New York by night

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes."
William Shakespeare

Bueno, vuelvo al ruedo. Es poco probable que sepan de qué estoy hablando, así que les explico. Tengo un hobby sumamente interesante, entretenido, inteligente y desafiante, y hacía más de tres años que no lo practicaba; ahora vuelvo al ruedo, así que estoy feliz. Me vuelvo a explicar: soy fan de los juegos de rol basados en foros, online, o más precisamente, soy fan de los juegos de rol basados en foros que desarrollamos con un grupo de amigos a los que conozco bien y con quienes escribo mejor (qué modesta yo).

Por si no saben de qué estoy hablando otra vez, ahí abajo hay una explicación, si no sigan leyendo nomás.

Un juego de estos empieza cuando un jugador, o un grupo de jugadores, abre lo que se llama un ‘thread’ (hilo) en un foro y empieza una historia. Esto puede ser más o menos complejo, ya que hay foros donde conviven numerosos hilos, que pueden ser completamente diferentes, al mismo tiempo, o hay sitios donde todo gira alrededor de una sola historia -escrita en un solo hilo- acordada por el conjunto de jugadores.

Los escritores imaginan un punto de arranque, un lugar, un tiempo, un universo, el número de personajes que van a participar, etc. o sea todo lo que una historia necesitaría para ser escrita.

A partir de ahí, otra gente del foro ingresa al juego. Crean un personaje con nombre, edad, sexo, habilidades, historia personal y todo lo demás que hace a alguien especial y único; una vez felices con su creación, se incorporan a la historia con una entrada llamada ‘post’. La historia se empieza a escribir así, post a post, entretejiendo las historias personales de esos personajes alrededor del argumento inicial.

Extraído de aquí

El juego se llama 'New York by night' (NYbn), y retoma el universo de 'Los Angeles by night' (LAbn), el juego original que tanto me enganchó, solo que ambientado 12 años después, en una nueva ciudad y con nuevos personajes.

NY by Night está basado libremente en el universo de la serie de televisión “Buffy la Cazavampiros” (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) creada por Joss Whedon. La serie exploraba la vida y aventuras de una heroína actual, Buffy, el estereotipo de rubia bonita californiana pero con una gran diferencia, ella también era la Elegida, la única chica del mundo con la fortaleza y habilidades para salvar a la humanidad de la plaga de los vampiros. Este es el telón de fondo del juego. Un mundo de perversidades impronunciables, de vampiros, hombres lobos y demonios. Un mundo de brujas y magia, dimensiones alternas y conspiraciones del gobierno. Sin embargo, en el mundo de NY by night, tanto Buffy como todos quienes la rodean, ya no existen, y la tarea de defender a la humanidad, cae en manos de nuestros personajes.

Como estoy contenta, y como acabo de crear un personaje que me gusta mucho, aquí lo publico, como publiqué varios otros durante estos años (si clickean la etiqueta Roleplaying, los encontrarán). Espero que les guste. Obviamente no es obligatorio leer, además el juego es en inglés, sorry, pero sí era obligatorio para mí compartir; como les dije, estoy muy contenta.



Cadence Cloud

Character Name: Cadence ‘Cadee’ Cloud
Other Names: Carol Miller (real name, not used)
Race: enhanced human - arguably human/demon
Sex: female
Birthdate / Location: Sunnydale, CA. 21^st June 1995
Group Affiliation: n/a
Position: waitress / bartender

Description:

Cadee is played by Piper Perabo

Aesthetics and Dress~ Cadee is a rather stunning young woman, with long dark blond hair, brown eyes and a big smile. Tall and thin, she likes dressing in jeans, tops and sweaters, although she also has a more feminine wardrobe for when the occasion calls. She loves shoes, especially boots, make-up and hair products.

Attitude~ Cadee is highly independent, she has a deep distrust of organizations and the government, given her past experiences with both, and usually has problems with authority. She refuses to be on the payroll of a group bigger than a dozen people. Her mother’s ever present worries of being discovered rendered her somewhat paranoiac. Her birth certificate, social security card and driver's license are water-proof fakes.
She is well aware of her nature, so she has a very flexible view on supernatural beings.

Lifestyle~ At present, Cadee works as a waitress and substitute bartender at 'Slàinte', a bar/lounge in Little Italy, where she sometimes sings as well. She lives with Anne Millet, her roommate, in an apartment close to the bar and she has two cats, Freddo and Flora.

Cadee also has a very good ear for music and languages, she can play the guitar well and sing a little. She learnt Spanish after living several years in Miami and has picked up Italian since she's living in an Italian neighborhood. She compensates her lack of studies with an insatiable curiosity and a love of documentary programs, especially about animals and History.

Background: Cadence Cloud was the daughter of Susan Price and Graham Miller, both former members of the organization called ‘The Initiative’ 'enhanced' in their strength and durability by the use of a combination of drugs and supernatural DNA.

Susan and Graham were originally members of those commandos, Graham posing as an University student, and Susan as a teacher assistant. A secret romance between the two led to the birth of their only daughter, Cadee, or as they called her then: Carol Miller.

Leer más...

After learning that she was pregnant, Susan Price considered abandoning the Initiative, but Prof. Walsh –much more aware of how special the child would be than her parents– was adamant about it. “We take care of our own, Susan,” were Maggie Walsh’s words. “You won’t need for anything, and after the child is born he or she’ll stay in the facilities while you’re out in your duties.

The solution suited Susan and Graham, who at the time didn’t want to be separated from each other and didn’t hinder Susan’s future in the Initiative. By the time Cadee was two, Susan and Graham ended their relationship, however, both shared responsibilities in the girl’s caring and upbringing.

Margaret Walsh had her own motives for wanting Susan to stay within the program; the offspring of two of her super soldiers would be special enough, but she saw the opportunity for further experiments. Without her knowledge, Susan was treated during her pregnancy with even special ‘cocktails’ of supernatural DNA which altered the child’s gene pool permanently. After the girl was born, Prof. Walsh continued her experiments and as Cadee grew up she started with behavioral conditioning.

Cadee's early years were not precisely ordinary, but, which girl raised in the middle of a super secret military operation would have a normal childhood? Prof. Walsh’s secret programs and she kept a hawk’s eye on the girl, so she spent more time around scientists and teachers than with her parents. However, Susan and Graham were never apart for long; and Cadee didn’t lack love either.

Cadee was surprisingly strong and healthy, and brilliant: her language skills were very advanced for her years and she showed an impressive talent for music. But most importantly, she was a happy child.

It wasn’t until the girl was almost five years old that Susan noticed something was wrong with her daughter. The girl lost her happy nature and started to sulk and undergo long periods of silence. She was usually affected with nausea and headaches, also Cadee started suffering terrible nightmares that woke her anguished and crying.

Susan tried to speak to the girl only to find an iron solid barrier; she then spoke to some of the various psychologists that worked in the laboratories, but her fears were dismissed as ‘mother worries’. Mother worries or not, Susan didn’t like the way everybody discharged the girl’s obvious change, even her father, and started to pay more attention to what was happening around her. A little later, Cadee started to refuse going to her lessons –an activity that had been pleasurably before – and was even more apatheticwhen she returned to their rooms, so Susan decided to learn exactly what was happening during lesson times.

What she learnt, horrified her. She saw her five-year-old daughter being put to sleep and treated almost as sub-terrestrials were treated. As she watched in horror, she saw doctors connected patches and plugs to Cadee’s little body, and later do routines of what could only be behavioural conditioning. Only Susan’s strict training prevented her from entering the lab and taking her daughter out of there immediately. Instead, she decided to tell Graham about her discoveries and take her daughter away the first opportunity they had.

She didn’t have to wait long and she didn’t have time to go to Graham either. While she was hiding outside the laboratory where her daughter was being experimented on, one of the vampires encaged got loose and started killing its captors. Taking advantage of the chaos that prevailed, Susan entered the laboratory, liberated Cadee from her restraints and fled the Initiative.

She hid in a cheap motel in Sunnydale’s outskirts, but her initial idea of telling Graham what she had done was delayed by Cadee’s condition. The girl suffered of what looked like a severe case of withdrawal, and a couple of days later, Susan started showing the same symptoms as well.

Susan and Cadee barely survived, they were lucky the motel’s owner didn’t dismiss them as a couple of junkies and instead nursed them back to health. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t quick. By the time Susan was sane enough to try and contact her ex-lover, she could find no traces of him. Nor she could in the following years, Graham had completely dissappeared.

Susan stayed around Sunnydale for a almost a week more before giving up her hope of finding Graham. She had no idea of what had happened to the Initiative and Prof. Walsh, and was afraid that if she stayed in Sunnydale her daughter would be in danger. So she moved to LA, assuming that they could get lost in a big city like that.

Once in the big city, Susan changed her and her daughter’s name and decided to start anew. Given her daughter’s affinity for music, she called her Cadence, and adopted the surname Cloud - Susan was a fan of the Final Fantasy games, and considered that the surname of a virtual super soldier was fitting enough for the likes of them. In the times that followed, Susan got a normal job and raised her daughter as a single mother, even if at nights she sometimes felt the old urge and left the girl with a nanny to go hunting.

With time, Cadee stopped having nightmares and regained her happy nature, but she continued being abnormally stronger, faster and healthier than normal kids. Susan realized that even if she had returned to normalcy after leaving the Initiative, her daughter would continue being special. She decided she needed to help Cadee in that respect too, and started teaching her martial arts and the use of weapons. When she considered the girl could understand it, she told her about the different kinds of creatures that peopled the earth, and about her own nature, and started taking Cadee with her when she hunted, even if it usually led to discussions about the reasons for killing everything that wasn’t human while letting human ‘monsters’ go. She couldn’t find much difference between them.

By the time she was a teenager, Cadee had become a strong and deadly warrior, and she had surpassed her mother in every respect, reminding Susan of her old friend Riley’s girlfriend, the Slayer.

Susan’s worries for Cadee’s safety led her to move continuously, living a somewhat nomad’s life. After living in LA for a couple of years, she moved to Miami, then Chicago, Seattle, and finally New York – which got to be their last destination. When Cadee was sixteen, Susan got killed in patrol, and the girl didn’t get to move again.

However, her mother’s previsions had her prepared Cadee for such an occurrence and she had a plan. She dropped school a few months before graduating so Social Services wouldn’t find her, moved to a small apartment in a different neighborhood, and got a job as a bicycle messenger at Flash Courier Service -with a fake ID- to support herself.

At present, she works as a waitress and substitute bartender in a cop’s bar/restaurant near Central Park, in Manhattan, where she sometimes sings as well – and she lives with a roommate in an apartment close to the bar.

Items: A selection of knives, stakes and a crossbow that she inherited from her mother. No fire weapons, she doesn't like them. Also her guitar and a good Trek bicycle from her years as a cycle courier.

Powers: Cadee has nearly all the powers of most renowned super-soldiers. She’s stronger, faster and more resistant than normal humans; her hearing and eyesight are much improved too. She is immune to most human illnesses and affections, along with fast healing rates. Basically, she’s an artificial slayer.

Other abilities: she has a very good ear for languages and music. She loves cooking.

Secrets: her true nature and origins.

Sitio Web:New York by Night

Music healing

Maybe you didn't read my previous posts -much previous posts, like... 2007 or so- but some years ago, I was addicted to an online roleplaying game called L.A. by Night. There, Alessandra Hunt was my playing character; she was a hybrid: half shapeshifter demon, half human. During the Fourth Season of the game, she got infected with ‘Hyde’, an artificially engineered virus that held to her supernatural side. At the end of the season, I ‘cured’ her of it, using a ritual called the ‘Primal Form’. I’m pretty proud of this post, that’s why I’m publishing it now and here. Loved writing it, would love you reading it.

Alessa stood on the threshold of the living room and surveyed Inés' movements as she finished the last preparations for the ritual: she had cleaned the room of furniture and rolled the mats up to show the dark polished wood of the floor, on the center of which she had drawn three large concentric rings with white chalk and three smaller circles at their side. There were candles everywhere, and their sweet scent filled the room, she could almost feel their warmth.

Alessa looked apprehensively at Inés as the time for the ritual became close. She’d explained the entire process to her, but she was still afraid. Taking Primal form implied a level of connection with her demon side that she had never achieved before, thus far she had never been introduced to its mysteries. She bit her lip and shifted on her feet as she watched Inés light the last candles. She could see that her cousin was nervous too, but determined; she too knew the dangers of the ritual.

“Do you understand, then?” Inés asked for the fifth time, startling her.

“Sí, Inés,” Alessa answered.

“Bien. Bien.” The demoness sounded distracted. She brushed her hair back from her face and tied it with an elastic band, before breathing in and smiling at her. "Is Ellis still outside?" she asked.

"Sí," Alessa confirmed. The man had volunteered to make guard outside the room, so nobody would interrupt the ritual, and he would be close when it ended. She felt reassured from his being there too.

Inés nodded. “Step inside the big circles, then,” she said, walking to occupy the smaller ones. “Careful not to disturb the markings. No clothes,” she added.

Biting her lower lip, Alessa took off Tash's oversized robe and, stark naked, she stepped over the white lines and settled in a lotus position in the middle of the circles. She took a deep breath and flexed her hands to relieve part of the tension as she moved her head in circles and exhaled, then she looked at her cousin and nodded. She was ready.

Leer más...

"Bueno, prima, this is it," Inés said, rotating her own head and smiling shakily. "Change into your demon form, please," she added, changing as well, and Alessa watched with interest how her cousin closed her eyes and gradually submerged into a deep trance.

A shimmering in the air surrounding the darker form of her cousin startled Alessa. She squinted slightly, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, but the flickering around Inés grew more distinct. It was like the waves one saw over the pavement on the hottest days.

Alessa reached out her hand, but she couldn't feel any heat. Slowly the shimmering around Inés grew to fill a larger space, and another form superposed her cousin's. Inés' brown fur darkened into her grandfather's black but greying one and her size grew. She could still see Inés though. It was like magic, she thought, amazed. But yet, she knew it wasn’t. Her grandfather had come to help her.

She hadn't seen him for more than twenty years, since he had decided to let her believe him dead. She knew she should be angry at him for such deceit, but at the moment all she could feel was the warmth of her love for him tingling through her limbs.

"Hola abuelo," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes. The huge darkness over Inés nodded its head and she could fathom a smile on its demonic mouth, but it was enough. Alessa knew that he shared her feelings.

Then the dark flickering reduced its size and settled into Inés' form again, and her cousin opened her eyes and it was as if her grandfather had never been there. Yet Alessa knew he was inside the demoness now, seeing through her eyes and talking through her mouth.

Her cousin/grandfather spoke then, the voice sounding like Inés' but the words bearing the solemnity of Shongu's.

"The Verbatis defend themselves in a way unlike any other. By reaching our Primal forms, we either fight outside or inside threats. That's how we heal and defend ourselves under extreme circumstances.”

"Every Verbati is part of a great pattern, and any pattern can be attained by shifting. We heal by becoming one with the injured pattern, and then shapeshifting to transform the pattern so that the injury is made whole.

"We became the singer and the song, the dancer and the music. Matter and energy.

"There's a foreign entity inside you now. I can feel it, its blackness… it's tainting you, clouding your judgement and feelings; your music. It's feeding off you."

There was a small pause and he/she went on. "But in merging with you, it has doomed itself. It has become a part of you; it became you and thus, prone to be affected by you as well.

"This entity has disrupted your demon's innate tendency for pattern stability. This trait is the underlying source of both our strength and fragility. We shapeshift to attain stability. Our body has an inbuilt sense of self preservation, and will start making changes to itself whenever it senses an incompatibility with its inside or its environment. That is our Primal form, that changing.

"Taking your Primal form will get you to attain your stability again. But it has risks. It requires a certain preparation and linking with your inner self that may not be achieved. To perform the Primal ritual for the first time another Verbati should be granted sufficient access to your mind, to guide you through. This is the only way a Verbati can do the ritual.

"I ask you now; do you grant us permission to join you?"

"I do," Alessa answered, almost choking in the words. She had known all her grandfather said, but she also knew what he hadn't said. Healing in this way could be fatal if the demon was suffering instability, as the base pattern could shift in unpredictable ways and cause even greater problems. She knew the risks, but there was no other way. She was infected and needed to get rid of the sickness.

Inés/Shongu nodded and started to chant softly. The words sounded rough and harsh, but they had a certain rhythm that made Alessa's blood pump in tune with them. The cadence of the chanting grew in intensity and the demoness felt as if every hair on her body stood erect, and tingled with the added inner energy; then suddenly Alessa felt the distinct presence of other being/beings inside of her.

She opened her eyes and stretched her arms; they felt heavier and larger. Her cinnamon fur darkening as earlier, when Shongu had come to occupy Inés' body.

*It's all right, you are not alone.* Inés/Shongu's voice startled her as it came from inside her mind. *Close your eyes and just feel it. The music.*

*The music?* Alessa frowned, and instantly felt her frown disappear; she was not alone.

*Yes, the music. Feel it. Every being has a tune of its own, and their tunes overlay in a universal cadence. Every individual pattern is a series of notes in the great symphony.*

Alessa stilled, and she forced herself to hear, but it was impossible. She couldn’t work out the music. She started to shake her head, when the slightly annoyed inner voice added, *Not with your ears, Alessa! Listen with your soul! You are part of the music, listen to your heart.*

As she focused she could hear the rhythmical thumping of her own heart, *tum, tum, tum,* and it became louder and louder, setting the base to her own rhythm. Alessa smiled in triumph and she could sense the approving nod from Inés/Shongu. *Your blood,* came the command and Alessa started listening the riotous sound of her blood running through her veins. It was exhilarating, the sprinting sound. *Your breathing.* Alessa strived to integrate the sounds of her breathing to the organizing sounds of her own pattern. Soon the pulse of energy coursing her was simplified and enhanced in the form of music, affecting her mind and body at many levels.

The sound of a voice chanting reached her ears and she took a few seconds to realize that it was she who was singing and she faltered. *Don’t stop!* came the reprisal, *You are toning, this is good.* Alessa knew what that was, toning was the conscious elongation of a sound using your voice. She was singing her music!

*Now listen to us,* Inés/Shongu said, and Alessa started listening to their toning. There were subtle differences; she had her own rhythm but Inés' music attuned to hers and they sang in a chorus now. Alessa felt more complete; she allowed the tones to emerge without trying to control them and she experienced a cleansing feeling, of body and soul. She wanted to laugh from the exhilaration of it.

Suddenly it was there, the discordant tone, the mismatched pace. Alessa frowned, and she opened her eyes. *Don’t stop!* Inés/Shongu commanded, *That's Hyde's singing. You have to overcome it, make the music whole again.*

*But, how?* Alessa asked, suddenly terrified. She could feel the darkness in the virus' music, the evilness. It corrupted hers, it ruined it, made it soiled and inharmonious. *You have to vibrate to your own rhythm, make your body dance,* came the cryptic response. *Shift!*

And she responded with an ease that surprised her. She shifted; she followed her music and shifted in accordance, trying to outmatch the discordant tones of the virus. She let herself get lost in the music and she felt overjoyed in the power of her kind. But to an outside observer the sight would have been terrifying as she morphed, shifted into anything and everything she'd ever been; slowly at first and then so rapidly that one form couldn’t be discerned from the other.

Alessa could feel the virus resisting, singing its own darker music and trying to overcome hers, but her resolve strengthened and her shifting reinforced to win over the entity. As her DNA codes changed ever so swiftly, the virus found itself losing foot and gradually dying. She elated when she felt her melody slowly overcome the dissonant tones of Hyde; and she reinforced her toning and morphing, following the downing cadences of the virus without mercy. She gave herself free rein to pursue and destroy the final remnants of the darker entity.

As she became unstable, losing her pattern; Inés/Shongu's toning grew in volume, and their presence in Alessa's mind strengthened their grip on her conscience, slowly braking her shifting. The demoness fought to be free again; she wanted nothing but the elation of pure shifting, but Inés/Shongu's hold on her was too strong and they gradually stopped her.

However, Alessa's music gradually lowered too, as she sank into herself, exhausted after her spurt of energy. Her music became lethargic, downed, asleep. She receded into herself, blocking out outside influences. Her form stopped changing, slowly losing its boundaries and subsiding into an amoeba-like blob in the middle of the circles, only the white chalk lines preventing her from spreading on the floor like a pool of water.

Inés/Shongu's music changed again; it became seducing, cajoling, bullying. It sank into Alessa's pattern, searching for that spark of conscience that would make her come back. Appealing to her sense of self preservation, Inés/Shongu demanded and pleaded, commanded and coaxed, trying to get a response from the demoness.

But Alessa didn’t want to respond. What little conscience still was, it felt safe, protected and at peace. She had never felt so at peace before, she didn’t want to come back. So she just let Inés/Shongu's toning wash through her, let their music get through and lose itself. She didn’t want to hear, but that bothersome tune kept following her, its tones getting harder and more imposing by the minute. Then she started to see as well, flashes of her life came through the fog that enveloped her awareness: her father, her family, Morris; Chance, Cole, her friends, Ellis…

Alessa's blob started to twitch, rippling like a pond hit by stones, and her mind started to respond too. She moaned, pleaded and begged to be left alone, to just enjoy her peace. But the images were unrelenting, showing her joys and sorrows, her life; and the music was merciless, pounding into her, making her own rhythm accelerate to match it. Slowly, as her music sped up, she started to regain her form too, losing her amorphousness and becoming definite again.

Some time later, a very exhausted Inés stood up and staggered to where her cousin lay in a foetal position in the middle of the white circles. She covered Alessa with a blanket and walked to the door.

"You can come in now," she told Ellis.

Raúl Montero

Estuve revisando los archivos antiguos de mis juegos de rol, y encontré una cantidad de perfiles de diferentes personajes. Esto no es nuevo, ya publiqué los perfiles de Alessandra Hunt (LA by Night), Eris Ann Bruno (Midnight Dawn) y Tess Hawk (Fantastic Legends). Sin embargo, este perfil es diferente, el chico no es bueno, sino que era uno de los malos. Recuerdo claramente haber exprimido mi mente para crear un villano convincente, con motivos que pudieran ser plausibles para estar loco y ser perverso. Raúl es primo de Alessandra, la oveja negra de la familia. Espero que les guste (ya sé, vuelvo al inglés... pero bueno, yo jugaba en inglés, sorry)

(Una anécdota, mi black hat se llama Raúl Montero como uno de mis alumnos en el momento en que escribí esto... un chico insoportable, la verdad. Creo que fue buena catarsis hacerlo malo así, y poder castigarlo de diferentes e imaginativas formas, en vez de tirarlo por la ventana en un arranque de poco didáctica furia. Al menos el niño sobrevivió.)

Name: Raúl Montero
Species: Verbati Demon
Place of birth: Iguazú Rain Forest
Date of birth: Late XIX Century
Gender: Male
Group Affiliation: Black Hats


Description:
Raúl’s human form is that of a handsome dark haired, dark eyed man in his early thirties. He is well formed and athletic, and moves with suppleness and grace. Raúl is a great dancer and a skilled Capoerista, and that shows. Raúl likes to wear sports clothes, although when working ‘incognito’ he usually wears the spy’s typical raincoat. When in his demon form, Raúl’s fur is completely black.

History:
Raúl Montero’s mother died during childbirth, after a long and difficult delivery. The creature was born small and weak, and it was feared he would die before his first year. It was fortunate, though, that after the first year Raúl grew up strong and fast with no marked evidence of his life’s difficult beginning. However, after a few years went by, it was clear that Raúl wasn’t like the rest of the young. He completely lacked the psychic abilities of his kind. Even if it was common that some Verbati were born without those talents, the complete lack of them was an unaccounted for thing, for all Verbatis could at least receive the thoughts or emotions of those with greater power.

This characteristic of his had several repercussions on Raúl’s life, on different levels, all of them leading to his final insanity.

Verbati’s psychic bonding was essential to the tribe’s feeling of belonging and identity. The young were raised collectively and thus they were trained and taught, but telepathy was an important part of that process, so inherent that the demons didn’t know how to take care of a child like Raúl. So, Raúl grew in isolation, never quite developing the sense of belonging and community the rest of the tribe shared, and becoming increasingly bitter and angry towards the rest of the ‘normal’ children.

Also, he was no longer in the line of succession. Verbati’s political structure is that the oldest and most powerful demon naturally becomes the leader of the tribe, but leaders usually come from the same line. Raúl’s family had given the tribe many chiefs, among them his grandfather, Shongu. However, a non-psychic Verbati could never become head of the tribe.

As most children that find themselves ‘lacking’, Raúl reacted with violence and sneakiness. He started bullying the rest, being mean and wily. His physical strength gave him at least that power over them, and he wanted to use it. Of course, this only aggravated his isolation.

With the passing of the years, Raúl’s bullying and nastiness grew as well. He couldn’t, or wouldn’t, conform to social norms, and repeatedly did unheard of acts, like attacking other demons, or mauling animals, even attacking humans and putting the whole tribe in danger. His reckless behaviour and disregard for his safety or that of the tribe’s brought him to the verge of banning several times, but Raúl’s mind was completely blank to other Verbatis as much as theirs were to him, so he could get away from those deeds simply by lying.

Nevertheless, when Raúl’s sister, Inés, was born, things changed for him. Here was a creature that didn’t mind that he couldn’t ‘hear’ her, that he couldn’t sense her or that he would never become the tribe’s leader. Inés was everything he had always wanted to be, intelligent, funny, beautiful and normal. Her extrasensory abilities weren’t the most powerful, but they were there. Everybody loved Inés, and most importantly, Inés loved him. In Inés’ eyes he could do no wrong, and so, for a while, Raúl tried to actually fit in.

But Inés grew up, and her interests changed. As any young female, other things started to appeal her, especially members of the opposite sex. Raúl couldn’t stand this, he couldn’t stand her beloved sister liking other demons, the thought of her becoming attached to any demon was completely unbearable, and thus Raúl became totally insane with jealousy. Using his morphing, he followed Inés around, observing every movement, every action. When Inés finally showed her attraction for another young Verbati Raúl snapped. After watching them during a tryst, he waited till his sister left the demon to attack and kill him.

If Raúl had been in his right mind, he wouldn’t have been discovered, but as it was, he was sloppy, and evidence pointed clearly towards him. Murder was an unforgivable crime and Raúl was shunned from the tribe, forbidden to come back ever.

That didn’t mean that Raúl would follow the tribe’s dictates. Taking advantage of his mental blankness he just didn’t leave the rainforest and kept observing Inés from afar. He lived this way for years, just around. If he was close to insanity before, this new and forced isolation completely turned him mad.

It was about this time when Inés cousin, Alessandra, came to live with the Verbatis. Raúl didn’t like the half-blood girl, becoming jealous of this new and strong bonding that Inés was forming. He saw Alessa filling the space he had left empty in Inés’ life. Alessa never knew of it, but he was close to attack her several times, and only his twisted love for his sister prevented him from doing it. His bad feelings about the half-blood proved right, though, when Inés decided to leave the jungle and start living in the human world, as her cousin did.

Terrified at the thought of losing her, Raúl approached Inés in the jungle. She was surprised, but she still loved her brother, so she was also happy to see him again. She had never believed that he had been responsible for the murder of her lover, and had appealed for his return to the tribe. However, the Raúl facing her wasn’t the beloved brother she remembered. Raúl’s eyes were frenzied, and his tone strangely frantic when he pleaded her to leave the tribe and go to live with him in the jungle. Finally, Inés realized what Raúl pretended from her. He didn’t want her as a sister, was he was proposing was unnatural and sick and she recoiled in horror.

Seeing revulsion in his sister’s eyes did it. Raúl was overcome by rage, rage about it all, about the unfairness of his life, the unbending will of his tribe, his sister not loving him the way he did… For the second time in his life, Raúl snapped. Inés saw the change and was terrified so she run, and Raúl pursued. He cornered her in a ledge over the falls, and ultimately gave way to his unnatural need of his sister, raping her cruelly and violently.

When he finished, and got up from Inés’ broken body he felt no remorse, just a cruel satisfaction, like what had happened was something that had been bound to happen some time or another. Something normal. Something good. But then, before passing out, Inés looked at him with such hatred in her once loving eyes that he drew back in horror; realization of what he had done finally getting through the haze of rage, lust and satisfaction that enveloped him. He knelt next to his sister, trying to make her come to to no avail. Believing she was dead, Raúl stood up and left the place, never coming back to the falls again.

He moved to the human world, barely surviving before realizing that his morphing abilities, strength and skills at fighting would make him a very good assassin and mercenary. He has been at this line of work for years, forging a reputation and quite a fortune at it. He never failed, was completely unremorseful and there wasn’t a job he wouldn’t do.

Powers:
Like all Verbati demons, Raúl can morph into any animal, human or demon form of about his size and mass. Raúl is an assassin, so he has improved his natural physical strength and trained in a variety of martial arts, being particularly good in all forms of Brazilian Capoeira – but most especially in Malandragem or ‘dirty tricks’. He doesn’t like weapons, especially fire weapons, he prefers to morph into the kind of demon that fits the situation. That doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t use weapons, though.

Raúl was born without the psychic abilities of his kind.

Independent woman

The monster in the dark
I've caught it
The vampire down the block
I've fought it
The rock I'm rockin'
'Cause I depend on me
If I wanted the glory you’re claiming
I’ll take it
The werewolf in the night
I’ve caught it
The evil out of sight
I’ve fought it
I depend on me
(I depend on me.)

Somebody else's skin. . .

Sliding to the thick carpet, the woman decided that it was time to start if she wanted to make it on time. She sat in the lotus position and closed her eyes, concentrating.

Slowly all external noises faded and all she was aware of was her own breathing. She clearly pictured an image in her head, a red haired woman she had seen in the street in her way home, willing her body to change. Genes were rearranged, like Rubik cube colors in the hands of a smart child, changing tissue and bones at her command. With almost no effort her skin lightened, her limbs extended and filled with muscle; her face changed as well, mirroring the features of the woman, and her dark tresses dissolved into a closely cut helmet of fiery red hair.

When she finally stood up and went to check her new looks, an unfamiliar face looked back from the mirror. Her hair was no longer black, her skin lighter and creamy and she stood much taller than her own five foot two. The only thing that remained the same were her eyes. They had stayed the same vivid green color, not the clear blue she had pictured in her head. *Sloppy, but it will have to do,* she thought, wondering why it was so hard for her to consciously change the color of her eyes, when they so easily betrayed her true nature when she less wanted. Her now freckled skin was pearled with perspiration after her exercises, so she took a shower before leaving the place.

She always liked walking in somebody else's skin

Half an hour later, a tall red haired woman left the woman's apartment and headed towards the street. With a light step she quickly walked the dozen blocks that separated her from her destination, unable to erase the smile from her face. She always liked walking in somebody else's skin, she could almost believe she was somebody else, somebody human.

Alessandra Hunt

Alessa era mi personaje en LA by Night, no sé bien por qué la dejé para el final. Tal vez porque fue la más importante de todas mis creaciones. Escribí a Alessa - sí, ya sé, el nombre de mi hija, definitivamente muy mala elección, pero ya está, no hay remedio - como tres años, más o menos, la ví crecer y evolucionar y supongo que hay un vínculo que no se romperá nunca. Alessa me permitió escribir sobre mí sin hacerlo. No es poco pedirle a un personaje, y ella respondió bien.


Character’s Name: Alessandra María Hunt
Race: half Verbati demon
Gender: Female
Birth date: 10/12/1919
Birth place: Santa María, Paraguay, in the border with Brazil and Argentina, South America.
Group Affiliation: The White Hats.

Description
Alessa resembles her mother’s human form, apart from her father eyes; she has dark hair and bronzed skin. Her mouth is full and her eyes are somewhat slanted, and green as a cat’s. She’s short and slim. Her skin, eyes and general appearance can change, though, for she is half a shapeshifter demon.

History
Alessa Hunt was an only child, she had a normal childhood in Santa María -a small village in Paraguay, South America- where her father, Alec Hunt, was working for an international company, until she was twelve and learned the truth about herself.

Leer más...

Alec had fallen in love with a beautiful native woman and had married against the will of either her family or his own. After the marriage Alec had noticed some strange things about his wife but he had been so blinded by love that he hadn’t paid much attention to them. Anyway, when his wife got pregnant she started to lose weight and seemed so preoccupied that his initial happiness turned to worry, but she wouldn’t tell him anything. However, when the pregnancy was coming to term the health of his wife turned extremely delicate and the night Alessa was born, María, her mother, finally told her husband the truth about herself. She was a Verbati Demon, and something about the pregnancy by a man was killing her; she wanted Alec to know about her true self.

This stunned Alec, and at first he didn’t believe it, but as labour got worse he saw glimpses of his wife’s true form, for Verbati Demons were shapeshifters and could take any form they wanted. María had seen Alec working and had fallen in love with him so she had taken human form to be with him. María made Alec promise to take her daughter to her kind when she was old enough to understand, and then, when the baby finally was born, she died.

Faithful to his promise, Alec raised the seemingly normal girl until the moment he presented her to her mother’s kind. This turned Alessa’s world upside down, she started to learn about herself and about the powers of Verbati Demons.

Alessa was lucky to grow up in South America. Her hometown, Santa María, in the border between Brazil and Paraguay, was a place where magic mingled with reality, and no one faulted a mixed blood. The rain forest was near and all knew that non-human things lived there. Alessa was not the first half demon in town, nor would she be the last, so she hadn’t grown up having to hide herself to survive.

Her father died long ago from old age, but together they had researched in the ways of the occult so Alessa has deep knowledge of demonic races and customs.

When she was about 40 years old, but looked like a teenager, Morris Giles, a Watcher, contacted her. He believed Alessa to be a vampire slayer potential so he started training her. The Council, however, decided against it for they believed that only full-blooded humans could be Slayers. Morris Giles continued believing her to be one though, and he kept on training and watching her. Therefore she also knows fighting techniques and has a good use of weapons.

Morris and Alessa also developed a relationship, living together until Morris died at the hands of a group of vampires. Her lover’s death left Alessa desolated, and she has been alone ever since.

After Morris Giles died, she went in search of his nephew, Rupert Giles. His track brought her to Sunnydale, where she met him and Buffy Summers. Anyway she hadn’t taken into account the bitterness the man felt for his own uncle. As the rest of the Watchers’ Council, he believed his uncle to be mad and had lost any respect for him. It didn’t help that the “demon” that had been his madness appeared on his front door. After such cold welcome Alessa decided to leave Sunnydale and return to South America.

However, after a couple of years trying to live a normal life in Santa María, her hometown, she decided that she needed to start anew in some other place. She decided to finally contact his father's family, or what remained of it, and thus travelled to the United States.

There, she settled on the city of Alhambra in L.A where she tries to live like an ordinary person, she got a job teaching Spanish in a downtown high school and is trying to lead an ordinary life, gathering strength to finally contact her niece and nephew. Instead, she met a group of people who would change her life: the White Hats.

Powers
Since Alessa isn't a pure blooded Verbati demon, she can't morph easily, thus she can't take animal or demon form and only after hours of concentration she can change into a different human body. She can easily take her demon appearance, nevertheless, but she doesn’t like to do so. She can also roughly camouflage herself, mostly unconsciously. Alessa usually tries to hide her demon nature from people. Anyway, when she experiences strong emotions, like fury, sadness or happiness, her eyes betray her feelings and change from their usually bright green to any colour that mirrors her emotions.

She's stronger and more agile than humans too, which sometimes surprises her opponents, given her size. As most demons, her senses are highly developed. Another side effect of her mixed blood is an extremely long life - she was born in the turn of the century but looks barely twenty something. She is mortal, nevertheless.

Lethan in disguise

The tall female Twi’lek danced at the center of the banquet room, the brilliant lights of the castle’s chandeliers mirroring the dance on her skin, the rare red shade of the Lethan race.

She spun in little circles, the leather straps of her dancer’s attire slapping against her body, making their own music. Her lokku, also wrapped in leather straps, curled and twirled around her head. The girl was skillful and graceful, her dance full of sensuality and promise. She danced, mesmerizing male and females alike. As usual.

The Lethan moved with her eyes closed, blocking the images of Vorgrell’s nobles and Imperial officers, socialites and wannabes. She didn’t need to look to know where everybody who was somebody was. Princess Zara Orsiri – the traitorous princess – was sitting behind the main table, in a raised dais in front of her. She was conversing softly with Grig Harkness, the appointed Imperial Commander to Vorgrell. She could almost feel the old man’s eyes on her. Besides the Princess, and sitting slightly to her back, was Lady Arella, her guardian dog.

The Twi’lek twisted, opening her eyes and looking over her shoulder at the courtiers sitting in the auxiliary tables at both sides of the main one. There was Lieutenant Akula, next to a noble lady of Vorgrell. She caught his eyes as she danced and closed hers, she could still feel his clammy hands on her from the last time she’d performed for the Princess. She had needed all her skills to evade him then. She spun again, the strips of leather lifting away from her legs with the motion.

As usual.

The music was exhilarating, pulsing through her body, and the girl threw back her head, lips parted, rendering the sensual performance of her kind. For a while, she forgot why she was there, all thoughts of retribution and plans of revenge fled from her mind. She just danced. Moving rhythmically, she rocked her hips and jumped, then sank down to her knees when the notes finally died.

The sound of clapping rewarded her efforts, and the girl got to her feet again, facing the hostess, Lady Zara Orsiri, Great Princess of Vorgrell. Her target. She bowed, letting her lokku fall forward and hang limply by her knees. The Princess smiled absently and nodded at the dancer, not aware that the gesture - a symbol of positive thoughts about the person or persons in front of whomever was bowing - had been completely neutralized by the almost imperceptible clockwise gyrating of her falling lokku. Only another Twi’lek could have understood the subtle change in meaning.

After a small gesture of dismissal from Princess Zara, she straightened and walked off the dance floor, her bare feet silent against the black and white marble tiles. She could feel the Lieutenant’s eyes on her again, and thanked that etiquette didn’t allow him to get up and follow her. Not in the middle of the second course.

Once she left the banquet room she walked quickly in the direction of the kitchens looking for the Orsiri Majordomo to collect her pay. She crossed her path with the armored guardians of the castle and smiled seductively at them, as usual. She was a familiar figure during the Princess parties.

After collecting her fees, she would be allowed to stay some more around the place and try the banquet’s preparations, as long as she didn’t get in the middle of the comings and goings of human and droid servants. She was particularly friendly with the First chef, a talkative plump woman from Nal Hutta. The woman was always happy to gossip with her while she moved around the kitchen.

The Twi’lek would use her time in the castle. As usual.

A couple of hours later, the Twi’lek stood under the vibroshower in her small cubicle. She passed her hands over her skin, slowly washing away the red dye that had covered her distinctive blue and yellowish colors.

Once clean, she stepped out of the refresher, walked past the scant dancer’s attire that she had left lying on the floor and sank onto her bunk. She fell asleep almost instantly and dreamt of vengeance. As usual.

(I borrowed the pic from here. Thank you, Rocketraygun)

Tess Hawk

Ah, estoy inspirada, tanto que estoy por entrar a otro juego de rol... ya sé que eso significa que no voy a escribir mucho acá y hay gente que se queja, pero bueh... a mí me encanta esto. Este juego se ubica en un universo con metahumanos (algo así como los Xmen, digo, por si alguien no sabe a qué me refiero) Mi personaje es uno de ellos.


Profile
Real Name: Theresa Rivers
Official Name: Theresa Hawk
Nicknames: Tess, Tish
Species: meta-human
Date of birth: 10/8/1978
Place of birth: Petersburg, Virginia. USA
Height: 1.57 m
Weight: 50 k.
Eye color: dark brown
Hair color: black

History

A lone road going up the Appalachian mountains, 1980
The odometer needle steadily moved left as the man stepped on the gas. 100, 110, 120 … simultaneously, the voices raised in volume, and anger. It was night and the dark winding road systematically climbed the Appalachian Mountains, but the couple was oblivious of the danger, too engrossed in a much repeated discussion...

“I’m not leaving her, John! She’s my child, strange or not, and I won't be surrendering her to those… those…” furious, the woman couldn’t finish the sentence, her blue eyes full of anger.

“Good. Don’t! But she’s my child too, need I remind you?”

“Ha! If it were for you…”

“What? Say it, say it!” he dared, taking his eyes off the road to look at his wife.

“You’d gotten rid of her! There! I said it! You’d… John! Watch out!” she cried…

In the rear seat, a two year old girl slept in her baby chair, unaware of the drama that was playing. In her lap a little kitten was curled, a couple of squirrels hid in the back of her seat too and a small fox cub slept at her feet.

Leer más...

From the moment she had been born it had been clear that Theresa Rivers was not an ordinary baby. In the hospital, the nurses had been horrified to find her crib full of all kind of vermin… ants, spiders and even a little mouse had crept near the infant, and yet the delicate skin of the newborn baby hadn't shown a bite or a scratch.

Once at home, those kind of things happened with regularity. It was not uncommon to find the baby’s diaper full of ants or discover her laughing at butterflies flying around her. Lesley’s nerves were always on edge until she realized that the little animals never harmed the baby, nor would Tess do them any harm. Her husband wasn’t so comprehensive though, and started buying insecticides or mice poison to get rid of the vermin, all the time trying to conceal his daughter’s strange traits.

As the baby grew, it became more and more difficult to hide her, though. Bigger animals, like cats, dogs, squirrels or rabbits started to gather around the Rivers’ house, making it impossible to conceal the situation any longer. It was then when he started to talk about taking the girl to a geneticist to see what was wrong with her. Lesley Rivers wouldn’t hear of it and finally they decided to move to Richmond, hoping that a big city anonymity helped them go unnoticed.

However, soon they got notice of men visiting their old house in search of Tess. Lesley became hysterical, demanding that they left the city again in search of a safer place. They left that same night. Tiredness and fear was taking its toll when the accident happened. John didn’t take a turn and the car hit a tree on his side. He was instantly killed, the driving wheel getting into his rib cage. Lesley was knocked unconscious and wasn’t expelled from the car thanks to her seatbelt. Tess’ baby chair, however, didn’t resist the impact and flew from the open door to land on the damp earth a dozen meters ahead.

At such rough awakening, Tess’ frantic cries echoed in the lone woods. In no time, from different directions, three wild animals approached her. A big wolf, a cougar and an eagle gathered around the terrified toddler. Natural enemies, they stood side by side watching her. The cougar lowered its head and licked the tears, its raspy tongue ticking her into giggles.

“Mommy?” she asked as she stopped crying, not even afraid of the animals around her. The big cougar looked around, as if understanding. In two strong leaps it got to the car and pulled the unconscious woman out of it. Meanwhile the wolf attacked the baby chair straps until it freed the girl, who walked towards her mother.

“Mommy?” she asked, not getting any response; giggling she curled near her mother and fell asleep again. The wolf and cougar set around them as well, giving them warmth with their bodies, the eagle perched on a tree branch above the group. A wolf, cougar and eagle, sleeping together next to a woman and child.

It was like this that Sam “Lone” Hawk found them the next morning. He was a young Cherokee in his initiation trip. Lone Hawk was young for such trip, only 10 years old, but the spirits were strong in him and had told him to go. He wasn’t surprised to find the little girl sleeping peacefully among wild animals. His own totem animal, the Hawk, had told him he would.

Without fear, he approached the strange group. The animals instantly raised their heads to meet his gaze, fearless as well. He was so enthralled looking at the powerful totem animals that he didn’t notice the girl awakening. When he finally looked at her he inhaled sharply, mesmerized by her brown gaze and ready smile.

Lone Hawk had earned his name because of his isolation. His eyes often saw what wasn’t there but what the spirits showed him. This gift set him apart from the rest of the reservation children. However, when this little girl looked at him he felt connected, as if he already knew her. Kneeling next to her, he took her in his arms and raised her. The girl laughed and touched his face.

“Niz boy,” she said in her half tongue, and Lone Hawk laughed as well, not realizing that she had just baptized him. For her, he would be Niz from then on.

The kid then assessed the site, noticing the crashed car and the unconscious woman. The man in the car was dead but the woman was breathing steadily. He took the man out of the car and covered his body with rocks, then he carried the woman to the cougar, that had leaned for him to do so. He didn’t find it strange that an animal did so, it was afterwards one of the totem animals of the girl.

“What’s your name?” he asked the girl, taking her from her hand and leading them back towards the reservation. The wolf followed them a few steps behind and the eagle flew ahead.

“Tish,” she said, mispronouncing her own name, baptizing herself as well.

By the time Lone Hawk got to the reservation he knew the girl was special. Not only had she been saved by her totem animals (Three of them! Ordinary people only had one totem animal!) but a myriad of forest animals were following them, although when they got to the forest’s limits they stayed behind. Not so the cougar carrying Tess’ mother, nor the wolf of the eagle. They only returned to the wilderness when the old Reservation Shaman, Lone Hawk’s grandfather, received them, thanking the powerful animals with a deep bow of his head.

The Cherokees of the “Old Hill Reservation” accepted the girl, believing her a gift from the spirits. The Shaman took them to his home and nursed Lesley back to health. The Indians approached the local police and reported the accident and the man’s burial. They didn’t report the woman and child’s rescue though, and, given the animals trail marks and the state of the safety belts the official assumption was that scavengers had taken them.

In the following years Tess grew up in the Reservation’s safety, and was raised by Gray Cloud Hawk, the Shaman. With his guide the little girl learnt to control her power over animals. Gradually she could learn control her attraction and to consciously communicate with them. She had other powers as well, that appeared when she reached puberty; she could “enter” an animal’s body and see or hear from its eyes and ears, she could also enhance different traits in them, to improve their sight, ear, speed, etc. even their intelligence - always depending what they already had, she could make superior animals reach the level of intelligence of a small child.

Her animal totems, the wolf, cougar and eagle, never stayed very far, and were ready to appear when she needed them. Tess had special affinity on animals of any of her totem’s families: felines, canines and birds. Also their special traits were present on her. From the cougar she got independence and strength, from the wolf she got freedom and intelligence and from the eagle she had clarity of vision and judgment.

Animal totems

In earlier days we understood that we were simply a part of the earth. We knew we were only one small part. Now many think humans are the greatest and most important part. But still, we are only a part of the earth, only a part of nature, only a child of Mother, only a part of Spirit. We used to know respect of Nature and killed only what we ate and used only the skins of what we killed and ate. We did not waste life nor disrespect spirits but honored and thanked them for providing us with life, nourishment, and comfort.”

“In earlier days we used to recognize and pay our respects to the power of the animal spirits. We wore skins and masks, we sang and prayed to specific animals. We painted the animals on our homes and death chambers, and asked the Spirit to guide us and bless the animals we killed, we honored the spirit of our prey. These acts linked us to our animal guides and reminded us that all animals, were our sisters, brothers, and cousins and most importantly our teachers and our friends. It reminded us that we too are animals with spirit,” said Gray Cloud to Tess, with solemnity. He watched the girl closely, she wasn’t missing a word. Not too far from them was Lone Hawk, listening attentively too.

“Each animal has it's own special power and message, for each animal has a powerful spirit and its own skill. Animal Spirits choose a person to be their companion and their friend, not the other way around. The animal will choose you and make itself known to you.”

“Like my Wolf?” asked Tess, while petting the big creature’s mane. She was resting on his warm fur, her little hands playing with its ears, as the powerfull animal dozed on, not bothered by her touch.



Leer más...

“Yes,” smiled the old indian. “Like your wolf, and your cougar and eagle. Only that they are not yours. You are as much theirs as them yours. They’ve chosen you, to teach you, to guide and help you. It’s a great blessing, but a great responsibility too. Having an animal totem means that you have lessons to learn and a powerful spiritual friend.”

At this Tess nodded, open eyed. She understood this, young as she was, her animals communicate with her, and although sometimes she didn’t understand them, she knew that she had much to learn. They had helped her too, like when she had fallen in the brook and couldn’t get out.

“Animals come to us because they have a lesson we need to learn, a power they are willing to share with a friend,” continued the Shaman. “The animals remind us that we are part of the earth; that each creature has a place; that each creature has a skill of it's own; that we have instincts given to us from Mother, wisdom born to us that we must awaken.”

“Skills… like my talking to animals?” asked the girl again, she was old enough now to know that not everybody could talk to animals like she did.

“That’s your skill, that’s your blessing. You have to use it wisely, that’s your responsibility.” At the confused look in the girl’s eyes, Gray Cloud added. “The Animal Totem that comes to you offers you power and wisdom if you will learn to communicate with it, with respect, trust, and understanding. Developing a relationship with a live animal totem takes time, practice, patience and could be very dangerous.”

“Wolf would never hurt me,” pouted Tess, embracing the big beast, who raised his head to look at the Shaman, sensing Tess’ distress.

“I never said he would, but you could hurt him. That’s what I meant when I talked about responsibility. Mistakenly people often think of animals as non-spiritual, uncultured, and less intelligent than humans. Some people do not even think animals have Spirit. And as beings with spirit, you can hurt them, not only physically but spiritually. When an animal chooses to follow you to the human world, you have the responsibility of protecting him as well.”

Hearing the Shaman, Tess embraced her beloved Wolf even more closely, promising him that she would always take care of him. After the incident at the brook, the beast had left the forest to dwell with the natives, always around the little girl. The beast licked the girls face to make her tickle, promising her that he would always be with her too.

Eris Ann Bruno

Bien!! Estoy contenta, acabo de crear un personaje para un nuevo juego de rol: Midnight Dawn. No pude evitar bautizarla Eris, se ve que estoy erisada en serio. Por si a alguien le interesa cómo es esto, acá va el perfil, sino: crucecita roja.


Profile
Name: Eris Ann Bruno
Race: Human, for now
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 115 lbs
Eye color: dark brown
Hair color: blonde
Date of Birth: 21st June 1985
Place of Birth: Española, New Mexico, USA
Occupations: waitress, cook

History:
Eris Ann Bruno was born in 1985 in Española, New Mexico, the daughter of Ann Bruno, a waitress in one of Española’s seedy saloons, and Mike Eris, a bounty hunter.


Ann and Mike had met when he was tracking one of his criminals, and Ann had fallen head over heels in love with him. He hadn’t known that she had been with child when he’d left behind yet another prey. Ann Bruno never tired of talking about her bounty hunter, she wanted her only child to know of her origins and instil in her a sense of pride on her father, even if she doubted he’d ever return. For all she knew, he could have been killed long ago, a distinct possibility in is line of work. Ann even named her daughter after her father’s surname, since it was a name anyway.

After Ann died when Eris was only twelve, the saloon’s owner, Teresa Ramírez, took pity on the girl and let her stay rather than send her to social security. She guessed that if Eris kept going to school and stayed out of trouble, authorities wouldn’t mind. Terrified of going to welfare and away from the only home she knew, Eris found the solution to her liking.

So the girl attended the Española Valley High School and lived above the bar with Teresa and Pedro, the cook, a placid ex-con who loved to read Shakespeare. In return, she helped Pedro in the kitchen, where it was safe for a girl to be around during the evenings, and stayed in her room most of the nights. In her gruffly way, Teresa loved the girl and tried to make life easier for her, kept her out of the clients way and taught her how to deal with those who wanted to spend a ‘good time’ with the attractive girl. With time, Eris learnt how to defend herself quite effectively on her own.

It was in one of these times when Eris saw her father for the first time. A big, hulking man had taken her from the wrist and pulled her to his lap, his beady eyes twinkling at Eris’ youthful beauty. He was so enthralled at what he thought was an easy catch that he didn’t notice Eris pulling a lighter from her jeans and lighting it just below his jellylike double chin. Taking advantage of her captor’s surprise, Eris jumped off his lap and walked backwards, her eyes hard and challenging, till he bumped onto another person. Surprised, Eris looked up and found herself staring into eyes as dark as hers. She recognized her father immediately.

Leer más...

She didn’t need much to convince her father of who she was. The resemblance was remarkable, and besides, Ann had told her enough about his life to make her story ring true. After talking with the girl, Mike Eris was sure she was his daughter; he didn’t even bother to check her DNA. He had never forgotten Ann, although some thing or the other had prevented him from coming back to Española for years.

Having witnessed the kind of life Eris led, Mike was in a dilemma. He didn’t like his daughter living in a saloon and felling prey to drunkards, but his line of work wasn’t much better. He couldn’t take a sixteen year old along when he hunted. He guessed it was time to change, but he couldn’t do it right away.

So he made a bargain with Teresa: he would send the woman enough cash to keep Eris out of the saloon and at school at least until she graduated, while he tried to tie some loose ends in his life and decided what to do next.

Eris didn’t really like this solution. In her teenage mind, she thought of herself as a new ‘Domino’ and wanted to help her father in his unconventional business. She started taking self-defence classes in a local dojo and talked Pedro into teaching her to use a gun. She also continued living upon the bar and helping in the kitchen as she loved to cook, but she kept her side of the bargain and studied her way into college.

Tying ends took Mike longer than he thought. When he finally settled down with his own bar in the city of Rockford Springs, Eris was about to enter College, was in love with the school’s quarterback and didn’t want to move out of Española, much less to go to yet another bar! All her carefully laid plans to live an exciting and dangerous life as a bounty hunter had been destroyed. She kept in touch with her father, though, and promised she’d go after she finished the four-year degree program at Northern New Mexico College.

Eris soon found out that College life wasn’t at all what she thought it would be. She wasn’t fit to the strictures of campus life, her life had been way too atypical for her to function like that. Classes were interesting, but nothing actually hooked her. Her boyfriend was a disappointment too, and it really didn’t surprise her when she found out he was cheating on her with a former cheerleader. By the time she finished the basic two-year program at Northern, she had decided that she really didn’t want to study and wanted a change. It was time to move to Rockford Springs at last.

Wet dreams

The hand caressed her back, under the nightgown. Alessa protested and slapped it away. Stubbornly the hand moved again, this time around her nape, caressing, cajoling; moving her long hair away. The other hand moved along her spine, tracing little circles down to the small of her back. Alessa stirred and smiled. She kept her eyes closed though, and enjoyed the mounting feeling. Soon the mouth joined the hands on their job, and it started placing little kisses on her warm skin. She felt her nightgown being raised up her legs and past her arms and head.

Still she pretended to sleep.

Alessa felt him kneel by her side, and his hot breath on her skin; goose bumps formed in her back and arms. His hands continued their sweet cajoling and hers clamped on the wrinkled sheets. She bit her lip to refrain a moan as he kept on caressing and kissing her, from nape to waist, concentrating on the skin of her back, not saying a word. When she felt she couldn’t stand it any more and tried to turn around to respond to him, his hands turned strong and kept her face down. She sighed and gave way to the game.

“Chance,” she whispered, “I...”

“Shh,” he interrupted and leaned to silence her with a kiss. Her mouth bit his, hungry, but he retired before she could stop him. Frustrated, she tried to turn again, only to be stopped once more. “Not yet,” he said and she moaned again, in anticipation.

Finally, she felt him lie on top of her and just stay there. She welcomed his familiar weight on hers and smiled again, her arms stretching backwards to hold him. He took her hands in his and led them back towards the mattress, beneath her body. With a swift movement, he reversed their positions, now with him beneath her, but still not facing each other. Alessa laughed, and giving up any pretense, she leapt forward to disentangle from his hands, turning to face him.

It was very dark and only the moon’s silver reflection on the mirror on the wall faintly illuminated the room. However, it was enough to see her lover, enough to see the vampire's yellow eyes glowing on his face.

“Hello Alessandra,” he said, and started to laugh.

She cried.

Her screaming woke him. He jumped in confusion to find her sitting up in bed clutching the covers and screaming. Her eyes were open, but unfocused. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, getting no response.

"Alessa! Wake up. It's just a dream." He shook a little harder and was surprised when he received a hard blow on his jaw. She jumped over him and they both fell to the floor, her fists still showering blows on his face. Trying to avoid her hands without hurting her, Chance grabbed her arms and tried to still the hysterical woman in his arms.

“Alessa!!” he cried again, “Stop it, love! It’s me, it’s Chance!” But she didn’t hear him, she couldn’t hear him. Surprised, he noticed that she was naked and involuntarily he stirred. Annoyed with himself, Chance slapped her with a little more force than he had intended.

The blow was effective, though; Alessa stopped struggling and looked at him. He was relieved when sanity crept into her eyes and the screaming stopped.

“Chance?” she asked, and he nodded, a little shaky, letting go of her arms but uncertain of what to do next. He almost fell down on his back again when she threw herself into his arms, this time to hold him. “Oh, Chance!” Alessa closed her eyes, and buried her face against her lover's neck. The harder she tried to fight it, the harder she cried. Her entire body shook with each sob as she clung to him.

Chance wrapped her in his arms and held her tight as she cried. He didn’t tell her to stop. He hadn’t seen her cry like this in all the time they had been together. He just let her cry.

On the other side of the city, the vampire lost the connection with his prey, but he kept on laughing.

Mi Juego

La gente que me conoce y que me tiene un poquito de paciencia - poquito nomás, chiquito, o sea que e escuchan dos segundos y después hacen que sí con la cabeza - sabe que yo escribía en lo que para simplificar las cosas llamaba: ‘Mi Juego’.

Igualmente, antes de aburrirse, solían interesarse lo suficiente como para preguntar de qué estaba hablando. Las reacciones eran diversas y variadas: algunos temían que les pidiera que leyeran algo – eso se solucionaba apenas sabían que escribía en inglés; no saber inglés era la excusa perfecta; otros pensaban que perdía lamentablemente mi tiempo – mi ex y mi padre, por ejemplo. Mi madre estaba encantada de que practicara mi inglés, a sus ojos eso solo podía traer beneficios – aparte ella siempre me entendió mejor de lo que yo quisiera, sabía lo que significaba para mí. Algunos otros me trataban de loca, pero eso era normal: siempre me tildaron de loca – ahora además de loca me dicen majadera, fanfarrona e insoportable, principalmente la Tere y la Otra; a eso todavía me tengo que acostumbrar, como mis sempiternas pataletas atestiguan.

El hecho es que poca gente realmente entendía a qué me refería con ‘Mi Juego’ y cuando tenía que explicarlo no siempre encontraba las palabras justas. Pero no por tener que explicar a qué me refería al hablar de un ‘juego de rol basado en foros’ (forum based roleplay), eso era la parte más fácil del asunto, lo que era difícil de expresar era cuánto me llenaba pertenecer a ese pequeño grupo de gente que compartía mi placer de escribir. Uno de mis compañeros dijo una vez que era una experiencia liberadora, y yo no pude estar más de acuerdo.

Mi Juego me acompañó por mucho tiempo; escribí en ese sitio alrededor de cuatro años, con una producción de miles de páginas de texto (en colaboración, obviamente). Mis amigos virtuales – y al que diga que no hay amigos virtuales, que me disculpe, porque los hay – me acompañaron cuando estaba bien y cuando estaba mal. Me apoyaron, me hicieron reír, me hicieron llorar, me excitaron y me enojaron, me halagaron y me mandaron al piso, y me exigieron inteligencia, nivel y creatividad constantes – intenté cumplir, no siempre con éxito. ¡Hasta me regalaron una computadora! Ésta, desde la que estoy escribiendo ahora.

Ahora extraño escribir como nunca, y extraño a esa gente aún más – el vínculo no se rompió, pero al no existir el objetivo común de tener que contar una historia, sí se ha distendido, demasiado tal vez. Por eso, esta entrada es de las cosas importantes que quiero compartir con los pobres iluso que estén leyéndome en este momento, o sea con ustedes. De última, apretar la crucecita roja en la esquina superior izquierda de la pantalla es más fácil que hacer que sí con la cabeza, y yo no me doy cuenta de que dejaron de leer.

Bueno, si vencieron la tentación de la cruz roja y leyeron hasta acá, se estarán preguntando a dónde quiero llegar. Buena pregunta, porque yo también me perdí... (¡Ay la Tere!, se debe estar riendo ahora)

Creo que lo que quiero es aclarar algunas cosas sobre qué diablos es un ‘juego de rol basado en foros’ y qué es o era (snif) ‘L.A. by night’ – LAbn para abreviar. Homenajear en cierta forma a toda esa gente a la que aprecio tanto, y generar un espacio para que cuando publique algún post de LAbn no se pregunten: “¿de qué puta(pardon my French)está hablando ésta ahora?” Porque alguno voy a publicar, hay cosas que escribí allí con las que me gustaría aburrirlos, en la medida que se puedan leer independientemente y no sea como abrir un libro en la página 582 sin tener idea de en qué venía, claro. (No importa, siempre te queda el recurso de la cruz roja... ah, y están en inglés, buena excusa para pasarles por arriba)

Esto, entonces, es para Adam (ahora Kaarin), Shaun, Louisa, Dave & Heather, Matt, Kris & Robin, Amanda, Candice e incluso Jaime y Meghan, un selecto grupo de estadounidenses, canadienses, ingleses, australianos y escoceses, que iban de los 16 a los 42 años cuando empezó la odisea de LAbn allá por el 2002. Solo lamento que no sepan español para leerme. También para Alessa, Chance, Kyle, Nik, Darian, Cole, Kate, Oz, Tash, Reah, Daye, Marcus, James y Drea, y todos los demás personajes de LAbn, más reales tal vez que mucha gente real.

(Como soy nueva en esto de los blogs y todavía no he descubierto si se puede revertir el orden en que se publica, voy a mandar todo esto al revés. Si son viejos leyendo blogs, sorry, para mí eso es orden, y es mi blog, así que así quedará)

¿Qué es un juego de rol basado en foros?

Bueno, en realidad es muy sencillo. Un juego de estos empieza con un jugador o un grupo de jugadores, gente como ustedes o como yo – bueno, como yo, ustedes seguro son más cuerdos/as – que abre lo que se llama una ‘thread’ en un foro y empieza una historia (thread en inglés quiere decir hebra, como de hilo, no sé muy bien cómo se le dice en español). Esto puede ser más o menos complejo, ya que hay foros donde conviven numerosas threads, que pueden ser completamente diferentes, al mismo tiempo, o hay sitios como lo era LAbn, donde todo giraba alrededor de una sola historia acordada por el conjunto de jugadores.

Ese escritor/es imagina un punto de arranque, un lugar, un tiempo, un universo, el número de personajes que van a participar, etc. o sea todo lo que una historia necesitaría para ser escrita.

A partir de ahí, otra gente del foro ingresa a la thread. Crean un personaje con nombre, edad, sexo, habilidades, historia personal y todo lo demás que hace a alguien especial y único; una vez felices con su creación, se incorporan a la historia con una entrada llamada ‘post’. La historia se empieza a escribir así, post a post, entretejiendo las historias personales de esos personajes alrededor del argumento inicial.

Existen algunas reglas, obviamente: no se puede escribir por un personaje que no sea el propio sin permiso, no se puede matar o dañar permanentemente a otro personaje, no se puede alejar del tema original sin un acuerdo previo, etc.

Al final lo que se logra es una historia completa, de diferente complejidad, calidad o extensión. Los jugadores se unen para escribir sobre los más diversos temas: un viaje en un nuevo mundo, derrotar al malo de turno, conquistar el universo o simplemente escribir sobre un día ordinario. No importa. El resultado siempre es el mismo, diversión. No se pretende nada más.

El tema es que las threads tienen que mantenerse, es decir, tienen que ser interesantes, sorprendentes, imaginativas, y en mi opinión personal, estar bien escritas. La gente tiene que tener ganas, y comprometerse. Si faltan esas cosas, los jugadores se aburren, la historia lentamente se va estancando y todo tu trabajo es en vano, porque inevitablemente, muere. Eso fue lo que pasó con LAbn. Luego de más de cuatro años de una vida próspera y excitante, los jugadores comenzaron a aburrirse, o simplemente ya no tuvieron el suficiente compromiso, tiempo o ganas de escribir y, lamentablemente, murió.

RIP LAbn.

Tanto es así que Friedballoney, el servidor donde estaba hospedado nuesto sitio web, decidió borrarnos del mapa. Así como así. Dave, nuestro administrador, o sea el responsable de la creación y mantenimiento del sitio, nos prometió que va a publicar las temporadas completas de LAbn (8 en total) en una página nueva. Cuando tenga esa dirección la publicaré, por publicarla nomás, estoy segura. No creo que nadie vaya ahí.

No importa. Como decía Adam - bueno, sigue diciendo, solo que ahora se llama Kaarin (no pregunten): "Se aprende a escribir, escribiendo".

¿Qué era LA by night?

Ésta era la portada del sitio, destinada a tentar nuevos jugadores a la arena de LAbn. Ya sé, ya sé, está en inglés. No sean impacientes, abajo está la traducción. Por algún motivo se lee mucho más cursi en español que en inglés, pero ni modo. Acuérdense de la crucecita roja. (Tere, vos estás absolutamente absuelta de leer esto)

What is LAbn?

LA By Night is a Forum based Role Play Game loosely based upon the mythos of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer created by Joss Whedon. The series explored the life and trials of a modern day heroine – Buffy, your stereotypical blonde valley girl with just one difference, she also happened to be the Chosen One – the only girl in the world with the strength and skill to save humanity from the plague of the vampire. The popularity of this series spawned the spin-off show Angel – the story of Buffy’s first love – a vampire with a soul and a destiny to be fulfilled.

This is the backdrop to our world. A world of unspeakable evil, of vampires, werewolves and demons. A world of witches and magic, alternate dimensions and government conspiracies.

The world of LA By Night.

In this world Buffy and Angel are no more, their legacy has fallen into the stuff of legends and bedtime stories. Yet evil still lurks in its many forms, be it the ruthless endeavours of humankind or the baneful desires of the undead. In order to readdress the balance new heroes are needed to rise against the forces of evil and stop the world from descending into eternal darkness…

Entangled within this elaborate synthesis of mysticism and human ills are The Players, drawn together from across the globe into this realm by a force unknown. As the world is made up of many people, so is this collective, as diverse and intricate as the world that surrounds them. Hunters, Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, Demons, Angels, Fae, Gypsies – each with a story to be told, their lives inextricably connected by the power of friendship, camaraderie, necessity, hatred and love.

This is where our adventures begins. In the City of Angels, under the cover of darkness, with the watchful eyes of fate upon us.

LA By Night

¿Qué es LA by Night?

LA By Night es un juego de rol basado en foros, fundado libremente en el universo de la serial de televisión “Buffy la Cazavampiros” (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) creada por Joss Whedon. La serie exploraba la vida y aventuras de una heroína actual – Buffy, el estereotipo de rubia bonita californiana pero con una gran diferencia, ella también era la Elegida – la única chica del mundo con la fortaleza y habilidades para salvar a la humanidad de la plaga de los vampiros. La popularidad de Buffy hizo apareciera una segunda serie sobre el tema, “Ángel”, la historia del primer amor de Buffy, un vampiro con alma y un destino que cumplir.

Este es el telón de fondo de nuestro mundo. Un mundo de perversidades impronunciables, de vampiros, hombres lobos y demonios. Un mundo de brujas y magia, dimensiones alternas y conspiraciones del gobierno.

El mundo de LA By Night.

En este mundo ya no están Buffy y Ángel, su legado se ha convertido en leyendas e historias para antes de dormir. Sin embargo, la maldad acecha de muchas maneras, ya sea en las acciones de humanos inescrupulosos o en los deseos de los muertos vivientes. Es necesario reestablecer el equilibrio; nuevos héroes se necesitan para enfrentar a las fuerzas del mal y evitar que el mundo caiga en la oscuridad…

Mezclados en este crisol de supernaturales y humanos están Los Jugadores, atraídos de todos los puntos del globo a esta arena por fuerzas desconocidas. Un grupo complejo y diverso como el mundo que los rodea. Cazadores, vampiros, brujas, hombres lobo, demonios, ángeles, elfos, gitanos… cada uno con una historia que contar, sus vidas intrincadamente conectadas por el poder de la amistad, camaradería, necesidad, odio y amor.

Aquí es donde nuestras aventuras comienzan. En la Ciudad de Ángeles, bajo la cubierta de la oscuridad, con los ojos atentos del Destino sobre nosotros.

LA By Night