HOME | DD

Description

June 16 2019: I just saw the latest news - oh thank goodness SHE's ACCEPTED INTO THE GROUP! 8'D

Name: Twang (formerly Fizzle, she renamed herself)
Pronouns: She/her
Age: 12 (the age of kenku maturity)
Height: 5 feet tall (not including the feather crest on her head)
Race: Kenku (although she looks like a blue jay, she’s otherwise just a normal kenku)
Class: Bard (College of Lore)
Alignment: Neutral neutral
Personality: Twang has learned to be appreciative of simple things in life, and usually manages to not want more. If part of her ever does start wanting more, she does her best to suppress it, not wanting to get too tempted to rely on stealing. She still keeps the possibility of stealing and lying as possibilities in the back of her mind, if she’s ever in a situation in which she feels like she really has to, but she now tries harder to avoid doing these things more than in the not-too-distant past. Avoiding thievery and dishonesty makes her fear that she might end up living on the street again, so destitute that even her basic needs might be hard to meet, especially now that she’s far from the Mage Guild and the Red Plume. But she usually tries to force herself to be at least somewhat optimistic, even if pessimism comes more naturally.
  Twang has a lot of curiosity. And she acknowledges that brawn can be useful, but she still thinks that brainpower is more helpful, at least usually. She convinced herself of this since she can only really rely on her wit, being rather puny physically. She tends to respect fellow sharp-witted people more than those who are more reliant on physical power. She also tends to be envious of anyone who can say or sing things they thought of entirely themselves, in their own voices, she’s jealous of musicians who can think of their own tunes to play, and she’s jealous of all creatures that can fly.
  Twang loves music, enough to change her name to the sound of her lute, because it often helps her get her mind off of dark thoughts and feelings, and if others appreciate the performance, then she’s able to feel more of a sense of belonging for at least a little while. And she always has great interest in hearing new music. She has a hard time fully trusting anyone, especially people who don’t seem to have had a hard life, because she fears that them not truly understanding hardship might mean that they’re less likely to have much compassion. And that even if they do help, that they might not help as much as they could, because she gets paranoid about being looked down on. Plus, losing her parents has given her some abandonment issues... Twang can still get attached to someone without fully trusting them, though; then, she’s likely to have a hard time not being too clingy and too blatantly insecure. And she dislikes being alone for long, there’s only so much that music can do to help reduce her loneliness.
Background: Gate Urchin
  Two kenku had been living in the city of trade in a typical, thieving kenku flock, for all their lives. They kept talking with each other about wishing to fly, becoming close friends. Eventually they left their flock to remain at Hillsfar Gate, focusing on befriending the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild, until they managed to earn enough trust to gain access to some of their informational resources. The birds hoped they might learn to fly with magic. While struggling to gain trust as a pair of a kenku, and then while they struggled to try to find ways of flying, they relied heavily on each other for moral support, falling in love, and they ended up having a baby. They named her Fizzle, since they’d often heard this sound in the Mage’s Guild. They took good care of Fizzle, and some members of the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild grew fond of the little bird too.
  One day, the parents were convinced that they had found a spell that could work for them. Inside they knew it was still so risky, that it was probably unfair to their child, the chance that she might lose a parent… but they longed to fly too much to give up on this. The mother tried, jumping off of a roof, and at first it seemed to work… but not for long. The father was devastated. He knew that now he had to give up on trying to learn to fly, to keep himself going so that his daughter would have at least one parent. So he tried to carry on, but he couldn’t shake off the heartbreak of losing both his wife and his big dream. He ended up succumbing to disease and passing away, about half a year later.
  When Fizzle’s mother died, the young bird was six years old. Fizzle’s father had told her that her mother had just gone, and wouldn’t tell her where, or what happened. Fizzle was deeply distraught, and kept asking her father if the mother would come back, and he’d just glumly say that he didn’t know, and nothing more, not wanting to make his daughter more upset. And he was afraid of telling her the truth, even though she might’ve deserved to know. When he died, though, it was obvious to Fizzle that he was dead. She was even more heartbroken. The members of the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild who’d been fond of her soon tried to console her, and they offered her food and shelter, and let her borrow simple things. But none of them wanted to actually adopt a kenku.
  Although Fizzle did have grown-up friends, none of them felt quite like family, and for the next several years she was often left to her own devices. She soon started begging and pickpocketing in the crowds of Hillsfar Gate. There was plenty of interesting and helpful gossip to be overheard, but what she loved most of all was watching and listening to buskers. Best of all, in her opinion, were the ones who sang and played instruments; hearing music helped get her mind off of loneliness more than anything else. She saved up to buy herself a lute and learned to play it by watching and listening to others (and occasionally being given advice by friendly, experienced lute-players). She hoped that she might manage to think of some of her own songs, despite being a kenku, by listening to enough of others’ music. But gradually she had to accept that, sadly, it seemed very true that her kind really had been cursed to lose their creativity, in addition to their wings and their personal voices. But she was able to memorize many songs and still had some success at busking. And after a year of playing music, she renamed herself “Twang”, thinking of the sound of her lute twanging in imitation of others’ tunes.
  Twang often met people who made it clear that they suspected that she was a thief, and her being a kenku was usually a main reason for the suspicion. The prejudice hurt her a lot, especially since she was often lonely, even in the middle of crowds, rarely getting to feel genuine acceptance or genuine belonging. Performing sometimes helped her feel belonging when her performance was enjoyed, but the fact that she sometimes did steal made her feel particularly bad. After several years, she tried to believe that maybe she could just stop stealing entirely, maybe she’d do alright. She started hoping that maybe if she did this, and just performed and supported herself without stealing - at least, not stealing unless she felt that she really had to - then maybe people would be less suspicious of her. Or maybe this was all naive. But she still wanted to try. In the crowds of Hillsfar Gate, and from the Mage Guild and Red Plumes, she’d sometimes heard things about the Adventurer’s Guild of Lumivaara. That seemed like a good place to go. Maybe going there could even improve her life, possibly. She convinced a traveler heading there to let her hitch a ride in exchange for music, which she played on the road.
Trivia:
Her head crest lies flat when she’s calm (or at least, mostly calm), but stands up when she’s angry or excited.
As a kenku, she can only mimic lyrics and tunes that she’s heard before, just like she can only mimic words and sounds she’s heard before when speaking. She can remember a lot, though, especially for music. And she sometimes mixes parts of two or more different songs, or the same song that she heard performed by two different, and hopes that the result will sound okay.
Character sheet: dicecloud

Timezone: EST/EDT

Description

June 16 2019: I just saw the latest news - oh thank goodness SHE's ACCEPTED INTO THE GROUP! 8'D

Name: Twang (formerly Fizzle, she renamed herself)
Pronouns: She/her
Age: 12 (the age of kenku maturity)
Height: 5 feet tall (not including the feather crest on her head)
Race: Kenku (although she looks like a blue jay, she’s otherwise just a normal kenku)
Class: Bard (College of Lore)
Alignment: Neutral neutral
Personality: Twang has learned to be appreciative of simple things in life, and usually manages to not want more. If part of her ever does start wanting more, she does her best to suppress it, not wanting to get too tempted to rely on stealing. She still keeps the possibility of stealing and lying as possibilities in the back of her mind, if she’s ever in a situation in which she feels like she really has to, but she now tries harder to avoid doing these things more than in the not-too-distant past. Avoiding thievery and dishonesty makes her fear that she might end up living on the street again, so destitute that even her basic needs might be hard to meet, especially now that she’s far from the Mage Guild and the Red Plume. But she usually tries to force herself to be at least somewhat optimistic, even if pessimism comes more naturally.
  Twang has a lot of curiosity. And she acknowledges that brawn can be useful, but she still thinks that brainpower is more helpful, at least usually. She convinced herself of this since she can only really rely on her wit, being rather puny physically. She tends to respect fellow sharp-witted people more than those who are more reliant on physical power. She also tends to be envious of anyone who can say or sing things they thought of entirely themselves, in their own voices, she’s jealous of musicians who can think of their own tunes to play, and she’s jealous of all creatures that can fly.
  Twang loves music, enough to change her name to the sound of her lute, because it often helps her get her mind off of dark thoughts and feelings, and if others appreciate the performance, then she’s able to feel more of a sense of belonging for at least a little while. And she always has great interest in hearing new music. She has a hard time fully trusting anyone, especially people who don’t seem to have had a hard life, because she fears that them not truly understanding hardship might mean that they’re less likely to have much compassion. And that even if they do help, that they might not help as much as they could, because she gets paranoid about being looked down on. Plus, losing her parents has given her some abandonment issues... Twang can still get attached to someone without fully trusting them, though; then, she’s likely to have a hard time not being too clingy and too blatantly insecure. And she dislikes being alone for long, there’s only so much that music can do to help reduce her loneliness.
Background: Gate Urchin
  Two kenku had been living in the city of trade in a typical, thieving kenku flock, for all their lives. They kept talking with each other about wishing to fly, becoming close friends. Eventually they left their flock to remain at Hillsfar Gate, focusing on befriending the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild, until they managed to earn enough trust to gain access to some of their informational resources. The birds hoped they might learn to fly with magic. While struggling to gain trust as a pair of a kenku, and then while they struggled to try to find ways of flying, they relied heavily on each other for moral support, falling in love, and they ended up having a baby. They named her Fizzle, since they’d often heard this sound in the Mage’s Guild. They took good care of Fizzle, and some members of the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild grew fond of the little bird too.
  One day, the parents were convinced that they had found a spell that could work for them. Inside they knew it was still so risky, that it was probably unfair to their child, the chance that she might lose a parent… but they longed to fly too much to give up on this. The mother tried, jumping off of a roof, and at first it seemed to work… but not for long. The father was devastated. He knew that now he had to give up on trying to learn to fly, to keep himself going so that his daughter would have at least one parent. So he tried to carry on, but he couldn’t shake off the heartbreak of losing both his wife and his big dream. He ended up succumbing to disease and passing away, about half a year later.
  When Fizzle’s mother died, the young bird was six years old. Fizzle’s father had told her that her mother had just gone, and wouldn’t tell her where, or what happened. Fizzle was deeply distraught, and kept asking her father if the mother would come back, and he’d just glumly say that he didn’t know, and nothing more, not wanting to make his daughter more upset. And he was afraid of telling her the truth, even though she might’ve deserved to know. When he died, though, it was obvious to Fizzle that he was dead. She was even more heartbroken. The members of the Red Plumes and the Mage’s Guild who’d been fond of her soon tried to console her, and they offered her food and shelter, and let her borrow simple things. But none of them wanted to actually adopt a kenku.
  Although Fizzle did have grown-up friends, none of them felt quite like family, and for the next several years she was often left to her own devices. She soon started begging and pickpocketing in the crowds of Hillsfar Gate. There was plenty of interesting and helpful gossip to be overheard, but what she loved most of all was watching and listening to buskers. Best of all, in her opinion, were the ones who sang and played instruments; hearing music helped get her mind off of loneliness more than anything else. She saved up to buy herself a lute and learned to play it by watching and listening to others (and occasionally being given advice by friendly, experienced lute-players). She hoped that she might manage to think of some of her own songs, despite being a kenku, by listening to enough of others’ music. But gradually she had to accept that, sadly, it seemed very true that her kind really had been cursed to lose their creativity, in addition to their wings and their personal voices. But she was able to memorize many songs and still had some success at busking. And after a year of playing music, she renamed herself “Twang”, thinking of the sound of her lute twanging in imitation of others’ tunes.
  Twang often met people who made it clear that they suspected that she was a thief, and her being a kenku was usually a main reason for the suspicion. The prejudice hurt her a lot, especially since she was often lonely, even in the middle of crowds, rarely getting to feel genuine acceptance or genuine belonging. Performing sometimes helped her feel belonging when her performance was enjoyed, but the fact that she sometimes did steal made her feel particularly bad. After several years, she tried to believe that maybe she could just stop stealing entirely, maybe she’d do alright. She started hoping that maybe if she did this, and just performed and supported herself without stealing - at least, not stealing unless she felt that she really had to - then maybe people would be less suspicious of her. Or maybe this was all naive. But she still wanted to try. In the crowds of Hillsfar Gate, and from the Mage Guild and Red Plumes, she’d sometimes heard things about the Adventurer’s Guild of Lumivaara. That seemed like a good place to go. Maybe going there could even improve her life, possibly. She convinced a traveler heading there to let her hitch a ride in exchange for music, which she played on the road.
Trivia:
Her head crest lies flat when she’s calm (or at least, mostly calm), but stands up when she’s angry or excited.
As a kenku, she can only mimic lyrics and tunes that she’s heard before, just like she can only mimic words and sounds she’s heard before when speaking. She can remember a lot, though, especially for music. And she sometimes mixes parts of two or more different songs, or the same song that she heard performed by two different, and hopes that the result will sound okay.
Character sheet: dicecloud

Timezone: EST/EDT