Avis aka Stare Level 3

Level One

Main:

Name: Avis Tsukaka
Known As: Stare
Age: 16
Race: Kenku
Height: 4ft 10
Weight: 90 lbs
Occupation: Kegareta / Belonging to Vitruvion (Beauty) of the Hollow

Appearance:

Link.

Kenku are a race of wingless, bird-like bipedal beings, taking the form of corvids - that being the crow family. Kenku stand at roughly 5ft to the head, and have a feathered body that covers most of their body, ending at the wrists and ankles. Their heads are those of birds, with long, often sharp beaks and black beady eyes. Their arms are formed much like that of a human, except ending in claws. Their legs also are built something like a bird, with a knee, then a lower joint for what would be the ankle and ending in a four clawed foot (one behind, three in front), essentially making them walk on thier toes, as any bird does. Below where the feathers end, at wrists and ankles, the skin black scaly form. They also have a short or medium size tail, with long tail feathers there that are usual stiff and the whole form is fan-shaped. Kenku also tend to be entirely black in colour, but there are variations of this based on the various corvids. White patches can appear, as can deep emerald from a magpie, indigo, greys and very dark violet. The most common colour change is on the head in form of a 'hood'. Kenku are light, owing to the partially hollow nature of their bones, owed from when they were birds, by their lore, and live shorter lives than the usual humanoid. They tend to die at age 40 or 50 and are considered mature when they reach 13 and can marry.

See kenku wiki page for more info.

Avis' Appearance:

Avis takes on the classic form of a kenku, with the dark glossy black of her colouring. She stands, however, a little under standard height, at 4ft 10 inches, and has a patch of deep purple feather markings running down the right hand side of her throat. Her eyes are a deep pitch black with many depths, which gave rise to her nickname. She usually wears a long brown or grey cloak, which covers her face, and beneath that a simple raggedy tunic. Tied to the tunic at the belt are several sharp daggers, pouches, and a book holder. Her tail feathers are also unusually short, extending only as an inch or so ugly stubs from the base of her back.

History:

Origin:

Some time ago Avis father, Tsu Tsakaka, was a well-ranked senshi, born from a long line of warriors and dia members. He served the clan Rook, owing a deep loyalty to his shogun. When he was reaching his twenties he decided it was time to marry, and thus found the blacksmith's daughter, Cassis. He wooed her, and she was eager for the opportunity to live in the class of a senshi, and thus agreed. They married and shortly after had twin sons - Akka and Avin. Tsu gained to a higher rank, and all seemed well.

That was until the Rook Shogun and the Crow Shogun began to have arguments over border lands and farmland and trade. The argument excelled to such an extent that the Rook Shogun marched a small portion of his troops to the border to 'guard' it. Unfortunately they gained to a place that the Crow Shogun considered his/of his flock, and thus war was declared. The war was brutal, and forced and bloody, with many dying on either side. The Rook Shogun in his haste, began conscription, signing up all useful bodied men to form an army under his senshi. In this, however, he also called up the then 11 year old twins, sons of Tsu and Cassis.

The boys, being of near maturity and the sons of a loyal, and still living, senshi, were rushed to the battlefront, into a planned sneak attack. Hastily trained they were barely ready when they faced their first enemies, deep into Crow lines. Their attack with their platoon was decisive and direct, to bring down a caravan of supplies and they were told to kill everyone in their path. This was until they came across the daughter of the Crow Shogun hidden within the caravan, and the two boys could not do it. They allowed the girl to escape, and in doing so disobeyed direct orders and possibly caused the Rook flock to not win the war there and then.

The Rook Shogun was furious, and he threatened to kill the twins for treason. Tsu, however, came to beg for their lives, and him being of high rank, the boys' sentence was reduced to being named kegareta. Preparing to leave, the boys began to say goodbye to their father, mother and the then just born infant Avis, until the Shogun council called an emergency session. In it, the other Shoguns managed to bring an understanding between the Rook and Crow clans, binding the agreement with the future marriage of the Crow Shogun's daughter to the next Rook Shogun. This and a solid border was agreed on, so peace settled, and the boys managed to stay close by without anyone really recognising. That was, until one night when they visited, and Tsu abandoned his watch post for one half hour, and in that night the Rook heir was poisoned.

The culprit was never found, but Tsu was immediately arrested and blamed for the guilt as he had left his post. With the Rook Shogun's wrath gaining the entire Tsakaka family was declared kegareta, Tsu becoming a ronin. They ran and were accepted into the community of kegareta who were nomads and called themselves, 'The Watchers with No Master'. Tsu became something of a guard and fighter for them, and Cassis a fantastic baker. Thus, Avis grew up in a close community of thieves and liars and killers.

A few years later, when she was nearing her seventh birthday, her brothers, sadly, were within Rook lands on a scouting mission for the Watchers, and recognised. By anger or by law they were slaughtered there and then, and news only got back to the Tsakaka family after a rider found the bodies. Cassis was distraught, and entered into a period of deep depression, where her cooking got steadily worse, and Tsu himself was aging, now reaching the age of 38 himself. It was Avis who kept the family safe from the kegareta lawlessness, by firstly learning how to bake, and then eventually selling her own body.

By the age of 14, Avis was a strong individual, barely an adult yet able to defend herself well as taught by her father, bake excellent cakes and pastries, and use her body for her own benefit. When her father finally passed away at the good age of 45, and then her mother very shortly following, Avis made the decision to leave the Watchers and head into the rest of Althanas with skills and abilities of her own. She became known as Stare for the way she glared at people, and the nickname stuck. It stuck even when she got to the city of Beinost, which is where she currently resides.

Level 2 and 3:

Avis gained a job working in a bakery under the tuition of Skra the dwarf, in his famous store The Dwarven Bakery. He took her in when no one else would, and took a shine to her baking talent, even taking her into his home. Their time together was cut short, however, for after a few months into the job Avis was kidnapped and taken to a place called the Hollow - an underground winding chamber, old catacombs, ruled by ten 'brothers' who share a passion for sexually exploiting females. Their desires are for females who have not consented to being taken below and who fight against the situation with tenacity, which gives them more passion and 'fun'. Thus Avis met the half-celestial Vitruvion, her 'host'.

She spent the first two weeks fighting against everyting Vitruvion made her do. It took an agreement between them for her not to struggle and do as he said for one night and he would be kinder than he usually was. Vitruvion took her along to the council of the brothers, a quarterly-annual meeting between them all to discuss matters as his prize piece. It was here she discovered various things about her situation - that Vitruvion had a personal grudge with another brother called Hugin over a woman they shared, and that his apartments were nearest the surface. Vitruvion also revealed that he considered her stare powerful, a look that Avis was made famous for and had been named after in the Hollow. He made her 'use' it within the council, and quieten the rest of his brothers to his will. She learnt that magic could not be done within the Hollow, by any creature or man, apart from Vitruvion.

With the knowledge then that Vitruvion could be persuaded to be nicer, if she herself fought less yet still kept her tenacity, Avis prepared a plan to escape - with the idea that she was near to the surface. After two months an oppurtunity came to her, and by stealing a knife from her lone half-giant guard, Brer, and by unpicking the basic locks of the door (taught by her childhood thief friends) Avis made it far. Her plan was foiled, however, when she discovered the Hollow gained to the surface under a large building where the guards of it stayed.

After a series of punishments and threats, Avis became less trusted. Vitruvion, however, remained passionate in the powers of her stare, and eventually he took her to the surface for the first time (for her) in four months. It was during this journey, with her muzzled and secured, that she discovered he had a connection in the foreign city of Hernsford, a city-state that had thrived on slavery for a thousand years and whose slaves were the only internationally recognised. He produced forged documents that he had written with her details on it, claiming that his interest in her was only growing. Taking her to a nobleman merchant, Thesus Heysan, who had cheated Vitruvion out of money for a lucrative deal, Vitruvion used her stare for his own gain, getting his money back. Unable to escape Avis was taken back to the Hollow, only then to be told she was going on another trip to the surface, this time for an unknown reason.

However, the carriage itself was attacked, and in the throes of the battle Avis revealed that she was something of a fighter, as taught by her father. She saved Vitruvion's life, knowing that the attackers would kill her and he would not. They won a very lose and uneasy victory and took one of the men prisoner, heading back straight to the Hollow. It was then that Vitruvion revealed more of himself, that he and his sister Ventrua were over a hundred years old and do not age. He also revealed that the Hollow was over thirty years old and he had been one of its original creators, the only one left, and that his eventual plans were to take her to Hernsford, to officialise his control over her. It took Blaze, his first and prime 'guest' to tell Avis that he had never been this obssessed over anyone. With a final act Vitruvion came to her in the middle of the night two days later, and tricked Avis into accepting a 'present' - a cuff which he revealed he had made by meditating in communication to his father, that was connected to a ring. It allowed him to see into her mind, and know and hear where she was, but without her knowledge, and also gave him the ability to cause her pain when he desired it. With it, he claimed he had secured his power over her, at least for now, and that he considered her stare something beyond normal, and he was now going to make her his pet project.

Avis was then moved from the Hollow to Vitruvion's townhouse, to where he operated his legal businesses. He told Avis he would no longer use her for sexual exploits, but rather for his own discoveries and benefits. Through the cuff and ring he owned her, but she was now granted more freedoms. Currently she resides there, discovering more about herself, and just what and who she might be.

Skills:

Knife-fighting - expert
Baking - expert
Agility - expert
Survival - expert
Linguistics - beginner
Persuasion - intermediate
Crafting (able to make herself new crossbow bolts) - intermediate
Lockpicking - intermediate

Abilities:

The Stare -

The 'Stare' is Avis' signature move, wherin she throws all of her darker emotions into a particular look that has now been developed and honed to use different emotions to trigger different looks. Her time in the Hollow and with Vitruvion has only made the emotions more powerful and pungeant. Currently there are three states to her stare; Darkness (stun), Nightmare (distraction) and Grotesque (bodily harm).

'Darkness': Up to three times per thread, Avis can use her hatred and stare at someone with a 'dark look,' causing them to pause whatever attack or action they were doing and be frozen with uncertain. Her look is so dark, penetrating and unpredictable that only the toughest of men and women are able to break away from it immediately, or even ignore it. The subject of her darkness stare is stilled for a maximum of three seconds, however this is shortened to two seconds if the opponent is two levels above her own, and one second if the opponent is three levels (or more) above her own. In that time the opponent cannot do anything except react as per abilities, giving Avis a chance to strike a blow or other.

'Nightmare': Avis throws all of her fear into her stare. She must make direct eye contact with an enemy or victim. It causes them to relive the last nightmare that they had, in full blown imagery. The nightmare is dependent on each person and their ability to fight against it with will power. The times for the nightmare is as follows: four seconds for a subject the same level or below as Avis, two seconds for one level higher and one second for anyone who is two levels or more above Avis. Avis can use this ability twice a fight, and it allows her to cause a distraction long enough to strike a blow, or do what else she made need to do.

'Groteque': Using the emotion of anguish, Avis can cast physical bodily harm on a person. This ability can be used twice a thread, and is dependent on where Avis looks. It must be on bare flesh. When she stares successfully for a full second necrosis will begin to grow on the subject's flesh. It also causes a sharp stab of major pain, then ebbs to a minor constant throb. and will spread further if Avis is able to hold her gaze for longer than a further two seconds. The initial impact is an area of an inch squared, and this will spread up to three inches. After this the necrosis will cease to expand, but will remain in place until healed, as well as the pain.

Passive:

Agility - Avis' agility is twice that of an average person. This includes running faster over short distances (8mph), jumping to higher heights/lengths (4m maximum in any direction) and dodging out of attacks. It is directly comparable to the agility of her opponent. If they have a higher agility (or similar) ability to her, she cannot dodge their attacks.

'Familiar' -

Sir Vitruvion Elssmith

Link.

Description:

Familiar being the wrong word, for really she is his, Vitruvion is Avis' patron and self-professed owner. Through her immoveable cuff and his ring they are bonded so that he can see and hear what she can, and also directly speak into her mind. Via this, Vitruvion will almost always be watching any battle Avis is in, and he acts as a source of conversation as well as advice. He is a well-read person, a theortician and something of a tyrant. He has a keen mind of business, and, though Avis hates to admit it, rather wise.

Appearance:

Vitruvion appears as a tall white-blonde haired human, who is insanely gorgeous to look at. He is what he terms as a 'half-celetial' through his father, but not precisely what. He can usually be seen wearing shirts and breeches, with long boots and often a long coat. He is also never seen without his cane, which has within it a thin dagger made of mythril (to be bought in future).

Use:

Vitruvion currently does not play an active role in fights. Instead he acts as advice and inspiration, and a second pair of eyes. He has the ability to call to Avis if there is a blow she has not seen or gift her with wisdom that his own personal knowledge allows. Vitruvion also allows for a certain amount of sarcastic banter between him and Avis during a fight.

Equipment:

Weapons:

Two short steel daggers used for fighting.
One yew and iron hand crossbow with a dozen iron bolts.

Other:

Leather gauntlets.
A steel grappling hook.
Books.
Basic survival equipment.
Baking stuff.
Metal cuff (no damage) that binds her form to Vitruvion. If this needs to be bought please let me know.

Approved - direct transfer.