Age: 20
Gender: Female (she/her)
Field of Study: Nuclear Engineering
Physical Description: Charlie is 5’6 and weighs about 120 lbs, giving her a slim build, although from her NROTC mandated exercises she has some lean muscle, particularly in her arms and legs. She has blonde hair, which is currently cut into a long pixie cut with a side-swept bang partially covering her left eye. She has a circular face, her wide set eyes are brown and she has a celestial nose, long, thin eyebrows and high cheekbones. Charlie is Caucasian, and is of a mixture of Western European heritage, mostly German and Dutch.
Charlie’s clothes are often colourful and bright, with warm hues, although the style of clothing is normally casual: t-shirts, jeans and hoodies. On the day of the abduction, Charlie was wearing a fur-lined bomber hat and a cyan parka, underneath which she was wearing a white t-shirt with the cover art of The Endless Summer documentary on it with “THE ENDLESS SUMMER” printed in block capitals on the top of the image and “THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT WAVE” printed on the bottom, stonewashed grey jeans and brown hiking boots.
Background:
- Charlotte Vandermeyer was born in Bellingham, Washington on the 3rd of May, 2002 to Nathan Vandermeyer and Louise Vandermeyer née Schroder. Her father works in the tourism industry, while her mother is a manager for a local Target. She has two older sisters: Danielle, who’s six years older and a hairdressing apprentice, and Margaret, who’s nine years older and working in finance in New York.
- From a young age, Charlotte was always fascinated by the sea, reading all that she could about it and enjoying any family trips to the beach. The idea of there being a whole ecosystem down there that was vastly different from anything she’d ever seen and how much of the sea was uncharted often led her imagination to wonder what could be down there that nobody had ever seen. This interest eventually extended itself to boats and ships, although not to such a scale as her general interest in the ocean.
- In school, Charlotte was hardworking. Although she didn’t know what she wanted to do exactly once she left school, she knew that it’d involve the sea and thus would also mean she’d need good grades for college. On the social side, Charlotte had a bunch of friends, but she wasn’t particularly notable in any way.
- For her eleventh birthday, her father took her diving and Charlotte immediately fell in love with it. Now that she’s old enough to go diving herself, she’ll take any chance that she can get to do so. The main attraction for her is watching the fish and assorted marine life, but she’s also taken an interest in exploring wrecks, finding how the underwater ecosystem adapts to them fascinating.
- Charlotte realised that she was gay halfway through high school after a brief period of questioning why she wasn’t attracted to guys. Taking it in stride, she came out to her family soon after her realisation, who are supportive of her.
- After reading a copy of The Hunt for Red October that her sister Margaret let her borrow, Charlie became a fan of the Tom Clancy books, and has a small collection of his older books in her dorm room.
- Halfway through her senior year of highschool, Charlotte became aware of the NROTC program. While she had never considered the idea of joining the Navy before, the idea was appealing to her, especially as she didn’t have any plans for what she wanted to do after high school. She successfully applied for the program, and after some deliberation, picked the University of Cascadia’s NROTC program, as it was close to home and well-regarded.
- When faced with the question of what major she was going to take, Charlotte eventually decided on Nuclear Engineering after some time. It would be a challenge, but Charlotte was certain that she’d be up for it. She had also heard good things about job prospects in nuclear engineering after the Navy, although right now she doesn’t know what she’ll do after her service commitment is finished.
- After leaving university, Charlotte intends to enlist as a submarine officer. She thinks it’d be a fun opportunity to lead a smaller and tighter crew compared to a larger ship, and also enjoys the idea of being under the waves and in the ecosystem of the ocean that she idealised as a kid.
- Currently, Charlotte is in her third year of NROTC and Nuclear Engineering. While she struggled a little at the start, finding the transfer from high school to university difficult, she’s enjoying the courses and her university life. Thanks to her mandated NROTC exercises and physical training, she’s also taken an interest in exercise, sometimes taking morning jogs before classes if she wakes up early enough.
- One of Charlotte’s favourite things about NROTC is the summer, where she gets to spend time in the Navy aboard an actual submarine. In the summer between her freshman and junior year she got to spend time with all three branches of the Navy plus the Marine Corps, which only further cemented her decision to join the submarine branch. For the past two summers she has been spending time aboard a submarine shadowing someone and learning the ropes, and enjoys it immensely.
- Socially, Charlotte tends to hang out with her fellow NROTC candidates, as she already spends a lot of time with them. If any of them throw a party, which happens semi-regularly, she will be sure to show up: from these parties, she gained an appreciation for house music and often listens to it while she does coursework.
- Charlotte joined the trip mostly out of interest in the ship’s nuclear reactor, as well as the supposed status of Severniy Norin as a submarine support station. She’s hoping that Janus-Hayes will let her take a look at the reactor.
Assets: Charlotte has a relaxed and friendly personality, which will allow her to make friends easier. She's also intelligent and determined. In addition, she is disciplined and has above average strength from her NROTC-mandated exercise sessions and diving.
Limitations: Charlie is generally used to being friendly and working together with other people, and as such will have a hard time mentally coping in an environment where distrust and conflict is encouraged. Her friendly nature will also make it harder for her to consider attacking or hurting other people and could lead to her being taken advantage of by someone willing to exploit her trust.
Assigned Weapon: Road Flares (x10) + BluRay Copy of John Carpenter's The Thing
Conclusion: Bet you wish you got a chance to look at the reactor now, huh? Man, if you had a way of watching that film of yours, maybe you'd smarten up and stop trusting everyone. - Hatfield