Post by seiren on Jul 12, 2012 11:27:41 GMT -5
Name: Julia Bryant
Gender: Female
Date of birth [Age]: 13th August 1997 [14]
Appearance: Julia is 4’5” in height; all of the women in her family have been small and, due to a childhood with little exercise and malnutrition, her growth has been further stunted; she is skeletally thin and ghostly pale, a residue from a distinct lack of exercise and sunshine in her childhood. She has a curvy figure, although this is due more to starvation than it is the onset of puberty; she has yet to achieve any sort of fullness, and is still very much a child in appearance. She does not appear to be any younger than what she is, just a very small fourteen-year-old.
Julia might be considered cute by some, by virtue of her delicate, rounded facial features, with a straight nose slightly curved at the tip and dusted with freckles, although her face is almost-always set in either a lip-pursed frown or an icy glare, which spoils the effect noticeably. She has clear, yet cold, light blue eyes, which her emotions do not seem to reach; looking into her eyes does not tell anyone much of her current state of mind and, whilst her body language and tone and facial expressions more than communicate this, one may get a certain feeling of detachment from looking into Julia’s eyes which, considering the intensity of the emotions she displays, is remarkably eerie at times. Julia keeps her dirty blonde hair cut short, being just long enough to cover her ears, which are slightly up-swept – something she despises, and prefers to keep hidden – but not long enough to touch her shoulders; the longer it gets, the heavier and curlier it gets, making it a nuisance to manage…there is another reason she prefers to keep it short as well; it gives Illyria (see below) less to move around in.
Julia’s hands appear to be slightly larger than is average for a girl of her size and stature, although this is a result of poor blood circulation; her hands are almost spider-like in appearance; and her nails are finely trimmed. Her left hand is usually covered by a white glove, being the more sensitive of the two, even in the summer, and tends to be remarkably dry; Julia dislikes the feel of moisturizing cream on her hands, so she chooses to cover up the offending hand instead, which is slightly odd…although a single glove will not draw attention, considering the rest of her attire.
With the exception of her right hand and her face, Julia always covers herself from head to toe; she will even wear a scarf around her neck in the middle of summer, and damn how uncomfortable it might make her; if she could find a way to implement it without looking like a complete fool, she’d probably wear a veil or a balaclava. She burns easily, and hates the feeling of being exposed, and by extension, vulnerable. Her clothing is designed to hide as much of her form as possible; she dislikes the feel of people’s eyes on her, which is somewhat contrary to her loud, attention-seeking personality.
Regardless of her chosen attire, one thing remains a constant: a white, hooded cotton coat covers her. Being a size too big for her, she has to roll up the sleeves – or grabs at them constantly with the tips of her fingers – and it falls down to her knees, making it occasionally difficult to walk in, particularly going uphill. Cinched at the waist by a belt and always done up, were it not for the material and the fact that she rarely has the hood up, it would be almost an anorak; it was designed for a woman of at least 5’0” in height. She prefers muted colours; dark browns, blues and occasionally reds, when she must wear colours at all; normally, she is clad entirely in black, white or grey. Colour just doesn’t suit her, in her opinion.
History:
Julia did not have what one might call an ordinary childhood. The second child of an accountant and a receptionist, the two had an excellent system worked out: she would work mornings, he would work evenings, and as a result the two never had to see one another, except for weekends…at which point she slept during the evenings, and he slept during the mornings. Theirs was a marriage of convenience, and Julia was a result of their indiscretion (or, quite possibly, just her mother’s) and not a priority in their lives. As quickly as she was born, Julia was forgotten about by her parents, who were quite content to leave her to fend for herself; wasn’t it enough that they worked every hour of every day to keep their children in comfort? They could hardly be expected to watch them as well, could they? In their day, children had not been tended to constantly, and she’d never learn anything if they had to hold her hand throughout her life. Better that she learn the lesson that she could only rely on herself before she became dependent on anyone.
However, she had an older sister, Freya, who took care of her for much of her life. Eight years her senior, Freya had been abandoned by their parents in much the same way at a young age, and over the years had learned to become self-sufficient, at least to a point that she wouldn’t burn the house down…although it was a close thing once or twice. Freya was a little strange – indeed, she seemed to spend more time daydreaming about the most bizarre things than she did anything else – but she was quite capable of taking care of her little sister, and she was affectionate where it counted. Julia did grow up unloved, as she would claim now, but from her parents only: Freya was highly supportive of her little sister, and became very much the mother figure for her whilst she was growing up.
But there is a key difference between a sister and a mother, and the lack of a father figure in her life affected Julia as well: she developed something of a phobia of boys when she went to school – beyond the standard aversion that boys and girls of that age have for one another – and, children being children, picked up on this and exploited it. Julia hardened very quickly, having no friends her own age, and learning that the only way for her to get people to leave her alone was to shout at them until they decided it wasn’t worth the effort…as she would grow older, she learned that sarcasm and contempt was far better than shouting (and in any case, what right did they have to single her out? She was far more intelligent than they were!) but from a young age, she had few people she would even think of as friends even when it suited them to be seen with her, and spent most of her time reading, huddled up in her sister’s arms watching a film, or out and about, exploring her surroundings.
Julia grew up in a fairly rural village, where everyone knew everyone else, and with a strong sense of community spirit. None of them really approved of her parents – two city folk who had no sense of responsibility at all, and were clearly married to their jobs first and each other second – and this disapproval extended to Julia’s very presence, although they were always kind to her when they spoke to her. Children have a way of picking up on these things, however, and Julia only felt more isolated as a result; it seemed that the only person she could talk to was her sister, and Freya, quite often, had her head in the clouds, and needed to be jabbed quite violently sometimes to get her attention. Whilst in the beginning she was too young to understand, as she grew older, she began to feel assailed on all sides, and began to withdraw into herself as a result. That was just fine. If nobody cared about her, why should she care about them?
She eventually turned being alone into a personal choice, rather than a circumstance that had been forced upon her (or, at least, a circumstance she felt had been forced upon her) and, after a time, people learned to leave her alone, as she really was more trouble than she was worth: as she and her classmates left their over excitable childhood phase and began to mellow out a little, in that awkward stage between childhood and adolescence, they began to reach out to her; she was smart, pretty – after a fashion, anyway; in that awkward childhood-crush way – and, above all else, mysterious, for she said very little. They were rather firmly put in their place, as Julia gave them the sharp edge of her tongue; after all, these same people had pretended to be her friends before and, whilst they had grown up somewhat, she was unable to let go of old grievances, and it was second-nature to her by this point to lash out. Whilst as a child she would have given anything to have friends, approaching adolescence she wanted nothing more than to be left alone, and she got her wish.
Julia was twelve years old when she encountered her partner-to-be, Illyria, being chased by several of her classmates, who were trying to stamp on her – after all, she was a bug, and what else did one do with bugs. In an unusual gesture of kindness – although she claims it was just to ruin their fun; they made her life as difficult as possible, so it was only right for her to return the favour – she chased them off, and took the Joltik under her protection, daring any of them to contradict her. She kept the little Pokémon in her hair to freak out the other girls, was unusually kind to her, and made a point of showing her off wherever she went. There was a genuine feeling to her words, an Illyria picked up on this and returned her affection, once she had gotten over the shock of almost being squashed.
Over time, her classmates adjusted to the presence of the Joltik, and it was at that point Julia decided to get rid of her; after all, she had outlived her usefulness. Although by this point, she found herself unable to: not only would Illyria refuse to leave her – and trying to get a Joltik out of your hair is no easy task – but there was little conviction in her words: after all, the Pokémon was the only real friend she had. At some point, she must have consciously recognized his gap in her otherwise impenetrable armour, as she grew increasingly more snappy, and ultimately ended up leaving her small village and traveling to the Cheyenne Region, there to prove her superiority. Many of the children she had grown up with had departed on adventures of their own by this point, and they had REAL starter Pokémon, not this miserable little insect she was stuck with and had only taken under her wing because she was the only one at the time with a Pokémon, and because they all hated bugs. Well, so did she, and she didn’t see why she should have to spend the rest of her life in her miserable little village, with only her half-mad sister and a bug for company. With only the slightest remorse – Freya made saying goodbye far more difficult than it should have been – Julia set off on her own journey.
Interactions with Pokemon:
Julia sees Pokémon as little more than accessories, whose sole purpose is to make her look better. She does not respect Pokémon any more than she does people, although she is perhaps a little looser with her tongue and a little more honest around them…after all, who are they going to tell? Julia likes Pokémon a great deal, for she can control them with little hassle, and thereby do as she pleases without the annoying repercussions that come from other people. If they don’t like it, that’s just tough luck, and if they disobey her she can punish them…or just let them go and get more. They’re wonderfully convenient and, despite her contempt for any but the strongest, she knows a great deal about them.
The bigger and more ferocious a Pokémon is, the more Julia wants it. She is particularly taken with Steelix and Gyarados, and she is not averse to the smaller and more deadly-looking Pokémon, such as Weavile. Dark and Ghost types are favourites of hers, along with big Pokémon in general. What she despises, above all else, are bug-types, which she views as useless and weak, no matter how big or small they may be; she is contemptuous of their weakness to fire, as well as the fact that many bug-types are smaller than she is.
Personality:
• Arrogant
This is Julia’s most defining personality trait, to the point that it might even be considered a god complex: she is spectacularly arrogant, and possesses that unique brand of ignorance that prevents her from even seeing that she might actually be wrong about something. The world revolves around Julia; the Sun rises and falls at her command, and nothing anyone says or does can convince her otherwise.
• Determined
Julia’s arrogance grants her a determination that, by rights, she ought not to have. Knock her down? She’ll get back up again and return the favour a-hundred-fold. She will not quit, because she is Julia, and things ALWAYS go her way. For things not to go her way would be inconceivable. So if she encounters a slight bump in the road, she will work at it, and work at it, and work at it, until she has worn it down by sheer force of will. However long it takes, whatever it takes. One might call this determination stubbornness and, indeed, with Julia there is little difference. This is a two-edged sword, and no matter which way it is turned it cuts those who come up against it.
• Intelligent
There is no getting round it; Julia has at least some reason to be as arrogant as she is: she knows a lot for a girl of her age. Bored children who are isolated from their peers often turn to books to escape the harshness of their reality, and in addition to wilfully turning the circumstances to be ones that she actually prefers; Julia did a lot of reading as a child. She has very little life experience, but she has an endless supply of facts, statistics and quotations that many people thrice her age wouldn’t know. She can debate with the best of them – even if her debates do turn into circular arguments, as she refuses to acknowledge a point unless she is satisfied with it, and Julia is NEVER satisfied – about a great many subjects, and she does know what she is talking about a lot of the time. Although she is by no means as smart as she likes to think she is.
• Shy?
Illyria has proven one thing: Julia does have a softer side; it’s just buried underneath a layer of armour so thick that to translate it into relative terms would mean that the weight would likely be equal to that of several hundred Wailord. Julia’s personality means that few people have the patience or the willpower to get close to her, although with time, she will tolerate their presence with what, for her, could be considered good grace. Who knows what one might be able to accomplish over an even longer period of time? Especially those she takes a liking to…
Obnoxious. If asked to summarize Julia in one word, most would choose that one, or something considerably less flattering…out of earshot, of course. Julia is an extremely difficult girl to put up with for longer than a few minutes: self-assured, arrogant and, worse still, of above-average intelligence for a girl her age meaning that she is almost as clever as she thinks she is – if not more so in some subjects - she is highly aggravating, even for people of her own age. She is the kind of person that many would wish to ignore, but would find it extremely difficult to do so, as she is constantly in people’s faces; along with a sharp tongue is the knowledge of how to use it to provoke a response, and once she has a response, things just escalate from there. Julia’s intelligence is matched only by her immaturity; she is formidable when she applies herself, but unfortunately she chooses to apply herself only in arguments.
Julia doesn’t talk to people; she talks at and down to them, and has very little respect for anyone or anything besides herself. To earn anything other than Julia’s contempt, you have to work for a very long time, and most people would (quite rightly) judge that it wasn’t worth the effort; she is absolutely incapable of conceiving that anyone might possibly be on equal footing with her, and the idea of anyone being above her is a laughable one to her. Unsurprisingly, Julia has absolutely no friends whatsoever, although she will occasionally seek out other girls her own age to talk to, although the concept of actually interacting with people in conversation is an alien one to her; much easier for her to talk and them to listen. Julia’s contempt for others that she takes a liking to, however, is a mask for her frustration, rather than actual contempt: she finds it extremely difficult to express herself in social situations and, rather than grinning like an idiot – one thing she absolutely cannot abide in any shape or form is optimism; perhaps because she is jealous she is unable to take such a mentality – she masks everything behind a wall of contempt that is very difficult for others to break down, especially because once she senses that someone is trying, she will only raise the walls higher, to see if they genuinely care, or whether or not it is idle curiosity. Most give up, which of course fuels her frustration, and thereby her contempt, making it a rather vicious circle.
Perhaps the only positive trait Julia has as a result of her overwhelming arrogance is that she has a great deal of confidence in herself, and absolutely nothing makes her upset; angry, yes, but not miserable. Julia has no time for self-pity…what is there about her to pity? She is practically perfect in every way. She is surprisingly hard for a girl of her age: she hasn’t cried in years, and she has an extraordinarily thick skin; whilst insults will set her off, they are more of an excuse to start than an actual grievance. Very little truly bothers her…that she recognizes, anyway. Julia does not perceive herself as having a problem, as she has not quite figured out the source of her frustration yet. Much of what she consciously does in response to what could be labelled as an inferiority complex, she does instinctively; she certainly couldn’t explain if called upon to.
That said, the world is broadly divided into two categories for Julia: what she likes, and what she doesn’t. If you’re not in the first category – and the number of things that are can be counted on one hand (strong Pokémon, money, snowstorms, pretty girls with nice hair and, of course, herself) – then you might as well not exist; in fact, it would be preferable if you didn’t, because that would mean she wouldn’t have to put up with you. As far as Julia is concerned, the world was made for her convenience, and everyone else lives in it under her sufferance. She has very little patience for people who go against her ideas, and is unbelievably controlling: her say is the only say that matters, and you should listen to her, not anyone else.
Although a small part of her – a very small part – acts this way because she wishes to see people happy (whilst she is generally hard and unsympathetic, Julia is immensely discomforted by people who are unhappy; she does not know to deal with it and, given the parallels she can draw to her own childhood, she does not feel as though she should react in her standard manner) and, if anyone knows how to avoid unhappiness, it is Julia, despite her general discontent with life. She can be quite tactless, although there are times when this is because she wishes people to put aside their unhappiness, rather than escalate it. It is quite difficult to tell these two occasions apart unless you have been around her for a long time, however, and since many choose not to stay around her any longer than they have to, few will know to or even care to read that far into Julia’s attitude. She will fiercely deny it if it is ever spotted, of course.
Julia is fiercely competitive; she hates losing in every sense of the word, and she takes it very hard if it happens, although not in the way one might think: it does not bring her back down to reality; if anything, it only makes her more determined to come out on top. Julia NEVER loses; she suffers minor setbacks. Getting Julia to acknowledge a loss is no more possible than getting the Sun to rise in the West. She even has a notebook dating back three years of all the wrongs committed against her; she is extraordinarily petty, and even the slightest thing, real or imagined, will set her off; out comes the notebook, down goes the name with the details. Fortunately, Julia considers herself above acts of revenge; after all, to retaliate in such a coarse fashion would mean she would have to lower herself to the other person’s level. However, upsetting her just makes her even more difficult to deal with; Julia has a way of getting under people’s skin with her airy, sarcastic comments, disapproving sniffs, and insufferably self-satisfied mannerisms and, whilst the difference between how she treats people she dislikes and everyone else is minimal, her comments only become more acidic at time goes by.
To say Julia is really a good person underneath that conceited little princess act she has might be being a little too generous: if she really is what people could label as a good person, it is buried somewhere VERY deep down inside her, underneath hard layers of contempt and, perhaps, no small amount of fear of rejection. She is a classic case of a cry for attention in many ways; really, all she wants is approval and acknowledgement, although she goes entirely the wrong way about getting it. She is quite lonely, although she hasn’t quite realized it yet, being too wrapped up in herself to notice…indeed, that may be why she is entirely self-absorbed; to prevent herself from noticing, for the sole good thing that she has going for her is that she is incapable of feeling sad. Julia grew up feeling unloved and neglected – which, to a certain degree, she was, although much like everything else about her this feeling is heavily exaggerated – and her behavior is actually quite understandable in context. Given time, she may decide to grow up. Although given that she is only fourteen, and still has many years of adolescence ahead of her, it is doubtful that this will happen anytime soon…
Pre-starter information: Julia’s pre-starter is a Joltik, named Illyria. She is perhaps the last choice that one would expect a girl like Julia to make, as she is everything that Julia despises: small, weak, and a bug-type Pokémon. Indeed, the little Joltik was not Illyria’s choice, but strange circumstances forced them together, and whilst Illyria accepted Julia very quickly, Julia has yet to accept her presence…although, at the same time, she is reluctant to order her to leave.
Illyria understands. She knows it, and Julia knows it, and she hates it. Yet despite the abuse she suffers at her trainer’s hands, Illyria refuses to leave her, because she knows exactly how her mind works, why it works the way it does, and that she doesn’t really mean anything she says. Illyria feels a sense of responsibility towards Julia; it is almost as though their roles were reversed, and she were the trainer of the two of them. She is the complete opposite of her trainer, and the two ought to be as incompatible as possible – and from Julia’s viewpoint, they are – yet they manage a rather peculiar harmony together.
Goals in Cheyenne: Julia’s goals are remarkably simple, at least on the surface: she aims to be the best there is, to prove once and for all that she is superior to everyone else. She came to Cheyenne because it was as far away as possible from everyone and everything she knew, and because she felt like it.
However, subconsciously, perhaps there was more to her decision than what she would claim. She had never even heard of the Cheyenne Region before doing some research, and one thing she cannot disguise her passion for is Pokémon. Who knows what she might find? The thrill of adventure is something that she felt as a child exploring the surrounding area of the village, so who knows how much that feeling might be magnified exploring an entire region.
That Illyria can understand her feelings – much as she hates that, and will never admit it, not even to herself – also gives her hope, no matter how microscopic it may be, that she may find some people – preferably girls her own age – who might be able to break through her armour and be her friends, as well. Well, her subordinates, of course; people of her caliber don’t really have friends, they have hired help, but good help is so hard to find these days, but there must be some out there somewhere, otherwise things would never get done, so…
[Sorry if I messed up anywhere! ]