ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ꜱᴜᴄᴄᴇᴇᴅ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴᴇᴅ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅᴇᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴇᴅ.

𝙁𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚-

Jocasta Ascelin Seidess

𝙍𝙤𝙡𝙚-

The Fury

𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚-

House Seidess

𝘼𝙜𝙚-

20

𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢-

Hannah Waites

𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮-

Jocasta's life is filled with calculated gambles, and so she's become proficient in the calculation and the courage they require. Every action could come back in consequence, so she ensures her intentions and plans are as untouchable as her magic makes herself. It would be untrue to call Jocasta sly or deceitful, as she is too bold and unconventional, but her intelligence and willingness to take risks allow her to make and execute grand plans or navigate the court naturally. 

Jocasta is always thinking, always reviewing and looking at problems from a different angle, even when a plan is iron clad and her own. She's meticulous with an inclination to changing her plans or opinions at the introduction of new information, which can make her somewhat unpredictable to an observer. Jocasta's behaviour is only ever her own, and she isn't one to follow the crowd or rest in the safety of conformity. She is very purposeful in almost every act, and cannot let an opportunity pass without action. It can appear random, her sudden appearance in the servants corridors or the selling of all her houses' silverware, but each deliberate action winds into her complex plan. Her mind always functions ten steps ahead.

Her disregard for tradition and love of change often leaves her where she isn't supposed to be, and she has a habit of ditching anything she doesn't see the opportunity or point in. Jocasta believes in her point of view, and not many others, so suggestions and scolding may as well just be hot air rushing past her. Her confidence and pride in herself and her house don't leave a lot of room for compassion or charity, but she doesn't consider herself a bad person. Just focused on her own circumstances. Sometimes too focused, and she misses out on other things happening right in front of her.

Jocasta's presence charms in an addicting way, comparable to the thrill of swinging blindfolded; with a constant change in direction that always entertains with something new. She remains interesting to most, and finds she has to change tact only on those with the most rigid minds. Jocasta is full to the brim with ideas that are big and creative, far fetched until she pulls in the details. She can weave a plan from thin air, like the spider for which her house is symbolized. Her mind is a tangled web that can be very difficult to understand.

Her entire magic is rooted in avoidance, so it is with some surprise that Jocasta is truly brave and willing to face consequences head on. She stands up for what she believes in, will work hard until the bitter end to see it through. Not many of the court get their hands dirty with anything but blood, but Jocasta has on her way to where they were now, and would again. She will stand against the masses if she must, even when the odds aren't great- they've never been great for her.

𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙨-

her sister

Athena is all she has and the only person who truly understands her, who she has been through everything with. Jocasta can only truly relax when Athena is by her side, she feels as though they could do anything together. Jocasta used to feel inadequate and insecure next to her when they were young, and had her share of bitterness about the fact that Athena was destined to lead while she was destined to give up everything for her and the decisions she makes, but tragedy had drawn them closer than ever. Jocasta has realized everything Athena has to deal with, and is grateful to her. She admires her sister and is loyal to her above all else.

fighting

Whether its only sparring or a spur of the moment fist-fight against a man badmouthing her house at a bar, fighting gets her adrenaline going. It definitely helps that Jocasta has won every fight she's been in, hardly ever feeling the sting of a punch. It may be unfair, but the movement of her body is her favourite activity, as if the overwhelming power of her magic demands to be used. She occasionally tries to even the playing field by going blindfolded or tying her legs together, but she always comes on top regardless.

needlepoint

Jocasta had been trained thoroughly in every art a lady of the court should know, but it is only needlepoint and embroidery that have caught her passions. It's a hobby that quiets her racing, raging mind, and she's become quite talented in it. She runs to embroidery whenever she has emotions she can't deal with or something she just can't stop thinking about or remembering. The year after her parents and grandparents died, she'd stitched over every spare piece of cloth in the house, then unstitched them so she could start again.

𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙨-

birds

Jocasta has always found them annoying for a reason she can't entirely explain. The chattering, twittering, and crowing at all hours of the day has a way of chewing at her nerves, especially given her thin walls and the abundance of owls that live near her home. She finds them arrogant, loud, and is convinced they're out to get her. Besides, all the worst houses have a bird as their symbol. Coincidence? Jocasta doesn't believe in those.

stagnation

Nothing annoys her more than someone who refuses to change or try something new, especially when it harms them more to stay as they are. It's a test of her patience within the court, where they cling to tradition and only trust what they know- and what they know is not an almost extinct house back after years in exile.

singing

Jocasta is very aware of how terrible her singing voice is, and her pride takes a hit every time she had to practice with her mother and perfect sister. Athena sings like an angel, while the only thing divine about Jocasta's voice is that it could be used as a torture device in hell. She's confident about most things, but extremely insecure about her singing, and avoids it any chance she can in court. 

𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙨-

magic

Her magic is her calling, and the one place where she undeniably out-performs her sister. The Seidess brand of magic is difficult to determine prodigies for, but the grace and speed of her gift in dodging has even bled into everyday actions. Jocasta moves with fluidity and power, a deliberation in her every step. No fight she gets into would be a fair one, and even before her years of training she had never lost a fight. Even bullets can't hit her. Her favourite game, and one that gives her sister a heart attack, is one where she blind folds herself and asks her friends to throw knives or shoot at her. She's walked away every time with hardly a scratch. Her confidence in it is the only thing that can make her reckless, but it has yet to prove her reliance wrong.

intelligence

Her mind is an advantage Jocasta relies on quite readily. Her hyperthymesia allows her to recall details from any book she's read or remember the telling remark of a husband to wife, facts that give her an understanding. The rest of her observes well how the world works, and knows what to say or do in order to influence the court one way or another.

bravery

Jocasta has never backed down from a challenge in her life, especially the challenge of her life- to raise their house to its former power. The consequences of a precarious situation never paralyze her- it was long ago that she accepted she may make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her sister's success.

𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙨-

pride

It is the thing that blinds her best, the weak link in the chain she's using to climb her way to the top. Jocasta would rather fail than ask another for help, even from her sister- it's as if she's still trying to prove herself to parents long gone. She has formed a habit of trusting only herself and her own abilities, which limits what she's able to do- she uses allies, but doesn't truly trust them. The whole kingdom had turned on their family once- she's never forgotten that.

low pain tolerance

As Jocasta has never stubbed a toe or tripped in her life, she doesn't get injured often, and so bruises or scrapes- when she somehow gets them- affect her more than others. She hates getting ill and can barely stand the pain. If anyone managed to hit her hard, she isn't sure she'd be able to get back up.

suspicion

Both her background and behaviour encourage those to be suspicious of her, and she's never been proficient at acting content. Her ambitions are fairly clear to read, and lying does not come naturally to her. Jocasta cannot fake sincerity, and usually just avoids events that have no purpose for her- this gives of the impression that she scorns tradition. Her enemies and rivals consider her arrogant, rude, and ambitious.

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮-

Her sister was named for the goddess of wisdom while she was named after a victim to a particularly gross tragedy, but Jocasta tries not to take it personally. Athena had always been tasked with the expectation of greatness, while her younger sister had the honour of being the faceless support. She hasn't been bitter for the legacy her sister has to shoulder, but Jocasta has never found it easy to blend into the shadows and stay quiet, to do as she's told and keep her ideas to herself.

Being born into the Seidess family was a serious affair, and while Jocasta played and complained and laughed and cried like a regular child, her childhood had always been peppered with words like birthright and legacy, and a pervasive feeling of looming responsibility. It had been worse for her older sister, of course, but they had both been groomed to be fine noble ladies with a penchant for clawing their way up the social hierarchy. Generations had gone by of Seidess's accumulating scraps of power after what should have been a fatal exile, and their parents had been confident that it would be their children that they returned to court under.

The Seidess bloodline was thickest through Jocasta's parents and paternal grandparents (who had only the one son). Second cousins or further relations had all been scattered to the wind, which was a true mark of a collapsing house- one that thrived would find even bastards of a fourth cousin twice removed clamouring for some kind of birthright. It was a tragedy of six years ago, a sickness that tore through their parents and grandparents, that left only Jocasta and Athena alone to follow through what they were raised for. It was a brutal loss that left them without any guidance, and only each other to rely on and love. And it was with burning determination that Athena proclaimed that they would finally return to court a year later, after the mourning period.

Jocasta had spent nearly all her time at court in the past five years, winning allies by her sister's side. It had taken generations of ambitious Seidess matriarchs and patriarchs to finally crawl back from their exile, but Jocasta knew the struggle would only become more intense on their way to win back their power. This tournament was the easiest answer she'd ever been handed, a clear and decisive path to victory. Finally she had the opportunity to ensure her house's legacy remains intact, and is determined to do whatever it takes to do so. To prove to both her sister and herself that she is also capable of greatness.