∞ 38 ∞ Human ∞ Elemental Magician ∞
|| Victory | The Silent Comedy ||
|| Little Willow | Paul McCartney ||
∞ Height & Weight ∞
5'8" || 125 lbs
∞ Hair Color ∞
Ash Blonde
∞ Eye Color ∞
Aquamarine
∞ Description ∞
Ash blonde hair falls in a cascade from her head and frames her face, serving to hide the few strands of gray she has appearing at the corners of her temples. Despite long tresses falling from the back of her neck, she more often than not keeps it coiled into a pair of buns sitting behind her ears, keeping it out of the way and away from danger. Once upon a time years ago, she used to keep her hair cut short giving it a wispy and cloudy texture, but had since desired to keep it long-- not out of any narcissism, but due to the simple desire of a change.
Her face still retains an element of youthfulness to it, but she's nearing the peak of that youth. Soft crows feet are slowly descending into the corners of her eyes, and the shape of her face is beginning to take on an edge of maturity. Contrasting that, her face is a pale peach coloration and even softer features. There aren't any hard lines or rough edges to her face, marking her a soft and caring individual. She is, however, in possession of a beauty mark sitting at the corner of her mouth. A mouth that is small in nature, and always quick to smile reassuringly. Willow is not a woman of extremes, and it plays out clear as day on her face.
In no way is Willow a "lofty" but then again she never had to crane her neck in order to look at another person. She stands a neat middling height that's a bit about the average for a female. She also paints a thin silhouette, having in possession of a body with little auxiliary fat. Thanks in all part to an exercise regiment and a healthy diet-- and perhaps a little bit of meditation thrown in for good measure. She's a lithe figure, with each muscle she possesses having a purpose and use. Much like her face, there are no jarring forms here either, all in all producing the whole that is Willow.
∞ Personality ∞
Willow is, despite the shortness of name, a person who encompasses many qualities, and demonstrates just as many virtues. The most apparent quality she possesses is that she's motherly in every sense of the word. She cares, she loves, and she caters. She's a genuinely kind and thoughtful individual, the well being of others always at the forefront of her mind. Even with her caring personality, she does not dote. She believes it best for a person to find their own way through life, and she'll only offer a guiding hand if she feels they're teetering on the edge. She believes in the spirit and heart of mankind, and that at it's very core people are kind if given the chance.
Willow's not in position of a timid soul, but she understand the values and weight of words. She chooses them very carefully which gives her an almost sage-like manner of speaking. She's fond of doling out wise sayings to fit the mood, and presenting advice framed by allegory. Her voice is lined with an intelligent dialect and tone, and her vocabulary is learned demonstrating that she was once upon a time a student of something or someone. Much like the parable of the student becoming the teacher, so it was in a sense with Willow. She loves nothing more than sharing her teachings with those willing to listen. Had her path through life not led her to becoming a mercenary, then she surely would've been a teacher in another time, another place.
Warmth radiates from Willow's very core. Though she's often a quiet individual, rather wanting others to express their ideas and their suggestions before she presents her own. A certain air of nobility sits upon her shoulders, and she's perhaps the last person expected to be part of a rough-and-tumble mercenary group. She herself even notes how odd it is, but doesn't give it any thought. The path she took simply led her to where she is, nothing more, nothing less, and she has no regrets and no misgivings about her decisions. Always, Willow is willing to listen to anything anyone has to say-- whether she's just simply a vent for someone's frustrations, or someone's confident. She will always listen and anything spoken to her in trust she would never betray with a loose tongue.
Even-tempered, anger is a foreign concept for Willow. At worst a mask of disappointment will fall around her face and the often optimistic spark will vanish from her eyes. Her tone becomes lower, and an edge of tiredness invades her voice. This disappointment is far more worse than any outright anger. The closest concept to anger Willow has is when her brows knit and her eyes harden. This only occurs with the most vile of creatures, or when someone insults her-- or her companions out of spite. When this happens, her buttons are pushed and the offending party should feel fear, for she is an Elementalist, with all the forces of nature at her beck and call.
She brings this even-temper with her in a fight. She is not overly fond of throat tearing shouts, nor long winded battle cries. She's economically silent and creatively deadly. When pressed, Willow is a force to be reckoned with, with all of her knowledge and half of her life devoted to the magical arts brought to bare. A hellion with an even aqua stare and knitted ashen eyebrows. Even with all this being said, even in a fight she does not actively seek death, and will go to great lengths to defeat her opponent without killing them. Kindness and mercy even in battle.
Willow is a soft-hearted woman with an intelligent mind. The kindest individual you will ever want to know, with nothing but your well-being in mind. Motherly to friends, hellish to enemies. She is an advice-giver to some, confident to others, and friend to all. Willow lives her life the best that she can. A woman with a penchant for allegories and meditating. An Elementalist, one who is at harmony with herself and the world around her. Willow is a magician to her very core, with the natural magics of the world's energies coursing through her veins. A teacher, a student, and a mercenary, her life's taken many twists and turns to where she is today, and she'd have it no other way.
∞ Strengths ∞
Willow is an Elemental Magician, an Elementalist. While some schools of magic focuses more upon on the user's willpower to create, an Elementalist takes what's already there and uses their will to form it for their purposes. What this mean is that Willow can draw upon the water from a nearby lake, the earth at her feet, or even the wind blowing at her back and use it for her own purposes.
Creativity factors in a great deal in the Elementalism school as well, something which Willow in not without. While a normal person might just think to just drench their opponent in water, and Elementalist seeks to form the water into razor sharp whips, or small raindrop sized bullets. The only thing that limits an Elementalist is their imagination, and their store of energy. Despite what some might think, it takes effort to shape the world to an Elementalist's vision.
One certain perk about this school is the ability to effect life. While Willow won't be resurrecting anyone any time soon, she is actually a well-versed medic. She achieves this by forming the element of life, knitting flesh and setting bones. This is accomplished by using her and her recipient's energy, not their life force. What this means is that both her and her target becomes a little tired after she uses this element.
Simply put, Willow is useless in a straight up melee. She is unfortunately not as hardy as some of her companions, spending her tender years in schools and colleges instead of training her body. She can throw a punch, yes, but it's a pitiful affair to watch. This leaves her vulnerable to drawn out close combat affairs that cause her to burn through her supply of energy. And once she's exhausted, she's completely defenseless-- though she has been known to squeeze a little bit more magic out to save her life. That being said, intense and rigorous use of her magic can cause her to slip unconscious-- though it's been a long time sense she's last done that.
There's also the issue of literally not having the elements to work with, or having elements that do not effect her enemies. Not only that, but since her magic strongly relies upon her creativity to be effective, an emotional state that hinders her will cause her to loose that effectiveness. High levels of stress, sadness, or even anger will serve to do that.
A weakness in battle but not in the mind, Willow is merciful, some might even say too merciful. Willow does not desire to kill, only incapacitate. Whether it be creature or man, if their heart beats, she would see it stay that way. Blood is not for her hands. This limits some of her potential, as she would trade in a simple kill for a complicated incapacitation. She has also been known to give fallen enemies aid if she feels their injuries are too egregious-- but not too much that they'd immediately get back to their feet and press on the attack..
∞ Weaponry ∞
There is little sense for her to strap herself down with blades and axes that she does not know how to use-- so instead she carries a staff and a crystal bauble. The staff does nothing but allow her to direct her Elementalism-- sort of how a conductor would use their baton to conduct a symphony, though it has not power of it's own. She could also bash someone with it if she absolutely needed to. The bauble she has control over, and Elementalist instrument. When willed, she can control the bauble to float over head or ram enemies if need be. The Bauble also has the ability to store a certain type of element. Such as fire for lighting up dark corridors, or water to serve as a sort of canteen.
∞ Wardrobe ∞
Willow forgoes the chain-mail and full-plate of warriors for something far more sensible and fluid for herself. Her usual attire usually includes light fabrics that lay smoothly against the skin, soft materials that doesn't chaff under heavy movement. She's practical when it comes to her dress, so more often than not she can be found in clothes made to move around, and gives her a certain freedom of movement so she might better channel her magic. This means more oft than naught, she can be found in simple shirts, pants, and-- yes, even the odd robe.
∞ History ∞
Willow is selective about her history, there are parts she will readily share, while there are other pieces that she'd rather keep tucked away. Even so, the parts she is willing to share vastly outweighs the hidden parts. Willow was born to a prosperous family in the Kingdom of Visterie, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a beautiful court magician. Both parents were noble in their birthright, which makes Willow a noble as well. It's a mantle she doesn't flaunt, instead noting it as a simple detail of her whole. Even so, she'll readily admit she was a handful in her tentative years. As a young girl, Willow was headstrong, brash, with just a touch of irritating haughtiness and pride. If a mood struck, Willow was a complete hellion when she was angry. She wasn't a completely terrible kid, it just made her... Hard to work with.
She was just past her fifth birthday when her magic manifested itself. A funny story that always illicit's a chuckle when she retells it, she was in a bath scrubbing herself clean when the water around her suddenly froze solid. It took her mother working her own magic to thaw her back out again. While her parents thought it was the funniest thing ever, Willow didn't think so at the time. So it was then, that Willow began an "apprenticeship" of sorts under her mother to gain control over her powers. Her father was disappointed, hoping to have the young Willow take over the family trading business. Fortunately, that title would eventually fall to their new son-- Willow's brother.
Separated by six years, Willow was immediately enamored by her brother, and his birth helped peel away some of her rough exterior. She cared deeply for her little brother, and they were inseperable at times. When they were seperated, it was largely due to her being in court with her mother-- learning the basics of her magic, and learning the manners of nobility-- for all the good it did her, she'd note. The nobles of the court knew her as the little spitfire dressed in fine silks, despite her poor mother's efforts. On more than one occasion she'd insulted someone who gave her a funny look or remarked on her behavior. Still, even she knew better than to say anything negative about the King or Queen. She was intelligent, but reckless-- not stupid. And how intelligent? Well, in a few years she'd absorbed everything her mother had been able to teach her, though there was only so much that she could learn. As it turned out, her magic was different in nature to her mother's-- who was a wizard in the general sense. Willow was an elementalist, which brought a whole different set of rules.
So it was after she was twelve that she was sent to an institute to harness and teach her control. Fortunately, there was one such place in the city that they lived, so she never had to travel far from her family. Such was life for young Willow. She learned, she grew, and she began to control her magical powers. She had many tutors, some even elementalists like her that helped her find her own path. With age, her mind opened and she began to notice the beauty in the world, something that her magic allowed her control and appreciate. She became hungry for knowledge, to learn everything about the power that nested in her breast, and learn everything that there was about their world. However, she had outgrown her school and her tutors. So it was she was finally a woman that Willow decided that she was going to visit and learn at wizard colleges. For the first time in her life, she had to leave her family. They were supportive of her decision, even her brother, she says, despite him crying like a baby the night before she left.
It was at these colleges she developed a reputation as a scholar. It's here that she begins to skip parts. At some point she stopped attending colleges, and began to apply her skills elsewhere. It's here that her personality became more like the Willow of today. All that pride, the haughtiness, the stubbornness, and even some of her youthful fire was replaced by a calm tongue and an easy confidence. At one point mentions she was a tutor to young mages and wizards, she spent a stint as a court wizard, a small village's doctor. She's been many thing between the years, and still keeps within contact with her family. Her mother is still the court wizard in one of the kingdoms, her father still runs his trading company, and her brother has earned him a position in that very company, becoming a fine heir in the process. She's proud of them, and from the way they speak to her, she recognizes that they are proud of her-- even in her current occupation of a mercenary.
Life is an adventure, and Willow follows her own path through it.