A Christmas Adventure (OOC)

[Lox]

It's said that in the middle of nowhere lies an abandoned train station that only children can find. This station has no staff, and no regular trains. Only once every year does a train come to the station - on the 22nd of December every year, the station is the stopping point for a magical train, to pick up children who have never experienced the beauty of Christmas, and take them to the fantastic World of Fables.

Nobody has ever seen it, of course, because it's a childrens' story, told to orphans and otherwise poor and desolute children who cannot afford to live as we others do in some manner of wealth and comfort whenever Christmas draws near. But every year, hundreds of children hear of this story. And every year, a handful take the words being told to them, literally, and go out in search of this magical train station. And, every year, these few children find what they are looking for.

Now, it's that time of year again. The train station lies abandoned as always, but the hour draws near, when that magical train will come steaming into the station to pick up its passengers. You have been told of the story. Of course, it's only a myth - the train station does not exist, and nor does the train.

So, will you be on it?

EDIT: Ok, I'm aiming for a Dickensian feel to this, so the roleplay will take place around 1860 or so, in England. Just an fyi.


Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Personality:
Economic situation: (Rich, middle-class, poor, homeless)
Family situation: (Describe family if applicable. Orphan if character has no family.)
History:

[Lox]

Name: The Engineer

Age: 60+

Appearance: In his 60's, with a salt-and-pepper mustasch and round glasses. Sometimes seen with a pipe in his mouth. Grey pants with suspenders, a blue shirt, red scarf around his neck, a blue cap on his head, and a pair of pilot's goggles. Unlike the Rascal, he is sometimes seen in other, finer clothes as well, and keeps his face clean from the dirt that comes with his trade. The inspiration.

Personality: Kind and gentle, well-mannered and very caring, especially of the Rascal.

Economic situation: Not applicable

Family situation: Unknown, though the Rascal is somewhat like a badly mannered son to him.

History: Not much is known about the Engineer. His past is a mystery, but most who know of and have met him believe he's always been piloting the mysterious train. Some believe he's God. Others believe he's Santa. At the very least he's always gentle and kind towards everybody except for when reprimanding the Rascal. He knows his train inside and out, almost as if it was an extension of his own body, and he seems like the kind of man that loves all life, and just want to do good in this world.


Name: The Rascal

Age: 18

Appearance: Unkempt brown hair, a pair of pilot's goggles, loose-fit brown pants and boots that have seen better days, a torn white Henley shirt. About 1,78 tall, slenderly built, somewhat thin, usually has grease, dirt and oil stains in his face because his side of the work around the train includes repair work and shoveling coal for the Engineer. Sometimes seen smoking a pipe. Inspiration

Personality: Silent type, somewhat cynical, but on the inside a total softie.

Economic situation: Not applicable. Was homeless in the past.

Family situation: Orphan, no family, though the Engineer has become somewhat of a father to him.

History: The Rascal was once a street urchin, living in the backstreets where he was part of a ring of pickpockets. At the time only eleven years old, he was one of the most skilled pickpockets, and a protege of sorts of the head of the thieves' ring. One day he was captured by the police, and after spending a night in jail, shaken, he ran away from the thieves' ring, never wanting to experience that again. Chased by his former friends, he heard the stories of a train station that could take him away from all that.

Desperate, he fled the city in search for the train station. He found it, and was taken on-board the train with many others like him. The train left for the World of Fables. Like every year, many adventures ensued. When they returned to the world of humans, all children except for the Rascal returned to their old lives, richer, more experienced, and with a greater appreciation for life than before. The Rascal, however, did what no other child had ever done before or after, staying on the train as the Engineer's helper.

[V]

Moved this for you Lox

[Lox]

Thanks, haha. Sorry, I screwed up. That's what happens when I post under sleep-deprivation.

[Kris]

This looks like a great game. Why not submit it for Roleplay of the Week or put it in the Roleplaying Games Directory or click here to help attract players?

[Lady]

Is it fitting that I found this while listening to 'Once Upon a December'?

Anyway, something you have concocted should be usually awesome. Count me in

Name: Tanya Pajari and Rudy 'Rudolph' Hemming
Age: 14 and 15, respectively
Appearance: Why here you are
Personality: Tanya is a quiet girl, preffering to let Rudy do the speaking for both of them. That is not to say she is calm and intelligent. Quite far from that, actually. She loves getting into mischief and is almost always seen concocting some sort of plan with the blonde boy. She is quick to anger if someone just happens to say a bad word about her so-called family. She is suspicious around well-off persons (speaking in terms of money). She knows how to swear in third different languages. She's many things, but one thing she surely isn't: selfish. Tanya will share her things with just about anyone - that is, if they have gained her trust enough which in itself is not a hard things to do.

Rudy is along the same line, but different all the same. He is protective of Tanya as if she was one of his sisters. He's a teenager, he knows everything and everyone else is an idiot. He likes leading the duo into trouble. He brawls daily with other kids for little reason other than to get the adrenaline pumping. He's the one kids who will joke in a serious situation and transform it into a seriously awkward situation (probably by telling an inappropiate joke).

They both fight over a lot of things and who wouldn't know them better would assume they hate each other's guts. But that's just how they show each other that they care. What better way to show your love for someone than friendly banter, right?
Economic situation: Homeless & Poor
Family situation: Tanya has an older brother who may as well be dead, so I think orphan.
Rudy lives in a home that is standing on its last legs together with his parents and two sisters.
History: Tanya hails from good ol' Mother Russia. She was travelling with her sick mother to search for her older brother who had ran away from home to seek his fortune elsewhere. Since he always spoke of England and his friend who went here it was only natural to seek him there first.

Unfortunately sickness caught up with poor mother. Every day her condition was getting worse (they did not know what she had, for they had no money to go to a doctor) and no ways of getting medical atention. Eventually she died. It was only lucky she did not perish in the middle of nowhere, because ten year old Tanya would surely have gotten lost on those endless fields. No, her mother had passed on to another life as soon as they put foot in England.

With no coin to her name Tanya had very little possibilities. At first she thought about finding her brother, but how was she to do that when she couldn't even take care of herself?

No sire. He left poor mother and broke her heart. He was the one who forced mother to seek for him and die without knowing the fate of her child. Damn him to the deepest pit of hell, for he was no longer 'Brother'. He was no longer kin.

Tanya quickly learned one rule: even the city was a jungle. Here you eat, or you are eaten. There was no inbetween. You bet she better learn how to nick food off of stalls or starve. She never dared to go higher than that out of fear for getting caught. She was no fool, she had seen what happened to thieves.

A year had passed and Tanya settled her nest into a poor neighborhood on a back alley where only stray cats wandered. There she had been spotted by a bunch of kids. Even if they were poor themselves, that did not stop them from mercilessly teasing her for having a home amongst the rats. Only one boy stuck up for her. It should be obvious by now that he was a lemon-haired boy with blue eyes named Rudy.

Rudy was a native of England, born the eldest to a poor family. At first his parents did his best to spoil him, but as Irene and Elizabeth were born they had to share the love between the three children. Rudy didn't like that one bit, and was a little jealous of his sisters for they were girls and could do no wrong in mother's and father's eyes, but when they heard of a brawl all blame was cast onto him. That drove him to stay outside more and more, even if the other kids showed no interest in playing with him.

Now he wasn't a defender of justice and saviour of the righteous, but when he saw a thin, frail little girl being bullied by Edward and his gang he wouldn't stand for it - and there was the fact that mother would be extremely disappointed if she found out that he allowed a girl of all things be insulted.

The girl proved not to be a delicate wallflower but instead a tomboyish orphan with a fiery temper. At first it was awkward, but then Rudy started bringing her food and worn clothes his sisters no longer wore, and in exchange Tanya sometimes braced herself and stole some trinkets to gift her only friend. It didn't take long for them to become thick as thieves, and you could swear they were brother and sister at the first glance.

As both came from unfortunate backgrounds neither had experienced the joy of a true Christmas - the most they would get was a puny tree with three dull decorations scavenged from God knows where and a few similarly puny gifts stacked under the yellow-green branches.

Tanya has always been one for myths, and is eager to grasp the idea that a train will come and spirit her away to a wonderful place, but Rudy just snorts at the mere thought of it.

[Lox]

Accepted! Welcome aboard!

[Lady]

Found a site about life in the XYZ century. It's quite interesting and now I will not make a fool out of myself by mentioning something that shouldn't be here.
So you might want to move the timeline 10 or 20 years in the future to have a semi-fairytale city Lox

[Lox]

Well, I'm not going to say a specific year or even decade that it takes place in, just "Victorian/Dickensian era England". Let's leave it at that, and if you feel like throwing in something from 1880 into the fray, I don't mind, as long as you don't mention any specific years.

[Girly Woman]

Name: Olivia Twist {couldn't resist! )

Age: 10

Appearance:


Personality: Olivia is a sweet and fanciful child. Despite her hard life, she manages to stay sweet. She does so by always pretending. This is why the story of the magical train had particular appeal to her! She is a very affectionate and loving child, so the orphanage is particularly hard for her. She is bullied by the other children and ignored by those in charge.

Economic situation: (Rich, middle-class, poor, homeless) Poor

Family situation: (Describe family if applicable. Orphan if character has no family.) Orphan

History: Both of Olivia's parents died from an illness that Olivia somehow survived. She had no relations who would take her and so she was sent to the orphanage. She has always had an active imagination, which was why the story of the magical train had particular appeal to her. She had decided that this year, she would finally find the magical train! Maybe it would take her to live with people with loved her.