application • exsilium

[affections]

» PLAYER INFORMATION Player NAME: Bella Current AGE: 25 Player TIME ZONE: UTC+10 Personal JOURNAL: keysmashes IM & SERVICE: - Player PLURK: karmacharging Current CHARACTERS: Ellie Linton :: Tomorrow series :: reconnaissance » CHARACTER INFORMATION Character NAME: Jules Grumley Character PULL-POINT: She's coming from prior to finding Emilia in the catacombs, just to pre-empt A Whole Bunch of Trauma. Character AGE: 25 Character ABILITIES: The more general abilities that come with her hybrid heritage are the following, all of which verge on or only just tip into the super human realm of things, but become further enhanced when she enters a "monster state." If she had more monster blood, her abilities in these areas would all advance considerably: • enhanced strength & endurance • accelerated healing • enhanced speed & reflexes • resilience against exhaustion and sickness Normally, the only thing that might give a hybrid away is that their skin is warmer to the touch than humans. However, they also transform when they release the hybrid state; their usual exaggerated strength increases considerably, their eyes go black, their mouths become crowded with teeth that aren't there the rest of the time. Additionally, most monsters and some hybrids have particular abilities. Jules' is contact-based empathy, to a degree where she can try to judge if a person is 'good' or 'bad' - which isn't always easy. She can't read specific thoughts, but she can definitely pick up their emotions loud and clear, and dark, dangerous things within them, be it bad things they've done in the past, motivations or a squiggly demon, and emotions that they have held onto so long that they've become embedded in them - maybe repentance, a thirst for vengeance, etc. As her abilities have advanced, she also developed emotional manipulation, although this is also based on contact. These ability allows her to read and warp emotions as she sees fit, inducing massive fear as torment, emotional pain so severe that it manifests physically (similar to a panic attack but many times worse when used in combat), or even just to calm people who are in a lot of pain to sedate them; she's gotten reasonably imaginative with it over the years. Still, she needs physical contact to be able to read or manipulate anything, and the rest of the time she's just relying on how well she can read people's body language, and so forth, which can be unreliable when you come from a world where lying and being very good at it is in everyone's interests. Monster blood is a pretty messed up thing, and while having it does grant Jules these powers there are also significant downsides. Namely: • need to consume human flesh • need for violence • risk of losing herself to the monster It's not simply the need for flesh, but the violence of the act to quell the monster part of them. If a hybrid tries to deny their monster part, then they get very sick and weak, sometimes hallucinate - they may even go berserk and temporarily lose control of themselves, causing more damage than would have occurred otherwise. Jules' need is massively watered down from the monsters and, indeed, most hybrids; monsters eat people all the time, and more concentrated hybrids may need to eat people once a month, Jules 'only' needs to have them four or five times a year. Where she can, she will attack and eat another hybrid where possible, but given that there aren't really other hybrids in-game, that will be difficult. Despite being somewhat badass, she's helpless in the face of felines - allergies really suck. Note: Given that her powers are pretty god-moddy, there would naturally be no use of them without player permission and discussion. Additionally, Jules eating people wouldn't just be something that happened out of the blue, but another matter for discussion and plotting, or simply the handy use of NPCs, if that were okay with the mods. Character WORLD: I will just chuck in a tiny summary of some terms that will come up through different sections of the app here: Monster: Creatures that look that hideous goo until they take over a human body, which they can abandon at will. They're very powerful, hard to kill, and live to indulge their desires with little idea of morality or conscience. Monsters consume human flesh and have a whole wealth of possible powers. There aren't many ways to kill them. Devil: The enemies of monsters that came up from beneath the ground. Their powers are not near so varied as monsters, but they do have the ability to trap them, and an affinity with fire. They have the ability to toy with human emotion and warp weakness to the seven sins. Hybrid: A mix of human and monster, most often born from the forced union between a male monster and a human woman. They are hated by most, finding place with neither human nor monster. They have some of a monsters abilities and can have personal specialities, but are tied to their physical body. They often struggle with the conflict of monster and human natures. (Unlike devils, monsters and sulfur slaves, they can't detect the difference between humans, hybrids and monsters in sight. They can detect devils and sulfur slaves by something of a gut reaction.) Sulfur Slave: Human beings that have made a contract with the Devil King to grant them powers to defend and fight against the monsters and hybrids in exchange for their soul. They share the devil ability of trapping and burning monsters and hybrids, but can't effect human weakness the way devils can. They are much weaker to temptation and sin. ❝ they came from above ❞ In the quiet of the night, the sky tore open one day and from the holes in the skies, monsters began to descend from above upon Earth. Hungry creatures they were, feeding upon humans, devouring their flesh, their souls. At first, people did not understand what was going. Was it God's final wrath? Were it beings from another planet? But then they realized that the monsters under their beds, the monsters in the closet, in the basement, under the stairs, in the dark, the creatures children so wisely told adults about, were very real. Nobody listened to the children before. Leave the lights on, they would say, or the boogieman will catch you. Nobody believed until they were eaten and then, it was too late. People were afraid of sitting in the dark in front of a computer, they were afraid to hear a sound because if they looked over their shoulders, a drool driping monster could be waiting there. People were afraid of closing their eyes while they took a shower because they could be there when they opened them, behind the shower curtain. As real as the belief of people, some would say the only way to defeat them was to stop believing in them - but how can you do so, when that you are afraid of is so very real? So the only possibility was war and so soldier marched against something nobody quite understood how to get rid of. Then civilians picked up their rifles and their lanterns and their courage, their baseball bats and their crowbars and marched as well, hoping that maybe, just maybe, monsters could be defeated by union. But that was an utopic thought; monsters were quite happy to see so many people together, so much flesh, so much blood. So many skins to enjoy, to mutilate, to devour. The Devil in its sulfur throne rejoiced. As Earth slowly turned into wasteland, humans began to lose hope. Governments destroyed, countries nothing more than empty landscapes. The despair filled the hearts of humans as monsters continued to be vomited upon Earth. Years later, one very silly man decided to turn to the Devil and begged it to give him the strength to fight against monsters. The Devil said yes, of course. It would give the man the power necessary to defeat the monsters that wore the skins of humans. But in exchange, his soul would be Hell's forever, condemned to be a slave of the sulfer for eternity. Soon, those that were foolish enough, that had no hope left, began to make the Contract with the Devil in exchange for their souls. No turning back from that horrible faith, but the power granted upon them, the power to protect their families, their loved ones, was sometimes too much of a temptation to turn away from. As monster began to die, big momma Calathea from above, the Mother Monster that had vomited her children upon Earth, began to get fed up with the Devil's antics. She did not like what she saw and her wrath took the lives of the sulfur slaves, making sure their souls would not reach the Sulfur King. She bore sons strong enough to take down entire countries and her daughters grew barren so that no hybrid would come from their womb. Those that escaped her anger kept their mouth tightly shut so that they would live. The Devil did not enjoy Calathea's actions and as if to punish her from depriving Hell from the souls that rightfully belonged to it, he sent his own children, anger exploding into venomous bees, spitting acid and bile from its mouth. The monsters grew more powerful each passing day and began to see Earth as a comfortable ground for them, terrorizing humans, killing sulfur slaves, hating the Devil's children. The children from human and monsters, those that escaped Calathea's killing spree, began to align to either monsters or humans, though most kept in neutral ground so that they would not get involved in the war. Humans continued to war against monsters and devils and sulfur slaves began to build cities to be guarded by them, keeping human life inside safely away from monsters. Some humans were not happy with the arrangements. Revolution began as a hush-hush, but the word spread throughout the world. Rebellion formed underground, exclusive to humans as any other could be a threat to their secrecy - sulfur slaves to the Devil and hybrids to the Mother Monster - albeit some branches would ally themselves with hybrids. But with the revolution came more difficulties and humans began to turn to faith and the prophet, Sebastien, speaking through charades that fed the hope of those that needed, told a story of humans conquering the Earth back - or so the true believers say. Six years after Mother Monster descended upon Earth, she and the Devil disappeared. A well kept secret, however; neither humans nor hybrids nor sulfur slaves know. The Devil's children know of the Sulfur King and the monsters of Calathea. They don't know why or how, where did they go, if they will ever come back, but it's a information they do not disclose. And during that time, the true prophet, a simple man from Canada, came out of his hideout to see just what is going on... ❂ write up by candlejack ➡ we stopped searching for the monsters under our beds when we realized they were inside us ➡ of monsters and devils ➡ those are monsters: original cast ➡ and six years later, the skies turned red: expanded cast Character HISTORY: To know about Jules, you need to know a little about her parents. Her father, Walter, was a hybrid; his mother was a human who had been attacked by a monster, Ouroboros. She kept the child that came of that nightmarish assault, even protected him, but both monsters and humans having a dislike for hybrids meant it wasn't an easy life. It was a hostile world, and in some regards, Walter might have been happier without bringing more children into the world that would have to suffer it. His wife, Charlotte, was human – utterly devoted to her husband, regardless of lineage, and desperately wanting a family (in part to assert her belief in him, his humanity). Their son Freddie was four when Jules was born (Julia Louise, if you must be technical, but she was always Jules.) She lived in England (near Oxford, specifically) for much of her life, as protected as she possibly could be given the world. Her parents taught her a lot about what her blood meant, what its repercussions would be, even if she was only quarter-blood. Her parents were idealists, believing in the value of human life, and her father thought it was necessary to hybrids to create a place for themselves in the world that aided humanity, even if they could be so easily considered a blight. Walter's particular ability was telepathy, what he called Truth Reading, so that when he elected his prey to feed the hunger he could select a human for whom the sentence was justified. In contrast with his gravity, Charlotte was always light and enthusiastic, as if that would foster a happier environment for her children. Jules learned the habit from her, so her childhood was a mix of trying to be very eager and enthusiastic, and trying to justify the deaths that allowed her continued grip on humanity (ironic as it was). For all that, though, hybrids were still hated and treated with suspicion. When Jules was sixteen, just a few years after her Hunger and powers manifested, she was abducted by a sect of humans when she went out to find her prey. She was tortured for days with long needles pushed through her muscles and joints. It was torture for sport and entertainment - “justice” against her kind. Jules tried to explain, but the idea of 'justified' killing of humans by a hybrid didn't really come across as very convincing. The torture was dragged out by her strength and regeneration. Eventually, she reached a breaking point, but it wasn't what the humans expected; deprived of flesh and violence when the Hunger arose, Jules hit a berserk state and broke free of her bonds, slaughtering and consuming all five of the humans that had attacked her. She never told her family what had happened, just that it took her a long time to find someone that deserved the sentence (something she could determine through contact-empathy, even if she wasn't a 'truth reader' like her father). After that, the attacks on her family continued, escalating over a couple of years. Eventually, carrying on as best they could. Safety in numbers didn't prove to be successful for them as they attempted to travel the English countryside, and after a while they elected to go separate ways so they could travel faster and more discretely. Walter and Charlotte stayed together, and while Jules was eager to stay with her elder brother to protect him, after a few weeks it became evident they needed split apart, as well. It was much easier to keep a low profile travelling alone, but Jules never really got used to it. She found comfort here and there, had relationships with the occasional human, slept with a few more, but she never had the liberty of staying anywhere more than a few weeks, lest the deaths raise suspicion. She and her family kept in touch via radio communication, but it was never easy, and the contact was extremely limited. Still, it was something, and a reason to keep going. Her travels would eventually take her to France. When she was there, rumours and whispers lead her towards a secret underground commune, where she was hoping to find shelter and human company. This is the point from which she'll be coming into the game, a couple of months before her twenty sixth birthday. I'm writing up the rest of her background, though, in case of canon updating! Instead of finding a secret commune of humans she found carnage, the remains of a community that had been devastated by monsters or hybrids. It was recent, and a guilty sense of obligation drove her to look through for any survivors. She found only one, a woman only a few years older than herself – Emilia Gorski. She had a broken leg and was pregnant, but that love of humans so carefully installed in her forbade her from leaving Emilia behind, and so Jules helped her. They became travelling partners, Jules tending to Em's injuries and protecting her, and Em providing the company Jules missed. She never admitted the truth of what she was to Em. They were travelling buddies, close friends, and Jules had a giant crush on Em which was in no way awkward. As Em got closer to when they guessed her due date had to be, Jules managed to get in touch with her parents, and a reunion was agreed. Hospitals weren't a safe place, hardly functioned outside secure cities, and getting to one of those cities was near impossible, given their location. (Quite aside from Jules' hybrid status, which would bar her from entering the city.) Em met Jules parents, Charlotte helped deliver the babies - twins, hooray! - and they stayed there for a little while, although it was only a makeshift situation. The family parted ways again, Walter again insisting that parting ways would be the more secure option. A little after the twins were born, Jules and Em became romantically involved. Jules had been avoiding the whole hybrid situation, but Em had already harboured suspicions after Jules helped her escape the ruins of the community, and Charlotte let slip, under the impression Em already knew. It made for an Interesting Discussion, but they dealt with it. Things went as smoothly as they could for about a year and a half, before more of the inevitable hideousness of their world struck. The birth of twins was a rare thing in this new monster-riddled era, and a group obsessed with the coming of twins that would save humanity learned of the two. Word travelled, of course, from sighting in town and when the news arrived, these fanatics heralded it as a sign of salvation. They intercepted them, and with sulfur slaves in their service, Jules was overpowered - she fought with everything she had, but ultimately being taken off-guard by so many sulfur slaves and humans prepared to attack, she was beaten into a bloody pulp over long hours. Perhaps worse than that was the emotional torment that accompanied it, with Jules being told that Emilia had taken advantage of the 'intervention' that would protect her children from exposure to a hybrid. It was an insecurity, and Jules' will caved in as her fear got a grip on her. It was a mess of lies mixed in with enough truth to be convincing and play on her own worries. (In contrast, Emilia was told Jules gave in to the monster.) The leader of the group ordered Jules killed, which some of the younger members took as some kind of sport – it was only through their carelessness that Jules didn't die and managed to get away. (It was a mercy that the sulfur slave at whose hands she suffered most - Levi - was not the one given the task.) After that, Jules was thoroughly shaken and suffering some considerable injuries. Left to herself, she'd have struggled to get moving again - she'd have done it eventually, but the toll her injuries and the emotional pain could have made things play out for the worse. At it was, she was discovered by a hybrid called Balthazar, who was rather more charitable than stereotypes of their kind might lead most to believe. He helped tend her wounds, and they travelled together for a time (and there may have been some emotionally messed up comfort sex happening, but let's not go there.) Jules was very much a sad blob of sad sadness during this time, but Balthazar's company, questions, and information he uncovered about the cult would eventually force her to reevaluate and go back to find Em, once she was strong enough. From there she'd return, and when negotiations to see Em didn't work and the group headquarters was evidently more a prison than a refuge, she took more dire action, tearing apart that group until she found Em and the twins. Unfortunately all that comfort sex means that she got pregnant, and you can only imagine what a can of worms that was when trying reconcile with Em. They worked hard, though, and they did reconcile, and eventually Balthazar informed them about a safe community of hybrids and humans living together in Amiens and working together to protect one another from monsters. Basically she eventually gets a happy ending, but it takes a long while. Character PERSONALITY: Jules' life has been a struggle with the duality of her monster and human natures, the desire to assert one over the other. Perhaps the thing that has shaped her more than anything has been the determination of her family, the ideals of her parents and her protectiveness towards her older brother. Her mother, Charlotte, is an idealist and a romantic despite everything. She believes in the power of love and humanity. Her desire for her children was that their blood did not need to define them, but their bonds to the people that cared for them. Her father was much more stern, with a strict believe in justice and the role that hybrids could play to both protect and punish humanity. Charlotte's zealousness was something Jules was dependent on, and she learned to mirror her mother's desperate enthusiasm and optimism. Trying to be upbeat and bring positive energy into everything is hard, the kind of pressure that isn't necessarily healthy for a child to latch onto. Trying to be positive despite the weight of the monster within was doubly difficult, especially with the value of life and love of humanity that Jules developed, and the stern ideology of judgment her father endorsed. Basically, Jules tries to be positive as much as she can, to be upbeat and optimistic and make people happy, because their world is grim and dark enough. It needs more laughter. At the same time as she's forcing herself into as constant a state of good cheer as she can, she struggles with what she has to do and the reality of the monster. She despises herself and thinks it's hypocritical of all of them, to claim to love humans and then have to do what they do; she doesn't always see eye to eye with her father's ideals, but she prefers to avoid the conflict of saying so, and she's yet to think of a better option. Even if they target the old, the dangerous, people who are a threat to others, even if it “only” three or four people a year verses the ten or twelve more other hybrids need to survive, the fact remains that they are choosing to save their lives over those of others. It's important to note that Jules might be sweet, fun to be around and genuinely care about people, but that doesn't make her inherently good. That said, she isn't purely bad either. If she can, she tries to attack other hybrids, which can sate the craving for human flesh because of their physiology still being so much more similar to a human than that of a monster. However, finding other hybrids to attack and eat can be hard, given that a hybrid can't automatically tell human, hybrids and monsters apart - and because other hybrids could well be more powerful than her and kill her much more easily. While the strength and abilities that come with being a hybrid might theoretically allow her to be less afraid than others who are more vulnerable, such as humans, Jules does have a lot of fears, both for herself and others. In her own opinion, Jules isn't always brave on her own; she doesn't hold herself in high regard, on that count. She does feel like she has to atone for what she does, though, so when the situation arises she can step in to protect people she perceives as innocent, and when the people she cares about are endangered she'll take things on full-force. When it's just her she's more nervous, in no small part because of the risk of losing herself to her monster side, and because while she doesn't want to die, fighting for herself given all the things that she has done is hard. (That said, if things really got dangerous and it looked like her life was in danger, she would fight back. She has things to live for, when it comes down to it.) Past the general fears of horrifying death (be it from monsters, devils, sulfur slaves, other hybrids or humans) Jules is terrified of needles, syringes, anything of that nature - she'd never liked them, but it's swung into something far more difficult to manage since a violent encounter with some humans and a sulfur slave when she was a teenager. Talking about them makes her uncomfortable, pictures of them throw her off, seeing them and being around them is really difficult. If one has to come near her for a medical procedure, restraint is probably necessary. When she was younger the most important person in her life was her brother. Although he is the elder of the two, Jules was always stronger than him, and Freddie's awkwardness and tendency to have his head in the clouds or bury himself in books meant he wasn't brilliantly aware of the world around him or its inherent dangers. Eventually he became more independent, and in time Jules found someone else to take first place in her life, although she is coming into Exsilium before she meets Emilia. Emilia is that one person who makes Jules feel really human, so playing her before she gets that really calming, steady influence in her life will mean Jules is rather more flighty and that she won't have someone to talk to about being a hybrid who she feels really understands (in this case, because no one else will be from her world, in Emilia's case because she has really seen and experienced what monsters and hybrids can do and is not - by her standards - naive). tldr: Jules has a lot of emotions. Also she can be really vain, just as an aside. » EXSILIUM INFORMATION Chosen WEAPON: Jules will be choosing herself as her weapon, sticking to her contact empathy and other hybrid powers. As the monster part of her body is the source of her power, I thought it could be interesting to have that part of her nature gain strength, so to speak, and gradually start to assert itself more and more when she fights. Though she is capable of being extremely strong and fast without drawing too much on the monster power, I think those times when she lets herself transform would start to mean that her powers increased more and more significantly in terms of speed, strength, etc. Eventually this would also impact her in terms of her empathy and emotional manipulation. (This would of course be strictly subject to permission from other players.) Basically, regular every day Jules would still need contact for the empathy and manipulation aspects of her powers, but when she swings into the monster state than she might gradually be able to utilise these powers without contact. The effects of tapping into the monster powers would gradually shift to have a more dramatic psychological effect, so that she becomes more monstrous (physically and mentally) when in that state. She's still Jules, but would slowly realise that she needs to exert a lot more caution than she used to in order to contain the monster when the Hunger manifests and when drawing on her powers. Sort of like hulking out, I guess, but with less of that delightful green. Possibly if she works out and sticks in Exsilium for a long time, the increased concentration/strength/whatever of her monster side could mean that she eventually starts needing to eat people more often. That would take a really long time, though, and I'm definitely up for changing stuff here if the mods don't think it'll work for the game. Character INVENTORY: She has her much loved and well worn shoulder bag, complete with: a torch, rope, some chocolate biscuits, some grapes, chewing gum, bottle of water, fancy multipurpose knife, a smutty romantic novel (don't you judge her), a packet and a half of cigarettes, a lighter and matches. » SAMPLES First PERSON: ( video. ) Um! ( the device is out of focus for a second, but quickly clears up to reveal a woman in her mid-twenties, thoughtfully chewing the inside of her cheek. She looks drenched, but she makes it work: purest fabulous, okay. When she speaks, it's with an incredibly polished British accent. ) Hi! Hello. ( An extended pause, and she closes her mouth again. Takes a breath. ) Gosh, okay. This is a bit of a thing to get your head around, isn't it? Everyone I've spoken to so far has been incredibly helpful, and really, I can't remember the last time there were chocolate biscuits on offer when I arrived anywhere that wasn't my mother's house. ( Her manner is cheery, bubbly, any other synonym that you might like. Jules stops, resting her hand on her chin. ) First things first: my name's Jules. Julia, actually, but Jules is fine. People only call me Julia when they're angry, and I'd really rather avoid that. ( Jules' fingers twist though the bracelet on her opposite hand. ) Righto. ( She pulls away from her bracelet, busying her hands with grabbing a cigarette instead. A few moments, and she has her lighter; she's just glad her hands aren't shaking too obviously. It's a relief when she can exhale a long stream of smoke. ) I don't suppose any of you would know where's a good spot to get a drink or two? I feel like it's rather warranted, after all this. Third PERSON: This had never been a worry before, but people coming back from the dead was never an occurrence at home. Jules couldn't quite settle on whether it made it better or worse; that her combined status as judge, jury and executioner need not be infallible, that she could be released from agonising for days and months, years, over the people whose lives she extinguished to allow her humanity. Ironic, she'd always thought, much to her father's disdain. Walter Grumley believed in the need for those who could protect the innocent against the crimes that otherwise went unpunished. Jules wasn't sure that people who killed for their own benefit were really fit to judge. She shakes her head, wandering through the streets with her head down, feeling the water crawl down her neck. If she killed someone and they came back, they might remember who had done it. Worse still, they might remember what had been done to them. The slick snap of their bones, the messy tear of a hand plunging into their chest. Monsters needed violence and horror, they needed to inflict pain as much as they needed flesh. Jules can feel herself turning green; no one should have to remember that. Her father, she can well imagine, would take a moment, steady himself. It would take him a few minutes to speak, band at first his voice would sound hoarse, but he'd say that it might be a deterrent from vice should they return. Jules keeps walking. The Hunger could wait a day or two; she'd buy more time. » ADDITIONAL NOTES Free cake for whoever lets her in, just saying.