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 Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:07 am
 Petra Turnbull
age | 12 14
chosen | age 8
guardian | Spokelse, hind
occupation | goatherd none
siblings: 4
frequently spotted | fields, marketplace
positives | outgoing, hard-working, intelligent
negatives | crude, immature, selfish
asides | illiterate, restless, imitative
you rise to me
and i'll blow you down
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:09 am
appearance
Petra was once tall for age, and although she now tends towards the petite, with the wiry slenderness that comes of hard labor she looks older at a first glance than she is. This is an impression helped along by sun-brown skin and rough hands, and a shrewd expression made startling by a white scar that twists the corner of her full, cupid's-bowed mouth. This was the product of a well-aimed kick from an angry billy goat, and it also put out one of Petra's front teeth, a deficiency visible on the rare occasion that she laughs. Only the smoothness of her forehead and the largeness of her dark eyes betray her for the child she is, and at a second glance the gawkiness of her frame, the awkwardness of her carriage, further give the lie. Her face and shoulders are dusted with sunburn and freckles.
Petra's appearance tends to be unkempt: without a tender feminine influence early on, she has no idea how to care for her looks and no need to, given her occupation. She tucks her skirts into her belts to scandalously bare her legs in the fields; she makes only half-hearted and inexpert attempts to braid her black hair, which always ends up in a coarse, rain-matted shock by the end of the day, bristling in all directions as if attempting to flee its own stink. When she ventures into town she sometimes makes an effort to pretty herself up, making immature attempts at mimicking the fancy ladies she sees in town and rather ruining the effect with a mouthful of chewing tobacco. Ordinarily, though, she is a bare-footed mess with her legs caked in mud at the best and goat offings at the worst, dirt crusted behind her ears and sleep clustering in the corners of her eyes, baring brown and uneven teeth when she speaks.
HISTORY
age | event
6 | Petra begins working in her father's goat herds, a necessity despite her sex and age, and a welcome respite from diapers and bottles. At six, she is already the eldest of three girls.
7 | Realizing he won't be getting a handy son any time soon and that Petra is already quite handy with the goats, her father begins allowing her to accompany him on his trips to town selling goats, milk, soap, and cheese.
8 | Feeling the Choosing, Petra spends months attempting to resist the urge to flee to the forest, and focuses on her goats. She now has a small herd of her own, apart from her father's, to measure her capability. Eventually, however, the Choosing wins out, and Petra runs away to the forest. She emerges weeks later with her rough brown fingers wrapped around a snow-white totem, a more solemn, intense, and self-sufficient person: more mature, and less of a child pretending to be an adult.
9 | With Spokelse in her life Petra is more self-assured, more centered: although little about her day-to-day life is changed, Petra feels important in a way that she never has. The presence of the white fawn at her side earns her respect among the village children who had previously looked askance at her, although it fails to earn her real friendship. She begins to learn livestock medicine piecemeal from the local veterinarian and from her father, and her youngest sister is born.
11 | Petra is sent on her first trip alone to the market, and secretly spends a few pennies to begin the cache: a tin box well-hidden and full of what will become a small collection of luxuries (ribbons, buttons, a picture book) and found objects (feathers, stones). It is Petra's sole outlet for a rampant, feminine materialism. She winds the ribbons inexpertly in her hair before she goes to market, fearing every second that her father will show up and catch her out with something she isn't supposed to have. She is motivated in part by a strange jealousy of Spokelse, who has become a beautiful, graceful doe that attracts the attention of everyone who sees her.
12 | This year is a tumultuous one for Petra. Her father is mangled in a machinery incident while helping the neighbors thresh their field, and becomes an invalid. Petra is thrust into sole ownership of the goat herd. The next-eldest sister takes on caring for the children while their mother in turn tends to their father. In a strange way Petra feels only relief: her father was more of a business partner than a family member, and after the initial grief, she feels only that now she has true freedom. With the dogs ranged on one side and Spokelse on the other, she manages the fields and the marketplace with an expertise that belies her years. Despite the bare-foot liberty of her newfound life, part of Petra secretly, deeply hidden, longs for a softer life. The cache grows.
13 | Increasingly finding herself in the company of other Chosen and becoming more and more frightened of what the future may bring, Petra responds to the first rumors of the return of the wolves by largely abandoning her responsibilities. She has not quite run away from home, but with siblings old enough to manage the herds themselves with the help of neighbors and relations, she spends little time among her family. For themselves, they have become in their rural superstition somewhat afraid of their daughter, and of her Guardian, and do not demand her labor and obedience as they used to. In some ways Petra grows wilder and wilder.
14 | Nearly coinciding with her birthday, Spokelse Awakens. The newly-transformed hind says little, as at this point the strain of living largely outdoors and alone has cemented their bond beyond what they had previously imagined possible. Taking lessons in knife-throwing and short-sword wielding from Ayle at The Swan, Petra readies herself to fight, and her actions and words are marked now with fear.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:10 am
(doe uncert)
Spokelse is as graceful and ephemeral as her bonded child is feral and worldly. Even as a fawn she conveyed an impression of ghostliness as she tripped alongside Petra's ramblings, and as a doe, standing amid the goats and the dogs, the mud caked on her white legs and belly only served to emphasize her striking, otherworldly beauty: a mole on a beautiful woman's lip, a scar on a handsome man's brow.
This trait was initially a boon to Petra, who paraded Spokelse before the village children proudly, showing her off like a toy. But as their bond grew closer--as Spokelse became a person to Petra rather than a hard-earned trophy--Petra's pride turned in some ways to envy. Spokelse, in her rarity and her alien loveliness, casts a long shadow: a shadow that almost couldn't help but swallow up Petra, clumsy and banal at the side of her guardian.
This feeling was intensified when Spokelse blossomed into a beautiful Hind. However, their shared concern for the future--for the wolves, and for War--has put aside some of Petra's more childish envies. They rarely speak in words, but to any onlooker it is obvious that the link between them almost never closes. Emotions pass freely between them, and they have few secrets. This may change, however: Petra is becoming a woman, and feels a growing shame in the rough changes that this transition brings. Spokelse's sympathy for her uncontrolled emotions--among other changes--does little to dampen Petra's need for a solitary safe haven within her own mind. This has served to imbue Spokelse's moods with a nearly-constant air of melancholy, like a mother watching her daughter not only grow up, but grow up in a place of imminent danger. Spokelse sees Petra's innocence slip away, and feels the changes of the world which will finish the job far more harshly than puberty ever could.
Spokelse moves with a self-assured dignity that sets her apart from a mere wild animal, and her constant alertness is more that of a cat settled down with her kittens than a creature prepared to flee. In the Dreaming, she is self-possessed and stern, and her maternal side is more disciplinarian than gentle. Nonetheless, she is never cruel, and seems always bent on justice.
Other pets
Petra also has a rangy old dog that appears to have no name and whom Petra kept when she left the goats behind her, as well as some other companions...
A gift from Ayle that made her blush, and lives in Petra's hood in the winter and in her pockets and on her shoulder in the summer. The bird's name is Milk, but Petra usually simply calls it "the bird." She keeps its wings clipped.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:11 am
Finished Roleplays
Trespass, with Paul
Petra finds herself on the land of another Chosen, who shatters her delusions about what being Chosen must mean.
Surrogate, with Paul
Spokelse bonds with Samael and Petra chides Paul for his lack of commitment to his Guardian, only to realize she is projecting her own scruples.
Better You Than Me, with Warwick (two full pages)
Petra comes to terms with Spokelse's true nature with the help of a kindhearted traveling acrobat--a welcome respite from her hard life.
Faeries and Phantoms, solo (choosing)
Petra does not find the experience of being Chosen to be what she had imagined.
Foresight, solo with Maeve
Petra challenges Maeve's interpretation of the portents of the hard winter.
Baubles and Charms, with Warwick
Petra meets again with the acrobat and discovers that his Guardian, like her own, has Awakened.
Cold Light of Day, solo
Petra receives word of what occurred in Oldcastle during the ball, and reacts to the news with fear.
In-Progress Roleplays
Bartering, with Lytka
Petra offers to swap Lytka a puppy for a treasure.
At Rest, with Ayle (one full page)
The discovery of a handsome Chosen puts Petra out of her depth.
Oh, Its You, with Ayle (one full page)
The same handsome Chosen lends her a hand in learning to fight.
She Would Know, with Zachary
Petra is sought out by a newly-Chosen, and has very little concrete advice to give.
Looking Glass, with Lisette (one full page)
Lisette teaches Petra some of the ways of femininity--or would, if she didn't offend her mightily first.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:12 am
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