Ilena Shaw

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NAME: Ilena Shaw
PRONUNCIATION: ill-AY-nuh sh-AW
VOICE CLAIM: Here.
NICKNAMES: N/A
AGE: 18
BIRTHDAY: February 29th (leap day)
GENDER: Female
HAIR: Strawberry blonde
EYES: Hazel
HEIGHT: 4'11"
WEIGHT: 100 lbs
BUILD: Dainty

SEXUALITY: Heteroflexible
OCCUPATION: Server and performer at Club Gambit.
CATEGORY: Student
CLASS: College
GRADE: 1st
COLLEGE MAJOR: Choreography
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Small country-side home

RACE: Quasi-spectral being
RACE SUB-CLASS: Black Shuck

ADDITIONAL:

Ilena is a dainty girl weighing in at only one hundred pounds and standing at four feet and eleven inches tall. Underneath shapeless and dowdy clothing is a remarkably feminine body with an ample hourglass figure.

Her skin is fair and easily burned or bruised. Unblemished save for the trail of freckles across the bridge of her nose and upper cheeks, and along her shoulders and chest. Her cheeks and nose tend to hold a healthy rosiness. She smells pleasantly of flowers and the earth, possibly from a hobby of gardening.

Ilena is an innocent, sheltered girl and all of this shows even at first glance. Her hazel eyes are rounded and large, along with full, kissable lips, and a cute nose. She has thick, wavy strawberry blonde hair which she keeps in a loose braid that leans more toward her right side than her left and can often be found slung over her right shoulder.

Her posture is good from her years of dancing experience, but there's a way about how she moves that suggests she's trying to take up as little space as possible. Averted eyes and constant twiddling of her hands is another clear giveaway to a lack of self-confidence and people skills.

Ilena's speaks lightly in an accent that is clearly of British lands. Estuary, to be precise.


When in the form of her Black Shuck, Ilena is a smokey, pure black dog with white, glowing eyes that stands four feet at the shoulder and appears to disappear almost entirely at the paws. In this form, she makes no sound but the pad of her pads as she walks.

Ilena could be described as a "fairy princess" type. She is gentle, soft-spoken, and likes to make people happy. She's the shy kind of girl who can't meet a person's eyes for long or is stared at without fidgeting. She has a particular habit of playing with her hair when she's nervous, or in a crowd of people, she doesn't know well.

Ilena is a bit of a pushover everywhere but on the dance floor. She'd rather have people happy than be considered right, and she hates it when voices are raised. Most of this is from a life of emotional and physical abuse. She has low self-esteem and self-worth. Willing to put up with more than any person should.

She isn't a complete baby, however. At times, there is a gentle firmness Ilena shows, a hint of what she could have been in a healthier environment. She shows respect to people and expects the same from them. She isn't particularly sharp-tongued nor quick-witted when it comes to conflict. She's more little to grumble her discontentment than screaming it.

Ilena takes on a hidden confidence and grace when on the dancefloor. Her voice is firm, and her moves are decisive. Dancing is easy -- a place where words aren't required. Where tone and style are more important than the clothing you wear or what you say.

TERROR

Terror Aura (semi-passive): This ability is only available when Ilena is in the form of her black shuck. She possesses a natural aura that induces fear and despair into anyone around her that notices her. For everyone who gets this dread around her, the events that take place are hazy and nightmarish. Most mistake it for a nightmare they had, rather than a true event.

When Ilena focuses this ability on a specific person in the bunch, this hazy effect is doubled but what's more is that she can cause trauma in her victim. Similar to PTSD. It's something most won't talk about, because there are no words to describe the terror they felt in those moments.

Vocalized Dismay: Ilena is able to use this ability no matter what form she takes. With a horrifying scream or howl, everyone in hearing range will feel a potent surge of despair and panic for thirty seconds.

Paralysis (passive): This ability is only available when Ilena is in the form of her black shuck. When Ilena's eyes are met, her target will find themselves paralyzed with fear until she looks away. Beware the eyes of the black dog.

SPECIES INFO

The Black Shuck, a quasi-spectral omen known among the English countryside. A dog said to make no sound but the click of its paws along the ground.

Ilena, as a Padfoot, has this spectral form that has her body looking like smoke or contained fog in the air. When activated (which is typically is in her Shuck form) keeps her from being touched or touching anyone or anything. For those with a keen eye, this ability lapses every thirty seconds, leaving her vulnerable to attack, when she is otherwise intangible. She may only use this ability while she's in her Shuck form.

She is also in possession of heightened senses and night eye, even while in her human form. These are as good as any canines, which also has her less put off by smells such as sweat or blood.

Ilena can give a victim the mark of the Black Shuck, something that can only be given when she's in her Shuck form and requires her to touch the victim. The mark will always be on the back of a person's neck and they will feel it, a sharp, cold stinging and stickiness that reminds one of blood.

This mark tingles in Ilena's presence and allows her to find the person again. She may only use it on one person at a time and it dissolves once they have been killed or she willingly removes it.

The mark itself resembles the face of a black dog with heated red eyes, grinning a wicked, fanged smile and inks into the skin like a tattoo.

The most interesting of Ilena's species abilities is her phylactery. Not something most of her species would have, but that was bound to her by her parents when she was younger as a method of control.

It both hinders and helps. One one hand, her phylactery is the only true way to kill Ilena. When it remains unwounded, she can take any damage but will never come apart and will never die, though she still experiences pain.

Unfortunately, when taken Ilena cannot deny a command given to her by whoever holds her phylactery, and she will die immeditately when it is broken.

While she doesn't know it yet, the phylactery has granted her agelessness. Physically, her body will stop aging once she hits thirty.

WEAKNESSES

Phylactery: Ilena's phylactery is by far her greatest weakness. Not only is it the way to kill her, but it's also the means to control her. Taking her phylactery is as easy and snatching it and giving it a little of your blood. A magical bond will then be created between Ilena and the holder of her phylactery.

She is physically forced to listen to any direct command given to her by her master, even if mentally or emotionally she has no desire to do whatever she's being told. There is no breaking this hold until the person holding her phylactery dies.

When no one holds her phylactery, Ilena is free to do as she pleases. Unfortunately, the object calls to people near it, demanding it be taken and used against her.

Despite herself, she gets a level of emotional comfort and security from whoever holds her phylactery.

Sheltered: Ilena grew up in a sheltered environment. She knows very little about people, or the real world. Not only were her parents emotionally and physically abusive, but she was given very little true information in regards to people or her body. This makes her an easy target for those of more ill intentions.

Holy Aversion: Ilena is repelled by objects of Christian origin. While they don't wound her, she cannot stand to be around them and is extremely uncomfortable while in her human form. In her Shuck form she must retreat. When on holy ground, Ilena is sick to herself and distractable.

By Night/By Day: Ilena can only turn into her true Shuck form during the night. During day time, if she attempts to transform she will become a regular black dog with none of the powers available to her as the Black Shuck. Early morning is counted with the night, before the sun completely rises into the sky.

Harbinger: Ilena, as a harbinger, may only attack in her Shuck form as a method of self-defense. She may never harm a person unless she herself has been attacked first. While often associated with death, Ilena is also a guardian to those in danger and an omen of bad times to come.

Ilena was born in the English countryside, on a small farm house to a hardworking mother and father. Things were good. But Ilena's birth seemed to bring on a string of bad luck to her family and the farm. It was all coincidence, but between livestock dying and bills being unable to be met, there was only one thing to blame.

Stress was continual on the farm as Ilena grew. The tension built for four years before her parents finally lost it at her first transformation into her Black Shuck. They deemed her the Devil and moved her bedroom to the basement, where they could lock her away in hopes that she would cause no more mischief.

This was the only life Ilena knew. Raised hands and raised voices. Constant extremes brought on by the fear of the people who were meant to protect her. As she reached adolescence, still rarely leaving her land (homeschooled, to keep her from the general public), her parents bound her soul to her phylactery as the ultimate method of control.

They were kinder then, less afraid. Things were good -- until the letter from Starlight Academy came.

More people like Ilena? The idea was a frightening one. They burned the letter and resumed their earlier cruelty. It took less than a year for the scout to come.

Ilena doesn't like to think about that day. The one that made her an orphan, but set her free. Bitter sweet.

Ilena has been on Manta Carlos since the tender age of fifteen. Cared for by the school and living a relatively normal life. She has recently just gotta out of the care of the state.
♦ Her phylactery.