OOC Information;
Name; Amy
Personal Journal; ladyvoldything
Contact; [email protected], ladyvoldything on Plurk, socksaresocky on AIM
Other Characters; N/A


IC Information;
Character Name; Mary Campbell
Canon; Supernatural. Wiki link: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Mary_Winchester
Canon Point; 4.03, "In The Beginning." The end of the episode, after she's made the deal with Azazel and John has come back to life.

House; Sigyn
Power; Growth

Personality;

First and foremost, Mary is a hunter. A monster hunter, specifically, born and bred. She comes from a long line of hunters, tracing back to a pseudo-legendary vampire slaying on the Mayflower and far earlier than that. Her parents raised her in the life from a very young age, and it is a life: tracking down and solving cases, figuring out what the monster in quesiton is, finding it, killing it, covering their tracks if the hunt puts them on the wrong side of the law. Not to mention the training- her parents made sure she was an excellent fighter by the time she got to high school, which meant a lot more sparring in the basement than Barbies growing up. Understanding that is key to her character: no matter how much she wants to escape the life, no matter how much she hates living in fear of shadows and not knowing if her parents will come home (and she does), she can never quite escape it, not even the day she dies. In her current canon point, she still hasn't- she's a teenager with a life, and helps her parents hunt on the side.

Now, Mary is a part-time hunter and a certified badass, but that's far from it. She's always chosen to align her sense of self with the kind and the soft, the safe and warm rather than anything so much edgier. To say what else she is is difficult, as Mary is so young that she's never had the chance to find much of an identity for herself outside of reacting to what her parents have imposed on her. The lack of certainty and foundation in her life make her a little defensive, a little reactive, dramatic in the way teenagers are but with a sense of perspective that comes from having real, life-or-death problems. Challenges to her sense of self or her freedom are met with snippy annoyance, simple resentment, or outright shouting down if it strikes close enough to home.

She's a girl with an unfortunate family business, but, more importantly, a future she's dead-set on obtaining for herself revolving around a husband and two kids. In that she is extraordinarily healthy: she loves selflessly, gives of herself for the sake of those she loves, but refuses to martyr or compromise herself beyond what she can take. She is no wilting flower about it, either. In her first in-canon appearance outside of flashbacks, her spirit chased down a bigger and badder ghost and told it in no uncertain terms to stay away from her family. Defensive of what she loves, fierce when need be, but outside of danger she's utterly soft and warm, caring and understanding. Mary has a huge heart and a lot of love to give, if frustrated at times with ways to show and express it. Although, being so young and feeling so full of fear in the world, she tends to be much more fiercely self-protecting than her more selfless, emotionally even-keeled older self that we see in a lot of the series. Most of that protective instinct - what will someday grow into "mama bear" fierceness - is still raw and young. She's still too young, with the unique mature immaturity of being trapped in the nest, and the sharp defensiveness that comes from a life of constant danger.

Her hopes and dreams for the future largely center around family. It is extremely important to her, as is a sense of “normal” that she's been so strongly denied through her hunting upbringing. To her, a normal family represents safety and stability, something to center her identity around that isn't based in death. All she's ever wanted is to leave the hunting life, because she could see its toxicity, and have a normal life of happiness and peace for her (and any future children). That stability is very important to her: she craves stability, home, and family more than anything, even in the absence of her parents who could not protect her. The white-picket life always appealed to a deeply sensitive part of her, that was empathetic and kind, and felt things deeply. She has never gotten enough of a thrill from or glorified in danger like some might, and she takes little pleasure in doing ruthless things for justifiable reasons. She has a strongly defined sense of right and wrong, of what is good or bad, of the ugly and the beautiful. It takes a special kind of person to retain her faith in God and the protection of guardian angels, after growing up exposed to every kind of monster and horror. It takes a certain optimism, a certain refusal to stay down, and a sweetness to know acutely how random and horrible life is, to see people destroyed by senseless monsters, and still be able to assure her little son that angels are watching over him. Mary isn’t that old yet, she hasn’t gotten engaged, married, or had a child yet, but that optimism and fortitude are still a part of her.

She is a strongly honest person, despite her history of hunting. She can’t stand to live a lie; when lying to John about the hunting part of her life, the guilt ate away at her until she wanted badly to tell him, so he could understand everything about her. Forget defenses and dysfunctional self-protection, she just wanted the freedom to be honest with him. She is much the same way about conflict, ready and willing to confront problems head-on with considerable strength and snapping into necessary ruthlessness when it’s called for- for instance, when she saw a shady man stalking her and her boyfriend, she didn’t hesitate to beat his ass down in an alley and demand to know what he was up to.

While a strongly loyal and good person, she isn't perfect. She can be very harsh and her anger is like something of a hurricane when really invoked. A life of hunting has made her suspicious and often very intense, asking questions first and trusting later. Though she is sweet with less tightly-honed instincts than some hunters from her world, she most definitely has an end to her patience and a strong sense of self-preservation that extends to the people she loves as well. She isn't a flawlessly selfless saint, either- she was, before they died, fully ready to run away from home and leave her parents behind without so much as a note, to follow her dream of escaping the hunting life forever and being with John. She still is, in her canon point- ready to use her parents' death to her advantage by haring off into the wild blue yonder and escape when they aren't alive to hold her back. When she wants something and knows how to get it, wild horses won't keep her from achieving her goal - though a crisis of conscience might - and she has been known to be opportunistic, to a point. It's a simple fact of life to her that sometimes you have to do things you hate in order to reach an important goal, when given the chance. However, her integrity usually wins those fights unless it's something really important.

However, at this exact part of her life, she’s strongly haunted by guilt. Mary’s canon point is directly after the death of her parents at the hands of a demon. It killed her parents and John, then point-blank offered to revive only John, to give her a chance to escape her life. It wanted in return something weird and mysterious, to go into her house in ten years just once for mysterious purposes- and she took it. She took it, because she's only 18 and she was staring down a life alone. That's another thing about Mary: she doesn't know how to be alone. The thought of losing John was just unacceptable to her, and it led her to make an uncharacteristically stupid decision to save someone she deeply, honestly loved. Truth be told, she wouldn't have taken the deal if it wanted her soul, but because it wanted something unnamed that wouldn't necessarily harm her, she took it.

Though she's a hunter, she doesn't have the kind of iron will her family members have. Mary doesn't feel she has ever been cut out for what her father called the "family business," and the traumas of the job tend to stay with her for a long time. It's part of her sensitive nature, the part of her that is strong, but is also extremely vulnerable.

The horrors of the job affect her deeply- but still, she does the job. The first time we see her so young in the series, she fights Dean in an alley. She takes on an angel with the angel's own sword. Ultimately, she dies fighting. It's something very dark, very deep in her: that honestly, she does feel some allure in the job. Even if the fear, horror, and instability eclipse it, there's an undeniable rush that comes from helping people- and, as importantly, from fighting evil.


Samples;

Network Sample;

Video;

[Mary's face flickers into view, showing a very confused-looking teenage girl who's staring into the camera (bracelet) with the intensity of a brain surgeon mid-operation. After a moment she seems to become aware that it's on and broadcasting, starts slightly, then sits back, talking at the camera with distinct awkwardness.]

Oh, god- is this even working? I- I think so. Okay, okay. [Clearing her throat and kind of sitting up a little.] Hi. My name is Mary Campbell and I know I'm not the only person trapped here.

[Deep breath. On closer view, she looks rattled. Like she's been crying, but long enough ago that she can hide it somewhat.] I don't know if anyone out there can hear me or if you know me, but I need help. If anybody can tell me what's really going on- and if there's any way to wake up. [Deep breaths, Mary. Keep it together.] I'd just really appreciate it.


Log Sample;