Iyashikei App

[ribbonbon]

Player Information

Player Name: Mel
Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 30+
Preferred Means of Contact: robotsforbrains or PM this journal
Invitation: Mod Invite
Other Characters In Game: N/A
Do you have any plans for this character in the game? Pauline is a character that does a lot of helping, willing or not often for little reward. I feel like be able to explore some neat developments in an environment where helping others is encouraged and explicitly rewarded.

Character Information

Character's Full Name: Pauline Vivienne Bonheur
Character's Pronouns: She/her
Character's Canon: Original
Character's Canon Point: A few days after her 16th birthday
Character's Age: 16
Did your character willingly come to Iyashikei? If yes, why? Kind of? She does not initially believe this is happening. She's too normal for this sort of magic land fantasy novel stuff and the scroll took her "Pfft, yeah, sure." as a "yes."
Will they need any special accommodations upon arrival? No

Character's History:

For all intents and purposes, Pauline comes from an off-brand modern Earth circa 2010. All significant historical events have taken place here, but with minor changes mostly in regards to pop culture. (EX: Quatroid, a game that's not Tetris, except for the part where it's exactly like Tetris, was developed by a small group of independent Swedish gamers in the early 80s; In 1937, Whimsey Studios creates their first animated film, Little Red Riding Hood. Etc, so on)

Originally from Lille, France, Pauline was born in 1994 to Armand Bonheur and his wife, Camille, who met while working for the same company, though they initially worked for different branches. Her parents worked a lot, traveling both overseas and within France, so she spent much of her early years with her grandparents. She would often go a week or more at a time without seeing her parents and became very attached to her grandparents. However, shortly after her third birthday, Pauline's mother would be transferred to the US branch of the company she and her husband worked for and their family would move to Key City, New York, in the United States. Her father would accept a new position within the company that required less travel in order to facilitate this move. Due to her attachment to her grandparents, this would distress Pauline greatly.

Over the course of the next several months, Armand and Camille's marriage began to break down and eventually, shortly before Pauline's fourth birthday, they would divorce. Camille, for reasons unknown to her daughter, would sign over her parental rights and move to Chicago. She and Pauline would have little to no contact after this. Armand offered no explanation to his daughter because she never asked and Pauline felt afraid to ask, having no explanation offered. Pauline became a very shy child and had a hard time making friends with other children when she started school.

It was in kindergarten that she met Peter Hartell, an equally shy boy who had difficulty making friends due to his unintentionally angry looking way of holding his face and generally quiet nature. This was noticed by their teacher, who kept encouraging the two to play together. Within a few years, the Hartells became almost like a second family to Pauline and she would often stay with them when her father was working late. It was during this time that Pauline developed an interest in baking after watching Mr. and Mrs. Hartell testing out recipes for their cafe. As she became older, this interest in baking became something Pauline would consider making a career of later in life.

The summer before she started middle school, Armand would be promoted into a position that would require him to take regular trips overseas and he decided they would move to a neighborhood across town closer to his local office. To then nine year old Pauline, it felt like a huge distance to move, especially as it meant going to a new school with no friends. This made her extremely anxious and she began to become withdrawn once again.

However, it was at this new school that she met Patty Summers who had just moved to town (coincidentally in the same neighborhood) and the two became friends. Patty, who was a little more outspoken and positive than Pauline, helped her new friend become more outgoing, eventually leaving some of her shyness behind, though she still remained generally a bit awkward and anxious. In an attempt to make herself what she perceived as more likable, throughout her middle school years and into high school she would become something of an “unofficial club member,” (more like a dogsbody) willingly helping out and taking on tasks from clubs and other extracurricular school groups when they needed extra help, despite not actually being a member of any of them and, at times, not having any actual “friends” in a particular club.

In 8th grade, while running an errand to a local convenience store, Pauline developed a crush on the clerk there soon becoming a frequent customer. The summer before she was to begin high school, she intended to give him a letter telling him how she felt. However, the day she went to give it to him, she learned he had moved across the country for college with no intention to return. Despite not expecting anything to come from her confession, the realization that she was no more than another customer to him and the inability to get any kind of closure fed into her insecurities of being insignificant in comparison to others.

As she became older, she would start staying home alone with her father occasionally checking in, though these check ins became less and less frequent. In an attempt to present herself as independent and mature she did her best to take care of the house as best she could and when questioned would only tell her father she she was "fine." However, she secretly began to resent her father's general lack of presence in her life and what she perceived as an inclination towards always putting his job before her, despite telling herself otherwise.

Character's Personality:

Pauline wants to be liked and accepted by others and will often submit to them in order to achieve this. While she is genuinely friendly and kind, she's also a bit of a doormat and it's easy to talk her into doing extra work for little to no reward. Unfortunately, this can lead to people taking advantage of her; a bit of praise and some kind words can earn someone her trust easily. Also, while she is generally pretty friendly and kind, she often tries to hide her insecurities and fears (despite being a terrible liar), even from those she trusts, and has a hard time forming close bonds with others. Once she makes a friend, that person will generally have little trouble getting her to follow their lead.

She also has a bit of an inferiority complex, seeing herself as generally less than most people. Though she doesn't have any abilities she considers “real talents”, she genuinely tries to get better and work hard at what people ask her to do so she can be helpful and support others in their efforts. This also means that when she has any measure of success she feels a little more pleased with herself than others would in the same situation. However, she can be just as easily discouraged in the face of failure. She’s a bit contradictory in this way; she wants so badly to be able to stand on her own and be taken seriously, but due to her own insecurities she would rather follow someone else’s lead than take charge herself. Despite this, she's a little smarter than she gives herself credit for; when she really puts her mind to it, she can solve problems and accomplish tasks without too much trouble.

When faced with unfamiliar situations, she's quick to panic and is easily flustered. She's not great at making plans on the fly and would rather have time to think and plan carefully. She's extremely easy to read, despite her best attempts being a Cool Teen, and it's not a challenge to figure out when she is being dishonest about how she feels...or anything else.


Character Abilities:

Pauline does not have any extraordinary abilities. However, she has picked up little scraps of knowledge from her time doing club work at school. (Ex - she can mend a hole in a pair of pants, but can't do major clothing alterations. She properly can set up a chessboard, but can't actually explain all the rules etc so on.)

She's also a decent cook, having spent the last several years more or less taking of herself, and is fairly adept at sweets.

Player Opt-out/Opt-in Permissions post: N/A

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