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Basic
[name]
Manaira Pethris [muhn-eye-ruh peth-riss]
[nickname]
Mai, Manaira
[gender]
Female
[age]
19 or 20 – doesn’t remember her birthday
Description
[height]
5'5"
[weight]
115 lbs
[appearance]
Mai is ordinary enough to look at; olive-skinned with long dark hair, she has warm brown eyes that darken to black when she's angry, upset or just in a killing mood. Though fairly average in height, she's lean and long-legged, rangy in a way that makes her seem taller than she really is. Her face is sharply featured, aristocratic and bony; she has a certain exotic elegance that her attitude and clothing accentuate. She has a comfortable grace that speaks of someone who's familiar with exercise and weaponry as well as magic. Her hair, which falls halfway down her back when loose, is typically tied back in a low ponytail or braid; a natural streak of icy blonde runs through her bangs on the left side, which she leaves loose.
Mai wears ordinary enough clothing -- tank tops, sweatshirts, jeans -- generally monochrome, and with silver jewelry. She prefers loose clothing that doesn't restrict her movement, and keeps knives hidden on her person -- three or four on an ordinary day, more if she's going somewhere dangerous.
Bio
[personality]
______On the surface, Mai seems to be a casual, self-confident young mage. She has an eye for mischief and adventure and often comes across as a prankster; she enjoys living on the edge and tends to get herself into trouble just for the sake of it. At the same time, however, she can be very subtle; manipulative and good with words, she has the lawyer’s ability to twist any idea around upside down and backwards.
______ Few have ever gotten close enough to Mai to know her dark side. Those few who have, however, have come away unwilling to work with her ever again – or, more conveniently, with an unfortunate case of death. Mai has a downright sadistic heart; she enjoys to see suffering or – better – to cause it. Possessed with some sort of mental disorder, perhaps brought on by her magical tendencies, she is completely incapable of sympathizing with another being; nothing pleases her more than the sight of fear or pain, particularly directed at herself.
[likes]
[x] challenges
[x] danger
[x] excitement
[x] idiocy//the opportunity to mock others
[x] others' suffering
[dislikes]
[x] bleeding-hearts
[x] condescension
[x] being held back//being the strongest one in a team effort
[x] being related to/understood//when her attempts to be an enigma are ignored
[x] failure//being mocked
[history]
______ Mai was born into a small but powerful mercenary guild. She was raised among weapons and fighting lore and even as a child showed an aptitude for martial arts; she was fully expected to become one of the most powerful warriors in the guild, and was given lessons in fighting from an early age.
______ However, Mai’s parents were a good enough sort despite their trade as killers, and their daughter often worried them. Even as a very young girl, she was often drawn to the healing places in the village; an ordinary enough occurrence, perhaps, but Mai’s purpose seemed rather more sinister. She seemed to enjoy the sight of the ill and wounded; she watched others suffer with a sort of rapt fascination, as though it were a kind of morbid sporting event. As a toddler Mai would crush bugs, slowly; by five or six she had progressed to drowning small creatures in the well.
______ The young girl did not seem to understand admonishments, did not seem to sympathize with her victims; when punished, she took her due with equanimity – as though she understood she behaved eccentrically, but was unmoved by others’ protests. Uneasy but nonetheless protective of their daughter, Mai’s parents kept her under close supervision, keeping her away from creatures she might harm – or people who might harm her. She was rarely allowed out of sight and never left home without supervision. She seemed to take it agreeably enough – a calm, quiet child, she rarely showed strong reactions to the outside world and kept her thoughts to herself. However, as time went on, she seemed to grow bored with the limited amusement afforded by her parents’ house and guild hall.
______ Her chance came when she was nine years old. Her father had gone out on a mission; her mother, hearing of a commotion in the guild headquarters, rushed out of the house to try to help calm things down. As soon as she was certain the coast was clear, Mai snuck out.
______ The village – unknown to her for years now – held a certain fascination for the young girl. People walked about, gossiping, going about their daily business; their rowdiness and the blunt way they went about their lives enthralled Mai, who came from a quiet, subtle family. They wore their emotions plain on their faces and it was like food to the girl, who so enjoyed negative emotions; every so often she would stop to watch two children wrestling, a husband and wife fighting, furious barters between farmer and merchant. She, too, was watched, though she didn’t know it; in a small village where everybody knew everybody, she stood out like a sore thumb.
______ Presently Mai reached a relatively empty place on the outskirts of the village; it was quiet here, and so she was startled to hear a loud, unexpected sound. It was a child crying, left alone in a small house to her left; the window was open. Her attention caught, Mai climbed in.
______ The house was empty; doubtless the infant’s parents had been drawn into the same fray Mai’s mother had been – a small issue between the mercenary and laborers’ guilds, soon to be forgotten. The child had been left in its crib and was wailing, loudly; but as Mai watched it, fascinated, it grew tired and began to subside.
______ Mai felt an odd stirring of regret that the baby had stopped and, irrationally, tried to think of something that might cause it to cry again. She thought of her weapons lessons. Her hand, slowly, went to the knife she never went anywhere without.
______ The child’s mother returned before Mai could exit through the window once more. Shocked – hysterical – she gave Mai no chance to explain that she hadn’t really meant to kill the baby, she’d just gotten a little carried away, she only wanted to frighten it, maybe hurt it a little, to hear it cry –
______ No; almost before Mai could think, the woman had rallied the suspicious villagers together. Before Mai’s mother had even caught wind of the event, a mob was forming; Mai was chased out of town with most of the villagers on her heels. This wasn’t enough for some of them, enraged as they were; Mai ran across the open country, knowing it was only a matter of time till someone got a car, a distance weapon, something that would easily catch her. Worse, sheltered as she had been, she didn’t know the lay of the land; it seemed her pursuers had the advantage in every way.
______ Except, perhaps, their size. At last Mai managed to hide herself on the roadside, under a thick, brambly bush; a place too small and tangled for anyone but a child to reach. Still, she knew it was only a matter of time until she was found. Terrified, she crouched in hiding, tried to think –
______ Cry regret for what you have done, and I will aid you. The words came to her unbidden.
______ With rabid villagers on her heels, about to extract vengeance, it wasn’t in the least hard for Mai to regret her earlier behavior. For the first and only time, Mai summoned her familiar Liliana without using an incantation.
______ Somehow – through cunning and good timing, perhaps, rather than magic – Liliana managed to help Mai elude her pursuers. After day had passed into night, the villagers seemed to tire of the chase, and Mai was able to sleep.
______ For some years, then, Mai vanished into the mists. Under Liliana’s guidance she wandered in uncivilized areas, places where word of her presence would not reach the village’s ears; under Liliana’s tutelage she came to understand her abilities as a shade mage, and worked hard to learn the magics the unusual shade taught her. It seemed to her that shade magic was an answer to all her questions; why she was so different, why she thought and felt differently from others. She delighted in her abilities, although she was certain Liliana withheld some of the more powerful offensive magics from her.
______ When she was fifteen or so, Mai emerged once more into the civilized world. As long as she kept away from her home village, she would find her name long forgotten; with, again, help from Liliana, she began to understand the way of the working world as an adult, and the ways which she might move through it. She had grown subtle, even manipulative as a young woman and hid – hides – her more sadistic tendencies well; perhaps years alone with gentle Liliana had even blunted them, although they quickly returned when she walked once more among fellow humans.
______ For nearly five years Mai has roamed now, alone and guildless; as a traveler and lone mage she has managed to eke out a living, but only barely – she has always avoided close association with any guild or habitation, and thus any way of achieving power. Still, she has grown restless with her lifestyle of constant roaming and scraping, and things are edging toward a change.
[guild?]
Guildless
[rp sample]
[mai hasn't seen the light of day in awhile. i have all of two recent posts that feature her, and they're not exactly my best. instead, here's a snippet from a story i'm working on, one that shows her from another character's point of view.]
______His arms were getting cold against the wet metal. Bane slid forward, trying to get comfortable; his arms slipped past the fence, and he leapt back cursing as a sparkling bolt shot out, jolting his arms with an electric shock that left them numb. He was rubbing the tingling skin, swearing in a low voice, when her quiet laughter floated across the street.
______“Do something to make the local fae angry, David?”
______He froze, one hand still on his arm, staring towards where the voice had come from. Even with normal human eyes he could have picked out the lithe form of Kayla Pethris, her ice-blond streak glinting palely in her dark hair. She was leaning against a tree in the median, dark eyes glittering with sardonic amusement.
______“Something like that,” he muttered, dropping his arm. Of course it was Kayla. Just because he was trying to avoid her… “What are you doing out in the middle of the night?”
______She smirked at him, uncoiling from her slouch and crossing the street towards him. “What, is there a curfew around here? I’m allowed to take a walk if I want.”
______He didn’t look at her as she approached. “It’s dangerous,” he answered, voice flat. She laughed – a laugh he recognized from his own experience; a laugh meant to infuriate, antagonize. He clamped down on his instinctive, angry response, closed his eyes; deciding the stupid foreigner needed a lesson, he reached for the dark place inside him, the corner that was always calling out to the night. Running over his tongue, he felt a sharp prick of pain, tasted blood –
______Blood.
______Hell…even with the near-perfect control Meg had granted him, it wasn’t enough. In his dark days Bane had gotten used to being satisfied, to killing every night when the thirst haunted him…even after months of daytime walking, all it took was the moon on his skin and the taste of blood in his mouth –
______Bane swallowed, convulsively, tensed as he tasted his own blood running down his throat. His eyes snapped open, a vivid crimson, but he didn’t need them; his nose was still strong even after all these months of inactivity and he had her scent pinned in a heartbeat. He lunged –
______And found himself flying through the air backwards, iron hands clamped over his shoulders. He thought he saw a flash of red before his back slammed against the park gate with enough force to awaken its protections. Fire seared up his spine and he collapsed at the foot of the gate, driven to the edge of consciousness.
______“You really did make those faeries mad.”
______Breathing hard as the pain faded and his vision cleared, Bane looked up. Kayla was standing four feet away, examining her nails. He thought he saw a tail flicking behind her, out of the corner of his eye, but it vanished as she spoke.
______“I’m sorry,” she said contritely. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, but you were trying to kill me."
(c)
Last edited by Wandersoul on Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:36 am; edited 1 time in total
» Misuki willow
» IT'S NOT MY FAULT.
» Manaira (finished!)
» kettei willow. ready for missions!!!XD
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» Hellow folks!
» Kenichi-kun
» Hayato Fuyi-Ame