New Year

I'm hiding out in my room away from all the action, squirrelled away and saving up my free time as people rush around fixing things up for the New Year party. I love our friends; I just need some space to be alone for now before the real thing. I'm enjoying the holidays, but indulging far too much - this morning my face didn't appear downstairs until quarter past one in the afternoon, which is a first!
The lovely Gav and Jane, who live in Cornwall, have come to stay with their little girl Daisy, along with some other friends, Tony and Becky. We're expecting rather larger crowds than that at our peak, however, and people are still having apoplexy over where on earth everyone's going to sleep.
I have a new character who I invented while playing an old game from our childhood with my sister. She's called Nessa and she's interestingly part Medusa. Now there's an idea I haven't explored before.
She lives in the Between, which is a world 'in between' the human world and the world of Magic. Her parents were both human, but one of them had been bitten by a Medusa's snake, causing their child to be inhuman. For the most part, Nessa looks normal. However, her eyes don't fit properly in her face, being the eyes of a snake. She can briefly paralyse people, and while her hair appears ordinary, it often restyles itself when she is uncomfortable or upset.
She is a Scavenger, surviving only on the remains of the dead who have been left on the streets. Isn't that cheerful?
The Between is almost entirely populated with hybrids, some part human, most cross-bred Magic creatures. The portals on either side lead to either Earth or Magic, but they are chaotic, and you never know where you will end up when you step through unless you are strong enough to control the portal. Such people charge a lot of money to direct the portals to the wishes of the traveller, who also needs to pay for an illusionist to spell them into looking human if they are headed to Earth, or as a fully Magic being if they are going in the opposite direction. The journey is expensive, the transition between worlds arduous and often painful, and the rewards minimal. It is not undertaken lightly or commonly.
I sketched her but she didn't turn out right, so I'll try again tomorrow. Until then, I'll try and get some sleep :)