pearltergeist | ( ooc ) brave new world app.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Fel
Contact Information: plurk: Tenfel | AIM: erraticExcursionist
Time Zone: GMT
Characters Played: Bilbo Baggins

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Pearl Fey
Character Canon: Ace Attorney

History: On the AA wiki here!

AU History:

Much like her cousin Maya, Pearl Fey was born into the life of an heir to the Kurain Channelling Technique. The child of her mother's second marriage to a man who abandoned his wife and child soon after Pearl was born, Pearl has been raised as a student of the technique since she was a small child - something she excels at thanks to her status as a naturally strong Psychic/Ghost type Enlightened. She is considered to be a prodigy by many within the community of Ninetales Vale - a status that her mother, who was for many years the de facto leader of the channelling school before Maya ascended to the position of Master, took particular pride in.

Growing up as sheltered as her overbearing mother could manage in a city like Union, Pearl's life has been one of almost constant training to hone both her abilities as a medium, as well as her inborn abilities as an Enlightened. Still, as disciplined as this lifestyle has been, Pearl has not been alone. Her older cousin Maya has been a constant in her life since Pearl was small, and Pearl sees the older Fey almost more like an older sister than a cousin. Pearl has also enjoyed the company of Nozomi Toujou since she was adopted into one of the Fey branch families, as well as her two loyal Pokemon; Ezzie the Espurr, who she has had almost as long as she can remember, and Daisy the Hoppip, a more recent acquisition.

However, as peaceful as Pearl's life seems to have been in spite of the low public opinion of Kurain during her childhood, things are not quite as they seem. Maya has always faced some opposition from Pearl's mother, in no small part due to the fact that Pearl's mother believes that Pearl herself ought to be the next Master of Kurain, despite being from a Fey branch family (albeit the one most closely related to the main family). This is due to the fact that Pearl's mother, as the eldest, would have inherited the position of Master had her sister not possessed the greater power.

For much of Pearl's childhood, her mother's intense dislike of Maya went over Pearl's head, but as Pearl has grown older, and particularly since Maya's ascension to the Master's seat, it has become impossible for Pearl not to notice her mother's general outlook, nor her belief that Pearl should replace Maya as Master. Now, in Pearl's opinion, there's no one better suited to be the Master of Kurain than Maya, and she's been Maya's staunchest supporter since day one; the position of Master holds no interest for her. Frankly, she finds her mother's attitude and continued opposition to Maya upsetting at best, and disturbing at worst. As a result, although it's not in Pearl's nature to balk at authority, her teenage years have seen the start of a subtle rebellion against her mother's ways, including but not limited to making use of her privileges as an Enlightened to broaden her horizons, as well as being an active and vocal supporter of Maya.

Canon Personality:

The first thing that might strike you about Pearl is that she's unfailingly polite, and even a little on the formal side for a seventeen year old. Pearl was raised to conduct herself like a proper lady at all times, with particular emphasis on refinement, elegance, and good manners, and although her mother Morgan has been out of the picture for years by the time Dual Destinies takes place, those lessons have stuck enough to be a core part of her character. Pearl is always respectful to those she meets, taking care to always address people by their title if they have one. Despite this, she also comes off as cheerful and upbeat, and in spite of her refined manner of speaking still manages to be an easy person to talk to thanks to her naturally friendly nature.

That said, it would be a mistake to assume that Pearl's politeness means that she has any compunctions about speaking her mind. Quite the opposite, in fact; Pearl has been rather forthright with her opinions ever since she was a small child, particularly when confronted with something that she dislikes or disapproves of. Back in the day, she was even known to give the adults around her a good scolding when they did something she found displeasing - sometimes with physical force. (Phoenix Wright can tell you all about Pearl's mean right hook. Oh boy.) While Pearl has mostly grown out of slapping Nick for any percieved wrong-doings, she's still more than prepared to deliver a stern lecture where and when it's needed.

Pearl is someone with deeply protective instincts. She cares strongly for those she calls family or friends and wants them to be happy, and wouldn't hesitate to help and defend them with everything she has. As a small child, Pearl felt so strongly about these people - Maya and Phoenix in particular - because she felt that they were all she had left in the world following her father's abandonment soon after Pearl was born, and her mother's imprisonment when Pearl was eight years old. While that may no longer be the case as a teenager, they are still incredibly important to her, and she's very loyal to them, believing in them no matter what. Pearl's protective nature also extends to others around her - it's mentioned that she began to act as a big sister to Trucy Wright after Phoenix adopted the younger girl.

Pearly is an idealistic romantic at heart; as a child, she was the Shipper On Deck for Maya and Phoenix and made many attempts to push them together despite their frequent attempts to discourage her, and seemed to have very wistful ideas about love and the perfect relationship. Her motives for fixating on Maya and Phoenix as a couple were rooted in the amount of failed relationships and divorces that Kurain tends to see due to the matriarchal structure of its society - Pearl desperately wanted to see a functional, stable relationship with a happy ending, particularly for her beloved cousin Maya, and since Phoenix was the most reliable man she knew of (and had already risked a lot for Maya's sake), it seemed logical to her that he was the one for her cousin. She seems to have grown out of this a bit by the time of Dual Destinies, but there's no denying that Pearl still retains her romantic streak - she still finds happy relationships, whether romantic or platonic in nature, to be very moving, and can be found sighing happily over such things when they happen to occur around her. (Even if such a friendship is between man and beast. "A friendship blossoming through the exchange of food", indeed!)

Pearl is someone who both works hard and plays hard. Her days spent training in the Kurain technique, not to mention her mother's sternness during her formative years, have made Pearl rather disciplined ever since she was a child; she works hard at what she does, and expects those around her to do the same. That's not to say that Pearl is incapable of having fun - she's more than game for trips out and for playing around with friends and family, it's only that she understands that working hard is important, and will gladly do so when she has to.

Pearl is an intelligent and perceptive person, and has been this way since she was small, asking questions about the world around her and often making remarks or observations that the older folks around her sometimes miss. Now that she's a teenager and the childlike naivety and sheltered upbringing that often hampered her as a little girl have worn away somewhat, this is even more the case. In fact, Pearl is the one who uncovers a crucial piece of evidence in Turnabout Reclaimed that helps unravel what exactly happened. That said, despite the fact that she's come on in leaps and bounds from the young girl who once viewed everything through the lens of spirit channelling, Pearl's sheltered upbringing still shows through sometimes even as a teenager. Being from a quiet, isolated village, she's still not great with big, crowded places, and sometimes misses cues that would be obvious to someone with a little more street-smarts.

Even so, Pearl has moments where she can be quite wise, not only in matters of the spirit, but also more generally; she wouldn't make a comment such as "It's so sad when people begin to cast doubt. They start lying to themselves and each other," otherwise. Pearl has always been a person of great inner strength and resilience; she's able to weather things such as having to deal with the details of the cases that Phoenix takes on, witnessing her cousin be put into situations like being kidnapped or accused of murder, or having to deal with the true manipulative and cruel nature of her own mother. This is in no small part thanks to the love and support of the people around her, but even so, for Pearl to still be as friendly and open as she is years after these events speaks volumes as to her strength of character.

AU Deviation:

This version of Pearl will be a couple years younger than her Dual Destinies appearence, but will otherwise be mostly based on her behaviour in that game, with a few small changes.

The first is that Pearl in BNW will be more open to good-natured pranking thanks to Maya's influence and her own ghost-typing, whereas her canon counterpart would be more likely to frown upon such things and find them a little mean-spirited.

The second difference is that this Pearl will have been less sheltered and isolated than her canon counterpart. Although we can no doubt make the assumption that her mother will have tried her best, Union simply isn't the kind of environment that would have encouraged that sort of thing and Maya still remains one of Pearl's strongest influences. Therefore, although Pearl is still dedicated to her training, she starts off better able to deal with crowded places and with a broader frame of reference for things than just the life of a spirit medium.

The final, and possibly most crucial difference, lies in Pearl's relationship with her mother. In canon, her mum's crimes were uncovered and she was removed from Pearl's life before Pearl even hit the age of ten, and Pearl was left to work through her feelings about her mother's actions on her own in the aftermath. Indeed, by the time we see her in Dual Destinies, we can only assume that with Maya having been Pearl's legal guardian and the Master of Kurain for eight years by that point, that her mother has almost become a non-issue in Pearl's life. In Brave New World, however, Pearl's mother is still very much a presence, and this has a knock-on effect with Pearl. Being as perceptive as she is, Pearl would not have been able to ignore her mother's opinion of her cousin Maya as she grew older, and as a result, Pearl's relationship with her mother is very strained and she's even going through a bit of an understated teen rebellion phase. She's kind of torn about it, as she completely disapproves of her mother's undermining of Maya and her mother's attitude towards the issue of who should have the Master's seat, but at the same time, she still loves her mother in spite of everything. Since her mother is still around to influence matters, this also means that Pearl will be more aware of the politics and implications surrouding the position of Master of Kurain than she was ever shown to be in canon.

Canon Abilities:

o Spiritual power: Pearl's raw spiritual power is incredibly strong, and has been since she was tiny; it's enough that she was considered a channelling prodigy from an early age, and often even referred to as the "pride of the branch family". Pearl's power is such that she was able to charge a magatama with spiritual energy with very little effort on her part, allowing Phoenix to be able to see and uncover people's secrets, and she was also able to channel the spirit of her dead cousin Mia at the age of eight without any preparation or ceremony. Now that Pearl has eight more years of training under her belt, it could be surmised that her already formidible spiritual power has only grown, making her a capable medium. The technique Pearl uses to focus her power is the Kurain Technique developed by her ancestor Ami Fey, which allows the medium to take on the appearence of the spirit she's channelling, although the medium herself is unconscious for the duration of the channelling.
o Athletic ability: At the age of eight, Pearl was able to run the distance between Kurain Village and the Los Angeles courthouse where Phoenix runs his trials - a distance that, quite apart from anything else, takes two hours to travel by train. It's pretty evident just from that display that Pearl has always been absurdly physically fit for her age, although it's more in stamina than in strength. (Her aforementioned mean right hook notwithstanding).
o Magatama?: It's Pearl who teaches Phoenix about the power the charged magatama has to reveal the psyche-locks guarding secrets in a person's soul, as well as walking him through how to safely remove those locks and reveal the secret. It could therefore be extrapolated that Pearl would also be able to make use of this technique herself if she ever felt that way inclined, although since we never see her doing this in the games, that's mostly speculation on my part.

Enlightened Abilities:

Pearl is a Psychic/Ghost type Enlightened with Mastery of Training as her ability. Reflecting the strength of Pearl's spiritual gift in canon, I'm thinking that she'll also be a pretty strong Enlightened when all is said and done.

To start with, the only visible hints to the nature of Pearl's powers will be that the magatama she wears around her neck will glow when she uses her abilities, particularly the psychic ones. Move-wise, she'll start with access to Baby-doll Eyes and Doubleslap, and as she levels up will learn moves such as Astonish, Disarming Voice, and Calm Mind, with Confusion or a move similar to it being the move she learns close to the time of her first evolution.

After her first evolution, Pearl's appearance will undergo a more dramatic shift with her growth in power. Her hair will turn pearlescent, while her magatama will fuse with her and become a part of her body, resting at about the same point as her collarbone. At this point, her psychic-type moves become stronger and her secondary ghost-typing comes more into play, with moves such as Shadow Ball, Hex, Psybeam, and Zen Headbutt becoming part of her arsenal, while non-damaging moves like Mean Look, Meditate and Agility help boost her stats somewhat in battle.

Pearl's final evolution will bring another spike in power. Her psychic power blossoms to its fullest so that she can use moves such as Psyshock, Extrasensory, and Psychic, with the non-damaging move Miracle Eye making it easier for her to hit opponents (particularly Dark-types). She will also gain the power to become incorporeal like a ghost-type Pokemon, gaining access to a move similar to Phantom Force as a result. Appearance-wise, she will gain a permanent glowy aura, and will also gain the ability to float a few inches off the ground using her psychic powers in a similar fashion to a Gardevoir.

Also, just as Maya has retained her ability to channel spirits in BNW's setting, Pearl will also still be a spirit medium in the Kurain tradition.

Starter Pokémon: Espurr (Ezzie) and Hoppip (Daisy), both level 12

Notes/Special Considerations: None I can think of!

SAMPLES

First-Person: Here is Pearl's thread on the BNW test drive!

Third-Person:

What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?
They're my beloved friends, of course! [ Pearl laughs, light and refined. ] Ezzie and Daisy have also been a great help with my training. We help each other out and make each other stronger... to be honest, I am not sure that I could imagine living without them.

What do you feel your role in your city is?
As a student of the Kurain Channelling Technique, it is my duty to act as a spiritual guide to anyone who may be in need of it, as well as to provide channelling services to those who seek them. [ it's said as if by rote, although the earnestness in her face leaves no doubt that she takes this duty seriously. ] But I also feel that I could have much to offer the city in other ways, as an Enlightened! ....... I am just not sure how, yet.

What does the story of the Savior mean to you?
Oh, it's such an inspirational story, don't you think? If it weren't for what she did, we might not even be alive to have this conversation right now. I can't even imagine how brave she must have had to be just to stand before the gods like that. [ Pearl contemplates this for a moment before continuing. ] For me, I guess that it reminds me that we need to make the most of the chance we were given, even when it seems hard.

What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
Well, I try my best to make sure that we are the kinds of people or Pokémon who will get along well with one another! Since I am required to do so much spiritual training, it's also important to me that they are the kind that don't mind that kind of lifestyle. I want to spend as much time with my friends as I can, but I would simply hate for any of my Pokémon to be unhappy because the training is too much for them.

No Enlightened chooses their abilities - and not all are Enlightened. What type abilities would you most desire to manifest and why?
Oh, you must promise me that you won't make fun of me for this, but... when I was still very young, I really wanted to have secretly been part Fairy-type. [ she smiles bashfully. ] I wanted so badly to be a fairy princess, and Fairy-type moves have always seemed so magical and graceful! Of course, these days I'm happy to be the types that I am, but it would still be amazing to be able to grow fins like some Water-types and see what happens underwater with all the marine life down there, don't you agree?

In your eyes, what is absolutely unforgivable?
[ Pearl is quiet for a moment, and then she says, firmly and in a tone that brokes no argument: ] I could never forgive anyone who hurt people who have done nothing wrong.