kalanggam

Sanctuary Hills

I haven’t been properly on here in a minute - I’ve been busy moving. I’ll try to get a post up here in the next few days

Sanctuary Hills

Val O'Connell

Phil's Coffeehouse

---

@Fading Memory

---

Well, thank the universe, Valeriano thought. Help has at last arrived. With Tobias's timely arrival, Val's eyes peered at the back entrance, and his hands began to move of their own accord, finishing the coffee-brewing process. Meanwhile, Val had switched his attention to Toby, casually observing his coworker's small talk with the customers en route to the counter. Val briefly turned to the customer at the counter and handed them the coffee he'd just made. "Enjoy."

Val greeted Tobias with a nod and flashed a slight smirk when the latter finally approached the counter. "Ah, here comes my hero, ready to save the day," Val teased, deadpan delivery and all but still readily accepting the dishes. He immediately began tapping them against the garbage bin's rim, sending crumbs and leftover bits into the trash. "Just in time, Tobes. Prolly the worst rain I've seen this week."

Miss Enfield's order earned a quizzical, squinting look from Val. Indeed it was an improbable request, even with magic at their disposal, but he simply shrugged and started the espresso regardless. First, two for Enfield, then another two — Oughta make that four — for Tobias. He then lined up some milk, cocoa powder, and three cups, before he crouched down and groped around under the counter for another something.

"Semester done finally, huh?" he remarked nonchalantly from below the counter, raising his voice a tad so Tobias could still hear. His arm reappeared clutching a greenware figurine, no larger than his palm and inscribed with various sigils, and a battery. Each of these he placed beside the coffee cups, and he reemerged from below. For now, he did nothing with either and leaned on the counter, chin in his hand while he waited for the espresso machine to finish. "So, got any plans for the summer?"

Sanctuary Hills

Sorry it took me a few days, but I finally squeezed out a post! :') Been a busy past few days.

Sanctuary Hills

Val O'Connell

Phil's Coffeehouse

---

@Fading Memory

---

"Well, I don't know why I came here tonight. / I got the feeling that something ain't right..." Valeriano squatted by Phil's Coffeehouse's back door, his black apron barely brushing the tops of his sneakers. The first drops had already penetrated the asphalt, and the low rumble of thunder filled the town. "I'm so scared hmm, hmm, hmm fall off my chair..."

Val wore a blasé and unbothered expression, the half-finished cigarette dangling off his lips, while he gazed at heavy, baleful clouds which now dominated the sky. "...and I'm wondering hmm, hmm, hmm down the stairs..."

"...Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right..." What started just minutes ago as a light sprinkle gradually turned torrential. From there, Val watched as a curtain of rain began to fall over Sanctuary Hills, and his humming came to an end.

"Shit," he sighed, annoyed and a little frustrated as the water came up to him. "Guess break's over." Val took one long drag off his cigarette and snuffed it out on the ground, flicking the butt into the you're-sweeping-it-up-later oblivion. The barista hopped to his feet and into the coffeehouse before he could get more soaked. Smoothing the front of his apron, Val marched himself dutifully to the storefront, where already a few patrons and passersby were hurriedly pouring in, hoping to take cover from, well, the downpour.

Valeriano beckoned the customer who'd been holding the door open. "'mon in. I'll take it from here," he said, reaching into his pocket and squeezing some hunk of calcite therein. The coffee shop magician took over, and he murmured a few words in an unintelligible tongue. Val stepped out and leaned back against the door, ushering people off the streets and into Phil's.

With an arcing flourish, Val quickly withdrew his hand from his pocket and held it above his head. Reacting accordingly, a field of raindrops around Val radiated outward from him before continuing their descent. The falling rain then appeared to yield a sphere of dry air around Val, which extended over a large patch of the outside seating and became more of an invisible box. This umbrella-like barrier provided enough shelter for the last folks to enter the shop. Except for one.

"Mi—chael—" Val said exasperatedly, his voice strained. "Just leave it. I can getcha a fresh one."

"But— it'll get wet..." the customer fretted.

"I know. I'll take care of it later, just get in here," Val urged through gritted teeth.

Michael dejectedly squeezed past Valeriano into the restaurant, tossing a forlorn glance at the croissant, now soggy, and the coffee cup-turned-mini rain barrel.

Val rolled his eyes as that last man entered the shop. He released his concentration, and with that, he drew in a sharp breath of air. Almost immediately, the suspended rain splattered on the ground, and the rest continued to fall normally. Sighing with relief, he slammed the door shut, ringing the shopkeeper bell loud, and Val made his way back to the counter, where a line was forming.

"Hi, welcome to Phil's Coffeehouse. Just a second." Val squeezed behind the counter, wiping his hands off on his apron and smudging some white dust on it. He switched the radio to 101.1 FM and turned the volume up on the coffeehouse speakers just a tad to overcome the rain. Val spun around to face the first in line, and he pressed his hands down on the countertop, back in customer service mode. "Alright, sorry 'bout that. Can I take your order?"

"...Clowns to the left of me, / jokers to the right, / here I am— / stuck in the middle with you!..."

---

* * *

Sanctuary Hills

Valeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell

Name: Valeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell
Age: 21
Appearance:

Valeriano is a refreshingly different face than what most are used to. Beige-brown skin, flat nose, wide cheekbones, square jaw, deep-set brown eyes, and fuller lips - this amalgam of seemingly conflicting features appears harmoniously in him. His dark brown, verging on black hair is a messy mop which is often tied back in a loose bun. Val's figure isn't particularly buff or slender; thick, well-defined legs, broader than average shoulders, and a somewhat protruding chest give his five feet and seven inch posture a little more presence. Overall, his physical features make him average but unique looking.

Typically, you'll see Val wearing his work apron, a nametag with his nickname in lopsidedly arranged block letters, over hugging high-waisted blue jeans or khakis and tucked-in, colorfully patterned button-ups. Outside of work Val also loves to accessorize whenever possible. He never leaves the house without adorning both hands with a few rings, he rotates between an assortment of earrings - hoops big or small, huggies, studs, dangles, et cetera - and he ties his looks together with a pendant or an amulet. This jewelry sometimes holds cultural or personal significance to him, or they might have magical properties.

Personality:

Valeriano is a fairly chill, fun-loving dude despite that, from the outside, he might appear intense or intimidating or even unapproachable, especially from how bluntly he speaks. He doesn't particularly care for superficial manners, and he prefers authenticity in his dealings with other people - after all, why be overly nice to someone who you don't like? Nonetheless, he always strikes up conversation with strangers and regulars alike when he's working in the coffeehouse, and he mostly keeps it kind and gentle, reserving a coarser attitude for close friends who won't take it personally or for whiny customers who need sorting out. Around friends especially, Val flaunts a more fun-loving side, dancing at clubs, singing karaoke, barhopping, or shooting the shit around a fire in someone's backyard.

Despite his lax attitude and carefree lifestyle, he's very driven about personal projects and he's getting more and more eager to get his career going, hence why he completed his schooling at Sanctuary Hills so quickly. One will rarely see Valeriano without a cassette-corder and some earphones, which he uses to record and play cassette tapes, and he's particularly fond of using them as audio collages. His collection consists of voice diaries, music demos, or mix-tapes. Sometimes he'll even take over the coffeehouse's music and play his own mix-tapes. When he's not on the job, Val is usually with his guitar recording songs and booking gigs, or he's devoting time to magical experiments with automata.

Background:

Valeriano Lumungsod O'Connell was born in 1973 in Austin, Texas, but his small family moved to the Richmond, Virginia area when he was six. He had a relatively uneventful childhood aside from the expected friction which came from being the child of an immigrant living in the suburbs. He did, however, have a rough patch in high school where he almost dropped out; he was often disciplined for skipping class to smoke in the parking lot, keying his classmates' cars for being bigoted, or talking back to his teachers. In those times, music became a personal refuge, where he could express himself freely. His bandmates and friends had always said that Val looked most carefree and weightless when he had his hands on his guitar. More than anything though, Val just wanted to see more of the world and get away from home. With the band broken up and without the grades or activities to land a better (or further away) school, Val ended up in Sanctuary Hills.

For now, Val lives as a local musician, playing solo gigs in town and taking trips to visit family every now and then. Until he decides whether to relocate back home with family and find work there, go to grad school and deepen his knowledge, or start a local practice in Sanctuary Hills, he's working as a barista at Phil's Coffeehouse, which is actually owned by a woman named Philomena, in Sanctuary Hills' town square. On breaks, one might find Val either on the curb or behind the store, eating fast food, perhaps smoking a cigarette on a particularly stressful day, hashing out song lyrics, or messing with magic. When business is slow, Val likes to chitchat with his regulars or play GameBoy games at the till.

Magic Specialty:

Arcane semiotics

Like the typical magician, Val knows some everyday magic. He has notes on various potions, home remedies, recipes, as well as simple charms... all things useful for regular life, more than what a witch might know and more informed than one who didn't go to school for it. His main discipline, however, is arcane semiotics - how sigils, geometries, speech, incantations, songs, etc. communicate a magical intent and 'become' magic, and while attending Sanctuary Hills University, he minored in linguistics, mathematics, and computer science. As such, his greater knowledge resides in the finer details of spell construction, such as how etymology, rhythm, geometry, or the evolution of language affect magic or what syntax magic uses. He could help you find the angles you need to achieve certain effects, tell you how word choice factors into incantations, pacts, or contracts, or demonstrate how the language for magic differs from culture to culture.

Living constructs/Magical automata

As personal experiments related to his studies, Val can create living constructs and familiars from available materials - the more malleable, the better. These can manifest as plantoids, robot-like automata, origami fairies, or other beings depending on the materials and sigils used; however, as soulless constructs of magic, he cannot change their form or their purpose after they've formed. For this reason, Val keeps a notebook or two for writing out useful sigils and recipes. He can continue to give them fuel (which could be AA batteries, outlet power, actual food, fertilizer, etc.) to keep them 'alive,' some fuels being more efficient than others. As they run out of fuel, they gradually return to their original, natural state until they effectively 'die,' leaving behind a 'corpse' with the burnt remnants of the sigils which made them.

Spirit communion/Folk magic

Val follows some Filipino folk magic traditions from his maternal family, which are based on communion with local spirits or supernatural beings and forming relationships with them. In terms of magical potency, these can often be unreliable or completely fruitless altogether, and it takes time to cultivate those relationships. Spirits may be ghosts or nature spirits (i.e., nymphs or kami), some tied to the land, others mobile or nomadic. There are also supernatural beings like feyfolk or elves. Working with them comes with its own quirks, so it's usually better to stick with traditional magic, but Val still leaves outdoor offerings every other week to be kind or make friends with them. If some stir up trouble or cause problems around him, he'll call the appropriate professional or deal with it himself.

Relationships:

Relationships

Samantha "Sam" Igorina Semenova: Val knows Sam as the daughter of Professor Semenov and he's definitely bought furniture from J. W. Stewards' when he moved out of the dorms, so Val has run into her more than a few times. They're not well acquainted beyond that and the occasional chitchat, but he thinks her aesthetic is cool, despite her intense aura.

Tobias Malkinson: Tobias and Val are coworkers at Phil's Coffeehouse, with Val coming to work there about a year after Tobias had started. Val appreciates Tobias' friendliness and work ethic, but he does feel Tobias leans uncomfortably too much into the people-pleasing. He tries not to smoke when Tobias is around and occasionally probes Tobias about his writing. Val doesn't know that much about Tobias' family apart from the fact that Tobias has a sister, and he doesn't ask out of respect.

Aoife Fitzgerald: Aoife was the TA for an elective course at Sanctuary Hills University in which Valeriano was a student. He doubts he stood out much as there were certainly more brilliant students in the class, although he always made sure to ask good questions occasionally and visit during office hours.

Rose Blossomdew: Val doesn't know Rose on a personal level, although he knows of her - she does come from one of the most widely known fairy bloodlines, after all. He is expectedly apprehensive about her family's business dealings, but he wouldn't hold that apprehension against her.

Georgia Patricia Keen V: Georgia is Val's preferred mechanic. Since he drives a beat-up, navy-blue 1979 Dodge D/W (and some things are better left for a professional), they naturally see each other regularly via an under-the-table repair deal. He might lend a hand if Georgia asks for one, but otherwise Val will play Georgia a few songs, originals or covers, while she works her magic. He'll sometimes bring her a free coffee, or he'll use his employee discount when she stops by the coffeeshop. As such, they're well-acquainted friends, who occasionally hang out.

Themes:

Themes

When I Think Of You - Janet Jackson

Like a Tattoo - Sade

Dance (Disco Heat) - Sylvester

I Try To Think About Elvis - Patty Loveless

Lost In Music (1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers remix) - Sister Sledge

Mundane fantastic slice of life

<Snipped quote by kalanggam>

Ah, cool! In that case, how about discrete math? It's the branch of mathematics that deals with graphs, sets, and logical statements, and it's very applicable to computer science.

@naomimyselfandi

Having taken discrete, I think that's a great idea! Also definitely the kind of math elective I've seen grad students teach.

Mundane fantastic slice of life

Hey, I'm currently getting over the flu. I'll fill out a relationship chart soon, but in the mean time, I'd just like to touch in on this:

<Snipped quote by kalanggam>

Would Val have taken an elective in the math department? If so, great; if not, we might want to rejigger this. Fwiw, Aoife definitely has creative side, and she definitely hangs out at the coffee shop; I was going to suggest that they could know each other there.

@naomimyselfandi

Oof, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon!

Yeah, I figured he would have; in addition to a linguistics minor, he also had concentrations in math and computer science, hence the connection.

Related to that, I suppose this is as good a time as any to note that I welcome anyone using Val's employment at the coffeehouse as an "in" for their relationships section.

Mundane fantastic slice of life

Hey y'all, I just thought I would leave y'all with Val's relationship sheet. Let me know via PM if any ideas pop in your head or if you'd like to go a different way with things, but otherwise, this is what I'm rolling with:

Relationships

Samantha "Sam" Igorina Semenova: Val knows Sam as the daughter of Professor Semenov and he's definitely bought furniture from J. W. Stewards' when he moved out of the dorms, so Val has run into her more than a few times. They're not well acquainted beyond that and the occasional chitchat, but he thinks her aesthetic is cool, despite her intense aura.

Tobias Malkinson: Tobias and Val are coworkers at Phil's Coffeehouse, with Val coming to work there about a year after Tobias had started. Val appreciates Tobias' friendliness and work ethic, but he does feel Tobias leans uncomfortably too much into the people-pleasing. He tries not to smoke when Tobias is around and occasionally probes Tobias about his writing. Val doesn't know that much about Tobias' family apart from the fact that Tobias has a sister, and he doesn't ask out of respect.

Aoife Fitzgerald: Aoife was the TA for an elective course at Sanctuary Hills University in which Valeriano was a student. He doubts he stood out much as there were certainly more brilliant students in the class, although he always made sure to ask good questions occasionally and visit during office hours.

Rose Blossomdew: Val doesn't know Rose on a personal level, although he knows of her - she does come from one of the most widely known fairy bloodlines, after all. He is expectedly apprehensive about her family's business dealings, but he wouldn't hold that apprehension against her.

Georgia Patricia Keen V: Georgia is Val's preferred mechanic. Since he drives a beat-up, navy-blue 1979 Dodge D/W and there are some repairs better left for a professional, they naturally see each other regularly. He might lend a hand if Georgia asks for one, but otherwise Val will play Georgia a few songs, originals or covers, while she works her magic. He'll sometimes bring her a free coffee, or he'll use his employee discount when she stops by the coffeeshop. As such, they're well-acquainted friends, who occasionally hang out.

Mundane fantastic slice of life

@Gisk Here's one fer ya :)

---

Name: Valeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell
Age: 21
Appearance:

Valeriano is a refreshingly different face than what most are used to. Beige-brown skin, flat nose, wide cheekbones, square jaw, deep-set brown eyes, and fuller lips - this amalgam of seemingly conflicting features appears harmoniously in him. His dark brown, verging on black hair is a messy mop which is often tied back in a loose bun. Val's figure isn't particularly buff or slender; thick, well-defined legs, broader than average shoulders, and a somewhat protruding chest give his five feet and seven inch posture a little more presence. Overall, his physical features make him average but unique looking.

Typically, you'll see Val wearing his work apron, a nametag with his nickname in lopsidedly arranged block letters, over hugging high-waisted blue jeans or khakis and tucked-in, colorfully patterned button-ups. Outside of work Val also loves to accessorize whenever possible. He never leaves the house without adorning both hands with a few rings, he rotates between an assortment of earrings - hoops big or small, huggies, studs, dangles, et cetera - and he ties his looks together with a pendant or an amulet. This jewelry sometimes holds cultural or personal significance to him, or they might have magical properties.

Personality:

Valeriano is a fairly chill, fun-loving dude despite that, from the outside, he might appear intense or intimidating or even unapproachable, especially from how bluntly he speaks. He doesn't particularly care for superficial manners, and he prefers authenticity in his dealings with other people - after all, why be overly nice to someone who you don't like? Nonetheless, he always strikes up conversation with strangers and regulars alike when he's working in the coffeehouse, and he mostly keeps it kind and gentle, reserving a coarser attitude for close friends who won't take it personally or for whiny customers who need sorting out. Around friends especially, Val flaunts a more fun-loving side, dancing at clubs, singing karaoke, barhopping, or shooting the shit around a fire in someone's backyard.

Despite his lax attitude and carefree lifestyle, he's very driven about personal projects and he's getting more and more eager to get his career going, hence why he completed his schooling at Sanctuary Hills so quickly. One will rarely see Valeriano without a cassette-corder and some earphones, which he uses to record and play cassette tapes, and he's particularly fond of using them as audio collages. His collection consists of voice diaries, music demos, or mix-tapes. Sometimes he'll even take over the coffeehouse's music and play his own mix-tapes. When he's not on the job, Val is usually with his guitar recording songs and booking gigs, or he's devoting time to magical experiments with automata.

Background:

Valeriano Lumungsod O'Connell was born in 1973 in Austin, Texas, but his small family moved to the Richmond, Virginia area when he was six. He had a relatively uneventful childhood aside from the expected friction which came from being the child of an immigrant living in the suburbs. He did, however, have a rough patch in high school where he almost dropped out; he was often disciplined for skipping class to smoke in the parking lot, keying his classmates' cars for being bigoted, or talking back to his teachers. In those times, music became a personal refuge, where he could express himself freely. His bandmates and friends had always said that Val looked most carefree and weightless when he had his hands on his guitar. More than anything though, Val just wanted to see more of the world and get away from home. With the band broken up and without the grades or activities to land a better (or further away) school, Val ended up in Sanctuary Hills.

For now, Val lives as a local musician, playing solo gigs in town and taking trips to visit family every now and then. Until he decides whether to relocate back home with family and find work there, go to grad school and deepen his knowledge, or start a local practice in Sanctuary Hills, he's working as a barista at Phil's Coffeehouse, which is actually owned by a woman named Philomena, in Sanctuary Hills' town square. On breaks, one might find Val either on the curb or behind the store, eating fast food, perhaps smoking a cigarette on a particularly stressful day, hashing out song lyrics, or messing with magic. When business is slow, Val likes to chitchat with his regulars or play GameBoy games at the till.

Magic Specialty:

Arcane semiotics

Like the typical magician, Val knows some everyday magic. He has notes on various potions, home remedies, recipes, as well as simple charms... all things useful for regular life, more than what a witch might know and more informed than one who didn't go to school for it. His main discipline, however, is arcane semiotics - how sigils, geometries, speech, incantations, songs, etc. communicate a magical intent and 'become' magic, and while attending Sanctuary Hills University, he minored in linguistics, mathematics, and computer science. As such, his greater knowledge resides in the finer details of spell construction, such as how etymology, rhythm, geometry, or the evolution of language affect magic or what syntax magic uses. He could help you find the angles you need to achieve certain effects, tell you how word choice factors into incantations, pacts, or contracts, or demonstrate how the language for magic differs from culture to culture.

Living constructs/Magical automata

As personal experiments related to his studies, Val can create living constructs and familiars from available materials - the more malleable, the better. These can manifest as plantoids, robot-like automata, origami fairies, or other beings depending on the materials and sigils used; however, as soulless constructs of magic, he cannot change their form or their purpose after they've formed. For this reason, Val keeps a notebook or two for writing out useful sigils and recipes. He can continue to give them fuel (which could be AA batteries, outlet power, actual food, fertilizer, etc.) to keep them 'alive,' some fuels being more efficient than others. As they run out of fuel, they gradually return to their original, natural state until they effectively 'die,' leaving behind a 'corpse' with the burnt remnants of the sigils which made them.

Spirit communion/Folk magic

Val follows some Filipino folk magic traditions from his maternal family, which are based on communion with local spirits or supernatural beings and forming relationships with them. In terms of magical potency, these can often be unreliable or completely fruitless altogether, and it takes time to cultivate those relationships. Spirits may be ghosts or nature spirits (i.e., nymphs or kami), some tied to the land, others mobile or nomadic. There are also supernatural beings like feyfolk or elves. Working with them comes with its own quirks, so it's usually better to stick with traditional magic, but Val still leaves outdoor offerings every other week to be kind or make friends with them. If some stir up trouble or cause problems around him, he'll call the appropriate professional or deal with it himself.

Themes:

Themes

When I Think Of You - Janet Jackson

Like a Tattoo - Sade

Dance (Disco Heat) - Sylvester

I Try To Think About Elvis - Patty Loveless

Lost In Music (1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers remix) - Sister Sledge

Mundane fantastic slice of life

@Gisk: Haha, funnily enough I put Virginia first, but then my brain said, "Hm, no that's not right." And I put West Virginia instead. Forgot my country roads :')

---

I've got a character idea myself - a dude from the Richmond suburbs who went to SHU to become a licensed magician, finished his undergraduate degree a year early, and is now figuring out a career plan. He works as a barista in a local-owned coffee shop and does magical favors/odd jobs for friends and other associates of his. A queer guy from an immigrant family who speaks very candidly, loves his guitar, and uses cassette tapes like journals.