Name: Arielle Atken
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Hometown: Lilycove City
Trainer Type: Dark Type Specialist
Appearance: Standing at five feet, seven inches tall, before her boots, Ariel is not precisely imposing. Her build is lithe, with the sort of wirey muscle that one acquires over long periods of time walking while carrying heavy weights, and just generally spending hours upon hours’ outdoors. However, her skin remains stubbornly pale, despite hours in the Kalosian and Alolan sun. Her hair is a faint silver, falling midway down her back, and she refuses to elaborate if it is bleached, or dyed, or somehow natural. Most of the time, she leaves it hanging lose, but she does carry a headband to keep in place in extreme winds. Her figure is distinctly feminine, not quite what one might define as ‘model’, but she is usually regarded as at least pretty by most observers. Stoney grey eyes bear out from beneath her bangs, being the most striking feature of her face, the rest of her features are softer, and her lips are often set in a sharp, if expressionless line. Arielle wears no jewelry of any sort, nor makeup. Not to say that she doesn’t care about her appearance, but she feels that she is attractive enough without them.
Arielle’s clothing in somewhat bland, chosen to subtly emphasize her appearance without being gaudy, a trick that has served her well. The most ostentatious part of her out fit is the black knee length heeled boots, which lend her another couple inches of height, and can occasionally attract attention, as she carries herself quite gracefully. Dark stockings meet the with her black skirt in the middle of her thigh. On most days, she wears a white v-necked blouse, covered by a tight fighting leather jacket. If she’s dealing with ‘work’ she tends to wear grey gloves as well, but usually she avoids those. She does her best to appear impeccable at all times, with varying degrees of success.
No matter the circumstance, Arielle carries all of her supplies in a large heavy duty backpack. Everything from food, a thin sleeping bag (at least if she’s in a warmer climate), and whatever else she feels might be useful when traveling, as well as her supplies as a Pokémon trainer. As a result, she’s usually carting around upwards of 30lbs of stuff at any given time, which has helped keep her in good shape.
Personality: Arielle is nothing if not a cynic. Her demeanor is serious, tending to see the worst in any given situation with a sort of quiet resignation towards that. To her, whatever happens, happens, and all she can do is face it. And face those challenges she does, having learned a sort of grim determination in the face of what she considers inevitable. She does not bend, digging in her heels if she must, but she will not yield to a given challenge, even if the better part of valor would be to step back and try a different approach. This hard-headed self-surety has proven to be a hindrance to her before, sometimes to the frustration of her Pokémon. However, her inflexibility also means that sometimes she has a terrible time learning from a mistake.
Arielle places very little value on material possessions. Every aspect of her life is Spartan, all of her possessions can fit in a single backpack. She caries this minimalism over into all aspects of life. There is no need for two words when a one will convey the same meaning. She carries no mementos of her adventures, having no desires to be tied down to memories, anymore than she already is. She's never forgotten a friend, and if pressed hard enough will defend that statement harshly, even if she’s too cowardly to contact or search them out, often after leaving abruptly.
Of course, this doesn’t stop her from forming connections with those around her, despite her best efforts. Even when she everything to push someone away, Arielle will find herself drawn to the companionship, at heart she is sometimes still a lonely child, wishing for someone to take a bit of an interest in her. To listen to whatever stories she might have to tell. Yet she also doesn't really value herself much. The needs and wants of others will always supersede Areille's own, with all of her trademark stubbornness and inflexibility. While she will take any level of punishment life deals her, the punishment life deals those who she had formed a close connection to is intolerable. She’s smart enough to know that her mental state isn’t always…healthy, and doesn’t want anyone else to end up like her, even if she sometimes can’t articulate it well.
Arielle is covetous of knowledge, never having had the time to learn non practical skills. As her focus was allowed to broaden beyond just, living into tomorrow, Arielle found herself consuming any and all knowledge voraciously. That isn't to say she is incredibly learned, but she has managed to teach herself up through what we might consider about 8th grade. She is rather fashion conscious, not in the sense of caring about the latest trends, but in the sense of making sure that her appearance is exactly right. Dealing with criminals and the underworld for a long time taught Arielle that appearances are important, as such, how she appears is carefully constructed. One of her friends (before Arielle bolted) remarked on this, pointing out that there was no other reason for someone to learn to walk all the time in three inch heeled boots, no matter the weather, climate, etc. Despite her attractive looks, Arielle will never be terrible charming, her nature is just a little to cold and curt, and so the idea of her as a femme fatale or anything of the sort will remain just an amusing pipe dream of a friend. She knows that sometimes looks are enough to manipulate people into doing what she wants, but given that she is terrible at flirting, both realizing someone is flirting with her, and reciprocating, this never comes out very useful.
Although direct and to the point about all things, Arielle strives to avoid being harsh or cruel. If she opens up to someone, she is a little less direct, but never really loses the mannerism. She listens well, having spent a long time being able to do little but listen, and if asked, will offer her advice, although acting on that advice is often ill advised, even by Arielle herself. She will maintain a façade of calm in the face of nearly anything, only breaking it when a situation had gotten out of hand, or if she is taken entirely off guard, such as by someone doing kind for her. Random acts of kindness as perhaps the fastest way to shatter Arielle’s careful control.
History: Arielle never had a family, having been left in a Lillycove City Orphanage as a newborn baby. Even in the best of circumstances, and orphanage is a less than ideal place to grow up, and this particular orphanage was far from ideal. Nestled in a poorer district of the city, the owners were always strapped for money, and, worse still, when Arielle was just three, a local criminal ‘gang’ decided to start running a protection racket, stretching the overstuffed and under-funded orphanage almost to it’s limits.
In this environment, there was little time to be a child. Self sufficiency was mandatory if you wanted to survive, in the pecking order of children that, while naturally existing, was made worse as some of the older children found ways to work and make money, thus giving them leverage. If you wanted to eat, without having to deal with the older kids, you learned to cook. You learned to fight back if they tried to bully you. And Arielle did just that.
When adults did come to the orphanage, looking to adopt a child, Arielle was usually passed over, although not as a result of something other children would do. While the desire to get out was strong enough that the other children would deliberately try and make each other look back, Arielle stayed away from that. No, it was the look in her eyes that unnerved adults. To them, no child was supposed to have a cold dead stared. Some wondered if she was possessed by some Pokémon. Others just suspected she’d grow up to be a psychopath, and left her be. At the time, Arielle didn’t understand, she wasn’t trying to be different than the other children, and all she saw was those few adults who cared passed her over, time and time again. So, at the age of eight, she tried to run away from the orphanage.
That is not to say she failed at running away. Oh no. Two of the older orphans had gotten into a fist fight over something, and Arielle used the ensuring chaos to slip out the door, and onto the streets, with nothing more than a small bit of pilfered money, the cloths on her back, and a stubborn determination. She didn’t even know where to go, instead just setting off wandering in a random direction. This being a slum, that was a less than advised, and within thirty minutes, she found herself running away from some men who seemed just a little too friendly. Eventually, however, they cornered her in an alleyway. However, before anything might have happened, someone, or rather, something, interfered. An Absol came leaping out. The men, drunk as they were, could recognize the supposed disaster Pokémon, and, in a fit of superstitious terror fled the scene. Arielle, even years later, wasn’t sure how she ended up back in the orphanage, the dried remains of tears on her checks.
That would not be the last time she saw the Absol. The next time, she was nine, when she glimpsed it, lurking in the shadows, just hours before a hurricane made landfall, crippling the city for days. The severity of the ‘disaster’ varied, but from her ninth to eleventh birthdays, Arielle saw what she could only assume was that same Absol more than a two dozen times. She never really could figure out what he was trying to warn them of, but knew that, if he (she always assumed it was male). In fact, just after she turned ten, she ‘found’ an unused pokeball laying in the street, and late one night, snuck out of the orphanage, having become more skilled in doing so as time passed. As she did, she was confronted by the Absol, who she offered to ‘catch’. She presented it as more of a benefit to him than to her, and, after some contemplation, the Pokémon agreed to be caught. Arielle left him to roam however, not wanting to keep his disaster sensing abilities contained. In a bit of morbid humor, they agreed that his name was to be Thirteen. That would remain a secret until she was eleven, when Thirteen was injured saving her from a group of muggers. Ariel was more than capable of handling a single thug, but more than one could get the better of her, and he stepped in, and was hurt. Arielle took him to the nearest Pokémon center, and, as a result, Thirteen was officially her first Pokémon.
That marked a turning point in her life. A Pokémon trainer presented opportunities to the gang that ruled those streets, and Arielle was given a chance at a ‘better life’ doing odd jobs for them. Mostly, running packages, messages, and the like. She trusted none of them, but they paid her, and at least, money was worth something.
Not, however, enough for her loyalty. As she started to progress into puberty, Arielle became more than aware of the intentions of her ‘employers’, and decide to pre-empt the problem, sending an anonymous tip to the authorities, and spending almost all of her money to by a ticket out of Hoenn and to Kalos.
In Kalos, for a while, her life was scarcely better. Knowing little but the criminal underground, Arielle was drawn there to make money. This time, however, she was able to be a little more choosing, even if she knew her life hung on the good will of people who saw her as nothing but a tool. And then she met a group of friends starting out their Pokémon journey, and found herself swept up in their sake.
Ian, Petra, and Simonne where their names. Rookie trainers by all accounts, they harbored dreams of defeating gym leaders, winning contests, and traveling the world. Arielle first saw them at a distance as she was finishing a job, walking through town, talking loudly enough to catch attention. By this point, she didn’t need Thirteen to warn her that the rookie trainers would be targets for criminals. So, as she finished her job, Arielle followed them out of town, hoping that she was wrong. There, she arrived just as a couple of grunts were attempting to steal the trios Pokémon. Thirteen by her side, Arielle stood up to someone probably stronger than her for the first time. Thirteen was more than capable of defeating the Pokémon the thugs carried, so they attempted to resort to something more simplistic. Physical violence. By this point, however, one of the three had contacted the authorities, and nothing escalated farther. Ariel, however, had discovered her first friends.
The next year and a half of her life was a whirlwind, being dragged from city to city by three starry-eyed youths, all impressed by the fourteen-year-old who could scare a bunch of street thugs. It was an enlightening experience for Arielle, as she tried to reconcile her utter loneliness with the idea that she suddenly wasn’t alone any longer, and didn’t have to rely on just herself for things. It took the three trainers months to worm their way into her confidences, as it where, but they managed to crack that outer shell. Upon learning that Arielle didn’t have a last name, Simonne set about finding one for her, eventually settling on Atken, which prompted Ian to dub her ‘Double A’, prompting threats to his life, which were mostly in jest.
Still, all good things were not to last. Having seen all of Kalos, the other three wanted to move on to Hoenn. Arielle found herself caught between her desire to be with these people who she felt like made life worth living, and a fear of returning home. In the end, she told her friends she’d follow them in a bit, that she had a few more things in Kalos to take care of, and exchanged information to keep in touch. And for a while they did, but as things do, they fell out of touch, and Arielle hardened herself against loss just a bit more, never able to bring herself to journey to Hoenn and look for them.
Since then, her life has been relatively nomadic. She’s spent time in Kanto and Johto, before more recently journey to Kalos, and then at last, back to Hoenn, where she spent a few months, before making the decision to venture into the Orre region.
Other:
Knows some basic hand to hand fighting skills.
A dancer, although she keeps this hidden
Hates dresses
If she ever settles down in one place, plans to collect swords
Is every embarrassed about her handwriting
Pokemon
Name: Thirteen
Species: Absol
Gender: Male
Personality: Thirteen is more than a little sanctimonious. Quite expressive, when he chooses to be, his bearing is haughty, and it only takes one quick look to know he’s the self important sort. That said, he does seem to care deeply for the lives of humans, having spent many years attempting to warn them of trouble, but large and small, and having enduring the ridicule and fear that came with those efforts. Since traveling with Arielle, he’s had somewhat more success. Come hell or high water, Thirteen will do whatever he can to help people, and only claim his smug superiority after the fact. At the very least, so long as he has a trainer standing by his side, he finds that people don’t automatically run, or throw stones. They still have less than grateful, which continues to provide a point of annoyance. In battle however, Thirteen casts aside his holier-than-thou attitude, and is more than willing to fight dirty, willing to use any advantage as well. He’ll fight if Arielle wishes, but otherwise, he isn’t to likely to pick a fight, at least not upfront. If he’s going to fight, he’s going to ensure things go his way if possible. Of course, he’ll never admit that he can be easily manipulated via barbeque chips, with which he has a minor obsession, and Arielle thus refuses to touch.
History: Arielle’s first friend, and long time guardian, Thirteen spent years trying to ward off the constant wave of threats to Lilycove city, before saving a young Arielle, and eventually befriending her. She is his first, and if Thirteen has his way, only, trainer.
Name: Yen
Species: Litten
Gender: Male
Personality: Young, and skittish, Yen doesn’t trust anyone. In fact, he tends to hide behind his trainer, or the substantially larger than he is, Thirteen. Has a bit of a sweet tooth, and upon consuming something sugary turned into a hyperactive ball of doom. His curiosity is only outweighed by his fear of the unknown, and of most humans. He trusts Arielle, but almost no-one else, as a result of his first experience with humans.
History: The one time Arielle initiated violence in her life, beating the snot out of a trainer who was abusing a Pokémon, which turned out to be Litten. Having liberated the trainer of said Pokémon, Arielle gave the then unnamed Yen a choice. Go free, or stay with her. He chose the later.