Diana Di Frediano Mondadori
Apr 22, 2018 18:21:33 GMT -7
Post by Kitten4u Only With A Long Name on Apr 22, 2018 18:21:33 GMT -7
Name: Diana Di Frediano Mondadori, not that she acknowledges either of her family names.
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Group: Seeker
Homeworld: The Early Renaissance: 1448 CE
Occupation: Unemployed
Face Claim: Canaan - Alphard
Appearance: Standing at 6'2", Diana towers over most people, something she rather likes. Coupled with an obviously muscular body, her presence can be intimidating, and she often goes out of her way to try to be intimidating. Her frame is small, with narrow shoulders and hips, but there isn't an inch of her that isn't covered with toned musculature. Her skin is olive, tanned from hours spent outdoors.
In contrast with that, her face is actually quite soft and round. Her chin is barely defined enough to be noticeable, her cheekbones are not the slightest bit prominent, and there seems to be a slight chubbiness to her cheeks that she can't get rid of. Her eyes are a dark brown. Her hair is black and goes just above her shoulders. It's normally tied into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face. Her hair is full of knots and it's clear that she doesn't put any effort into taking care of it. A lot of the time it isn't even clean.
After spending some time seeing where all the other portals went, Diana developed more of a taste for the clothing of 2018. It's lighter, easier to move in, and tends to be stronger making her power more effective on it. Most of the time she wears jeans and a thick shirt under either some type of long coat or a leather jacket depending on where she's going and what she intends to do there. She doesn't wear any jewelry or have any other type of body modifications.
Talents:
Melee Fighting: Diana often goes out of her way to pick fights. She enjoys it and is pretty decent at it. Her weapon of choice is a spear, and the one she uses is pretty plain and simple. She keeps a small handgun on her person too, but she hadn't quite figured out how to use it yet and the recoil throws her off every time.
Lying: She can say just about anything with a completely straight face. More than that, despite her stature she's actually good at seeming meek and unassuming as well, especially if she can wear some loose-fitting clothing and sit down. Her height is mostly in her legs, so she's not too tall when sitting, and loose clothing make her muscles look less obvious.
Flower Arranging: While she doesn't do it much anymore, she knows how to put together a nice bouquet or other arrangement. She has a good eye for color and shape, and has a great deal of knowledge about the meaning and symbolism behind each flower. She also knows how to plant, grow, and care for flowers and various other plants.
Chess: Diana doesn't play much anymore, but she had a lot of time to study and practice, thus developing some skill with it. Her ability to spot patterns made it easy for her to learn.
Card Games: Another kind of game she played frequently throughout her childhood. Even though she was more familiar with games in her time, they're not too different from the games of 2018, so she started playing them too. Her ability to keep a straight face at just about anything made her pretty good at Poker.
Reading and Writing: She reads fast and retains information well. Her handwriting is neat and consistent enough it can almost pass for a font.
Driving: A 2018 activity she took to quickly. She's not exactly a safe driver, preferring to go far faster than recommended, but she has yet to crash.
Medicine: She's very familiar with how the human body works and has studied it extensively. One of the first things she did upon discovering the world of 2018 was verify that their medical knowledge applied to her universe. She's still studying the more advanced parts of medicine now that she has a whole slew of information to go through, but she has a pretty good head start. This also applies to chemistry, physics, and other sciences to a lesser extent.
Personality: At first, Diana can come across as contradictory. She's loud and not afraid to voice her opinions, but she rarely talks and makes very little effort to stand out. She comes across as aggressive, but is prone to quickly losing interest in arguments and just walking away from them. She's very active and seems to dislike sitting still, but it's not at all unusual to see her sitting around reading or researching something. Sometimes her attention span can seem about as long as a goldfish's, but she can easily get so absorbed in something that the world is basically dead to her. The truth is that she doesn't know that much about herself, so her way of acting is a combination of what she feels is natural and how the few people she does respect act. On top of that, there are a few characteristics she know she doesn't want to have, some things that she does she doesn't want to do, and knows at least part of the type of person she doesn't want to be and goes out of her way to avoid that even if it doesn't make much sense.
Thus, much of her behavior centers around figuring out what she enjoys and testing her limits. She's willing to try just about anything once, even if it's incredibly stupid. She might even say that it sounds stupid or like a terrible idea and then in the next breath agree to it. Danger, threat of bodily harm to her or others, property damage, or even threat of death are largely meaningless to her. Diana doesn't want to be held back by fear, hesitation, disappointment, or anything else and when she starts feeling that she tends to push onward just to be contrary to those emotions, even if it defies common sense. So she often comes across as needlessly contrarian and like an adrenaline junkie. In the end, she's willing to try just about anything once.
However, at a core she isn't a lot of these things. She doesn't care enough about most things to actually get angry about it even if she tries to shout. She's prone to just walking away from arguments if they're not interesting, dropping activities the second she finds them boring, and ignoring anything she finds annoying. Despite her appearance, it's difficult to get her upset because that implies that she cares enough about other's opinions to actually get angry. Same with set backs or people being annoying, it's just hard to get that kind of reaction out of her because she finds it so difficult to care about anything. People have proven to be unreliable leeches in her opinion; creatures that will decry her existence until she's suddenly useful to them, so she sees no reason to have any interest in them at all. So she does what she wants with little regard towards others and avoids what she doesn't like with little regard to others. If it gets her what she wants, she's not afraid to manipulate or provoke people, the latter being especially common if she wants to test her own abilities. A direct conflict with another person is a great way to prove whether she's better or worse than someone, so she goes out of her way to do it. It's invigorating and affirming.
This view combined with the nature of her power makes her careless. She can heal wounds easily, so even losing a few fingers is no big deal. If she accidentally stabs someone a bit too hard, causes a horrible car crash, or missteps and falls down a flight of stairs, she can fix it like it never happened. As far as she's concerned, it doesn't matter. It also makes her very carefree. She just does what she wants no matter what it means, doesn't take anything personally (even if she likes to pretend like she does sometimes), and bounces back from bad things happening to her easily. That said, when she decides she really wants to do something, nothing will stop her. Even if it's quite possibly physically impossible, the existence of magic has already proven to her that it's likely nothing is actually impossible. She's more than willing to beat her head against the wall until she accomplishes what she wants and has an almost unnatural determination and near endless energy for it.
Diana hasn't completely decided what she wants to do with her life and is still experimenting to see what she thinks is interesting, but if there's one thing she knows she wants to do right now it's figure out how magic works. No matter what. Her magic opened so many doors for her, and it seems like being able to properly harness it could open so many more. Plus it's really cool. Beyond that, she has a great deal if interest in the sciences and is more than happy to ramble about them incessantly to anyone that can understand. Having arguments about math is practically a past time.
Magic Overview: The effects of her power aren't always obvious. There's no flashy lights or loud noises and unless you know what to look for the effects can be easy to miss. Sometimes people around her just spontaneously get better at whatever it is they're doing. In combat these effects can be more obvious; sudden super strength, sudden bursts of speed, or sometimes even her allies magic might be stronger. Sometimes the people around her might seem over emotional or develop really good non-combat skills too.
Tools: Because of the nature of her power, she can use just about anything in combat. It's not unusual for her to use her surroundings creatively, regardless of whether she's in a city or surrounded by nature, because there's always something she can use. The only things she personally brings are her spear and sometimes a thick leather jacket. The spear is perfectly plain and ordinary; just a pointy lump of metal on the end of a metal pole. The jacket is a perfectly ordinary jacket, something that probably cost around $60 in a 2018 store, but she can use her power on it to make it about as strong as plate mail. It'll be able to stop bullets from weaker guns reasonably well, but not stronger ones.
History: Diana's parents were a ruthless pair. Both born into affluence, they married to combine their empires and expand their wealth further. Their marriage gave them significant control over the wool industry, an industry so large that about half the population was involved in it in some way. Their area revolved mostly around dyes and importing cheap wool to spin into expensive fabrics, and even with greater control over that aspect of the industry it was never enough for them. Nothing ever was. So even with their growing family, they ruthlessly pursued more wealth and power.
Their first two children, both boys, were born perfectly healthy and seemed to be developing normally, if not exceptionally. Then, shortly before Diana was born, they pushed their tactics just a little too far and the owner of a smaller mill ended up killing himself over it. The mill was theirs, but they were somewhat shaken by the experience. Not enough to change their ways or stop their never ending quest for more wealth, but it did get them to invest in a rather large cathedral to try to make up for it or at least avoid the wrath of god. Then Diana was born. Their first daughter, and their first child to be so small and weak that they weren't even sure if she would survive more than a few days. She did survive, but her health didn't improve over the years. While babies are often clumsy, Diana was never able to walk, or even crawl, and never seemed to get control over her limbs. Her parents started to worry, wondering if this was some kind of divine retribution for what happened. It was all they could see when they looked at her, like she was somehow proof of their misdoings. So, they hid her away in hopes that no one would think the same.
Not that they completely abandoned her. She was still fed and cared for, even getting the personal servants necessary to let her live comfortably since she couldn't walk on her own. Her parents hired numerous doctors to try to fix her condition, but none of them ever had any idea what was even going on with her. They tried all manner of treatments, some of them even invasive and painful, but nothing ever improved her condition. They got desperate enough that they even tried calling several exorcists as well. With each failure she could see the disappointment in their eyes and the guilty and angry way they looked at her. Not that they could ever look at her long. In the end, she was just told to go back to studying. It was especially hard on her because she saw how they looked at her siblings. They could all do far more than walk; they were being set up for promising futures and all of them had useful skills. She couldn't even get out of a chair on her own and she had great difficulty turning book pages. She was nothing like them and her parents seemed to be acting accordingly. As she grew, she accepted that she probably wouldn't amount to much of anything and probably wouldn't even be able to do something as simple as get married, after all who would want to marry someone that probably wouldn't be able to bear children, so she simply accepted her place and retreated into the shadows.
Getting to the point where she fully accepted her place in the family took time though. For years she still tried to get her parents attention. It was difficult, but she did find a few things she could do. She could read, with enough time she could write, and she started taking care of a few plants around the house to add a bit more color to the place. Diana was smart, and where her body failed her, her mind tried to pick up the slack. She could learn quickly, and quickly started out pacing what her tutor tried to teach her just by reading on her own. But that was never enough. She started adopting habits and mannerisms that were in line with what her parents considered an ideal woman, even taking some cues from her younger sisters based on what her parents approved of and responded to. But it was never enough. She tried to do what she could to improve her family's lives, but none of them had much interest in talking to her and none of them seemed to notice the small efforts she made to put up planters or otherwise make their home more inviting. It became clear to her that no matter what she did, as long as her body was like this, nothing was going to change and they'd never be able to look at her any other way. For awhile she was simply dejected and didn't want to do much of anything. However, Diana wasn't the type to give up so easily. It was clear, all she needed to do was fix her body. At first it seemed impossible, but reading was the one thing she could do, so she read everything she could get her hands on for some clue as to what to do next. Her medical knowledge grew quickly, but that clue never came.
Instead she was discovered. When her family was expecting company, she was expected to hide herself somewhere and never bothered complaining about it. There wasn't much point and there wasn't much she could do to stop them from carrying her somewhere. During those times, she typically stayed in the library and continued working through whatever stack of books she was reading at the time. During one of those times, another kid happened to find her. She had no idea why he was running around their house, but there was little she could do to stop him and she couldn't even hide. So she simply tried to look so engrossed in her book that she didn't even notice the door open, hoping that would discourage them from talking to it. I didn't. Much to her surprise he actually recognized the topics she was reading about. She was overly polite during their conversation, just as her parents seemed to like, but she was genuinely happy that someone was actually talking to her.
After that, Diana made a point to always be in that room when that family was invited over so she was easy to find. He was the only person to acknowledge what she could do instead of focusing on what she couldn't. She didn't know what to make of it, but it certainly felt nice. It was the first time in her life that she didn't feel completely worthless. She quickly grew attached to him, even though she tried to avoid being too obvious about it. Having his family come over to discuss...whatever it was they did, she didn't pay that much attention anymore, was the highlight of her month and only served to fuel her determination. Eventually, she decided that she was going to walk that year no matter what it took. It didn't matter if it was impossible, she was going to do it anyway.
Three weeks later she feel deathly ill, to the point that she was completely bed ridden and couldn't even find the strength to move at all. Her promise and everything he said to her the past couple of years was all she could think about during that time. It seemed unlikely that she would even survive the year, let alone be able to walk by the end, but none of that mattered right now. She said she would and that was all that mattered. For days she did everything she could just to move her fingers, but the sickness showed no signs of letting up. Still, she continued to push herself, managing to roll onto the floor a few times before being picked up and put back into bed with a stern lecture. It didn't matter, their words never mattered. Pretending to care about her like this only served to piss her off further. She wanted nothing more than to run out of this house and to never look back.
The sickness passed, and despite how bad it was it didn't seem to have any lasting effects on her. Her body was still weak, her limbs still shook when she tried to move, she still found them difficult to control, but that was how everything already was. Nothing changed. Rather than try to call for someone to help her to the library, she just rolled onto the floor again and tried to force herself up. Even with the help of her bed she couldn't do it, but she still didn't care. She already decided she was going to do it, so she was going to sit there in that spot until something worked. Then her limbs suddenly stopped shaking and she felt a surge of power in her muscles. It was enough to let her stand up completely effortlessly. More than that, she was able to stand around dumbfounded and confused as she tried to piece together what the hell just happened. That part she didn't figure out, but it was clear to her that she could move. She tested out flailing her arms about and pacing in circles around her room just to confirm that it was really happening. She didn't actually expect any of that to work, but she was happy it did. So happy that all she could do was stand there and giggle like a moron for about five minutes. From there, she decided it was time to act on that wish. She was going to walk out of this house and never look back.
Diana wasn't sure how fast she could walk or even quite sure how to run yet, so she took her trip out slowly, making sure to go through all the main halls and take the most round about way possible. She wanted everyone to see her. The stares she got only made her feel more smug than she already was. Despite her actions, she wasn't actually expecting to get any kind of attention from her parents, figuring that they'd continue ignoring her as usual. Their actual response was somehow worse. They acknowledged her. Now that she could finally do what fit their definition of 'something' they were finally acknowledging her. Part of her wanted to be happy, but it wasn't what she was feeling. She couldn't feel anything but anger. All those years of never looking at what she could do and they suddenly had interest in her now? She couldn't accept it and it just made her want nothing to do with them. With nothing more than a single look in their direction, she turned around and wordlessly left, never planning on returning.
The hard part after that was figuring out what to do with herself. She hadn't thought this far ahead because even getting to the part where she could stand up seemed so far away that it wasn't worth worrying about yet. So, she found the one person that did acknowledge her before she was 'useful' and decided to help him with whatever he wanted to do. It didn't matter what it was, she was happy to do whatever he wanted as long as she could test her limits. It lead her to find out exactly what happened the day she could finally walk and from there she became very interested in figuring out exactly what her powers could do. When The Academy found them that was simply another easy way to test those limits. It'd be even better to go against other mages instead of the weaklings she'd been dealing with up to now.
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Group: Seeker
Homeworld: The Early Renaissance: 1448 CE
Occupation: Unemployed
Face Claim: Canaan - Alphard
Appearance: Standing at 6'2", Diana towers over most people, something she rather likes. Coupled with an obviously muscular body, her presence can be intimidating, and she often goes out of her way to try to be intimidating. Her frame is small, with narrow shoulders and hips, but there isn't an inch of her that isn't covered with toned musculature. Her skin is olive, tanned from hours spent outdoors.
In contrast with that, her face is actually quite soft and round. Her chin is barely defined enough to be noticeable, her cheekbones are not the slightest bit prominent, and there seems to be a slight chubbiness to her cheeks that she can't get rid of. Her eyes are a dark brown. Her hair is black and goes just above her shoulders. It's normally tied into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face. Her hair is full of knots and it's clear that she doesn't put any effort into taking care of it. A lot of the time it isn't even clean.
After spending some time seeing where all the other portals went, Diana developed more of a taste for the clothing of 2018. It's lighter, easier to move in, and tends to be stronger making her power more effective on it. Most of the time she wears jeans and a thick shirt under either some type of long coat or a leather jacket depending on where she's going and what she intends to do there. She doesn't wear any jewelry or have any other type of body modifications.
Talents:
Melee Fighting: Diana often goes out of her way to pick fights. She enjoys it and is pretty decent at it. Her weapon of choice is a spear, and the one she uses is pretty plain and simple. She keeps a small handgun on her person too, but she hadn't quite figured out how to use it yet and the recoil throws her off every time.
Lying: She can say just about anything with a completely straight face. More than that, despite her stature she's actually good at seeming meek and unassuming as well, especially if she can wear some loose-fitting clothing and sit down. Her height is mostly in her legs, so she's not too tall when sitting, and loose clothing make her muscles look less obvious.
Flower Arranging: While she doesn't do it much anymore, she knows how to put together a nice bouquet or other arrangement. She has a good eye for color and shape, and has a great deal of knowledge about the meaning and symbolism behind each flower. She also knows how to plant, grow, and care for flowers and various other plants.
Chess: Diana doesn't play much anymore, but she had a lot of time to study and practice, thus developing some skill with it. Her ability to spot patterns made it easy for her to learn.
Card Games: Another kind of game she played frequently throughout her childhood. Even though she was more familiar with games in her time, they're not too different from the games of 2018, so she started playing them too. Her ability to keep a straight face at just about anything made her pretty good at Poker.
Reading and Writing: She reads fast and retains information well. Her handwriting is neat and consistent enough it can almost pass for a font.
Driving: A 2018 activity she took to quickly. She's not exactly a safe driver, preferring to go far faster than recommended, but she has yet to crash.
Medicine: She's very familiar with how the human body works and has studied it extensively. One of the first things she did upon discovering the world of 2018 was verify that their medical knowledge applied to her universe. She's still studying the more advanced parts of medicine now that she has a whole slew of information to go through, but she has a pretty good head start. This also applies to chemistry, physics, and other sciences to a lesser extent.
Personality: At first, Diana can come across as contradictory. She's loud and not afraid to voice her opinions, but she rarely talks and makes very little effort to stand out. She comes across as aggressive, but is prone to quickly losing interest in arguments and just walking away from them. She's very active and seems to dislike sitting still, but it's not at all unusual to see her sitting around reading or researching something. Sometimes her attention span can seem about as long as a goldfish's, but she can easily get so absorbed in something that the world is basically dead to her. The truth is that she doesn't know that much about herself, so her way of acting is a combination of what she feels is natural and how the few people she does respect act. On top of that, there are a few characteristics she know she doesn't want to have, some things that she does she doesn't want to do, and knows at least part of the type of person she doesn't want to be and goes out of her way to avoid that even if it doesn't make much sense.
Thus, much of her behavior centers around figuring out what she enjoys and testing her limits. She's willing to try just about anything once, even if it's incredibly stupid. She might even say that it sounds stupid or like a terrible idea and then in the next breath agree to it. Danger, threat of bodily harm to her or others, property damage, or even threat of death are largely meaningless to her. Diana doesn't want to be held back by fear, hesitation, disappointment, or anything else and when she starts feeling that she tends to push onward just to be contrary to those emotions, even if it defies common sense. So she often comes across as needlessly contrarian and like an adrenaline junkie. In the end, she's willing to try just about anything once.
However, at a core she isn't a lot of these things. She doesn't care enough about most things to actually get angry about it even if she tries to shout. She's prone to just walking away from arguments if they're not interesting, dropping activities the second she finds them boring, and ignoring anything she finds annoying. Despite her appearance, it's difficult to get her upset because that implies that she cares enough about other's opinions to actually get angry. Same with set backs or people being annoying, it's just hard to get that kind of reaction out of her because she finds it so difficult to care about anything. People have proven to be unreliable leeches in her opinion; creatures that will decry her existence until she's suddenly useful to them, so she sees no reason to have any interest in them at all. So she does what she wants with little regard towards others and avoids what she doesn't like with little regard to others. If it gets her what she wants, she's not afraid to manipulate or provoke people, the latter being especially common if she wants to test her own abilities. A direct conflict with another person is a great way to prove whether she's better or worse than someone, so she goes out of her way to do it. It's invigorating and affirming.
This view combined with the nature of her power makes her careless. She can heal wounds easily, so even losing a few fingers is no big deal. If she accidentally stabs someone a bit too hard, causes a horrible car crash, or missteps and falls down a flight of stairs, she can fix it like it never happened. As far as she's concerned, it doesn't matter. It also makes her very carefree. She just does what she wants no matter what it means, doesn't take anything personally (even if she likes to pretend like she does sometimes), and bounces back from bad things happening to her easily. That said, when she decides she really wants to do something, nothing will stop her. Even if it's quite possibly physically impossible, the existence of magic has already proven to her that it's likely nothing is actually impossible. She's more than willing to beat her head against the wall until she accomplishes what she wants and has an almost unnatural determination and near endless energy for it.
Diana hasn't completely decided what she wants to do with her life and is still experimenting to see what she thinks is interesting, but if there's one thing she knows she wants to do right now it's figure out how magic works. No matter what. Her magic opened so many doors for her, and it seems like being able to properly harness it could open so many more. Plus it's really cool. Beyond that, she has a great deal if interest in the sciences and is more than happy to ramble about them incessantly to anyone that can understand. Having arguments about math is practically a past time.
Magic Overview: The effects of her power aren't always obvious. There's no flashy lights or loud noises and unless you know what to look for the effects can be easy to miss. Sometimes people around her just spontaneously get better at whatever it is they're doing. In combat these effects can be more obvious; sudden super strength, sudden bursts of speed, or sometimes even her allies magic might be stronger. Sometimes the people around her might seem over emotional or develop really good non-combat skills too.
Tools: Because of the nature of her power, she can use just about anything in combat. It's not unusual for her to use her surroundings creatively, regardless of whether she's in a city or surrounded by nature, because there's always something she can use. The only things she personally brings are her spear and sometimes a thick leather jacket. The spear is perfectly plain and ordinary; just a pointy lump of metal on the end of a metal pole. The jacket is a perfectly ordinary jacket, something that probably cost around $60 in a 2018 store, but she can use her power on it to make it about as strong as plate mail. It'll be able to stop bullets from weaker guns reasonably well, but not stronger ones.
History: Diana's parents were a ruthless pair. Both born into affluence, they married to combine their empires and expand their wealth further. Their marriage gave them significant control over the wool industry, an industry so large that about half the population was involved in it in some way. Their area revolved mostly around dyes and importing cheap wool to spin into expensive fabrics, and even with greater control over that aspect of the industry it was never enough for them. Nothing ever was. So even with their growing family, they ruthlessly pursued more wealth and power.
Their first two children, both boys, were born perfectly healthy and seemed to be developing normally, if not exceptionally. Then, shortly before Diana was born, they pushed their tactics just a little too far and the owner of a smaller mill ended up killing himself over it. The mill was theirs, but they were somewhat shaken by the experience. Not enough to change their ways or stop their never ending quest for more wealth, but it did get them to invest in a rather large cathedral to try to make up for it or at least avoid the wrath of god. Then Diana was born. Their first daughter, and their first child to be so small and weak that they weren't even sure if she would survive more than a few days. She did survive, but her health didn't improve over the years. While babies are often clumsy, Diana was never able to walk, or even crawl, and never seemed to get control over her limbs. Her parents started to worry, wondering if this was some kind of divine retribution for what happened. It was all they could see when they looked at her, like she was somehow proof of their misdoings. So, they hid her away in hopes that no one would think the same.
Not that they completely abandoned her. She was still fed and cared for, even getting the personal servants necessary to let her live comfortably since she couldn't walk on her own. Her parents hired numerous doctors to try to fix her condition, but none of them ever had any idea what was even going on with her. They tried all manner of treatments, some of them even invasive and painful, but nothing ever improved her condition. They got desperate enough that they even tried calling several exorcists as well. With each failure she could see the disappointment in their eyes and the guilty and angry way they looked at her. Not that they could ever look at her long. In the end, she was just told to go back to studying. It was especially hard on her because she saw how they looked at her siblings. They could all do far more than walk; they were being set up for promising futures and all of them had useful skills. She couldn't even get out of a chair on her own and she had great difficulty turning book pages. She was nothing like them and her parents seemed to be acting accordingly. As she grew, she accepted that she probably wouldn't amount to much of anything and probably wouldn't even be able to do something as simple as get married, after all who would want to marry someone that probably wouldn't be able to bear children, so she simply accepted her place and retreated into the shadows.
Getting to the point where she fully accepted her place in the family took time though. For years she still tried to get her parents attention. It was difficult, but she did find a few things she could do. She could read, with enough time she could write, and she started taking care of a few plants around the house to add a bit more color to the place. Diana was smart, and where her body failed her, her mind tried to pick up the slack. She could learn quickly, and quickly started out pacing what her tutor tried to teach her just by reading on her own. But that was never enough. She started adopting habits and mannerisms that were in line with what her parents considered an ideal woman, even taking some cues from her younger sisters based on what her parents approved of and responded to. But it was never enough. She tried to do what she could to improve her family's lives, but none of them had much interest in talking to her and none of them seemed to notice the small efforts she made to put up planters or otherwise make their home more inviting. It became clear to her that no matter what she did, as long as her body was like this, nothing was going to change and they'd never be able to look at her any other way. For awhile she was simply dejected and didn't want to do much of anything. However, Diana wasn't the type to give up so easily. It was clear, all she needed to do was fix her body. At first it seemed impossible, but reading was the one thing she could do, so she read everything she could get her hands on for some clue as to what to do next. Her medical knowledge grew quickly, but that clue never came.
Instead she was discovered. When her family was expecting company, she was expected to hide herself somewhere and never bothered complaining about it. There wasn't much point and there wasn't much she could do to stop them from carrying her somewhere. During those times, she typically stayed in the library and continued working through whatever stack of books she was reading at the time. During one of those times, another kid happened to find her. She had no idea why he was running around their house, but there was little she could do to stop him and she couldn't even hide. So she simply tried to look so engrossed in her book that she didn't even notice the door open, hoping that would discourage them from talking to it. I didn't. Much to her surprise he actually recognized the topics she was reading about. She was overly polite during their conversation, just as her parents seemed to like, but she was genuinely happy that someone was actually talking to her.
After that, Diana made a point to always be in that room when that family was invited over so she was easy to find. He was the only person to acknowledge what she could do instead of focusing on what she couldn't. She didn't know what to make of it, but it certainly felt nice. It was the first time in her life that she didn't feel completely worthless. She quickly grew attached to him, even though she tried to avoid being too obvious about it. Having his family come over to discuss...whatever it was they did, she didn't pay that much attention anymore, was the highlight of her month and only served to fuel her determination. Eventually, she decided that she was going to walk that year no matter what it took. It didn't matter if it was impossible, she was going to do it anyway.
Three weeks later she feel deathly ill, to the point that she was completely bed ridden and couldn't even find the strength to move at all. Her promise and everything he said to her the past couple of years was all she could think about during that time. It seemed unlikely that she would even survive the year, let alone be able to walk by the end, but none of that mattered right now. She said she would and that was all that mattered. For days she did everything she could just to move her fingers, but the sickness showed no signs of letting up. Still, she continued to push herself, managing to roll onto the floor a few times before being picked up and put back into bed with a stern lecture. It didn't matter, their words never mattered. Pretending to care about her like this only served to piss her off further. She wanted nothing more than to run out of this house and to never look back.
The sickness passed, and despite how bad it was it didn't seem to have any lasting effects on her. Her body was still weak, her limbs still shook when she tried to move, she still found them difficult to control, but that was how everything already was. Nothing changed. Rather than try to call for someone to help her to the library, she just rolled onto the floor again and tried to force herself up. Even with the help of her bed she couldn't do it, but she still didn't care. She already decided she was going to do it, so she was going to sit there in that spot until something worked. Then her limbs suddenly stopped shaking and she felt a surge of power in her muscles. It was enough to let her stand up completely effortlessly. More than that, she was able to stand around dumbfounded and confused as she tried to piece together what the hell just happened. That part she didn't figure out, but it was clear to her that she could move. She tested out flailing her arms about and pacing in circles around her room just to confirm that it was really happening. She didn't actually expect any of that to work, but she was happy it did. So happy that all she could do was stand there and giggle like a moron for about five minutes. From there, she decided it was time to act on that wish. She was going to walk out of this house and never look back.
Diana wasn't sure how fast she could walk or even quite sure how to run yet, so she took her trip out slowly, making sure to go through all the main halls and take the most round about way possible. She wanted everyone to see her. The stares she got only made her feel more smug than she already was. Despite her actions, she wasn't actually expecting to get any kind of attention from her parents, figuring that they'd continue ignoring her as usual. Their actual response was somehow worse. They acknowledged her. Now that she could finally do what fit their definition of 'something' they were finally acknowledging her. Part of her wanted to be happy, but it wasn't what she was feeling. She couldn't feel anything but anger. All those years of never looking at what she could do and they suddenly had interest in her now? She couldn't accept it and it just made her want nothing to do with them. With nothing more than a single look in their direction, she turned around and wordlessly left, never planning on returning.
The hard part after that was figuring out what to do with herself. She hadn't thought this far ahead because even getting to the part where she could stand up seemed so far away that it wasn't worth worrying about yet. So, she found the one person that did acknowledge her before she was 'useful' and decided to help him with whatever he wanted to do. It didn't matter what it was, she was happy to do whatever he wanted as long as she could test her limits. It lead her to find out exactly what happened the day she could finally walk and from there she became very interested in figuring out exactly what her powers could do. When The Academy found them that was simply another easy way to test those limits. It'd be even better to go against other mages instead of the weaklings she'd been dealing with up to now.