Personality: At her very heart, Cami is undeniably, beautifully, wonderfully human, which is something pretty special in a world of vampires, werewolves, and witches. She's constantly surrounded by people who take lives without remorse, who could kill her as easily as they draw a breath, and yet she not only survives, she stands at the center of it all as someone others desire to protect and keep safe. Bitter rivals set aside their differences when she's in danger, which speaks of the impact she's had on their lives.
This is rooted in what is perhaps Cami's most prominent trait: she is kind. She pursues a graduate degree in psychology for the purpose of helping people with their problems, and regardless of what happens in the series, this is the one desire she defaults back to again and again. Whether it means offering a gift to a witch she loathes to save her uncle's life, or giving therapy to a man who while possessed terrorized her, Cami tries to do what is right and good for the people around her. Even when she chooses to remove herself from the supernatural community (which doesn't hold), she says its to focus on her studies and help normal people with normal problems. She believes in the inherent goodness of people, and acts in a way that exemplifies that trait within herself.
This kindness in turn makes her trustworthy. Klaus, who is notably paranoid and refuses to trust, goes to Cami when he needs someone to talk to. Elijah reveals to her a secret that no one else knows, including his brother, whom Cami is closer to. Beyond that, however, they turn to her because she's very good at what she does. Her skills of observation are incredible; she's shown to pick up on personality traits and psychological issues quickly, which speaks both to her training as well as her ability. She listens to what's said, but also reads the gaps and the deflections and the actions of a person to understand them. Even a person who does terrible things has more to them than just the bad, and Cami can see that.
However, just being nice is hardly enough to stay alive in the world Cami lives in. She is also remarkably brave. Again, as the human in the room she could very easily be broken, and she knows it. Yet ultimately Cami chooses to be part of this world, not because she doesn't fear it but because its where the people she cares about are. When someone does something cruel she tells them; she doesn't back down from immortal vampires, instead slapping Klaus when he makes her culpable in a revenge murder, and later promising to expose Klaus as a vampire to the world should he harm her friends. When warned that she's in the midst of vampires about to go crazy with bloodlust, she opts to try and comfort them rather than run. To stop Finn she volunteers to be the bait, and tells her co-conspirators not to hold back in the harm they must inflict upon her to be convincing. One of her most impressive moments is when she clutches the only weapon capable of killing Mikael, promising to use it if he tries to hurt her or Klaus despite having no chance at winning the fight. It causes Mikael, a Viking who values strength more than anything, to remark that she has a warrior's heart.
Hand in hand with that bravery is her stubbornness; Cami refuses to be told what to do, and has ever since she was young. She developes a taste for beer specifically as an act of rebellion, after her mother says it isn't a drink suitable for a lady. Despite the danger it puts her in, she is the one who decides to manipulate Finn to discover his weakness, then steps up as bait when she realizes that his vulnerability is his fondness of her. When Klaus compels her both to forget that he's a vampire save when they're together, and to let go of the pain she feels over the horrible way her brother died, she starts to lose gaps in time, and questions the sudden sense of peace she has over a tragic and terrible event. This leads to her leaving notes for herself to find later on, and then to trick Klaus into revealing the truth while she's secretly recording him. She also demands that others act in a way that may not be easy, but that is right. Klaus in particular she holds accountable for his actions, refusing to let him be the monster he can so easily be, and instead insisting he act in a way that is right rather than cruel.
Yet for all the good in her, Cami is still flawed. On more than one occasion she's tried to shirk what she sees as her duty to the supernatural community in favor of a normal life. Her family has played a role in the human faction of New Orleans for decades, one that fell to her on her uncle's death. She hesitated, however, seeking out a normal life, a choice which she regrets for a long time after. She's self-admittedly attracted to the wrong type of guy, going for the bad boys because deep down, she thinks she might deserve all the complications and difficulties that go with the type of relationship that seems doomed to fail, or worse, all the heartache that's tied into someone who is capable of committing unspeakable attrocities.
Her biggest mistakes, however, come when dealing with her uncle Kieran once he's hexed by a witch. Her brother Sean had been similarly spelled, which caused him to go insane and murder his entire seminary class before taking his own life. Desperate not to lose the one family member she still cherishes, Cami goes to extreme and arguably cruel lengths to try and save him. Despite the fact that he looked ill enough for a doctor to comment that he needed to be in the ICU, Cami subjects her uncle to electroshock therapy. It seems to be momentarily successful, and an overeager Cami has to be stopped from administering it again despite the fact that it would very likely kill Kieran. When her uncle is on the verge of death (literally, as Klaus has to massage his heart to keep it pumping), Cami has Klaus turn him into a vampire, despite knowing it was the last thing Kieran would want to happen. She herself points out that it is a desperate move after it is done. She just can't let him go, refusing to admit that she's lost him until the hex makes him come after her. Only then, when she's on the floor, beaten and bloody, does she finally relent.
More recently, Cami also has started turning to alcohol more and more to deal with her problems. While she hasn't yet shown any of the negative signs so commonly associated with alcoholism, its very rare that she doesn't have a drink before going into some sort of difficult situation. She's still holding herself together, which is pretty remarkable given how drastically her world has changed since she became aware of the supernatural.
Flavor Abilities: None
Suitability: In a world where there are vampires, hybrids, witches, and werewolves around every corner, Cami has a remarkable ability to stay a live in spite of her human status. Part of this is because she has ties with some very powerful people, but that in and of itself is a feat. In one of her first appearances, two vampires see her walking alone in a New Orleans street and decide she only gets to live if that proves to be a move of bravey, not stupidity. Few humans are able to make these immortal creatures take notice, given their egos. Cami can not only do that, she can frankly put them in their places (especially Klaus) because she's earned their respect.
In addition to this, Cami is shown to be resilent on her own. When facing down one of the most powerful creatures to ever exist, she is wounded, weakened, and has zero chance of winning the fight on her own. That doesn't stop her from gripping the one weapon that could kill him and promising she would stop him herself if he tried anything. She flees a vampire attacking her by throwing herself off the balcony of a church, and uses a lamp to knock out someone coming after her on another occassion, showing she's willing to do what it takes to live, and that she's clever enough to use the environment to her advantage. She's also grown in what she can tolerate over the course of her canon; whereas in season one she couldn't even watch someone cut his hand open, by her canonpoint for Snowblind she can cut a hole into someone's chest, reach into the wound, and pull out the mystical knife keeping them incapacitated, all without hesitation, because she has to.
Lastly, Cami has a graduate degree in psychology, and she's incredibly good at it. She not only provides therapy to some of the most stubborn, troubled characters of the series, she understands how to manipulate people. She fools a man sent to trick her into thinking she's fond of him, successfully luring him into a trap because she recognizes his feelings for her. Cami also overcomes her own memory loss when she's compelled to forget anything that happens when she's with Klaus by purposely tricking him into revealing what he is during one of their sessions. This is done in response to Cami revealing evidence she had found while on her own (because of a message she left herself), a move which initially seems to be stupid. In truth it had been for a bigger goal: Klaus' confession had been recorded, giving Cami critical answers she needed in a time when she thought she was losing her mind.
RP Samples:
Network/Snowblind Sample: [Things are bad enough when they're free to move around and scavenge for whatever they can to survive. With the storm that's set in, however, they've been stuck for three days, going on four, and Cami is starting to feel antsy. Part of it is no doubt thanks to the bickering Michaelson siblings, each of whom seems particularly talented at finding something new and insignificant to start an argument over. As the hours pass, however, Cami's starting to think there might be something more at play, maybe related to whatever power managed to not only bring them all there, but turn Original vampires human in the first place.
The problem is that just thinking about it doesn't do anything beyond agitate already frayed nerves. They don't have any alcohol to burn away the troubled thoughts, so Cami goes for the next best thing: something incredibly frivilous and stupid.]
So here's a dumb idea to pass the time: network-wide trivial pursuit. [Yes, she actually said that.] Not that we have things like a game board, dice, little plastic pie pieces that no one can ever keep track of anyway; that's not the point. I figure that between however many of us are here, we can come up with at least some random facts to quiz each other on, and that's got to be better than sitting in the dark waiting for the weather to clear up.
[She huffs out a short breath, then shakes her head. Board games without the booze don't hold the same appeal.] Or people could just talk, about anything. What you're thinking, what you're doing to keep from going stir-crazy--what worries you most about being here. This place goes beyond just wrecking any sense of what I thought couldn't be possible that I had, and trust me, that had already been stretched thin. But we're all stuck here, so we have to find a way to make it bearable. Trying to help each other, however we can, is going to be the only way to accomplish that.
And since my schedule is absolutely clear, here's your chance to take advantage of a shrink-in-training. Not exactly how I had hoped to get into the therapy business, but seriously; if someone wants to talk, I'd be glad to listen.
[And not solely for the benefit of whoever might respond to her broadcast.]
Camille O'Connell | The Vampire Diaries
This is rooted in what is perhaps Cami's most prominent trait: she is kind. She pursues a graduate degree in psychology for the purpose of helping people with their problems, and regardless of what happens in the series, this is the one desire she defaults back to again and again. Whether it means offering a gift to a witch she loathes to save her uncle's life, or giving therapy to a man who while possessed terrorized her, Cami tries to do what is right and good for the people around her. Even when she chooses to remove herself from the supernatural community (which doesn't hold), she says its to focus on her studies and help normal people with normal problems. She believes in the inherent goodness of people, and acts in a way that exemplifies that trait within herself.
This kindness in turn makes her trustworthy. Klaus, who is notably paranoid and refuses to trust, goes to Cami when he needs someone to talk to. Elijah reveals to her a secret that no one else knows, including his brother, whom Cami is closer to. Beyond that, however, they turn to her because she's very good at what she does. Her skills of observation are incredible; she's shown to pick up on personality traits and psychological issues quickly, which speaks both to her training as well as her ability. She listens to what's said, but also reads the gaps and the deflections and the actions of a person to understand them. Even a person who does terrible things has more to them than just the bad, and Cami can see that.
However, just being nice is hardly enough to stay alive in the world Cami lives in. She is also remarkably brave. Again, as the human in the room she could very easily be broken, and she knows it. Yet ultimately Cami chooses to be part of this world, not because she doesn't fear it but because its where the people she cares about are. When someone does something cruel she tells them; she doesn't back down from immortal vampires, instead slapping Klaus when he makes her culpable in a revenge murder, and later promising to expose Klaus as a vampire to the world should he harm her friends. When warned that she's in the midst of vampires about to go crazy with bloodlust, she opts to try and comfort them rather than run. To stop Finn she volunteers to be the bait, and tells her co-conspirators not to hold back in the harm they must inflict upon her to be convincing. One of her most impressive moments is when she clutches the only weapon capable of killing Mikael, promising to use it if he tries to hurt her or Klaus despite having no chance at winning the fight. It causes Mikael, a Viking who values strength more than anything, to remark that she has a warrior's heart.
Hand in hand with that bravery is her stubbornness; Cami refuses to be told what to do, and has ever since she was young. She developes a taste for beer specifically as an act of rebellion, after her mother says it isn't a drink suitable for a lady. Despite the danger it puts her in, she is the one who decides to manipulate Finn to discover his weakness, then steps up as bait when she realizes that his vulnerability is his fondness of her. When Klaus compels her both to forget that he's a vampire save when they're together, and to let go of the pain she feels over the horrible way her brother died, she starts to lose gaps in time, and questions the sudden sense of peace she has over a tragic and terrible event. This leads to her leaving notes for herself to find later on, and then to trick Klaus into revealing the truth while she's secretly recording him. She also demands that others act in a way that may not be easy, but that is right. Klaus in particular she holds accountable for his actions, refusing to let him be the monster he can so easily be, and instead insisting he act in a way that is right rather than cruel.
Yet for all the good in her, Cami is still flawed. On more than one occasion she's tried to shirk what she sees as her duty to the supernatural community in favor of a normal life. Her family has played a role in the human faction of New Orleans for decades, one that fell to her on her uncle's death. She hesitated, however, seeking out a normal life, a choice which she regrets for a long time after. She's self-admittedly attracted to the wrong type of guy, going for the bad boys because deep down, she thinks she might deserve all the complications and difficulties that go with the type of relationship that seems doomed to fail, or worse, all the heartache that's tied into someone who is capable of committing unspeakable attrocities.
Her biggest mistakes, however, come when dealing with her uncle Kieran once he's hexed by a witch. Her brother Sean had been similarly spelled, which caused him to go insane and murder his entire seminary class before taking his own life. Desperate not to lose the one family member she still cherishes, Cami goes to extreme and arguably cruel lengths to try and save him. Despite the fact that he looked ill enough for a doctor to comment that he needed to be in the ICU, Cami subjects her uncle to electroshock therapy. It seems to be momentarily successful, and an overeager Cami has to be stopped from administering it again despite the fact that it would very likely kill Kieran. When her uncle is on the verge of death (literally, as Klaus has to massage his heart to keep it pumping), Cami has Klaus turn him into a vampire, despite knowing it was the last thing Kieran would want to happen. She herself points out that it is a desperate move after it is done. She just can't let him go, refusing to admit that she's lost him until the hex makes him come after her. Only then, when she's on the floor, beaten and bloody, does she finally relent.
More recently, Cami also has started turning to alcohol more and more to deal with her problems. While she hasn't yet shown any of the negative signs so commonly associated with alcoholism, its very rare that she doesn't have a drink before going into some sort of difficult situation. She's still holding herself together, which is pretty remarkable given how drastically her world has changed since she became aware of the supernatural.
Flavor Abilities: None
Suitability: In a world where there are vampires, hybrids, witches, and werewolves around every corner, Cami has a remarkable ability to stay a live in spite of her human status. Part of this is because she has ties with some very powerful people, but that in and of itself is a feat. In one of her first appearances, two vampires see her walking alone in a New Orleans street and decide she only gets to live if that proves to be a move of bravey, not stupidity. Few humans are able to make these immortal creatures take notice, given their egos. Cami can not only do that, she can frankly put them in their places (especially Klaus) because she's earned their respect.
In addition to this, Cami is shown to be resilent on her own. When facing down one of the most powerful creatures to ever exist, she is wounded, weakened, and has zero chance of winning the fight on her own. That doesn't stop her from gripping the one weapon that could kill him and promising she would stop him herself if he tried anything. She flees a vampire attacking her by throwing herself off the balcony of a church, and uses a lamp to knock out someone coming after her on another occassion, showing she's willing to do what it takes to live, and that she's clever enough to use the environment to her advantage. She's also grown in what she can tolerate over the course of her canon; whereas in season one she couldn't even watch someone cut his hand open, by her canonpoint for Snowblind she can cut a hole into someone's chest, reach into the wound, and pull out the mystical knife keeping them incapacitated, all without hesitation, because she has to.
Lastly, Cami has a graduate degree in psychology, and she's incredibly good at it. She not only provides therapy to some of the most stubborn, troubled characters of the series, she understands how to manipulate people. She fools a man sent to trick her into thinking she's fond of him, successfully luring him into a trap because she recognizes his feelings for her. Cami also overcomes her own memory loss when she's compelled to forget anything that happens when she's with Klaus by purposely tricking him into revealing what he is during one of their sessions. This is done in response to Cami revealing evidence she had found while on her own (because of a message she left herself), a move which initially seems to be stupid. In truth it had been for a bigger goal: Klaus' confession had been recorded, giving Cami critical answers she needed in a time when she thought she was losing her mind.
RP Samples:
Network/Snowblind Sample: [Things are bad enough when they're free to move around and scavenge for whatever they can to survive. With the storm that's set in, however, they've been stuck for three days, going on four, and Cami is starting to feel antsy. Part of it is no doubt thanks to the bickering Michaelson siblings, each of whom seems particularly talented at finding something new and insignificant to start an argument over. As the hours pass, however, Cami's starting to think there might be something more at play, maybe related to whatever power managed to not only bring them all there, but turn Original vampires human in the first place.
The problem is that just thinking about it doesn't do anything beyond agitate already frayed nerves. They don't have any alcohol to burn away the troubled thoughts, so Cami goes for the next best thing: something incredibly frivilous and stupid.]
So here's a dumb idea to pass the time: network-wide trivial pursuit. [Yes, she actually said that.] Not that we have things like a game board, dice, little plastic pie pieces that no one can ever keep track of anyway; that's not the point. I figure that between however many of us are here, we can come up with at least some random facts to quiz each other on, and that's got to be better than sitting in the dark waiting for the weather to clear up.
[She huffs out a short breath, then shakes her head. Board games without the booze don't hold the same appeal.] Or people could just talk, about anything. What you're thinking, what you're doing to keep from going stir-crazy--what worries you most about being here. This place goes beyond just wrecking any sense of what I thought couldn't be possible that I had, and trust me, that had already been stretched thin. But we're all stuck here, so we have to find a way to make it bearable. Trying to help each other, however we can, is going to be the only way to accomplish that.
And since my schedule is absolutely clear, here's your chance to take advantage of a shrink-in-training. Not exactly how I had hoped to get into the therapy business, but seriously; if someone wants to talk, I'd be glad to listen.
[And not solely for the benefit of whoever might respond to her broadcast.]
Prose/Actionspam Samples: Prose / Action and Networkspam