OOC
GAME: Mythos
DESCRIPTION: Ancient Greco-Roman gods in modern form.
DATE: June 2008
PB: Melissa George
JOURNAL: persephonic
IC
Name: Sarah Eloise Shelley
Any known aliases: She's published some poetry under the name "Christine Larisse", but doesn't take much note of it.
God/Titan/Hero/Muse/Nymph/Fury etc?: Persephone. Chthonic goddess and queen of the underworld, of course.
Age: Twenty-nine, b. June 24, 1979. Yes, midsummer.
Employment: Librarian. Very interested in the repository of knowledge in general. Occasionally TAs at the local NY university, as a favour to an old friend — see: professor she used to bang.
Living space: A small loft apartment, walls peeling and wooden bookshelves cracking. She's gotten used to high-class luxuries at Nicholas' place, but still lives in the crumbling building of a woman with a paycheck below her means; but it's modest, and suits her purposes just fine. Books, both antique and new, scatter across every available surface, as do pillows and blankets. The living room has wide windows opening out onto New York — it gives her a fantastic summer breeze, but that lack of insulation makes the apartment deathly cold during the winter. Presumably this explains the abundance of blankets.
Appearance: Naturally youthful, rounded face; brown eyes, long wavy blonde hair. But she often wears her hair raked back into ponytails, and is fond of turtlenecks, cardigans, and prim skirts whenever she's not together with Nicholas. When they do date, her neckline gets lower and her hemline higher. What with her mythological husband being a lord of material wealth, Sarah likes jewellery—mainly necklaces and rings, and she wears one particular ring on a cord around her neck at all times: a gift from Hades. She's curvaceous, and has the looks and body to ooze fertility and sex, but more often than not chooses not to—she rebuffs men instead.
Personality:
- Used to be all sunshine and peaches, but has pretty much forgotten what that was like. Time in Hades — and with Hades — has turned her cold and hard as nails. Unenthusiastic pessimist and cynic. Polite, but unapproachable and slightly standoffish; rejects any blatant attempt to hit on her. Unless she's feeling vindictive towards Nick, at which point she'll relish it.
- Fierce. Has eradicated as much of the soft, sappy Kore as possible, leaving only this cold thing known as Persephone in its place. Dom in every single relationship except for the one with Hades. A romantic idealist who is so no longer, due to years of becoming accustomed to a rather non-traditional arrangement with Nicholas. She used to dream of epic romance and a rose-tinted world, but necessity has changed her.
- Somewhat old-fashioned. But not whimsically so; more like a harsh, severe governess. She could've walked right into the pages of Jane Eyre, no problem.
- Predictably, she has a thing for much older men, and her most common complaint to her girlfriends is about her own self-destructive attraction to tall, dark, and brooding. What can I say. She probably had sex with her professors in college, but still wrote A+ essays.
- Obsessively records information on this whole mythos/reincarnation thing — as much as she can find and hear and learn about the technicalities. Also owns a gigantic collection of books, prose, poetry, etc. Tendency to spout archaic references at the drop of a hat. Very big Shakespeare aficionado. Extremely fond of e.e. cummings and T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats represent!)
- Reads a shamefully large amount of Gothic and romance novels, but whips out a red pen and mercilessly edits the weepy heroines and flowery prose as she encounters it. Her copy of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight has been essentially reduced to a pile of torn paper and red ink. She was a bit kinder to Leroux's Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.
- Speaks fluent French, by the by.
- Ridiculously fond of travel. While she was studying, she was impossible to reach during the summers, because she was always backpacking and hitchhiking and going somewhere-or-other. Has extensive photo albums of her journeys, but almost no pictures of her with the people she met. Which were often a string of hot steamy foreign affairs, sry2say. She had a busy life before Hades swept in and took up that dominant spot she never even knew she was missing.
- Very academically and professionally proficient, but severely lacking in some aspects of social intelligence. Sarah manages in polite society, of course, and even with friends and romantic interests and workplaces, but she has a pathological tendency to, well, leave. Like Cinderella, but without a single slipper, photo, or return address to mark her passing. Her mother's given up on trying to make her settle down, and Sarah's all but given up on her ability to make lasting relationships. She's much fonder of storming in, making her impression, then ploughing out once she starts getting fidgety for new experiences. She cares just fine, and commits just fine, but inevitably, every person is just another lone figure in her arsenal of contacts and acquaintances.
Modified Ability: Catches the occasional glimpse of Tartarus, nastiness and all. Can talk to dead people if she really, really focuses, but Sarah's never bothered with this — no dreams of being the world's best medium, no Sixth Sense business to fulfil.
Unchecked Ability: Twice a year, can wrinkle reality and take a step through it — she hasn't figured out how to get down to Hades yet, and she's not entirely sure she wants to, but Sarah has essentially taught herself how to teleport anywhere in the world. But only twice per year, mind. She also possesses the ability to deliver a command to any underworld deity and they must obey, though doing this tires her, especially if they're reluctant to comply.
Lifetime history:
- Grew up in countryside/suburbia as a kid: small town, playing in fields, weaving necklaces out of flowers. Her mother did the long-ass commute to the city every day, and it wore down on the marriage. When Sarah's parents divorced, her mother took her and moved to the city.
- Consequently: Raised 30% by her high-powered mother, 60% by nannies and tutors, and 10% by her laidback father on the occasional weekends. Needless to say, she enjoyed her time with her father more.
- Not a prom queen and not supah popular, but had her core group of girls to support and fall back on. More bookish than most, and also more innocent and naïve — finally, as a junior in high school, she reformed her light, happy, almost-cherubic demeanour into a more hippie-ish sense of freedom. It became wanderlust and a yearning to try out new things.
- Ran away from home when she was sixteen; spent one year backpacking around and staying at her then-boyfriend's place. The couple eventually had a massive blow-up fight, broke up, and she came wandering back home. What she imagined as a joyful reunion with her mother became the biggest argument of their lives.
- Took undergrad in education, then masters in library and information science. On the verge of transferring into another building to be a children's librarian. Loves them a lot — she isn't aware of it yet, as those particular memories haven't surfaced, but every incarnation of Persephone is sterile.
- While she was doing her masters, she took jobs as secretary and receptionist, and ended up under Nicholas Roth's employ. A year ago, she finally quit the dead-end occupation and finally started on what she'd meant for all along: being a librarian. Has an extremely rocky, complicated relationship to her mythological husband. Today, is more like him than ever — cold, distant, more likely to trod all over some poor bastard's heart than nurture it.
Optional
Previous incarnations?:
Involvement in historical events?:
Trivia:
- Not a fan of drugs or mood-altering substances of any sort save for her margaritas, thank you very much.
- Did have a brief jaunt with a BDSM club, however. Went there a few weekends in a row, then wandered on with her life.
- Has never watched the entirety of a Disney movie in her life.
- Absurdly fond of tiramisu.
SOUNDTRACK
- the tea party; "halcyon days"
- snow patrol; "you will. you? will. you? will. you? will (bright eyes cover)"
- frou frou; "the dumbing down of love"
- morrissey; "i will see you in far off places"
