Expendable

Mundane fantastic slice of life

<Snipped quote by shagranoz>

Obviously, it'd depend on the character, and it's ultimately the GM's decision, but I feel like they might be an odd fit for the "ragtag group of mostly college-age acquaintances" vibe we've got going on. I've been in that position myself recently and it can be really frustrating >_>

@naomimyselfandi

Perhaps the professor is a group advisor?

Mundane fantastic slice of life

@Fading Memory - Just a thought. If he's that wealthy, why is he visiting a second-hand student furniture store instead of going to one of the better furniture places? Is he slumming? Or is he looking for accent pieces to sit on a $2000 zebra-skin drum table with glass top?

Mundane fantastic slice of life

@Fading Memory, character is good!

Here's the playlist, if anyone is interested. I've tried to make sure to add all the characters' theme songs, but if I've missed anyone, let me know(theme songs are not at all requires, I just thought it was fun to mess around with music from the era).

Expendable: I couldn't find Room 101 on Spotify(actually, I found about a hundred songs by the name, but none by Eurythmics).
Tubular Bells I left out deliberately, it's just too long lol, sorry.

@Gisk

It's on YouTube. Sorry about the long songs. She picked up a couple of CD's, the Eurythmics 1984 album was in a sale bin, Tubular Bells was on the Pure Moods CD.

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

"Mom! Don't!" Kat yelled, but her mother merely turned and looked up at the balcony where she was standing, smiling sweetly as she gave a little wave. Her father closed the door for her, then turned and smiled up at Kat. He walked around the back of the Roll and opened his door, pausing to blow a kiss....

"Noooooooo!"

Everything slowed to a crawl as the car began to swell with horrible yellow light, the car windows blowing out in a shower of glass and flames, and the screaming....!

"AAAAAGGGH!" Kat screams, jerking upright in her bed. She buries her face in her hands, sides heaving as she sobs, then began the breathing exercises Dr. Greene taught her so long ago. Breathe deeply, hold it for three beats, then let it out, wait for three beats. Her first few tries were ragged, but eventually she had herself under control.

Looking up, she wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, then fumbled for the lamp. She was in the walk-in closet, barely big enough for the twin sized bed and a small nightstand, while a box fan strung up on the wire shelving blew air down on her. Tiny Christmas lights were strung along the shelf, to give her a little light when the lamp was off. Uncle Oscar's men had set this up for her, sealing the old doorway, making a new one, adding electrical sockets and filling the walls with insulating foam, making sure her screaming couldn't be heard outside the bedroom.

"We wouldn't want you to draw attention to yourself," Uncle Oscar had said, patting her hands in a grandfatherly way.

Kat glanced at the monitor showing her the view from the front door security cam before rising, opening the door and steps into the bedroom. Picking out a pair of jean shorts and a polo shirt from the garment rack, she laid them out on the queen sized bed in the middle of the room. A dress form mannequin was sleeping on the far side. She hadn't bothered to ask why it was there.

---

She felt better after her shower, but her eyes were still red. Kat sighs, then washes up her cereal bowl and spoon, putting them in the rack to dry. Uncle Oscar had promised to get her a car, but she needed to do some shopping. There was no hope for it but to ride her bicycle downtown and pick up what she needed, and hope there was enough room in the pannier baskets to hold everything.

Grabbing her purse, sunglasses and a head scarf, she paused to study herself in the small mirror by the door.

"You are Theodora Clark, from Hickory, Virginia. Your date of birth is June 17, 1999. You're a Gemini," she repeated. "You're a struggling artist. You are Theodora Clark...."

Mundane fantastic slice of life

Tobias Malkinson WIP

Name
Tobias, "Toby", Malkinson
Age
22

Appearance

image that inspired me

Yuumei Art

Personality
Tobias is an introspective individual, to a fault. He spends most of his time locked up in his own head trying to think about two or four things at once, and when he is focused on a single task he will spend far too much time overthinking all but the simplest of tasks. He is clever and smart, but it comes with the burden of self-doubt and double-think to try and produce the best outcome possible. He is a people pleaser, and a Nice Guy, in that he derives his own sense of self worth from the validation of others. He is genuinely a kind person, but he forces it sometimes in moments where he truly should establish some kind of boundary for himself. Giving to a dangerous degree when it comes to his time and energy. Additionally, he is under immense pressure to perform and is very self critical of his own perceived failures and shortcomings.

But despite these worming doubts and flaws, he is a sociable and extroverted individual who, without the social relationships he will eventually burn himself out to maintain, would go insane locked up in his dorm room trying to write.

Background
The once wide-spread and diverse Malkinson clan has dwindled and withered over the last two centuries. A family name that once spread two continents did not survive the triple catastrophe of three major wars. The first schism of the Malkinson clan was a three-way split during the United States Civil War; the 'True' Malkinsons kept the name in the North, whereas their southron counterparts adopted a new name in the Kinsingtons and the European branch distanced itself from their warring kin and broke contact in full. After the family's disastrous separation in the civil war, the Malkinsons further faced decimation through the two successive world wars where it is presumed that the European branch was eradicated in its entirety during the Holocaust.

A singular adult remained in the continental united states at the end of the second world war who claimed the name Malkinson in true lineage. A woman of remarkable stubbornness and world-sense by the name of Lorelei, who despite the setback of losing father, two uncles, and husband in the succession of wars did not balk at the task of raising her two children alone.

The daughter showed talent as a Witch, which Lorelei encouraged and supported heartily. Tobias' Aunt Naomi's education was informal at first, apprenticed to a small-town witch in Maryland. She soon eclipsed his teachings and was enrolled into Sanctuary Hills University due to Lorelei's preference for its historic prestige and purpose. Naomi Malkinson graduated summa cum laude for her class, a Doctorate of Medicine under her belt and a minor in the Magical Arts. Her Thesis paper was titled On the theory of repairing internal scar tissue resulting from the inhalation of superheated smoke through the use of modern medicine alongside Grimmwalden's Spectro-Occulosis to pinpoint critical areas of treatment.

The son, however, took a different path. His upbringing was harder, the loss of father and uncles taking an immense toll on the young boy. The young Amos Malkinson grew bitter, angry, and battled against his mother's guiding hand at every turn. The successes of his sister and her perceived status as 'favorite' filled him with envy, and the unresolved grief he carried hardened into the pure stuff of hatred. Amos ran away from home as a teenaged boy, and Lorelei considered him disowned. The specifics of what happened to Amos are a mystery, but after nearly a decade of absence he returned in the early 1970's a different man. He was somber, quiet, introspective to a fault, a coward who flinched at every provocation, and who seemed to fear liquor with a fervor that bred gossip.

He did not return alone. Tobias Malkinson, aged four at the time, as well as his infant sister Aviva were introduced to the matronly figure of Lorelei Malkinson. Thusly, they were immediately loved and brought into the fold. Raised more by his grandmother than his own father, who was relegated to the job of Groundskeeper on the Malkinson Estate and rarely took active role in either of his children's lives, Tobias was brought up by a firm hand that had become whimsical with age rather than cruel. Lorelei doted upon the infant Aviva with rekindled motherly care, and guided Tobias firmly down a different course than his father.

The library of the Malkinson estate became Tobias' true home, and Lorelei spent much time with him discussing and carefully curating his interest in literature. By the time of his formal highschool education, Tobias excelled beyond his peers and earned recognition and scholarship for his displayed knack for the Classical Studies. Holding his aunt Naomi to be a role model, he turned his attention towards Sanctuary Hills to follow in her footsteps. However, two things happened in the years leading up to this decision that irrevocably altered Tobias' path in life.

The first is that his sister had an accident in her freshman year Introductions to Magical Theory class. Her burns were severe. Naomi Malkinson flew back to oversee Aviva's treatment and surgery herself. Aviva will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, the cause of the issue appearing to be neurological rather than physiological, and her body still carries heavy burn scarring despite multiple magical treatments.

The second is that his father started drinking again. The accident caused Amos to stay out later and later, and soon Tobias discovered the figure of his father slumped over unconscious on the garden paths of the Malkinson Manor. When he roused the man, Amos began speaking in a weeping voice with bloodshot eyes to Toby. His slurred, whispered, speech revealed to Tobias the long-buried truth about what had happened to the mother he never knew.

Tobias promised not to pursue an advanced education in magic, and promised not to tell Aviva what had been revealed.

And so it was that when Tobias Malkinson arrived for his first year's enrollment at Sanctuary Hills, he began the path of Liberal Arts, majoring in Philosophy and Classical Literature whilst pursuing a minor in Creative Writing. Such an educational path is a slow moving one, intense in its workload, but Tobias has maintained it well. More importantly, he has fallen utterly in love with the Appalachian mountains and the cozy, small-time, feeling of the Sanctuary Hills area. When not frantically scrambling about the campus, frantically writing and sleeping in Dormitory One, or frantically trying to maintain his social life, Tobias can be found either volunteering at the Mary Parker Memorial Library or working part time in Sanctuary Hills at Phil's Coffeehouse.

Magic Specialty
N/A

Relationships

Aviva Malkinson, aged 17-going-on-18 - Tobias religiously maintains a relationship with his younger sister. They choose to write letters to one another rather than using any other means of communication out of a mutual fascination with the written word. He replies to her letters immediately, and awaits her next ones with immense eagerness and excitement.

Philomena Hios - Tobias works part time for her, helping out around the coffeehouse for pocket money— And, more importantly, vital and necessary constant access to potent caffeinated concoctions. Toby is certain that without Phil and her coffeehouse, he would have died in his first year at the university.

Magical Faculty of SHU - Following in the footsteps of his prodigious aunt in enrollment at the university, but electing not to pursue a magical study has him under pressure from some of the faculty of the school who think he would excel under such programs and believe they have his best interests at heart.

I just need to write up the Appearance section, but the short end is 'he's kinda short but well kempt and fashionable'. I also need to start organizing some of this music I listen to and checking dates to see if they fit a playlist. I'm getting there :P

I'm posting what I've got now so that A) Gisk can stab me if I did something wrong or disliked and B) We can begin working on relationships between the characters. When I have a little more time I'll go back and reread what everyone else was talking about and what's been posted so far to give my own ideas.

@Fading Memory

For a music list of the top 100 songs for each year, try https://www.musicoutfitters.com/top-100-songs.htm#1990
https://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=generalperson is a site I use to generate descriptions.

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

Theo

Name:
Katherine Semenova Theodora Clark

Birthday:
Actual: April/1/1999
Her phony driver's license & birth certificate has June 17, 1999.

Age: 24

Appearance:
This woman puts you in mind of a mysterious sphinx. She has hooded gray eyes that are like two pieces of steel. Her fine, straight, shoulder-length chocolate hair has been trimmed to a pixie cut and bleached to the color of milk. She is average height and has a slender build. Her skin is cream-colored. She has a high forehead and nearly-nonexistent eyebrows. Her wardrobe looks like she shops at Goodwill.

Occupation:
Artist - drawings, paintings, sculpture. Wanted international art thief.

Short Bio:
Born in her father's office at a "social club" that was actually a brothel he was managing. Witnessed her mother's death in a fiery car explosion, while Kat's father Petrov survived with lung damage and heavy chest and right arm scarring. She has reoccurring nightmares of that night, although she's not screaming as much.

After her father's arrest and conviction, she was sent to the Stonewall Boarding School for Girls, basically a prison with nicer cells and a better dress code. Kat only spent a couple nights in the school dorm before being transferred to a hastily soundproof room in the main building's old servant quarters. Ms. Kingman, head mistress, also arranged for her to see a psychiatrist twice a week, Dr. Greene. Kat's state-appointed guardian, after paying out for her school fees and now psychiatrist visits, only allowed her a single class uniform and gym outfit each year.

Petrov was stabbed repeatedly and died in prison. On her 18th birthday, Kat received access to a trust fund set up for her, so she went to Art School to earn her degree. Her graduation present for herself was a trip to France to tour the art museums, only to get kidnapped and forced to help her captors steal paintings and smuggle them back to the states. Fortunately for her, their fence was an old friend of her father's. Since cops would be looking for her, he helped arrange fake ids, transportation and a house in Sanctuary for her to hide out at.

Kat Theo has only been in town for a couple of weeks, mostly keeping to herself.

Misc:
Social anxiety, especially in crowds, and around cops and strangers. Normally seen riding a bike with wire baskets.

Mundane fantastic slice of life

I'd say give it a shot, but I'm not running this. Still, what could it hurt?

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

@The Muse Assuming this is still open:

Name:
Katherine Semenova Theodora Clark

Birthday:
Actual: April/1/1999
Her phony driver's license & birth certificate has June 17, 1999.

Age: 24

Appearance:
This woman puts you in mind of a mysterious sphinx. She has hooded gray eyes that are like two pieces of steel. Her fine, straight, shoulder-length chocolate hair has been trimmed to a pixie cut and bleached to the color of milk. She is average height and has a slender build. Her skin is cream-colored. She has a high forehead and nearly-nonexistent eyebrows. Her wardrobe looks like she shops at Goodwill.

Occupation:
Artist - drawings, paintings, sculpture. Wanted international art thief.

Short Bio:
Born in her father's office at a "social club" that was actually a brothel he was managing. Witnessed her mother's death in a fiery car explosion, while Kat's father Petrov survived with lung damage and heaving chest and right arm scarring. She has reoccurring nightmares of that night, although she's not screaming as much.

After her father's arrest and conviction, she was sent to the Stonewall Boarding School for Girls, a prison with nicer cells and a better dress code. Kat only spent a couple nights in the school dorm before being transferred to a hastily soundproof room in the main building's old servant quarters. Ms. Kingman also arranged for her to see a psychiatrist twice a week, Dr. Greene. Her state-appointed guardian, after paying out for her school fees and now psychiatrist visits, only allowed her a single class uniform and gym outfit each year.

Petrov was stabbed repeatedly and died in prison. On her 18th birthday she received access to a trust fund set up for her, so she went to Art School to earn her degree. Her graduation present for herself was a trip to France to tour the art museums, only to get kidnapped and forced to help her captors steal paintings and smuggle them back to the states. Fortunately for her, their fence was an old friend of her father's. Since cops would be looking for her, he helped arrange fake ids, transportation and a house in Sanctuary for her to hide out at.

Kat Theo has only been in town for a couple of weeks, mostly keeping to herself.
Misc:
Social anxiety, especially in crowds, and around cops and strangers. Normally seen riding a bike with wire baskets.

Mundane fantastic slice of life

How is everything going?

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

"Will take that under advisement," Jack replied to Woden's suggestion of unloading the weapons for the sims. "Make a note that all weapons in the sims are to be checked each time to make sure they are not loaded before being handed to one of our trainees."

The X.O. signs, then turns to face Clara.

"Ms. Anselm," he says formally, "Thank you for your report."

He then turns and studies the order the captain left.

"Right, let's pull up the roster..." he sighs.

It actually took less time to assign the teams than he thought it would.

Roster

Spaceport cargo loaders x 2 - Engineering Team
Hangar attendant - Engineering Team
Chemical Engineer (was heading to the Moon to help set up a new food factory) - Science Team
Lunar mining equipment mechanic - Engineering Team
Ethical hacker (knowledge of AI) (Broken leg) - Science Team
Archaeologists x 3 - Science / Survey Team
Nordic metal band members x 3 - Command Team (Native Relations)
Landscape designer for the Martian rich and powerful - Survey Team
Lunar colony architect (head injury) - Command Team
Solar energy farm engineer - focused more on sales - Engineering Team
Marketing consultants & project managers x 3 - One each to Engineering, Science, and Medical Team.
Investment analyst x 2 - Science Team
Decentralized finance infrastructure engineer - Gunshot wound to shoulder - Command Team (Native Relations)
Gene editor (and mother to an 8 year old boy on board) - Venusian - Science Team
Mining equipment manufacturing line supervisor (and father to a 9 year old girl on board) - Engineering Team
Estate agent - Survey Team
Senior Claims Adjuster - Crisis Management, Cyber and M&A - Medical Team
VR game designer - Command Team (Native Relations)
Artist and graphic designer - Command Team (Native Relations)

He took a sip from his cup despite what his taste buds were telling him about the brew, reflecting that undoubtedly someone would be complaining when they saw this.

As to supervisors - he was going to supervise the Command team 'volunteers', and leave it to the department heads to select who they'd want to assign as supervisors.

"Ms. Anslem, please inform the department heads that I need a meeting with them at 10 AM in the conference room so we can finish hashing out these assignment details."