Welcome to Gaia! ::

Name: Amarilla Cook

Nicknames: None

Gender: Female

Age: 21

Birthday: April 24

Fav. Food: Chili

Hated Food: Cherry or grape flavored sodas

School: Destiny City University

Profession: Majoring in Marine Science

Gemstone: Diamond

Hobbies:

Sketching: Amarilla enjoys sitting outside on nice days and sketching the scenery around her. If it's raining, then she will stay indoors and draw animals. She draws in a slightly cartoonish style, with some manga style thrown in and the whole thing chibi-fied. She's at her best when she's drawing cute and fluffy creatures in adorable settings, and doesn't do well with realistic drawings. Even when she is drawing scenery, everything seems slightly more rounded than it is in real life.

Amarilla Says: "Big features bring out the parental instincts in people and make them go 'Awwww'. I want people to do that with my drawings."

Jogging: Amarilla is an active person. She loves to be outside and jogging is a way for her to do both things at once! It's only natural for her to do two mile morning jogs every day, and jogging is a good way for Amarilla to learn the lay of the town, and meet new people.

Amarilla Says: "Jogging is how I wake up....If I don't go for a jog in the morning, I feel antsy and irritable...."

Collecting: Amarilla collects wolf paraphernalia. Wolves are one of the few things that can unconditionally hold her attention. When she was younger and her parents would take her to the zoo, she would spend most of her time sitting in front of the wolf enclosure, watching them with utter fascination. She has wolf things of all sorts in her room, from stuffed toys on her bed to figurines on her shelves. She's even taken the pictures from old calenders and covered her walls with them.

Amarilla Says: "Wolves are the ultimate of family organization. And they are so beautiful, they make my heart skip a beat!"

Window Shopping: Amarilla doesn't like to spend money unless she absolutely has to. That new outfit in the window of Hollystar sure does look cute, but in the window is where it shall remain. Amarilla is content to just walk form store to store, browsing their selections and gawking at all the lovely clothes, jewelry, furniture. She takes delight in feeling the fabric, sitting on the couch and trying on the sunglasses, but rarely the desire to actually buy anything. She can spend a whole afternoon meandering and buy nothing but a banana-strawberry-blueberry smoothie.

Amarilla Says: "If I buy it I'll never wear it, and I'll have less money. It's more fun to just imagine I have it then fill a closet with useless things."

Virtues:

Sincere - Amarilla can't lie. Like, she is unable to lie about anything, anytime. So if she says that she doesn't like you, believe it. If you ask her for advice, she will give it to you without a bit of hesitation. In battle, if she thinks her team is going to lose, then she won't stop to consider morale before saying whats on her mind. If someone is hurt and asks her how bad it looks, Amarilla won't sugar coat it to make them feel better. If their leg is torn to hell, she will tell them that their leg is torn to hell, and nothing less.

Amarilla Says: "Lying causes more problems than fixes them! I refuse to lie for someone's sake."

Positive- In Amarilla's mind, not only does every cloud have a silver lining, but every star, house, tree and person. She believes that there is good in everything and everyone, and she's the person the bring it out. She gives everyone the benefit of the doubt until they prove themselves to be anything but angelic. And Amarilla means well, she really does. She tries her hardest to get along with people, fight the good fight, and in general be a decent person. Unfortunately, her good intentions sometimes turn things into a bigger problem than a solution....especially when the person she is trying to bring the good out in does not want her help at all. And she borders over enthusiasm, which often results in overcooked cupcakes for the school bake sale.

Amarilla Says: "But it's the thought that counts, right?"

Flaws:

Naive:- Her positivity and willingness to believe that everyone is a good person at heart can often stray into nativity. She has a hard time accepting when people betray her, but at the same time wants to give them a second chance, thinking that maybe this time they will change. She isn't very street smart, whether it be from her personality or because she was a floating soul for a while, and isn't used to present day. This makes her more susceptible to tricks and traps.

Amarilla Says: "I know they stole from me, but maybe if I bring them over again they will change..."

Flighty:- Amarilla has a short attention span. Maybe it's because she has a childish streak, or maybe because she's just so interested in everything. But she loves to explore, and nothing can hold her attention for long.

Indecisive:- Amarilla has a hard time making decisions. This is in part due to her short attention span. She bounces from subject to subject, and bores easily with one thing after a little while. When it comes to deciding between two things, or two actions, she will often ponder every outcome possible before making a decision. Multiple scenarios go though her head before she even attempts to make a clear cut decision on the situation at hand, if she even makes a decision at all! She might just forget about it and move on to something else. In a battle situation, her hesitance could cost her the battle, or cause her or her teammates injury as it gives the enemy time to strike first. And then if the odds turn against her or her teammates start to do better than her, she tends to reach into her petty side..

Amarilla Says: "Do I attack first? Or let my teammate go? Or maybe if they get close enough I can....Hey look that cloud is shaped like a frog!"

Petty:- Amarilla is generally a happy-go-lucky individual. But cross her specific line, and she could teach bullheadedness to the cow itself. She refuses to listen, give in, give up, or any other method of compromise when she's reached this point. In battle, if she happens to be losing, she may just stop fighting altogether.On the flip side, she may also fight harder, wanting to punish the person not listening to her and letting her win. Amarilla tends to hold grudges, and she is much more vocal about them than the average person. If it's a teammate that's incurred her wrath, she may simply not help them when they need someone to assist them. If it's an enemy, she will jump at every chance to attack them, even if they aren't doing anything wrong.

Amarilla Says: "It's not fair that they should win and I should lose! That's not what being a hero is about! I'M SUPPOSED TO WIN!"

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Hair: Her hair is a bright pink, and is very long. Like to her hips or lower if the artist doesn't mind drawing that. it is also tied off at the bottom into two sections, and she has bangs that curl slightly.

This is the reference. Her hair doesn't have to be THAT long, but a similar style would be awesome.

Another example of hair from the side:
[X]

Eyes: Brown and round.

Build: Around 5' 5", slender, but not overly skinny.

Fashion: She like cute but slightly conservative clothes. Longer skirts and sundresses, shirts that aren't low cut, but form fitting jackets. Her jeans are never tight and fit more loosely. Her favorite accessories are gloves, and she can't wait until winter every year so she can wear them!

Family:

Parents: Her parents were young lovers, and she was born when her mother was only 16. Not wanting the responsibility of caring for a baby, her mother wanted to give her up for adoption. But her mother's parents, Amarilla's grandparents would have none of it. They fell in love with the tiny child and decided that they were going to raise her in her mother's stead. So, her mother and father gave up Amarilla, and moved out of state, and the letters and phone calls steadily declined. Now it has been three years since Amarilla has heard her mother's and father's voice. So her grandparents are her "mother" and "father", and she calls them this, preferring to refer to her biological parents by their first names, Jade and Bryan.

Grandmother- Isabelle Cook Age: 62

Isabella Payne is a quiet type of grandmother/mother. She prefers for Amarilla to figure things out on her own, but will always be around to give her advice and remind her that is is still a child, and she should be out having fun, not spending the day looking after her and "Father" as she likes to call her husband around Amarilla. She has the typical grandmother look: Shorter, with thicker white hair that she gave up dying years ago, worn in a low braid or curled around her soft, smiling face. Her eyes are the same shade of brown as Amarilla's, as well as her mothers.

Grandfather Benjamin Cook Age: 65

Benjamin Payne, or Ben as he is called by everyone he knows, is a happy, bouncy guy for his age. He loves being outdoors, and when Amarilla was younger, they would go on adventures through the "wilds of Africa" in the back garden, and sail "the ocean blue" as pirates off the patio. He isn't afraid to get dirty, and it saddens him to see Amarilla acting so enclosed sometimes. He, as well as his wife, are always encouraging her to go to sporting events, out with friends, go on dates "Just no funny business!" He is a taller man, with muscle tone that is slowly starting to fade with age. He has a square face, with a salt and pepper goatee and wispy black/gray hair on his head.

‘ello! Here to drop off a mini-crit.

For her first virtue, you say her good intentions may just make a situation worse. How so? Like, by making a target of herself by trying to help a teammate? That’s what I get from what you wrote, but you may want to clarify just in case.

Looking at her combination of traits, I can’t help but wonder about how she’d handle the Negaverse. If a Nega said they’d release a friend/hostage in return for information, would she believe them? Would she give them the information?

On a random note, I love her hair. <3

Hey, Blue Eyed Melloon! Grats on winning the custom slot. =D I went over your quest, and I have a few notes for revision. If you have any questions, please let me know.

ON THE CIVILIAN SIDE:

‘Listening to Music’ is a fairly generic choice for her hobby. You mention that she enjoys country music, but otherwise, it just seems like a throwaway hobby. Who doesn’t like listening to music? If you restructured it to focus on her love of country music (how does she feel about hay rides? line dancing?), then I think it would be more unique and really help round out your quest. Otherwise, her hobbies are good!

Her virtues/flaws feel a little simple right now. She is the nice, well-meaning optimist who is just flighty, naive, and can't make a decision. I think PETTY is a really nice flaw for her. In fact, I would take that flaw and see what else it says about her. If she is really nice to everyone, then maybe she is the kind of person who expects to be treated the same way by others. So what happens when they don't? How does she react? Does she get passive aggressive? Does she slip into depression? Does she distance herself from those friends? Does she pretend like nothing is wrong? Answering these questions might help you figure out more about her.

As it is now, I think INDECISIVE/FLIGHTY could really just be one larger flaw about her inability to be firm, whether that be in focusing on a task or focusing on making a decision. In the same way, I think that POSITIVE/WELL-MEANING could also be combined to just a larger trait about her being a positive person who tries to bring that positivity to others through her actions. That would open up some room for you to add another flaw/virtue that might help individualize Amarilla more!



I sometimes look up lists of traits just to figure out what might fit for my character. It might help jog your own creative process too. =)

ON THE KNIGHT SIDE:

I like the hair ornaments as a weapon for the page stage!

At squire, I think you should be more descriptive on how her focus might be broken. Does she have to maintain visual contact with her target? Does she have to get her elbow 100% straight to hold it? If the target runs more than 6-8 feet away from her, will it break? Put some limits in there so it is clearer how it logistically could be stopped by an enemy.

At knight, I am confused as to how she directs her attack. You say she ‘points’ at her target. At the squire stage, I can understand this because it is just one person -- but how can she simultaneously point at two people? Or is it more of a cone of grace that she radiates and anyone (even a Nega?) who enters will get the agility boost?

Clear these things up, and I think it will strengthen your power set-up!