Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2013 23:20:05 GMT -4
PLAY BY: Olivia HallinanELSE Ninja (Neen-ya) Klaus
NICKNAME(S): Cotton
AGE: thirteen
APPEARANCE AGE: n/a
DATE OF BIRTH: approximately December 2000
DATE OF CHANGE: n/a
BIRTHPLACE: Lüneburg, Germany
HOMETOWN: Lüneburg until the age of five, then New York
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Anywhere she can walk or sneak to in the sparkly city that lets so many people starve: New York
SPECIES: human
DIET: scraps, donations and garbage bits
MAIN ANIMAL: n/a
AFFILIATION: n/a
OCCUPATION: beggar and street-performer
HEIGHT: four feet, eleven inches
WEIGHT: ninety pounds in a good season
HAIR: Medium to dark brown, growing straight and to her waist but tangled from inconsistent and halfhearted attempts to brush it.
EYES: Blue with shades of brown.
SCARS/MARKS: Small scars on her hands from ripping open sealed food containers, lifting dumpster lids, climbing chain-link fences and living on the streets.
PERSONAL STYLE: A ragged, blue cotton dress, with a tattered coat if she can scavenge one for winter.
SPECIES APPEARANCE: n/a
ABILITY: Else has the uncanny ability to guess correctly things that she has no way of concretely knowing. If she touches the sleeve of your coat she knows that your mother gave it to you, that you only grew to like it a year later when she died, and that you nearly cried when you spilled coffee on it this morning. She can also guess at where people stood when feeling strong emotion, and ‘feel’ shapes in the air where objects that caused strong emotion went through, such as bullets, the bus that ran over a pet dog, or the bat that broke someone’s front teeth in. Sideways of this 'knowing' is the way she understands these perceptions, predominantly as sounds. She heard the coffee spilling and the gasp, and hears small vibrations in others' voices that other people can't seem to, among other things. Certain emotions present themselves to her as sounds. This is part of what makes her vocal mimicry so stunningly accurate.
MAGI ABILITY: n/a
LIKES: any and all food, though preferably hot () warm breezes that smell of the country () drawing () insects () stories () music
DISLIKES: being patronized () being ignored () arrogance () people that kick () cars () being cold, though she’s used to it
STRENGTHS: blending in to crowds () getting attention when needed () getting in and out of trouble () picking pockets () being quick through crowded places () vocal mimicry () quick learner () courageous
WEAKNESSES: often far too stubborn () being habitually rude () absolute lack of faith or trust in anyone but herself () holds grudges () bottles anger () quick to judge
HABITS/QUIRKS: Absolutely loves insects—she sees them as complex and beautiful tiny creatures who are mostly stepped on, misunderstood or ignored.
FEARS: never having a home again.
SECRETS: she knows she senses things that other people don’t, but not knowing how other people feel the world, she’s not always good at hiding it. And she can only read in German, at the same level as a five-year-old, the age she was last in school.
GOALS: to someday have a home.
FATHER: Romulo, status unknown
MOTHER: Katerina, deceased
SIBLINGS: unknown
OTHER FAMILY: unknown
OTHER IMPORTANT PEOPLE: unknown
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Else is quicker to pick your pocket than to ask you questions, but if asking you questions serves whatever her purpose may be she’ll find questions to ask you until the fish walk out of the sea. She’s suspicious of absolutely everybody, but will only let you see it if she feels like it. She’s dramatic, flouncing when she feels the need to mock and growling when she feels the need to unnerve. Her abilities to mimic voices and vocal patterns give her the uncanny ability to cause herself to sound impeccably like anybody she’s been able to listen to long enough to mimic, and most people find that disconcerting when she uses it against them, charming when she uses it to in turn use them. If you make her angry, likely she’ll just disappear into the crowd and reappear later to steal whatever it is you’ve got hiding on your person. She is easily exasperated, but also extremely adaptable. If you earn her genuine trust, you’ve got it forever. Earn her ire and she’ll make you wish you never had to step out of your taxi in the city ever again.
HISTORY: Else was born to a working mother who always talked about the better chances in America, and wishing she had the money to move. Katerina hadn’t heard from or seen her family in years, and when she had a child out of wedlock they wanted nothing more to do with her. Katerina still sent Christmas and birthday cards, but the only ones she received in return Else had made herself, knowing her young mother wouldn’t get any others. But Katerina always found a way to seem happy or make the both of them happy, even when the only decorations they had for their own Christmas were made from newspaper clippings and a faded dye Katerina knew how to make from grass and pine needles. The only time Else ever remembered her mother looking afraid was when Romulo—her father—called or stopped by to visit. Her mother never told her why, but she was terrified of Else’s father.
Finally, when Else was five Katerina decided they had saved enough money to go to America. The airplane was the best fun Else had ever had, the way she could see so far and yet with so little detail, she wasn’t sure if she was seeing better than the people on the ground or not. Else and Katerina had just left the airport, cheeks red with the winter cold, eyes bright with no plans but the ambition to make them, when Else stepped forward to pick up a dull silver penny on the street. Katerina shrieked, and the car that had been about to obliterate Else jumped the curb to avoid the daughter and ended up killing her mother instead.
Else knew without having to look very long that her mother was dead. Not knowing what else to do, where else to go, or even the language everybody spoke there, she ran, vanishing into smaller and smaller streets until she found a space small enough to hide herself in that she could pretend she wasn’t shaking.
Over the next nine years Else learned how to survive. A few ragged children, some with parents and some without, found her eventually and laughed when she told them her name, but she couldn’t understand why. Being able to imitate sound so well, she was able to speak entirely without an accent when she tried to, though the sounds blended differently in her mouth that way. She liked her accent better, though to her ears she didn’t have one. She learned how to pick pockets and how to get passers’-by attention and how to use it, and even learned a few tricks with her strange perception. There was nothing she wanted more than to have a home again, step foot inside an actual house, but she didn’t know how when she had, according to everybody else in the world, stopped learning the day her mother died.
Finally, when Else was five Katerina decided they had saved enough money to go to America. The airplane was the best fun Else had ever had, the way she could see so far and yet with so little detail, she wasn’t sure if she was seeing better than the people on the ground or not. Else and Katerina had just left the airport, cheeks red with the winter cold, eyes bright with no plans but the ambition to make them, when Else stepped forward to pick up a dull silver penny on the street. Katerina shrieked, and the car that had been about to obliterate Else jumped the curb to avoid the daughter and ended up killing her mother instead.
Else knew without having to look very long that her mother was dead. Not knowing what else to do, where else to go, or even the language everybody spoke there, she ran, vanishing into smaller and smaller streets until she found a space small enough to hide herself in that she could pretend she wasn’t shaking.
Over the next nine years Else learned how to survive. A few ragged children, some with parents and some without, found her eventually and laughed when she told them her name, but she couldn’t understand why. Being able to imitate sound so well, she was able to speak entirely without an accent when she tried to, though the sounds blended differently in her mouth that way. She liked her accent better, though to her ears she didn’t have one. She learned how to pick pockets and how to get passers’-by attention and how to use it, and even learned a few tricks with her strange perception. There was nothing she wanted more than to have a home again, step foot inside an actual house, but she didn’t know how when she had, according to everybody else in the world, stopped learning the day her mother died.
ALIAS: Ivy
TIMEZONE: eastern
CONTACT: pm
WHERE DID YOU FIND US?: old site
TIMEZONE: eastern
CONTACT: pm
WHERE DID YOU FIND US?: old site
