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Senshi: Sailor Pasiphae [moon], Senshi of Shame

Name: Penelope Seneca

Age: 16

Birthday: January 15

Sign: Capricorn

Gemstone: Garnet

Blood Type: A-

Fav. Food: Almonds

Hated Food: Beef, no matter what cut or how prepared.

School: Crystal Academy

Hobbies:

--Watching 80s Cartoons: Transformers? She-ra? He-Man? G.I. Joe? My Little Pony? Voltron? Jem and the Holograms? All of the above and more please! Penelope likes watching these older shows for a few reasons. First, it's a solo activity that no one but she has to approve of. Second, all of the stories speak of epic struggles and the power of good overcoming evil, even if the good guys fail every once and a while. Finally, they're bright, colorful, and have rockin' music.

--Reading: Penelope will read pretty much anything she can get her hands on, but she prefers fantasy, mystery, and graphic novels. She escapes into literature for comfort--she devours books the way some devour cupcakes, and the more stress she is under, the more books she needs. In order to avoid stumbling into awkward social situations, Penelope spends her free time at school reading, hiding her face and her thoughts in her latest story.

--Debate Team: Penelope is a prominent member of the debate team, and it is one of the few places where the normally quiet girl can be seen actively trying to be heard. Her mind settles quickly on a side and her observations allow her to poke holes in her opponents reasoning. She only sees her efforts as being one of support, but she can hold her own in a debate.

--Singing: Penelope has a decent alto voice and enjoys singing--as long as she does not have to take the spotlight. She would never enter a singing competition or anything, but she enjoys singing in choirs, small groups, or by herself. She can be found humming or singing snippets of songs as she reads or works, although if anyone draws attention to it she will immediately stop.

Virtues:

--Observant: Penelope is highly attuned to the environment and people that surround her, so she notices changes quickly. Her observations are surface level only, generally about physical characteristics or placement of objects. If someone walks in with a new hair cut, for example, she will be the first to comment on it. Similarly, she will make note of changes in mood in individuals or if she sees an object has been moved into a new location. Penelope may not know the reason for the change--but she sure will notice its effects. Her observant nature makes it easy for her to adjust to new scenarios, as she can make whatever adjustments are needed to accomdate them.

--Discreet: Unlike many teenagers, Penelope is extremely discreet. If Penelope hears a piece of gossip, she will not spread it. If someone confides in Penelope, she will never reveal his secret. Whether she is in a conversation with someone else or happens to overhear/oversee something that she feels should be private, Penelope keeps her eyes open and her mouth shut. Due to her discretion, others see Penelope as someone who can be trusted and relied upon without fear of backstabbing.

--Humble: Although never reaching the point of meekness, Penelope is nevertheless humble about her achievements. She will not brag; in fact, she will probably deny that her contributions were of any value. She is far more likely to praise someone else for their achievements than to ever recognize her own. Her humble nature makes it easy for Penelope to get along with others who crave the spotlight. It also makes her a good team player, in spite of her strong opinions.

Flaws:

--Insecure: All teenage girls have insecurities, and Penelope is no exception. Some of her insecurities are of the normal school girl variety; she worries that she is too fat or that her skin will suffer an outbreak of acne. However, some of her other insecurities run far deeper and affect her interactions with others. Most prominently, Penelope feels insecure in her ability to form and retain relationships, whether platonic or otherwise, and she often finds herself doubting that her contributions to conversations or projects are worthwhile. This makes it difficult for Penelope to participate well in strange groups, as she hesitates to take a commanding role or see the value of what she can bring to the table. More likely than not, her first instinct will be to find someone she thinks is better equipped to tackle the situation rather than to jump in herself.

--Eager to Please: Stemming from her insecurity, Penelope is eager to jump when anyone tells her how high. Need someone to bake 300 cookies for a bake sale the next day? Penelope will stay up all night to get them done. Missed two weeks of class? Penelope will be more than happy to share her notes with you and even tutor you! As long as the action is not obviously nefarious, Penelope will do whatever is asked of her if it means pleasing someone else. The problem is that her eagerness to please can lead her to overburden herself. As a result, she sometimes neglects her own work or worse--in her opinion--finds that she cannot complete everything she has promised to do. Something has got to give--if she promises to bake cookies and has an exam the next day, there's either going to be a crappy exam or crappy cookies. Also, while she will not do anything apparently harmful, she can be tricked into performing tasks that could potentially harm others.

--Judgemental: Despite her discretion, every person and encounter that Penelope comes into contact with is automatically judged. Her treatment of people is completely informed by these judgements; if someone begs her to keep a secret, for example, she may agree to keep her silence but if she does not like that person she is not going to be nice to them. Similarly, while she may be discrete in public, in private she will speak much more freely. This can sometimes make her appear two-faced, even though she is simply trying to spare everyone more drama.
Penelope also finds it hard to change her mind after her initial judgement, even if she is incorrect. This makes it difficult for her to change her mind about people even when she should be (or needs to be) working with them. Penelope can also lead her to force her observations to fit her preconceptions of people. For example, if she thinks someone is lazy and he shows up to school late and unprepared several times, she will see this as proof her judgement is correct, even if that person is simply having a rough time. Unless constantly proven wrong or proven wrong in a drastic way, Penelope will stand by her judgments.

Reference Pictures

Hair References:
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Primary Mask Reference : This is the kind of mask I had in mind. Complete artistic freedom with any patterning/coloring of the mask, but I'd like it to cover this much of the face and have the beaded veil. I'd also like the jewel in the middle of the forehead, which will replace the jewel on the tiara.

Additional Mask References (different styles with beaded veil):
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Shoe Reference

Empire Dress References (Just various styles to help inspire):
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Sleeve Reference

Beaded, Dangle earrings (General idea to inspirt):
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Embellished Tights : I've no particular idea for a pattern or anything for the embellishment; I trust the artist's judgement.

Pictures of the moon Pasiphae:
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Q & A

Q: Why does Sailor Pasiphae, the Senshi of Shame, use energy as the medium for her attack? Shouldn't she be the Senshi of Energy? Or beads?

A: Whenever I was coming up with Pasiphae, I took a look at Sailor Venus, the only canon Senshi of emotion. If you look at her attacks, the vast majority of them are done with light/energy. She uses iconography of love (i.e. kisses, hearts, etc), but she neither induces love into her enemies nor does she use the "power" of love to get her attacks across.

With that in mind, I do not think it is inconcievable for Pasiphae to use energy based defenses or attacks. I worked everything around her mask, the symbol/icon of her shame for this purpose. The beads are a part of her mask, something to hide herself behind, and mark of shame comes from removing the mask. So, in my mind, neither the beads nor the energy are as important as the emotion they represent.

I've also added in the fact that when the energy shield is hit, a sensation of shame enters the opponent, which only furthers the idea that the energy is emotion based. Hopefully, this will explain why I've created Pasiphae's powers in this manner.

Thanks very much for posting both your and Maru's comments, Mel! <3 I appreciate them.

I was worried about that - mostly the way I was working 'shame' into it was with the ideas of isolation and that Pasiphae would take damage as well as her enemy (i.e. that shame hurts yourself as well as others). I can see where it comes off as more energy based. Hrm. I shall think on it.

I will see what I can do to shape these up, and I'll consider the sphere change as well. I like the idea of hiding - maybe I could change the first and second attacks to produce a shield of some kind for Pasiphae rather than one that goes to her enemies.

Bumping in hopes of gaining further crit

Thanks for your feedback, Nata. <3 You didn't fail at all. xD

The beads are mostly aesthetic in nature, but my logic behind using them is that they're something for her to "hide" behind, kind of like the mask itself. It's meant to take attention away from her as a person. Though, I should definitely add that in there somewhere, now that you mention it. xD;

I'll see about adding in more detail everywhere to better explain how/why these traits and hobbies belong to her. Again, thanks for your help!

Thanks for all of your crits, Mouse! I greatly appreciate the input. =3

I've been meaning to add more detail with her personality traits, and I can agree with pretty much all you've put. I've been focused so much on making her a good candidate for the sphere that I don't think I added in too much character in her. Too Pasiphae focused; not enough Penelope focused. I'll certainly work on externalizing her and giving her something to act out on.

I had actually thought about using invisibility for her attacks at first, before the energy thing, but then I wondered if maybe it wouldn't be linked to shame enough. xD; Definitely will go and correct the length; I have a very bad sense of how long things take to do, so until I actually sat down and forced myself to watch how long a minute versus 20 seconds or so lasted, I didn't realize how ridicilous it was.

I was a little afraid to add in inspiration of shame into the target just because I thought it might be considered god-modding. Since the attack works no matter what? That's why I've been trying to put the negative effects on Penelope herself--i.e. half the the physical damage affecting her. But I will see what I can do, because I agree that Shame should be a larger part of it.

MUCH WORK TO DO, HRM.

FINALLY put this thread in the stamp thread since I won the raffle for Penelope! <3 Any further crits would be appreciate as well.