Aisling Nitoro
âIf you ain't gonna pay me, then leave.â
âIf you ain't gonna pay me, then leave.â
âSpeciesâ
Aisling is a feline-type Metamorphosi. Her first and only form is that of a clouded leopard.
âAgeâ
26
âSexualityâ
Aisling doesn't trust anyone, but she's been with enough people of every gender and race to not care about that anymore.
âAppearanceâ
As a human, Aisling is a relatively petite, athletic woman. She stands at about 5 foot 1 and weighs a mere 100 pounds. Her facial features are also relatively small, but are in good proportion to her size. Despite her small stature, Aisling has a good amount of muscle on her due to her extensive training and the fact that she is constantly traveling on foot in her leopard form. Being a traveller, her chances to clean herself up properly are few and far between. However, Aisling prides herself on using portions of whatever water she has to clean herself every day. This need to keep herself clean may stem from the fact that she is a feline-type Metamorphosi, but whatever the reason, Aisling likes to keep herself clean even if she knows that she will be traveling for days on her own with no one else around.
Aisling's fiery red hair is long, reaching down to her lower back when it is down; however, it is usually in a ponytail that reaches to her mid-back with two loose, beaded strands that frame her face. Due to her nearly obsessive need to keep clean, Aisling's hair is nearly always silky smooth and if it is not, she always feels the need to continuously run her fingers through her hair until all knots are untangled. Her eyes are a sparkling, clear blue color with slightly slit pupils that hold a certain animalistic, cat-like quality that tells everyone she is a Shapeshifter.
Aisling usually wears as little as possible -while still keeping her decency- and she rarely wears any armor. This is due to her want and need to be unrestricted and not weighed down when she is running or when she needs to hide from someone or something. She likes to keeps her olive skin especially clean and is is normally blemish free; however she has picked up several scars along her journeys -some prominent and noticeable and others faded and undesirable from more that a few feet away. The most prominent of her scars is a jagged, dark pink line that runs from the top of her right breast across her chest and up to the top of her left shoulder. She received it while trying to save her mentor's life, but she has never told anyone the story and instead gets angry when asked about it.
In her much preferred animal form, Aisling takes on the appearance of a large clouded leopard. Her coat is a gorgeous mixture of browns and whites with big, outlined black spots that turn into stripe-like spots on her neck. Aisling's large paws and long claws make running and high speeds and climbing tall trees easy. Her bushy tail is longer than most other felines, being slightly longer than the length of her body. This makes balancing on high branches easy for Aisling and she often likes to take naps up in the trees where she feels safe.
âPersonalityâ
Manipulative || Charismatic || Short Tempered || Prideful || Greedy || Charming || Not Trusting
There are many ways to describe someone like Aisling. First and foremost is her egotistical and greedy side. She likes to get what she wants when she wants it and she is willing to go to extremes to reach goals that she has. For example, Aisling has an intense want to find her brother and she has been traveling to various places, threatening people and doing whatever else is necessary to find him. Other goals of Aisling's mostly include being rich and possibly gaining a second animal form like her mentor.
Along with her greed, Aisling is also very prideful and quick to anger. Her pride and short temper seem to be a defensive mechanism for when she is ashamed of something. She gets uncomfortable when she is unsure of herself and therefore, feels the need to overcompensate for that unsureness. So, she acts as though she is always right and that she is so sure of herself even when the truth is that she feels the exact opposite.
Despite her greed and pride, there is something about Aisling that makes her oddly charismatic. People either hate her or love her and they rarely know the reason for either. She has a certain charm to her that makes her irresistible to most; however, this charm also makes many people uneasy of her since they do not know why they are drawn to her. There seems to be something in her smile and the way that she holds herself that makes people drawn to her while at the same time know that they should stay away. It is as if the shapeshifter is enticingly dangerous. Her pride and swagger somehow makes other feel compelled to be around her. Aisling finds that being charismatic also makes manipulating people very easy. When she was younger, Aisling used to have trouble manipulating a person into doing her bidding because she thought it was immoral; however, she has since grown and been hardened by years of living alone and traveling alone, making it easier for Aisling to tell herself that what she does it not wrong of her. Needless to say, Aisling's morals have become a bit skewed over the long years that she has been without friends or family to guide her.
Most of all Aisling's personality traits, she is untrusting. Perhaps her trust issues stem from the fact that she know that she is not a trustworthy person, but there are other reasons for her lack of trust for anyone. She has seen and dealt so much manipulation and destruction that she has trouble believing that anyone is worth her trust anymore. The only people that Aisling has ever fully put her trust into were her brother -who is now gone, nowhere to be seen- and her mentor -who is dead. Aisling has never trusted anyone else and she believes that she never will; however, there is a chance that she will one day meet some one that she can invest her trust into again.
There are many sides to Aisling: her greed side, her manipulative side, her untrusting side, and her charming side. She shows each to different types of people with varying degrees of intensity. There is also a small section of Aisling's mind that has not been corrupted by her years of greed and manipulation. This is the part of Aisling that is nostalgic and kindhearted. This is the part of her that has been withering away since the disappearance of her brother and has been completely locked away since her mentor's death; however, there is a small chance that this side can be reached and Aisling can become a good, moral, trustworthy person if only for a moment.
âLikesâ
âŖ Traveling : She complains about her constant traveling and her lack of a home; however, Aisling knows that she would have trouble staying in one place for too long. She enjoys seeing knew places where no one knows her name.
âŖ Climbing Trees : Being a feline Metamorphosi -more specifically, a clouded leopard, an wild cat known form its tree climbing- Aisling has always felt safest when she is up high in a tree. It gives her a sense of security to know that she will always be the surpriser in a surprise attack and never the surprised. Even if she is in her human form, Aisling can often be found taking naps in a sunny spot on top of a tall tree.
âŖ Sun & Warmth : There is nothing that Aisling loves more than sitting in the sun, grooming herself or just laying around doing nothing. She hates the cold and is always in search of warm, sunny spots on cold or cool days.
âŖ Naps : When Aisling is truly awake, she is actually very spirited and lively; however, whenever she has a few hours or even minutes to kill, Aisling can be found napping in the sun in her leopard form.
âŖ Anything Expensive : Aisling is a person who is primarily motivated by her greed. She is not easily persuaded by moral or social standards, but dangle some expensive jewels in front of her and there is a far better chance of Aisling considering the offer.
âŖ Woodcarving : It is an odd activity that Aisling picked up with all the time that she has spent up in the trees. She takes her pocket knife or one of her claws and makes small wooden sculptures which she then sometimes sells, or -more often than not- leaves wherever she finishes it.
âDislikesâ
âŖ Snakes : Aisling often blames this dislike on her feline properties; however the real reason is that she was bitten by a venomous snake on one of her early travels when she was less skilled and she was sick for weeks, coming dangerously close to death. Despite this, she owes the venom of that snake to meeting her mentor.
âŖ Deep or Fast Water : Aisling is okay with swimming and wading in shallow, stagnant pools of water, but she has an fear of deep water along with fast-moving water. This sometimes proves cumbersome when she must cross a deep river on her travels. She will sometimes walk for miles along a river until she can find a shallow, slow-moving part to cross.
âŖ Loud Noises : Aisling is more than used to bustling city streets, but she much prefers roaming through the sunny countryside or a small village.
âŖ Being Woken Up : If there is one thing that Aisling loves it is sleeping. Similarly, if there is one thing Aisling hates, it is being woken from her slumber. If woken for a reason that she deems not worth her while, she becomes hostile toward everyone.
âŖ Cold Weather : There are more reasons that Aisling hates cold weather than she could possibly tell you. There is nothing that she likes about the cold and will only go to colder regions if there is good money involved or if she really feels that her brother might be up there.
âŖ Shoes : There are few occasions that one would see Aisling actually wearing shoes. She always feels constrained and uneasy when wearing them which is why she rarely does. Only on very special occasions will she don anything on her feet -when she travels somewhere snowy, for example- and when she does, she is forced to steel them from a shop or person because she does not travel with them.
âEquipmentâ
Aisling does not normally use any weapons besides her heightened senses, increased strength, speed, and agility; however, she travels with several daggers of varying lengths and a worn wooded, foldable bo-staff. She has become quite skilled in fighting with it, but she does not need it to put up a vigorous fight. Her mentor taught her how to use a variety of weapons and Aisling could probably remember how to use several of them if they were put in front of her, but she rarely has the chance to practice with these weapons anymore.
âAbilitiesâ
Aside from her shapeshifting ability, Aisling has increased strength, speed, and agility like any Metamorphosi. Along with that, Aisling also has the heightened senses of a clouded leopard in her human form.
Aisling prefers sneak attacks rather than straight-on battles. However, if formal combat is necessary, Aisling is well-versed in the use of several various types of weaponry. Her favorite weapons are knives due to their wide array of uses from close combat to ranged attacks to surviving in the wilderness when the only threat is wild animals and finding sound food and shelter. Aisling's other favored weapon is her wooden, travel-worn bo-staff that she keeps on her at all times. It has numerous uses in and out of battle and she has kept the simple staff by her side for years. It has cracked and in some cases, broken clean in two, but Aisling always gets it repaired rather than getting a new one simply out of the comfort the old staff brings as well as an odd superstition that the shapeshifter holds that old weapons carry greater power than new ones.
Aisling is well-versed in weaponry and she is strong, but despite all of this, she mostly relies on her heightened senses and her increased agility during a fight. She learned many years ago that it was easier to win a battle by using her speed, agility, and wits rather than any other means -such as the brute strength that many Metamorphosi seem to rely on.
âStrengthsâ
âŖ Agility & Speed : Aisling has the amazing ability to be everywhere at once -figuratively speaking. She can be beside her enemy at one moment and hanging silently above him from a tree branch at another. This comes in handy in both fighting and hiding from anyone that she does not wish to fight.
âŖ Strength : Although her size may hinder her strength, Aisling still holds the natural strength of a Metamorphosi. She can lift at least twice her body weight, but she does not hold as much strength in her small, cat-like body as she would like.
âŖ Heightened Senses : Naturally, Aisling has all the senses that a normal clouded leopard would have. This includes heightened vision, smell, and hearing. This also includes a certain level of night vision in her human form which is far greater in her leopard form.
âŖ Experience : Aisling has had years of traveling and being in danger and on the run. She had memorized maps of various places, knowns which plants are edible or inedible, where to drink from at each stream, and which insects are poisonous. To put it simply, Aisling knows how to survive and this has come in handy more than once.
âŖ Charisma : It is an odd feeling that people get around Aisling. Most know to some degree that they should not trust the shapeshifter, but many find is hard to stay away from her.
âŖ Cautious : In every aspect of life, Aisling steps lightly. Whether it is walking into an abandoned building or working with a traveling partner, Aisling is always guarded and cautious and ready to run or fight at a moment's notice. It keeps her out of danger both physically and emotionally.
âŖ Decisive & Stubborn : For many, stubbornness is a weakness; however, for Aisling, she has turned this weakness around to be a good thing. When she first started traveling on her own, Aisling found that being indecisive or regretting an action too much would only put her in danger, so she decided that excessively believing in her own decisions was far better than wasting her time harping on an event that was in the past and that she could no longer change.
âWeaknessesâ
âŖ Greed : Aisling's intense greed is odd and almost unintentional. She often finds herself trying to stifle her greed, but it just seems to be a part of who she is.
âŖ Water : While Aisling knows how to swim, she hates it -especially deep water. She has overcome most of this fear, but she can sometimes completely freeze up if the water around her is too deep or dark and she cannot see the bottom.
âŖ Pride : Much like her greed, Aisling's pride is something that she seems to try to overcome sometimes and normally fails to do. She is naturally prideful and head-strong and that can get in the way of her morals, making Aisling confused and irritated.
âŖ Height : Aisling is strong and agile like all Metamorphosi, but her height often hinders her strength while increasing her agility and speed. So, her short stature is not completely horrible, but it does nothing for her in the way of physical strength. This also gives her a disadvantage when combatting with an adversary that is stronger and larger than she.
âŖ False Moves : Aisling is agile and quick and hard to catch which often gives her the advantage when locked in combat. However, the disadvantage to her agility and speed is that the quick moves that she pulls must be precise and accurate. If she is even slightly off-kilter, the entire move could be messed up which could slow her down, putting her at a great disadvantage due to the fact that she relies on her speed.
âŖ Ranged Attacks : Preferring to stay close and confuse her enemy, Aisling is not very good when it comes to ranged attacks. She is good enough with throwing her daggers, but those are not too hard to dodge if the adversary is quick and knows that they are coming.
âHomeâ
Aisling is a traveler at heart. She prefers a nomadic life, following the wind, her heart, and most of all: the money. She usually does not stay in one place for more than three or four months and only on one or two occasions has she stayed in one place for more than six months. She mostly travels in her clouded leopard form, but stays in her human form when she is in villages or towns.
âRelationshipsâ
Aisling has her brother, Micala -though she is not sure that that is his name anymore- who lives in some distant city. After he got in trouble with the law, he and Aisling parted ways. He left and Aisling has never seen him since. The only other close relationship that Aisling has ever formed was with her mentor, Hirono, whom she looked up to like a father. He taught her everything that she knows, but he passed away several years ago.
âHistoryâ
Aisling spent the first few years of her life in a small town that was so insignificant that she cannot even remember the name of it now -perhaps because she has pushed it out of her mind, or maybe just because she has forgotten the name. She was born to her mother when passed away shortly after her birth, her drunkard of a father whom Aisling only grew to hate more as time passed, and her amazing big brother, Micala -Mic for short- who she looked up to at every major point her her young life from walking to talking to learning not to try to punch a young bear Metamorphosi who was obviously too big for Aisling to take on alone.
As a child, Aisling was not saddened by her father's drunken habits. She had never known what having a loving parent felt like, so she had nothing to compare her horrible upbringing to. She sometimes saw the happy families of other children and grew a bit jealous, but then she just felt pity for those children that they didn't have such a great big brother like she did. At first, Mic was simply Aisling's protector from the world -bullies and the like- but as she grew into her strength and agility, they grew something of a partnership. The two leaned on one another for protection and stability. They learned to stay away from their father at every chance they could and to be cautious around him when they couldn't slip quietly from his sight.
As they grew older, Aisling and Mic began to travel around together to various places, telling their father that they were going to sell some items to make some money -because God knows, he was going to let himself and his children starve before he gave up drinking to get a job. The pair actually did make quite a bit of money, using Aisling's baby clouded leopard form to steal from the pockets of passerbys while Mic sold herb mixtures in various markets. Aisling's favorite parts of these trips was always the beginning, when they were leaving home and she could still faintly spot their home lodged in the side of a hill. Mic was beside her, telling her some old fable, or a story about their gorgeous, sweet mother, and Aisling would sit back and make believe that they were leaving that place forever to travel somewhere far away where they would be rich and Mic would fall in love and Aisling could sit up on a tall tree, sunbathing and carving wood for the rest of her days.
More or less, that dream of Aisling's came true. After one of their particularly long trips, Aisling and Mic came home to find their father drinking -as usual. However, this time he was angry about something -Aisling thinks that she remembers him saying something about someone owing him money. Whatever the reason was, Aisling felt a pain in her right cheek and the next thing that she remembers is waking up in her brothers arms in the village inn. Mic had carried her their when their father had knocked her unconscious and he told her that he had packed all their stuff and they were leaving in the morning. Sure enough, the next day, despite Aisling's pounding head, they left from their hometown and never looked back.
The two of them spent years together, traveling around, stealing only what they needed, but mostly trying to make their money in an honest way. In his lion form, Mic became a sort of body guard for convoys or other, rich travelers, while Aisling was more of a scout. She was faster than her brother and whoever or whatever they were traveling with, so she would go ahead and clear the path for them or report back on any danger that she saw. It may not have been the life that she had dreamed of, but Aisling was happier than she had ever been back at home.
This happiness of Aisling's did not last as long as she would have hoped for. At one point in their travels, Mic and Aisling were tired and hungry and had been out of work longer than they expected. They were desperate and foolishly decided to break into the next home they saw and only take what they needed to survive for the next few days until they got a job. They did exactly this and ended up nearly getting caught, having stolen from a very rich, very unforgiving man whom they had actually serviced a few months prior. The man had wanted to turn them in for endangering his life because the carriage he had been riding in had nearly been swept down a river, but had not done so for lack of evidence. In any case, as they were running out of the house, Mic accidentally hit and knocked over an urn, scattering the ashes of the man's recently deceased wife. They escaped the dogs and guards at the man's house, but he had seen Mic and remembered the Shapeshifter's face. The man sent teams of men in search of a young man with Mic's description. Mic had known that this might happen sooner or later and knew that it was not safe for Aisling to be with him any longer. He said a hasty goodbye to her and promised to find her some day soon.
Mic was gone from Aisling's life so fast that it took her a few days to realize exactly what had happened. She wandered aimlessly for the next few months, determined to find him or die trying. She was dirty and starving, but she knew that he needed her -despite the fact that he had been his decision to leave. Mic had been the expert at all things travel and Aisling was completely lost without him. It was not until she was nearly killed by a venomous snake that Aisling's life began to change. She had been too caught up in her own thoughts and did not realize what she had stepped on until its fangs were sinking into her calf. She did not know that the snake was venomous until she began to feel sick hours later. Stupidly, Aisling decided to try to keep traveling to see if she could get medical care at the next town; however, she collapsed about a mile outside of the next town's border. Luckily, another traveler and Metamorphosi by the name of Hirono was leaving the town at the exact moment she collapsed. When he got to her position, Hirono found Aisling lying on the side of the road, barely breathing. She nearly died, but Hirono spared no expense in getting her the best medical care that he could get for her.
After that accident, Aisling told Hirono her entire story and he felt sorry for the girl. She was inexperienced and barely able to fend for herself despite her amazing strength and agility. About a week after finding her, Aisling was still recovering and Hirono came to her with a proposal: he would travel with her and teach her everything she needed to be a traveler. It took her several days to answer, but Aisling eventually agreed and the two set off together once she was fully healed. They travelled together for many years as Aisling and Mic had done, Hirono quickly taking on the role of a father figure and mentor for Aisling. He taught her everything from survival to hand-to-hand combat to how to shoot a rifle. They looked for Mic at every town they passed, but Aisling soon became resigned to the fact that he was probably well hidden somewhere that no one would find him. Somehow, she could feel in her heart that he was still alive, so she was able to relax a bit and she enjoyed traveling with Hirono.
Many years later, when Hirono started to get sick, Aisling panicked. She did not want to be alone again. With travel becoming increasingly strenuous on him, they decided to settle down for a bit. They lived for a year in the house that Aisling had always dreamed of living in with Mic. It was a secluded house in a countryside constantly bathed in sunlight, surrounded by lush green fields and dotted with tall trees. It was beautiful, but the place was bittersweet. The small, gorgeous cottage that they lived in ended up being the place that Hirono took his late breathe. His death was harder than anything that Aisling had ever experienced. She was quick to bury him and leave the place that now seemed to be so disgusting to her. For the next few months, Aisling continued to travel, grieving for her mentor and renewing her desperate search for her brother.
Aisling still travels the country, but her wandering is now less aimless than it was before. She primarily follows the money now -looking for rich people to scam or to escort to other cities. She still searches for her brother, but it is with decreasing hope and and increasingly heavy heart. She is also something of a bounty hunter, looking for people to turn in at every corner, but she keeps her identity secret in those matters for obvious reasons.
âBattles || Hudson Taylorâ
I was climbing, now I'm falling
I've been pushed off by a man
Who has made it to the top
And now defends it 'cause he can
And I have found a breach in his front line
I was open, now I'm hidden
From the danger of his words
I have found a good position
And I'll play for what he's worth, and he will find
Nowhere left to hide
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
If we're all just cynics come undone
I was losing, now we're drawing
I'm not afraid to draw my blood
I'm not backing down
So I'd surrender 'cause you should
And face the truth
You raise the flag, I'll tear it down
Though you may have won the battle
But I'll take the fight to you
And your flag is on the ground
And your bones they rattle too
'Cause I'll break you
Your fear has now come true
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
If we're all just cynics come undone
All just waiting for the gun
We are tied to the truth
The tie that binds me to you
I'm acting on my words
With all that I have heard
With honesty in mind
You will find
That I'm not the liar
See the truth in my eyes
No, I'm not the liar
See the truth in my eyes
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
if we're all just cynics come undone
Aisling is a feline-type Metamorphosi. Her first and only form is that of a clouded leopard.
âAgeâ
26
âSexualityâ
Aisling doesn't trust anyone, but she's been with enough people of every gender and race to not care about that anymore.
âAppearanceâ
As a human, Aisling is a relatively petite, athletic woman. She stands at about 5 foot 1 and weighs a mere 100 pounds. Her facial features are also relatively small, but are in good proportion to her size. Despite her small stature, Aisling has a good amount of muscle on her due to her extensive training and the fact that she is constantly traveling on foot in her leopard form. Being a traveller, her chances to clean herself up properly are few and far between. However, Aisling prides herself on using portions of whatever water she has to clean herself every day. This need to keep herself clean may stem from the fact that she is a feline-type Metamorphosi, but whatever the reason, Aisling likes to keep herself clean even if she knows that she will be traveling for days on her own with no one else around.
Aisling's fiery red hair is long, reaching down to her lower back when it is down; however, it is usually in a ponytail that reaches to her mid-back with two loose, beaded strands that frame her face. Due to her nearly obsessive need to keep clean, Aisling's hair is nearly always silky smooth and if it is not, she always feels the need to continuously run her fingers through her hair until all knots are untangled. Her eyes are a sparkling, clear blue color with slightly slit pupils that hold a certain animalistic, cat-like quality that tells everyone she is a Shapeshifter.
Aisling usually wears as little as possible -while still keeping her decency- and she rarely wears any armor. This is due to her want and need to be unrestricted and not weighed down when she is running or when she needs to hide from someone or something. She likes to keeps her olive skin especially clean and is is normally blemish free; however she has picked up several scars along her journeys -some prominent and noticeable and others faded and undesirable from more that a few feet away. The most prominent of her scars is a jagged, dark pink line that runs from the top of her right breast across her chest and up to the top of her left shoulder. She received it while trying to save her mentor's life, but she has never told anyone the story and instead gets angry when asked about it.
In her much preferred animal form, Aisling takes on the appearance of a large clouded leopard. Her coat is a gorgeous mixture of browns and whites with big, outlined black spots that turn into stripe-like spots on her neck. Aisling's large paws and long claws make running and high speeds and climbing tall trees easy. Her bushy tail is longer than most other felines, being slightly longer than the length of her body. This makes balancing on high branches easy for Aisling and she often likes to take naps up in the trees where she feels safe.
âPersonalityâ
Manipulative || Charismatic || Short Tempered || Prideful || Greedy || Charming || Not Trusting
There are many ways to describe someone like Aisling. First and foremost is her egotistical and greedy side. She likes to get what she wants when she wants it and she is willing to go to extremes to reach goals that she has. For example, Aisling has an intense want to find her brother and she has been traveling to various places, threatening people and doing whatever else is necessary to find him. Other goals of Aisling's mostly include being rich and possibly gaining a second animal form like her mentor.
Along with her greed, Aisling is also very prideful and quick to anger. Her pride and short temper seem to be a defensive mechanism for when she is ashamed of something. She gets uncomfortable when she is unsure of herself and therefore, feels the need to overcompensate for that unsureness. So, she acts as though she is always right and that she is so sure of herself even when the truth is that she feels the exact opposite.
Despite her greed and pride, there is something about Aisling that makes her oddly charismatic. People either hate her or love her and they rarely know the reason for either. She has a certain charm to her that makes her irresistible to most; however, this charm also makes many people uneasy of her since they do not know why they are drawn to her. There seems to be something in her smile and the way that she holds herself that makes people drawn to her while at the same time know that they should stay away. It is as if the shapeshifter is enticingly dangerous. Her pride and swagger somehow makes other feel compelled to be around her. Aisling finds that being charismatic also makes manipulating people very easy. When she was younger, Aisling used to have trouble manipulating a person into doing her bidding because she thought it was immoral; however, she has since grown and been hardened by years of living alone and traveling alone, making it easier for Aisling to tell herself that what she does it not wrong of her. Needless to say, Aisling's morals have become a bit skewed over the long years that she has been without friends or family to guide her.
Most of all Aisling's personality traits, she is untrusting. Perhaps her trust issues stem from the fact that she know that she is not a trustworthy person, but there are other reasons for her lack of trust for anyone. She has seen and dealt so much manipulation and destruction that she has trouble believing that anyone is worth her trust anymore. The only people that Aisling has ever fully put her trust into were her brother -who is now gone, nowhere to be seen- and her mentor -who is dead. Aisling has never trusted anyone else and she believes that she never will; however, there is a chance that she will one day meet some one that she can invest her trust into again.
There are many sides to Aisling: her greed side, her manipulative side, her untrusting side, and her charming side. She shows each to different types of people with varying degrees of intensity. There is also a small section of Aisling's mind that has not been corrupted by her years of greed and manipulation. This is the part of Aisling that is nostalgic and kindhearted. This is the part of her that has been withering away since the disappearance of her brother and has been completely locked away since her mentor's death; however, there is a small chance that this side can be reached and Aisling can become a good, moral, trustworthy person if only for a moment.
âLikesâ
âŖ Traveling : She complains about her constant traveling and her lack of a home; however, Aisling knows that she would have trouble staying in one place for too long. She enjoys seeing knew places where no one knows her name.
âŖ Climbing Trees : Being a feline Metamorphosi -more specifically, a clouded leopard, an wild cat known form its tree climbing- Aisling has always felt safest when she is up high in a tree. It gives her a sense of security to know that she will always be the surpriser in a surprise attack and never the surprised. Even if she is in her human form, Aisling can often be found taking naps in a sunny spot on top of a tall tree.
âŖ Sun & Warmth : There is nothing that Aisling loves more than sitting in the sun, grooming herself or just laying around doing nothing. She hates the cold and is always in search of warm, sunny spots on cold or cool days.
âŖ Naps : When Aisling is truly awake, she is actually very spirited and lively; however, whenever she has a few hours or even minutes to kill, Aisling can be found napping in the sun in her leopard form.
âŖ Anything Expensive : Aisling is a person who is primarily motivated by her greed. She is not easily persuaded by moral or social standards, but dangle some expensive jewels in front of her and there is a far better chance of Aisling considering the offer.
âŖ Woodcarving : It is an odd activity that Aisling picked up with all the time that she has spent up in the trees. She takes her pocket knife or one of her claws and makes small wooden sculptures which she then sometimes sells, or -more often than not- leaves wherever she finishes it.
âDislikesâ
âŖ Snakes : Aisling often blames this dislike on her feline properties; however the real reason is that she was bitten by a venomous snake on one of her early travels when she was less skilled and she was sick for weeks, coming dangerously close to death. Despite this, she owes the venom of that snake to meeting her mentor.
âŖ Deep or Fast Water : Aisling is okay with swimming and wading in shallow, stagnant pools of water, but she has an fear of deep water along with fast-moving water. This sometimes proves cumbersome when she must cross a deep river on her travels. She will sometimes walk for miles along a river until she can find a shallow, slow-moving part to cross.
âŖ Loud Noises : Aisling is more than used to bustling city streets, but she much prefers roaming through the sunny countryside or a small village.
âŖ Being Woken Up : If there is one thing that Aisling loves it is sleeping. Similarly, if there is one thing Aisling hates, it is being woken from her slumber. If woken for a reason that she deems not worth her while, she becomes hostile toward everyone.
âŖ Cold Weather : There are more reasons that Aisling hates cold weather than she could possibly tell you. There is nothing that she likes about the cold and will only go to colder regions if there is good money involved or if she really feels that her brother might be up there.
âŖ Shoes : There are few occasions that one would see Aisling actually wearing shoes. She always feels constrained and uneasy when wearing them which is why she rarely does. Only on very special occasions will she don anything on her feet -when she travels somewhere snowy, for example- and when she does, she is forced to steel them from a shop or person because she does not travel with them.
âEquipmentâ
Aisling does not normally use any weapons besides her heightened senses, increased strength, speed, and agility; however, she travels with several daggers of varying lengths and a worn wooded, foldable bo-staff. She has become quite skilled in fighting with it, but she does not need it to put up a vigorous fight. Her mentor taught her how to use a variety of weapons and Aisling could probably remember how to use several of them if they were put in front of her, but she rarely has the chance to practice with these weapons anymore.
âAbilitiesâ
Aside from her shapeshifting ability, Aisling has increased strength, speed, and agility like any Metamorphosi. Along with that, Aisling also has the heightened senses of a clouded leopard in her human form.
Aisling prefers sneak attacks rather than straight-on battles. However, if formal combat is necessary, Aisling is well-versed in the use of several various types of weaponry. Her favorite weapons are knives due to their wide array of uses from close combat to ranged attacks to surviving in the wilderness when the only threat is wild animals and finding sound food and shelter. Aisling's other favored weapon is her wooden, travel-worn bo-staff that she keeps on her at all times. It has numerous uses in and out of battle and she has kept the simple staff by her side for years. It has cracked and in some cases, broken clean in two, but Aisling always gets it repaired rather than getting a new one simply out of the comfort the old staff brings as well as an odd superstition that the shapeshifter holds that old weapons carry greater power than new ones.
Aisling is well-versed in weaponry and she is strong, but despite all of this, she mostly relies on her heightened senses and her increased agility during a fight. She learned many years ago that it was easier to win a battle by using her speed, agility, and wits rather than any other means -such as the brute strength that many Metamorphosi seem to rely on.
âStrengthsâ
âŖ Agility & Speed : Aisling has the amazing ability to be everywhere at once -figuratively speaking. She can be beside her enemy at one moment and hanging silently above him from a tree branch at another. This comes in handy in both fighting and hiding from anyone that she does not wish to fight.
âŖ Strength : Although her size may hinder her strength, Aisling still holds the natural strength of a Metamorphosi. She can lift at least twice her body weight, but she does not hold as much strength in her small, cat-like body as she would like.
âŖ Heightened Senses : Naturally, Aisling has all the senses that a normal clouded leopard would have. This includes heightened vision, smell, and hearing. This also includes a certain level of night vision in her human form which is far greater in her leopard form.
âŖ Experience : Aisling has had years of traveling and being in danger and on the run. She had memorized maps of various places, knowns which plants are edible or inedible, where to drink from at each stream, and which insects are poisonous. To put it simply, Aisling knows how to survive and this has come in handy more than once.
âŖ Charisma : It is an odd feeling that people get around Aisling. Most know to some degree that they should not trust the shapeshifter, but many find is hard to stay away from her.
âŖ Cautious : In every aspect of life, Aisling steps lightly. Whether it is walking into an abandoned building or working with a traveling partner, Aisling is always guarded and cautious and ready to run or fight at a moment's notice. It keeps her out of danger both physically and emotionally.
âŖ Decisive & Stubborn : For many, stubbornness is a weakness; however, for Aisling, she has turned this weakness around to be a good thing. When she first started traveling on her own, Aisling found that being indecisive or regretting an action too much would only put her in danger, so she decided that excessively believing in her own decisions was far better than wasting her time harping on an event that was in the past and that she could no longer change.
âWeaknessesâ
âŖ Greed : Aisling's intense greed is odd and almost unintentional. She often finds herself trying to stifle her greed, but it just seems to be a part of who she is.
âŖ Water : While Aisling knows how to swim, she hates it -especially deep water. She has overcome most of this fear, but she can sometimes completely freeze up if the water around her is too deep or dark and she cannot see the bottom.
âŖ Pride : Much like her greed, Aisling's pride is something that she seems to try to overcome sometimes and normally fails to do. She is naturally prideful and head-strong and that can get in the way of her morals, making Aisling confused and irritated.
âŖ Height : Aisling is strong and agile like all Metamorphosi, but her height often hinders her strength while increasing her agility and speed. So, her short stature is not completely horrible, but it does nothing for her in the way of physical strength. This also gives her a disadvantage when combatting with an adversary that is stronger and larger than she.
âŖ False Moves : Aisling is agile and quick and hard to catch which often gives her the advantage when locked in combat. However, the disadvantage to her agility and speed is that the quick moves that she pulls must be precise and accurate. If she is even slightly off-kilter, the entire move could be messed up which could slow her down, putting her at a great disadvantage due to the fact that she relies on her speed.
âŖ Ranged Attacks : Preferring to stay close and confuse her enemy, Aisling is not very good when it comes to ranged attacks. She is good enough with throwing her daggers, but those are not too hard to dodge if the adversary is quick and knows that they are coming.
âHomeâ
Aisling is a traveler at heart. She prefers a nomadic life, following the wind, her heart, and most of all: the money. She usually does not stay in one place for more than three or four months and only on one or two occasions has she stayed in one place for more than six months. She mostly travels in her clouded leopard form, but stays in her human form when she is in villages or towns.
âRelationshipsâ
Aisling has her brother, Micala -though she is not sure that that is his name anymore- who lives in some distant city. After he got in trouble with the law, he and Aisling parted ways. He left and Aisling has never seen him since. The only other close relationship that Aisling has ever formed was with her mentor, Hirono, whom she looked up to like a father. He taught her everything that she knows, but he passed away several years ago.
âHistoryâ
Aisling spent the first few years of her life in a small town that was so insignificant that she cannot even remember the name of it now -perhaps because she has pushed it out of her mind, or maybe just because she has forgotten the name. She was born to her mother when passed away shortly after her birth, her drunkard of a father whom Aisling only grew to hate more as time passed, and her amazing big brother, Micala -Mic for short- who she looked up to at every major point her her young life from walking to talking to learning not to try to punch a young bear Metamorphosi who was obviously too big for Aisling to take on alone.
As a child, Aisling was not saddened by her father's drunken habits. She had never known what having a loving parent felt like, so she had nothing to compare her horrible upbringing to. She sometimes saw the happy families of other children and grew a bit jealous, but then she just felt pity for those children that they didn't have such a great big brother like she did. At first, Mic was simply Aisling's protector from the world -bullies and the like- but as she grew into her strength and agility, they grew something of a partnership. The two leaned on one another for protection and stability. They learned to stay away from their father at every chance they could and to be cautious around him when they couldn't slip quietly from his sight.
As they grew older, Aisling and Mic began to travel around together to various places, telling their father that they were going to sell some items to make some money -because God knows, he was going to let himself and his children starve before he gave up drinking to get a job. The pair actually did make quite a bit of money, using Aisling's baby clouded leopard form to steal from the pockets of passerbys while Mic sold herb mixtures in various markets. Aisling's favorite parts of these trips was always the beginning, when they were leaving home and she could still faintly spot their home lodged in the side of a hill. Mic was beside her, telling her some old fable, or a story about their gorgeous, sweet mother, and Aisling would sit back and make believe that they were leaving that place forever to travel somewhere far away where they would be rich and Mic would fall in love and Aisling could sit up on a tall tree, sunbathing and carving wood for the rest of her days.
More or less, that dream of Aisling's came true. After one of their particularly long trips, Aisling and Mic came home to find their father drinking -as usual. However, this time he was angry about something -Aisling thinks that she remembers him saying something about someone owing him money. Whatever the reason was, Aisling felt a pain in her right cheek and the next thing that she remembers is waking up in her brothers arms in the village inn. Mic had carried her their when their father had knocked her unconscious and he told her that he had packed all their stuff and they were leaving in the morning. Sure enough, the next day, despite Aisling's pounding head, they left from their hometown and never looked back.
The two of them spent years together, traveling around, stealing only what they needed, but mostly trying to make their money in an honest way. In his lion form, Mic became a sort of body guard for convoys or other, rich travelers, while Aisling was more of a scout. She was faster than her brother and whoever or whatever they were traveling with, so she would go ahead and clear the path for them or report back on any danger that she saw. It may not have been the life that she had dreamed of, but Aisling was happier than she had ever been back at home.
This happiness of Aisling's did not last as long as she would have hoped for. At one point in their travels, Mic and Aisling were tired and hungry and had been out of work longer than they expected. They were desperate and foolishly decided to break into the next home they saw and only take what they needed to survive for the next few days until they got a job. They did exactly this and ended up nearly getting caught, having stolen from a very rich, very unforgiving man whom they had actually serviced a few months prior. The man had wanted to turn them in for endangering his life because the carriage he had been riding in had nearly been swept down a river, but had not done so for lack of evidence. In any case, as they were running out of the house, Mic accidentally hit and knocked over an urn, scattering the ashes of the man's recently deceased wife. They escaped the dogs and guards at the man's house, but he had seen Mic and remembered the Shapeshifter's face. The man sent teams of men in search of a young man with Mic's description. Mic had known that this might happen sooner or later and knew that it was not safe for Aisling to be with him any longer. He said a hasty goodbye to her and promised to find her some day soon.
Mic was gone from Aisling's life so fast that it took her a few days to realize exactly what had happened. She wandered aimlessly for the next few months, determined to find him or die trying. She was dirty and starving, but she knew that he needed her -despite the fact that he had been his decision to leave. Mic had been the expert at all things travel and Aisling was completely lost without him. It was not until she was nearly killed by a venomous snake that Aisling's life began to change. She had been too caught up in her own thoughts and did not realize what she had stepped on until its fangs were sinking into her calf. She did not know that the snake was venomous until she began to feel sick hours later. Stupidly, Aisling decided to try to keep traveling to see if she could get medical care at the next town; however, she collapsed about a mile outside of the next town's border. Luckily, another traveler and Metamorphosi by the name of Hirono was leaving the town at the exact moment she collapsed. When he got to her position, Hirono found Aisling lying on the side of the road, barely breathing. She nearly died, but Hirono spared no expense in getting her the best medical care that he could get for her.
After that accident, Aisling told Hirono her entire story and he felt sorry for the girl. She was inexperienced and barely able to fend for herself despite her amazing strength and agility. About a week after finding her, Aisling was still recovering and Hirono came to her with a proposal: he would travel with her and teach her everything she needed to be a traveler. It took her several days to answer, but Aisling eventually agreed and the two set off together once she was fully healed. They travelled together for many years as Aisling and Mic had done, Hirono quickly taking on the role of a father figure and mentor for Aisling. He taught her everything from survival to hand-to-hand combat to how to shoot a rifle. They looked for Mic at every town they passed, but Aisling soon became resigned to the fact that he was probably well hidden somewhere that no one would find him. Somehow, she could feel in her heart that he was still alive, so she was able to relax a bit and she enjoyed traveling with Hirono.
Many years later, when Hirono started to get sick, Aisling panicked. She did not want to be alone again. With travel becoming increasingly strenuous on him, they decided to settle down for a bit. They lived for a year in the house that Aisling had always dreamed of living in with Mic. It was a secluded house in a countryside constantly bathed in sunlight, surrounded by lush green fields and dotted with tall trees. It was beautiful, but the place was bittersweet. The small, gorgeous cottage that they lived in ended up being the place that Hirono took his late breathe. His death was harder than anything that Aisling had ever experienced. She was quick to bury him and leave the place that now seemed to be so disgusting to her. For the next few months, Aisling continued to travel, grieving for her mentor and renewing her desperate search for her brother.
Aisling still travels the country, but her wandering is now less aimless than it was before. She primarily follows the money now -looking for rich people to scam or to escort to other cities. She still searches for her brother, but it is with decreasing hope and and increasingly heavy heart. She is also something of a bounty hunter, looking for people to turn in at every corner, but she keeps her identity secret in those matters for obvious reasons.
âBattles || Hudson Taylorâ
I was climbing, now I'm falling
I've been pushed off by a man
Who has made it to the top
And now defends it 'cause he can
And I have found a breach in his front line
I was open, now I'm hidden
From the danger of his words
I have found a good position
And I'll play for what he's worth, and he will find
Nowhere left to hide
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
If we're all just cynics come undone
I was losing, now we're drawing
I'm not afraid to draw my blood
I'm not backing down
So I'd surrender 'cause you should
And face the truth
You raise the flag, I'll tear it down
Though you may have won the battle
But I'll take the fight to you
And your flag is on the ground
And your bones they rattle too
'Cause I'll break you
Your fear has now come true
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
If we're all just cynics come undone
All just waiting for the gun
We are tied to the truth
The tie that binds me to you
I'm acting on my words
With all that I have heard
With honesty in mind
You will find
That I'm not the liar
See the truth in my eyes
No, I'm not the liar
See the truth in my eyes
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
I will lift her love and I'll break your spirit
I will dig a hole and I'll throw you in it
Only time will tell if we're all just cynics on the run
if we're all just cynics come undone