Chiaroscuro

Name: Juniper Reed
Nicknames: Juni
Birthday: September 12th, 2001 (age 22)
Pronouns/Gender: They/Them

Physical Description: Juniper is small at 5'2", with a slight build that is fit and frequently leads to incorrect assumptions about their age and gender. They have pale blond hair with waves that just fall short of curls, kept barely long enough to tie back with the help of pins and clips. Their eyes are a light grey, and their complexion is pale with freckles that come out when they get too much sun. Juniper is most often seen wearing a cosy hoodie and well-loved jeans, but aside from the occasional cute flower shirt or hair clips, they tend to avoid highly gendered clothing styles. They have a good number of ear piercings, and an impish grin that can mark them as trouble from a mile off.

Occupation: Plant care at a garden center, occasionally busking with their cello in subways or by the waterfront.

Personality: Juniper most commonly appears in one of two states: chill and relaxed, or Mischief with a capital M. Their quick and clever mind leads them to relish new experiences, and will throw themselves headlong into a situation without a single worry for the 'what if' or the 'what next' of it all. Sometimes this bright energy seems at odds with Juni's capacity for stillness, when not full of action and playful adventure they can appear incredibly laid back, relaxed, and sometimes downright lazy. This deep well of calm provides Juniper with immense patience even in the midst of a thrilling adventure, a willingness to let others lead and learn from their own mistakes, and the ability to lounge just about anywhere and make it look comfortable.

Although their outward appearance is one of being carefree and open, Juni keeps their vulnerabilities close and regularly diverts any efforts to get to know them on a deeper level. They are intensely self-conscious about their body, their presentation, the way other people look at them, and hide it behind a screen of self-confidence that is half earned and half faked. They respond to unpleasant things with avoidance, and bury painful emotions under a nonchalant facade. Juniper would sooner cut all ties and move on rather than confront someone who had hurt or insulted them.

While they struggle to express their deepest emotions around other people, Juniper is a passionate cello player and has no difficulty channeling all those hidden feelings into their music where it can be dismissed as simple artistry rather than being taken seriously.

Backstory: Juniper's father was a hippie entrepreneur who accidentally started a wildly successful pharmaceutical company. Their mother was a globe-trotting botanist and a firm believer in sustainable environmental practices. Juni was born in Canada, an only child in a household that put great emphasis on respecting the environment, being kind to others, and using what you have to make the world a better place. They got music lessons and child-sized adventures like camping and horseback riding every summer, and the love and acceptance to grow up as non-binary instead of having to hide it and be someone they were not.

Their proudest day was when they got their full-sized cello, and in school they excelled in music to the detriment of less 'interesting' coursework. They went on to study music in university, where they also dated for the first time. University was great, the dating was A Bad Time, and solidly shook Juni's confidence in themselves in spite of overwhelming success in their studies. Immediately after graduation they moved out of the country and took up residence in St. Raymond, without notifying their boyfriend.


Stats:

• Power: -1
• Finesse: 2
• Mind: 1
• Arcane: 0

HP: 9

Querent

Minor Arcana Card: The Page of Pentacles
Elemental Attunement:

• Air: 0
• Earth: 2
• Fire: 1
• Water: 0

Greater Mark of the Querent: The palm of Juni's hand is colored soft pink. It extends up their wrist and half way up their inner forearm in a pattern of vines and leaves.
Arcana Magic: Friend Supercell: Juniper may sink all of one stat to -2 in order to make the same stat in someone else a 3. While affected, the target of the spell will have a heightened sense of grandeur and an intense feeling that they can accomplish anything if only they put their mind to it! They will also experience a lessened sense of pain or fear while in this state. Juniper can hold this effect on up to three people within their line of sight, but if any of their stat scores would ever drop to -3 or their fourth stat would become negative, they lose consciousness and the effect ends.

EC Appearance

How to Recognize? It would be hard not to recognize Juniper in this form. They look like themselves with a new coat of fantasy colours, and now that they are less afraid of the magic dream world, they carry themselves with their usual dichotomy of abundant energy or lazy calm, with very little middle ground. They make absolutely no attempts to disguise themselves and readily respond to their name or other ties to the waking world.

Hair: Short and unruly, white as marble, with a simple gold clip keeping their bangs out of their face. Small flowers with a hint of pink on their petals grow in amidst the curls, most concentrated around the base of their small antlers. Every now and again a flower or two will bloom on the pale ivory antlers themselves.

Eyes: Deep pink, the same hue as their palm mark.

Skin: White like a marble statue, the only significant colours to them being the pink mark on their right palm, which extends up their wrist and blends into warm ivory, and a delicate scattering of pink freckles across their cheeks. Less striking is the barest hint of pink on their lips, and the pale ivory of their horns and hooves. Occasionally there is a break in the solid white of their skin, like swirling mist inside a bottle, that reveals vibrant greens of a healthy forest in mid-summer, along with glimpses of a skeleton made of living wood, entwined with delicate leaves and vines. Inside their ribcage where their heart would be located, a large pink flower with many petals blooms. The breaks and swirls of their snowglobe skin might be rare, but they can be encouraged with vigorous movement, like waving hands or stomping feet.

Clothing: Juniper’s default outfit is a flowy white halter top with a thick gold chain at the neck, plain white, nondescript shorts, and a decorative gold chain or two around their waist. They have no shoes, and no other bracelets or jewelry save for the clip in their hair, and a full compliment of ear piercings (plus body piercings they will not show off) in delicate gold rings, bars, and chains.

Physical Changes: Even more noticeable than their small antlers and blooming flowers, Juniper’s legs no longer resemble those of a human. They are long and faun-like, with a hint of unruly feathering above their dainty deer hooves.

Other: Juniper is not afraid of dirt, and it shows all too clearly on their stark white skin and clothes. They will often be smudged with whatever they have been working with.

Expertise:

Juniper has been classically trained and playing the cello from a young age, and has expertise in core music skills and performance with this instrument.