Post by Krows! on Sept 19, 2010 7:01:34 GMT -5
Character
Name: Elynn Grayson
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Career: Tsuasa grunt
Appearance: Elynn is a very unremarkable person, to begin with. She is neither tall nor short; neither fat nor thin (though perhaps leaning towards the latter); and looks neither too rich nor too poor. Her hair is of a common length: a bit longer than her shoulders, usually kept neatly in a loose ponytail, or let down in colder weather. Her clothes are respectable – nothing too flashy, but not clearly indicating her homeless status. Her mannerisms, too, leave nothing easily remembered. Clearly, Elynn is meant to pass through crowds without a single person recalling her.
Her hair, as mentioned before, is an indescribable shade. It might have been chestnut, or perhaps auburn; some describe it as black while yet others say blonde. But it generally hovers between the various shades of brown, depending on the lighting conditions and whether she had recently given it a) a good wash, or b) a dye job. But it never strays from the natural colours. The Elynn of the past might have had neon-orange hair, for all we know and care, but the present Elynn keeps it firmly in the browns and blacks. All the better to keep her unremarkable.
She doesn’t have outstanding eyes, either, though staring straight into them might give unsuspecting innocents a shock. Of course, they rarely have a chance. They are hazel in colour; in bright light they migtht come off more as green than brown, and vice versa in dim lighting, but that is hardly something to remark on. Being the sort who doesn't mind a curtain of hair in front of her eyes, she keeps her fringe bushed over her eyebrows. Enough to keep her gaze hidden, but not enough to raise suspicion and have herself labelled as an "emo" or "goth". People generally didn't trust those types, and Elynn needed that trust. Nobody must suspect the slim, easily-forgotten girl of these thefts.
Her other facial features bear nothing remarkable, as expected. Her face is slim; her nose is perhaps a little large; her common expression involves a smile that rarely reaches her eyes, but might pass for a genuine on when she needs it to.
Elynn holds herself in a slightly-hunched, somewhat-withdrawn posture by day. Her main outfit involves a large, obviously-well-used jacket pulled over a T-shirt. The jacket was once maroon, but it is more of a brownish-red now that it’s been washed, dried, and sent through many an adventure with its owner. The T-shirt is always some dark shade. Usually she chooses brown, but in a more adventurous mood she may pick dark blue or outright black. A pair of dark-blue jeans goes below, and the set is completed with scruffy, off-white sports shoes. With this set of clothes, Elynn finds that she can blend into almost any crowd, and on a casual look-over it is hard to identify her.
However, by night, Elynn is very, very different. Her clothes are simple; she abandons the jacket for a woollen pullover with pockets stitched around it. True, it makes her look lumpy, but that was precisely her point. She puts her hair up in a rough bun and sticks it into a floppy beanie – hats, she had read, breaks the profile of a person's head. Her shoes are exchanged for dark-coloured, soft-soled shoes that she had found in a second-hand clothes store. She keeps her jeans, though. The colour scheme is a mixture of brown and dark blue; suitable for night activities. And it is in this outfit that she works as a thief. Elynn is a very practical person.
Her manner becomes more cautious and alert, and though her movements are rarely hesitant or clumsy, she makes sure to stake out a place beforehand and to always watch out. Her tools she keeps within pack around her waist: homemade lockpicks; a glass-cutter, stolen; a tiny flashlight; surgical gloves dyed dark-brown, and some other selected items, depending on the mission. Her loot will be kept in one of her many pockets, but she brings along a folded cloth bag just in case. In this getup, it is clear that she isn't the most innocent of souls around, so Elynn makes sure to keep out of people's way.
Personality: Much like her appearance, Elynn's personality doesn't stand out in a crowd – at least, not on the surface. For someone who has just met her, Elynn comes of as generally apathetic towards others, perhaps a little "absent", and calm to the point of coldness.
Elynn at base is a selfish person. Apart from her brother and herself, and lately their Daemons, she is not likely to care about others unless it impacts her significantly. She is also a clear pragmatist; if it doesn't help her, she wouldn't waste time and effort doing it. And if it does, she'll sometimes go to unreasonable lengths to attain it – lying, stealing, and if needed, killing. She's never done the last one before, but she likes to think that her nerves won't fail her. Who knows?
She isn't a good team player, but she's not unreasonable either. Elynn is more than ready to listen to others' plans, in case they do have a good point, and she favours compromises rather than conflicts. However, it must be said again that her interests lie in self-preservation. Working together with her might end up with her ditching an unfortunate "partner" to save herself, and she wouldn't have qualms about it either. She is neither a leader nor a follower, but her own person.
Elynn isn't exactly anarchic: she will listen to her superiors, yes, but orders should at least make sense to her. She will follow rules to keep herself out of trouble, but she will not sacrifice her own safety for the sake of others'.
She doesn’t go out of her way to lie and keep up pretences – unless it is simply to assure others that she is normal, and therefore to ease suspicion. Neither does she make a show of her intelligence, though; she much prefers to fade into the background. But make no mistake. Elynn's greatest strengths lie in her analytical thinking. She keeps a cool head in times of danger, and is very open to the different possibilities presented to her. While she may appear to be somewhat inattentive, it is merely that she is thinking – she can hear most of what goes around easily enough, though she might miss out on some points from time to time.
Her way of tackling problems mainly revolves around seeing the problem through, checking for all possible paths of action, and then reconsidering the pros and cons of each move. She used to be hot-headed and impulsive, but has since learnt to kept those tendencies in firm grasp. Elynn will not rashly make a move until she has checked it for problems – she is a very logical, rational person now.
On a day-to-day basis, she is courteous but also curt. Not being one to waste words, she keeps a policy of communicating efficiently, which might lead one to observe that she has no sense of humour. That, however, isn't true. Elynn buries it deep down and keeps an internal monologue running through her head constantly, commenting on the events around her. She will not make unnecessary enemies, and the only way to really provoke her would be to betray her (double standards, as one might conclude), attack her brother, or make direct, incessant comments about her in general. She has a soft spot for her brother Jeffrey, and should someone remark negatively about him, she will not look favourably on that person.
In conclusion, she is a fine person to be around and an useful asset on a team, but one must always watch out for the possibility of a knife in the back.
History: Elynn and Jeffrey were from another world just a bit different – they had no Dæmons, and Pokémon were more of wild, savage beings kept in zoos for entertainment or employed as work animals than friends and guardians. However, the general mechanic of the world remained the same, perhaps more urban than Enera, but definitely rooted in a similar universe. No magic, no myths, just a lot of trains and cities and black smoke.
The Grayson family was rather well-off, for someone of that country. They had a four-roomed apartment only a ten-minute walk away from the subway, the father held down a steady desk job, and there was extended family on both sides, ready to support them if a disaster befell them. Everything went nicely until Elynn was three and her mother gave birth to an idiot son.
Nobody actually realised, back then. He was just like any other baby, all angelic smiles and sweet cooing noises, but it should have been clear that he was nowhere as intelligent as his sister was. Even at two Elynn had begun to read; Jeffrey never developed that ability until after the death of their parents. But for now nothing was apparent – Jeffrey was quieter and somehow more vacant, but it wasn't yet enough to rouse suspicion of the adults. Elynn did notice when she tried to get her new brother to play with her. "Mama, why is Jeffy not playing?" She would ask innocently, pestering either parent until both could not stand it anymore. The situation continued until Elynn was enrolled into primary education, and the Graysons noticed that their son was not exactly the brightest Volbeat in the night sky, so to speak. Then they panicked and took him to any doctor they could afford, but all of them invariably shook their heads and looked sympathetic: there was no cure, because nobody knew the cause.
The Graysons finally accepted that their son will never be normal. Life carried on with a decidedly more sombre mood. Soon, Elynn reached schooling age, and was sent to a neighbourhood school for her primary education. She quickly became bored with the curriculum; most of it she could master much faster than her peers, and what she couldn't understand, she simply ignored. When she was twelve, she was excelling in the sciences and mathematics, but failing her languages and humanities. She had no friends among her age – those who tried to approach her were quickly stun by her "I don't care about you, now get out" attitude, and the rest either ignored her or actively expressed their dislike – and no teacher was willing to put effort into such a strange, unlovable child. Her youth was filled with misery and loneliness, but she quickly adapted, shutting everyone, including her family, out with a wall of indifference. She thought she could survive in this world when she graduated at last, moving on to an average secondary school and leaving behind her former classmates and teachers without a backward glance.
And then tragedy struck.
The parents were out for a rare night of enjoyment for themselves, leaving Elynn as the sole, resentful babysitter. There was a fire at the theatre they had gone to; at least a hundred died, with threefold more injured. The Graysons were part of the former. This disaster effectively turned the surviving children's situation on its head. They were now orphans, with no-one to look out for them except for their distant relatives.
Elynn, understandably, was crushed by grief and guilt. As the saying goes, you never know what you had until you lost it, and so Elynn discovered that she really did love her parents very much, after all. Over the next two years, as she and her brother were shuffled from one family to another, constantly on the move and constantly having to adjust, the outlet for her emotions became those relatives who had kindly taken them in – her treatment towards her brother had changed utterly. She treasured him for who he was: her only brother, and thus her only direct family in this world. Love, which she never did know she had, was poured upon Jeffrey constantly as atonement for her attitude towards her deceased parents in the past.
This indirectly led to their current state of homelessness, unfortunately. After putting up with the children for two years, none of the relatives wanted to take care of the spiky, rebellious teenage girl and her idiot brother anymore. It was quickly decided that the local orphanage/foster homes with take them in, and arrangements were made to place them – separately, for while Elynn was eligible for normal fostering, there was a programme to help children with mental or physical disabilities, and that was where Jeffrey was to be sent. Upon hearing this news, Elynn made the first drastic decision in her young life.
She knew she couldn't possibly let them take her away from Jeffrey. To her, that left running away as the only viable option. Over the next remaining fortnight, she kept up a pretence of her normal behaviour and started stockpiling dry foods, clean water, medicines, portable tools, durable clothes and, most importantly, money. She made up excuses that she needed extra allowance; she shoplifted and stole from homes; she almost robbed an old man, but decided against it when she spotted a police patrol nearby. Finally, with two thousand dollars in hand and two large packs of items, fourteen-year-old Elynn and eleven-year-old Jeffrey sneaked out of their great-aunt's suburban manor and ran.
They settled down in a decrepit woodsman's hut three days' journey away from the manor, and while their money was untouched, their food and water were being depleted, and there was no clean water or sanitation facilities in sight. Elynn knew they must find some way to sustain themselves, and quickly. She went into the city, at last, dressed in the most unremarkable clothes she could find from their provisions. Once there, she found that she had an aptitude of deflecting attention, a skill she had never really put to use before. With this in mind, she was soon stealing regularly from the big and small shops around the city, and occasionally nipping into unguarded apartments to steal cash. Temporarily, the problem of sustenance was resolved. But there was another hurdle coming.
For the past two years, there was no marked improvement in Jeffrey's mental abilities, beyond finally learning to speak and read simple sentences. Despite his age, he still maintained a childlike mentality, far too innocent and gullible to survive in the "wild". Elynn decided that something must be done. By luck, she had picked up a "Build Your Own ROBOT WARRIOR!" set from a store, hoping that it will give Jeffrey something to occupy himself with while she's out. It turned out to be the one thing that led her to realise his potential as a mechanic. He had been unnaturally fascinated with Lego bricks and the like when he was young, true, but nobody had seen that he was capable of things that would stump a person much older than him. Elynn's brother was now no longer just an idiot, but an idiot savant.
Anyhow, Elynn quickly decided to build on that potential, stealing or even purchasing more and more sophisticated tools and materials for him. Jeffrey soon proved to be adept at handling most simple tools, and his proficiency spanned from electrical circuits to mechanical construction. Their life was harder than both of them were used to, but they survived. Jeffrey built the strangest contraptions which nevertheless helped her to break into homes and steal items from shops, and they lived for another few months, isolated from society except for Elynn.
Elynn had soon integrated well enough into the urban street society. She never did join gangs, but she met enough people who were from one or two of the smaller ones, and avoided the more prominent ones like the plague. Oddly, it was here that she made friends – or, rather, work partners. She would often rob a house together with someone else and split the returns with him; in return, he would provide her with the tools she required. What she couldn't buy, her brother built for her. Elynn began to purchase books on building and wiring constructions, choosing the ones with diagrams, and helped Jeffrey absorb them. She became known in the underground societies as "that girl with the machines", much to her displeasure. Elynn had learnt never to attract notice; now, her reputation was being talked of all around. It made her uneasy.
So perhaps it was a good thing when just two months ago, she and Jeffrey had fallen into Enera.
She had been sending Jeffrey to a small car-repairs-slash-petrol-station owned by a kindly old couple, where he could observe and perhaps help out for a small payment. It made him happy, in any case, and it was a relief that he was being taken care of. His newly-picked-up skills were also a boon to the siblings; more sophisticated machines could be devised for her in her theft escapades. They would stay in the city for a week before leaving for their "house"; it was much more convenient.
That dawn, Elynn had collected Jeffrey at the station promptly, like most other weeks, and they were prepared for the long tramp to their cabin when she noticed a shimmering window-like structure just beyond a few bushes. Curious, they had wandered to it, and when Jeffrey stepped through it to the other side, Elynn had no choice but to follow. Once there, the bright lights made it difficult for them to find the window again, and they never did return. It was lucky that they had all the items they needed. In any case, they landed in the middle of a stadium, flooded by bright lights, but few people actually were in the stadium – a lucky escape, indeed.
And then of course they had the shocks of their lives. Elynn found herself staring into the surly face of a ghostly purple creature, hovering not three feet away, while Jeffrey discovered an Electrike nudging his legs gently. It was safe to say that his first encounter with his Dæmon was nowhere as traumatic as Elynn's.
The girl's first reaction was to run, but she soon realised that the Haunter was not a threat. There was a certain kind of familiarity to him. And it was very definitely a him. He introduced himself, in a measured tone that would prove to be rare in his species, that he was Cruniciatis, and he was her Dæmon – the other half of her soul, it appeared. Not sure what to make of it all, Elynn ended up shaking hands with him and proceeding on to find a place to sleep. Dæmons and such could be pondered the next day.
With luck, they wandered into the Pokémon Centre, a structure that was virtually nonexistent in her home world. Elynn was hardly comfortable with sleeping in such a place, but a combination of Cruni's testimonial, Jeffrey's pleading eyes and Nurse Joy's welcoming smile made her agree at last. They passed a night there, and ate their best meal in a long while the next morning – a complementary breakfast set from the pokémon Centre.
Introductions were next. Cruni explained that he, as a recently-formed Dæmon, didn't know much about the world beyond instinct, but he was willing to help Elynn. The girl decided an extra pair of eyes was always useful, and that was that – none of the mushy-wushy loving between them, like many other bonds between human-Dæmon pairs. For Jeffrey it was a different matter; his Dæmon was a lot more talkative and social than he was. She introduced herself as Faraday, Fara for short, and it was obvious that they were made for each other.
With that out of the way, Elynn began to plot her next moves. Since the food and shelter seemed to be free, she took the next few days to learn about this new world. The first thing she noticed was the abundance of Pokémon – bright, happy creatures, nothing like the beasts of her old world. Fear was gradually replaced by acceptance as she got used to their presence, but nothing would convince her to actually approach one. She scouted out the possible targets – shopping malls, small residences, and the like.
One week later she made her move.
Elynn found success on her first forage – she picked up a hefty load of food, clothes and money. It was enough to last them another week, at least; theft in this world seemed a lot easier. Her thefts were lumped with the usual petty crimes committed by malcontents, rogue trainers, and Tsuasa members. She moved on to progressively more lucrative targets, until that night she came across Tsuasa again.
She had been busy breaking into a safe in a large house when something clouted her across the back of her head, felling her. As she lay stunned, trying not to groan or pass out, Elynn heard a low voice: "Just a girl. Leave her, Nadus – a good scapegoat is hard to find." Enraged by the words, she asked Cruni to track her attacker until she could chase after him herself. When her vision cleared, Elynn rubbed the lump on her head and discovered that he had taken all of her intended loot and left. She followed the trail pointed out by Cruni and jumped the man in the first dark alley she came to.
In the ensuing struggle, Elynn saw that the man, dressed in dark clothes and clearly an experienced thief, was accompanied by an Ekans and a Geodude. Desperate, she made a grab for the former and pinned it against the ground – and received a shock as the man gagged and collapsed as well, and Cruni yelled at her to let go of his Dæmon now and focus on the Geodude; didn't she know that it was taboo to touch someone else's Dæmon? Elynn quickly followed his instructions, though she kept a firm hand around the slim neck of the snake Pokémon and sat down hard on the Geodude. When the man recovered somewhat, she had already ran through his pockets and collected her "rightful" gains.
An interrogation followed: it was revealed that he was a member of Team Tsuasa, a name she had heard on the news in the Pokémon Centre. When she realised that it was looking for members, and that it might offer food, shelter, clothing and payment in return for loyalty and effort, she left the man half-unconscious in the alley and returned with her loot, thinking. She couldn't promise the former, but the latter was perfectly fine to her. And if they could ensure a safer environment for Jeffrey and help him develop his talents more, why not?
So the very next day, she packed up and started searching for the Tsuasa base.
The Dæmon
[/u][/center][/size]Name: Cruniciatis, known as Cruni by most.
Form (if settled): Haunter
Appearance: An ordinary Haunter. Really, just like his human, nothing extraordinary.
Personality: Cruni isn't your average Haunter now, not in this aspect. For one, he is a lot more serious and practical than the wild ones, choosing to maintain a logical, rational line of reasoning than to give into his natural impulses. He rarely engages in the pranks his kind usually pulls, and instead hovers around Elynn, acting as another pair of eyes for her. He prefers to keep out of sight as well, and often "possesses" items around her to avoid detection. He can't go very far, like most Dæmons, but he can stretch himself out thinly when possessing something.
He is also a lot colder and self-centred than Elynn. To him, his priority is his human; everything else matters less. He will advise her to employ self-preservation as a policy, and will often act as a Devil's advocate to her plans. He is very detail-oriented, too, and that generally works in Elynn's favour when he's on board to help.
Curiously, their relationship seems to be more of the adviser-client type – Cruni rarely shows affection for her, and vice versa. Even Elynn doesn't know how to view him: part of herself, or another entity entirely?
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