Application, Contact Info, OOC

[roseredheart]

Player Information
» Name: Ardruna
» Age: 26
» Journal: mirisa_ardruna
» Contact: AIM: Mirisa Erato, email: ardruna@gmail.com

Deity Information
» Pantheon: Greek
» Deity: Erato
» Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato, http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaErato.html, http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Mousai.html
» Divine Family: {mother & father} Zeus and Mnemosyne; {spouse} Malos; {siblings} Calliope, Thalia, Clio, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Urania, and a whole bunch of half-siblings; {children} Kleophema
» Mythology: Erato is one of the nine Muses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. She is the Muse of lyric love/erotic poetry and mimic imitation. She is typically depicted with a lyre, and her name means "the lovely" or "beloved."

As a collective, the Muses were charged with the recording and celebration of culture and achievement for gods and men alike. Frequently, they were granted a place of honor seated near the throne of their father Zeus, but they more commonly were known to reside on Mount Parnassus, near Apollo's sacred city of Delphi and frequently spent time at Mount Helicon as well, as they sang for the celebrations at both locations. They provided song for the various parties and celebrations on Olympus, including weddings, such as those of Cadmus & Harmonia, Eros & Psyche, and Peleus & Thetis. They also sang the funeral laments of heroes such as Achilles, and their sons (or nephews, in Erato's case) such as Linos and Orpheus.

Their self-appointed leader and near-constant companion was Apollo, their half-brother by Zeus. Having been gifted with foresight and the exclusive ability to know the mind of Zeus, Apollo knew what the Muses had been intended for. While the Muses were nursed by Eupheme, Apollo was there to assist in their births, granting their names, recognizing their abilities and mentoring them into their maturity (though some sources claim the reverse: that the Muses were present at Apollo's birth and subsequently mentored him). The love between Apollo and the nine Muses was vast and deeply mutual. He was friend, playmate, brother, teacher and lover to them all. On many occasions, Apollo called on them to judge contests of musical skill, such as that with Marsyas. Although they always claimed to be fair and impartial, the Muses routinely ruled in Apollo's favor. At one point, Apollo proposed marriage to all nine sisters at the same time, but the nuptials were quickly thwarted by Zeus, who ruled that since he could only be wed to one woman, so too must it be for Apollo. This did not stop them from caring for Apollo's son Aristaeus, getting him safely into the care and tutelage of the centaur Chiron, and, when the boy was old enough, teaching him in the ways of song, healing and prophecy, finding him a bride, and making him the shepherd of their sacred flock on the Athamantian plain in Phthia, near Mount Othrys.

The Muses were also companions of the messenger god Hermes, taking as much delight in his creation of the lyre as Apollo did. Erato herself made it her instrument of choice as well. Nor was it uncommon for them to follow and play with Dionysus, often delighting in providing music for his satyrs. However, after Orpheus was killed at the hands of Dionysus's followers for refusing to give up his mourning for his lost bride, Eurydice, and the Muses collected the pieces of his torn-apart body and sang his funeral rites, that particular association ended--despite Dionysus himself not being personally involved and even harshly rebuking his followers for the incident. Aside from their brothers, the favorite playmates and companions of the Muses were the Kharites (also called the Graces), with whom they were closely associated. They also had a fondness for their half-sister Athena, and regularly enjoyed exchanging stories with her. The archer Crotus, the son of their nurse Eupheme, often enjoyed the company of the Muses around Mount Helicon, and they were so impressed with his skills and zeal that they asked their father Zeus to reward him with a constellation. Since he wanted all his skills represented in one body in this heavenly portrait, he was given horses' flanks,a satyr's tail and arrows, and thusly was represented in the constellation Sagittarius.

The sisters themselves were once challenged to a musical contest in their own right by the Thracian singer Thamyris, who also happened to be the mentor of their beloved Orpheus, Calliope's son. If Thamyris won, he would have been granted the option to have his way with one, or all, of the Muses at his choosing. However, the sisters defeated him soundly with their choir, and punished his presumption by blinding him, and stripping him of his ability to make song and poetry. At another time, following the demands of Hera, the Sirens (who were the children of the Muse Melpomene) challenged the Muses to a musical contest as well. Once again, the Muses were victorious, and commemorated the victory by plucking out the Sirens' feathers and making crowns from the plumage.

At roughly the same time as the Muses' conception, which took place in Pieria, the eponymously-named Pieros was born, allegedly directly from the earth of the holy site. He became the father to nine daughters of his own, known as the Pierides, who also formed a gifted choir in direct opposition to the Muses. When the Pierides sang, all creation went dark and no one would listen to their song, unlike the swell of pleasure and captivation the Muses earned from creation when they sang. Annoyed at these mortal women who tried to equate themselves with the Muses, the divine sisters changed the Pierides into nine different birds: the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker, and the dracontis pigeon.

At one point, while traveling to the shrine at Delphi, the Muses were caught in a dreadful storm. As they searched for shelter, they encountered a man named Pyreneus who offered them shelter in his home. At first, the Muses were reluctant to accept, for they knew him to be a vicious known murderer, but he acted polite and humble in their presence, and between his kind words and the weather, they accepted the offer. No sooner had they come inside, than the door was bolted behind them and Pyreneus tried to attack them. The Muses fled through the halls, but were fiercely pursued by him up to the battlements. The sisters escaped by rising into the sky, and when Pyreneus tried to follow, he ended up leaping to his death.

Allegedly, it was the Muses who taught riddles to the Sphinx, with which she challenged visitors to the city of Thebes.

In the Orphic Hymns, Erato was said to be able to "charm the sight," although she lacked the ability to actually create love or lust, unlike more powerful deities, such as Aphrodite and Eros.

The most beautiful of her sisters, in the Isyllus, Zeus had Erato married to Malos, the lord of Malea, allegedly so that no one would fight over her. Some suspect there may have been ulterior motives behind the decision, including breaking up the set so that Apollo would not continue attempting the plural marriage and specifically sending Erato away so that her records of Zeus's indiscretions would no longer so easily fall into the hands of the likes of Hera. Erato and Malos had one child together, a daughter named Kleophema, who became the grandmother to the god Asclepius.

According to legend, Erato was the patroness of the poet Sappho of Lesbos, known for her erotic works dedicated to other women. From Sappho's body of work we get the term "lesbian" to refer to love between women.

Character Information
» Played By: Taylor Swift
» Journal: roseredheart
» Current Name: Amanda Rose Keefe
» Birthdate: 04/29/1992
» Height: 5'2"
» Distinguishing Marks: None really, has pierced earlobes
» Family: {mother & father} Richard and Gina Keefe; {marital status/spouse} single/NA; {siblings} none; {children} none; {pets} 1 Balinese cat named Delilah
» Occupation: Barista, advice blogger
» Currently Residing In: Olympia, Washington
» Ability: She has a knack for giving successful relationship advice and her presence tends to bring harmony to any group setting. Expressions of love of all kinds flow more easily when she's around, and the recipients of these expressions are more receptive if Erato is nearby. Note that the ease of expression and increased receptiveness do not work on Erato herself. She is also a writer with a talent for mimicking different writing styles.

» History: A world without romance is a sad place indeed, and Erato has been reincarnated several times over the centuries. Among them:

Erato was reborn in Florence, Italy in the 1330s as Francesca di Angelo. Her father was a banker and he married her off when she was in her mid-teens to a wealthy husband. They had a daughter together, but Francesca died a few years later from the Black Death.

She was again born in Italy in 1420 as Giulietta Colombera, the daughter of traveling merchants. She visited many places in Europe over her lifetime, but always loved Italy best. In this lifetime, though she had a handful of lovers, she never married.

She was born and lived in London during the late 16th century as Mary Cartwright, the wife of an actor. She was a devoted patron of the theatre and never missed a show if she could help it. Her marriage produced only one living child (though she had several miscarriages), and she outlived her beloved husband.

In 1800, she was born as Anne Cooper in County Durham, England. She was well-educated for a girl of her time, and wrote a number of poems that she never published. She married a businessman, who also had a great love for the written word, and greatly enjoyed when Anna would write and read love poems to him. She bore him two children, but Anne died of a lung disease in her late 30s. Posthumously, her husband published her poetry under his own name.

She was reborn in Paris, France in 1847 as Yvette Marceau, where she became involved in the art community. She married a young Impressionist painter and often served as a model for both her husband and his colleagues at the Salon. She lived a very long, full life during the Belle Epoque, forever loyal patron to the artistic life, and finally passed away in the late 1930s several years after the death of her husband.

In her current incarnation as Amanda Rose Keefe, she was born in 1992, the daughter of two writers: her mother writes and publishes Harlequin romance novels while her father is a playwright. Her father primarily works to sell scripts for potential Broadway shows, but since Amanda's birth has also been earning additional income on the side writing scripts for the adult film industry. No marriage is perfect, but Amanda's parents have had a tumultuous relationship over the years. However, Amanda has noticed that her parents rarely argue whenever she's around. Her mother likes to say that Amanda "just has a way of bringing people together," though Amanda has never told anyone the truth of who she is.

In the meantime, when not blogging away, she works at a local coffee house where she makes a point of getting to know her regular customers and their favorite drinks. She especially enjoys working during open mike nights when she can hear the sorts of things that people, both friends and strangers, come up with. On occasion, she will go up herself, but she spends the vast majority of her time there behind the counter.

As a fresh high school graduate, Amanda has chosen to attend the University of Washington-Seattle and plans to major in Classics, so that she can rediscover the old myths and legends as they were originally written. However, among other things, she worries that her parents' marriage, let alone their careers, may not survive long if she is not living at home.

» Personality: Being a Muse, the reborn Erato is creative, and loves to write stories, poems and songs (she's learned to play the guitar and the lap harp in her current incarnation). She is also fascinated by love stories of all kinds (romance being her favorite genre in virtually any medium) and has a healthy appreciation for the erotic, though she often does not admit this openly. Almost all of her creative projects incorporate love or lust in some manner, and she is not discriminating in her subject matter, offering up relationships in a variety of configurations, whether it's saccharine-sweet boy-meets-girl tales or considerably racier fare. Although she is not particularly motivated to publish her works to make a living or even gain fame from them, she often shares her work through online venues, and all of her edgier writing is done under a pseudonym as she is too self-conscious to attach her real name to it. She is often plagued by feelings of vulnerability and insecurity, but through her writing she finds herself best able to express her confidence and passion. Still, she frequently suffers from what she refers to as "Nervous Writer's Syndrome" and does not allow anyone she does not completely trust to see her works in progress. With encouragement and support, however, she can blossom.

Although she has a sensual side, Amanda is rarely overtly sexual. In fact, she tends to be rather passive, even shy much of the time. Some would go so far as to say she tends to let people treat her as a doormat. She is gentle, friendly and kind, though, in love with the idea of love and a wholehearted believer in the spirit of true love. It saddens her to see relationships suffer or fall apart, and so, with her generous nature, she has a difficult time saying "no" to anyone coming to her for help for any reason. She began a blog specifically for the purpose of offering relationship advice under a pseudonym and allowing others to anonymously ask her questions. Her knack for being able to mimic different voices in her writing has also led some people to ask her to write love notes on their behalf in something of a Cyrano de Bergerac fashion. Unfortunately, her advice only ever seems to work for other people, and Amanda herself has had very little romantic experience.

Amanda does not adapt easily to change, preferring the comfort of the status quo over the unfamiliar. Though it doesn't come out often, but Amanda does have a stubborn streak in her, and she is known to dig her heels in on things about which she cares passionately. Continue to push her far enough, and her usually slow temper can be downright explosive.

» Other Notes: Adolescence is a confusing time for just about everyone, even for reincarnated Muses, and Amanda is no different. Among her teenaged struggles is her still-developing sense of sexuality. She grew up surrounded with traditional fairy tales and old-fashioned love stories, and was always told she would likely find a nice boy to settle down with someday. In truth, she is bisexual, and she grapples with the fact that she likes girls just as well as boys. As she has yet to come to terms with her orientation, she has kept herself in the closet, and only hinted at the truth to a very select few people.

She is fluent in English and knows some high-school-level French. She will begin studying Attic Greek and Latin once she starts her fall classes.

» Sample Journal: There's nothing like an upcoming holiday to bring in a big rush of questions on the blog. Everyone just wants to make sure that they have someone to share it with and that everything will be perfect, I guess, like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Is it bad that it feels like I'm giving the same advice to everyone? "Just go talk to them. Get to know the person. Be yourself." That sort of thing. It seems so easy to just recite the usual platitudes to everyone, and they seem to work... so why, why, WHY is it that I can't follow my own advice?! People ask me questions like this all the time, and if it were anyone else, I know exactly what I would tell that person to do. Everyone else can do it, so why can't I?

I think it's not so much that I'm afraid to talk to them or be myself, but rather that I don't know what to say. After all, talking about the weather or homework can only get you so far. I mean, I know we like a lot of the same things, but I'm worried if I blurt out too much at once, I'm going to come off like some creepy stalker or something.

God, I just feel like such an idiot and so... helpless, I guess, sometimes. I can help everyone else around me, just not myself. What's wrong with me?

» Sample Log: "Okay, so that was one grande skinny vanilla-caramel latte with extra foam... Here you are. But, honestly, Carmen, I think you should just go talk to him. What's the worst that can happen, really? I mean, if nothing else, you'll have a new friend, and that isn't such a bad thing, is it?" Amanda smiled as she handed over the drink.

As Carmen went to sit down with her latte, Amanda went to the back room to get another gallon of the skim milk from the big fridge. It was her third trip to the back for milk this evening already. But, then again, things were always busy on open mike nights, between the performers needing something to calm their nerves and wet their whistles and the patrons who came to listen.

Amanda loved open mike night, despite the rush. She loved to hear the songs and poetry. She loved seeing all her favorite customers coming in to perform their latest or just support those brave enough to take the mike. She loved the sense of creativity and camaradie--it warmed her heart more than anything she could serve up.

Just then, the door chime sounded, and Amanda looked up. In walked two of her classmates, Jenna and her brother Mel. Amanda didn't often talk to them at school, at least, not much beyond the weather or "Hey, what did you put down for Question 2 on the assignment?" Not enough to call them "friends," anyway, though they got along just fine. Still, they came in often enough that she did know their usual drink orders.

"Hey guys! The usuals tonight? I'll get right on them," Amanda chirped as they walked up to the counter. As she busied herself with the drinks, she glanced over her shoulder. All the girls, it seemed, had crushes on Mel. She'd been asked to write enough stupid love notes to him that she could tick off all his virtues: his great smile, his beautiful eyes, the way he laughed... Enough times that Amanda was starting to see them in him even when he wasn't right in front of her.

"Ok! So here we have one strawberry Italian soda and one cappuccino--just how you like it." Amanda felt herself blush a little when Jenna smiled back. "Oh... and one more thing," Amanda said, her smile almost faltering, "Here's the letter you wanted me to write for Sara, Mel. I'm sure she'll love it."