Nike Crawford-Marine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nottheshoe) wrote2010-09-01 05:12 pm
nottheshoe) wrote2010-09-01 05:12 pm
ASGARD APP
OOC Information;
Name; Naima
Personal Journal; naima
Contact; this email. Billnaisciguy @ plurk & aim
Other Characters; n/a
Activity Proof; n/a
IC Information;
Character Name; Nike Crawford-Marine
Age; 18
Appearance; At 5'4" Nike is just a spec under average height. She's lithe and lean, and while her build would let someone believe that she's not that intimidating at first, she's built like a dancer or gymnast. She's not terribly curvy, though she's gain a bit more from when she was younger. And her hair seems to take up about 20% of her mass. She generally has glasses on, though they really are just for reading, she just likes to wear 'em because they remind her of her oldest brother. The only other feature of note is the scar on the front and back of her torso. Though that rarely gets seen unless she goes around shirtless.... which is almost never.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/fa4e72c786b1caec8b7f6e94dfaa187c/tumblr_moj842BIDe1raxaqzo1_1280.png
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6xsxb3lHd1raxaqzo1_1280.png (featuring her scar from the back)
http://31.media.tumblr.com/02357b51a78fd7b6350e56c4d204b5c1/tumblr_mmuozbHsmD1raxaqzo1_1280.jpg (and front)
For PB purposes I use Gabrielle Kniery. However, Nike is not nearly as tall as she is. Only topping out at 5’4”.
Also if there's any variations in art, that's because i've been drawin' this brat for two years so her design has gone through some changes. For all intents and purposes she looks like the first picture I linked in the face :]
House; Freyr. Nike has a deep love for music, even if she attempts to shun it due to her own issues, it will always come back.
Power; Bardic Influence
World Info;
Wizards, in Nike's universe, are simply a genetic mutation of humans, a fluke in the DNA chain. And for years they co-existed peacefully, many times the "witch" serving as either a shaman, a healer, or some equivilant of any small tribe of people. But as society and politics grew, so did fear of magic and what it could bring-- all of this came to a boiling head around the 1500's. At this time "normal" people began to attack and persecute anyone with magic tendancies, in response they formed their own country with a mystery woman named Aquamarine at the head.
Eventually a war broke out amongst wizards and normal people. There were many casualties on both sides, Aquamarine included. The wizards decided the best choice of action was to run away, finding an isolated island, now called Clandestin, and hiding out. Eventually, wizards became part of a mythos, slipping into legend.
Cut to modern times. The world is very much like our own today, in the 2000's, same technology, same history-- Just a few wizards hiding in the close, so to say. Clarite, the capitol city for Wizards, is an aristocracy. Basically imagine 1700's France, pre-Revolution; three basic clans and lots of little specific clans within those. There isn't so much of a royal family as a royal clan; these are people who were connected to Aquamarine hundreds of years ago. Later immigrants to Clandestine are either a part of the middle or lower clans. Of course the royal clan is the smallest, but holds the most power. There are two major power figures within the Wizard community. The Royal Council, a group of wizards from the royal clan who vote and decide on issues alongside the Queen or King. The Queen or King can be chosen in two ways, either through blood, or, if the blood line dies out for some reason, the Royal Council can pick from amongst the Royal Clan a candidate for the crown. This person becomes the Regent leader until a time the Royal Council deems fit for them to take over the duties of the crown fully.
Currently, there are two main extremist groups from either side of the coin who both don't exactly care for the queen: Leftists and Conservatives. Leftists would like to overthrow the government to redistribute wealth, they try to appeal to the people, however they are extremely violent and use oiver the top scare tactics. The otherside are the Conservatives, they want more power for the royalty-- they believe the royals should remain in power and do whatever they can to undermine any other people who would threaten that. However their numbers are dwindling as time goes on. The people who are left are generally people in between, with different smatterings of opinions. The people of Clandestin are stuck between two extreme groups, a royalty who doesn't listen, and no real guiding voice to bring clarity to the situation. It's a quagmire of political opinion and talk, but no action. This had led to a restless populace and a dangerous environment.
Nike's mother was part of the royal clan, but decided she was sick of the politics and left Clarite. Unfortunately the politics followed her. The Royal council, after the current royal line who held the crown died out, decided they wanted Nike, who was only 14 at the time, to be the next in line to lead the country.
This, leads us to our heroine.
Background;
Nike was born and raised in Costa Real, a small town in southern California right by the sea. She had one older brother, Kratos, and two older siblings who were fraternal twins, Bia and Zelus. At an early age she showed an affinity towards music, favoring the piano, and by the age of four was already performing in front of audiences in concert halls. By the age of nine she had picked up the flute. It looked like she was on her way to be a successful concert pianist and possibly a composer until the age of eleven, when she stopped playing entirely. This was due to her parents not attending one of her performances. She chose instead to focus on a fantasy life of comic books. This was introduced to her by her eldest brother, whom she was close to, but had moved away to attend college.
She led a spectacularly boring normal American teenage life until she was about to turn fourteen. That was when she was informed that: A) She had magic powers, so did her entire family in fact, B) Oh by the way, you are going to become the queen of a country you have never even heard of. This.... was a dream come true for Nike. She accepted the position readily and began to receive lessons from her father's guardian and animal familiar Lucifer (Louie for short).
Lucifer began to train her in mostly battle tactics, strategies and different kinds of fighting styles. His training was extremely harsh and demanding, however shaping a 14-year old spoiled brat into a queen is a monumental task. Nike's parents decide to keep the family together, considering Bia and Zelus are in their last year of high school. So before Nike takes on the crown formally she will attend one year of normal public high school with her siblings. The summer before her first year in high school, Lucifer takes it to another level... and enrolls her in the high school's band. Deciding to challenge her to perform in a group, and work with others.
This is where she meets her best friend, Veronica and Veronica's brother Marcello. She develops a massive crush on Marcello. And Veronica, who has taken a liking to this new adorable little spit fire, decides to champion her cause and attempt to get them together.
Veronica is the first to discover Nike's powers and Lucifer uses this to his advantage. Veronica is a great leader, charismatic, charming, and positive.... while Nike is loud and bold she is none of those things which makes a good leader. So, Veronica starts to teach Nike how she should act in order to get people to respect you and want to follow you.
Around this time Nike is pressured to make her first big political decision with out any input from her family. A simple land decision, it seems completely mundane and boring to Nike. I mean, you get the title of Queen and then you're asked to move borders around? Who wants to do that?
Life continues as normal for Nike, she remains relatively isolated from the clan politics and while the day she will eventually have to take on the crown is looming, she isn't paying it any mind. Then, one day after school, Nike comes under attack from a wizard, Veronica is caught in the crossfire and killed. When they manage to catch the person who did it, it's revealed that the Wizard's family and town were destroyed because of that simple border change Nike had made. In fact, many lives were lost in the resulting disputes and clan skirmishes.
Veronica's death is swept under the rug by the Council and Nike's family is shuttled off to a safe house in Clarite until they are ready for her to become queen. She drops out of her High school and begins to attend Clarite University. However, this isn't to last either, as some one revealed where Nike's family was hiding and her entire family is killed while she is out of the house.
The wizard who killed her family makes his way to Nike's old high school, ready to kill Marcello. Nike manages to arrive just in time, saving Marcello's life, however her guardian Lucifer is killed in the resulting battle. Nike, who was badly hurt, is taken back to Clarite to recover and finally take on the position of Queen.
After all of this Nike's life resumes, though nothing like before. She hardly contributes in any political discourse, she doesn't make any new friends, she essentially shuts down. While she is the queen of the country, she does little to lead it, instead blindly listening to the Royal Council. A year after she begins to obsessively train, trying to figure out if there was any way she could have prevented her family's death, if she had been stronger or smarter. Around this time she also gets a new guardian, Athena.
About three years after her family's death she finally figures out that there was no way she could have prevented anything that happened, that she simply didn't have the knowledge necessary to stop any of it.... when she figures this out she runs away. She hides out in different countries for a few months, running from palace officials, before she lands in Japan, a place teeming with underground activity for variouswizard movements.
A group Nike eventually gets involved in is the LOTUS group, they are a group of people whom are seriously looking at the politics of Clarite and considering how to change them. They take their political inspirations from the founding fathers of America, philosphers such as Hobbes, Calvin (not the tiger and his kid, the actual philosophers), Voltaire, John Locke and others. Nike ends up joining their cause to try and find the most peaceable way to bring a new rule to the government and over throw the current powers that be, including herself. This helps give her direction and shape her future beliefs politically, especially considering the lack of better options at home.
She's eventually "adopted" by a brother and sister, Shinji and Yoshie. Shinji is 28 and Yoshie is 16, they are both orphans of the civil strife which is going on between wizards. They both have been separated from the main island and the politics of Clandestin for a while, and they don't know who Nike is or what her position is. Instead, they take her in and they live together in the same apartment. Nike also runs into Marcello again, who is taking an internship in Japan. At first she wants nothing to do with him, but then eventually she realizes how important he is to her, how important they are to each other and they decide to stick together. Though, Nike no longer has a massive crush on Marcello.
After being suffering through many trials Nike comes to grow, trust, and love her new family. So when the extremist separatist factions close in on her position and kidnaps her new "family"; first, she gets them all back, and then she protects them until the end. She just manages a powerful spell which locks her up in a separate dimension with the other wizards.
A few weeks later, Nike wakes up. Not due to blind luck, but the fact that Athena went behind her back and reserved some energy to make sure that they would make it back. This, of course, was at the risk of Nike's family, however Nike's forced to drop any anger towards her guardian as she has little time before the opening she has to go back closes. She decides to get her act back together and reclaim her crown. She returns to Clarite with Athena and gets back into politics, with a new set of goals.
The first of which was accomplished when she brought the country of Clandestin into the world’s politics for the first time.
(For her time in Asgard she'll be brought a few hours after she's woken up from her time in that alternate dimension-- enough time to get her bearings and realize Shinji, Marc, and Yoshie are okay.
Personality;
Nike, at face value, is an egotistical brat, through and through. She’s an attention grabber who is impulsive and needy, she’ll say whatever she has to say in order to get whatever it is she desires at the moment. The persona she likes to create on surface level is someone who is confident and self-assured, if not immature and irresponsible.
“A stubborn brat”, these are probably some of the first words you would use to describe her. She can seem blind to the world around with how much she whines about what she wants and the way she wants it. She’s the youngest of four children, and she’s always had to be the loudest to make sure she’s heard. She wants her way and she craves attention. She will say whatever comes to mind first and, in general, doesn't care for hurt feelings. She's selfish and self-absorbed and is usually thinking of what will benefit her the most. She's snarky and confident, and knows how to get her way, she knows how to work a crowd and can be quite the showman if she wants to be. This gets her into a considerable deal of trouble and she usually relies on her powers or title to get her out of trouble.
At the start of her story she often doesn't listen to her parents or Lucifer's warnings about the hardships she will face being a queen-- even being in charge of a country. She figures everyone will have to listen to her so why should she worry about anything? She doesn't think ahead to any consequences of her actions or her words. She's very much the immature teenager thinking only about the "here" and "now". This slowly evolves with her, especially given the slap of reality when she is at fault (at least partially) for the deaths of her own people regarding a careless decision about moving borders. Something which seems menial and boring to her, but she's forced to recognize as life altering and changing in someone else's life.
She's a daddy's girl to the core, her father was always a child at heart see: immature and doted on his daughter constantly. If she ever got in trouble he was the first there to get her out. Because of this she tends to be more of a tomboy, egotistical, immature, loud and overbearing. She doesn't want or need attention, she demands it. If she doesn't get what she wants from you, she will get into your face until you give it to her. She doesn't care if you dote on her or yell at her, attention is attention is attention. Give her any type and she'll love it. The worst thing you could do to Nike is ignore her.
Much of this behavior can be traced back to her childhood. Being the youngest child in a busy household, Nike often found herself having to yell to be heard. Her eldest brother often helped to take care of her and introduced her to many of the things which she loves even at a much older age (comic books, music,etc); but once he became too busy finding his own life to take care of his baby sister, Nike found herself having to play on her own. Her other two siblings were in each other's confidence and had since grown apart from their younger sibling and her mother had always been distant from her children. Nike had found a way to stick out and gain attention through her music, but once her parents became too busy dealing with her siblings’ troubles to even attend to that, she decided that she would just have to take a different route.
Granted, her acting out, initially, wasn't "attention seeking" in nature or on purpose, at first. In her mind and understanding, there was no point to standing out in spectacular ways because it didn't work anyway. If she was doing an amazing job and no one cared, then why try? Eventually, as she got into more and more trouble, she began to crave the negative attention and response to her behavior.
She's extremely impulsive and rash in her decision making. Most times, she won't dwell on a dilemma and will go with whatever action feels like it will work in her favor the most. And once she makes that decision she tends to stick by her guns. She'll say it was the right decision until the end and justify it even if it was OBVIOUSLY the wrong choice. The only time which doesn't apply is when it comes to the lives or well-being of others. If harm comes to others because of something she did she will take all the blame. But barring that, she's stubborn about what choices she made. She wants to be right, NO MATTER WHAT.
Granted, this has changed, not exactly making her less rash, however she's much more wary. She isn't willing to get people involved in her affairs mindlessly, and will generally decide for them whether they are allowed to get themselves entangled or not. She does this several times with people close to her, once, after she's dragged out of the alternate universe, she doesn't inform Shinji and Yoshie that she's alive. Not because she doesn't care about them, but because she does care about them and doesn't want them hurt she decides for them that they shouldn't have that connection any longer.
Her newfound powers and position played a large part in her ego when she was younger. She was all about showing off to anyone who would listen. However, now her point of view on her powers and her title has changed. At first she saw her position as something to be ashamed of, a horrible mistake she made that she wanted to wipe herself clean of, but never would be able to. But now, she understands that she can use her position to her advantage, to start to fix the mistakes she made, to try and do some good by her country. This doesn't necessarily mean she will, she doesn't quite know exactly what she should do or how, the first thing she had planned on doing once she got back to the palace was hiring a group of people to help her understand the politics of running a country more, and even more than that running her country.
Nike, at the heart, is observant and introverted. While she may be about as subtle as a sledge hammer through a window, she prefers quieter moments and solitude. She’s deeply insecure and weighed down heavily with guilt; she desires human companionship and comfort though she attempts to reject it at every avenue. And once she does get close to someone, she’s compelled to protect them to a dangerously sociopathic level.
She's also quite intelligent, if not extremely lazy. In school, she's an average student, she doesn't get great grades, but she doesn't do poorly. She'll only do what's required of her unless it's something which interests her. Part of the reason for this is because of the fact that she didn't receive a lot of attention, rather as much attention as she thought she deserved, as a kid. So rather than try hard in her studies, she instead chose to act out in other ways. Saying outlandish statements, she even picked on other kids and was a bit of a bully. She got in as much trouble as she needed to get her parents attention. This behavior calmed down in high school, if only because she got the most insanely attention grabbing job in the world, and the fact that she was separated from her middle school friends.
In social situations and in combat she's learned to be observant and pay complete attention to her surroundings, analyzing people and what's going on around her to her own advantage. This is born out of the fact that she wanted to know what actions she could take to get other's interest most, but as time has gone on, it's evolved into being observant of people and situations in general. She was taught by her father's guardian, Lucifer, to pay attention to her surroundings, to be hyper aware. Being a wizard, who is in tune with the natural energy of most things, has certainly helped to heighten this awareness. Also, her history as a talented musician has helped give her a sensitivity to details. All of this combined, she s very aware of what is going on-- she tends to act as if she has no idea to let other people's guards down. This is all a part of the "act" as it were. This act will be toned down if she isn't surrounded by others from her universe, there's no need to appear to be someone else; however, she does have a tendency to act as if she was an idiot in order to lull others into a false sense of who she is.
While her words are meant as barbs and she isn't necessarily the nicest person, she does not wish to physically harm anyone. Underneath the facade she's quite afraid of over-powering or hurting someone with her powers without intentionally meaning to. She has become very aware of the power that she has at her control and does her best to keep it under check. This means her direct physical interactions with people are often gentle and sometimes shy, she doesn't initiate contact unless someone gives her permission. She will step over every boundary until that point though, often instigating people into action. If someone is violent with her, she is not afraid to get physical, however her first reaction is generally "flee" or "GET OUT AND STAY OUT", she doesn't believe in wasted energy or wasted time. She'd really rather not fight if she doesn't have to.
That said, this is all a cover for how deeply insecure she is, and now she's beginning to realize it. Especially after the death of her family. She doesn't believe her own bullshit anymore, but she's far too in habit of being that type of person to know how to change her personality.
While Nike has had many "positive" changes in her personality after the death of her family, which while tragic did force her to seriously examine her own attitude and how she viewed her place in the world, there is have been several changes for the worse. She's always been protective of people she cares about, no matter how self-centered and selfish she was, she always regarded those who were close to her as something precious. This, now, has escalated. She is fiercely protective of people whom she cares about. Once she cares about someone, if any harm befalls them, she is not afraid to hurt, maim, or kill anyone who lays a finger on them. And while this may seem only natural, this is a major change from her personality before her family's death. She was always warned to be cautious of her actions, especially considering her title, and to purposefully use spells that wouldn't cause any permanent damage to anyone who came before her with malicious intent. Nike now has no problem in hurting someone to make sure her 'family' is protected; once Shinji, Yoshie, and Marc are captured, she takes no issue in using a spell which is akin to torture in order to get the information she needs-- when she could have easily used other methods (though possibly not to the same effect).
She's become very flighty. She's easily spooked by things which disrupt her natural "groove". This comes as a defense mechanism, she can't deal: she runs. This doesn't include just fights, but relationships. Falling in love, becoming close to people, honestly it frightens her. If she realizes she's becoming "too" attached to someone, she's likely to try and cutoff the friendship or acts like an even bigger jackass to try and push them away. She doesn't understand why people try to stay close with her and even if you do become friendly or close, she's willing to cut off communication quite easily because she doesn't believe she's worth the trouble.
Not that she'll let anyone know this.
Even with this social ineptitude, she does tend to get attached to people quite easily. She's the type of person who could get locked into very unhealthy relationships quite easily seeing as she can be swayed by, what she perceives as, kind words and actions. It's not necessarily that she'd fall in love easily, but she does like receiving attention from people. Once she gets the attention she wants, no matter how fake or even harmful to her it may seem, she's stuck.
This also leads into her savior complex. She believes that she HAS to save people and that SHE is the only one who can do it. She'll believe this even if it's obvious that other's helping would be a great benefit to herself and actually make a job much easier. She simply doesn't want anyone throwing themselves into harm’s way on her behalf or even on their own behalf. Once she believes she can help, she is going to just... try to take over and be the hero (OFTEN FAILING AT THAT).
Nike is an odd mixture of insincere and honest. Though she has her dishonest snarky facade, and isn't very sincere about her feelings on herself... she IS honest about other people and her general feelings on them. She actually dislikes discussing her feelings for others because she can't hide how she feels very easily. She'll usually try to brush off personal questions with a smile and an obvious lie--- but she ain't that great a liar regarding emotions. She will keep secrets and hide things if she feels it's for the better of the person. For example, she doesn't inform Shinji or Yoshie of the precarious circumstances she unintentionally puts them in, being that they are housing not just a runaway, but a runaway queen. She would have stated that she felt that this was for their own benefit, however she truly felt as if they would reject her for who she was. This comes to a head, of course, when they get kidnapped and this habit of hers comes to bite her in the face-- on the other hand, it isn't something has fully come to deal with, at this point.
Vagrant life for Nike was her own way of running from her problems, she'd rather not face the mounting issues in the palace; the fact that she felt as though she was failing to become every bit of any expectation she was held to. So instead of trying to bolster herself up and find a way to face the council and do something with the title she has, she runs. She doesn't thing of the consequences, or the potential harm she is placing not only herself in, but any other future wizard who would be crowned with her position. Vagrant life was an escape, to simply live to exist and survive, it was relieving all the anxiety and tension she had held on her shoulders, no matter how much of a mistake or irresponsible it was. It cleared her mind to begin to think of other things and eventually open herself up to people again.
Nike, for a period of a few years, after her family's death was quite closed off and distant. Notably so, the resulting shock and inability to accept reality had caused her to shut down emotionally and socially. While Athena's (Who will be discussed below) 'birth' helped assuage that, it did not do much to help her associate or meet new people. Only when she ran into Shinji and Yoshie and their paths were forced to cross did Nike begin to open up again. She will never be who she was, however they gave her the emotional foundation to become who she is-- both acting as catalysts in their own right. While Yoshie was always overtly bubbly and friendly, able to draw Nike out of her shell; Shinji was nearly exactly the opposite, stoic and reserved, yet this also gave her a firm foundation in someone so down to earth.
Marc and Nike's relationship, on the other hand, has come to be a sort of symbolic show of how delicately Nike holds her past in her head. While she doesn't feel the same way that she used to for him, regarding her crush for him, she does adore and care for him greatly. She secretly wishes to find his approval or forgiveness, and yet can never ask for it. She feels that she has no right to that and thus remains in her own personal purgatory waiting for the proper chance to pave things over. There is an unspoken truce about the past, she doesn't speak of it, and he never brings it up. It's a tense silence about things she'd rather not talk about, even if it'd probably be better if she did. In the end, it's a lot easier to keep quiet about your insecurities and fears, rather than speak about them honestly.
Finally, Nike, as the queen, is a combination of both her heart and her face. Confident, yet reserved, she’s growing into this face. It’s not a side she has had time to develop as thoroughly, but it is beginning to shine through. She is learning to control her reactions and emotions and take more than just her own point of view into consideration.
The queen is very much the epitome of how Nike views an ultimate authority figure. She holds herself with poise and makes sure to think before speaking about anything. She even drops her lazy speech habits and enunciates every word she says. While she would never want to admit this out loud, Nike takes on the physicality and mentality of her mother in this persona she has created.
She's learned to become somewhat cold and detached from decisions she has to make, don't get friendly with the co-workers, especially if some of them really don't care for your believes. She states facts and figures with out pause and does it all with a smile. She does her best to not let any other emotions through beyond a curtious, if not short, politeness.
The truth of the matter is she hides behind this face whenever very deep seating feelings and emotions boil to the surface. She tries to detach herself before becoming too passionate and revealing what she cares about, or if she's truly frightened-- of course it is an obvious tell to anyone who observes her for very long, but not one she has even learned to recognize in herself.
What helped to shape the beginnings of this fledgling queen was her associations and time with LOTUS. She saw their resolve and their mission, and realized she could play a very important part in something. This gave her a chance to seek out a positive change she could make amidst all the negative she had brought to her own life. And when given the final choice between her own personal happiness, or attempting to change the world for the better, Nike realizes her choice is obvious. In order to protect the things-- the people whom she considers precious, to make sure that they can continue to live safety, there is no contest. Her happiness is forfeit, and so was born the Queen.
I'm going to do a "Quick Rundown" on Athena, Nike's guardian/animal familiar, who cannot be brought into the game-- HOWEVER, her personality has been 'a part' of Nike's for the past two years. Thus I believe it's important to understand her personality a long with Nike's in order to understand how Nike will (or will not) function with out her:
Nike, when she was 16, went through a magic process to create a 'guardian'. A guardian, in short, is taking a part of a wizards aura and creating a different being from them. Almost like creating a clone from some DNA from a cheek. EXCEPT MAGIC. While they both have differences in their personality, Nike and Athena are dependent on one another, especially Athena to Nike. In short, Athena is a part of Nike, but Nike is not a part of Athena. Athena's base in being a part of Nike entirely shapes who she is, and without Nike she would cease to be completely. So they aren't dependent on each other in an unhealthy way, but more like a small fish who helps clean a big shark.
Given that info, Athena is only about 2 years old at this point, however, guardians mature much faster than their wizards-- it's a part of the spell which creates them. She's been raised by Nike exclusively, and only has the vaguest idea of what Nike's life was like before. She can't go digging around in Nike's brain without her noticing, thus she's learned to be more careful and sneaky than Nike.
Athena has more of a subdued arrogance. She'd be considered confidant rather than arrogant by many, though she does have times where she can be puffed up and complimented in to a bit of an inflated ego. And, Athena is a brat, she wants what she wants. She enjoys finer things, big fluffy beds, good food, divine sweets. If Nike allowed her to be, she'd be a lot more picky about everything. Athena isn't insecure at all, her confidence isn't a farce and she's actually quite sure of herself ( and Nike of course). For the most part Athena is pretty mature and is aged beyond her years. Though she does have a prankster streak and likes to take it out on people she likes in particular. This usually only happens when she's bored or feels like things need to be shaken up a bit.
She actually doesn't like sticking out. Though she's confidant, she'd rather just stay in the background and lounge in private. She really dislikes big crowds and big events and if she has to go to them will stick with Nike. She stays quiet for a reason, she'd rather just let Nike do the talking for the most part. This is a part of Nike's personality exposed more through her guardian, she's an introvert a very pronounced one. She doesn't mind long silences or quiet. She'd rather have a night curled up at home.
Athena is honest for the most part, at least about what Nike is thinking. However, she will be upfront about worries or questions she has. She isn't afraid to express her opinion if needed. She also doesn't chomp around the bit. She's definitely a snarker, and is usually the one calling Nike out on her bullshit, whether in her head or out loud.
Athena is a thinker. She sorts through her thoughts and Nike's thoughts and tries to make sure they make sense before taking action. If she feels that Nike is doing something which is completely wrong or a bad thing to do, she will take action to stop her. In general she does trust Nike's decision making, no matter how sloppy her thought process is. A good example of Athena overriding Nike's thought process is when Nike simply refuses to settle down with Shinji and Yoshie. Athena can recognize they are good people who don't pose a threat (given that they helped saved Nike's butt with little to no information about the situation before hand), and she also sees that they have no idea who Nike is-- She knows the hurt and trauma Nike has been through and that she's afraid of getting attached, but she is more than willing to put her foot down and make her stay by force... with a simple spell which knocks Nike out. This is a bit outlandish and without consent it's more than questionable, however, as I mentioned before, Athena has an arrogance that can be aggravated and revealed when she's pushed into a corner.
Athena is loyal and hates running away from people. She likes having constants in her life and when Nike had taken to hopping around from place to place she just haaated it. She only tolerated it because they were on the run-- however, even then, we she found people she trusted she forced Nike to stay in one place. While Athena will like people Nike likes fairly easily, she will also be the first to recognize a bad apple and do everything within her power to keep Nike separated from anyone she considers a bad influence. She has low tolerance for people who are, as she perceives them, unhealthy and will sooner abandon Nike, rather then watch her spiral down into a bad relationship. She also doesn't have a savior complex, she'd rather stay out of trouble, she usually at least tries to stop Nike from barreling into dangerous situations but her success varies.
Their personalities affect each other in subtle ways. Not noticed unless you are especially vigilant or happen to know the both of them very well.
Athena wouldn’t take as many risks or be a wandering spirit without Nike. She’d rather live a comfortable and dull life. Nike is a motivating element in her life, she has to move with her and make sure she’s okay.
Nike, on the other hand, becomes more conservative. She becomes more practical in her thought process and the decisions she makes. Without Athena around, she’d definitely get into more trouble and even run her mouth a lot more. Basically, Athena acts as a conscious, and without her, Nike is forced to slow down and think about everything she is doing.
The two balance each other out, finding ways to make sure that they work together as a team.
Samples;
Network Sample;
[And here’s Nike. Looking distinctly uncomfortable with everything right now, fretting a bit with her hair and glasses.]
Alright so, I guess if I’m stuck here it’s time t’get used – everything. [This is said with as much sarcasm and venom as possible. Reign it in Nike, no need to be nasty.] Th’powers we’re given, how are we supposed t’”master” them? Not that I’m doubtin’ th’gods or anythin’. [Though, given her tone she sounds like she is] I just would like t’get an idea of how this magic business works.
[Sounding like more of a skeptic in order to try and cover up any potential? Well yeah duh. No need to make enemies or try to stick out too much at the moment. Blending in is something of a blessing at the moment. One she doesn’t get often.]
Also, just wonderin’ how diverse th’population is. Don’t think I’ve seen anyone who belongs t’anything like where I’m from back home. [those would be the feelers of “no one recognizes me right? NO?”, because she really would rather not deal with politics here. No thank you.] From what I’m seein’ here, it seems like some of y’got people from back home. But not all of you.
[….and there’s a pause as she considers this last bit. Considering whether she should even say it or not.]
So do any of us ever go home? Or are people just stuck here?
Log Sample;
http://assguardians.dreamwidth.org/38095.html?thread=16158415#cmt16158415
Name; Naima
Personal Journal; naima
Contact; this email. Billnaisciguy @ plurk & aim
Other Characters; n/a
Activity Proof; n/a
IC Information;
Character Name; Nike Crawford-Marine
Age; 18
Appearance; At 5'4" Nike is just a spec under average height. She's lithe and lean, and while her build would let someone believe that she's not that intimidating at first, she's built like a dancer or gymnast. She's not terribly curvy, though she's gain a bit more from when she was younger. And her hair seems to take up about 20% of her mass. She generally has glasses on, though they really are just for reading, she just likes to wear 'em because they remind her of her oldest brother. The only other feature of note is the scar on the front and back of her torso. Though that rarely gets seen unless she goes around shirtless.... which is almost never.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/fa4e72c786b1caec8b7f6e94dfaa187c/tumblr_moj842BIDe1raxaqzo1_1280.png
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6xsxb3lHd1raxaqzo1_1280.png (featuring her scar from the back)
http://31.media.tumblr.com/02357b51a78fd7b6350e56c4d204b5c1/tumblr_mmuozbHsmD1raxaqzo1_1280.jpg (and front)
For PB purposes I use Gabrielle Kniery. However, Nike is not nearly as tall as she is. Only topping out at 5’4”.
Also if there's any variations in art, that's because i've been drawin' this brat for two years so her design has gone through some changes. For all intents and purposes she looks like the first picture I linked in the face :]
House; Freyr. Nike has a deep love for music, even if she attempts to shun it due to her own issues, it will always come back.
Power; Bardic Influence
World Info;
Wizards, in Nike's universe, are simply a genetic mutation of humans, a fluke in the DNA chain. And for years they co-existed peacefully, many times the "witch" serving as either a shaman, a healer, or some equivilant of any small tribe of people. But as society and politics grew, so did fear of magic and what it could bring-- all of this came to a boiling head around the 1500's. At this time "normal" people began to attack and persecute anyone with magic tendancies, in response they formed their own country with a mystery woman named Aquamarine at the head.
Eventually a war broke out amongst wizards and normal people. There were many casualties on both sides, Aquamarine included. The wizards decided the best choice of action was to run away, finding an isolated island, now called Clandestin, and hiding out. Eventually, wizards became part of a mythos, slipping into legend.
Cut to modern times. The world is very much like our own today, in the 2000's, same technology, same history-- Just a few wizards hiding in the close, so to say. Clarite, the capitol city for Wizards, is an aristocracy. Basically imagine 1700's France, pre-Revolution; three basic clans and lots of little specific clans within those. There isn't so much of a royal family as a royal clan; these are people who were connected to Aquamarine hundreds of years ago. Later immigrants to Clandestine are either a part of the middle or lower clans. Of course the royal clan is the smallest, but holds the most power. There are two major power figures within the Wizard community. The Royal Council, a group of wizards from the royal clan who vote and decide on issues alongside the Queen or King. The Queen or King can be chosen in two ways, either through blood, or, if the blood line dies out for some reason, the Royal Council can pick from amongst the Royal Clan a candidate for the crown. This person becomes the Regent leader until a time the Royal Council deems fit for them to take over the duties of the crown fully.
Currently, there are two main extremist groups from either side of the coin who both don't exactly care for the queen: Leftists and Conservatives. Leftists would like to overthrow the government to redistribute wealth, they try to appeal to the people, however they are extremely violent and use oiver the top scare tactics. The otherside are the Conservatives, they want more power for the royalty-- they believe the royals should remain in power and do whatever they can to undermine any other people who would threaten that. However their numbers are dwindling as time goes on. The people who are left are generally people in between, with different smatterings of opinions. The people of Clandestin are stuck between two extreme groups, a royalty who doesn't listen, and no real guiding voice to bring clarity to the situation. It's a quagmire of political opinion and talk, but no action. This had led to a restless populace and a dangerous environment.
Nike's mother was part of the royal clan, but decided she was sick of the politics and left Clarite. Unfortunately the politics followed her. The Royal council, after the current royal line who held the crown died out, decided they wanted Nike, who was only 14 at the time, to be the next in line to lead the country.
This, leads us to our heroine.
Background;
Nike was born and raised in Costa Real, a small town in southern California right by the sea. She had one older brother, Kratos, and two older siblings who were fraternal twins, Bia and Zelus. At an early age she showed an affinity towards music, favoring the piano, and by the age of four was already performing in front of audiences in concert halls. By the age of nine she had picked up the flute. It looked like she was on her way to be a successful concert pianist and possibly a composer until the age of eleven, when she stopped playing entirely. This was due to her parents not attending one of her performances. She chose instead to focus on a fantasy life of comic books. This was introduced to her by her eldest brother, whom she was close to, but had moved away to attend college.
She led a spectacularly boring normal American teenage life until she was about to turn fourteen. That was when she was informed that: A) She had magic powers, so did her entire family in fact, B) Oh by the way, you are going to become the queen of a country you have never even heard of. This.... was a dream come true for Nike. She accepted the position readily and began to receive lessons from her father's guardian and animal familiar Lucifer (Louie for short).
Lucifer began to train her in mostly battle tactics, strategies and different kinds of fighting styles. His training was extremely harsh and demanding, however shaping a 14-year old spoiled brat into a queen is a monumental task. Nike's parents decide to keep the family together, considering Bia and Zelus are in their last year of high school. So before Nike takes on the crown formally she will attend one year of normal public high school with her siblings. The summer before her first year in high school, Lucifer takes it to another level... and enrolls her in the high school's band. Deciding to challenge her to perform in a group, and work with others.
This is where she meets her best friend, Veronica and Veronica's brother Marcello. She develops a massive crush on Marcello. And Veronica, who has taken a liking to this new adorable little spit fire, decides to champion her cause and attempt to get them together.
Veronica is the first to discover Nike's powers and Lucifer uses this to his advantage. Veronica is a great leader, charismatic, charming, and positive.... while Nike is loud and bold she is none of those things which makes a good leader. So, Veronica starts to teach Nike how she should act in order to get people to respect you and want to follow you.
Around this time Nike is pressured to make her first big political decision with out any input from her family. A simple land decision, it seems completely mundane and boring to Nike. I mean, you get the title of Queen and then you're asked to move borders around? Who wants to do that?
Life continues as normal for Nike, she remains relatively isolated from the clan politics and while the day she will eventually have to take on the crown is looming, she isn't paying it any mind. Then, one day after school, Nike comes under attack from a wizard, Veronica is caught in the crossfire and killed. When they manage to catch the person who did it, it's revealed that the Wizard's family and town were destroyed because of that simple border change Nike had made. In fact, many lives were lost in the resulting disputes and clan skirmishes.
Veronica's death is swept under the rug by the Council and Nike's family is shuttled off to a safe house in Clarite until they are ready for her to become queen. She drops out of her High school and begins to attend Clarite University. However, this isn't to last either, as some one revealed where Nike's family was hiding and her entire family is killed while she is out of the house.
The wizard who killed her family makes his way to Nike's old high school, ready to kill Marcello. Nike manages to arrive just in time, saving Marcello's life, however her guardian Lucifer is killed in the resulting battle. Nike, who was badly hurt, is taken back to Clarite to recover and finally take on the position of Queen.
After all of this Nike's life resumes, though nothing like before. She hardly contributes in any political discourse, she doesn't make any new friends, she essentially shuts down. While she is the queen of the country, she does little to lead it, instead blindly listening to the Royal Council. A year after she begins to obsessively train, trying to figure out if there was any way she could have prevented her family's death, if she had been stronger or smarter. Around this time she also gets a new guardian, Athena.
About three years after her family's death she finally figures out that there was no way she could have prevented anything that happened, that she simply didn't have the knowledge necessary to stop any of it.... when she figures this out she runs away. She hides out in different countries for a few months, running from palace officials, before she lands in Japan, a place teeming with underground activity for variouswizard movements.
A group Nike eventually gets involved in is the LOTUS group, they are a group of people whom are seriously looking at the politics of Clarite and considering how to change them. They take their political inspirations from the founding fathers of America, philosphers such as Hobbes, Calvin (not the tiger and his kid, the actual philosophers), Voltaire, John Locke and others. Nike ends up joining their cause to try and find the most peaceable way to bring a new rule to the government and over throw the current powers that be, including herself. This helps give her direction and shape her future beliefs politically, especially considering the lack of better options at home.
She's eventually "adopted" by a brother and sister, Shinji and Yoshie. Shinji is 28 and Yoshie is 16, they are both orphans of the civil strife which is going on between wizards. They both have been separated from the main island and the politics of Clandestin for a while, and they don't know who Nike is or what her position is. Instead, they take her in and they live together in the same apartment. Nike also runs into Marcello again, who is taking an internship in Japan. At first she wants nothing to do with him, but then eventually she realizes how important he is to her, how important they are to each other and they decide to stick together. Though, Nike no longer has a massive crush on Marcello.
After being suffering through many trials Nike comes to grow, trust, and love her new family. So when the extremist separatist factions close in on her position and kidnaps her new "family"; first, she gets them all back, and then she protects them until the end. She just manages a powerful spell which locks her up in a separate dimension with the other wizards.
A few weeks later, Nike wakes up. Not due to blind luck, but the fact that Athena went behind her back and reserved some energy to make sure that they would make it back. This, of course, was at the risk of Nike's family, however Nike's forced to drop any anger towards her guardian as she has little time before the opening she has to go back closes. She decides to get her act back together and reclaim her crown. She returns to Clarite with Athena and gets back into politics, with a new set of goals.
The first of which was accomplished when she brought the country of Clandestin into the world’s politics for the first time.
(For her time in Asgard she'll be brought a few hours after she's woken up from her time in that alternate dimension-- enough time to get her bearings and realize Shinji, Marc, and Yoshie are okay.
Personality;
Nike, at face value, is an egotistical brat, through and through. She’s an attention grabber who is impulsive and needy, she’ll say whatever she has to say in order to get whatever it is she desires at the moment. The persona she likes to create on surface level is someone who is confident and self-assured, if not immature and irresponsible.
“A stubborn brat”, these are probably some of the first words you would use to describe her. She can seem blind to the world around with how much she whines about what she wants and the way she wants it. She’s the youngest of four children, and she’s always had to be the loudest to make sure she’s heard. She wants her way and she craves attention. She will say whatever comes to mind first and, in general, doesn't care for hurt feelings. She's selfish and self-absorbed and is usually thinking of what will benefit her the most. She's snarky and confident, and knows how to get her way, she knows how to work a crowd and can be quite the showman if she wants to be. This gets her into a considerable deal of trouble and she usually relies on her powers or title to get her out of trouble.
At the start of her story she often doesn't listen to her parents or Lucifer's warnings about the hardships she will face being a queen-- even being in charge of a country. She figures everyone will have to listen to her so why should she worry about anything? She doesn't think ahead to any consequences of her actions or her words. She's very much the immature teenager thinking only about the "here" and "now". This slowly evolves with her, especially given the slap of reality when she is at fault (at least partially) for the deaths of her own people regarding a careless decision about moving borders. Something which seems menial and boring to her, but she's forced to recognize as life altering and changing in someone else's life.
She's a daddy's girl to the core, her father was always a child at heart see: immature and doted on his daughter constantly. If she ever got in trouble he was the first there to get her out. Because of this she tends to be more of a tomboy, egotistical, immature, loud and overbearing. She doesn't want or need attention, she demands it. If she doesn't get what she wants from you, she will get into your face until you give it to her. She doesn't care if you dote on her or yell at her, attention is attention is attention. Give her any type and she'll love it. The worst thing you could do to Nike is ignore her.
Much of this behavior can be traced back to her childhood. Being the youngest child in a busy household, Nike often found herself having to yell to be heard. Her eldest brother often helped to take care of her and introduced her to many of the things which she loves even at a much older age (comic books, music,etc); but once he became too busy finding his own life to take care of his baby sister, Nike found herself having to play on her own. Her other two siblings were in each other's confidence and had since grown apart from their younger sibling and her mother had always been distant from her children. Nike had found a way to stick out and gain attention through her music, but once her parents became too busy dealing with her siblings’ troubles to even attend to that, she decided that she would just have to take a different route.
Granted, her acting out, initially, wasn't "attention seeking" in nature or on purpose, at first. In her mind and understanding, there was no point to standing out in spectacular ways because it didn't work anyway. If she was doing an amazing job and no one cared, then why try? Eventually, as she got into more and more trouble, she began to crave the negative attention and response to her behavior.
She's extremely impulsive and rash in her decision making. Most times, she won't dwell on a dilemma and will go with whatever action feels like it will work in her favor the most. And once she makes that decision she tends to stick by her guns. She'll say it was the right decision until the end and justify it even if it was OBVIOUSLY the wrong choice. The only time which doesn't apply is when it comes to the lives or well-being of others. If harm comes to others because of something she did she will take all the blame. But barring that, she's stubborn about what choices she made. She wants to be right, NO MATTER WHAT.
Granted, this has changed, not exactly making her less rash, however she's much more wary. She isn't willing to get people involved in her affairs mindlessly, and will generally decide for them whether they are allowed to get themselves entangled or not. She does this several times with people close to her, once, after she's dragged out of the alternate universe, she doesn't inform Shinji and Yoshie that she's alive. Not because she doesn't care about them, but because she does care about them and doesn't want them hurt she decides for them that they shouldn't have that connection any longer.
Her newfound powers and position played a large part in her ego when she was younger. She was all about showing off to anyone who would listen. However, now her point of view on her powers and her title has changed. At first she saw her position as something to be ashamed of, a horrible mistake she made that she wanted to wipe herself clean of, but never would be able to. But now, she understands that she can use her position to her advantage, to start to fix the mistakes she made, to try and do some good by her country. This doesn't necessarily mean she will, she doesn't quite know exactly what she should do or how, the first thing she had planned on doing once she got back to the palace was hiring a group of people to help her understand the politics of running a country more, and even more than that running her country.
Nike, at the heart, is observant and introverted. While she may be about as subtle as a sledge hammer through a window, she prefers quieter moments and solitude. She’s deeply insecure and weighed down heavily with guilt; she desires human companionship and comfort though she attempts to reject it at every avenue. And once she does get close to someone, she’s compelled to protect them to a dangerously sociopathic level.
She's also quite intelligent, if not extremely lazy. In school, she's an average student, she doesn't get great grades, but she doesn't do poorly. She'll only do what's required of her unless it's something which interests her. Part of the reason for this is because of the fact that she didn't receive a lot of attention, rather as much attention as she thought she deserved, as a kid. So rather than try hard in her studies, she instead chose to act out in other ways. Saying outlandish statements, she even picked on other kids and was a bit of a bully. She got in as much trouble as she needed to get her parents attention. This behavior calmed down in high school, if only because she got the most insanely attention grabbing job in the world, and the fact that she was separated from her middle school friends.
In social situations and in combat she's learned to be observant and pay complete attention to her surroundings, analyzing people and what's going on around her to her own advantage. This is born out of the fact that she wanted to know what actions she could take to get other's interest most, but as time has gone on, it's evolved into being observant of people and situations in general. She was taught by her father's guardian, Lucifer, to pay attention to her surroundings, to be hyper aware. Being a wizard, who is in tune with the natural energy of most things, has certainly helped to heighten this awareness. Also, her history as a talented musician has helped give her a sensitivity to details. All of this combined, she s very aware of what is going on-- she tends to act as if she has no idea to let other people's guards down. This is all a part of the "act" as it were. This act will be toned down if she isn't surrounded by others from her universe, there's no need to appear to be someone else; however, she does have a tendency to act as if she was an idiot in order to lull others into a false sense of who she is.
While her words are meant as barbs and she isn't necessarily the nicest person, she does not wish to physically harm anyone. Underneath the facade she's quite afraid of over-powering or hurting someone with her powers without intentionally meaning to. She has become very aware of the power that she has at her control and does her best to keep it under check. This means her direct physical interactions with people are often gentle and sometimes shy, she doesn't initiate contact unless someone gives her permission. She will step over every boundary until that point though, often instigating people into action. If someone is violent with her, she is not afraid to get physical, however her first reaction is generally "flee" or "GET OUT AND STAY OUT", she doesn't believe in wasted energy or wasted time. She'd really rather not fight if she doesn't have to.
That said, this is all a cover for how deeply insecure she is, and now she's beginning to realize it. Especially after the death of her family. She doesn't believe her own bullshit anymore, but she's far too in habit of being that type of person to know how to change her personality.
While Nike has had many "positive" changes in her personality after the death of her family, which while tragic did force her to seriously examine her own attitude and how she viewed her place in the world, there is have been several changes for the worse. She's always been protective of people she cares about, no matter how self-centered and selfish she was, she always regarded those who were close to her as something precious. This, now, has escalated. She is fiercely protective of people whom she cares about. Once she cares about someone, if any harm befalls them, she is not afraid to hurt, maim, or kill anyone who lays a finger on them. And while this may seem only natural, this is a major change from her personality before her family's death. She was always warned to be cautious of her actions, especially considering her title, and to purposefully use spells that wouldn't cause any permanent damage to anyone who came before her with malicious intent. Nike now has no problem in hurting someone to make sure her 'family' is protected; once Shinji, Yoshie, and Marc are captured, she takes no issue in using a spell which is akin to torture in order to get the information she needs-- when she could have easily used other methods (though possibly not to the same effect).
She's become very flighty. She's easily spooked by things which disrupt her natural "groove". This comes as a defense mechanism, she can't deal: she runs. This doesn't include just fights, but relationships. Falling in love, becoming close to people, honestly it frightens her. If she realizes she's becoming "too" attached to someone, she's likely to try and cutoff the friendship or acts like an even bigger jackass to try and push them away. She doesn't understand why people try to stay close with her and even if you do become friendly or close, she's willing to cut off communication quite easily because she doesn't believe she's worth the trouble.
Not that she'll let anyone know this.
Even with this social ineptitude, she does tend to get attached to people quite easily. She's the type of person who could get locked into very unhealthy relationships quite easily seeing as she can be swayed by, what she perceives as, kind words and actions. It's not necessarily that she'd fall in love easily, but she does like receiving attention from people. Once she gets the attention she wants, no matter how fake or even harmful to her it may seem, she's stuck.
This also leads into her savior complex. She believes that she HAS to save people and that SHE is the only one who can do it. She'll believe this even if it's obvious that other's helping would be a great benefit to herself and actually make a job much easier. She simply doesn't want anyone throwing themselves into harm’s way on her behalf or even on their own behalf. Once she believes she can help, she is going to just... try to take over and be the hero (OFTEN FAILING AT THAT).
Nike is an odd mixture of insincere and honest. Though she has her dishonest snarky facade, and isn't very sincere about her feelings on herself... she IS honest about other people and her general feelings on them. She actually dislikes discussing her feelings for others because she can't hide how she feels very easily. She'll usually try to brush off personal questions with a smile and an obvious lie--- but she ain't that great a liar regarding emotions. She will keep secrets and hide things if she feels it's for the better of the person. For example, she doesn't inform Shinji or Yoshie of the precarious circumstances she unintentionally puts them in, being that they are housing not just a runaway, but a runaway queen. She would have stated that she felt that this was for their own benefit, however she truly felt as if they would reject her for who she was. This comes to a head, of course, when they get kidnapped and this habit of hers comes to bite her in the face-- on the other hand, it isn't something has fully come to deal with, at this point.
Vagrant life for Nike was her own way of running from her problems, she'd rather not face the mounting issues in the palace; the fact that she felt as though she was failing to become every bit of any expectation she was held to. So instead of trying to bolster herself up and find a way to face the council and do something with the title she has, she runs. She doesn't thing of the consequences, or the potential harm she is placing not only herself in, but any other future wizard who would be crowned with her position. Vagrant life was an escape, to simply live to exist and survive, it was relieving all the anxiety and tension she had held on her shoulders, no matter how much of a mistake or irresponsible it was. It cleared her mind to begin to think of other things and eventually open herself up to people again.
Nike, for a period of a few years, after her family's death was quite closed off and distant. Notably so, the resulting shock and inability to accept reality had caused her to shut down emotionally and socially. While Athena's (Who will be discussed below) 'birth' helped assuage that, it did not do much to help her associate or meet new people. Only when she ran into Shinji and Yoshie and their paths were forced to cross did Nike begin to open up again. She will never be who she was, however they gave her the emotional foundation to become who she is-- both acting as catalysts in their own right. While Yoshie was always overtly bubbly and friendly, able to draw Nike out of her shell; Shinji was nearly exactly the opposite, stoic and reserved, yet this also gave her a firm foundation in someone so down to earth.
Marc and Nike's relationship, on the other hand, has come to be a sort of symbolic show of how delicately Nike holds her past in her head. While she doesn't feel the same way that she used to for him, regarding her crush for him, she does adore and care for him greatly. She secretly wishes to find his approval or forgiveness, and yet can never ask for it. She feels that she has no right to that and thus remains in her own personal purgatory waiting for the proper chance to pave things over. There is an unspoken truce about the past, she doesn't speak of it, and he never brings it up. It's a tense silence about things she'd rather not talk about, even if it'd probably be better if she did. In the end, it's a lot easier to keep quiet about your insecurities and fears, rather than speak about them honestly.
Finally, Nike, as the queen, is a combination of both her heart and her face. Confident, yet reserved, she’s growing into this face. It’s not a side she has had time to develop as thoroughly, but it is beginning to shine through. She is learning to control her reactions and emotions and take more than just her own point of view into consideration.
The queen is very much the epitome of how Nike views an ultimate authority figure. She holds herself with poise and makes sure to think before speaking about anything. She even drops her lazy speech habits and enunciates every word she says. While she would never want to admit this out loud, Nike takes on the physicality and mentality of her mother in this persona she has created.
She's learned to become somewhat cold and detached from decisions she has to make, don't get friendly with the co-workers, especially if some of them really don't care for your believes. She states facts and figures with out pause and does it all with a smile. She does her best to not let any other emotions through beyond a curtious, if not short, politeness.
The truth of the matter is she hides behind this face whenever very deep seating feelings and emotions boil to the surface. She tries to detach herself before becoming too passionate and revealing what she cares about, or if she's truly frightened-- of course it is an obvious tell to anyone who observes her for very long, but not one she has even learned to recognize in herself.
What helped to shape the beginnings of this fledgling queen was her associations and time with LOTUS. She saw their resolve and their mission, and realized she could play a very important part in something. This gave her a chance to seek out a positive change she could make amidst all the negative she had brought to her own life. And when given the final choice between her own personal happiness, or attempting to change the world for the better, Nike realizes her choice is obvious. In order to protect the things-- the people whom she considers precious, to make sure that they can continue to live safety, there is no contest. Her happiness is forfeit, and so was born the Queen.
I'm going to do a "Quick Rundown" on Athena, Nike's guardian/animal familiar, who cannot be brought into the game-- HOWEVER, her personality has been 'a part' of Nike's for the past two years. Thus I believe it's important to understand her personality a long with Nike's in order to understand how Nike will (or will not) function with out her:
Nike, when she was 16, went through a magic process to create a 'guardian'. A guardian, in short, is taking a part of a wizards aura and creating a different being from them. Almost like creating a clone from some DNA from a cheek. EXCEPT MAGIC. While they both have differences in their personality, Nike and Athena are dependent on one another, especially Athena to Nike. In short, Athena is a part of Nike, but Nike is not a part of Athena. Athena's base in being a part of Nike entirely shapes who she is, and without Nike she would cease to be completely. So they aren't dependent on each other in an unhealthy way, but more like a small fish who helps clean a big shark.
Given that info, Athena is only about 2 years old at this point, however, guardians mature much faster than their wizards-- it's a part of the spell which creates them. She's been raised by Nike exclusively, and only has the vaguest idea of what Nike's life was like before. She can't go digging around in Nike's brain without her noticing, thus she's learned to be more careful and sneaky than Nike.
Athena has more of a subdued arrogance. She'd be considered confidant rather than arrogant by many, though she does have times where she can be puffed up and complimented in to a bit of an inflated ego. And, Athena is a brat, she wants what she wants. She enjoys finer things, big fluffy beds, good food, divine sweets. If Nike allowed her to be, she'd be a lot more picky about everything. Athena isn't insecure at all, her confidence isn't a farce and she's actually quite sure of herself ( and Nike of course). For the most part Athena is pretty mature and is aged beyond her years. Though she does have a prankster streak and likes to take it out on people she likes in particular. This usually only happens when she's bored or feels like things need to be shaken up a bit.
She actually doesn't like sticking out. Though she's confidant, she'd rather just stay in the background and lounge in private. She really dislikes big crowds and big events and if she has to go to them will stick with Nike. She stays quiet for a reason, she'd rather just let Nike do the talking for the most part. This is a part of Nike's personality exposed more through her guardian, she's an introvert a very pronounced one. She doesn't mind long silences or quiet. She'd rather have a night curled up at home.
Athena is honest for the most part, at least about what Nike is thinking. However, she will be upfront about worries or questions she has. She isn't afraid to express her opinion if needed. She also doesn't chomp around the bit. She's definitely a snarker, and is usually the one calling Nike out on her bullshit, whether in her head or out loud.
Athena is a thinker. She sorts through her thoughts and Nike's thoughts and tries to make sure they make sense before taking action. If she feels that Nike is doing something which is completely wrong or a bad thing to do, she will take action to stop her. In general she does trust Nike's decision making, no matter how sloppy her thought process is. A good example of Athena overriding Nike's thought process is when Nike simply refuses to settle down with Shinji and Yoshie. Athena can recognize they are good people who don't pose a threat (given that they helped saved Nike's butt with little to no information about the situation before hand), and she also sees that they have no idea who Nike is-- She knows the hurt and trauma Nike has been through and that she's afraid of getting attached, but she is more than willing to put her foot down and make her stay by force... with a simple spell which knocks Nike out. This is a bit outlandish and without consent it's more than questionable, however, as I mentioned before, Athena has an arrogance that can be aggravated and revealed when she's pushed into a corner.
Athena is loyal and hates running away from people. She likes having constants in her life and when Nike had taken to hopping around from place to place she just haaated it. She only tolerated it because they were on the run-- however, even then, we she found people she trusted she forced Nike to stay in one place. While Athena will like people Nike likes fairly easily, she will also be the first to recognize a bad apple and do everything within her power to keep Nike separated from anyone she considers a bad influence. She has low tolerance for people who are, as she perceives them, unhealthy and will sooner abandon Nike, rather then watch her spiral down into a bad relationship. She also doesn't have a savior complex, she'd rather stay out of trouble, she usually at least tries to stop Nike from barreling into dangerous situations but her success varies.
Their personalities affect each other in subtle ways. Not noticed unless you are especially vigilant or happen to know the both of them very well.
Athena wouldn’t take as many risks or be a wandering spirit without Nike. She’d rather live a comfortable and dull life. Nike is a motivating element in her life, she has to move with her and make sure she’s okay.
Nike, on the other hand, becomes more conservative. She becomes more practical in her thought process and the decisions she makes. Without Athena around, she’d definitely get into more trouble and even run her mouth a lot more. Basically, Athena acts as a conscious, and without her, Nike is forced to slow down and think about everything she is doing.
The two balance each other out, finding ways to make sure that they work together as a team.
Samples;
Network Sample;
[And here’s Nike. Looking distinctly uncomfortable with everything right now, fretting a bit with her hair and glasses.]
Alright so, I guess if I’m stuck here it’s time t’get used – everything. [This is said with as much sarcasm and venom as possible. Reign it in Nike, no need to be nasty.] Th’powers we’re given, how are we supposed t’”master” them? Not that I’m doubtin’ th’gods or anythin’. [Though, given her tone she sounds like she is] I just would like t’get an idea of how this magic business works.
[Sounding like more of a skeptic in order to try and cover up any potential? Well yeah duh. No need to make enemies or try to stick out too much at the moment. Blending in is something of a blessing at the moment. One she doesn’t get often.]
Also, just wonderin’ how diverse th’population is. Don’t think I’ve seen anyone who belongs t’anything like where I’m from back home. [those would be the feelers of “no one recognizes me right? NO?”, because she really would rather not deal with politics here. No thank you.] From what I’m seein’ here, it seems like some of y’got people from back home. But not all of you.
[….and there’s a pause as she considers this last bit. Considering whether she should even say it or not.]
So do any of us ever go home? Or are people just stuck here?
Log Sample;
http://assguardians.dreamwidth.org/38095.html?thread=16158415#cmt16158415