Janele is about five feet seven inches, with what could be described as a Junoesque build and a triangular face shape. While muscle definitely figures in there, she's not what you would call a muscle-chick. Think more along the lines of ohhh ... a barwench or something. That is, in a manner of speaking, her parttime job. She has a ... roses-and-gold complexion, with a California tan over that.
Her hair is long, reaching about the middle of her back, and dark brown, nearly black. Naturally wavy, Janele tends to keep it braided back in a dutch braid (braid with strands going under instead of over), with no bangs. Because of her habit, when she does let it loose, of constantly finger-combing it over her right shoulder, it naturally parts on the left side.
Her eyes are an unusual gold colour, sometimes labeled pale brown. They're sort of narrow, and her narrow eyebrows do that Vulcan thing. There's a funny little triangle scar on the left side of her nose.
Janele usually likes to wear Ren Faire style clothing: blouses, bodices, vests, skirts, and so forth. She prefers to go barefoot as often as possible, and loves straw hats as well. Preferred colours are, oddly, pastels. Little to no jewellery, at best a pair of gold/carnelian studs in each ear. She never goes anywhere without her shoulder bag, in which resides sunglasses, books, Faire notes, and so forth. Canción NEVER rides IN the bag, but her treats are in there. She rides on Janele's other shoulder.
what's in the bag: sunglasses; Faire notes; car keys (honda del sol, seats 4, convertible); cell phone; idea-notebook; lip gloss, id cards, tarot deck/cards; pencil/pen; Canción's cat treats
Part of the idea I had was that Janele was fascinated by Old England and Renaissance Faires and actually worked at Faires. Most people, when doing that, tend to gravitate toward either the strolling-player type or the fine-lady type or the gypsy type, so in order to be different I made Janele the tavern-wench type. I had to change some of the characteristics that the generator threw up in order to fit her heritage properly.
Hallowe'en costume (courtesy of Charis):
The first thing you're liable to notice about her costume is the hair -- for a shell-like bone curves over it, starting at her eyes and coming up at the back of her head in a slight point; about an inch wide, vertical ribs break the smooth surface every half-inch or so. Her hair is worn simply, styled in brushed-out ringlets.
Dark purple shadow makes the brilliance of her golden eyes brighter, but it is a subtle colour. Eyelashes are lengthened with mascara, giving her a slightly more alluring look. Any other makeup is so subtly understated as to be indistinguishable from her normal appearance.
Her dress is fairly simple, made of a a dark grey silky fabric verging on black that possesses a faint pearly sheen. Styled as a wrap-around (left over right), the neckline comes to a vee and sports inch-wide bands of cream-coloured fabric patterned with dark gold swirls; the right side has one band, while the left sports two that taper at the hip where the dress presumably ties. This 'inlay' is bordered with mid-grey fabric with a pattern of dark silver speckles.
The sleeves are made of black velvet, form-fitting, and edged with a single band of the same cream-and-grey fabrics; they reach the wrist. The entire dress comes down to midcalf, showing the black nylons and simple black flats worn underneath.
Over the entire outfit is a full ankle-length cloak, fabric the same silky material as the dress, of a dark copper colour and patterened evenly with black diamonds upon it. The sleeves come to the wrists as well, cut wide to show the sleeves of the dress underneath. The hood lies thrown back, while the final glory of the costume is the pin worn just below her collarbone on the right side of the cloak: a large translucent green stone surrounded by gold filigree work that, on close inspection, resembles two figures.
Likes:
There is something magnificent about her methods of fighting, whether for herself or for others; a scorn of her enemies that enables her to demolish them ruthlessly, but without malice. A detached and impersonal quality marks her nature. She is not naturally introspective, and many of her actions are based on instinct rather than analyzed personal motive. She has a good deal of pride and vanity that can be satisfied with personal issues such as admiration, flattery, dress, and the like, or by the broader method of satisfied ambitions. She is endowed with a very strong will as well.
Janele is magnetic and forceful. She possesses a generous nature, attracting many friends and followers. She could easily become a natural leader because of her demeanor and because she is ambitious, determined, and highly industrious. Self-assurance and dignity are very strong in her nature. Her magnetic personality lets her sell herself or her ideas easily, and her persistence at doing so further enhances her leadership potential. She is at her best when placed in charge of a large scheme, for she is truly a fine organizer. She enjoys being in a position of authority because she knows she was born to rule. Her sunny disposition allows her to be candid, outspoken, and very direct in all matters, without normally upsetting people. She possesses natural leadership ability, and projects such confidence and authority that she inspires others to follow her.
Janele is a natural showman, and delights in having a full measure of recognition and admiration. She loves to show off. She sees her role in life as the starring role. Her general approach to life is full of emotional exuberance and dramatics. These traits can result in too large an ego, which makes her very susceptible to flattery. Though she has a high opinion of herself, she still needs the approbation and appreciation of her friends and followers. Her ego needs constant reinforcement. Naturally emotionally exuberant, she is a good actor, and an outstanding teacher. Janele is very close to children, the loving benefactor and protector.
Sometimes she feels there should be an automatic granting of power and authority to her. Because of this, she doesn't feel the need to work her way to the top. Though in many ways she can show that she is ambitious, she is also lazy. She likes jobs that offer prestige, glamour, power, or a good time. She prefers to exert herself only in those situations where she can exhibit her star quality, and garner the attention and respect of others.
Her strongest gift is the ability that she naturally possesses to lead and to inspire. She is equally at home on the stage or at the podium. Her poorest showing comes when she is unable to control her ego, and she can let an exaggerated sense of her own importance get the upper hand. In spite of her self-assurance and dignity, she has a degree of concern about being laughed at or disgraced in some way. Ego is at the base of her nature and being.
As Sailor Priestess, she possesses a rather quiet exterior, but inwardly there is a great deal of mental pressure and a constant flow of undercurrents. She seems to be absorbed in another sphere of existence, above being actively involved in mundane activities surrounding her. Sailor Priestess' personality is a blend of emotional force, determination and will power with originality, ingenuity and friendliness.
She is strong willed and has deeply fixed attitudes and ideas. Keen judgment of human nature and the ability to sense the motives of others gives her a knack for handling people. But she's a tough boss; once she loses respect for someone's ability to think and reason, she has little use for them in any way. Never showing this outwardly, she finds it easy to be polite and civil, while feeling nothing but scorn and disgust. She doesn't believe in discriminating against anyone, so she hides the intolerance she can't help but feel. Shallowness or superficiality completely throws 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, as in Janele's, and she sets great store by intellectual and artistic accomplishment. There is a depth to her nature and her emotions that few can understand. She's outstanding at observation, at analysis, at imagining and creating.
See history for explanation of why Janele's personality is so markedly different when she transforms.
History on Earth:
Once upon a time, an American mutt from Seattle fell in love with a Catholic chicana and changed religions just so he could marry her. The mutt's name was Frederick Curaluna, the chicana Ricarda Suerte. They got married when he finished college and moved to San Francisco, where they had two lovely boys. Then they moved to San Diego to be nearer Rica's family, and had three more children: girl twins, and much later, another daughter.
They sent their children to Catholic schools, and pushed them on to college. Fifteen years later, their first perfect little daughter stopped being so perfect. Janele rebelled. Catholic schools, the Catholic religion, and her Catholic family ALL got on her nerves. ALL the time. After she tried to run away from home once - discovering she just HAD to have too many things that couldn't be carried with her - Fred and Rica consented to send the twins, at least, to a public high school.
Things weren't much better there for Janele. Her quieter, more unassuming twin Zarita seemed always to steal all the attention way from her, and the only class she enjoyed at all was theatre. Janele discovered a real talent for acting, and a greater talent for scriptwriting. She managed to graduate in decent order, although far below her more studious twin, and attended UCSB in theatre - for about a year.
<-- During her first year at UCSB, Janele fell in with a theatre crowd that was less than inhibited. She'd never had any interest in girls as romantic objects before, but one of the other theatre girls found her adorable and fascinating and all but dragged Janele into a girl-girl relationship she wasn't sure she wanted. Janele put up with it for about a month, but grew increasingly uncomfortable - not with the physical aspect, but with her 'girlfriend's increasing possessiveness and paranoia. The episode finally culminated in a shouting match when the girl 'caught' Janele being kissed by a guy (who already had a girlfriend) during a theatre party. Unfortunately, the argument served not only to drive both the couple and the two girls apart, but to mark Janele and isolate her from the entire theatre department. When she failed to recieve a role in an upcoming production that everyone knew she was the best for, it was the last straw. -->
Janele STILL won't talk about the event that drove her from pure theatre and from UCSB, but she dropped out of the college in the middle of spring semester, arranged a transfer to UCSD for the fall, and vanished to her family from mid-April til mid-August. She reappeared on her family's doorstep two days after her birthday, spent the rest of the month with them, and departed a -- well, not a changed girl, but much improved in peace of mind.
Janele currently attends UCSD, with an undeclared major in communications / film-making. She lives with her cousin, Lucia Suerte, and two others in a nearby apartment. Weekend and summer job is as a tavern wench at various Faires. She and her cousin often bicker about various things, but Janele is much closer to Lucia than to any other member of her family except Zarita.
It was Lucia who sparked Janele's interest in Renaissance Faires, although she does not follow her cousin's interest in mysticality or SCA. Even though they handle very different roles at any given Faire, pictures of the pair usually fill up a third of any roll of film possessed by either of them. Lucia makes Janele's costumes, and in return Janele makes sure Lucia never goes thirsty at a Faire. The two collect exotic liquors at Faires as well.
<-- Janele took her car, dumped her stuff in storage, and basically lived on the road during the time she disappeared. It's another thing she doesn't talk much about. The only part of her regular schedule she stuck to was her RenFaire circuit. She swore Lucia to silence, but still hasn't told her cousin exactly what drove her from UCSB.
Sometime in mid-May (she sort of lost track of dates for a while), Janele spent some time working next a tarot-card reader/seller tent. Being that she likes to collect the decks, she bought a couple. The seller also had a few random deck-less cards, which Janele admired but disdained to buy. Until seeming coincidence brought her to work next the same tent at the next Faire on the circuit. And the next. Janele caved and allowed the tarot-reader to do a reading for her at the third Faire, and when the reader insisted she take two of the loose tarot cards, she only made a half-hearted protest.
She had coveted those cards from the moment she laid eyes on them, and felt peculiarly complete as soon as her hand closed about them - the High Priestess and the Four of Cups. She never saw the tarot-reader again.
It wasn't until sometime in mid-July that Canción caught up with her. The cat simply appeared in Janele's tent one morning, complete with a small black bag with pedigree papers, enameled bowl, rhinestone collar, and mothering attitude. Fortunately for Canción, Janele's immunity to insanity from Faire-going stood her in good stead, allowing her to at least hear the cat out before booting the pedigreed Korat out the flap. While Janele often resents Canción's mothering, she does love the cat. Through Canción, Janele understands - and dislikes - her Arcana past, even though she has yet to transform.
Once she does, her personality will change distinctly. Janele basically repudiates her Arcana self, so when she transforms, her old personality - that of Sailor Priestess of Major Arcana - emerges. While the two are similiar, they are not to be confused. Nor is Janele a victim of multiple personality disorder. She is completely personality integrated. Janele, quite literally, lives two lives with one mind. -->
On Major Arcana, Janele served her people as a powerful advisor to both Princesses. She inherited skills with magic from her mother, wisdom from her father, and possessed inborn discretion. It didn't hurt that her grandmother held the post before her, and personally chose and trained Janele to take her place. Grandmother Priestess would have preferred her son to follow after her, but traditionally the post of Priestess-Advisor was occupied only by a woman - and with two Princesses, both Senshi, it was definitely not the time to attempt to flaunt tradition.
However, Grandmother Priestess found an equally apt pupil in Janele, and trained the girl not only in the use of her innate wisdom and common sense but in the magic her mother had passed her. Fortunately for Janele, as that magic was useful in maintaining the discreet profile she preferred at court AND training in it prevented it from killing her - as it did her mother.
Being an only child, and having her father dote on her and grandmother train her, Janele managed to escape any serious scarring from mother-lack. She never mingled much at court, being first too young, and then too busy training, and then too interested in observing. Her preferred stance was more than a little aloof, isolating her from any sort of intimate relationship. Oddly, she rather liked the 'smiling boy' who so disrupted the court, sensing a possible kindred spirit in him.
When Grandmother Priestess died of age, peacefully in her sleep, Janele stepped smoothly into her place. Being of an age with the two Princesses, she managed to convert what friendship she had with the two to a more working relationship, deeply grateful to certain Fates for the accidental timing if her birth that made it so easy. Her power was great ... for a time. But once the 'smiling boy' entered the court, her power over the two waned rapidly as relations between Death and Fool deteriorated.
In the end, Janele sided with Death in the schism for two simple reasons: she had a closer relationship with Death and felt she could influence her more; and she disliked Empress. Janele wasn't really happy with the fact that Fool had essentially blown off all her advice on dealing with her sister and the 'smiling boy'.
I swiped Charis' thoughts on Priestess' past and elaborated in inimitable style.
Fuku: colours: cream and dark red (background and text, respectively)
gloves: dark blue leather, reaching to the wrist, and pretty much skin-tight
shoes: no shoes. priestesses often traditionally go barefoot
Originally I had midnight blue and cream, but I checked out the other Senshi more carefully and realised there was a LOT of blue but not so much red. Charis suggested the cream as an alternative to yellow. I chose red because the triune colors for priestesses are white/Maiden, red/Mother, black/Crone and most High Priestesses are ranked as Mother, hence red. Also black and white were taken. Cream also represents the Moon, associated with mystery, the subconscious and this card.
Henshin: Priestess Arcana Power Make-up!
Janele's card changes to the High Priestess/Sorceress card from the Shapeshifter deck when she transforms. The card appears held between her first two fingers and edge-on to the viewer when she calls out the transformation phrase. She turns it to face the viewer, then tosses it. The card spins edge-on to the viewer until suddenly it appears as the scene, and the Priestess figure is Janele. The light in her hands(see card image) expands to cover all of her, then resolves into her fuku. Sailor Priestess steps out of the card-frame, and in the blink of an eye the card vanishes and reappears at natural size in its original position.
As with the symbol, I was inspired by a particular version of the card that I saw (see bottom of page). This, combined with the stylistic movements Sakura makes with her cards in Cardcaptor Sakura, gave me my basic idea.
Weapon: Priestess' Four of Cups card becomes her Silver Chalice, her relic/weapon. The Chalice is made of pure silver with designs of roses, seashells, and yin-yangs impressed in the metal and decorated with aquamarine and sapphire. The mouth is about 6" across, then narrows to the cup and widens out into a hollow base about 4" across. It's heavy enough to make a hell of an impression in someone's head, but its real use is when filled with water. Then the Chalice can be used to discover someone's deepest fears. It does NOT bring those fears to life, but Priestess can look into the water and see a vision of those fears. *image: Janele/Priestess hunched over chalice in dark room with candles and incense and chanting in background, brows knotted in frown, wearing archaic robes* The Chalice is also key to Priestess' first attack.
Attack: Mystic River
Sailor Priestess summons her Chalice as she begins her attack. When she chants the words, chill white mist pools in the Chalice and begins to lap over the edge, spilling down to her feet. When she tips the Chalice, the mist pours out like a river and engulfs the area. The mist is just exactly like heavy fog, which means you can't see in it well, and you can see funky shapes in it, but that's all natural properties of fog, not a part of the spell. The spell simply conjures the stuff up just like your unconscious conjures stuff up but it's your conscious mind that does stuff with it. If she wills it, the mist can become pure water, sweeping away those she chooses. In either case, it is about 30 cubic feet of water or mist. Where normally she might be able to use this attack thrice a day, turning the mist to water drains her so that it can only be used once in that fashion.
I borrowed bits of this from a scene in Mists of Avalon, where the Maiden Priestess pours water from the Grail to sweep away the invaders of Avalon. The mist of the attack also symbolises the mists of the unconscious.
Symbol: a combination of the yin-yang and the triple-moon Goddess symbol, Priestess' symbol features a yin-yang flanked on either side by the pieces of the yin-yang, so that it appears as yang, yin-yang, yin. The yin pieces are outlines and the yang pieces are solids.
When I was browsing images of the High Priestess card, I noticed that many versions featured both the moon and two pillars, one dark one light. As Sailor Crescent already has the crescent moon as her symbol, I couldn't use that, and I wanted to incorporate the duality symbolised in the card as well. Rather than simply use the triple-moon symbol, I combined it with the symbol of duality, the yin-yang.
Challenge: The power of the High Priestess is mystery. Be still and look within.
Canción appears a very normal, if spoiled and pedigreed, cute kitty-cat. She attempts to eat too much, definitely sleeps too much, is insatiable for attention, and generally makes a feline nuisance of herself at any point possible. This would be her appearance.
As with Janele, the reality is quite a bit different.
Canción, not being Siamese or any relation thereof, does not like to talk. Much. Mostly, she limits her vocal expression to unsolicited advice at inopportune times with often hilarious results as Janele attempts to either pretend the cat didn't speak, follow said advice, or persuade said cat to shut her mouth. Fortunately, most of the time Canción speaks only in the privacy of the apartment or during battle, when only other Arcana are likely to hear her.
Canción is the epitome of a mother, constantly and consistently worrying about those under her charge -- and despite the undeniable fact that Janele and Lucia are on opposing sides, she considers them both her charges. If it were possible to convince the Arcana who spend time at the apartment to allow Canción to be their guardian, she'd do it. That's the thing she regrets most about losing her human form: her current inability to protect those she cares about.
Canción is often frustrated by Janele's attitude toward her powers, considering that the girl is being that way just to try her, Canción's patience. The cat doesn't want to absorb the fact that Janele resents the demands placed on her and would frankly prefer to give it all to someone else. She constantly talks at Janele about responsibility and correct behaviour.
Janele Mariquita Therese Curaluna cursed fluently in Spanish under her breath, stuffing her clothes any which way into the suitcase. She checked over her shoulder every five minutes, waiting for her roommate to come home and demand what she was doing, waiting for the provost to seek her out and try to change her mind, waiting for Lisbet to slam open the door and demand another fruitless discussion ... her heart thundered in her chest, breath sobbing out in more feeble curses. Her hands shook, fumbling the clothes into the suitcase.
"What else do I have to pack?" The silence strained her nerves even more. She might have been easier if someone did come in. She stacked the class books neatly on the floor, notebooks, papers, anything she had bought specifically to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara. She didn't want any memories tagging along in her new life.
The precious decks of tarot cards she tucked inside her bodice, for once thankful of the boning. She fumbled the makeup and hair stuff off her dresser into a box. Every moment seemed like too much time. Tears blurred her eyes, and she scrubbed them away with the free hand, pushing the lid onto the box. "I can't stay. Where can I go? Where can I go?"
Janele stood up, glancing around at her handiwork. Where once it was obvious that two girls had occupied the room, now fully half the furniture was bare, empty. A few boxes and two suitcases contained all the debris of a semester and a half of a college theatre student. Janele herself looked disheveled, dark braid tangled, gold eyes wide and ringed with red tearstains, her preferred dress of Renaissance Faire garb wrinkled and twisted.
Hastily she pulled herself back into a semblance of order, not wanting anyone to know what was going on until she was gone. Carrying the boxes down the stairs, she refused to meet anyone's eyes. No explanations. No recriminations. Janele planned to disappear off campus forever.
Lisbet wouldn't miss her. Lisbet hated her now. Lisbet couldn't understand that Janele didn't want to be lesbian, or bi. She hadn't meant to get involved with Stephan, either; it just happened - they had both gotten swept away by circumstances. But neither Lisbet nor Bekah would ever believe that. Janele knew that -- all of it, from the romance with Lisbet to the cheating with Stephan -- would just escalate more and more. Already she was being cut out from parts the entire department knew she deserved. Janele couldn't take it anymore.
She jammed the keys in the ignition, taking a small comfort from the familiar rumble of the engine.
Janele pushed a wayward lock of hair out of her face and concentrated on keeping a merry smile on her face as she served the last of her customers. Thank God Faire types tended not to be quite so stereotypical when it came to the tavern wenches; she didn't have to be concerned with uninvited advances. After UCSB, she wasn't quite sure how she would handle that, but it would likely be messy.
She cast a surreptitious glance at the Tarot tent next door. That same tent had been in that same location for the last two Faires, which was unusual. Locations tended to change from Faire to Faire, just based on the site they were at. This Faire, though, Janele intended to check it out. The temptation to at least look at the card sets in there was well-nigh unbearable, and she had enough money, finally, to give in to it.
"Lance! I'm off!" She called to the bartender, who waved an acknowledging hand before turning back to Maryan, who kept right on talking. Janele kilted up her skirts and hurried over to the Tarot tent, throwing aside the flap.
It was dim and cool inside, a welcome change from the heat of working outside at the tavern. Janele wandered around the tables, lightly fingering different decks. One table, set a bit farther back, contained a partial spread, but only about 6 cards were laid out, and no others appeared on the table.
A short, plump woman emerged from a curtained off area at the back of the tent. "Hello, darling! Do you like those? They're rare, no decks to go with them. Very special cards!" the woman gushed.
Janele eyed her carefully, judging her harmless. "They're pretty, but wouldn't they be worth less without the complete deck?" she asked, running a caressing finger over the High Priestess. A subtle warmth seemed to emanate from it. Her hand brushed the Four of Cups, next to it.
The woman seemed to see some change in Janele's face, for she dropped the gushing act. She took Janele's hand in both of hers. "My name is Eshabelle, and you would be Janele Curaluna. These cards, they like you. You must have them." Janele tried to pull away, but Eshabelle had a surprisingly strong grasp. "No, no, I would hear no protest. I have been keeping these cards for you, Janele, for the one they want."
Janele pulled her hand away sharply, suddenly a little frightened. "No, I couldn't ... " but she couldn't help giving a longing glance at the cards, either. Eshabelle noticed the glance. "Well ... I ... " Suddenly she had an inspiration. "I'll accept the cards on two conditions - if you do a reading for me, with these two--" pointing at the High Priestess and the Four of Cups "--in the deck, and if I find two complete decks here that I'll buy."
Eshabelle immediately presented Janele with the Motherpeace deck and the Shapeshifter deck. Janele's eyes grew huge, and she reached for the decks with both hands. Eshabelle slipped the two specified cards on top of the decks, and pulled Janele into the back of the tent.
Janele clutched the cards and decks to her chest with both hands. She stumbled back to her own tent in a daze, shocked by the entire experience. Eshabelle had told her a lot - past, future; it was all too much for Janele to absorb right then. The two single cards were warm in her hands.