I need to sleep

[moviemagia]

Healer Lore
☾ There used to be numerous healers back in the beginning, so there was no pressing need to learn the healing runes or anything utilizing that kind of power, but the numbers began to die out over the centuries and, because hardly anyone had been taught the spells, most of that knowledge was lost to wizards.
☾ While healing most injuries is a painless process, resetting and knitting together broken bones hurts like a bitch-- thankfully, it's brief.
☾ There have been cases of children of healing families being kidnapped and raised to be personal and willing healers, so these families remain as secretive as possible. Even the circumstances are carefully guarded.
☾ Rarities in the supernatural world, mainly because the circumstances for being a healer are highly specific.

• Healing is inherited; a true healer's abilities are stronger than learned spells, because it comes from their own blood.
  
• The child must be born during a waxing crescent moon in a "month of beginnings" (March, June, September, or December). If the child is a healer, the palms will glow at birth, if just for a short time.
  
• In a family, healing skips two generations.
  
  • There can be more than one healer in a generation, provided they meet all of the requirements.
    
  • Bethany's great-grandmother grouch ("G3", she affectionately calls her) is the only other living healer in the Park family.

☾ A healer's blood is both beneficial (to the living) and dangerous (to the undead).

• To a living being, once the blood enters the body, it works to rid it of potential threats, strengthening bones and internal organs, clearing arteries, restoring tissue, etc. it's believed that this method can prolong life, keeping the body young and in prime condition.
  
• To an undead being who makes contact with the blood (or ingests it, in the case of a vampire), the blood has nothing living to improve, and views the dead parts as a threat to the 'body', so acts to destroy it-- effectively destroying the creature and sending the spirit on.
  
  • Ghosts, zombies, and vampires fall under this category.
    
  • The blood can't raise people from the dead. If there's nothing remotely alive that the blood can access, that's it. Dead is dead, and beyond a healer's help.

☾ Healers require large amounts of stamina, as the primary method of healing is through channeling their own energy through their hands. The larger the store of energy, the quicker and easier it is to heal injuries, though this also depends on the extent of the damage. More severe injuries will drain the healer, leading to symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, and nausea.

• Pushing past that point will endanger the healer's life, but healers are rarely that dumb.

☾ They're able to detect sickness and injuries, though they have to be in relatively close proximity to the patient.

Background: Bethany was born one month premature on March 14 (sharing a birthday with Einstein, Billy Crystal, and Quincy Jones), where it was discovered that she was to become the second living healer of the Park family. There wasn't much excitement until she was almost two years old, when she was abducted by a stranger-- one who had either sensed her dormant abilities, or had been somehow tipped off that Bethany was a healer. Whatever the case, her mother managed to get her back within a day and remained tight-lipped about the whole affair while she, her husband, and Bethany moved to a different city. Bethany remembers none of this.

After that, it was growing up with her cousins, bugging her older-than-dirt grandma, and cultivating a love of movies-- a typical childhood. Bethany had yet to be informed about her powers, but always seemed to know when someone was hurt, or not feeling well, and insisted on being there with a box of Garfield band-aids and a thermometer.

Life was good, until she turned eight; while on the way home from school, she and her mother were involved in a car accident-- her mother was fatally injured and Bethany was taken to the hospital with broken ribs and a concussion, among other more minor injuries. Confused, grieving, and in pain, Bethany had no idea that her healing powers were already working to hasten her recovery. She was, however, still new to her abilities so, while able to heal faster than usual, it wasn't anything shockingly fast enough to warrant much suspicion from the doctors. They just chalked it up to her being a healthy kid.

Her mother had been adamant that Bethany wasn't to be told about what she really was until she was old enough to handle the responsibility and able to harbor her own secret. But Bethany's powers were growing, and it was becoming harder to hide. When she inadvertently healed her own broken arm after a swing-related injur within five minutes (complete with lots of pained screeching), there was no hiding it after that. Not with teachers and the school nurse who had seen her break her arm and couldn't be satisfied with just saying that it wasn't really as bad as it had looked.

Excuses were made. Bethany's father took her home. Her great-grandmother dragged her by the ear to the attic and proceeded to explain everything. The Park family healers, Bethany's powers, what she was capable of, everything.

Bethany was turning twelve and had just been told that she'd been born with the power that could have saved her mother's life, had she only known she'd possessed it.

Needless to say, she wasn't happy. But now that she knew the truth and word was bound to spread from school, the next option was quickly decided upon. Bethany's father withdrew her from school and they moved to a certain city without a word to anyone except family. It was tough going, but Bethany adjusted as well as she could and started learning proper healing from G3 when she stayed with them for a few months. She took to the lessons almost fiercely, vowing that never again would she let someone die in front of her.

And there she's stayed ever since, living in a small house with her father and fending for herself (with the help of a genial neighbor) when his work takes him away, sometimes for a couple of months at a time. But it's okay; she has her sea monkeys (all named after celebrities) and a wall plastered with postcards from her father.

Life was fairly peaceful until she saw a lady on fire.

Personality: Bethany is a chipper movie-loving spazz, to put it as simply as possible. Skilled at both quoting all sorts of movie lines and uncanny impersonations of characters, she's just not happy if she doesn't get her three movies a day-- it's hard for her to sleep otherwise. Once you get to know her, it's fairly easy to tell what sort of mood she's in by which genre she selects. Chick flicks means she's bored, action means she's antsy or upset, tearjerkers means-- well, nothing, just that she feels like challenging herself to see how long her tear ducts can hold out. If Bethany's sad, you'll know, because she'll want to watch Disney movies. She has a habit of comparing nearly everything to a movie, sometimes being uncannily accurate and mostly just making people want to whack her upside the head.

She's not the most serious girl. Explosions, bloody things, and the supernatural don't scare her-- if anything, she's intrigued by all of the aforementioned and takes a genuine interest in everything, regardless of whether it's actually her business or not. Not to say that Bethany isn't capable of being serious when the situation calls for it, but that's... only when the situation begs for it. She's all smiles and jokes and energy and quick quips otherwise. What else would you expect from a girl who orders whipped cream on all of her hot drinks? Also, don't expect her to call you by your real name until she trusts you. It's all nicknames until that trust is earned, and by then, you probably have an eighteen-year-old camped out on your couch and stealing your popcorn.

Ultimately, she's a kindhearted girl who is perhaps not as careful as she should be, but does have good judgment in friends. Thankfully, kindling her temper is hard to do, because once you piss off Bethany, she can be somewhat scary. Just a bit.

But she'd much rather prefer to watch movies and quote them until the cows come home.