Annabelle Aren

"It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever.... Have you thought of going into teaching?"

- The village priest to Ann Annabelle Whiting is a roleplay character played on World 42 by the player QueenArasene.

She was born in a secluded village in the northern reaches of Kandarin, behind the Baxtorian Falls. The next years she was lovingly raised by her parents as any other child, until she noticed around her twelfth birthday that she was somehow different.

The differences between her and her home community escalated, finally resulting in her leaving the shelter of her homestead and striking out for the larger areas, where she hoped to find a mage who could help her.

Early Life
A sunny afternoon in the small village known only to the locals as Fairtown, when the screams of an expecting mother rang out in the still air. This announced to everyone the beginning of Annabelle's life and she was received into the world with much merriment when her mother's ordeal ended few hours later.

The newbaked parents were given peace and quiet with their child when it became necessary, but in the small town everyone watched out for each other. Ann grew up in a collective where every grown-up was a parent and every child was a sibling. Her parents could let her go out and play with the others without fear, because they knew that there would always be a grown-up nearby to faithfully watch the small ones.

The years passed, and Annabelle grew into a healthy, young woman. Her parents watched with pride as she was chosen as bridesmaid for another young couple. The only oddity was how her hair developed; as the time went on, the green streaks in her hair, barely noticeable at first, became more and more pronounced.

On one particular evening, Ann came running home through the rain. Because she was soaked, her parents first didn't notice that she was crying. When they asked what had happened, Annabelle told between sobs the story of how a few of the older children had mocked her for her hair.

This episode sparked discussion among the parents of the village, though the matter seemed resolved and Annabelle was left to live in peace for another few years. Then the matter came back up, with renewed strength. The community was threatened as two sides emerged, those who supported Ann for who she was, and those who opposed her for her looks and what she might become.

Eventually, the village priest came up with a compromise that left everyone reasonably satisfied. However, Ann had lost faith in the community she had grown up in, and conversed with the priest and her parents at length before she finally made her decision to leave the safety of her hometown.

Another half year passed before she could set her plans into life, as her parents insisted she learn a few more important things before she could face the world. So came it that she trained basic knife fighting with the town guards for a time, while at the evenings the priest told her of his journeys outside the village.

Finally, the day came. On a beautiful spring day, just over twenty years since her birth, Annabelle Whiting gave both her parents a hug and a kiss, greeted the village priest and set out on her long journey into the wide, wonderful world.

A fateful meeting

 * This has not been roleplayed.

Appearance
Annabelle is usually regarded as fair, though not exceptionally pretty. She thinks her nose is too big and often hides her face behind a curtain of her coal-black hair which oddly enough has streaks of green that match her eyes.

The hair is likely her most notable feature, as it has a tendency to rearrange itself when one is looking away. Frequently, Ann herself has looked in the mirror only to find that her hair is in a completely different shape than it was mere moments ago.

She is often found in her simple traveling clothes, wielding nothing but a knife for self-defence.

Skills and abilities
As a commoner born to a small village far from everything, Ann learned many of the common household chores during her youth; She is an adept cook, a decent gardener and able to sustain herself for a few days in the wild.

A small amount of training has taught her how to hold a knife correctly, and she believes she could hold her own in a minor fight, or at least scare off unwanted attention.

Recently, a latent ability of hers surfaced when she discovered that things began moving around her without cause and that strong emotions from her sometimes influenced the feelings of others nearby.

Personality
Annabelle is a rather timid character; she is not used to large groups of people and will avoid them if she can. Beneath the surface, her upbringing has given her an iron will and determination, which concludes that she will do everything in her power to attain a goal once she is committed to it.

Trivia

 * The character was created after Queen's urge to finally have an Aren who was not Arachnea.
 * The shapeshifting hair is inspired by Susan Sto Helit from Terry Pratchett's Discworld.