As told by Summer

I was born, the oldest daughter, to a moderately wealthy family from Mumbles, a suburb of Sawnsea in Wales. My family was wonderful. I have to admit, at times I felt like the cardinal born to a family of bluejays, but in the main we loved each other and got along well. My little sister was born when I was three ... and she was perfect. I always felt compared to her. I suppose that drove me to be better, to explore the limits of my potential.

So I took up an number of hobbies, looking for something I could be outstandingly good at. Dance, poetry, cooking, photography, puzzles, math -- I tried all these and more, and indeed discovered an aptitude for several of them. But not enough to satisfy my desperate urge to prove my worth over my sister.

We moved to London with my father's job (with GlaxoSmithKline) four years later. Unfortunately for me, since I was Daddy's girl, the increased workload of his job took him away from us more and more. When I was fourteen, he got transferred to US Headquarters in Research Triangle Park (RTP), Raleigh, North Carolina. Sure, lovely, great opportunity ... I don't want to move!

But we did move, into the heart of the state of North Carolina. Mom was definitely overjoyed to have her old friends and comrades back around her, for sure, and Christelle took to it like a duck to water. But me ... it wasn't so good for me. I developed depression, due to the loss of my old friends and my inability to make new ones. Fortunately for my family's sanity -- and my own -- I managed to test into the NC School of Science and Math, an accelerated school, two years later.

I was very happy studying there for two years. I met Alexis and Rosa, and we all became close friends. I also made friends with a snip of a girl named Mieke, who managed -- for about 6 months -- to steal Alexis right out from under my nose. Of course, at the time we had no idea we would become lovers, but still ... ^^

It was easy for me to achieve entry into the private and exclusive Duke University, after my strong performance at NCSSM; however, I chose not to continue in science. My love for Shakespeare was born in a class I took on whim my very first semester at Duke, and I have never looked back. Working hard, I took my English degree in three years instead of the usual four, and plunged into the graduate program right away.

It was at that point that I discovered I liked teaching. Prior to attaining a TA's job as part of my graduate work, I had had no experience of teaching, and honestly believed that I was far too explosive to ever be capable of something requiring such patience. To my everlasting astonishment, I was wrong, and at that point I set a new goal: to teach what I love best (Shakespeare).

In order to facilitate that, I admit, I lingered a bit in the graduate program. Thus, it took me another four years to obtain my Master's degree. In the long run, this turned out to be a good thing, however, because if I had hurried to complete my master's degree, I might not have been available for the position at Elon University which I now hold. That, in fact, was a major stroke of luck.

Oh, you want to know what happened with my friendships? Well, Alexis joined me at Duke, in both undergrad and graduate program, though he chose the far harder major of astronomical physics. We dated each other off and on throughout the entire time, but four years ago he begged off a continued romantic relationship, citing heavy schoolwork. He's preparing to finally claim his doctorate. We've still kept in touch, but I don't really think the old spark is there any more.

Rosa and I still keep in touch, though she went to Kentucky to attend school, and got married there. She's in Florida now, still married, with a beautiful young son and another child on the way. I understand she's pursing a master's in math or some such thing. I lost touch with Mieke after we left NCSSM, though, and I have no idea what's become of her.

Currently, I'm on a year's sabbatical / research trip to the beautiful city of Rome.

Personality

Summer's feelings are deep and emotionally supercharged. She is emotionally aggressive, intense, determined, and possessive. She is proud and aloof, tending to rely on herself more than she relies on others, but it is hard for her to say no and stick with no when she is approached with an emotional appeal. She can be reached by those emotional appeals far more easily than by logic or good sense.

Not necessarily an outgoing personality, she doesn't go out of her way for others, expecting friends to come to her instead. By nature she is somewhat demanding, even harsh, but with an intuitive understanding of the world and of people. She is a magnetic individual, with a tremendous amount of self-confidence. Her emotions are very powerful, her intuitions keen, and she has a great respect for her hunches.

She has a complex set of ideals that she strives for, and she's a very passionate person in many ways. She has an idealistic view of love and romance. She is harsh on her partner, or just about anyone else, when they show weakness or human frailties. Integrity and character are all important; she expects a great deal in this regard from everyone to whom she is close, and especially from herself.

She is suspicious, shrewd, defensive, and in affairs of heart, very sensitive and jealous. She is too receptive, too impressionable, and too easily influenced through her feeling and sensations. There is never anything wishy-washy about her attitudes and opinions and she clings tenaciously to her ideals, loves, hates, and dreams. She is strongly opinionated and capable of defending her position by argument, although logic is rarely one of her weapons in this war. Her arguments twist and turn, frustrating an opponent who would attack her position with pure reason.

Summer has a terrific creative force in her nature. She can be executive and commanding at times, and at other times her riotous emotions and sensational tendencies take over. Nothing she does is ever half-hearted. She is very emotional, but people may not realize this because of her natural ability to conceal or hide her feelings. She can be very impulsive or quick on the trigger, and she does best when she keeps her impulses under direct and conscious mental control.

Her exterior may seem rather quiet, but inwardly there is a great deal of mental pressure and a constant flow of undercurrents. She may often seem to be absorbed in another sphere of existence, above being actively involved in mundane activities surrounding her. Keen judgment of human nature and the ability to sense the motives of others gives her a very good knack for handling people. Honor, integrity and authority are very important to her. She is little concerned with her popularity as long as she is true to her high principles and honesty with herself. Control, management and organization are her strengths.

She has such intensity that she generally gets what she wants by sheer determination and persistence, not to mention a huge capacity for hard work. When her devotion is fixed, she is capable of the extremes of loyalty. Relationships are hard for her because she will naturally fight with people that are strong and have pride themselves, but she holds those not measuring up to such a standard in some disdain. She has no time for weak individuals.

But she can be a tough boss, for once she loses respect for someone's creativity or ability to think, she has little use for them in any way. Never showing this outwardly, she can always be polite and civil, while feeling nothing but scorn and disgust. Shallowness or superficiality completely throw her off. She has a profound mind that is broad and tolerant (at least in theory), and quite creative. Pride is strongly marked in her nature, and she sets great store by intellectual and artistic accomplishment.

There is a depth to her nature and her emotions. She's outstanding at observation, at analysis, at imagining and creating.

Appearance

Summer stands at 6'0" in bare feet, with a flexible, dancer's build. From either the back or the front, her figure seems almost boyish, but from the side she can be said to have some figure. A pushup bra would probably help her cleavage enormously. At about 140lbs, Summer may even be a little underweight for her height. She is strong, though, the kind of wiry strength that doesn't show in muscles.

Summer's one beauty and vanity is her hair. Hanging past her hips in heavy brown waves with no bangs, she takes express care of it, and it is so healthy it sparkles in the sun. Generally a deep mahogany brown with red undertones, several months of Italy's sun have begun to add lighter streaks. When she is working, she pins her hair up in a variety of styles -- braided bun, braided coronet, or simple bun. When she is on free time, she wears it loose. In fact, that's an easy way to tell how businesslike Summer is being -- the more severe and tiedup her hair is, the more likely she is to be on the job. The weight of her hair forces it to part in the center, no matter how she wears it.

Summer's wide, innocent-seeming eyes are a surprising pale green shade with a narrow ring of gold around the pupil. Her natural expression holds her eyes quite narrow; Summer often looks like she is considering something across the room or thinking very hard. It's a mistake to underestimate her because of her faraway expression, though. Her lashes are short, but curl a lot, making it all but impossible for her to look up through them. A single little freckle hides in the lines under her left eye, and she wears small, rectangular glasses.

Summer has pure, clear porcelain skin, with a rosy undertone. Her face and arms are dotted with tiny golden freckles, and every day spent in the sun seems to add more. Her nose is snubbed, her face delicately heart-shaped, and her jaw pointed. She keeps her nails long, and currently has a rose henna-tattooed on her right shoulderblade, and an abstract Celtic design around her left ankle.

Summer's voice is a husky contralto, slightly raspy from smoking. She doesn't sing, but her speaking voice is a pleasure to listen to; she somehow manages to impart an overtone of sexiness to anything she says (V's pizza-phone voice, only lower). Part of this is due to the combination of leftover Welsh lilt and Southern drawl. When she's not working, she tends toward autumn shades, and has a secret fondness for light shirts with 3/4 belled sleeves. If she happens to be feeling daring, she possesses a pair of shorts so short her hair hides them.

Senshi

Calliope's fuku resembles nothing so much as a belly dancer's costume. Beginning at the top, her hair is worn in dozens of tiny braids, each one tipped with a bell and bound back from her face with a wide, dark sky blue headscarf. The fabric is woven in one direction with the dark sky blue and in the other with sparkly silver-blue. Around her throat, she wears a choker made of silver slide beads set with sky blue crystals. [tiara, choker]

Continuing downward, Calliope's bust is supported by a cleavage-inducing bra made of the same fabric, with a halter-top strap. Soft fringe in a lighter shade and a row of sequins decorate the bottom. Over the bra she wears an Arabic vest; a sleeveless, cropped vest that does not close in the front. This is made of pale sky blue fabric, and is decorated with an abstract beaded pattern. [bodysuit, top]

Next is an unattached pair of sleeves, separate from the rest of the costume, reaching from mid upper arm to wrist, and made of unadorned dark sky blue chiffon. Sequins edge the cuffs at both ends. A girdle, one hand-span wide, encircles her hips, leaving her belly-button bare. It's also dark sky blue in color, and designed in a lace pattern matching the embroidery on the vest. Small bells are randomly scattered along it. Attached to one side is the open-book charm that is her henshin item. [gloves]

Finally, Calliope covers her legs from hips to ankles with a double layered circle skirt. The top layer is the same dark sky blue chiffon as the sleeves, with random silver-blue beads stitched all over. The bottom layer is the sky blue/silver-blue fabric that makes the headscarf, and is weighted at the bottom with tiny bells. On her feet, she wears thin leather soles attached to her feet with narrow sky blue leather straps. [skirt, shoes]

As a weapon, she carries a writing tablet and a stylus which is balanced for throwing.

Transformation

Calliope Soros/Muse Power, Make Up!

Summer's henshin item is a small charm shaped like an open book. It is attached to her watch, and reappears as part of her fuku after henshin.

In order to henshin, Summer cradles her hands to her chest and murmurs her henshin phrase. She then throws her hands forward in a pleading gesture, and her tablet and stylus appear. As soon as she clutches them to her chest, her entire body goes translucent and seems to be filled with writing in dozens of scripts and languages. She reaches down to her belly button and pulls the letters out in a long string, which begins to glow, then flows to form her entire fuku, from head to toe, moving and swirling all the while. When all the fuku is formed of moving letters, she sets the stylus to the tablet, and the whole thing solidifies, producing Sailor Calliope.
Powers
Poetic Justice

Calliope may redirect any attack that requires a verbal cue by rhyming the attack phrase with one of her own. She must match the sound of the phrase and the actual rhythm of speech. The rhyme must also verbally redirect the attack to the initial caster. For example, if Sailor Hel cast "Be diseased," Calliope could return with, "Sickness, please." The returned attack is only half as effective as the initial one, but it's surprise enough to have one's attack reverberated in this fashion. She can cast this five times per battle, and she must be able to speak the rhyme loud enough for the target to hear it. Also, Calliope cannot use the same rhyme again within the span of a month; she must think up a new rhyme every time.

Mythic Rhyme

What it looks like: Calliope scribes the name and team of her enemy on her tablet. The letters begin to shine, and she instructs the enemy to "Speak of thy history and from whence thou camest!"

How it works: The target stops everything and immediately speaks a few lines from an epic poem or work from their respective team's history. A Graikos might speak a few lines of the Odyssey, while a Kemet might recite a few lines from the Book of the Dead. If possible, the lines shuld contain a reference to the target's myth or name. This lasts for twenty seconds and sends the poor person into a sort of trance during the recitation. She may only use this attack once per team per battle. However, if there are multple soldiers from the same team, and she wishes to take the time, she can affect multiple Senshi. They must be on the same team, and no Senshi will be affected whose name is not on her tablet. When the spell ends, the names fade from the tablet over a period of twenty seconds. She cannot cast this again until the names fade. She also cannot cast it if she doesn't have her tablet and stylus.

Explanation

Calliope is the classical Muse who represents epic poetry, that poetry which tells a story. Famous epics include the Iliad and the Odyssey. Calliope is said to be the oldest and wisest of the nine Muses, who lived on Mt. Parnassus and were closely associated with Apollo. Orpheus is her son. Little else is known about her.

I picked Calliope because ... just because. No particular reason.

Writing Sample

Summer rolled over onto her stomach on the bed and swept her hand through her hair, swearing as a fingernail caught on loose strands of hair. It was absolutely about time to cut her nails again, and since Mieke didn't look like showing up anytime soon, she could do that now. Reaching into the drawer beside the bed, she extracted a pair of fingernail clippers and a nail file.

Spreading the left hand out in front of her face, she mused on the oddness of progress. Some things, like medicine, computers, even fashion, changed and modernized at the speed of light, it seemed. Every decade, every year there was a change. Something new, more effective, or just different – in the case of fashion.

And then there were the things like toothpicks and nail-clippers. Bits of white nail pocked the bedclothes, and Summer examined the now-shorter nails on her left hand critically. Busily she filed at the rough edges, turning the black nail file white with dust.

Maybe Mieke would help her paint her nails later today. They could have a girl's party and paint fingernails and toenails. Summer brushed all the clippings into one hand and tossed them, then began a quick hunt for her nail colours. The search ended abruptly when she tripped over the box, scattering bottles across the carpet. Fortunately they all stayed sealed, but she gathered them up in a hurry anyway.

A knock at the door announced Mieke's arrival, and Summer yelled for her to come in, scooping up the box and sticking it on the bed. The petite, stylish brunette glided into the room, lightly closing the door behind her, and surveyed Summer, whose hair flowed in tangled waves down her back and who was preoccupied with examining her unclipped right hand.

"How's m—Alexis?" Summer asked with an affected air of unconcern. Alexis and Mieke had been going out for nearly 5 months, and Summer was finally starting to admit to herself that she was jealous of her dark-eyed friend.

Mieke smiled a wry smile. "You would probably know as well as I do, this week. I haven't seen him since last weekend." The smile faded quickly as the pair thought about it. All week without Alexis, and no real clue as to where he was, either.

Summer shook her head swiftly. "Anyway! I thought it would be fun if we painted our nails today." She flourished a hand at the box, which Mieke promptly pounced on. Summer turned her attention back to trimming the nails on her right hand, a considerably harder job than the left hand, given that she was naturally right-handed.

A sharp 'snap' preceded the top half of a nail flying across the room. Summer eyed the clippers, then her nails, where one of them was now half as long as it had been before, with decidedly sharp edges. "Where'd it go, Mie?" Mieke rummaged around in the sheets before coming up with a small white piece held between two fingers. She displayed it solemnly before tossing it.

Summer made a face, then quickly filed off the rough edges. Pleased with her work, she displayed two neat hands to Mieke, who studied the result for a long moment before picking out a bottle containing a pale rosy-lavender shade and beginning to apply it to Summer's nails.