"Alva" Paxton Shepley

Name: Paxton Shepley

Nicknames: Alva, Pax or P

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Planet: Tellurus

Job: Freelancer (enters contract with pretty much anyone as long as the pay is good and once she's "bought" she stays bought till the duration of the contract)

Hobbies: Bonsai, connoisseur of food and drink

Player: Patalon, tegaki e

Appearance
Alva is a petite lady with a medium, athletic build. She has light beige skin that seems pretty normal till bright light hits it which makes her skin have a slightly unnatural glossy sheen. She has layered ombre hair from dark brown fading to a medium blonde at the ends which she tends to leave out unless she's doing a job that requires some elbow-grease. Framed in black makeup from Tala'Tala, her eyes are a piercing grey that sometimes reflect the color of her surroundings giving the appearance that her eye color "changes with her mood."

Personality
Alva is quite eccentric, often finding beauty in less conventional things. She is generally warm-hearted and seemingly social, but in reality, Alva is an introvert with a complex "inner universe" and one who rarely divulges any information about her personal life. Because she is so focused internally, she is quite intuitive and perceptive: often seeing hidden meanings in general occurances. She has very few who she would consider very close, close friends, which can make her seem detached even though she's acting friendly. The detached air about her also is augmented by the fact that she gets bored easily. Despite the "all-business" exterior, she still manages to be rather silly at times.

History (still stubbley but done for now)
A Troubled Childhood

Alva was rather unsettled as a child: feeling as though she has no real purpose, no niche, in the "grand design." Living as the only "heir" to a up and coming, family-owned, high-class wine/beer enterprise, she was under watch, via nannies, most of her childhood. Although her parents were loving, they were very strict with her lifestyle which was very controlled. Despite the restrained lifestyle, Alva did her very best doing what she wanted to do, whenever she wanted to, often causing "tension" between her and her family. Finally fed up with her misconduct, Alva's parents sent her off to the Tellurian military academy to try to wring discipline down her throat: The final straw when she wrecked her father's hard-earned sports vehicle beyond repair.

The "Disciplinary" Years

Life at the military academy was easy and difficult in the sense that Alva found the classes easy and aced most tests, but got bored with the tedious home assignments and never completed them leaving her with a lot of time to fool around. Because of this she received not only bad marks, she also was punished quite frequently. There was one class in intelligence where she did excell at because she found the instructor's lessons engaging which motivated her to do well in the class. Despite this, she still barely passed most of the classes she attended, but was allowed to remain being enrolled in the academy until her final year where she was suspended for a prank played on a snooty high-class (bad word) of a student.

The Accident

While on suspension and when out gathering the grapes in season, the vinyard suddenly and violently erupted in flames, engulfing her home, family and most of her body. Mysteriously, the processing factory remained untouched. Alva was later found under a pile of rubble where she called for help by the fire squad barely alive. She survived though, but was maimed by the event. Alva had burns all over her body and lost her right arm from her shoulder, her right leg from the hip, her right eye, hearing from her right ear, her left leg from the knee, some digits from her left hand due to infection and burned nerve endings. There was also dramatic loss of function in her lungs and stomach. During her recovery, opporunists, whom she refers to as "the vultures," saw a business opportunity they couldn't refuse: "A maimed heiress unable to continue a thriving business." Many made offers to buy out her newly acquired business with stingy sums, but she refused all of them because they were not genuine and were only for the money and not for the artistry. She did eventually sell the business to an elderly gentleman who offered a wealthy sum and had a genuine interest for the business and whom she believed her parents wouldn't mind their business being run by. After that event, her recovery took another turn for the worse and Alva truly believed she would die until a doctor from Cabeiri came with the prospect that she could live and even be "rebuilt" using the fruits of research that have yet to be tested. The problem was that he needed a bit more funding to make it happen and Alva's little fortune from selling off the business would cover the rest of the expenses. Hopeful at the chance of a new life, Alva jumped on the doctor's proposal.

The Recovery

Upon arriving to Cabeiri, Alva was put into an induced coma to make the transition to her "new body" easier which took about about year. Alva awoke to new skin, hair, limbs, lungs, stomach and eye when she awoke. The doctor had explained that not only the "prosthetics" were cloned from her, they were improved from how they were when Alva was in peak condition. The doctor explained that the main component that contributed to this improvment was a chemical called boron carbide which has properties that make it stronger than the organic constituents that make up the body: strong enough to stop impact-involved injuries to a degree. Her right eye and ear also had improved in their sensing capabilities. The process of Alva's physical therapy also took about a year and she emerged eternally grateful to the doctor who gave her her body back, optimistic on getting her life back in order, and utterly penniless.

The Recent Years

Due to her penniless state, Alva took work as it came, essentially becoming a freelancer by doing so. She moved to and fro from the colonies taking on new jobs and completing them as they come and go, sometimes taking on jobs from the governments.

Public Knowledge

 * Because of her previous injury many people think she sold off her family business to live as a hermit who is but a shadow of her former self due to her "maimed" appearance.

Misc. Information

 * She is ambidextrous from having to learn how to use her left hand when her right was missing.
 * She has a rambunctious pet, a Tellurian leech, Squeaker and a bonsai tree she named Wanda.
 * Alva has a habit of calling inanimate objects names.
 * Alva has a refined palatte for tasting the subtle nuances of food/drink items
 * On her back and backs of her arms, from shoulders to elbows, she has a mantra tattooed in Mongolian script.
 * She still sends gifts to the doctor who saved her life
 * Her "prosthetics" don't necessarily heal. When Alva is injured, she has to patch the area up and get it "replaced."

Other Character Relationships
Commander Yves Alva finds Commander Yves to be an interesting fellow: not quite the man that the Tellurian post makes him out to be, but more "human." She was surprised by his generosity when he gave her an all-access ticket to an upcoming race for maybe one little blemish on her ahemsevenyearolddiscountclunker of a datapad. She thought he seemed a bit gloomy, but considering the cirmustances, she understands why he is so. But, she respects the drive the man showed when climbing the ranks of the military to become the Commander and also respects the fact that he's making an effort to get back on track with his life after his misfortune.