Jibril
From Teind
| |
|---|---|
| Changeling Name | Jibril |
| True Name | Joel Davidson |
| Age | 44 |
| Birthday | April 12 |
| Court | Autumn |
| Court Rank | Queen |
| Seeming | Darkling |
| Kith | Mirrorskin |
| Height | 6'0" |
| Weight | 167lbs |
| Family | Paul Davidson, father, deceased; Josephine Davidson, mother, deceased; Elijah Davidson, elder brother, deceased; Madeline Davidson, younger sister, deceased. |
| Occupation | Jibril has no day-in, day-out job aside from keeping her court in order. She keeps herself busy with her many hobbies in the off-season. |
| Languages | English. |
| Fetch | Married and happy, living in London. Jibril remains in contact with him. |
| Frailty | Cannot stand to be called by her true name. |
| Order | None (though she does have jurisdiction over The Scarecrow Ministry). |
| Order Rank | n/a |
| Flat | |
| Played By | Erykah Badu |
| Journal | fallsweetrain |
| Player | Lissa |
Contents |
Appearance
Mask: Jibril is dark-skinned, clearly of African descent, and dresses in such a way that most people could identify her as Caribbean after that. Her Britishness only becomes apparent once she's opened her mouth to speak. She has black, almond eyes and a sparse covering of black hair on her head which she shaves the moment it grows past an inch. In human company, she keeps a wrap on her head. With other Changelings, well, it paints a better picture if she leaves her head bare. She stands at 6 feet, no inches, with broad shoulders, narrow hips and a flat, lightly muscled torso. Jibril dresses in baggy clothes that always fall just so. She appears elegant where many would appear frumpy. Sometimes, though, she appears frumpy, too.
Mien: Her mien appears radically different from her mask. As a mirrorskin, Jibril's features are constantly in flux, undulating between what she's chosen for herself (a more feminine version of what she suspects her face looked like before she was taken) and whoever she might be paying attention to. The changes are relatively subtle, just a lengthening of her nose or a twisting of her lip. Unless she's paying very close attention to someone, only a few of her features will alter of their own accord. Jibril's skin takes on a shinier, silvery cast in her mien, like opaque glass. The curves of her figure are finally notable, making her look more like a mother than a fashion model.
Along Jibril's forehead, cheeks and chin, precious stones have been set and looping engravings carved into her skin, framing her face quite literally. Her long ears loop and curl, finally joining together on the top of her bald head. Gems have also been inlaid in place of her finger and toenails and in various other decorative spots (a lady never tells). On her hips, two handles extend from bone which Jibril keeps carefully covered with the layers of her shawls and skirts. Her eyes, like many other Darklings, are entirely black.
History
Joel's parents, both born and raised in Massacre, Dominica, immigrated to London a few months before Joel was born. The Davidsons were poor, extremely poor, but had faith that there would be more opportunities and more jobs that needed filling in a huge, famous city like London. What they imagined couldn't have been further from the truth. Joel's father struggled to find a job and keep it, as there were always people with stronger connections nosing around for employment. Joel and his two siblings grew up in squalor. Mother was always at her wits end, father was always delirious with fatigue... And when the two of them had any energy to speak of, they wasted it fighting.
Elijah, the eldest Davidson boy, died when he was 19 and left Joel, then 17, with the lion's share of responsibility. He found work as a gravedigger at one of the municipal cemeteries. It was terrible, surrounded by mourners and the mounds of the dead. Often times he was made to work late at night in the dead quiet of a half-dug grave. Most nights he couldn't remember what he'd done aside from sob and dig. But word started getting around that medical students would pay top dollar for cadavers. It took months of wondering about, planning and vomiting, but finally Joel began to sneak out to the cemetery after his shift was through, dig up fresh bodies, and replace all the mortsafes other corpse thieves didn't pay attention to.
His parents wondered where the money came from, but never cared to ask. There was food on the table. Joel found himself not minding as much after a while. It was all in the name of science. The bodies would do more good on a slab than in the grave. He began to think of himself as some sort of philanthropist, Robin Hood of the dead. Joel never thought about where the bodies came from. He especially never thought of his brother being dissected and pickled like the others he sold.
Then one night as he was prying open the lid of a coffin, Joel heard someone whistling. Cavalier after so many years of working with the dead (he was 24 now), he didn't think much of it. But the whistling grew louder as he drew the body out of its casket and he could swear the corpse's lips had formed into an "o". It's lifeless arm curling about his neck was the only thing Joel can recall before falling into the coffin and past the wood and soil into thick brambles.
His keeper was a queen. Self-styled, of course, but she commanded the "gentry" of her household. Legions of faithless corpses roamed the corridors of her castle, bending as best as their withered joints could to their queen's wishes. Joel, alive and devoutly Catholic, was not to become one of her zombis. He was to become her. Goblin smiths and their wizened slaves wrought Joel's body like molten brass, shaping his long limbs into the symmetrical curves of a mirror. His face was inlaid with precious stones and his hips were spun into handles. It was agony, all of it, but it wasn't so bad until he realized what he was being fashioned into.
Joel was suspended from the ceiling on twin chains as his queen's full-length mirror. A changeling, she would tell him often, her beautiful yet fetid mouth stretching in her slick way of smiling, was the only way to know how one truly looked. Immediately, he felt his flesh reform to reflect her image. He could feel the holes in his cheeks, the gaunt contours of her cheeks, the hollow of the unfamiliar... For a while, when she left the room, he would turn back into himself, but over time he began to lose his own form. He looked as she did, thought as she did. Raging against his chains, he even declared himself the rightful mistress of the household and demanded to be set free. That was when she broke him him. Shattered his face. Tossed him into a long room of broken mirrors, all of them grinding slowly down to sand.
There was no way of telling for how long he was there. His face (or his mistress' face...), retaining some of its human properties, healed. In time, he pulled himself to his feet and tried to navigate the infinite reflections and contortions of shattered mirrors facing shattered mirrors. Madness took hold of him, but behind the geometric echoes, there was a thought of a dingy, dirty city where nothing shined or reflected...
Outside the crystalline thorns of The Hedge was London, mostly just as he remembered it. His family, he learned, was all gone. It hurt him less than it should have. Nothing felt appropriate anymore, not even the face he saw in the mirror. His mask and mien came together to form something he couldn't understand: male and female, black and white, alive and dead. But Joel found that the mien could settle into whatever he wanted and, what was more, so could the mask on top. Finally, he brought the two together to form a persona she could identify with. She called herself Jane for a lack of anything more fitting.
Jane found her way into the freehold, establishing herself as part of the Autumn Court. She was a faithful devotee of the court for many years, often as an employee of Asphodel Meadows, until she was named successor to the last King of Autumn. The Ashen Court had finally regained its matriarch. Jane changed her name to Jibril in order to keep with the ruling nomenclature and settled into the position. Though she has always had an underling to do the brunt of her work with the members of her court, ruling has not been much of a challenge for her. She had been, after all, queen of a Fae castle.
Rumors persist that Jibril has formed an alliance with her fetch. 'Formed an alliance' is an understatement. She sees him as her own reflection, the only one she can stand for more than a few seconds, and speaks with him quite regularly. Any mention of him, Joel Davidson, will throw her into a jealous fit. It is unclear in the freehold specifically what kind of a relationship the two have.
Personality
Keywords: Inquisitive, empathetic, flexible in her opinions, discreet, forgiving (to a point), conceited, cold, manipulative, maternal, ambivalent, selfish, mysterious.
Jibril has tried very hard to turn the effects of her durance into something beneficial. Like a mirror, her mind has a tendency of reflecting the opinions of the people surrounding her. She can't read their thoughts, but the emotions and thought tendencies she can perceive start to take over her personal mindset. It has its drawbacks; arguing with others is particularly hard as her logic tends to coalesce with whatever she's arguing against, and in her youth most people simply understood her to be two-faced. Now she likes to present herself as understanding, always working toward a compromise. She likes to present herself as having no opinions at all, really. It's made her a popular ruler among those who think they know better and an unpopular one with fae who would like to see strength in the throne. Both opinions are equally valid to Jibril, of course.
With this comes an inability to identify herself. Which thoughts are her own and which are simply amalgamated reflections? Can she even have opinions or simply reflect others'? The only thing she can identify herself with definitively are her doubts and her gender. Though she can only claim the latter without thinking much about her durance at all...
To others, Jibril seems like a dowdy school marm: strict, manipulative, but striving to better all of her children's situation. Her wrath is feared, much like her everything else, and those that can witness it unshaken once never fail to cower before her the second time. Some say it comes from her abundance of dignity and poise. There's something unflinching in her solid black eyes and something sinister in her smile, like the cards are always in her favor. It might be that, or it might be that she cheats and uses her glamour to appear frightening through mystery. She knows well people fear what they don't know. That being said, the queen hardly takes audiences with people she is unfamiliar with. If she does ask to speak with a stranger, it probably means they're in extremely hot water.
She, like certain other heads of court, also has a problem with favoritism. Win your way into her good graces, usually through her pity, and you're set in the courts for life. Turn against Jibril (dissension is something she will not tolerate in any capacity) and you might as well be courtless.
Few manage to get close to her, but when they do Jibril reveals herself to be remarkably reckless. Jump first, collect the findings, then weld the broken pieces back together afterwards if you can. You never know if the risks outweigh the benefits until you discover what the benefits are. Therefore, she discreetly encouraged the members of her court to figure out whatever they can about the Fae in whatever ways they can. It's led to some foul-ups, but then there might be benefits hidden in those, too.
Other Information
Favorites and Likes
- Color
Green - Food
Roast chicken - Activity
Observing others - Other Likes
Feeling trusted, hardworking people, staying on the fringe of three conversations at once, inquiry, windy nights, chilly mornings, time by herself.
Least Favorites and Dislikes
- Color
Blue - Food
Seafood - Activity
Public speaking - Other Dislikes
Excessively moody people, skepticism, laziness, warm weather, birds, high-pitched noises, change.
Relationships
- Gulliver - Minion :')
