I certainly don't mind offering pointers! I'm busy at work just now, so depending on work load I may or may not get around to reading everything(and that goes for everyone, I haven't read Kalan or Fading's posts yet either) but I'm expecting to get on the computer tonight, catch up, and make replies where appropriate(though I may or may not have anything to add in the IC yet).
Oh fuck, that was all one run on sentence. First writing tip is don't do that.
So the character concept is great as a whole, but I need to clarify: did you mean the graveyard at the school, or one in town? We haven't brought up a graveyard for the town as a whole, but the one at the school isn't active, it's only used by the school for necromancy classes.
If they work for the local funeral home, that's perfectly reasonable. It's a small town, though, so the job is probably a lot of groundskeeping and not a lot of mortuary assisting. But that might be really interesting for the character, I imagine it's frustrating for someone who is trying to get relevant work experience.
If you include a funeral home/graveyard in your character, I'll add it to the town lore, so you have a little creative power here, if you want it.
And you've got the right idea about the magical medicine, it's gruelling course of study, one of the most complex forms of magic. I think I'll probably write some kind of blurb about it in the lore section.
It started out as a pretty ordinary battery jump call. Professor Abernathy was trying to leave Sanctuary Hills University for the last time until fall, and of course her aging Volvo chose that moment to fail to start. For a call like this, she was in the shop’s pickup truck, instead of the usual tow truck.
“At least it’s a nice enough day,” the professor remarked, as Georgia pulled a set of jumper cables out of the truck. They were neatly coiled, held in their loop by a wide velcro strap. Georgia made a non-committal humming noise in response, and Professor Abernathy seemed unlikely to be dissuaded from talking. “You know, if you have to be stuck outside for an hour or two.”
Georgia grimaced, but said nothing. It had taken her only forty-five minutes from the time she received the call to arriving here, but there wasn’t any sense correcting her. And besides, she might not have meant anything by the comment. Some people just hyperbolize. Instead, she continued her work. It was a trivial job, but being stranded was no fun and most people would be more appreciative of this than if she had rebuilt their engine. Luckily the parking lot had thinned out, and it was easy to put the nose of the pickup right up against the Volvo. She started the truck’s engine. The radio immediately kicked on, crooning at her "For better or worse, till death do us part..." and Georgia practically punched the power button to cut it off.
“You’re a life-saver, Georgie!” the Professor called out after her Volvo followed suit. She stepped back out of her vehicle as it idled, to shake Georgia’s hand.
“Oh, it was nothing much, ma’am,” Georgia averted her gaze as she began to wrap her jumper cables back up, just as neat as she had gotten them. She was looking down at her hands when the first raindrop hit her on the back of the head. There was only time enough to lift her head up in surprise before a sheet of rain washed over them both.
“Oh now, and now I’ve got you stuck out in the rain with me!” The Professor seemed genuinely distressed by the predicament, but Georgia shrugged it off easily, trying to back toward her truck to get in and out of the rain, but feeling like she couldn’t end the interaction with a customer.
“Not really, ma’am, I’d probably be out here doing something, if not this. I reckon I was gonna get wet today,” as she continued the conversation, she held the rolled jumper cables over her head, but they were paltry cover. “But you get yourself home, I’ll be alright,” even as she said it, a crack of thunder burst from somewhere to the west.
The two parted, and Georgia climbed into the truck’s cab, trying to wipe some of the water from her face and hair. She flipped her windshield wipers on, and through the clearing glass, she spotted a handful of indistinct forms hobbling from the quad, apparently carrying heavy loads between them. Georgia put the truck in gear and trundled it across the lot to the edge where they would come off the grass. As they approached, she saw that they were all carrying furniture, a surprisingly large couch, some kind of desk chair and a shelf.
It was pretty apparent where they were heading, Georgia recognized Emily Steward’s truck in the parking lot. It already had a range of different pieces of furniture in the bed, and she guessed that Miss Steward was collecting furniture for her store, probably from students who were moving out today. Before she could stop herself, Georgia had already rolled down her window, and called out to the group.
“Y’all need a hand?”
They did. Not realizing it was going to rain, they had grabbed more than they could haul back to the shop in one trip, intending to leave it in the parking lot and come back in half an hour or so. Georgia grabbed a rain poncho from under her seat, and helped load the couch into the back of her own truck, throwing a tarp over it(wet as it already was). She followed the J.W. Steward’s truck back to Town Square, putting the radio back on to listen to Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealer’s Wheel.
Soon, Georgia was tracking water and mud inside with the rest of the hastily hired crew, holding up one end of the couch as they brought it in the back door. Even as Miss Steward came through with a rolling desk chair, she was calling up to the front of the shop.
“Sam! We need towels back here!” Under her breath she continued, “Unless you can dry up some water with magic…”
Georgia pretended not to hear this last bit, and instead joined the two college boys who were looking forlornly out the open door into the downpour.
“C’mon,” she said simply, “There’s more,” and she walked back through the rain to the truck to grab the next piece.
Yeesh, I'm really sorry, that's a rough week for sure! I hope your landlord isn't trying to make any of these things your responsibility(assuming you're in the US, I'm fairly certain they can't, legally, but that doesn't mean they won't try).
I'm happy to hear you're still in on this, though! I'm actually trying to get my own post finished just now, barring anything crazy, I should have it posted in just a little bit here!
@Expendable Stanley is good! I really enjoy the idea that gargoyles just kind of crop up on rooftops with enough magic associated with them. As a result, both libraries and churches are common birth places.
I'll add him to my relationship sheet, but just to say that Georgia is firmly unable to see him.
Is SEP a Hitchhiker's Guide reference?
We need to talk briefly about the telepathy, because this is something I wanted to touch on, but haven't gotten around to.
Magic that affects the minds of others has a lot of baggage around it, and many people consider it inherently "dark". Reading minds is an incredible invasion of privacy, obviously. But even sending telepathic messages can range from being considered very rude, to being considered a form of violence. The severity varies both on the exact nature and context of the contact, and personal opinion. Obviously there's a question of informed consent which can change the perception a great deal as well.
Of course, some magical creatures have such abilities natively, and how they are viewed varies in much the same way as humans using mind magic. Additionally, when it is a natural ability, there are going to be people who feel uncomfortable or even fearful around creatures like this. There are also people who are more understanding, and will be more patient(if somewhat on guard) about it.
In no way at all am I telling you not to include this in the character, but I want you to understand that it's a really touchy subject before you write scenes with the character. Because that's something that Stanley would certainly understand about the people around him.
Hey hey! Sorry for the delay - I've been sick, like I said. Aoife's sheet is up, along with her relationships.
No worries, I'm not stressing about pacing here. And honestly, I had some delays myself.
Name: Georgia Patricia Keen V Age: 25 Appearance: Taller than her father at 5’11”, Georgia is also broad shouldered. She has thick arms, with a soft layer of fat over them, and the same goes for her belly, bottom and thighs. She looks to be on the chubby side, but the muscle underneath is built on an active lifestyle, and physically arduous job. She has a round face, with soft features. She’s fair skinned, but with a slight ruddiness to her complexion, and has gray-blue eyes. Her hair is dirty blond, and is most commonly cut to a single length bob that falls around her neck. She wears a lot of denim, her favorite being bib overalls, usually worn with a T-shirt. If it’s warm and she's feeling adventurous, she might wear some denim shorts(or even Daisy Dukes!) but she often ends up feeling self conscious about her legs. If it’s cooler, she likes flannel too. At work, her attire is a set of mechanic’s coveralls in a deep indigo, with reflective patches on shoulders, around the middle, and around the cuffs of the legs.
Personality: She's awkward and self conscious, particularly regarding her size. Despite a lack of self confidence, she's very smart, and quite technically minded. Georgia speaks with the local Appalachian accent, which makes her feel low-brow around out-of-state students she encounters around town. Even though she's not the most outspoken(or perhaps because of that), she's very helpful, and often eager to please. Her size regularly tricks strangers into being intimidated by her, but most people find out pretty quickly that she’s a huge pushover. Georgia has basically no interest in cars or engines, in and of themselves. That’s not to say she doesn’t enjoy her job; she likes the mechanical nature of the work, and driving the wrecker often lets her help people out of tight spots. She just might not have picked it, if she’d been given a choice. She has a subscription to Popular Mechanics, and likes reading the scientific and technical details around the machines that she works with. She has a passing interest in magic that’s been hampered by her father’s staunch disapproval.
Background: George Patrick Keen I was an Irish immigrant who moved to Sanctuary Hills in the early Twentieth Century. He was actually paid a hefty sum by the Town Council to come and open a mechanic’s shop, simply because nobody else would, and increasing reliance on motor vehicles made such a shop a necessity. Sanctuary Hills wasn’t George’s first pick, nor was he theirs, but neither could find any other options that suited their purposes, so they were stuck with each other.
Over time, both the prejudice against the Irish and the stigma against magic waned, and by today, the Keen family is considered a cornerstone of the community. And likewise, Sanctuary Hills is now very much their home.
The current owner of George’s Garage is George Patrick Keen IV, and he failed to produce any sons to pass the name to. As a result, his youngest daughter got the closest his wife would let her get to being a “junior.” Despite the fact that her name isn’t completely the same as her father’s, Georgia Patricia Keen has the little “V” on her birth certificate that lists her as the Fifth.
Georgia was a shy child who didn’t make friends easily, and seemed habitually more interested in her Lego bricks than in dolls or clothes(or, later on, boys). She was widely praised in school for being well behaved, and for completing assignments without fuss, and when her daddy asked for help working on a car, she was the only one of her sisters who couldn’t seem to say no. George pushed her to learn his trade; she certainly picked it up easily enough, and never put up any fight over the subject. The only argument on the subject that they ever had was on whether to attend school for it. None of the George Patrick Keens before had done so, and her daddy thought it was insulting to his own skills that she wanted teachers other than himself.
For only the second time since birth, Yvonne Keen stepped in on her daughter’s behalf and told her husband “No,” and Georgia got to go to school, if only long enough to complete the trade program for an automotive technician. She’s out of school and back to working at George’s Garage, and for the past couple years she’s even been driving the tow truck for the shop.
Magic Specialty: None to speak of, though she knows a simple spell for light, and a potion that can restore rusty metal. The potion has patchy results(largely owing to Georgia not knowing how to alter it for specific materials), and she doesn’t bother with it often. This little bit of magic were the first things she picked up. She tried to learn more than this, but when her father found out, they had one of their rare fights, and in the end she promised she wouldn’t play with it anymore. She’ll still cast her light spell anytime she’s alone(sometimes just because it’s neat), and if she resorts to the rust potion, she has to make sure her father’s out of the shop for a few hours.
Other: Besides her father’s tow truck, she drives a yellow 1983 Subaru Brat.
[Everyone] - Georgia is not very sociable, and isn't likely to approach directly. But on the other hand, she's often too polite to exit a conversation that's been started. If you own a car, it's very likely you've paid her to do something to it, although you wouldn't have necessarily met her directly. She never works the desk at George's Garage, so a lot of customers never even see her unless they need a tow.
@ExpendableSamantha "Sam" Igorina Semenova - I don't imagine they have much to do with each other now, but they're both locals. Being around the same age in a small town, they definitely knew each other in school(or, at least knew of each other). Despite being a grade above Sam, Georgia had a little bit of a crush on her, but certainly never approached her directly.
@kalanggamValeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell - The arrangement you described is great, but also definitely under the table. Here's how it came about: Val had a breakdown(probably not his first one, but a big one) and went to George's Garage, but the fix was way out of his budget. Georgia happened to be nearby to see him leaving, upset and unsure what he was going to do. She felt bad, and quietly followed him outside. Out of earshot of her father, Georgia offered to do the work for the price of parts, plus a twenty. The work is usually done in a small parking lot behind Phil's. She actually really appreciates his frank speech and authenticity, and actually says yes sometimes when he invites her to hang out. To date she has adamantly refused to do anything that resembles "nightlife."
@naomimyselfandiAoife Fitzgerald - There's a sad irony that these two have a lot in common, but are unlikely to have met(in large part because of some of their shared traits). But it's only a matter of time until this disparate group of people forms into a core friend group(fingers cross)!
@shagranozRose Blossomdew - I think they almost certainly have never met, but if you have an idea I'm all ears.
@Fading MemoryTobias Malkinson - She gets a little anxious whenever she has an unanswered letter, so despite living in the same town, they've somehow become pen-pals. She doesn't notice when he's asking questions of academic importance, and just does her best to answer; even if her answer is just "I don't really know, sorry," or else "Obviously pull the lever. One is less than five, what kinda question is that?" She likes his car because it's interesting, her father likes it because it's expensive to repair. So everyone's happy.
Any character that has been approved, you may post it directly to the characters tab. Expendable, I apologize, I haven't read your new sheet yet, you may repost it in the ooc if you like, but it's not necessary, I will read it shortly.
There's a first post, it's move-out week for the college, and a day that was expected to be sunny and warm has suddenly become a bad storm.
In the early part of the afternoon, the sun shone merrily over the town of Sanctuary Hills.The day was warm, but with a nice breeze to help dry the sweat off of one’s brow, and keep them cool. People seemed too optimistic to credit the dark clouds to the west.
Summer is a favorite time of year for many residents of Sanctuary Hills. School is out, the town is less crowded without as many college students milling around. Even today, though, there were still some students lugging their worldly belongings from one of the dorms to the parking lot at Brooke Hall. And a handful had sought lodging in town, either for summer classes, or to work a summer job and stay nearby. The library was still open, though a missive had been sent to all students that if they did not manually renew any checked-out books, they would be summoned back to the school on Friday, regardless of how long they had on their loan.
Many restaurants in Town Square had set tables out in front, to take advantage of the fair weather. Some reached all the way onto the brick of the square itself. The crowd amongst them consisted of townies, as well as some students and even a few parents who were in town to drive their children home from college.
Sanctuary Thrills had its summer discount in effect, which was coaxing a little more custom. All of the rides were open today, without an “out of order” sign in sight. The Ursa Major was roaring along at regular intervals, punctuated by the screams of its riders, and a handful of vendors cried their wares over the din.
But weather in the summer can be fickle, and before anyone could credit it, a thick layer of clouds covered the town, and disgorged its payload of rain. It seemed that not even the local weather channels had predicted that the rain clouds would move this direction, although not everyone was taken completely by surprise. Anyone tuned to 101.1 got about twenty minutes of advance warning, as “I Swear” by All-4-One was interrupted by the mysterious DJ Aaron(Erin?), who simply advised their listeners to “Fetch you an umbrella,” before resuming regularly scheduled programming.
Fading Memory
Adeline
Not a Sayan
Neziul
Fetzen
Xaltwind
Veilsight
FlappyTheSpybot