FernStone

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

Ella Brooks

alternatively

"No matter how dark it is, I’ll always be the light! A magical girl never gives up!"

_______________________________________________ Ella Rene Brooks She/Her | 16 | African-American | 5’8” | 174lbs _______________________________________________ Radiant _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Who said weebs can’t be fit? How else will I become a magical girl?!" ___________________________________ [+] Anime Obsessed ⫻ Being a massive weeb, Ella has in depth knowledge of many anime - with a particular speciality in magical girl ones. But she watches all sorts of genres, always trying to keep up with the popular anime of the season even if she isn’t into it. If you want to know what anime to watch, just ask her, she has recommendations for everything. Don’t know what anime a character is from? Ask Ella, she’ll know. She spent more time watching anime than she did studying or doing literally anything else with her life. Athletic Magical Girl Wannabe ⫻ Ella is surprisingly sporty for a nerd. She needs to be fit to be a magical girl, after all! She's the best long distance runner on the track team. Sure, in a school small as theirs it's not the most impressive thing, but her stamina certainly is. She can run for an hour without a problem, and more if she needs to. Plus, she's strong as hell. The main thing she's missing is speed- but she has enough to win that final push in a 10km race. She also hits the gym frequently, making sure to lift weights to keep up arm strength along with her stamina. Plus, she has an amazing high kick from when she did taekwondo, before the only taekwondo teacher in the area (a slightly larger town an hour drive away) left. Ace Batter ⫻ With Kelly Willis basically graduated, Ella is now the ace batter for the Cornell Cornballs- the schools softball team. She’s pretty good at fielding too, but is never allowed to pitch- and not because Vicky’s territorial over that role. Oh no, her aim is bad when throwing. But with a bat? She’ll send it mile high, making up for her less than ideal short distance running. Extrovert Among Introverts ⫻ Ella is someone who, now that she’s figured out how (mostly), flourishes in social situations. This contrasts a lot of her weebier peers. But this means she can be the face of the group, with a bright confidence that brings shyer people out of their shells. Of course, it doesn’t always work, because she can often be too much. But she’s approachable, bringing together people who’d otherwise struggle to make friends and protecting them from bullies.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’m unashamedly me. I don’t care what others say, I’ll look exactly how I want to." Ella’s bright cheerfulness is visible in all aspects of her appearance, from her constant smile to her colourful clothes. She’s a bit of a bigger girl, taller than average (and still growing!) with some weight to her (especially in her hips) even with all the exercise she does. But she’s strong, much stronger than she first appears (until she flexes her arms, which she rarely does, it isn’t cute!). Puberty treated her well, and she’s quite curvy. Her skin is a medium brown, smooth and well cared for. Another thing that draws the eye is her dyed hair. Naturally black, it’s currently a gradient from bright pink to a softer coral pink. It constantly varies as it grows and gets cut- sometimes it's the ends that are the bright pink with lighter coloured roots, or the colours practically faded out of all her hair. She redyes it in sections as she feels like it, adding to the excitement of having such interestingly coloured hair. It’s left natural and made up of tight curls, giving it much more volume than length. It goes to the bottom of her chin when dry. She loves her hair, taking good care of it and often not leaving it loose. Her favourite hairstyle is tt half up with twin buns on the top of her head, the rest left loose - emulating sailor moon. The front section is cut shorter, leaving a cute little fringe even when she fully ties it up (still favouring two buns or ponytails, it’s just too thick for one). Ella loves wearing makeup, always found with nicely done eyeliner and lips a shade of glossy pink or red. She wears more subtly sparkly eyeshadow with blush on her cheeks to add a bit of cuteness. She adores cute clothes. Pastels are her favourite, but she loves bright colours too - especially hot pink. While pink and purple are her preferred colours, she’ll wear just about any she thinks she suits. Her typical fashion is pleated (often plaid) skirts or wide legged corduroy pants, with crop tops or tight t-shirts tucked into them. Knitted cardigans, both cropped or oversized, are added for extra warmth, and a cute jacket if she really needs it. She loves to accessorise, with a variety of colourful necklaces, bracelets and rings always worn. She has lobe piercings, and often wears cute dangling ones to match her outfit. While she needs glasses, and has a pair of large gold rimmed ones, she tends to wear contacts.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"You’ll feel much better if you ignore what others say. If you can’t, don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To graduate highschool, obviously! Ella hopes to scrape a good enough grade to actually get into university with a sports scholarship (because being great at all those sports isn’t enough, supposedly). Though now that she’s discovered magic and kindled, another dream that was once just a fantasy has come to the forefront of her mind. She could be a real magical girl. A hero that saves people and maybe even the world!

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ There’s always light in the darkness, no matter how difficult things seem. Ella believes in optimism and always moving forward even in the worst circumstances. Sometimes you have to become that light for other people, and help them see the good in the world. Ella literally thinks in the power of friendship and that by working together you can do anything. She’s always trying to do her best by other people, aiming to motivate and support so others can live their best lives. But she also believes that sometimes a good punch is needed to bring someone round to doing the right thing.

SECRETS ⫻ Ella’s an open book, and doesn’t really have any secrets. Honestly, she’s probably too open about things she should keep to herself. Don’t tell Ella your secrets, it's a bad idea.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Ella is openly a lesbian, something she realised a few years ago. She’s attracted to women and feminine aligning nonbinary people… In theory. She’s yet to actually like someone who’s real to the point she’d want to date them. She’s on the aroace spectrum, though this isn’t something she knows anything about.

FEARS ⫻ Her favourite manga getting adapted into an anime only to get cancelled after one season. Her favourite manga getting cancelled early. Her favourite anime or manga getting poorly localised and misunderstood. People on the internet grossly mischaracterising her favourite character. She’s also scared of needles. She fears one day not being there for her friends, and being unable to protect them. That it’ll be her fault that something happens to someone she cares about because she wasn’t strong enough to stop it.

REPUTATION IN CORNELL ⫻ If Ella wasn’t openly a massive weeb (and lesbian), she’d probably be one of the most popular girls in school thanks to her friendly, incredibly upbeat nature. Thankfully for the actual popular girls, she’s loud and proud about her nerdiness. This makes her reputation a bit more of a mixed bag, because she can just be weird. Plus it’s highschool, weebs are very bulliable. Not that she is. Ella will kick anyone who bullies her or her friends. Generally, Ella is seen as someone friendly and approachable. She’s incredibly loud and boisterous, meaning that everyone in school knows her, whether they like her or not. She’s well liked among the nerds, and even the more gloomy outcasts for her friendliness towards them. The normal students? Not so much, they tend to laugh at her.

FLAWS ⫻ Ella can be incredibly overwhelming. She’s loud, constantly happy and overly friendly. This can come across as pushy when she talks to people who just don’t want to be talked to- though she’s not trying to be pushy. She’s often completely oblivious to the social boundaries most people just understand, and doesn’t notice cues that tell her someone’s uncomfortable. In fact she’s not all that good at reading reactions or emotions of others at all, beyond the obvious. She has a tendency to say shit that just isn’t appropriate to say to someone she isn’t close to. She’s also very scatterbrained and easily distractible. Concentrating on something she isn’t interested in just doesn’t happen. This affects her relationships, but has a more major affect on school. Also while she’s not quick to anger or violent, she has no qualms about punching back someone who hit her first- or someone who’s mean to her friends.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I never thought I’d end up living out my own highschool anime… I wonder if I’m the main character? I do have the brightest hair! But my seat isn’t in the back left near the window, oh no, I’m not a side character doomed to die, am I?!"

The start of Ella’s life was quite mundane. She was the second child of two overworked but trying their best parents. Her parents tried their hardest with both her and her older brother, but they didn’t have the time to go along with all her whims. While Ella was always bright and boisterous, she struggled to connect with the other children her age. She didn’t understand social cues and was treated as being weird, even bullied once kids got old enough to bully. So while she was desperate from friendship, she tended to have to turn to books for company. Even in the sports she did

Then, one day her life changed. At age twelve she was given proper access to the internet, and stumbled upon this forum post about something called anime. She decided to give it a try… and discovered a whole new world! Ella fell in love with anime, spending every free moment watching it. Her favourite was Sailor Moon and other magical girl anime, but she tried out all sorts of genres. She wanted to watch everything she could!

Anime gave her a way to form a connection, and something to emulate. While she was still incredibly weird and often too much, she figured out how to channel her friendliness in a way that actually worked. And most nerds just weren’t outgoing like she was! So she became a bit of a beacon for all the outcasts her age in town, forcefully dragging the ones she could to be her friends.

Things were as good as they could be as a nerd going through a small town school. She’d been running and working out for a while, but in highschool she actually got on both the track team and the softball team. She’d solidified her little group of friends, and made it her duty to be friendly to all the outcasts! To varying degrees of success, of course… But failure would never deter her!

She even managed to convince her friends to go along to the party at the old warehouse. Nerds deserved to let go and drink too, after all! She’d beat up any bullies that said otherwise. And it was fun until a monster right out of a horror anime appeared. Holy shit. Monsters were real.

Not just monsters, but magic. Putting her life on the line to protect her friends so they could get out, Ella felt a surge of confidence which led to a burst of magic in her. Guided by instinct, and hours upon hours of watching Sailor Moon, she dramatically spun and posed, going through her own magical girl transformation.

The transformation probably caused more harm than good, distracting people on their way out. The green lux she managed to eke out with it enhanced her durability enough that she didn’t die when the monster threw her against the wall. So, a win for her! The creature fled in the end and she vowed to be stronger the next time.

In the time since, Ella has been using every spare moment to train with her magic, trying to develop spells to help fight the monsters that have started to slip through the cracks. Because if anyone’s going to save the town, it’s her. She’s a magical girl now, after all.

_{Paranormal-Abilities
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Magical Girl Aurora reporting for duty!"

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Green, Orange & Red Lux. Channeler: a sailor moon wand replica

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Inspired by all of her favourite magical girl anime, Ella has developed a series of spells to become a magical girl herself. She has her magical girl transformation spells, a series of light and colour based spells and enhancement based spells.

Magical Metamorphosis! ⫻ The spell Ella kindled with, and necessary for all her other ones to work. Using a combination of all of her lux, Ella transforms into a magical girl. This happens much like the magical girl transformations in an anime - she yells out a phrase (varying depending on the fight), and her whole body glows with a prismatic light. She dramatically (and unnecessarily) poses throughout it as her clothes change into a white leotard, purple miniskirt and a tiara with a shining purple gem at the centre. Her hair grows longer and changes into a bright pink to purple gradient. She dramatically poses at the end with her channel crossed in front of her (also unnecessary for the spell to work). The whole transformation sequence takes about thirty seconds. Beyond the visual changes, this spell enhances her strength and durability. Nothing extreme, she’d need other spells for that, but enough to let her survive some blows and give them back better than she could without magic.

Prismatic Powers! ⫻ A series of light based spells primarily focusing on her red lux in combination with her green and orange lux. The only spells she has, but she just knows she’ll develop more!

Super Prism Kick! ⫻ Using a combination of red and green lux, Ella empowers one of her legs with shining rainbow light. This makes her leg much stronger and harder, along with being coated in a magical, damaging light. She then performs a powerful high kick with this leg. This is her primary attack, though it’s short range can put her at risk.

Prism Princess Daylight Blade! ⫻ A spell combining her red and orange lux. Ella holds her channeler out in front of her like she’s holding a blade, one hand sliding up it. As it does the channeler extends, a scabbard forming from the handle. Then she goes through a series of poses, ending in a crouch with her channeler up ready to attack. As she does this, a glowing rainbow light coats the sword-channeler and extends out the side to form sharpened edges. With a dramatic final pose of choice, the channeler transformation is complete. This turns her channeler into a sword made of a combination of the extended base channeler and sharp edges of rainbow light. It cuts just like a sword would, but has magical durability making it near impossible to break the channeler itself (though the light could be shattered).

Prismatic Sun Flash! ⫻ With a dramatic pose and a flourish of her channeler, Ella shoots thick beam of damaging rainbow light at a target. This acts like a laser that burns through human flesh. It’s still a bit unstable, since it’s the newest spell she’s been working on.

LIMITS ⫻The limit of all of Ella’s spells is that she needs to be in her magical girl form to use them. This is a mental block she could overcome, but won’t.

Magical Metamorphosis! ⫻ Ella can only stay in her magical girl form for two hours at a time before needing a half an hour break. While her strength and durability are enhanced, it’s nothing special (she’ll need stronger spells for that). Blows that would kill her will still kill her, just she can withstand more than she should be able to. This spell is mainly aesthetic, with minor enhancements.

Prismatic Powers! ⫻

Super Prism Kick! ⫻ Ella’s leg isn’t entirely protected from damage, while strengthened. She can still damage it depending on how hard whatever she kicks is - for example, kicking a brick wall would damage it. If she keeps using it while damaged, she could eventually break her leg. It's limited in range, because she has to get close enough to kick whatever she’s trying to attack. She can keep this spell up for twenty minutes before needing a break.

Prism Princess Daylight Blade! ⫻ While the end result of this spell is more powerful that Super Prism Kick!, it’s short lived with a convoluted cast (which takes almost a minute). It only lasts for five minutes, and the dramatic spinning and posing is required to turn her channeler into a sword. It’s also limited in range, creating essentially a shortsword, meaning she has to get close to attack. While her orange lux enhances her channeler, the magical light that gives the sharpness is more fragile.

Prismatic Sun Beam! ⫻ This spell has a range of ten metres. This isn’t a continuous beam and each new shot requires another pose, making it a bit clunky to use quickly. Each shot drains her.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Ella’s magical gay girl Abstraction relies heavily on her Magical Metamorphosis; she cannot activate her spells until her transformation is complete. This process takes about thirty seconds, during which she is vulnerable, bright, and unable to act. Her Prismatic Powers are also limited. While her Super Prism Kick is powerful, it has a short range and leaves her leg exposed, increasing the risk of injury if used repeatedly against hard surfaces or opponents.

Her spells themselves have exploitable fragility. Prism Princess Daylight Blade, though sharp and magical, is inherently delicate; if it strikes a reflective surface, the blade is disrupted, and strong impacts can shatter its rainbow light, rendering it useless. Prismatic Sun Flash is similarly hazardous; its intense beams can backfire, blinding Ella if reflected or misaligned. Close-range combat is particularly risky, as most of her spells require proximity or extended casting sequences, leaving her exposed to counterattacks.

Also, she's weak against Uncles.

^{Other
_{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Can we wrap this up real quick, I’m missing the latest episode of Pretty Cure!"

Ella always keeps a large number of brightly coloured objects on her - most often tons of bracelets or hair clips.

Ella’s second favourite anime after Sailor Moon is Revolutionary Girl Utena, but she doesn’t talk about it as openly because it’s darker.

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

Ella Brooks

alternatively

"No matter how dark it is, I’ll always be the light! A magical girl never gives up!"

_______________________________________________ Ella Rene Brooks She/Her | 16 | African-American | 5’8” | 174lbs _______________________________________________ Radiant _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Who said weebs can’t be fit? How else will I become a magical girl?!" ___________________________________ [+] Anime Obsessed ⫻ Being a massive weeb, Ella has in depth knowledge of many anime - with a particular speciality in magical girl ones. But she watches all sorts of genres, always trying to keep up with the popular anime of the season even if she isn’t into it. If you want to know what anime to watch, just ask her, she has recommendations for everything. Don’t know what anime a character is from? Ask Ella, she’ll know. She spent more time watching anime than she did studying or doing literally anything else with her life. Athletic Magical Girl Wannabe ⫻ Ella is surprisingly sporty for a nerd. She needs to be fit to be a magical girl, after all! She's the best long distance runner on the track team. Sure, in a school small as theirs it's not the most impressive thing, but her stamina certainly is. She can run for an hour without a problem, and more if she needs to. Plus, she's strong as hell. The main thing she's missing is speed- but she has enough to win that final push in a 10km race. She also hits the gym frequently, making sure to lift weights to keep up arm strength along with her stamina. Plus, she has an amazing high kick from when she did taekwondo, before the only taekwondo teacher in the area (a slightly larger town an hour drive away) left. Ace Batter ⫻ With Kelly Willis basically graduated, Ella is now the ace batter for the Cornell Cornballs- the schools softball team. She’s pretty good at fielding too, but is never allowed to pitch- and not because Vicky’s territorial over that role. Oh no, her aim is bad when throwing. But with a bat? She’ll send it mile high, making up for her less than ideal short distance running. Extrovert Among Introverts ⫻ Ella is someone who, now that she’s figured out how (mostly), flourishes in social situations. This contrasts a lot of her weebier peers. But this means she can be the face of the group, with a bright confidence that brings shyer people out of their shells. Of course, it doesn’t always work, because she can often be too much. But she’s approachable, bringing together people who’d otherwise struggle to make friends and protecting them from bullies.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’m unashamedly me. I don’t care what others say, I’ll look exactly how I want to." Ella’s bright cheerfulness is visible in all aspects of her appearance, from her constant smile to her colourful clothes. She’s a bit of a bigger girl, taller than average (and still growing!) with some weight to her (especially in her hips) even with all the exercise she does. But she’s strong, much stronger than she first appears (until she flexes her arms, which she rarely does, it isn’t cute!). Puberty treated her well, and she’s quite curvy. Her skin is a medium brown, smooth and well cared for. Another thing that draws the eye is her dyed hair. Naturally black, it’s currently a gradient from bright pink to a softer coral pink. It constantly varies as it grows and gets cut- sometimes it's the ends that are the bright pink with lighter coloured roots, or the colours practically faded out of all her hair. She redyes it in sections as she feels like it, adding to the excitement of having such interestingly coloured hair. It’s left natural and made up of tight curls, giving it much more volume than length. It goes to the bottom of her chin when dry. She loves her hair, taking good care of it and often not leaving it loose. Her favourite hairstyle is tt half up with twin buns on the top of her head, the rest left loose - emulating sailor moon. The front section is cut shorter, leaving a cute little fringe even when she fully ties it up (still favouring two buns or ponytails, it’s just too thick for one). Ella loves wearing makeup, always found with nicely done eyeliner and lips a shade of glossy pink or red. She wears more subtly sparkly eyeshadow with blush on her cheeks to add a bit of cuteness. She adores cute clothes. Pastels are her favourite, but she loves bright colours too - especially hot pink. While pink and purple are her preferred colours, she’ll wear just about any she thinks she suits. Her typical fashion is pleated (often plaid) skirts or wide legged corduroy pants, with crop tops or tight t-shirts tucked into them. Knitted cardigans, both cropped or oversized, are added for extra warmth, and a cute jacket if she really needs it. She loves to accessorise, with a variety of colourful necklaces, bracelets and rings always worn. She has lobe piercings, and often wears cute dangling ones to match her outfit. While she needs glasses, and has a pair of large gold rimmed ones, she tends to wear contacts.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"You’ll feel much better if you ignore what others say. If you can’t, don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To graduate highschool, obviously! Ella hopes to scrape a good enough grade to actually get into university with a sports scholarship (because being great at all those sports isn’t enough, supposedly). Though now that she’s discovered magic and kindled, another dream that was once just a fantasy has come to the forefront of her mind. She could be a real magical girl. A hero that saves people and maybe even the world!

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ There’s always light in the darkness, no matter how difficult things seem. Ella believes in optimism and always moving forward even in the worst circumstances. Sometimes you have to become that light for other people, and help them see the good in the world. Ella literally thinks in the power of friendship and that by working together you can do anything. She’s always trying to do her best by other people, aiming to motivate and support so others can live their best lives. But she also believes that sometimes a good punch is needed to bring someone round to doing the right thing.

SECRETS ⫻ Ella’s an open book, and doesn’t really have any secrets. Honestly, she’s probably too open about things she should keep to herself. Don’t tell Ella your secrets, it's a bad idea.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Ella is openly a lesbian, something she realised a few years ago. She’s attracted to women and feminine aligning nonbinary people… In theory. She’s yet to actually like someone who’s real to the point she’d want to date them. She’s on the aroace spectrum, though this isn’t something she knows anything about.

FEARS ⫻ Her favourite manga getting adapted into an anime only to get cancelled after one season. Her favourite manga getting cancelled early. Her favourite anime or manga getting poorly localised and misunderstood. People on the internet grossly mischaracterising her favourite character. She’s also scared of needles. She fears one day not being there for her friends, and being unable to protect them. That it’ll be her fault that something happens to someone she cares about because she wasn’t strong enough to stop it.

REPUTATION IN CORNELL ⫻ If Ella wasn’t openly a massive weeb (and lesbian), she’d probably be one of the most popular girls in school thanks to her friendly, incredibly upbeat nature. Thankfully for the actual popular girls, she’s loud and proud about her nerdiness. This makes her reputation a bit more of a mixed bag, because she can just be weird. Plus it’s highschool, weebs are very bulliable. Not that she is. Ella will kick anyone who bullies her or her friends. Generally, Ella is seen as someone friendly and approachable. She’s incredibly loud and boisterous, meaning that everyone in school knows her, whether they like her or not. She’s well liked among the nerds, and even the more gloomy outcasts for her friendliness towards them. The normal students? Not so much, they tend to laugh at her.

FLAWS ⫻ Ella can be incredibly overwhelming. She’s loud, constantly happy and overly friendly. This can come across as pushy when she talks to people who just don’t want to be talked to- though she’s not trying to be pushy. She’s often completely oblivious to the social boundaries most people just understand, and doesn’t notice cues that tell her someone’s uncomfortable. In fact she’s not all that good at reading reactions or emotions of others at all, beyond the obvious. She has a tendency to say shit that just isn’t appropriate to say to someone she isn’t close to. She’s also very scatterbrained and easily distractible. Concentrating on something she isn’t interested in just doesn’t happen. This affects her relationships, but has a more major affect on school. Also while she’s not quick to anger or violent, she has no qualms about punching back someone who hit her first- or someone who’s mean to her friends.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I never thought I’d end up living out my own highschool anime… I wonder if I’m the main character? I do have the brightest hair! But my seat isn’t in the back left near the window, oh no, I’m not a side character doomed to die, am I?!"

The start of Ella’s life was quite mundane. She was the second child of two overworked but trying their best parents. Her parents tried their hardest with both her and her older brother, but they didn’t have the time to go along with all her whims. While Ella was always bright and boisterous, she struggled to connect with the other children her age. She didn’t understand social cues and was treated as being weird, even bullied once kids got old enough to bully. So while she was desperate from friendship, she tended to have to turn to books for company. Even in the sports she did

Then, one day her life changed. At age twelve she was given proper access to the internet, and stumbled upon this forum post about something called anime. She decided to give it a try… and discovered a whole new world! Ella fell in love with anime, spending every free moment watching it. Her favourite was Sailor Moon and other magical girl anime, but she tried out all sorts of genres. She wanted to watch everything she could!

Anime gave her a way to form a connection, and something to emulate. While she was still incredibly weird and often too much, she figured out how to channel her friendliness in a way that actually worked. And most nerds just weren’t outgoing like she was! So she became a bit of a beacon for all the outcasts her age in town, forcefully dragging the ones she could to be her friends.

Things were as good as they could be as a nerd going through a small town school. She’d been running and working out for a while, but in highschool she actually got on both the track team and the softball team. She’d solidified her little group of friends, and made it her duty to be friendly to all the outcasts! To varying degrees of success, of course… But failure would never deter her!

She even managed to convince her friends to go along to the party at the old warehouse. Nerds deserved to let go and drink too, after all! She’d beat up any bullies that said otherwise. And it was fun until a monster right out of a horror anime appeared. Holy shit. Monsters were real.

Not just monsters, but magic. Putting her life on the line to protect her friends so they could get out, Ella felt a surge of confidence which led to a burst of magic in her. Guided by instinct, and hours upon hours of watching Sailor Moon, she dramatically spun and posed, going through her own magical girl transformation.

The transformation probably caused more harm than good, distracting people on their way out. The green lux she managed to eke out with it enhanced her durability enough that she didn’t die when the monster threw her against the wall. So, a win for her! The creature fled in the end and she vowed to be stronger the next time.

In the time since, Ella has been using every spare moment to train with her magic, trying to develop spells to help fight the monsters that have started to slip through the cracks. Because if anyone’s going to save the town, it’s her. She’s a magical girl now, after all.

_{Paranormal-Abilities
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Magical Girl Aurora reporting for duty!"

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Green, Orange & Red Lux. Channeler: a sailor moon wand replica

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Inspired by all of her favourite magical girl anime, Ella has developed a series of spells to become a magical girl herself. She has her magical girl transformation spells, a series of light and colour based spells and enhancement based spells.

Magical Metamorphosis! ⫻ The spell Ella kindled with, and necessary for all her other ones to work. Using a combination of all of her lux, Ella transforms into a magical girl. This happens much like the magical girl transformations in an anime - she yells out a phrase (varying depending on the fight), and her whole body glows with a prismatic light. She dramatically (and unnecessarily) poses throughout it as her clothes change into a white leotard, purple miniskirt and a tiara with a shining purple gem at the centre. Her hair grows longer and changes into a bright pink to purple gradient. She dramatically poses at the end with her channel crossed in front of her (also unnecessary for the spell to work). The whole transformation sequence takes about thirty seconds. Beyond the visual changes, this spell enhances her strength and durability. Nothing extreme, she’d need other spells for that, but enough to let her survive some blows and give them back better than she could without magic.

Prismatic Powers! ⫻ A series of light based spells primarily focusing on her red lux in combination with her green and orange lux. The only spells she has, but she just knows she’ll develop more!

Super Prism Kick! ⫻ Using a combination of red and green lux, Ella empowers one of her legs with shining rainbow light. This makes her leg much stronger and harder, along with being coated in a magical, damaging light. She then performs a powerful high kick with this leg. This is her primary attack, though it’s short range can put her at risk.

Prism Princess Daylight Blade! ⫻ A spell combining her red and orange lux. Ella holds her channeler out in front of her like she’s holding a blade, one hand sliding up it. As it does the channeler extends, a scabbard forming from the handle. Then she goes through a series of poses, ending in a crouch with her channeler up ready to attack. As she does this, a glowing rainbow light coats the sword-channeler and extends out the side to form sharpened edges. With a dramatic final pose of choice, the channeler transformation is complete. This turns her channeler into a sword made of a combination of the extended base channeler and sharp edges of rainbow light. It cuts just like a sword would, but has magical durability making it near impossible to break the channeler itself (though the light could be shattered).

Prismatic Sun Flash! ⫻ With a dramatic pose and a flourish of her channeler, Ella shoots thick beam of damaging rainbow light at a target. This acts like a laser that burns through human flesh. It’s still a bit unstable, since it’s the newest spell she’s been working on.

LIMITS ⫻The limit of all of Ella’s spells is that she needs to be in her magical girl form to use them. This is a mental block she could overcome, but won’t.

Magical Metamorphosis! ⫻ Ella can only stay in her magical girl form for two hours at a time before needing a half an hour break. While her strength and durability are enhanced, it’s nothing special (she’ll need stronger spells for that). Blows that would kill her will still kill her, just she can withstand more than she should be able to. This spell is mainly aesthetic, with minor enhancements.

Prismatic Powers! ⫻

Super Prism Kick! ⫻ Ella’s leg isn’t entirely protected from damage, while strengthened. She can still damage it depending on how hard whatever she kicks is - for example, kicking a brick wall would damage it. If she keeps using it while damaged, she could eventually break her leg. It's limited in range, because she has to get close enough to kick whatever she’s trying to attack. She can keep this spell up for twenty minutes before needing a break.

Prism Princess Daylight Blade! ⫻ While the end result of this spell is more powerful that Super Prism Kick!, it’s short lived with a convoluted cast (which takes almost a minute). It only lasts for five minutes, and the dramatic spinning and posing is required to turn her channeler into a sword. It’s also limited in range, creating essentially a shortsword, meaning she has to get close to attack. While her orange lux enhances her channeler, the magical light that gives the sharpness is more fragile.

Prismatic Sun Flash! ⫻ This spell has a range of ten metres. This isn’t a continuous beam and each new shot requires another pose, making it a bit clunky to use quickly. Each shot drains her.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
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"Can we wrap this up real quick, I’m missing the latest episode of Pretty Cure!"

Ella always keeps a large number of brightly coloured objects on her - most often tons of bracelets or hair clips.

Ella’s second favourite anime after Sailor Moon is Revolutionary Girl Utena, but she doesn’t talk about it as openly because it’s darker.

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

Tuyen Doan

“This all feels like a sick joke. Maybe I’m just dreaming. I hope this is just a nightmare.”

_______________________________________________ Tuyen Thị Đoàn _______________________________________________ She/her | 17 | Vietnamese & Korean-American | 5’1” | 114lb _______________________________________________ Insecurity _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Oh, no, I don’t really have any talents. Sorry." ___________________________________ [+] Creative Escape ⫻ Tuyen has a vivid, overactive imagination. She channels this into her writing, the one thing she really excels in. Her non-fictional writing, such as essays, is nothing to laugh at, but fiction is where she really shines. She’s written a lot, and has worked on various novels since she was a kid. She doesn’t think any of them are that good - but the talent is there whether she believes in it or not. She also devours books just as much as she writes them. Faking It ⫻ Tuyen is excellent at hiding her problems. Outside of the obvious grief that comes with losing both parents, everyone thinks she’s just fine. Unassuming, but a happy and normal teenager. It’s easy for her to pretend to be happy. She’s been doing it for so long now. People Appeasing ⫻ Tuyen is a people pleaser, in the situations that she’s actually around people. She’ll do anything they ask, and even do things they didn’t ask for just to please them. This is beneficial when it comes to preventing people from being mad at her, making sure she doesn’t suffer from the horrendous silent treatment or falling outs that happen so much in high school. Importantly, though, this doesn’t help resolve conflicts. She’s just talented at giving into people in a way that reduces the damage to herself (even if only for a short while).

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I wish I didn’t need to look in the mirror to make myself look presentable.” Tuyen is short, adding to her unassuming appearance. She’s got a flat, stocky build- minimal curves, but not a lot of weight to it either. She’s had to scrounge for food and feed herself the last few years, after all. Her straight black hair falls to her shoulders, with neat bangs that go to just below her eyebrows. It frames a soft face filled with soft, undefined features. Her eyes are practically black too, double lidded but with an epicanthal fold that makes it clear she's Asian. She wears a pair of circular metal rimmed glasses. They help hide the dark bags underneath her eyes. Tuyen wears makeup, but it’s always minimal- covering up perceived flaws without drawing more attention to herself. She takes after her dad mostly, something her mom’s family uses against her constantly. But she’s almost always found with a smile- even if it can be a somewhat nervous one. The straight scars on her upper thighs tell a different story- some fresh, some years old. They’re always covered up by her clothes. Tuyen tends to favour longer skirts with a shirt tucked in or simple dresses worn over t-shirts or jumpers. When she doesn’t feel like a skirt, she’ll go for wide legged pants. She doesn’t tend to have colour preferences, but often she goes for more muted tones and simple patterns. Nothing too flashy. She almost always wears a pair of converse, which she’s spent a while scraping the money together to replace her old and falling apart shoes.

_{Psychology
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"It’s nothing a bit of positive thinking can’t will away."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Tuyen wants to escape the life she feels trapped in, though she doesn’t feel she’ll ever be good enough to. Her goal is simple enough- graduate high school, go to college, and move away from her aunt and uncle. Maybe then she’ll stop living in other people’s shadow. Maybe one day she could be a published author. It feels incredibly out of reach. Everything does, beyond her current state.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ You have to keep going, no matter what. Tuyen believes in putting on a brave face and smiling even if things seem helpless. This philosophy classes with how she feels about herself and her life, but it’s still something she’s trying to live by.

SECRETS ⫻ Sometimes when she looks at Vicky Prescott, she feels something more than friendship. It makes her feel disgusted with herself, and she keeps that and her actual sexuality locked up inside her. She doesn’t let anyone know about how bad her self doubts are. It’s obvious that she struggles a bit socially, but everything else is carefully hidden behind forced happiness and positivity. She doesn’t want anyone to know how much she needs validation from others, what her family thinks of her, or what she thinks of herself. Her depression is another secret, and the self harm stemming from it is only in places she can keep carefully hidden. Not to mention that her shadow– no she– killed people while trying to survive the party. Nobody knows, because it was so chaotic, just as no one knows about the shadow itself.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Tuyen wants to believe she’s straight. She’s had a boyfriend before, mostly because she never expected anyone to want to go out with her. But she didn’t like him. She’s never liked a boy, not in the way she’s had crushes on girls. But that’s just not right, because she is straight. She just can't accept herself as anything else.

FEARS ⫻ There’s a lot that Tuyen fears. She fears failure and the judgment that follows. Will she always be this worthless? She’s scared she’ll always live in someone else’s shadow, while not being able to see a future where she doesn’t. She’s even more terrified that she’s going insane. Her shadow talks to her, she’s seeing things, what else could it be?

REPUTATION IN CORNELL ⫻ Friendly but forgettable. If asked if they know Tuyen, most people would probably say ‘who.’ If someone pointed to her, they’d go ‘oh, that girl.’ She isn't an outsider by any means, having lived her whole life here, but she's just a face in the crowd. Anyone that bothered to get closer will know about the happy, caring Tuyen. But she’s most well known in relation to others- the younger cousin of the much more popular and incredibly smart Min-Jun, friend slash lackey of school queen Vicky, ex-girlfriend of John Miller (least popular member of the football team, who only really dated her because of the group she’s sort of part of).

FLAWS ⫻ Tuyen is severely lacking in self confidence. She, quite frankly, hates herself. Her self perception is distorted from years of emotional abuse from her relatives. She’s been told how worthless she is, how she’s a failure, constantly compared to her much smarter cousin and even blamed for her parents’ deaths. Of course she believes it, leading to someone who’s only grown more insecure as she grows up. This has developed into a silent, functional depression- the kind that she can hide under long skirts and smiles, but creeps in at night when she’s alone. Now she’s never alone, with her shadow always tormenting her.

Her doubts aren’t just for herself, but for the others around her too. She’s a wallflower who doesn’t try to talk to people because she doesn’t believe anyone would want to talk to her. She’s always friendly when someone approaches her, but always assumes they’re just being polite. In the rare friendships she has, she believes that they’re just doing it to be nice, out of the kindness of their hearts rather than her being worthy of the friendship. After all, why would anyone want to be friends with her? And because she feels she doesn’t deserve the friendship, but desperately craves it, she’ll go along with anything they say no matter how detrimental it is to herself. She hides all her problems underneath a cheerful facade, rather pretending everything’s alright than letting the cracks show. She doesn’t want to affect the others around her, after all.

_{Backstory
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"You don’t need to feel sorry for me. There are people out there who have it much worse than me."

Tuyen was an accident, but a welcome one (to her parents, at least). Her mother, Yeon-Seo Lee, was a native to Cornell, with strict and overprotective parents who ran a small business. She’d escaped to university in a bigger city in Pennsylvania. Her father, Liem Doan, was in the final year of his masters degree, having come to the States from Vietnam to study. They’d only been together for a few months when a contraceptive failure resulted in Tuyen. Unsurprisingly, Yeon-Seo’s parents weren’t happy about a child out of wedlock.

To appease them, Tuyen’s parents rushed to marry before she was born, moving back to Cornell. Liem dropped out of university to get a job in the steel mill. Then Tuyen came into the world, to a loving mom and dad- even if they hadn’t expected a daughter so early. They were happy, but Yeon-Seo had always been sickly. The pregnancy took a toll on her, exacerbating other chronic issues resulting in her deteriorating until she passed away when Tuyen was only two.

Her dad did his best to raise her, but with no financial help from either side of the family, he had to work long and hard hours to keep a roof over their head. But the one thing Yeon-Seo’s family did was ‘look after’ Tuyen while he was away at work. Sometimes it was her grandparents, who treated her like dirt and put her to work as soon as they could. The rest of the time was spent with her aunts- the much older sister of her mom, who’d respectably married and had a child at the ‘right time.’ This child was Min-Jun, Tuyen’s one year older cousin.

But the gap between them was much wider than their age. Min was incredibly smart for his age, obedient, the kind of kid adults adored and he had plenty of friends his age too. Tuyen was none of these things. She was loud, energetic and struggled with school. She was constantly compared to Min and belittled by her aunt, uncle and grandparents most of the time she spent at theirs. The only person who treated her well was Min. He treated her like a younger sister, and they were close. But she was eternally in his shadow. Any care from her mom’s family was conditional on her being as perfect as him- or more perfect. After all, she’d killed her mom. She should at least make something of herself, even with her dad’s genes dragging her down.

Her only solace was her dad, who loved her unconditionally. When she was eight, he lost his job at the steel mill as it started to scale back operations. It wasn’t a job he was attached to, but it was a stable one that connected him to the larger community. But there was nothing he could do about it, still needing to put food on the table. After a short period, he managed to get a job as a trucker.

This meant he was away longer, sometimes for days if he was given longer jobs. Tuyen spent even more time with her mom’s family. She didn’t cry when her grandfather passed away when she was nine, or when her grandmother followed him a year later. Being at her aunt’s wasn’t much better, but at least Min was there. The emotional abuse took its toll, however, causing her to grow into a quiet and insecure preteen unlike the bright and happy young child she’d been.

But she endured it silently, because even at her young age she knew how difficult it was for her dad. She didn’t want the time they had together to be anything but happy.

Halfway through her twelfth year, the worst happened. After working longer than he should have to make some extra money, Liem fell asleep at the wheel on his way home to his daughter. He swerved onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into another car. It was a severe crash and he died before he reached hospital.

It felt like her whole world had collapsed. She was taken in by her aunt, and suddenly there was no escape. No dad that loved her. She didn’t have any support anymore, apart from the thirteen year old perfect cousin she was constantly compared to. She couldn’t even dwell in it, because her aunt wouldn’t accept that.

People pitied her at school, but it only lasted so long before she blended back into the crowd. She’s managed to get through the almost five years since. The grief is always there, and her self doubts have escalated to self hatred and an unhealthy dose of depression. She copes by pretending to be happy, forcing an outwards positivity as if that will purge the negative thoughts, along with other unhealthy coping mechanisms. At least she has a friend, and that friend has a whole group of friends Tuyen is sort of part of.

It was that friend that dragged her along to a party in an abandoned warehouse. It seemed that everyone from school was there- at least everyone going into junior and senior year after summer. Tuyen was doing what she did best- running errands by getting Vicky another drink so she could stick with her then-alive boyfriend- when all hell broke loose. A horrendous creature that tore through drunk teenagers.

It wasn’t the only thing that slipped through the tear. A weak, fading Apparition known as the Shadow followed close behind. In the Pit it was starved, torn down from its original strength by other Apparitions. But here it could feast. And it found the juiciest meal of all- Tuyen, with all her self hatred and insecurity. As she stood there panicking it adjoined to her, erupting into life as a horrendous creature from her nightmares.

It didn’t fight the monster that had slipped through. It only stopped Tuyen from being killed by it, giving her the chance to run. But it left its own trail of blood behind on the way out. Anyone who got in the way was torn out of it. Tuyen’s horror and guilt only encouraged it. She survived, but at what cost?

She fled back home- a cold empty home, with the rest of her ‘family’ travelling to help Min settle into his new student life at Harvard. It's difficult to not isolate herself completely as the horrible creature that’s attached itself to her whispers poison in her mind. She must be going insane. She's been even quieter than normal, and while she made it in for the first day she skipped the rest of the first week, only leaving her house to go to her part time job at the diner. But excuses are running thin, and she doesn't want her aunt contacted, so after most of the first week off she forced herself back in. She's doing her best to draw even less attention to herself now.

_{Abstraction
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"I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m losing my mind, or maybe my shadow really is haunting me. I just want it to stop."

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined.

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Shadow, a shadow-like Apparition born from negative thoughts and emotions that sometimes manifests to help her, but otherwise tortures her.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ The Shadow is a semi-sentient Apparition that’s latched onto her negativity and intense self doubts. It constantly taunts her, torturing her with the feelings of dread and insecurity she has inside. It feeds into her self hatred and tells her horrendous things that she can’t deny. It feeds off her negative emotions, especially her insecurities, and is motivated to drag her down further.

Unlike many adjoined Apparitions, the Shadow is always visible to Tuyen, rather than disappearing into her when dormant. In its inactive state, only Tuyen can see it (aside from paranormals with certain magic). It takes the shape of her shadow, a perfect doppelganger of her. It actively protects her from psychic intrusion by filling the intruder’s minds with screams. It can cloud Tuyen's vision by creating illusions, and fooling her into believing things that are not there, or hiding things. With enough focus, Tuyen is able to suppress the Shadow for a period of time, and get some peace - but it'll always return.

It can also manifest physically when it chooses to, appearing to anyone that isn’t a Blind. Its default appearance is a solid, black shadow version of Tuyen. However, its most basic magic is the ability to manipulate its own shape. It’s limited only by Tuyen’s imagination, up to twelve feet. It can either keep its form as a shadow of Tuyen, or it can become some horrific monster, whatever is spawned from her imagination. In this form the shadow is strong, able to throw a fully grown man around like it's nothing or flip over a car with sheer brute strength. It can grow claws, teeth, and all manners of appendages to harm people. The Shadow will only manifest when it wants to, or if Tuyen is able to plead with it. Normally it’s only interested in tormenting Tuyen rather than helping her. However, Tuyen is the perfect victim for it to feed off, so it will protect her from dying without being asked. Anything more than that? She’ll have to beg.

LIMITS ⫻ While it’s adjoined to her, the Shadow has essentially taken the part of Tuyen’s shadow. It can’t move away from her, always needing to remain physically tethered to her in some way. It can extend out from her, but it’s no more mobile than she is, making her its weak spot thanks to how they’re connected. It can grow to ten feet tall, strong enough to throw cars, and its ability to change its shape is only limited by Tuyen’s imagination. Tuyen cannot control the Shadow. It does as it pleases, sometimes listening if she begs, but often not. There’s a chance that getting over her insecurities and fears could allow her to control it, but it’s just as likely to weaken the Shadow and make it useless.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The Shadow is semi-autonomous and unreliable in response to commands. Its protection is inconsistent, sometimes ignoring threats, delaying reactions, or acting against Tuyen’s wishes. When distracted or hostile, it can misinterpret reality, blocking her view or creating illusions that cause her to stumble, trip, or collide with obstacles.

Since it is connected to her body, Tuyen’s movements directly influence the Shadow. Any attack that immobilizes, restrains, or displaces her reduces its effectiveness. Prolonged restraint, pinning, or confinement limits its physical manifestations, leaving her vulnerable to harm it cannot prevent.

The Shadow relies on Tuyen’s negative emotions for sustenance, which also empower it. Efforts to suppress fear, anxiety, or self-doubt weaken her perception and awareness. In contrast, spikes of dread increase its influence and unpredictability. Emotional overload can cause erratic behavior, indiscriminate attacks, or hallucinations trapping her.

Its physical forms are formidable but bound to her imagination. Focus issues, exhaustion, or injuries diminish its size, strength, and versatility. If Tuyen is unconscious, incapacitated, or mentally compromised, the Shadow may stay dormant, leaving her unprotected, or act unpredictably, risking herself and others.

The tether makes it vulnerable—environmental factors like sunlight, reflective surfaces, walls, or anti-paranormal wards can limit its reach or disrupt its form. Its attacks depend on what can physically extend from Tuyen, making long-range combat difficult.

Additionally, relying on the Shadow reduces Tuyen’s independence. She hesitates to act decisively, considering its potential reactions. Overuse, pleading, or dependence can cause hesitation, paralysis, or misjudgment in combat, turning the Shadow from an ally into an unpredictable threat

^{Other
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"Of course I can do that for you. I’d be happy to."

Tuyen is fluent in Vietnamese and Korean, though her Vietnamese is a little rusty now.

She sometimes plays in the softball team just to fill in numbers when actual team members are sick (at Vicky’s behest, obviously). Or the year they just didn’t have enough people. She’s average, which is just about enough to not completely drag the team down.

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

---

The Waystone Inn
Interactions: Lairëcúma @Tesserach, Bennie @NoriWasHere, Mannie @CassidyTheButch, Latrom @Cosmic, Grask @Blizz
Outfit: Normal
Hunter’s Mark Target: Ransom

---

There was a slight pep in Cali’s step knowing she’d left Ransom speechless behind her, hopefully to never rear his ugly head again. The night was looking brighter from here on out. She’d have a couple of drinks with a beautiful elf, while making sure an equally beautiful but much less sober tiefling got home safely.

”Ay, add it to my tab, Rosa.” Cali smiled, slipping in beside Lairëcúma at the bar. It wasn’t like she was paying for it out of pocket- the cost of anything she drank tonight would come out of what they owed her for today’s fresh kills. Leaning against the bar, she glanced towards Kel to make sure she was still alright. Some old guy was talking to her but… He didn’t seem to be creeping. Yet. She didn’t trust him. He was a man, after all. She’d keep an eye on it.

With a relaxed expression, she turned towards Lairëcúma, mouth opening to say something. Whatever she’d planned to say was cut off by a tremor. Not a massive one, but still a tremor.

”The fuck?” Cali grimaced at a second tremor. Was it an earthquake? No, she hadn’t seen the signs in the forest earlier. It shouldn’t be. A ranger had a sense for these things. Then again, she wasn’t infallible. It could be–

It felt like the bar was thrown to the side, forcing her casual lean to become a tight grip onto the bar to stop her from falling. Her other arm wrapped tightly around Dev, glad she hadn’t let her go yet. Though the vixen probably wouldn’t fall, she might have been crushed by all of the falling people. Cali grimaced through the screams, twisted her head towards Kel.

Instead of a drunk woman on the floor, she was met with the sight of an old asshole pinning her to the bar. That asshole was really taking advantage of this to force himself on her?! Of fucking course- men didn’t change. They were all the same.

This feeling was only confirmed as the aggressive cat shoved his way past Lairëcúma. Bastard. What had the poor bard done to deserve being constantly shoved aside?! Cali stepped forward, one arm moving towards her back to at least stop her falling if she didn’t get out of the way in time. She had to think fast, torn between three different problems. But having caught her, at least, Lairëcúma would be fine. But Kel? Would anyone else protect her?

And what about all those screams from outside? Fuck.

Arm dropping, having offered enough support to stop Lairëcúma from falling, Cali grabbed her bow. She swiftly nocked an arrow, aimed, and shot. It skimmed Benni’s ear- nicking it without doing much damage. Enough pain to draw his attention, Cali’s purple eyes narrowing.

”Get the fuck away from her, or the next one’s through your eye.” She snapped, head jerking towards Lairëcúma. ”Please make sure that old bastard doesn’t hurt her! I gotta go help!”

It was a big assumption that she would be more useful outside than the bard, but one she made and followed through with anyway. She pushed her way past the very hot woman holding the door open, met with the city falling apart. Shit. Dev jumped out of her arms, dropping the now completely torn glove out of her mouth with a whine. Where could she help? Her arms were strong from using her bow, but getting people out of rubble strong.

But she could spot people in need of saving.

Cali spun around, jumping up to grab a hand hold in the uneven stone that made up the tavern. It was easy enough to climb, especially with pieces dislodged from the quakes. She deftly scaled the wall and perched on the roof. She quickly scanned the remaining city for signs of life.

Oh, so the overgrown furball does know how to help people?

Now wasn’t the time to think about that shit. She’d rip into his ass later, if everyone survived. She looked down at the woman at the door and the people being ushered inside now.

”One’ve you with muscle, the crazy cat needs help lifting a big fucking slab.” She shouted down to the door, specifically looking at Mannie and Latrom as she pointed in Lucky’s direction. She very purposefully did not look at Ransom, though he was near the door. Though she did give a quick glance at Grask. ”Or someone with a rock blasting gun.”

She looked up again, spotting another person half covered in debris. They seemed alive, and she pointed with her other hand in that direction. ”Someone over there’s stuck too.”

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

Tuyen Doan

“This all feels like a sick joke. Maybe I’m just dreaming. I hope this is just a nightmare.”

_______________________________________________ Tuyen Thị Đoàn _______________________________________________ She/her | 17 | Vietnamese & Korean-American | 5’1” | 114lb _______________________________________________ Insecurity _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Oh, no, I don’t really have any talents. Sorry." ___________________________________ [+] Creative Escape ⫻ Tuyen has a vivid, overactive imagination. She channels this into her writing, the one thing she really excels in. Her non-fictional writing, such as essays, is nothing to laugh at, but fiction is where she really shines. She’s written a lot, and has worked on various novels since she was a kid. She doesn’t think any of them are that good - but the talent is there whether she believes in it or not. She also devours books just as much as she writes them. Faking It ⫻ Tuyen is excellent at hiding her problems. Outside of the obvious grief that comes with losing both parents, everyone thinks she’s just fine. Unassuming, but a happy and normal teenager. It’s easy for her to pretend to be happy. She’s been doing it for so long now. People Appeasing ⫻ Tuyen is a people pleaser, in the situations that she’s actually around people. She’ll do anything they ask, and even do things they didn’t ask for just to please them. This is beneficial when it comes to preventing people from being mad at her, making sure she doesn’t suffer from the horrendous silent treatment or falling outs that happen so much in high school. Importantly, though, this doesn’t help resolve conflicts. She’s just talented at giving into people in a way that reduces the damage to herself (even if only for a short while).

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I wish I didn’t need to look in the mirror to make myself look presentable.” Tuyen is short, adding to her unassuming appearance. She’s got a flat, stocky build- minimal curves, but not a lot of weight to it either. She’s had to scrounge for food and feed herself the last few years, after all. Her straight black hair falls to her shoulders, with neat bangs that go to just below her eyebrows. It frames a soft face filled with soft, undefined features. Her eyes are practically black too, double lidded but with an epicanthal fold that makes it clear she's Asian. She wears a pair of circular metal rimmed glasses. They help hide the dark bags underneath her eyes. Tuyen wears makeup, but it’s always minimal- covering up perceived flaws without drawing more attention to herself. She takes after her dad mostly, something her mom’s family uses against her constantly. But she’s almost always found with a smile- even if it can be a somewhat nervous one. The straight scars on her upper thighs tell a different story- some fresh, some years old. They’re always covered up by her clothes. Tuyen tends to favour longer skirts with a shirt tucked in or simple dresses worn over t-shirts or jumpers. When she doesn’t feel like a skirt, she’ll go for wide legged pants. She doesn’t tend to have colour preferences, but often she goes for more muted tones and simple patterns. Nothing too flashy. She almost always wears a pair of converse, which she’s spent a while scraping the money together to replace her old and falling apart shoes.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"It’s nothing a bit of positive thinking can’t will away."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Tuyen wants to escape the life she feels trapped in, though she doesn’t feel she’ll ever be good enough to. Her goal is simple enough- graduate high school, go to college, and move away from her aunt and uncle. Maybe then she’ll stop living in other people’s shadow. Maybe one day she could be a published author. It feels incredibly out of reach. Everything does, beyond her current state.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ You have to keep going, no matter what. Tuyen believes in putting on a brave face and smiling even if things seem helpless. This philosophy classes with how she feels about herself and her life, but it’s still something she’s trying to live by.

SECRETS ⫻ Sometimes when she looks at Vicky Prescott, she feels something more than friendship. It makes her feel disgusted with herself, and she keeps that and her actual sexuality locked up inside her. She doesn’t let anyone know about how bad her self doubts are. It’s obvious that she struggles a bit socially, but everything else is carefully hidden behind forced happiness and positivity. She doesn’t want anyone to know how much she needs validation from others, what her family thinks of her, or what she thinks of herself. Her depression is another secret, and the self harm stemming from it is only in places she can keep carefully hidden. Not to mention that her shadow– no she– killed people while trying to survive the party. Nobody knows, because it was so chaotic, just as no one knows about the shadow itself.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Tuyen wants to believe she’s straight. She’s had a boyfriend before, mostly because she never expected anyone to want to go out with her. But she didn’t like him. She’s never liked a boy, not in the way she’s had crushes on girls. But that’s just not right, because she is straight. She just can't accept herself as anything else.

FEARS ⫻ There’s a lot that Tuyen fears. She fears failure and the judgment that follows. Will she always be this worthless? She’s scared she’ll always live in someone else’s shadow, while not being able to see a future where she doesn’t. She’s even more terrified that she’s going insane. Her shadow talks to her, she’s seeing things, what else could it be?

REPUTATION IN CORNELL ⫻ Friendly but forgettable. If asked if they know Tuyen, most people would probably say ‘who.’ If someone pointed to her, they’d go ‘oh, that girl.’ She isn't an outsider by any means, having lived her whole life here, but she's just a face in the crowd. Anyone that bothered to get closer will know about the happy, caring Tuyen. But she’s most well known in relation to others- the younger cousin of the much more popular and incredibly smart Min-Jun, friend slash lackey of school queen Vicky, ex-girlfriend of John Miller (least popular member of the football team, who only really dated her because of the group she’s sort of part of).

FLAWS ⫻ Tuyen is severely lacking in self confidence. She, quite frankly, hates herself. Her self perception is distorted from years of emotional abuse from her relatives. She’s been told how worthless she is, how she’s a failure, constantly compared to her much smarter cousin and even blamed for her parents’ deaths. Of course she believes it, leading to someone who’s only grown more insecure as she grows up. This has developed into a silent, functional depression- the kind that she can hide under long skirts and smiles, but creeps in at night when she’s alone. Now she’s never alone, with her shadow always tormenting her.

Her doubts aren’t just for herself, but for the others around her too. She’s a wallflower who doesn’t try to talk to people because she doesn’t believe anyone would want to talk to her. She’s always friendly when someone approaches her, but always assumes they’re just being polite. In the rare friendships she has, she believes that they’re just doing it to be nice, out of the kindness of their hearts rather than her being worthy of the friendship. After all, why would anyone want to be friends with her? And because she feels she doesn’t deserve the friendship, but desperately craves it, she’ll go along with anything they say no matter how detrimental it is to herself. She hides all her problems underneath a cheerful facade, rather pretending everything’s alright than letting the cracks show. She doesn’t want to affect the others around her, after all.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"You don’t need to feel sorry for me. There are people out there who have it much worse than me."

Tuyen was an accident, but a welcome one (to her parents, at least). Her mother, Yeon-Seo Lee, was a native to Cornell, with strict and overprotective parents who ran a small business. She’d escaped to university in a bigger city in Pennsylvania. Her father, Liem Doan, was in the final year of his masters degree, having come to the States from Vietnam to study. They’d only been together for a few months when a contraceptive failure resulted in Tuyen. Unsurprisingly, Yeon-Seo’s parents weren’t happy about a child out of wedlock.

To appease them, Tuyen’s parents rushed to marry before she was born, moving back to Cornell. Liem dropped out of university to get a job in the steel mill. Then Tuyen came into the world, to a loving mom and dad- even if they hadn’t expected a daughter so early. They were happy, but Yeon-Seo had always been sickly. The pregnancy took a toll on her, exacerbating other chronic issues resulting in her deteriorating until she passed away when Tuyen was only two.

Her dad did his best to raise her, but with no financial help from either side of the family, he had to work long and hard hours to keep a roof over their head. But the one thing Yeon-Seo’s family did was ‘look after’ Tuyen while he was away at work. Sometimes it was her grandparents, who treated her like dirt and put her to work as soon as they could. The rest of the time was spent with her aunts- the much older sister of her mom, who’d respectably married and had a child at the ‘right time.’ This child was Min-Jun, Tuyen’s one year older cousin.

But the gap between them was much wider than their age. Min was incredibly smart for his age, obedient, the kind of kid adults adored and he had plenty of friends his age too. Tuyen was none of these things. She was loud, energetic and struggled with school. She was constantly compared to Min and belittled by her aunt, uncle and grandparents most of the time she spent at theirs. The only person who treated her well was Min. He treated her like a younger sister, and they were close. But she was eternally in his shadow. Any care from her mom’s family was conditional on her being as perfect as him- or more perfect. After all, she’d killed her mom. She should at least make something of herself, even with her dad’s genes dragging her down.

Her only solace was her dad, who loved her unconditionally. When she was eight, he lost his job at the steel mill as it started to scale back operations. It wasn’t a job he was attached to, but it was a stable one that connected him to the larger community. But there was nothing he could do about it, still needing to put food on the table. After a short period, he managed to get a job as a trucker.

This meant he was away longer, sometimes for days if he was given longer jobs. Tuyen spent even more time with her mom’s family. She didn’t cry when her grandfather passed away when she was nine, or when her grandmother followed him a year later. Being at her aunt’s wasn’t much better, but at least Min was there. The emotional abuse took its toll, however, causing her to grow into a quiet and insecure preteen unlike the bright and happy young child she’d been.

But she endured it silently, because even at her young age she knew how difficult it was for her dad. She didn’t want the time they had together to be anything but happy.

Halfway through her twelfth year, the worst happened. After working longer than he should have to make some extra money, Liem fell asleep at the wheel on his way home to his daughter. He swerved onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into another car. It was a severe crash and he died before he reached hospital.

It felt like her whole world had collapsed. She was taken in by her aunt, and suddenly there was no escape. No dad that loved her. She didn’t have any support anymore, apart from the thirteen year old perfect cousin she was constantly compared to. She couldn’t even dwell in it, because her aunt wouldn’t accept that.

People pitied her at school, but it only lasted so long before she blended back into the crowd. She’s managed to get through the almost five years since. The grief is always there, and her self doubts have escalated to self hatred and an unhealthy dose of depression. She copes by pretending to be happy, forcing an outwards positivity as if that will purge the negative thoughts, along with other unhealthy coping mechanisms. At least she has a friend, and that friend has a whole group of friends Tuyen is sort of part of.

It was that friend that dragged her along to a party in an abandoned warehouse. It seemed that everyone from school was there- at least everyone going into junior and senior year after summer. Tuyen was doing what she did best- running errands by getting Vicky another drink so she could stick with her then-alive boyfriend- when all hell broke loose. A horrendous creature that tore through drunk teenagers.

It wasn’t the only thing that slipped through the tear. A weak, fading Apparition known as the Shadow followed close behind. In the Pit it was starved, torn down from its original strength by other Apparitions. But here it could feast. And it found the juiciest meal of all- Tuyen, with all her self hatred and insecurity. As she stood there panicking it adjoined to her, erupting into life as a horrendous creature from her nightmares.

It didn’t fight the monster that had slipped through. It only stopped Tuyen from being killed by it, giving her the chance to run. But it left its own trail of blood behind on the way out. Anyone who got in the way was torn out of it. Tuyen’s horror and guilt only encouraged it. She survived, but at what cost?

She fled back home- a cold empty home, with the rest of her ‘family’ travelling to celebrate Min getting into Harvard. She’s barely left since, isolating herself completely as the horrible creature that’s attached itself to her whispers poison in her mind. She must be going insane. She’s only left to go to her part time job at the diner, barely making it through before holing back up in her room hoping it will all go away.

_{Abstraction
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m losing my mind, or maybe my shadow really is haunting me. I just want it to stop."

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined.

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Shadow, a shadow-like Apparition born from negative thoughts and emotions that sometimes manifests to help her, but otherwise tortures her.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ The Shadow is a semi-sentient Apparition that’s latched onto her negativity and intense self doubts. It constantly taunts her, torturing her with the feelings of dread and insecurity she has inside. It feeds into her self hatred and tells her horrendous things that she can’t deny. It feeds off her negative emotions, especially her insecurities, and is motivated to drag her down further.

Unlike many adjoined Apparitions, the Shadow is always visible to Tuyen, rather than disappearing into her when dormant. In its inactive state, only Tuyen can see it (aside from paranormals with certain magic). It takes the shape of her shadow, a perfect doppelganger of her. It actively protects her from psychic intrusion by filling the intruder’s minds with screams. It can cloud Tuyen's vision by creating illusions, and fooling her into believing things that are not there, or hiding things. With enough focus, Tuyen is able to suppress the Shadow for a period of time, and get some peace - but it'll always return.

It can also manifest physically when it chooses to, appearing to anyone that isn’t a Blind. Its default appearance is a solid, black shadow version of Tuyen. However, its most basic magic is the ability to manipulate its own shape. It’s limited only by Tuyen’s imagination, up to twelve feet. It can either keep its form as a shadow of Tuyen, or it can become some horrific monster, whatever is spawned from her imagination. In this form the shadow is strong, able to throw a fully grown man around like it's nothing or flip over a car with sheer brute strength. It can grow claws, teeth, and all manners of appendages to harm people. The Shadow will only manifest when it wants to, or if Tuyen is able to plead with it. Normally it’s only interested in tormenting Tuyen rather than helping her. However, Tuyen is the perfect victim for it to feed off, so it will protect her from dying without being asked. Anything more than that? She’ll have to beg.

LIMITS ⫻ While it’s adjoined to her, the Shadow has essentially taken the part of Tuyen’s shadow. It can’t move away from her, always needing to remain physically tethered to her in some way. It can extend out from her, but it’s no more mobile than she is, making her its weak spot thanks to how they’re connected. It can grow to ten feet tall, strong enough to throw cars, and its ability to change its shape is only limited by Tuyen’s imagination. Tuyen cannot control the Shadow. It does as it pleases, sometimes listening if she begs, but often not. There’s a chance that getting over her insecurities and fears could allow her to control it, but it’s just as likely to weaken the Shadow and make it useless.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
_{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Of course I can do that for you. I’d be happy to."

Tuyen is fluent in Vietnamese and Korean, though her Vietnamese is a little rusty now.

She sometimes plays in the softball team just to fill in numbers when actual team members are sick (at Vicky’s behest, obviously). Or the year they just didn’t have enough people. She’s average, which is just about enough to not completely drag the team down.

I third the Cougars for sure

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

---

The Waystone Inn
Outfit: Damp
Interactions: Ransom @Atrophy, everyone outside kinda
Lunar Phase: Half Moon [Day 5 of 29]

---

Eilrethiel wasn’t quite nosey enough to follow outside to the fight, but he had shuffled his chair closer to the door to try to look outside. With a table blocking him from getting it much further, he was literally on the edge of his seat. This didn’t change even as the Tabaxi stormed back in. Oh, the drama!

It was so dramatic that even the building started shaking. Wait, the building was shaking. Why the fuck was the building shaking?!

Already practically off it, Eilrethiel tumbled off his seat. His side hit the floor, bashing the gills hidden underneath his clothes and winding him. He started to wheeze, wriggling slightly, awfully similar to a fish flopping around out of water. As everyone around him panicked, he did his best to avoid being trampled on.

Still struggling to breath, he managed to scramble to his feet and towards the door. He was single minded in his goal. Water. Eil dived right into the handy pile of snow right beside the door, scooping up handfuls and pressing them against his neck gills.

Oh sweet, sweet frozen water.

It didn’t offer complete relief, but his breathing evened out into something more manageable as he smothered both sets of gills in snow. Without the panic that he might drown on land, Eil was able to actually observe his surroundings.

Oh sweet Sashelas.

The whole city had been torn apart and the Arcane Tower had awoken. Eil stared at it in awe for a moment. How did it work? He itched to know, feeling the magical energy in the air like static. Maybe he could draw on it… No, it was completely different to his own. The moon was enough for him. Still, he had to-

“Ya tryin’ ta git fresh wit me too, blue skin?! Y’all wan’ Ol’ Petey, ya bastards, I gut ya!”

“Hey, big guy! I hope those aren’t just show muscles. Help me pull them out.”

Two overlapping shouts dragged Eil out of his excited thoughts by two jarringly different shouts. He hadn’t noticed the incredibly rude gnome in the snow next to him, and quickly pulled himself to his feet and away before he got stabbed. But the other he recognised as being hot blond one. He didn’t have muscles, but he could help!

Or not, because the actually muscular guy went over to help. But that was no problem.

”If you need to dig anyone else out of the snow, I can help!” Eilrethiel called over to Ransom with a wave, making a scooping motion. His slightly webbed hands were notably ungloved even in the cold weather. After all, it was difficult to get gloves that fit someone with webbing up to the first joint. Not that this kind of cold bothered him much. He was thankful for his cloak, but the cold dampness where he shoved snow on himself wasn’t any worse than how cold it got in the ocean. ”These hands are made for scooping.”

He looked around for any other hands sticking out of the snow, eyes wide as he caught sight of more people in danger. His gaze moved to the night sky briefly. A perfect half moon… Well that wasn’t ideal. This couldn’t have happened in a few days, when he at least had a shield spell, or last week when he had feather fall?! What could he do? He couldn’t go grab people, he’d run out of breath and die himself.

He had to do something.

He shoved a hand into one of the pouches on his belt, before throwing it up into the air. The brightly coloured coral powder fizzled away as a dazzling rainbow of lights shot fifteen feet up into the air. He took in a deep breath, shouting as best as he could. ”It’s safe over here! Follow the light!”

Recollections: Moon (Off-Urban Fantasy/Horror)

I suppose I'm in

Recollections: Primal Sinister

---

Interactions: Marco & Gideon @NoriWasHere, Paloma @Atrophy, Destiny @Evil Ghost Note, Kiki (text) @AtomicEmperor
Thursday November 24th, The Hollow Tap

---

Vin hadn't gone all in on Marco out of respect for their friendship, and not wanting to beat someone within an inch of their life in front of Loni. But he was really fucking pushing it. The insufferable bastard was acting like this was all a joke. Piece of shit acting all coy and teasing them- Fuck! They couldn't stand it. They wanted to wipe that smug fucking grin off his face. They should just throw him into the fucking wall- No, they should rip off his dick so he couldn't even think about using it again-

“Marco Romano, what the fuck are you doin’?”

Luckily for Marco, Gideon appeared just in time for Vin to temper their rage and not end his entire future bloodline. It wasn't fear of Gideon that stopped them. They'd gotten enough concussive therapy from him to know they could handle more for throwing another Hollow member through the wall... But Gideon wasn't pissed at them. He was pissed at Marco. It was vindicating, and stopped them acting on overly violent impulses they didn't really want to see through in front of Loni.

Though Paloma had moved in to distract her, so maybe they could’ve gotten away with it.

They kept glaring silently at Marco as Gideon talked, nodding here and there without backing down. Strong hands still gripped onto their friend’s shirt, ready to go in for another blow before Gideon got in there with his famous concussive therapy. But of course, the boss talked some sense into Marco.

”Dunno, boss, you ain’t got any spirits hauntin’ you.” Vin said as Gideon lumped them in with Marco as a fucking idiot, deadpan in a way that was signature of them making a joke. ”Fifteen minutes. Got it.”

Although Gideon was already turning away to order Paloma to unfreeze everyone.

Maybe Vin should feel a little bad she got shit for it, but they hadn't asked her to do that. They were hardly responsible for another adult. Why were they even feeling they should feel anything at all?! She'd fucking latched onto them! If they should be feeling anything, it was disappointment that Gideon wasn't going to kick her out or have her silently killed. Yes. That would've been better.

”Fuck off, don't tell me what to do.” Vin grumbled at Marco, finally letting go of his collar and taking a step back. They had no idea what the business up in the mountain was, but they could only assume it was something dangerous if they were getting dragged along. It looked like they wouldn’t be going to Sin Sisters’ with Loni later after all… Fuck, their proper family Thanksgiving! This was all Marco’s fault.

”Keep your eyes to yourself, asshole.” Vin added, foot flicking out to kick Marco in the ankle hard even as he stopped ogling Loni. ”I dunno what this mountain business is, but I ain’t happy you got me dragged into it! Fuck, you ain’t the one I wanna spend Thanksgiving with- Whatever! Get the truck, I’ll talk to Lon and grab my shit.”

---

Loni's eyes were wide and panicked, trying to figure out if she could muster up enough magic to stop Vin from ruining a very handsome face. But Vin would always beat her in a fight, because her magic wasn’t made for fighting. What could she even do? Maybe if she gripped onto Marco’s amazingly muscular arm more, it would help him feel at ease, even though he seemed completely unbothered that Vin was probably planning to destroy all his best features.

“Hiii, hiiiiiiiii.”

Huh? Loni’s head immediately swiveled to Paloma, eyes going wide. She wasn't so worried about her daughter being in the arms of a stranger- not because she was some bad mother, just that she knew Vin would never hand Luciana over to someone they didn't trust. Not even in a fit of rage! But her darling baby girl was frozen! Like a statue, was she going to be stuck like this?!

No, no, this lovely lady said it would be fixed! Loni was sure she was right– Why had Gideon Cross come over?!

Loni was thrown right back into full on panic mode, back going straight even as her body trembled slightly. Was he going to kill Marco? Was he going to kill her? Was he going to kill all of them?! Was flirting not allowed in the Hollow?! Had she made the worst decision of her life, and she’d made a lot of bad decisions, by–

He wasn’t killing anyone. It was fine. He’d defused the situation. As Vin finally let go of Marco’s collar, Loni could fully relax. She caught his last look, lips curving up into a coy smile as she flirtatiously pushed her hair back behind her ear. So there was still a chance.

Her attention turned back to Paloma with a wide smile and a bounce in her step. She started to turn the name over in her head, trying to figure out if she'd heard it before. Paloma, Paloma... Vin hadn't mentioned a Paloma. But clearly Vin knew Paloma. Was very friendly with, even!

Oh. Ohhhhh. It was obvious! Paloma went crazy with jealousy over Vin talking about their sister so much… Of course. Awwwww, that was so cute!

Now, why was Vin getting so upset about Loni's business when their girlfriend was right there?!

"Oh-ah!" Luciana’s shout interrupted Loni’s thoughts as she flung her hands up at Paloma, seemingly completely unphased by being unfrozen in a completely different person's arms than she'd last remembered being in. She babbled some complete nonsense as her attention was turned to her Mama. She giggled, leaning her whole upper body out of Paloma's arms and waving her arms towards Loni. "Eyyyeee Mammmaaaa!"

"Heyyy baby!" Loni laughed, reaching out to take Luciana from Paloma. She absolutely smothered her face in kisses, eliciting even louder giggling from the toddler.

"Nice to meetcha, Paloma! I'm Loni!" Loni said cheerfully, not caring that Paloma probably already knew her name if Vin talked about her so much. She completely skipped the handshake, shifting Luciana onto one hip so she could move in for a one armed hug. After all, a friend of Vin's was a friend of hers! And she was generally quite a tactile person. "Vin didn't tell me they was seein' someone! They're so secretive 'bout-"

”"I ain't seein' no one. 'Specially not her." Vin interrupted her, inserting themselves into the conversation. They were done with Marco anyway.

Loni’s eyes widened, before her expression softened into a gooey look that screamed awwww. So they were still in the getting to know each other stage. How cute! Vin always was slower than Loni with these kinds of things. They didn't really sleep with people they weren't dating, and they were so independent they hardly rushed into relationships.

"Don't be rude, Vin!"

Vin didn’t even bother responding to that. "Did y’hear what the boss said? Fifteen minutes, then we’re droppin’ you off."

"You ain't gotta do that... I ain't going home, I'm going back to work, and it's real hard to get over the bridge nowadays! I wouldn't wanna put you all in... Danger?" Loni glanced at Vin hesitantly, then towards where Gideon had disappeared. She was fairly certain Gideon Cross couldn't just stride over to the North, right? And Vin definitely couldn't openly. They only got over there by stealing Loni's work idea, or swimming across the river in their tiger form! "Cause, y'know, I work in the North! Sin Sisters... I’m always available for ‘friends’ if they visit."

She looked back at Marco with a suggestive smile.

Vin rolled their eyes, but they weren't so worried about their asshole friend getting with their sister right now. Not after Gideon had stepped in. "Well I ain't lettin' you walk back yourself. Not with all the shit that’s happened."

"Oh, I won't! I'll text Kiki- or Mo, if she don't respond!"

”Fine. Just don’t go sayin’ stupid shit to each other. I gotta deal with other shit.” Vin narrowed their eyes at Loni, then Paloma, silently telling her not to share the whole necromancer murder thing. But they also knew that they couldn’t stop either of these women from saying shit they didn’t want to. Whatever… They’d just fucking live with it.

As Vin grumbled and shuffled away towards Destiny, Loni leaned in closer to Paloma.

"Don't worry, Vin's just shy about these things!" Loni whispered, as if she was passing on some crazy secret information.

"Eye!" Luci agreed, along with some nonsensical babbling.

Smiling brightly, Loni pulled back a bit, while still being closer than most people would find comfortable.

"Pink’s the best colour, so you’re so right to have it as your fave! Some people said I gotta grow outta it cause it's childish, and red's much sexier, but I get as many clients as the girls wearing red- more, sometimes!" She rambled, bright and friendly as she responded to everything Paloma had said in her earlier distraction attempt. For Loni, it just felt natural- she wasn’t so scatter brained she’d forgotten it, but she was ditzy enough to jump right back to it.

"I can’t believe we’re neighbours! That’s so exciting! Is that how you met Vin? That's so cute. You probably ain't seen me cause've my work hours... I work a lotta evenin' shifts, so I ain't home till well past midnight. And I'm stayin' at work right now cause've the-" Loni cut herself off before mentioning the freaky doppelganger that had almost killed her a few days ago. Paloma seemed to know about magic since she was unphased by the freezing, and maybe had something to do with it unless Gideon had pinned the blame on the easiest target- But that didn't mean she knew about the horrible face stealers about town! Loni didn't want to freak someone else out. She was freaking out enough as it was. "Childcare! Vin's real busy recently, and my boss loves my baby girl. I mean it's impossible not to- But Momo really loves her. So does my best friend Kiki, who's Momo's sister and works with me. If I stay at work one of em's always around to watch Lu- So it's no wonder you ain't seen me, if you're only gettin' to know Vin recently."

The explanation was unnecessarily long, but it probably would've been just as long if she'd given the real reason. Loni's babbling was punctuated by Luci's, which only made the actual English spoken by the adult of the two hard to follow.

The toddler ended with a resounding, "Ahn Mo!"

"That's right, Mijita, your aunt Mo loves you a lot." Loni started tickling Luci, squeals of joy getting louder. "Anyway! It's so nice to meet you. Vin ain't got many friends, and most've 'em are real rough types! Cause they're so prickly... But they're really soft on the inside! They gotta real soft spot for cuteness too. Like–"

She nodded towards where Vin was talking to Destiny.

"If you wanna get closer, I can help." Loni waggled her eyebrows, glancing at Vin and then back to Paloma with a bright smile. "Nobody knows Vin better than me! They're real stingy 'bout sharin' things, but I ain't! You can ask me anything. What do you wanna know?! I love sharing! Oh- oh, especially embarrassing childhood stories! Course we're the same age so I don't remember everything but I- Oh, wanna see some pictures of them when they were younger?! Vin used to be so cute."

Not even waiting for a response, Loni slipped a hand into her bag, which was a little difficult with a wriggling toddler in her other arm. But she managed, unlocking her phone with one hand.

Oh! She should text Kiki first! She quickly sent her location, before typing out an explanation text.

Mt me here whn 3 xoxo

Then she started scrolling through her pictures to find the most adorable baby photo of Vin she could.

Luci leaned forward in her Mama’s arms, hands waggling towards Paloma. She was only distracted by the bright colours on the screen for a moment, after all, before wanting more entertainment. “Ah-bah! Pah duh ipe uhn down!”

It was mostly nonsense, but it was clear she wanted to do something that wasn’t just wriggling in Loni’s arms.

---

Grumbling under their breath about annoying people, Vin moved back towards Destiny and Latoya. They didn’t particularly care about the adult woman, but they had unfinished business with the child. If they were going to be leaving soon, they needed to sort out the whole fighting lessons thing. And a few other things… It wouldn’t be good if their new prodigy got bumped off in the streets before they strengthened her up.

”Sorry ‘bout that shit- woulda been a good fuckin’ fight if the boss hadn’t stop it.” Vin said directly to Destiny, quickly moving onto the point. ”I bet you don’t gotta phone, so I ain’t gonna bother givin’ you my number. If you’re serious ‘bout learning to fight, come here tomorrow. And if you get into any real bad trouble… Gimme a nudge.”

They tapped their head. They knew Destiny had some kind of mental magic, after all, after she’d blasted them with her grief. Whether it was powerful enough to be used at a distance they didn’t know, but what else could they offer?

”Before you go stressin’ ‘bout why some adult’d care enough to help you out if you’re in danger- it ain’t some selfless thing. Nothin’s as fun as a good fight.” They grinned, a wild, almost bloodthirsty thing. ”And I ain’t allowed to just go ‘round beatin’ people up. So you’d be doin’ me a favour.”

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

---

The Waystone Inn
Interactions: Lairëcúma @Tesserach, Ransom @Atrophy
Outfit: Normal
Hunter’s Mark Target: Ransom

---

Cali openly rolled her eyes at Ransom. Gods, what an asshole. Was he seriously trying to flirt with the woman he’d only moments ago tried to slap across the face? Of course he was. Hopefully the overgrown furball would claw his eyes out and ignore his cowardly bullshit about a proper duel.

Or not. Lucky slunk away with an unnecessarily pissy shout as soon as Ransom turned his back, which unfortunately meant the golden bastard was looking at them. Cali’s face twisted with disgust as he not only blamed her for any inflammatory songs- she didn’t even have to say anything this time- but also acted like she was still into him. Had she not been fucking clear?! Her expression darkened further, lips twisting into a scowl. But for a brief moment it broke, an amused smile flickering across her lips at Lairëcúma’s continued song.

At least there was a silver lining in all this. Not only was she beautiful, but she didn’t seem as pretentious as she’d first appeared. At least, what stuck up elf would sing a song like that? Cali found herself quite liking Lairëcúma already. It seemed like she’d be quite fun to drink with - which was an excellent suggestion by her. Though just like Ransom, she wasn’t backing away until she’d set the record straight.

”Move that finger before I cut it off, and get your head outta your own ass.” Cali sneered, glad the glow of her hunter’s mark was somewhat obscuring his smug punchable face. She couldn't really deny the stalker charge, considering her plans to stalk and assassinate him later. But everything else was completely false. The only way she wanted him ‘to herself’ was to kill him. Gods, maybe she should just try right now. Shoot him through the eye. If she was fast enough she let go of the arrow before he stopped her.

No, no… Time and place. She’d survived this long by not murdering assholes right in front of crowds and tavern doors.

But his continued delusion had to be shattered. Almost endearing? The last thing she wanted was to be endearing to him. Like she was playing hard to get- disgusting.

”I didn’t follow you. I came out to make sure this poor bard wasn’t hurt when you shoved her out of the way. Seeing your ugly mug is the price I gotta pay for that. I don’t want a single living piece of you. I don’t like men. You thinking I’m into you after everything I said just shows how fucking depraved you are. Bet you think every woman is, no matter what they say, you sick bastard.”

While Cali was giving him a piece of his mind, the big cat had been replaced with a smaller furry friend. Devastation the fox had grown bored of guard duty. So she'd abandoned the drunk tiefling to follow her master, weaving through legs and trotting out into the cold.

But as her padded feet stepped into the snow, a whiff of something delectable was caught in her constantly sniffing nose. Leather au Aasimar blood. She’d gotten a taste and now she wanted more. The half smoked cigarette on top, still smouldering, didn’t deter her. She bounded forward to snatch up Ransom’s abandoned glove from the snow, before scampering over to lie down at Cali’s feet. She quickly licked off the remaining bloodstain, before starting to rip into it like it was a chew toy.

Cali looked down at Dev, and a chuckle escaped her lips. At least someone was having fun. Now that she’d made herself clear, she should too. No point ignoring what seemed like great company to keep ripping into this asshole. She could hunt him down and kill him quietly later.

She turned to Lairëcúma, also making sure to show Ransom her back, glare swiftly softening into a smile towards her. She gestured towards the door, indicating for her to go first. ”You're right, let’s go enjoy some drinks and better company. I gotta make sure my friend ain’t stumbled off… You ever tried Last Round? Really nasty stuff, but got a strong kick to it. First round's on me.”

Cali bent down to scoop up Dev in her arms, the fox far too into chewing her new leather glove to move. ”Nice song, by the way. How d’you come up with the lyrics on the spot like that?”

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

---

The Waystone Inn
Interactions: Lairëcúma @Tesserach, Kel @NoriWasHere
Outfit: Free from scum
Hunter’s Mark Target: Ransom

---

Ah, revenge was so sweet.

While Ransom’s delusion held stronger than Cali expected, with a barely hidden smirk she wanted to cut off, it eventually broke. It was incredibly satisfying. Seeing the disgusting smile wiped clean off his face as it turned to barely contained rage… She couldn’t get enough of it. The only thing that would make it better would be if he now fucked off.

She was already preparing the next dose of venom, eyes raising as he pulled his glove off. Why? Was he going to slap her with it? Of course, he was turning to violence just like she expected. It would take more than that–

"Man, do y'all love wobblin' jaw as loud as possible for the hell of it or what? Gods, I can barely hear myself fucking think."

Great. Now there were two asshole men to deal with- Or not. The cat barely stuck around, thank fuck, though she did get the opportunity to make a rude gesture at his back. Why was he in a tavern if he didn’t want to hear people talking? He should choose somewhere quieter to be, like a ditch.

Though watching him smash Ransom’s pretty little head was amusing. Doubly so when it sent Ransom into a fit of rage. He was on an absolute warpath. Just like that, their problem was taken care of. Almost a shame, since she had plenty more insults ready to stab him with. But while she had some harsh words for the rude cat too, at least he took the trash out with him.

Her eyes narrowed at Ransom’s retreating back, quickly casting Hunter’s Mark on him before he was out of sight. Though if she was lucky the overgrown cat would kill him so she didn’t have to. A soft purple glow settled around him right as he tried to throw a beautiful elf out of the way.

That asshole hasn’t already hurt enough women?!

Now she was pissed again. Cali couldn’t stay still when some poor woman had been flung out into the snow. She needed to make sure the elf was alright. Maybe she also wanted to see Ransom get his ass handed to him by a big cat. Two men beating each other up was entertaining until the loser decided to find some helpless woman to pummel to get his pride back. Which only put the lady shoved outside in more danger.

”Stay here, drink water, I’ll be back.” Cali said to Kel, feeling some amount of (obligation) towards her. She was so drunk she couldn’t be left alone, after all. ”I gotta make sure that scumbag doesn’t move onto another victim– Dev, watch over her for me.”

The fox that had been sniffing around the floor looked up at her, before letting out a soft bark. The bond between the two meant that even if she didn’t understand Cali’s words exactly, she got the meaning, trailing over to Kel and slinking around her legs.

Cali grabbed her fur lined cloak and bow before she hurried outside, fearing the worst as she reached the door to– “I demand satisfaction!”

That bastard- She burst out into the cold expecting to find him leering over the elf, only to find him squaring up to Lucky. Why was his glove on the floor? Was making Lucky pick it up some kind of pre-fight humiliation ritual? What a fucking weirdo.

She turned to find Lairëcúma, hand outstretched with the expectation she’d be helping her up from where she’d been thrown out the door and onto the ground. Another expectation was thwarted, but not in such a weird way this time, when she found Lairëcúma still standing off to the other side of the door from the asshole duo.

”Are you alright? You ain’t the first lady that scumbag’s tried to batter tonight.” Cali asked, jerking her head towards Ransom. But maybe Lairëcúma wouldn’t have needed Cali’s help, if she was able to get out of the way of his shove. Her gaze turned slightly appraising as she looked up at the taller woman.

After a moment she looked over her shoulder, disappointed when she found they hadn’t started clobbering each other yet.

”Don’t fall for it if he tries to flatter you later… Ah, but if you stick with me that won’t be a problem. My name’s Cali.” Not one to be thrown off by changing events, she kept her hand out and turned it into an introduction. Her dark red lips pulled up in a smile. ”I got a… Friend inside I’m drinking with, if you wanna join? Though I’m curious to see who’s gonna win this fight.”

---

The Waystone Inn
Outfit: Normal
Interactions: None, observations only
Lunar Phase: Half Moon [Day 5 of 29]

---

Watching people was always so fun.

Not in a creepy way. Of course not. Eilrethiel didn’t think he was creepy, even though he’d had that term used against him before.

He sat in a dimmer corner of the Waystone Inn, draped in a dark cloak with the hood up. It made him look a lot more suspicious than he intended- he just wasn’t sure how people would react to his appearance! He’d literally only bought this cloak for hiding his non-human features! Cause if he wore his fur lined coat, he’d die of heat! He’d only been here a few weeks, and was yet to figure out how similar to other towns it would be. Odd looks and questions he could deal with, but some people were downright nasty about the whole being half sea elf thing. It wasn’t his fault there were cultural differences!

Like how they were to tieflings… Though he’d found they were discriminated against much more than half-elves were in their elvish communities. Not that he knew how other half-elves had it, but at least he’d never been treated like the scum of the earth.

Though it didn’t seem so bad here. At least the bartender was treating the two pretty tiefling ladies normally, and one was now even getting to it with a very handsome human. It was a shame she got to him first… No, no, he wasn’t falling for the perfect blond human again. Not this time! This time he’d–

Oh, maybe it wasn’t proper flirting. Things were getting really nasty! And not just because of the vomit on the floor! So, it was normal treatment of tieflings! Worth noting down, though he didn’t have any of the devilish traits that made Tieflings both discriminated against and constantly flirted with.

He scrambled for the scruffy leatherbound notebook in his hands, which he was making notes in with a magically self inking quill he’d stolen when he was kicked out of wizard school for not being a wizard.

If anyone happened to look over his shoulder, they’d have absolutely no idea what he was writing. His handwriting was a harsh, childlike scratch with sharp lines and no connection between the letters. Half the words were misspelt, and the words that were used were relatively basic. Some kind of observation log, maybe… Impossible to tell unless someone was skilled in deciphering horrendous unreadable handwriting.

His gaze moved to the other half-elf in the room- At least he assumed she was, what with the kind of pointed kind of not signature ears. She seemed completely unbothered by her surroundings, and Eilrethiel immediately sensed a kindred spirit. An outsider like him, and not just because they were both half-elves! No, she clearly came from a completely different community and place than this.

Maybe he’d talk to her later.

But for now she was talking to a big cat- Tabaxi! They were called Tabaxi, and they didn’t like being asked how closely related they were and if they had the same gear down there. At least, the couple he’d met hadn’t. They couldn’t even talk to cats, which he thought was weird considering some of his race could talk to dolphins, and they weren’t even related- Sorry, not related! At least, he could ask Tabaxi. Cats hadn’t responded to his questioning at all.

Oh, that Tabaxi was moving on. Maybe this was a good chance to slide in– Oh! Oh! He’d crashed right into the hot blond! The hot blond looked even hotter angry! He was storming off after him… Was there going to be a fight?! How exciting!

Eilrethiel leaned forward in his seat, excitement shining in his emerald green eyes as he considered following. Just to observe… No, he wanted to find a community here. He needed to pick the right moments to get on people’s good sides so they liked him. That meant not cheering for a fight, right? After all, he’d come to learn that spars on the surface didn’t tend to be friendly.

Oh, and he wasn’t the only hot blond in the room! An attractive surface elf entered, greeting the whole bar. Was that… A normal surface elf thing? How strange. Something else to write down– Oh shit! Hot blond one took out hot blond two! The drama!

Eilrethiel was practically on the edge of his seat, adding more unreadable scrawls to his notebook. Unbeknownst to him, he’d shuffled a bit out of the shadows of his lovely dark corner, making him a bit more noticeable. Dark teal hair fell out of his hood as he wrote down greet on walk in and be hot in his notebook.