Welcome to Gaia! ::

Welcome to Alastriona's quest |D

I...totally fell in love with the character I made for the Ars Lilium contest so I decided to quest for her :3

As a very small child, Alastriona was happy and playful. Her father had died before she was born so she knew nothing of his kindness. Her mother, desperate for a man who would protect her and her child, a man she didn't really need, fled to the arms of a wealthy, well-known, and well-liked man. For a while, their life was idyllic. Slowly, as her new step-father grew accustomed to having a family, his true colors began to show. If her mother questioned his order or dared to disobey or change what he asked, he would strike her. As the years went on, the abuse worsened until her mother was being beaten merely for being in his way. One night, when her step-father was in a particularly bad humor, Alastriona's mother requested something of him. What it was, Alastriona never found out, but he beat her mother so badly that she died.

This left the young Alastriona without a protector from the man who was supposed to have the role. She had already been given a governess to teach her, but now the punishments for getting things wrong or not completing assignments was much worse. She was beaten for very nearly everything, but she learned early that if she cried, or flinched, or whined, or did anything but take "what was coming to her" then the punishment would be worse. She learned that a blank face was her greatest weapon and best ally. Once she learned this, she learned that nothing short of death would stop her step-father.

One night, nearly a year after her mother's death, Alastriona was found in her step-father's room covered in blood. Her step-father lay on the floor, the carpet beneath him black with blood. Tears adorned her face, but the expression there was blank as a doll's. No one ever questioned her on what happened that night, or how her step-father came to die. The staff in the house protected her as if she were their own child, or perhaps their savior. They cleaned her up and put her to bed. While she slept, the authorities were called and questions were asked. The staff merely answered they did not know what happened, which was the truth as far as they could tell it. Their only lie had been to say that Alastriona had been in her room sleeping the entire night.

After her step-father's death was labeled "mysterious causes," the police gave up searching for answers, perhaps because no one was clamoring for them. Alastriona became the head of the household, and for a time she was allowed to remain in the house alone with the staff, a period of grieving. She seemed to be unaffected by her actions that night, as if it were all merely a dream. Sometimes she will scream in her sleep, but she never shares the nightmares with anyone. If she dreams of what she did to her step-father or of what he'd done to her in the past, no one may ever know.

Her rational mind told her it was self-defense, that sooner or later it would have come down to one of them or the other and that if it had gone on any longer it would likely have been Alastriona gone and not her step-father. But all the same, she felt haunted. After her decision to become an Ars Lilium, she began to feel better. She feels that she will be able to redeem herself through this choice.