Post by Ariane Ivers on Apr 12, 2015 21:30:49 GMT
Name: Ariane Ivers, or Anne
Age: Twenty
Date of Birth: July Thirteenth
Birthplace: New york, NY, USA
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Face Claim: Original art─commissioned from Sirquo on DA by me
Appearance:
Height: 5’ 6”
Distinguishing Features: In addition to the multiple ear piercings, she also has a small stud in her left nostril and a naval piercing. On the back of her neck she has an intricate tattoo of the Tree of Life, and has a long scar on the palm of her right hand.
For the most part, when it comes to ‘fashion’ Anne isn’t the most adept. Instead, she tends to just wear whatever she’s most comfortable in, sometimes despite the situation calling for something a little bit more updressed. A graphic tee, jean jacket, jeans, and sneakers or boots are the most common; although when she’s feeling “fancy”─emphasis on the air quotes─she can wear a nice sweater or top instead. On very rare occasions she’ll even wear a dress. Despite her lack of style, she almost always wears plenty of jewelry that isn’t a piercing, usually different necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When it comes down to it, she wears what she feels happy in and to heck with everyone else.
Class: Persona User
Arcana: ⅩⅧ The Moon
Occupation: Anne works as a florist in a small greenhouse in Yoyogi. She's mainly in charge of caring for the plants and seedlings, but occasionally will make arrangements when it's slow to pass the time. While it's not strictly an occupation, she does take classes for Yoga and Wing Chun in her free time.
Starting Equipment: Ariane has decent knowledge of Wing Chun, and uses it to protect herself. She has a pair of bright-green fist wraps that she uses to protect her knuckles and deal a little bit of Strike damage. As simple as they are, utilizing mainly her fist and feet as weapons give her quite the chance to modify her own body to deal more damage with strikes down the road.
With as much as she works out and takes care of herself, she’s a bit physically stronger than she looks. While she can take a hit, however, she opts for quick movement and trying to dodge strikes even in the close quarter combat she’s used to.
Personality: Having grown up in the city, Anne had always had an open mind about things. After all, you see all sorts of life in such a populated area and learn pretty quickly not everyone thinks the same as you do. Because of this, she's pretty accepting of how other people decide to live--after all, she has her own secrets and quirks that she wouldn't want to be judged for. Why would she feel she has the right to judge others? Still, there are things even she'll put her foot down for. People acting like they know any more than she does is one of them. Even if they do actually know more, it's not as though she appreciates having it rubbed in her face. Another is people who take the opposite route as she does, keeping a closed mind of the world. If someone acts like she's less of a person because of her personal beliefs or feelings, well they can just let the door hit their ass on the way out then.
Since she had grown up with most of her life spent in a private school, she's more than a little tired of spending a lot of time in large groups of people. When it comes right down to it, she'd much rather spend her free time with just a few people she's close, or even just alone, than be forced to be social with people she doesn't really know. That doesn't mean she can't hold her own in a large group, but she will become noticeably uncomfortable until she can sneak her way out of the situation. Hating large groups does mean that once she decides she likes a person and wants to be their friend, she can be a tad bit clingy. It's both flattering and annoying--it takes a bit of studying for her to really warm up to someone but if she decides you're worthy of her admiration then good luck getting rid of her.
As hard as she can be to get rid of and judgmental she can be if you're overly closed minded, Anne can be quite the stubborn butt. If she gets her mind set on a thing or idea, then it can take a large tank to get her to budge on the matter. Even if someone points out all the ways she's wrong, she can find that 'well what if' matter that just keeps her trudging along.
Likes:
☀ Time wasting hobbies like knitting and reading.
☀ Crawling up onto the roof of her little home at night.
☀ Animals, although she’s never been fond of owning dogs herself. They’re just too much work.
☀ Food; with how active she is she needs a lot to replenish her energy. She has a soft spot for anything spicy, though--Thai is some of her favorite.
☀ Plants, whether it's herbs, flowers, veggies--anything. She even has her own garden in her aunt's backyard.
☀ Art. Her personal specialties lie with flower arranging and drawing scenery, but she can pass hours just looking at other people's works.
Dislikes:
☁ Fire. Sometimes even sitting around a controlled fire roasting marshmallows just brings back the imagery of her own home...
☁ Having to be 'social' in large groups. She's much more fond of small, happy little get togethers if she has to be social.
☁ "Everybody Wing Chun tonight" jokes. She will punch you in the throat. The band is Wang Chung anyway, you morons.
☁ 'Know it alls' who refuse to be told otherwise. It's true she can be occasionally guilty of that, but she at least notices she does it and tries not to.
☁ Distractions. Sometimes she has a hard time focusing on things she needs to, and anything that makes it harder just manages to annoy her more.
☁ Writing. Sure, she can spend hours reading other peoples creations, getting lost in their worlds. Please don't ever ask her to write you anything more eloquent than a shopping list though if you expect a happy redhead.
History:
Some say the Big Apple is no place for a child to grow up. However, as Clyde and Isabelle Ivers both held important positions within their companies, when Isabelle found out she was pregnant, they both agreed moving was out of the question. Instead they compromised, investing in a larger apartment in a safer building to raise Ariane in when she was born. However, their reasoning against moving ended up being a hindrance to any sort of normal family life. Isabelle's maternity leave ended quickly, and as much as she tried to be in Anne's life as she grew up it grew increasingly difficult. She would try to juggle work and raising a baby, then a toddler, until her gray hair outnumbered her beautiful strawberry blonde and she had to turn it all into a dull bottled yellow. It was more than her husband attempted, she knew, but her daughter was her world, and she wouldn't ever chance Anne thinking anything otherwise.
Still, the time came when Ariane was ready to go to school. Isabelle thought it would be easy to let her child go, after all in New York private school was hands down the only option. Not to mention it would free her time up so much more to focus back on her company, which had been starting to slip with her 'distraction'. It ended up being much more difficult than she anticipated, and she found herself with a heavy heart as she waited for every holiday and break she could for Ariane to come back home, even briefly.
Ariane, on the other hand, thought of this as an adventure. Something outside of the stuffy apartment she had called home for the first years of her life.
It didn't take her long to realize the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Even as a little girl, the sheer amount of people she was pushed to spend time with, have play dates with, have birthday parties with was exhausting. As she grew up, it annoyed her more and more until she would fake illness or make excuses just to stay home from large events. Her mother caught on to her game early, but rather than be annoyed thought it was actually almost a reflection of herself. Isabelle was forced to do such things for her company─why should she force her daughter to do the same?
As the years grew by, Anne grew more and more self reliant. Private school passed on, and as much as she loved her mother with every scrap of her heart, she drew out of her life in waves of work. Her father was rarely anywhere to be found, but it didn't bother Anne as much as it probably should have. Even sporadically, she had her mother and a small ferret that kept her company while her mother was busy. What else did she need?
She was sixteen when the fire happened. Her mother had a little free time off of work and they had stayed up late playing an intense game of Monopoly, which of course Isabelle had won. Anne was fast asleep in her bedroom when the smoke detector went off, waking her with a start. She managed to scoop the ferret out of her cage and into her Anne’s blanket and hurried out into the hallway. Isabelle hurried into the hall having been awoken herself, pushing Anne towards the fire escape. "Take Rhu and get out. I have to go back for something, but I'll be right after you, I promise. I love you." After helping her daughter through the window, Isabelle hurried back into the apartment as it filled with smoke.
Anne stood on the fire escape for a moment, not wanting to leave her mother alone in the apartment, especially having it drilled into her head at school that you should never go back into the fire for anything--whatever it is is never worth your life. Minnaloushe was panicked by this point though, and she was sure her mother would get out safe. Nothing could happen to her, after all. She was the strongest person she knew. After managing to struggle down the ladder with a squirming creature in one arm, she stood on the sidewalk watching the fire as the firetruck sirens blared in the distance and she waited for her mom. And waited.
And waited.
Despite spending more time at work than home, Clyde was besides himself at the loss of his wife and took every last day of personal time he had never used (which was all of it) and used it at once, putting his second in command in charge for the time being. The funeral was elaborate, but Anne barely noticed any of it. She was still in disbelief, denial of the fact her mother could be gone over something so sudden. She barely noticed when her father made some half-assed excuse that he couldn't take care of her on his own. Hardly noticed when he sent her to live with his sister and her husband in Tokyo to finish her schooling. Just like he hardly noticed when she refused to move back to the Big City.
Her father wasn't a big loss in her eyes, honestly. Sure, she would still contact him occasionally through skype or what have you, but it had become less of a father-daughter relationship and more of what her father was good at--a business relationship. His sister was his polar opposite, unable to have children and glad to have her niece in her life, giving her exactly the amount of space she needed to mourn. As time passed she moved on. The loss always remained heavy in her heart, and the amount of unanswered questions still sat in her mind, but she improved.
Her aunt, Abigail, was very supportive through it all. Thinking it would help, she cleared out a small plot of land in her backyard for Anne to turn into a garden. It was a failure at first, nothing living more than a few days. Abigail grew worried, thinking being faced with the death of her garden would be to much for her given the circumstances. Rather than depress her more, she took it as a challenge, figuring out what she was doing wrong and making adjustments, caring for it like it was her child until finally she succeeded. Sure, the first batch of plants only lasted that season, but then the next season came and that batch flourished. She finally figured out something that gave her the perfect distraction, something she was good at and made her feel like she was creating.
As she grew older and finished school, it came time to find a home to live on her own. She didn't want to outlast her stay with her Aunt, yet she definitely wanted to go nowhere near New York. Eventually, her Aunt, Uncle, and she made a compromise. If she would pay for it, then they would let her refurbish the Loft behind their home and rent it out to her. She could stay close to them, close to her garden, and stay in Tokyo, far away from New York and everything that went along with it. Thrilled with this idea, she got to it right away, taking a modest amount from the money received when her mother passed to 'create' her home.
A couple more years passed, and Anne was cozy in her new loft apartment and happy with a job at a greenhouse in the city. While she may have had things happen in her life that would make her sad, in this moment she was happy. At very first when things started to act strange, she didn’t think much of it. It was a big city, surely people just left to explore different ventures and didn’t bother telling anyone of their whereabouts. As for seeing things, well, everyone has had a little bit too much to drink or too little sleep at least once in their life. There wasn’t anything wrong with an overactive imagination, after all.
However, even Anne wasn’t safe from whatever oddity was going on in Tokyo. Not long after things started going south, she started getting the headaches. The types of headaches no ibuprofen or distraction could dull; ones that made it hard to leave home some days and left her curled up in bed in the dark. She had gone to the doctor to see what was causing them, as any normal person would, just to be told there didn’t seem to be any cause.
Frustrated and unable to fall asleep because of the pain, she went out for a walk one night in hopes the cool night air would help alleviate it. Walking for what seemed like an eternity, she eventually ended up much further than home than normal. She wasn’t usually out this late, let alone since the ‘disappearances’, so when midnight came along she didn’t expect any more of a change than what normally happens as a clock continues to tick away and a dull feeling of ‘I should be heading home soon’. Not that she would have had she been out any other night other than this particular night.
What made that night so different to any other was a mystery, but most definitely seemed to be connected to Anne’s bizarre and painful headaches. As soon as the clock struck twelve, everything changed. The moon that was always such a comforting silver turned a sickly green, as everything else around her followed in the color scheme change. She stopped in her tracks as her heart felt like it was trying to leap out of her throat. Quickly pulling her phone out to… do something, she wasn’t sure, but she was sure nothing about this was right. Looking down to it as she pushed the button to take it off of standby, she frowned. Panic rising, it didn’t take her long to notice it wasn’t going to turn on. Had it died? She must have forgotten to charge it, that was all. Although she swore it was at maximum battery life when she left home…
Barely noticing her headache had died to a dull throb, she looked around and realized just how far from home she had wandered. Chastising herself for paying so little attention to her surroundings as she had walked, her eyes caught sight of a clock over a nearby bank, frozen on exactly twelve o’clock. By this point there were just far too many strange things at once for her to continue to assume it was all coincidence. It sure as heck didn’t stop her from staying in denial that it was, however, right up until what she initially thought was a wild dog attacked her. What else would have made sense?
The pain seared through her head once more, but when her vision cleared she saw it was most certainly not a wild dog. No canid had feathers, that she was aware of, or floated in the air. A... predatory bird, of some sort? Since when did birds attack humans? She had never read anything of the sort. It made no sense. Yet it charged with it's beak again, what looked like a book clutched in its claws. Anne just barely managed to dodge out of the way this time, adrenaline rushing through her headache. We could run. Her head throbbed. She almost thought she heard something in the back of her head, as though the fictional ‘voice of conscious’ finally found it’s literal voice. Run, just like we always had. The voice was almost mocking, yet managed to sound sympathetic at the same time. Running seemed so tempting. That bird had wings, though. Even with her strong legs she couldn't outrun wings for long.
Anne hesitated for the briefest of moments as the bird stayed put, it's eyes suddenly glowing. Now she knew there was no bird that did that. Her heart leapt into her throat again. As she was trying to figure out what it was doing she noticed the thing in it's claws glowed as well, red, hot. Her feet backpedaled like no other, breath catching fast in her chest. It wasn't the bird itself that scared her even though it should have been, but the irrational fear of what that heat meant. Still, she stopped backing up and stood with her fists clenched tightly at her side. Gritting her teeth she scowled over at the bird─there was no way in hell she was running away again. No? Not this time? Then so be it. We shall fight. For a brief moment her skull felt like it had exploded, then the headache stopped altogether. A woman hovered above her, a cloak over her shoulders, boots tied up her legs that seemed to be made of pure bronze, and a huge skull mask hiding all but her piercing red eyes. Her arms raised from under her cloak, a strange long knife held tightly in her hand as she rushed the bird.
The fight was over before she knew it, and she felt exhausted both mentally and physically, as though she could curl up and fall fast asleep where she was. Nothing but fear and the remnants of adrenaline kept her going, her terrified green eyes looking up at the woman before she disappeared, leaving an echo of a voice in the back of her mind.
“I am thou... Thou art I… don’t forget that.”
Turning around and taking a deep breath, she remembered the rest of the night as though looking through fog. She had wandered around until she saw a strange train occupied by an even stranger woman. The strange occupant offered her what appeared to be a gun, although she assured Anne that it wasn’t. Before long she found herself dropped off not far from home after what felt like forever, with the train nowhere to be seen.
Waking up the next day in a stupor, Anna thought for a moment that the previous night had to have been a dream. As she looked to her nightstand and saw the strange gun the woman had given her, all hopes of that being true were dashed away completely. If she needed further proof, all she needed was to look down and see herself still fully clothed─and caked in blood from the wounds she had been to adrenaline rushed to notice she had accumulated. Glad she had her own washer and dryer so she didn’t have to explain that to her aunt, her mind began to turn as the events of the previous night came back to her. There were so many questions still unanswered, and as she would soon find out the night was by no means a one time occurrence...
OOC Name: Neve
Notes: Anne can speak both English and Japanese fluently thanks to her Aunt teaching her after she moved. Although her mother was French, she never really did get around to learning more than the absolute minimum.
She still has the same ferret from before, although it’s getting up there in years, along with another younger ferret. Their names are Rhubarb and Plum, respectively, and while most people may find them to be strange pets she wouldn’t trade them for the world. And no, they really don’t smell all that bad, since she knows how to care for them.
Persona: The Cerynitian Hind (art by me)
Appearance:
Persona Lore: The Elaphoi Khrysokeroi were golden-horned deer sacred to the goddess Artemis, four of which drew the chariot of the goddess. The fifth, which some say was a gift from the Nymph Taygete, was allowed to roam free.
Herakles was sent to fetch it as one of his twelve labours. After chasing the swift animal for a full year he finally captured it on Mount Artemision in Arkadia. Even though the goddess Artemis complained at the treatment of her animal, whose horn the hero had broken off in the struggle, he managed to persuade her to let him borrow it for the completion of his labour.
Skills:
➸ Skewer
☀ Hama
Strengths and Weaknesses:
︽ Pierce
▬
︾ Agi
Age: Twenty
Date of Birth: July Thirteenth
Birthplace: New york, NY, USA
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Face Claim: Original art─commissioned from Sirquo on DA by me
Appearance:
Height: 5’ 6”
Distinguishing Features: In addition to the multiple ear piercings, she also has a small stud in her left nostril and a naval piercing. On the back of her neck she has an intricate tattoo of the Tree of Life, and has a long scar on the palm of her right hand.
For the most part, when it comes to ‘fashion’ Anne isn’t the most adept. Instead, she tends to just wear whatever she’s most comfortable in, sometimes despite the situation calling for something a little bit more updressed. A graphic tee, jean jacket, jeans, and sneakers or boots are the most common; although when she’s feeling “fancy”─emphasis on the air quotes─she can wear a nice sweater or top instead. On very rare occasions she’ll even wear a dress. Despite her lack of style, she almost always wears plenty of jewelry that isn’t a piercing, usually different necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When it comes down to it, she wears what she feels happy in and to heck with everyone else.
Class: Persona User
Arcana: ⅩⅧ The Moon
Occupation: Anne works as a florist in a small greenhouse in Yoyogi. She's mainly in charge of caring for the plants and seedlings, but occasionally will make arrangements when it's slow to pass the time. While it's not strictly an occupation, she does take classes for Yoga and Wing Chun in her free time.
Starting Equipment: Ariane has decent knowledge of Wing Chun, and uses it to protect herself. She has a pair of bright-green fist wraps that she uses to protect her knuckles and deal a little bit of Strike damage. As simple as they are, utilizing mainly her fist and feet as weapons give her quite the chance to modify her own body to deal more damage with strikes down the road.
With as much as she works out and takes care of herself, she’s a bit physically stronger than she looks. While she can take a hit, however, she opts for quick movement and trying to dodge strikes even in the close quarter combat she’s used to.
Personality: Having grown up in the city, Anne had always had an open mind about things. After all, you see all sorts of life in such a populated area and learn pretty quickly not everyone thinks the same as you do. Because of this, she's pretty accepting of how other people decide to live--after all, she has her own secrets and quirks that she wouldn't want to be judged for. Why would she feel she has the right to judge others? Still, there are things even she'll put her foot down for. People acting like they know any more than she does is one of them. Even if they do actually know more, it's not as though she appreciates having it rubbed in her face. Another is people who take the opposite route as she does, keeping a closed mind of the world. If someone acts like she's less of a person because of her personal beliefs or feelings, well they can just let the door hit their ass on the way out then.
Since she had grown up with most of her life spent in a private school, she's more than a little tired of spending a lot of time in large groups of people. When it comes right down to it, she'd much rather spend her free time with just a few people she's close, or even just alone, than be forced to be social with people she doesn't really know. That doesn't mean she can't hold her own in a large group, but she will become noticeably uncomfortable until she can sneak her way out of the situation. Hating large groups does mean that once she decides she likes a person and wants to be their friend, she can be a tad bit clingy. It's both flattering and annoying--it takes a bit of studying for her to really warm up to someone but if she decides you're worthy of her admiration then good luck getting rid of her.
As hard as she can be to get rid of and judgmental she can be if you're overly closed minded, Anne can be quite the stubborn butt. If she gets her mind set on a thing or idea, then it can take a large tank to get her to budge on the matter. Even if someone points out all the ways she's wrong, she can find that 'well what if' matter that just keeps her trudging along.
Likes:
☀ Time wasting hobbies like knitting and reading.
☀ Crawling up onto the roof of her little home at night.
☀ Animals, although she’s never been fond of owning dogs herself. They’re just too much work.
☀ Food; with how active she is she needs a lot to replenish her energy. She has a soft spot for anything spicy, though--Thai is some of her favorite.
☀ Plants, whether it's herbs, flowers, veggies--anything. She even has her own garden in her aunt's backyard.
☀ Art. Her personal specialties lie with flower arranging and drawing scenery, but she can pass hours just looking at other people's works.
Dislikes:
☁ Fire. Sometimes even sitting around a controlled fire roasting marshmallows just brings back the imagery of her own home...
☁ Having to be 'social' in large groups. She's much more fond of small, happy little get togethers if she has to be social.
☁ "Everybody Wing Chun tonight" jokes. She will punch you in the throat. The band is Wang Chung anyway, you morons.
☁ 'Know it alls' who refuse to be told otherwise. It's true she can be occasionally guilty of that, but she at least notices she does it and tries not to.
☁ Distractions. Sometimes she has a hard time focusing on things she needs to, and anything that makes it harder just manages to annoy her more.
☁ Writing. Sure, she can spend hours reading other peoples creations, getting lost in their worlds. Please don't ever ask her to write you anything more eloquent than a shopping list though if you expect a happy redhead.
History:
Some say the Big Apple is no place for a child to grow up. However, as Clyde and Isabelle Ivers both held important positions within their companies, when Isabelle found out she was pregnant, they both agreed moving was out of the question. Instead they compromised, investing in a larger apartment in a safer building to raise Ariane in when she was born. However, their reasoning against moving ended up being a hindrance to any sort of normal family life. Isabelle's maternity leave ended quickly, and as much as she tried to be in Anne's life as she grew up it grew increasingly difficult. She would try to juggle work and raising a baby, then a toddler, until her gray hair outnumbered her beautiful strawberry blonde and she had to turn it all into a dull bottled yellow. It was more than her husband attempted, she knew, but her daughter was her world, and she wouldn't ever chance Anne thinking anything otherwise.
Still, the time came when Ariane was ready to go to school. Isabelle thought it would be easy to let her child go, after all in New York private school was hands down the only option. Not to mention it would free her time up so much more to focus back on her company, which had been starting to slip with her 'distraction'. It ended up being much more difficult than she anticipated, and she found herself with a heavy heart as she waited for every holiday and break she could for Ariane to come back home, even briefly.
Ariane, on the other hand, thought of this as an adventure. Something outside of the stuffy apartment she had called home for the first years of her life.
It didn't take her long to realize the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Even as a little girl, the sheer amount of people she was pushed to spend time with, have play dates with, have birthday parties with was exhausting. As she grew up, it annoyed her more and more until she would fake illness or make excuses just to stay home from large events. Her mother caught on to her game early, but rather than be annoyed thought it was actually almost a reflection of herself. Isabelle was forced to do such things for her company─why should she force her daughter to do the same?
As the years grew by, Anne grew more and more self reliant. Private school passed on, and as much as she loved her mother with every scrap of her heart, she drew out of her life in waves of work. Her father was rarely anywhere to be found, but it didn't bother Anne as much as it probably should have. Even sporadically, she had her mother and a small ferret that kept her company while her mother was busy. What else did she need?
She was sixteen when the fire happened. Her mother had a little free time off of work and they had stayed up late playing an intense game of Monopoly, which of course Isabelle had won. Anne was fast asleep in her bedroom when the smoke detector went off, waking her with a start. She managed to scoop the ferret out of her cage and into her Anne’s blanket and hurried out into the hallway. Isabelle hurried into the hall having been awoken herself, pushing Anne towards the fire escape. "Take Rhu and get out. I have to go back for something, but I'll be right after you, I promise. I love you." After helping her daughter through the window, Isabelle hurried back into the apartment as it filled with smoke.
Anne stood on the fire escape for a moment, not wanting to leave her mother alone in the apartment, especially having it drilled into her head at school that you should never go back into the fire for anything--whatever it is is never worth your life. Minnaloushe was panicked by this point though, and she was sure her mother would get out safe. Nothing could happen to her, after all. She was the strongest person she knew. After managing to struggle down the ladder with a squirming creature in one arm, she stood on the sidewalk watching the fire as the firetruck sirens blared in the distance and she waited for her mom. And waited.
And waited.
Despite spending more time at work than home, Clyde was besides himself at the loss of his wife and took every last day of personal time he had never used (which was all of it) and used it at once, putting his second in command in charge for the time being. The funeral was elaborate, but Anne barely noticed any of it. She was still in disbelief, denial of the fact her mother could be gone over something so sudden. She barely noticed when her father made some half-assed excuse that he couldn't take care of her on his own. Hardly noticed when he sent her to live with his sister and her husband in Tokyo to finish her schooling. Just like he hardly noticed when she refused to move back to the Big City.
Her father wasn't a big loss in her eyes, honestly. Sure, she would still contact him occasionally through skype or what have you, but it had become less of a father-daughter relationship and more of what her father was good at--a business relationship. His sister was his polar opposite, unable to have children and glad to have her niece in her life, giving her exactly the amount of space she needed to mourn. As time passed she moved on. The loss always remained heavy in her heart, and the amount of unanswered questions still sat in her mind, but she improved.
Her aunt, Abigail, was very supportive through it all. Thinking it would help, she cleared out a small plot of land in her backyard for Anne to turn into a garden. It was a failure at first, nothing living more than a few days. Abigail grew worried, thinking being faced with the death of her garden would be to much for her given the circumstances. Rather than depress her more, she took it as a challenge, figuring out what she was doing wrong and making adjustments, caring for it like it was her child until finally she succeeded. Sure, the first batch of plants only lasted that season, but then the next season came and that batch flourished. She finally figured out something that gave her the perfect distraction, something she was good at and made her feel like she was creating.
As she grew older and finished school, it came time to find a home to live on her own. She didn't want to outlast her stay with her Aunt, yet she definitely wanted to go nowhere near New York. Eventually, her Aunt, Uncle, and she made a compromise. If she would pay for it, then they would let her refurbish the Loft behind their home and rent it out to her. She could stay close to them, close to her garden, and stay in Tokyo, far away from New York and everything that went along with it. Thrilled with this idea, she got to it right away, taking a modest amount from the money received when her mother passed to 'create' her home.
A couple more years passed, and Anne was cozy in her new loft apartment and happy with a job at a greenhouse in the city. While she may have had things happen in her life that would make her sad, in this moment she was happy. At very first when things started to act strange, she didn’t think much of it. It was a big city, surely people just left to explore different ventures and didn’t bother telling anyone of their whereabouts. As for seeing things, well, everyone has had a little bit too much to drink or too little sleep at least once in their life. There wasn’t anything wrong with an overactive imagination, after all.
However, even Anne wasn’t safe from whatever oddity was going on in Tokyo. Not long after things started going south, she started getting the headaches. The types of headaches no ibuprofen or distraction could dull; ones that made it hard to leave home some days and left her curled up in bed in the dark. She had gone to the doctor to see what was causing them, as any normal person would, just to be told there didn’t seem to be any cause.
Frustrated and unable to fall asleep because of the pain, she went out for a walk one night in hopes the cool night air would help alleviate it. Walking for what seemed like an eternity, she eventually ended up much further than home than normal. She wasn’t usually out this late, let alone since the ‘disappearances’, so when midnight came along she didn’t expect any more of a change than what normally happens as a clock continues to tick away and a dull feeling of ‘I should be heading home soon’. Not that she would have had she been out any other night other than this particular night.
What made that night so different to any other was a mystery, but most definitely seemed to be connected to Anne’s bizarre and painful headaches. As soon as the clock struck twelve, everything changed. The moon that was always such a comforting silver turned a sickly green, as everything else around her followed in the color scheme change. She stopped in her tracks as her heart felt like it was trying to leap out of her throat. Quickly pulling her phone out to… do something, she wasn’t sure, but she was sure nothing about this was right. Looking down to it as she pushed the button to take it off of standby, she frowned. Panic rising, it didn’t take her long to notice it wasn’t going to turn on. Had it died? She must have forgotten to charge it, that was all. Although she swore it was at maximum battery life when she left home…
Barely noticing her headache had died to a dull throb, she looked around and realized just how far from home she had wandered. Chastising herself for paying so little attention to her surroundings as she had walked, her eyes caught sight of a clock over a nearby bank, frozen on exactly twelve o’clock. By this point there were just far too many strange things at once for her to continue to assume it was all coincidence. It sure as heck didn’t stop her from staying in denial that it was, however, right up until what she initially thought was a wild dog attacked her. What else would have made sense?
The pain seared through her head once more, but when her vision cleared she saw it was most certainly not a wild dog. No canid had feathers, that she was aware of, or floated in the air. A... predatory bird, of some sort? Since when did birds attack humans? She had never read anything of the sort. It made no sense. Yet it charged with it's beak again, what looked like a book clutched in its claws. Anne just barely managed to dodge out of the way this time, adrenaline rushing through her headache. We could run. Her head throbbed. She almost thought she heard something in the back of her head, as though the fictional ‘voice of conscious’ finally found it’s literal voice. Run, just like we always had. The voice was almost mocking, yet managed to sound sympathetic at the same time. Running seemed so tempting. That bird had wings, though. Even with her strong legs she couldn't outrun wings for long.
Anne hesitated for the briefest of moments as the bird stayed put, it's eyes suddenly glowing. Now she knew there was no bird that did that. Her heart leapt into her throat again. As she was trying to figure out what it was doing she noticed the thing in it's claws glowed as well, red, hot. Her feet backpedaled like no other, breath catching fast in her chest. It wasn't the bird itself that scared her even though it should have been, but the irrational fear of what that heat meant. Still, she stopped backing up and stood with her fists clenched tightly at her side. Gritting her teeth she scowled over at the bird─there was no way in hell she was running away again. No? Not this time? Then so be it. We shall fight. For a brief moment her skull felt like it had exploded, then the headache stopped altogether. A woman hovered above her, a cloak over her shoulders, boots tied up her legs that seemed to be made of pure bronze, and a huge skull mask hiding all but her piercing red eyes. Her arms raised from under her cloak, a strange long knife held tightly in her hand as she rushed the bird.
The fight was over before she knew it, and she felt exhausted both mentally and physically, as though she could curl up and fall fast asleep where she was. Nothing but fear and the remnants of adrenaline kept her going, her terrified green eyes looking up at the woman before she disappeared, leaving an echo of a voice in the back of her mind.
“I am thou... Thou art I… don’t forget that.”
Turning around and taking a deep breath, she remembered the rest of the night as though looking through fog. She had wandered around until she saw a strange train occupied by an even stranger woman. The strange occupant offered her what appeared to be a gun, although she assured Anne that it wasn’t. Before long she found herself dropped off not far from home after what felt like forever, with the train nowhere to be seen.
Waking up the next day in a stupor, Anna thought for a moment that the previous night had to have been a dream. As she looked to her nightstand and saw the strange gun the woman had given her, all hopes of that being true were dashed away completely. If she needed further proof, all she needed was to look down and see herself still fully clothed─and caked in blood from the wounds she had been to adrenaline rushed to notice she had accumulated. Glad she had her own washer and dryer so she didn’t have to explain that to her aunt, her mind began to turn as the events of the previous night came back to her. There were so many questions still unanswered, and as she would soon find out the night was by no means a one time occurrence...
OOC Name: Neve
Notes: Anne can speak both English and Japanese fluently thanks to her Aunt teaching her after she moved. Although her mother was French, she never really did get around to learning more than the absolute minimum.
She still has the same ferret from before, although it’s getting up there in years, along with another younger ferret. Their names are Rhubarb and Plum, respectively, and while most people may find them to be strange pets she wouldn’t trade them for the world. And no, they really don’t smell all that bad, since she knows how to care for them.
Persona: The Cerynitian Hind (art by me)
Appearance:
Persona Lore: The Elaphoi Khrysokeroi were golden-horned deer sacred to the goddess Artemis, four of which drew the chariot of the goddess. The fifth, which some say was a gift from the Nymph Taygete, was allowed to roam free.
Herakles was sent to fetch it as one of his twelve labours. After chasing the swift animal for a full year he finally captured it on Mount Artemision in Arkadia. Even though the goddess Artemis complained at the treatment of her animal, whose horn the hero had broken off in the struggle, he managed to persuade her to let him borrow it for the completion of his labour.
Skills:
➸ Skewer
☀ Hama
Strengths and Weaknesses:
︽ Pierce
▬
︾ Agi
