"We'll fight so well, the Krell will raise lamentations to the sky like smoke above a pyre, crying in desperation at our advent!"
BASICS
NAME: Spensa, prefers to be called "Spin"
GENDER: Female
PRONOUNS: She/Her/Hers
ORIENTATION: Heterosexual
BIRTHDATE: Early Summer 2759
AGE: 15 as of Late Summer 2774
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: Candidate
WING: N/A
APPEARANCE
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Red
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'0", slender
PLAY-BY: Cath (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade)
EXPY SOURCE: Spensa Nightshade (Skyward Flight)
FULL APPEARANCE:
Short and not at all muscular, Spensa is not at all a physically imposing presence. She tries to make up for this with volume. She's a loud talker and an even louder shouter, and she is not about to let anyone overlook her save in the literal physical sense, which is all but inevitable. Her hair is a bright, coppery red, thick and usually tied back in a braid to keep it out of her face, though her impatience when removing the ribbon tying it means there's almost always shorter, broken-off bits in the front. She has fair skin and brown eyes with a round face. She takes little to no care with her clothing, and most of what she owns has had to be mended several times as a result.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY:
Spensa is a handful and a half. She's brash and impulsive and doesn't always along well with others. It's not that she dislikes other people, and more that she's abrasive. She's arrogant and more than a little outspoken about it; she doesn't necessarily think she's more deserving of things than others, but she is convinced she's significantly more capable than anyone else and rarely hesitates to make sure everyone knows it. She doesn't like authority--at least not the kind that involves other people telling her what to do--and that too she's quick to point out. She's argumentative in general, and is particularly defensive of her family and Benden Weyr; she doesn't tolerate bad-mouthing of either. While she usually tries to keep this to simply verbal arguments, well, sometimes words fail and she has a great deal of disdain for backing down from anything. That would be cowardice, and Spensa hates anyone thinking she might be a coward in any way.
She has a bad habit of giving people she doesn't like unflattering nicknames, and will use those names to their face. She likes nicknames; the names given to people by their parents are boring, in her mind. It's why she usually insists that people call her "Spin" instead of "Spensa".
Spensa likes tradition and old Harper tales, the bloodier the better. She loves stories about the war, no matter how horrible people say it is. She'll often talk about things like "standing on the piled skulls of her enemies" or "cleaving a bloody path through her foes", regardless of how inappropriate that might be at the moment. They're a sort of posturing, proof that she's braver than everyone else, because she has to be braver than everyone else. She still believes in the color hierarchy, and is uncomfortable around mutation dragons, including garnets.
To those who can stand her antics though, Spensa is a doggedly loyal friend. She'll do whatever she can for those she's close to; no danger or difficulty is too great. She's brave and determined, willing to step up when she has to, and sometimes when she doesn't have to; her impulsivity can often lead her to try to help when it's completely unnecessary and even unwanted.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Maternal Grandmother, Brecca, retired Harper
Father, Z'een of Brown Nishath
Mother, Finao, Cook
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: None
BIRTHPLACE: Benden Weyr
HISTORY:
Like so many Weyr children, Spensa was the product of a Flight. Her father was a brownrider, her mother a cook. Though she was raised in the creche, she visited with her mother and maternal grandmother as often as possible; she loved the stories her grandmother told, especially the ones about long-ago (and possibly fictional) battles. There were slightly less frequent visits from her father, but those she cherished; she idolized him, and has never wanted to be anything but a brownrider to follow in his footsteps.
From a young age, she was often in trouble. She was disruptive in lessons, unable to tamp down her urge to be up and moving at all times. She asked often to have lessons about war and battles instead, which was rarely appreciated. As she got older, she got into frequent fights with other children. It was suggested a few times that she consider finding a profession like working in the stables if sitting still and behaving was so difficult. She refused, and at least tried to stay out of trouble. Somewhat. At least she fought less frequently, though she got into verbal spats no less often than before.
There came a time when leadership at the Weyr changed, and not by the choice of anyone at Benden. It was forced on them by the other Weyrs against their will. It was an atrocity. Spensa was vaguely aware that Benden had supposedly done some "bad" things, but she was certain they were for good reasons. Benden was a good place, after all, and nothing would convince her otherwise.
The day she turned fifteen, she decided to become a Candidate. She had never wavered in her determination to do exactly that. Her father, however, who had visited with her less frequently since the other Weyrs had poked their noses in where they didn't belong, came to visit her shortly after. He wanted her to leave, to go to Fort Weyr no matter what they'd done. He told her that it was to get away from those who would only remember her as a lifelong troublemaker. He never said that he believed there was still something rotten at Benden's core; Spensa would never have believed it anyway.
Despite not wanting to be so far from her family, Spensa eventually grudgingly agreed. She would go to Fort and see what she could make of herself... which would, of course, be a brownrider like her father.