Post by Cora Odette Rossz on Mar 31, 2012 0:08:38 GMT -5
CORA ODETTE ROSSZ
FULL NAME: Cora Odette Rossz
NICK NAME: None. She thinks that Cora is short enough
AGE: 24
COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Magicks Apothecary
ORIENTATION: Straight, although she’s pretty asexual most of the time
FACE CLAIM: Camilla Belle
EYE COLOR: Dark, hazel-brown
HAIR COLOR: Dark brown, almost black
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT: 5’4”, 110 lbs.
DESCRIPTION: Cora’s always been small for her age, in height and weight, and it’s no different now that she’s grown. She doesn’t have much in the way of curves, and her extreme skinniness isn’t helped by the fact that she’ll often forget to eat or forgo meals in exchange for coffee. She tries to combat this by wearing clothes that hide her size behind layers of bold colors and interesting prints, because she’s found that by wearing bohemian-style clothing, people tend to just generally assume that she’s some kind of hippie grad student as opposed to a starving girl that they need to force-feed a sandwich. The flowy skirts and complex patterns also allow Cora to wear some of her Romanian grandmother’s jewelry and charms without them standing out.
True to her heritage, Cora’s skin is olive-toned and her hair and eyes are dark. She has high cheekbones and thick, prominent eyebrows that give her a serious, striking look. Cora’s nose is straight and small, and her mouth is a little wide for her thin, sharp jawline. She’s pretty enough, but not exactly open or friendly-looking.
Whenever M takes over, the change is quite obvious, both in the way she holds her body and face, and in the way she dresses. While Cora is self-confident, Maleficent is entirely arrogant, and her posture changes noticeably. Cora prefers laid-back layers (or simple, classic cuts when she needs to dress up), but M likes to show off. If M is running wild in Cora’s body, you can bet that it’ll be in a killer dress and sky-high heels.
PERSONALITY: Cora is an extremely introverted young woman, and most days she lives more up in her head than she does in the real world. Some people call her shy, but she’s really just quiet. It’s not that she’s scared of social situations, she just…doesn’t like them. Most of the time she doesn’t understand the strange, complex rules that govern human behavior, and she prefers the concrete world of scientific facts and figures—she’s comfortable there, and it makes sense to her. She’s incredibly intelligent and clever, and it’s rare for facts to slip her memory, although she might forget her neighbor’s name. Most nights she’d prefer to be curled up with a book, or up late fiddling with some new experiment. She avoids crowds whenever possible, and, although she doesn’t hate people in general, she hardly makes friends easily.
Being incredibly logical, Cora is a problem-solver by nature. She’s efficient and she likes to get things done quickly, and she actually prefers actions over words. In grad school, she’d sometimes type up the lab report by herself while her research partners bickered over some unnecessary wording, and then turn it in before they even stopped yelling. It can make her seem a bit opportunistic, but Cora is just realistic to a fault. It took several outright pieces of hard evidence before she even believed she was being possessed by the spirit of a Disney character, and even now she spends a good deal of her time trying to rationalize this town and this situation.
Cora is detached from most things, and has been called cold and even sociopathic on her worst days. She doesn’t make connections like other people, and, although she’s incredibly intelligent, she has a hard time grasping social norms. She’ll criticize people without realizing that it might hurt their feelings. She’ll walk away from a conversation when she’s done, not knowing that it seems rude to other people. Men who attempt to flirt with her will literally have to spell out what they want before Cora gets the clue. She’s patient and near unflappable, which means she stays cool under pressure and has absolutely zero problems waiting around to get what she wants.
That being said, Cora usually gets what she wants. This stubborn streak was encouraged by Maleficent’s presence in Cora’s head from a young age, and, although M is much more spoiled and temperamental than her host, her ambition has worn off on Cora. When Cora makes plans, she expects to finish them.
She may seem like a prime candidate for villainy, but the truth is that Cora has no intentions of crushing the world beneath the heel of her boot. Cora’s ambition usually orbits around attaining knowledge, and she prefers avoiding people to having power over them. The few times that Cora does form an emotional attachment (like to her family) she’s loyal and dedicated. Although she might not know how to show it, Cora does occasionally form real human relationships with other people. She also has a strong set of rules for herself, and takes pleasure in self-deprivation to prove her own willpower. She’s disciplined enough to keep a good hold over Maleficent at most times, and it drives her crazy when the witch takes control of her body.
The vindictiveness and cruelty that Maleficent is known for isn’t shared by her host. Cora isn’t spiteful or power-hungry, and the emotions and desires that Maleficent send through Cora’s mind make the girl uncomfortable. She’s learning to hate the voice in her head, especially as it gets louder and more prominent.
HOMETOWN: New York City
FAMILY MEMBERS:
Alexander Rossz, father
Bianca Rossz, mother
Crina Constantin, grandmother
HISTORY: Like many first-generation immigrants to the United States, Alexander and Bianca Rossz worked harder than anyone thought was healthy and dreamed big dreams for their only daughter, Cora. They wanted the best for her, and so they worked their fingers to the bone every day in the tiny little restaurant in New York City, choosing to provide for Cora’s future instead of spend time with her. Not that Cora minded—even from a young age, the girl was quiet, composed, and oddly introverted. She preferred playing by herself, and she wouldn’t even open her mouth around people she didn’t know. Because her parents were always working, Cora’s rearing was left to her heavily Romanian grandmother, a superstitious old woman who basically enforced ‘creepy old woman’ stereotypes for many of her neighbors. She’d put the evil eye on the mailman when he looked at her the wrong way, and spent most of her days sitting in her rocking chair and telling old wives tales to Cora, who took quite an interest, even if she didn’t quite believe them.
When she was six years old, Cora got an imaginary friend and called her ‘M’. No one really paid it much attention—apparently, having imaginary friends was normal for children in America, especially for shy children like Cora. The odd thing was that Cora never had tea parties with M. She never actually played with her, just occasionally mentioned her name when talking about her day. Cora was an exceptionally bright little girl, but strange things began to happen in her kindergarten class that sheer cleverness just couldn’t explain. She could locate Vietnam and Honduras on a map, and she read faster than any six-year-old had a right to. ”How did you learn such things, Cora?” She would shrug. ”M showed me how.”
In elementary school, Cora had a hard time making friends. She preferred reading in the school library, and it was only after much encouragement that she attempted to play with the other kids during recess. She tried, at first, but her quiet nature and the fact that she wore thrift store clothes and had weird food in her lunch box made the other children laugh and taunt her. One day a little boy pushed her off of the see-saw and told her that she was weird and she wasn’t invited to play with them anymore. Cora snapped, and shoved him so hard that he bloodied his nose on the ground. Cora’s parents were shocked beyond belief when they came to pick her up—she’d always been so calm before. Why had she resorted to violence? ”M told me to do it.”
After that, Cora’s parents told her that it was time to get rid of M. She was too old for this silly nonsense. Obediently, Cora stopped talking about M. But she never stopped hearing her. M wasn’t always there, but occasionally she’d make a nasty comment about the popular girls in middle school, or to teach Cora a difficult concept in Biology. Cora was an incredibly smart girl, but it was M’s guidance that made her ambitious. Her head was filled with ideas and dreams and possibilities, and Cora began to gleefully plan for a future away from the overcrowded mess of humanity that was New York’s schooling system. She gained a lot of faith in the strange voice that was M, and when M suggested that Cora try something new, Cora of course accepted. She gathered a bunch of ingredients from a specialty grocery store in her neighborhood and mixed them together, chanting something over them. Cora was sure something spectacular would happen, but her grandmother walked into her room and caught her. The old woman started yelling in Romanian, and threw the brew out the window and into the street. More than her fit of anger, though, Grandmother seemed afraid of Cora. She wouldn’t tell her why—wouldn’t even tell her why she freaked out. She just started hanging up strange charms around the house, and insisting on praying over Cora before she went to bed. Gran also insisted that Cora use a special, homemade salt body scrub.
Oddly enough, M went away after that. Cora didn’t hear from her for years. All through high school, in fact. Cora stayed quiet, kept to herself, and read every book she could get her hands on. She graduated first in her class and got a scholarship to NYU, where she made the first real friends she’d ever had in her life. She had a plan for her life, and she intended to achieve it. Two years into college, Cora’s grandmother died of a sudden stroke. While she mourned, Cora found solace in the arms of one of her few friends, and began to date him. They moved in together for Cora’s junior year, but then Cora caught him with another girl in their apartment a few months later. All of a sudden, M was back. Ever since her grandmother’s death Cora had felt the familiar presence in the corners of her mind, but this was something she had never experienced before. M took over, and when Cora came to she was in a hospital. Apparently she’d had to be forcibly subdued—she’d been chanting in a nonexistent language and raving and, apparently, really hurting her boyfriend, although the paramedics who were on scene were sure Cora wasn’t even touching him.
Cora finally realized that something wasn’t right with M. For the first time in her life, she tried to block the voice in her mind. She locked M in a corner of her brain while doctors ran tests to find why she heard a voice in her head. Her brain scans showed no signs of schizophrenia, and the doctors were unable to find a physiological reason for Cora’s “delusions”. They prescribed her medication anyways, and that and a strict regimen of self-discipline and mental will-power got Cora through college and into grad school, where she pursued a Masters in Chemistry.
Unfortunately, M didn’t stay away forever. She was too smart, and too powerful. Eventually she got around the barriers Cora had set up, and started talking to her again. She tried to stay calm and friendly and helpful, because she knew Cora wasn’t exactly receptive and open anymore. Cora tried to ignore her, but it wasn’t easy. Sometimes M was downright helpful with research projects, and despite her host’s best efforts, M became a regular visitor in her head. M even started to show Cora the impossible things she could do if she just put her mind to it…things that almost seemed like magic…
Cora got her Masters degree, but before she could begin her job at a forensics lab in Chicago, a letter arrived in the mail. The strangest letter that Cora had ever received—something about being possessed by a spirit. M told her to ignore it. M had worked so hard to keep her host hidden from that nasty little town in Maine—she didn’t want to go there and live within the confines of a story. She had muddled through almost 20 years with her host, trying to make her friendly and ready to carry out M’s plans. She hadn’t even told the girl her real name, because she wasn’t stupid—knowing who she was would make Cora resistant and unhappy with her cause.
Unfortunately, Cora couldn’t get the letter out of her head. Something about it just…felt right. She had to investigate further. Cora postponed her job for what she thought would be a short, informative stay in Memory, Maine. She only found out later that she couldn’t easily leave once she was there, and these days M is becoming increasingly active and hard to suppress.
DISNEY CHARACTER: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
STATUS: Awakened, in the sense that Maleficent and Cora communicate often and influence each other, but they have not yet merged, and Cora intends to keep it that way. Maleficent has never revealed her actual identity, choosing to be known as ‘M’, but Cora is smart enough to guess at the identity of the spirit possessing her.
ABILITIES/ATTRIBUTES: Seeing as Cora is being possessed by an incredibly powerful witch, she has gained a good many abilities since coming to Memory. She is very gifted with magic, and spells come to her like second nature now, so long as she has a spellbook. Her background in chemistry makes Cora a natural at potion-making, even stronger than Maleficent would be on her own. Her power and abilities are growing, which is worrying for Cora and for everyone in Memory. Cora has this annoying tendency to draw black birds to her, especially ravens, and this is an attribute that she would happily give up—the birds watching her from windows or telephone wires is getting creepy. Maleficent, of course, can change herself into a dragon, but this is not something Cora could ever do on her own. In fact, Cora could be much more powerful if she let M more fully into her mind, but she doesn’t like the idea.
DESCRIPTION: Because M started talking to Cora and collaborating with her at a young age, the spirit has a certain degree of influence with her host. The two began to fuse at a very early stage, and just as Maleficent made Cora ambitious and crafty, Cora in turn rubbed off on the witch, making her patient and incredibly logical. This is a dangerous combination, especially considering how powerful Maleficent is in her own right. At the moment M is just a voice or a feeling in the back of her host’s mind, but it’s sure not going to stay that way forever.
Although the two might have fused in the beginning, Cora and M are far from the same person. As soon as Cora began to realize that something was…off…about the voice in her head, she pulled away from it. The two women stopped melting together, and although they still communicate, they are completely different entities. Although “M” is still what the spirit refers to herself as, her host knows her true identity but is a little scared to confront it. Cora has a strong internal set of rules, and although they may not line up with societal ethics, Cora does not like breaking them or allowing M to break them. She keeps the witch contained in her mind most days, and she’s increasingly at odds with the voice in her head as Maleficent grows more agitated with all the familiar characters that live in Memory. M is vying for more leeway with her host’s actions, and Cora is far less likely to give it to her.
This has resulted in a very odd situation, not unlike Dissociative Identity Disorder, or “multiple personalities”. The two are irreversibly connected, but not friendly. Cora won’t let M fuse with her anymore, so when the spirit pushes hard enough, instead of making Cora do something, she simply takes over the girl’s body. She can never manage to stay in full control for very long and Cora always pops back, confused and upset, but the more often Maleficent takes her host’s body out for a joy ride, the better she gets at it and the longer she stays before Cora regains control. Already an incredibly frightening and powerful Disney villain, Maleficent would wreak havoc on Memory if she and Cora fused completely. The girl adds a detached, patient, logical side to Maleficent’s raw power, and would not bode well for the Disney protagonists.
YOUR NAME: Jenn
YOUR AGE: 19
YOUR RP EXPERIENCE: Like…7 years, off and on
YOUR SAMPLE:
Any athletic skill Ada had possessed in childhood and early adolescence had been eradicated by her mother when she decided that sports made her daughter violent. All through middle and high school Ada wasn’t even allowed to participate in any “taxing exercises” in gym class, thanks to some doctor’s note her mother had weaseled out of one of the series of psychiatrists Ada had been dragged to. As a child she’d been more active than any other kid at school: three sports teams, raw talent, and boundless energy supply. Her dad had kept up the training for…a while, even after her parents separated. Ada flinched away from the memories and concentrated on the present. She’d gotten the mother of all wake-up calls when she enrolled in battle magic classes at Ipswitch. The warriors there made her aware of how soft she’d become over the past six years.
The air was crisp and clear that afternoon, good practicing weather. She knew the soccer team was running drills on the field, but she wasn’t on the team…yet. The past year and a half she’d been working out intensely, trying to keep up with the other students in her classes. They were much more advanced than her, and she only managed to keep up in her classes by sheer power of will. The first few weeks of last semester, she’d barely been able to roll out of bed in the mornings, her muscles were so stiff. But now it was paying off—she had more stamina, more muscle control, and she was catching up. Slowly, but anything was good. Maybe she’d join a sports team soon. Ada had been shopping around, talking to coaches, sitting in on practices—trying to find one she was passionate about. She’d always been a volleyball girl, but they didn’t have a team at Ipswitch. Tennis wasn’t competitive enough for Ada—she needed the race, the get-up-in-your-face sort of game. The baseball team wasn’t practicing at the moment, so she made up her mind to go see how much she remembered about the game.
The walk over cleared her mind. Ipswitch really did have a beautiful campus, despite the fact that it had miserable weather for half the year. She could hear the crack of a baseball bat long before she could see the diamond. The sound was familiar in an odd sort of nostalgic way, but it made Ada frown: she thought the diamond might be open, so she could take a few clumsy swings at a ball. There weren’t any voices, though, and that much was weird. Team practices were never so quiet. When she could finally get a good view of the diamond, there was only one person inside. A tall, athletic guy was picking up baseballs from the outfield. Ada recognized him…Stryder, a fourth year warrior at the top of his class.
He wasn’t exactly the friendly sort, and didn’t exactly seem like he wanted company. But she’d walked all the way out here, and Ada wasn’t really known for exiting a situation gracefully. The gate was open, so she strolled inside. Picking up a baseball from a clump of grass, she tossed it absently between her hands as she approached him. ”Hey, Stryder,” she said with a grin when she was a few feet away. ”Think this diamond’s big enough for the both of us?”
