Application
Senshi: Sailor Dionysus, Olympian Senshi of Wine
Name: Nessa Wallace
Meaning: Nessa comes from Irish Mythology's Neasa, whose name may mean “not gentle”; Wallace originated from waleis, “foreigner”, in Norman French.
Age: 21
Birthdate: June 10
School/Occupation: Applebee's waitress, aspiring Broadway star.
Major NPCs:
Jacob Wallace: Father. Fire Chief of a small town in Indiana; he was an edifice of discipline in Nessa's early life, but also frequently working or busy. He is staunchly conservative, moreso than anyone else in her life, and has not quite adjusted to the new, New Yorker, version of his daughter.
Maryann Wallace: Mother. She idealized having a large family of her own, but forgot about the financial demands of a mortgage and five kids: after working retail for several years, she went to the local community college and became a nurse. The hours are just about as long, but the pay is better, and Maryann is certainly more fulfilled helping people be healthy than helping them find Rollbacks at Walmart.
Lucy Barrows, nee Wallace: Older Sister. Has one child, another on the way. Precocious as a child, somewhat insufferable know-it-all as an adult. Alternatingly what Nessa aspires to be (successful, organized, fulfilled) and what she aspires to never become (snobby and still stuck in Indiana); they have a vexed relationship to say the least. Lucy was most often tasked with taking care of Nessa and keeping her out of trouble, and that created friction between them that lasts to this day.
Ethan Wallace: Older Brother. Got several tattoos and a lip ring, which upset most of his relatives. But he has easily the best relationship with Nessa out of all of the siblings and cousins; she is encouraging him to move to the East Coast, too.
Peter Wallace: Younger brother. Peter and Samuel are twins, although not identical—which, tragically or not, prevented a lot of Weasley-style hijinx as they were growing up. They are the babies of the immediate Wallace family; Peter is very athletic, personable, and popular. He is still in high school.
Samuel Wallace: Younger brother. Samuel is the quieter twin, who has always let Peter talk and do, and sat back to observe. He is, however, probably the smartest of all of the Wallace children, and excels especially at mathematics. Although Nessa has always had trouble understanding how different she and Sam are, she is intensely protective of him, more than of anyone else in her family.
The Wallace and Burns Families: Huge. Nessa has more than twenty first cousins, thanks to both of her parents having come from large families – Irish-American on her mother's side, Scottish-American on her father's. They are all very, very involved in each other's business. Nessa is something of an outlier for having left Indiana, but thanks to the magic of social media and email and cheap plane tickets, she is still in contact with her family members and sees them at least twice yearly. The Wallace/Burns family is strongly Catholic: Nessa and all of her siblings were raised in the church, from First Communion to Confirmation. The families are also involved in the community beyond just putting out fires (one of Nessa's uncles was the Mayor for several years; several of her aunts have been prominent school board members and charity organizers).
Roommates: Nessa has, currently, three roommates who are in mostly the same situation she is in: aspiring performers who have not yet hit a break, they're all living in a cramped and probably kind of illegal arrangement in a two-bedroom apartment near the Theater District, in Manhattan. Dana is a performance artist and anarchist; Michelle is in a band and occasionally tries to use the apartment for rehearsal space, despite it being utterly inappropriate and infuriating the landlord; Shannon wants to be on Broadway as much as Nessa does, and they have a very competitive but close friendship.
History
Nessa was the third of five children, in a family with ten cousins on one side and eleven on the other, lived in the same town. Her life has been a long sequence of attempts to stick out from the crowd that she was inevitably part of. With an older sister and brother, and two younger brothers in her immediate family, even, it was very easy for her to get lost in the mixup, and get far less attention than she needed, and certainly less than she thought she deserved. Her parents weren't unkind, but they were frazzled and busy people; her father is a professional firefighter, and by the time Nessa was in her teen years, he had risen to become the town's fire chief, a job with long hours and frequent, unexpected demands. (Fires, it turns out, do not politely schedule themselves between 9 and 5.) Maryann's intention was always to be a homemaker, but by the time her second child came along, money was getting tighter, and more children only increased the financial demands on the family (they had to eat something, right?). She worked a variety of retail jobs during Nessa's childhood – Walmart clerk was perhaps the longest-running – and operated on a similarly shifting, demanding schedule. When her parents could not be around, Nessa and her siblings were looked after by family members, frequently, or by neighborhood teens looking to make fifteen dollars. After a certain point, the older siblings looked after the younger, which was a perfect recipe for havoc.
By the time she came along, Jacob and Maryann Wallace had been parents already for seven years: she was preceded by a precocious oldest sister, Lucy, seven years her senior, and a troublesome elder brother Ethan, then just turning four and exiting a stage of tantrums. (He never, however, left his disposition to cause trouble behind him.). She didn't get to keep the “baby” spot in the family for very long, before Peter and Samuel, twins, came along when Nessa was seven. They occupied the lion's share of the attention for most of Nessa's childhood: Lucy and Ethan, then fourteen and eleven, helped take care of the twins, but Nessa was neither old enough to help nor young enough to really need to be cared for. She had, until then, never really been a problem child: no major illnesses beyond the expected childhood chicken pox and upset stomachs, no real educational or behavioral concerns in her somewhat short school career.
Some children would have retired into books or television or imaginary friends; Nessa fought against this waning familial engagement by acting out, seeking attention from her immediate family, extended family, friends, strangers. She ran away from home, once, in costume and with a theatrically prepared bundle on a stick (with red polka dotted fabric – Nessa, even young, understood that small flourishes make a performance), and staged elaborate hoaxes on her babysitters and aunts and uncles. Once, left home alone, she reorganized the entire house into a massive blanket fort, and appointed her younger brothers as generals who were not to allow anyone else inside. This string of behaviors was how she first got into drama; it was her parents' attempt to intervene in “a positive way” that landed nearly ten-year-old Nessa in drama camp, where they put on a very low-budget and off-key rendition of Annie.
Nessa didn't even play the title role – she was one of the background orphans, but she milked her stage time down to the last second. And she was hooked. She tried out for all the school plays in middle and high school, and walked local dogs and babysat until she could afford a voice coach. She did community theater in the summers, and befriended the high school theater department entire.
Her family would have found dealing with Nessa's teenage years a handful all on her own—loud and impulsive, arrested once when she was seventeen for underage drinking at a musical's cast party, and shamefully driven home in her dad's fire chief Fly Car several more times—but they were raising several teenagers at once. That only multiplied their problems (by a factor of more than five for the five kids; the problems of teenagers expand exponentially). Add to that, Nessa spending time in theatrical culture and idealizing Broadway and New York – and listening to songs from RENT and beginning to form her own opinions about the world based on the gospel of Musical Theater, instead of the gospel of Mark? It lead to conflicts, both overt and subtle, with Nessa and her brothers typically arrayed against her parents and her sister: fights about politics at dinner were not as common as passive-aggressive things like a certain sister “losing” Nessa's CDs.
The Wallace family, immediate and extended, all live in Indiana. Not an exceptionally fruitful place for a musical theater career, by anyone's standards. When Nessa graduated from high school, she wanted to move immediately to New York City; she envisioned herself becoming a Broadway star instantaneously, bursting onto the stage and winning a Tony award in a month. Her parents envisioned her starving while trying to make rent – a much more realistic prediction, but one that caused no end in fights between eighteen-year-old Nessa and the rest of the family. Her parents wouldn't help her, financially, if she went to New York, and Nessa refused to consider an alternate plan. She wasn't willing to try and cross the country on her own (admittedly nearly non-existent) savings, and wasn't quite willing to burn bridges with her family to do it, so they found themselves in a stalemate.
Nessa didn't want to apply to college – her parents wanted her to, and only partially with her blessing sent in an application to Indiana State University, which was accepted, much to Nessa's displeasure. She spent the entire spring of her last year of high school resistant to going, loudly and frequently pointing out that it was her life, but her resistance got her nowhere.
So she caved in, agreed to go to college, and changed her resistance tactics. As far as her parents knew, the summer job she got at the local pizzeria (instead of acting in her beloved summer musicals, as she always had before) was because she was “growing up” and saving money for a car for college. They were right about one thing: she wassaving money. And in the last week of August, right before she was due to head off Terre Haute, she took all the money she'd earned in tips and odd jobs, all of her clothes and as many worldly belongings as she could fit into her suitcase, and got on a Greyhound bus headed for New York City.
She was at least considerate enough to leave a note, but that really didn't lessen the impact on her parents—who at first were furious, then hurt (and furious), then betrayed (and furious), then distant (and still a little furious). Her relationships with many of her other family-members suffered, to one degree or another, although she didn't have much conflict over it with most of her cousins, or her brothers. (Her sister took her parents' side completely.) It has taken a good two and a half years, but her parents have mostly forgiven her, and she now goes home for visits at Christmas and Easter.
But burning, even temporarily, bridges with her family was worth it, in Nessa's mind, because it meant she was getting to chase her dream. But New York City was also a huge adjustment: the biggest city she had ever spent much time in was Indianapolis, and New York was crowded and busy and unstopping on a completely different scale of magnitude. She had not, however, made plans that were at all appropriate to the reality of New York City. Find an apartment when she got there and then look for a job? That didn't work out at all, and she found herself staying in a youth hostel full of tourists and mice and rats. More of the latter than the former, some days. She went on auditions for chorus lines on Broadway – shows off-Broadway – later, toothpaste commercials and tour guiding on the city buses, before finally surrendering and getting a job waiting tables at a diner in Manhattan.
That job was followed by a series of other food service jobs: waitresses, baristas in coffee shops, bagel girl at the morning breakfast counter near her apartment. The problem with keeping a job was entirely Nessa: whenever she got wind of an audition, it was her big break and she couldn't care less about showing up for work or calling someone to cover her shift if she was supposed to be there. And yet, despite more than two years of auditioning, her break has yet to arrive.
It's not that she hasn't been cast in anything: she has made some background parts in off-Broadway musicals that never went anywhere, speaking roles and chorus roles, and they look good on her resume, but the shows seldom last long, some are suspiciously unprofessional productions, and when they end Nessa goes right back to another restaurant, also staffed at least half with Broadway hopefuls in her same position.
The upside is that she's, at least, building a network of acting contacts, and has made friends and roommates from the experiences, including the three girls she lives with now – in a “two bedroom” near the Theater District, which they have cleverly subdivided with sheets, shelves, and other IKEA products. This is where Nessa finds herself today, currently working in an Applebee's, with no idea of what's ahead of her.
Personality
Nessa is constantly active, possessed of high energy, and almost always outgoing. A classic extrovert, she likes to be surrounded by friends, and enjoys attention, whether it's at a party or on the stage. She's seldom comfortable when she's doing nothing, and is always finding a way to busy herself, productive or otherwise. She bores very easily without some kind of outside stimulus, though; office waiting rooms are one of the worst places, as far as she is concerned. She doesn't particularly like being alone, either; she has never lived alone, and only got her own bedroom when she moved to New York. Silence bothers her; if there isn't someone around to talk to, she plays music or watches television (or does both), and has been known to talk to herself. She tends to pass it off as “practicing monologues” when caught. When she creates diversions for herself or others, they may well be vividly imagined and detailed, but they also tend to leave collateral damage of some kind: as a child she drew on the walls and “borrowed” things for her theatrics and amusements, and as an adult she continues to neglect future consequences in favor of current satisfaction, whether that manifests in eating all of the chocolate cake in her apartment for dinner or in getting blindingly drunk today and ignoring tomorrow's threat of hangover. Combine this tendency for havoc with a generally charming, persuasive demeanor and a talent for performing (not just on stage, but in social situations) and Nessa is definitely a routine source of trouble and mischief.
Nessa has a classic case of Middle Child Syndrome—she is affable and flexible, but also very, very quick to decide she's not getting enough attention and try to fix it. In her youth, this drive was typically satisfied by acting out, or just plain acting. Nessa craves attention and validation, and for people to see her as unique and special, not just as "one of the Wallaces". Even in New York City, where nobody would know any of the Wallaces even slightly, Nessa is no less troubled by the idea of being one of the crowd. (It's just a larger crowd, now.)
She's possessed of a strong sense of compassion, even for things that might not need her compassion; sad movies and even some Hallmark cards have been known to get her misty-eyed. (She's just got a lot of feelings, okay?) She is a good shoulder to cry on, although she tends to get stuck on the “crying” part, and sympathizes very readily with other people's plights, offers very readily to try and fix things for them, but is not a good source, at all, for how to fix problems.
Action is her realm, not contemplation. "Intelligent" or "educated" are not the best descriptions for her––she was never an exemplary student, but this had less to do with her inborn talents and more to do with lacking diligence. Academics were consistently a weak area during her youth: sit her down and give her a piece of music or a dance to learn, however, and she'll work twice as long as she's told to. But in terms of mental power, she is clever, able to think quickly on her feet and make fast decisions, and solve problems in novel, surprising ways. She doesn't have a great font of knowledge to draw from, and if something is not interesting or relevant to her it's hard for her to retain information about it, and she seldom does. She's a curious person, naturally, and one who seeks new experiences: whether it manifests in a foot-stomping refusal to eat at the same restaurant twice in six months, or walking home through new neighborhoods and new routes, or being willing to try new things that seem unpleasant or dangerous. (Sky diving? Yes! Fugu? Sure! A back handspring? Why not!)
Nessa is full of belief in herself when she starts or plans something, whether it's moving to New York or attempting that back handspring that she hasn't ever actually learned to do. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing depends largely on what she thinks she can accomplish, and whether it's actually possible. Nessa is not all that good at differentiating, herself. She has a healthy capacity to realize she can't do something once she's halfway through, but she is stubborn and prideful, and it's very hard for her to give up on something. And it's doubly hard when other people know she's doing it. She can also be very selfish with her decisions – she may not be stingy with money or belongings or even her time and affection, but when it comes to life choices Nessa is very ferocious about putting herself first.
She was raised in a fairly conservative Catholic household, but she has drifted very far from church teachings: she celebrates the holidays in a secular way, but hasn't been to confession or communion since the last time she was at home in Indiana, and doesn't go when she's in New York. She doesn't believe in the more overtly miraculous teachings of the church, although she does still align with of the moral guidance; she is probably closest to being agnostic, but will never tell her family that. She may someday tell her family that she discovered, since moving to New York, that she is attracted to women as well as men, but she is still weighing the consequences of throwing that wrench in the precarious relationship she has with her parents. (However, everyone in her non-Indiana life is aware – and to Nessa herself it is not a very big deal, save for the familial backlash she's sure it will cause. After all, Maureen from RENT has been one of her dream roles for as long as she can remember.)
Appearance
Nessa has red, wavy hair, and pale skin with a tendency to freckle slightly in the winter, and ferociously in the summer; though her family claims Irish and Scottish heritage, most of them don't show it nearly as clearly and stereotypically as Nessa does. She is small, height-wise, standing a bit over 5'1” (she has been known to put 5'2” on her resume). Though her weight is actually quite average, speaking from national and medical standards, she has a tendency to get typecast as the comedic and overweight sidekick – because media overweight and actualoverweight are entirely different creatures. Though her weight is a sore subject for her, she does like that not being rail-thin means she's curvy. That part is nice.
She has a large forehead, compared to the rest of her face, a longer nose, and pink/red undertones to her complexion. Her eyes are a very light blue, with light colored lashes, which makes her feel that her eyes fade entirely into the rest of her face (“I look like some kind of freaky eyeless alien”, to quote directly), so that eyeliner and mascara are such an essential part of her daily dress and confidence routine that many people have never actually seen her without. Including some people she has lived with.
Aside from eye makeup, for which she frequently exercises a flair for the dark and dramatic, she tends to go light on makeup on a daily basis. She wears and owns a lot of black clothing, thanks to her series of waitressing and barista jobs and long time spent in theater, and while she does wear colors on her days off, it's more common than not to see her in all or mostly black. (Food service has also influenced her wardrobe in that she owns many, many pairs of at least somewhat cute shoes that are comfortable to stand and walk in for long periods of time, and generally wears those almost to the exclusion of any others. Heels are for people who get to sit down.)
Fuku
Sailor Dionysus's fuku is, at its base, a white Doric chiton, pinned only at her left shoulder; the chiton is short, ending above her knees, and from about her waist to her knees it fades from white to deep, wine red, as if it had been stained or dipped in wine. Around her shoulders, Dionysus wears the pelt of a leopard, tied a little bit like a chlamys, but not as long or as full – and since her right breast is exposed by her chiton, she has a tendency to pull the leopard pelt around for modesty, at least when she is thinking about it. (Having super powers and flashing boob is a bit much to deal with all at once; Nessa will likely develop much more confidence about running around bare-breasted and fabulous as the game progresses.)
When she transforms, her hair is twined back into a tall updo, with volume at and behind the crown of her head – parts of her hair are in small braids or dreadlocks leading back into the knot behind the crown of her head, and her hair is also wound about with strands of grapevine and toxic wild ivy – part of which dangles just below her hairline, holding a bunch of three small purplish-red jewels that resemble grapes. Part of her hair is drawn out through the large, high bun at the back of her head, and dangles as long ponytail, parts of which are also braided and dreaded.
On her feet, Dionysus wears dark reddish-brown leather sandals that lace up to just below her knees, and she has cuffs of the same color leather on both of her wrists, embossed with vine patterns. The left cuff integrates the bronze frame of her transformation relic, although it is surrounded by leather and is no longer large for her wrist.
Transformation
Nessa puts her fingers to her lips, and then raises her hand upwards, so that her transformation relic, an old bronze wrist bangle, is high above her head; looking up, she calls, “Let me be consumed, Dionysus!”
The first thing that really happens is that a strong scent of wine permeates the area directly near Nessa; after a second or two, dark purple light starts to cascade down her arm from the bangle, down her arm and across her body, quite like liquid is being poured over her. When she is entirely obscured, it begins to drain away, also from her arm working its way downwards, and Sailor Dionysus's fuku appears.
Powers:
Thyrsus: Her weapon, the Thyrsus, is a long staff topped with a pinecone. Literally, yes, she wields a stick of the giant fennel plant, just over four feet long, with ivy and ribbons wound around it, and with a big old pinecone stuck on top. It is not, at first glance, an intimidating weapon in the slightest; even against normal humans it doesn't do much damage, and for a transformed senshi it's about the equivalent of a particularly itchy mosquito bite. But that's not the beauty of the Thyrsus. It's Dionysus's weapon, after all. When someone is struck with the Thyrsus, they begin to feel the effects of intoxication. Its hits are cumulative – being hit once or twice might make someone the equivalent of tipsy, with some coordination and inhibition impairment. More hits equates to more impairment: she could theoretically hit someone so many times they'd actually black out, but it would take a good while. The Thyrsus cannot be fatal on its own – it doesn't cause actual chemical intoxication, it just mimics its effects. The effects wear off at about the same rate as actual drunkenness for someone mortal or untransformed, and more quickly for Senshi, and, like the alcohol-based version of intoxication, depend on weight and body composition as far as how quickly and dramatically they take effect. As a sacred implement of Dionysus, the Thyrsus is much more durable than its stick-and-ivy composition suggests: it might be broken by supernatural means, but it is close to indestructible mundanely.
As far as using the Thyrsus goes, Sailor Dionysus has had some stage combat training, but no actual fighting experience. She is as prone to trying to wield it like a baseball bat as she is to actually using it effectively. She is also not immune to its intoxicating effects.
Amphorae Burst, or, as it is more commonly known in parties and frat-houses the world over, “Party Foul”:
When the alcohol gets broken out and people start drinking, things get broken. Sailor Dionysus's attack channels all of that misfortune and potential energy into a sudden burst of (usually unexpected) destruction. When Dionysus shouts her attack, something, one thing, in her near proximity, breaks dramatically. It might be a plate glass window shattering outwards, or a tree limb shearing off suddenly and plummeting to the ground. Anything that can be broken. (People are not things, nor are any other animals. Plants are fair game. Magical items cannot be affected, either, but mundane items like guns, for instance, could be. Hearts, promises, and other metaphorical objects do not qualify.)
The potential for harm from this attack comes from being in the way of debris or shrapnel, or suddenly finding that the awning you were standing under is collapsing on top of you, or any of many other environmental, secondary hazards. Dionysus will not begin with any kind of precise control of this attack: she just shouts and hopes for the best. Practice and training will help her learn to focus it, eventually. Naturally, she is not immune to any of its secondary effects, nor are her allies. She can use it once per battle with no cost or special actions—it makes her, metaphorically speaking, a bad party guest, and ancient Greek taboos about hospitality insist that she make some kind of symbolic amends for making a mess before the attack becomes available again. (This might be as simple as finding the actual owner of the item to apologize, if such a person exists, or picking up some of the debris. Sometimes feasible mid-fight, sometimes not.)
Guardian
None.
Explanation
Dionysus, son of Zeus by the mortal Semele, is the Olympian God of wine-making – which at first seems like an entirely petty, frat-boy sort of thing to be the patron deity of. But he was also the god of what wine made humanity experience: madness and ecstasy, wildness and abandon. In various cults and areas, he was a god of epiphany and death/rebirth mysteries, and a symbol of going somewhere else (or originating elsewhere in the first place), wild and different, and returning with wisdom. In scholarship in the thousands of years since his worship was popular, he has been placed—most famously by Nietzche—into a dichotomy of order and chaos, reason and emotion, as the emotional and impulsive and unpredictably violent aspect of the human psyche, with Apollo as his opposite.
I wanted to write Nessa as a representative of these ideas surrounding Dionysus – wildness and intoxication – without going the route of actually involving alcohol all that much in her background. Her aspirations fit Dionysus, as Dionysus was a patron of the stage in ancient Greece. As far as her powers go, having a healthy dose of buffer/debuffer makes a lot of sense given the root of her powers in a mind-altering substance, and the fact that many of the famous stories that concern Dionysus's punitive and offensive actions are those of power indirectly causing harm. He was the one who gave King Midas his unfortunate gift for turning everything into gold, drove his cousin Pentheus mad and had him torn apart by his Maenads, and drove pirates insane in fear and confusion when they tried to kidnap him, but few myths relate him acting in direct violence.
Her weapon, the thrysus, was a ritual implement used in Dionysian rituals and mysteries – it was supposed to have been used as a weapon by Bacchus and by Dionysus's followers, but was more frequently really just a stick with a pinecone, symbolic of fertility, hedonism, and all of the other exciting things Dionysus stood for. Her costume elements are strongly inspired by cult iconography for Dionysus, from the leopard pelt and vines and grapes to the chiton stained with wine; she has a costume that ought to expose one of her breasts in homage to the general depiction of Maenads and Bacchantes, the followers of Dionysus/Bacchus, in art both Classical and more recent.
Name relevance, briefly: Dionysus was the “foreign” member of the Olympian Pantheon, in more ways than one: for one thing, most of his origins agree that his mother was mortal, dividing him from the other Olympians; writing about him also takes pains to point out that he was raised on Mount Nysa, very, very far away. Nessa's first name, meaning “not gentle”, touches on one of the aspects that separates Dionysus from his fatter, jollier, altogether friendlier Roman counterpart, Bacchus: he was a god of wild and uninhibited behavior, the god followed by the maenads and the satyrs. (It also resembles Mount Nysa, without actually originating from the same linguistic roots at all: bonus!)
Writing Sample
Nessa was humming to herself as she cleared plates; it was the tail end of the dinner rush, on a Tuesday night, and though nothing in New York City was ever completely deserted, Applebee's was doing a pretty good job of trying to be. There were a few tables finishing up, only one in her section, and some people lingering at what passed for a bar. If she was lucky, her manager would cut her after this last table, and she could take her tips and get the hell out of here. Tuesdays were not exactly fascinating or active evenings, but she could probably catch some kind of open mic at a bar, or maybe someone was having some kind of favorable drink specials. (Tuesdays, were they Ladies Night somewhere? Probably. Nessa was not going to give herself a headache trying to recall.)
“--a dream in days gone by,” she half-hummed, half-sung. Les Mis was the earworm of the day, and she had been working the entire shift with different numbers stuck in her head, when she wasn't humming along to whatever catchy treacly pop music Applebee's was playing for its patrons.
“Excuse me, miss,” a voice cut into her half-sung, half-imagined rendition of Fantine's ballad, and Nessa's head jerked up. She almost dropped the chocolate syrup covered plate she was holding (it wobbled dangerously, precariously, in her hand, but she steadied it quickly enough to avoid a messy spill). She looked up to find a guest—she supposed he was a guest—standing in front of her. He was just slightly closer than she felt comfortable with, but working in the service industry was a daily trial in space invasions.
“Uh, hi. Can I help you?” The instinct to respond as if she was on the job kicked in just a moment too late, but at least it was there. It took another second for her to recognize him – less his face, more his witty T-shirt, which she had been amused by. He'd been at one of her tables, although if she remembered correctly they'd left a good ten minutes ago. “Did you.... leave something behind?”
He leaned a little closer to her. Personal space, buddy, she thought, holding the chocolate syrupy plate in front of her like some kind of sticky, desert shield. This was not, at all, a comfortable situation. “I liked your singing,” he commented. That made it even less comfortable.
“Didn't mean for anyone to hear that. Whoops.” She laughed awkwardly. Where the hell was her manager? Nowhere in sight. She was going to have to handle this herself. Great. “I don't suppose you're a talent scout, huh?”
The way the guy in the witty T-Shirt said “wellllll,” drawing out the vowel and the l, stepping even closer and smiling, told her absolutely everything she needed to know.
“Sorry, I can't give you my phone number. Applebee's makes us take a vow of celibacy in order to work here. Company-wide policy. Tough luck.” She pushed her chocolatey plate forward a little, and brushed past the customer and off towards the staff area.
Questionnaire
Name: Alice
E-mail: xxxxx
Homepage: (optional) n/a
Referred by: advertisement on wanna_rp@IJ
Other RPGs: I do most of my RP these days face to face, but have been involved in thedragonage at insanejournal (http://thedragonage.insanejournal.com) for several years now: I play Signy (http://signyature.insanejournal.com) and Lucressia (http://lucressia.insanejournal.com); there are links to completed and in-progress threads for both of them on their journals.
View Application: Most certainly!
Name: Nessa Wallace
Meaning: Nessa comes from Irish Mythology's Neasa, whose name may mean “not gentle”; Wallace originated from waleis, “foreigner”, in Norman French.
Age: 21
Birthdate: June 10
School/Occupation: Applebee's waitress, aspiring Broadway star.
Major NPCs:
Jacob Wallace: Father. Fire Chief of a small town in Indiana; he was an edifice of discipline in Nessa's early life, but also frequently working or busy. He is staunchly conservative, moreso than anyone else in her life, and has not quite adjusted to the new, New Yorker, version of his daughter.
Maryann Wallace: Mother. She idealized having a large family of her own, but forgot about the financial demands of a mortgage and five kids: after working retail for several years, she went to the local community college and became a nurse. The hours are just about as long, but the pay is better, and Maryann is certainly more fulfilled helping people be healthy than helping them find Rollbacks at Walmart.
Lucy Barrows, nee Wallace: Older Sister. Has one child, another on the way. Precocious as a child, somewhat insufferable know-it-all as an adult. Alternatingly what Nessa aspires to be (successful, organized, fulfilled) and what she aspires to never become (snobby and still stuck in Indiana); they have a vexed relationship to say the least. Lucy was most often tasked with taking care of Nessa and keeping her out of trouble, and that created friction between them that lasts to this day.
Ethan Wallace: Older Brother. Got several tattoos and a lip ring, which upset most of his relatives. But he has easily the best relationship with Nessa out of all of the siblings and cousins; she is encouraging him to move to the East Coast, too.
Peter Wallace: Younger brother. Peter and Samuel are twins, although not identical—which, tragically or not, prevented a lot of Weasley-style hijinx as they were growing up. They are the babies of the immediate Wallace family; Peter is very athletic, personable, and popular. He is still in high school.
Samuel Wallace: Younger brother. Samuel is the quieter twin, who has always let Peter talk and do, and sat back to observe. He is, however, probably the smartest of all of the Wallace children, and excels especially at mathematics. Although Nessa has always had trouble understanding how different she and Sam are, she is intensely protective of him, more than of anyone else in her family.
The Wallace and Burns Families: Huge. Nessa has more than twenty first cousins, thanks to both of her parents having come from large families – Irish-American on her mother's side, Scottish-American on her father's. They are all very, very involved in each other's business. Nessa is something of an outlier for having left Indiana, but thanks to the magic of social media and email and cheap plane tickets, she is still in contact with her family members and sees them at least twice yearly. The Wallace/Burns family is strongly Catholic: Nessa and all of her siblings were raised in the church, from First Communion to Confirmation. The families are also involved in the community beyond just putting out fires (one of Nessa's uncles was the Mayor for several years; several of her aunts have been prominent school board members and charity organizers).
Roommates: Nessa has, currently, three roommates who are in mostly the same situation she is in: aspiring performers who have not yet hit a break, they're all living in a cramped and probably kind of illegal arrangement in a two-bedroom apartment near the Theater District, in Manhattan. Dana is a performance artist and anarchist; Michelle is in a band and occasionally tries to use the apartment for rehearsal space, despite it being utterly inappropriate and infuriating the landlord; Shannon wants to be on Broadway as much as Nessa does, and they have a very competitive but close friendship.
History
Nessa was the third of five children, in a family with ten cousins on one side and eleven on the other, lived in the same town. Her life has been a long sequence of attempts to stick out from the crowd that she was inevitably part of. With an older sister and brother, and two younger brothers in her immediate family, even, it was very easy for her to get lost in the mixup, and get far less attention than she needed, and certainly less than she thought she deserved. Her parents weren't unkind, but they were frazzled and busy people; her father is a professional firefighter, and by the time Nessa was in her teen years, he had risen to become the town's fire chief, a job with long hours and frequent, unexpected demands. (Fires, it turns out, do not politely schedule themselves between 9 and 5.) Maryann's intention was always to be a homemaker, but by the time her second child came along, money was getting tighter, and more children only increased the financial demands on the family (they had to eat something, right?). She worked a variety of retail jobs during Nessa's childhood – Walmart clerk was perhaps the longest-running – and operated on a similarly shifting, demanding schedule. When her parents could not be around, Nessa and her siblings were looked after by family members, frequently, or by neighborhood teens looking to make fifteen dollars. After a certain point, the older siblings looked after the younger, which was a perfect recipe for havoc.
By the time she came along, Jacob and Maryann Wallace had been parents already for seven years: she was preceded by a precocious oldest sister, Lucy, seven years her senior, and a troublesome elder brother Ethan, then just turning four and exiting a stage of tantrums. (He never, however, left his disposition to cause trouble behind him.). She didn't get to keep the “baby” spot in the family for very long, before Peter and Samuel, twins, came along when Nessa was seven. They occupied the lion's share of the attention for most of Nessa's childhood: Lucy and Ethan, then fourteen and eleven, helped take care of the twins, but Nessa was neither old enough to help nor young enough to really need to be cared for. She had, until then, never really been a problem child: no major illnesses beyond the expected childhood chicken pox and upset stomachs, no real educational or behavioral concerns in her somewhat short school career.
Some children would have retired into books or television or imaginary friends; Nessa fought against this waning familial engagement by acting out, seeking attention from her immediate family, extended family, friends, strangers. She ran away from home, once, in costume and with a theatrically prepared bundle on a stick (with red polka dotted fabric – Nessa, even young, understood that small flourishes make a performance), and staged elaborate hoaxes on her babysitters and aunts and uncles. Once, left home alone, she reorganized the entire house into a massive blanket fort, and appointed her younger brothers as generals who were not to allow anyone else inside. This string of behaviors was how she first got into drama; it was her parents' attempt to intervene in “a positive way” that landed nearly ten-year-old Nessa in drama camp, where they put on a very low-budget and off-key rendition of Annie.
Nessa didn't even play the title role – she was one of the background orphans, but she milked her stage time down to the last second. And she was hooked. She tried out for all the school plays in middle and high school, and walked local dogs and babysat until she could afford a voice coach. She did community theater in the summers, and befriended the high school theater department entire.
Her family would have found dealing with Nessa's teenage years a handful all on her own—loud and impulsive, arrested once when she was seventeen for underage drinking at a musical's cast party, and shamefully driven home in her dad's fire chief Fly Car several more times—but they were raising several teenagers at once. That only multiplied their problems (by a factor of more than five for the five kids; the problems of teenagers expand exponentially). Add to that, Nessa spending time in theatrical culture and idealizing Broadway and New York – and listening to songs from RENT and beginning to form her own opinions about the world based on the gospel of Musical Theater, instead of the gospel of Mark? It lead to conflicts, both overt and subtle, with Nessa and her brothers typically arrayed against her parents and her sister: fights about politics at dinner were not as common as passive-aggressive things like a certain sister “losing” Nessa's CDs.
The Wallace family, immediate and extended, all live in Indiana. Not an exceptionally fruitful place for a musical theater career, by anyone's standards. When Nessa graduated from high school, she wanted to move immediately to New York City; she envisioned herself becoming a Broadway star instantaneously, bursting onto the stage and winning a Tony award in a month. Her parents envisioned her starving while trying to make rent – a much more realistic prediction, but one that caused no end in fights between eighteen-year-old Nessa and the rest of the family. Her parents wouldn't help her, financially, if she went to New York, and Nessa refused to consider an alternate plan. She wasn't willing to try and cross the country on her own (admittedly nearly non-existent) savings, and wasn't quite willing to burn bridges with her family to do it, so they found themselves in a stalemate.
Nessa didn't want to apply to college – her parents wanted her to, and only partially with her blessing sent in an application to Indiana State University, which was accepted, much to Nessa's displeasure. She spent the entire spring of her last year of high school resistant to going, loudly and frequently pointing out that it was her life, but her resistance got her nowhere.
So she caved in, agreed to go to college, and changed her resistance tactics. As far as her parents knew, the summer job she got at the local pizzeria (instead of acting in her beloved summer musicals, as she always had before) was because she was “growing up” and saving money for a car for college. They were right about one thing: she wassaving money. And in the last week of August, right before she was due to head off Terre Haute, she took all the money she'd earned in tips and odd jobs, all of her clothes and as many worldly belongings as she could fit into her suitcase, and got on a Greyhound bus headed for New York City.
She was at least considerate enough to leave a note, but that really didn't lessen the impact on her parents—who at first were furious, then hurt (and furious), then betrayed (and furious), then distant (and still a little furious). Her relationships with many of her other family-members suffered, to one degree or another, although she didn't have much conflict over it with most of her cousins, or her brothers. (Her sister took her parents' side completely.) It has taken a good two and a half years, but her parents have mostly forgiven her, and she now goes home for visits at Christmas and Easter.
But burning, even temporarily, bridges with her family was worth it, in Nessa's mind, because it meant she was getting to chase her dream. But New York City was also a huge adjustment: the biggest city she had ever spent much time in was Indianapolis, and New York was crowded and busy and unstopping on a completely different scale of magnitude. She had not, however, made plans that were at all appropriate to the reality of New York City. Find an apartment when she got there and then look for a job? That didn't work out at all, and she found herself staying in a youth hostel full of tourists and mice and rats. More of the latter than the former, some days. She went on auditions for chorus lines on Broadway – shows off-Broadway – later, toothpaste commercials and tour guiding on the city buses, before finally surrendering and getting a job waiting tables at a diner in Manhattan.
That job was followed by a series of other food service jobs: waitresses, baristas in coffee shops, bagel girl at the morning breakfast counter near her apartment. The problem with keeping a job was entirely Nessa: whenever she got wind of an audition, it was her big break and she couldn't care less about showing up for work or calling someone to cover her shift if she was supposed to be there. And yet, despite more than two years of auditioning, her break has yet to arrive.
It's not that she hasn't been cast in anything: she has made some background parts in off-Broadway musicals that never went anywhere, speaking roles and chorus roles, and they look good on her resume, but the shows seldom last long, some are suspiciously unprofessional productions, and when they end Nessa goes right back to another restaurant, also staffed at least half with Broadway hopefuls in her same position.
The upside is that she's, at least, building a network of acting contacts, and has made friends and roommates from the experiences, including the three girls she lives with now – in a “two bedroom” near the Theater District, which they have cleverly subdivided with sheets, shelves, and other IKEA products. This is where Nessa finds herself today, currently working in an Applebee's, with no idea of what's ahead of her.
Personality
Nessa is constantly active, possessed of high energy, and almost always outgoing. A classic extrovert, she likes to be surrounded by friends, and enjoys attention, whether it's at a party or on the stage. She's seldom comfortable when she's doing nothing, and is always finding a way to busy herself, productive or otherwise. She bores very easily without some kind of outside stimulus, though; office waiting rooms are one of the worst places, as far as she is concerned. She doesn't particularly like being alone, either; she has never lived alone, and only got her own bedroom when she moved to New York. Silence bothers her; if there isn't someone around to talk to, she plays music or watches television (or does both), and has been known to talk to herself. She tends to pass it off as “practicing monologues” when caught. When she creates diversions for herself or others, they may well be vividly imagined and detailed, but they also tend to leave collateral damage of some kind: as a child she drew on the walls and “borrowed” things for her theatrics and amusements, and as an adult she continues to neglect future consequences in favor of current satisfaction, whether that manifests in eating all of the chocolate cake in her apartment for dinner or in getting blindingly drunk today and ignoring tomorrow's threat of hangover. Combine this tendency for havoc with a generally charming, persuasive demeanor and a talent for performing (not just on stage, but in social situations) and Nessa is definitely a routine source of trouble and mischief.
Nessa has a classic case of Middle Child Syndrome—she is affable and flexible, but also very, very quick to decide she's not getting enough attention and try to fix it. In her youth, this drive was typically satisfied by acting out, or just plain acting. Nessa craves attention and validation, and for people to see her as unique and special, not just as "one of the Wallaces". Even in New York City, where nobody would know any of the Wallaces even slightly, Nessa is no less troubled by the idea of being one of the crowd. (It's just a larger crowd, now.)
She's possessed of a strong sense of compassion, even for things that might not need her compassion; sad movies and even some Hallmark cards have been known to get her misty-eyed. (She's just got a lot of feelings, okay?) She is a good shoulder to cry on, although she tends to get stuck on the “crying” part, and sympathizes very readily with other people's plights, offers very readily to try and fix things for them, but is not a good source, at all, for how to fix problems.
Action is her realm, not contemplation. "Intelligent" or "educated" are not the best descriptions for her––she was never an exemplary student, but this had less to do with her inborn talents and more to do with lacking diligence. Academics were consistently a weak area during her youth: sit her down and give her a piece of music or a dance to learn, however, and she'll work twice as long as she's told to. But in terms of mental power, she is clever, able to think quickly on her feet and make fast decisions, and solve problems in novel, surprising ways. She doesn't have a great font of knowledge to draw from, and if something is not interesting or relevant to her it's hard for her to retain information about it, and she seldom does. She's a curious person, naturally, and one who seeks new experiences: whether it manifests in a foot-stomping refusal to eat at the same restaurant twice in six months, or walking home through new neighborhoods and new routes, or being willing to try new things that seem unpleasant or dangerous. (Sky diving? Yes! Fugu? Sure! A back handspring? Why not!)
Nessa is full of belief in herself when she starts or plans something, whether it's moving to New York or attempting that back handspring that she hasn't ever actually learned to do. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing depends largely on what she thinks she can accomplish, and whether it's actually possible. Nessa is not all that good at differentiating, herself. She has a healthy capacity to realize she can't do something once she's halfway through, but she is stubborn and prideful, and it's very hard for her to give up on something. And it's doubly hard when other people know she's doing it. She can also be very selfish with her decisions – she may not be stingy with money or belongings or even her time and affection, but when it comes to life choices Nessa is very ferocious about putting herself first.
She was raised in a fairly conservative Catholic household, but she has drifted very far from church teachings: she celebrates the holidays in a secular way, but hasn't been to confession or communion since the last time she was at home in Indiana, and doesn't go when she's in New York. She doesn't believe in the more overtly miraculous teachings of the church, although she does still align with of the moral guidance; she is probably closest to being agnostic, but will never tell her family that. She may someday tell her family that she discovered, since moving to New York, that she is attracted to women as well as men, but she is still weighing the consequences of throwing that wrench in the precarious relationship she has with her parents. (However, everyone in her non-Indiana life is aware – and to Nessa herself it is not a very big deal, save for the familial backlash she's sure it will cause. After all, Maureen from RENT has been one of her dream roles for as long as she can remember.)
Appearance
Nessa has red, wavy hair, and pale skin with a tendency to freckle slightly in the winter, and ferociously in the summer; though her family claims Irish and Scottish heritage, most of them don't show it nearly as clearly and stereotypically as Nessa does. She is small, height-wise, standing a bit over 5'1” (she has been known to put 5'2” on her resume). Though her weight is actually quite average, speaking from national and medical standards, she has a tendency to get typecast as the comedic and overweight sidekick – because media overweight and actualoverweight are entirely different creatures. Though her weight is a sore subject for her, she does like that not being rail-thin means she's curvy. That part is nice.
She has a large forehead, compared to the rest of her face, a longer nose, and pink/red undertones to her complexion. Her eyes are a very light blue, with light colored lashes, which makes her feel that her eyes fade entirely into the rest of her face (“I look like some kind of freaky eyeless alien”, to quote directly), so that eyeliner and mascara are such an essential part of her daily dress and confidence routine that many people have never actually seen her without. Including some people she has lived with.
Aside from eye makeup, for which she frequently exercises a flair for the dark and dramatic, she tends to go light on makeup on a daily basis. She wears and owns a lot of black clothing, thanks to her series of waitressing and barista jobs and long time spent in theater, and while she does wear colors on her days off, it's more common than not to see her in all or mostly black. (Food service has also influenced her wardrobe in that she owns many, many pairs of at least somewhat cute shoes that are comfortable to stand and walk in for long periods of time, and generally wears those almost to the exclusion of any others. Heels are for people who get to sit down.)
Fuku
Sailor Dionysus's fuku is, at its base, a white Doric chiton, pinned only at her left shoulder; the chiton is short, ending above her knees, and from about her waist to her knees it fades from white to deep, wine red, as if it had been stained or dipped in wine. Around her shoulders, Dionysus wears the pelt of a leopard, tied a little bit like a chlamys, but not as long or as full – and since her right breast is exposed by her chiton, she has a tendency to pull the leopard pelt around for modesty, at least when she is thinking about it. (Having super powers and flashing boob is a bit much to deal with all at once; Nessa will likely develop much more confidence about running around bare-breasted and fabulous as the game progresses.)
When she transforms, her hair is twined back into a tall updo, with volume at and behind the crown of her head – parts of her hair are in small braids or dreadlocks leading back into the knot behind the crown of her head, and her hair is also wound about with strands of grapevine and toxic wild ivy – part of which dangles just below her hairline, holding a bunch of three small purplish-red jewels that resemble grapes. Part of her hair is drawn out through the large, high bun at the back of her head, and dangles as long ponytail, parts of which are also braided and dreaded.
On her feet, Dionysus wears dark reddish-brown leather sandals that lace up to just below her knees, and she has cuffs of the same color leather on both of her wrists, embossed with vine patterns. The left cuff integrates the bronze frame of her transformation relic, although it is surrounded by leather and is no longer large for her wrist.
Transformation
Nessa puts her fingers to her lips, and then raises her hand upwards, so that her transformation relic, an old bronze wrist bangle, is high above her head; looking up, she calls, “Let me be consumed, Dionysus!”
The first thing that really happens is that a strong scent of wine permeates the area directly near Nessa; after a second or two, dark purple light starts to cascade down her arm from the bangle, down her arm and across her body, quite like liquid is being poured over her. When she is entirely obscured, it begins to drain away, also from her arm working its way downwards, and Sailor Dionysus's fuku appears.
Powers:
Thyrsus: Her weapon, the Thyrsus, is a long staff topped with a pinecone. Literally, yes, she wields a stick of the giant fennel plant, just over four feet long, with ivy and ribbons wound around it, and with a big old pinecone stuck on top. It is not, at first glance, an intimidating weapon in the slightest; even against normal humans it doesn't do much damage, and for a transformed senshi it's about the equivalent of a particularly itchy mosquito bite. But that's not the beauty of the Thyrsus. It's Dionysus's weapon, after all. When someone is struck with the Thyrsus, they begin to feel the effects of intoxication. Its hits are cumulative – being hit once or twice might make someone the equivalent of tipsy, with some coordination and inhibition impairment. More hits equates to more impairment: she could theoretically hit someone so many times they'd actually black out, but it would take a good while. The Thyrsus cannot be fatal on its own – it doesn't cause actual chemical intoxication, it just mimics its effects. The effects wear off at about the same rate as actual drunkenness for someone mortal or untransformed, and more quickly for Senshi, and, like the alcohol-based version of intoxication, depend on weight and body composition as far as how quickly and dramatically they take effect. As a sacred implement of Dionysus, the Thyrsus is much more durable than its stick-and-ivy composition suggests: it might be broken by supernatural means, but it is close to indestructible mundanely.
As far as using the Thyrsus goes, Sailor Dionysus has had some stage combat training, but no actual fighting experience. She is as prone to trying to wield it like a baseball bat as she is to actually using it effectively. She is also not immune to its intoxicating effects.
Amphorae Burst, or, as it is more commonly known in parties and frat-houses the world over, “Party Foul”:
When the alcohol gets broken out and people start drinking, things get broken. Sailor Dionysus's attack channels all of that misfortune and potential energy into a sudden burst of (usually unexpected) destruction. When Dionysus shouts her attack, something, one thing, in her near proximity, breaks dramatically. It might be a plate glass window shattering outwards, or a tree limb shearing off suddenly and plummeting to the ground. Anything that can be broken. (People are not things, nor are any other animals. Plants are fair game. Magical items cannot be affected, either, but mundane items like guns, for instance, could be. Hearts, promises, and other metaphorical objects do not qualify.)
The potential for harm from this attack comes from being in the way of debris or shrapnel, or suddenly finding that the awning you were standing under is collapsing on top of you, or any of many other environmental, secondary hazards. Dionysus will not begin with any kind of precise control of this attack: she just shouts and hopes for the best. Practice and training will help her learn to focus it, eventually. Naturally, she is not immune to any of its secondary effects, nor are her allies. She can use it once per battle with no cost or special actions—it makes her, metaphorically speaking, a bad party guest, and ancient Greek taboos about hospitality insist that she make some kind of symbolic amends for making a mess before the attack becomes available again. (This might be as simple as finding the actual owner of the item to apologize, if such a person exists, or picking up some of the debris. Sometimes feasible mid-fight, sometimes not.)
Guardian
None.
Explanation
Dionysus, son of Zeus by the mortal Semele, is the Olympian God of wine-making – which at first seems like an entirely petty, frat-boy sort of thing to be the patron deity of. But he was also the god of what wine made humanity experience: madness and ecstasy, wildness and abandon. In various cults and areas, he was a god of epiphany and death/rebirth mysteries, and a symbol of going somewhere else (or originating elsewhere in the first place), wild and different, and returning with wisdom. In scholarship in the thousands of years since his worship was popular, he has been placed—most famously by Nietzche—into a dichotomy of order and chaos, reason and emotion, as the emotional and impulsive and unpredictably violent aspect of the human psyche, with Apollo as his opposite.
I wanted to write Nessa as a representative of these ideas surrounding Dionysus – wildness and intoxication – without going the route of actually involving alcohol all that much in her background. Her aspirations fit Dionysus, as Dionysus was a patron of the stage in ancient Greece. As far as her powers go, having a healthy dose of buffer/debuffer makes a lot of sense given the root of her powers in a mind-altering substance, and the fact that many of the famous stories that concern Dionysus's punitive and offensive actions are those of power indirectly causing harm. He was the one who gave King Midas his unfortunate gift for turning everything into gold, drove his cousin Pentheus mad and had him torn apart by his Maenads, and drove pirates insane in fear and confusion when they tried to kidnap him, but few myths relate him acting in direct violence.
Her weapon, the thrysus, was a ritual implement used in Dionysian rituals and mysteries – it was supposed to have been used as a weapon by Bacchus and by Dionysus's followers, but was more frequently really just a stick with a pinecone, symbolic of fertility, hedonism, and all of the other exciting things Dionysus stood for. Her costume elements are strongly inspired by cult iconography for Dionysus, from the leopard pelt and vines and grapes to the chiton stained with wine; she has a costume that ought to expose one of her breasts in homage to the general depiction of Maenads and Bacchantes, the followers of Dionysus/Bacchus, in art both Classical and more recent.
Name relevance, briefly: Dionysus was the “foreign” member of the Olympian Pantheon, in more ways than one: for one thing, most of his origins agree that his mother was mortal, dividing him from the other Olympians; writing about him also takes pains to point out that he was raised on Mount Nysa, very, very far away. Nessa's first name, meaning “not gentle”, touches on one of the aspects that separates Dionysus from his fatter, jollier, altogether friendlier Roman counterpart, Bacchus: he was a god of wild and uninhibited behavior, the god followed by the maenads and the satyrs. (It also resembles Mount Nysa, without actually originating from the same linguistic roots at all: bonus!)
Writing Sample
Nessa was humming to herself as she cleared plates; it was the tail end of the dinner rush, on a Tuesday night, and though nothing in New York City was ever completely deserted, Applebee's was doing a pretty good job of trying to be. There were a few tables finishing up, only one in her section, and some people lingering at what passed for a bar. If she was lucky, her manager would cut her after this last table, and she could take her tips and get the hell out of here. Tuesdays were not exactly fascinating or active evenings, but she could probably catch some kind of open mic at a bar, or maybe someone was having some kind of favorable drink specials. (Tuesdays, were they Ladies Night somewhere? Probably. Nessa was not going to give herself a headache trying to recall.)
“--a dream in days gone by,” she half-hummed, half-sung. Les Mis was the earworm of the day, and she had been working the entire shift with different numbers stuck in her head, when she wasn't humming along to whatever catchy treacly pop music Applebee's was playing for its patrons.
“Excuse me, miss,” a voice cut into her half-sung, half-imagined rendition of Fantine's ballad, and Nessa's head jerked up. She almost dropped the chocolate syrup covered plate she was holding (it wobbled dangerously, precariously, in her hand, but she steadied it quickly enough to avoid a messy spill). She looked up to find a guest—she supposed he was a guest—standing in front of her. He was just slightly closer than she felt comfortable with, but working in the service industry was a daily trial in space invasions.
“Uh, hi. Can I help you?” The instinct to respond as if she was on the job kicked in just a moment too late, but at least it was there. It took another second for her to recognize him – less his face, more his witty T-shirt, which she had been amused by. He'd been at one of her tables, although if she remembered correctly they'd left a good ten minutes ago. “Did you.... leave something behind?”
He leaned a little closer to her. Personal space, buddy, she thought, holding the chocolate syrupy plate in front of her like some kind of sticky, desert shield. This was not, at all, a comfortable situation. “I liked your singing,” he commented. That made it even less comfortable.
“Didn't mean for anyone to hear that. Whoops.” She laughed awkwardly. Where the hell was her manager? Nowhere in sight. She was going to have to handle this herself. Great. “I don't suppose you're a talent scout, huh?”
The way the guy in the witty T-Shirt said “wellllll,” drawing out the vowel and the l, stepping even closer and smiling, told her absolutely everything she needed to know.
“Sorry, I can't give you my phone number. Applebee's makes us take a vow of celibacy in order to work here. Company-wide policy. Tough luck.” She pushed her chocolatey plate forward a little, and brushed past the customer and off towards the staff area.
Questionnaire
Name: Alice
E-mail: xxxxx
Homepage: (optional) n/a
Referred by: advertisement on wanna_rp@IJ
Other RPGs: I do most of my RP these days face to face, but have been involved in thedragonage at insanejournal (http://thedragonage.insanejournal.com) for several years now: I play Signy (http://signyature.insanejournal.com) and Lucressia (http://lucressia.insanejournal.com); there are links to completed and in-progress threads for both of them on their journals.
View Application: Most certainly!
Results
Overall an excellent application, totally up to standards, and well worth emulating by future applicants. Your application verdict is Accept. You are also cleared to assist with story editing if you want to.
Your application was reviewed by Regina and Em.
Civilian
+ E: Love the career, such a perfect choice for the setting!
+ R: She clearly needs to meet Beatrice.
+ E: Very nice NPC work! Might be nice to hear more on the roommates, though, as they appear in the actual setting and therefore are people other characters might presumably run into or know.
History
+ E: Love the big family. Lots of nice details, too! Really brings the clan to life.
+ E: Great detail on her current New York life, a thoroughly enjoyable and believable character history!
- E: I do wonder about her romantic history before moving to New York, especially given the recent realization about her sexuality mentioned in the personality section. Did she attempt to date in high school, or were relationships just a non-starter? Was it a concern for her family if so? (Or regarded as a good Christian girl not getting into trouble?) Has she at all pursued any female relationships?
+ R: Like the history! No other comments.
Personality
+ E: Haha, that collateral damage angle is nice!
- E: What was her emotional response to her realizing her attraction to women? If she has or hasn’t pursued relationships, why?
- R: Nessa gets all the wins. Impressed by the detail! Only one nitpick to speak of: the religious aspect of her family life was impressed pretty hard early in the application. Was there any one thing that caused Nessa to stray from that, was it a gradual shift, or was she never a big believer in the first place and kept it hushed to avoid further conflict with her family?
Appearance
+ E: SHORT PEOPLE UNITE! *high-five*
+ E: Good character detail on the eyelashes/eyeliner bit.
+ R: Like the description here too. (Heels are for people who get to sit down, very much yes.)
+ E: Very nice appearance work, I can picture her quite clearly.
Fuku
+ E: YES, culturally-appropriate boobage! *high five x infinity* Not to mention to whole Dionysus angle making is especially appropriate, given all the cavorting with wine mythology stuff.
- E: How long is the pelt? Mid-back? Bottom of the shoulder? Is it a full pelt with tail or partial? (Is the tied part the leopard’s arms?)
+ E: Also sounds like a Greek updo, kudos for that!
+ E: And incorporated transformation relic. Seriously, have a cake. Better yet, a cat! You can trade it in for internet points.
+ R: I love the fuku!
- R: Does the ivy cause rash and itchyness if someone touches it?
- R: Maybe include some more traditional fuku elements. (Gloves, or tiara, or earrings?)
- E: I do slightly wonder what elements if any bear resemblance to the classic fuku, and in what ways. It might be worth mentioning any throwbacks to the classic fuku. If there aren’t any, maybe just add one or two? (I kind of imagine her leopard pelt like a sailor collar, I’m just not sure how accurate that mental image is.)
Transformation
+ E: GREAT transformation phrase. Also love the use of scent!
- R: I like the transformation phrase! I'm a little perplexed by the opening though: where is the cup during the beginning motions, prior to her activation phrase? I'm not sure if it's in her unoccupied hand or appears after pressing her fingers to her lips.
- E: Is her transformation item a plain bangle, textured, or adorned with any decoration? Bangle is a great item choice, though!
Power
+ E: Oh my gods a pinecone staff. Hee, I love it! I also like the choice of impairment damage over physical. Very Dionysian.
- R: Thyrsus - I like the weapon! Minor clarification: is the hitting portion to activate the ability contingent on actually striking someone, or would light contact be enough? I doubt I'm phrasing this clearly: is there a level of how hard someone needs to be struck with this before it takes effect?
+ E: Amphorae Burst is a suitably dramatic power! I wonder how much of the city will be left as the game goes on.
- R: Amphorae Burst - Overall I like, although I recommend some alterations: giving the ability a definite number of times it can be used in a time period, and going into detail as to what it looks like when it's used. Does Dionysus have to say the words "Amphorae Burst" to activate it? Something's also troubling me about the aiming aspect, but I'm having trouble pinpointing what. It seems a little nebulous.
- E: I think the nebulous aiming is part of the whole point of the power and I wholly approve of that. I don’t think that should be changed in the least. I think the question about usage is more, aside from needing to make amends, does she have to allow herself other time to recharge? I feel the needing to make amends aspect is enough of a recharge, though. I think “once per battle” is generally understood to be once or twice (or maybe thrice) a day. I mean, it’d be unusual for her to end up in more than one battle in a day, but if she did end up in two separate battles, or one battle dragged out for a really long time (enough for her to make amends) I wouldn’t see the problem with her being able to use the attack repeatedly if she could fulfill the amends part. It’s not like she’s a vastly overpowered senshi or anything to where I’d be concerned.
Explanation
+ R: Looks good. We saw the weapon reference earlier, but nice to see it expounded a bit here too.
Writing Sample
+ R: Good to go!
Your application was reviewed by Regina and Em.
Civilian
+ E: Love the career, such a perfect choice for the setting!
+ R: She clearly needs to meet Beatrice.
+ E: Very nice NPC work! Might be nice to hear more on the roommates, though, as they appear in the actual setting and therefore are people other characters might presumably run into or know.
History
+ E: Love the big family. Lots of nice details, too! Really brings the clan to life.
+ E: Great detail on her current New York life, a thoroughly enjoyable and believable character history!
- E: I do wonder about her romantic history before moving to New York, especially given the recent realization about her sexuality mentioned in the personality section. Did she attempt to date in high school, or were relationships just a non-starter? Was it a concern for her family if so? (Or regarded as a good Christian girl not getting into trouble?) Has she at all pursued any female relationships?
+ R: Like the history! No other comments.
Personality
+ E: Haha, that collateral damage angle is nice!
- E: What was her emotional response to her realizing her attraction to women? If she has or hasn’t pursued relationships, why?
- R: Nessa gets all the wins. Impressed by the detail! Only one nitpick to speak of: the religious aspect of her family life was impressed pretty hard early in the application. Was there any one thing that caused Nessa to stray from that, was it a gradual shift, or was she never a big believer in the first place and kept it hushed to avoid further conflict with her family?
Appearance
+ E: SHORT PEOPLE UNITE! *high-five*
+ E: Good character detail on the eyelashes/eyeliner bit.
+ R: Like the description here too. (Heels are for people who get to sit down, very much yes.)
+ E: Very nice appearance work, I can picture her quite clearly.
Fuku
+ E: YES, culturally-appropriate boobage! *high five x infinity* Not to mention to whole Dionysus angle making is especially appropriate, given all the cavorting with wine mythology stuff.
- E: How long is the pelt? Mid-back? Bottom of the shoulder? Is it a full pelt with tail or partial? (Is the tied part the leopard’s arms?)
+ E: Also sounds like a Greek updo, kudos for that!
+ E: And incorporated transformation relic. Seriously, have a cake. Better yet, a cat! You can trade it in for internet points.
+ R: I love the fuku!
- R: Does the ivy cause rash and itchyness if someone touches it?
- R: Maybe include some more traditional fuku elements. (Gloves, or tiara, or earrings?)
- E: I do slightly wonder what elements if any bear resemblance to the classic fuku, and in what ways. It might be worth mentioning any throwbacks to the classic fuku. If there aren’t any, maybe just add one or two? (I kind of imagine her leopard pelt like a sailor collar, I’m just not sure how accurate that mental image is.)
Transformation
+ E: GREAT transformation phrase. Also love the use of scent!
- R: I like the transformation phrase! I'm a little perplexed by the opening though: where is the cup during the beginning motions, prior to her activation phrase? I'm not sure if it's in her unoccupied hand or appears after pressing her fingers to her lips.
- E: Is her transformation item a plain bangle, textured, or adorned with any decoration? Bangle is a great item choice, though!
Power
+ E: Oh my gods a pinecone staff. Hee, I love it! I also like the choice of impairment damage over physical. Very Dionysian.
- R: Thyrsus - I like the weapon! Minor clarification: is the hitting portion to activate the ability contingent on actually striking someone, or would light contact be enough? I doubt I'm phrasing this clearly: is there a level of how hard someone needs to be struck with this before it takes effect?
+ E: Amphorae Burst is a suitably dramatic power! I wonder how much of the city will be left as the game goes on.
- R: Amphorae Burst - Overall I like, although I recommend some alterations: giving the ability a definite number of times it can be used in a time period, and going into detail as to what it looks like when it's used. Does Dionysus have to say the words "Amphorae Burst" to activate it? Something's also troubling me about the aiming aspect, but I'm having trouble pinpointing what. It seems a little nebulous.
- E: I think the nebulous aiming is part of the whole point of the power and I wholly approve of that. I don’t think that should be changed in the least. I think the question about usage is more, aside from needing to make amends, does she have to allow herself other time to recharge? I feel the needing to make amends aspect is enough of a recharge, though. I think “once per battle” is generally understood to be once or twice (or maybe thrice) a day. I mean, it’d be unusual for her to end up in more than one battle in a day, but if she did end up in two separate battles, or one battle dragged out for a really long time (enough for her to make amends) I wouldn’t see the problem with her being able to use the attack repeatedly if she could fulfill the amends part. It’s not like she’s a vastly overpowered senshi or anything to where I’d be concerned.
Explanation
+ R: Looks good. We saw the weapon reference earlier, but nice to see it expounded a bit here too.
Writing Sample
+ R: Good to go!