Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sphere: Coffee

Astrological body: Subamara (minor planet) - meaning: 'very bitter'

Senshi: Sailor Subamara, Senshi of Coffee

Challenge: “In the name of Subamara, you’re going to be ground and roasted!”
"This caffeine hit will hurt!"
(“This is your wake-up call!”)


Fuku Colour:
Main Color: Dark brown (black coffee or coffee-bean colour)
Secondary Color: Light beige (café-latte colour)

Fuku:
Suggestions/wish list:
Collar – Fairly simple, or with ruffly edges.
Bow – Chest: instead of a bow, ruffles like a cravat. Back: Big and simple.
Bodice – A plain, classic style.
Sleeves – white ruffles rather than real sleeves. Or stripy sleeves.
Brooch – a coffee bean or coffee cup
Bottoms – a puffy, rounded skirt (like a lolita style or mini-hoop skirt), with stripes of the main and secondary colours, (the main, darker colour in wider stripes). Sort of steampunk lolita? Also, sort of like the corrogated lines on a cardboard coffee cup. If that can't be done: ruffles, lots of ruffles. xd Maybe a little apron, but I'm not sure, so up to the artist.
Tiara – Artist’s choice
Choker – a coffee bean on a choker, or any other shiny thing.
Shoes – Long boots
Gloves – Artist’s choice
Accessories – Hoop or dangling earrings (as a civilian, she has small gold hoops)

Extremely vague style refs found via google:
[x] Ruffle shoulders!
[x] A more modest version.




Attacks:

Sailor Scout Attack: Subamara Coffee Rush
Subamara holds out her hands and a stream of coffee pours out, pooling on the ground around her. A strong coffee aroma fills the area. Anyone splashed by or stepping in the coffee feels temporarily more alert and energised - specifically, their hearing and agility are both slightly boosted for the next 30 seconds.

- Effect: Slightly boosted hearing and agility
- Range: Anyone within 1 meter radius of Subamara
- Duration: 30 seconds
- Number of uses: 3


Super Sailor Scout Attack: Subamara Coffee Overload
Subamara holds out her hands and a stream of coffee pours out, flowing along the ground around her. A strong coffee aroma fills the area. Anyone splashed by or stepping in the coffee feels temporarily more alert and energised - specifically, their hearing and agility are both significantly boosted for the next 30 seconds. The downside of this stronger coffee hit is that it will also leave the affected targets with brief muscle tremors for 15 seconds. This additional effect may kick in at any point during or after the attack is used - it could happen immediately, or not until after the boost wears off. (While designed as a boost, Subamara may try to use this one on enemies as well, for the negative effect, but it's too unreliable to work out very well for her.)

- Effect: Boosted hearing and agility, but with muscle tremor negative effect.
- Range: everyone within three metres of Sailor Subamara
- Duration: 30 seconds
- Number of uses: 3
- Tremors can hit at the start of the boost, in the middle, or when the effect wears off, at the targeted player's discretion. This may be different for each person affected by the attack.


Eternal Sailor Attack: Caffeine Infusion.
Subamara creates an illusory cup full of coffee and either gives it to the target to drink, or holds it to their lips. A feeling of warmth and awareness fills the target. The attack ‘clears the head’ of a team member, enabling clearer focus by shaking off fatigue and other distractions. It also can snap the target out of dreamlike/unconscious states (even waking up someone who's been knocked out or asleep). Effects are temporary and will wear off quite suddenly.

- Effect: The target feels temporarily more alert and focused, and can act without the effects of fatigue or other mind-impairing states, aiding concentration.
- Range: One target, touch.
- Duration: 1 minute
- Number of uses: once only


Notes:
- Caffeine can be absorbed through the skin! Splash attack, go!

- I chose hearing and agility to make the 'coffee rush' effect more concrete: hearing for more alertness/situational awareness, everything just seems a little louder and clearer, and you're more able to sift out the distractions; agility for quicker reaction times, as coffee stimulates the nervous system and speeds up reflexes.

Old data:
Name: Gigi (Gloria Giovanna) Gennaro

Nicknames: GG, Geej ( ), Horseface ( ) (“Gee-up, Horseface!”)

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Birthday: 8 December

Sign: Sagittarius

Blood Type: O Caffeinated

Fav. Food: Cannoli. Cream-filled Italian biscuity-pastries. Aunt Giovanna's homemade ones are the best: they have vanilla cream in one end, and chocolate cream in the other. You have to eat the chocolate end last, it's a rule.

Hated Food: Pumpkin. Is not for pies. It is a vegetable, and a gross one at that.

School: Meadowview


Hobbies:
- CCGs: any and all, so long as the cards are pretty. She's really quite bad at actually playing the games, but loves putting together new decks, and collects booster packs compulsively.

- Charity work: (I still haven't decided exactly what type of charity suits her or how she got into it. )
Gigi is involved in a lot of the behind-the-scenes organisation - putting together newsletters and leaflets, updating donator databases and membership lists etc. She doesn't get to take the meeting minutes, but only because she misses the first ten to fifteen (on average) because she was finishing something else.

- Parent-trapping: Gigi's parents' relationship has been on the rocks since she was nine. She's determined, utterly and unashamedly, to keep them together. The Parent Trap is her favourite movie ever. She doesn't have a twin, so she has to do everything herself, and spends a lot of her time planning and organising for her parents to meet up, coaching each on the good points of the other, leaving sappy movies lying around the house. Any money that isn't spent on cards or coffee is probably going into sending flowers to her mum under her dad's name. She has already destroyed one set of divorce documents (took it to school and ran it through a shredder 'by accident'). She is going to save this marriage, whatever it takes.

Gemstone:(Follows your zodiac sign. ) Topaz


Virtues:

Can’t stop now!
Gigi is anti-procrastination girl. Soonest started is soonest finished, and once she’s started, she doesn’t want to stop. She’s always on the go, always has a project to work on, and seems to have endless energy to push through to her goal. Of course, she knows there are some things that can’t be done in one hit – she’s great at breaking tasks down into separate stages, so she can bask in the glow of accomplishment at regular intervals (and still remember to eat.) She multitasks linearly: She has a checklist she goes through, one thing after another, but it might be several steps from one project, then a step from another, then back to the first. She won't be happy if she has to stop mid-step. She is a whirlwind of Getting Stuff Done, and she’s not going to let 3am get in the way of the finish line. If you have a task that just can’t wait, Gigi’s your girl.

Enthusiastic!!!
Everything is exciting! Your obscure hobby! Today’s homework! The colour grey! Whatever you’re into, Gigi is interested! She’s eager to listen, keen to help. Hers is a catchy kind of enthusiasm, something she wants to share - others may find themselves getting more excited and involved when they see Gigi throwing herself into something so wholeheartedly.

Tenacious
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but that’s not going to stop Gigi completing what she starts. She believes obstacles are for climbing over, and is determined not to get discouraged. She won’t abandon her projects: whatever it takes, however long it takes, she’ll find a way. Or, you know, she won't, but she'll see the failure through to the bitter end. A failure is still a finish, even if it's not the ideal one. When things go unsalvageably down the toilet, she'll be back next time, just as determined as ever. New deck, let's go again. She’s come too far, she’s not giving up now!

Talented tutor
Gigi makes a great teacher. She can break concepts down into simple steps, and has a knack for explaining clearly. She won’t give up on her student, or get impatient with them. They are her project, and will get all the time and attention they need. She won't force her help one someone who doesn't want it, but she'll cheerfully volunteer. There is a risk that she'll start taking over and getting pushy if she becomes more interested in the lesson than the student, but she means the best, and it's all in the spirit of 'don't tell, show'.

Make time
If it makes you happy
Everything I do, I do it for you


Flaws:

Coffee zombie
In order to maintain her non-stop lifestyle, Gigi depends on caffeine, preferably in delicious latte form. She becomes uncharacteristically irritable if deprived, losing her enthusiastic attitude, and being generally unpleasant to deal with. All her nice points go under, and you're left with grumpy, exhausted-but-determined-to-keep-going-until-she-keels-over Gigi. She'll get all the physical sleep-deprived symptoms but she won't want to let herself sleep until she's *finished*, and will just get more and more horrible. She is zombie-like in that she is still walking around trying to do things when she really shouldn't be capable of it.

Gigi has had problems with insomnia since she was little. She found out early that her parents try not to fight when they know she's awake, so she wants to always be awake so they never fight... She’s prone to vicious migraines if she goes without caffeine for longer periods, and has been known to occasionally pass out. Gigi doesn't realise how heavily she depends on her coffee breaks, or how horrible she is to her friends when withdrawal sets in. She will completely forget to take her break and then wonder why her head hurts and people are avoiding her.

Driven
Pushes herself to hard
Don't think
Action as duct tape, keep it together. Can't let you fall apart.
Scared that if she stops moving the world fall apart. As long as she's moving, everything's alright. Outrun the disaster.
Maintain the status quo by not giving anyone else time to change it. Desperately afraid of change...

Zero Timesense
[Weakness] Gigi forgets times and dates. She’s so caught up in her own projects that she loses track of time, and words like ‘later’ tend to wash over her without making an impression. She has two time settings: 'Right Now', and 'When I Finish This'. If your scheduling doesn't fit one of these two categories, you can pretty much assume she's forgotten. She knows the exam is coming, but the exact date slips her mind. You wrote it down? Sorry, the post-it fell off. You sent her a text message? Her phone must be full. It was your birthday? Gigi's really sorry. She’ll make it up to you, right now, c’mon... before she forgets.

Little Red Hen
Gigi wants to do things straight away, and while she’s happy to let others help, she doesn’t deal well with procrastination. If she thinks you’re not doing something you’ve agreed to do, she won’t complain, she’ll just take over and Do It Herself. With a lot of martyrdom and sighs about how long it took, but she did it anyway, just to help you, aren’t you grateful? She’ll be taking the credit, though, no offence.

Gotta Catch 'Em All
Sometimes not knowing when to stop is a bad thing. Gigi gets hooked on things very easily, and has a very hard time un-hooking herself. She’s into every new fad that comes along, especially collect-the-set types and collectable card games. She’s perpetually broke, and will resort to IOUs if you let her. She just needs one more booster pack!
This tendency also puts her straight into the high-risk category for more dangerous addictions. She is likely to become addicted to things like alcohol or drugs after a much smaller exposure than other people, and once addicted, quitting will be an epic struggle.


PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Eyes:
Large, round and golden. Like honey and caramel and too many hours without sleep.

Hair:
Comb-eating curls. Rich dark brown hair, long unruly curls that keep escaping their clips. Usually in two low pigtails at the back of her neck, but tending towards escape.

Face:
Narrow oval face. (It isn’t really ‘long’ or horsey, just narrow, but kids tease anyway.) Small ears with gold hoop earrings. Lightly olive-tan skin.



Idea three (physical attacks, though I'm not sure that's allowed for senshi?):
Caffeine Hit: a powered-up punch
Caffeine Rush: a powered-up bodyslam
Coffee Grind: more of the same

Idea one (‘elemental’ combat):
Attack 1: Cappuccino Wave
A wave of frothy cappuccino foam spreads through the battlefield, doing no damage but distracting opponents with a delicious coffee aroma, and sloshing against their ankles, potentially causing them to lose their balance and slip over.

Attack 1A: Macchiato Wave
Less foam, more scalding hot coffee! Opponents may be slightly burninated as well as knocked over. The damage will be fairly minor, but the coffee aroma is much stronger, and may cause susceptible individuals to start craving a cup, causing further distraction.
( OR )
(Attack 1A: Cappuccino Tidal Wave
MOAR FOAM. The wave of foam is now waist-high. Opponents will be knocked back a short distance and may lose their balance and fall over. Small items on the ground may be swept away.)

Attack 2: Super Mocha Blast!
A directed jet of super hot coffee shoots from the senshi's hands at her opponent. Caffeinated pain occurs.
Okay, so this one really is just a geyser. Looking for replacement idea... Percolation?

Alternate/back-up spheres:
In case the Silver Millennium was tragically deprived of coffee -
- Wakefulness
- Consciousness
- (possibly Hospitality)
- (possibly Addiction)


According to wikipedia, coffee dates from the late middle ages in Europe, earlier in Arabia.
"The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries around Mokha in Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed, in a similar way to how it is now prepared. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas."

Possible alternatives:
Tea (asteroid) - meaning unknown... ^^;
Crater (constellation) - meaning: 'cup'
Ambrosia (asteroid) - meaning: 'nectar of the gods'
Aruna (asteroid) - meaning: "Represents the red glow of dawn in mythology of India"

- re-energise (pure buff, several similar attacks in play).
Trying to avoid the re-energise to minimise overlap.

dream/nightmare effects, hypnosis effects and other

Challenges:
"This is your wake-up call!"
"By the power of coffee, I... will... coffee? Coffeecoffeecoffee."
"This caffeine hit will hurt!"

Fuku concept:
Black-coffee brown, cafe-latte beige and crisp white.
Frilly waitress style. Ruffles. Maybe an apron.


Attacks:
Non-combat concept. Possible coffee effects:
- wake up (central idea, but maybe not much help unless the Negaverse recruits Lt. Jigglypuffite) This might actually be useful now the Negas are stealing energy instead of starseeds.
- overdose jitters (a mild distraction attack)

((Would it be okay for a starter attack to include two effects? Target wakes up, but feels jittery. If target wasn't asleep/unconscious, just get the jitters for a few seconds? She's an emergency escape senshi, she can get people up and flee, but can't actually fight. Too overpowered?))


Attack 1: Waking Wave
Description: A wave of coffee-scented steam wafts around one target. As they breathe it in, their body is filled with a sensation of hot, pleasant liquid flowing through them. If the target is sleeping, they wake up slowly. If they're unconscious, they come to with enough energy to dodge once or run away (but not both). When the steam dissipates, the target is likely to fall back asleep.

- Effect: If asleep or unconscious, the target temporarily wakes up. They are slow to come to full alertness, have limited energy, and have a side effect of shaky/jittery muscles for a few seconds (which may momentarily distract, throw off aim etc). If the target was already conscious, they experience the shaking effect but nothing else.
First round - the target is groggy and half-awake
Second round - target is at full alertness, with enough energy for one more action (dodge or run away).
Third round - the effect wears off suddenly, leaving the target exhausted and with the possibility of falling back asleep.

- Range: 1 target, who can be up to 3 metres away.

- Duration: 2 rounds/posts (Maybe 30 seconds for the attack to run its complete course?)
'Jitters' last 5 seconds only.

- Number of uses: Probably 3 max?


Attack 1A: Espresso Waking Wave (or Wider Waking Wave)
Description: Coffee-scented steam fills a small area, waking up anyone in the vicinity. Sleepers wake up quickly to full alertness, unconscious combatants come around with enough energy for one last (minor) attack. The wave does not discriminate between friend and foe, and may also affect civilians nearby.

- Effect: all sleepers/unconscious people within range of the attack are jolted awake suddenly. The attack has no effect on anyone already conscious. Targets are at full alertness for two rounds, with enough energy to attack. The effect wears off slowly on the third round, leaving the targets exhausted, with a possibility of falling back asleep (though not as high as for previous attack.)

- Range: everyone within three metres of Sailor Subamara

- Duration: 2 rounds/posts (Maybe 30 seconds?).

- Number of uses: once only


Attack 2: Caffeine Infusion
An attack that ‘clears the head’ of a team member, enabling clearer focus by shaking off fatigue and other distractions. It also can snap the target out of dreamlike/unconscious states. Maybe hypnosis? Effects are temporary and will wear off quite suddenly.

- ?? Limits undecided, trying to make it useful without being OP.
Effect: ?
Range: One target, touch.
Duration: ?
Number of uses: once only

Rejected Attack ideas, notes for reworking...

Wake-up effects.

Original/simple version:Idea two (non-combat):
Attack 1: Waking Wave
A wave of coffee-scented steam wafts around one target. If the target is sleeping, they wake up slowly. If they're unconscious, they come to with enough energy to dodge once or run away (but not both). When the steam dissipates, the target is likely to fall back asleep.

Attack 1A: Espresso Waking Wave (or Wider Waking Wave)
Coffee-scented steam fills a small area, waking up anyone in the vicinity. Sleepers wake up quickly to full alertness, unconscious combatants come around with enough energy for one last (minor) attack. The wave does not discriminate between friend and foe, and may also affect civilians nearby.

Attack 2: Caffeine Infusion
An attack that ‘clears the head’ of a team member, enabling clearer focus by shaking off fatigue and other distractions. It can dispel dream/nightmare effects, hypnosis effects and other dreamlike/unconscious states.
Sailor Scout Attack: Waking Wave
Description: A wave of coffee-scented steam wafts around one target. As they breathe it in, their body is filled with a sensation of hot, pleasant liquid flowing through them. If the target is sleeping, they wake up slowly. If they're unconscious, they come to with enough energy to dodge once or run away (but not both). When the steam dissipates, the target is likely to fall back asleep.

- Effect: If asleep or unconscious, the target temporarily wakes up. They are slow to come to full alertness, have limited energy, and have a side effect of shaky/jittery muscles for a few seconds.
First round - the target is groggy and half-awake
Second round - target is at full alertness, with enough energy for one more action (dodge or run away).
Third round - the effect wears off suddenly, leaving the target exhausted and with the possibility of falling back asleep.

- Range: 1 target, who can be up to 3 metres away.

- Duration: 2 rounds/posts (Maybe 30 seconds for the attack to run its complete course?)

- Number of uses: Probably 3 max?.



Super Sailor Scout Attack: Espresso Waking Wave (or Wider Waking Wave)
Description: Coffee-scented steam fills a small area, waking up anyone in the vicinity. Sleepers wake up quickly to full alertness, unconscious combatants come around with enough energy for one last (minor) attack. The wave does not discriminate between friend and foe, and may also affect civilians nearby.

- Effect: all sleepers/unconscious people within range of the attack are jolted awake suddenly. Targets are at full alertness for two rounds, with enough energy to attack. The effect wears off slowly on the third round, leaving the targets exhausted, with a possibility of falling back asleep (though not as high as for previous attack.)

If anyone conscious is in the area of effect, they experience a jittery shaking effect which may momentarily distract, throw off aim etc. 'Jitters' last 5 seconds only.

- Range: everyone within three metres of Sailor Subamara

- Duration: 2 rounds/posts (Maybe 30 seconds?).

- Number of uses: once only

Hi Mouse, I think someone is already questing a senshi of Geysers? I thought I saw it on the big quest list.

If 'coffee' is definitely not going to be allowed as a sphere, it would help to know as soon as possible, but if there's any chance it's viable, I'll try to write up the rest of my ideas properly for judgement before discarding it altogether. The concept is based on an OC from an old tabletop roleplay, and while obviously it will need to be heavily modified for this game, I don't want to lose the spirit of her. The sphere, or something close to it, is more important to me than the exact attacks.


EDIT: Sphere and name stuffs added; still need to fix up the possible attacks.

Just so you know, you should only worry about people questing the same spheres when one of these quests is a RL slot. Otherwise, you're absolutely free to try for the same one. 3nodding

Personally I think I'd give Geysers a shot. Coffee is... cute... but Geysers would be a little more easy to take seriously?

And like Musashi said: Quests are not 'locked in' unless they've been taken as an 'rl' slot.

Hi Lokis, personally I can't see why coffee can't be quested as a sphere - peppers was allowed as a sphere after all and to me coffee is no less strange, but I'm pretty new around here.

You could always post a question in the Management Q & A thread if you want to make sure though.

With regards to your back-up spheres my personal opinion is that as they are all intangible things that it may be hard finding attacks that reflect the sphere. 'Hospitality' may be slightly easier than 'Wakefulness', 'Consciousness' and 'Addiction'.

Anyway good luck in your quest, whichever sphere you decide to go for 3nodding

And as a side note - I kind of like the name Crater.

Litian: Thank you very much for your comments and you support. I see what you mean about the more abstract spheres, and it's a good point. Hmm.

Dark_Musashi: It's late medieval, 1450 - 1500ish, which is why I've put question marks all over it.

As quoted above:
"According to wikipedia, coffee dates from the late middle ages in Europe, earlier in Arabia.
"The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries around Mokha in Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed, in a similar way to how it is now prepared. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas." "


Is the quest maybe not clear enough? Do I need to rearrange things so the information is easier to follow?