[Artists' Choice Concept Contest] PUMPKIN SPICE EVERYTHING

[Silverah]

Closes 10/31 at 9 pm PST.

This concept contest will run the entire month of October. Winners will be selected on a rolling basis - if an artist sees a profile they like, they will contact the player about drawing the character! There is no limit to how many characters will come from this contest.

As usual, everything is free, because love is free. This will be the last large-scale concept contest before the shop metaplot crosses the point of no return.

Please see the next post for full rules!

Want to help advertise?

[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=25022455][img]http://i.imgur.com/lGNpw5Q.png[/img][/url]

 

[Silverah]

RULES

1. You may submit as many profiles as you like, but you may only win one Visitor.

2. You may not indicate your artist preference. By entering the contest, you agree to be happy with whatever artist picks up your character.

3. Artists are not obligated to draw a certain number of characters. They can draw as many as appeal to them, whether that is seven, none, or anywhere in between or beyond.

4. Please don't be sketchy and discourage other players from entering. There's enough to go around. We promise.

5. You may submit totally new profiles, existing quests, revised profiles from previous contests but never quested for, and currently-in-play civilians.

6. Usual character limits apply. If you already have three visitors, you are ineligible for this contest.

7. This contest is open to all non-staff members of the Ashdown community.

 

[Silverah]

HOW TO ENTER

Please submit a standard profile form using the format below! Please remember to include appearance details in your "Anything Else?" section, but keep in mind that final designs will be up to the artist who chooses your character!

Even if you win this contest, you still need to submit your profile for approval in the quests subforum if it is not already approved.

[align=center][size=18][b]character name[/b][/size]
[size=14]HIGH CONCEPT[/size][/align]A high concept title is your character distilled down to five words or less. This section is where you lay out your character's core pieces. Tell us what your character is about--what they do, who they are--and how they differ from others of their character type. How is your character going to be played? What sorts of stories will you tell? How do they fit into the world of Ashdown? This section is for broad strokes and should be no more than 3-5 sentences. You can go into more detail later!

[align=center][size=14]TROUBLE[/size][/align]Your character's trouble is their main personal plot going into the story. "Deal with their new powers" is not really a good trouble because everyone shares it, and your character is a person before they get their powers! They can be internal, stemming from inner turmoil or aspects of their identity, or external, stemming from an outside cause. It could be personal demons, family reputation, obstacles in the path of their personal goals… but essentially be things than can be worked with, struggled with, and dealt with through their game progression. Also think about how these troubles could stem from or connect with your high concept!

While your trouble exists to complicate your character's story and give you fodder for plot conflict moving forward, it shouldn't take over everything your character does. There is definitely space for characters like Uchiha Sasuke, but that's not a character that will be easily knit into the storyline. Consider how you're going to interact with other players, characters and the unique unexpected nature of Ashdown as you write your Trouble and it will pay off as soon as you get into the game.

We ask you to include this so that we can easily create story threads linking your characters into the game's plot. Ashdown has quest prompts offering story hooks, rewards, or powers that would otherwise be unavailable.

[align=center][size=14]POWER[/size][/align]What is your character's innate power? This is something small that carries through into your character's waking/real life and is developed upon becoming a Dreamer. The universe does this for them more than they do it for them self. Consider it a passive ability rather than an applied skill. So instead of 'Speaks to animals' consider, 'animals seem attracted to them', or instead of 'Creates light sources' try 'rooms always seem to have just enough light to see'. Less power application and more mysterious circumstance. Remember that these powers can be expanded upon and leveled up as time goes by if you so choose.

[align=center][size=14]ANYTHING ELSE?[/size][/align]Is there anything else you think we should know? This is where you put history and personality details that don't fit in the expansion of your high concept, relationships (for good or ill) your character has with others, etc. This is also where information like their age, the location of their main stomping grounds, appearance, hobbies, personality quirks, etc goes. Just because this is an "other" section doesn't mean it won't have stuff in it! Consider it the free-form section.

 

[MoonRazor]

casimir stark
RAKISH OPPORTUNIST

Casimir is a smart guy, but he doesn't always use that brain of his to solve problems. He leads with his fists because they've never let him down, and he's never had anything handed to him that he didn't take for himself. In his mind, the nail that sticks up is not the one that gets hammered down, but the one that gets plucked for bigger and better things, which is why he's not afraid to stand up for himself or his own. He acts mostly on gut reaction, unafraid to bend the rules because he's learned that rules were put in place to benefit those who are already privileged. And he'll do it with a wink and grin that seem to say this is totally acceptable, even if it's not. Some might call him a bad influence, but Cas just wants to do right by himself – and if it means operating with what some would consider looser morals, he's okay with that because if there's anything Cas has learned from his childhood, it's that nobody will take care of him if he doesn't.

NO HOME OF MINE

Casimir's struggled with this since he was 16 – he doesn't have anything, really, to call his own. No home, few material possession. He's even lost contact with his younger sister, who he used to protect with his life. He hasn't had to make many decisions for himself since he was a freshman at Washington – he was recruited as a walk-on for the rowing team and has been following orders ever since. He followed Rylan into the Marines and has been there for the last six years, and now he's finally done. He's out for good, but he has nowhere to go and nothing to do.

So he did what he's done best for about ten years – he followed Rylan to Ashdown.

Now that he's back to civilian life, he needs to find something, or things, to attach himself to. The problem is, he doesn't know how. Attachment inevitably leads to vulnerability, and Cas isn't ready for that. His history of drifting around with very little to his name has made him struggle to put down roots despite being quite desperate to have something to ground him in his life. He'll hide his fears by throwing them in your face, making you think he's come to terms with them by being overly willing to share.

It's charming, and it's his way of making people feel like he's let them into his inner circle, but at the end of the day, his is a shallow acknowledgment with little resolution. He's still holding back, shirking the need to risk a little of himself in exchange for meaningful connections, even if he doesn't quite realize it.

NINJA-LIKE

Whenever he needs it, there's always a perfect place to conceal himself and keep out of sight of prying eyes.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Once upon a time, Stark was Starek. His is a Polish family that found its way to Seattle late in the 1800s and settled into ranching. They must have owned a fair bit of land once upon a time, but lost it all during the Great Depression and have been floating around doing seasonal work ever since. Someone changed the surname to Stark some time after WWII, but the name Casimir has been passed down as a family name ever since.

Cas was born in some podunk town in middle-of-nowhere Washington with a younger sister and no mother to speak of. Their father took on jobs as a ranch hand wherever he could and dragged them along to take care of the chores. They were home-schooled in that they schooled themselves, and while their father was not exactly abusive, some of the other ranch hands were and he turned a blind eye more often than not.

For as long as he could remember, there'd be men – nameless, faceless men – who'd come to rough him up and bother his sister in ways that made her eyes turn dark and her face turn white. And no one did anything.

Until one day, he finally grew up and he beat the s**t out of the man – knocked him to the ground with a jab and broke his face with an old horseshoe.

They were expelled from the ranch after that. Their father left them to fend for themselves.

Somehow, miraculously, Cas earned himself a GED and got into college, where he was recruited as a walk-on for the rowing team at Washington. He was always on the verge of getting into trouble for fighting, always just a breath away from taking someone too seriously. It earned him a bit of a reputation, but it worked – nobody bothered him after that.

But for all that he was emotional and temperamental, he was never afraid to talk about his past. Never afraid to throw it in people's faces, as if to prove that he didn't need their pity.

He was always the odd man out until he found Rylan at the end of his sophomore year. They bonded, and upon graduating, he followed the man into the Marines and stayed for the next six years.

Now he's out. Without nowhere to go, he called up his old friend, and followed him to Ashdown.

Things we know about Cas:
- Can you make him look as dreamy as Scott Eastwood. Please god thank you. (Style: x and x)
- He's 6'3", 200 lb.
- He knows animals - horses, cattle, dogs, cats - and understands how to speak to them with body language. Anything that's commonly found on a ranch, and he'd much rather see a human get hurt before an innocent animal.
- Was Force Recon and then a special forces operator for MARSOC. Left Marines with the rank of Captain.
- Has tattoos. TBD
- Birthday: April 19, 1987. Aries
- Has a BS in Mechanical Engineering  

[Melancholies]

Oliver Beaumont
TALENTED TRAIN WRECK

At first glance, Oliver looks one in the same with his twin brother Shiloh. They got the same face; he looks aloof and angry and aggressive. It’s a skin deep statement, because they’re actually quite opposite. Poised, perfected, punctual: That’s Ollie for you. He’s never late for an assignment, never slacks a step in his routine, and he’s a meticulous stickler for detail—he’s a pretentious goddamn hardass is what he is, and he's fine with the label. He's got no time for you if you're not going to take this s**t seriously, and let me tell you, everything is serious. In fact, he's going to take it so seriously that it'll basically be the gospel, so don't be surprised whenever he runs himself into the ground. He'll pick himself back up. Probably.

ALL OR NOTHING

Smack dab in the center of Oliver, running vertical into the ground, is a fault line. No one knows when it’s going to go off, but damn if he isn’t due soon, because it’s been a while. Oliver lives the life of expectations; he has to be the best, nothing less. It isn’t some innate, ambitious desire, it’s because he made the mistake of setting those bars too high and now he’s scared to fall short of them.

His anxiety is a mess, and he actually is pretty damn aloof because he can’t slow down enough to have meaningful relationships, or because he judges others for "putting in half of his effort". It’s hard work all of the time, and he’s got no room for distractions. Problem is, despite how capable he might be, he’s ******** tired. His brother was his one line of support, but Oliver runs off to college and suddenly they lose contact. He comes back and finds out his twin can barely remember him? Bullshit, there's something going on here, and damn him if he won't find out what. Only thing is that his patience is an absolute time bomb, and he's running out of gas.

So he's moved back to Ashdown, but that comes with its own slew of issues. He's back to a life of expectations because he knows these people and they know him. Wanna know the funny thing about expectations? It's conformity. It's fitting the perfect mold, and he's gotta reach those heights, except?. Alright, well he’s mostly come to terms with his sexuality, because he’s tired of fighting it and his brother is Bi and nothing bad seems to happen to him, so ******** it, being gay is okay. But gender? It would be one thing if he felt strictly one way or the other, but that just doesn’t match. Hell, he feels like neither, and that’s absolutely ******** confusing and exhausting.

Oliver doesn't know who he is, and Shiloh literally doesn't know who he is. and he's back at square ******** one. Wonderful.

PILLS HERE

Bottles, drawers, pockets… it’s all fair game when Oliver has a headache, because no matter the location, he can always find an ibuprofen when his head is hurting.

ANYTHING ELSE?

+ Oliver is 18, was a freshmen in college but decided to take an unofficial break. Plans to start up again at Raider Waite in the spring once he figures out what the ******** is going on with his brother.
+ On that note, is obviously the twin to one Shiloh Beaumont. Oliver is technically the younger one.
+ Sun sign is Scorpio, Moon is Capricorn, and Rising is Leo
+ Suffers from terrible, terrible migraines. They can put him out for days.
+ Major hobbies include music (he's in percussion, specializes with keyboards, loves piano), longboarding, and scrapbooking.
+ Has a calico munchkin cat named Chai who is his precious darling princess.
+ Technically nonbinary, but isn't fully aware just yet.
+ Ollie is the one on the left!. Tired eyes and short blonde hair are really the only constants. Likes men's fashion but lacks the funds for any high end s**t. Can be found digging through thrift stores trying to make dashing clever outfits. Red is his favorite color! Isn't afraid to wear cute stuff either.  

[quite uneventful]

cadence lorens
THE ROOKIE MEDIC

Still a newbie in the medicine field, Cadence had the benefit of growing with a wealthy family, allowing her to have all the benefits young people her ages didn't have. A sudden, startling surgery malpractice left the woman's life in ruins, both mentally and physically. After being talked down by her family, the now purple haired female has moved very far from her hometown in search of a Fresh Start™.

TROUBLE

Ever since childhood, Cadence was praised for her capacity to learn and eagerness in helping others. Graduating from high school early and having the benefit of a rich family, this teen grew up with the world on a silver platter. She received a scholarship into a top school, and afterward graduated with top marks. The world was her oyster.

Or not.

After graduation things began to spiral downhill. A accidental hand cramp in a critical surgery rendered the patient dead. The doctors, feeling indignant and spiteful with such a young charge, told the family of the patient it was deliberate, and Cadence's shiny reputation was suddenly tainted with blood. She lost her renown and the lawsuit on her hands was enough that her family had to change their residence, going from the city to the countryside, where she was raked with depression and a permanent feeling of guilt. It was obvious how much she'd changed, no longer having a jaded view of the world. Months after The Incident left Cadence a wreck, until her family decided enough was enough. They raised her not to be a quitter, and yet the first thing she does after hitting a wall in her life was mope and whine.

They offered her a suggestion-- maybe, if she moved far enough away, no one would know of her failure? It was brilliant, and after extensive research, the cheapest and furthest apartment she could find was a tiny, one bedroom apartment in the city of Ashdown, far, far away from her hometown and any semblance of family relations. She's scared people might know about her terrible reputation, and that one day, she'll mess up again and destroy the life of another group of people.

POWER

Every time she opens a book to study, it always opens on the page she needs. Or when she searches for a page online, its conveniently the right page.

ANYTHING ELSE?

• 27 years old! Still a fairly "new" doctor.
• Around 5'9 and weighs 130 pounds. Tall people are tall!
• Born with a sort of mocha skin tone, dark brown hair and dark eyes, Cadence dyes her wavy hair a nice and startling lilac purple since moving to show she's Different and Looking For A Fresh Start™. Also because lilac is her favorite color. Her clothes tend to be either very mori or very bohemian, leaning more on bohemian these days but still lovin' that sweetness from mori.
• No longer the cheerful girl from the past, Cadence doesn't have the same fire she once had as a teen for being a doctor. She's obedient and grew up trusting those who offered help to her, but after her recent fall out, she's a lot less likely to do so.
• Feels deep guilt for mistakes she causes, and is a little self-centered and dramatic. She's awkward when it comes to making friends, simply because she never allowed herself the luxury of having any people close to her in her life. It wasn't practical!
• Doesn't know how to handle people and is somewhat insensitive to the problems of others. Has high standards, and limits herself on the amount of fun or enjoyment she can have almost instinctually, having been brought up with harsh family rules. It took her a while to see this, but she still has a firm belief in that there's always a way if you try hard enough.
• Gets rather passionate when talking about her profession!
• Can't stomach death.
• She has an occasional wrist "cramp" with her left hand when she grabs something. Depending on how she holds it, her hand might automatically let it go.
• Has a pet fish! Since that's all she can really afford and have space for.  

[Zaffren]

Kenneth Thorne
Intrepid Teen Detective

Brilliant and naturally inquisitive, Ken's decided that the best way to use his abilities is to be a detective. There are more than enough mysteries in the world to solve, and he sees no reason why he can't be the one to do it. It was cuter when he was younger, but now that he's getting older, it's less cute and more obnoxious.

Kid, You're going to get yourself killed.

Book smart, but not really street smart, Ken has a tendency to get into things that are over his head. He lacks a sense of self preservation that most people have, and still thinks that he's pretty invincible. This is bound to change at some point, and it's really just a matter of when. Not everyone thinks he's being as helpful as he thinks he is, and one of these days, he's going to follow the wrong person and get into something that's way over his head.

Perfect First Impression

No matter what Ken was doing before he meets a person, somehow he always manages to start the meeting on the right foot.

ANYTHING ELSE?

16 years old. High Schooler, reads way too much Sherlock Holmes. Gets along well with his parents, less so with his neighbors. Okay in school, not the most well liked, but has a decent amount of friends.

Is about 5'6, skinny and white, with dark brown hair and green eyes. Has freckles. Usually wears casual clothes, might have a deerstalker cap that he loves to wear.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher Maria
wandering reprobate

Having aged out of foster care, Preacher is a transplant to Ashdown by way of hitch-hiking. She's looking for a new start, but her insecure nature often has her lashing out for little reason. Having been shuffled from foster home to foster home has made her pretty mistrusting of most people. Right now, though, she's just trying to see if she can actually make something of herself or if she's as worthless as she's been told.

these fists were made for your face

Preacher doesn't have much of a flight or fight response. That is... she's all fight. She thinks fast and, too often, with her fists. Slights real or imagined have her temper rising and prickle her delicate pride. No one really wants her around, she thinks, but she'll be damned if people won't pay for hurting her. It's easier to just assume the worst of people and work up from there.

She's got some marks on her record - nothing major, just the usual assault charges that would be much, much worse if she hadn't been an adolescent at the time. Since Preacher's an adult now, her records are all sealed up, but she's gotta find a way to toe the line if she wants to keep her slate clean.

the write way

Preacher always seems to have a pen and a scrap of paper handy in case she needs to write something down, or doodle. Or any other of the myriad uses of a pen. No, don't go for his eyes, Preacher!

ANYTHING ELSE?

Preacher aged out of the foster care system and, unfortunately, got summarily thrust on the world. aka she ran away before her foster family could tell her to gtfo.
She needs a place to stay like whoa, but she's working on it.
Works for the PD.
Nosy.
Short as ********. 4'11" but she says she's 5'. Let her have her dreams.
Kind of thin and scrawny, but she does have an average bust. Wears a lot of sports bras.
Latina - dark brown/black hair, long as ******** and wavy. Usually keeps it bundled up.
Vanessa Hudgens face cast if that helps an artist!
Light-ish brown eyes, needs glasses probably but she says ******** that.
Birthday is April 17.
Clothing idea polyvore
Her tumblr!
And, her toyhou.se  

[kuropeco]

raffin greyhill
WANDERING MAGICIAN

Quiet and often lost (both literally and metaphorically), Raffin has lived his adult life with little expectations. All he has are two things: a love of magic (as in, performance magic, sleight of hand, so on and so forth); and a desire to actually figure out what the hell life is all about. So far, neither has really gotten him very far, but he's still working on it.

WALKING BACKWARDS

Raffin is broody. And a little strange. For someone as smart as he is, he sure doesn't know how to actually talk to people. Growing up, his mother tried to label him as "emo," which was something, much to Raffin's continued outrage, definitely not true, he is not the author of My Immortal, okay, stop that. Now, much later in life, it's become apparent that Raffin isn't a troubled soul, exactly; in fact, there seems to be nothing there at all. He seems to have lost his sense of self somewhere along the way, and is now trying to find it again, which means he is relatively socially awkward. He's trying to figure out where he belongs in the world, curious and interested very much in learning, but he tends to go about it all the wrong way. Raffin does not know much about social etiquette or social norms and tends to need reminders...

DARKER AND DARKER

Shadows seem to grow darker around Raffin when he stands in them.

ANYTHING ELSE?

• 26 years old
  
• Six foot three, long and lean. As a teenager, he would have been described as "gangly," or "loose-limbed," but he's grown into himself as an adult, filling out a lot more. He has a narrow face, blue eyes, and sleek black hair that's usually swept back away from his face in a messy sprawl of curls.
  
• He smokes on occassion, but usually only when he's stressed
  
• His habits include gambling, magic (he is a self-taught magician / performer and has been doing tricks and teases since he was a teenager), makeup, theatre, and eating too much steak
  
• Raffin went to school for theatre and performance, but prefers to be a makeup artist instead
  
• He has a quiet and unabashed fondness for ball-jointed dolls and has quite the collection in his loft
  
• His family consists of his mother and his little sister, both of whom live out of state in New York. Raffin's father is a high powered lawyer, his mother a carefree, relaxed soul who sometimes tried a little too hard to be "hip and cool." They divorced amicably when Raffin was ten; his father lives in Manhattan.
  
• Wears a lot of black; black skinny jeans, black sweaters, long-sleeves, etc etc
  
• Also wears black hipster glasses

 

[Nuxaz]

ZANE BISHOP
TACTICAL WORDSMITH

Zane is a gamer and tutorial builder, who spends all of his time beating the next newest game as quickly as possible while still discovering all of the extra storylines and sidequests. In his own words, his walkthroughs are epic, filled with detailed descriptions and a few screenshots for those extra tricky parts and a few author’s notes with dry humored quips. He doesn’t limit himself to video games but enjoys card games, strategy games, and even rounds of things like DnD, basically anything that gets his brain working and needs a little bit of strategic thinking.

Zane tends to drift towards places he views as puzzles to be solved.

APATHETICALLY GRAY

In general, Zane doesn’t care about the emotions, or emotional crisis, of others. He thinks in the form of a bigger picture, a ‘the end justifies the means’ type of thing and thinks that, when it comes down to it, most people’s problems...well they’re insignificant. This means he’s got a difficult time forming any type of ‘solid’ bond because he generally can’t relate and he’ll listen just fine, but he won’t hesitate to list all the reasons why he thinks you’re being stupid.

When coupled with the fact that Zane is incredibly morally grey, because he doesn’t see a problem making a tough choice, even at the cost of others, and that he’s got a rather blunt tongue, Zane’s ability to people is almost non-existent outside of a game.

LUCKY FAVOR

Zane chalks it up to his strategic way of thinking, but odds seem to be in his favor whenever it’s his plan that’s being implemented over someone else's. When picking a plan of Zane’s choosing, victory seems more likely...

ANYTHING ELSE?

• 23 years old
  
• Ginger, freckled, pale with green eyes.
  
• 6’2” thin, lanky, broad shouldered
  
• Occasionally wears thick, wire framed glasses
  
• Likes beanies, flannel, and jeans
  
• Eldest of two, with a younger brother and a deceased father
  
• Has a long, jedi-braid rattail. Doesn’t care that you think it’s gross, he likes it.
  
• An analytical thinker, great for logically driven tasks.
  
• Has a ginger tabby cat named Victoria.

 

[Daekie]

Soleil Dyer
PRO GAMER POLLYANNA

Soleil isn't a ditz -- she's surprisingly smart, especially when it comes to tactics and hand-eye coordination, to the point where some of her income comes from Twitch streaming -- but most of the time she comes off like she bleeds sunshine. There's something good in every!! Situation!! She can't accept the bad at face value, she absolutely refuses to accept negative things.

You see - if she does than everything's bad, and she'll just keep going even if she doesn't want to, because if she gives up then it's all over.

DO YOU LIKE ME? Y/Y

Soleil is 500% desperate for the confirmation and approval of other people -- she can't be a solitary person. With no feedback, or exclusively negative feedback, she shuts down and can't do a single thing. She's overtly friendly to the point of desperation, and even if it's false, she'll do anything to be told she's good and loved and doing the right thing and that they like her. If people don't like her....what's the point of being alive? She sacrifices her own well-being, frequently pushes herself to socialize even through illness, and rarely displays any of her own strong opinions out of fear she'll be too polarized and people will leave. And people find her obnoxious and too-aggressive and bland but she can't stop, she won't stop, because then she's not real. Soleil does not break down, she does not stop, she does not let anyone see that she is anything less than 100% optimistic all the time - her breakdowns are all very private and very, very small.
(Soleil has been endlessly desperate to make things better for people her whole life. She can't bear to see people sad - but she goes too far the other way instead. No, she can't help kids starving in Africa, but she can do this for you because everything is perfect HERE right?? Everything's good!! Everything. Is. Perfect. Nothing is wrong smile smile smile )

PERFECT WIRING

Programs never freeze or crash for Soleil - she never has to worry about a BSOD.

ANYTHING ELSE?

☀ 25 years old, third-generation American, great-grandparents were Mexican immigrants
☀ 5'11, broad-shouldered, thin-hipped -- generally a reverse triangle body type
☀ Medium brown skin, vibrant lime eyes (these are contacts), keeps her hair in a short inverted bob -- it's naturally a dark brown, but she bleaches it white-blonde
☀ Loves layers and skintight clothing, and black/white/greyscale/lime. Lowkey cybergoth. Always wears platform boots and gauges.
☀ A Salem native who moved to Ashdown for a more low-key lifestyle.
☀ Soleil is a college student -- she takes most of her classes online -- with a double major: primary in information technology, minor in computer science
☀ 100% a gigantic lesbian (asexual homoromantic). Girls are so good oh my god.
☀ Plays a Cyberpunk 2020 game on Twitch every Friday night, but mostly she does speedruns and pacifist runs - she currently holds a couple of world records.
☀ Gigantic ******** nerd. Plays it up constantly. It's part of her Image (TM).  

[medigel]

JACK HAWTHORN

PURSUANT PHOTOGRAPHER

If Ashdown were a k-drama, Jack would be the stoic, often dismissive love interest. Not quite a misanthrope but certainly not a social butterfly, he often keeps to himself while he works on his files and projects, simultaneously loathing and living off the stress of an impending deadline and the shaking nerves from several shots of espresso. He's convinced the world isn't quite what it seems and is determined to capture the footage he needs to prove it, almost desperate even for the thrill of something otherworldly to shake up his mundane, parental-controlled life.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

At his core, Jack seeks the truth: about the world, about other people, maybe (rarely) about himself. He needs to break things down into facts and bits of information he can digest, and sometimes that bluntness chafes a person if he refuses the emotional aspect of wearing them down. Jack isn't particularly in touch with his own emotional side and gets more than annoyed with those that are more led by them; compartmentalizing is clearly the way. It's an obsession with the facts (and a somewhat obsessive-like personality in general) that can easily distract him from different tasks.

Jack has lived an easy life up until college, and the blunt brick that is Reality has knocked him square in the jaw now that he has his own apartment, making him irritable just on a regular basis. It doesn't help that at his core he's a rather possessive person--they're his friends, not yours--with an insecurity of being looked over for not being special enough dashed with a bit of of a control freak. (Years of straitlaced parenting and need-to-get-A's can do that to a kid.) He also tends to keep laundry lists of wrongdoing just in case someone thinks they're "even," not above a little emotional manipulation just to set the record straight.

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

In dim or dark lighting, Jack always manages to make his way without knocking into something/tripping/bumping a person, the way someone who knows the layout of a room knows instinctively what to avoid.

ANYTHING ELSE?

• Has a guitar he's named Barbara that he seems more close to than even his friends; plays it in the band he's in with Connor
  
• Birthday is October 31; currently 23 years old
  
• Grad student at Rider-Waite with a major in Biochem, though his real passion is photography
  
• Birth name is Dong Ming; his mother told him to use a whiter sounding name to avoid racism; is half-Korean
  
• Is a whopping 6'7"
  
• Is afraid of heights
  
• The spicier the food, the better
  
• Has a stupidly nerdy laugh and does everything to make sure no-one hears it
  
• Keeps files with notes and occasional photographs on various subjects
  
• Naturally short dark hair but has dyed it green; dark brown eyes
  
• Has a thing about shoes, especially heels; seriously, there's a Pinterest board just for his dream closet
  
• Previously played here. This is a chance to roleplay him if he were able to stay with his family, though he retains his "there's totally more out there and I gotta find it" vibe.

 

[moonjavas]

lorcan "lo" koltsov
malcontent dreamer

The middle son of a seven child family, rising star fallen from fame, and all around sour kitten, Lo is not what one might consider decent company in a polite setting. In fact, Lo isn't what anyone would consider decent company if the choice was between him and roadkill, and it isn't because he's an a*****e, surprisingly. But Lo throws himself into his work, which means that unless you catch him at 5:44 AM in the morning or 2AM at night, he smells like barn, he looks like trash, and the mud on his half-chaps are going to track a maze right through your house.

After breaking his leg in preparation for his second appearance at the Rolex Kentucky, Lo moved to Ashdown to avoid his overbearing family and do physical therapy in peace. They said he would never be able to compete again at that level, that he should cut his losses and walk. An unfortunate thing to tell a man with no concept of when to stop until he's six feet under and still digging.

Especially because now he's back on two feet again, and ready for more.

JUST CALM DOWN AND DRINK YOUR ******** TEA

Lo is always working.

Actually, Lo just never stops working. If he had extracurricular hobbies before, he really doesn't remember them. When was the last time he read a book? Ate the best waffle in the world and actually realized it was the best waffle in the world? You could give that man cardboard for food and he'd still take it on the run, jolting to and from his jobs to his practice to his classes to bed and back again. It's not that Lo doesn't like sleep but sleep is a waste of time when he's already twenty two and he's slid down the ******** ladder, through the floorboard, and back into the pits that he'd crawled out of. Lo honestly feels like a failure. His leg is busted, he can barely jump anymore, let alone ride longer than an hour or two before the ache gets awful, and while coaching young students from the sidelines is easy enough, Lo feels like he was meant for something great and lost it.

And that internalized failure, mixed with the need to get back up again, even when he really should just lay down, means Lo is always going, never stopping, because trying is better than letting himself acknowledge that he'll probably never step onto an international stage again and learning to live with the consequences of a new life. Because of this, handling Lo is like walking around with a grenade that's been lit sitting in the palm of your hands. He's almost never not multitasking, he's always in a rush, and while yeah, sure, he'll have coffee with you, he might forget to show up or show up dead on his feet from too much work and not enough - well, anything else that you need to actually function as a human being. Not to mention that because Lo feels like he always needs to be doing something, he's often piss-poor conversation because he'll talk a mile a minute and get frustrated when someone dances around the subject or is too slow to get to the point. If he'd loosen up and loosen a screw, he'd be grand company, if not a bit wry and sarcastic and argumentative, and even better company if he remembered to take a shower after spending five hours at the barn.

The root of all Lo's trouble is this though: he doesn't want to accept who he is, because he still wishes he could be what he was destined to. Because once Lo slows down, stops working, and stares really hard at himself in the mirror, he'll have to acknowledge that he will never reach the stage that he'd dreamed about since he was a child. And without that goal to guide, who is he, really?

STOP EATING MY QUARTERS, I'M POOR ENOUGH AS IT IS

Lo always has the perfect amount of laundry for a single load. He never has to split his load in two, or pay extra for another drying machine.

ANYTHING ELSE?

appearance wise
- 5'11", curly black-brown hair, sea-glass green eyes, has dainty piano fingers and is completely tone deaf, has a three mole constellation on his neck. (his faceclaim is darwin grey or actually u know what this guy i lied)
class wise
- planned to be a made into a moonwalker (cougar.)
misc
- owns a really fat tricolor calico cat named dogmeat and a white borzoi named baba jaga that he shortens to jaga a lot of the time. boards his bay hanoverian gelding at the local stable. his name is something pompous but every time lo is forced to introduce him he comes up with something absurd like baron von bigfeet too afraid of poles to be useful the third.
- russian-american mutt mix. has a large extended family on the east coast, his mom likes to call her every week and yell at him
- living out of the attic of the barn he works at, actually, because he's got enough income to get by but he's always there anyways and the owner lets him use the shower, so...
- broke his leg while preparing for a cci**** competition, which made him disappear from the national and international stage
- had to go through physical therapy, still has an ache in his right leg that develops into a limp if he over-exerts himself
- can't garden to save his life so he owns a bunch of tiny cacti, which he has made into a small island in his attic space
- a student at raider-waite after losing out on his dream of competing at an international level and at the olympics. grudgingly doing it at his family's behest.
- works part-time as a trainer for one of the local barns, and also helps out at the local equine medicine facility.