ooc - application to high_seas

[outlandished]

[Name]: Liz.
[Age]: 21.
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: advancing
♦ AIM: Rafflesia Sky.
♦ Plurk: Available upon request.
[Timezone]: EST/GMT -5.
[Other Characters]: N/A.



[Name]: Ambrosia Gray.
[Age]: 25.
[Gender]: Female.
[Appearance]: here and here.

[World]: Ambrosia's world is pretty much similar to our own, only that she comes from the eighteenth century where modern technology hasn't had much of a chance to develop quite yet. This means that around more technological things, she'll be completely dumb about them and not know what to do. Worth noting is that men are more powerful than women in this world and women are treated as the "stay at home and look pretty" stigma. Although, if a woman decides to become a pirate, like Ambrosia has been taught all these years, she has more leeway in things, but she's still largely disrespected by a fair number of men. Other than that, nothing else is worth noting for changes beyond our world and this one.

[History]:

This is the world where Ambrosia was born into and, quite frankly, she enjoys it. Her life began on the seven seas themselves and her home was the Bloody Mary, a ship under the command of her father, Patrick Gray. Her father has always been known as a fearsome pirate and he more than makes up for it in battle and appearance alone, and though he always wanted a son besides a daughter, he grew to love Ambrosia as his own flesh and blood. Her mother was Mary Gray and she followed her family through their travels while enjoying the life she had. The ship's name itself was inspired by her mother who was just as cutthroat as her own husband was at times, although the crew semi-frequently complained about her being brought aboard because of the old wives' tale that women brought bad luck on the seas. These comments were shot down every time when Ambrosia's mother proved her salt on the ship and as part of the crew.

As far as Ambrosia was concerned, she really never spent too much time on land and quickly found out that she liked the wind blowing through her hair and the magic of the sea itself. This pleased her father since he wanted her to continue the family tradition, so to speak, of being a pirate. So, he saw fit to teach her how to be a pirate from the moment she could walk, talk, and eat on her own. At first, she was put on scrubbing the decks, manning the mast, how to fire a weapon and wield a sword all before the ripe age of thirteen before moving up to bigger and better things on the ship. Through her education of being a pirate, her mother saw fit to teach her the fundamentals while they were traveling, such as writing, spelling, math and geography so that she could be just as smart and educated as she was strong through being a budding pirate.

For the most part, life was extremely good for the Gray family. Ambrosia was enjoying her time with her parents and the crew, as well as learning everything she could from her father and the relationship between Patrick and Mary never showed any signs of deterioration. However, tragedy struck the family one day and her mother ended up getting gravely ill one day. Even with the medical expertise on the ship and off it, nothing could be done to save her. She ended up dying, but not without leaving Ambrosia a present.

She gave her a wooden heart she was keeping until Ambrosia became a captain of her own crew and that she told her to not be sad about her death. This tore up her father inside and he turned to the bottle more than he did normally. During this time, Ambrosia tried her best to console her father and those on the ship, even if her help was somewhat not accepted. However, even though she was trying to remain strong so she didn't worry others, losing her mother tore her up inside even though she vowed to not get too upset with what happened.

A few years after this event and when Ambrosia was sixteen years old, a fierce batle erupted in between her father's crew and an opposing crew. It was here that she was able to prove herself to the crew that she could be just as cutthroat as her mother and as tenacious as her father. While she was fighting off a few of the enemy crew off, she witnessed her father getting fatally stabbed by the captain of the other crew. Furious, she killed the crew members viciously before going over to her father who told her that she would be captain and told her to live on for him. She promised him to do this before she clashed swords with the gloating enemy captain and killed him just as cruelly as she did with his crew.

With grief running through her veins, she beheaded the captain and held up the head as a scare tactic. She told them that if they valued their lives, they'd run and tell them to not mess with her or her crew ever again and if they wanted to oppose her, then she'd do the same to them as she did to their captain. A couple of days later, she buried her father on an island as well as hold a ceremonial bonfire in his honor. At first, the crew opposed her taking leadership at such a young age, but she threatened those who opposed her that they'd be beheaded just like the captain she killed or they could leave...but on a godforsaken spit of land she chose.

They, of course, listened to her and she was pleased over this.

When she was mourning, Ambrosia developed an alcohol addiction as she claimed it helped dull the pain she felt over losing her father. Those who remained with her, she took them to an area where pirates regularly went to and could roam free without fear of being hanged at the gallows and tried to work on repairing what was damaged to the ship.

However, when she realized that she wasn't keeping her word, she decided enough was enough with moping and feeling sorry for herself. She made it her goal to enjoy her life and that was that. With her new energy and a stronger crew, she went to conquer the seven seas themselves all the while making it known that she was a force to be reckoned with, whether it was uprising the Navy, murder those who dared to stand in her way or steal priceless riches. People feared her for her deeds and she made her name known as a fierce woman. This tenacity was enough to grant her the nickname "Fearless Ambrosia" due to the fact that even though she was a woman, she had the strength of a raging fire inside of her.

By the age of twenty, she racked up quite the impressive list of crimes under her belt, mostly being kidnapping, pillaging, impersonating a nun and a noble (the latter she liked very much, mind you), murder, thievery, dishonesty, disturbing the peace, public intoxication, conspiracy, fraud and forgery. With these crimes, she was wanted for the grand price of 175,000 dobras by the Navy who wanted to eliminate all pirates no matter the cost.

She avoided capture by the Navy as much as she could, however there were times when her luck would inevitably run out and she usually found herself landed in prison with a date to the gallows. Through her charms and persuasion, she managed to escape with her life intact. She then took her crew and her ship to continue her adventures to take as much gold and treasure as her heart desired.

[Personality]:

At first glance, Ambrosia seems to be nothing but an ice queen who lacks compassion and overall care of anyone besides herself. However, this behavior doesn't go to her crew. She's fiercely loyal to them and will do what's necessary to protect them and make sure they're taken care of, essentially willing to bend over backwards. She also likes to joke around with them and be affectionate and playful, almost as if they're her "family". Though, when a threat comes either Ambrosia's or her crew's way, she does what is necessary to defend the crew and herself by disposing of it. If anything disrupts the harmony, such as possible betrayal in the crew, Ambrosia will deal with it on her own terms no questions asked. Loyalty is everything to her and if someone screws her over with her generosity, she'll show them that she is not a pushover and will make an example out of them.

She says that her loves are the sea itself and her crew, both of which are important to her. She hasn't known anything else other than to be a pirate, and quite frankly, she's not that concerned about learning to be something else. She's happy being a pirate since it gives her freedom and a sense of adventure she otherwise would not have had before. It's also worth noting that Ambrosia is confident in herself and her abilities. Sure, she's had hard knocks in her life when it came to losing her parents so early on, but she knows that they would want her to be happy and healthy instead of just wallowing in misery, despair, and lamenting over their deaths. Yeah, it affects her still, but as long as she keeps on being the best Ambrosia Gray she can be, she knows she's making them proud each and every day she's alive. And that is why Ambrosia is proud to be a pirate - it gives her freedom to be herself and she knows that no one can take that away from her.

To go along with this, Ambrosia doesn't really focus on the more depressing parts of her life. She'd rather live her days as worry-free as possible and, sure, while it makes her look too carefree, she'd rather live this kind of life because she's upholding her father's legacy as much as possible, as well as making her mother proud by being just as strong as she was. Conversely, she does sometimes get down in the dumps and turns to the bottle to drown her sorrows, but this doesn't last for long since she eventually snaps out of it or has someone beat sense into her. After all, she still believes that after a quarter of a century being alive, she has some pretty big shoes to fill.

When it comes to interacting with others, Ambrosia will first size them up before deciding to talk with them and depending on how the conversation goes, she'll either continue it or drop it if the person has annoyed her enough or doesn't really catch her attention as much as she thought they would. Though, if they have something to contribute to the crew that either she or someone else doesn't have, then she'll consider making them a part of the crew after seeing how well they fit within the dynamic that they all have with one another. On the other hand, if it turns out that there's treasure involved or something just as interesting, she'll become very drawn in to the discussion and set forth for the treasure or what has lit the fire under her butt. It's also safe to say that the mention of treasure or a mythical object will make her determined enough to make sure that she gets it first and not anyone else.

However, even with her nearly healthy treasure hunting, it has landed her to get into conflicts with other crews as well as land her in prison. Though, in her opinion, this is just a part of a pirate's life. Conflicts will happen as well as consequences that will ultimately land her in prison or in other unfavorable circumstances, but she tries her best to make sure that she gets out alive as well as her crew. Again, this ties in to her loyalty since as long as they're willing to fight by her side and sail the seas with her, she will make sure to do what's necessary to keep them safe.

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:

Ambrosia is nothing but an ordinary human, however she does have a few tricks up her sleeves.

She knows how to captain and run a ship with a crew competently. She also knows how to defend herself with her fists, her sabres, or a pistol. She's a good shot when it comes down to it with her pistol and with her sabres, she's able to dual-wield them to be even more deadly in combat. It's worth noting that she's ambidextrous in order to do this, too. In order to keep her ambidexterity up, she trains hard to be even more efficient in battle than she would normally be.

She's crafty when it comes to pilfering treasures, as well as talk herself out of a situation so that A) she doesn't get caught and B) she doesn't end up making the wrong person angry. Although, if she happened to do B (which happens semi-frequently, oops), she's able to think on her feet so that she and her crew come out with their lives intact. She also knows how to get herself out of prison by sweet talking a guard because she knows as a woman, sex sells to get someone what they want. Or, if that failed, the ties she made with other pirates who respected her would arrive to help her and her crew out.

[Limited Powers]:

None, as Ambrosia is completely normal for a human.

[Other Important Facts]:

None!

[Samples]:
♦ Thread: Here. Additionally, I know they're two years old, but here for more.
♦ Post:

--eh? How in th' blazes does one use this silly thing?

'kay, so ye do...this 'n some of tha'... 'n--oh, there we go!

Never was good with technology, 'specially not journals like these. Anyway, fer yer information, I'm Captain Ambrosia Gray of th' Bloody Mary. Though, I don't think tha' I've got me ship here, nor me crew. Eh, old habits die hard.

I've had a little bit of a run-in with th' local enforcement agency 'n I've gotta admit tha' they're pussies compared t' what I'm used t' back home. Though, I appreciated their tenacity t' wrangle me in.

[ A pause as Ambrosia considered her next choice of words. ]

Sooo... I know not all of us like sittin' 'round with our thumbs up our arses, so anyone willin' t' meet me at Isla Empieza fer a few drinks 'n all tha'? 'Sides, it's best t' be prepared than regret our decisions later.

I'll be 'round there by sundown. I'm sure some of us would like th' rum.