The sun was past its zenith overhead and along a wildlife trail tred an unusual creature. The ears flicked forward and back from time to time as she stepped onward. Fern fronds and leaves from other undergrowth brushed against the brown hide, softly swishing back into place as she passed. Behind her were no tracks, her cloven hooves didn't even touch the forest floor.

She paused and lifted her head higher. There were the ruins of a castle not far from her, it cast its shadow over the wood. That was not what she was looking for. There was a quiet pool off to her right, fern and moss growing along the edges. The wildlife trail she'd been following had a departure that led to it. She was feeling a bit parched...

Her pace quickened to a slow trot, tail trailing after and hair shimmering in the dappled light. Within two strides from the pool she slowed and closed the rest of the distance with delicate, hovering steps.

Oh, but you do smell sweet and fresh! she thought aloud to herself, voice soft and fluttering like a breeze. Her head dipped down to the still, cool waters and at last she drank.

What are your favorite kinds of plots and relationships to play?
Slow burns are my favorite, but it can depend on the characters involved.

I also love a good rivalry, it's the kind that in the long run leads to the uncanny friendship.

Also long-term plots with major character development at the end, if you ever get the chance to play one of those out it feels so amazing to ride the ups and downs.

What are your least favorite kinds of plots and relationships to play?
Don't think I really have any, I'm pretty flexible, but I will say that if there's clearly little to no chemistry between characters I don't want to force happy fuzziness and would rather embrace that chilliness.

What are your favorite character types to play?
All kinds, really.

Are you a planner or a pantser? Do you prefer to pre-plan and stick to a script when posting, or do you prefer to surprise and be surprised?
LOL, both! I do like to set goal posts, but when and how I reach those isn't important. I've had a lot of fun with spur of the moment play and they've led to some great character relationships.

How do you feel about group threads?
That's what tags are for!

How often can you reply to any given thread? How long should a partner wait before nudging you for a post?
Oooh, tricky. I could probably do at least one post a day, more if things are really jiving. I do have some busy life moments where I could slow down to one post a week. I do prefer playing off a bigger screen and keyboard setup, which may limit me some days.

What is the longest you're willing to wait for a reply to a thread?
I can easily wait a week, two weeks even, but longer than that and I start looking for something else to bide my time I'm between. I do understand life happens and appreciate a note if life is being rough.

How do you feel about instant messenger RP?
This I've done before. I think a more sociable character works a but better for the setting because it tends to move much faster. Or it can be a really good way to bang out something that's going to be short and a bridge between two larger threads. Letter correspondence play, too.

How do you feel about post volleying/rapidfire RP?
This is usually my sign that I've found a good story with character chemistry and energy. I live for these when they pop up and totally put off sleep for the thrill of one!

What's your preferred posting style? Long posts? Short posts? Anything and everything?
The English student in me tries to do posts that make sense. At least three lines are usually my lower limit. Dialogue based posts usually are shorter, quicker, but if there's a lot to feel and describe, it'll naturally be longer. I generally match posting energy.

Any RP styles/habits that you love?
Theme songs, I like how they can help set the mood or tone of a thread.


Any RP styles/habits that you avoid?
Only dialogue, I find these frustrating because the characters aren't interacting over a phone but in person so there should be at least some added descriptors for things like vocal tone, posture, movement, etc.



What are you limits regarding powerplay/godmoding?
(For instance, do you mind if someone grabs your character? Picks them up? Punches them?)
If it fits the mood, I'm probably going to roll with it. My rule of thumb is usually to write where the player can decide if their character gets slugged or not, just open-ended enough that there's an out available.

What are your limits in regards to romantic situations?
(What are you comfortable with and not comfortable with? Do you prefer to pre-plot relationships or let them happen organically? Are you open to IC-rejection or love-triangles? Age differences? Etc.)
I prefer romances to work out organically. The writing is more satisfying that way. Planning introductions and consistent interactions might be as far as I go.

What are your limits with regards to graphic content such as sex, violence, drug use, sexual assault, etc? What is your comfort level?
Keep it classy and respectful.

What are your limits in regards to pregnancy within plots?
(Are you okay with pregnancy in plots? Miscarriages? Loss?)
I've had many a pregnant character in my time, including miscarriages and stillbirth and death following childbirth. These I prefer to plan unless my partner likes surprises (as the female player).

What about healing?
(For example, a blind character magically being able to see, a scarred up character having their scars repaired, etc.)
Within reason with the world, here there's probably a good range of healing capabilities.

What about characters being transformed against their will? (Think vampires, werewolves, and magical spells.)
Within reason with the world, but I'd like the power of choice with my character (magical spell recipient and such scenarios).

Anything else?
(Anything else you want to add that other players to know)
I'm typically really flexible and adaptable. I mean, I played Dragonriders of Pern for ~15 years as my main and a lot of what is mentioned here is old hat in that world, minus the magic. If you have an idea, just ask!

Characters
Qixia the Qilin

• Introductory thread wanted

__________________QUICK STATS
Name Qixia
Age ~250 years
Gender Female
Species Qilin/Kirin
Ethnicity N/A
Height 3' 10" true morph top of back, 5' human morph top of head
Occupation delivering karmic justice and assisting in maintaining the balance of good and evil
Residence N/A

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description
In her true morph, Qixia is mainly deer-like with the mane, tail, and mouth of a dragon. She has feathering at the back of her pasterns and from her lower chest to her navel. Her eyes are big and a dark brown, with streaks of amber, looking very much like a Tiger Eye jem. Her coloring is copper and bronze, shades of brown to auburn that shimmer in the light and darkened with tints of green. She has a velvety fur over all her body and scales on her cheek and jaw, across her shoulders and haunches, and along the front of her legs. It is her scales that sparkle and shimmer the most, although her long hair has a metallic gleam to it in bright light. Qixia's most individual feature are her horns, as they generally are for all of her kind. The pair of them align along the center of her head, the smaller in the front and the larger behind with the beginning of a new branch. They are ivory with yellowing in the grooves most commonly in those closer to her skin. She would be considered small by others of her species... if she ever met any of them.

Art by Shouriko

In her human morph, Qixia appears as a short statured woman with exceptionally long, reddish-brown hair; hair she keeps pulled back in a long tail but for bangs that overhang her face. Her eyes are bright and golden brown, often going long periods without blinking. She has a warm olive complexion to her skin and has many freckles across her body but particularly on her cheeks. What gives away her species are two flat ivory discs in her forehead, one ¼" diameter and the other 1" diameter. Her face is round and her general body shape is rectangular and slab-sided, she lacks the typical feminine curves of most mature women, which may suggest she is young yet for her kind. The clothing that accompanies her human morph is simple and understated, juniper green and mulberry red and heartwood brown. She has no shoes, but a hardy canvas on her feet that splits her large toe from the rest, when she has anything on her feet at all. There's a cloak that covers most of her that allows her to be an unremarkable person in a crowd, easily overlooked or quickly forgotten if seen. This is the current perfected morph that Qixia takes on when she wishes to walk amongst other humans and humanoids.


Personality
Qixia should be a serious and solemn creature considering what she would say is her occupation, but she's far more light-hearted and good-natured. Perhaps she is still young for her kind, but Qixia is very open-minded and receptive to those around her. It may make her appear naïve and impressionable, when what she really is very observant and simply curious. She has a hunger for learning and one of her favorite past-times is to sit and watch the lives and interactions of other living beings. There is good and there is evil in the world, and yet the good may still commit acts of evil and the evil may act in the interest of good; it is not so simple as black and white.
There is a fondness in her for all living creatures large and small, and she takes great care to be respectful of all life, hovering over grasses so as not to trample over them and refraining from eating the flesh of another animal. Every life is precious and each has value and can impact the life of another.
She is always awed by the things she sees humans and humanoids create from the humble sandal to the luxurious gowns of noble ladies to delicately woven tapestries; they may be her favorite living being because of their ability to create. She particularly enjoys watching their reactions and their emotions and pondering what it would be like if she were more like them. They also disappoint her, because they cause so much harm and pain and they are the beings she most frequently doles out karmic justice to. For a creature with so much capability to be and do good, they tend towards violence and destruction all too often.
Qixia lives by her instincts. She'll say that she feels a pull to go here or there, as fickle as the weather, moving quickly from one place to the next. Yet once she gets to wherever it is she feels the need to be, there's always some little something to do. Whether it be to dole out a little luck to a farmer who's had some bad luck but works earnestly or deliver a humbling experience for someone whose ego has given them a big head, Qixia quietly fulfills her task. Little things so insignificant they might barely be noticed but for the individual themselves. Qixia always feels satisfied once she's accomplished these things, but...
But there's a longing deep inside of her. Qixia doesn't know what it is exactly. Emotions are complicated and always appeared to be more for humans than for her own kind, a curious facet of humanity that is hard to understand. It's as if there's some greater purpose out there she yearns to fulfill, or someone she needs to find and remain alongside. Despite this feeling, Qixia continues to follow the pull of the world's strings.
She does have a problem with being a bit shy. Qixia may have been watching and blending in with various cultures, learning their languages, but she's never really interacted with any of them. Her instincts tell her not to get attached, to be distant, and make herself insignificant or easily forgettable. It leaves her feeling a little lonely, if she has the feeling rightly named. But more so, she wouldn't know what to do or say if ever she did have the chance to stay in one place for longer than a day or two and interact with the humans and humanoids she so much enjoys to observe.
If ever she were to form an attachment, rest assured that Qixia will be a loyal and dutiful friend. Although she may never commit an act of evil or harm to the benefit of her attachments, save to preserve their life, she will make every effort to keep the scales of karma level and fair.


Magic/Abilities
Flight/hover
Elemental manipulation (fire breathing and rain making)
Karma manipulation (luck mainly)
Human morph
Immortal (can be slaughtered and if corrupted will waste away and perish)


Relationships
None... yet


History
She wasn't born, per se. She hatched. All alone. On a mountain summit somewhere. Qixia remembers sunlight and clouds, moss and stone, but there was nothing else. No one else. How she knew to call herself Qixia, she couldn't tell you, only that the name bubbled into her mind like water from a freshly dug spring.
Time passes differently for one of the Qilin or Kirin, of whatever name they may be given. It was no different for Qixia. Each day, each moon, each season, each year... they passed by with little consequence. She kept mainly to the mountains in her early life, descending into alpine forests and then to rolling hills and out to broad, grassy plains. There were many creatures to behold and learn of. Instinct told her to keep moving on and eventually Qixia set her sights on her first human. Then more intelligent lifeforms and varied cultures. Her purpose became more clear the further into the world she travelled.
How long has it been now? Qixia has no count. Generations of birds have surely flown by and lifetimes of the intriguing humans. Yet ever onward she goes, sometimes returning to places she had visited before, now greatly changed from her memory of the place. At some point she learned how to take on a human morph so that she might blend into the towns and cities she visits.
Qixia feels that there's something big coming. Her instincts are telling her to be ready for it and that she must be there when the time comes. She's been wandering rather aimlessly and lingering closer to humans more than she ever has before, rather than returning to the wilds. Qixia is certain that she will be in the right place, at the right time if she just continues to amble. Her instincts have never failed her before!


__________________THREAD TRACKER
Current Threads

• Wherever I May Roam
  Qixia enters the domain of Mulciber and for the first time in ever has a conversation

Complete Threads

As a new member, it's easy to just jump in with an idea, but I rather like to know if there are ideas existing members have that haven't happened yet. I definitely gave my own ideas and maybe one of them could be a missing piece for someone.

Is there a lack of a certain type (or trope) of character that might be nice to add?

Does someone have a plot they want to kick off, but could use a new character to help get it rolling?

What gaps might be out there that I could help fill? Leading characters? A character that might be doomed for death? A hero or a villain or a support character in a troup?

Is there an area in the world that's gone quiet and could use some noise?

Let me know! Maybe I can help ^^

Okay, I've committed.

Name is Shouriko, I've been doing forum-based RP since the early 2000's. Bread and butter was Dragonriders of Pern, but I've dabbled a little in high fantasy and X-men and dipped my toes into slice-of-life. I took a break from RP for a couple of years and, well, here I am looking for a wide open sandbox to build castles (and destroy them) with other folks once more. 

I like to plot. I like to put my characters into horribly awkward and potentially life threatening situations, and then reward their survival with love interests and cake! Although the cake may be a lie... >.> shhhh, tell no one.