[Querent] Serena Thornhill
Posted: Wed May 24, 2023 10:11 pm
Name: Serena Thornhill
Birthday: July 18, 1997
Pronouns: she/her
Physical Description: Serena is very small, her shortness and small build made even smaller by her constantly caved in shoulders and hunched neck, as if she is trying to hide at all times. Her skin is pale and sallow, as if she's never seen the sun, with thin blue veins that show beneath the surface and give her a cool complexion. Her long brown hair hangs in thin curtains around her face, and her droopy brown eyes are shielded by thick round glasses. Serena has at all times an expression on her face of mild fear or uncertainty, often hugging the sides of her arms and looking at the ground. She wears heavy, bulky sweatshirts in earth tones in all seasons (including the summer), making her look like a child wearing an older sibling's clothes. The only notable feature of her appearance is her long and delicate fingers, which she uses to tuck her hair behind her ear when she's lost in a book.
Occupation: Graduate student (English Literature, Almagest)
Personality: Serena emanates at all times, in any situation and among practically all people, a sense of fear. She is skittish, jumping at small sounds and flinching at raised voices. It has often been remarked how frustrating it is to try and hear her speak, as her voice is meek and she often mumbles. She much prefers to communicate through the written word, as she feels the slower and more deliberate form of speaking allows her the space to fully develop her thoughts. It also doesn't hurt that writing is a solitary activity, and she can formulate her ideas in the comfortable embrace of seclusion. The ache of loneliness is a sign that she can release her constant anxiety, that she can fully exist without being perceived, and whenever she has to leave the warm embrace of her apartment to enter the outside world, the countdown begins to when she can return. She is a victim of excruciating stage fright whenever she has to present in class, her throat often closing up with terror as she tries to get sound out.
Backstory: Serena is the least impressive middle child of a series of charismatic and successful siblings. From childhood, for no reason that her parents could ever discern, she has been filled with an incurable anxiety that soured her every experience be it with potential friends, in school, or at home. Though her parents begged her to put down her book and go play outside, Serena preferred to curl up under her covers with a book and a flashlight, reading late into the night. Her grades were above average, though not as high as many of her siblings. When deciding what to do for college, Almagest was a simple choice, seeing as her mother worked there. She performed fairly well once she was permitted to stop taking classes on anything except books, and decided to stay on for a masters degree for that all-too-common reason that so many of us do- what am I supposed to do instead? Get a job and enter the real world?
She hopes, deep down, that she can drag out this degree for a decade or even longer. As long as she can keep getting approval in the form of a big red A on a paper, she can survive the uncertainty of existence. Unfortunately, as she crawls up the hierarchy of academia, she has started to come to a startling and horrifying realization - once you reach a certain level, there ceases to be one "right" answer. She is terrified that she may have to start coming up with her own ideas, and soon.
While Serena is a voracious reader, it is of note that she exclusively reads fiction. She has no interest whatsoever in the truth.
Stats:
Birthday: July 18, 1997
Pronouns: she/her
Physical Description: Serena is very small, her shortness and small build made even smaller by her constantly caved in shoulders and hunched neck, as if she is trying to hide at all times. Her skin is pale and sallow, as if she's never seen the sun, with thin blue veins that show beneath the surface and give her a cool complexion. Her long brown hair hangs in thin curtains around her face, and her droopy brown eyes are shielded by thick round glasses. Serena has at all times an expression on her face of mild fear or uncertainty, often hugging the sides of her arms and looking at the ground. She wears heavy, bulky sweatshirts in earth tones in all seasons (including the summer), making her look like a child wearing an older sibling's clothes. The only notable feature of her appearance is her long and delicate fingers, which she uses to tuck her hair behind her ear when she's lost in a book.
Occupation: Graduate student (English Literature, Almagest)
Personality: Serena emanates at all times, in any situation and among practically all people, a sense of fear. She is skittish, jumping at small sounds and flinching at raised voices. It has often been remarked how frustrating it is to try and hear her speak, as her voice is meek and she often mumbles. She much prefers to communicate through the written word, as she feels the slower and more deliberate form of speaking allows her the space to fully develop her thoughts. It also doesn't hurt that writing is a solitary activity, and she can formulate her ideas in the comfortable embrace of seclusion. The ache of loneliness is a sign that she can release her constant anxiety, that she can fully exist without being perceived, and whenever she has to leave the warm embrace of her apartment to enter the outside world, the countdown begins to when she can return. She is a victim of excruciating stage fright whenever she has to present in class, her throat often closing up with terror as she tries to get sound out.
Backstory: Serena is the least impressive middle child of a series of charismatic and successful siblings. From childhood, for no reason that her parents could ever discern, she has been filled with an incurable anxiety that soured her every experience be it with potential friends, in school, or at home. Though her parents begged her to put down her book and go play outside, Serena preferred to curl up under her covers with a book and a flashlight, reading late into the night. Her grades were above average, though not as high as many of her siblings. When deciding what to do for college, Almagest was a simple choice, seeing as her mother worked there. She performed fairly well once she was permitted to stop taking classes on anything except books, and decided to stay on for a masters degree for that all-too-common reason that so many of us do- what am I supposed to do instead? Get a job and enter the real world?
She hopes, deep down, that she can drag out this degree for a decade or even longer. As long as she can keep getting approval in the form of a big red A on a paper, she can survive the uncertainty of existence. Unfortunately, as she crawls up the hierarchy of academia, she has started to come to a startling and horrifying realization - once you reach a certain level, there ceases to be one "right" answer. She is terrified that she may have to start coming up with her own ideas, and soon.
While Serena is a voracious reader, it is of note that she exclusively reads fiction. She has no interest whatsoever in the truth.
Stats:
- Power: -1
- Finesse:0
- Mind: 1
- Arcane: 2
