[OOC] Application
1. Character's Name: Tamara (Tammy) Sable || Antalyon
2. Age: 19 || unknown, though somewhere between 100 - infinity
3. Background: Largely Tammy has grown up like any average girl; she is the only daughter in a family of four, with a younger brother who looks for new ways to get on her nerves with the least amount of effort possible. She grew up in a small town in Ohio, surrounded by a father that doted on her, a mother that fretted over her, an uncle up to his ears in the havoc his twin daughters created on a daily basis, and a cat with a fondness for digging his claws into passing ankles.
The one big difference between Tammy and most other people is that she is possessed.
Tammy has always heard the voice in her head; different from her own internal dialogue, it provided a running commentary in her early years and occasionally left her with empty pockets in her memory and a blistering headache.
Initially when her parents caught her talking to herself, they assumed she was addressing an imaginary friend. As such things were not unusual, they didn't worry, and even tried to indulge her in her friend "Anty." Whenever they'd put out a seat for it at the dinner table, though, Tammy would tell them Anty didn't have a body, that's why it borrowed hers. They were impressed by her creativity, but as she got older and her supposed fantasy continued they grew more concerned. When she passed out one day at school and couldn't remember even waking up that morning, they took her to a doctor.
The next months were filled with various scans and cognitive tests, culminating in the recommendation that Tammy received counseling. Thus, at 10 years of age, she began to see Dr. Monroe. A perfectly pleasant enough psychiatrist, the experience nonetheless served to highlight to Tammy exactly how different she was from everyone else.
Up to this point the voice in her head, which called itself Antalyon, hadn't instructed her on how she should behave; largely it didn't care. It concerned itself with very little. From time to time it would comment on their day-to-day life, but the voice only really roused any interest whenever someone started talking about the things they wanted. Tammy never made the connection, not until she began to see Dr. Monroe and started to wonder to herself what it was that made her so different. So she asked Antalyon why her mind had adopted an identity separate from her own (concepts that Dr. Monroe had given words to, concepts Tammy was only barely beginning to grasp).
So Antalyon told her. It was not a part of her at all. It was a being all it's own, a djinn, a wish-granter. Far older than she could fathom, it occupied her body and used it to find people who wanted. People who needed. It was those people that the djinn concerned itself with, for it survived by granting wishes, and then consuming the soul of the wisher. Nothing could make a magic sweeter than the fermentation it received inside a living human soul.
And while Tammy didn't understand a lot, she knew that she couldn't share any of this with Dr. Monroe. From that day forward, she stopped speaking to Antalyon out loud. She renounced any knowledge of it, insisted that it had never existed, and after another six months her parents finally agreed that she didn't need to see the doctor anymore.
She thought about telling her father about Antalyon, and came close many times. Then the day came when her father did something that horrified her to her core: he told her, "I wish I had enough money to retire and stay at home with you kids all the time."
She spoke without her consent; it was her voice but not her intent creating these words. "Really? And what would you give for that?"
"Oh, anything. Everything I have." And her father had smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
She could feel the coil of its magic as it wrapped around her father, dug itself into his soul, and nested there. Powerless to stop it, she raged at Antalyon to withdraw its magic, told it that if it dared kill her father she would kill herself and deprive it of a body.
Her temper amused it, and it let her anger run its course before finally deigning to explain itself to her; she hadn't been paying attention, but it hardly expected her to. Antalyon wasn't in any hurry to devour her father's soul, or really any soul. Going through the effort of arranging for a person to die was simply too much for it. It was perfectly satisfied to wait for them to pass on their own; it was of the opinion that the longer it waited, the tastier the dish was.
Besides, her death would simply require it find a new body; considering how prolific humans were, this was hardly a problem and wouldn't change the fact that, from the moment he'd agreed to the price--everything he had--Tammy's father had become Antalyon's.
Tammy wasn't pacified by this argument. No matter how she fought Antalyon, he wouldn't undo the wish. So she grit her teeth and comforted herself with the knowledge that she wouldn't lose her father any sooner than she would have otherwise.
Antalyon easily came to be the largest influence on Tammy's life. They argued about theology, about morals, about how humans constructed the world and how its kind saw it differently. They discussed the follies of people's desires, and as time passed and Tammy saw more and more people sell their souls for the sake of possessions, things they didn't really need, she became more jaded. By the time she left for college, she was of the opinion that people had no idea what would really make them happy.
4. Personality: Tammy doesn't often allow herself to get close to people. Too often she has made friends, only to have them carelessly wish in her presence. After that it was a bit difficult to be around them, knowing that were it not for her, their souls would not one day become fodder for a djinn. She has tried, with limited success, to convince herself that souls don't exist; people are comprised of energy, just as Antalyon's magic is, and it is this that it wants, not some metaphysical root of a person's being. She tries to maintain her stoicism when around people she doesn't know, so as to discourage creating close bonds, but despite her better judgement she still yearns for such friendships. While she works hard to keep people at arm's length, she is prone to caring about people and worrying about them. These reactions she tries to hide as much as possible.
Under her standoffish shield she is curious and prone to bouts of amusement. She will crack jokes, oftentimes displaying a rather morbid humor, and feels no qualms about laughing at death. Admittedly part of her humor probably developed as a way of discouraging people from getting too close to her.
Antalyon is, beyond anything else, very lazy. It is also young, at least by djinn standards, which perhaps explains his rather self-centered nature. It sees nothing wrong with what it does; morals are a human construct that it understands but whose standards hardly apply to it. There are simple truths in the world, and that is what it lives by; it's continued existence is dependent upon further consumption of souls. That said, Antalyon has a fondness for humans in some regards; it finds them hilarious. Their struggles to bend the world to their demands, their wars against one another, their desires, their basic instincts, provides endless amusement for it. It speaks with the same cadence and vocabulary as Tammy, further blurring the line between them; however, every ounce of guilt within them is solely her doing, and while it is aware of the thought process that leads her to these emotions, it cannot sympathize. Just as most humans don't think twice about killing a pig for food, neither does Antalyon worry about its own method for feeding itself.
5. Previous Game Developments: Skip
6. Appearance: At 5'3, she's a bit short, but she doesn't let that bother her. She's got brown hair she keeps cut short. She's got brown eyes and skin slightly darkened by the sun, with plenty of freckles on her shoulders and back to evidence this. She never wears make-up, and her clothing style varies--she likes skirts, jeans, sweaters, sneakers, heels.
No one knows what Antalyon looks like on its own--it is thoroughly entrenched in Tammy.
PB used will be Ellen Page.
7. Abilities: Tammy has no special abilities, unless you count the ability to pick up on dance moves pretty quickly. Antalyon, however, is a djinn and thus has the ability to grant wishes. Under normal circumstances no wish is too grand for him, though his kind have long ago agreed not to grant a wish that would fundamentally alter the foundations of their reality (so no matter how hard a kid wishes that he could have a pet dinosaur, no djinn would grant it). However, within the Keep Antalyon would be limited to, at best, one medium-sized wish a month, or a couple of small wishes spread out. A small wish would be something like a sandwich, or an article of clothing; medium would perhaps be something like wishing that a wound sustained when fighting the topiary was healed. Small wishes would leave Tammy with a headache; medium-wishes would result in blacking out, a nosebleed, and a migraine.
As for his claiming of souls once a person has died, the size of the magic would mean that the return wouldn't be typical. Someone who wished for a sandwich would hardly pay such a high price for it. If they died in the keep, Antalyon would take a little nibble out of the soul, regaining the magic he'd spent and a little bit extra. The consequence of this would be the wisher losing a memory--for small wishes, something like the first time they skinned their knees, or the last time they brushed their teeth. For medium sized wishes, it might be something more significant, like an hour out of their first date. Whatever this memory is, it would be determined by the wishers player before any wish was granted, and would only be an issue if the character ever died in game.
8. Languages: Antalyon can speak and read every language known to modern-day Earth, as well as a few that are extinct. When Antalyon is paying attention, Tammy shares this knowledge. When it's "napping," she can speak and read English and Spanish.
9. Items: On her way to class, Tammy had in her possession her black backpack, which contained her theology textbook, her chemistry textbook, her notebook, three ink pens, a white-out pen, seven paperclips, a baggie of tissues, one tampon, four pads, the novel Dune, her iPod, a pair of earphones, a bottle of mouthwash, a toothbrush and toothpaste tube, a granola bar, a pear, a tomato-lettuce-whole wheat sandwich, a bottle of water, a pair of socks, and three adhesive bandages.
In her pockets she had her wallet, which had forty-one dollars, her student ID, her driver's license, a coupon for the campus sub shop, and a photo of her family. She also had 88 cents and a packet of Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
10. Weapons: A pocket knife.
11. Writing sample - Third Person Prose:
Tammy had never been able to enjoy Aladdin. Antalyon typically slept through movies, and books, because such things were endlessly dull for it and offered no promise of an eventual treat. Even the folly of human behavior captured on the big screen was too artificial for its tastes, which was a blessing in disguise, when the alternative was considered.
Antalyon had a very, very complicated relationship with Aladdin. It's complicated didn't even chip at the iceberg of its reaction to the movie. And it didn't help that Tammy personally found Robin Williams to be trying at the best of times. Any time Antalyon was awake and providing running commentary on her life was not a best time by any stretch of the definition.
Aladdin really pushed its buttons.
Djinn aren't slaves. The concept is ludicrous.
I know, Anty.
Stop calling me that; that's not my name.
You're annoying me. When you annoy me your name is too long.
You're saying I always annoy you.
Got that implication pretty quickly, Anty, kudos to you.
Considering how much freedom I give you, I don't know why you would be annoyed with me. Other djinn aren't so generous to their cohabitants.
Tammy had gotten pretty good at keeping her internal conversations with Antalyon from having any effect on her facial expressions, but every now and then it liked to prove that it still knew where all of her buttons were, and how much fun it was to push them. Forcing her jaw to relax when she realized her teeth were clenched, she took a breath and concentrated on calm before purposefully directing a thought at the being who endlessly invaded her personal space.
Cohabitants implies that we have an equal share, Anty. I prefer to think of myself as the landlord and you as the deadbeat not paying rent.
You're given more than the others are.
Only because you're too lazy to fuss yourself with keeping us alive and functioning. Her mental tone was akin to a grumble, trying to focus again on the movie that her roommate had started playing on their shared t.v.
A moment of silence passed, but Tammy knew better than to hope Antalyon had actually begun ignoring them.
His limits are absurd. Love is the easiest and most common wish. A couple of adjustments to the human's neurochemistry and voila. Human love.
Thanks for that break down of one of the driving forces of my species.
And murder isn't uncommon.
That's great, Anty. How about we write the Disney corporation a letter to complain? We can sign it with a picture of a lamp.
At least he's got the part about raising the dead right. Though not because of decomposition; that's negligible in light of all the better reasons to leave the dead where they are.
How much would it cost me to wish for you to take a nap?
Not a very subtle hint.
More subtle than a punch in the spleen.
You'd only be hurting yourself.
Unable to come up with any retort not dependent on copious application of foul language, Tammy slumped further into bed and made a mental note to request that Lini not put this movie on ever again.
12. Writing sample - First Person:
[The video feed flickers, revealing the room for just a brief moment--the angle changes and tilts, as if whoever is holding and has activated the log is riffling through the pages.]
--llion years old and you can't answer a basic question?
[A pause and then the same voice responds.]
I did answer the question; you just didn't like the response. Which is your own problem.
[This time the lull is filled with a hiss and the camera stops its wild tilting, bringing a young woman into the frame. She might be fairly pretty, if not for the vicious scowl twisting her mouth.]
I hate it when you co-op my mouth.
[A beat passes and her eyes roll up, her expression losing some of it's severity. Something seems to have mollified her, if her features are anything to go by.]
Thanks. Last thing we need is to get committed because people know I'm crazy. Given that neither of us has any idea where the hell we are-- [She looks down, now, and sees the image of herself talking on the log. She frowns, her gaze skipping over and down the transcribed text, and it's abundantly clear that she's moved from irritated to agitated in the span of dawning understanding.]
Shit, Anty, what is this?!
[The angle changes, as if she's picking it up, and once more resumes it's wild tilting; it's obviously she's turning it over in her hand, looking for something. An off-switch would be the obvious guess.]
I asked you--why would I know?! Double shit, it's a book--books don't recor--how the hell do we turn thi--
[The feed ends abruptly.]
13. Tattoo: Across the top of her left foot.
14. Room: 4032
2. Age: 19 || unknown, though somewhere between 100 - infinity
3. Background: Largely Tammy has grown up like any average girl; she is the only daughter in a family of four, with a younger brother who looks for new ways to get on her nerves with the least amount of effort possible. She grew up in a small town in Ohio, surrounded by a father that doted on her, a mother that fretted over her, an uncle up to his ears in the havoc his twin daughters created on a daily basis, and a cat with a fondness for digging his claws into passing ankles.
The one big difference between Tammy and most other people is that she is possessed.
Tammy has always heard the voice in her head; different from her own internal dialogue, it provided a running commentary in her early years and occasionally left her with empty pockets in her memory and a blistering headache.
Initially when her parents caught her talking to herself, they assumed she was addressing an imaginary friend. As such things were not unusual, they didn't worry, and even tried to indulge her in her friend "Anty." Whenever they'd put out a seat for it at the dinner table, though, Tammy would tell them Anty didn't have a body, that's why it borrowed hers. They were impressed by her creativity, but as she got older and her supposed fantasy continued they grew more concerned. When she passed out one day at school and couldn't remember even waking up that morning, they took her to a doctor.
The next months were filled with various scans and cognitive tests, culminating in the recommendation that Tammy received counseling. Thus, at 10 years of age, she began to see Dr. Monroe. A perfectly pleasant enough psychiatrist, the experience nonetheless served to highlight to Tammy exactly how different she was from everyone else.
Up to this point the voice in her head, which called itself Antalyon, hadn't instructed her on how she should behave; largely it didn't care. It concerned itself with very little. From time to time it would comment on their day-to-day life, but the voice only really roused any interest whenever someone started talking about the things they wanted. Tammy never made the connection, not until she began to see Dr. Monroe and started to wonder to herself what it was that made her so different. So she asked Antalyon why her mind had adopted an identity separate from her own (concepts that Dr. Monroe had given words to, concepts Tammy was only barely beginning to grasp).
So Antalyon told her. It was not a part of her at all. It was a being all it's own, a djinn, a wish-granter. Far older than she could fathom, it occupied her body and used it to find people who wanted. People who needed. It was those people that the djinn concerned itself with, for it survived by granting wishes, and then consuming the soul of the wisher. Nothing could make a magic sweeter than the fermentation it received inside a living human soul.
And while Tammy didn't understand a lot, she knew that she couldn't share any of this with Dr. Monroe. From that day forward, she stopped speaking to Antalyon out loud. She renounced any knowledge of it, insisted that it had never existed, and after another six months her parents finally agreed that she didn't need to see the doctor anymore.
She thought about telling her father about Antalyon, and came close many times. Then the day came when her father did something that horrified her to her core: he told her, "I wish I had enough money to retire and stay at home with you kids all the time."
She spoke without her consent; it was her voice but not her intent creating these words. "Really? And what would you give for that?"
"Oh, anything. Everything I have." And her father had smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
She could feel the coil of its magic as it wrapped around her father, dug itself into his soul, and nested there. Powerless to stop it, she raged at Antalyon to withdraw its magic, told it that if it dared kill her father she would kill herself and deprive it of a body.
Her temper amused it, and it let her anger run its course before finally deigning to explain itself to her; she hadn't been paying attention, but it hardly expected her to. Antalyon wasn't in any hurry to devour her father's soul, or really any soul. Going through the effort of arranging for a person to die was simply too much for it. It was perfectly satisfied to wait for them to pass on their own; it was of the opinion that the longer it waited, the tastier the dish was.
Besides, her death would simply require it find a new body; considering how prolific humans were, this was hardly a problem and wouldn't change the fact that, from the moment he'd agreed to the price--everything he had--Tammy's father had become Antalyon's.
Tammy wasn't pacified by this argument. No matter how she fought Antalyon, he wouldn't undo the wish. So she grit her teeth and comforted herself with the knowledge that she wouldn't lose her father any sooner than she would have otherwise.
Antalyon easily came to be the largest influence on Tammy's life. They argued about theology, about morals, about how humans constructed the world and how its kind saw it differently. They discussed the follies of people's desires, and as time passed and Tammy saw more and more people sell their souls for the sake of possessions, things they didn't really need, she became more jaded. By the time she left for college, she was of the opinion that people had no idea what would really make them happy.
4. Personality: Tammy doesn't often allow herself to get close to people. Too often she has made friends, only to have them carelessly wish in her presence. After that it was a bit difficult to be around them, knowing that were it not for her, their souls would not one day become fodder for a djinn. She has tried, with limited success, to convince herself that souls don't exist; people are comprised of energy, just as Antalyon's magic is, and it is this that it wants, not some metaphysical root of a person's being. She tries to maintain her stoicism when around people she doesn't know, so as to discourage creating close bonds, but despite her better judgement she still yearns for such friendships. While she works hard to keep people at arm's length, she is prone to caring about people and worrying about them. These reactions she tries to hide as much as possible.
Under her standoffish shield she is curious and prone to bouts of amusement. She will crack jokes, oftentimes displaying a rather morbid humor, and feels no qualms about laughing at death. Admittedly part of her humor probably developed as a way of discouraging people from getting too close to her.
Antalyon is, beyond anything else, very lazy. It is also young, at least by djinn standards, which perhaps explains his rather self-centered nature. It sees nothing wrong with what it does; morals are a human construct that it understands but whose standards hardly apply to it. There are simple truths in the world, and that is what it lives by; it's continued existence is dependent upon further consumption of souls. That said, Antalyon has a fondness for humans in some regards; it finds them hilarious. Their struggles to bend the world to their demands, their wars against one another, their desires, their basic instincts, provides endless amusement for it. It speaks with the same cadence and vocabulary as Tammy, further blurring the line between them; however, every ounce of guilt within them is solely her doing, and while it is aware of the thought process that leads her to these emotions, it cannot sympathize. Just as most humans don't think twice about killing a pig for food, neither does Antalyon worry about its own method for feeding itself.
5. Previous Game Developments: Skip
6. Appearance: At 5'3, she's a bit short, but she doesn't let that bother her. She's got brown hair she keeps cut short. She's got brown eyes and skin slightly darkened by the sun, with plenty of freckles on her shoulders and back to evidence this. She never wears make-up, and her clothing style varies--she likes skirts, jeans, sweaters, sneakers, heels.
No one knows what Antalyon looks like on its own--it is thoroughly entrenched in Tammy.
PB used will be Ellen Page.
7. Abilities: Tammy has no special abilities, unless you count the ability to pick up on dance moves pretty quickly. Antalyon, however, is a djinn and thus has the ability to grant wishes. Under normal circumstances no wish is too grand for him, though his kind have long ago agreed not to grant a wish that would fundamentally alter the foundations of their reality (so no matter how hard a kid wishes that he could have a pet dinosaur, no djinn would grant it). However, within the Keep Antalyon would be limited to, at best, one medium-sized wish a month, or a couple of small wishes spread out. A small wish would be something like a sandwich, or an article of clothing; medium would perhaps be something like wishing that a wound sustained when fighting the topiary was healed. Small wishes would leave Tammy with a headache; medium-wishes would result in blacking out, a nosebleed, and a migraine.
As for his claiming of souls once a person has died, the size of the magic would mean that the return wouldn't be typical. Someone who wished for a sandwich would hardly pay such a high price for it. If they died in the keep, Antalyon would take a little nibble out of the soul, regaining the magic he'd spent and a little bit extra. The consequence of this would be the wisher losing a memory--for small wishes, something like the first time they skinned their knees, or the last time they brushed their teeth. For medium sized wishes, it might be something more significant, like an hour out of their first date. Whatever this memory is, it would be determined by the wishers player before any wish was granted, and would only be an issue if the character ever died in game.
8. Languages: Antalyon can speak and read every language known to modern-day Earth, as well as a few that are extinct. When Antalyon is paying attention, Tammy shares this knowledge. When it's "napping," she can speak and read English and Spanish.
9. Items: On her way to class, Tammy had in her possession her black backpack, which contained her theology textbook, her chemistry textbook, her notebook, three ink pens, a white-out pen, seven paperclips, a baggie of tissues, one tampon, four pads, the novel Dune, her iPod, a pair of earphones, a bottle of mouthwash, a toothbrush and toothpaste tube, a granola bar, a pear, a tomato-lettuce-whole wheat sandwich, a bottle of water, a pair of socks, and three adhesive bandages.
In her pockets she had her wallet, which had forty-one dollars, her student ID, her driver's license, a coupon for the campus sub shop, and a photo of her family. She also had 88 cents and a packet of Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
10. Weapons: A pocket knife.
11. Writing sample - Third Person Prose:
Tammy had never been able to enjoy Aladdin. Antalyon typically slept through movies, and books, because such things were endlessly dull for it and offered no promise of an eventual treat. Even the folly of human behavior captured on the big screen was too artificial for its tastes, which was a blessing in disguise, when the alternative was considered.
Antalyon had a very, very complicated relationship with Aladdin. It's complicated didn't even chip at the iceberg of its reaction to the movie. And it didn't help that Tammy personally found Robin Williams to be trying at the best of times. Any time Antalyon was awake and providing running commentary on her life was not a best time by any stretch of the definition.
Aladdin really pushed its buttons.
Djinn aren't slaves. The concept is ludicrous.
I know, Anty.
Stop calling me that; that's not my name.
You're annoying me. When you annoy me your name is too long.
You're saying I always annoy you.
Got that implication pretty quickly, Anty, kudos to you.
Considering how much freedom I give you, I don't know why you would be annoyed with me. Other djinn aren't so generous to their cohabitants.
Tammy had gotten pretty good at keeping her internal conversations with Antalyon from having any effect on her facial expressions, but every now and then it liked to prove that it still knew where all of her buttons were, and how much fun it was to push them. Forcing her jaw to relax when she realized her teeth were clenched, she took a breath and concentrated on calm before purposefully directing a thought at the being who endlessly invaded her personal space.
Cohabitants implies that we have an equal share, Anty. I prefer to think of myself as the landlord and you as the deadbeat not paying rent.
You're given more than the others are.
Only because you're too lazy to fuss yourself with keeping us alive and functioning. Her mental tone was akin to a grumble, trying to focus again on the movie that her roommate had started playing on their shared t.v.
A moment of silence passed, but Tammy knew better than to hope Antalyon had actually begun ignoring them.
His limits are absurd. Love is the easiest and most common wish. A couple of adjustments to the human's neurochemistry and voila. Human love.
Thanks for that break down of one of the driving forces of my species.
And murder isn't uncommon.
That's great, Anty. How about we write the Disney corporation a letter to complain? We can sign it with a picture of a lamp.
At least he's got the part about raising the dead right. Though not because of decomposition; that's negligible in light of all the better reasons to leave the dead where they are.
How much would it cost me to wish for you to take a nap?
Not a very subtle hint.
More subtle than a punch in the spleen.
You'd only be hurting yourself.
Unable to come up with any retort not dependent on copious application of foul language, Tammy slumped further into bed and made a mental note to request that Lini not put this movie on ever again.
12. Writing sample - First Person:
[The video feed flickers, revealing the room for just a brief moment--the angle changes and tilts, as if whoever is holding and has activated the log is riffling through the pages.]
--llion years old and you can't answer a basic question?
[A pause and then the same voice responds.]
I did answer the question; you just didn't like the response. Which is your own problem.
[This time the lull is filled with a hiss and the camera stops its wild tilting, bringing a young woman into the frame. She might be fairly pretty, if not for the vicious scowl twisting her mouth.]
I hate it when you co-op my mouth.
[A beat passes and her eyes roll up, her expression losing some of it's severity. Something seems to have mollified her, if her features are anything to go by.]
Thanks. Last thing we need is to get committed because people know I'm crazy. Given that neither of us has any idea where the hell we are-- [She looks down, now, and sees the image of herself talking on the log. She frowns, her gaze skipping over and down the transcribed text, and it's abundantly clear that she's moved from irritated to agitated in the span of dawning understanding.]
Shit, Anty, what is this?!
[The angle changes, as if she's picking it up, and once more resumes it's wild tilting; it's obviously she's turning it over in her hand, looking for something. An off-switch would be the obvious guess.]
I asked you--why would I know?! Double shit, it's a book--books don't recor--how the hell do we turn thi--
[The feed ends abruptly.]
13. Tattoo: Across the top of her left foot.
14. Room: 4032