sheri's expression is downright cartoonish as she ducks fast to avoid an errant fireball, cast by her ward. it collides with the hanging plant above instead, scattering burnt contents on the wood flooring. she stomps out any tiny flames quickly with her boots. "... ok maybe that's enough fire spells for now, cillian." maybe they'll focus on something less... prone to burning.
Heavy hands find rest on shaky knees. When he sits, he allows his body to make as much noise as it can on the way to the floor; he'd been on the brink of collapse for half an hour, too focused on seeing results. Cillian sighs. He does so in a way that feels like he's expelling all the air out of his lungs, making himself as empty as he thinks he ought to be. Fading memories of his immortal life leave stubborn traces of pride in this new existence, marring his ability to accept that magic would not come to him as it did when he was fae.
"'m s-sorry..." his throat burns like it's never been used (to be fair, he's only gotten the hang of speech recently), tasting of copper and heat. Apology still feels foreign to him, a sting on the tongue that he could not quite ignore.
Cillian's palms slide down his nose and down-turned lips, easing some of his frustration out of his human body like a wrung towel. This was his choice. He wanted to live. And he did this purposefully, knowing the consequences, yet not wholly understanding what it meant to change. To be changed. To witness his own becoming in the wake of the destruction of what could have been eternal. He could have been eternal.
But when Sheri notices him struggling— tears welling, jaw tight, lips quivering— and pulls him into her arms, he can't help but break. Emotion wracks his slight form, and the sobs come in waves tinged with shame, fear, and a sense of loss that he could no longer fully comprehend.
alias / name : Hallieween is my current gaming tag and I go by Hal/Hallie in the real world lmao
birthday : Sept 21st
zodiac sign : Virgo
height : 5'5"
hobbies : Photography, knitting, aesthetic journaling (with all the stickers and stuff haha), rping here, music, and D&D (current game I'm DMing is 4 years ongoing)
favourite colour : Green
favourite book : "Dragon and Phoenix" by Joanne Bertin has a real soft spot in my heart
last film / show : Bluey lmao, but also re-watching Bridgerton (again) while waiting for the new episodes
recent reads : Currently reading "Legends and Lattes"! I love it and recommend it!
inspiration : Halia is inspired by old Hollywood films, noir/gumshoe fiction (mostly Raymond Chandler novels), prohibition, "Crime and Punishment" a little, jazz, femme fatals, old timey accents, being nostalgic for a time that was never yours
story behind url : The first url was farewellmlovely, but I guess that blog got hacked or something and I couldn't get into it anymore so I made alonggoodbye. Both urls are titles of Chandler's books.
fun fact about me : My friends run a professional event/club which has a Greek/Chthonic god theme and I'm the new doorman starting September. My moniker is Morpheus.
tagged by: @magicxecustos (I love Sheri, go follow)
tagging: whoever hasn't done it already lmao
send me a 💞 and i’ll tell you something I like about your portrayal !! [Still accepting!]
Sheri is so dear and close to my heart!! After a decade of writing with you and our characters growing together, I can say that one of my favourite things about her is that she is unapologetically herself! I love that she is such a rock for Halia, Merc, and Cillian (all of whom are constantly in a state of some sort of chaos/transition) in different ways while not compromising who she is at her core. She likes Merc, but they're in different places in life? They break up and she doesn't compromise her happiness! Halia gets married? "Girl you are crazy, but I'm happy for you AND I'm letting you know I'm sad I wasn't there!" LOVE HER
She's portrayed as such a steadfast companion, who keeps all of my silly meow meows on track and grounded— well, except maybe Merc, because he just gets kinda crazy around/for her.
Halia relaxes her grip on the baseball bat when a familiar face takes shape in the dim light. It is definitely a surprise to see him actually take up her offer for shelter, but she resists the urge to point it out in case doing so should scare him away. She rests the cool metal against her shoulder and gestures Mutt to shuffle in out of the cold.
"wait! please don't go. don't leave me alone. i didn't mean what i said." cillimilli for the soul
'I understand...' his mind-voice is soft: lighter than dissipating sea foam and echoes in her head like a summer's breeze. 'However, I must away. I've many duties I can no longer neglect.'
Human children seldom mean the biting, vicious insults they hurl at the end of an overwhelming day, no matter the amount of fun achieved. This was true for Millie, who often seemed well beyond her seven years. A freckled hand comes to rest upon her head and then gently tucks a tangled strand of hair behind her ear.
He feels the heat of irritation on his skin— a building smoulder under the collar of his doublet— he's been in this world too long now and he knows he should leave. He's not upset with her. This is simply bad timing.
And yet, her tiny hand grips his sleeve so tightly that it feels as though she's the one slowly perishing.
'I'll return again soon. Three days, hm? Does that please you, little one?'
🍁 + does Halia ever wonder how her abilities came to be? Ever wonder how or why she became semi immortal?
Send 🍁 + any question you’ve been curious to know about my muse
(always accepting!)
Yes! After she left New York in the mid-1930s, she ended up travelling to her mother's home state of Louisiana with the thought that this could be some sort of generational curse. She couldn't remember many details about her mother's side except that her maternal grandfather was from a place called Saint Malo. Sadly, Saint Malo was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915, so Halia found herself searching New Orleans (mostly Jefferson Parish) for anyone within the Filipino diaspora who had any idea what could have caused her immortality.
Through her time in Louisiana, Halia was able to learn about Filipino sympathetic magic. Her current working theory is that she must have been cursed/blessed by someone within her mother's circle who didn't know they had the power to speak harm into being.
From here: "The Usikan, also known as the Buyagan, is a type of Visayan sorcerer that can inflict harm through words (buyag). They can affect not only people, but also plants, animals, and inanimate objects. They cause harm by complimenting someone or something, either unwittingly or with malevolent intent. To protect against this, people carefully avoid accepting compliments from strangers and may say the phrase "pwera buyag" (from Spanish fuera buyag) immediately after giving a compliment or receiving one. Various beliefs hold that the Usikan can be recognized by having a dark tongue or by being born with teeth. Unlike the other types of "witches", the power of the Usikan is innate and is not acquired by choice. Nor are they innately malevolent, and in most cases, they are believed to be unaware that they possess the power."
Extra: This is one of Wilhelmina Sallows' abilities, so she avoids complimenting others vocally in a detailed manner.
FULL NAME: Halia Vasilyevna Markova (birth), Halia Graves (as of 2024)
(aliases: Halia Marshall, Lila Marker)
GENDER & SEXUALITY: Cis female || pan-romantic demisexual
ETHNICITY & SPECIES: Russian (Siberian) descent on father's side, Filipino-American (Louisiana) descent on mother's side || Immortal (cursed)
BIRTHPLACE & BIRTHDATE: Brooklyn, New York, September 21, 1900
GUILTY PLEASURES:
- Despite living through the rise of jazz, swing, rock, and disco, Halia secretly adores catchy, overproduced '90s pop music.
- She has a crumbling, first edition copy of a relatively unknown romance novel from the 20s. It's neither highbrow nor particularly well-written, but she loves it.
- She keeps track of certain people she's known and ghosted over the years. She watches for them in obituaries and sends flowers to their families.
PHOBIAS: Drowning, open water, abandonment, losing the friends and family that she has (new)
WHAT THEY WOULD BE INFAMOUS FOR: If it weren’t for history’s knack for focusing almost exclusively on men and Leon Reid's connections, Halia would be in the books for crimes of arson, murder, and bootlegging. If her past and her immortality were not something to be covered up, she would have worked her way up in the music business and had been noted among other colored singers through the jazz age.
WHAT HAVE THEY/WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN ARRESTED FOR: If it hadn’t been for her gang-mates, the neighborhood boys through her youth cast out by racist American views, our girl would be arrested for: several accounts of arson, breaking and entering, theft, murder accomplished through organized crime, the production, trafficking and selling of illicit goods (alcohol).
CHARACTER YOU SHIP THEM WITH:
- Everett Graves! Their relationship could be a deep dive into the nuances of friendship, attraction and sexuality. Because of some old-fashioned values, it would be hard for her to admit that the sexual aspect of a relationship doesn't really make or break her feelings of love and loyalty. While she is physically attracted to him, Halia is in it for the feeling of being loved and having chosen family (no matter the level of dysfunction)
- (bonus) Meno Alkaev! I feel like Halia has caught feelings for her after travelling together (forever ago lmao). They share a lot of the same experiences, and Halia finds comfort in knowing that she can be truly understood. Also, the potential to spend eternity with someone like Meno makes her very happy.
CHARACTER MOST LIKELY TO MURDER THEM: Forrest Jones, probably?
FAVOURITE BOOK GENRE: Detective, mystery fiction
LEAST FAVOURITE BOOK CLICHÉ: “And they lived happily ever after…”, lazy writing in her opinion.
TALENTS OR POWERS: Halia can proudly flaunt her singing voice, but is much more shy about her passions for visual art or violin playing. The latter two talents are so time-consuming that she can never find a chance to indulge or practice. ||
Powers:
- Fire Invulnerability. Halia is immune to fire/flame, and extreme heat cannot harm her. She cannot be burned to death.
- Thermokinesis. Halia cannot create fire*, but she can shape, store, and manipulate heat. For example, she can influence the heat in a room, making it cooler if she stores the heat in the air within her body, or make it hotter if she releases it. If she stores the heat, she can later use it to burn things if she touches them. ( *subject to change, verse-dependent)
- Pyrokinetic Recovery. Halia can heal herself by absorbing intense heat or by making contact with an open flame.
(Unbeknownst to her:
- 1. She can revive herself after bursting into flames and turning into ash (phoenix regeneration).
- 2. She will die permanently if she drowns or freezes.
- 3. If a vampire were to drink her blood, they would be immune to sunlight for a few hours. If a werewolf were to bite her, it would be forced to change back into human form. Partner dependent)
WHY SOMEONE MIGHT LOVE THEM: Her loyalty and her patience. Halia could never rat out anyone, let alone someone she loves. Very ride or die for her chosen family. She’s very patient and is the type of person to drag you back home to be tucked in bed, or sit by the toilet with you if you've gotten drunk out of your wits.
WHY SOMEONE MIGHT HATE THEM: She is a very competent liar, and she lives a life held up by many webs of lies. Halia does not take joy out of it, but unless you already know about her age, powers, or past, don’t expect the truth until you’ve earned it.
HOW THEY CHANGE: After living through a hundred years and losing loved ones repeatedly, Halia becomes better at experiencing loss and finds freedom living out from under other people's shadows. After she finally kills Leon, she learns not to believe in the sunken cost fallacy (i.e. just because someone has been in your life forever, doesn't mean you should continue with toxic relationships of any sort). She eventually learns how to make friends genuinely without trauma bonding, or becoming co-dependent.
WHY YOU LOVE THEM: I support women's right and WRONGS!!! She's heavily flawed in her youth and makes horrible choices that are seldom without consequence. It feels like she makes a lifetime of bad decisions, and it takes her another lifetime to rectify, process, and heal from them. She's a study in recovery in multiple ways! I just love her!
(I did this like 10 years ago, but I wanted to update it after her revamp! Feel free to fill this out, too!)
