[bnw] application

[fellowtraveler]

PLAYER INFO

Name: James
Contact Information:
plurk: lesgrenouilles
aim: chieftaincreeper
pms to character journal
Time Zone: CST
Characters Played: N/A


CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Margot Sullivan
Character Canon: Original Character

History: N/A

AU History:

Margot was born to a lower class family along with her twin sister, Nadia. Both her father, Derek, and mother, Eileen, worked in the Industrial District, near to where they lived. Their mother died giving birth to the twins, leaving their father to raise them alone.

Things were tough on the family in the beginning: no mother, Nadia was more often than not sick as an infant, their father worked long hours, but Derek Sullivan managed to hold them all together and they were, for the most part, happy. Their situation could always be better, there was no denying that, but as long as everyone remained in one piece, their father considered everything a success. Because of their standing in society, Derek worked hard to push both of his girls in school, putting a high value on education, something which both children accepted and prized. Both girls were bright and he didn't want them to end up stuck down in the Industrial District for the rest of their lives.

For the longest time, everything was normal until the little fires started. It was a mystery at first, Derek putting it down to maybe shoddy wiring and already planning a move out of that house, when he made the connection: they always happened whenever Margot was throwing a tantrum. Their family was made up of normal humans for the most part, but there was a smattering of Enlightened in the family tree from time to time. It was strange, but not an unheard of occurrence to have an Enlightened come from a family of normal people. With this new knowledge, Margot was able to start training her abilities.

Sort of. The feathers that started sprouting were annoying at times and the fires would get out of hand, but that was why their dad had installed extinguishers in every room. It was a wise move. Margot herself was pleased to learn she could do all sorts of extraordinary things, though it left her feeling guilty that her sister couldn't. Anytime Nadia wanted her to show off, Margot was more than glad to, using that as compensation for her guilt (and taking all the good natured teasing that came along with.)

At the age of ten, when the girls were out playing, they bonded with their fist Pokemon, a pair of Eevees. Margot named hers Beau and the two of them fast became friends. Whenever Nadia couldn't go out because she was feeling well, Margot and Beau would go off and have adventures. They worked well as a team, practicing fighting out in the fields, running amok around busy streets, and generally being the little terrors that they were known for. It wasn't too long before Beau was ready to evolve and when Margot got a Fire Stone for her birthday, she was thrilled.

Wanting nothing more than for the adventures to keep going, Margot signed on to become a delver at the age of sixteen. Girl and Pokemon were taken on as apprentices, staying out of more dangerous missions until they became experienced over the years. She had promised Beau that one day, when they were strong enough, they would go out and become explorers.

When the twins graduated from school, Nadia immediately married her sweetheart and Margot began her career full time. While Nadia had moved out to begin her life with her new husband, Margot stayed behind with her father. If she was going to pack up and leave soon, what point was there in getting a house and doing that gross marriage thing?

Shortly after signing up to become an explorer, things took a turn at her day job. On a routine delving excursion, Margot and Beau were ambushed by a group of strong Pokemon. While they usually were able to beat the odds, this time they weren't so lucky. Margot barely made it out with her life; Beau didn't make it out at all.

The girl was devastated; Beau had been her friend for as long as she could remember and now he was gone. Recuperating at the medical center was hard and the second she was released, she visited the Pokemon's grave everyday. She wasn't alone. Each time she went to visit, there was a little Fletchling there that hang out around the grave site.

While Margot wanted nothing to do with Pokemon for the longest time, as the days went by she realized that wallowing around in guilt and sorrow was not the wisest course of action; she had made a promise to Beau to see the world and she was going to keep it. She soon warmed up to the Fletchling and bonded with it, the bird choosing to stay by her side.

The second she was healed, she vowed, she would leave the city and start her journey as an explorer.

Canon Personality:

Margot is both passionate and ambitious. Give her the chance to learn new things and she'll jump at the opportunity in a heartbeat. Her thirst for learning new skills is boundless and she has the tendency to throw herself headfirst into things, preferring a more hands on method to anything else. This has the downside of making her a more reckless individual and she is often getting into trouble or situations she could have easily avoided in the first place had she just stopped to think. Couple this with her near fearless attitude towards things and you often end up with a recipe for disaster.

This usually leads to her rather unique style of problem solving, which is 'punch it until it goes away' or 'be louder and win.' This was a more prevalent method during her childhood and teenage years, but is thankfully something that has eased up as she's gotten older. This sometimes has the backfire of her bottling up her emotions and she still, more often than not, defaults to anger as her defense mechanism when it comes to coping with things. While she's better at using her people words, sometimes Margot finds the tried and true methods to be the best.

Common sense is about as rare as diamonds with Margot and she tends to act first, think later. However, when it comes to battle or tight situations, she's good at thinking on her feet. She's clever, but sometimes forgets to use her head unless it's in the heat of the moment.

Margot has an adventurous streak about a mile wide and finds it hard to sit still for very long. There's a big, wide world out there and she wants to see it all, do it all, and be it all. At a young age, she was always getting into things, much to the annoyance of her father and it was a miracle that her sister didn't have a heart attack over the stunts she pulled. The only things she actively avoids is anything that can harm those she cares about, often tossing herself in their stead to protect them. She'd rather take the hit than let someone she cares about get gravely hurt or killed.

When it comes to family or friends, she has the tendency to become fiercely protective. Her sister, Nadia, is someone that she looks out for constantly and still checks up on even though Nadia's since been married and moved out. It annoys her twin to no end, though she secretly finds it sweet. When it comes to her Pokemon, she's right there fighting along with them and will fuss over them like they're family (and as far as Margot is concerned, they are.) She possesses a strange sentimental streak and will save nearly anything that is given to her by those she cares about. Pictures? Saved. Gifts? Saved. Food? ...Eaten. It's food. That's not going to waste. This leads her to have some packrat like habits even when it's not something given to her by a friend. The object could hold some sort of memory (like a pressed flower) or she could simply find it useful and want to hang on to it for later.

Margot also has the tendency to be extremely blunt and will often speak her mind without hesitation or use of tact, sometimes coming across as a bit of a jerk. Despite this, though she may call someone an idiot and berate them, she's ususally willing to help out with whatever needs doing (assuming, of course, she hasn't put other people off too much beforehand or has decided to hate their guts for some perceived slight.) When people do get through to her or can look past her various shortcomings, she can be a loyal and honest friend.

At the age of nineteen, Margot is still in that phase where she's long since been a child, but still grasping adulthood. Her sense of humour can be still be considered childish, trollish, or teasing and she lacks social grace in most situations that require it. There's a part of her that still cares about what her peers think and wants their approval, a remnant from childhood, and there will be times where she goes out of her way to please people. Those times are becoming fewer and far between. Then there's the other part that tells her to hawk a loogie in public and not give a single damn, so there's that. The older she gets, the less she'll care what others think, already casting off a lot of self consciousness as is and continuing on her way to becoming a beautiful swan.

AU Deviation:

A lot of deviation for Margot will come in the form of her abilities. Obviously, magic isn't a thing, but her knowledge of boats will be non-existent and her survival skills limited to what she's learned in books or picked up while delving.

Though there have been tragic events in her life, the tragedy that marks her backstory in her original universe is significantly toned down. She still loses her mother and a close friend, but isn't surrounded by war and violence. This allows her to better cope with things, not becoming an alcoholic wreck by the time she's twenty. Her desire to see the world is also less because she wants to escape these events and almost entirely based on her desire for adventure, new things, and wanting to see the world.

While her twin sister Nadia is still sick in this world, unlike in their OU she is not dying. This alleviates a lot of Margot's worries and while she is still protective of her, she doesn't feel the need to stay constantly by her side. This allows for her to actually be able to go out and do things guilt free without feeling the need to constantly hover (though Nadia will always be her first stop whenever she comes back to Union.)

Canon Abilities:

Magic
The vast majority of people in Margot's world can do magic. There are several different types with each person having a special ability that they are trained in, as well as 'basic' magic that everyone can use (finding very small lost objects, simple charms, etc.) Margot's specialty lies in bending the four basic elements to her will. Her strength is with fire, with wind following closely behind, then water, and being weakest at using earth magic.

Most of the time she uses her ability to make constructs to entertain her sister, keep warm, or any number of mundane things. Living close to the sea, her wind and water magic are particularly prized as they are useful when it comes to dealing with ships.

Survival Skills
Given her adventurous streak, Margot has spent a lot of her time out and about exploring. With that, she's picked up a few tips and tricks on how to survive out in the wilderness. This includes, but is not limited to: knowing what is and isn't poisonous, making snares, some hunting, and climbing trees really fast to avoid bears. These are all particularly useful in not dying a pretty terrible out in the beauty of nature.

Boats / Sailing
Growing up next to the sea, a lot of the children in Margot's hometown of Haven know how to sail. This is a hobby that Margot is particularly fond of, reading up on boats, learning the parts, and even building her own (if you count adding a mast and sail to a rowboat as building your own.) As she gets older, she contracts herself out to merchant ships, using her magic to put wind in their sails or to keep the water calm around the ship and allowing it safe passage through the ocean.

As she spends a couple of years on and off working on the boats, she's picked up more knowledge on how they're run, often asking the captain a million annoying questions until being banished to the crow's nest.

Enlightened Abilities:

Mastery of Battle
Even though Margot thinks before she acts, battles are generally no problem. It's like once she's in the thick of it, she knows what to do, conducting herself and her team with ease.

Fire
Being a fire type is all fine and dandy until you nearly burn the house down, which has happened on more than one occasion (fire extinguishers are a staple in the Sullivan household.) As Margot learns to master her ability, she'll be able to conjure flames whenever she likes, shaping them to her will and using them in battle. As it stands now, the only time she can summon them is when she's feeling a particular surge of emotion or thinks about it really hard. Really. Hard. She still has a long way to go.

In addition, she's almost entirely fire proof, which is something that comes in handy considering. Most of the changes that this type brings are internal, her body temperature running higher than most, though when she has her flame on going, she can emit small sparks or embers.

Flying
As of right now, Margot's flying type is mostly an annoyance rather than a gift. Unlike her fire type, flying is mostly cosmetic and she has small patches of reddish feathers on her arms and back, particularly around her shoulder blades (later, they will cover her almost entirely.) They itch sometimes and then there's the problem of molting. Oh. And her twin teasingly asking if she can use them for down pillows. Jerk.

When she levels up and 'evolves,' she'll gain of a pair of wings along her arms that will allow her to glide, fly short distances, propel herself upwards to great heights, or use gust-like attacks.

Other cosmetic changes include scales around her hands/feet and talons.

First Evolution
Keeping in tradition that Margot is a shorty short pants, her stats range better in agility and special attacks (to compensate for the lack of magic.) At this point in time, her fire abilities will be more prominent in comparison to her flying ones. She will not be able to fly, the wings on her arms too small. Her attacks will consist of lower level special moves, such as Ember and Gust, eventually working up to things like Incinerate the higher she goes in levels.

Second Evolution
This is where the Flying type becomes more visible, gaining the ability to Fly. Keeping in tradition with her reckless nature, Brave Bird will also be a move that she eventually gains. She'll have a better handle on her fire typing, able to be almost completely fireproof and insensitive to certain temperatures (within reason; reaching for things in the oven would be fine, burns will rarely happen, but she can't do things like volcano dive or hang out in magma.) Her fire moves will range somewhere along the lines of Overheat.

Starter Pokémon: Fletchling

Notes/Special Considerations:

Not really a big thing that has any sort of impact on the game, but I will be bringing Margot in with a couple of injuries from the delving incident mentioned in her AU history. She has about two weeks left to heal and this will give me a chance to have her build CR within Union before tossing her out into the wilderness as an explorer. This is mostly for my benefit OOCly and to get a better foothold in the game/setting.

SAMPLES

First-Person:

Test run thread.

Third-Person:

Beau was her first Pokemon.

When she and her sister were ten, they had been playing up by the agricultural tower when they had run across two Eevees. The Pokemon had been shy at first, but the girls offered each a little bit of their lunch (who couldn't resist PB&J) before they came closer, eventually eating quite happily out of their hands. From that moment on, the bond had started to form and it wasn't long before the girls took them home.

Margot and Nadia joked that maybe they were twins, like they were. Wouldn't that be fun, twin Eevees for twin humans?

Margot and Beau were inseparable. When Nadia was too ill to play and stayed home curled up with her own Pokemon, the other two were out having adventures. They had each others' backs, played pretend, and dreamed of being adventurers. 'One day,' Margot promised, 'We're gonna go out and see the world. Together.'

They grew up, celebrated birthdays, holidays, Beau's evolution into Flareon; there was nothing that they didn't do together.

Nine years later and things had changed. The little grave was decorated with flowers, a candle, a few other sentimental gifts that the young woman had brought with her every day since she had been released from the medical center. Her arm was in a sling and she was still stiff to move sometimes, but she always made the journey out to Beau's grave.

In two weeks' time she'd be considered healed enough to finally leave as an Explorer. It hurt that she wouldn't be doing it with her best friend.

As she made her way to the site, there it was again, that Fletchling. Every time Margot came here, it was sitting there, as if it were waiting for her. She would sit, it would chirp and sing its little songs, but for the longest time she ignored it; her heart wasn't into making friends just that moment.

Today... Today was different. Beau's old collar jingled in her coat pocket, next to the PB&J sandwich that she had brought with her today. As she sat by the gravestone, she watched the Fletchling. It sang, but seemed more interested in her lunch than anything else, chirping and tilting its head, sidling ever closer.

Finally, Margot broke off a small piece and held it in offering, just like she had so many years ago with Beau.