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 Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:53 am
We can watch the city burn.
We can see it turn to dust.
We can dance around the flames.
We can watch the smoke erupt.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:55 am
The ShellFallon is an existing schoolkid. Her diary can be found here.  Name: Fallon Iva Novette-Naim Her mother is Jewish. Her father is French. Her middle name is that of her maternal grandmother.Nicknames: Fi or Finn, by friends sometimes; Fells, by Andeon. Gender: Female Age: 16 Birthday: February 29th Zodiac Sign: Pisces Gemstone: Amethyst Blood Type: A- Heritage: Jewish/French Orientation: Homosexual Fav. Food: Every food and flavor has a place in the palette of a true artist. Hated Food: Dishes that are badly prepared. Which covers about 99% of all meals. School: Crystal Academy (formerly attended Barren Pines College)Hobbies:Culinary Arts – You name it, and Fallon can cook it. In fact, you can’t even call it cooking. It is a magical rollercoaster ride for your taste buds that dives quick and spinning into the endless ether of euphoria. If you are her best friend, you should be careful. She will fatten you up in a matter of days if you let her. Fallon grew up watching the Food Network. She learned to experience the world through her mouth and was the kind of child who would eat lipstick, cigarette butts, and pieces of lint if you left it within her reach. As she grew, this took a healthy turn toward a passion for cooking. While most children were begging for horseback riding lessons or to join a soccer team, Fallon spent her Saturdays at the Women’s Center in her town to learn new cooking techniques. When she outgrew that, her father would drive her two hours to attend a French-cooking class in the next city. By age eleven, she refused to eat anything that she didn’t make herself and started to request pricey kitchen appliances for her birthdays. When her mom offered to take her to an amusement park, she instead requested a trip to the nicest restaurant in the entire area.Puzzle Champion -- Fallon likes puzzles. Picture puzzles. The massive kind that you can get for about five dollars at the local store and waste an entire afternoon assembling the precious fuzzy kitten that caught your eye in the toy aisle. She has a veritable stockpile of these bad boys, and has a large coffee table at the center of her room where she can sit and tediously work on them for hours at a time. Needlework: Fallon doesn't knit scarves or woolly socks. She whips out the smallest knitting needles the world has ever seen and painstakingly cross-stitches an applique rose onto her cardigan with so much detail that bees sometime land on it looking for pollen. If you receive a gift from her, it is highly likely that it is some kind of small, hand-stitched item that can be easily sewn onto some article of clothing you already have. She makes decorations, basically, but not clothes.Intricate Organizing: Fallon loves tedious, meticulous tasks that require a lot of patience. Oh, you need someone to count all the grains of rice in this bag? No problem! At any given point, she can probably tell you how many eyelashes she has, or how many pleats are in her skirt. She doesn't just like to count things though; there has to be another purpose. The counting is just kind of an effect. In her bedroom, she has three identical jars filled with colored glass beads. She likes to rearrange these jars frequently so that, each time someone comes in, there will be a different mixture of colors and amounts in each jar. It is that kind of task that makes Fallon feel comfortable.Chess: She likes the pace of it, the permanent rules. If you want to entertain her, ask if she would like to play a game of chess. Just don't cheat. She'll get super pissed at you for violating the sacred order of the game.Virtues: Efficient Organizer – If life was a club, Fallon would be secretary. She would have copies of the agenda made for everyone two days in advance and would be well-stocked with extra pens if anyone forgot theirs. She would shout out the dates for the next social before the president had a chance to consult his or her notes. Her entire life is set on a schedule, and Fallon’s concept of time is well-developed. She knows that it takes her four and a half minutes to walk from first period to second period, and that, if she would like to, she would be able to stop at the bathroom for approximately three minutes and still make it to class on time. She gets a thrill out of organizing the lives of others too. If you can’t figure out how to balance your schedule, hand it over to Fallon. She will return with three possible arrangements, including a diagram of campus with suggested walking routes for your days. If you mention that you are unhappy with your appearance, Fallon will gladly give you a makeover. Of course, you will end up wearing the clean lines and simple style that pervades her own appearance, but in her eyes, you will look much better.Be my guest! – Cooking makes Fallon happy. Cooking for other people makes her even happier. She is the kind of person who throws dinner parties once a week because it makes her complete. The world is a big doll house to Fallon, and her favorite dolls are those who let her play with them however she pleases. She will set the menu, plan the evening, and send out reminders of the dress code. You simply need to show up and enjoy everything that she has created for you. As long as you follow her rules, Fallon is an incredibly hospitable and nurturing person. She is constantly offering drinks and snacks to all those who visit her inner sanctum (i.e. bedroom) and will happily adjust the temperature as needed. She will go out of her way to make you more comfortable so long as it is her choice to do so. Stay within the nicely painted lines that she has created, and Fallon will be an understanding, empathetic, and caring friend ready to help you as needed. Staring Contest All-Star – Okay, so maybe not so literal with the staring, but Fallon has excellent powers of concentration and focus. If you tell her to sit at this bench and not get up until she has done her math homework, she will not move a muscle until it is completed. Even if there is an ice cream truck outside. Even if someone offers her five dollars. Even if her best friend starts shining a tiny light in her eyes. A lot of this has to do with her OCD. Focusing on one thing helps her forget about all the other things that could fall out of place. This manifests in her life in other ways. When eating a meal, Fallon always begins with a starch, moves next to the vegetable, then to meat, and then finishes with the fruit. She must finish the entirety of one of the food items before she can move onto the other, and she only takes a sip of her drink between each group. To say that she is “meticulous” would be a bit of an understatement. Things like Sudoku, massively-complicated picture puzzles, Rubix cubes, crossword puzzles, and cross-stitching are very appealing to the girl. Anything that requires a large amount of focus for an extended period of time makes her feel at ease. Need a problem solved? Great. Put Fallon in a room with the situation, and she will not come out until she has fully assessed and/or solved the issue.Orderly Rule-Follower – Rules and manners are good because they are agreed-upon sets of standards that society should know how to follow. These things simply add more organization to life, which is a magical and wonderful thing in Fallon’s eyes. When people are given too much freedom, they will destroy things. Order, organization, regimented schedules, following through on promises, meeting expectations -- these are all things that Fallon aspires toward. She is very well-mannered and composed on a daily basis, and she expects the same behavior from others. If they fail to meet those standards, Fallon will try to lead by example to show them the error of their dysfunctional ways. If they continue to repeat these societal violations, her response will become more vitriolic.Flaws: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – This is not the cute “Oh, I’m OCD!” version that everyone claims to have when they show a tiny sliver of pickiness or preferred order of things. No, this is the “I can’t leave this room until I return everything to its proper place, resting on top of the little duct tape X that I have created specifically for each object and have placed all over the room.” Her journals are color-coded. Her toothbrushes (one for every day) are color-coded. Her socks are color-coded and must be worn on the corresponding days of the week. Her lunches are packed in the exact same multi-compartment Tupper Ware container that she has been eating out of since she was six years old. They discontinued the line three years ago, and so Fallon went on eBay and bought enough to fill her closet at school from top to bottom.
This isn’t something that is terribly detrimental to her life on a daily basis – assuming that her pattern is not interrupted. To the uninformed observer, she might just appear super, super organized. She doesn’t do the stereotypical constant hand-washing, or the stop-the-car-every-few-feet-to-make-sure-you-haven’t-hit-anyone. Her compulsions revolve around everything being in its place which translates to a meticulously cleaned room, an immaculate physical appearance, and a utter hatred for spontaneity.
This is almost a double-flaw because Fallon’s OCD can be easily used to manipulate her. It is a compulsion that she can NOT resist. See that? NOT. There will be no completely getting over this for her. Even in RP, Fallon will pretty much NEVER be able to resist the pull of her OCD. She won’t have that magical moment where she is able to resist the urge to participate in one of her compulsions in order to save her friend’s life when her OCD rears its ugly head. Once the compulsion has been triggered, she will have to follow through with her normal process before she can do anything at all to help her friend. She has lived with this for 16 years and has many coping mechanisms built into her day-to-day life, but if someone ever uncovered them, she would be at their mercy. The only mercy in this is that she has gotten better at resisting her triggers (i.e. a dirty room, a crooked picture, etc.), but if pushed too far and too thoroughly, she will still crack.Resistant to Change – Fallon is as flexible as a steel girder. If you say you are meeting at 7:00PM, then you had better be there no later than 7:00.00PM. She takes tardiness as a personal insult and will echo that sentiment in every frown. Spontaneous, unpredictable people make her nervous, and she is prone to anxiety in their presence. She gravitates toward calm, collected, direct individuals and assumes that people who love spontaneity and random chance are simply too lazy to actually plan out their days. She is very judgmental of people like this and will distance herself accordingly. If forced to change her daily schedule too much or to adjust her personal life for others, Fallon gets moody and upset. She might throw an insult, storm out of a room, or slam a door – all things that she will later regret (don’t let them see you sweat!). It is very stressful for her to adjust at the last minute, and sometimes, instead of actually changing, she simply holes up in her room to be alone and to avoid the mental strain of rethinking the order of her life. Instead, she will focus on organizing her entire closet, or completing every puzzle in her room, or scrubbing the tile in her bathroom. When the going gets rough, Fallon fights to compartmentalize the situation into digestible chunks. If she cannot do this, then she will retreat from the situation entirely until made to do otherwise. Better to be alone than to be a liability. Bottle Up, Burst Out – In the past, Fallon felt that the only way to get things her way was to literally force others to do it. This erupted in immature tantrums, hair pulling, and other episodes of physical violence. Her therapist has recently instilled in her the value of using her words to express her feelings (a novel concept to a girl who was so image-conscious that she believed in tucking all of her feelings away for fear of judgment). Old habits die hard, and Fallon is still very sensitive about making herself too vulnerable to others, especially if that means exposing her OCD. Fallon remains a big believer in bottling up emotions, but instead of smacking someone upside the head, she has swung in the opposite direction to be verbally confrontational in the face of disagreement or unrest. She still swallows down her feelings, but when she cracks, it erupts in a short-tempered explosion of all the things that have been bothering her for days, weeks, or months in a semi-coherent diatribe. These explosions are usually laced with insults and frustrations, and it all comes out in a deluge of information -- even if the person had no idea that she was mad at all. Fallon is not good at expressing how she feels verbally (never has been) and can be self-righteous or argumentative when she disagrees with someone’s perspective on the task at hand, or the current situation. She is likely to say, “I think we should do it this way because this way makes the most sense!” instead of, “This way will help us finish faster because of x, y, and z.” This can exacerbate a tense situation when disagreement is afoot and has the potential to make a minor grievance become major when met with an unyielding party.
There will be times when her violent streak bubbles to the surface, but those incidents will be isolated and predicated by significant plot occurrences.Territorial Control Freak – This is her bed. This is her pen. This is her ice cream. Fallon is an only child from a wealthy family who never really had to learn to share in her day-to-day life. Her obsession with having everything exactly where it belongs makes Fallon even more territorial over her belongings. She does not care how you live your life, but when you are interacting in hers, you should follow her rules, or leave. That means being on time when you have plans, taking your shoes off before entering her room, asking before you try on any of her clothes, and never rearranging things in her personal space. It is quite likely that she gives people disclaimers on what they can and can’t do before she actually lets them anywhere near her personal belongings. In public spaces, this is a lesser issue. She doesn’t look at a pigeon-poop-covered bench and declare that it is hers because she sat there once. She does not demand that a restaurant bring her a cloth napkin if they use paper. This is largely limited to things and spaces that really do belong to her: her backpack, her bedroom, her hairclip, etc. If someone were to take one of her belongings or otherwise disrespect her personal space, Fallon would write them off as rude, uncivil, and useless and would resist forming any personal tie with them without ever speaking that dissatisfaction to them.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:05 am
The Ghost
As it once was, so shall it again be. Name: Sailor Ares, Parallel Senshi of Smoke Hobbies:Sparring – Anytime, any place. Want to bond with Ares? Ask her to spar with you. Most of her down time is spent creating dummies and makeshift weapons for her to test her skills out. She probably goes to unnecessary lengths to create a “realistic” battle scene. It is possible that she might sneak up on a friend to get them to fight her too, which could end badly. Reading Self-Help Books – Ares believes in self-improvement, inside and out. Her focus is typically on the battlefield, but she understands that she is at her best when she is at peace inside. Back in the Silver Millenium, she went to speak with gurus and to have her chakras read. In the new era, she cruises the self-help section at the local bookstore to select intriguing titles for her own improvement. You want advice? Come to Ares! She is happy to bestow her knowledge on you too so that the entire team can improve. Whittling – Ares carves wood more than an old country grandfather. She says it improves her hand-eye coordination with knives, but in truth, she just likes it. It is a useless hobby that warms her little heart. Chances are she carves little gifts for Queen Nehelenia constantly, and she would be incredibly, terribly embarrassed if any of the other parallels teased her for it. Princess Selene/Queen Nehelenia – What are you talking about? She does not think of the Princess that way. The Prince is Selene’s one true love. Everybody knows that. HEY. STOP LOOKING AT HER LIKE THAT. Epic Battle Movies – Ares loves Earth and never wants to leave it. Why? Well, two reasons. One: her Queen deserves the green and blue planet. The White Queen isn’t even around, duh, and Nehelenia is twice the Queen that Serenity ever was. Two: WAR MOVIES. Ares fell in love with Earth the second that a copy of Spartacus fell into her lap. Her memories of the Black Moon Kingdom grow more distant to her, and she finds herself more and more in love with this place and the things it holds. How could anyone not love television and movies? Virtues: Bastion – If one of the parallel court members were to be tortured, Ares would probably be the best candidate to withstand it. She takes oaths and loyalty very seriously, has a high pain threshold, and is fiercely protective of her fellow court members (when they are up against a common enemy). Her general keep-your-mouth-shut attitude lends to this virtue. Her concept of self is less important to her than her concept of what the Black Moon Court represents. For all of her bragging and disruption, she is loyal to her Queen and would sooner die than see Nehelenia in pain or see their cause derailed. In her eyes, the Queen saved her from a life of mediocrity by giving her an enemy to fight and a purpose in life. She considers herself an extension of Nehelenia’s arm, and even though she might give the Queen some lip from time to time (and even if her love of battle is often confused with her love of their mission), her loyalty is deep like a canyon. Battle Strategist – Ares might not be the captain, but girlfriend knows her way around the battlefield. She loves a good fight and has absolutely no problem seeking one out. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in battle strategy. She might fail at a game of Risk or Battleship in real life, but on the battlefield, Ares is at her best – quick on her feet, thinking a few steps ahead, dispatching violence in quick, effective bursts. She feels most alive when she is laying waste, and instead of rushing headfirst into battle, Ares is keen enough to take the time to actually think out what she is going to do. This makes her a very effective soldier, especially in missions that might require less brute strength and more fight savvy. Even though Ares carries a bit of a chip on her shoulder to have Aphrodite over her in terms of power, she does not try to usurp that directly (though she might make a comment or two about the Thrall senshi’s faults) because she respects the chain of command, the order of their army. She fights against it by trying to impress Nehelenia with her battle skills in the hopes that she might get a promotion, but will still follow all of Aphrodite’s commands because that is what a good soldier would do. Battle-Ready 24/7 – Ares is always ready for a mission. Ares thinks that going to school and hanging with friends can be boring – but a fight? YES PLEASE. She might even hang around Selene an annoying amount in the sheer hope that there will be some assignment that will suddenly come up. She is not lazy in any way, shape, or form – both on the battlefield, and in reality. Even in her down time, Ares busies herself with training, planning out battle strategies, and even polishing the weapons of others if asked. She is obsessed with improvement and has the necessary diligence to turn her aspirations into reality. She believes in self-actualization to a dizzying extent. She may or may not have read The Secret a few times (assuming she got her hands on it while cruising Earth). What her power lacks Ares intends to make up for with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills. She is probably chummy with some of the cavaliers in the hopes that they will spar her. Intensely Passionate – While Ares might seem aloof or removed at times, she is a very passionate person. She loves to fight. She loves the Black Moon Court. She loves to fight. She loves to serve her people. She loves to fight. Once she finds something that she likes, Ares hooks on to it and smothers it with her attention. If she ate Cheerios once and decided she liked them, Ares would go out the next morning to buy 10 boxes to line her pantry. If she read a book that moved her, she would write a positive review on Amazon within moments and then spend the rest of the day recommending it to all of her friends. This positive motivation toward a common goal is good for a team dynamic, and when preparing for battle, Ares jitters with the excitement of a 15-year-old gearing up to go on her first date. For all her seriousness, Ares can flip back to pleasant socialization the second someone mentions something on her list of “likes.” When the conversation is on something she dislikes? Ares will make comments meant to derail the talk and move it on to a subject she enjoys more, or she'll just wander off to go spar without a goodbye. Ares doesn't really understand degrees of devotion. She either loves something or she hates it. Someone is either an enemy or an ally. She likes to categorize things in this way. Though she understands that the world is not necessarily black and white, Ares does her damnedest to make it that way. Flaws:Vainglorious – Ares acts like she does not think she is the s**t, but to any onlooker, it would be quite obvious she, in fact, thinks she is the s**t. Where Sailor Gaia might openly brag, Ares will simply smile and act as though the massive youma she just killed was no more of a problem than an errant mosquito. The problem with this is that Sailor Ares cannot always handle the things that go bump in the night, and she is even less likely to ask for help when she is in over her head. Rather than suffer the shame of being incapable of handling her own business, Ares would rather put herself at personal risk. Her attempts to act like everything is always okay (even when they are up s**t creek) can make her a liability, and it would not be unheard of for a patrolling partner to be forced upon her just to keep a watchful eye. If she does not receive sufficient praise for a job well done, Ares becomes agitated and bristly and will sometimes disappear without word for a day as “punishment” to the court. (She tends to assume her absence is a great detriment.) Vindictive/Destructive – There is a reason Ares is not captain, as much as she might quietly fume over it. She might be an ace in battle, but her off-court manner is not suitable for a leader. She is an excellent soldier, but her scales are tipped heavily toward prowess in that arena, and not elsewhere. She is argumentative, vindictive, and destructive when riled. Maybe Ares hasn’t gotten you back yet, but she will. She does not forget a grievance, even if she acts like everything is A-OK. She will go to great lengths to punish those who wrong her, but she will do so covertly. It would not be unlikely for her to head into battle with another senshi, only to disappear as the youma emerges. She would wait quietly while the senshi got banged around, and would then reappear at the last second to help them finish it off. It is the kind of behavior that she no doubt receives constant punishment for, and it is precisely the kind of bullshit that the Black Moon Court does not have time for in the midst of their quest for justice. As reserved as Ares might seem at times, she is a raging torrent beneath that façade, and this makes her ill-equipped to shoulder too much responsibility, or to hold too much of her Queen’s faith. Ares just wants to watch the city burn, even if she tells herself she really just wants justice for the Black Moon Court. Stick in the Mud (and maybe another up her a**) – Ares is not fun-loving. Ares is not the life of the party. Ares is the girl wearing a business suit to a rave. Ares is portioning out punch into Solo cups while the others gather to watch a keg stand. She has a hard time letting loose, and an even harder time ignoring her soldier duties to get some “me” time. While her dedication to improvement makes her a great soldier, it can make her shitty to be around some times, and there is little doubt that the other parallels are constantly giving her s**t and trying to loosen her up. Just as she can be a bastion for punishment against enemies, Ares is typically on the receiving end of criticism from her fellow fighters for being abrasive and aloof in a social setting. The same things that make her a great soldier make her a crappy friend because she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of camaraderie outside of battle. Whereas other parallels might get along with each other socially, Ares is probably liked in a “oh, this is just our weird cousin, be nice to her” kind of way. She is not srs bsns; she is serious business. She does not understand why you removed the vowels from the words. Is that funny? Is she supposed to find that funny? Not Resilient – When Ares fails, she takes it hard. Very hard. She will assign herself additional punishment to emphasize whatever her Captain or her Queen might dole out to her. Her self-identity is strongly rooted in her ability to succeed in battle, and should she fail, Ares would be beside herself. She would question her usefulness and fall into a depressive state. She would take that initial failure and make it worse by shutting herself off and breaking down. In this realm, she is very dependent on her fellow parallels to snap her out of it. She would need someone to remind her of who she is and why what she does is so important. When in this depressive state, Ares is unpleasant, unreachable, and unwilling to do the things that she normally does. Her mood swings are a detriment to the team, and when she gets like this, she is hardly useful. When in this mood, she is exceptionally sensitive to the gentle ribbing of her peers and will react with profanity and anger in the face of their wit and guile.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:21 am
Smoke Signals
These are just a few power/fuku ideas, but I am 100% open to interpretation and outside input. If there is another power that might fit better with the existing dynamic, then I would gladly change. Challenge: The city burns; the smoke rises. In the name of Ares, you will breathe your last! Attack One -- Smothering Blast! Action: Sailor Ares brings her hands together to form a gun (kind of like Sailor Mars), but at the last second, she flips her wrists to expose her palms. Twin columns of black smoke erupt from her hands, and she lays one wrist over the other to direct the smoke. The smoke swirls in a column around the target. This lasts for 30 seconds. Effect: The smoke column chokes the opponent in addition to stinging eyes and obscuring vision. Those who breath in the smoke would have trouble catching their breath for the remainder of the battle, probably. It can only strike one opponent, unless (for some reason) two opponents were holding each other or otherwise closely bundled. She can only do this once. Strengths: Even if this attack is not totally successful, it is an excellent means of distracting an enemy, especially when fighting on a team. If an opponent is struck by the smoke, they might close their eyes, giving a nice window of opportunity for a second attack from another senshi/cavalier (or perhaps a physical one from Ares) to be set up. It is both offensive and defensive and has some effects (i.e. shortness of breath) that can last the rest of the battle. It is also ranged, which can be useful in certain battles. Weakness: The attack only lasts 30 seconds so the opponent could close their eyes and hold their breath to outlast it, assuming they saw it coming. There is an aiming component involved, and a particularly agile opponent could avoid the blast before the column forms, even if they still take a faceful of smoke. This attack is weak against wind-based attacks, or any attack capable of shielding an ally. The column is constantly churning smoke so it is possible to run out of the column, even if it is a little difficult. Attack One - B -- Smothering Blast, Power Up!Same as above, but the column of smoke can incase up to three enemies, assuming they are in close proximity to one another. It now lasts 45 seconds. Same weaknesses and strengths apply. Eternal Atack -- Smothering Screen!Action: Sailor Ares crosses her hands over her chest and spins in a tight circle. As she spins, she becomes incased in a column of smoke. When her hands shoot upward, the smoke erupts from her body, flying off in a circle around her and covering the entire area fifteen feet around her. Effect: It's the same general effect of her previous attacks, but on a much grander scale. Her allies are immune to this attack and are able to see in the smoke as if it were not there. It lasts for a full minute. She can only do this once. Strengths: Since this is her eternal attack, it is much stronger than those that came before it. It spans a wider space and offers a buff to her allies who can move in it as easily as she does. It also provides a nice cover for her to sneak up on enemies caught in her smoke. Weakness: If Ares is struck while spinning, the attack is derailed. The dodge factor is much smaller, but it is possible to run outside of the bounds of her attack. She is still weak against wind-based senshi, or those that can dispel/shield themselves from breathing in her smoke. Fuku? No f**-you! I love what Shaz has done with the outfits so far. My only suggestion would be to maybe use the complementary color to red on the color wheel, which would be green. I would like to see Ares in boots, perhaps, or something a touch militant. If all the parallel senshi are going to have weapons of sorts, then I would imagine she would fight with special bracers, or a shield, or something else more hand-to-hand.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:33 am
Plot-y Stuff
This is where plot ideas go! I imagine Sailor Ares is incredibly jealous of Aphrodite -- both for her position as Captain and also for her closeness with Selene. She respects her because of her position in the command, but she is less than covert about her belief that she would be the superior leader. She is quick to point out Aphrodite's failures, but equally quick to do as she says, even if she complains about it. Sailor Ares respects and admires Princess Selene and will obey her without resistance. Scolding from Selene affects her more than reprimand from anyone else. She believes that the Black Moon Kingdom is the true Kingdom, and that they are not the Parallels, the White Kingdom senshi/cavaliers are. The Prince is the Prince and earns respect for that and that alone. Sailor Ares and Cavalier Hector share a friendly rivalry differentiated best by Hector's impulsive need to strike-strike-strike and Ares's planned attack execution. To quote Hector's player on it: rosemilk He's the Cavalier captain -- and he's also got a lot of troubles with Aphrodite, so in a small, petty way, I imagine that he and Ares may bond together over that. She's not the type of person to dislike how he does things in terms of they're both intensely passionate, they're both ready steady go, and I think that the one thing they WOULD come into conflict with is: Ares is a strategist. Hector has one strategy: rush 'em. They'd have to balance this with how they respect each other, though it might be a friendly clash of differences considering they also respect the other's bravery. They strike me as the type to yell at each other, then shake hands and go home.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:41 am
But whyyyyyyyyy?
Here is where I will wax poetic about things that people say I might want to wax poetic about in the quest thread. Why would Selene want Fallon to be the vessel?Shaz could answer this better than anyone, and I can't say for certain that she would without GMing it. But! I can theorize a little for the purposes of the quest.
I think that Fallon's meticulous composition, orderly nature, and general respect for people who demand it (like I think Corinna would in a Fallon/Corinna interaction) would prickle Corinna's interest. If Fallon liked Corinna, she would let her hospitable nature flourish and would offer to make her dinner, go to karaoke, happily help her rearrange furniture, etc. Fallon is controlling of her own belongings and space, but she does not need to be in charge in every aspect of life. In fact, that kind of pressure would be very stressful for her. Fallon likes to compartmentalize and fulfill requirements, not paint the big picture. As long as Fallon gets to pick out what she wears and how intricately her hair is done, she does not care whether they go to the movies or out dancing -- provided people are on-time and a destination is discussed ahead of time. Fallon actually prefers to take secondary leadership roles (like being Secretary of the French Club, or playing attendant to Andeon's... Andeon-ness). A strong personality like Corinna who is as direct and steadfast as she is confident would be a comfort to Fallon, not a source of stress.
However, things won't necessarily be so happy-happy between them.
If Corinna got confrontational with Fallon for any reason or acted rude/ill-mannered, Fallon would bristle. Since both of them are resistant (Fallon to change and Corinna to compromise), it is possible they could both set-off their more controlling sides in a way that would butt heads instead of complementing each other. Instead of Fallon handing the "big picture" reigns over, she might feel threatened or put upon to an extent that triggers her "Territorial" or "Bottle Up, Burst Out" flaws. Instead of Corinna being intrigued by Fallon's composed demeanor, she might actually feel threatened if she perceived the other girl as trying to call the shots. Corinna's flaw of "Entitlement Complex" is probably the most likely point for them to clash, depending on if/how it manifested in an interaction.
So, um, basically: in an ideal world, Fallon will respect Corinna and be grateful to find someone unyielding, confident, and put-together to be at ease around. Corinna will note the bonus of having an orderly, efficient, and focused shell for her passionate, prideful, and destructive Sailor Ares. Whether or not the world works out that way would have to be determined through RP.How would a Fallon/Ares melding be mutually beneficial?For Fallon, she would share head space with someone unaffected by OCD, which would be very significant. Fallon has already made great strides to incorporate OCD into her life (as opposed to trying to control it), but with Ares, those urges would have another force suppressing them. Fallon would still be meticulous, orderly, and regimented, but it would be far more manageable and less debilitating. Melding with Ares would give Fallon the strength and security she has always wanted, and she would be paired with a person who cares as much about order and regiment as she does.
Ares would find herself sharing minds with a person who is used to dealing with most of her struggles internally, which would amp up her own ability to process things. Ares believes in self-actualization and achievement, and would be even more predisposed toward focus and organization. With these virtues mingling together, Ares would become more certain of her capability to lead and would probably begin drawing up detailed battle maps and training schedules drawing on Fallon's knack for planning. When at her best, Fallon is empathetic, generous, and helpful, and this would be a nice buffer to Ares's tendency to be a stick in the mud.
On the negative flipside, both Ares and Fallon have a tendency to hole away from their failures, carry grudges, and feel like others are doing it wrong. These flaws would fit together with Ares's "Stick in the Mud" amplifying Fallon's "Resistant to Change" and Fallon's "Bottle Up, Burst Out" exacerbating Ares's "Vindictive/Destructive" characteristics. As the personalities unified into a single identity, some of these would be more apparent than others.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:07 pm
Hi there Akina!
I like your quest and I think it has a great deal of potential, so I'm going to divide my commentary up into my thoughts on Fallon and Ares. Overall I would say I have stronger concerns about Fallon and can find less fault with Ares, but there's pros/cons on both at the moment. I'll start with Ares.
Ares: First of all, I want to say right off the bat I really like Ares's conviction that the White Moon and White Earth are the "parallels," because I really don't want to reinforce a metagame assumption that the Parallel courts are doppelgangers, less legitimate, or freaks -- our universe is parallel to theirs just as vice versa.
Overall I love her personality -- I think her vainglory works fantastically both for Ares mythologically and on Selene's team, who are trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. To be on Selene's team you have to be able to jive with Selene's philosophy, which is scorched-earth justice if that's what it takes for justice to be done, and it seems like Ares would fit right in. I also really like her devotion to Selene: I think that it could be really interesting and a possibly compelling point of conflict between her and Aphrodite, especially if she's trying to hide her feelings about Selene. My primary concern here is the degree to which this all might overlap with Hector, but I think it helps that Hector's a leader and Ares is not. You may still want to talk to Rose about making their schticks distinct. However, I really like lack of resilience as a flaw/weakness.
Her attacks look good, about the right level of power, clearly pertinent to the sphere.
Fallon: I recognize Fallon is an existing schoolkid for you, so making dramatic changes may be unfeasible or difficult to do -- I will try to bear that in mind. However, Fallon's personality will ultimately make a huge difference both IC and OOC as to whether she's chosen as a Parallel senshi, one important consideration being why Nehelenia would choose her as Ares. My main concern is that Fallon's personality is too extreme. Her flaws all appear to be centered around her violent, aggressive inability to tolerate things being out of order, and that would make her a highly socially dysfunctional individual -- either you can play those flaws and make her this socially dysfunctional (and thus probably constantly in trouble and not having any friends), or you can downplay/not play the flaws, in which case she becomes a character without significant flaws. I think she needs some middle-ground, more interaction-friendly flaws; otherwise it's hard to imagine why Corinna would pick someone she thought belonged in a mental institution, which she probably very well would think of someone who was literally violent.
How is she managing to exist at a school so strict and high-standards as Crystal if she's so ill-behaved? What kind of actual trouble has she gotten in for her behavior in the past? Has she had to deal with an academic record marked up with serious violations that colleges are going to look unkindly upon when she tries to go to college? These are questions that need to be answered if you're playing a character who sincerely is this irrationally violent.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:51 pm
Thanks for the crit! Very helpful, all around. You're the first person to actually talk to me straight about Fallon -- so I appreciate that a great amount. But first, on Ares! I think that Hector's leadership is a key difference between him and Ares. As much as she boasts otherwise, she is not well-suited to lead, and her immature pouting and avoidance in the face of failure would be a significant departure from Hector. I actually think that Ares would consider Hector a total bro. He is running head-long into battle, and hey -- so is she! I don't doubt that she tells him regularly that she'd sooner be led by him than Aphrodite, even if she says it in underhanded comments. I also read Hector as being much better at instilling friendship off the battlefield compared to Ares. She could certainly learn a few things from him. But! I will write up a little PM and shoot it rose's way next time I see her in the thread to touch base. I've read the RPs that Jesse is in, but it can always help to get a wider perspective on him from the horse's mouth. Overall, I picture Ares as less reliable and less mature than Hector, even if they share a similar strain of loyalty and passion for battle. Also -- whereas Hector loves the Musketeers, Ares kind of thinks she does float a little higher than everyone else. Only Selene and (sigh) Alexandros are above her, in her mind. She follows orders because she has to, not because she thinks Aphrodite knows better than her. She is also exceptionally covert about any special feelings she might have for Selene outside of their sworn duty. I feel like Hector and Ares would fuel each other's fire, and they would be a fairly brash senshi duo if ever paired together in battle. But I'm rambling! I will touch base with rose and iron out any kinks ASAP. On to Fallon! Fallon has changed considerably since the original profile was written, but since that was the approved profile, I wasn't sure how much I could alter it. The profile that I posted in the thread is the one that was approved way back when Barren Pines first started, despite the fact that Fallon has grown and changed since then and become more nuanced. If I am allowed, I would gladly rewrite to give a wider perspective on who Fallon is now. I suppose I just always looked at it as "this is what they approved, this is what you must post." But I would be happy to rewrite the profile to reflect her growth. I have been showing that change in her recent RPs that I log in her journal, but I have yet to actually reformat the profile to reflect it. I feel like people still see her as the Fallon I first wrote instead of the character she has developed into now. Perhaps rewriting her profile would help drive that point home? The only violent things that Fallon has done in RP is smashing the plate in Lucas's face, and she once swatted Andeon with a spatula. Otherwise, it is all mental bothers over seeing things that she does not like. If you look at this thread, I detail the history of Fallon's troubles with school, including her current Crystal-mandated counseling. This Dr. Price character is the catalyst to change her "Violence" flaw into "Resistant to Change" which I think would open up considerably more RP opportunities. I think the "Territorial" trait mixed with the "Resistant to Change" would be a more mature, treated version of what was an immature and over-blown characteristic in the first place -- while still making sense ICly. Fallon has a record of misbehavior in school, but she has never actually gravely injured anyone. The worst she did was to Lucas in Barren Pines, which she only has a vague memory of. I think it might have been an error in wording on my part. I wrote the trait to the extreme, and then I felt compelled to play it to the extreme degree to match the initial description. Fallon is not the same person she was then (especially since she considers her survival a miracle and a chance for a fresh start), and though she will always be annoyed and stressed by violations of her expectations, she does not react in the way that she previously did. More counseling will help, and soon, she is going to go on medication, which is (to me) an IC and logical means of handling the personal problems that ail her. One reason that I am so interested in the possibility of Fallon becoming a parallel is because of how it will provide a completely IC explanation for why her personality might change. Sharing head space with Ares, Fallon will meld together to become more vindictive and less flat-out violent, more motivated and less reclusive (though Ares can be prone to fits of pouting). It will be a blessing for Fallon to share a space with a non-OCD individual, and I imagine that the Fallon part of the Ares/Fallon hybrid will happily meld if only to have some mercy from what has been a very serious disorder for her. It is one of the reasons I jumped sky-high the moment the parallel information was released. As for why Corinna/Nehelenia would want her, I think that Fallon's polite and orderly attitude might appeal to Corinna. Shaz and I just started an RP, and I told her, "Either Fallon will respect her, or butt heads with her." After seeing Corinna RPed more, I actually think that Fallon would respect her for being a motivated, put-together, and decisive individual. I can't say that for certain since they haven't met ICly, but right now, Fallon is working to make more friends and more social connections (after losing so much in Barren Pines) and I imagine she will be willing to suspend her harsher reactions in the hopes of forging friendship. But! I'd have to see how that plays out. Wow, long explanation. I suppose what it boils down to is this -- if I am allowed to rewrite her profile to reflect the changes to her personality, then I would gladly do it. I think it would help if I showed the direction she is moving in in a single post, as opposed to asking people to read all of the RPs she has been in since Barren Pines. I recognize the issues with Fallon, and since BP, I have been taking steps to explain the IC shift in her personality. I wanted to make it real and believable so it wasn't some Houdini non-sensical change. So -- I shall rewrite her profile, yes? And if it's possible, would you be available to critique again? This has been exceptionally, exceptionally useful for me.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:36 pm
You're welcome for the crit, and thank you for being a good sport about it! I'm glad to help and I am more than happy to help more in the future to the best of my ability! Akina Tokuwa Wow, long explanation. I suppose what it boils down to is this -- if I am allowed to rewrite her profile to reflect the changes to her personality, then I would gladly do it. I think it would help if I showed the direction she is moving in in a single post, as opposed to asking people to read all of the RPs she has been in since Barren Pines. I recognize the issues with Fallon, and since BP, I have been taking steps to explain the IC shift in her personality. I wanted to make it real and believable so it wasn't some Houdini non-sensical change. So -- I shall rewrite her profile, yes? And if it's possible, would you be available to critique again? This has been exceptionally, exceptionally useful for me. Everything you've said here makes sense to me, so I'll answer your most important outstanding question: yes, you would most certainly be allowed to rewrite her profile for this quest to accommodate character development. I think the biggest worry we have about people rewriting their profiles is writing things in that we didn't accept and that didn't come about through natural improvement and development, but if you put it here in this quest we'd have the chance to look it over and see if it's a good set of changes -- though honestly, I don't think you're about to turn Fallon into Batman without our approval or anything, so I'm not too worried about that. Feel free to do that and I'll take another look at it once you think you're in a stage where more critique would be helpful.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:06 pm
>> Um if I may, I actually had this with Azzo, where his personality didn't fit and sounded rather bad compared to how he was RP'd. I ended up talking to Rose about alterations to see if there was a way to go about actually replacing the old profile. (Granted I had to rewrite his hypnosis ability anyways) But I had to get the rewrite okay'd before I posted it in his Journal.
I don't know if this is always the case but it might be something that'll help? I hope.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:10 pm
No, not Batman. Just Aquaman. (Wait, who wants to be Aquaman?) Given the go-ahead to edit her profile to reflect the emerging changes -- and keeping in mind that the wording on her violent trait was highfalutin and overdone -- I am happy to etch out the Fallon that exists in RP today.
I've actually thought about this before and had the outline for a few flaws sketched out. I posted the ones up that I have considered before, and I feel they are ready for a glance over.
I like critique a lot -- both of quests and existing characters. If you're up for it, I think Fallon is ready for another glance. The things that you mentioned about Ares I will have to catch up with rose on once I see her in the thread and get permission to PM.
[edit] Hey, LP. Once I get feedback on Fallon's revised profile, I will bring it to rose's attention (or can coda give the approval?) ASAP. Thanks for the tip.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:24 am
Hokay!
I have revised the Fallon section, and I spoke to rose about potential Ares/Hector overlap. I clarified the difference in the last section.
So I am ready for more critique, or a marking if the quest is deemed prepared for that step.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:25 pm
Fallon looks awesome, I already told you think she's awesome, etc. I feel like she's a character you've got in play already and you know her really well and that's most of what I need to say here. smile
As for Ares, she also looks good and I like that you're specifying her old hobbies, and what about earth she thinks is the bee's knees. I think the only thing that I'm getting hung up on is the flaw "not resilient" - For someone who clearly has a high opinion of herself and a go-getter attitude, I think it makes sense for her to take failure and critique really personally and try to get better, since she seems like a perfectionist anyway, but you need to specify how often this happens. Does she do this with every little thing? Is she majorly depressive and the smallest little detail can send her reeling? Or does she have a threshold and only react to the big things? I've tried to make a trait work like this before, and a character who basically becomes unreachable for days or weeks at a time just isn't very dynamic - you're going to run into situations where you're limited in what you can do with her because of how hard she takes everything.
She seems like a really passionate character with a bit of a disregard for others, which matches Fallon really nicely, but it might be neat to see some of the reasoning that went into Fallon being picked by Selene to host Ares? What is the dynamic between them like - is there anything that Fallon can stand to learn from Ares or the other way around? How does Fallon, with her routines and her compulsive behavior, feel about the sometimes-erratic life of a Senshi? etc etc etc, just things to think on...
I think that you've done some really nice work here, you just need to watch out for little internal inconsistencies, and because Fallon is limited by her OCD, you need to go the extra mile to justify why this works for her.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:42 pm
Hello, Silv~
The "Not Resilient" trait refers to failing in battles and in missions assigned by Selene. I can make that clearer.
I'll add a little blurb on how Fallon and Ares could mutually benefit from their melding. As for why Selene might choose Fallon, I can theorize a little on that, though I'll keep that sketchy since Shazari would be the final word there.
Thank you, thank you!
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:51 pm
 I think that the Fallon changes have made her a much more likely Ares aspirant, and I'm completely clear with everything done down here. Great revising.
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