odette — the lead ballerina role in Swan Lake
cygnet — a baby swan
Blood Color: RED (#B8100 cool
Gender: Girl
Symbol:
(Cyngus — The Swan Constellation)Personality: Odette's personality is marked by her unusual timidity. Her lusus was nearly mute, so she wasn't raised to be talkative around her own lusus, let alone other trolls. To make matters worse, she's a poor, puny redblood, the lowest of the low. Most trolls equate her with sewerbeasts, which can be a real downer for Odette's self-esteem. Highbloods have mistreated Odette for her low blood left and right, but she doesn't think she has the strength to defy them, so she puts up with it. As she's not particularly strong and has no special powers, Odette has no business being disagreeable and raising her voice. Odette likes to stay out of trouble, and she finds that keeping her mouth shut is the easiest and fastest way to please highbloods. She does tend to admire some highbloods for their wealth and power sometimes, but she’s mostly afraid of them because of their severity and unpredictability. But because she's put up with their teasing and mistreatment, Odette's started to believe that she's trash, too. This gives Odette excessive unconfidence, and makes Odette believe that she's not worth talking to. It's a belief that's been embedded into her psyche, so even if Odette's circumstances improved or her blood spontaneously changed colors she'd still be as timid as she is now.
Odette's timidity is also partially due to her sickly nature. Odette lives in exceedingly unhealthy living conditions and is constantly overworking herself for daily survival. It’s only natural that she would get sick easily. It would seem that Odette always has a cold, if not something worse. This makes her throat sore and her voice hoarse, which makes it difficult for her to talk (and she’s embarrassed by her raspy voice). Despite her poverty and terrible health, Odette is driven daily by the support of friends and the desire to earn their respect. She's always striving to prove her worth to others through hard work and loyalty.
Odette Cygnet’s main interests lie in dancing, notably ballet. Her lusus taught her the art, and Odette performs dances on the streets of New Hemisect City for food. She’s more passionate about dancing than anything else on Alternia. Good health would allow her to pursue her passion of dancing even more, because she wouldn't need to recover as much from the exercise. Sometimes her sicknesses hinder her dancing ability, but she tries her hardest to trudge through it. The stuffiness and headaches can sometimes really mess with her coordination when she's spinning around so much. When she does dance it really takes a lot out of her. Her body gets extremely tired, as well as her mind. She's prone to collapse shortly after rigorous dancing when she's especially sick. When her sickness is so bad that it prevents her from dancing, she's forced to steal, as she dislikes begging. She refuses to steal from anyone who's anywhere near as poor as her, and she's too scared to steal from a drone or someone just as sinister-looking. And doesn't steal often because she really prefers to earn her funds for food. She doesn't like her persistent illnesses get in the way of earning a living through dancing.
Odette also enjoys music, especially classical music. Her favorite composer is Troll Tchaikovsky. Odette envies and looks up to musicians. She would dabble in learning how to play an instrument if she had the funds, but she can barely feed herself on a daily basis. Odette also likes to read when she can get her hands on a good book. It's a quiet pastime she likes to share with her lusus. Odette truly appreciates reading and music, but being impoverished keeps her from branching out her hobbies. If she got healthier, she could probably make a better living, and then she might be able to afford nicer things like books and instruments.
Strengths:
—Polite
Odette, being shy and non-confrontational, is very polite to every troll she meets. Odette never talks back or curses, and she rarely has a bad opinion about a troll. In the off chance Odette is offended or angered by someone, she usually internalizes the feelings instead of bursting out at another troll. This is one of many unhealthy habits that Odette has developed with age. It’s more helpful than harmful, though, as it keeps her from getting beat up by highbloods on most occasions. But Odette is too polite sometimes. In extreme conditions when she can't dance, she doesn't like to beg because she doesn't want to be a bother to others. She hardly ever pesters her friends for things, because she thinks they'll get annoyed with her. In her skewed mind she thinks that it's nicer to just steal from strangers instead of beg.
—Devoted
When Odette befriends a troll, she develops an intense attachment to them. She’s extremely loyal, and would do nearly anything for a friend. Other trolls can trust Odette with anything when she’s on their side. While she's normally terrified of conflict, she's quick to defend her friends and their pride. Her friends are what drive her daily, and she'll do anything to prove her worth to them, even if it means doing something she doesn't like to do normally. She’s a valuable asset on any team or in any quadrant. Her devotion is the only thing that would really drive her to a showcase of anger, because she won't stand for anyone insulting those close to her.
—Lithe
Where Odette lacks brute strength, she makes up for it in agility. She’s small, thin, and flexible, and can maneuver past obstacles easily. She moves swiftly and has quick hands, a talent she developed from pickpocketing on the streets of New Hemisect City. If it weren’t for her deftness she wouldn’t be able to survive daily, let alone in battle.
Flaws:
—Unconfident
Odette lacks confidence in almost everything she does. She’s not confident about her fighting skills, about developing relationships, or about her personality. Odette is constantly second-guessing herself. She doesn’t comprehend the concept of compliments. She sees herself as the lowest form of life, as she’s never been told she was anything better. Her sickly nature contributes to her low self-esteem, too. She's ashamed of her frail facial features and hoarse voice. If Odette got healthier, it would probably be a good confidence boost (an overdue one, if you ask me). The only thing that she’s relatively confident about is her dancing ability. This is only because Odette feels confidence through the support of others, and her confidence for dancing comes from the support of her lusus. When Odette dances, she forgets about the outside world, and instead focuses on the memories of better times, like when her lusus first taught her how to dance. If someone were to tease her or boo at her performance, she'd probably internalize anger for that person, instead of just shrink back. After all, she has more faith in the words of those close to her than the words of some strangers.
—Delicate
Odette is petite, thin, and sickly, which makes her more easily prone to injury. She tries to avoid injuries as much as possible because when she does get them they’re often devastating. She's small and light, and is therefore easily thrown around by others, especially in battle. It's just not her body that's frail, though, her mind is delicate too. She's afraid of pain, and the sight of her own blood makes her queasy. She shares a lot of pity for other trolls in pain and therefore doesn’t like excessive violence. She wouldn't cope easily with killing another troll, and if she maimed another troll (especially inhibiting their ability to walk), she'd probably be traumatized. Odette is even upset when other trolls curse. Also, pails weird her out, but then again she’s also just a kid.
—Fanatical
Being extremely devoted towards her friends has a downside. She has a tendency for clinginess, which is off-putting for the other member of the friendship. Trolls who show Odette false shows of friendship just to be polite might end up getting a lot more attention from her than they anticipated. She might even border as a stalker in some extremes. Her devotion can get her into more trouble when other trolls befriend her just to use her. When she realizes that she’s being manipulated, she gets stuck a state of depression and refuses to cope for extended periods of time. When she loses her friends, she always thinks she did something wrong, or that she simply wasn't good enough for them. She doesn't know how to cope with losing friends, even when it's not her fault. She's fanatical about dancing, too, and if she ever lost the ability to dance she'd be devastated and probably try any method to be able to dance again. Dancing has become an entity much like a friend in Odette's mind. If anyone tried to take dancing away from her, she'd react in the same way as if a friend was being taken away from her. She's crazy about anything that her friends support her through, too, but dancing is the thing she's craziest about, as her lusus taught her how to dance. Her fanaticism for her friends and their support tests the limits of her demure personality. If someone killed a troll especially close to her, you can bet that she'd seek revenge on the troll that killed them.
Appearance:
Face: Odette really can be quite pretty, but her regular string of colds and fevers usually ruin her good looks. Her big eyes are almost always quite puffy, and her petite nose is almost always runny and congested. Her features are always flushed. Her voice is seldom clear; she’s constantly coughing. Her hair is really full and wavy. It parts on her left side and is tucked behind her left ear, but it covers most of the right half of her face. Her hair is regularly disheveled because between getting sick and dancing, she’s constantly getting it sweaty or messy. She's simply given up on keeping it looking nice. Her horns curve outward and branch out in two at the top, giving the subtle appearance of wings.
Body: Underneath her frumpy coat, Odette has relatively petite frame and thin arms, but she has those shapely dancer curves that come from her regular ballet exercises. She’s awfully short, but has really powerful legs regardless (also because of ballet). Odette also has extremely strong feet, and is prone to kick people a lot in fights.
Clothing: Odette sports a frumpy coat made out of dead lusii she found on the streets. She fluctuates between chills and sweats when she’s sick, so she tends to wear the coat kind of half-on. Underneath her coat she wears a black leotard with her symbol on the chest. She wears black ballet slippers tied up to her mid-thighs. She owns a matching tutu that she only wears on special occasions, as it’s the most expensive thing Odette owns and it gets dirty very easily.
Weapon: glaivekind
—Odette wields a lightweight glaive with a blade that has a design similar to her horns, only the edge is curved outward like an axe and the pieces branch out on the inner side (Odette's horns curve outward and branch outward). The glaive itself isn't that special, in fact it Odette was only able to purchase it because the blade broke off of the staff. Odette reattached the blade with some fabric that her lusus found. Odette attaches sentimental value to the fabric, and seeing it gives her will to fight. The weapon is about a head taller than her, which makes it as tall as the average troll. She sees it as the weapon most suitable for her, as it suits deftness more than brute strength.
Home: Odette lives in the boiler room of a cheap temporary fee-regulated hive accommodation in New Hemisect City. It’s damp, cold, disease-ridden, and clearly the source of Odette’s frequent illnesses. Swanmom likes it there, though; there are lots of nice puddles for her to splash around in!
Lusus: Swanmom!
—Swanmom is actually a small rat with featherbeast wings. She is passive and practically mute, but her and Odette bond well nevertheless. Odette calls her "Mama". Odette and Swanmom are intensely close, and Swanmom was Odette’s first ballet teacher. But after six or so sweeps, Swanmom fell into very frail health. She’s managed to take care of Odette before that time, but is just too weak now to assist Odette much anymore. Swanmom is too sick to leave the hive, so Odette is forced to leave on her own to get food. Odette finds the challenge rewarding though, because she finds that the food she gathers will nurse Swanmom back to health. If they don't have a lot of food, Odette will sometimes starve herself to feed Swanmom, much to Swanmom's digress.
Power: none
