"Optimism is often taken to be the position of the blissfully ignorant. I do not see it as so; to me it is perfectly reasonable. All that the optimist must believe is that, somewhere in the millions of things we know or could discover, chances are there's an answer to our suffering."
Lorde |: Glory and Gore :|
Florence + the Machine |: Landscape :|
|:A g e:| 21
|:G e n d e r:| Female
|:R a c e:| Witch (Grey)
|:F a c exC l a i m:| Kurisu Makise; Steinâs Gate
--» |:H a i r:|
Piperâs hair is a saturated red-brown, which is rather a standout feature considering how much of it there is. She doesnât seem to like stylists much, if how itâs kept is anything to go by. Her bangs are bluntly-cut just above her brows, and the ends of her hair are just as squared-off, with an obvious lack of attention to style. That said, she does still keep it to perhaps the level of her waist, and it is obvious that she takes care of it, given the shine and smooth texture.
--» |:E y e s:|
Grey-violet in the iris, but with a seemingly permanent flat look to them. Her eyelashes are dark, several shades moreso than her hair and brows. Overall, Piperâs eyes are large enough relative to her other features to give her a very youthful appearance, something she is not especially fond of.
--» |:H e i g h t:|
5â3â
--» |:W e i g h t:|
110
--» |:B u i l d:|
Sheâs⊠not really in shape. Thin, yes, but naturally so. Honestly she eats terribly and doesnât exercise much, so her health is far from the best. She has a little bit of muscle, but not even really enough to qualify as tone. Her general physique is waifish, to the point that, were her clothes more fitting than loose, there might be cause for concern as to whether she is getting adequate nutrition.
--» |:M a r k i n g s:|
Piper appears to be free of blemishes, either of the tattoo or scar variety.
--» |:O t h e r:|
Piper's clothing is befitting of one in her profession to some extent. Of note is the fact that she usually wears oversized cardigans over her more properly-fitting garments, however. There are certain things, evident in her appearance that give her away as living in the Opal Quarter rather than Outer London. For one, she is meticulously clean and well-kept, down to her fingernails, though she lacks the elaborate touches of the nauseatingly-wealthy. Piper's face is inexpressive at best, and she's usually wearing a flat look that could pass for anything from bored to cranky. It's hard to tell, exactly.
There is, of course, a certain pressure on the young members of the population to continue increasing it, as the worldâs number of citizens is still quite low in comparison to pre-apocalypse levels. There have been a few offers from time to time to arrange matches for Piper, since her father shows no interest in pushing her in that direction, but in all honesty, sheâd rather not. She is not so naĂŻve as to be waiting for some ideal love match to just come along and sweep her away, or however that trite clichĂ© goes, but neither is she hurrying to do the admittedly more practical thing and try and find someone who will be stable and perfectly adequate. There are, put simply, other things that occupy her instead, and for the moment, this satisfies her. Perhaps one day, her priorities will changeâsheâs not closed off to that possibility. But it would be a very unique person indeed who suited her well, and she knows that sheâs unlikely to meet such a one as that.
|:S k i l l s:|
--» Information Recall || Piper has an excellent memory. It is not eidetic, in the sense that she does not remember everything that has ever happened to her with photographic clarity or anything like that. In fact, her recall ability seems only to pertain to linguistic items, such as things she read or things people said. Given enough prompting, she can usually recall the exact wording of such things, though, so the talent is rather extraordinary, in its own small way.
--» Logical Reasoning || With a high IQ and a good education, it is of little surprise that Piper has skills in logical reasoning. Where others often balance this against the force of their emotions, she is generally quite good at repressing hers, meaning that there is nothing for her analysis to compete with in a high-pressure situation, leaving her open to seeing and acting upon options that other people miss. She is, generally speaking, quite good under duress.
--» Acting || It was a bit of a lark, her school-age dalliance with the stage, but nevertheless, the old hobby has left her with a decent repertoire of skills, and she can play a character for as long as she needs to. This has come in somewhat handy in the past, as the person she is naturally is not the most relatable, and of course to some extent all Grey Witches must know how to deflect suspicion. She spends a great deal of time in-character, so to speak, though it is uncertain how much of her demeanor at any one time is a genuine representation of who she is. Even, and especially, to her.
|:A b i l i t i e s:|
--» Alchemy || An area of the Craft with a wide-ranging host of applications, alchemy is nevertheless among the most delicate and subtle arts there is. The ability to transmute, or change one substance into another, is at the heart of it, but this one principle opens up a number of sub-fields, each of them focused on altering physical reality. Alchemists are the worldâs enchanters, but also its healers and manipulators of basic elemental properties. No one alchemist, unless she is very old, is proficient in all of these things, of course. Piperâs talents lie primarily in the concoction and use of various potions, salves, and biological agents. She is capable of some healing, and some basic kinetic manipulation, like the generation of small flames and the like, but her Craft is primarily something subtle, something time-consuming, and something that must be prepared well in advance to be of much use. That said, if one plans carefully enough, and knowledgeably enough, a world of possibilities are open. There is little more dangerous than a prepared alchemist.
|: Q u i r k s :|
--» Deadpan Snarker || Piperâs sense of humor takes some getting used to. Sheâd very deadpan, enough so that it can be quite difficult to tell when sheâs being serious and when sheâs being sarcastic. She rarely raises her voice above a monotone, and her facial expression doesnât vary much, either. Of course, she has feelings like anyone else, and some things can provoke her to more extreme responses, but those things seem to be few.
--» Water || Piper cannot swim, and so being on or near large bodies of water tends to make her nervous. She isnât afraid of it, exactly, and could stand perfectly well in water up to her neck or so with no fear, but crossing bodies deeper than that, especially ones with swift currents, is not anything she wants to do if she can avoid it.
--» Vocabulary || Being of an academic upbringing and disposition, Piper has had a lot of exposure to complicated terms and grammatical structures that most people don't see any reason to use anymore. Her speech patterns are a bit strange, and she has been known to refer to people in the third person even when speaking directly to them, for some odd reason, and will often end questions with âyesâ or ânoâ in a rising intonation.
Aloof; at a distance, especially in feeling or interest; apart.
Piper has her shit together to a much greater degree than the average twenty-one-year-old, to be sure. Having secured a job in the Opal Quarter right out of university, one could indeed say that she has accomplished more in a short number of years than most do in the better part of their lives. It is not anyone who can do something like that, especially considering that the was not raised in that part of the city, and indeed went into both college and then the job market at a significant advantage because of this simple fact.
She is, however, a very diligent worker, and rather intelligent to boot. While definitely significant contributing factors to her success, these things are not the sole reasons why she was able to do what she has done. More significant still is an extraordinary, and admittedly perhaps unhealthy, ability to compartmentalize her emotions. While she get upset or joyous like anyone else (though she might not show it), Piper is able to prevent these emotions from coloring her judgement much by setting them aside and thinking rationally instead. It is simple to describe, but quite difficult to pull off in practice, especially in high-stress situations.
In terms of her actual demeanor, Piper is what she believes she needs to be to achieve her ends in any given situation. Capable of changing her outward appearance as the situation demands, she can appear to inhabit a wide range of personalities and traits. Of course, on most occasions there is little reason to be any way in particular, and at such times, she seems to be quite ordinary to first appearance and quite deadpan and aloof when she speaks, admittedly with a strange vernacular.
It would be tough to tell whether Piper has difficulty forming relationships with others. On the one hand, she has very few such meaningful bonds in her life, and is exceptionally slow to form them. On the other⊠the bonds she does have run deep, deep enough that she considers her fatherâs attachment to his profession to be sufficient reason for her to take up his mantle, despite having few inclinations towards it herself. It is clear that in some senses, she can be extremely self-sacrificing, perhaps even irrationally so, should the sacrifice be on behalf of someone she has come to care about.
Piper is calculative and sharp as a whip, to say the least, and even her dissembling has a utilitarian purpose: as a witch, Piper knows it is difficult for other people to accept or trust her, and so she keeps her status hidden, so as to avoid dealing with the repercussions of it.
Unknown; Mother; Unknown; Unknown (Witch?)
Unknown; Father; Unknown; Unknown (Witch?)
Vimmark Hadley; Adoptive Father; Alive; Former Hunter
Veronica Hadley; Adoptive Aunt; Alive; Greengrocer
|:H i s t o r y:|
M. Piper Hadley (and she doesnât tell anyone what the M. stands for, thank you very much) was born roughly 21 years ago to the Vandermeer Coven of Rome, though who specifically in the group was her mother (or father) she could not say. The coven was shortly afterwards tracked and ambushed by Hunters working for the Order of Mismar, and its members either killed or escaped. The infant girl was not among them, and, given her status as an innocent, the Mismarians elected to take her back with them to Rome, where she would likely be given to a Church-run orphanage.
Rather than this, one of the Hunters, a veteran even then, named Vimmark Hadley, decided to care for the girl. Given his profession, he was not able to do so at all times, and so the girl, given his name as well as two of her own, also spent a fair amount of time in the care of his twin sister, Veronica. The two lived in Outer London, though in one of the nicer areas, as Mismarians are paid a pretty nice living wage.
Piperâs childhood was for the most part uneventful. She was set up with a private tutor once it was evident she had indeed been a witchâs child and not some unwitting sacrifice-to-be. When she was sixteen years old, a demon, or something called a demon, appeared in a dream to ask her to renew the contract that was her birthright. Prepared for the eventuality and thoroughly convinced that to heed it would be evil, she refused. The demonâher demon, as she has come to think of itâcontinues to make it very difficult for her to sleep.
After reaching the age of majority and gaining acceptance to the University of London, Piper studied the library sciences, which requires broad knowledge and good recall, naturally suiting her talents. She is now one of the staff librarians at the London Archives, one of the largest surviving stores of information, both digital and analogue, in the world. Several years ago, her father was injured on a raid, and forced to retire from the Order. Though the Library affords her many opportunities for both enjoyment and fulfillment, she is seriously considering joining the Order in his place, for more than one reason.
|:M o t i v e:|
Piper wants to be a Mismarian partially out of a familial duty and partially from a profound curiosity and desire for answers, not only about herself, but about the other not-quite-human sentient entities that exist alongside humanity in this world. Her adoptive father, the man who raised her, was himself a Hunter until he was crippled in a fight with a coven of witches, and she in part at least desires to take up his mantle, knowing how much it means to him that the Order of Mismar continue to do its work. But it is unmistakable that they know more than anyone does about vampires, witches, and perhaps even the true nature of Ragnarok, and these are all things Piper has a burning curiosity about.