[b]24. VERLAYA "VERA" TIERA DEL SOL [/B]

(originally made for CCC: The Island of Delselva (Urstyle))

CS: https://urstyle.com/topic/2144977/%D1%95%D0%BD%D1%94-%CF%89%CE%B1%CE%B9%D1%82%D1%95-%D1%95%D1%94%D1%94%D1%82%D0%BD%CE%B9%CE%B7g-%D0%B2-%E2%84%93-%CF%83-%CF%83-%D0%BC-%CE%B9-%CE%B7-g

[HIDER=Verlaya]
𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑳𝑨𝒀𝑨 "𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑨" 𝑻𝑰𝑬𝑹𝑨 𝑫𝑬𝑳 𝑺𝑶𝑳

𝑵𝑰𝑪𝑲𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬(𝑺): Vera
𝑴𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑳𝑬 𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑵: Tiera is a reference to the land, as Vera is capable of developing an affinity with all the animals of Delselva
𝑨𝑮𝑬: 27
𝑺𝑷𝑰𝑹𝑰𝑻 𝑨𝑵𝑰𝑴𝑨𝑳: Vera is capable of developing an affinity with all animals, if she puts enough time and effort into it. Right now, she seems to be on good terms with a variety of birds, monkeys, and frogs, and she's even made friends with a couple dolphins and jaguars. She's skin-walked into a water boa and a black caiman before, but she wouldn't necessarily say that they're her 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.

𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾𝑵 𝑨𝑩𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑬𝑺: Vera's only discernible ability is the ability to "skinwalk"; basically, animals "lend" her a "copy" of their body, and when she shifts into a different animal, she gets part of their mind-not the individual memories, but rather the basic instincts of the species. It can be quite overwhelming, sometimes. She's also capable of communicating with any animal she's encountered before.

𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑺 𝑰𝑵: Selva
𝑶𝑪𝑪𝑼𝑷𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵: Vera's been an apprentice shaman for as long as she can remember. Her family wants her to become an animal spirit guide, because of her unique ability to develop an affinity with all animals, but okay look....plants are cool and all, but Vera definitely doesn't have the patience and peaceful state of mind that shamans/medicinewomen need in order to extend their studies to plants. Vera wants to be something akin to a fighter, someone who can protect Selva from harm...but that's not what people from House del Sol 𝘥𝘰. Blegh.

𝑩𝑰𝑶𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑷𝑯𝒀:
𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅
Before she had even known her own name, Vera had known the jungle.

And what a beautiful jungle it was! There were vivid fuschia flowers and woody lianas and funny-looking monkeys that swayed from tall tree branches, and there were eye-poppingly bright frogs (which her father said to never, ever touch) and huuuuuuge butterflies and bitter coca and all the cassava plants they grew, half-hidden by the foliage. It was alive, all around her-chirping insects and singing birds and prowling jaguars; towering trees and twisting vines and blossoming flowers. What was there not to fall in love with?

The fact that Vera has an affinity with all animals was discovered when she was just beginning her studies within the spiritual arts, by one of the animal spirit guides who served House del Sol. Atahul ("Ata", as Vera calls him) took her on as his apprentice, and from the start, Vera just didn't have the goddamned 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 to sit there and memorize plant names, or whatever. Okay so it wasn't like she flunked out or whatever, but she wasn't some kind of prodigy, either, which frustrated Ata and her family, who had all been expecting Vera to become a very skilled animal spirit guide, on account of her unique affinity with all animals.

(Vera thought that they were kind of dumb to think that, by the way. Just 'cause she has an innate connection with animals doesn't mean that she's good with plants, too!) 

𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕
Vera started developing her ability to "skinwalk" when she was around ten years old, after hearing about her mother's abilities. Liana Nygria del Sol died when Vera was only two, so she had no memories of her, but those who knew her when she was alive said that she was 1) a fierce warrior, and 2) capable of "borrowing" a black caiman's mind and abilities. Vera liked the idea of being able to immerse herself fully into the animals that she loved so much, and her affinity with 𝘢𝘭𝘭 animals meant that she was able to teach herself (with the guidance of Ata, of course) to quite literally transform into them. 

That ability changed her life. As per Ata's instructions, she started with macaws and monkeys and river dolphins, whose minds weren't all that different from a human mind. When she transformed herself into them, she felt the macaw's quest for food and the monkey's curiosity and the dolphin's playful glee. And although she loved to skinwalk, sometimes it was better just to be 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯, bursting through the underbrush with a capybara by her side and a macaw in her arms or scrambling up a tree alongside a spider monkey or swimming through a river with a dolphin right beneath her.

Vera was curious and energetic, always looking for a new adventure; she was the happiest when she was out with the trees and flowers and woody liana vines, when her eyes were wind-wild with exhilaration and her cheeks were dirt-streaked with excitement. She would return home with her hair a tangled mess and her grimy cheeks flushed with excitement, and her father would scold her and her stepfather, Kutari (who was just as wild as she was), would wink knowingly at her. And Marza would frown and Silva would arch his eyebrows, but Solina would just laugh and tell her to get cleaned up for dinner.

After a couple of years, Vera had mastered her ability, though she was nowhere near proficient enough in botany to officially become a shaman (Sky above and earth below, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 many times would she have to tell her father that she didn't freaking 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to be a shaman before he would listen?!). Ata was, quite frankly, tired of all her bullshit, and he's pretty much given up on teaching her stuff about plants. Instead, he began going with Vera on "expeditions" to "study new plants", where he would instruct Vera on how to form a deeper connection with the animals. It was there, in the heart of the jungle and amidst the screams of howler monkeys and the squawks of red macaws echoing from dense stands of bamboo, that Vera learned what it really meant to be in perfect harmony with the spirits around her.

𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚
At twenty-seven years of age, Vera has been dozens of animals, and she has all the minds of those animals within her, from the terrifying soullessness of the bullet ant to the mischievous curiosity of the monkey. She adores her home with all her heart, and she thinks she would gladly die amongst the wild papaya and mahogany trees and bananas and palms. Although she's still "technically" Ata's apprentice, there is no way in hell she's going to ever become a shaman. Instead, Vera spends her time exploring little-known parts of the jungle and serving as an adviser in all things animal.

Recently, however, Vera has discovered that poachers have been coming into the jungle and killing animals. They are subtle about it, of course; no mere human would have been able to detect them. But the jaguar sees and smells everything, and the pit viper knows where blood has been spilled. Vera tried to intercept them multiple times, to no avail...until one night, when she was prowling through the trees as a jaguar, she finally encountered them. Before she even knew what she was doing, she'd coiled her muscles and leapt from the trees and killed them, quick as a snake. A bit shell-shocked from the experience, Vera fled the scene, leaving the bodies for the other animals.

Truth be told, Vera was frightened by what she'd done; frightened by how easy it was to give into the predatory instincts of the jaguar. However, she kept this to herself, because she knew her father and older sister would throw a fit if they knew. Under the pretense of "exploring the southern coast", Vera continued to watch, and wait, mostly staying in her jaguar form...until the poachers were back.

This time, there were more of them, in broad daylight, and their leader-at least, Vera assumed that she was their leader-was faster and stronger than any normal human had a right to be. Blinded by her rage-they were 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴 for 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯-Vera unconsciously set the entire southern portion of the jungle against the poachers.

It was a sight to behold; bullet ants came swarming up out of the ground, mosquitoes attacked, black caimans and green anacondas filled the water, and jaguars leapt through the air. A veritable army of deadly and poisonous animals came to heed Vera's call.

Vera doesn't remember much of that day. All she knows is that the poachers immediately fled, getting back on their boats and hauling their asses out of there, while their leader stayed to fight. Vera remembers the jaguar's growl coming out of its-out of 𝘩𝘦𝘳-throat. She remembers that the fight was over in seconds, because even if their leader was strong and fast, the jungle was stronger and faster. 

Vera remembers losing herself to the jaguar, to the calm fearlessness of the jaguar's mind. She remembers smelling the woman's blood, her jaws snapping and her claws slashing at her flesh. She remembers leaping forward, towards her throat-

-and something makes her...stop. Was it the human part of her? Vera doesn't know.

In any case, she stopped, horrified by what she'd done, and immediately set about trying to save the woman. She called for Ata with a howler monkey, using a the agreed upon code for "come immediately with medical supplies", and when her mentor appeared, he was able to help her save the woman.

When she awoke, it was two days later. Ata had wanted to report this incident to her father, of course, but Vera begged him not to, using the excuse that she hadn't meant to attack the woman, that it was an accident, et cetera. Ata was wary-the woman was obviously a foreigner-but he agreed to keep quiet, for now.

Ata went back to civilization. Vera stayed to talk to the woman, who regained eventually regained consciousness. Vera learned that she was a priestess of Sanzol, the goddess of sun and war in Nahuan culture. She learned that her name was Malzi.

Vera knew that she 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 have immediately turned Malzi in for questioning. She knew that she 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 have told someone about her, about the fact that she was a priestess from Nahuatyl. But when Malzi said that all of Sanzol's priests and priestesses were taught how to 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, Vera's interest was immediately piqued. 

And so they came to an agreement. Vera would hide Malzi, for now, and Malzi would teach her how to fight-as a human, not as a jaguar or a caiman or a snake. Vera knows that the priestess is only biding her time, waiting for an opening to get away, but she just can't help herself. Why can't Selvans know how to fight 𝘢𝘯𝘥 be expert farmers? Why did they have to be mutually exclusive?

In any case, Vera was forced to go back home to participate in some annual celebration or whatever. Fine. But when she got back, she learned that a Nahuan princess had been taken prisoner...more reason to keep Malzi a secret than ever.

Vera doesn't really know what she's doing. She doesn't know what she's becoming, either. But she figures that everything will work out in the end. Right?

𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀: Vera grew up a cheerful and mischievous girl. She was always looking for another adventure, and she was recklessly brave, with a certain brazen disregard for her own safety that only children could possibly possess. Vera was constantly scrambling over rocks and climbing up trees and rolling down hills and splashing through streams, soiling her new clothes and ruining her hair in the process. Her father would scold her, her older sister would frown, but Vera was a headstrong child, and she would do as she pleased, thank you 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 much.

As an adult, Vera is not much different. Okay, so she's calmed down a little, but she's always running off on some hare-brained scheme or the other, with a complete inability to sit down for a minute and, uh, think things through. She's quite impulsive, and everyone agrees that she's inherited her grandmother's bluntness. Fiery and determined, Vera lacks any sort of subtlety whatsoever, and says what she thinks, straight-up, which doesn't always work for her, but you know. Such is life.

However, there is more to Vera than what most people see. Despite the fact that she comes off as curious and carefree, Vera truly loves her home with all her heart. There are more wonders in the jungle than anybody could hope to discover in one lifetime, and Vera thanks the sun and stars and the earth itself for her power of skinwalking. She can't imagine a life without the ability to fly through the foliage as a spider monkey, or the pure thrill of leaping and diving as a river dolphin, or the exhilaration of the jaguar's predatory calmness as it prowls through the jungle on a pitch-black night. 

Vera's stepfather, Kutari del Sol, has said that she's so brave that she's almost reckless. He isn't wrong-Vera tends to always dive head-first into something, without really thinking through the consequences of her actions. Stubborn, mischievous, and never one to simply play by the rules, Vera's gotten into her fair share of trouble over the years...though it's not like that's 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 her before. What's life without a bit of adventure, yeah?

It may be worthwhile to note that while Vera holds no qualms towards resorting to violence (ya girl will literally shift into a jaguar or a caiman every time she loses her temper. It's...a bit of a problem), there's part of her that's 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 of what she can do. She's felt the cool confidence of the jaguar, the wary hunger of the black caiman, the cold thirst for blood of a pit viper. She's felt the predator's utter lack of fear and the prey's constant alertness, the screaming 𝘳𝘶𝘯! 𝘳𝘶𝘯! 𝘳𝘶𝘯! of an agouti's mind and the ruthless hunger of a bull shark. And worst of all, she's felt the utter soullessness of the bullet ant, the complete lack of 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

Vera's no warrior in her own right; as a human, she has very little going on for her in terms of fighting ability. But she's shared the souls of all the animals of the jungle, from the poison dart frog to the river dolphin, and perhaps what scares her the most is how easy it is to lose herself in the cool fearlessness of the jaguar or the cold hunger of the shark...and how she is starting to like the predatory minds of the jaguar or the shark more than the attitudes of her own people.

𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑴𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀 𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑬: Vera is widely known as the go-to expert on animals, and she's happy to skinwalk into a different animal in order to help the community. She's also their resident "explorer", surveying uncharted sections of the jungle and reporting back with her findings.

𝑺𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑺/𝑭𝑼𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬 𝑫𝑰𝑳𝑬𝑴𝑴𝑨(𝑺): Vera's increasing disillusionment with her own house/people as she struggles to suppress the fighter inside her, the fact that she has killed people (and what scares her the most is not the fact that she like, took away multiple human lives, but that maybe part of her-and not just the part that's been a jaguar and a black caiman and a water boa and a bull shark and a harpy eagle, no; the 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 part of her-might have actually...enjoyed it?), the whole drama with hiding and sheltering a Nahautyl sun priestess?!

𝑮𝑶𝑨𝑳𝑺: Somehow keep the entire island from finding out about Malzi, figuring out how to justify her new fighting skills once she is forced to return to society, and uh, figuring out what the hell she's going to do with Malzi in the future

𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑺: flora and fauna of any kind, the jungle, guavas, coconuts, pineapple, tropical fruit in general, cassava/manioc, sunrises and sunsets, rainbows, literally any animal ever, the exhilaration of riding thermals as a harpy eagle, the jaguar's complete lack of fear and excellent senses, the playfulness of Delselvan river dolphins, the pure 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 of black caimans and water boas/green anacondas, the lightning-fast reflexes of the pit viper and the spider monkey, headdresses made from brightly-colored feathers, flower crowns, likes the feeling of tracking down 'prey' and the thrill of a fight more than what's considered strictly proper for a member of House del Sol, exploring new places, thinks her grandma has the best sense of humor, very close with her stepfather (Kutari), when people are impressed with what she can do (okay, so she's a bit of a show-off), skinwalking and hanging out with animals, turning into some kind of animal and playing pranks on her stuck-up younger brother, her family (despite all their difficulties and disagreements)

𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑺: wanton destruction and/or degradation of the jungle, the fact that some 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 from the Nahuatyl Empire have been killing animals on Selva, being told that she shouldn't be "violent" or "aggressive" or "confrontational" just because she was born to House del Sol instead of the Salvaje House, being forced to study to become a shaman even! Though! She feels like she's wasting her abilities on simply becoming an animal spirit guide!, being told what to do in general, the fruit wines that Selva exports (you're a pussy ass bitch if you can't handle cassova beer, in Vera's opinion), abiding by Selvan social norms, sitting still, being forced to be patient (Vera is the single most impatient person on the entire island, probably), when people from Delas underestimate her abilities because she's from Selva

𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑰𝑴: Malaika Firth 

𝑬𝑿𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑺 (𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍)
𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚
Reina Solina del Sol (grandmother), Liana del Sol (mother, deceased), Kamainja del Sol (father), Kutari del Sol (stepfather), Marza del Sol (older sister), Silva del Sol (younger brother)

𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔
Alejandro "Dro" Salvaje
Atahul ("Ata")

𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔
Malzi, of the Nahuatyl Empire (link here once I have a set up yikes)

𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅

𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕
𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 & 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆

"𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒 𝒶 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓉...
𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝒷𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓉" -Simon and Garfunkel

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑜𝓊𝓉𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑒𝑜𝓊𝓈, 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒶𝓃𝑒, 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓁, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓋𝒾𝑜𝓁𝑒𝓃𝓉. 
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒, 𝐼 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓉.” -Rachel Berenson (K.A. Applegate)

*****

CCC: 丅ᕼᗴ Ꭵᔕᒪᗩᑎᗪ ᗝᖴ ᗪᗴᒪᔕᗴᒪᐯᗩ
https://urstyle.com/topic/2133681/03-t%E1%95%BCe-i%E1%94%95%E1%92%AA%E1%97%A9%E1%91%8E%E1%97%AA-o%E1%96%B4-%E1%97%AAe%E1%92%AA%E1%94%95e%E1%92%AA%E1%90%AF%E1%97%A9-%E1%97%B0%E1%97%A9i%E1%91%8E
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