ASTRID (COMPLETE)

[Astrid]

Name: Astrid Marian James
Age: 22 (28, counting cryosleep years)
Secret Word: PM'd
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Race: Human
Occupation: Theologist/Xenobiologist's apprentice
Human Physical Description:

Being of Asian and African descent at the same time, it has been difficult for her to convince people of her ethnicity, firsthand. She shares the same coffee tone of her mother, while at the same time; she has retained most of her father's facial characteristics. Astrid's wears her hair in a standard, "treated" style (perms work wonders on Black hair), although sometimes, she would give her hair a well deserved break in between treatments. Braids or a simple, poofy, natural style would crown her head during those breaks.

At a height of 5'3 and a weight of only one hundred and twenty, Astrid is the complete opposite of the word, 'imposing'. She views her stature as a blessing rather than a curse, it gives her the ability to slip in and out of places that many others would have a problem reaching into. Although there are times where she feels she must prove herself amongst her larger companions, she would not change a thing about herself in this regard.

As described before, her eyes are an indicator of her partial Thai heritage. An epicanthic fold is found before each dark pupil. Against other conspiracies and rumors, they are actually a dark brown, not black, which was a cruel joke played by a fellow student back on her old home on Earth. Astrid had suffered the insult of, "Ugly vampire girl", for years because of that.

She inherited her mother's full mouth shape, which is shaped into a permanent pout. It can give one a false impression of her being sad or upset while she is actually calm or complacent. Above her cupid's bow, lies an old scar, masquerading as a beauty mark.

Astrid's fashion is known for its use of garish colors and tacky patterns. It's been joked that one can see her from a mile away because of her clothes. Mismatched shoes, candy colored jewelry, and mind-boggling motifs are just a few examples of what's found in her wardrobe.

Avatar Physical Description:

Height- 9'3
Weight- Average
Eye color- Bright yellow
Hair color- Deep brown, nearly black

Overall, Astrid's avatar body is just a large and blue version of herself, and yet, there are some subtle differences. Comparing her human face with her Avatar one, there seems to be no real contrasts. Her eyes are indeed a touch larger, but they still retain that same tight, almond shape she has as a human. Her hair texture is a bit foreign in this body. Unlike the wavy, and nearly manageable hair she was born with, her Avatar has very thick and somewhat kinky hair. She likens it to a lion's mane; unruly, yet it made her Avatar seem bigger than it actually was. Astrid has yet to style the queue to her liking.

The avatar's coloring mimics Astrid's skin tone in its medium deep shade of purplish-blue, the tell-tale stripes of a Na'vi line her body in a dark, blue-black coloring. The biolumescent spots on her body trace her central nervous system in an uneven, scattered pattern.

The avatar has the usual ten toes and fingers and stocky abdomen, while its tail appears to have suffered from a scrape or two from Astrid's carelessness. Vanity has inspired Astrid to go as far as to pierce the creature's ears, three on each one, to match her own modifications. The fake beauty mark that exists above the lips of the actual is nonexistent.

Because it frowned upon to wear traditional Na'vi gear, Astrid prefers to wear a standard tee shirt (the color doesn't matter) and a pair of fatigues as pants. She goes barefoot as she goes out in this body. A rag is worn, tightly, on the crown of her head to control the frizzy locks she has in this form. A standard issue has been given to her, just in case if she happens to come across a couple of unfriendly viperwolves by accident.

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Personality:

Eccentric, or weird, for lack of a better term. Astrid is know for her unique approach to certain aspects of life. Instead of making lemonade, as the saying goes, she prefers to make beef stew. A sign of her strange personality is in her love of collecting oddities. Match cases, old feathers, foreign currency, other weird items can be found in her living space on the Green Mother. She finds humor in bland or off-color jokes and she has a habit in being inappropriate during certain times.

Tree hugger. Needless to say, Astrid has a love for Pandora and its environment. Ever since she was a little girl, she has always dreamed of living in a world with color and breathable air. Unforunately, she was not blessed to grow up in a world filled with natural beauty. Her love of nature is seen in her dedication as a Xenobiologist's apprentice. She has hopes that her hard work will allow future generations on Earth to live and coexist with nature once more.

The Artist. Her time in Pandora has inspired her to keep journals and photos of her experience. When she was younger, she originally wanted to pursue a career in the Arts, but her confidence in herself and her work caused Astrid to choose a more 'safe' career. She has sometimes regarded this decision in bitterness, but that bitterness has only fueled her passion in her work.

Not good enough. Astrid may seem happy and cheery with everything, but here are times when she feels that world has crashed down on her. She feels she must do 100% at everything and if she does not do it right, she is a failure. It was something she developed as a ward of a prestigious Na'vi language expert after her family's untimely death. Her perfectionism only lies in her work; as she is usually sloppy in other affairs.

Curiouser and curiouser. The icing of Astrid's mentally internal cake. She has always loved a good mystery. Anything that happens to pique her interest must be carefully dissected and examined by this tiny woman. Tread lightly on secrets around this girl and one will be fine.

Some thoughts on the Na'vi. Much to her disappointment, she has yet to meet one. Which is unforunate, because it is very difficult to examine the Na'vi's relationship with their Goddess, Eywa. She understands that not all Na'vi are friendly nor are they all resentful and violent. Astrid's feelings on the people are a mixed bag; her feelings are scattered about from her inexperience. However, if one would want to befriend her, she'd immediately accept the offer.

Talents:

Photography. If there would be only one thing that Astrid would be good at and be pleased at each attempt at the same time, that talent would be photography. She must have a camera with her each time she ventures out into Pandora. Her room is littered with grazing vexepedes, viperwolves tending to their young, and woodsprites floating across the air (her favorite subjects).

The Na'vi language. During her preteen years, she became the ward of a highly respected linguist who was basically fluent in the language. As she was taken under the codger's wing, she herself learned the language in order to become closer to her guardian.

History:

Watercolors. She was born on a January morning. Her parents decided to settle in the Southeast region of the United States, specifically Alabama. Her mother, Dr. Mariah James, gave birth to her at home, like her elder brother before her, Nathaniel. Her father, Ananda, chose his wife's surname over his Thai one because it was too long for both of them to pronounce correctly. They both found the name Astrid from a book of Scandanavian fairy tales that was bought for her then two year old brother. The heroine of the story was very brave, yet gentle, qualities that both parents wanted from a daughter. She was seven pounds and five ounces at birth. She had some breathing problems from the umbilical cord being wrapped around her little neck, but it was brief and she survived. Astrid developed into a lively, playful toddler. Curly haired and bow lipped, she was a pleasant child to be around.

Where do the children play? She was, for the most part, a well behaved child. There were times where her prankster streak would pop out, partly because of her brother's encouragement of her getting herself in trouble. Astrid developed a love for painting and fairy tales at this stage. She had often dreamed of living in the world of her storybooks. She could be like Peter pan or Alice, where she would live in a land of peace and nature. She had always wanted to ride on the back of an elephant like Mowgli from the Jungle Book. Hell, she had never laid her eyes on a house cat or a labrodor retriever, let alone an elephant!

It is here where her dreams of making her planet a better place to live, begin.

A Little Princess. She prefers to not remember the accident. Astrid would simply say it was a car crash. She does want to describe how hot it was in the car and how her brother would not stop his panicking over his seat belt. It had been raining during that week, so the roads were slick. The other driver was distracted and lost control of his car, killing her parents and her brother. It took seven hours to close the wound that slashed from under her eye to above her mouth. Her aforementioned beauty mark developed from said wound. Both sets of grandparents had passed and her aunts and uncles could not care for her. Astrid was placed to live in an orphanage. She was ten years old. She was bullied because she was the smallest of the children, but she always fought back, which tired the bullies and forced them to find a cheap thrill elsewhere.
Besides the few, friendlier kids that would sit with her during breaks, she was usually alone. She would often entertain herself with old nature and story books. She begins to learn more about the creatures of the past and begins to dream up a plan for the world to go back to its former beauty.

Mr. Fitzsimmons
It was during her twelfth month of being placed in the State's care. She was told that she was to pack her things and leave in a week to be in the care of a family friend. Now, Astrid's parents were somewhat private with their personal lives. The identity of the mystery person played in her mind for that entire week, to say that she was disappointed when she found out would be an understatement. Mr. Fitzsimmons was an older black man, possibly in his late fifties or early sixties. When he found out that his friend Ananda had died he felt he was obligated to adopt his friend's daughter out of debt. Besides, his wife had recently passed and all of his other children were all grown and wanted nothing to do with him, he was in dire need of company. While he had more than enough money to care for her, Astrid herself was somewhat relunctant to his presence in the beginning.

She would rarely speak and he also would say only a few words towards her. Christmas was an especially somber time for both. He enlisted her into a private school and became even more distant from her (except when it came to her grades and school work, of course). During her third month of living with Mr. Fitzsimmons, she decided to take up the Na'vi language, it was reason why he made so much money.

He had even claimed he was one of the first humans to arrive on Pandora. This is where they began to bond and form a father-daughter like relationship. By her thirteenth birthday, she was nearly fluent in the language and had developed into the spacey, weird, and fun loving person she is now.

The Decision
During High School, she had planned the life of a story book illustrator for herself. It was something that she had wanted to do for a long time, even if it was against Mr. Fitzsimmons wishes. What he had planned for her was to become someone like a Xenobiologist or someone in the science field. He believed that, with her imagination and spunk, she could do great things. The rift that was sewn shut by their past closeness began to unravel, and soon, all hell broke loose. Dinner table speak was replaced with arguments about her future occupation, instead of being about his job and her new boyfriends. The became distant once more, something that bothered both, but they never wanted to address; fearing that the other would believe that to be weakness. As she entered University, Fitzsimmons grew sick, but he did not make it known to her or to anyone else. He died on Christmas Eve. She was alone again, the only connection she had to this world, was gone. It was out of depression that she joined the Avatar program for the Green Mother. She had even signed up to be a Xenobiologist's apprentice once she arrived, even though she had wanted her degree as a Theologist. At this point, she decided that would be best for herself and the world, she could help her planet by studying another.

She believed that her dreams would be realized.

The Ice Queen
Whoever said that cryosleepers don't dream was either a pessimist or a liar. Astrid dreamed, they were usually memories of her family and how they lived in her childhood home of Alabama. She did not want to wake up.


Merry Christmas, Miss James
She spends most of her time exploring, sometimes she would be gone for days. She prefers to be alone, on occasions she would allow someone to accompany her, but only for a day and then she would want the other to leave. Astrid's life at the Compound has been a stable one, she has her friends, and her collection of pictures from Pandora's wildlife. She has kept her life story to herself, however. It's too long of a story to tell.

RP Sample:

Eternal memories.
A morning in the Pandoran rainforest was an experience. The sun would rise and the biolumenscent lights of the wildlife would fade out like Times Square at 7:00 am. Astrid's usual wanderings would be held after lunchtime; but after much thought, she decided to have this trip while everything was still fresh and new. She packed herself several supplies, such as a few packs of food and water and a change of clothes (in the case of her wanting to spend the night).

Astrid tried her best with her hair, but she gave up and wrapped her old afghan rag across her head. She knew that no chemical hair relaxer would be able to fix her avatar's nappy head, but she wished that she could at least put a flat iron to it!

She gave herself one last mirror check before she silently stepped into the corridor. Everyone was still asleep or barely awake so she was able sneak out, easily. It was not much of a hassle for her to leave the compound, a few steps and she was outside. Astrid inhaled deeply, it was amazing, that, in her natural body, the sweet smelling air around her would kill her. But as a avatar, it would simply choke her with the overpowering scent of the outdoors; grasses, animals, and flowers. She took another breath before she started her trail, camera in hand, wanting to find a subject to place in her collection of photos.

The sun became fuller and brighter as the day went on, yet she still had not found her subject. She was about to head back and call it a day until something, or rather, somebody caught her eye. She knew she was to keep her distance and she was silent enough to not be heard. A young male Na'vi, too young to be a warrior but old enough to be considered a teen was lazing in the grass. With her heart, literally thumping inside of her chest, she took the snapshot and ran. She did not wait to be acknowledged.

[Silmaneero]

Approved