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Character Name: Simon Tam
Series: Firefly / Serenity
Age: 25
From When?: Simon makes his deal with the Admiral at the beginning of Serenity, after Simon and River are meant to take their leave from the Serenity crew on Beaumond.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Despite the last year or so he's spent as the most wanted fugitive in the 'verse, Simon Tam has considerably more experience as a civilized, law-abiding member of society. That said, his personality doesn't seem a natural fit for a Warden, either-- he's prissy, easily appalled, and generally makes a point of staying as far away as he can from the criminal element. But the deal he'll strike with the Admiral is backed by a powerful motivator, the very thing that caused an upstanding young trauma surgeon to steal and flee from the Feds in the first place: saving his sister.
Luckily, being on the lam has exposed the formerly tenderfoot doc to plenty of unsavory characters and situations. Simon's proven that, even when he'd really prefer not to, he's capable of finding his feet in dangerous settings and working cooperatively with strong personalities. With that all-important deal driving him, the Admiral can be sure that Simon will channel all of his considerable energy, intelligence and patience into graduating his inmate. He'll also offer up his skills as a doctor and a surgeon.
Item: Simon’s item will be a real sleek ’n shiny holowatch on him at all times.
Abilities/Powers: Simon is a gifted doctor and surgeon with experience working in a high tech, wealthy core planet hospital. More recently, he was the resident medic on a smuggler ship where getting bullet holes/knife wounds/laser burns/etc was typically the order of the day. His medical education includes a general background in psychology, too.
By the time Serenity takes place, Simon seems to have some familiarity with guns--he knows which way to point it, and where one would find the trigger, in the very unlikely event someone is counting on him to shoot. In a fight, his main tactic seems to be throwing himself bodily at someone as a last resort, but if adequately provoked, he can throw a mean suckerpunch.
Personality:
THE BROTHER
The Operative: The boy spent his entire fortune developing the contacts to infiltrate this place.
Dr. Mathias: Gave up a brilliant future in medicine as well. It's madness.
The Operative: Madness? Have you looked at this scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It's love, in point of fact.
Something a good deal more dangerous.
☤
River: You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken. It's hard for you. You gave up everything you had.
Simon: Mei-mei, everything I have is right here.
Simon was born into an affluent, well-to-family on a core planet, and had always thrived within the carefully-laid plans his parents made for him. His sister River had been different— more playful, more brilliant, less willing to fall in line— and for most of Simon’s young life, she was the only person he could truly be a kid around. As much as they had in common, Simon sometimes couldn’t imagine where she’d come from; everything that terrified him thrilled her, everything he accepted, she’d question. She was his little sister, and for a long time, his best friend. And she was, of course, the very notable exception to his reliable adherence to the status quo-- her endangerment caused him to go completely off the rails, putting his career, his relationship with his parents, and his entire life in jeopardy. And even now, it's clear from the way Simon talks about River that she's still the most precious thing he has, even though at times his little sister seems lost inside the experiment, even though she's been the unwitting agent of chaos in a life he'd otherwise polished to a civilized, sterile sheen.
Seeing River struggle with the effects of the Blue Sun experimentation has been agonizing for Simon, whose practical, cerebral approach to everything finds him fixated with repairing what’s been broken. There’s not a whole lot of time for reflection in their new life on the run, but it's obvious he grapples with some murky feelings of guilt, resentment and frustration when confronted with how drastically his life has changed in the last year, and how lost they still are despite the sacrifices he's made. Rather than dwell on an unhelpful and imprecise emotional state-- an area he's never been particularly adept at navigating anyway-- Simon throws himself into searching for a cure for River and trying to land on his well-heeled feet in a world that couldn't be more different from the one he left behind.
THE DOCTOR
Simon: I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months.
Gifted is the term.
☤
Simon: You're in a dangerous line of work, Jayne. Odds are you'll be under my knife again, often. So I want you to understand one thing very clearly: no matter what you do or say or plot, no matter how you come down on us, I will never, ever harm you. You're on this table, you're safe, 'cause I'm your medic. And however little we may like or trust each other, we're on the same crew. Got the same troubles, same enemies, and more than enough of both. Now, we could circle each other and growl, sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me. I don't care what you've done, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but I'm trusting you. I think you should do the same. 'Cause I don't see this working any other way.
Although it’s debatable exactly how much of Simon’s picture-perfect life on Osiris was a result of him falling in line with his parents' expectations, it’s clear that being a doctor is tied up inextricably with his sense of identity. Even when he’s kidnapped by a hill clan in need of a doctor, when he arrives at the village and sees the sick, he rolls up his sleeves without trying to drive a bargain or complain. While he certainly takes his oath seriously and has a genuine drive to help those in need, there’s another, baser motivation keeping him going, and that’s his ever-present need for control. Simon is never more cool, calm and collected than when he’s in medic mode, and keeping his hands and mind busy is another way of exercising authority and avoiding the uncomfortable emotions that might threaten to throw him off his very tightly-managed course.
Simon’s bedside manner definitely leaves something to be desired, a fact he undoubtedly took into consideration when he chose to become a trauma surgeon; seems that doped-up and unconscious folks are less concerned with that sort of thing. He’s perfectly professional, but won’t be winning any Dr. Congeniality prizes anytime soon, particularly if there’s any tension between him and his patient to begin with. Anyone fitting that description on his table is generally a captive audience for his very dry sense of humor and sarcasm.
THE RICH KID
Mal: The management here don't take too kindly to sightseers, but that's why we're posing as buyers. There ain't a one of us looks the part more than the good doctor. The pretty fits, soft hands, definitely a monied individual. All rich and lily-white, pasty all over—
Simon: Alright! Fine. I'll go. Just... stop describing me.
☤
Kaylee: What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean
nothing out here in the black.
Simon: It means more out here.
As well-mannered and pleasant as Simon is, he’s not the kind of guy you'd imagine got invited to a lot of birthday parties as a kid. He is the kind of guy who’s pedantic enough to notice when someone is wrong but, unless they've really started out on the wrong foot, he’s generally too polite to call them on it. He’ll pepper a conversation with stilted trivia where other people might fit personal anecdotes, failing to gauge his audience’s interest and coming off a bit like a know-it-all. You can’t help but feel a certain amount of schadenfreude around him when he’s out of his element-- there’s something really amusing about watching him squirm in boorish or vulgar company, get his hands dirty, or, god forbid, one of his fancy suits. Growing up in the society that he did, he’s accustomed to having the best, but you’d never see him make a fuss when he has to go without; he’s too polite and politic for that. Simon wears his manners like armor— they form a barrier between him and the rest of the world, assuring him he has a script for every conversation and a civilized reaction on hand for all the decidedly uncivilized behavior he runs into.
Simon's not repressed-- Simon’s like a tightly corked bottle that's spent the last handful of years under immense pressure, shaken to extremes. He rarely gives any sign of the stress he’s under, partly because he learned at a young age that stress is only worth regard insofar as it pushes you to achieve-- it’s not something you alleviate, it’s something you use. Growing up as the oldest child in the Tam household meant learning to carefully tweak and rearrange his own desires to better match what was expected of him, and the impulse to unbutton a bit or deviate from that mild, unobjectionable persona is buried under years of habit.
Despite all of this, he is capable of warming up and cutting loose in the right situation, and on those occasions, true to what you’d expect of someone so painstakingly restrained, he tends to overdo it a little, getting drunk and unruly enough to draw the attention of the Feds once in his college days and, more recently, drinking enough mudder’s milk in Jaynestown to transform him into a slurring, affectionate mess. Simon's also capable of being very funny, though his deadpan sarcasm and dry, sometimes dark sense of humor aren't for everyone. And although he's slumming with criminals by necessity, it's plain to see over the course of Firefly that a little lawlessness really suits Simon, whether he's ready to acknowledge it or not.
THE " CRIMINAL MASTERMIND "
Book: I'd forgotten, you're moonlighting as a criminal mastermind now. Got your next heist planned?
Simon: No… but I'm thinking about growing a big black mustache. I'm a traditionalist.
☤
Simon: I never-- never shot anyone before.
Book: I was there, son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet.
Despite the pretty fits and lily-white hands, once he warms up to Serenity a bit, Simon actually develops some competence in the realm of the less-than-legal. In Ariel, he offers himself up as a client for the crew, developing a plan and helping to execute the infiltration of a core planet hospital, all so he can sneak River inside to use a cutting-edge brain imaging machine to get a better sense of what the Alliance did to her. In return, he outlines exactly how Mal and Zoe can access and raid the hospital dispensary, thereby paying their cut in a load of drugs sure to fetch a pretty penny on the black market. Although complications arise, none of them are due to an oversight of Simon’s: the plan is seamless, and he’s obviously pleased not just by its success, but by his ability to contribute to the crew in a way that doesn’t involve forceps and anaesthetics.
He's a planner by nature, preferring to map out every possible detail of a procedure, and to take as long as he has to to be sure it’s watertight. He spends two years establishing the right contacts on Osiris when he finds out about River’s endangerment, and although he initially seeks help from his wealthy, well-connected parents— especially on one memorable occasion when his father had to bail him out of prison for his underground inquiries— he isn’t deterred from his goal when they fail him. He disguises himself as an Alliance official in order to break into the facility where River is held and uses a stun grenade to incapacitate the doctor, allowing he and his sister to escape via an elevator shaft and a waiting getaway shuttle. Later, after he and River board Serenity, he makes a contentious power play out of desperation, refusing to treat Kaylee’s stomach wound if Mal turns them over to the Alliance. When Mal and Wash find themselves held hostage, Simon takes up a gun for the first time and goes in with the rest of the crew for a rescue.
In his determination to protect River, Simon’s quite prepared to bend his own typically rigid rules of propriety and morality. Otherwise, he’s a mostly straitlaced, uptight individual who prefers to clean up messes rather than make them, although his time on Serenity has blurred those lines a bit.
Barge Reactions: While Simon Tam has a general rule of not making deals with shadowy figures aboard space prisons, his urgent predicament with River means he's approaching this agreement with the utmost initiative: the plan is to get to work immediately, and use all the resources available to him to get the job done as quickly as possible.
Thing is, despite what the last few years should have taught him, Simon's not very good at anticipating when the gǒushǐ is about to hit the fan.
He's going to be even more out of his element than he was on Serenity, and will probably find his confident, redeemin'-criminals-and-takin'-names attitude starting to crumble the minute he gets a taste of what the Barge is really like. He'll probably make a point of seeking out other wardens he can trust, people who've been there awhile, people with rank and status, and do what he can to ally with them. He'll certainly throw himself into his work in order to keep busy, and if it takes awhile for him to be paired with a criminal, expect the infirmary to be reorganized and gleaming within his first week on board.
Magic is going to really break Simon's rational little brain and it's going to take him a long time to get used to the idea; he's certainly not planning on letting anyone touch him with the stuff, and would be pretty skeptical about its medical applications.
He's going to make a point of staying away from as much of the danger and chaos as possible, particularly trying to avoid trouble with the more temperamental personalities, but historically, his success rate for this kind of thing isn't great.
Path to Redemption: n/a
Deal: Simon’s deal with the Admiral would entirely revolve around his wunderkind little sister, River, who’s essentially being held hostage and experimented on by an ~evil government program. There are a few ways I could interpret that deal. First, Simon could ask for the universe to arrange that River never attend the school in the first place. This is the most obvious option, because it spares River all of her trauma, and it would also allows for the trajectory of Simon’s life— med school and a successful career as a trauma surgeon— to play out the way he believes it should have.
However, I’d like to put Simon in a position to contemplate the what ifs of messing around with the natural course of time: what if the universe responds by robbing River of her genius, so she’s never asked to the academy? Does Simon really want to return to a normal life knowing that his parents were more concerned with their lifestyle remaining status quo than saving their daughter, or worse, complicit in the Blue Sun program? Is Simon ready to give up the life experiences and growth he’s undergone since rescuing River— planning her break-out, their stay on Serenity, and, eventually, his time on the Barge? If possible, I’d like to see him struggle with all of these concepts, and possibly change his mind a few times about what his Deal really is. In the end, his motivation will always be to rescue/save/fix/protect River, regardless of how he decides to approach it.
Personally, I’d like to see him come to the conclusion that what’s done is done, and instead focus his energy on finding a way to heal River, and a way for them to have some shot at a normal, not-fugitive life. I’d be happy for this to translate to multiple deals/warden roles for Simon.
History: Here's a brief summary of the Firefly premise, and here's a closer look at Simon himself.
Sample Journal Entry: [5-10 sentences (of spoken/written monologue, not including narration) 1st Person POV. This sample should reflect the character's day-to-day behavior and a distinctive voice. Must be Barge setting specific.]
[ The video begins. Simon is seated at a desk, wearing a crisp blue dress shirt and a pewter vest. ]
Ah, hello, everyone. My name is-- [ a moment of hesitation; it feels so wrong to be announcing himself on the cortex like this, even if he's been assured it's safe ] -- Simon Tam. I'll be working in the Infirmary as a doctor, and, if need be, a surgeon for the foreseeable future. I look forward to meeting you all, and if you have any questions, please feel free to stop by the Infirmary and see me.
[ That's really all Simon feels the needs to announce. But it doesn't seem like enough, and he wants to give the Admiral the impression that he's putting in a lot of effort, so... ]
I, ah. I was a trauma surgeon at a great hospital on Osiris, and I have some [ he scratches a little sheepishly behind his ear, squinting ] more recent experience working on board a ship-- much, um, smaller than this one, but-- I was doing lots of... odd jobs. Seeing the 'verse.
[ He raises his eyebrows at the camera and gives a narrow-lipped smile before he takes a breath. Yes, that's all the public speaking he can manage for today. ]
Ah, as I said, I look forward to meeting all of you very soon. Thank you... ...for your time.
[ Wǒ de mā what was that? He shuts it off, wincing slightly just as the feed cuts. ]
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV. Must be Barge setting specific.]
{{ But I think when they triggered you, it somehow brought this up. This memory. }}
{{ It isn't mine. The memory, it isn't mine. And I shouldn't have to carry it. It isn't mine. Don't make me sleep again. }}
{{ I won't. I won't. }}
{{ Put a bullet to me. Bullet in the brain pan. Squish. }}
Simon wakes up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed. He puts a hand to his sweat-damp forehead, and it takes him a moment to place where he is. Yesterday and everything that happened... it feels cramped, somehow; packed with too many hours and incongruous memories. He wonders briefly if he was drugged, and how long he's been sleeping-- everything feels off.
But perhaps that's just a normal side-effect of making implausible contracts with mysterious, shadowy figures; Simon wouldn't know, this is all very new to him.
The room he's in looks like a much larger version of his cabin on Serenity, a spartan layout done in the same muted yellows with shoji screens over the windows. It must default to whatever room you slept in last. Neat. Slightly creepy, but neat.
He takes a moment to look around, to catch his breath, and to process everything that's happened. His jaw is sore, and the memory of Mal messing it up is still perfectly clear, as is the fight they had which led to Simon's decision to leave Serenity with River once they landed on Beaumonde. He remembers winding through the streets of New Dunsmuir with his sister in tow, and then--
And then he remembers someone finding them. At first, Simon hadn't even wanted to meet their gaze, had wanted to just keep moving-- the last thing they needed was a run-in with a mugger or a plainclothes officer-- but the figure had known more than anyone possibly could know, not just about who Simon and River were but about what she needed; the cure he'd been searching for.
So I won't really be leaving her side? he'd asked, heart hammering in his throat. I go, I do the job, I come back right here: to this moment. And I'll be able to fix what they've done?
As irresponsible and insane as it felt, as monumentally strange as the entire encounter was, it was still, incredibly, his best option. Even on Serenity-- which had been as close to laying low as Simon could have expected-- they had barely avoided capture. Out here alone, in unfamiliar territory, cut off from his credit accounts?
It was the end of the line.
You could go back to Serenity. Mal would take you back, the others would--
Jiàn tā de guǐ-- no. It was delaying the inevitable. And The Admiral had intimated that if Simon kept his end of the deal, a timeline could be arranged in which the Academy never got their hands on River in the first place.
--Yes, he'd said, cutting the stranger off. I'll do it.
Which brings him to where he is now. Where he's apparently going to serve as a warden on a spacebound prison barge to an as-yet-unnamed inmate. Considering the fact that he's not exactly qualified for real corrections work, he's figuring it must be some kind of corporate embezzler or something similar; an amateur, white collar criminal in need of a slap on the wrist, maybe a few months of ethics seminars and some mandatory legal review before Simon can prove his rehabilitation.
Right? Because despite what one might conclude from the company he's kept for the last year or so, he's not exactly well-versed in criminal psychology. He can't be expected to actually oversee another person in any real remedial sense. ...right?
On a more routine note, he'd also agreed to help out in the Infirmary; after a few months of dealing with the kind of gè zhǒng líng luàn chaos on Serenity, Simon figures he's more than prepared to handle the day-to-day minutiae of an institutional sick bay.
And when you're done, this nightmare will finally be over. River will be safe.
Simon walks over to the paper screens and slides them aside, exposing a huge wall of window that shows a dizzying number of stars winking in the black.
"I really hope you know what you're doing," he mutters to himself.
Just hang on, mèimei.
Special Notes: Sorry about the very fast & loose Mandarin. Also you may remember me from a cameo as Randall Flagg a few weeks ago! Sorry about that, too.
User DW: n/a
AIM/IM: n/a
Other Characters: n/a
Character Name: Simon Tam
Series: Firefly / Serenity
Age: 25
From When?: Simon makes his deal with the Admiral at the beginning of Serenity, after Simon and River are meant to take their leave from the Serenity crew on Beaumond.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Despite the last year or so he's spent as the most wanted fugitive in the 'verse, Simon Tam has considerably more experience as a civilized, law-abiding member of society. That said, his personality doesn't seem a natural fit for a Warden, either-- he's prissy, easily appalled, and generally makes a point of staying as far away as he can from the criminal element. But the deal he'll strike with the Admiral is backed by a powerful motivator, the very thing that caused an upstanding young trauma surgeon to steal and flee from the Feds in the first place: saving his sister.
Luckily, being on the lam has exposed the formerly tenderfoot doc to plenty of unsavory characters and situations. Simon's proven that, even when he'd really prefer not to, he's capable of finding his feet in dangerous settings and working cooperatively with strong personalities. With that all-important deal driving him, the Admiral can be sure that Simon will channel all of his considerable energy, intelligence and patience into graduating his inmate. He'll also offer up his skills as a doctor and a surgeon.
Item: Simon’s item will be a real sleek ’n shiny holowatch on him at all times.
Abilities/Powers: Simon is a gifted doctor and surgeon with experience working in a high tech, wealthy core planet hospital. More recently, he was the resident medic on a smuggler ship where getting bullet holes/knife wounds/laser burns/etc was typically the order of the day. His medical education includes a general background in psychology, too.
By the time Serenity takes place, Simon seems to have some familiarity with guns--he knows which way to point it, and where one would find the trigger, in the very unlikely event someone is counting on him to shoot. In a fight, his main tactic seems to be throwing himself bodily at someone as a last resort, but if adequately provoked, he can throw a mean suckerpunch.
Personality:
Dr. Mathias: Gave up a brilliant future in medicine as well. It's madness.
The Operative: Madness? Have you looked at this scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It's love, in point of fact.
Something a good deal more dangerous.
Simon: Mei-mei, everything I have is right here.
Simon was born into an affluent, well-to-family on a core planet, and had always thrived within the carefully-laid plans his parents made for him. His sister River had been different— more playful, more brilliant, less willing to fall in line— and for most of Simon’s young life, she was the only person he could truly be a kid around. As much as they had in common, Simon sometimes couldn’t imagine where she’d come from; everything that terrified him thrilled her, everything he accepted, she’d question. She was his little sister, and for a long time, his best friend. And she was, of course, the very notable exception to his reliable adherence to the status quo-- her endangerment caused him to go completely off the rails, putting his career, his relationship with his parents, and his entire life in jeopardy. And even now, it's clear from the way Simon talks about River that she's still the most precious thing he has, even though at times his little sister seems lost inside the experiment, even though she's been the unwitting agent of chaos in a life he'd otherwise polished to a civilized, sterile sheen.
Seeing River struggle with the effects of the Blue Sun experimentation has been agonizing for Simon, whose practical, cerebral approach to everything finds him fixated with repairing what’s been broken. There’s not a whole lot of time for reflection in their new life on the run, but it's obvious he grapples with some murky feelings of guilt, resentment and frustration when confronted with how drastically his life has changed in the last year, and how lost they still are despite the sacrifices he's made. Rather than dwell on an unhelpful and imprecise emotional state-- an area he's never been particularly adept at navigating anyway-- Simon throws himself into searching for a cure for River and trying to land on his well-heeled feet in a world that couldn't be more different from the one he left behind.
Simon: I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months.
Gifted is the term.
☤
Simon: You're in a dangerous line of work, Jayne. Odds are you'll be under my knife again, often. So I want you to understand one thing very clearly: no matter what you do or say or plot, no matter how you come down on us, I will never, ever harm you. You're on this table, you're safe, 'cause I'm your medic. And however little we may like or trust each other, we're on the same crew. Got the same troubles, same enemies, and more than enough of both. Now, we could circle each other and growl, sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me. I don't care what you've done, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but I'm trusting you. I think you should do the same. 'Cause I don't see this working any other way.
Although it’s debatable exactly how much of Simon’s picture-perfect life on Osiris was a result of him falling in line with his parents' expectations, it’s clear that being a doctor is tied up inextricably with his sense of identity. Even when he’s kidnapped by a hill clan in need of a doctor, when he arrives at the village and sees the sick, he rolls up his sleeves without trying to drive a bargain or complain. While he certainly takes his oath seriously and has a genuine drive to help those in need, there’s another, baser motivation keeping him going, and that’s his ever-present need for control. Simon is never more cool, calm and collected than when he’s in medic mode, and keeping his hands and mind busy is another way of exercising authority and avoiding the uncomfortable emotions that might threaten to throw him off his very tightly-managed course.
Simon’s bedside manner definitely leaves something to be desired, a fact he undoubtedly took into consideration when he chose to become a trauma surgeon; seems that doped-up and unconscious folks are less concerned with that sort of thing. He’s perfectly professional, but won’t be winning any Dr. Congeniality prizes anytime soon, particularly if there’s any tension between him and his patient to begin with. Anyone fitting that description on his table is generally a captive audience for his very dry sense of humor and sarcasm.
Simon: Alright! Fine. I'll go. Just... stop describing me.
nothing out here in the black.
Simon: It means more out here.
As well-mannered and pleasant as Simon is, he’s not the kind of guy you'd imagine got invited to a lot of birthday parties as a kid. He is the kind of guy who’s pedantic enough to notice when someone is wrong but, unless they've really started out on the wrong foot, he’s generally too polite to call them on it. He’ll pepper a conversation with stilted trivia where other people might fit personal anecdotes, failing to gauge his audience’s interest and coming off a bit like a know-it-all. You can’t help but feel a certain amount of schadenfreude around him when he’s out of his element-- there’s something really amusing about watching him squirm in boorish or vulgar company, get his hands dirty, or, god forbid, one of his fancy suits. Growing up in the society that he did, he’s accustomed to having the best, but you’d never see him make a fuss when he has to go without; he’s too polite and politic for that. Simon wears his manners like armor— they form a barrier between him and the rest of the world, assuring him he has a script for every conversation and a civilized reaction on hand for all the decidedly uncivilized behavior he runs into.
Simon's not repressed-- Simon’s like a tightly corked bottle that's spent the last handful of years under immense pressure, shaken to extremes. He rarely gives any sign of the stress he’s under, partly because he learned at a young age that stress is only worth regard insofar as it pushes you to achieve-- it’s not something you alleviate, it’s something you use. Growing up as the oldest child in the Tam household meant learning to carefully tweak and rearrange his own desires to better match what was expected of him, and the impulse to unbutton a bit or deviate from that mild, unobjectionable persona is buried under years of habit.
Despite all of this, he is capable of warming up and cutting loose in the right situation, and on those occasions, true to what you’d expect of someone so painstakingly restrained, he tends to overdo it a little, getting drunk and unruly enough to draw the attention of the Feds once in his college days and, more recently, drinking enough mudder’s milk in Jaynestown to transform him into a slurring, affectionate mess. Simon's also capable of being very funny, though his deadpan sarcasm and dry, sometimes dark sense of humor aren't for everyone. And although he's slumming with criminals by necessity, it's plain to see over the course of Firefly that a little lawlessness really suits Simon, whether he's ready to acknowledge it or not.
Book: I'd forgotten, you're moonlighting as a criminal mastermind now. Got your next heist planned?
Simon: No… but I'm thinking about growing a big black mustache. I'm a traditionalist.
☤
Simon: I never-- never shot anyone before.
Book: I was there, son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet.
Despite the pretty fits and lily-white hands, once he warms up to Serenity a bit, Simon actually develops some competence in the realm of the less-than-legal. In Ariel, he offers himself up as a client for the crew, developing a plan and helping to execute the infiltration of a core planet hospital, all so he can sneak River inside to use a cutting-edge brain imaging machine to get a better sense of what the Alliance did to her. In return, he outlines exactly how Mal and Zoe can access and raid the hospital dispensary, thereby paying their cut in a load of drugs sure to fetch a pretty penny on the black market. Although complications arise, none of them are due to an oversight of Simon’s: the plan is seamless, and he’s obviously pleased not just by its success, but by his ability to contribute to the crew in a way that doesn’t involve forceps and anaesthetics.
He's a planner by nature, preferring to map out every possible detail of a procedure, and to take as long as he has to to be sure it’s watertight. He spends two years establishing the right contacts on Osiris when he finds out about River’s endangerment, and although he initially seeks help from his wealthy, well-connected parents— especially on one memorable occasion when his father had to bail him out of prison for his underground inquiries— he isn’t deterred from his goal when they fail him. He disguises himself as an Alliance official in order to break into the facility where River is held and uses a stun grenade to incapacitate the doctor, allowing he and his sister to escape via an elevator shaft and a waiting getaway shuttle. Later, after he and River board Serenity, he makes a contentious power play out of desperation, refusing to treat Kaylee’s stomach wound if Mal turns them over to the Alliance. When Mal and Wash find themselves held hostage, Simon takes up a gun for the first time and goes in with the rest of the crew for a rescue.
In his determination to protect River, Simon’s quite prepared to bend his own typically rigid rules of propriety and morality. Otherwise, he’s a mostly straitlaced, uptight individual who prefers to clean up messes rather than make them, although his time on Serenity has blurred those lines a bit.
Barge Reactions: While Simon Tam has a general rule of not making deals with shadowy figures aboard space prisons, his urgent predicament with River means he's approaching this agreement with the utmost initiative: the plan is to get to work immediately, and use all the resources available to him to get the job done as quickly as possible.
Thing is, despite what the last few years should have taught him, Simon's not very good at anticipating when the gǒushǐ is about to hit the fan.
He's going to be even more out of his element than he was on Serenity, and will probably find his confident, redeemin'-criminals-and-takin'-names attitude starting to crumble the minute he gets a taste of what the Barge is really like. He'll probably make a point of seeking out other wardens he can trust, people who've been there awhile, people with rank and status, and do what he can to ally with them. He'll certainly throw himself into his work in order to keep busy, and if it takes awhile for him to be paired with a criminal, expect the infirmary to be reorganized and gleaming within his first week on board.
Magic is going to really break Simon's rational little brain and it's going to take him a long time to get used to the idea; he's certainly not planning on letting anyone touch him with the stuff, and would be pretty skeptical about its medical applications.
He's going to make a point of staying away from as much of the danger and chaos as possible, particularly trying to avoid trouble with the more temperamental personalities, but historically, his success rate for this kind of thing isn't great.
Path to Redemption: n/a
Deal: Simon’s deal with the Admiral would entirely revolve around his wunderkind little sister, River, who’s essentially being held hostage and experimented on by an ~evil government program. There are a few ways I could interpret that deal. First, Simon could ask for the universe to arrange that River never attend the school in the first place. This is the most obvious option, because it spares River all of her trauma, and it would also allows for the trajectory of Simon’s life— med school and a successful career as a trauma surgeon— to play out the way he believes it should have.
However, I’d like to put Simon in a position to contemplate the what ifs of messing around with the natural course of time: what if the universe responds by robbing River of her genius, so she’s never asked to the academy? Does Simon really want to return to a normal life knowing that his parents were more concerned with their lifestyle remaining status quo than saving their daughter, or worse, complicit in the Blue Sun program? Is Simon ready to give up the life experiences and growth he’s undergone since rescuing River— planning her break-out, their stay on Serenity, and, eventually, his time on the Barge? If possible, I’d like to see him struggle with all of these concepts, and possibly change his mind a few times about what his Deal really is. In the end, his motivation will always be to rescue/save/fix/protect River, regardless of how he decides to approach it.
Personally, I’d like to see him come to the conclusion that what’s done is done, and instead focus his energy on finding a way to heal River, and a way for them to have some shot at a normal, not-fugitive life. I’d be happy for this to translate to multiple deals/warden roles for Simon.
History: Here's a brief summary of the Firefly premise, and here's a closer look at Simon himself.
Sample Journal Entry: [5-10 sentences (of spoken/written monologue, not including narration) 1st Person POV. This sample should reflect the character's day-to-day behavior and a distinctive voice. Must be Barge setting specific.]
[ The video begins. Simon is seated at a desk, wearing a crisp blue dress shirt and a pewter vest. ]
Ah, hello, everyone. My name is-- [ a moment of hesitation; it feels so wrong to be announcing himself on the cortex like this, even if he's been assured it's safe ] -- Simon Tam. I'll be working in the Infirmary as a doctor, and, if need be, a surgeon for the foreseeable future. I look forward to meeting you all, and if you have any questions, please feel free to stop by the Infirmary and see me.
[ That's really all Simon feels the needs to announce. But it doesn't seem like enough, and he wants to give the Admiral the impression that he's putting in a lot of effort, so... ]
I, ah. I was a trauma surgeon at a great hospital on Osiris, and I have some [ he scratches a little sheepishly behind his ear, squinting ] more recent experience working on board a ship-- much, um, smaller than this one, but-- I was doing lots of... odd jobs. Seeing the 'verse.
[ He raises his eyebrows at the camera and gives a narrow-lipped smile before he takes a breath. Yes, that's all the public speaking he can manage for today. ]
Ah, as I said, I look forward to meeting all of you very soon. Thank you... ...for your time.
[ Wǒ de mā what was that? He shuts it off, wincing slightly just as the feed cuts. ]
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV. Must be Barge setting specific.]
{{ It isn't mine. The memory, it isn't mine. And I shouldn't have to carry it. It isn't mine. Don't make me sleep again. }}
{{ I won't. I won't. }}
{{ Put a bullet to me. Bullet in the brain pan. Squish. }}
Simon wakes up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed. He puts a hand to his sweat-damp forehead, and it takes him a moment to place where he is. Yesterday and everything that happened... it feels cramped, somehow; packed with too many hours and incongruous memories. He wonders briefly if he was drugged, and how long he's been sleeping-- everything feels off.
But perhaps that's just a normal side-effect of making implausible contracts with mysterious, shadowy figures; Simon wouldn't know, this is all very new to him.
The room he's in looks like a much larger version of his cabin on Serenity, a spartan layout done in the same muted yellows with shoji screens over the windows. It must default to whatever room you slept in last. Neat. Slightly creepy, but neat.
He takes a moment to look around, to catch his breath, and to process everything that's happened. His jaw is sore, and the memory of Mal messing it up is still perfectly clear, as is the fight they had which led to Simon's decision to leave Serenity with River once they landed on Beaumonde. He remembers winding through the streets of New Dunsmuir with his sister in tow, and then--
And then he remembers someone finding them. At first, Simon hadn't even wanted to meet their gaze, had wanted to just keep moving-- the last thing they needed was a run-in with a mugger or a plainclothes officer-- but the figure had known more than anyone possibly could know, not just about who Simon and River were but about what she needed; the cure he'd been searching for.
So I won't really be leaving her side? he'd asked, heart hammering in his throat. I go, I do the job, I come back right here: to this moment. And I'll be able to fix what they've done?
As irresponsible and insane as it felt, as monumentally strange as the entire encounter was, it was still, incredibly, his best option. Even on Serenity-- which had been as close to laying low as Simon could have expected-- they had barely avoided capture. Out here alone, in unfamiliar territory, cut off from his credit accounts?
It was the end of the line.
You could go back to Serenity. Mal would take you back, the others would--
Jiàn tā de guǐ-- no. It was delaying the inevitable. And The Admiral had intimated that if Simon kept his end of the deal, a timeline could be arranged in which the Academy never got their hands on River in the first place.
--Yes, he'd said, cutting the stranger off. I'll do it.
Which brings him to where he is now. Where he's apparently going to serve as a warden on a spacebound prison barge to an as-yet-unnamed inmate. Considering the fact that he's not exactly qualified for real corrections work, he's figuring it must be some kind of corporate embezzler or something similar; an amateur, white collar criminal in need of a slap on the wrist, maybe a few months of ethics seminars and some mandatory legal review before Simon can prove his rehabilitation.
Right? Because despite what one might conclude from the company he's kept for the last year or so, he's not exactly well-versed in criminal psychology. He can't be expected to actually oversee another person in any real remedial sense. ...right?
On a more routine note, he'd also agreed to help out in the Infirmary; after a few months of dealing with the kind of gè zhǒng líng luàn chaos on Serenity, Simon figures he's more than prepared to handle the day-to-day minutiae of an institutional sick bay.
And when you're done, this nightmare will finally be over. River will be safe.
Simon walks over to the paper screens and slides them aside, exposing a huge wall of window that shows a dizzying number of stars winking in the black.
"I really hope you know what you're doing," he mutters to himself.
Just hang on, mèimei.
Special Notes: Sorry about the very fast & loose Mandarin. Also you may remember me from a cameo as Randall Flagg a few weeks ago! Sorry about that, too.
