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 Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:41 am
 :: BOOK CHILD APPLICATION ::
(shamelessly taken off Jun D's layout with permission)
Name: Vlad
Nickname(s): Crow
Age (Appearance Wise): 17
Age (Actual): 1 year plus or so.
Physical Appearance: Vlad is a handsome, dapper young man with fine, sprightly form and swift, darting movements. His attractiveness - at least, to most - is only marred by the sinister, contemptuous turn of his mouth, a smirk that communicates his opinion of you quite, quite clearly.
Half of a textual whole with ESTRA
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:43 am
:: PERSONALITY ::
Impertinent
Vlad has a self-centered approach to existence, since he intimately knows how intelligent and capable he is, a fact he's very much reminded of when he's with (understatement) dim-witted Estra, which means almost all the time. His sharp mind and quick judgment causes him to say what he wants, when he wants, as bluntly and harshly as he opines inside - his cocky little smile is often accompanied by nasty little jibes and put-downs insinuating fairly unpleasant things about the person in question. Well, at least he's definitely honest.
Intolerant
Vlad doesn't place much value on interpersonal relationships at all, since he sees others mostly as doddering idiots, whether well-meaning or not. His patience for people is low and so erroneous, extraneous actions by others in his presence drives him mad. Again, his usual tactic is to mock them until they leave or hush of their own accord. In regards to Estra, he unfortunately cannot mock her away, so he mocks her to make himself feel better about her continuous presence - or snaps and yells at her when she crosses the boundary of believable stupidity, making both of them quite miserable and upset at each other for a sad period of time.
Industrious
In the case that Vlad's attention is caught by something, a task or an item perhaps, that requires further work, he's surprisingly concentrated on resolving the problem at hand, even with repeated failures. He naturally hopes that whenever he gets into this groove he is far out of sight from anyone else...nobody should ever know that he gives a damn about anything.
Practical Misanthrope
Vlad is cynical and distrustful, a misanthrope really, and believes the worst of people.
Intelligent People...
He believes that these sort of people have an inherently massive flaw, and treats them in a similar way except with a(n un)healthy dose of deep suspicion.
It also depends on how the person's intelligence is displayed - whether in talky-talky timewasting extravagant ways, or in a practical, doing fashion [Vlad's distinctions, of course wink ]. A fop who boasts and shows off his intelligence flashily - Vlad's definition of 'boast' and 'show off' is rather harsh - is not someone worthwhile no matter how intelligent he is. Someone whose intelligence manifests in the production of his work and practical aspects is far more tolerable, and over time, such a person would probably earn Vlad's grudging respect.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:47 am
:: FURTHER DETAILS ::
History:
His mind is fixed on the future and rarely strays to events gone by, but what he does remember of the past comes in flashes: dark, tall, curling branches, an inexplicable impulse to take the dove with him out of the forest and into the city (he likes to mention to her he regrets this thoroughly), quick and steady steps along the path that transitioned into Eyncastor, looking back to (re)locate Estra and occasionally pulling her along by the strands of her long hair. The mood was hurried, anxious, hopeful, but he'll never admit that most of all, a sense of pride and nostalgia - taking full charge of Estra's helplessness gave him a deeper purpose than he would've had alone. The sound of the gears drew him in, gave him an anchor and he led her to the clock tower (as if he knew what he was doing), making it their permanent home
Thoughts on the Forest: A mix of reverence, curiousity and mistrust - he is fascinated by the 'abilities' of the Forest, but deeply suspicious of its powers. He is deeply curious about what it can grant and take away, but self-preservation instinct and societal attitude regarding the forest prevents any untoward behaviour on his part.
Thoughts of Book Children: He feels no sense of community with them, simply that they are part of the populace who are not the black and white part of the populace.
Thoughts on City People: In his view, just the black and white part of the populace. The one thing he likes about them are their clockwork machines. He can currently only comprehend the very simple physics of their work, and secretly hopes to explore them further.
I imagined that after a while he started taking on little errands - a kind of odd-job boy - in Eyncastor, especially around the clockwork professions...and that's probably the limits of it. It's a perfunctory, cost-benefit relationship and he speaks to them in a short, clipped manner if he has to come in contact with City People, like when he's delivering goods.
Out of his limited professional context, to a larger extent with the Book People, he generally is his usual horrible, belligerent self, listening to them with a wry smile and retorting whenever he feels like...if he even stays around that long to hear them out. He really has one interest right now - clockwork automatons - and anything else is either an obligation (Estra) or not on his radar.
There might be three attitudes that a very smart City Folk may adopt towards him:
- Coldly Patronising: Vlad hates it and will have nothing to do with the City Person, probably turning his back with the best jibe he can think of.
- Nurturingly Patronising: Vlad hates it even more because the nurturing aspect reminds him of Estra and the other is just insulting - so he'd cut this City Person off completely too.
- Generally Ignores Him: This depends on the mode of intelligence-expression, haha. The extravagant boaster will gain his derision no matter what. The practical genius - Vlad's okay with this and prefers to operate in this fashion. If he's curious about their behaviour, he will linger a short while and watch them work, especially the clockwork masters. Otherwise, he would never stay an extra moment.
Hobbies: Distressing Estra since it makes him feel better about living with this birdbrain, and when no one is looking, tinkering with simple clockwork automatons, taking them apart and rebuilding them to his satisfaction - not that he's particularly good at it, but he tries. Privately.
Birthday: 25th February (Obtainment date!)
Favorite Things: The taste of success, even petty thievery (eg. fruits, mostly). Estra when she is anxious, causing her to coo and trail around most ineffectually (until it stops being amusing, gets annoying and he makes her stop). Complex clockwork machinery can capture his attention for hours on end, inciting a burning urge to dismantle the system for its secrets, but at the same time, fear that he would never be able to make it move again.
Hated Things: Aimless, momentary frivolities like dancing and singing, as they fail to continue existing past the time they're produced. Estra especially when she is fussing over him - it's very insulting and horrendously emasculating. Inertia in any way - objects must have a function of activity, people must be driven by intent, and he loathes anything that is still and lacks purpose. His fondness for and choice of the clock tower is especially significant; its objective is clearly known and serves many, and its never-ceasing gears and ticking soothes him.
Story: The Dove and the Crow (see below)
Favorite type of Ending: Vlad is most fond of unfinished, ambiguous conclusions with only a little hint of what was really meant to happen in the end. It excites his mind, gives him a strange, fatalistic sense of hope and perplexes Estra terribly.
Favorite Illustration: Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1819) by Caspar David Friedrich - somehow, he feels like he's been there before, except that an offending element had been thankfully replaced.*
Dreams: He might find a real, deeply meaningful purpose - which hopefully is not making sure that Estra doesn't die a horrible and pathetic death because that's incredibly depressing. That it has to do with Estra, that is, not the horrible and pathetic death. More mundanely, he desires to master clockwork and automaton creation on his own, and wants to keep all this a secret until he's a full-fledged professional.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:48 am
The Dove and the Crow
Waiting for a Plot
by
Anonymous.
Black and White ripple, apart, in an undulating spectrum of grey. White quivers and begins to paint fingers, streaks of bright across the discrete palette. Black rears and swallows her efforts in moody pitch.
Night and Day glimmer, apart, in an unending vista of dusk. Day shimmers and begins to shine, spreading sparkling slivers of dawn. Night drifts and blankets her light in heavy darkness.
Delusion and Despair shudder, apart, in the undying echoes of destiny. Delusion thrills and begins to sing, a reedy, absent song. Despair turns and silences her with an ancient, terrible sigh.
*
A crow and a dove rustle, apart, in the tangled boughs of a grey, barren tree. The dove flutters and begins to coo, throaty, purring tones that pulse warmly in her breast. The crow flaps, irritably - once, twice - then cuts her off mid-note with a harsh call: "I say, is it coming?"
The dove blinks - once, twice - she slowly tilts her head to a side, and says, "what is?"
The crow snaps shut his beak in a moment of annoyance, then opens it to say, "we've been through this before. Just yesterday!"
The dove coos and hums, hums and coos, until she finally decides, "we did not. That I recall."
The crow clicks his claws as he hops on the branch impatiently. "Yes we did. That I recall. I asked today, yesterday and the day before."
"The day before?" says the dove. She tilts her head again, in the other direction, "there wasn't a day that was before."
"There certainly was a day before! And a day before, before!" says the crow, irately cawing at her. "Now stop your foolishness and tell me -" he eyes her contemptuously,"- do you see it coming?"
"Yes." She says.
The road remains empty. Her empty reply incenses him - he swells in anger, puffing out his sleek feathers. "Did you think," he says, "your daft, meaningless 'yes' would relieve you from me?! I would know now if it weren't, wouldn't I?" His gaze is even more accusatory than before, and he rises from his perch. "Once more," he says, voice sharp, "do you see it coming?"
"No." She says.
A guttural sound rises from his throat as he wings up to her, looking large and dangerous, fury burning in his dark eyes. But it fades - where was the point? - and he swoops, just to land back onto his own branch with a disgruntled huff. When he speaks again, his tone is pleasant, a devious sliver sneaking through his words, "It will be wondrous when it comes."
"It will?" says the dove, brightening, ruffling up her feathers and staring at him earnestly.
"Oh, yes," says the crow. "When it comes we can finally leave and see everything - everything else other than you, and me, and this confounded tree. A forest, a flower, anything, but this."
"It would," she says, thoughtfully, "be nice to look upon a field, or a stream, again."
"To splash in a pond," he says, airily, "to shake off the water, and clean ourselves most thoroughly."
"My feathers," she says, nodding solemnly, "are not as white as they could be.
"You can have as many baths as you'd like," he says, dismissive now, turning the talk to other matters, "there are many other wonderful things to do, like feeding upon grains, or berries, or seeds."
"It has," she says, eyes glazed with a distant dream, "been a while since I've tasted a sunflower seed."
"So it has." He cranes his neck - and draws back with a startled hop, saying, "oh! I see it - it is coming, down the road!"
"It is?" she says, eyes wide, "will we get to leave, and see a green grass field?"
"Yes, there," he says, gravely. "It is coming, it surely is."
"It is? It is?" she says, wings aflutter, "will I again have my feathers clean and white, like they used to be?"
"Yes, see! See!" he insists most urgently. "There it is, it's almost here!"
"It is! It is!" she hovers and bobs, bobs and hovers, "and I will get to taste the sweetness of a sunflower seed once more!"
"Oh, no," he suddenly says, in a nefariously cheerful manner, "I'm afraid it isn't - I'm afraid you won't."
"But it is here," says the dove, a little piteous, not understanding, "it is here, you said so."
"You are too easily fooled," says the crow.
"Oh!" she cries, "that is unkind."
She shivers and sighs, shrinking into her dusty feathers, sighs and shivers, as he cackles and calls, shaking the tree most violently.
*
For a while, there is nothing, only the occasional rustle of a feather, or the brief spread of a wing. Then the dove rises, taking a step - once, twice - from side-to-side.
"I have been thinking," she says.
"That doesn't suit you," he says.
"I have been thinking," she says, fluffing out her feathers and blinking aggrievedly, "that you have been very unkind."
"Why, you have certainly been thinking," he says, surprised and pleased, "for that is indeed true."
"You have been very unkind," she says, "and you have vexed me."
"I am not the first to be vexing," he says pointedly, but does not wait for a reply before tapping a gleeful little rhythm on the branch. "But even so, I have vexed you, and - oh," he trills, delighted by her uncharacteristic recognition of his labours, "it is my only joy."
"Yes, yes!" she says, nodding eagerly, "it has been nice."
"Nice?" he stops short in the middle of his jaunty raps, widening his beady eyes, "Nice! But - how could this be so?"
"It would," says the dove, settling back onto the branch with much satisfaction, "have been lonely to wait alone. It is nice to have you here to vex me. I quite like it, being with you."
The crow is quiet for an instant, frozen in place with a lifted foot - then anger erupts, his wings flare, and he cries "no, no, no - that is not how it should happen. You infuriate me. You infuriate me and I am unkind!" His claws scratch, quick and vicious, against the bark, "when you anger me, I will be cruel. Only I find joy in my cruelty. That is the way it must always be. You will not," says the crow, "like it. I will not allow it! You're not supposed to like it! You will not find it nice! You will not find it nice!"
He rages, flapping furiously, darting at her perch, again, again; she flutters and sways, sways and flutters, quite, quite content.
But now, down the road, a dark figure walks. He walks, unceasing, an even, steady, immutable stride. It is as if the road moves around him to ensure his progress. It is as if the road behind him no longer matters. The dove stays silent; the crow subsides.
"It is not coming today, is it," says the crow.
"And not tomorrow," he says, reaching up to pluck them off the branches. "That is enough," says
The End.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:51 am
:: EXTRA NOTES ::
Jun eloquently explains in Estra's thread that "Just in case Maxx (D) and I totally failed with our story and it reads like we're trolling, the figure is The End. *shot* Our original conception was a loose take off Waiting for Godot, but I fear it rather got away from us!"
* Otherwise, in regards to his and Estra's favourite illustrations, it's actually off Beckett being an idiot and first pointing to Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon as his inspiration for Waiting for Godot, while at other times claiming it was really Two Men Contemplating the Moon instead, which differs in one significant way…
Whoop, I'm not good at this but I'm really fond of Vlad (and Estra) so I hope his stuff will fly [pun-unintended]. Thanks for reading and please feel free to crit.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:44 pm
Interesting story! Very strange xd
It sounds like you have his relationship with Estra worked out quite well, but how does Vlad really interact with other City Folk? How would Vlad react to the City Folk who are very smart? Does he crave companionship in the form of someone with whom he can have an intelligent conversation? Or is he out to just be unhappy and find fault with everyone? What if he met some kind of mad genius like Caveat who was clearly quite the mental giant - would Vlad look up to him or be jealous?
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:47 am
Glad you think so, and thank you muchly for the detailed questions on his reaction to the City People - that's a really good aspect that I hadn't quite thought to develop. After detailing these answers I have a much better idea of that now.
1. How does Vlad really interact with other City Folk?
I imagined that after a while he started taking on little errands - a kind of odd-job boy - in Eyncastor, especially around the clockwork professions...and that's probably the limits of it. It's a perfunctory, cost-benefit relationship and he speaks to them in a short, clipped manner if he has to come in contact with City People, like when he's delivering goods.
Out of his limited professional context, to a larger extent with the Book People, he generally is his usual horrible, belligerent self, listening to them with a wry smile and retorting whenever he feels like...if he even stays around that long to hear them out. He really has one interest right now - clockwork automatons - and anything else is either an obligation (Estra) or not on his radar.
2. How would Vlad react to the City Folk who are very smart?
He believes that these sort of people have an inherently massive flaw, and treats them in a similar way except with a(n un)healthy dose of deep suspicion. Vlad is cynical and distrustful, a misanthrope really, now that I think about it, and believes the worst of people.
It also depends on how the person's intelligence is displayed - whether in talky-talky timewasting extravagant ways, or in a practical, doing fashion [Vlad's distinctions, of course wink ]. A fop who boasts and shows off his intelligence flashily - Vlad's definition of 'boast' and 'show off' is rather harsh - is not someone worthwhile no matter how intelligent he is. Someone whose intelligence manifests in the production of his work and practical aspects is far more tolerable, and over time, such a person would probably earn Vlad's grudging respect.
Otherwise, there might be three attitudes that a very smart City Folk may adopt towards him:
- Coldly Patronising: Vlad hates it and will have nothing to do with the City Person, probably turning his back with the best jibe he can think of.
- Nurturingly Patronising: Vlad hates it even more because the nurturing aspect reminds him of Estra and the other is just insulting - so he'd cut this City Person off completely too.
- Generally Ignores Him: This depends on the mode of intelligence-expression, haha. The extravagant boaster will gain his derision no matter what. The practical genius - Vlad's okay with this and prefers to operate in this fashion. If he's curious about their behaviour, he will linger a short while and watch them work, especially the clockwork masters. Otherwise, he would never stay an extra moment.
3. What if he met some kind of mad genius like Caveat who was clearly quite the mental giant - would Vlad look up to him or be jealous?
Caveat...from what I understand of how he'd interact with Vlad...he's going to detest him. Which is pretty much the most glowing testimonial to Caveat ever! lol
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 5:05 pm
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
Vice Captain
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