|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:03 pm
 without fingers, she weaves together the finest of cloths.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:19 pm
Born on an Alternate Earth in the equivalent of their Russian Industrial Revolution, Alina Sozonov is a cripple. Due to an incident in a clothes making factory, she has been left without fingers: her thumbs and mangled pinkies remain, hardly usable and almost entirely unflexible. Yet, still, she is arrogant and brash, for she has a talent.
The talent to spin water.
Despite having most of her fingers missing, she is a skilled water weaver, able to manipulate down to several molecules at once. Alina often constructs fingers of water for herself, having them formed in a pair of gloves she wears to give her hands a normal appearance.
Alina is single child, raised by two parents in a small town turned city thanks to the Revolution. Technology wavers around the level of steam and the equivalent, but there is a small amount of magic present as well.
The 'magic' in Alina's world is closer to a subtle manipulation of elements. It involves working with, instead of forcing, the materials at hand to mold and take shape. Musicians grow close to their instruments, not only gaining proficiency with it but the ability to channel more than purely notes through it. Those who work with the earth learn to work with it rather than against it, and Alina is no different.
Her parents made their living owning a small pub in the heart of Russia, too old to work in the factories. Due to tight money and heavy inflation, Alina's parents were forced to let her go to a factory to bring in additional money.
Alina, a little girl of five, enjoyed it. She was very special, one of the few who were small enough to dig around in small spaces, and to unstick the thread that got tangled in the spools. Enjoying the beautiful bolts of cloth and the comforting whir of machinery, Alina worked there with a group of several other small ones without incident for four lucky years.
The accident happened a few months before her tenth birthday, while she was happily ambling about to fix the knots in the spool. Something went wrong with the machinery, and with a jolt the giant spool started going, and with it went most of her fingers.
Alina, after that, was confined to her home. Sickly, she could hardly recover from the blood loss and infections, becoming susceptible to whatever germs her parents got in turn from their patrons. She became incredibly susceptible to disease as her body struggled to repair itself, with six infections and heavy paralysis in her remaining four. Within the year, the doctor had decided to lop off the rest of her fingers. They had been cut off between the first and second knuckles, but Alina was put out with large amounts of alcohol and had them cut to the first knuckle and tightly wrapped. That was when she was barely eleven.
During her time indoors, she took up reading. She would read very slowly, wincing as she turned the pages. The remains of her fingers eventually scarred over, and so she first went back outside again when she was twelve. Her parents were paranoid and bordering on breakdown, especially her mother. Alina had a hard time convincing her mother that she would be fine, and so she went back to work in a local bakery, though she eventually ended up quitting and spending the majority of her time inside the pub at thirteen. She became well known among the regulars, the little crippled serving girl.
It was not so much inability that confined her, but her parent's heavy paranoia and suspicion. They cherished their daughter, and if anything would happen to her outside even the slightest bit away from ordinary they would be unhappy. Not realizing their stifling behavior, Alina grew restless. She kept it to herself, and to her books and journals.
She first went back to weaving at fifteen, with alcohol she had almost spilled. The bottle slipped of the tray when she was jostled by a drunkard, and as she reached to grab it her grip fell short by several inches, yet the water stayed in midair, the shape of a fist around it. Surprised and flabbergasted, Alina dropped everything and told no one what had happened in that split second.
Alina was terrified. Although there was magic on this earth, it tended to be frowned upon by smaller superstitious folk, who were of the popular opinion that anything out of the ordinary was bad, mysticality included. If she had been in a larger city, there would've been fewer problems. But the superstition combined with the tragedy of her accident was a recipe for imminent doom.
At sixteen she grew bolder, willing to attempt it again. Claiming to go fishing, she went to the river in the middle of a warm august evening. Dipping her toes in the water, she played with the stream like it was her brother, her friend, her lover, her everything. She stepped out of her skin and into her know, weaving together strands of liquid like they were on a loom, running her nonexistent fingertips along the thin threads of water. She stayed from sunrise to sundown, playing in the water.
The next day she was told never to go back, as a villager going to fish had seen her play. They had thought she was a nymph or siren of sorts, trying to lure men into her trap and kill them after seducing them, and had spread the word in the pub while only slightly drunk. Horrified, her parents had made the connection, and forced Alina to keep it a secret. Alina quietly played in her baths and with spirits when she was alone, keeping silent, slowly raging and bubbling.
At seventeen she got a tattoo, of three dots under her left eye, and with a string extending from each of them, from her forehead to her jawline. Her mother shrieked when she saw her, screaming about her being possessed. Her father said nothing as he poured himself a shot of vodka.
Her last words to her parents were this:
"My accident has shaped me, for we have let it. As it has burned its marks into my flesh, I in turn wear a brand to honor it. I am but a cripple, not a bewitched demon. I must pursue my happiness. You will not stop me."
And she was gone, scattered to the winds. No trauma, drama, no significant hate for them in particular. She detested their actions, but not they themselves. They were good people, she told herself, but they simply didn't understand. What she had said had been a simple statement, fuled by the need to pursue her weaving.
When she was nineteen, she happened across cirque looking for work. Deciding that she had pinched enough pennies since her last waitressing job a month prior to enjoy a little of the out of ordinary...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:50 pm
Name// Alina Sozonov
Age// 19
Height// 5'11"
Weight// 146lbs
Lineage// pure Russian.
---
Eyes// brown
Hair// dirty blonde, down to her mid back. Can be dyed brown.
Shape// average, a bit of a small gut and has actual flesh.
Language// Russian, though has a smattering of english.
General Appearance// tall, average, vaguely pretty, mostly sneering when nobody is looking, pale though she can brown relatively easily. No freckles, alas. A tattoo but no piercings.
Tattoos// she has three dots under her left eye, with vertical lines emerging from them from forehead to jawline. They are a homage to the incident that made her and shaped her. The six lines are the six fingers she lost, and such, etc. Lots of small pieces of symbolism to her.
---
Personality// Once past the meek crippled facade, Alina is by nature a snarky person. She takes every chance she can to say something vile, because she knows she can usually get away with it due to her disability. She feels weak all the time, and fears that others think the same. Her cruelty is part a mask and part a shield, so that others will see her as a force to be reckoned with, instead of a girl with no fingers. Alina will restrain herself in the presence of those who rank far higher than her, but she’d be the type to blow a metaphorical raspberry at them behind their backs.
Alina enjoys action. Her philosophy consists of ‘doing’ and preferably not thinking at all, unless it would place her in immediate physical danger. If she can, she avoids thinking about consequences, and blames her childhood job in the factories, hoping to guilt trip the accuser.
It's easy to say that Alina lives for the present and the present only. The past is the past (unless it is to be used in an argument as a justification), the future will get there and the present is her way or the highway. If she does not get her way, Alina gets very temperamental. She will continue to go to those higher than her if needed, whining and pouting to get her way. If this fails, she plots revenge after cheerfully forgiving them in front of witnesses.
Secret: Alina is not a romantic and despises the typical romance type things, if only because she's never been courted.
<3// water, gloves, manipulating people, lying, food.
fire, alcohol, her disfigured hands, people who see through her and those that are condescending, and has a phobia of blades and spools.
Strengths// self confidence, brashness, literate, persuasive.
Weaknesses// Oblivious to other people manipulating her, bad at reading people, arrogance, frail body, can not perform menial actions without water.
---
Act//
1 ] basic water weaving, kept in 1 foot of her vicinity, unable to lift anything with the water. Likely confined to serving popcorn with fake fingers in her gloves. XD
2 ] Can lift smaller objects, and "pull" water from the air. Can extend it up to two - three feet. Can carry small particles in water, such as dye. Can very slowly and with small amounts deal with evaporated and frozen water.
3 ] Can lift most things, including herself, with water. She can pull water from many places...and can manipulate the water inside the human body. Her grip can extend up to five square feet, and she can dye the water with many solutes, most notably glow in the dark.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:10 pm
Artingz  (ignore the fingers in this one. XD)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:11 pm
misc bullshit i failed to plan for
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:47 pm
What program did you use for the pic? surprised The water looks awesome.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:14 am
D8 SHE HAS NO FINGERS?
::cries for her pawpaw hands:: :'( You need to hurry and write more so I can comment. *3* <3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:06 pm
photoshop, rosemary! X3
tuariii yes biggrin she has semifunctional pinkies and thumbs left, but that's it. her water is her fingers XD
i just posted her history biggrin !
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:35 am
Russian concepts woohoo XD. *waves a flag* Iosif will like having someone around to speak to in his native tongue. With that said, I like her. But there are a few things I feel you should detail further in order to keep the characer consistent:
1) Her tattoo. Why did she get it? What significance does it have? Why that design?
2) Being near death for four years and confined to a bed would likely have taken a greater toll on her body than just losing her fingers. I don't know how logical that span of time is... I'd think about reducing it, because while losing someone's fingers is certain to bring with it the threat of infection and blood loss, I somehow doubt that it would've carried on for four years. I could be wrong though.
3) I understand that Alina is a snarky person, but is there any particular reason for it? Does she feel the need to attack others to make up for the fact that they might perceive her as weaker due to the loss of her fingers? Or is it something else? Also what are Alina's positive qualities? I feel that her personality isn't developed enough, though it certainly is an excellent start.
4) Dunno how many people consider "arrogance" a strength. How about self-confident instead?
And that's it biggrin . I like her and the concept, I just think it could use a little bit more fleshing out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:48 pm
hoho. Alina and him shall banter, XD!@ <3
1. totally need to add that elsewhere besides her huge butt history. :d
it's sort of complimacated. she has it, and it's supposed to represent the strings that cut her fingers and also representative cos well, six lines, six fingers gone...nerner. XD;
Alina felt that her accident had shaped her, almost to the point of being swallowed by it and its consequences. she eventually decides that she would have never found/developed her gift without it, and so it was sort of a strange 'thank you' to it, despite what it's done.
2. yeaaa i really need to fix that area. i think that i'll change it to not confined to her bed, just that she was being overprotected by her parents for a very long time. will prolly reduce it. was going to give her some disease but decided against it, XD
3. Ah, personality. My greatest foe. I have a hard time deciding on one without actually playing a character. D:
I think you hit it right on the head: she believes that others think her weak and helpless for her lack of fingers, and so feels the need to establish herself as someone strong.
and...positive qualities. hm. XD i actually don't know, i focus sometimes too much on making sure i have what's bad about a character that i don't establish the good. D:!
4. hmmm, true. XD will change that :3!
overall omggg thank you for indepth crits ToT <3 i is totally indebted to you ~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cirque du Coeur Torve Captain
|
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 12:41 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 12:58 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
