins and Cole Freeman who become her guardians and testers. She’s an inquisitive, bright child who tries to deal with her connection to Aiden and the spirit world as best as she can. Ultimately her abilities leave her feeling alienated and very lonely. As she grows up she is introduced to small pockets of people her age but her antisocial lifestyle has left her out of touch with her generation.

When invited to one of Dawkin’s colleague’s daughter’s birthday parties Jodie is persecuted because of her clothes, mannerisms and connection to the spirit world, being called a “slut and a witch”, as a result of this she’s locked in a cupboard until Aiden releases her and takes brutal revenge on the teenagers for bullying Jodie. Although it’s not clearly stated by Jodie during these events it’s speculated that she originally wanted to make friends with people her age but eventually deems it impossible because of her situation.

As Jodie ages she begins to embrace alternative methods of expressing herself. She dyes her hair blue, she wears dramatic make-up and listens to rock music. She wants to rebel as most teenagers do but her ability to manipulate people with Aiden’s help lands her in trouble. Jodie defends her actions saying that she only wanted to have friends and a “normal life” like other girls her age. She is disillusioned and acts aggressively towards Dawkins and Cole, which is something she quickly grows out of later in the game.

She continues to long for companionship and when Jodie meets a CIA agent a few years her senior she does everything in her power to impress him. Still trying to fit into normal society she lets herself be led on and used by her colleague who lies to her about a vital mission. Once Jodie finds out that she’s been manipulated into killing innocents she questions her role in the CIA and ultimately her place in the world.

Disturbed and deeply upset she flees the CIA and goes on the run. How long exactly Jodie runs from the authorities is unknown but there are several events in the game at different points in her life where she is still trying to escape them. As this time passes Jodie falls into a deep depression where she allows the entities from the spirit world to affect her. It is argued that this weakness is Jodie subconsciously allowing herself to be tortured for the mistakes she made under CIA control and the regret she feels for her gullibility. Jodie’s self image and respect fall and eventually she finds herself living on the streets, she doesn’t take care of herself and there are several occasions where she contemplates suicide.

Jodie does a lot of soul searching during this time to find a comfortable equilibrium between herself and Aiden. She lives on the streets and travels the south west of America, hitch hiking through the desert. Due to her relationship with the Aiden, Jodie is very open-minded, she is accepting of almost all lifestyles and cultures she comes across. During her time in the desert she meets a Native American family and quickly embraces their beliefs and way of life.

Towards the end of the game, when Jodie has saved the CIA from near disaster, Jodie seems much less threatened by their presence. At one point she claims not to “give a damn” about what the CIA do and is more preoccupied to her connection to Aiden and the relationships she has with her immediate friends and lovers.

It’s impossible to mention Jodie and not talk about Aiden. Aiden is Jodie’s twin brother who was stillborn, forever connected to his sister. Aiden is a mischievous, lonely and unhappy character. He goes through the game trying to come to terms with his existence tied to Jodie; experiencing life through someone else’s perspective. As his bond with Jodie strengthens he becomes extremely protective over her, seeking revenge on those who do her wrong and repeatedly telling her that he’s all she needs when she takes an active interest in other male character(s).

Powers/Special Abilities:

Aiden: Aiden is an Entity that has been linked to Jodie Holmes since birth. They are connected by an ethereal tether, that can be seen when switching to Aiden's view. This tether acts as a spiritual link between Jodie and Aiden that keeps Aiden bound to Jodie. Though he can go farther away from Jodie in some situations, the separation causes Jodie excessive amounts of pain and lasting disorientation. Throughout the game, Aiden shows that he is capable of human emotion through his interactions with Jodie and his own frustration at the restraining tether.

Aiden’s abilities:

• Telekinesis

• Clairvoyance

• Possession

• Communicates directly with Jodie

• Healing

• Mediumship

• Shielding

(demonstration of most of Aiden’s abilities found here).

Jodie’s abilities:

• Precognitive Dreaming - at the end of the game Jodie has a dream that alludes to the future, she states at first that it feels like a nightmare then corrects herself that these dreams are visions of the future (video found here).

• Trained CIA Operative - this includes hand-to-hand and firearms combat training, stealth and vehicle training (and one point Jodie assumes control of a small submarine with prior knowledge to the controls).

River Power: Darkness Manipulation involuntary and based off of Jodie’s emotions, e.g. stress/fear result in an area darkening.

Reason for Character Choice: I recently completed Beyond Two Souls and the game spoke to me. I really sympathised with Jodie’s character, how she felt outcasted, lonely and different. She was a character who had a difficult life from an early age, and the idea of dealing with some of my own alienation through playing her appealed to me a lot. I thought she would do very well in Altered States mainly because she would be surrounded by other people who have to deal with special abilities, whether they’re skills that the characters have grown up with or something they received in the crossing.

Additional Information: It’s worth noting that although Jodie can ask Aiden for help he can and often does disobey her commands. His powers are not her’s by default.

Writing Samples

First-Person Transmission Sample: [ Jodie’s face comes into focus; a characteristic frown pulling her features in tight. Her voice is firm, commanding, she isn’t talking to the people of Manhattan, she’s demanding their attention. ]

Look, [ She begins, already sounding exasperated. ] I don’t have anything against anyone here, but I need to get back to Langley, more is at stake than you people realise.

[ The display flickers and her eyes are cast past the viewfinder. ] Stop it, [ she says to someone out of the picture.] you’re only going to make this worse. [ Jodie tries to compose herself to speak again, ignoring the flickering lights around her. ] I need to get back, anyone out there have any idea how to do that? [ She hesitates for a moment, as if expecting an immediate response, before turning off the camera. ]

Third-Person Log Sample: Feeling the same pebble bouncing off her knee stirs her enough to regain consciousness. Jodie groans herself awake and sits up, feeling her head spinning she looks down as her legs shift to the side and the pebble changes trajectory slightly, still bouncing off her knee. “Okay, I get it.” she says, her frustration carrying into her tone of voice “I’m awake now, you can stop that.” and the stone drops to the ground with a soft thud. After working out her misplaced aggression Jodie takes the time to look around, expecting to see familiar scenery the area unsettles her. “Where are we?” she murmurs, confused she looks up at what appears to be a blank patch of sky “Aiden, take a look around. See if you find anything familiar, okay?” But what Jodie sees and what others see is quite different. That piece of air was inhabited by Aiden, the entity attached to her very being, appeared like white noise or a shifting shadow. Aiden rarely retained more than the ghost of an image, constantly shifting, shapeless but something that Jodie could always see, something she could never really ignore.

Even if she wanted to.

As Aiden moved, floating effortlessly through buildings and above ground, what he saw was projected into Jodie’s mind. Blurred images of skyscrapers and chain restaurants flashed in her mind’s eye, some sights familiar but the majority were unknown. She assumed she was still in the States and judging by the people around her she had landed in a relatively wealthy area. But as Aiden strayed too far she winced and the scenes he sent her blackened, a high pitched sound rang in her ear and she whispered “That’s enough, don’t go too far, come back.” And although her words were practically audible to those around her, they were clear as a bell to Aiden, who returned to Jodie’s side seconds later.

With a reside sigh Jodie pulled herself to her feet, folding her arms tightly across her chest she began to walk. “I don’t know.” She snapped back defensively at Aiden’s questioning “But if I can find a phone I’ll call someone or--” she paused, feeling something awkward sticking into her thigh as she moved. She hesitated, looking down at the bulge in her pocket suspiciously, her eyes glanced up at Aiden for a moment before she unfolded her arms and pulled out a smartphone. She didn’t recognise it and this only added to her discomfort. Above her a streetlight began to flicker and without thinking she snapped “Stop it, Aiden! I can’t see what I’m doing.”

But just to add to her confusion Aiden admitted to Jodie that he wasn’t the one playing with the lights.