#it isn't even totally about the personal either - mages are not allowed to be people

[raayllum]

What if… the last quasar diamond is used for Callum…? To completely purge the dark magic from him…? After Rayla tearfully keeps her promise of killing him, and is devastated, before remembering about the spell…?

Short Answer: I don't think the quasar diamond will be used for Callum, that he'll literally die, or that Rayla will kill him.

Long Answer: (aka why I think the above)

I don't think Callum is going to be permanently/temporarily killed this season. Some of this is because resurrection magic is very complicated in-universe and can't be something that's easily done (otherwise we'll run into trouble with stakes later). Aaravos helping Callum save Rayla's life (magic, corrupted primal stone, etc) feels within his aims for me, but someone doing something like that without Aaravos feels less tangible. Even with a quasar diamond, Rayla isn't a mage, and while quasar diamonds can restore a body to a separated soul, we know they can't restore it to lost souls (of people who are fully dead) otherwise Aaravos would've been able to restore and bring back Leola by opening up the Moon Nexus and unleashing the dead.

The other main reason is that Callum literally dying isn't really needed, I think, when it comes to his character arc. If/when he willingly corrupts himself with dark magic, he is going to be metaphorically killing himself three times over: it means allowing himself to be totally corrupted (death one), turning himself over to Aaravos (death two), and knowing he made Rayla promise to kill him (death three). (This is also why I find the "he uses dark magic to destroy/coin Aaravos" less effective, since it means that Rayla isn't bound to kill him — she only promised specifically if he's under Aaravos' control — and it removes the biggest fear factor of why Callum is scared to do dark magic as well.)

Either way, Callum dying wouldn't add much to Callum's arc, so what about the other half of the equation? What would killing him give to Rayla's arc?

Well, it also wouldn't give much. There'd be irony in Rayla starting arc 2 wanting to kill a high mage of Katolis but being unable to, only for her to kill the high mage she wanted to save more than anything? If this would be closer to the beginning of her season arc, with time to grow after (the regret, or un-making her choice later when another opportunity is presented). Rayla has had six seasons of routinely sacrificing herself and what she wants (being with her loved ones) with precious few exceptions, even if we've seen her steadily grow more positively in S4 onwards in particular (god bless you 5x04). Killing him is what's expected of her as an Assassin and a Good Moonshadow Elf, which is set in opposition to her being a Hero ("Rayla saves people" / "It was rescued? By who?" "...Me").

So Rayla, who always sacrifices, continues to sacrifice. Even though — from a meta narrative perspective — she and Callum are set up to the be the inversion of Viren and Lissa. Viren sacrificed the people around him (including her) and did dark magic, so she saw him as a monster and left. Meanwhile, Callum and Rayla are set up for Callum to do dark magic because he refuses to sacrifice Rayla. Because of this, even though he sees himself as a monster (evidenced by the corruption and Aaravos' control), Rayla will not and she will refuse to leave him, bringing him back to himself (possibly with Ezran's help).

I also think some of this ground work is laid because Callum isn't just scared of being possessed and hurting people; he's also specifically scared that Rayla will be scared of him (6x03), that he will no longer be someone she knows and loves. However, we also know thanks to 6x03 (and 6x06: "You're a good person Callum. Maybe the goodest") that that's not true or going to happen. She knows who he is, who he Truly is, and that he's acting out of love. In saving him, not only does she reaffirm his identity, she reaffirms her own (more on Rayla being unable to kill without also symbolically killing herself here) with the most important bit dropped in here:

As long as Callum is Callum (“you’re the destiny is a book you write yourself guy”), he’s worth saving. As long as Callum is Callum, she can be Rayla (“Rayla’s brave. She saves people” / “Rayla. My name is Rayla, and I’m going home”). As long as she’s Rayla, he can be Callum. Because if Callum isn’t Callum, then he’s dead, and if he’s dead, she can kill him. And if Rayla kills him, if Callum is dead, then she won’t be Rayla anymore. Because to literally kill Callum would be to simultaneously symbolically/emotionally kill herself.

In going to save him, also (which Runaan might be primed to encourage or be a catalyst for), Rayla gets to demonstrate her growth by refusing to sacrifice herself and refusing to sacrifice him. Previously, she's sacrificed herself for him, sacrificing both her life and their happiness. In 4x03/4x09 and throughout arc 2, what we see what she wants most is not just Callum being alive, but having a life with Callum ("what I most deeply desire is what I could've had all along"). To be together, rather than being separated (6x09). So Rayla choosing him, and their life together, and what she wants, un-making her choice to leave at the beginning of the arc / timeskip — refusing to sacrifice him the same way he refused to sacrifice her, reaffirming both their identities, bringing them both back from the dark paths they thought they couldn't escape (being Aaravos' puppet or dead, being an assassin or dead) — that's the Character Growth, and where I think we're headed.

Conversely, if she kills him — she arguably hasn't changed, and not even necessarily changed for the worst. It'd work more for me if it was like end of S6 with S7 to go and wrap up her arc, but given that it's the final season of the arc that started with "no I'm not going to kill you, I came back For You and will keep coming back for / To You"... yeah, we're gonna end S7 on a high note, character arc wise, for just about everyone in the main cast, I think (likely excluding Aaravos, possibly Claudia, and potentially Karim).

Additionally, although quasar diamonds aren't seemingly affected by being used for dark magic (i.e. there's no corruption), there's no indication they can purge dark magic. And even if they could, and it'd give Callum another blank slate, presumably... But would that really matter on the tail of a season where he had a blank slate and (under my assumptions, mind you) threw it all away under the worst possible circumstances/consequences of doing so? Am I really going to believe he'd always be able to stay away from dark magic no matter what after going back on that promise at least two, if not three, times? (As always, prepared to eat my words later, but this is where my head is at / where I think the narrative set up is going in terms of him using it again with what we have rn; more alternative narrative legwork could happen in S7 that'd make the opposite outcome make sense to me.)

I think it's far more effective if Callum keeps (or doesn't) the taint of dark magic, but Aaravos can never use it to control him again. He can use it under extreme circumstances (like Viren did in 6x08, which was the right thing to do) but without the biggest consequence of doing so. He'll also have the certainty that no matter what he did or what he does ("It doesn't matter what you did before, I just want you to be okay again" / "None of this matters... It means I trust her. Unconditionally"), Rayla will be there and they'll accept and love and fight for each other, always, that they'll never sacrifice each other but go together in all things, and that freedom to exist and be loved is True Freedom from Aaravos and from the corruption of dark magic.

[serenityfails]

i have no idea if this is gonna be coherent but here we GO

so straight up, i didn't romance fenris the first time i played and i had a bad time with DA2 the first go around and didn't get close enough with most of the characters to have a strong impression of them (fenris included), but @redredribbon convinced me that fenris was where it's at and that i should give it another go. so i did and now he's got my nuts in a vice

second point, i play mage when i romance him bc i like the added flavor but non mage hawkes are also good. i always friendmance him because i don't really like the rival path with him. and it's extra difficult with a mage hawke but that makes it more worth it to me lol

without getting too deep about it, i was processing a lot of unresolved trauma when i played that game and playing through fenris' storyline in depth made it hard not to over-relate to him, albeit through that fantasy lens. there's a lot of really hard hitting stuff in there about feeling like something horrible that happened to you however many years ago has so irrevocably changed who you are and how you relate to the world that the person you were before might as well be a total stranger, and the bitterness that goes along with having been shaped or even created by something you hate.

but the thing i really, really love about his romance is that his positive growth and change is not dependent on hawke. he is clawing his way out of his bad circumstances and changing his life with or without hawke. hawke can be a positive catalyst for change, a push in the right direction, and a source of joy in his life, but he doesn't need hawke to heal. it's just that the healing is what enables him to allow himself happiness, to choose to be with hawke.

and the moment in the romance i love most, which i guess was controversial with some fans, is the moment in the romance where he leaves you. because trying to be with hawke has triggered him and he recognizes he is not in a place where it is healthy for either of you to continue, he has to put up a really hard boundary. and in the time he spends away, he gets better. he wallows less. he makes friends. he finds out who he is, baggage and all, and makes the decision to live with it and move beyond it.

and you have the choice to wait for him or not, but at the end of it, if you're both still on the same page, he's with you 100%. i thought it was just really beautiful. the absolute antithesis of "my love can heal him". he can heal himself. he can build his life back, not the same as it would have been if he'd never been hurt, but still his. and he wants hawke to be part of that.

aaaaand another reason i love it is because i have a major thing for the characters who are so used to being a tool for someone else's use trying to recalibrate when the person they offer themself to isn't trying to use them or treat them like an object. the whole process of learning to be a person again and expecting people around you to take advantage of you and meeting the person (or people) who just defy every expectation you have. (this is the same reason i go bugfuck over zevran and iron bull, i have a type)

[ivoryminitower]

Echoes of Home: 3 - Steve ("Descartes")

Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth

Even back in Eorzea, I had some theories about where I was and what happened.  Some I liked more than others, some Tsu'na didn't much like at all, and none of them really explained why what happened to me happened.  But, you know, inclination to make patterns out of chaos.

I didn't have a lot of philosophical tools to work with...Descartes only goes so far.  So what I've come up with is a result of reworking ideas I've already been exposed to.  Reasons that things are existing the way they are, so that I can accept them and either move on or try to explore them. The simplest ideas in Eorzea were twofold…

Multiverse

Ever wonder where stories come from?  Are they just the fever dreams of people with ideas or wishful thinking?  There's an awful lot of worlds described in stories.  How do people keep thinking them up?

What if they don't?  What if there's multiple universes out there, and somehow writers are getting glimpses of them?

If there is more than one universe, it's not unreasonable to extrapolate further and say that there are infinite universes.  With infinite universes you can have infinite differences between them.  Which means a universe in which an Eorzea or something really resembling it can exist is possible.

So if writers can get ideas by having visions of other universes, perhaps the designer of FF14 got a glimpse of an Eorzea universe.  Which I somehow happened to stumble into. And then out of again.

To call it unlikely is sort of meaningless, in comparison to any of this happening at all.  Tsu'na prefers this theory since it allows for the existence of her home and her self.

On the other hand…

Gestalt Reality

My ideas of magic and spirituality have been heavily influenced by White Wolf's tabletop roleplaying system called World of Darkness, and in particular the part of it called Mage.  It's such a comprehensive and effective way of describing how a system of magic can work that I tend to think of it when I'm dealing with things outside of conventional reality.

The basis of Mage is the idea that reality is a product of people perceiving it and having beliefs about it, that what is possible and impossible is determined in part by what the majority of people think is possible and impossible.  Dragons and unicorns don't exist because people believe they don't exist.  Nuclear weapons do exist because people believe they do.

One aspect of this is what Mage calls "mythic realms": spiritual planes based on certain shared beliefs, such as imagining what a given story looks like.  The readers of a story may "know" the story is fiction and its world isn't real, but they can still imagine what such a world would look like if it was.  So there might well be an Arthurian realm, or an Atlantean realm, or a Lord of the Rings realm, brought about because millions of readers could collectively picture them.  Make movies or TV shows about them and it gets even easier for millions of watchers worldwide to imagine being in the show.

Does FF14 have millions of players?  I haven't actually checked, but it is a worldwide player base, and even if that's smaller than, say, the Star Trek fanbase, it's still a collection of people who not only see Eorzea, but run around in it and interact with it on a daily basis.  It's not just real to its players...it's personal.  So if a mythic realm could exist at all, how plausible is it that it could exist for a MMORPG?

Tsu'na hates this idea, because it suggests the world and everything in it (including her and her history) was created by people that don't even live in that world.  But, again, it's only as unlikely as the fact that she's in this world at all.

But until we came to this world and I made that phone call, it didn't occur to me that there was a third significant possibility.

Total Recall

I have a copy of Original Me's memories.  I also have a further copy of Eorzea Me's memories.  Logic suggests I was somehow created a week ago with these memories added in to me.

But what if I never was in Eorzea?  What if I was somehow manufactured in this world and given a set of memories and (somehow) Eorzea skills, without Eorzea ever having existed?  Tsu'na too, except that since she had never been in this world before her memories are completely fiction.

Tsu'na and I both hate this one.  Unfortunately, Mr. Occam might like it because it has the fewest moving parts.  It doesn't require an entire other universe to exist.  The circles...well, the circle...is a lot simpler and possibly unrelated.  It doesn't explain how or why we'd've been made, but then, neither do the other theories.

And then of course I suppose I have to consider one more.

Solipsism

Steve Osgood is in a hospital in a coma, and dreamed all this up.

He thinks, therefore I am.

Maybe I won't mention this one to Tsu'na just yet.

[crossdressingdeath]

Leliana didn't just approach an old friend about a job at the Inquisition. She literally tested Josie to see if she had the integrity that Leliana felt was needed for the position. Even though she knew that Josie was darn good at her job. Cassandra meanwhile listens to Varric's tale about the failure that is Cu||en and goes 'right, he can be the commander'. Then she spends the entire game being unhappy with everything he does (according to the messengers) lol.

Oh, I forgot! I love how the game can't even give us a decent reason for why he's even there. 'Cassandra sought a solution' Really? Her 'solution' to the mage-templar crisis was to get an awful Templar who was the second-in-command at one if the worst Circles in Thedas? Gee won't that make the mages feel safe! Such a dumb move.

That's Curly has collecting elfroot as his main job while Leliana and Josie takes care of the actual important stuff. Why couldn't we get a dwarven commander, Bioware!?!

Honestly I'm kind of glad we didn't get a dwarf commander, given all the trouble DAI has with cutscenes and camera angles if you're playing a dwarf (or Qunari, for that matter). Hell, even Bull's scale compared to the rest of the cast seems to vary somewhat depending on the cutscene. I cannot imagine any of the scenes around the war table quite working properly with a dwarf advisor; remember how Quiz will suddenly magically become human-sized in some cutscenes (the most notable example I can think of being kissing Dorian) because they didn't figure out alternate animations for a Quiz with radically different proportions to a human? I guess it might have been better handled with a character meant to be a dwarf from the start (if memory serves the ability to play as a non-human was a pretty late addition in DAI, so I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't enough time to make sure everything worked properly with a dwarf), but still.

But yeah, Leliana chose Josie because a) Josie was a trusted friend who'd proved her worth as a diplomat a thousand times over and b) Josie passed Leliana's little test to make sure she had the necessary integrity for the role. Meanwhile... okay, Cassandra listened to Varric's stories about DA2, including how Cullen was an active and enthusiastic participant in Meredith's atrocities (up until a human noble who could and would kick his ass was in the firing line, that is, and even it wasn't so much him helping Hawke as it was him being too much of a coward to get in Hawke's way despite him openly agreeing with Meredith's beliefs), was heavily involved with Meredith's death squads, argued in favour of using the Rite of Tranquility more widely, and openly believed mages weren't people. Cassandra listened to Varric telling her about all of that. And then she apparently decided that oh yeah, that guy would be a great choice for commander of the Inquisition. If nothing else putting a Templar who hates and fears mages into a position where he is likely to have to interact with mages isn't going to be great for either side. Unless of course the Inquisition was originally going to be a Chantry organization tied heavily to the remaining Templars with no mages allowed in any position of rank and with the goal of restoring the status quo and shoving the mages back under the Templars' thumb, which wouldn't mesh well with Cassandra's insistence that it's definitely not a Chantry organization or the claims that Justinia was pro-mage. ...Actually, the only reason to put Cullen in charge of the military is if the Inquisition was initially supposed to court the rogue Templars into joining them to the exclusion of all else; Meredith's second-in-command would be very appealing to the sort of person to rebel against the Chantry because the Divine told them to hold off on murdering people for a bit! And not at all appealing to... anyone else, if only because his total refusal to engage in anything at all political means he's constantly a dick to the Inquisition's noble allies.

But honestly Cassandra picking Cullen as the commander even though he's a terrible choice in every way except "he knows what end to hold a sword by" has big "kid in the group project who forgot to do their part until the last day" energy. Like... Leliana finds this incredibly skilled and experienced diplomat who she knows personally and trusts absolutely, and then tests her just to be absolutely sure she can be relied on to act with integrity! And then she tells Cassandra about this and asks how the search for a commander is going, and Cassandra goes "Oh shit, right, that was my job" and grabs Cullen just because he happened to be in the area and she needed someone to show Leliana. No idea why Leliana accepted this choice given she disagrees with Cullen on every point and also hates him personally (presumably especially if the Warden is a mage, especially especially if the Warden is a female mage who romanced Leliana), and frankly she probably would've respected Cassandra more for just admitting she'd forgotten about the commander, but there we are.

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Nixiel and Talvas Stop a Murder with More Murder

Talvas: Why are we so worried about House Redoran?

Nixiel: Because I'm FROM House Redoran!

Talvas: Oh yeah.

Nixiel barges into The Retching Netch like a drunken netch cow

Talvas scrambles behind her

Geldis Sadri: Welcome to The Retching Netch, the—

Nixiel: All right, I'm here for answers. You got answers? I want answers!

Talvas: Adril Arano . . .

Geldis Sadri: Say no more. Poor fetcher needs all the help he can get.

Geldis Sadri then spins a plot to string . . . either Nixiel or the Ulens up like slaughterfish. Talvas isn't sure

Time for a good ol' fashioned stakeout

Sans the Redoran Guard. RIP

But not before Nixiel tries to pawn off all her ash yams. Does Not Work

Even if Geldis Sadri sounds like an ash yam enthusiast

RIP

Nixiel tries to leave the bar and is pinned between an alchemist and a hustler

Nixiel: TALVAS!

Later

Nixiel: Take me to church, Talvas.

Talvas: Azura save me.

Nixiel and Talvas bust up into the Temple

Nixiel: Hey—

Elder Othreloth: The Temple is for followers of our faith only. Outsiders Not Allowed.

Nixiel: I feel so attacked right now.

Nixiel and Talvas sneak into the basement — I mean, Temple Ancestral Tomb

And they wait

And wait . . .

Wait some more

Talvas, doing a dance: Nixiel, I gotta go—

Nixiel: Shh!

Tilisu Severin walks in

Talvas: We need to report this to Arano—

Nixiel: I'm gonna go talk to her.

Talvas: Nixiel, no—

Nixiel talks to Tilisu Severin. Does not progress to a fight

Nixiel is dragged off by Talvas to report back to Adril Arano

Nixiel: *reports findings*

Adril Arano: *X in the chat*

Nixiel and Talvas are put on reconnaissance to subvert the necessity for damage control

Damage control required: pending

Nixiel: "If the Severins have betrayed us" . . . what?

Talvas: No idea.

Nixiel and Talvas sneak to the doorstep of Severin Manor

Nixiel: You watch the door while I find the evidence. I should just be in and out. Nixiel sneaks in

There are people inside

Nixiel, silently panicking: Seht, Seht, Seht, Seht.

Nixiel dives down the stairs out of sight

Down the hall into the master bedroom and right up to a . . .

Nixiel: Safe. Ash and fire.

SIXTEEN BROKEN LOCKPICKS LATER

Nixiel swipes out the gems, gold, and a suspicious missive, as well as an ebony greatsword

Nixiel: Now if I can just get out without being detected, that'd be smashing.

Stops to salivate over the alchemy station

Snatches a drought for better sneaking. Downs it in one gulp

Shoots up the stairs and out the door before either person realizes that shadow was a panicking Telvanni mage

Talvas: Nixie!

Nixiel: Hurry, Talvas! I got the dirt! Let's dish it and go back to Tel Mithryn!

Nixiel and Talvas find Adril Arano in The Retching Netch where Nixiel proudly presents him with the Ulens' letter

Adril Arano: Great, I want you to go bring them to justice.

Nixiel: Seht.

Talvas face palms so hard

Talvas: It's nearly midnight—

Nixiel: Sooner we go, sooner we're done.

Nixiel flounces into the wilderness of the ashlands

Proceeds to be separated from Talvas

While waiting for him to find her, she picks scathecraw and trama root

A rando Imperial woman appears and immediately starts attacking

FIVE ICE SPIKES LATER

Bloody n'wah.

Nixiel picks MORE scathecraw and trama root

Nixiel: Oh hey, I can see our mushroom from here!

Talvas: Nixiel!

Nixiel: There you are, you fetcher!

Nixiel and Talvas sneak over mounds of ash

Talvas: Why are we sneaking?

Nixiel: The element of surprise!

Talvas: We're not even there yet!

Nixiel: But we will be!

. . . until they reach a river

Nixiel: I always forget Solstheim has a river.

Talvas: It flows right by our mushroom!

Nixiel: How would I know? Our mushroom doesn't have windows!

While looking for a way to cross, they find an empty camp

Talvas: Have we been here before?

Nixiel: Oblivion if I know.

Further uphill they find some rocks to jump on

Nixiel: We need a good water walking spell.

Talvas: Fat chance Master Neloth will teach it to us.

They arrive next to the walls of the fort

Nixiel: It's the middle of the night! They'll never see us coming!

There is a guard outside that totally sees them coming

Naturally Nixiel and Talvas land blast her with magic

Nixiel: Hey, wait, wait, wait! It's a Morag Tong agent! They're finally going to kill me!

Talvas: Why do you sound so excited?!

Nixiel: I've been waiting for this day since I made my mom cry by joining House Telvanni.

Talvas: There are so many things wrong with this entire thing.

Nixiel: Hey, hold up, aren't those Redoran Guards?

Talvas: Yes, Arano was sending them to root out the Ulens.

Nixiel: I totally spaced out for that. Well! They're dead now! Want something done right, send a Telvanni!

Talvas: There's so much wrong with that, too.

They sneak in

Talvas: Why are there sculls in the walls?

Nixiel: Hlaalu have such a bad sense of style. They get it from their Imperial boyfriends.

One Shot One Kill Sneak Attack with an Ice Spike on a Morag Tong Agent

Talvas ice blasts the next two agents

Nixiel steals their sweetrolls

Nixiel: Hey, another safe!

TWO BROKEN LOCKPICKS LATER

Nixiel: I'm getting better at this.

Talvas: That bothers me.

Nixiel: Stop being so bothered by everything, Azura!

A little further on . . .

Nixiel: An alchemy station!

Talvas: Stop being so distracted by everything!

Nixiel face palms at Talvas' mimicking

Convenient chain to lower spike door is pulled

Mirri Severin plus cohorts immediately attack

Nixiel ganks Mirri Severin

Nixiel: This safe key would've been nice to have when I was breaking into her house.

Talvas: Nixiel!

Nixiel continues to swipe their alchemy ingredients

Nixiel: They won't need them.

Talvas: Whatever. Hey, is this a training room?

Nixiel: Looks like a wrestling arena to me.

More chains must be pulled

Talvas: Why is this place so creepy?

Nixiel: Because Hlaalu are creepy, duh.

Nixiel skips over several pressure plates in her never ending quest to keep pulling chains, both physically and verbally

Nixiel ganks Tilisu Severin and proceeds to fall into a water torture chamber

Talvas ganks everyone else

Nixiel: FACE THE WRATH OF HOUSE — oh, you've killed them all.

Nixiel foists a bunch of armor pieces into Talvas' bag, only for him to put the helmet on

Nixiel: You look drunk.

Talvas: And you don't?

Nixiel: Wash your mouth out with ash, you s'wit.

The two make their way back to the exit

Nixiel: This place reminds me of Master Neloth's ex girlfriend's house.

Talvas: Uh, that wasn't his girlfriend.

Nixiel: You sure, bug eyes?

Talvas: Let's just get back to Raven Rock so we can go back home.

Outside they cross the stream and enter the burnt remains of the forest

Then a wild burnt spriggan appears

Nixiel: TALVAS!

Talvas: I'm going to sit this one out.

Nixiel screams profanities to the Reclamations, the Saints, and the Daedra as she ganks the spriggan with ice spikes over and over again

Nixiel angrily picks yet more scathecraw and trama root

Breton Mage: HA!

Nixiel and Talvas come across two Breton mages blasting each other with ice and fire

The pyromancer smokes the cryomancer, only for Nixiel to put her on ice before Talvas can use his sumooned Frost Atronach

Nixiel: Bloody half-breeds.

Talvas: Please just stop picking all the scathecraw.

Nixiel and Talvas make it back to Raven Rock; Talvas tries to take his Frost Atronach inside Councilor Morvayn's house

Nixiel: Please stop.

Nixiel approaches Adril Arano

Nixiel: Your ashy little problem has been swept into the trash.

Talvas: She means we took care of the assassins.

Adril Arano rushes to tell Councilor Morvayn EVERYTHING

Councilor Morvayn: Nixiel Veres? Since you ended the lives of the people who wanted to end mine, you can have their house.

Nixiel: Sweet.

Talvas: We are not going back home, are we?

Nixiel and Talvas go to the marketplace

Nixiel: I need that helmet now.

Talvas: But Nix—

Nixiel: For the love of the Three, just let me sell it!

After taking care of some business, Nixiel and Talvas head over to Severin Manor

Nixiel: Hey look! Some scathecraw and trama root I missed earlier!

Talvas bursts into tears

Talvas: Shouldn't we tell Master Neloth we got a house?

Nixiel: Maybe?

They proceed to not tell Master Neloth anything

[danceworshipper]

Gracie Chiva - HPHM Profile [Redone]

(information is as of sixth year - same universe as Tessa and River)

Identity

Name: Gracie Tessa Chiva

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Birthday: August 17th, 1973 at 3:28 am (leo)

Species: Human/Witch with altered DNA

Blood Status: Pureblood

Sexuality: Bisexual

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ethnicity: White - German, English

Nationality: British

Residence: Chiva Manor, a heavily warded house in the wizarding part of the English countryside

Personality Type: ISFJ-T (the defender)

The Mage

Wand: 13 3/4 inches of rowan wood encasing a unicorn tail hair core, reasonably supple. The wand is a light color with intricate carvings on the handle and a small peridot sticking out of the front end. This is her only wand, as if her wand breaks she will die immediately. A few different people have put protective spells on it - the peridot is one of them, from Ollivander himself

Animagus: Osprey

Misc. Magical Abilities: Legilimens, very strong. Her Occlumency isn't as strong as it could be, but it's much stronger than Tessa's

Boggart Form: Tessa covered in bloody gashes, gagging and clearly dying

Riddikulus Form: the blood turning into fruit punch while Tessa whines about her shirt being stained

Amortentia (how she smells): Gracie would smell like citrus, poison, and strong wind

Amortentia (what she smells): She smells a mixture of pine trees, spearmint gum, and puffskein fur (Merula)

Patronus: Unicorn

Patronus Memory: the first time she and Tessa were ever allowed to go wandering in the woods on their own. They found a creek and spent the afternoon barefoot, eating berries and splashing each other

Mirror of Erised: Herself, truly happy and looking like she was never cursed

Specialized/Favorite Spells:

- Accio

- Crucio

- Sanguinem Non (stops bleeding, however intense)

- Depulso

- Gelida

Appearance

(picture made using the zepeto app)

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 118lbs

Physique: Skinny, slightly thinner waist than Tessa. Her strength comes more from magical ability than actual muscles

Eye Color: Unnaturally green

Hair Color: Bright white

Skin Tone: Deathly pale, has barely noticeable freckles around her nose

Body Modifications: Two piercings in each earlobe and a cartilage piercing in her left ear

Scarring: Small scars on knees from various childhood injuries, a thin line around her ankle from getting caught in a rope, and a small line on her right middle finger from a cooking incident

Inventory:

- Her wand, either gripped tightly in her hand or tucked in her waistband

- Her pocket knife, hidden in her robes/shorts

- About twenty Galleons

- An icy blue cracked marble to fidget with

Fashion: Gracie likes to look good, but also likes to be comfy. When not in her uniform, she's most likely wearing a thin sweater/shirt depending on the weather, and black skinny jeans or shorts. She frequently wears black fishnet tights, and black heeled ankle boots. Her hair is usually worn down. As for jewelry, she has a necklace with a gold key that unlocks a box full of Vance's childhood memories that he hid for her before he disappeared, mostly of the two of them. She also wears large gold hoops in each of the two piercings, and a gold stud in her cartilage. Makeup-wise she wears dark red lipstick, blush, and heavy dark eyeshadow and mascara. If she hadn't been cursed she might not wear any makeup at all, but as it is, she's insecure about how pale she is and wants to bring some color back to her face

Allegiances

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Affiliations/Organizations:

- Chiva Family

- Black Family

- R (seventh year)

Professions:

- Current student

- Future Dark Arts Professor at Durmstrang

- Future author

Hogwarts Information

Class Grades:

- Arithmancy: E

- Astronomy: O

- Care of Magical Creatures: O

- Charms: E

- Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

- Flying: O

- Herbology: E

- History of Magic: E

- Potions: O

- Transfiguration: O

Quidditch: Knows how to play, but is not on the team

Extracurriculars:

- Potions Club

- Dueling Club

- Tutor for a few select first year Slytherins, including Aiden

Favorite Professors:

- Professor McGonagall: Despite not being her Head of House, Gracie would much rather turn to McGonagall for advice than Snape. She appreciates McGonagall's teaching style, and her relative lack of prejudice about house/upbringing

- Madam Hooch: When Gracie was first cursed, Madam Hooch was the one to help her calm down and start to accept her changed appearance. Hooch's yellow eyes and whiteish hair are not common either, so the similarities and Hooch's successful life helped Gracie see that she would be okay

Least Favorite Professors:

- Professor Snape: Gracie has never liked her Head of House. Snape is cruel to many of her classmates, grades based on his own opinion of the student, and makes learning in the classroom nearly impossible

- Professor Dumbledore: In the beginning, she didn't mind him, but as the years went on and he proved to be more and more useless during dangerous times, Gracie lost all respect for him. The final straw was when he told her that none of this would have happened if she had left it alone, because she knew that this wasn't her fault and if not for her people would be dead (Redacted's death doesn't happen in my canon)

Relationships

Twin Sister: Tessa Gracie Chiva

- Tessa is younger by eight and a half minutes

- Despite them being the same age, Gracie feels much older and more mature than her sister

- Tessa quit everything to do with the vaults after defeating the second one in third year, so she hasn't seen the horrors that Gracie has

- As such, Gracie feels extremely protective to her sister and tries to always keep her safe, far away from any danger. This is part of why she runs away in seventh year

- Gracie hasn't told Tessa about her crazes and unnatural sadistic urges yet. Tessa finds out a little information shortly before Gracie disappears

- Gracie loves her sister more than anyone else. When they fight, she's always the first one to start crying. She would do anything to protect Tessa, whether it be suffer immense torture, die, anything

- She's also jealous of Tessa's relative innocence

Older Brother: Vance Riley Chiva

- He's five years older than the twins

- As a little girl, Gracie worshipped Vance. He was older and cool, and he spoiled her

- The news of Vance's disappearance shattered her heart, and when she found the key, she spent hours going through all of the memories using her mother's pensieve

- Gracie's main motivation to start looking for the vaults was to find Vance. After finding him and seeing how different he was, she stopped caring about him and only continued to protect Tessa and her friends

- The first spell Gracie learned outside of class was the sticking charm, which she used to stick the clasp of her necklace to the back of her neck. She doesn't undo the spell until the very end of sixth year, when she loses all hope of getting her brother back

- The love she once felt turns to hate fast, but she can't bring herself to throw the key away, so she gives it to Tessa

Younger Cousin: Aiden Carter Darkling

- Aiden is the son of Rachel Chiva, Jason's sister. Rachel and Aiden's father divorced while he was still young, but it was relatively amicable and he comes around for holidays

- Gracie tutors Aiden and a couple of his friends in Potions

- She's always had a liking for the kid. She sees a bit of herself in him, from before she was lost to the vaults

- They aren't the closest, but other than (some of) her immediate family, Aiden is the only family member Gracie doesn't hate

Mother: Clarissa Vanessa Black

- Clarissa passed on her Legilimency to her children

- Gracie's relationship with her mother is strained these days

- They're actually closer than they used to be, with Gracie's favorite parent having been her father as a kid

- Clarissa legally separates from Jason after his arrest, and once she's wiped her hands of him, she and Gracie get closer

- Gracie knows about her mother's girlfriend. Clarissa's upbringing made her too afraid to ever come out, but she's bisexual and began dating her childhood friend Margaret (again) after Jason was arrested

- Gracie also knows that Margaret's husband didn't die of illness, but she never tells anyone that Margaret poisoned him because she had good reason to

- The silent acknowledgement of "I know about you and you know I know but we won't mention it" is the main sense of closeness she and her mother have

- They'll never be as close as they should be, but Gracie does love her mother and her mother does love her

Father: Jason Harvey Chiva

- Similarly to Vance, Gracie loved her father a lot as a kid and looked up to him

- He was an Auror, and a good one. She would beg to visit his office with him and learn about cases

- Despite being pureblood and approving of the Death Eaters, Jason was loving toward his children and never brought up his past

- Jason began acting strangely after she was cursed, but Gracie ignored it

- All the love Gracie felt for her father vanished the day she watched him murder their family friend, a week before she turned thirteen

- After turning him in to his Auror partner, Thomas, they discovered that Jason had killed eleven people in his search to find out who cursed his daughter

- Thus began Gracie's horrible trust issues. Even Vance hadn't ruined her ability to trust completely, but after her father the only two options were trust completely, or not trust at all. Gracie has never trusted another authority figure since (and also has major daddy issues)

- Gracie kills Jason when he escapes from his transfer (she's twenty two). She hates herself for it, but not because it was her father - he deserved it. She's upset that she broke her promise to never kill anyone again after Rakepick (even though both were totally justified - Jason tried to kill Margaret and Rakepick tried to kill most of her friends)

Love Interest: Merula Snyde

- In first year Gracie hated Merula. Merula was mean to Gracie's new friends and was boastful about being the best even though she clearly wasn't, and it was obnoxious having to share a dorm with her

- In second year it gets a bit worse, but then it gets a bit better too. It gets to the point where they don't hate each other and can coexist peacefully, but they still dislike each other

- Then third year starts

- Gracie gets off the train, grabs her stuff, starts heading for the castle, and bumps into Merula

- Merula snaps at her

- Instead of being annoyed, however, Gracie is frozen staring into Merula's eyes with a jolt in her heart

- Well, shit

- Gracie spends that whole year conflicted about if it was actually a crush, or if it was just strange feelings from a strange situation, and eventually lands on being bisexual and indeed having a crush on this girl she used to hate.

- She knows she's bisexual and not a lesbian because she had a small crush on one of the boys in her neighborhood, but that fades pretty quickly after getting back to school

- In fourth year, it starts becoming more apparent that Merula shares her feelings

- Gracie takes a risk and asks her to the Celestial Ball, and Merula says yes

- She and Merula had a lot of fun at the ball, and Gracie's heart nearly exploded during the slow dance

- A week later, Rowan is pissed with the pining and rants about it to Ismelda of all people, who then tells Merula to ask Gracie out before she gets murdered

- Merula does, very hesitantly, and they have their first proper date a few days later. It's awkward and they're scared, but once they open up it's easy to tell everything is mutual

- They have their first kiss that summer while Merula is visiting Gracie

- Fifth year, the night before going into the Portrait Vault, Gracie and Merula are awake, terrified that they'll die the next day

- An impulsive decision leads them to the Room of Requirement (Tessa had found it by accident the year before) and they lose their virginity together

- They don't die, and surviving together brings them closer

- Sixth year problems arise

- Merula is losing her mind, trying to be independent and refusing to be at all affectionate in public, but still clinging to Gracie at night with nightmares

- Gracie also wants Rakepick's head to rot on a stake, but Merula is letting her anger control her and Gracie doesn't know how to help her

- When Gracie runs away in seventh year, Merula will go insane

- When Gracie comes back, Merula will punch her in the face and then hold her close and not let go for over an hour

Best Friend: Rowan Khanna

- Gracie met Rowan in Ollivander's. Rowan walked in just as Ollivander told Gracie her wand wood and Rowan excitedly declared that they had to be best friends

- Being young and relatively sheltered, Gracie said alright because she didn't know how friends really worked

- They did become very close pretty quickly

- They wrote each other letters every day until school started

- Rowan is the only one to know the full extent of Gracie's curse, because she forced it out of her

- Rowan can be pretty scary when she wants to be

- They both know things about the other that no one else does, and they can (and have) talked about everything, even extremely uncomfortable subjects

- Gracie is almost scared by Rowan's level of loyalty, but tries to show her the same

- Gracie mentioned being terrified to be cornered by Rakepick or someone else, so Rowan didn't leave her side at all for a week

- The next time Rowan said something about being afraid, Gracie did the same thing

- Rowan made Gracie teach her the blood healing spell in case Gracie ever can't come back from a craze in time

- The two of them are so close Merula was at one point pretty jealous, but she can recognize that they're just very close friends

Rival: Olivia Green

- The first time Gracie heard of Olivia was when Vance complained about her dating Duncan

- After learning about the vaults and Olivia's involvement with Vance and Duncan, Gracie was determined to find out what happened to her. It takes until seventh year to find out

- (this could all change depending on where Jam City takes the story, but this is where I'm going for now)

- Olivia joined R a year before Duncan died, two years before Vance got trapped in the Portrait. She knew how bad they were, but R was the only place she felt she could grow her power and protect what little she had left, so she faked her own death in order to not be caught by any professors or other authority

- Neither Vance nor Duncan know she's alive

- Over the years Olivia grew cold and ruthless, but she still has a small soft spot for her old friends

- Gracie tries to hate Olivia for everything she's done, but can't help but agree with her reasoning

- Olivia is the one who convinces Gracie to join up with R in seventh year, which is when they end up becoming good friends instead of rivals

School Rival: Diego Caplan

- Gracie hates this boy with everything she has

- He's a flirt with no shame and an ego stretching for miles

- Every time he duels her she makes sure to kick his ass extra hard

- She really doesn't like that he and Tessa are good friends because she thinks he has ulterior motives (he used to, but not anymore)

Enemy: Patricia Rakepick

- Gracie's lack of trust/respect for authority means that Rakepick being brought in for the vaults felt like a direct threat to her. As Rakepick recruited her, Bill, and Merula, Gracie tried to play nice but it's clear she hates the woman

- It's likely that if Bill hadn't knocked her wand out of her hand, Gracie would have killed Rakepick in the Portrait Vault

- It wasn't a craze. She was just furious

- Gracie is as determined as Merula to kill Rakepick (stupid canon mc too weak to murder)

- Joining R will be uncomfortable at first, because Rakepick will taunt her, but they'll learn to work together

- No matter how the game goes, Gracie's adventure with the vaults will end in killing Rakepick

Dormmates:

- Tessa Chiva

- Rowan Khanna

- Merula Snyde

- Ismelda Murk: they could be considered friends, but they aren't as close as they could be

- Liz Tuttle: Liz was close to both of the twins at first, but now is way closer to Tessa

Pets:

- Ruby, the family Crup

- Clara, Vance's toad

- Elaura, an owl

- Lemmy, a moke (he's more Tessa's pet really)

- a bunch of creatures in the Reserve that Tessa and Liz coparent, and Gracie tags along sometimes

Closest Canon Friends:

- Jae Kim: a year of spending hours together everyday will do wonders for a friendship

- Penny Haywood: they've been drifting apart, but they spend a lot of time together in the Potions Club

- Charlie Weasley: they were partnered for a Charms project in year two and kept hanging out all the time after it was done

- Olivia Green (while in R)

Closest Non-Canon Friends:

- Tessa Chiva (technically not canon because mc has no siblings besides the Jacob character)

- Rosalie Sonnenschein: a German model who is one year older and attends Durmstrang. First generation part Veela with a very strong natural allure, which she trains Gracie to resist once it becomes apparent that she's affected

- Justin Freed (while in R): a young man one year older than Olivia. He's mean but he's funny, and he helps Gracie get adjusted to the whole group. He's a bit too egotistical and slightly overprotective over Olivia and Gracie as younger women, even though they're both fully capable (and stronger than him)

(Storyline has to be in a different post because of tumblr's dumb text limit)

Future

Marriage and Children: Before the wedding, Gracie timidly approaches Margaret, who married Clarissa two years prior, and asks if they can take her name since neither Gracie nor Merula want to be associated with their fathers anymore. Margaret tears up and tells her of course they can. Gracie gets married to Merula at age twenty five, becoming Gracie and Merula Miller. They get married on a beach, with ice cream cake instead of traditional wedding cake. Penny calls them up one day with the news that she's been working on a potion to allow a woman to become pregnant from another woman and asks them if they'd like to test it. At age twenty six, Gracie nearly passes out watching Merula give birth to their oldest daughter, Destiny. Three years later their second daughter, Dahlia, is born

Career: Gracie becomes the Dark Arts professor at Durmstrang at age twenty three. She's mocked by the other professors for being young and inexperienced, but after she kicks one of their asses in a duel they back off. She's a talented professor, and her curse actually allows her to be a test dummy of sorts for her students so that they're able to learn both from the book and from experience. After marrying Merula they move to Germany to be near Gracie's family, so she ends up being very talented at Apparation

The Second Wizarding War:

- Gracie is out of the country when the war happens, and only returns when she gets word of Bill's attack, leaving Merula and the kids in Germany to be safe (and avoid risking Merula run into her parents, because Gracie knows that Merula would try and duel them)

- She does not participate in the Battle of Hogwarts because if she did, she knew Tessa would too and couldn't risk her sister getting hurt

- She's horrified to discover that Olivia and Justin were some of the people who escaped Azkaban, but relieved that neither of them were spotted in the battle. Olivia shows up on Gracie's doorstep the day after the battle and begs Gracie to forgive her for everything, including killing Justin when he tried to join the Death Eaters. Gracie forgives her, and uses her Legilimency to figure out the best way to get Olivia out of her jail sentence

- Merula hates Olivia quite a bit when she realizes that this Olivia is the one in R (not because she was in R, but because she and Gracie hooked up a few times while they were there together), but is able to get along with her - especially when Olivia takes a great interest in Rosalie

Old Age and Death:

- Gracie dies at the age of one hundred and seventeen from natural causes. After her death, her wand snaps in half by itself

Personality

- Major introvert

- Craves touch, but won't ask for it unless she's super close with the person she wants it from

- Tries to think logically whenever possible

- Might be a bit of an adrenaline junkie

- When she gets upset, making her laugh is the best option

- Sentimental as all hell, borderlining on being a hoarder

- Prefers animals to humans most of the time

Misc Information

- Gracie is bilingual, fluent in both English and German

- She can play cello. She can also sing, but doesn't like doing it in front of other people

- Gracie's misophonia developed around age nine, but didn't start becoming a real issue until the anxiety and depression joined in at age eleven

- By the time Gracie meets Fleur, she's so good at blocking out Rosalie's allure that she doesn't even notice Fleur's. Speaking of Rosalie, she and Olivia do end up marrying

- Gracie nearly kills Tessa the first time a craze is strong enough to target a family member. Tessa falls off of a small cliff and ends up in a coma the day Gracie joins R

- Gracie doesn't find out about it until the next time she actually sees Tessa months later because the craze was strong enough to disorient her, and oh boy does she hate herself when she finds out

- Gracie never officially broke up with Merula when she joined R, but wrongly assumed she would find someone else. Gracie casually hooked up with a couple people in the meantime, including Olivia

- Olivia gives Gracie an amethyst necklace a few months after she joins R, and Gracie charms that one in place instead of Vance's

- Part of why Olivia was able to convince Gracie to join R was because Gracie had recently failed suicide and was desperate to find a way to get R away from Tessa and her friends. If she couldn't die (and get them to stop targeting her friends to get to her, was the faulty reasoning), she might as well join them and be able to warn her loved ones of upcoming attacks

- Vance jumps in front of Tessa during the last fight with R and dies without saying goodbye, which messes both of the twins up for a while

- Gracie's interest in being a professor stemmed from Rowan's. Rowan became Head Girl :) and lived a long happy life as a professor :))))))))

- Rowan also smacked Gracie when she came back from R, which is fair

- Gracie's favorite muggle thing is orange soda

- Gracie likes pineapple pizza

- She has a sweet tooth, but she really likes sour candy as well

- Her favorite color is blue and she feels like it's a betrayal to her house

- Gracie is forever a dog person because of Ruby. She had previously been a cat person

- She writes a lot of poems as she gets older, and eventually tries out creative writing. She loves it and publishes a few books

- Everyone in her immediate family is left handed besides her father

- Her natural body temperature is a few degrees lower than a normal human's. As such, she sweats more and is always warm to the touch (I don't think it makes sense, but that's how it works for me so...)

- She's obsessed with night. She loves being outside at night, looking at the stars when the air is slightly cooler and feeling alone and insignificant in the universe (it comforts her to know she doesn't matter - it's the depression talking)

- Loves thunderstorms

- Believes in aliens 100%

[danceworshipper]

Kestra Fernera - HPMA Profile

(same universe as Lori)

Identity

Name: Kestra Alessa Fernera

Gender: Female (cis)

Age: Roughly 2000 years in total

Birthday (originally): August 23rd (leo)

Last Regeneration Date: June 18th

Species: Human, Phoenix Blood

Blood Status: Halfblood (originally)

Sexuality: Panromantic Demisexual

Alignment: Neutral Good

Ethnicity: Roman

Nationality: British

Residence: A modest townhome in a busy city

Personality Type: ENFJ - T (the protagonist)

Phoenix Blood Explanation

In her very first life, Kes was a ten year old girl walking the streets of Ancient Rome. She came across a strange, brightly colored bird that appeared to be made from fire itself. The bird had a deep gash in its stomach, and was dying (it was actually dying, not going to regenerate, as it has been stabbed). Kes thought this bird was some sort of godly creature, and tried everything she could to save it. On a last attempt, Kes forced all the magic she could muster into this bird's wound, nearly killing herself in the process. The bird was healed, and in turn, healed her. Kes was suddenly filled with the knowledge that the bird was a phoenix. It flew away for a short while and returned with a small, beautiful dagger that looked as though it was still molten. The knowledge of her immortality entered Kes' mind, as well as her immunity to fire. The dagger was the one thing that could kill her for real. As she took it, she burst up into flames, and when they died away, the phoenix was gone, leaving only a single feather behind. From that point on she had the mark of the phoenix on her chest, and could control fire as though it was part of her. This event occurred on her birthday, which just so happened to be the Vuncanalia. Many people took notice of this and declared her blessed by Vulcan himself, and brought her to live in his temple. She was protected and praised as the chosen one, and each regeneration after was treated similarly until Rome fell. The only two items she was able to save when her city fell were the dagger and the feather.

When Kes regenerates, her memories are lost and the mark disappears. On August 23rd of the year she is/will be ten years old for that regeneration, she enters a "memory fever" where her hands light up with fire, her eyes turned molten, and she goes back for a moment to her first life when she saved that phoenix as the marks burns back into her skin. She remembers key elements from some of her previous regenerations, but the only clear memory is the day she was blessed. The power that runs through her knocks her out for days, and in that time, the fire powers given to her redevelop. Her chosen goal is to learn the one answer that seems impossible: what truly is the purpose of life? Besides for this, she just wants to remember everything. The loss of her memory is the one thing that consistently haunts her through regenerations.

The Mage

Wand: Pine, phoenix, 13 3/4 inches, pliant. The feather is the one from the phoenix she saved in her first life, formed into a wand after the use of them became more wide spread. The wand itself is very light colored, smooth and strangely sharp at the end. It's the only wand she has ever owned, though she's not always sure how it gets back to her. After she wakes up from her memory fever this time around, she is able to unlock the chest her past self locked both it and the dagger in

Animagus: none yet, will eventually be a (you guessed it) phoenix

Misc. Magical Abilities: Strong fire magic. She does not need spells when dealing with flames, and fire will not hurt her

Boggart Form: A pile of ashes. Her worst fear is dying before she's ready

Riddikulus Form: Confetti

Amortentia (what they smell like): a campfire, herbs, and cinnamon

Amortentia (what they smell): currently parchment, old books, and metal. This will change as she gets older, as these are simply nostalgic smells

Patronus: Phoenix (duh)

Patronus Memory: One of the only memories from her first life she clearly remembers every regeneration: the day the phoenix blessed her. She could feel her own soul separate from her body, which felt absolutely euphoric - the most intense sort of pleasure she had ever felt

Mirror of Erised: Herself, looking tired and happy, holding the dagger in her hand. She's remembered everything, learned everything, and she's finally ready to pass on

Specialized/Favorite Spells:

- Aguamenti: not a favorite, but she had to perfect it because she's a hazard

- Expecto Patronum: she knows her patronus is that specific phoenix, long moved on from the earth. She misses her sometimes, and casts the spell just to see her and feel reassured

- Fiendfyre: it can't hurt her, so once she finds the Room of Requirement that's the first spell she's going to practice. Eventually, it will be as easy as snapping her fingers

- Reparo: for accidents

Appearance

(art by @kathrynalicemc , who originally created Kestra and then gave her to me)

Height: When done growing, 5'11"

Weight: When done growing, 146 lbs

Physique: Thin with visible muscles, long legs

Eye Color: After her memory fever, bright golden/orange like fire. Kinda scary to look at for most people. Originally hazel, and when she goes out she sometimes glamors them back so as not to draw attention

Hair Color: Black, thick and wavy

Skin Tone: Tan and absolutely covered in freckles

Body Modifications: the mark from the phoenix just below her left collarbone, multiple ear piercings

Scarring: Faded slashes across her back from her first life. They were given to her by her muggle father, who raged and whipped her when he discovered her mother's lies. After Kes became "chosen" he was burned to death as a sacrifice to Vulcan, and her mother was protected for the rest of her life at Kes' request. These scars will never go away, but they're only barely noticeable. They remind her who she was, and the magic seems to know how important they are to her

Inventory:

- her dagger, in its sheath and wrapped in silk

- her wand

- pomegranate lip balm

- loose change

- raw crystals to fidget with

- a snack of some sort

Fashion: When not in uniform, Kes likes to look good. She wears mostly autumnal colors and prefers fitted clothes to loose ones. As she gets older she starts to toe the line between school appropriate and not school appropriate as much as possible. She much prefers pants to skirts, and she loves high heels. She likes to have a subtle elegant tone to her makeup, in contrast to whatever the hell is going on with her hair, which is usually kept in either a low ponytail or a messy bun. Kes also wears flashy jewelry constantly, and likes to have her nails short, neat, and painted

Allegiances

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Allegiances/Organizations:

- Fernera Family

- High Priestesses of Vulcan (the group is all gone now, of course, but Kes keeps up a few traditions as a tribute to her past self)

Professions:

- Student (currently)

- Rescuer (future)

- Musician (future)

Hogwarts Information

Class Proficiencies:

- Astronomy: O

- Charms: E

- Defense Against the Dark Arts: E

- Herbology: A

- History of Magic: O

- Potions: E

- Transfiguration: E

Electives: none yet

Quidditch: she plays in her free time, but never joins a team

Extra Curricular:

- Music Club

- Yoga Club

Favorite Professor: TBD because idk who's in the game yet

Least Favorite Professor: TBD

Relationships

"Mother": Sarina Penelope Fernera

- is actually the youngest of Kestra's great grandchildren. When Kes regenerates it's the duty of the youngest (adult) living member of her family to raise her again

- Sarina was only just an adult when Kes regenerated, but family tradition demanded she take over

- She's one of the few people to have watched Kes die and come back, as Kes normally likes to be alone

- It scared the crap out of her

- She got help from her older brothers raising Kes so that she could pursue a career in Healing

- A year before Kes would remember who she was, Sarina fell in love with a muggle named Derrick Credian

- She had some explaining to do when her "daughter's" hands caught on fire and she started screeching about a dying phoenix in the middle of breakfast

- He's a nice guy though, and he's open to learning more about the wizarding world

"Uncle": Harold Atticus Fernera

- Five years older than Sarina

- Historian

- Has been researching to see if there are any other known Phoenix Bloods, but there seem to be no record of them

- Took on most of the extra babysitting for Sarina

- Married with a young son

"Uncle": Sebastian Noah Fernera

- Eight years older than Sarina

- Cursebreaker

- A bit less of a decent dude, jealous of Kes' power, you know how it is

- Even if he did find a dying phoenix to bless him it probably wouldn't. He's not pure of heart enough

- Divorced, no kids

Love Interest: possibly Lori, but subject to change

Best Friend: TBD

Rival: TBD

Enemy: TBD

Dormmates: TBD

Pets: a fire salamander named Spark. He's not technically allowed but who's going to stop her? She's the most qualified person to handle a creature like that

Closest Canon Friends: TBD

Closest Noncanon Friend: Oleander Loris

- They really don't get along at first

- Lori is TERRIFIED of fire, so that's inconvenient

- Kes actually wants to be friend with this girl, but Lori isn't having it

- Lori attacks Kes outside once and gets three months detention

- She's just afraid

- They don't become friends until the summer after third year, when Lori gets trapped in a burning building that Kes just so happens to be passing by

- Kes hears screaming and runs directly into the building past the muggle firefighters (she's glamored, so they all try to stop her)

- She finds Lori, and she uses her fire powers to keep the flames away while they get out

- The glamor fades away, the muggles freak out and need to be Obliviated

- Now, instead of someone to be scared of, Lori sees Kestra as a safe place, the one person that instead of Lori protecting them, it's Kes protecting Lori

- The professors are very confused by this development

- It's this incident that makes Kes want to be a rescuer

Closest MC Friends: None yet, but they're welcome!

Storyline

Pre Hogwarts:

- Kes can't remember how many lives she's had, but she knows it's been a lot

- Her childhood this time around was fairly quiet. Her and her mother were very close (it almost felt as if she'd already known her)

- She would have strange dreams at night, and she knew things she shouldn't be able to know

- Her mother would sometimes stare at her chest, and Kes didn't understand why

- Then on August 23rd when she was ten years old, she saw her mother fully panic

- Kes looked down at her chest, saw the phoenix mark, and it triggered her memory fever

- After she collapsed, she didn't wake up for a week

- Now that she knew, Sarina gave Kes the previous regeneration's old diary, thinking that Kes would be the best person to explain to Kes what was happening fully

- Even with her new memories, it took Kes a while to wrap her head around the concept

- Now she's ready to figure out as much as she can in order to use this life to the fullest

1st Year: TBD

2nd Year: TBD

3rd Year: TBD

4th Year: TBD

5th Year: TBD

6th Year: TBD

7th Year: TBD

Post Hogwarts:

- Directly out of Hogwarts Kes offers her services to the Ministry as a Rescuer. She's sent in whenever there's an issue related to fire, including important muggle rescues

- In her spare time she plays piano for random groups and performances. She never sticks to one place because of her Rescuer job, but she loves to perform whenever she can

- She gets married and adopts some kids. She's birthed many kids in previous regenerations, but this time around she doesn't want to be unavailable for a rescue while pregnant

Old Age and Death: Unfortunately, Kes hasn't done all that she's strived for, so her 'death' is only a regeneration. Once she considers this regeneration over, she locks her important things in her chest, makes arrangements for her new self to be raised, and slits her own throat to burn away. Someday she'll be able to use her dagger, but not this time. She doesn't have to kill herself to regenerate, but she's been feeling sick this time around and would rather choose when to burn instead of having it happen at a bad time

Personality

- extroverted

- optimistic

- confident

- compassionate

- can also kick ass

- goal oriented

- trusting

- it seems as though she daydreams a lot, but she's actually trying to remember as much as she can from her past lives in order to make this one the best it can be

- has a hard time apologizing

- surprisingly she has a bad temper, but she controls it well

Misc Information

- Kes discovered her attraction to girls way before her attraction to boys

- Like, regenerations earlier

- As one of the high priestesses, no man was allowed to touch her, so she spent most of her time surrounded by other women that were kept away from men... you can see where this is going

- It wasn't until Rome fell and they all had to scatter that she first fell in love with a man

- There wasn't really a good word for it back then, but she knew she loved men, women, and everyone in between

- Her favorite color is a dark red - in fact, she wears so much red that people often mistake her for a Gryffindor

- She's been in each of the Hogwarts Houses many times

- She can't remember it, but she was sorted into Hufflepuff her first time around

- Kes found her salamander, Spark, when she got lost in Knockturn Alley

- She stumbled upon a poacher selling rare and dangerous creatures

- She did not buy Spark. She melted the bars of his cage and stole him, and then reported the poacher to the authorities, selfishly keeping Spark to herself

- He loves her so much, and she loves him

- Sometimes she conjures fire without even realizing it, which is part of why she keeps crystals in her bag to fidget with

- Fire is kind of a hazard in a library after all, and she can't risk being seen playing with fire by a muggle when she's out in their world

- She still sometimes has nightmares of when her first father whipped her and her mother