Amethyst — Roleplayer Guild

“ If your life is a blank page, that only means you have room to write your story. You have the power to tell that story the way you want to.”

Name: Echo Ace Gallagher

Gender / Preferred Pronouns: Nonbinary, they/them

Age: Sixteen

Year and Degree Program: Currently a junior in high school, Echo will be studying animation and design once they get to university.

Nationality: American, British parentage

Appearance: Standing a little under five feet nothing, Echo is very much not a formidable person. Their frame is fairly average, not notably slender or broad. Their hair is buzzed short, currently dyed an obnoxiously bright turquoise teal. They have grey eyes, wide-set and framed by long lashes and a delicate dusting of freckles along their cheekbones. Their daily makeup is fairly heavy, eyebrows done to match their hair and thick, winged black eyeliner. Often, they wear black lipstick with a holographic topper of some sort. They often wear a multitude of (fake) piercings, on their eyebrows, nose, lip, and ear cartilage. Their attire is mostly black, with occasional neon colors or holographic silver accents. They always can be seen wearing fingerless gloves (with enough frayed threads to make it clear that they were homemade) and platform boots or sneakers. They always wear short sleeved shirts, and have hand-drawn sharpie “tattoos” from both wrists up to the elbows – these designs can be seen to move and change, if one pays close attention.

Location and Notes on Star Mark: Echo’s star marks are seven pointed and vaguely swirled around themselves, one located on the heel of each hand. They’re small and fairly ordinary; what’s notable about them is that recently have swollen up from Echo’s skin, surrounded by redness, and turned a vaguely mottled greyish – some sections of the lines almost white, some nearly black. They are deeply self-conscious about their stars and do everything they can to hide them, especially from the teachers.

Star power: Echo’s power is that of animation – that which they create with their own hands can be made to have a simple intelligence of its own. Usually, this manifests as drawings that animate themselves, though since coming back to the school at the end of this summer, their sculptures and other three-dimensional artworks have been acting out, too, in the form of slight movements. They can’t bring these under control yet, though they’re able to give simple directions to their two-dimensional creations. When not directed, the creations behave in a way that befits their character – a drawing of a sculptor would be seen to work on its masterpiece. These 2d creations can move from whatever surface they were created on and move across other surfaces, and can interact with other objects that Echo draws in, but cannot move in three dimensions.

Personality: Echo is a loud, rambunctious human. They speak their mind and perpetually look as though they’re two minutes away from punching someone, or else running headlong into a risky situation. “Daredevil” would definitely be a word used to describe them. They have a bad habit of saying exactly what they think, including a fair stream of profanity (that frequently has them chastised in class). They never, ever speak of their home life, and they pretend that their elder brother (Phoenix, who also attends Nova Excelsis) is unrelated to them. Echo is often in trouble, but never in enough trouble to be written home about. They are entirely capable of cleaning up their act; they can be the most prim and proper of any of the students, when they want to – which is only when there’s a possibility of their parents hearing about their bad conduct. 

They try their hardest to be a positive influence on their friends, however; if you can break past their abrasive façade, you’ll find an incredibly sensitive, loyal friend who always has time to listen and help you solve your problems. They have a remarkably positive outlook on life, and always are kind to their classmates – their rebelliousness seems to be against the institution as much as anything. Echo has many friends, both in their year, older and younger; they’re a fierce protector of anyone younger than them, especially those still figuring themselves out.

Biography: Echo has long lived their life in the shadow of their elder brother. The older Gallagher is a prodigious musician, but their family refused any sort of special treatment for him, wishing him to hold the spotlight regardless of his Star status. His star mark had manifested when he was four, but he was not recruited until almost a decade later – he was finally recruited into the Nova Academy for his clarinet playing, having won an international competition against students (even Starred ones) several years older than him across a variety of instruments. Everyone loved Phoenix, and so Echo found themself left by the wayside.

Their stars manifested when they were five years old, but their parents ignored them; after all, they weren’t winning competitions for their art, they could just make it move around. Really, it was just a party trick. Hardly one they needed specialized schooling for.

Once Phoenix began full time at the academy in his seventh-grade year, the family at home started receiving more solicitations. Sibling stars are incredibly rare, and the Academy was jumping at the chance to recruit both of them into the program. Their parents were reluctant, to phrase it nicely – after everything, the Gallaghers just wanted to have one normal child, and put all that Star business behind them. As the year went on, Echo was forbidden from talking to Phoenix or to the Academy representatives, and was ultimately forbidden from continuing to practice art.

Phoenix was supposed to come home for the summer, that first year. He didn’t. Gradually, their parents stopped talking about him entirely, even going so far as to pretend they didn't know who Echo was asking about. Eventually, they stopped asking. 

Meanwhile, Echo tried to be a normal kid and get away with practicing their art, spending hours every day drawing; whenever they could get away with it, by flashlight under blankets or on the school bus or on the backs of homework that would never again see the light of day. They grew to be quite good at it, and beyond that, grew to have incredible control over their drawings; they could have their drawings watch and listen to goings-on in the house and report back to them. 

Someday, they were going to be good enough that their parents would realize, and would send them to the Academy.

And then, everything went wrong.

They were eleven years old, and they’d managed to get into the art class their new middle school offered. They’d told their mom they were signing up for choir, instead, but wrote down Art at the last second before turning in the form. And they got in. Everything was going perfectly.
Their art teacher, well-meaning, called home to tell their parents how incredibly detailed their work really was, and suggest placing them in the AP section next year, with the high schoolers, to better challenge them and their Star power. 
They came home to a physical fight, their strict but previously cordial father meeting them at the door with a fury they’d never seen before and failed to dodge in the moment. Six years of hiding came undone as their father searched their belongings, uncovering boxes and boxes of old homework, every inch covered in scribbles that frantically ran from his fury. When a variety of other issues – most notably studies they’d done of girls kissing other girls – came to light, and they found themself unable to deny the accusations, they were met with even more violence.
Their parents quickly pulled them from the middle school and all their clubs to suddenly be “homeschooled”, trapping them and monitoring them at all times, depriving them of any outside contact and failing to provide for even their basic needs, the situation at home often escalating to physical violence if they provoked someone – or heaven forbid, were found with a drawing utensil.
 After the semester of radio silence, their art teacher placed calls to NI, sensing what had happened. What followed was a legal battle that ended with the Academy successfully pulling them from their home (under provisions of the Neglected Stars act recently passed) for the duration of the school year every year. 

They tried to reconnect with their brother, and for a while, it seemed to be working brilliantly. Though it had been years since the two had spoken; they hadn’t even seen each other since they were small children. But the siblings found a connection again all the same, at least until they found out their parents had split up. Quietly, in the middle of the school year, their parents had divorced, citing Echo’s education as the reason. In the confusion that followed, Echo tried to break the silence about what their father had done to them; Phoenix wouldn’t hear it. He cut off all contact with them.

The courts had ruled that they must be returned to their home every summer. Every summer it's gotten worse; their mother’s new partner is in every aspect even crueler than their father ever was. But they are strong, and surrounded by a group of strong friends; they won't let themself fall apart yet.

Their step-father nearly killed them this past summer; their mother has been in the habit of ignoring them now, when they’re off drawing, but their stepfather goes into a near murderous rage, reminding them how badly they’ve ruined their mother’s life with their freakish powers even as he hurts them. They were beaten into unconsciousness and hospitalized this summer because of the damage that he did; as soon as their teachers got wind of it, they were collected from the hospital and taken back to the school grounds. Their stars have been stuck in this mottled grey phase, having lightened slightly from nearly pure black over the last few months. They're somewhat of a special case; most Stars to have endured this much would have had their marks turn black, and so they're now being intensely scrutinized by every professor around them, while they try to pretend nothing at all is wrong.
 But, to look on the bright side. They’re sixteen now, at least, and have been officially emancipated – their mother did at least that much for them, under pressure from the school more than likely. Now they no longer have to return home, and can stay at school and learn and heal and not have to hide who they are any longer. They just hope it’s not too late to save themself from the instability of the corruption. 

Notable Rumors: It has been said that Echo isn’t actually a Star; after all, no one’s seen their mark before. Alternatively, it’s been said that Echo is a corrupt star, but doesn’t want to lose their freedoms like corrupted students do, and so they hide the marks zealously. 

Trivia: Their name is not their legal name; however, everyone, even professors, address them by it. 

Other: Color code: 40C19D

 “Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.”

Name: Phoenix Alastair Gallagher

Gender / Preferred Pronouns: Male, he/him

Age: 22

Year and Degree Program: Fourth year, music; specifically clarinet and piano performance. 

Nationality: American, British parents.

Appearance:Phoenix is a proper gentleman in aesthetic, he’s always just slightly overdressed for the situation, but always in a way of good taste, never tacky. The only non-classically-gentlemanly part of his aesthetic is his hair; since coming to the Institute, he’s had it in a whole myriad of colors and styles, and at the moment it’s a slightly overgrown red-orange ombre with his natural dark roots visible. He’s quite short for a man, 5’6”, with a lightly muscular build, and has particularly long, spindly fingers. His hazel-grey eyes are fairly wide-set, and like his sibling he has very long eyelashes in an otherwise fairly traditionally masculine face. He does have gauged ears from his rebellious teen phase; he went up to a 0 gauge. He once had a lip piercing (also during his rebellious phase) that has since healed over but left a small scar.

Location and Notes on Star Mark: His star mark is pure white, nestled between the prominent tendons of his left wrist – it’s four pointed, much taller than it is wide, with the top and bottom points splitting into two at the tips, vaguely reminiscent of a tuning fork.  

Star power: Phoenix’s ability is one that is misleading at first – his power is sonic manipulation. From his fingertips, he can create ripples in a medium that emulate soundwaves. These waves can be focused or diffused to create amplitudes that would be impossible without technological modifications. Touching under his chin, for instance, he can speak painfully loudly or impossibly softly, or modify the pitch of his voice without moving his vocal chords. Similarly, he can amplify or mute sounds around him, amplifying things into his ears or selectively filtering out noise. He can amplify ambient sounds to a painful threshold, or deaden them completely, and from an already amplified sound can make it so loud as to cause damage or so quiet as to be barely detectable. Within his primary instrument, with its open holes, he has the ability to precisely shape the sound, splitting notes into several harmonics at once or reaching pitches impossible within the instrument’s range. 

Personality: Phoenix is a little bit cocky and arrogant, a know-it-all and a show-off. He has a lot of false bravado, built up in defense around an internal lack of confidence. He likes to be in control – his attire, his conduct, his whole persona, it’s all carefully calculated; unlike his sibling, he’s very much not one to take risks. He is polite and cordial to everyone, almost annoyingly prim and proper. Phoenix has always been a star (pun intended) student, at the top of the class, at least among those without academic powers, and he takes his studies very seriously. He could also be said to take himself very seriously; he’s not easy to joke with or have much of a friendship with.

Biography: Phoenix Gallagher was his family’s golden boy for his early childhood. At first, it was because he could sing; in third grade, his music teacher gave him a recorder, as they do with all third-graders, and he stunned everyone with his virtuosic performance. But he was unsatisfied with the instrument, and soon graduated to clarinet, and soon began to take the country by storm; six months after first picking up the instrument, he performed the entire Mozart concerto at a school talent show. 

The country began to take notice, but his parents were exceptionally secretive about his star mark, and encouraged him to be as well. The rumor didn’t come out for nearly two years; it was forcibly exposed after he won the first prize at the international youth woodwind expo for students 11-18; at just barely 11, he was the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. 

He thought his parents would be proud, but they were just bitter; when the Nova Infinitum representative came to the door to collect him, they nearly didn’t let him go. But eventually they were persuaded. When he got there, he found an incredible opportunity and learning experience.

Phoenix only ever wanted to make them proud.

But the letters and phone calls stopped coming within a few months of his enrollment; he tried to reach out but was met only with radio silence. He shared with his classmates about his sibling, proud of the fact that they had recently manifested a star, too; sibling stars were of particular note to the faculty and other students.

He started piano at the urging of Professor Edwards; she was eager to train him on an instrument that he couldn’t “cheat” with his powers, and his learning there was slow but steady; he’s never loved piano, but now he’s proficient at it. On clarinet, he soon exceeded even Professor Edwards’ expectations, and even the expectations of the world’s greatest clarinetists. But he’s still unsatisfied with his progress. There’s so much more to his power than what he’s been able to learn in the context of his degree.

He was supposed to go home that summer, but he never did. Some part of him hoped he’d get a letter from Echo about enrollment, or might even see them on the campus, but one year went by, and then two, and then three, and soon he gave up hope.

He didn’t see Echo again until his junior year of high school; his younger sibling – scared, broken, and nothing at all like the child he once knew – eager to make his acquaintance again, and for a while, it was good.

His senior year of high school, however, his mother came to his recital. Not his father, but his mother – with another man. He sent a letter home, politely trying to inquire – and again, was met with silence. It wasn’t until the following year that it was confirmed to the two of them that their parents had split up.

Echo took it hard. So did Phoenix, but his sadness was out of sight of everyone. Echo took him aside and told him terrible things about their father; terrible things about the man who had supported him and encouraged him to be his best, Star academy or not.

He couldn’t believe them.

They were upset, understandably so, but he never could have guessed how deeply that schism between them would spread. Echo grew distant; he threw himself into his studies to fill the void and ignore the sudden realization that his family had fallen apart around him.

All he had wanted to do was make them proud.

It’s senior year, now, and he ignores his sibling as they ignore him; he’s to give a recital in a few months and he’s hungry for the chance to prove himself, but he also feels so, so empty. He’s never given anyone the chance to be close to him, not since he stopped being the Star of his family, and it hurts him so, so badly. But it’s too late for him to make connections here, isn’t it? All that’s left is to graduate and find himself a job somewhere. He might stay on as faculty, for all he knows, but he’s not even sure of what he wants to do with his life.

Notable Rumors: Some have said that Phoenix is gay and in denial; after an unfortunate incident his sophomore year that everyone refuses to detail, there's a near-universal pact against dating him, it seems. Some say he likes it that way; some say he's desperate.

Trivia: Phoenix’s clarinet, a number made out of rosewood with gold keys, was custom-made for him and gifted to him by an Italian instrument maker for his senior recital in high school. 

Other: Color code: ea7024
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