theotherphil

Player Information

Name: Jordan
Age: 26
Contact details: Message me on here or at julilo2000-phill@yahoo.com
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Phil Connors
Canon: Groundhog Day (Broadway Musical)
Canon Point: After Act I, before Act II - Phil has been stuck in Punxsutawney, PA for ??? days and has learned to take advantage of his lack of consequences. He has not yet reached the breaking point of existential depression.
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: Late 30s.

World Information: The real world in the modern day (the musical, unlike the movie, has cell phones!)- at least, until Phil got stuck repeating the same day over and over and over again. This is the only supernatural element in his world.

Personal History: Phil is a relatively well-known weatherman in his native land of New England, USA, thanks to his show "Gooooood Weather With Phil Connors!" He loves the part of his job where he knows more than anyone else. But travel? Broadcasting from podunk towns with weird local customs? Not so much. On Groundhog Day, Phil does the same program he does every year, asking whether local prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow. Not that Phil believes in that kind of thing.

Yet.

Phil wakes up the next day with a spring in his step, ready to ditch the groundhog and get on with his life. But the radio's playing the same intro as yesterday. The band is playing the same songs. And his coworkers all expect the same show. No one has any memory of yesterday except Phil.

This happens tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow. And pretty soon, Phil comes to the realization that "no tomorrow" means "no consequences" - not even death can stop him. He can turn this backwards town into a paradise of crime and booze and sex and all the other things in life that you can't get bored of.

Wait. Scratch that. He's bored already.

Watch on YouTube

Personality: Self-absorbed with a joke on his tongue, he thinks he's a suave smooth-talker to everyone he meets. However, coworkers are more likely to describe him as "a drama queen," "egotistical," or a few other choice words that can't be said on TV.

Phil's not evil at heart, but he has a hard time being genuine around other people. He'll blow you off much sooner than have a serious discussion - and if you manage to wrangle him into one, he'll crack jokes to lighten the mood the whole time, more interested in entertaining himself than talking to you.

He's not hopeless. By the time reality finally slaps him across the face, he can even be a good person! Unfortunately, it takes him a little, or a lotta, extra time to get there.

Key themes: Responsibility (with a side of hope and isolation for good measure)

Main Motivation: On an immediate/shallow level, entertainment.

In Punxsutawney, Phil is currently immortal (since he wakes up on Groundhog Day even if he dies on the previous day) and is only beginning to realize how a life without stakes has no meaning for him. All he can do right now is eat junk food, rob banks, and live large, seemingly having a never-ending party, but he's close to reaching his breaking point.

On a deeper level, Phil is desperate to make some kind of connection to the world and people around him. Everyone he can talk to is (to him) an NPC repeating their lines. Even before Groundhog Day, Phil struggled with isolation, mostly because he refuses to meet other people halfway, thinking it's not worth the effort.

Skills: Phil can recite all of the books in his bed-and-breakfast by heart. As a meteorologist, he knows niche science about climate and weather; being a media personality, he's great at public speaking and can fake emotions like a pro. Lately Phil has been honing his skills as a pick-up artist. His other skills are miscellaneous and situation-dependent - for example, he's great at snagging items from passers-by, he has a mean right hook (when assaulting insurance salesmen, anyway), and, not to brag, he's pretty familiar with getting around small-town strip clubs.

Item: Dependent on medical resources on the train. Phil takes Xanax as-needed and should really have it with him at all times. If his meds are provided, then his item should be his alarm clock which, every morning at 6 AM, blares an obnoxious conversation about how darn cold it's gonna be.

Sample:

OK. So... Probably should have started one of these journal entries sooner. Stardate: A jillion. ~~Captain~~

[I have no clue and they don't rerun good TV here]

I was bitching to Rita lately [right before she starts complaining about her cold feet. Why doesn't that chick ever wear boots?] about memory, actually. She started going on and on about memory aids and mnemonics and palaces and blah blah whatever. I'm a master of memorization by now. When I left [I think she was still talking, ugh] I got to thinking. Sure, my memory's awesome now, and I'm not getting any older so it'll be in peak condition forever. But what if I want to ever do something, y'know, artistic? Write the great American novel? I'd have to write it every day, I guess, or memorize it for later. This can be a trial. I'll work on remembering just this entry tonight and get back to you tomorrow. If it's a success, I can start writing, ugh, French poetry or whatever the hell Rita wants now.

...

Hello captain, stardate a jillion. Sucks that they don't have Star Trek here. [God, if I do this, will I start repeating myself like everyone else in town?]

Rita has cold feet. She talks too much but she's into that French poetry [or was it Polish? Spanish? I can ask her when she pauses for breath between nagging about the broadcast] And I'm gonna write the Great American Novel.

[Yeah, this entry seems lighter than the last one. Not a GREAT start.]

OK. I'll use this as a test to myself. I accidentally spent an extra 15 seconds with Ned today [that guy!] and he said something weird. Let's see if I remember it tomorrow. "The sunset always happens on schedule; we're the ones who can't tell time." Thematic as hell. Maybe he was quoting one of Rita's old dead Europeans.

...

Stardate a jillion, Rita's shoes suck, she likes poets, and I had to talk to Ned.

[I'm definitely skipping some words in this entry.]

And then Ned [that guy!] said that sunlight can't be used for clocks. Which is patently stupid.

Short entry. Not a great sign. Whatever. I'll work on remembering just this entry tonight and get back to you tomorrow.

Notes: I'm not the hottest at using Dreamwidth as a platform. Please let me know if there are any issues that I might not see! I haven't written Phil much yet but I've been roleplaying since 2008. If you want to see some of my other DW RP for writing samples, check out @heerequeerandfulloffear and @rhy5w1nz.