inventings | KISS: APPLICATION

PLAYER

Name: Melly.
Journal Username:

onetouchdonnie
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A.

CHARACTER

Name: Adalinda Calista Brown.
Gender: Female.
Age: 26
Wing Color: Off white with a pale shade of beige on the edges.
Physical Appearance:

Adalinda stands at 5'10 and likes to think of herself as a striking figure. She has fair and unmarred skin that is tanned to a subtle shade of gold thanks to her outdoor hobbies and has long summer blonde hair. She has vibrant green eyes she that inherited from her mother and always wears an easy smile on her face. She's slender and soft, with some muscle here and there she gained through exercise.

World History:

The world Adalinda comes from looks like the one we once lived in during 2010. The world's tallest building is officially opened in Dubai. Sebastián Piñera becomes the President of Chile. An oil tanker truck explosion kills 230 people in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On the surface it looks the same as ours, it almost looks like an exact replica. There are just some key differences in this world however, little (and not so little) things that stack up on one another. They may seem like huge differences but they are not noticed by people who come from there as it is the norm. The following things are:

◥ The crime rates around the world are higher than one would like to admit. Seeing how a large majority of cases happen to go unsolved. At least they are nothing overt or sensational like revelations of serial killers hiding behind the face of an attractive Harvard student or discovery of drug rings in picture perfect neighborhoods that were hiding under the noses of the cops. The crimes that this world setting speaks about are more ordinary, if not unsettling things, that happen: The discovery of unknown corpses around the world now and then, clearly showing signs of murder or questionable death. People vanishing from thin air be it they were good people or bad people, they were running away from something or they were leaving home to get some milk.

As stated, a lot them become unsolved and stay unsolved by the authorities around the world since there is very little evidence to go by at times and most cases aren't worth looking into too thoroughly since these are ordinary people, besides the occasional famous/important figure. Some cops or detectives or loved ones will persist more than others but most times they fail and rarer times they somehow end up getting involved in accidents that take their lives. Tragic but something most people will not take note of besides conspiracy enthusiasts that the general populace look down upon.

This ties in to another situation with how apathetic the large majority of the world is, more so than usual, towards events like these when they happen. This world is a bit more crueler and a bit more harsher than the world we know but not to the point of anarchy or open fights in the streets. And this isn't the result of modern times too. Incidents like these have been going on for a long, long time. Has been happening since the early middle ages to be accurate though no one in the world will be able to pinpoint that time exactly. But with that said, the more dangerous and, one might say 'glamorous' depending who you ask this from, side of criminal activity is real. Things like the Doe Gang, a gang that specializes in information stealing/selling/retrieval and a major part of Adalinda's life as she is a member of it, are reality there. Just an elusive and hard to catch for authorities who, once again, don't do much if it requires a lot of effort or paperwork. The Doe gang and others like them stay well hidden for a reason, only in it for the big time winnings and for the acknowledgement among their fellow super criminals.

◥ Speaking of criminals, there is a group of criminals that needs to be mentioned as Adalinda is a member of it. The Doe gang, lead by a name named John Doe who founded it by himself. Though there are rumors in the grapevine that wasn't the case and there used to be a gang similar to the Doe gang until a man matching John Doe's description took over it and did a very thorough cleaning of it to get a fresh start. But stories are stories, no real evidence proving or disproving these words, and these are supposed to be facts. So here they are:

◥ The Doe gang is a connected, powerful group of criminals that all have come from different walks and paths of life and come under one familiar banner: To get the better life, a better choice for them to take and if that had to involve stealing sensitive data and information from people and selling it to the highest bidder? No skin off their nose. Their names in the group were aliases, common names from their countries or what was thought to be common names from their countries. The gang is all about playing to the needs of their target to get what they wanted, after all.

◥ The titles a group member held made their role in the gang clear: Muscles were the ones who did the heavy lifting, forgers did the documents or fake I.Ds or credentials, Honey Traps were the seducers and fluffers, etc. There are eight positions and they were Leader, Second-in-Command, Point Person, Forgers, Relations, Muscles and Medic and most of the time there were two for most roles with the exception of the Leader, Second-in-Command and Medic. The group consists mostly of fourteen members in Adalinda's time, originally thirteen until her and Matthew's entrance to it and his defection. John Doe chooses what position a member is and there are no ifs, buts or whats when this is chosen. Getting into the gang is difficult with how he scouts for only the best for him and getting out of it if he still wants you around? Hellish if you don't play your cards right.

◥ Due to their accomplishments and their skills, the gang is well-connected to big names from around the world. With clientele part of governments, this is a given. It's how they stay out of the notice of authorities and attention from reporters. They're important, crucial, to some people and they are kept safe from exposure thanks to this.

◥ They live up to the image of the 'glamorous' criminals: Educated, skilled and rich. Classy people who are the gentleman thieves and fashionable femme fatales. They travel around the world to pull of heists and jobs with complicated plans and methods that should belong in movies and T.V shows. They have enough money to retire from business but most are in it for the fame and quiet recognition they get from fellow criminals or wanting to prove they're the best at what they do.

◥ Technology in Adalinda's world is more advance, more serious thanks to people there being more driven to get what they want and, if it's not there, build it for themselves through trial and error and the cost of a lot of money. Hackers are something to be taken seriously with people should they get their hands on the right information and codes and equipment. Criminals have easier to conceal recording devices for blackmail or other purposes. 'Untraceable' is a real thing though it does have a few hiccups thanks to the aforementioned hackers and genius programmers existing but it's still not something to sneeze at. Of course this isn't for the general public. Only the wealthy or the well connected can get possession of items like these.

◥ Yes. Magic in her world but there are fine points to it. The magic is, like all good urban fantasy series dictate, is not known to everyone and only a select few do and most of the time they just stumble upon it or have been studying it for years by then. The magic has specifics to it to: It drains the very life out of the caster, resulting in death if they use it too much. It must be channeled into some sort of equipment, like a staff engraved with runes or spells on it or an item of extreme significance like a pendant or crown or even a bag of coins. 'Extreme significance' can be from sentimental value to historical importance. Attempting to use the magic without something to channel it can result in disaster like being cursed or death of the caster.

When harnessed properly, it can do amazing feats like hide large areas of lands or transport someone from one place to another no matter the distance or allow people to see cryptic visions of the past or future. It can even be used in combat by making the magic force be turned into beams of fire or wind or destroy the surrounding areas. But again: Very few can do this and it takes the literal life out of the person, takes years or great luck to learn it and there is a smaller number of these people who keep their possibly limited knowledge to themselves and for good reason, wishing to avoid it falling into the wrong hands.

◥ Last but not the least there is also a secret, almost-magical society called the The Deck. This is going to be delved in more deeply because while Adalinda never had real contact with it, its existence caused a huge impact on her life without her knowledge. The following things to address:

◥ Once part of yet another secret, semi-magical society that was possibly inspired by the Tarot Cards, the Major Arcana, the Deck was once known as the Minor Arcana and were around since Late Antiquity. The Major and Minor Arcana are immortal people granted with supernatural ability based on the Tarot card they are known as, the Strength having strength and ability to transform into animals while the High Priestess can see visions of things to come, the Magician being one of the most powerful magic wielders in centuries. Minor Arcana do not have these abilities but had potential in magic and were also immortal, serving under the Major and, for a while, the two groups lived peacefully. But time passed on, disagreement between the Arcanas sprang up due to discontent on the Minor's side with how they lived and wanted changes to it. Demanding to be equal and to be taught more magic as the Major limited their access to the knowledge of it. The Major refused to change how they lived and the fights continued on until it escalated into hostility when the Minor rebelled and learned magic anyway, able to use it to themselves at an extent. The hostility escalated into an actual war that started around the Early Middle Ages. It resulted with death and carnage on both sides as the battles raged on and on for a long time.

Eventually the Minor managed to flee from the Major's grasp in the 12th century, using the magic they learned to escape from Major's lands and go to new place, transporting large masses of land to sustain themselves and also use the magic to be kept out of the sight of the Major who are still obsessively looking for them to this day, to either bring them back to the fold or take their revenge for the war that caused many deaths, including the Major Arcanas Moon and Star who were taken hostage during the final battles and were found dead after the Minor fled. It is in those lands they started their new home and society when it was decided it was where they could flourish. People have lived there ever since. There was a large price to pay for the new chapter in their lives: The Minor gave up their immortality so there would be enough magic to do commit this feat. As a result, the use of magic was rare since it could potentially kill them and knowledge of magic was just passed down, rarely touched or used in fear of death or doom.

◥ The lands are located somewhere in the mid-northern hemisphere since it has all four seasons and the lands consists of four large castles, forests surrounding the areas, farms near the forests, a town that can be found in the middle of them and the Guardposts -- Stations that line the lands of the Deck, keeping assigned soldiers there who watch the borders where the magic of the Deck ends. Their job is to keep an eye out for any signs of the Major Arcana and to note who leaves and enters.

Focusing on the town a bit, it is known as the 'Mag Mell' since that's where most of the Cards live out their lives if they have no interesting in advancing or if they do not have important jobs that require them to live in the castles. Thanks to the magic that still runs through it, anyone can enter or leave the Deck from any part of the world somehow thanks to 'paths' surrounding the Deck that have been since marked and mapped, thanks to trial and error in the centuries past, out so one knows where to go if they wsh to drop by Prussia for a while for business and want to get back home by dinnertime. It is also hidden from sight and knowledge from the general society. It is somewhat known to the 'Outside', as the world at large is referred to by the people in the Deck, but only through tales and stories of tales or whispers and rumors of a criminal organization.

There is no real and conclusive solid evidence of the Deck among the Outside society and those from the Deck would like to keep it that way. The very first point of the world history that spoke of bodies coming up out of nowhere, people getting into accidents when they continue to investigate a certain case? That is the handy work of the Deck or families that live in the Deck, sending out Cards to dispose of bodies or keep their world a secret no matter the cost. The people who vanish? Most likely they stumbled into a path of the Deck and found themselves there and settled down. Or, yet again, they happen to be a target of the Deck that needed to be silence or wanted to leave and the Numbers there would not risk it.

◥ Due to isolating itself from the world and unwillingness to interact with the Outside unless needed like getting supplies or keeping news of the Deck from being known, the Deck formed its own culture mixing it with the Old World Order in the past, its past life as the Minor Arcana -- Though at this time most Cards no longer remember the origins of the Deck since it was so long ago -- and bits and pieces from the 'Outside' world when new blood trickles in and settles there. Lower Numbers (2 to 5) are expected to defer to Higher numbers (6 to 10) while all numbers must defer to the Face Cards (King, Queen, Ace and Jack) with the Lower Number always showing respect to the Higher Number first. How one can do this varies with each Suit. The more formal Suits like the Spades and Diamonds and Clubs expect bows and curtsies and titles being used such as "my lord" and "my lady" when addressing someone. The Hearts are a lone exception, with the Numbers there content with simple nods of the head and being called "ma'am" or "sir" though this of course varies with Card to Card.

Children who are raised in the Deck, and are likely to never see the Outside besides working for family business that has connections to the world or leaving for further education like training to be a doctor but under a different name and identity with strict rules on how they should behave, have their own things. Like nursery rhymes such as 'Little Two' and 'Artful Annie' and '55 & 22'. The values and morals that are taught to them there are radically different from the Outside too and decidedly anachronistic. Familia and Suit loyalty being drilled into the children's heads. Switching of Suits -- something a person can do if they are granted approval by the Face Cards of their home Suit and the Face Cards of the Suit that they wish to go -- considered a heinous thing to do. Questioning the parents' motives or actions an unthinkable course of action. Obedience and subservience to the more powerful people is a must, especially with the Deck families who are made up of servants or Lower Numbers. The most important thing a woman can do is marry to advance her station and have children and advance them while being polite and charming, serving her family and later her husband first. The men are pressured to marry good, preferably in their birth Suit or make the woman switch to their Suit, or advance high as they can.

◥ As the name of the society tells you, the Deck is based on the playing cards and the French version of it. So it basically consists of four Suits - the cunning Spades, the caring Hearts, the creative Clubs and the cold Diamonds - that are ruled over by their perspective Face Cards. The King and the Queen are the ones who actually rule the Suit while the Jack and Ace help, with the Ace having the noticeable job of being the one to step in and dress down the King and Queen over their actions should it come down to that. Everyone has something to do from working in a department that helps keeps the castles, to people who help fund the Deck with their business connections to the Outside by trading for supplies and food and items vital to the Deck like medicine or new research materials.

◥ People who live in this society are known as 'Cards' or 'Numbers'. Those born into this society are automatically a 'Two' and most of the time so are the new arrivals into the Deck but their Ranking depends on circumstances and skills they have. If a Card is 12 or older, they can climb up Rank and go from 2 of X to 10 of X Perhaps even become a Face Card themselves if they play their hand right. The challenges themselves can range from anything to jumprope to knife fights to intense intellectual debates though the higher the Rank you aim for the more serious your Challenge should be to prove your worth to it. Hungry Hippos is a great Challenge for Three of X but definitely not for Eight of X. The King and Queen can also alleviate someone's Rank up or lower them down but this is something most Royal cards use wisely since using it too much can cause their Suit to resent them.

Rank is a serious thing in the Deck. In theory, Rank plays a more important role in the Deck and can decide how one will be treated by others. The Higher a Rank a person is, the more respect they should have despite their religion, ethnicity, gender, etc. This isn't always the case, humans being humans and always looking to judge others somehow with the Rank and Suit in the Deck being the most obvious way to do so. Not that it isn't something one can buy. Or inherit it. There are families that pass their Number down to their children so there are people in high positions who didn't do anything to deserve it and there isn't much the Royal Cards can do since this will upset the families if they lower a Rank and they need to keep them content if they do not want to be challenged. Some Royals in the past are not better, however, and abused the position of authority in the past to give it to their children. Needless to say, those children were quickly Challenged by other Cards and it highlights how the Deck, despite loathing the Outside, isn't much better.

◥ If one comes from a certain Suit, as in they are born into it, the magic in the Deck grants them a curious edge over others that can only be found in that Suit. Spades are stronger and more resilient, with a higher tolerance for pain that can be seen as uncanny. Hearts can read social cues and people's emotions better, their edge similar to empathy only it more subtle. Clubs are more creative and intelligent in terms of philosophy and arts and, if one discovers it, a higher potential of learning to control the Deck Magic. Diamonds have great luck and fortune, able to take a gamble and a risk and hit it big like many heads of old and well-connected Deck families did when advancing themselves.

But with every upside to the magic, there are side effects to it. Spades are more likely to be violent or disturbed than the others, paranoia or distrust working faster on them and aim it at each other. Hearts have lower tolerance to pain and more prone to sickness and are not as capable of learning Deck Magic. Diamonds are unable to heal as fast and find themselves bound to hold honor and duty high though they know in the back of their head that is unreasonable in certain times and they try to rebel against it but still find themselves carrying it out. Clubs perhaps have the worst disadvantage, with their Cards most likely to die or suffer painfully be it emotionally, physically or mentally perhaps as a consequence of having higher chances of knowing the magic of the Deck.

If one switches from their birth Suit, like if a Heart switches to Spade, or even leaves the Deck for long periods of time or for good then they'll still retain this magical edge/weakness of theirs until their deaths. People who do not come from the Suit and enter it as a stranger do not get this immediately but stay in the Deck long enough, perhaps longer than four years, the Suit that they first entered/were assigned in will be the hint. This is something that most people on the Deck do not notice however as it is normal for them.

Personal History: Most of her history can be found here with a change to it due to her canon point. Which is this:

It was when she was trying to get into the car that Jacob was finally able to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm as she got into the driver’s seat and tugged hard as he could, begging her to reconsider this as it was the tantamount to suicide. In her universe, Adalinda is able to shake him off and slam the door shut before driving off to learn more from the Woman, furthering the events of her life and the ultimate fate of the gang and the Woman. Here it goes a little bit differently. Adalinda looses her balance thanks to the sudden tug on her arm and slips out of the car. The sight of the paved road becomes closer and closer to her until suddenly everything goes pitch black. When she wakes up again she finds herself no longer in Germany but here instead with wings on her back.

Personality: Adalinda is a product of her surroundings and circumstances that were extraordinary for her to go through. Having grown up at first in a loving environment of her good parents and then in the devoted guardianship her doting brother before being thrust into the seedy and backstabbing underbelly that is the criminal world that she finds herself all alone in despite being in a group, Adalinda is a curious creature who is made up of impeccable manners and ambiguous morality. She gives to multiple charities that are all about the welfare of children but it is with the money that she helped steal from a company or a person. She has honest but entertaining conversations with people she will later on steal information or items from even if it ruins their reputation and perhaps their lives.

She does her bad deeds with the ease of how she does her good deeds, having grown mostly desensitized to what most people considered wrong or immoral. Lying is like breathing for her and she can look on while her friend Josie beats someone up until they are close to the brink of death without feeling too much sympathy for the person. Withholding information for her own gain is easy as clapping her hands. This is her competitive side showing through, her need to outwit and outlast others since no one will be doing that for her. There’s no one holding her hand here. She knows that while her friends are there, they won’t be there forever and she needs to look after herself and does so. To her, life is a race and if she can’t be first then she’ll try to not be last.

With that said, she is a sweet person. If it weren’t for her past and present life, she would be considered the archetype of the girl-next-door, all genuine laughs and teasing humor to people she knows or just met. She is the girl who is loyal to those who show kindness to her while being a quirky and excitable ball of energy and charisma. Adalinda loves to dance when a song or melody she likes comes up or sing off-tune when nobody is looking or curl up with a good romance novel if she isn’t in the mood for partying or looking through the latest fashions. She loves the outdoors, trying to find an excuse to walk around or stretch her legs and enjoy the feel of the sun, taking up swimming and tennis playing in the process to enjoy the wamrth and keep in shape at the same time. She’s sensible and has a sense of humor to match her friendliness, knowing how to take a ribbing or two with grace. She gives when she can and supports causes for children’s welfare, health and education with her ill-gotten gains.

The few friends she’s open to, namely James and Josephine Doe who she knows through the gang, are people she will lie to John Doe of all people if it keeps them safe and she gives them extravagant presents and items when she can get it. She will not see children getting harmed during a job, sick and tired of that being a recurring theme in her life. But that’s the extent of her real charity to others, needing to look after her own wellbeing first and to make sure she can provide for herself since no one else will do that. It’s a dog eat dog world where she’s from and she learned to survive in it and strike it out on her own, having learned to suck it up with her feelings of betrayal and staying with the Doe gang during the fallout of Matthew’s defection when she could have run away. She had help, she admits that, but she always feels like she did most of the work and deserves to reap the rewards.

A natural actress with her talents honed in by her determination to prove people wrong and to ensure herself that she can tell people with a straight face that she deserves her place in the gang when people doubt her worth; Adalinda can walk the walk and talk the talk while her mind is in another world or thinking about a different subject or matter. This is useful as she can use it to help distance herself from the person she’s going after for a mission. She can put up an excellent putting up a charade of caring for them while she is part of the eventual downfall of them and she has no worry for feeling guilt or sorrow that she was part of it. She isn’t book smart nor can bluff it like her brother could but makes up for it by doing her best in learning, practicing it over and over again to get it perfect. Determined and spunky, this is how she learned four different languages though she is only twenty-six, practicing how to pronounce words and use the right accent or dictation day in and out until she could say it flawlessly.

Her default ‘persona’ when meeting targets or new people, her ‘Work Adalinda’ if you will, is a cultured, refined but thoroughly modern woman as that is what she desperately wants the world to see – Someone classy and smart, educated in the classical arts and music. This is someone who is grown up and one to be taken seriously by others and be given the respect that is expected. She wants to be seen as glamorous and interesting like the Hollywood Ladies of the Golden Age, someone funny and sexy who is adored by people afar because of her looks and her wits. She admires people like Marilyn Monroe and Clara Bow and Ava Gardner. Women who left people hot for them and admiring them for years to come. (Perhaps not fully realizing the tragic or tumultuous lives of theirs, showing how deep her wish fulfillment for the perfect glamour life runs.) Yet she can’t see herself as that. Not really. She feels like she can never amount to what she fantasizes, only acting it out which, to her, is the closest thing she can get to the real deal.

Being told off for her mistakes and flaws is a sure way to get on her bad side which can make her catty and cold or haughty and hot to the person that dared speak up against anything she did. She can’t afford to show any weakness in the Doe gang, knowing that if she shows any vulnerability – That’s akin to bleeding heavily in shark infested waters. It is another reason why she feels like she’s by herself, not something she can afford and does her best to cover up any problem of herself, keeping her own issues to herself and is almost never willing to reveal what’s wrong with her if it’s serious like an illness or feeling tired or depressed on the days she feels suffocating loneliness. That’s asking for trouble sooner or later and she does not want to get in trouble when she’s with people like Alex Doe or Jasmine Doe. If she makes a mistake or slips up, she’s tough on herself – Internally raging and ranting for that mess, rewinding the moment again and again and wondering how she could have done it better, made it not happen in the first place.

In situations where she has to mingle and talk to people, she flourishes in them in both her job as a Honey Trap and as a person when not working. Always a social butterfly but denied the chance to be one many times, she now seizes the chance and will do whatever it takes to dazzle and shine. Always trying to get on the good side of new people by flattering them, doing things for them to be considered a good name for them. But if she feels wronged or offended by someone she is getting to know or knows well, the warmth evaporates quickly and she is less likely to be genteel to them anytime soon. And yet with real life and work life blurring dangerously together, there isn’t much of a difference between ‘Work Adalinda’ and ‘Not On the Job Adalinda’ besides the fact she is less likely to exchange real information or her past to them, giving out a fake phone number to the person if they ask or making up details about her childhood, her family life (she’s always an only child in these stories of her) and changing the subject if she can do that. She always her eye on that angle: What’s in it for her if she admits things about herself?

With things and people leaving her so often and in such dramatic/painful ways, she needs to be reassured that it’ll be worth the effort of chasing after it. She loves attention and flattery; she adores knowing that she won’t fade into the background after a short while. This causes her to have a hard time connecting with people. Really connecting with them on an intimate basis when not trying to get into their bed or into their head as she is afraid of being hurt again, worried that she’ll put her trust into the wrong hands and watch it shatter and break spectacularly in her face.

Because of this the values of loyalty and putting your utmost trust into someone and being able to know they will not backstab you are things Adalinda take very seriously. If you give her a vow or a promise, you best keep it and carry it out because she will do her best to uphold hers and expects others to do the same. If you don’t keep your word or find yourself unable to… Well, expect her to be disappointed with you and loss whatever trust she has in you. She’ll be distant and unwilling to approach you for help, looking for any option but you unless there is none left and she’ll still drag her feet about it. Thanks to her brother’s betrayal of the gang and leaving her behind after her making her feel worthless in the months before he left, this makes any inability to carry out their words sting even more as it reminds her of how she was abandoned by someone who seemed so trustworthy, so genuine.

Thanks to Matthew’s actions, she goes out of her way to be his exact opposite and have people know that. Part spite in her anger for him leaving her behind, part need to separate herself from her brother’s image and the expectations (and grudges) he had from the other members. She already was when they were together but she makes an effort to make it more obvious, making a big show of how carefree, cheerful and friendly she is in contrast of the somber and quiet man her brother was. She doesn't care much for the politics of the gang, staying clear of it and showing John Doe she cares little for his approval or disapproval of what she does outside of work. Long as she does a fantastic job, which she tries to make sure is the case, Adalinda tries to claim she isn't afraid of him and thinks of him as only her employer, and tries to make others believe she sees him as someone not to worship or fear. (The 'not worship' part is true. The 'not fear' part? Another different story as he comes off as unstable to her and she worries that he could drag her down into a mess of his one day.)

She’s more willing to indulge herself unlike Matthew's conservative nature, partying hard after a long day at work and chasing after boys and girls when she wants someone to share her bed. She loves to indulge herself in nice things, like clothes and jewelry and fantastic hobbies like learning to play the violin, and is rather vain as a result. She isn’t a slave to fashion or wealthy materials however. She likes the nice things in her life because she keeps finding herself denied nicer things. A stable home, a beloved big brother, a sense of security so she wraps herself in the latest fashions and the nicest jewels to make up for it. People come and go but, as Marilyn Monroe said (or someone famous did, she knows that much), diamonds are a girl's best friends.

Strengths:

Physical: Adalinda is a dexterous woman, quick-footed and flexible thanks to her age and fitness. She's in good health and keeps in shape thanks to training with her friends, James and Josephine Doe, and her desire to be on top of her game. She has a lot of energy in her and has good stamina, able to do a lot of activities. She has a pretty face and nice figure and knows how to dress to show this off as part of her job to attract attention and keep it to herself. Having endless bounds of energy, Adalinda can also take on a lot of tasks and not feel drained after work and can jump right into clubbing or shopping if she wants to.

James Doe also taught her the basics of how to use a gun seeing that they live in the 2000s and times for them are changing and some self-defense techniques, reminding her on using SING (Solar Plexus, Instep, Nose and Groin) if she's in a fight. She's graceful and elegant, her movements carrying a fluidity in her movements to it thanks to lessons with her fellow Honey Trap, Jade Doe and her swimming and tennis lessons. Don't let the daintiness fool you yet. She isn't afraid to fight dirty and will yank hair, bite, scratch and kick if she must. If she must. She likes to stay in style and will try to fight in style and attempts to show it by incorporate kicking somehow.

Mental: Liking to think herself as practical and sensible, Adalinda makes up for not being a genius like Anna or being able to bluff her smarts on culture and arts amazingly like Matthew in her own way. This is by being down-to-earth and having common sense as her personality section described. She's savvy when it comes to fashion of 2010. She has good intuition of a person most of the time, willing to trust her gut instincts on how to approach a situation first. She can speak a few languages, specifically French and Spanish, thanks to her willingness to study it and to practice it.

She isn't smart like others. Not by a long shot and makes up for it with her energy when it comes to studying things and taking notes and practicing to get something right. If she puts her mind to it, she can do a lot of things like play basic pieces on musical instruments or make a decent oil painting. She won't be the next Mozart or George Hayter but she can play a decent rendition of Chopsticks and she make a pretty-enough painting about a vase of flowers.

Emotional: Though living with the Doe gang for a good chunk of her life and what has happened to her, Adalinda has managed to retain a sense of normalcy and can be sociable and friendly if she wants to be. She'll be charming and sweet, patient and flattering to people she meets when she wants to make a good impression on people. She'll do her best to not lose her cool if doing that can harm her and thanks to living with a group of ambitious, ruthless criminals, she can do this by bottling up her feelings which can be good when she wants to reveal nothing. She has a soft spot for children, having empathy with them and is a loyal, steadfast person to the people she cares for.

Weaknesses

Physical: Take away her gun and she is now left with her fighting hand to hand. Which isn't saying much compared to people like Zhaojun, James and Josephine, John and Alice in the world. Not that she's weak or defenseless. She wouldn't have survived the streets of New York when the occasional issue like a heckler or harasser and she needs to scare them off. When compared to other people, she simply isn't as impressive in fighting and combat and is average at it. Very average There is a reason why John put her in as another Honey Trap and not as a Muscle. She is also thoroughly a human being and is susceptible to illnesses and strains. She never had any contact with Deck Magic despite her brother's contact to it thanks to, unknown to her, her sister-in-law who happens to be a Spade.

Mental: She likes to think she's practical and sensible. This isn't really the case due to her age and lack of experience compared to others in the gang and a lot of people out in the world. For one thing she's more guileless than she wants to believes she is, putting blind trust in the others if they care for her. If they show some signs of affection for her. She ends up thinking that they will always have her back or protect her from harm because that's what close companions are for, right? She's willing to turn a blind eye for the people she loves even if she knows it something is not right, like how Matthew got her nice things during the time he couldn't afford any of that. But she accepted it as it was and never questioned him because he was her brother, the last family member she had. Though she kind of learned her mistake the hard way with Matthew's running off, it's still there and it gets the better of her. For example: She expects others to just go along with her plans because they're her friends, never question what she does because she doesn't do that to them. It's why she had the idea to tell Jacob Doe the plan of hers in meeting the Woman, expecting him to be fine with it and not trying to stop her.

As it has been said before, time and again, she isn't smart. Smart-smart at the most. It shows if you put her side-by-side with someone like Anna Doe or Abigail Doe. She has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the criminal world, not knowing much of it besides her blackmail and seduction routine and doesn't bother to try with how she focuses on having fun/ignorance after all her work is over and she thinks she's proven enough of herself to them. Forgery is something that she cannot do on her own, unable to create a fake I.D or a court order. Chemical equations has her flubbing and grudgingly looking for help from someone who actually knows it. She knows how to clean a wound and when to bandage it or not but asking her to make a proper tourniquet to stop the bleeding of something is out of the question. Despite getting self-defense training she has from her friends, she remains largely ignorant when it comes to real fighting and combat skills and believes that you can kill someone if you punch someone's nose hard enough the nose bone will be driven up to their brain. There's a reason why John Doe looked at her and shuffled her off to be another Honey Trap.

Emotional: Underneath the smiles and winks, she is a serious mess when it comes to her emotions thanks to her turbulent life and what happened in it. Adalinda does not have confidence when it comes to other people if a tense situation arises, thinking in the back of her head they will mess it up and make it worse for her. The people she is loyal and steadfast for? Can be counted on one hand. No joke. Trust issues are in spades for her when it comes to personal relationships, unable to allow herself to let new people become closer to her beyond the casual acquaintanceship. Having been hurt before and being left behind too, she finds it easier to keep a large group of companions than have a small close group of friends. Why bother putting so much effort into confiding one person if they'll leave you one day or attempt to use your trust in them against you? It's happened to her before.

If she feels slighted or wrong, Adalinda can either be confrontational or bitter when she can no longer hold back her feelings or the bottling up becomes impossible to do anymore. In which she reacts spectacularly if that's the case. Confrontational is when she meets the person/issue head on, in an extremely aggressive fashion at that, and will not let go of the issue. If it is unresolved, she will be passive aggressive against the person. Be sweet to their face like nothing is wrong when reminding them, one way or another, of the issue between them. Bitter is when she shuns the person/issue instead, refusing to address the situation and giving it the cold shoulder or blatantly avoiding them until they come to her to apologize. See, it's not her fault in times like these. She knows it is but there's more blame to put on the other person, not wanting to admit that she may have a part in the disagreement between them. Sensibility and common sense go right out the window in these times as doing things like saying she might have been too forward means acknowledging her own faults. Something she loathes to do thanks to her pride and vanity.

She feels inadequate sometimes, believing that she never really got out of the shadow that is her brother's accomplishments. How she is inadequate, inept and will never satisfy the expectations people will have of her despite her best efforts. The strengths section shows she is a capable person in her way but she doesn't feel like that when in these moods. To her there is a measuring stick she must reach and she can never accomplish that. If she lets people fool her or get the better of her, she will fall into a quite tirade of self-loathing and try to think of a million ways of how she could have avoided being duped like that. Though she claims she doesn't care what John Doe thinks of her outside of work, she's terrified of angering him having heard stories of what he's done in the past and is anxious at the thought of Alice having a grudge against her for being the baby sister of a threat to her power. She fears failure and disappointment in general, not wanting to let people down somehow. The people she cares for, to be precise.

Special Powers/Abilities: N/A.

Anything else?: Adalinda came from another game that was OC-only but I've made major changes to her world's background and setting, and her personal history, so she can have a possibility to app here. The changes to her setting include: The Deck's society and how it functions, Rank and how one can get it, Deck Magic and how it works and if one can harness it and the world itself as part of a consequence with the Deck's existence. The changes of her personal history include: What happened to her after her brother left, her sister-in-law's involvement with the Doe gang, how her brother died and why her sister-in-law didn't enact her revenge right away and the status her family tree including the addition of a living niece due to the marriage of her brother and his wife and the meddling of Albert Doe.

The only important in-game CR she has has been altered and substituted with a different figure with a very different history from the one played in the OC game to distance her further from the original setting. I would also like for Adalinda to be able to find her necklace that is mentioned in the Personal History section, it being something of great importance to her and would like it back right away if she's accepted.

SAMPLES

First Person:

( She chooses to write in the journal for this announcement. Not trusting her voice to sustain her a sad yet positive tone throughout her interactions. Makes it easier for her to not slip up, make a mess of her important role today. She should have known better than believe the fool's words.

The camera is working, she sees as she smudges her makeup a bit and rubs her eyes a few times to look like she's crying. A 'tired' smile when the camera snaps a shot of her, freezing her lie forever and making it look like the truth for everyone to see. If anyone suspects otherwise, keeping acting. )

Hello everyone! It's me again, Adalinda. I know, I know-- You must be so tired of seeing my face these days! But this is something important for once. I thought you should all know about it.

A friend of mine -- You know who I am speaking of since we've been stuck to the hip. -- is now gone. No longer in the village for the newly arrived winglings we have. I've checked all the places they would have been before finally getting to their house. They left behind a box letters of us. I'll make some rounds to deliver the letters these are addressed to. Such a shame. Gone too soon, don't you all think?

( Keep smiling, keep looking sad. Make sure the camera gets you smiling and not gritting your teeth and looking pissed off. This is your biggest role yet, Addie. Acting like you still care for this person. Like you're not having the urge to tear out your hair in frustration for showing weakness. They didn't even stay around for seven-- )

Let's all try to keep a chin up despite this sad news! You know they wouldn't want us to be sad. In fact... I bet they would want us to celebrate getting out of here. ( They need to throw a party for them? Rub salt into the wounds? More like pouring lemon juice into it. ) How about we have a little party? Anyone interested in arranging this? Feel free to contact me so we can plan something together. I know they would want it that way.

Third Person: The humming is driving her crazy.

She joke (swore) to someone the other that she would take scissors to her ears and stab out her own eardrums if this kept up. Now she finds herself tempted to go through with her threats, the damn tune becoming more and more unbearable as the days pass by.

When she died and returned to the village after a dramatic and dangerous event that left her and other dead somehow, she thought she was one of the few lucky ones to come out without too much problem. Yes there was fogginess in her mind once and a while but it is nothing compared to what the others who were with her at the time of death were facing. Some lost their sight or their hearing. Others could no longer remember their loved ones names of faces. Adalinda could hear and see without a fault and can name and curse everyone that she thought of. She lost nothing special to her knowledge and she was glad for it since otherwise she would have to contact someone, John something, to be ‘fixed’ of her problem.

She didn’t need fixing. No. A little fogginess is something she can deal with. Fit as a fiddle. No need for people to start poking around her. She sucked it up and counted her blessings and told herself, ‘At least I’m not like them’ while she became a shoulder for them to cry on. Or be the subject of their envy. Better than admitting defeat.

Then the humming started a week after she returned from death.

It only happened at night, starting slow and steady. A man’s voice rumbling off the first few notes before getting higher in pitch and volume as he continued to croon out the soft melody. Instead of lulling her asleep, the voice only she could hear no matter how loud it seems to get had her on edge. The ends of her hair standing up in aversion of this mysterious source of nighttime music and making her listless and alert of everything around her. Her bedroom suddenly no longer felt safe. It starts to show on the shadows under her eyes, more like bruises with how they refuse to leave her fair features. It shows on the droop of her feathers that people note as she goes to the item bazaar or the grocery shop, shooting her concerned looks that she returned with vibrant smiles and held back sneers at their attempt to make her feel weak. (She knows it’s irrational to think like that. She knows she knows but oh God it’s been so long since she’s been without sleep.)

Adalinda starts dreading the night to come, curling up into a tight ball of self-loathing and confusion when the tune picks up. She presses herself into the wall as the humming goes on and on, feeling her feathers press against the cool surface while she’s left wondering where the hell the source was coming from.

(She never fully realizes at first that the humming is Matthew’s. It was the faded memories upon faded memories on top of each other at work. It was auditory recollection of him humming the same song that helped her fall asleep if she had awoken from a nightmare or was unable to drift off, being relieved thanks to her brush with death and her toxic feelings of remorse and anger and guilt and sorrow over the loss of the man she once thought, and will always think, as her big brother.

((When she does, she scrambles to find her journal as the window of her bedroom filters in the soft light of dawn. She had to contact a ‘John’ person to fix this mess she’s in, right?)) )