Legends of Belariath

Ellyssa

Description

Bright, sparkling blue eyes framed by a pert nose grace Ellyssa's features, along with the pale red of lips often curved in a smile. The svelte elf looks to be more or less still in her late youth, possessing a slight frame that can't possibly extend up past four and a half feet, nor weigh even close to ninety pounds by itself.

Silky smooth black hair is tied back into a tight ponytail behind her, then framed by loose wisps of hair to the sides, usually tousled by the wind, that part around her delicately-tipped ears like a river around pale spires. Her small breasts are firm and pronounced, gently accentuating her slender curves and fitting in with the rest of her diminutive form.

She is usually dressed in a thin tunic and skirt combination of brown leather, although both look to be a size or two too small for her. Her skirt contains one slitted pocket on each side, and comes to only about halfway down her thighs, leaving most of her legs bare. Both her tunic and skirt show signs of being torn and stitched together in the past, if one gets a really close-up view on them.

The sleeveless tanktop tunic hugs her body tightly from her shoulders down, although leaving a small strip of bare skin around the midriff, and is held together in front at the V of the cleavage by two slender crisscrossing cords that thread loosely down the front, revealing glimpses of smooth skin as she moves. On her feet are a pair of ankle-high leather boots.

Usually hidden from view, on her inner right thigh, is a small tattoo of a bright red phoenix with outstretched wings - beak arched toward her crotch. It's actually more of a brand than a tattoo, but that's only evident from up close.

Other items she owns, besides tunic, skirt, boots:

- A small steel dagger, an outstretched phoenix acting as its entire hilt, the blade well-worn from use. Usually hidden near her tree, sometimes carried about in a makeshift sheath in her pocket or belt.

- A small wind flute of white ivory, can be easily pulled into two separate halves and fitted back together. Usually kept in pocket.

- A small vial of liquid medicinal herbs that supposedly work against drowsiness, she keeps around the tree or in her pocket too, never knowing when it might come in use.

- A shift, filched from the Naked Bird. Its desc is: “A simple pale green silk shift, simple spaghetti straps leading down to a scooped neck line bordered with intricate red silk embroidery. Falling to just past the tops of the thighs, the sides have a small slit, with the hem and slits also embroidered with red silk thread.” She has used it once ICly, as part of a disguise.

- A silver sapphire necklace, gift from Ehlanna. Silver cord, but with 1 exceptional and 3 major sapphires set along each side of the neck, so 8 gems in all. Stored near her tree, nearly never worn. I'm still unworthy of that! *cries*

~CHARACTER NOTEPAD~

OOC: Hmm. Tags and stuff, I suppose, though I'm not a big fan of them so I will keep it short. PM is -always- okay, though depending on what I'm doing I might take awhile to get to you. Rape tags and stuff, eh, PM me first but I'll almost always say yes unless due to time constraints. I vastly prefer her being ravished or abused than seduced, and vanilla sex does absolutely nothing for me unless done creatively! Eventually I suppose she might be headed for the collar for a brief spell or two too, though who knows, it'll come, I'm not rushing it :) With that said, please feel free to start anything with her. Personality wise, she's introverted and shy, curious, tree-hugging, but a pretty nice friend to have around all in all, if a bit clueless at times. Soft limits include change sex on Ellyssa (Great if you want to, but I'd rather not.), herm sex by extension, having to dom others in a scene (Please don't, I'm just not that sort), and one or two others, although if it comes up in a well RPed scene as part of the proceedings, then by all means.*wanders off muttering, “Short, she said..”*

IC: She has several random details and quirks that I have added since the beginning, some of which are listed below as I remember or spontaneously come up with them. :)

- CURRENT AIMS: Trap destroying in the forest, buying and freeing the birds the GS sells. See below.

- Not wanting to give away the story that she is technically speaking an escaped slave, her chosen IC story is that she has come here in search of her older (not younger) sister, Araela (not Alaera), who had set out to wander the world several years before. She was supposed to have passed this way, toward Nanthalion, at last word, thus Elly has come this way in search of her, as well as to try out the wandering life of an adventurer (as she fancies herself), get away from home for a bit, and all that. The elder sister doesn't exist, of course, though she has a description for her if asked which is identical to her younger sister's. Slowly weaving a web of lies.. Note: This doesn't really exist anymore, she seldom uses this, but instead tends to revert to a wanderer storyline, unless as a last resort.

- To people whom she does not like, or for some reason or other wants to hide from, or when it is appropriate to do so, she gives her name as Phoenix, based on the small 'tattoo' of the firebird/phoenix upon her inner right thigh (“I even have proof that's my name!”). Whether this turns out to be a wise move or not will eventually be left to be seen, however her friends and acquaintances 'know' her as Ellyssa, or Elly, and most are not aware of her dual name, either knowing one or the other.

- Her 'tattoo' on her inner right thigh is actually a brand, though well-done, a fierce red phoenix with wings and head outstretched, as though crying out to the skies - although the wings and beak arc toward her crotch. The brand was done overnight, using whatever technique the house had then, and it is still unclear whether it was magical or not - she certainly has no clue one way or the other. Certainly though if it were it could go certain ways - plus she did escape overnight the night it was branded, but it still set perfectly without complications, so there was probably a bit of magic used there. On the plus side, it does glisten quite nicely, almost in a life-like manner, when she's sweating or otherwise wet.

- Generally speaking, she does not like (ie is prejudiced against) dark elves, ogres and goblinkind, trollkind, and perhaps one or two more races depending on rp - and she'll start off by treating people of those races accordingly. She doesn't like people who consort too openly with dark elves either - she will remember that and might turn her nose down at them. She is partial, however, to cat-people and wolven, nearly all of whom she's met so far being exceedingly nice, as well as sylvan elves and to a certain extent high elves, being blood-related. Other fae and nature-races she admires for their beauty, and she often will speak of herself as being plain in comparison to them.

- She's trying to eventually develop (keep in view, not sure how it works for now) a sort of flute magic, where she'd use her flute to cast spells instead of normal somatics and whatnot. This won't be an advantage, I don't think, I mean, after all, she'd need the additional material component (Ok “focus”) to cast the spell, but might be fun rp. :) Not sure who I have to approach about it to maybe okay it though :/

- She “lives,” while not in a room in the inn that she's “borrowed” a key to, on a large oak tree out of sight of, but not too far away from, the treeline of the forest by the Lonely Inn. It's stripped of leaves during winter, though healthy during summer, and her favourite branch is about twelve to fifteen feet off the ground, a sturdy chunk of wood that can easily support at least two (relatively light) people, if not more. There's another sturdy branch about six feet from the ground that she uses as a 'step' to clamber up, and she's agile and nimble enough that she won't ever slip and fall unless provoked or influenced by something else. Of course, there are other branches too, that's just her preferred one to sit on, as she stares at the sky and plays her flute, or takes a nap.

- She didn't possess much in the way of mehrials when she came, and for the first little while, none at all, though this changed a little. She doesn't need much food or drink though, gathering or hunting for what she needs, and getting a bit free through others now and then to supplement her meager fare. Nor does she pay for a room at the inn. Still, I'm playing her as surviving on little coin, it being one of her lowest-priority goals (although goods and items certainly aren't), as she likes to consider herself self-sufficient.

- When escaping from the elves, the forest village several leagues or so to the north of Nanthalion, besides her dagger and clothes on her back, one of the other 'trinkets' she stole and brought along was a bow. It was a sort of midget bow, well-crafted, ornate, but small, as though made for a halfling (though it belonged to the elf family) - not one that can be used to shoot long range with exceedingly well but one that's compact and easy to fire from close. That was going to be her starting weapon (and eventually NI), although as far as she knew it would be a sub-normal bow at the start of her story, except.. well, I couldn't pick a bow in Char-Gen! So instead, as she was asleep one night before reaching the inn, it was stolen from her by invisible fingers! Nothing else was lost though, neither was she compromised, but the bow was nowhere else to be found when she awoke, much to her chagrin. Who stole it? Why?

- Ellyssa is plagued by an on-and-off headache that seems to be triggered by several types of events, although in all honesty I haven't come up with a guideline as to what exactly will and will not trigger it, as well as -why- it triggers. Just something that's fun to RP as well. Some things that have triggered it in the past, or will in the future, include claustrophobia, being in the Inn too long when it's painted in bright gaudy colours, being hit by stun bolts, blows to the head, any spell that messes with her mind or body like paralysis or sleep, or things like contaminated air. The cure for that, for her, is to retreat into the woods or outdoors for awhile, and refresh and sharpen her spirit through breathing and/or meditation, or simply being attuned to outdoors again. It's as though she's a bit unbalanced.. somehow. Note: I decided that one of the side effects of this 'curse' or problem is that she will never be able to resist any mental spell, and in fact may be rather strongly affected by even a weak one.

- Her view on slaves in general is that she's not a big supporter of it, although she isn't going to risk her life to purge the world of slavery or any of that stuff. She's highly sympathetic of them though, treats them with a sort of respect, and might occasionally go out of her way to help them, because she was formerly one even if for a brief period of time. Certainly her emphatic nature kicking in.

- She used to work at the General Store, and opened it intermittedly as and when she feels like it. She was a clerk, doing repacking and sales mainly, but saw her main role there to be taking care of the animals, and using her pay to buy the 'freer souls' off to freedom. Especially birds. This relates to the character point above. She has freed two so far, Snowflake and Stormy.

- Her other main drive recently is to destroy all the hunter traps she finds in the forest, considering them inhumanely cruel, as well as wasteful, since they cause great agony to the animal before death and are often just carelessly left around for days untouched. Metal jaw traps, straps of leather cords, all she will cut and spirit away as she finds them, whether NPCs or PCs, hiding them in a cave she has while she tries to figure out what to do with them.. how to dispose, and whatnot. There is a small pile currently - it was larger, but she disposed of some ICly. Ironically, don't they sell them in the GS?

~Rewritten Backstory~

Where to begin, as I sit here pondering this? So many things have happened in the past few weeks that my life has totally turned upside down. Never in my wildest dreams, as I sat and watched the river flow by barely three moons back, that soon my quiet life would be flowing as fast as the rapidly flowing water rushing by my toes. Though I sit here now by the same river, yet so far away and so far different from my.. home.

I once was asked, in the nearby inn, what life is like to an elf, when we have millennia to live? I replied then, though I did not know how fitting it would sound now, that it was like sitting on the shore of a sea, watching the tide coming in and rolling out again. Watching the waves sweep in, crashing onto shore, before receding again, yet pulling along grains of sand in its wake, forevermore washed out with the tide. And the wave returns, creeping closer each time, claiming a few more grains of sand each time. That's how it feels like.

But I never expected to be one of those grains. Not me, never -me-. Not in this manner.

There are few details I still remember from that night. The breeze upon my face as I left our home for the last time. Not a breeze, but warmth, caressing my cheeks as they embarrassed and humiliated me. The warmth spreading through my body, then down toward my loins later that evening. Flushing through me, even as he raped me, the fire of anger and shame and yet.. more. Then the fire, the fire of the candle, the rage of his scream as it splashed against his back.. so sweet, the one moment I truly touched the fire of the blood. And yet, so terrifying.. and so wrong! The licking of his flames, in the throes of the candle's, mauling, hitting me in anger and pain. And then after, as I was bound in the dark room, the glowing brand held before my fearful eyes.. the heat against my cheeks, my gagged lips, my breasts, then finally, the searing pain shooting through me from my right thigh as the phoenix would take up residence on me forever. Pretty, yet a painful, shameful reminder of what has been, and never will be again.

I blacked out, and awakened in a storage room some time late that night. Lady Luck was glancing down upon me that night, that they used a double-sliding-lock on the door, and that I had been taught some rudimentary magic by my grandfather mentor. Clunk, went the lock softly, as I locked a tumbler, unlocking the other, and giving me access to leave the house. And leave I would have, had I something to wear, but going out nude and unprepared would have been worse than staying in the room and waiting for dawn's early light.

So I quietly wandered the house, peeking into nearby rooms and raiding the stores. Simple leathers, made for a smaller elf than me, but they would do, give me the guise of a ranger or simple elf. A small dagger, the phoenix on its hilt a symbol of the family's house. A silver bow, carved in the same form of a firebird, though miniature in stature, smaller than a shortbow, yet elegant and obviously special somehow. I took both. Some cheese, some bread and fruit, enough to keep me going for a while.. and so I went, quietly slipping out the kitchen door. Into the woods I fled, not even stepping back into my family home, where I had lived for generations, merely a last forlorn look sent the ways of the shadow-streaked outer walls. I would not even cry that night, or for several nights after, until it was apparant I was safe.

And what of that period of intermediate time, after I had fled but before arriving at the inn? I do not remember much.. just dreams and shades of hovering faces.. running, running.. fire, the fire of my soul and on my thigh.. water, chilling water and ice somehow. Where did my bow disappear to? Unseen hands spirited it from me as I lay sleeping, though I still sense it out there.. somewhere.. somehow, as though calling to me. Am i insane?

Many mysteries, few answers. If I only know why that day had to even occur. It was senseless, our family feud, dark promises and veiled threats between all our interaction ever since we moved into the village several decades back. That was hardly normal of a family moving in, especially elfkin between rural villages, and yet.. what was the secret under it all? Will I ever know? Most of the families had warmed up to us.. a smile here or there, acquaintances turning to friends and close friends as time weaned our hearts. And yet.. never to the head family. What did they say to the others before our family moved in? Why did they seem to want to have it in for us? What did my father and their patriarch have between them? Why pick me as a target of their wrath, the family? Although, that last question is probably the easiest to answer, I was their oldest daughter and pretty to boot, they could hurt them through hurting me. Bastards.

And what of the events that have befallen me so far in Nanthalion and the surrounding forest? A pleasant place, but fraught with its own problems. It is very much like sitting on the edge of a cliff with a strong wind threatening to blow you over at any moment. The bustle and intrigue of the city, fraught with danger and decadence at every turn, juxtaposed by the calm serenity of the forest, the quaint canopies and flora and fauna.. but with its own layer of horrific danger under. And the inn, the inn.. a waypoint between the two mirroring environments, a potpourri, a blend of the two.. but of their good qualities, and bad both. Yearningly sweet, yet laced by a tinge of poison.

Touched by dirty decandence, by filthy Moriel and worse, and haunted by sights of what I could have been, and nearly almost was had I not fled.. and yet, is there a safer place? Not too far away that I completely have to immerse myself in a new forest, nor too urban for my sanity, with the forest nearby; and yet far away and deep enough into society that they will never think of looking for me here. And there is so much help that the forest needs here.. rescuing the caged birds of the General Store.. ridding the forest of irresponsible hunter traps.. and someone has to do it, no matter the risk to herself.

And besides.. no. Never mind.

And who is to say this place is so bad? Even the forest gets lonely after a long time, without a.. a family to return to. Watching leaves fall, suns rise and set, and seasons pass by are all good pastimes, but even an elf needs a break from that sometimes. But the woods here are full of chores that need tending to, the occasional traveller that needs guidance, the occasional criminal that must be thwarted or fled from.. the trees and animals fighting with irresponsible hunters and people who cannot live in cabins and coexist with nature at the same time..

..and when one tires of it all, there is the town, and my current job at the General Store to play clerk to sales and tend the animals. Plenty of secrets and intrigue, and curious sights, hidden beneath the cool stone facade of grey walls wove together to form huddling buildings. I learn new things, some good and some bad, every day that I step forth within the town's border. New sights, new sounds, new experiences, totally different from the forest.. and yet, very similar in a parallel sort of way.

And the inn.. I hate that place, and yet I keep being drawn back to it. It is the crossing of so many paths, not only of between the forest and city, but also of travellers, exotic adventurers, cuisine, sights and customs from all corners of the world. And of the crossing of many plots, the fruition and destruction of many dreams and nightmares, hopes and prayers borne and extinguished like the crackling logs in the hearth. And of relationships, subtle nuances and deep meanings hidden behind each look passed between and across tables. That game I know well, too.. all too well. Far too well.

Where to end? I hope my journey will never end, after all, I am still young and have hundreds and hundreds of years ahead of me still.. thousands of moons. Who knows where I will be in a day, a month, a year, a decade from now? Who knows where the tug of the colossal tide that is life might bring this grain of sand next? There are many roads left to travel, many deeds left to do, before the end of my days.

Mom, Dad, Alaera, I miss you all.

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