Clarice M. Starling

ABOUT

PREFS

MONSTER

CODE CREDIT

LOSING HER FATHER

Clarice is raised in rural West Virginia for the first decade of her life, the eldest of several children. Her dearest memories center on her father, the town marshal, with whom she was close. When he's killed apprehending two burglars, Clarice is devastated.

HEARING THE LAMBS SCREAM

After her father's death, ten-year-old Clarice is sent alone from West Virginia to Montana, where a cousin of her mother's runs a sheep ranch. She lives there for two months but is promptly sent away when she tries to prevent the spring lambs from being slaughtered. Her initial attempt to free them doesn't work, since they won't leave their pen when the gate is opened, so she picks one up and runs away with it. When the sheriff catches up with her, the lamb is slaughtered and Clarice is packed off to a Lutheran orphanage for the next eight years.

GOING TO SCHOOL

When she leaves the orphanage, it's to go to school for criminology and psychology at the University of Virginia, where she graduates with honors. She's recruited directly into the FBI, and though she doesn't have advantages physically or socially, her hard work is recognized by higher-ups at Quantico. Near the end of her training, one of her instructors sends her to speak with serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

ENCOUNTERING HANNIBAL LECTER

Hannibal and Clarice's relationship is both adversarial and intimate; he forces her to confide in him before he'll give her insights on the case she's working. Their interactions are her first official forays into her career, and they're simultaneously excruciating and exhilarating. In Lecter, Clarice finds a sort of mentor, giving her insights into the criminal mind that she could never learn in a classroom. He challenges her, dropping clues that require intellectual prowess and risk-taking. By the point of their last interaction, a complex mutual respect has grown between them.

HUNTING BUFFALO BILL

Her conversations with Lecter are in service of a case the FBI is rushing to solve, that of serial killer Buffalo Bill. This investigation is the first of Clarice's career, and it's the point at which she moves into true adulthood, shedding some of the damage of her youth by rescuing a young woman from an horrific fate. The skills she's developed over years are put to the test, and she succeeds through a mix of courage, intelligence, and instinct.

ABILITY

• Bachelors degree in criminology and psychology, including some field experience in providing psychiatric evaluations.

• Fighting experience: Significant training in both firearms and hand-to-hand combat, experience using firearms in high-stakes situations.

• Investigative training: Behavioral science, criminal profiling, interrogation techniques, the basics of (1990s-era) forensic science, running investigative operations, surveillance skills, detailed anatomical knowledge.

• High level of physical fitness and agility.

appearance

Clarice transforms into a chimera, fairly close to the classical depiction of such: Her ultimate form is a lioness with the head of black-faced sheep protruding from behind its shoulders. The tail of the chimera ends in the head of a rattlesnake. It has a pair of huge moth wings that bear the markings of Acherontia styx, the death's-head moth, including the skull pattern on her back beneath the sheep's head. As a chimera, she's a mix of beasts that don't make up a congruent whole; she's the sum of disparate parts and nothing more. The transformation begins with claws and teeth lengthening, followed by the growth of a tail and wings. There's a brief window of time when she still otherwise has a human shape, but then the sheep's head begins to grow, and her body elongates and shifts into that of the lioness.

POWER_LIST

In this form, she has sharp-toothed jaws capable of deadly levels of pressure. Her legs are powerful, capable of running up to 50 miles an hour and taking 35-foot leaps; her paws are broad and sharp-clawed; and her rattlesnake tail has a venomous bite. While her wings won't allow flight, they can flap quickly enough to buffet humanoids away from her.

behavior

BEHAVIOR_DESCRIPTION

Player Name: Dove
Pronouns: she/her
Are you over 18? Yes.
Contact: hellzapoppin
Current Characters: N/A
Triggers: N/A

Character Name: Clarice M. Starling
Character Canon: The Silence of the Lambs (primarily the 1991 film, with some context taken from the novel + other adaptations in the same continuity as the film)
Character Age: 22
Canon Point: Post-film
Link to History: Link
Skills:
• Bachelors degree in criminology and psychology, including some field experience in providing psychiatric evaluations.
• Fighting experience: Significant training in both firearms and hand-to-hand combat, experience using firearms in high-stakes situations.
• Investigative training: Behavioral science, criminal profiling, interrogation techniques, the basics of (1990s-era) forensic science, running investigative operations, surveillance skills, detailed anatomical knowledge.
• High level of physical fitness and agility.
Abilities: N/A
Curse Mark: Wilk ⍢, high on her left hip.

FORMATIVE EXPERIENCES:

Losing her father: - Clarice is raised in rural West Virginia for the first decade of her life, the eldest of several children. Her dearest memories center on her father, the town marshal, with whom she was close. When he's killed apprehending two burglars, Clarice is devastated.

Hearing the lambs scream: - After her father's death, ten-year-old Clarice is sent alone from West Virginia to Montana, where a cousin of her mother's runs a sheep ranch. She lives there for two months but is promptly sent away when she tries to prevent the spring lambs from being slaughtered. Her initial attempt to free them doesn't work, since they won't leave their pen when the gate is opened, so she picks one up and runs away with it. When the sheriff catches up with her, the lamb is slaughtered and Clarice is packed off to a Lutheran orphanage for the next eight years.

Going to school: When she leaves the orphanage, it's to go to school for criminology and psychology at the University of Virginia, where she graduates with honors. She's recruited directly into the FBI, and though she doesn't have advantages physically or socially, her hard work is recognized by higher-ups at Quantico. Near the end of her training, one of her instructors sends her to speak with serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

Encountering Hannibal Lecter: - Hannibal and Clarice's relationship is both adversarial and intimate; he forces her to confide in him before he'll give her insights on the case she's working. Their interactions are her first official forays into her career, and they're simultaneously excruciating and exhilarating. In Lecter, Clarice finds a sort of mentor, giving her insights into the criminal mind that she could never learn in a classroom. He challenges her, dropping clues that require intellectual prowess and risk-taking. By the point of their last interaction, a complex mutual respect has grown between them.

Hunting Buffalo Bill: - Her conversations with Lecter are in service of a case the FBI is rushing to solve, that of serial killer Buffalo Bill. This investigation is the first of Clarice's career, and it's the point at which she moves into true adulthood, shedding some of the damage of her youth by rescuing a young woman from an horrific fate. The skills she's developed over years are put to the test, and she succeeds through a mix of courage, intelligence, and instinct.

PHILOSOPHY: Clarice's experience with the lambs is the overriding metaphor for her approach to service and to life. She sees the world as being filled with defenseless people, unable to protect themselves from harm even when they're given the opportunity to save themselves. She's willing to put her own safety on the line to try to rescue them; even saving just one makes a difference to her. She values hard work, fair play, and determination, holding both herself and others to high standards. While she knows better than to share her opinions under many circumstances - if she couldn't obey the chain of command, she wouldn't have made it through Quantico - she notices when others don't live up to her expectations.

DESIRES: Lector describes Clarice as ambitious, and he's right. Coming from modest means, unable to rely on family, she's taken refuge in achievement as a means to creating a satisfying life for herself. She's still in the process of transforming herself from the poor, unloved child she once was, and she's doing it as cannily as she can; her car and shoes are cheap, but her purse is nice, because she's banking on people noticing it. Status, prestige, and financial security all interest her, because they all lend control and respect - but she wants to achieve them honestly, through the things she does. Her strong sense of personal responsibility keeps her from abusing power, but she wants that power badly.

FEARS: Clarice fears failure above all things. There are real consequences to failing to achieve her goals: first and foremost, serial killers will continue to murder innocent people. On a more personal level, though, it means losing status, which has the potential to lead to losing her livelihood and returning to the poverty that dogged her as a child. Her image of who she is rests on what she's capable of, from investigating crimes to toning down her West Virginia accent as best she can. If she can't excel in her chosen field, she'll have to reckon with a failure to grow past others' expectations and her own self-perceptions.

SUITABILITY: Clarice comes from the milieu of the FBI and is well-acquainted with the many ways people can commit acts of cruelties and violence against each other. Little about Rubilykskoye is likely to be surprising to her, even if some aspects are shocking. Perhaps more importantly, that same cultural context is one in which her gender is always notable, and it's often treated by others as a liability or a matter of prurient interest. I'm interested in how Rubilykskoye might affect Clarice's perspectives on sex and relationships; she's coming from a place where she deals with violence against women on a regular basis, while being judged for her presence the whole time.

SAMPLE: TDM threads. Nota bene: references to murder, sexual assault, violence.

MONSTER: Clarice transforms into a chimera, fairly close to the classical depiction of such: Her ultimate form is a lioness with the head of black-faced sheep protruding from behind its shoulders. The tail of the chimera ends in the head of a rattlesnake. It has a pair of huge moth wings that bear the markings of Acherontia styx, the death's-head moth, including the skull pattern on her back beneath the sheep's head. As a chimera, she's a mix of beasts that don't make up a congruent whole; she's the sum of disparate parts and nothing more.

In this form, she has sharp-toothed jaws capable of deadly levels of pressure. Her legs are powerful, capable of running up to 50 miles an hour and taking 35-foot leaps; her paws are broad and sharp-clawed; and her rattlesnake tail has a venomous bite. While her wings won't allow flight, they can flap quickly enough to buffet humanoids away from her.

The transformation begins with claws and teeth lengthening, followed by the growth of a tail and wings. There's a brief window of time when she still otherwise has a human shape, but then the sheep's head begins to grow, and her body elongates and shifts into that of the lioness.