Sins & Virtues

[Gifted]

You hear stories about men making deals with the devil, but even thse who believe in god will laugh and walk away. Nobody believes the devil will actually come to earth and give powers to mortals in exchange for their souls.
No... and yet how else would one explain the sins?
Seven people, each helped by some unseen force. Were they approached by the devil, or were they simply born knowing? Was it passed down through their family?
Seven people are held in a contract that encompasses their lives. Each person carries the power, the embodiment of one sin in the object of their choosing. With this object in hand they were carried to positions of power, or positions in which to dissappear. Whatever was most effective for them to fufill the sin they were designated for. However, this comes at a price. The object must be kept on them at all times, for if they lose an object, they will be much more likely to have to accept the consequences of their sin, something the object usually prtotects from. However, if the sin is not repeated often enough, the object will stop protecting its carrier. It is not impossible to catch the carrier of a sin while they have their object and fufill its requirements, but it is very, very difficult.
However, the objects themselves hold a special significance. If one sin collects all seven objects, their one wish will be granted, no matter how impossible it may seem. Will the sins be content with the power they are given, or will they wipe each other out in an attempt to get more?

The sins were too dangerous to leave unchecked. So found the seven who carried the seven virtues. These seven people have been given the task to find and destroy the objects belonging to the seven sins. They work in much the same way as the sins do, each one holding their power in an object. However, as there is no penalty to losing the objet and no price to be paid for it, they do not neccessarily carry their objects with them. All seven of the sins objects must be destroyed at the same time, or the power will transfer to another object. If a virtue manages to destroy all seven of the sins objects, they also recieve their one wish. However, unlike the sins, two or more virtues can share their wish, should they chose to work together. However, this extra leniency comes at a heavy price. Should a virtues opposite sin get ahold of their item, the virtue will have no choice but to allow themselves to be dominated by the sin and obey every order given until their object is recovered.

Fourteen people, the blessed and the cursed. Who will hide, and who will seek? Who will live freely, and who will face the consequences of their wrongdoings?
That, is up to you.


Character list:

Sin/Virtue:

Name, Object

Opposites will be directly accross from each other on the list

Lust:	Jerimiah, Cane	Chastity:	Candace, Iron Key
Gluttony:	Adam, fake ID	Temperance:	Roseanne, calculator
Greed:	Kaito, Gavel	Charity:	Ryan, Cape
Sloth:	Violet, Computer Mouse	Dilligence:	Charity, Rope
Wrath:	Dusty, Police Badge	Patience:	Ethan, Sewing Needle
Envy:	Mayblee, Bracelet	Kindness:	Kenny, Star Necklace
Pride:	Baryll, Eyepatch	Humility:	Dennis, Heart Keychain

[Raven]

The business had been in the family for generations, being passed from father to son. He'd been only 23 when he obtained Lust, though he had been secretly using his status as his father's son to pull his weight with the girls for years before that. They didn't know that his father would have punished him and not them if they complained. At first, it seemed the power of the Sin wouldn't work since the cops had began to catch on to the illegal prostituting. It wasn't until almost a year later that he realized what a turn of luck even that had been. The cops had caught his father, but didn't realize the way the business inheritance would go. When his father was imprisoned, they figured this particular whorehouse would disband. Needless to say, it didn't. If anything, the business grew. Jeremy was much younger than his father, and quite a charmer when he wanted to be. With the power of Lust, he was quite good at getting girls, and even a few young men, to do anything he wanted.

He always kept up a pleasant demeanor with his girls. Unless, of course, they misbehaved. The newer girls were especially bad, thinking they could steal from him, sneak out, or spend time with people they liked and not make them pay. Even their tones irritated him. Their attitudes and disrespect grating rather unpleasantly on his nerves. It was at that point that he asked them - quite nicely, to his credit - to let him have a word. He would lead them out and only the women who had experienced this already would know what transpired. They never had any marks visible around their clothing, though they didn't work for several days while the bruises faded. They might be skittish around him after that, especially when he didn't bother to keep his hands off, but they always remembered their place. Sometimes their memory just required a little nudge in the right direction.

They were his bitches, and if they wanted special treatment they had to earn it. And after all, he mused, it wasn't as though that were unachievable. A few nights pleasuring him on top of the work already assigned would give privileges, if only for a short time. It was a very primitive hierarchy, but it was effective, and everyone was well taken care of. They were all tested periodically for STDs (he didn't want to get any himself, after all), and as well as the illegal drugs he provided, he made sure to keep his girls well provided with pregnancy preventative pills (he did not want to have to deal with pregnant women nor with children). If, by chance, a woman "forgot" to take her pills, he was more than willing, if a little forceful, to provide abortion pills. Complications always made his head hurt and recently his head had been pounding quite frequently as he worried about the other sins, and more importantly the virtues. While he was eager to find them, it would come at a price... He wasn't sure he was willing to risk his power to acquire more. His sin wasn't Greed.

---

They couldn't be more different. Despite their similar looks, one brother was a sin and the other was a virtue. They marked the two extremes of what could happen growing up like they had. One one hand there was Adam, the Glutton. Though he still showed signs of being fat as you would imagine a glutton from his marijuana phase, he'd since then lost weight. He was hooked on harder drugs by this point. Alcohol made it hard for him to keep food down when he did eat. His reputation for being an ass was only less well-known than his reputation for being a player. While he hardly ever had a girl on his arm, it was no secret that he only went without one in his bed when he'd passed out from drinking too much. Even then his alarm was one to be envied.

On the other hand was Kenny, the embodiment of Kindness. Despite the fact that they were identical, it was hard to mistake them for each other. The drugs had set them apart by giving Adam a more gaunt look, his eyes cruel when they weren't empty. Though Kenny's eyes weren't happy, exactly, they contained more emotion at any given time than Adam's ever did. Kenny was quiet and polite, often apologizing for things his brother did and acting as Adam's chaperone whenever they did something stupid and Kenny wasn't occupied at school. While Adam stayed up drinking and hitting on women, Kenny did both their homework on a regular basis. Whenever Adam had a test, Kenny switched places to take it. Those days were the only days Adam could be counted on to show up at school. Though the teachers were bound to notice, they never said a word. It was never clear to Kenny why, but he figured it had to do with their father.

Aaron J. Villein was not a kind man by any stretch of the imagination. He'd all but disowned Kenny once the boy showed his sexuality. Meanwhile, he'd made Adam what he was: a heroin addicted alcoholic with very low standards of who he let into his pants. While Kenny was treated like some kind of joke, Adam was treated more like a prince. Despite the fact that most parents would want a son like Kenny, he was unlucky enough to be born to one man who didn't. In fact, Aaron had all but given Adam his item, the fake ID he never separated with for a moment. At seventeen, the boys didn't look anywhere near old enough to be served alcohol. Either way, no one around here questioned the son of Villein. A good number of people probably would have served Adam with a real ID.

Trying to shake those thoughts from his head (Kenny knew everything about his twin, including the fact that the latter was a sin), Kenny held his own item in his hand. It was a star necklace he'd received as a gift a year earlier, from a young man named Luke... The thought of him brought both a potential smile and potential tears. A smile because it had happened, tears because it was over. He couldn't direct the emotions he felt towards anyone, because while it was true that his father had been the cause of the end, Aaron had also been the entire reason Kenny and Luke had met. If Adam seemed protective of his item, it was nothing compared to how Kenny was. A stainless steel necklace held the pendant, and he didn't take it off for anything. Even though, as a virtue, Kenny could be separated from his item, he hadn't taken it off since the day he had gotten it.

---

She looks up at the sky as the prayers all pass her by. Dedication reduced to nothing. Tears rolled down Charity's face as the words floated in her mind yet again, her eyes focused on the cathedral she passed every day on her way to her harp lessons. She quickly shook her head. It was pathetic for her, an eighteen-year-old woman to be crying in public. She gripped her rope necklace, her constant reminder that humanity couldn't really be saved. They could only be watched. The sins could be kept from taking over completely, but they had already won. Even religion, a thing once sacred and owned by God and his virtues, had been corrupted by all manner of things. Church leaders were often greedy, lust driven men. People who were strong believers were proud of their religion, thinking themselves better than others. Many people were too slothish to even go to church anymore. That or they were driven by unjust hate of God for challenging them. The virtues were reduced to tiny pockets of light, the sins justified under God's name. Even the virtues themselves were often turned to sin. People relied on the charity of others so that they could be lazy or pollute their bodies. Humility often ended in the humble getting ideas stolen. Patience was stretched to the point of wasting time. Chastity lasted only until the late teenage years and was not broken under vow of marriage, or to bear children. Humans would say times had changed for the better, but were women's rights worth all the sin? Honesty, though not a virtue, was preached but not practiced. Children were taught to lie from an early age... Why her God even tried to save them anymore, she didn't know. Only the virtues were virtuous anymore. She would make sure to watch humanity, if only to save the other virtues and to condemn the sins as quickly as possible. She would be the faithful, diligent servant of her Lord, that was certain.

[Gifted]

Corrupted administration of justice, determined by the social status of the accused. Even the most henious, the worst people could be saved if they paid money. Such was life in his courtroom.
"Honourable Judge Kaito Mammon presiding."
Kaito was a young man of not but twenty five, very young to be presiding over a courtroom. Professionals, Scientists, explained his rapid progression through Law school by saying he had an iadetic memory, but Kaito knew that wasn't the case.
He'd recieved Greed and learned the rules just as he was finishing high school. His beautiful daughter had just been born, and at first, he'd accepted just for the riches and noteriety it would no doubt help him collect. But when he got to the hospital, he was hit with two devestating pieces of news at once; His beloved girlfriend had died in childbirth, and his poor daughter had been born paralyzed from the waist down. He would never get to see his child walk, or even crawl. He vowed then he would collect all seven sin fragments, and use his one wish for her, his daughter, to see her walk and play like any other child. He named her Lilac, after the beautiful flower as well as his girlfriends favourite colour, and cared for her as any father would.
After he graduated, he stopped to think about what he was going to do with his life. Greed generally equalled corruption, but what professions could he go into where corruption came with a high payoff? He could only think of three; Cops, politicians, and judges. Being a cop was dangerous and politics weren't his thing, so he enrolled himself in Law school and passed with flying colours, It seemed like no time at all before he was sitting in the judges chair. Now 25, he'd been a judge for four years. Most of the criminal underworld knew him as a judge who could turn the trial in your favour, make key pieces of evidence inadmissable, and generally pull every trick in the book to let you walk out. For the right price, of course. He charged more the more airtight or high-profile the case was. He made millions.
His daughter, now 8, was homeschooled, and rarely left home. He wanted to shelter her from the terrible things out there, including himself. Often, he wished he could be the hero she thought he was, but one look at the wheelchair she'd had since she was very small would always remind him his efforts were needed for her. when he'd turned 21, the first gavel he was given he stole from the courthouse, making it his item. It was never traced back to him. Now, whenever he was bribed and had to act on his greed, he would replace the courtrooms gavel with the one he carried in his pocket. For his daughter, he would continue swinging his injust hammer.

However, this particular case he hadn't been given a bribe, and was therefore judging fairly without bias. eventually the trial ended, the defendant was found guilty and sent to prison. Kaito rose from his chair and left as the spectators were filing out. He only had a little time to go home and be with his daughter before he was expected back in court.

[Gifted]

Beep, beep, beep
Violet jumped and looked at her alarm clock. Was it really noon already? Great, first she'd stayed up all night, and now she didn't have time to eat before leaving. The lab boys would love her. She looked back to the screen and typed quickly.

ViolentPurple:ooc: gtg, rl is in the way. c u tonight?
TheEpicEpicMaker2:ooc: awwww, the story was just getting good! Come back soon!
ViolentPurple:ooc: Definitely! See you when I get back!

Violet logged off and shut down her several-thousand-dollar laptop. She looked around her cramped apartment for her bag. Finding it, she stuffed her computer in it so she could go back online if she had a spare moment. Because of this philosophy, she didn't even bother removing her most important possession from her laptop before shoving it into her bag; a cordless mouse, designed specifically for people who hate trackpads. She left the plugin on her laptop and threw the mouse bit in after it.
Violet didn't have a job. Not a real one anyway. She made her money as a human test subject. It generally started with ads in the papers. As a professional "guinea pigger" (Which was what they called it in the business, which might possibly be the stupidest name for a professional ever in existence) Some of the scientists she was more familiar with sometimes pointed her in the direction of the better-paying tests ahead of time. The pay wasn't great, but as she regularly forgot to eat (the only reason she wasn't massively overweight) and she really only cared about having a good internet connection, she could get by.
Her parents hated her career choice. Her mother kept trying to tell her that 84% of medical centers wouldn't compensate if she got sick, but it hardly mattered to her. She was sick of her parents constant nagging. Her dad went on and on about how only 20% of drugs that made it to the human testing stages actually got an FDA stamp of approval, and she responded with "Yeah, and...?" Guinea pigging was an easy way to keep her internet running, and that was all she wanted Sick of the constant pestering and nagging, she'd started avoiding her parents calls, until they just stopped talking all together. It'd been over six months since she'd heard from her family.
She slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her bike (she'd never bothered to get a drivers license) and began biking to the laboratory.

[Dokeshi]

How does one display pride? Fighting for your country, or what you believe in is certainly one way to achieve this. Though, through fighting no doubt you will find yourself with scars, but for some people, those scars are the real symbols of pride. Baryll Tiberius is an example of one such person. His face and body is riddle with scars from a myriad of obstacles in his life, barbed wire, bullets, shrapnel, you name it, he's probably felt it.In addition to his body, his clothing, standard military wear, is donned with rips and tears but he wears them nonetheless. Of course there is such a thing as being too prideful, and Baryll goes above and beyond, treating perfection as revolting.

Through his immense sense of pride, Baryll became one of the sins, though the item of his choosing is a bit out of the ordinary. He wears an eye patch, a reminder of his prideful scars that covers his glass eye, and when he removes it, he can remember a scene in his own unique way and create a charm of it, much like those bracelets people like to wear. He can then activate his charms for certain periods of time, many of his memories taking the shape of a weapon of some kind, with a few exceptions. He is limited to have thirteen of these charms, and when he makes a new one he can choose which to replace. While this may be the case, he has vowed to never replace his first or last charm, the days of his marriage, and the date of his wife's untimely death. Saying that forgetting would be disrespectful and that's he's proud to have been with her for the time they did have.

Now knowing of the power of collecting the items, Baryll is determined to do what it takes, but as for his wish, that may not be as apparent as one might think.

~~~~~~~

Ethan Dalcour was a bit of an oddball as far as other children were concerned. While they ran around disobeying their parents, Ethan sat patiently...for as long as he needed to. Sometimes he even waited for days on end, naturally of course someone who waited around when others asked him to would develop a hobby to keep themselves busy. Thus, Ethan learned how to sew, he was a natural at it.He became aware of the sins and virtues...however it wasn't something that interested him. Ethan was content to wait, either they would come to him, or someone would convince him its was interesting enough to go looking for them.

[Sar]

(((http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=55467459)))

Always a weight. Every moment of her life, a weight. As a young child she never questioned it, the large key that rested on her silver necklace. Though it had been there for as long as she could remember, she never got used to the weight around her neck. The ever pulling of the key, like a constant reminder hissing "You promised Candace, you promised." Yes, a promise her parents made for her from the time she was chosen to be raised as a Shaker. She had never met her biological parents but she knew that they must have consented to her adoption to the group, due to the strict government rules about religious sects adopting children. Sometimes she wondered what her life would be like if she would have been raised in the "normal" world. Would she have been free of her burden, or would it have followed her always? Either way, it didn't matter, she was no longer with her family and she was with the others, so why not live? It had taken a lot of persuading and talking but eventually, she had been allowed to go for a teaching degree after basic education. College always pulled at her conscience, she was supposed to keep to the ways but when she got out she changed her clothing and blended almost completely into the rest of the city.. Almost. She still couldn't get rid of the key. The key that kept her last moral, that one line she wouldn't cross to keep her spot open at home and the "heaven" that they all believed in.

She held the key in her hand and looked in the mirror, brown hair pulled back and dressed professionally for another day of student teaching. She had one more month and she was gone, back into full time schooling then back to home. She wished that she could move slower so the time wouldn't pass so quickly, but she knew that if she moved any slower she would be late. She took one last look at the key and squeezed it, before she slipped on her shoes and ran off towards the door to catch the bus.

[Gifted]

Dennis checked his watch. It was time to pull the car around. Elliot would be expecting him soon.
e pulled out his round glasses and set them carefully over his green eyes. It wasn't exactly a glamourous job hauling movie stars around to their concerts, being treated like no more than part of the machinery that makes the limo run. But it didn't bother him. His clients were of a higher social status than he was, no big deal. They were talented individuals, no matter what their attitude was like. His hands grouped for his keys and enclosed on the bulky, heart-shaped keychain his ex-girlfriend gave him. No, ex wasn't the right word, but what else to call her? whatever. His old girlfriend. The only object she gave him was now his item.
Humility. Yes, Dennis was humble. Now.
Before he could stop himself, he took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the contacts. The list stopped on a name: Katrina Winslake.
He sighed and snapped his phone shut. No, Katrina didn't want to hear from him. He hadn't spoken to his little sister since it happened. How old would Katrina be, now, anyway...? He, Dennis, was twenty six, meaning Katrina... would be getting out of highschool this year. Maybe he'd call on her graduation day or something. If he even knew when her graduation date was.
A quick look at the clock reminded him of the need to pull the limo around. He put the keys into the ignition and started the engine.
It would be strange to an outsider, Dennis was hardly the ideal picture for a virtue. A college dropout who drove a limosine for a living, had no friends or girlfriends, and never even tried to mend his broken relationshi with his younger sister, and only a tenuous relationship with his elder sister and her husband and son. As for his elder brother... well, nobody in the family kept in touch with him except their parents, anyway, and even they only invited the guy around for Christmas. But everything else... to an outsider, Dennis would look more suited to the sin of Sloth than any virtue. But there was one very important factor; Dennis did care. He cared very deeply. But he knew in his heart it was his own fault, and did not have the pride or arrogance to expect them to accept the apology he'd given. It was an acceptance he did not deserve.

[Raven]

"You can't do this," those were the same frantic words she heard almost every time. How silly they were, and she always told them so.
"If I can't, then how am I?" she questioned with a grin. Even as she spoke, she traced his collarbone with her knife.
After a gasp in pain, the man answered, "You're a cop! This is against the law!"
Detective Dusty Ruth laughed out loud. "You know what else is against the law?" she questioned after she managed to quiet her laughter. "Rape."
The man floundered a moment, struggling to comprehend what was going on. "That... that case was finished a week ago. I'm innocent," he finally snapped at her.
"No, you bribed the judge, which is also illegal. Let's make sure you can't do either ever again, shall we?" Dusty asked in a sing-song voice. "I'll start with the first offense."

Two days later, the body was found washed up on the coast. It was immediately recognizable by the wounds. The serial killer in question always tortured its victims first.

Detective Ruth sat in the back of the courtroom as the latest victim was pronounced guilty. No bribe meant she wouldn't get a victim from her friend Judge Kaito Mammon. This one would be safe from her. Lucky for him, but unlucky for her. She knew she had to make a kill soon, before the cops started unraveling the mystery. Her power protected her from that, but it wouldn't last unless she acted on her sin. Without it she was more than easy to catch. After a series of deaths within the police force, she had been promoted to detective much earlier than should be possible. She was only twenty. No matter, she could find someone with or without Kaito's help easy enough. She waited in the back until everyone had left.

[Raven]

Ryan Villein felt like he ruled the world. He had at least one thousand dollars on hand, versus his usual dollar seventy four. Though he wouldn't keep any of it for himself, it felt wonderful knowing that he had money. He could do anything he wanted with it. It just so happened he wanted to give it all to families who couldn't afford enough to keep up. Yet as he left the building, he knew what he'd do first. He popped inside the limo that waiting there as though nothing unusual was happening. It just proved he knew little that he didn't realize people who used these didn't open their own doors.

[Gifted]

Step on. Step off. Step on. Step off.
Three times made it offical. 92 pounds.
Roseanne was not skinny. She could still see pockets of fat here and there. especially around her hips. That, she absolutely had to get rid of.
She ran her fingers through her thin blonde hair and looked around her, checking the time. She had to walk back to school soon, lunch break was only so long. That would burn a good 60 calories anyway. She pulled out her most prized possession, an expensive scientific calculator. She added 60 to her total calories burned as she stepped out of her home and began waking. She compared the result to her caorie intake today as she walked. The net result today had to be -3,500 at least. 3,500 was the minimum number of calories one had to burn to lose a pound. so far, she'd netted a cool -2,620, and the day wasn't even half over. She could probably hit -4,500 today if she really worked at it. She stuffed the calculator back into her pocket, and for a rare moment her mind drifted away from her quest to be thin. She was thinking abut the sins, wondering if she'd met any and hadn't even known it. She kept herself on the lookout, but it wasn't easy to distinguish who was sinful for their own sake, and who was because they had a contract to uphold. She'd have to find out, though. She looked around nervously and walked quickly back to her highschool.

[Gifted]

"In a hurry today, Elliot?" Dennis asked before remembering it wasn't his place to comment. "Where would you like to go, sir?"

[Raven]

"The shopping area," Ryan answered vaguely. After all, he couldn't give the exact address of someone who lived on the streets, like his top priority.

[Gifted]

"Yes, sir." Dennis said, and took him to the biggest mall in the city. "You have a good day, sir."

Kaito waited until most of the others had eft the curtroom before adresing his friend, his partner in crime. Everyone had a dark side. As long as Dusty kept hers well hidden - especially on the of chance she ever came near his daughter - Kaito had no problem calling his partner in crme a friend. "Afternoon Dusty."

[Raven]

"You, too." Ryan smiled slightly as he got out of the limousine. It wasn't the best job, but it must pay well.

"Have I ever told you how pathetic our justice system is?" Dusty asked. "When being found guilty is favorable to what I can do to them..." She shook her head with a smile. "They live better in there than most people do out here."

[Gifted]

"I wouldn't say 'most people', Dusty." Kaito replied. "Better than the lower class, certainly." He rose to his feet.

Dennis drove off after Ryan was safely away and parked his limo underground in some building he wasn't even sure where. He was in the shade, and that was the important thing. He still had ten minutes before he ought to see his next client, and said client would be pissed if the leather seats were scrching hot from the suns rays hitting the black car.