Nickname: Taal (if she likes you a great deal and you're very close to her)
Gender/Pronoun: female, she/her
Age: 24
Birthday: November 1st, 1997
Sign: Scorpio
Gemstone: topaz
Blood Type: B+
Fav. Food: cinnamon rolls--the gooier the better
Hated Food: she's not saying okra is disgusting, but--okay, she's definitely saying okra is disgusting
School/Occupation: Taalia is the front-woman of a power metal band named Change of Heart, alongside frontman, amicable ex-fiance, and longtime friend Ahmaud. They’re successful enough to pay the bills and have a bit of fun, but not necessarily enough to get stopped on the street.
Hobbies:
Painting -- art is a hobby Taalia shares with her older sister, though she opted not to pursue it to any kind of professional degree. Portraiture is her favourite subject matter, however, and she really enjoys painting from candid photographs. She sends her nephew--Kamen--fun new art supplies to try for birthdays and other holidays. It's a nice way to wind down from a grueling rehearsal, especially if she wants to idly listen to the music in the background at the same time.
Collecting -- Taalia collects little shiny trinkets and baubles, displaying them around her apartment or even wearing them if possible. The more unique the design, the better. Especially eclectic pieces make excellent birthday and holiday gifts for her, and those who curry her favour might find themselves with a gift from her collection.
Cover albums -- she tries to keep business and pleasure separate, even as much as she loves her job, but there's just something so fun about arranging songs into metal that were nowhere near it, originally. She also makes the album art herself and has earned a healthy following on social media for her parodies and spoofs
Virtues:
Independent -- Taalia was a youngest child that was raised more like an only child. With her sister being seventeen years older and their parents--though loving--decidedly considering themselves too old to chase after such an energetic kid, Taalia enjoyed a considerable amount of freedom. As a result, she is very self-sufficient and typically saves asking for advice for the big problems. She values other people’s input, but ultimately her decisions are her own, and she likes it that way.
Responsible -- With great independence comes great responsibility, and Taalia is very responsible. Deadlines? No problem. Working with organizers for events? Piece of cake. She’s careful to take on obligations she feels she can reasonably meet, and she works with people to let them know if something comes up. She hates being told about things last-minute, and she strives to make sure she extends that same consideration to other people. She has a meticulously-organized agenda and strives to make sure that anything that relies on her gets finished to the highest standard she can achieve.
Passionate -- Taalia doesn’t do anything at a level six or seven. It’s all tens, and even the occasional eleven. She has a lot of drive, a lot of vim and vigor for getting what she wants, and she’s happy to share that around. She feels strongly and no one has to wonder where she stands with them. She is happy to champion her friends’ causes and pour quite a bit of energy into them. Need her help? She’s got you and twelve ideas on how to handle your problem.
Adaptable -- Taalia has no shortage of strong personality, but she’s not immovable. Her interests and curiosity are broad, and she can lean into them as needed depending on the situation. She’s not precisely a jack of all trades, but she does dabble in a wide spectrum of idle pursuits and is more than happy to refine her knowledge in an area if she finds she needs to do so.
Flaws:
Closed-off -- Taalia asks for advice for the big problems. Her issue comes in where she doesn’t believe the problem is big enough to bother asking for advice with. She’ll be fine! She’s got it! Taalia owns her problems as much as she owns her decisions, but this can sometimes lead to her suffering in silence and cause her to alienate friends and family until they realise what’s happening, if they do. She can even push back when well-meaning people try to intervene. If they get upset, well that sucks, but that’s their problem.
Obsessive -- She’s got ‘get s**t done’ down pat. What she has more of an issue with is ‘take fifteen’. Taalia will hammer and hammer at a problem, issue, or task until it’s done. If she has to change tact in the middle of it, so be it. Whatever--whatever--gets it done. Taalia will go until she’s exhausted, brushing off the insistence that she needs to rest. Frustration will drive her to completion, if not perfection. She’s gotten better about it as she’s gotten older, but friends and family have long learned to just let her get it out of her system and be ready with a blanket and hot drink for the crash afterward.
Vindictive -- The problem arises where someone does not stand well with her. Taalia is not needlessly petty. But she doesn’t forgive easily, and she’s not above helping karma along if she knows she can get away with it. Taalia won’t go so far as to be reckless. There’s no use throwing everything away over somebody who shouldn’t mean anything, after all, but revenge is a dish best served cold and Taalia is more than willing to oblige. Schadenfreude is her middle name.
Headstrong -- It really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s spent even thirty seconds around Taalia, but she is… hard to persuade and also to dissuade. This feeds into the rest of her personality and is usually behind the ‘dialing it up to eleven’. Fortunate for her that her headstrong ways are not always a handicap, such as fueling her sense of inner responsibility, but she also takes a while to admit when she’s wrong, or that someone had a better idea after all. This understandably weighs on relationships both personal and professional. If she trusts someone, the amount of time until she comes around decreases proportionally to her esteem of them, but it can still be a chore for someone to convince her that maybe, just maybe, she needs to rethink something.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
(click to embiggen)
Eyes: Narrow, sky blue
Hair: Black, naturally 4b but often worn in locs or braids down to her elbows, sometimes with little metal adornments embedded in them.
Face: A narrow face with high, sharp cheekbones, and a strong nose.
Skin Tone: Dark warm brown, around #2d1d20
Body Type: She’s average height, wiry and narrow
Clothes: Taalia likes comfortable clothes, but she also isn’t shy when it comes to dressing up. Jeans or shorts with a t-shirt are a pretty reliable staple during the day (dark red being her absolute favourite colour), but she has quite the collection of jewelry for going out at night or performing onstage. Her current favourite piece is a thin gold chain with a pendant shaped like a cloud (it glows in the dark!). What she’s wearing at night depends on what she’s doing and where she’s going, but it usually tends not to be restrictive or baggy.
