Application for Somarium
[Player name] Sarah
[Age] 29
[Personal Journal] hervictory
[Other characters currently played] None.
[Character name] Vanessa Nightray
[Age] No canon age, somewhere between 18 - 22.
[Canon] Pandora Hearts
[Point in time taken from canon] End of chapter 52, just before she’s killed
[Background] Vanessa was born the fourth child of the Duke and Duchess Nightray. Though there’s no canon age for her, she has three older brothers named Fred, Claude and Ernest and one younger brother named Elliot. As Elliot is sixteen during this period in canon, it’s likely that Vanessa is somewhere between the ages of 18 - 22. Finished with school, but still living at home with no apparent prospects of marriage. The only daughter of the noble house, she was raised to be no less important in terms of social standing as her brothers and is seen in casual settings with them. Though a lady in this period of time would probably not attempt such things, there was another aspect to her family besides the lack of daughters that helped fuel her upbringing. The Nightray house, though one of the four noble duke houses, is also referred to as a “traitorous” house. They're said to have betrayed the great duke house of Vessalius; the descendants of the great hero Jack Vessalius. Though it’s never stated outright just what sorts of events occurred, (and a good deal of what is said seems to be rumor anyhow) they are not only feared and disrespected by the other duke houses, but by nobility in general. Vanessa was raised along with her brothers on this principle of always directing their hatred towards the Vessalius family, as the Nightray family’s downfall was their fault alone.
As such, it’s assumed that she has no real acquaintances or friends outside of her family circle. She became dependent on her brothers and parents for any type of support or guidance, and became just as loudmouthed as any of her temperamental siblings. But around the time that she was about six years old, her family adopted a new son into their house; a strange looking boy named Vincent who was found bruised and bloodied on the grounds of their estate. The child didn’t create too much of a rift in the family, save for his odd appearance and tendency to remove himself from the company of his adopted siblings. The real rift was created five years later when the family also adopted Vincent’s biological brother Gilbert. While Vincent was simply a pain, Gilbert was formerly a servant working for the Vessalius house, the very family that Vanessa had always been told to hate. On top of that, she’s shown to have a distinct distaste for servants in general, so having to deal with the boy entering her house couldn’t have been easy for her to accept.
Though, her brothers made it easy to help fuel her hatred. Ernest and Claude devoted their time to beating up the new arrival and reminding him of his place in the family. However, this was all for naught as less than ten years later Gilbert inherited the family’s Chain, Raven. While the older Nightray brothers had failed to form a Contract with the creature, it was given to Gil with apparently little effort on his part.
But while this caused a major disturbance between the biological sons and Duke Nightray, something even worse occurred the day that Gilbert formed his Contract. While out on a mission (probably for Pandora) Vanessa’s brother Fred and an unnamed uncle were both killed by what they believed to be an illegal Contractor known only as the head hunter, the Contractor of the Queen of Hearts. Vanessa is the one who is forced to tell Elliot and Gilbert the tearful news, and is seen afterwards as being horribly disturbed by the notion that one of her strong older brothers could be killed so easily. It only gets worse when, several days later, her other two brothers Ernest and Fred are killed by the same Chain and in the same manner; beheading.
Destroyed by grief, Vanessa’s mother disappeared from society while her father chose to ignore the situation entirely. With her brothers all gone, and she the only female heir of the family, all of her hopes for her family’s well being rested squarely on her little brother Elliot. She became far more attached to him, trying to make certain that he didn’t meet the same fate as their older siblings. But she managed to remain stronger than her mother and at least made an effort to keep their little family together through what little she could do.
Elliot didn’t make this easy for her. As he was just as foolish and strongwilled as any of their older brothers, he ran away from home in an attempt to gain information about the head hunter on his own. When Vanessa found out that he’d run away, she’d let her rage and worry build so high that the minute that he finally comes home, she greeted him with a slap to the face and a threat that he never pull something like this ever again. Their argument was cut short, however, with an unexpected visitor: Isla Yura, a man who runs a mysterious cult that is trying to recruit Vanessa’s broken mother for membership.
Through another series of events, Vanessa is invited to the man’s estate to see Oz Vessalius’ coming of age ceremony as a representative of her house along with Elliot. Her father and mother aren’t seen as being present at the party, so it’s assumed that she was forced to go in lieu of them both. She’s none too pleased with the idea of being forced to play nice at an event meant to praise and center around a member of the Vessalius house and is seen the entire evening glaring at Oz. She even goes as far as to refuse to give him the feather that all guests give the young man during the event to recognize his place in society, making Elliot do it for her.
Somewhere during the evening, Elliot managed to sneak away from her and she was left scowling, slumped against a wall in frustration, obviously planning to spend the rest of the evening stewing in her hatred and resentment. But not long after Elliot left her sight, a man was decapitated on the dance floor. Soon after, more and more people were being killed and a fire had broken out on the far side of the room. In the chaos, Vanessa managed to grab her personal servant, Hans, and went running through the estate to try and find her brother.
She finally found him upstairs and scolded him for running away in the first place, demanding that they leave immediately. But Elliot was still looking for his own servant, Leo, at the time and refused to leave without him. Though Vanessa yelled back that it was pointless to look for something as useless as a servant and that they need to value their own lives by leaving right away, Elliot slapped her across the face and told her to watch herself. Though momentarily shocked, she simply slapped him back and finally let him know just how she’s felt over the last number of years. She told him about how bad things had been since their brothers were killed, how she worries for their mother and their father and that Elliot is all she has left in the world. Finally breaking down in tears, Elliot attempted to calm her by promising that after they got home, they would throw a party for their mother, and that he’d already composed a song for the occasion.
Even in tears, she still snapped back at him, but the fire was getting too bad for them to sit around and bicker anymore. They ran out of the room towards the stairs, but somehow in the chaos Vanessa was separated from both Hans and Elliot. She finally found him passed out at the top of a staircase, but before she could get to him, someone approached her from behind and chopped her head off. Elliot woke to find her head falling to the ground and the body tumbling backwards down the stairs.
[Personality]
As she had little female influence outside of her mother, she ended up with a far more outgoing personality than that of a typical Victorian woman. She’s quick tongued and quick witted, and has no trouble at all telling it just as it is. She doesn’t fear confrontation and has no problem expressing frustration and discomfort in a situation, despite the rules of decorum that she must have been raised with as a member of the nobility. She’s something of a tomboy and doesn’t dress in the same fashion as the other females of the series. She prefers pants and much shorter skirts as well as jackets instead of corsets. She cuts her hair extremely short, even shorter than Elliot’s.
But though she is fierce and has no trouble entering into a shouting match or making outrageous demands of her servants, she’s also very troubled and hurt. She didn’t take the deaths of her brothers easily and became far more bitter and vocal about her hatred after they were gone. Perhaps taking the place of their opinions that they couldn’t speak any longer. But the hatred that she had grown up on in the Nightray house seemed to grow even worse after they had passed, for whatever number of reasons.
Aside from these things though, she’s also seen to cry openly around her brother and scream her feelings unrestrained. She’s extremely opinionated and doesn’t fear backlash for speaking her thoughts aloud. She does also have a gentle side, though, enjoying things like piano music and is said to be a fan of the language of flowers.
She’s a very angry person, but isn’t necessarily excitable. It would take anger and bitterness to rile her up more so than panic. She’s isn’t exactly the most level headed when it comes to widespread panic, but she certainly doesn’t shame herself by acting a fool because of it. Above all things, she has pride in her family and in her name, and would never do anything against her father’s wishes to shame that name.
Her pride is also a positive trait, however. It's one of the things can keeps her brave and gives her any type of meaning and hope that everything will work out in the end for what family she has left. They are all she has to be positive about.
[Abilities]
Nothing! Except for maybe a sharp tongue.
[Other important stuff]
She would be coming into the game just before she is killed by decapitation, so panic and confusion would be far worse than normal.
[Sample post]
[First Person]
There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
…Why on earth would someone leave a cake out in the rain?! Not only is it wasteful, it’s messy! Well, on the bizarre off chance that someone did such a thing, I would have Hans go outside and clean it up before it stained the foliage.
If someone provoked or attacked you, what would you do?
These questions need more context. Exactly who is attacking me? And why? I would…hmph, I would do my best to fight back, of course, no matter who it was. But I can’t for the life of me understand how I could have gotten into a situation where I was fighting violently. But I can’t see why I would throw the first fist.
…Unless my provoker was Elliot.
Someone comes to you to ask for the time. How would you respond?
I would ask why they were foolish enough to leave their own watch at home! Though, regardless of the answer, I’d tell them to ask someone else.
You're asked to take someone out for a date. Do you agree? If so, describe what you would do. If not, tell why.
A date. What a barbaric question. I have far too many more important things to be concerned about than some foolish young man courting me.
Do you prefer adventure or the peaceful life?
…A peaceful life. One can only take so much adventure before it becomes tiresome.
If you could destroy a city, how would you do it?
This-this question is far too out of line! Can you have a little respect for people who have had cities destroyed where they come from?!
You are on the verge of death. You know there is no way to survive and there's no coming back. Choose any of the following to answer: What is your last wish? Your last regret? Last thoughts? How do you feel? Who is the last person you think of other than your killer?
I don’t…hmph. So insensitive. Really, are we finished here?
[Third Person]
Seeing the afterlife firsthand for someone who had always been told that it didn’t exist wasn’t easy to accept.
Vanessa had assumed that was what had happened, at least. The last thing that she could remember before waking up in this place was the idea that she was about to die. Though she hadn’t felt the actual sting of death, the threat was all too fresh in her mind. The fire had been growing worse, climbing the walls and enveloping the drapes as she’d tried desperately to find her brother. Hadn’t she just told him that he was all she had left? That he couldn’t keep risking his life over stupid things? To leave everything up to someone else - anyone else - because his family needed him more? Didn’t he take any of that to heart?
Clenching her fists in her lap, Vanessa shut her eyes and tried not to cry. She’d already cried more than enough for one day, and she knew that deep down no amount of tragic events could keep her down. Not while there was still some ounce of hope somewhere. She hadn’t died, even if she had felt the fingertips of its icy reach. She couldn't! Not after Fred and Ernest and Claude...Elliot would be alone and their mother would--!
No, it wasn't like that. Like they'd said, this was sleep, not death. This wasn't the fairytale that parents told their children, but that her own father never let her believe in. A Nightray didn't believe such ridiculous, foolish stories.
Eyes still shut tightly, it was only ten that she realized that her hand was moving across her neck, as though to scratch at some itch just below the surface that she couldn’t reach, the skin burning red and now hot to the touch. How can I really be sure that this isn't death at all?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] Well, aside from the amazing PH cast that is already established here, I’ve just adored Vanessa since the first chapter that she was in and have been looking for a place to play her ever since. She’s a fierce character, not just for the time period, but for the canon in general, and she was killed off (in my opinion) too early. I’d love to continue exploring all of the potential of the character, and the scenario of this game seemed like a good place to do just that.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] I did like the very in-depth explanation of giving concrit, but really, no metagaming is probably my favorite/most important rule in RP. Part of the fun is discovery and events leading up to it, and jumping over all of that just for the sake of making something easier takes away from that.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] The PH cast here!
[Any questions?] Nope!