Stitches — Roleplayer Guild

Name: Abigail Harlow
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Breed/Species/Type/Lineage: Changeling
The Fae are known for two things - their mischief and their omnipresence. Wherever there’s even a tiny gathering of trees of woodland, you can be certain that a pixie has made his home there, or there are sprites hidden in the undergrowth. Being naturally inclined towards enjoying life, pure-bred Faerie Folk are surprisingly adaptable and fertile in order to produce many offspring. And since they aren’t very picky, they’ll have sex with pretty much whatever takes their fancy and the resulting children are sterile and a bit of a burden. Most of them don’t inherit the faerie’s size-shifting abilities, meaning their homes are usually far too small for the babies. Faerie Folk aren’t partial to parental love and nurturing so they usually dump the deformed half-breeds onto anything that’ll look after them - or just toss them into the wilderness to die.
 
‘Changeling’ is more of a blanket term for halfbreeds with faerie blood in them that have been abandoned or given away at birth. Their size, appearance, abilities and behaviour vary between individuals. They are perhaps one of the few ‘races’ of supernaturals to be born with an innate understanding of all of their abilities, though it is not uncommon for Changelings to lose this knowledge as they grow older. Every Changeling that is given to surrogate parents has the ability to shift from their true form to the form of whichever race is raising them. This ability is subconscious and will only revert if the Changeling wills it or if the Changeling becomes aggressive.
 
Abigail is a Changeling with demonic heritage, and as a result she has inherited minor abilities from each parent.

Physical Description:Abigail is a pale, gangly teenager with a thick flat curtain of blonde hair, thin eyebrows, and sharp blue eyes. She has a slightly turned-up nose and her lips are a little bit on the thin side, making her look like she’s constantly grimacing. She carries herself with an air of carefully staged nonchalance and wears unobtrusive and fairly ‘tame’ clothing compared to the outrageous teenage fashion in the 80s. She’s almost completely flat-chested, and there are little packs of muscle evening out her bony physique, especially on her arms and legs.
 
Changeling Form: The most striking changes to Abigail’s appearance are the horns, claws, eyes and teeth she possesses as a Changeling. Abigail’s physique remains pretty much identical to the human illusion but gaunter - her cheekbones are more prominent, her ribcage is visible and the joints are more pronounced. Her extremities are an intense mottled black colour due to the scales which spread partially up the forearms and calves, lightening into patchy greys and then fading into her sallow skin. Her fingers and toes are elongated and, though somewhat protected by the aforementioned scales, they seem brittle and easier to break than a human’s. Each finger and toe is adorned with thick black talons, the nails curl downwards and are shorter than the long, straight claws on Abigail’s hands.
 
Her facial features don’t change too much - she still has the pale blonde hair (though it has lost its well-conditioned sheen and seems to naturally tangle and become unkempt), the turned up nose and the slightly thin lips. It only seems to be alien and monstrous through the inhuman features; her eyes become a full glossy black, her dental structure is similar to a shark’s and two thick, dark and small horns protrude from the tangled mat of hair on her head. 
 
If she’s in this form, she’s bound to get messy real fast. Couple the above description with the tattered remains of her clothes, caught in branches or on those brand new claws and horns (shoes are always a pain in the ass to replace, she almost always pierces holes in the soles) and smears of blood, mud and god-knows what from whatever antics she’s been up to and you have a pretty detailed mental image of Abigail the Changeling.

Talents:Here’s the real kicker - as a Changeling, Abigail inherited minor faerie and demonic powers from her parents. Problem is, she’s almost completely forgotten how to use all of them. But magical capabilities aren’t too dissimilar from riding a bike; once you remember how, it becomes pretty easy. The Talents section will be split into ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ categories, just to clarify how much she’s got and what she’s yet to rediscover. There will also be a ‘passive’ ability section which is simply what Abigail doesn’t need to relearn because it’s part of who she is.
 
KNOWN:
Summon Fireball: A simple yet gloriously destructive spell, Abigail is able to summon a fireball approximately the size of a marble in her hands. She can flick it like a marble - it won’t fly too far or too spectacularly, but you don’t need a particularly big flame to start a fire. With enough practice, the size and range of this spell will gradually increase into a fist-sized orb of flame which she will eventually be able to blast like a projectile.
 
Shove: Short range, low level telekinetic spell. Abigail can give objects a little push with her mind. More often than not she does this to fuck with people and break their stuff. As she practices, she’ll be able to control the direction and force of the shove and be able to push heavier objects about, but it’s not nearly as malleable as actual telekinesis.
 
UNKNOWN:
These spells are more complex, they require a bit of brainpower and a fair bit of willpower too. Even as Abigail discovers and uses their weakest forms she’s going to find these to be taxing if she works on them too hard, and there’s a larger room for error.
 
Hallucination: Illusory Magic is probably Abigail’s forté...if she knew about it in the first place. A purebred trickster on both sides of the family can lead to some interesting illusions, but their powers combined to make Abigail capable of messing with people’s senses. The weakest ability is picking a sense - touch, taste, sight, smell or hearing - and changing the impulses sent to the brain for that sensory organ on one person for around a short period of time. The strongest ability is full-blown hallucinations designed by Abigail to be used on a group of people, lasting up to 10-15 minutes if she really pushes it.
 
Plant Manipulation: It’s no wonder Abigail forgot how to use this, it’s one of the most difficult powers to conceal. Abigail can manipulate pre-existing plants, but the effect she leaves on them is...weird. The stems and bark go a horrid ashen-grey and split, revealing rivulets of blood-red sap. The flowers (if they have any) turn black and dry, and thorns become barbed. In short, she can manipulate plants like a faerie but corrupts them like a demon. Luckily the corruption aspect isn’t contagious but it eats out the vegetation from the inside until it crumbles to dust an hour or so after Abigail stops using it. This power works like a standard plant manipulation ability, with the added weakness of it being a one-time use per plant and a delay as the corruption has to spread over the entirety of the plant before she can use it. Obviously she’ll start small and work her way up, from flowers and saplings to trees and vines. If she attempts to control a plant that is too large/complex for her to manage, her corruption will be ‘rejected’ and the plant will revert to normal.
 
PASSIVE:
Shapeshift: Does what it says on the tin. It isn’t painful like a werewolf transformation because it’s part of a Changeling’s biology to be able to shift between their form and the form of their parents. Abigail learned her human form, and that’s the only one she can turn into. It’s also not a complete transition from one stage to another - it’s a gradual thing, and there’s no harm done if she’s a mismatch of changeling and human. Abigail’s control over this is...situational at best. She’s gotten a lot better with age, but get her sufficiently pissed off and her teeth might start to sharpen up and the claws might come out. She only goes full Changeling if she needs speed, agility and some sharp objects on hand to defend herself.
 
Changeling Abilities: Changelings like Abigail are built to scamper off into trees, weaving in and out of branches at superhuman speeds. The claws are incredibly tough to break, her grip is certainly stronger than an average man’s, and she’s able to move fast if she’s climbing, jumping and sprinting. She’s also got a nasty bite. These abilities are somewhat seen in Abigail’s human form, but the change is barely an advantage - she’s got a sturdy grip, can run a little faster, climbs things pretty easily...can probably still give a nasty bite, but most sane adults tend to avoid biting people.

History:Abigail was given to Victor Strade as part of a bargain with her parents, who were more than happy to get rid of her since she was taking up space. The accountant/demonologist didn’t even have a home to put her in; he took her in out of desperation and didn’t actually consider the consequences. He sold his car and replaced it with a campervan to get out of New Orleans and find them somewhere to settle down.
 
the first few years of her life were spent in that campervan being towed halfway across the country using Victor’s truck. Those years were probably the most chaotic ones in both of their lives. Abigail wasn’t a particularly easy baby to look after; she didn’t cry too much but she had little to no control over her powers or her shapeshifting. Any temper tantrum would replace the little blonde with a screeching monster. She haphazardly flung fireballs like they were toys and nearly burnt down their caravan on multiple occasions. She used to create unexplainable phenomena which Victor didn’t quite figure out were hallucinations and penned it down to Abigail simply being a demonic piece of shit again. She chewed through the water pipes. She ate anything that moved. She climbed the walls and the ceiling and ripped things to shreds when she was frustrated.
 
Victor wasn’t much better - he didn’t know how to raise a kid, let alone a monster. Part of the deal involved not only managing to tame Abigail but also integrate her into human society. He freelanced as a private accountant and continued to trick any unlucky idiot that happened to cross paths with him, which managed to rack up enough money for the constant repair and maintenance work. During the initial year or so, he didn’t even recognise Abigail as his foster daughter and treated her more like a burden than a baby. 
 
They never really stopped in any town or city for more than a month - just enough for Victor to work his magic (sometimes literally) and get enough cash to keep going. When they rolled up to new Camden around 15 years ago, Victor realised there were a lot more supernatural beings here than any of the places they visited before. Abigail wasn’t getting any younger - he’d have to settle down somewhere fast before she starts missing out on school. They waited a month to see how things went - then Victor spent another month because he was getting some good profit - and then another until they were there for a year. He’d finally managed to scrounge up enough for a really shitty house for them to live in.
 
Abigail was at her strongest during her younger years and as she grew up, Victor’s constant urges to repress her abilities finally started sinking in. She really wanted to go to school but couldn’t initially because she was unable to control her appearance, so Victor worked with her on her temperament until she was able to remain a human even when she got angry. With some level of self control, Abigail managed to get into the local school but she was still very much a little monster. Victor would receive notice that Abigail has once again bitten one of the other kids, or broke something, and he’d have to go in and pick her up early.
 
This was the general theme of Abigail’s first few years in school. Parent-teacher evenings were hellish and she struggled making friends because she was too busy either insulting or hitting the other children. Victor was overworked, underpaid and juggled his job and his duties as a father. They yelled at each other a lot but the two of them ultimately knew that they were both trying their hardest to get by and that was enough.
 
Abigail mellowed out a lot during her early teens. Actually, after the age of 8 she slowly started to forget how to cast her spells, most of which being innate with no incantation or hand movements required which made it all the harder to cast them when she’s hardly been using them. Even so, she still left a mark on her reputation which made it nigh impossible to make friends and most of the people she did actually get along with ended up leaving her eventually because she’d say something nasty. She was the weirdo loner in school and frankly she didn’t let it get to her that much - better no friends than annoying ones - but since Victor put a real emphasis on her fitting in when she was little, it kind of...stuck. And developed into an obsession. It was one of the few things Victor expected of her, he didn’t think she needed school, he knew she’d be able to find a job anyway, so it was one of the few ways to make him proud and she lived for those moments when he wasn’t annoyed or disappointed at her but actually impressed with how well she’s doing.
Abigail’s been suspended multiple times and nearly expelled once. She was held back a year when she was 16 because she just couldn’t pass those exams and try to salvage her abysmal social life all on one go. She only used her spells at home and shapeshifted to make herself feel more comfortable at night, and largely kept to herself to focus on her studies. She’s dead-set on finishing her education, if only to prove to Victor that she can be around a large quantity of people 5 days a week and not cause any massive issues.

Psychological Profile:Most, if not all of Abigail’s personality revolves around the fact that she is a monster trying her damnedest to behave like a human. When she’s alone or around supernaturals only, she doesn’t have to pretend; Abigail is emotionless and quiet. She observes and speaks very little, which doesn’t mean she always thinks carefully about what she’s going to say before she says it. She has a very loose grasp on empathy and doesn’t seem to care whether someone’s feelings get hurt. She is also very quick to anger and physically aggressive, and these traits only worsen if she’s walking around as a changeling instead of a person.
 
She changes completely when she’s around Victor. When she’s alone with him she opens up a lot more, becomes more conversational, acts more like you’d expect a teenage girl to act. She’s still quite reserved and sometimes she’ll just revert back to being that silent, staring, pissed off girl in the corner but overall it’s clear that she’s incredibly close to the man and also fiercely protective of him to the point of jealousy.
 
The problems arise when she’s trying to ‘act natural’. She’s obsessed with this idea of trying to fit in and if she relaxed a bit more, she’d probably be able to. But that constant fear of doing something stupid and blowing her cover only pushes her deeper into her quiet moments and, since she’s a bit of an asshole anyway when you start to talk with her, Abigail finds it even more distressing that she can’t make friends at school and doesn’t have any other actual humans besides Victor to copy. And let’s face it - Victor isn’t the ideal role model, and from him Abigail managed to finely hone her scathing wit and sharp tongue.
 
She stares and listens a lot because she’s busy trying to memorise what people actually do and replicate it herself. Because of this, Abigail’s known to have odd eating habits and does some menial tasks like reading a magazine with very deliberate care. Abigail’s tumultuous childhood made it difficult for her to trust her own capacity for self control and since she’s always juggling the stresses of schoolwork and the constant dread of discovery it’s no wonder she’s prone to lashing out at people when they provoke her.

Possessions:Timothy, Tim-Tam, Timmy, Tim, Teeny Tiny - A frog familiar that lives with Abigail and Victor. When they were on the road, Abigail picked him up from a storm drain and refused to part with him. They don’t...really know what he does, but his presence is soothing for Abigail. When she was little, holding Timothy would help her remain calm and focused and repress her abilities. When she was really little, she didn’t understand Timothy’s worth and constantly tried to eat him. Luckily, Victor was always fast enough and conveniently close enough to prevent certain death of one of the few things capable of ‘controlling’ his weird monster foster child. Timothy doesn’t age and is certainly capable of intelligent thought but he’s small and fragile.

Yes, and:Rusty “Streak” McKenzie: ”...Scary man.”
    Abigail barely knows Rusty since he isn’t usually around New Camden, but the one or two occasions where she laid eyes on him have left her well and truly intimidated. She’s unlikely to strike up any sort of conversation with him unless prompted.
 
Parael Magnus: ”Friend of the family. He’s a bit weird and very loud, but I like him.”
    Best described as the ‘weird uncle’ Abigail grew up with. Parael looked after Abigail ever since Victor figured out he could get a discount at Parael’s daycare and he’s the only other person who’s had to deal with her temper tantrums and survived. Since Victor and Parael are good friends and Abigail follows Victor like a stubborn shadow, she’s much more comfortable around the celestial than she is around other people.
 
C.C Schwarzman: ”Who.”
    Abigail’s never directly met C.C, and probably wouldn’t get along with him. She tends to get violent when she’s scared. If someone was capable of making sure she didn’t outright attack the boogeyman, then she might gradually learn to tolerate his presence - until then, it’s best to keep them separate.
 
Violet Atwood: ”...I know her.”
    14 years ago, in Allard Park, the self-proclaimed Guardian of the Forest started to hunt down the source of a strange disease that was making a scattering of trees go grey, split, ooze red sap and then crumble away. When she realised it was a 4 year old changeling girl with very little self control and an absolute love for tree climbing, she relented - especially since the corruption was only isolated to the affected plant and it was easy enough to repair the damage. As time went on, the cases of diseased trees continued to decrease and then vanish completely. 
 
From that point onwards every couple of weeks, in the early hours of the morning, Violet saw a gaunt and bestial figure launch itself from tree to tree. Sometimes it stopped and a handful of words were exchanged, but Abigail doesn’t talk to anyone if she doesn’t feel like it. Whilst they aren’t close, Abigail’s always respectful towards all of the fae in the forest, and especially towards Violet. When Abigail gets the time (or wants to bribe the dryad) she fills a shoebox with shiny things, sweets, pretty flowers and packets of sugar from the diner. Said shoebox is usually deposited at the base of Violet’s bonded tree with a little note from Abigail before she scurries off.
 
Suzanne Rendell: ”Cake lady. Stranger.”
    Abigail doesn’t talk to Suzanne much either, aside from ordering things. That’s not to say Suzanne hasn’t given it a bloody good try. Abigail responds to her warm and opening questions with curt short answers and long silences, and the baker quickly caught on to the fact Abigail just simply isn’t a people person.
 
Celestine Azeroth: ”Casts magic, but not as good as Victor...Pretty voice.”
    Abigail frequents bars purely because Victor goes to them all the time and it’s far more boring to sit around at home and watch him stumble in drunk. When he’s feeling classy, L’élégant Bar becomes the bar of choice. Abigail is enraptured by the singers more than anything and often gets distracted when they come on stage, and Abigail picked up on her talent for magic but doesn’t seem to be nearly as interested in Celest’s magical capabilities.
 
Victor Harlow: Abigail giggled and shook her head.
    Abigail’s carer, protector, and in some cases parole officer, Victor Harlow has known Abigail for her entire life. Abigail loves him unconditionally and would even go as far as to kill for his safety. She spontaneously shifts from following him everywhere to going away for hours on end with no explanation - they’ve reached a point where they both trust each other more than anyone else.

Location of Note:Sally’s Diner
Notable Person: ‘Sally’, the head chef.
A fact everyone knows about this place: A 24hr diner that serves the greasiest, sweetest, most calorific food you can possibly imagine. Famous for its monster-sized sundaes and the proprietor, who is probably a succubus and definitely a gold-digger.
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