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aroseinbluePlayer Information
Your Nickname: Laz
OOC Journal: http://lazariah.livejournal.com/
Under 18? Nope! 25!
Email/IM: abertra2@gmail.com, Plurk: Disig
Characters Played at Singularity: None, this is my first.
Character Information
Name: Serenity Elizabeth Rose
Name of Canon: Serenity Rose
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Canon
Reference:
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Rose
Canon Point: Sera cannot believe it. Vicious Whisper, her idol, her mentor, has not only agreed, nay, insisted to be her teacher, but has also agreed to play a live concert at the local club in Crestfallen! Just for Sera! The crowd screams, the amps hum, and Sera cannot help but feel, for the first time in months, happy. She stand in the crowd around the stage instead of her usual spot in the less crowded upper dais and dances to the music with her best friend Tess next to her.
Pink butterflies surround everything as Vicious sings her songs of revolution, logic, and love. The crowd cheers and Sera with them. Tomorrow Vicious will begin lessons with Sera, and Sera will get to learn all what her role model has learned about life and being a witch.
Or…so she thinks…enter Singularity.
Setting: The world of Serenity Rose is much like our own, except for a few…tiny…things. Vampires, Trolls, Witches, and many other unearthly creatures do indeed exist, but their numbers are dwindling (save for vampires, who are kept and harvested in Brazil for their blood to make one of the most potent and dangerous drugs known to man). There are still places in the world that hold mysteries, like ours today, but human expansion and development has not been hindered.
There have been witches in the past who gave off really bad reps, like Ogden Michael Fulmouth who went on a murder rampage across America with his girlfriend, but witches like Vicious Whisper (rock star world traveling witch, with a super happy good attitude) are what keeps the world from locking the lot of them up for good. Well, if they could lock them up. There’s no certainty. But Sera looks up to Vicious a lot as a witch she’d aim to become.
SSI - The Supernatural Shield Initiative has been described by Sera as being like the FBI for spooky stuff (it is implied that they are international too). If it is a crime brought on by something supernatural, they come in and take over. When Sera hijacked a bus (she was a terrified emotional teen who could not separate her emotions and magic), the SSI was there in droves. No talking, no warning, they opened fire on her in her own home. Sera hid, terrified, until the head of the operation threatened to kill her best friend Tess unless she came out. He told her he had a gun to her head. He did not, but ti was enough tog et Sera to come out. The sheriff of Crestfallen, Lois McCreedy, managed to get her a fair hearing and counseling and has since kept the SSI on a leash whenever Sera is involved since. The whole ordeal is considered the worst scandal in SSI history and the general public lost respect for the SSI for shooting on an emotionally distressed teen.
Years later the SSI return to address disappearances in the woods surrounding Crestfallen. Led by a man called Merrick who seems to have only interest and respect for Sera, they ask Sera to help them find the culprit by asking the trolls for help. Merrick is the first SSI agent to show Sera that not all SSI agents are bad. He knows about Sera's sleep summoned monsters and wants to help. He never blames her, only listens, and warns her that some men in the SSI want a war. They hate what happened with the bus incident and want revenge, except for him who only wants to do his job. Most men who join the SSI are bitter remnants of some supernatural catastrophe. Vampires killed their family or something like that. The other make up of their recruits are priests.
Christianity hates witches. It's not very different from the witch burning mentality of the yore of our world. To avoid persecution, like the pilgrims, the witches of the world in the past formed a coven, took a chunk of land from England, and settled in America before the Mayflower. That piece is land is Crestfallen. Years and years later priests and religious groups still complain and preach about the evils of witchcraft, but they are powerless to lock them up. They have been decreed people in most countries and are protected by law like anyone else. Some countries simply outlaw witchcraft and do not allow witches to live or settle there, which means if a witch is born in one of these countries they are either killed or banished. Most witches live in seclusion or in absolute stardom in countries more accepting of their magic.
There are 57 witches in the world. There had always been 57 witches in the world, and there always will be, according to a scary mysterious witch named Valentine who approaches Sera at some point. It seems every time a witch dies, their power is transfered to the next child born. So there is no telling what will happen when Sera disappears into Singularity...
Quick note on Crestfallen. No one knows what happened to the colony. People arrived to the new world finding the town abandoned. Sera is the first witch to live there in centuries.
Magical creatures are compelled to follow witches orders. Sera commands the trolls of the forest to help her find the killer in the woods and she commands the goblins to watch her window in case one of her dream monsters escapes. She seems to have no hold over vampires, but that might be due to the fact that they were once human.
Magical Creatures - Trolls used to be guardians of the woods around Crestfallen. The witches of the past colony gathered them all together when they moved. Ever heard of big foot or the abominable snowman? These are trolls who have managed to stray far away. They are big, hairy, and not friendly. Tourists are told to stay away from the woods at all costs, yet they still find the occasional remnants of a once happy family camping trip.
Goblins are more or less like rats or pigeons. They are small little bobble headed guys who beg for food. All they seem to be able to say are short sentences like, "I like baloney" and "I love you." It is questionable as to whether they just repeat these sentences from what they hear from other people since they always ask for the same things and never variate. If they know the word Bologna, they will ask for it even if you are eating popcorn.
Ogres used to be like siege engines...and used for just that. They were terrors on the battlefield back in medieval times and even used in WWI and II. Now, however, they have lost their use. For reasons unknown they have evolved to be flabby fat and squishy dumb things that push boulders around with no purpose and allow small children to crawl all over them. They are quite the pass time for the kids of Crestfallen and act like babysitters. They have a tendency to act a bit gruffly towards unfriendly visitors.
Mummies are mentioned once and not a lot is known, but if anything it is proof that various undead do exist. They are not common (save for vampires) and the SSI usually blast them Van Hellsing style before they get anywhere. Zombies are mentioned too, as there was some infestation somewhere in Africa that the SSI is handling. Vampires are not common except in South Africa where drug lords grow them like crops and harvest them for blood to make a drug known as The Curse. Vampires are also monsters. More like zombies that drink blood rather than beautiful sparkling seducers.
The Curse is diluted vampire blood. Not enough to change you but enough to give you the high of your life (I believe it is more of a stimulant, as opposed to a depressant). Very expensive and VERY illegal. Sera is offered a shot of it at a concert once and absolutely refused to take it. Lucky for her because that batch was bad and not diluted enough, and the band member who took the shot turned into a vampire on stage.
The SSI does send regular raids to places in South America known to house vampires, but the damn drug lords are good at hiding, and will sometimes infect whole villages just to trap the SSI in bad situations.
Those are the only supernatural creatures mentioned. I imagine dragons existed at some point but went extinct, which I assume most others held the same fate.
Personality:
Sera is a shy girl. Her mother died when she was very young. In response Sera froze a portion of Lake Michigan solid in the middle of July. Her father protected her at an early age from being used as a tourist attraction, or an experiment for the government (He had been confronted by several government officials on this). He did his all to keep Sera’s life as normal as possible, and it sort of worked, until Sera turned 16 when he died in a car accident. Her step-mother Zoe was supportive, but could do little about the insistent town mayor.
The children in school were too afraid of picking on her, so instead they left her alone and Sera grew to enjoy the solitude to a point. Her only real friend throughout those years was Contessa Rubikov (aka Tess) who thought her powers were cool and all, but Sera herself was awesome as well.
Most of her adult life has been people looking to get something from her, whether it is to see a magic trick, do an exclusive interview, or to promote their band. On rare occasions she gets people who ask for autographs, not because she is an infamous witch, but because of her aliased comic strip in the college ‘Zine called “Welcome to Statickland!”
Her comic reflects her view of society and television. The main character, Humbly (who paints the pictures on the television), is in love with someone else in the TV verse. But the ruler, Twitchriddle, forbids love. He says people can only screw, and so Humbly plans on killing the Twitchriddle. Again, her cynicism is showing here.
Sera can be very cynical of the world around her, and she acknowledges it. She believes most people to be idiots offhand and avoids them when they try to communicate with her. She once was harassed by two “bros” at a truck stop and preceded to turn their “sick ride” into a cute piggie to get them to go away.
Though Sera has a severe case of the “indecisiveness” about her own life, she does react when her friends are in danger. When Tess was attacked by a vampire, she immediately threw an ecto pony at it and trapped it. When ecto monsters attacked Tess and their friend Kelton in the town square, she went right in to get rid of them. She also does not want to hurt other people, her cynicism aside. When a psychotic witch attacked her in town, she flew into the forest to avoid any casualties as they threw ecto creatures at each other.
Sera does not act well when pressed. She was offered a 80 million dollar deal to travel with a circus show featuring another famous witch, and she turned it down because the witch in question was a drug addict and a pedophile. Tess pressed her and pressed her about it, and Sera blew up, admitting she is having problems seeing what to do with her life, and that is often gets in the way of her making decisions. Though now that she has a good teacher, she seems to have her life back on track…well…until Singularity.
Sera likes sensitive guys, and strong girls. She has a sort of crush on Kelton (who is exceedingly shy) and Vicious Whisper. Though she shows her affection a little, she’s never brave enough to say anything. Vicious once asked her if she’s ever shared a bed with anyone, and Sera immediately hung up the phone they were talking on in embarrassment.
Sera, well, likes to avoid confrontation. She was once in a fight with Tess, after the 80 million dollar incident. She was also being stalked by a witch she was not sure was real or imaginary so she wanted to make sure Tess stayed out of it in case it was dangerous. Tess, did not approve, and constantly tried to confront Sera about this, but Sera kept flying off until she was finally cornered in a “trap” set by Kelton. They yell a bit, but when supernatural ghoolies are sent to attack Sera by the mysterious witch, Tess drives her car into them to help Sera out. This breaks Tess’ arm, and Sera ends up feeling absolutely at fault for it, but they become friends yet again.
Sera tends to want to do the right thing. When an SSI agent comes asking for her help in finding a supernatural creature killing people in the woods, she agrees, but begrudgingly since it is the SSI and they did kind of…shoot at her and threaten to kill her best friend. She then finds a cave full of creatures she had made in her sleep. How did she know? Well, they were all creatures from her nightmares. She seals them and hired some goblins to make sure anything else doesn’t get out. However when the mysterious witch lets them loose anyway…and turns out to be real…Sera and the SSI exterminate them all.
Her favorite colors seem to be black and blue. She likes cute things and is quite the artist. She paints with ectoplasm and using telekinesis on paint, and also sculpts little bits of the town into her own art at night when no one is watching, making the town seem hers. She is also a comic book artist. I think if she had to have a profession, it would be artist. She draws, paints, sculpts, and is considered the most creative witch out of the ones existing (well, to the only one who's seen them all, which is Vicious Whisper).
She is very goth and likes rock and metal. She cares very much for her family and friends but tends to be on the cynical side about strangers. All she wants is a purpose for her life, a purpose where she could be herself and not be judged by it, or feared. She wants people to see her for who she is and her natural artistic talents, not just her magic.
Sera’s greatest fear is by far hurting those she cares about, or anyone innocent for that matter. She is also afraid that any decision that she makes might hurt someone as well. She's not so much afraid of her powers, but afraid of the consequences that her powers have brought in the past, like the SSI showing up. She is afraid of persecution for just being herself and that persecution effecting those she holds dear.
How she treats her enemies: Well, Sera likes to avoid conflict and bodily harm of her friends, so she will work with the SSI to get rid of beasties but otherwise wants nothing to do with them. As for the witch who attacked her, when she would not let up, Sera attacked back. There is only so much she can ignore, and harming her friends is a big one, but not necessarily if they harm her.
Not sure if I made this clear so I will do it here. Sera is a victim of night terrors. Unfortunately for her, night terrors in addition to terrifying her in her sleep, cause her to create horrific creatures from her nightmares from ectoplasm. She is the second witch ever to be recorded as having this problem. The first was a psychologist who could find no cure for it, but figured it happened because for witches, subconscious is not so...sub. They think it, they can create it (but for complicated items like televisions they need to know the inner workings for it to work). I imagine in Singularity it would manifest as...Sera waking up covered in failed ectoplasmic goo.
Abilities and Weaknesses: Sera has the same powers any other witch does, though I am not sure as to what is OP or not. I shall make some suggestions for downgrading, do let me know if I go too far or not enough.
1: Ability to fly. No brooms, no wings, just pure levitation. Sera once described it as feeling like “swimming in air” but without the swimming motions.
2: Telekinesis. Usually used to move small things, Sera has used it in the past to levitate her bed and other furniture. This can be limited to small objects if the ability is OP. She doesn't have to have a floating bed, lol.
3: Control weather. In the comics Sera does control lightning a bit, but overall does not seem too apt at it. It can be done away with all together since…it’s a space station…is there “natural” weather? Nah it makes sense to me her weather control goes on the fritz.
4: Shape shifting. It’s usually just body parts that are augmented or added. Nothing on the scale of full out OMG I’M A CAT NOW, more like, OMG I HAVE CAT EARS NOW. Sera alters her pupils to look like little skulls, her hair to show blue, and her voice to sound more normal (her natural voice sounds like a child choking on a rattle).
5: Make shit with ectoplasm or “the snot” as Vicious Whisper calls it. Apparently ectoplasm is everywhere in their world and witches can use this to create things like, clothes, houses, ponies, and so on. They’re not real or sentient (well, um they're not supposed to be in general), and the texture is all the same. They don’t last forever either. Depending how long someone has taken time to work the ectoplasm determines how long it lasts. As example before, Sera made an ecto pony to swallow a vampire in 2 seconds. It took 3 hours for it to break down. But they can be pretty potent and can be used for battle. Sera uses ectoplasm to fight off a witch and commands it to do things.
The problem with this ability is that I think it is also related to Sera's artistic ability to alter objects. She once turned a car into a cute piggy, and she likes to turn spoons into jewelry and make small alterations to Crestfallen to make it more "cute" (like making the end of the ringer in the town hall's bell look like a cute skully thing).
I think an appropriate downgrade for this is make the ecto summoning more like...Slimer's ectoplasm from Ghost Busters. After all, it's a space station. Is ectoplasm going to act the same here? Probably not. If she can continue to alter small things I think it will save her artisticness while not being too ridiculous.
Weaknesses:
She is very mortal. She does bleed and loss of blood will kill her like anyone else. She is a bit phobic of attention and has frequent panic attacks when too many people pay attention to her at once. She also panics when people come on to her too strongly, or are in her face. Panic attacks include vomiting, nausea, need for open spaces, and in extreme cases, passing out, and forgetfulness.
Inventory: Just Sera, the clothes on her back, and her backpack which holds her notebook, pencils and pens, her iPod thingie (which she has altered with her abilities to look like a spider. Taking a bit of artistic license here since it is a CD player in the first book but there are iPods in the most recent...) and headphones.
Appearance: Short hair with blue bangs, and goggles on her head which she uses when she flies. Height: 4’10” (shut up) Weight: 80lbs (shut up), eyes: pupils are little skulls, black make-up on her eyes and lips, wears black or white t-shirts and black jeans with black boots. Jeans usually have a chain on them. Had black rings on her fingers (left hand) and wears black spiked wristbands.
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/serenity-rose/
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/2011/10/18/break-your-stupid-heart-page-003/
Age: 20-something. More likely around 23.
Log Sample
The television spats out words...the screen reads "Witch War! Fallout"
"...neither confirmed or denied that Serenity Rose saved..." *bzzt*
"...the mysterious blond witch, daughter of the diamond barons Von Vedeker..." *bzzt*
"...SSI agents will be in Crestfallen for some time..." *bzzt*
"...PROOF! Proof of the evils that witches have to..." *bzzt*
"TESS." Sera yelled from the kitchen. "Can you just pick a channel already?!"
"No can do chief, every channel has your face plastered all over it." Tess called back casually. "Or maybe it's just me? KELTON, find something entertaining!" Tess tossed the remote to Kelton, who fumbled with it, looking panicked.
Sera walked in with an energy drink in hand (Spooky Slam! Raises the dead in you!) and heads over to a blank easel in the corner. Buckets of paint laid around it. Kelton, after flipping through more news highlights, turned off the TV and looked nervously at Tess. Tess gave him a disappointed look, then turned it back on and continued searching.
"Um...maybe a movie..." Kelton squeaked out, looking at Sera.
"Whatever, Zoe's ordering us pizza so we can stay in and watch Mary Anne. She's going to a press conference..." Sera cringed in guilt. She should be the one quelling the masses, not her step-mother, but Zoe had insisted. Sera needed rest and recovery, in the meantime the press could deal with her. Not for the first time, Sera was reminded just how cool her step-mother really was. It reminded her of her dad, and that made her feel a bit loved.
There was silence in the room for a bit, save for the TV. Sera telekinetically grabbed a glob of green, no red, no blue paint and shaped it onto the canvas. Her imagination mixed with her guilt and before her stared a weary looking Zoe being attacked by press monsters. Sera made a sad face.
"It, it looks good Sera..." Kelton said weakly. "I mean, you really capture the essence of...um..."
Tess gave him a warning look and he fell silent. Sera made a motion with her arm and cleared the paint away. "Maybe it's not the time to be creative." She commented.
"Tess, do you think..."
"Bollocks what I think, you're step-mother is out there saving your hide. She's doing her job. I've seen you try and deal with the press before, it's not pretty." Tess swung up her arm, in a cast since she broke it driving her car into an ectoplasmic monster. "And if any of them come here, I'll show them a thing or two with this bad boy."
"Tess, your arm is broken."
"So? This plaster shit hurts when it slams into you."
Sera was instantly reminded why Tess was her best friend. "Thanks, Tess."
Tess smiled. "Someone has to keep the rats from eating you alive."
Sera couldn't help but smile. Her stress began to recede. Tess had a way of making her feel better about situations. Even when they were fighting, in the end she always found herself learning something about herself, or life for that matter. Kelton, well, he tried. He had finally stopped begging her for an interview in his 'zine so she considered it progress. She liked him but, he didn't seem to quite understand her yet.
She sat down and began to draw. Drawing was her true outlet, and far more private them a paint canvas. She drew Tess as the Pied Piper, beating the rats of Hamlin to death with her pipe while Kelton fluffed them with a feather duster. For some reason she drew him in a maid's outfit and blushed, hiding behind her notebook. She had a feeling Tess knew she liked Kelton, but outright showing it would be a disaster.
She liked having another friend. Usually it was just her and Tess but Kelton and her had really come close with recent events. He was the only boy who had seen her sockless, after all. Quite the scandal. She laughed to herself as she drew herself in a petticoat, sockless with an embarrassed Kelton in formal victorian attire, kindly shielding his eyes.
"Alas! We must get married now, what will our parents think?!" She drew herself as saying. Her blush deepened. She would have to remove this page and burn it later, just in case. In fact...she ripped the page out, crumpled it, and lit it aflame with her magic.
"Woah!" Kelton cried out, not used to Sera using her powers as such. The page turned to ash and fell to the floor.
"What'd you do, draw a picture of you and Kelton kissing?" Tess asked jokingly. Sera crumpled up another page and threw it at her in response, refusing to make eye contact with Kelton. Tess laughed.
"Oh come on, you liiiiiike him." Tess began to make kissing noises at Sera, who was turing very red.
The doorbell rang. Sera yelled out "PIIIIIZZZAAAA" and fled. She threw open the door, threw money at the pizza guy, grabbed the pizza, and slammed the door. Tess and a very embarrassed Kelton watched as a pizza floated into the living room and landed on the coffee table in front of them. Sera in the meantime would spend several hours hiding in her floating bed, attempting to quell her anxiety.
Network Sample
[Sci-fy usually isn't her thing, I mean she's seen Star Trek and Star Wars and shit but, like, this? This is, wow. What is this?!]
"Um, hi, I-"
[She exits out, realizing she has NO IDEA what to say, then feels like a dork for stopping and goes back in.]
"Um, well, this thing working? I hope it is...I may have broken it? Wait, am I speaking to every-"
[She exits out again with THAT realization, the last bit said to herself out loud, but people still heard it and she knows. She's rather embarrassed at this, it IS the network and she has been told, but realizing and knowing are two different thing, yeah? She's going to find a dark corner to hide in until her embarrassment goes away.]
Your Nickname: Laz
OOC Journal: http://lazariah.livejournal.com/
Under 18? Nope! 25!
Email/IM: abertra2@gmail.com, Plurk: Disig
Characters Played at Singularity: None, this is my first.
Character Information
Name: Serenity Elizabeth Rose
Name of Canon: Serenity Rose
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Canon
Reference:
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Rose
Canon Point: Sera cannot believe it. Vicious Whisper, her idol, her mentor, has not only agreed, nay, insisted to be her teacher, but has also agreed to play a live concert at the local club in Crestfallen! Just for Sera! The crowd screams, the amps hum, and Sera cannot help but feel, for the first time in months, happy. She stand in the crowd around the stage instead of her usual spot in the less crowded upper dais and dances to the music with her best friend Tess next to her.
Pink butterflies surround everything as Vicious sings her songs of revolution, logic, and love. The crowd cheers and Sera with them. Tomorrow Vicious will begin lessons with Sera, and Sera will get to learn all what her role model has learned about life and being a witch.
Or…so she thinks…enter Singularity.
Setting: The world of Serenity Rose is much like our own, except for a few…tiny…things. Vampires, Trolls, Witches, and many other unearthly creatures do indeed exist, but their numbers are dwindling (save for vampires, who are kept and harvested in Brazil for their blood to make one of the most potent and dangerous drugs known to man). There are still places in the world that hold mysteries, like ours today, but human expansion and development has not been hindered.
There have been witches in the past who gave off really bad reps, like Ogden Michael Fulmouth who went on a murder rampage across America with his girlfriend, but witches like Vicious Whisper (rock star world traveling witch, with a super happy good attitude) are what keeps the world from locking the lot of them up for good. Well, if they could lock them up. There’s no certainty. But Sera looks up to Vicious a lot as a witch she’d aim to become.
SSI - The Supernatural Shield Initiative has been described by Sera as being like the FBI for spooky stuff (it is implied that they are international too). If it is a crime brought on by something supernatural, they come in and take over. When Sera hijacked a bus (she was a terrified emotional teen who could not separate her emotions and magic), the SSI was there in droves. No talking, no warning, they opened fire on her in her own home. Sera hid, terrified, until the head of the operation threatened to kill her best friend Tess unless she came out. He told her he had a gun to her head. He did not, but ti was enough tog et Sera to come out. The sheriff of Crestfallen, Lois McCreedy, managed to get her a fair hearing and counseling and has since kept the SSI on a leash whenever Sera is involved since. The whole ordeal is considered the worst scandal in SSI history and the general public lost respect for the SSI for shooting on an emotionally distressed teen.
Years later the SSI return to address disappearances in the woods surrounding Crestfallen. Led by a man called Merrick who seems to have only interest and respect for Sera, they ask Sera to help them find the culprit by asking the trolls for help. Merrick is the first SSI agent to show Sera that not all SSI agents are bad. He knows about Sera's sleep summoned monsters and wants to help. He never blames her, only listens, and warns her that some men in the SSI want a war. They hate what happened with the bus incident and want revenge, except for him who only wants to do his job. Most men who join the SSI are bitter remnants of some supernatural catastrophe. Vampires killed their family or something like that. The other make up of their recruits are priests.
Christianity hates witches. It's not very different from the witch burning mentality of the yore of our world. To avoid persecution, like the pilgrims, the witches of the world in the past formed a coven, took a chunk of land from England, and settled in America before the Mayflower. That piece is land is Crestfallen. Years and years later priests and religious groups still complain and preach about the evils of witchcraft, but they are powerless to lock them up. They have been decreed people in most countries and are protected by law like anyone else. Some countries simply outlaw witchcraft and do not allow witches to live or settle there, which means if a witch is born in one of these countries they are either killed or banished. Most witches live in seclusion or in absolute stardom in countries more accepting of their magic.
There are 57 witches in the world. There had always been 57 witches in the world, and there always will be, according to a scary mysterious witch named Valentine who approaches Sera at some point. It seems every time a witch dies, their power is transfered to the next child born. So there is no telling what will happen when Sera disappears into Singularity...
Quick note on Crestfallen. No one knows what happened to the colony. People arrived to the new world finding the town abandoned. Sera is the first witch to live there in centuries.
Magical creatures are compelled to follow witches orders. Sera commands the trolls of the forest to help her find the killer in the woods and she commands the goblins to watch her window in case one of her dream monsters escapes. She seems to have no hold over vampires, but that might be due to the fact that they were once human.
Magical Creatures - Trolls used to be guardians of the woods around Crestfallen. The witches of the past colony gathered them all together when they moved. Ever heard of big foot or the abominable snowman? These are trolls who have managed to stray far away. They are big, hairy, and not friendly. Tourists are told to stay away from the woods at all costs, yet they still find the occasional remnants of a once happy family camping trip.
Goblins are more or less like rats or pigeons. They are small little bobble headed guys who beg for food. All they seem to be able to say are short sentences like, "I like baloney" and "I love you." It is questionable as to whether they just repeat these sentences from what they hear from other people since they always ask for the same things and never variate. If they know the word Bologna, they will ask for it even if you are eating popcorn.
Ogres used to be like siege engines...and used for just that. They were terrors on the battlefield back in medieval times and even used in WWI and II. Now, however, they have lost their use. For reasons unknown they have evolved to be flabby fat and squishy dumb things that push boulders around with no purpose and allow small children to crawl all over them. They are quite the pass time for the kids of Crestfallen and act like babysitters. They have a tendency to act a bit gruffly towards unfriendly visitors.
Mummies are mentioned once and not a lot is known, but if anything it is proof that various undead do exist. They are not common (save for vampires) and the SSI usually blast them Van Hellsing style before they get anywhere. Zombies are mentioned too, as there was some infestation somewhere in Africa that the SSI is handling. Vampires are not common except in South Africa where drug lords grow them like crops and harvest them for blood to make a drug known as The Curse. Vampires are also monsters. More like zombies that drink blood rather than beautiful sparkling seducers.
The Curse is diluted vampire blood. Not enough to change you but enough to give you the high of your life (I believe it is more of a stimulant, as opposed to a depressant). Very expensive and VERY illegal. Sera is offered a shot of it at a concert once and absolutely refused to take it. Lucky for her because that batch was bad and not diluted enough, and the band member who took the shot turned into a vampire on stage.
The SSI does send regular raids to places in South America known to house vampires, but the damn drug lords are good at hiding, and will sometimes infect whole villages just to trap the SSI in bad situations.
Those are the only supernatural creatures mentioned. I imagine dragons existed at some point but went extinct, which I assume most others held the same fate.
Personality:
Sera is a shy girl. Her mother died when she was very young. In response Sera froze a portion of Lake Michigan solid in the middle of July. Her father protected her at an early age from being used as a tourist attraction, or an experiment for the government (He had been confronted by several government officials on this). He did his all to keep Sera’s life as normal as possible, and it sort of worked, until Sera turned 16 when he died in a car accident. Her step-mother Zoe was supportive, but could do little about the insistent town mayor.
The children in school were too afraid of picking on her, so instead they left her alone and Sera grew to enjoy the solitude to a point. Her only real friend throughout those years was Contessa Rubikov (aka Tess) who thought her powers were cool and all, but Sera herself was awesome as well.
Most of her adult life has been people looking to get something from her, whether it is to see a magic trick, do an exclusive interview, or to promote their band. On rare occasions she gets people who ask for autographs, not because she is an infamous witch, but because of her aliased comic strip in the college ‘Zine called “Welcome to Statickland!”
Her comic reflects her view of society and television. The main character, Humbly (who paints the pictures on the television), is in love with someone else in the TV verse. But the ruler, Twitchriddle, forbids love. He says people can only screw, and so Humbly plans on killing the Twitchriddle. Again, her cynicism is showing here.
Sera can be very cynical of the world around her, and she acknowledges it. She believes most people to be idiots offhand and avoids them when they try to communicate with her. She once was harassed by two “bros” at a truck stop and preceded to turn their “sick ride” into a cute piggie to get them to go away.
Though Sera has a severe case of the “indecisiveness” about her own life, she does react when her friends are in danger. When Tess was attacked by a vampire, she immediately threw an ecto pony at it and trapped it. When ecto monsters attacked Tess and their friend Kelton in the town square, she went right in to get rid of them. She also does not want to hurt other people, her cynicism aside. When a psychotic witch attacked her in town, she flew into the forest to avoid any casualties as they threw ecto creatures at each other.
Sera does not act well when pressed. She was offered a 80 million dollar deal to travel with a circus show featuring another famous witch, and she turned it down because the witch in question was a drug addict and a pedophile. Tess pressed her and pressed her about it, and Sera blew up, admitting she is having problems seeing what to do with her life, and that is often gets in the way of her making decisions. Though now that she has a good teacher, she seems to have her life back on track…well…until Singularity.
Sera likes sensitive guys, and strong girls. She has a sort of crush on Kelton (who is exceedingly shy) and Vicious Whisper. Though she shows her affection a little, she’s never brave enough to say anything. Vicious once asked her if she’s ever shared a bed with anyone, and Sera immediately hung up the phone they were talking on in embarrassment.
Sera, well, likes to avoid confrontation. She was once in a fight with Tess, after the 80 million dollar incident. She was also being stalked by a witch she was not sure was real or imaginary so she wanted to make sure Tess stayed out of it in case it was dangerous. Tess, did not approve, and constantly tried to confront Sera about this, but Sera kept flying off until she was finally cornered in a “trap” set by Kelton. They yell a bit, but when supernatural ghoolies are sent to attack Sera by the mysterious witch, Tess drives her car into them to help Sera out. This breaks Tess’ arm, and Sera ends up feeling absolutely at fault for it, but they become friends yet again.
Sera tends to want to do the right thing. When an SSI agent comes asking for her help in finding a supernatural creature killing people in the woods, she agrees, but begrudgingly since it is the SSI and they did kind of…shoot at her and threaten to kill her best friend. She then finds a cave full of creatures she had made in her sleep. How did she know? Well, they were all creatures from her nightmares. She seals them and hired some goblins to make sure anything else doesn’t get out. However when the mysterious witch lets them loose anyway…and turns out to be real…Sera and the SSI exterminate them all.
Her favorite colors seem to be black and blue. She likes cute things and is quite the artist. She paints with ectoplasm and using telekinesis on paint, and also sculpts little bits of the town into her own art at night when no one is watching, making the town seem hers. She is also a comic book artist. I think if she had to have a profession, it would be artist. She draws, paints, sculpts, and is considered the most creative witch out of the ones existing (well, to the only one who's seen them all, which is Vicious Whisper).
She is very goth and likes rock and metal. She cares very much for her family and friends but tends to be on the cynical side about strangers. All she wants is a purpose for her life, a purpose where she could be herself and not be judged by it, or feared. She wants people to see her for who she is and her natural artistic talents, not just her magic.
Sera’s greatest fear is by far hurting those she cares about, or anyone innocent for that matter. She is also afraid that any decision that she makes might hurt someone as well. She's not so much afraid of her powers, but afraid of the consequences that her powers have brought in the past, like the SSI showing up. She is afraid of persecution for just being herself and that persecution effecting those she holds dear.
How she treats her enemies: Well, Sera likes to avoid conflict and bodily harm of her friends, so she will work with the SSI to get rid of beasties but otherwise wants nothing to do with them. As for the witch who attacked her, when she would not let up, Sera attacked back. There is only so much she can ignore, and harming her friends is a big one, but not necessarily if they harm her.
Not sure if I made this clear so I will do it here. Sera is a victim of night terrors. Unfortunately for her, night terrors in addition to terrifying her in her sleep, cause her to create horrific creatures from her nightmares from ectoplasm. She is the second witch ever to be recorded as having this problem. The first was a psychologist who could find no cure for it, but figured it happened because for witches, subconscious is not so...sub. They think it, they can create it (but for complicated items like televisions they need to know the inner workings for it to work). I imagine in Singularity it would manifest as...Sera waking up covered in failed ectoplasmic goo.
Abilities and Weaknesses: Sera has the same powers any other witch does, though I am not sure as to what is OP or not. I shall make some suggestions for downgrading, do let me know if I go too far or not enough.
1: Ability to fly. No brooms, no wings, just pure levitation. Sera once described it as feeling like “swimming in air” but without the swimming motions.
2: Telekinesis. Usually used to move small things, Sera has used it in the past to levitate her bed and other furniture. This can be limited to small objects if the ability is OP. She doesn't have to have a floating bed, lol.
3: Control weather. In the comics Sera does control lightning a bit, but overall does not seem too apt at it. It can be done away with all together since…it’s a space station…is there “natural” weather? Nah it makes sense to me her weather control goes on the fritz.
4: Shape shifting. It’s usually just body parts that are augmented or added. Nothing on the scale of full out OMG I’M A CAT NOW, more like, OMG I HAVE CAT EARS NOW. Sera alters her pupils to look like little skulls, her hair to show blue, and her voice to sound more normal (her natural voice sounds like a child choking on a rattle).
5: Make shit with ectoplasm or “the snot” as Vicious Whisper calls it. Apparently ectoplasm is everywhere in their world and witches can use this to create things like, clothes, houses, ponies, and so on. They’re not real or sentient (well, um they're not supposed to be in general), and the texture is all the same. They don’t last forever either. Depending how long someone has taken time to work the ectoplasm determines how long it lasts. As example before, Sera made an ecto pony to swallow a vampire in 2 seconds. It took 3 hours for it to break down. But they can be pretty potent and can be used for battle. Sera uses ectoplasm to fight off a witch and commands it to do things.
The problem with this ability is that I think it is also related to Sera's artistic ability to alter objects. She once turned a car into a cute piggy, and she likes to turn spoons into jewelry and make small alterations to Crestfallen to make it more "cute" (like making the end of the ringer in the town hall's bell look like a cute skully thing).
I think an appropriate downgrade for this is make the ecto summoning more like...Slimer's ectoplasm from Ghost Busters. After all, it's a space station. Is ectoplasm going to act the same here? Probably not. If she can continue to alter small things I think it will save her artisticness while not being too ridiculous.
Weaknesses:
She is very mortal. She does bleed and loss of blood will kill her like anyone else. She is a bit phobic of attention and has frequent panic attacks when too many people pay attention to her at once. She also panics when people come on to her too strongly, or are in her face. Panic attacks include vomiting, nausea, need for open spaces, and in extreme cases, passing out, and forgetfulness.
Inventory: Just Sera, the clothes on her back, and her backpack which holds her notebook, pencils and pens, her iPod thingie (which she has altered with her abilities to look like a spider. Taking a bit of artistic license here since it is a CD player in the first book but there are iPods in the most recent...) and headphones.
Appearance: Short hair with blue bangs, and goggles on her head which she uses when she flies. Height: 4’10” (shut up) Weight: 80lbs (shut up), eyes: pupils are little skulls, black make-up on her eyes and lips, wears black or white t-shirts and black jeans with black boots. Jeans usually have a chain on them. Had black rings on her fingers (left hand) and wears black spiked wristbands.
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/serenity-rose/
http://www.heartshapedskull.com/2011/10/18/break-your-stupid-heart-page-003/
Age: 20-something. More likely around 23.
Log Sample
The television spats out words...the screen reads "Witch War! Fallout"
"...neither confirmed or denied that Serenity Rose saved..." *bzzt*
"...the mysterious blond witch, daughter of the diamond barons Von Vedeker..." *bzzt*
"...SSI agents will be in Crestfallen for some time..." *bzzt*
"...PROOF! Proof of the evils that witches have to..." *bzzt*
"TESS." Sera yelled from the kitchen. "Can you just pick a channel already?!"
"No can do chief, every channel has your face plastered all over it." Tess called back casually. "Or maybe it's just me? KELTON, find something entertaining!" Tess tossed the remote to Kelton, who fumbled with it, looking panicked.
Sera walked in with an energy drink in hand (Spooky Slam! Raises the dead in you!) and heads over to a blank easel in the corner. Buckets of paint laid around it. Kelton, after flipping through more news highlights, turned off the TV and looked nervously at Tess. Tess gave him a disappointed look, then turned it back on and continued searching.
"Um...maybe a movie..." Kelton squeaked out, looking at Sera.
"Whatever, Zoe's ordering us pizza so we can stay in and watch Mary Anne. She's going to a press conference..." Sera cringed in guilt. She should be the one quelling the masses, not her step-mother, but Zoe had insisted. Sera needed rest and recovery, in the meantime the press could deal with her. Not for the first time, Sera was reminded just how cool her step-mother really was. It reminded her of her dad, and that made her feel a bit loved.
There was silence in the room for a bit, save for the TV. Sera telekinetically grabbed a glob of green, no red, no blue paint and shaped it onto the canvas. Her imagination mixed with her guilt and before her stared a weary looking Zoe being attacked by press monsters. Sera made a sad face.
"It, it looks good Sera..." Kelton said weakly. "I mean, you really capture the essence of...um..."
Tess gave him a warning look and he fell silent. Sera made a motion with her arm and cleared the paint away. "Maybe it's not the time to be creative." She commented.
"Tess, do you think..."
"Bollocks what I think, you're step-mother is out there saving your hide. She's doing her job. I've seen you try and deal with the press before, it's not pretty." Tess swung up her arm, in a cast since she broke it driving her car into an ectoplasmic monster. "And if any of them come here, I'll show them a thing or two with this bad boy."
"Tess, your arm is broken."
"So? This plaster shit hurts when it slams into you."
Sera was instantly reminded why Tess was her best friend. "Thanks, Tess."
Tess smiled. "Someone has to keep the rats from eating you alive."
Sera couldn't help but smile. Her stress began to recede. Tess had a way of making her feel better about situations. Even when they were fighting, in the end she always found herself learning something about herself, or life for that matter. Kelton, well, he tried. He had finally stopped begging her for an interview in his 'zine so she considered it progress. She liked him but, he didn't seem to quite understand her yet.
She sat down and began to draw. Drawing was her true outlet, and far more private them a paint canvas. She drew Tess as the Pied Piper, beating the rats of Hamlin to death with her pipe while Kelton fluffed them with a feather duster. For some reason she drew him in a maid's outfit and blushed, hiding behind her notebook. She had a feeling Tess knew she liked Kelton, but outright showing it would be a disaster.
She liked having another friend. Usually it was just her and Tess but Kelton and her had really come close with recent events. He was the only boy who had seen her sockless, after all. Quite the scandal. She laughed to herself as she drew herself in a petticoat, sockless with an embarrassed Kelton in formal victorian attire, kindly shielding his eyes.
"Alas! We must get married now, what will our parents think?!" She drew herself as saying. Her blush deepened. She would have to remove this page and burn it later, just in case. In fact...she ripped the page out, crumpled it, and lit it aflame with her magic.
"Woah!" Kelton cried out, not used to Sera using her powers as such. The page turned to ash and fell to the floor.
"What'd you do, draw a picture of you and Kelton kissing?" Tess asked jokingly. Sera crumpled up another page and threw it at her in response, refusing to make eye contact with Kelton. Tess laughed.
"Oh come on, you liiiiiike him." Tess began to make kissing noises at Sera, who was turing very red.
The doorbell rang. Sera yelled out "PIIIIIZZZAAAA" and fled. She threw open the door, threw money at the pizza guy, grabbed the pizza, and slammed the door. Tess and a very embarrassed Kelton watched as a pizza floated into the living room and landed on the coffee table in front of them. Sera in the meantime would spend several hours hiding in her floating bed, attempting to quell her anxiety.
Network Sample
[Sci-fy usually isn't her thing, I mean she's seen Star Trek and Star Wars and shit but, like, this? This is, wow. What is this?!]
"Um, hi, I-"
[She exits out, realizing she has NO IDEA what to say, then feels like a dork for stopping and goes back in.]
"Um, well, this thing working? I hope it is...I may have broken it? Wait, am I speaking to every-"
[She exits out again with THAT realization, the last bit said to herself out loud, but people still heard it and she knows. She's rather embarrassed at this, it IS the network and she has been told, but realizing and knowing are two different thing, yeah? She's going to find a dark corner to hide in until her embarrassment goes away.]
