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Tweak says, "Or maybe its the plumbing"

petra. (

_hexed) wrote,
@ 2015-09-06 13:01:00

sticks and stones may break my bones

{ PETRA VALE there is love in your body THE CURSED WITCH but you can't hold it in
[ BASICS ] FULL NAME: Petruska Vlčekova née Vale NICKNAMES: Petra CURRENT AGE: 32 DATE OF BIRTH: November 20 PLACE OF BIRTH: Czechoslovakia RACE: Born Witch MARITAL STATUS: Single, Widowed SEXUALITY: Heterosexual OCCUPATION: Traveling Fortune Teller CURRENT RESIDENCE: Small rental house on the edge of town PARENTS: Clen father Esilia mother SIBLINGS: Daphne sister, oldest Mayna sister, older Orna sister, older Hanna sister, older Fiona sister, older Darja sister, younger FAMILIAR: Phyria, bearded vulture HEIGHT: 5'11" BUILD: Willowy and lean HAIR: Brown EYES: Green	physical appearance IT POURS FROM YOUR EYES AND SPILLS FROM YOUR SKIN _______________________________ Petra is the sort of woman that you end up stealing a second look from. She's tall and slender with long fingers and toes, narrow wrists, and a willowy frame. She's built much like her sisters and her mother, though she stands a couple of inches taller than the rest of them. Though her smiles can be cheerful and light up her face, Petra is a very dark looking woman. Her complexion is usually a warm, golden brown and her large eyes are deep green and are framed beneath dark brows that are usually furrowed together. Her thick hair is dark brown and falls down in slight waves past her shoulder blades and is typically seen framing her face. She has always been considered a beautiful woman with her large eyes and full lips, but Petra carries herself with an air of poise and grace that makes her seem all the more alluring. Though she may be considered cold, her reserved nature makes her seem mysterious. A custom in Petra's coven is to have spells tattooed upon their flesh. The combination of blood shed and the permanence in ink gives the spell an undeniable strength. For her part, Petra is covered in ink. She has hundreds of spells tattooed along her torso, upper arms, and upper thighs. In addition to her tattoos, Petra also has a terrible scar running up her right side. The skin there is thick and pink and stretches about an inch and a half wide and six inches long.
personality & demeanor TENDEREST TOUCH LEAVES THE DARKEST OF MARKS _______________________________ Upon first meeting Petra, most people find her to be a very cold individual. She barely smiles, her words are clipped, and her gaze is as steely as they come. She is a very reserved person around people she does not know very well, one of many defenses she has developed over the years. Petra does not believe that strangers should know the intimate details of what she likes or dislikes until they have earned her trust. Unfortunately, not many people have proven to be worthy of her trust. She has learned that even family is capable of the worst betrayals. If people she grew up with can turn their backs on her, what's to stop someone she's just met? Her seemingly icy demeanor is not helped by the fact that Petra is an incredibly ambitious person. She has been devoted to the study and practice of magic for so long that focusing her energies on anything else feels absolutely foreign to her. She is so driven to find a solution to the curse against her and her family that she will not let anything or anyone get in her way. That same drive is applied to her approach to everything in life. Anything she sets her mind to, she is determined to achieve and she will not give up until she is satisfied. Should you ever get to know Petra, really get to know her, you would find that she is actually a very caring person. She is cold because she must be to protect herself, but when she has someone to care for, there is nothing that she will not do to ensure their well being. Her sister, Darja, is a prime example of this. Petra risked everything to keep her sister safe and since leaving her behind, she has not opened up to care for anyone else. She is hurt, very deeply, and she refuses to let anyone see that. In addition to her protective nature, Petra has a sarcastic sense of humor. She's intelligent to be sure and her jokes (if she makes them) are never malicious, but tend to be those of a more intelligent caliber. She makes her point quickly and efficiently and does not beat around the bush or play with vagaries. What you see is typically what you get. PERSONAL WEAKNESSES: → FAMILY FIRST For as long as she can remember, her family took priority over everything. Now that she is separated from them, she feels lost. She has no clue what she's supposed to do if she has no family to provide for or protect. → HUSBAND AND CHILD She has neither... anymore. Those losses have devastated Petra in a way that she never imagined was possible. Seeing happy families or expecting couples unnerves her and she cannot be left alone one on one with a child. → WHY SO SERIOUS? Most people find Petra to be rather cold and reserved, and they're not far from the truth. She has such issues opening up to others (even her family) that very few people see how warm and caring she can be. Very few people even realize that she has much of a sense of humor. → TRUST NO ONE Petra has learned that the only person that she can trust is herself. Everyone else is looking out for themselves, so it makes sense that she should learn to do so too. Her own family has betrayed her and that makes it incredibly hard to trust someone she barely knows. → HEXED FOR LIFE The amount of spells and curses that her coven has cast in her lifetime is vast and not all were successful. Spells backfire onto those who cast them and the intent can affect those closest to the witch responsible. The Vale daughters are all cursed in their own way, but the clearest way is that seemingly no one can get close to the family. Friends and lovers have all met tragic ends because of this curse. → NO COVEN For what she's done, attacking her sister and stealing her stone, Petra was forced to leave her coven. She knows that her actions were an attempt to protect her sister, but the rest of the coven view her actions as treason. She's felt many a spell brush against her, attempts at tracking her down and punishment for attacking her sister. → DARJA The last person that Petra was sure that she could rely on, Darja proved that even born witches could become addicted to powerful spells and magic. She began to lose herself within magic and in an attempt to protect her from getting too dependent on casting spells, Petra stole her sister's focus stone. Petra knows that she can never be forgiven for what she's done. She only hopes that Darja can live a better life without her. PERSONAL STRENGTHS: → WITCHY WOMAN Petra is a very powerful and knowledgeable witch. She dedicates much of her time studying offensive spells and curses so that she might find a way to undo the curses against her and her sister. → SOLITUDE Though her loneliness can be crippling at times, Petra knows that she is better on her own. She focuses on what needs to be done rather than the people around her. → DETERMINATION Absolutely nothing will deter Petra from meeting her goal. She will go nights without sleep and will focus all of her energies into meeting whatever challenge she is facing at the time. → JUSTIFIED No matter what anyone might say against her, Petra knows that she did the right thing for her sister. Darja would not heed her warnings or listen to her beg for her to step away from magic, if only a little. Studying was one thing, but her sister began to grow power hungry, so much like their mother, that it frightened Petra. If she's spared her sister from a life like their mother's, then she knows she's done the right thing.
powers and abilities THE KINDEST OF KISSES BREAK THE HARDEST OF HEARTS _______________________________ Petra is a born witch and a very powerful one at that. She is very adept at writing and crafting her own spells and potions and has a working knowledge of herbs and ingredients and their effects. Typically, she works mostly with blood. This can be seen in her tattoos; the fresh blood and ink combine to create powerful wards to protect her from other witches. One spell in particular is to prevent her family from finding her. As far as her talent goes, Petra knows how to wield powerful curses. She's not entirely proud of the fact, but she invests so much time researching curses in order to find a way to reverse the hexes placed on her and her family. Her focus stone is a bright peridot that she houses in a white gold ring -- her former engagement ring. At one point, the stone was kept on a chain. Petra nearly lost it in an altercation and so she polished it and made it smaller and housed it in the setting. She also has a peridot hanging from her neck to draw attention away from the ring. SPECIAL SKILLS/ABILITIES: Magic aside, Petra is very good at surviving on her own. She is resourceful and knows how to make few ingredients go a long way (for a spell or a meal). She's not terribly good at holding down a job, so she sells her services as a traveling fortune teller and she does surprisingly well. She is very skilled with cold readings and understands divination, though she is not psychic. She can't read bones or scry, but she can read palms easily.
personal history DARLING HEART, I LOVED YOU FROM THE START _______________________________ → Esilia and Clen Vale were both born into the Chovexani Coven, a Romani coven, and were married when Esilia turned 14. The coven was made up of several family units that continued to travel together. → Esilia and Clen uphold very traditional values within the coven and raised seven daughters (Daphne, Orna, Mayna, Hanna, Fiona, Petra, & Darja). Each daughter is born in a different area of Europe. Petra was born in Czechoslovakia. Her family and coven migrated away from France and Spain due to terrible prejudice against Romani people. The violence against the coven resulted in losing several young men and women. → The coven follows a typical sort of governing system. There is a council made up of seven well respected elders within the coven, but they are all led and answer to the high priestess. The high priestess chooses her successor of the young girls born within the coven. She chooses several candidates who undergo serious training in their lifetime. → This coven values their secrecy. The outside world is dangerous and unwelcoming to their kind. After the terrible attacks against them in France, the council met to cast a protection spell over the coven. The spell was meant to protect them from any who would mean them harm. Esilia and Clen did not believe it was enough; Esilia was particularly harsh against the outside world because she lost her sister in the attack. They completed another spell to protect their daughters, not realizing that the spell would bind against them so tightly that it would affect anyone who became close with them. → Petra was named for her great-great-grandmother, who was once a high priestess within the coven. → There was always a sense of sibling rivalry between Petra and her older sisters. She felt as if she was always competing for attention from her mother who seemed to favor Daphne. Her sisters seemed to be jealous of her because she took to her magical lessons much more quickly than they had. → With Darja, things were different. Petra wanted to protect her younger sister from the bitter temperaments of their older sisters. Rather than compete, she offered encouragement and trust. There were no two friends within the coven quite like Petra and Darja. They were inseparable and knew each other well enough that they could guess what was going on in the other’s mind. → One of the customs of the coven is that spells are tattooed upon the flesh. The first tattoo is a very important milestone; it signifies the very first spell that a witch has written and cast successfully. Petra was eight when she achieved this -- an accomplishment that had not been seen since the days of her great-great grandmother. Because of this, she was chosen as a candidate for High Priestess. The only one who seemed to support the decision was Darja. → Esilia acted proud, though she was terribly envious of her daughter. Petra always believed that Esilia wished Daphne had been named as a candidate. → Petra begins to undergo a different sort of training than Darja, but they still make time to spend with one another. They refuse to let anything come between them. Petra writes a spell to always bind them together and tattoos it on both of them -- a band of ink around their left ankles. → At thirteen, Petra is able to summon her familiar. She chose a bearded vulture named Phyria. The vulture is a little bitter, but mostly just wise. Petra was very fortunate in her spell; Phyria has helped her mastery of her gift. → Rules for candidates are a little different than the other people within the coven. They have a little more freedom as far as where they can go and what they can do, but they are not allowed to marry. The idea is that a married woman and mother has more to worry about than one who is free to focus on the coven. The other girls in the coven are subject to arranged marriages within the coven and with outside covens. → Daphne and Mayna were wed to a set of brothers. Daphne did not grow fond of her husband in the way that Mayna did, which proved to be the only way that he would survive the family curse. Because Daphne never let him in enough to love, she never let him in enough to hurt. Mayna, unfortunately, did. Her husband was lost to her within a matter of months. → Even though the coven treasured their secrecy, sometimes they needed to make trips into town for supplies. Petra and Darja always volunteered to venture out into the outside world so they could learn more about the world they were not a part of. They rarely spoke to the people; they moved so frequently, what good would come of making friends with outsiders? → When Petra was 24, she and Darja met a man named Borivoj Vlček. He was a modest fruit vendor who was immediately enraptured with Petra. She did not try to flirt or really understand his interest in her, but he seemed nice and she decided that she wanted to see him again. Petra began to sneak out at night to spend time with him and thankfully, Darja covered for her. If her sister ever felt left behind, she never mentioned it to Petra. → Petra knew that she was not allowed to take a husband as future priestess, but in the heat of the moment, she decided that Borivoj was more important than the station. There were other witches who were qualified to lead. So she ran off and eloped with him, fully intending on living the rest of her life with him. She and Darja planned her escape and the plan went off without a hitch. Well. Except for her marriage. → Petra’s marriage lasted a bit longer than Mayna’s, though not by much. She and Borivoj were married for six months before he was shot on the street. He had been trying to stop a mugging in progress, but the culprit panicked and shot Borivoj before he could really think of what he was doing. Petra was completely devastated and was left without a husband… and expecting his child. → Without a job in the real world, she had no other choice but to return to her coven. Not everyone was willing to welcome her with open arms and she had to swear her fealty once more. She was subjected to several spells to ensure that no one noticed her leaving. Since she was carrying a child, she knew that she had forsaken all claim to the role of priestess, and she was more than okay with that. She lost her direction in life, but she knew that she was going to be a mother and that was a suitable replacement. → The new candidate for priestess was Darja, an announcement that delighted Petra. Until she realized what that meant for her sister. Darja seemed to push herself beyond her limits in order to be as successful in her studies as Petra had been. It was the same sort of drive and motivation that she saw in her older sisters and it broke her heart to see Darja so competitive. Still, she encouraged her sister and wanted to see her do well. → What Petra failed to realize right away was that the stress and magic were eating away at her sister’s sanity. Darja seemed almost addicted to spellwork and it was changing who she was. She had terrible mood swings and completely acted out against Petra, who thought that Darja was upset that she had left in the first place. → When Petra realized what was really happening with her sister, she confronted her. She wanted Darja to pull back and take it a little easier. Darja did not react well. She ranted and railed and lost control of her abilities, shooting off little hexes without meaning to in her sister’s direction. Seeing all that she needed to see, Petra visited the priestess in secret. She asked that the priestess reconsider Darja’s position as a candidate. The stress was too much for her sister and she wanted nothing but her sister’s happiness, so she was sure that she was doing the right thing. → The next day, the priestess announced that Petra would resume training as priestess, even though she had broken the rules. Because she had learned from her mistakes and had proven that she could maintain the coven’s secrecy, she was the perfect successor. → Darja lost her mind with rage. She wanted nothing more than to hurt her sister by taking away something dear to her. She had always been gifted with potions and poisons, so it was no trouble for her to craft something that would make Petra terribly ill. Not only that, but it did exactly what Darja knew would devastate her sister: destroyed her unborn child. → Petra knew it was family who had attacked her, but she could not prove who. She was certain that it was her mother or Daphne, and she poured her miseries into Darja, sobbing and sharing her heartache. She had no idea that Darja was responsible and even when someone suggested it, she refused to believe it. → Except, Darja’s behavior did not improve. She seemed to continue to vie for the priestess’ attention and when Petra finally confronted her for a second time, Darja was in more control of her actions. She was furious with Petra and confessed to the crime of poisoning her. She took advantage of Petra’s raw emotions to attack her with a vicious spell that sliced her side, leaving a scar she still has today. Darja went for Petra’s focus stone, but Petra was able to knock her sister away when Phyria arrived, pecking and scratching at her. After that, Darja seemed to be her old self, unsure of what had happened. → Petra did not know whether she should believe her sister. All she knew was that there was something very wrong with Darja and the only way she was going to be helped was if she was separated from magic. She could not convince her sister to leave, nor would she, so she did the only thing she could think to protect her baby sister: she stole her focus stone. → Petra grabbed the stone and ran. She has traveled through Europe nonstop, constantly searching and looking for any information on magic that she can find. She believes Darja is suffering from a curse, and she is looking for any and all remedies to curses. If she can find something to lift the curse from herself and her sisters as well, it’s all the better. Petra knows she can never return home. Leaving with another witch’s gift, no matter what her reasoning, is treason. If she’s found, she will be killed. RECENTLY: → Petra's studies have brought her to Hunter's Gulley. The promise of such an open magical community has inspired Petra to find a house for rent where she can hold regular readings. She feels certain that this is the place she needs to be → A trip to the library introduced her to another witch with a darker curse than she could have imagined and after the shootings at the parade, she has somehow found herself trying to help him.

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