Nadia Sullivan [OC]

lesgrenouilles

vorpalwhackety

>> World Info

From the very beginning, Nadia Sullivan was given the short end of the stick. Her mother was a baker and her father was a farmer, one in a long line, from the tiny little town of Dunhill. Her mother died of complications during childbirth while having her and her twin sister, Margot.

Being born out of wedlock and having that be far more taboo in an out of way town, their father ditched both girls at an orphanage and claimed that they weren't his after his family laid on the pressure.

Of the two, Nadia was the younger one by only a few minutes and ended up suffering complications that would follow her for the rest of her life while Margot was as healthy as a horse. Throughout her childhood, she was often more susceptible to illnesses and would get sick very often, but was otherwise a normal child. Both of them grew up without any knowledge of their parents, but they had each other and the nuns at the church orphanage, so everything was okay.

Sometime around the age of five, it became quite clear that the Sullivan sisters had a way with magic. Margot was often setting things on fire and Nadia was very good at conjuring fake constructs or making herself seem invisible (it was the best way to sneak cookies, really.) Though magic was what the entire Eridian Empire was built upon, the twins seemed to be unusually adept at it for their ages. The nuns came to a decision and packed them up, shipping them off to the city of Haven. It housed an array of magical learning facilities and was one of the hotspots of the Empire, so they would be in good hands.

They ended up at the Witches' Guild. Things started off great; they were in a structured environment where they could learn the art of weaving without being too destructive and had many capable people to guide them.

For years things were normal, but it wasn't to last. One winter, Nadia fell ill, which wasn't unusual, but she kept getting sicker and sicker. She had developed a strange cough not too long ago, but how had it lead to this? It wasn't long before she was diagnosed with consumption and was told that she only had a few years to live. She would be lucky to see her twenties at best.

Nadia was devastated. It was like her future had been ripped away from her and there was no way to fight back. Magic could fight a number of illnesses, yes, and there had been many advances for a number of diseases, but it wasn't a cure all. So she withdrew, turned people away as she recovered over the months and only allowed her sister to see her.

Eventually, things returned to some sort of normalcy. Both girls stuck closer to each other, pushed away their friends (Nadia in her depression and her sister as she dedicated more and more of her time to find something, anything in the books at the library.) Time passed and, at the age of thirteen, like all Weavers, it was time to find an apprenticeship.

Though Margot was the more skilled of the two, it was Nadia that secured them an apprenticeship with one of the more renowned Weavers in the city, Charlotte Halloran. One can only get so far with their skills alone; sometimes you needed words to back you up. There they would stay for the next few years, honing their magic.

Nadia is almost the exact opposite of her twin; whereas Margot is a brute force wrecking ball, Nadia is more sensible and prefers to take a logical approach to things. Violence is something to be frowned upon and she firmly believes that everyone can get along if they all just try hard enough, darnit. Though when she is pissed off, she takes a more passive-aggressive approach to dealing with her anger ("Of course I'm not mad at you," followed by a frowning face and avoiding that person for the rest of eternity.) For minor offensives, she can become somewhat of a nag and will chide the offender, so long as the offensive is a small one. Her temper isn't as bad as her twin's, but when it's present, it's hard to miss.

Soft spoken, polite, and respectful, Nadia also gets along with people a lot better. She minds her p's and q's, and takes an interest in the people around her; each one of them has their own fascinating story and she wants to hear it. There are times where she can easily be railroaded by other people's opinions, not wanting to start an impolite argument or somesuch, but Nadia is working harder to be firmer. There's going to come a time when she has to stick up for herself and she can't rely on her sister to be her personal bodyguard forever (as much as she dislikes it.)

Even so, Nadia has a habit of keeping people at a distance and treating them more like interesting books. Handed a death sentence at a young age, she's fearful of getting too attached to others after watching how Margot has reacted to it (pushing herself to find some obscure cure, crying herself to sleep at night.) It's the last thing she wants to inflict on someone else, so she finds it easier to keep people at an arm's length away. She won't divulge too many personal details about herself and if she gets uncomfortable with sharing information, she'll try to deflect, change the subject, or give a vague non-answer. As she's gotten older, Nadia has been finding herself wanting to end this, though, and longs to be able to be happy with other people for her remaining years.

Though it's been a few years since she was diagnosed with consumption, it has had a heavy impact on her personality. At first she raged, refused to believe that something like this could happen to her before eventually accepting it with a quiet grimness. What else is there to do? She remains withdrawn from the outside world and relies a lot on her sister for things, though she resents it greatly. Though the two are close, there are times when they've come to verbal blows in recent months (Nadia wanting her to go live her life, Margot refusing to leave her side,) but they work it out quickly. They often have an us against the world mentality, but as they grow older, it's quickly falling apart and they both know and fear it.

She was once a far more cheerful person and strives to become that once again. She enjoys spending time outside when she can with her various creative hobbies or with a book, taking in the smell of the nearby sea and listening to bustle of people on the street. When Nadia is well, she volunteers at one of the local churches as a way to give back to the community by watching and telling stories to the children. It gives her some sort of normalcy for the daily grind of her magic studies and it allows her to pretend that she's just like any other normal girl (and there's also a part of her believes she's earning browning points with the Weaver.)

Nadia does also take a lot of stock in the church of their world. She goes to services whenever she can, says her prayers, and reads their world's version of the Bible. Part of her love for the church comes from the nuns that raised and took care of her as a child -- it's the very least she can do, going, and having it in her life gives her comfort. It's one of the constant things she can hang onto and it's slowly giving her back hope and allowing her to come to terms better with things.

Despite the crap hand Nadia has been dealt, she is still very firmly a teenage girl. Oftentimes she does come off more mature for her age (fifteen,) but she's not exempt from doing dumb things or having lapses in judgement. She enjoys gossiping with the shop owners when she's given errands to run, likes to moon over boys, and play matchmaker with her sister. It's her favourite hobby. She's also dedicated to her studies, is willing to put the hard work in to learn what she can, and takes pride in what she does. Again, it's one of those things that helps to take her mind off her woes and is another constant.

Magic
Like all Weavers, Nadia has the ability to use magic. At it's most basic, she can do very simple spells such as: finding lost objects over a short area (nothing of consequence; things like misplace shoes,) barriers of protection, simple levitation, and so on. A lot of this requires the use of a written rune system and will thus be ineffective in Haven.

Illusions
Every magic user has one area of expertise and Nadia's is with illusions. A more subtle art, it allows her the ability to conjure insubstantial constructs, trick the senses, or use it to hide by camouflaging herself. Nadia is still learning the finer intricacies of her ability, but has the potential to be quite powerful with it; some of the master illusionists can trap people in their mind either temporarily or permanently. (Though this is illegal in the Eridian Empire and Nadia would also be far too nice to do something like that.)

Using illusions does require a keen eye, though. One has to be able to recreate every aspect of an object or else it looks fake and will fall apart (such as the whorls on a wooden surface, the salt smell of the sea, etc.)

Most of the time Nadia uses her illusions to entertain the children she volunteers with, telling stories and backing them up with cartoonish visuals.

Other
Nadia is quite the little domestic goddess. Being stuck inside half the time, she's picked up skills that don't require exerting a lot of physical effort, such as knitting, sewing, cooking, and drawing. She is extremely proud of these skills, even if her sister makes jokes at her expense sometimes.

-- A colourful bracelet made with sea glass
-- a pair of knitting needles
-- a white handkerchief lined in lace

[When you grow up in a world bursting with magic, it's strange to find yourself in a place that seems almost devoid of it. She'd be more interested if she weren't so shell shocked by her arrival, the strange feeling of being well, and if this place weren't a hovel. (Not that she'd say that out loud -- it may be very nice for some people, but not to her.)

For the first days, she's stayed inside. After that, she's crept out to explore, but never goes very far. Today is one of those days she's staying inside.

Someone's had to show her how to use the cellphone, but Nadia seems to have grasped the use of it quickly. It must be a teenager thing.]

Ahm, hello? I do hope you can hear me, I've never used one of these devices before. They are quite marvelous.

[She pauses, clears her throat.]

To get introductions out of the way, I'm Nadia Sullivan. It's a pleasure to meet all of you.

I know it may be rather forward since I'm new and I've heard that rations are a bit, ah, sparse... but would anyone happen to have a packet of cocoa they would be kind enough to spare?

...I know it's silly, but it's one of my favourites. Chalk it up to homesickness, I suppose.

Messy. Messy, messy, messy.

Just because their house was in a veritable hellhole didn't mean that her roommates had to make their living space reflect the rest of the city. Where was the pride in their surroundings? Yes, things were broken, gross, but no one had to contribute to it. For Saints' sake, no one even made their beds in the morning.

Monster attacks were no excuse. Nadia did not sit well with excuses. You either did or you didn't, and that was that. Apologize and then help out. Any protest at her wanting to keep things tidy was met with narrowed eyes, a flare of her nostrils, and a little 'hmph.' There was no stopping her; this was what she could do to keep herself sane and it worked. It was just that some help would be nice once in a while, geeze.

Finding a broom had been difficult. The one she had was battered, busted up, and almost two-thirds its original size, but it had quickly become one of her most prized possessions and she was going to put it to good use. With her hair tied back in a ponytail, she surveyed the main room with an air of grim determination.

It was time to meet your maker, dust.