Trouble

“The day I was born, on account of all tha stuff what happened that day, my Da said ‘That girl is gonna be nothing but trouble.’ Since Ma didn’t want me bein’ named Nothin’, I got the name Trouble.

“And I bin livin’ up to it ever since.”

“Hi! I’m Trouble!”

That’s how Trouble started as a character. The daughter of a family of con-artists, grifters and thieves, she’s out to make her own mark on the Valarians using what skills she’s learned from a lifetime of criminal activities and her Unicorn abilities. Essentially, she’s the team from ‘Leverage’ in a single package. Need a lock picked or a trap defeated? Just ask Trouble. Need something swindled from a necromancer? Trouble will arrange for it to happen. Need a foolproof plan to outfox an opponent? Trouble will put everything together and make it work. Need someone eliminated quietly and quickly? Trouble will do it and then deny it ever happened. She’s ambitious and very sure of herself. She’s good, very good: almost too good for her own good. She’s clever and experienced yet still needs some guidance and training.

Trouble: For Trouble, this is fun. Artist: Sue van Camp

Characteristics

Trouble is an Evolved female Farralon Elf Unicorn Rogue of the Blackwind Clan. She may used all Universal, Elf, Unicorn, Valarian, Channel, Bloodkin and Blackwind aces and anchors. She has the Traits Alluring and Trap Sense. She has no flaws other than just being Trouble (and being just trouble) however she used to have the Flaws Weakling and Fastidious. She is also a Mentor in training, training under the notorious Vermite mentor Snick: that job was originally given to Marcus but Marcus handed it off to Snick because he didn’t want to be associated with making Trouble a Mentor.

Physical Description

Race: Elf
Height: 5’ 3”
Weight: 99 lbs (in all the right places)
Eyes: Dark grey /Dark blue
Hair: Black hair in pageboy cut / Long, curly blonde
Complexion: Slightly tanned
Attire: Whatever she pulls out of her backpack, but she always looks good in it, or out of it. Somehow, being that good looking and that memorable hasn’t affected her skills and abilities that depend on her being unnoticed. That especially applies when she goes out in disguise.
Description: Cute. That’s the first impression people have when they see her impish grin and mischievous mannerisms, although they may think otherwise when they realize their pouch is missing or their pockets were picked. Males of whatever race find her very cute.

Notes

Trouble is first and foremost a Rogue in several senses of the word. Not only is she a thief and a good one, she is roguish by nature and inclination. She has no compunctions whatsoever about stabbing an enemy in the back, literally or figuratively, most especially when she knows she can finish the job quickly, silently or untraceably. Being a Valarian has not changed that outlook, only given her more targets. She considers notions of honor and fighting fair to be foolish, which is to be expected given her background and heritage.

Trouble enjoys her Unicorn abilities and considers them her biggest asset in whatever she does. These let her get out of tight situations with ease and helps guide her hands when she pulls out her knives. Second to that is her Blackwind gifts which have a similar effect.

Trouble uses her charm and wits as much as she does her knives, and with the same precision. She is an expert at reading people.

Trouble enjoys tricking and fooling people, especially through disguises. She went through the process of evolving just so that she could take on other racial forms, especially human, but she finds being a Sprite to be quite amusing. She also can switch genders which also helps her disguises. She has one favorite disguise, of a noble elf lady with long curly blonde hair and blue eyes.

Trouble has a familiar fire dragonet named Nothing. Nothing primarily acts as a scout and spy for her, since Trouble doesn’t do magic yet. Trouble used to have a pet griffit she named Double and considered making Double her familiar but griffits are dead giveaways to any necromancer agent that Trouble was a shapeshifter so that never happened. Trouble instead found that Double decided herself to be Trouble’s sister Dove’s familiar, because the notoriously distracted and distractable Dove really needs someone smart to mind her.

Trouble recently became a wizard and will eventually become an archmage: not only does that give her access to the most useful spells, it is just the sort of thing a noble would learn. She also wants to learn Astral magic, that being her clan heritage, but she has not found a teacher yet.

Trouble’s Story

Trouble was based on a set of images done by artist Håkan Ackegård, who is the creator and / or owner of the artwork, most specifically the one on the left of the beautiful elven woman, and ones involving the characters on the right. The character on the left became Trouble’s noble disguise, especially when there is another of the same character casting magic with her dragonet familiar hovering over her shoulder, while the two characters on the right were the inspiration for Trouble’s original form (left) and her penchant for disguising herself.

Trouble’s family is several generations of rogues, thieves and confidence men. Trouble’s mother and older sisters, when not plying the trade themselves, designed and sewed clothing to match any occasion or situation, including copies of guard and servant uniforms as well as adding little touches like hidden pockets, while Trouble’s father, when not running a con, forged, scribed and printed the finest fake documents around.

Trouble was born prematurely, during a battle between some Valarians and a necromancer and his agents. That whole event came down as Trouble’s father was mostly successful in running a confidence game against the necromancer’s agents, until the Valarians got involved. Because all of the fuss was in part because of Trouble’s mother’s pregnancy, as money was tight at the time, Trouble’s father deemed she was the cause and said “That girl’s going to be nothing but trouble.” Trouble’s mother then named her daughter Trouble because of that. It as a fair prediction.

Trouble picked up everything she knows from her family (except sewing, she doesn’t like sewing.) However, she was the second youngest, several years younger than her older brother and sisters, and only was involved with whatever her parents did by acting as a messenger and delivery runner. She was very good at running. All that changed, though, when Trouble changed. Then she found the Valarians and found herself.

Trouble has one overriding interest: the draconic ability Dragon’s Eye. Ever since she first saw it in action, she wanted it. She still hasn’t quite accepted that only dragons can do this. She is constantly pestering dragons to teach her how to do that, because it is just so cool and would be so helpful for her to have when she’s off doing things. Sometimes the dragons will show her how its done, personally, and an hour later she wakes up still wanting it.