Post by Blue on Jun 30, 2015 23:19:18 GMT
Name: Marra
Alias/Nickname: The Ring-Mistress, Singing Sable, Trick, Rope-Dancer
Species: Border Collie
Age: 7
Height: 50cm
Likes:
Dislikes:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Fears:
Ambitions:
Personality:
History:
Marra worked in circus shows and began training at 8 weeks of age. She would train for hours, falling from tightropes, jumping through hoops, balancing on balls and much more. She was worked as a pup until her muscles ached and was kept in a cage separate from the other animals. The trainers abused her in training with their heavy-handed methods of negative reinforcement. Whips were often cracked against the ground loudly to instil fear in the dogs if they were not focusing or picking up on the tricks quickly enough. On more than one occasion Marra was struck by the training whip- making her wary of it along with other objects that make loud cracking sounds.
On one occasion she bit the hand of a child that wanted to pet her after a show. Having never been touched or stroked in an affectionate manner, the outstretched hands of the child forced a reaction of fear and mistrust from Marra. The only hands she had known were those striking or throwing her back into her cage after performances. The most affection the hands offered were the metallic bowls of slop that were thrown into her cage every other day. Hands had never shown her anything but hurt. After biting the child she was beaten and locked in her cage- left out of future performances. On a dark evening in the midst of a thunderstorm, the loud cracks of thunder caused her to panic, scratching at the cage bars until her paws bled. She eventually contorted herself to squeeze through the bars and escaped. She didn't make it out of the fairground before she was caught. She was returned to a smaller cage and left in the dark for hours at a time with a sheet over her cage- giving her a crippling fear of the dark. As a result of this she stays in the circus tent as the multi-coloured fairground lights and bulbs still flicker and give light even in throughout the night and darkest winters.
She was left out of performances for a few months after the incident, but when the other circus dog died suddenly (for reasons still unexplained), she was let out of her cage to partake in the circus performances once more. The intensity of tricks increased. She learned how to hang from high trapeze structures with her jaws, walk higher tightropes and jump through more hoops to please the humans who used her. On one night she had an incident when jumping through a hoop that was lit on fire. Her tail caught alight, sending her into a blind panic. After that occasion she refused to continue jumping through hoops.
When the illness struck, the circus received fewer and fewer visitors until they went out of business. The animals were given less and less food and the trainers more and more frequently lost their tempers with the animals for their poor performances due to their weakened conditions. After some time, trainers no longer emerged from their caravans to continue training. Animals began to escape from cages or die within them. Marra remained in the circus- the only home she had ever know- despite all of the horrors experienced there. She is the longest known resident of the Abandoned Fairground- a territory which she claims to be her own, but allows others to pass through freely with no consequence. It is a safe haven for all rogues and misfits.
Skills:
Affiliations: Farok
Items of note: Harlequin ruffle worn around her neck
Features:
Marra is a longhaired blond border collie. Her light golden and white fur is relatively dirty from her life of being a stray. Beneath her fur she sports scars from the lash of the training whip and burns from her incident with the fire.
She is incredibly scrawny as she was poorly fed throughout her circus life and dislikes leaving the circus tent or theatre to hunt for more substantial prey. She lives predominantly off rats and mice that have also made these areas their homes.
Her nose is rose pink and she wears a battered old harlequin ruffle around her neck.
Appearance:
Alias/Nickname: The Ring-Mistress, Singing Sable, Trick, Rope-Dancer
Species: Border Collie
Age: 7
Height: 50cm
Likes:
- Music
- Singing
- Buildings- Old crumbling human structures
- Tricks- Practicing and refining her tricks with methodical precision- including tightrope walking, scaling vast objects, trapeze tricks and contortion.
- Pups- and all other youngsters.
- Rogues and others that are just as lonely as herself
- Running through the streets- getting other dogs to chase her.
- Company- her circus days left her lonely and poorly socialized. She enjoys visitors.
- Games. After a life of circus work, her perception of a 'game' is somewhat warped, and the stakes are often set incredibly high.
- Gambling- again, the stakes are always high and potentially harmful.
- Trickery, tomfoolery and scams.
- Performing
Dislikes:
- Being told what to do
- Fights
- Cages
- Humans
- Abusive individuals and situations
- Hands reaching out to her
- Being interrupted or disturbed when busy
Strengths:
- Acrobatic - Having performed tricks and unusual acts for her entire life, Marra possesses a great deal of control over her body and coordination. As a result of this she can navigate near-impossible routes, balance at near impossible odds, and climb tall structures with great ease. This makes her a difficult foe to capture as she is able to reach places that a typical canine would be unable to and possesses skills that places her at a physical advantage over others.
- Improvisation- Her main survival technique. From living in abusive situations and working in an industry that required thinking outside of the box, Marra is a good tactician when it comes to getting out of situations she is uncomfortable with. It does not always work, but she is experienced with thinking on her feet and escaping dangerous situations.
- Compassion- Having lived a life of hardship herself, Marra is sympathetic to those who have had hard lives themselves. She will often take others under her wing and be somewhat affectionate towards them.
- Acceptance- Marra accepts just about anyone, no matter how different, disfigured or discriminated against they are. She has a softness for misfits and the outcasts of society as this is the only life she has known. No matter how twisted the individual, she will still retain a softness for them- this even extends to characters such as Farok.
Weaknesses:
- Trust- After her abusive past, Marra does not trust easily. She is suspicious of strangers and keeps her distance.
- Priorities- She has not known selfless acts. Having lived in an environment where survival is key, she values looking after herself before anyone else and views those who act differently as stupid.
- Unreliability- Marra is not a dog of her word. She will not always keep promises or attend scheduled meetings.
- Fear- Her phobias vastly affect what Marra can and cannot do. Her life is very much ruled by these fears and she will lash out if she is forced to face them or if she is placed in an uncomfortable situation.
- Selfish- Marra takes care of Marra first. Deal with it.
Fears:
- Fire
- Whips
- Humans
- Hands
- Thunderstorms
- The dark
- Crowds
Ambitions:
- To no longer live alone
- To see more of the world and no longer be ruled by the scars that her upbringing inflicted upon her.
Personality:
- Sassy
- Flirt
- Trickster
- Dreamer
- Inquisitive
- Mistrustful
- Survival- always values herself first.
- Bold- will always speak her mind and call out unfair treatment.
- Intensive relationships- her behaviour can be very driven by hidden motifs.
- Superficial- It can seem that she values little more than her tricks and life of solitude, but once this is broken past her vulnerabilities show. She has many anxieties and hidden fears, but by remaining in the circus and her comfort zone she avoids revealing them to others.
History:
Marra worked in circus shows and began training at 8 weeks of age. She would train for hours, falling from tightropes, jumping through hoops, balancing on balls and much more. She was worked as a pup until her muscles ached and was kept in a cage separate from the other animals. The trainers abused her in training with their heavy-handed methods of negative reinforcement. Whips were often cracked against the ground loudly to instil fear in the dogs if they were not focusing or picking up on the tricks quickly enough. On more than one occasion Marra was struck by the training whip- making her wary of it along with other objects that make loud cracking sounds.
On one occasion she bit the hand of a child that wanted to pet her after a show. Having never been touched or stroked in an affectionate manner, the outstretched hands of the child forced a reaction of fear and mistrust from Marra. The only hands she had known were those striking or throwing her back into her cage after performances. The most affection the hands offered were the metallic bowls of slop that were thrown into her cage every other day. Hands had never shown her anything but hurt. After biting the child she was beaten and locked in her cage- left out of future performances. On a dark evening in the midst of a thunderstorm, the loud cracks of thunder caused her to panic, scratching at the cage bars until her paws bled. She eventually contorted herself to squeeze through the bars and escaped. She didn't make it out of the fairground before she was caught. She was returned to a smaller cage and left in the dark for hours at a time with a sheet over her cage- giving her a crippling fear of the dark. As a result of this she stays in the circus tent as the multi-coloured fairground lights and bulbs still flicker and give light even in throughout the night and darkest winters.
She was left out of performances for a few months after the incident, but when the other circus dog died suddenly (for reasons still unexplained), she was let out of her cage to partake in the circus performances once more. The intensity of tricks increased. She learned how to hang from high trapeze structures with her jaws, walk higher tightropes and jump through more hoops to please the humans who used her. On one night she had an incident when jumping through a hoop that was lit on fire. Her tail caught alight, sending her into a blind panic. After that occasion she refused to continue jumping through hoops.
When the illness struck, the circus received fewer and fewer visitors until they went out of business. The animals were given less and less food and the trainers more and more frequently lost their tempers with the animals for their poor performances due to their weakened conditions. After some time, trainers no longer emerged from their caravans to continue training. Animals began to escape from cages or die within them. Marra remained in the circus- the only home she had ever know- despite all of the horrors experienced there. She is the longest known resident of the Abandoned Fairground- a territory which she claims to be her own, but allows others to pass through freely with no consequence. It is a safe haven for all rogues and misfits.
Skills:
- Losing people and other dogs when they attempt to follow her.
- Mediating situations between other dogs.
- Acrobatics- including climbing tall structures such as buildings and trees.
- Her flexibility and ability to contort herself into incredibly small places to hide or to escape confinement.
- Loner know-how- She knows the whereabouts of a great deal of the rogues in the area as she is the most permanent resident in the Abandoned Fairground.
Affiliations: Farok
Items of note: Harlequin ruffle worn around her neck
Features:
Marra is a longhaired blond border collie. Her light golden and white fur is relatively dirty from her life of being a stray. Beneath her fur she sports scars from the lash of the training whip and burns from her incident with the fire.
She is incredibly scrawny as she was poorly fed throughout her circus life and dislikes leaving the circus tent or theatre to hunt for more substantial prey. She lives predominantly off rats and mice that have also made these areas their homes.
Her nose is rose pink and she wears a battered old harlequin ruffle around her neck.
Appearance: