[CHAR] The Symphony: Modern Magic

[NoriWasHere]

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[NoriWasHere]

Lena

"I don’t want to set the world on fire, that’s the other guy there.."

_______________________________________________ Lena Marie Moonshadow | She/Her | 27 | Ethnicity: Tiefling (passing as human) | 66 | Weight: 135 lbs _______________________________________________ Resilience. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Comedy is just tragedy plus timing" ___________________________________ [+] Stand-up Comedy ⫻ Lena is a natural performer, able to read a room and craft jokes on the fly. Her sharp wit and timing make her a crowd favorite, even when she’s masking her own pain. Improvisation ⫻ Years of performing in unpredictable environments have honed her ability to think on her feet and adapt to chaos. Empathy ⫻ Lena has a knack for connecting with people, often using humor to bridge gaps and make others feel seen. Survival Instinct ⫻ After losing her parents and navigating life as a struggling comedian, Lena has developed a strong survival instinct, both emotionally and physically. Fire Magic (Emerging) ⫻ Lena is just beginning to understand her pyrokinesis, though her control is shaky at best. She can summon and manipulate blue flames, but it often comes at a cost.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’ll tell you what, she looks like someone bottled chaos with a sharp grin and silver tounge." Lena is a striking figure, with sharp cheekbones and a mischievous grin that hides a world of pain. Her hair is normally a dark auburn with a wavy texture but she keeps her hair cut short and has dyed it grey for the last three years. Her eyes are a deep, almost unnatural auburn color. She has a slim but athletic build, carrying herself with a mix of confidence and weariness. Her skin is fair, though it occasionally flushes with a faint, infernal warmth when she’s stressed or using magic. Ever since she has developed her magic she has begun to notice some changes in her body. There is a sharp pain at the base of her spine, her skin’s complexion is purplish every day, and her auburn eyes have begun to grow ever more so vivid. She dresses casually, favoring worn jeans, band t-shirts, and a leather jacket that’s seen better days. Her only concession to flair is a pair of scuffed combat boots and a silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon, the final birthday gift she got at seventeen before her parents died in the fire. When performing, she amps up her look with bold eyeliner, makeup, and a sharp blazer, though she never lets herself appear too polished. There’s always a faint scent of sulfur around her lately, and this scent is only growing stronger as her powers develop.

_{Psychology
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"My therapist wrote “she laughs to keep from crying, but the tears are always there beneath the surface”, what a load of horse shit."

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Lena wants to master her craft and eventually get noticed and go on tour with her comedy. While she is a long way away from this she works tireless to achieve it. As well, at her core, she hopes to honor her parent's memory and make peace with what she accidentally did. While part of her is against forgiving herself, the desire is there all the same.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Life is chaos, and the best you can do is laugh through it. Lena believes in survival above all else, but she’s starting to realize that connection and vulnerability might be just as important.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
Lena hides her Tiefling heritage, fearing rejection and prejudice. She’s also terrified of fire, despite her newfound pyrokinesis, and carries immense guilt over the comedy club fire and her parents’ deaths.

SEXUALITY ⫻
Lena is pansexual, though she rarely lets anyone get close enough to find out. Her humor and charm make her popular, but she keeps relationships casual to avoid vulnerability.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻
Chaotic and terrifying. Lena’s magic manifested during a stand-up routine, when a sudden surge of energy caused a candle to erupt into blue flames. The fire spread quickly, and Lena felt a connection to it that was both exhilarating and horrifying. She fled to her family’s cabin, where she discovered Burnie Cinder, a sentient flame that seems tied to her emotions.

FLAWS ⫻
Lena struggles with self-doubt and guilt, often shutting down emotionally when things get too intense. She’s impulsive and prone to self-sabotage, using humor as a shield to avoid dealing with her pain. Her fear of fire and her own magic makes her hesitant to embrace her abilities, even when they could help her.

_{Backstory
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"I don’t talk about my parents that much."

Lena, like many in Twin Pines, grew up in a loving but complicated household. Her father worked the docks but was an avid hunter and often was gone more than he was in the home. When he was there, he was tired and unwilling to properly entertain a young child but he tried his best to fight through it. Her mother worked at the local paper as an editor, so she too was gone for long hours of the day and was equally tired when she returned home. Despite this, they both worked hard to ensure Lena was as happy as could be as a kid and she was brought up to understand that hard work, and humility were the keys to success. Outside of a few long years where money was short her early years were unremarkable.

When Lena was a teenager she began to discover she had a knack for telling stories, a quality both her parents encouraged her to explore. In middle and high school she excelled in English classes, and even took a few creative storytelling college courses during this time through her school. She was involved in the marching band, and theater, and even picked up the sport of kicking a ball really hard and was a passable forward in Football. When she was seventeen her parents took her to the cabin in the woods to celebrate. When the electricity went out due to a powerful windstorm, Lena lit a candle and went to grab a drink when she suddenly tripped. The fire spread much faster than it should have, at least it did to Lena, and soon she and her parents were trapped. Instead of saving themselves, they worked to ensure Lena could get out first. Despite Lena’s own best efforts after, her parents succumbed to the fire and smoke and were pronounced dead on the scene.

She finished high school as best she could. While her parents were not wealthy they were well enough off and she was able to enroll in college and several hours of therapy a week. It was here that she met her best friend Jackson, and the two became inseparable from here on out. Lena has a degree in marketing that she does not use and instead works hard to achieve her goal of becoming a successful comedian. While she has the talent, it remains to be seen if she will use it.

_{Magic
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"Quote about your magic here."

MAGIC ⫻ Infernal Pyrokinesis - Lena has the ability to summon and control blue flames that burn colder than a normal fire but can not be put out by conventional means.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Lena’s magic manifests as blue flames that seem to have a life of their own. The fire is tied to her emotions, flaring up when she’s angry or scared and dimming when she’s calm. Burnie Cinder, a sentient flame, appears to be a manifestation of her magic, acting as both a companion and a reminder of her power’s unpredictability. Lena’s control is shaky at best, and her magic often feels like it’s controlling her rather than the other way around.

Pyrokinesis ⫻ Lena can conjure, and command the fire she brings forth. This can range from the simple, like creating a fire on an object and controlling the blaze to the complex like summoning her Flame Elemental Burnie Cinders.

Fire Elemental ⫻ Burnie Cinders is a sentient, mischievous, ball of fire that acts on its own accord. While Lena can control it to some extent, it has been more like an agreement compared to full control. If Cinders does not want to do something, it will not, and it will tell Lena as much.

LIMITS ⫻
Lena’s magic is tied to her emotions, making it difficult to control when she’s upset or overwhelmed.

The flames are physically draining, leaving her exhausted after prolonged use.

Burnie Cinders has a mind of his own and doesn’t always obey Lena’s commands.

The blue flames are cold but still destructive, making them dangerous in close quarters.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

The more her fire consumes the more it will want to consume. Even outside of Cinders her fire feels alive and has a very deep well of hunger. Eventually, this hunger will be made manifest in her, making her more and more likely to burn things or objects.

While normal means of getting rid of the fire are not effective, magically created water or suppressants are. She will quickly lose a fight against a water mage.

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"Oh hey we have a heckler tonight folks."

MISQ SECTION

Jackson

"ROCK AND STONE, brothers, rock and stone."

_______________________________________________ Aunoth Veomavea Jackson Stone He/Him | 27 | Goliath | 90 inches 7’2” | 320 lbs _______________________________________________ Dependability _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Big guy, even bigger heart." ___________________________________ [+] Strength and Stamina ⫻ As a Goliath, Jackson is naturally strong and resilient, capable of lifting heavy objects and enduring physical strain with ease. Problem-Solving ⫻ Jackson has a knack for finding practical solutions to difficult problems, often thinking outside the box. Loyalty ⫻ Jackson is fiercely loyal to his friends, especially Lena. He’s the kind of person who will drop everything to help someone in need. Cooking ⫻ Jackson is an excellent cook, specializing in hearty, comforting meals. He often uses cooking as a way to show care for others. Transformation Magic (Emerging) ⫻ Jackson’s magic allows him to transform parts of his body, such as his hands into bird-like claws. His control is still developing, but the potential is vast.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "The weather is kind of chilly up here today." Jackson is a towering figure, standing at an impressive 7’6” with a broad, muscular build that screams strength and stability. His skin is a darker brown color with faint, swirling patterns that resemble stone that instantly reveal his Goliath heritage if the height wasn’t enough. These patterns are present predominantly on his chest, arms, and legs although his ears have the pattern. His eyes are warm amber, sparkling with humor or kindness, and his smile is wide and genuine, often accompanied by a deep, rumbling laugh. Jackson has long, wavy, and dark hair that is complemented completely by short facial hair of the same color. On his kneecaps, knuckles, and elbows that stone like swirl is made manifest. The skin is incredibly thick at these locations, visibly so, and in the past they would have made the perfect tools to crush through any who dare oppose him. However, in the modern world and when fully dressed, Jackson may appear more human than Goliath as he has fully adopted the human-centric fashion that dominates the cities. He dresses practically, favoring flannel shirts, sturdy jeans, and heavy boots, though he’s not above adding a pop of color with a bright scarf or beanie. Despite his imposing size, Jackson carries himself with a gentle, approachable demeanor, making him a comforting presence in any room. He often looks like a mouse trying to hide in the corner, and his bulky size is almost forgettable when one looks on his casual dress and friendly demeanor.

_{Psychology
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"I have apparently become everyone’s rock but I have to ask who my rock is? Do I not deserve to be supported too?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Jackson is an avid sports fan and is trying to make his way up the sports journalism ladder. While he was never good enough himself to make it up the actual sports ladder, he does have a deep knowledge of the games and a natural charisma that could allow him to be successful if he just got his break.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Life is about connection and community. Jackson believes in being there for others, even when it’s hard, and finding joy in the little things.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
Jackson fears losing the people he loves, especially Lena. He also worries about the responsibility that comes with his magic and whether he’ll be able to control it.

SEXUALITY ⫻
Jackson is stone top gay and proudly out, though he’s currently single. He’s had a few relationships over the years, but his loyalty to Lena and his own easygoing nature has kept him from settling down. He has lost three relationships when he had to put out fires for his friends and this is something that has held him back from going steady. Still, he opens up those damned apps every night hoping for something more than blank profile pictures and unsolicited nudes.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻
The first day was pure chaos. Jackson had a long day, had run a full bath, and lit a hundred candles to make him feel better. The day was long because he had just broken off a situationship with a charming man who caught feeling after their third Netflix session. The bath was going well until the magic tried to drown him. A bruised ego emerged from the bath five minutes later, out of the destroyed tub, and Jackson realized shit had changed.

FLAWS ⫻
Jackson can be overly self-sacrificing, often putting others’ needs before his own to the point of burnout. He also struggles with expressing his own fears and vulnerabilities, preferring to be the strong, dependable one.

_{Backstory
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"Let's take a moment to breath, okay?"

Jackson Stone grew up in the rugged, close-knit Goliath community of Highridge, a small mountain town where strength, loyalty, and resilience were valued above all else. His parents, both skilled stonemasons, instilled in him a deep appreciation for hard work and craftsmanship from an early age. Jackson was the youngest of four siblings, and while his older brothers and sister were competitive and often vied for their parents’ attention, Jackson was content to stay in the background, observing and learning. He was the kind of child who would rather help his mother carry firewood or assist his father in shaping stone than engage in the roughhousing that defined his siblings’ relationships. This quiet, steady demeanor earned him the nickname “Little Boulder” among his family—a term of endearment that stuck even as he grew into his towering frame.
Life in Highridge was simple but demanding. The Goliath community prided itself on self-sufficiency, and Jackson learned early on how to fend for himself. He spent his days helping his parents with their work, exploring the mountains, and developed a strong cooking skill that has served him well through life.

By the time he was a teenager, Jackson had developed a reputation as the “gentle giant” of Highridge, someone who could be relied on to lend a hand, whether it was repairing a neighbor’s roof or mediating a dispute between friends. Despite his size, Jackson was never one to throw his weight around; instead, he used his strength to protect and support those around him. When Jackson turned eighteen, he made the decision to leave Highridge and attend college in Twin Pines, a small city that felt worlds away from the quiet mountains of his childhood. The transition was jarring. The noise, the smell, the slow-paced lifestyle of the city, the fish smell, and the island were overwhelming at first, and Jackson often found himself longing for the simplicity of home. But he was determined to make the most of his new life, and it wasn’t long before he found his footing. It was during his freshman year that he met Lena, a sharp-tongued, quick-witted Tiefling who seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. The two bonded almost instantly, drawn together by their shared sense of humor and their mutual need for connection in a world that often felt isolating. Jackson quickly became Lena’s rock, the steady presence she could rely on when her own life felt like it was spinning out of control. He was there for her during the darkest moments—when she struggled with the after effects of the loss of her parents, when she doubted her abilities as a comedian, and when she felt like giving up on her dreams. In return, Lena brought out a lighter, more playful side of Jackson, encouraging him to step out of his comfort zone and embrace the chaos of life. Their friendship became a cornerstone of both their lives, a bond that was as unshakable as the mountains Jackson had grown up in.

After college, Jackson stayed in Twin Pines, working as a handyman and part-time cook while pursuing his sports journalism career. He became a familiar face in the city, known for his easygoing nature and his willingness to help anyone in need. Despite his own struggles—navigating life as a Goliath in a town not built for him, grappling with the occasional prejudice he faced because of his size, and the fish smell, Jackson remained steadfast in his optimism and his belief in the goodness of people. He found joy in the little things like cooking a meal for friends, fixing a broken chair, or sharing a laugh with Lena after one of her shows. When magic returned to the world, Jackson was as surprised as anyone. His water abilities manifested unexpectedly, and while he was initially overwhelmed by the sudden change, he quickly embraced it as just another part of life’s chaos. He just wishes Lena was there for him like he would've been there for her.

_{Magic
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"STOP TRYING TO DROWN ME...ME."

MAGIC ⫻ Hydromancy – The ability to manipulate and control water in all its forms, from liquid to ice to vapor.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻

Jackson’s hydromancy allows him to shape water into various forms, from delicate tendrils to powerful waves. He can freeze water into ice, summon mist to obscure his surroundings, or even draw moisture from the air to create small amounts of water in dry environments. His magic is deeply tied to his emotions, with calm focus allowing for precise control and heightened emotions causing his powers to surge unpredictably. Jackson’s hydromancy often feels like an extension of his personality—fluid, adaptable, and life-giving. However, it also carries a hint of the chaos that water can bring, reminding him that even the gentlest stream can become a raging flood.

Combat-Focused Spells (KNOWN)⫻ Jackson can use his water magic in a few different ways in a fight. He can pull the water together into a whip and use it to slash, grab, or deflect. He can also pull it all together and shoot it out like a cannon shot.

Water Whip ⫻ Through concentrated effort, Jackson can pull water, either from a source or from the ambient air, and form a singular tendril of water. This water tendril is typically as long as he is tall but it can vary depending on the amount of water in a given area. The whip is tough to command, and if Jackson loses focus the water will buck the command and simply fall to the ground beneath him.

Water Gun ⫻ Like the water whip, Jackson can pull the water into his chest area and form a large water bubble. He can then expel that water in front of him, shooting the water with high pressure out to a distance of thirty feet with the pressure dropping off and the shot dying out after fifty. This requires a lot of water, and often the ambient air is not enough.

Non-Combat-Focused Spells (UNKNOWN)⫻ Jackson does not know it yet but his water carries a healing energy to it. If he washes the water, gently, over a wounded area the healing magic will begin to work. It is slow, and deliberate magic that requires time, patience, and a lot of his magic.

LIMITS ⫻

Jackson’s control over water is strongest when he’s calm and focused. Stress or strong emotions can make his magic erratic and harder to manage.

He requires a source of water to manipulate, whether it’s a nearby body of water, moisture in the air, or even the water content in plants. In extremely dry environments, his abilities are limited.

Creating ice or vapor requires significant concentration and energy, leaving him drained after prolonged use.
While he can manipulate water, he cannot create it from nothing. This limitation forces him to be resourceful and mindful of his surroundings.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

While he can control water, he is like a rock in it. He has no special ability to not drown or breath in water so if he were to lose control, the water he commands could drown him.

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"Please do not try and climb me like a tall tree."

[NoriWasHere]

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[Jumbus]

Rowan Moore

Rowan Moore

"There's no place like home. Well, the movies say that anyway."

_______________________________________________ Rowan Elizabeth Moore | She/her | 22 | Human | 5'7" | 132lbs _______________________________________________ Considered. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Rowan was a model student in spite of her fading attendance." ___________________________________ [+] [Intelligent] ⫻ Rowan is quick-witted and well read. Although she as just as lost as everyone else to understand the new magical norm. [Lab Trained] ⫻ She is able to operate lab equipment and conduct experimentation with a steady hand. [Drawing] ⫻ She is good at quick sketches and things of greater detail.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I like... practical." Rowan stands above average height with a slim build often hidden behind coats and baggy clothes. Her hair is usually varying degrees of short but only very rarely does it grow past the shoulder line. She favours muted greens and browns in apparel which can lean toward formal. It seems a conscious choice that her form isn't presented much. Her brunette hair is often cut short and her make-up is light but stylised. She makes special consideration to conceal the dark around her eyes during times of little sleep. Exams, am I right? Her demeanour is generally friendly and welcoming. Although, anyone who got through the surface level would recognise a great deal of nervousness. She can quickly get overwhelmed with intense exchanges or too many voices and retreat to quieter spaces. Rowan will tend toward quieter hobbies such as reading or drawing. She can often be seen with a notebook which she uses to take notes or sketches of things she finds interesting. It is a habit she has kept since she was very young.

_{Psychology
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"Can we skip this section?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻
The emergence of magic changed everything. She pursued academia for a solid job before, not really for the money, but because that's just the thing you do. Now, she wishes to make the most of the gift that she has and gain an understanding of the new, magical frontier in front of them. The scientist side of her is excited about it.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Rowan holds a very insular philosophy. She cares little for shifting society or the world at large with her efforts in life. She simply wishes to enjoy herself, form bonds with the people she cares about, and not waste her academic abilities. If a discovery she finds is helpful to the people around her, she is happy.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
Rowan secretly fears that she is wasting her talents in Twin Pines. Before the emergence of magic, she had applied to go for her masters. She hadn't worked up the courage to tell Bea or her family yet. She is afraid of the type of person she would become going back to the city, but at the same time, she fears a life in Twin Pines will do the same thing to her that it did to Bea.

SEXUALITY ⫻
Bisexual. She doesn't tend to talk openly about her romantic interests, even less so during high school. Therefore, others often assume she is straight on hetero-normative assumptions.

She doesn't tackle the idea of intimacy well and tends to need a great deal of familiarity with someone before that point. She had a few relationships in university, mostly very short-lived due to general fallouts or drifting apart. There was only one she would consider to have been long-term, it was a one-and-a-half-year relationship with a law school boy. Rowan broke up with him early in the final year of her studies when she grew anxious about her life and had fears about how he viewed her. She still doubts whether her feelings were correct or driven by nerves instead, but the separation was definitive.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻
"I was scared like everyone else. I was working at the time and it made the park more noisy than normal. Of course, I didn't know I had any powers myself. I just watched the chaos others caused and drove home kinda freaked out. It wasn't until I was home that I discovered it. I was daydreaming at my desk when I discovered my peace lily was wrapping around my hand. At first, I thought my desk plant was magic and the flower was trying to eat my hand or something. I guess me being the one with magic powers was a more settling thought by comparison."

FLAWS ⫻ Nerves and anxiety are the main things that hold her back. She finds it difficult to communicate with some people and will often rely on others for diplomatic situations.

_{Backstory
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"Why someone with a degree would work minimum wage at Coney Island beats me. But that ain’t gonna stop me from hiring her."

Rowan was always a nervous girl. During her early schooling, she struggled to make friends. It was a common sight that another student would introduce themself to her only for Rowan to shy away and offer few words in return. That was often enough for others not to see much use in a friendship, but she held dearly to those who persisted through the way that she was.

It was a normal lunchtime during the final year of high school that changed her direction. Bea and herself had that talk between friends facing a bright but unknown future: idle daydreaming about where they would stand in it. Despite Rowan’s good grades, she had been on the fence about applying for university. The mere thought of such a thing was impossibly daunting and insecurities about friends, life changes, and even the prospect of failing to get in had her second-guessing whether it was worth the effort. But Bea encouraged her.

It was a funny thing. Rowan had been encouraged by her parents, teachers, and other adults to take that next step, but only Bea had convinced her to go ahead with it. Unlike adults, she felt Bea actually knew what she was going through and even felt they would be embarking on that journey together.

Rowan applied and was accepted into a prestigious university across the country for a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. With everything prepared, she set off on the road to embark on this new frontier in her life. Only, she looked back at the road and saw that no one was behind her. She didn’t expect to be taking that road alone.

University was a lot better than what she feared it could be. She was coming out of her shell more; taking in the new people and experiences. Sure the nerves were there, but she had learnt to deal with them much better and people being so welcoming certainly helped. She adjusted surprisingly well and, in the big city, she could see a new home for herself here. That was until a nasty idea had set in.

Around the third year of her degree, Rowan started to get the impression that virtually everything in her life was… transactional. It was hard for her to describe, but she stopped feeling as though the people around her liked her for her, only what she could do and provide. Her studies, friends, and partners, it all felt as though there was something she needed to provide to them. The second she felt tired or couldn’t hold up her end of the ‘transaction’, she would cease to matter to them. Before she knew what exactly that was, she had started to retreat from it all.

She was in danger of believing this was just how the world was until she came home.

Rowan needed a break after her degree and came home to Twin Pines. She caught up with her family and friends that she had felt so distant from in the past few years. It felt like entering a warm home on a cold day.

Despite likely being able to get a better-paying job, Rowan took up shifts at Coney Island for work. She didn’t feel any more nostalgic for the park than any other kid. Except Bea was there. Out of anyone from her home town, she was the one Rowan had kept the least contact with when she moved. It was to her regret when she saw the type of person her once-good friend had turned into: burnt out and jaded with the world.

Maybe her job at Coney Island was some ill-thought-out redemption effort to try and help Bea. Maybe she thought she could reconnect with her, become good friends again, and maybe she would be happier like the bottle of sunshine Rowan once knew. But it was a foolish attempt. Even if she could reforge that bond, Rowan had applied for her masters at the turning of the next year. Who knew where they would stand after that?

It was a normal day at Coney Island. A child had thought a mix of candy, milkshake, and the local delicacy ‘muttonbird’ would make for a great carousel ride meal, then ended up emptying it all over the ride. Bea and Rowan bickered over who would have to clean it up, they ended up playing paper-scissors-rock for it and Rowan lost. In the midst of cleaning up something so disgusting, Rowan had the thought that she was happy here. Not because of the shitty Coney Island job or the mess she was tasked with mopping up, but because she felt valued for just being herself at Twin Pines. It was something she hadn’t felt in years. She would be sad to leave it behind.

Then a letter arrived in the mail after a week of magic chaos.

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"Four years and big student debt, then this thing comes to make it all useless... Or maybe not."

MAGIC ⫻ Plant manipulation and transmutation

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Rowan is able to manipulate plants this includes getting them to move, rapidly growing them, and having them rapidly decay.

She has begun to discover that transmutation is another option. This includes changing an existing plant into another one or even making genetic hybrids.

LIMITS ⫻ She is limited by speed and familiarity. Her power is incredibly slow, only sped up by proximity and contact with the plant. It could only see very limited use in a combat situation as a result.

Additionally, Rowan needs to be familiar with any plant for transmutation purposes.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Even though there is a simplicity to the magic it does have the chance to backfire. If Rowan tries to do too complex a transmutation she may find that the end result is neither what she intended or under her control. As such, she must be willing to work with what she knows and advance slowly towards being a master at her magic. As well, there is a cost associated with her magic and she’ll find that the more she uses her magic in rapid succession the more it will drain her stamina.

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"We spent centuries praying to dark gods for the powers of black magic. Now a bunch of youngsters are running around with what is rightfully ours."

The Order of the Weeping Lamb ⫻
Rowan's grandmother, Edith, is the head of the Twin Pine's branch of the Order of the Weeping Lamb. Before the re-emergence of magic, the order dedicated itself to dark rituals in the pursuit of arcane power. Then the re-emergence came and exactly one member gained magical powers. Was it their leader? No. It was Mike, an accountant from the Michigan branch. Naturally, they are not very happy about this.

Backyard Alchemy ⫻
With the recent emergence of magic, Rowan had a renewed sense of discovery. She started tracking down whatever she could find to constitute chemistry equipment around Twin Pines and bringing it back to her parent's backyard shed. Twin Pines is hardly a mecca of scientific development so it is a shambles of an operation. But it works for now and Rowan is already locked into the thrill of scientific analysis and creation. Not a day has gone by without an entry in her notebook.

Her parents are starting to wrongly suspect she is making conventional drugs.

[Aeolian]

Azure Roux

"We are all made of fragile things—memories, whispers, and shadows."

_______________________________________________ Azure Amir Étienne Roux | He/Him | 28 | Human, Black-American (of Senegalese and Monegasque descent) | 6'0" | 159 lbs _______________________________________________ Mysterious _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Talent? No, it's instinct." ___________________________________ [+] Singing ⫻ His voice is hauntingly beautiful, with a dreamlike quality that lingers in the air and captivates anyone who hears it. Playing the ocarina ⫻ Before her death, Azure's mother gifted him an ocarina and taught him how to play the lullabies of The Otherworld. These soulful melodies have a way of evoking wistful memories and unspoken desires. Storytelling ⫻ Azure has always had a knack for storytelling. He weaves enchanting tales filled with mystery and whimsy, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. Mythology and Folklore ⫻ His deep knowledge of myths and legends allows him to interpret and retell them in ways that feel deeply personal. Manipulating social dynamics ⫻ Azure has a talent, or what he'd rather call, an instinct, for reading people and subtly guiding conversations or situations to his desired outcome.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "The world is unbearable without a touch of decadence, no?" Like something out of a gothic fairytale, Azure Roux is a vision of ethereal elegance, his tall, svelte frame carrying an air of mystery and effortless grace. His dark skin shimmers under the full moon, smooth as polished obsidian, while his mystical violet eyes seem to hold galaxies within them, drawing people in with their hypnotic witchlight. His features are delicately balanced—full lips, a button nose, and short, tightly curled hair that frames his face like a crown of dark clouds. Slightly pointed ears lend him an almost fey-like quality. Silver hoop earrings glint with every turn of his head, subtle accents that add to his striking beauty. Every detail, from his posture to his gaze, radiates an allure that is equal parts human and otherworldly. His style is no less captivating. Azure is rarely seen without his black mink coat, its oversized hood often draped like a shadowy halo around his head, giving him a mysterious and commanding presence. Beneath the luxurious fabric lies an unusual tattoo etched into the skin of his toned chest, its design both intricate and arcane, a secret of his past whispered only to the stars. Everything about him feels deliberate, from the small details of his appearance to the way he holds your gaze just a moment too long. There's an unnatural pull to Azure, an undeniable charm that makes it hard to tell whether he’s luring you into a dream or a trap. Either way, his natural magnetism lingers long after he's gone.

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"Hold on to your secrets, my love. They're far more valuable than honesty."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Azure is not wholly in his right mind, though perhaps he never has been. His main goal is to find his soulmate, believing this person, whoever they may be, is the key to achieving his true goal in life, entering The Otherworld, a mystical place he has believed in since childhood. He believes, in The Otherworld, he can live eternally without pain or suffering...

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Azure believes that life is a series of delicate, interwoven tales, each moment a potential masterpiece to be crafted. In his eyes, the world he inhabits is only a shadow of something far greater, a prelude to the eternal. Since childhood, he's viewed his every step as part of a sacred journey toward The Otherworld, a place where he is convinced he can escape the limitations of mortality. For Azure, this world is merely a fleeting dream, and the true reality, the one free of pain, lies just beyond reach. As such, his motivations don't always make the most sense to those around him.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ He is "Widowed twice over", having directly, and accidentally, caused the death of both his now-deceased spouses. He fears never finding his soulmate and never being able to enter the Otherworld. He doesn't fear death itself, only the wrong death that would prematurely end his true destiny. Azure believes The Otherworld is a secret reserved only for himself and his soulmate-to-be.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Bisexual, having first been married to a man, and then a woman.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ The emergence of his magic accidentally caused the death of his second spouse, and though the experience was traumatic at first, he surmised this person was not his soulmate after all and therefore, he should continue looking. But more importantly, discovering his magic convinced him even more that he is something of the fey and not of this world.

FLAWS ⫻ Azure's greatest flaw is his obsessive belief in The Otherworld, which blinds him to the real beauty and connections around him. His devotion to find his soulmate leaves him somewhat isolated, as he views others as distractions or tools to manipulate to achieve his goal, drawing them into his web of secrets. His possessive nature leads him to fiercely guard what he considers his, whether it be people, possessions, or memories. He can also be somewhat self-indulgent too, thinking only of what he wants rather than what is best for others. Ultimately, Azure's inability to completely distinguish between fantasy and reality keeps him trapped in a cycle of longing, dissatisfaction, and heartbreak.

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"I can give you the eternal love you have always wished for. Just promise me, you will not pry..."

Born into the shadows of Los Angeles, where the glittering lights of the city never reached the crumbling tenements he called home, Azure's family teetered on the edge of homelessness, scraping by on odd jobs and dwindling hope. Despite the hardships, his mother’s warmth and his sisters’ laughter gave him fleeting moments of joy. But the fragile foundation of his life shattered when tragedy struck. A devastating fire claimed the lives of his father and two older sisters, leaving Azure and his mother to pick up the broken pieces. With grief weighing heavily on their hearts, his mother turned to stories, weaving vivid tales of a magical place called the Otherworld. In this mystical realm, she promised, there was no pain or loss, only perfect love and everything was beautiful. She had only told him these stories to help him cope with the pain. And that, despite the pain, he was more than a mere human, he was destined for so much more.

But little did she know how deeply Azure clung to these tales, his mother’s words filling the void left by his family’s absence and planting the seed of a dream that would shape his life forever.

Fate, however, was not finished with its cruel hand. His mother, the anchor of his fragile world, fell ill and passed away, leaving Azure utterly alone. Homeless and grief-stricken, he wandered the streets of Los Angeles, carrying the stories of the Otherworld in his heart like a sacred text. The belief that he could one day escape his suffering and find a soulmate who would lead him to that promised land became his guiding light. But the harsh reality of life on the streets tempered his desperation with cunning. Azure learned to charm and manipulate, using his beauty and silver tongue to survive, all the while clinging to the dream of a love so perfect it could defy the cruel world that had taken everything from him.

Salvation came in the form of Agatha, an old family friend who found Azure huddled on a street corner. Agatha was a wealthy but cold woman who lived in a sprawling, dilapidated mansion with her lonely son, Charlie. Welcomed into their home, Azure quickly became a beacon of light for Charlie, who had spent most of his life neglected by his mother.

The two boys bonded over their shared loneliness, and Azure’s enchanting stories of the Otherworld mesmerized Charlie, giving him something to believe in. But beneath Azure’s magnetic charm lay a growing need for control. As their friendship deepened, Azure began subtly manipulating Charlie, ensuring his loyalty by feeding into his insecurities and isolating him from others. The mansion became their private universe, a gilded cage where Azure ruled as the center of Charlie’s world.

As they grew older, their bond evolved into something more. They married in their early twenties, their youthful passion masking the cracks in their relationship. For a time, they lived as young lovers in their own world, but the toxicity of Azure’s need for control and Charlie’s growing resentment began to surface. When Charlie finally tried to leave, Azure’s desperation exploded into violence. In a heated argument, he impulsively lashed out, unintentionally pushing Charlie down the grand staircase of their home.

The fall was fatal.

Charlie’s death was ruled an accident, and Azure escaped suspicion. But the loss haunted him, not for the love he had lost, but for the soulmate he believed Charlie was not. Determined to find the one who would lead him to the Otherworld, Azure buried the past and moved forward.

Years later, he met Aisha, a woman drawn to his otherworldly allure and the promises of eternal love he whispered into her ears. She fell for him completely, bewitched by his beauty and the dream he painted for their future. Azure’s condition—that she never pry into his past—seemed like a small price to pay for the perfection he promised. But curiosity gnawed at her, and when she uncovered the truth about his history and confronted him, it unleashed something inside him. His long-suppressed anger and grief collided with a newfound power he didn’t fully understand. Everything in the room, including Aisha, began floating aimlessly. Overwhelmed with horror at what had happened, Aisha ran out of the house screaming and, in her mania, ran into the road and was hit by a car. Azure was left widowed once again, but this time, his pain was tempered by revelation. He smiled to himself, almost reaffirming. He believed this was a sign that he was not truly of this world. His newfound magic confirmed what he had always felt: he was destined for The Otherworld.

Now twice widowed and carrying the scars of his past, Azure continues his search for his true soulmate in the small town of Twin Pines. Each day, his belief in the Otherworld grows stronger, fueled by his grief, his magic, and his unshakable conviction that he is meant for a realm beyond this one. After each death, somehow, he feels closer to the perfect love that will unlock the gates to the Otherworld and free him from the pain of this mortal coil.

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"Why stay tethered to this place when you and I can drift into the Otherworld?"

MAGIC ⫻ Velvet Gravity; Azure can soften gravity around himself in a small area, making objects float gently or appear virtually weightless.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Azure’s magic, Velvet Gravity, allows him to manipulate gravity’s pull with a delicate, almost sensual touch, softening its grip like velvet against skin. When he activates this power, the world around him seems to lose its weight—objects drift lazily through the air, untethered by the usual rules. Azure can use this effect on himself, allowing him to traverse effortlessly across rooftops, leap impossible distances, move silently, walk on water, cushion his falls, or descend from great heights with the grace of a feather caught in a gentle breeze, among other applications.

With concentration, Azure can apply this effect selectively, creating pockets of softened gravity in specific areas and he can extend it to those around him, allowing them to benefit from this weightlessness. In battle, he uses it to disorient opponents—swords swing sluggishly, bodies stumble as their sense of balance warps, and thrown projectiles hang uselessly mid-air.

LIMITS ⫻ Velvet Gravity’s abilities are limited by Azure’s need to focus on the immediate area around him. He can only influence the gravity of objects or individuals within a certain radius, making it ineffective for long-range manipulation. This magic also requires a great deal of concentration, as Azure must maintain a delicate balance to avoid creating unintended effects like destabilizing objects or causing them to float away uncontrollably. The more objects he tries to manipulate at once, the more taxing it becomes on his stamina, limiting the duration and frequency with which he can use it

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Gravity may be a constant but Azure's control over it is not. Immense concentration is needed to maintain the effects of gravity and if something breaks it, he risks a feedback loop where the magic he waves is instead applied to him alone and not to the world around him. Thus, if he lowered the gravity around him, he could float away without being able to control it. Likewise, if he decreases the gravity of an object that same gravitational shift could apply to selective parts of his body. His heart, for example, would not be as effective without gravity's pull.

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"Sometimes, the most exquisite things are the ones that hurt the most."

MISQ SECTION

Happy Padmanabhan

"Is Happy my real name? What, you think I made it up for the aesthetic?"

_______________________________________________ Khushwant "Happy" Padmanabhan | He/Him | 24 | Human, Indian-American | 6'2" | 165 lbs _______________________________________________ Easygoing _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I may not have a fancy degree, but I can take a damn good photo. And also, like… play ‘Wonderwall’ really well." ___________________________________ [+] Photography ⫻ As a photographer for the town’s local news network, Happy has a keen eye for capturing beauty in everyday life. Whether it’s a stunning sunset over the beach or a candid moment between strangers, he finds a story in every shot. Guitar Playing ⫻ Happy is a skilled guitarist with a natural ear for music. He teaches kids how to play as a side job, preferring to make lessons fun and relaxed rather than rigid, believing music should be enjoyed, not forced. Athleticism ⫻ Happy is naturally athletic and enjoys surfing, volleyball, soccer, and basketball. He’s not the most competitive player, but he plays for the love of the game, often bringing people together through sports rather than trying to dominate. Empathy & Perception ⫻ Despite his himbo reputation, Happy is deeply intuitive and can easily pick up on people’s emotions. He has a way of making people feel comfortable and heard, even if they don’t realize they needed someone to listen. Quick Reflexes & Balance ⫻ His years of surfing and playing sports have given him excellent reflexes and balance. Whether catching a falling camera, dodging a rogue volleyball, or staying upright on his surfboard in rough waters, he moves with an effortless ease.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Everyone’s got something beautiful about them—you just gotta know where to look." You know, Happy kind of has an effortless, boy-next-door charm that makes him instantly approachable. His warm brown skin, kissed by the sun from long hours at the beach, is smooth except for the noticeable scars tracing his left leg and foot—a lasting souvenir from a surfing accident. His face is defined by a prominent nose, something he used to be self-conscious about but has since embraced as a unique part of him. Thick, expressive eyebrows frame his deep-set almond-shaped eyes, which are a rich, dark brown, almost black in certain lighting, framed by thick lashes that make them stand out. His full lips are often curved into an easy, knowing smile, the kind that puts people at ease, while his wavy black hair, thick and slightly tousled, falls just to his neck in an effortlessly cool way. Though he’s not obsessed with fashion, Happy has a distinct style—he gravitates toward silk shirts or anything soft and breathable, favoring comfort over name brands. His lean, toned frame, built from years of surfing, soccer, basketball and volleyball, fits well into relaxed, well-fitting clothes that move with him. He’s rarely seen without his glasses, round frames that sit comfortably on his nose since he can’t stand the feel of contacts. A thin gold chain rests against his collarbone, matching the small golden earrings that glint subtly in the light. Beneath his shirt, a dusting of hair decorates his chest, something he’s indifferent about but wouldn’t bother shaving. Altogether, Happy carries himself with an easy confidence—not the kind that demands attention, but the kind that makes people feel like they’ve known him forever.

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"Dude, life’s too short to stress about things you can’t control. Just relax and ride the wave."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To be honest, Happy doesn’t have a grand, meticulously planned-out life goal—he just wants to live a fulfilling life doing what he loves. He wants to capture the world’s beauty through his photography, inspire joy in others, and maybe, someday, find a place (or a person) where he truly belongs. While he enjoys teaching guitar and working as a photographer for the local news network, his real dream is to travel and document the world through his lens. Perhaps become a famous documentarist.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Happy believes in going with the flow, trusting that things will work out in the end. He sees beauty in the little things—sunsets, laughter, the way light catches in someone's eyes—and believes that happiness is about appreciating those fleeting moments. He thinks people take life too seriously, and while he doesn’t ignore hardships, he prefers to sidestep negativity rather than dwell on it.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ Despite his easygoing nature, Happy fears failure—not in the traditional sense, but in a deeper, existential way. He worries that one day he’ll look back and realize he never truly chose a path, that he drifted through life without ever making something of himself. He also avoids emotional vulnerability, fearing that if he stops running from his problems, they’ll finally catch up to him. Secretly, he sometimes wonders if people only like him for his good vibes and not for who he really is underneath.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Happy's mostly been into women all his life. It's not something he's given much thought. But if you were to ask him, he'd probably identify as bisexual or pansexual. He's kissed a few boys in the past and wasn't mad at it, even if it wasn't his first choice. He's more about connection than anything else, drawn to people who make him feel alive and free. Happy flirts effortlessly, but genuine, deep emotional intimacy is something he’s still learning to navigate.

"Listen, I’m not saying I have commitment issues… but my longest relationship is with my camera."

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Happy’s first day with his Starlight Knight magic was unexpected and chaotic, unfolding during a friendly volleyball match at the beach. As he leaped into the air to spike the ball, a surge of cosmic energy coursed through him, and in an instant, wings of shimmering starlight erupted from his back. At the same time, a bow of glowing starlight appeared in his hands, perfectly formed but unfamiliar. For a brief, breathtaking moment, he hovered in mid-air, the ball forgotten, as he stared at the ethereal wings that kept him afloat. The magic faded almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving him plummeting back to the sand, stunned and breathless. The rest of his teammates were too caught up in their own game to notice, but Happy was left reeling, caught between awe and confusion about what had just happened.

FLAWS ⫻ He has a tendency to run from his problems rather than face them head-on. Happy would much rather avoid confrontation, often laughing things off or distracting himself instead of dealing with difficult emotions. While his easygoing nature makes him well-liked, it can also make him seem unreliable when things get tough. Despite being more perceptive than people give him credit for, he downplays his own intelligence, sometimes selling himself short or not pushing himself toward greater ambitions. Happy's optimism, while a strength, can also make him a little naïve, trusting people too easily or giving them the benefit of the doubt even when they don’t deserve it.

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"Sometimes I wish I could just go back to simpler days, before everything got so... complicated."

Happy Padmanabhan was born in the small town of Twin Pines to second-generation Indian parents, a place where time seems to meander very slowly. His childhood was soft, laced with the hum of distant laughter and the warm light of a life without great tumult. The kind of childhood that was peaceful in its mediocrity, yet the subtle weight of being the middle child clung to him. Not ignored, per se, but often drifting between the shadows of his older siblings’ expectations and the demands of his younger siblings’ needs.

It was in this in-between space that Happy found his refuge—not in the confines of family duty, but in the open, welcoming arms of his hobbies and friends. The world of sports, photography, and music became his escape, his solace. With a camera in hand and a guitar at his fingertips, Happy could vanish into his own world, one where he could shape his own narrative. Still, he moved forward; a high-school dropout carving out a life for himself in the town that had shaped him.

As he stumbled into adulthood, Happy found an unexpected break when his passion for photography turned into a job. Through a freelance gig capturing images of Twin Pines' town history for a local preservation effort, Happy got a chance to save a historic building—the old hotel that had long been a centerpiece of the town but was facing demolition. His photographs helped garner enough attention to keep the building standing, and the news director, impressed by his eye for detail, offered him a job as a photographer for the local news channel.

But the pay was pitiful.

To make ends meet, Happy took up teaching guitar to local kids, his easygoing demeanor and natural teaching style making him a beloved instructor. Yet, still, his income just barely exceeded his bills—he lived simply in a cramped apartment in the old hotel he had helped preserve.

But life, ever unpredictable, had more in store. During a friendly volleyball match at the beach, Happy’s world shifted in an instant. As he jumped to spike the ball, something within him sparked—an uncontrollable surge of celestial power. Before he knew it, wings of starlight burst from his back, and a glowing bow appeared in his hands. Hovering mid-air, momentarily suspended by the cosmic energy, he released the ball with an odd kind of precision, the wings and bow vanishing just as quickly as they had come. The magic faded, but the weight of that moment lingered. Happy stood there, dumbstruck, unsure of what he had just experienced.

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"It's strange, you know? This starlight—it feels like it’s always been a part of me."

MAGIC ⫻ Starlight Knight; This magic grants Happy a radiant, angelic form, allowing him to fly with wings of starlight, wield a bow, sword, and shield made of this pure cosmic energy, and heal others with his touch.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻

They call it Starlight Knight—a gift of radiant divinity that wraps Happy in a celestial glow, lifting him beyond mortal bounds. When summoned, wings of pure, iridescent starlight unfurl from his back, their brilliance casting long, golden shadows as he takes to the sky. In his grasp, a bow forms—its string humming with power, loosing arrows of raw luminescence that streak through the air like falling stars, striking with unerring precision. When battle demands it, a sword and shield of the same sacred, cosmic energy manifest at his will, their edges gleaming with an ethereal sharpness that can cut through darkness itself. Yet, for all its might, Starlight Knight is not just a weapon—it is mercy. From his hands emanates a healing starry radiance, mending wounds, soothing pain, restoring what was broken. Starlight, in its truest form, both shields and strikes, destroys and redeems. And in Happy’s hands, it does both.

At The Start of the Story

For now, Happy can only manifest the Starlight Bow and his aim isn't always accurate, though being naturally athletic and playing sports like Basketball and Volleyball, he's got decent aim. He hasn't been able to manifest the Starlight Wings again since they appeared the first time during the volleyball match and he doesn't even know he will eventually be able to heal others and manifest a Starlight Sword and Shield. In due time...

LIMITS ⫻ Maintaining his angelic form drains Happy’s stamina rapidly, forcing him to pace himself in battle. His wings, while granting him flight, are not invincible—strong attacks can disrupt his airborne movement or even force him to land. The starlight-formed bow and sword require precision and focus, meaning reckless or panicked attacks weaken their effectiveness. Healing others is equally taxing, as it draws from his own celestial energy, leaving him physically exhausted if overused.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The Starlight Knight is a power that is at it's strongest during the day, and weakest during the dark of night. This power draws additional strength from the ambient light available and thus, it will be important for Happy to remember to utilize the strengths during the day and account for its weakness at night.

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"I’d rather be happy than perfect any day. See what I did there?"

MISQ SECTION

[FernStone]

Bea Lucaci

"I dunno what all these tourists see in this shithole."

_______________________________________________ Sabina “Bea” Irinel Lucaci Tiefling (Unknown) | She/Her | 22 | Romanian-American | 5’1” | 108lbs _______________________________________________ Jaded _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "You want a ticket? No? Then fuck off." ___________________________________ [+] Carnival Ladder Climber ⫻ As assistant manager on an understaffed, shitty carnival island, Bea has developed a variety of skills. First of all, she knows she can’t depend on anyone above her. They do fuck all. Second? They sure as shit aren’t paying her enough for the amount of work she does now… but she has nothing else going on. Bea has gotten pretty good at solving problems without the actual needed help. Sure, she’ll grumble and scowl her whole way through it, but she gets shit done. Honestly, the place would be falling apart even more if it weren’t for her. She can also lead a team… of mostly teenagers who don’t know any better. If anything it’s more impressive she can get a bunch of teens to listen to her. She’s a master of nonchalant customer service. Ask for a manager on the island, and you get Bea and her resting bitch face. As much as she fucking hates it, she’s really very good at her job… which only makes things more depressing. Since she technically worked up the ladder from temp summer to permanent to assistant manager, she knows how shit runs well - and can run the various (minimal) stands they have if needed… which it often is. Daughter of a Devil ⫻ When she puts in the effort, Bea can be charismatic. She’s always had a natural way with words, being quite the smooth talker when she wants to be. While she doesn’t bother much nowadays, it’s a skill she’s never lost. Her ability to be deceptive, on the other hand, is one she still uses to get out of all kinds of annoying situations. Her mind is still sharp. She’s cunning, able to manipulate and deceive people with relative ease and little knowledge on their part. While she doesn’t tend to use this with bad intentions, it’s still manipulation at the end of the day. All of these are traits she’d had from a young age, but they seem to be pushing more to the forefront now. Gifted Kid Burnout ⫻ While Bea certainly wouldn’t consider herself gifted anymore, she once was. She’s still got the brains for studying if she puts her mind to it, and is pretty smart. This is channeled into her cunning and general wit. She’s good at math, which was her planned degree. Along with this she’s always expecting failure- softening the blow when it happens. Artfully Not Giving A Shit ⫻ Bea is adept at not giving a shit in a way that doesn’t result in people punching her. Her sarcastic comments almost seem like jokes, and she’s managed to hold down a job since she was a teenager even with an increasingly worsening attitude. It’s almost endearing. Almost.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I call this look ‘dying nicotine addict.’ The purple tinge is cool, I guess." Uncaring about the world around her, Bea is someone who’s never found without her signature frown. Her expression can generally be described as dead inside or pissed off at anyone expecting her attention. But even though she doesn’t seem to care, she still puts some effort into her appearance. She’s rarely found without at least foundation, eyeshadow and lipstick in a variety of darker shades. Overall it tends to be darker, in a minimal gothic or more grunge style. Her hair, naturally brown, is dyed black and falls down to the top of her chest. Her bangs are cut to just above her eyebrows, and she consistently trims them so they remain at that length. Short and slim, her body is nicely curved. It’s kept in shape more by virtue of a job on her feet and meals on a budget than any effort on her part. Bea has tattoos all across her right arm, with about half her left arm done. She has floral tattoos across the front of her shoulders, and a few on her upper legs. She has a piercing in her right nostril, a septum piercing and a medusa piercing. Bea’s skin is pale, and she often has dark bags under her eyes. Recently she’s so sleep deprived these seem to be spreading, with her entire body starting to take on a slight purple tinge. Her once dull green eyes are becoming more vibrant, verging towards yellow, thanks to all the nicotine in her system. Her pupils are getting paler too, so she’s probably going blind from all the smoke in her eyes. She’s had simple lobe piercings for years, but she got helix piercings a few months ago. She’s pretty sure they fucked up somehow because her ears are starting to get pointier at the tips. She’s started feeling two lumps on the top of her head… They’re painful and itchy, so she’s accepted her inevitable death in a year or two. It's not like she can afford to see a doctor. Thankfully they’re hidden by her hair, but she’s started wearing a beanie more often just in case. There’s another painful lump forming at the base of her spine… so a year or two is probably too optimistic. Either way, she’s just been ignoring the obviously worrying changes in her body. Bea tends to wear various types of crop tops - favouring more tank top, bralet or corset style ones. These tend to be black or white, with the colour coming from her denim or corduroy pants. She’ll swap to shorts in the warmer weather, sometimes a dress or skirt. The colours she tends to add aren’t much- browns, denim blue, darker reds and occasional lighter blues. Her jacket of choice is a medium brown leather one that was her dads, thick enough to ward off most of the cold. On the rare days she really feels like trying she’ll dress up more, favouring a more gothic fashion with long dark dresses or skirts and more intense makeup.

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"I’m not the person I used to be. I’ll never be her again. And shit’s never getting better."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Bea wants to leave Twin Pines and go somewhere better. Where? She doesn’t know, and doesn’t care. She just wants to make enough money to leave this deadend down and go somewhere that actually has life. Maybe even get the education she missed out on. Since that seems like a pipe dream, she just wants to keep making enough money to pay the rent on her shitty apartment and fund her nicotine addiction.

There’s still hope that she can regain parts of her former self, as much as she refuses to let herself believe it.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Hard work doesn’t always pay off and the world isn’t fair. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how much you do, you could still end up with shit all for it. It’s better just to not try at all, because the result will be the same. The only people who can drag themselves out of the mud are those who got lucky, or are rich in the first place.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ That beneath her jaded, don’t give a shit exterior, Bea actually does care. She’s so fucking scared because she used to care too much. She used to take on other people’s burdens and stresses while putting pressure on herself to do well. This resulted in her burning out, and failing to get anywhere in life. Even after that she still cares, even though she suppresses it. Bea’s scared she’ll always be stuck like this, even though she pretends she’s accepted it. That she’s always going to be a failure at a dead end job in a shitty town. She keeps just how bad her mental health has gotten over the last few years a secret. The genuine cry for help is purposeful hidden under layers of cynicism and sarcasm.

Also, she keeps the whole head lumps, skin turning purple, yellowish eyes and pointed ears thing a secret. No point freaking anyone out about her inevitable death.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Bisexual with a preference for women. Bea has been in a couple of relationships, mainly with men - there’s a very small pool of woman attracted women in a small town like Twin Pines. As a result, she hasn’t been in a relationship for almost a year now. She has had flings in between this but, again, small pool to pick from.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Bea was at work the day magic emerged. At the exact moment, she was trying to corral a bunch of teenage workers… then half the fucking island went dark for a few minutes. After the lights came back, or whatever magical darkness it was lifted, the shadows started talking to her.

FLAWS ⫻ To be frank, Bea is depressed. She’s what could be described as ‘functionally’ depressed. She can still get out of bed when she has to, get dressed and look nice, go to work, pretend everything is o-fucking-kay. But when she’s alone and has nothing she needs to do? It’s bad. She’s crushed by hopelessness and feels like there isn’t much point to anything. Shit isn’t going to get better, after all. Past events have led to her being incredibly jaded. This often comes across in her scathing remarks or harsh dismissal of other people’s positivity. While Bea masks the genuine problems with biting wit and sarcastic jokes, it doesn’t make her a particularly easy person to be around. She just doesn’t really seem to care about anything. She’s often too blunt. While she doesn’t purposefully lash out at people, her words often hurt those around her.

Bea’s a disconcertingly different person from who she was in highschool and she hates that. It's a cycle of self loathing and resenting her circumstances that keeps her stuck where she is now. And even when the parts that remain from the better person she was seem to resurface, it never feels genuine - at least not to her. Because she truly doesn’t believe that’s who she is anymore, or who she can be.

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"I learned the hard way that hard work doesn’t pay off."

Demons of the Past

Just over two thousand years ago, a young Romanian woman, Sorina Corbeanu, was one of the many persecuted during witch hunts across the country. She had no natural magic, there were no Witch Hunter detection tools picking her up, just superstitious neighbours wanting rid of a single, parentless woman who scorned all men that tried to marry her. Forced to flee the town she grew up in, Sorina grew resentful against humanity - and she sought out a pact with a dark being.

The Demon, 𝔊͎̒͜𝔯̸̶̶̩̝͋ͣ͛𝔬̨̥ͫ̊̀̓͞𝔞̵̮̮ͫ̉̈̓̽͜͠ͅ𝔷̡̬̟͗́͌ͣ̀̕͝ă̗͔ͤ̓̕͠͝, master of the Night. With his power Sorina was able to enact revenge on the very people who tried to have her killed. Her power grew and grew, and she was able to cut out a life for herself and amass a following. She didn’t seek domination: just enough power to protect herself and live well.

Her relationship with 𝔊͎̒͜𝔯̸̶̶̩̝͋ͣ͛𝔬̨̥ͫ̊̀̓͞𝔞̵̮̮ͫ̉̈̓̽͜͠ͅ𝔷̡̬̟͗́͌ͣ̀̕͝ă̗͔ͤ̓̕͠͝ changed as well. It became more than just Warlock and Patron. It wasn’t a loving relationship, neither side interested in something like that, but it was deeper than one Sorina had with anyone else. From this union her daughter, Viorela Corbeanu, was born. After her birth, 𝔊͎̒͜𝔯̸̶̶̩̝͋ͣ͛𝔬̨̥ͫ̊̀̓͞𝔞̵̮̮ͫ̉̈̓̽͜͠ͅ𝔷̡̬̟͗́͌ͣ̀̕͝ă̗͔ͤ̓̕͠͝ refused to have another. There could only be one with his blood per generation, he said. Only one with access to that power.

It wasn’t until she went through puberty that her infernal heritage was clear. Horns, tail, glowing eyes and dark purple skin. While being a Tiefling made her a target, her magic was strong. As was her son’s.

Her son was the first to ignore the warning about having multiple children. After all, it didn’t matter if only one ended up like him. So he had two children. The first transformed as he did when he hit puberty. The second succumbed to an illness and died tragedy before she could reach that age.

It wasn’t just a warning. It was a curse. Only one child could be born per generation.

As magic disappeared from the world, the demonic features got less and less with each generation. Still knowledge of their ancestry was passed down along with warning of the curse. It wasn’t until the second generation without any visible demonic features that the decision was made to keep their infernal heritage secret. It wasn’t important anymore.

So from then on, the bloodline has remained unaware of their origins. The curse has been inactive for five hundred years, but is still passed down as a superstition.

Sabina Lucaci was born to Matei Lucaci and Katherine Gray in the small town of Twin Pines. Her parents weren’t married at the time as she was an unplanned, but welcome, surprise to a couple in their mid twenties. Matei had moved to America from Romania when he became an adult to study, but ended up having to drop out and following the ‘love of his life’ to her hometown. Here he worked in the fishing industry primarily.

They weren’t well off, but Bea was raised in a loving home. Her parents married when she was a toddler and she doesn’t have many negative memories of her earliest years. But as she moved towards the double digits, her parents' relationship turned rocky. Hushed arguments became loud and heated. They argued openly over Bea- and over the second child her mom had wanted and her dad refused to have.The household fractured. Her parents divorced shortly after she turned ten.

From there she spent equal time at two much worse off homes, both sides struggling without the double income. But Bea was a confident and positive child. Bright in more ways than one, she excelled in school while being incredibly friendly. It was difficult to deal with her parent’s separating, but she did better than both thought she would.

A couple of years later, her mom remarried. Then, she had another child. And another.

Bea started to spend more time at her dad’s, preferring the quiet. The two of them were close and she loved him. He always encouraged her to do her best, and to not give up on her dreams. He didn’t want her to end up like him, forced to drop out of university for reasons outside of his control. He planned to do everything he could to support her. But money was tight, so Bea took up a temp summer job at Coney Island from when she was fourteen, before working weekends part time from when she was sixteen.

Along with excelling academically, Bea was popular in school. She was a girl that almost everyone knew, someone who was always cheerful and smiled at everyone. She was nice to everyone and seemed to get on with them too. Like a ray of absolute sunshine. But while Bea was popular and well liked, she had very few proper friends. Close ones. One of the few was Rowan- or Roro, as Bea teasingly called her. Much shyer, their friendship was a bit of an odd one, but Bea liked the quieter company. It balanced her.

It was Bea, with her confident and bright demeanour, who encouraged Rowan to go out of comfort zone and apply for university. To actually leave, just like Bea planned to. Bea worked her hardest for that goal too. She knew she had to get a scholarship to be able to afford it. But she was doing well enough that she should manage to get one that paid most of the fees at her prepared school.

Everything was going well. She was excelling, and most people liked her. It was fine that she was sacrificing sleep. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have many actual friends.

But it meant when everything came crashing down around her, there was no one to help pick her back up.

Right before final exams and her SAT, Bea’s mental health plummeted. She lost confidence in herself and struggled to even get out of bed. It was so sudden. She went from being happy and doing well, to struggling with depression that hit out of nowhere. But she still managed to push through and sit what she had to… but her grades just weren’t what they had been. She’d completely burnt herself out. She didn’t get the full scholarship at her chosen school. She didn’t even get into that school, and she didn’t get any scholarships anywhere. The one school she did get into she couldn’t afford.

Her dad reassured her that she could resit everything in a year and apply again. She just needed to rest a bit. Her mum was sympathetic too - but her attention was taken up by her two other younger children.

There was still some hope. Bea increased her hours at the carnival job, and studied on her own. All she needed was some kind of scholarship and between her working and some money from her dad, she’d be fine. She lived full time with him now, helping with bills here and there.

Then that winter, things got worse. Her dad’s boat capsized in a freak accident, and he presumably drowned. They didn’t find his body.

Now Bea had to deal with the grief of losing the person she was closest to, and face that university was just a pipe dream now. She couldn’t afford it herself. She could barely afford to keep the apartment her and her dad had lived in. While she pushed into a worse state of depression, she didn’t want to lose the place she considered home and what she had left of him.

So she went full time at the carnival. Then, eventually, she was given the promotion to assistant manager. It was a shit job with way too many responsibilities for the pay, but it wasn’t like Bea had anything else going on in her life. And it meant she could cover the costs of the tiny, shitty apartment while having enough to fund her smoking habit on the side.

Life wasn’t good. Quite frankly, it was shit. Sometimes she thought about ending it… but she never did. She couldn’t. Not when her dad wouldn’t want her to. She couldn’t do that to her mum, as much as she didn’t see her often, or to the younger siblings she wasn’t that close to. Or the few friends she had, even though she didn’t have contact after they all escaped town.

She loosely clung onto life, even though she didn’t have any hope. A shit job in a dead end town… she didn’t see any different future.

But recently, things have changed a bit. Rowan- for some godforsaken reason- came back and started working on Coney Island. Sure, Bea was her sort of boss, but there was… some small amount of comfort from an old friend’s return. It was a break from the horrible monotony. Just a little bit she found herself able to joke with someone- even if it was mostly sarcastic.

Then, there’s the magic. While it should be thrilling to have something out of the ordinary happen in her shit, boring life… Bea’s just pissed off at it. She’d rather not have constant whispers in her ear, thanks.

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"Can you fucking shut up for one goddamn minute?!"

MAGIC ⫻ Infernal. Bea can (unknowingly) manifest shadows from people’s fears and nightmares, and manipulate them.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻

Bea comes from a demonic bloodline that specialised in fear and nightmare magic, shadow magic, and mental curses. At their strongest her ancestors could manifest shadowy versions of great beasts from nightmares, with the power to level towns. They could command the manifested shades to act as their spies, getting comprehensive information whispered in their ear. Nightmares and fears themselves were manipulated and used for fuel, with powerful mental curses cast, such as haunting people their worst nightmares.

Right now, Bea can manifest people’s fears and recent nightmares in an area around her as shadows, and do incredibly basic manipulation of them. Manipulation wise, she can create a thin ‘whip’ of shadow that she can use to trip people or lash out at them. It’s relatively useless, able to trip if it's not noticed or cause a shallow wound on open flesh.

Bea has no control over the shadow manifestation. She has no idea that she’s the one bringing talking shadows into existence. Currently, they’re just shadows that take a vague shape of whatever they were formed from. They whisper to Bea, and she could talk to them - but she generally just tells them to go away. No one else can see these talking, moving shadows. Once they manifest they naturally flock to her. Against her will, Bea manifests the shadows from people within a forty metre radius around her. They are basically useless - she has no named spells, because she doesn’t even realise this is part of her magic and that she’s bringing them into existence.

LIMITS ⫻

Bea’s manifestation isn’t something she can actively cast or turn off at the moment, thanks to her lack of understanding and skill. This constant manifestation not only drains her energy, but leads to a near constant flow of irritating, useless shadows that whisper to her. She can manifest them in forty metres around her. People who are happier don’t tend to ‘produce’ shadows because it would require her to delve deeper into their mind, something she currently can’t do. The shadows also don’t actually do anything, nor can they interact with the world right now. Only Bea can see, hear and talk to them.

Manipulation wise, she can only make a basic whip that lashes out, trips or wraps around something once. It’s as strong as an average human in terms of ability to hold on or hurt.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The shadows are mischievous and can be cruel, Bea would do well to learn this quickly. While she can summon them they will often go rouge on her and will seemingly take pleasure in the act of doing so. As well, when they talk to Bea there will be two devils on her shoulder trying to push her to do more heinous acts against unsuspecting people. As well, once summoned, they will resist the call to go away again. Combined with their mischievous and cruel nature, Bea could inadvertently put others in serious danger when the shades decide they want to play.

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"Nah, Tieflings are just myths. People pretending their ancestors fucked a demon to make it cool when they’re massive cunts."

In case it wasn’t obvious, Bea has no idea she’s a tiefling. She’s in denial it’d even be possible.
Bea is the only one left in the direct bloodline of 𝔊͎̒͜𝔯̸̶̶̩̝͋ͣ͛𝔬̨̥ͫ̊̀̓͞𝔞̵̮̮ͫ̉̈̓̽͜͠ͅ𝔷̡̬̟͗́͌ͣ̀̕͝ă̗͔ͤ̓̕͠͝, but there might be some distant relatives left. Technically the ‘one child per generation’ curse wasn’t active when there wasn’t any magic to fuel it.
Bea speaks Romanian, but she’s worried about losing it now she has no one to speak it with.

Cailean Aoki

Alt Theme

"I always knew monsters were real!"

_______________________________________________ Cailean Hinata Breòthach Aoki Half Elf, Half Halfling | They/Them | 34 | Japanese-Scottish | 4’5” | 74lbs _______________________________________________ Self-discovery _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "You’re telling me yous don’t know how to catch a sea serpent? Sit down, this is gonna take a while." ___________________________________ [+] Elvish Upbringing ⫻ From a young age, Cailean was reading whatever books they could get their hands on while being taught about science, maths, herbology and everything else their mum thought would be useful. From her they got their academic intelligence and thirst for knowledge. They’re smart and quick witted (though it doesn’t always show), with a specialisation in chemistry and physics which they did their degree in. Halfling Upbringing ⫻ From their dad, Cailean learned the more ‘mundane’ and simple way of living. Cooking, cleaning, and surviving in whatever conditions. Their dad was an amazing cook, and while Cailean isn’t as talented they did learn from him. He taught them how to be self-sufficient, helping them in their journeys, but also perhaps more important: how to tell a story. While they can’t integrate with other people like he tried to teach them, they’re a great story teller. Monster Hunter ⫻ Cailean always knew monsters were real, and has been training since a young age to capture them. They’re physically fit from climbing up as many munros as they could back in Scotland, they’ve mastered hiding in bushes, and they’ve taken enough blurry pictures of rocks that totally look like monsters to know they’ll be able to snap the real deal. Plus, they’re confident in their seduction skills. Trilingual ⫻ Cailean grew up in a multicultural household, and their parents ensured they learned both of their mother tongues. Cailean’s first language is English, but they speak Scottish Gaelic and Japanese fluently. They’ve picked up a smattering of other languages while travelling.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Y’know what they say about people with big feet." Cailean stands out, at a height that’s too short for most races but too tall for gnomes and halflings. Their androgyny only adds to the confusion. They don’t quite fit into any box- courtesy of their lack of attachment to any gender, and their mixed parents. Cailean’s body is relatively flat, slim and hairless, the main area where they take after their mum. On the other hand, their wider face and proportionally large, annoyingly hairy feet are from their dad. They’re an expressive person, the variety of emotions they get shown clear as day on their face. Subtly pointed ears are often hidden under thick, dark waves. They’ve let their hair grow incredibly long- because fuck human gender norms- with it falling down past their ass. How they style it depends on the day. Left loose, twin braids, simple updos or more fancier styles their mum taught them… But it’s well maintained. A point of pride instilled in them by their elvish mother. They have a flat button nose, with one nostril pierced, and thick lips often painted with some soft lipstick. Their round, hooded eyes vary from a glowing amber-brown in the sun to a darker, duller brown in the shade. Their skin is a cooler brown tone and well looked after. They have some nasty scars on their upper legs, and one on their upper back near their spine. The way Cailean dresses varies depending on how they feel. Most typically they favour shirts in varying colours- from more subdued dress shirts to bright Hawaiian ones. These are often tucked into slacks. They like to keep the top few buttons undone, sometimes going further and undoing enough for there to be a risk of flashing that’s not viewed as acceptable for someone afab. But they don’t care- one thing both parents raised them with was confidence in their body. Sometimes they’ll wear dresses and appear more feminine, other times they’ll lean even more into masculinity. They often wear a variety of chains around their neck and wrists, and rings to match. They have various tattoos up their arms and onto their hands. They’re always found wearing platform boots- frequently four inches or above to try and make themselves a more ‘normal’ height. Thanks to their oversized feet, they don’t even have to wear kids shoes!

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"See, I’m travelling to relax right now, so I ain’t looking to get into the deep shit."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Cailean wants to discover themself. They feel like they don’t belong anywhere. They want to try and find a balance between their two cultures so that they can authentically be themself. Because right now they feel disconnected from both, when really they’re both at once. They want to accept and find themselves. Then, they’ll be able to figure out what they want from life. And one day, they’d like to find love just like their parents.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Cailean believes in freedom, and that people shouldn’t be forced to conform just because of societal expectations. They grew up with parents who embodied it- who loved each other even if it wasn’t accepted. Not everyone fits in a box, and that’s ok. While they struggle to always follow this for themselves, they do truly believe it.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ Cailean hides that the confidence in themselves that they project is false. They struggle with being outside of the norm even when they say to fuck that. But they refuse to tell anyone, especially their parents, just how much they feel like they don’t fit in anywhere- and all the negative feelings they view themselves with.

Cailean fears never finding a place they belong, or a community. They fear always being in this state of drifting. They fear being trapped, and have claustrophobia. Past experiences have led to a fear of violence from those bigger than them (which is everyone), though this isn’t always obvious by the way they push at people and act confident.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Queer. Cailean doesn’t really bother defining their sexuality, just like they struggle to define themself. They’re attracted to all sorts of people (and more beyond that) and no label feels like it fits. They’re a flirt, absolutely down for a bit of fun, but unable to hold down a long term relationship. After all, the one time they did it went bad…

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻

FLAWS ⫻ Cailean covers up their insecurities with an overconfidence that can come across as arrogance, and lead to them making impulsive, poorly thought through decisions to prove a point. They’re quick to react to perceived slights, expecting to be discriminated against or questioned because of their parentage. Instead of letting things go, they’ll push back or snap. At the same time they can be quite flighty, running away from their problems rather than facing them head on. They struggle to form proper attachments because everytime they have it’s ended up bring them pain. Cailean is someone who expects to be hurt, and pushes people away as a result. They can also be a lot. Cailean is energetic bordering on erratic, loud and often brash. While they’re bright and friendly with a lot of love to give, they don’t really have the best people skills. They’re a master at accidentally saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

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"Nowhere’s ever felt like home like my parent’s place. Maybe cause things are low enough for me to reach ‘em."

Cailean was born to an unusual union, to parents who defied all expectations with their love.

Her mum, Sìne Breòthach, was from a small settlement of elves that had lived in the Western Isles of Scotland for as long as memory went back. They were a relatively insular community with little interaction with outsiders beyond what was necessary. They kept touch with their roots and the world around them, protecting secrets that could change the world as they knew it. But that didn’t mean people didn’t leave the community. Knowledge was just as important, and what they knew would stagnate without external influence. Sìne was one of the elves that left- obtained a degree, then masters, then PHD before she returned home.

Her dad, Reo Aoki, was from a community of halflings that left their European homelands and ended up in Japan thousands of years ago. They were a tight knit community, intertwined with the human population in a small town. Like all halflings, he left his home for a story finding pilgrimage when he turned of age. Eventually, he found himself in Scotland.

It was here that he met Sìne. Their connection was instant. Reo extended his stay as the two started dating, and very quickly fell in love. After only a few months he proposed to her. But the union of a halfling and elf wasn’t easily accepted- especially not by the elves in Sìne’s community. She was given an ultimatum: leave him, or leave the commune and never return.

She chose Reo. The two moved to Glasgow together, where she got a job as a lecturer at the university while he worked part time in a bakery while looking after the home. His family were much more supportive. They just demanded stories and a visit or two.

Almost five years later, after a long period spent trying, they welcomed their only child: Cailean. Luckily for them, their parents were set on a specific gender neutral name before they even knew the gender of their child. This meant even though they were born a girl, it was easy for them to make their preferences known from early teenhood.

Cailean grew up in a happy, if unconventional, home. It was always full of warmth: with their parents’ love saturating everything. Everything was filled with love, from the way their dad raised them to his home cooking to the after work lessons with their mum.

It was more difficult in school. They were less mature than their human peers, and didn’t fit in with elves or halflings. They felt like an outsider. And as they got older, the bullying started, only isolating them further.

It was difficult to not resent their parents. After all, it was their fault Cailean was this way. It resulted in them acting out as they went into their teen years, pushing the two people who’d always loved them away. For a few years they were miserable.

But it got better. Their parents, after so much time worrying, managed to get through to them. They made a few friends in the last years of senior school. Then, they took a gap year afterwards. Time just spent enjoying themselves and pursuing hobbies, encouraged by their parents. Time where they could mature… not that they did much, when one of their hobbies was ‘monster hunting’ (unfortunately, they couldn’t find Nessie).

Finally, at twenty Cailean did what was expected of them. They went to university. Even with their identity struggles, their grades never dropped. Not with their mum’s constant, gentle tutoring. They got a masters in chemical physics, then got a boring but well paying job.

In their late twenties, they met a man they thought was the love of their life. He breathed joy back into their life where there’d been mundanity. Ruairidh, an elf a good forty years older than them. But that didn’t matter. Social conventions hadn’t stopped their parents, had it? For the first year things were good. Then, when they moved in together, the abuse started. Emotional, first, then physical. They became a shell of themself as they were torn down again and again. It took almost two years for them to get out.

And there they were, in the thirties and moving back in with their parents. All those feelings of their childhood came back. That they didn’t belong anywhere. They were just following a path they felt they should: going to university, getting a job, trying to settle down. They felt detached, and started to slip back into how they’d been as a teenager. Withdrawing. They didn’t know who they were anymore… but had they ever really known? They’d always struggled to accept themself, even if the years they felt loved, but it only got worse.

They felt like they were between two worlds they didn’t fit into. Their mum encouraged them to go back into academics, maybe get a PhD. Their dad thought they should take a break, connect with their community and help him at home. They felt even more stifled in their life and by all the expectations.

They still found solace at home and with the parents that loved them, but what about their own life? What did they do with it? It was their dad that noticed it… and realised they needed a change and to experience new things. A way to figure out what they wanted. After all, they had time. So he encouraged them to do what he did- the Halfling pilgrimage. Explore the world, and find interesting things. Maybe even themself.

So they did. For the last two years they’ve travelled the world using money saved up from the years of work. They visited their dad’s side of the family in Japan and went all around Asia. Then, Africa, and finally they ended up in America. In this time they’ve started to go back to the them before their relationship. Still uncertain, still not belonging, but someone who loved the world and wanted to be a part of it.

That was how they came to Twin Pines three weeks ago. They were following stories of a massive serpent that spewed fire that inhabited the lake. So far, they haven’t found it. Instead they’ve gotten a strange letter - and some magic of their own.

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"This sure is one way to stay grounded."

MAGIC ⫻ Terramancy. Manipulation of rock, earth and the metals within them.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻

Cailean’s terramancy comes from their connection with the earth and world around them, something both parents instilled in them. They can manipulate the earth around them, or rocks in the area. They’re still figuring out their budding powers, and only have two named spells.

Rock Throw ⫻ Cailean launches a nearby rock, or something else made of earth, towards a specific target. They can control and throw something up to about 30kg, but only in a straight line and up to 30 feet away. The larger it is the slower it’ll be.

Mud Wall ⫻ Using more energy, Cailean pulls up a wall made out of the ground in front of them. This is wide enough to cover two of them, but it’s only directly in front of them. It doesn’t cover the sides or the back and takes concentration to keep up.

There are many things Cailean doesn’t know about their magic yet. One is that they, with enough practice, will have access to metal manipulation too- and the ability to create it from earth. But they haven’t even considered this aspect, as they’re still working with the earth manipulation aspect… honestly they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing with any of it.

LIMITS ⫻

Cailean needs to be connected with the ground to use the majority of their magic. While they can still control rocks they had on them if they were on a higher floor in a building, they wouldn’t have access to many other spells. And their magic is weaker the higher up they are.

They can’t create earth from nothing. It has to exist, and thus they can manipulate it.

WEAKNESS ⫻

Using this magic is quite tiring. While they can lift heavy weights worth of earth using this, it is something that does have a physical connection to their body. Their magic is like an extension of their body, and when they use it to throw a rock, or build a wall, it will have a heightened physical toll on their body that builds with subsequent uses. To counteract this, Cailean can build muscle and train endurance to be a true earth bender.

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"There isn’t a monster in the lake? Aye right, I’ve heard that before… I ain’t letting you fool me."

Even though they’re in their thirties, Cailean really has the maturity of someone in their late twenties because of funky elf / halfling aging.

[Theyra]

Ethan Marsh

Ethan Marsh

"I will find them"

_______________________________________________ Ethan Alexander Marsh He/Him | 24 | Caucasian | 5'8 | 150lbs _______________________________________________ Determined _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Just some things my stepparents wanted me to know" ___________________________________ [+] [Astronomist] ⫻ Ethan has a personal interest in the stars and is an expert about them. [Blending in] ⫻ Due to some insistence by his stepparents, Ethan learned how to be stealthy and to go under the radar. [Myth Lore] ⫻ More insistence by his stepparents, Ethan learned and became an expert on myths, mainly those related to gods and the soul. [Perceptive] ⫻ Ethan has the tendency to notice details and other things that most would ignore or not notice.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I like to keep things simple" Ethan stands at a modest height for a man and has an above average build for someone who rarely workout. He likes to keep his brown hair semi-styled and tends to let the back of his hair grow out to his neck before he cuts it. The rest he maintains at a length so they do not grow pass his ears and over his forehead. Like his hair, Ethan maintains a five o'clock shadow as he does not like it when his beard grows too big for him. He has brown eyes and has two scars, one on his right palm and the other on his left foot. Ethan tends to exhibit introverted traits, though he is not against going against his comfort zone and trying new things. The main thing you could gather from him is that he is an inquisitive soul who seeks to understand both the world around him and his family. Mainly out of a sense of small sadness. As most would question why he lingers in town despite having the money to leave. Still, he does enjoy living in the town somewhat and is a friendly and kind person who likes to spend time with himself. Ethan tends to wear clothing based on the weather. Which given the cold weather of Twin Pines, he tends to wear jackets and coats to keep warm. Favoring cool colors and sometimes black. The style he likes to wear can be called semi-formal, though he can wear more casual or formal attire when required.

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"I want to understand"

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Ethan wants to know what happened to his parents and learn why they left him behind all those years ago. The last thing they said to him was that before dropping him off with a friend's family, they would return for him. That was when he was four, and now, twenty years later, nothing, and he is worried if his parents are still alive.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Ethan tries to keep a positive attitude in life despite his worry for his parents and the deaths of his stepparents. Hoping that things will be okay and that things will turn out well for him and others he cares for. Even if that number can be counted on one hand and more so given his travels. Still, Ethan keeps a hopeful mood and is not afraid to help out what few people he cares in the world.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
Ethan hides his concern and status of his parents since he does not want others to react to him negatively or think he is naive. He fears that if his parents are dead, then that leaves him alone in the world and with no idea why he was dumped all those years ago. Along with possibly making a mistake ith leaving his home and traveling to find his parents his way.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Straight

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Ethan was lucky at the time, he was home alone when magic came back, and at first, it started as a headache, soon turned intense until it felt like something turned on in his head, and suddenly everything looked weird, like ethereal weird. Everything was shaking and he could see his hands and arms were blue and having a strange blue aura around them until the disorienting experience forced him to the floor and when it was all over. He just felt like what just happened and realized what happened soon after.

FLAWS ⫻ Ethan can be stubborn at times, and he can have a hard time connecting to people, which makes it a challenge for him to make friends with people.

_{Backstory
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"Will I see them again?"

Ethan barely remembers where he was born, only that his family traveled a lot. For reasons he did not know, and one day, they came to a small town and dropped him off with a family friend. Telling him that one day they will return for him and things will be better. Now, since Ethan was four, he did not register this, and only as the years passed did he realize this and miss his parents.

Still, Ethan was treated well by his new stepparents, and they never made him feel like he was not wanted. In fact, they treated him like he was their own child. A fact that he did know, and it did help him feel less lonely and think less of his missing parents. Though they would teach him stuff, he wonders why they were committed to making him learn. Like they were preparing him for something, and every time, Ethan would ask why. They would always say when he was older or when his parents returned.

Now Ethan did do well in his new home and was seen as having a bright future. Only that took a turn when he graduated from high school, and his stepparents were killed in a car accident by a drunk. Leaving Ethan alone, but he still stayed in town, waiting for his parents.

Though as years passed, Ethan started to really think about his parents' promise to him and if he will see them again. Are they dead? What is taking them so long, and why bring him to that town? By the time he was twenty-four, and using what money he had. Ethan decided to leave town and find his parents after discovering a clue in his stepparents' attic. Now, on the road, his quest brought him to the small town of Twin Pines. After getting himself a place and a job. Ethan was keen on starting his search for his parents.

Only when magic returned did he discover his magic. It put things on hold as he started to understand his magic and figure out what this meant. Yes, he now has magic, but why and why now? It perplexed him, and he sought to learn more about his magic while still focused on finding his parents.

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"I see things"

MAGIC ⫻ Soul Magic, Ethan can see and manipulate souls and draw power from his own soul to use soul-based magic.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Soul magic deals with the soul and the ability to see souls, manipulate souls and draw power from his own. As in, Etahn is able to see what he calls the soul sight and is able to see souls and tell if there is something wrong with them. Like being mind controlled or if something else is living within their souls, like a ghost or demon or something else. Along with identifying if they are human or not. Though Ethan would not know right now why a soul is different. Along with being able to draw power from his soul to make both soul-based range attacks and put up a shield dome of soul energy for defense. Though Ethan does not know what else he can do with Soul Magic and is still learning what else he can do.

LIMITS ⫻ In order to use Soul Sight, Ethan's iris glow a dim blue and develop headaches if used for long.

When using soul based magic, since he draws power from his soul. There is only so much he can use at a time before it tires him, and he has to stop as his soul energy needs to recover.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Sometimes it is best to not know what lurks beneath the surface. In a world now filled with monsters, mages, devils, and demons a soul is a quick way to tell what is what. However, certain entities are not too keen on others knowing exactly what is going on. Thus, if Ethan were to use his magic to check the soul of someone, or something, he shouldn't he could very well find himself a target and a target rather quickly. As well, prolonged use of this ability will cause it to remain in effect even if Ethan desires it to no longer be. He will need to be sure to activate it when safe, and with restraint, otherwise he might invite deadly doom down upon himself.

^{Other
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"I do not know everything about my past"

Unknown to Ethhan and related to why his parents are missing is that he belongs to an ancient bloodline that is said to be related to a long-forgotten god and is the reason he is able to use soul magic.

[Skai]

Emmy Longwell

"I used to believe magic only existed in books."

_______________________________________________ Emmeline Mary Longwell She/Her | 25 | Human/Elf | 5'4" (64 in) | 116 lbs _______________________________________________ Humble _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Booksmart? Yes. Streetsmart? Well, I learn quickly." ___________________________________ [+] Analytical Thinking ⫻ Emmy is able to analyze situations, problems, or social interactions quickly. Emotional Intelligence ⫻ Emmy is great at picking up on the emotions of others or her own emotions, and can use this to resolve conflicts, communicate effectively, or regulate her emotions in response to stressful situations. Adaptability ⫻ Emmy is able to adapt to situations quickly in order to fulfill her needs. This includes learning information or a new skill, or simply figuring out how she can physically accomplish something that her body normally couldn't.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "My father sees her every time he looks at me." Born from an Elven mother, Emmy possesses the fox-like features of high cheekbones, long and slender limbs, slanted eyes, and pointed ears that are associated with Elves. Besides her human nature, the only thing she has inherited from her father are his dark green eyes and his button nose. Her figure is slim, with subtle curves where her long torso meets her hips. What little muscle she has is held in her legs because she prefers to walk when her body allows it. Her skin is fair, yet it develops a tan during the sunny months of summer. The only scar on her body is faded, sitting on her left temple from a fainting spell as a child. Her hair, like her mothers, cascades in sleek, auburn waves down to the middle of her back that flashes red in the sunlight. She braids it to protect it from tangles on windy days, pins it up with a clip, or ties half of it back with a ribbon when she wants it out of her face. As for makeup, Emmy prefers to keep her face clean. She simply brushes her slim brows out and applies mascara and she's ready for the day. Although she stands at 5'4" in her comfortable ballet flats or sandals, in the colder months Emmy often wears boots that add an extra inch or two to her height. Her style overall screams student, as she prefers timeless academia pieces that add layers to basic tee's or button-ups. She'll layer these basics with sweaters, vests, cardigans, or jackets. She wears jeans and short skirts in the warmer months, and opts for trousers or long skirts in colder weather. She prefers to wear modest pieces, but will occasionally layer a jacket or blazer over a satin tank or dress in the summer. The color palette of her clothing sticks to neutrals, with pops of reds, blues, and greens mixed into her wardrobe. Emmy has recently started pairing thin gloves with her outfits, and if anyone asks, she tells them that her hands are just cold.

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"Appreciate what you have, because the future is always uncertain."

MAIN GOAL ⫻
For now, Emmy wishes to finish her literature degree. Beyond that, Emmy is unsure whether she wants to teach or open her own bookstore in Twin Peaks. She'd love to travel the world, but her condition has kept her from straying far from home. Perhaps one day she'll brave the unknown despite her limitations.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Emmy lives with a quiet strength. Her condition has taught her that time is precious, so she lives each day as it comes and practices patience with her body's needs. While she's been well taken care of by her father since she was a child, she knows that she must be independent in her own struggles in order to begin her own life. She often pushes herself to live as normal as possible despite her needs. She's also aware of the privilege she has, and is grateful for it, but she does her best to be humble despite it. She believes that everyone should be treated with the same kindness and respect no matter who their family is or how much money they have.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
Emmy doesn't like to talk about the points of her ears because she believes that her mother left because of her illness. She often covers her ears with her hair or hats just to avoid the conversation.

Emmy is also afraid of heights.

Not so much of a secret if you look at her wardrobe, or know who her father is, but Emmy isn't forthright about the status of her bank account.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Straight, but her eyes have been known to wander

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ It was fortunate that Emmy's magic awakened in the evening, while she was resting by the window with a book in hand. It was equally unfortunate that within one minute, the book began to rapidly decay within her hands. The pages began to yellow, the ink began to fade, and the binding came undone and cracked where it had been bent. It disintegrated between her fingers and fell into her lap like ashes.

She was stunned, confused, and horribly disappointed that a relatively new book was suddenly destroyed. Still, what was she to do but clean up the mess and plan to buy the replacement the next day? Something must have been wrong with the book, right?

Little did she know, it wasn't the book that was to blame.

Over the next few days, she noticed subtle changes in the things she would touch. Her toothbrush, near the end of it's use when she began, suddenly looked brand new after she brushed her teeth. The wooden handrail she would hold onto while going down the stairs looked shiny and new in some places, and worn in others. Her slippers, well-worn but with plenty of life left to them, fell apart the moment she put her feet inside of them. She even noticed that she was able to predict the time on her watch before she'd even looked at it. She could feel how much time had passed since she'd laid down for a nap. She was also much better at being on time for class.

When the mysterious envelope arrived a week after the first bizarre incident, everything clicked into place as the letter slowly disintegrated into her lap. Just like the book had done a week earlier.

FLAWS ⫻ Her illness plays a huge part in the flaws that Emmy presents. She's been humbled by her condition many times throughout her life. Unable to play sports or engage in many social events, Emmy has become a bit of a bookworm and has grown comfortable living quietly. It's become hard for her to break from her usual routine, so she hasn't tried anything new in a long time.

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"Twin Pines is all I've known."

The Longwell's have been a consistent name in the history of Twin Pines. The family business has dabbled in many areas within the city. It began first with the fishing docks, hiring boats and men to bring back a catch worth a profit, and then began to invest in the many tourist spots like restaurants and museums in the town. It has always remained a family name that carries respect within the business owners of Twin Pines. By the time that Emmy's father began to step into his own father's place within the business, the family had enough investments and property ownership that they were within the top percentage of wealth.

Emmeline's mother was travelling through the states when she found herself staying in the lakeside city. She loved it's rustic and cozy atmosphere, and even found love with a human man during her visit. She extended her stay in Twin Pines indefinitely, and soon the two were wed with a little girl on the way. They purchased their own home at the top of the hill that borders the fishing docks and ensured that little Emmeline would be comfortable in life. Her father put all of his efforts into the business, while her mother collected many books and pieces of art that would enrich Emmy's mind from a young age.

Emmy grew up well-fed, well-taught, and as happy as she could be. It was only when her illness began to present itself that the troubles began. She quickly tired, and suffered from headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness, and fainting spells. Her parents took her to many doctors, but it would take a year for them to get a proper diagnosis. By then they had already chosen to homeschool Emmy, and their happy little girl had become a shell of who she once was. They'd run themselves ragged looking for answers, and it had put a strain on the marriage that they couldn't return from. Emmy's mother left after a few months, leaving her father to pour himself into his work so that he could provide for Emmy and her condition.

With his love and constant support, Emmy soon began to find a balance between her illness and leading a normal life. With little to do otherwise, she became an exceptional student and eventually found friends through the other homeschooled children or in the bookstores or cafes she would frequent. She applied for college, and began to slowly work on her degree by taking classes part time to avoid overworking herself. She is now on her final year in her degree, and must decide for herself what her future will bring.

_{Magic
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"Please don't ask about the gloves, please don't ask about the gloves..."

MAGIC ⫻ Chronomancy The perception and manipulation of time.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻

Perception: The ability to feel and perceive time passing like an internal clock. This is a passive ability, but it is useful when applying other chronomancy skills. The user is able to perceive how much time they are manipulating or how much time has passed since they began to use their magic.

Manipulation: The ability to manipulate time by reversing, slowing, accelerating, or freezing time. This can apply to anything the user comes into contact with. If ink or paint has been erased or smudged, the user can reverse time to make the word or art readable again. If something has broken or aged past it's usefulness, the user can reverse time to restore the object to it's original state. If the user wishes to dismantle the object, they can reverse time on it to return it to the separate parts that make the object a whole. Also, if they wish to destroy an object, they can accelerate the effects of time on said object and it will decay within their grasp.

LIMITS ⫻

Perception: At the moment, Emmy is only able to sense time passively or through her use of magic. Because her magic has just recently awakened, she is still getting the grasp of perceiving how much time she is manipulating on an object. This means that she may not achieve the desired aging or de-aging of said object and could potentially alter it too much or not enough.

Manipulation: Emmy has not been able to slow or freeze time. She also has not been able to affect the space around her nor anything living. She is only able to affect tangible objects at this moment, and she must maintain physical contact with the object she is manipulating until she has finished. She can only affect one object at a time, and is only able to affect an object as large as a small car. The amount of time that she manipulates, and the size of the object she manipulates, affects the energy levels she has or can cause her to develop a headache. Emmy also wears gloves when she is out in public because she is not yet able to control her magic.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Once an object has begun to undergo this time magic it is hard for Emmy to stop it. As well, without further practice and control she runs the real risk of accidentally aging something too much or too little. For example, if someone needed to be reverted five minutes to heal a fatal wound she could accidentally send them back five years.

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"This is where the acknowledgements would go."

Aesthetic Inspo: Click Here
Faceclaim: Blanca Soler
Color: 7B68EE

[Rekkuza]

Mathias "Matt" Lefebvre

"Why am I so... hungry...?"

_______________________________________________ Mathias "Matt" Lefebvre Human | He/Him | 36 years old | French-Canadian | 5'9'' (69 inches) | 146 lbs _______________________________________________ Hunger. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Above all, hunting requires patience." ___________________________________ [+] Hunting ⫻ Experienced at tracking, baiting, stalking, trapping, and calling prey, big and small game alike. Basic stealth and camouflage ⫻ Experience with stalk hunting has left Mathias skilled at moving stealthily through and blending in natural, heavily obscured environments. Those skills are much less effective in urban environments. Basic foraging ⫻ Can identify some edible (or otherwise useful) plants and fungus. Rarer or more difficult to identify species are outside the range he is confident in identifying. Firearm handling ⫻ Experienced at handling hunting rifles, hunting shotguns, and hunting crossbows. Bilingualism ⫻ Speaks fluent French and English. English is his second language. Technological literacy ⫻ Used to working with computers at his workplace. Knows basic IT skills, can type up to 70 words per minute, and is excellent at using Microsoft Excel. Shapeshifting (Emerging) ⫻ Can change parts of himself to gain bestial skills or attributes

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I know I dress like a teenager, but I just can't bear to dress like a corporate baboon during my off time too." Mathias is a 5'9'' tall man with short, light brown hair. His complexion is naturally very pale, no matter how much time he spends in the sun. He's on the scrawny side, but his love for the great outdoors has left him in deceptively good shape, his clothes hiding his lean, yet surprisingly muscular build. He has an oval-shaped face, with a soft jawline, and he keeps his face close-shaven, as every time he tried to grow a beard, it ended up looking patchy at best. His nose is well-defined, and he has wide grey eyes. His skin is relatively fair, with only a few faint acne scars marring his forehead. One of his front tooth is slightly chipped due to an unlucky fall on concrete from when he was a teenager. "Pretty" rather than "handsome" comes to mind when looking at him, although the effect is somewhat ruined by the deep eye bags perpetually circling his eyes. His dress style is a clash of 2 extremes: at work, he is always impeccably dressed in professional business wear, his hair neatly combed and parted, his posture flawless. Outside of work, however, Mathias favours low effort, casual clothing, such as hoodies, band t-shirts, flannel, camo vests, and old jeans. His hair is messy at the best of times, and he seems to constantly be slouching.

_{Psychology
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"There's nothing quite like the great outdoors. No one around for miles, just you, nature, and your next prey..."

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Mathias only wishes to find some measure of contentment in life. Ideally by climbing the corporate ladder, amassing enough savings so that he can afford to retire, and then promptly fucking off into the woods, away from other people, permanently. Yeah, that would be the good life...

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
For Mathias, the daily grind is an unbearable drag and the crowded urban life is a prison. He has trouble seeing people in general as anything other than cruel and selfish, finding them aggravating at best, and downright insufferable at worst. He feels that moving to the city for work, despite being a financially sound choice, was the worst decision he has ever made in his life. Mathias is a nature-lover at heart, and being kept away from this love, while being forced to surround himself with people he doesn't know and barely tolerates, has made him miserable. Unsurprisingly, his outlook on life and future prospects is rather bleak.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻

• Mathias hides his sexuality at work, afraid of retaliations should he be outed.
• Mathias' greatest fear and anxiety is ending up stuck in his current urban lifestyle, which he absolutely loathes, for the rest of his life.
• Mathias fell and almost drowned in a lake when he was very young. This caused him to develop thalassophobia, the phobia of deep bodies of water. He'll do almost anything to avoid having to swim or go near or on lakes and pools. He hides this fear, since he finds it deeply embarrassing.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Homosexual. Semi-openly gay in his private life, but fully in the closet at work. Has a thing for bears, older men, and leather. He's not looking for anything other than casual flings.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Mathias' magic awakened while he was on vacation. After close to a full year of saving up vacation and sick days, he finally could afford to take a full week off, right in the middle of turkey hunting season. And so he was off for seven beautiful days of camping, hunting, and solitude. And thank god for that solitude: because how the hell would he have explained to any witness why he woke up one night next to a mauled, partially eaten deer carcass, his body covered in blood, with long, wicked claws and fangs sprouting from his fingers and maw? How would he have explained the deep, gnawing hunger now churning within him, clamouring for flesh, for prey?

FLAWS ⫻ Mathias is very emotionally closed off, with many misanthropic tendencies. Almost all of his (few) relationships are surface-level only, with no true bond or attachments formed, out of fear of getting hurt. His attitude, when not at work or cruising, is also rather abrasive, which doesn't help matters. This distance he keeps between himself and others is keeping him from finding any fulfillment in his current life.

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"Secondary school fucking sucked. I'm glad I never have to see any of those assholes ever again."

Mathias was born in and grew up in the rural parts of northern Québec, in Canada. He was close to his maternal grandfather, who taught him how to hunt and trap, a love that's still strong to this day. He never really got into fishing however: when he was 7, he almost drowned in a lake while on a family trip, and has stayed as far away as possible from large bodies of water ever since.

Secondary school was rough: he'd realized he was gay at 15, and tried shooting his shot with another boy in his class. He was promptly rejected and outed by that boy, and, as was typical of rural regions in the early 2000s, became the victim of mockery, bullying and even homophobic violence by his peers, until graduation, when he finally moved out of his hometown for post-secondary education. Luckily his family was generally supportive, but these events still instilled a distrust in others in Mathias, and are the prime motivators behind his aloofness and being in the closet at work.

He got a business degree in administration, and began working as a secretary. He eventually found a job under his current employer, and rose through the ranks through hard work, going from a simple administration assistant to a high-placed executive's personnal secretary. This new position, and the raise in salary that came with it, had him transfer to the U.S. corporate offices in New York. He's now been living in the States for the last 2 and a half years. Mathias hates his job and is deeply unsatisfied with his life, but can't really afford to quit.

More recently, business has brought his boss, and thus him, to Twin Pines. The smaller, much less dense town is a... welcome reprieve from the city.

_{Magic
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"I've never felt so alive. So hungry."

MAGIC ⫻ Therianthropy A.K.A. human-animal shapeshifting. Mathias can morph his body adopt animal characteristics and boost his physical abilities.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Mathias can modify his physiology to gain animal-like characteristics. The changes range from boosted senses and abilities, to new or modified body parts. Though vastly reversible, some changes appear to be permanent: ever since his first accidental shift, his instincts are sharper (though not always right) and he has developed a strong prey drive, as well as a hunger for raw bloody living fearful fresh meat. He's also discovered that raw meat is not only much more palatable to him now, but that he can also digest it without problems.

Improved senses and abilities ⫻ Through subtle changes in his eyes, joints, and olfactory system, Mathias can improve his night vision, speed and sense of smell, though to nowhere near the level of an actual wild animal. Other (or further) improvements should be possible, but he hasn't figured out how to make it work yet.

Beastly transformation ⫻ Mathias can currently grow large wolf-like claws and fangs. His ears, arms and legs grow patches of soft brown fur whenever he transforms in these more obvious ways.

LIMITS ⫻

• Mathias' magic can only affect himself, and not others.
• Shifting isn't instantaneous, it takes a moment to complete.
• The range of his transformations is very limited (for now).
• When faced with a life threatening situation, or hunger, his new instincts might act up and make him behave in a more aggressive way than usual.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ It was once said that monsters were once men who toyed with magic and were cursed for their folly. While this is mostly untrue, there is a shred of possibility to it. Mathias will notice the more he uses the magic the more it takes to put it away. He could find himself in a situation where his magic could take hours, or even days, to undue. This is brought about by repeated shifting in a short amount of time and the more he shifts the higher the chance may be stuck in that form for a prolonged period of time, or possibly even forever.

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"What's real funny is that I've always been more of a cat person."

MISQ SECTION

• Used to have a dog allergy, before seemingly being cured after his magic manifested.
• Suffers from mild chronic eczema.
• Is a decent cook, but sticks to simple, easy recipes. Anything too complex is both not worth it in his eyes, and at risk of ending up less than appetizing.

[PatientBean]

Belladonna Winter

"The future is calling and it's pissed."

_______________________________________________ Belladonna Beatrice Winter Human | She/Her | 26 | Mixed (Caucasian/Indian) | 5'7'' | 132 lbs _______________________________________________ Desire _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "A woman of many talents." ___________________________________ [+] Tarot Reading ⫻ Belladonna is able to read Tarot cards and garner their meaning for people based on what they are looking for. Sometime Tarot predicts the future and sometimes it guides a person's decision and maps out certain areas like love and finances. Belladonna is skilled in understanding tarot and its history. Lockpicking ⫻ USed out of necessity rather than a want, Belladonna has learned to crack locked doors with ease and finesse. Eidetic Memory ⫻ For as long as she could remember, Belladonna has not forgotten anything she has read. A useful skill to have it is also annoying and, often, causes her to lose sleep. But it can be useful in getting what she wants. Chameleon ⫻ Belladonna is able to blend in when the situation calls for it. A safety measure for her she can fit in with a crowd and move easily within.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Each day a different mask, but at least my hair looks good." Belladonna changes up her appearance more for safety, though she is not afraid to play around with fashion choices. Standing at average height and having a thin build. Belladonna's natural hair color is black but she dyes it more often than not, usually in fantastic colors like blue and pink. Belladonna wears make-up in fantastic colors also. Her go-to is a black eyeliner with glitter eyeshadow. Belladonna takes great care in her appearance, especially her nails which, while long, are painted and maintained. Belladonna's clothing style can be described as "bohemian" or "preppy". Belladonna doesn't shy away from most colors but typically prefers light shades. A mix of flowy tops, peasant blouses, long skirts one day and a tank top and maxi skirt the next. Belladonna also widely prefers wearing boots, her favorite being a light pink pair of leather ankle boots.

_{Psychology
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"I don't do the high road. I match energy."

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Belladonna wants to be able to stay put and set roots somewhere. Having been on the move since she was 18 she has never had a place to call home. She would also like to meet people and form bonds without having to lie or leave the following day, but that's hard when all you have ever known is images moving past a car window.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Belladonna maintained a healthy "realist" attitude. Life is not so black and white and there are plenty of instances of gray. She does not trust others easily and is often prickly and quick to sass back or be sarcastic. She does, however, have soft spots for women in drastic situations.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻
When Belladonna was 17 she murdered her father. As bad as it sounds, the bastard had it coming. For years he would be abusive to her mother and siblings and, being the oldest, she couldn't take it anymore. So she took one of his guns and blew his brains out. She attempted to make it look like he committed suicide but she didn't stick around long enough to find out.

Belladonna also entered a relationship when she was 19 that ended poorly, with him essentially keeping her locked up in the home. She managed to escape but is sure he is looking for her too. Belladonna is afraid she has too many people searching for her.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Belladonna is demisexual. Due to her history with relationships, Belladonna needs an emotional connection with her partner before things progress.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Some girls grew up wishing they had magic powers. Belladonna didn't ask for this. The first day being able to see images of the future that may or may not happen or be able to literally see something from the past that didn't happen to you can give a person nightmares. And it does!

FLAWS ⫻ Belladonna has a natural aversion to authority in all forms. She isn't afraid to put herself in a dangerous situation if it helps someone else and her mouth can often get her in trouble.

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"I hate it when history repeats itself."

Belladonna knew the back of a fist before she said her first word. Despite living well off, her father was an angry man who never seemed satisfied with his lot in life, always complaining about something or someone. Belladonna's mother often took the brunt of the force, but he made his way through her and her sisters. Until one night Belladonna had enough and shot him. She didn't have a plan after, but she cleaned up the scene as best she could, wrote a note, put the gun in his hands, and ran. She never looked back.

On the road she made the best of the situation, stealing food when she could. She slept on the streets a lot, but she taught herself skills to help, breaking into places to take money and clothes as needed. There were few people she trusted until she ran into Harvey. Instantly smitten he brought her to his home after a day and pined after her. Eventually, Harvey's interests got darker and darker and he would force herself to stay home, locking her in the bedroom. While he never got physically violent, he would be emotionally abusive and would withhold food and water from her. She escaped again.

Belladonna took on various odd jobs to pay for things, though they never lasted more than a few months. Belladonna would lie about her name, get fake IDs and other documents, or would lie and steal to get what she needed. And soon her path crossed into Twin Pines.

_{Magic
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"For someone trying to forget her past, the magic is rather ironic."

MAGIC ⫻ Divination - Belladonna is able to perceive visions of the future and the past.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Belladonna can look into the future and see what may happen. The future can be in an hour or a matter of days, and typically, she is able to see situations that happen to her or to other people. Belladonna can also see images of the past, whether they are visions or seeing them through physical objects or places. Using these skills, Belladonna can predict the future, learn secrets long forgotten, find hidden things or people, or stop terrible things from happening.

LIMITS ⫻ Belladonna does not have control over this power. The visions come as they please. Belladonna can attempt to do so on her own but it may or may not work.

Belladonna also cannot move or see when she is having a vision. She stands still and her eyes grow cloudy. Visions can be instant or take a while, depending.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The future is always changing, and Belladonna will need to account for this for possible fluctuation. As well, there can be situations where multiple paths lead to the same destination. So despite her best effort to change the future, she may end up there all the same.

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"You can't escape the past, no matter how much you try."

MISQ SECTION

• Her real name isn't Belladonna
• Belladonna has solved a crime before, but left before the police could thank her
• Belladonna is allergic to shellfish

[Atrophy]

Pom Evergreen

“Hey man, you cool?"

_______________________________________________ Pomegranate “Pom” Evergreen She/Her | 99 | “Wood” Elf (Celtic Broadleaf) | 5’5” | 110 lbs _______________________________________________ Uproot _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Good at picking out the best slice of apple pie at the diner. The secret is you go with cherry instead." ___________________________________ [+] [Green Thumb] ⫻ Pom is an avid gardener and is happiest when she’s futzing around in her garden and greenhouse. It’s not uncommon for her to show up to work at the diner with a brown lunch bag full of homegrown veggies or to slip someone a plastic baggie full of homegrown herb. Until magic kicked everything in the teeth, Pom had a (poorly thought out) plan to become an independent coffee grower instead of just a part-time coffee pourer. [Folk “Singer”] ⫻ Pom was present when American folk music was at its apex, but she also enjoyed the traditional songs of her particular commune of wood elves song in their old tongue. Occasionally she tries to pen her own songs, but Pom largely sticks to the classics like “the one that sounds like two cats fighting while a third one cries out for blood” or the absolute banger of “hey mom, just poking my head in here to make sure that you weren’t choking on a granola bar”. To put it kindly, her singing voice is, er, unique. [Home Remedies] ⫻ Pom knows for a fact that Big Pharma is nothing more than the Man in disguise and doctors are just like pushers with college debt. Sure, go to them for a surgery or whatever, but just about everything else can be cured with a bit of ginger, some St. John’s wort, a little bit of this, some of that, and a shot of colloidal silver. [Thrifty v. Shiesty] ⫻ Growing up with next to nothing made Pom real good at making that go a long way. She’s frugal as fuck and is more than happy to share her pro tips with anybody who would listen. Eat oatmeal for breakfast and pack a sack lunch instead of going out for food. What’s in that sack lunch? More oatmeal. Repurpose just about everything: old shirts become a “new” quilt that eventually become “free” cleaning rags. Never pay a parking ticket or a speeding ticket from a camera because there simply is no proof that you weren’t the victim of a car thief or having an evil twin situation. The code for bananas at self-checkout is 4011, this applies for pretty much every major retail grocery store, and the only person hurt by you “accidentally” ringing those expensive ass macadamia nuts as bananas is the Man.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Retro? But fringe never went out of style…" Pom is a wood elf, which is like a regular elf but a bit more folksy, a lot less snooty, and has stronger opinions when it comes to the ageless argument of which is better: pine or oak? Oak, by the way, it’s oak. Pom looks young because she’s an elf but also she looks young for her elf. She’s obviously old enough to be more than a sapling yet it’s still surprising when she actually (albeit rarely) admits to how many rings she has grown. Her eyes are brown like dirt after rainfall and it’s atypical to find them neither heavily bloodshot nor dilated. Her messy, shoulder length hair is jet black that contrasts with her light, freckled skin. In a moment of desperation to fit in with the youths, Pom has dyed two streaks of blonde through her hair, tucked just behind her pointed ears. Pom has a slender body that she drowns in oversized, handknitted sweaters that drape like they were a poncho or cosplays as a younger version of herself with a psychedelic tye-dyed t-shirt and an absolutely sick fringe jacket she had since Woodstock. Pretty much everything else in her wardrobe evokes an image of the late sixties and early seventies. Pom has pierced ears, with the only other jewelry she wears is her wedding ring, a cheap silver ring designed to look like a small daisy chain. Her fingernails seemingly have a permanent streak of dirt underneath them from digging around in her garden, yet her hands are somehow soft and uncalloused despite the endless war on weeds. Pom is fidgety and skittish, unable to stand still without playing with her hair, rearranging the countertop, or disorganizing somebody’s desk. Seemingly always overstimulated and unable to focus, her eyes often darting each and every way around a room except in a way that’d force her to make eye contact. She has a deep, raspy voice and a bad tendency of speaking in a rapid, stumbling mumble, making it difficult to parse if she’s attempting to strike up a conversation or just talking through her own thoughts. Pom can be easily tracked by the strong smell of patchouli which follows her like a choking cloud of miasma.

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“Let’s not get too heavy. All you gotta know is that I’m a hip, hip, hip lady."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ She wants to be forever young. Pom is in the beginning stages of a midlife crisis, already throwing her own life into a chaotic reset before magic made its way into the mixup. The thought of turning one hundred has taken control of Pom’s life. She is desperate to prove that she is still groovy, hip, radical, fly, phat, a bomb in a bag of chips, dope that has been lit and is on fire, or whatever the heck it is that the kids these days are saying in the latest failed attempt to replace cool. She might pretend that her biggest desire was for her coffee startup to become a success before switching back to wanting to publish a field guide on cryptids when magic sprung them back into existence, but really nothing would make Pom happier than the approval of some young cool cat telling her that she’s the bee's knees.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Life is precious and all aspects of it should be respected unless that aspect is part of the fucking Man. Born amongst a loose conclave of wood elves that roamed the American Southwest before settling down in San Francisco, Pom was raised on the virtues of peace and love that would one day be appropriated by humans and become the hippie movement. Of course Pom would never call herself a hippie today, given how the word can evoke images of burnouts who melted their brains on acid created and weaponized by the Man or culty psychopaths breaking into the home of a Hollywood actress and going all Helter Skelter. Still, Pom is a Flower Child at heart. She’s an ungrounded hopeless romantic with a glass half full of psychedelic tea and an openness for new experiences and experimentation that can, at times, be borderline irresponsible.

Pom views herself as being highly ethical, following a vegan and conservationist lifestyle that, while occasionally borderlines on acting holier-than-thou to those who don’t, rarely becomes preachy. She’s also very open about her hatred for the undefined Man, but Pom believes she is able to currently curtail her more anarchistic beliefs by championing nonviolence and peaceful protest over radical actions. However, this might simply be due to her living a life that was idyllic and pastoral enough that Pom had simply never been pushed to the point of challenging these beliefs.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ The worst kept secret in all of Twin Pines is that Pom is the friendly neighborhood drug dealer. Her stock is quite limited, especially during the winter time, as she almost exclusively sells organic products that she grows herself. The second worst kept secret in all of Twin Pines is Pom’s age, who despite claiming to still be a spring chicken exposes herself every time she opens her mouth and lets loose a dated piece of slang. The third worst kept secret is that Pom is a cryptozoologist and ufologist, and settled in Twin Pines to find proof of the local lake monster and has some weird theories about gnomes actually being aliens from Alpha Centauri that could be rustled out of her whenever she becomes heavily intoxicated.

One thing that Pom has actually been able to keep secret is the actual source of her mistrust of elves in positions of power. Pom believes in the Lich Theory, a fringe belief based around the common folklore idea that elves originally didn’t age beyond maturity and were immune to disease, capable of only dying through murder or misadventure. At some point in history,the fear of unnatural death inspired a cabal of elven mages to get together and become liches, sacrificing the longevity of their kin to grant themselves true immortality. Lich Theory hypothesizes that this cabal of liches are still in power, greatly shortening the lifespan of all species so they can capture their souls inside their phylacteries and continually fuel their eternal life.

How these liches actually go about this varies, but Pom claims to have first-hand witnessed an elf drain the soul out of another elf. She might have been tripping on psychedelics at the time and having a freak out, but she knows what she saw. The sudden reemergence of magic has only further convinced her that she is right. Regardless, Pom is absolutely terrified that she is little more than cattle for the cabal. While she carries with her the irrational fear of running into a lich in the wild and having her soul sucked from her body, this irrationality has become the base upon what is a relatively common, almost completely mundane fear: the fear of getting older, having witnessed first hand due to her primary associating with humans and other short-lived things just how debilitating aging can be.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Pom was the free space on the backseat bingo card back during the Summer of Love before she got hitched and lived in (mostly) happy union for five decades with her human husband, Bo. It wasn’t like they never discussed what she’d do when he inevitably passed before she did, but the loss was still crushing. She doesn’t plan to spend her whole life alone, yet always finds a convenient excuse to not to pursue any eligible bachelors and bachelorettes that catch her eye or shoot their shot.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻

Like one bad trip, man

It had started like any other morning in the last two years–with a stab in her heart as she rolled over and saw the empty space. It was followed by the shattering discovery of her first gray hair, as if the thin wrinkle above her brow hadn’t been enough already. A quick stint in the greenhouse taking care of her babies then it was time to work at the diner, if it could be called work that day. Mostly Pom was just sitting in a booth in stunned silence alongside the usual early bird crowd of blue hairs as the news reports played on the TV, somewhat concerned that the fresh mushrooms she had added to her vegan omelette were accidentally the ones that contained psilocybin as vibrant colors radiated off of the customers and news anchors.

The break from the mental mind fuck happened when Missy Fletcher walked in, slipped on some spilled coffee that nobody had bothered to clean up, and cracked her head viscously on the edge of a table when they were replaying footage of the attack on Athens. Pom watched as red blood washed out the black coffee, swearing she saw a faint wisp of gray smoke escape from Missy’s mouth alongside her last breath as her green light faded. As the diner exploded into chaos, patrons moving to assist the already deceased Missy in a mess of disco lights, Pom only continued to observe the body as a feeling of stillness and peace enveloped her.

Her boss gained control of the situation eventually, clearing customers out of the diner, calling for first responders, and sending her employees home. Pom must’ve been in some kind of shock, or maybe she was just straight tripping out, because she drove herself to Missy’s house instead. She took the key from underneath the third brick along the walkway where she knew it always was despite never being to Missy’s before and unlocked the door, feeling a wave of love wash over her as she looked at the school and sport photos of Missy’s children. She was happy that they were out of the home. Happy that they were now safe.

Then she saw Jim Fletcher sitting in his chair in front of the tv, a haze of green releasing off of him that matched the empty Rolling Rock bottles littered beside the La-Z-Boy. Pom knew about Jim more than she actually knew him, but the whispers were no good, and now the whispers were becoming a banshee wail of hate and rage in her ears. He was sleeping, or rather he was passed out, drunk before noon. Either way he didn’t shift as Pom felt something guide her body forward into the room. She bent down to pick up a beer bottle and caught a glimpse of her face in a mirror. She didn’t recognize the eyes as she lifted the bottle and smashed the end on the corner of a table. It didn’t break clean like it would in the movies. The last thing she remembered was staring at the shard of glass embedded in her palm as Jim started stirring in his seat.

Pom came to balled up in the bottom of her shower, the water having turned so cold it felt like she was being pelted by icicles. She pulled herself out of the tub and flushed down the black bile sitting in the basin of the toilet. Definitely the wrong kind of mushrooms. It explained the lost time. Pom wiped her hand across the mirror and saw that the tired and puffy eyes that looked back at her were indeed her own. She wouldn’t register it until later, but the cut on her hand was gone, as was the strand of gray hair and the wrinkle above her brow. Maybe she had hallucinated the whole thing.

But for now Pom laid down in her bed, still wet from the shower. She rolled over to say good night to the empty space beside her. Her breath caught in her throat as a chill ran down her spine. She stared at the silhouette of the back of his head and didn’t move, certain that it would notice her if she did, terrified about what would be staring back.

FLAWS ⫻ A person doesn’t live to be a century old and amount to becoming nothing more than a part-time waitress, a part-time drug dealer, and a full-time space case without there being one thing for certain: Pom is a fuckup of astronomical proportions. Big, bright dreams and grand, romantic desires amount to the bulk sum of jackshit when tripping her balls off in a field is more appealing than grinding out an actual goal. It’s ridiculous for her to be going through a midlife crisis when she never even fully embraced adulthood in the first place. She is one half of the two kids in a trenchcoat, except the other half grew old and now that the person whose shoulders she stood on is gone. There’s no wonder her son and daughter barely speak to her. What kid wants to have to nurse their own mother back to health from when an Ayahuasca trip goes south?

She’s an embarrassment of a person, the pinata of unambition and laziness hoisted up by the Man to give the angry mob somebody else to point their sticks at when they’ve grown frustrated as to why they have to work so hard for so little. A failure, and one who, deep down, doesn’t only accept that she’s a failure but embraces it and secretly smiles about it, laughing to herself about it like it’s a joke only she knows. And really, isn’t it all just a joke? It's ridiculous how hard people try to make something out of themselves when the punchline is that their fate has already been sealed and they’ll be meaningless dust just like her and everyone before them. Yet Pom finds death, unlike aging, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, it is only the existence of death that makes those moments of life oh so precious.

Pom is also vehemently anti-authority, which can only be considered a flaw because that is what the Man wants people to believe, man.

_{Backstory
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"I know what I saw, man!"

Her youth was spent dirty, hungry, and in destitution, growing up in a commune of wood elves that roamed the American Southwest. They lived off the land like their ancestors did, believing that if they respected the earth that Mother Nature would provide for them. At the time Pom didn’t question the traditions, only realizing later when she went and got herself an education that there probably hadn’t been trash bins to scavenge scraps of food from or massive barn houses to squat in when her ancestors were around. It didn’t really matter. At the time she thought she was happy.

Sometimes a group of men would head out for a hunt and be gone for a couple of days, returning with a bounty of canned fruits or vegetables and bags upon bags of wondrous, sliced bread. Pom asked her father to join him on the hunt when it was his turn to go, but he said they were dangerous. She asked even for him, and he lied to her and said no, not for him. That was the last time she saw him. The men returned from that hunt with empty hands and bloody clothes, their numbers halved from what they had set out with. Her mother only ever told her that the Man had got her father when Pom asked what happened to him. She’d find newspaper articles in archives later about a gang of wood elves getting in a shootout with the police after an armed robbery of a grocer went south.

The numbers of the commune continued to dwindle, this strange nightmarish creature known as the Man taking more and more of them whenever they stayed in one place for too long. They didn’t find safety from the Man until they made it to San Francisco, where the commune was hidden by the crowd. Other communes would join them in the city, and not only ones composed of wood elves. They were united by their common cause to stand against the Man and start an era of peace and love, planting the seeds of what would bud into the hippie movement.

Pom got swept into like so many other people, and like so many other hippies she smoked a bit too much grass and dropped absolutely too much acid to really recall anything vividly. There were probably some protests and bra burnings and a lot of sitting naked on pillows while passing a bong around and pretending that she was bringing around some kind of revolution. One thing she is really certain of is the night she got invited backstage to hangout with Jam Lemon, where she watched the music legend and iconographic elven leader of their counterculture suck the soul out of a groupie while Yokai Oni began to carve off chunks of their husked flesh with a sacrificial dagger to eat.

Pom’s fervent insistence on this was the kind of thing that got people to look at her funny, especially when she admitted to being on LSD at the time. The only person who didn’t treat her like an absolute nutcase was a human named Bo Winters, who, instead of looking away and pretending to be called away by someone else at the party, leaned in. It turned out Bo was a hunter like her father, but instead of hunting for grocers to rob he was hunting for proof of cryptids, and like Pom believed in all sorts of stupid shit like the existence of aliens to bigfoots to the possibility, no, the fact that Jam Lemon, formerly of the Beatles, was an evil elven lich. The two immediately hit it off, much to the relief of Pom’s friends who were all cutting their hair and looking to get into middle management.

Pom and Bo would marry each other shortly thereafter and leave San Francisco, moving around before eventually settling in Twin Pines. Their marriage of fifty years was more happy than it was not, having a son named Ash and a daughter named Willow. Bo would ultimately serve as a stabilizing force to keep Pom grounded, who had always drifted freely, aimlessly, and haphazardly like a dandelion seed on the wind. He’d end up being the one to convince her to stop telling strangers the story about Jam Lemon, especially after his murder, or that cryptid hunting should maybe become a hobby and they should focus on doing something that would let them one day retire with him opening up a boat rental and offering lake tours with one of his fishing buddies and her getting a part-time job as a server to make ends meet.

It was Bo that kept Pom from completely cutting ties with her son after he broke her heart by choosing to become a pawn for the Man when he joined the Marines. It was Bo that would cut Pom off anytime she tried to bring up the subject of having children around Willow, who had said since she was thirteen that she would never want to be a mother. It was Bo that comforted Pom when he got his diagnosis, telling her that “we” were going to be okay and that “we” would get through this when she should’ve been the one saying those words. It was Bo who kept saying these things over again and again, until one morning she awoke to an empty space where he used to sleep and a handwritten note that said about the same thing, just changing the “we” to a “you”.

Then there was a knock on the door and it was the Man and he was there to tell her that the ground had been taken from her. Bo had told her this would happen in his note, even thanked her for giving him some things to want to hold onto, but said it would be for the best because without the ground to hold her down she was free to fly away again. Only Bo was mistaken. Pom never learned how to fly, she had only ever been blown by the wind, and now she was abandoned in an empty nest and the bough was breaking.

She started to fall, and she fell, and she fell, and she fell. She’s been falling for two years now, and everytime Pom thinks she’s finally found the ground again it turns out she’s just snagged her sleeve on a twig jutting out from a branch and that stick is always about to snap. The same thing happened just a week ago, as Pom thought she finally was starting to feel the earth beneath her feet. Magic swiped her feet out from underneath her and everything around her suddenly became one bad trip.

_{Magic
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"This shit’s really freaking me out."

MAGIC ⫻ Animancy, a school of magic allowing users to detect, interact, manipulate, and utilize the lifeforce inside of all living things and their lingering souls.

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Animancy is a form of magic that deals with all aspects of life, with life in this sense referring to both the physical and spiritual form. Animancy was once referred to as gray magic, as it contains aspects of both white magic as well as black magic, yet in practice it has always fallen closer to the harmful arts of Necromancy than the protective arts of Abjuration. Although they cannot control armies of the dead or raise flesh golems, Animancers were often looped in with their more sinister cousins despite their abilities to preserve life. This is because Animancy has one major caveat required by most spells within its school: lifeforce must be spent by the Animancer to cast a spell.

In turn, to avoid an early grave many Animancers took to harvesting lifeforce from other sources to fuel their magic. Every living thing carries within it some level of lifeforce, with plants and simple organisms carrying the least and the souls of sentient beings holding the most. The longer a thing has lived the more lifeforce it contains. With the exception of a few outliers, some lifeforce is generally lost when an Animancer casts a spell which means that they almost always bleeding resources. Amateur Animancers like Pom are even more wasteful, be it by lacking the knowledge required to store vast amounts of lifeforce or flubbing the incantations and gestures and making the spell cost more lifeforce than it should.

As of right now she is still unaware of what is the most efficient way to cast her spells, let alone if she should even cast them in the first place. She currently possesses no way to store additional lifeforce outside of carrying another soul inside of her. If she were to possess any excess lifeforce beyond the limitations of her own personal pool and the hitchhiking spirit she would begin to leak it, expelling the energy as a black, sludge-like ectoplasm.

Animancy is currently divided into three sub-theories focusing on the soul (Shaman Theory), the living body (String Theory), and lifeforce (Lich Theory). However, Pom is currently unaware of any of this shit. Even after she got the letter she is still suspicious that she is just experiencing near constants hallucinations likely caused by some nefarious experimentation implemented by the Man.

Gray Initiate ⫻ The starting stock for any Animancer starting their path to becoming a master manipulator of life. While Pom unlocked a slew of spells when magic was reignited, she is currently only aware of two of them despite having three others. Many more Animancy spells remain buried inside of her, with the condition to unlocking them currently remaining nebulous to the elf.

PhantaVision ⫻ Pom can see spirits that are present in the material world. With this she can see the souls of the recently deceased before they depart to whatever the hell is happening in the afterlife. However, typically Pom only sees haunts, echoes of the souls that manifest in the presence of someone or something that is bonded to the departed soul through some kind of emotional significance. PhantaVision is a passive spell that doesn’t require any lifeforce.

Kaleidoscope Eyes ⫻ Pom sees a faint aura of light coming off of the living that represents how far along its lifespan it is, with red being a newborn, green being right around middle age, and violet being extremely old. This light is only based upon how much life something has had and not necessarily how much it has left, meaning it cannot predict death from anything other than natural causes. In addition to making the world look trippy as hell, Pom can more easily detect a living thing that is attempting to hide but not fully obscured or completely in the dark. More importantly, it would also allow an Animancer to know what they can harvest the most lifeforce from. Kaleidoscope Eyes is a passive spell that doesn’t require any lifeforce.

Soulmate (Unaware) ⫻ Pom attaches a soul of the recently deceased to her own. While the two are attached, Pom can form a general connection to the soul, getting a sort of vibe from it on certain things, as well as being granted information that the soul would have known when it was alive. Casting an attachment spell costs a minor amount of lifeforce.

Psycho-Pom(p) (Unaware) ⫻ Pom harvests a soul of the recently departed for lifeforce. This can be the soul of a plant, animal, or person, and provide her with anything from a minor to a massive amount of lifeforce depending on the complexity of the creature. Pom can harvest a soul that she has accompanying her via her Soulmate spell. Costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Rejuvenate (Unaware) ⫻ Whenever Pom fully restores her supply of lifeforce she also rejuvenates her body, restoring herself to peak physical condition, healing minor injuries like cuts and bruises, cleansing her body of any sickness or disease, and resetting her physical age to that of early adulthood. Doesn’t cost lifeforce on its own as this is not so much a spell as it is a potential side benefit that accompanies her other spells within lich theory.

LIMITS ⫻ The biggest factor in Pom’s spellcasting is lifeforce, which serves as a fuel for almost all of her spells. While advanced Animancers could theoretically harvest and store vast amounts of lifeforce, Pom is a rudimentary gray witch who doesn’t fully understand her magic and is heavily conflicted by how it is fueled. Although she can tap outside resources to fuel her magic, Pom can also spend her own lifeforce as well. How much lifeforce she has stored up inside of her is manifested both in her appearance and physical wellness. When Pom is full of lifeforce she appears as a healthy elf who has just reached adulthood, but the more lifeforce she spends the more she appears to age and become decrepit.

The level of lifeforce required to cast a spell is broken into five different ranks: miniscule, minor, moderate, major, and massive. Pom could cast miniscule spells all day and barely scratch the surface of her reserves, but the requirements grow exponentially from there with each rank up requiring three times the lifeforce of the rank below. In other words, for every twenty seven minor spells Pom could instead cast nine moderate, three majors, or one massive spell. Currently, a massive spell would use nearly all of Pom’s lifeforce, leaving her in desperate need of a refill as well as appearing in dire straits.

If Pom attempts to cast a spell without having the lifeforce needed to cast it the spell does not fail. Instead, the spell goes off as normal and then Pom would enter into cardiac arrest. Unless she quickly harvests enough lifeforce to balance out her deficit and leave a little in her tank then she will die within minutes. No modern first aid or magical healing can prevent this from happening, with the exception of another Animancer providing lifeforce through a spell of their own.

Several of Pom’s spells have unforeseen or unknown drawbacks.

PhantaVision ⫻ While most haunts are benign, and typically, she is safe as long as she does not draw their attention to her, some are out for blood. While Pom cannot be physically harmed by haunts, they can sap anywhere from minor to major lifeforce from her.

Soulmate ⫻ Most souls on the material world have something that is keeping them from moving on. While some souls will simply bargain or beg with Pom to carry out their final wishes, certain ones would just as happily possess her. Even souls that seem friendly at first might change their tune once they are in the presence of something or someone that sparks an emotional memory. Pom immediately breaks any possession by fulfilling the final wish.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Death is real, and it has taken notice of Pom. Pom will occasionally notice a pale woman in a black dress in the corner of her vision. There is no rhyme or reason to when or where she appears but appears she will. Death will more often than not be a silent judge, simply observing Pom and watching what she does in a given scenario. Sometimes, if Pom does something Death does not like, she will appear closer and enraged. Taking on more of a 'jump scare' quality. One second she's right in front of Pom, the next gone. As well, Pom will learn that Death seems to have some expectations for her but will never share what they are. Pom will be left wondering if she needs to be doing something more with her life, or if this is her true calling.

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"Peace out."

Pom has worked as a waitress in Norm’s Diner for over forty years now, getting the job because the owner was a good friend of Bo’s. Norm’s Diner has been a staple of the Twin Pines community for over fifty years and was owned by Norman Jefferies until his retirement about five years ago, where ownership was passed on to his daughter Shelly. Pom's position at the diner has achieved legendary status within the community, where she has been recognized as the absolute worst server in the world, seemingly incapable of not screwing up an order, dropping a glass, or forgetting about a table.

While her ineptitude has become something endearing for the locals, most of whom she has known for all their life and now know the trick to get good service out of her, Pom has proven to be a problem for business when it comes to out-of-towners. With business already being in danger thanks to the opening of a Starbucks within the past couple of years, it’s clear that the only reason Shelly hasn’t fired Pom is due to the woman’s legacy at the diner. Instead, Shelly has just taken to giving Pom less shifts in the summer as a “vacation” as well as making the woman promise that if she’s going to sell drugs that she does it off the clock and behind the Starbucks instead of next to their dumpster.

Norm’s Diner is located on the far end of Main right before the turn that leads to the state route, with a parking lot large enough for semis and typically empty thanks to the drive thru Starbucks that opened up just across the street. It has a U-shaped counter in the middle of the floor with an open window to the kitchen behind and booths ringed around the windowed walls of the diner. The food is the standard greasy spoon special of all day breakfast and burgers. The coffee comes in two variants of either black or burnt, the odds are that the icecream machine is on the fritz again so they can’t make milkshakes, and is home to the best damn cherry pie in the world .

Rough Spellbook Ideas

A preview of what Pom's magic might eventually become, subject to be adjusted and better defined if these spells ever actually see the light of day.

Shaman Theory ⫻ Spells relating to the soul. Spellcasting within this theory is extremely under the radar, typically requiring little more than a subtle hand gesture and accompanied with a momentary, blink-and-miss shifting of her pupils to a milky white.

PhantaVision ⫻ Pom can see spirits that are present in the material world. With this she can see the souls of the recently deceased before they depart to whatever the hell is happening in the afterlife. However, typically Pom only sees haunts, echoes of the souls that manifest in the presence of someone or something that is bonded to the departed soul through some kind of emotional significance. PhantaVision is a passive spell that doesn’t require any lifeforce.

Soulmate ⫻ Pom attaches a soul of the recently deceased to her own. While the two are attached, Pom can form a general connection to the soul, getting a sort of vibe from it on certain things, as well as being granted information that the soul would have known when it was alive. Casting an attachment spell costs a minor amount of lifeforce.

Dead Ringer [Buried] ⫻ Pom attempts to open communication with the soul of a deceased, opening herself up as a conduit for the dead to pass along messages and answer questions. Costs a moderate amount of lifeforce.

Free Spirit [Buried] ⫻ Pom takes on the form of a spirit by detaching her soul from her body which enters into a stable, comatose state. Pom is incorporeal while in this form, allowing her to phase through things and float on air, but she is not invisible. Rather, Pom’s spirit form flickers on and off in a slow, steady pulse. She cannot speak while in spirit form, she typically cannot physically interact with anything, and the only way to exit spirit form is to return to her body. She can move as fast as she can run but has limitless stamina as a spirit.

Casting Free Spirit costs a major amount of lifeforce. Pom can interact with an object if she spends a minor amount of lifeforce or hitch a ride with a living creature if she spends a moderate amount of lifeforce to become a passenger. Pom can communicate mentally with the living creature while attached in this way, even if they normally cannot communicate, but she has no actual mental influence over their actions.

Free Spirit Limit: Alongside the previously mentioned inability to speak or physically interact with spending additional lifeforce, Pom’s body is unprotected while she is in spirit form. The further away she gets from her body, the longer she opens herself up to unknown danger.

String Theory ⫻ Spells relating to the living body. Spellcasting within this theory is overt, typically requiring Pom to gesture continuously throughout the channeling of the spell and mutter arcane words in Old Elven.

Kaleidoscope Eyes ⫻ Pom sees a faint aura of light coming off of the living that represents how far along its lifespan it is, with red being a newborn, green being right around middle age, and violet being extremely old. This light is only based upon how much life something has had and not necessarily how much it has left, meaning it cannot predict death from anything other than natural causes. In addition to making the world look trippy as hell, Pom can more easily detect a living thing that is attempting to hide but not fully obscured or completely in the dark. More importantly, it would also allow an Animancer to know what they can harvest the most lifeforce from. Kaleidoscope Eyes is a passive spell that doesn’t require any lifeforce.

Parasight [Buried] ⫻ Pom steals the senses of a living creature she can see, rendering them temporarily blind as she looks through their eyes. While under the effects of a Parasight spell, any spells that require Pom to see someone can still be cast if the target is seen by the vision she has stolen–including recasting her Parasight spell. Costs a minor amount of lifeforce each time it is cast and miniscule lifeforce to maintain.

Parasight Limit: Pom cannot see through her own eyes while she is looking through the eyes of someone else with Parasight.

Twitchcraft [Buried] ⫻ Pom manipulates a muscle of a living creature she can see. She causes the muscle to suddenly seize, which can be used to do things like force someone to drop something, trip them up when they’re running, or turn their head in a certain direction to better set up a Parasight jump. Costs a minor amount of lifeforce.

Twitchcraft Limit: After casting the spell, Pom will experience a twitch in her body. The timing for this varies as does the part of her body that twitches, adding an element of uncertainty to any casting of the spell.

Snipsnap [Buried] ⫻ Pom targets a limb of a living creature she can see. She can spend a moderate amount of lifeforce to snip the limb, rendering it limp and useless for a short amount of time. Pom can maintain the spell with a minor amount of lifeforce, continually spending more and more lifeforce to keep the limb snipped as time moves on. Alternatively, she can spend a major amount of lifeforce to snap the limb and break it.

Snipsnap Limit: Pom’s limb is snipped for as longer as her target remains snipped. While debilitating, it’s nowhere near as brutal as how Pom must snap her own limb to do the same to someone else.

Threaded Fates [Buried] ⫻ Pom targets a living creature she can see and makes them a marionette as she seizes precise control over their body, directing her target to mirror the movement of her own body. Costs a massive amount of lifeforce.

Threaded Fates Limit: Due to the massive amount of lifeforce required to cast the spell, Pom’s movements and therefore the movements of her marionette are slower and lack fluidity.

Lich Theory ⫻ Spells relating to lifeforce. Spellcasting within this theory is not only overt but an assault on the senses, the air around Pom swirling violently while her eyes go black, her limbs flailing wildly as if she were having a seizure, and an ungodly wail like the keening of a banshee claws its way out of her throat. A chorus of whispering spirits can be heard by the targets of these spells.

Rejuvenate ⫻ Whenever Pom fully restores her supply of lifeforce she also rejuvenates her body, restoring herself to peak physical condition, healing minor injuries like cuts and bruises, cleansing her body of any sickness or disease, and resetting her physical age to that of early adulthood. Doesn’t cost lifeforce on its own as this is not so much a spell as it is a potential side benefit that accompanies her other spells within lich theory.

Restore [Buried] ⫻ A more advanced form of Rejuvenate. In addition to the previously mentioned benefits, Pom now also heals herself of major injuries like broken bones or missing limbs. As well, Pom begins to immediately Rejuvenate herself whenever she resupplies her lifeforce, no longer having to fully reset her supply to heal minor wounds, cleanse disease, or appear more youthful.

Revival [Buried] ⫻ A more advanced of Restore. In addition to all the previously mentioned benefits, Pom can cheat death and revive herself if she has a soul attached to her that she can harvest. As well, Pom begins to immediately Restore herself whenever she resupplies lifeforce, no longer having to fully reset her supply to heal major wounds.

Recycle [Buried] ⫻ Pom can take lifeforce and recycle it from herself into another living creature. While this does not revert them to their younger selves, it does allow them to heal injuries and cleanse sickness. Pom can spend anywhere from a moderate, major, or massive amount of lifeforce to immediately provide someone with the healing benefits of her Rejuvenate, Restore, or Revival respectively.

Psycho-Pom(p) ⫻ Pom harvests a soul of the recently departed for lifeforce. This can be the soul of a plant, animal, or person, and provide her with anything from a minor to a massive amount of lifeforce depending on the complexity of the creature. Pom can harvest a soul that she has accompanying her via her Soulmate spell. Costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Flower Power [Buried] ⫻ Pom harvests the lifeforce from living plants within close proximity, regaining a miniscule to moderate amount of lifeforce depending on the health and complexity of the plants. This ultimately leads to the immediate withering and death of the plant. Costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Close Cull [Buried] ⫻ Pom harvests the lifeforce from a single living animal within close proximity, regaining a minor to major amount of lifeforce depending on the health and complexity of creature. In return the animal greatly seems to age, potentially to the point of death. Costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Last Rites [Buried] ⫻ Pom harvests the lifeforce from a single living person within close proximity, regaining a moderate to massive amount of lifeforce depending on the health of the person. In return the person greatly seems to age, potentially to the point of death. Costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Second Death [Buried] ⫻ Pom harvests a haunt for lifeforce. By harvesting a haunt, she also breaks the bond connecting the haunt to the material world. She won’t necessarily make people forget about the haunt or the original soul that haunt was pulled from, but it will never manifest again and quickly becomes a distant, ho-hum memory. She regains a minor to moderate amount of lifeforce, but it costs a miniscule amount of lifeforce to cast.

Memento [Buried] ⫻ Instead of directly consuming the lifeforce she harvests, Pom imbues it in a small token that she can use as a fuel source for her spells. Costs a minor amount of lifeforce to cast.

[Blizz]

Mason Kelly

"Fuck."

_______________________________________________ Mason Kelly Half-Elf | He/Him | 19 | White | 5'10" | 173lbs _______________________________________________ Dejected _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Aye fuckin' aye, captain." ___________________________________ [+] Captain Kelly ⫻ Twin Pines' economy is mostly fishing, and when it's time to bring the boats out of anchor, someone's always too damn drunk or busy to steer it. So Mason picked up the skills to drive the boats and not get lost. It pays decently, even if he gets bitched at by 40 year olds who couldn't steer a toddler's toy wagon. Mason's actually pretty okay at it. Sneaky Fucker ⫻ When you're doing everything in your power to justify not coming home, it's easy to learn ways of slipping under the radar. When Mason doesn't want to be found, he will not be found. Rather, he'll find you when he does. Resourceful ⫻ It's not always easy living in Twin Pines. Occasionally, you've got to get creative to make things work, especially if you want to not go broke. If you ever need someone to glue a frayed rope back together with a lighter and a shoe, you find Mason. Mythology ⫻ Mason studied a great deal of things in the time he spent down in New York City, away from home. One of those things was the lore of old things from monsters to legends about them. He knows a few things about the sea monsters coming back, even if he's yet to see them. Logistical Shit ⫻ As silly as it sounds, Mason just wants to do something simple in his life one day. The kind of thing that lets him kick back and have the freedom to enjoy life. Working towards that vague ideal, he's good at organizing and managing numbers, or big things from distance that would give other people a headache.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Quit giving me that look, man." Mason is about as low-maintenance as it gets. He's not some businessman looking to impress the Almighty Tusk or give some kind of speech, he doesn't have the energy to give that kind of a damn about his look. As such, it's always t-shirts slightly larger than necessary, faded jeans from years ago, and the same damn sneakers he's had since forever. He's not quite poor by any means, but he just doesn't care. Mason is a lanky dude, visibly elvish on one side of his family, with ears pointed somewhere between that and human that tend to be underneath a mop of brown hair. Growing up working to help out at the docks during summers, he's put on a decent amount of muscle and is generally pretty in shape.

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"Do I look happy?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻
Get the fuck out of Twin Pines and stay out. This place is slowly killing him, and he hates that. Nothing happens, there's no reason to be here, and Mason just fundamentally doesn't belong in a town that he thinks is dying.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Philosophy? Do I look like Aristotle to you? As far as Mason is concerned, there are okay people, and shitty people. Some people fall in the middle, and life isn't always fair to anyone in particular. Sometimes, you get dealt a shitty hand, and you can either fold or keep playing... Not that he's hit the jackpot yet.

SECRETS AND FEARS ⫻ Aside from his weird wizardly shit, Mason is generally not trying to make a big fuss about his desire to drop off the face of the planet and never come back.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Ehh... Probably straight, fuck if he knows.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DAY WITH MAGIC LIKE? ⫻ Mason was asleep. And he had been sleeping like a corpse that night, when he heard those three little words: Magic is real. He snapped awake at four in the morning, in a cold sweat, and didn't fall back asleep. He stormed out of his room and to the nearest sink to ground himself, and accidentally bumped a pair of scissors left there. The scissors just vanished. The next eight or so hours were nothing but vanishings and sheer confusion.

FLAWS ⫻ Mason has his whole life ahead of him, and he's already halfway to a decision that it doesn't have shit to offer. He's sick of living in a shitty town, chasing a life that has nothing but maybes and potential, and not enough wills and absolutelies. This makes him impatient, frigid, and just plain bitchy about several things. It colors his whole outlook on life, and if results don't come soon, Mason is liable to just pull back and try something else.

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"This place has nothing. It's not worth it."

There once was a human man who came to Coney Island nearly 20 years ago. He had a one night stand with an elvish woman who was far too depressed to mind the whiskey on his breath. They went back to her place and neither of them had protection. The human in the equation wasn't there the next morning, and the happy little accident born out of that situation was none other than Mason. Despite the circumstances, Sola Kelly decided that she would raise the kid and treat him like he wasn't a mistake. Of course, she wasn't financially able to do so comfortably, so it was rough. And as a kid, the little half-elvin boy scampered around the house as his mom told her about how the world was better out there than in Twin Pines. He believed her.

Overtime, Mason's mom started to slow down a little, so by the time he was 13, he started helping her out. Doing so meant helping around in town, where people knew him as that bastard son of a woman who had a kid by a stranger. That was always a fun thing to hear people whisper about in a town where no one was a stranger. At 14, he was helping middle aged men with loading things onto and off of docks and helping organize things. They paid him directly in cash since he was working his ass off, and eventually, he started going out onto the lake with them. In a small town like Twin Pines, people didn't worry too much about what a kid was too young to do, since everyone knew him and pulled their weight just like him.

For a while, it was fine, since he was motivated and doing fine enough for a little kid. But as high school and his teen years dragged on, Mason started to turn inwards like his mom had. He started to see the world a bit less optimistically, and started paying more attention to the way people talking about him and his single parent. That kid's going nowhere. I'm surprised his mother didn't kill herself by now. Does he ever ask about his father? Dozens and dozens of little things, on top of a surprisingly unnoticeable case of something wrong with his head that made Mason emphatically disinterested in things.

Every summer, he worked himself to the bone, telling himself that it'd all pay off. Mason scraped together enough money between the sea and around town, and the occasional season at Coney Island, that he was able to attend college down in New York City with a motorcycle that he himself at paid for. It was tricky going that far, but he loved it. Mason hadn't been that happy in a while, and he did great. Then he went back for another semester, and it was the same story.

Things are a bit more rough at home now, though. He ran out of the money that he spent literal years slowly building up, having blown it all on a year of college studying a major he might switch out of. And to make it worse, Mason's mom seemed to be getting worse, mentally. And he's all too happy to stick around and look out for her, but this town is killing him. He doesn't want to be here. Seeing her son makes it easier to not be so damn depressed, but Mason knows one of them is going to outlive the other, and he doesn't know who.

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"Where. The fuck. Are my fucking. KEYS?!"

MAGIC ⫻ Conjuration

MAGIC DESCRIPTION ⫻ Mason woke up one morning, and found he was able to accidentally snap things out of existence. The voice in his head didn't tell him a damn thing about this in particular side of the fact that magic is real. Unbeknownst to him, he can also bring things into existence just as readily as out.

Unmake ⫻ By laying his hands on a small object, like someone's phone or their shirt, Mason can render it nonexistent. It is not hidden away, it is not stolen, it is gone. Every last atom connected to it is phased out of reality itself. And he fucking hates it.

LIMITS ⫻ Without actively controlling his magic, the best Mason is able to Unmake is something the size of a laptop. With control over his magic, this is brought down to something that can fit in his hand.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Without control, Mason will find it incredibly easy to misplace his, and others, things. Yet Mason will quickly learn that the thing that go missing will eventually be the fuel that forms the fire of a new part of his power. The more he uses his power, the more random stuff will appear around him as if by magic. These random items will not have any relation to the consumed item, but Mason will not have any control over this aspect of his power at least yet.

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"I don't have enough fuckin' grass for this shit."

Mason accidentally disintegrated the keys to his bike.