Character AP

[kol]

Trix or Fly: Can one of you guys check out my ap and see any character flaws? Strangely enough I am almost done with the application. XD


Still to do: Take Personality Outline and turn it into paragraph form, Finish Henshi and Powers, spell and grammar check, turn in XD.

For: http://www.cthulhu.seiryuu.org, Sailor Yig

Part I : General Information

Name : Kol. Although that looks entirely too dull there so I feel compelled to write at least another sentence to compensate for the three letter name ;)

Email address : koobbers@--com please :)

Part II : Character Information

Character Name :

Ava Whiting be her name, explaination as follows:


• Ava’s mother as a girl had been much enamored with all things Arthurian, and as the years grew she had gone quite batty over the subject. It was only natural for the woman as obsessed as Ava’s mother was to name her only daughter after the misted isle of Avalon. Thankfully Ava’s mother would burden no more children with such whimsical names!
  
  
• The name Avalon itself could be related to the Welsh word afal, which means apple. (source: Behindthename.com). There is more then just a subtle link between apples and serpents and puritans ;).
  
  
• Her Surname, Whiting, is a common enough one in Massachusets. The word itself is either a small fish found off the Atlantic seaboard similar to a cod or the act of “whitening something.” The relevence of fish to the name is simple: Ava’s father is the inheriting son of a fishing company that has been operating the Boston area for over a hundred years, so it was only fate for the surname to refer to some type of a fish :).
  

Character Position : Ava is a Senior who hopes to get her degree in Humanities sometime in the next decade. She is also the ubersneaky Sailoryig... although that could be Sailor Yig too if the game has a space in there XD.

Birthdate and Age :

Avalon Whiting is 21! W00t! Party with the beer! Or not. Ava isn’t much into the partying scene, not when there is Crocodile Hunter on and re-runs of good old 70s shows on! Yeah, no wonder this 21 year old still lives in the regular dorms XD.

Ava was born in the early afternoon of December 21, which makes her BARELY a Sagittarius . However... she also exhibits Capricorn traits too, being born so close to the end of Sagittarius. Thus, she’s a very confused little gal. XD
As a Sagittarius she demonstrates many of the traits-- she is very studious (she wouldn’t be in the Humanities program if she wasn’t!), and is one of the most honestly loyal (to an almost fanatical level to) people you will ever know. Being a Sagittarius could be behind her direct, often considred outspoken way of speaking... but that could also be her upbringing too.

However, Ava doesn’t slow too many of the more pleasent sides of her sign-- she is neither idealistic or casual, nor is she particularly gregarious. She hates feeling restless and would much rather stay in her routine-- something that could be part of being born so close to Capricorn. She also exhibits the capricorn’s methodical nature, as well as being super!organized (post-it much?) and persistant to the end. She’s no full Capricorn though-- she is not ambitious at all and has no business sense at all. That’s why she’s in college after all XD.

Profile :

Likes :

• Snakes, Serpents, Slithering Things
  
  
  An obvious prerequisite for the chosen of Yig, Ava is quite the little devotent serpentoligist. She has loved Snakes since she was 7 (the story of how she met her first snake can be found in her History section) and currently tends to a recovering Milky Snake named... Steve. Be glad she didn’t name him Argyle!
  
  Ava does not consider snakes to be “Slimy, creepy creations” but instead considers them highly intelligent creatures that are fun to play with. They aren’t even slimy! She loves how soft their scales feel (at least the types with smooth scales that is) and how beautiful the patterns may be. She is well aware of which snakes are poisonous and which are not, and keeps her respective distance from those who could do her more harm then good.
  
  She also has a great love for reptitles and is an avid fan of the “Crocodile Hunter,” a TV Show on Animal Planet and forces whomever she is roomming with to watch it as well. If she wasn’t so interested in the Humanities Ava might have considered joining a Zoo and tending to reptiles, but she’s changed her major 3 times already and isn’t likely to change it a fourth.
  
  And if her rampant love for things crawly wasn’t bad enough, she sleeps with a well worn plushie of Reptar everynight. Yes, THAT Reptar, from the cartoon Rugrats. Poor Ava *__*
  
  
  
• History, Ancient Literature, Confusing Old Books
  
  
  As much as Ava enjoys the good old snakes, they just aren’t enough of a determent from her love for history, namely relating to literature. She isn’t too interested in “Who was the son of the son of the son of a guy who fell into a well and lived in 1302 CE,” nor is she interested in how many people died of a plague in the later middle ages-- she would rather read the Illiad in its native language while sipping from a lukewarm juicebox.
  
  It comes as no surprise that Ava is a Major in Humanities and has plans to remain in the field of Literature all her life (while dabbling in which snakes and other reptiles, of course). What is surprising is that Ava disliked History most of her life... but she can blame that on her boring parents and even more boring grandparents. Who cares about the Great Depression of the 1930s? The one in the 1830s was worse! Or at least that’s what Ava would argue ;)
  
  
  
• BURNING HOT COCOA (with mini marshmallows).
  
  
  Pity the fool who seperates Ava from her morning bowl-- I mean cup of steaming cocoa in the morning. Warn the fool to run for his life if he steals her mini marshmallows too! The love and addiction Ava has for the goodness that is Hot Cocoa is a joke to everyone who knows Ava... except for Ms. Addicted herself. In the winter months Ava is prone to carrying a huge thermos full of Hot Cocoa with a small package of marshmallows in her parka’s pocket... just to make sure she doesn’t have a swallow without a marshmallow in it XD.
  
  
  
• Layers (clothing)
  
  
  Ava is naturally a cold blooded gal who finds it most difficult to stay warm in the winter. The Hot Cocoa addiction began as a pitiful attempt to stay warm... but it is sadly only one of the many ways that Ava keeps herself warm in the winter-- but the others are far too embarrasing but in the effort to hide nothing... includes hot water bottles stashes about the insides of her parka, two layers of gloves, two pairs of argyle socks, and quite often a turtleneck with an argyle sweater over it. In short, layers are GOOD things, especially when packed between hot water bottles and pounches to keep warm :).
  
  
  
• Goodness that is Steve Martin... and the 70s funnies
  
  
  And the rest of the early Saturday Night Live players. Ava cannot stand “modern” comedy but adores the 70s and early 80s brilliance, which she still believes is epitomised by all things Steve Martin.She has all of his movies on tape and is slowly collecting those available of DVD... and makes quite a fool out of herself when one of the movies (or SNL episodes) is shown on the television. Ava also loved Johnny Carson, but she only remembers bits and pieces of him. She is starting to grow on Conan O’Brien but hates with a passion all the other late night talkshow hosts.
  
  It should not be surprising then that Ava’s most favorite show EVER is M*A*S*H. It brings the funny AND the drama and is also so incredibly cool and so much better then ER and other funny shows of today that it isn’t even funny. XD. Do not be surprised if Ava begins to go into M*A*S*H rotines at the drop of a hat... much to the embarrasment of sidekick!Christie
  
  
  
• Favorite Foods
  
  
  Snacking is one activities in which Ava spends most of her free (and occupied time), so a brief run down on her favorite foods is on the order. As she is a fairly poor college student, her mini fridge is stored only with the essentials: chives, butter, sour cream, cottege cheese, and fresh bacon along with the occasional juice box. Ava lives off of potatoes smothered in sour cream and butter and manages to save enough money to afford fresh chives to place neatly on her potatoes. Her microwave with it’s handy “Baked Potato” and “Bacon” settings do all the work while Ava has all the goodness to eat. Cottege cheese is the only true dairy product Ava enjoys... although she enjoys it much more when she mixes it with bacon. As Ava cannot stand soda she survives on water and juice boxes, but would rather drink both at room temperature. Non refigerated snacks are only straight pretzels-- she will eat no other kind and will scoff if you offer them to her.
  
  
  
• Random:
  
  
  
  
  • Favorite Thing Ever: Post-its! They are the best invention known to man! Notes! That stick! Ingenius!
    
  • Number: Two (Snake Eyes!)
    
  • Favorite Color: Green!
    
  • Favorite Animal: Surprisingly... snakes XD
    
  • Favorite Song: Anything on the Campus Radio... if there is one :).
    

Dislikes :

• Bad Dental Care
  
  
  One can only make wild guesses at how Ava began to become obsessed with keeping her teeth clean and sparkly white, but from that obsession came the complete and utter loathing of people based on the care of their teeth. Straight, white, and well flossed is the only way to go with Ava! People with crooked and slightly yellow teeth are instantly met with suspicous!Ava, while people WITHOUT teeth are just plain evil.
  
  Also related to this are smokers and soda drinkers-- Ava is convinced both lead to tooth decay and for that reason alone should merit a thrashing instead of a nicotine or caffeine patch.
  
  
  
• Evil Stupid 90s-00s comedy
  
  
  ‘Modern Comedy’ is just plain awful. Ava is convinced that all the evil in the universe can be pointed towards Jim Carey and Jack Black and their ilk. She is disgusted by the crude humor despite the fact much of the early SNL she treasures IS crude humor as well. Ava is especially disgusted by late night talkshow hosts and only recently began to like one of their number, Conan O’Brien... but that could possibly be under the influences of her most recent roommate.
  
  
  
• Cats, Dogs, & Smelly animals
  
  
  Perhaps one of the mysterious reasons Ava is attracted to keeping snakes and repitles is because she is not alergic to them. One the opposite side of the alergy fence, Ava is so alergic to Cats and Dogs (and most other furred animals) that medications don’t even work. This poses the question of wether the alergy to Cats and Dogs is purely in Ava’s head... but frankly I don’t think the world cares much if Ava’s making up an algery to Cats and Dogs to rationalize liking Serpents XD.
  
  
  
• Hated Foods:
  
  
  There are only a few foods that deserves the wrath of Ava if served before her, and one of them is dairy products, with the exception of cottege cheese. Milk of any percentage is disgusting and vile and will be spat out immidiately and CHEESE is just disgusting... and it smells funny too. Ava does not trust food that can rightfully be called mold.
  Although Ava has never attempted to eat snake meat, she will never dine upon the meat of her slithery companions. The very thought of eating an animal she COULD have called friend is vile and disgusting. The snake could have had a name! A friend! Woe!
  
  And last but not least is the broad variety of spicy foods. Ava is 100% stereotypical Massachusetts native-- she cannot handle spices and will spit food out if it is too spicy. Boiled, tastless meals are fine by her-- the most spice SHE will get is putting salt on her ham XD. No, there’s no Indian, Chinese, or even Italian food in the works for this girl!

Hobbies :

• Cramming
  
  
  Avalon is not a girl who studies over long amounts of time... or at least the things she is supposed to be studying. She was cursed with a short attention span and cannot read the same chapter for more then a half hour, which would spell doom for the average student but after careful attempts at multi-tasking Ava had devised the perfect way to study.
  
  Craming for tests by reading in half hour intervals for EVERY CLASS. It’s quite an insane practice but Ava does have a 3.8 GPA, so it must be doing some good for the girl.
  
  
  
• Snake Tending
  
  
• Or more accurately staring at her snake, Steve, while he sleeps on his heatrock. Or watching a program about Snakes that leds to more watching of the Steve. Snakes are self-reliant pets so there isn’t much Ava can do but stare at her snake. When she becomes TOO depressed Ava will actually talk to her snake, which has led to the conflusion that she needs to get another reptile-- preferable a turtle. She has no idea why she want’s a turtle, other then the fact she likes the color green o.o;;

PBS Viewing

The most interesting programs can be found on the Public Broadcasting Station, and all of it for free! Weekends are generally spend in front of the television oogling the new programs and complaining that she has no life. Occasionally Christie will join Ava and the two will both complain about having no life.

Just to clarify, this does not mean that Ava is anti-social-- she just is lazy. And likes complaining about these sorts of things.

Desription :

• Hair: Ava was born with a curly knob of thick black hair. Her hair is currently just a smidge below shoulder length and is prone to natural soft waves. However, Ava’s hair is a very flat black color and produces a sheen only when heavily oiled... or when she forgets to wash her contintioner out.
  
  
• Eyes: The shape of Ava’s eyes can be described as oval, although her eyelids are very thick and create an illusion of a rather exotic slant... that is totally wasted behind her thick glasses. As for the color... a raven black shade that, unlike her hair, is very prone to shine. Her eyes have been called “so black they hypnotise,” but she hasn’t hypnotised anyone... yet ;)
  
  
• Facial Features: Ava’s eyebrows are naturally thin and arched-- which is a blessing because Ava? Would never bother to pluck, much less shape! Her nose is small and pert, the only aspect of her face that is a noticed difference from that of her mother and is probably from some member of her father’s family. Her lips are, however, too full for her face and totally the fault of her mother’s genetic offering. The shade varies between whichever form of chapstick she has at hand-- for the moment they are frosted with cherry chapstick, but that could change from day to day. To say Ava posesses high cheekbones is an understatment-- they are obsurdidly highly placed on her face and would make her face appear triangular if not for her shallow chin.
  
  
• Usual Clothing: Regardless of everchanging fashion trends, Ava remains true to the drawers full of nice, warm, colorful argyle socks and matching sweaters. There is something about the argyle pattern that intrigues her... and the added warmth during the winter is always a plus. Jeans or wool skirts of various lengths can be interchanged at will, but the argyle is there to stay. Her mother has her obsession with Arthur... Ava has hers with Argyle.
  

Personality :
Outline:

• 
  Totally Devoted to You----
  
  • Loyalty-- pro, con
    
  • Obsessive much-- con
    
  • Inability to let go-- con... pro (persistance)
  
  
• Social Situations
  
  • Judges Superficially first “Bad Teeth = EVIL!”
    
  • Highly stereotyped judgement
    
  • Not necessarily Prejudiced, just stereotypes
    
  • Uncomfortable around people who confuse her
    
    • Which are people she doesn’t know well
    
    
  • Once she warms up to them she’s fine
    
  • Shy-- will be cold snake until someone thaws her out
    
  • Will continue to process negative schimas XD
    
  • Stubborn about people she judges
    
  • NOT A GOOD ROOMMATE, looks for worst in people when first meets them.
  
  
• Stressed Personality
  
  • Stress? Look, a hole to wait it out in!
    
  • Problem? Run! Wee!
    
  • Problem still here? Ok, maybe I’ll fix it. Ok, this is enough, *fixed*. Oh, that was easy o.0;;
    Worries too much instead of solving problems
    
  • As such problems will often fix themselves (her luck!) before she can fix them herself.
    
  • Looses self esteem in stressed times. Unless she KNOWS she is in control of the situation, then everyone bow down before her. She is your God XD
    
  • Not a fainting maiden, just a worried one prone to running away.
    

History :

I apologise beforehand for the lengthy history, but I am a longwinded writer and Ava is most certainly a longwinded girl. XD

* * *

Avalon Whiting had not been a happy baby. She was brought into the world one freezing cold morning in Massachusetts to Charles “Chuck” Whiting and his newlywed wife Maura nee Gillespie. Instead of screaming as most babes would, Ava merely shivered and only wailed when the vicious doctor smacked her on the back. The cold only got worse-- more winters in Massachusetts followed and although other natives grew tolerant to the cold... Ava was not so blessed.

She might not have been a happy baby, but she was a clever one. She quickly beat rhythems out with her rattles but was slow to learn how to walk-- she was more fond of being close to the ground and for most of her late toddler years had to be forced up into either sitting or walking stances. She learned how to count and spell before she could properly speak and found reading and writing (espeically with Alphabet Magnets on the Fridge) easier then speaking.

At a fault pointed to different backgrounds and complete opposites of personalities, the union of Maura and Chuck was dissolved when Ava was only 3. Both agreed to split custody of the girl-- Maura on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and every other weekend and Chuck on the days left. Both remarried within two years, and Ava was ‘blessed’ with stepsiblings on both sides.

Maura was now Mrs. Clifford Drake, married to a man almost twice her years but dear to her heart-- Cliff’s two sons, however, were sixteen and twenty years Ava’s senior and as such were much to old to become busome buddies to the young girl. Ava considers Cliff’s sons to be her Uncles David and George.

Chuck, however, married a much younger woman named Chloe and as the two were much to busy in the fishing business Ava remained, for intents and purposes, an only child with two step-brother-uncles.

She was surprisingly well adjusted to her dual families and began to regard the number “two” as a lucky number: after all, she had two of everything! Also around this age Ava began to honestly believe in her mother’s ravings about Arthurian Lore and began to search for a real live dragon to slay for her mother. It was visiting a relative in the country around the age of 7 that Ava had her encounter with one of her “dragons,” and it certainly wasn’t her last.
For it was in the woods that Ava met her first snake, but instead of slaying the creature she decided to take it home to show her mother. For all parties involved it was thankful the green creature was only a gardner snake and quite harmless, and although it made her mother scream when she first saw it, the snake became her first pet.

She named it Spot and thought herself clever, as the snake most certainly had no spots and the name was better suited for a cat or a dog. But Spot didn’t seem the mind, content to lay on his heat rock and soak up the warmth.

Ava continued to mature and remained in the top 10% of her classes. She was a smart girl but was prone to distraction, a fact that exasperated her elementary and middle school teachers but was ignored by those in high school. It was in high school, though that a slight interest in genealogy led to the discovery of Plains Indian on her mother’s ancestory, which explained her dark features to her liking. The brief hobby of genealogy passed on quickly enough when she discovered that she was not interested in her grandparent’s movement east instead of west during the Great Depression, nor their eventual settling in Massachusetts.

Her tentative fortrays into Literary Histories, however, had opened up a new option for her; that of the role of a scholar. She had always enjoyed learning things and carefully began to take great care in choosing her college-- her high school GPA and scholastic aptitude test scores were not high enough to merit a scholarship to the best schools, but they were high enough for the smaller, more acedemically focused ones. It was by sure luck that she found Mikatonic U’s brochure hidden in her Boston School’s “College/Career Room.” She was enchanted by the visuals pictured in the brochure and sent off an application... and was delighted to find that she had been accepted.

She had also been accepted to another, equally picturesque school however, and decided it was time to make a purely adult decision about the whole thing.

In other words, she played inny-meenie-miney-moe and the choice, needless to say, was Mikatonic U.

She has been happy here the past 4 years and is technically a Senior. However, she has changed her major twice now, from Humanities to Archeology and back to Humanities and will not graduate for another full year. But Ava remains happy despite the fact she will not be among the 4-year graduates-- she is happy where she is, which is why she has lived in the same dorm room for three years now.

As for what could have possibly drawn Avalon Whiting into Yig’s notice... that can only be attributed to Ava’s nursing of a snake when others around her wanted it dead-- or at least off campus. But Ava is quite enamoured with Steve and would never trade him or anything... except for an eternally 90 degree bubble of heat.

NPCs :

As Avalon’s family lives entirely in Boston she will have little contact with them except for gift-giving Holidays and the annual Thanksgiving Feast. Instead, her NPCs are non-relatives XD


• Christine, although more commonly known as Christie
  
  The girl who would be her study partner in all things Humanities and as such is the beloved sidekick on all forays into the wildnerness known as the “Local Convience Store” for emergency rations. At one time the two girls roommed together (sophomore year), but after two weeks found their sleeping habits to be unmeshable and remained friends instead of roommies. Poor Ava has a marked ill luck with roommates *__*.
  
  Christie is Humanities Major as well and is well on her way to a doomed life as an untenure History Professor. She, too, has thick glasses and a missmatched clothing style-- preferring “hippiesque” clothing mixed with the most posh styles. Her hair is a stringy blonde and kept always in a lopsided bun with handfuls of hair falling out at all angles, producing a good Medusa affect... expect for at Halloween when such an affect is considered a great thing.
  
  
  
• Professor Berthold
  
  A quite endearing but rather stereotypical absent-minded professor, Berthold speaks with a heavy german accent despite never stepping foot in ‘the mother land.’ He is wacky to the extreme and prone to spontaneous outbursts of brilliance followed by days of confusion as to where he left the tea kettle in the Humanities Lougue. Ava hopes to become a graduate student under Berthold when she does, finally, graduate: she has heard rumors that the Professor is studying a newly found codex of profound literary significance and wants nothing more then to dig her paws into the project. Well, besides that and getting warm that is.
  
  Berthold is a mid 50ish stout man with pepper-grey hair that has a bold white strip at the center cowlick on out. He wears the usual tweed clothes one would expect of an absent-minded professor and always carries a brown leather suitcase with him-- even to the bathroom.
  
  
  
• Current Roommate
  
  I was hoping to leave this space open should a friend of mine be accepted as well, but if she is not and I am I will draft a suitable roommate. Think core opposite of Ava and you should visualize her current roommate situation nicely ;)

Part III : Senshi Information

Special Skills :

• Self-fulfiling Prophecies
  
  This is related to how Yig got revenge on the woman Audrey in the story, “The Curse of Yig”. When Ava has a mind to it as Sailoryig she has a special skill towards manipulating situations so that people bring about their own misfortunes onto themselves. This is not an ability she has in mortal form--until recently--, but it is something that could potentially leached out into it on ocassion-- particularly when someone close does something very rotten to her or somethone she is devoted too. This is more of a random event, however, and is more like “Luck” then Ava actually doing anything. This can be toned down to nothingness if it’s too strong XD
  
  
  
• Handling Reptiles-- WELL
  
  Yes, handling reptiles is a natural ability for Ava. She instinctfully knows when a repitle is going to attack and, prior to research venemous snakes, was usually able to accurately guess if a snake was venemous or not. She is gentle with all reptiles, be them turtles or lizards, but she would rather hold a snake over any of the others any day.
  

Powers :

And the Magic Eight Ball says: NOT DONE.

Fuku :

Primary Color: Tawny (Light Brown)
Second Color: Reddish-Brown

I have stolen this quite well from both the description of a Milk Snake as well as from the actual story involving Yig, “The Curse of Yig” involving what was behind room B-116. The colors of THAT creature and the description as well reminded me of the Milk Snake, and as it is a snake that can be found in Massachusetts too.

Henshin :

???
Phrase: “Yig Eldritch Power!”
Henshin Artifact: Fake!snake!rattle!, which she has attached to her keychain to keep from loosing it.

Part IV : Other Information

Experience : Well, I’ve never joined a Cthulhu-themed RPG before, but yes I do have experience with role-playing games. My portfolio is being revised, but it is tentatively available at http://www.suniver.net/rpg/.

As for knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos, on a scale of 1-10 I’d rate my familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos as a 3-- I’m still reading Call of Cthulhu, but I have read “The Curse of Yig” to prepare for this application and am eagerly waiting to devour more. By the time I finish this application I should be at a 5-6 on the scale XD.


Miscellaneous :
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/Anything was an invaluable source for finding actual HP Lovecraft fiction. As for justifications for Ava... I am fond of my argyle-crazed girl and I do hope she makes it into this fascinating game. To be frank I had no background with HP Lovecraft prior to looking in on this application, so no matter if I get in or not I have found a satisfying diversion in the Cthulhu Mythos :)

Part V : Grammar Check

“It would be a fine thing to be a pet snake,” Ava whispered against the glass aquarium as the baby milk snake within slept blissfully on, “to be warmed by the heat lamp, fed fresh food without the hassel of the prey, but mostly to have a heat lamp.”

She chuckled to herself but tore a Post-It note from the stack and scribbled down a note: Note to self: demand human-sized heat lamp for Christmas. Must fit atop bed and not annoy roommate.

Behind the cloudy glasses perched atop her nose, Ava’s black eyes flickered towards her roommate’s empty bed. I wonder where Miss Annoying is at this hour? And without her winter coat-- that girl is mad! She grumbled to herself before turning to the snake once again.

“I guess it’s just you and me, Steve-- just like yesterday. And the night before that for the matter.” The snake opened its eyes to glare at its keeper, but the look only incited a burst of laughter from the girl.

“You won’t find yourself a girl-snake looking at me that way Steve!”