Stage: Youngling
Race: Fire/Ice Hybrid
Gender: Girl
3 Base Traits: Regal, Loyal, Self-conscious
Personality: Regal- Like most Ice Earthlings, Aaricia was raised to carry herself and compose herself with respect. She holds her head high when she's able to, and acts with propriety in mind. Despite how others may look down on her, she can be proud knowing that the love in her mother's eyes is real, and that makes standing tall that much easier.
Loyal- Having a rather rough and solitary upbringing, Aari is extremely loyal to those who give her friendship and love. At this point, this pretty much consists only of her mother and one friend. She covets true affection more than all the furs in Zena. However, she bears no loyalty whatsoever in mind toward her faceless father. Her mother never intentionally taught this attitude, but questions of the father only made Izchora upset. Thus, father upset mother, and thus, father is no longer of interest.
Self-conscious- With her very obvious brown skin and orange crystals, Aari stood out from the moment she was born. More often than not, she was scorned by those around her. She was raised by her mother to hold her head high on the outside, but, on the inside, she just wants to hide away from her peers. Some days she would wonder about leaving, but she as yet is still too young, and refuses to abandon her mother.
Description: Ref Ice traits: Dark blue hair, bright golden eyes, pointed ears (though not as long as a pure's), tiny blue crystals along her collar bones and on her inner thighs from hip to knee. Fire traits: Tan skin, full lips, medium-sized orange crystals scattered along her upper back.
Bangs that curl up and back on top. Braids that start behind either ear, then join at the base of her neck to turn into one thick braid down her back to below her butt.
Clothing: N/A
Accessories: The head pendant and necklace as pictured here (unless colorist thinks they should have more blue than purple?)
History:
A fire earthling who lived to experience the world. An ice earthling looking for a reason to keep on living. When they met, it was an instant connection. The fire man bragged about his adventures, regaling the ice woman with stories of the different places he’d visited, and his dreams of where he would go next. The ice woman was hooked, her own head filling with thoughts of adventure outside of a lonely and isolated life. The day they were going to set out though, the man fell and broke his leg. The ice woman took him in, and tended to his injury. As time passed, she fell in love with him. However, he saw her as a curse keeping him from his dreams. Still, a little fun wouldn’t hurt, right?
The moment his leg was healed, he packed his things and was gone, and the woman was left with an empty heart. Her friends spent weeks trying to lift her back up from the despair she’d fallen into. When they noticed their friend’s belly swelling, they panicked. A child from such a lie?! What a disgrace! How embarrassing! What an awful reminder of a humiliating mistake!
Yet, when the woman put a hand over the bulge, she felt her heart soar. Her time with the man hadn’t been a waste. He’d given her a precious gift... A reason... Izchora now had meaning to her life.
When the baby was born, Izchora was the happiest woman in Zena. Her friends and family... were not so happy. The baby had the blue hair and gold eyes of their people, but the brown skin and orange crystals were clearly of another. They were convinced that the babe would be a constant reminder of Izchora’s ‘mistake’, and encouraged her to get rid of the thing.
Of course, Izchora would have none of that. The baby might look a little different, but she was still of the ice earthlings, and her child. While her heart ached for the man who left without her, she bore no ill will toward him. Her daughter was well worth the pain. She named her daughter Aaricia, and loved her as fully as any mother loved their child. Raising the baby alone was tough, receiving no help from her disgusted family, but Izchora was going to prove that this was no mistake. She taught Aari of the ice ways, raising her just like she’d been raised by her parents.
~*~*~*~
As a youngling, Aari felt nothing but warmth at home. She was fed and clothed and hugged and kissed and played with and told how much she was loved constantly.
Outside the home was a different story. Without her mother’s protection, she was scorned and teased and isolated. Very few in the little mountain village were willing to accept her, and any who did want to were too afraid of their neighbor’s wrath to show it.
It was one particular run-in that affected her deeply. While running down a narrow path, she bumped into an adult. Literally. The woman was pushed toward the rock wall, while Aaricia stumbled toward the steep drop on the other side. She screamed with fear as she slid over the side, just barely able to grab onto the ledge.
The woman ran to the ledge to help, but paused when she saw who it was. “I should just let you drop,” she said, squatting to look little Aari in the eye. Aari whimpered when she realized that the woman up there, looking down at her so scornfully, was her aunt, Michora. “Your mother would be better off without a stone like you around her neck. Don’t you know you were an accident? A mistake?”
Her aunt’s words put the actions of the others in the village into sharp perspective. Her mother never did talk about her father... and she did look different from everyone else there... Mother never had friends over... Her family never visited... Aari almost did let go, but the rotten woman was suddenly yanked back from the ledge, and a different pale blue arm reached down to yank Aari up to safety. Aari curled into a ball while voices raised and hollered over her, hands over her ears to dull the sounds. All her mother’s loving words were being ripped away...
“Don’t you believe a thing she said, Aaricia!” Aari peeked out, startled to see a young prentice standing there. The boy had a determined look on his face, and he picked her upright to stand on her feet. “You know she loves you, and she knows it, too! Michora is just jealous ‘cause she doesn’t have anyone like your mother does.”
Aari blinked as the boy went on and on, confirming what she knew in her heart. There was someone else who saw that she.. was worthwhile. That she mattered. She couldn’t doubt her mother! Already feeling better, she thanked the boy for helping her.
“No problem!” The boy grinned and gave a slight bow. “By the way, my name’s Frik. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Aaricia.”
After that Aari and Frik were near inseparable. Not only had Frik saved her life, but also her heart. She would never forget it. While the village continued to be cold to her, she had her mother, and she had Frik. Nothing else mattered.
~*~*~*~
However, a traveling fire earthling had returned to Zena, somehow unable to forget the ice woman he'd left behind. She'd been a curse... but was often on his mind. He was walking down the path when he saw her walking the same path, looking as beautiful as before. He went to call for her, but paused when he noticed the baby in her arms. A baby with fire toned skin...
Unsure if the greater fear was finding out the baby was his, or finding out it wasn't his, he turned and left without making contact. He wasn't ready to be a father! The father of a mix on top of that!
The distress sent him back home to Oba for clarity. When he got back though, he found out he was the one chosen to take over the family business. While that was an honor, he realized he had no heir of his own. He took on a wife, but the two pregnancies she went through never ended with life, and the third brought two deaths...
Alone again, the man's mind went back to the baby he'd seen long ago. If the baby was alive still... perhaps going to claim it wouldn't be such a bad idea...
