Avelina
Sobriquet: Handmaiden
Appearance: Avelina is a petite porcelain doll who stands a mere five feet tall and couldn't weigh more than ninety pounds. It is clear from her open and youthful face that she was no more than sixteen when she was gifted with vampiric blood. Over three centuries have passed since that distant night and while she appears a young and helpless handmaiden, she is in reality an extremely old woman gifted with agelessness and an addiction to vampire blood. Her face was just losing its child fat and taking on the sensuality of womanhood when she became a ghoul and her dark brown eyes are filled with three centuries of knowledge. While not truly beautiful, she is devastatingly cute and if she wears the right clothes she can shed three or four years from her appearance to essentially become a child. Her milky skin is inviting to most men and many women and stems mostly from the nocturnal lifestyle of a ghoul. With such a pale complexion she is sometimes mistaken for a vampire and her creme complexion allows her to wear most anything. Like her eyes, her hair is dark brown with auburn highlights and when let loose it flows down her back to her buttocks. She has been the lady-in-waiting for so long that she seems demure and chaste and is either seen knitting, sewing, cleaning or praying. She wears no jewelry save for a simple golden cross which she wears as a necklace around her throat and smells of the flowers that are added to her bath water.
Behavior: Avelina is complex, while she is a demure and restrained handmaiden, she is also a centuries old woman who has seen some of history's most tumultuous events. She is extremely capable while seemingly helpless in her guise as a lady-in-waiting and she uses this dissonance to her advantage. Her domitor used her as a spy in the households of powerful noble women and so she has become extremely adept at fading into the scenery and observing everything while appearing to notice nothing. With strangers she plays the part of the vapid if pretty country girl recently brought into the service of an aristocratic household. Avelina has perfected the art of the fumble and blushes on command, equally she can manifest tears, embarrassment, innocence, ignorance and wide-eyed fear. Were it not for the Church's ban on female actors, she could dominate the theater as she is a phenomenal actress. Because of this and perhaps despite it, she is an unsatisfied soul, she has loved and been in love many times only to see the object of her affections wither and age or worse, question why she does not age and grow angry or resentful. All of Avelina's mortal relationships end badly and this has made her less inclined to open her heart for the certainty of eventual pain. In service to a remorseless addiction and a relentless domitor she plods ever forward through the centuries serving another's will and agenda without hope of ever creating something of lasting value like a career or devotees.
History: Avelina's parents were strangers when her domitor commissioned the breeding of her mother to produce a female child with gifts for acting, subterfuge and high intelligence, her appearance was a pleasant but unintended side effect. She was born on the 1st of April in 742 A.D., the day before the birth of Charlemagne and that great king would become the focus around which young Avelina's life would revolve. The night of her birth, she was taken from her mother sight-unseen and give into the custody of a cult of whet-nurses and she would never know either of her parents, instead her domitor became the only mother she was ever to know.
The girl grew up quickly in the care of her nurses who provided her the finest Roman education and indoctrinated her into the service of the woman she would come to know as "Mother". She was well cared for, fed and exercised, disciplined ruthlessly, but cared for by all her nurses. All her needs were met and she was never alone, but she longed for more the specialized affection of her mother who only appeared at night. She would wait anxiously throughout the length of the day for the fall of night and her mother's awakening. Each night Sibyl would ask Avelina about her day, engage her in conversation, watch her eat and play games with her. The would walk through the cult gardens and Sybil would challenge the girl's mind with enigmas like puzzles, mysteries and conundrums, they would also play games of pretend. In these games Avelina would be tasked with pretending to be someone and if she did so successfully she received a reward, if she failed she would lose a toy or preferred food or even a particularly beloved nurse. This went on until Avelina entered puberty.
Avelina's first blood was noticed by Sibyl even though the girl effectively hid it from her nurses and this triggered an abrupt change in her lifestyle. She was taken from the cult's hidden fortress and given to a noble family as serving girl. Thereafter, the family and the setting changed almost seasonally and she was never allowed to grow close to any particular family or individual. At night Sibyl would come to her and they would play more elaborate games by night that challenged the adolescent to excel at subterfuge, legerdemain and the portrayal of different emotions. With each new family Avelina was given a different set of goals: discover a particular secret, find a special item, follow this person and see where they go, listen to conversations at doors and most importantly never ever get caught. Over the intervening seasons and then years, Avelina grew into a young woman. And on her sixteenth birthday Sibyl arranged for a grand celebration in acknowledgement of Avelina's skills, no cost was spared and Avelina was showered with gifts of jewelry, clothing, perfumes, and cosmetics. As she was dressing for the celebration, Sibyl entered her suite and brought one final gift in the form of a black lacquered box. Mother and daughter clasped hands and sat upon the bed, shared a special look and Sibyl offered Avelina the box while she primped the girl's hair and face. The box was over a royal foot long and as wide as a man's hand and as deep, when Avelina opened it she expected more jewelry or a book, but found instead a long thin blade of steel with an onyx handle and a matching sheath of black leather. Surprised, she looked inquiringly at her mother, Sibyl smiled and told her to enjoy herself tonight and at the end of the celebration she must pick someone special and kill them, if she failed in this mission, Sybil would kill them all. Most importantly, after the deed Avelina would need to explain her choice and why that person must die. The night was long and involved affair and one that young Avelina would never forget as she was the center of attention, while Sybil lurked in the shadows watching.
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