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"I wouldn't call it an obsession, just a really strong interest."
[ 24 | 6’1” | British & African-American | He/Him | 189lbs ]
[Capricious]
APPEARANCE
"What can I say, I got pretty good genetics."
Just a bit taller than average, Oscar stands with confidence. He has a laid back and friendly air to him which is often punctuated by a smile that makes him seem welcoming. Even when he isn’t smiling it is clear by his generally relaxed posture that he’s fairly approachable. He’s a handsome man with wide shoulders and a somewhat muscular build. He isn’t a fitness nut but he does enough exercise to keep himself in good shape and have some nice muscle definition.
Overall Oscar would say he takes more after his mother than he does his father, he certainly claims his good looks came from her. His medium brown skin comes from a mix of both. He has a sharp, well defined jawline and cheekbones along with a fairly wide nose and thick lips. His eyes are a dark, almost black brown that often makes him look more intense than he is - but just as often sparkle with a cheerful light. He has dark, afro textured hair that he keeps short at the sides and slightly longer at the top. He takes good care of himself and his appearance because while he’s not vain he thinks it's important to look good.
In general, Oscar is found in a style that would best be described as smart casual. He tends to favour simple button up shirts or sweatshirts along with dark, often ripped jeans and long jackets. He tends to dress in blues, browns, blacks and shades of grey. However this does vary a lot as he owns a wide variety of clothing and will occasionally wear something bright and colourful, if he’s feeling it.
Overall Oscar would say he takes more after his mother than he does his father, he certainly claims his good looks came from her. His medium brown skin comes from a mix of both. He has a sharp, well defined jawline and cheekbones along with a fairly wide nose and thick lips. His eyes are a dark, almost black brown that often makes him look more intense than he is - but just as often sparkle with a cheerful light. He has dark, afro textured hair that he keeps short at the sides and slightly longer at the top. He takes good care of himself and his appearance because while he’s not vain he thinks it's important to look good.
In general, Oscar is found in a style that would best be described as smart casual. He tends to favour simple button up shirts or sweatshirts along with dark, often ripped jeans and long jackets. He tends to dress in blues, browns, blacks and shades of grey. However this does vary a lot as he owns a wide variety of clothing and will occasionally wear something bright and colourful, if he’s feeling it.
PSYCHOLOGY
"Y’know, I’m not really feeling up to that right now."
MAIN GOAL ⫻ Oscar’s main goal at the moment is to become good enough to take over his mother’s pharmaceutical business, and continue its success. Below that he wants to further pursue his own interests, particularly in science outside of Pharmacology. Since he discovered the Extra-Normal he has wanted to learn more about it and get as much knowledge as he can.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Oscar believes in the importance of relationships and connections, and what makes a person is who he is close to and who he knows. In general he thinks you should treat others as you wish to be treated and not expect to get something from someone unless you give them something in return. To him, family is very important as in his opinion it is one of the strongest relationships that can be formed. As a result in his mind, family is a priority - especially those family members who give you the most. In regards to individuals he is strongly for pursuing what you are interested in and not giving time to mind numbing tasks you don’t care about. He also wants to one day have his own family.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Oscar is bisexual, with a preference for men, but it’s not something he’s told his family.
FEARS ⫻ One of Oscar’s greatest fears is boredom, to end up stuck in a life of drudgery forced to perform tasks he couldn’t care less about. He fears that he will never find the one thing he wants to do in life and will always be jumping between different interests. He is also scared of snakes.
REPUTATION ⫻ Oscar has an overall positive reputation in Araminta, though it is directly tied to his parents. He’s one of the many Vanburen children, and the heir to his mother’s long standing business. He’s well received due to his intelligence and friendliness. Within the Vanburen family he has a decent reputation, as he gets along well with most of his siblings, but he’s also known for getting weirdly passionate about specific things along with easily brushing off conversation with others if it doesn’t interest him.
THOUGHTS ABOUT FATHER ⫻ Oscar respected his father, and he got on with him even when they didn’t always see eye to eye. The main contention in their relationship was that James didn’t agree with Oscar’s plans for the future - not because he disapproved of Oscar’s plans, because he thought Oscar was submitting to his mother’s wishes rather than doing what he wanted to himself. On the other side, Oscar was close to his mother and disliked how easily James dismissed the women he had been with. He spent much more time with her and this caused something of a distance with James. However they still had a good relationship… he just regrets how he left it before James died.
FLAWS ⫻ With Oscar’s intense, borderline obsessive, passion for his most recent interest comes a lot of self destruction. He will pour everything of himself into this at the expense of all other aspects of his life, including even eating. It will often be all he can think about and, much to the chagrin of others, the one thing he wants to talk about. Even when he isn’t intensively into something there is almost always something he is interested in more than other things. On the other hand, Oscar is too relaxed in many ways. He doesn’t really care if someone wants to talk shit about him, everyone’s welcome to their own opinions. His laidback attitude contrasts with his intense interests and he can be quite lazy, not willing to put the work into anything he isn’t passionate about. If it’s not something he’s interested in he won’t bother. This includes relationships - he is incredibly friendly in person but won’t make the effort to actually meet with people, or keep in contact when he’s not physically with someone. While he puts a lot of importance on his relationships he can be fairly insensitive in times, struggling to understand difficulties that others have gone through and not putting in the effort to understand someone else. He is a man of extremes: obsessive when it comes to things he’s interested in but incredibly lazy with things he’s not. Often he will switch between the two in the blink of an eye, making him a rather unpredictable person to be around - one who is easily bored and switched off from a conversation.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Oscar believes in the importance of relationships and connections, and what makes a person is who he is close to and who he knows. In general he thinks you should treat others as you wish to be treated and not expect to get something from someone unless you give them something in return. To him, family is very important as in his opinion it is one of the strongest relationships that can be formed. As a result in his mind, family is a priority - especially those family members who give you the most. In regards to individuals he is strongly for pursuing what you are interested in and not giving time to mind numbing tasks you don’t care about. He also wants to one day have his own family.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Oscar is bisexual, with a preference for men, but it’s not something he’s told his family.
FEARS ⫻ One of Oscar’s greatest fears is boredom, to end up stuck in a life of drudgery forced to perform tasks he couldn’t care less about. He fears that he will never find the one thing he wants to do in life and will always be jumping between different interests. He is also scared of snakes.
REPUTATION ⫻ Oscar has an overall positive reputation in Araminta, though it is directly tied to his parents. He’s one of the many Vanburen children, and the heir to his mother’s long standing business. He’s well received due to his intelligence and friendliness. Within the Vanburen family he has a decent reputation, as he gets along well with most of his siblings, but he’s also known for getting weirdly passionate about specific things along with easily brushing off conversation with others if it doesn’t interest him.
THOUGHTS ABOUT FATHER ⫻ Oscar respected his father, and he got on with him even when they didn’t always see eye to eye. The main contention in their relationship was that James didn’t agree with Oscar’s plans for the future - not because he disapproved of Oscar’s plans, because he thought Oscar was submitting to his mother’s wishes rather than doing what he wanted to himself. On the other side, Oscar was close to his mother and disliked how easily James dismissed the women he had been with. He spent much more time with her and this caused something of a distance with James. However they still had a good relationship… he just regrets how he left it before James died.
FLAWS ⫻ With Oscar’s intense, borderline obsessive, passion for his most recent interest comes a lot of self destruction. He will pour everything of himself into this at the expense of all other aspects of his life, including even eating. It will often be all he can think about and, much to the chagrin of others, the one thing he wants to talk about. Even when he isn’t intensively into something there is almost always something he is interested in more than other things. On the other hand, Oscar is too relaxed in many ways. He doesn’t really care if someone wants to talk shit about him, everyone’s welcome to their own opinions. His laidback attitude contrasts with his intense interests and he can be quite lazy, not willing to put the work into anything he isn’t passionate about. If it’s not something he’s interested in he won’t bother. This includes relationships - he is incredibly friendly in person but won’t make the effort to actually meet with people, or keep in contact when he’s not physically with someone. While he puts a lot of importance on his relationships he can be fairly insensitive in times, struggling to understand difficulties that others have gone through and not putting in the effort to understand someone else. He is a man of extremes: obsessive when it comes to things he’s interested in but incredibly lazy with things he’s not. Often he will switch between the two in the blink of an eye, making him a rather unpredictable person to be around - one who is easily bored and switched off from a conversation.
BACKSTORY
"I’m following a path set out by my family, but I’m unsure if I want to keep going."
Oscar was the result of a short lived relationship between James Vanburen and Eloise Price, owner of a small, family run pharmaceutical business that was saved by James. They got together in between his marriages (probably) and didn’t even last the full length of Eloise’s pregnancy. Things ended between them amicably but with one main contention - where Oscar would live and grow up (as his mother refused to consider moving to the Vanburen Estate) along with whose name he would take. Eventually they had to compromise and as a result Oscar was mostly raised in his mother’s home (by her and his aunt), but spent just under half his time in the Vanburen Estate and took the Vanburen name.
Of course, this wasn’t much of an issue for the young boy since he could easily travel between both in Araminta. In many ways it worked out well due to his mother working full time - he could spend time with his siblings when he wasn’t at school but his mother and aunt were at work. This meant that he was never lacking company as a child, growing up to be an incredibly sociable boy.
As expected of a Vanburen, and with a mother who was setting him up to take over her business, Oscar was sent to some of the best schools in Araminta. Here he flourished, both academically and socially. He was intelligent with particular strengths in the sciences. Along with this he made a good group of friends - you couldn’t call him popular, as he was a bit nerdy and got along best with people with as much passion for science as he had. However his natural friendliness meant that there were very few people that disliked him.
He flew through school without any troubles, until he reached the point that he had to decide what to do when he finished. He realised he didn’t know because there was a lot he was passionate about but he also wanted a degree so he could help his mother when he was finished. While he considered a lot of physics based degrees along the lines of his interests, but in the end he decided on getting a degree in Biochemistry (which his mother encouraged). This was the first time he properly left Araminta, moving to College in a completely different location. It was strange for him but enjoyable to be outside the influence of his family (as much as he enjoyed time with them). He spent the four years making more friends and working hard (maybe less than he should have), and managed to graduate with a good degree. Once again he was left uncertain of what to do: his mother was pushing him to do a Pharmacology PHD while he wasn’t certain if he could dedicate around six more years to school when there were other things he had much more interest in. After some uncertainty he went for it: since he got paid for tutoring and he did still find it interesting. It was that, or doing a different postgraduate degree anyway.
He was one year into his PHD when he was home for Christmas Eve, spending the night with the Vanburen family (to avoid his mother’s nagging). What was meant to be a normal discussion looking for advice from his father turned into a large argument between the two, and Oscar stormed out of the house in a fit of rage early on in the evening. It was on his walk back to his mother’s that he was hit by a vision in which his maternal grandmother, who he’d never met, appeared. She explained to him that he was an adept just like she was, along with every member of her family. Once the vision was over suddenly his eyes were opened to a world entirely outside of the normal one he was used to. He hurried back to his mother’s and questioned her on it, getting an even more in depth description of the Extra-Normal world along with what it was like to be an adept.
The next morning he woke up regretting what had happened the night before, the harsh words he’d said to his father. But he arrived at the Vanburen Estate to find that the unthinkable had happened: his father was dead. This was a shock to him, like it was to many, and he took days to recover from the grief combined with regret before attending the burial along with the rest of the Vanburens.
After this he went back to College, barely scraping by the rest of his second year. Instead of concentrating on his PHD all he could think about was the Extra-Normal. He threw himself into learning about it and ended up taking a year out (much to his mother’s annoyance), returning to Araminta and moving back in with his mother. To make up for it he’s been spending half his time working for her while the rest he spends learning to use his spells and learning more about the Extra-Normal. While he has mostly been in Araminta, Oscar felt the effects of the curse when he tried to visit a college friend: as he travelled out his hands slowly began to turn to stone. He headed right back to Araminta as this happened and quickly realised he went back to normal when he got there… and that it was happening to his siblings too.
Whatever it was, it was Extra-Normal in nature, which means that Oscar is dead set on figuring out the cause.
Of course, this wasn’t much of an issue for the young boy since he could easily travel between both in Araminta. In many ways it worked out well due to his mother working full time - he could spend time with his siblings when he wasn’t at school but his mother and aunt were at work. This meant that he was never lacking company as a child, growing up to be an incredibly sociable boy.
As expected of a Vanburen, and with a mother who was setting him up to take over her business, Oscar was sent to some of the best schools in Araminta. Here he flourished, both academically and socially. He was intelligent with particular strengths in the sciences. Along with this he made a good group of friends - you couldn’t call him popular, as he was a bit nerdy and got along best with people with as much passion for science as he had. However his natural friendliness meant that there were very few people that disliked him.
He flew through school without any troubles, until he reached the point that he had to decide what to do when he finished. He realised he didn’t know because there was a lot he was passionate about but he also wanted a degree so he could help his mother when he was finished. While he considered a lot of physics based degrees along the lines of his interests, but in the end he decided on getting a degree in Biochemistry (which his mother encouraged). This was the first time he properly left Araminta, moving to College in a completely different location. It was strange for him but enjoyable to be outside the influence of his family (as much as he enjoyed time with them). He spent the four years making more friends and working hard (maybe less than he should have), and managed to graduate with a good degree. Once again he was left uncertain of what to do: his mother was pushing him to do a Pharmacology PHD while he wasn’t certain if he could dedicate around six more years to school when there were other things he had much more interest in. After some uncertainty he went for it: since he got paid for tutoring and he did still find it interesting. It was that, or doing a different postgraduate degree anyway.
He was one year into his PHD when he was home for Christmas Eve, spending the night with the Vanburen family (to avoid his mother’s nagging). What was meant to be a normal discussion looking for advice from his father turned into a large argument between the two, and Oscar stormed out of the house in a fit of rage early on in the evening. It was on his walk back to his mother’s that he was hit by a vision in which his maternal grandmother, who he’d never met, appeared. She explained to him that he was an adept just like she was, along with every member of her family. Once the vision was over suddenly his eyes were opened to a world entirely outside of the normal one he was used to. He hurried back to his mother’s and questioned her on it, getting an even more in depth description of the Extra-Normal world along with what it was like to be an adept.
The next morning he woke up regretting what had happened the night before, the harsh words he’d said to his father. But he arrived at the Vanburen Estate to find that the unthinkable had happened: his father was dead. This was a shock to him, like it was to many, and he took days to recover from the grief combined with regret before attending the burial along with the rest of the Vanburens.
After this he went back to College, barely scraping by the rest of his second year. Instead of concentrating on his PHD all he could think about was the Extra-Normal. He threw himself into learning about it and ended up taking a year out (much to his mother’s annoyance), returning to Araminta and moving back in with his mother. To make up for it he’s been spending half his time working for her while the rest he spends learning to use his spells and learning more about the Extra-Normal. While he has mostly been in Araminta, Oscar felt the effects of the curse when he tried to visit a college friend: as he travelled out his hands slowly began to turn to stone. He headed right back to Araminta as this happened and quickly realised he went back to normal when he got there… and that it was happening to his siblings too.
Whatever it was, it was Extra-Normal in nature, which means that Oscar is dead set on figuring out the cause.
SKILLS & TALENTS
"I know about a lot of shit, but I don’t know how much of it is useful."
Sciences ⫻ Oscar is quite academically inclined, and in particular is good at Sciences and Mathematics. He has a degree in Biochemistry and is currently doing a PHD in Pharmacology. He generally has a heavy interest in most fields of science and will look into a lot of it in his free time.
Trivia ⫻ Both from his varying interests and hobbies, and his nerdy years in highschool, Oscar knows all sorts of odd Trivia and facts. Incredibly useful when it comes to winning a family quiz night but not so much in general life.
Extra-Normal Knowledge ⫻ Since discovering he was an Adept, Oscar has become somewhat obsessed with the Extra-Normal. He has learned a decent amount both from talking to his mother, getting family knowledge handed down to him, and his own research. He knows in theory how to seal Apparitions but he lacks completely in any real life experience, having yet to come across many other Extra-Normals.
Trivia ⫻ Both from his varying interests and hobbies, and his nerdy years in highschool, Oscar knows all sorts of odd Trivia and facts. Incredibly useful when it comes to winning a family quiz night but not so much in general life.
Extra-Normal Knowledge ⫻ Since discovering he was an Adept, Oscar has become somewhat obsessed with the Extra-Normal. He has learned a decent amount both from talking to his mother, getting family knowledge handed down to him, and his own research. He knows in theory how to seal Apparitions but he lacks completely in any real life experience, having yet to come across many other Extra-Normals.
ABSTRACTION
"I can charge your phone for you, and get you a drink while I’m at it."
TYPE ⫻ Adept
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red Lux. Channeler: An intricate, metal bookmark that his mother gave him at a young age, that he now always keeps on him rather than using as a bookmark.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Oscar’s spells tend to fall under two categories, those that reflect him when he is at his most passionate, with incredibly high energy and those that reflect him when he is more relaxed. His fairly changeable nature means that the spells that
LIMITS ⫻
WEAKNESSES ⫻
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red Lux. Channeler: An intricate, metal bookmark that his mother gave him at a young age, that he now always keeps on him rather than using as a bookmark.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Oscar’s spells tend to fall under two categories, those that reflect him when he is at his most passionate, with incredibly high energy and those that reflect him when he is more relaxed. His fairly changeable nature means that the spells that
Water Creation: Oscar can essentially “create” water by pulling it out of something it is contained within. Whether this is a plant, water soaked up in the walls or even moisture in the air. This requires there to be something that contains water in his nearby vicinity.
Water & Liquid Manipulation: After Oscar learned to “create” water, he learned how to manipulate it. He can control pre-existing water to a variety of cool effects. It can be weaponised to cut through things, hit people, absolutely soak people for a prank or to keep the rain off him along with much more. He’s not limited to just water, however, but rather has taught himself to manipulate all sorts of liquids: which is incredibly useful for him when doing chemistry experiments. But he has stronger control over water itself, and can only move other liquids.
Electrify: Oscar essentially “electrifies” his hands, so that electricity is coursing through them. These can be used on a person to cause a severe electric shock, to short circuit electronics or to singe flammable objects. It's quite damaging if weaponised by touching people but he rarely uses it for this purpose (yet).
Electrical Charge: Oscar uses this spell to become some kind of electricity generator, allowing him to charge electrical devices by touching them to act as a conduit to flow energy into them. He can also use the electrical energy to heat things up. He can vary the strength of this especially in regards to heating something up, from the level needed to warm something to burning hot.
Earth Wall: Taught to him by his mother, Oscar can create a protective wall directly in front of him from the ground beneath him (assuming it’s not made of some non-earth/rock material). This comes to a few inches above his height and has a width just larger than he is: essentially covering him from the front. He barely uses this spell since it’s not particularly compatible with his personality, unless absolutely necessary.
Water & Liquid Manipulation: After Oscar learned to “create” water, he learned how to manipulate it. He can control pre-existing water to a variety of cool effects. It can be weaponised to cut through things, hit people, absolutely soak people for a prank or to keep the rain off him along with much more. He’s not limited to just water, however, but rather has taught himself to manipulate all sorts of liquids: which is incredibly useful for him when doing chemistry experiments. But he has stronger control over water itself, and can only move other liquids.
Electrify: Oscar essentially “electrifies” his hands, so that electricity is coursing through them. These can be used on a person to cause a severe electric shock, to short circuit electronics or to singe flammable objects. It's quite damaging if weaponised by touching people but he rarely uses it for this purpose (yet).
Electrical Charge: Oscar uses this spell to become some kind of electricity generator, allowing him to charge electrical devices by touching them to act as a conduit to flow energy into them. He can also use the electrical energy to heat things up. He can vary the strength of this especially in regards to heating something up, from the level needed to warm something to burning hot.
Earth Wall: Taught to him by his mother, Oscar can create a protective wall directly in front of him from the ground beneath him (assuming it’s not made of some non-earth/rock material). This comes to a few inches above his height and has a width just larger than he is: essentially covering him from the front. He barely uses this spell since it’s not particularly compatible with his personality, unless absolutely necessary.
LIMITS ⫻
Water Creation: Oscar's water creation ability has a range of five meters and given that there isn't really a whole lot of moisture in most environments (You can get a handful of water out the air).
Water & Liquid Manipulation: The Manipulation ability has a range of twelve meters and is linked to his stamina. Using it tires him out and he can roughly keep it going for about five or ten minutes consistently.
Electrification & Electrical Charge: Oscar can only keep the electrification going for a short amount of time, about a minute, and needs to rest for five before he can do it again.
Earth Wall: Because it's not exactly in tune with his personality it's very difficult to keep going. Oscar will have to dedicate all of his energy, focus, and more, towards keeping it standing. He also can't go any more than three feet away from it.
Water & Liquid Manipulation: The Manipulation ability has a range of twelve meters and is linked to his stamina. Using it tires him out and he can roughly keep it going for about five or ten minutes consistently.
Electrification & Electrical Charge: Oscar can only keep the electrification going for a short amount of time, about a minute, and needs to rest for five before he can do it again.
Earth Wall: Because it's not exactly in tune with his personality it's very difficult to keep going. Oscar will have to dedicate all of his energy, focus, and more, towards keeping it standing. He also can't go any more than three feet away from it.
WEAKNESSES ⫻
Water Creation/Water & Liquid Manipulation: The usage of these two spells drains Oscar of his internal water and leaves him dry, dehydrated, and more. It also renders him weak against electrical attacks... which is why he should never use his electric powers with his water one.
Electrification/Electrical Charge: Using these abilities are bright, loud, and thus make it difficult to see and hear. In addition, he's not immune to electricity and any water touching him will cause him to electrocute himself.
Earth Wall: The wall isn't the most solid thing and while it can take individual blows, it won't be able to stop huge, area of effect attacks. In addition, Oscar basically has to be glued to it in order for it to be effective.
Electrification/Electrical Charge: Using these abilities are bright, loud, and thus make it difficult to see and hear. In addition, he's not immune to electricity and any water touching him will cause him to electrocute himself.
Earth Wall: The wall isn't the most solid thing and while it can take individual blows, it won't be able to stop huge, area of effect attacks. In addition, Oscar basically has to be glued to it in order for it to be effective.
OTHER
"The more I learn about dad, the more interested I get."
(Đoàn Thị Tuyen)
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"Just smile! You don’t know when things will get worse."
[ 19 | 5’2” | South Korean & Vietnamese | She/Her | 118 lb ]
[Uncertainty]
APPEARANCE
"Maybe I’m kinda pretty… Maybe."
Tuyen is a bit on the shorter side, but not that small in the grand scheme of things. Her mother was smaller. She has a bit of a stocky build – a little bit wider than most her height, though she’s lost some weight from events that happened not too long ago. She is fairly flat, and her body has more subtle curves that are only noticeable in certain clothes and can be easily covered by slightly baggier clothing. Tuyen is actually quite pretty if she would have more confidence in herself, and has started to recognise that a bit. She has begun wearing a little bit of makeup to enhance this even if she still doesn’t entirely believe it.
Tuyen’s hair is a dark brown-black, more brown in warmer lights. She’s let it grow out now so that it falls to about midway down her back. She will often tie or braid it back so it stays out of the way, but will also leave it loose if she isn’t doing anything important since it’s generally fairly straight and unmessy. It frames a round face with a relatively soft nose and undefined lips. Her eyes are a very dark brown and fairly large, adding to her rather cute but also often nervous appearance. Her skin is a medium golden-brown, inherited from her Vietnamese father – as many of her features are. She has very little of her mother in her aside from her hair.
Tuyen doesn’t have a particular style of clothing anymore, per say, beyond nice clothes that she feels suits her. While she still likes to wear skirts with plain tops, she has much more variety and is often found in more practical clothing or dresses when she’s feeling especially nice. She tends to prefer shades of purple, blue and pink but she isn’t very fussy when it comes to colours.
Tuyen has two sigils. One is located on her chest right above her right breast. It's a featureless silhouette-like figure of herself that's all black, but it's in a poised stance with a hand in the air, ready to stab. Instead of the knife being in the sigil's hand, it's in the silhouette's chest. The second is a black and white lotus flower on her wrist.
Tuyen’s hair is a dark brown-black, more brown in warmer lights. She’s let it grow out now so that it falls to about midway down her back. She will often tie or braid it back so it stays out of the way, but will also leave it loose if she isn’t doing anything important since it’s generally fairly straight and unmessy. It frames a round face with a relatively soft nose and undefined lips. Her eyes are a very dark brown and fairly large, adding to her rather cute but also often nervous appearance. Her skin is a medium golden-brown, inherited from her Vietnamese father – as many of her features are. She has very little of her mother in her aside from her hair.
Tuyen doesn’t have a particular style of clothing anymore, per say, beyond nice clothes that she feels suits her. While she still likes to wear skirts with plain tops, she has much more variety and is often found in more practical clothing or dresses when she’s feeling especially nice. She tends to prefer shades of purple, blue and pink but she isn’t very fussy when it comes to colours.
Tuyen has two sigils. One is located on her chest right above her right breast. It's a featureless silhouette-like figure of herself that's all black, but it's in a poised stance with a hand in the air, ready to stab. Instead of the knife being in the sigil's hand, it's in the silhouette's chest. The second is a black and white lotus flower on her wrist.
PSYCHOLOGY
"Right back to being just as happy as I was before. And by that, I mean hiding all my insecurities and pretending to be okay."
MAIN GOAL ⫻ If Tuyen is honest, she’s unsure what her goal is anymore. She still wants to become a published author somewhere down the line but that seems even harder to achieve now. So her current goal, really, is to rediscover herself. Work on her self confidence
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Tuyen believes in helping others - especially with all the supernatural shit that she’s been through. She strongly believes that she, as someone who’s got experience in it, has to be there to try and help with other problems that might come up - helping beat the next bad guy that appears. She still believes in putting on a brave face and smile, even if it’s just an illusion - because you shouldn’t worry other people over personal matters. She believes that being positive around others is important and will almost always put others feelings, and happiness, above her own in an attempt to not bring them down.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Gay, something she accepts but isn’t open about.
FEARS ⫻ Never truly being able to be herself or discovering what she wants to do in life, forever being aimless. This comes hand in hand with her continued fear of failure - no longer that she’ll constantly be compared to her cousin, but that she’ll never get anywhere in life. She also fears all the supernatural that may now be out there - and what will happen when more and more people begin to awaken.
REPUTATION ⫻ None, Tuyen’s a newcomer to Araminta.
FLAWS ⫻ As much as she’s improved a bit, Tuyen’s lack of self confidence is still one of her biggest flaws. She’s no longer the girl to take all criticism without questioning it and she doesn’t hate herself as much as she did before. However she is still plagued with self doubts and her insecurities. She may have come to accept some things she previously couldn’t, such as her sexuality, there are still many things about herself she dislikes. This is not helped by the presence of her Shadow - which may not torment her in such a dramatic fashion anymore, but is still always bringing up deep feelings of dread in an effort to stop her from ever truly accepting herself. Still, she’s taking steps forward in accepting herself even with the massive setback that it is. Along with this she is very private about her problems, unlikely to tell anyone when she has a hard time. She likes to put on a brave face until she can’t anymore. She also has some form of trust issues after everything that happened - very few people she’d trust (most fellow survivors of the glutton group), and even fewer that she’d talk to about her problems. This is added to by her not always trusting that something is real, having gotten too used to seeing shadow created illusions in her everyday life.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Tuyen believes in helping others - especially with all the supernatural shit that she’s been through. She strongly believes that she, as someone who’s got experience in it, has to be there to try and help with other problems that might come up - helping beat the next bad guy that appears. She still believes in putting on a brave face and smile, even if it’s just an illusion - because you shouldn’t worry other people over personal matters. She believes that being positive around others is important and will almost always put others feelings, and happiness, above her own in an attempt to not bring them down.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Gay, something she accepts but isn’t open about.
FEARS ⫻ Never truly being able to be herself or discovering what she wants to do in life, forever being aimless. This comes hand in hand with her continued fear of failure - no longer that she’ll constantly be compared to her cousin, but that she’ll never get anywhere in life. She also fears all the supernatural that may now be out there - and what will happen when more and more people begin to awaken.
REPUTATION ⫻ None, Tuyen’s a newcomer to Araminta.
FLAWS ⫻ As much as she’s improved a bit, Tuyen’s lack of self confidence is still one of her biggest flaws. She’s no longer the girl to take all criticism without questioning it and she doesn’t hate herself as much as she did before. However she is still plagued with self doubts and her insecurities. She may have come to accept some things she previously couldn’t, such as her sexuality, there are still many things about herself she dislikes. This is not helped by the presence of her Shadow - which may not torment her in such a dramatic fashion anymore, but is still always bringing up deep feelings of dread in an effort to stop her from ever truly accepting herself. Still, she’s taking steps forward in accepting herself even with the massive setback that it is. Along with this she is very private about her problems, unlikely to tell anyone when she has a hard time. She likes to put on a brave face until she can’t anymore. She also has some form of trust issues after everything that happened - very few people she’d trust (most fellow survivors of the glutton group), and even fewer that she’d talk to about her problems. This is added to by her not always trusting that something is real, having gotten too used to seeing shadow created illusions in her everyday life.
BACKSTORY
"I won’t let my family control me anymore."
Tuyen was a bit of an accident. Her mother was a farmer hill native, with parents who moved over from South Korea to set up business. Her father, on the other hand, was a postgraduate student who had moved over from Vietnam to study. The two hit it off and hooked up after a little too much to drink, resulting in Tuyen. It was safe to say her mother’s parents weren’t too happy about the child out of wedlock.
Things didn’t get much better after her birth – her mother had always been poorly and the pregnancy took its toll on her, meaning she passed away when Tuyen was only a few months old. Her father did everything to try and raise her himself – including submitting to the whims of her mother’s family. Tuyen doesn’t have many memories of this time, but what she has are happy ones.
Tuyen was only four when her father disappeared without a trace. His name was added to the list of people in Farmer Hill who had just gone missing and everyone went on without saying anything. Tuyen was taken in by her mother’s brother and his wife, since they had a son just a bit older than her.
After this her life wasn’t anything spectacular. She got on very well with her cousin, Min-Jun, even as they became very different as the years proceeded. She was always in his shadow – she couldn’t live up to her aunt and uncle’s expectations. She couldn’t be as smart as Min or as perfect as Min. She pretended she didn’t care, especially to him, but deep down it slowly chipped away at her self confidence. It didn’t help that they disapproved of what she was good at.
Still, Tuyen pursued her dreams and managed to get a place to study English Literature and Creative Writing at the college. Here she’s managed to get out of her cousin’s shadow just a little bit, easily making friends in different circles from him.
After murders that happened during a camping trip Tuyen was haunted by her shadow and constant hallucinations. Still, she joined a group of fellow students in investigating – discovering that this was some kind abstraction she had. During the fight with Scott her shadow manifested physically – allowing her to help finish him for good. But like all the others she wasn’t prepared for what was to follow and barely made it out alive.
Things continued to go more and more downhill as they tried their best to defeat the Glutton. Eventually through working together, though not without losses, they managed to defeat it. Through ascending Tuyen got to speak with her father again and gained some semblance of confidence in herself, accepting parts of who she was. After it was defeated Tuyen made the decision to strike off on her own, refusing to move with her Aunt and Uncle. She ended up offering to help Justin with his next “adventure”, and surprisingly he accepted, so she set off with him to Araminta.
Things didn’t get much better after her birth – her mother had always been poorly and the pregnancy took its toll on her, meaning she passed away when Tuyen was only a few months old. Her father did everything to try and raise her himself – including submitting to the whims of her mother’s family. Tuyen doesn’t have many memories of this time, but what she has are happy ones.
Tuyen was only four when her father disappeared without a trace. His name was added to the list of people in Farmer Hill who had just gone missing and everyone went on without saying anything. Tuyen was taken in by her mother’s brother and his wife, since they had a son just a bit older than her.
After this her life wasn’t anything spectacular. She got on very well with her cousin, Min-Jun, even as they became very different as the years proceeded. She was always in his shadow – she couldn’t live up to her aunt and uncle’s expectations. She couldn’t be as smart as Min or as perfect as Min. She pretended she didn’t care, especially to him, but deep down it slowly chipped away at her self confidence. It didn’t help that they disapproved of what she was good at.
Still, Tuyen pursued her dreams and managed to get a place to study English Literature and Creative Writing at the college. Here she’s managed to get out of her cousin’s shadow just a little bit, easily making friends in different circles from him.
After murders that happened during a camping trip Tuyen was haunted by her shadow and constant hallucinations. Still, she joined a group of fellow students in investigating – discovering that this was some kind abstraction she had. During the fight with Scott her shadow manifested physically – allowing her to help finish him for good. But like all the others she wasn’t prepared for what was to follow and barely made it out alive.
Things continued to go more and more downhill as they tried their best to defeat the Glutton. Eventually through working together, though not without losses, they managed to defeat it. Through ascending Tuyen got to speak with her father again and gained some semblance of confidence in herself, accepting parts of who she was. After it was defeated Tuyen made the decision to strike off on her own, refusing to move with her Aunt and Uncle. She ended up offering to help Justin with his next “adventure”, and surprisingly he accepted, so she set off with him to Araminta.
SKILLS & TALENTS
"Anyone looking for a Korean translator?"
Writing ⫻ Tuyen is good at writing, both fictional and non-fictional (like essays). Her main strength does come in fictional writing and novels.
Imagination ⫻ Tuyen’s imagination is quite something – you could say it was overactive. She gets ideas pretty easily, especially for stories. If it’s for something non-fictional, however, don’t expect something sensible. This is a double edged sword due to her abstraction’s tendency to show her things that don’t exist.
Supernatural Experience ⫻ While she’s definitely no expert, Tuyen was among the group that helped beat the Glutton - and through it she gained a good amount of experience about the supernatural. Certainly puts her above most normal people.
Languages ⫻ Due to her parents, Tuyen is fluent in Korean and Vietnamese. She speaks Korean better than Vietnamese but makes sure to keep them both up, though they’re secondary to English.
Imagination ⫻ Tuyen’s imagination is quite something – you could say it was overactive. She gets ideas pretty easily, especially for stories. If it’s for something non-fictional, however, don’t expect something sensible. This is a double edged sword due to her abstraction’s tendency to show her things that don’t exist.
Supernatural Experience ⫻ While she’s definitely no expert, Tuyen was among the group that helped beat the Glutton - and through it she gained a good amount of experience about the supernatural. Certainly puts her above most normal people.
Languages ⫻ Due to her parents, Tuyen is fluent in Korean and Vietnamese. She speaks Korean better than Vietnamese but makes sure to keep them both up, though they’re secondary to English.
ABSTRACTION
"Your shadow doesn’t have its own free will? Well, that must be nice...."
TYPE ⫻ Awakened
ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Shadow, the ability to create a shadow-like entity spawned from negative thoughts and emotions that otherwise tortures her.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Linked directly to her negativity, and other such dark thoughts, Tuyen has her own doppelganger that takes the shape of a shadow. This Shadow is a sentient being that near constantly taunts her, and tortures her with the deep down feelings of dread and insecurity that she has inside of herself. It has two states; inactive and active. In its inactive state, nobody but Tuyen is able to see it (Not even the Awakened can see it without certain abilities), and it actively protects her from psychic intrusion by filling the intruder's mind with screams. It can cloud Tuyen's vision by creating illusions, and fooling her into believing things that are not there, or hiding things. With enough focus, Tuyen is able to ward off the Shadow for a period of time, and get some peace - but it'll always return.
While active on the other hand... it manifests in the physical world. It's default appearance is of a black, inky, version of herself, but one of the basest abilities of the shadow is the ability to manipulate its own shape with the only limit being that it cannot get larger than twelve feet. It can either keep its form as a shadow of Tuyen, or it can become some horrific monster, whatever is spawned from her imagination. The Shadow is capable of interacting with reality, from reaching over and grabbing objects, to attacking. It's fairly strong, too - it's strong enough to throw a fully grown man around like it's nothing, and flip over a car with sheer brute strength. The Shadow will either manifest on it's own, or if Tuyen is able to plead with it. Normally, the being is only interested with tormenting Tuyen, and will do as it pleases, but if she is able to convince it, maybe it'll assist her. It has some semblance of self preservation and will protect her if necessary.
LIMITS ⫻ Tuyen's shadow, first and foremost, cannot move away from her. It's effectively clung to her body, and is as mobile as she is. This also means that she's effectively it's weak spot. Again, as stated in the description it can get up to ten feet tall, strong enough to pose a threat, and is able to near-limitlessly change its shape. Tuyen cannot control the Shadow - unless she learns to get over her insecurities, and her fear of failure. Otherwise, it'll do as it pleases.
At the moment, Tuyen’s control over the Shadow wildly varies due to steps taken to accept herself. On good days where she feels confident about herself she can dispel and ignore its tormenting, allowing her to control it mostly. On average days she can sometimes control it or convince it to help and on the bad days, well, it won’t listen at all - and instead the tormenting is worse. It is more focused on its tormenting now due to Tuyen’s work to get over her insecurities. Along with this it now will often allow Tuyen to think that she can control it due to her self improvements… only to take the control away.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ As stated before, the shadow is her own worst enemy, and only wishes to torture Tuyen. It's as much of a detriment (possibly even more) as a strength, and will do anything in its power to keep her from knowing her worth. Tuyen will have to conquer her inner-doubts in order to defeat it, and control it. The two of them are linked together, and both receive the same damage. If the Shadow gets injured, the same wound will appear on Tuyen (Wherever the location of it's anatomical equivalent is). It's possible for the Shadow to receive damage that'll kill Tuyen, or be disabled. Also, the Shadow merely manifesting is a drain on Tuyen, and will cause her to feel more and more exhausted the longer it's out. Until she can't take it anymore, and the Shadow will go inactive.
ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Shadow, the ability to create a shadow-like entity spawned from negative thoughts and emotions that otherwise tortures her.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Linked directly to her negativity, and other such dark thoughts, Tuyen has her own doppelganger that takes the shape of a shadow. This Shadow is a sentient being that near constantly taunts her, and tortures her with the deep down feelings of dread and insecurity that she has inside of herself. It has two states; inactive and active. In its inactive state, nobody but Tuyen is able to see it (Not even the Awakened can see it without certain abilities), and it actively protects her from psychic intrusion by filling the intruder's mind with screams. It can cloud Tuyen's vision by creating illusions, and fooling her into believing things that are not there, or hiding things. With enough focus, Tuyen is able to ward off the Shadow for a period of time, and get some peace - but it'll always return.
While active on the other hand... it manifests in the physical world. It's default appearance is of a black, inky, version of herself, but one of the basest abilities of the shadow is the ability to manipulate its own shape with the only limit being that it cannot get larger than twelve feet. It can either keep its form as a shadow of Tuyen, or it can become some horrific monster, whatever is spawned from her imagination. The Shadow is capable of interacting with reality, from reaching over and grabbing objects, to attacking. It's fairly strong, too - it's strong enough to throw a fully grown man around like it's nothing, and flip over a car with sheer brute strength. The Shadow will either manifest on it's own, or if Tuyen is able to plead with it. Normally, the being is only interested with tormenting Tuyen, and will do as it pleases, but if she is able to convince it, maybe it'll assist her. It has some semblance of self preservation and will protect her if necessary.
LIMITS ⫻ Tuyen's shadow, first and foremost, cannot move away from her. It's effectively clung to her body, and is as mobile as she is. This also means that she's effectively it's weak spot. Again, as stated in the description it can get up to ten feet tall, strong enough to pose a threat, and is able to near-limitlessly change its shape. Tuyen cannot control the Shadow - unless she learns to get over her insecurities, and her fear of failure. Otherwise, it'll do as it pleases.
At the moment, Tuyen’s control over the Shadow wildly varies due to steps taken to accept herself. On good days where she feels confident about herself she can dispel and ignore its tormenting, allowing her to control it mostly. On average days she can sometimes control it or convince it to help and on the bad days, well, it won’t listen at all - and instead the tormenting is worse. It is more focused on its tormenting now due to Tuyen’s work to get over her insecurities. Along with this it now will often allow Tuyen to think that she can control it due to her self improvements… only to take the control away.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ As stated before, the shadow is her own worst enemy, and only wishes to torture Tuyen. It's as much of a detriment (possibly even more) as a strength, and will do anything in its power to keep her from knowing her worth. Tuyen will have to conquer her inner-doubts in order to defeat it, and control it. The two of them are linked together, and both receive the same damage. If the Shadow gets injured, the same wound will appear on Tuyen (Wherever the location of it's anatomical equivalent is). It's possible for the Shadow to receive damage that'll kill Tuyen, or be disabled. Also, the Shadow merely manifesting is a drain on Tuyen, and will cause her to feel more and more exhausted the longer it's out. Until she can't take it anymore, and the Shadow will go inactive.
TYPE ⫻ Awakened
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Self-Healing, an abstraction that Tuyen got from Madeleine (born from her thoughts of coming back to life) - this repairs all her wounds and “resets” her to a certain point.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ An abstraction that reflected Madeline’s thoughts that she came back to life, which Tuyen has learned to use through her own thoughts that she escaped what she assumed was an inevitable death at the hands of the Glutton. It gives her the ability to heal at an accelerated rate and heals any injuries she gets, even as small as a paper cut, by engulfing them in a blue light until it is healed. The amount of time taken depends on how severe the wound is. Since it is not Tuyen’s abstraction, and she still doesn’t entirely understand it (refusing to look at the girl’s memories where possible), this subconscious healing takes longer than it did for Madeleine. A stab wound would take around twenty minutes to heal, while a broken leg would take hours. Very small wounds don’t take long to regenerate, up to at most a few minutes. Unless a wound will kill Tuyen she will probably be able to heal from it. The abstraction also heals attacks to the mind or emotions, but this is rarely a problem due to Tuyen’s own abstraction protecting her from mental attacks.
LIMITS ⫻ Obstruction is the biggest limit to her self-healing. If there was an object in the way, then Tuyen can’t heal it until the object is removed. Speed is also the other limit; there wasn’t a limit to how much Madeline could heal at a time, but only how quickly she could do it. This is extra limiting for Tuyen, since she heals at a slower rate. In addition, Tuyen can still be knocked out, suffocated, etc.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ Fire is a big weakness, as it also disrupted her healing ability. When in the presence of fire, her healing slows down - and if it's an injury caused by fire, she actively can’t heal it any faster than any other wound. The process of healing is also a painful one, that makes her feel twice the amount of pain as she heals.
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Self-Healing, an abstraction that Tuyen got from Madeleine (born from her thoughts of coming back to life) - this repairs all her wounds and “resets” her to a certain point.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ An abstraction that reflected Madeline’s thoughts that she came back to life, which Tuyen has learned to use through her own thoughts that she escaped what she assumed was an inevitable death at the hands of the Glutton. It gives her the ability to heal at an accelerated rate and heals any injuries she gets, even as small as a paper cut, by engulfing them in a blue light until it is healed. The amount of time taken depends on how severe the wound is. Since it is not Tuyen’s abstraction, and she still doesn’t entirely understand it (refusing to look at the girl’s memories where possible), this subconscious healing takes longer than it did for Madeleine. A stab wound would take around twenty minutes to heal, while a broken leg would take hours. Very small wounds don’t take long to regenerate, up to at most a few minutes. Unless a wound will kill Tuyen she will probably be able to heal from it. The abstraction also heals attacks to the mind or emotions, but this is rarely a problem due to Tuyen’s own abstraction protecting her from mental attacks.
LIMITS ⫻ Obstruction is the biggest limit to her self-healing. If there was an object in the way, then Tuyen can’t heal it until the object is removed. Speed is also the other limit; there wasn’t a limit to how much Madeline could heal at a time, but only how quickly she could do it. This is extra limiting for Tuyen, since she heals at a slower rate. In addition, Tuyen can still be knocked out, suffocated, etc.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ Fire is a big weakness, as it also disrupted her healing ability. When in the presence of fire, her healing slows down - and if it's an injury caused by fire, she actively can’t heal it any faster than any other wound. The process of healing is also a painful one, that makes her feel twice the amount of pain as she heals.
OTHER
"I sure hope whatever we find isn’t as bad as the Glutton..."