User Profile

This is a Role Playing LiveJournal, created for the fictional character of Mark Renton from the movie 'Trainspotting', for the purpose of playing this character on the Wastedlands RPG. I make no claim to the character, the movie, or the book by Irvine Walsh, and make no money using this journal. Just having fun. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.


"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?

I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who need reasons when you've got heroin?"

~ Mark Renton, 'Trainspotting'

Mun Name: Boe.
Mun LJ: N/A.
Email: lustforlife7@gmail.com.
AIM/MSN: mousefantastic.
Character: Mark Renton.
Series/fandom: 'Trainspotting' (movie).
Role in canon: A description of the character's role in canon, be it major or not.

Mark Renton is the main protagonist of the story, as things are seen mostly though his perspective. The cast could be described more as 'ensemble', but Mark has top billing, and he is the one we follow all the way through. We see his drug addiction, his efforts to get off heroin, the interaction with his family and friends and how the drug affects his life - which he doesn't expect will be very long. He looks for that ultimate high, that one final hit for glory and oblivion. At the end of the film, he leaves with the money and though his voice-over claims that he'll seek the life he described at the opening of the film, it's debateable that he'll succeed. And we'll never know.

Mark Renton would arrive in Wonderland after Tommy's funeral, having tested the heroin the boys are planning to sell to ensure they have good product. He sneaks back for another hit, and wakes up in Wonderland, not dead from an overdose as he might think at first, but certainly not doing very well. The movie never mentions an actual date, beyond that it's set somewhere in the late 1980's. I've chosen 1987, at random. It is set in Scotland, a section called Leith in Edinburgh.

A Bit About His Character:

Mark is in his early Twenties - I've chosen 23 - with short, reddish-brown hair, blue-grey eyes, a slender, lean build which is also too gaunt to be considered completely healthy. He wears jeans, sneakers, and a combination of tops such as a t-shirt, with a sweater over top and a denim jacket. The jacket is sometimes tied around his wait by the sleeves. He has a gold hoop pierced in his left ear. It signifies nothing important. Despite being underwieght, he is considered fairly good looking, and though sometimes desperate for company with the opposite sex, the heroin frequently inhibits his libido. He smokes, drinks and enjoys attending clubs. When he isn't stealing easy-to-move items to support his addiction, he's hanging with his mates - frequently causing mischief - or trying to avoid the criticism and obvious disappointment of his parents.

He's loyal to his mates - to a point - but does well by his best friend, Spud, in particular. He's looking for a life, except he isn't, not the life of his parents and the 'mainstream'. He doesn't know what he's looking for. He knows he can escape, though, through heroin.

PB: Ewan McGregor

Sample post: A sample RP post - enough to prove that your character is IC and up to the standards of the game. Minimum of two paragraphs.

Note: Mark speaks in first person when he does the voice overs in the film, so I'll start the sample as if it were him, in first person. The rest of the post will be in third person, as he arrives in Wonderland. I hope this isn't confusing so much as lets you know my grasp of the character. Warning: Mark swears. A lot. And you have to think with a Scottish accent. :D


It's all my fault.

Tommy's dead, and he wouldn't be dead if he hadn't bought that kitten as a gift for Lizzie, which she refused because she didn't want to get back together with a guy who had accidentally taken a personal video tape to the rental store. He must have done it, as it was gone from their collection. Tommy had been beside himself with grief and worry when he'd found it missing.

I never told him that I was the one who had taken the tape. It'd just been for a lark.

Not fucking funny now.

So, it's all my fault. All of it. Every last single piece of fucking misery.

And now they have this scheme, my mates: Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie, who is more 'thug' than 'mate', really. Sell the heroin they've come into cheaply for big bucks, and split the earnings four ways. No thought of what it will do to people, putting more smack on the street, or how much jail time we'd all get if we were caught. And they needed someone to test the merchandise. Sick Boy refused, and Spud's just out of prison and has to stay clean, and Begbie wouldn't touch the stuff - unless it turned to 'green'. So who tests it, then?

I do. Me. Clean for how many months now? But, oh, it's good stuff...

We're heading down to London tomorrow, to meet with this big-shot buyer. I'm at the house, sitting amongst the debris of beer bottles and used condoms, wrapping the tubing around my arm, getting the shot ready. I don't need it. I can stop any time, I've proven that. But this stuff is so good.

Just one more hit. Just one final, fucking hit, and then, I'll stop.

I will.

*********************

The heroin brought the joy, and Mark Renton's eyes rolled in the back of his head as it coursed through his system. He had time to set the needle down before he wobbled where he sat and fell the rest of the way to the floor, landing on his back. He stared at the ceiling, but he didn't really see the old plaster surface or the spider crawling across it. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and stretched his arms lazily above his head.

His body hummed - oh, so much better than sex - and several moments later, he opened his eyes, riding high, elated.

The lack of plaster ceiling didn't bother him, initially. He was having a trip and strange things were the norm, expected. The hallucinations were much worse when he went through his - irregular - initiatives to get off heroin for good, but this wasn't one of them. He was still lying on his back in undershirt and t-shirt, his sweater and jacket tied around his waist, tight blue jeans and sneakers on. The tubing was still around his arm. That was all the same.

Mark turned his head and gazed at the forest around him. At the blue sky, visible beyond where the branches met above him. At the huge trees, which seemed to lean closer to him as he watched. At the apples, red and shiny. He was, apparently, lying on the ground outside, somewhere. He didn't recall a trip like this before.

There was a rustling in the branches, almost like the sound of conversation. It took effort for Mark to push himself up to a sitting postion, and he was shaking. Something wasn't right at all. The grass felt real beneath his hands, cool and damp, and the trees were -

Jesus fucking Christ.

Though not known for being particulalrly athletic, he could move when he needed to. Hallucination or not, he was getting out of this place. He rolled to his feet and took off down the path.


Plot Outline (Movie - Courtesy of Wikipedia):


Set in Edinburgh, the film begins with a narration from Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) as he and friend 'Spud' careen down Princes Street after shoplifting to raise cash, with security guards in pursuit. Renton states that unlike people who "choose life" (a traditional family lifestyle with children and material possessions), he and his cronies have opted out of ambitious pursuits, preferring to live in a blissful, meaningless heroin-induced stupor. We are introduced to his friends: film buff Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), hanger-on Spud (Ewen Bremner), keen footballer Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and unpredictable thug Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Sick Boy, obsessed with Sean Connery, is also a heroin addict, as is the goofy, innocent Spud. In contrast, Tommy and Begbie openly criticise heroin use. Tommy lives an athletic, drug-free lifestyle. Begbie does not believe in heroin, but he is (ironically) a vicious drunk, eager to pick fights for the mere thrill of instigating physical altercations. This point is clearly illustrated when Begbie is seen casually throwing his pint glass off a bar balcony, injuring a woman and causing a large-scale pub brawl.

Sick Boy and Renton decide to quit heroin, but struggle with temptation. They join Tommy, Begbie and Spud in a dance club where all five men are in pursuit of sex. The other three men have more complicated nights. After complaining about his relationship problems to his mates, Tommy takes Lizzie home for sex, wishing to make love while watching a porno video of themselves, until they discovered that their own tape was missing and instead, there was a football tape. Renton had previously stolen their personal tape in the film while claiming to borrow the football video. Tommy believes he returned it to the video rental store accidentally - a point of contention with Lizzie that later leads to the end of their relationship. Spud drinks too much alcohol, as he's in a temporary abstinent relationship with his girlfriend, Gail. That night when Gail tries to have sex, Spud passes out and defecates on her bed. Renton flirts with a young girl named Dianne (Kelly MacDonald), who quickly dissects his bad chat-up lines, but takes him home anyway. After the two have sex, Renton is forced to sleep on a couch outside her bedroom and discovers the next morning that he is actually at her parents' house and that she is under the age of sexual consent. He tries to end their relationship, but she blackmails him into staying in contact lest she call the police and inform them of their one-night stand.

With their quest to be sober not as thrilling as hoped, Sick Boy, Spud and Renton decide to get back on heroin. The film shows a montage of drug taking and dirty dealings, while Renton narrates that he and his mates tried all drugs available to them. Tommy is dumped by Lizzie and looks for solace in heroin like his mates, having been told it's "the ultimate hit... better than sex." Renton's life of stealing and drugs continues, but quickly takes many turns for the worse - beginning with the screaming of Allison at their flat. The group discovers Allison's baby daughter, Dawn, has died. The cause of death is neglect while they were all present: an infant's distorted wails play over the preceding drug montage. All are shocked and feel terrible - Sick Boy, the father, most of all. A short time later, Renton and Spud are caught stealing from a department store (in a reprise of the opening scene of the film). Spud goes to jail but Renton avoids incarceration by enlisting in a Drug Interventions Programme where he is supplied with the heroin substitute methadone.

Even though his journey to sobriety begins with much love from his parents and mates (such as Sick Boy and Begbie), within hours Renton is back at the flat of his dealer - named "Mother Superior" for "the length of his habit" - and orders more heroin. Renton overdoses on the heroin and is dragged by "Mother Superior" and a taxi driver to the hospital, where nurses save his life. Seeing no other option, Renton's parents lock him in his own room to beat the addiction cold turkey. He has several hallucinations, including Spud in jail, a now drug addicted (and possibly HIV infected) Tommy, and Dawn, Allison's dead baby, crawling toward him on the ceiling, framed by a bizarre, dreamed or imagined TV gameshow in which host Dale Winton asks the contestants, who are Renton's mother and father, "Is he guilty... or not guilty?" The gameshow hints that Renton is free of AIDS, but his friend Tommy is not so lucky.

Clean of heroin, Renton feels no purpose in life and decides to move to London and start a job as a property letting agent. Renton continues his sobriety while enjoying the vibrancy of London and saving up money on the side. His happiness is again short-lived, however, as Begbie arrives at his London flat seeking a hiding place from the police for armed robbery. Sick Boy also shows up and once again, Renton is frustrated that he cannot turn his "mates" away. As things are boiling over in the small space, the three are told of Tommy's death from toxoplasmosis back in Scotland. They return home and meet Spud, who is now out of jail and also sober.

Following Tommy's funeral, Sick Boy suggests a large and dangerous opportunity for them; the chance to buy two kilos of heroin for £4000 and sell it for up to £20,000. Begbie demands that Renton put up much of the money, having seen Renton's bank statements. Though he is wary about the deal, Renton agrees. The foursome meet a professional heroin dealer and sell him the heroin for £16,000, leading to an afternoon celebration between all four mates in a pub. However, Begbie draws a knife on a customer in the pub and beats him severely while accidentally slicing Spud's hand open. Renton has already been thinking about stealing all the money for himself. As Begbie stands over the beaten man and demands a cigarette to come down from his "high", Renton apparently resolves that he will steal the money from his mates, whom he has come to understand are not his mates at all, with the exception of Spud.

Early the next morning after the sun has come up Renton pulls the bag of money away from a sleeping Begbie. Renton looks at Spud, who is awake and has seen everything but he does not wake the others. Renton leaves and vows to live the stable, middle class life he described at the beginning of the film. When Begbie awakes he is furious and begins to destroy the room. The last time Begbie is seen, he is pulling a knife from his pocket as the police bang on the door. Spud later finds £2000 left for him by Renton in a locker.

Friends (3):

Mutual Friends (2):