Janet

Player's Name: Mat
Contact info: aim: makethatwork, email: thatlovingrainbow@gmail.com, plurk: preciousidiot
DW: bitchimightbe

Character: Janet
Canon: The Ballad of Tam Lin
Version: Tricky Pixie's recording
Canon Point: post-ballad, pre-childbirth
Age: 16
Gender: female


History: (For a somewhat tongue-in-cheek but extremely accurate summary of the events of the ballad itself, you can read this)

Not much is known about Janet's childhood, but we can extrapolate a bit. She's old enough to be running out to the woods and getting knocked up and dragging a grown man down from a horse and holding to him while he's changed to a lion, among other things, which puts her at at least nearly full-grown, but she's not married despite her position as the daughter of the local lord. Her father, despite being in a position of power in medieval or pre-medieval Scotland, is described when talking to Janet as "doting, caring, meek, and mild". From all of that, I'd wager she's the youngest child of her family, with more than one older sibling already married off, and no living mother. She'd be best of use married to some nearby lord or high-ranking knight, of course, but she's a bit spoiled by her father, who she has wrapped around her little finger.

Not long before her 16th birthday (age chosen by mun because 15/16 seemed about right given the time period), Janet decided to go out to a stretch of woods that was in a piece of land her father had gifted to her, called Carterhaugh. Now, while the rest of the land and woods weren't at all dangerous, Carterhaugh was rather notorious, as a fey knight known as Tam Lin was said to prey on young women who came there.

Despite Carterhaugh's reputation - or really probably because of it - Janet went there to search for roses, specifically wearing a green dress. Green, which traditionally was a color that attracted faeries.

And so it's unsurprising that Janet ran into the infamous Tam Lin, who accused her of coming into his woods and stealing his roses. She retorted that her father had given her these woods and she'd take roses if she cared to. Tam Lin was clearly quite handsome because he took her hand after this outburst and she put together that he was truly Tam Lin and decided to sleep with him. There's no indication that their encounter was anything but consensual. So, Janet has sex with the hot fey knight and then, after assumedly going at it in plenty of positions, enough to get her KNEES dirty, not just her back, she realises it's late and high-tails it back home.

And not long after that, she finds she's pregnant. She says nothing to anyone, but eventually her father and the various members of her father's court notice, and Daddy dear asks if she's with child. Her response basically boils down to "bitch I might be". She says it's not the child of any of his knights, and that in fact it's not the child of any mortal man.

As the pregnancy progressed, she got more and more nervous, and when she was near to giving birth, she went back to Carterhaugh to search out Tam Lin. I believe she likely went back a few times at least, over the course of the pregnancy, but he wasn't always there - this time, thankfully, he was. She asks him why he hides in the woods, why he won't come to her, and he tells her how when he was a child, he fell from his horse when out hunting with his father, and a faerie queen snatched him up and took him to faerie. While he loves the land of faerie, he's afraid that this year, he's due to be the queen's tithe to hell (which happens every seven years), and says he can be hers if she can win him from the hunt that rides on Halloween (only a few days hence) - she must wait at a crossroad, then pull Tam Lin down from his horse and hold him tightly as the queen turns him into various harmful things - a deadly snake, a lion, and a flaming sword among them. Then, if she hasn't let him go, he'll be turned back into himself, naked, and she's to throw her cloak over him and she will have won him back.

And when Halloween comes along, she does all this, and wins Tam Lin from the faerie queen (who is obviously pissed but can't do anything about it). Aaaaaand then she is dragged into Portes, with a baby on the way any day now.

Personality:
Janet is, first and foremost, her father's youngest child and only daughter. While he is a fearsome warrior and a firm and just ruler of his lands, he is a huge pushover when it comes to his little Jenny. While she doesn't demand every last little thing her heart desires and is actually pretty responsible with her things, she is absolutely spoiled rotten. She has rarely been told "no", and when she's gone and done/acquired something anyway, she's never been in any real trouble. She's just not used to people not giving her what she wants (unless it's impossible to get/do for some reason, she's not UNREASONABLE) or not letting her have her way. She doesn't mean it in an cruel or selfish way, but she's just a bit entitled. Hard not to be.

That's not to say she's NEVER been told no, or that she shouldn't do something. When she wants something, she will find a way to do it or get it come hell or high water. She will find loopholes in firmly stated rules if at all possible, but if not, she will outright break said rule. This isn't to say she would break the law or anything without good reason, but household rules? Oh yes, she'll break those. Sort of related to that, she doesn't really put up with people that she thinks are full of it or themselves. She should be polite to a fault, of course, she's the daughter of the local lord/ruler/what have you. But instead, she says what she thinks, and what she thinks is often sassy or sarcastic. Her response to her father, when he postulated that she might be pregnant, was "If I am, it'll be truly magical, because it's not any mortal man's baby". Or, in a slightly more modern summary of her statement: "BITCH I MIGHT BE". She gets away with it only because of how beloved she is to her father and she knows it.

She's always been an inquisitive child, and she pursued the few books and scrolls in her father's library eagerly, even before she could read or write. Big pleading eyes and numerous requests to be taught later, she was given to one of the priests and taught to read and write, as well as basic arithmetic. She's turned that inquisitiveness to a lot of things, memorizing ballads with minstrels passing through, learning folklore and the basics of magic her nurse, from the cook, from any of the servants who would speak to her of it all. Her whole reason for going to Carterhaugh the first time was because she was curious if the legend was true, and she used knowledge learned from years of listening to stories to better her chances of meeting the infamous Tam Lin, specifically wearing a color that was said to attract the fey. It wasn't until after meeting him that she decided she'd like to bang him, and even that was a bit of an exercise in curiosity. She will poke her nose into any business she's sufficiently intrigued by, and won't stop poking until she gets the answers she wants, even if she has to re-evaluate her tactics and try something new.

The last really important thing to know about Janet is that she's basically fearless.

Okay, that's an exaggeration. She fears things, of course. But she's extremely brave, and not intimidated by things many girls from her day and age would be. She knows the reputation of Tam Lin, but she still goes to his wood, in a dress meant to attract fey, and pulls a couple of roses. And then faces an angry faerie queen who could curse, enchant, bewitch, or just outright kill her, for the love of a man she doesn't even know all that well. While nine months pregnant. It's hard to argue that the kind of young woman who could do that is not deeply brave, possibly even to the point of near-recklessness.

Fears:

• Janet has not had many fears in her life, but the specter of illness taking the lives of people she cares about is part of life where she is from. She especially fears her father dying, though she'd never say so, since she isn't positive what will happen to her if he does.
  
• Tied into her father dying, she fears being cast out for her willfullness by her eldest brother. It's a silly fear, since her brothers love her dearly, but she's heard horror stories, especially when a child is involved.
  
• She's also afraid of dying in childbirth - especially in a place that has none of the comfort of familiar surroundings, or trusted physicians and midwives.
  
• And, a relatively new but very vivid fear, though she faced down the faerie queen to win her child's father (and the man she was growing to love), she is afraid that either Tam Lin or (more likely, in her mind, since she won back Tam Lin fair and square) her child will be stolen by the fae.

Weaknesses:

• Lack of Skills - She has... pretty much no skills to help her survive anything but something that requires politeness, and she doesn't always remember not to sass.
  
• Spoiled - she's always had people there to help look out for her. While she is stubborn and in some ways fiercely independent, she's always had maids to look after her, bathe her, do her hair and laundry, etc. She's never had to clean or cook or do for herself. And she is not overly accustomed to not getting her way (though she does not, at least, expect everyone to always be capitulating to her needs)
  
• Pregnant - Janet is nine months pregnant and then will be recovering from what will likely be a pretty hard childbirth, considering it's her first and she's far from home. It's a temporary weakness, but it will be pretty important for the first few weeks.
  
• Emotionally Volatile - she's not mercurial by any stretch, but she is still relatively young, and still going through puberty. She can get riled up pretty easily, and lash out when angry (though usually only verbally).

Mundane Strengths/Abilities:

• Embroidery - like any good noblewoman, Janet can embroider. Though she tends to be bad at sitting still, when she does so, her embroidery is quite nice.
  
• Physically Healthy - She doesn't have any ailments or diseases, and is capable of walking and running for at least a few miles, even pregnant.
  
• Educated - not like she's been to university, but she can read and write and do basic arithmatic and knows a bit about history and the old religion and the new religion and the middling place where they meet and her people worship.
  
• Sass - Janet gives lip if she feels like it. Do not expect her to put up with your shit. She will not.
  
• Stubborn - If Janet decides she's going to do (or not do) something, then BY GOD SHE WILL DO IT (or not do it). It could be called "Determination", sure, but it's less that she's a generally determined person and more that she refuses to give anyone the satisfaction of her changing her mind.
  
• Brave - The girl waited in the dark on Halloween, while nine months pregnant, to run up to a horse in the middle of a large band of faerie knights, drag the rider off said horse, and hold on to him while he was turned into a flaming sword, an adder, a lion, and possibly a couple other things. And after that, she was not cowed by the angry faerie queen she'd just won Tam Lin back from. Girl's got some serious guts.

Sensitivity/Magical Ability: N/A unless getting knocked up by a fey knight gives you special powers. (her baby definitely is, tho. HOPE YOU LIKE THE BABY, HOUSE/MODS!)

Supply List:

• linen shift
  
• green kirtle
  
• shoes/stockings/underclothes
  
• BABY

Game Transfers: N/A

Sample RP post:

They were hidden somewhat by the dark, but Janet didn't trust that meant anything to the eyes of the Fairy Queen currently glowering down at her. She was, quite frankly, livid, Janet could tell that much, but it wasn't just that Janet had dared to take Tam Lin from her - it's that she, a human woman barely older than a child, had succeeded.

"Had I but known we would see this defeat, Tam Lin," the queen hissed, her eyes locked on Janet instead of the former knight she addressed, "I'd have et thy heart and left thee with a heart of stone."

Tam Lin was still trembling, naked and weak under Janet's cloak, but the young woman was in no such state. She levered herself to her feet, as gracefully as she could with the weight of the babe hindering her, and raised her chin. "Aye," she answered. "But you dinnae and I won him fair. Be off with you."

The queen's face twisted with rage, and Janet started to worry (though she did her best to keep it hidden) that she'd miscalculated, that the queen wouldn't let her leave after winning her lover by the rules. The rules didn't technically, to Janet's knowledge, say that the queen wasn't allowed to kill her after. She'd just assumed. She went to take a step back and suddenly found herself in a dim metallic room that smelled of blood.

Janet steeled herself against the panic rising in her chest - she wouldn't be allowed to get away with such arrogance, then. The queen had stolen her to the fairy kingdom. Now she had to hope she'd be allowed to live.

"Hello?" she called, and willed her voice not to tremble. "I am Lady Janet of Selkirkshire, and I command you to tell me where I am and how I am to return to my father." It was unlikely, she thought, that she'd get the answer she was looking for. It couldn't hurt to ask - a sufficiently imperious tone could sway many people back home. Perhaps it would work in this fairy's knowe as well.