Anna Walsh

From Relativespace

Current revision as of 04:20, 28 December 2006

Anna Walsh
Character Journal:	[archaic_way]
Race:	Human
Home Planet:	Earth
Home Era:	2008
Affiliated with:	Four, Sarah Jane Smith (Older), Harry Sullivan, Jack Harkness (Torchwood), Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Suzie Costello, Ianto Jones
Writer:	Allison

Basic Character Information

Anna Walsh is a twenty-six-year-old archaeologist fresh out of graduate school who has been recruited by Torchwood to study the alien artifacts they've collected. At the point of her entry into [Relative Space], she has been working there for only a week and a half.

Entry Point

Between the Torchwood episodes "They Keep Killing Suzie" and "Random Shoes".

Physical Description

Anna is taller than average and skinny rather than slender, which makes her look like a gawky teenager rather than a young woman in her mid-twenties. She has shoulder-length, curly brown hair that she usually keeps tied back in a messy ponytail, and brown eyes; she tans easily and has a smattering of freckles from long days spent in the sun on archaeological sites. Her wardrobe consists mostly of jeans, trainers, and jumpers that she can layer if she so chooses, along with at least a dozen different scarves. She also has a fondness for knitted caps. Often, she is mistaken for being at least a decade younger than she really is, which she finds extremely annoying.

Personality

Anna is friendly and cheerful by nature, always ready with a smile and a kind word, what others would probably call a "people person" if she were to actually spend time in social groups. She is enthusiastic about the things she loves and is always keen on sharing them with others, prone to prattling on endlessly if given an opportunity to do so. She can also be very empathetic, but is usually so buried in her pursuits that she rarely employs that ability--when occupied, she can tune out the rest of the world to the detriment of her social life. If it weren't for her practical archaeological studies, she would probably never get out in the sun. Most people would label her a "nerd" or a "geek".

She loves the scholarly pursuit of learning, and is therefore a very curious and inquisitive person. Like many intelligent people can be, she has plenty of book sense but almost no common sense, and can be painfully naive about the way the real world works. Despite her bookish and sedentary habits, Anna has always dreamed of a life of adventure away from the mundane trappings of everyday existence, being a part of "something bigger".

Insecure over both her young appearance and what that may lead others to assume about her level of intelligence, she does not easily handle being treated with sarcasm or condescension. Her greatest fear is being perceived as stupid, and she will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening (sometimes with mixed results).

History

She discovered a 12-7 protocol communicator amongst the alien artifacts in her lab at Torchwood, which put her in contact with Romana III (Alt 2), Ace McShane, her colleague Gwen Cooper, and an unidentified female (Suzie Costello). Ace suggested she contact the Doctor to join everyone in San Francisco; Four answered her message. They became fast friends as they seemed to hold several qualities in common, and soon after meeting Sarah Jane Smith (Older) and Harry Sullivan, she was invited to stay on board their TARDIS.

Accompanied Thirteen to the Great Wall of China to study the sudden appearance of a gap there where none should have been. She also studied the reports Four brought back from his expedition to the Bermudia Triangle and discovered that the vast collection of lost socks there had unusually high levels of static electricity.

Additional Information

Random Facts

• On her first day at Torchwood, accidentally shot a chunk out of a wall when she picked up what turned out to be a laser gun in the exact manner required to activate the 'trigger'.
• Loves scarves.
• Before going into archaeology, the young Anna dreamed of becoming the world's first "professional Titanic historian".
• Strangely enough, is an avid ski jumping fan.

OOC-only Character Information

• Anna's personality developed the way it did as a defense mechanism against the teasing she endured in school for both being tall and a bookworm. (It's harder for people to dislike you if you're always friendly, right?)
• Despite her outgoing nature, privately Anna has never felt like she's fit in, and occasionally suffers fits of insecurity that she does her best to hide.
• Is doing her best to avoid developing a hero-worship crush on Four, much like the one she had on a beloved professor in graduate school. Unfortunately, she's not succeeding very well in this endeavor.