LIEN

Played By: Christine

Character Name: Lien (Lee-'en)

Cub Name (if any): N/A

Previous Names (if any): N/A

Soulname: N/A

Race: Glider

Gender: Male

Age: 83

Height: 5'2" He's always been slightly embarrassed about his small size when compared to other gliders, and as a child he used to hover a few inches off the ground to make himself appear taller than he truly is. Although he rarely does this now, in cases when he's feeling extremely self-conscious or unsure of himself the old habit still occasionally makes an appearance.

Build: Like most gliders, Lien is fairly slight in build, although being on his own has started to fill him out in terms of muscle development. (Much to his delight)

Hair Color: Silky-fine, strawberry blond, although the red in his hair is darkening and becoming more prominent now that he spends much of his time outdoors. Lien wore his straight hair long all his life until his sudden departure from home. He then cut it short, (above his chin, framing his ears somewhat) and although using a knife gave his new hairstyle a somewhat uneven and messy effect, it was his first act as a "free" elf - he maintains the messy look to remind himself of his past.

Eyes: Dark brown. Lien's eyes are large and only slightly slanted. Because of their size in relation to the rest of his face, he often gives the impression of being much younger than he truly is.

Skin Color: Very fair from living in a society that is mostly indoors, Lien quickly learned to shield his sensitive skin from the burning rays of the sun.

Facial Features: His face is oval-shaped, with a slightly narrower (although not pointy) chin. His eyes are easily the most dominant feature of his face, being large even for an elf and framed by dark lashes, and they draw the most attention. His nose is straight and somewhat short, turning up ever-so-slightly at the tip, and his mouth is medium size. Although his lips are nothing special, he's eager for opportunities to smile, making an average mouth into a more charming one. His eyebrows are slightly darker than his hair, of medium size, and have a moderate arch to them. The overall impression he exudes is naivete and innocence.

Voice: Lien's speaking voice is somewhat erratic. Back at 'home' sending was emphasized over vocal speech, and quiet, calm, and control were valued over strength, volume, or emotion. Now that he's on his own, Lien's trying to make a conscious effort to be more expressive in the way he talks (although he does lapse into glider speech patterns on occasion). Because he isn't totally used to vocalizing his thoughts, his efforts, volume especially, sometimes miss the mark - when he thinks he's being quiet he often isn't, and he's been known to 'over-emote' when he's trying to express himself clearly. When he actually manages to speak 'normally' his voice is a medium-tenor.

Mental Voice: A much easier way for Lien to express himself, although he's trying to avoid sending so that he can work on his physical voice. He is totally comfortable with his sending, and one of the only times he almost sounds his age is when he sends with confidence. His mental voice is the same pitch as his speaking voice, but lacks the issues of control he has with vocalization.

Scars, Birthmarks, Etc.: There's a long scar on his right forearm where he opened a gash in a frustrated attempt to get some type of emotional reaction out of his parents. It failed, but he kept the scar to remind himself that he needed to keep feeling.

Occupation: Gatherer, although he's always curious about other people's jobs.

Lovemate: None

Lifemate: None

Recognized: None

Family: Serrera (mother - alive), Meran (father - alive)

Children: None

Usual Clothing: Tight black pants, with black, knee-high boots accented in white at the top. He wears a loose-fitting, almost baggy white shirt untucked that laces loosely in the front across the chest. The sleeves are somewhat tattered around the wrists. (Odds are that he stole the shirt from some human and tailored it haphazardly to fit himself.) When traveling during the day, it's not uncommon to find him wearing a black cloak and hood. He wears a dagger at his waist under his shirt and another on his left boot. He also carries a black leather bag across his back that is decorated with a white diamond pattern; it holds his other possessions.

Heavy Clothing: Same pants as above, with boots trimmed in white fur. He layers the shirt with a black jacket trimmed in white fur fitted with a fur-lined hood. If he can afford to have his hands semi-incapacitated, he wears heavy mittens, but if he needs more dexterity he has a pair of black, fur-lined gloves.

Light Clothing: If it's overly warm, he'll roll up his pants and go barefoot. Since he feels slightly self-conscious about his size, he'll roll up his sleeves to the elbow but rarely take off his shirt entirely.

Jewelry/Adornments: None.

Weapons/Tools: He wears a dagger around his waist and another in a sheath attached to his left boot. The blades themselves are plain and unadorned, with simple black hilts, and the sheathes are black with subtle silver wire wrapped around them in a crisscross pattern.

Special Items: He has a silver choker-style necklace with a silver feather hanging from it. It belonged to his mother before he took it as a memento. He also has a small jade bird that was shaped by his father.

Magic: Sending, gliding

Fears: Girls - He hasn't had much opportunity to socialize with females his own age. Becoming the emotionless dolls that his parents were. Failing to prove that he can take care of himself.

Likes: Being praised, emotions (both his own and others), being useful, learning new things, proving that he can be independent.

Dislikes: Being treated like a child, being confined, silence (he had plenty of that with the other gliders), when others point out his small size.

Personality: Lien greatly desires to be seen as something other than a child (since he hasn't been one for a fairly long time), but at the same, he tends to act extremely young for his age. He knows little of the world and sees everything as an amazing new wonder to dazzle him. He tends to get sulky if he doesn't get his way, and is torn between maturing at his own rate and proving to himself and everyone around him that he's already grown up. Much of the problem lies in the fact that, as a very rare birth for the gliders, Lien was still being treated as a child up until the time he left. He's never had the opportunity to act his own age, and when confronted with elves that he sees as his seniors (which pretty much includes everyone but the youngest of cubs) he's caught between his instinctual reaction of acting like a child and his desire to be more than just 'the Child.' As a result, he can come across as very immature and irritating to those who expect him to act his age. This only further aggravates his childish tendencies, unfortunately, and there are times when it seems like he almost has multiple personalities - adult Lien and child Lien. He's still something of a dreamer and possesses a vivid imagination.

Sees Self As: He's not quite sure. He wants to be seen as an adult glider who's as fully capable as any other adult elf, but he harbors a personal suspicion that he's still not quite a 'grown-up.'

History: Lien grew up in the typical stagnant glider society that fostered apathy and silence. When his parents recognized it was a huge event for the flying elves, as their hadn't been a birth in several centuries. When he was born, Lien received a great deal of well-meaning but somewhat awkward attention. The gliders were unused to showing affection and were at a lost as to how to convey their pleasure at Lien's presence. It wasn't long before his desire to laugh and play and make noise began to wear on the passive gliders, and by the time he was only a few turns old he had learned to be quiet and self-contained. It was only by slipping away to the more uninhabited parts of his home that Lien could play as he wished, albeit by himself.

A lonely childhood lead him to invent friends and adventures entirely inside his mind, and his imagination was a beloved companion where no real age-mates existed. In the limited association he had with other gliders, (the novelty of a 'new' elf quickly wore off) Lien was always treated as a child, even when he was fifty and sixty turns old. He viewed himself as a child as a result, and made the connection in his mind that adult equals emotionless and child equals feelings.

By some miracle, he maintained his own emotions and creativity even surrounded by the stagnant other gliders, perhaps because he still viewed himself as a child, and when he reached seventy turns or so he attempted to draw some of the other gilders, his parents in particular, out of their dull lives. Although he did everything he could think of, using music, art, food, and variety of other things in hopes of tempting some type of reaction from the others, he ultimately failed; the gliders didn't understand what he wanted from them, and while some reacted with irritation and hostility, most were just blandly puzzled.

Finally, feeling as if he was smothering and desperate for some kind of assurance that he wasn't the only elf who could feel things, Lien took his knife and cut his own arm open in hopes of triggering something in his parents. Although his mother shocked by the sudden violence, her only reaction was to fetch a bandage for him. His father simply averted his face. Neither said anything. It was then that Lien first heard the Call, although it would be almost three turns before he left in search of its source, abandoning his home and society in hopes of finding other beings that felt things the way he did.

Quote: "He started it, I got blamed, and I don't want to talk about it!"


















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