Rhiannon Lynn Furey

[Rhiannon Lynn Furey]

RHIANNON LYNN FUREY

B A S I C S

Name: Rhiannon Lynn Furey (known as Rhini to very close friends)
Age: 22
Type: Shape shifter
Nobility: Beggar
Origins: West Kingdom

A P P E A R E N C E

Played By: N/A
General Appearance: Rhiannon stands around 5’7” and once carried herself tall and proud. Times have been hard on her, so she resembles less the girl she once was. Without a set place to call home, she is forced to live on the streets, and tends to appear so grimy and dirty that she’s lost the will to even try and keep up a decent appearance. Her hair is unruly with thick, large brown curls, but because hygiene is so difficult she tends to chop it off at chin length and hide it within the hood of her precious tattered cloak. She has a pale complexion, almost sickly so, and she is incredibly thin, though thankfully not too malnourished. She has come very close to being so, but resorts to thieving from the market when she needs sustenance. Considering her lack of strength from being unable to maintain fit muscles, she tries to rely on her cunning to get out of being spotted or caught. Due to a fire set to her house by the King of the Western Kingdom, she also has a deep scar on her left leg, which she keeps continually hidden beneath her skirts self-consciously.

Because she is a shape shifter, she is also able to take on the form of a cat. Her cat form is just as lean as her human one, and her fur, which once was shiny, short and soft, is now scruffy and matted. She has a calico pattern to her that would normally appear very attractive, but the white looks a grimy gray and the orange-brown patches look chocolate brown. Her scar is somewhat apparent in this form as well. The fur along her lower left leg grows in thin and reveals the skin below, which is tinged a deep pink from the flames. Rhiannon tends to find that bundling up in human clothes in her human form is the safest route for her, and so rarely takes her animal form anymore.

There’s another reason for this, too, however. She possesses an eye from each of her forms, and they never change. Her right eye is human looking and hazel, with a pale brown ring around her pupil and a light green surrounding that. Her left eye has a slit pupil like a cat’s, and is a golden green in color. Because the vision of them both is so very different, and because shape shifters are outlawed and killed, Rhiannon remains in her human form, covering her special cat eye with an eye patch.

Clothing/Style: Being poor and on the streets, she has little choice in clothing. She wears the same outfit day after day, a thick, tattered old skirt that once had been a lovely tan color but now has been dirtied to a mucky brown. Her shirt, which she finds to be much too thin, is a pale gray and worn away to the point she fears it completely falling apart very soon. She also possesses a heavy wool cloak that she had found, unattended, in the market one day, and filched before anyone would notice. It gives her a bit of extra warmth for the cold days, and an oversized hood that she may hide her face, and her patched eye, inside. She once owned a lovely golden locket, but it became heated during the fire so she was unable to grab it without burning her hand to bring it with her.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Skills: Cat-like hearing; Cat-like sight at night out of her left cat-eye; Can easily disappear in a crowd.
Weaknesses: Is physically weak; Without her eye patch, she is somewhat disoriented; Fatigue makes her distrusting and paranoid.

Personality Overview: Rhiannon is a very complex character. She only acts like a beggar because it is expected of her: the pitiful, repetitive calling out for spare money, the hunched up, bundled mass holding out a cupped hand, not daring to look up and meet anyone in the eyes. Inside, she hates herself for her behavior. Her family wasn’t extremely wealthy, just lower-class merchants, but even from a young age she was instilled with a terrible sense of pride. Her current circumstances weigh heavily on her conscience, and she wishes there was some way to reverse it all, to get her family and her station back. Her inability to do this, to have any influence on her life thus far, has left her bitter and cold to those who run the kingdom, and even those other merchants, and nobles especially, who could have helped her family.

However, around others who have fallen into a position similar to her own, other beggars or those oppressed by the tyranny of the king, she is more at ease with a sense of camaraderie, seeing them as friends in arms in a sense. In this sort of crowd, she smiles and laughs, and enjoys the company of similar minds. She likes to hear spirited talk of one day working the homeless out of their rut and into proper stations in society, and the rebellious notions of usurping the king. She knows she is no help to such a cause, but listening to it does lift her spirits.

She tends to pick her friends very critically, only choosing to associate with others who she can both tolerate and learn from. They have to be willing to ignore her tattered clothing and poor hygiene, as well as tolerate her sometimes sharp tongue and strong opinions. Anyone trying to give her handouts immediately irk her, as do people who act so over piteous of her situation that they feel they must comment on what unfortunate circumstances they are. Usually she can grin and bear it, but if the insults come intentionally she may say some unkind words in return that she might later regret. In general, however, it tends to take her quite a while to warm up to someone. Because she has no home or family to look after her, she knows she can turn to no one but herself, and therefore finds it difficult to open up or trust others, whose intentions might be unclear.

Her animal side has helped keep her alive in many instances. Her hearing is very acute, remaining with her even after she returns to her human form. She uses this sense when she is trying to rest, only half sleeping and continually listening for any noises of someone approaching. She fears some other beggar stealing what little she does have, but fears being caught and charged as being a witch for her powers even more. At night, when necessary, she shifts her eye patch to the opposite eye, revealing her golden green cat one that can see in the darkness much more easily. She uses this to navigate in dark alleyways to throw off pursuit or sneak around undetected in areas others might otherwise leave be.

M A G I C

Sorcerer/Druid: Druid
Powers: Shape shifts into a calico cat

H I S T O R Y

Mother: Ellette Furey
Father: Liam Furey
Siblings: N/A
Spouse: N/A
Heirs and Children: N/A
History: Rhiannon was born to a lower-class merchant family in a good market year, not extremely well to do but comfortable with their lot in life. Her father, Liam Furey, was in a tricky, fickle business partnership with another merchant from the south who shipped in necessities to those in the Western Kingdom. Her mother, Ellette Furey, stayed at home, taking care of her as a doting mother would, and between the two parents Rhini could want for nothing. She was a rather spoiled child, being their own, and they gave her as fine clothes as they could afford, the best toys their little amount of money could buy. She sometimes grew envious that others, particularly the nobles that she could sometimes see parading around in carriages, could have such finer things than her family when her father worked so hard to provide for them, but her family did their best not to let her silly worries distract her from being happy. Her mother was her constant companion, considering her little girl had been born with an odd, golden green cat-eye rather than a hazel one to match her right, and whenever they left the house she was forced to wear a patch across it as well, attracting attention where they went though her mother did her best to redirect it.

The years passed quietly by in this manner, with the thin thread of a partnership between her father and his merchant friend passing goods back and forth for good commerce between the kingdoms. It was very rare that Rhiannon got to speak with other family members. Her mother never mentioned her family, and her father seldom spoke of his, which had disowned him when he had married his wife, though sometimes her uncle and his wife would drop by, both with so little patience for children that they never planned to conceive. The quiet was eventually broken by the rupture of the partnership between her father and the other merchant when Rhiannon was about eight years old, some disagreement escalating so greatly that the southern merchant and called everything off in a fit of rage. Liam was devastated and tried desperately to get back the connection he had had, but it was more difficult than imagined. To make up for the lost money, Ellette began working for a noble family, cooking and cleaning and whatever they needed. It kept her away from home quite a lot, but it provided them with enough money to keep getting buy.

At the age of twelve, Rhiannon learned of her special gift, and of the secret her family had been harboring for much longer than she knew. Her mother was a shape shifter, able to transform herself into a beautiful gray tabby cat with golden green eyes; the same color that matched Rhiannon’s left cat-eye. It took her much by surprise when both of her parents sat her down to tell her, and even more so when her mother began setting aside little bits of her free time to instruct her daughter how she might tap into her own shape shifting abilities. Rhiannon had been at first very doubtful, but with her mother’s encouragement she took to her own shift form, a small calico cat that she had much difficulty traveling around as because her human eye stayed with her in this form just as the cat one stayed with her as a human. The differing visibility out of both of her eyes disoriented her greatly, and though her mother wished she would try to learn to work with her handicap, since it was something quite uncommon even among shape shifters, Rhiannon tended to stick to her human form most often.

Things went from bad to worse for Rhiannon’s family a couple years later, when Rhiannon was creeping up on the age of sixteen. The King of the Western Kingdom had started punishing people accused of being witches or possessing magical power. Because of the secrecy needed to protect their family, Rhiannon and Ellette cut back on taking to their cat forms and went about normal human activity to blend in with those around them. Word must have leaked out, however, because while the family was asleep one night, Rhiannon woke to smell smoke floating heavily around her bed. She immediately woke and realized that flames were creeping along the floor and up the walls, covering just about everything in sight. She screamed and woke her family, which hurried to get out, but at the front of their house they heard yells and screams of a riot outside. The fire had obviously been roaring for some time, because a part of the roof began to cave and singed her skirts and badly burned her leg. The family tried to sneak out the back door, Liam going first, right into the waiting grasp of the king’s guard. He fought long enough to give Ellette and their daughter time enough to sneak out, Ellette carrying out Rhiannon in her cat form because her leg was injured and she was easier to sneak out this way. Ellette got Rhiannon a short distance from the house before the guards caught up to her, and she urged Rhiannon to continue to run. As hard as it was on her, the girl ran, ignoring the cries of her parents against the yells of the guards.

She could only assume her parents had been killed; she heard news later of a young girl being taken in by the guards, under the pretense that they had caught the Furey’s missing daughter. As soon as she had been on her own, and found that no one would give her aid because of her powers that were now widely known, Rhiannon had taken up the guise of a beggar, tattering her clothing as much as she felt essential to fit the part and hiding when she wasn’t in need of finding food. She still fears being found out by the guard and tends to avoid them as much as possible. She harbors a strong hatred for the noble family that her mother used to work for, even after all these years, feeling quite positive it was them who revealed the secret of her family and made her lose the happy life she once had.

S A M P L E

Roleplaying example: Though a light, airy fog still lay around the outskirts of the village, life thrived within. The market was bustling, active and noisy, a customary thing to see at this time of morning. The maids of the noble houses were out doing the daily shopping, fetching water, whatever was needed to get the day started. Vendors were calling out about their wares, attempting to bring in customers and announce their products. Merchants wandered in driving carts, carrying more wares to be sold by the vendors they did business with. Everyone moved about with a purpose, ignoring one another even though some shoulders bumped along the way.

One figure stayed outside of the busy lanes, huddled up beside a stone building along the edge of the market. Two bare feet stuck out from a very tattered, very dirty skirt, under a mass of cloak that had obviously belonged to someone much larger. One hazel eye viewed the world shrewdly from beneath the shadows of the cloak’s hood, eyeing the people who walked past and listening intently to the conversations being conducted. It was nothing new. People were still speaking about the family who had been caught by the king’s guards just two weeks ago, about the daughter who had been captured a few days afterward. There was speculation she was still running lose and free, but only the grimy looking beggar girl seated beside the wall knew the truth.

She fumed underneath the cloak, clenching her hands in her lap as she heard some nasty comments accompany the conversation she had been eavesdropping on. Thankfully they two nosy maids were moving out of earshot, leaving the girl to her own thoughts. If only they knew the truth. It was so upsetting knowing the only family she had had disowned her without even knowing her, that her parent’s friends had turned their backs, and how those who had nothing to gain would toss another family to the wolves. Rather than get upset over it again, Rhiannon rose suddenly off the ground and stood, hunched and bundled up thickly, and began to walk along the outskirts of the marketplace. She had no reason to be here now. Her hunger wasn’t so strong it couldn’t be ignored, and no other beggars seemed to be up and about yet. Needing a distraction, she headed off without a set direction, just seeking someplace that wasn’t filled with gossip and mindless opinions.

A B O U T Y O U

Your Name: Just call me Rhini :3
Roleplaying experience: 5+ years
How did you find the site [Preferably a site name]: Flaming Passions (fireh was passing out links; I didn’t want to feel left out. xD)
Do you have any other characters with us [name them]: None!

[Amethyst Carrion]

Accepted! Welcome! And Excellent Bio!