[GENERAL APPEARANCE:]
On the tall side, about 5'9, average build. In good physical shape. She has
long brown hair, about to her waist, with two dark green streaks near the front
of her head, one on either side. Wears her hair parted down the middle if
loose, but frequently braids it, especially if she expects to be doing anything.
Her face is oval, her eyes are dark brown. She is beautiful, but it is a subtle
beauty, rather than the sort that bops you over the head screaming "notice me."
You'd have to really look at her before you noticed she was beautiful, and I
doubt she'd be described as cute. She is always *ready*, and this shows up in
how she bears herself; the way she sits, the set of her shoulders, etc. Age is
around 23.
[GENERAL CLOTHING:]
Jana has a pretty low-tech getup, pre-button, even. Brown linen pants, with a
drawstring waist. Natural linen shirt, with a scooped neck, sleeves on the
loose side, brought in at the wrists again with drawstrings. Over this she
wears a longish leather vest, which laces shut, and has several pockets. Her
swordbelt is also leather. Her shoes, however, are green converse hi-tops. As
her clothing wears out, particularly her shoes, she may acquire slightly higher-
tech stuff from the CAPOW dimension.
[WEAPONRY:]
Jana's primary weapon is the sword, specifically the katana. Her own sword is
fairly nondescript. The blade is perhaps 4 feet long, made of unremarkable
steel. Its grip is leather-wrapped and the hilt is plain. The only decorative
touch is an enameled crest on the pommel. She has a couple daggers, a short one
which she mostly uses for random daily tasks, and a longer one which she uses
for fighting. She can fight with a dagger in her left hand and a sword in her
right, but it isn't her preferred mode.
(Sword in the left, dagger in the right? We've got an R.A. Salvatore fan here boys an girls... I smell a female Artemis Entreri... ^_-)
Guns are alien to Jana's home reality, but if she were given a couple hours with a gun and a target, she'd probably become a pretty mean shot.
[POWERS/SKILLS:]
Jana has no magical powers. She is decent enough with the sword to earn a
living by it, but isn't one of those master swordsmen that legends are made
about. She does missions, rather than duels, and is more at home with melee
fighting than one-on-one. What really sets Jana apart is her nearly super-human
perceptions. She has extremely keen senses. Her sense of hearing is far beyond
a normal human's; if something is approaching, she will probably hear it seconds
before anyone else. She can also sense the presence of living things, probably
by the disturbance in air currents (you know how you can sometimes tell when
someone is near you, even if you have your eyes closed? Like that, but
exaggerated). Similarly, she has very sharp eyes, sharp sense of smell, etc.
She is always alert. Very hard to hide things from.
[ATTITUDE:]
Well, she didn't earn the name Jana the Silent for nothing. (: The first thing
most people notice about her is that she talks as little as possible. She
doesn't initiate conversations. If she's in a group, she will let someone else
do the talking if she possibly can. When she does speak, it tends to be terse,
measured, and at least one sentence less than anyone else would say. She is
reserved, though not aloof.
She tends to wear a brooding expression in repose; her face doesn't show much emotion, except what she allows. She speaks with her face sometimes, using facial expressions to stand for words; this is most of the expression she shows. Self-possessed, she always keeps her cool. She has an appreciation for irony and tends to have a sardonic sense of humor. Keenly intelligent.
Has her own code of honor, which though informal she follows absolutely. If she makes a commitment, of any sort, she will follow through, unless she has been manipulated or deceived somehow by the other person. She is very devoted (no, not that way you ecchi!) to those she actually gets close to. Has a compassionate streak, though because of her extreme introversion other people frequently miss it.
A good word to describe her would be conscientious. Where her own affairs and obligations are concerned, she is completely scrupulous. She takes a great deal of care in everything she does. If time pressures or wayward emotions prevent her from being as thorough in her dealings as she would prefer, it will bother her until she has had time to fill in the gaps. This makes her a polite and formal person to people whom she does not know well. It also adds up to a sort of personal code of honor, which though informal she follows absolutely. If she makes a commitment, of any sort, she will follow through, unless she has been manipulated or deceived somehow by the other person. But she is far from cold or emotionless; if she does manage to make friends, she is very devoted to those she actually gets close to. Has a marked compassionate streak, though because of her extreme introversion other people frequently miss it. Her exacting standards for her personal behavior will someday demand a heavy toll out of her.. she is only human, after all.
Very rarely drinks alcohol, and is *not* a happy drunk.
[REACTIONS TO:]
Non-verbal if possible. (:
{A GREETING:}
(from a friend:) A little smile, possibly a little wave.
(from a stranger:) polite but blank look; non-committal yes-I'm-paying-attention
look.
{A CHALLENGE:} Probably a slightly quizzical look, like "what on earth for?" She shrugs and draws, taking her time, hoping that the other person will decide to explain themselves.
{AN ATTACK:} Well, she's ready for it -- remember those senses. (: Either blocks or dodges, depending on the situation, and then fights back. Will puzzle out the why either during or after, depending on how good her opponent is.
{A PASS:} People don't usually make passes at someone who doesn't talk, so it's
not something she's used to. If the person is being subtle, she may not catch
on to the fact that it's a pass instead of just a conversation attempt.
(from someone she doesn't know:) raises eyebrows and looks mildly sardonic, which usually puts random strangers off.
(from a friend:) this might be one of the things that actually flusters her. Her
reaction will depend on how she feels about him.
(from another woman:) raises eyebrows and looks quite sardonic. (:
Writing her in a conversation varies. When it's only a two-person conversation, Jana by necessity comes out of her shell enough to uphold her end of the conversation, though she still speaks less than anyone else would and uses her face rather than words to convey lots. When there are more than two people, Jana sits back and just observes unless she is directly addressed; her face also returns to its neutral, nothing-showing expression.
[BACKGROUND:]
Jana either does not remember or will not talk about her past. (yay enigma! ;)
What is known about her is that her original dimension is apparently at a
medieval technology level, and that Jana has not had a particularly happy life.
Some people speculate that her very keen senses imply she's not fully human.
Okay, I do actually know more about her. (: She actually does have amnesia from the early parts of her life, so she doesn't remember her origins or her heritage. This hole in her life really bothers her, and she avoids talking about it if possible. When she is drunk some memories may surface, but incoherently, and she doesn't enjoy it. (They don't seem to be nice.) More about her origins will come out in the course of the story (and I don't feel like typing it out right now :). She is a recent arrival in the CAPOW dimension, and an inadvertent one. She believes she has an obligation to get back home, and will take risks to get near to people she suspects of having the sort of powers it requires to go skipping across dimensions. Her home dimension appears to be a fairly self-enclosed place, and life there is shadowed by an as- yet unnamed Villain who lives in a strange fortress. (how very typical.)
[GENERAL APPEARANCE:]
When she was alive, Hanako had straight shoulder-length, dark red hair (think Kim Doonesbury with a different color scheme) and bright green eyes, and stood about five-foot-two.
Of course, now that she's dead, this has changed somewhat. She's generally invisible except only to certain people (i.e., spiritualists, priests, etc.), but those who _can_ see her would note that she looks a bit transparent, although depending on the amount of effort or emotion Hanako exerts, she may be able to increase her visibility temporarily. Oh, and besides that, there's always a rather pleasant smell of roses whenever she's around.
[GENERAL CLOTHING:]
Because she's a ghost, and has the ability to shift her own appearance, her
clothing generally varies, depending on the occasion. She's been seen in
everything from a Straussian jumpsuit to a formal kimono, although she is most
likely to be seen in a sundress.
Hanako _always_ wears her engagement ring, which, when she was alive, was a perfectly ordinary and expensive symbol of love from her fiancé, and was a ruby set in a gold band. Now that she's dead, however, her ring changes color in a slow cycle from red to green to red, each change spaced about two days apart. The cycle seems to be linked to how easy she finds it to interact with the world of the living...
[POWERS/SKILLS:]
Hanako has the (rather pitiful) ability to move/throw objects, but it requires all of her concentration and energy, she can only carry/toss things that weigh less than twenty pounds (unless she's really upset), and she can't do it for very long.
She also creates a distinct scent of rose whenever she's around that she can't control, and she has the ability to possess people. And whenever she's in a room with plants, they tend to turn and face her direction, like the sun...
[ATTITUDE:]
Before her death, Hanako was one of the more popular crewmembers on the Kircheis -- outgoing and compassionate, and happiest around a large group of people. She liked being trusted with everyone's secrets, just so she could help them unravel the little tangles in their lives. She would, basically, have been the sort of person who'd throw a surprise party for someone if she thought s/he was depressed. No matter who you are, she takes a genuine _interest_.
Of course, now that she's dead and cut off from the people she loves, she's confused, and resentful, mostly directed towards the people who separated her from her loved ones. A person who thrived on social interaction now cut off from people, she'll probably latch onto the first sign of human contact like a lifeline...
Oh, yeah, and she also _loved_ plants. Her quarters were literally overflowing with them. (A day when she didn't carry a bouquet of flowers to one of her friends was unusual.) This love has carried over into her death, as well...
[REACTIONS TO:]
{A GREETING:} "Hi!" [double-take] "You can _see_ me?"
{A CHALLENGE:} "Oh, hi to you too." [double-take] "You can _see_ me?"
{AN ATTACK:} [passes right through her] (laughs bitterly if she's in the mood.)
{A PASS:} [looks at her engagement ring sadly]
[BACKGROUND:]
Hanako was the daughter of a Straussian diplomat, and when her father was stationed in the Empire, she met her True Love and fiancé. He happened to be an Imperial knight, which made life a little more interesting. Still, the pair managed to sort matters out to their satisfaction and the satisfaction of their families. As Hanako was an aspiring diplomat herself, and since the career required ship service as necessary background, she joined the crew of the Kircheis. Her life was going very well, with a happy love life and a promising career path, until the Kircheis suddenly broke apart (see Jerry's intro post).
Now she has found herself suddenly and unexpectedly dead, and she is having a hard time adjusting. She tries to cope with being a ghost and being shut off from all her loved ones -- especially her fiancé – and longs for any kind of human contact. Her unfinished business in the mortal plane revolves around two things: her fiance, and vengeance... But if her business ever becomes finished, she'll have to leave the people she loves forever...
[NOTES:] Joseph Sutedja and Jessie Shelton jointly control this character.