Poe Wyman

QUICK FACTS
NAME: Poe Emily Wyman BORN: February 10th HOMETOWN: Black Forest, CO ABILITY: Automatic/Spirit Writing HEIGHT: 5'5" HAIR: Naturally blonde, though she dyes it often. Currently a deep burgundy/purple. EYES: Grey

HISTORY
Born in beautiful Colorado, Poe had a relatively normal, happy upbringing. She was an active toddler, always running, playing and had an eager interest to learn about anything. Questions were always coming from her mouth. ‘Who’s this?’ ‘What’s that?’ “How does that do what it does?’ Her parents, while sometimes overwhelmed with constantly answering her inquiries, were still pleased that she was such a curious child.

In school, she learned quickly and never once felt the urge to stop. In elementary school she earned top marks in most subjects and wouldn’t bat an eye to help out her fellow students with their academic problems. She made quick friends and was always on good terms with her teachers and superiors as she made her way through school. While she was offered to move up a grade a time or two, her parents declined, saying that she preferred to stay with children her age as it made her uncomfortable to be amongst the older kids. Naturally, you don’t want to push a fourth or fifth grader into a class with children who are well on their way to learning how to bully each other.

All was well and good for Poe until her ability manifested early in her freshmen year of high school. During a math test, she completely zoned out, entering what the teacher described as a trance-like state. The teacher reported that the test was started with no problem and all the children were busy hunched over their papers as they answered questions. A few minutes into the test, she says Poe raised her head and simply look forward as if she were daydreaming. The teacher said her hand was still writing, though Poe was not looking at her paper. She watched her student write for a few moments before Poe stopped and appeared to have a confused look on her face as she looked back down at her test paper. It turns out, she didn’t remember writing any of it and didn’t even remember staring off into space as she did so. Poe remembered receiving the test paper and starting on it, even writing down the first couple answers on the sheet. Then, she remembers nothing.

Her teacher was obviously concerned and her parents were contacted. Poe wasn’t the sort of student to pull some kind of prank and she certainly wasn’t the sort of student to just zone out while taking a test. Obviously, her parents were confused and agreed with her teacher that this wasn’t like their daughter at all. It was written off as a simple strange occurrence and no action was taken about it.

Until it happened again and again and again. Throughout her sophomore year she continued to have what her teachers and parents would later describe as ‘episodes’ where she would enter that same trance-like state and just start writing. It would happen at any time and almost anywhere. Frequently during class, while taking notes or tests. Sometimes in study hall when she was working on her own things or helping another student. At home, it happened while she was on her laptop and once while at the kitchen table. Ruining a section of the family table with a fork as she etched words into the wood during dinner.

As the frequency of her episodes rose, the more worried and concerned her parents became and they eventually persuaded her to see a therapist. Poe, of course, did not want to. She didn’t want to think something was ‘wrong’ with her. No teenager does. Still, to put her parents at ease, she said she would go once a month to talk for an hour with someone she didn’t know about some strange ‘writing problem’ she had. It sounded absolutely absurd to her. But she could tell her parents weren’t sure what to make of their daughter’s problem. At first, it was easy to pretend it wasn’t happening. At least, until the dinner table incident. After that, they sort of held a constant ‘oh, again?’ attitude to the problem.

Unfortunately, once a month turned into once a week with the frequency of her episodes. Not only did this stress Poe out so much her grades started to falter, it also strained her relationship with her parents. The more Poe’s incidents happened the more they worried something was seriously wrong with her, or that she might be legitimately crazy. Especially with therapy and talking about it not helping discover the root of the problem at all. She was a perfectly normal teenage with a normal childhood that offered nothing to why she would be ‘acting out’ as such. What was a long-standing and happy parent-child relationship slowly started to erode with each call from the school or every ever-frequenting visit to the therapist office.

Because of this, Poe, who had always been outgoing and friendly became withdrawn and quiet. Word started to travel about her writing episodes and, like all rumor mills, got twisted and tangled as it moved from person to person. By the end of her sophomore year of high school, she was generally avoided by the student body and she simply kept her head down and her mouth shut for fear of someone acting out at her. After all, humans fear things they don’t understand and this strange thing that was wrong with their classmate was certainly something a bunch of teenagers didn’t ‘get’.

Thankfully, everyone got a break. One evening, her parents sat her down and told her that her therapist had in contact with them a recruiter from a private school called St. Bartholomew’s Academy. Apparently, it was for ‘students gifted in unusual ways’, the brochure said. Both her parents and her therapist urged her to give it a try since it would be better suited to handle her writing episodes. After meeting with a recruiter, both herself and her parents seemed convinced that it would be a good idea. Poe was also interested in the coursework offered at the Academy and felt that perhaps something more advanced than the normal high school work might keep her from her episodes, which was a possible cause for her issue that her therapist suggested.

In reality, she wanted a fresh start. She wanted to get away from her school and from the students who thought she was a freak. Maybe if there were other kids that were ‘gifted’ she’d be able to go back to how she used to act and be happy again.

PERSONALITY
 Nature  || Poe is friendly, polite and always willing to help out even people she doesn’t know. She’s well spoken, smart and carries herself as if she’s a few years older than what she really is. She exudes this sort of calmness that makes people pretty easy going around her. She has concerns about the normal teenage girl things, like boys and shopping, worrying about her appearance and if she’s too skinny or too short, if her chest is too big or her ass is too small. She has the patience of a saint (or so she’s been told) and doesn’t anger easily. But when she does, she does not hesitate to tell the offending party how they’ve wronged her.

Poe likes to be in social situations, but she always needs time to be by herself and unwind. Normally, this is spent in her room or at the library. Somewhere quiet with a book and some music where she can escape from the outside world for awhile and be somewhere more ideal.

While she can make all sorts of friends, she prefers intellectual conversation on most any subject, though her favorite subject is paranormal occurrences, mythology, history and the supernatural. She believe in honesty above all else and being true to yourself (which she’s obviously having some trouble with these days). A bit of a traditionalist and more than a little of a romantic, she sometimes has difficulty in casual romantic relationships with people.

 Demeanor  || While Poe’s nature and demeanor were almost identical before her ability came to light, going into her new school her demeanor is a little different. She’s hopeful, above all else, that she’ll be able to meet new friends who don’t look at her sideways for her writing episodes. But she’s still carrying that withdrawn and quiet attitude that she’s kept for almost the last year.

She comes off to the casual observer as quiet and possibly shy, always with a book of some sort in hand. She keeps to herself and, while she won’t ignore someone speaking to her, it’s unlikely she’ll start a conversation without some hesitation. At this point, she’s really trying to teach herself to be herself again and that’s going to prove to be an interesting task.

Though she has this demeanor in public, she reverts to her natural attitude behind a computer screen. So speaking to Poe on the internet versus in person is slightly different. However, as long as she doesn’t feel uncomfortable around someone, she opens up pretty easily. She doesn’t want to be the stereotypical mousey bookworm, but it’s been her survival and coping mechanism for awhile now.

On the other hand, while keeping up this façade (which is what it is to her), she’s spent twice as much time reading and keeping herself occupied. So it’s not entirely a bad thing, she supposes.

--

Since her arrival at QCI, much of that closed, quiet attitude has been shrugged off. Once she discovered that newfound friends and the other students weren't going to mock her mercilessly about being a freak, like her old school did, she was able to get comfortable with her new surroundings quite easily.

Certain events have brought her closer to people and tightened the bonds of her small group of friends, which also does wonders for ones attitude and such.

ABILITY
 Automatic Writing  || When Poe’s ability manifests itself (whenever and wherever that may be), she enters a trance-like state wherein she seems to just stare at nothing in particular. That sort of ‘staring beyond’ one does when they’re daydreaming or deep in thought. She writes with her off hand (which would be her left, as she is right handed), which is peculiar. With her off hand and while in a trance, she writes perfectly well. Though ‘her’ handwriting changes during each episode, it seems. Sometimes cursive, sometimes all capitals. But it’s never her own handwriting. On numerous occasions, she’s also written in languages not her own. Latin is most common. Generally, it’s all gibberish, no matter the language. At least, that’s what everyone tells her.

Though the records of episodes witnessed by someone else (her parents or a teacher) are frequent, the amount they actually happen is significantly larger. For her own sanity, she’s kept this knowledge from her parents and any other authority figures. Especially when the ‘she might be crazy’ looks started showing up. She keeps a notebook of everything that wasn’t confiscated by an adult and has spent a significant amount of time trying to make sense of them. She hasn’t had a whole lot of luck so far, but almost half are in languages she does speak, so that’s a good part of it.

In general, she’s usually never without a writing implement and something to write on. After the dinner table incident, she doesn’t want to end up doing something like that again. Or, something worse, like carving Latin into her leg with a pencil. This works out for her without being weird because she journals a lot and keeps a diary, so she usually has, at the least, a journal of some sort with her at all times.

PLAYLIST
Johnny Flynn - The Wrote and The Writ

♫ I never knew a part of you / You didn't set in ink, in ink / The letters that you left behind / No longer shall I read / Your blood's between the pages / And I can't stand to see you bleed

Essex Green - Snakes in the Grass

♫ Oh, I can't, it's condiluted / A change of mind to day for certain / I know the book, I think I wrote it / The offer's dead, it's fiction / So go ahead eight times a day / So go ahead and tell me what you want / Two keys twisted and turned, / stalking our own front door / (please tell me what's going on) / Oh, I can't, it's nothing I've known / Leaving notes in the carpet, / reading them on the floor / (please tell me what's going on)

Bright Eyes - If The Brakeman Turns My Way

♫ All this automatic writing / I have tried to understand / From a psychedelic angel / Who was tugging on my hand / It's an infinite coincidence / But it doesn't form a plan

Youth Group - Lillian Lies

♫ Lillian lies to avoid awkward questions / Looks to the sky for intervention / But she can't avoid judgemental compassion / In the void / She puts on her face, makes it a brave one / Gets herself a seat on an interstate greyhound / When everything's gone at least you've got nothing / That holds on

RELATIONSHIPS
Noah Tessaro ❧ Poe met Noah at the dance and chatted about Edgar Allan Poe.

Eloise Burton ❧ Partner in crime.

Alec McDowell ❧ Funny guy, also woke up to him spooning her in the fort they built in the common room.

Ryan Letowski ❧ She's well aware he's harboring a hardcore crush on her and she's willing to give him a chance.

Max Guevara ❧ Poe helped Max out after the vomit party.

Miku Newman ❧ Roommate, though they don't interact a whole lot.

Clara Ford ❧ Though she hasn't had much interaction with Clara, she's impressed at her taming McDowell. Also, damn her for getting claws in first!

TRIVIA
❧ Poe was indeed named after Edgar Allan Poe.

❧ Poe's middle name, Emily, is a reference to a Pink Floyd song, 'See Emily Play'.

❧ Poe's favorite movie of all time, ever is The Blues Brothers.

THREADS
Listed in reverse chronological order (newest first).

Impromptu Drunken Dance Party + Awkward Drunken Makeouts

Date with Ryan in Chicago

June 20th - June 23rd in the Bunker

Safely to the Bunker

Ryan to the Rescue!

Waking up & Meeting Kindle

Late to the Party, but not Late to the 'Party'

Checking in on Cletus & Comforting Ryan

Day After 'The Vomit Party'

Meet & Greet (a.k.a. 'The Vomit Party')

The Dance

WARDROBE
Polyvore: http://www.polyvore.com/quadrinity/collection?id=489636



OTHER STUFF
Poe is indeed a fictional character and property of Alaina Rose. The actresses that represents her in this game is Sophia Bush.