Post by Vay on Aug 28, 2023 21:48:58 GMT 11
| Name: | Eden Avery Blair |
| Age: | 19 |
| Gender: | Genderqueer (any pronouns, she/they preference) |
| Trainer Type: | Ex-coordinator turned trainer |
| Hometown: | Mesagoza, Paldea |
| Appearance: |  Appearance is of the utmost importance to Eden. It’s the way they express themselves, the way they show the world who they really are. It’s their armour, their costume, their mask, their identity. Despite what the fairytales say, they wholeheartedly believe that it's what’s on the outside that counts. The inside is personal and private and unimportant most of the time: the way you present yourself to the world on the outside is the only thing that really matters.Because of that attitude, they consider themselves without hair and makeup done to perfection to be practically naked and entirely inappropriate for the outside world. At absolute minimum they will be wearing eyeliner and a little light blush, with hair tied up in a long ponytail behind them, though even that’s a little intimate. Most of the time, it’s a full face of makeup and an elaborate array of curls or plaits or bundled up buns to keep their long silvery hair in check. It can take hours to achieve sometimes, and they will happily spend half of the day redoing the smallest details because something is off centre, or could be done neater, or they’ve just changed their mind on what they want. It's partially a hobby that they just enjoy to spend time on, and partially a crutch that helps them feel safe in the world. Like a Mimikyu hiding beneath its disguise, no-one can threaten what lies underneath if they can’t even see through the outer layer to reach it. Their wardrobe is as extensive as one might imagine, with the vast majority of their money being spent on new shoes and bags and clothes and accessories even while other bills go neglected. They are quick to dispose of things that have gone ‘out of fashion’, embarrassed to even be seen owning something that doesn’t fit the current trend, but even with the rapid turnover that they go through, they still have multiple wardrobes full of items. The variety of options means that they rarely ever wear the same thing twice, making it hard to pin down the exact details of their particular style as it can vary wildly from day to day. Generally, they see their choice of clothes as a costume. The stage persona of the coordinator is never dropped, even now, and if they are wanting to give off a light and effeminate vibe then it will be pastel colours and flowing skirts. If they want to give off a more ominous or brooding impression, it’ll be darker colours and tight jeans. If they want to show energy and passion, it’ll be a rainbow of colours with ribbons fluttering in the wind. And if they want to come across as more threatening it’ll be leather and sharp angles galore. They can seemingly cover any sort of impression at a moment’s notice, and will often rush home to change if the mood of a situation changes and they need a costume change to reflect it. (image credit: nem_graphics @ instagram) |
| Personality: | There is an argument to be made that nobody has ever truly met the real Eden Blair - possibly including Eden themselves. Their entire life to this moment has been so focused on creating an external image, a stage persona, a version of a person that an audience might want to see, that the actual true human being that should exist beneath all of that has gotten a little lost in the noise. They are unable to fully take off the mask they’ve crafted, unsure of who they really are without that constructed visage that they can confidently wave around. That persona itself is one of boisterous confidence, of gleaming charisma and endless talent, as one might expect from a coordinator, past or present. It is a powerful first impression, designed to wow above all else… which is very effective when you are only seeing Eden for ten minutes on a distant stage. It falls apart rapidly when interrogated though. It’s a thin veil, a shallow excuse for a personality, made up of rehearsed lines and practised gestures rather than any real substance. That charisma falls apart when it’s questioned, and the light breezy attitude will be rapidly replaced by shorter, sharper barbs when it’s even the slightest bit threatened. If you break past the polished veneer, you’ll make it at least as far as the rougher edges beneath. While Eden will often cling to their sculpted external image for as long as possible, often long after it’s been proven to all be false, the layer beneath speaks of impatience and a heavy dose of immaturity. They aren’t childish so much as inexperienced when it comes to dealing with the real world, and if you are speaking to them through the cracks of the image they want to show you, you are likely to be met with snark and sarcasm rather than logic and reason. There is another layer beneath this one as well though, that can often not be reached in a short interaction, but that can be tapped into over a longer relationship. Once you break through the first mask and persevere through the irritation beneath, there is a force of ambition hidden below. There is a person who knows how to focus and study and practice, to put their whole heart into something, but also a person who knows that they have limits and fears what might happen if they reach them. There is a person who is vulnerable, who is aware that they don’t know everything and sometimes feels as though they don’t know anything at all. This layer tends to become visible when they just don’t have enough energy left to maintain the others, or occasionally, very rarely, if they willing let you see it. One would assume there is something beneath this too, an inner core to Eden that can one day be accessed, perhaps by a close friend or a found family or a romantic entanglement… and that may be true, but it’s a long way down the line yet. Eden themselves hasn’t yet tapped into their own deepest wells of emotion and self. They themselves don’t know what lies beneath the layers that they’ve constructed. Maybe nothing at all. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe that means they just have space to build, space to grow. Maybe there’s just a tiny seed waiting for them to nurture it into something more now that they’ve finally been given the breathing room to truly explore themselves as a whole person and not just a doll to be styled and played with by an overbearing mother. |
| History: | ( TW: vague references to disordered eating ) All of Eden’s earliest memories involve dressing up in all sorts of elaborate costumes. That’s not entirely unusual for a child - many of us enjoyed dress-up after all - but their memories are a little more… specific than I’d wager most of ours are. Their mother had been overly invested in child beauty pageants since before they’d even been born, and had viewed her child as many might view a prized Poochyena. She was caring and attentive but in her very specific sort of way, quickly bestowing a very distinct set of values onto her child: beauty was everything, appearance was everything, presentation was everything, the stage was everything. Unlike many other pageant mothers, she was still kind when the curtain dropped, never aggressive or violent as Eden had witnessed the mothers of her competitors be. That meant that they were ever so lucky to have a mother like her, didn’t it? Especially since their father had left when they were still only a baby. And it was good that they had this shared hobby that they enjoyed together, wasn’t it? It was a way for them to bond together too. What could be wrong with that? Well, nothing in theory… except it really was the only thing their mother seemed to care about. As Eden grew, no attention was paid to their schoolwork or their friendships or their hobbies outside of pageants. They were all casually dismissed as unimportant, and Eden couldn’t help but absorb that outlook on life for themselves. Their focus was subconsciously honed into caring only about fashion, music, dance, acting, and anything else they might be able to show off on stage. In their spare time, they voluntarily practised poise and poses, they rehearsed little scripts and choreographies, they trained their voice and their balance, and did very little else. And their mother was so proud. Always so proud. She couldn’t ask anything else of her darling child, who was beginning to win prize after prize with their well-honed skills. As Eden grew, they spent very little time exploring any self-discovered interests or hobbies. When most children would be learning about themselves through various forms of trial and error, Eden was moulding themselves into the image that their mother had created for them, because it was fun and exciting and they got such positive attention for doing so, and because image mattered more than reality anyway. If their mother told them they liked a colour or a food or a song the yes of course they did, no questions asked, because that must be important for the stage persona they were crafting. But the lines were blurred between where that stage persona ended and the real Eden began… or perhaps those lines had never been created in the first place. But of course, little Eden was oblivious to the problems implicit within that. They could only see this happy little life of theirs. From within, after all, it felt like a perfect family environment, strong bonds between a mother and child with shared interests who spent every weekend together to help them both achieve their dreams. It was only when looking from the outside that one could see the manipulative hand that engulfed Eden so fully. By the time Eden reached their tenth birthday, they were the perfect little star. They’d won a whole host of trophies and medals from various pageants that all blurred together into a mesh of adrenaline-fuelled memories that became more and more warped the more they looked back over them. Blissful wins faded into the distance while they focused in on the losses dotted between, seeking out mistakes so they could play them over and over again in their head until it made them physically sick. It didn’t help that their mother would highlight those same mistakes aloud as well, always intending to help Eden improve for the future but only usually succeeding in reinforcing the obsessing. And if the mistake or the failure was caused by someone else? Oh all hell would break loose. If somebody got in their way or interrupted their flow or distracted them in the middle of something important, they would throw the biggest tantrum the world has ever seen, screaming and throwing things across the room because how DARE THEY ruin Eden's perfect moment! Their behaviour would always remain perfect in front of the judges but the second they were backstage, Eden was not at all opposed to physically attacking their competition if they thought there was justification to do so. Their mother was of course always there to quell that terrible temper eventually, but it was still very obviously there. Perhaps that was why they so rarely did any double acts or group performances. Nobody wanted to risk that wrath. Child pageants did of course have an upper age limit, but that was of no concern to Eden and their mother who already had their sights set on the next big thing: Pokémon contests. Eden just needed a partner Pokémon, but while they searched for the perfect companion, they would simply borrow their mother's. She had an Aromatisse, a Comfey, and a Fidough, none of which had been trained for contests specifically but which were all eager to learn. Eden worked with all three of them, while simultaneously keeping their eyes out for a Pokémon of their own to take on and train - but they'd become extremely picky already. They would only take on the most perfect Pokémon after all, and perfect was hard to come by for a beginner. Fame is not an instant thing, and contests are highly competitive. They weren’t a common thing in Paldea, so mother and child traveled to Sinnoh first of all to try out the contests there. They had their fair share of second and third places, but contests were far more serious than the pageants back home. Their competitors were good, too good for a young beginner to really be able to shine through against them. But that was fine, this was just step one. And Eden was just finding their stride, getting into sync with one another. Eden was still perfecting their style after all, growing into themselves as a person, and shaking off a little of their mother’s controlling grip. They had always worn what they had been told to wear, but in the last few years, they’d wrestled control over their own appearance away from their mother at long last. Their hair, their makeup, their clothing, it was all finally personal choice, an accurate depiction of the real Eden and not the image their mother wanted them to be. In all honesty, not a whole lot changed, their previously styled look being a somewhat co-created image anyway, but the freedom still felt nice. In fact, freedom was the best word for it. They no longer felt like they were tied to any one particular appearance, no longer trapped in one specific box. It felt like tugging a bow loose and allowing restrictive ribbons to fall away, opening Eden up to be anything they wanted to be, and as they embraced that freedom with surprising ferocity, more changes began to follow. If they were no longer restricted in appearance, they needn’t be restricted by anything, by any box at all. They soon shrugged off the constraints of gender entirely, allowing themselves to just exist as Eden - and as always, their mother cared very little so long as their precious child was still acing the contests that they entered. And they were…. Or, as well as they could do given the stiff competition around them. But maybe that was just because it was Sinnoh. Maybe they just needed to try elsewhere first of all and come back to Sinnoh when they’d built up a bit more experience. Admittedly, despite Eden traveling to an entirely new region, the Kalos circuit was very similar to the Sinnoh one, with the young coordinator being met with the same level of competition and being given no real space to make their mark in. They weren’t bad by any means, but they were drowned out in a sea of experts. So... maybe Kalos wasn't the best starting place either then? By and large, the same thing happened in Hoenn when they traveled there next, and by this point the 'settling in' period had passed and their mother was getting frustrated - as was Eden. They had gone from a big Magikarp in a small pool to a small Magikarp in a big pool and their ego didn’t know how to cope with the shift. Mood swings had them tearing up motel rooms until they were inevitably kicked out, while stress had them struggling to even keep food down. It all came to a head one day when a huge argument broke out between Eden and their mother, the latter deciding they needed to give up and go home while the former insisted they weren't done yet. It eventually resulted in Eden's mother going home alone, and Eden getting onto a boat to take themselves to the Johto region. There were no contests in Johto, not that Eden knew of anyway, but that was fine. Maybe they'd been focusing too much on contests. Maybe there was a different path for them to follow. After all, the battlefield was kind of a stage too, wasn't it? Maybe they were destined to be an incredible trainer rather than coordinator. Sure, yeah, maybe that was it. It was something of an impulsive decision to switch career path entirely, but Eden was the stubborn type. Once their decision was made up, they stuck to it. And they were absolutely not about to go back home to Paldea without some new form of success to rub in their mother's face. |
| Goals: | IC, Eden wants to find a new passion to throw themselves into and to excel at. The only way that they can accept that they're not going to become the 'best coordinator in the world' is to become the best at something else instead. Or so they think anyway... OOC, I want them to shake off their shallow attitude and start to really appreciate the world around them and the people and Pokemon in it. They've been so hyper-focused on being a coordinator that they haven't really lived yet, so this journey is an opportunity for self discovery for them. |
| Other Info: | They are currently only interested in catching and using 'cute' Pokémon, but I plan for them to get over this with time. |
| How did you find us?: | Heard the name years ago through affiliate links on other sites |
| Application completed: | [YES] |
TM87: Swagger x1
TM183: Electric Terrain x1