|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:06 pm
Name: Ara
Age: 16
Gender: female
Sexual Orientation: hetero
Craft: farmer
Rank: farmer by default/candidate
History: Ara grew up terrorized by her mother's green wher, Brisk, who viewed her as competition for her attention and despised her even before she was born. Her father, a farmer, began taking her to work with him in the fields as soon as he was able to spare her Brisk's venom. Ara's mother, Bri, was initially content to let this be the arrangement, but she did not allow Brisk's antipathy for her daughter to prevent her from spending time with the girl. She saw to it that her daughter didn't grow up a heathen, making time to teach her about feminine things.
Ara's early life passed with her days spent at her father's side in the fields and her evenings spent playing at being a lady with her mother. When she was old enough to attend lessons with the harper, she learned dutifully, and while she displayed no special skill for any part of harpercraft she did acquire an appreciation for music. As an older person, singing helps her pass the time in the fields, and her voice doesn't exactly make others run for cover.
As soon as there was a clutch laid following her twelfth birthday she stood on the sands, but she didn't Impress. As far as Ara was concerned, that was that and she could get about the business of the family business. Ara has worked as a farmer in some capacity all her life, though not with any of the beasts, who she learned early on don't much like her. Oh, she'll still stand at an occasional hatching, but she's really come to love farmcraft. She likes being out in the sun all day, working with her hands and knowing that it is her work that helps feed everyone in Ghenza. It is an important, necessary job, even if it doesn't win one glory or require particularly skilled labor.
When she was fourteen Ara got her first real crush, but nothing much came of it besides some furtive hand-holding, a few awkward kisses, and a truly embarrassing talk with her mother about the facts of life, a subject on which she had previously been ignorant, despite her work as a farmer. She spent her time in the fields, after all, and there wasn't a whole lot of obvious sexing going on between the plants. However, armed with this new knowledge of the possibilities, Ara decided it would be all right if she had more beaux, providing she didn't go too far. When she was sixteen she had her first serious boyfriend, as it were, and she is currently still with him. They're coming up on their two month anniversary.
Appearance: Ara is basically average in form. She's of average height and proportionate weight, though she's not satisfied with her appearance. She wishes her breasts were larger and her cheekbones more pronounced. She also wishes her eyelashes were longer, but doesn't care enough to wear any sort of cosmetics, which would be perfectly silly since she spends most of her days sweating in the fields. She hates the fact that she tends to get acne around her hairline. Speaking of, Ara has light brown hair that she likes to call blonde but which is truly brown. She usually wears her hair in a braided crown around her head, but when it's loose it falls to about mid-back in waves that may or may not be from the braid. She says that her dark brown eyes are just to spite her, since everyone knows blondes are supposed to have light colored eyes. However, the dark eyes and brown hair go well with her skin, which has more or less a perpetual tan from her work in the fields, where she wears the most functional and comfortable clothing she can. While not at work Ara likes to dress nicely, but doesn't go overboard with it. She's not much more vain than any other teenage girl, after all. She just likes to look nice when she's not sweaty and dirty. The fact that her boyfriend prefers her in a dress may have something to do with that.
Personality: Despite the fact that Ara doesn't seek fame, it can hardly be said that she lacks ambition. She simply has different ambitions. It is her ambition to be the best worker in her crew, for instance. And she would like, someday, to convince Brisk not to hate her, though a large part of her remains convinced that will never, ever happen. And she has lots of dreams of adventure, but she's sensible enough to realize and accept that some people are destined for world renown and others, like herself, are destined to grow the food that sustains them while they're off being famous. Nevertheless, she can't help dreaming that someday a handsome bronzerider will sweep her off her feet, even though she has a boyfriend and he's not a dragonrider. It's just a harmless fantasy, right?
In her dealings with familiar folk, Ara is generally very accommodating, and will undertake any task that is asked of her, and will fret if she can't accomplish it. This is partly because she knows (or at least suspects) that she sometimes comes off as cold and she thinks that if she does things for people to make them like her they won't get the wrong idea about her. It also makes her fairly easy to take advantage of. She doesn't like to say No, and only does so in two instances: she won't let a boy push her too far and she won't knowingly hurt someone else. For anything else, you can take her initial No, no matter how firm it sounds, as an eventual Yes.
Ara is basically unaware of the fact that she's made herself into a pushover and can be very gullible, but she does know when people are being unkind or rude to her, and when she sense that is the case she becomes extra polite with them, in effect freezing them out. Because there are few strangers in Ghenza, it is difficult to say how she reacts to new people. Most of the time she is polite to a fault, taking such care to be courteous that she may come across as cold or disinterested to people who don't know her well. Whenever she's unsure of herself or the situation, her fallback is to become very polite and be on her best behavior.
There might be some who view Ara's extreme good manners as a form of haughtiness or arrogance, but in actuality she's a very grounded young lady who plans to one day marry and have children. Maybe not with her current boyfriend, but with someone, someday. Secretly, she's a romantic, as her fantasies probably demonstrate. She likes to play matchmaker in her head and imagine how people's lives would go if they got married and had children, even guessing what the children would look like. Her own future is the exception to this because she walks a fine line between accepting that she won't live a romantic ballad and desperately wanting to. She has a tendency to fall in love easily, which is something her boyfriend's not exactly comfortable with, just as he feels vaguely threatened by her grandiose romantic fantasies, which is part of why she keeps them to herself.
Other:
+ Ara is afraid of her mother's wher. This is because Brisk has never stopped projecting thoughts of hatred at her or being generally hostile.
+ Ara prefers bronze dragons simply because they are the least like her mother's green wher and they are fairly majestic looking.
+ I'm planning to have her fall for and then follow B'shir back to High Reaches when they leave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:54 pm
Just some clarification notes, but the character would be accepted without them:
- Whers generally don't talk to people other than their handlers, and even then, they can only project emotions to other humans. It would be extremely unlikely for Brisk to be telling Ara all the things she could do to her, even if she'd had enough herbal mix to make her exceedingly smart. The human-to-wher telepathic capabilities are barely on flit level, since Ara is not her handler.
- Leaving Ghenza is a-okay, provided that she doesn't Impress there. If you sign her up for Impression, you would be essentially forfeiting the 'following B'shir to HR' plot in the event she got a dragon. It's entirely up to you how you go about it (i.e. not signing her up at all to avoid this possibility), but this is just a gentle reminder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:19 am
No worries. I had no plans to have her attend this hatching at Ghenza.
Would it be better if Brisk just made it very clear that she hates her and acts more like a particularly unpleasant dog (with the snapping and growling and whatnot)?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
