app for singularity_rpg
Player Information ;
Your Nickname: Mat
OOC Journal: thatrainbow
Under 18? nyet
Email/IM: thatlovingrainbow [at] gmail.com // AIM: thisrainbowrose
Characters Played at Singularity: Buffy Meissonier
Character Information ;
Name: October Christine Daye ("Toby")
Name of Canon: The October Daye Series
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Canon
Reference: Author's Website, author's series FAQ
Canon Point: Shortly after the end of One Salt Sea (Book 5)
Setting: Toby's world is, at first glance, just early 21st century San Francisco. Parks, cheap apartments, quirky people. The first glance, the surface of things, that's a lie. The truth of the matter is that Fairies are real, even if the stories didn't get everything quite right. While they don't occupy the position of power they once did, and currently live in hiding from the human world, they are still a powerful, oft-nasty bunch.
Faerie politics are heavily based on the feudal system, with levels of nobility and servitude. At the very bottom of the heap are Changelings, children of Faerie with human blood in them. When a human has a child with a fae or a Changeling, that child is at risk of having to make the Changeling's choice, though the chance lessens the weaker their fae blood is. When their magic presents itself, or their innate ability to glamour themselves fails, they are given the choice to come to the Summerlands with their fae parent, or stay human. If they choose human, they are killed; if they choose Faerie, they are whisked away to the Summerlands never to see their human parent again. Toby was precocious, despite her mother's attempts to weaken her blood, and was forced to make the choice quite young. She didn't fully understand what was happening until years later.
Like many young changelings, once she was old enough Toby left the Summerlands, and found herself caught up in the seedy underbelly of Faerie. Unlike most changelings who end up in that sort of situation, however, she didn't die, and she actually managed to pull herself out - by finding a location for the court of the Queen of Mists (the local "top dog" in Faerie politics), and getting herself knighted. A friend of her mother's, Sylvester Torquill, took her under his wing, and helped her find a place for herself. She got herself a PI license, fell in love with a human, had a little girl named Gillian who she loved beyond anything else in the world.
And then, of course, the politics of Faerie caught up with her - while investigating the kidnapping of Sylvester's wife and daughter, Toby found the kidnapper. Unfortunately, she was turned into a fish shortly after. The perpetrator had probably meant to watch her suffocate on the banks of the Koi pond where they were, but a human passerby saw and intervened, putting Toby into the pond. She lived there, as a fish, for 14 years. She was presumed dead, her husband and daughter moved on, Sylvester's family was returned years later, alive but broken. And when the spell finally broke, Toby found herself without a place in the world. After a while, she did find herself sucked back in. The Queen of Mists recently punished her by giving her a duchy, making her the Countess of Goldengreen - thankfully (in Toby's mind), that was recently revoked and given to a much more deserving young noble in the interest of avoiding a war between the land fae and the sea fae. As of now, she is just a knight serving in Sylvester's court, irritating some of the more closed-minded nobles by existing, which is just how she'd like it.
As far as power goes, in Faerie, the post powerful Fae are the "Big Three": Oberon, Maeve, and Titania. All fae are descended from those three, but the direct children of either Maeve or Titania are called "Firstborn" and are extremely powerful compared to the rest of the fae. From them, the different bloodlines and types of fae come. Toby had been told all her life that she was Daoine Sidhe, the "ruling class" of Faerie, as it were. Recently, however, Toby learned that she is not descended from the Daoine Sidhe because her mother is Firstborn - Toby is her only living child and the only other Dochas Sidhe in Faerie. When she was a baby, her mother used her unique powers to change the balance of Toby's blood, favouring the human, in the hopes that Toby would not have to make the Changeling's choice. Unfortunately, that did not go as planned. Recently, in order to save Toby's life, Amandine re-balanced her blood, bringing it back to the strength that it had been at birth, and making Toby more fae in the process. Toby is still getting used to her new power, both magically and physically, though she is still not as powerful as a full-blooded fae.
Toby is, to put it mildly, a bit of an aberration in Faerie, and very few fae know how to handle her. She is a changeling, which makes her the lowest of the low. However, she's also the only child of a Firstborn, favoured by both the Luidaeg (another Firstborn) and the local King of Cats, a Knight, she has a Fetch who has not once but twice predicted a death that has failed to kill her, and she killed a Firstborn, Blind Michael, to save children from his Wild Hunt.
Oh, also, she's a bit of a Luddite. Before she was Fished, cell phones were large, brick-like objects that were expensive and a pain in the ass to deal with. Even after a couple years being back, she still hasn't managed to get used to carrying a cell phone, and the internet is pretty much beyond her. Also, play anything but "classic rock" and she will likely want to stab you in the face.
Personality: For all of her life, Toby has been on the bottom of the pecking order. Growing up as a changeling in Faerie means that you're looked down on and somewhat shunned. When you're young, you're treated like a bit of a pet, but as you get older, you become an unwelcome intrusion in most fae's lives, too human to accept, but too fae to turn away. Toby chafed under such treatment, and learned to stand up for herself. She doesn't take shit from people, she stands up for herself, and she has a tendency to be a smartass, even to people who could kill her with ease.
Part of her sarcasm and smartass behavior is a shield to protect her from being hurt more. Every time she's opened herself up emotionally, she's been hurt. She fell in love with a Selkie named Connor as a young girl, but he was forced away from her by her family. She fell in love with Devin, who ran a sort of halfway house for changelings called Home - he was abusive and manipulative, and she ended up having to kill him. She fell in love with a human and had a little girl with him, and she lost them when she was turned into a fish for 14 years, and has recently erased any chance she had to be part of Gillian's life again, to save her life. She fell in love with Connor all over again, and he was killed while she saved her daughter's life. She has had a lot of heartache, and she tries to close herself off to protect herself, tries to push people away so she doesn't get close to them. Unfortunately, she's the sort of person who needs other people, and despite her best efforts, she has a group of people in her life who are devoted to her, who she is UTTERLY devoted to.
When Toby lays claim to someone (though it's never a conscious decision, it's just when you go from being a friend to being hers), she would do absolutely anything for them. She will drop everything she can to help them, she will risk her life to save theirs, she will sacrifice whatever she has to (other than another loved one) to keep them safe and happy. She is loyal and caring - in her own, slightly rough way.
She's also sort of got a hero complex. She doesn't mean to, but she always seems to find herself offering help to people who need it, solving problems, saving lives. If anyone is going to risk their life, she generally wants it to be her. She protects people, she fights injustice where she can.
In day-to-day life, Toby is sarcastic, gruff, and not overly social. With people she knows well, she can be talkative and will banter happily, but she's more reserved and rough with people she's not close to. If you try to interact with her before she has her coffee in the morning, you will find her to be practically brain-dead, with grunts comprising most of her "conversation". Her coffee addiction is well-documented and without coffee, she is utterly useless.
Specifically important to Sing, Toby cares a great deal about her former Fetch, May. She considers May to be her little sister, and is very fond of her, though she grumbles loudly about it a lot of the time. She's extremely protective of May, more emotionally than anything else, since May is functionally immortal. Since she no longer has contact with her human lover and her daughter, and especially since the death of Connor, May is the most important person in Toby's life, and her only real family, and that is deeply important to Toby.
Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitation Suggestions:
Strengths/Abilities:
Inventory:
Toby's face is angular and pointed, inhuman without her human disguise, and while she won't ever be called "pretty" by most people, she is certaintly striking. Her ears are sharply pointed, though not to the extent that a pureblood's ears would be, and her eyes are a pale, colorless grey. Until the re-balancing of her blood, she could've passed for human with her natural face, though you'd have to be in a bit of denial to believe it. These days, she's just a bit too inhuman to pass, and absolutely needs her disguise up to pass for human. Her disguise blunts her ears, softens her features, and shades her eyes to a more natural-looking blue.
Age: In her mid-50s, though because of how the Summerlands screws with time, she's functionally in her early to mid 30's.
Samples ;
Log Sample:
Toby came home late from her little visit with the Luidaeg, close to dawn. There was only one light on, in the kitchen, and May's door was closed. Probably just as well. Toby turned the coffee maker on as Cagney and Lacey twined around her ankles, demanding attention and food.
"All right, all right," she said quietly, pouring food in their bowls to placate them as her coffee brewed. Spike jumped up on the counter and rattled his thorns a bit until she let him climb up on her shoulder. She smiled faintly to herself and leaned against the counter, staring at the coffee maker as it percolated.
She'd learned more than she expected from the Luidaeg tonight. The connection she had to the Selkies and why she hated and protected them. The connection May had to Toby before she was even a Fetch. It was a lot to take in, especially considering everything that happened.
Connor was gone. Amandine was... off being insane and reclusive, and it wasn't as if she had been a mother to Toby for decades. She'd held out some faint hope that she could reconnect with Cliff and Gilly, but saving Gilly's life by burning out her fae blood as much as she could was the last nail in that coffin. All she had left was the friends she'd made.
And May.
May who had worn Dare's face, the scared little girl who had worshipped Toby and who Toby had gotten killed. Who had held Dare's memories as a night haunt, and taken the offering of Toby's blood. It made a lot of sense, when she thought about May in that light. It was almost like having a second chance with Dare. Not quite, but almost. And despite her best efforts to keep May at a distance, Toby found herself caring about the silly, fashion-blind Fetch more and more with each passing day.
The coffee finished brewing and Toby shooed Spike off her shoulder. She'd talk to May about the night haunt thing tomorrow. Now was time for coffee and bed, preferably with sunrise falling neatly between those two things.
Network Sample:
[ the video shows a brief shot of the sky, before blurring and showing the ground in the Garden Zone, and a pair of sneaker-clad feet. ]
[ muttered ] Oak and ash, this is worse than a damn cell phone. I can't even tell if it's on.
[ another blur, and there's more sky, and a bit of chin and straight brown hair ] Damn tetchy gadgety... I give up. [ blurs, darkness, and then disconnect ]
Your Nickname: Mat
OOC Journal: thatrainbow
Under 18? nyet
Email/IM: thatlovingrainbow [at] gmail.com // AIM: thisrainbowrose
Characters Played at Singularity: Buffy Meissonier
Character Information ;
Name: October Christine Daye ("Toby")
Name of Canon: The October Daye Series
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Canon
Reference: Author's Website, author's series FAQ
Canon Point: Shortly after the end of One Salt Sea (Book 5)
Setting: Toby's world is, at first glance, just early 21st century San Francisco. Parks, cheap apartments, quirky people. The first glance, the surface of things, that's a lie. The truth of the matter is that Fairies are real, even if the stories didn't get everything quite right. While they don't occupy the position of power they once did, and currently live in hiding from the human world, they are still a powerful, oft-nasty bunch.
Faerie politics are heavily based on the feudal system, with levels of nobility and servitude. At the very bottom of the heap are Changelings, children of Faerie with human blood in them. When a human has a child with a fae or a Changeling, that child is at risk of having to make the Changeling's choice, though the chance lessens the weaker their fae blood is. When their magic presents itself, or their innate ability to glamour themselves fails, they are given the choice to come to the Summerlands with their fae parent, or stay human. If they choose human, they are killed; if they choose Faerie, they are whisked away to the Summerlands never to see their human parent again. Toby was precocious, despite her mother's attempts to weaken her blood, and was forced to make the choice quite young. She didn't fully understand what was happening until years later.
Like many young changelings, once she was old enough Toby left the Summerlands, and found herself caught up in the seedy underbelly of Faerie. Unlike most changelings who end up in that sort of situation, however, she didn't die, and she actually managed to pull herself out - by finding a location for the court of the Queen of Mists (the local "top dog" in Faerie politics), and getting herself knighted. A friend of her mother's, Sylvester Torquill, took her under his wing, and helped her find a place for herself. She got herself a PI license, fell in love with a human, had a little girl named Gillian who she loved beyond anything else in the world.
And then, of course, the politics of Faerie caught up with her - while investigating the kidnapping of Sylvester's wife and daughter, Toby found the kidnapper. Unfortunately, she was turned into a fish shortly after. The perpetrator had probably meant to watch her suffocate on the banks of the Koi pond where they were, but a human passerby saw and intervened, putting Toby into the pond. She lived there, as a fish, for 14 years. She was presumed dead, her husband and daughter moved on, Sylvester's family was returned years later, alive but broken. And when the spell finally broke, Toby found herself without a place in the world. After a while, she did find herself sucked back in. The Queen of Mists recently punished her by giving her a duchy, making her the Countess of Goldengreen - thankfully (in Toby's mind), that was recently revoked and given to a much more deserving young noble in the interest of avoiding a war between the land fae and the sea fae. As of now, she is just a knight serving in Sylvester's court, irritating some of the more closed-minded nobles by existing, which is just how she'd like it.
As far as power goes, in Faerie, the post powerful Fae are the "Big Three": Oberon, Maeve, and Titania. All fae are descended from those three, but the direct children of either Maeve or Titania are called "Firstborn" and are extremely powerful compared to the rest of the fae. From them, the different bloodlines and types of fae come. Toby had been told all her life that she was Daoine Sidhe, the "ruling class" of Faerie, as it were. Recently, however, Toby learned that she is not descended from the Daoine Sidhe because her mother is Firstborn - Toby is her only living child and the only other Dochas Sidhe in Faerie. When she was a baby, her mother used her unique powers to change the balance of Toby's blood, favouring the human, in the hopes that Toby would not have to make the Changeling's choice. Unfortunately, that did not go as planned. Recently, in order to save Toby's life, Amandine re-balanced her blood, bringing it back to the strength that it had been at birth, and making Toby more fae in the process. Toby is still getting used to her new power, both magically and physically, though she is still not as powerful as a full-blooded fae.
Toby is, to put it mildly, a bit of an aberration in Faerie, and very few fae know how to handle her. She is a changeling, which makes her the lowest of the low. However, she's also the only child of a Firstborn, favoured by both the Luidaeg (another Firstborn) and the local King of Cats, a Knight, she has a Fetch who has not once but twice predicted a death that has failed to kill her, and she killed a Firstborn, Blind Michael, to save children from his Wild Hunt.
Oh, also, she's a bit of a Luddite. Before she was Fished, cell phones were large, brick-like objects that were expensive and a pain in the ass to deal with. Even after a couple years being back, she still hasn't managed to get used to carrying a cell phone, and the internet is pretty much beyond her. Also, play anything but "classic rock" and she will likely want to stab you in the face.
Personality: For all of her life, Toby has been on the bottom of the pecking order. Growing up as a changeling in Faerie means that you're looked down on and somewhat shunned. When you're young, you're treated like a bit of a pet, but as you get older, you become an unwelcome intrusion in most fae's lives, too human to accept, but too fae to turn away. Toby chafed under such treatment, and learned to stand up for herself. She doesn't take shit from people, she stands up for herself, and she has a tendency to be a smartass, even to people who could kill her with ease.
Part of her sarcasm and smartass behavior is a shield to protect her from being hurt more. Every time she's opened herself up emotionally, she's been hurt. She fell in love with a Selkie named Connor as a young girl, but he was forced away from her by her family. She fell in love with Devin, who ran a sort of halfway house for changelings called Home - he was abusive and manipulative, and she ended up having to kill him. She fell in love with a human and had a little girl with him, and she lost them when she was turned into a fish for 14 years, and has recently erased any chance she had to be part of Gillian's life again, to save her life. She fell in love with Connor all over again, and he was killed while she saved her daughter's life. She has had a lot of heartache, and she tries to close herself off to protect herself, tries to push people away so she doesn't get close to them. Unfortunately, she's the sort of person who needs other people, and despite her best efforts, she has a group of people in her life who are devoted to her, who she is UTTERLY devoted to.
When Toby lays claim to someone (though it's never a conscious decision, it's just when you go from being a friend to being hers), she would do absolutely anything for them. She will drop everything she can to help them, she will risk her life to save theirs, she will sacrifice whatever she has to (other than another loved one) to keep them safe and happy. She is loyal and caring - in her own, slightly rough way.
She's also sort of got a hero complex. She doesn't mean to, but she always seems to find herself offering help to people who need it, solving problems, saving lives. If anyone is going to risk their life, she generally wants it to be her. She protects people, she fights injustice where she can.
In day-to-day life, Toby is sarcastic, gruff, and not overly social. With people she knows well, she can be talkative and will banter happily, but she's more reserved and rough with people she's not close to. If you try to interact with her before she has her coffee in the morning, you will find her to be practically brain-dead, with grunts comprising most of her "conversation". Her coffee addiction is well-documented and without coffee, she is utterly useless.
Specifically important to Sing, Toby cares a great deal about her former Fetch, May. She considers May to be her little sister, and is very fond of her, though she grumbles loudly about it a lot of the time. She's extremely protective of May, more emotionally than anything else, since May is functionally immortal. Since she no longer has contact with her human lover and her daughter, and especially since the death of Connor, May is the most important person in Toby's life, and her only real family, and that is deeply important to Toby.
Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitation Suggestions:
Strengths/Abilities:
- Toby is hard to kill, though she's not immortal. She's used to powering through injuries to get something done, and has a pretty damn high pain threshold (at least as far as "debilitating pain" goes). She's faster, stronger, and heals faster than the average human. She's still got a bit of a clumsy streak, though it's lessened somewhat since the re-balancing of her blood.
- Toby's a good fighter. She's a fair shot with a gun, has a bit of sword training, and can probably scrap hand-to-hand with anyone shy of a professional or a Cait Sidhe. She's not afraid to fight dirty, either.
- Toby has magic, like all fae (hers smells like fresh-cut grass and copper). She casts with repurposed nursery rhymes or Shakespeare quotes, generally. Basic glamours (to "normalise" her fae features), tracking, don't-look-heres, wards, other spells that don't require a pureblood's power, generally. Thanks to her mother, she also has a connection to blood - she can "taste" the balance of someone's blood just by being near them, though someone of many mixed bloodlines can make it hard to muddle out. Additionally, she has the ability, though it drains her quite a lot and she's only done it once, to change the balance of a changeling's blood.
- She's tough, and good in a crisis. She's lived through things that should've killed her, and solved crimes no one else in Faerie has managed to. She's not an ideal leader, but she's okay if she's pushed into the position, and people tend to follow her naturally.
- While Toby does have magic, she also has a threshold for how much she can cast and when she hits it (which tends to be fast because if she's casting anything but her daily glamour, she's probably in trouble and pushing her limits in every way) she gets headaches, dizziness, nausea, and might pass out, if she goes too far. Her spells are also dissipated when dawn comes.
- Dawn. Is. A bitch. It's not completely debilitating, but it does hurt like a bitch and makes functioning basically out of the question for a few minutes when it hits. And of course, it tears up her glamour, so she can't be in public unless she wants her secret out.
- Iron. While she's not as sensitive to iron as a pureblood, it'll still hurt, and iron poisoning is a bitch to recover from. The more there is and the closer it is to her, the more it'll affect her - making her dizzy, nauseous, weak. Enough can keep her from using magic. She's been shot with iron slugs before - it is not an experience she'd like to repeat.
- While Toby is good in a crisis, and used to being forced to deal with shit even if she doesn't want to, even if it's way above her head and what she should be expected to deal with, she isn't always the most careful, and while she's survived near-death more than once she's also almost been killed because she's reckless and tends to rush into things without thinking if she thinks she knows what's going on or someone's in danger.
Inventory:
- jeans
- sneakers
- socks
- bra and panties
- grey t-shirt
- black leather jacket
- wallet with money and ID
Toby's face is angular and pointed, inhuman without her human disguise, and while she won't ever be called "pretty" by most people, she is certaintly striking. Her ears are sharply pointed, though not to the extent that a pureblood's ears would be, and her eyes are a pale, colorless grey. Until the re-balancing of her blood, she could've passed for human with her natural face, though you'd have to be in a bit of denial to believe it. These days, she's just a bit too inhuman to pass, and absolutely needs her disguise up to pass for human. Her disguise blunts her ears, softens her features, and shades her eyes to a more natural-looking blue.
Age: In her mid-50s, though because of how the Summerlands screws with time, she's functionally in her early to mid 30's.
Samples ;
Log Sample:
Toby came home late from her little visit with the Luidaeg, close to dawn. There was only one light on, in the kitchen, and May's door was closed. Probably just as well. Toby turned the coffee maker on as Cagney and Lacey twined around her ankles, demanding attention and food.
"All right, all right," she said quietly, pouring food in their bowls to placate them as her coffee brewed. Spike jumped up on the counter and rattled his thorns a bit until she let him climb up on her shoulder. She smiled faintly to herself and leaned against the counter, staring at the coffee maker as it percolated.
She'd learned more than she expected from the Luidaeg tonight. The connection she had to the Selkies and why she hated and protected them. The connection May had to Toby before she was even a Fetch. It was a lot to take in, especially considering everything that happened.
Connor was gone. Amandine was... off being insane and reclusive, and it wasn't as if she had been a mother to Toby for decades. She'd held out some faint hope that she could reconnect with Cliff and Gilly, but saving Gilly's life by burning out her fae blood as much as she could was the last nail in that coffin. All she had left was the friends she'd made.
And May.
May who had worn Dare's face, the scared little girl who had worshipped Toby and who Toby had gotten killed. Who had held Dare's memories as a night haunt, and taken the offering of Toby's blood. It made a lot of sense, when she thought about May in that light. It was almost like having a second chance with Dare. Not quite, but almost. And despite her best efforts to keep May at a distance, Toby found herself caring about the silly, fashion-blind Fetch more and more with each passing day.
The coffee finished brewing and Toby shooed Spike off her shoulder. She'd talk to May about the night haunt thing tomorrow. Now was time for coffee and bed, preferably with sunrise falling neatly between those two things.
Network Sample:
[ the video shows a brief shot of the sky, before blurring and showing the ground in the Garden Zone, and a pair of sneaker-clad feet. ]
[ muttered ] Oak and ash, this is worse than a damn cell phone. I can't even tell if it's on.
[ another blur, and there's more sky, and a bit of chin and straight brown hair ] Damn tetchy gadgety... I give up. [ blurs, darkness, and then disconnect ]