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 Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:43 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:49 pm
The Hedge Witch  Allison Driscoll
Meaning: Allison is a French diminutive of Alice, which means “a noble sort”. Driscoll is derived from the Gaelic Ó Eidirsceóil meaning "descendent of the messenger".
Nicknames: Alice, the White Lady
Proper Address: Miss Driscoll
Gender: Female
Age: ???
Appearance: Alice is has long, thick, wheat-blond hair and amber eyes. Her skin has a healthy tan from all the time she spends outside, but she would be rather pale if she stayed indoors. She has an average bust bordering on large, a sassy sway in her hips, and stands just shy of six feet.
Designation: Hedge Witch
Specialty: She specializes in a unique combination of charm work and healing – primarily with herbs.
Familiar: Hecate
Companion(s): n/a
Origin: She was born and raised at the edge of the Wardwood.
Station: Alice is mostly self-sufficient, but she also trades her skills as a healer and hedge witch.
Spouse: n/a
History:
For as long as anyone can remember, a woman has been living in the little cottage by the forest. Hedge witch, wise-woman, madwoman – how people viewed her has changed over the centuries almost as often as her face has. The villagers call her the White Lady and they have always gone to her for advice, healing, and charms. Even in times when she was scorned or treated as an eccentric, they quietly sought her help. Thus, she has endured.
In the past few generations, she has been mostly ignored. Why bother with a strange, reclusive woman when modern advances are becoming so daring and fascinating? Still, a few came to her with their secret needs. But even if the villagers forgot her entirely, she would not leave. There is a duty that binds those of her line to the edge of the Wardwod where magic seeps into the world, whether humanity wishes to acknowledge it or not. The White Lady is a sentinel. She keeps watch over the darkness that slumbers in the forest, guarding against the day when it will awaken.
Allison Driscoll is the latest in the long line of women who have watched the forest. She grew up learning herb lore at her mother’s side and her mother was so proud when she showed the first signs of hedge craft. It was then that Alice knew her fate: she would be the next to stand guard. It would be a lonely life, but that was ok; she had never known anything else. She studied and practiced diligently because her mother wanted her to, and it was tradition, and it seemed like an honorable calling.
Little did she know that one little grimalkin would change everything.
Hecate brought her courage and strength in the face of her mother’s death and stood by her side as her powers grew and expanded. She bore witness as Alice matured and got over her rebellious phase and truly accepted her duties in her heart. To this day, Alice and Hecate continue to guard the Wardwood, watching with unease as the darkness begins to stir.
About:
A very competent and no-nonsense woman, Alice takes no gruff and suffers no fools. Since her mother’s death, she has earned something of a reputation in the village for being…icy, to put it kindly. However, there can be no doubt that she is a competent healer and, for all that some whisper about how unnatural she is, her charms can work wonders. Her somewhat hostile attitude often drives people away for anything other than business, but she does not seem to notice. She is primarily concerned with the state of the Wardwood and all that slumbers within it. Hecate does her best to remind the reclusive woman that other humans are not so bad and that perhaps she should spend more time with them. The grimalkin’s efforts might not be as hopeless as one might think. After all, there is a softer side to Alice.
For all that she acts like she needs no one else, the hedge witch does care about other people. Children, especially, play on her heartstrings. Besides that, she never turns down someone in need of healing. In all, it is not really that she hates people; it is more that most of them annoy her.
Important People:
•
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:55 pm
The Familiar  Hecate
Meaning: In Greek mythology, she is the goddess of magic, crossroads, tombs, demons, and the underworld.
Nicknames: n/a
Gender: Female
Age: Adult
Appearance: Her body is white. Her back is smoky grey with white leopard spots. Her eyes are a deep red-brown.
Hedge Witch: Alice Driscoll
Mate: None
Obtained: Umbro the Magnificent generously gave away semi-customs to the runners-up of the hedge witch RP contest in the Autumn Equinox event, 2012.
History:
Before coming to Alice, Hecate wandered to and fro without any real destination in mind. In the way of felines, she seemed to figure that she would stop when she would stop and there was no point in worrying about it until she got there. Instead, she passed her time teasing superstitious humans and investigating things that caught her fancy.
Eventually, however, she wandered into a particular town like she owned the place and unerringly sought out one human in particular – Alice – and led her straight to her mother’s deathbed. Ever since then, the pair has been together. As a grimalkin, she helps bring in some small game for their meals, and keeps the pest population at bay. As a familiar, she is great help to Alice in monitoring the Wood for signs of magic. Hecate also helps make her charms more potent and longer-lasting.
About:
Full of humor and mischief, Hecate enjoys teasing humans and animals alike. Much to Alice’s dismay, she does this seemingly without regard for her own safety. Admittedly, the very large feline is quite capable of taking care of herself, but Alice cannot help but worry. Naturally, the feline is unwavering in her mischief, completely disregarding everyone else and doing precisely what she wants to do and not a thing more. Often, she will help people – Alice especially – but just as often she teases people just for the sake of watching them squirm. So, perhaps she is a bit sadistic, but most felines are.
Dreaming:
She fearlessly roams the wood with Lior, her dearest companion and partner in crime. They cause at least as much trouble in the Dreaming as they do while awake, but it's all in good fun. Well, perhaps she can be a little vicious at times, but if she is, then they surely had it coming.
Important People:
• Lior - Her closest friend and companion.
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:58 pm
The Meeting The day a sassy feline strolled into the village was both an end and a beginning for Alice. The villagers were distrustful, of course. Even with modern advances, there was enough tradition and superstition in the village to make them wary of this new grimalkin. They stared at her, wondering what ill thing had drawn her there, each hoping to be spared. For her part, the grimalkin boldly sauntered through, ignoring the villagers or tossing them amused looks from dark eyes filled with a little too much intelligence. She loitered there for a while as though to tease them. Much to their collective relief, however, she soon departed, headed toward the Wardwood.
***
Alice was experiencing a bit of rebellion – too late for it to really accomplish anything, but enough to leave her feeling resentful of the shackles her mother had placed upon her. She was too bound to the place now to leave her future post, and she was worried that her mother did not have enough time left to train another. So, concern warred with fruitless frustration and the combination led to bitterness. Conversations between the two were terse and strained and sometimes led to arguments, but both were too proud to do anything about it. Alice was out gathering herbs after one of their more explosive disagreements when she spotted it.
There. Just beyond that bush. Was that a fluffy white tail? Oh, yes. It disappeared, but from the other side appeared a pair of glowing eyes set in the face of a grimalkin. The mischievous little thing had a pair of feathers sticking out of her mouth like an absurd trophy.
“Been a naughty little thing, haven’t you?” whispered Alice. A twitch of the whiskers was her only reply. The grimalkin seemed to be laughing at her. Intrigued, she ventured a little closer, coaxing the feline with wiggling fingers and the agreeable little noises one makes to strange animals. However, before Alice was close enough to pet her, she dashed away. Then, as though telling the human to follow her, she stopped several yards away and glanced over her shoulder. With a twitch of her tail, she started off again. Not one to ignore a challenge, Alice followed the feline with a playful laugh.
What she found at the end of their game was nothing to laugh at, however. The grimalkin sat solemnly beside Alice’s mother, who lie collapsed on the ground. With a fearful gasp, Alice raced over and knelt by her side. She grasped one suddenly frail-looking hand between her own and opened her mouth to speak – a plea for her health, to beg for forgiveness, she hardly knew – but with a sharp look, her mother silenced her.
“I see you’ve finally found your familiar,” she observed in a voice gone breathy and hoarse with pain. Again, Alice tried to speak, but she was shushed. “I’ve not much time, child. Mind the forest. It is growing restless. And heed your instincts. They’re good.”
Her countenance softened into a loving smile and she reached up a shaking hand to cup her daughter’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you, Alice.” With those last words, her eyes lost focus and her hand fell away. With a broken sob, Alice closed her mother’s eyes for the last time.
It was a long time before she was finally able to straighten up and wipe her eyes dry, her tears run out. She saw that the grimalkin was still there, her tail curled around her paws, her eyes somber. Alice realized that she would not have been there for her mother’s last moments had it not been for this grimalkin.
“Thank you,” she whispered. With a slow blink, the feline accepted her thanks.
It would not be until much later that Alice would realize just how strongly the feline would affect her life, or how many changes she would bring. Later, she would come to fully embrace her fate as the White Lady. Later yet, her powers would broaden and strengthen. And later still, she would face the threat that her line was created to guard against. For now, she was just a young woman stricken by grief who was grateful for the comfort her newfound familiar could offer.
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:03 pm
The Companion
 ???
Meaning:
Nicknames:
Gender:
Age: Adult
Appearance:
Mate:
Obtained:
History:
Forthcoming
About:
Forthcoming
Dreaming:
Forthcoming
Important People:
•
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:07 pm
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