#Though his molt took some time training went great and quick

[awkward-parabuteo]

Season begins tomorrow!

[sambjj]

Today was a weird day. Work was awkward with all of us experiencing on-coming periods or mood swings due to work or personal issues. All in all, I still wouldn't trade those ladies in for anyone different. We all have our quirks and a shit ton of differences but as one team, we're pretty damn impenetrable. Even still, it was a work day molted with moodiness to say the least. Productive too. Then I went to jiu-jitsu and was to assist teaching kids class with Medium being that our team is away in Las Vegas for Master Worlds right now. Now THAT was something I wasn't ready for. I used to be a preschool teacher and I took care of 3-5 year olds in the span of the over a year I taught them. I know I'm a stickler for rules and kids respecting their elders.... and the annoyance of them not listening seriously took over me tonight. I found myself almost yelling (I don't think I was too harsh) because I knew for a fact they wouldn't act that way if Julian, Professor or Mrs Christy were teaching. But I remember substitutes being mean though so whatevs 😂 they shaped up really quick and started acting the way they should and they are all such great kids; it was hard not to wanna just sit and goof off at times. Zack, Sara, Chandler, and I had fun too. :) Then it was time for adult class: everyone almost showed up for that. It was awesome. Brian and I drilled together, and learned some pretty awesome escapes from the omoplata. Then I stayed for advanced class and Medium had me do progressionals with Juan, Finch, and Hemly (whom of which are white belts). At first, I was slightly jealous of wrestler Zack, and Brian getting to roll with Medium and Los, but I don't know; in the middle of a progressional, I just felt differently....I always do that. I have to give myself these lectures and talking to's inside my head to adjust to situations. I WAS a white belt, I still feel like a white belt, and I'll always be a white belt who never quit. I love my guys regardless of rank. I just also love the technical knowledge and camaraderie I share with Brian (who I got promoted with), Zack and Los. But like I said -- I love all my dudes. It used to be a hassle, fitting in with the guys sometimes. Being the only girl who trains, I guess, "as hard as a man", as I've been told, can be........ challenging. But honestly, now, I barely think about it. I find myself feeling challenged NOW attempting to relate to some women. I can talk about boys, my weekend plans, what I would like to pursue career-wise, sex, wine: all of the normalities of being a woman.... but my mannerisms, my way of joking, my way of dealing with emotions or assholes... differ completely. I don't mind it though. Professor Kev definitely helped re-shape my attitude and emotional reaction to things. Julian too. Julian can be--no, IS someone you respect and can trust with the truth, and someone who is polite and studious. But he's fucking intimidating. Don't get me wrong, his mom is too. Well fuck, the whole trio. But his presence simply demands respect. He can rip you down with one look, and you allow it to make you feel stupid. 😂 He's not a bad dude though. I appreciate it, like I said, because it made me shed that thin layer of skin I had, and grow a fucking pair. I remember when I started there. I wasn't AS timid as I used to be but I did give a lot. I gave a lot to undeserving people. I kept my mouth shut and mostly let people's words affect me. I'd be up all night wondering how I could've made things different or how I could make someone like me or how I could change to suit someone else's wants. I would cry at the drop of a hat; if you were "mean" to me, I would cry. Then Julian started barking orders and rolling his eyes when I gave an excuse. I remember feeling a sense of "wtf", "omg this is horrible, I'm horrible"... then Professor said something along the lines of "we wouldn't do it if we didn't care", and it's fucking nuts-- I started to believe him. I started to believe, that if I just didn't say "no, I can't, I won't, I'm not gonna show up, because it hurt, it sucked, someone yelled at me," I could really succeed. They didn't just tell me that and then bashed me or hurt me. They actually fucking cared and showed it. That was definitely something I wasn't used to. Anyway, now when I meet people, one of the first things they capitalize on is how confident I seem/am. It's a hit and miss some days, but in all-- I am pretty confident. Sometimes just faking it helps solidify the need to really focus on how I could better my confidence or love myself. Jiu-jitsu saved my life. Changed my life. I lost over thirty pounds, earned my blue belt, and gained such an amazing family. I need to go inside now. I've been sitting in my car, and wanted to get my thoughts out as soon as I started thinking them. I don't know who in the world would even care to read all of this.... but just typing it all out helps. Good night.

[beyondalice-rp]

Congratulations, Savanah! Your application for Raven Edgar has been accepted! You’ve been well prepared for this character since you started with the last one, so I’m confident we’ll be seeing a lot of good stuff from this guy! Thank you for finally bringing us the Oscar Isaac we’ve all desperately needed on the dash. You know what you’ve gotta do!

→ AUTHOR INFORMATION

Name (or whatever you’d like to be called): Savanah

Age/Birthday: 20 / January 8th

Pronouns/Preference(s): She/Her

Timezone: PST

Activity Level: 5-7, depending. I’ll be in and out of the dash and my activity may lag while I find a rhythm during midterms and finals (if at all)  but I am on for plotting and the like almost every day.

Anything else?: You guys need to stop making such awesome characters! ( You totally don’t. I am just weak to amazing characters).

→ BASIC CHARACTER INFORMATION

Desired Character’s Name: Raven Edgar

Age: 38

Species: Werecrow

Titles/Aliases: The Duke, Bird Brain, Asshole

Home: The Palace

Relationships: The Duchess, Lynet & Rosinda Thorne

Raven doesn’t have what you’d call…friends. Rather, he has what he affectionately-or affectionate for him, anyway-calls toys. He has never been one for companionship, never found a woman he finds appealing, romantically or otherwise, unless he’s using her to get to something. It’s his favorite game, and he plays it well.

If you thought Raven was manipulative you should have met his mother. The Duchess was a terrifying presence back when she was still among the living, but it is her teachings that stick fast with The Duke. Though he should feel grateful much of what he feels for his mother is loathing. To say that she didn’t teach him about importance and how to run the show would be wrong, but her training methods weren’t always the friendliest and he didn’t feel like he could ever go to his mother for a personal problem. Like many children raised within the aristocracy, the individual who raised him was not his mother, but a servant. That being said, he was taught to respect his betters (for the most part), and of that he had a great deal. When it comes down to it, The Duchess ruled the roost, so to speak, and Raven wanted that. He used the skills she taught him to his advantage,  but he is loathe to admit that the many issues he now has in his adult life stem from his mother’s disregard for him early on.

Lynet…oh that woman was intriguing, to say the least. She was ambitious, and proud. Raven knows he could use that, use her ambition. His mother was ambitious, but his…proclivities don’t bend that way, if you catch his meaning. He views her as a pawn in his game, as a piece to be used to gain his way to the top. If he needs to make her believe she’s being courted then, by all means, he will. But, as soon as her purpose is served she will be as useless to him as a molted feather.

Rosinda, sweet, young, doubtful Rosinda: she would be an important piece to his game, if he wanted to win it. He could play her mother like a fiddle but her? She would be harder. She is not naive, no, but she is young. And he is not. She is still in need of defining, of persuasion, and Raven is more than happy to provide that. Her mother is ambitious, that he well knows, but he cannot quite pin Rosinda down, and that is both frustrating and driving in equal measure. He knows her loyalties can be swayed, that they are not so firmly set in stone as she may want her mother or teacher (Fianna) to believe. And that, well, Raven can definitely work that to his advantage.

Three sentences (min.) on their personality:

+ Intelligent, Diplomatic, Cunning

- Deceitful, Manipulative, Greedy

As a young boy Raven was considered incredibly bright, always ahead of his age group in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This serves him well now, as he must run his own affairs, but as a boy it was often lonely. He had few like-minded peers and often spent his time in a library, where he later gained his name, or was in the presence of high-end tutors and his mother, when she deemed him old enough to learn her ways of ‘persuasion.’ He has always been sharp, always had a bird’s eye view on many situations, but his mother honed that skill and made him lethal.

His naturally manipulative nature was hidden by a diplomatic skill that has served him well during his employ to the Crimson King, cultivated by years of personal training by his mother, a key figure during the reign of the Red Queen; it has allowed him a chance to keep an eye on all the cards in the deck, to pick a few out to play with, the exact leverage he needs when he needs. His manipulative nature is one he holds close to his chest when in the presence of the King but he is unafraid to do what needs being done in order to get himself closer to his goal.

Face Claim: Oscar Isaacs

[There is a brief mention of violence towards Raven when he was a child in a memory that he describes.]

Para Sample:

(At least 2 paragraphs, 300 words minimum, in character, third-person narrative):

The sound of drink being poured into a tumbler for him bought the Duke out of his own mind. He thanked the servant with a nod and dismissed them with a flick of his hand. He had much to think about.

The Thorne women would be useful, as he well knew. Lynet was ambitious. She wanted power, a position of prestige. He could give that to her, for  price. She would be as expendable as her daughter. Sweet, young Rosinda. Raven smiled at the thought of what he could do to the both of them, how he could get them to be swayed to his side. He had been taught by the best, the cruelest. His mother had never been one to express motherly love towards her son, preferring instead the quick and hard truth of the world. The Duchess had taught her only son all she knew in the art of manipulation, what it meant to be diplomatic and yet continue to rule the room. Often, her lessons had ended with a heavy-handedness that she hid behind perfect smiles and gracious demurity. She was a viper of a woman, but Raven had learned well never to question her methods. And they would serve their purpose here and now, as they had been made to do.

Raven swirled his drink in his glass, eyes closed as he remembered a particularly brutal lesson. He had been but ten years of age, maybe a bit older. Some pompous delegate or another had come to call and he’d been instructed to sit and watch, observing all that went on and report back what he learned. His observations had not pleased her; they’d torn down her own deceptions, pointed out the dance that she and this delegate had participated in. He’d received blows for it but it taught him that perception was key to any observation, even if the other party didn’t like it.

Opening his eyes, Raven took a drink. If his observations about the Thorne women were correct, he very well could find himself with two very ‘allies,’ one ambitious enough to want it and the other doubting her king enough to consider it. A small, wry smile passed over his lips.

“Thank you, Mother.”