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Name: Avasa
Gender: Female
Age: 18

Ethnicity/Race: Indian (Hindu), Human
Hair Color: Black
Hair Style: Usually long and free, sometimes put up in a bun. It really all depends on her mood or what she's doing.
Eye Color: Black
Skin Color: Tan/Bronze
Weight: 115 lbs
Height: 5' 2"

Talent: She's called the Paper Witch for a reason. Avasa has the power to take sheets of paper and change their physical and chemical properties to create new things with a few sheets of paper. With one sheet she could make a dagger as strong as any real dagger, a few more sheets and she could make a sword or a cane. With enough papers she could even make a gigantic paper plane for herself and one or two other people. A few things she can make with her paper is:

~Clothing
~A bow and arrows
~Tiny paper birds that fly around
~Walls/shields
~Swords
~Large animals up to the size of the average Elephant
~A large paper plane that can fit up to three people (Including herself, obviously, since someone needs to keep the thing flying and from falling apart)
~She can kick your a** at making card castles, too!

• Drawbacks/weaknesses: Despite changing its properties it's still only paper. Fire and water can still destroy any creation Avasa makes, and if she doesn't make it just right it won't work properly. The sword would become a limp noodle or a whip would fall apart, the plane would break up into pieces and hurt those riding it. Although she CAN eventually master the paper skills enough to make things that can withstand fire it'll only be to a certain extent even then. Bigger things also take a lot more energy to control.
  
• Other skills: In a world where technological advances are considerably slower than those in the 21st century there really aren't any factories that just produce paper by the second. Because of this Avasa has learned how to make her own paper. It's undecided if this will be a part of her act, but it's a handy thing to know.

Costume: Avasa has a strong sense of pride toward her native country, even if she doesn't live there anymore she still wants every world to know she comes from a country of color and beauty. Her costume is not meant for major activities, it's delicate and graceful to make her act more of an art. Avasa wears the most eye-catching sarees from her home world, wearing just a matching strapless top and shorts underneath so she's not completely naked...that would be bad. She's always barefoot when performing, but wears a lot of jewelry from her head to her ankles. Her jewelry consists of bangles, necklaces, headdress, bangles for her ankles and extravagant earrings all taken from her place of origin.
((So no one has to scramble around google or yahoo looking for some of this stuff I'll provide some links of my own:
http://www.sareeworld.com/
http://ashika.com/ashikauser1/HomePageAction.ash
http://www.auromode.com/saree.htm
http://www.craftsinindia.com/lac-bangles/
That last site has my favorite bracelets.))
Prop: A briefcase full of papers big and small. The briefcase is quite large so she can fit all her paper in it. There're many different kinds of papers in the case: big, small, white, colored, rectangle, triangle, patterned, plain, from a book or magazine, from a printer, loose-leaf and many, many more. She just picks up any paper she finds. On days where she feels like displaying the strength of her paper she may have a real sword or something to cut in the case as well but that doesn't happen often. Other days she may have things she can cut up or use as a target...although her targets will usually be assistants or volunteers.
Before the Ring: She'll probably just help with costuming, props, makeup. Things like that.

Personality: What would one expect of a girl with sheltered upbringing? Naive? Correct. The first impression Avasa gives is that of a naive little girl who will do anything she is asked to do.

The first impression, at least.

It takes a bit of coaxing but she does have a 'rebellious' side (At least it's rebellious as far as her culture's concerned) to her. The rules she would break were not as extreme as say...streaking or defiling a holy item. She didn't like to go to school and do everything her parents told her to do, and she preferred to go outside and play with the village boys than to help her mother out with cooking and cleaning; although she's very girly for a girl who was 'one of the guys.' Before joining Cirque she's always getting into trouble...or at least being frowned upon. She's very willing to learn anything new, so she'll always ask if someone says something out of the ordinary to her. Also...her English sucks. She'll get better with help though!

She really hates being told to do things that sound like chores to her. Cleaning up a mess, cooking for more than two or three people at once, doing educational things...those kinds of activities. Despite how sweet she may be she will become a stubborn, childish brat if she has to do any of those things.

Background: She was born and raised in a normal family. Not aristocrat but not dirt poor. Even so, with two older brothers, her father's parents, her own parents and herself it was still a bit of a crowded home. Growing up she was closer to her brothers than anyone else, occasionally wishing she herself was a boy with them...except she'd have to give up her pretty saris and jewelry. The three of them were always sneaking out late at night after their parents were asleep, fooling around with their friends and acting like idiots when they wouldn't get yelled at for it. She wasn't as close with her mother, in fact she almost resented her for being so submissive to her father.

She wasn't very close to her father either until she was thirteen. Her father was a papermaker; that really came in handy when Avasa started showing signs of paper mastery at age thirteen. It was normal for children in her world to be born with some sort of ability that was related to the family's profession. The surprise was what she was able to do with paper; cut things, make little paper planes fly all on their own, make a bow and arrow, make clothes and even creatures.

To someone who grows up surrounded by magic it does get boring after awhile. She learned how to make her own paper so she wouldn't use up her father's paper and make the family lose money, but other than that she had no use for her paper mastery other than showing off or using it to help her with her chores. Where's the fun in that? Luckily she had five years to build up on her skill. Problem was that even if she had new things to do with this talent of hers she was still extremely bored where she was.

And then the circus came.

She saw things she had never seen before: A man who seemed to breath underwater and had a tail, a girl with thorns sticking out of her body, a girl in pink that swung through the air and people who just looked completely different. The most 'normal' looking person to her was 'The Blind Seer.' Avasa was intrigued by these people who did things in a place she never knew existed. So what did she do? She left home. She wanted to become a part of this 'Cirque du coeur torve'...even if she had no idea what that meant. Hopefully they would have patience with her English!

Random and/or interesting facts everyone should know that just don't fit into any of the categories of the other posts (Constantly changing):
- She will hold a strange fasination toward anybody and everybody who looks odd to her. Those with extravagent makeup (Clowns) will be a subject of interest to her. Basically everything she's never seen before.

Art for you~ heart

I am a huge India freak, so I'm all like, whoo hoo!

Anyway! I really like the concept, really creative, but the first thing that comes to mind, even though she's Indian, is Origami. Well, she's not Japanese, but there ARE Indian Paper Arts, I really think you should expand upon that. As far as her not being a traditional Indian girl, expand on that too, we want to know what rules she breaks and ones she won't! It's all part of getting a grip on her personality, including humour and moral fiber.

Also, does she make the paper perhaps? It's not uncommon for people to learn how to do that, especially if it is interesting to them in a certain way. She's obviously an artist, so getting into the technique of her craft in every way seems right up her alley.

I really need a more descriptive grip on her history, life, when did she come into this ability? What was the life-changing decision that made her want to join the Cirque? Was she so unruly she was outcast from her family? Does she have any drawbacks or queer oddities? Don't leave me hanging 3nodding heart !

Bits of info on Indian Paper Art:
http://www.indiasite.com/arts/papercrafts.html

Hmmmm. It's an interesting concept.

First off, I agree that her background needs to be more fleshed out. Things like who's who in her family, her relationships with her parents and siblings, exended family, friends, etc.

It would also be interesting for you to expand upon the restrictions she faced and how she rebelled against them. Be specific - it adds flavor to the character and lets you get a good feel for how she reacts in certain situations.

*grin* Forgive me for being a nut, but I alway sget worried when I see more on an outfit than a personality! Let's see some of her flaws brought out in detail. What makes her angry? What makes her happy? What does she think about when she's on her own? How will she approach new people and situations? DOe sshe have weaknesses? Strengths? I see these mentioned in her powers section, but it would be more interesting to learn about her, the character than her, the talent, y aknow? smile Does he have any compulsions? Aversions? Allergies? LOL

You mentioned she'll be fascinated by strange looking individuals. Will she try to befriend them, or is she going to stalk them and watch them? Or will she poke them and run away giggling?

I'd also like to see more on her world. (GOod lord, nothign as elaborate as mine, please @_@ I don't wish that sort of insanity on anyone else). But.. a touch mor eon her culture I'm not much up on Modern Hindi culture, so some info on that would be interesting), as well as possible comparisons to Earths' past on what it's equivalent to. It might take some research, but I guarantee it'll help everyone get a better grasp of your concept.

Details, details, details! XD Did she have any trials or tribulations growing up? What about her schooling? Does she cook? What're her hobbies? Does she read? Write?

Um.. I'm running out of questions *giggle* But you get the idea, eh? The more you think her out, the more she'll come to life.

I'm excited to see where you take her biggrin D

...Oh. XD I didn't notice.