J.U.L.I.E.T.

Hello!

This isn't a traditional kind of post. Somewhere back somewhen I mentioned a few characters that make up the supergroup J.U.L.I.E.T. And I'm finally going to introduce them here :)

On the team: J.U.L.I.E.T. is a group of six teenage superheroes based in Argentum City, the capital of Aquis Taerr and techmathurgical (technology + magic) capitol of the world. Operating from the second floor and basement of the popular Café del Gatito, Team JULIET serves as a policing force in Argentum. Aside from their duties to school and the cafe, they are self-proclaimed enforcers of the authority set forth by the Argentum Presidential Board.

They are mostly independent, but regard Lore Professor Calzinir Lepinski as their mentor and the retired elite military squad “the Directions” as their occasional trainers. Although they all have their own superhero alias, they share the same uniform: a brown-colored shirt-shorts combo with light brown sleeves underneath. Each uniform is accented with their distinctive color and customized tool belt. 

Jane Kuliya-Ezawi Exina grew up a quiet noble. Her father owned a popular bookstore, her mother was a dark-arts mastermind, and her uncle was an eccentric professor of lore. Which was very impressive to the academic world, but to everyone else, she was both sides freaks. And being called a freak didn't help when you had inherited your mother's gift for the dark arts and your father's photographic memory. As a child, Jane was sickly and physically weak and spent her days in bed, reading anything that came within reach indiscriminatorily. Rather than hang out with children her own age she associated with the older generation, particularly the military supergroup her mother was part of. 

As a part of the team, Shadowlight was the decided leader from the first day. The other team members look up to her confidence and firm method of directing others. She manipulates darkness and light to support her teammates and hinder her enemies. Even Uine, who constantly challenges her orders, admits that "in a tight spot or on a mission I could always count on Jane having a cool head”. 

((also the character mentioned here and profiled here. I changed her character a little from the Tea Essence version.))

Uine Efaram-Enelaizon Hazun is named after his father's dead friend and a seraph that saved his life. His mother--whose surname he takes--was a secret agent, and his father was a famed pyromancy professor. Good with music and tea, Uine often boasts that he has both of his families’ strengths; but he also has his mother's magic deficiency and his father's intense hemophobia. He cuts his losses and counts his blessings though, and uses what he can, as Ion remarks, “to annoy and protect us. Quell every trouble around us so he can be the biggest nuisance in our lives.” 

From the first day of training The Tank proved himself to be the joker and troublemaker of the team. He played devil’s advocate with Jane at every possible moment, provoked Lithica, and bothered Elen. Despite constantly teasing Ion, the two became great friends and the two could often be seen discussing philosophy or magic lore over a cup of tea. On the battlefield though, Uine is fierce and unyielding with powerful physical attacks and the ability to soak up damage. If anything, he doesn’t tolerate his friends getting hurt. 

Lithica Winski was always the oddball. She was “the insane one” among the workers and "the ghost girl" among the patients at the insane asylum. When her father became traded his first daughter for power in the black market, her mother escaped with their lives, but at the cost of both of their sanity. Henceforth, Lithica spent her life within the perimeter of an asylum, but found flight through fantasy literature and conversations with the dead. At her side is the bunny-doll Atli, whose words only she hears. 

Even in the team Aernut didn’t completely fit in, but her hard work mediates the peace between her teammates and friends. Although she sees and communes with the dead as though they were tangible, her psychic perception is very real, as are the blades on her fans. When controlling the air and fighting with fans “She's different,” Elen notes, “But so are the rest of us. For all her apparent delusion, she's more insightful and honest than anyone else could be."

Ion Winds saw depth beyond the surface of everything. Born as the son of the illegitimate heir to a fief, Ion took after his mother and and devoted himself to the Holy House, specifically the mysterious Wheel of Fortune. From his parents inherited an extraordinary pain tolerance as well as an almost feminine beauty. His quiet personality is paired with an aura of calm; he seems to directly contrast his older brother, actor and model Japhdel Alder, and his best friend, Uine.

Besting even Jane in academics, Zwitter serves primarily as the team's elementalist and researcher. Lithica, who introduced him to the group, also gave him his alias: "Intelligent yet naive, confident yet conflicted. Positive yet negative: a zwitterion. He is at once, more and less alive than even a ghost:" because, in conjunction with a deep elemental connections, his experiments with the ability to adapt his body to any material he touches leave him quite unearthly.

Elen Annora Weaver was a street rat that swore to live the life of the girl that saved him. But when "her" younger brother, Cir Weaver, displayed a penchant in the female-dominated magical arts, Elen switched again, and ended up disguising herself as a boy to train as a martial artist.  When they graduated their academies, their father left the district with them. He considers his life an act upon an endless stage, but has learned to love acting. 

Although he has abandoned his old life, Alan uses his original name as a pseudonym. Combining jinxes and destructive energy-based magic and expert swordsmanship, he is primarily a physical combat fighter, and the team's spokesperson when there needs to be one. "Girl or boy," Harper comments, "Elen is an enigma that changes to become what we think we observe."

Tsubaki Bree Harper came from a world within a wall. Within this country isolated from the magic of the outside world, she helped design, draw, and code a virtual world. And she so loved the virtual world that when her wealthy and influential parents suddenly died, she escaped to that world rather than face the international technological market that was her parents' legacy. 

Her life was forever torn between her identities across oceans as Tsubaki or Bree, but online, she was simply Cardinal. Now learning to use magic with her penchant for computers, she manages the team's headquarters and provides technical support from afar. "Harper's the force in our minds and gear that keeps us going," Jane praises. "She's not alone; she's with us."

Trivia:

• Does Uine sound familiar? He's the guy from the ECA "Future" bonus. He's also Arlin's maternal cousin. (In "Complicated" Arlin Yves mentions that her mother's name is Ionia Hazun. This is Uine's mother's older sister.)
• Most of the team calls Harper by her surname because they, like her, don't know which of her names to refer to. Uine calls her Tsubaki exclusively though, because "otherwise we'd be JULIEH."
• Elen's "father" is Lithica's maternal uncle, and his mother is the leader of the five-woman military squad Jane's mother is in, the "Directions".
• Elen is a castrato. The only person that knows is the healer who did the operation for him; ironically, this healer is also on the Directions. 
• Ion's parents' best man, who's also his godfather, is Uine's dad, Calzinir Lepinski. 
• Uine, Lithica and Elen all have their mother's surnames.
• Lithica only knows her mom, Elen only knows his dad, and Harper is missing both her parents when the team officially names itself.
• Ion and Elen get along well with their brothers, but Lithica doesn't even know her older sister.
• Harper likes Ion, and Ion likes Jane. Jane likes rooibos tea, pumpkin pie, and a good book. 

So, tell me what you think of JULIET! :)
Harper is the narrator of Trains, the first part of which will be posted next week! I might also do a few shorts with these six before actually getting to write Drive By. I'm looking forward to fleshing out these characters a little better, and so I hope you're excited too!

See you next week!
~Minerva