Ranika Haige
| Ranika Haige (Player Character) | |
|---|---|
| No Image | |
| Basics | |
| Status: | Living |
| Race: | Lukuo |
| Date of Birth: | 17 Early-Tessera, 81365 |
| Gender: | Female |
| Nickname(s): | Nika |
| Family and Heritage | |
| Genealogy: | Haige |
| Birthplace: | Fhesakhugal, Bhim |
| Mother: | Indra Banerjee |
| Father: | Kamal Haige |
| Significant Other: | Single |
| Currently | |
| Occupation: | Ex-Student |
| Residence: | Streets of Fhesakhugal, Bhim |
Description
Small and primarily vulpine in appearance, Ranika cuts a rather unimposing figure. Her shabby russet fur is broken by patches of dull grey and covered with a threadbare tee and unzipped brown hooded sweatshirt, while her long, backward-pointing ears are lynx tipped in the same light colour. Her tangled and often dirty hair, interspersed with long, soft quills, is roughly cut at the nape of her neck and is a slightly darker brown than the rest of her fur.
Her tails, of which two sprout side by side from the base of her spine, are hairless and rat-like; one or the other almost invariably has a scrap of cloth wrapped around it to protect a small cut or scrape. Worn denim pants fall to just below her knee, and her legs are black furred from halfway between her knee and heel to the ground.
Though Ranika has a slight sickly look her eyes are still bright, if a little bit sunken. She is sometimes taken with a wicked cough that doesn't seem to go away, and the light patches of her fur fluctuate through a range of dull colours when she is, indicating some form of undiagnosed magia morbus. For all that, she still moves with the grace of a young athlete, and has a bounce in her step.
History
"I wasn't always on the streets of Fhesakhugal, you know. My parents work in the factories, and we had a small apartment and always enough to eat. We even had enough Bhijan to go to an official Jemdrull match now and then. And then the recruiters came, and I was accepted at Notsalepua. I was there for six years, and played Wild on the Jemdrull team the whole time. I practiced telekinesis until the Flux and the ban. Hell, Vjaeseke’ba, she’s my old Jemdrull coach, said I was her pride and joy. 'Course, that didn't mean much when I got sick last year."
The young thill cleared her throat, causing the light patches of her fur to shimmer through a few pastel shades before returning to grey, and ran her left hand through her hair. "Once I started coughing, they dropped me off the team. Never mind that it didn't affect my performance, it 'makes the other students uncomfortable.' Kyfshit. Just no-one knows what caused it, and they didn't want to deal with fallout from the other kids parents. So they dropped me off the team, and a few weeks later my marks started to drop. I swear I kept up with class work, and did as good a job as ever. But it didn't matter. They made up some story about how I was having trouble with the coursework, couldn't complete the homework, and some other kyfshit."
"Before I knew what hit me, I was out. My parents didn’t like my cough either, of course. They didn’t say anything to my face, but I knew. So I left.” She straightened up in the chair, setting her shoulders like a defiant youth. “That would’ve been... two quarters ago? I think?”
“I got a job at the Black Rune cleaning tables and watching for card counters, but that didn't last long once they saw me coughing. 'Makes the patrons uncomfortable,' they said. So, they can drop bets on 'Dragons beating the shit out of each other in the sphere, but one with a bit of a Technicolor cough makes them 'uncomfortable'? Yeah, okay."
"I’ve got a squat in an old abandoned warehouse. Steal a loaf of bread here, sell a pack of cigarettes there. Watch out for the cops while the gangers cut a deal. Maybe play Wild or Charger in a back alley game of Jemdrull, have a bit of fun if you don’t eat pavement too early. The rules aren't the same as they were back at Notsalepua, but they're close enough.”
“It's not all bad, really... I get lots of air, when the factory smoke isn't too thick, lots of walking, keep my wits and my reflexes sharp with a bit of Jemdrull now and then. There are plenty of small jobs that'll pay a few Bhijan, and there are always the soup kitchens. Can't say I've ever gone hungry for long though. And I guess I can practice my telekinesis again, now that the ban’s over, so that’s cool!”
“'sides, I'm saving up, and one of these days I'm going to get off this island, maybe finish school somewhere where they don't care about a little coughing fit now and then. The portals are up again, right? And maybe I won’t cough so much if I can get away from these factories, maybe get someplace where the air is clean. Ajita, or Janardan? Maybe Pjaunfaubaj in Sudesha? You have to aim high, right? That’s what Vjaeseke’ba said, and it works with the blue ball. Who knows? But I won’t be here forever, you can count on that!”
