TaliPaendrag

(Retry) The Gray Garden: A Crow's Revenge (Interest Check)

Sorry for disappearing for the past few days. I was going through finals. I'll have a character up sometime this evening for you to look over. :3

(Retry) The Gray Garden: A Crow's Revenge (Interest Check)

I'm interested as well. :3

The Crystal's Call

@WeepingLiberty I just wanted to say that I'm still around, and that I would benefit from you posting again. :D

The Crystal's Call

I'm around. :3

The Crystal's Call

Lucy stifled a giggle as the man jumped a little at the sound of her voice, feeling a little bad for startling him. He seemed to recover quickly, however, giving Lucy a look over before beckoning her forward once he finished his analysis. Obediently, Lucy stepped closer to his backpack as he introduced himself as Alec and explained that he was lost too, but could tell that they weren’t near the equator or the poles. While his conclusion hadn’t been the answer that Lucy had been looking for, she supposed that knowing where they weren’t could be helpful. It was certainly more helpful than not knowing anything about their location.

”It’s not like any place that I’ve ever been,” Lucy said in response to Alec’s question about her thoughts on the area while he rummaged through the pockets of his black jeans. Now that she was standing closer, she noticed that Alec possessed short black hair and light brown eyes and that he was wearing glasses. It also appeared that he wasn’t quite as tall as Lucy had originally thought, though he was still significantly taller than her. ”The forest seems…” Lucy said, pausing to think of the right word for the air the forest seemed to project. ”I dunno, unfriendly? It’s really creepy.”

After he finished rummaging through his pocket, Alec held out a pocket knife, a flashlight, and a pen and explained that they were the only items he had that would be useful in their current situation. ”All I’ve got is some painting supplies,” Lucy responded, taking her backpack and opening it towards him so that he could see the assortment of paints, brushes, and small, rolled canvases in the bag. When she thought that he had looked long enough to get the idea, she closed her backpack and put it on again. ”Though I’m not really sure how useful they’d really be.”

Lucy’s eyes, appearing golden in the afternoon sunlight of the clearing, widened noticeably as Alec mentioned that he could possibly tell where they were based on the stars at night. ”You can tell that kind of stuff from the stars?” she asked somewhat incredulously. She knew, of course, that that was how people used to travel, especially across the ocean, but the idea that she would meet someone who knew how to do stuff like that in the modern day was a little surprising.

Alec’s question as to how Lucy got there distracted her from her amazement at the depth of his wilderness survival skills. ”This is going to sound crazy, but I’m pretty sure that I was sucked into a painting,” she replied, idly pushing some dirt around with her boots. Before she could explain further or ask him how he got there, they were joined by a tall girl with fiery red hair that was dressed in a black jacket and jeans who was asking if either of them knew what was going on.

Lucy shook her head and opened her mouth to say that no, neither of them knew what was going on, when they were joined by another plainly-dressed man with dark hair and, almost immediately after he managed to ask his own questions, another tall girl with very light hair. Before Lucy could introduce herself or explain that she didn’t know anything about where they were or what was going on, they were interrupted by another girl with dark hair calling out to them as if answering the pale-haired girl’s statement-question. As she approached the group, Lucy noticed that she was quite a bit taller than herself, perhaps even taller than the pale-haired girl and the redheaded girl. She was also dressed rather strangely compared to their motley gathering, as she was wearing clothes that, while dirty, seemed to belong in a medieval painting, an impression that was only reinforced by her curtsy as she welcomed them to this place called Astoria.

”Hello, my name is Lucy,” Lucy said, introducing herself to the the group as a whole, though her focus was on the newest arrival. ”Could you tell us who you are and what’s going on?”

The Crystal's Call

@Skyrte I just wanted to let you know that I'm working on a post. I'll probably hold off on posting it for a few more days to allow other people to post first though.

@WeepingLiberty I just wanted to clarify, but is Ari visible in the clearing? Upon rereading your post, it seems that that's what you intended, but it would appear that neither Skyrte or I picked up on it at first. If Ari would be visible in the clearing, we might have to tweak some of our posts.

The Crystal's Call

Lucy hummed softly as she double-checked the contents of the pink and black backpack that was sitting on her unmade bed, the sound of Bob Ross’s deep voice emanating softly from the television across the room as he went about painting a snowy landscape. While Lucy had stopped actively watching the episode quite a while ago, she had left it on as she packed her bag to lessen the oppressive silence that seemed to pervade the house whenever her older sister was away at work. Satisfied that she hadn’t forgotten any of her painting supplies, Lucy turned the television off before grabbing her bag and heading downstairs to get her feet dressed and grab something to wear over her turquoise-colored t-shirt if she got cold while she was out. Because she was heading to the woods in the park in order to paint, Lucy decided to wear her hiking boots, which were black with pink accents, and her lavender-colored hoodie.

Once Lucy was completely ready, she stepped out onto the porch of the modest home and locked the door before she began to make the short trek to the park. As she walked, Lucy tried not to think about the gymnastics competition that was happening in a few days, though that was certainly easier said than done. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that she should be spending the last couple of days practicing her routine, even though her coach had told them all that that would actually end up hurting more than it would help and that they should take the last two days before the competition relaxing and recovering from their last practice. And so, in an attempt to take her mind off the competition, at least for a little while, Lucy figured that she would paint for a few hours in one of the clearings in the forest in the park.

Before too much longer, Lucy had arrived at the woods and was making her way towards the clearing she knew to be towards the center. Considering the fact that this was an urban forest, it was pretty tame, with a number of trails, some more pronounced than others, crisscrossing through the interior. As such, it didn’t really take all that much longer to reach her destination. Once at the edge of the clearing, Lucy sought out a relatively flat piece of ground to set up the easel and camp stool that she had carried with her. After everything was set up as Lucy wanted it, she sat down and began to paint, humming a wordless tune occasionally as she did so.

By the time Lucy was putting the finishing touches on her painting of the clearing, the sun had moved to hang high overhead, marking the time as being around noon. Pleased with how the painting had come together and desiring to quell the rumblings of her tummy, Lucy left it to dry for a few minutes as she went about eating the small lunch she had packed for the day. Though her lunch consisted of only a crunchy peanut butter and blackberry jelly sandwich and an apple’s worth of apple slices, it would easily hold her over until dinner. After Lucy finished her lunch, she went to set the finished painting of the clearing aside so that she could set up a new piece of canvas and paint something else when she noticed that her painting of the clearing included a menacing-looking black spire that she didn’t remember painting.

”How did that get there?” she wondered aloud as inspected the painting more closely. Upon closer inspection, Lucy noticed that there were a number of other slight differences between the clearing she was currently in and the one that had appeared on her canvas. The most glaring of these was the fact that the forest represented in the mystery painting was far denser than the forest she was currently in, with a menacing air about it that gave her the shivers. The second most notable difference was the fact that none of the trees in the painting matched up with the trees she could see across the clearing. The painting-trees had leaves and bark that were significantly darker in coloration than their real counterparts, which only served to amplify their intimidating air. ”Did I really paint that?” Lucy asked no one in particular, her voice tinged with concern. Maybe the stress of the upcoming competition had gotten to her? It seemed unlikely, but it was the only explanation that sounded even somewhat reasonable.

Almost without thinking about it, Lucy brushed the index finger of her left hand across the creepy obelisk to verify that it was a part of the painting. As her finger made contact with the obelisk, however, she felt something grab onto her and begin pulling her into the painting, however impossible that sounded. Of course, the confusion she had felt upon noticing that her painting had transformed somehow quickly gave way to panic as her whole hand slipped impossibly into the painting. ”H-Help! S-Someone!” she yelled as she fought against the mysterious force with every ounce of strength that she had. Unfortunately, her flailing about for purchase only managed to hook her backpack straps around her legs before the force multiplied in strength and yanked her through entirely.

Once through the painting, the force vanished entirely, leaving Lucy to fall to the ground from about five feet in the air. The impact knocked the wind out of the petite girl, rendering her unable to do anything more than lay where she had landed and try to catch her breath for a few minutes. After she had managed to catch her breath and extricate her feet from the straps of her backpack that had entangled them as she was pulled into her painting, she pushed herself to her feet somewhat shakily and looked around at her surroundings. It seemed that the clearing she was on the edge of was exactly as the mystery painting had depicted, and Lucy couldn’t help but take a hesitant step further into the warm sunlight that filled the clearing as the menacing air of the forest pressed down on her.

Lucy’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone nearby, probably male from the sound of their voice, yelling profanities and something to do with sea urchins. Looking in the direction the voice had come from, Lucy could see a man standing near the center of the clearing and looking at the forest, much like she had been. From the tone of their voice, and the language used, Lucy felt it was safe to assume that they weren’t happy about being in the middle of the woods either. Regardless of why they were upset, Lucy felt that the presence of another person would help take the edge off her panic. Plus, they might know something about where they were or even how to get back home if she was lucky. ”Hello?” Lucy called out, having decided to walk over towards the man and introduce herself. ”My name is Lucy, and I, um, think I might be lost. Do you know anything about where we are?”

The Crystal's Call

I'll try to get a post up either tomorrow or Friday. :D Is there any particular way you had in mind for our characters to be transported to the other world?

The Crystal's Call

Lucy Raine Bromley

Name: Lucy Raine Bromley
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Description: Due to a combination of genetics and years of parental neglect, Lucy is a very petite girl, standing at only 4’5” (134.72 cm) and weighing 76 lbs (34.47 kg). Because of her involvement in gymnastics, she’s fairly toned, though she doesn’t have a great amount of muscle definition. Lucy possesses straight golden blonde hair that hangs down to around the small of her back, which she usually just lets hang down as she’s not a huge fan of trying to put it up or style it. Lucy’s eyes are a shade of amber that tends to resemble bronze, though they lighten to a more goldish hue in direct light. As for her usual attire, Lucy tends to prefer loose, baggier clothing that allows for adequate freedom of movement. This means that it’s quite common to see her in a loose, colorful t-shirt, a pair of baggy blue jeans, and a pair of well-worn sneakers.

~~

Personality:
The best word to describe Lucy would probably have to be lively, as it seems that she generally has an unending supply of energy and excitement. This is perhaps most evident in her cheery disposition. Lucy almost always has a smile of some kind on her face and seems to go through even the most mundane of tasks with a genuine joy and a spring in her step. In fact, her unflaggable good mood is known so well among her peers that seeing her without a smile is a cause of some concern.

Lucy’s exuberance also manifests itself noticeably in her tendency to be extremely extroverted. As such, she greatly enjoys being around people and talking with them about virtually anything and everything. Unfortunately, Lucy has a hard time picking up on the nonverbal cues that indicate that someone doesn’t really want to talk to her, and so it’s pretty easy for her to come across as annoying sometimes. This is especially true when she’s meeting new people for the first time, as she can easily find herself crossing their boundaries unintentionally.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lucy is also a warm-hearted individual and is often described by her peers as lacking any sort of mean bone in her body. Lucy’s the type of person who’s always willing to provide a compliment or whatever encouragement she can offer to those around her that seem like they need it. This shouldn’t be taken to mean that her kind words are insincere, however. Whenever Lucy tries to boost someone’s spirits, she genuinely believes every word that she says.

Like every other person, Lucy is not without her share of flaws. Perhaps the most noticeable would be her naivety. Lucy often has a hard time understanding that other people aren’t necessarily as kind-hearted as she is and would use her or others for their profit. As such, she can find herself being manipulated fairly easily if she’s not careful and/or doesn’t have good friends around to help her see that something’s amiss.

Her naivety is made worse by the fact that Lucy is very much a follower, rather than a leader. She doesn’t have a lot of confidence in her abilities and so attempts to avoid taking a leading role whenever possible. This tendency also manifests in her reluctance to put forth her ideas in group settings no matter how good it may seem to her. Of course, she’s perfectly willing to perform her part as a member of the group. It’s just that she would rather someone else choose her part for her.

Lucy also has a rather hard time with controlling her emotions and is very much a person who as a tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve. While this means that she doesn’t have the problem of bottling her emotions up until they burst forth in a flood, it also means that she is often ruled by her emotions rather than logic. As an example, in the rare case where she gets upset, she’s much more inclined to react emotionally by snapping at people or yelling than trying to deal with the issue in a calm manner. Additionally, this difficulty in controlling her emotions also causes Lucy to be rather sensitive to the moods, actions, and words of others, which is one of the reasons she has a strong aversion to conflict and actively tries to avoid it.

History:
To put it bluntly, Lucy’s childhood was far from perfect. Her parents were often neglectful of her and her four older siblings and seemed to feel as if they had been trapped in a crumbling marriage. This obviously lead to a very tangible feeling of animosity that permeated the house and left everyone on edge, particularly Lucy. When her parents weren’t ignoring each other or their children, they were often fighting loudly, their shouts echoing throughout the house as the kids kept clear lest they get caught up in it. Unfortunately, their older children often emulated this way of interacting with each other, which just intensified the tension that seemed to always hang over the household.

Though being the youngest child meant that Lucy wasn’t exposed to as much of the hostility in the household as her siblings, she certainly wasn’t immune. Her oldest two siblings, Zoe and Tim, were ten and eight years older than her respectively, so they were, if anything, too overprotective of their baby sister and were generally pleasant to be around. The twins on the other hand, Max and Mary, were only five years older than she was and so had no real qualms with bullying Lucy to make her do what they wanted as they grew up. Eventually, they more or less outgrew it, though by that time they had already instilled in Lucy the idea that she didn’t have the ability to really contribute to a group or be a leader.

Around the time that Lucy was eight years old, her parents finally decided to bite the bullet and get a divorce. Of course, as most young children do, Lucy couldn’t help but fear that she had some part to play in the decision, which definitely did no favors for the girl’s mental health. Ultimately, it was decided that they would alternate custody every other week. This really just meant that once every other week, Lucy and her siblings were unwilling spectators to their parents’ fights, and that they would hear unending complaints and bitter words spoken of the other for the rest of the week.

After the divorce, things seemed to gradually get worse and worse. Both of her parents seemed to become more neglectful, with her father being content to simply sit in front of the television with a six pack of beer and with her mother disappearing regularly for nights on the town. They also became a lot harsher when interacting with the children still at home, often belittling their interests or shouting if they were bothered for anything that they felt was unimportant. One of the few bright spots during this time were the regular calls that Lucy received from Zoe, who had gone off to college before the divorce. Zoe always had a few words of encouragement for Lucy and always listened to whatever she had to say during their conversations.

By the time she was eleven, things had gotten bad enough at home that the school administrators were beginning to question things. On a number of occasions, the guidance counselor pulled Lucy aside to talk with her, but the twins had insisted she say nothing and so the effort was in vain. But, during that same time period, Zoe graduated from college and settled down in a small suburb near the university. Once she was sure that she was financially secure, she tried to get custody of Lucy, unable to hold off from intervening any longer. As it turned out, it wasn’t really that difficult. Once the case started, the evidence of neglect was staggering, and it was fairly simple to grant Zoe custody of her younger sister. The twins were seventeen by this point, and so opted to be independent instead.

Finally removed from the toxic home environment, Lucy seemed to bloom into the cheerful, exuberant girl that she is today. With her older sister’s encouragement to try new things and her support of Lucy’s interests, Lucy found that she had a love for gymnastics, painting, sculpting, and just generally expressing herself through a variety of creative outlets. Similarly, with a strong support structure at home, Lucy was able to excel at school and make a number of solid friendships throughout the years.

~~

Elemental Alignment: Aether
Crystal Form: A silver ring with a large stone in the center and two smaller on either side.

~~

Other:
~Might add some stuff here later.

The Crystal's Call

@WeepingLiberty Here's my character. Let me know if I need to change anything. Thanks! :D

Lucy Raine Bromley

Name: Lucy Raine Bromley
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Description: Due to a combination of genetics and years of parental neglect, Lucy is a very petite girl, standing at only 4’5” (134.72 cm) and weighing 76 lbs (34.47 kg). Because of her involvement in gymnastics, she’s fairly toned, though she doesn’t have a great amount of muscle definition. Lucy possesses straight golden blonde hair that hangs down to around the small of her back, which she usually just lets hang down as she’s not a huge fan of trying to put it up or style it. Lucy’s eyes are a shade of amber that tends to resemble bronze, though they lighten to a more goldish hue in direct light. As for her usual attire, Lucy tends to prefer loose, baggier clothing that allows for adequate freedom of movement. This means that it’s quite common to see her in a loose, colorful t-shirt, a pair of baggy blue jeans, and a pair of well-worn sneakers.

~~

Personality:
The best word to describe Lucy would probably have to be lively, as it seems that she generally has an unending supply of energy and excitement. This is perhaps most evident in her cheery disposition. Lucy almost always has a smile of some kind on her face and seems to go through even the most mundane of tasks with a genuine joy and a spring in her step. In fact, her unflaggable good mood is known so well among her peers that seeing her without a smile is a cause of some concern.

Lucy’s exuberance also manifests itself noticeably in her tendency to be extremely extroverted. As such, she greatly enjoys being around people and talking with them about virtually anything and everything. Unfortunately, Lucy has a hard time picking up on the nonverbal cues that indicate that someone doesn’t really want to talk to her, and so it’s pretty easy for her to come across as annoying sometimes. This is especially true when she’s meeting new people for the first time, as she can easily find herself crossing their boundaries unintentionally.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lucy is also a warm-hearted individual and is often described by her peers as lacking any sort of mean bone in her body. Lucy’s the type of person who’s always willing to provide a compliment or whatever encouragement she can offer to those around her that seem like they need it. This shouldn’t be taken to mean that her kind words are insincere, however. Whenever Lucy tries to boost someone’s spirits, she genuinely believes every word that she says.

Like every other person, Lucy is not without her share of flaws. Perhaps the most noticeable would be her naivety. Lucy often has a hard time understanding that other people aren’t necessarily as kind-hearted as she is and would use her or others for their profit. As such, she can find herself being manipulated fairly easily if she’s not careful and/or doesn’t have good friends around to help her see that something’s amiss.

Her naivety is made worse by the fact that Lucy is very much a follower, rather than a leader. She doesn’t have a lot of confidence in her abilities and so attempts to avoid taking a leading role whenever possible. This tendency also manifests in her reluctance to put forth her ideas in group settings no matter how good it may seem to her. Of course, she’s perfectly willing to perform her part as a member of the group. It’s just that she would rather someone else choose her part for her.

Lucy also has a rather hard time with controlling her emotions and is very much a person who as a tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve. While this means that she doesn’t have the problem of bottling her emotions up until they burst forth in a flood, it also means that she is often ruled by her emotions rather than logic. As an example, in the rare case where she gets upset, she’s much more inclined to react emotionally by snapping at people or yelling than trying to deal with the issue in a calm manner. Additionally, this difficulty in controlling her emotions also causes Lucy to be rather sensitive to the moods, actions, and words of others, which is one of the reasons she has a strong aversion to conflict and actively tries to avoid it.

History:
To put it bluntly, Lucy’s childhood was far from perfect. Her parents were often neglectful of her and her four older siblings and seemed to feel as if they had been trapped in a crumbling marriage. This obviously lead to a very tangible feeling of animosity that permeated the house and left everyone on edge, particularly Lucy. When her parents weren’t ignoring each other or their children, they were often fighting loudly, their shouts echoing throughout the house as the kids kept clear lest they get caught up in it. Unfortunately, their older children often emulated this way of interacting with each other, which just intensified the tension that seemed to always hang over the household.

Though being the youngest child meant that Lucy wasn’t exposed to as much of the hostility in the household as her siblings, she certainly wasn’t immune. Her oldest two siblings, Zoe and Tim, were ten and eight years older than her respectively, so they were, if anything, too overprotective of their baby sister and were generally pleasant to be around. The twins on the other hand, Max and Mary, were only five years older than she was and so had no real qualms with bullying Lucy to make her do what they wanted as they grew up. Eventually, they more or less outgrew it, though by that time they had already instilled in Lucy the idea that she didn’t have the ability to really contribute to a group or be a leader.

Around the time that Lucy was eight years old, her parents finally decided to bite the bullet and get a divorce. Of course, as most young children do, Lucy couldn’t help but fear that she had some part to play in the decision, which definitely did no favors for the girl’s mental health. Ultimately, it was decided that they would alternate custody every other week. This really just meant that once every other week, Lucy and her siblings were unwilling spectators to their parents’ fights, and that they would hear unending complaints and bitter words spoken of the other for the rest of the week.

After the divorce, things seemed to gradually get worse and worse. Both of her parents seemed to become more neglectful, with her father being content to simply sit in front of the television with a six pack of beer and with her mother disappearing regularly for nights on the town. They also became a lot harsher when interacting with the children still at home, often belittling their interests or shouting if they were bothered for anything that they felt was unimportant. One of the few bright spots during this time were the regular calls that Lucy received from Zoe, who had gone off to college before the divorce. Zoe always had a few words of encouragement for Lucy and always listened to whatever she had to say during their conversations.

By the time she was eleven, things had gotten bad enough at home that the school administrators were beginning to question things. On a number of occasions, the guidance counselor pulled Lucy aside to talk with her, but the twins had insisted she say nothing and so the effort was in vain. But, during that same time period, Zoe graduated from college and settled down in a small suburb near the university. Once she was sure that she was financially secure, she tried to get custody of Lucy, unable to hold off from intervening any longer. As it turned out, it wasn’t really that difficult. Once the case started, the evidence of neglect was staggering, and it was fairly simple to grant Zoe custody of her younger sister. The twins were seventeen by this point, and so opted to be independent instead.

Finally removed from the toxic home environment, Lucy seemed to bloom into the cheerful, exuberant girl that she is today. With her older sister’s encouragement to try new things and her support of Lucy’s interests, Lucy found that she had a love for gymnastics, painting, sculpting, and just generally expressing herself through a variety of creative outlets. Similarly, with a strong support structure at home, Lucy was able to excel at school and make a number of solid friendships throughout the years.

~~

Elemental Alignment: Aether
Crystal Form: A silver ring with a large stone in the center and two smaller on either side.

~~

Other:
~Might add some stuff here later.