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nightaftersidewalk2012-05-23 09:30 pm
midvalley) wrote in nightaftersidewalk2012-05-23 09:30 pm
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My Band of Magical Misfits
JAMES RANDALL - Jacob's grandfather. The baddest of the bad, the most powerful of the powerful. You do not grow up in the magical community without hearing this name. He lived to be over a thousand years old, and committed untold evils in that time. He had a lot of power at his disposal, but aside from that, he had Fedora. Not only was the summon his strong-arm, but, being made of magic itself, it heightened his ability to learn. He could understand and memorize runes in very little time, so he wasn't confined to one specialization. Jack of all trades and master of none? Oh no. Jack of all trades and master of them all.
WARREN WEST - James' last apprentice (last of many, he would later learn, though they were all dead because fuck the police James does what he wants). He has a large amount of power to his name, but is perhaps best known for killing James Randall. The magical community at large tends to give him a wide berth- his power makes him respected, his methods make him feared. People know you just don't fuck with Warren West, though younger, cocky wizards sometimes call him out- it doesn't end well for them. (Spoilers: He kills them more often than not.) He also has a bizarre amount of suitors, since magical power is passed down through the males of the family, and after James, Warren is about as far up on the ladder as they come. Some families just say screw morals, we want some of that, and try to shove their daughters at him. He's pretty single-minded in his pursuit of the summon, though, and doesn't really care about that kind of thing.
CHARLIE MAXWELL - Since the wizarding world is all about power and the legacies of said power, it didn't exactly go well when Charlie came out to his parents as gay. If he wasn't going to continue their legacy by bringing them a son, then he was as good as dead. These days, Charlie lives on the fringes of magical society. He's involved enough that he still hears all of the good rumors and gossip, and has enough connections to get the rarer books for his collection. (The books he keeps in his shop are all copies, however. He has enchanted items to copy books for him in his apartment- which is where all of the originals are kept under lock and key.) I like to think he was on Kara's radar before she met Jacob, since she was a consultant, and Charlie has a sizable library on magical creatures, items, and methods. He's very intelligent, and there is nothing he loves more than solving a mystery, so he really enjoys it when Jake and Kara come to him for help. He also has a hard time finding a date, since he's involved enough in magical affairs that dating a non-magical person would be stupid and dangerous.
TUCKER BAILEY - Tuck's magic is basically... malformed. A magical mutation, if you will, and this branded him as an Anomaly. Anomalies are fairly rare- no one knows what causes a person's magic to mutate like that, and it's largely because of the unknown that they're pretty much treated as lepers by wizarding society. The mutation can be magical, physical, or some combination of both (Tuck knows a guy with a literal Third Eye). Tucker himself discovered his, er, problem when he shoved his hand through his best friend's chest, killing him instantly. After that it was a lot of running, and a lot of horror as he struggled with a deadly power he could not in any way control. Tucker's magic can basically eat through anything, including other forms of magic (wards, barriers, you name it), though he cannot harm himself. (Interestingly enough, though, he has no fingerprints because of it.) He got his rings from a rather sketchy source, and by rather sketchy means, but since his magic is essentially acidic to anything it comes into contact with, the wards almost always erode away, even if they are designed to fight his power. He has no way of knowing when they will fail, since his sources for maintaining them are not always consistent. He actively seeks Jacob out, in the hope that Jake is as powerful as his grandfather, and able to come up with wards to permanently keeps his power in check. Also he's British.
MADIGAN - Jacob's aunt and Warren's half-sister. Madigan is actually the most reputable person Jacob knows- she runs a legitimate, well-respected business that not only provides a necessary and rare service like healing, she has made Talent like hers a lot less scary to awaken to, rare though it is. These days, parents actually drop their daughters off at the Griffonix, secure in the knowledge that even if they don't stay, they will at least come away knowing control. Because no one wants their daughter being looked at like a piece of meat by anyone in the area. Madigan has in interesting ability to recognize and counter James' magical spells, since she herself is marked by that same magic. She has a rune burned into her skin, just above her right hip. It's a key part of the spell for summoning Fedora- James liked to think ahead, and marked her when she was very young. Her other half-brother (and Jacob's father), Joseph, bore the same mark. Thanks to the talents of a friend, she has a permanent glamour cast over it, making it invisible. Madigan, and any other girl Talented in sex magic developed differently, making it impossible for them to have children, because they're just simply missing some key components.
MELODY - I don't think I've ever mentioned Mel before! Mel is Mads' right-hand girl, and basically the second-in-command at the Griffonix. She was the first girl Madigan ever trained, and the first person with whom she had formed a lasting friendship. (It was Griff who ultimately lead her to Madigan's door in an effort to get Madigan to come out of her shell.) She's a tall, dark, beauty of a woman who would rather play ball with the guys than go shopping. The Nevada weather suits her fine, because she's always wearing shorts and flip-flops or tennis shoes. She's a good foil for Madigan, because she's very sensible and down-to-Earth where Madigan tends to get overly silly and girly. She's also an avid jogger and a killer softball player.
"GRIFF" - Giff and Madigan met by rather interesting circumstances. They were both being held captive by a rather batty old lady in a back room in her rather creepy magical shop. Madigan for her Talent, and Griff because, well, he's a fucking griffon. Griff is largely immune to magic, since he himself is so old and so powerful, but a wizard managed to net him anyway. That wizard, was of course, James Randall. Madigan recognized the magic keeping him captive, and counteracted it- very nearly at the cost of her own life. She was badly maimed by the raging power, and Griff, perhaps knowing something that she did not, made a choice. That was the first time Griff assumed human form, and together they worked to save her. He can maintain his human for for twenty-four hours once every year- time that he usually spends with Madigan. Against his better judgement, he's developed feelings for her. He'll never tell her this, though, because he knows their ultimate fate.
ALYSSA "LYS" LYSANDER - Alyssa is a shape shifter (shifter for short). Shifters are pretty self-contained and snobbish, with very large families and clearly-defined family roles. Each household is lorded over by a matriarch, who's word is basically law. When Lys was very young, she fell into the river behind her house. It was just after a heavy rain, so the rapids were intense- they swept her under and away. She very nearly drowned, but her largely-underdeveloped shifter abilities kicked in, and she shifted into a river otter and was able to swim to safety. Either due to the trauma or the forcing of her powers, she can now only assume that one shape. Her stepmother, having just succeeded her grandmother as matriarch, disowned her for her inability to be a proper shifter. Her grandmother, though unable to overrule her mother's decision, still loved her granddaughter and took her in until she was a teenager, and then she paid for a nice little apartment for Lys. Lys just sort of spends her time at random dive bars and sleeping with anyone with two legs. She's lost, alone, and squandering her grandmother's generosity while looking for someone to love.
SANDON LYSANDER - One of Lys' older brothers, and the only other family member of hers to still care about her in any capacity. He visits her every once and a while and tells her to straighten out her act, even if seeing her struggling constantly breaks his heart. He eventually develops feelings for Charlie, but doesn't voice them initially. He's determined to protect Lys, and form a family where she can be loved and accepted, and he feels like he has to follow society's rules in order to do that. It's Madigan who eventually convinces him to hang society- he and Charlie can be that family for Lys. I haven't quite worked out how he and Lys cross Jacob's path yet.
WARREN WEST - James' last apprentice (last of many, he would later learn, though they were all dead because fuck the police James does what he wants). He has a large amount of power to his name, but is perhaps best known for killing James Randall. The magical community at large tends to give him a wide berth- his power makes him respected, his methods make him feared. People know you just don't fuck with Warren West, though younger, cocky wizards sometimes call him out- it doesn't end well for them. (Spoilers: He kills them more often than not.) He also has a bizarre amount of suitors, since magical power is passed down through the males of the family, and after James, Warren is about as far up on the ladder as they come. Some families just say screw morals, we want some of that, and try to shove their daughters at him. He's pretty single-minded in his pursuit of the summon, though, and doesn't really care about that kind of thing.
CHARLIE MAXWELL - Since the wizarding world is all about power and the legacies of said power, it didn't exactly go well when Charlie came out to his parents as gay. If he wasn't going to continue their legacy by bringing them a son, then he was as good as dead. These days, Charlie lives on the fringes of magical society. He's involved enough that he still hears all of the good rumors and gossip, and has enough connections to get the rarer books for his collection. (The books he keeps in his shop are all copies, however. He has enchanted items to copy books for him in his apartment- which is where all of the originals are kept under lock and key.) I like to think he was on Kara's radar before she met Jacob, since she was a consultant, and Charlie has a sizable library on magical creatures, items, and methods. He's very intelligent, and there is nothing he loves more than solving a mystery, so he really enjoys it when Jake and Kara come to him for help. He also has a hard time finding a date, since he's involved enough in magical affairs that dating a non-magical person would be stupid and dangerous.
TUCKER BAILEY - Tuck's magic is basically... malformed. A magical mutation, if you will, and this branded him as an Anomaly. Anomalies are fairly rare- no one knows what causes a person's magic to mutate like that, and it's largely because of the unknown that they're pretty much treated as lepers by wizarding society. The mutation can be magical, physical, or some combination of both (Tuck knows a guy with a literal Third Eye). Tucker himself discovered his, er, problem when he shoved his hand through his best friend's chest, killing him instantly. After that it was a lot of running, and a lot of horror as he struggled with a deadly power he could not in any way control. Tucker's magic can basically eat through anything, including other forms of magic (wards, barriers, you name it), though he cannot harm himself. (Interestingly enough, though, he has no fingerprints because of it.) He got his rings from a rather sketchy source, and by rather sketchy means, but since his magic is essentially acidic to anything it comes into contact with, the wards almost always erode away, even if they are designed to fight his power. He has no way of knowing when they will fail, since his sources for maintaining them are not always consistent. He actively seeks Jacob out, in the hope that Jake is as powerful as his grandfather, and able to come up with wards to permanently keeps his power in check. Also he's British.
MADIGAN - Jacob's aunt and Warren's half-sister. Madigan is actually the most reputable person Jacob knows- she runs a legitimate, well-respected business that not only provides a necessary and rare service like healing, she has made Talent like hers a lot less scary to awaken to, rare though it is. These days, parents actually drop their daughters off at the Griffonix, secure in the knowledge that even if they don't stay, they will at least come away knowing control. Because no one wants their daughter being looked at like a piece of meat by anyone in the area. Madigan has in interesting ability to recognize and counter James' magical spells, since she herself is marked by that same magic. She has a rune burned into her skin, just above her right hip. It's a key part of the spell for summoning Fedora- James liked to think ahead, and marked her when she was very young. Her other half-brother (and Jacob's father), Joseph, bore the same mark. Thanks to the talents of a friend, she has a permanent glamour cast over it, making it invisible. Madigan, and any other girl Talented in sex magic developed differently, making it impossible for them to have children, because they're just simply missing some key components.
MELODY - I don't think I've ever mentioned Mel before! Mel is Mads' right-hand girl, and basically the second-in-command at the Griffonix. She was the first girl Madigan ever trained, and the first person with whom she had formed a lasting friendship. (It was Griff who ultimately lead her to Madigan's door in an effort to get Madigan to come out of her shell.) She's a tall, dark, beauty of a woman who would rather play ball with the guys than go shopping. The Nevada weather suits her fine, because she's always wearing shorts and flip-flops or tennis shoes. She's a good foil for Madigan, because she's very sensible and down-to-Earth where Madigan tends to get overly silly and girly. She's also an avid jogger and a killer softball player.
"GRIFF" - Giff and Madigan met by rather interesting circumstances. They were both being held captive by a rather batty old lady in a back room in her rather creepy magical shop. Madigan for her Talent, and Griff because, well, he's a fucking griffon. Griff is largely immune to magic, since he himself is so old and so powerful, but a wizard managed to net him anyway. That wizard, was of course, James Randall. Madigan recognized the magic keeping him captive, and counteracted it- very nearly at the cost of her own life. She was badly maimed by the raging power, and Griff, perhaps knowing something that she did not, made a choice. That was the first time Griff assumed human form, and together they worked to save her. He can maintain his human for for twenty-four hours once every year- time that he usually spends with Madigan. Against his better judgement, he's developed feelings for her. He'll never tell her this, though, because he knows their ultimate fate.
ALYSSA "LYS" LYSANDER - Alyssa is a shape shifter (shifter for short). Shifters are pretty self-contained and snobbish, with very large families and clearly-defined family roles. Each household is lorded over by a matriarch, who's word is basically law. When Lys was very young, she fell into the river behind her house. It was just after a heavy rain, so the rapids were intense- they swept her under and away. She very nearly drowned, but her largely-underdeveloped shifter abilities kicked in, and she shifted into a river otter and was able to swim to safety. Either due to the trauma or the forcing of her powers, she can now only assume that one shape. Her stepmother, having just succeeded her grandmother as matriarch, disowned her for her inability to be a proper shifter. Her grandmother, though unable to overrule her mother's decision, still loved her granddaughter and took her in until she was a teenager, and then she paid for a nice little apartment for Lys. Lys just sort of spends her time at random dive bars and sleeping with anyone with two legs. She's lost, alone, and squandering her grandmother's generosity while looking for someone to love.
SANDON LYSANDER - One of Lys' older brothers, and the only other family member of hers to still care about her in any capacity. He visits her every once and a while and tells her to straighten out her act, even if seeing her struggling constantly breaks his heart. He eventually develops feelings for Charlie, but doesn't voice them initially. He's determined to protect Lys, and form a family where she can be loved and accepted, and he feels like he has to follow society's rules in order to do that. It's Madigan who eventually convinces him to hang society- he and Charlie can be that family for Lys. I haven't quite worked out how he and Lys cross Jacob's path yet.