Mae Borowski

OOC
Name: Dandy
Pronouns: she/her
Contact: dandywonderous, Dandy#1297 on discord
Are you 18+? yep
Reserve: Here!
Partner: tinchel | Luci | Disenchantment

IC
Name: Mae Borowski
Age: 20
Canon: Night in the Woods
Canon point: end of the game

History:
CW: this history section includes references to alcoholism, domestic violence, mental illness (including disassociation), assault, bullying, homophobia, Lovecraftian horror, general bad vibes (I'm so sorry)

• Mae grew up in a small town called Possum Springs. She liked it, but it was slowly dying as the mines and factories close down.


• In Mae's early life her father struggled with alcoholism, and became a danger to her and her mother. At some point he got sober, and they now have a good relationship.


• Mae was very close with her grandfather growing up, but at some point he developed dementia and passed away. Mae talks about him often.


• Growing up, Mae's best friend was Beatrice "Bea" Santello. The two were close, but around junior high they had a falling out, though they disagree about why.


• At 14, Mae experienced her first dissociative episode caused by her (unspecified) mental illness. Mae described the world as being "just shapes" while in this state, and was unable to recognize people as being alive or having humanity. In a haze of panic, Mae attacked a boy on her softball team with a bat, sending him to the hospital. After this she was diagnosed with anger management issues and encouraged to start journaling.


• Due to the stigma from the "softball incident," people started shunning Mae and telling their children to avoid her. Mae began hanging out with two boys her age, Gregg Lee and Casey Hartley, and the three of them got into trouble and committed "crimes" together.


• In high school, Mae attended prom with her crush, Cole. When they went to kiss each other, she accidentally bit his lip so hard it started bleeding. Mae tried to stem the bleeding with paper towels, but ended up with too many and got them stuck in Cole's mouth. Mae started eating candied almonds she had hidden in her bra out of stress, but choked on them and had to give herself the Heimlich. She vomited on Cole, and he ran away crying. Mae claims this is the most embarrassing thing she's ever done.


• After graduating high school, Mae moved away for college. At first things were alright, but after a few months her mental illness caused her to have more frequent dissociative episodes.


• Early in her sophomore year, Mae dropped out of college. She refused to explain why.


• Her first day back in Possum Springs, Mae met back up with her friend Gregg, his boyfriend Angus, and their friend Bea. Mae rejoined the band she used to be in with Gregg and Casey, now with Angus and Bea.


• Mae learned her friend Casey had disappeared.


• Mae and her friends found a disembodied arm on the sidewalk. Mae thought this was more cool than disturbing.


• Mae attended a party a few days after returning, and ended up drunk. She threw up on Cole's shoes (rip Cole).


• Bea drove Mae home from the party and Mae mentioned Bea's mom. Bea reminded her that her mother died several years ago and then threw her out of the car.


• Mae learned Gregg planned to move away to a larger city that is more progressive and has more of an LGBT scene, because of the intense homophobia he and Angus experienced in Possum Springs. This caused Mae to feel abandoned by Gregg.


• Meanwhile. Mae and Bea started to patch up their relationship, eventually agreeing that they are each other's "best available friend."


• Mae began having nightmares of large creatures attacking her. Eventually, she met a figure she believed to be god, who was uncaring about humans and warned her of a terrible "hole" that will destroy everything.


• On Halloween night, Mae witnessed a kidnapping she (mistakenly) believed to be committed by a ghost. No one believed her, but her friends agreed to start ghost hunting with her.


• After witnessing several strange events, the group (Mae, Gregg, Angus, and Bea) trekked into the woods to find the "ghost." Instead they witnessed a group of cultists punish one of their members by removing his leg.


• While fleeing the cultists, Mae was separated from the group and shot at. She fell down a ravine where she was found by police, heavily injured but alive.


• Mae returned to her friends, even though she was still injured, and convinced them to go into the woods to confront the cultists.


• Mae and her friends learned the cultists were feeding "people who don't contribute" to a mysterious creature that lives in an old mine shaft, in exchange for money and an extended life. They tried to convince Mae and co. to carry on the tradition, but they refused. Mae also learned that this was the ultimate fate of Casey Hartley.


• When Mae and her friends tried to leave, a cultist attacked them, and they killed him in self defense, causing a cave in in the process. They decided to leave the cultists to die.


• With the cultists gone, Mae returned to her life in Possum Springs. She planned to go on a road trip with Bea.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

Strengths:
Inquisitive and Open Minded: Mae spends a lot of her time talking to anyone and everyone who will give her the time of day; if she sees someone doing something that might be even a little interesting, she wants to hear about it. Mae is generally chill with the more weird or strange aspects of the people around her, because she herself is strange and weird, and it makes it easy for her to make friends with those on society's fringes. She isn't intimidating by things like bad reputations and prefers to judge people based on the way they treat her and her friends, rather than by any rumors or preconceived notions (though she doesn't always extend this curtesy if she thinks someone is a snobby rich kid). Mae also spends a lot of her time poking around in nooks and crannies, looking for anything that might be interesting, wanting to know about all the little curiosities of life.

Hope in the Face of Despair: Mae has been through a lot in her life, even before a Lovecraftian eldritch horror started sending her cryptic dreams about her impending doom. Even so, Mae keeps going forward, even if she has to do it in ways that are right for her (and even if people around her don't understand that at first). Mae will often excitedly comment on something frightening or worrisome, only to be asked if she's scared, to which she will happily respond, "I'm terrified!" Still, Mae will push on even when something is scary or when she starts to despair, if the cause is something she cares about or believes in. As she says herself, "I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt. Because that means it meant something."

Crimes: (This is a strength, bear with me.) Mae is absolutely not above committing minor crimes if it means accomplishing an important goal. If she has to steal a pretzel so she can feed a hungry rat, or break into an abandoned building to help her buddy get his boyfriend a sweet present, or jump on some guy's car so she can get on a rooftop to more quickly get to an upset friend, she will do it without hesitation. Mae has no compunctions about doing things that can get her into trouble if the cause is just (in her eyes), and she largely has no fear when it comes to things that could kill her, like breaking a tree branch by jumping on it or walking across a power line to reach a high place. And while most of the things she does may be illegal, they're also way more fast and effective than doing things by the book.

Weaknesses:

Self-absorbed: Mae has a tendency to get wrapped up in her own problems, to the point of ignoring the problems of those around her. The most damning example of this is when she asks Bea about her mom, only for Bea to remind her that her mom has been dead for some time, something which Mae simply did not remember. Mae also pushes her ideals onto others without seeing things from their perspective: again, with Bea, she tells her to quit her job because it's shitty, without considering how going without a steady paycheck would cause issues not just for Bea but for her father who depends on her. Mae can turn conversations back to her own thoughts, feelings, and experiences, sometimes cutting others off to talk about herself instead of allowing them time to speak. This is something she's become more aware of over time and she's working on it, but old habits die hard.

Naivety: Mae has an innocence to her brought on by the largely sheltered life she has lived up until leaving college. Though this is part of what allows her to hope even when things are tough, it also leads to her misunderstanding the world around her, and she often hurts others in the process. For example, after quitting college she doesn't initially realize the financial bind she's put her parents in by going, because her parents have always tried to hide money issues from her. Her blase attitude toward getting a job once back in town leads to an explosive fight with her mother, where she learns she never considered how much money went into sending her to school. There's also the aforementioned incident with Bea, where she fails to consider why Bea can't simply quit her job and go to college even if she wants to, because she's never had to grapple with real world issues like caring for ailing parents or taking financial responsibility for the household. Her naivety often leads to her misunderstanding situations or trampling on others' feelings because she relies on her limited perspective instead of seeing the larger issues at play.

Social Awkwardness: Mae embarrasses herself in conversation frequently. She's completely unable to read a room or obvious social cues and will often derail a conversation into negative directions. She also has little to no brain to mouth filter, often rattling off whatever thoughts she's having in the moment in a stream of consciousness, leading to people around her being generally uncomfortable. And sometimes she can just be mean without thinking about it. Some people like this quirkiness of Mae's but plenty of people openly note that she's kind of an asshole (or a very big asshole, depending).

Regains:
- her laptop (for playing Demontower (not an online game))
- Witch Daggah!! (just a normal dollar store costume)
- bass guitar (kinda shitty and out of tune)
- storybook her grandfather used to read to her
- her journal (for journaling)

Anything else?: