Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2014 17:18:07 GMT -5
OOC
Name: Sage
Years RPing: Too many...
Other: <3
How You Found Us: Top 100, and this is my third character.
General
Name: Athena
Birthday: July 11, 2011
Gender: Female
Species: Tundra wolf
Physical
Height: 32 inches
Length: 59 inches
Weight: 100 pounds
Coat Color: Solid pale gray
Eye Color: Red-orange
Health Issues: She will be introduced into the forum with a badly injured foreleg that will take weeks to recover.
Other Information:
Mental
Mental Stability: Sane
History: What memories remain from the female’s first months have been clouded by time, making it difficult for the fae to remember where she came from. She is a native of Anikira.
She no longer recalls her parents’ names, or if she ever knew them in the first place. She only vaguely remembers the four pups born in her litter, for she was the only one destined to survive the first six months of life under to inattentive care of their mother. The female who birthed Athena had been exiled years ago, forced to live out her days as a pariah. The she-wolf was older in years, the unwilling participant in a savage brute’s arduous lust – a stranger she would never see again, and an encounter she would live to regret. Months later, to her chagrin, an unusually large litter arrived. One by one, as the weeks crawled by, the pups began to disappear, nameless brothers and sisters that are only a hazy recollection today.
Athena was left with few memories of her first months, perhaps mercifully so. She knew that her mother was both unwilling and unfit, allowing her offspring to waste away or disappear, until only Athena remained. Her mother had not named her children in the traditional sense, since she had no intentions of. Athena was called “Mite” – a cruel moniker chosen because, in her mother’s eyes, she was little more than a parasite. It was only later that a wise, kind old wolf christened her with the name she carried into adulthood.
The young gray female became a scapegoat for her mother’s anger and frustration – these cruel instances are what Athena remembers most keenly in as she aged. Despite her youth, the pup knew that her mother found her presence annoying – the elder she-wolf made no secret of her disdain for her final lingering child. Having no other choice, the pup continued to follow the grizzled fae. Still very young, Athena soon became a victim of her mother’s negligence. Eager to be rid of her undesired litter, the mother wolf abandoned her final pup in unclaimed lands, certain that she would either be found and taken in by some generous fool, or that she would be found and devoured by a hungry rogue.
Alone and terrified, the unnamed pup was found by a pack of wanderers. She was filthy and flea-bitten, malnourished. One of the kindhearted elders, the pack’s healer, was a childless wolf named Gaia. She felt sympathy for the abandoned pup, nameless and hungry, and it was she who bestowed the youngster with a new name. Athena was in awe of the healer, who seemed to know everything under sun. The spinster wolf found an eager pupil in Athena, and was happy to take the silver pup into her care as her apprentice.
The months that followed were the happiest in Athena’s existence. For a year, Gaia instructed the growing female in the art of herbalism. Her newly adopted pack was a superstitious one, followers of a divine being reverently referred to as the Moon Wolf, who was said to be both a compassionate and vengeful deity. Athena was a skeptical adolescent, and though she was unsure about the notion of a wolf really residing on the moon – or that the moon was itself a wolf – she was respectful of their faith and curious to learn the tenets of their beliefs.
Her world came crashing down when the elderly alpha of the travelers was found dead. There was no trace of blood, and the distraught pack became suspicious. Gaia insisted that old age had claimed their beloved alpha, but her claims were ignored. As the pack’s healer, she was the only one with knowledge of plants that could destroy the life of a once-powerful leader. The kind wolf was banished from the group rather than executed – it was clear that she would not survive long on her own, due to her own advanced age. When Athena attempted to follow her mentor, she was stopped in her tracks by the eldest son of their dead sovereign: a reckless wolf of five years named Ba’al.
Ba’al had other plans for Athena, who had grown into an attractive adolescent, with neat fur the shade of shining silver in the sunlight that caught his hungry eye. Despite her protests, Ba’al decided he would take her as a mate. It didn’t seem to matter to him that she was not yet useful for the purposes he intended when he claimed her the same day her adoptive mother was cast out to meet her demise. No one answered her frantic cries for help. Ba’al was their alpha now, and he could do as he pleased.
Unwilling to endure the suffering, Athena soon hatched a plan that would put a stop to the cruelty Ba’al inflicted. She collected deadly nightshade one night, when the moon was absent from the sky and the blackness of night shrouded her mission. Ba’al slept, unaware of the poison that slipped into his parted maw. He awoke within minutes, sputtering as his eyes bulged, froth spewing from his mouth. Athena had not stayed long enough to witness her revenge. While her pack mates were in a frenzy, the gray one slipped away into the darkness.
She searched in vain for her lost teacher Gaia for many months. Along the way, she met other misfits with nowhere else to go. She learned to hunt, often teaming up with other disadvantaged loners to take down larger prey and for protection. These partnerships were short-lived. Some disappeared after a successful hunt. Others bid Athena farewell, or she was the one to cut ties.
In spite of the winding path and many hurdles she faced, she grew into a confident, strong wolf. The life of a traveler seemed hardwired in her genetic code, as if she was born to wander. Athena knows what it’s like to go to bed hungry, the weakness of starvation that loomed much of her life, but she has learned to thrive without the tyranny of her former alpha and the pack that had heedlessly forgotten her.
Personality: Innately independent, Athena has learned to adapt to lean times through her own intelligence and intuition. While she is open-minded and friendly towards like-minded individuals, she understands the value of self-reliance. It is a great challenge for the fae to trust others beyond the occasional team hunt because she has seen the dark side of lupine nature. Still, she is not opposed to the presence of others and can be generous to those who are respectful and kind. If she meets an injured wolf, she will gladly help them. She is highly in tune with the energy that is projected by others, and can sense when someone is prone to violence and anger before ever speaking a word.
Life doesn’t always play out the way we hope, and Athena understands this truth intimately. Thus, she always tries to follow her head instead of her heart, closely following her instinct. She is sensible and willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. The days and night she spent hungry have made her appreciative of what she does have: her health, her intellect, and her freedom. She is not a naturally aggressive creature, but she will fight when necessary. She has killed before, and, if needed, she would do it again.
She may not be the largest animal on Anikira, but she has fared well so far, and she is a confident she-wolf. Her beginnings were humble, but Athena carries her head held high, unabashed. Statuesque, she is both beautiful and stately. She is not a conceited wolf, but she knows her self-worth, both as a healer and as a survivor.
Deep down, however, Athena hides vulnerability, and she hides it well. Unloved by her biological mother, stolen away from happiness by a pack, she is afraid of becoming too close to others. She isn’t the most dependable wolf because of her unwillingness to commit to any one wolf or pack. Still, she is a smart, earthy fae with no ill intentions towards anyone, as long as they let her be.
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