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SA: Airita of Aodh

inke-ri

Published: Jan 20, 2017

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Description

Last drawn update: 02/11/2020

_{Last written update: 02/11/2020}

[Art & Major information rehaul. Art and design done by gone-astrayy ]

General Information

Name: Airita

Nickname: Rita, Ari, Mama

Birthday: April 1st,1683

Age: 19

Starting Age: 18

Gender: Cis Female

Orientation: Heterosexual Demiromantic

Rank: Commoner / Merchant

Patron god: Ignacio

Breed & Coloration: Paintaloosa Common Horse

Sire: Russe- Clydesdale Common Horse

Dam: Vera- Paint/Appaloosa Arabian mix Pegasus

Size & Weight:

Height: 16.5hh

Weight:980lbs

Talents & Blessings

Talents:

First Talent: Mimic

Second Talent: # Blessed

Blessings:

First Blessing: Fire Manipulation (level 4)

Second Blessing: None

Familiars: None

Airita is not particularly fond of keeping pets, and mostly just helps take care of Kimiko's bunny.

Family Connections

Parents:

Father: Russe [Alive, NPC]

Mother: Vera (Alive, NPC)

Child:

Kimiko of Aodh

Sisters:

:SA: Evalynn the Artisan
SA | Asalah | Commoner | Aodh

Nephews/Nieces:

Pel'ciri of Valore

Cin'ciri|Aodh|Commoner

SA | Icarus | Aodh | Kindling(Commoner) | HE/HIM

SA || Marcello || Kindling || Aodh

Cyrene of Aodh

Personality

Airita is a horse who has gone through a great number of changes, but some of her personality has been consistently there. She's a very closed off horse, but not in a cold or detached way. Having traveled across so many places as a foal, it was hard (scary) to befriend people in a lasting way, and that very early one turned Airita into a filly who preferred to be her own best friend. She's very socially awkward with those she doesn't know these days and doesn't make friends easily.

One thing Airita has been consistently known for is her determination. She doesn't back down easily and is very defensive of her opinions. Rita didn't always show it on her face, but it was definitely there. Sometimes, she can cross the line between decisive and harsh, though motherhood has mellowed her somewhat. This is good, because for a long time she didn't care for herself, and after meeting Ignacio and being told to forge her own path, she kind of went all out and got herself in dangerous situations due to defending her opinions. Having a baby tempered her stubborn streak though, she's learning how to not be as reckless since her actions directly impact Kimiko's life.

Airita loves deeply, as fiercely as fire itself. This can be good or bad, because while she'll do anything for those she loves, once her trust is broken it's hard to get it back... once the fire of her love burns itself to ashes it's near impossible to ignite it again. Thankfully, it takes a lot for Airita to reach that point. More often than not, she'll give someone the cold shoulder if she's quarreling with them, and may be unreasonable when this happens. She can be very proud, after all. To this day, she's a very family-oriented horse, though in the past this meant not caring for her own desires at all- she loved her sisters so much that her own thoughts and desires no longer mattered, and she lived a life of appearances where she was happy, while feeling dead inside. She's been working on it with her sisters though, and has been trying all sorts of new things to figure herself out.

One of these things is very clear: she loves to explore. Airita spent a long time traveling as a kid, and now she hates being cooped up. She loves to travel and explore Hireath, this time on her own terms and because she wants to. She also adores reading and loves to learn about the lore and mythos of other herds- she never had a place to call her own, things to say that she liked, so she wants to try it all to decide what works for her and what doesn't.

Despite all that freedom to come and go that she now has, Airita always feels... trapped. She's resilient, adaptable, capable of doing her best with what she was given out of habit. But fighting against the stiff social norms of Aodh is exhausting. She desperately wants to change it, wants slaves to be freed, wants the wall between classes to crumble, but she feels as though she's bridled again, unable to escape her beloved herd's chains. It's very frustrating. She's angry and sick of it.

Backstory

Unlike her sisters', Airita's tale does not begin in Talori, but in Aodh.

Her mother was a pegasus slave named Vera, given an unusual amount of freedom by her master, a retired Chevalier who was busy with his sick mother. Most of that freedom was used to visit her secret lover, a rogue talorian by the name of Russe. The two maintained a relatively steady relationship that went on for about a year, with months-long breaks between Russe's visits. While there was no love between them, the couple understood each other in a unique level.

When Vera got pregnant, it was easy to lie and say the foal was her master's, as she was also his pleasure slave. The old horse wasn't happy, but once the filly was born, he got a soft spot for her. Airita was allowed to remain at her mother's side for longer than most foals, though she rarely left their house. Her few outside memories of those two years were the colorful streets and the bite of the slave bridle. Outside of that, she only remembers her mother's tales of grandeur about Ignacio.

When the Chevalier's mother died, Vera found herself loosing her original privileges. She did not take to it lightly, and her relationship with her master deteriorated. Eventually, even his fondness for Airita wasn't enough to keep him from taking action. The two would be taken to a slave trader, branded and retrained. Vera panicked at the news, and as Russe was in port around that time, she begged him to take them with him. Russe was none too pleased to deal with another daughter, but because he respected Vera, he arranged for a smuggler he occasionally worked with to get the two mares out of Valore.

The two were taken to Sirith, with instructions to meet Russe in a beach in several months. Meanwhile, they joined a colorful band of peddlers. There, Airita, who had only known about Ignacio, was introduced to the other gods, namely Argus and Alya. She loved them- they became her idea of imaginary friends. The filly would spend days talking to Iggo and Ally and Arge. Her three friends were her companions and her distraction, for the life of a vagabond was harsh. After a horrible encounter with a pack of terror birds - which took one of their own - Vera, who had planned to not take Russe up on his offer, found herself on the shore on the agreed upon day.

Russe did not expect to take just his daughter home, but he understood Vera's love for her new freedom. She loved her peddlers didnt want to loose them. So, Russe took the child home. The trip was uneventful, but scary for poor Airita. The way the horses spoke of Ally... like she was someone to be scared of but also hate. This was also where she learned about Cascade and Kaia, as a couple of Russe's crew were former Onean Raiders. Airita found herself withdrawn and scared, begging Iggo and Cassy and Ally to take her back to mama... mama, who didnt want her. Papa did though. He took care of her.

The filly was miserable when the ship finally made port in the Gutters. The town somehow managed to scare her even more, so she stayed close to Papa as he took her through the streets till a mare's house. That was when Airita first met her half-sisters, Asalah and Evalynn. Their mother could not refuse the poor filly, but she - who was Russe's wife - was sick of his attitude. Airita didnt understand that she didnt matter to her father as well, just that the mare was taking her from him. She cried and begged but the mare didn't listen. She took the three fillies back to her home in Inaria. Airita never got a chance to know her better, for the Mom got sick shortly afterwards and passed away.

The three girls were adopted by some of the Mom's friends, Meredith and Anders. Airita grew up a quiet, sullen girl. She never accepted her adoptive parents, but after a year Asalah and Evalynn gained her trust and they became the center of Airita's life. They were a distraction of the extreme confusion she was feeling: in Talori she learned of yet another Cascade, that her best friend Iggo was a monster. She couldnt understand, but she didnt want to play with her imaginary friends anymore. Though she smiled and pretended everything was fine, as she had been taught as a slave, Airita felt lost.

The confusion and subsequent detachment Airita felt were not helped by Evalynn's fire manipulation blessing, when they began to genuinely suffer with the prejudice from other Talorians. Airita hated it, and closed herself off even more, except when she fought other kids who made fun of Ev. She gained a reputation of being a very unpleasant child, but she didn't care. Evalynn and Asalah were her only anchor to this confusing world, where she was "free" but chained to ideas of how she should behave and how (and who) she should believe in.

So it was painful when she found her sisters (all very young) in the middle of a plan to escale Talori and make their way to Aodh. Airita, who was only 10, insisted on going with them, and the sisters had no choice but to take her along (it stung that they might have left her behind though. Like Mama had done). They stowed away in a ship headed to Sedo, were found out after days of hunger for Asalah and Evalynn, and were almost killed when a storm broke around them. The ship crashed in Sirith, and the sisters survived out of sheer luck.

How they made it out, Airita is still not sure. Ignacio was involved, she knew, for she had seen his wisps guide them. There had been several close calls: many times they got lost and it was only Asalah's guidance that saved them. When they reached the border between Eithne and Sirith, Airita, who was smaller, had to guide her sisters around a vagabond encampment that was clearly dedicated to catching horses and selling them to Aodh as slaves. The tension of going back to Aodh and potentially recognized as a slave was already driving her young mind mad, she would not let that become true for her sisters as well! Lastly, the wisps guided the trio through the swamps, where Evalynn's blessing saved them more than once from hungry alligators.

Once in Valore, they ran into a Chevalier, Finley, who recognized the sisters' accent as Talorian (but thankfully not Airita. Come to think of it, she had spent most of her childhood indoors and her master had been very old. Maybe he had already passed away...), and took them in for questioning. Evalynn broke them free, and the trio ran into the Pearl for safety... or not. They saw many indecent things that day on accident. It wasn't until Evalynn accidentally ran into Eminent Lilith that the noble simply shrugged their shady past off and helped them settle down in Valore (while striking up a... friendship... with Evalynn).

Airita spent months on edge regardless, even with an Eminent backing her up she still had nightmares about being taken back to slavery. Only after a long while she began to accept that if she were to be seized, the Chevaliers would have done so already. Despite her young age, Airita began to follow a merchant, Uriah (who had an unusual fondness for her, having been the smuggler who got her out of Aodh when she was too young to remember) around to learn about being a merchant, Talori-style. She found that she was rather good with money, and unofficially began to help Asalah and Evalynn with that. As the years went by, Evalynn made a name for herself as an artisan, and Airita would sell her items. She was bubbly, a bit clumsy in her awkward teenage years, but happy.

It was a front.

Aodh yet again messed with her beliefs. Born to stories of fire and grandeur, taught about arcane and wind, only to learn about an entirely different Cascade and Alya in the Isles of Dead, where she stayed as a filly while Russe procured the papers to allow his child into the Mainland... and those deities were entirely different than the ones she grew up with there. And now she was back to where Ignacio was a Lord, not a monstrous fire demon who came for misbehaved children at night!

So many versions, so much going on! She had to watch slaves labor away knowing she had been one of them, how could she enjoy freedom knowing it was fake? Eventually, the confusion within her reached its limit and she broke, spending years in an almost dissociative state, living as if she was perfectly happy but too confused and upset to truly enjoy her new life. Deep down, her faith in the gods - her anchor - had been severed. There had been too many versions of them, too many interpretations. Airita came to the conclusion that the Stars were not real, because if they were they would not be so different depending on where you lived. Whatever visions horses had when they unlocked their blessings was just that- visions and imagination created by religious fervor. Real gods would not hide, would not allow such pain and slavery to exist in the world. They were a lie because they had to be.

Airita lives like this now: as a shell so carefully crafted not even her sisters can see through, working with them and for them, never interested in doing things for herself. They are her last anchor, and the only things that matter in Airita's world.

Character Development

[Chapter 1]

• Participated in roleplay

It was with this mindset that Airita joined Asalah for a match at the Crucible, which was interrupted by a massive Vindicator attack. Airita found herself falling into the arena after her stand collapsed, and panicked after being pushed around by a terrified mob. Blessings activated everywhere, and the chaos horrified Rita. She only made it out thanks to a horse named Alarik, who helped her get through the crowd.

Since then, Airita's shell broke, and he developed a fear of any and all magic, especially blessings, but even telekinesis triggered flashbacks of the Crucible attack. Evalynn and Asalah noticed, and began to question her, but Airita was scared and lashed out at them. It was the first time the sisters' friendship was truly fractured.

[Chapter 2]

• Participated in roleplay

Despite the arguments, Airita tagged along with Asalah to see the Royal Christening. Ingrid being revealed to be a kirin should have shocked her, but Airita didn't flinch. As she did not believe in the gods anymore, she quickly came up with the explanation that a few kirin had survived the Gods' War and remained hidden, and if anyone had screwed a kirin of all things it would have been Lilith.

She was a lot more affected by the way an Advisor set the child on fire to prove a point, she managed to school herself outside of a protest of child abuse, but once back home she found herself trembling at seeing a blessing in such a violent way again.

[Chapter 3]

• Did not participate in roleplay

Her stubbornness about the gods could only last so long, and it was shattered when she saw a kirin explode into existence not far from where she was bartering for new items. Not that Airita was close enough to get involved with it, but it was hard to deny the fact that some greater power was probably out there. She had a serious argument with her mentor, Uriah, who called her out on her denial, and became even more withdrawn, selling only to familiar customers and letting the others seek Moonrise (an old family friend from the year they joined Aodh) and Evalynn.

Airita chose to not accompany Asalah on a ship that would export goods to War-Forged Herd, not willing to be on the same closed environment with her sister for so long, their arguments were still terrible. When Asalah returned months late after being attacked by Raiders and having to recover in Skeldr Town, however, Airita - tired and angry and stretched to the limit - accused her of nearly getting herself killed. She knew that the fault was the Oneans', but logic had left her.

It was a terrible argument. Airita still refused to answer their questions, and ended up storming into her room. For months, she was silent around them, giving simple one-line responses to any questions asked. She bought one of Asalah’s boyfriend’s slaves – a stallion named Cassius – for As’ protection, and didn’t want to hear any arguments about it. She did end up becoming good friends with him and Asim, Evalynn's newest acquisition, but otherwise the mood inside the sisters' home was frosty.

[Chapter 4]

• Participated in roleplay

It was to that mood that was announced that King Amadeus was dead.

Evalynn, having been dealing with a lot of her business on her own now that Airita was ‘throwing a tantrum’, took upon herself and Asim to go and see the merchants on the edge of town. Airita decided to tag along, unable to let her very pregnant sister do things alone. Of course things went sideways again, with a massive dragon Evalynn had found three months prior setting a building on fire and nearly killing Ev as she attempted to rescue a family trapped by the flames. Airita was only mildly aware that the dragon had bowed to Advisor Isador, who would eventually become King.

The stress of almost loosing Evalynn was the last straw. Airita finally cracked, and told her sisters everything about her past: from her life as a slave to her constant shuffling around to loosing everyone she cared for. She accused them of wanting to leave her for Aodh when she was little, and it took hours just to convince her that they loved her dearly and were only thinking of her safety. She told them of her fears of being found out and her disillusionment with the gods because how can a powerful being allow such pain to exist? Evalynn suggested she read up on aodhian culture and Asalah that she pray, for a change.

Though the library quickly became her favorite place in Valore, it did not change her mind about slavery. She hated it, hated that her sisters owned living beings, hated herself for not being able to change anything. As for Ignacio... she ended up awkwardly talking to his statue in Fernos Sanctum, half hoping and half dreading an answer.

***

INTERLUDE

And what an answer she got! The god whisked the exhausted mare to a place that definitely, 100% confirmed his existence – the Starscape. Her accusations were met with gentle, yet fierce love-- she was able to sense how powerful his love for all his children were. Ignacio bestowed her with Fire Manipulation, and an understanding – his children had to forge their own path.

It was her choice to accept Aodh's ways or not. Afterwards, when faced with the two paths that had always been warring within her – the arrogant aodhian or the traumatized slave – she decided to blaze ahead and make her own.

***

[Chapter 5]

• Participated in roleplay

Airita didn't quite know what path hers was, but she started to work towards it. Asalah convinced her that keeping slaves that would be otherwise sent to the Dark District for a very early death would be preferable to letting them die, and they would pay them and give them as much freedom as they could while remaining under the authorities' radar. Airita still felt like a hypocrite since she was still supporting the slave business, but it was her best option at the moment.

She also began to explore the city, in order to discover her own likes and dislikes, craft her own identity cut from the anchor that her sisters were for so long. So, she visited shops and different districts and got herself a lover or two- most notably an old friend from the harbor, a pegasus named Aramis who loved to flirt with her. That little dynamic was put on hold when Airita got herself a boyfriend, a Poitou donkey named Repino (even if their relationship was mostly for the benefits, it was nice to dedicate herself to just one partner). To her surprise, she realized she missed traveling- for all the pain and confusion moving constantly brought her, she missed being on the road. So when her old friend Alarik invited her to come along to a trading expedition to the Onean border, Airita said yes.

Asalah joined her. They were, of course, promptly attacked by pygmy gryphons, which was exhausting for Asalah but amusing to Airita in a sort of maniac way. It wouldn’t have been an adventure if she hadn’t almost died or whatever, right? Well, at least her mood was improving for the first time in years.

[Chapter 6]

• Participated in roleplay

Things got messy.

Aodh was warring with Serora, and Asalah was gone to help tend to the wounded there, leaving her sons Pel'ciri and Cin'ciri under her sisters' care. Airita was constantly stressed that Asalah would die- despite not being unhealthily attached to Ev and Az anymore, she still worried about them. On top of that, Isador decided to confiscate all of their slaves for the labor force. Airita's slaves were bought specifically because they were too weak for the Dark District. They would die.

She broke, and joined a mob of angry commoners that protested the confiscation. For very different reasons of course- those snobby aodhians were only pissed because the King took their toys- but at least she wasn't alone. Airita intended to actually protest, but the mob turned to vandalism, and when Chevaliers arrived she escaped arrest by an inch, hiding in the sewers for days. It was there that a stinky horse that passed through gave her the news of Soleil's return, which terrified Airita in more than just one way.

You see, she had not been as careful as she thought with Repino. She refused to end her pregnancy, despite her fear and her refusal to call her baby just that (she called it "little houseguest"). And now a homicidal kirin was determined to burn her home to the ground. The news forced Airita to realize how foolish she had been for joining the riot, and she began to focus more on her child's well being.. Despite the constant anxiety. Repino was of no help, refusing to even acknowledge the child as his. She desperately wanted Asalah back, but Evalynn was surprisingly patient with her. Her sister could be so wild, Airita often overlooked how good a mom she was to her now two children.

(When Isador allowed them to buy back their slaves, Airita got only four back: Elsje, a heavily pregnant mare, and Galti, a Talori-culled self-appointed bodyguard of hers, also a great friend, for herself, and Barbara and her father, the barmen of the Cassino, for Asalah. Due to lack of personnel, she temporarily closed the establishment to focus on her pregnancy. Asalah's bodyguard Cassius also stayed, but as a smuggler, and ensured all of their old slaves made their way out of Valore.)

Asalah got back home just in time to assist Airita with her birth. The foal was the most beautiful thing Airita had ever seen- she was instantly in love. She named them Kimiko, a name she found while reading a book in the library with Aramis. Said friend was also there as soon as possible, looking down at her child - she was weirdly anxious to hear what he thought, he had been a soothing presence during her pregnancy - and calling them a Mop fondly, much to her annoyance, which resulted in a bickering match that made Evalynn giddily proclaim that she "shipped it."

[Chapter 7]

• Participated in roleplay

Kimiko's arrival grounded Airita. Being a mom was both terrifying and amazing. The filly was an anchor, but different than the way her sisters had been. She was fiercely devoted to her child but not without loosing herself. Watching her grow up was the greatest joy of Airita's life, especially with Aramis' company: they had gotten even closer recently though they had not picked up a physical relationship, but he seemed to never get tired of her or Kimiko, which was terrifying in an amazing way.

The other side to this happiness was her new, constant fear. Soleil was back- was Ignacio behind this? How could he bring back a horse determined to kill his other children? Her faith was shaken for the first time since Airita had been blessed, especially with the knowledge Evalynn had unearthed: that the kirins and Ignacio were indeed behind the Gods' War, like Talori and the peddlers had told her. So, Airita took Kimiko, Pel and Cin to the unveiling of a new statue for Ignacio in Fernos Sanctum, secretly hoping he would soothe her mind.

Turns out, the new statue also did come to life- Ignacio appeared before them! He said he had always loved them and always would, and when Airita risked quietly asked him if what Evalynn discovered was true, he confirmed it- his sorrow was evident, but he reaffirmed his love for her. It wasn't enough to chase away her fears entirely, but at least Ignacio was still by her side. Other than raise her child as best as she could, Airita had no other choice but wait while the Heralds of Ash's grip on Eithne strengthened.

[Chapter 8]

• Participated in roleplay

Attempting to keep a routine for the sake of Kimiko, Airita and Evalynn took their kids to the market, where Airita realized her daughter very much preferred gender-neutral pronoums. Things got strange really fast though: she was whisked to the Starscape again, in a different way than before. It was like the ground was crumbling beneath her as stars spun around them, instead of the swift change Ignacio created when he had been by her side. Instead of the god, Airita saw visions of the past that only proved what she already knew: the kirins had been responsible for the Gods' War. The reason for it was still unknown, though the overwhelming sense of pride and hatred would haunt Airita for days afterwards.

The vision ended by Ignacio himself- it was the third time he appeared to her, and he looked so very tired, even more than before. He smoothly sent her and the horses in her group back to their own reality, and Airita was forced to reevaluate her stance on just waiting for things to happen. Hadn't she promised Ignacio to forge her own path?

[Chapter 9]

• Will participate in roleplay

TBA! Onwards till Chapter 10! : D

Quirks & Trivia

• The one thing Airita misses from Talori is the beach. Not so much the water, but the salty smell of the ocean is soothing.

• Hates being cooped up and loves traveling, if Aodh was not at war she'd provably travel around and out of Eithne at least twice a year.

• Loves Asalah's pancackes! Also pie. She really likes pie.

• Currently works as co-owner of Casino Ragnarok alongside Asalah, takes care of the finances of the place.

• Not a morning person. Yawns a lot.

• Actually Yawned at a Dinosaur™

• She did travel once, to Onea, in order to visit her family's friend Alyshia. Her family helped Asalah get back on her feet after her ship was sunk by Raiders, and Alyshia even visited Ignacio's temple when she came to Aodh. Stone Hooves Edmond's children even took Airita to Kaia's temple, where she was introduced to the goddess. She wasn't blessed by her like Alyshia was by Ignacio, though.

• Absolutely disgusted by slavery, and really really wants to find a way to fight for equality and abolition in Aodh.

• Ironically, owns 3 slaves: a mare named Rinske, who was pregnant by the time Airita bought her back from the government, and her colt Kai. She also owns Galti, a talori-culled slave who refuses to leave Airita, because in his words, she was the only one to look at him as more than a slave, or criminal, or dirty pegasus. She gives her slaves as much freedom as possible and wants to potentially set them free someday.

• Never gets sick of Kimiko's games, no matter how silly they are. They are the best part of her life.

• Loves to read and study, especially about other deities and herds. It goes right along her old talent: Loremaster.

• She also really loves messing around with blessings and studying magic, which is ironic considering her original fear of them. Likes to make little puffs of smoke in different shapes when she's bored.

• Does not support Isador at all ever since he made all the slaves part of the labor force, thus cutting back their life expectancy significantly. Didn't care much for Amadeus either, however.

• Thinks Ignacio should be more active in his herd's politics- this is her way of coping with the fact that she feels so helpless to try and change a whole herd or stomach the suffering of the laves and more.

• Is one of the few aodhians who knows the kirins started the gods' war, that ignacio was involved, that Ignacio hated the fight with the Serorans, and more, due to her sister's tales. This was also confirmed by Ignacio himself to her. Has also experienced the poisoned bond via vision.

• Because she left Talori without permission, Airita never had her memories of the herd tampered by its memory manipulation.

• Very curious about the past and what went down with the Gods' War, thinks most problems would be solved if people were better educated about what they found out had really happened.

• Perhaps to drive home the irony of her originally being an atheist, Airita has faced Ignacio in the flesh three times already: Once when she received her blessing, when he took her to the Starscape in an era where most gods simply whispered in their mortals' ears, another time when he appeared as the new statue in Fernos Sanctum, and the third time during her vision of the Gods' War. We get it Ignacio, you're real |D

• Never seen wearing a bridle of any type, bridles trigger her hazy memory of being a slave when she was little.

• If not for Kimiko's safety, Airita would have likely become a smuggler.

@Starborn-Alignment

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2239x1117px 1.85 MB

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May 9, 2017

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