"The only way to live in a broken system is to cheat."

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ROLE

Illador Selected

KINGDOM

Illador

NAME

Kelina Aloisia Teiran

NICKNAMES

KEL - she goes by Kel on a daily basis, and it is the name acquaintances, strangers, and friends all know her by. Only her mother really calls her Kelina anymore- that name is too elegant for the slums.

KESTREL - seven years ago, as a young Rhyse prattled on and on into the night about how overrated the colour blue actually was, Kel remarked that he was chattier than the magpies that roosted upstairs. Rhyse grinned and cheekily asked if that made her the mother hen- Timothee spoke up at that, saying that if anything, she was a kestrel. All was calm as the kestrel floated above the clouds, watching and waiting for the right moment to dive- it always knew the right moment to attack, and wouldn't pull up, not even to save itself, until the job was done. Timothee was given his own nickname of chickadee- ironic for his size but true for its friendly, curious nature. Since then, every new member of their crew and family had been given a bird nickname. One little flock of their own.

AGE

22

GENDER

Female

SEXUALITY

Heterosexual

FC

Zhenya Katava

"As the only one here with the unfortunate burden of a working brain, I have to tell you both to get off the goddamn roof. Snow will not break a fifty foot fall."

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PERSONALITY

Kel has a calm, steady presence of someone who knows patience. Her natural state is leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, slowly chewing on a piece of dried meat or hardtack as her hooded eyes rove over a crowd. Many mistake her stillness of body to mirror a similar stillness of mind, but those types of people are unfamiliar with the slow coil of a predator about to strike.

It takes a lot for a stranger to get a reaction from her, as she's very level-headed and solution-oriented. Kel's heard every kind of insult thrown her way, seen too many different kinds of violence to have it phase her- every once in a while she'll catch herself indifferent to it, which is what will truly throw off and terrify her.

Kel is able to find clever, unorthodox solutions to the thousands of issues that pop up in her life daily- her mind is the only thing that's kept her afloat this long. She likes to puzzle and plan, to create through her cunning. Confidence in herself and her mind have never been difficult for her to reach, and she can be determined and stubborn in her ways. She's used to being a leader, not a follower. Kel won't hesitate when she believes she's making the right move.

Her sense of humor lies in teasing or practical jokes. Poor Rhyse never quite recovered from the day Kel dressed a chicken in his favourite doublet and set it free in his room. It took him hours to chase it down and wrangle the clothes from it, especially once Alphie accidently left the door open and the hen tore off down the street- the whole ordeal accompanied by Kel's howling laughter. Deviousness follows her in all aspects of life.

It is very easy to convince others that she is only a dumb, arrogant slum rat when that's what they're looking for anyway, and Kel is fantastic at falling into different disguises to protect herself- she's made a business out of people underestimating her. However, for a lying, thieving urchin, she's surprisingly honest. She avoids lies when she can, and likes to see how much truth she can get away with while still able to trick people into thinking her of a certain identity. She knows trust is all about truth, and never lies to those she loves- even if the fib would be sweeter.

At her core, she's still that little girl who cooed and sang to horses to cheer them up, who enjoyed the stillness of night and beauty of nature, who cried for hours after she found a dead rabbit in the road. But in the years since the war begun, she's had to lock up her bleeding heart to prevent it from attracting sharks.

Sometimes she worries about how easily she deceives, how natural it is for her to take from others. If she would even go back to her life before if she could, to her peaceful existence sleeping in the stable loft and spending her days satisfied only with the companionship of her horses. Blissfully ignorant of all the unfairness in the world. Was it really her circumstances that hardened her, or had there always been something cunning and callous beneath her skin? All she knows for sure is that Jay likely wouldn't be proud of the daughter she'd become.

BACKSTORY

Even before the war began, the overcrowded slums of Illador's capital city were miserable. It was filled with broken dreams and starvation, and it was where Kel was born. She was a whore's child, and would have been cast back out to the streets if her father, Jay Teiran, hadn't taken her in to raise. Jay was in a better position than most residents of the slums, which was to say he at least had a job. He had learned to be a stable-hand from his father before him, and served a nearby lesser noble, taking care of his three horses.

The pay was minimal since "there'll always be another rat willing to work for less if you aren't up for it." He saved all he could to keep clothes on her back, buy her sweets on her birthdays, and bring her to Illadorian festivals in the nicer part of the capital.

Kel spent her childhood sleeping on hay bales, riding with her father, and occasionally visiting her mother Aloisia in mud-filled streets. She much preferred the stables to the slums, and avoided the bare-foot dirty orphans after one of them had tricked her out of a week of her father's wages. The people there didn't like her, with her clean clothes and full cheeks. The streets had scared her, made her feel sad and guilty for all the people that would never get help, and she avoided it when she could.

She preferred lying in a field under a sky full of stars with Jay, riding through the forest on Juniper, feeling useful by helping her father muck out the stalls. She even befriended the lord's son, playing with him in the evenings when she was allowed.

They never spoke explicitly about it, but Kel knew in her bones that she'd be taking over the stable after her father no longer could. He taught her everything he knew about taking care of horses, about finding peace and gratefulness in a simple life, about how to bow her head and ignore the lord's tempers.

He'd chastise her for scaring the lord's son with fish eyes and shout at her when she wandered too close to the manor's river with a strong undertow, but Jay was a gentle man above all else who could never stay mad at his mischievous daughter for too long. They loved each other, and in this simple life filled with horses and fields and her Pa, she was happy.

HOW THE WAR AFFECTED THEM

It tore her life apart. Jay had been conscripted to fight for his country, and Kel knew what that meant for her. Before he left, the lord they worked for assured him that Kel could take over his work, as long as she kept up the same quality and stayed out of the way. It was lonely without him there, and she missed him everyday, but at that point it had seemed unthinkable to her that he wouldn't soon return. Her first thought when the savings Jay left for her couldn't be found where she'd left them was that her Pa would be so upset when he came home to find that she'd lost all his money.

Kel searched everywhere frantically, asked all of the other servants if they'd seen anything, but no one knew where it had all gone. The lord's boy, who she'd told about her cunning hiding spot under the hay two days before, was suddenly no where to be found. The next time the lord came to collect his saddled horse, he paused and gave her a smug look. "I've heard you've been reckless with your money, girl. It's no wonder slum rats like you never make anything of themselves, with that kind of carelessness." And just like that, she knew he'd taken her Pa's money, and that it was her fault, and that she could do nothing about it.

A few weeks later, she cut her hand on a rusty nail while climbing down from her stable's loft. Kel washed it with some water, wrapped it up with some cloth, then forgot about it. That is, until the infection in it grew to the point where her fingers were useless claws and it took her twice as long to put on a horse's bridle. She'd tried to hide it, but the lord found out eventually. Kel begged for him to give her month's pay early so that she could get it treated, but he'd only sneered. "Why go through the trouble and the time when there are thousands of rats just like you scrambling to work here?" And he told her to be gone from his property by the time the sun set.

The entire household was dragged out to watch her stumble out of the gates, all of her and Jay's possessions fitting in a burlap sack. The lord's son didn't look her in the eyes once, as he'd grown into a coward who craved his father's approval over any friendship they may have once had. The sting of betrayal followed her as she was thrown out of the only home she'd ever known. She didn't even get to say goodbye to Juniper.

Kel considered going to her mother, but she was old enough by then to know Aloisia could barely help herself, never mind her daughter. If she went to where Aloisia lived, she knew they would offer her a job- but it was not one she would ever accept.

She wandered for a few days, sleeping in alleyways with the rats and begging for jobs or money or food or medicine. Soon she realized that no help would be coming for her, that she could no longer rely on the kindness of others, and that spurred her to action. Kel knew that she would soon die if her infection and fever grew any stronger, so she stole a kitchen knife, found a small bottle of alcohol, and dragged herself to an abandoned store to hide in as she cut the infection from her hand herself. Kel was so sure that she was going to die- and with every day she survived anyway, her rage and bitterness at the lord who'd thrown her out to nothing grew. He had her father's money, but he didn't need it. She did.

Kel knew the lord's manor like the back of her hand- she knew where the Lady of the house kept her jewels, she knew where his personal guards stood at night, and she knew exactly where the handholds on its outer walls were. So after recovering from infection she took back from them what they took from her, in the form of jewelry and plates and other things they didn't even notice were missing.

It was only once she got back to the store, exhilarated and grinning, that she realized that no jeweler would be willing to believe the authenticity of jewels clutched in the hands of a dirty urchin. So the next time she returned to the house, Kel stole less valuable trinkets.

The kids she had once run from- bitter orphans and neglected children- she was now one of. And instead of ignoring or running from them, she faced their sad existences. She began to make friends.

First with kind-hearted Timothee, who looked 16 but was really 13, who would rather be beaten black and blue every week in an alleyway than join one of the many gangs who wanted him as a bruiser. The next time they came for him was their last- he was taken, Kel said, and she showed them how true that was.

Then with wily Rhyse, caught with his hand on her coins. The eleven year old stood his ground, even when faced with hulking Timothee, and had crossed his arms, telling them to get the punishment over with. Kel had tossed him a few coins instead, and told him to come back later if he wanted to help them get more.

A year later they were close as could be, sleeping in a pile on the floor of the second story of the abandoned store. They weren't a gang like the other organized groups of orphans were- they ran instead of protecting territory, they fought for each other instead of cutting their losses. Kel, and soon Rhyse, continued to steal from the lord she used to work for and they considered themselves still lucky to be alive- but Kel was ready to ramp up that luck. She knew the lord would realize his things were missing sooner or later, and by then it would be too late for them.

The daughter of a lord was supposed to live life in the lap of luxury, but Olwyn Evaris was born from the wrong mother- and so she spent most of her time covered in bruises and hiding from the lady of the house. Even at eleven, she'd been eager to tell them everything they wanted to know about her family manor's layout, and when Kel robbed the place, they took her with them.

Not long after, she saw a little four-year old wandering naked in the one dirty market the slums had one morning, and Kel kept waiting for a mother or older sibling to run over and scoop her up. She watched the toddler walk aimlessly and found herself unconsciously following her. She watched other slum rats ignore her, scowl, or even shove her into the dirt. But the little girl just slowly pushed herself back up and kept toddling without a sound, big eyes taking in the world around her as though the shit-stained streets and decomposing lean-to's were the most interesting things in the world. By the time midnight came, Kel scooped the girl up herself and took her home.

Two more years passed, and by that time their scam was streamlined- Olwyn knew which manors to go to, which servants could be bribed for the location of valuables that wouldn't be missed, Kel and Rhyse left no evidence behind, and Timothee stayed home to look after little Birdie. The little girl grew quickly with three meals a day- Olwyn taught her how to communicate with her hands, Timothee made sure she remembered her 'please's and 'thank you's, Rhyse taught her how to make funny faces when other's backs were turned, and Kel brought her out to the edge of rivers to lie down and listen to its song, snuck her into some lord or other's stables to teach her how to get a horse to snort into her palm. They were a family now, but it wasn't yet complete.

True friendship, the kind that couldn't be betrayed even for a meal ticket, was difficult to find in the slums. Kel found it one day on the steps of an apothecary that'd been locked up and vacant for weeks, where a ten-year old and nine-year old trembled in each other's arms. The older's left leg ended at his knee, and he shivered with the kind of fever a deadly infection brought forth- but little Alphie stayed by Xavie's side on that chilling winter night with the small hope that someone could help his friend. Reminded so much of her first week in the slums, Kel couldn't resist taking on another hopeless case. She still has a scar on her hand where Alphie bit her when she first reached out for them.

Rhyse and Olwyn would poke fun at her by this point for taking in strays, but Kel would argue (though no one believed her) that she only did it because Alphie had the look of a fast runner about him. The fast part turned out to be true.

In a stolen post boy cap and sash, Alphie could walk right into the post office and pluck the letters addressed to Mrs. Estoyna Callil, popular jeweller to Illador nobility, from the stack and run them back to their home. Olwyn would read from which noble it came from, the type of jewels they requested, then she would write a reply finalizing an appointment time, forging her signature, and the letter would be sealed with a wax copy created by Timothee after Kel broke into Mrs. Callil's manor with a mould months ago.

Alphie would run the letter back into the return pile, and then they would prep for their next break in. They'd pluck one of the many manor maps drawn up by Timothee with Xavie's help, and unroll it to study. Later that night, Kel and Rhyse would sneak in and steal jewelry similar to the described pieces Mrs. Callil's client had asked for, only enough that a wealthy lady wouldn't immediately notice they were missing.

Then the appointment day would come. Olwyn's gift with cosmetics would paint onto Kel Mrs. Callil's wrinkled forehead, protruding chin, and squinty eyes. The transformation took hours, and by the end of it Kel was a famed Illadorian jeweler. She wore heels to appear taller, a wig to appear blond, carried a replica cane of the type Mrs. Callil was known for, and went to meet with her client dressed in an outfit that had once belonged to the real Estoyna.

She was accompanied by her tall, burly bodyguard to ensure the safety of her jewels when she waltzed in, welcomed to the client's house. Kel had learned the art of selling by that point, laying out the jewelry stolen from their neighbours for them to pick and choose and buy from. At some point, her bodyguard would excuse himself to use the privy, but Timothee would instead open a window for Xavie at the back of the house where he would be waiting, dressed in the manor's serving boy outfit with a fake padded leg sewn in. They would wander the house, Xavie committing every detail to his fantastic memory so that they could draw out a new map when they got home.

If the sale went early, Kel would talk the client's ear off about all sorts of frivolous things, overstaying her welcome to a Lady who could only smile and nod and wait for her to leave. Only once Timothee returned would the two of them stroll out, money in hand, evidence of a robbery gone, and a new mark for the future.

Sometimes a Lady would notice, spotting a family heirloom on the neck of another and shrieking out accusations. Kel didn't care about how her actions had the possibility of destroying noble friendships and alliances- especially not since the price of it was her and her family getting to eat.

"That cluster of stars, there? My father called that the happy bunny. Yeah, that's the carrot- what? Oh shut up Rhyse, you're disgusting. And now you get to explain to Birdie what a 'ding-a-ling' is."

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LIKES

- animals (especially horses) and spending time with them

- wide open skies to look at clouds or stars in

- swimming

- wildflowers

- birds

- the smell of incoming rain in the air

- a windy day

- chocolate flakey deserts

- courage in the face of desolation

DISLIKES

- the rich and powerful, and especially those that horde their wealth

- art snobs

- irresponsibility

- dust mites (they gets her sneezing and irritable like nothing else)

- anyone who chooses the easy way out when it's crueler to others

- waste

STRENGTHS

- dexterous and flexible

- great at bluffing and lying

- practical

- creative with solutions

- confident and cool-headed in the face of scrutiny

- she can make her footsteps almost soundless

- can lock pick

- great at hiding/ can melt into shadows

- horse whisperer

WEAKNESSES

- can't read

- bad at emotionally opening up

- terrible at cooking

- it's difficult to get her to reverse her initial judgements

- takes action without checking in with others

- not great at fighting

THOUGHTS ON THE PRINCES

The dark prince- she would not like to meet him. Kel has had her own moments of dancing around legality and morality, but murder is one line she refuses to cross. Anyone who finds it easy to lay low their own blood and bone at the tip of their sword would have no issue doing the same to any random stranger. His soul is unsalvageable and she would not waste her time being the fool who thinks they could put it back together. If she were a woman of faith, she'd pray for anyone living under this tyrannical ruler.
The illegitimate prince- her entire life stood to prove to her that it was impossible to rise above one's station, and she wonders at the strange sense of hope his ascension had given her. Maybe Ozilians will finally get a ruler who understands them. But though she is hopeful, Kel also feels a deep sadness for this prince who will never quite fit, who was accepted only because he couldn't be replaced. Kel wonders if he even wants to rule- if someone came up to her tomorrow claiming she was some long lost princess, she'd say 'no thanks' and turn back around to looking over Timothee's maps.
The twin prince- some of Jay's last words to his daughter was a request not to blame their kingdom for taking him away. That he wants to, truly, and Illador really needs the land so that there will no longer be a starving child around every corner in the future. Jay was fiercely patriotic, and though he made his request, Kel's bitter heart declined. There was always another way, she fiercely believed, and war only multiplied their problems. Every day as she walked down the streets of her neighbourhood, she witnessed all of the crown's failings. All of its people that it was fine with writing off. She doesn't quite know what to think of the prince- he didn't yet make the choices for the kingdom, but he would one day. She doubted he wanted to protect his impoverished people as much as Kel wanted him to.

THEME SONG

Natural - Imagine Dragons

AESTHETIC

OTHER

Her family;
- Timothee | chickadee (20)
- Rhyse | magpie (18)
- Olwyn | starling (17)
- Xavie | nightingale (13)
- Alphie | jackdaw (12)
- Birdie (10)

"Yes, Alphie, you have permission to go 'ape-shit.' Olwyn taught you that word, didn't she?"

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