Profiles
Name: Allie (short for Alisandra - Allie rarely uses her full name, and if anyone else does, it's very formal).
Also known as: The Bookworm, Psyche, fangirl Muse, 'SailorProteus', 'PsycheMuse'.
Apparent Species: Human; also uses felid - specifically, a silver domestic cat.
Apparent Gender: Female.
First Fanfic Appearance: "Musings".
Speciality Genre: Subreal/Elseworlds.
Muse's feelings towards Writer: Protective, vulnerable, sarcastic ('Oh, right. So when do I get a say in this?').
Writer's feelings towards Muse: Empathetic, affection, irritation ('Allie! Quit it with the Sailor Stars already!!').
Writer's name: Imran Inayat.
Physical Appearance: In felid form, Allie is fairly small, with silver fur and grey eyes ('and - "OW!" - claws').
In human form, she's settled on a standard appearance, after experimenting with other hairstyles and fashion styles (anything from a sailor fuku, to Grecian-style robes, to a denim jacket and jeans) - about 5' 2", slim build, with anime-style grey eyes and long waist-length brown hair.
Currently prefers a deep maroon velvet dress - low-cut, with shoulder-straps - in the Edwardian style, giving her a somewhat Gothette appearance.
Personality: Think 'student teacher' - someone who's friendly and accessible, listens well, willing to explain and exposit whatever's needed.
While she often grumbles about, and to, her Writer, they have a bond strong enough that both would go - and have gone - to the wall for the other ('but are we sure that's not a cliche yet?').
Conscientious about her work, but has massive fangirl tendencies (specifically, "Angel" and "Sailor Moon"), and a decidedly peculiar imagination ('says the writer who wrote Skuld as Skoo Montoya...').
Origin: Originally from Subreality City, Allie was placed on work experience by Calliope after she nearly flunked the basic Muse modular course, for Calliope's own reasons ('and you do not ask why Calliope orders something, you do it!'). Having recently earned her licence - and learned of her ability to take any form she chooses, in the process - she's settled down to the weirdness of This Time Round.
Anything Else? : Known Associates - Yokoi (former Collegium roommate), Tessa (fellow couch potato), Embericles and Nyssaias. Known Abilities - Eidetic Memory, Mergence, Narrative Awareness, Shapeshifting, others as requested.
Name: Xephanya, shortened to Xeffy, Xeffie, Xephy, Zeffy, Zephy, or Xeph. Since they're all pronounced similarly - 'Zeff-ie' - Xeffy doesn't mind which one gets used. Well, not too much.
('Dad says he was taking the piss out of Musely naming convention.
'Uh-huh. Right.')
Also known as: The Brat From Hades, Teen Queen, big-mouth brat, 'BratFromHades'.
('Call me a teenage siren, and you'll be picking your teeth from up off the floor. I read "Lolita", thanks so much.')
Apparent Species: Subreal human - Xeffy's not a Muse, though most of her family are. She's not really interested in the idea, either.
Apparent Gender: Female. ('Apparent? Does that mean-? Ew...')
First Fanfic Appearance: Walk-on in "Both Sides of the Tracks", full appearance in "The Night the Stories Went Dark".
Writer's Name: n/a (Introduced by Imran Inayat. At least, I think I did - I have the sneaking feeling she's always been lurking in Allie's background...).
Physical Appearance: Xeffy is a classic gawky girl-child, with the confidence that comes from being twelve years old and knowing what's going on ('Crap. Still haven't managed to shake that').
She's five feet tall, with blue-grey eyes, ('comes from Dad's side of the family'), and long brown hair, usually tying some of it in a braid and letting the rest flow free.
Her dress sense is best described as 'casual teenager' - she usually throws something on from whatever she can find in her wardrobe, so she can end up wearing anything from halter-tops to T-shirts, jeans, slacks, dresses, and trainers ('Hey! I can get dressed up, you know!').
Personality: Xeffy and her sisters do care about each other, but her sisters often treat her as the baby of the family, as someone who needs to be protected or yelled at - a position Xeffy both loves and hates, so she's doing the best she can to hold on to the best of it, and cut the worst.
She can shift from reckless enthusiasm to teenage cynicism to maturity and seriousness as the situation demands - especially if her sisters are in danger - and is learning how to integrate the best in all the outlooks. However, she's not about to stop teasing her sisters - or Imran.
Origin: Xeffy was born to a family of Muses in Subreality; her mother died when she was eight. In 2001, Xeffy learned that her grandmother had marked her descendants with a divine gift - in Xeffy's case, the Sirens' gift. With her sister Allie's acceptance of a job with a "Doctor Who" writer, Xeffy and her Elseworlds counterpart Ayna are currently wreaking havoc in the This Time Round subverse...
Anything Else?: Associates - Jacqueline (aunt, Subreality traveller), Ayna (Otherside counterpart), Chloe (penfriend), Anya ('guardian angel'), Molly and Kwen (school friends).
Enemies ('I'm twelve. I don't have that many enemies...') - Ellia (Allie's Otherside counterpart), the original Sirens ('Because they want me to become like them. BorgXeffy. Not good, not good...'), the WANKERs ('well, er... let's just say if they knew who they're really looking for, they're not gonna be happy.')
Special Abilities - Xeffy is a true Siren, a girl able to communicate, and be understood, at accelerated speed, with or without words; to bring others' feelings and memories to the fore; and the Siren talent, to call anyone who hears her sing - even if they're on the other side of a dimensional portal...
Name: Sandra.
Also known as: Milady, Shadow, weird cowgirl ghost, 'ShadowGhost'.
Apparent Species: Human ghost.
Apparent Gender: Female.
First Fanfic Appearance: "The Night The Stories Went Dark".
Physical Appearance: Sandra could almost be Allie's twin, if it weren't for the niggling little points that she's translucent - you can see right through her - and usually floats a couple of centimetres off the floor.
Her clothes usually look as if she got Calamity Jane's hand-me-downs (although she can change them by thinking about it).
Personality: Sandra was originally the embodiment of Allie's Shadow - of everything Allie denied, refused to accept, was afraid to accept, about herself - and shared all of her twin's memories.
However, as time passed, Sandra established a distinct identity of her own: more romantic, more pragmatic, than Allie, brought face to face with the consequences of her fantasies, willing to take on those consequences, for good and ill, and willing to consider things Allie might not (though she does share Allie's fangirl tendencies - in her case, "Quantum Leap" and "Tenchi Muyo!").
She's perceptive enough to be aware of what others deny about themselves - though she won't confront them with it unless it seems appropriate - and is very attuned to how the rest of her family will behave in any given situation, which gives her something of a leg-up in dealing with her sisters...
Origin: Sandra was originally an aspect of Allie's soul, (her Shadow), separated out from her, and given independent existence, physical face and form. Eventually, Allie's Shadow was returned to her - but Sandra survived, sent back as a phantasm, a living idea. She now works at This Time Round, as bartender on the graveyard shift.
Anything Else?: Known Abilities - Insubstantiality (Sandra can pass through anything unharmed - though magic might still affect her); Telekinesis (the stronger Sandra's dominant emotion, the more she can move); Teleportation (only to those she shares a strong psychic bond with - her family, Imran, Ember Ashe); Eidetic Memory.
As a phantasm, Sandra can see Death, and any other spirits, whenever they're in the vicinity.
She doesn't need to eat, drink, or sleep, though she can order food from Limbo; however, this does mean she ends up with a lot of time to kill...
Name: Dominic.
Also known as: Dom, Nic (only family and friends get away with this one), 'Kerouac'.
Apparent Species: Human.
Apparent Gender: Male.
Area Of Specialisation: Dom's a History Muse (one of Clio's), specialising in historical mysteries. He gets very amused when someone thinks he inspires fictional mysteries...
An open question is whether or not Dom has any doctoral degrees - he's certainly lived long enough to accumulate a few. If he _does_ have them, he hasn't put them on display.
First Fanfic Appearance: "The Night The Stories Went Dark" (hmm, that seems to be turning up a lot...).
Writer's Name: n/a, at the moment. Currently on leave.
Physical Description : About 5' 4", oval face, with blue eyes. Short brown hair, balding on top, with a closecut beard. Prefers casual wear, but has been known to break out the biker gear on occasion, much to his daughters' astonishment...
Personality: Dom is studious to the point of pedantry - he studies, he researches, making sure nothing's missed, and making sure he doesn't miss what's happening now - which can manifest in times of crises as an objective, distanced attitude, as he puts things together. Supportive (and fiercely protective) of his daughters, but while he has a tendency to dote on them, he won't let them get away with murder. Not terribly eager to get back to work - he's spent over eight hundred years on the job, and feels that spending time with his family, and his interests (including 1950s Beat culture), are what's currently important.
Origin: Dom originally came to Subreality close on nine hundred years ago to finish his graduate thesis - then he met his future wife, Elle, and decided to stay. He went on leave shortly before his daughters were born, to spend more time with them... and still hasn't gone back.
Anything Else?: Known Associates - Allie (elder daughter, creative Muse), Xeffy (younger daughter, siren), Sandra (daughter, undead phantom), Ayna (daughter, siren), Jackie (sister, global traveller).
Known Powers - Eidetic Memory.
Known Equipment - Dom spent some time with a sociologist researching Beat culture during the 1950s, and never quite lost his taste for it, holding on to a 1950s Harley Davison motorbike, with modern day biker gear and equipment. Much to his family's incredulity, it works...
Name: Aynaphex, (pronounced Ai-na-phex), shortened to Ayna. Quite why 'Aynaphex' remains a mystery...
(#I think Dad just went for the first collection of syllables he could think of, myself#)
Also known as: 'MusicGirl', bird-girl brat.
(#It's Francois, what did you expect?#)
Apparent Species: Siren. (#Literally#)
Apparent Gender: #Female, thanks so much#
First Fanfic Appearance: "Maybe Some Other Time". (#Well, my first appearance this side of the PLOT Hole...#)
Writer's Name: n/a - associated with Imran Inayat and his Some Other Time Round counterpart, the shadowy Imran Insaneyat, aka 'Tire-head'.
(#It suits him. Believe me#)
Physical Appearance: Ayna appears to be about five feet tall, rather gawky, with a slim build, small nose and mouth - but any similarities to Xeffy stop there.
Ayna takes after the darkest perceptions of the Sirens of myth - grey skin, slitted white eyes, clawed feet, a mane of dusty brown hair trailing down her back, and great featherless wings, not quite birdlike or batlike, which run almost the length of her body, that she can either fold behind her back or wrap around herself as a cloak.
Given the chance, and the discovery of clothes that actually fit over her wings, her taste in clothes mirrors Xeffy's - T-shirts, jeans, skirts, dresses - whilst her colour schemes shade towards the quiet and restrained, with an interesting quirk: when Xeffy wears black, Ayna chooses white, and vice versa.
Personality: Ayna's something of a sceptic by nature, with an eye for the flaws in others' arguments, a tendency to get really, really frustrated with the idiocies of the world around her, and a nice line in sarcasm - it doesn't stop her indulging her sense of fun, and her sense of mischief, but it does mean she sometimes finds herself as the voice of reason to Xeffy's casual acceptance.
She also has a knack for sensing manipulation and provocation - and a tendency to throw the odd spanner in the works...
Ayna's greatest fear is that she'll do something to be sent home, or that she'll lose her new-found family (especially Xeffy) - in such cases, she's vulnerable, impulsive, and often reckless.
Origin: Ayna is Xeffy's counterpart from Some Other Time Round, TTR's more sinister equivalent, born with all the marks of a Siren; she came to the TTR subverse shortly after an argument with her sister Ellia.
Ellia has apparently decided to allow Ayna to remain Outside as long as she likes (#which doesn't mean much, 'cause it'd take a herd of minotaurs to drag me back there...#).
Anything Else?: Known Powers - Accelerated Communication, Emotional Evocation, Enthralling/Summoning Voice (all channelled through her singing), Flight (Ayna's wings are fully functional), Enhanced Hearing.
Part of Ayna's Siren gift was a Siren curse, which meant she could only sing what she wanted to say - but, thanks to a Power-level dispelling spell, she can now speak normally.
Like a lot of teenagers, Ayna's diet tends towards the high-energy - red meat (preferably rare), fried foods, carbohydrates, chocolate - most of which her metabolism converts into the energy needed for flight (fat jokes will not be appreciated).
Name: Kari (named for the Finnish title of the Gray Steward of old, Kari Salomaa).
Also known as: Aballon, Abi ('_Please_ don't remind me...'), parrot-boy.
Apparent species: Parrot or human (Kari is able to shift between the two).
Apparent gender: Male, in both forms.
First fanfic appearance: "Goodnight, Sweetheart".
Writer's name: n/a - whatever else Kari is, he's not a Muse.
Physical Appearance: As a human, Kari is a dead ringer for Harry Potter (and not too far off Daniel Radcliffe, the movie Harry) - short, skinny, untidy black hair, knobbly knees, green eyes, and glasses. Clothing leans towards the casual - T-shirts, jeans, chinos, trainers, jumpers.
As a parrot, he's a standard African Grey - grey feathers, dark beak and feet.
Personality: Kari may not be the deepest thinker in the book, but he _does_ have a good amount of self-awareness and self-deprecating humour, coupled with a tendency to introspection; he's very much a 'think first, act later' type of person - unless confronted with Ayna's unhappiness, in which case he jumps instantly into action.
The attention he gets as a Harry Potter-lookalike bothers him - he knows it's basically because he looks like Harry, and finds a certain sympathy with Harry's own preference to avoid the spotlight; however, where Harry would rather avoid the spotlight altogether if possible, Kari wouldn't mind a certain degree of attention - but _not_ simply because he looks like someone famous.
He adores Ayna unconditionally, and would love to tell her he loves her - but he's aware that their relationship, such as it is, is nowhere near that point yet, so he waits for his time.
Origin: Kari was originally Aballon, Demon Lord First Class, ruler of his own personal domain Beyond, who'd decided to annex some of the Outside Realms to his own... until a run-in with some well-thrown zaqqum fruit burned away what was demonic in him, turning him into a parrot, and got him promptly adopted by Ayna as her new pet.
Some while later, after learning of Kari's lack of magical abilities, Dominic cast a spell enabling Kari to switch between parrot and human at will (the Harry Potter thing apparently came from Kari's own subconscious).
Anything Else?: Kari is still a Divinity First Class; however, he has no affiliation for any of the Divine forces, and no innate channel for the divine spark, his only known natural power being an ability to recognise Divinities on sight.
Under extreme stress, he may flip forms involuntarily, although he can immediately flip back, a situation he finds intensely embarrassing.