[ The locket represents the compass, the vest represents the corset-like-leather-thing around her shirt, and the two swords represent the daggers; I couldn't find anything that would work as the golden trinkets hanging in her hair. ]
Name: Joelle Robins. She will slit your throat if you call her anything but Jo.
Age: Young adult; thirteen and nine months. Birthday; August Thirteenth. Age has been approved.
Race: Human.
Eyes: Hazel.
Hair: A shimmering light brown, nearly blonde, hue. Her hair is quite straight and often worn down, it reaches a few centimeters beyond her shoulders, to display the trinkets adorning her locks. Around her head is a red bandana and dangling from various strands of her hair are small, golden beads that she picked up after stealing them from a drunken man in Tortuga.
Class: Pirate. [ And pick-pocket. ]
Background: Growing up in an orphanage was a tricky business. If one was to turn away for a moment some other hungry child may stick their greedy hands on one's food and devour it before he or she is discovered. Orphans were only fed small portions once or twice a day, at the Furyian Orphanage anyway, so that meal that one so carelessly lost might be all that one could have eaten. One had to learn the art of survival - of biting the hand that feeds, of defending rights to sustenance, of growing a tough outer skin. Jo was a girl who mastered these arts. She was left at the Furyian Orphanage at the age of two. The only memory she has of her birth family is her mother singing her pirate melodies to her before she went to bed. Jo has no recollection of any other person in her family. But, we digress.
Little Jo started out being the pirate her mother was rumored to be. Quickly, the child learned that living in the orphanage was difficult and she had to discard her more positive attributes in order to survive the wrath of bullying kids. Since Jo was small she was often the object of most bullies' obsession - they constantly ostracized her for her small stature and timid appearence. However, Jo soon utilized her height and swiftness for pay-back purposes. At the age of six, Jo had already learned the basic skills of defense by watching other children defend themselves against the bullies. She used this new found information to protect herself. She proved to be a natural at the art of defense and of fighting back in general. Jo enjoyed the idea of fighting, kicking, and punching and often indulged her interests in these by exerting her premature wrath on the bullies.
After she reached twelve, Jo started to get more intrigued by fighting and by her mother's origins. The bandana she constantly wore around her head was supposedly a gift to her from her mother. There were words engraved on this bandana that Jo could not understand as she could not read. In fact, none of the orphans could read. There were a few caretakers that could not read as well. Jo decided to ask one of the literate caretakers if she would read the words on the plain red cloth secured to her head. The caretaker refused. Annoyed at this, Jo tried to think of a way to force the caretaker, Beth, to read the writing. She nestled herself in the playroom and attempted to devise a scheme (she was a devious little girl). Jo found herself running her fingers over a wooden sword that had been propped up against the wall hitherto. She took a liking to it. After a few minutes of sitting on the ground and staring at the wooden toy, and idea struck her. She grabbed the sword, slipped the hilt in her right hand, and searched for Beth. After she found the elderly woman, Jo held the sword to her throat and said, "Beth, if you do not tell me what this cloth says, I shall slit your sorry throat!"
Unfortunately, that was the last straw for the poor caretakers (for Jo often was the troublemaker of the orphanage) and they tossed her out of the building and in to the city of Furyia. Confused and rather alone, the tween held the wooden weapon in her hand and searched the city for someone who could read. The first day of her life alone passed with no success. She was growing tired and found an alleyway to sleep in after the sun faded in to the horizon and the moon reached its full splendor. In the morning, she took up her search once more and this time was successful. A man she met at the marketplace told her he would read her the engraving if she paid him four dubloons. Jo complied, desperate, and pick-pocketed the money. When she returned to the man with all the requested money, he told her the bandana had a name engraved on it and if she wanted to know whose it was he needed to be paid four more dubloons. Aggrivated but now even more curious, Jo did as she was told and pick-pocketed the money (coming very close to getting caught). She came to the man once more, handed him the money, and he told her that the name on the cloth was "Black Bess" - a great pirate who was rumored to have left piracy because of her pregnancy .
Convinced that Black Bess was her mother, Jo decided that she wanted to locate the woman. The girl spent her time trying to gather clues about her and then traveled to Tortuga to wait for a pirate ship that might let her aboard. Jo spent most of her time pick-pocketing to survive and trying to sneak in to a tavern and get a keg of rum.
Personality: Jo is blunt, stubborn, rude, and spifteful. Her years at the orphanage hardened her and caused her to grow in to the person she is presently. However, she is also capable of great kindness and trust (she cannot resist stealing things, though, and can not be trusted under normal circumstances). While she may be an annoying teenager, the girl is thankful for small kindnesses and other things. She is a good person, but one must dig down in to her being to be able to uncover the Jo beneath the facade. Jo has a way of blatantly stating things with no concept of how her words may offend people. Many who have known the teen know that she means well by what she says... she just doesn't say it the right way. In any case, Jo is adventurous and daring. She indulges herself in stealing and risking imminent dangers to do so. Risk is all a game to Jo; as is fighting. The rogue does have inner desires that pertain to other things, though. She is capable of developing crushes and is actually quite feminine despite her tom-boyish look. Jo also has a very witty and cynical sense of humor.
Other: Jo is sporting, as aforesaid, a red and tattered cloth bandana. Concealing her small, not-completely-developed-chest from view is a dingy dark leather vest bound by brown yawn in a criss-crossed fashion. Underneath the leather is a three-quarter length white linen shirt. One sleeve is three-quarter length, the other was shorn off and left a jagged mark. A brown leather belt is fasted tightly around her small waist and hanging from it are two twin daggers on either side. Her black slacks reach a little above her knee and are shorn off unevenly. Dangling in her hair are small golden trinkets, no bigger than a sunflower seed, that sparkle brilliantly in the daylight. Around her neck is another thing the young girl picked from someone's pocket - a very little, rather expensive, compass strung on a cloth string. Her shoes are small, dainty black slippers she picked up in Tortuga after she outgrew her boots.
Reference images: See the tektek image at the top of the post. =]
