Monica Holst

"Casting with it? Yeah, it's uh, weird. I don't know, I feel like whenever I use it, there's something out there... calling for me. Restlessly."

Monica Holst
Pronouns	She/They
Species	Kindred / Human
Division	Outerworld
Role	Scout
Height	5' 1"
Age	22
Birth Date	Nova 18, 1208
Zodiac	Arrogant Unicorn
Aspect	Ice (Born) / Water (Learned) / Whimsy (Pact)

Monica Holst is a Kindred-Human member of the Adventurer's Guild's Outerworld Division, serving as one of its scouts.

Personality

Monica is an excitable, easily distractable individual. During missions, she maintains an air of stoicism, though this is easily seen through thanks to the fact that she regularly emotes with her whole body. Her ears and tail are also notably expressive and usually give away front she attempts to put up. When focused, Monica becomes notably nonverbal, opting to point or use basic sign language to communicate. This can also happen when she is stressed, though this is more often because she is attempting to hide signs of whimsy corruption and the influence of a monarch on her speech.

Biography

Monica Holst was born 22 years ago, in the small town of Lilium on the border of Dizajni and Sungluc. At the age of 8, her town was consumed by an expanding wave of whimsy aspected aether. Many were evacuated by the Adventurer’s Guild, and specifically the Outerworld Division, as the worst of it came to pass and her town was lost. As the OWD activated the containment field around what was once her town, Holst vowed to join the OWD when she became of age.

Monica applied for the Adventurer’s Guild at 18. One year later, she’d passed Champ’s qualification tests with flying colors and immediately applied to become a scout for the Outerworld Division. She’d chosen a scythe– a rather dangerous and unconventional weapon– as her weapon of choice, and trained under Rae to earn her license for it.

While she'd joined with benevolent purposes-- to help those in need-- Monica also had personal designs on gaining access to her old home in Lilium. She was finally sent there during her fourth rotation. During the course of the mission, Monica discovered her old home among the ruins and retrieved a small stuffed doll she'd left behind while the rest of her squad moved ahead to investigate the area. Upon leaving the house, however, Monica found that the group was being attacked by whimsy-touched monsters and rushed to aid them. She would be too late, and as a result would be the only survivor of the incident. She attempted to fight the monsters that had attacked her squad, but was quickly overwhelmed and nearly defeated, her PPE taking significant damage during the ensuing fight. Towards the end, cornered and overwhelmed, Monica reached out for the doll she'd retrieved and unknowingly entered into a pact with a monarch. Her resulting affinity for whimsy magic saved her life, allowing her to leave the fight unscathed and return home.

Upon returning home to rest, Monica’s physical and mental health deteriorated for a time and she became violently ill. After the trauma of watching her compatriots violently die and being touched by whimsy, she took an extensive leave of absence, during which she reported struggling to keep food down and intense fever nightmares.

Though Monica made a miraculous recovery and has since returned to the field, she still reports nightmares and mild chronic headaches and nausea from time to time. Therapy sessions have helped her cope with the loss of her teammates, but her psychologist has made notes of Monica saying that she feels “called” by something outside of her understanding. Other team members have also commented on erratic behavior after the use of her abilities, which is usually difficult to detect thanks to her more normal nonverbal disposition while on assignment.

Contributions

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Relationships

Freyja

Freyja’s work in the Contingency Division regularly brings her into contact with Monica. The two seem to get along well, with Monica even taking quests for her, albeit off the record.

Eleanor

The ever chaotic and friendly “Library Menace” has also been spotted at containment field checkpoints bringing muffins and other snacks to the Outerworld Division. This often puts her in contact with Monica as well. Monica has become fond of a particular type of cookie Ella makes.

Champ

Like many other guild recruits, Monica was trained as a part of Champ’s recruitment program.

Ocellus

Monica pays regular visits to Ocellus to help manage moderate symptoms of her whimsy corruption. She also checks up on his research from time to time.