[i][center]"It's not like dying is a big deal or anything. I mean, everyone knows they're going to die someday, whether you are 80 or 16 years old. I guess I didn't think I'd be the latter... It's not the worst thing in the world though, at least I'm not in pain, I'm not hallucinating and I'm not in a coma either! Yeah, I can beat cancer just fine!"[/center][/i]

[img=http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs49/i/2009/155/9/8/Tree_of_Life_by_fairfieldartist.jpg]

The story this time around is going to be about a teenaged girl that's diagnosed with cancer and not too very long to live. As the quote above suggests, she is in a state of denial upon first receiving the news. When it finally dawns on her that her chances are incredibly slim she slips into a coma. The coma sends her to a high fantasy world a la Neverland or Wonderland. During the coma she will meet various characters that all represent a real person in her real life and she'll have to go through the processes of maturity (She's a teenager for a reason, you know) and mourning due to the cancer that looms over her. 

One of the challenges I present with this RP will be to have a protagonist-driven story where the protagonist is not the GM's PC but rather the combined concept of all of the involved RPers. Hence why each PC represents a person the protagonist knows. Because of this, all of you have equal stake in changing the way the main character behaves, what her backstory is and how she will grow through the experience. Clearly the Big Bad that is present in almost all High Fantasy stories is going to be the cancer here, where at the end our protagonist will either overcome or succumb. Various symptoms of her disease will most likely be represented by the evil minions of the Big Bad. 

A warning I'd like to present is that this isn't going to be based on Tolkien-esque fantasy, at least not during the brighter settings. Think the charm and whimsical nonsense from Alice in Wonderland, then wherever the cancer's influence goes the setting gets much darker, a bit creepy even. I mention this because there seems to have been a bit of confusion in the past.

-

~The Protagonist~

:arghfist No 'tagonist for us yet. Get to CSing, already! :arghfist

[hider=CS]

~Fantasy Side~
Name: 
Appearance: (Always use a description. Use any pictures you like as long as they are of legible quality)
Personality: 
Physicality: (Pros and Cons regarding physical attributes)
Bio: (This one can be short, it's the real side that's important backstory)
Misc: 

~Real Side~
Name: 
Age: 
Appearance: (Always use a description. Use any pictures you like as long as they are of legible quality)
Personality: 
Physicality: 
Bio: (This is the backstory that counts and shapes the Fantasy Side)
Misc: 

[/hider]

-

~Characters~

[hider=Gail Winters - Storm by Optimist]

~Fantasy Side~
Name: Storm
Appearance: Storm is a fit, muscular woman with long black hair, brown eyes and a lean face. She dresses in tight trousers and sleeveless tunics. She has the ears, whiskers and tail of a cat, even in her human form, and there are retractable claws under her finger tips.
Personality: She is generally quiet and a bit shy, but in cat form she takes on a more dynamic, outgoing persona.
Physicality: She has the quickness, nimbleness and leaping and climbing abilities of a cat, but she is not a fighter and generally will run away from a fight, unless she is cornered. When she is cornered she will attack with her natural claws.
Bio: Storm lives in a tree house in the enchanted forest. She has been there for as long as anyone remembers, and never seems to age. Her tree house is filled to the rafters with books and scrolls.
Misc: She can turn into a black cat and back, at will.

~Real Side~
Name: Gail Winters
Age: 28
Appearance: She is a tall, thin woman with long brown hair, brown eyes and a lean face. She wears round spectacles and dresses in loose trousers and sleeveless tunics.
Personality: Gail is generally shy around strangers, and sticks to herself, but with her friends and family she is loving and warm. She is compassionate and feels things very deeply. If there is to much going on at once, she can have meltdowns, but they are more rare than they were when she was growing up.
Physicality: Gail is in good physical condition from running. She has asthma which she controls through exercise and medication.
Bio: Gail Winters was born in Lancaster County Pennsylvania and grew up there as well. Her mother and father were both school teachers and instilled a love of learning in her from a young age. She was very shy, even as a child, and spent most of her time in the library, or reading her books at home. She was never sure how to relate to other children and it was only later in life that she was diagnosed with Asberger's Syndrome. During her childhood she had a tough time surviving public school and was teased a lot. Eventually her parents withdrew her, and started to home school her. Her teacher was her mother, who stopped full time teaching to spend her time teaching her daughter and her daughter's brother Seth.

When she was in her teen years, Gail discovered that she was bisexual. Since then, she has never had a full time relationship with a man or a woman. She has been on a few dates, but is still a virgin and is to scared to put herself out there, or open up to a relationship. It is part of her lifetime struggle with Asbergers.

When Gail was sixteen, she got her GED and started to attend Rosemont College in Rosemont Pennsylvania. She lived in an apartment with her brother, who was two years older and they both attended university together. She came out to her brother during this time, only to discover that he himself was gay. He has since then told her parents who did not receive the news well. Seth and there father have not spoken in almost ten years. Because of this, Gail has been to scared to tell her parents of her own sexuality.

In college she studied English literature and creative writing. She went on to Pennsylvania University, for graduate school, receiving a masters in library science. During this time, she adopted her cat, got her first apartment on her own and generally learned to live an independent adult life. Since graduate school she has moved back to Lancaster County and lives in Intercourse Pennsylvania. She is the reference librarian at a public library and owns a small Victorian house. 
Misc: She has a black cat named Jinx. 
[/hider]

[hider=Joseph Montague - Captain Greybeard by Toaw]

~Fantasy Side~

Name: Captain Greybeard

Appearance: Captain Greybeard is a fairly old man in what seems to be in his late fifties/early sixties, but even in his old age has a very broad chest, and is extremely fit. He has a full beard, so large that his head is minuscule in comparison, and a classic pure black pirate hat, and an eye patch over his right, and left eye. His mouth contains two rotten front teeth, and three golden ones placed in seeming random locations across his mouth. He wears a large blue overcoat over a dark scarlet red t-shirt, along with a pure white undershirt. He wears navy blue pant legs that are neatly tucked under his boots around his ankles. He stands around 6'3", and weighs around 220 lbs. (I couldn't find a good image for him hope this will do!)

Personality: The Captain is extremely adventurous, and is willing to take on things without looking back. He is often considered a bit rude and a drunk, but he has a soft side to him. He will often tell stories of the deeds he had done, and will push others to follow in his footsteps. He believes that everyone has their own battle to face, and that they should just face it head on.

Physicality
Pros:
-Extremely well built, and strong
-Well balanced when on a ship
-Fairly fast
Cons:
-Not well balanced on land
-Often drunk when not sailing or on a boat
-Not very agile when it comes to dogging things

Bio: Captain Greybeard is the mighty captain of the Ship Victoria, and has sailed on it for as long as he could remember. He has no wife, or children to his name, but loves his boat, and the sea more than life itself. He commands a small crew of twenty five others, who all have their different quirks, and weird personalities often being borderline insane.

Misc: He would give up his life if it meant he could travel the sea on Victoria.

~Real Side~

Name: Joseph Montague

Age: 61 (Deceased)

Appearance: A fairly old man with a broad chest, but due to old age is starting to lose his past build due to old age. He has almost a full set of teeth except for three golden ones placed in similar places as Captain Greybeard, and a pair of glasses for his eyes. His hair is pure white, and he has a fairly small full grown beard. In the pictures he is often seen in, he often wore a button downed stripped shirt, and blue jeans tightly fit around two black pair of boots around the ankles.

Personality: He was a fairly calm, and kind old man to those around him. He would often tell stories of "adventures" he had when he was younger, and in better health. He would always encourage those around him to do the best he could, and fill them with dreams of adventure. He would stick up for those around him, and would defend his family even if it meant dying, but wished for no ill will towards others.

Physicality: When he was alive he wasn't active, and couldn't move much due to suffering through both Post-Traumatic stress disorder, and Lung Cancer.

Bio: When Joseph was eighteen he enlisted into the military, and served in the navy for around twenty years. During that time he had served on many boats, and seen many different places learning their cultures, and stories. He was always looking for new things to learn about, and new stories to tell. When he was home he would always tell his children about the things he had seen, and the people he had met, as he had ventured to many distant lands, and started on many different adventures.

Two years after he served in the navy, he had finally decided to go into retirement with his wife. Sadly enough one month after their house suffered a severe robbery while he wasn't home at the time. One of the Robbers panicked, and accidentally shot his wife, and then ran away from the scene of the crime. He had found out about the incident two hours latter, through his daughter who was contacted by the police not to soon after the event. He rushed home immediately only to find out that she didn't make it, and he feel into a deep state of depression, as well as suffering through Post-Traumatic disorder.

Joseph did his best not to let those kind of things get to him, and in order to cheer himself up, he filled (Insert Protagonists name here), with dreams of adventure in hopes that one day she would seek them out like he once did. He loved to tell stories of pirates, and traveling to distant lands where few would venture, and even made himself one of the adventures a few times around. He would often describe himself as a fairly large pirate, who once went completely blind and had to wear two eye patches. She would often ask wouldn't that be hard to see, and he would laugh it off telling her that it was all in the nose, and that all he really needed to keep him going was the fresh smell of the Ocean air.

Around the age of sixty Joseph was diagnosed with lung cancer, and became critically ill not to soon after that. Doctors often told him it was impressive how well he was holding out, but he couldn't hold on much longer. A year latter his condition got critical, and his daughter, and granddaughter stood by him the entire time. Before he passed on he whispered to his granddaughter "Never give in to death, and always seek new adventures."

Misc: He is currently deceased, and he is the main protagonist's grandfather, also his daughter is the protagonists mother. (I mainly did this so I wouldn't have to use the main protagonists last name, or choose it for you guys)
[/hider]

[hider=Ashlyn Lawrence - Connie Elwyn by Rune_Alchemist]

~Fantasy Side~

Name: Connie Elwyn
Appearance: [url=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs44/i/2009/164/1/2/SteamPunk_Cammy_by_Pechan.jpg]Connie[/url] is a young girl, around the age of sixteen, maybe just turning seventeen. She's a bit short for her age, something you really shouldn't mention unless you want to get a wrench to the face. She has messy curly red hair, with green eyes and slim build. She wears her work suit most of the time, and rarely ever takes it off. Her goggles are merely use to protect her eyes when she's working, and totally not for poor eyesight. Nope, not at all.

Personality: Connie is the self-proclaimed smartest girl on the planet. While this fact may be disputed, the fact remains, she is smart any way you look at it. She's a quick learner at most tasks, and understands the laws of the world quite easily and picks up on most things quite often. She fancies herself an inventor, and loves tinkering with new things. Most of her inventions tend to go...haywire though, and in some way or another tend to not work. This can leave her a bit depressed at times, and sometimes goes into a creative slump. She does love travelling though, and experiencing new things, and has traveled quite a bit for someone of her age. Despite her somewhat arrogant front, she's friendly and can be a great friend to anyone who needs it. Just don't mention her height and you'll get along fine.

She has a dream of one day making a completely functioning automaton, like the ones in her villages old legends.

Physicality: (Pros and Cons regarding physical attributes)
Pros:
Quick learner
Intelligent
resourceful
Cons:
Isn't physically strong
Can't run for long
Is a bit arrogant and prideful.
(Eh, not really physical things, but physical stuff isn't her strong suit xD)

Bio: Connie is an explorer from a far off land, who came to this place to find a new home after a misunderstanding forced her to leave her previous home. She has been travelling for awhile, though only recently set off on her own. She was travelling with a caravan, until she grew bored. So, she set up a shop where she makes and sells specialty items and other inventions. Well, tries too. So far, she has been...less than successful. She tries to create something new, and it usually ends up exploding and any money she gets goes into repairs, damages, and getting more stock for her store. She sells a few things to make a profit, then the process repeats leaving her in quite the predicament, recently.

Misc:

~Real Side~

Name: Ashlyn Lawrence
Age: 16
Appearance: Meh. Couldn't find a picture I liked, so here's my attempt at writing a description.
Ashlyn is a bit short for her age, has pale skin with quite a few freckles and long red hair usually tied back into a ponytail. She has green eyes and wears a pair of glasses due to being somewhat near-sighted, though she hates wearing them. She normally wears a simple T-shirt with some jeans and sneakers. Wears a purple jacket in the winter sometimes. She used to get upset/angry when someone mentioned her height, though now she's more mature about it, at least on the surface.

Personality: Ashlyns' personality mainly stems from the fact she has always been rather frail, physically speaking, and somewhat clumsy ever since she was a child. She was always causing small accidents and always ending up hurting herself from the smallest things. She has grown out of the clumsiness, mostly, as she's grown but she's still lacking in the physical area. 

What she lacks in physical strength and appearance, she makes up for it in her personality. Ashlyn tries to keep a serious and professional attitude, She is strong willed, ambitious, and incredibly intelligent especially for someone of her age. She never takes no for an answer, and always goes after what she wants. She is skilled with computers, coding, and aspires to one day be the leader in robotics and computer design. Her dream? Create a suit of some sort that allows weaker people be able to pull off amazing feats of strength and stamina. It may sound like science fiction to most, and she may have played too many video games and watched too many sci-fi movies and shows, but she does not care. She has a long way to go before she's there, but she is unafraid of accomplishing this daunting task. She can be a bit of a know-it all at times, and can be somewhat arrogant without realizing it.

Of course, this confident outgoing personality of hers is really just a front for her insecurities. The main of which, is her sexuality. She has begin to find herself attracted to people of the same sex. Growing up in a house that has openly expressed...dislike, for such people, has made her rather uneasy about this topic. Even more so, is that she has found herself having feelings for the protagonist. This is made even more uncomfortable by the fact they have been friends for awhile now. She also is unsure about her own future, and constantly has to fight with the fact that she believes actually accomplishing her goals are quite slim - a fact she rarely confides in anyone, no one but the protagonist knows about her concerns about her life goals

She does have an almost insatiable love for space and sci-fi things. She has always been fascinated by the stars and the unknown, and would give anything to explore the stars. She only lets the close friends of hers see this side of her though, and doesn't get all nerdy and geeky that often, as it somewhat embarrasses her.

Physicality: Thin, not unhealthily so, but much more so than others usually. She's not unfit or unhealthy, in fact she tries to stay in somewhat good shape. She's not too strong physically speaking, but she makes up for it with her intelligence and resourcefulness.

Bio: Ashlyn, or simply Ash, as her close friends call her, was born on a cold winter morning during December. She was never one of the 'popular kids'. In elementary, she always preferred to read, rather than play or talk with the other children. The shyness stemmed from her fearing of messing up, or just afraid that she wouldn't make a good impression. For the most part, she spent the early part of her childhood alone, either with her books or the occasional outing with her parents.

This changed, a few years later shortly before she met (Insert protagonist name here). She was watching some old sci-fi movies and was fascinated by them. Soon, she became interested in all things scientific, namely computers. She still didn't go out of her way to meet new people, but she wasn't shy anymore. She was just too busy with her own things to have time for other people.

Until she met the Protagonist at the age of 13. They were assigned to work on a school science project together. Ashlyn did most of the work, though, simply because she refused to let the Protagonist even touch the thing. Not because she thought the protagonist was stupid, or lacked the required skills, it was simply because she thought she could do a better job by herself. If it wasn't for the protagonist though, she would never have finished the project. After this, the two became best friends. Since then, the two have remained close.

Despite being more or less, best friends, Ashlyn started to develop feelings for the Protagonist shortly before the cancer appeared. This, was a shock to her, as much as it would be to anyone else once she realized it. She had never been that interested in romantic relations at all. If anything, she was scared. Her parents had openly expressed their dislike for such people, and while she never had seen a problem with them, she never imagined she could possibly like people of the same sex. Unfortunately, a month or so before the Cancer was announced and she fell into a Coma, Ashlyn began to avoid the protagonist, and make excuses to not see her. This, obviously, hurt their relationship quite a bit.

After the cancer was announced, she was devastated. Now, she wishes she would have said something before about her feelings. She may never get to now.

Misc:
[/hider]