Post by dante on May 3, 2010 21:00:43 GMT -5
Staff Application:
Dante Zeverai Palmer
Optimistic, Eccentric, Spiritual
Optimistic, Eccentric, Spiritual
BACK TO BASICS ' '
Full Name: Dante Zeverai Palmer
Nickname(s): "Witch-doctor"
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Celeb you're using: Tia Dalma
STRIKE A POSE ' '
Physical Appearance: With her unusual hairstyle and bizarre facial expressions, Dante always looks like the kind of person you'd see in a movie. Her skin is a nice chocolate brown colour, but has darker marks pressed into the skin at random places, whether by her own doing or by other, forgotten circumstances. Her facial features are warm, but sometimes give off a look of twisted amusement - not on purpose, that's just the way her eyebrows formed. Her hair has been in dreadlocks since she was a teenager, and now they fall down her back in long length. Her eyes are a hazel colour, flecks of darker brown showing near the irises; but the whites were a strangely offsetting shade of creamy yellow. Possibly due to illness, or maybe just unfortunate genetics.
Dante stands at five feet and four inches, forcing her to keep her chin up - literally. She looks up at almost every other adult she knows. Her stature is thin, but not impossibly so. Since moving to America she had put on some weight, gaining slivers of pudge in her midsection, upper arms and legs. Mainly she clothes herself in long, flowy skirts and intricately detailed vests. Necklaces are regularly adorning her neck, as are rings upon her small fingers. She loves decorations, generally having many forms of accessories all over, also including adding beads and feathers to her hair. She doesn’t like wearing shoes, and usually doesn’t until it gets too cold for her to go without. Her nails are never kept in the best condition, usually ragged and worn. Dante always held a sort of grunginess about appearance, with a slight greasy shininess to her skin and yellowish teeth.
She isn't the prettiest woman in the world, but she doesn’t let it get her down. Nor does it really prompt her to fix the things she can, such as her teeth, nails and acne scars. She has a few piercings in her ears, and one in her nose. The only tattoos she has are the darker, scar-like dots beneath her eyes, which she's never quite revealed the meaning behind.
LET'S GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER ' '
Personality Description: You know that person that always makes you feel better, no matter how terrible of a day you’re having? Dante’s that person. She’s the friend, the teacher, the sister that people come to let out their problems. Not because she’s good at advice or anything, no, because she knows how to listen. Her presence is calming, giving most people who enter her room a sort of elated feeling, despite what may have happened outside the classroom. She’s a bit bizarre and very spontaneous when it comes to her teaching agenda. One day her students will practice exerting their powers on inanimate objects, the next they’ll take a fieldtrip to a stream to meditate. Dante is prone to saying queer things, which somehow later prove to being important to the listener.
Dante likes to be happy. She likes smiling and laughing and making other people happy. Rarely will people catch her in a foul mood, or raising her voice. But all the while she isn’t a sort of insane happy, but more calm, as if she knows exactly what’s going on in the world, but chooses to laugh anyways. People usually find a sense of wisdom with her; even if she pretends she doesn’t know anymore than what she says. If something disturbing happens, there will be a slight pause, then a titter and light banter from the woman. Heavy auras don’t mix well with her, so she always tries to keep the mood light, to cheer up anyone who seems to have particular distaste in their lives.
She’s lighthearted, and loves it when people are creative. Sometimes she can be the butt of jokes, but never has she let it get to her. Dante is quite aware of her bizarre appearance and funny accent, and rather embraces it than taking any harsh words to heart. She’s motherly and caring, and the kind of person who doesn’t mind sacrificing anything for other people.
Likes:
- Animals
- The sky
- Jewelry
- Musical instruments of all kinds
- Talkative people
- Boats
- Obscure items
- Exotic food
- Smoking pipes
Dislikes:
- Harsh words
- Cauliflower
- Pain
- Shoes
- Flashing lights
Strength:
- Sympathy
- Meditation
- Knowing more than she leads on
- Analysis
- Making peace
Weaknesses:
- Cold weather
- Not understanding other languages
- Caring too much
- Tearjerker movies
- Headaches/Migraines
- Occasionally loses her own perception of reality
Fears:
- Accidentally causing another person’s pain
- Rabid dogs
- Chainsaws
Goal:
- To help as many people as she can in her lifetime to succeed in something they truly want
Power/Ability: Healer's spirit - Her personality quirk of making people feel better just by speaking to her isn't all by chance. Dante grew up practicing the spiritual African religion of Obeah, presented to her by her grandmother who also followed the religion. It is a spiritually healing religion, many members commonly known as "witch-doctors." The remedies are seen unorthodox by any medical professional, but not to anyone who's ever had them performed. Her very aura, the fiber of her being, is that of a natural healer's. Her presence is calming, and she has often been sought out to perform some meditation before high stress situations, such as exams or facing angry parents. This ability is limited only by the person she is performing on - if they do not believe they can be helped, then she cannot do anything for them. Dante is prone to getting migraines after exerting her aura for long periods of time, so after long meditations with particularly fretting students, she will have to take a break. She has bizarre cures for things, which many people are tentative to try, but she assures they are true. That's all up for interpretation.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE ' '
Origin: Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica
History: Makeda Wright had always wanted to have many children. A large family in a big house by the sea where her husband would work, and she would bake all day with the children and teach them to read. Well... That sort of came true. She married Rasheed Palmer in the scorching summer of 1970, and moved to Savanna-la-Mar soon after. Not the nicest place to live, a very poor part of the country of Jamaica, but they were happy and in love. Rasheed worked as a mathematics teacher at the local elementary school, as Makeda didn't really steady job. But she did occasionally sell embroider cloth at the local market. Both were thrilled when they learned Makeda was pregnant, and eight months later gave birth to their first child, Omar. Two years later, Dante was born. Omar and her had many similarities - both were happy, healthy children that were always full of energy. Rasheed and Makeda often had to make them run laps around the house after dinner as so they would tire out before they slept. Two more children were born, Tijani and Daemon, the fraternal twins. Finally with her large family, Makeda was content with her life.
But soon after Dante turned four, Makeda's mother fell ill and could no longer live on her own. Coming to live in their already small house, it was an adjustment for everyone. But Dante soon embraced her new roommate, loving to listen to the babblings over her grandmother. Growing up living in the same room as the elderly woman, Dante picked up on several of her habits, including her religion of Obeah. The young girl was soon claiming she could heal any illness, much to the snickers of her family and friends.
When school started, Dante didn't quite excel in her classes as her father had hoped. She was an average student, learned at an average rate and had a pretty mild interest in school. But she was diligent and the teachers enjoyed her bubbly attitude. She played soccer with the boys and braided hair with the girls. Dante had a universal personality and a contagious laugh. There were rarely people who lived in the area who didn't know of her. Though when entering middle school, she was met with some students who found her optimistic attitude annoying and childish. Though this bothered her at first, she soon felt that it was their loss. There wasn't an abundance of these sort of people, just a few distasteful preteens that would occasionally spout foul words at her.
When Dante was to enter high school, her grandmother's health suddenly took a sharp downturn. The girl was devastated, knowing that her grandmother was the most influential person in her life. This event prompted her to really get involved in Obeah, searching hours upon hours, trying to find a way to heal her grandmother, to keep her alive, with her. But after studying for long periods of time, she found it helpless. If the gods wanted her soul, then they were going to take it. She cried for days, cursing the gods. But after angsting out for a few days, Dante finally sucked it up and went to her grandmother, talking with her again after practically shunning her for even thinking about leaving this world. Dante spent an entire day just talking with her, learning even more than she already knew. And a few days later, her grandmother passed on. Though sad, the teenager felt the experience made her stronger, and soon became completely involved as a Obeah practicer.
In high school, Dante still didn't excel at anything, but did find particular joy in art and music. She learned to play many instruments, including the bongo drums and ocarina. She put her hair in dreadlocks at age fifteen and has had them ever since. She kept close friends and was very involved with her family, even tutoring her younger siblings when they depleted their egos enough to ask her. Of course she would end up calling her father over by the end of it because she wasn't so great at academics as it was. Dante was known to be very caring and would spend a lot of time just talking with whomever came up to her that day. After high school, Dante didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life. She soon heard about New Orleans from tourists that were making their way across the coast of Jamaica, and Dante left a few months later for the legendary city. Spending much time in Louisiana, she worked in a "Voodoo" shop, which was actually more Obeah than Voodoo, but she didn't tell anyone that.
She learned of Pantheon from one of her mysterious customers, who seemed to know more than he lead on. He told her that she would fit right in at the school he worked at, and curious as she was, decided to take his advice and visit. Settling right into the area, but already missing the warmer weather, Dante was soon known well across the campus. She became a Psychic ability teacher after learned underneath the already present school Psychology, and wanting to help the students. She's been at Pantheon for a little over eight years now, and has been teacher for six.
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ROLEPLAYING SAMPLE ' '
Negative twelve degrees Celcius. Ten degrees Fahrenheit. Two hundred sixty one degrees Kelvin - any way that she put it, it was rather cold outside. Frigid, even. Flecks of frozen water fell from the sky, mingling in the light breeze that kicked up piles of the fluff that had already formed on the ground. The flakes would dance and twist and flow until they finally fell to the ground, settling with all the other flakes that completely covered the yellowish grass that winter weather had killed. Peering curiously at the snow as it tumbled from the gray overcast heavens, the woman with dreadlocks let out an involuntary shiver. She was indoors, yes, but she could still feel the lingering touch of winter's grip through the thin paneled glass of the classroom.
Snow wasn't something Dante was accustomed to. She grew up in Jamaica, where it rarely got below seventy degrees in winter. Then had adventured to Louisiana, where it still never snowed in all the years she inhabited the great city of New Orleans. So this... mountainous winter weather was quite unusual. Sure, the woman had seen snow before in her previous years at the school. But the concept of it was still a bit baffling. And unsettling. Another shiver and the dreadlocked woman turned away from the window to the outside world. She was going to have to walk through that on her way back to her apartment. She pulled the coat closer to her body, stepping carefully in the uncomfortable shoes. That was another reason she didn't really like the snow - shoes. Dante despised shoes of all kinds. The Jamaican had always run around in bare feet, thick callouses lining the soles of her feet, so that she could probably walk over hot coals by this point and not feel it. A look of tentative distaste as she glanced back to the falling snowflakes, then back to her class, who was busy flicking through some crazy book assignment that she really didn't feel like giving them. But the weather had put a damper on her usually upbeat personality.
Scratching the back of her head, her eyes flicked over each of the students, working diligently on the assignment. "'Ey... Stop," She said in an almost unsure voice. The class looked up, slowly everyone's eyes rested on her petite form. Letting out a short hum, she suddenly smiled, "Ya all wanna play in da snow, right?" Her thick accent drawling through her lips. The students looked at one another momentarily, before back at her with hopeful eyes, slowly murmurs of agreement went around. "Wot?" She mocked deafness, leaning forward and cupping her ear, trying to get a clearer answer. Soon calls of enthusiastic pleas reached her pierced ears. "Well den, go! Have fun, don' die." The familiar smile settling on her warm features. As the class hurried to put away their books and shuffle back into the winter appearal, Dante leaned against the wall with a contemplative grin. Calls of thanks chorused as the students flowed steadily out the door and into the snow covered hills of the academy. Humming, she shifted a few papers on the neglected desk, before skipping off to find some tea to warm her spirits.
BEHIND THE SCENE ' '
Your name: Anne Onymous
Age: 19
How long have you been RPing? Three years, give or take.
Where/How did you find us? Someone posted an advert on the Hammel Institute.
If there's anything you'd like me to change, just tell me! I'll be happy to revise.
