|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:22 am
Brienne Dekker
bree-en
16 yrs
Female AppearanceShe is a slip of a thing, really, no more than 5'5" with subtle curves and strong arms and legs from climbing and walking and running. Her skin is fair with rosy cheeks and her hair, curly and blonde as cornsilk, hangs past her knees and frames eyes like sun bleached denim.AboutBrienne is a young woman who has experienced many things that most people cannot imagine, and lacks the experience of most things which people take for granted. Her understanding of the world comes from, like with most people, an abundance of trial and error -- and yet Brienne has, in many ways, undergone more of this than those her own age ever will. Life has left her jaded, but not beaten and, certainly, not without hope because despite that Brienne dares to dream, and sometimes her dreams seem as real as life itself.
Brienne is blind.
Her condition became apparent when she was still a baby, as she never reacted to anything visual. She has since learned to cope with this, using a walking stick and relying more on her sense of hearing, direction, and even smell and touch. She can tell a friend by the scent of their perfume, or the rhythm of their feet upon the ground.
In some ways, her condition has made her stronger. It dares her to reach across boundaries, to try things despite her handicap (much to the worry of her mother) and, of course, to imagine a world where even she can do great things.
Before the world changed, she'd never been so far as the edge of the garden without some kind of chaperone, for obvious reasons. Her lack of sight limited her in ways that made her want to scream, or cry, both of which she indulged in on occasion. Except, now, the world has changed, and for the first time in a long while Brienne feels that her dreams may become more than that, so much more.History and FamilyHer mother and father met when they were both quite young and married only a year later. Vivienne was 19 when she had Brienne, and her father, Brandon, was 21. By that time, they had moved to the home of Brandon's inheritance, a small estate, and have lived their since to bring up their children as members of the landed gentry.
Tutors visit twice a week to teach many different subjects, including one of Brienne's favorites - dancing. In many ways, then, Brienne has been blessed despite her condition, and often reminds herself of this when she is feeling out of sorts.
Brienne is the the only daughter of her parents, though she has a brother who is two years younger than her. Marett is like her in many ways, and different in others. They have always been quite close, and her brother is the one person that Brienne often feels she can turn to when her troubled thoughts get the best of her. The two are inseparable and it's usually Marett who gets dragged into Brienne's plans for adventure where the two of them will wander far beyond the edges of their home's trimmed gardens and out into the the wild woods, beyond, where, sometimes, they may sit and talk, or listen, for hours surrounded by the sounds of the trees and the birds.
It's times like that when Brienne will talk to Marett about the bells she often hears at night and, sometimes, in her dreams. She'll talk about how the bells are a voiceless sound -- a sound that is not a sound that throbs and beats and pulses like something alive, something sad and hollow and distant that feels, sometimes, as if it is calling to her. Marett usually laughs.
Except, the last time the bells sounded, and she told him about it, he wasn't laughing because curled in the folds of her dress -- under a fading moon as they sat outside in the garden with all the world around them silent -- lay a small pup with glowing eyes and a pale ring around it's throat like cool silver, or steel, but was not silver or steel nor any other metal known to man.
Marett wasn't laughing, but Brienne was -- because Brienne could see.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:02 am
 eeth-eel-EE-el
Female
Ithiliel is often protective of Brienne in a quiet, solid, way. She doesn't blame her companion for her youth and often, in fact, finds it to be a source of some amusement and, in some cases, inspiration. Yet there is an inherent fierceness in her demeanor, a predatory edge that any who near her instinctively sense, that seems at odds with the gentle manner in which she treats Brienne. Then again, some might say it's very much the way a wolf might guard it's pup.
It's much more than that, though. Brienne is her friend, even outside their contract, and Ithiliel would not abandon or betray her even if the rings about her throat were smashed to a hundred thousand pieces. Yet she tolerates no one else, save Marett, to touch her and, then, only grudgingly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:08 am
Brought to Light
Once I was blind, but now I see.... AwakenThe moon is bright and full in the sky when Brienne is pulled from her dreams into the waking world. She only knows that she's awake because, once more, her world is completely black, and she can hear Meritt, snoring, across the hall. She smiles, and shifts out of bed.
She can hear it, again, louder than ever. The tolling rings in her head like a steady throb, a heavy beating that encompasses every inch of her senses, yet is not loud, only powerful. Many times she has tried to explain it to her brother, but there really are no words for it. Like bells she had said, one time heavy bells and velvet, he'd simply looked at her with that small, quizzical smirk and said nothing, though she could feel him smiling. Typical Meritt.
Now she glides down the hall, slipping on her boots and her jacket before stepping outside. It's chilly, and she tugs her jacket closer, stuffing her mitten-clad hands inside the pockets, and sets out toward the garden. She only means to sit there for a moment, but something urges her on and, before she realizes it, she's thick in the woods. A sense of unease grips her, and Brienne shakes herself as the throbbing pulse fills her mind again. Something whispers in her head, and Brienne gasps, stumbling a little in her shock.
What the hell was that?
She senses it again, that urge to follow. Warily, she continues forward, and the ground gives way to a steady decline and after a moment, she realizes she is in some sort of cave or tunnel. Brienne shivers, but she doesn't stop, and she walks for what feels like days, but is only a few hours -- her progress is slowed by the unfamiliar terrain.
Finally, she stops.
The air around her is thick, and the ringing beat in her head is more intense than ever. She feels as if she could be swept away by it, like a leaf in a stream, and the sensation is utterly disconcerting and oddly freeing. She finds that she is smiling a little, and quickly stops.
Another brush to her mind, like a whisper inside her head and then --- nothing.
When she returns to herself, she is crying and she can't remember why. There is a vague sense of some half-remember incredibly intense sensation but whether it was good or bad or something inbetween she can't say. She wipes the tears from her face and stands (when did she sit down?) and, slowly, the knowledge comes to her, trickling in but without the memories of whatever she's just experienced.
A soft sound fills the chamber for a moment, and she realizes the disturbance came from her. A quiet, awe-filled moan that is somehow pitiful.
Brienne finds her way to the shelves, slowly picking through the ingredients until she has what she needs, and begins to mix them as she speaks the words of a language far more ancient than anything human, and feels the energy shift, not inside the chamber but inside herself.
".....A human....?"
"My name is Brienne Dekker. I call upon you to form a pact with me."
"You call, and I hear you Brienne Dekker. What is it you would have of me?"
And so Brienne tells her, to see the sun, to see her mother and her father and her best friend, her brother. To see through her eyes, to be more than she might ever imagine even in the comfort of her dreams.
The creature laughs, soft and rich and low, and it curls around Brienne's head hot and cold.
"I shall grant you my sight, human, and in return you shall grant me your light and your sun, and you will be as an extension to my fangs and my claws -- when the time is right."
With a word, the pact is made, and Brienne feels the energy leave her and then, a moment later, a warm, soft, strange touch against her mind and fleeting feelings that are not her own, and a quiet cry draws her down to her knees where she kneels. Then, into her arms, a warm bundle of soft fur curls into her and Brienne laughs, and cries, and slowly, slowly, the world around her begins to take shape until she's looking down into eyes that glow like lanterns in the dark.
"...Ithiliel..." the name is a whisper that she speaks between them, and it's right the same way the words she spoke for the spell were right, and the little pup in her arms looks back at her with all the contentment in the world.
Her vision fails after a few moments, the link between them too new to sustain for long, but she wakes Meritt when she makes it back home, and when she sits with him, in the garden, under the moonlight, moonlight!, she is laughing and crying and he stares at her with a sort of wonder that she can see.
She can see.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:42 pm
Be my Light, Be my Fang
Bound together until the end... Through Eyes of AnotherBrienne's ability to see through Ithiliel is wonderful and mysterious, but also limited. She can use the magic to see as if with her own eyes, from her own perspective, but this is more difficult and often doesn't last as long -- or she can see through Ithiliel's eyes, where certain colors are strange, and the seeing lasts longer though she isn't able to control where she's looking unless she directs Ithil where to look. Neither does this latter method last indefinitely and the magic will inevitably fail until it's strong enough to work again.MarettAlthough he's two years younger, and very much a young teenage boy, Marett is Brienne's best friends and is often her confidant and partner in crime. It's this reason that Ithiliel tolerates his presence as much as she does, even when he goes so far as to touch her (much to her dismay). Still, Ithiliel would never admit it but she does have a certain fondness for the boy. Unlike Brienne, however, Marett has never shown any signs of inherent magic and it's unlikely he could ever become a Summoner, though he doesn't seem to begrudge this of Brienne.Light Bringer...and Bright Eyes, and Fire Heart..
Ithiliel's strongest magic-dealing is with the manipulation of light, or light/heat related magic. She can create light, make it brighter or dimmer, and also manipulate the energy used in light to create heat and fire-- though this latter ability is limited to weak flames or, at the expense of great energy, a single strong attack in daylight. Her fur also sort of resembles moonlight in the right light (especially at night), though it doesn't actually glow, hence her names Moon Shadow and Night Star.
Another reason for her name is that Ithiliel is actually quite a kind Hound, even if she is quite aloof. Her second strongest ability is scrying, and is even stronger than her ability to create fire. She usually has a pretty good chance to tell if someone is lying (about 30%, or 1-in-3) about something major, or important, or half that amount of the lie is minor. Ithiliel herself will never lie to anyone, although she may not always tell the whole truth, either!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
