→ [OO]Character
Character Name: Ishiah
Series: The Cal Leandros Series
Gender: Male
Age: Ancient
Species: Peri
Sexuality: Bisexual (male leaning).
Appearance: To roughly quote his canon, Ishiah looks like he might have just stepped down from a stained glass window. Jaw length fair hair, blue eyes and pale skin combine to create an angelic effect, and that's before he spreads his huge, white and gold feathered wings. Ish isn't the type of Angel-alike to sit around playing a harp on his personal fluffy white cloud, however. This is one creature who would have looked right at home wielding a flaming sword, and has the scars to prove it. One scar in particular - a slice of silver cutting across the right-hand side of his face from ear to jaw line.
Taller than most, Ishiah dresses smartly but not overly so, often in shades of blue and grey. The wings are an optional extra - entirely invisible when he wants them to be, although at moments of particular agitation they do tend to appear of their own accord, accompanied by a shimmer of light. You'll often find them ruffling to punctuate a point.
When extremely angry, a rather less angelic side of Ishiah's nature appears. This takes the form of a heat haze, building to a flaming aura around him, and a change in air pressure which can be almost painful to anyone standing too close.
Personality: They say the Peri are the progeny of angels and demons, and in addition to the white and gold feathered wings, Ishiah has a fiery temper. He is, in fact, a creature of contradictions through and through. Reputed to be more morally upright than your average boyscout, he runs a bar which admits every unsavoury demon imaginable. While appearing more steely than sympathetic, he brought home a dog which might otherwise have been demon food and spoils it rotten. Despite seeming largely unflappable, press the right buttons and he'll lose his temper in a flash.
Then there's his relationship with Robin, the intolerable bastard he still tolerates, right down to stocking a particularly expensive brandy for him to drink and then refuse to pay for. Ishiah questions why anybody would worry about the troublesome puck, while worrying more than anyone.
One unquestionable aspect of Ishiah's nature is his honesty and trustworthiness, which has made him a confidante of those who walk on both sides of the tracks. He maintains an array of contacts that mean he's always the go-to guy to find out what's going on within his city, often before it's even happened. Though he can come across as brusque and aloof at first, once you reach past the exterior facade, Ish is a good friend to have.
Ishiah is a thunderstorm of a person, often brooding and intense, with the occasional clap of thunder and light.
Abilities: Those wings really do work. Ishiah can fly, and fly while carrying the weight of at least one other person. The wings are concealable, vanishing into thin air when he wants to hide his less than human side, they tend to become ruffled when he's stressed, and in the rare moments he really loses self control an altogether more fiery aura can be glimpsed. Besides being pretty handy in a bar fight, Ishiah is also skilled with a sword. Finally, he is an immortal, which isn't to say he can't be killed, merely that age has no effect.
Ishiah's flight will be limited to a certain height while within the city, and obviously he won't be able to fly out.
Weaknesses: Ishiah isn't always the easiest of people to get along with. In possession of a poker face most Vegas regular would kill for, he rarely shows his inner feelings. This lack of openness can lead to communication difficulties - sometimes deliberate on his part. He'll tell others only what he thinks they need to know, and regularly that includes nothing about him. He's a great listener, it's just that talking isn't so much of a strong point.
Lecturing, however, is a known skill. Whether you're destroying your life or merely mixing bad drinks, Ishiah may take it upon himself to not only inform you of the fact but suggest how things might be improved. Never mind the fact that he'll only make the effort to do this when he genuinely cares, nor that he's usually right. If you plan to be an unmitigated fuck-up, Ishiah is liable to attempt to fix you, whether you like it or not.
Ishiah won't be able to fly out of the city, or fly much higher than the cloudline while he's in this version of Manhattan.
Manhattanite or outsider? Both and neither. Ishiah will be coming from a Manhattan slightly different to the one in the Daisychain 'verse.
History: Ishiah is a Peri, a winged creature from a race known to predate humanity. Ishiah himself has been around at least since Babylonian times, and quite probably far longer than that.
Outside of their appearance, what exactly Peri are remains something of a mystery. Rumours speak of their being the offspring of angels and demons but nobody knows for certain, and the Peri aren't sharing any secrets. They will listen to yours, though. Thesedays, Ishiah runs a bar called Ninth Circle, a regular drop in point on New York's supernatural circuit. Even demons need to drown their sorrows somewhere, and many of the secrets of the city are spilled over the bar by Ishiah's loose lipped patrons.
Currently Ishiah employs one Caliban Leandros, not for his excellent customer relations skills or his reputation for service with a smile, but because Cal and his brother seem inextricably tied up with somebody Ishiah has been doing his best to keep an eye on for a very long time.
To call Robin Goodfellow an old friend would be inaccurate. The Puck and the Peri may have been old friends once, they may even have been more, but these days their relationship is one of animosity on Robin's side versus Ishias' own vexed watchfulness. Pucks are an extraordinary amount of trouble, and despite it being a thankless task, Ish attempts to keep Robin out of the worst of it. During a recent spate of attempts on Robin's life, Ishiah used Caliban both as an informant to keep himself appraised of the situation, and as a method of informing Robin to be on his guard without having to talk to him directly.
While being happy to offer contacts and information when they could be useful, Ishiah largely keeps himself out of other people's fights, notably the Leandros' brother's battles against the evils of the city. Robin is Ish's main priority, and his watchfulness extends to showing up just in time to save his life.
First-person POV journal sample:
Streets full of greying slush - now this is more like winter in New York. I can't say I'm nostalgic, although the turn in the weather has at least cut down the number of ironic requests for egg nog at the bar.
As much as I enjoy the cold, I do not particularly enjoy dealing with the idiots with handfuls of packed snow and a foolhardy disregard for the less pleasant side of frostbite accosting my customers and employees on any attempt to cross the square. Might I suggest not letting out your inner child if said child couldn't be trusted with not eating the play-doh.
Third-person POV rp sample:
The bar was quiet, an unsurprising scenario given that most of the regular patrons were likely nursing headaches or open wounds, having been summarily ejected during the fight of the evening before.
Ishiah wasn't overly worried. Customers would always return when offered the right happy hour prices on lamb's blood, and any bar catering to the demon trade had excellent contacts when it came to cheap replacement furniture. Idly, he picked up the shattered leg of what was once a stool, twisting and thrusting it in his grip as he would a sword.
Come to me...
It was a long time since he'd been given cause to wield his own blade, but you never forgot the old ways. Nor the people who learned them with you. Turning, wings ruffling through white and gold, he dropped the makeshift weapon into the trash, nothing more than kindling now.
He was alone for the moment, excepting the two Drekavac demons nursing cokes and gossiping in a far corner. Danyeal would be in later, a few feathers lighter but hopefully fully recovered. For future reference, the younger Peri would need to be shown how to handle demons whose skins secreted venom without actually handling them. In the meantime there was business to attend to. Ishiah picked up the phone and made a series of calls, determinedly ringing his contacts out of their beds until he had discovered where they were breeding Hameh birds these days, and just who might have been making enquiries over the purchase of a Sirrush.
The answers may not have been enough to confirm his suspicions, but did nothing to allay them, either. Replacing the handset, and folding anxiously spread wings into a neat arch at his back, Ishiah moved to pour a drink for a cat-eyed demoness newly arrived to prop up the bar. A fine vintage Shiraz, he watched the crimson liquid swirl around the glass.
"The last libation liberty draws, from the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause." He set the glass down with a look unreadable but intense, and only met with confusion from his customer. "Never mind, Neqa'el. Tell me, have you ever heard of a small Babylonian tribe known as the Banu Zadeh? No? Then you had best listen carefully, there is something I need you to find out."
**FIN