artexercise

MF&P contest #12 - the meeting (voting and feedback)

So as not to vote for myself, while I do like "Me and myself" and "Killing Time", I have a special place in my heart for a good sonnet. My vote goes to "Killing Time".

RPGC#38 - invisibility (voting and feedback)

I hadn't meant for mine to be anonymous, so clearly this will give it away. And I will not vote for myself, as a personal rule.

For the other three entries, however:

* The Uncle - I enjoyed it. It did make me feel a little sad, however. The main character has it rough emotionally, perhaps. Could be worse, but everyone has their own burdens, and this was a little insight into hers. The story of her life in three parts. I think it could have used a couple more parts to really delve more into her psyche. A glance at her late teen years or college life as a truly turbulent time that she would have relished that escapism towards her uncle and the stories. And on the other end, when she became an empty nester, perhaps, where escapism might either be a dangerous attraction or to push back against it.

* The girl unseen - Interesting. Definitely had the fairytale storybook vibe which I find difficult to pull off myself. It's short and to the point and there's a happily ever after ending. Made me feel better for the main character. Whenever I look at old fairytales however, some of those characters either do not get happily ever after or it's bought and paid for by some loss and then I'm smacked across the face with an old dead fish called "the moral of the story". I wonder what an alternative telling of this tale would be with a bitter lesson learned.

* Now you see it- Do you? - Fun. A world with the Unperceived, and Perceivers. I feel like there are two stories here. The first part introducing us to Aggie, and the second part where we receive some story within this universe. In the first part I wanted a bit of being shown the world instead of being told about the world (but it helped to be told). In the second part it was all "being shown" the world, but it didn't feel exactly like the same world. In the first part, it feels like a couple of inconsistencies about objects being manipulated by the unperceived, and it seems like there is some vagueness about what it means to be unperceived or a perceiver. This vagueness is carried over into the second part to basically come across as rudeness on the part of the "ghost hunters" (I'm guessing that's essentially what they are). Despite these criticisms, I'm certain this is exactly the kind of idea I would geek out over with friends in my younger years.

So my vote goes towards "Now you see it- Do you?" purely for geeking out reasons. (Like for instance, animals. If I was unperceived, would me dogs bother me the same at their breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Would the cat be spooked whilst cleaning her litter? Could I approach a squirrel outside undetected?)

Nanowrimo 2021

This is going to be my first year since 2014 that I will be skipping NaNoWriMo.

@metanoia

I skipped a year a few years back. You'll thank yourself for the break. Next year you'll probably find yourself eager to do another Nano. When I skipped I had way too much going on and it felt weird not to write, but after a couple days it was like allowing myself to have a vacation. Cheers to ya!

Nanowrimo 2021

I'm in. I think this will be the 12th or 13th time for me. I can't remember anymore. I get 50k every time, but I'm a planner. I have my outline and ideas ready to go. I just have to let the characters speak for themselves and work on transitions from scene to scene.

Kept In Mind - Arc X: it dont exist yet

Name:
- Morris "Shaggy" Ginuac, Mister Myster

Character Sheet

Appearance:
- Dark purple and black paisley blazer with black pants and comfortable shoes all leisure suit style. Black T-shirt with a tarot card large in the center of the shirt. The card is the Biddy Tarot 7 of Cups but without any text. Morris is thin, and his clothes seem to hang off of him. He's 6'1" 152 lbs. Hard to believe based on how much he seems to eat. He used to keep a scraggly goatee but recently has switched it up to the thin line of a full beard and moustache. He doesn't usually do much with the hair on the top of his head except to pull his hair back and keep it in a ponytail that extends just past the base of his neck. He's just beginning to show white at the temples and into parts of his beard.

Age:
- 40

Personality:
- Modern day hippee, loving life. Usually pretty happy-go-lucky and what-may-come. Conspiracy theories are his bread and butter, but not the usual ones. The earth isn't flat. There is no deep state. Aliens are real. Those aren't conspiracies. One of the real conspiracies: "how green lights never allow you to go completely through town is how the local municipality is just trying to get you to stay and buy touristy stuff" is what you need to worry about. He is a dreamer, and an avid gambler, winning and losing seemingly an equal amount, but he always stops before he loses the big amount. Morris likes to give good news, and tries to put a positive spin on bad. That's part of the reason he became a professional Fortune Teller by the name of Mister Myster. He's self-conscious about his art skills, he dabbles in water color but only uses those sets that can be found in dollar store water color booklets for kids because "nobody is cruel enough to corrupt kids that way but regular water colors contain mind control substances". All his art is very poor representations of tarot imagery.

Powers:
- "The Dive": getting into the heads of others
- AuraReading: As a fortune teller, he's got a keen eye on seeing how someone usually is or what their current emotion is by taking a peek at their aura
- Precognition: More like an itch, a good or a bad sensation that comes as a result of a decision he is about to make. If it's an outcome that he is looking for then warm fuzzies, otherwise a taste like bitter 90% cacao
- Astral Projection: Popping himself out of his body, but on a short leash, no more than 5 feet.
- Dream Travel & Remote Viewing: Some people say they can see other places in their dreams. Morris can do it for real. When he falls asleep he can go around the world, seeing where you are going can be important, learning to concentrate and see for long periods of time instead of drifting back into the dream was the skill be honed.
-- Psychic Specialty:
- Dream Travel: the real reason I evaded ESP for so long. Morris can move physically into the place that he views in his dreams. As this is his specialty and he is generally been by himself. It is unknown if he could connect with others in the dream state and carry them with him. Morris has to fall asleep normally and visually his body just simply ceases to be in one place and suddenly appears in the other place fully awake but tired.
-- Weak Link: No TK at all, or anything not in the above list

Archetype:
- the Explorer Archetype
- Psyche/Avatar: Thin man with purple and black paisley leisure suit. Thick well trimmed beard with slicked back hair and a ponytail with a dark purple scrunchie. His expression is always like one who has just fallen asleep with eyes closed and a benign smile of a good dream. When he walks it looks like each step pops him forward a little extra space travelling a little extra distance.
- The Break:

Good Break, Lengthy

2001, Roadtrip to Burning Man. Psyche's Windows
When ridesharing across country was knowing a friend of a friend of a friend and so forth. Morris got in touch with two couples who were going to Burning Man in 2001. He paid for gas up front and didn't think about another thing as they went across country. He had a good feeling and everyone was cool. One duffle bag and him in the back seat of a minivan listening to tunes and chilling out.

When he got to Burning Man, he was on his own pretty quickly. He stayed with a group of people playing guitar late into the night. He stayed with an older couple who remembered Burning Man 86 who were roasting kale leaves and smoking weed and getting the two confused at times. He moved around Burning Man meeting people and enjoying himself a little at a time. The days were hot, the nights cool, and on night six he finally got around to Psyche’s Windows, the installation art, a tribute to Psyche and Eros.

Walking around the octagonal construction with different windows on each side, he peered in seeing people relaxing, writing, laughing. He bumped into a green haired goddess with warlike face paint and body paint. "Sorry, I thought I was the only one spying on fun."

"Not the only one," she laughed. "Let's go in to join the fun."

Morris followed her in and lie down on a bunch of pillows and rugs tossed on the ground. People inside left after a minute talking amongst themselves about what joy would come next. Morris and she were in there together looking out of the windows at the people all around in every direction. "Portals into the minds of men," the woman said and wrote it down. Morris wrote down, "The journey through the window's eyes, is always seen from the other side."

Morris stayed with her that night, his Psyche. They made love in a pup tent on the outskirts. There was a certain sense of bliss that spread through him, as though any other moment could not be as perfect. When he fell asleep, he felt like he was home. She was there beside him, and he had one thin arm draped across her frame. It was safe, exactly like his home. Like sitting in his little apartment after a warm shower, in his leisure suit watching tv with a glass of water and a deck of tarot on the side table. He could see it in his mind, and he was there. The sudden understanding of "Home is where the heart is," was like waking up with the sun to greet you for the first time. He woke up fully while still in his dream.

For a moment he was standing fully clothed, well groomed, with a deck of tarot in his pocket looking at himself and his green haired goddess in the tent at Burning Man. Then he was in front of Psyche's Windows looking in, except through the window was inside of her mind. She was an amazon dancer, naked and graceful and beautiful. Through another window, she was a chef in a fantastic kitchen. Through another she was a woman in a green dress in a ballroom dancing from partner to partner. In another window she was in a comfortable home wearing a green football jersey carrying snacks into a warm den.

He turned around for an instant, and when he looked back he saw his body in his chair in his boxers. The picture through the window in his mind was his safe space and suddenly reality matched it. Then he woke up, in New Jersey in his boxers wondering who she was and partially comprehending the dream that he didn't even dare call purely lucid but something else and something more. The dreams where he traveled, he always looked the same, it was a part of his safe space, always just on the other side of the window.

Skills:
* Small business license
* basic accounting
* Gambling and games of chance
* Starving Artist - water colors, Candle making
* Urban survival, like dumpster diving, finding the cheapest diner, etc.

History:

History, Lengthy

Sixties and Seventies culture played big into the childhood of Morris. It didn't matter that others around him were more current. The past spoke to him. Along with the counter culture of the past and all things that went with it, Morris invested his time in reading books about fortune telling, palmistry, tarot cards, and everything else that might get him a gig with the psychic friends network.

When he found out that the network operated out of the opposite side of the country, he was a little disappointed, but realized it opened up an opportunity to do something on his side. Needing funds, he thought it couldn't be that hard to win the money he would need to get started. Spending a little time in Atlantic City, he realized he had a kind of sixth sense for when to hold em and when to fold em. Morris got enough to open a small fortune telling shop and get a license to operate. A two bit card and palm reader didn't rank high on the radar of government authorities and still he hadn't dived yet nor did he think much about it.

Under the name of Mister Myster, Morris developed his own sense of style, attending Tarot Card Conventions and Maker's Fairs. Opened up a little shop on the strip not far from where he liked to gamble. Got a few regulars and a whole lot of tourists. Wore a woven poncho for the 'unknowns' to add to his mystery. Life was good.

"Life was, note the was, good, until I had a weird stream of good luck. Good luck! I have a theory about good luck. The universe, sentient right? The universe is getting ready to kick you in your spiritual balls when you get too much good luck. The universe is trying to get you to open your legs for the KO Whammo! I wasn't trying to win on the roulette, see? I wasn't trying and boom double zero's! Thought I was throwing out a wad of cash. I'd already had dinner money for a couple of days, but instead, instead I get thousands!

"I panicked. I said a little 'yay' and took the winnings. Then, someone recognized me from my shop, and wanted a reading. It was horrible. All that cash, then a paying customer. But, I was waiting for it. I knew the Universe didn't play dice. I read that in a book somewhere. I closed shop for a few days, gambled away half of it. When Wham! Blackjack! ... I'd had enough. I had to stop gambling for a few days and lose money like a normal person. So, I opened my shop back up and I spent it on Amazon.

"That's when she walked in. I was on the fence, just letting the sphincter loosen a little, y'know what I mean? She brought her own tarot, the Dragon Tarot. I shuffled, I cut, I talked, I refused to put on the poncho. And then, I flipped over that first card as I looked in her eyes. Strangest thing I ever saw."

Morris found himself in a grand ballroom. He was wearing his best leisure suit, brilliant rich purple and black paisley, buttoned in the front. A dark purple scrunchie held his pony tail tight as he checked his hair, slicked back and not one hair out of place. The woman sat at a piano in a gorgeous green dress playing something soft and melodic. She swayed side to side with the rhythm looking at him. "What does it all mean?" she asked smiling.

He turned to look at the opulence of the ballroom as he made his way close to her. Her song was pulling him in, when he realized that it was otherwise empty. "Your life is empty. You've built yourself up, and no matter how well you play, it is only for yourself." The music stopped and her smile faded. The brilliance of the ballroom dimmed and plaster started to fall. "Maybe you don't let anyone in because then they would see it was all a façade. That you are falling apart on the inside."

She faded smile turned to a hateful sneer, her skin taking on the qualities of a reptile as black ooze bubbled out of the piano and flowed out onto the cracked marble floor in echoing plops. Morris knew that Reptilian Conspiracy was a fake and was beginning to think he was somewhere he shouldn't be. He also regretted saying, "Perhaps it's because underneath, you are just a vile poisonous bitch that corrupts everything she touches in the long run." The ooze was rising fast and she hissed. He felt the end coming and astral projected himself out the back of his head in the hopes that he wouldn't have to experience his body being devoured by a snake woman whose piano gushed black acidic bile.

"Instead, I was staring at the back of my head in my shop, flipping over the last card in the spread in my shop. I saw my head dip and I plunged back inside just before she slapped me. I swear she could win one of those slap contests. She marched out after scooping up her cards. Only thing I really remember about the spread is that she was the Reversed Empress. Reversed Empress in the Dragon Tarot. Avoid that deck. Or at least avoid her.

"That's when I started seeing them. ESP agents. I thought I would take a week vaca in Tokyo to blow the rest of my cash. Dreamed myself there. Woke up in one of those Shinto temple thingees. Miss Nakiyama took me in that night like I was a good omen. She's a sweet lady, good kisser. I didn't understand a word she said though. Found a casino to convert dollar to yen, cleaned up my beard a little, shaved it down, less mountain man. You like it, right? Stayed longer than a week. Lived like that for a year until the Japanese division of ESP picked up on me. So, I dreamed myself over to a little town south of Paris.

"Kept the payments up on my shop in Atlantic City, got one of the regulars to go in for me and make sure it was fine. When the ESP found me in Chartres, France -- Only took them two months -- I dreamed myself to Kirov, Russia. Damn near in the middle of nowhere I thought. They Found me the next day. I said to myself, 'What the hell! Do they have ESP?'

"Then it hit me. They were the ESP. I dreamed myself back to Jersey. A woman I'd never seen before was waiting in my shop for me. Introduced herself as Agent Beth, though it was probably code name, like Agent R or just R. I watched MIB. Her aura was as calm as could be. And Now I'm here, sitting in a waiting room, not quite sure what's going to happen next."

Misc:
- Nothing yet.

Kept In Mind - Arc X: it dont exist yet

For review... Up for editing and reinvention if this doesn't work out.

Name:
- Morris "Shaggy" Ginuac, Mister Myster

Character Sheet

Appearance:
- Dark purple and black paisley blazer with black pants and comfortable shoes all leisure suit style. Black T-shirt with a tarot card large in the center of the shirt. The card is the Biddy Tarot 7 of Cups but without any text. Morris is thin, and his clothes seem to hang off of him. He's 6'1" 152 lbs. Hard to believe based on how much he seems to eat. He used to keep a scraggly goatee but recently has switched it up to the thin line of a full beard and moustache. He doesn't usually do much with the hair on the top of his head except to pull his hair back and keep it in a ponytail that extends just past the base of his neck. He's just beginning to show white at the temples and into parts of his beard.

Age:
- 40

Personality:
- Modern day hippee, loving life. Usually pretty happy-go-lucky and what-may-come. Conspiracy theories are his bread and butter, but not the usual ones. The earth isn't flat. There is no deep state. Aliens are real. Those aren't conspiracies. One of the real conspiracies: "how green lights never allow you to go completely through town is how the local municipality is just trying to get you to stay and buy touristy stuff" is what you need to worry about. He is a dreamer, and an avid gambler, winning and losing seemingly an equal amount, but he always stops before he loses the big amount. Morris likes to give good news, and tries to put a positive spin on bad. That's part of the reason he became a professional Fortune Teller by the name of Mister Myster. He's self-conscious about his art skills, he dabbles in water color but only uses those sets that can be found in dollar store water color booklets for kids because "nobody is cruel enough to corrupt kids that way but regular water colors contain mind control substances". All his art is very poor representations of tarot imagery.

Powers:
- "The Dive": getting into the heads of others
- AuraReading: As a fortune teller, he's got a keen eye on seeing how someone usually is or what their current emotion is by taking a peek at their aura
- Precognition: More like an itch, a good or a bad sensation that comes as a result of a decision he is about to make. If it's an outcome that he is looking for then warm fuzzies, otherwise a taste like bitter 90% cacao
- Astral Projection: Popping himself out of his body, but on a short leash, no more than 5 feet.
- Dream Travel & Remote Viewing: Some people say they can see other places in their dreams. Morris can do it for real. When he falls asleep he can go around the world, seeing where you are going can be important, learning to concentrate and see for long periods of time instead of drifting back into the dream was the skill be honed.
-- Psychic Specialty:
- Dream Travel: the real reason I evaded ESP for so long. Morris can move physically into the place that he views in his dreams. As this is his specialty and he is generally been by himself. It is unknown if he could connect with others in the dream state and carry them with him. Morris has to fall asleep normally and visually his body just simply ceases to be in one place and suddenly appears in the other place fully awake but tired.
-- Weak Link: No TK at all, or anything not in the above list

Archetype:
- the Explorer Archetype
- Psyche/Avatar: Thin man with purple and black paisley leisure suit. Thick well trimmed beard with slicked back hair and a ponytail with a dark purple scrunchie. His expression is always like one who has just fallen asleep with eyes closed and a benign smile of a good dream. When he walks it looks like each step pops him forward a little extra space travelling a little extra distance.
- The Break:

Good Break, Lengthy

2001, Roadtrip to Burning Man. Psyche's Windows
When ridesharing across country was knowing a friend of a friend of a friend and so forth. Morris got in touch with two couples who were going to Burning Man in 2001. He paid for gas up front and didn't think about another thing as they went across country. He had a good feeling and everyone was cool. One duffle bag and him in the back seat of a minivan listening to tunes and chilling out.

When he got to Burning Man, he was on his own pretty quickly. He stayed with a group of people playing guitar late into the night. He stayed with an older couple who remembered Burning Man 86 who were roasting kale leaves and smoking weed and getting the two confused at times. He moved around Burning Man meeting people and enjoying himself a little at a time. The days were hot, the nights cool, and on night six he finally got around to Psyche’s Windows, the installation art, a tribute to Psyche and Eros.

Walking around the octagonal construction with different windows on each side, he peered in seeing people relaxing, writing, laughing. He bumped into a green haired goddess with warlike face paint and body paint. "Sorry, I thought I was the only one spying on fun."

"Not the only one," she laughed. "Let's go in to join the fun."

Morris followed her in and lie down on a bunch of pillows and rugs tossed on the ground. People inside left after a minute talking amongst themselves about what joy would come next. Morris and she were in there together looking out of the windows at the people all around in every direction. "Portals into the minds of men," the woman said and wrote it down. Morris wrote down, "The journey through the window's eyes, is always seen from the other side."

Morris stayed with her that night, his Psyche. They made love in a pup tent on the outskirts. There was a certain sense of bliss that spread through him, as though any other moment could not be as perfect. When he fell asleep, he felt like he was home. She was there beside him, and he had one thin arm draped across her frame. It was safe, exactly like his home. Like sitting in his little apartment after a warm shower, in his leisure suit watching tv with a glass of water and a deck of tarot on the side table. He could see it in his mind, and he was there. The sudden understanding of "Home is where the heart is," was like waking up with the sun to greet you for the first time. He woke up fully while still in his dream.

For a moment he was standing fully clothed, well groomed, with a deck of tarot in his pocket looking at himself and his green haired goddess in the tent at Burning Man. Then he was in front of Psyche's Windows looking in, except through the window was inside of her mind. She was an amazon dancer, naked and graceful and beautiful. Through another window, she was a chef in a fantastic kitchen. Through another she was a woman in a green dress in a ballroom dancing from partner to partner. In another window she was in a comfortable home wearing a green football jersey carrying snacks into a warm den.

He turned around for an instant, and when he looked back he saw his body in his chair in his boxers. The picture through the window in his mind was his safe space and suddenly reality matched it. Then he woke up, in New Jersey in his boxers wondering who she was and partially comprehending the dream that he didn't even dare call purely lucid but something else and something more. The dreams where he traveled, he always looked the same, it was a part of his safe space, always just on the other side of the window.

Skills:
* Small business license
* basic accounting
* Gambling and games of chance
* Starving Artist - water colors, Candle making
* Urban survival, like dumpster diving, finding the cheapest diner, etc.

History:

History, Lengthy

Sixties and Seventies culture played big into the childhood of Morris. It didn't matter that others around him were more current. The past spoke to him. Along with the counter culture of the past and all things that went with it, Morris invested his time in reading books about fortune telling, palmistry, tarot cards, and everything else that might get him a gig with the psychic friends network.

When he found out that the network operated out of the opposite side of the country, he was a little disappointed, but realized it opened up an opportunity to do something on his side. Needing funds, he thought it couldn't be that hard to win the money he would need to get started. Spending a little time in Atlantic City, he realized he had a kind of sixth sense for when to hold em and when to fold em. Morris got enough to open a small fortune telling shop and get a license to operate. A two bit card and palm reader didn't rank high on the radar of government authorities and still he hadn't dived yet nor did he think much about it.

Under the name of Mister Myster, Morris developed his own sense of style, attending Tarot Card Conventions and Maker's Fairs. Opened up a little shop on the strip not far from where he liked to gamble. Got a few regulars and a whole lot of tourists. Wore a woven poncho for the 'unknowns' to add to his mystery. Life was good.

"Life was, note the was, good, until I had a weird stream of good luck. Good luck! I have a theory about good luck. The universe, sentient right? The universe is getting ready to kick you in your spiritual balls when you get too much good luck. The universe is trying to get you to open your legs for the KO Whammo! I wasn't trying to win on the roulette, see? I wasn't trying and boom double zero's! Thought I was throwing out a wad of cash. I'd already had dinner money for a couple of days, but instead, instead I get thousands!

"I panicked. I said a little 'yay' and took the winnings. Then, someone recognized me from my shop, and wanted a reading. It was horrible. All that cash, then a paying customer. But, I was waiting for it. I knew the Universe didn't play dice. I read that in a book somewhere. I closed shop for a few days, gambled away half of it. When Wham! Blackjack! ... I'd had enough. I had to stop gambling for a few days and lose money like a normal person. So, I opened my shop back up and I spent it on Amazon.

"That's when she walked in. I was on the fence, just letting the sphincter loosen a little, y'know what I mean? She brought her own tarot, the Dragon Tarot. I shuffled, I cut, I talked, I refused to put on the poncho. And then, I flipped over that first card as I looked in her eyes. Strangest thing I ever saw."

Morris found himself in a grand ballroom. He was wearing his best leisure suit, brilliant rich purple and black paisley, buttoned in the front. A dark purple scrunchie held his pony tail tight as he checked his hair, slicked back and not one hair out of place. The woman sat at a piano in a gorgeous green dress playing something soft and melodic. She swayed side to side with the rhythm looking at him. "What does it all mean?" she asked smiling.

He turned to look at the opulence of the ballroom as he made his way close to her. Her song was pulling him in, when he realized that it was otherwise empty. "Your life is empty. You've built yourself up, and no matter how well you play, it is only for yourself." The music stopped and her smile faded. The brilliance of the ballroom dimmed and plaster started to fall. "Maybe you don't let anyone in because then they would see it was all a façade. That you are falling apart on the inside."

She faded smile turned to a hateful sneer, her skin taking on the qualities of a reptile as black ooze bubbled out of the piano and flowed out onto the cracked marble floor in echoing plops. Morris knew that Reptilian Conspiracy was a fake and was beginning to think he was somewhere he shouldn't be. He also regretted saying, "Perhaps it's because underneath, you are just a vile poisonous bitch that corrupts everything she touches in the long run." The ooze was rising fast and she hissed. He felt the end coming and astral projected himself out the back of his head in the hopes that he wouldn't have to experience his body being devoured by a snake woman whose piano gushed black acidic bile.

"Instead, I was staring at the back of my head in my shop, flipping over the last card in the spread in my shop. I saw my head dip and I plunged back inside just before she slapped me. I swear she could win one of those slap contests. She marched out after scooping up her cards. Only thing I really remember about the spread is that she was the Reversed Empress. Reversed Empress in the Dragon Tarot. Avoid that deck. Or at least avoid her.

"That's when I started seeing them. ESP agents. I thought I would take a week vaca in Tokyo to blow the rest of my cash. Dreamed myself there. Woke up in one of those Shinto temple thingees. Miss Nakiyama took me in that night like I was a good omen. She's a sweet lady, good kisser. I didn't understand a word she said though. Found a casino to convert dollar to yen, cleaned up my beard a little, shaved it down, less mountain man. You like it, right? Stayed longer than a week. Lived like that for a year until the Japanese division of ESP picked up on me. So, I dreamed myself over to a little town south of Paris.

"Kept the payments up on my shop in Atlantic City, got one of the regulars to go in for me and make sure it was fine. When the ESP found me in Chartres, France -- Only took them two months -- I dreamed myself to Kirov, Russia. Damn near in the middle of nowhere I thought. They Found me the next day. I said to myself, 'What the hell! Do they have ESP?'

"Then it hit me. They were the ESP. I dreamed myself back to Jersey. A woman I'd never seen before was waiting in my shop for me. Introduced herself as Agent Beth, though it was probably code name, like Agent R or just R. I watched MIB. Her aura was as calm as could be. And Now I'm here, sitting in a waiting room, not quite sure what's going to happen next."

Misc:
- Nothing yet.

* NOTES: Updated as per Recommendation. Move to Char Section as per Directed.

Kept In Mind (Mind-Bending, Brain-Exploring, Psychic Action!)

Interest expressed... but you already knew that... didn't you? You were in my mind!

The beast-kin(or anthro creature) army- marriage or war?

Name: Zhiniba

Zhiniba, Anthro Cougar, Sorceress Queen

Species Name: Concolor
Age: Unknown


This is what you call the roughest of mock ups.

Physical Description:
- Zhiniba stands about 5'5". Her tail is about 30 inches long. Her fur is a light golden brown with soft white along her front. Without any adornments, she looks like many of the other feline humanoids in their prime. Powerful muscles are hidden beneath the luxurious coat of fur. A minor physical difference between her and the average Concolor is missing teeth. Premolar teeth behind her upper left canine are missing. A major physical difference and noticeable from a distance is a distinctive pattern of fur that grows along her front from neck to pelvis. The fur has hues of green and blue in swirling circles and arcs, an ancient script tattooed onto her flesh, that changes the color of the fur that grows from the marks.

Zhiniba is rarely without any adornment. Her love of shiny metal is ever present in the necklaces, bracelets, anklets, taillets, and rings that she wears. Brilliant yellow Golds, flashing white silvers, rich red and orange coppers are maintained and often swapped out daily or weekly. Some of the jewelry bears precious stones of a variety of colors. Like many of her people, Zhiniba rely on their fur to stay warm and only use cloth for modesty and fashion. She wears a short wrap around her waist a bit of cloth over her shoulders that covers her upper arms, neck, and chest. It hangs loose most of the time. An additional set of functional jewelry can often be found in her possession, rune carved iron teeth to fill in the gap in her mouth where her own teeth are missing.

Personality:
- Zhiniba is known to be Seductive and Cruel. More than one male has tried to bed the sorceress queen only to be discovered as a shredded corpse the following morning. Zhiniba does have a few males that she keeps as he personal harem. Each are tall and strong near seven foot apiece and fiercely loyal. They are also rendered mute by runes carved into their mouth. Zhiniba is sometimes playful and occasionally meek around these few harem/guards.

When dealing with other rulers, she is authoritative and a fierce defender of her people. "Diplomacy is just another form of seduction," she might say, but she gives no ground in negotiations. Others have learned that if she backs off, then she is still coming out ahead.

She has no children and while is not necessarily cruel to children, she also has nothing to do with them. Her people remember her as her queen for generations and generations, if Zhiniba has family, they would have died a long time ago. When the Concolor speak of Zhiniba it is both in fear and admiration. They know that her life is unnatural and this gives her the air of wisdom and intelligence with that enigma of longevity.

Backstory:
The only establishment within the Concolor with longevity to match Zhiniba is that of the Lore Keepers. The Muukii clan keeps the records of the Concolor and is the only family of the Concolor to be given respect by Zhiniba. One of her harem/guard is always from the Muukii clan. Even the Muukii clan are not as old as the Sorceress Queen, but this is the record of her beginning as told to the venerated first Muukii by Zhiniba herself.

"I was on a hunt. The morning dew on the grass smelled fresh and clean and the lingering trail of a grazing deer was pulling me along the thin trails in the mountain. The early morning light was more than enough to see by but in the far sky, I could still see the pinpoints of light of a million distant suns.

"I climbed the mountainside slowly until I saw my prey. She was beautiful, sleek and fat. I could nearly smell the blood and meat in my nose. Then the ground shook. Not just the mountain, but all the ground for miles around. The deer bolted and I jumped, but the ground opened and I fell into the underworld.

"I do not know how far I fell. The landing was ... unkind. I felt the pain from head to tail and could not move my limbs. I could twitch my tail and see only from one eye. But with my one eye I could see something approaching. A massive skeleton draped in black and fiery orange flesh, the tiger demon Pagukzhin. He went to eat me as carrion but I batted him with my tail. I had enough life left in me to have him pause. He looked in my eye and I could smell his breath filling my nose. He offered me a deal. I accepted."

The first Muukii does not record the deal, or any more details than this. The records indicate that Zhiniba said more, but the first Muukii refused to inscribe the words of the demon. His note is 'I am burdened with testament'.

"I was restored with the agreement of Pagukzhin on my flesh. He stitched me back together with the agreement and he took one of my teeth. As per part of the agreement I watched and waited for a hundred years on the mountain until the ghost of my prey returned. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of deer came and went and I watched them all. I saw daughters and sons graze and frolic and run and die. Then I saw Jimonibay, the ghost deer, a deer without a body, and I continued the hunt I had started so long before.

"Of course she ran. But I had new vigor, new purpose. Pagukzhin thought he could test my will. He only taught me to be more patient than ever. When I caught Jimonibay, I did not kill her. I did not kill the ghost of my past as Pagukzhin thought I would do. Instead I fulfilled the agreement and I waited with Jimonibay in my mouth day and night. She begged and she pleaded. She wanted the long death. She made promises and begged for deals. When Pagukzhin finally could not contain his patience any longer he stalked to the surface and demanded his prize.

"I gave Jimonibay to Pagukzhin, and then I said to Jimonibay, 'I accept.' Pagukzhin held the tortured spirit of Jimonibay in his mouth and I pulled a tooth from my head and placed it in the head of the spirit deer. 'The Concolor honor their deals and they honor their prey.'"

The first Muukii does not record the words of Jimonibay and the specifics of the deal made, but the first Muukii states, 'The prey that is deer should never be tortured. If you are to eat them, be swift and remember that Jimonibay also gives.'

Pagukzhin lost Jimonibay as the spirit slipped away. Zhiniba told many things to the first lore keeper. The second lore keeper records that Muukii was the only Concolor she refered to as he friend. All the Muukii are grateful for this.

Abilities:
The seemingly immortal Zhiniba wields mystical powers giving her the title of Sorceress. The limits of her abilities are unknown, but many have taken note of the things she does.

- The rune binding in the mouth of her harem/guards. They do not speak and never appear to tire.
- Sometimes, the Sorceress Queen finds herself in the role of a midwife. For a bit of jewelry, Zhiniba will inscribe the health markings on the child and they will not know sickness until they lose their youth marks.
- The Sorceress loves illusions and will appear in one place while being in another. She will also create many duplicates of herself, some of which appear to have more substance than illusion.
- The disgrace of the Chimash clan is kept by the Lore Keepers as a lesson to all Concolor. A young Chimash disobeyed the commandment against the deer. Zhiniba hunted them all, male and female, old and infant, and gutted them all. She then gave the pelts to northen humans far away from her home so that their spirits would never find a way home and the clan would forever be separated even after death. None survived and only their name remains as a lesson. The magic to ensure this was tracking/hunting spells.
- It is thought that Zhiniba keeps a pet that no one can see. This is true in that the pet she keeps is a spirit mouse, Inoonoo. She always has one eye in the spirit world. Some say that if you look deep into the eye that saw Pagukzhin, you too can see spirits for a time.
- A large amount of her jewelry has strange runes inscribed on them, but Zhiniba hardly ever explains what it does. Most feel it is more protection and enhancing her physical characteristics.

The beast-kin(or anthro creature) army- marriage or war?

I am interested in this idea. I'd like to take up one of the beast-kin(anthro) leaders.

Zhiniba, Anthro Cougar, Sorceress Queen.

I see WolfHorns has contributed quite a lengthy submission and a lot of information. What information / How much information would you like other than my interest and the barest of ideas?

Exercise Your Brainpan

A modern day contentious romance between the children of two powerful families.

The two families are represented by one of the colors of the MtG game. Each family owns business, owns various land developments, controls personalities in the arts and media, and more importantly has a secret organization used to deal with less legal matters. While the each main family is one color, e.g. Red vs Blue, the secret organization is the other. Each family and secret organization is therefore a color combination like Red and Black. The fifth color is neutral to the machinations of the families. The characters of each family and organization are personifications of the cards with some abilities of the cards, therefore magical creatures and abilities are present in the world. Being a modern day setting, however, these abilities need to be cloaked under a façade. Regular people should not know about the true capabilities of the families and the people therein.

This rivalry that takes place in the public and in darker places is part of the backdrop of the main story. The main story is of course Romeo and Juliet under this context: forbidden love ultimately ending in tragedy.

Wraith: the Oblivian and Twitter