OOC: app

[puffbonnet]

OOC
Name: Mandy
DW/LJ/Online Journal: maplepancakes
Plurk/Twitter: husbando (plurk)
Instant Messaging Service: PANDABEAR1328 (AIM)
Other Contact Info: my email is silvershine_ (at) hotmail.com

IC
Name: Ivy Tunstell
Age: 28 (headcanon, all we know from canon is that she's in her late 20s)
Canon: The Parasol Protectorate series (books)
Canon Point: Just prior to the beginning of book 5. In book 5 she gets turned into a vampire, and because of canon rules on how vampires work it would be impossible to play her as a vampire in this game. So, just prior to the events of book 5 is as far along in canon I can play her from.

Appearance: There's actually an amerimanga for the book series, so there's images of Ivy! Here are a couple: one, two. What's important to note is that she's from London in the 1870s, so her clothing will reflect that. Victorian era fashion fuck yeahhhhh!

Personality: When she was first introduced, Ivy was said to be "not-too-pretty and not-too-rich," Meaning she had just enough looks and wealth to get by. She never stood out or shone on her own, and instead was seen as somewhat of an accessory. If Ivy lived in a modern-day romantic comedy, she would be the kind-of-pretty best friend that the main guy has to befriend in order to get the girl of his dreams. She is easily overlooked, and she blends into the background until she says or does something to bring attention to herself. The story is not about her, it is about her best friend, and she is 'just enough' to fill the role she was given. This image of her carries on for most of the series, in fact.

At a glance, Ivy looks like a complete airhead. She is far too focused on her own view of the world, which is full of dinner parties, drama, and unbelievably horrid hats. Often she completely overlooks the big picture to focus on one tiny detail, and then she spends far too long making observations about that detail, thus wasting time that could be better spent on other things. An excellent example of this comes from the third book in the series, where Ivy's best friend Alexia has to travel to Italy for plot-related reasons. Instead of worrying about her friend's health or well-being on such a dangerous journey, or even wondering why such a trip was necessary in the first place, She instead told her friend, "You do know that there are Italians in Italy, right?" Indeed, Ivy looks like a textbook example of someone with their head in the clouds, which is probably why she was kept out of the loop on most of the plot in the series.

Ivy is also blessed with boundless amounts of energy. She never seems to grow tired, no matter how long she's been blabbering on about something. She is probably the most energetic person in the whole series, and she just bleeds energy and positive vibes from her body. Her peppy attitude and bounce to her step are absolutely infectious, too. It is hard to be around her without at least cracking a smile. She is also incredibly affectionate, and she just loves showering people with affection and calling them by cutesy nicknames whenever she can. She is not one to tune down this affection, either: if she is fond of you, she will make that clear every chance she gets.

Ivy can also get emotional at times. She tries her best to keep up the appearance of a prim and proper lady of society, but sometimes she is surprised or her excitement gets away from her. Ivy doesn't always have the best poker face, so at times it can be easy to see just how she is feeling. Usually inducing excitement, surprise, or sadness are what get her to react. Surprisingly, Ivy is very good at containing her anger. This fact is also the early hint that there is more to Ivy than the 'bubbly best friend' appearance she initially gives.

You see, later in the series that Ivy really starts to shine on her own, though she had been laying the groundwork for it for the entire series. She has a much sharper mind than she let on, and she actually figured out what was going on before anyone saw it fit to let her in on what was going on. She even said it herself when confronted about it: when people think you're to stupid to string two thoughts together, their lips grow loose. Ivy knew about the dangerous things her friends were involved in, but she was also smart enough to realize that she could help best by playing dumb and spying on the people who were out to hurt Alexia. That said, Ivy isn't all deceit and lies and being sneaky. At least some of her bubbly personality is real, as she still acts like a goofball even when there's nobody around that she needs to fool. For the most part, Ivy is just a young adult who wants to have fun and be free-spirited and not worry about things if she can avoid it. She's just also smart enough to know when to be free-spirited and when to buckle down and get serious.

Being one of the few main characters who is a normal human being, Ivy is at a serious disadvantage. She hasn't been trained to fight, and she has no superpowers to compensate her lack of training. Furthermore, while she is very perceptive, she really doesn't have any book smarts beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Her smarts are more of a practical kind of knowledge, as opposed to something a person can be trained in. She is not a super-genius, nor does she have any intrinsically useful skill like knowing medicine or the sciences. And really, that's par for the course, given the time period she's from. In the 1870s, most women settled down, had kids, and kept the household going. Anything beyond that was never expected of Ivy, so she never learned it.

However, there are some things Ivy is talented at, and when she's good at something she absolutely shines at it. For one, Ivy is an exceptionally talented actress, so much so that she makes a decent living off of her acting skills alone. She can play anything on the stage, whether that stage is literal or "the stage of life." This is why Ivy is the one who gets information for everyone else. She's very good at blending in with the background, which helps her get information, since she can listen in on conversations without anyone realizing that she's there. Most people underestimate her as well, since they're not expecting her to be an actual threat to anything. This has helped her friends on more than one occasion.

Along with that, Ivy is very good at leading a group. She and her husband actually run the acting troupe they are in, so together they are in charge of managing everything from picking the plays they perform to making sure they have a venue to play at. With her ability to pay attention to detail, Ivy makes sure everything for the troupe runs smoothly. Given the success of her troupe, she makes for a very talented manager.

Ivy is also very good at balancing both her work and her home life. She has two young children who rely on her for pretty much everything, since they're just barely toddlers, and yet she still has time to both take care of them and run her acting troupe and perform in some of the plays and keep her home nice and tidy. Her boundless energy probably helps with this, since anyone else would be exhausted by the end of the day, but Ivy is just ready for more. What's more, she manages to keep track of everything and not misplace anything or forget important events. Her schedule book helps with that, but she still has to keep most of it straight in her mind, and she does so with ease.

Finally, Ivy is by far one of the bravest characters in the entire series. She is a completely normal person surrounded by werewolves, vampires, and all other kinds of creatures of the night. Most humans are actually terrified of any supernatural beings, but Ivy isn't. Instead of showing fear, she takes on any supernatural threat without so much as a second thought. Not only that, but Ivy faces the unknown without backing down or running away. She knows what she has to do to survive and keep her friends alive, and even though she is vastly outclassed by pretty much everyone around her, Ivy never shows fear. Even if the person she is talking to could crush her with just a thought, Ivy stands tall and talks bravely.

Once you get right down to it, Ivy is just a very happy person who wants her friends to be happy too. She's got a sharp mind and is good at fooling people, but ultimately she is just a good person who wants to do good by everyone.

Powers & Abilities: In her world, there is a thing called Soul. It's not entirely clear what Soul is or how it is used, though it is vitally important to all supernatural beings. Barring a few very unique cases, everyone has at least some Soul, but only persons with an excess amount of Soul can become a supernatural, either by being turned into a werewolf or vampire, or dying and becoming a ghost. At the point I am taking Ivy from, she has enough Soul to be turned into a supernatural, but isn't aware of that fact yet. She has no special abilities yet, but she does have the potential to gain special abilities, should the right situation arise.

Beyond that, Ivy is a very creative and expressive person. Back home she was a budding actress and co-leader of her troop of actors. She is very skilled at getting others to listen to her and making a production come together. At the point I'm taking her from, her experience is only with acting on stage and "performing" in social situations like dinner parties, but later canon has shown that she can adapt those skills to more practical uses.

As mentioned above, Ivy is a very good leader and manager. She can handle a dozen things at once and tell everyone where they need to go and what they need to do. So far this skill has mostly applied to acting and running her troupe, but this skill can easily be used in other areas as well.

Ivy is also good at keeping her home maintained. She knows how to cook, how to sew, how to do basic first-aid, how to care for children, and anything else that a wife from the 1870s would need to know. This definitely includes multi-tasking as well, since most moms then couldn't stop caring for their kids just because dinner needed to be cooked.

One final ability worth noting is that she is exceptionally talented as a spy. Because of her flighty and bubbly nature, she can seem incompetent and unable to be of any real use as far as intelligence goes. However, this is Ivy's secret weapon: people let their guard down around her, so she has overheard vital bits of information on more than one occasion. Her sharp mind is hidden behind a ditzy personality, so it is very easy for her to coax people into talking about just about anything.


NAUFRAGIO SECTION
How are you entering Naufragio? She made her way to the Bastion after the Calamity struck.
What were you doing before the Calamity struck? It was the opening night for a very important play, and Ivy was taking care of the last few things before she set off to the theater to finish setting up along with the rest of the troupe. Her husband had gone ahead to oversee everything in her absence. Ivy was saying one last goodbye to her twins, Primrose and Percy, when the Calamity hit.
How did you deal with it? Ivy had been holding Primrose and Percy when the Calamity hit, so they had thankfully been protected. The nursemaid, however, hadn't been so lucky. She had ended up as a statue, just like everyone else on the block. That was the first thing Ivy noticed: other than herself, Primrose, and Percy, everyone was gone.

Fearing the worst, Ivy raced to the theater, carrying her children with her as she ran. Unfortunately the street to the theater district was gone, as was most of London itself. Anywhere that was left was just full of those statues. Ivy was completely and utterly alone. But she didn't lose hope, and instead she started to make her way around the missing areas, still trying to go in the general direction of the theater district.

About that time Ivy noticed that there was more out there than a broken city, and a few close calls later she found herself outright running in whatever direction she could to get away from those monsters.

How did you end up in the Bastion? While she was running away from the monsters she came across the Bastion. The glowing light and huge gates seemed promising, and she went to the Bastion in hopes of finding somewhere safe for herself and her children.

Where will you keep your Soul Fragment? If it will fit, it will be inside her locket. If not, then it will be dangling on the same chain as her locket.

What does your communicator look like? It will stay a blob for longer than most people, since she is from the 1870s and doesn't even know what a phone is. Once she sees someone else's, though, it will take the general shape of a phone. But it will be gaudy and pink, because it just isn't Ivy if it isn't gaudy.

Do you have any pets or animal companions that you're bringing in? No animals, but her children will be with her. They are twins and about a year and a half old. Big enough to walk and say some words, but not quite potty trained yet.

What are you bringing in now? Both her and her kids are wearing Victorian-era clothing. Primrose and Percy have clothes suited for toddlers, while Ivy herself is wearing a green dress, black boots, and a very ugly hat. Her clothes are kind-of plain for her status, though, since she was planning on changing into her outfit for the performance as soon as she got to the theater.

Besides that, she has a handbag with the following in it:
1 folding fan
1 set of keys
1 silver hairpin
1 wooden hairpin
1 small container of makeup powder
1 makeup brush
1 small mirror
3 tubes of lipstick (red, pink, and 'natural')
2 handkerchiefs


FOR THE MODS (I'm just listing what I think would fit her)
Skills:

Bureaucracy: Smooth
Description: You were born with a silver spoon on your tongue and a pen in hand.
Modifier: The muse gains a +1 modifier to missions, requests, jobs and special tasks that specifically require business, governance, bargaining or diplomacy.

Etiquette: Please Pass The Potatoes
Description: Because of your fine-tuned sense for people and ability to read the mood, you’re a delight at any gathering.
Modifier: The muse gains a +1 modifier to jobs, requests and special tasks that involve dealing with groups of people.

Performance: Show Man
Description: People wouldn't be surprised if they learned that you did this for a living.
Modifier: The muse automatically gains a +1 modifier to any job, special task or request that requires them to perform.
Notes: This would be for her acting.

Advantages:

Major advantages:

Full of Soul: While you may not be aware of it, you are one of the lucky few that has an abundance of Soul! This makes it a lot easier for you to handle tasks that involve creativity, empathy, and expressing yourself. The muse gains a +2 when attempting any creative endeavor (drawing, acting, writing, etc) or rolls involving communication, diplomacy, or public speaking. If you lose your abundance of Soul through any means (such as becoming a supernatural), this advantage is removed permanently.

Minor advantages:

Charismatic: You certainly know how to talk the talk. The muse gains a +1/+2 modifier when dealing with individuals or groups of people. How effective it is depends on how it's roleplayed.

Nurturing: You know how to handle kids. The muse gains a +1 modifier when dealing with children.


Disadvantages:

Major disadvantages:

Dependents: For one reason or another, you have people who are absolutely dependent on you for their survival. This disadvantage requires the character to roll against a TN determined by the mod every time he or she wishes to travel out to Nowhere - the TN should reflect the kind of dependent or dependents that the character has (the higher the TN, the more helpless the dependent party is). If the roll fails, the character is prevented from taking the mission of their choice for reasons that he or she will have to ICly determine (centered around, of course, the dependent party in question). The only modifiers that the character is allowed to have in order to ease the roll will be from any Major or Minor Advantage whose conditions give bonuses based off of the character's appearance, nature, or reputation. For every advantage that they possess in this area, they can add +1 to their roll. If the source of dependency is removed or invalidated, this Major Disadvantage is removed permanently.

Minor disadvantages:

Good Samaritan: You're nice. Very nice. So nice, in fact, that everyone's love can quite literally run you to the ground, and you don't even have the strength to say no. The muse with this disadvantage will be bothered constantly by NPCs asking for favors, telling their sob stories to and the like. He or she may also have to fend suitors off with a stick.

Techno-what? Unfortunately your world just isn't as advanced as others are, so you have trouble with those newfangled things like electricity and phones. The muse has a -1 modifier to any rolls involving technology that was not present in their home world.