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ryslig
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Naem
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
mistytpednaem
Other Characters: None yet!
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Marco Evangelisti
Age: 27
World Information: The planet is Earth. The time is the present, give or take a few years. In fact, Marco's world is so similar to ours that many, many people in it would not be aware of the difference, though there is one major one: the supernatural is real. Once upon a time, the existence of magic, demons and various other mythological creatures was common knowledge, but ever since humans got the idea to start burning witches and all that, the more civilised members of the non-human community decided it may be best to start growing some distance. Though it was not a unanimous decision - not then, and certainly not to this day - and it is by no means legally enforced (as in, there is no fancy Masquerade going on or anything), the truth is that nowadays, most humans are unaware of the existence of anything remotely magical. Those who are, are either content not babbling about it, or are otherwise dismissed as conspiracy nutjobs. If you claim a historical figure is totally still alive due to not being human, not a lot of people are going to believe you, even if it happens to be true.
A few additional notes (these aren't necessarily essential to the app, but here they are for the sake of completeness):
- Spellbooks are real and anyone can use them if they are so inclined, though of course, it helps if you have an affinity towards magic to begin with (which some humans do, even if they aren't aware of it)!
- Due to a linguistic shift that happened at some point in history, the word "demon" is used to refer to a wide variety of sentient non-humans who are just as capable of being good or evil as any regular old human. There is even some confusion among the non-human community over whether creatures like, say, vampires or werewolves should be considered demons (the general consensus is no, because they were born human. Many still say the distinction is arbitrary, though).
- There is even an afterlife, though this isn't common knowledge either! It's a very bureaucratic place, where the recently dead must be judged before it is decided whether they'll spend the rest of eternity in relative freedom or be sentenced to some kind of community service. Or Heaven Jail if they're super heinous. And even with relative freedom, a ghost can't just wander around and haunt the living willy-nilly - they would need permission to leave the afterlife, which is often a long and complicated process, because bureaucracy.
So that's about it - a modern, mostly real world setting in which there just happens to be supernatural garbage going on behind the scenes.
Character Information: Marco Evangelisti is the CEO ofMarcosoft MEGA-BYTE, a technology company founded by his father Luigi, an Italian man who immigrated to the US, in the 70s. It started small, but eventually came to dominate the computer market worldwide in the following decades (despite its now laughably outdated name). After Luigi's premature death in a supposed fire four years ago, Marco took over his duties. Now he's doing his best to live up to the memory of his father, who was known as a remarkably friendly and considerate boss. Marco remembers him as a friendly and considerate father too, though he supposes that's not as remarkable, since that's just how fathers are supposed to be, the way he sees it.
In any case, one thing stands out in the story so far: the fire. As the wording implies, it was not a fire at all.
One night, Marco came home to find his father had become a particularly ill-humoured and hungry creature who tried to attack him on sight. A fight ensued - although "fight" may be a bit of strong word for what boiled down to Marco being overpowered by something way stronger and faster than him. He was thrown onto a table and effectively backed into a corner; he was sure he was going to die. And then, in a rush of adrenaline and desperation, he grabbed one of the table's broken legs and drove it into his father's chest. He turned to ash right before his eyes.
Marco stood up, still terrified, and understood he couldn't just tell people what had happened there. So he did the first thing that came to mind: he started a fire, escaped and hoped for the best. And indeed, the media reported the incident had been caused by an errant spark that turned into a devastating fire. Nothing was left of the broken table, or any of the other wrecked furniture, or of Luigi Evangelisti's body. No one had seen Marco flee the scene. He was safe.
But he did not feel at peace.
Perhaps because of his Catholic upbringing - he learned a great deal from his mother, who passed away when he was still very young - or simply because of a sharply-tuned sense of morality, but he has felt immensely guilty ever since. There were other things he could have done, he keeps telling himself, before or after his father died; he could have told the truth; he could have turned himself in. But he didn't, and he questions himself every day that goes by.
Marco has done a great deal of research ever since, too, as - like most humans - he'd been previously unaware of everything supernatural. Of course, it was hard to find many things of use at first, in part because doing proper research while feeling the worst you've ever felt, and in part because, when you know very little to begin with, it's hard to discern what is of use or not. Are these wikis based on myth, or fact? Are these forum posters actual inhuman creatures, or kids playing pretend?
But naturally, he was not satisfied with a mere day or even a week of research. He looked on and on, ever deeper (sometimes to the detriment of his performance at work), and even though he couldn't always find satisfactory answers, he did learn a few things: his father was probably a vampire, judging from overlapping descriptions on several websites. He was not able to discern for how long his father had been a vampire, since there seemed to be plenty of them blending in with human society, and he couldn't exactly remember when the last time he'd seen him in broad daylight had been - he remembered it happening, sure, but when? Organising his thoughts and memories felt much easier before the murder.
He likes to think his father would have told him if he were a vampire, but - and this, he has yet to find an answer to - would a monster have told him such a thing? Are vampires anything like the humans they once were, or are they soulless husks disguising themselves with a human face? Sometimes he wonders if he's just looking for excuses to justify what he did, too; if you kill a monster, that should hardly be considered a bad thing. However, Marco's memories of his father as a good man, combined with his general tendency to overthink his own actions, won't let him settle on this matter.
(He also spent some time worrying about whether he might be one of those dhampir things he read about on a couple of websites, but after realising he did not feel any different from a regular human nor was he nigh-invulnerable, as evidenced by one time when he spilled some hot coffee on himself and felt TERRIBLE PAIN, he came to the conclusion that he was not a dhampir.)
Personality: Outwardly, Marco presents as chipper, outgoing, friendly and caring. None of these traits are lies, per se, but they work as a mask nevertheless, in that he will try to keep presenting them even when he's not feeling all that great. But one thing at a time.
Professionally speaking, Marco treats his employees very well - he treats them mostly as if they were friends, and is as lenient as he can be while still, you know, running a business. In fact, he's been known to sacrifice some profit in favour of employee and/or user comfort. He lends people money, he donates to charity, he generally goes out of his way to help people out. All of these actions, while not insincere, are also a way of compensating for what he feels he's done wrong (namely, you know, the whole murder and cover-up thing). It's not enough - he never feels like it's enough - but it's something.
For all his friendliness, though, the fact is that he doesn't really have any close friends. He knows a lot of people, sure, and has a few closer acquaintances, but there's no one he can really confide in. Perhaps it's because he's a bit of a workaholic, since essentially all of his acquaintances are work-related (and work is, in fact, where he feels the most comfortable; he genuinely loves technology, and he loves bringing it to people), or perhaps it's because he tends to isolate himself when his negative thoughts are just too much to bear - which has been happening increasingly often.
Marco had always been prone to negative and depressive thought patterns, but the problem obviously became worse after he killed his father. He always tries not to let it show (again, simply by displaying, and maybe even exaggerating, his regular cheerful demeanour), but sometimes, it's all too much for him, and he'll retreat to the relative safety of his office. His guilt, aside from generally running his life these days, is a great reason why he often seems distracted or distant during meetings and the like, coupled with his growing neuroticism. Marco's brain just sort of keeps shuffling between relief, regret and worry. He has considered going on vacation a couple of times, but he's never gone through with it. Asking for help is not something that has really crossed his mind.
His tendency to repress his negative emotions also applies to his temper. One might say he has a long fuse; he'll let things and people irritate him and he'll get snappier and snappier until he can't take it anymore and ends up punching someone in the face. Which has luckily never happened at work, but who knows what might happen in certain other environments!
In short, Marco is good-hearted to a fault, and it may be his very determination to be the very best person he can be that will drive him to a breaking point one day.
5-10 Key Character Traits:
+ Generous
+ Cheerful
+ Humble
+ Friendly
+ Dedicated
- Neurotic
- Irritable
- Guilt-ridden
- Absent-minded
- Workaholic
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, or EITHER? Either is okaybut dramatic irony and terrible pain is very much appreciated
Opt-Outs: Nymph, Harpy, Faerie, Troll, Goblin
Roleplay Sample:
Okay, there's no reason to panic. No reason at all. At least, that's what he has been telling himself for a week straight since he woke up here, despite it being a blatant lie. But he's no stranger to lies, is he? Sure, he usually doesn't lie to himself (doesn't he? Does he? Maybe he wanted him dead, maybe he wanted the company and the money and the power that came with it, that's why he lied--) but...
Lies are, perhaps, familiar to him, and he has to cling to anything that's comforting and familiar now.
(And are monsters not familiar, too? Doesn't he see them and deal with them every day, abusing and stealing from the poor? Hasn't he woken up fearing to see a monster staring back at him from the mirror too often?)
Maybe now there is more of a reason to panic than ever before. Now there is a legitimate reason to fear becoming a monster-- (Oh, but there wasn't before? Maybe he's been the monster all along.)
God, no, no, no. This is unbearable. He needs to stop and breathe. Do less thinking, at least for now. Breathe first, think later. Marco leans back on his bed, then reaches for the device he's been given. He looks at the antiquated-looking thing with a fond smile.
"Now you're familiar. So this is roughly how far the technology in this place has advanced, is it? Pretty interesting."
He'd been fiddling with it for the past few days, experimentally browsing the network in order to familiarise himself with the controls. It didn't take him long to get reasonably used to it, and soon, he was reading messages and replies and smiling to himself and becoming more anxious in equal measures. But even if many of the messages he saw were worrying, the network was still, by far, the most comforting thing in his new environment. It might very well be time to reach out.
Marco takes another deep breath and, after a few minutes, submits his first post:
[marcothenewbie] Hello everyone! I'm pretty new here and this place is, shall we say, a bit frightening, but I might as well make the best of it while I'm here, no?
[marcothenewbie] So I was wondering if you'd all like to introduce yourselves! :)
[marcothenewbie] Here, I'll start:
[marcothenewbie] Hi, I'm Marco Evangelisti, I'm 27 years old and back where I'm from I worked with computers and computer software.
[marcothenewbie] (I really like this network device here by the way! Very nostalgic)
[marcothenewbie] Anyway, it's very nice to meet you all!
Now all he can hope for is that the friendly approach doesn't backfire on him.
Name: Naem
Contact:
Other Characters: None yet!
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Marco Evangelisti
Age: 27
World Information: The planet is Earth. The time is the present, give or take a few years. In fact, Marco's world is so similar to ours that many, many people in it would not be aware of the difference, though there is one major one: the supernatural is real. Once upon a time, the existence of magic, demons and various other mythological creatures was common knowledge, but ever since humans got the idea to start burning witches and all that, the more civilised members of the non-human community decided it may be best to start growing some distance. Though it was not a unanimous decision - not then, and certainly not to this day - and it is by no means legally enforced (as in, there is no fancy Masquerade going on or anything), the truth is that nowadays, most humans are unaware of the existence of anything remotely magical. Those who are, are either content not babbling about it, or are otherwise dismissed as conspiracy nutjobs. If you claim a historical figure is totally still alive due to not being human, not a lot of people are going to believe you, even if it happens to be true.
A few additional notes (these aren't necessarily essential to the app, but here they are for the sake of completeness):
- Spellbooks are real and anyone can use them if they are so inclined, though of course, it helps if you have an affinity towards magic to begin with (which some humans do, even if they aren't aware of it)!
- Due to a linguistic shift that happened at some point in history, the word "demon" is used to refer to a wide variety of sentient non-humans who are just as capable of being good or evil as any regular old human. There is even some confusion among the non-human community over whether creatures like, say, vampires or werewolves should be considered demons (the general consensus is no, because they were born human. Many still say the distinction is arbitrary, though).
- There is even an afterlife, though this isn't common knowledge either! It's a very bureaucratic place, where the recently dead must be judged before it is decided whether they'll spend the rest of eternity in relative freedom or be sentenced to some kind of community service. Or Heaven Jail if they're super heinous. And even with relative freedom, a ghost can't just wander around and haunt the living willy-nilly - they would need permission to leave the afterlife, which is often a long and complicated process, because bureaucracy.
So that's about it - a modern, mostly real world setting in which there just happens to be supernatural garbage going on behind the scenes.
Character Information: Marco Evangelisti is the CEO of
In any case, one thing stands out in the story so far: the fire. As the wording implies, it was not a fire at all.
One night, Marco came home to find his father had become a particularly ill-humoured and hungry creature who tried to attack him on sight. A fight ensued - although "fight" may be a bit of strong word for what boiled down to Marco being overpowered by something way stronger and faster than him. He was thrown onto a table and effectively backed into a corner; he was sure he was going to die. And then, in a rush of adrenaline and desperation, he grabbed one of the table's broken legs and drove it into his father's chest. He turned to ash right before his eyes.
Marco stood up, still terrified, and understood he couldn't just tell people what had happened there. So he did the first thing that came to mind: he started a fire, escaped and hoped for the best. And indeed, the media reported the incident had been caused by an errant spark that turned into a devastating fire. Nothing was left of the broken table, or any of the other wrecked furniture, or of Luigi Evangelisti's body. No one had seen Marco flee the scene. He was safe.
But he did not feel at peace.
Perhaps because of his Catholic upbringing - he learned a great deal from his mother, who passed away when he was still very young - or simply because of a sharply-tuned sense of morality, but he has felt immensely guilty ever since. There were other things he could have done, he keeps telling himself, before or after his father died; he could have told the truth; he could have turned himself in. But he didn't, and he questions himself every day that goes by.
Marco has done a great deal of research ever since, too, as - like most humans - he'd been previously unaware of everything supernatural. Of course, it was hard to find many things of use at first, in part because doing proper research while feeling the worst you've ever felt, and in part because, when you know very little to begin with, it's hard to discern what is of use or not. Are these wikis based on myth, or fact? Are these forum posters actual inhuman creatures, or kids playing pretend?
But naturally, he was not satisfied with a mere day or even a week of research. He looked on and on, ever deeper (sometimes to the detriment of his performance at work), and even though he couldn't always find satisfactory answers, he did learn a few things: his father was probably a vampire, judging from overlapping descriptions on several websites. He was not able to discern for how long his father had been a vampire, since there seemed to be plenty of them blending in with human society, and he couldn't exactly remember when the last time he'd seen him in broad daylight had been - he remembered it happening, sure, but when? Organising his thoughts and memories felt much easier before the murder.
He likes to think his father would have told him if he were a vampire, but - and this, he has yet to find an answer to - would a monster have told him such a thing? Are vampires anything like the humans they once were, or are they soulless husks disguising themselves with a human face? Sometimes he wonders if he's just looking for excuses to justify what he did, too; if you kill a monster, that should hardly be considered a bad thing. However, Marco's memories of his father as a good man, combined with his general tendency to overthink his own actions, won't let him settle on this matter.
(He also spent some time worrying about whether he might be one of those dhampir things he read about on a couple of websites, but after realising he did not feel any different from a regular human nor was he nigh-invulnerable, as evidenced by one time when he spilled some hot coffee on himself and felt TERRIBLE PAIN, he came to the conclusion that he was not a dhampir.)
Personality: Outwardly, Marco presents as chipper, outgoing, friendly and caring. None of these traits are lies, per se, but they work as a mask nevertheless, in that he will try to keep presenting them even when he's not feeling all that great. But one thing at a time.
Professionally speaking, Marco treats his employees very well - he treats them mostly as if they were friends, and is as lenient as he can be while still, you know, running a business. In fact, he's been known to sacrifice some profit in favour of employee and/or user comfort. He lends people money, he donates to charity, he generally goes out of his way to help people out. All of these actions, while not insincere, are also a way of compensating for what he feels he's done wrong (namely, you know, the whole murder and cover-up thing). It's not enough - he never feels like it's enough - but it's something.
For all his friendliness, though, the fact is that he doesn't really have any close friends. He knows a lot of people, sure, and has a few closer acquaintances, but there's no one he can really confide in. Perhaps it's because he's a bit of a workaholic, since essentially all of his acquaintances are work-related (and work is, in fact, where he feels the most comfortable; he genuinely loves technology, and he loves bringing it to people), or perhaps it's because he tends to isolate himself when his negative thoughts are just too much to bear - which has been happening increasingly often.
Marco had always been prone to negative and depressive thought patterns, but the problem obviously became worse after he killed his father. He always tries not to let it show (again, simply by displaying, and maybe even exaggerating, his regular cheerful demeanour), but sometimes, it's all too much for him, and he'll retreat to the relative safety of his office. His guilt, aside from generally running his life these days, is a great reason why he often seems distracted or distant during meetings and the like, coupled with his growing neuroticism. Marco's brain just sort of keeps shuffling between relief, regret and worry. He has considered going on vacation a couple of times, but he's never gone through with it. Asking for help is not something that has really crossed his mind.
His tendency to repress his negative emotions also applies to his temper. One might say he has a long fuse; he'll let things and people irritate him and he'll get snappier and snappier until he can't take it anymore and ends up punching someone in the face. Which has luckily never happened at work, but who knows what might happen in certain other environments!
In short, Marco is good-hearted to a fault, and it may be his very determination to be the very best person he can be that will drive him to a breaking point one day.
5-10 Key Character Traits:
+ Generous
+ Cheerful
+ Humble
+ Friendly
+ Dedicated
- Neurotic
- Irritable
- Guilt-ridden
- Absent-minded
- Workaholic
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, or EITHER? Either is okay
Opt-Outs: Nymph, Harpy, Faerie, Troll, Goblin
Roleplay Sample:
Okay, there's no reason to panic. No reason at all. At least, that's what he has been telling himself for a week straight since he woke up here, despite it being a blatant lie. But he's no stranger to lies, is he? Sure, he usually doesn't lie to himself (doesn't he? Does he? Maybe he wanted him dead, maybe he wanted the company and the money and the power that came with it, that's why he lied--) but...
Lies are, perhaps, familiar to him, and he has to cling to anything that's comforting and familiar now.
(And are monsters not familiar, too? Doesn't he see them and deal with them every day, abusing and stealing from the poor? Hasn't he woken up fearing to see a monster staring back at him from the mirror too often?)
Maybe now there is more of a reason to panic than ever before. Now there is a legitimate reason to fear becoming a monster-- (Oh, but there wasn't before? Maybe he's been the monster all along.)
God, no, no, no. This is unbearable. He needs to stop and breathe. Do less thinking, at least for now. Breathe first, think later. Marco leans back on his bed, then reaches for the device he's been given. He looks at the antiquated-looking thing with a fond smile.
"Now you're familiar. So this is roughly how far the technology in this place has advanced, is it? Pretty interesting."
He'd been fiddling with it for the past few days, experimentally browsing the network in order to familiarise himself with the controls. It didn't take him long to get reasonably used to it, and soon, he was reading messages and replies and smiling to himself and becoming more anxious in equal measures. But even if many of the messages he saw were worrying, the network was still, by far, the most comforting thing in his new environment. It might very well be time to reach out.
Marco takes another deep breath and, after a few minutes, submits his first post:
[marcothenewbie] Hello everyone! I'm pretty new here and this place is, shall we say, a bit frightening, but I might as well make the best of it while I'm here, no?
[marcothenewbie] So I was wondering if you'd all like to introduce yourselves! :)
[marcothenewbie] Here, I'll start:
[marcothenewbie] Hi, I'm Marco Evangelisti, I'm 27 years old and back where I'm from I worked with computers and computer software.
[marcothenewbie] (I really like this network device here by the way! Very nostalgic)
[marcothenewbie] Anyway, it's very nice to meet you all!
Now all he can hope for is that the friendly approach doesn't backfire on him.