Nora

NAME: Manda
PERSONAL JOURNAL: hopes
ARE YOU 16 OR OVER?: Yes!
CONTACT: heir of breath @ aim / oblivion.oathkeeper @ gmail / rainfell @ plurk
OTHER CHARACTERS: n/a, but also apping another character this round.

Nora is being apped with another OC! They're both from the same "series."

CHARACTER NAME: Nora
BACKGROUND:

Nora is a young girl who hails from a world that's very much like our own Earth. There's one key difference, though—in this world, some people are "gifted" with extraordinary powers. While gifted people of high social status are highly respected by those without powers (mostly out of fear for what they are capable of doing) and subsequently run the world, most others—regular, working-class citizens—are treated with prejudice and contempt.

Nora's parents were two such people. Both born as gifted individuals into normal families, life was extremely harsh; they faced rejection and hardship their entire lives, being blamed for the things that those in power did, even though they weren't at fault; the only thing they could even be considered guilty over was being different. In what may be considered a quintessential love story, the two met by chance and bonded over their similar backstories and experiences; this marked a turning point in both their lives. When they grew older, they moved out of their community and into one far from the first, given hope by the prospect of starting off with clean slates. This time, they made sure to keep their abilities hidden so they could live among their neighbors in peace. Several years later, Nora was born.

Nora's existence represented a miracle to her parents—the epitome of things finally going right for them. From birth, she proved to be a very sweet and friendly girl. She grew up with full knowledge of her parents' backgrounds, which further inspired her to be a person who wanted to change the world. She wanted to somehow make up for everything they had suffered to bring her into the world; even her power of healing seemed to represent this wish. She then made it her own personal goal to one day see to it that the gifted and non-gifted could live together in peace; it may have been wildly optimistic, yes, but that's just sort of the person she was.

Until that time came, though, life for her proceeded as normal; she and her parents both maintained secrecy regarding their gifted status, and comfortably enjoyed their lives. It wasn't like they needed to use their powers in everyday life, after all. In order to minimize the risk of her accidentally revealing her powers over the summer, though, and subsequently enticing fear from their community, her parents began sending her to a camp for gifted children. Nora never had any problem with this; a setting like that suited her perfectly. She always looked forward to the yearly event, thanks to the opportunities it provided her to meet people. She figured that, the more connections she made, the happier she'd be... unfortunately, while she did manage to make a lot of friends, she never really got to know any of them. Acquaintances was probably a better word for them, but Nora insisted that she loved each of them equally... they just didn't think the same about her.

That changed when she was twelve. It was then that she met another girl named Omega, who ended up sharing a cabin with her. At first, Nora didn't think she was anything out of the ordinary, her elite social standing and slightly antisocial tendencies aside. But that didn't stop her from wanting to get to know her; in fact, the fact that everyone else was so shifty around her made Nora all the more determined to befriend her. Though at first their relationship got off to a rocky start, Nora's determination eventually won Omega over. The two found out that they shared more in common than they thought, and Nora added to her list of goals to help Omega become a better person. Soon, it'd be rare to see the two girls apart; it seemed like Omega had finally filled the void that no one else had been able to—Omega had become her best friend.

That summer eventually came to a close, but the friendship Nora and Omega had struck up lived on; in fact, if anything, their freedom from the camp only proved to strengthen their bond even further. Nora's influence had started to quell Omega's somewhat antagonistic attitude, while Omega watched out for Nora and kept her from getting too in over her head. Nora's parents initially disapproved of their daughter's friendship with Omega when they first found out, but once they saw how much happier their little girl had become in that one short summer, they relented and ultimately accepted their bond. Things were pretty much perfect.

Nora was set to live her life for her family and friends until she was brought to serve as a goddess; that didn't mean she was going to give up, though. If anything, it just provided her with yet another goal to accomplish—be the best example she could be for her followers, and hopefully make some more friends along the way.

AGE: 14
APPEARANCE:

Nora stands at about five feet tall, with shoulder-length white hair and blue eyes. She frequently has to explain that her hair is naturally that color, but she's always stumped when people ask about the two locks of hair on top of her head that refuse to lie down, no matter what she does. Though not exactly athletic, she's active enough to be a little more toned than what would be expected of a girl her age. In contrast to the flashy Omega, Nora's appearance and clothing taste are a little more simple; she prefers things that offer functionality over fashion. She does make up for this with her tendency to wear loud, clashing colors, though; she usually wears clothes in her favorite color, orange, and never goes anywhere without the green scarf her parents gave to her when she was young.

PERSONALITY:

The first thing that most people notice about Nora is that she is almost always happy, bubbly, and blindingly optimistic. Sometimes overwhelmingly so! It's hard to get her down, and if she does get a little sad, you can bet that it won't last long. Though she might be a bit of a tease, and has a tendency to be a little mischievous, she ultimately has the best intentions in mind. She's easily excited and amazingly outgoing; she's the kind of person who can go up to anybody—no matter who they are—and be able to talk to them right away, as if they'd been friends forever. Her amicability really is her defining factor; she believes that everyone is worth getting to know, and everybody deserves at least one friend.

Sometimes Nora may come off as a little naive; she puts a lot of trust in people she's just met, for example, and is the kind of person who subscribes to the "innocent until proven guilty" line of thinking. That's not to say that she's dense, though; she's actually pretty perceptive, especially when it comes to things like reading other people's emotions. It's just in her nature to act that way. The main reason she acts the way she does is because she feels it's her responsibility to make up for all the troubles her parents had to go through; she also believes in the very best of people.

Tied to this point, Nora is extremely selfless. If someone asks her to do them a favor? She won't say no (unless the request is extremely outlandish, of course). If she sees someone on the street begging for money? She'll be one of the few people to stop and give them more than just a few spare coins. When it comes to a choice between someone else and herself, she will almost invariably choose the option that will benefit the other person. She's also pretty quiet when it comes to negative feelings; she hates feeling like she's a burden on people, and usually keeps quiet when she's in a rare not-so-good mood. When all this is taken in stride with the limits of her healing ability, this can lead her to literally being self-sacrificial; she's never had to go that far for someone before, but should the situation present itself, she might even give up her own life to save another.

...Which leads to her relationship with Omega. While it might seem that Nora is the one always reining in Omega's aggressive tendencies, the truth is that their relationship works both ways. The former is certainly true, but Omega is the one who makes sure Nora never strays too far from reality; that way, she won't get hurt or taken advantage of. Omega also provides an outlet for her to channel her excess energy; by focusing her extra attention on her best friend, Nora can then move on to focus on other things. The two, though at first glance as different as can be, are truly the best of friends; they balance each other out perfectly, almost as if proving that opposites do indeed attract.

In the end, Nora's just a young girl with a giant heart and endless reserves of kindness, taking on the world with her best friend at her side. Her ideals may be a tad unrealistic, but she just wants the best for everyone in her life. If the people around her are happy, she's happy, too; people may think she's a little simple, but sometimes simplicity is all you need.

ABILITIES:

Though most people from her world have powers that can be used offensively, Nora's talents lie in healing. She can heal minor injuries, like scrapes and small cuts, without any sort of negative repercussions. However, the bigger the wound, the more effort it takes out of her to heal it; in some cases, the wound she's healing will appear on her body after she's mended it, making her have to watch herself. Theoretically, if she were to try and heal a mortal wound, the other person would survive as she dies in their place.

POSSESSIONS: Nothing other than her scarf.

As a God.
REPRESENTATION:

Nora represents kindness and friendship. Her temples are bathed in colors of the warm part of the spectrum, and her symbol is a sort of stylized sun. As far as physical tributes to her go, she doesn't have very many statues; there's only the one in her main temple. Instead, parks and other peaceful places are erected in her name, providing refuge to any who choose to seek it. Nora's followers are, by nature, closely tied to those of Omega's—most, in fact, worship both girls. The duality of their relationship is prominent everywhere; where there are tributes to Nora, you can bet there'll be one to Omega right beside it.

FOLLOWERS:

Followers of Nora are among the nicest people around. They are the Good Samaritans of ancient Greece. They tend to be pacifists, straying far from the battlegrounds and immersing themselves in activities free from destruction. With her special talent in mind, Nora is sometimes seen as a patron goddess of healing; should someone want to speed up their recovery from injury or sickness, Nora's the one they pray to. Nora also frequently visits the mortal world, wanting to connect to her followers on a more personal level; it's her thing to befriend people, after all.

FIRST PERSON SAMPLE:

You know, in any other case, I'd probably be kind of really worried to suddenly wake up and be told I'm a goddess who has a bunch of followers, but... I think I'm okay with it! I mean, if that means I get to help people, then I'm all for it! I trust the people who brought us here; their stories checked out with me.

Plus, being in a new place means an opportunity to meet new people! That's how I see it, at least! Like, earlier, I got to meet some of my followers when I first got here; they're actually really nice people! Most of what I knew about Greece was about wars and stuff, so that was definitely a huge relief.

Anyway, though, I'd love to get to know all of you, too. We're all gods and goddesses now—we should all work together and be examples for our followers. That's what deities are supposed to do, right? We were all brought here for a reason, after all; if we can't get along, well, what good is that going to do any of us?