sailor athena;

NAME: Olivia Termes

MEANING:
OLIVIA – Feminine form of Oliver, which was originally the French form of a German name, Alfihar, meaning elf army. Later it became associated with the Latin word for olive tree.
TERMES – The Latin word for branch.

Therefore, we end up with something akin to olive branch which associates to Athena's patron tree, and comes with bonus peace-extending connotations which lends nice irony to her sphere as a goddess of War Craft.

GENDER: Female
AGE: 23
BIRTH DATE: September 8 (Virgo)
BLOOD TYPE: AB
BIRTH PLACE: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
OCCUPATION: Teaching Assistant for Philos 250, Symbolic Logic. The class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and though Olivia tries to attend, she finds the topics too 'grade school' for her, so she's about given up. Her primary duties include marking papers and exams, conducting optional discussion sections and holding office hours.
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT: Olivia volunteers once a week as an undergraduate peer advisor, which basically means she gets to dole out advice to people who actually wanna hear it. Past that she doesn't have much time to be overly involved in student affairs, though in her undergrad she was a member of the Philosophy Society, and still drops in on their meetings once in a while to provide suggestions (they all know her very well as the annoying grad student who should rejoin the freaking society or just shut up with all her objections to their decisions SHE'S NOT EVEN A MEMBER ANYMORE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD).
ACADEMIC STANDING: Graduate Doctorate

MAJORS/MINORS: First Year Ph.D. Graduate Student. Though she has not completed a masters degree, with her grades, Olivia was allowed to enter the doctorate program directly after finishing her undergrad. She is working on a thesis centering on epistemology and philosophy of the mind, and has as her advisor Dr. Cornelius S. Harrington (the S. stands for Sexton, much to the delight of his first year class), whose specialties in the field are the same.

SCHEDULE
PHILOS 700 – FIRST YEAR SEMINAR – 3:30-6:18 pm W – This class is exclusively offered to philosophy grad students in their first year, and therefore Olivia loves it. Not only does it give her the opportunity to meet and discuss with like minded folk, there's no freshman around to make stupid comments and slow down the class.

PHILOS 860 – SEMINAR IN THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE – 12:30 – 3:18 W – By far Olivia's favourite class, primarily because it centers upon her field of study. She thoroughly enjoys discussing knowledge and its sources, because, hey, it's very deep. After all, what's more ponderous than pondering the knowledge of knowledge?

PHILOS 863 – SEMINAR IN THEORY METAPHYSICS – 12:30 – 3:18 T – Though Olivia's least liked philosophical field is metaphysics, this class is taught by one of her favourite profs from her undergrad days. She's taking it to satisfy her distribution requirements, and not because she's all that interested in the topics, but at least it gives her the opportunity to talk about STUFF. Nonetheless, if she's got a really busy week, this'll be the class she'll opt to miss.

PHILOS 873 – SEMINARY IN PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE – 3:30 – 5:18 T, R – Another distribution requirement course, Olivia's been paying special attention in this one because for some reason she's convinced it can help her with her French. The strength of such claims is tenuous at best, but hey, don't try to convince her otherwise.

PHILOS 250 – T.A. POSITION – Olivia conducts her optional discussion section for this class on Mondays at 10:30 and holds her office hours directly after at 11:30. She hates the discussion section part because there's a lot of people who show up clearly NOT serious about philosophy, though she loves the office hours, since only the keenest of students tend to show up to those. <3

LIKES: French, argyle socks, antiques, Frasier, Wine & Cheeses, her charm bracelet, conversations, board games, factoids, foreign films (w/ subtitles, plz), reptilians, shady trees to sit under, big words, finger foods, Bright Eyes, museums, hats, live performances, doing her best (she is a dork)
DISLIKES: Marriage, tasteless (read: fart) jokes, butter (only extra virgin olive oil on her crusty focaccia, thank you very much), celeb gossip and those who indulge in it, freshmen, spiders, Judge Judy, sports (any physical activity for that matter), apples, wool clothing, risky situations, people who speed and think its okay, skipping classes
HOBBIES: Playing strategy computer games (esp. WarCraft HARHAR!), theorizing, watching Jeopardy!, playing the Jeopardy! computer game, dishing out (unwanted) advise, sewing, conversing, researching her thesis, writing To-Do lists

SKILLS:
EN FRANCAISE, S'IL VOUS PLAIT? – Part of Olivia's pretentious assface schtick is her inexplicable desire to throw in French words in every day conversations (or even remark to things fully in French, even though she knows you speak not a smatter of it.) She even has taken to swearing in French, so if you hear her crying out Merde! no, she's not yelling for her mom. Though her vocab is fairly extensive, and she's managed to raze all American twang from her accent, she still doesn't have a great grasp of French tenses, and by that I mean any grasp of them at all (French Imparfait? What the hell?). Thus she usually ends up telling people things like "we go now class" and "I look at that tomorrow" much to the secret delight of those who are actually fluent.

SECRET DRUNK: The girl likes her wine, but it's not like you could tell from the way she acts when she's drinking. Olivia is one of those types of drinkers who has only two get-your-drunk-on modes: not drunk mode and OMFG-SOooOoo-SCHMAMERED-AM-I!!!111 mode. There is no 'tipsy' for her, no gradient of drunken-ed-ness; she'll just drink until the breaking point, and then she's suddenly more plastered than wallpaper. It takes quite a few drinks for Olivia to reach that point (7-8), a number she doesn't usually hit because hangovers are the devil and she's past her binge-drinking stage.

VOICE OF REASON: People usually find themselves less inclined to put bad ideas into action around Olivia. She's the type of person who's always trying to get people to reassess what they're doing from more a logical standpoint than from an emotional one, leading them to avoid making bad (in her opinion) decisions. This, combined with Olivia's own seeming immunity to the more fun effects of alcohol tends to erode way any inebriation those around her may be experiencing (what I call the Sober Person In a Room Full of Drunks Effect).

RUBIX CUBIST: Olivia has problem solving skills like whoa. Good at putting two and two together, she's the type of person for whom things just click. Brainteasers, mind-stumpers and riddles all quiver in their boots at her mighty puzzle cracking mental prowess.

DID YOU KNOW…?: The undisputed Queen of Jeopardy! trivia, Olivia's head is chock full of useless little facts which she just adores juxtapositioning into normal, daily conversation. Please, don't get her going about Potent Potables.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Some people have called Olivia a pretentious assface. These people would be frighteningly correct in the application of this epitaph for though Olivia does not actually have a pretentious assface, she most certainly is a pretentious assface. Olivia feels entitled to think highly of herself: she's smart, she's successful and she's not hurting in the looks department, either. She has a tendency to underscore these 'facts' every chance she gets, a trait made all the more aggravating by the fact she seems completely oblivious to it.

GOLDEN CHILD: The Termes children were raised to be golden children. Troy was always excelling at whatever sport was in season, and Adelaide was being praised for her ridiculously good looks, and Olivia was bringing home the bacon good report cards. Her parents were constantly comparing their children to others, pointing to them as examples of the quintessential sports star / beauty queen / child genius. For her part, this has given Olivia somewhat of a Chosen One complex, which is where all her self-importance stems from. She has the Midas touch: everything her hand touches turns to an A+.

… Or so she has led to believe. To Olivia, Olivia is nothing short of a prodigy, a born and bred winner, and when things in her life sometimes fall short of that bar, she greets them like a sore loser because in her mind, Olivia never, EVER loses. It has always been the best or nothing at all, and Miss Olivia still hasn't learned that yes, there can be a middle ground. Ergo, she is simply not accepting of said middle ground. For example, when Olivia received her Yale rejection letter, rather than taking the disappointment like a big girl and drowning her woes in a tub of Ben & Jerry's, she told anyone who would listen that she'd changed her mind about going to Yale. It was just so…outdated. And the philosophy department was losing all its grants. And she'd much, much rather attend OSU and stay close to home. Really, truly. The sad part about this is that Olivia honestly believes her lies aren't 100% transparent (which they are) and that she doesn't comes off looking like an insecure jackass when she insists upon them (which she does).

IN DENIAL: This all is Olivia's pride comes into play. Olivia has spent a lifetime erecting her ego on achievement upon achievement, and all her constant reascertains of her success are only sticks added to the pile. This ego, while over-inflated to the point where it could float a small country, is a bit fragile and thus she does what she can to shield the poor thing from harm. After all, a self-image with hardly any cracks in it is VERY hard to convince yourself of without doing a bit (or A LOT) of lying to yourself. Over the years, Olivia has developed a way of dealing with setbacks which works on the premise that if you ignore the setback, it'll be like it never happened in the first place. The specifics of this depend on the situation. If, as in the Yale situation described above, other people aren't around to see her take the hit, Olivia defaults to denial. She'll work hard to hide the offending blunder, and if questioned about it, will immediately lie to save face. If however, she loses face in public, especially (oh horror!) if it's at the hands of another, Olivia will get instantaneously embarrassed and attempt to discredit the source of her woe. She is a true believer in the classic ad hominem defence:

Person A makes claim X

There is something objectionable about Person A

Therefore claim X is false

I.e. "Dr. Jennings gave me a B+ on that paper, but whatever. He's senile and cheating on his wife, anyway, so his opinion doesn't really matter." This mentality allows Olivia to cope very readily (if not very healthily) with critics.

1UP! - A pathological one-upper, Olivia cannot leave a compliment towards someone else be without adding her own achievements in the field to the mix. Though, like most things, she honestly doesn't realize she's doing it, Olivia's gut instinct upon hearing about other people's successes is to talk about her own. She doesn't do it in vindictive "Oh yeah!? Well I ate two pies AND three brownies AND a WHOLE black forest cake!". She does it in more of a, "Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I ate two pies too, but also some brownies." For her, it's not actually a conscious thing that's about making you feel bad about yourself or making herself seem better, it's just that she relates to people through achievements. So when people mention their achievements they instantly bring to Olivia's mind her own and can't help but mention them.

SERIOUS FACE – Olivia takes herself entirely too seriously for someone her age. Though she loves a good joke, she feels badly when jokes are made at the expense of others, and gets down right pouty when they're made at her own expense. She feels them as an attack to her person, will be internally wounded and as a result will get very defensive very fast. Personal jokes aside, Olivia is rather serious in her day-to-day comings and goings. Though she has hobbies and enjoys having fun like any normal person, she always puts her responsibilities first, making sure she has all school related things out of the way before she indulges. Some people have in the past called her an uptight keener, and they honestly wouldn't be far off. What else would you call the type of person who would never even CONSIDER the idea of going out the night week before a midterm?

SOooOoo UNIMPRESSED – When Olivia dislikes someone, or finds them annoying or what have you, she defaults into 'unimpressed' mode. Her facial features tighten up, her lips purse, her eyes roll and usual one or the other eyebrow arches up. She's quite the adept at doing the whole 'Uh huh, whatever little boy' thing, including throwing in plenty of bored-'I could be doing so many other MUCH more important things right now'-expressions and challenge-'And, um, what exactly makes that so cool?'-questions. One of her favourite tactics, it stands to note, is good old sarcasm, the Unimpressed Connoisseur's best friend.

CHASTE… KINDA - Contrary to popular belief, Olivia is not actually a virgin (even though as of this writing no one has actually come forward to verify this). Though she is not known to date, Olivia's interest in boys is not 100% nil. Or, that is to say, she prefers for their interest in her to not be 100% nil. "Quoi?" you may ask. Well, to best explain this, I will default to an example. Olivia once in a while frequents the student bar ( a.k.a. meat market) with a handful of friends and when doing so, she always does her hair up real nice, paints her eyes black&smoldering and dons one of her COD (cleavage on display) shirts. Of the variety that attract wanton young studs. Wanton young studs who then, shocker of shockers, dareth sway her way with a pick up line and an offer to buy her a drink, advances which she promptly greets with mixed tactics of cold glaring and eye rolling. And though she seemingly hates the advances, and though she full well knows it's the COD shirts that are attracting all those hapless boys, she dons them anyway. What gives? Truth be told, Olivia gets some sort of twisted, 'want this? Can't have it' pleasure from turning down the poor SOBs who stray towards her. While she would never actually give them the satisfaction of succumbing to their charming slash alcohol-fuelled one-liners, she would terribly miss those boys and their advances if they suddenly were taken away. She likes the attention and she likes the power it gives her when she greets their vodka-eyes with a flat, cold no. In short, she is not so much prude as she is stone cold bitch, driven to chastity by her own choice and not anyone else's, much like we like to imagine the Eternal Virgin Pallas Athena was.

ANTI-MARRIAGE-ARIAN - Drunken frat boys aside, Olivia still doesn't consider frolicking with the other sex as much of an option. She was never one of those little girls who envisioned her wedding details right down to the flowers in the bridal bouquet; in fact, the idea of marriage sort of scares her. Olivia has always been someone very career centered, she also doesn't want to be tied down, which is exactly what she views marriage as (and not all that bullshit about finding your other half and completing yourself or whatever). She hails from Buttfuck, Nowhere, an uber-Christian place where nearly everyone in her age group has by this point gotten married because a) they too were uber-Christian and got sick of waiting to see what sex was like or b) they rebelled heavily against their uber-Christian parents and got knocked up like whoa. This fate TERRIFIES Olivia, which is why she generally avoids dating like the plague.

PATRIACH - Olivia is a rather self-sufficient woman, yet tragically she, like many women in power, has a tendency to side with the patriarchs. Part of this stems from societal stereotypes that have been drummed into her head (blondes are always dumb! Women are too emotional!). The other part is a case of her wanting to be seen as one of the good old boys and not be singled out herself as one of those silly, overly emotional women calling themselves feminists because it's "that time of the month". See, though she thinks of herself as empowered, Olivia is not the type who wants to go change the world by raging against the system; she is quite content playing by the rules set up in the system. This generally equates to sometime seeing things from a man's point of view and disliking other women, or at least, a certain type of other woman. What this means is two things. Firstly, Olivia is quick to ridicule those gals who play into the stereotypes by adoring Romantic-Comedies, reading about Shiloh Jolie-Pitt religiously and giving makeovers to their friends on sleepover night as they gossip about their latest Football Player boyfriend (though make up and nice clothes, she believes, are okay because they level the playing field, doing much the same as a nice suit and a good hair cut does for a man).

Secondly, though Olivia doesn't take other females seriously until they give her reason to, she reserves a lot of respect for those who do. Olivia isn't naïve enough to think the world is an equal one, but those who are more than happy to not put in a day of work and end up someone's trophy wife (see Paris Hilton) she writes off as stereotypically weak and to be treated likewise. They are not working the system so much as having their asses kicked by it. Those women, however, who do manage to work the system to their advantage (the Condoleeza Rices, Gloria Arroyos and yes, even the Oprah Winfreys of the world) get an A+ from her. This does not mean every woman she meets has to prove her willingness to run a ginormous business empire to win Olivia's admiration, but she does at least have to show that she's got a brain (and some guts if she wants to score brownie points).

DEMOCRACY ROOLZ : But wait. Why, you may ask, is Olivia so content to play in a man's world and so averse to trying to change it? Well, Olivia can be described as somewhat of a progressive conservative, strongly adherent to democratic ideals but not naive enough to think the system is perfect. She is extremely loyal to the system, because she firmly believes the system works. Yes, there are things that need to be tweaked, but she also believes that the small kinks will iron themselves out, and more importantly she doubts that anyone could come up with anything better. Olivia is very protective of the state and what it stands for, believing that prosperity of the country can only come from everyone playing nice and doing their part, and therefore, she doesn't work to try to change it.

THE ROOLZ ROOL : Olivia never, ever goes over the speed limit, never, ever litters, and likes to think police officers are just nice men doing their jobs and not the will of the government trying to hold people down. Just as she believes in the state utterly and truly, Olivia believes in rules as the extension of that state. They are necessarily in place to keep the system healthy, and breaking them only hurts the system. Sadface. Again, she realizes the rules might not be perfect, but the alternative to having them in place (ANARCHY! MADNESS! SOCIAL UNREST!) makes her shudder.

SHELTERED KID – Olivia was born in a small town, and her parents sent her away to boarding school for precisely that reason: to shield her from any small town badness that might tarnish her impressionable young mind. Now, consider this: if their idea of the big, bad world is small town problems, imagine their reaction to big city problems. Growing up in a boarding school has pretty much ensured Olivia's complete and utter shelteredness from the darker underpinnings of the world. Now, this is not to say she doesn't watch Newsnet, but seeing something on TV is one thing and experiencing it for reals is entirely another. Olivia doesn't exactly show much sympathy for the underprivileged because she doesn't really know what life is like on the other side. Hence her adhesion to the system: she doesn't realize that somewhere out there, the little guy is getting tromped by the foot of huge corporations and therefore doesn't see anything wrong with a capitalist outlook. She believes in the American Dream, that everyone starts out equally and has the same chance to make it, forgetting that money, which is often times inherited, not earned, can make all the difference in one's future. At the same time, she feels entitled to the things she has, such as a good education, because she's never been in a position where she might not have said things. Also, she may be insensitive towards people who actually have to work to put themselves through school or people who might come across as "uncouth" (her terminology, not mine) because they haven't had the privileges she has.

OPTIMIST – An offshoot of the fact that Olivia's grown up inside the confines of a bubble where everyone was tanned, happy and had lots of money, is that Olivia tends to believe things will always work out for the best. While she is a logical person, which by extension makes her somewhat of a realist, she's definitely a realist with strong optimistic overtones. Let's just say she's realistic enough to not be labelled an idealist, but optimistic enough to always hope for the best. Not only does this optimism apply to herself (which coupled with her Golden Child tendencies makes for an, ahem, rather positive outlook about her own endeavours), it also extends to the realm of others. Olivia is very quick to encourage those around her; there is no 'give up' around her. For someone so focussed on success, Olivia is startlingly uncompetitive (she believes winning only counts when it's on your own terms, and not by beating out others) so she doesn't have a problem with pushing people to do their best. Though it's corny, Olivia's always been the "believe in yourself and you can do eet!" type of friend.

SESQUIPEDALIAN – A firm believer in the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword, Olivia tends to be rather, um… wordy in her daily life. When a 4 lettered word'll do, she'll always go with one thrice that length. Her motto is, "why say you're happy, when you can say you're exultantly jubilant?" Olivia fully enjoys flexing her language muscles, so to speak, in more ways then one, which explains why she is prone to making long, word-rich speeches about everything and anything she can manage.

LOGIC BEAR - While some are driven by their hearts, and others driven by their dicks, Olivia is definitely the type of gal who is driven by her mind. She is firmly logical in her approach to daily life. She enjoys analyzing problems set before her, and can happily spend hours working away if you just give her a problem set, a blank sheet and a pencil. While she understands the importance of emotions, Olivia doesn't understand when people make seemingly irrational decisions that won't be good for them in the long run ( i.e. "But daddy, I love him!"). Olivia enjoys theorizing, and has a deep, innate yearning to understand everything which is why she constantly analyzes not only situations, but people. One of her largest compulsions is the need to break down the actions of others to understand the motivation behind them, so she can begin to understand why they may have done what they did. When she does this, she gets insight on what it's like to be in someone else's shoes, a quality that lends her a more forgiving nature than most.

LEVELHEADED : Except for under extreme circumstances, Olivia is the quintessence of calm. Part of this stems from the fact that Olivia's non-competitive: therefore antagonism simply doesn't rile her up. The other part stems from her logical nature: if you don't put much stock into emotional judgments anyway, it's pretty hard to let your emotions rule your temper. When it comes to anger, it's pretty hard to ruffle Olivia's feathers (you'd be much better off embarrassing her, which she does quickly and readily).

LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP – Olivia is… unspontaneous. She doesn't like to take risks, finding them a bit too scary for her cowardly ass; she'll stay with the tried and true, thank you very much. She takes comfort in routines, and prefers to do things the way they've always been done because that's been proven to work. Furthermore, before taking on a new undertaking, Olivia will always consider all of its elements: the circumstances, the people involved, the goals, the environment, etc. She's a situation assesser, turning over new undertakings in her head over and over to understand more fully what it is exactly she's getting herself into.

OPINIATED : Olivia likes to mull over things a lot, which means she's developed an opinion on pretty much everything. She enjoys conversation for the pure enjoyment of having a conversation (so long as they're intelligent, that is) and is the kinda gal who is likely to interject when she hears people talking about something she's even mildly interested in. Unfortunately, she's also very defensive when it comes to her own opinions, and hardly ever refuses to give way in an argument if what you're saying goes against what she thinks. She's been often called a stubborn insertexpletivehere, especially by her roommate and verbal sparring partner numero uno, Win. She HATES feeling like she's lost an argument, and in true sore loser fashion, usually poutly pulls out from one if she feels she no longer has the upper hand, by exclaiming something like, 'Ugh! I just don't want to talk about this anymore!'

OPEN: At this point, it is safe to assume that Olivia has enough self-confidence to sustain an entire army. While there are obvious negatives to this, such as her arrogant attitude, fear not, there are positives as well! If one can get past her pompousness, one might find a fairly approachable person, with an air of openness she can't help but give off. Olivia has an ease when she's around new people; she's friendly, receptive, upbeat and not afraid to speak her mind, all of which have a tendency to draw others out of their shell (again, her own praise singing aside). She's also a girl who doesn't much tend to keeping secrets, sharing her thoughts as they come to her (except for when it comes to those things she's utterly embarrassed about, the Yale rejection being a case in point).

ONE TRACK MIND – Olivia is a hard-worker, who often finds herself utterly devoted to the task at hand. She tends to focus only on one thing at a time, pouring all of herself into it until she gets it done. While these tactics can get her great results for that one thing, they also mean she's awful at multitasking and can develop obsessive-compulsive, tunnel-visioned tendencies.

TO DO LIST – As mentioned above, Olivia concentrates on one task before moving on to another, and to avoid forgetting all the other things she eventually has to do, Olivia composes To Do lists which she pegs all over her room. She is nigh neurotic about these lists, keeping them up dated to the minute, and feels deeply, deeply satisfied to see a list with all of its items crossed out and completed.

WANT MY ADVICE? – Olivia's is infamous for counseling people every minute she gets. She's the type of go-to her friends approach to help them sort out their boy troubles, school troubles, family troubles, etc. or even if they just need some consoling. With a balanced opinion on everything in hand, and mad problem-solving skills, Olivia's pretty good at coming up with the sort of advise that helps her friends get out of a tight bind. The part where this gets sorta sticky is when on considers Olivia's in advise-mode 24/7 and can get pretty meddlesome with her constant barrage of unasked-for suggestions.

NERD - For all intents and purposes, Olivia may come across as sort of a nerd on paper. She likes things Trivial Pursuit, never skips class, hates law-breaking, doesn't really date and then there's the whole WarCraft thing. And to be honest, Olivia knows it. And she knows that most people out there will look at her and think she's a goober. But you know what? She doesn't care. She's happy liking what she likes, and besides, the people who think her a nerd probably don't even know who Camus was or what perspicacious means, and honestly? She doesn't have time for people like that and their opinions. So there.

HAIR: Imagine a bright violet scarf. Now, imagine what would happen to that bright violet scarf if you subjected it to the spin cycle for about, oh, a bajillion times. It would probably come out at the end of it all a pale, dull, grayish-lavender, which is exactly the colour of Olivia's hair. Texture-wise, it naturally tends more towards straight than curling, though it dries with very loose waves through out. If she wants to give it that extra-sleek look for special occasions, she'll straighten it, but usually she doesn't bother trying to conform to the image fashion magazines dictate. Olivia's hair is long, falling to the small of her back, where it's been cut in a very straight, unlayered line. She also has a few side-bangs she likes to keep to mask what she considers to be a rather large forehead. If she's not wearing a hat, she likes to put it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her way.

EYES: Olivia's eyes are usually the facial feature people remember her for. They're not oddly colored or anything, being just a plain blue, but they're so reflective they catch light incredibly well, coming off as down right sparkling. Olivia has, what she likes to call, 'bright eyes', which happily coincides with the name of her favourite singer.

FACIAL FEATURES: Olivia's thinking she has a big forehead is honestly not just a bout of young adult self-consciousness; she actually does have a huge-Ricci-sized brow. As a result, it's very prone to wrinkling or furrowing when she's anxious or surprised, two emotions that come across clear as a bell on her. Her forehead is somewhat balanced by the size of her eyes, large, Rachel Weisz eyebrows, and by, of course, her bangs. Overall, her face is a nice, regular oval rather, tending more towards rounded than thinned out. She has the tight, aristocratic features that come natural to any prep school kid, complete with a small nose and a tiny little mouth. Her complexion is not as pale as one might expect, as it's possessive of with deep olive undertones, and tends towards a darker tan, especially in the summer.

BUILD: Coming in at just under 5'11", Olivia is pretty tall for a girl. Most of the height is made up of long-limb-ed-ness: Olivia's pant legs and shirt sleeves are always too short. After many unsuccessful shopping trips to try and find better fitting clothes, she finally cracked and learned how to sew. Now she's taken to stitching on extra fabric to elongate the hems so she doesn't look like a kid in her big sisters outgrown clothes. Other than an appearance that tends towards gangly, Olivia's got a pretty averagely shaped body, with a respectable C cup that looks normal on her taller frame, size 9 feet, and an ass that's there, but is not THERE.

STYLE: A throw back to her boarding school kid days, Olivia dresses very much like the young up and coming preppy. She prefers khakis and cords to jeans, polo shirts to t-shirts and blazers to jackets. Her newfound love is flats, because they're nice enough to wear every day (read: NOT sneakers) but they don't have heels and therefore don't make her look like even more of a member of the WNBA. Olivia also feels it quite necessary to wear hats ever single day, some more geeky looking than others.

HABITS: When Olivia's thinking, she tends to tap her left cheek with the index finger of the same hand. Bored Olivia purses her lips and does the whole unimpressed thing. Incredulous Olivia has a very bad habit of lifting up one eyebrow, a move she's got down pat. She's also quite the chewer: when she's anxious, she tends to nibble on her fingernails, and all of her pencils have the most raggedy of ends. By far Olivia's most compulsive habit, however, is her need to weave something if you put it in her hands. She's constantly weaving braids in and out of her hair without thinking about it, pieces of strings together, ribbons, the fray on her jeans etc. As long as it's weavable, she'll weave it.

The Termes family has enjoyed a long history in Ohio, ever since John-Michel Termés first came to the region all the way over from France to establish a fur-trading post. A few centuries and a dropped accent aigu later, the Termes consider themselves as native to the state as the Ohio River. Most of the family is centralized in Bexley, where they have been living since before the town's original incorporation in 1908. Bexley is exactly where one Jonathon James Termes, Jr. grew up, just down the street from Catherine "Catie" Simmons, who, from the first day he pulled her pigtails back in kindergarten, Jonathon knew he'd marry. Catie was a quiet girl, smart but pretty too, which appealed to J.J.; what appealed to him even more was that she refused to date him, confirming his theory that she was 'summin' special'. Their long courtship began in Grade 2 when he tried to kiss her and she put mud down his pants, and ended in Grade 11 when she finally conceded to going out on a date with him.

They were still dating when they both decided to attend OSU; Catie because it had the best American History Department in the state at the time, and J.J., though he wouldn't admit it, because Catie was going there. That isn't to say that J.J.'s dad didn't protest: he wanted his son to go to Brown, just like he had, and get the "best damned education in the country!" and eventually "run the best damn business in the country!" But Jonathon had no interest in the family business; not only did the thought of working under his father for countless more years fill him with unspeakable horror, he was a bit of a people person and knew his destiny lay in one of the more interpersonal-oriented fields. A year of being a business major at Ohio State confirmed it: he hated his commerce classes, hated even more the idea that he had several years left of them if he continued. Thus, despite the protests of Jonathon James Sr., his son transferred out of business and never looked back (much to the delight of his younger brother, who could now inherit the business without contention). An interest in the life sciences, a genuine knack for chemistry (and perhaps an endowment from the Termes trust) eventually landed him in the OSU College of Medicine. Four years and a grueling residency later, J.J. emerged a full-fledged psychiatrist and to celebrate, did what he had always promised Catie he'd do: he married her.

The couple settled in Bexley after their wedding, but found it unbearable after a few short years for two reasons: 1) the area was already over-saturated with psychiatrists and J.J.'s practice wasn't as much in demand as they would have liked it to be and 2) both sets of parents were constantly 'dropping in' to badger the couple with life advise. Besides which, suburban life was wearing down on them; Catie had always dreamed of living by the water, and J.J. was sick of city pretences, so when she suggested they move somewhere 'quieter' to start their family, he jumped at the idea. After much research into the prospects of various little townships situated around Ohio's many lakes led them to finally settle on Chippewa Lake. Not only was the only psychiatrist in the region retiring AND willing to sell his practice to J.J, but he was also retiring to Florida, AND was willing to sell his beautiful old colonial house on the lake as well.

Within a year, the two were settled in their new life, and had a baby on the way. Catie, who had been working as J.J.'s assistant for the time being, was forced to take a leave of absence when her first and only son, Troy Termes was born. Two years later he was followed by his sister, Olivia, who was followed in another two by the Termes' third child, Adelaide.

Troy, who didn't have much want for girl siblings, took up a classic older sibling approach, considering himself too cool to play with the two little boogers that were his sisters. Adelaide, being the youngest, quickly learned that a tantrum and/or some tears could earn her what she wanted, and she fell into the role as the baby of her family quite quickly. That left Olivia, who, with all the good familial roles already taken up or out of her reach, was forced into the part of middle child a.k.a. the Jan Brady "Marcia, Marcia, MARCIA!" type.

From her toddler years on, Olivia found herself contending with her parent's attentions, which were already stretched to begin with. J.J. was, after all, too busy analyzing other people to analyze his own family, and while he was a doting father, and more present for his children than most physicians, he failed to really see any family problems for what they were. As for Catie, well, once the youngest of her children was out of diapers, she had opted to return to the workforce (forcing the Termes to hire a daytime nanny). 6 years of being a stay at home mom had nearly driven her crazy, and looking for a break from the regular chaos of raising three small children, she decided to buy an old store front and take on the task of turning it into an antique shop. Even when she was at home, she was preoccupied with the details of her new endeavor.

What made things harder was the fact that Troy was quickly making it well known that he was quite the little Babe Ruth. He was star pitcher for his peewee baseball team, and it didn't stop there. When he switched to indoor soccer in the winter, he was lead forward, consistently scoring more points every game than each of his teammates. Catie and J.J. started making more and more time for their son, who they were immensely proud of, working to make sure they attended all his games and practices. Adelaide refused to allow all the attention to go to her brother. A family friend, who was a talent agent, insisted the toddler was just the cutest thing, and begged Catie to allow her to represent little Addy. Catie, at first, was reluctant, but eventually, once the friend got Adelaide to profess just how much she loved having her picture taken, Catie relented. That was how Adalaide ended up modeling children's clothes for Sears catalogues. Though the jobs were hardly steady, Adelaide had a shoot to attend about every month or so, which meant a weekend trip to Columbia to which one of Olivia's parents always committed.

Compared to the excitement that visions of a sport star Troy might inspire and the support they showed to perfectly-featured Adelaide, Olivia didn't have much up her sleeve. For a while, she found herself playing most unwantedly second fiddle to Troy and Adelaide, always the quiet, good daughter, but never quite good enough to get much praise for it.

Olivia was in Grade 3 when she discovered the attention a good report card could get her. Up until that point she'd been a mediocre student, but for some reason, that year, perhaps out of boredom, or perhaps out of a genuinely taken interest in the subject work, Olivia shined in her class. When she brought home her mid-year report card, filled with almost all As, J.J. actually paused practicing catch with Troy to go tell his wife, who actually stopped comforting a bawling Adelaide to listen. Then both of them decided to take the family out to dinner – Olivia's choice – to celebrate her achievement. Olivia was hooked.

Having realized the praise it could win her with her parents, Olivia started actively pouring herself into her schoolwork. She brought home glowingly marked essay after essay, math tests all with a big 10/10 and a happy face sticker. But she didn't stop there, quickly acknowledging that other achievements could get her noticed as well. She joined the school band and was promoted to first chair flutist within a year. All this was fuelled by a constant barrage of reaffirmation from her parents, including, but not limited to: comments to their friends at dinner parties that she was nothing short of a genius, comments to their other two children that they REALLY should try to be more like Olivia and comments to Olivia herself telling her how proud they were of her.

The Termes happy bubble was burst one day when J.J. accidentally walked in on his sports star son in his room with a friend. And a joint. Despite Troy's protests that it was only just once, and he was holding it for a friend, and he hated drugs, J.J. and Catie feared their son would one day wake up an addict and ruin any chances at making a future for himself. Rather than blame their beloved son himself, they convinced themselves the pot had all been the result of the bad influence from the group of friends he was hanging out with. The only obvious solution was to remove Troy from the clutches of their bad influence. Catie and J.J. shipped Troy off to a boarding school to rectify the problem, much to his protests. Terrified that both their girls would fall in with bad crowds at school like their older brother, they made the decision to send them both off as well.

This was how Olivia found herself starting her high school experience not at Cloverleaf High in Medina County, Ohio, as she had always expected she would, but rather at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. At first Olivia was VERY adverse to the idea of leaving home, but a semester at Hotchkiss changed all that. She loved that everyone (well, almost) was just as serious about their educations as she was. She loved that she could continue her flute studies not just in a dorky band, but being taught by an actual classically trained musician and perform at recitals and thangs. She loved the sudden independence she had. She even loved the crisp but cute uniforms.

To say that Olivia's four years at Hotchkiss were uneventful would be a lie. However, for our intents and purpose, we will just mention that the school atmosphere fit her like a glove. If she had been just a little shy back in Ohio, Hotchkiss took all that away: after all, this was the type of school that was made for people like her. Being away from her parents pretty much ensured Olivia stopped worrying about competing with her siblings, but it also had a nasty side-effect: without the constant need to impress them, Olivia forgot that that was what had driven her so deeply into academics in the first place. That, compounded with the fact that she soared through her first two years with flying colours meant that more and more she was developing a mentality that she could do anything. Which may or may have not been true, but was starting to become less true in her two final years. See, Olivia by this point saw herself as somewhat of a prodigy. All her past achievements went to her head, and instead of thinking she had to work for her marks, she suddenly felt entitled to them, like they would come to her without any effort.

This, sadly, was not the case. Olivia spent most of her final years squeezing the best out of the tie she had left with people who were by then her close friends. She avoided homework when she could, and while she still attended class, it was not enough. When teachers took her aside and tried to warn her she was slipping, she brushed them off as not knowing what they were talking about. Instead, she just kept going out to the movies and out to parties, not ever thinking she was jeopardizing her future. When December of her last year rolled around, she got her school applications in, with Yale as her #1, and started looking forward to next year when she and her bet buds would invade the New Haven campus.

What a jolt it was for Olivia when she received her Yale rejection letter. "Your application has been fully reviewed. We regret that..." She quickly crumpled the thing up and promptly threw herself on her bed and wept. After an hour, she composed herself, and decided what her plan of action would be. While her grandfather's reputation, and not to mention money, might have gotten her into Brown, which at least was still in the Ivy League, Olivia was far too proud to either tell her grandfather what happened or ask him for help. Besides which, she wanted to get in on her own merit. The only other school Olivia had applied to (assuming Yale would be a deadlock) had been Ohio State University, and that had been on a whim. For a week, Olivia worriedly told her friends no, she hadn't heard back from Yale yet, as she secretly waited in anticipation for any word from OSU. When her acceptance letter did finally come, Olivia was actually grateful. She promptly informed the school she would be attending their campus in the fall, and informed her friends that after much deliberation, she decided she wasn't going to Yale, but rather to OSU, because the Philosophy department there seemed so much more active, and besides, it was close to home.

During her first year at OSU, Olivia, fresh off the Yale scare, threw herself into her work. She elected to major in Philosophy, as she had planned to do since her days in Hotchkiss (it had been her favourite subject), and eventually working in a minor in Psychology, inspired by her father. During her second year she loosened up a bit and let herself go out more, as she learned to better balance her academic life and social life. As a result of what had happened at Hotchkiss though, she always put her work first, play second. It was that policy that got her noticed by Dr. Smithies in her third year, when she was taking his undergrad Philosophy of Language class. She ended up doing her 4th year undergrad thesis with him, and when he suggested she continue grad studies at OSU, she jumped at the opportunity. With a glowing recommendation letter from him and another of her profs, and a set of steady, good grades, Olivia got herself accepted directly into the Philosophy doctorate program directly after graduation. She and two of her friends from undergrad, who were also staying at OSU to pursue graduate studies, decided to room together. They found the perfect little three-bedroom, just off campus, and spent most of the summer talking excitedly about their respective grad programs (because they are uncool).

…Which is where Olivia is right now, starting off a new year as one of the Philosophy department's new grad student initiates, with sorority houses being the very last thing on her mind.

Jonathon James "J.J." Termes – Father, 53. A psychiatrist still practicing out of Chippewa Lake. Blonde hair, blue eyes, very tall, wears glasses.

Catherine "Catie" Termes, nee Simmons – Mother, 53. Catie runs a small, but semi-successful antique store selling mostly Colonial and Civil War relics, though there are some things from the Victorian era as well. Pale violet hair like Olivia, blue eyes, tall, looks younger than her actual age.

Troy Termes – Older Brother, 25. After his pot scare, Troy settled down in Hotchkiss, where he continued to excel at any and all sports he tried his hand at. Finally, at the urging of one of his teachers who was a golf aficionado, Troy decided to concentrate his skills at the gentlemen's sport. The choice proved to be fruitful. After graduating Hotchkiss, he went to the University of Miami under a golf scholarship. After graduating, he relocated back to Biloxi with the help of some relatives. He's currently working as a golf pro at one of the city's more prestigious country clubs, while competing in tournaments at the side. He hopes to be qualified for the PGA tour by next year, and shows great promise in eking a name out for himself in the golfing ranks. Troy has blue eyes, and blonde hair, the latter of which is kept stylishly longer as he strives to become golf's new pretty boy. Troy dresses very much the part of a PGA tour hopeful – that is, largely preppy, just like Olivia.

Adelaide Termes – Younger Sister, 21. After graduating Hotchkiss, Adelaide took a year off to 'travel' with a couple of friends, after which she was planning to follow in her sister's footsteps, and enroll at OSU. While in New York, however, she was spotted by a talent agent and signed on to a modeling agency. She has remained in the Big Apple for the time being, while slowly working on cracking the haute couture scene and is slowly becoming one of the new faces of the fashion scene in NY; she flies in to Ohio every few months or so to visit though. Adelaide inherited her father's blonde hair, is just as tall as Olivia and has the family's trademark blue eyes. By most people's standards she looks like the all-American girl and is drop dead gorgeous to boot.

Winifred "Win" Shelley - Room-mate, 23. Winifred hates her full name with an utter passion, which is why she introduces herself as 'Win'. She's actually known Olivia since her Hotchkiss days, the school she also attended. Though the two never were that great friends back then (they ran with two different crowds) they sort of reconnected at OSU in their third year. Their friendship is an intense one, since they tend to get into heated debates, but despite that, Win is as fiercely protective of Olivia as she is of all her friends. Win is currently in her first year of the Fisher College of business M.B.A. program. She's loud, assertive and argumentative, but also very generous with her daddy's money, which makes her a hit at the bar. She has light brown eyes, keeps her straight chocolate brown hair to the shoulders, and is fond of headbands.

Laura Lee Burke - Room-mate, 23. Laura Lee is one of Olivia's roomies/friends, who's known her since first year, when they were in the same dorm. Laura's pursuing her masters in Earth Sciences, and she hopes to one day move up to Alberta, Canada and work with the oil sands. She's a lot shyer compared to Olivia and Win, tending to play the wallflower to their much more attention-drawing personalities. She's a really great person once you get to know her though, and is honestly one of the most thoughtful people Olivia's ever met. Laura Lee's dirty blonde hair is kept very long, but always in a ponytail. She has blue eyes, and at 5"3' looks like a midget compared to Olivia (or Olivia looks like a giant compared to her, take your pick). She also is the only one of the three to have a steady boyfriend, Andrew, who she's been dating since her 3rd year.

ALIGNMENT: Mythos
NAME: Sailor Athena
ELEMENTS OF INFLUENCE: Mostly all that is i) Wise or ii) Intelligent, but also iii) Tactical Warfare, iv) Heroic Acts, v) Arts and Crafts (esp. pottery and weaving) vi) Olives and last but certainly not least vii) (Unsolicited) Counsel.
SYMBOL: A five-pointed star enclosed by a circle. Associated with the planet Venus, the five-pointed star represents the planet's Morning Star aspect, which is manifested by the goddess of the hunt and battle, Athena.
CHALLENGE: "I am Sailor Athena, wisest of all, and in my expert opinion, I think it would be most unwise for you to cross me!"
LOCKET: Sailor Athena's locket, when transformed is about 15 cm in diameter and when untransformed is a much more tiny 2cm wide, which makes it more than convenient for her to wear attached to the charm bracelet she wears daily. The locket itself is gold, in the shape of a large, flat owl's head, textured with raised scales representing feathers and two large, smooth onyx stones set in as eyes. Because I suck at describing things properly, I highly recommend checking out the corresponding pic: http://www.gilbert-collection.org.uk/previous_exhibitions/castellani/images/gold_owl225.jpg

COLOUR SCHEME: Primary - Midnight Indigo #310062; Secondary - Bronze #B87333

DESCRIPTION:
"Athena from Olympos swooped to forest-mantled Ida. Quaked the earth and Xanthos' murmuring streams; so mightily she shook them ... From her immortal armour flashed around the hovering lightnings; fearful serpents breathed fire from her shield invincible; the crest of her great helmet swept the clouds." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8.350

LAURELS: Sailor Athena's laurels, hidden beneath the giganticness that is her helm, are more elusive than a KGB agent in Bolivia – that is to say, they are rarely seen, if ever. If her helm is removed, however, one will be privy to the lush, deep green of a laurel wreath woven not from actual laurel leaf, but from the branches of an olive tree, complete with a few hard olives.

HELM: Wait. What? There's a helm? … Oh yes, there is a helm. And what a helm it is. Looking like it should belong to some Spartan straight off the set of Rome, Sailor Athena's helm is wrought from highly burnished copper, complete with an elevated crest. The helm is very decorative, engraved with a menacing looking owl along one face flank, but is also very heavy. Also, because it is so dorky looking, it is the absolute bane of Olivia's existence.

MINIDRESS: Sailor Athena wears the standard white toga beneath a rich, dark blue fuku. Her fuku has short, capped sleeves, and beneath her bust it is secured by an empire-waist style belt made of thick, plaited bronze metal. The bow of the fuku has similarly been hammered out from a thin sheet of bronze folded in on itself into the proper shape, giving the fuku a distinctly inorganic, militaristic look. At the centre of it sits Athena's locket, though as it's been made from metal the same color as the bow, it does not stand out especially.

BRACERS: Over the length of each forearm, Sailor Athena wears a bronze bracer. The raised image of a snake coils up either one, their tails at her elbows, their jeweled eyes looking down towards her wrists.

BOOTS: Because it is simply not practical for one to charge into battle clothed in sandals, Athena's feet are protected from any jaggedy pebbles and broken glass those AMO hooligans may have scattered around by boots. And not just any boots: fitting in with her armoured theme, Athena's boots have been forged from the same bright bronze as her helm. Both are etched delicately with half of the design of an ornate olive tree, so that when she brings her legs together, the image is complete. They go just above the knee, and are sectioned, to allow for some freedom of movement (though honestly, wearing them, Olivia can't help feel a bit like the Tin Man).

TRANSFORMATION: Lifting the arm with her locket on it, Olivia palms the small pendent in her other hand as she yells, "Athena Power… Make Up!" From the locket bursts forward a single owl, which immediately spreads its impressive wings to take flight, followed by a countless multitude of snakes, which fall slithering to the floor. The snakes coalesce together at her feet, sliding up her body, shielding it from view with their dark green forms. Simultaneously, from just behind her, an olive tree suddenly sprouts up, growing from seedling to adult in a matter of moments. As soon of the snakes have seemingly covered Olivia whole, a wind blows free an army of leaves from the olive tree, which encircle Olivia from the head down. They obscure her from view for a second, and once they've fallen to the ground, a sailor suited soldier is revealed standing, fully clothed in her uniform. Just then, the owl issues a call, and comes swooping in, carrying in its talons a ribbon, which it releases just above Sailor Athena. As the ribbon falls, it expands and takes shape, so that when it touches Athena's head, it has taken the form of her helmet, (much to her chagrin).

ATTACK:

"From the cleft summit of her father's brow Athene sprang aloft, and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia ."

"BANE OF THE MIND"
MONKEY SEE: Sailor Athena, after calling out the attack phrase, closes her eyes and brings her hands together, palms facing each other but about two inches apart, fingers touching. In between her fingers a dark blue energy starts manifesting, growing larger and larger by the moment. Once it has the diameter of about a dish plate, Athena pulls her arm back, the sphere moving with it, and looking at her target, hurls the ball directly at their head, following up the move with a battle cry.

MONKEY DO: If the attack hits, the target will look disoriented for a moment, and then suddenly feel excruciating pain in their head. Like, the worst migraine ever, times infinity. For lesser Pandora, this attack may be enough to do them in completely – after a few moment of clutching their head in agony, they will explode. Greater Pandora, and AMO members, however, will feel some damage, but the attack will not be as effective as on lesser Pandora, so these people will be left standing. They will be so struck with the pain in their heads, however, that they will abandon all reason and do anything and everything they can to get it to stop. Just as Zeus in the myth of the birth of Athena had Hephaestus strike his head with an axe, targets will find themselves doing similarly irrational things such as pounding at their heads and trying to hit it with various objects (which, of course, only inflicts more damage). This attack's effects last around a minute. It can be dodged, as well as redirected.

SPECIAL ABILITIES:
PEP TALK: Just like warleaders can rally their troops and give them a second wind, when her team members are finding themselves harried and down trodden by the wear and tear of battle, Sailor Athena has a knack for reenergizing them. This isn't a magicky-healy ability, mind you, it's more of a morale boost sort of thing, strictly based on Athena's ability to talk her team back into another go. All it takes is a few inspiring words, and teammates usually will experience a renewed determination. This ability is much more effective when Athena is transformed, but when she's just regular old Olivia, it can manifest itself subtly whenever she encourages others to not give up just yet (which may or may not explain why she's been able to convince members of her study group to keep cramming until the wee hours of the morning before a final).

IQ TEST: Sailor Athena can, at any given moment, tell the level of intelligence those in her immediate presence possess. Since intelligence is a non-static, mutable thing (which can be changed in the short-term by joint induced trips into the land of Lucy and Diamonds and in the long-term by experience and education) the height of intelligence that Athena's mind'o'meter detects is variable and is only accurate for the moment of time when a target is in her presence. This ability doesn't have any direct uses, but Athena may or may not use it to prove the theory brunettes really ARE smarter than blondes.

WHOO, WHOO?: When Sailor Athena is transformed, she is inexplicably followed by a single Great Horned Owl that trails every move she makes. The owl is not actually real (it's the same one that manifests from her locket at the beginning of her transformation sequence) and seems to play no role larger than annoyingly trailing Athena overhead wherever she may go. She cannot command it, it does not an evil minion sworn to do her bidding, and as it's not real, it is incapable of doing anyone harm. Perhaps one day it might be able to be powered up to do something useful, but as it stands, it's only use is one in favour of AMO-types: Athena may be found rather quickly by simply looking for the owl overhead.

COLD SHOWER: This is related to Olivia's 'voice of reason' skill, and is essentially a power up. Much like a cold shower, Sailor Athena's presence is a sobering experience. When people are within a 10 foot radius to her, they can think more clearly and are prone to having sudden epiphanies. This works on enemies just as well as it does for allies, so unfortunately for her AMO members might suddenly think of better ways to kill her when they're near her. As for the 'sobering experience' part, I mean that quite literally; people who are inebriated slowly start to lose their drunk when they come within that ten foot radius, making Athena really unpopular at parties.

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: Much to her chagrin, Athena always faintly smells of cocktails olives. While it's not the worst smell in the world, it still leaves her wondering why her sphere couldn't have been jasmine blossoms or something equally pleasant to the nez.

WEAPON: In classical mythology, Athena was bearer of the Aegis, gifted to her by her father, Zeus, which bore the likeness of the gorgon Medusa on it. For our purposes, we will assume the Aegis was a shield, and not as some poets have written the thundercloud of Zeus (which is twinky) or a tasseled goatskin made from the skin of the goat that suckled Zeus (which is gross). Since Hoplites seem more apt to have weapons than Sailors, we will say this shield is not one that Sailor Athena carries all the time, but rather one that is manifested during her attacks. Currently, she doesn't have any that make use of the Aegis, however, I have plans for two possible future ones, the first being your standard shielding attack, the second being a Medusa-inspired petrification one that stops people dead in their tracks.

sailor athena belongs to leesh