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Map of Whitestone for all future threads

Erin had woken up at the base of the sacred tree, with the worst fucking headache.

This caused a mild stir, but she recognized Whitestone by the fashion and, in some cases, the faces of the people who came to help immediately. Bleary explanations were offered; sent here by mistake, no easy way home. Not here to cause trouble. No, I don't need a healer, can you take me to an inn? For the first three days she fought off the demons of her mind and the yearning in her heart by working odd jobs, her sword strictly peacebonded and doing absolutely nothing more suspicious than her baseline level of 'winged woman with weird aura'. At some point Cassandra would learn she was here and Erin...Erin had to be ready for heartbreak, there. The known facts were simple, after all. If you go home, you just die. This version of you is gone forever.

Her Cass, the one that knew her, and cherished her, is gone forever.

Days four through nine got eaten by that realization, a blur of depression and faint weeping in the stable that Erin slept in because it is, you see, cheap, and yet with all those days of not working, well. Money doesn't make itself. So it is that in desperation and hunger, Erin staggers out on day ten, splashes her face with water, and seeks out the rebuilding crews. There's still so much work to be done in the aftermath of the Briarwood occupation, and Erin needs enough money to survive for awhile or, even better, to invest so she can eat off the dividends. Thirteen minutes making introductions; an hour convincing the foreman to see that Erin can be worth the money, fifteen minutes getting her to tell the town watch not to flip their lid.

End result:

There's a thirty foot elf slotting large pieces of building together by hand, visible from the castle.

Hi Cass

JOHNNY SUMMER
SON OF MAY

“Ahh, Johnny. My first and fiercest friend, local caller-out of one’s bullshit, nearly impervious to getting the same help back. I owe him a lot. More than I can say, really. We’re on this death march together.”

HONORIA CRABB
MY FIERCE FLOWER

“Is there anything to say after going into her past and falling in love all over again? Crabb’s…steady, fierce, recklessly brave, she makes me feel like a better person when I remember we love each other. One of these days she’ll see herself the way I see her and then there’s gonna be some scheduling to do around how laid my fierce flower’ll be, and I will point at her and say ‘I told you so’ like a witch proclaiming a curse. That’ll be a good day.”

YLVA
MY WILDFLOWER

“It’s so nice to have someone I don’t need to be a tame person with. Ylva’s steady in her own way, and yet also so adorably shy and cuddly. It’s so fun just to be with her and around her and near her…and amazing to have someone who just understands what it’s like to be around people that expect you to be tame when that’s not a thing you can be.”

VALDIS
QUEEN OF MY HEART

“I feel like a goddamn teenager again when Valdis smiles at me. There’s so much here, complicated and painful but trusting and reassuring and…god. To just not even have the temptation to play the shell game of feelings and manners with someone is…I can’t value it enough. She’s having a hard time on the ship and trying to keep her chin up, and I’m gonna be there. Her Spring, too, will come.”

CASSANDRA DE ROLO
MY LADY

“Got a crush on her last October and it’s been a ride since. Cass is…the same kinda animal as me in a lot of ways. We know things nobody should have to know, about ourselves, about others, about the evil of the world. And we can talk about that, when it’s hard to talk with anyone else. She’s got a fun side that you’d never guess at if all you met was the regal lady persona, though…god, we need to talk and I gotta stop being chickenshit about it. I dunno if the games we play sometimes in private are something she actually likes or something she’s just doing for me.”

DAISY TONNER
MURDER WIFE

“EVERY DAY I WAKE UP WITH THE URGE TO POINT AT HER AND GO ‘HA HA YOU LIKE ME’ LIKE A FUCKING FIFTH GRADER AND EVERY DAY I DO NOT DO THAT. Christ though…she’s been worth every scrap of effort, every fight, every argument. Yeah, yeah, us monsters gotta stick together…but Daisy’s better than she thinks she is, and it shows in those moments she’s being loving and compassionate even when it’s so fucking obvious that she resents herself for it. Walk with me, love. We’ll find somewhere to call home, and then I can start bullying you with jokes about adopting 2.5 kids and a dog.”

RUBY ROSE
REVERSE ADOPTION

“One of these days my little sister is gonna research self-awareness and ascend to godhood. She’s been through the shit no one should go through and come out the other side with a ferocious compassion that I don’t think she quite understands is extraordinary. I am not gonna be another adult who let her down and made her carry my shit.”

PHIL CONNORS
SAME SHIT DIFFERENT ASSHOLE

“Phil’s empathy, his ability to see other people and understand them, his willingness to see himself in them, is extraordinary. His ability to hate himself? Equally extraordinary. He needs what he’s been giving others and I’ll get it to him no matter who has to die. You can cut all the flowers, but Spring will still come.”

AVA STARR
HOW DID I FUCK IT UP THIS BAD

“You ever see two people who are really similar so they don’t get along? Yeah. Mmhm. Yep. Yeah. Uh-huh. Mmhm. Yep. I’m a jackass. We get on better now but tell that to fucking Head Voice every time we interact.”

HELENA ADAMS
LITTLE BIRD

“I will physically die if I don’t get regular gossip hours with Helena. We’ve taught each other a lot, and I could not have asked for a better roommate, I really couldn’t. I value her insight and her patient thoughtfulness. Not enough to spare her some light bullying, mind, especially since she took Ruby’s trick and fucking reverse-adopted me, IF I HAD A NICKEL -”

RITA
BORN TO FIGHT GOD, CURSED TO PAY TAXES

“Brilliant girl, stupid enough to let other people know it, and yet…more open-minded than I think she likes to admit to herself. Rita’s slow-burn stop-being-a-fucking-prick development’s been nice to see. I remember being young and arrogant like that myself so I can’t talk too much shit. One of these days Rita’ll realize that stopping to think before reflexively insulting people will produce far superior insults, and in that moment she will achieve enlightenment and shed the last of what causes pointless fights between her and others.”

DOCTOR JOHN WATSON
MASTER OF THE TWO-SWORD STYLE

“Literally fucking Doctor Watson. Sometimes I remember that at random and I have to sit down for a bit. He’s a gentleman and a scholar, a true man of medicine, and I ain’t been Lost for these many decades not to appreciate that, but otherwise honestly our acquaintance is pretty casual. He’s kinda mentally slotted in as Johnny’s Husband, patent pending, rather than like, My Friend, trademark. Weird, but ‘m not motivated to fix it.”

MAX MAXIMUM
LITTLE BROTHER

“Adorable, earnest, safe to be around, my metamour twice over…comrade in chains. Max is so cheerful and easy to get along with that sometimes you can forget he was a goddamn slave. We work together better than other people might think. All that time in Japan, and just the trust between us…yeah. Also I adopted him for once, damnit.”

ASH
GOD DAMN IT HEAD VOICE

“I’m such a goddamn prick. Ash is a chill dude, doesn’t rise to bait, genuine with people and compassionate about others, and he sets off my goddamn insecurities like you wouldn’t believe. Why am I so much more jealous about him and Valdis than like, Max and Valdis? Or a hypothetical Ylva and Valdis? What the fuck is my problem? Can I have a sane thought for five minutes please?”

CHRISSY
A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL SHIPS

“Honestly? Don’t know her well, but we get along in a kinda superficial way. Not that I’m saying Chrissy’s superficial, I just think we don’t quite know what to do with each other. Still, if I’m holding people up and making things better, it can only help her out, right? And if it does, I did my job. Still…”

GWEN STACY
WELCOME TO THE COMPETENT ADULT SHELTER

“IF I HAD A FUCKING NICKEL FOR EVERY CHILD SOLDIER IN DENIAL ON THIS GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING SHIP I COULD BUY OUR WAY TO FREEDOM AND HAVE ENOUGH LEFT OVER TO BUILD A SEX MANSION STAFFED ENTIRELY BY CATGIRL MAIDS WITH FULL MEDICAL, DENTAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE, PAID TIME OFF, MATERNITY LEAVE, 401K PLANS, PAID VACATIONS, AND ANNUAL MOTHER FUCKING BONUSES. YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE GWEN. THERE WILL BE NO PEACE. THE WORLD IS COMING OFF YOUR SHOULDERS AND YOU CAN HATE ME FOR IT IF YOU WANT TO BUT YOU’RE GONNA GET SPACE TO FUCKING BREATHE.”

CRICHTON
CHICKEN MAN

“Dunno how any of Crichton’s enemies saw a man willing to do the funky chicken in public and thought, yeah, this is a dude I can intimidate. We get along weirdly well for all that we talk like, once a week? Once a month sometimes? There’s…he Gets It, I think, in a way neither of us really wanna talk about but both appreciate. I hope getting Harvey extracted was worth it. And not to leave this unsaid: that ass though.”

ARTHUR
ANGRY FERRET

“One of these days I’m gonna get to know this man better and I think we’ll have a lot in common aside from being able to perfectly recreate Blinkin skits in real life. He’s uh, he’s not doing so hot lately. I should maybe see about that. Heh. See.”

OKIE
YOUNGBLOOD

“Seems to see me as like, a community elder he can turn to? Which. Flattering but also why, why this, Okie please, Ossie is right there, what the fuck are you doing, I’m not ready to have an apprentice, whatthefuckdoIdowiththisgoddamnit what the fuck what the fuck -”

VICTOR
ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS

“We’ve had half a conversation and I love him unconditionally.”

SIFFLEUR
THE LAW OF NATURE IS NAMED WASP

“I’m gonna say it, alright, see, here’s the thing: if I woke up bi tomorrow I’d bang Siffleur without bothering to get dressed first. Dude may be the single-most fascinating person on board and it’s so goddamn hard to explain. He’s respectful of human conceptions of morality while rejecting them, he’s thoughtful and empathetic while also being ultra-violent, dude understands in his bones what it is to be a monster without falling into a lot of the traps that come with that. I wouldn’t trust him with my life and he wouldn’t ask me to, but I’d trust him with my secrets, and honestly that’s the bigger ask.”

KLAUS
A PLUMBER ON LSD: TALKING MAD SHIT

“Every time I think I’ve reached the end of Klaus’s tragic backstory they peel back a layer and there’s new incomprehensible horrors beneath it. We uh…we don’t have a lot of happy conversations, but he’s easy to just be around, if that makes any sense? One of my friends I can bust out the truly whacky shit with. One day we’ll have a non-depressing conversation and on that day we will both be as unto gods.”

MAEVE
MY SISTER’S MOM

“Honestly we just don’t talk much. Both of us sorta tried, early on, and then we just didn’t click, dunno why. Maeve’s like, safe? Definitely elegant, bit reserved, but if that was the problem I sure as fuck wouldn’t be dating Valdis. I dunno. Sometimes I feel bad that I don’t know Ruby’s mom that well but like with Watson I don’t feel a lot of motivation to fix things. Sometimes you just move in different circles, that’s life.”

SECURITY
MOTHERUNFUCKER

“One of my oldest and surest friends, someone I’d trust without question. We’ve been there for each other in some of the worst times on this ship, though here lately we haven’t hung out much. Sure hope Security doesn’t experience friendship decay like a neurotypical person would ‘cause I sure don’t and I’d really hate to have that talk…I gotta get back in touch.”

DEMONA
WOULD

“LET ANY WHO DOUBT MY SLUT CREDENTIALS HEAR THIS: WE GET OUR FIRST MONSTERGIRL-ASS MONSTERGIRL, SHE TURNS OUT TO BE A FUCKING RACIST, AND I’D STILL LET HER SLAM ME DOWN ON THE BAR AND RAIL ME. Unfortunately for us both she’s pissed off people close to me, and now she gets the Not Nice Erin. If she can learn some goddamn manners, then we can revisit the bit where I wanna fuck her so bad that it makes me look stupid.”

Lt. Tayrey
POWDER KEG

“I like Tayrey, I really do. She’s smart, she’s insightful, she’s upright in her principles, and also I want to summon Marx’s ghost like a fucking Pokemon until she learns some shit. My. Fucking god. I’m glad we don’t just constantly argue but also I kinda want to constantly argue? Not that I don’t get it, though. That girl…she’s either gonna vanish from the ship, or her worldview is finally going to snap, and either way who she is right now will undergo an apocalyptic change. I hope she’ll let me help when that happens.”

PETER STARR
SON OF DECEMBER

“Honestly, Peter earned my respect when I explained why I was hesitant to trust him and he accepted that immediately. Feels weird thinking back on those times now; Peter’s one of the few people here I’d obey without a second thought, if he says something is up and needs to get done I’m on that shit immediately. Maybe it’s because he’s been through shit so much like mine, though his insight and careful stratagems definitely feature there too. I have no doubt that he can outthink me if I’m stupid enough to sit his table and play fair.”

PINBALL VANCE HOPPER
WELL ON HIS WAY

“We talk like every six months, and it’s kinda fine? I hit him pretty hard early on, but I like to think that nudge got him seriously thinking about himself, and from what I’m seeing and hearing around he’s been doing good. I’m not gonna accept any escape from this ship that throws this kid into the afterlife immediately. Fuck that.”

OSSIE WUTHRIDGE
STEADY

“Another friendship I’ve been neglecting, but…I dunno, we’ve had our own shit to handle on both sides, I think. Still, if he calls I’m coming running, and I think he feels the same way. Ossie’s a rock you can lean on, if you’re not disrespectful of the privilege. Still don’t know why his text messages cause my phone to beg for mercy though.”

GILES
WITCH OF NOVEMBER

“We haven’t spoken in months and I still trust him with the knowledge needed to slay me and the will to ensure it gets done if I’m ever off the rails. Nothing else needs saying.”

SHEOGORATH
CAREFULLY, CAREFULLY

“Dangerous, mercurial, arguably hearing me think these thoughts -” (Fuck you he’s the only one that can hear me) “Fuck you, no matter how much we like him we’ve gotta be careful -” (FUCK ME YOURSELF COWARD) “- bitch that’s called masturbating and if we’re resorting to that something has gone eminently goddamn wrong -” [in all senses but the literal Erin begins a fistfight with herself]

DIMITRI
HONORARY OGRE

“He’s been through it. I don’t think he quite trusts me, which, fair. He’s upright, he has morals and standards, I’m a shady motherfucker. I can’t make him let me in, but he knows I’m ready and available, if he ever needs me. Or at least I hope he does. What I wouldn’t give for a real Freehold to help him out after March…”

DEDUE
VASSAL TO VASSAL COMMUNICATION

“Here’s a stumper for ya: is it weirder that I get on better with Dedue than Dimitri, or that I think of Dedue as a girl despite knowing damn well that one (1) Dedue is genderfluid? Either way, March hit Dedue pretty fucking hard too, but weirdly in a reverse of the usual trend she hasn’t…really approached me about that, when Dimitri did. I wonder…”

DEPUTY PRATT
DIFFERENT GENRE OF GUY

“How the fuck is Pratt beating Klaus for making me leave every conversation more confused than I entered it? I suspect if we weren’t on this ship we’d just never talk or interact, maybe we’d say hi a few times a month at the liquor store or something, but as it stands we’re doing the closest equivalent. I don’t feel any antipathy for the guy, I’m just not sure we’re like, compatible as friends. Then again…he does have a good trap game. We’ll see.”

DARCY
YEAH I FUCKED THAT ONE UP

“If Darcy walked into a room with me, Louis the 14th, Dracula, and the guy who named French Fries, and found a loaded revolver? They’d shoot me six times. And that’s my fault.”

CESAR SALAZAR
HOW DOES HIS HAIR DO THAT

“Deadass sometimes I forget this dude exists. We’ve had like no interactions. I recognize him primarily as Johnny’s husband. We had some good talks last October and that’s like…it? Yeah that’s it. Wow.”

NOBUNAGA
FUCKING MORON

“If it wouldn’t upset Valdis and Klaus so much I’d sell this dude to Satan for one corn chip and then give the corn chip away.”

NIMONA
YOUNGBLOOD SHAPESHIFTER

“Gotta make sure I check in on her. She’s super fun but I know that overly-confident front, that was me as a youngblood. She’s gone through somethin’ that’s hers to share or withhold but as far as I’m concerned Nimona’s under my aegis. I need to make sure she knows she can count on me.”

APRIL
NOT MY FAULT THIS TIME

“I feel like we haven’t spoken in a hot minute…wait, who was I -” (April) “GOD DAMN IT EVERY FUCKING TIME THIS FEAR-EATING CAT SENTENCED TO CAPITALISM BY SATAN GETS ME WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BE YOUR FRIEND APRIL IT’S NOT EVEN HARD FOR A SANE REASON MOTHER FUCK -”

FLAN
ALAS

“EVERY DAY I WAKE UP TO A WORLD WHERE FLAN IS STRAIGHT AND EVERY DAY IT’S JUST AS SURPRISING, HOW THE FUCK IS AN ELDRITCH HORROR STRAIGHT, WHAT’S NEXT, YOU GONNA SHOW ME A STRAIGHT FURRY? HUH? HUH? YOU GOT A CATHOLIC WOLFBOY FOR ME, GOD? DO YOU? HOW? Still, nice to have someone around who’s freestyling on the beat but like, comprehensible to me. I gotta do a better call-in to her next podcast.”

Using this to keep track of things from regains and other changes due to IC events as well as keep some information around to answer frequently asked questions. All items are in addition to what she has on her app etc.

What Can Erin See?
Your character! WHEN WEARING HER BLINDFOLD, Erin can see people just like she had eyes; she can see what they're wearing, their facial expressions, the objects they're using or carrying, all of that.

For things that are not on your person, Erin can only see objects that are either intensely emotionally connected to you (or your story), or which have their own stories. The latter might include things like Excalibur, the Declaration of Independence, or a cursed doll.

All other environments and objects appear to Erin as vague colored impressions; like a badly done watercolor, lacking in detail and 'labeled' with what a given object is ("door", "table", "tea", etc.)

Powers Updates

- Aura. Erin has picked up a RWBY-style Aura, which protects her from harm, and has been training in its other uses with Ruby Rose. When attacked her Aura appears as a pale green force field. The Aura can be beaten down, and if broken it exhausts Erin significantly; further, it doesn't kill momentum so Erin can still be knocked around, knocked down, grappled, thrown, etc.

- Contracts of Mirror 4. Adds another option to Erin's shapeshifting powers; she can grow a 'clearly inhuman' living feature, such as turning her arm into a giant lobster claw, replacing her legs with spider legs, or growing functional shrimp eyes. Matches her size, only works on one feature at a time, each feature lasts up to an hour per use. Like all other Contract-style powers, this costs her Glamour. Matches her size so if she wants to be a giant monster she still has to pay to be giant first etc.

Inventory Updates

- Cabin 134 has an oak wardrobe containing her clothes from home.

- A velvet coin purse that always contains 2 nickels

- Rope braided from materials stolen from the Infinite Tommy Bahama

- A cybernetic communications implant (as of this edit, not yet installed)

- A hurdy-gurdy & amp, stashed in the theater because there is NO room in her cabin for that and also to avoid the temptation of choosing violence by playing it while people are sleeping.

- Cabin 134 now has a DVD/Blu-Ray player

- A large amount of supplies for learning and writing braille. This is a threat.

- Bifrost, a Hedgespun spatha made from stained glass. Slightly sharper and tougher than steel, this sword follows its owner into dreams. It belongs to Colors Eriksdotter, the lass Erin had feelings for on her own world.

- A pair of decorative pins, one depicting a crab, the other an amaranth bloom. Erin wears the crab pin over her heart; Honoria Crabb has the amaranth pinned to her collar.

- A supply of flavored cigars, which changes its flavor and restocks every new moon.

- A supply of well-worn and comfortable rope, suitable for safely tying people up if you know what I mean. It's red.

- A supply of wood for whittling, stashed in her wardrobe.

- An assortment of military lolita fashions (as of this edit, not yet worn).

Erin's voice mail message is in a weary voice: "Erin Peters. If you called in the middle of the night and I didn't answer, I'm dying. If I pick up and someone on your end isn't dying, they will be shortly. Text otherwise."

PLAYER

NAME: Vox
CONTACT: prince_of_knives#2373
ACTIVE TIMES/PACE: Good question to be honest, but I'm spoken for on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays free-and-clear, and have standing obligations during the day/evening of Wednesdays and Thursdays; on those days I can only really post during the pits of the night (EST)
BRACKETS/PROSE: Prose
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Mocking male abuse victims

IN CHARACTER

PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Theoretically open, but good luck
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: Likely to engage in it
RELATIONSHIPS: Available for shipping (strictly lesbian)
PSYCHIC & PSIONIC INFORMATION: Erin Peters' mind is a tangled morass of wrath, regret, trauma, schemes, bad memories, prickly fear, and bubbles of denial that she fiercely tracks down and bursts at all times. Beneath this ongoing disaster is a well-honed survival instinct that ticks away like an engine of ice, feeding on the morass above. Erin thinks in English; she is a lucid dreamer, but rarely fails to have intense nightmares. She experiences severe psychotic hallucinations.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: Most of this will be in the formal application, but Erin is a Changeling (Changeling: the Lost); she can create Pledges with magically-enforced rewards and punishments, walk into dreams she has Pledge-bound access to, harvest Glamour from human or near-human emotions (this is harmless to the source of the Glamour), and glean information about those emotions by the Glamour harvested (ex. tasting the anticipation that colors someone's Fear of an approaching noise). For more information see her application.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: Erin is mainly in the peak of health; she eats well, has a swordsman's build, and like all Lost is generally resistant to both disease and accident. She is, however, blind; her eyes were torn from her skull at her request.
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Erin's personal space radiates several feet from her body, and she responds to unexpected or unwanted touching by escalating to violence immediately. Becoming blind has eased her nyctophobia in most senses but she is susceptible to the perception or memory of darkness. Erin responds to unwanted romantic advances with one warning; people who ignore this warning learn the lesson of the rattlesnake.

OUT OF CHARACTER

BACKTAGGING: Yes
THREADHOPPING: Yes, including without asking
FOURTHWALLING: No thank you
NOT INTERESTED IN: Uh, will update this later

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

VISUAL:
Come Sail Away Update As Of December 9th: Erin's hair has been dyed a deep scarlet color; definitely not a natural human red but like, you can get this out of a box, it's not magic. Her eyebrows match.

Come Sail Away Update As Of November 2nd: Welcome to the peeled Erin arc. With access to her clothes at home and her Aura, Erin is no longer going around with her armor on. Her new usual look involves skirts over pants (cargo pants still feature heavily, but so do jeans in black or blue - some heavily hand-patched), layers of tops with short sleeves (vests over t-shirts, tops with plunging necklines worn over polo shirts or blouses, turtlenecks with the sleeves removed), fingerless gloves with metal studs, and a lot more use of her sky-blue ribbon tying her cloudy hair back. All of these outfits come with a belt that has several pouches and knives sheathed openly on it, with her saber worn over the small of her back where it's harder to draw quickly.

Erin comes off like a very confused staff member at a Mad Max-themed prom...in Jim Henson's Labyrinth. She wears a mail shirt made of glittering ice over a thick undershirt and beneath a pale green greatcoat, and is rarely seen without her blindfold and her swords. Her movements are controlled and professional, far more so than the odd lack of callouses on her hands would suggest. The sheet music on her skin moves in real time, the song changing inscrutably over time.
AURAL: Erin's voice is melodious and rich, but often also bitter, cynical, and clipped. In rare moments of relaxation, every word is a song.
OLFACTORY: The clean, sharp scent of Erin's ice mail is often mixed with the sex-and-gunpowder of her Mantle; when she is in the grip of Desire, or utilizing her Contracts, the latter rises and mixes with sandalwood and burning charcoal.
DEMEANOUR: Erin alternates between being standoffish and prickly vs. being direct and confident, depending on if she knows the people she's around, if she feels safe, and if she's actually feeling confident in herself. When she's on the job, however she can think of that, she's professional and straightforward. Off of it she often circles around her emotions and intentions, questioning herself and in turn questioning others to buy time or to create the feeling that she has control of the conversation. She knows it's maladaptive, but attempts to dismount her bullshit have yet to be successful.

☆ code by kimmiserate ☆