Hello there! :D

Today we're looking at Yasmine Al-lfriqui, a character submitted by @magam321 again, we saw one of their characters earlier (Alessandra Silvana Adorno was her full name if I remember correctly), and, what I also recall is that she was a pretty good character. So let's see how her wife is doing, and let's start right in! :D
(rules as always; scientific questions, bookscience, chronological order)

Fandom: Same as Alessandra's sheet.

Would've guessed that, but I believe it was pretty good worldbuilding

Name: Yasmine Al-Ifriqi

The name Yasmine is of Persian origin and means "jasmine blossom", "flower" or "scent", but the last meaning of "symbol of love" is the nicest I believe. I found the name Al-Ifriqui, but not a single mention of its meaning, so unfortunately, I can't tell you more about that.

Nickname(s): Yas, Boss

Yas, girl, slayyyyyy!!1! You got this, you're the boss!! 💅

Oh wow what did I just say I need the bleach. [for legal reasons that's a joke.] But it's good, I'll go with Yas if I need it

Age: 1165

I don't know like what age she looks like but I assume late twenties early thirties?

Gender: Female (she/her)

good

Species: Witch

Also good, though I forgot how exactly witches differ from humans and am too lazy scrolling up. Well, it can't be too bad

Appearance:

At around 175 cm, and with a mostly lean figure, the term 'long' comes to mind when describing her body type.

Ok, very good.

She's from the Middle East, and so has a dark-olive skin tone.

Also very good, I don't think we had any POCs yet, so I'm more than happy about this representation :D

She has slightly thick eyebrows and high cheekbones.

I don't know if she seems a little too pretty to be real, I'm a little suspicious, but go on

Her hair is wavy, and a dark brown color. Yasmine has very dark eyes, a nearly black, deep-brown color.

Usual for people from the middle east I think, but very good

Yasmine has a scar running on top of her heart, matching the one on her wife's chest.

~Lesbianism~, and very good, keeping things consistent.

Clothing:

Clean-cut business suits, elegant dresses, jumpsuits worth more than an average person's car.

...I mean, she has been around a while, but I think that is a little too excessive? I'm more of a practical person, so I don't really know much about... all that, but. I'll show you what this much money is: a European pays on average about 27.500€ for a new car (I know that the average worth of a car would be below that, but for consistencies sake I'll stick with that). Assuming she has eight outfits (you used the plural for quote "Clean-cut business suitS, elegant dressES, jumpsuitS (so I counted two each, but I assume she has more) [...] a loose button down or an oversized blazer" of which each is as much AS a car (not more than it) so with some simple math we have 220,000€ worth of clothing, and I think I didn't count bras, panties, accessories (, hopefully some hoodies and plain shirts or blouses, because if everything is fancy it might be a little too much) and so on. And going by your statement with quote "worth more than an average person's car", and presumably very high-quality accessories we'll be at... I'm bad at guessing such things, but maybe 230.000€. Also, I just researched this and if I can trust Google, Louis Vuitton currently is the best designer in the world (dunno whether that's true), and one (1) jumpsuit costs about 3.000€. so. And I didn't count the stuff she presumably buys for the coven, you said something about "usually going out in the same style" or something, so we are far beyond that point.

To sum things up, with 230.000€ worth of clothing, of which I doubt she has made this much/spends this much on clothing, even if she's literally older than one millennia, you might... do something else with it than spend it on clothes. You could buy about 1.277.778 single peanuts with this. (ok, this strongly depends on where you are, see the Burger Index; but here we are looking at the US price of one peanut being translated into euros and then rounded for convenience. Might have changed by now. I don't care.)

And, while clothes are important and nice clothes are, well, nice... hee hoo peanut

Yasmine's personal style is business, but make it hot and fabulous. Even if not conducting business, she likes to throw on a loose button down, or pull on an oversized blazer if it's colder.

I also researched what exactly a button-down shirt is, and judging by some ways how it's worn... if I had boobs, I'd be more than a little concerned about them just flopping out. But if she likes it... who am I to judge. (it does look hot and fabulous though, so I can't really blame... I don't even know who) Also, I mean I know she is from the middle east and I don't know how the winters there are (if even existent), but she has been traveling if I remember correctly. To colder regions as well. You won't be happy in I dunno Finland with "an oversized sweater", you'd want a thin long shirt, a warm long shirt, maybe a hoodie if for longer, and at least one jacket. The last of these jackets will have to be water, wind and snow proof, and you do similar things with your legs (thin pants, warm pants, everything proof pants). Don't forget a scarf, very good boots and some sort of hat. (at least that's what I would look like if I had to get out in winter. But I don't get out, since I'm basically Gollum in slightly better shape.)

Also how difficult is it to travel with a wardrobe worth of clothes or is the thing with the clothes just relatively recently when her coven has settled down?

When going out with her coven, she cares for unison in their style. Usually, she's the one setting the trend. Usually, to something dark and expensive, but fitting everyone in the coven.

I... I don't think I want to be in the coven if that is what is worn usually.

And yes I just did rant about nothing but clothes for far too long. I can't be sorry.

Personality + Flaws:

Yasmine's greatest attribute is, first and foremost, her intelligence. While not as submerged in academia as Alessa or as street-smart as Kai, Yasmine's strong side is in strategies.

I assume this can come in very handy

Tactics and politics come as easily to her as breathing, and she's very cunning and intuitive. If someone doesn't know whether or not Yasmine is planning something, it means she's already five steps ahead of that person.

I mean, if somebody doesn't know shit about Lord of the Rings and is compared to me, that is true as well I guess. It usually applies this way when one of the people has NO IDEA.

(It is pretty impossible to win against her in any sort of card or board game, which annoys the hell out of her coven.)

Boardgames can be like that, but... I mean, having a strategy in Poker might work, but in UNO... there it's nothing but luck and ruthlessness and a bit of planning if you want to win. UNO is a lawless land, and the only laws that apply are those the table can agree upon.

But there is, of course, the flipside to her intelligence and how it interplays with her position as leader. It feels as though a part of her is constantly looking for strategies, for weak points, for buttons to press and buttons to omit, taking apart and looking for hooks in the smallest of conversations or gestures, digging for something she could use.

I feel like this is a slight sign of some mental illness that I can't remember the name of. Interesting, but... well, I guess it boils down to how you use it in your story.

It's become subconscious at some point, only reaching her current trail of thought when something had been found, something - someone - could be used. Apart from being pretty migraine-inducing, it's troubling on a personal and ethical level, as Yasmine sometimes catches herself finding hooks and strategies that use or take advantage of people she doesn't want to actually go against.

Uuh, interesting.

It's pretty troubling from a trust perspective as well - her coven trusts that she has their best interest at mind, but can't always trust she'll be honest or genuine with them about how that best interest will be achieved.

... isn't her wife a literal murderer?

Their occasional mistrust isn't baseless. In her constant pursuit of safety and happiness for the coven, Yasmine often finds herself playing 4D chess

What for fucks sake is 4D chess. I know that 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel exists (if you have a Steam account you can look for it, it actually exists (not sponsored)), but I have no idea how 4D chess looks like. Is it 3 player chess (I've seen a picture of a board like that)? Is the board infinite? What is the 4th dimension, anyways?

with dangerous opponents and tends to... well, simply put, use her coven as pawns - play into their reactions, don't tell them her plans, lie to them to reach her goal, etc.

or do you mean that she is like irl "playing chess" using her coven and her surroundings as pawns and such?

It's not intended as malicious, as she loves them all deeply, but such things sometimes get lost in-between grand schemes and wide plans. Sometimes, it's necessary. Often, it has saved their lives. Always, she feels bad about it.

Good, seems like a very interesting mechanic.

That being said, she does have a bit of an ego problem, which in turn relates to her relationship to power as a concept. Yasmine would gladly play judge and jury, usually with her wife as the executioner, and doesn't have much empathy for her enemies.

... oh. I kind of see her villain origin story beginning

Speaking of power, Yasmine has a complicated relationship with it at large. To her, it's not really a desire, not only a tool, but something between a game and something she simply thinks should be a part of her existence at large.

Dangerous mindset. She HAS a villain origin story. Is she and her coven the good guys or are they the baddies?

She believes that she was born powerful - as a witch, as a person in general - and that power comes with a certain expectation of how it should manifest in the world. Meaning - she feels good in a position of power, unsure if she doesn't have one, but isn't exactly power hungry. Power, in the political sense, is to her a game of influences, threats and connections, and there's a step on the ladder she doesn't want to find herself lower than.

I can't even tell you how uneasy that makes me. I'm more than a little concerned about... everything I think

Despite her rather eventful day-to-day life, or maybe because of it, Yasmine has a great love for serenity in its simplest forms: a piano played in an empty room, a dinner with her coven, a quiet evening in with her wife.

Aw, that's nice. Everyone deserves some peace every now and then

Maybe it's because she's never had a lot of it that she appreciates it so, but she knows that a quiet, calm, completely uneventful life wouldn't be something she could have either - her mind and body had shifted, adjusted to a quicker pace, and anything less would drive her insane.

Would be interesting to see what would happen if she was forced to live in a secluded village for a time.

She's not exactly kind, but she can be perfectly polite if the situation calls for it, or a tad bit blunt if it doesn't. She values honesty, despite trading in so many lies, but considers it a vulnerability she feels safe in dealing only with her coven.

Ah ok

Yasmine has cultivated a professional reputation and appearance, all clean-cut business suits, proper dresses and polite manners. Body language was just another skill to master and she did, along with perfecting her speech and expressions. Where one would see a mask in this, a tool to use in the larger game of power and magical politics, Yasmine considers this a truthful part of herself.

In case I noticed that (I don't usually interact with people like her), I'd be more... concerned about what her true intentions are. She legitimately might creep me out.

All of it, really - power plays and tactics - she considers moreso a part of her personality rather than something she acquired herself.

I would go and say she has the personality of a robot in basically any futuristic work, whose job it is to interact with people and not kill them. But since you said it is her personality and she herself doesn't want to change that, I can't make her change, and it could be a very interesting part of her story as well

But beneath the professional visage, there is a sense of darkness lingering.

Ha, knew it.

Yasmine, for all her logic, tends to be influenced by her emotions more than she would've liked to admit.

We all have our flaws, and if this is hers, it's ok. It's ok to feel. It's ok to be vulnerable. It's ok, it's going to be ok. Stay here as long as you like, I won't judge you for just feeling. It's ok.

She has a very short temper towards those that threaten her coven, and has a bit of a vengeful streak to herself. If asked to choose whether to be loved or feared by other factions and covens, she'd gladly choose the latter.

As I said, probably villain origin arc

Mental illnesses/Disabilities: Nothing diagnosed

ok

Likes: Her coven, poetry, the crackle of fire during a ritual, playing the piano, music in general, long baths and nice bath bombs

Very nice. I asked the thing with rituals in Alessa's chapter I think, so yeah, seems good. Enough for a character build, though more pretty much never hurts

Dislikes: Hunters, rowdiness, dealing with finances, the coven house being messy, driving, cold temperatures

What hunters? Wichhunters? Or "normal" hunters? And I kind of could see her committing tax fraud...

Powers (if needed):

Magic. Yasmine is a witch.

You don't sayyyy ;D

Witches don't use wands in this world, they use incantations and alchemy and rituals to feed into their magic. Magic is another source of energy - like the one people have day-to-day to do stuff. It regenerates over time, or through meditation or other rituals. The basic form of using one's magic is by spells. Rituals help power up the spell, or do something more complicated magically.

Good enough for now I think, so go on

Magical powers are not colorful beads of energy but ways a witch can influence their surroundings. So - telekinesis, pyrokinesis, weaving someone's fate or luck, fueling something's energy/life or depleting it, etc.

That is very cool :D

Backstory:

Yasmine's mother left when she was just a child.

Not too original, but her father is still there, is he?

She remembers just bits and pieces of her - a whiff of her perfume, a from creasing the skin between her eyebrows, her mother picking her up on a sunny day.

That was a very nice description

Her father was a merchant. A powerful, influential one.

Oh. Is this where her power-loving (I know loving probably is a word too strong in this context, but I couldn't remember something more fitting at the moment) personality comes from (at least partially)?

She had a much older brother, cunning and powerful in his own right. Her family was well-known and well-respected in their homeland, and Yasmine was born into that power. One might say she was born into privilege - and to some degree, that someone might be right, with all the riches and splendor she enjoyed as a child.

I'd say she was

Yasmine would, however, vehemently disagree that her position was privileged. Basem Al-Ifriqi, her father, was a cold, complicated man.

I mean, I can see this a little in her as well

He viewed the world as harsh and unforgiving - and believed that the only way to survive in it was to be bigger, stronger, smarter. To have connections and influences and wealth that would make one untouchable.

...oh. Dangerous. You are not necessarily untouchable, it's just... more difficult I'd say. It is a thing of it's own, and I don't know much of that, so I'll stop

For all his faults, at his core, he did just want his kids to have a good chance at surviving a reality as dangerous as the supernaturals'. But he went about it in a... bad way.

Aw, come on. Peaceful childhood? No?

Witches in general believe in community - in having a coven of close people. Basem, however, did not. He was a devout individualist, believing familiar and romantic and friendly connections to be insignificant unless they could be either used or leveraged.

...that is... I don't even have words for that in English, or in any language I speak (not that I know many, lol). But I know it's dangerous. Do you know how aggressively social humans are? Babies literally NEED physical touch and cuddling and stroking their skin, or they can die. Adult humans won't die from lack of touch, but can get depressed and other things that can be very bad for you if you avoid it for too long. I don't know much about it, but It is a thing, a dangerous thing.

(Which did make him a hypocrite as deep down, his actions aimed to help his children, but Basem did not seem to notice that. Or, for that matter, care.)

He doesn't have my sympathy.

He actively encouraged rivalry between Yasmine and her brother.

WHAT?

He pitted them against each other, making each of their accomplishments a rat race and pushing them to make political moves

POLITICAL MOVES? IS HE- LIKE- WHAT? ARE HIS CHILDREN RUNNING FOR I DON'T KNOW SENAT AT AGE 5 OR SOMETHING?

against each other as they both became older and more known in the local modern-day-Algerian community.

Back-then-modern day or today-today?

Yasmine's brother fell for it. Yasmine herself, however, did not.

... for what did he fall. What did he do. Did it lead to his death

Yasmine was always more keen on protecting her father and brother rather than going against them, even as they struck a knife in her back. Tired of their pursuits to undermine her business dealings and political position, and tired of the constant lies and fights and having to be on guard with her own family, Yasmine left.

Very good choice. You are allowed to leave if a situation makes you uncomfortable, in reallife as well as on the internet. If you can change the situation, if you can leave, you are allowed to. This is my official permit for you to let it go.

(Sometimes, looking back, she can't blame her mother for leaving. Most of the time, however, she's angry that she didn't take her with her.)

Yeah, I kinda see that

She didn't travel far before getting into trouble. All turned out well though, as that was how she ended up meeting Alessa, her future wife. It did, admittedly, take her a long while to just relax and not feel like her lover wanted to go against her like her family did, but eventually as they got to know each other more and fell in love more, she did. They stayed a bit in her homeland - though far from her father and brother - before moving to travel the world together. They met Alonso, Makeda and Kai during their travels and formed a coven.

That is nice, character growth. Very good.

Sometime during the 1300s, her wife was kidnapped for nearly a century. Yasmine fought tooth and nail, driving herself to her limit, but eventually managed to get her back with the help of their coven. She doesn't say it, but a part of herself blames herself for the situation happening at all. The pain this event caused her lover, and the coven at large, radicalized her need to protect her coven and put it into a position of power.

I mean, I see why. I can't put my other thoughts on paper (/screen), but I can see why.

The piano was invented sometime around 1700. Yasmine heard of it in 1714, when she was in Italy. Although the instrument was much less refined than what it is now, she fell in love with it. Always a fan of music, she took to this particular - new, at the time - instrument with a passion, and had secretly influenced both the development of the instrument and the music one could create with it over the centuries.

Yes, give me some immortal fiddling with a weirdly specific part of history

She had spent centuries traveling with her coven, until they made their way to the US. As I mentioned in Alessa's file, it was there that Makeda fell in love with a human, had a child with him and sacrificed herself to protect both the coven and the child. The story opens up with Devyn discovering her witch heritage and seeking out her mother's old coven. Yasmine aims to slowly integrate Devyn into the coven, not wanting a human-raised witch to freak out over everything, while also trying to juggle the rising threat of hunters that Devyn's arrival brought on.

So you did mean whichhunters, ok. Yeah, I still like the story, it's good :D

Family:

Basim Al-Ifriqi - her father. He's alive, most probably, but Yasmine hasn't spoken to him in over 400 years.

One thing I just remembered. I suppose he didn't move much in his life? And he has neighbours I think. Do they notice he doesn't age? Do they have pictures with him from some event that is 108 years in the past, but not only is he still there but he still looks like this? (this goes for all witches)

Farid Al-Ifriqi - her older brother. He's an influential figure both within supernatural circles and human business ones, so she's sure he's alive and good but again, they haven't talked in around 200 years.

Did he fall into competitive politics?

Tahany Al-Ifriqi - her mother. She left when Yasmine was a child. Yasmine never searched for her, and doesn't know what she's up to or if she's alive.

Yeah, makes sense

She considers her coven her family, more so than her biological one.

Friends:

Harry Jones - the human man Makeda fell in love with and Devyn's father. While not exactly friends, they're on pretty cordial terms. Burned by her own experiences with her father, she doesn't believe him to be the most important family Devyn has (she believes the coven is) but nonetheless, she respects his position in Devyn's life.

That's very nice of her

Cassius Emmett - a vampire, the leader of a nearby vampire coven. In-between power grabs and political plays, they managed to fit in a bit of banter and quiet conversations. Their factions are sometimes opposed, but they always try to look out for each other when they can.

cool

Other than that, she doesn't really have friends.

Enemies: Hunters and other supernatural covens/factions

Other things that don't fit in any category: n/a

Ok, so we're through!

This was one of the longer ones again, and I'm sorry that it took me so long; reality just made me go back to what I do, and happy time is over. I still try to do it as often as I can, but since I have other plans as well it is a little complicated usually...

But I'm brabbling about my life, this doesn't matter right now.

So, the review.

Yasmine is a very interesting character, with many interesting inner conflicts. They might be a little much, but hey, why not. I can't really say much about that, it really depends on how you implement it in your story.

There are a few things that I don't think make much sense, mainly the things with the clothes so... maybe think about that again? (She probably has invested millions in clothes... I wonder how many coconuts that would be.)

And yeah. I think that's it, I told you most of my thoughts already, so I believe I'm finished here.

And again, sorry it took so long, I literally have nothing but my own forgetfulness and reality to blame... :P

So, for the drawing (that totally didn't delay this chapter by literal weeks) I went with the most hot, dark and sexy thing I was brave enough to draw without risking being demonetized (if that exists on Wattpad) and not hurting my moral compass. I couldn't bring myself to draw a button-down shirt, though I would have loved to. I took the "business but make it hot and sexy" I think you formulated it, and tried to do that... and it's dark, because you said that as well. With her skin tone I had to decide with a blueish violet and pink, but I finally went with the latter. I did it with aquarelles, but I had to redo parts of her face because that looked... a little melted, or at least not right. On her chest the dark streak is supposed to be the scar from her heart-transplant, but I think it doesn't look quite natural... well, it's too late now. (I still think it looks a little wonky... weird.) I hope you like it, and I'm very sorry it took so long. U-U

I hope to welcome you back next time!

See you soon!

And here, have a biscuit 🍪 :D

(I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment and vote, maybe even share with your friends, so that this book hopefully gets seen by more people that help me advancing this :] )