OOC INFORMATION

Player Name: Hannah
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: viridianwings
Other Characters in Game: None

IC INFORMATION

Character Name: Abigail Hobbs
Canon: Hannibal
Canon Point: Midway through season 1 episode 9, Trou Normand
Background: Wiki link

Suitability:
Abigail is very malleable, trying to adapt herself to her surroundings or to the people around her that she looks up to. This means that the setting of the game could in itself influence the way she develops as a character, which I'm very interested in playing. She's also quite morally grey and could help push plots in either a good or bad direction depending on which would benefit her. I could see her developing as a spy/agent type, or becoming quite adept in learning a certain type of magic. I also enjoy playing elements of corruption and exploring just how far she's willing to go to survive, and this seems like a good setting to explore that.

Powers: None

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS

Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them.
One event that particularly stands out in shaping Abigail's life is her killing of Nick Boyle. This was the turning point for her in terms of actually being the one to kill someone herself rather than simply aiding her father, i.e. having to look at herself as a killer rather than being coerced into being an accomplice, by which she'd been able to view herself as another victim of his crimes. This newfound sense of herself as a sole culprit, as a murderer, is then amplified by Hannibal suggesting to her that she "butchered" Boyle, rather than killing him in self-defense, which would be the more conventional way of viewing it (and doubtless how Will or Alana would have tried to explain it to her, had they been there instead of Hannibal). Essentially, Hannibal is molding her narrative of how she sees herself away from that of a victim and towards that of a killer, presenting it as a black and white matter. This in turn enhances her guilt about her involvement in her father's crimes, leading her to acknowledge her accomplice role as the 'lure', warping the ability to see herself as a victim, even though she tries to hold on to that image for her own protection.

Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by?
Abigail doesn't have a fixed moral code, although she'd like to get to know herself more, so she can figure out if she fits with one. Mostly, her personal code and standards are simply built around her own survival, and if she has to be morally flexible to achieve that, so be it. The way in which she molds herself to the people she's around is definitely in part a survival instinct, wanting approval and protection, but it also makes her susceptible to manipulation, some of which she acknowledges as a negative effect of trying to survive, but a lot of which she's entirely unaware of. Her continuing to try to define herself as either a victim or survivor of her father is a way of protecting herself too, presenting herself alternately as vulnerable as a victim or empowered as a survivor, depending on which will fit better in the situation, as well as which she identifies with internally at the time (arguably her mind's way of protecting her from the inner turmoil that comes with having to acknowledge herself as a killer and/or accomplice). She is also capable of taking great risks in the short term to try and survive in the long term, for instance her digging up Boyle's body for the FBI to find was not just the result of her gnawing guilt, but also her need to have some small measure of control over the situation to help her own survival. Ultimately, Abigail's reaction to cling onto whatever will help her survive allows Hannibal to take her captive and brainwash her, even going so far as to push Alana out of a window at his order, hoping that she'll be able to survive by doing what he says, no matter how bad.

What quality or qualities do they admire most?
Abigail values self-assurance and intelligence, both of which she's drawn to in Hannibal. She also recognises him as a manipulator, and while she's easily manipulated by him she also admires the quality, as someone who manipulates others herself. To have the self-assurance to completely own every part of who she is, rather than having so much fear and vacillating between victim, survivor and killer in order to simply protect herself, is something she aspires toward. Additionally as she is bright but unable to attend college due to her circumstances, she admires those who have been able to put their intelligence to use in their career or found ways to express it creatively.

Do they have a part of themselves they dislike?
Abigail dislikes her inability to define herself. She flits between labelling herself as a survivor, victim, murderer, and accomplice, trying to place herself into one category when in reality she fits all of them. She's only just beginning to understand that morally she's more a shade of grey than black and white, something that's difficult with the more black and white legal system and societal judgement both influencing how she sees herself. Her low confidence is partly due to the guilt she feels, but also knowing that she doesn't fit into a neat box in terms of the crimes she's been involved with, and she dislikes how she can bounce between seeing herself as an innocent victim one moment and a potential sociopath the next, finding it difficult to acknowledge that she contains multitudes.

What is their sign, and why?
I've gone with The Hanged Man, partly because in many ways Abigail is an outsider from mainstream society; this is most evident with her having committed the taboo of cannibalism, which she would always carry with her even if she were to try to fit back into society, and it would be impossible for people to look at her the same way. She's aware of the 'hard truths' about herself and what she's done, even if trying to accept those is difficult for her at the moment. Additionally, her code is based around her own survival which seems to fit the Hanged Man more than the other signs.

SAMPLES & ARRIVAL

Samples:
Test drive and a thread from another game

Arrival Scenario: Imprisoned

December 2023

OOC INFORMATION
Name: Hannah
Contact: viridianwings, viridianwings#7619 @ discord
Are You Over 18?: Yes
Other Characters: None

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Abigail Hobbs
Age: 19
Canon: Hannibal
Canon Point: Midway through season 1 episode 9, Trou Normand

Character Information: Here

Personality:
Abigail is something of a duality, being both a victim and an aid to murder; both an object of manipulation and a manipulator herself. Her father was Garret Jacob Hobbs, the Minnesota Shrike, and while Abigail was his intended victim, she was not in fact a victim of her father in the literal sense. Despite this, she can easily be seen as the biggest victim of all, in having her father's actions, as well as his subsequent killing of her mother, his attempt to kill her, and his own death by Will's hands having damaged her and changed her life irreparably. Abigail's victimhood becomes murky, though, with the revelation that she in fact aided Hobbs in his crimes, acting as a lure to befriend the girls that her father killed, girls that looked uncannily similar to herself.

Abigail is very aware that defining herself simply as a victim is a vast oversimplification. She is never sure where the point where she's a victim ends and the point where she's an accomplice starts, and how much accountability she bears for aiding in her father's killings. She is constantly plagued by feelings of uncertainty and guilt, leading her to have nightmares where her father's victims tell her that if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have been killed. She is also very aware that others perceive her as somewhere between victim and accomplice, from the ever sympathetic Alana on the one end, although even she acknowledges Abigail's more manipulative qualities, and Jack Crawford, suspicious of Abigail's involvement in the Shrike killings even before she awakens from her coma, at the other.

Abigail's status as a victim becomes even more complicated when she herself kills Nick Boyle, the brother of a victim of the Minnesota Shrike (actually killed by the copycat and not by Hobbs, just to make things even more murky). While the act would have been viewed by most as self-defence, Hannibal is quick to manipulate Abigail in her vulnerable state, convincing her that she butchered Boyle, and that she will be viewed as an accessory to the crimes of her father. As well as putting herself squarely in Hannibal's manipulative machinations, killing Boyle makes Abigail even more uncertain as to what category she falls into, especially as she realises that she didn't feel ugly when she killed Boyle, she felt good. Abigail worries that this makes her a sociopath, a monster, but Hannibal tells her that instead she is a survivor. Thinking of it in these terms allows Abigail to step back somewhat from society's frame of morality and the dualistic terms she has been thinking of herself in, and allows her to justify Boyle's death. She later asserts that she only blames Boyle for his death; although when Freddie Lounds states her belief that Boyle was an innocent man, Abigail is shaken, the words stinging and her guilt returning to her.

Abigail likes to gauge what other people think of her, and she tries not to give much about herself away, turning the tables and deflecting the conversation back on whoever she's talking to and asking them questions in return rather than giving answers. She likes to feel like she's in control when speaking with others so that she isn't forced into a corner and giving away anything that could potentially incriminate her. It also gives her a sense of empowerment rather than coming across as weak for being both a victim herself and simply an 18 year old girl who's just lost her parents. In fact, in regards to her parents' deaths Abigail tries to focus on the practical aspects such as the sale of her house, and shows little emotion when talking about them; although when she does mention her mother's birthday and the hiking trip they'd planned to Will, she says that she doesn't want him to take her instead as it would make her sad, suggesting that Abigail doesn't want to face that emotional outpour herself as well as not wanting him to see her in that emotional state, holding Will at arm's length and viewing him as the man who killed her father, never really opening up to him emotionally in the same way that she does to Hannibal. The two of them do eventually bond over, of all things, the fact that they both had to come to terms with the fact that killing didn't make either of them feel as bad as they thought it ought to.

Abigail's need for control of her situation and the perception of others can also be seen in the fact that she was collaborating with Freddy Lounds to write a book telling her perspective of the Minnesota Shrike killings, so as to control what people think and what is seen as the publicly recognised truth about her involvement in this. When Freddy wants to title the book 'The Last Victim', Abigail states that she wasn't the Shrike's last victim; both because her friend Marissa was, but also because she feels empowered and not like a victim any more, even if she doesn't object too much to the title to enable her to be viewed sympathetically and not be thought of as an accomplice. Moreover, her need to have control over what is happening to her is shown by the fact that she goes so far as to dig up Boyle's body so that it can be found by the FBI. She has been living in the fear of it being discovered, and as she says herself, while she can't control what happens after the body is discovered, she can control when it happens. However this backfires when Jack insists that Abigail come into the FBI headquarters to identify the body, and all her guilt floods back to her; it's at this point that she admits to Hannibal that she was the lure for her father's victims, again putting him in a position of power over her with that knowledge, again showing the fear and vulnerability that she hides behind her poker face.

While Abigail is not shy, she is not a particularly extroverted individual either. She is extremely observant of everything that goes on around her. She is very mature, and before everything happened she was shown to be very sensitive, even towards the deer that she hunted. She enjoys reading, as well as outdoor activities such as hunting and hiking. She will see the game as a fresh start in the same way that she was hoping college would be, although whether she can keep her secrets hidden remains to be seen.


5-10 Key Character Traits:
Manipulative, secretive, naive, self-preserving, fearful, observant, analytical, vulnerable, dualistic

Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Fits
Opt-Outs: Minotaur, Simulacrum, Pooka, Waldgesit, Faerie, Kelpie

Roleplay Sample:
Top level from another game

For comments/feedback about how I play Abigail. Please keep criticism constructive. Anon is off but you can PM me if you'd prefer.