Paris Mercout (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oceanschild) wrote2019-04-20 09:37 am
oceanschild) wrote2019-04-20 09:37 am
Application for Aefenglom
Player Information
Name: Bookie
Age: 28
Contact: plurk is bookworm12890 (for some reason my code kept breaking if i actually linked it???)
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Paris Mercout
Canon: Original
Canon Point: Right after his escape from the Righteous
Age: 21
History:
In Paris's world, there is magic in the earth and everything in nature; specifically, spirits that hold domain over specific areas, wildlife, etc. (Technology is very limited at his canon point, roughly medieval level, but as it advances, a few spirits have cropped up that hold their domain over certain things, but they are at this point very rare and many people, including Paris, think that it's only natural things that have spirits.) Spirits are sort of similar to most versions of the Fae, albeit friendlier overall, but generally consider themselves separate from (and superior to) humans, can change their physical manifestations at will, and have some element of control over their domain. Most spirits keep to themselves, but magic is in fairly common use, many people making bargains with spirits for small tricks or companionship or a variety of other things. Spirits have, over the course of history, periodically mated with humans, and it isn't uncommon for someone to be able to trace their bloodline back several generations to a spirit. This sometimes grants the descendent abilities similar to a spirit's, but much weaker. However, not all spirits like to play nice, and periodically they will possess unsuspecting (or more often, cocky and thought they could get away with something) humans.
Paris was born on the coast of France to a human woman and the spirit of the ocean. They lived near a small village where his mother worked in a bakery. Paris mostly stayed around their cottage, however; though spirit heritage was common enough, it was considerably less common for the heritage to be so recent and from such a powerful spirit. It didn't help that Paris, essentially been half spirit, was kind of a wild child. He did not mean to be, always being polite and on the shy side, but he found it impossible to stay still, always looked like he'd just stepped off a boat with constantly unruly hair, and half the time would show up to any given place soaking wet. In addition, he found it very difficult to moderate his emotions, with mood swings often as violent as the changes in the ocean. He was considered by some to be dangerous to be around and spent much of his youth isolated as a result.
When he was younger, his mother was his primary caregiver, and once he was past the toddler stage would just leave him alone at their home when she went into the bakery in the early morning hours. Paris would sometimes spend the time with one of the families nearby, but more often than not would spend his days in the ocean. He doesn't quite remember how he learned how to swim, but he suspects part of it was natural instinct and part help by the spirit of the ocean looking out for him. One day when he was about 8, after bemoaning the fact that he didn't have anyone to play with, a ray spirit emerged from the water to play in it with him and began following him around from then on; Paris is pretty sure the ocean sent her, which combined with the help in not drowning made him feel like his 'father' was still looking out for him even though they had never really spoken.
His relationship with his mother was very close; she too was kind of isolated from the rest of the village since while being pregnant out of wedlock by a spirit was generally overlooked, being a single mother wasn't. She would spend any time with Paris that she could, teaching him to cook and bake and generally how to take care of himself along with anything else she could teach him. (This did not include reading.) For the record, Paris is also the name of a city in his world and he is named after it; it is still known as the city of lights thanks to spirit intervention, and he was named after it because his mother said he was her light. He has never decided if that's ridiculous or really sweet.
As he entered adulthood, he never really had any intention of leaving his home. He was sort of lonely and desperately wanted more people to talk to, but the idea of leaving the ocean and his mother was also incredibly unappealing. However, one day a group of travelers came to town and a few picked up on the amount of power he had. They, for their purposes, convinced him to travel with him to the city, acting very friendly with him and generally insisting that there was more for him to do there. Paris didn't consider that they might have ulterior motives, latching on to even the facsimile of closeness and agreeing to go along.
Immediately after arriving in the city, Paris decided that he hated it. He was incredibly overwhelmed by how many people were there and many of them were not helpful or friendly in the slightest. To his great alarm, he discovered that the group he'd been travelling with brought him there with the intent to sell him to a group that was attempting to capture spirit's magic for themselves, believing Paris's presence in a ritual (or his blood) would allow them to bind spirits to them and use their magic without needing to bargain.( The group is call the Righteous, because they believe it is their duty to bring the 'lesser' beings of spirits to heel. Paris doesn't know this, because he's not great at paying attention when people are dropping obvious exposition.)
His first attempt to escape failed miserably, and the group did manage to use him to bind a minor spirit (the one of a nearby river) to them. His second attempt was a success, thanks to his ray spirit friend managing to find him and help, but now that they knew he was valuable and possibly the key to their plan they were going to hunt him down. Unable to go home and largely unequipped to deal with the outside world, Paris fled, hoping to both escape their clutches and eventually free the spirit they had trapped.
Personality:
Paris is, first and foremost, a polite and reasonably friendly young man, albeit a very shy one. A lot of said friendliness is driven out of a desperation for affection and any kind of connection. He's spent most of his life isolated and really, really doesn't want to stay that way if he doesn't have to. Showing him just a bit of kindness can lead to him following you around like a stray puppy. However, he is often very unsympathetic about much of anything that he doesn't feel a personal connection to. He wants to save the river spirit because he was involved in the spirit's capture and because he feels a sort of kinship with any spirit of the water; however, if there was a person captured by the Righteous, unless it served his goals it wouldn't occur to him to try and help. He sort of expects everyone to look out for themselves in the world, and therefore he'll generally only reach out if it's someone who he cares for or who has helped him in turn. In a way, he has the same bargaining mentality as a lot of spirits; nothing comes for free. The only exception is the people who have befriended him, who he'll do most anything for without question.
Because of the sheltered life Paris lived until recently, he's pretty naive; not trusting, exactly, but he doesn't generally assume people would lie or have ill intentions unless they prove themselves to be less than savory. This isn't really helped by the fact that Paris himself is kind of an awful liar and prefers never to tell direct lies, instead just talking around things when he can. His mother believes this to be a result of his spirit heritage, as many spirits are actually incapable of lying. Most of his reasoning for talking around people is pretty selfish, either for the benefit of what he wants or for those few that he's attached himself to. He can be pretty manipulative, though he doesn't realize it.
Even though he's not as volatile as he was as a child, Paris is still not very stable emotionally- he's mostly just gotten better at hiding it. He doesn't generally get angry at the general population, because he doesn't expect anything of them, but he does get dangerously angry when he feels he's be betrayed or deceived in some manner by people he likes. In contrast, the smallest acts of kindness from strangers make him ridiculously happy, and he's even happier around people who seem to actually like him. He falls into friendships (and other relationships) easily and can fall out of them just as quickly if they act outside of what he expects. However, during any relationship, he is fiercely loyal and devoted.
Paris doesn't exactly have low self-esteem, but he does tend to be a doormat in dealing with any kind of day-to-day confrontation and assumes that due to his lack of experience in the world that most people know better than him. The few exceptions to this are magic and the nature of spirits, and baking. Insulting his baking is one of the few ways to truly make him angry without straight up stabbing him in the back or otherwise betraying him.
Abilities & Skills:
He can breathe underwater (sea water is more comfortable, but he can make do in fresh), communicate with sea/marine animals including sea birds, can heal using salt water, and can manipulate the ocean if he is currently standing in it. He's also a very powerful swimmer, a decent cook, and an excellent baker, though that's from practice.
Inventory/Companions: The only thing coming with him (other than his clothes) will be Aeto, his spirit companion. Aeto does technically have domain over a subspecies of rays (specifically, Aetomylaeus bovinus, also known as the bull ray), but she's a pretty minor spirit. She prefers to be in sea water, but can create her own bubble of it if she needs to be away from the water for long, and otherwise acts as kind of a guard dog to Paris, for the most part just hanging around and keeping him company, but she will sting anyone who tries to hurt him. She can talk, but Paris actually doesn't know that because she's literally never done it around him.
She can use her 'wings' to fly short distances, but she gets tired easily and mostly has to waddle. She's usually the size of a large dog, but can change her size up to about 8 ft in length (and sometimes becomes smaller so Paris can carry her).
Choice: Monster; Merrow
Reason: He's… basically a merman anyway, having actual fins and stuff would actually make him super happy.
Sample: Here
Name: Bookie
Age: 28
Contact: plurk is bookworm12890 (for some reason my code kept breaking if i actually linked it???)
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Paris Mercout
Canon: Original
Canon Point: Right after his escape from the Righteous
Age: 21
History:
In Paris's world, there is magic in the earth and everything in nature; specifically, spirits that hold domain over specific areas, wildlife, etc. (Technology is very limited at his canon point, roughly medieval level, but as it advances, a few spirits have cropped up that hold their domain over certain things, but they are at this point very rare and many people, including Paris, think that it's only natural things that have spirits.) Spirits are sort of similar to most versions of the Fae, albeit friendlier overall, but generally consider themselves separate from (and superior to) humans, can change their physical manifestations at will, and have some element of control over their domain. Most spirits keep to themselves, but magic is in fairly common use, many people making bargains with spirits for small tricks or companionship or a variety of other things. Spirits have, over the course of history, periodically mated with humans, and it isn't uncommon for someone to be able to trace their bloodline back several generations to a spirit. This sometimes grants the descendent abilities similar to a spirit's, but much weaker. However, not all spirits like to play nice, and periodically they will possess unsuspecting (or more often, cocky and thought they could get away with something) humans.
Paris was born on the coast of France to a human woman and the spirit of the ocean. They lived near a small village where his mother worked in a bakery. Paris mostly stayed around their cottage, however; though spirit heritage was common enough, it was considerably less common for the heritage to be so recent and from such a powerful spirit. It didn't help that Paris, essentially been half spirit, was kind of a wild child. He did not mean to be, always being polite and on the shy side, but he found it impossible to stay still, always looked like he'd just stepped off a boat with constantly unruly hair, and half the time would show up to any given place soaking wet. In addition, he found it very difficult to moderate his emotions, with mood swings often as violent as the changes in the ocean. He was considered by some to be dangerous to be around and spent much of his youth isolated as a result.
When he was younger, his mother was his primary caregiver, and once he was past the toddler stage would just leave him alone at their home when she went into the bakery in the early morning hours. Paris would sometimes spend the time with one of the families nearby, but more often than not would spend his days in the ocean. He doesn't quite remember how he learned how to swim, but he suspects part of it was natural instinct and part help by the spirit of the ocean looking out for him. One day when he was about 8, after bemoaning the fact that he didn't have anyone to play with, a ray spirit emerged from the water to play in it with him and began following him around from then on; Paris is pretty sure the ocean sent her, which combined with the help in not drowning made him feel like his 'father' was still looking out for him even though they had never really spoken.
His relationship with his mother was very close; she too was kind of isolated from the rest of the village since while being pregnant out of wedlock by a spirit was generally overlooked, being a single mother wasn't. She would spend any time with Paris that she could, teaching him to cook and bake and generally how to take care of himself along with anything else she could teach him. (This did not include reading.) For the record, Paris is also the name of a city in his world and he is named after it; it is still known as the city of lights thanks to spirit intervention, and he was named after it because his mother said he was her light. He has never decided if that's ridiculous or really sweet.
As he entered adulthood, he never really had any intention of leaving his home. He was sort of lonely and desperately wanted more people to talk to, but the idea of leaving the ocean and his mother was also incredibly unappealing. However, one day a group of travelers came to town and a few picked up on the amount of power he had. They, for their purposes, convinced him to travel with him to the city, acting very friendly with him and generally insisting that there was more for him to do there. Paris didn't consider that they might have ulterior motives, latching on to even the facsimile of closeness and agreeing to go along.
Immediately after arriving in the city, Paris decided that he hated it. He was incredibly overwhelmed by how many people were there and many of them were not helpful or friendly in the slightest. To his great alarm, he discovered that the group he'd been travelling with brought him there with the intent to sell him to a group that was attempting to capture spirit's magic for themselves, believing Paris's presence in a ritual (or his blood) would allow them to bind spirits to them and use their magic without needing to bargain.( The group is call the Righteous, because they believe it is their duty to bring the 'lesser' beings of spirits to heel. Paris doesn't know this, because he's not great at paying attention when people are dropping obvious exposition.)
His first attempt to escape failed miserably, and the group did manage to use him to bind a minor spirit (the one of a nearby river) to them. His second attempt was a success, thanks to his ray spirit friend managing to find him and help, but now that they knew he was valuable and possibly the key to their plan they were going to hunt him down. Unable to go home and largely unequipped to deal with the outside world, Paris fled, hoping to both escape their clutches and eventually free the spirit they had trapped.
Personality:
Paris is, first and foremost, a polite and reasonably friendly young man, albeit a very shy one. A lot of said friendliness is driven out of a desperation for affection and any kind of connection. He's spent most of his life isolated and really, really doesn't want to stay that way if he doesn't have to. Showing him just a bit of kindness can lead to him following you around like a stray puppy. However, he is often very unsympathetic about much of anything that he doesn't feel a personal connection to. He wants to save the river spirit because he was involved in the spirit's capture and because he feels a sort of kinship with any spirit of the water; however, if there was a person captured by the Righteous, unless it served his goals it wouldn't occur to him to try and help. He sort of expects everyone to look out for themselves in the world, and therefore he'll generally only reach out if it's someone who he cares for or who has helped him in turn. In a way, he has the same bargaining mentality as a lot of spirits; nothing comes for free. The only exception is the people who have befriended him, who he'll do most anything for without question.
Because of the sheltered life Paris lived until recently, he's pretty naive; not trusting, exactly, but he doesn't generally assume people would lie or have ill intentions unless they prove themselves to be less than savory. This isn't really helped by the fact that Paris himself is kind of an awful liar and prefers never to tell direct lies, instead just talking around things when he can. His mother believes this to be a result of his spirit heritage, as many spirits are actually incapable of lying. Most of his reasoning for talking around people is pretty selfish, either for the benefit of what he wants or for those few that he's attached himself to. He can be pretty manipulative, though he doesn't realize it.
Even though he's not as volatile as he was as a child, Paris is still not very stable emotionally- he's mostly just gotten better at hiding it. He doesn't generally get angry at the general population, because he doesn't expect anything of them, but he does get dangerously angry when he feels he's be betrayed or deceived in some manner by people he likes. In contrast, the smallest acts of kindness from strangers make him ridiculously happy, and he's even happier around people who seem to actually like him. He falls into friendships (and other relationships) easily and can fall out of them just as quickly if they act outside of what he expects. However, during any relationship, he is fiercely loyal and devoted.
Paris doesn't exactly have low self-esteem, but he does tend to be a doormat in dealing with any kind of day-to-day confrontation and assumes that due to his lack of experience in the world that most people know better than him. The few exceptions to this are magic and the nature of spirits, and baking. Insulting his baking is one of the few ways to truly make him angry without straight up stabbing him in the back or otherwise betraying him.
Abilities & Skills:
He can breathe underwater (sea water is more comfortable, but he can make do in fresh), communicate with sea/marine animals including sea birds, can heal using salt water, and can manipulate the ocean if he is currently standing in it. He's also a very powerful swimmer, a decent cook, and an excellent baker, though that's from practice.
Inventory/Companions: The only thing coming with him (other than his clothes) will be Aeto, his spirit companion. Aeto does technically have domain over a subspecies of rays (specifically, Aetomylaeus bovinus, also known as the bull ray), but she's a pretty minor spirit. She prefers to be in sea water, but can create her own bubble of it if she needs to be away from the water for long, and otherwise acts as kind of a guard dog to Paris, for the most part just hanging around and keeping him company, but she will sting anyone who tries to hurt him. She can talk, but Paris actually doesn't know that because she's literally never done it around him.
She can use her 'wings' to fly short distances, but she gets tired easily and mostly has to waddle. She's usually the size of a large dog, but can change her size up to about 8 ft in length (and sometimes becomes smaller so Paris can carry her).
Choice: Monster; Merrow
Reason: He's… basically a merman anyway, having actual fins and stuff would actually make him super happy.
Sample: Here