Deus Ex Machina: The Xenogears Tale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PERSONA SHEET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Player Information ------------------ Name or Alias: Cheshire Court Age (optional): Sex: Female E-mail address: TheLoveCats@juno.com ICQ/AIM/Yahoo! Pager/etc. (if applicable): ICQ #: 35656392 Character Information --------------------- -Name: Avrial 'Cap'n Ave' Witters -Age: 25 -Sex: Female -Occupation(s): Acting Captain of the Thames. Occasional gambler and inadvertent performer on Thursdays, during two-for-one nights. -Substitutes which Xenogears Character? (if applicable): The Cap'n of the Thames -Birthdate: Dec 4th, V-473 -Height: 5 feet, 9 inches -Weight: 135 pounds -Eyes (colour and shape): Ave's eyes are a shifting hazel, wide and often crinkled at the edges from a grin. -Build: Ave has the makings of lean build, built on a decently athletic frame. She retains the lankiness from her adolescence, but takes full advantage of it when navigating the machinery. -Complexion: The Cap'n is freckled and tanned from the sun. Avast, ye maties! Skin cancer ahoy! -Facial Features: Ave's face has wide cheekbones and a round nose, with features set to range across her broad face. Combine this with her boyish figure, and this firmly sets her in the category of 'a plain girl'. -Identifying Marks: None that can't be changed in five minutes time. -Hair (colour and style): Ave's hair has been sun-bleached to a light brown, and is scruffy from the sea air. She keeps it cropped to the nape of her neck and allows it to stick out at all angles, often running a gear fluid-covered hand through it without realizing. The single 'luck braid' hangs to her shoulder over her left ear. -Voice: Avrial's voice is loud and boisterous. It growls and barks its way through the rough humor of the Thames with a laugh. Half the time, Ave is chuckling at a private joke--the other half, at a public one. -Dress/Attire: The Cap'n's clothes reflect the functionality of her job as a hands-on leader--loose pants, sandals, and a short top and vest. A bandanna-turned-headband serves the dual purposes of keeping errant strands out of her eyes, and a fluids rag when she's working with the machines. The fabric of all her garments is coarse, and easy mended or replaced. As much as she might attempt for light colors, the reality of the Thames quickly dirties them. -Jewelry (if any): Ave's ornamentation is regulated to the numerous bracelets and earrings which jangle with her loping strides; while the metal is silver, the proximity to salt air regrettably tarnishes them to a patchy dull black. -Weapons/Tools (if any): Ave wears a set of toolbelts slung around her hips, and it is rumored that she can be a mean shot with a wrench when she's angry. From monkeying through the pipes of the Thames, she has picked up a fair amount of agility and acrobatic skill. In extreme situations, she'll resort to her paired set of slender pistols. -Armour (if any): Ave doesn't wear any armor apart from her clothes. As exciting as they may be, she doesn't face many assassination attempts on the Thames (unless you count the rancid beer that one time near Kislev). -Personality: Always ready with a freckled smile, Ave keeps the spirits of the Thames high with her bawdy humor and easy-going nature. She is slow to anger and quick to apologize, preferring a pleasant--if occasionally crude--atmosphere. Ave took to her early role as Captain well, but due to her highly specialized upbringing, she has little opinion or care for the outside world. The complex social machinations of the more 'civilized' nations mux and befuddle her--having been cradled in the uproariously frank and nomadic city of the sea, she doesn't understand the nature of towns on land. She has always been required to depend on people around her for basic day-to-day survival, and they on her; rupture a tank on land, and you won't sink into the earth and drown before it can be repaired. Hence, she is an excellent captain, but a poor diplomat. At any given time, the infamous Cap'n adds to her wild reputation by lustily flirting with any number of men who happen to be passing by. None of her advances are serious--Ave knows that few are attracted to the rough, machine oil-stained charm she exudes, but she appreciates those who are polite enough to wink back. The few liaisons she formed passed when her partners returned to their routes. When questioned, the Cap'n only grins, and quips something about enjoying life while you have it. Ave doesn't enjoy fighting without a sense of brevity. Although she keeps up on her skills by sparring regularly on the deck, she has an absolute distaste for those who have turned their lives into little more than an extended soap opera brawl. "If you can't take yourself lightly," she'll grin, "how can you expect anyone to take you seriously?" Which isn't to say that the Thames' Captain can't defend herself--rather, when pressed to fight, she'll do so with a laugh while spinning a fishing trident through her hands. But above all, Ave will always attempt to negotiate with her enemy first, preferring the comforts of her beer hall to the grit of the battlefield. As a captain, Avrial is a very approachable sort, and can often be found working in the grime right next to her crew. She prefers to do things herself, and so doesn't mind being asked for help from her mates--the Thames is her darling, and by going over every inch of it, she keeps in touch with its heartbeat. Ave knows that her real strength lies in the loyalty and qualities of the people she commands--and not only that, but she believes it wholeheartedly. She'll defend any of them fiercely, but by the same token, she expects the same from them. Avrial lets the Thames take on just about any excavation order, as well as allowing the ship to ferry passengers who are willing to suffer the ship's meandering path in order to get where they need to go. She is adamant about the neutrality of the Thames, refusing to get involved with politics. By the same token, the Thames will accept nearly any shipping job save ones involving cargo that is illegal in any of the countries. Ave isn't about to let anyone use her ship for their dirty work. -Background and History: Avrial was raised by her father to be the next in line for captaining the Thames. After assuming the role after her father's death, she and her brother continued the tradition of freelancing and exploring the sea. The latest jobs of the Thames have been profitable, but currently the ship is between major excavations. Until the next big thing comes along, Avrial is taking the ship to float around the temperate regions for the duration of winter. -Birthplace: Avrial was born on the Thames. Solid ground? Who needs it! -Mother: The mother of the siblings, Devrin Delta, was a Gear technician who headed off to the excavations near Dazil when Ave and Fan were 6 and 2, respectively. Contact with her was lost shortly afterwards, and she has not been seen since. Various reports claim that she had died in one of the numerous accidents that can occur in the desert. Neither of the children were terribly scarred, having taken it in stride. -Father: Their father, Micah Witters, died in a mechanical accident when Ave was 19 and Fan 15--the same incident that scarred Fan's leg. The two siblings could have lost authority over the Thames, but the tenacity of the pair--not to mention Ave's Ether-backed charisma and Fan's pacifying voice--allowed them to hold onto the helm until they gained the trust of the entire crew. -Siblings: Ave's only blood relation is her brother, Faneo. -Mate: None. -Children: None. -Other relations: None that she'd admit to. -Affiliation: The Thames. -Secondary Skills: Although Ave can't operate a gear past rudimentary controls (Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B), she does know how to pilot her strange watery community. She is more skilled with the basics of machinery than with sophisticated systems; nanotechnology will leave her cursing, and stalking off to go fiddle with something 'honest' like the screw elevator. -Abilities/Disabilities (in addition to Ether): Ave has no Ether powers, never having the time or care to work on her terribly low potential. -Hobbies: One of Ave's favorite hobbies is keeping up her skills in Four-Card Spit (aka the Xeno Card Game, aka Speed). Naturally, she participates in the hearty glee of the beer hall--mostly when trying in vain to round up her mates for their shifts. In her down time, she performs basic upkeep on her pistols, and wanders the decks. -Current residence: Avrial lives happily on the Thames. -Current Life Conflicts: Avrial is a woman with few problems, save for her worries over her brother. See his sheet for more details. -Deathblows (name and function):--- -Other notes: In actuality, Ave prefers the open space of the deck to the strange dank tunnels of lower Thames. Born with a mild sense of claustrophobia which only really bothers her when deep underwater, she is unsuited for all of the aspects of directing an oceanic excavation. Her skills at keeping the ship on an even emotional and structural keel, however, keeps the crew from minding that the majority of the dives are supervised by her less pleasant brother. -Gear name: Avrial has no Gear, save for the minor excavation gears that are the general property of the Thames. None are outfitted for combat--when was the last time you were attacked by an excavation robot during the Deep Sea trip? -Gear model: n/a -Height: n/a -Weight: n/a -Gear description: n/a -Class: n/a -Primary function: n/a -Weapon(s): n/a -Abilities/Disabilities: n/a -How your character acquired the gear: n/a