Post by Aaliyah on Jan 23, 2015 0:22:12 GMT -5
Aaliyah
Desert Dancer
Elf | 85 | Female |
CHaotic Neutral | MAGE | Traveling Dancer |
appearance,  It is impossible for Aaliyah to blend into a crowd. That is just a fact of her existence. She has an incredibly full head of purple hair that is funneled through a golden hair tube into an extremely long pony tail that reaches down to her waist, but typically curls at the bottom to form a short spiral around her waist. Her eyes are a bright blue that always seem to have a look of optimism or excitement or really any positive emotion. Though she does every so often wear a serious expression, it's not often. Physically she is somewhat a typical elf. She does not look her age due to the Elven aging process, appearing much younger. She has a lean build with a rather prominent hourglass shape, aiding her dancing career. Her ears, as expected, are pointed and extend more outward than upward but thankfully are not incredibly long. Her skin tone is a natural, somewhat light tan. Her hair aside, her favorite and default outfit is the real reason she cannot ever blend into a crowd. Adopted in the desert, her choice of clothing is considered somewhat risque by people in the more central settlements and entirely impractical for the north. In place of a typical tunic, she wears a red bandeau secured with a golden hoop and a small dark blue vest. In place of typical leggings, she has a pair of red pants that mostly fit to the form of her leg around the thigh but fan out drastically below the knee and sewn into a tight fitting cuff right above the ankle. This lower half is also woven with a more translucent material, making the outline of her leg inside often visible. To match her golden hair tube, she has golden hoop earrings and golden bracers on her arms. Every now and then she also pulls out a purple bandana to wear on her head that has a somewhat childish skull sewn into it. | personality, Aaliyah is a positive individual. If you had to sum her up in one sentence, that would be it. She's the type that doesn't allow things to get her down and almost always tries to put a positive spin on things. Her constant optimism is prevalent in her speech, though it doesn't mean she's always "So happy she is socially ignorant". She just doesn't let the negative influence her, and when there's solemn atmosphere in the room she'll always at least pipe in with a small, uplifting comment about the situation. While not always being a happy one, she is a playful girl with an abundance of energy. Her body is almost always in motion in some regard as it is difficult for her to truly remain still. It certainly helps with her work but it doesn't help much in calm social situations where extraneous movement could be seen as annoying. It isn't something she can really stop though, so she doesn't try. She is nice and friendly, but she's not necessarily kind. If someone needed help and it wasn't too terribly inconvenient for Aaliyah, she would probably help them. However, she prioritizes herself first and foremost. Should circumstances change to threaten her and not provide a strong enough benefit she will hightail it out of there. She is friendly and helpful until that point is reached, though, so she'll certainly come across as a good person. She just has some commitment issues and doesn't think that other people are ultimately worth more than her own life. The singular reason why she is so damn positive all the time is because she is a person with a very long anger fuse. It is extremely difficult to encounter her breaking point as she has quite a bit of mental conditioning. She can take most things that would frustrate or anger others with a bit of a sigh and a smile, following with a quip about it. However, should enough things go wrong in a short period of time that specifically ruin Aaliyah's day, expect to hear about it for a while. If someone does find a way to push her to the breaking point...Dragoon save them from her fury. |
history,
Aaliyah was born some time ago to a pair of travelling Elves, though she can't remember what her birth name was. It was probably something that started with an E. The pair traveled around Terra Heroum to aid in the effort to map the land, and so even in her very early years Aaliyah saw a number of sights. The two were eventually asked to aid in an effort to expand on the mapped regions of the desert. They were both Mages that were able to use magic that aided in their travels, and so they believed they could truly aid the effort. Aaliyah was not terribly old at the time, still a young Elven child, but they believed that with their magic she would be okay in the desert climate.
They hadn't accounted or planned for being sacked by bandits in the middle of the desert. That was the third unstated reason why nobody ever made progress in mapping the desert; climate, Phantasms, and bandits. So her parents were murdered by these bandits when she was a young girl along with the rest of the expedition. As they were raising the blade to her, some began to question: should they kill her? She was just a kid. Most that came out there weren't kids so it'd be impossible to get them to agree to any kind of deal, but she was young. She was impressionable. She could be of use. Enough of them were for the idea that they gave her a chance at life if she proved useful to them. Plus, it's not like women came out to the desert that often, let alone ones that they didn't have to kill.
It didn't take long for her to realize that the bandits she got adopted by were rather handy individuals. They pretty much looted everything they could from the dead, and while she protested against the looting of her parents, she was soon shown why it had to be done. These bandits had chosen a desolate location to work with, but because regular expeditions were attempted to map the region and any deaths were chalked up to weather or Phantasms, they could get away with it. Many of them actually knew crafts such as sewing, used to maintain their gear and allow them to actually make a living in the wasteland. They salvaged everything they could from their kills and used it to make clothes to help endure the harsh weather, and keep their weapons up to par to fend off any Phantasms that come out. It was a surprisingly good operation.
It was during her time out here she adopted the name Aaliyah, and while she started out a bit clumsy she learned to help out. While most of the bandits had much more ill intents for her "when she stopped being a sniveling kid", that seemed to grow out of some of them as she grew up. Certainly some of them didn't, but a lot of them behaved more like older brothers. In turn, as the token female, would do what she could; entertaining and somewhat enticing dances for the straight men of the group (there were a couple gay bandits that hooked up so they were fine). It helped morale overall, but it did result in some in-fighting about "NO YOU CAN'T HAVE HER DOING THOSE THINGS" "WHY NOT" "SHE'S LIKE OUR SISTER MAN". It did not stop some of the bandits from sneaking her off to the side and making said things happen. She didn't totally hate them; in fact it wasn't that unbearable.
However that doesn't mean she enjoyed what was done either. After a while, it stopped being requests and asking and more expected, and that was where she drew the line. The last guy who tried got a face full of top-of-her-lungs yelling, which drew the attention of the others in their camp. That lead to the biggest of the in-fights they had on the matter, during which Aaliyah took the opportunity to take what she could and flee. She could not deal with them, as nice as many of the bandits were, and she was capable enough to take care of herself at this point. She turned as she fled and saw the fighting escalate to actual violence; it seemed that they got tired of putting up with each other. She did feel kind of bad that her mere existence ruined an operation that spanned at least two decades, but she couldn't linger on that.
Aaliyah fled through the mountains, following the commonly tread paths in order to try and find other people. She had some supplies, but they wouldn't last her forever. She had no idea where the nearest settlement was and couldn't afford to turn back. So she kept pushing forward, making what she had last as long as she could, and hoping that she could find something that wouldn't try to kill and/or eat her. Eventually she found herself stumbling down the path having somehow made it to the non-desert side of the mountains. With no food left and not having eaten in a couple days, she was not in the best of shape by now. There was something on the road, but she couldn't tell if it was real or if she imagined it. It looked like some kind of cart or wagon. She didn't see much else though; everything turned black.
Upon regaining consciousness, she found herself in the back of a wagon staring up at a cloth sky. She peered out and found it to be in motion, pulled by a couple horses with a man at the reins. She got his attention and asked what happened. He gave the rather short explanation of how he was riding towards her and picked her up when she collapsed, he put her in his wagon so that she could rest. He then pointed out some bread he had in the wagon for her to eat, which she graciously accepted and chowed down upon. When she was done though, she asked why he was riding towards her to begin with. His honest answer was "You were walking like a drunkard in broad daylight so I wanted to make sure you were alright". When he heard that she hadn't eaten in a couple days, the walking pattern made much more sense, and the two had a good laugh from it.
As the two continued on the road together, she learned more about him. He was a travelling mage by the name of Quince that worked as a sort of entertainer. He would go from town to town, from Andor all the way to Cydonia and back again, going to various taverns and bars and use his magic to put on shows for the weary working people. It wasn't much, as his talents did not lie in healing or remedial magic, but he could lift their spirits and brighten their day. Having no idea about how magic worked, Aaliyah asked if she could do that for people too. He told her that it would depend on whether or not she could use magic, and so asked her to do a very simple little cantrip, a small sparkle in the shape of a box. With some effort, she flexed her previously unused magic muscles and managed to pull it off. Turns out she had inherited the gift of magic from her parents, but before they could begin teaching her they were killed, and the bandits sure as hell couldn't teach her anything about magic.
That was how Aaliyah became part of Quince's traveling performance, learning to use minor magic to put on a show and being an "Exotic dancer" to add appeal to the show. It was a good use of the skills she unwittingly developed during her time in the desert, something she left intentionally vague to Quince. Her past didn't really matter that much and it'd just paint her in a bad light; she could use her skills to do something good and productive. It'd help people, put food on the table and gold in her pocket. He didn't seem to mind her dance, as it added new elements he could use in the show. At one point they even made up a little play to perform, with Aaliyah as "The chosen one that would save all of Terra Heroum", the two using their magic to add special effects and play out the scenario before their audience.
For a while this was actually a good set up. The two worked and traveled together as friends and made quite a bit of money. They didn't bleed people dry, but their audience was often more than willing to give them some extra coin for the show. Like all good things though, it eventually hit the metaphorical brick wall and came to an end. Quince had developed an attraction to Aaliyah during their travels and wanted something a bit more...long-term. She gave the only response she could; a smile and a "No", followed by taking her share of things and leaving the wagon. It sucked honestly; the show life was a good one and he was a lot better at the flashy magic than she was, but she'd have to make due. She couldn't bring herself to make that kind of an agreement.
It's been many moons since. That's honestly the best way she can keep track of her life; she doesn't know how many years its been or how many years she's been alive or any of that. When she stops being able to count the number of moons that have passed since something happened, that's when she knows it's been a while. Anyway, she now just travels Terra Heroum, mostly between Andor and Cydonia and various settlements around them (she can't stand the colder temperatures up north). She stops in a tavern, does her own little show and makes enough money to get by. The addition of magic helps give her dancing a bit of "pizzazz", but she's still not too terribly skilled. She's practicing to eventually be able to make the elaborate displays Quince was able to make.
They hadn't accounted or planned for being sacked by bandits in the middle of the desert. That was the third unstated reason why nobody ever made progress in mapping the desert; climate, Phantasms, and bandits. So her parents were murdered by these bandits when she was a young girl along with the rest of the expedition. As they were raising the blade to her, some began to question: should they kill her? She was just a kid. Most that came out there weren't kids so it'd be impossible to get them to agree to any kind of deal, but she was young. She was impressionable. She could be of use. Enough of them were for the idea that they gave her a chance at life if she proved useful to them. Plus, it's not like women came out to the desert that often, let alone ones that they didn't have to kill.
It didn't take long for her to realize that the bandits she got adopted by were rather handy individuals. They pretty much looted everything they could from the dead, and while she protested against the looting of her parents, she was soon shown why it had to be done. These bandits had chosen a desolate location to work with, but because regular expeditions were attempted to map the region and any deaths were chalked up to weather or Phantasms, they could get away with it. Many of them actually knew crafts such as sewing, used to maintain their gear and allow them to actually make a living in the wasteland. They salvaged everything they could from their kills and used it to make clothes to help endure the harsh weather, and keep their weapons up to par to fend off any Phantasms that come out. It was a surprisingly good operation.
It was during her time out here she adopted the name Aaliyah, and while she started out a bit clumsy she learned to help out. While most of the bandits had much more ill intents for her "when she stopped being a sniveling kid", that seemed to grow out of some of them as she grew up. Certainly some of them didn't, but a lot of them behaved more like older brothers. In turn, as the token female, would do what she could; entertaining and somewhat enticing dances for the straight men of the group (there were a couple gay bandits that hooked up so they were fine). It helped morale overall, but it did result in some in-fighting about "NO YOU CAN'T HAVE HER DOING THOSE THINGS" "WHY NOT" "SHE'S LIKE OUR SISTER MAN". It did not stop some of the bandits from sneaking her off to the side and making said things happen. She didn't totally hate them; in fact it wasn't that unbearable.
However that doesn't mean she enjoyed what was done either. After a while, it stopped being requests and asking and more expected, and that was where she drew the line. The last guy who tried got a face full of top-of-her-lungs yelling, which drew the attention of the others in their camp. That lead to the biggest of the in-fights they had on the matter, during which Aaliyah took the opportunity to take what she could and flee. She could not deal with them, as nice as many of the bandits were, and she was capable enough to take care of herself at this point. She turned as she fled and saw the fighting escalate to actual violence; it seemed that they got tired of putting up with each other. She did feel kind of bad that her mere existence ruined an operation that spanned at least two decades, but she couldn't linger on that.
Aaliyah fled through the mountains, following the commonly tread paths in order to try and find other people. She had some supplies, but they wouldn't last her forever. She had no idea where the nearest settlement was and couldn't afford to turn back. So she kept pushing forward, making what she had last as long as she could, and hoping that she could find something that wouldn't try to kill and/or eat her. Eventually she found herself stumbling down the path having somehow made it to the non-desert side of the mountains. With no food left and not having eaten in a couple days, she was not in the best of shape by now. There was something on the road, but she couldn't tell if it was real or if she imagined it. It looked like some kind of cart or wagon. She didn't see much else though; everything turned black.
Upon regaining consciousness, she found herself in the back of a wagon staring up at a cloth sky. She peered out and found it to be in motion, pulled by a couple horses with a man at the reins. She got his attention and asked what happened. He gave the rather short explanation of how he was riding towards her and picked her up when she collapsed, he put her in his wagon so that she could rest. He then pointed out some bread he had in the wagon for her to eat, which she graciously accepted and chowed down upon. When she was done though, she asked why he was riding towards her to begin with. His honest answer was "You were walking like a drunkard in broad daylight so I wanted to make sure you were alright". When he heard that she hadn't eaten in a couple days, the walking pattern made much more sense, and the two had a good laugh from it.
As the two continued on the road together, she learned more about him. He was a travelling mage by the name of Quince that worked as a sort of entertainer. He would go from town to town, from Andor all the way to Cydonia and back again, going to various taverns and bars and use his magic to put on shows for the weary working people. It wasn't much, as his talents did not lie in healing or remedial magic, but he could lift their spirits and brighten their day. Having no idea about how magic worked, Aaliyah asked if she could do that for people too. He told her that it would depend on whether or not she could use magic, and so asked her to do a very simple little cantrip, a small sparkle in the shape of a box. With some effort, she flexed her previously unused magic muscles and managed to pull it off. Turns out she had inherited the gift of magic from her parents, but before they could begin teaching her they were killed, and the bandits sure as hell couldn't teach her anything about magic.
That was how Aaliyah became part of Quince's traveling performance, learning to use minor magic to put on a show and being an "Exotic dancer" to add appeal to the show. It was a good use of the skills she unwittingly developed during her time in the desert, something she left intentionally vague to Quince. Her past didn't really matter that much and it'd just paint her in a bad light; she could use her skills to do something good and productive. It'd help people, put food on the table and gold in her pocket. He didn't seem to mind her dance, as it added new elements he could use in the show. At one point they even made up a little play to perform, with Aaliyah as "The chosen one that would save all of Terra Heroum", the two using their magic to add special effects and play out the scenario before their audience.
For a while this was actually a good set up. The two worked and traveled together as friends and made quite a bit of money. They didn't bleed people dry, but their audience was often more than willing to give them some extra coin for the show. Like all good things though, it eventually hit the metaphorical brick wall and came to an end. Quince had developed an attraction to Aaliyah during their travels and wanted something a bit more...long-term. She gave the only response she could; a smile and a "No", followed by taking her share of things and leaving the wagon. It sucked honestly; the show life was a good one and he was a lot better at the flashy magic than she was, but she'd have to make due. She couldn't bring herself to make that kind of an agreement.
It's been many moons since. That's honestly the best way she can keep track of her life; she doesn't know how many years its been or how many years she's been alive or any of that. When she stops being able to count the number of moons that have passed since something happened, that's when she knows it's been a while. Anyway, she now just travels Terra Heroum, mostly between Andor and Cydonia and various settlements around them (she can't stand the colder temperatures up north). She stops in a tavern, does her own little show and makes enough money to get by. The addition of magic helps give her dancing a bit of "pizzazz", but she's still not too terribly skilled. She's practicing to eventually be able to make the elaborate displays Quince was able to make.
[b]SHANTAE SERIES[/b], Shantae [i]Aaliyah[/i]
played by RYO who found us by MAKING THIS PLACE )_)
