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Name: Philomel Selyck
Nicknames: Phil was a childhood nickname, but she only goes by her full name these days. She doesn't have any horribly negative feelings about being called Phil, but she never calls herself that anymore. She rather likes her full name. "Philomel" is a poetic name for the nightingale, and it appears in some of Shakespeare's works, which was what Philomel's parents were thinking of when they named her, and Philomel likes how that makes her full first name sound cultured. Her name is like a monument to her amazing fantastic mother, and just "Phil" doesn't really do it.
Gender: Female
Age: 20 (originally 15, but people age)
Birthday: January 3rd, 1995
Sign: Capricorn
Gemstone: Garnet
Blood Type: A-
Fav. Food: A nice big cheeseburger. Cheeseburgers are very substantial. It's hard to forget what you've eaten when you have something like a cheeseburger.
Hated Food: Lobster. It's far too complicated. Philomel will eat lobster, but all the shelling involved makes dinner feel like science lab. Science lab is fine. It's just not dinner.
School: Meadowview High
Hobbies: Putting little things in little boxes -- Philomel is fond of organization and putting things away in their own particular compartments. It's a quiet, meditative activity, and she keeps her personal places neat and tidy as a result. She is not compulsive about the habit, however; it's simply something she finds pleasant and relaxing, and she is not compelled to straighten up messy places. Though she'd often like to, she's quite aware that cleaning up others' messes is not a normal teenage activity. She'd be willing to do it if asked, but there are plenty of other things to do, and sometimes mess is essential to the atmosphere of a place. There is that stationary store she loves that sells a lot of dusty old crap, after all.
Running Errands -- Philomel is always willing to run little errands for anyone who asks. She'll do grocery shopping for you, if you'd like, or if you need snacks for your upcoming club meeting to encourage attendance. You forgot paper, too? She'll get that for you. It's not a problem. Philomel likes being busy, and not out of an overly-developed sense of social responsibility-- it makes her feel competent, trusted, and helpful. The limited social interaction involved in running errands and doing favors for others keeps her from feeling lonely without sacrificing her sense of independence. She is peripherally involved in several social clubs at Meadowview, mostly doing minor tasks-- making sure there are enough copies of fliers advertising a planned food drive to hang in all the visible spaces, for example, or hanging said fliers up, or taking the cans from the drive down to the homeless shelter after school. If the club minute-taker is absent, Philomel will do that job too, but that is the closest to club leadership that she's comfortable going.
Video Games (single-player adventure RPGs) -- For all that Philomel claims to be a plain jane with no desire for adventure or need for excitement in her life, she likes to curl up and play at being a legendary hero from the safety and comfort of the comfy couch. Philomel makes an effort to play her games slowly, talking to every NPC, going on every sidequest, never taking shortcuts, and so on. Philomel's father Neal likes adventuring, and he likes video games, and he rushes through to the final boss whenever possible, and Philomel is terrified of growing up to be anything like him. Since she can't stop liking video games, though, she tries to differentiate herself from him in playing style and attitude.
Reading (Fables and Shakespeare)-- Fables are timeless and simple. Philomel likes timeless and simple. She can read and reread whenever she likes, and nothing in her books changes between reads. Philomel takes her time reading, like she prefers doing for everything else, so the library isn't a viable option for obtaining new reading material-- she has no desire to be punished for being slow, and lateness fines are basically that. Rereading old books is a more nostalgic and timeless activity, anyway. She's not exactly an adventurous reader.
Virtues: Strong Work Ethic -- Philomel does what she says she'll do. Every time, or nearly every time, and she'd rather not talk about those times. If Philomel is asked to do something, she'll do it. She doesn't believe in excuses-- she is never too busy or too tired for a task. She may be too busy or too tired at a particular time, but that's no reason to refuse making additions to the to-do list.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race -- Philomel likes being slow and careful. She really likes being slow and careful. Philomel's mother is slow and careful, and Philomel is pretty sure Tessa Selyck knows the secret of life. Being slow and steady keeps Philomel's criminal record nonexistent. It keeps her calm. It keeps her from tackling too many things at once, no matter how long her to-do list gets. And it tends to impress teachers, and that is really a good thing for a student to be able to do.
Confident -- Philomel's social status is somewhere between "friendly enough, but still no fun" and "this person is completely forgettable why are you talking to her nobody cares." She doesn't mind. Philomel believes strongly in her way of doing things, and success at that is not based on cafeteria popularity. She doesn't mind what her classmates think of her (although if they thought she was untrustworthy and unfriendly, she might have a harder time keeping busy with errands from classmates, and that would be a bit inconvenient), because she's proud of herself for working hard to become the industrious eternally calm person she wants to be. Philomel likes people, but they are just not the point of her life, and she is most concerned with that.
Straight-Shooter -- Philomel is a practical person. She does practical things, or at least that's what she'd like to think. It's not entirely true, of course-- a lot of the tasks she takes on aren't as necessary as they seem, and her fondness for RPGs certainly has no practical value in her life. Philomel approaches everything as if it really mattered, though. Everything she does, whether public or private, small or large, important or unimportant, Philomel sees as an opportunity to prove she is who she wants to be: reliable, wise, and self-sufficient. Since method matters most of all, and her actions prove she is who she wants to be, she's honest in the things she does. She believes the integrity of her actions is the integrity of herself.
Flaws: Don't Argue With the Mugger -- Philomel wants people to trust her. She needs people to feel comfortable asking things of her badly enough that sometimes she's a bit more passive in the face of opposition than she should be. Arguments are tiring and time-consuming, and they distract her from her work and disrupt her quest to find inner peace through busy work and other quiet, pleasant endeavors. If Philomel finds herself in a confrontation, she backs off and looks for the fastest out possible. This tends to result in Philomel attempting to distance herself by zoning out and agreeing to statements and tasks she wouldn't generally agree with. She'd rather not be pressured into agreeing to rob a bank, though, because she won't go quite that far, and having to break her word bothers her terribly.
Progress is our most important product -- Philomel keeps busy for the pleasure of working, not for the result. She doesn't go out of her way to do a bad job, mind you, but she doesn't put nearly as much pride in the excellence of the end result as she does in the process. In some ways, it's a good thing, because she can be happy with herself and her performance despite not being particularly gifted academically. Unfortunately, Philomel has grown out of the stage where simply giving school your best effort counts for more than 10% of your final grade. She is no longer in math classes where working hard on a problem you get completely wrong gives you half-credit. It's kind of exasperating, but Philomel likes how she does things and sees no problem with it. Marks were never what made her happy, so as long as she at least passes her classes, all's cool in her world.
Careless Under Pressure -- Please do not make working an unpleasant experience. Philomel is less concerned with being right than keeping busy, but she will do a hack job on purpose if she's rushed and unhappy. Teachers who demand strict punctuality, people who pester her about taking her time with tasks and errands-- those people are enemies to Philomel's personal pursuit of happiness, and that is really uncool. People who rush her are clearly asking for crappy rushed work.
Teamwork is hard -- Philomel's dislike of confrontations makes it quite difficult for her to work satisfactorily with others. Good teamwork requires working at a common pace, and it is not uncommon for Philomel's teammates work at a faster pace than she does, which frustrates her a great deal. Philomel is far more likely to distance herself from a group project and sulk than assert herself and try to set the pace and the rhythm herself. Being uninvolved in something she knows she should be involved in makes her feel lousy and irresponsible, but Philomel really doesn't want to get into an argument about it. She doesn't want to risk snapping at someone.
Physical Description:Hair: Desaturated light brown, a bit below shoulder-length, thin. Not voluminous or curly. Simple.
Eyes: Dark blue.
Face: Fairly soft with a well-defined chin. Narrowish face, but still kind of round.
Body: Extremely average and middle-of-the-road, for the most part. A bit of fat in the places that tend to get extra fat. She does not do much heavy lifting, but she does move. A little bit shorter than average American female height.
Fashion: Shirts and medium-length skirts, maybe pants sometimes. Philomel is not unwashed or overly dull and proper, but her fashion sense is a little dumpy. Run-of-the-mill, more like. She doesn't want to stand out.
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