OOC: Personality post of Death
Updated: October 3, 2009
Personality: Ovelia, initially, was a very sweet, sensitive young woman who spent most of her life in a monastery in her home Kingdom. Due to her isolation, it has made her withdrawn, distant, and introspective, unable to express herself properly to others outside of very overt emotions, such as crying and yelling. Often hiding under a mask of formality, she would act pleasant and kind to those in her court, but she refused to let herself to get close to any of them (save her bodyguards, who were her constant companions), for fear of being used. And even around her bodyguards, who were the closest things to 'friends', she did not allow herself to state her fears and her inhibitions, for fear of looking and seeming different from what she was supposed to be (it was a rare time when she did open herself up, and it was never to the fullest extent). Due to her loneliness though, she was always a bit somber, looking out the window with yearning, over time becoming a daydreamer.
She also had a problem with being gullible, and would often listen to others who she considered more 'knowledgeable' than she, or who seemed like kind people, because though she feared being used and mistreated, if a person seemed genial and intelligent enough, she wouldn't think that they were lying (though she would try to keep her distance just in case).
When she grew close to someone, though, she became dependent. She would rely on them for strength and never look within herself. They would take care of her, they assured her, so she didn't need to worry and would simply do what she always did. In this sense, she's very weak against skilled manipulators.
But then her Kingdom was destroyed, and her world turned upside-down. Ovelia, in her travels, had grown from this.
While she is still gullible, and still holds the majority of her personality (the good and the bad), after seeing the real world and seeing what it was like (also, the good and the bad), she grew to hate the world that she was raised in. The formality, the stuffiness, the cold walls and the cold people. She often refers to it as “Plastic”, or “Fake”, a world where a person is only looked at because of the title. She feels happiest and safe when she is outdoors, hating to sit down, especially in cold rooms with only a single window. It reminds her too much of the monastery, so she often spends her time sitting in gardens, practicing with her bow, and healing sick or wounded animals (or people, if they're in the vicinity).
She has also gained some street-smarts during her travels, if not only enough to know that wearing princess dresses might cause someone to try to rob you, or that carrying a weapon might be a good idea. And she, surprisingly, can haggle well (seeing as being a volunteer healer doesn't quite pay well, and when she wants to do her laundry, she has to do it in an inn so she doesn't sit around naked while it dries-fresh changes of clothes are win!), especially seeing that she was living...well, like Royalty less than a year before. She adapted well to her new life, if only because it was the life that she knew she had needed all along.
So if you ask, NO, she does NOT want to rebuild her clan. She just wants to do the best she can to ensure peace in the Country. She doesn't want to rule, she wants to support. Being in a leading role frightens her, and she is not very good under pressure.
...At least, that's what she'd like to think. In truth, if she REALLY had to? She could pull off the role of the commander, or the Queen. She, unlike what she personally believes, does have a sort of gentle charisma about her, and her 'princess' side comes out in particular situations when she doesn't want them to. The more she grows, the more this becomes apparent, though right now her ability to lead and take her life into her own hands is very dormant, sitting there in her gut and waiting for the proper opportunity to show itself. If push came to shove, though, and she was forced to do it (and there was no other way), she would step up and do what she had to. As a Healer, she already has that skill; when in the presence of wounds that need to be treated, Ovelia becomes calm and focused, almost commanding if she needs to be as a front for the extreme fear for the person she is working on healing. She would even boss Delita around if he was in the vicinity, and the wound was bad enough. Though in truth, this comes out because Healing is the only thing Ovelia is truly confident about. Though her skill level is not the highest, she is learning more every day, and the more she heals and the more she reads, the more confident, and the more skillful, she becomes.
The only real problem is that after she takes such a strong position, and gets taken over by adrenalin, she tends to get dizzy in the aftermath, sometimes even throwing up due to adrenalin sickness. Though over time, this will start to recede.
She has also grown more stubborn than she was before. And perhaps a bit less religious. It's hard to really have faith in the Gods when a religious clan killed each other over something as stupid (in her mind anyway) as succession. She honestly would have been happy allowing her brother to take the Seat, and even now...she still regrets that he was killed in the crossfire. On his birthday every year she prays to his soul for forgiveness, and hopes that he is having a nice, happy life in Heaven.
Also, interestingly, she's gained a hate of empty spaces. It's almost a phobia, reminding her too much of the time when she was alone and lonely in the monastery. If there is an empty space and she's stuck in it, chances are it won't be empty for long. Be it piles of books, weapons laid out as she proceeded to clean them (mostly her bow, as that needed consistent maintenance due to the material...any other weapon besides a knife she would do poorly with), whatever.
On another note, Ovelia, because of her eagerness to have connections with others (something she didn't have in the monastery with many people), is very friendly, if not a bit melancholy because of the fact that she's Princess motherfucking Ovelia. But she's always willing to lend an ear if someone needs it, and to those who knew her in the past, will definitely see her as light years more sociable than she ever was during her youth.
Also, Ovelia has problems being considered 'weak', or 'defenseless', or 'useless'. As a Princess, she had been able to do nothing but watch as her entire Clan destroyed themselves from the inside. She is dedicated to helping whoever she can, and though she holds a very strong anti-war position, if she has to fight to defend herself or someone she cares about, she will gladly do it. So um. Anyone who is close to Ovelia? Don't get in a bad situation in which you MIGHT GET KILLED around her, because she might do something stupid like try shooting your assailant to save you. And then get herself in danger. God, Ovelia, why are you so stubborn?