-- profile.
'cuz I have earned my disillusionment
from calling all of your bluffs
basics
Name: Sara Jane Nolan.
Age & DOB: 24 & Nov 8th, 1983.
Location: Brooklyn, New York.
Occupation: Owner and operator of Dead Poet Books. Also writes a weekly column on literary reviews. (After all, what else can you do with a BA in English Lit?)
fairytale
Identity: The Fairy from Beauty and the Beast.
Ability: She does the whole 'bippity boppity boo' gig, just like all the other fairy godmother types. (Insert obligatory eyeroll here!) Her former literary self was once able to cast curses, grant gifts, visit dreams, teleport, transmogrify, and probably no short list of other things, but she's found that her reincarnated powers are greatly diminished. While Sara is undoubtedly too free about using her magic abilities, it's usually only for practical things: snapping her fingers to summon her misplaced car keys, making a few books put themselves away after hours, a teensy bit of prestidigitation when in need of a pen, that sort of thing. She's also not above using it as a form of instant karma when her whims dictate, either; if some kid tries to stick his gum under the table, he's liable to find it smeared inside his left shoe by the time he gets home. Woopsie! That said, she doesn't go around bragging about it, doesn't use it for grandstanding, and is very strict about never doing it in plain sight of mortals. I mean, really. Duh.
Relationship: Despite the extreme difficulty Sara had in acclimating to this whole Tale business, she's pretty comfortable with her literary self. Or at least as comfortable as she'll ever be, which is to say that she can live with it, has sussed out any available perks from it, and handles the rest with a healthy amount of eye-rolling. It's not all glib, though; the fairy half forces Sara into a hefty internal tug-of-war on a regular basis, between its desire to look after everybody everywhere and her desire to do no such thing. This is where the awareness of just how bad she is at being a comforting receptive friend comes from, and why she has so much guilt over it. It's also responsible for those times when, rearing its ugly little sparkle-spewing tiara-wearing head, it sends Sara off to defend the little guy despite anything she's ever implied about her own apathy.
Status: Depends on her mood. She has no actual objections to people knowing, but her level of crankiness on any given day is going to determine whether the answer is a wry, "Yeah, I was a fairy godmother, twinkle shit and all," or a folded-arm inquiry of, "What's it to you?"
history
Birthplace: A well-off suburb outside New York City proper; upper-middle-class, nice house, decent schools, etc.
Family: Her parents are Doug Nolan and Diane Nolan (née Archer). The eldest child is her older brother Christopher. Two years younger than he is Brooke. Sara is four years younger than her sister.
History:
• as the youngest, she got a lot of the privileges with little of the discipline; her parents were a bit 'done' with the business of raising kids; was bratty and ill-tempered as a child, especially when it came to resentment over being younger than her siblings and not being able to do the things that they could do.
• hit school and promptly went head-to-head with the other kids over her attitude; wound up in her fair share of squabbles; parents were easily exasperated and busy with trying to get back into work; stuck Sara with her older brother to keep an eye on her; they both resented that.
• trying to find someplace to fit in, in middle school Sara slid herself in with the quirky geek and art student crowd, which she promptly became a dominant figure of.
• met Dylan as a sophomore in highschool; drama student, overachiever, good-looking and charming with a wicked grin; fell hard; danced around each other for a few months before finally dating; kept dating straight through to graduation.
• Sara spent her teenage years cultivating the image of a 'cool' geek; going to concerts and plays, reading far above the level of her peers; was one of those overly-bright students who excelled when she applied herself but was an underachiever and slacker the rest of the time; managed to pass with a decent GPA but nothing totally stellar.
• at grad, Dylan was going on to Juilliard and so Sara chose Columbia; opted to move in together in the city; Sara's parents were steadfastly against it, considered it rash and unwise; thought Sara was lazy academically, figured she'd crash and burn at uni if she was on her own, and either way it was a very poor idea to move in with her highscool boyfriend; Sara responded with her usual contary subbornness, her parents' disapproval meant she was determined to go through with it.
• first year went surprisingly well; Dylan was responsible and his enthusiasm for all the trappings of independence were contagious; both got part-time work (Dylan at the school, Sara at a bookstore) and Dylan's parents covered his living expenses (subsequently Sara's also) wherever he couldn't manage to; knowing this, Sara's parents also made contributions out of guilt/pride/appearances.
• right around the beginning of second year, things started to go wrong; Dylan and Sara had been growing apart for a few months, but likely wouldn't have broken up for the rest of the year if fate hadn't intervened in the form of Sara's Talehood.
• her behaviour became erratic, secretive, absent-minded; seemed frequently distressed and sullen; cranky, stand-offish; Sara thought she was going crazy and would not talk about what was going on with her because of that; would not go seek counseling for the same reason; feared there was actually something wrong with her; read up on schizophrenia, etc.
• was approached by Jacob Anser (fathergander), the Head of European Tales, but did not take that well either; reacted with outright denial and hostility, especially considering Anser's 'bedside manner'; Anser left her with a Compendium that she refused to touch and some contact info.
• after a few more weeks of basically locking herself away, most of Sara's relationships were fractured; discovered she neither had anyone she could talk to about all this nor could have talked to them if she had, for secrecy reasons (that and thinking she was completely insane); accidental magic kept happening, too, and turned her into a walking disaster from time to time.
• wound up showing up at the Pentamerone, having a mini-meltdown at Anser; he shoved another fairy Godmother at her (Conway Frey, bippityboo) to get a handle on her magic but otherwise did not have the patience for her dramatics.
• the next few months saw her get more stable as she acclimated, but none of it was directed at her 'real life' stuff; friendships continued to deteriorate, grades were horrible, she and Dylan were constantly at odds and fighting; all came to a head when she skipped one of her final exams entirely and walked into the apartment to find Dylan in bed with a girl named Karen, who had previously been a good friend of Sara's.
• had another mini-meltdown, this time at her parents; the response was very blasé and insensitive, though not maliciously so -- sorry to hear that, we warned you it wouldn't last, should have expected as much, teenage relationships aren't going to work out long-term, at least now it's over and you can move on to bigger and better things, focus more on your academics, etc; Sara shut them out completely.
• Knowing she was falling apart and needed some support, Conway offered to let Sara move into her apartment, as she'd been looking at a roommate anyway; it was planned to be a temporary (but rent-paying!) holdover, at Sara's insistence, until such time as she was in a position to get her own place; never quite turned out that way, though.
• the next few months were pretty crappy: Sara had basically flunked the previous semester, did not sign up for the following one, put her degree on indefinite hold, went full-time at her bookstore job, and sat around being mopey and depressed the rest of the time; Conway, blessedly, did not bitch; instead was remarkably tactful and patient.
• eventually Sara got back on her feet and finished her degree, much to her parents' relief; didn't quite know what to do with herself after that, so just worked; when the bookstore floundered, Sara saw an opportunity and took it.
• asked parents to invest in venture, but they refused (again, not malicious, just not a life path they felt was wise or practical); they did not shell out the money for an English degree, which they didn't feel was a good idea in the first place, just for Sara to basically work retail the rest of her life.
• Sara applied for loans instead, and appealed to the Tale community; managed to find an investor; gave the store a quick facelift to make it look less like it had been owned by a geriatric couple for thirty years; went into business; wound up getting a lot of help from owner of bakery next door (Iris Murphy, TBD).
• the first year a bit touch-and-go, but this is year #2 now and they're doing well; never did move out of Con's place; is pretty happy with her life as it is.
personality
Likes: Comfortable clothes. Cars. Coffee. Books. Especially obscure books or books translated from other languages. Diner food, take out, and delivery. Spelling. Grammar. Sarcasm. Pushing buttons. Being amused. Feeling superior. Correcting others. Etertaining herself at someone else's expense. A challenge. Taking the deserving down a few notches. Singing in the shower. Singing in the car. Good music. Classic rock. Dark humour. British comedy. Late nights. Sleeping in. Setting her own hours. Vinyl records.
Dislikes: Genuine assholes. Ignorance. Blatant stupidity. Getting up early. Dealing with customers. Dealing with employees. Books out of place. Having to cater to poor taste. Explaining the obvious. Being beaten at anything she considers herself to be good at. Having to bake (it always fails). Feminine clothing. Dresses. Radio, unless it's left-wing political commentary, classical, or classic rock.
Personality:
• smart, well-read, inelegantly witty, stubborn, independent; does not like to ask for help or admit weakness.
• abrasive, tactless, politically incorrect; likes to push boundaries and get reactions; vulgarity and taboo topics are fun.
• openly egoistic, arrogant, and elitist; gains respect for other people mostly by virtue of how well they can keep up.
• treats general social interaction as a game that follows her own personal rules; despite scathing verbal assaults, does not actually seek to wound; ergo, anyone with a thin enough skin to get their feelings hurt by it is not her responsibility.
• by the same token, mob mentality gang-ups are not her gig; goes after the high and mighty over the unintentional loser; when large groups set out to actually destroy a human being, she does not participate; is actually more likely to support the underdog on principle.
• not motherly by any stretch but has been known to get protective of those who are weaker/younger/etc through no fault of their own; surprisingly easy to guilt, if you know how.
• all the mouthing off is for show; paradoxically hates the idea of being universally seen as wretched; needs to know that she has people who actually think she's a decent human being; is very afraid of having those close to her decide that she is everything she pretends to be, that she is just a hollow straw-man asshole.
• intensely loyal, even when the person she's loyal to is in the wrong; overcompensates for guilt at the fact that she is shit at being comforting; easy for those close to her to ask for help, favours, etc, provided they are of the concrete (aka no social graces required!) variety.
• biggest hang-up is regarding romance; fears being hurt again, being shamed with her own vulnerability; tends to stay hands-off when it comes to other people's relationships -- complete avoidance is best -- and is cynical to a fault; does not take well to even polite nudging at seeking romance for herself.
• wants nothing more than to stay in her own little universe of carefully-constructed safety.
• doesn't have the best coping strategies; tends to take things really hard and channel it into taking them out on the outside world.
• responds to statements that she cannot or should not do something like they are challenges; will go 180 degrees in that direction, balls to the walls, just to prove she can.
sexuality
Orientation: Heterosexual. Any claims to the contrary are either from crass men who treat the word 'dyke' as retaliation against rejection or someone who knew her in college. (Back then, enough alcohol could get her to make out with a houseplant.)
Turn-Ons: Body hair. Facial hair. Long hair. Decent physique. Sarcasm. A sense of humour. Good grasp of the English language. Wit. Being teased. Teasing. Being physical or rough. Talking dirty. Being on top. A good grin. A challenge. A love of reading. Cooking for her. Discriminating or unconventional taste. Practicality. Dark humour.
Turn-Offs: Sexism. Traditional romance. Patronizing her. Poor hygiene. Overly cheerful disposition. Anyone who looks like her ex. The name Dylan. Health nuts. A-type personalities. Cheesy gifts. Dorks who have a crush on her. People who lecture her on topics she is more knowledge about than they are.
astrology
Sun Sign: Scorpio.
Traits: Determined and forceful. Emotional and intuitive. Powerful and passionate. Exciting and magnetic. Jealous and resentful. Compulsive and obsessive. Secretive and obstinate.
ooc
PB: Carly Pope.
Player: Chelle! ♥
AIM: thechellenator
Disclaimer: I am not Carly (though she makes some fantastic expressions), nor any of the various authors (Andrew Lang, Madame de Villeneuve, Madame Le Prince de Beaumont, etc) who have adapted Beauty and the Beast into literary canon. Alas, I own nothing but my imagination and a fairly recent copy of Photoshop.