Adelaide "Never look back when you can look forward." Name: Adelaide Blanche Sitai Race: Human Age: 25 Gender: Female Birthday: 72nd Autumn 490 AV Birthplace: Kenash Dynasty: Sitai Appearance :
Most people tend to either find Adelaide beautiful and intriguing or plain and odd-looking, with little leeway in the middle. Some people, more accustomed to the symmetrically featured, paint-by-numbers, pearly-toned blonde beauties that the population in number tend to uphold as the idyll of feminine beauty, class her appearance as 'aristocratic' or 'unusual'. Others will say, by way of a compliment, that she has particularly good skin. When it comes down to it, her teeth, though perfectly white, are crooked. Her nose is large and irregular. One eye is more heavy lidded than the other. In fact, her features could be described as quite masculine with a strong jaw-line and very feminine lips, that almost look swollen. Adelaide doesn't try and distract people by hiding what many would perceive to be flaws under layers upon layers of make-up. Neither does she seek to change her appearance, perhaps alter her nose or enlarge her chest. Rather, she appreciates that she is unique and tries to challenge preconceived standards of beauty, noting them without feeling the need to bend to them.
Her hair is dark and long to the small of her back, framing her heavy lidded eyes and immaculately sculpted eyebrows. However, her dark hair is strangely susceptible to the sun's rays and, though neither Adelaide nor her Cosmetologist nor the Apothecary have worked out why yet, tends to lighten considerably during the Spring and the Summer, even to an ashy blonde. Sometimes, Adelaide reacts to this by dying it back, sometimes by just letting it be. As to the exact colour of her eyes, it is hard to tell. In some lights, they look almost golden, but they are flickered with green, light almond brown and even purple at times. On the whole, one can acknowledge that they are of a dark, chocolate brown. Adelaide is of an average size, maybe even on the small side, but appears taller due to her personality and the way she carries herself. Her figure is more conventionally attractive than her facial features. Slim, with delicate curves, an enviably small waist and a small, but perfectly formed, bust proportionate to her slight frame. Her legs are long and her hips wide, giving her a perfect, if light, hourglass figure. Clothes tend to fit particularly well on Adelaide and she tends to buy good quality - statement pieces or basic shapes in bold colours and black - and is very fond of outfits that, in her words, "Reveal everything and nothing." Character Personality :
Adelaide's personality is as striking as her appearance. It's intense, strong, passionate and stubborn - to some, it may even be offensive. That is if you don't like the truth, the brutal honest truth. Usually, she doesn't say anything if she considers it irrelevant or thinks it better to say nothing at all, but if someone starts a fight, she likes to have the last word. Adelaide is not mean, far from it, but she has a brazen personality, confident and tough, and thus has a lack of comprehension of those who are less sure of themselves. On the other hand, on the rare occasions when she's brought people close to tears, she'll almost always regret it and, besides, has a hard time holding a grudge against anyone, tending to blow hot and cold rather than holding things against anyone for a period of time, preferring to "Forgive and Forget".
A further dynamic to this side is the passionate hopeless romantic who lives life to the full and loves almost to the point of madness, desperately flinging herself from one ill-fated romance to another and living every day as if it were her last. It is partly for this reason that she has so many hobbies and so many aspirations. She is relentlessly ambitious and fully aware that this can sometimes make her selfish, ill-tempered and manipulative, but unlike many people, she sees her flaws as something to overcome, opportunities to better herself rather than something to be proud of in blind arrogance or something to hide. Adelaide is a great believer in self-improvement. Although competitive and thinking highly of healthy competition between people, she considers it far more important to seek to be better than her current self rather than strive to be better than other people. Finally, there is a more complex and conflicted side that most people tend not to be exposed to as it is hidden deep down for fear of being mocked, completely contrasted with her passion and vivacity as much as her ambition and pride. It's emotional, very vulnerable, and it can make her cynical and depressed. Although she has reached a point where she can face up to her past, old wounds that run so deep are hard to heal. Sometimes she remembers the way she was bullied by some of the other Dynasty brats for the way she looked. Sometimes, she still feels the pain that came from the death of the first man, and perhaps the only man, she ever truly loved. She still has fantasies of what their life could have been like if only everything hadn't ended so abruptly. When these moments come over her, she is liable to stay in her room for hours on end, completely lethargic and deaf to the world outside or anyone trying to disturb her web of silence, letting the thoughts run away with themselves or settle into the recesses of her memories. Adelaide can be eccentric. Most of her eccentricities are natural, while a few are self-imposed. Having a memorable face is one thing. Having the character and personality to carry it off is entirely another and, since that day, that's what she has focused on. Interestingly, in spite of her large nose and crooked teeth, Adelaide is a born seductress and avidly flirtatious. She walks well, dresses well and holds herself with dignity. Intelligent and interesting, she intrigues people and knows how to captivate an audience. Adelaide is a natural actress. Even if she does not always sympathise with others, she has a great capacity for empathy and a good understanding of the suffering of others. Sensual and charming, she has been mostly disappointed with the fact that she never receives the roles of protagonists and young ingenues. Rather, she is often typecast into the roles of villains, madwomen and mistresses. Character History :
Adelaide started out life as she went through it - with no small amount of drama. She was born a fortnight earlier than planned, quicker than most and at a most inappropriate time. Namely, in a carriage driving along the Ki River, four bells away from both her family's plantation (Bloodflower) and the city of Kenash. The stressful nature of the situation for her mother, Valentina, and the lack of aid available led swiftly to an untimely death. To the great surprise of the entire Sitai family, late in the night of the 72nd of Autumn 490, Adelaide's father - Roland - returned to the Bloodflower plantation, his clothes stained with blood, the body of his wife and a tiny red-faced infant girl, his second daughter, crying softly in his arms. It had been difficult to govern exactly what day Adelaide's birthday fell on, whether it had actually been before midnight or in the early hours of the 73rd but, so in order that Adelaide's birthday and the day of Valentina's death could be commemorated as two separate events, Adelaide's birthday was registered as the 72nd.
In spite of this fairly unconventional start to life, Adelaide shared the same childhood as her initially hostile elder sister and any of her cousins, happy and rich in the privileged life which being a dynasty brat offers. Far from blaming Adelaide for her mother's death and letting it pull them apart, Roland Sitai was a very affectionate father who was quick to defend his daughter whenever she did wrong or was naughty, something which invariably happened quite frequently. Really, until Adelaide reached the age of thirteen, she could not have been happier, in spite of being able to feel the hole created by loss of the mother she never knew quite severely. She was taught, along with the other Sitai children, a number of skills by a multitude of erratic tutors maddened by their young students' lack of concentration. If Adelaide was often naughty, took issue with authority and had no problems with saying exactly what she thought, (often much to the amusement of the Sitai clan) she did, however, enjoy learning, eager to discover as much as possible about life, about the world and anxious to prove herself to her family. As such, she became well-versed in reading, writing, singing, politics, law, philosophy, persuasion, mathematics, riding and, of course, playing the Viola da Gamba - all skills considered essential by her father. With the awakening of her burgeoning sexuality, she became much more aware of her flaws, especially when compared to other, conventionally prettier members of her family. Her teenage years were considerably darker than her childhood which, though not void of issues (She had once set fire to part of the plantation and, at another time, been caught throwing ink projectiles at the head of the leader of the Morealis Family)Being a fiery romantic, the lack of prospects she imagined for love in her future led to her reaching a low point, depressed, angry and losing all taste for life. She even stopped eating for a while and lost a considerable amount of weight, which did nothing to improve either her appearance or her mood. Luckily, both her father and her sister stuck by her side throughout three long, dark seasons and eventually she emerged from her self-created well of self-pity to flourish again. Unfortunately, she plunged back into self-loathing two years later when, aged seventeen, she knew her first great crush and consequential heartache. After her father had taken so long to mend her fragile self-esteem, it collapsed almost immediately when she was turned on by the man she thought she loved. A friend of hers originally, she developed deeper feelings for him, and was very hurt when he rejected her cruelly and tactlessly in favour of her elder sister, Zuleikha (who promptly showed him the door). Again, it took her a couple of seasons to recover but she eventually did, confident, thick-skinned and imbued with great personal strength as result. Though she claimed to have brought about her own recovery, it was with the help of her family and, to her great surprise, two rivals for her love that she eventually became an assured young woman who would never again be liable to the sort of self-inflicted traumas she experienced during her adolescence. In the Summer of 507, she met Dorian Paddleton and Gideon van Arken for the first time at the Midnight Market, the worst of her troubles fading into a memory. They were two friends, students in History from the University of Zeltiva seeking to write a paper on the subject of the Dynastic families of Kenash. Adelaide, who had naturally been brought up to very proud of her cultural heritage and her Sitai roots, offered to help them. By the end of the season, the two of them were trying to out-do each other with the aim of impressing her and gaining her affection, something which was incredibly uplifting to a young woman who had convinced herself of her unattractiveness. By the beginning of the Autumn season, she was at the centre of an elaborate love triangle and, by the time of her eighteenth birthday, the three of them were lovers. It was partly for this reason, and partly out of a desire for adventure and knowledge, that in the Winter, she left Kenash, arriving in Zeltiva with the two of them on the first day of Spring 508. She stayed in Zeltiva for two years and, while she was there, took classes in Poetry, Playwriting and Acting. Adelaide truly embraced every aspect of Zeltivan life, her family name allowing her a certain amount of affinity with the ruling class, but not so well-known as to pose any issues to her in her pursuance of a thoroughly bohemian student-lifestyle. She started drinking coffee and alcohol, smoking, reading heavy books written by pretentious writers and lauded by overbearing critics. She started wearing black, trousers and expensive perfume and finally indulged in her sexual fantasies with men, women and anything in between. She considered revolution, the upheaval of the proletariat and read about the Valterrian. It was this that turned her away from her dreams of revolutionising society. Adelaide realised then that the world needed balance and, thought it did not seem fair that some were born slaves and some were born masters, she considered that there needed to be a lower order in the world in order that there be a higher order. There needed to be poverty so that one might appreciate wealth. Thus, there had to be a day and a night. Pain had to exist in order for pleasure to be felt. Death had to happen so that people could live. Sickness walked hand in hand with health. It was the natural order of things. During this period of peace, pensiveness and philosophy, Adelaide started having relations with a Benshiran musician - Naolom - who taught her the basics of playing the lyre. Not long after, she was pregnant, news that she greeted with both joy and ambiguity, worried by what her family would say and happy to be carrying the child of a man she loved very much. Naolom asked her to marry him and Adelaide agreed and set about writing a letter to her father informing him of her upcoming marriage. Unfortunately, before the letter was posted, Naolom and Adelaide had an accident while on a sailing trip. Adelaide, unable to swim, would have drowned if Naolom had not saved her. All seemed well at first but the next day, Naolom came down with a cold which four days later, turned into a raging fever. Adelaide stayed by his bedside night and day, but was unable to do much to help him - the cold seemed only to worsen his coughing and the heat only caused his temperature to rise. On the 3rd of Autumn 510AV, it looked like he was getting better and he was able to have a conversation with Adelaide and eat something. However, after a night of delirium, late into the morning of the 4th of Autumn 510 AV, Naolom died. Adelaide was heartbroken but determined to keep going for the sake of Naolom's unborn child until, on the 12th of Autumn 510 AV, she miscarried one hundred and fifty days into her pregnancy. The young woman was inconsolable. Although her friends rallied to offer their support, and assured her that she would get through it, she thought differently and resolved to return to her family in Kenash. The loss of Naolom made her realise how petty her previous depressions over her appearance had been, for she saw that she now knew what true suffering was. Deciding to quit her courses, she went to visit her professors to inform them of her decision and was dealt a further blow to her fragile mentality. Professor Harakhoum, who had been her Art teacher over the previous year, tried to take advantage of Adelaide's state of unrest and need for human affection. When she immediately rejected his advances, he became violent and attempted to rape the young woman who, already blighted by personal tragedy, could not understand this betrayal by someone whom she had trusted. Although Adelaide's screams alerted another Professor to her predicament and Professor Harakhoum could go no further than removing her shirt, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Adelaide withdrew into herself, into a state of complete inertia. It wasn't until the end of the Autumn season that she said anything at all and then, only this, "I want to go home." Trusting only her first Zeltivan friend, Gideon van Arken, they set off together back to Kenash, Adelaide still refusing to say anything save, "I want to go home." Recent History :
On the 76th of Winter 510AV, Adelaide and Gideon arrived at the Bloodflower Plantation. Adelaide once again regressed into a state of complete muteness which lasted until the beginning of the Summer. Nothing could be done throughout that time. Her father, Roland, did everything he could to help his daughter, spending sleepless nights at her bedside and summoning the best physicians the family could afford to help her. It all seemed in vain until, one day when Gideon and Zuleikha were supposed to be reading to her, Adelaide overheard Gideon asking her sister to marry him. It was the 4th of Summer 511AV, one year to the day since Naolom proposed to her and Adelaide was struck by the sudden feeling that the rest of the world was moving on without her, that she was getting left behind and that that was not what Naolom would have wanted. The next day, everybody was shocked to find her sitting up in her bed, smiling. Adelaide promptly congratulated the young couple on their engagement which Roland, seeing the joy it caused her, did not have to heart to refuse to as he had intended to.
In the Winter of the same year, Zuleikha and Gideon were married in a beautiful, but intimate, ceremony on the Bloodflower plantation and their union was blessed by the Goddess Cheva. By this point, Adelaide's condition had improved hugely. Though she was still confined to her family plantation, she had started taking walks, even riding, singing and writing poetry again. She was thus able to act as Maid of Honour for her sister and it was the opportunity for members of other Dynasties attending to find out more about the wayward daughter of the Sitai clan. In the two years since she had left Kenash, Adelaide had lost much of the buoyant, almost crazed, vivacity of her youth. She had grown considerably more mature, now seeming more adult than adolescent and, in spite of her eccentricities and that which she was suffering, a great deal more tolerant to the flaws and ignorance of others. Everyone seemed to come to the overall conclusion that Adelaide was cured of her ailments and Gideon went home to Zeltiva with Zuleikha. However, Adelaide still very much had her demons. Firstly, for some reason, being assaulted by the Art Professor which she had held in such high esteem left her completely unable to take up a paintbrush without a feeling of absolute revulsion and any skill she may have gained in the discipline was completely lost. She took up designing again and, at the beginning of 513AV was loaned money from her family to set up her business, "The Playhouse", a Theatre right by the Sea. Secondly, Adelaide was wracked by an incredible feeling of guilt whenever anything resembling flirtation occurred between her and another person. Naturally flirtatious, this cost her many sleepless nights and even more tears so that it wasn't until the end of Spring 513AV, more than two years and a half after Naolom's death that Adelaide started pursuing a romantic relationship with a man twenty-five years her senior, Novak Draer. A pastry chef by profession, Novak had started laying the foundations for their relationship by the end of 512, when he had started riding by the family home to make his intentions known to Roland, bringing flowers for Adelaide and offering to accompany her into the city whenever she felt up for it. In Autumn 513AV Adelaide, her business set up and blessed with a patient, experienced partner, met Oscar Myope, a gentle, softly-spoken, freeborn lawyer from Zeltiva. Although Novak was initially completely opposed to the idea, he acquiesced to Adelaide's desire to re-create the ménage-a-trois that had heralded her travelling to Zeltiva. The relationship between the three was difficult at first but by mid-Autumn, Adelaide was able to manage a successful romance with both Oscar and Novak. However, two seasons later, in Spring 514AV, Oscar fell in love with someone else, a young and beautiful, if not particularly intelligent, servant. The relationship between Oscar and Adelaide ended, much to Novak's delight, and Adelaide embraced the many conveniences of only having one lover. History Post-Creation :
"A taste for the truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing." <3 |