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 Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:43 am
Nickname(s): Pipi, Pee (if you feel like receiving a good beating)
Age (Appearance Wise): 16
Age (Actual): 17
Hobbies: taking notes, fabricating notes (mimicking the fonts of other City People's speak to write her notes in), thinking up bad puns with the aid of the younger City People, making up games and writing them down in the back of the Black/White Book, writing in the Black/White Book (it gives her an adrenaline rush, believe it or not)
Birthday: February 14
Design: Parasol is based off of an octopus, her dress is the combination between the nib of a pen and the tendrils of an octopus (sorry if my art skills don't depict that well! @__@)
Favorite Things: Laced bookmarks, pinstripes, elegant dresses, music (in any form, she's open-minded), witty young ladies, waltzes, stories of espionage, the Black/White Book of course!
Hated Things: ghosts (despite that many City People claim that they aren't not real), people who don't take her seriously, people who don't remember the secret code to buy information from her because it gets awkward, mockery of her writing talents or mockery of herself in general
Favourite Story: The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen (because it features brief nudity and Parasol is immature)
Favourite ending: "...and the brave heroine pointed the sword at the heaven's pinnacle, and all the knights kissed her feet and basked in her glory! I reckon they would have kissed her feet nonetheless, she was so pretty you know? Oh, of course you don't!"
Job: authoress and aspiring information broker
Location:
Class: High Class ; the wealthier women of Library City seem to enjoy her company and exchange gossip with her. Sometimes, just sometimes, Parasol gives away information for free.
Fears: Death, the idea of leaving society in general. While Parasol may not be quite the ultimate social butterfly, she thirsts to be included in the life of Library City. The idea of dying is truly her only fear, for she's overcome the basic fears of a young lady (or so she claims) because a good information broker harbors no fear for anything; failure is not amongst them either. According to the information broker's creed, there is also no such thing as failure--just more persistence.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:33 pm
CONNIVING WHEN SHE MUST (-) - "Oh, believe me, I don't want to do this anymore than you do, but you are making it quite difficult for me to write you properly, do you understand?...YOU UNDERSTAND, YES?"
Parasol isn't altogether cruel, but because of her job--she places data as a priority over politeness. She takes no pleasure in using a poisonous persona, but it's proved effective in a number of circumstances so she's learned to adapt and overcome her own self-consciousness about it. While this aspect of her aids her in retrieving intelligence from difficult subjects, it is also efficient when it comes to her personal life as well--such as asserting her authority despite her young physical appearance. It is also her best weapon against mockery, which she used to receive aplenty in the start of her career. However, Parasol vowed never to show her darker colors to the younger Book Children and City People. She is an advocate of a youngster's innocence because she enjoys their company and wouldn't want them to never speak to her again.
oooFAQ: How does Parasol threaten her difficult subjects?
oooParasol almost always has information against the person, if not, she'll bluff. She hasn't had one too many difficult interviewees so thankfully she hasn't exercised much this dark persona of hers.
oooIn the worst case scenarios, she won't give up--she'll just change a source, which is "technically" giving up but not entirely.
oooFAQ:What about her job? Does it always work out?
oooParasol's extractions/purchases are better among the higher class, but for those who don't need it, her attempts have been rendered unsuccessful.
oooFor example, middle-class researchers find her information useful, engineers might, but if it doesn't pertain to their interests it probably won't work out (logically speaking).
oooFAQ: Does Parasol sell stories?
oooYes! She collects them also, so when it comes to stories, it's really more of a barter. She enjoys learning about Book Children's stories very much.
oooFAQ: Why do people give her information? They don't get anything in return, right?
oooNot exactly. Sometimes, she trades information with them, and both sides provide evidence that their claims are true.
oooOther times, she's just being plain sneaky so they aren't even conscious that information is being given away.
SEEMINGLY WHIMSICAL, IF NOT, A BIT INSANE (-) / IMMATURE TO AN EXTENT (+/-) - "No, pens don't run on ink, nothing really runs on anything if it's your hand guiding it! What, so, if I run down that street over there is the street running under me? Well of course not unless you're genuinely bovine. You know, forget it--call me Mr.Parasol....what do you mean why? NOTHING'S MAKING SENSE ANYMORE!"
Parasol is a high-functional young woman, and naturally, she runs out of steam eventually. Whenever she's overwhelmed by whatever is happening around her, be it a common everyday situation, taboo, or the point where utilizing a conniving persona is futile in information extraction--she becomes highly flustered and uncontrolled. Unfortunately for her, she is also renowned for being rather immature (a jokecracker, a playmate for the younger Book Children and City People), so people who don't know her well can easily assume under such circumstance that she either lost all her marbles a long time ago or she was childish to begin with. Parasol herself admits that she isn't fully matured, but she presses that growing up is a "learning experience" and so is collecting information. Luckily, her immaturity and doll-ish features are often found to be "charming" among the high class (since she's from the same social rank as them and thus better received) and therefore invited to parties as a "pet" of a sort. (This explains while her manners may not be the best, she looks the part of a high-class little lady and therefore her appearances serve as access.)
KNOWLEDGEABLE WITH A COST (+/-) - "Oh! I am familiar with what you're looking for! I can help if you want...for the cost of three coppers."
While Parasol may appear to be a meander-er, she persists to be knowing. All the things she learns about Library City, be it the weather forecast (which is constant, but she notes this anyhow), the citizens, the agriculture, the social cliques--Parasol must know them all. While her information literally doesn't always come cheap, it figuratively doesn't, also. Her occupation has damaged her personality in the sense that she has very little politeness reserved in her. While she is a member of the high class, she learned quickly that mannerisms weren't the most effective tools when it came to extraction--tenacity was. "Everyone's business is my business" is her personal motto, and she lives by it adamantly. All the information Parasol collects is written in the "Black/White Book", a book bound by a white cover. Anyone wanting to buy information from her would simply ask, "May I see purchase a page from your Black Book?" and she would understand their intention. However, this "secret code" is truly no secret and many people have asked to see her Black Book only to run away and shout behind them that they were only joking before bursting into fits of giggles. Because of this, Parasol insists that her compendium is really a "story" about Library City and that only certain people were allowed to read it. Though the secret code is still active, Parasol has become more wary about those who ask.
oooFAQ: Does the Black/White Book run out of pages?
oooYes, it's pretty much just a giant book, but it's not magic. Parasol purchases extra paper to bind into the book just in case.
CONSIDERATE AND HELPFUL (+) - "I remember you! You're the lovely City Person that helped me squeeze through the crowd yesterday. It seems you're in quite the pickle, sir, surely I can aid you in some way? "
Parasol will never forget a sincere act of kindness towards her. She does offer "free" help every day if she can--simple acts of kindness are beautiful to Parasol, and she enjoys participating in them. Parasol believes that she is a good City Person at heart, she understands that people may not share that opinion mutually because of what she's renowned for. However, the philosophy of tenacity is embedded deeply into her mindset, ergo, Parasol strives to prove the public who have such assumption wrong. Again, she convinces herself that she's still growing so naturally her reputation may also.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:35 pm
Parasol popped into existence (quite literally) on the couch of a nobless City Person. Charmed by the young girl's lolita smile, the woman took her in as her own and dressed her to her liking; Parasol became a dainty pet who was rather content with where she was. She became quick friends with the City Person, and soon enough, quick friends with the latter's social clique as well. For awhile, Parasol enjoyed the extravagant lifestyle and the parties that seemed to never end. However, time naturally introduced change, and change took its toll on the young octopus-girl. While Parasol enjoyed the society that she was "born" into--the truth was a white elephant. She was restless.
There had to be more outside of wealth, adventure perhaps, more faces to meet. Troubled, Parasol explained her taboo to the kindhearted City Person who'd taken her in, and received a thick book bound by a white cover--and the encouragement to pursue.
Parasol never did return to the City Person's abode--by then she'd already become familiar with many of the woman's acquaintances who were more than happy to have her company. She began to collect information and create a living out of it--operating on jealousies, scandals, research papers. Delighted, the octopus-girl realized that the true party was all around her, be it the children who liked to play games, or the women who despised each other so deeply they were willing to buy gossip off of her to spread.
"Viva la Vida," is the first sentence that the girl wrote in her Black/White Book.
Thoughts on the Forest: The forest frustrates Parasol because nobody she came into contact with could provide sufficient information about it to her; the information was repetitive. However, Parasol herself truly isn't brave enough to enter it to experience it firsthand. Despite that she disregards failure, she does know that she still has enough common sense to understand why people didn't just rush into the Forest. She's also pondered the possibility of death in the Forest, so she's fine with staying in the City, really.
Thoughts on Book Children: The preferred source! It delights Parasol that Book Children not only have their own distinct tales that correlate to themselves, but they're colorful and pretty to look at as well. Newborn Book Children are also easier to extract information from since they are unaware of what her occupation is (and if she's lucky, nobody forewarned them).
Thoughts on City People: A dependable source, especially the nice older women. The ones who have grown used to her exhibit more tolerance. Younger City People are fun for Parasol because they participate in the games she orchestrates. Because upper-class City People seem more fond of gossip, Parasol finds them to be better customers.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:43 pm
OPEN TO CRITIQUES!
I meant for Parasol to be a traveling companion with Akihiko in her creation, but I wanted her
to be judged separately first before having her interact with him or any of the other characters
in Paper Forest. Thank you in advance for your critiques and reading!
-Pupu
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:06 pm
Sounds like a nice crude business woman you got there Pupu. Reminds me a bit of the news agency in Baccano! Love those guys <3 Here's a few questions. From the looks of it, she collects fiction and non-fiction. How does she know her information is accurate? Since she's Aki's side-kick in a sense (I felt I needed to assess their relationship although you've mentioned you weren't going to interact the two just yet), I'm making the assumption that he protects her from harm. I realized that a section mentioned that City People can't die but they actually can, see City People section: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=20843621. Based on that, what extent will Aki go to to protect her and what extent will she go to to get her information? If they're not interacting just yet, how does she protect herself from harm? Where does she store all her information? I noticed you mentioned a book, what happens if she runs out of space? Does she have an eidetic memory?
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:13 pm
Sacred Tear Sounds like a nice crude business woman you got there Pupu. Reminds me a bit of the news agency in Baccano! Love those guys <3 Here's a few questions. From the looks of it, she collects fiction and non-fiction. How does she know her information is accurate? Since she's Aki's side-kick in a sense (I felt I needed to assess their relationship although you've mentioned you weren't going to interact the two just yet), I'm making the assumption that he protects her from harm. I realized that a section mentioned that City People can't die but they actually can, see City People section: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=20843621. Based on that, what extent will Aki go to to protect her and what extent will she go to to get her information? If they're not interacting just yet, how does she protect herself from harm? Where does she store all her information? I noticed you mentioned a book, what happens if she runs out of space? Does she have an eidetic memory? FIRST OF ALL I LOVE BACCANO!! AND DURARARA TOO BUT NEWAIZ sorry went off on a tangent!! 1) Lol that was a typo, I meant get seriously hurt, but I'll go fix that, thanks!! (She does fear death, it's in her history section, so yes, I understand that they can die but my brain and fingers are wired differently sometimes--sorry about the confusion and thanks for pointing it out! n__n) 2) Akihiko will pretty much do whatever he can for her, she's his little lady after all. He thinks she's a fun, amiable person--especially since he can get away with treating her like a child (she prefers it, in fact). Their relationship is that of close friends, I can't imagine anything romantic since the age difference jars me. If she's in physical danger Akihiko would certainly not hesitate to draw his blade, if that's what you were wondering. Actually, Parasol improvises instead of protecting herself. She just...runs away. She'd rather not waste her time with someone who's overly flustered by her to the extent that they'd rather have her physically maimed. 3) Parasol adds pages to the Black/White Book literally, so she doesn't really "run out of pages", rather, she acquires more. She hasn't run out of major space lately, though.
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:18 am
Actually, I was commenting about hurting City People to get information when I was talking about death XD sorry about being unclear...I believe they do feel pain and get hurt like humans. The Book Children are the ones who never die...but they also feel pain. pistolsys oooFAQ: I thought City People don't get seriously get hurt, technically, they'll grow back if you cut them up--how does Parasol threaten them? oooParasol almost always has information against the person, if not, she'll bluff. She hasn't had one too many difficult interviewees so thankfully she hasn't exercised much this dark persona of hers. oooIn the worst case scenarios, she won't give up--she'll just change a source, which is "technically" giving up but not entirely.
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:03 am
Sacred Tear Actually, I was commenting about hurting City People to get information when I was talking about death XD sorry about being unclear...I believe they do feel pain and get hurt like humans. The Book Children are the ones who never die...but they also feel pain. pistolsys oooFAQ: I thought City People don't get seriously get hurt, technically, they'll grow back if you cut them up--how does Parasol threaten them? oooParasol almost always has information against the person, if not, she'll bluff. She hasn't had one too many difficult interviewees so thankfully she hasn't exercised much this dark persona of hers. oooIn the worst case scenarios, she won't give up--she'll just change a source, which is "technically" giving up but not entirely. I think either way she doesn't know another way to threaten someone; Akihiko won't intimidate people for her, so really, the answer is still the same even if they do feel pain (sorry I'll go fix that tidbit)!
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:30 pm
HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY PISTOL!! What up guy, I'm here to throw a couple of my ideas and such at you! WELL, here goes nothing! You don't have to do anything I suggest, but this is just my opinion. 8D
SCATTERED
Parasol seems to have a few big ideas surrounding the development of her character that pull her off in too many directions. I think it would be a lot better for her character wise is you slim down those ideas and make it simple. 8D A clean and simple foundation makes for a good workplace. For example: the biggest ideas that I noticed were:
-The Octopus
-The Font
-Information Gathering
-Thrill Seeker
Which are all fantastic ideas, but when you look at them grouped like that, they don't really lend or link to each other too well and they spread your character too thin instead of bringing her together and making her strong. I think you should limit it to Information gathering and Thrill Seeker which are the two strongest driving points of your character. The other two points are just distractions, flavors, not driving forces to your character, so put less emphasis on them because the way that they're being mentioned leads me to think that they are more central to her development when they're more of quirks that could be tied in better.
The way you can make her more solid is marrying the ideas of Thrill Seeker and Information Gatherer, which you are already working on. I think you should focus on that, and from that union, figure out the other details of her character that would follow logically from her motivations and her actions.
And I think that's all the critique I can give for now since anything else I would say would rely on the advice I gave. 8D I can't wait to see what you do with her! She looks like a fun character to role play with since she can provide a lot of friction.
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