Dominion Rising Bonus Swag

by Gwynn White

  Weight: 120

  Height: 5’7”

  Body build: thin, fairly athletic

  Shape of face: heart-shaped

  Eye color: green

  Skin tone: fairly light-skinned, but gets very dark in the sun

  Distinguishing marks: tattoos on her arms, including “H” human tattoo and barcode/ident tat

  Predominant features: intense/pretty eyes (slightly almond-shaped), prominent cheekbones, fairly flat/average-chested, slightly unusual-looking but pretty

  Hair color: dark brown

  Type of hair: slightly wavy / heavy curls

  Hairstyle: long, mostly natural, bangs

  Voice: mid-range, female, San Francisco accent

  Overall attractiveness: attractive in an unusual way, more sexy than pretty in a Miss America way; intense eyes, tends to attract a lot of strange people (not for sexual reasons necessarily), brother and friends call her a “full moon magnet”

  Sexual preference: straight (verges on bisexual though)

  Usual fashion of dress: artistic but kind of tomboyish, (San Francisco artistic)

  Favorite outfit: jeans, boots, dark red vinyl jacket, band T-shirt

  Jewelry or accessories: clunky rings sometimes, earrings, occasionally wears necklaces and other accessories, likes antiques and Asian stuff

  GENERAL INFORMATION:

  Languages Spoken: English, Spanish. Tends to pick up languages easily, but she’s poor so hasn’t traveled much (learned Spanish in high school).

  Occupation: Waitress at a diner called “Lucky Cat” on Geary Street and Divisadero in San Francisco; does some small-time gallery work (painting mostly), designs and gives tattoos, designs logos for companies, designs feed banners and does other piecemeal type art and graphic design work.

  Current location: Lives in a house owned by her boyfriend, Jaden, on Fulton Street in San Francisco, across from Golden Gate Park

  Currently living with: her boyfriend, Jaden

  PERSONALITY

  Good personality traits: Social, good with people, kind, compassionate, loving/ affectionate, believes in seer’s rights (as well as human rights), creative, highly intelligent, problem-solving, associational thinker, a good listener, interested in/curious about other people, friendly, can’t stand to see people suffer, nonviolent, open to other cultures/ways of doing things, loyal, protective of friends and her mother / brother, non-judgmental, family-oriented without being rigid or conventional about it, open-minded, good sense of humor, good traveler, really good at blending in with people who are different from her, perceptive, empathic, fast learner, can be highly focused when motivated, good with animals.

  Bad personality traits: So far in her life she hasn’t been particularly ambitious. She can be reckless, impulsive, overly nonconformist, lazy, blunt. While she keeps pretty low key on the surface, in a more hidden way, she tends towards excesses and can have an addictive-type personality. She acts less from logic than from impulse/emotion at times, gets jealous easily in romantic relationships, can be very unforgiving if her trust is broken (tends to be all or nothing with trust). She can be messy, careless, insecure, overly worried about others and not enough about herself. She sometimes lets people take advantage of her, is loyal to the wrong people at times, ignores faults or weaknesses in others, doesn’t see her own strengths clearly. Tends to accumulate hurts until she’s had enough, then cuts the person off totally, so can be a bit of a black/white thinking when it comes to people (mostly due to the trust issue).

  Mood character is most often in: usually pretty happy

  Sense of humor: ironic, fairly light/playful, has a dark edge at times

  Character’s greatest joy in life: art and love, helping others

  Character’s greatest fear: being abandoned, especially by men

  Why? Her father died of MS when she was 16, and they’d been extremely close. Her one and only serious boyfriend raises big trust questions/issues for her.

  What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil? Finding out she’s not human. More than anything she wants to blend in, be a “normal” person, (she’s always kind of known she’s not that normal).

  Character is most at ease when: painting / drawing

  Most ill at ease when: being forced to stand up in front of a group and lead publicly

  Enraged when: feels powerless, injustice, anyone who causes any kind of pain to her friends or people she loves, anyone hurting someone she loves or those weaker than themselves.

  Depressed or sad when: feels alone in the world, feels different from others.

  Priorities: to make it as an artist, have enough money to see the world/travel, have a normal life (a husband/partner, maybe even kids)

  Life philosophy: Justice, truth, family (whether biological or friends) are what matter. Those who do nothing when they see evil are as bad as those who do it themselves.

  If granted one wish, it would be: to have her father back

  Character’s soft spot: romantic love

  Is this soft spot obvious to others? Yes

  Greatest strength: leadership skills (ironically); the ability to take charge, make the tough choices, to weigh different options objectively and see their effects long-term without letting her personal issues cloud things.

  Greatest vulnerability or weakness: can be reckless, ego is a problem at times

  Biggest regret: that she wouldn’t visit her father much in the hospital, due to fear / denial at how sick he was

  Biggest accomplishment(s): kept her mother together after her father’s death, finished art school on her own, always paid her own way

  Past failures she would be embarrassed to have people know about: She has been stalked a lot by both men and women, which embarrasses her because she sees it as proof there’s something “off” about her. She was abducted or nearly abducted often as a child, a fact which embarrasses her for similar reasons (her father made her wear a whistle and carry pepper spray even really young). She was raped as a kid for the same reason, and blamed her “oddness” for that too, since the guy singled her out.

  Why? More than anything, she just wants to be normal, wants to downplay anything unusual about herself. She would like more than anything to pretend none of that happened, or that it’s not a big deal and is in the past.

  Character’s darkest secret(s): She knows there’s something not quite right about her. Her father and grandmother knew it too, and covered it up.

  GOALS

  Drives and motivations: At this point in her life, they’re pretty simple: to be a well known artist, to see the world, to find some way to set her mother up so she pulls her life together, to have a boyfriend. She’s kind of drifting in some ways, but in denial about it (a big part of her is bored and “waiting,” although she’s not fully conscious of that).

  Immediate goals: To save her relationship with Jaden. To save up enough money to go to Europe to study art, preferably to bring Jaden with her.

  Long term goals: To make real money as an artist, get married (to Jaden, at this point), to set her mom up in style and buy her house for her. To be able to travel with her brother and Cass, and show her art in real galleries.

  How the character plans to accomplish these goals: She tries to save money from art and waiting tables, and works hard to produce enough art to sell. She is trying to keep her relationship together with Jaden by being supportive of his band and not overreacting to him being surrounded by groupies and hangers-on, now that his band is getting more popular.

  PAST / PERSONAL HISTORY:

  Hometown: San Francisco, CA

  Type of childhood: Fairly happy, with the exception of the odd incidents around strangers paying too much attention to her and occasionally being abducted or in danger of it. Very much loved by her adopted brother, mother, father, as well as her adopted extended family such as her grandparents, her uncles and aunt, etc. Things didn’t really get bad until her father started to get sick from the MS, whe
n she was a freshman in high school.

  First memory: She dreams about being abandoned under an overpass, and being scared by a homeless man who initially found her before the police picked her up.

  Most important childhood memory: Of a stranger helping her in a park when she’s nine years old, scaring off some boys who were harassing her.

  Childhood hero: Frida Kahlo, a female seer artist named “Ilreli”

  Dream job: concept artist for movies, muralist

  Education: High school, the San Francisco Art Institute (bachelor of arts)

  Religion: not religious; her father was Christian (Lutheran), her mom a hippy and more into New Agey type spirituality

  Finances: working poor, essentially

  FAMILY

  Birth Mother: unknown

  Relationship with her: none

  Birth Father: unknown

  Relationship with him: none

  Adopted mother: Mia Taylor

  Relationship with her: very close, but roles are almost reversed. Allie takes care of her mother in most ways; her mother has a drinking problem and is unemployed (does craft fairs, etc. and makes bird houses and paints landscapes, but doesn’t really make money since she was fired by the post office)

  Adopted father: Carl Taylor (deceased from M.S.)

  Relationship with him: very close, was her confidante and she adored him/ looked up to him; he was the only one who pretty much knew everything about her and taught her to blend in with other people

  Sibling: Jon Sebastian Taylor (brother, adopted)

  Relationship with him: very close; he’s basically her best friend; he’s fairly protective of her, given her childhood experiences and her ongoing problem with people who approach her and get obsessed with her.

  Spouse(s): none

  Other important family members: Grandmother she was extremely close to (her father’s mother); also deceased, but she also knew something was up with Allie, and helped her son hide it. Her mother’s sister, her Aunt Carol, who she is also really close to. Carol is another free spirit type (even more than her sister, Allie’s mother, Mia), and very much into spirituality, but a bit more level-headed than Mia. She also suspects a lot about Allie and who she really is, at least in a more general sense.

  FAVORITES:

  Music: She really loves music but is fairly eclectic and likes most kinds, grunge/older punk, her mom’s hippy music, her brother’s more modern / postmodern tastes, Jaden’s rock band, the seer-human fusion stuff, experimental, etc. Because she’s open to it, she tends to adopt all different styles preferred by friends/boyfriends/family.

  Food: tuna casserole, burritos and sushi are her favorites

  Literature: She reads a lot, mostly fiction although she reads a fair bit of nonfiction, too, especially history and art books, but some science as well.

  Form of entertainment: seeing bands, hanging out at bars, talking with friends, movies, camping, hiking, going to the beach, going out for brunch

  Expressions: “Great,” “Fantastic” (sarcastic), “Okay” (when she doesn’t want to argue with someone but doesn’t really agree)

  Mode of transportation: likes airplanes and trains

  Most prized possession: classical easel/art box, given to her by her Aunt Carol. A dolphin music box given to her by her father.

  HABITS:

  Hobbies: tattoo art (part job / part hobby), comic books, dancing and singing

  Plays a musical instrument? No; sings a little, dances (she took dancing lessons with her mother after her father died, mostly to get her out of the house). She was in a rock band for a short time in high school.

  Plays a sport? Does some martial arts with her brother (who’s an instructor) – mainly choy li fut. She also did some archery and target shooting with her dad as a kid, and likes to swim, hike, do yoga, go climbing.

  How she would spend a rainy day: paint, listen to music, hang out with friends, hang out with her boyfriend

  Spending habits: erratic, doesn’t pay much attention to money, but isn’t spendy either. She doesn’t really have extravagant tastes, but will overspend on friends and family. She’s never had much money to spend, really.

  Smokes: for a very short period in college (less than one year), then quit

  Drinks: yes, but only gets drunk rarely, maybe a couple of times a year

  Other drugs: has experimented, especially in art school and with Jaden, who smokes a fair bit of pot and occasionally does harder things, but generally no

  What does she do too much of? Killing time with her friends in bars, watching Jaden’s band play, waiting tables, spending kind of “nothing” time with Jaden in general (like watching him play video games, etc.)

  What does he/she do too little of? Things that have more meaning to her, working on her art, spending time working on martial arts, meditating, spending time alone, figuring out what she wants to do in her like, addressing her own boredom

  Extremely skilled at: painting, conversation, meeting people, sketching/drawing, painting, assessing issues/problems from multiple angles and coming up with solutions, leading people, analytical and objective decision-making, public speaking, blending in with different cultures / groups (although doesn’t know about a lot of these skills)

  Extremely unskilled at: as good as she is at picking up other cultures, she still sucks at “being invisible,” despite the effort she puts into hiding. She tends to be noticed even when she doesn’t want to be. Also sucks at hiding her emotional reactions, playing the “girl” card (being seductive / manipulative with sex), viewing herself / her own life objectively (something she does much better with other people), can be blind about people she loves, even when things are obvious to everyone else.

  Nervous tics: tends to fidget or get really quiet, blurts things out / gets blunt / matter of fact when nervous, overly self-conscious about her body/visibility when in a crowd, tends to stare at people without realizing the amount of energy she is aiming at them, tugs on her own hair, tends to touch things a lot, sometimes inappropriately (not usually people, but sometimes).

  Blind Spots: Contrary to what even her friends think, most of them pertain to herself. She actually sees Jaden more clearly than Jon or Cass realize, for example. She doesn’t see herself clearly at all. For one thing, she’s far more intelligent than she realizes. Jon knows this, but she is better at playing dumb than most people realize. Some of this is intentional, and a lot of it is an effort to be less visible (both conscious and unconscious). But she kind of buys into it on some level, too.

  Usual body posture: relaxed, sprawled

  Mannerisms: tends to touch people and things compulsively (not always a nervous thing, like above, but then too), is openly affectionate, combs her hair with her fingers, laughs a lot, kicks things (lightly - more an unconscious tic) when she’s thinking.

  Peculiarities: dreams about her eyes glowing, sometimes dreams about things that come true (she never tells people that) and/or about the world coming to an end. She’s not really into headsets / being wired up, especially compared to most of her friends, tends to lose headsets / leave them in inappropriate places for the same reason (has been fined for this by the government a number of times). She doesn’t watch the feeds as compulsively as many of her friends either. She struggles when she goes too long without affection and/or sex, draws as a way of thinking / getting things out of her head, her drawings tend to have some relationship to reality as well (not often conscious - more like her dreams), her art also tends to draw unusual people to her.

  TRAITS:

  Optimist or pessimist? optimist

  Introvert or extrovert? Not clearly one or the other. She spends a lot of time alone, drawing, but feels compelled to spend a lot of time being social too (although often is bored / unengaged unless it’s Jon or Cass). Being social is more like “work” for her unless she knows the people very well.

  Daredevil or cautious? daredevil

  Logical or emotional? Emotional on the surface, but mor
e logical below this, almost calculating at times. She’s a planner / thinker at her core.

  Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? More on the messy side, but not excessively so. Kind of “artistically” messy.

  Prefers working or relaxing? Working (on art only – hates waiting tables or most of the crappy paid jobs she’s had).

  Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Confident for the most part, but conscious of being different and insecure about that

  Animal lover? yes

  SELF-PERCEPTION:

  How she feels about himself/herself: Believes she’s kind of a freak and is slightly ashamed of how little she has (money-wise) and how little she’s done with her life. She’s proud of her friends and family, and proud of Jaden, her boyfriend. She wants more in her life, but has no direction so is often bored / frustrated.

  One word the character would use to describe self: Lazy

  One paragraph description of how the character would describe herself: Artistic type with no self-direction and crappy job prospects and too much student debt. Hopeful about the world, wanting to make it a better place but not sure how to do that in a way that would actually help anything. Someone with good friends and a semi-normal life. Freak magnet extraordinaire. Average looks and average mind.

  What does the character consider her best personality trait? Good friend, loyal.

  What does the character consider her worst personality trait? Lazy, non-ambitious.

  What does the character consider her best physical characteristic? Her eyes/face

  What does the character consider her worst physical characteristic? Breasts on the small side, thinks she’s too thin (wants to be more curvy like her friend, Cass).

  How does the character think others perceive her: as a slacker, loser waitress type who does art on the side