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Post by seiren on Jul 13, 2012 9:54:12 GMT -5
Name: Althea Kingston Gender: Female Date of birth [Age]: 19th October 1993 [19]
Appearance:
Althea is a fairly pretty girl who is also deceptively sophisticated, thanks to the dark-rimmed glasses always in place on her face – even whilst she sleeps – and her rather elaborate hairstyle; two intricate braids tied with sharply contrasting blue ribbons, one always draped over her right shoulder, and the other behind her left; yet one oddity amongst the multitude. She has a simple beauty to her facial features, being blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked, and always ready with a smile. She is by no means the prettiest girl one has ever seen, but she is not unpleasant on the eye either, and her sweet disposition only enhances this. She also moves with a grace one would not expect someone so absent-minded to have.
She is 5’7” in height, making her around average height for a girl of her age, give or take a little, although she is strikingly curvaceous. Neither too tall nor too short, it is not for her height or figure that she stands out, but rather her manner of dress: she would make a shiny Pokémon look positively dull by comparison, and would make even the most flamboyant of performers wince. Althea always wears painfully bright colours, normally consisting of a sleeved top with some sort of pattern on it in an opposing colour, and a skirt, the length of which will depend on the weather; at times, it would be better for her to wear shorts instead. Althea dresses for comfort, and picks the colours she likes the most; she isn’t particularly fashion conscious, and when she comes ambling along in a lime green top and bright pink miniskirt, it shows. She prefers to wear sandals regardless of the terrain she is walking on, and has three items of jewellery: a golden chain with two wedding rings on it (her grandfather’s and grandmother’s) a wind-up pocket-watch (her grandfather’s most prized possession) and a blue bangle on her right wrist; a lucky charm of sorts. She also has a cape, a wide-brimmed white hat that isn’t quite a sombrero, and an umbrella patterned with Politoed by way of accessories.
Althea is a fifth generation Chansey Pokemorph, on her grandmother’s side. This means very little to her, other than that she was born with the ability to understand Pokémon, and that her shocking pink hair is slightly darker at the tips for a few inches. It might also explain her sunny, occasionally motherly disposition, although it is more of a case of nurture rather than nature, as she has spent much of her life caring for the dead. It’s a small detail in the complex character that is Althea; little more than a footnote, really.
Althea also possesses a Channeller’s traditional white robes, as well as a Gohei to assist her in her work, although she does not wear this very often, as she has little need to…and it’s an uncomfortable garment. It itches. She only has it because her grandfather insists, and because it’s the traditional garment which proclaims her a Channeller. But it stays folded at the bottom of her bag unless she has no other choice but to wear it.
History:
Althea is not entirely sure where she was born, or who she was born to: her parents were never mentioned, and so she never asked. In hindsight, she wonders why she wasn’t more curious about it, although the only conclusion to be drawn is that it didn’t really matter to her at the time, because she had family to look after her. From as far back as she can remember, she had always lived in Lavender Town with her grandfather, a crotchety and hard-bitten man who worked in the Pokémon Tower as the Head Channeller, responsible for ensuring that departed Pokémon received proper funerals, and that their spirits, if they survived the process and became Ghost Pokémon, did not become malevolent. Having lost his wife to old age some years before Althea’s birth, he was not at all equipped to deal with raising a child, even with his Pokémon partner, a rather motherly Mismagius, helping him.
So, he did not raise a child; he trained an apprentice. As soon as she was old enough to walk and talk, he took his granddaughter to the Pokémon Tower, teaching her about his work, Pokémon, and life and death in general. A rather morbid man, he hoped that, by teaching her this early, she would be prepared for the day when he succumbed to old age: at the time of her birth he was approaching ninety, and whilst he took great pride in his work, he was getting on in years, and wanted nothing more than to make that journey that he helped so many Pokémon make over the years. His granddaughter’s presence was an odd comfort, however, both for him and for the restless souls that the tower held; they were drawn to her innocent and carefree mind.
One thing Althea can remember, quite vividly, are the dreams she used to have – and, indeed, continues to have from time to time – which, even for her, make little sense, and are little more than a collection of images and thoughts that she processes subconsciously and occasionally consciously. As a child, the spirits around her would share their life experiences with her (it was, her grandfather claimed, part of the process with some, although perhaps exposing a five-year-old girl to it wasn’t the best of ideas…) without prompting, being drawn to her open mind. It is perhaps because of them that Althea has turned out to be the rather scatter-brained individual she has become: she was not a child to ask why things were the way they were, but to ask for confirmation on an idea she couldn’t possibly have come up with by herself at such a young age – even a child’s imagination had its limits – and who struggled with ideas that contradicted these…after all, these feelings had been imprinted on her, as though they were her own. Going against one’s own instincts and feelings is not something many can do, and certainly not a young girl.
Althea did go to school briefly, although it became very clear after a few months that school was not for her: she could read and write easily enough, and learn other basic skills, but absorbing even the most basic of knowledge, like maths and science, was beyond her…after all, she communicated with the spirits of Pokémon, not with humans, and Pokémon had no need for things like maths and science; things were the way they were, not the way that people wanted them to be. Having had these things imprinted on her at a young age, it proved impossible to reverse the process and, rather than have her struggle, her grandfather simply pulled her out and took her as his apprentice in name as well as deed. He’d never gone to school, and he’d turned out fine; best to play to your strengths, and hers wasn’t in books and the rest of it.
So, whilst Althea grew up without the company of children her own age, she did not really grow up alone: her education took a different turn, being ad-hoc through the various spirits she communicated with whilst helping her grandfather, and she learned a lot of the outside world, piecing the rest of it together by herself. Even her grandfather thought she was rather odd, but then, he knew better than anyone that people placed too much of an emphasis on what he called “book smarts” these days, and that it didn’t really matter what she thought, just as long as she was happy…and, indeed, Althea possessed an almost boundless sense of optimism. She relieved the departed of their burdens, allowing them to pass on to the next life, and took a great sense of pride from it, as she was encouraged and supported by her grandfather. A dying art form, Channelling, but an essential one nonetheless…unless the people of Kanto wanted to be overrun by malevolent and forgotten spirits, anyway. No amount of technology would save them from THAT.
So passed her childhood. Althea finally became a certified Channeller at the age of thirteen; whilst she failed her written exams horrendously, she more than made up for it in her practical exam and, since her grandfather was the one in charge, he allowed her to receive a license, considering she had worked at his side since she was six years old, and it was a learning process that couldn’t really be measured by written theory…not to mention it was abundantly clear by that point that there wasn’t going to be much else in life that she could do, and she saw it as very much her calling; it was all she had ever known, and all that she really wanted to know. Whilst a part of her itched to explore these fantastic places she was shown in that moment they passed on, her sense of responsibility was very strong indeed – her grandfather had some very old fashioned values, all of which he made sure to ingrain onto his granddaughter, because young people these days just didn’t appreciate how good they really had it – and she did not so much as leave the boundaries of town until she was nineteen.
Althea’s grandfather died when she was sixteen, finally getting his wish to be reunited with his wife. The entire town attended his funeral; he was a much-loved figure and, for some, had been a comforting presence in the Pokémon Tower for their entire lives, having worked there since he was ten years old. Immediately after his death, offers – and considerable pressure – began to reach the Mayor of the town, with propositions to convert the tower into a radio station. It was ideally placed, and would result in more tourism and revenue being brought into Lavender Town, which was noticeably lagging behind the rest of Kanto in terms of both modernization and economy: few residents even had a television set. It would improve the quality of life, or so they claimed. The Mayor, being a traditionalist – and with the townspeople’s backing – refused offers, and withstood the political pressure, for almost two years before succumbing.
Shortly after Althea’s eighteenth birthday, the decision to convert the Pokémon Tower into a Radio Tower was made, despite the protestations of the townspeople, and those who tended to the tower. Little could be done, and they were ordered to vacate the premises within six months, and lay the ghosts to rest. It was during this time that Althea met Mao, discovering him within the tower shortly before the conversion was due to begin. Having been deemed as unsalvageable by her grandfather several years previously and sealed as a result, unable to even move, Mao was quite pleased to have the seal broken – even if he still couldn’t leave the body of the doll he inhabited, being able to move around again was something at least – and decided to make tormenting his tormentor’s successor his new mission in life…or death, as the case may be. However, Mao didn’t count on two things: the first was Althea’s complete lack of fear of ghosts. The second was her complete obliviousness to the situation. Once he mentioned that he had known her grandfather, she focused on that and nothing else: perhaps he was the Pokémon partner he had promised she would one day find, just as he had found his Mismagius (who, with his death, had disappeared) and his claims to haunt her until her last breath only confirmed that to her. The two have been together ever since.
Althea’s choice to become a Pokémon Trainer may seem like an odd one, although it was quite well thought-out, for her: the simple fact of the matter was that she didn’t know as much about Pokémon as she ought to for her position, and whilst she could deal with ghost-types, the other types remained a mystery to her, which occasionally made communicating with their spirits difficult. She couldn’t really relate to what they were showing her and, whilst she was leaps and bounds above the others, due to her natural ability to understand Pokémon, they were all at least twice her age, and had all been Pokémon Trainers in their youth. So, maybe it would be a good idea for her to get the same experience, especially now that the Pokémon Tower was being turned into a Radio Tower. Whilst the prospect of going to the Celestial Tower in Unova to continue her work was appealing – which was were most of those she had worked alongside were going – it seemed like the more…logical choice. That, plus Mao was adamant that he didn’t want to go to yet ANOTHER tower, and he seemed to like the idea of traveling around.
So, with no small amount of trepidation, Althea departed for the Cheyenne Region, leaving her hometown for the first time. It took her almost a week to reach the region, however, as she boarded the wrong boat the first time and ended up in Hoenn, and the second time wound up in Sinnoh, because she was too busy throwing up to notice that she needed to get off the boat at a certain port. Back on dry land, she is ready to undertake her quest…
Interactions with Pokemon:
Being a certified Channeller, Althea has had much more interaction with dead Pokémon and ghost-types than she has with living ones, and she’s a little out-of-sorts with those that are alive. She spends more time listening to Pokémon than she does talking to them - or, perhaps, zoning out whilst the Pokémon talks to her – although she is not afraid to give even wild Pokémon random hugs, or carry them in her arms. She has little experience with wild Pokémon, and doesn’t really distinguish between wild and domesticated; a Pokémon is a Pokémon to her and, whilst they’re all unique, they’re all absolutely darling.
Ghost-types are Althea’s favourite, for obvious reasons. Mismagius in particular is her favourite – her grandfather had one for a partner, and she admired its beauty and composure – but she also has a soft spot for the cuter Normal types, such as Clefairy…and, bizarrely, Numel. Whilst not a phobia, she is quite uncomfortable around poison-types, although Pokémon which are also part-bug are not included in this; Althea adores bug types.
Personality:
Odd
Really, there is no kinder way to put it. Even those who are eccentric are firmly grounded in reality, and it is doubtful that Althea has ever been grounded in anything. She has some extremely bizarre notions of things that most people wouldn’t even think about. Like, if you met a Jirachi and got one wish, and you wished for more Jirachi, would that mean they’d all grant you one wish as well? What does Ditto taste like? If a grass-type Pokémon used Flamethrower, could it set itself on fire? What goes on Althea’s mind can only be described as odd.
Eloquacious
Having a conversation with Althea can be quite difficult, for the dual hurdles of first being able to figure out what she is saying, and then being able to understand it in context. She would describe herself as “eloquacious”; i.e. eloquent and loquacious, because her made-up word fusions are often understood by people, even if they aren’t actual words. So they ARE words, because people can understand them! Althea will frequently shorten words, or string two or more together, or make up entirely new ones entirely, to describe what she is feeling, or trying to communicate. Keeping up with her is no easy task.
Logical
…after a fashion. Althea’s brand of logic is extremely painful to process, and is a dominating factor of her personality; she likes things to “make sense” although her definition of this is slightly off from everyone else’s…but that’s alright, they can bridge the gap if they work at it! Althea can make sense of things, but not in the same way as everyone else, and in doing so she makes everything more confusing for everything else. Not that she is aware of this, of course. Her ideas are clearly rationalised and well thought-out…she’s just taken the wrong approach. Logically, since the sky is blue, it must be an ocean of water held up by the clouds, because the ocean is blue as well. This is why people sometimes panic when the sky is falling – in other words, when it’s raining – because the cloud shield weakens. If it collapsed, the world would be flooded.
Blissfully ignorant
In everything that she does, Althea remains blissfully unaware of how the world around her actually works. She is living proof of the concept that ignorance is indeed bliss; she has no troubles whatsoever, and will not hesitate to try anything, even if it would be deemed as impossible by anyone else. Althea floats through life, half the time unaware of what is actually going on around her, the other half fully aware, but having twisted it to the point that she may as well not be. Speak slowly, using small words.
Althea is a daydreamer at heart; she has her head in the clouds, and it takes nothing short of a natural disaster to bring her back down to earth again. Whilst she is an independent woman who is more than capable of functioning by herself (well, maybe she’ll skip a meal or two if left unattended; there are things to be done, after all…good thing her stomach knows when it’s time to eat!) Althea needs other people around her to keep her in reality; if she is left alone for even five minutes, she will immediately drift away into her fantasies, which vary from the sort of thing one would expect (finding love and becoming a Pokémon League Champion) to the utterly bizarre (who would win in a fight between cavemen and astronauts, when the astronauts don’t have any weapons?) although she will on occasion snap out of her daydream all by herself, prompting her to say something that is completely out of context as she finishes her thought process out loud. Her mind is not only permanently absent, she clearly left it back in Kanto, locked in a high-security vault.
One might think that her scatter-brained eccentricity makes Althea entirely clueless and, whilst they would be correct to an extent, writing her off as stupid would be an error in judgement; Althea is capable of a highly intricate and profound thought process, as she frequently contemplates philosophical matters, and her unique brand of logic allows her to draw some very interesting conclusions. Althea is a philosopher’s delight; an existential conversation with her would lead down some very interesting avenues. Whilst in terms of tangible reality and scientific thinking Althea is precisely as clueless as she seems, her thinking is geared towards an entirely different approach to life, one that many do not consider unless they are at a crisis point in their life, or feeling particularly depressed. In these circumstances, Althea is an ideal companion; her unique perspective, coupled with her sensitive and gentle manner, makes her very good at comforting people.
Althea has an extremely high level of patience and tolerance for others – almost saintly, in fact; the only way to upset her is to do it deliberately and directly - which makes her an excellent listener (although there will be times when the person who is speaking to her will feel as though she isn’t paying them the slightest bit of attention…and they probably wouldn’t be wrong) but she is not the sort of person one would talk to if they wanted an honest and unbiased opinion: Althea becomes very emotionally involved with her friends. She will make their problem her own and will suffer just as much as, if not more than, the other person. She will tell people what she thinks will make them happier, not necessarily what they need to hear, although her earnest persona believes that these two things are one and the same most of the time. Althea has absolutely no concept whatsoever of the “cruel to be kind” idea, and even if someone needs to be told something that they won’t like to hear, she won’t say it.
She absolutely abhors the idea of bringing any kind of pain upon others in any form, and gets jumpy and upset if she perceives even the slightest bit of irritation from them; she is not hypersensitive, but she is perhaps slightly more sensitive than normal, and if someone displays any signs of unhappiness during a conversation with her, she will immediately assume it is her fault. Her ever-present optimism and sunny disposition are sometimes inappropriate for the current situation, and whilst she is highly empathic, her tendency to daydream even when she is being spoken to give the distinct impression that she doesn’t care. It is very easy to get your wires crossed when trying to speak to Althea and, whilst in light-hearted scenarios her carefree personality can be highly entertaining, if even the slightest bit of seriousness is required, Althea is someone to avoid, because she just doesn’t have it in her. Even her serious and profound philosophical thoughts are delivered in a whimsical tone of voice.
That said, Althea is very easily offended, as she takes everything to heart; she is not very good at handling criticism, and even apathy can set her off sometimes. It isn’t difficult to make her cry, although when she is angry – a very rare occurrence indeed - she is more likely to pout and sulk than to actually lose her temper, as she does not enjoy conflicts or confrontations, and prefers to just back down and let the other person have their way than stand up for what she believes in. She flits between emotions as the situation dictates, which makes her appear to be quite shallow, although in truth her emotions are extremely intense, and will “burn out” after a short amount of time. Althea is never upset or angry for very long, simply because her mind-set doesn’t allow her to sustain it; her long-term memory is excellent, but her short-term memory is quite poor: she will often forget what she was angry or upset about, and being angry or upset isn’t very much fun anyway.
For the most part, it is difficult to be annoyed by Althea, unless you are the sort of person who likes ordered, logical thinking and routines, in which case, she’s your worst nightmare given tangible form. She is extremely odd, but she isn’t even remotely malicious; she is the kind of person that people would feel obliged to put up with, simply because she clearly doesn’t understand how the world works, and treating her with anything other than the kindness and compassion she shows others would only confuse and upset her. In truth, Althea does not remain confused for very long, but her rationalisation of behaviour or events is rarely accurate, and apathy just isn’t a concept she understands. How can people feel nothing towards something? To be human is to feel things. Explaining things to Althea is more trouble than it is worth, as the barrier goes both ways: just as most people will not be able to grasp her thought process, she is unable to grasp theirs…because it just doesn’t make any sense. How can people know these things? Althea is firmly entrenched in her own little world and, whilst this not a bad thing, it makes communication with her very difficult much of time, beyond the simplest of conversations…and even those are fraught with complications. Approach with caution, or a very open mind.
Pre-starter information: Mao is a Shuppet. He has chosen this mortal girl, this Althea, for his next victim. She will know terror and misfortune sufficient to drive her mad!
Hold on…what is wrong with this girl? Why doesn’t she react? She should be screaming, or running in terror! When he insults her, she just starts crying, calling him mean! What, she’s shocked and surprised by this? He’s evil. So why does he always end up trying to calm her down? Because it’s damned embarrassing, that’s why, and tears of sadness aren’t the reaction he was going for; and that’s all it is, don’t you go thinking otherwise.
How is it that she manages to brush off everything he does as something so utterly stupid that only a moron would believe it? He makes her trip. She thinks the ground wants to get her attention, so she spends half an hour looking at it, trying to find something that isn’t there. He brings a small tree branch down on her head. She gives the tree a hug and thanks it for the gift, then carries the branch around with her. He gets right up in her face in the scariest, most intimidating manner he knows how, enough to make a Gyarados scream and run, and she smiles at him and asks him if he’d like a sweet, or to be carried for a while! Well, actually being carried would be nice, and…no, that’s not the point! What is wrong with her? He’s EVIL!
There is something wrong with this girl. She’s not possessed, though, which is the only logical explanation he can think of. Maybe she was dropped on her head as a baby…several times. Maybe she just doesn’t know what she’s got herself into. Well, it doesn’t matter either way: he will bring her to very depths of despair for her insolence. She wants to pretend that she doesn’t know anything? Fine! She’ll crack eventually; he’s faced more challenging foes than this in his time. One little girl isn’t going to be his downfall, oh no, no sir. He’ll get her eventually…
Althea is just glad for the company. Such pretty and mysterious company, as well: such pretty green flashing lights! Like fireflies. Maybe he eats fireflies? If she ate fireflies, would she glow like that as well? Maybe she should try it…but then, bugs aren’t very tasty, so maybe not. Either way, she’s lucky to have such a fantastic friend and partner; just like her grandfather and his Mismagius.
Goals in Cheyenne: Althea’s goals in Cheyenne are surprisingly innocent and straightforward, given the baffling complexity of her life goals. She wants to travel around, see all there is to see, get better acquainted with the various different types of Pokémon – although she’ll specialise in ghosts – and get some much needed experience, so she can do her job as a Channeller better when she goes back to it. She also wants to find the person she keeps dreaming about – and she’ll know him or her when she sees them by their eyes – and, if Cheyenne has a graveyard or tower filled with unhappy spirits, see what she can do about that. Really, she’s just going to travel and see what comes her way; her goals are little more than loose excuses for her to put one foot in front of the other.
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