EMPTY! Due to the group's hiatus, we haven't had the time to survey and keep everyone connected/in touch with each other, so there is no official spotlight member!
First she begins by shopping during the biggest time of sales, that way she can get great deals on amazing clothes, and get triple the amount that she would normally get if she just went out any other time. Then she waits for the final week before school starts and goes into big chain stores and gathers all of her supplies in bulk, getting it all for a tenth of the cost that she normally would. For her the entire art of saving money is why she has excitement for school. On the night before she's supposed to go to school she spends time at a grocery store and in her kitchen making a great amount of food for smaller meals throughout the week, and saving them in storage containers for while she goes to school.
Love for Cat is a very different thing. She doesn't feel it to the same extent of others because she doesn't connect well to people, but because she doesn't connect that well to people in general she also clings to the ones that she becomes close to. I think she doesn't believe in love at first sight at all, but she does believe in magnetic attraction at first encounter, which is to say that there is something that pulls people together and keeps them connected, but it isn't love.
My own personal beliefs; no there is no such thing as love at first sight. It seems more like a fairy tale than anything.
This is a strange one, because while Catherine herself hates people, she's also very affectionate when she's given the chance to be. I can see her wanting to take the deal, but even when she's close to someone touching them is a big part of how she deals with a lack of control, she instead controls how she touches people and their closeness to her, to lose that as well would be like losing more power, but the prospect of potentially not being touched is also alluring. I think because of the lack of control that she would choose not to adhere to those guidelines, and as a result not take the million dollars.
It's methodical. She'll plan a route out, plan the shops she wants to go to out, and then not go to anything she's set up originally because the smells of the body spray shops will be too overwhelming for her to go where she really desires to go, and instead she'll just go anywhere else to avoid the strong scents that surround her.
She enjoys the socialization of shopping though, especially with other patrons and the cashiers/workers, because learning a little bit about the lives of those in the communities she visits is an interesting experience to her.
While she loves to be outside and go to malls and shops specifically, she also loves the luxury of spending time at home and 'Amazon Window Shopping" where she puts whatever she wants in her cart online, then waits until she can afford things and at that time goes through what she really wants, if she really wants it, she'll purchase it, if she thinks it's frivilrous she'll remove it from her cart.
Her guilty pleasure for shopping though absolutely has to be lingerie shopping. She doesn't understand the stigma around it, and she loves the feel of undergarments against her skin, even if it's just a small field test against the back of her palm or against her wrist.
She spends more time in stores like Victoria's Secret, Frederick's of Hollywood, and Felina (when she makes special trips out to Chatsworth), than anywhere else as a result of her guilty pleasure. She also spends a lot more on undergarments than she does on other things half the time, and has a special storage system for all of her undergarments and lingerie.
A big part of the reason behind that though is because growing up her parents wouldn't really take her bra shopping, so as an adult having the time to get form-fitting stuff is really important to her.
Mind over matter. While her phone brings her comfort, she can deal with the discomfort of not having it for an entire day, and just imagine that she left it at work and that work is closed, so she can't retrieve it. Of course, in practice it would be different than in theory, but the anxiety of being without it won't last forever, and it's a short period, so yes she'd take the million!
Absolutely not. Not only for the work aspect, but because she's from the Millenial/Gen-Z split generation. She needs her hands to scroll through her phone, and to stay connected to everything, if she doesn't have that minor comfort then what's the point of the money? Anything that would take her out of that zone is simply torturous.
Aside from the power struggle that we all know Catherine faced, I'd like to say that the most insulting moment of her life is based on one from my own life.
In an introductory art course she was taking while she was concentrating on doing a still-life image of a bowl of fruit, her professor took her pencil and sketched out the rough shapes for her instead of letting her do it, because she wasn't doing it 'in a natural flowing way' and the shapes that she made were 'never going to create the fruits in front of her'.
The reason that this was so insulting to her though (and why I was personally insulted when dealing with this) was because she has her own methodology when it comes to art and how she sketches, just because she sketches something one way doesn't mean that her final product is going to look anything like her starting process.
How Catherine handled that situation though was to simply wait for the teacher to finish then tell them how she isn't an infant and doesn't need to be babysat, that their time is better spent helping others that ask for or need help, rather than her because if she needed any help she would have asked for it.
(I did not handle myself that way though. I simply let the teacher's actions fester as irritation but ever since then I've held on to the anger from the incident and since it was rather small I never spoke of it to anyone).
[attr="class","opmindtop2"]POST IN A THREAD, OR SEND IN A MESSAGE TO LAVENZA!
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PERSONAL:
Personal questions, so we can sort of get to know you!
1) Are you over the age of consent in your region? [break]
Yes![break][break]
2) How do you prefer to be contacted? [break]
Discord[break][break]
3) What title would you prefer to go by? [break]
Cait[break][break]
4) What kinds of things offend you? [break]
I don't really get offended that often.[break][break]
5) What kind of humor would you say you're into? [break]
All types![break][break]
6) What are the best days for you to get involved? [break]
Weekends are when I'm most free.[break][break]
7) What timezone are you in? [break]
Pacific[break][break]
8) How did you find out about us? [break]
A post in /tagged/rpg on tumblr [break][break]
9) Were you recruited by someone? If so, who? [If you don't name them here they won't earn points for it!][break]
I found you guys on my own.
[break][break][break]
CHARACTER:
Character Questions, so we can see what you see!
Name: [break]
Catherine Nelson[break][break]
Face Claim: [break]
Catherine (from the game of the same name)[break][break]
Arcana: [break]
Hope[break][break]
Alias:[break]
Lamb[break][break]
Gender: [break]
Female[break][break]
Age: [break]
21+[break][break]
Sexuality: [break]
Heterosexual[break][break]
Occupation: [break]
Concierge & Breakfast Attendant at the Clockwork Masque Hotel[break][break]
Area of Residence: [break]
Los Angeles, California & Shibuya, Tokyo[break][break]
Persona User: Yes[break][break]
Persona: Apophis[break][break]
Element: Eiha (Curse)[break][break]
Melee Weapon: Dual Blades[break][break]
Ranged Weapon: Darts[break][break]
Skills: (Example: Yusuke can duplicate skill cards, Haru grows sp reviving vegetables, Sojiro teaches you to make sp reviving items, ect.)[break]
★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Baton Pass[break]
★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Follow Up[break]
★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Charming Chatter[break]
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Harisen Recovery[break]
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ Pickpocket: It is possible to steal items from enemies when using physical attacks.[break]
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ Sacrificial Boost: If someone loses in battle and she's switched in, she'll start out with either: an insta-Heat Riser, or be able to shoot out the enemy by 1/3 of their current HP.[break]
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Insta-kill: There is a chance that you will instantly defeat any enemy you ambush that is significantly weaker than you. You won’t get any experience or items though.[break]
★★★★★★★★☆☆ Endure[break]
★★★★★★★★★☆ Corpse Raid: During a successful insta-kill if an opponent is holding a rare item, you will be able to obtain it.[break]
★★★★★★★★★★ Second Awakening[break][break]
Positive Personality Traits: [break]
Patient [break]
Caring[break]
Charismatic[break]
Intelligent[break]
Empathetic[break]
Careful[break]
[break]
Negative Personality Traits: [break]
Critical[break]
Insecure[break]
Paranoid[break]
Spiteful[break]
[break]
Strange Quirks of theirs: [break]
She always wears layers of clothing, even if it seems like she isn't (such as spanx under her shorts, camisoles under her shirts, ect)[break]
She only wears her hair up if she has time to do her makeup[break]
She spends most of her spare time studying ancient battle techniques[break]
She is obsessed with historical wars [break]
She loves eating soup on rainy days but never any other time.[break]
She refuses to use certain pharmaceutical drugs even if they're prescribed to her.
[break][break]
Pet Peeves of theirs:[break]
Being touched without permission being given (especially hugs).[break]
Listening to radio music, even if it's something she likes because of the ads and interruptions. [break]
People who brag about their children. [break]
People who act like they know everything but haven't done basic research on a subject.
[break][break]
Why does this character interest you?[break]
As a rape survivor myself I find that she's easy to connect to. She has a drive towards wanting to always be protected and she's very realistic in that manner because in my experience people that have been deeply hurt try to cope in that kind of way and with her it just seems like she’s found a way to not only ensure her own safety, but that she’s also found a way to get the power that she needs to feel truly secure.[break][break]
What are some minor headcanons you have for them?:[break]
Because of what’s happened to her, she no longer is able to connect to others emotionally and it’s all just going through the motions. [break]
Because of the justice system failing her if she ever comes across a crime she’ll ignore it and let it happen. [break]
Since she’s gone into the metaverse she no longer uses anything that will alter her perception due to the fact that she wants to be certain every single time that her time in the metaverse is real and not her being on something or a dream of some sort.
[break] [break]
What would you think is their tragic flaw?: [break]
Her distrust of others because overall that is a problem, if she can’t trust anyone she can’t have any true allies and ultimately that will lead to her destruction.
[break][break]
What do you think are their greatest strengths?: [break]
Her independence, because she was able to pick herself back up and move forward without any help from people that she should have been able to count on before.
[break][break]
What do you think they fear most?: [break]
It’s kind of a given, but being helpless again. She hates the feeling of being powerless because to have that kind of desperation where nobody is able to help is always bad to deal with, but she had to deal with it on such a magnified scale that she was broken for a while.
[break][break]
If YOU could give them advice, what would it be?: [break]
No matter what it takes, keep fighting. Even if it’s destructive, don’t let your ember burn out. You need to keep pushing forward so that you can reach your ultimate goal, either that or push forward to fail so that you can truly pull yourself up from the ashes of what remains of things.
[break][break][break]
HISTORY:
TELL US ABOUT THEIR LIFE!
Catherine Nelson is a young woman at the age of 21, who has been known to be rash in her youth. She’s a student at the University of Southern California, trying to major in Psychology with a minor in Liberal Arts. She’s very well learned in her courses and very astute outside of her classes, being thought of as not quite a genius, as she doesn’t ever put in more effort than what will get her a B or a C in her courses, but someone that’s definitely well rounded. [break][break]
During her final year studying in college, she went out to party with some friends and found herself taken advantage of. Though this was a travesty unto itself, when she had tried to take it to court, her case was thrown out, and files against her for perjury were charged instead, as the person who had assaulted her had a high level of power and could cause her records to become tainted as a result. [break][break]
Ever since that moment, she’s felt a vast helplessness, despite the fact that her father is an ex-police detective turned lawyer, who has always been around to protect her. She couldn’t stand the feeling of being powerless and began to act out as a result. For a short amount of time, she drowned her sorrows away with alcohol, and left her education behind in the dust, until she came across the metaverse and learned of the alternative world that there was, which has fascinated her beyond belief.[break][break]
As a result of wanting to search the Metaverse and learn more about it, despite not even knowing what it was called, she followed any leads she could get from the world itself, as it was brought to her by a key that kept appearing in her pocket. Finally, she came across Yusuke Kitagawa, a well-known artist around her age, who himself was getting over a tragic past, and came to America to make his own path away from it. Intrigued by him, and how the Metaverse had brought her to him, she kept around him as a means to try and understand better just what exactly she was being pulled toward. [break][break][break]
SAMPLE:
WRITING SAMPLE, SO WE CAN GET TO KNOW YOUR WRITING STYLE!
Pallid azure hues gazed through the area where a serene peace had seemed too steep from each individual that was in the environment despite the fact that it was heavily crowded, but for a woman dressed in white lace and a pair of damaged shorts, her full attention was affixed to a certain singular point. A tall languid man with dark hair and piercing eyes that if weaponized could possibly cut through glass. [break][break]
She was almost certain that he wouldn’t notice her because this wasn’t the first time that she had done this, come to the area to observe what all was going on around her, but each time his attention was set to something else, either a giant canvas or the area around him.
Something about the man’s way of observing the world around him was alluring, and every single time that she came around he seemed to miss her which had given her a single opinion on him. He was unobservant of the world around him, but instead was intensely fixated only on the things that caught his eyes, and because of that she was drawn to him. He was an elusive fly about to be caught in her invisible web, and she wasn’t going to leave without putting herself on his radar no matter what it took. [break][break]
For weeks she’d return to the area, coming by just to casually observe him and despite all of the time that she spent planning how and when to approach the man, there was something about this particular day and moment that had seemed much to paradisiac to pass up. Without hesitation limiting her she sauntered toward the man, a light smile creeping up on her features as took each step slightly faster than the last. She couldn’t contain her excitement as her heartbeat raced. Her vintage white pumps clicked with each step she took and her white stockings slowly slipping with the quickened pace she’d set herself up for. [break][break]
As much as she had wanted to appear sophisticated and coy she had become increasingly aware that she wasn’t going to give him the impression she had hoped for. -This couldn’t get any goddamn worse now, could it?- She thought to herself as her curls bounced with each step. She paused a moment taking the time to adjust her stockings back into place, ready to curse herself for the lack of a garter to hold them in place. It wasn’t just that the man was alluring and that she was drawn to him, there was another side to things and she couldn’t relinquish the thought that the two of them were destined to cross paths.[break][break]
Adjusting herself had taken a bit of recourse, but after giving herself a quick once-over in a compact she approached the man, giving him a light three taps on the shoulder before clearing her throat. [break][break]
“Good morning. What are you painting today?” she bluntly asked, her voice a halftone lighter than normal while she gave a slight smile. “I’ve noticed you here every morning coming out to paint and you always seem so invested in it, and every day you leave with a new fully finished painting, I think your dedication to each thing that you paint is really impressive, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me watching you up close. I’d like to see the process behind each thing you do, instead of far away and always wondering just what is on the mind of someone with such ire for what they do.”
