Deirdre

BACKGROUND

Hometown: Lindelin

In the old money family of the Hayes, government had always been its focal point. Deirdre was the youngest of her siblings, preceded by two older brothers and one older sister. As the baby of the family, expectations to be like her elders were at their peak. She had so many good influences around her to be the best she could be, so how would she ever be able to fall short? After all, everyone in the family would fall under the same profession in some regard. Her mother a private investigator, her brothers studying to be overseas intelligence officers, and her father part of Lindellin’s homebase intelligence office.

Deirdre had quite the road map to be well-versed in the life of law, justice, and espionage.

When Deirdre was younger, she’d often wonder how it was possible to have the strictest parents on the planet. They were tough on her and her siblings, whether it be because of their dress, their attitude, or their futures ahead of them. They raised all of them to be “good children,” and despite their rigidity, their parents themselves were good people. They wanted the world to be better, seeing it as a place so easy of corruption. It needed more morals enforced, and that included its people. Her father had always championed that he did what he did for the greater good. He wanted to rid those in power—who promised protection, peace and safety yet used it to their own gain—of their seats, and Deirdre found that quite noble.

But her parents had a candid way of making Deirdre feel inferior at the same time. They had less expectations for her as the youngest; still expected her to do well, but they invested less into her than they did her eldest siblings. As long as she fulfilled her part in society in some fashion, then she was “all right.”

All of the Hayes children had undergone the same sort of family training her parents and their parents underwent; with shortness from her dad’s side, they mainly looked to judo as their way of combat. Deirdre never had any magic capabilities that lended themselves to martial arts, like her sister did; or any mind tricks to make fights a little easier, like her brothers did. Therefore, she had to work twice as hard with only her quick thinking and agility to aid her in a pinch. What magic abilities she failed to inherit from her parents weren’t very useful in the way of getting the advantage over other people.

What her magic abilities did offer was a gateway into truth-seeking, and if she hadn’t had that, she might not have had anything in her family’s eyes at all. And as a truth-seeker, Deirdre was more unparalleled than her family by far, aside from perhaps her mother. As a tot, Deirdre was exposed to a lot of hard lessons most children her age would not have been subjected to. It wasn’t uncommon her mother or father brought her with them to work, giving glimpses of both the work they did and the dangerous, unsavory characters that played their roles on the grand stage as villainous folk. How was it all any different from what they would show on TV? Deirdre wanted to play in the show so badly, she couldn’t wait to grow up. But where would she fit in? What part could she play?

When her homeschooling began, that was when Deirdre got a taste of what she wanted. What she could have in her adulthood. Being from a wealthy family, the Hayes sought homeschooled tutoring for their children up until junior high. They wanted the formative years to focus strictly on learning, while their teenage to young adult years would be more focused on others around them. Deirdre very much threw herself into her learning, but her eagerness did not come from wanting to be a model student—at least not for the same reasons. With her learning flourishing, she could bargain for an extra two days to herself, having tutoring three times a week instead of five. She told her parents she wanted to take time for her training. She just didn't tell them which.

Down the road from where they lived, there was an elementary school that allowed for support pets. In her first attempt at infiltration, she snuck herself into the school as one such emotional companion. Every Wednesday and Friday, she would listen to their lessons, play with the students, and observe them. She loved discovering how people thought. And when they were taken to the park for recess, Deirdre would transform back, playing with them as though she were just an ordinary kid they’d met who lived down the street and came to the park with her family. She had her own little circle of friends, all on her own.

Well her parents hadn’t found out her little secret. Instead, it was one of her father’s coworkers, whose son did actually attend the elementary school. Deirdre was so certain when they had pulled her aside that they would berate her—say it was wrong to lie, dangerous to be out there pretending she was something she was not, and that they would tell her parents. Instead, her father’s coworker surprised her. They encouraged her, complimenting her skills for “es-spinach” (she looked the word up later and learned it was espionage). And from thereon, they’d become something of a mentor to her, keeping it a secret from her parents too.

“Lindellin could use more bright kids like you,” they said.

Stretching the truth became more commonplace for Deirdre thereafter. She never told a lie to harm anything or anyone, but she grew accustomed to omitting the truth nonetheless. According to her now-mentor, most people who were rookies in her father’s field told lies because they liked the thrill of deceiving people. They would get so elaborate with their lies that they would forget something close to the truth and trap themselves. That was why you injected a little truth in your lie, they said. To soften the edges.

When graduation for elementary school came—junior high on the horizon—her mentor recommended she think about working for Lindellin’s government agency in a slightly different branch than her father.

Following junior high, Deirdre’s ease assimilating into private schooling surrounded by others came as a surprise to her parents; she wasn’t culture shocked by socializing, overwhelmed by learning societal cues—there was nothing “fish out of water”-like about her, like her siblings had been when they’d gone from homeschooling to regular schooling. They always seemed a little disappointed by that fact, but Deirdre was never sure why. Wasn’t her self-sufficiency what they wanted in the end? She shouldn’t have constantly been going to them for advice.

Her junior and high school years flew by, and with graduation approaching, Deirdre’s mentor had made their reappearance into her life—this time through her father. He’d received a letter of recommendation from his coworker vouching on Deirdre’s behalf, and once he’d come home, he’d demanded Deirdre explain herself. How she knew her mentor. Why, of all things, she wanted to go into covert operations. Didn’t she want something a little less manipulative? Something more by-the-book and factual, like they did?

But the methods to bring about change didn’t matter so long as she was achieving them for just reasons, Deirdre had said. Wasn’t that why her parents taught her how important goodness was to preserve? So what if she snuck in and assumed different identities to gather more information. It was her calling—she knew she could be good at it. Being younger than her already-successful siblings didn’t mean anything by way of her experience and attitude.

It was a struggle, but eventually, Deirdre set off to become one of Lindellin’s Missionaries.

College was different; with dual-training for her eventual work as a spy, she found herself exhausted by the intensity. She had to get used to being vigilant, to wild scenarios that may test the limits of her physicality, to hone what magic she knew to the best of her ability, to reports and codes and signals (the worst ones to memorize), and additional languages she hadn’t already learned growing up with her parents’ teaching. She went from feeling eighteen to forty in a span of six years, even though she was only twenty three by the end of her training.

After clearance, Deirdre spent most of her time in the covert operations office. Her missions were small, but still fulfilling practice. It wasn’t until rapid news spread of Lune de Miel island’s restored communication that her mentor approached her with a mission for her. Being among the younger members of their office, it would be an easier infiltration.

Lune de Miel… Island of sacred proportions, told to mortals to never walk upon it. Claims of gods’ voices reemerging into the sphere once again. She and her family had never been the religious type and questioned more than accepted, but some remote little island rumored to have brainwashed its denizens? That was something worth investigating.

And what theater-acting college student, starving to make a name for herself, wouldn’t want to be involved in a scandal like that?

PERSONALITY

STATS

SPELLS

"CAT-NAPPED"- Glamour

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Turns into a feral feline version of her species! This spell changes Deir’s physical appearance to be a four-legged, furry little munchkin cat. She still retains her sense of self (think Druid Wild Shaping) and has all the perks that cats would normally possess (i.e. agility, limberness, better vision, etc.). Be warned—she may be as naked as a newborn when shifting back! She also cannot use spells while maintaining this form. Her cuteness factor goes up by 100%, though! (She does have a special bodysuit, but she doesn’t always wear it.)

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"GOT YOUR TONGUE" - Sound | Psionics

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This spell makes Deir’s voice appear otherwise silent to others except those she targets. Like using a bluetooth piece, she can communicate with up to one person she can see. Her voice will sound like a whisper to them, and she is only able to speak to those that are visually within a 150-foot range. Obviously, projections of a person (i.e. illusions, television screens, etc.) do not work. She will know if they received her whisper or not. While the target is responding, their voice becomes silent to others nearby them, excluding her.

After sending her words (even before they reply), Deir can choose to teleport silently to that target’s location with Psionic energy, leaving a brief afterimage behind in place of where she once was. The outline of her figure still shimmering, Deir can also choose to blast the target with a shockwave of piercing mental energy. The effect appears as a soundless scream, but for its target, the sound echoes throughout their head, causing potentially incapacitiating psychic damage.

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"ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR" - Knowledge

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Deir focuses and holds onto an object for five minutes. After five minutes have passed, she is able to recall the last thirty minutes of conversations or actions that have taken place near or with that object, whether she was present or not. She can only do this for one object at a time, three times a day. 

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"SHARP PRACTICE" - Knowledge | Absolution

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Channeling and focusing her magic into her palms, Deir’s hands glow with a blue and yellow hue. Whenever she accurately hits the pressure points of a target, she:

• Temporarily reads their surface-level thoughts, mainly focusing on their purpose or intent.
• Wears down the target’s ability to lie for each successful pressure point hit. After three successful strikes, the target is unable to deliberately tell a lie. While they cannot lie and would be forced to tell the truth, they can also choose not to respond.

 This spell lasts for ten minutes and can only be used once per day.