(no subject)

[mauks]

Player Name: Kiku
Contact: lefaeys (discord), valyria, dm
Invited by: i've been in the walls for over a year now
Other Characters: Dante, Furina de Fontaine, Jing Yuan, Vex'ahlia, Jiang Cheng

Character Name: Mollymauk Tealeaf
Canon: Critical Role
Canon History: Here!

Canon Personality:

─ The first thing you will realize about Mollymauk Tealeaf is that the man stands out like a sore thumb. Not only because of the purple skin, horns, and tail, but because he dresses like an ostentatious eyesore. One way to describe it is very loud. The second thing you'll notice is that he is completely and utterly full of bullshit. Which he most definitely is and it is entirely by design. Mollymauk Tealeaf, after all, is a persona constructed over the course of two years in a circus by a lonely tiefling who crawled his way out of a grave with no memories of who he was or what happened to him. Rather than attempt to uncover his missing memories, Molly deigned to leave whoever he was before buried in the ground, and he has absolutely zero interest in ever digging up his former life up to the point where the mere idea terrifies and repulses him. He's come by who he is honestly, and he likes who he is now. He doesn't want to find out that he's not the person he's decided he is and be forced to feel beholden to the cold reality he's forgotten.

─ It is important to note that Mollymauk "grew up" in a carnival. It was all he knew and his experiences there were an integral part of forming the man he is today. He is painfully aware of his appearance, choosing to make himself as loud and showy as possible. He reasons that if people are going to stare at him he may as well make sure to give them something good to look at. From his obnoxious multicolored coat, to the jewelry adorning his horns, to his tattoos, everything is made to make him stand out as much as humanly possible. He often chases after pleasure, especially when life is disappointing, and new experiences be they good or bad with a great amount of enthusiasm. Life is short and most people only get one, he wants to be happy and enjoy himself, and if he can make other people happy as well? Then all the better.

─ He tends to carry himself with the air of someone very confident and self-assured. Insults flung in his direction tend to slide off him like water off a ducks back. Molly doesn't seem to care that people make snap judgments on him. When asked why anyone should trust him since he lies and bullshits, his response is "Because I always lie and bullshit." He might make up stories, but he's honest about who he is as a person, because it separates him from his former life. Due to being a tiefling, a lot of people are immediately distrusting or suspicious of him, but he can shrug it off like it's nothing. In fact, it takes a lot to get him legitimately angry. He can be stern and unwavering when he's made up his mind, but mostly he lets things breeze on by. Life's too short and full of new experiences to really bother with being unhappy about anything. The closest he ever comes to being genuinely upset is when faced with any aspect of his past before he lost his memories- that can drive him into an absolute fearful panic.

─ He is something of a liar and a con, but he is a good person with a strict moral code- he only takes from people who could stand to have a little less, never takes more than what he feels he's earned, never steals from the people he's around (and expects his party members to do the same), and always follows through on a promise. He seems to see the best in people, to some extent, and encourages people, sometimes through mischief and violence, to do better. In fact, he even uses his skills at Tarot (though he lacks any actual magical divination talent) to set people on what he perceives to be the right path, and when someone points out that he can't possibly know what the right path for those people are, he indignantly protests that he left every town better than the way he came to it, and that he would never seek to send a person down a path they wouldn't choose, explaining that some people just need guidance and a direction. This is never more true than when he stops a fight with some bandits, gives them a stirring speech about getting their lives together or else, and then gives them all some gold, and sends them off.

─ Because of living in the circus where all they had was each other, Molly is extremely loyal to the groups he travels with, even if he doesn't necessarily like all of them. He and Beauregard, for example, have a mutual dislike of one another, but on several occasions he's stopped her from getting hurt and they’re starting to come around as playfully spiteful of one another. He's a liar, in his own words, but not a betrayer, though this doesn't preclude him from shady or sometimes "tough love" tactics, like charming Nott into making her tell him why she wanted to steal from Fjord or slapping Caleb out of PTSD episode, but they're meant for the betterment of the group so it's justified in his mind. It should be noted that due to most circus performers not being hindered by social propriety, these were probably standard tactics in dealing with dishonesty and anxiety among the group, and he just honestly doesn't know any better, nor does he particularly care about learning otherwise.

─ Molly is extremely good at reading people. He's keenly observant, and tends to make very snap judgments on people, which seems to be because he doesn't care about anyone's past or reasoning for their behavior, but rather who they are in the moment. He doesn't care about his past and he doesn't let that define him, so he doesn't let it define other people. How you present yourself in the present is all that matters to him, which means that he's capable of forgiving or just actively not caring what a person has done in their past so long as they're not a royal shitheel in the present. This wisdom also helps him con and lie his way through awkward situations, because he can observe people's reactions and play to their expectations. It's less that he's a good liar and more that he's good at knowing what people want or expect to hear. The minute he starts to expand upon his lies, they risk falling apart, as he tends to go to extremely dramatic fabrications, rather than keeping it simple. Truth be told, unless the situation is dangerous, he doesn't even care if he's caught in a lie. That story he told about how his family are worshipers of a demon that lives in a volcano? Of course it's a lie! But it's a good story, isn't it? The truth is overrated. People don't want to hear the truth. It only upsets people.

AU Name: n/a
AU Age: 26
AU Birthday: November 4

AU History:

• raised in a orphanage Mollymauk Tealeaf's childhood was less than stellar. he was always a trouble maker, getting into things he shouldn't, stealing from the sisters who took care of them, sneaking out and staying up way past curfew etc. he brought laughter to an otherwise gloomy environment and the other children loved him, as did the sisters despite all the trouble he always caused.
• it was that habit of finding trouble that caused everything to fall apart one fateful night. Mollymauk was staying up longer than he should have, in a part of the orphanage that was normally not accessible to the children. the structure was in need of repair, you see, as the orphanage was a old building and the ravages of time had taken it's toll on it. not that Mollymauk cared about that, he enjoyed going places the sisters didn't want him to go, and doing things the sisters didn't want to do; like exploring structurally unsound areas of their home late at night in the pitch darkness.
• naturally while exploring tragedy occurred, a candle lit to help him see a little better caught a bit of old curtain alight. by the time Mollymauk realized what had happened it was too late, the fire engulfing the old building in a matter of moments. the building collapsed under the weight of the flames, with young Mollymauk inside.
• by all rights he shouldn't have survived that night. by the time the firefighters arrived and put out the fire, he should have been dead, but miraculously he survived though forever changed. when Mollymauk awoke the next day he found himself in his bed, his head hurting and his body aching, it wasn't until he managed to get up and go to the washroom that he realized something was off. his skin had turned lavender purple, his eyes a solid red, he had grown horns that curled either side of his head, and a tail! a devil just like the one the sisters always spoke of from their books! panicked he went to find one of the sisters only for them to usher him quickly back to his room ordering him to stay inside, that he must not be seen by the other children.
• for nearly a week Mollymauk was isolated in his room, the door remaining locked unless it was one of the sisters bringing him some food, or a change of clothes. he didn't understand what was happening, why it was happening, and no matter how many times he tried to ask none of the sisters would give him an answer.
• he was adopted by a rich couple shortly after, the process was quick and nothing like any of the other adoptions that happened in the orphanage. before Mollymauk knew it he was swept away never to see any of the kids he grew up with ever again. He was 10 years old.
• in the beginning his adopted parents were kind, treating him to all sorts of gifts and making sure he was comfortable in his new life and body. but things turned quickly sour the day he excited showed off a magic trick he had been practicing. it was then that Mollymauk went from beloved son to useful tool.
• he was encouraged to improve his skills, becoming incredibly talented with slight of hand tricks and pickpocketing, and once he turned the sweet age of 12 he began to preform those tricks to a small crowd of morbidly curious who wanted to see the devil boy and his fancy tricks. sometimes he would even perform a private show for his parents and one or two people he didn't know, watching as his parents attacked and robbed these people before never seeing them again. it didn't take much to realize his "parents" killed them and disposed of their bodies.
• these shows got more elaborate the older he got, slight of hand tricks begin combined with his alluring charisma, making it all the easier to lure unfortunate souls back for a private show. this continued for 6 years, the couple that adopted him growing richer and richer as time passed, their crimes seemingly going unnoticed or utterly ignored. but everything changed on his 18th birthday.
• that night their home was attacked by a unknown party, throwing everything into utter chaos. Mollymauk, who had been intending to disappear in the night, took full advantage of the chaos. slipping out the window of what had been his "room" and into the dark knight. he never cared to figure out who had attacked them, or why, he just wanted out of there and away from them. he spent the first two nights jumping at shadows, convinced that he would caught by some other asshole who wanted a personal circus freak to entertain them and their rich friends. the third night he stumbled upon a group of people taking shelter from the rain.
• one of the women in the group, an older woman with long curly hair that had long since greyed, took one look at him and ushered him over to the fire. hungry and wet, Mollymauk went after a few moments of hesitation. this woman, Leia, made sure he dried encouraging him to stay for as long as he'd like. he had intended to leave the next day, but sometimes plans don't go the way you intended.
• the next day turned into a week, and then a month, and before he knew it eight years had passed in a blink of an eye. Molly found a family in that rag tag group of people he had found hiding from the rain, a family he didn't know he wanted until the day he found them. they spent the eight years living their lives to the fullest, traveling around and making the best of the world around them. truthfully he would have been content to spend the rest of his days with them, but opportunity reared it's head and called out to him so sweetly. singing a song of a fantastical city and it's unusual happenings. a place where a man like him might just find something new and exciting to experience.

AU Personality Differences: Mollymauk isn't wholly different from his canon personality. He doesn't worry about his past life coming back to bite him in the ass, which is really funny considering he is going to start remembering things the moment he shows up in Kaisou.

Element: n/a currently
Purchased Powers:
Eye color change - Solid red (1 point)
Non-Human Features - Horns (1 point)
Non-Human Features - Tail (1 point)
Skin color change - Purple (1 point)
Tattoos - just all these (1 point)
Improved Senses - Darkvision, allows a creature to see in darkness as if it were dim light, within 60 feet, and dim light as if it were bright light, but they can only discern shades of grey in the dark. (2 points)
Animal Communication - Basic (2 points)