Monica Holst

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"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
PronounsShe/They
SpeciesKindred / Errant
DivisionOuterworld
RoleScout
Height5' 1"
Age22
Birth DateNova 18, 1208
ZodiacArrogant Unicorn
AspectIce (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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Abilities

Through her ice aspect, Monica is able to summon and throw spears of ice like javelins. It is among her most commonly used spells, and though she does not utilize it often, she's become quite good at hitting her marks. She is also capable of making ice bridges and walls, provided there is water to freeze.

Monica's special abilities come from her pact with the Monarch. She is capable of slicing open portals between two open spots in reality with her scythe (or any other blade), provided she can either see the location or is familiar with its layout. She also has the ability to quickly shift her position short distances, as long as the path is not blocked. She uses this ability to effortlessly dodge attacks. Using either of these abilities makes her feel nauseous and slowly advances her corruption.

Relationships

Champ

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

Odin

Monica and Odin's paths crossed while Monica was in training. The duo sparred once-- Odin came out on top, but Monica, not to be deterred, kept getting up and trying to push through it even after the match had been called off. Meeting her in an official capacity years later, Monica is shocked that the fearsome OWD captain who put her in her place years prior was actually shockingly sweet, being one of the first people she confesses her corruption to. They have since become good friends and drinking buddies, on the rare occasions where Monica goes out.

Rin

Rin is another early OWD coworker with whom she shares her corruption status. She looks up to her, taking her guidance on dealing with her symptoms to heart. The duo occasionally join each other for bubble excursions.

Korin

Monica is connected to Korin through her work with Odin. It is during a drinking game with the duo that she becomes involved with the Valhalla Project. She can commonly be found filling in for him on certain duties when he is out of town, particularly ones that involve taking care of the children of the project. They can occasionally be seen playing strategy board games together, despite Monica's lack of skill. The children of the project will also tell you a tale of the two getting into a match of... headpats? Though the two of them will vehemently deny this.

Freyja

Freyja’s work in the Contingency Division regularly brings her into contact with Monica. Monica brings her herbs as a favor-- one which Freyja returns when Monica becomes corrupted by supplying her with supplements to combat her symptoms.

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.

Leo

Monica admires Leo's sense of idealism and desire to help all in need. She feels that they have much in common and becomes fast friends with him.

Keldwyn

Monica and Keldwyn met in a tavern after one of Monica's excursions. The pirate expressed interest in her, resulting in a flustered but earnest attempt at flirting back followed by passionate yapping about her position on the Outerworld Division. What followed was a night together Monica still thinks about on occasion.

Lianne

Rumors swirl around the fox kindred running the Valhalla Project's bookshop cafe. One curious one concerns a night where Monica was seen going home with Lianne but was never seen exiting the premises afterwords. Monica refuses to answer questions about this-- though it's alleged by some passers by that a soft purple glow was seen in the window for a brief second the next morning.

Trivia

  • Voice Claim: Cassandra Lee Morris
  • Monica is represented by the Cyclone emoji, a reference to her use of whimsy portals.
  • She does not hold alcohol well and will get plastered after just a few drinks. She's very cuddly like this!
  • One of Monica's symptoms of her corruption includes pastel colored rings that appear in random locations around her body when she uses her magic. These will also appear when she is feeling embarrassed or flustered.
  • Another of Monica's symptoms is a star shape appearing in her eye when she is casting. This effect can linger afterwords or appear when she is feeling ill due to her corruption.
  • Monica is a himejoshi and loves reading GL light novels.