Kennes

Name: Kennes 
Age: 17 (birthday spring)
Orientation: Aromantic, bicurious-leaning-ace
Gender: Female

Occupation: Courier, dragon Candidate
Squad: N/A
Lodgings: Sky Huts

Appearance: Kennes, on the whole, is not intimidating. Even though she's average height, standing somewhere around five-foot-five, she gives the impression of being small and a few years younger than she is. This is in large part because she's so thin; though Kennes doesn't quite look starved, she has a certain hungry leanness about her, the kind of shape someone gets into from going years with insufficient food before finally getting enough to eat. She's been well-fed for roughly a year now, but most of the weight she's gained has gone into muscle, rather than fat. Kennes doesn't curve. This doesn't bother her; extra weight would just get in her way.

Her clothes add to her particular nondescriptness: she much prefers earth tones and natural fibers, particularly green, and given her druthers dresses consistently in old, soft worn-in things, usually smudged with dirt. Most of Kennes is usually smudged with dirt - it's hard to tell under the soot and grime, but she's olive-skinned, though ashen from a childhood in the Neath, with cool grey eyes. Her hair is near-black, worn long but braided sensibly down the center of her back. Don’t be fooled by the “petite little girl” look that Kennes gives off, though, because Kennes is strong enough to cock a sizeable crossbow, which she carries with her at all times. She might be small and startlingly lean, but when that bow is trained on you, you can bet – Kennes doesn't miss.

Personality: Solemn. Withdrawn. Selfish. Cold. Emotionally distant. Kennes was never an outgoing or friendly child, but what was once related to low self-esteem and the crushing weight of hunger has become something much deeper-rooted and much, much stronger. She's a little girl who had to grow up much too quickly, and anything trusting or sweet died along with her aspirations for the future. Behind those sharp grey eyes is a mind devoted to calculating chances of survival, deciding whether or not actions are going to benefit or cost her, testing the waters to ensure a place is safe. Kennes is not the kind of teenager to be charmed by friendly words or little trinkets or affection. She's the kind of teenager who might, if you're lucky, stare at you suspiciously and run away. If you're unlucky, she might just shoot you in the leg before she runs to prevent you from following her.

Though she finds it distasteful, there is little nowadays that stops Kennes from hurting people. True, she generally regrets having to do it, and during her worse spells feels nothing but remorse for her actions, but when push comes to shove, Kennes is going to have to do what she has to in order to survive. She's very bright, with has a talent for gauging a situation and reacting accordingly, but her actions are for her own good, not the benefit of others. This is typical of Kennes; she's more or less incapable of thinking outside herself. It's not to say that she's incapable of caring, but rather that she looks out for number one first, and everyone else second.

Kennes does care deeply for the people close to her, but earning her trust can be...difficult. Kennes has spent the past year bouncing back from a great deal of trauma, so people who weren't close to her before she left the rooftops are unlikely to be considered among her friends. However, they might very well find themselves on her side, at least for a little while. She makes and breaks alliances as quickly and easily as she breathes, teaming up with anyone who seems useful or convenient and leaving them behind as soon as they are less so. It's cold and calculated and remarkably self-serving, but it's also practical; Kennes has very little desire to be frivolous anymore. She lost any sentimentality she might have had when she lost her little sister.

She also lost a great deal of emotional stability that day. Kennes is still picking up the pieces from a year ago, and there's little hope she will ever fully recover. This is the reason she's mistrustful and skittish, and why she finds it difficult to make friends but simple to make allies that she might later shoot out of convenience: she blames herself for what happened, and doesn't understand how anyone could do anything but hate her. She's prone to fits of depression and suffers from pervasive nightmares. She rarely sleeps. Being inside makes her feel trapped, and when she gets too tied up in anxiety, she has a tendency to lash out at anyone around her. By-and-large, Kennes is a danger to herself and others, though she's doing the best she can to manage it.

It should be noted that Kennes has a near-pathological inability to follow orders – something that stems from the fact that she's incapable of trusting anyone other than herself with her own well-being. You can tell Kennes to do things, and she will usually at least consider the order, but the more forcefully someone commands her, the more she is to ditch them entirely. She is, above all, a survivalist. She knows the lore of the wilderness, or at least what passes as wilderness in the Neath, and is surprisingly capable outside "civilization." 

Her main weakness is her family: Kennes can be manipulated into doing just about anything if her family is threatened. She gets frightfully attached to the people she loves, to the point that she will willingly and readily sacrifice herself for them. Of course, at the moment, she’s alone. This means she has nothing to lose. Watch out.

History:

• Spring 2933: Kennes is born to cotholders who were poor before they sank into the Neath, and continued to be poor after they dropped into the Bazaar. Her parents love her, though, and try to keep her happy, though they frequently have to go without.
• Fall 2938: When Kennes is five, her sister Larken is born.
• Winter 2941: When Kennes is eight, her father dies in an unfortunate accident. His body is burned beyond Her mother falls into a deep depression that neither Kennes nor Larken can snap her out of. She becomes nearly-unresponsive, leaving Kennes to tend to her little sister more or less on her own.
  
• Summer 2942: Five months after her father's death, Kennes' mother leaves on what she assures the girls is a shopping trip. She never comes home. Kennes and Larken are left alone. Two weeks later, their parents' landlord discovers the girls and tosses them out on the streets.
  
• Summer 2942: Kennes and Larken join an urchin band.
  
• Summer 2942-Summer 2949: Kennes and Larken are urchins. They do urchin things. Kennes spends most of her time keeping an eye on Larken and making sure her little sister doesn't get into any trouble. This is significantly more difficult than it sounds, as Larken is a tiny troublemaker. Kennes has her hands full.
  
• Summer 2949: Larken steals off when Kennes is supposed to be watching her. Kennes tracks her to the Docks, but doesn't find her. Several days of desperate searching later, a pair of zailors dredge up blood-stained scraps of a torn dress. Larken is confirmed dead, but with no body can't be brought back.
  
• Summer 2949-Winter 2949: Kennes withdraws from urchin society. She gets by through stealing and spying.
  
• Winter 2949-Fall 2950: Kennes realizes she has to pull herself together. She makes an effort to leave the house, stops stealing, and begins taking odd-jobs as a courier. Over the course of a turn, she more or less pulls herself together.
  
• Fall 2950: Kennes tentatively fills out the paperwork to be considered as a dragon Candidate.
  

Family:

• Father: Jakken, deceased
  
• Mother: Nelara, missing
• Sister: Larken, deceased