![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
PROFILE
Wheel of Fortune
Rebel escapes carnival in search of new experiences, always wants too much.
general
NAME: Thalia Jean Mitchell
NICKNAME(S): Preferred is Tal or TJ (less common). Tali, to her family. Not really a fan of her full given name (it's very... girly) but responds to it without much issue.
GENDER/PRONOUNS: It's Complicated. Tal accepts she/her, he/him and they/them as pronouns, but primarily gets clocked as female, which is... fine. If she had more exposure to other kids growing up, she'd probably identify as nonbinary, but as it stands, Tal just considers herself ambivalent.
AGE/BIRTHDAY/ZODIAC: 15 / August 6, 2003 / Leo
GRADE: Sophomore
SEXUALITY: Very confused!!! Everyone is attractive!!!
MAJOR ARCANA: X - Wheel of Fortune (luck, change, cycles, inevitable fate; no control, bad luck)
MINOR ARCANA: Coins
CONCEPT: Rebel escapes carnival in search of new experiences, always wants too much.
appearance
| HEIGHT: | 5'1" but growing | HAIR COLOR: | Black |
| BUILD: | Slim, petite | EYE COLOR: | Blue |
Despite Tal's every attempt to look cool or edgy, most people's first descriptor is "cute," due to her short stature and round face. But oh god, does she try. She keeps her hair boyishly short, and if she ever wears makeup, it's all goth lite black eyeshadow and chipped dark polish. Her personal style is wannabe bad boy/bad girl. Staples are ripped jeans, a leather jacket over hoodies, sleeveless shirts, leather cuff bracelets, plaid flannel, combat boots, lots of black even in the middle of summer.
The school uniform is societal oppression. Tal always looks like she's wearing her uniform only under extreme duress. Although her style leans masculine, she'll sometimes don the skirt just so she can pair it with some shitty-looking torn tights. Anything to feel less like a total fuckin' square.
She has several tiny stick and poke tattoos which she either did herself or had her sister do for her. The most noticeable are a pentacles symbol between the thumb and pointer finger of her left hand (which she did last year in honour of her house), and the words "GET LUCKY" in tiny writing around her right ring finger.
PB: Bex Taylor-Klaus
personality
LIKES: playing music, musical instruments of any kind (but the louder, the better), 90's stadium rock, the colour black, card games, chance games, "friendly" competition, winning, roller coasters, the merry-go-round (but only secretly), cute round stuffed animals (but only secretly)
DISLIKES: being told to use her "indoor" voice or "watch her language", arbitrary rules, rich snobs, losing, high difficulty video games, watching video screens for too long in general, waiting for any amount of time, the colour pink, ferris wheels, heights (mildly acrophobic), "complicated" foods
- Direct: Tal is a blunt hammer. Her zero-privacy upbringing gave her fairly iffy boundaries, as she's used to everyone always being in everyone else's business, and fights going big and going hard before resolving over hugs and drinks. Tal is not the type to read subtext, or de-escalate a conflict. If she's got a problem with you or she thinks you've got a problem with her, she's dragging it out into the open.
- Unconventional: Tal's childhood wasn't normal. She didn't have access to a television or reliable internet access, so she's out of it when it comes to pop culture references or what normal teenagers are into. The only kid she spent much time with is her sister. So if she sometimes seems like a feral child who was raised by carnies, well... you know. Tal wears her quirks and differences like a badge of honour, although it's mostly a defense mechanism.
- Proud: Real big chip on her shoulder. Growing up as a carnie, you get used to people judging you, and the people who've been there for you day in and day out, whom you've seen work their asses off just to make kids happy. In the Mitchells' carnival, it was us against the world. Tal grew up believing she was better, more hard-working and more street smart than normies; and is just realizing now that she missed out on a lot by not having a typical childhood. She covers up her insecurities with false bravado, and won't stand for anyone condescending to her, especially not sheltered city kids.
- Stubborn: Tal feels like she's playing catch-up with everyone. At home, she was the baby of the family, and she worries now that everyone was just coddling her before and she's actually not as talented or capable as she believed. Tal hates admitting that she doesn't know something or can't do something. Tell her she can't do something right and she'll throw herself into doing it over and over, no matter how obvious it is that she's ill-suited to the task. She'll work herself to the point of blood and tears just "prove" she can do it, and do it better than anyone else.
- Competitive: Tal likes to win, and believes everyone else wants it just as badly as her. Who doesn't like to be the best, right? She tends to get competitive about stupid, trivial things, especially if she suspects you of underestimating her or patronizing her. Her pride is easily needled, and she's always willing to throw down here and now to prove everyone wrong.
- Curious: Tal is willing to try anything once, no matter how stupid or destructive. She's been denied a lot of "normal" experiences, and can be surprisingly gung ho about mundane things most people take for granted. That said, her genuine enthusiasm is often at odds with her desire to seem cool in the eyes of her peers, and she can dig in her heels when it comes to anything that seems too "girly" or "sappy." Tal cares a lot about what people think of her, and is bad at seeming like she doesn't, no matter how hard she tries. And she tries.
- Morally questionable: Tal's parents operate as barely legal grifters, and their daughters have been breaking the law since they were in the single digits. Telling Tal "you shouldn't do this" is usually met with "why not?" or even better, "don't worry, we won't get caught." Getting punished for breaking the rules tends to just make Tal think she needs to break the rules better next time. Still, she has a good heart at her core, and doesn't want to cause harm to anyone she knows or likes. (Strangers, though...)
abilities
Languages: English, barely. She can't do carny talk (ciazarn) and would laugh if anyone tried it on her.
Music: Tal is either self-taught or received informal training in: fiddle/violin, harmonica, trumpet, and acoustic guitar (in order of most proficient to least proficient). Although she has a good ear for replicating tunes and improvisation, she never properly learned how to read sheet music before coming to Finchwood, which put her behind her peers in the Music class. She's working on it now, but it's been an uphill battle. Despite her lack of formal training, Tal has been passionate about music since a young age and is very curious about trying out different instruments.
Master of Carnival Games: Limited use, but extremely impressive in the right setting. Milk bottles, balloon darts, ring toss, basketball free throws... if the game is winnable, Tal has a remarkable knack for getting a high score. If it isn't, she has a good sense of how it's rigged. Carnie honor being what it is, she's unlikely to expose any midway worker for it, but she has exploited her knowledge a few times in order to win teddy bears for pretty girls. (She also knows her way around setting up rides and game tents, but again, limited use.)
Amateur Con Artistry: Another limited use skill, as Tal's cons were tricks of the carnival, and required partners to pull off. She was pretty good at it, though, and could be a decent actress if she had any interest in Drama (she doesn't). A lot of the confidence games her family ran leaned on Tal appearing as girlish and naive as possible, and Tal turned her back on that before enrolling in Finchwood, when she cut her hair short and eliminated pastels from her closet. Still, she can work bullshit con man confidence, so if you ever need a sophomore brazen enough to try talking teachers into looking the other way, Tal's your girl. (Results may vary.)
Card Tricks: Easy way to impress people at parties. Tal knows a gamut of simple "pick a card, any card" tricks, and can shuffle and cut cards with the finesse of a Vegas dealer. Unfortunately, she can't quite master the sleight of hand required to be a master at three-card Monte, and always gets things muddled when she attempts card counting.
Pickpocketing: Tal, being small and unobtrusive her whole life, learned to pilfer the pockets of careless carnival-goers, and was only ever punished for it by her parents when she got caught, or went after a fellow carnie. Stealing is reserved for marks, not for family; and as such, Tal isn't in the habit of lifting wallets from her classmates. Honestly, if she uses this skill for anything these days, it's to drop anonymous love notes in the coats of her crushes without being seen.
Tattoo Artist: Strictly of the stick and poke kind. Tal's not a great artist, but if you want a small round crescent moon with minimal infection, she'll provide surprisingly good results.
history
FAMILY:
- John "Maverick" Mitchell, father. Tough and hard-working, John knows every nut and bolt of every ride in the carnival, and his zero-tolerance towards laziness or carelessness has kept them in business for over 10 years. Thalia idolizes her dad, and inherited her love of music from him. During the off-season, he works as a trucker.
- Abilene Mitchell, mother. Her employees semi-jokingly refer to her as the "Queen of the Carnival," and it's well-known that the real authority resides with Abby, who handles finances, booking and hiring. She's done her best to give her daughters a good, stable upbringing, but loves the road too much to ever want to settle down.
- Laila Mitchell, older sister. If Mom is the queen then Laila is the undisputed princess. A hard worker who can drink and cuss with the best of them, 17-year-old Laila commands both respect and protectiveness from the ride jocks. She applied for Finchwood but didn't make the cut, and there's been tension between the Mitchell sisters ever since.
- Maverick Midway Amusements, parents' carnival company. Tal spent almost her entire life effectively being raised by carnies. Only a handful have been with the company for years, while the rest are usually one-time workers who are hired for the season. Despite this, "the carnival is family" is a foundational Mitchell belief, and when Tal talks about her family, she's usually thinking of more than just her parents and sister.
HOMETOWN: Indianola, Iowa; although the Mitchells spend most of the year touring the state as a travelling midway/carnival. (Note that this is a conventional carnival, which is rides, midway games and food/drink; there aren't really any circus acts or sideshows.)
John and Abby got married when they were 20 and 19 respectively, and had a baby four months later. Normally this would be a recipe for disaster, but the two of them were deeply in love, and their daughter Laila was very much a wanted child. They were free-spirited, nomadic types, and when baby Laila was still in diapers, John and Abby were travelling the country in an old van, busking on the street for change, and setting up in a new town every six months. Thalia followed her sister's birth two years later.
The Mitchells eventually ended up working for a travelling carnival, around the time when Laila was getting old enough to go to school. For convenience, Laila and Thalia were homeschooled alongside a few other carnie children during the day, and would help their parents take tickets and run food joints during the evenings. In particular, the girls proved excellent at reeling in the marks: they'd don cute dresses and "win" big at midway games, to fool passersby into thinking they had a chance. A few years later, when the owners chose to retire, John bought the carnival from them and he and Abby established their own company. It was the closest to stability that they would ever accept, and the only life that Tal knew.
Growing up in carnival was hard, but always eventful. Tal's mother did her best to establish rules and routine, but the girls had their first beer and first cigarette at an alarmingly early age, and spent their days in crowded bunkhouses where people drank like fish, fought at top volume, and were shit at keeping secrets. Despite the day-to-day dramas, loyalty and family were paramount, and the Mitchells were as protective of their good workers as they were of their own daughters. A revolving door of interesting characters came in and out of Tal's life, mostly transients or ex-cons who were struggling to find honest work. From them, she learned how to pick pockets, change tires, weld, play the guitar, roll papers, and other varied skills. She was insatiably curious even as a child, always wanting to know everyone's story and wanting to learn to do the things they did.
Music was the thing that inspired Tal the most. Her dad had passed his fiddle down to her, and she spent hours and hours working at the strings to reproduce the songs she heard on the radio. She got the harmonica as a Christmas present when she was 8, and the trumpet at 12 when it was left behind by a worker who got picked up for a parole violation. She had an undeniable knack for music, but her skills were always limited by being on the road nine months out of the year.
Both she and Laila were curious about what it would be like to have a normal childhood, but they got gun-shy about it after the first and only time they attended a normal school, when Laila was 11 and Tal was 9. Both struggled to mesh in their classes and with their peers, and after four months of bullying and being lost in the curriculum, the Mitchell girls were eager to return to the road. They continued on happily for a few more years, but when news of an unusual high school with a full-ride tuition made its way to the carnival, Tal jumped on it. She was getting old enough to start thinking seriously about what she wanted to do when she grew up, and "helping manage a barely profitable travelling midway" wasn't it.
Tal didn't expect her sister to have any interest in Finchwood Academy. Laila was only 16, but everyone already knew she'd be their father's heir. Still, Laila insisted on driving Tal to the entrance exams, and insisted on sitting for them too. Looking at the questions in the written exam, Tal was almost immediately out of her depth, but she kept at it with dogged stubbornness. When Tal unexpectedly entered the Velvet Room and was told the catch, she didn't hesitate to sign. Tal never falters when offered a brand new opportunity.
Unfortunately, Laila wasn't accepted to Finchwood, which created a rift between the previously close sisters. The contract that bound Tal to secrecy made it even worse, because she'd never been good at lying, and so communication with her family dwindled to almost nothing while Tal went for her freshman year. It was a struggle. Until now, she'd had a charmed childhood. Maybe the business hemorrhaged money and the bunkhouses stunk of alcohol and cigarette smoke, but as the "baby" of the big carnival family, everyone loved her, and she was praised often for being smart, strong and talented.
At Finchwood, she realized her deficiencies compared to those who'd grown up with money, private music lessons, smartphones with unlimited data plans, school dances, and a structured K-12 school curriculum. But Tal was determined, and blustered through it with a lot of false bravado. Maybe she was an odd duck, but she was great at fighting Shadows, and showed genuine talent in Music class. After a few months, she even warmed up to it enough to love the day-to-day routine of Finchwood… so much so that when she returned home that summer, Tal now felt strangely out of place in the carnival. She spread her wings and left the nest, and now the nest was too small for her.
combat
academics
CORE CLASSES: English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Training
ELECTIVE CLASSES: Art, Life Skills, Music, Shop
CLUBS: Athletics, Choir, Dance, Gardening
GENERAL PERFORMANCE: Tal was homeschooled for most of her life until now, and is used to directing her own education and working at her own pace. She struggles a lot in a more structured environment, especially as she's come to realize that her homeschooling wasn't super rigorous. She's self-conscious about appearing stupid and usually studies alone and out of sight of anyone else. Tal hates to admit that she needs help with anything academic, which can compound the issue.
Aside from that, she's a curious student, if highly disorganized in her approach to learning. Most topics are fascinating to her, particularly Science and Social Studies. She struggles most with English, as she's terrible with textual interpretation and also just reading and writing, in general. All of her electives are very hands-on skills, which is where she excels. Music is her obvious favourite class, although she has a hard time meshing her improvisational style with more structured theory-based learning. She's trying, though, since she'd really like to become a better musician.
ooc
BATTLE STATS
SQUAD: 11
SQUAD POSITION: Member
PRIMARY WEAPON: Kusarigama, or chain-sickle.
COMBAT STYLE:
Despite her obvious combat strengths and weaknesses, Tal's preferred strategy is still "run in and hit things," and every time she's knocked down just makes her more resolved to go harder next time. She's always impatient to get things done as fast and direct as possible. Her misguided enthusiasm can get her in trouble, but she does ultimately know that a team only works if everyone works together, and just needs a bit of reminding to slow down and think things through.
ATTRIBUTE: Balance
PERSONA NAME: Cahetel (Angel of Divine Blessings)
PERSONA APPEARANCE:
The flowers covering Cahetel's invisible skin constantly bloom and change colours, in bright rainbow jewel tones. Petals fall liberally from her body when she moves. When damaged by an enemy, Cahetel shows injury by having flowers brown and die off. New flowers will always appear to fill in gaps and maintain the Persona's shape.
Beside Cahetel floats a carnival-style wheel of fortune (see HERE for a shitty rendering) that is made of mirrored panels: a pentagram in the center, and panels around the edge with symbols representing different battle actions. Whenever Tal takes action in battle, Cahetel spins the wheel, although she'll often "cheat" by bumping or nudging the wheel so the selected panel matches what Tal wants to do. Cahetel is 7-8 feet tall, and her wheel is 10 feet tall.
( visual references )
AFFINITY: Earth
WEAKNESS: Thunder
AILMENT SUSCEPTIBILITY: Rage