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[OOC] Thread Tracker (The Far Shore)
Jun. 17th, 2017 02:00 amPlacemarker.
[OOC] Application (The Far Shore)
Apr. 16th, 2017 07:59 pmPlayer Information
Name: Alice
Contact: mimarin @ plurk
Age: 36
Other Characters: Ayumu Yamazaki
Character Information
Name: Diana
Canon: Rule of Rose
Canon Point: Just before she steps outside to her death in the final chapter of the game.
Age: 14 (Estimated)
History: Very few details about Diana's history are given though it appears that she was a long-time resident of the Rose Garden Orphanage prior to Jennifer's arrival in March 1930. Given how institutionalized child care was handled during that period as well as social restrictions of the time, it's debatable whether Diana's parents are dead or they were unable or unwilling to take care of her and abandoned her at the orphanage.
From historical accounts, orphanages had a reputation for being cold, loveless institutions that released charges from care around the age of fifteen. Harsh rules, child abuse, and neglect were both fairly common and from the information given about Rose Garden Orphanage, it seems to have existed with similar conditions, implying that Diana probably grew up neglected and abused as well.
Diana is introduced as the Duchess of the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club, an unruly gang of children at the orphanage that fancies themselves its upper class, bullies others, and throws monthly scavenger hunts. In Jennifer's narrative, she's called the Strong-Willed Princess as well as the Proud Leader. Despite being the oldest, prettiest, and "most mature" of the Aristocrats, she is second-in-command after the mysterious Princess of the Red Rose who rules over everyone.
After Jennifer participates in April's scavenger hunt, Diana starts bullying the younger girl immediately, throwing her to the floor and calling both her and her gift worthless. She, along with the other girls, call for Amanda, another orphan, to punish her by rubbing a rat tied to a stick on her face.
The following month, Diana is seen again spying on Amanda apologizing to Jennifer for what she'd done before. She relays this information to Wendy, the Princess of the Red Rose. At some point in May, Peter, the orphanage's pet rabbit, escapes from his cage and the club declares him to be that month's gift. Amanda and Jennifer team up to the find the rabbit and afterward, Diana announces that Wendy has decided that Jennifer will be rewarded with a promotion and Amanda is to be demoted. The club then decides that it's time for another rat punishment, this time with Diana being the first to call out for Jennifer to do the deed and handing her the stick. During it, Jennifer realizes that the rat is dead and covered with maggots and faints along with Amanda.
That July, Jennifer overhears Diana giggling with Meg, another high ranking member of the club, over a cruel prank they're pulling on Eleanor, another club member known for her cold, emotionless demeanor. The girls have stolen Eleanor's pet bird, hidden it in a box, and stashed it somewhere, deeming it that month's gift. Diana and Meg make a bet as to whether Eleanor will be angry or cry at finding her pet bird, which could very well die before it's found by someone. Eventually, Jennifer finds where they've hidden it only to find that it suffocated in the box Diana and Meg had hidden it in. Eleanor walks in, stonefaced, puts the dead bird back in its cage, and then delivers it to the club's offering box. Diana and Meg, puzzled by her response, shrug and follow after her.
August's chapter focuses more on Diana. The chapter opens with Diana cleaning an aquarium in the headmaster's room, visibly upset and fretting over the fact that Hoffman's fish has gone missing. It's soon revealed that Meg and Eleanor took it and declared it that month's gift. After hunting all over the orphanage for it, Jennifer sees Diana crying in the headmaster's room with Hoffman groping her suggestively and telling her that she'll never find new parents if she keeps getting into trouble. After he leaves, Diana expresses vehement disgust and revulsion toward the man then notices than Jennifer had witnessed her humiliation and powerlessness. She lashes out angrily at the younger girl and rubs the dirty rag she'd been cleaning the aquarium with in her face, claiming that she's filthy and needs to be cleaned. Diana blames the incident on Jennifer, accusing her of taking the fish and getting her into trouble with the headmaster.
The following month, September, Jennifer comes across Eleanor and Diana discussing a love letter that Meg had written to the latter. She overhears that Diana, deeply annoyed and tired of Meg following her around all the time, had torn it in half and tried to feed it to a goat. Though this chapter comes before Diana's chapter, it takes places after it chronologically, implying that by this point, Hoffman has begun to turn unwanted attention and advances upon her. The usual search ensues, ending with Jennifer finding the letter and Meg mistakenly believing that she'd been the one to tear it up who then cries in Diana's arms. During this scene, Diana pretends to comfort her, standing by and agreeing with Meg's tearful demand that Jennifer be punished for the action she did herself.
During October's chapter, Diana isn't seen much except to order Jennifer to turn the power back on when the orphanage suffers a power outage.
Several important incidents occur in November. Hoffman, deciding he's fulfilled his duty to the children and they've been become more trouble than they're worth, abandons the orphanage to the care of Clara, a sixteen year old girl raised at the orphanage who'd asked for a permanent position rather than leave who was implied to be mentally unstable and sexually abused by him. She disappears from the orphanage as well as does Martha Carroll, the resident cook and cleaning lady that cared for the children and repeatedly tried to get local law enforcement to take action against Gregory Wilson, a mentally ill man and kidnapper who lived nearby that Wendy had started training to act like a dog.
The end result is that the children are left without adult supervision of any kind. Wendy organizes a scavenger hunt, deciding that Brown, Jennifer's faithful canine companion throughout the story is to be that month's gift. During the course of the month, the dog is killed and Wendy is revealed to have been the true mastermind behind much of Jennifer's torment throughout the game. Until this point, Diana, Eleanor, and Meg had been presented as the main antagonists and Wendy as a kind ally toward Jennifer. Jennifer attacks Wendy in a fury, swearing to never forgive her, and that the other club members were monsters for siding with Wendy all this time. During Jennifer's outburst, Diana seems very surprised, as if the idea the younger girl would fight back had never occurred to her, but she also seems grudgingly respectful, looking away a bit guiltily. Humiliated and without any adult to intervene, Wendy runs away from the orphanage.
By December, the club is left without a leader or adult supervision so they decide to elect a new leader. Jennifer is chosen to be the new Princess of the Red Rose, a conclusion that Diana seems oddly content with. While her tone's a little mocking, Diana apologizes to Jennifer, asks her to forgive all that she's done, and states that they're all hers to command, including herself.
However, tragedy strikes that month. Wendy reappears at the orphanage, prompting all the children except Jennifer to run outside to ridicule her, not knowing that she'd brought Gregory Wilson with her to kill them all. Like all the other orphans, Diana is murdered outside.
Personality: When people first meet her, Diana comes across as proud, bold, dominant, and aggressive. She's surprisingly well-spoken for a girl her age, often using an eloquent and somewhat dramatic style of speech, and putting on aristocratic airs. She often adopts a nonchalant attitude that gives the impression she's self-centered, irresponsible, and lazy. Despite this, Diana can be both charming and mean toward others when it suits her to do so.
Diana seems to be a very two-faced, devious individual. One face she shows is ladylike, demure, gracious, and almost angelically kind toward the younger children and adults. The other is far uglier in comparison. Diana is a relentless bully - sadistic, callous, vain, and quick to hurl insults and tear others down to make herself feel better. She's a very selfish, devious, and manipulative girl who at one point in the game announces that she doesn't care about 'sad people'. Many of her behaviors suggest she has great difficulty empathizing with others, including animals which she is heavily implied to abuse and neglect. Occasionally, she is shown to indulge in violent behavior against both younger children and animals.
In spite of all of this, Diana doesn't view herself as a particularly cruel or abusive person, nor does she consider her selfish and manipulative behavior to be a bad thing. Due to the harsh, institutionalized environment and the terrible caretaking she's received, neglect and abuse have been completely normalized for her. Between being from a harder time period and her lack of socialization with 'normal people' outside the orphanages, Diana's a deeply maladjusted girl but with proper guidance, is still young enough that she may be still be directed to a less destructive path.
Much of Diana's destructive behavior stems from one source - stress and negative emotions which overwhelm her. While it's never explicitly explained why, Diana wears a bandage high on her upper right thigh, suggesting an injury of some sort. Given its concealable location, the implied abuse going on at the orphanage, Diana's poor impulse control and anger management skills, and her age, it seems possible that it's the result of self-harm.
Many factors heavily imply that Diana suffers from very low self-esteem. She's grown up in orphanages, possibly after being abandoned there by her parents, and never being adopted by anyone has sent a strong, ongoing message to her that she's an unwanted child. In fact, Hoffman takes advantage of this weakness by using manipulative statements about how 'no mummy or daddy will ever want her' when she's visibly frightened and in tears. But the most telling is Diana's fixation on her ideal self, someone who is 'beautiful and pure' and fear that her days at the orphanage are taking her further away from who she wants to be. The subtext here is that presently Diana doesn't see herself as these things.
That said, a great deal of behavior Diana displays is the result of deep insecurity and low self-worth, and overcompensation for all three. In her pride, Diana rejects the image of herself as a victim and refuses to accept comfort or reach out to others while she's suffering. The other children don't appear to be aware that Hoffman's abusing her and judging from the way she immediately diverts Jennifer's attention from the scene she'd witnessed by bullying her on the spot, she doesn't want them to. To be perceived as pathetic or weak is absolute humiliation for Diana and given how fragile her ego is underneath her airs and bluster, it's difficult for her to cope with that feeling.
At times, Diana doesn't seem to fully anticipate the consequences of her actions. She seems absolutely stunned by Jennifer's outburst after Brown's death, as if it never occurred to her that it could trigger the girl flying into a rage, suggesting that she didn't think very hard about the foreseeable outcome. It's also debatable whether the death of the rat and Eleanor's bird were the result of clear malice or cruel neglect. Regardless, the death of the animals doesn't appear to have been a planned or deliberate outcome but collateral damage from a larger scheme that wasn't clearly thought out. It is worth noting that during Jennifer's outburst that Diana's quick to look away as if she's having a pang of conscience or just now realizing the impact of everything she's done.
For all of Diana's faults and petty deeds during the game, in the end she displays startling maturity about her transgressions. Rather than ascending to the position of the Princess of the Red Rose within the club as the highest ranking member after Wendy, Diana opts to stay as second-in-command and give her support to Jennifer instead. She recognizes that what she's done is wrong and the dire circumstances she and the other orphans are in demand a stronger leader than herself, even if that girl is much younger than her. Diana's care, respect, and acceptance aren't given freely; they have to be earned.
Even though Diana seems to have learned some much needed lessons about empathy and is interested in reform, it's clearly a work in progress as she's unable to resist running outside to mock Wendy along with the others, an event that leads to her tragic death.
Abilities: Diana doesn't have much in the way of skills or education due to her young age and growing up in an institution with neglectful and abusive caretakers. Most girls in her period and situation had a very basic education that focused on things that would help them in domestic life. Despite her cleverness, she's academically stunted for a girl of her time period and most of the skills she has center around cleaning.
Strengths: Bold, eloquent, decisive, charismatic, assertive
Weaknesses: Callous, devious, irrational, insecure, haughty
God/Shinki: God
Why?: Considering Diana's youth, limited world experience, and need for moral guidance, I think the role of goddess would challenge her in interesting ways. Witnessing the deaths of her shinki on such a personal level might be very valuable for teaching her how to empathize with the pain and suffering of others and how to appreciate other people in general. What she lacks in imagination and rational thinking, she makes up for in initiative and assertiveness. As a goddess, she'd genuinely be dependent on her shinki and that would be an interesting dynamic to play a goddess from since the last one I played her was quite capable on her own. She's also a new muse for me and trying to play her as a shinki simply didn't work out before.
Top 3 Choices:
1. Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, because her character has canonical allusions toward her namesake.
2. Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt and counterpart to Diana.
3. Medeina, Lithuanian goddess of the hunt.
Power: Animal Morphing - Diana has the ability to shapeshift into animals. The forms she can take are limited to animals held sacred by the goddess whose role she assumes: buzzards, bears, hunting dogs, wolves, deer, and the like. She's also able to partially morph into humanoid hybrid forms of these creatures. It's important to note that Diana's shapeshifting isn't purely physical; she also takes on the mental aspects of these creatures when she's in their forms in addition to being able to use their abilities and the longer she's in one, the more pronounced the effects. If she stays too long in a complete form, it's possible for her to lose touch with her humanity but she can be coaxed back to her normal self if reminded she's human.
God Type: Due to her youth, inexperience, and general social maladjustment, Diana's going to be heavily reliant on her exemplar's guidance until she unlearns the behaviors and attitudes she picked up at the orphanage. At first, she's likely to motivated by self-interest and care very little for other people's problems. She's unlikely to be all that sympathetic toward the Heavens or her followers though once she realizes that her survival depends on being in the good graces of heaven and the wishes of her followers, she'll be a model, perfectly behaved little goddess. As for prayers, I could see her taking on a broad range, not just those within a hunting goddess's domain, just pretty much whatever will gain her power and prestige, though she might pay a little extra attention to petty prayers calling for vindictive or vengeful action as well as those addressing concerns teenage girls might have.
Writing Sample
Sample: It had been weeks since the last of the adults had left. At first, Mr. Hoffman's departure had been a great relief for Diana. No longer did she have to worry about that ugly, old, wrinkly toad tainting her with his advances or losing his temper at her whenever something went wrong. Diana's mood and - subsequentally - her behavior had considerably calmed. Of course, she'd been doing a lot of reflecting since November.
Diana's not one to think deeply on most things, aside from rousing daydream games of anywhere-but-here. Despite being the eldest, she'd left matters that required heavy pondering to the rest of the upper class. Before November, she'd left them to Wendy, content to simply to carry out her orders or to Meg, who'd always been the brains of the club.
Now she relied on them more than ever. November had brought change, within and without for Diana, and now that it was December, the first of those changes would come into play. It'd been a mutual decision among the girls, to reorganize, reform, and restart the Aristocrat Club, one far removed from the path that Wendy had led them on. They had a new princess, after all, a better princess not that Diana was quite willing to admit Jennifer out loud just yet.
The younger girl's outburst had changed much for Diana, not just in the way she looked at her - with newfound and somewhat grudging respect. Considering the girl that she'd tormented for the better part of the year as potentially worth being friends which is a very new and slightly irritating thought.
But now that Clara and Martha have left them, too, maybe Diana needed a friend like Jennifer, just like the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club needs her as its princess. The Princess of the Red Rose should be a leader and leaders should be inspirational, which maybe Jennifer was - just a little. And maybe Diana herself had been wrong about some things, just a little. At any rate, she was interested in making amends with the girl now and so Diana makes a move toward that goal without much thought as Jennifer enters the room for the first meeting of the new Red Crayon Aristocrat Club.
"Greeting, Princess," Diana said in an almost simperingly sweet tone, curtsying to the girl in a graceful and modest manner. "Please forgive all that I have done."
Her survival depended on it.
Other
Anything Else?: Something I forgot to add to the personality section is due to how discipline was handled in the orphanages back then, Diana's been somewhat conditioned into not fighting back against authority figures. Also, I'd prefer her to be paired with an adult shinki or if that isn't possible, one that she can't easily dominate, bully, or push around due to her canon history and the cruelty she's capable of.
Name: Alice
Contact: mimarin @ plurk
Age: 36
Other Characters: Ayumu Yamazaki
Character Information
Name: Diana
Canon: Rule of Rose
Canon Point: Just before she steps outside to her death in the final chapter of the game.
Age: 14 (Estimated)
History: Very few details about Diana's history are given though it appears that she was a long-time resident of the Rose Garden Orphanage prior to Jennifer's arrival in March 1930. Given how institutionalized child care was handled during that period as well as social restrictions of the time, it's debatable whether Diana's parents are dead or they were unable or unwilling to take care of her and abandoned her at the orphanage.
From historical accounts, orphanages had a reputation for being cold, loveless institutions that released charges from care around the age of fifteen. Harsh rules, child abuse, and neglect were both fairly common and from the information given about Rose Garden Orphanage, it seems to have existed with similar conditions, implying that Diana probably grew up neglected and abused as well.
Diana is introduced as the Duchess of the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club, an unruly gang of children at the orphanage that fancies themselves its upper class, bullies others, and throws monthly scavenger hunts. In Jennifer's narrative, she's called the Strong-Willed Princess as well as the Proud Leader. Despite being the oldest, prettiest, and "most mature" of the Aristocrats, she is second-in-command after the mysterious Princess of the Red Rose who rules over everyone.
After Jennifer participates in April's scavenger hunt, Diana starts bullying the younger girl immediately, throwing her to the floor and calling both her and her gift worthless. She, along with the other girls, call for Amanda, another orphan, to punish her by rubbing a rat tied to a stick on her face.
The following month, Diana is seen again spying on Amanda apologizing to Jennifer for what she'd done before. She relays this information to Wendy, the Princess of the Red Rose. At some point in May, Peter, the orphanage's pet rabbit, escapes from his cage and the club declares him to be that month's gift. Amanda and Jennifer team up to the find the rabbit and afterward, Diana announces that Wendy has decided that Jennifer will be rewarded with a promotion and Amanda is to be demoted. The club then decides that it's time for another rat punishment, this time with Diana being the first to call out for Jennifer to do the deed and handing her the stick. During it, Jennifer realizes that the rat is dead and covered with maggots and faints along with Amanda.
That July, Jennifer overhears Diana giggling with Meg, another high ranking member of the club, over a cruel prank they're pulling on Eleanor, another club member known for her cold, emotionless demeanor. The girls have stolen Eleanor's pet bird, hidden it in a box, and stashed it somewhere, deeming it that month's gift. Diana and Meg make a bet as to whether Eleanor will be angry or cry at finding her pet bird, which could very well die before it's found by someone. Eventually, Jennifer finds where they've hidden it only to find that it suffocated in the box Diana and Meg had hidden it in. Eleanor walks in, stonefaced, puts the dead bird back in its cage, and then delivers it to the club's offering box. Diana and Meg, puzzled by her response, shrug and follow after her.
August's chapter focuses more on Diana. The chapter opens with Diana cleaning an aquarium in the headmaster's room, visibly upset and fretting over the fact that Hoffman's fish has gone missing. It's soon revealed that Meg and Eleanor took it and declared it that month's gift. After hunting all over the orphanage for it, Jennifer sees Diana crying in the headmaster's room with Hoffman groping her suggestively and telling her that she'll never find new parents if she keeps getting into trouble. After he leaves, Diana expresses vehement disgust and revulsion toward the man then notices than Jennifer had witnessed her humiliation and powerlessness. She lashes out angrily at the younger girl and rubs the dirty rag she'd been cleaning the aquarium with in her face, claiming that she's filthy and needs to be cleaned. Diana blames the incident on Jennifer, accusing her of taking the fish and getting her into trouble with the headmaster.
The following month, September, Jennifer comes across Eleanor and Diana discussing a love letter that Meg had written to the latter. She overhears that Diana, deeply annoyed and tired of Meg following her around all the time, had torn it in half and tried to feed it to a goat. Though this chapter comes before Diana's chapter, it takes places after it chronologically, implying that by this point, Hoffman has begun to turn unwanted attention and advances upon her. The usual search ensues, ending with Jennifer finding the letter and Meg mistakenly believing that she'd been the one to tear it up who then cries in Diana's arms. During this scene, Diana pretends to comfort her, standing by and agreeing with Meg's tearful demand that Jennifer be punished for the action she did herself.
During October's chapter, Diana isn't seen much except to order Jennifer to turn the power back on when the orphanage suffers a power outage.
Several important incidents occur in November. Hoffman, deciding he's fulfilled his duty to the children and they've been become more trouble than they're worth, abandons the orphanage to the care of Clara, a sixteen year old girl raised at the orphanage who'd asked for a permanent position rather than leave who was implied to be mentally unstable and sexually abused by him. She disappears from the orphanage as well as does Martha Carroll, the resident cook and cleaning lady that cared for the children and repeatedly tried to get local law enforcement to take action against Gregory Wilson, a mentally ill man and kidnapper who lived nearby that Wendy had started training to act like a dog.
The end result is that the children are left without adult supervision of any kind. Wendy organizes a scavenger hunt, deciding that Brown, Jennifer's faithful canine companion throughout the story is to be that month's gift. During the course of the month, the dog is killed and Wendy is revealed to have been the true mastermind behind much of Jennifer's torment throughout the game. Until this point, Diana, Eleanor, and Meg had been presented as the main antagonists and Wendy as a kind ally toward Jennifer. Jennifer attacks Wendy in a fury, swearing to never forgive her, and that the other club members were monsters for siding with Wendy all this time. During Jennifer's outburst, Diana seems very surprised, as if the idea the younger girl would fight back had never occurred to her, but she also seems grudgingly respectful, looking away a bit guiltily. Humiliated and without any adult to intervene, Wendy runs away from the orphanage.
By December, the club is left without a leader or adult supervision so they decide to elect a new leader. Jennifer is chosen to be the new Princess of the Red Rose, a conclusion that Diana seems oddly content with. While her tone's a little mocking, Diana apologizes to Jennifer, asks her to forgive all that she's done, and states that they're all hers to command, including herself.
However, tragedy strikes that month. Wendy reappears at the orphanage, prompting all the children except Jennifer to run outside to ridicule her, not knowing that she'd brought Gregory Wilson with her to kill them all. Like all the other orphans, Diana is murdered outside.
Personality: When people first meet her, Diana comes across as proud, bold, dominant, and aggressive. She's surprisingly well-spoken for a girl her age, often using an eloquent and somewhat dramatic style of speech, and putting on aristocratic airs. She often adopts a nonchalant attitude that gives the impression she's self-centered, irresponsible, and lazy. Despite this, Diana can be both charming and mean toward others when it suits her to do so.
Diana seems to be a very two-faced, devious individual. One face she shows is ladylike, demure, gracious, and almost angelically kind toward the younger children and adults. The other is far uglier in comparison. Diana is a relentless bully - sadistic, callous, vain, and quick to hurl insults and tear others down to make herself feel better. She's a very selfish, devious, and manipulative girl who at one point in the game announces that she doesn't care about 'sad people'. Many of her behaviors suggest she has great difficulty empathizing with others, including animals which she is heavily implied to abuse and neglect. Occasionally, she is shown to indulge in violent behavior against both younger children and animals.
In spite of all of this, Diana doesn't view herself as a particularly cruel or abusive person, nor does she consider her selfish and manipulative behavior to be a bad thing. Due to the harsh, institutionalized environment and the terrible caretaking she's received, neglect and abuse have been completely normalized for her. Between being from a harder time period and her lack of socialization with 'normal people' outside the orphanages, Diana's a deeply maladjusted girl but with proper guidance, is still young enough that she may be still be directed to a less destructive path.
Much of Diana's destructive behavior stems from one source - stress and negative emotions which overwhelm her. While it's never explicitly explained why, Diana wears a bandage high on her upper right thigh, suggesting an injury of some sort. Given its concealable location, the implied abuse going on at the orphanage, Diana's poor impulse control and anger management skills, and her age, it seems possible that it's the result of self-harm.
Many factors heavily imply that Diana suffers from very low self-esteem. She's grown up in orphanages, possibly after being abandoned there by her parents, and never being adopted by anyone has sent a strong, ongoing message to her that she's an unwanted child. In fact, Hoffman takes advantage of this weakness by using manipulative statements about how 'no mummy or daddy will ever want her' when she's visibly frightened and in tears. But the most telling is Diana's fixation on her ideal self, someone who is 'beautiful and pure' and fear that her days at the orphanage are taking her further away from who she wants to be. The subtext here is that presently Diana doesn't see herself as these things.
That said, a great deal of behavior Diana displays is the result of deep insecurity and low self-worth, and overcompensation for all three. In her pride, Diana rejects the image of herself as a victim and refuses to accept comfort or reach out to others while she's suffering. The other children don't appear to be aware that Hoffman's abusing her and judging from the way she immediately diverts Jennifer's attention from the scene she'd witnessed by bullying her on the spot, she doesn't want them to. To be perceived as pathetic or weak is absolute humiliation for Diana and given how fragile her ego is underneath her airs and bluster, it's difficult for her to cope with that feeling.
At times, Diana doesn't seem to fully anticipate the consequences of her actions. She seems absolutely stunned by Jennifer's outburst after Brown's death, as if it never occurred to her that it could trigger the girl flying into a rage, suggesting that she didn't think very hard about the foreseeable outcome. It's also debatable whether the death of the rat and Eleanor's bird were the result of clear malice or cruel neglect. Regardless, the death of the animals doesn't appear to have been a planned or deliberate outcome but collateral damage from a larger scheme that wasn't clearly thought out. It is worth noting that during Jennifer's outburst that Diana's quick to look away as if she's having a pang of conscience or just now realizing the impact of everything she's done.
For all of Diana's faults and petty deeds during the game, in the end she displays startling maturity about her transgressions. Rather than ascending to the position of the Princess of the Red Rose within the club as the highest ranking member after Wendy, Diana opts to stay as second-in-command and give her support to Jennifer instead. She recognizes that what she's done is wrong and the dire circumstances she and the other orphans are in demand a stronger leader than herself, even if that girl is much younger than her. Diana's care, respect, and acceptance aren't given freely; they have to be earned.
Even though Diana seems to have learned some much needed lessons about empathy and is interested in reform, it's clearly a work in progress as she's unable to resist running outside to mock Wendy along with the others, an event that leads to her tragic death.
Abilities: Diana doesn't have much in the way of skills or education due to her young age and growing up in an institution with neglectful and abusive caretakers. Most girls in her period and situation had a very basic education that focused on things that would help them in domestic life. Despite her cleverness, she's academically stunted for a girl of her time period and most of the skills she has center around cleaning.
Strengths: Bold, eloquent, decisive, charismatic, assertive
Weaknesses: Callous, devious, irrational, insecure, haughty
God/Shinki: God
Why?: Considering Diana's youth, limited world experience, and need for moral guidance, I think the role of goddess would challenge her in interesting ways. Witnessing the deaths of her shinki on such a personal level might be very valuable for teaching her how to empathize with the pain and suffering of others and how to appreciate other people in general. What she lacks in imagination and rational thinking, she makes up for in initiative and assertiveness. As a goddess, she'd genuinely be dependent on her shinki and that would be an interesting dynamic to play a goddess from since the last one I played her was quite capable on her own. She's also a new muse for me and trying to play her as a shinki simply didn't work out before.
Top 3 Choices:
1. Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, because her character has canonical allusions toward her namesake.
2. Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt and counterpart to Diana.
3. Medeina, Lithuanian goddess of the hunt.
Power: Animal Morphing - Diana has the ability to shapeshift into animals. The forms she can take are limited to animals held sacred by the goddess whose role she assumes: buzzards, bears, hunting dogs, wolves, deer, and the like. She's also able to partially morph into humanoid hybrid forms of these creatures. It's important to note that Diana's shapeshifting isn't purely physical; she also takes on the mental aspects of these creatures when she's in their forms in addition to being able to use their abilities and the longer she's in one, the more pronounced the effects. If she stays too long in a complete form, it's possible for her to lose touch with her humanity but she can be coaxed back to her normal self if reminded she's human.
God Type: Due to her youth, inexperience, and general social maladjustment, Diana's going to be heavily reliant on her exemplar's guidance until she unlearns the behaviors and attitudes she picked up at the orphanage. At first, she's likely to motivated by self-interest and care very little for other people's problems. She's unlikely to be all that sympathetic toward the Heavens or her followers though once she realizes that her survival depends on being in the good graces of heaven and the wishes of her followers, she'll be a model, perfectly behaved little goddess. As for prayers, I could see her taking on a broad range, not just those within a hunting goddess's domain, just pretty much whatever will gain her power and prestige, though she might pay a little extra attention to petty prayers calling for vindictive or vengeful action as well as those addressing concerns teenage girls might have.
Writing Sample
Sample: It had been weeks since the last of the adults had left. At first, Mr. Hoffman's departure had been a great relief for Diana. No longer did she have to worry about that ugly, old, wrinkly toad tainting her with his advances or losing his temper at her whenever something went wrong. Diana's mood and - subsequentally - her behavior had considerably calmed. Of course, she'd been doing a lot of reflecting since November.
Diana's not one to think deeply on most things, aside from rousing daydream games of anywhere-but-here. Despite being the eldest, she'd left matters that required heavy pondering to the rest of the upper class. Before November, she'd left them to Wendy, content to simply to carry out her orders or to Meg, who'd always been the brains of the club.
Now she relied on them more than ever. November had brought change, within and without for Diana, and now that it was December, the first of those changes would come into play. It'd been a mutual decision among the girls, to reorganize, reform, and restart the Aristocrat Club, one far removed from the path that Wendy had led them on. They had a new princess, after all, a better princess not that Diana was quite willing to admit Jennifer out loud just yet.
The younger girl's outburst had changed much for Diana, not just in the way she looked at her - with newfound and somewhat grudging respect. Considering the girl that she'd tormented for the better part of the year as potentially worth being friends which is a very new and slightly irritating thought.
But now that Clara and Martha have left them, too, maybe Diana needed a friend like Jennifer, just like the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club needs her as its princess. The Princess of the Red Rose should be a leader and leaders should be inspirational, which maybe Jennifer was - just a little. And maybe Diana herself had been wrong about some things, just a little. At any rate, she was interested in making amends with the girl now and so Diana makes a move toward that goal without much thought as Jennifer enters the room for the first meeting of the new Red Crayon Aristocrat Club.
"Greeting, Princess," Diana said in an almost simperingly sweet tone, curtsying to the girl in a graceful and modest manner. "Please forgive all that I have done."
Her survival depended on it.
Other
Anything Else?: Something I forgot to add to the personality section is due to how discipline was handled in the orphanages back then, Diana's been somewhat conditioned into not fighting back against authority figures. Also, I'd prefer her to be paired with an adult shinki or if that isn't possible, one that she can't easily dominate, bully, or push around due to her canon history and the cruelty she's capable of.
