Valerie - Eventide MUSH

Valerie

Valerie

Portrayed by	LIGHTS Poxleitner
Full name	Valerie Marie Payok
Birthday	May 15th
Species	Shifter (Bear)
Age	18
Height	5'2"
Weight	110lbs
Eyes	Bluish-gray
Hair	Black
Power	Bear things
Parents	Cole and Cheyanne Payok
Siblings	None
Occupation	Wanderer

Table of Contents

Description

Her name is Valerie. The tiny, golden necklace around her neck says so, at least. She's a young girl of perhaps 18 or 19 years of age, though an exact number is difficult to determine because of her tiny size. The girl stands at 5 feet and 2 inches, when she stands up straight. Svelte and compact, she doesn't look like she can weigh much more than 110 pounds.

Her black hair reaches down to her back, usually backcombed and styled for volume. Her eyes are a bluish-gray colour, and they have a glowing light to them, full of youthful enthusiasm. Her skin is russet; deeply tanned. A painted on design, vaguely in the shape of an upside-down triangle, has been placed on her left cheek.

Her choice of clothing doesn't fit with any specific style. Rather, it looks as though she's created her own style by throwing every fashion into a melting pot. Over a bright, banana-yellow tank top she wears a thin gray hooded sweater. The sleeves are somewhat baggy, while the torso almost seems to adhere to her sides when zipped up. The tank top has a black skull on it. Her jeans are tight all down her leg until they reach her calves, where they bunch over the pair of black and purple women's boots she wears. She's a little heavy on the makeup; especially around the eyes, with thick lines of eye-liner and mascara applied to her face.

As a Bear…

A large, pudgy white bear. At first glance, it appears to be a polar bear, normally found within the Arctic Circle, though upon further examination one can see that the form isn't quite right. In fact, it would be similar to a Kodiak bear if not for the white fur. Around its eyes is a ring of dark fur, like natural eyeliner that brings attention to the bright, intelligent eyes, while at the same time giving it a somewhat feminine appearance.

She's quite the specimen, meeting an average human's elbow at the shoulders and weighing in at almost 400 lbs. Her head is bulky, like most brown bears, and her rump is large. Her paws are big and clumsy, and the size of her fuzzy ears makes her seem young, like an over-sized cub. Instead of fierce, there's something about this animal that makes it more like a teddy bear than the killing machines the sharp, non-retractable claws and jaw full of long teeth have caused most to perceive bears as.

Biography

Valerie was born to Cole and Cheyanne Payok. Her father, a humble fisherman native to the cold of the Northwest Territories of Canada, who possessed a seat on the council of elders in the Inuktitut tribe. Her mother, originally from Quebec, was of Austrian and French descent, and she moved to the NWT because of her job as a missionary.

When the two of them met, Cheyanne managed to convince Cole to accompany her on her quest to help those who were less fortunate, and so their years were equally divided between travelling to foreign countries to assist the poor and uneducated, and spending quality time back at home at Great Bear Lake, where Cole could tend to his duties as a leader of the Inuit community. Though he did not tell Cheyanne of his darker callings to the wild, Cole continued to protect the land with the powers that had been bestowed upon him, and so many others in the same bloodline.

Their partnership quickly transformed into love, and five years after they met, Valerie was born on May 15th. No marriage was involved, yet the child was welcomed into the community with open arms. Throughout Valerie's life, she was taken along on her parents' missions in other countries, travelling from place to place - a custom that would later take her to Forks, Washington.

Because of the nomadic lifestyle she and her parents led, Valerie has always been an independent, adventurous soul. In the many places they visited, she did not have much time to settle down and tie friendship knots; however she became well-versed in many cultures. The time she spent at home with the tribe was time well wasted, playing many games of exploration, and taking up winter sports such as snowboarding and hockey with the small group of friends she had.

Though there is very little tragedy in Valerie's life, each person is guaranteed their fair share of trauma. For vacation, Val's family decided to spend a few days in Whistler. One day, while sliding down one of the slopes on her snowboard, Valerie lost control. She was 13, and left in a coma for three straight days after having a head-on collision with a tree. She cracked two ribs, one which had been displaced so much as to dangerously puncture her right lung. The surgery took hours. The recovery… well, some might argue that she never did. Since then, she hasn't touched a snowboard.

Her first supernatural experience occurred just before her 14th birthday. Val's relationship with her mother (though she loved her father dearly) was shaky, at best, and the two of them often took part in heated arguments. This one was particularly nasty, and Cheyanne was driving Val off the deep end. With the rage boiling inside her, the only thing her body could do was release it, and that day her body discovered a new way of doing so.

Valerie's shift forced Cole to confess to Cheyanne the secret of their tribe, and he explained to her how their ancestors had taken on the responsibility of defending their people from other dangerous, supernatural bodies. An alternative duty of theirs was to take care of the land; prevent pollution, and promote environmental cleanliness.

Four years passed, and during that time Valerie spent her time getting used to the new Inuktitut ways, and connecting with the animal that resided in her. One year, when Valerie turned 18, she decided to stay behind instead of going on one of her parent's missionary workshops. Rather, she planned an adventure of her own. Driven by curiosity and the thirst for knowledge, Val threw on a rucksack, and began making the trek down from the Northwest, through Canada, and to the US. She'd been to a lot of countries, but not the power capital of the world, oddly enough.

She moved quickly as a bear, merely a white form that would steal garbage for dinner and fish for breakfast, for many months. The commotion in Forks is not difficult to miss for a shifter, and she was easily attracted to the area.

Forks' garbage cans are no longer safe.

Personality

Valerie is very open-minded and aware. There isn't much that she's not interested in learning about, even if her methods of expanding one's mind are… strange, at best. To a lot of people, especially ones without a sense of humour, she is seen as very childish and ignorant, when in reality this is just her need to be different and adventurous taken in the worst way

possible. She IS child-like; however she's far from naive or innocent, as much as she'll try to trick others. She is a very passionate person, and she devotes much of her time to music and the other forms of art. Those who appreciate a person who is able to view things from new and different angles get along with her.

Intellectually, she is very bright, though somewhat distracted. She excels in many academic techniques, but has always had a hard time staying focused on things that bore her. Valerie can become easily alarmed, and she's a bit of a manic when things don't go her way. As an individual, people who find themselves easily overwhelmed by mood swings and 'on-and-off' enthusiasm will regard her as scatter-brained, anxious, and annoying.

If it looks fun, hey, it wouldn't be hard to pressure Valerie into doing it. She's stubborn, however entertainment appeals to her. Never in her life would she willingly harm someone — that's at least one value her father has drilled into her mind, though substance abuse and theft aren't completely out of the question. She's not afraid to break the rules, but she's viable to feel guilty afterwards. Valerie has no goal. Her goal in life could very well be to FIND a goal. She finds herself interested in many things, and fixating on only one path to take herself down is difficult.