Mikki Viper

Mikki Viper
Where to start?
The very beginning of an adventure.
Gender	Female
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	None
Citizenship	Gridania

Basic Info

Mikki isn't your typical eighteen year old Miqo'te on many levels. This could be attributed to her being raised by a family of Midland Hyur farmers in La Noscea and having no real understanding of what being a Miqo'te is actually supposed to be like. She's a speak and act first, think later kind of girl with a short fuse and tongue as sharp as any sword that she's willing to use against the targets of her ire at a moments notice. She's a dreamer and can often be caught with her head in the clouds, determined to one day have stories and songs written about her. She's also unusually talented in the magical arts and remarkably in tune with the six elements to the point that she can communicate with them at times.

Appearance

Mikki is a short young lady, even by Miqo'te standards, standing at a mere 4'9" or so. She has a dark skin tone that really brings out the brightness of her shimmering green eyes, to further accent her eyes (one of her most favorite features) she applies a light dusting of green eye-shadow. Her hair is often kept in a ponytail of sorts and split at the bangs and is an ebony black color with bright yellow highlights. She does her utmost to maintain her appearance at all times, taking every opportunity she can to wash away grime and muck not only off of herself but off of her clothing and possessions as well. She could be considered a bit of a fashionista as she's constantly making efforts to stay on top of the latest trends and is more than happy to spend her gil on a new outfit or six. Altogether she's a stunningly beautiful girl who isn't afraid to show it.

History

When she was just a baby, Mikki was found on the side of the road near a recently attacked merchants caravan stuck in a nest of pit vipers. She was plucked from this unfortunate situation by the Allistair family; a Midland Hyur farming family with big hearts and an appetite for what life has to offer. She was given the name Mikki Viper by her father who said that such a surname will easily start conversations and remind her of the unusual situation in which they found her. Growing up she found that helping out her sisters and her mother inside the house was more often an exercise in futility. She couldn't cook to save a life, often over seasoning, under cooking, or otherwise irreparably destroying any dish she tried to create. She wasn't much of a seamstress either, sure she could mend a tear here or there but unlike her sisters and mother, she couldn't create a dress or a shirt that looked like anything other than a misshapen saddle blanket. When it came to cleaning, well lets just say aside from maintaining a large interest in keeping up her own looks, the surroundings around her could be akin to that of a wild animal. Her unerring dedication to making sure that she was as presentable as could possibly be in any situation often made her a target of jests in her family, her mother claiming it was the Miqo'te in her.

Seeing as she wasn't much help inside the house she found the place where she could contribute outside of it with her father and brother. Outdoors, under the sun and in the wind and even in the rain, Mikki flourished and blossomed. She enjoyed planting and raising crops, more than just enjoying it, she was really quite good at it. Even planting in soil that should otherwise not likely have been able to support growth she'd manage to get a healthy shoot started and nurture it from there. Her father would claim that she could grow tomatoes out of rocks, she'd simply say that it's only a matter of listening to the needs of the seed and making sure the soil you placed it in was willing to share. For the most part people thought she was joking or at least exaggerating but in reality she really could get a feel for the needs of the plants and to some extent the animals around the farm. This showed again when she would go and wander in the wilds outside of the farmstead intent to gather useful resources as they could be found and without a doubt she'd return home with a basket full of things from berries and nuts to gems in the rough or pieces of wood perfect for cutting.

When it came to making repairs around the house or stables; mending fences, building furniture, or crafting tools out of the wood around her she was almost as adept at it as her gardening and gathering. She would often have to concentrate a lot harder and would get considerably more defensive and irate when working with the wood if she was interrupted but usually she could produce something worth using. A master by no means but at this young age the talent certainly showed and she was more than happy to use that talent to help around the farm where she could. In one such situation she was carving a fallen branch into a scythe handle when her brother snuck up behind her and placed a field mouse down the back of her shirt. Reacting much like any seventeen year old girl would in such a situation, she screamed and cursed and chased her brother into the fields when something extraordinary happened. Quite out of nowhere she simply willed up a handful of stones right from the earth itself and flung them through the air at her brothers backside. He wasn't hurt at all, just a little bruised and more so stunned, almost as much as Mikki herself.

Had she been raised near Gridania she may have been spotted at a younger age, but out in the farmlands of La Noscea nobody suspected that Mikki's talents for the earth and the plants stemmed from an untrained ability to communicate with the six elements. It took almost a full year of convincing but ultimately she got her parents approval to go to Gridania to try to study and learn more about these gifts from the Seedseers so that she could become an adventurer; something she'd often daydreamed about. With the chance to make those dreams come true she's embracing her gifts as a sign from Nophica that she was meant for something important.

Personality

Mikki could be considered to be a bit of a little miss can't be wrong in most situations. She'll very quickly form opinions and state the facts (as she sees them) and expect that those around her take those facts as useful information. She has a short fuse and when it's lit it burns brightly; often causing her to shower the target or targets of her ire with colorful expletives and otherwise un-lady like language. When she's not going off like a cannon in war, she tries to be as much a proper lady as she can be often times this is a bit difficult when she can be caught with her head in the clouds at any given moment and is not one to say no to a pint of ale or a glass of wine when the offer is made.

She doesn't make friends easily because of her temper and her sometimes effusive language but when she does call someone a friend she means it and will be as good a friend as could be. Granted just because you're a friend doesn't spare you from the razor like wit and tongue of her anger when she's overtaken but there's a good chance she'll feel badly about it afterwards and apologize or at the very least buy you a drink in lieu of saying sorry. She yearns to feel like she's a part of something important but at the same time often doubts that she's actually capable of living up to the expectations of those around her.

She will go out of her way to make sure she's as clean and pretty as can possibly be. Where she's almost never hesitant about anything when it comes to adventuring, asking her to step ankle deep in fresh mud with a new pair of boots would be a reason to give her pause. She can often be the easy target of jokes and pranks that involve muck, dirt, or creepy crawly insects. Yes bugs. A farm girl tuned in with nature finds bugs to be frightfully repulsive. She likes to claim that the reason for maintaining her appearance in such a way is so that when there are stories about her they're about her skill, grace, and beauty. Not her skill, scars, and stench.

Mikki can often times come off as being a ditz or an airhead and most certainly impulsive. In truth she is neither dumb nor uneducated, it's simply that she's inexperienced and when in doubt she's prone to making it up as she goes. In her mind she needs to come across as a sturdy and tested adventurer simply because the ordinary little farm girl that she started as isn't something to tell a story about and she doesn't want to seem like she's anything other than the heroic sort.

She does tend to suffer a bit from delusions of grandeur and often times will grossly understate the danger of a situation. Her carefree nature and dreams of heroism all too often cloud what little wisdom and good judgement she has and she will wade into even the most impossible of situations without so much as thinking twice. This unfortunate fact is only made worse when one considers her temper and the ease of which she seems to fly off the handle.

In short, Mikki is somewhat of an easily distracted girly girl with a raging temper, a penchant for exaggeration, and an unfortunate knack for getting into trouble. She is clearly driven by wanting to become some kind of hero of legend that the stories will tell about and is afraid that she won't be able to live up to the expectations that others around her have for her, whether or not they be real or imagined.

Affiliations

Mikki is a squire in the Order of the Knights of the Twelve. She joined hesitantly and is still not sure she fully belongs with the order given that her aspirations of fame may not coincide too well with the lifestyle and vows that a knight has to take. Despite this, she's brokered a deal with the Templar of the Wardens so that she may pursue her goals as long as her quest for fame lines up with doing the right thing and doesn't break any of the tenants of the order.

The Knight she's squired to is the Templar of the Wardens himself, Aldeus Lightsong.

Family

Mikki doesn't know who her birth parents are or if she has any biological relatives alive anywhere. She honestly hasn't given it any thought and has no interest pursuing it either, the Allistair family is her family and that's good enough for her.

• Father: Donnal Allistair
• Mother: Serah Allistair
• Sister: Marcella Allistair
• Sister: Luccia Allistair
• Brother: Garen Allistair

Marcella is the oldest child of the family, followed by Garen, Luccia and finally Mikki.

Goals

Without a doubt Mikki is driven by one, all encompassing goal; to become a hero of legendary proportions. Naturally there's vanity in this desire but more than that there is a deep rooted sense of purpose within her. She truly feels that she can make the world a better place and help those who may not be able to always help themselves. Aside from this major goal, she has set forth a few smaller and unrelated goals. She'd like to learn how to cook at some point, wants to follow up on her carpentry, and finally wants to own a nice home that she can call all her own and maybe have a little garden to tend.

Religion

To Mikki The Twelve are a huge part of her life. She absolutely believes without a doubt in their existence and their presence all around. Although she reveres all of the gods and godesses there is a special place in her heart for Nophica. She believes that it's by Nophica's will that she's been given the gifts that she has and is always going to be grateful for that. Mikki will often admonish someone for blaspheming or improperly calling upon one of the Twelve of course when she gets angry enough she certainly does it herself.

Education

One might assume that Mikki is just a simple country girl who knows little of the wide world around her and for the most part one would be wrong. By no means is she a scholar or inspired in any way whatsoever to dedicate herself to study over adventure and action. Still, Mikki was in fact tutored by a great mind and a great teacher. Garos Sahrin, an elderly Elezen owned a small sheep farm not too far from her families own farm and it was with him that Mikki was schooled and given her education. Garos used to be a historian and military strategist for hire and he made a wonderful living doing so. He was known perhaps not far and wide but far and wide enough to live comfortably and never want for work. One day he just decided to retire and live a quiet life. What he got was loud mouthed Mikki Viper as a student.

Garos understood early that in order to teach a distractable fire brand like Mikki, he had to customize the lessons. So instead of spending hours lecturing or making her read and write essays, he took her on adventures. Sometimes it was just through his ways of telling a story and making what should have been a normal history lesson into something far more edge of your seat exciting. Other times it was actually taking her out to see the world, explain why something was, and letting her touch it and experience it for herself. "The best stories are the ones you live yourself, dear girl." He would always say and that's something that has rang as clearly as any bell in Mikki's mind since she first heard it.

Because of his teachings Mikki is far more educated than many would suspect. She can hold her own in topics of debate concerning history through the various eras, geography and topography, mathematics and even military strategy to a point though Garos never went out of his way to teach that at the request of Mikki's father and mother. Because of this education, Mikki may surprise people by seemingly inexplicably saying something that makes her sound almost scholarly. She doesn't think much of it and rarely realizes that she's doing anything out of the ordinary when she does so. Still, when a foul mouthed, impulsive, energetic, and easily distracted young lass suddenly explains to you the anthropological histories of the sahagin tribes with an uncanny amount of detail and accuracy, one is likely to do a bit of a double take.

Likes

• Adventure Stories Mikki will almost always make time to hear someone tell an action packed story of some adventure or another and she absolutely adores hearing bards sing heroic songs. She'll very often let her mind wander and become one with the story being told when she's listening. So much so that getting her attention back to the real world can be a difficult undertaking.

• Wine and Ale In only a small few circumstances will Mikki pass up a cup of wine or a mug of ale. She prefers sweet wines and light ales, but isn't so picky as to turn down anything else. Hard liquors like whiskeys and the sort are not to her tastes. She tries to avoid drinking herself into a stupor but is frankly quite a light weight when it comes to such things and tends to get drunk rather quickly. When drunk the harsh and snappy girl disappears and is replaced by the kind of girl she was at the farmhouse. Fun loving, sweet and adventurous.

• Festivals and Celebrations Going to a festival or a celebration of any kind is another way that Mikki can let down her guard and just simply enjoy herself without putting on pretenses. She loves the foods, especially the sweets. Of course there's almost always plenty of drink to be had during such events, not to mention the styles of clothing that get shown off. She also enjoys the little games and mostly the carefree atmosphere of everyone enjoying themselves.

• Being Right Nothing will get this young lady to beam quite like being told she's right about something, especially after an argument or debate. It doesn't matter if she actually IS right or not, but being told that she is is akin to a little victory to her.

Dislikes

• Bullying Given the pushy nature of Mikki, one might think that she condones strong people pushing weak people around. This is definitely not the case, where yes her temper can get the better of her often enough and she has no problem putting someone in their place, pushing someone around just because you can will get her as angry as she can possibly be. It's one thing to try to badger a burly marauder over a mug of ale, it's another completely to walk up to some poor dock worker and threaten him. When witnessing such a thing she will almost always intervene on the behalf of the downtrodden or weak, and woe be to the bully that presses the issue farther should that happen.

• Being called a child or naive It's important for Mikki to present herself as a capable and worthy adventurer. Someone calling her out on her youth, inexperience, lack of knowledge or downright naivety will often visibly hurt her feelings to the point of having to fight back tears. Her temper does little to help her in these situations, often causing her loss of emotional control to get even further out of hand and unfortunately showing more of the core of who she is, that little girl from the farm.

• Bugs and gooey stuff Bugs cause Mikki's skin to crawl, the little creepy crawly ones, the big ones, even the giant ones that adventurers have to face down. All of them give this young lady pause and she'll often try to stall or otherwise avoid having to place herself in the path of one of the creepy critters. Along with this dislike of bugs comes a dislike of gooey, muddy, mucky glops. There's no specificity in there, anything with a texture akin to pudding or jelly often will cause a visible or audible reaction from Mikki. The exception to this is of course foods she enjoys. She's not likely to turn down a tasty jam filled pastry or super smelling spiced pudding anytime soon. It's when she's making her way thru a cave and steps in a pile of something that looks like giant snot when she'll react rather poorly.

• Being interrupted When she's focused in on a task at hand, which isn't very often to be sure given her easily distractable nature, Mikki tends to get quite angry when someone interrupts what she was doing or saying. This shows to a minor degree during conversation, if she's speaking and someone speaks over her she may well quite bluntly request that you hold your tongue until she's finished speaking. If you were to interrupt her while working on something like her carpentry or gardening...well in that case just hope there's no sharp objects around for her to fling your direction. She knows that getting into a focused state for her is difficult and when someone pulls her out of it she becomes very very upset.

Abilities

Mikki is able to listen to the voices of the elements and at times communicate with them herself. She finds that working with the elements of air, earth, and water comes naturally and is very easy. However where she can at times make sense of fire, lightning, and ice, too often does it come off as confusing, loud, or otherwise unintelligible. With these gifts she's able to coax the elements into cooperating with her will. Although she's early in her training with such things her gifts are very similar to those of the Seedseers of Gridania however so far there seems to be no sign of horns sprouting from the top of her head.

This power manifests itself more potently when she gets upset. Her natural affinity for the elements seems to align with her emotional state and when her temper flares so too do her powers. For the time being she's studying conjury to learn the balance of nature but will likely split her education for further realization of her skills in the arts of the arcanist and even that of the thaumaturge.

Martially speaking she has almost no skill and any ability with a sword, bow, axe, lance or pugilism would require a measure of focus and discipline that so far the girl hasn't really demonstrated she's capable of achieving. She's not altogether strong or dexterous however nor is she weak or clumsy. Her physical abilities in combat just haven't been as trained or tested as her magical ones.

Other Notes

When she's not daydreaming or putting on appearances she can be seen jotting down notes in a well worn journal. It's in here that she writes down what she feels are noteworthy things about her adventures so that one day someone can write stories about her. Of course quite often what she jots down is almost always exaggerated but at the very least based in situations that really occurred.

She doesn't know anything about Miqo'te history or culture but also shows no interest in learning any of it. She does from time to time notice something odd about the behavior of a tribe raised member of her species but she never displays any interest in learning about its significance and simply has no interest in finding out about her own heritage.

On her first would be adventure, Mikki was witness to the robbery of a merchant couple outside of Ul'Dah. She tried to intervene, believing this her first big chance to be a hero. Instead she was easily subdued by the band of thugs and forced to witness the merchants brutal murder. It was likely she too would have been killed but in her rage she blacked out and when she came to, she found herself free of her binds and the bandits dead at her feet. It would seem one of the bandits struck a telling blow however as she was stabbed in the upper right leg with a broken fire crystal, a substantial piece of which still remains in her leg. To this day it still channels astral fire and burns within her, causing at times severe pain and serving as a constant reminder that good intentions can fail.