Unless a flood of posting follows, I'll be editing this post with my character templates.
To all those looking at this thread: Join, you sillies! I can vouch for this roleplay's quality.
You'll just need to watch it unfold at the same rate that your characters do...
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EDIT: My first template may need a bit of trimming before I continue, but is still looking good in the meantime.
I don't think I've ever created and developed a proper female character before. A shame, I say!
"Reality is but a prison."
Name: Thyme “Sage” Braddock
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Abilities: Sage entertains herself through drawing, painting, and playing the piano; the last is only a hobby, but she is very skilled at all three. Sometimes, she gets so lost in her work/play that it seems hours have ticked by—yet when she checks the clock, only about twenty minutes have passed. Though she does not realize it, Sage has the tendency to produce small "
time pockets" around her person, in which time flows faster than her surroundings.
Usually it happens at home in her apartment, when nobody else is affected. In the presence of others, however, she would appear to move like a video in fast-forward—while
she would perceive everything as being slow. Sage has no control over this phenomenon; at the moment, it is totally random.
Appearance: Sage stands at about 5’5”, with a short torso, and relatively long limbs and fingers (the latter from being a pianist). Her face has a definitely impish quality about it—round, with a delicately pointed chin; large green-brown eyes; a wide, talkative mouth; a smallish, upturned nose. Her brown, wavy hair reaches a ways past shoulder length, in a messier, freer version of the "Zooey Deschenel haircut". She can easily be called “pretty” or “cute”, but never “sexy” or “beautiful”—and Sage is perfectly fine with that. She likes to present a clean, attractive image, but would rather her appearance be a non-factor than a dominating factor.
In terms of attire, Sage prefers to dress casually—but dress well. Flowing, blouse-y garments give her a free range of movement, while sweaters are comfortable and warm. Despite being a natural fit for skinny jeans (and despite owning a few pairs), Sage favors jeans with a wide flared leg, in colors including but not limited to navy blue. Her chosen footwear is either flat, comfortable shoes—or boots that offer easy support.
Personality: Sage is a young woman forever caught between fact and fancy; called to be an artist, she uses drawing and music as a channel for both.
Sympathizing with fact is her commercial work, most of which is laden with social commentary. In reaction to her parents’ strange Victorian ways, Sage has become quite the outspoken liberal, using humor and wit to effectively spread ideas. She loves to allow her mind to roam through images and words, finding all the clever ways they can be juxtaposed. The public artist—Sage Braddock—is known equally for drawing, humor, and a kind of social activism. (She adores her Internet following.)
Engaged in debate with someone, she can sometimes push too hard, and use too much of an edge with her words. Whereas her parents taught her only to be content with silence, college made her feel comfortable with being outspoken—but didn’t teach her any sort of moderation. Sometimes, the persona of Sage Braddock gets out of hand, taking a while to reel back in . . .
Then she steps away from wit, humor, and reason—and sympathizes only with the heart for a while.
For a while, she simply lets herself
feel. Sage takes a rest, and Thyme can stretch her limbs.
Alone in her apartment, Thyme will wander across a canvas or the keys of a piano, loosing whatever emotion has a hold of her. Insecurity, dissatisfaction, loneliness, homesickness, anger . . . Each is given a piece of its own. Thyme believes that regular emotional outpouring is the best thing for a healthy psyche, but hates to involve others in it. Instead of risking embarrassment in front of another person, she “speaks” to her art. With this personal art and music, Thyme can express the contents of her heart without saying a single word.
It’s important to note that both “Sage” and “Thyme” are genuine expressions of the same person; each just expresses a different part, seemingly incompatible with the other.
Biography: Sage is the unfortunate daughter of Basil and Rosemary Braddock, known as one of the oddest couples in Pleasington. For whatever reason, the two speak and behave like Victorian gentlefolk, with Victorian ideals. This is no exaggeration. Their dialect is completely archaic, and both feel scandalized at little more than an ankle’s worth of exposed skin. Basil and Rosemary are, therefore, in a perpetual state of feeling offended—not the best environment for a budding child.
Little Thyme was a very well-spoken child for her age, partly because her parents preached grammar from nineteenth-century handbooks. She was taught politeness, decorum, and modesty, and wore the closest modern equivalent to a child’s frock. Rosemary taught her to play Chopin on the piano. The house’s lone television was strictly forbidden, so she received little exposure to any world beyond her parents’ Victorian fantasy. Thyme was home-schooled until about third grade, until her mother fell ill for a long stretch of time, eventually forcing her to be enrolled in public school . . .
There, Thyme experienced the rude awakening expected by her parents. She was struck by classrooms packed full of children her age—dressed in unfamiliar clothes, making references to unfamiliar things, using unfamiliar words, and learning unfamiliar concepts. The teachers tried to be receptive, but most of the other children just snubbed the strange, pale girl who “talked weird”.
Despite numerous episodes requiring Thyme be taken home, Rosemary was not well enough to care for her—and Basil suddenly felt confident in his decision to place Thyme in public school. It would do her some benefit, he thought, to be around other children. So Thyme stayed, even after her mother’s episode had passed.
And, bit by bit, she came to learn the real world . . .
By the time she had arrived at Jefferson High School, Thyme had reached a crossroads in her development.
Her parents thought that college was an unnecessary step for a young woman—but art had given Thyme a path to a scholarship. Through some careful bending of the truth, she convinced them to send her to study art in college. There, she experienced a sudden awakening—thrust into the current of diverse opinions that was life on campus. Her first year was a rush of excitement and learning, in which she adopted the name “Sage”; her second year was a hedonistic splurge that taught her some moderation; and her remaining two years helped solidify her identity.
Rather than return home, Sage moved into an Albany apartment, and began a career as an artist.
Since then, she hasn’t looked back . . . until a letter from her parents convinced Sage to visit Pleasington for a few days, and hopefully smoothen the rough patches in their relationship. She can only hope, at this point...
Extra:
Sage's Theme / Basil & Rosemary's Theme