robert sidney tennyson

[angie2]

ROBERT SIDNEY TENNYSON

Name: Robert Sidney Tennyson
Nicknames: Bobby and pretty much any variation thereof
Age: Thirty
Date of Birth: May 13
Orientation: Straight
Nationality: British
Home Town: London, England
Subject Taught: Film
Play by: David Tennant

--- EASILY DISTRACTED
The first thing that people tend to notice about Robert Tennyson is the simple fact that he doesn't quite seem to be all "there" the vast majority of the time. He's plenty intelligent - sharp as a whip, in fact - but he's just a bit, well, flighty. Bobby's attention span has never been particularly developed; he never really discovered the advantage of paying attention to anything for long periods of time. He'll change subjects in a conversation every five minutes if it suits him, and he honestly doesn't see anything wrong with that. It's just the way his mind works. It was an issue back at Cambridge - though there was plenty of good information in his essays, half of the essay was related information and the other half was completely tangential (in one of his essays on Sartre he began talking about Sartre and finished the essay with a conclusion on oatmeal). To be honest, it was a bit of an issue with his academic career, which is the main reason he turned to directing.

--- INTELLIGENT
Despite his inability to concentrate on anything for a period longer than five minutes, it's easy to tell that Bobby isn't stupid. In fact, he's the exact opposite. It's sometimes hard for people to believe, especially when they've just met him, but Bobby is a lot more intelligent than his conversational habits would lead you to believe. A large part of this is because he absolutely, positively loves trivia. It goes along with his short attention span, mainly. He was never one to dedicate enough time to truly learn everything and anything about a particular subject, but lots of things interest him, and when he had access to the Cambridge libraries he'd spend hours looking up one thing that interested him, which would lead to another, which would lead to another, and so on. As a result, he can tell you how many babies a ferret will have each time it gives birth but not how long it lives. He's not just (selectively) book smart, though; he's also intuitively smart. In general, Bobby doesn't have a hard time understanding concepts or ideas, given enough time, and he's always had a good sense of when people are telling the truth.

--- IMMATURE
Where he does falter, however, is emotionally. His last relationship at age twenty-four left him "scarred", as he phrases it, and since then he hasn't decided to bother with that whole scene. He has all the emotional maturity of a seventeen-year-old - afraid to commit and completely, absolutely ignorant of anything romantic. He's absolute rubbish when it comes to talking about his emotions or how he feels, so he just tries to ignore them as much as possible. It's a terrible system, really (he still harbors a completely irrational resentment against that girlfriend from fourteen years ago to begin with), but it works, however poorly, so Bobby's just decided to keep things the way they are. If you want someone to have a conversation about serious emotional matters, look elsewhere; though he generally means well, the best emotional advice that Bobby can give anyone in any situation is, "Cor blimey, that's just…."

--- CHARISMATIC
Despite his emotional hangups, Bobby does have a certain quirky charisma about him. He stands out in a crowd, and he's always been able to make friends easily. He's a talkative fellow, first of all, and talking without anybody around to listen is pointless. For that reason, Bobby enjoys being around people, and it does have a tendency to show. Even though he very rarely has any good advice to give, he's always willing to listen, which certainly doesn't hurt. That charisma is part of the reason that he's such a good director - he can get people to trust him fairly easily because of it. Between that and his constant babbling, it's not hard for him to get a better performance out of people.

--- QUIRKY
A large part of Bobby's charisma comes from his quirkiness. He's just a bit strange, to say the least. Completely unafraid to say things that may or may not a) make sense, b) be correct, or c) be relevant, Bobby takes quite a bit of time to get used to. He gave up on bothering to try and fit in with what people expect of him; after his first year at Cambridge was a miserable failure, he decided that things were better if he just decided to be himself rather than what people thought he should be, and over time, that "being himself" became stranger and stranger. It was the late nights in the library that did it, his mother always told him, but he was always a strange child. As early as five, he was already off in his own little world - when his neighbors tried to play with him he ran away with his pants on his head, screaming about tigers and velociraptors. Since then, he has mellowed, but his habits are still as strange as ever: he always has at least one book, a deck of cards, a piece of chewing gum, and, of course, a notebook on his person, and before he goes to bed it's absolutely necessary that he read exactly one hundred and twelve pages of that book before he goes to bed, among other things.

--- OUTGOING
Because of his "interesting" nature and bizarre habits, it's pretty much necessary that Bobby be the first to start the conversation. Luckily, he's never had a problem with introducing himself to new people, making new friends, or simply having a conversation with just about anybody. Part of that is his natural charisma, but another component of that is the simple fact that he's the type of person that lives for being around people. Outgoing as all hell, he thrives in situations where he's surrounded by people and forced (or allowed, really) to interact. Because he's quite comfortable with who he is, he comes across as genuinely interested, rather than conveniently interested, and that's largely because he is. He really is a friendly person, occasionally annoyingly so. He has a tendency to overdo things - he likes to be liked - and at times that means he talks too much, tries too hard to please, and is overly excited.

--- AFFECTIONATE
In addition to his outgoing nature, Bobby's exceedingly affectionate. Because his mother was always so loving, that trait passed on to him. He's incredibly touchy-feely (his mother once told him that Audrey Hepburn, her favorite actress, once said, "I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it," and that quote was her guide for parenthood). His customary greeting is a hug, whether or not he's known the person for years or minutes. He has absolutely no idea about the concept of personal space, and even if that makes people uncomfortable it's just another one of his quirks.

--- CURIOUS
From the time he could walk, Bobby was insatiably curious. He was the child that drove his parents crazy constantly asking "why" and "how come" and other silly little questions. However, where as most children generally get over that stage, Bobby never grew out of it. He still occasionally wonders why the sky's blue, or why straws work and the like. It's another reason directing appealed to him so much; it was a way for him to focus his natural curiosity on a particular subject. Bobby was never and still isn't satisfied with answers like, "I told you so," or "Because I said so," which was one of the reasons he spent so much time in the library.

--- SENSITIVE
Even though he has absolutely no capacity to express his emotion, Bobby's still a sensitive person. He's not the type of person that goes around showcasing his emotions to everybody, but things do get to him. The reason he got into film in the first place was to change things - he thought that by making the issues known, he'd be able to effect some sort of change. (Unfortunately, his short attention span prevented that from happening - one day he was directing a film on financial fraud and the next an episode of "Gossip Girl.")

--- JITTERY
Bobby isn't exactly the calmest person around. He's the type of person that's constantly moving, twitching, bouncing about from foot to foot. He's incredibly easily excitable, and just about anything and everything makes him jump. Calm is a word that could never be used to describe him, and that's very plainly evident in his physical manner. He had a stutter when he started Hogwarts at eleven, another nervous tic of his, but after summer counseling, he managed to get rid of that. The foot-and-finger-tapping, humming, and sighs still remain, however.

LIKES: Talking, people, animals - especially dogs, movies, the Cannes film festival, Earl Grey, chocolate-covered coffee beans, existentialism, debates, vinyl records, books
DISLIKES: Romantic relationships, gossip, the sound of accordions and harmonicas, too much quiet, being alone, rap music, the color yellow, practicality, driving, stupidity

When Fitzgerald Sidney and Margaret Janney met in an Oxford pub, they had no way of knowing that they would marry five weeks later. Fitzgerald - Fitz, as his family and friends called him - had snuck off from his family's estate for "a real night on the town," as his friends at Trinity College had dubbed it. Fitz was born into a life of privilege, the son of a banker and a British socialite. He was raised a proper gentleman, expected to marry a proper lady. He was only sent to university as a formality - he was fully expected to sit as the figurehead of the family company, like his father and his grandfather before him. Fitz had no problem with this fate; in fact, he fully accepted it. That particular night was meant to be a final fling before Fitz was forced to grow up and behave responsibly. For Margaret Janney, on the other hand, only eighteen years old, the night was a celebration of her first birthday as a legal adult. Unlike Fitz, Margaret wasn't wealthy in the least; she had grown up the daughter or a bartender and a waitress.

Of course, Fitzgerald Tennyson knew nothing of that when he met Margaret, or Maggie, as he would soon come to call her, at the pub. To him, she was simply a magnetic personality: vivacious, charming and absolutely, positively gorgeous. Needless to say, after a few drinks, Maggie Janney was completely irresistible to Fitz Tennyson, and half an hour later they were rolling about in a hastily rented bed about a two minutes' walk from the pub they'd been drinking earlier, and that was the end of that. Rather, that was supposed to be the end of that. A few weeks later, Fitz received a particularly unwanted and unexpected call - Maggie Janney was pregnant. Fitz's father, of course, was livid and demanded that he marry Maggie that instant. Fitz agreed, not only because he wanted to oblige his father, but also because what he remembered of Maggie through that drunken haze was completely flattering.

He decided that they would somehow make it work, though, and two months later (before Maggie's baby bump began to show too terribly) they were married. Seven months later, their first child, Fitz Jr., was born, followed two years later by James and, finally, two years after James's birth, by Robert. Growing up, Fitz Jr. took the brunt of the burden - as the eldest son, he was fully expected to take over the business that his father had inherited. James and Robert - particularly Robert, as the youngest, had it much easier. While James was constantly fighting with his brother in a battle over who was better, Bobby skated through his early years mainly unscathed. A strange child, he was completely unconcerned with his brothers's competitions - while the two of them fought over who could run faster, throw a baseball or football farther, and jump higher, Bobby was inside with his mother, enjoying himself there. He was always closer to his mother than his father for that particular reason - Fitz Jr. and James were always fighting to impress their father, but Bobby was perfectly content to remain inside with his mother.

When Bobby was five, though, another member was introduced into the Tennyson family, Melissa. Having another child around was a big adjustment for the entirety of the family, especially the three boys. Because she was a baby and, of course, the first girl, Melissa received more attention than the three of them combined for the first couple of weeks. Obviously, this didn't sit well with any of the three brothers, but while Fitz and James decided that this was just a phase and would pass, Bobby wanted to know what was going on. Sure, he knew that there was a new little Tennyson, but why was she so interesting? Eventually, he discovered that the reason she was so interesting was, well, because she was absolutely precious. Where Fitz and James harbored a small resentment toward Melissa for taking away all of their hard-earned attention, Bobby began to lavish attention on her as well (inasmuch as any five-year-old boy can; he wasn't very helpful at times.

Then, two years later, the last and final member of the Tennyson family, Julia, was born. It was an important year for FItz Jr., too - he received an acceptance letter to a prestigious boarding school only two days after his sister's birthday. It was a difficult decision for Fitz and Fitz Jr.; for a while, he almost didn't go. After insistence on Maggie's part, however, Fitz Jr. was packed and off to school for his first year of a boarding school education. When he came back, he was full of stories that only made the prospect more and more exciting to the rest of the children. Bobby in particular was excited. After all, he had absolutely no interest in running a business, or banking, or whatever it was that his father did (twenty years later, he still had no idea what his father's job entailed). Hopefully at this school he would be more than Fitzgerald Tennyson's son.

Needless to say, when Bobby's letter arrived four years later, he was absolutely ecstatic. Though he was disappointed to leave his sisters behind, the promise of a new start more than compensated. His first year of classes was fairly mediocre. His grades were acceptable but nothing exemplary, and he had a small group of friends. In fact, aside from academics, much of his boarding school career was fairly average. He wasn't a particularly gifted cricket player, much to his father's disappointment, but his grades were well above average. He received all A's on his A-levels, and, again because he wanted to to escape from being a "Tennyson" and just be Bobby, he applied to Cambridge rather than Oxford. His father was, of course, absolutely livid - he was expected to go there, like his older brothers. Unfortunately, he was accepted to Trinity Hall, and that was where he was going to go, studying philosophy no less.

His first year at Cambridge was a bit of a struggle - he didn't have the slightest idea who or what he was. It was a difficult adjustment, to be perfectly honest (even at boarding school his older brothers had still been there), but by his second year he had adjusted fairly well. He was a member of the Cambridge Footlights, which immediately introduced him to a group of people that understood him. Unfortunately, that didn't help much when it came time to graduate. He'd done well in his studies, but Bobby graduated without any real idea about what he wanted to do with his life. It was an issue, for the first year. He drifted, mainly, and for the first three years after, he did various odd jobs, serving as a bartender, and a shop assistant, among others.

Eventually, though, Bobby decided that he needed a real job. After discussing the issue with a few of his friends, he came to the conclusion that directing wasn't half bad. Sure, a philosophy degree didn't help much in that respect, but, well, what degree did? Some of the footage he'd shot of the Footlights back when he was at Cambridge was turned into an award winning indie film, and since then his career skyrocketed. The job proved an excellent fit for him, and the next five years passed uneventfully - he had a semi-regular job now and was able to pay his bills without bothering his father for money. Hell, he'd even met a girl (something that his brothers had jokingly said would never happen), and she was absolutely fabulous. She just understood Bobby, he thought. Of course, he'd obviously thought wrong, because the girl he'd thought was the love of his life had decided that he just wasn't right for her and that she needed to move on. After that, Bobby decided to give up on romance for a while, and focus on his job. He had a good one, after all, and he didn't need her to be happy.

Why Emerson?
Even though he had and still has a very successful directing career, he wanted something a bit more. After thinking back on his time at Cambridge, he realized that his teachers were the people that inspired him most, and so he decided to do that. As far as choosing Emerson in particular, though, he decided that it would be an absolutely fascinating experience for him. He'd only ever been to New York and LA before, and Philadelphia would be an excellent change. Emerson was a good school, after all.

Honestly, Leonard felt a bit guilty that he didn’t remember more about Esther. The only thing that he knew for sure was that she was a novelist who wrote books that he probably should have read but hadn’t yet. He wasn’t entirely sure why – he had plenty of spare time nowadays – but he still hadn’t. Part of it was possibly the fact that teaching didn’t quite pay as well as he’d thought, he decided. That coupled with the higher rent than he’d expected didn’t leave much spending money. Fortunately, Leonard had never really had expensive taste, so the sudden shortage (well, relatively speaking, of course) didn’t matter all that much to him. Unfortunately, it did mean that he had to put off a few of the purchases that he’d been meaning to make, and books just happened to be one of them. It was probably not the most intelligent thing for him to do, but he’d always preferred music to books anyway. It was probably the musical theatre actor in him (well, either that or his short attention span. Who knew?). Esther didn’t need to know that, though, and it wasn’t like it could possibly come up in conversation really either, not without some sort of awkward segue or (god forbid) an actual question. Whatever. Besides, he did remember enough to realize—or imagine, depending on what happened here—that they’d gotten along well enough. Or more than well enough, unless he was just imagining things to make himself feel better. Regardless, they were both here now, and they might as well make the best of it, right?



Of course, to make the best of it, he kind of had to listen to the conversation she was making. That made sense, didn’t it? He nodded at her next comment, agreeing completely. ”So true. Iced coffee is just weird, you know?” Maybe she didn’t (honestly, Leonard wouldn’t have been surprised – half the time people had no idea what he was talking about. It had a tendency to be a bit of a problem, but it was just part of what he did. Besides, it was always tons of fun to see people try and figure out what in the world he was talking about, and even more fun when he discovered that someone actually did know what he was talking about and that he wasn’t just insane. No matter how eccentric you wanted to be or actually were, it was always nice to find someone that was just as strange. ”Like iced tea. I don’t get it.” That was more of a southern American thing, as far as he knew, but it still just didn’t make sense. ”Why mess with something that’s already pretty much perfect, right?” That was how he felt, at least. It didn’t make sense to put all this ice in something that was perfectly fine the way it was. ”And the ice would melt in, like, two seconds out there and it would be gross and diluted, so that would kind of defeat the purpose anyway. I’d rather be in the air conditioning with a hot cup of coffee than out there with a cold-ish, diluted one. Reason’s overrated anyway,” he said, grinning. Hopefully Esther really was sincere about her invitation, because if she wasn’t she was going to regret pretending to be very quickly.



At least he’d gotten the right person, though. That was a lot of embarrassment avoided. ”Thank god,” he said, obviously relieved. ”That would have been awkward. I thought I recognized you, but, you know. People. Stuff. I don’t know.” He paused to take another sip of his coffee. ”Oh, yeah! They make all the professors go the lectures and, let me tell you, very few of them are half as enjoyable as yours was. True story. Of course, half of them are scientists so every single word they say basically goes in one ear and out the other, but, you know, that’s life, right?” Leonard had never been a technical person—he’d even hated basic chemistry—so when you put him in a room with someone that not only had that knowledge but specialized knowledge, he was about as useful as a fish out of water (or, more appropriately, a scientist on stage). ”That does sound glamorous! I feel like you should be in some special glamorous research place or something.” He paused, frowning a bit. ”Because that made sense. Um. Teaching, right! It’s…well, you know, it’s teaching. Its nice, most of the time, I guess,” he rambled, shrugging. ”I mean, if we’re being perfectly honest, it’s not particularly what I thought I’d be doing right now, but it could be worse. The kids are pretty cool and all, but…it’s hard to adjust, I guess, even if it has been years. I don’t know, you really probably didn’t care about that, sorry. How’s the writing going? Is the glamorous research for fun or something new?” he teased, smiling.

Hi, I'm ANGIE and I'm NINETEEN old. I'm BORING. This is my SECOND application. I found Failure's Not Flattering from MAGIC. ps picture by safa ! @ caution

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