InsaneJournal

Character Information

Real Name: Sydni Wilson
Nicknames/Aliases: n/a
Gender: Female
Race: Lycanthrope
Age: 27
Physical Description: Sydni is of average height and weight (5’5”, 140 lbs) and average build.  Being a regular swimmer, she has a muscular body, especially across her shoulders and through her legs.  Her hair is medium to long in length, slightly curly and often loose.  Her bangs are cut in “baby bangs” style.  She often appears younger than she is because of the freckles speckled across her cheeks.  Her eyes are hazel – often appearing pale blue or an earthy green.  In her time off she usually wears jeans, a casual shirt, and sandals.  At work, she usually wears dress pants, a dress shirt, and comfortable dress shoes.  She almost never wears skirts – they’re not conducive to doing any physical activity.
Unique Features: Pentacle tattoo on back, between shoulder blades (moon pentacle design); tribalized conch shell over heart; 3 ear piercings in each ear.  Ring-shaped scar on her right middle finger (usually hidden by another ring).  She also always wears a pentacle necklace that matches her tattoo, and a small (plain) pentacle ring.  Both are white gold.

DOB: October 26, 1979

Blood Family: All deceased
Birth Location:  Watsonville, CA, USA

Residence: Water Bungalows

Residing with: Alone

Professions held:  Animal handler/researcher, MarinePark, CA

Employment:  Teacher

Physical Strengths:  Enhanced senses, stamina, and strength (2x human; 4x human shifted); slowed aging (1/3 human); immunity to human diseases

Physical Weaknesses:  Silver burns, scars and may lead to poisoning if not removed from the body

Magical Abilities: Has the ability to shift into a lycan at the full moon

Personal Skills & Training:  BS, Marine Biology; Master’s, Ichthyology; Scuba Diving Certification; Boating licenses; self-defense and handgun training from father

Personal Weaknesses:  Phobias of bees, needles, and mirrors

Personality:

Sydni is a generally quiet woman, more likely to be a wallflower than the life of the party.  It is not that she is anti-social, just more of an observer.  She is friendly, but she isn’t likely to introduce herself – she is more comfortable being approached.  She has a generally calm persona..  Additionally, she is curious and becomes almost obsessive when her curiosity is piqued.  She will forget about other commitments, or choose to ignore them, when she becomes involved in a project that grabs her interest.

 Sadly, the effects of the pandemic have left Sydni even more quiet and withdrawn than her natural persona.  The deaths of her parents were the biggest blow to her, but that she could have lived through.  The lack of technology has left a lasting and insurmountable problem for her, however – her passion was her research, and she has lost that entirely.  This shows in her personality in a deep sadness that those who read people well can almost immediately sense, even when she is smiling.  Additionally, the short war has killed her faith in people, a crippling blow for the idealist, and she is truly a lost soul in that respect.  Now, she does her best to serve those who were saved, making it a point to bring relief however she can to those around her.

History:

Jane and Riley Wilson had their first and only child, Sydni, as an older couple – Jane was already 37 and Riley was 43.   Being older meant that they were perhaps a bit behind in the most popular child-raising ideas, and thus a bit old-fashioned.  At the same time, they were more laid back having more life experience than the average new parents – they knew not to sweat the small stuff, so to speak.

 Jane and Riley fostered a love of the ocean in their daughter, taking frequent day trips during the summer.  Sydni always expressed an incredible interest in the natural world and she excelled in her science classes.  She also had a vibrant imagination, but had little artistic talent.  Instead, she expressed her imaginative tendencies through writing, and was (and is) a voracious reader.

 Jane and Riley have always been spiritual in their own ways.  Jane is a strong believer in Christianity, and this one of the only straining points in her relationship with her daughter.  Riley also follows mostly Christian philosophies, but he never really was a “church-goer”.  Sydni always felt spiritual, as well, but could not buy into the Christian philosophies.  Instead she became interested in Wicca and other pagan religions.  She has no formal training, nor is she part of any coven; she is more of an eclectic.  It was a difficult transition to make since she knew it would strain the close relationship with her mother.  However, it seems that Jane realized that this was a point that could break her relationship with her daughter, and does not (often) press it.

 Sydni attended public school in Watsonville, CA. While she was a friendly child, she was also rather shy and preferred to play with a few close friends than to join a large group.  In fact, she seemed to connect more closely with adults than her peers.  She could converse easily with her teachers, but was much more stand-offish with her peers.  She was often teased for being a teacher’s pet for this, or for being a suck up.  When she was young, she’d come home in tears from the taunting, but the support from home gave her enough self-esteem to not react in an extreme manner. 

 She was a very determined student and graduated high school with high honors.  In later years, high school specifically, she did show a bit more susceptibility to peer pressure, and rebelled slightly (like any normal teen).  Luckily, she was never caught for anything that earned her a record, but she did go to a few parties that could have ended badly.  She likewise had little time for romance.  Between softball, work, and honors/AP classes, she had little social time.  In high school, she also noticed that she had an attraction to other girls, as well as boys, but she was not comfortable enough to admit it.  At first she felt she was just “measuring up” other girls, but she realized it was more than that.  There were few classmates who were out, but the majority of them were boys.  Additionally, she feared that her mother could never accept her sexuality, and was afraid to even consider it.  She never came out in high school, as a result. 

 She then attended the University of California in San Francisco.  While attending UC, she worked for the Bay Aquarium in San Francisco, gaining a great deal of experience.  Her whole life she had been fascinated by sharks and her interest was solidified by her experiences at the aquarium.  In college, she grew more comfortable, and began to more openly show interest in both men and women.  Because of her private nature, though, she really only came out if questioned, and did not come out to her parents at that time.  At UC she met a medical student named Jason, and they had a very intense relationship for many months, but eventually it became clear that they made better friends than lovers.  They remain close friends although Jason moved back to the East Coast after graduation to study medicine at Dartmouth. 

 Once she had earned her degree, she moved on to a master’s program in ichthyology so she could narrow her focus.  While she was working on her master’s degree, she was hired by MarinePark, and worked there for some time.  The majority of her work was research-oriented, but she did also participate in some of the programs for visitors.  Most recently, she dated a female co-worker, Justina.  Once she began dating Justina, Sydni came out to her mother.  This strained their relationship further.  While there was no big confrontation, Jane had a hard time dealing with this new aspect of her daughter, especially since she had already turned away from the church.  Riley did not really understand Sydni’s position, but he was more able to accept it.  “At least I don’t have to worry about you getting pregnant,” was his initial response.  That was one thing Sydni both loved and hated about her father – he tried to lighten the mood when things were too serious, even when it was almost inappropriate.

 One night, Sydni was out performing an Esbat ritual during the full moon.  She had found a place near her home outdoors that had suitable privacy for performing her rituals.  She had just finished and was cleaning up when she heard a low growling.  “Shit,” she thought as she tried to locate the origins of the sound.  Suddenly, there was a crashing of branches, and at nearly the same time, someone yelled, “Look out!”  It was too late – a large creature charged out of the brush.  Sydni raised her arm in defense, but to no avail – the creature sank its teeth deep in her arm and Sydni screamed.  There was a tangle of fur, flesh, teeth and claws.  Just as suddenly as the attack had begun, it ended.  The creature fled back into the wilderness and Sydni lay dazed on the ground.  Where was the man that had yelled?  Was he hurt, too?

 Slowly, she sat up.  No one else was in sight.  Her arm was seriously injured.  She crawled over to her belongings, wrapping her arm in one of the cloths she used for ritual.  Stumbling, she picked her way to the car some distance away and got her phone from her purse and dialed 911.  “My name is Sydni Wilson.  I’ve been attacked…”

 The doctors said that she was lucky.  The attack could have been much worse.  In Sydni’s opinion, the worst part of the attack was going to the hospital – she hated needles and the doctors had used her as a veritable pin cushion.  Had to protect against rabies and all other remotely possible diseases.  She was sobbing by the time they were done.  The police reported that no one else had been found at the scene.  Sydni wondered how much had been her imagination – she was sure the creature had been human-sized, but the doctors insisted it was animal attack.  She knew she had been bitten, but still… the shape wasn’t really animal-like.

As the next full moon neared, Sydni noticed that she was particularly antsy.  She always got antsy around the full moon, and usually she dealt with that energy by focusing on her ritual.  This was more than usual either – she figured she was probably just anxious because of her last experience.  This full moon called for a grounding and healing ritual she decided.  Normally, she didn’t leave for her ritual until after dark, but this time she felt it necessary to go to her spot early.  Her nerves might be calmed by going when there was still light.  As she prepared for the night, she became more and more agitated.  As the sun set, suddenly a terrible pain gripped her body.  The pendant around her neck seared her skin, and it felt as if her bones were all breaking and stretching at once…

 When she woke up, she was naked and covered in blood.  She was startled by a voice, which assured her the blood was not human.  After an initial denial, Sydni was able to accept the man’s help – an offer to go to a school for praeternaturals.  There, she developed several close relationships, but apparently, those were not meant to last.

 Only a few months after having arrived at the school, Sydni’s father called her with horrifying news – her mother was dead.  That… wasn’t possible – she’d not been sick really.  Just a small cold, from what she could make out from her father’s near-incoherent words.  Unbeknownst to either of them, her mother was one of the first victims of the Pandora Virus.  Rushing home, Sydni arrived to the horror of finding her father, also deceased.  Too in shock to notice what was happening in the world, Sydni went about her life automatically for several weeks, until she received an urgent call from a friend, another praeternatural, who told her about the havens the praeternatural community had organized.  For a time she toyed with staying – the world around her was collapsing.  Perhaps she’d find her end in its devastation.  But, in the end, her survival instinct won out and she made her way to Elysium (a rather fitting name, considering her Hellenistic beliefs).   As more information filtered in over the months, she became more and more appalled by the devastation.  It was the end of the world as far as she could tell.

 When everything finally seemed to settle, relatively, Sydni tried to adapt to her new existence.  She didn’t really have the skills to make a living in this world – her talents relied heavily on technology.  Despite that, she determined to be of service however she could.  If she didn’t keep busy, she would have to face the horrors that had happened.

 Other Information
            Character’s Journal Name: chemin_argent

            Character’s PB: Zooey Deschenal

Photo of Character’s PB: http://bradungar.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/zooey-deschanel-10.jpg