#8 years of roleplay has left me with a complex that i get to excited and drive people crazy lol

[amongxthexcrowd]

{ooc} Does anyone else feel weird sending in asks when you already have stuff going on with a mun/muse?  Like, I always feel like if I do I’m overwhelming people with my crap... I want to interact with people- but i am worried about coming off to pushy...

[thevoilinauttheory]

The Great Eight

[ In lieu of the Rising event ending tomorrow - and myself, just now finishing it - I had some words I wanted to get out.

I get this type of nostalgia - it hurts, it physically hurts my chest; I feel sick to my stomach, and I just want to cry. I’ve asked others if they ever feel this way, but I’ve never gotten a yes to it.

The Rising always gives me this feeling. It’s be eight years since I first picked up XIV. Eight whole years. That’s a slap to the face, it’s been so long and it feels so short. I wish I could give people the same experiences and feeling I had for this game - the pain and happiness this nostalgia brings me. When I say this game means so much to me, it’s not an exaggeration. This game changed my life - I wish to share it a little bit with you. I touched on some of it in the past, but here I’m laying it all out. ]

[ I first started playing in 2013, when a friend recommended the game to me shortly after the game’s rerelease. They were ecstatic to have another player join them, and I owe them a lot for the experiences they gave me. My very first character was Raramlah Ramlah - she was a paladin, because that’s what I mained in WoW. I realized shortly that a tank probably wasn’t the best way to go, but also that my computer at the time couldn’t handle playing it, due to the graphics.

I gave it another shot in 2014, that’s when I made Danny Harold. He was the first character I ever got to level 50. I absolutely loved the game, when I wasn’t sitting idly for my friends to come online as I had with Raramlah; when I picked it up of my own accord. I remember I was in the hospital when I first picked it back up, when I first made him and leveled him through Gridania. But I was still going intermittedly between it and WoW. I missed the first Rising due to ignorance.

2015 comes around, and I’m in a stressful place. I just started a new job, and I’m finally able to live on my own with little issues from my disabilites. However, my apartment complex didn’t have internet, and so I’d take my laptop to Starbucks and sit there until they closed playing WoW instead. I wanted to spend what little time I had on the internet with the friends I already had grown close to.  Year 2 went on without me. But it still wasn’t all bad. Near the end of 2015, Maximiloix Voilinaut was created - and when I started up my XIV tumblr account under “ishgardianscholar”. See, I had made it to Heavensward on Danny when I found out that someone I had met through a friend was starting up a new character for the purpose of RP. I thought to myself “I want an Ishgardian character” - and rolled a new one. It was a new adventure, a clean slate, with a couple of friends I knew from WoW to join me.

Here comes 2016... and WoW had let me down. My disabilites came back full force, and I was left bed bound and reliant on partial disability from my workplace while waiting for SSDI to start kicking into effect. My roommates did little to help take care of the house we were renting, lied to me about their incomes, and forced me to use what little money I was getting to pay for everything myself. I’m short a total of 2000$ because of it. But. But. That was the best year of my fucking life. It ruined me, that year ruined my life, but it was the happiest I had ever been. Lothaire Voilinaut was first conceived and Maximiloix became my pride and joy as a character, I found the class I wanted to keep playing - I made friends, so many of them! So, so many of them! And I loved them, and I still do! I miss them terribly. If I could relive one year of my life... it would be that year. What I would give just to feel that way again - because I had never felt it since. I didn’t realize until Year 3′s Rising came around, how nostalgic just the few short times and experiences were to me. Because I was met with two things... the first song that truly captured me in Final Fantasy games (Prelude), and the first song I ever heard in the game itself (A New Hope). I cried there. Music has always hit me so hard, and I never realized just how much this game meant to me until then. This was how I knew I would stay - that XIV had my heart for good.

2017, during the release of Stormblood, I went homeless. I had wanted so badly to see my first expansion release - and only witnessed second hand “Raubahn EX”. My friends moved on without me, and I was left alone again to start playing. But I told myself already. XIV had my heart, there was no reason to go back to WoW. So I didn’t. I didn’t, and I don’t regret it. This is when I truly started playing Lothaire fully - and when I met my spouse, he became my main. I made it to Year 4, and cried just as much.

2018 - with the loss of friends, did I find new ones. It wasn’t the best time of my life, but I wouldn’t trade the memories for a thing. Year 5 came and went faster than I could blink, but that was it. I heard the music, I remembered my first Rising, I remembered all the times I had before. And I cried.

2019 started off rough. I moved across the country and had a hard time finding a place to live. I got it down, started a new job... and made it to the release of Shadowbringers. I had grown so much since I first started - and the expansion release was everything I wanted it to be, regardless of the issues that came with it (though I’ve been told that it was a far smoother release than the others). I was so excited... and I was not let down. XIV upheld its standards and presented to me a game worthy of pushing onto my friends no matter how annoyed they got with me about it (looking at you @rose-color-boy). Everything about it was a pure masterpiece, people think I’m exaggerating. But this game had done so much for me, that finally, now, I got to witness something I always wanted to. Sure, I didn’t have many friends to start the expansion with... but the story captivated me immediately. Year 6... and I cried.

2020. There wasn’t much to say about it, I was stuck inside all year and I hit a bad patch during the end of it, but... Year 7. It hit me like a truck. It gave me goosebumps, it gave me laughs, and ultimately, it gave me tears. I actually sobbed, this time. Remembering everything I gone through hurt me so badly, the nostalgia was coming in hard. But I knew, in the end, this game would always be here for me. This game had wormed its way into my heart accidentally, and yet I feel like I couldn’t live without it.

This year. Perhaps it didn’t hit me as hard - I still cried. This game means so much to me. So, so much. It hurts, it really and physically hurts how much it means to me. This game made everything in my stressful life so much easier, littered the pain with good memories. I can recall bad places I was in, and associate it with something good that happened to me in the game. 2020 - I got knee surgery... but 5.3 had just released and holy shit. My spouse got a little annoyed at me that the only thing I was listening to was the theme of that last battle (To the Edge). It helped me get through it, the pain and the misery I felt from not being able to walk. 2019 - Work was driving my depression in deep, and I didn’t want to live and continue the pain I was feeling... but I got to the end of 5.0 and only wanted more. I wanted to know what happened next. I still remember that one cutscene, how they got me attached to a minor character so quickly and ripped her away just as fast; and the first dungeon? Experiencing the Trust System, and going through this intense battle on a grand scale with the help of the friends they kept on the sidelines for so long. 2018 - My life was monotonous and I had three other people living with me in my one-bedroom apartment. One of my roommate’s ex’s was now stalking him around my apartment, and work was becoming physically taxing on my legs. But I remember how much fun I had doing maps - and the release of the Tsukuyomi fight? That whole scene there? Oh, wow, it was so bittersweet. The fight was beautiful, the music was haunting, everything about it. Not to mention the ending solo-instances and Ghymlit? The Burn? Omega? The Four Lords? As much as I disliked them (due to my computer issues), even Rabanastre was memorable. 2017 - I was homeless, forced to work a job my body couldn’t handle. I met my spouse, though. I became heavily invested with my tumblr account, doing a full re-write of it all. While I wasn’t much of a fan of the expansion itself, there were some places that really opened my eyes. Azim Steppes? So beautiful - and gotta hand Y’shtola the award for sickest burn. Then I heard my favorite piece of music, and the most nostalgic for me when it comes to SB, Skalla’s theme (Far From Home). 

Lastly, I know this has been long. But I thank everyone around me for being so supportive and kind - I may not be in a good place, but know that every good thing that happens will be associated to this moment. I’ll look back on Year 8 and go “my security was compromised, and my anxiety ran high, but there were these people here who supported me on tumblr, that kept my blog running strong”. I will remember my roleplays, I will remember the music and scenery - even now, I’m getting nostalgic about Shadowbringers, and Endwalker hasn’t even come out yet! So thank you. Here’s to year number 8 - 8 whole years of XIV being in my life. It may not have been that long for many of you, some of you, this might be your first year; hell! Some of you, it’s been longer! But know that this community has helped me so much, and I can’t wait to continue being a part of it. Here’s to the eventual tears Year 9 will bring me! ]

[myaekingheart]

20 [Fanfic Writer] Questions Game

Thank you so much for tagging me, @lemony-snickers! This is tons of fun, I love answering these kinds of big questionnaires 😂💕 Also putting mine under a cut because there’s a lot of questions and I like to ramble. 

Also gonna go ahead and just tag whoever wants to do this! 😅💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of August 27, 2021, I have a total of 77 works on my AO3! 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Funny enough, I was just looking at this, specifically, earlier today and kind of laughing about it. Right now, my total word count across all my works is 1,148,941 😬 

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Apparently 12, but some of them I don’t really consider “big” in my fandom repertoire. Naruto is my greatest fandom with a total of 60 fics so far, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia and Rise of the Guardians. The rest are ones I either did crossover fics with or just did one-off little pieces with--The Incredibles, Tangled, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, Arthurian Mythology, Disney Princesses, Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, Back to the Future, and Frozen. 

4. What are your Top Five fics by kudos?

The Scarecrow and The Bell (Naruto) - 470 kudos The Day Kakashi’s Mask Slipped (Naruto) - 139 kudos Sunflowers (Naruto) - 92 kudos Sakumo the House Husband (Naruto) - 81 kudos Someone to Lean On (Naruto) - 67 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to respond to comments, because I like to acknowledge when people respond to my work. I cherish comments like nobody’s business, especially when they’re kind and reactionary. I just really love seeing/hearing what people think of the way a story is progressing, or what they thought of a one-shot. Comments keep me going especially when it comes to longfic so I want to be able to let readers know that I do in fact see their comments, that I’m acknowledging what they’re saying, and that I appreciate them. Plus, it can be kind of fun to tease upcoming events in a fic through responses to people’s comments, too. Because I’m mean. 

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Hothouse (Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles; Jack Frost x Violet Parr; American Horror Story AU). This was the first multi-chaptered fic I ever wrote to completion and I honestly cringe when I remember it exists both because it’s so poorly organized (and full of nasty plot holes) and because I just went ham on the gore factor. It definitely has a really bittersweet and heartbreaking ending to it, too. 

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think I’ll definitely have to say Temptation. The story itself was kind of a ride, and it’s only the first installment in a series, but it follows the plot of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe but remixed due to the presence of an original character, but the ending is still roughly the same as the original: they defeat the evil, the Pevensies are all crowned kings and queens, happy days. Reading the last few paragraphs of the last chapter honestly still gets me all up in my feelings. 

8. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I used to be more of a crossover writer due to one of my main ships being a crossover ship. They weren’t super crazy, though, because they were both CGI-animated films. The craziest crossover I’ve ever written is an in-progress/unfinished multichapter piece, Kakashi, Enchanted, that sees our favorite Copy Ninja get kamui’d into the Disney princess dimension and has to help the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel on his journey to find a way back to his own world. It’s a super weird premise but definitely one of my more lighthearted works and fun to revisit when I need to decompress. 

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think I’ve ever received hate so much as I’ve received criticism. The closest I ever got to hate on a fic, I think, was someone left an overly personal and mentally disturbed comment on a chapter of my main fic that made me convinced they needed to seek therapy and deal with their own personal issues rather than take it out on a fanfic about animated ninjas. 

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Maybe 👀 I’m super vanilla when it comes to smut, though. I think the wildest thing I’ve ever written in smut is breeding kink. 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, and I hope I never will. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I had someone ask to translate a one-shot of mine in Russian but I never got a response back when I laid out my terms and conditions. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not! I used to do paragraph-style roleplay which was kind of like cowriting fanfiction but writing is so personal and sacred to me that I don’t know if I could ever actually cowrite a fic with someone. I like brainstorming with other people, but writing for me is more of a deeply personal and independent endeavour. 

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, this is a tricky question because it depends on fandom. I absolutely love New Dream (Rapunzel x Eugene, Tangled) and have for the past ten years, and my love for them as only grown since watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. I don’t write or even really read a ton of fanfiction for them, though. I’m also still highly dedicated to my favorite crossover crackship, Frostfield (Jack Frost x Violet Parr, Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles) and to this day, if you search for that ship on AO3, I am the sole provider of every single fic about them so far. I’m not as active with them as I used to be, but they got me through some really rough times back in the day and still mean so much to me. A lot of my favorite ships across fandoms, though, are honestly canon x OC ships of mine because I am a self-indulgent bitch who needs to project. So Peter Pevensie x Eilonwy (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Kakashi Hatake x Rei Natsuki (Naruto) are really important to me and I’ve poured so much of myself specifically into their stories. I think it’s safe to say Kakashi and Rei is my all-time favorite ship across all fandoms, though, just because of how much their story means to me. The Scarecrow and The Bell is my magnum opus, my pride and joy, and I’m sure it will be my biggest fandom footprint of my entire life. I’ve dedicated the past three years to this story and these characters and I intend to continue doing it until it no longer brings me joy (which I hope it always will). There’s just so much I could say about this story and Kakashi and Rei’s relationship but I don’t think we have enough time or space in this post for that 😅 Just know that they mean the world to me and I will always hold them in the highest regard as a beautifully messy, flawed, passionate, soulmate-y ship that I love with all of my heart 🥺

EDIT: I also feel obligated to tack on some of my absolute favorite Naruto ships because I may not have written for all of them (yet) but they still make me unbelievably happy or I find them really compelling and enjoy the idea of exploring them: 

Naruhina is precious happy sunshine and The Last honestly felt like a wonderful Disney princess movie to me, it was so cute and the romance was so on-point, Naruhina just makes me so incredibly happy and I love them with all my heart. 

MinaKushi also gets me all up in my feels and I adore them with every fiber of my being. Their romance also gave me Disney princess movie vibes which I love, their story is just so damn sweet as is their character dynamic and I am still so heartbroken that they never got to be a happy family with Naruto because you know what? It’s what they deserved!

SasuSaku is so compelling to me and I really feel like we were cheated out of seeing their relationship develop and evolve postwar in the same way The Last did for Naruhina. They’re my favorite angst ship and while I don’t think they were written that well in canon, I love the possibility and potential of them together and am excited to explore them more in-depth in my own writing. 

NejiTen is just too cute, I really love the way Neji and Tenten’s personalities compliment each other? I don’t have much else to say about them except that I really love them together and think they have so much untapped potential that I also can’t wait to explore in more depth in my own writing. 

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Paper Hearts and Impromptu Bookmarks, probably. I love the premise of this story a lot and I have so many interesting ideas for it but at the same time, it also feels kind of cheap and cringey to me, in a way? It takes all of these ideas I probably would have had if I had been into Naruto when I was a kid and kind of compiles them all into one big story. Kakashi and Aiko’s relationship and story is still really important to me and I want to continue it someday but for right now, I just haven’t had the motivation or desire to write any more of it. I think I’m just so overwhelmingly preoccupied with writing Kakashi and Rei’s story that I can’t imagine writing any other Kakashi x OC fics right now. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

I want to say that I’m really good at capturing complex emotion? I don’t know, I write a lot of angst and mental upheaval in my fics which can be really difficult to try and capture, but I think I do a decent enough job of it? And just writing difficult subjects in general. I think it’s really important to address difficult topics such as mental illness and relationship difficulties and everything but I also want to try and write those topics in a way that is both authentic to the experience while also still tasteful. I don’t want to drive readers away with heavy subject matter but rather present a situation that feels real and authentic while also still being digestible. I may not be doing a very good job of that during the current arc of my fic that I’m working on, but I’m trying haha

EDIT 2: I also want to add onto this to say that I’m really proud of my organizational techniques for writing longfic. It’s not necessarily a strength in terms of the prose itself but it’s something that’s taken me years to really get a grasp on and find a method that works perfectly for me and so far, it’s been extremely helpful and beneficial to me. I don’t know where I would be now as a writer without these essential tools in my pocket. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I do a really bad job of the “show, don’t tell” thing. It can be really hard to balance descriptive prose with straightforward writing that moves things along. I don’t want to dwell on mental dialogue to the point where you lose track of what’s going on, but I also don’t want my stuff to read like “Character A did xyz. Character B said abc. They went to 123″, whatever. Another thing I struggle with is sentence variation. I always fall into the same patterns when I’m writing prose and I get really self-conscious about it because I don’t want to sound repetitive or disrupt the flow of the writing. One of my favorite things about prose is focusing on the cadence of the words, I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about writing in general, but it can just be really difficult to get a good grip on that. I’ve been told in the past that I apparently have a really good grasp/control of the language or whatever but sometimes I just find that really hard to believe when I look at my work with such scrutiny. I think one of my biggest pet peeves with my own writing, too, is feeling like I start all of my sentences the same five different ways. I’ll read other people’s works and they’ll write sentences like “Glass-blue water lapped against the shores of a deserted beach as a lonely woman gazed off into the distance” and I can just never figure out how to realistically write sentences that start like that in the context of my prose and it drives me fucking crazy, like I’m definitely jealous  😅

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never really thought much about it before, but I think there are pros and cons! For bilingual/multilingual readers, I think it can be a really enriching reading experience because they know what’s being said in both languages. For people who only know one language, however, unless a translation is provided, I feel like it can be really alienating. I think the best use of that for both worlds is using it as a means for miscommunication humor. Other than that, I think it can be a slippery slope that depends on what kind of reader you are and how it’s written. 

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Chronicles of Narnia! My very first fanfiction was a Narnia fanfic that I barely remember except that it laid the basis for Temptation and my Narnia fanfic series as a whole. I never posted this first iteration anyway, but I remember it was 2008/2009 and I wrote a solid 80 pages (which was wild for me at the time) and had gotten halfway through remixing the events of Prince Caspian when my computer crashed and I lost absolutely everything. I’m still heartbroken that it’s gone forever, not because I’d want to go back and read it necessarily (since I’m sure it was actually hot garbage) but at least for nostalgia’s sake. Either way, like I said, this long-lost fic laid the basis for the very first fanfiction I ever posted, the first published (and never finished) iteration of Temptation back in 2011 on deviantART and the since-defunct Figment. I fell out of the fandom around 2012/2013 and left the story alone for a while before ultimately deciding to completely redux and rewrite the story when the fixation swung back around again between 2016 and 2018. 

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Despite the fact that it’s still in-progress, definitely The Scarecrow and The Bell. This fic just genuinely means so damn much to me and I will cherish it for the rest of my life because of how much it’s given me, how much love and passion and time and even parts of myself that I have poured into this, and also just how expansive of a story this is. Not only does it touch on some very dark and heavy topics, but I’ve also created so much of my own characters and meta for this story that it’s almost an entire universe in and of itself. I’ve just contributed so much additional world-building and created so many new OCs to fill important roles in this story and in Rei’s life, and they’ve all become so deeply important to me as they’ve developed further over the years. I’ve come up with so many interesting ideas for everyone and their lives, which are all slowly becoming so rich and varied. Not to mention that it’s my most popular fic to date as well as my longest fic at 632k and counting. I’ve really just genuinely poured so much of my heart and soul into this story, it’s my absolute favorite thing I’ve ever done and I really mean it when I say that I will cherish it for the rest of my life. 

[hollowedrpg]

CONGRATULATIONS, ANNE! — You’ve been accepted for the role of Sybill Trelawney. I’m so freaking ecstatic to have Godric’s Hollow’s own little seer! I’m so happy to have someone writing Sybill that understands just how complex she is. While so many members of the Order can escape the war by hiding away, for Sybill, there’s constantly a battle being fought in her mind, and you conveyed that beautifully. I can’t wait to see where you take her character.

Thank you so much for applying. Please create your account and send in the link, track the right tags, and follow everyone on the follow list. Welcome to Hollowed Souls!

ooc.

Name: Anne

age: (seventeen and up only) 31

preferred pronouns: she/her

timezone: EST/GMT-8

activity: (include a brief explanation)  I work full-time and am in a 6-month training course that meets once a month two hours away from me. I also haven’t rp’d in a tragically long time because of my mental health. That being said, I do have two days a week all to myself and a fairly generous work schedule, so there’s absolutely no reason I can’t work in a few hours 4-5 days a week. I’m also counting on my excitement keeping me going long enough to form a habit of checking the group regularly.

are you applying for more than one character?: Not at this time.

how do you feel about your character dying?: (in a roleplay centered on war, death is always a possibility. as an admin, it’s best to know ahead of time which players are comfortable with playing it out.) I would definitely be disappointed, but I could play it out. I’m a sucker for good plot and drama.

anything else?: (questions, concerns, etc.)

ic details.

full name: Sybill Audra Trelawney

date of birth: Nov 10th 1953

former hogwarts house: Ravenclaw. A reputation as a seer that left everyone clamoring for readings made them forgetful of the fact that Sybill was actually incredibly competent in most of her other classes. Transfiguration gave her some difficulty, but when she actually put in the time to practice, she’d master any of the spells and techniques thrown her way. The lives and futures of her peers tended to keep her preoccupied, at least until the courtyard accident in her fifth year. Traumatized by what she’d seen and then lived through, she dove into her studies as a way to distract herself and her inner eye. It didn’t work - she was still haunted by visions of the cruelty and violence burning through the country and of what terrible things some of her classmates got into when no Professors were around to catch them. The only thing her new devotion to her studies did for Sybill was successfully isolate her from the rest of her classmates, who in time stopped coming to her for readings as often. By the time she graduated, she was considered an oddity who they could mock, until they needed her for something, usually some hint of news of how a family member was faring in the war.

sexuality: bi/pansexual. Sybill likes to dramatically state that it isn’t the person she’s attracted to, but their aura and their sense of person. She isn’t exactly in the market for a relationship, however. Something about seeing the death of someone you dearly love can do that to a person. Sybill can’t yet bring herself to be too close to anyone in a long-term sense, but there’s nothing wrong with occasionally spending a long, cold night staying warm with someone else.

gender/pronouns: cis-female/she and her

face claim change: No, thank you! Zoe Kravitz is wonderful.

more.

how do you interpret this character’s personality? how will you play them? include two weaknesses & two strengths.

Sybill is incredibly complex and full of contradictions. She is intensely dramatic in her presentation, but down to Earth at her core. Part of her drama is all in fun. Since she was a young girl, she’s enjoyed teasing others and making fun of the stereotypes people hold about seers. She loves playing a role and being over the top. However, when it comes right down to it, she takes the inner eye very seriously and doesn’t appreciate it when others are flippant of the sight. Time is such a fickle creature and there are so many variables and players that being able to make accurate predictions is not some cheap parlor-trick (even if it is fun to play that part). However, as the war goes on, she finds it harder and harder to keep up the act. Sure, she tells her clients what they want to hear, but never anything too real. She won’t tell old Mrs. Boyce anything about her great-grandson, not even that he is actually still alive. The joy the old woman would feel would be beyond words. But then, how could Sybill protect the woman from searching for him and discovering the truth - that he’s a Death Eater who was responsible for the murders of his cousin and her family? Dark truths have always haunted Sybill, so she swallows them with shots of whiskey and assurances that the weather will be just fine for that small garden party you plan on throwing this weekend. Sometimes small and petty comfort is all we’re afforded.

Sybill doesn’t make friends easily. Her peers rarely seemed interested in her - just what she could do. She grew close to some girls in her year at first, but as time passed and her visions grew darker, she found it hard to be there for them. She would grieve twice for them - once when the vision hit, and then again when it came to pass. Her friends found it harder to relax around her. They would always be wondering what terrible things she had seen that she wasn’t telling them. If she did happen to tell them, they would desperately search for ways to prevent the vision from coming to pass, which more often than not was in vain and just served to make them resent her more. Her father’s condemnation of her curse ate away at her. After the accident in fifth year, it became a roar. Sybill would only ever bring misery and misfortune to others. The more she tried to bury her abilities, the more closed off she became. The day she graduated Hogwarts, she rode away on the Express in an empty compartment, with only her cat to keep her company.

She may not make friends easily, but she is not unfriendly. Perhaps distant, but never cold. She genuinely cares for others, even if she isn’t sure how to do right by them. Being surrounded by so much pain in Godric’s Hollow will be a real test to Sybill’s compassion. A platter of biscuits won’t be enough to ease the heartache felt by those who’ve lost everything. If she had done more, could she have prevented some of the tragedy? Her father had always told tales of how Cassandra brought misery and destruction when she unleashed her sight, but Sybill had done far worse by locking it away. Her guilt will not pass easily and will eat away at her until she can find someone to trust who can help her through it.

+Sybill is resilient. She could fog her mind and keep the visions at bay, but she refuses. She believes that she was given the sight for a reason, and that day Arabella found her was it. Sybill believes that she was always meant to prophesize the fall of the Dark Lord and now it is her duty to help keep the child safe. It’s why she’s come to Godric’s Hollow. Though a deceptively capable witch, she has no interest in war strategy and little stomach for battle.

-Sybill is often condescending. In school, things came so easily to her that it would baffle her that anyone could struggle or need her help with test questions. She just could not understand how people might have struggled with simple charms or potions. Her sight and ability to make predictions gave her insights to the manners of thinking of her peers and so she couldn’t understand how people might mis-read others. When her classmates would come to her for love advice or for answers to their homework, Sybill would often lose patience. It was all so simple - how did they not get it? For a time, she was forced to be a tutor in an attempt to get her to learn a little empathy and to make her a little less haughty, but it could only end badly, which it did.

+Sybill is reverant. She has a great deal of respect for her gift and for time itself. Though not common, she’s seen visions change midway through their playback and the outcome be completely different than what appeared to be the path at the start. She’s had the feeling of a vision float in the back of her mind, refusing to come into focus until moments before the event pass and then overheard a participant breathe a sigh of relief, stating “I had absolutely no idea how I was going to handle that!” She overall is a very respectful person. When she came to Godric’s Hollow, she first walked slowly through the town, breathing in the despair and heartache until she felt it. Stopping in her tracks, there was a house on the right. Pristine, except for a blown-out bay window that overlooked the destroyed garden. At that moment, she knew she’d found it - where she was supposed to be. While there are those who balk at her and call her disrespectful for taking up residence in the abandoned dwelling, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a house that has experienced such great love and loss that to simply abandon it and allow it to decay would be doing it a disservice. It’s not and never will be her’s. She is simply its caretaker. No one is coming back to claim it; she knows this. But she can’t let it fade away.

-Sybill is spiteful. She doesn’t get past slights easily. A lot of it comes from embarrassment of not always seeing the betrayal coming. The more blind-sighted she is, the harder it is for her to forgive. She forgave most of her school friends for their abandonment of her. She nearly always saw it coming and could understand why they did it. It was the kids who knew nothing about her but turned mean and cold that she couldn’t forgive. The kids who never appeared in any of her visions, who she had no reason to suspect, who suddenly turned on her - those were the betrayals that hurt the worst. When she was an adult, the hurt mostly came from those who still didn’t understand. Those who thought a seer in a dusty shop on Knockturn Alley would stop the war. They came wearing their mourning robes, throwing Sybill’s tea in her face and screaming that she ought to have told them - told them that their son was next. She should have told them not to let him go off by himself that day. She should have warned them that he was going to be snatched - that their family would be made an example of by the Death Eaters. She understands their pain and she tries to forgive it, but it hurts her too. Their blame hurts and is unfair. They’re adults - by now they should understand how this works (there’s that condescension again).

how has the war affected this character, emotionally and otherwise?

Compared to a great many others, Sybill has gotten off light and she knows this. Her family escaped being casualties of war by instead succumbing to completely natural calamities. If the Death Eaters know the source of the prophecy they fear, they haven’t considered her important enough to do anything about. That isn’t to say that she’s unscathed. Sybill has lost her friends. She’s lost any hope of making a significant connection with another person. She dreads the visions that come to her, showing her flashes of violence and misery. She is surrounded all day by death and sadness and that’s certainly taken a toll on her mental well-being. She maintains a dramatic and sometimes playful air, but it’s a desperate clinging to simpler times.

where does this character currently stand? with those who wish to hide in godric’s hollow until the war ends, with those who wish to rebuild the order and continue fighting the war, or on neither side? Why?

Honestly, Sybill stands with those who want to rebuild. She doesn’t understand how they can just hide until the war is over, when the Order is the only cohesive group fighting the Death Eaters. In her mind, if the war is ending and they’re hiding, then it’s only over because Voldemort has won. At that point, she fears that everyone will be too defeated (literally and figuratively) to resume fighting. If they don’t start getting their act together and begin striking back, then there will be no coming back.

But she never says any of this. Sybill is not a member and doesn’t feel that her opinion matters. She isn’t a strategist. She isn’t a warrior. She would be arguing for other people to do the fighting and she knows that isn’t fair. So for now, she keeps her mouth shut. She avoids vocally taking a side and she focuses on getting everyone somewhat settled in. She fixes up the home she has taken over as “caretaker” and she helps others do the same.

Has Sybill had any new visions since arriving in Godric’s Hollow?

No, I don’t believe that she has. It’s only been a few weeks since she’s relocated. While it’s true that she can’t prevent herself from having visions (not without powerful concoctions that she hasn’t taken since she was forced to as a child), she has been trying her hardest to make herself preoccupied by throwing herself into repair projects around the town. With everyone else reeling from the events from the past few months and walking on eggshells, Sybill doesn’t want to rock the boat with an untimely vision. But she can feel them brewing. She can feel them just on the edge of her sight, not quite in focus, but gaining form with each passing day.

Does she think she can help the Order, or does she believe her visions will only hurt?

Sybill wants to help the Order. She thinks she can help the Order. But she knows that her visions will only hurt - they already have. If it weren’t for her vision, Godric’s Hollow would still be a cozy village filled with witches and wizards of all ages. If it weren’t for Sybill’s visions, there wouldn’t have been such a massacre. The Order would not be in such a ruinous state and the war wouldn’t be stuck in some standstill threatened with mutually assured destruction if the fighting should continue on like this.

But as much as she blames her visions, they’re a part of her. They’re who she is and she wouldn’t change for anything - not even peace and an end to this bloody conflict. They all know that the boy will be the downfall of Voldemort. It’s just a matter of time and keeping the boy safe. In that capacity, Sybill is determined to help the Order. It was her prophecy that started this, it’s her responsibility to see it through.

extra

I wasn’t sure I’d be applying for Sybill, so I went ahead and tried to get a feel for her with the “if I were…” questionnaire. In my mind, she’s incredibly complex and loves the melodrama associated with seers

if i were a god/goddess, i’d be Hanuman - the Hindu deity of perseverance, service, and scholarly devotion, he aided Lord Rama in his battle against evil forces. After the things you’ve seen and witnessed, it would easy to admit that father was right - that you’re cursed and a bringer of dark tidings and misery. But you refuse to give up. You wrap yourself in another shawl and you persevere. Though great, you resist the temptation to give up and fog your mind or dull the senses as father made you do so many years ago.

if i were a season, i’d be false spring - the weather is on the upswing, the snow and ice have melted. The mud is thick, and grass will appear any day now. But up above, the sky is a deep blue and the wind has a biting chill to it that can only mean an impending freeze. Take the plants back inside and gather the firewood. These good tidings never last long.

if i were a time of day, i’d be early dawn, when the dew clings to grass and spiderwebs and a fog sits in the field - the day has barely begun and there’s still plenty of time for a few surprises.

if i were a place, i’d be the hidden reading nook in the dusty bookshop you didn’t know was still open - quiet, dark, but with a hidden hope and optimism.

if i were a type of weather, i’d be an oppressively hot day in summer - though scared of the power within, there is no denying its intensity. The opposition was given its first real taste of it and it made them desperate and overly aggressive. They paid a heavy price for their arrogance and there’s no telling what more tales of the future could do.

if i were a scent, i’d be coffee and whiskey mingling with an uplifting haze of sandalwood.

if i were a plant, i’d be a wisteria - beautiful in its blossoms, it appears delicate, but is incredibly resilient and can be poisonous.

if i were an element, i’d be earth - grounded and steady but intensely dramatic and moving.

if i were a color, i’d be a dark slate blue - haunted yet calming.

if i were a song, i’d be The Chain - your father promises that if you would just stop this foolishness, everything will be better. He isn’t mad at you, he still loves you, but you make it so damn hard when you carry this burden and insist on growing it instead of stamping it out. But he doesn’t realize that this thing that you have isn’t a burden. It isn’t a curse. It’s who you are. And if he can’t love you in spite of it, then, well… he never really loved you and never will.

if i were an item of clothing, it’d be a shawl - you cover yourself and who you really are. You bury yourself in the smooth fabric and become what they want you to be. You pull the silk over your nose and breathe in, letting it filter out the perfumed ash that hangs heavy in the air, the kind you’re supposed to sit in, as if that helps your inner eye see their futures better.

if i were an object, i’d be a candle - so smooth and solid from a distance, but covered in a thin layer of ash and brimming with uncertainty. A giver of light to illuminate the darkness, but reveals and strengthens the shadows in the process.

if i were one of the seven deadly sins, i’d be sloth - the fear of the known and the inability to stop it, leading to inaction. It is said that evil thrives when the good fail to act. When faced with visions of the future, it’s so much easier to forget it and move on.

if i were one of the seven heavenly virtues, i’d be humility - a deep respect and subservience to the nature of time. There are things that will always come to pass and others that are far more fickle - how do you know which is which? How do you know what won’t be made the worse with your meddling?

[jones-friend]

BECAUSE I GOT ASKED TO DO THEM ALL

1. A favorite character you have played.

Boyd Pengelly. He was a barbarian/rogue multiclass who used his Rage feature whenever he got angry enough. The unpredictability mixed with low expectations on his longevity was a great time.

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

This is a hard question to answer, and I don’t like playing favorites so here’s a top three:

@darien-king-of-synergy ‘s Trick, Gentleman Adventurer. Classy theif with the cane and suit to back it up.

@krakenattack ‘s Lieklo, the nerdiest dragon

@graspingeden ‘s Avery Holimon, the sweetest silver dragon to soar the friendly skies

3. Your favorite side quest.

Anytime Lord Baron Rikshaw, Kobold Nobleman kidnaps my players with the assistance of Mr McKemby and Pent, a winged kobold and kenku cleric of Pelor. Grand Budapest styled shenanigans ensue.

4. Your current campaign.

I’ve created a loose one shot system with a hub world called the University of Corcyra Isle. The idea is a sphinx teacher organizes a school of magic to learn through space and time with the assistance of all kinds of strange teachers. I can’t wait for them to meet my mindflayer humanist.

5. Favorite NPC.

That’s a tough question that changes day to day so I’m gonna talk about one of my favorites I haven’t before: Isarthi

Isarthi is a mindflayer humanist living in a colony deep in the underdark. She sees humanoid creatures like we would see a bunny or dog: adorable but also pretty dumb. She wants to uninslave the humanoids in the colony but its a radical idea that isn’t taking hold anytime soon. For now she ushers them about in secret, offering biology lessons where sometimes her papers mix with her Dungeons and Dryads character sheets (a game she is fully willing to play with your characters).

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

That’s hard because as I’ve continued, I don’t like death in my D&D. I used to let it happen pretty consistently but its a story telling element I don’t like using unless its really the best way to tell the story.

That being said, I do have one character planned. Tieflings have a Ritual of the Returned, you can petition to have a Tiefling returned from the hells under a specific contract. One tiefling thought he was clever and his contract states that he will only be returned if he plays a song so beautiful that it makes a dragon cry.

Avery is a silver dragon who will find him freezing on the mointaintops. Eventually he falls in love with her, and she persuades him to give up his grasp on this unlife, and elevates his soul to heaven. In his acceptance of this he plays a song to Avery, thanking her and coming to terms with his death, and that song brings Avery to tears completing his contract.

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

Making magic items yo

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I made a swamp on wooden catwalks and put a black dragon in the water beneath them, 10/10 would recommend.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

The interactive part. My players have such a sway over the story, I really just direct them and they lovingly contribute so much to the world they’re in.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

I love myconids, their ressurrection spore makes any D&D creature into a clicker from last of us

My least favorite enemy is the zombie beholder from 5e. I’ve seen them outright kill two players in one shot (I was one of the two) and the level of power they have is extreme for the challenge rating they hold.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

In person? Rarely. Its mostly over text and even then its not as much as I’d like to with job searching.

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

So in one session we split the party to break into a house. Me and my friend Tanner were roof team: our job was to wait on the roof for the party could come up so I could polymorph into a dragon and fly us away (something I didn’t realize you couldn’t do).

Instead of staying on the roof, roof team went to the first floor, drank poisoned alcohol, and vomited everywhere escaping as a drunken dragon.

ROOF TEAM

13. Introduce your current party.

I have a lot of students but I can introduce my antihero party! Its my Suicide Squad of morally gray characters

Boyd Pengelly: angry criminal from the city. Acting on impulse got him here and it sure isn’t bringing him anywhere else so why not.

Henrietta Lynch: in Barlowe Landing, her werewolf sister fatally wounded a boy she was seeing. A witch in the woods gave her a bad spell and now she has a zombie ex boyfriend she’s lugging around. At first she thought he was alive incorrectly. As he rots away shes slowly coming to terms with what she did.

Brass: Ex soldier of Vollenth’s military, Brass defected during a war march and works as a hitman or hired muscle. His aim with a crossbow is remarkable and he’s sure to let you know that. He defected from Vollenth’s army to be a free man only to realize there was nothing of him left.

Tiamir: A dragonborn who grew up a servant of red dragons, she stole the rite of being Tiamat’s Paladin from the family’s hatchling, and enforced Tiamat’s ideaology of might makes right wherever she goes.

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

One time I played in a session where we had:

Bird police (me)

Russian dwarf cleric

Necromancer

Barbarian vampire person who hisses a lot

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Oh for sure. Clean snacks that don’t make crumbs are best. Frozen pizzas work great, you can make a bunch and cut them up into squares.

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I’ve really been enjoying the amount of control playing over text gives me, though that has its limits when it comes to complex combat

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

Don’t be rude

No rape. Find a different way to tell your story.

18. Does your party keep any pets?

Once they had a gryphon hatchling

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

There’s a set of pink dice @darien-king-of-synergy owns that have killed two PC’s and a whole campaign but give him nothing but high rolls

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

I’ve been playing for 6 years now, my friends in college got me into it. I made a gnome atheist who disowned the gods when his gelatinous ooze cube was slaughtered.

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

Once Boyd alerted the entire area with a nat 1 on stealth I RP’d by getting spooked and punching a man in the face. I probably should’ve let the DM decide what happened there

22. What color was your first dragon?

Crudak! My copper baby. A desert shopkeep who’s quite excitable and quite a fast talker.

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

Nope! I make all my own.

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

Usually 3-4 hours for one shots. Over text I make an outline and follow through as necessary.

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

One of my players romanced a dragon NPC and that changed everything

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

The hatching of a baby gold dragon in the middle of a city, which the players had to smuggle through said city

27. Do you allow homebrew content?

Yes as long as its to have fun not to break the game

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?

In online or in person? Almost never. In one on one I pair you with an NPC that rounds you out.

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

RP heavy for sure!

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

They better not be murder hobos

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

Warlock has the coolest options

Human, funny enough. I find human PC’s bring out their character more than other races do.

Under that is dragonborn for fire breathing.

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

Magic support or heavy beater. Once I had paladin’s divine smite, barbarian’s reckless attack, and fighter’s improved critical all on the same attack

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

I make the character and whatever backstory is necessary to understand the character! I used to write long backstories but now I’m more involved with the role playing aspect.

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

FLaVoR

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

All roleplaying all the time

[carina-debayle]

De’bayle Reunion: Return of Astrelle | Part I

Log Date:  3/8/17

OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the readers enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participants knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!

Tags: @pain-and-pistolet @halone-from-the-otherside @ishgardianknightblogging @darkknightsbread @claire-nyhmidu-ffxiv

Sitting within the office, we all worked in a comfortable silence. Armont, working on paper work, and I assisting Hestia with her homework. The day was normal, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing outstanding, but it was peaceful and I was happy. This sort of peace I had longed for for many turns. I figured there was nothing more that could make my day better than where it stood…

The pair of De'bayles traveled out from the Lominsian coast, arriving at the southwestern shore of Eorzea and the docks of Gridania. Denz had filled in most of the time elaborating on the events of the past few years, centered around Ishgard and his and Armont’s travels in Eorzea, though ‘misadventures’ were a stronger word for the once culture-shocked Ishgardians. Leading Astrelle from Gridania towards the housing districts of the Lavender beds, the proximity of the two would eventually reach the conscious of Armont, Carina, and to a lesser degree, Hestia. For the two hyurs, they would not feel much distinction in the presence, it was hard to tell them apart without much practice, but Armont… He could keenly sense Denz, and alongside him, a presence he had not felt in years. One strongly akin to his own mother, yet individual in it’s own presence as well. He was sensing his sister, and she him. The two hyur were hard to discern for Astrelle, just a 'faceless’ feeling to them. Denz moved within that proximity, wholly unchanged, but he looked back at Astrelle after a moment’s thought, pausing before the apartment complex’s door.

Astrelle De'bayle followed along in silence, still uncertain how to feel over her brother’s changed appearance. It swelled in her both pride and shame at having not been around to witness it firsthand. As they drew near, her brow creased in thought and focus as she felt the familiar presence of Armont – and then picked up on the two unknown to her. She turned a curious gaze to Denz but kept her questions unasked for the time being, coming to rest as he paused in front of the apartment. She studied him for a long moment before tucking a strand of dark auburn hair behind her long ear. “Is all well, Denz?”

Denz tilted his head, musing for a moment before shaking his head. “A-ah, no, just…” He looks up to the rain that now was making them wetter. “… enjoying the… rain?” He shakes his head, opening up the door to the complex. Like the Mists, the building held a simple lobby and several retainers to greet them, but Denz gave them a passing wave and little else. Leading the sister up the stairs, he halted before a simple door, the presences more keen behind the portal. Denz looked at Astrelle, stuttering for a moment as he meant to ask for her readiness, before just opening the door up and leading her in.

Glancing up from her daughter’s work, Carina glanced over toward the door where she felt the familiar presence of her family approaching. Raising a brow as the entered in, her eyes moving directly toward the unfamiliar face. “Evening Denz…”

Denz gave a cursory glance to the hyur, before his head craned towards the corner where he knew his brother lingered.

Armont De'bayle blinked towards the door that was around the corner. It was a distant feeling, one that caused disbelief as he waited for the two to walk in. “Denz? Who do you have with you?” He asked out, curious.

“Armont… your brother brings a guest,” Carina smiled lightly.

Denz walked in silently, plated boots overshadowing the footfalls of his travelling companion.

Armont De'bayle nodded to Carina. “Aye, I know that, though I wish to see this guest with mine own eye.”

Astrelle, for her part, had simply sucked in a bracing breath of air and realized only now that she had been holding it. She released, following behind her brother, giving all gathered brief glances before her eyes fell on Armont.

Armont De'bayle stood up from his desk, sliding the chair back as he leaned over it with fingers sprawled out over paperwork. “Aye… There is a face I have not seen in years…” He said softly, though a smile slowly grew across his face. It was likely a shock for her to see, the last time she had laid eyes on Armont he would have been shades lighter in skin tone, far less scars and most certainly had two eyes. “How have you been?” He asked, fully standing up straight, still shocked that his sister rested before him.

Denz’s eye twitched. “How have you been?” A gloved hand came up to rub his forehead. “This family is quite lacking in meaningful reunions.”

Astrelle studied him for a long silence, her deep-cerulean eyes drinking in his changed features. It drew a small breath from her to realize that he, too, had changed much since her absence. Bringing a hand up to cover her mouth and stifle the hitch in her voice as she spoke, she cleared her throat and gave her older brother a reserved nod in greeting. “Well, thank you brother. I see time has been.. rough on you but you seem all the stronger for it.” Her smile grew, gaze lingering on him and shooting Denz a glare before turning to the three gathered at the nearby table. “Hello,” she said in soft greeting before moving towards the desk to stare at Armont, arms folding across her chest.

Raising a hand, Carina offered a short wave, “hello… I have heard much about you…” the Hyur nodded, glancing down toward her daughter.

Hopping up on her chair, Hestia turned around to look at the new face, her eyes spotting the mark on the woman’s forehead, “aha! Mommy! Look she has…” stopping short before a feared lecture, Hestia swiftly went into a proper greeting, “ah… h-hello!”

Alleria Surlaint looks around the room raising her hand slowly waving “H…Hello”

Armont De'bayle dipped his head down towards her. “It has been rough on us all I am afraid… Though our family has grown by two since you have left.” He extended a plated arm out to point at Carina and Hestia with all fingers. “This is my wife, Carina and Hestia, our daughter.” He smiled, though he visibly eyes the cut across her forehead, choosing to remain silent about it for the time being.

Denz shot a very youngest-sibling-glare back to Astelle, swallowing the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

Astrelle sucks in a breath at the mention, turning again to study the Hyur and child at the table. “Oh… my,” she manages to say, appraising Carina for a moment before fixing a stare on Hestia. She gives a soft, croak of a laugh before moving over. “Hello,” she focuses on the daughter - her niece. “Nice to meet you, Hestia. I’m Astrelle. I am.. Armont’s sister.”

“Papa’s sister!” Hestia practically shrieks out, “I didn’t know that! Uhmmm mm…” she panics, “is… is she an uncy too?”

“She is your Aunt, Hestia,“ the father smiles toward the little girl.

"And /my/ sister too!” Denz huffs out.

“Anty! Like the little black bugs…” she murmurs out under her breath in amazement.

Astrelle De'bayle nods with a beaming smile. “Yes.. Aunty,” she says, turning a pride-filled gaze to Armont. “Hello, forgive my manners. I am Astrelle - you are Carina?” she then asks of the blonde Hyur, moving slightly to offer the woman a proper bow and chuckling softly at her niece’s words. Astrelle bows courteously to Carina.

“I am. It is an honour to finally get to meet you. I have heard so much about you from the past from your brothers. Nothing but positive things…” Carina laughs, returning the bow, “I am glad I never lost faith of the hopes of getting to meet you myself some day.”

“Aye.” Astrelle gives a nod of approval to the woman’s words, apparently happy with the way she has introduced herself. “I am glad that we are able to meet - Denzel has told me much of you.” Sapphire eyes then move up to acknowledge Alleria, giving a small bow of her head. “Hello there. Who are you?”

“How long have you been keeping her from us Denz!” Carina snapped a glare over toward the youngest.

Denz looks to Carina. furrowing his eyebrows and holding up his hands. “Wh- Secrets run as well as a poleaxe through mud in this family, Carina! I found her naught a few bells ago before she requested to see everyone.”

“Aye, though that does not matter much to me.” Armont took in a deep relieved breath in seeing that his sister was in one piece. “I am simply happy she is with us once more. We are now whole again.”

“Not quite yet! We must get Guillemont over here! Who wishes to bring him here?” Carina chimes in, “he is her twin after all.”

Alleria Surlaint quickly stands pushing the chair back “Oh hello! I am Alleria Surlaint. I’m on of the Squires of the house.” she said bowing “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alleria Surlaint bows courteously to Astrelle De'bayle.

Astrelle De'bayle made to bow but quickly faltered at the name of her twin, looking to Carina. Her smile is reserved but the eyes shimmer in excitement, fondly recalling her memories with him. “Aye.. please call Guillemont. I wish to see him,” she says, turning a bright smile back to Hestia.

Denz tilted his head. “Tis quite the assumption that we have Guillemont on call…” He says in a moody tone, before looking to his older brother. “Armont, call Guillemont.”

“Oh hush Denz, you know we do!” Carina rolls her eyes.

Armont De'bayle raised a brow at Denz, nodding as he placed a finger over his ear.

After a short period of waiting and small talk, the twin finally arrived.

Guillemont De'bayle walks into Armont’s apartment, without knocking as is his habit. “Hello! Who uh… Who…” He pauses, a sensing a familiar presence. “Is that…” He steps closer to the group, armor clanking slightly with each step.

Claire Nyhmidu joins in with the walking, rather amazed at the gathering here. She keeps quiet, kinda figuring something is up.

Denz De'bayle backed up as the hulking mass of plate entered, knowing surely the weight of this reunion was stronger than the two other brothers.

“Look uncy Gui! I’s Anty uhmmm…” Hestia looks up to the woman again, “Asstt…rayy… Asttyy”

Astrelle De'bayle turns as the man enters with a woman in tow. Her eyes fall to the armored Elezen and immediately the voice, even resounding within the helmet, betrayed her twin’s identity. She moved swiftly to him and studied the man as best she could. Then, without words, she threw her arms around him and drew in for a tight embrace. “Hello, Guillemont.”

Guillemont De'bayle wraps his arms around the woman in turn, hugging her tight. Likely not the most comfortable embrace, given the amount of metal covering his body. “I have missed you so much.”

Claire Nyhmidu folds her hands in front of her, noting the crest on her forehead and well. Assumes family. She just smiles faintly.

Astrelle De'bayle offers a nod of agreement against the armor-clad brother. She holds him and lingers onto the hug, apparently unphased by the uncomfortable metal pressing against her frame. Finally pulling back, she looks to his helmet and raises her hands to it. “Let me see your face.”

Denz De'bayle moves to stand beside Armont, placing a hand on his shoulder with a proud look on his face.

Armont De'bayle nodded. “We are… finally whole again.” He whispered out happily.

Denz De'bayle nods silently.

Guillemont De'bayle: “Oh uh… Right.” He removes his helm, revealing the face beneath. The sideburns were new. At least he was making some effort to shave regularly now. But that was not the only change. His expression was much more… Tired– despite the slight smile. His skin is pale, almost sickly looking, and there are dark circles beneath his eyes. “It uh… It has been a long time. I uh… I am a Knight now.”

Astrelle De'bayle lifts trembling fingers to gently press and trace along her brother’s features. Taking in his look with bated breath, a low breath escapes her, emotions threatening to break through the reserved and polite exterior. Her fingertips brush along the sideburns and then down the jawline before she pulls her hands back, eyes beginning to well slightly with tears. She clears her throat and raises a hand to the back of her neck, forcing back the liquid attempting to escape. “…I am proud to hear that, Guillemont.” She turns a smile to Claire then, remembering that Guillemont had brought someone along. A small nod is given her way. “Hello,” she manages to say.

Denz De'bayle’s mouth creeks slightly as Guillemont’s face is revealed, eyes looking to Astrelle. He certainly had the greatest change in his look of all the three brothers. The emotion in her voice made him take in a shaky breath himself, before clearing his throat, moving away from Armont to lean against the desk.

Claire Nyhmidu nods in greeting to her, “Good evening. My name is Claire, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Guillemont De'bayle glances to Claire. “Oh, right. Sorry, I uh… I am awful at introducing people.” He reaches for Claire’s hand before looking back to his sister.

Carina De'bayle glanced down to her little daughter who watched the interactions with great curiosity, placing a hand over the girl’s head.

Astrelle De'bayle offers a subtle nod, still drinking in Guillemont’s changed features. She then turns to regard the other two brothers – examining them both with blurry eyes, she lifts her hand to wipe at them with a sheepish chuckle. Her own eyes appear tired, her features somewhat darker from her travels and her frame much more built than when she had left. The woman’s hair appears lighter than the brothers’, perhaps due to her time in the sun; she bows again to them all and looks about aimlessly. “…It is good to be home.”

“Why did you leave! Where did you go?!” Hestia asked out abruptly, her cheeks huffed out.

“Hestia!“ Carina snaps back at her in arrived stern tone.

Denz De'bayle smiles, before looking at Hestia. "Ge- wai-” He held out a palm to halt her, before closing it and holding it against his mouth as Carina shouted at her.

“Hestia, you can’t just ask those questions to people like that. Have some manners,” Carina scolds.

Claire Nyhmidu chuckles quietly, lightly holding onto Guillemont’s armored hand as she watched the others interact.

“Ooowaah…” Hestia put her mittens to her head defensively, “I’m sorry!”

Astrelle De'bayle glances to the child, then Carina, the question apparently lingering on her mind. She shot her niece a small, shaky smile. “It is fine,” she manages to say in a small, breathy voice. “I left for my own reasons, but.. I do not think I will be doing so again.”

Hestia De'bayle frowns lightly, “Mmm… you won’t go away?”

Astrelle De'bayle shakes her head at Hestia before turning to look at each of her brothers in turn. “No.”

Armont De'bayle cleared his throat as he looked to his sister. “I would like to apologize if I seem to come off as cold… The time we have spent apart has always left my mind wandering. Seeing you here has placed me in a slight state of shock it would seem.” He chuckled.

“I imagine we are all quite in a similar state, brother.” Astrelle returned his chuckle with her own, moving now to Armont and wrapping her arms around him gently. “And all this armor,” she laughed, pulling away from the brief embrace.

“Yes, this family has a habit of now living in armor, it seems,” Denz mused.

“Where was it you two travelled from?” Carina eyed Denz before redirecting her stare back toward Astrelle.

Guillemont De'bayle: “Indeed. It uh… It almost feels odd when I am not wearing it.” He smiles, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He reaches up to wipe them away, but decides it would be a bad idea to poke himself in the eye with his gauntlets and lowers his hand. “I uh… Sorry, I am just so happy to uh… You uh… We will have a lot to catch up on, when the time comes.” A tear runs down his cheek.

Armont De'bayle held her in place within his firm grasp for a moment as he closed an eye. “One never truly knows what rests around the corner, aye?” He laughed softly as she pulled away from him.

Claire Nyhmidu glances to him a moment with a soft chuckle and offers a handkerchief, if need be.

Astrelle De'bayle smiles at Guillemont. The show of his tear seems to pull her own emotions from her, orbs of joy trailing down her cheeks silently. “Ah.. the Mists,” she turns to Carina with a happy smile. “Denz found me there.”

“All the way in Vylbrand? Goodness that must have been quite the trip. If you’re tired, we have a spare bed within the apartment we house?“ Carina offers out, in attempts to be hospitable.

Denz De'bayle approaches Guillemont, rapping a knuckle against his chestplate. "There is no need to apologize, brother. I am certain even the Fury herself took the time to smile and cry amidst such trying times. It is alright to do so as well.”

Guillemont De'bayle nods quietly, blinking a few times as though to stop himself from crying.

Denz De'bayle stood beside his brother, holding his shoulder proudly as he had with Armont but a few minutes ago.

“Well your brother has the right of it, when it comes to emotions,” Claire spoke put in agreement with Denz.

Astrelle De'bayle nods softly, wiping at the tears running down her cheeks. “If it would be alright. The travel has made me weary, and I wish to be able to wake up to my family in the morn.”

Guillemont De'bayle glances between Claire and Denz, his face nothing but tears and smiles. “I uh…” He trails off, unlikely to finish that thought.

“Well I can assure you of that,” Carina laughs out, clasping her hands together. She was quite overjoyed to see the emotional state of everyone, the joy was contagious. “Hopefully you do not mind toys…” her shoulds shrug up awkwardly, “should we bring her to the home apartment? I would think it would be a bit more comfortable there before leaving her for bed?”

Armont De'bayle placed a hand to his sister’s shoulder. “Aye, and if you require a room, we have space for you if you wish.” He said, looking past her to his wife with a bright smile.

“I was offering her a room for that reason,” Carina smiled over to her husband, her eyes slightly narrowed.

“Yes.. that will be fine,” Astrelle says with an adoring look at Armont. She chuckles at the interaction between husband and wife, turning her eyes to look over Hestia again which seems to only renew the stream of tears quietly dropping from her eyes. She sniffles, giving a light chuckle in delight.

“Astrelle, have you… anything at all, beyond that pack of yours?” Denz asks in regards to the womans light luggage.

Hestia De'bayle looked up at her aunt, spotting the woman’s expression. Blinking a moment, Hestia’s face scrunched up, emotion filled like the older woman’s as large tears began to plop down her face and she began sobbing out.

“Hestia…” Carina chuckled out, “what’s wrong dear? I promise you she won’t break any of your toys…” the woman tried to soothe the little girls episode.

Armont De'bayle looked to his daughter, the smile still very much so still visible. “Happy to meet another like yourself? Astrelle is the only the only female elezen in our family who has the sigil like yours.” He said, chuckling.

“N-N-No… Mo-Mommy… lo-look, I m-made… I made her… c-c-cry!” Hestia choked out, snot rolling down her lips.

Astrelle De'bayle bubbles at the sight, holding a hand up to her mouth. “Oh no,” she laughs, her tears becoming more frequent. Tearing her gaze from her niece, she turns to Denz. “N-no,” she shakes her head. “I do have most of my effects being sent to me from Radz-at-Han, but they will certainly not arrive for nearly a moon.”

Denz De'bayle blinks. “Radz-at-Han?”

“Hestia, you didn’t make her upset! She’s just happy to see you, those are tears of joy! Don’t you know how special you are honey?” Carina attempted to soothe the poor girl.

Guillemont De'bayle finds himself thinking about quenching oil.

Astrelle De'bayle grins at her youngest brother. “Yes.. a city-state in Thavnair, Denz. I’m afraid the boat I boarded could not allot much weight on it, so I opted to leave them there.”

Denz De'bayle tilts his head. “I hadn’t… stop to ask where you had been. You were in the Near East?”

Hestia De'bayle sniffles, looking toward her mother a moment before hopping up off her chair and moving to go rake her hands up at the Elezen woman, presumably desiring to hug her… or have her be held.

Astrelle De'bayle: “Near and Far,” she asserts with a gentle nod. Her deep-blue eyes widen and glance down to behold Hestia and she quickly lowers herself to take the girl delicately and securely into her arms, raising her up. “Hello,” she breathes. “Maybe we can play with your toys soon, Hestia.”

Hestia De'bayle wraps her arms around her aunt’s neck, giving her a snuggly hug as she wiped her tears to the woman’s shirt. “I have lots of toys we can play with! They will like you, because I love you!”

Denz De'bayle puts a hand on his chin in thought of this news, musing silently.

Astrelle De'bayle laughs endearingly at her niece’s words. “By that logic, then I am certain that I will like them as well.” She admires the girl’s pointed ears and notes the similarities in the child between Armont and Carina. She turns her gaze to the three standing in a row, landing on Guillemont. “Ah.. begging pardon, of course, but if I may be showed to the room. I am getting tired.”

Carina De'bayle: “Oh of course, right this way!” she smiles, stepping carefully through the room of giants.

Leading her sister-in-law out with Hestia in hand, Carina moved them through the building toward their personal apartment.

Carina De'bayle: “This, is where our family calls home. For now… we are hoping to get an actual house some time soon.”

Hestia De'bayle still remains cuddled up against her aunt, seemingly sleepy as her mitten was now in her mouth.

Astrelle De'bayle follows along, still holding onto Hestia. She smiles at Carina before admiring the room. “It is nice.”

Carina De'bayle: “Let me show you to where you will be staying… we usually let people stay in Hestia’s room when spending the night and she stays with us, but she is free to rest with you if you wish to spend time with your niece?” she claps her hands together.

Denz De'bayle lead the group into the room, keeping the door opened as everyone funneled in.

Astrelle De'bayle glances to the sleepy child in her arms. She draws her in tighter before giving Carina a nod. “That will be fine; thank you.”

Denz De'bayle lead the group into the room, keeping the door opened as everyone funneled in.

Carina De'bayle can’t help but find the sight endearing, assuming the woman hardly expected to come home to a niece. “Our kitchen is open to you as well, Armont is an early riser, and depending on the day I am as well. The bathroom is down the hall outside the apartment.”

Astrelle De'bayle nods her acknowledgement, turning as the woman begins to leave the room. “…I shall be seeing you all tomorrow then,” she says in a tone of disbelief, almost unable to comprehend being with company – her family – when she awakes.

Carina De'bayle: “We look forward to it, I will be sure to have a breakfast waiting for you! Does everyone wish to say goodnight?” she glances down the hall, “you two rest well, from myself. If you need me, Armont and I’s room is the next door over.”

Armont De'bayle smiled. “If you need anything from us, please feel free to ask. You are family, and this is your home too.”

Guillemont De'bayle: “Good night, Astrelle. I uh…” He holds his arms wide open, as though awaiting another hug.

Astrelle De'bayle nods at Armont, his words threatening to unleash another silent stream of tears. She shakes her head lightly to fight back the emotions still raw in her heart before turning to Guillemont and Denz. She chuckles at her twin, looking to Hestia in her arms. “..I shall have to, uh… give you one in the morning,” she laughs awkwardly.

Guillemont De'bayle: “Oh, uh… Alright.” He lowers his arms, instead stepping closer and planting a kiss on her cheek. “Well, I uh… I will see you soon.”

Hestia De'bayle smiles lightly, clearly just feeling the joy that radiated from around her due to their connection.

Astrelle De'bayle nods at her twin, beaming a bright smile at him. She takes their proximity to again study his features in interest, noting all the vast differences the years have made. Finally, she turns to Denz. “Thank you for bringing me home, Denz.”

Armont De'bayle: “Take care dear sister, and welcome home.”

Denz De'bayle makes a bunch of awkward noises as he pushed Guillemont to the side, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing her arm. “Of course… 'tis only fitting. I have been there to find each of us, and now I need to search no longer.”

Astrelle De'bayle smiles in return. “The Fury truly guides you, brother. It guides us all.” She smiles and gives them all a tired bow of her head before stepping back into the room. “Let’s go to bed, Hestia.”

Hestia De'bayle was already knocked out, but she seemed pretty ready for bed!

Guillemont De'bayle: “Goodnight.” He smiles at his sister once more before walking away.

I had never known the feeling, of having a sister before. My family was larger than anything I could have ever dreamed of. I began to wonder… if perhaps this was the gods plan after all…

[vieuxnoyesrp]

Eoin. Honestly, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that we were on the edges of our seat in anticipation of an app for Jennifer after posting her bio. The anon who was asking about her got us very excited - and while we don’t know whether that was you or not - we do know that the excitement ended up being very much justified. You seem to be exactly what we were looking for in terms of a roleplayer who understood Jennifer’s character beyond the superficial titles of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Your thought-provoking answers to our app questions made her very human and carefully avoided any of the trappings of a typical stereotype. It’s clear that you took the time to do your research on our story and setting, and we love how you tied so many of these details into your application. We also enjoyed your headcanons, and how they added another very human layer to Jennifer Blake. One thing we intentionally left out of her bio was the casual vibe of human!Jen; her interests outside of magic and sacrifice, her pastimes, and the tone she uses in her day-to-day dealings with the world around her. You brought this side of her to life in your headcanons and in the sample app, and convinced us that you understand all sides of her character intimately well. Needless to say, we cannot wait to have her on our dash and get to interact with your Jen in person!

Eoin, thank you very much for applying. As for Jennifer…

                ⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⚜ Roleplayer:

⤜ Name/alias: Eoin

⤜ Pronouns: He/Him

⤜ Age: 23

⤜ Timezone: GMT

⤜ Activity: I’d put my activity at an 8 out of 10. I usually check in everyday and attempt to get a few replies out after Uni, though I tend to go quieter around weekends since I work then.

⤜ Best form of contact: Just on tumblr is best for me.

⤜ Any Triggers? No triggers.

⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? I came across it while searching the tag ‘supernatural rp’

⤜ What drew you to the RP? The design and intricacy of the RP is phenomenal, the story-world, interconnecting characters and events were all so interesting. But the main element would have to be the maturity it boasts; the emphasis on character development, and seeing characters as three-dimensional people over simple hero/villain labels.

⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? Marcel’s decision to ban magic within the quarter has left many witches and even some vampires in tricky situations. Between the ambitions of the witches and the need for magical items (such as daylight rings) I can see Marcel’s orders being ignored and, if punishment is met out, the fallout from that would be very interesting to see.

⚜ Desired Character: Jennifer Blake

⤜ Why do you want this character? 

From the first time I saw her portrayed in Teen Wolf I adored Jennifer’s character, the change from almost clumsy teacher to powerful Darach, but I was very disappointed at the overall story she was given. There was so much more they could have offered this character instead of labeling her as a ‘villain’ and moving on. The lengths she went to in order to avenge her pack really caught my interest.

Furthermore, within this RP, Jennifer is again a multifaceted character whose immense intelligence and ambition is met with an almost childlike misunderstanding of emotion and consequence. The variation and conflict you can give a character that is this complex would be a very exciting opportunity.  

⤜ What are your future plans for this character? 

Jennifer’s bio makes it clear that she’s already conflicted. But the one element left with no ambiguity is her obsession and determination to increase her strength. Her method of doing this, sacrifice, and the consequences of her doing so is something I’d really like to explore. How her mind would cope with the strain of other personalities seeping through. And whether or not she may be able to create a connection with someone other than Rain to possibly help her through it.

Her mimicry abilities also present an interesting chance for character exploration. I’d like to see whether this woman, who understands so little about sentiment, could perhaps find in someone else the feelings of friendship and family she found in Rain, and may need to find after the recent conflict between the two. Especially since this could provide further conflict with her own plans down the line.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… Where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time? 

Jennifer, despite her ambitions for herself and her coven, found employment at the local high school, Saint Aloysuis, and finds the job satisfying. Just as Rain taught her she reaps a little satisfaction out of imparting the great works of the English language to her students, the subtleties of a well-constructed argument, the best methods of textual research and analysis and even the odd break in the teachers lounge with Jenna, one of the few teachers not to bore her. And, as the school motto insists, develop her talents. She’s worked hard to develop the persona of the slightly clumsy, endearing and only occasionally strict teacher who’s becoming quite popular with the students. After school she may head to either Café du Monde with Jenna, or even Rousseau’s if it’s a Friday, for the odd drink and talk. If not she is fond of frequenting Bourbon Street, for the people and the music. Or even the French Market. She rarely shops, but she keeps herself around people, she has more opportunity to spot a candidate for sacrifice that way. At the end of the day she returns to her apartment on Jackson Square, the noise of the few shops quieting down so she can mark her classwork or further her research, usually with a glass of wine in hand and some soft music playing, before retiring for the evening.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice.

Jennifer has quite a love for music and dance. Even before coming to New Orleans she had a fascination with jazz, the devil’s music. The way the singer and musicians can create tunes on the spot and the rhythm of the music just resonates with her. Her singing voice is rather good, plus she’s an excellent dancer, and loves to sing, sway and undulate her body to the music of New Orleans.

Despite her position as an English teacher, Jennifer, in her free time, tends to read chick-lit and crime novels over the classics or Pulitzer Prize winners. Her reasons for this are to try and improve her understanding of that strange thing called sentiment; the love shown in chick-lit and the human behavior show in crime novels has helped her a little with that. But, on a more secretive level, she sometimes finds escapes in them. It’s a chance to get away from the tensions of her life and indulge her mind in the mundane problems of the ‘heroine de jour’.

Jennifer is an avid gardener. Not just because the plants and herbs she grows could have properties in her covens spells, but also because life is just one more mystery to solve. She’s seen the inside workings of animals plucked apart, the beauty in that. But there’s an almost similar beauty to seeing a seedling sprout through the dirt, grow, bloom, wither and die. Whole cycles of life and death having come and gone in a single year. One more thing for her to observe and learn from.  

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your character? 

I’d like to see a plot in which Jennifer is first introduced to someone while putting on her ‘persona’ and developing a relationship based on that. Then having the truth of her nature revealed and how both she and the other party would cope with that. Whether the feelings she ‘put on’ over that time could develop into something real or if the other party could even attempt to make a connection with the real Jennifer. Also, I’d be interested in seeing Jennifer perhaps take on a student of her own. Someone who she thinks could be taught to be what she considers ‘better,’ more wild and ambitious in their studies, always striving for the most powerful outcomes of magic.

⤜ Para sample: 

(Retained for privacy)

⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? No thank you.

⤜ Have you read the rules?: I have, several times in detail.

⤜ Anything else? Just to gush a little about how amazing this RP is. And to please request that if this application isn’t acceptable to you that you’d please message me with some feedback on my performance. I’d really appreciate the opportunity to improve and come back again if need be. Thank you very much!

[defiancerpg-blog]

Congratulations LYN, you have been accepted as SCORPIUS, THE SCORPION with the faceclaim of LYRICA OKANO and the ATMOKINESIS ability!

Notes from the Admins: Ellie and Tasha:

I think neither of us will really be able to say how much we enjoyed your app. It was a long time coming, but we got there and it was well worth the wait because you really brought Miko to life. I (Ellie) was so excited to finally read this app and I wasn’t disappointed. I had to take a little siesta halfway through because of so much information (I’m kidding). But really all of it was so important and well written. You did Miko justice. I (Tasha) really loved everything about your app. Your writing is so beautiful and your portrayal of her was so well done and the complexity of Miko was so spot on.   

You have 48 hours to send in your blog. If you haven’t already joined the group discord then you may do so now (if that’s your wish) [x]. Once you have turned in your blog, you will be given a role that will allow you access to the private channels regarding plots/characters. Please remember to do everything on the checklist, and also we just want to thank you for joining this roleplay. We hope your time with us will be a fun and memorable one!

OOC INFORMATION

Alias & Pronouns: Lyn, she/her

Age: 30s

Timezone, Activity Level, & RP Experience: CST; as active as the muse and people replying to me allows, but at least following guidelines; I’ve been RPing for 20ish years now? I’m old, don’t mind my cane.

BASIC IC INFORMATION

Skeleton: Scorpius

Faceclaim: Lyrica Okano, Akimoto Kozue, Hashimoto Ai, Atsuko Maeda

Age: 24

Sexuality: Demi

Nova Type: Animus

Ability: Atmokinesis - capable of manipulating the weather on a serious level, and is sometimes tied to her mood. I.E. sometimes when she gets upset it’ll start to pour the rain and lightning will crack, but if she’s happy or dozy, sometimes she accidentally makes it snow… sometimes in the middle of summer. As she comes into her power she’ll gain more control over it.

THE INTERVIEW:

Instead of a traditional biography, this roleplay has an “interview” to understand the character’s past but also who they are as a person. The goal here is for you to answer the questions from the character’s point of view (third person) as if they were being asked by The Imperium’s artificial intelligence, E.R.I.S.. Think of it as a background check meant to explore who the character is more in-depth than a bio. They do not have to vocally answer the question nor do they have to tell the truth. However, you must give some understanding of what the truth is through their internal monologue/thoughts.

So, tell me a little bit about growing up. What was your childhood like?

She was hard-pressed to show it outwardly, but the question shook her. What was even the truth to that question? Her childhood hadn’t been hard, per se, at least not at first… no, she’d been a little pressed to achieve and excel, but it wasn’t… anything out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until Shiro went missing (dead, Miko, you can say the word it has been long enough) that things truly got tense. With her mother and father’s affections suddenly cold and distant, she found herself finding any way to get that sort of rise out of them.

It started with a few strategically dyed patches of hair, so she could flip it in anger and get their attention with that, then the leather jacket she’d salvaged at the thrift store near the Army Depot… and then she’d just… given up. School became a thing she went to just to exist, even though she was neither lazy nor unintelligent, she just didn’t give a shit anymore about Ivy Leagues or excellence; she was just her, and that’s all that mattered.

Well, almost… Kenji was way more important to her, though it was still hard to get her to say that outwardly for a while. She’d lost one brother and she wasn’t about to lose another…

Sitting in the chair and fidgeting slightly was not helping anyone, “It was fine. Normal, like everyone’s…”

What about your relationship with your family?

The more the questions came, the less likely she seemed to be honest about them. Something about the brazenness of being asked about these things caused her to clam up. It wasn’t necessarily her rebellious streak, but maybe it was avoidance of thinking about it herself.

The truth was that she was close to her family (what family there was left, and that was the bracing part) but talking about it made her feel almost as if she were giving away government secrets: no, not my brother, not my only family left I will eat your soul. Big sister, the overprotective, the nonchalant, the… the only maternal figure he had left at this rate.

Their mom’s sacrifice had been as much a surprise to her as it had to Kenji, if not only because Yumiko truly (deeply and painfully) believed that her parents had given up on her, even if she’d never truly given up on them. To see her mother sacrifice herself, even with the caveat of protecting Kenji in the process? It had torn parts of her she was sure were unable to be broken further…

“My parents are gone… my brother should be here somewhere probably answered these same questions? I don’t know, what do you want from me?”

Are you the only Nova in your family? Or were your parents Novas too? What about any siblings?

That was a hell of a question. Had her parents been Novas? There wasn’t enough time to tell with all the chaos, but if they had nothing about it had saved them, and she hadn’t even seen her dad in those last moments. Shit, was he even dead?

A brief, terrifying thought ran through her brain, of her father offering up herself and Kenji to the wolves, and perhaps even her mother if she was, in fact, a Nova, for his own gain? To keep himself safe? If that didn’t incite rage in her, nothing would.

There was the briefest pause as she stared at the table in front of her, swallowing down a lump in her throat that threatened to choke her, “… I have no way of knowing as I haven’t seen my father since and my mom died to protect my brother and me… but yeah, he’s… yeah."

Lying about it wouldn’t serve them. Kenji was here too, it was the only way they could both be safe and she didn’t want her rebellion and anger to get him in danger.

That being said, the investigative part of her personality was determined now to find out if her father had had anything to do with what happened to her and her brother.

What’s your ability like? Is it easy to control or harder? Do you even like it?

”Mm,“ Another thing that gave her pause; the ability wasn’t exactly something she’d have chosen, but she was growing to like it more and more though she didn’t often see the practicality of it. Controlling the weather in that way had really excited Kenji more than her as it had reminded him of one of his comic books, but honestly? She didn’t know how to control it as well as she could. It was a frustrating thing to not be adept at something she put her mind to.

”I can control it fine and I like it okay.“ Another pause; did they really not know her power? Was this a test? She so hated being put on the spot like that, ”It’s…“ don’t sound lame, Miko, ”It’s controlling the weather.“

Good job, not lame at all. She could hear her own brain chastising her and let her head dip just slightly in defeat, before lifting her chin almost defiantly. She wouldn’t let herself be defeated by her own inability to explain something she really had no way of knowing everything about.

That being said, it’s hard to control something as tempestuous as the weather, but in that same breath, she loved it because of that. It reminded her of herself.

How would you describe your personality?

”I think I’m fun, I keep people on their toes, I make any place I enter sort of my own.“ She didn’t hesitate on that one, fully confident in who she was and not lying in the least, but also not wholly divulging all the parts of herself she kept hidden.

The inner fire to prove herself even as she acted as if the world itself should be proving itself to her.

The intelligence and calculating nature she had, and a want to investigate further into the disappearance of her brother (and now, her mom as well.)

The way she cries at sappy old movies when no one’s there to catch her, and the fact that she’s a romantic at heart who loves love and loves people in love, even if she’ll turn her nose up at PDA outwardly.

She didn’t explain to them that she was afraid, not for herself so much as she was for Kenji. That every motion she made was for him and that that fear was the whole of her personality on most days; doting and motherly.

They didn’t need to know all that, it was for her and her alone.

What do you think your greatest strengths and weaknesses are?

”I’m powerful, I command attention, and I’m generally the most creative person on a team.“ It was boastful, but not wrong. She’d spent a lot of time learning art after she’d given up on traditional academics. In fact, she’d been working on a comic starring her brother in her free time to give him at his graduation; it was lost now, gone forever and a distant relic of a life she no longer had.

The second part was dripped with sarcasm and she put a hand dramatically over her chest, ”As for my weaknesses, I just care too much and want everyone to be happy.“ She lifted her hand to poke her cheek as if dimpling it.

The sad truth was it shouldn’t have been sarcastic, she really did care too much, and not just about her brother. As much as she tried to avoid it, her heart was big and she loved big; everyone she’d met she’d had some kind of love for before they’d betrayed her in some cases, but… she was soft. She was an old soul and was weak in the best kind of ways, but still weak.

Where and what were you doing the day the Nova Protection Act was enacted?

She felt like it was a lifetime ago, and in some ways it was. She wasn’t the same person she was then, it was roughly 8 years and she was… barely 16. She didn’t even know what it meant to be a Nova then. Some people bloomed early, and some later… Yumiko had blossomed as far as development went, but her powers didn’t appear until much later.

Much like most people outside of a situation, it didn’t affect her life, so she didn’t give it much thought. She was a teenager, just a few months out from causing such drama in her family that she’d nigh-on never recover, so the idea of knowing exactly what she was doing on that day was impossible.

She could tell you what she was doing three and a half months from then when Shiro had gotten lost.. or taken; did it really matter anymore? he was gone, dead, and it was her fault.

“I was at school probably? It wasn’t… it wasn’t a huge deal at the time.”

Did you immediately run? Or did you try to obey the law and report to the Anti-Nova Force?

”I, uh…” It was hard to remember, the chaos that surrounded the actual moment of panic that had come over her and her brother in the realisation that they’d be pinched and likely fucked over if they got caught had erased most of the memory of the day on the whole.

What she did remember was screams of panic from all around her, only then realising that it wasn’t just she, and her sibling, that was special, and the fact that her mom had been there as if she’d come from the shadows themselves – a memory that only now in retrospect seems a bit touchy – screaming and yelling for them to run with her.

She remembers the slightly off-smell of the air, and her mother shoving a slightly damp cloth across her and her brother’s noses and mouths, not so much to suffocate them but definitely keeping them from inhaling in deeply the novocaine that they were trying to use to subdue Novas.

She remembers the look of her mother’s face when she turned to fight against the people who were chasing them; she couldn’t describe them even if asked now, even if given a thousand years to remember it, all she could remember was the look on her mother’s face and the scream to take care of her brother. The way her mother had sacrificed herself.

“We ran. We were afraid, so of course, we ran… I know people always go ‘If you weren’t guilty why did you run?’ Fear. The simple answer is that fear will always override common sense.”

How have you survived this last year and a half or so? Did you have any help or were you all alone? How did you find Yalena’s Sanctuary?

They barely had. That was the truth of it. She and Kenji had had a rough go of it, especially with both their parents being absent. To Kenji’s credit he was far better at making friends than she was, so he’d found ways to get them by with his own level of charm and whatever, but she’d nearly screwed that up a few times.

People who get along with Kenji tend to find her disconcerting or just plain annoying. She’s not unkind, but with her brother, he was the epitome of charming; a hero through and through if ever there was a perfect place to pin that term. He’d be caught helping old ladies across the street while Yumiko would end up stealing from their pocket in that same breath to make sure that she and her family made it.

“It took a lot… I mean we had help, but not consistently, and mostly they were helping my brother. I got shuffled along because of my attachment to him.” Her eyes were focused first on the table, then up at the ceiling; hard to admit, but also hard to deny if they’d even so much as met Kenji, “How we found it…? Word of mouth, I guess? Kenji had a pipe dream and it turns out it was true, who knew.”

What were you doing when the raid happened? How did you respond to the flood of Wardens? How quickly did you go through Yalena’s portal?

She wished she could take credit for it, at least on some level, explain the derring-do that she’d gone through to make sure that they’d survived, but it had been dumb luck. They got swept up in the wake of fleeing and had managed to escape under the radar because of all the chaos.

Kenji always seemed like he had the inner edge on those things; as if he’d somehow caught wind of something about to go poorly far beyond he had any right to know, but she wasn’t sure about all that. It might just be that he was better at reacting than she was.

She had very little control over the powers she had been gifted with, and didn’t know exactly how to use them for anything other than parlour tricks; it left her little in the way of defences.

The good of it was that she had been smart enough to take self-defence classes in high school, learning that knowing how to break someone’s wrist when they got too handsy was more important than a perfect winged-eyeliner… but not by much.

In their fleeing, she’d broken a few wrists, shattered a few noses, and tripped nearly twice over other people; she felt somewhat accomplished.

”Luck. I wish I could think of a clever lie, but it was all luck.“

What has living in The Imperium been like for you? Do you feel safer than before? Is it better or worse than on the run, or Yalena’s Sanctuary?

To her, they all felt like fancy words for cages. She’d never been good at being tied down, at least after she’d found her rebellious streak. A caged bird was not her jam, and she had no qualms with telling anyone.

”It’s sort of like the difference between being in a hamster cage and a gerbil cage.“ A shrug lifted her shoulders as she looked across the table at nothingness; AI was creepy.

She’d had nightmares like that after she’d watched the first Resident Evil movie and honestly still felt a bit twitchy around the very concept of E.R.I.S, let alone the idea that she was being questioned by her – it? Gods damn it that’s an issue.

”Except in this one I feel more like someone’s going to tell me they can’t do that and end up murdering me.“

Pop culture references are also a defence. Not a great one, but…

Reluctantly she let her eyes fall back to the table and murmured, “The safety for my brother is worth it.”

The last question. If war broke out between Novas and the humans, which side will you be on?

That one caught her off-guard. She didn’t think of them as being any different – well obviously on some fundamental and biological level they were different, but in the end, she felt they were all just sort of beings in the world trying to make it.

”Which side am I? I don’t know, man. It’s a slippery slope to start thinking of yourself in that way – different? Better? – because the humans who have done all this shit to us were like that. They were afraid and in their fear turned to violence and other means to try to keep us collared.“ She pauses, raking her teeth across her lower lip and dragging a nail – painted black with a sharpie as it was the best she could do on the run – along the metal table.

She sometimes still felt human. She had the same desires, thoughts, processes, foibles as she did before she learned she was a Nova and still believed she was Human, so how could it be that different?

In the end, she had no idea what side she was on, and as much as she wanted to sit there and lie, blatantly, to the AI that was talking to her, she felt it was pointless since there was likely some biometrics happening that would weed it out in a heartbeat and instead she gave another lift of her shoulders.

”Kenji’s. I’ll be on Kenji’s side. At his side. Whatever.“

CONNECTIONS:

Her attachment to her brother is my entire life. The idea that she eschews most other things for him makes me feel like her brash, sort of bitchy attitude is easy to explain and understand, even if no one ever figures it out.

I will love to see her explore some romance options, whether I’m expecting them or not because that’s always fun.  I’m just excited to get into it.

HEADCANONS:

She’s reluctant to let anyone into her life for a very fundamental reason: She doesn’t want to force anyone into Kenji’s life or take her focus away from taking care of him if she can help it at all. Even though Kenji tends to bring new people in all the time, she doesn’t allow herself that same courtesy because of the fact that she feels responsible for him. She’ll never say out loud that’s the reason she pushes people away, but it is, and she’s not sorry for it. She slipped up once and she won’t do it again, so even if she seems inattentive and sort of flippant, she’s always watching Kenji.

There are several things – and points – on her person that are there to remind her and readers of Shiro. She has a spot on her otherwise black (and sporadically dyed other bright colours) hair, beneath at the nape of her neck bleached white. While they were on the run she couldn’t really keep it up but let her hair grow out more because it allowed that spot to stay rather than cutting it off altogether. She has a notebook with keepsakes from him:  a leaf from the day he disappeared; his first report card in Primary School which she nicked from her parents; several notes that she’s written over the years trying to convince herself he isn’t dead, when in reality she truly, and sadly, believes that her brother is dead and gone (the notes are kept for posterity and to remind her of what she let happen rather than any continuing investigation); a small tattoo of a white wolf along her ankle that she got as soon as she was old enough; one of his toddler toys is a prized posession of hers and has a play on her jacket. He’s never far from her character, and her love for her family – especially her brothers – is a crux of her character.

She gets about five hours of sleep at a time, mostly because she has nightmares. Some are of Shiro and the day he went missing (in which sometimes he’s replaced by Kenji and it makes it worse) and sometimes it’s the day her mom got taken. From the interview on it will also involve images of her father selling them or pushing them away and giving them up to authorities for whatever reasons he may have had, whether it’s true or not. She wakes up in a cold sweat, tells no one, and instead finds a way to keep herself occupied, often getting herself in trouble in the process. There are deep bags under her eyes but she thinks it complements her punk look and seems fine with it; at any rate, she isn’t talking about it with anyone, not even Kenji.

CHANGES:

None, you’ve let everything so open-ended I’ve been able to enact every awesome (and terrible) thought I’ve had for her

DETAILED IC INFORMATION

As you know she has a mock blog here, and I’ve been compiling a playlist for her which is here. Honestly as far as goals go? Growth. I want her to grow and expand and get a chance to be her own person within the confines of her developed self. I’m excited.

ANYTHING ELSE?

I LOVE YOU GUYS I FINALLY DID IT I FINISHED.