[OOC] LANTERN (redux)

[Virgil]

@TheFirst Congratulations! Now you can never post again lest you break the subtle vow which your name implies *^*)...

...For the forums are dark and full of terror.

[Mokley]

@TheFirst Hey hi hullo welcome to the forum! :D Sure, go ahead and drop in a character sheet here!

[TheFirst]

*breaks expectations*

The rules follow ME! @Virgil

Excellent! I joined the forum because of your thread. I'll have it up by next week if you do not mind? I'd also like time to read the posts of others and possibly play with them. :). @Mokley

[WittyReference]

Yo yo, happy weekend y'all

[baraquiel]

hey y’all. do ya have room for one more?

[Mokley]

@baraquiel Hullo hi welcome! Sure, the more the merrier, haha.

[baraquiel]

ayoo. i made a doctor! :D please do tell me if there's something i need to change about her

Golde

Golde Le'Reaux

Age: 20
Nickname: Angel, Golden Angel
Dialogue Color: LightSalmon

HOW ARE THEY BEST RECOGNIZED IN A CROWD?
> In order to see Angel in a crowd, you will need a really sharp eyesight. Because of her shy and soft-spoken personality, she often wears a cloak every time she goes outside to buy food from the market or harvest herbs and berries in the woods that she would put in her large basket. Really, standing out from a crowd will be the last thing Angel wants to do as she doesn't really want any unnecessary attention. The only striking traits you'll see that will make you sure it was her was the flash of lush, golden hair underneath her cloak along with her fair skin.

WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM? HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER SEE THEMSELVES?
> Golde is really beautiful in an angelic way, as claimed by her family and friends, which is why it became her nickname that she'll bring with her for the rest of her life. She used to have suitors lining up outside her house bring flowers and gifts of all kinds to please her and her family. She's also not just those women who lacked at the brain category as anyone can see her intelligence reflected on her blue-gray eyes. Contrary to popular belief that she does little chores, Golde was actually the breadwinner of their family. With how Golde sees herself, let's just say that at that time life's too hard to even think about what you look like.

WHERE DID THEY GROW UP? WHERE DO THEY FEEL AT HOME?
> She grew up in a quaint village at a house near the woods. While she does agree that life can get pretty boring in that village, it was still the home she grew up in and she considered all the villagers as her family. From her childhood 'til up to this day, she often explors the woods near their house and be curious about anything and everything there. Golde would often end up in trouble because she touched plants such as poison ivies or eat wild mushrooms and berries out of sheer curiosity. While her mother would often scold her, her dad urged her to be more curious and open to new knowledge and experiences about the world. Whenever she climbs tall trees, bathe in rivers, or even swing across vines and branches, she often remembers home.

WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES?
> Naturally her family and the villagers she grew up with. As it is just a small and quaint village, it made the people who lived there to have stronger bonds with each other. They will come to each other's aid in times of need and celebrate whenever they feel like it. Petty quarrels are inevitable but it will soon disappear like it was nothing and love and happiness would again reign supreme in their village.

WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION, SKILL OR LIFESTYLE? WHAT DO THEY THINK THEIR STRENGTHS ARE? WHAT ARE THEIR ACTUAL STRENGTHS?
> Her father was the village doctor, and quite a good one at that. Golde admired him for the longest time and longed to become a doctor as talented as he is one day minus the traits he has. She has learned so much during those years of helping her father treat the ill. When she became a young adult, Golde learned so much that she would often treat her father's patients whenever he is away. The villagers and other visiting strangers were thankful to have such a kind, heart-warming doctor to treat them instead of her serious, scary father to which she only replied with a laugh. She also have a real knack for creating potions and remedies from natural ingredients and medicinal herbs. Because of her talent in treating the ill, along with her personality, earned her the nickname Angel.

WHAT ARE THEIR FEARS, FLAWS AND SECRETS?
> Golde is really uncomfortable being the center of attention, so much that will still wear a cloak when going out despite living in a small village. She is also selfless and would take priority on other's needs before hers along with being too kind. She's very curious about anything and her quest to quench her thirst for knowledge sometimes leads her to trouble. However, her deepest fear of all is being unable to cure a patient's disease. Golde will become very depressed and will blame herself for every patient dead due to her failure of finding a medicine for their illness, though her blaming herself wasn't that worse than before.

WHAT DO THEY WANT MOST? WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY NEED?
> She's just a simple woman with one simple wish in life: to be happy. Golde imagined herself being the doctor of a village just like her father and maybe settle down with her husband and kids while living a happy and contented life until she dies. Additionally, Golde wants to continue to devote her life in research for medicines and cures for fatal diseases and plagues to people won't have to die just because a medicine or cure wasn't possible in their era.

IF YOUR CHARACTER COULD HAVE ANY SUPERNATURAL ABILITY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
> Golde would pretty much want the ability to grow and manipulate plants at will.

HOW HAS THE PLAGUE AFFECTED THEM? WHY ARE THEY ABOARD THE LEGEND'S FORGERY?
> Even before the plague infected half of the village people, news about the Legend's Forgery reached their small village. Among all of them, Golde was seemingly the only one unaffected by the plague. She has never encountered a plague so deadly such as this so she couldn't do anything but only watch as the villagers she grew up with went madder and rabid as the days went by. Her family, now showing signs of the plague, urged Golde to leave the village and go aboard the ship to save herself. Sefless and kind Golde refused to do it until the plague's symptoms become worse on her family, forcing her to leave.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS CHARACTER CHANGE AND DEVELOP?
> I would like her to learn to be more confident about herself as the story develops. Also, I believe it is important for her to know that she cannot save everyone and it is okay if the only person she could save was herself.

PITCH A SMALL SUBPLOT THAT WOULD BE PERSONALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOUR CHARACTER
Golde stopped mid-exit at her door. She glanced back at her family, all moaning and ravenously eating a whole cooked pork as if they didn't just eat a while ago. Even though she did all her best and cooked every meal for her family, she eventually knows the inevitable will come. She tried not to let a single tear cry but she couldn't help it and soon she was on the floor sobbing and screaming about how unfair this all is.
Her family stopped eating and turned their attention to Golde, her face on her hands and a cloth bag beside her. For a moment, they recognized who Golde was and crawled towards her. When she lifted her face, Golde saw the effects of the plague on her family. She still couldn't stop crying about the state of her poor family. Golde embraced them and told them how much she loved them one last time before standing and picking up her cloth bag and left. Meanwhile, her family continued to gaze at the path where Golde disappeared into, with tears on their faces.

[Mokley]

@baraquiel Golde is wonderful -- she's approved, please do copy her to the characters tab!

If you could clarify/expand a couple things though, it would help me out:

- I'd just like to point out the discrepancy between her greatest fear and the fact that she left her family behind, unable to cure them. ;) I assume she has some very strong feelings about this!

- You answered what she wants most, but forgot the last part of that question. What does she actually need? What might help her overcome her flaws and fears?

- Your pitch of a small subplot is a good backstory, but not quite what I was looking for. We're looking for a small plot that could be done in gameplay in the near future that would be meaningful to Golde. Take a look at the other characters' answers for an idea. :)

[Mokley]

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE.

(I'm dying) xD

[WittyReference]

Well well, looks who's awake.

[c3p-0h]

working on a post!

[WittyReference]

If I don't hear back from Tweak I'll throw out another post as well. Correct me if I'm wrong but so far I've extrapolated Varric probably knows of the Flame's reputation from his dealings with pirates, recognizes Temp's suit as Myrefall fashion being of vain nobility and spent some time around Thomas being on the VIP level of the ship as it were. Since they both fled from Glaifast we can build on that at some point. As long as it makes sense, feel free to make any such interpretations yourself, no character is created in a vacuum and the most interesting ones have ties beyond the Main Story.

[Mokley]

@c3p-0h _{pssst ... a cs would be handy before the plot moves further! x3}

[c3p-0h]

fuck

[Mokley]

I feel like I've gotta interrupt y'all before you burn down the island or something, so I'll be working on a post! xD

[c3p-0h]

I feel like I've gotta interrupt y'all before you burn down the island or something, so I'll be working on a post! xD

@Mokley

oh you hush, you'd love that.

[c3p-0h]

BOOM

Temp the Troublemaker

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME? WHAT DO THEY PREFER TO BE CALLED?

Louise Tempers. Call her Temp if you wanna keep your face pretty.

HOW ARE THEY BEST RECOGNIZED IN A CROWD?

Look for the short young woman in a tie, with a messy flop of hair, freckles covering her cheeks, and a mouth full of curses. She'll be easy to find – brawls tend to be hard to miss.

WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM? HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER SEE THEMSELVES?

Temp lives up to her name – loud mouthed, short fused, and always ready to crack a bat over some kneecaps. It's easy enough to write her off as a violent lost cause, a grown-up delinquent that you'd do well to stay far away from. Most do. Temp likes to think of herself as a pretty straight forward person. If you're cool to her, she's cool to you. You piss her off, she beats you up. It's not a perfect system, she knows – it's probably caused more problems than it's solved. Sometimes Temp thinks about trying to change herself, become the quiet, dainty girl her grandpa wished she'd been. But then some jackass calls her short and all thoughts of changing herself go flying out the window.

WHERE DID THEY GROW UP? WHERE DO THEY FEEL AT HOME?

Temp grew up in Myrefall with her grandpa, a tailor named Gabriel Fournier. He was a harsh old bastard, chewing out her ear whenever she got into fights or ran around in the suits he made. But he took care of her. Cleaned up her cuts and started leaving out suits that just happened to be her size. He tried to teach her tailoring but she just kept on stabbing herself with a needle and throwing tantrums. He tried setting her up with bachelors in town, but after the first one ended up with a broken nose and three missing teeth, the boys stayed well away. He'd just about given up when the two walked by a clockwork shop on their way to a concert being held in the town square.

Louise - because Gabe didn't care what the brat wanted to call herself, her mother had named her Louise – paused mid-step to look in through the shop window. The sunset made the ticking clockwork gleam, and she took a step towards it, eyes watching the steady tick, tick, tick, of the gears. Clockwork was all around them, sure, and she'd always had a passing interest in it; the delicate gears and tapes, the steady clicks of time. But seeing it all up close like this… how did it work?

Gabe watched as his granddaughter stared in open curiosity. An idea formed in his head.

Within a month (it'd taken much negotiating and pleading, what with her reputation for trouble) she was made an apprentice clockworker under Finnegan Choq, owner and operator of the shop Choq's Clocks. The ticking brass of gears and clockwork became home.

WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES?

Her grandpa will always be first in Temp's heart. But she managed to make room for old man Finnegan once she started learning from him. Gabe passed a month before she graduated from her apprenticeship, and that… well, if that wasn't a kick in the shins. Temp grit her teeth and told herself to fight through it. She'd make her old man proud. She’d thought she’d made Finn proud. But the day he told her she’d completed her trainer to become a fully fledged clockworker, he sat her down with a sigh.

He said that it was best if she went her own way. She was talented – talented enough to start her own shop if she wanted. But she brought too much trouble to keep her around the shop. Finn had kept her as an apprentice out of respect for Gabe, but there'd been too many fights, too many mornings of fixing broken machines and cleaning metal shards from her knuckles.

Maybe she hadn't made anyone proud after all. Maybe she wasn't capable of it.

There hasn't been anyone since Finn. Evelyn comes close. Before he died, Evelyn's father, the local doctor, was always the one to patch her up whenever Gabe's skills came up short. Temp has a soft spot for the younger girl and her siblings, and since their parents died, she does what she can to help out, whether that means sneaking her booze to try and get her to loosen up, or scaring off guys who give her a hard time. But Temp waits for the day Evelyn decides she's more trouble than she's worth, just like Finn did.

WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION, SKILL OR LIFESTYLE? WHAT DO THEY THINK THEIR STRENGTHS ARE? WHAT ARE THEIR ACTUAL STRENGTHS?

Temp hasn't dared open up a clock face since Finn dumped her. Instead, she ran into the arms of her other love – violence. The alleys and bars of Myrelurk were chaos in those weeks following her graduation. It was a common occurrence for the town guards to throw her in a cell to cool off for a night or two. It wasn't long though, before someone decided to put her fists to good use.

Sasha, the owner of the seediest bar in town, had been trying to get Temp on her payroll for years. But Gabe would never hear anything of it, always grumbling about how Temp could do better than some half-brained bouncer. But Gabe wasn't there to tell her no anymore. And thus, Temp became Sasha's right hand, breaking up fights (with a little too much gusto) and tossing out drunks. Sasha tried to get Temp in on the more questionable work she did – shakedowns and intimidation. But Temp always told her to piss off when she tried.

Temp enjoys her work. She's good at it. She's small, but she hits hard and plays dirty. If asked, she'd say her strengths are that she's quick on her feet, tough as nails, and unwilling to put up with anyone's shit. And she is all these things. But she's also brave, pragmatic, clever, and curious, with enough determination to see through any challenge. And while she loves a good fight, her anger is more often than not fueled by a strong set of morals that her grandpa wove into her like a seam in a coat.

WHAT ARE THEIR FEARS, FLAWS AND SECRETS?

Temp is terribly superstitious. She blames her grandpa, who used to delight in telling her ghost stories until she couldn't sleep at night. Ghosts are the worst. Demons and ghouls are horrible, but at least she can punch them. She hates things she can't fix with her hands – her grandpa's death. Finn's rejection. They make her feel helpless. There's nothing more terrifying than that.

Temp knows she has issues – anger issues. Her first instinct when faced with anything even mildly inconvenient is to resort to violence. Whether she's throwing fists or words, she tends to set people off. That's fine, she tells herself. Who needs them anyway? Not Temp, no sir.

WHAT DO THEY WANT MOST? WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY NEED?

A good drink, first. A way to get bloodstains out of clothes, after that. Temp's a girl of simple wants. She's just trying to get by – she doesn't need finery or easy living. Hell, Temp's always loved a challenge. She can roll with whatever life throws at her.

But of course, what she wants and what she needs are two different things. Temp needs people she can rely on – people she can trust and be vulnerable with. And she needs to stop using violence as an easy fallback plan. She has other skills, whether or not she wants to trust in them. Temp needs to get out of the guarded rut she's dug for herself.

IF YOUR CHARACTER COULD HAVE ANY SUPERNATURAL ABILITY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Temp would become incorporeal – to be untouchable, just like her ghosts.

HOW HAS THE PLAGUE AFFECTED THEM? WHY ARE THEY ABOARD THE LEGEND'S FORGERY?

Myrefall got hit hard by the Plague. Almost everyone was dead or dying by the time the Legend's Forgery raised anchor. Temp saw to Evelyn and her siblings, making sure they got on the ship, but then she paused… she didn't see Finn.

She couldn't stop herself from running back to his shop. He'd been fine the last time she'd seen him from across the square, he was healthy, why wasn't he –

Finn was sitting at the front counter. He was gazing down at an old pocket watch. Temp recognized it. He'd always fiddled with it, but no matter what it never worked. He glanced up at her before turning back to the device in his hands.

"I'm sick," was all he said. Temp felt something break in her. She immediately opened her mouth to argue, to yell and scream,
but he silenced her with another look. "I've had a good life. Long. Get on the ship, kid. Grow older than I did." He held the pocket watch out to her – something to remember him by. In that moment Temp was gripped by burning rage.

What right did he have? Who said he could pretend to be some dying, benevolent grandfather to her, imparting this last gift? He'd thrown her out like she was nothing, after all she'd done. She'd trusted him, relied on him, and what had he done?

Temp hated him. She hated him and she was glad he was dying.

Hot tears pricked at her eyes.

She looked at the watch in his crooked, wrinkled hands. Her fingers twitched to take it.

Then her hand snapped into a tight fist and her jaw clenched shut. She spun from him and ran out the door, slamming it behind her.

Temp tells herself she doesn't regret it.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS CHARACTER CHANGE AND DEVELOP?

I would love to see Temp mature – realize she doesn't need to be so guarded and tough all the time, and learn to open up more to the people around her. I'd also like for her to rediscover her love of clockwork, and to value herself as more than a walking beat-down. Some closure over the death of her old mentor, Finn, and their last moments together would also be nice.
Of course, Temp just falling deeper into her ways is another option, but Artemis is already sort of doing that. Maybe character growth would be nice this time around instead of regression.

PITCH A SMALL SUBPLOT THAT WOULD BE PERSONALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOUR CHARACTER.

I'm honestly… not sure. You know me, I can stuff character moments into just about any scenario you throw at me. But… maybe there's a younger artificier (or even a non-feral Kith) that Temp takes under her wing, just like Finn did for her. Hell, it could even be another PC. Just Temp in a mentor role would be interesting, or being responsible for something or someone, I think, and would give her lots of room for growth.

[Mokley]

@c3p-0h WOOOOOO! :D

Of course, go ahead and copy her to the characters tab! Thanks! x3 It'll be interesting to see how she develops!

[WittyReference]

I feel like I've gotta interrupt y'all before you burn down the island or something, so I'll be working on a post! xD

@Mokley

EDIT: I'm keeping the flask.

[c3p-0h]

i'm cracking up that ifor keeps referring to temp as a vixen. she'd definitely start a fight if he ever called her that out loud.