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Name: Vanadia Montrette (also known as Va'an when on the job or Vanny to some friends)
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Height: 5'8”
Weight: 142lbs
Sexuality: Straight, but can be a bit of an ice queen
Faction: Engineer
Occupation: Mechanic, specializing in weaponry
Physical Appearance: Vanadia, being a mechanic, doesn't follow the societal norms of women when it comes to her appearance. Standing at an intimidating five foot eight without her boots on and possessing skin kissed by sun and graced with muscle she could easily pass for a young man if she bound up her breasts and hair well enough. The most striking feature on her are her eyes which are a royal blue that sparkle with mischief but at the same time hold the bitter memories of yesterday within their depths. She has mouse brown hair that's near waist length when down, but is rarely so. Pulled up into a sloppy ponytail it reaches just below her shoulders.
As for clothing, she prefers earth colors. Her tops are almost always some shade of green—her favorite color—and simple in design but short sleeved to allow her to wear her long fingerless leather gloves that are worn and faded in spots. Only when she's working are her arms completely bare, showing a horrible scar on the back of her right palm. She does wear an overbust corset, but it's been sliced in half and stitched back together at the waist to allow her more freedom in her movements. Always does she wear breeches which are dark and tuck easily in to her calf-length boots. Rumor has it the only day she'll wear a dress is if they dress her in one for her funeral, provided there's enough of her left.
In her boots are two hidden holsters for small pistols she carries everywhere. An old pocketwatch made of various bits of scrap and brass hangs from her corset with the letter V etched messily in to it.
Personality: If one had to define Vanadia in one word, it most likely would be 'rough'. Vanadia is by no means a dainty socialite of the upper class nor is she the humble servant girl wallowing in the lower, eager to wed and produce children. She nearly always has a scowl on her face or an expression so close to one you'd have to wonder just what you did to anger her when you've never met her before, and for the most part she acts very cold and distant. Business is business and personal relationships are practically non-existent for the way she treats people, mainly men. It isn't that she hates them, mind, but her standards are quite high and it would take someone of high caliber to crack through the outer shell she's made for herself down to the soft, kind-hearted center.
Really she isn't a bad person and in fact tries her best to help those in need whenever she can but it can come off as a very awkward attempt, leaving the recipient rarely grateful for her meddling. She can as well be quite motherly to those she becomes close to, echoing her own mother's kindness and nurturing. Once she befriends you, her loyalty is without question.
Flaws: The most noticeable flaw in Vanadia is her temper which is notably short but explosive once the fuse is lit. More often than not her anger is inappropriate and often her way of scapegoating from admitting she's made a mistake. To admit she's wrong would be the verbal equivalent of her shooting herself in the foot over and over.
Another fatal flaw would be her word use, both in context and volume. She has a rough tongue and a sailor's vocabulary, brought out more when she's agitated. Not only this but she cannot ever seem to think before speaking which can lead her into a circle word-wise and confuse others and even herself. When she means to comfort more often than not she hurts or offends. When she means to be witty she comes out sounding a fool. Words are not her strong point.
Back Story: Happy days were the ones when her father was alive. She was born to a tavern owner and his wife, a young couple so much in love the world was a song, forever exciting. Though they weren't high-born or wealthy they lived a life content with each other and soon, their young daughter named for the periodic element, Vanadium. She had her mother's eyes and her father's sense of adventure and desire to improve the world.
At the age of seven she watched her mother go from cooking dinner to crying on the floor in front of their door where a man stood. Her father had been ruthlessly and needlessly killed in the tavern which had then been burned to the ground by the culprit in the hopes of covering his tracks. With nothing left to rebuild the tavern and no will left inside her mother, they were reduced to the slums where her mother worked as a waitress. Tired and heartbroken though she was she never failed to smile for her daughter and encourage her to make a life for herself one day, to find her own happiness. Yet happiness seemed so far away; Vanadia longed for a white knight.
On her fifteenth birthday she found her mother dead, face down in the batter she'd made to bake a cake with. Her mother had been sick for some time but they'd had no money for a doctor or medicine and had treated it with odd herbs from old women. Alone now she took what money they had, sold everything else for more, and never looked back. After all, what had she to look for there?
In the passing years she apprenticed under a blacksmith and later a mechanic for the wealthy, learning to construct weapons and repair modes of transport. Work became her life and at nineteen she finally bought her own shop and place to live built over it, found a stray cat that became her only companion, and carved out a comfortable niche for herself. It's hard some days as many think women cannot do the work she does so expertly but she strives to prove everyone wrong. Incidentally this often leads her to dress like a man and call herself “Va'an.”
Talents and Skills: Let's just say she has a deeper understanding of the religions of old than anyone has ever had.
Research: Vanadia's research consists primarily on weaponry and its advances as far as durability and the ability to conceal them within every day articles of clothing with the idea they can still be reached for quick defense. Her father's passing inspires her work and the idea is to give the common people ways to protect themselves from those who wish to hurt or rob them. At the moment she's only been able to produce ones that will fit inside calf length boots but has not yet been able to produce a gun not able to fire anything that would kill. It's a work in progress.
Hobbies: Vanadia is what you call married to her job. When her shop's closed or she has down time you can often find her looking for new ways to improve what she's already constructed or taking apart and putting back together her two small handguns and recording the time it takes her to finish the task.
Likes: Mechanics, learning about new discoveries in the world of transportation and weaponry, crafting her own designs, spending time with her cat, stargazing, the color green
Dislikes: Most of the upper class, most Alchemists, misogynistic men, having to explain something in more than five words, the fact she cannot travel, pickled anything
