Myrtle Wright - Blue Moon Stranger

[Inquisitor D]

Myrtle Wright - Blue Moon Stranger

Rift of the Elevator Game - Gig Worker

Secret Pain - People Refuse To Change

Personal Details

Age - 23
Occupation - Various, favours bartender & receptionist
Hobby - Musical Theatre

Likes: Fantasy, Laughing Friends, Photography, Lineart
Dislikes: Silence, Getting Advice, Fast Food, Guns

 

Background

Myrtle Wright was a shy kid and a bit of a mother's girl. After Dr. Cordelia Wright's divorce from her father when she was young, Myrtle felt like her mom was all she had: the two of them against the world. She looked up to her mother like she was a hero: this great mender of minds who helped people get through their nightmares.

That just made the tragedy of her death all the worse.

It happened while she was on the job. Myrtle was with her: off school sick, and they didn't have the money for a carer. It wasn't supposed to be anything too serious, just an interview with a patient at the local jail. But something went wrong, before they even reached the person they were supposed to talk to.

Myrtle can't remember it perfectly. Her mind has patches of information. Screaming. The buzz of wings. A sweet smell that turned acerbic and bitter. But the one memory that stuck with her is her mother's eyes, looking into hers, desperate and pleading.

She couldn't help her.

The Myrtle of today is somewhat two faced. On the job, she's all smiles, always ready with a little self deprication, a bit of friendly encouragement. She knows exactly how to deal with people. Off the clock, she's 'intense' - somewhat obsessive about her goals and work, to the point it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. She tries to encourage and lower her walls, tried to be a Good Friend and Supportive Colleague, but she aims for perfection. And it can make her lose sight of the people around her.

 

Awakening Event

It was a cold winter day, the city covered in snow. Myrtle was dispondant, trying to work out what to do with her life. She was visiting a friend in a brutalist tower block, planning to do a little drawing with them. The place was harsh: flickering striplights and minimal decoration. No one else was around. She stepped into the elevator, and the memory of the game came to her. Myrtle found it funny: it was late, she had some time, so she played it herself.

And it worked. She thinks it worked. She emerged above the tenth floor, in a strange room of black and white. The apartment gave way to a coral bridge, above an infinite void.

Standing there in the half lit darkness, Myrtle heard her mother's voice.

She turned and ran desperately for the elevator. It took her a few minutes to get her breath back and remember the ritual to get down again. She'd have thought the whole thing was just a hallucination, but... after it was done, she found strange images in her sketchbook. Drawings of another world. Drawings that she never made. And ever since, she's had... memories. Of that world. Other versions of it, also accessable by the elevator.

And of some of the other strange things that have visited the Otherworld.

 

Subversion - Perfect Copy

Mystery - "Who killed my mother?"

When playing the Elevator Game, one of the less widely remembered rules is not to talk to anyone you encounter. It's said that entities from the Otherworld can take on the guise of people you know, able to perfectly mimic their face and voice, and will talk to you as if they're your oldest friend.

My Mythos can mask or veil my identity.

Power Tags

What is the principle ability you use to mask or hide your actions?	Perfect disguise.
What useful qualities does your main effect have?	Appear like one's close confidante
How does operating secretly allow you to learn new information?	Truths Left Unspoken
Extra Tag - What is unlikely to affect you thanks to your powers?	Disconnected From Self

Weakness Tags

What could expose you?	Facade-breaking honesty
Extra Tag - Who or what are you hiding from?	Inferiority Complex

 

Routine - Always New Part Timer

Identity - Everybody's Friend

I work as whatever I can

Myrtle doesn't have any great career planned out, so tends to bounce between low wage jobs. She prefers front of house stuff that lets her focus on talking to people. She had bigger dreams than that: theatre, going back to university to get a psychology degree, but real life's always getting in the way.

Power Tags

What do you do with your time?	Help people get through the day
What did you learn on your daily activities?	A thousand whispered secrets
What specific activity do you engage in?	Make them feel comfortable

Weakness Tags

At the end of your day, what are you left with?

All alone

 

Defining Event - Unready Successor

Identity - "I must honour her legacy"

One day, my mother was killed right in front of me

Dr. Cordelia Wright was a criminal psychologist, and one of the City's best. Her shocking death made headlines, but no one seemed to notice that the killer was never caught. And no police officer listened to what her daughter had to say. Myrtle wants desperately to try and fill her mother's shoes, to be like her, but without a qualification, the best thing she can do is offer advice and try to use her skills to help people however she can.

Power Tags

What kind of strong emotion did this leave you with?	Regret and longing
What skill did you pick up due to your defining event?	Forensic Psychology
What physical change stemmed from your defining event?	Fast Reflexes

Weakness Tags

What emotional scar did this leave you with?

Paralysed By Fear

 

Training - Nameless Swordswoman

Identity - vengeful sword thespian

I am a master of extremely flashy swordfighting

Myrtle was always into drama on the hobbyist level, but following her mother's death she hyperfocused on training as an actor-combatant. She manages the props for her little musical company, choreographs fight scenes for the leads, and on occasion steps up herself. Only a few people know that she's kept training in her off hours though. Her skill goes far beyond what's needed for the stage.

Power Tags

What do you know best?	Blades, both real and not.
What other tangential field have you ventured into?	Costume Design
Against who or what does your training provide the best results?	1 vs 1 duel

Weakness Tags

What is the most problematic flaw in your technique?

Hard to conceal

Edited December 29, 2023 by Inquisitor D (see edit history)

[Inquisitor D]

This needs expansion, but it's really late here so posting what I have, and I'll tidy it up and add the remaining details ASAP. Hope this format and basic concept's okay.

[Inquisitor D]

Okay, this should be ready to rock! Happy to reformat, add more detail, answer questions - anything!

[yxanthymir]

Character looks good, but some power labels will need some explanation about when and how you intend to use them. Maybe rewrite them to make the intend more clear.

They are: "I see what you're thinking.", Who am I, again?", My true self is not enough., Flashbacks and trauma, & Silvermonte Pictures Inc.

Remember that your weakness is your way to grow your character, so you definitively want a weakness that you can use in various situations.

Edited December 29, 2023 by yxanthymir (see edit history)

[Inquisitor D]

"I see what you're thinking." - this was one I had the idea in mind, but couldn't work out decent tag phrasing for it. The idea is to encapsulate how doppelgangers in the Elevator Game work. They don't just look like the person they're replacing - they can answer details about your history with them, have insight into what you think of them, and what you're currently thinking. I wanted it to be more limited than just saying 'mind reading', which is a sample tag. That seems too broad for something where there are limitations: she can't peer through memories, and would only get flashes of surface thought at best... *hums* Maybe 'Perfect Counterpoint' or 'Think of the times we had!'

"Who am I, again?" - Would 'secret identity' work better? Myrtle's hard to track down due to her disguises, so linking her to anything she does in another form is pretty tough.

My true self is not enough. - as just demonstrated in the IC, Myrtle's pretty insecure about herself. Having the ability to take on the form of anyone just made her feel even more inadequate as an individual. 'Getting personal' is basically a free licence to make her nervous and get her making mistakes. Part of that's assigned to doing important stuff in her own form, but it's also a massive inferiority complex that's pretty easy to prod at.

Flashbacks and trauma: Myrtle had a close encounter with something strange and monstrous the day her mother died. I left that ambiguous in her background, leaving it free to be a rift we encounter IC, but anything monstrous or unnerving could trigger this: especially when Myrtle doesn't have any kind of plan or leverage on the situation.

Silvermonte Pictures Inc. This was more kinda a goofy idea, since I was drawing a blank on weaknesses from training that didn't overlap with ground I'd already covered. Basically the idea was that a media company had caught wind of a cool actor combatant and has been trying to hire her. Myrtle's refused since it'd interfere with her investigating stuff, but they may not take no for an answer.

[yxanthymir]

19 hours ago, Inquisitor D said:

"I see what you're thinking." - this was one I had the idea in mind, but couldn't work out decent tag phrasing for it. The idea is to encapsulate how doppelgangers in the Elevator Game work. They don't just look like the person they're replacing - they can answer details about your history with them, have insight into what you think of them, and what you're currently thinking. I wanted it to be more limited than just saying 'mind reading', which is a sample tag. That seems too broad for something where there are limitations: she can't peer through memories, and would only get flashes of surface thought at best... *hums* Maybe 'Perfect Counterpoint' or 'Think of the times we had!'

How about Lucky Insight? She doesn't know the target true personality, but she can make a calculated guess that mimics his possible reaction.

 

19 hours ago, Inquisitor D said:

"Who am I, again?" - Would 'secret identity' work better? Myrtle's hard to track down due to her disguises, so linking her to anything she does in another form is pretty tough.

Disconnected from self.

 

19 hours ago, Inquisitor D said:

My true self is not enough. - as just demonstrated in the IC, Myrtle's pretty insecure about herself. Having the ability to take on the form of anyone just made her feel even more inadequate as an individual. 'Getting personal' is basically a free licence to make her nervous and get her making mistakes. Part of that's assigned to doing important stuff in her own form, but it's also a massive inferiority complex that's pretty easy to prod at.

If the key is the inferiority complex, why not use Inferiority Complex?

 

19 hours ago, Inquisitor D said:

Flashbacks and trauma: Myrtle had a close encounter with something strange and monstrous the day her mother died. I left that ambiguous in her background, leaving it free to be a rift we encounter IC, but anything monstrous or unnerving could trigger this: especially when Myrtle doesn't have any kind of plan or leverage on the situation.

Easily Scared.

 

19 hours ago, Inquisitor D said:

Silvermonte Pictures Inc. This was more kinda a goofy idea, since I was drawing a blank on weaknesses from training that didn't overlap with ground I'd already covered. Basically the idea was that a media company had caught wind of a cool actor combatant and has been trying to hire her. Myrtle's refused since it'd interfere with her investigating stuff, but they may not take no for an answer.

The problem is that it will never apply, and you probably want an easy weakness to invoke. Try to think in something you can use.

Edited December 17, 2023 by yxanthymir (see edit history)

[Inquisitor D]

Lucky Insight... hrm. To me, that's more of a Logos tag? The way you describe it, it's more about training and instincts than powers as a Rift. It's also pretty broad in an investigative sense. Literally anything about her mark, she could get that way.

Might be better to change this up a little. Perfect Disguise kinda already hits the light mind-reading/context stuff I need to impersonate people. With the tag written that way, it's got the limitations firmly in place: I can't use it for just 'knowing' the answer to a mystery, just for enough information to pass off myself as someone else. The point of the question was an additional power, something Subversion 'sets up'. Because Myrtle can sneak around and get close to people. I was pushing the limits on that with a power so closely linked to disguise, but maybe I should try something closer to the intent.

So... how about Truths Left Unspoken? Pulling from a more specific variant of the Elevator Game mythos: the game is designed to torment the player, and creates writing revealing some of their innermost thoughts and feelings, forcing them to confront them. That's normally a post it note, but I had Myrtle hold a sketchbook with this stuff during her awakening event. I could see making that a regular part of her arsenal, something she can do to other people.

If we go with this idea, Myrtle can pull these truths out of her targets just like the game could. (God, it's weird being the Rift of a phenomena rather than a character.)

1: The generated writing is focused purely on emotion around a topic. It doesn't have to be in order, and any references to what was done will likely be indirect. If her target murdered someone, they'll talk about how much they hated the person, and how much of a relief it is they're gone. If Myrtle pushes, she might get emotions around the act of committing the crime, how they felt when they looked the victim's eyes that last time, but that's at the absolute extreme end of what she can do with this.

2: It requires Myrtle to be actively studying the target while they're thinking about the topic she wants to learn about. So she's probaboly going to have to throw out some probing questions first. That's why it's still under subversion: she's gonna have to disguise herself to get close to someone, ask a relevent question, then use the book to get additional insight.

Disconnected from self and Inferiority complex are fine with me. I like my tags a little less direct than that, but that's personal taste: those both hit fine for what I'm after with those ideas.

Easily Scared though isn't quite what I want. I'd like to angle that more towards rifts/monster phenomena specifically. This is a Defined Event weakness, Myrtle's not scared of everything, just stuff like the creatures that killed her mom. Scared of supernatural stuff might be a bit too vague though? 'Nothing can stop a monster'...?

Hmm... okay, if we're shifting Silvermonte out, perhaps Outdated Methods, or Hard to Conceal. Myrtle's sword training has its uses, but she's a mundane fighter - she's going to have trouble dealing with gunfire, and she's reliant on carrying around a very big, noticeable weapon: not something that's easy to do subtly.

[yxanthymir]

On 12/17/2023 at 10:51 AM, Inquisitor D said:

Lucky Insight... hrm. To me, that's more of a Logos tag? The way you describe it, it's more about training and instincts than powers as a Rift. It's also pretty broad in an investigative sense. Literally anything about her mark, she could get that way.

Might be better to change this up a little. Perfect Disguise kinda already hits the light mind-reading/context stuff I need to impersonate people. With the tag written that way, it's got the limitations firmly in place: I can't use it for just 'knowing' the answer to a mystery, just for enough information to pass off myself as someone else. The point of the question was an additional power, something Subversion 'sets up'. Because Myrtle can sneak around and get close to people. I was pushing the limits on that with a power so closely linked to disguise, but maybe I should try something closer to the intent.

So... how about Truths Left Unspoken? Pulling from a more specific variant of the Elevator Game mythos: the game is designed to torment the player, and creates writing revealing some of their innermost thoughts and feelings, forcing them to confront them. That's normally a post it note, but I had Myrtle hold a sketchbook with this stuff during her awakening event. I could see making that a regular part of her arsenal, something she can do to other people.

If we go with this idea, Myrtle can pull these truths out of her targets just like the game could. (God, it's weird being the Rift of a phenomena rather than a character.)

1: The generated writing is focused purely on emotion around a topic. It doesn't have to be in order, and any references to what was done will likely be indirect. If her target murdered someone, they'll talk about how much they hated the person, and how much of a relief it is they're gone. If Myrtle pushes, she might get emotions around the act of committing the crime, how they felt when they looked the victim's eyes that last time, but that's at the absolute extreme end of what she can do with this.

2: It requires Myrtle to be actively studying the target while they're thinking about the topic she wants to learn about. So she's probaboly going to have to throw out some probing questions first. That's why it's still under subversion: she's gonna have to disguise herself to get close to someone, ask a relevent question, then use the book to get additional insight.

I was thinking more about a luck that is definitively not normal luck, more mystic and incredible, but your solution works, even if I don't quite like the wording, but it is a difficult concept to put in a few words.

 

On 12/17/2023 at 10:51 AM, Inquisitor D said:

Disconnected from self and Inferiority complex are fine with me. I like my tags a little less direct than that, but that's personal taste: those both hit fine for what I'm after with those ideas.

I understand that in fate when you have 3 to 5 aspects, stylish and cool is great, but when you have 16 or more things that work like aspects, it becomes cumbersome to stop the game and keep discussing what they mean. So the goal is: easy to understand, simple, concise and direct; to keep things moving faster later.

 

On 12/17/2023 at 10:51 AM, Inquisitor D said:

Hmm... okay, if we're shifting Silvermonte out, perhaps Outdated Methods, or Hard to Conceal. Myrtle's sword training has its uses, but she's a mundane fighter - she's going to have trouble dealing with gunfire, and she's reliant on carrying around a very big, noticeable weapon: not something that's easy to do subtly.

Hard to Conceal sounds like a cool one.

 

[Inquisitor D]

On 12/22/2023 at 1:15 PM, yxanthymir said:

I understand that in fate when you have 3 to 5 aspects, stylish and cool is great, but when you have 16 or more things that work like aspects, it becomes cumbersome to stop the game and keep discussing what they mean. So the goal is: easy to understand, simple, concise and direct; to keep things moving faster later.

 

Hard to Conceal sounds like a cool one.

 

More than fair! Perfectly logical approach.

KO! Hard to Conceal it is! That just leaves Easily Scared. I'd still prefer something like ... I dunno, 'Monster Trauma'? But I can settle for Easily Scared if you can give me a bit more of a sense when it'd be viable. As things stand, it still feels like I don't have a firm sense of where I'd tag it. Guess I could twist it a bit, 'Paralysed By Fear', so tag it when Myrtle's feeling fear/getting paranoid and that's holding her back?

[yxanthymir]

It works. I will mark as complete. Just do the necessary alterations.