"I do not want to be plain Jane or somebody's angel. I will be desired and feared."
«« ◊ «« Vixen Nightshade »» ◊ »»
Alias: Angelina "Angel" Jane Howard
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Age
21 years
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Gender
Female
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Rank
Acolyte
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"You are mistaken."
Personality
Vixen has grown sullen as her darling older sister and younger sisters have always gotten the attention for being pretty and charming. Maybe, she should have come out of her corner more often during social events. Maybe, she should have tried being actually nice or acknowledging that other people existed first, but she preferred to sulk in the corner or amuse herself with a book or drawing in her notebook. She is resentful that her parents leave her to do her thing. Her mother has carefully groomed her sisters to get married and be helpful managers and ears for their husbands.
Frankly, thus far, Vixen has found the human race to be tiring and vexing. She would prefer not to deal with them and has not found anyone she particularly wants to spend time around. She hates being disturbed during designated alone time, which is basically all of the time, and it is no wonder her parents finally began to leave her alone. Especially, because she is resentful of authority, especially her parents. (She particularly does not like the idea of an arranged marriage. She knows that her father would marry her off to someone who would increase his own influence, wealth, and power.) If anyone can't tell already and it needs to be stated in express words, Vixen is very selfish and thinks a lot of herself. She is very dedicated and disciplined for her needs but there are very few people she would lift a finger for and mainly because they would compel her or helping them would help her such as them owing her a favor in the future.
She does try to feign humbleness to some extent. At least she's not telling everyone that she is really tough or really smart, but she does go around bulling people over while she demonstrates her accomplishments. (She had one servant stand still with an apple on her head, while she tried to shoot it off with her bow and arrow. Luckily, her brother, Gilbert saw it and intervened.) She has been known to gossip about what she observes in the court showing off her observation and interpretation skills, which led to the Syndicate's interest in her and her father finally paying attention to her at dinner, which she decided she didn't like. She stopped gossiping after that between the unwanted attention and the Syndicate's orders.
She has not grown out of correcting people when they are imprecise or their information is wrong even when she was not a part of the conversation. She is not a wishy washy person, and acts when she is certain that it is the right thing to do. She also has earned her reputation for being smart and educated (albeit astonishingly annoying) because of her constant reading and correcting others and always being right. She has been called a know-it-all more than once.
She has had training in ettiquette of course, and after she was recruited by the Syndicate, she started to pay attention on how people interacted and charmed each other. She does not like being nice and would prefer to say or do what comes to mind, but she does know how to be nice enough to get what she wants. She is not the most patient person, but she can keep it under control long enough to finish a goal.
She is secretive and does not trust others easily. She does not talk about her feelings and she rather avoids sentimental attachments. Several older matronly women have been known to ask if there was something wrong with her because she didn't gossip and giggle about the more eligible handsome bachelor lords at parties. She gives out the least information she can and does not continue to answer a question further than the necessary answer unless she is trying to appear amiable.
She is capable of geeking out about mathematics, admiring a well made outfit, debating the best way to feed an army, and even discuss the most effecient way to hang someone. (Interviewing their executioner was quite an enlightening experience. Apparently, he keeps a logbook of the measurements of the criminals he executes and has it down to a science.) She is a person of various useful interests, which she choses by what would be useful and what she is capable of learning to the point of competency.
"I'm reading. Stop talking to me when I'm clearly busy."
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"Fine. I will look up and say hello. Maybe I'll even smile. Does that make you happy?"
Appearance
Vixen grew up used to sitting in the corner with a face full of acne at important social events. She had trouble controlling her acne and it left scars on her cheeks and forehead that looked pockmarked. Her skin was pale and made acne and scars stand out. They have faded some as she's grown older and she can normally easily hide it with her hair. She often had a book or a notebook near her, and she gave up on socializing after being told repeatedly that she needed to do something to be pretty or that it would take too much effort to make her look nice. She did note that it was important to store information about others because it gives leverage and power over them from her own very political parents.
She was a plain child and for her not tall height was stringy and lanky in build without any discernable figure. She still views herself as unattractive and plain, but growing up further has given her some noticeable curves although she still has a long thin build. Her posture had been terrible and it was obvious that she was trying to make herself small and unnoticeable. However, with a lot of her sitting studying, drawing, and reading activities, she has found that she needs to sit up straight and not crane her neck downwards for too long or she will start cramping. With the training of the Syndicate, she has started to be more confident and more intentional with her body language, and she has become more relaxed and able to stand up straight with good posture without having to think about it. She is not clumsy and can walk with grace. She likes to practice sneaking around the castle whether in broad daylight or at night. However, because she is allowed to be anywhere in the castle she rarely gets odd looks so its hard for her to be able to tell how successful she is.
She has an oval face shape and the profile of her face curves outward slightly. Her face cheeks have thinned from childhood and lost their baby fat. She has a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She has a wide mouth but thin lips. Her eyes are slightly set into her face and are clearly green. Her nose is thin and slightly prominent. She has dimples in the corners of her mouth when she smiles. Her lips are full but her mouth is not very wide. She has waist-length dark auburn hair, which she used to hide behind. She still has fair skin and it scars and burns easily. She has short slender fingers and her hands have large palms in proportion.
"I will stand in the shade."
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Strengths:
Court Skills - After seven years of Syndicate training, she has become very observant and much more subtle. She has become better at discerning what information is important and what gossip and tidbits are accurate. She has very good hearing and reasonably keen eyesight. (She wouldn't need glasses if she were modern.) Due to her parents, life at court, and Syndicate training, she has learned how to control her body language, acting/manipulation for real-life scenarios
Practical - She does very few things for pleasure and does most things for a purpose. She tries to learn things that will be relevant and useful. She is quite educated and with her position has access to the finest education women receive.
Disciplined - Her constant search for useful information has led her to be dedicated even for some physical activity so that she can try some things that require a modicum of strength.
Weaknesses:
Unable to physically protect herself - She has not been trained to fight, and if she were to ask her father if she could be trained to fight it would raise eyebrows. It is common for noble women to do archery, so she has settled for that. She's no Robin Hood, but she doesn't miss the bales anymore.
Lacking purpose and affection - Her parents have been busy with other things. She never got on particularly well with any of her siblings (her own fault, though she would never admit it or see it). She wants to be of use or important to an organization, cause, or number one in a person's life.
Pride - She is arrogant and is used to being right and thinks she knows best. She has a hard time submitting to authority or letting someone else's error pass by without a remark.
Selfishness - it makes her hard to work with and goes along with pride. She doesn't care to work with anyone else unless it clearly benefits her. She normally has no desire to be kind.
"I know I could do more. Just give me a chance!"
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Affiliations:
Lucius Helmar Howard - father
Jocasta Grace Howard - mother
Siblings in Birth order
Gilbert Reginald- brother -30 years
Elizabeth Keir Oswald- married sister 27 years
Astaroth Reed - brother 24 years
~Angelina "Angel" Jane~ 21 years
Seraphina Evangeline - sister 18 years
Alice Grace - sister 15 years
Damien Teival - brother 13 years
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Other:
Her birth name is Angel Jane Howard a daughter of a powerful noble of Kraegios. She was recruited around the age of 14 years old to the Syndicate. She was young and they did not trust her beyond giving them information and gossip about the court. When she became an acolyte she chose the name Vixen Nightshade believing her old name to be boring, plain, and goody-two-shoes and wanting to step into her new identity within the mysterious, daring, and dangerous Syndicate. She was given special permission to retain her position and continue to act normally because her position is what makes her useful to the Syndicate.
The Syndicate generally keeps her far away from their base of operations, and she has no idea how many of them there are. Normally, "her handler" will drop by for fairly regular reports. There was one time period where she went longer than usual without contact from the Syndicate. She doesn't know what happened to the man who recruited her, but Draven is now the main source of contact. She has met the leader before and some others but she doesn't know if they are still around.