Post by Voodoo Mama Juju on Jun 22, 2018 20:40:38 GMT -5
-Opening-
Discord/Chatango Username (include nicknames): [Irina]
Password 1: Sun Clap
Password 2: Moon Pray
Type: [Perma Release]
Affiliation: [Mercenary]
Rank: [1]
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-Basic Information-
Name: [Voodoo Mama Juju]
Real Age/Age of Appearance/Age that She Claims to Be: [87/77/107]
Birthday (Month/Day): [March 7th]
Blood Type: [O-]
RP Sample (Optional): [None]
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-Appearance-
Height/Weight: [4’11”, but kyphotic. 5’2” at full height. 160 lb.]
Physical Description: [[Voodoo Mama Juju looks wild, and even more so the more her appearance is studied. Her wide green eyes probably looked innocent and beautiful when she was younger, but now seemed to serve only to make her look wide-eyed and crazy. She has coarse salt and pepper hair, which she generally keeps in a loose bun atop her head. The hair sticks out randomly, but it doesn't bother her. She feels that this adds to her carefree vibe and does not spend too much time trying to tame it. From photographs, it can be discerned that the hair was once long and raven.
Due to her European heritage, she was genetically predisposed to pale skin, but her skin had become leathery and darker with age. She hadn’t attended finishing school like her mother, but if she had, she would’ve lost her perfect posture by now, her back being quite slumped due to her age. Her teeth, interestingly, are intact, and she attributes this to her vegetable-rich diet, since she hasn’t been to a dentist in decades. Her chin is pointed, but the rest of her face is rounder, due to her robust diet that keeps her overweight. When she was thinner, she had prominent cheekbones. She isn't concerned about that, believing that she is just as attractive as she was many years ago.
She prefers to wear brightly colored clothes, and most frequently, dons a dark-colored vintage cape over her clothing. She feels that these are warm, allow her to move freely, and they were quite in fashion when her mother was a young socialite. Sometimes she wears a colorful scarf over her hair. If Voodoo Mama Juju donned a witch’s hat, she could certainly scare the neighborhood children. In fact, on the rare occasions when she leaves her home, she does scare them without any additional headwear. This might have more to do with her shouting at them that they need to get out of the streets and study to make something of themselves than it has to do with her appearance.
Voodoo Mama Juju is spry. Although she is arthritic and has crooked fingers and knotty knees, she can get up and go at a moment’s notice. On some days, fine motors skills are easier than others due to pain caused by the arthritis. She does not believe in over the counter or prescription medication, instead taking an extra teaspoon of mint leaves from the garden in the morning when she has pain. She learned to swing dance back in the day, and still sways to big band music when she plays it on her record player (not that she would ever allow anyone to see that). She takes pride in her speed, especially considering her age, and claims to be in better shape than “everyone” half her age. She smells of garlic.]
{Image}
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-Personality-
Dislikes:
1. Those evil Shadow Creatures! She just can’t seem to keep them out of her bayou. Sure, she can scare them off. She’s even managed to kill a couple of them. But they always come back…Like cockroaches!
2. When people try to go into her swamp. Why would anyone do this when she clearly prohibits it?! Not only does she demand that people respect her rule, but it’s a silly thing to do on principle. This is a dangerous place! Anyone with sense should just keep out.
3. The government. With a political philosophy that can most closely be described as Libertarian, she believes that the government should not meddle in her affairs, has actually not paid taxes in years. Unbeknown to her, her nephew has been paying the property taxes on her land for the last 30-or-so years, to make sure she can keep it.
4. Being Complacent. When people are too quiet, or don’t stand up for themselves, Voodoo Mama Juju has a problem with them. She believes people should stand up for what they believe, even if controversial or dangerous. They should especially fight the Shadow Creatures.
5. Snakes. They sneak up on her animals and eat them. They have no honor as they sneak around. If they announced themselves or something, that would be a lot more honest.
6. She hates her first and middle name. She has refused to use them for many decades now and insists on only being called Voodoo Mama Juju. Her nephew Ian actually somewhat consents to this, calling her Mama and leaving out the Voodoo Juju part. Her sister, to avoid another argument, chooses to call her nothing, or "my sister". When she gets mail with her first name on it, which she hasn’t in years, she immediately burns it and puts the ashes in her compost pile after reciting an incantation to make sure it doesn’t come back. She orders pizzas under the name "Voodoo Mama Juju".
Likes:
1. Louisiana, and America. She speaks about these places as if they are two completely separate entities. She accepts that she lives in Louisiana, but not that she lives in the United States, or as she calls it, “America”. However, she does like both her state of Louisiana and her nation.
2. Men. Sure, it’s been a few years…Okay, a few decades since she’s been on the dating scene. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t interested! The problem is she neither allows people in her bayou, nor leaves it, making pickings slim. Her favorite male targets are those in their twenties to forties, because while she claims to be 107 years old, she is energetic and active in her lifestyle. She feels that she is just as attractive as when she was in her youth.
3. Animals. She really animals, better than people! For some reason those shadow creatures don’t go after her pets or her farm animals, so she took a particular liking to them. She also breeds lizards in her basement. The more colorful, the better. Although she has noticed that the more colorful the lizards are, the more they seem to bite.
4. Louie Armstrong. She loves Louie Armstrong’s music, particularly the trumpet music. She loves the brassy, unapologetic style of his music. She’s even okay with “What a Wonderful World” although she doesn’t see the world as particularly wonderful.
5. Big bands. Voodoo Mama Juju loves big band music more than any other style, and doesn’t really know why they make any other kind of music. Her favorite song is “Take the A Train” by Duke Ellington. When she is sad, she listens to Billy Holiday above all else. She feels that Billy’s mournful voice is all that can properly describe her own most melancholy moods. When she was much younger, she played trombone with the local band, but gave this up when she stopped leaving her home. She currently writes her own solos that she plays for the animals in her house. Her goats are the biggest fans of her music. The lizards hate it.
6. Magic. Her magic helps her to fight the shadow creatures. It also makes her feel powerful, like she can take on the world. She believes there is no such thing as being too confident and her voodoo helps her maintain her confidence. The only thing she can’t totally beat is them shadow creatures. And one really bad goat named Ollie.
7. Literature. With a librarian for a mother, Voodoo Mama Juju was never allowed to be idle as a child. She was permitted to read whatever classics she wanted on Sundays. Moby Dick, anything by Shakespeare, and Don Quijote were her absolute favorites. She enjoyed Austen's work as a guilty pleasure. As an adult, she continued to read, but mostly the same books she already owns, thus making leaving her home unnecessary.
Flaws: [1. As far as her spiritual powers, Voodoo Mama Juju’s biggest flaw is that she does not know she has them. Any “magic” she can do, she attributes to “Voodoo”. Her Voodoo magic is a brand entirely her own. It blends influences from children’s’ stories where she first learned about magic and her own intuition. If she does not have items that she has deemed necessary to perform her magic, she encounters a mental block and is unable to perform her spiritual powers.
2. Socially, her main flaw is being abrasive. She tells people whatever she thinks, demands getting her own way, and insists that she is always right. She shrieks loudly when she feels that people are not listening to her.
3. She was actually well-educated and successful in business, but speaks in a thick drawl with terrible grammar, ignoring any form of proper English that she was taught.
4. She smells strongly of garlic. While Voodoo Mama Juju bathes regularly, she adds garlic oil to the bath, believing that this is an excellent way to absorb it. Garlic is her favorite ingredient for potions, and she eats a clove every day, or one more if she is feeling ill. Thus, anything she does to smell attractive is negated by this scent. Even her sweat smells of garlic.]
Habits: [Life style: Much of Voodoo Mama Juju’s time is spent maintaining the small farm next to her home, which she uses, in part, to make ingredients for her Voodoo magic. Here, she grows a few plants and raises chickens, ducks, goats, and sheep. (She does not raise any larger animals due to the risk of them drowning in the event of a flood. Smaller animals, she can take up in her house, which sits on tall stilts, until the flood waters have receded.) She gets up early in the morning to maintain her farm, and by this method, stays very physically active. When she begins to feel old or frail, she does five trips up and down the 2-story outdoor staircase of her home. Between each set, she loudly declares from the top of the staircase: “I’m in better shape than everyone half my age!” This routine and mantra have thus far been effective.
Magic style: Her potions rely partially on animal ingredients, but 90% of them are vegetarian, using ingredients such as garlic, peppers, eggs, wool, or goat’s milk. Animals’ toenails, she believes, are particularly magical. She is also mostly a vegetarian in her diet, but she does eat white meat including chicken. She laughs at vegans. She treats her animals like her own family, and she knows that they don’t mind providing her eggs, milk, or nail clippings in return. Her lizards are the most magical animals of all. The red one might be poisonous.
Voodoo Mama Juju attributes her physical well-being to her activity and diet (including eating a clove of garlic every morning). Voodoo Mama Juju hates for anything to harm her animals, particularly the goats. When an animal dies due to old age or other natural causes, she uses the hide to make leather, and makes sure no other parts go to waste. She feels that this is the best way to honor her animals, who care for her so well by providing food and the potion ingredients she needs. The animals are, for the most part, quite fond of her.
Social style: These days, Voodoo Mama Juju is not very fun to be around. She is judgmental, overly confident, and abrasive. She actually loves people, but her social skills are lacking. Most recently, she got into a feud with her sister, whom she insisted needed to get ready to fight Shadow Creatures in her retirement home, since she had sensed the presence of one nearby. It was for her own good! But her twin just laughed at her. The audacity! She was just trying to protect her. Violet was getting soft in her age. Goodness, the woman was only eighty-seven! Voodoo Mama Juju then cursed her by throwing a mixture comprised of mostly tea leaves, garlic, pepper, and sweet onion at her. She felt bad about it, sure, but Violet needed to understand how serious this was. Additionally, it was very practical because the garlic and Cayenne would help to keep the Shadow Creatures away from her. Then Violet’s nurse kicked her out for making the patient cry. After that, it was an awkward ride back to her swamp with her nephew Ian.]
Fears: [Voodoo Mama Juju claims to have no fears, but in reality, she is quite afraid of the Shadow Creatures’ population growing rampant in the world. Her father taught her that they were natural, just like any other creature, but she couldn’t help but worry that if they got out of the swamp, they could really hurt people in the city. Of course, she could defend herself. But she doesn’t expect anyone else to be capable of this. Just because she doesn’t want to spend time with people doesn’t mean that she wants them to be killed. In fact, her real motivation for staying so isolated is to protect people. If she can keep the Shadow Creatures busy, maybe they won’t hurt anyone else.]
Goals: [1. Destroy the Shadow Creatures. 2. Keep everyone out of her dangerous bayou.]
Alignment: [Chaotic good]
Overall Personality: [Voodoo Mama Juju seems quite erratic in her behavior, but in her mind, she has a clear reason for everything she does. In fact, she can’t understand why people don’t recognize her motives or have the same opinions that she does. It irritates or infuriates her when people don't understand what she wants them to do, why she wants them to do it, or when they refuse her instructions. She believes that she is extremely intuitive and can easily understand what people are thinking and feeling. However, she is more often incorrect than correct in her intuition. This could change with time; as she grows stronger, her intuition may grow as well.
She rises early each morning. In the summer, this is whenever the sun comes up. In months when the sun rises later, she gets up at 5:42, as determined by her antique alarm clock. It gains 2 minutes yearly. She is not aware of this, so at present, what she believes is 5:42 am is actually 5:18. Thus, her entire routine runs earlier than she thinks it does. This causes her to get angry when people are constantly about twenty minutes late to her house. She sets her wristwatch in accordance with the clock. She would definitely not believe it if anyone told her that she had the wrong time, but she might be open to operating with a different time if she traveled to another time zone where she felt they didn't know as much about keeping time as they do in America.
Voodoo Mama Juju wishes she could have more social interaction. That is the only problem with living alone in the swamp. The place was once filled with the joy and laughter of her family, but it is all-but-empty now. Sure, she knows it is for the best. Really, she supposes, she is a hero for living here all alone so sacrificially. But the animals are a great comfort to her. Even Ollie the goat. And especially the red lizard. They were not as good as having an attractive young man around, sure, but they were something.
At the age of eighty-seven, Voodoo Mama Juju is actually in decent shape. She has never been one to laze around with her free time. She enjoys exercising, which she uses to demonstrate to herself that while she is older, she is not more frail. She can’t be, with all the animals she must care for, not to mention, the Shadow Creatures she must fight off to keep all the local people safe. She believes that a nap from exactly 2:00 to 3:00pm is essential for maintaining her energy. If she cannot get this nap, she must listen to big band music to revive herself. This works temporarily, but she requires 65 minutes of extra sleep at night if this route is chosen.
She does enjoy eating. She makes beignets from her maternal grandmother's recipe weekly. Sure, the donut-like pastries are high in calories, but they taste wonderful. She has a spiritual belief that anything that tastes good must be good for her. Her body obviously knows what it needs, and it has got her this far, so there is no point in changing now. Any nutrition advice given to the woman would be laughed at. She enjoys ordering a pizza for special occasions. The local delivery staff argue heatedly over who must be the one to deliver the pie due to the difficulty in getting to the home and the eccentric woman who resides there. Voodoo Mama Juju watches carefully to make sure the young people who bring this treat are safe from the Shadow Creatures. She tips terribly.
Her home reminds the delivery personnel of a haunted house. It sits on stilts above the ground, prepared for flood waters. With a sweeping staircase from the second-story wraparound porch, it was once stunning. But while the home was once painted bright white, the paint was peeled in the places where it remained at all, and the sun-bleached and moss-covered wood underneath remain. All year long, the yard is full of bright purple, yellow, and green Martes Gras decorations pretty much everywhere, and especially in the trees. When they begin to get old, Voodoo Mama Juju purchases more just after Martes Gras every year, in order to get a clearance price on the decorations. The masks, streamers, and beads in the trees look especially creepy at night.
She believes firmly that modern medicine is just full of silly people who don’t know what they are doing. And by no means should that pretentious veterinarian who she’d brought Ollie to see after he swallowed the key to her front door ever suggest to Voodoo Mama Juju again that she vaccinate her animals. That was just crazy. Why would she want to be putting vaccines in her animals? She believes Edward Jenner was a conspirator with the government to insert microchips in everyone, probably. Of course, microchips weren’t officially invented until much later, but she believes that’s just what the government wants her to think. Or maybe Jenner was just trying to turn people into cows.
While Voodoo Mama Juju is glad to take on the responsibility of subduing the Shadow Creatures in the Bayou, she would love to get out and find some adventure. Or at least a good looking man. It’s been far too long since she has been on a date. She dreams of hopping on a hot air balloon and going to find something exotic. Maybe discovering new species on the Galapagos. Maybe finding a permanent cure for the ear mites that affect her goats. Perhaps finding some of Shakespeare's lost sonnets. Or maybe locating some really big cows. Like, really big ones.]
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-Powers-
Fighting Style: [Voodoo Mama Juju has never been in a physical fight with a human, or anything like one. She does, however, regularly fight Hollows in her Bayou. She believes that these "Shadow Creatures" live to eat, and fights with ferocity to keep them away from people in the nearby town. They seem to come mostly from the swamp, making her house pretty centrally situated between their nest and the town. About bi-weekly, one wanders too close to her home. The worst offender is a large Shadow Creature in the form of a frog. As an eighty-seven year old woman, she must adapt her fighting style to effectively engage in combat with a giant frog.
Giant frogs, incidentally, have giant hops. The frog spans ten feet from head to tail, and its legs are even longer. Voodoo Mama Juju, though, is less than five feet tall. She believes that she leverages this size difference to her advantage. Her strategy is mainly defensive. She dodges the frog's large feet and sticky tongue, darting between trees in the bayou that end up its accidental targets. She uses her totems to attack it with just enough force to get it to retreat. In the back of her mind, she still does not want to fight the creatures to kill; she just wants to keep them from hurting anyone. Therefore, although she does a lot of yelling and screaming, she is more of a defender than an attacker. She likes to keep a distance between the Shadow Creatures and herself, having been taught that this is the best way to handle wild animals.
If she were to encounter a human who was looking for a fight, she would attempt to outsmart them and be faster than them. She does not have the same type of respect for people that she does for animals. She does not feel it necessary to give them space or quiet, and will attack without thinking about the consequences, in particular, preserving herself. She believes in striking first and asking questions later. If someone she deems human attacks her, she will try to subdue them rather than understand them, as she would with a creature.
Voodoo Mama Juju believes that the best plan of attack is to follow her instinct, rather than coming up with a plan. She feels that improvisation keeps her sharp, and that in a truly dangerous situation, she won't know what to do until she sees the problem. In close combat, she likes to punch people. When allowed to keep her distance, she likes to throw things at people. She isn't picky about what she throws; anything will do. She believes that planning too much ahead causes weakness.]
Main Fullbring Appearances: [Sealed: Her grandmother’s antique locket, which has a design of a frog on the outside, and contains a rabbit’s toe, fragment of a turtle shell, tail of a salamander, feather of an owl, and half of a worm, which are sealed in the locket with resin.
Released: Totems made of wood, reminiscent of the wood carvings her father makes. There are five in total, each twelve by twenty-four inches. They kind of look like Keebler Elf Cookies, although Voodoo Mama Juju would not make this comparison since they were invented in 1980, long after she stopped paying attention to pop culture. They are more artistic than anatomically correct, which is necessary because they share dimensions.
Main Fullbring Name: [Voodoo Hoodoo New Blue Juju]
Main Fullbring Level 1 Property: “From the Spirits of these Totems give me power over the world”
Voodoo Mama Juju’s Main Fullbring allows her to summon wooden carved Totems from the precious animal parts of her departed pets and the piece of her mortal enemy that she has obtained. These totems float around her idly in a vaguely blue glow until she directs them with hand motions. They can fly around and act as shields with durability equal to her offensive stat, travel at Voodoo Mama Juju’s Speed stat, and they can summon minor puffs of elemental energy for 150 reiatsu each. These puffs are the size of a basketball and travel forwards ten feet at 300 speed before dissipating.
The totems can only summon one element each. The Rabbit totem summons a puff of lightning symbolizing its lightning speed and reflexes, the Turtle totem summons a puff of water due to its aquatic nature, the salamander totem summons a puff of fire symbolizing its mythical creature equivalent, the owl totem summons a puff of wind symbolizing its soaring flight, and the Worm totem summons a puff of earth symbolizing its home and earthy nature. At this level, the elemental abilities are capable of dealing minor damage, such as light paralysis for the lightning, minor burns and catching things on fire for the lightning, and the water, wind, and earth blasts doing little more than pushing someone away. The earth blasts are unique in that they don’t dissipate after 10 feet, but rather fall in an arc and hit the ground after 10 feet.
Main Fullbring Level 2 Properties:
“Raging Spirits” – In Level 2, Voodoo Mama Juju’s Totems are much stronger. The blasts they produce cost 200 reiatsu, but are bathtub sized, move at 500 stat speed for a distance of 10 feet, and are capable of doing much more damage. They can cause electrical burns and paralysis, cause second and third degree burns, completely soak and douse flames, and bury and crush people with earth. The wind still just pushes things, but can fling things far with full offensive strength stat.
“Spirit Mastery” – In Level 2, Voodoo Mama Juju can stack two totems together to provide a different elemental effect/blast. These cost 250 reiatsu, are bathtub sized unless they say otherwise, move at 500 stat speed unless they say otherwise, and travel 10 feet unless they say otherwise. The Salamander Totem and the Worm Totem can team up to launch a blast of molten rock. The Worm Totem and the Rabbit Totem can team up to create a blast of electrified water. It has a paralyzing potency greater than that of Tsuzuri Raiden, but less than a Pure Rabbit Level 2 blast. However, it is capable of being ingested and causing greater internal damage if swallowed.
The Rabbit Totem and the Turtle Totem can stack together to launch a blast into the atmosphere that causes the surrounding area to start to rain. The Salamander Totem and the Turtle Totem can team up to create a blast of steam that can sterilize as well as cause up to second degree burns if applied directly to exposed skin. The Owl Totem and the Turtle Totem can combine to create a soothing blast that eases pain equal to a Pain Tolerance of Voodoo Mama Juju's Healing Expertise divided by 100.
“Spirit Sacrifice” – In Level 2, Voodoo Mama Juju can also sacrifice a Totem to create a large explosion of that element. The Totems that burst this way are lost for the remainder of the thread and cannot be recreated even if she seals and re-releases her Fullbring. The explosion costs 200 reiatsu and is 35 feet in radius. The elements do even more damage than they do with the Raging Spirits property. They can cause near lethal force to anything within 15 feet of the explosion and do severe damage for the rest of the 35 foot radius.
Secondary Fullbring Appearances: [Sealed: Voodoo Mama Juju’s secondary fullbring has the appearance of a lizard. She generally keeps at least one live lizard in her purse, which she fills with a bit of mud and grass for the creature. If her current lizard is unavailable or expires, another one will do, but she must mentally bond with the animal for her powers to work optimally. Her ideal magical lizard is a five-lined skink, with a shiny purple to blue tail and a red head. She breeds these to select those with particularly bright color, even in adulthood, while the color is brightest in juveniles. These lizards can regenerate their tail if lost, but she feels that they lose some of their magic in the process. If the tail fully regenerates, she reveres the lizard as even more magical than before. She monitors the lizards’ health based mostly on their behavior, with which she is quite familiar.
{image for reference}
Released: When released, Voodoo Mama Juju’s secondary fullbring takes the form of a stick: A gnarled cane that looks like it fell off of a tree and was just picked up. On the end of this cane is a spearhead of stone and a small bone necklace that connects the wood and the stone. Carved into the wood is the image of a turtle, a salamander, a rabbit, an owl, a worm, and a Hollow mask.
Secondary Fullbring Properties:
“My Spirits are my Body” – This property allows Voodoo Mama Juju to take on the properties of one of her Totem animals. This takes the form of elemental changes to different parts of her body. Each Totem can transform a specific part of her body for 50 reiatsu per post. This specific part is its Specialization. Each Totem can transform a different part of her body than its Specialization for 150 reiatsu per post. And for 400 reiatsu per post Voodoo Mama Juju can transform her whole body into the Totem element.
Up to 3 Totems can be used at once when used only for their Specialization. Up to 2 Totems can be used at once if used outside of the Specialization. Only 1 Totem can be used at once for whole body transformations. Each of these elements deal damage upon contact with Voodoo Mama Juju. Some deal more spiritual damage, such as Fire and Electricity, while others deal more physical damage, such as Earth. An area that is transformed requires 25% OS superiority to damage Voodoo Mama Juju. The Specializations and elements are as follows.
Rabbit - Specialization: Legs/Feet - Element: Electricity
Turtle: - Specialization: Torso - Element: Water
Salamander: - Specialization: Arms/Hands - Element: Fire
Owl: Specialization: Head - Element: Air
Worm: Specialization: Torso - Element: Earth
“My Spirits are my Weapon” - This property allows Voodoo Mama Juju to alter the form of her cane based on one of her Totem animals. Obviously, the weapon can only take one form at a time. This costs 100 reiatsu to accomplish and remains until she changes it again. The weapon form of each Totem animal is the following:
Rabbit: Dagger. Voodoo Mama Juju always enjoyed watching rabbits dart through the grass. She especially respects their ability to defend themselves from predators not only by being fast enough to run away, but alternatively by kicking and scratching at their attackers, even ones bigger than they are.
Turtle: Shield. At first glance, the shell of a turtle might remind people of a shield. Voodoo Mama Juju is inspired by this, and her cane can take the form of a turtle’s shell. Unlike a turtle, she doesn’t particularly like to hide, and sometimes might use it as a punching device.
Salamander: Like the mythical fire breathing Salamanders of lore, Voodoo Mama Juju’s weaponized Salamander Totem becomes a large bow. While she has to supply the arrows from some other means, this longbow can be pretty powerful if she can learn to accurately fire it.
Owl: Grenade. The visual of a smallish, unassuming owl bursting out of a tree with its wings spread, suddenly appearing huge, reminds Voodoo Mama Juju of an exploding grenade. The only problem with her grenade is that she must find a way to retrieve her cane after throwing it. It can only explode once per transformation, then reverts to a cane again.
Worm: The weapon form of the Worm Totem is a long slender whip. Possessing a metal tip, this whip can do serious damage if it hit just right.
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-History-
Birthplace: [Louisiana, United States]
Current Residence: A bayou outside of New Orleans
Memorable Figures: [Her twin sister Violet. Voodoo Mama Juju has always been decidedly unlike her sister, who could be described as the perfect Southern Belle. Violet speaks in a sugary-sweet deep-south accent, softly and slowly. She is always polite, even at the expense of winning an argument. However, she seemed to always get her way. Exposed to the same spiritual forces in the swamp that turned Voodoo Mama Juju into a Fullbringer, Violet may have some spiritual awareness, but would never admit it.
Her father Daniel: An Irish immigrant who came to the United States alone around the time of the potato famine, Daniel was a self-made man. When he arrived in the United States with little money or education, it seemed that all the doors to opportunity were closed to him. Daniel, though, wasn’t one to accept “no” for an answer. His good friend Victoire, who he met as a teenager and quickly fell in love with, helped him catch up on his studies, and even encouraged him to take college classes at night while he worked on construction sites in the daytime, which was virtually unthought of for people of his background. The day he finally turned a profit on his business, he asked Victoire to marry him, finally confident that he could provide for her. The pair were married a month afterword, and Daniel swore that he was more in love every day. An adoring father, Daniel noted that his daughters were his second-biggest joys.
Her mother Victoire: According to Daniel, he knew that Victoire was the one for him the moment he saw her. Unlike Daniel, Victoire grew up financially comfortable, and she was raised to be a lady. Piano lessons, ballet, and other education filled her childhood. She was pale, not having worked outside. The soft-hearted woman grew up to be a scholar, and wound up working in the library at the local university on some evenings after her daughters were born.
Her nephew Ian. Since a big falling-out with her sister, Violet’s son Ian is the only local family member Voodoo Mama Juju remains in contact with. Ian once gave her an iPod so she could listen to the big band music that she loves, but once she figured out it had a camera, she smashed it for fear that the government was using it to watch her. That poor Ian, he just wasn’t very bright.
Her maternal grandmother Neva. Neva was Voodoo Mama Juju’s inspiration, and she always wanted to grow up to be just like her. Neva was one with nature, and loved to be outdoors. Born before electricity, Neva was a tough woman, a survivor. At the turn of the century, her husband Clifford built his home by hand, with the help of his neighbors and sons. It was a masterpiece, the best home in the area. For its time, it was enormous. As time went on, the foundation stood firm. As needed, structural features such as the stilts it stood on needed to be repaired and replaced to maintain the home’s structural integrity, but the home’s intrinsic beauty never left it, even when much older. One of Voodoo Mama Juju’s greatest shames is being unable to maintain the home at the same level of beauty it once had.]
History: [Born to Daniel and Victoire O’Leary and raised in the bayou of Louisiana, Voodoo Mama Juju has no intentions of leaving, ever. A second-generation American, she is proud of her nation, state, and home. She enjoyed a simple, happy childhood with her family: a sister, mother, and father. Her mother Victoire was from France, and her family had settled in New Orleans to be with other immigrants from their culture. Her Irish father Daniel met Victoire when they were only nine, and the way Victoire told the story, it was love at first sight. Violet loved to sit by the fire and hear their parents tell their love story, but her twin would squirm around, eager for the boring story to be over. Her favorite thing was to listen to was her father’s playing the violin.
Daniel didn’t come from a lot of money, but even when he became financially comfortable, his old violin was probably his most cherished possession. His family loved to gather in their living room and listen to him play and sing. Victoire played the piano, and sometimes accompanied her husband when he played. (When they weren’t playing music, the two were usually found holding hands with their fingers intertwined, even after decades of marriage.) Both twins would sing along while they played traditional songs from their respective countries.
Young Voodoo Mama Juju would beg for her father to play Molly Malone again and again, and declared it to be her own song. She never knew, even as an adult, that there was a last verse about a fever and a ghost. When angry, Violet would threaten her parents that she would tell her sister about the verse, but she never did. Daniel had made up his own concluding verse, in which Molly returns to her parents’ house at the end of the day and sings a song with her family by the fire. The lyrics fit the tune well enough that Voodoo Mama Juju never questioned it. Music was always a cherished art in their home. The sparkle in her father’s eyes, the smile on her mother’s face, and her serious sister’s tapping foot are among Voodoo Mama Juju’s most cherished memories.
When Voodoo Mama Juju was about ten years old, her father developed a strange new hobby. Daniel began to hear and see some huge and terrifying creatures outside, who he explained to the girls to be Shadow Creatures. He wasn’t sure where they had come from, but he was sure that they needed to eat. Daniel had taught his girls a healthy respect for wildlife that is essential to living close to nature. He taught them that animals needed to eat, but were generally most concerned with protecting themselves and their offspring. Thus, the most important thing to remember when interacting with wildlife was to respect them by giving them space.
Daniel followed exactly this philosophy when it came to the Shadow Creatures. Like with other wildlife, sometimes people needed to make a little ruckus to scare them off, so both parties could stay safe. So, while remaining calm, Daniel developed a series of tools to use to keep the Shadow Creatures away from his family. Unaware that these creatures were actually spiritual in nature, Daniel proceeded to protect the family homestead in a similar manner to how he would protect them from other swamp creatures. A mixture of garlic powder and Cayenne pepper kept the deer from his garden, so naturally, they would keep these other creatures away.
Daniel cheerfully and methodically carried out his protection ritual every morning. He sang a little song as he sprinkled the powder in a radius around their home large enough to protect the small farm and the places the girls played, but not selfishly large. The creatures needed room to roam too, of course. As Daniel spread the mixture from the pouch he kept on his belt, the pouch always began to glow, and so did the trail of powder that he left behind. He attributed this faint, shimmery glow to the light of dawn, and his daughters and wife agreed that it was beautiful. With this natural protection, the Shadow Creatures didn’t come close enough for Voodoo Mama Juju to see them for many years.
The family lived in relative peace for many years. An occasional Shadow Creature would get too close for comfort, and when this happened, Daniel used mechanical traps to wound them or scare them off. Both daughters grew up. Violet went to university, still a relatively rare feat for a woman in that time, and became an accountant, working in a quiet firm. Violet married an equally calm man in her early twenties, who allowed Violet to get her own way without putting up a fight. She took a break from accounting when her son Ian was finally born when she was thirty-six. Voodoo Mama Juju was irritated that it took them so long to produce a nephew for her. If Violet would've drank the garlic juice she'd provided her at every harvest moon, she could've had ten children by that time. She had read in the library that garlic boosted fertility, and took it as 100% fact. When she reached adulthood, Voodoo Mama Juju worked in her father’s business, especially enjoying opportunities to boss people around.
One day, the entire family was outdoors enjoying a picnic when Violet was home from college. A small Shadow Creature (small for a Shadow Creature, anyway) of about eight feet long, with the form of a wolverine came slinking through the grass. Violet and Victoire looked in the direction of the sound, but quickly went back to chatting about Violet's boyfriend and eating Beignets that had been homemade from Victoire's mother's recipe. Daniel jumped up, and in his panic, managed to knock down a tree on the creature, who crept off, howling and injured. Victoire and Violet yelped out, shocked that Daniel had the strength to knock over the tree.
Actually, his own feat surprised Daniel as well. Upon finding out that his wife and Violet could not see the creature, Daniel at last became aware that the Shadow Creatures were spiritual in nature. He chose not to alarm his family with any more details about them, telling them that he was keeping them at bay, a safe distance from their home. Daniel apologetically told Violet and Victoire that he must have been dreaming, and he'd been working a lot outside, which was building his strength. He left it at that.
Unfortunately, over the years, the Shadow Creatures became bolder, coming closer to the family’s home when they could manage it. After one came too close to Violet’s young son when they came to visit his grandparents, Daniel determined that the time had come that the creatures were too hungry, and it was unsafe for the family to remain so close to the Shadow Creatures' territory any longer. Daniel and Victoire moved to the city, where he ironically found life quieter than in the lonely swamp. Victoire was relieved to hear that her husband was no longer having visions of huge creatures.
Voodoo Mama Juju, however, had seen the masked creature the day of the picnic. On her interrogation, her father was unable to explain much more about them than he already had, but encouraged her to stay far away from them. Daniel insisted that while he might be able to use his herbs and spices to discourage the Shadow Creatures from getting close, he had no real way to scare them off if they did too close. The creatures were hungry, and he did not intend for her to be their next meal. Daniel advised her that she should move to the city too, keep working in the business, and enjoy what the city had to offer.
Voodoo Mama Juju, in contrast, became independently skilled in fighting the Shadow Creatures, and gradually decreased the amount of time she spent away from her home, wanting to stay close to protect it. The Shadow Creatures didn’t touch the animals she raised, and she stubbornly insisted on remaining at the family home to protect them and maintain the family home when her parents moved away. She grew to hate to leave her home, and quit working outside of the home when her father retired from his business. She also quit dating at this time, although she enjoyed the company of a good-looking man. It didn’t matter which one; any good-looking man would do. She had enjoyed dating, but she just couldn't quite find one who wasn't intimidated by her stubborn ways. She had been sure that someday she would find one who could appreciate a strong woman. Man, she missed men.
Over time, as she spent less and less time with people, Voodoo Mama Juju lost her social skills, transitioning from a stubborn but fairly polite businesswoman to someone who made shopkeepers shudder when they saw her coming. When she quit leaving her home, she spent most of her time with her animals. Goats don't respond well to gently discussing why their choices are wrong; it was much more effective to just holler at them to quit what they were doing. Sure, she knew that the young people who delivered her twice yearly pizza probably might have responded better to discussing why they must not tramp on her pumpkin patch, but it was much more effective to just shout from the top of her staircase to get out of there. It was more efficient. Who doesn't like efficiency? The best way to communicate, she eventually decided, was to say whatever she needed to, and if people weren't listening, say it louder.
During this time, Voodoo Mama Juju also seemingly lost her mind, acquiring more and more delusions about how to fight the Shadow Creatures as time progressed. It is possible that the spiritual energy around the place caused some brain damage, exciting the creative parts of her brain to present casual observations as absolute fact, and cementing causes to effects she saw, without real proof. She had always been open-minded, but as time passed, more eccentric things made their way right into that open mind. She once saw a Shadow Creature avoid a tree in which she had hung colorful Martes Gras decorations. To her, this meant that she must cover the bulk of the outdoors in these colorful decorations, and she would not be convinced otherwise.
Victoire and Daniel moved from New Orleans to Atlanta when they felt that the city had become a party scene. Eventually, Victoire passed away quietly in her late eighties, surrounded by loving family and friends. At present, Daniel is one hundred and four years old, and resides in an assisted living home just north of the Mason-Dixon line. He enjoys carving lifelike wooden animals, which he presents to his great-grandchildren on special occasions. Daniel attributes his longevity to drinking garlic juice every morning.
The only local family member Voodoo Mama Juju remains in contact with is her nephew Ian, who is fond of and endlessly patient with her. Admittedly, it helps that they don’t see each other much, due to Voodoo Mama Juju's strict restrictions on who can visit her and when. However, Ian sees the best in his only auntie, and understands that she deeply cares for people and her animals. They get along well when he follows her rules, which are odd, but consistent. Ian is the son of her sister Violet, who currently also resides in a nice Senior Living home, where she lives a relaxed life and gets to play Bingo as much as she would like. Ian once tried to convince Voodoo Mama Juju to live there, and she even consented to take a tour, but she swore to never reside in the same place as “that pansy”, Violet. Not to mention, she had screeched, ”I AM NEVER LEAVING MY SWAMP!”
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