Dioclea Hexandra

An ordinary human girl from Earth who's led a not-so-ordinary life. Her interest in the paranormal and fantastic led to her becoming close friends with a girl named Melibella Mirifica, whose family was involved in some sort of cult that Dioclea only caught glimpses of. Otherwise, things were mostly normal until adulthood, if not a little rough due to her parents being perpetually disinterested in her: she started getting jobs as early as possible, working to afford her own place, pay for HRT, and plan out a future with Melibella.

Melibella and her family disappeared shortly after graduation from high school, throwing Dioclea's life into chaos. It became evident that it wasn't going to be possible to find answers due to the Mirifica family's strange nature, so she tried to focus on building a life for herself instead. She continued getting odd jobs, and at one point somehow managed to unwittingly apply for a job as a supervillain. Not one to turn down money and companionship, Dioclea faked her way through being a "villain" for a while, mostly getting coffee and donuts for people.

One day, though, Dioclea wound up getting an invitation to Hell College, with the promise that she'd find the answers she had long since given up on there...

Dioclea is a hard-working, driven person. Most things in life she's had to work for herself, since the people around her were always too caught up in their own problems to really help with Dioclea's. She's no stranger to failure, but she's failed so often that she's a supremely graceful loser who knows when to quit, but never truly gives up. She believes she can accomplish anything if she just tries hard enough, even if it seems difficult or implausible, and encourages everyone around her to never give up on their dreams.

Despite these traits, Dioclea is also a very empathetic and kind person who understands and sympathizes with people who have trouble working at things, facing difficulties, and coping with failure. She's warm, friendly, and always there to pick up anyone who's feeling down, even if she can't understand their situation or doesn't know the whole story. She always wants to help others before helping herself, often ending up with her juggling multiple issues and struggling to manage them all. She has good intentions, but this often tends to be her downfall.

Dioclea is on the naive side, and has an inherent difficulty understanding things that aren't straightforward. Though she's improved over the years as she socializes more, she tends to take sarcasm seriously and jokes tend to fly over her head assuming she doesn't just interpret them literally. If someone's trying to be subtle about something, she probably won't recognize it. And due to her desire to believe in everyone, it unfortunately isn't hard for people to take advantage of her kindness by convincing her that they're a trustworthy person or that they desperately need the help. The exception is if someone tries to turn her against or otherwise make her distrust a friend: when she befriends someone she believes in them 100%, so unless the person in question is also a close friend, no force in the world can corrupt her bonds.

Dioclea tends to radiate just as much nervous energy as she does positive energy, despite her confidence. She can get panicky when working on things, especially when overwhelmed - which is, as discussed, pretty often. She always believes in herself, sure, but she also gets a little frantic and is a very emotive person. Just as she struggles with understanding subtlety, she seldom is subtle: if she's feeling a certain way, it'll be tremendously obvious. She's a terrible liar and bad at holding back her feelings, leading to her being very blunt and honest about things.

Reading the room and reading other people have never been Dioclea's strengths, so despite her sociable and gentle personality she sometimes oversteps boundaries or tries too hard to cheer up someone who just wants to be left alone. She has a bad habit of rambling as well, often branching off into tangentially-related subjects when discussing a memory or personal experience. She often catches herself rambling, leading to her prematurely cutting herself off and apologizing. She tries not to take it too personally when people call her out on any of these things or push her away when she's trying her best but failing to help an issue, but few things make her feel worse. It's one of the things she's most self-conscious about.

Dioclea opens up to people easily, and she's always eager to make new friends. There are few subjects she won't discuss, so even to the slightest of acquaintances she's an open book. She tends to develop crushes easily but isn't very aggressive in pursuing them, preferring to just enjoy people's company and get flustered about the time their hands kinda brushed against each other for half a second later.

Dioclea is extremely interested in all things unnatural and terrifying, such as the paranormal and arcane. This is somewhat at odds with her being jumpy and easily frightened, but none of that will stop her from investigating the spooky! She's fascinated by monsters and magical beings, and combined with the above paragraph this means she goes weak at the knees for monster people and other sapient creatures of the deep. Scream first, apologize for screaming second, blush third.

Finally, Dioclea is concerned about fitting in and often tries too hard to fit in with people who aren't like her. A good example of this is her supervillain career: being the nicest person in the universe, Dioclea didn't quite belong with a bunch of cartoonish baddies. But, eager to impress, Dioclea adopted an over-the-top dramatic villainess persona, hamming it up around her co-workers and peppering her speech with plenty of anime noblewoman laughter. She thinks it's kind of fun to roleplay like that, so even it's a little stressful she appreciates any opportunity she gets to be someone else for a while.

Physical Characteristics

Dioclea stands at a pretty average 5'7", with a thin body type. She wishes she could say her weight is because of careful diet and exercise, but it's mostly due to under-eating and stress. Up until coming to Hell College, her life was a non-stop train of hard work and little downtime, which took a toll on her body and general health. She's already started gaining some more weight, though, since now she has fewer obligations and Hell College is full of tantalizing foods that she can't help but try.

Shortly after arriving at Hell College she made a contract with a demon to be able to change her body at will, which she mostly just uses to avoid having to pay for HRT and SRS and to save time on getting ready in the morning. This contract gives her immense power, but she seems to be pretty ignorant of this and has only made the smallest of tweaks. There are even tweaks you'd think she would've made but hasn't: for example, she's cut her own hair since she was a kid and isn't the best at it, usually leaving her with messy layers and uneven bangs. It doesn't really register to her to even things out, though it's possible she likes the look it gives...

Her hair is black and about stomach-length, cut a bit unevenly so that her right side is a bit longer than the left side. Though she straightens her hair persistently, it poofs back up as night approaches. Some days she embraces her natural curls, but other days she'll practically set her hair on fire to get it to stay straight. Now that she's sold her soul, though, she can just straighten and reset her hair at will! Selling your soul sure makes life more convenient! Consider selling your soul today!

Style

Dioclea loves playing with different kinds of outfits. She likes schoolgirl aesthetics (thigh/kneesocks, pleated skirts, plaids, bows, jackets) and gothic lolita aesthetics (dark colors, lace, frills, etc.,) so whenever possible she likes to get outfits that express said styles. Her favorite colors are black and red, so pretty much all of her outfits heavily incorporate both colors.

Dioclea loves pajamas, and collects of excessively big shirts/sweaters, nightgowns, and cute slippers. Giving her comfy jammies is the quickest way to her heart, aside from like being an amicable horror from beyond the veil or something.

Body Language

Dioclea is an extremely expressive person: she wears her heart on her sleeve, so there's no mistaking what kind of mood she's in. Her face is the most expressive part of her body, and her eyes from there. That's not to say the rest of her body isn't: when she emotes, she uses just about every body part she has to do so.

She has a habit of fidgeting, squirming, and rocking, so at times people mistake her for being nervous or on-edge when she's in a perfectly neutral mood.

Scent

You ever sniff some black cherry hand soap?? If not, go buy some and there you go! That's Dioclea, all the way.

Voice

uhh... honestly i don't know, i kinda have one in my head vaguely but i dunno how to describe it nor can i think of any equivalent voice actors so uhh... yeah

Dioclea was born in an attempt to save a failing marriage - something that would come to define her. It didn't work, and while her parents loved her, they stayed together only because of her and wound up viewing her as a symbol of their poor relationship. Like their problems, her parents coped by avoiding her as much as they could, doing the bare minimum of parenting and usually leaving her at daycares and with babysitters so they could pursue their separate lives and pretend they had the guts to just get divorced. Because of this, Dioclea grew up feeling like she was a burden, so she began working harder at school and doing chores at home in hopes that it would make her parents happy.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much Dioclea could do, and so her efforts were in vain. Her parents did pay somewhat more attention to her, but never seemed particularly invested in her. They'd buy her books, but never ask why she was interested in the subjects she was. They'd attend her conferences, but only out of obligation. They'd thank her for cooking, but never ask where she learned to cook. They let her have friends over, but never asked who they were. They supported her in transitioning, but more in a financial sense than in a sense of actually caring. They were happy she got good grades, but only because it meant she was successful without them, so on and so forth. It frustrated her, and eventually she just gave up on trying to make herself exist in their world. By the time she was in middle school, she decided to just live for herself.

The most important figure in her life was a girl named Melibella Mirifica, who transferred to her school in 3rd grade. Melibella's creepy demeanor, affinity for the strange, and habit of dressing up in costumes on ordinary days quickly got her labeled as a "weirdo," but this only made Dioclea more intrigued by her. Dioclea approached her on the playground one day as Melibella was doodling summoning circles in the dirt with her fingers, and from there they were fast friends. Dioclea's parents didn't care too much about her whereabouts, so from then on Dioclea spent much of her after-school time hanging out with Melibella, playing make-believe and reading mythology books under covers.

Dioclea spent more and more time at Melibella's house: a small mansion with a sprawling yard. Melibella's parents seemed more interested in her than her own, though they still distanced themselves a bit from her and from even Melibella. They always seemed off in another room, talking to someone or another, and more than once they would be alarmed by Dioclea's unannounced presence and order her to go hide in a closet or under a bed for a while as they whispered to unknown figures. Dioclea could never quite figure out what they did, since they seemed to always stay home but also seemed to be super rich. They always had company, they had dozens of bookshelves full of mysterious books, and there was just an uneasy aura about them. Whenever she asked Melibella about what her parents' jobs were, Melibella would just say that she was supposed to find out when she got older.

None of this pushed Dioclea away, and she and Melibella became closer and closer. By the time senior year of high school rolled around, they were dating in all but name. But as graduation drew nearer, Melibella became more distant. She seemed remorseful about something, worried about something she wouldn't say. They hung out one last time after graduation, but as they parted ways Melibella made it seem like it was the last time they'd see each other.

Shortly afterward, Dioclea found that Melibella and her family had suddenly moved, though given how uncooperative their neighbors were it seemed more like they had vanished entirely. This crushed Dioclea, as she and Melibella had made so many plans for their future life and then she just left without warning. The worst part was that Dioclea couldn't help but think about how Melibella's demeanor had changed... combined with how suspicious her parents were, what if something bad happened to her? All she could do was worry.

Unfortunately, the world kept turning without her, and Dioclea decided she'd just have to try and move on. She piled part-time jobs on top of each other now that she didn't have school in the way. Even when she was little she was out every summer selling lemonade and painting fences; with adulthood, Dioclea only became more of a workaholic. Because she worked herself too hard, though, she wound up cycling through jobs all the time, losing them too often due to schedule conflicts and exhaustion hurting her productivity.

One day she applied for a job at a local Starbucks copyright-friendly coffee shop, but when she went in for her interview she found herself in a gathering of supervillains who had inexplicably decided to hold their first meeting there. Due to her vaguely gothic-lolita sort of getup at the time and her reddish eyes, she was mistaken for a wannabe villain and unwittingly wound up being hired. She did need some friends, though, and she did always want to live an exciting life, so she decided that she might as well roll with it!

The villains immediately had a hero group set up to oppose them, and Dioclea was shocked by their first meeting. One of the heroes was Melibella! Though, everything was off about her. She seemed to be some kind of magical girl now and she wielded a demonic sword, which would've been cool if not for the fact that Melibella didn't seem to recognize her at all! Melibella treated her like every other willing, gleefully prepared to chop her into little pieces with her new weapon, Bloodmonger. Dioclea struggled to get information out of her and get her to recognize her but, alas, Melibella didn't acknowledge that they had any past together. Reluctantly, Dioclea accepted that something must have happened to her, perhaps something related to her parents' arcane dealings, and decided the only thing she could do was take advantage of their situation to be able to see Melibella on a regular basis.

Dioclea faked her way through being a villain for a while, mostly just kind of chilling in the background getting coffee and donuts for people, buying groceries, and tidying up. She didn't really want to do anything illegal nor harm Melibella, but she felt at home helping out hammy evil people whose acts of evil were more Saturday morning cartoon evil than genuinely evil. The villain group didn't last for terribly long, though, eventually dissolving as various villains went their own separate ways and their opposing hero team dissolved as well. It was a little sad, but Dioclea was used to change and chaos by now. More upsetting was that Melibella was among the first heroes to vanish, and no one on either side seemed to have any idea where she went. This too was something that Dioclea felt dishearteningly used to.

Dioclea returned to job-juggling and living in an apartment, noticing that odd and unfortunate things still seemed to be happening. An employee at the coffee shop she frequented and attempted to apply for had gone missing, her shifty and avoidant neighbor's mail was piling up... there were so many suspicious things happening at once that it overwhelmed her curiosity. As much as she wanted to investigate, though, she still had bills to pay and so much to do...

After another exhausting day, Dioclea came home and got her mail, finding a strange letter inviting her to a place called Hell College with tuition waived. The letter told her that she would find her answers there, which left her confused. The lack of tuition was tempting, but Hell, Michigan was awfully far from Denver, Colorado! How would she get there? And how could a school in Michigan have answers for her? They couldn't be talking about Melibella or the disappearances, right? It was probably just a generic "you'll find the answers to your life's questions" kind of thing, probably. Nonetheless, in her heart she had already accepted, and with that a portal suddenly opened beneath her and left her stumbling into Hell College. Which, as it turns out, was in actual Hell.

Dioclea found herself confronted by Ganymede, a mysterious entity who had some sway over admissions. They seemed irritated by her appearance, accusing her of stealing the letter. Dioclea insisted that she found it in her mailbox, and upon further investigation it was discovered that Ganymede had intended to invite her neighbor: a prominent member of something called the Void Cult. However, because of how full said neighbor's mailbox was, it wound up in Dioclea's mailbox instead since it was the closest empty space. Ganymede sighed and informed Dioclea that there was no way to take back her registration now, so she'd better not waste the opportunity they had unwittingly granted her. Hell College was a prestigious place, and few got the opportunity to attend for free.

Though certainly alarmed by this bizarre situation, the past few years had been so strange that going to college in Hell didn't seem like something she couldn't handle. It was a little exciting, even! She settled in quickly and is preparing for her freshman year, eager to be at school again with no strings attached. No parents to fail at impressing, no bills to worry about... she's disappointed that since that letter wasn't for her, though, that means her answers aren't waiting at Hell College for her.

She's wrong on that front, though. Little does she know, she's closer to getting the answers to just about every question she's ever had, and there's plenty of reuniting to be done just on the horizon...

Dioclea is an ordinary human being, for all that entails. Her only power is her burning anime spirit...!!

Or so she thinks. She actually does have a special ability, namely that she's able to sell her soul multiple times. Ordinarily, when one makes a contract with a demon or other entity, their soul becomes linked to said entity. When the terms of the contract are fulfilled, the contractee dies, or at another point determined by the contract, the contractor will consume the contractee's soul or otherwise revoke it from the contractee. Because of the soul link, the contractee's soul is essentially "reserved" and cannot be offered to other contractors unless said contractors make some sort of deal with the initial contractor to split the soul.

In Dioclea's case, however, there's some sort of abnormality with her soul that leads to her soul only becoming somewhat linked, allowing her to form contracts with unlimited entities. This causes her soul to be tugged in several directions, meaning that should she die outside of Hell College (which has students magically respawn if their revival is paid for, like losing a life in a video game,) she would immediately be revived as her soul can't figure out where to go. Likewise, contractors can't come and claim their so, as doing so would cause them to discover that it's tethered down by its other bonds. The only way her soul can be claimed now is if all of her contractors come together and forge a contract that agrees to split her soul, or if enough of them revoke their contracts that she's left with only one contractor again.

This ability, while not common, isn't exactly rare, either, nor is it new to Hell College. Some species' soul function like this by default, and others have this trait as a common soul mutation. It's relatively rare in humans, with the odds of a given human having the trait being about 1 in 500,000. Contracting beings are advised to stay away with being with this trait, but unless the would-be contractee is a species that innately has the trait or the contractor is a powerful being who can identify souls at a glance it's difficult to tell. Dioclea herself is unaware of her "ability" and has befriended many novice demons who are unaware of the trait's existence, so she contracts freely without many of her contractors realizing there might be an issue claiming her soul in the future. Likewise, Dioclea doesn't know that her "ability" is something that shouldn't be possible.

Due to Ganymede's premature invitation, Dioclea has had a bit of time to sell her soul around and pick up some interesting abilities. Here's a listing of all of the new powers she has thanks to this:

• From Pira: "I wish I could change my body to be the way I want it!" - Dioclea has the ability to change her appearance at will, so long as she truly wants it. She only uses this for superficial things, unaware that it allows her to shapeshift.
• From Aranaea: "I wish I could change my voice!" - Allows Dioclea to change her voice at will, though she again is unaware of the ramifications of this and has only used it to give herself a new default voice.
• From Crucifera: "I wish I'd stop losing things..." - Prevents Dioclea from losing inanimate objects. Should she misplace something, the moment she becomes conscious of its absence she will remember exactly where it is. This does not extend to items that have been stolen from her, only items Dioclea has lost of her own accord.

Dioclea has considered making a contract to help her find Melibella, but there are many things keeping her from it. She doesn't know if Melibella actively wants to avoid her, what wish exactly she'd want to make, if Dioclea's actions might put Melibella in danger, etc. For now, she just wants to focus on her school life and see if she can learn anything about Melibella's whereabouts/circumstances through Hell College's various resources, first.

• Most people just call her "Dio" for short, which is pronounced "dee-oh" instead of "dye-oh" as it is in her full name.
• Dioclea was created for a supervillain-themed OC Jam. A bunch of people on a forum I went on got together and were assigned numbers, and we had to create a villain concept and then blindly create a relationship tidbit for each number, as well as making tidbits for the existing hero group. On the end date we'd reveal our villains and their relationships, which would lead to silly results like a hero seeing Dioclea eat a piece of candy off the ground once, her getting stuck in someone's closet for hours, an awkward incident involving a chicken wrap, etc. Her concept has developed a lot since then and the forum has since been taken down, but I can't bring myself to take out her weirdly out-of-place supervillain career...
• Despite not having as many expenses at Hell College as she did on Earth, she still has a bad habit of picking up as many jobs as she can. She's working at Maple Manor primarily, but she also works part-time for other businesses on campus when she can. Hell College is a really lax place, so her not working a consistent schedule isn't much of an issue.
• After moving out, Dioclea's parents finally divorced. They tried contacting her more often since their individual lives have improved, but Dioclea brushes them off. She texts her maternal grandmother a lot, though, since whenever Dioclea visited her she was enthusiastic and caring. She's the one who taught Dioclea how to cook.
• She was classified as a lust demon due to claiming that companionship and love made her stronger.

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