PLAYER
NAME: EE
PERSONAL LJ: emily_elphaba
OOC COMM?: Already there
EMAIL/MESSENGER(S): AIM = emilyelphaba / EMAIL = orientalgreenfinch36@gmail.com
TIMEZONE: PST

CHARACTER
NAME(S): Magda Harris
PB: Josie Lawrence (here)
HAIR COLOUR: Auburn or black
EYE COLOUR: Dark greenish-brown
HEIGHT: 5'10"
OCCUPATION: Singer/Actress

BACKGROUND HISTORY: Magda Harris was born in the slums of Rivelata to a poor couple who worked in a tavern. Despite having poor health as a child, she spent much of her time trying to earn money by begging and doing whatever other odd jobs she could manage. Even though her life was far from easy, she was a bright young girl with a talent for music and a passion for performing. Her parents encouraged her to explore it, and she started to make money by singing and dancing in the streets.

When she was seventeen, Magda’s parents were killed in an accident. She had no other relatives to go to and knew of no one who would be willing to take in a child with poor health, so she remained in her childhood home and took care of herself as best she could. Although her health was still poor, she took several jobs, but the pay was still poor enough that she sometimes went hungry. After six months of working almost non-stop to support herself, she had exhausted herself and her health deteriorated rapidly. During this time, she was too ill to work, and she lost her jobs. Eventually, she was forced out of her home. She sold the things she had that were worth selling, and moved the few possessions she had left into an abandoned building in the warehouse district. She soon found that her new residence made her witness to a fair amount of questionable or illegal activity, and she discovered that she could make money by selling information to interested parties.

After spending a year recovering, Magda felt well enough to begin working again. She was still physically weak though, and, having learned from her past experience, she abandoned all jobs involving strenuous physical labour. Instead, she began performing again, aiming to become an actress and singer. By the age of twenty, she was regularly performing in various bars and clubs. This often made her the subject of unwanted male attention, but she learned how to deal with it quickly and effectively.

During the war against Zikhadhara and the other periods of unrest in Rivelata, Magda’s physical weakness put her at risk, and she made herself scarce, managing to avoid most of the bloodshed. When things eventually calmed down, she re-appeared, seemingly unharmed, although since then she has taken to carrying a knife in her boot. She doesn’t talk about what happened during those times, if anyone should ask where she went and what she did she’ll simply shrug and change the subject.

Magda is now 33. She lives alone in a small house near the market district, and has no current romantic connections. Her health still troubles her at times, and sometimes she is forced to spend time withdrawn from everyone to allow herself to regain her strength. Nevertheless, she continues to work. Her regular job is as a singer at Bardo’s, but she also appears as an actress occasionally. Her work makes her privy to a lot of gossip and information, and she still works part-time as an informer. If you ask her the right questions, she might tell you something interesting. For a fair price, of course.

PERSONALITY: Magda is a strong, independent woman. She comes across as friendly and down-to-earth, but can also be very determined, almost to the point of stubbornness, and she hates being wrong. She can be a little blunt at times, and is prone to irritability when she isn’t feeling well, but is generally quite a nice person and is easy to get along with. She will usually only respond to an offensive comment with a smart comeback, a dirty joke, or a couple sharp words, while still keeping a smile on her face. She does, in fact, have quite a temper, but she keeps it in check. However, the one thing sure to incur her wrath is being dismissed or treated poorly on account of being female.

Having grown up in the slums, Magda is tough and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She is very observant, and a good judge of character. She is by no means shy, but there are very few people that she really trusts. Her trust has to be earned, and those who betray it will never be forgiven. Her rough life has given her a wicked, sometimes cynical sense of humour, and she sometimes displays a slightly pessimistic attitude, but only occasionally.

Being a native to Rivelata, she is used to strange sights and occurrences, and can keep a cool head even when she finds something disturbing. That said, not much disturbs her; in fact she rather enjoys unusual things. She hates boredom more than anything else and has a wicked sense of fun, which can lead to her becoming somewhat impulsive. Since she is considerably better off than she was as a child, Magda enjoys indulging herself. She has quite a sweet tooth, and enjoys drinking when in good company. Her house is also full of little trinkets and interesting objects that she has collected.

Magda has a thirst for knowledge that has led her to become quite friendly with the Arrivals. She also has a bit of a soft spot for children and animals, and will do what she can to help people in need. She is ethical and believes in honesty, but she isn’t afraid to bend the rules when she has to, especially when she feels that she’s doing it for the purpose of a greater good.

Magda is very private about her personal life and her own feelings. She has had relationships in the past, some of them quite serious, but is currently single. She flirts with men (and occasionally women) sometimes, but it doesn’t usually go beyond that. She has no interest in marriage or family, at least for the time being.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES: Magda is smart and has a very organized mind, but has a tendency to be very messy. When her health is worse, she is also more absent-minded and prone to mood swings. Her constant craving for fun leads her to be somewhat impulsive and even wild at times, but her quick-thinking usually manages to get her out of whatever trouble she gets into.

Magda’s greatest weakness is her physical strength. She is not good at physical labour or fighting. Being as stubborn and determined as she is, she hates feeling weak in any way. Even though she is somewhat used to the frustration of dealing with poor health, she still sometimes pushes herself too hard, and ends up spending periods of time withdrawn from everyone to allow herself to recover her strength.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Magda has no special magic, but her background as a performer means that she can be quite captivating when she so chooses. She isn’t promiscuous, but she knows how to use her charms to get her way. She is also a great singer. Having worked in bars since she was quite young, she can hold her liquor and is good at games of chance. She also has a good head for money. Her performing skills make her a good liar, although she tries to avoid outright lies most of the time.


SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON: Magda sat at the bar, drinking. It was a little past midnight, just when the customers were into their cups enough for the conversations to get interesting. Today, the conversations were about the strange occurrences on the island, and the tales of new Gods arriving. She listened in for a while, hoping to hear something that she didn’t already know.

Even though she didn’t let it show on her face, she found the talk of new Gods a little disconcerting. She was used to strange people appearing on the island, but Gods were a different matter. She found all talk of Gods suspicious, but there was no denying the things that had been happening: the sky turning red, people behaving strangely, the talk of a giant chessboard appearing in the jungle, a fountain of blood, and the appearance of strange creatures on the island. Most of the monsters seemed to have been killed, but she decided that she should head home while there were other people out on the streets. She had a knife, but she wasn’t strong enough to fight off one of those creatures on her own. She tossed a coin to the bartender and winked at him, picked up her coat and left.

The day had been hot and humid, and although it had cooled a little after the sun had gone down, she didn’t feel the need to put on her coat. She hummed a cheerful tune and felt her mood lightening, but she still stayed alert. The streets could be dangerous, even without new Gods causing trouble. She started a little as a couple of drunks stumbled out of one of the alleys, cackling raucously. When they spotted her, they yelled some lewd comments, and she responded with a rude gesture and a laugh. She smiled to herself as she walked on. What a strange, twisted world this was, she thought. Even though it was strange and disturbing at times, she loved every minute of it.

FIRST PERSON: Well, thank goodness those...whatever they were...are almost gone now. So, this is one of those journals that the Arrivals are always carrying around? Time for introductions and all that, I suppose. My name is Magda Harris. You can find me at Bardo’s most nights. I guess I’ll be seeing all of you around, hmm?

NOTES: My last AC and the one before, when I wasn't on hiatus. Ayako has been dropped.

If you would like to hear what Magda's voice sounds like, listen to the following videos:







There is also an example of her singing in the first minute and a half of this video.