(no subject)
Dec. 7th, 2012 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magicalpadawanPlayer Information:
Name: Mandy
Age: 26
Contact: plurk: tyriangalley, AIM: seasonsofmists86, email: drunkencynic@gmail.com
Game Cast: N/A!
Character Information:
Name: Margaret (Molly) Katherine Amanda Carpenter
Canon: The Dresden Files
Canon Point: the end of Ghost Story
Age: 21~ish.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Dresden_Files_characters#Molly_Carpenter
Setting:
Our story begins in a world not entirely unlike our own. In fact, it’s meant to be our own, aside from the fact that there’s wizards and demons and incubi and angels and Knights of the Cross running rampant. They’ve got the same fictional characters and everything as our world does -- for example, both Harry and Molly quote Star Wars rather often. So, in a sentence -- magic exists, as do all the magical/fairy stories you’ve ever heard of. Bad faeries, good faeries, vampires, dark magic, all that fun stuff.
Magic, in this case, is overseen by the seven laws of magic, which are enforced by the Wardens of the White Council. People who break these laws are subject to the Doom of Damocles if a senior wizard intercedes for them -- that is to say, they’re okay while the senior wizard vouches for them, but if they break another law or use black magic, they and their mentor will be subject to the death penalty. Two of the people in recent memory who have been under the Doom are Harry Dresden and Molly Carpenter. This is important, honest. Harry runs a magical detective agency, rescuing Chicago from all the creepy types that are out to get it. Demons, vampires, faeries, ad nauseum. There are a surprising amount of them for a midwestern city. His apprentice is Molly Carpenter.
So now we get to Molly. She is, when we first meet her, a relatively innocent goth chick stuck in a really religious family -- to be exact, she’s the daughter of a Knight of the Cross. She tries to avoid her mother as much as she can, and succeeds, without knowing that her technique of evasion involves using magic. So does her technique of getting her friends off drugs. Good intentions, yes, mind-screwing, no. She’s a wizard, Harry! -- Which means that Harry needs to teach her how to use magic properly, and not mess with people’s heads. (That would be, of course, black magic.)
She is an eager student, as any teenage rebel would be when they can go hang out with a wizard who is just as nerdy as they are and who their mother doesn’t like. Shenanigans ensue, including Molly being kidnapped by faeries and finding out who exactly she inherited her magic from. Turns out that her magic is good for mental stuff, veils and battling inside minds, and not the big dramatic fiery stuff Harry uses. Something important to note about mental magic in the Dresdenverse -- when someone nearby them dies, whether or not they have magical power, the magic user consciously feels it.
The biggest battle Molly has helped out in to date, however, had some detrimental effects on her sanity. This was, basically, a battle for the life of Harry’s daughter, and of course Molly was bound and determined to help out. Rocks fell and everyone died. Well, lots of people died. Including most if not all of the entire Red Court of vampires. Molly’s magic being what it is, this hit her very hard. The wounds she got didn’t exactly help either, but suffice to say they won. And then Harry died, but no body was found. And then everything went to hell.
Chicago, six months after Harry’s death. All those big bad guys that he was so good at keeping out of Chicago? They’re trying to get at it. Molly is trying and (somewhat) failing to step into Harry’s shoes, along with the help of some of Harry’s other friends. Some don’t believe Harry is dead, some do, and Harry arrives in spirit form to give them all a little help. In the meantime, there’s a mysterious practitioner of magic running around Chicago pretending they’re Batman. This person is a not-very-sane Molly, and she eventually saves the day, as Batman tends to. She’ll be arriving from just after saving the day, as it were.
Here's a bit more world info, just to make things a bit clearer. On being a wizard: Obviously, a wizard is someone with supernatural talents. They can be minor talents, sorcerers, or full-on wizards of the White Council. 'Minor talents' are those people who might be psychic, just have something special about them. Then we have the people whose supernatural talents veer in one specific direction -- like, say, speaking to the dead, or accidental telekinesis or something like that. Sorcerers are the magical folks who aren't talented enough to join the white council, minor witches and wizards. Last but not least, we have the actual wizards -- people who are powerful enough to need training in magic and help protect the world from the forces of encroaching darkness, or evil faeries, or sometimes big scary creatures from the beginnings of time. Basically, the 'wizarding world' in the Dresdenverse is very much closer to our own world than say, Harry Potter or something of that nature. Wizards are the focus of interests from the Vampire Courts, the faeries, the White Council, and even plain old mortal law enforcement folks. Being a wizard is not easy and very often dangerous and life-threatening, especially if you know Harry Dresden; but hey. Someone's gotta protect the world from demons and faeries that want to turn humanity into wolfhounds, right?
The Vampire Courts: There are four different types of vampires in the Dresdenverse: the Red Court, the White Court, the Black Court, and the Jade Court. The Red Court is the first group we encounter in the series; they're beautiful people who turn into creepy, venom-drooling bat monsters. They are able to manipulate people through their venom, which is a powerful narcotic, and have their hands in mortal affairs by way of politics and international finance. They are currently in a war with the White Council, begun on a pretext that was mostly the fault of Harry Dresden.
The White Court is closest to the Red in terms of power, but the vampires of the White Court use their abilities very differently. They are basically psychic vampires, and live off powerful emotions -- usually, sex. They've got a hand in mortal affairs through the media, mostly fashion and pornography. Harry (and by extension, Molly) has got ties to a few of them; one is Harry's half-brother. It's kind of complicated. In any case, they're officially neutral in the vampire war currently happening.
The Black Court is made up of the vampires everyone and their grandmother has heard of. They're basically the Bram Stoker version, with all the classic weaknesses. Garlic, stakes, holy objects, et cetera. The entire world knows about them, which makes them one of the weaker courts -- the Red and White Courts both use this to their own advantages. So far, the Black Court has not really played a part in the war, though a few Black Court vampires have popped up once or twice.
The Jade Court is the court we don't know much about -- all we do know is it's based in Asia, presumably, and very well-hidden. No one knows how much power they have, though a few people Harry has met have interacted with them. They are not involved in the war as of yet, which is a great relief to the White Council.
The White Council: Basically, it's a group composed of wizards from all around the world -- kind of the nation of wizards. It's got a governing body, the Senior Council, which helps make sure that the Laws of Magic are respected. The unlucky wizards who don't follow the Laws get to deal with the Wardens -- basically the White Council's police force, and sometimes their executioners. (Harry and Molly have had quite a few run-ins with them, until Harry became one.) The Council has alliances with the other various supernatural factions of the world, holds trials of wizardry for apprentices, and members of the Council generally represent the Council. Wardens of the Council are expected to protect the areas they live in from supernatural threats, help out in matters of a diplomatic nature, and help other wizards. They're battle-hardened soldiers who have seen some pretty nasty stuff by this point in the books.
The Laws of Magic -- which I think I mentioned in the app, too, are probably best gone into here.
1. No killing mortals with magic.
2. No transforming others.
3. No mind-reading.
4. No mind-controlling.
5. No necromancy.
6. No time travel.
7. No seeking knowledge/power from Outsiders. (Basically, think Cthulhu sort of things.)
Knights of the Cross: Originally, they were a group founded to fight demons. Specifically, the demons who got the thirty pieces of silver Judas received after the death of Jesus. So they've been around for a while. There are three of them, and they carry swords that hold the nails Christ was nailed to the cross with. The Knight's job is to counter the forces of darkness in the world and, according to the RPG book (written by the author), 'protect the freedom of the mortal soul'. Basically, they're the Good Guys with a capital G. They don't even need to believe in God to be a knight, a pure and faithful heart is good enough to be a recruit. God believes in them, and that's all they need. They get a holy sword, some help from the Big Guy upstairs, and support from the Catholic church, too. (For example, Molly's house is protected by angels, since her dad is a Knight of the Cross.) There is only one Knight currently active, and they are most definitely on the side of the White Council in the war against the vampires.
The Black Council: Basically, they're a group behind quite a few of Harry's problems. They've done extremely helpful things like give the ability to become werewolves to otherwise normal mortals, interfered in faerie affairs and driven the heir to the summer throne of faerie mad. They've also silenced the Winter Queen, Mab -- who is a seriously powerful contender. No one really knows who they are, but Harry suspects they may have a spy in the White Council, maybe even on the Senior Council. What they want is unknown at this point, but they're certainly causing a lot of trouble to get it.
Personality: Molly is -- a bit of an oddball, to say the least. She's a snarky ex-goth (mostly) girl who grew up in a seriously Catholic family. As such, she is extremely devoted to her family -- father, mother, and all six brothers and sisters. Family, friends, and their safety are all very important to her. She will help them in any way she can, even if it means turning to not-exactly legal forms of magic to do so. Sure, she may make sarcastic comments and the like, she learned from one of the best, but she will always be there for someone she cares about, in spite of danger, imminent death, or possible insanity. She's a fighter, and a tenacious one.
Underneath that snarky, multi-colored goth exterior, however, beats the heart of someone who is secretly a giant nerd. It's probably part of the reason why she and Harry get along so well. We are privy to the inner sanctum of her mind at one point in the novels, and it is, apparently, just like the main deck of the Starship Enterprise, except populated with Mollys dressed as Star Trek characters -- yes, the cheesy 1960s versions. This is a girl who calls her teacher Mister Miyagi and Yoda, among other things. She has a good sense of humor, though she usually puts it into use making dry comments at everything and everyone around her, and is reasonably willing to go along with whatever crazy plan Harry may have about something or another. She is desperately in love with Harry, her teacher, and he knows, but tries to pretend that doesn't exist. Her tendency to love so deeply makes her susceptible to doing stupid things, as stated earlier. It also makes for great guilt complexes, when things get messed up enough.
That's where recent events come in! Due to happenings covered in the setting section, Molly currently has a very shaky grip on sanity, with a side of awesome guilt complex. She's unsure if she can live up to her mentor's reputation, panicking about what will happen if she doesn't live up to it, and trying to protect Chicago all at the same time. She's had to resort to some unpleasant things to do so, and she knows very well that she is not exactly sane. She tries to hide it, and is more lucid around people she is close to -- Harry, Thomas, or her family, for instance. She also has an act, however. In order to distance people from her and keep their hands clean; she puts on a bit of an Ophelia act, seeming crazier and more dangerous than she really is. It's all an important part of the persona she has to keep Chicago safe, and without most of Chicago around, she might not stick to it unless she gets extremely close to people in game.
As for arriving in Tu Shanshu? She won’t be too surprised by the whole spirit world thing -- she has, after all, just helped save Chicago with the help of a whole bunch of ghosts and her supposedly dead mentor. Their intentions, however -- she won’t be too sure about those. Spirit world’s fine and all, but what if she’s just been kidnapped by creepy faeries again? Therefore, she’ll be suspicious, angry, probably pretending to be more insane than usual so people won’t bother her. She’ll get used to it eventually, once she realizes no one’s really out to get her, probably give in to relaxing a little and getting out and meeting people, possibly fangirling over Captain America and all the superheroes. She’ll still try and get home, though, even if that suspicion is gone. She has world-saving to do, even if time’s stopped back home.
Appearance: At various points, Molly is described as looking like a schoolboy’s fantasy of a Nordic supermodel. She’s reasonably tall, blonde (sometimes), and curvy all over the place. She’s got a few facial piercings (and elsewhere, too), but lip and ears are the most noticeable. She's also got quite a few noticeable tattoos. At her current canon point, she is unhealthily thin, with long dark purple hair, and generally looks somewhere between exhausted and slightly insane.
Abilities: She’s a wizard! Which is to say, she can cast simple defensive spells -- shields, a little bit of fire, but those are not her strengths. Where she really shines is in veils and mental magic, illusions. She can, in essence, make herself invisible if she really wants to. She has a more sensitive form of magic, as opposed to Harry’s running around with guns blazing and fire blasting type. As for weaknesses -- well, defensive magic is a big one, and she is working on it. Her wounds from the big crazy vampire battle still bug her, and she’s very sensitive to death and mental shenanigans. She’s also rather frail due to current canon circumstances, but that’s what happens when you decide to live on the streets for six months.
Another thing about Dresden wizards is that they have the soulgaze -- if you look straight into someone’s eyes, you will see all the things they’ve ever done, good and bad, to the true center of their souls. It is something that will never be forgotten. So there’s that. Molly has been on the receiving end of one with a vampire, and she makes a conscious effort to avoid it at all costs. And one more fun thing about them! Electronics don’t tend to work well around them, especially those made after the 50s-60s. Basically they break really quickly and really easily -- Harry’s been known to break GPS systems just by getting in a car. I can work with this, or if you’d like it can be sort of handwaved so the electronics only act up after Molly’s been using magic.
Suitability: To be honest, at this point Tu Vishan is getting to be a bit more like the Chicago she's used to, what with the creepy magic-users working and the need to band together to fight back against it. She'd be -- less fine with the more militarized portions of the city, certainly, but she kind of tends to have problems with authority in general. Otherwise? She'd be perfectly alright with missions and/or random encounters, as long as she saw a good purpose to them. It's pretty much what she does with Harry every week or so.
Inventory: A pile of rags masquerading as clothes, her wands, a tatty backpack with a wallet and ID in it, and a purple cane.
Suite: Somewhere in the Earth sector -- just because it’ll probably remind her a little of home. One floor is fine!
She is used to well, being well-grounded. Her family is solidly middle-class -- her dad’s a carpenter, even if he goes off and saves the world with Harry on occasion. Her mother is very no-nonsense, especially around Molly -- and I figure the rocks and all the fun stuff in the Earth sector will give her a good grounding place. It’s also not got a lot of tech -- well, not as much as some places, so I figure it’ll be good for her in regards to that whole ‘magic breaking technology’ thing she has going on.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
Five seconds ago, she had been escorted to an ambulance. Now, she was in a building, of all places. Maybe she’d just finally had a psychotic break. That was a good explanation, and she had been rather exhausted from the battle with Corpsetaker. Add that to the fact that she knew wasn’t sane by any definition of the word, and you have a recipe for a psychotic break. Molly nodded to herself and glanced around, frowning.
The people she’d encountered had told her that she was alright, just in the ‘In Between’, whatever that was. Stuck there. She didn’t like the sound of that at all, too similar to something the black hats could dream up. Stick the person trying to protect Chicago in the spirit world, take it over while Harry’s dead and no one’s there to -- no, she’s not going to think about that now. It’s still too raw, she’s afraid she might snap, stretched as thin as her sanity already is.
Right. So probably not a psychotic break. Time for another explanation -- it couldn’t be faeries, this didn’t seem like Lea’s style. Her style was more turning people into wolfhounds and stuff like that.
“Pinch me, I’m dreaming,” she muttered to herself, half-expecting someone to materialize out of the shadows and oblige her. Isn’t that what happened in hallucinations? No response. Okay, maybe going back to her old tricks would work. This could be just some weird test from the Wardens or from Lea or some kind of really strong illusion. If she was kidnapped, she sure as hell wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of learning anything from her.
Network:
[Today, Molly looks tired. Tired, slightly angry, definitely unwilling to put up with any BS. Her voice certainly reflects that attitude, sounding like she's on the edge of running out of patience. Otherwise, she's quite clearly the same Molly, shaggy blue-fading-into-blonde hair, tattoos, and all.] I don't have time for all this again. I just need to know two things, please, and make them quick. Bucky Barnes -- the older one, the one that lives in Wood. Is he still here? [For a moment, something anxious flickers in her eyes, but she presses on, setting her jaw.] The same goes for Jim. Jim Kirk, the captain of the USS Enterprise. [Finally, there, she lets herself smile a little. It's still a little difficult to believe that she's somehow become friends with her childhood hero, okay?] I'd like to know if he's here. Thanks, if you have any information.
Name: Mandy
Age: 26
Contact: plurk: tyriangalley, AIM: seasonsofmists86, email: drunkencynic@gmail.com
Game Cast: N/A!
Character Information:
Name: Margaret (Molly) Katherine Amanda Carpenter
Canon: The Dresden Files
Canon Point: the end of Ghost Story
Age: 21~ish.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Dresden_Files_characters#Molly_Carpenter
Setting:
Our story begins in a world not entirely unlike our own. In fact, it’s meant to be our own, aside from the fact that there’s wizards and demons and incubi and angels and Knights of the Cross running rampant. They’ve got the same fictional characters and everything as our world does -- for example, both Harry and Molly quote Star Wars rather often. So, in a sentence -- magic exists, as do all the magical/fairy stories you’ve ever heard of. Bad faeries, good faeries, vampires, dark magic, all that fun stuff.
Magic, in this case, is overseen by the seven laws of magic, which are enforced by the Wardens of the White Council. People who break these laws are subject to the Doom of Damocles if a senior wizard intercedes for them -- that is to say, they’re okay while the senior wizard vouches for them, but if they break another law or use black magic, they and their mentor will be subject to the death penalty. Two of the people in recent memory who have been under the Doom are Harry Dresden and Molly Carpenter. This is important, honest. Harry runs a magical detective agency, rescuing Chicago from all the creepy types that are out to get it. Demons, vampires, faeries, ad nauseum. There are a surprising amount of them for a midwestern city. His apprentice is Molly Carpenter.
So now we get to Molly. She is, when we first meet her, a relatively innocent goth chick stuck in a really religious family -- to be exact, she’s the daughter of a Knight of the Cross. She tries to avoid her mother as much as she can, and succeeds, without knowing that her technique of evasion involves using magic. So does her technique of getting her friends off drugs. Good intentions, yes, mind-screwing, no. She’s a wizard, Harry! -- Which means that Harry needs to teach her how to use magic properly, and not mess with people’s heads. (That would be, of course, black magic.)
She is an eager student, as any teenage rebel would be when they can go hang out with a wizard who is just as nerdy as they are and who their mother doesn’t like. Shenanigans ensue, including Molly being kidnapped by faeries and finding out who exactly she inherited her magic from. Turns out that her magic is good for mental stuff, veils and battling inside minds, and not the big dramatic fiery stuff Harry uses. Something important to note about mental magic in the Dresdenverse -- when someone nearby them dies, whether or not they have magical power, the magic user consciously feels it.
The biggest battle Molly has helped out in to date, however, had some detrimental effects on her sanity. This was, basically, a battle for the life of Harry’s daughter, and of course Molly was bound and determined to help out. Rocks fell and everyone died. Well, lots of people died. Including most if not all of the entire Red Court of vampires. Molly’s magic being what it is, this hit her very hard. The wounds she got didn’t exactly help either, but suffice to say they won. And then Harry died, but no body was found. And then everything went to hell.
Chicago, six months after Harry’s death. All those big bad guys that he was so good at keeping out of Chicago? They’re trying to get at it. Molly is trying and (somewhat) failing to step into Harry’s shoes, along with the help of some of Harry’s other friends. Some don’t believe Harry is dead, some do, and Harry arrives in spirit form to give them all a little help. In the meantime, there’s a mysterious practitioner of magic running around Chicago pretending they’re Batman. This person is a not-very-sane Molly, and she eventually saves the day, as Batman tends to. She’ll be arriving from just after saving the day, as it were.
Here's a bit more world info, just to make things a bit clearer. On being a wizard: Obviously, a wizard is someone with supernatural talents. They can be minor talents, sorcerers, or full-on wizards of the White Council. 'Minor talents' are those people who might be psychic, just have something special about them. Then we have the people whose supernatural talents veer in one specific direction -- like, say, speaking to the dead, or accidental telekinesis or something like that. Sorcerers are the magical folks who aren't talented enough to join the white council, minor witches and wizards. Last but not least, we have the actual wizards -- people who are powerful enough to need training in magic and help protect the world from the forces of encroaching darkness, or evil faeries, or sometimes big scary creatures from the beginnings of time. Basically, the 'wizarding world' in the Dresdenverse is very much closer to our own world than say, Harry Potter or something of that nature. Wizards are the focus of interests from the Vampire Courts, the faeries, the White Council, and even plain old mortal law enforcement folks. Being a wizard is not easy and very often dangerous and life-threatening, especially if you know Harry Dresden; but hey. Someone's gotta protect the world from demons and faeries that want to turn humanity into wolfhounds, right?
The Vampire Courts: There are four different types of vampires in the Dresdenverse: the Red Court, the White Court, the Black Court, and the Jade Court. The Red Court is the first group we encounter in the series; they're beautiful people who turn into creepy, venom-drooling bat monsters. They are able to manipulate people through their venom, which is a powerful narcotic, and have their hands in mortal affairs by way of politics and international finance. They are currently in a war with the White Council, begun on a pretext that was mostly the fault of Harry Dresden.
The White Court is closest to the Red in terms of power, but the vampires of the White Court use their abilities very differently. They are basically psychic vampires, and live off powerful emotions -- usually, sex. They've got a hand in mortal affairs through the media, mostly fashion and pornography. Harry (and by extension, Molly) has got ties to a few of them; one is Harry's half-brother. It's kind of complicated. In any case, they're officially neutral in the vampire war currently happening.
The Black Court is made up of the vampires everyone and their grandmother has heard of. They're basically the Bram Stoker version, with all the classic weaknesses. Garlic, stakes, holy objects, et cetera. The entire world knows about them, which makes them one of the weaker courts -- the Red and White Courts both use this to their own advantages. So far, the Black Court has not really played a part in the war, though a few Black Court vampires have popped up once or twice.
The Jade Court is the court we don't know much about -- all we do know is it's based in Asia, presumably, and very well-hidden. No one knows how much power they have, though a few people Harry has met have interacted with them. They are not involved in the war as of yet, which is a great relief to the White Council.
The White Council: Basically, it's a group composed of wizards from all around the world -- kind of the nation of wizards. It's got a governing body, the Senior Council, which helps make sure that the Laws of Magic are respected. The unlucky wizards who don't follow the Laws get to deal with the Wardens -- basically the White Council's police force, and sometimes their executioners. (Harry and Molly have had quite a few run-ins with them, until Harry became one.) The Council has alliances with the other various supernatural factions of the world, holds trials of wizardry for apprentices, and members of the Council generally represent the Council. Wardens of the Council are expected to protect the areas they live in from supernatural threats, help out in matters of a diplomatic nature, and help other wizards. They're battle-hardened soldiers who have seen some pretty nasty stuff by this point in the books.
The Laws of Magic -- which I think I mentioned in the app, too, are probably best gone into here.
1. No killing mortals with magic.
2. No transforming others.
3. No mind-reading.
4. No mind-controlling.
5. No necromancy.
6. No time travel.
7. No seeking knowledge/power from Outsiders. (Basically, think Cthulhu sort of things.)
Knights of the Cross: Originally, they were a group founded to fight demons. Specifically, the demons who got the thirty pieces of silver Judas received after the death of Jesus. So they've been around for a while. There are three of them, and they carry swords that hold the nails Christ was nailed to the cross with. The Knight's job is to counter the forces of darkness in the world and, according to the RPG book (written by the author), 'protect the freedom of the mortal soul'. Basically, they're the Good Guys with a capital G. They don't even need to believe in God to be a knight, a pure and faithful heart is good enough to be a recruit. God believes in them, and that's all they need. They get a holy sword, some help from the Big Guy upstairs, and support from the Catholic church, too. (For example, Molly's house is protected by angels, since her dad is a Knight of the Cross.) There is only one Knight currently active, and they are most definitely on the side of the White Council in the war against the vampires.
The Black Council: Basically, they're a group behind quite a few of Harry's problems. They've done extremely helpful things like give the ability to become werewolves to otherwise normal mortals, interfered in faerie affairs and driven the heir to the summer throne of faerie mad. They've also silenced the Winter Queen, Mab -- who is a seriously powerful contender. No one really knows who they are, but Harry suspects they may have a spy in the White Council, maybe even on the Senior Council. What they want is unknown at this point, but they're certainly causing a lot of trouble to get it.
Personality: Molly is -- a bit of an oddball, to say the least. She's a snarky ex-goth (mostly) girl who grew up in a seriously Catholic family. As such, she is extremely devoted to her family -- father, mother, and all six brothers and sisters. Family, friends, and their safety are all very important to her. She will help them in any way she can, even if it means turning to not-exactly legal forms of magic to do so. Sure, she may make sarcastic comments and the like, she learned from one of the best, but she will always be there for someone she cares about, in spite of danger, imminent death, or possible insanity. She's a fighter, and a tenacious one.
Underneath that snarky, multi-colored goth exterior, however, beats the heart of someone who is secretly a giant nerd. It's probably part of the reason why she and Harry get along so well. We are privy to the inner sanctum of her mind at one point in the novels, and it is, apparently, just like the main deck of the Starship Enterprise, except populated with Mollys dressed as Star Trek characters -- yes, the cheesy 1960s versions. This is a girl who calls her teacher Mister Miyagi and Yoda, among other things. She has a good sense of humor, though she usually puts it into use making dry comments at everything and everyone around her, and is reasonably willing to go along with whatever crazy plan Harry may have about something or another. She is desperately in love with Harry, her teacher, and he knows, but tries to pretend that doesn't exist. Her tendency to love so deeply makes her susceptible to doing stupid things, as stated earlier. It also makes for great guilt complexes, when things get messed up enough.
That's where recent events come in! Due to happenings covered in the setting section, Molly currently has a very shaky grip on sanity, with a side of awesome guilt complex. She's unsure if she can live up to her mentor's reputation, panicking about what will happen if she doesn't live up to it, and trying to protect Chicago all at the same time. She's had to resort to some unpleasant things to do so, and she knows very well that she is not exactly sane. She tries to hide it, and is more lucid around people she is close to -- Harry, Thomas, or her family, for instance. She also has an act, however. In order to distance people from her and keep their hands clean; she puts on a bit of an Ophelia act, seeming crazier and more dangerous than she really is. It's all an important part of the persona she has to keep Chicago safe, and without most of Chicago around, she might not stick to it unless she gets extremely close to people in game.
As for arriving in Tu Shanshu? She won’t be too surprised by the whole spirit world thing -- she has, after all, just helped save Chicago with the help of a whole bunch of ghosts and her supposedly dead mentor. Their intentions, however -- she won’t be too sure about those. Spirit world’s fine and all, but what if she’s just been kidnapped by creepy faeries again? Therefore, she’ll be suspicious, angry, probably pretending to be more insane than usual so people won’t bother her. She’ll get used to it eventually, once she realizes no one’s really out to get her, probably give in to relaxing a little and getting out and meeting people, possibly fangirling over Captain America and all the superheroes. She’ll still try and get home, though, even if that suspicion is gone. She has world-saving to do, even if time’s stopped back home.
Appearance: At various points, Molly is described as looking like a schoolboy’s fantasy of a Nordic supermodel. She’s reasonably tall, blonde (sometimes), and curvy all over the place. She’s got a few facial piercings (and elsewhere, too), but lip and ears are the most noticeable. She's also got quite a few noticeable tattoos. At her current canon point, she is unhealthily thin, with long dark purple hair, and generally looks somewhere between exhausted and slightly insane.
Abilities: She’s a wizard! Which is to say, she can cast simple defensive spells -- shields, a little bit of fire, but those are not her strengths. Where she really shines is in veils and mental magic, illusions. She can, in essence, make herself invisible if she really wants to. She has a more sensitive form of magic, as opposed to Harry’s running around with guns blazing and fire blasting type. As for weaknesses -- well, defensive magic is a big one, and she is working on it. Her wounds from the big crazy vampire battle still bug her, and she’s very sensitive to death and mental shenanigans. She’s also rather frail due to current canon circumstances, but that’s what happens when you decide to live on the streets for six months.
Another thing about Dresden wizards is that they have the soulgaze -- if you look straight into someone’s eyes, you will see all the things they’ve ever done, good and bad, to the true center of their souls. It is something that will never be forgotten. So there’s that. Molly has been on the receiving end of one with a vampire, and she makes a conscious effort to avoid it at all costs. And one more fun thing about them! Electronics don’t tend to work well around them, especially those made after the 50s-60s. Basically they break really quickly and really easily -- Harry’s been known to break GPS systems just by getting in a car. I can work with this, or if you’d like it can be sort of handwaved so the electronics only act up after Molly’s been using magic.
Suitability: To be honest, at this point Tu Vishan is getting to be a bit more like the Chicago she's used to, what with the creepy magic-users working and the need to band together to fight back against it. She'd be -- less fine with the more militarized portions of the city, certainly, but she kind of tends to have problems with authority in general. Otherwise? She'd be perfectly alright with missions and/or random encounters, as long as she saw a good purpose to them. It's pretty much what she does with Harry every week or so.
Inventory: A pile of rags masquerading as clothes, her wands, a tatty backpack with a wallet and ID in it, and a purple cane.
Suite: Somewhere in the Earth sector -- just because it’ll probably remind her a little of home. One floor is fine!
She is used to well, being well-grounded. Her family is solidly middle-class -- her dad’s a carpenter, even if he goes off and saves the world with Harry on occasion. Her mother is very no-nonsense, especially around Molly -- and I figure the rocks and all the fun stuff in the Earth sector will give her a good grounding place. It’s also not got a lot of tech -- well, not as much as some places, so I figure it’ll be good for her in regards to that whole ‘magic breaking technology’ thing she has going on.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
Five seconds ago, she had been escorted to an ambulance. Now, she was in a building, of all places. Maybe she’d just finally had a psychotic break. That was a good explanation, and she had been rather exhausted from the battle with Corpsetaker. Add that to the fact that she knew wasn’t sane by any definition of the word, and you have a recipe for a psychotic break. Molly nodded to herself and glanced around, frowning.
The people she’d encountered had told her that she was alright, just in the ‘In Between’, whatever that was. Stuck there. She didn’t like the sound of that at all, too similar to something the black hats could dream up. Stick the person trying to protect Chicago in the spirit world, take it over while Harry’s dead and no one’s there to -- no, she’s not going to think about that now. It’s still too raw, she’s afraid she might snap, stretched as thin as her sanity already is.
Right. So probably not a psychotic break. Time for another explanation -- it couldn’t be faeries, this didn’t seem like Lea’s style. Her style was more turning people into wolfhounds and stuff like that.
“Pinch me, I’m dreaming,” she muttered to herself, half-expecting someone to materialize out of the shadows and oblige her. Isn’t that what happened in hallucinations? No response. Okay, maybe going back to her old tricks would work. This could be just some weird test from the Wardens or from Lea or some kind of really strong illusion. If she was kidnapped, she sure as hell wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of learning anything from her.
Network:
[Today, Molly looks tired. Tired, slightly angry, definitely unwilling to put up with any BS. Her voice certainly reflects that attitude, sounding like she's on the edge of running out of patience. Otherwise, she's quite clearly the same Molly, shaggy blue-fading-into-blonde hair, tattoos, and all.] I don't have time for all this again. I just need to know two things, please, and make them quick. Bucky Barnes -- the older one, the one that lives in Wood. Is he still here? [For a moment, something anxious flickers in her eyes, but she presses on, setting her jaw.] The same goes for Jim. Jim Kirk, the captain of the USS Enterprise. [Finally, there, she lets herself smile a little. It's still a little difficult to believe that she's somehow become friends with her childhood hero, okay?] I'd like to know if he's here. Thanks, if you have any information.
