Post by thallie on Aug 27, 2010 21:22:08 GMT -5
...Natalie Moira Harper*
never is an awfully long time
[/size]never is an awfully long time
...basics*
name Natalie Moira Harper
nickname Nat, Nattie, Lee, though she is called none very often.
age Seventeen
gender Female
grade High School Junior
hometown Chicago, IL
sexuality Heterosexual
personification Wendy Darling
status Dormant
face claim Claire Danes
...appearance*
hair color Debatable. Most consider it a brownish-blonde, but in some lights it seems to shine a bit red.
eye color Blue as forget-me-nots
build Lanky. She's not especially lean, but she doesn't seem to have quite grown into her body just yet.
height 5'5"
clothing style Relatively conservative. She prefers comfort over style.
distinctive traitsAn almost constant look of wonder.
...personal*
personality A dreamer is absolutely the best term one could use to describe Natalie. With her head terminally in the clouds, it is nothing short of a miracle that she doesn't run into things more often than she does. Natalie is, quite honestly, bored to tears by the world around her, and prefers to substitute her own, more interesting reality in its place. Because of this, she enjoys reading immensely, and has an absurd collection of books -- and she absolutely refuses to part with a single one. On that same vein, Natalie fancies herself a storyteller, and will spin a tale for anyone who will sit still long enough to listen to her.[/b] - Margaret Harper, nee Austen, 45, Lawyer
Despite this love of the fictional, Natalie can be quite grounded when the need arises. She is a dutiful daughter, and will do as she's told. At the first truly stern word from her father, she is all downcast eyes and murmured apologies. Natalie also enjoys learning. She absorbs knowledge, useless trivia being her favorite, and can spout off facts about everything from cloud formations to orchid flowers. Thusly, she is a teacher's dream, or would be if she could cut back on the daydreaming a bit.
Natalie is a personable enough girl, but doesn't pay enough attention to social nuances to generate many friends. It is something that never ceases to ail her parents, who insist she should try to mingle more with her peers, rather than burying her nose into the spines of her books. Natalie does enjoy contact and will occasionally go out of her way to try to make a new friend, though she is much more comfortable when others approach her. She is a pleasant -- if occasionally eccentric -- creature. She is polite almost to a fault, and enjoys learning about other people, making her an ideal listener. Once Natalie has decided she likes a person, she can be a bit of a mother hen, as she feels that it's a good expression of affection.
Though generally very mellow and downright carefree, Natalie can have the temper of a dragon. Though her hissy fits are rare and generally very short lived, they can truly be a sight to behold. More often than not, the whole ordeal ends with apologizing and foot-scutting on the part of Natalie. On rare occasions, however, a grudge develops. Once said grudge has developed, Natalie will stubbornly hold in to it until the offending party has kowtowed enough to satiate her, or until Judgement Day, the latter being more likely to occur first.
Natalie has a bit of adventure in her, too. Though she is too much of a "good girl" to act on the desires herself, adventure, mischief, and rebellion are all concepts that are very glamourous to her.
past
Natalie was born with the proverbial silver spoon planted squarely between her lips. Born to Margaret and Allan Harper (lawyer and advertising whiz, respectively) on a warm May afternoon, she was their first and only. As an infant, Natalie was an ill child, and there were several times her parents thought they were going to loose their little girl. These fears never completely subsided, and both parents became a bit overprotective as a result, particularly with illness. At the first sign of a cough, it was straight to the doctor with her. This aside, Natalie had a wholly uneventful childhood. She grew up in a large house in Chicago, and spent a significant amount of time with a nanny in her early years. This isn't to say that her parents weren't present in her life: merely that they were both busy, and had the money to pay for a woman to play mommy to their little girl. Despite being doted on by her parents and caretaker, Natalie was a rather lonely child in her early years without any children her age to play with. It is perhaps because of this, and because of her nanny's endorsement of bedtime stories, that Natalie became so enthralled with the realm of the imaginary.
When Natalie began attending school (private, of course) she was found to be exceptionally bright. As she had already started school a bit early and was rather scrawny, they were reluctant to skip her for fear of bullying. So, the teachers eventually just left Natalie, once done with her classwork, to her own devices. This created something of a gap between Natalie and her peers, and led to her intense love of books. Books could fill up the empty time and take her to faraway places. They were friends when she didn't have any others. This was the trend through Natalie's life. She wasn't an especially unpopular girl, nor was she anti-social. She had friends, and got along well enough with them, but at the end of the day, it was a book she reached for, not her cell phone.
When Natalie hit puberty, there was something of an epiphany for her parents. Their little girl was, well... pretty. Both parents agreed early on that they would need to play a large role in their daughter's love life, lest she end up prancing into the arms of some penniless artist. Both appreciated love, but appreciated even more the comfort and stability a large paycheck could provide. Thusly, most of Natalie's first love interests were nipped in the bud, and eventually Natalie grew tired of trying to achieve the love she had found in her books. It was much easier to ignore the opposite gender and appease her parents. This is something Natalie does harbor a bit of a grudge about, and it has led to some bitterness between the girl and her parents, though they assure her this guidance is for her own good.
A burst of free spirit was also quickly quenched. When she announced to her parents that she would like sailing lessons, as she fancied the idea of sailing around the world, she was swiftly enrolled, instead, in ballet lessons. Additionally, while her creative and dreamy mind is considered "endearing" by her mother, both parents have been working to shift their daughter into a more "normal" mold, so that she might succeed in the real world and find herself a suitable husband.
present
Due to the current economic crisis, it became more economically viable for the Harper family to leave their lovely suburban McMansion in favor of the Big Apple. Natalie was sent to Frank L Baum Academy, in the hopes that she might acclimate better to college life if she had previously spent time in a dorm room -- though she still heads home nearly every weekend. Natalie is dazzled by New York -- all of those people and lights! -- but finds herself preferring the quieter areas of the city. She is especially drawn to Central and Hyde parks, and has been known to slip away from school in order to spend an afternoon resting beneath a tree or in a little thicket, where she is free to imagine. Despite having only been in the city for a bit over a month, Natalie has adapted remarkably well and, though her parents will never know if she has anything to say about it, she's getting to know the city rather well.
family
Father- Allan Harper, 48, Advertising Executive
[/ul]
likes
- books
- daydreaming
- the sky
- quiet
- nature
- people watching
- her parents
- Chicago
- New York
- trivia
- apples
- sweets
- exotic plants
- fairy tales
- giving gifts
- telling stories
- school
- dancing
- freedom
- adventures, even imaginary ones
- theme parks, especially roller coasters
dislikes
- doctors
- being confined
- her parents
- beets
- boring things
- long exams
- being angry
- unnecessarily nasty people
[/blockquote]
...literature*
book Peter Pan
backstory
All children grow up -- except for one. And children love nothing more than a good story, aside from, perhaps, a mother's love. It was these things that brought one Wendy Moira Angela Darling and Peter Pan together. After losing his shadow to a slammed window while listening in on one of Wendy's stories, the two were brought together for a late night sewing session. Intrigued by Wendy, Peter offered to bring her back to Neverland with him, her brothers in tow. After learning to fight and fly, as well as playing mother to Peter and his Lost Boys, Wendy found herself rather enamored with the boy who would never grow up. After a whirlwind adventure against Captain Hook and his notorious band of pirates, Wendy knew she had to go home to grow up, and took her brothers and the Lost Boys with her. Unfortunately, she could not persuade Peter to join her, and the two parted ways for their respective adventures, with Wendy to never see Peter or Neverland again -- well, except for a few quick visits to help with Spring Cleaning.
...roleplayer*
name Thallie
age Twenty
gender Female
rp experience I've been roleplaying since approximately the dawn of time.
how you found ouac Board on Neo
rp sample
Wendy Darling smiled, a few locks of hair loose and wild around her face. It did her brothers good to see their sister so free. Nearly seventeen, Wendy would soon be married, and as such the adults in her life were grooming the girl carefully. In public she always wore her hair tightly up, always had rosewater dabbed behind her ears and on her wrists.
She whirled around, her demure, lady's dress swirling and flying out dreamily. "Peter flew up, slashing at Captain Hook! Right, left! And he and the Lost Boys below all began to chant 'Old, alone, done for!'" she chimed, dashing around the room, a wooden dagger clutched in her hand, eyes glittering.
"Wherever did you make up such wonderful characters, Wendy?" Tootles sighed, watching his sister, totally transfixed on her and the story.
Wendy paused, pursing her lips. "Don't you remember, Tootles?" When he shook his head, she looked desperately around the nursery, but received blank stares. Her heart sank.
She'd feared this would happen. Even to her, the edges of her Neverland adventure were fading away. Someday, she feared, she would forget all together. She looked down at her slippered feet, placing her faux dagger on the nearest trunk, before smiling again.
"That's enough for one night. We shall continue our adventures tomorrow!"
At the promise of tomorrow, the boys all cheered and chorused goodnights to Wendy, who sank into a delicate curtsey, before leaving and walking down the hall to her own bedroom. Oh, how she missed the nursery. The comfort of her siblings breathing when she awoke from a nightmare. The ever-present sense of magic and adventure.
She swept into the hall, anxious to get to her bedroom where she could get out of the accursed corset and pull the seemingly infinite pins from her hair. Night was Wendy's favorite time. She got to tell stories to her brothers and let go of the prim-and-proper-young-lady bit for a while. And bed was the most exquisite relief imaginable. To feel ones lungs expand in their first real breath of the day was truly one of God's little pleasures for a girl in her position.
"Wendy, dear." came the voice of her mother.
Wendy halted, confusion sweeping over he features. Why would her parents wish to speak with her at such an hour? Generally they'd be upset she weren't already snugly in her bed. Regardless, Wendy quickly smoothed her dress and ran small hands over her hair to make sure it remained neatly confined by hairpins -- oh, how she longed to wear her hair loose as she had in childhood. She descended the stairs, drifting like an apparition into the great room, where her parents and a man who had been courting her sat.
Wendy felt her heart skip a beat and the breath caught in her throat. No, she reasoned frantically with herself. She hadn't even had her season yet. They couldn't have called her down for…
"Wendy, dear," her mother said again, a forced smile on her face. "We have been speaking with Nathan for a while now, and he has asked for your hand in marriage."
No. No, no, no.
"Which, we of course, granted him," her father was holding tumbler of brandy in one hand, all smiles. Of course he would be thrilled over such an announcement. Nathan Harrison was the nephew of the owner of the bank he worked for. Not only would this put him in favor at work, but it would bring untold wealth to the family. Nathan was only a bachelor in the first place because his first wife had died in childbirth. Most of the older girls had been practically scrambling for him. But not Wendy. She wasn't ready for marriage. She wasn't ready to grow up.
The girl stood there, paling. Nathan, oblivious in the way that only men could be, smiled and got up, walking to her and kneeling, taking her left hand and sliding a ring onto it. It was a beautiful thing, a diamond flanked by two small emeralds, so that it looked like some sort of dreamy flower.
"Well, Wendy?" her father prompted.
Wendy felt faint. She wanted to run. Scream. She wanted to rip the ring off her finger and throw it at Nathan, before slapping her parents for allowing such a thing to happen. Couldn't they see she was still a child? "I… don't know what to say." Wendy intoned, truthfully.
"See, I told you!" her father laughed, slapping his knee in a delighted manner. "She's thrilled."
Her mother was silent, and fixed poor Wendy with a concerned look. "Dear, are you alright?" she said gently.
"She's just excited!" her father chortled. Nathan rose and returned to his seat, staring at Wendy as if he'd just won the grandest prize at the carnival.
"I…" Wendy trailed off, clearing her throat. "I need to..." She lost her words again, her mouth dry. Her eyes fluttered over each face. Her father, happy she was finally of some use to him. Nathan, looking at her not as a person but as a piece of meat he was appraising before ordering. And her mother, fixing her with a look of such sadness, such regret, such apology. "Please excuse me," she said at last, dipping her head and letting herself fall an inch or two in a sort of curtsey, regaining some semblance of composure. "I need to lay down. I feel a bit lightheaded."
"So polite," was the last thing she heard as she left the room, coming from her husband-to-be. As soon as she was out of sight, Wendy bolted up the stairs and sprinted to her bedroom, locking the door behind her and throwing the window open, as if it were the key to saving all of creation. Tears streaked down her cheeks like comets. "Peter," she whispered into the night breeze. "Peter, please… please…" she begged, before collapsing into sobs. She fell asleep, knelt against her windowsill that night. The following morning, when she discovered herself still horribly home and horribly engaged, she went down to breakfast and demanded her window be barred. "I don't want any riff-raff coming in at night," she said with nothing but bitterness and hate when asked for an explanation.
Dear Wendy settled into the doldrums of seeing her fiancé after a week or so of trying to scare him away. The sparkle left her eyes, her brothers would note, and she eventually stopped telling stories to them at night. She swept silently through the house, rarely smiling, hair always up painfully tight, body contorted by the corsets her Aunt so prized. And it was then that the Lost Boys began to tell the stories of Peter Pan to one another, silently sending their prayers to this 'fictional' character to come and breathe life back into their sister.
What none knew was that their prayers not only fell upon Peter's ears, but those of someone they all presumed long dead.
The Jolly Roger sailed silently though the London fog, pirates scurrying about like ants on it's deck. Well, all but one pirate. Captain James Hook stood ramrod straight at the wheel, although his hands weren't touching it. Like everything else in Neverland, the ship was magic, and certainly remembered it's way back to Wendy's house. An ever so faint smirk curled over scarred lips as he felt it shudder in anticipation, and he began to eagerly scan the houses.
"Be sure to find the Wendy, my sweet," he whispered to the ship. "The others are of no use to me."
The ship slowed considerably until it stood totally still before one house, the slot for the gangplank perfectly aligned with one window. Not that they'd be needing a gangplank, as the ship was perhaps a foot from crashing into the building. Hook raised a hand at the anxious and excited crew. "Wait until my mark." he said, before starting to the window examining the dark interior of the room. A low burning lamp on the dresser gave just enough light for Hook to see the shine on Wendy's hair, the shadows playing upon her face.
He paused, noting the bars, scowling. With one fell swoop of his hook, the brittle iron fell away, landing with a clatter down below. The window, still unlatched from Wendy's vigil for Peter, proved to be no challenge for the captain.
Wendy, who had always been an exceptionally light sleeper, had started to awake at the ship pulling in beside her window. However, it was not until the sharp sound of metal upon metal reached her ears that Wendy did truly wake up. The girl bolted upright, quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes and desperately trying to get her eyes to properly adjust. She looked quickly at her surroundings, and it took several minutes for things to register with her mind. Plenty of time for a Captain spider to slip behind the curtains and observe his prey.
Wendy slipped from her bed, mouth agape. There was a pirate ship floating outside her window, shimmering with old fairy dust. Peter? Could it be? Wendy started towards her window, eyes wide, when something else caught her eye. A most definite bump under her curtain. Curious, hopeful, and still a bit wary, she turned her attention to it, carefully pushing some of the fabric away. As a glinting hook met her vision, Wendy felt her breath catch in her chest and her body grow cold with fear, and yet she still pushed to reveal all of her nemesis. Hook smiled at the wide-eyed girl, who's hand was still clutched around her curtains. "Captain," she whispered, trying desperately to mask her fright. "You're awfully far from Neverland."
She quickly backed away when the Captain began to stroll around the room, looking at all her things with mild interest. "As are you, Miss Darling." he replied. "Curious," he added a moment later. "Not so much as Pan's shadow. Not a leaf, flower, acorn... why, Miss Darling, I see not a hide nor hair of Pan here."
"You'd be correct," she said, a definite icy note to her voice, no matter how she tried to hide it. "I haven't seen Peter in four years now. Not since the night he brought me home."
"Oh no!" he said in mock concern and shock, whirling around and sweeping to the girl. "My dear Wendy, if I didn't know better, I'd say Pan has forgotten you! He does that so often, you know." He tutted and placed a hand upon her shoulder, which she quickly jerked away, staring defiantly at him.
"Yes," she said. "I've made that assumption myself. Now that we've established that Peter is not here, nor will he be here, I must ask you to leave. I have to be up very early for a brunch and this is disturbing my rest."
"A brunch?" Hook inquired, raising a brow at her. "But brunches are only for ladies, am I right? Grown ones."
"I am grown." Wendy said, eyeing him.
"You are not grown until you've taken a husband." Hook said. He couldn't be that lucky. However, he couldn't help but smile as Wendy irritably held up her left hand. Her engagement ring glittered and winked at him. Oh, what a fine, fine opportunity. "Ah, so Pan's dear Wendy has found another." His forget-me-not blue eyes sparkled dangerously, making Wendy feel not unlike a cornered rabbit.
"Can we please skip the theatrics, Captain? Either tell me what you want, or leave."
"Ah, but theatrics are the spice of life," he chided, before whirling so that he was behind her, hook at her throat. He leaned close to her ear, speaking softly now. "But, Miss Darling, if you so insist. You will be accompanying me back to Neverland."
"And if I refuse?"
"I slit the throats of everyone in this house."
At her sharp breath, he knew he'd succeeded. "I don't see what this will achieve," she said quietly, still trying to figure out a way out of this situation. "Peter doesn't remember me, and he hates all adults. You should know that. And as I'm now grown, it only makes sense that he will hate me, too. It would have been a clever plan, had you thought of that."
"Ah, Miss Darling. For a lady, you don't seem to have learned that women should be seen and not heard. However, as a rebuttal to your argument." The man pulled his hook tighter against her throat, and leaned in so that his lips were a hair away from brushing the soft shell of her ear. "I have my reasons, and you are the one with my hook courting your jugular. Now." He paused, inhaling the sweet aroma wafting off of her skin, before giving her a nudge towards the window. "If you would be so kind."
Wendy opened her mouth to protest, but the cold bite of metal at her jugular quieted her. She managed a small, "Bad form, Captain," before quietly being led to the ship.
