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♌ arsenicCatnip (Nepeta Leijon) ([personal profile] purrfectlycute) wrote2012-01-08 12:50 am

Ataraxion app

PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Jenna
OOC Journal: [personal profile] thelastpupnik
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope
Email + IM: thelastpupnik [at] gmail.com / AIM: bebo the dragon
Characters Played at Ataraxion: n/a

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Nepeta Leijon
Canon: Homestuck
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Right after Equius leaves in "Equius: Seek the highb100d"
Number:

Setting: Nepeta grew up on Alternia, a planet that differs drastically from Earth in one key area: trolls are the dominant species. As such, Nepeta grew up in a culture vastly differs from human society (described in detail here). In SGRUB, she's a Derse dreamer and her personal planet was Land of Little Cubes and Tea. Yep. LOLCAT.

On the other hand, troll culture parallels American pop culture and internet tropes in a few ways. Cinema, TV, roleplaying, and novels on Alternia were basically the same story lines and concepts adapted to a new setting (for example, the trolls have their own versions of Twilight and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).

After Bec Noir appears in the trolls' session, they abscond to one of the remaining meteorites in The Veil. The probably isn't a proper response to hiding from murder incarnate on a creepy godforsaken rock, but Nepeta is mostly unaffected and starts up a new shipping wall. Best priorities.

History:

Nepeta was raised on in a cave by a cat with two mouths named Pounce de Leon where she lived a carefree life. You know, doing all the things normal, well-adjusted teen trolls do, like hunting down ferocious beasts, using their blood to paint a shipping wall of your dear friends, and occasionally wearing their pelts for fun. Normal things like that. Somewhere along the way she was invited into a (F)LARP session with several friends. Luckily her best friend/moirail insisted she not join. Though the restrictions Equius imposed on her usually got on her nerves, her willingness to actually abide by them likely saved her life in this case; she may have gotten injured or paralyzed as Tavros did.

Unlike trolls such as Vriska, Nepeta had a very good relationship with her lusts (the cat creature). The two would often ride around on each others' backs while hunting for "the fountain of cute"; Nepeta always decried Pounce in a positive light and missed her greatly once she died. This upbringing is likely why she developed into a ferocious hunter that is simultaneously cute and friendly.

This simple life ended when, in of their usual (read: bizarre) roleplaying sessions, Terezi asked her to join in on a game. Even better, Karkat (SWOON!!!!!) asked her to join his team. Unfortunately, Equius forbade her from joining Karkat's team and she, as his his moirail, respected his wish but NONE OF THIS ACTUALLY MATTERS IN THE LONG RUN. Most of Nepeta's time in SGRUB was spent ~pouncetackling~ Equius and killing monsters in LOLCAT, both of which she is extremely successful at. Not much else is known about her contributions specifically to the game beyond her fighting alongside Equius in the battle against the Black King (as represented in the song Rex Duodecim Angelus).

Just at the moment where the trolls were about to claim their "ultimate reward" (entering the universe they created), Jack Noir shows up on the scene as an effect of The Great Undoing and the trolls are forced to flee to the remnants of the Veil in what is soon to become a null session.

After Karkat wakes up (which is another, vaguely relevant story entirely), he ordered all of the trolls to basically harass the kids in their session. Nepeta he specifically ordered to be as obnoxious as possible by roleplaying with the kids (just to spite Equius' command for her to do the opposite, but she nonetheless reacted joyfully). In fact, she was rather eager to follow Karkat's trolling orders because saw the humans as interesting and fun. This proved particularly the case with Rose; though Nepeta didn't have extended conversations with Rose herself, she formed a connection with Rose's dead-cat-turned-guardian, Jaspersprite (who reminded her of Pounce).

Shortly after this, Bec Noir continued his rampage through the troll's session. When destroying Prospit, he repeatedly stabbed Nepeta's dream self. As she bleed and cowered on the ground, he kicked her aside and proceeded to blow up Derse in an explosion Tsar Bomba would be jealous of.

Some time after Aradia blows up, she and Equius retreated to another area of the meteorite, probably to discuss Equius' feelings and have several heart-felt conversations on a pile of destroyed robots like good moirails. Both seemed to be informed about Gamzee's murder spree as well as suspicious of Vriska, and Eridan (since Equius commands her to stay away from those two as well). The two attempt to do some last-minute roleplaying before Equius departs to confront Gamzee.

THE EVENTS AFTER THIS ARE DEPRESSING. (Since this is the time I'm taking her from, I'll refrain to go into much exposition unless asked to. Basically, she witnesses Gamzee kill Equius and immediately tries to take him down in vengeance. This fails. Gamzee then uses her claws to leave scratch marks on his face and kills her with his clubs. The conversation with Jaspersprite appears in the comic after Equius: Seek the highb100d, but chronologically at an unknown time from Nepeta's perspective; presumably, it's before Aradia blows up.)

Personality:

Imagine that girl in high school you were friends with because you both had a passion for anime or roleplaying. Except while you tried to keep public knowledge of theses passions rather low-key, that friend went to embarrassing, often socially unacceptable lengths to make these hobbies everyday parts of her life while you constantly prayed that your association with her would not lead you to become a social pariah.

That friend is Nepeta.

In fact her very first (visual) appearance is accompanied by the words "you've got to be kidding me." Nope, Hussie, you were indeed not kidding when the cat girl turned out to be a girl who roleplays her way through life and ships her friends. And yes, "roleplay her way through life" is not an understatement. A good portion of her interactions with people involve her pretending to be a character (usually a cat creature like her lusus). If someone isn't familiar with the intricacies of RP, by golly she will teach them. As far as her roleplaying itself is concerned, Nepeta doesn't participate in dangerous (F)LARPING like Eridan and Vriska. No, she would much rather draw pictures and do asterisk actions with Terezi.

Nepeta retains a similarly playful, cat-like attitude in reality. Most of her actions involve "pouncing", whether it be a cheerful greeting or a tackle. This usually applies to Equius since his own abnormal strength enables him to withstand the force of her overly-powerful tackles.

For all of her cutesy behavior, she's also a skilled and effective hunter. She's able to take down large prey, haul their carcasses around and skin them to make fur suits. No, this doesn't mean that she has a secret dark side. She only kills what she intends to eat; doing otherwise would be "mean." For the most part, she can easily be related to an adorable kitty, presuming that cats have saccharine, playful dispositions and are not bipolar hellbeasts who hide under the sofa and hiss for no apparent reason. (Just kidding, any mods who happen to be cat people! Sorta.)

But, as it turns out, Nepeta's personality goes a bit deeper than than roleplaying and generally acting silly. Though she may attempt to roleplay in many situations, she's shown to get serious at the appropriate times (such as when Aradia informs Nepeta that she's a ghost and when Nepeta tells Terezi that Derse has been destroyed). The conversation with Jaspersprite reveals that she is also perfectly capable of not just understanding, but explaining complicated situations and concepts in ways for others to understand. This is mostly done with cat-related comparisons, but they are nonetheless effective and rather accurate.

In the same convo, she tells Jasper about her feelings for Karkat that she's too shy to express; as she goes on to explain the complexity of the situation and her own hesitations, it's shown that she tries to be cautious with her feelings toward him. If Karkat's awareness is anything to go by, she pretty much fails at this cautiousness (and in several conversations, she's fairly obvious about her barely-restrained adoration). More importantly, Nepeta is level-headed about the situation; she says that a confession will likely not go over too well. The observation isn't pessimism but a realistic possibility and a good reason for hesitating on a confession.

Despite all of her oddities, Nepeta is probably one of the more well-adjusted "sane" trolls among the group. This may in part be due to her very stable moirallegiance with Equius. Whereas she keeps his violent impulses in check, he has a deep affection for her and tries to protect her as much as possible. This sometimes manifests itself as trying to acculturate her to "high" society (by scolding her for cursing or otherwise acting out as some of the other trolls do). Her role as the pacifier in this relationships transcends into many others; Nepeta seems generally more inclined to reach agreements or calm people down rather than fight. She is also very empathetic, exhibited especially with Equius and Aradia (whom she accepts even after her death and promises to keep said death a secret).

She's one of the few to not have an overly emotional or abrasive reaction to petty details, nor does she get into frequent arguments like many of the other trolls. Her behavior toward humans and trolls (and presumably other evolved species) is mostly benign. The exception is Equius' murder, but it's pretty understandable to get upset and try to take down the guy who killed your best friend. Her relations with Vriska and Eridan are also strained, but she has not been shown to snap or act violently toward either of them (unless you count her angry face as being violent) and, at least in Vriska's case, attempted to be friendly even toward those she dislikes. Other than that, she remains cheerful and playful throughout Homestuck.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: Nepeta is a strong girl both in body and mind. She's able to behead monsters several times her size with her agility and her Clawkind strife specibus. Beyond this she has no special magical powers or super-powered abilities. Mentally, she's able to withstand traumatic events such as her dream self's murder and the destruction of Derse without going into hysterics. Nepeta can adapt to nearly any situation with her usual positivity and playfulness. As for weaknesses, she's wholly mortal and vulnerable to physical harm such as stabbing, explosions, and bludgeoning.

Inventory: Her blue claw gloves and her green coat with the tail attached.

Appearance: Her appearance won't be altered from canon. Nepeta has the typical grey skin, sharp teeth, and black lips of trolls. Unique to her, she has rounded horns that resemble cat ears and two protruding fangs. Her hair is messy and wild, probably the result of permanent hat-hair. She doesn't seem to put a whole lot of thought into her appearance unless it's dressing up for fun. Given her cat-like qualities, she's likely hygienic and grooms herself often, but isn't afraid to get a little dirty.

She continuously uses cat puns in her speech, either typed or spoken, and :33 < types in all lower-case, uses no apostrophes with contractions, and replaces double Es with 33! and lets not furget emoticons :33

Age: Six sweeps (which is about 13 years old). However, she used to draw her shipping walls in the blood of beasts she had personally slain so uh. Not exactly on the normal spectrum of a kid. Disturbing content will be nothing new to her considering the whole "plagued with visions of carnage" thing she grew up with, her dream self's violent murder by Bec Noir, and the fact that at her current point in time her friends are in a murderous clusterfuck.

AU Clarification: n/a

SAMPLES
Log Sample:

Karkat was ranting again. Something about trolling these worthless humans, inflicting the wrath of gods on their miserable lives, etc. Nothing new to the rest of the group aside from the alien component, but Nepeta hung onto every word, even the curse words that Equius found beneath Nepeta and himself (although those were the fiery, impassioned words she secretly loved).

Her fearless leader didn't have to compel her to speak to the humans. They were fun! However wise Karkat may be, Nepeta couldn't really believe that the humans were responsible for this. This--the dingy computer room, the endless staircases descending into darkness, the creepy decaying labs, the desolate limbo the surviving members of Alternia were hiding away in--the humans didn't seem to be malicious monsters that would do this on purpose! As for their supposed incompetence, well, Nepeta decided to give them a little credit. No need to accuse them of being idiots until they were proven to be. Besides, Jade seemed intelligent enough, even if she refused to believe Nepeta was doing anything but teasing her. It actually hurt a little to think that someone thought Nepeta was messing with them. It's not like she's Vwiskers! (Good thing she didn't say that out loud. Although… Nepeta gave a startled glance in the other troll's direction, quickly relaxing when she realized Vriska hadn't read her thoughts. Nepeta wasn't sure if she could really do that, but best not to leave it to chance.)

Of course, once the speech ended and Karkat actually gave her the orders to be unwaveringly friendly and inviting (or in Karkat's eloquent words, "RP with them as much as possible and be as obnoxious about it as you can") toward the humans, her heart was sent aflutter with excitement. As frustrating as it was to interact with the mildly paranoid aliens, she would persist! She would soon be friends with all of them and she would teach them the ways of roleplaying and they would meet one day and go on adventures and no one would correct her lovely fantasies. Better to think of a bright future ahead, anyway. A look around the room only confirmed that.

Comms Sample:
[ Disorientation doesn't even begin to describe Nepeta's current state of mind. Under the circumstances, she considered exploring the network options in hopes of locating Equius or one of the other trolls. Even Jasper would be suitable if only for the companionship he provides. She could turn on what appears to be a voice option and calmly ask about the current situation. Even more sensibly she could look around and see what everyone else is doing.

And then she decides fuck it, she is going to have fun with this. ]

:33 < *ac sniffs around what has now become her new shiny territory*
:33 < *her hackles rise as she assesses the unfamiliar surroundings*
:33 < *maybe this is a nesting ground of her furrocious dragon friend, she thinks*
:33 < *but even with her nose to the ground she doesnt catch a wiff of gc*
:33 < *ac is quite a bit disheartened by this revelation*
:33 < *when she pawses to consider the circumstances of her situation, she catches a scent unlike anything she has ever smelled before!*
:33 < *are they friend or foe???*
:33 < *she mewses on sharing her fresh kill that she had conveniently forgotten to mention moments before with any allies*
:33 < *it has b33n an exhausting day so she curls up in a safe dark place and awaits for the unsuspecting creatures to wander into her sights*
:33 < *she thinks, purrhaps ct will return from his valiant hunt of the highbloods and they can resume much heartfelt snuggling*
:33 < *i mean highb100ds, h33h33!*