Beautiful People: March 2016 Edition

http://paperfury.com

It's time for another round of Beautiful People! For those who don't know: Beautiful People is a monthly meme hosted by Cait of Paper Fury and Skye of Further Up and Further In. This month, apparently, there's no theme- just ten questions for your character. I'll be answering for Deanna "Dea" Alyron, a major character in my Berstru Tales series. 

1. What first inspired this character? Is there a person/actor you based them off?
Dea, like many of the characters in this particular series, had her origins in the Battle! roleplay on the Underground. Unlike those other characters, however, she never actually made it onto the thread until after she was created in the novel. Her original conception was as a mercenary sort, highly skilled, and relatively ambivalent towards the rest of her family. The highly skilled part remained true as her character evolved to what I put down on paper. The rest of her . . . not so much. Dea's unbendingly loyal, and more attached to the rest of her family than any of the major Alyron siblings, with the possible exception of Jake.

2. Describe their daily routine.
Hahaha. Dea hasn't had a solid daily routine for a fair while now- not since she left home. Adventures aren't exactly conductive to that sort of thing. But before she left, she'd get up, make breakfast for herself and her younger siblings, then spend most of the morning doing various chores. Afternoons contained any remaining chores, plus an hour or so of practice with her swords, and making dinner. And then evenings were solidly family time- plus she'd have breaks when she could earlier throughout the day to do stuff with her younger siblings.

3. If they joined your local high school, what clique would they fit into?
I don't go to a public school, so all my knowledge of high school cliques comes from books. But my guess? Dea could fit with the athletic group if she wanted to- she'd definitely be into sports (probably of the track and field variety, unless whatever high school she went to offered fencing). And she might be able to fit into one or two other cliques as well. But she'd get sick of trying to meet people's expectations pretty fast (particularly because everyone would be wondering which of her sisters she was going to be more like), so instead she'd say "Whatever," go find the least popular kids in the entire school, and befriend them.

4. Write a list of things they merely tolerate. Ex: certain people, foods, circumstances in their lives…

• Being compared to either Gwen or Nightshade
• People who don't like or just don't know what to do with kids (though that depends slightly- if she sees you're trying, she'll have a great deal more patience with you than she otherwise would)
• Jared Alyron
• Fish/seafood (though that might just be a somewhat petty reaction against the fact that Gwen loves it . . .)

5. How do they react in awkward silences?
With unnerving patience.

6. Can they swim? If so, how did they learn? 
Dea cannot swim. But if she ever needs to learn . . . well, she's a fast learner.

7. What is one major event that helped shape who they are?
The first time Nightshade showed signs of off-the deep end tendencies would be a fairly big one, though it didn't effect her immediately. After that, her family started looking at her as if they were scared she'd turn out the same, and she decided pretty soon afterwards that, storm it all, she wasn't going to be Nightshade and she wasn't going to be Gwen either, no matter what anyone expected of her.

8. What things do they value most in life?
Dea values family above just about anything else. People in general would be a big thing too- especially the forgotten and outcast, and especially especially kids. She places a pretty high value on her moral code as well, since it's part of what she feels separates her from Nightshade.

9. Do they believe in giving other people second chances? Do they have any trust issues?
Second chances? That depends on the person and whether or not she thinks they're going to try to do better on their second chance. She doesn't really have trust issues, though- she decides fairly quickly whether or not to trust someone and she sticks with that unless she's proven wrong.

10. Your character is having a rough day…what things do they do to make them happy again? Is there anyone they talk/interact with to get in a better mood?
It varies with the reason for the rough day. Usually, her solution to being upset or feeling down or such is to spend time with her younger siblings, just doing whatever they want to do, whether that's playing a game or making cookies or telling stories or whatever else. On the other hand, if her rough day is because said younger siblings are driving her nuts (which is kind of hard to do- small children are about the only people with whom Dea has endless patience), she's probably going to be more inclined to just shut herself in her room, bury her head under a pillow, and try to take a nap.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about Dea as much as I enjoyed writing about her. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Cait and Skye for hosting this!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)