application » for exsilium

[perfidia]

» PLAYER INFORMATION
Player NAME: Jes.
Current AGE: Very, very old.
Player TIME ZONE: EST/GMT-5.
Personal JOURNAL: temples
IM & SERVICE: AIM | mathmaticing
Player PLURK: eldrant
Current CHARACTERS: n/a

» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Dahlia Hawthorne (known alias: Melissa Foster.)
Canon & MEDIUM: Ace Attorney, visual novel about LAWYERS IN JAPAN CALIFORNIA
Canon PULL-POINT: Just prior the case Bridge to the Turnabout, which is featured in the third game in the series, Trials and Tribulations. Dahlia is executed off-screen shortly before the case begins, after approximately five years as a death row inmate. She will be pulled from shortly before her hanging.
Character AGE: Twenty-five.
Character ABILITIES: Despite being a member of the Fey clan, Dahlia has little to no spiritual abilities. She has a keen intellect and a wide array of interpersonal skills to help her schemes along. She's cunning, quick on her feet, and can plot a convoluted murder scheme with Plans B through E as back-up in her sleep. She's also quite a skilled actress and knows the basics of mixing chemicals to create poisons (as long as she can get her hands on the necessary ingredients, at any rate).

Character HISTORY:

From the Ace Attorney Wiki: Dahlia Hawthorne's character page | Wider Ace Attorney overview

In 1993, Dahlia was born, along with her sister Iris, to Morgan Fey and a wealthy jeweler with the surname Hawthorne. Morgan Fey was the eldest daughter of the main Fey line, a renowned clan of spirit mediums, and was to be made the next head of the family (with the title of Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique). However, Morgan was weak and lacked a great amount of spiritual power. Her younger sister Misty, on the other hand, had a surfeit of it and was made the new Master – it was a rare move, defying tradition, but not without precedent. This essentially ruined things for Morgan, leaving her deeply embittered. Hawthorne, upon realizing that his wife was not to the next Master, grew discontent and left Morgan. He took Dahlia and Iris with him and quickly remarried an unnamed woman who also had a daughter of her own, called Valerie. What might have otherwise been a calm, happy life was disrupted when Hawthorne decided he did not wish to have three daughters and left Iris in the care of Hazakura temple.

Dahlia’s first genuine act of treachery (that is noted in-game) came when she was assigned a twenty year-old tutor named Terry Fawles. Although she was only fourteen at the time, Dahlia was very much aware of the affect she could have on men, even at a young age. She correctly exploited Fawles’s weakness, pretending to fall in love with him. She also gained the loyalty of her stepsister and kept in contact with Iris, hatching plans between the two of them to both take their father’s wealth and get their revenge for his greed and cruelty. A fake kidnapping was to be carried out, with Fawles as the perpetrator and Dahlia as the victim – the random was to be a very rare pink diamond, worth several million dollars (that was intended to be split four ways). However, Iris failed to play her part and Dahlia was forced to improvise. As the kidnapping took place on a rickety bridge in the mountains, forty feet above a freezing, dangerous river, Dahlia took the only option available in order to not have to split the money with Valerie and Fawles, and jumped.

No one heard from her again until she was in her late teens. Dahlia did survive, managing to escape the river unharmed. At nineteen years old, she was called to testify in the murder trial of Valerie Hawthorne, under the pseudonym Melissa Foster. The defendant was Terry Fawles, and his attorney was one rookie Mia Fey. Mia did manage to come to the correct conclusion during the trial: Dahlia, not Fawles, had murdered Valerie in order to keep the events from five years ago from coming to light, and implicated Fawles in it. However, it was too late. Dahlia had tricked Fawles into a suicide pact, and he ingested poison and died on the stand. Dahlia got away, but not without making an enemy.

Eight months later, a defense attorney named Diego Armando requested to meet with Dahlia. She went, but had an ulterior motive other than simply answering his questions. Her plan went off without a hitch, or so she thought. Dahlia poisoned Diego’s coffee, using a small heart-shaped vial in a glass necklace she wore, and then fled to the library in the ensuing chaos. It was there that she encountered Phoenix Wright for the first time. They struck up a conversation and Dahlia, laying on her charm, gave Phoenix the necklace so as to avoid the possibility of her being caught with poisonous residue on her person – however, she claimed it to be a “symbol of their love”, thus beginning the greatest six month love story ever told. Dahlia intended to seek out Phoenix again and kill him to keep him from accidentally incriminating her but Iris, who she had presumably kept in some contact with, did not want her sister to kill anyone else. She begged for them to switch places temporarily. Dahlia agreed, and for six months Iris carried on a relationship with Phoenix all while trying to get the necklace back.

However, at the end of the six months, Iris had not succeeded in getting the necklace back. As a result, Dahlia’s paranoia grew too potent and she couldn’t wait anymore. Her intention had been to murder Phoenix using hanging electrical wires from the pharmacology building at the university, but the plan went slightly awry and a former boyfriend of hers, Doug Swallow, ended up killed instead. Dahlia had no particular objections with this, as she had been using Doug to get access to poisonous chemicals and he had subsequently figured her out and was trying to warn Phoenix away from her – but it led to a string of events that would be Dahlia’s undoing. She went back to court, again as a witness. Mia was still the defense attorney but this time, Phoenix was the defendant. Dahlia was found guilty of the murder of Doug Swallow and sentenced to death.

Dahlia spent five years on death row before the day of her sentencing was finally announced. During that time, she reconnected with Morgan Fey and the two of them concocted a plan to kill the new Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique: nineteen year old Maya Fey, Mia’s younger sister. Although she did not care in the slightest about the Fey line and their squabbling over power, Dahlia saw it as her last ditch opportunity to gain revenge on the now deceased Mia Fey, harming her heart by harming her sister. The plan would go into action – but not until after Dahlia’s execution.

Character PERSONALITY:

On the surface, Dahlia Hawthorne is an angel. She’s sweet, even tempered, and shows due respect for everyone. When upset, she becomes emotional and wonders visibly at the cruelty of the world, when all she tries to do is show kindness to others. She is innocence and wholesomeness personified, and the perfect girl to bring home to mom and dad.

This Dahlia, the perfect angel, is an act.

The act, having been in place since Dahlia was (at least) eight years old, is a very good one. Near perfect, in fact. Beauty and charm working in tandem, Dahlia enraptures almost everyone she meets; especially men. Canonically, there are quite a few examples of this. Terry Fawles makes a suicide pact with her out of love and devotion, which he ultimately fulfils on the witness stand of a court case. Phoenix Wright eats a glass necklace that was most likely laced with poison residue in order to keep the necklace from incriminating her. Doug Swallow gives her frequent and unmonitored access to the pharmacology lab despite Dahlia being a literature student – although, in the latter’s case, he does figure her out eventually (and dies because of it). Even the judge presiding over the court cases Dahlia is involved in quickly succumbs to her charms, and does everything he can to protect her “fragile spirit”. She is very, very good at getting men wrapped around her finger and has absolutely no qualms with resorting to crocodile tears to get what she wants.

Make no mistake, however. Dahlia feels nothing for any of the men she draws into her web; nor does she feel anything for anyone else, save herself. She lies, betrays, steals and kills without a second thought for anyone else. All that matters is satisfying her own desires and accomplishing her own ends.

❝The symptoms of antisocial personality disorder include a longstanding pattern (after the age of 15) of disregard for the rights of others. There is a failure to conform to society's norms and expectations that often results in numerous arrests or legal involvement as well as a history of deceitfulness where the individual attempts to con people or use trickery for personal profit. Impulsiveness if often present, including angry outbursts, failure to consider consequences of behaviors, irritability, and/or physical assaults.
Some argue that a major component of this disorder is the reduced ability to feel empathy for other people. This inability to see the hurts, concerns, and other feelings of people often results in a disregard for these aspects of human interaction. Finally, irresponsible behavior often accompanies this disorder as well as a lack of remorse for wrongdoings.❞
From the DSM-IV-TR: Antisocial Personality Disorder, also known as sociopathy.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Dahlia fits these characteristics, so let’s go through them separately. “Longstanding pattern of disregard for the rights of others.” Check! “[Numerous] arrests or legal involvement as well as a history of deceitfulness where the individual attempts to con people or use trickery for personal profit.” Check! “[The] inability to see the hurts, concerns and feelings of other people.” Check! “Irresponsible behaviour as well as a lack of remorse for wrong doings.” Check and check. To call Dahlia a highly functioning sociopath would be quite correct. Dahlia sees the world as her playground, and everyone in it as her toys. She uses people and throws them away without a second thought, often while feeling nothing but contempt for them. One significant example of this is is her “relationship” with Phoenix Wright. In truth, they only ever met twice, although they supposedly maintained a relationship for six months. Dahlia had been convinced by her twin sister, Iris, to take allow her to take her place at Ivy University for the duration of that time, resulting in the bulk of the relationship to be between Iris and Phoenix (and genuine affection being cultivated between the two of them). Dahlia, although she barely knew Phoenix, confessed to having hated him quite strongly for his foolishness and naiveté; she considered him a truly weak individual and felt nothing but disgust for him. To put it simply, “she hated his guts”.

Based off this, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say she hated all her victims (and potential victims) for what she believed were weaknesses of spirit: Terry Fawles, Valerie Hawthorne, Doug Swallow, Maya Fey, Phoenix Wright, and who knows how many others. Dahlia makes no effort to see the good in other people: all she sees are the qualities worth exploiting, and the qualities worth hating. Often, these are one and the same.

When Dahlia drops the angelic act, what is left is a very unpleasant girl who does not hesitate to voice her true opinions. Canonically, she calls Mia Fey both a hag and a spinster (one can imagine what words she would have used if the games had a higher ESRB rating) and swears revenge in a public courtroom without a second thought. As well, she demonstrates a definitive lack of interest in anything anyone has to say, except when she’s boasting about her own accomplishments or lording them over others. This is most clearly indicated by, of all things, her in-game sprites after the act is dropped: boredom (with a side of contempt) and smugness.

One thing worth mentioning is Iris’s description of Dahlia towards the end of Trials and Tribulations. She says that Dahlia was always strong and smart, and never complained despite their unfortunate situation. That is true. Dahlia demonstrates a great deal of fortitude, always holding her head up high no matter the situation. When she’s not pulling the angelic act or the Wounded Gazelle Gambit, Dahlia does not show a lot of emotion. As mentioned above, her defaults are smugness and dismissive contempt. She is not one to cry or complain when she feels down and out. (What she does instead, however, is arguably worse, with all the stealing and murdering and scheming.) In fact, it can be said that Dahlia feels the most contempt for those who simply let cruel things happen to them without taking matters into their own hands – such as Iris, who rather passively let her father take her from her mother and then dump her off on a temple in turn. Dahlia is not one to sit back and let things happen to her. She takes charge, influences the situation to her advantage, and is always planning and plotting.

It’s a shame, then, that one of her biggest motivators is a desire for revenge. First, for revenge on her father, an unnamed wealthy jeweler, and then revenge on the defense attorney who got her convicted and sentenced to death: Mia Fey. This fact is quite interesting because it proves that, despite Dahlia’s overall lack of concern for anyone other than herself, she is capable of being hurt by the actions of others. Her father took Dahlia and Iris away from their mother (Morgan Fey) at a young age and when he remarried a woman with a daughter of her own, he ultimately sent Iris to Hazakura temple to be raised and educated there. This left Dahlia to be raised in a loveless household, with a father who only craved power, a mother who she would not see again for several years, a presumably disinterested stepmother… and lots of cold wealth. Dahlia grew up every inch as cold and power hungry as the people who had given birth to her and when she had the chance to take revenge on her father, she did so.

At age fourteen.

By throwing herself off a bridge into a forty-foot deep chasm, with nothing below but a cold, rushing river that kills (almost) everyone else who falls into it.

Did I mention she’s also really tough?

Because, she is. Dahlia is cold, calculating and unflinching. She never backs down from a challenge or lets anyone intimidate her. She meets every situation head on, with all the (admittedly very misguided) strength she has. She is completely fearless. The flipside of this is she is incapable of recognizing the consequences of her actions; for as much as Dahlia is strong, she’s also utterly lacking in empathy. She doesn’t care a single bit if she hurts anyone, even relishing it at times (see above, re: her vendetta towards Mia Fey).

However, there is one person that inspires emotion in Dahlia. It’s not entirely pleasant, but it does represent Dahlia’s last link to the fraying edges of her own humanity: and that person is her twin sister, Iris. Previously mentioned as having been Phoenix Wright’s “true” girlfriend for six months, Iris is the stark opposite of Dahlia: sweet; even tempered; shy at times; slightly deferential; and willing to forgive others. The one big advantage Iris had over anyone else in her relationship with Dahlia was that Dahlia did, in fact, love her sister. The issue came from the simple fact that Dahlia did not like Iris very much. She saw her sister as weak, naïve and a nuisance; after all, that pesky “conscience” that Iris possessed caused Dahlia to have to slow down and alter her plans on more than one occasion – such as when Iris begged to have a chance to get a vital piece of evidence back from Phoenix Wright so Dahlia wouldn’t have to kill him. Recognizing that the matter was important to Iris, Dahlia agreed. What does this say? Plenty.

For one, it implies that despite Dahlia’s dismissive and cruel treatment of Iris – calling her a “nuisance”, setting her up to take the blame for the murder of Maya Fey – Dahlia does not truly hate her sister. That does not mean everything she said was a lie, however. Dahlia may love Iris, but she does not like Iris. The line may be thin but it is there, colouring Dahlia’s actions appropriately. She sees Iris as weak, simpering, and a traitor – first for abandoning Dahlia during their conceived fake kidnapping plot, and then for falling in love with Phoenix Wright. However, that does not mean that Dahlia was prepared to let go of Iris. Selfish until the end, Dahlia’s intent was clear; she was determined to keep Iris at her level, refusing to allow only one of them to be happy.

It’s all of this that makes up Dahlia. Definitively cruel, inarguably manipulative, unforgiven feelings of betrayal and loneliness spurring her down a dark path of crime and failure. She is resilient, intelligent, calculating, remorseless – every bit the demon people claim her to be.

» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: Dahlia's weapon will be a single pocket knife, with only a hilt and retractable blade. It will be easily concealable: small, dark, easily mistaken for lipstick, and able to fit in the palm of her hand. The blade will be long enough to fatally pierce the heart of any person she chooses to stab, assuming her aim is true. Her training will involve learning how to kill effectively and how to simply wound, what parts of the body to avoid and what to target based on her goals, etc.
Character INVENTORY: The clothes on her back, including her stole. Nothing else, as she's being pulled straight from prison.

» PREVIOUS GAME INFORMATION ( IF APPLICABLE )
Previous GAME(s): Nada!

» SAMPLES
First PERSON:

Ex—excuse me…

[ Hello, Exsilium at large. If you are looking at your tablets right now, a face will be blinking back up at you. She’s very beautiful, but her perfect eyes seem to be almost see-through, damp with tears as they are. ]

Can someone help me? I think… I mean, I’m not supposed to be here. I’m sorry, but – I have to go home.

My family will be worried about me.

[ Her words have just the perfect amount of shakiness to sound nothing less than wholly genuine, her lower lip going slightly pale with shock and fear as it evinces the smallest of trembles.

Dahlia Hawthorne has already spoken to the greeter, has already chosen her weapon – it’s tucked safely in her curled fist, unseen through tightly wound fingers. She’s already unimpressed with the prospect of working for someone else, the talk of work and missions leaving her cold and frustrated. Is this some trick? Some last resort for death row inmates? She knows, she’s already decided, that if they expect her to act like some trained dog, follow orders for rewards, well – they’ve got another thing coming.

But, for now, she starts here. Playing the wounded girl, the damsel for someone’s foolish hero.

Her face gives none of her thoughts away as she swipes at a cheek, pushing away the worst of her tears. ]

Please. Anything anyone can tell me… I’d really appreciate it.

[ How can you say no to this face? ]

Third PERSON:

one. Dahlia at Exsilium's Test Drive Meme.

two. She hates this place. That doesn’t surprise her. Dahlia Hawthorne, with her sweet smile and soft voice saying even softer words, hates everything. The people, the places, the missions – every little nook and cranny of this enclosed world fills her with contempt; even moreso that there’s an organization that dares contain her, with the expectation she play the domesticated animal and do it with a smile.

Despite her distaste for this whole world, she sometimes passes long hours in the civic gardens. They’re untended, the plants overgrown and stretching out with their dead arms; birds fight and scrap among themselves for food and partners – occasionally, they cry at her for food, but she never gives them anyway. Molten faces stare up at her from the cracked walkways. She doesn’t wonder who they were, why they were there, what they once represented; she doesn’t care.

The gardens never try to be anything but ugly, and that’s why she suffers their existence.

She never lets anyone see her in there, of course. “Sweet little Dahlia” would never climb through broken glass and into a condemned area, not when she could risk tearing her dress or twisting an ankle.

The man who lingers there is annoying. The first time they run into another, she acts the frightened girl, the perfect amount of tears in her eyes to stop him, if only for a second. That gives her time to run away. Dahlia doesn’t tell anyone else of the homeless man’s existence, after some thought. Getting someone else to deal with him might make things easier in the short term, but it also might prevent her from ever going back there. Protective men – or men who believe themselves to be protective – are so annoying.

The second time, she lulls him into complacency with a few short words and half a song. He wastes no time settling down when given the opportunity. His head in her lap, he babbles up at her incoherently through yellowed teeth and odorous breath. She counts the seconds in between every twitch he gives, her fingers curled tightly around her Initiative-issued weapon.
Blood bubbles up, thick and dark, the moment she slits his throat.

None of it makes it onto her dress, of course. She’s already shoved his now still body off of her.

Dahlia knows what the important things are.

» ADDITIONAL NOTES
I am so, so sorry.