#district.closed

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about TJ SINCLAIR’S arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit NEEDY & SECRETIVE. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be DISCIPLINED & ZEALOUS. All we really know is they will be working as a PSYCHIC SCOUT. Someone said they saw them listening to FOLLOW YOU by BRING ME THE HORIZON on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in CLASSIQUE by the tell-tale signs, A SIGNATURE MISCHIEVOUS GRIN, A PERPETUALLY MESSY ROOM AND THE SMELL OF SOMETHING COOKING AT 2 IN THE MORNING. [ THEO ROSSI, GIFTED HUMAN, CISMALE, 37, HE/HIM ]

POWER

his power: psychic navigation (linked with empathy, telepathy and clairvoyance). TJ’s primary ability is that he is able to track down individuals who possess powers and other supernatural qualities if he’s given enough information about them – the more the better. His secondary abilities, in order of his skill with them, are empathy, telepathy, and clairvoyance, and they all come in handy given his occupation. Whether he uses those powers for good or for bad isn’t up to him any more.

strengths: Through the training in his youth, he was able to fine-tune his powers -  predominantly his mental mapping ability and the power to track down certain individuals - and was also encouraged to work on telepathy by Arthur, his reasoning being that sometimes, there was nothing more powerful than literally being inside the head of your enemy.

weaknesses: His link to Taurus seems to run deeper than just the codename. Whenever Venus, the ruling planet of Taurus, is in retrograde, his abilities seem to weaken. Secondly, the less TJ knows about a person, the harder it is for him to track them down, and the harder it is for him to get inside their head. Finally, depending on his targets own abilities, they might be able to evade or deflect his efforts to locate them. It’s not always guaranteed that he can find somebody instantly.

HEADCANONS

01: TJ doesn’t do so well on his own. Growing up with so many siblings had a lasting effect on him, and he’s never had to live on his own. He depends on other people for support amongst other things; not because he’s lazy, but because it’s all he knows how to do. TJ went through his younger years working in a close-knit group as he and his siblings embarked upon the journey of learning about their powers and gifts, at the jurisdiction of their ‘father’, Arthur.

02: His name, for about the first half of his life, was Taurus, his zodiac codename. When he got to the point of wanting to explore his identity, influenced by pop culture, he was drawn to the name Javier; Javi, for short. He began to go by TJ, as a nod to both names, and only a very select few people call him Javi, but it took him a while to get used to the new name, and for a while, if somebody called him Javier, he just… didn’t respond.

03: TJ sometimes tries to be a people pleaser, and thrives on praise, something that he always sought out during his training when he was younger. He wasn’t a teacher’s pet, so to speak, but he was scared of disappointing his peers and so he puts all of his energy into everything he does. However his good temperament can be taken advantage of, leading to him winding up in over his head in some situations.

BACKGROUND

TJ grew up without knowing his biological parents. Arthur and Julian were all he knew, and though he and the other kids referred to Arthur as their father, he often failed to demonstrate the qualities of a caring, loving dad. He was used by Arthur from a very young age to try and track down other ‘siblings’, and though Julian made sure that TJ and the other kids were never too physically or mentally exhausted, he never put a complete stop to it. This was something that TJ would remember for the rest of his life, knowing that his childhood could have been something so different.

He wasn’t always a people pleaser but that attitude was practically bullied into him. Very rarely did he stand up for himself against Arthur, but whenever he did, he ended up in solitary confinement; that was, a small room that acted like a jammer and stopped any of his special abilities from working. TJ grew to hate the room so much that he became more of a pushover, so to speak; he didn’t want to end up in that room and he didn’t want to disappoint Arthur, so from there, his eager-to-please nature was born, for the sake of his sanity and avoiding that No-Power Miserable Solitary Confinement Room.

He didn’t move away from home until he had somebody to move in with. TJ was terrified of moving into an unfamiliar place all by himself, because he knew how much he hated  The Room, and because all he knew was constant company of some kind. Plus when he was in silence on his own, his thoughts got a little loud, and he hated that; especially knowing that given his telepathy, he could slip up and some poor neighbour would learn of his turmoil.

CONNECTIONS

01: the first person who employed TJ to do dirty work. They are one of his main employers when it comes to illegal jobs and bounty-type tracking, hiring him to use his powers to hunt people down, usually for them to be brought in and thus meet a horrible fate before TJ’s very eyes. He is completely under their thumb, knowing that if he tells anybody about what he does for them and what he’s seen, then he’ll meet the same fate as those he tracks down for them.

02: his best friend and effectively, his better half. TJ quickly gets very emotionally attached to those he cares about and this person is no exception to that. One of the first people he crossed paths with after taking the huge step of leaving his family home, they started out as friends and became roommates along the way; eventually growing closer and closer until the chemistry between them could hardly be ignored; with the exception of TJ, in which case, he probably wouldn’t recognise romance unless it hit him like a brick to the face. [this connection can either be started as a new but established romantic relationship, or with TJ and said character only just beginning to realise their feelings.]

TJ IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY KEE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about VIESSA SHADE’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit POSSESSIVE & CARELESS. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be AMBITIOUS & DAUNTLESS. All we really know is they will be working at MYST as a PSYCHIC. Someone said they saw them listening to I WILL NOT BOW BY BREAKING BENJAMIN on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the BORDELLO by the tell tale signs, BENDING EVERY RULE JUST ENOUGH TO GET AWAY WITH IT, MAY THE BRIDGES BURNED LIGHT THE WAY, A GOLDEN CAGE IS STILL A CAGE, BARE FEET IN THE MORNINGS, THE TOUCH OF VELVET, HICKEY COVERED NECKS, CANDLES BURNING IN THE DARK, & MEMORIES THAT NEVER LEAVE YOUR MIND. [ TATI GABRIELLE, SORCERESS, DEMI FEMALE, UNKNOWN, SHE/HER&THEY/THEM ]

(trigger warnings) strong themes of abuse, forced servitude, rxpe, and violence/murder.

Before she became Viessa Shade, she was a baron’s daughter. Born only a few years after her elder sister, they were raised side-by-side. They ran as equals and friends, sharing ideas and thoughts and songs together. She knew she’d never be anything higher and that was fine with her- something inside her always told her whispers of a greater fate outside of their castle.

Viessa never dreamed of becoming anything beyond a baroness, though she always admired those in other stations and walks of life. She remembers meeting many in her younger years, the light they brought to the forest on their arrival. She remembers the warmth of a dragon’s breath and the laughter of adults when she skitters away from fear of the giant beasts. She remembers magic and spells and how the villagers came to life when the pellers came to visit. Fate once again whispered in her ear that soon she’ll be away from this place and she would see the world.

But before that could happen, this girl would suffer.

Stolen away in the night, Viessa was stripped of her clothes and dignity on her twelfth name day. A small child, unable to defend herself or hold any weaponry, she was made from an innocent soul to a broken and tormented thing. Only thirteen summers old and she was forever changed that night. The captors knew who she was by light of day and too fearful of retaliation to allow her freedom. Instead they sold her, putting a silver hoop through her nose that marked her as a servant.

The once noble daughter was told to have been killed, although no body was ever found. Her mother, father, and sister searched the forest tirelessly for any sign of her, only to be driven back to their homes on encounters with the wild creatures of the nights. None had seen the youngest daughter, none of the other races or species cared to help their search. Finally, after five summers, the searches stopped. But Viessa wasn’t free yet.

Now seventeen summers old, the once child held only distant memories of her home. Magic coursed through her veins, barely out of reach from the sorceress. For you see, the captors had learned one night that she was no ordinary daughter but a witch’s spawn. They forced a potion to her daily to dampen her magic, making her unable to use it. Barely awake, a shell of the girl she once was. Traded hands a few times at this point, she was nineteen when the first gentle hand touched her.

She wanted to scream but found herself unable to, stuck within her body she could hardly control. His fingers were softer than any she experienced before, tears poured down her cheeks. Wiped away with those silken fingers, he shushed her many times. He was but a simple man of simple means, though she never asked how he acquired her. She dared never speak, fear of a raised hand at any sound was constant. He never did. He never touched her but to wipe away tears and wash away dirt, to clean wounds.

Distant memories stirred within her but faded at the first light of each day, dreams just there on the horizon but never close enough to find. She wondered each night if that would be the night he took her but he never did. She did small tasks for him and he never asked for anything. When his hair started to grey and his skin wither in the sun she knew- he was dying. It wouldn’t be for years that Viessa understood he only wanted a warmth in his home he’d lost years before. She had reminded him of his late wife and as he aged, becoming less and less of himself, he wanted one last memory before slipping away.

But yet she wouldn’t find freedom at his passing either. Now twenty three summers old, Viessa was stronger than she’d been before with a clearer mind, a sharper view. He hadn’t used any potion to weaken her, he hadn’t been afraid of her or what she was. He knew, he understood, and he had hoped for her freedom after but she’d been taken just as quickly as she’d been bought, passed to the next hand that wanted her.

The first night he took her as a slave. Her hair was cut and burned, the ring in her nose ripped and replaced many times over weeks. But she knew not to eat or drink anything given to her. A plan formed in her mind: escape at the cost of anything, even if that meant her life. She’d rather die than suffer anymore of this life. They made a grave error, though. He did not know what he owned, who he took every night. His mistake lay in taking her to court. She was dressed in rags and her hair nearly gone, but she still looked like a fighter. The court was in an uproar, the long missing daughter returned! Viessa’s sister, now a woman herself, angered at the sight of her sister in such a state. She set him afire and watched his body burn in the middle of court. She dared anyone to step near them and face a burning death.

Home, but in a place she did not know. Missing so many years Viessa did not call this place her home anymore. She was without a home, without a family. Many times they tried but the girl was too empty, fearful, broken. Days turned to weeks and weeks into months, Viessa couldn’t call it home. She could barely call them family, though a bond tugged at her heart she couldn’t deny. Anger, fear, resentment all coursed through her. How could they give up the search so quickly, how could they give up on her? She set them aflame as anger poured into the magic and fear controlled it. Decades of untapped and uncontrolled magic threatened to bring the forest down. Thankfully it was saved and she was put into sleep.

She awoke a year later, now twenty four and less angry. In her dreams she’d spoken to a voice that soothed her, comforted her, and promised to heal her. But she would have to be patient, for they weren’t yet to meet. So Viessa waited, she practiced her wild magic and formed her skills that were kept from her. She learned that she was a wonderful sorceress, a horrid two handed-sword wielder, and an excellent psychic. Singing became her solace and with it she learned to control magic.

One year after her awakening, she met the source of the voice in her dreams. Another witch, with eyes and hair as black as night. He promised her gifts and control if she were to leave with him to another land and so she left. These lands had never felt like home and so she went.

In her new place many times she was reprimanded for harming others, though she tried to defend herself. They’d touched her, you see, and she hated being touched. She feared the brush of another’s hand so much that she lashed out and harmed them. In order to quell her anger, her new teacher would often put her in trances and sleeps that lasted days to months to years, Viessa never knew the timeline anymore. She soon forgot her own age, her family, and her purpose. Others started to grow old and die around her and it became clear she wasn’t just a witch but a sorceress, a being of immeasurable power. She stopped aging long ago but she’s unsure as of when.

Eventually, her tutor and those around her either passed or moved on in life. Once again, she was alone. In this moment, she created her new self- her name and her story. Viessa Shade, the immortal flame. Sorceress. Travelling the world from place to place, growing and changing with the times. She watched as civilizations rose and fell, kings came to power and the people seized it from the crown. She aided in building worlds and destroying lands, whatever gave her the desire and the world.

WC 001. A coven of witches that Viessa seems to have gotten to follow her. They practice darker magics, often those frowned upon by other practitioners and have banded together in solidarity and necessity. Viessa keeps them safe and in return, they do her bidding from time to time.

WC 002. What’s life without a little spice. Another immortal that seems to have caught Viessa’s attention- either good or bad is yet to be determined. These two keep crossing paths as if the fates themselves are playing a hand in this and it’s either ends in bloodshed or cities burning when the two get together. She can’t tell if she hates this person or if they’re something more to her.

WC 003. Many years, many enemies. Viessa did something to slight them ages ago and they have yet to let it go. Tracking the sorceress down from land to land, they’re intent on making her pay for whatever crimes she’s committed over the years.

VIESSA IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY D.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about JAY MCADAMS’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit AFFABLE & INSIGHTFUL Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be ANXIOUS & SELF-CRITICAL. All we really know is they will be working at/as a PEDIATRIC NURSE. Someone said they saw them listening to REHAB BY MACHINE GUN KELLY on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the METRO STATION by the tell tale signs, EMPTY PILL BOTTLES ROLLING ACROSS THE FLOOR, A FIERY CAR CRASH, SHAKY HANDS PULLING AT THE WHITE HOSPITAL BRACELET, A CRYSTAL BOWL FILLED WITH ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS CHIPS. [ MATTHEW DADDARIO, GHOST, CISMALE, 30, HE/HIM ]

HEADCANONS

Jay went into pediatrics due to his little sister. His little sister was his best friend growing up, and after losing her, Jay found himself gravitating towards young kids. He seemed to find ways to see her in other little kids, and he wanted to dedicate his life to children.

Jay only wears superhero themed scrubs to work. When he was in his residency, he learned that the superheros seemed to make the kids smile the most, and he decided to wear nothing but those after that.

His biggest struggle after getting out of rehab the second time was finding more positive coping mechanisms. Jay has small scars on his upper arms from scratching himself during panic attacks as a way to bring himself back to earth. He started carrying his AA chips in his pockets, and when he gets nervous or scared he holds them in his hands and rubs it. The smooth grooves somehow bring him back to earth.

BACKGROUND

Jay’s life had been full of nothing but ups and downs. He had a happy childhood. His parents were together, and Jay was an only child until he was 15. His parents had a miracle baby and Jay was given a baby sister. Jay’s baby sister was his favorite person in the entire world. He was so attached to her and he never knew he needed a sister in his life. When she was two, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. His sister fought bravely for years, but, at age 5, she passed away. Jay was in his sophomore year of college, and he was completely devastated.

His sister’s death was when his unhealthy coping began. He started drinking too much with his friends. One night, things went too far. Jay and his friends got behind the wheel of a car with too much to drink. They swerved into oncoming traffic and were hit head on. The car burst into flames and Jay’s friends were killed. He was pulled from the wreck barely alive and covered in burns. His body was 50% burned.

While in the hospital, Jay was pumped full of pain medication and was given a prescription after leaving the hospital. It wasn’t long before he was a slave to his pills. At first, he took them as a way to help him sleep, but it wasn’t long before he needed pills to function every day. He always pushed his limits with how many he took, and, one day, he took far too many. His mother found him passe

Jay was sent to rehab after finishing his stay in the hospital. After rehab, Jay returned to school and finished his degree. He later started a job in a pediatric unit at the local hospital as a registered nurse. His life was going great, and he hadn’t been happier. His nightmares had eased up, and Jay felt as if his life was finally coming together. He was doing what he meant to do and everything as great.

Six months ago, Jay’s nightmares slowly came back into his life. It was hard to sleep again, and it wasn’t long before he fell back into old habits. He started taking his pills again, and history quickly repeated itself. This time, however, Jay accidentally succeeded in his overdose. He woke up weeks later in his apartment. He was disoriented and confused. There was a white hospital band on his arm, and he had no memory of the hospital. So, he called the hospital out of curiosity. The woman behind the phone was thoroughly confused as Jay McAdams had passed away a month ago. 

His entire life was gone. He was dead. After all the times he’d cheated death, here he was. However, when Jay left his apartment, he discovered the people could still see him. Maybe he could go on about his life the best he could. He started a new job at a new hospital, but he finds it difficult to go too far from his home or the walk to the hospital. It’s as if there’s a constant pull keeping him there, and Jay can’t quite figure out what that might be.

JAY IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY SYD.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about LYDIA TATUM’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit HUBRISTIC & CHILDISH. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be IDEALISTIC & CURIOUS. All we really know is they will be working at/as a JEWELRY STORE CLERK. Someone said they saw them listening to PRIMADONNA BY MARINA & THE DIAMONDS on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the INNER HARBOUR by the tell tale signs, AN EXTENSIVE JEWELRY COLLECTION, PINK AND GOLD GLITTER LEFT BEHIND IN A PORCELAIN TUB BY BATH BOMBS, DIAMOND & HEART NECKLACES, PINK LIPGLOSS, AND ALWAYS BEING BAREFOOT. [ MADELYN CLINE, MERMAID, CIS FEMALE, 25, SHE/HER ]

HEADCANONS

Lydia is pescatarian. it’s what she is used to, considering there are no swimming cows or chickens, she has stuck to her diet, which is vegetarian and fish. She has perhaps tried beef & poultry once or twice but isn’t the biggest fan. She’s boujee, she likes sushi pls.

Standing on her feet, Lydia stands to a whole 5′4″. However, with her tail and while in water, she is a whopping 6′2″.  She is not exactly used to her shorter stature on land so her attitude be 6′2″ even when she is definitely not standing that tall, or anywhere near it.

CONNECTIONS

The man she was once engaged to, she barely got to know him. She did not care to because she knew she would never  actually marry him, but she would know who he is.  

Her brothers, Ryder or Xavier, whose backstories/details can obviously be jumbled around and rewritten should you have any questions. Just that one would be current royalty and one is out casted.

BACKGROUND

She was born to a royal merfolk family, and raised in royalty. Lydia has never had to worry about anything in her entire life. If it wasn’t her parents doting on her, her community was spoiling her entirely. She has also never worked a day in her life and it shows.

Lydia was never taught the notion of treating everyone the same, or as you wanted to be treated. there is a difference in how she treats people based on class, as terrible as it sounds.  (not race, let me make that perfectly fucking clear, she judges based on social / financial standing) the treat the janitor and CEO with the same respect does not compute in her mind because no one ever taught it to her. It’s shitty, yeah, but it’ll slowly come out of her the longer she is within The District.

She was raised with two older brothers, the eldest (Ryder) being groomed to take over should anything ever happen to their father, or for when he passed. Her second brother (Xavier), once learning that he would be nothing but a spare heir, left their home and was never really heard from again. Now, the pressure was on Lydia to follow in the right footsteps and not fuck up. She figured it was simple, she was a woman, she wouldn’t have to take over any thrown. She, in her mind, literally didn’t have to do anything and would still live a lavish life and be served to her heart’s desire. This was not true.

When she was eighteen, it was brought to her attention that she was to be married. Not just married either, which she figured would happen eventually, but married to someone picked years prior by her parents and she had no say in the matter. Not in the wedding, the marriage or her future husband. Having always gotten what she wanted and not wanting this, none of this sat well with her. She slowly came to realize why her brother took off.

One night, after deciding she would follow in Xavier’s footsteps rather than Ryder’s, she slipped into Ryder’s room to talk with him. She went on about how she missed their brother dearly and just wished she could talk to him again, even just once. She laid it on thick, just until Ryder admitted to knowing where their brother was and that he had been keeping it secret to protect Xavier. With the new information, Lydia left and took off just as Xavier had.

She went straight for her brother, and it was a little harder than she expected to keep out of sight of … well everyone who knew who she was. Her disappearance from her family was no secret; they were royalty and now the youngest and only daughter was gone without a trace, and within the week leading up to her wedding no less.

Finding her brother took longer than she would have liked but it happened. She, however, was not met kindly. Despite keeping in contact with Ryder, Xavier wanted nothing to do with their family. Especially not the perfect, spoiled rotten princess who was evidently the family favourite. Turns out he had been keeping in contact with Ryder just to save his own ass should they ever start looking for him, he would know. She was left out of her brother’s life and home, and made to fend for herself. Except she has no fucking idea how.

She wandered the waters for a while, maybe a year or so, trying to make it on her own and failing miserably. Finally, coming to the surface, she caught wind of a place mentioned as The District. What better place to hide from a merman than on land? She pulled herself from the water and started life there promptly.

Another problem quickly arose, and by quickly it was all of, hm, five seconds on land: she has never been out of the water. Legs? Brand new. Not being royal or the center of attention, and people not having to listen or serve her? Also new.

She came across a little store along the harbour that was the first thing to have any sense of familiarity. A little jewelry store, and she was definitely used to having these kinds of jewels and diamonds in her life. She was given a job as a clerk.

She spent her nights in the water, needing the comfort, until she had saved up enough cash from her job to get herself her own place. It’s a small apartment, water front of course, but it’s just enough for her. She wishes it to be bigger, much bigger, but she is finding that life on her own is a lot fucking different than life under her parents’ wealth. She is also realizing that people don’t give a fuck that she was once royalty. That one was a hard pill to swallow.

LORE

can sprout her little mermaid tail only when in salt water.

ability to breathe underwater

communicate with aquatic life, not full on conversing/talking but there is communication.

LYDIA IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY SUNFIRE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about SALOME EL AYOUBI arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit MERCURIAL & OBDURATE. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be MAGNETIC & AUREATE. All we really know is they will be working as the OWNER of GRIPPING (OCCULT BOOKSTORE). Someone said they saw them listening to JUDAS by BANKS on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in BORDELLO by the tell tale signs, PAINTED LIPS ANNOUNCING LAUGHTER AS A DEFLECTION, THE CONSTANT REMINDER OF DEEP PURPLE BRUISES & BLOOD DRIPPING FROM THE TIP OF A DULL KNIFE. [ NATACHA KARAM, AGRIPPA, CIS FEMALE, UNKNOWN, SHE/HER ]

BACKGROUND

Some will tell you they enjoy not knowing, the luxury of absolution without actually having to ask for it. Salome was not some. Salome was the screaming voice in the distance, the one demanding answers to questions she hadn’t even yet whispered to herself. It wasn’t an entitled desire for proactivity, but instead a silent bout of self preservation. You couldn’t be destroyed, couldn’t be caged again if it meant that you were the only one who knew where to find the right shackles. Robbed of her own origin sorry, the same story that held the keys that kissed her to sleep, the ones that would hand craft her freedom.

Personal pre-occupation aside, there were things that she did know. So many, in fact, it was a constant surprise that it all could be called to the tip of her tongue for the right price or prize. The names of every demon in the order they had been created and called upon, the spells that could easily crumble cities, bring men to their knees. A living, breathing memory and map to all that had ever touched magic, or ever felt the grace of a spell on their tongues, caressing their fingertips. It’s designed to make it feel like an honor, like wielding that kind of power was freeing, like it was a reward. It all sounded so appealing, and maybe it was, until the truth would unfold.

Centuries spent on the shelves of clueless men and women that didn’t know what really lived inside. They couldn’t, until the pain came. Pages didn’t feel, they didn’t bleed, and they didn’t bruise. Perhaps it should have been comical, the look of surprise, the face value of shock and awe when the last kick to the dog when it was down was her appearance. How fast those pages came to life, bruised and beaten, all for a mere glimpse of the knowledge that was hidden behind busted lips and near broken defiance. She always held true, though. Never were they allowed access to whatever foolish, mundane want they thought needed, until they looked in the face - her face - and knowingly spit in it.

Currency came in back hand lessons and bruised curriculum. It was the only way, but eventually she started to remember. Instead of suffering every blow she was tortured with for the information, she repeated. Recounted every deal, ever detail, until it was the memory that was hammered into her instead of the hurt. It wasn’t until she started smiling, giggling, laughing through bloodstained teeth that they realized the mistakes they’d made. She’d whispered it the first time...

Your God’s gone home without you.

The second time, she hadn’t realized but she had been screaming it. Your God has gone home, repeated like the most sickening broken record, as the storybook turned sentient. The pages fell away, and the greatest tragedy had been left behind: Shakesphere could have never. She was whole now, having broken the chains that tied her to her temporary tomb. Five steps, ten steps, Salome made it to the next village before she started to feel the truth settle in her broken bones.

The book, what was left of the tattered cover she’d clawed her way out of, had to come with her. Bare feet walked for miles before she reached the first real piece of civilization just to burn it for sport. She needed to know what it felt like to watch it come apart, to finally trade in the victim card for the victor. She still doesn’t know if it was the flames or the freedom that warmed her that night, but it was a feeling she’d chase for years before finally tiring of the frivolous journey.

She was still starved for separation, after all. Hauling around the scraps of her own prison walls was a house of memories she never wanted to build a foundation for. Witch after witch, demon after demon, some of them with familiar faces, until finally the puzzle began to come together. The emancipation of Salome El Ayoubi, it was a series, not a single shot. The story is still being written, but it led her to The District decades ago. Her tether is smaller now, magic dedicated to reducing it to ash for aesthetic. It hung in a gold locket, permanently fixed to her neck, for now. Ironically enough, it took, is in the same shape of the same cover that once contained her.

She tells herself she stays for the chance, the way the town is always teaming with new answers, new opportunity. That might be part of it, but there is a home on these streets. A home she has chosen, a home that will never force her into pedestal nor shelf again. A home, that most importantly? Was hers, and only hers. She’d shared her space for too long, now her suffering had an address, and let the writers tell it, that was the first step in healing the scars that were constantly aching like ghost limbs. Bordello tasted like her favorite flavor of sin, the red lights flashing felt like a neon savior, and it seemed like a fine one to ask for salvation: a single sacrifice that just might seek out all the bits and pieces she’s been missing.

ABILITIES

Demon Summoning

Supernatural Condition/Combat

Death/Desire Sense

Magic Use/Spell Casting or Creating

Memory Vessel/Sense and/or Enhanced Perception

Contract Negation

Power Replication

WEAKNESSES

Entity Tethering

Certain Bindings

Memory Trade/Lapse

Certain powers only manifest after prolonged physical damage/Physical Damage

Familiar Bond

Certain Religious Bindings/Boundaries

HEADCANONS

HC 01: Due to the abundance of time that Salome spent as quite literally a book on a shelf, she opened the bookstore to try and make sure that no one else would ever suffer the same fate. Every cover that passes through her shop is checked thoroughly for signs of life, in any sense of the word. Furthermore, while the shop does offer regular magical books and other niche findings, if you talk nice enough to her, she can show you the real treasure trove of knowledge and history alike, tucked in the back and protected by a magic that is even stronger, and older than she is. Salome also collects or seeks out specialty items, books most think are only “myths”, or anything that might carry a legend to it that could either give her insight to her own, or be another of her kind.4

HC 02: As a sentimental reminder, one of the only she indulges in, she celebrates her birthday on the day she was liberated from her constraints, or the ashes of the book she now wears around her neck. Most people don’t even know the difference, assuming she knows very well where, where, and what she was born as. The party always incorporates fire, whether it be a bonfire, some kind of fire theme, or at the very least, the dress she wears is red. It’s the one night a year she tells herself that she feels as warm as she did the night she spent dancing in the flames of the ruin she’d created. Or, at least that’s the only time she typically admits easily to it.

HC 03: When she is alone, she often hums or sings. Salome doesn’t know if she had a childhood or if she just doesn’t remember it. Due to that, the songs and nursery rhymes are “borrowed”. This means she picked the up during her times collecting dust, spying on intimate moments and family gatherings, or from the people she has met along the way. The most emotional way she seems to have gathered these tunes is from the memories of others, filled with emotion she either doesn’t understand, or can’t wait to meet.

CONNECTIONS

WC 01: Connecting with the above wanted connection, someone who has come across Salome when she was singing or humming a song that is also a shared memory for them. Picture coming into the shop and hearing a tune only you and your lost lover knew, or one that your mother coined especially for you and your siblings, or while you’re picking up the morning paper you hear a hauntingly beautiful voice singing your favorite tune, through the open window of the nearby bookstore, type of thing. Again, this could have been in the past, or something that happens via active thread, and the interaction can be as positive or as negative as agreed upon or discussed when plotted.

WC 02: Some of Salome’s memories are not her own. Due to the unpredictable nature of her powers when it relates to memories, storing memories, sharing them, or absorbing them. This can sometimes make her experiences with deja vu quite unique. She is also prone to stopping and staring, or watching too closely when trying to recall why or how someone is familiar to her. It would be great to thread out this interaction, or even just use it as a starting point for something more detailed.

WC 03: Due to Salome’s unique skill/power set, she can negate any contract, including the ones made by and with demons. It takes a lot out of her both physically and mentally, and when she does, she experiences most of the contractee’s memories in rapid fire fashion. I would love to see someone who she has done this for, someone who wants her to do this for them, or the alternate side, a demon or other deal making supernatural being whose contract was negated by her (recently or otherwise).

SALOME IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY BISHOP.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about ORION GREYSON’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit MISCHIEVOUS & DECEITFUL. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be PLAYFUL & CUNNING. All we really know is they will be working at DREAM PAWN as a CLERK. Someone said they saw them listening to TEETH by 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in FOCALE by the tell tale signs, THE SOUND OF GOLD COINS JINGLING IN POCKETS, BLOODY HANDS AND A MISCHIEVOUS SMILE, FRESH BAKED BREAD IN THE MORNING, AND A QUIET HUM THAT DRAWS YOU IN . [ FROY GUTIERREZ, MERFOLK, CIS MALE, 854, HE/HIM]

CONNECTIONS

Pod Members: Orion wasn’t one to stay in the pod for too long, but would visit from time to time. He may have developed friends, rivals, or possible on/off again romantic interests through this.

The Traveling Merchant: Orion spent a good amount of time on land in the 1800s and stayed with a traveling merchant group during that time. This connection would be for one of the merchants or their descendants. He would often be the “security” for the group taking care of any who tried to rob them or act in any aggressive way towards the group.

The Protege: The person is a merfolk assigned to Orion by the pod leader to be looked after. They may be similar to him or completely different in personality. Regardless of personality he will probably see them as a nuisance.

HEADCANONS

Orion loves only two things. Baked goods and gold. He would take down ships just to steal their gold for himself. Something about the color and shape of the coins draws him in. Most of his stash lies in the bottom of the Norwegian Sea.

Ever since he was little Orion was not one to shy away from blood and death. He’s not one to go looking for that kind of trouble unless you wronged him or he finds you interesting though. But he believes if you get in his way you’ll get what’s coming to you.

BACKGROUND

Orion was born in the cold waters of the Norwegian Sea to a large pod of merfolk. He was the first child of their leader and was given the title of crown prince at his birth.

Early on the pod knew Orion would be trouble. He was a peculiar child and would often refuse to listen to older mers instead going off on his own to explore the deeper part of oceans. The deeper Orion swam the more he felt at home. It was something about the cold dark waters that made him feel at peace.

As he got older he would leave the pod for days to explore both the deep sea and land. Sometimes others would come with him to explore while other times he was alone.

Among his travels he found humans very interesting and began to to observe them . They seemed to fight over trivial things and spend a majority of their lives building things up to only have their descendants tear them down.  His first real encounter with a human ended in bloodshed when they tried to harm another mer that had been with him. That was when he learned of their mortality and how weak they were. He lost interest in them soon after.

After a while he started leaving the pod for greater times spanning over decades that soon turned into centuries. He never bonded with many in the pod and even the ones he liked couldn’t hold his interest. Orion only returned out of a small sense of obligation to his Mother. She hoped he would one day take over, but they both knew that was a pipe dream especially when he once again took interest in land dwellers.

In present times Orion can be found entertaining himself at the expense of others or snacking on the many offering at a bakery.

POWERS

Shapeshifting

Siren’s Song

Hydrokinesis

Telepathy

Enhanced Healing in Merform

WEAKNESSES

Bronze Weapons-  slows healing process

Fire Magic

Fatal Wounds

ORION IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY EVA.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about SIMON SINCLAIR’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit RESERVED & SECRETIVE. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be UNDERSTANDING & RESILIENT. All we really know is they will be working as a HERBALIST. Someone said they saw them listening to MEMORIES BY THUTMOSE on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, THE CALMING SCENT OF TEA, BIRDS CHIRPING IN THE EARLY MORNING, AFTERNOONS SPENT IN THE GARDEN, A HALF HEARTED SMILE THAT HIDES SECRETS, AND EYES THAT FOLLOW YOUR EVERY MOVE. [ WINSTON DUKE, FAE, CIS MALE, 33, HE/HIM]

CONNECTIONS

The Apprentice: This person would be interested in either learning how to become an herbalist, skills in magic, or both. Simon doesn’t claim to be a master in any of these fields, but is always willing to help.

Fellow Fae: Simon never got the chance to learn about the history of fae or have a connection with fairyland. This person would introduce him to those things. They may even be his blood family.

The Gemini: This person is the human Simon was switched out with. For whatever reason the fae decided to let the human child live.

HEADCANONS

Simon is a vegan and loves to cook. He didn’t get to as a child, but now on his own he’s able to create and play with different flavors. He keeps a private garden stocked with in season fruits and vegetables.

He doesn’t talk about it, but he sees a therapist for the trauma he experienced as a child. He started seeing them after his nightmares became too haunting and he stopped sleeping. He describes them as his “friend”. People probably assume he’s seeing someone romantically during their scheduled appointments.

Simon makes a wonderful pot of tea and will often mix things in for different ailments. He used to trick his father with a sleeping tea to make it easier for his siblings to leave in the middle of the night.

BACKGROUND

Simon was barely a month old when he was taken in by a man named Arthur after his “parents” discovered the boy was not theirs. The small baby they had cared for so lovingly was a changeling. Their human son had been taken away late one night and switched out for him. The man promised to help them find their true child, but simply wanted the baby fae for his own purposes.

The boy was raised to think his sole purpose was to serve Arthur in whatever capacity the man wished. Simon was drilled into thinking that his life was not his own. And unfortunately he was not the only one. Simon had other “siblings” in the same situation as him. To add salt to his wound the boy was stripped of his identity and given the codename “Gemini” after the twin starsign to complete his assimilation with the others.

As far back as Simon can remember his daily schedule was get up, eat, and train. His training was physical, mental, and emotional. The boy was often made to run until his legs gave way or fight against another sibling that was far more powerful than him. Arthur was trying to trigger his powers early on in life to be a better tool for his use. It was far too tiring and stressful for someone so young, but Simon put up with it. He hated being one of the weakest ones and being reminded why he was abandoned in the first place.

It wasn’t the training that finally triggered his powers though but an emotional response. Simon had a secret pet bird that he would come feed before training in the morning. He often would bring bits of fruit and whatever else he could save from his previous meal. Simon appeared that morning and called for the bird, but instead his father appeared holding the bird. Before Simon could explain the man snapped the bird’s neck and dropped it to the ground stating it was his punishment for keeping secrets.

Simon doesn’t remember anything after that. The world went white and he awoke in his bed. Later he was told that his powers activated and he formed a protective cocoon around himself. He stayed in there for three days before the cocoon withered away. His training resumed the next day as if nothing happened. He was different though. He was able to bend plants to his will with ease and became better at it each day. His confidence went up as well and he was able to better bond with his siblings. It seemed things were finally starting to look up for the boy.

None of this truly mattered to him though. He couldn’t forgive himself or his father for what he had done and promised himself he would never let something like that happen to him or his siblings ever again. He would find a way out for them all.

ABILITIES

Plant Manipulation

Slowed Aging

Zoolingualism

Healing

WEAKNESSES

Fire Magic

Iron and Iron Weapons - burns and slows healing process

Steal Weapons -  slows healing process

SIMON IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY EVA.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about WILLOW NIGHTS’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit CYNICAL & VENGEFUL. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be GENEROUS & ADAPTABLE. All we really know is they will be working as a STRIPPER MANAGER. Someone said they saw them listening to DANDELION BY GABBIE HANNA on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in BORDELLO by the tell tale signs, BLOOD STAINED IVORY BATHTUBS, PRICELESS HANDPICKED JEWELS, A PLAYFUL SMILE, THE SCENT OF ROSES, AND LONELINESS HIDDEN BEHIND A FACADE . [ LEE JI EUN, VAMPIRE, CIS FEMALE, 401, SHE/HER]

CONNECTIONS

Her Sire: Willow was turned around 374 years ago by an unknown party. She has not seen or heard from her sire all these years that she knows of. Why they left her or secretly stayed by her side is up to the player.

Her First Love: Willow has always known she liked girls, but being brought up in the church she was expected to marry a man and have his children. That didn’t stop her from stealing glances in the market or secretly meeting up with her first love underneath the stars.

The Runaway: This person lives with Willow and is hiding from someone or something. They would have made a deal with Willow that is equally beneficial for them both.

HEADCANONS

Willow hates sour things with a passion. She still retains her taste from when she was human, but doesn’t need food to live. The vampire prefers foods with an unami or sweet flavor.

She collects rare stones and gems that she has made into jewelry from across the world as a pastime. Among her favorites are rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts and onyx.

Willow has always been an advocate for women’s rights and LGBT+ rights throughout the years. She’s given to several charities and hosted numerous fundraisers.

BACKGROUND

Willow was born in 1619 in colonial America to a traveling pastor and his wife. They were a South Korean couple brought along with Portuguese explorers and investors to help spread catholicism to the local population. Unfortunately Willow’s Mother died during childbirth leaving her father to raise her.

As a child Willow would often be seen running around with the local children rather than studying the bible as her father would have liked. He never really scolded the girl too much as long as she didn’t get into trouble. It wasn’t until she got older that her father became more strict with her and her lessons. Most of her days were spent between bible lessons and lessons on how to be a good wife.

Willow didn’t mind the lessons though she loved to learn and to spend time with her father. The only part that bothered her was the thought of marriage. Every time she brought it up the answer was always the same. She would marry a man.

Ever since she was a child she knew she was attracted to girls. She would ask her father why she couldn’t marry a woman instead and he would laugh it off as a silly child’s question.

When she became of age Willow tried her hardest to ward off any and all suitors. She would seem loud and unladylike in front of them and their advances. There were times she would even meet a potential suitor covered in mud from head to toe. This lasted on for years until her father surprised her with a meeting and a proposal was made.

Willow considered running away, but her father knew that she would attempt to and kept her locked in her room. Willow was getting old and her father feared no one would marry her. She begged for him to let her out, but he only would for meals and church until the day she was to be married. One particular Sunday service she felt ill and got up to leave, but ended up fainting in front of everyone.

The local doctor was out of town and wouldn’t be back for a week. Willow ended up passing away after days of waiting for proper treatment. She was buried right outside of town in a wooden coffin.

Three days later Willow was revived. It felt like she had just woken up from a dream turned nightmare when she had realized she was buried alive. She was able to claw her way out of the grave and made her way back to town. Willow expected the town to be happy for her return, but instead they captured her and tied her to a post to be burned at the stake out of fear that witchcraft was involved. She cried out for her father, but when he appeared he was the one carrying the torch. Something broke inside her at that moment. She managed to break free of her binds, grab her father’s torch, and lit the town on fire.

Not looking back Willow left. She decided that day nobody would ever tell her what she was and how she was supposed to live.

POWERS

Enhanced Strength

Enhanced Speed

Enhanced Healing

Creation of other Vampires

WEAKNESSES

Fatal Wounds

Dismemberment

Fire/Fire Magic

Vervain

WILLOW IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY EVA.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about HAL MONROE-DEVEREAUX’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit HEDONISTIC & UNGUARDED. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be CHARMING & COMPASSIONATE. All we really know is they will be working at/as a FLORIST. Someone said they saw them listening to RAIN BY BEN PLATT on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, WELL-LOVED LEATHER, PEONY TATTOOS AND WARM TOUCHES. [ JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN, WEREWOLF, CISMALE, 54, HE/HIM]

STRENGTHS

Minor injuries tend to mend themselves faster than the average human- major injuries, on the other hand, he still needs assistance with.

Heightened sense of smell.

He can shift to a wolf, big surprise.

WEAKNESSES

Hal is not immune to the draw of the full moon, and can’t stop the shifts that occur on those nights.

Wolfsbane, silver

“Halward”

Tai Monroe- Devereaux

HEADCANONS

Hal is soft of heart- he always has been. He’s a homebody, big brother, and can always be found trying to offer love to those who need it. He’s been known to take flowers to the old folks home, step in as an uncle figure to those who need it.

CONNECTIONS

Renter. There is a two-bedroom apartment above Monroe-Devereaux Flowers that Hal rents out for dirt cheap. It’s not very modern- Hal grew up there- but it’s functional, clean, and stuff gets fixed quickly, with him just downstairs most days.

Right-hand. Manager at Monroe-Devereaux Flowers. Hal had to take over care of his partner’s greenhouse when he went to prison, so this person would be a full-time employee he trusts with the flower shop

Someone who has known him forever. Hal has lived in town his entire life- from being a feral little child fighting with his brother, to a moody teenager, to spending his young adulthood in a few too many beds, to now- the cheeky bastard that he is. His mother lived in town her whole life before him, so this person could have known her.

BACKGROUND

Halward Frederick Monroe was born fifty-four years ago on an otherwise normal morning, to human mother Sarah Monroe- and a presumably-werewolf, but completely absent father. Immediately after him, his brother Dante was born- ruining all peace in his life at just a few minutes old. He was named after his grandfather- but nobody has ever called him a full “Halward” seriously.

Hal was three when his mom opened what was then Monroe Flowers- and is now Monroe-Devereaux Flowers. Hal fell in love as soon as he saw the store, and decided then and there that he wanted to spend every day in it- and his mother indulged him. His brother, Dante, was not nearly as interested, and skipped town quickly after graduation. Hal stayed to take over the shop, and has been running it on his own for ten years now, since his mother’s passing.

Five years back, Hal met Tai Devereaux, and promptly dropped the sleeping-around routine he’d been in, trading it in for being completely unimpressed by anyone in comparison. They got married three years ago, just before Tai was arrested.

His life was split then, between his shop and Tai’s greenhouse, and he was thrown into having to find a balancing act there.

HAL IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY WOLF

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about JAMESON HALL’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit DETACHED & INHIBITED. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be GREGARIOUS & ADAPTABLE. All we really know is they will be working as an MULTI-TALENT ENTERTAINER. Someone said they saw them listening to HALLUCINOGENICS by MATT MAESON on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the INNER HARBOR by the tell tale signs, SUNLIGHT STREAMING INTO A BEDROOM, THE WARM LAUGHTER OF OLD FRIENDS, GOING FOR A RUN BEFORE THE SUN RISES. [ CASEY DEIDRICK, SHIFTER (SIBERIAN TIGER), CIS MALE, 33, HE/HIM]

ABILITIES

tiger physiology (slightly larger than wild tigers)

slightly enhanced strength/stamina in human form

enhanced senses

slightly slowed aging (delayed by ten years after the 35-40 range)

WEAKNESSES

he is still physically vulnerable to injury and mortality

intense emotional trauma can cause him to become stuck in his animal form

can still become fatigued

WC01. Is that supposed to impress me? Having been a well known celebrity, James has had his fair share of interactions with fans. He’s used to people approaching him for autographs or pictures, and while it’s always nice to see how far his talents have reached, it can be tiresome. This person is someone who, for whatever reason, didn’t recognize James when they first met despite his face having been plastered on movie promos and in television ads. It’s a nice change of pace, knowing that this person he keeps having random run-ins doesn’t care to know about his status.

WC02. It takes a village. This individual has been beside James for every step of his road to recovery: they’re his sponsor. They’ve seen him at his lowest and know most of his relapse signs. Thankfully, it’s been a little over three years that they haven’t seen any of the signs.

HC01. Considering his level of fame made it extremely difficult to just step out of the limelight, James decided to step away from active music production and acting opportunities to instead become a comedic duo with his childhood best friend. He’s done stand-up comedy on his own but the work they do now is more of a passion project than anything else. They have performed in various shows and movies together and now perform improv on stage.

jameson jeremiah hall ii was born on a stormy night in dallas texas, to parents jameson and renee hall. he was an unexpected pregnancy in a teen romance, but not an unwanted one. his parents were deeply in love with each other, and had the support systems available to raise a child at such young ages. his parents had another child when he was in elementary school, and a third as he was about to turn ten. from the moment he laid eyes on them, james knew he had to protect his brothers with ever fiber of his being. it was what he was put on the world for.

as he grew up, james naturally fell into a rebellious personality that nobody seemed to be able to pull him out of. he wasn’t a bad kid, per say. he never gave his parents so much grief that it actually upset them. he just mostly disappointed them by never showing up to class, smoking weed, going to parties, getting into fights— teen stuff. they cut him some slack because he always had good grades, a result of a higher than average IQ and retention ability. some doctors commented that he might even have photographic memory, but james never got tested for that. if he had actually applied himself, he would have been valedictorian at his graduation (which he skipped.)

at the same time that this rebellion was happening, james made sure to always be home at a decent hour to set an example for his brothers. either this, or he made sure to let his parents know he wasn’t coming home. that he was safe. he never caused any real problems for his family. when he was home, he would spend his time with his brothers, teaching them tips he wished he had an older brother for, playing catch, brotherly things. he loved them both to no end, and still does.

flash forward to james at 18 years old, the night after his youngest brother’s 9th birthday party. he was in the backyard, having a smoke before calling it a night. what he didn’t expect was to be woken by the fire alarms, nor the heat. nor the screaming of his brothers. he ran to his youngest brother’s room which was closest to his own, seeing that their brother was already being carried out by a firefighter. there was no time to look for anything; he had to get the kids out. by the time they were outside and he realized their parents were still inside, the flames had reached and ignited their family truck in the garage, knocking down the left side of the house, and their parents’ bedroom going with it. four police officers had to hold james from running inside. half the house gone, half the family gone.

it was the first time james showed raw emotion— to anyone. he cried into his best friend’s shoulder and clung to his brothers like their lives depended on it. it crushed him. once he made sure they had a place to stay as their home was rebuilt, james fell down a rabbit hole. he fell victim to addiction, but he did his best to stay in school to earn for the family he was now in charge of. the responsibility on his shoulders turned a new page for him. he refocused on school and dedicated himself to working and studying, his days filled with multiple classes to get his medical degree as quickly as possible.

the years in school flew by, and as he realized his brothers were moving on without him, james didn’t know what to do with himself. he was now a doctor with no passion for the field. music was more of a way to destress for him, but it had always been a talent he had, and a pipe dream. that is, until he began performing at a local wine club that held open mics. he was 25 when a talent agent from california gave him his card. seeing as his youngest brother was still a minor, still his responsibility, james agreed to start working with the agent as long as he could remain located in dallas. his first song hit the radio a month later, and it was like time flew by after that.

what should have been instant gratification became a droning lifestyle. he was still as lonely as ever, and with the middle brother gone to the military, and his younger brother hating every inch of him, drugs became the friend he needed. getting the drugs was far easier when he had friends in high places. he was finally happy, at least temporarily. he made connections from california to moscow, and everywhere in between. once his youngest brother was old enough to take care of himself, making it clear he wanted nothing to do with james, he became an international celebrity. he was 27 years old when he reached stardom through his music and various acting roles.

he had reunited with the woman who would become his wife shortly before his peak in fame. she was angelic enough to deal with his status in the early years of their marriage, but the stress of the media began taking a toll when they lost their first two children to miscarriages. james decided that the thrill of doing what he loved wasn’t worth losing the presence and health of the woman he loved. he cleaned himself up and went to rehab, stepping back from an active music and acting career.

JAMESON IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY PIXIE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about ARIES (JUDE) SINCLAIR’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit ALOOF & IRRITABLE. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be OBSERVANT & LOYAL. All we really know is they will be working at LIBERTY MEADOWS as a GROUNDSKEEPER. Someone said they saw them listening to HORSE WITH NO NAME by AMERICA & GEORGE MARTIN on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, COFFEE RINGS ON THE DAILY CROSSWORD PUZZLE, LOOKING UP THROUGH THE LEAVES OF A FOREST CANOPY, CLAW MARKS ON WOODEN DOORS. [ JENSEN ACKLES, SHIFTER (GRIZZLY), CIS MALE, 39, HE/HIM]

ABILITIES

brown bear physiology (slightly larger than a natural bear)

slightly enhanced strength/stamina in human form

enhanced senses

slightly slowed aging (delayed by ten years after the 35-40 range)

WEAKNESSES

he is still physically vulnerable to injury and mortality

intense emotional trauma can cause him to become stuck in his animal form

can still become fatigued

WC01. hey jude. Having detached himself from spending too much time with his siblings as a result of Arthur’s experiments, Jude often felt alone while surrounded by people. Despite his reclusive behavior, however, one of his siblings never gave up on trying to comfort him. For whatever reason (up to interpretation), this sibling insisted on getting close to Jude when the others avoided him and his uncontrollable anger. They snuck into his room to speak to him in hushed tones, learned to pick up on when an outburst was coming, and have been in-tune with his body language and non-verbal cues since the beginning. They are also the reason behind his choice of a “proper” name, having shown him Hey Jude by The Beatles.

HC01. The feelings of resentment he felt for Arthur and his siblings were equally applied to the family friend that doubled as Arthur’s business partner. The other vampire often comforted the other siblings and provided emotional relief where he could, but Aries never let him get too close. As far as he could tell, anyone that could let Arthur get away with such monstrosities was just as bad. When the other vampire encouraged the siblings to choose names that weren’t codes, Aries felt compelled to do so since he would be the odd man out. It was then that he began going by Jude.

HC02. Jude is non-verbal by choice. He knows how to speak and can do it well, but he often has periods where he zones out. These periods are an ingrained coping mechanism that began when Arthur would verbally berate him and often punished him with solitary confinement. At a young age, he realized that anything he said would be taken as disrespect, so he chose to simply observe rather than participate.

neglect tw, suicide attempt tw, emotional abuse tw, infant endangerment, fire tw

Jude’s mother was a bear shifter that had a one night stand with a werewolf, one that involved no emotional attachment but did produce a child. His mother, having been from a low-income family, couldn’t afford a baby, but she didn’t trust that his father would be able to care for him. She put him up for adoption as soon as he was born, leaving him with a foster family that specialized in fostering infants before he was old enough to be put into an orphanage. He didn’t experience this orphanage very memorably, because an eccentric and very rich man adopted him two years later. He was the first of the vampire’s eight adopted children, and was the first attempt at experimentation. Shortly after Arthur Sinclair took him in, he was left in the woods on his own, forced into emotional distress so that Arthur could see him shift for the very first time. He was a baby, sitting in the cold winter woods, whose human pain transformed into the cries of a bear cub.

These trips to the woods continued every year, even after Arthur adopted eight other children. He would leave Aries in the woods to shift and find his way to Arthur using scent alone. He was left with no food, fire, or clothes. He had to learn to survive on his own. The isolation of the woods and the fact that none of the other siblings ever had these kinds of trips, or 1x1 training, ignited a strange feeling of resentment towards the others. He never told his siblings what happened on these trips, but he would always return after varying time spans, visibly shaken, refusing to eat for a while after, and becoming very defensive whenever anyone asked about the trips.

This isolation from his siblings was only solidified when Arthur purposely removed him from family “outings” and insulted him, telling him he was worthless and would never amount to anything, unlike his siblings. Much of this was to get a rise out of Aries and cause him to shift, because he never did it willingly when Arthur pitted the siblings into fighting/training against each other. It became routine for Arthur to get a rise out of the bear shifter, forcing the others to subdue him as a form of training.

This resulted in a deep rooted anger problem for him. He lost control whenever he was angry, shifting into his bear form and wreaking havoc through the house. Arthur allowed it because he gave up on making Aries the soldier— instead, he would pit the other siblings against this angry bear, challenging them into defeating Aries. He became the perfect practice dummy. One of the last times he lost his temper, he charged on the youngest sibling. It was only when he saw the terror on their face that he blinked out of it and tried stopping, but the weight of his own body had gained too much speed— he ended up narrowly dodging them, sending them flying across the room when his shoulder brushed her.

That year’s woods trip came soon after, just before his 20th birthday. the incident with his sibling was still at the front of his mind, and he ended up not even looking for the cabin that Arthur was staying in at that time. He found himself standing at the edge of a very tall cliff, one that looked out over the valley. He was thinking of how useless he was to the family, even how dangerous he was for them. Hurting his siblings was the last thing he ever wanted, and he thought ending it before he could do something worse than breaking a few bones was the only option. He was about to throw himself off when Arthur sped by and pulled him from the ledge. He remembers the vampire’s words every day, as vividly as that day: “dying is easy, young man.”

Aries left when his brother (known as the codename Capricorn) died due to an experiment gone too far. At the suggestion of a sibling, he decided to search for his real parents. The search began with his mother, since her records were easier to track down through the adoption agency and the foster system. He tracked her information to his birthtown, where he found his mother, as well as her new husband and a younger sister. Away from the city he had grown to despise, Jude thought it would be a nice idea to stick around with his birth mother and sister. He planned on making a life for himself there, continuing the search for his birth father. What little information he got from his mother pointed him to his uncle instead, a werewolf living in the very same city Jude had grown up in. Coincidentally, Arthur’s attempts to protect himself and the school he worked hard to create finally failed. A group of hunters burned down the Sinclair vampire’s work, killing him. Now with another clue towards his past and a reason to see his siblings, Jude has returned to The District.

JUDE IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY PIXIE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about CALYPSO MORGENSTERN’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit IMPULSIVE & CRUEL. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be SMART & LOYAL. All we really know is they will be working as the OWNER of CARNALE CABARET. Someone said they saw them listening to GOING TO HELL BY THE PRETTY RECKLESS on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in BORDELLO by the tell tale signs, LEATHER CLOTHING, HEAD HELD HIGH, BRUISED KNUCKLES, THE SMELL OF BLOOD AND WINE. [ LESLEY ANN BRANDT, DEMON, CIS FEMALE, UNKNOWN, SHE/HER ]

BACKGROUND

tw: death and torture

It’s hard to pinpoint the moment she realized she was there, much less when she was created. She just knows at some point she understood she existed in that sometimes scalding, sometimes freezing place - it depended on who she was torturing. And she was really good at it, one of the best. She enjoyed it, actually. She had a special ability to identify anyone’s weakness, which made her incredibly effective. There were just so many ways she could do her job, always something that she hadn’t tested yet, something new to discover, some new method to inflict pain. Well, at least for the first few millennia. After a while, she got bored. It became automatic. She was unfocused. Her performance never decreased, of course, it’s just that her thoughts started wandering. And you know the saying, “the empty mind is the devil’s workshop”. Ironically, the actual devil wasn’t too happy when she went looking for a change. Calypso asked to be sent up. To earth. You see, after all that time torturing humans, finding their weak spot and exploiting them, she grew curious. She wanted to see for herself that place, those people, what could possibly be so strong and tempting that you’d risk spending the rest of eternity being tortured. What was it about that world that brought up so many passions and dreams and hate and love and hope - all the best and the worst emotions at the same time. She wanted to feel them too. So she asked for a change of career. Lucifer obviously didn’t take well losing his best torturer, but he figured after being such a good operative for so long she deserved to choose her own path. Contrary to popular belief, the Devil is never unfair, after all, he is the one who brings justice to those who have sinned. Like that, she went up. Calypso - a name she picked herself, “she who hides” it meant - seemed fitting for a demon living amongst humans. Her new job was to make deals, be the Devil’s eyes on earth and scare someone every now and then. Lucifer never gave her a time limit, but it was implied that she had to come back. She would probably get bored pretty soon anyway.

She arrived in the middle of the industrial revolution. London was blasting with innovations and opportunities, the right place to cultivate people’s ambitions and get some deals out of it.  At first, it was hard blending in. She had to control her shape, never show her true face. She soon found out that even a glimpse of it was enough to drive a regular human to insanity. There were also issues with clothes, money, housing. But nothing that a few favors here and there couldn’t fix. Besides, she could be quite persuasive when she wanted. Soon she was socializing with the elite, going to parties with the royalty, and negotiating with the biggest entrepreneurs of the world. They all had full disclosure of the deal they were making, they knew what they were condemning themselves to and yet their greed was too big to stop. Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen what she had seen. She never fully understood the price people were willing to pay for money. That is until she met Virginia. She was the daughter of a wealthy English duke who attended the same parties as her. They had been exchanging looks for quite a while when Calypso finally talked to her. At first, she thought it was just another deal. But as their conversations grew longer she realized the girl didn’t want anything specific from her. As much as she tried to push her away, they always seemed to find their way back to each other. Callie could understand sex, she had done plenty of that - but that wasn’t the only thing going on there. She started experiencing things she had never felt before, discovering a side of herself she didn’t know. She began to realize she wasn’t just a cold-blooded killer, a demon with nothing but hell to look forward to. She was also loyal and more powerful than ever when she loved someone, she could be kind and soft and vulnerable and there was more strength in that than she imagined. It was heaven on earth for a few months. But all good things come to an end. One day Virginia came crying to her. She was being married off to an unknown rich man, as it was common at the time. At that moment, she understood: there was no price big enough to pay for what you loved. They planned to run away, to the new world, with more freedom and opportunities. But the Duke found out and in a fight gone wrong, Virginia fell off the third-floor window. The rage that possessed Calypso was blinding and when she was done there was no one left to perpetuate the family’s bloodline.

She wandered for many years around Earth, avoiding anywhere that brought memories of her - which included Hell, since half of her family was there. Not even the thought of torturing the killer of her love would snuff out the pain. She just could never go back, she could never see their faces again - just as she would never see Virginia’s. It wasn’t long until she started hearing rumors about The District - a place of sin and freedom, where people would go to satisfy their deepest desires. She made sure to go check for herself. It was the roaring 20s and there was no better place for a demon to thrive - and to forget any painful memories. She settled well in Bordello, opening Carnale Cabaret to fulfill everyone’s carnal dreams, with good food, good music, and good sex. You could always go there to have a drink and an awesome night or, who knows, ask a favor to the owner. Even though now Calypso leads a flamboyant life, making deals and having fun every night, she never again managed to open up or trust anyone else and still hurts from her past, avoiding her real home at all costs because of that.

CONNECTIONS

WC 001. Deals! If you need a favor, you know who to ask. Sometimes it will cost your soul, sometimes it will cost anything else. But don’t worry, the price is always fair and Callie is a woman of her word.

WC 002. Calypso is all about freedom and pleasure, she doesn’t limit herself and is willing to try anything. If you want someone to carry a hedonistic lifestyle with, she is your girl. Callie definitely has lots of flings and lovers, no matter what gender. Just be careful, she doesn’t like to get too close, so don’t be curious or you might get pushed away.

WC 003. Calypso is a lonely woman, she feels isolated in a world that wasn’t meant for her. But in The District she managed to create a second home, even making friends with a few supernatural creatures who understand her experience. If you have her friendship, you have eternal protection and loyalty. Just don’t cross her, otherwise, you’ll have a relentless enemy, and Callie is not one to be underestimated.

WC 004. Being as intense as she is, there’s no surprise that Calypso harbors quite a few enemies. It may be some kind of work competition, some lover that she stole, some soul that she collected - there’s always a reason for someone to hate her. But few are brave enough to stand up to her.

CALYPSO IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY JAY.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about JULIAN AUSTERE’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit INFLEXIBLE & STOIC. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be HONEST & CHARISMATIC. All we really know is they will be working as a UNIVERSITY DEAN/HISTORIAN. Someone said they saw them listening to WAY DOWN WE GO by KALEO on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, A PACK OF DOBERMAN, LAUGHING WITH A GUN IN YOUR FACE, PERFECTLY ROLLED SLEEVES. [ TOM ELLIS, VAMPIRE, CIS MALE, 6,074, HE/HIM ]

STRENGTHS

regeneration

inhuman speed and strength

heightened senses

WEAKNESSES

if he goes too long without feeding, julian will begin to lose composure and control

direct sunlight weakens him

his regeneration isn’t immediate and major flesh wounds will slow him

silver

HEADCANONS

with his old school now destroyed, julian applied to and got a job with the district’s university. using his extensive experience as both a deputy headmaster and former mayor, julian was hired as the new dean. despite his notoriously cold demeanor in a professional setting, julian does wish the best for all his students. it’s because he wants the students to succeed that he avoids forming relationships that are too close to both students and professors.

julian has a pack of seven doberman dogs that double as security for his home property. the breed has always been near and dear to him, and he’s had hundreds of packs over his lifetime, but the one he has now is close to a favorite. dogs have always been his favorite animal because they’ve proven to always be loyal, protective, and wholesome.

being a naturally sociable person, julian loves going for walks and enjoying the outdoors. in order to do this without feeling the full extent of the sun’s damage, he carries around custom made candied blood.

BACKGROUND

the origin of the now commercialized vampire is vastly unknown to most, but not to julian austere. his oldest friend had made a deal with a demon, one that would grant him immortality and strength, but that he did not know would turn him into the undead. instead of being upset at the loss of his soul, julian’s friend was ecstatic with the new abilities, and not at all disgusted with the bloodlust that accompanied them. he convinced julian to make the same deal, withholding the consequences of it until it was too late for julian to change his mind. a once peaceful man, he was forced to feed on (consequently killing) people in order to survive.

being six millennia old, julian has seen his fair share of history firsthand. the history of man is fairly unknown going that far back, so our history of julian will begin around 256 ad, where he came upon the gladiator fights, which he will proudly tell you about if you ever ask. having the unfair advantage of being immortal, julian became the colosseum’s most popular fighter. he became the emperor’s champion up until that current emperor’s death by fire which would have killed julian as well since he was in the building. when word got out of his survival, people became suspicious of julian, forcing him to leave rome and continue on his timeline through history.

after drifting for two decades, julian found his way to egypt, where he briefly lived as a hermit and trained to focus his physical energy into strength. he eventually transitioned back into society and began training in stick fighting, which was used mainly for entertainment but proved to be a strong base for martial arts. he fell in love with the diversity of combat and left egypt shortly after perfecting his tahtib based training, intent on perfecting as many fighting forms as he could. he travelled the world with this goal.

he was practicing buddhism in china when he came across the first vampire he had seen in two thousand years. they were a very volatile pairing, but she had all of his attention right off the bat. he left his practice as a monk and joined her in terrorizing humanity, blinded by the violent freedom she represented for him. with her cunning, and his strength, they ran across asia and europe like two children in a bloodlust playground.

eventually they settled down in romania, around the year 1402, and found themselves comfortable in the community of vampires there. julian was ready to say he had found what his life intended for him, until one day in 1419, when their house was raided by a local mob, and his partner was torn apart in front of him. it was later that year that his friend approached him and recruited him to help start a specialized school for supernatural people located in a city outside the district.

after four centuries of teaching at the school, julian took an indefinite sabbatical in which he accidentally founded plymouth, michigan in 1825. he lived there for a short time of 5 years (1820-1825), basically trying out being a lumberjack for fun, then came back to the school to retake his place as deputy headmaster. mere months after his return, a group of overzealous hunters burned the school down, killing his friend in the process.

JULIAN IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY PIXIE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about THEIA REIS’S  arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit SKEPTICAL & GREEDY. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be EASY-GOING & ACCEPTING. All we really know is they will be working at THE CITY HALL as a HISTORIAN. Someone said they saw them listening to BRIDGES BY GENERDYN (FT. FJORA) on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, THE SMELL OF RAIN AGAINST THE ASPHALT, PENT UP STATIC ELECTRICITY & LIGHT LAUGHTER ECHOED ON THE BREEZE. [ FLORENCE PUGH, DRAGON, CISFEMALE, UNKNOWN, SHE/HER]

HC.01 - Her skepticism often disguises itself as indifference with most things and people, no matter how close one thinks they are to her. Theia has a tendency of shutting herself off from contact with people if she feels things have gone awry, whether they have or not. It’s a defense mechanism, and a way for her to deal with the guilt and shame she still feels for allowing herself to be a puppet of the Citadel. There are moments, however, when her skepticism comes with more emotion, which is often uncontrollable by the time it hits that point.

HC.02 - She still feels a twinge of guilt in her severed emotional connection to her home village, like she should feel more sadness in it, and ultimately her parent’s, fall. To combat the constant inner battle between it being alright, and not alright, to feel nothing, she collects things that remind her of home. She has no real explanation of what her home aesthetic is, because she can’t remember, so she ends up just collecting whatever strikes up a certain emotion within her. Her current collection includes: an old pinwheel, a broken spade, and dried sunflowers.

HC.03 - Because of her upbringing, her education was very biased to what the Citadel and her Elder’s felt she needed to know, and a lot of that centered around the Citadel itself. Which means her education was stunted and, much like her kind way back in the day, done on her own. Everything she’s learned after the Citadel has been from experience, from picking up little nuances from the people she’s crossed paths with. The one thing from the Citadel that has stuck with her to date is her speech.The evidence of her dated speech can be found in the words that are chosen, or in the way her sentences are formed. It’s found in the way she’s not “hip” to the current slang, or shortcuts in speech. This dated form of speech also transfers into a sort of dated upkeep on technology, but, personally, Theia prefers the physicality of books and hand written documents.  

WC.01 - Someone who, half knowing her story, brings little odds and ends to her desk. They know she collects but, like her, can’t really pin down the theme of her collection and Theia isn’t exactly forthcoming with the information, they may, or may not ask about it. But they bring her things all the same for an exchange for information or documentation.   

WC.02 - Any species whose main element is Wind or Electricity. She has a weird thing for Wind dragons, mostly because they were so scarce in her youth, but any species that takes to the sky would stir up some sort of familiar feeling. Which, despite the fact that she refuses to admit it, is a feeling she chases.

WC.03 - Someone from her travels before The District that she crossed paths with and has brought along with her. It could be another dragon, or even someone from the Citadel that got out after the Rebellion. Or even a hybrid species that had their own struggle trying to figure out where they fit in in the world. This person would be the closest to her in the city, no doubt know the entirety of her story, and be one of the few people to stir any sort of unprovoked emotion.

STRENGTHS

STORM GENERATION

  -APPLIES TO BOTH THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

STORM MANIPULATION

 -APPLIES TO BOTH THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

WIND GENERATION

WIND MANIPULATION

FLIGHT

DRAGON PHYSIOLOGY

WEAKNESSES

NEGATION

REQUIRED ELEMENTS FOR INTENT

EXHAUSTION

BLOOD LOSS

DECAPITATION

BIOGRAPHY

The belief that Wind was the coveted element, the special element, started way before her birth. They were rare, Wind Dragons, and Theia could count exactly how many times she laid eyes on another of her kind, outside of her immediate family, on one hand. Because of the scarcity of their element, Wind dragons were dispersed, as equally as possible, over the land, and to as many clans as possible.

The wind, you see, aided all elements. They fed the flames of the Fire Dragons, carried the pollen and seeds of the earth to great length just to keep it green, to keep it alive. The Water Dragons didn’t depend upon them as much as the other two, but the Wind still carried the water’s weight in its skies, still gave life to the sails that paid company to its seas. Wind was an ally to all, and while some had tried, Wind Dragons refused to be worshiped, refused to be lavished with praise for simply doing their job.

Because of the constant need of the Wind, these Dragons did not learn the traditional way. There was no education from class and book. No teachers sat with them to make sure they understood the way of the world. These dragons learned from experience, learned through word of mouth on the streets and by hearing the passing conversations. They were stunted, the Wind Dragons, but kept too busy to really recognize just how behind they were.

Theia’s birth was more of an experiment than an intention. Her mother, when of age, was married off to a Water Dragon in the village Dhal. The claim being their element had grown too scarce to find her a mate of the same. While some knew what happened when Wind and Water clashed, Dhal was not a village so privy to that information. On the outskirts of their territory, Dhal was just as behind as the Wind Dragon’s themselves. Stunted. Kept in the dark. So when Theia was born, the village learned what happened when Wind and Water clashed.

They created a storm.

Theia was the first of her specific, sub-class of element that many had seen. The blending of the elements was not often heard of, or successful. When the offspring of blended elements did, in fact, survive, they typically only retained one of the two elements, rarely did they keep both.

She was seven when she was taken to the Citadel and given her first test. Up to this point, she had only shown proficiency in the Winds, but that had been the doing of her parents. Hoping that, by teaching her the ways of only one element, she would fail her tests and the Elders would return her home. This, however, was not the case. If one looked close enough, they could see the rolling waves of thunder just behind the sky-blue of her eyes. The promise, the threat of electricity lingered, waiting to be provoked. To be unleashed.

Despite her parent’s annual requests to return home, Theia spent the greater part of her youth at the Citadel with a very small, select few of others similar to her. As time went on, it was easier to forget her village, to forget her parents, and the simple life they wanted her to live. She had friends, an education untouchable to anyone back home, and, most importantly, she had a purpose.

It isn’t her favorite part of the story, her blindly following the orders of authority, but Theia had never really been taught to ask questions, she had only ever learned to listen. To obey. For years she was under the thumb of the Citadel, learning the books they gave her, hanging on the words they picked for her, repeating the praise they instructed her to. She was their golden child, their mouthpiece to the clans they ruled over, for years. Centuries.  

The first shroud of doubt to break through a seemingly sturdy exterior came by way of accident. An errand for the Citadel took her to a small village, just west of her home, named Nerei. The village was smaller than her home, but the people were just as simple. Soft, almost. Timid in their approach to her.

They almost reminded her of home.

Among the slew of questions she was used to having thrown at her, one stood out: What of Dhal? Did they still burn?

While Theia had no grand standing with her home village, the question still startled her. Still sparked the tiniest flame of fear, of shock. No one had ever mentioned anything being wrong with Dhal. Surely they would have, at least, told her?

Gathering information had been useless, they knew as much as she - but it was enough. Enough to clear the fog from her eyes, to lift the veil the Citadel had smothered her in all of these years. They had told her, as they always did, that Dhal still stood strong. Healthy in their supplies and in people. They had called it a prosperous village, a necessity in their plans. But, upon further investigation, she had learned the truth.

Dhal had burned.

It was gone.

It brought up an interesting emotion within her. Unfamiliar to some aspects. She wasn’t close with her people, with her parents, but they were still her people. Dhal was still her home and while it laid in ruin, the Citadel lied to her face. And so, Theia began to dig. Began to ask questions, to really look at the Elders and their grand plan of dominance.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, the web of lies they wove, but it did all the same. The Citadel’s grasp on power knew no bounds and had no intention of stopping. She learned that the Wind Dragons were such a rare species because they were controlled. Their reproduction, their mating, their disbursement - all done with very clear intent by the Citadel. There was no love for her kind, but a fear. A fear of the Wind congregating in too great of numbers. A fear of the Wind talking to one another and learning just how they had been played.

You see, while the Wind could be considered an ally to all elements, they could also be dangerous. A refusal to carry the rain, spread the seeds and pollen, and to extinguish the flames - it would bring a halt to the world as they knew it. The Citadel feared the Wind Dragons because they knew they were the only species powerful enough to dismantle the empire they had built.

As much as she would have liked to be the one to cause it to crumble from within, Theia knew the outcome of the happening was severely unlikely. So, instead, she gave the greatest back the only gift she had ever received: doubt. With each errand tasked by the Elders, she whispered her own questions to the people of the land. Dropped seemingly innocent, yet detrimental, statements for anyone to grasp, and let the people create their own rebellion.

By the time they reached the Citadel streets, Theia had vanished. Slipped out in the night, headed for a world she was sorely unprepared for. The first few years were a struggle for her. Out here, she was no golden child. There was no ruling faction that these people followed. They were fueled by their own free will, and a touch of stupidity. The struggle, for her, was figuring out who she was as an individual first, and a dragon second. She needed to find her place in this world as both.

Time moved on and with each evolution of the world around her, it became easier and easier to find peace within herself. To find the sort of confidence needed to not fear what she was, and when that peace finally came, that was when she decided to relearn the dragon that had laid dormant for so long. To examine every inch of the beast in the most intimate of ways, until they knew each other inside and out.

In all of her travels, her time spent in The District has been her favorite. Her most cherished. The District, and the people within its city limits, have helped her really put those last few pieces of the puzzle into place. For the first time in a long time, there’s no urge to run from the comfort the city has given her.

THEIA IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY DOMINO.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about ANGUS FLORENCE’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit CAPRICIOUS & ECCENTRIC. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be DAUNTLESS or SELF-RELIANT. All we really know is they will be working as an ARTIST. Someone said they saw them listening to BODY by MOTHER MOTHER on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in FOCALE by the tell tale signs, CHARCOAL STAINED FINGERS, THE MUFFLED SOUND OF ROCK MUSIC COMING FROM HEADPHONES, DARK HAIR MESSILY SPILLING OVER THE EDGE OF A BED. [ EMILY HAMPSHIRE, GRIM, CIS FEMALE, 33, SHE/HER]

heavy themes of death, curses, mental illness/instability, and self-destruction

STRENGTHS

death premonitions & veil vision

shifting

short-distance teleportation

slowed aging

WEAKNESSES

unpredictable visions that often immobilize her at inopportune moments

limited control of when her grim decides to send a death message

disorienting black-outs caused by unplanned shifting

physical vulnerability

CONNECTIONS

WC01. blood is thicker than water. Angie has never been very close to her sibling due to the fact that she unfortunately picked up the family curse. They’ve always done their best to take care of her when they can, but she makes this extremely difficult by never being honest with them and lashing out when they get too sentimental. She knows they mean well but is afraid that they’ll become “tainted” if allowed to get too close. She’s never told them how she feels and holds them at bay for their own sake.

WC02. bad habits. In order to escape frequent nightmares, Angie doesn’t sleep. She functions very well for someone with horrible sleep patterns, and this is largely due to the fact that she buys magic charms for herself. This individual is the supplier of these charms. At first, Angie might have seemed like an average person just looking for a daily energy boost, but her behavior has gradually become more erratic. Each new request is for a charm stronger than the last. How this person feels about her is up to interpretation.

HEADCANONS

HC01. Angie is known as a very energetic person but nobody is quite sure where the energy comes from, considering she hardly sleeps. She is often plagued by nightmarish visions of death in her sleep. This causes her to avoid sleep altogether for as long as she can, running on pure willpower and the strongest, most concentrated coffee one could palate. It’s actually gotten so bad that she eventually had to buy charms that amplify what little energy is stored in her body. The severe lack of sleep makes it so that when she does eventually sleep, it’s so deep that nothing disturbs her.

HC02. It’s always been suspected that even if she weren’t born the family curse, Angie would have been a strange child. She developed an interest in the darker things from a very young age. Before her powers as a grim emerged, she was already fascinated with death and horror films. Things that should have scared her, never did. It wasn’t uncommon to find her giggling at imaginary friends, asking questions that made others uncomfortable, and being awfully aware of the macabre. Her parents kept her away from their magic practices as best they could, concerned that she would lose herself like all the other grims in the family had. It wasn’t until her powers emerged that Angie began reacting negatively to the idea of death.

HC03. Though some premonitions happen while she’s going through her daily routine, she can sometimes feel them coming. When this happens, she’s able to stabilize herself to prepare for the emotional wound it will open. She also enters a trance-like state in which she begins painting. The painting, ultimately, becomes the vision that she’s seeing. Hundreds of these paintings, of all sizes, are in her home and in a storage unit. Most are covered in sheets, some were splashed with black paint immediately after she regained consciousness, and others were bought. Hundreds more, the worst ones, have been completely destroyed.

BACKGROUND

From a long line of mages, Angus Florence was expected (or more accurately, hoped) to be a baby boy, the second born of the family. After a few generations without an actively cursed child, the Florence coven had hoped their century-long curse had someone worn off, or they would continue to be blessed with sons. The fact that the last female born into the family had been the one right before an active child, tensions had been high regarding Angie’s arrival. Her family knew their hopes had not been listened to the day a dark storm cloud rolled over their town in the middle of Sleepy Hollow, NY’s dry March season. The storm was a familiar one, a darkness that blanketed the village every 10th daughter born into the bloodline.

The Florence coven curse was created to punish a greedy human, the weak husband of a witch that had wished for power that surpassed his wife’s. He located the ritual to summon a crossroads demon, under the belief that incomparable power would be his if he gave them his soul. Unfortunately for him, the demon had decided to exercise their funny bone that night. The demon told him that instead of his soul, they would require his last born daughter. Much to their surprise, the man agreed without hesitation. Displeased that their request hadn’t caused any emotional distress, the demon changed their terms at the last minute. They would require his soul and the daughter. The man gained magical power that was equal to that of his wife’s, though he didn’t have very long to use it. When word of his actions reached his wife, she became outraged. The two fought, and the inexperienced warlock lost to the well-trained hand of his wife. The ten years he had bought himself with the deal had become one short week before he met his demise. In her emotional turmoil, the witch inadvertently warped the terms of the demon’s deal, creating an endless fate for every 10th daughter of her future bloodline.

Centuries later, the Florence coven is still feeling the consequences of this selfish human. A handful of generations had been able to avoid it by having as few children as possible, and getting lucky that most of those who were born were male. Then came Angie. Her family shielded her from the truth for as long as they could, though it proved difficult with how often she asked why she couldn’t use magic like the rest of the family. Always the outcast, she entertained herself in unconventional ways. She spent much of her time alone. Often, she would see people and animals that others couldn’t seem to communicate with, unaware that these were early signs of her abilities. Eventually the rare appearances of these “imaginary” friends became common. She estranged herself from the rest of the village by indulging the spirits and hallucinations, favoring them over the people her own age that always seemed to be afraid of her. She was ten years old when she took up painting, determined to show everyone else what it is she saw. She was thirteen when she had her first vision. It wasn’t a very gruesome vision, not like those in the future would prove to be, but an unsettling one considering it was of her own elderly neighbor. Her first instinct was to run across the street to her neighbor’s home from school, but she realized that she was already outside the house. Not only was she confused, but the fatigue of the teleportation made her unsure of what had just happened. Still, she ran inside, only to find the deceased woman. Having never actually faced or dealt with death before, Angie was understandably upset. She declined to tell her parents how she had gotten into the neighbor’s home, or why she had been the one to find her, but they already knew. It was later that night that they revealed to her what was beginning, and that it would only get worse.

For years, Angie tried pretending her abilities didn’t exist. It began as ignoring the spirits that tried speaking to her, then turned into self-destructive behavior like self-medicating and isolating herself from others. What little advice her parents tried offering her was completely ignored. Music became a good tool that drowned out the noise in her head. When the visions began seeping into her dreams, she stopped sleeping as much. Her mind slowly became accustomed to working overtime to fight off the visions and voices, turning her into a semi-functioning shell of a young woman. She was eighteen when she realized that art helped ease the exhausting effect of her visions. This became some of the only solace she could find, and she hid most of it well for some time. When she was 25 her family became concerned and tried forcing her to stop using the only coping mechanisms that worked, pushing Angie to run away. She left Sleepy Hollow and didn’t look back, hopping on a boat headed across the ocean, to a town supposedly made for people like her.

ANGUS IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY PIXIE.

[thedistricthq]

If the sinful streets of The District could talk, they would whisper about LUKAH CEDAR’s arrival. Rumor has it, they are a little bit SHY & DISORGANIZED. Maybe we should find out for ourselves, they could be AMBITIOUS & DILIGENT. All we really know is they will be working at/as a BOOKSHOP OWNER. Someone said they saw them listening to GOOD ENOUGH BY LITTLE MIX on repeat, it’s like their theme song or something. Don’t trust the gossip though, come find out for yourself. You can see them coming from a mile away in the CLASSIQUE by the tell tale signs, ALWAYS HAVING A BLACK ELASTIC AROUND HIS WRIST, COFFEE MUGS AND STACKS OF OLD BOOKS, DIMPLES & ALWAYS BEING THERE WITH A HELPING HAND. [ BOOBOO STEWART, WARLOCK, CIS MALE, 132, HE/HIM ]

the cedar family is well known, at least the patriarch of the family is, and not for the best reasons.  while his family never were victim to his anger and ill intent ways, he was not a kind nor welcoming man to his neighbours. he often looked down at those around him, and thought his ways were viable given the money he had inherited from whatever family came before him.

his wife and his son were never first hand victims, but they definitely suffered. little to no one would interact with them given the man’s behaviour and so, they were more or less isolated for a chunk of their lives.

lukah’s father was human; his warlock genes came from his mother who came from a long line of coven witches. however, she was disowned when she decided to marry and start a family with someone outside of their coven. in sad irony,  her husband never understood her witchcraft. she opened up a small apothecary bookshop to spend her time and focus on her magic there rather than irritate or exasperate her husband with it in the house. she called it The Rose Corner.

from a young age, and for obvious reason, lukah has always clung to his mother more than his father and at twelve years old, he began to help out around the shop.

death & illness mention. lukah and his mother both outlived his father, but not by much. within a year of his father passing of natural causes, his mother fell ill. when she passed, it shook his whole world. he had been so close with her, it took a while to adjust to life without her. he took over the rose corner, and added in a small cafe portion to it with all recipes of pastries he found tucked away in her cookbooks at home.

he now lives in the apartment loft above the shop and most of his time is spent in the shop, keeping it up to his mother’s standards.

MORE INFORMATION

headcanon  .   because he was basically alienated in his childhood and into his adult life until his father died, he keeps to himself and does not have a lot of friends. however, he really does try. he is a shy type of guy because of the lack of friendships in his life, but since owning the rose corner, he comes out of his shell a little bit.

headcanon  .   he is determined to make the rose corner feel like a family, like the staff that works there, he wants to feel super comfortable in and around the shop. this is for two reasons; one being that it’s how his mother always envisioned it and he wants to keep the store exactly per her visions, and second reason is that he wanted to make up for his father’s horrible treatment of the community and neighbourhood.

wanted connection  .   a customer who comes into the shop all the time, and lukah has taken a liking to. bonus points if this customer is not a witch/warlock or doesn’t have any interest in anything magic related, they just come in for a cup of coffee, and then they and lukah just keep catching each other’s eye.

wanted connection  .   i imagine that despite the alienation within the neighbourhood, lukah’s mother had one or two close friends. these people would be close to lukah and almost like family, maybe like a surrogate aunt/uncle relationship or sibling/cousin.

LUKAH IS CLOSED & WRITTEN BY SUNFIRE.