theoregontrail Application
PLAYER
NAME/NICKNAME: Fetchie
AGE: 23
PERSONAL LJ: made_in_wonder
TIMEZONE: EST
EMAIL ADDRESS: gibberditz39@yahoo.com
IM SCREENNAME AND SERVICE: AIM - “fetchie88”
CHARACTER
NAME: Kanaya Maryam
AGE: 6 Alternian solar sweeps (approx. 13 Earth years)
FANDOM/MEDIUM: Homestuck - webcomic
CANON PULL-POINT: Just before [S]: Cascade.
ABILITIES: Aside from being an alien troll, Kanaya is what her species calls a “rainbow drinker”, their version of vampires (the name presumably alludes to how troll blood comes in a whole rainbow of different colors, which determine a troll’s social status). Because trolls tend to prefer dark places, rainbow drinkers set themselves apart by preferring to wander about in broad daylight. Their skin also glows with a white luminescence, in contrast to the usual grey troll skintone.
Kanaya now feeds on blood - troll blood, at the very least, though the wounds don’t have to be fatal (and the blood can be extracted from the recently dead). As Kanaya was “turned” after being pronounced dead, and wanders around after being impaled with her own blood splattered all over her, rainbow drinkers are seemingly immortal, or at least unperturbed by most damage. How to kill a rainbow drinker has not yet been stated in canon, nor has whether Kanaya now possesses any particular powers (though her speed and strength have both seemingly increased). She’s plenty lethal on her own, however, wielding a tube of lipstick that unscrews into…a giant chainsaw. As you do.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND: MSPA Wiki entry - Kanaya Maryam
CHARACTER PERSONALITY:
You cannot hope to beat Kanaya Maryam in a snark-off. She is simply the best there is.
Or so she thinks. While she does possess a rather dry wit (and a formidable vocabulary, when she sees fit to employ it), Kanaya is in fact sincere to a fault. In a rather ironic twist, she goes to such pains to explain not only what she’s saying and doing, but why she’s saying and doing it, that she consistently comes across as someone who’s trying to be passive-aggressive and failing. But in her mind and in her life, for Kanaya, clarity is everything.
This extends to the inner workings of others, as well. She’s a rather fussy troll, always fiddling and toying and experimenting with anything she doesn’t understand in an attempt to figure it out….including people’s thoughts and feelings, what really makes them “tick”. Among her friends, she’s well-known for her “meddling” - she actively desires to mediate conflict between her friends, considering that her job in an almost fatalistic worldview. Though she herself isn’t as actively keen on violence as some other trolls, she’ll never judge her more dangerous friends: there’s a part to play for dangerous people, she sees - they’re the ones who really make things happen - but for their sake and those around them they need someone to interfere sometimes. She takes up that role with selfless aplomb…whether the others want her to or not. (Kanaya’s general attitude towards life is all about getting done what must be done. This encompasses both relationships and actions - she’s good at seeing the big picture and everyone’s ideal roles in it.)
Many of Kanaya’s habits and hobbies are not particularly troll-like. Unlike most members of her species, Kanaya both can withstand and thrives in the harsh Alternian sun; she also developed interests in fashion and landscaping (as well as sinfully pulpy novels about rainbow drinkers, the troll equivalent of vampire romances). When she gets a glimpse of Earth, she considers it beautiful, and is of all the trolls perhaps the most actively interested in its inhabitants’ natures. Sarcasm in particular fascinates her; she toys with this exotic and perplexing means of communication and comes quite close to mastering it - only to slip up and explain herself just when she’s getting on a roll. (It’s begun to slip into her everyday speech, however - much to her fellow trolls’ dismay).
Although Kanaya considers it her duty to meddle in the affairs of others and pick apart their relationships, she sometimes finds herself perplexed and uncomfortable with her own. When attempting to speak about her feelings for anyone she cares about or is intrigued by romantically, she takes even longer to get to the point than usual and explicitly states such issues are “difficult” for her to discuss. She also possesses rather delicate sensibilities for a troll: she’d really rather not be caught even looking at a bucket (more on that in the world writeup), and though her “meddlings” can be construed as fulfilling one of the four troll romantic relationships, she never explicitly calls it by its name, auspisticing.
Ultimately, Kanaya wears her heart on her sleeve. She does honestly care about her friends, and is only provoked to violence when they (or things of great import to their continued well-being/survival) are destroyed - even after becoming a rainbow drinker with enough violent savvy to crotch-kick a madman off a cliff and chainsaw a wizard in half, she’s caring enough to bandage a fellow troll’s throat after sucking a little blood. She’s utterly devoted to keeping everyone alive and seeing them all fulfilling the roles they were meant to play, no matter what those roles may be.
And what’s more, she’ll do it in style.
WORLD: Kanaya is a troll from a world called Alternia, though her upbringing sets her apart from her fellow trolls in a variety of ways. Because her jade green blood color helps her withstand the bright outdoors, and she lived as a result far from her friends, she’s developed a sense of aesthetics most trolls lack - her home was bright, sunny, and beautiful, if unfortunately apparently plagued by the undead.
She had a positive and nurturing relationship with her caretaker or “lusus”, an animal tasked with the upbringing of a young troll from the larval stage to full growth. Kanaya was set apart further by the nature of her lusus: it was a “virgin mother grub”, itself a deviant from the norm from its species. Mother grubs normally produce all troll offspring after receiving genetic material from all adult trolls; Kanaya’s lusus declined the process and devoted itself to just raising Kanaya instead.
Despite Kanaya’s anomalies, several aspects of troll culture remain a part of her worldview and nature. Trolls are a violent species, whose childhood games involve real battles and real casualties; because their conception of romance is more complicated (or at least has more terminology) than human romance, they are just as likely to have romantic feelings for a sworn enemy as they are a beloved friend. (The word for friend is the same as the word for enemy, though there are different terms for a partner in what we consider love and what we consider hate). Every troll believes to some degree in fate: they believe there is only one other troll out there who can truly fit in the four romantic relationships, or “quadrants”, they distinguish, and adolescence is a tumultuous period of testing things out and figuring who is meant to fill their quadrants.
Reproduction occurs through the mother grub, and trolls don’t draw romantic distinctions between genders - the concept of sex or gender is a moot point, or else a preference (Kanaya prefers females the way any human might prefer, say, blondes, or people of a certain build). The genetic material for reproduction is collected in buckets, so the mere sight of a bucket or pail is enough to make any self-respecting troll feel quite a bit scandalized. That’s private!
As mentioned, trolls also have different blood types. The colors generally run from a reddish-maroon to purple; the higher on the “hemospectrum” you are, the more noble your blood and the higher your social standing. Kanaya’s jade green blood puts her in about the middle, setting her primarily apart by allowing her diurnal activity.
To summarize: trolls tend to be a violent species with a bucket aversion and no concept of what humans would consider “family”. Figuring out their romantic feelings for each other is, if possible, even more complicated than it is for human adolescents, due to the sheer amount of different kinds of relationships they regard as “romantic”.
But that’s where meddlers like Kanaya come in.
OCCUPATION: Shoemaker
SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON:
Earth wasn’t where they were supposed to be - for a multitude of reasons. But it was where she was, so Kanaya had determined she’d make the most of it.
Frowning at the trees before her, the soft glow from her body lighting the wooded gloom, Kanaya applied a fresh coat of black lipstick (to contrast all the verdant foliage around her) and frowned crisply at the surrounding trees. Her wagon had halted for the time being to allow their “oxen” time to rest (that was an interesting word, “oxen” - so short and non-descriptive, yet oddly fitting), and its members had more or less scattered in search of supplies.
Kanaya had volunteered to bring firewood.
There was so much wasted potential here. Kanaya sighed, twisting the cap on her lipstick slightly. Why, give her sufficient time and decent lighting, and she could have this little grove looking shapely and elegant, a far cry from the beguiling but scruffy wilderness it had naturally grown to be. Yet sacrifices needed to be made for quests, and Kanaya knew herself to be indulging in frivolity. She had to watch herself on that regard even more closely than she guarded herself against accidental bursts of sarcasm. (The latter had been increasing steadily. How troublesome.)
In any case, she had work to do. Stepping forward, Kanaya raised the lipstick tube and drew a perfectly straight dotted line across the trunk of the closest tree. Satisfied with her work after a glance, she stepped backwards, twisting the cap of the lipstick tube again.
Her makeupkind strife specibus roared into life with an ear-shattering howl, blades whirling as she bit the chainsaw deep into the trunk. The tree collapsed almost immediately, no match for a lady with a sense of style and economy in her weapon of choice, severed neatly along the dotted line.
Perfect, thought Kanaya with satisfaction, and looked about the rest of the grove. Her wagon was depending on her, as they did for all of their troubles and interpersonal difficulties (whether they realized it or not). And she’d mismatch her clothing before she even dreamt of letting any of them down.
FIRST PERSON:
Attention Humans Sentient Hoofbeasts Fellow Trolls And Any Other Nature Of Creature Whose Species I Have Yet To Encounter
Though When I Do I Shall Append Your Preferred Form Of Address To This Dedication
It Has Come To My Attention After A Period Of Observation
Which Sadly Seemed Interminable Due To The Inauspicious Panorama I Beheld
That No One Here Is Shod Or Clad As Befits An Arduous Trek Across Lands Unknown
Those Who Wish To Procure Practical And Visually Pleasing Garments May Contact Me At Any Time
Results Are Guaranteed
That Is All
Go About Your Daily Lives As If Nothing Had Interrupted Unless Of Course You
Shit
Am I Babbling Again
NOTES: I’m nervous and excited about joining the HS cast here! Looks like it’s going to be amazing. ☺