i'll see you at the rendezvous

Player Name: Sophia
Player DW: oceanwrath
Contact: plurk @ oceanwrath
Character Number: First

Name: Komini e Kodhi, usually goes by just Ko
Source: Original
Appearance:

art: [one], [two], [THE FULL ART TAG]

Ko is 16 years old. He stands at 5'7", slouches a little, and is built fairly solidly. He takes closely after his father in coloring (black-haired and dark-skinned, though the grey eyes are inherited from the other side of his family), but more after his mother in actual structure (rounded face, big eyes, softer features all-around).

He's still caught in the awkward stages of his mid-teens, arms and legs a little too long, uncomfortable in his own skin, but he mostly still manages to carry himself with confidence and ease. Aside from that slouch.

Personality:

Ko's a very steady, solemn boy, not terribly expressive, and usually predictable. Hardly easy to anger, or drive into a panic. He's calm, responsible, dutiful: the sort of person who will show up at least 5 minutes early to any meeting. He's very forgiving, too: the sort of person who won't be bothered if you show up 15 minutes late. In fact, he probably predicted that you would be.

While Ko would never describe himself as cynical, he's certainly skeptical and mistrustful of the world at large. He expects promises to be broken and lies to be told. He expects that everyone will act in their own best interests and that, in the end, if and when shit goes down, the only person Ko can trust is himself. Ko trusts no one, and does his best to ensure that if he needs something done, he won't have to depend on only one person. He'll start looking for a backup straightaway. More often than not, that backup will simply wind up being himself.

Despite his lack of faith in others, Ko genuinely believes that no one has bad intentions. That if someone fails to carry through on their promises, it's because they overextended themselves. That if someone's lashing out, it's because they're having a bad day. That if someone does something downright awful, there must have been some sort of reasonable justification for it, and that under different circumstances it would have all turned out differently. And that given time, they will come to their senses and realize their mistakes. In short, Ko finds it hard to believe in the existence of pure evil.

But because Ko is under the impression that most of the world can't be trusted, he thinks that someone's got to make up for that. And that someone might as well be him. So that is the reason why Ko is as level-headed and reliable as he is. He's built his personality upon a rock, anchored it down, and tried his damndest to build himself up to be the one person who's always there, always available, and always dependable. Because someone's got to be that guy.

As an unintentional side-effect of this, Ko tends to let people walk all over him. So long as they don't have any obvious malicious intent. He'll do most anything asked of him if it doesn't cause any obvious harm to others. He'll even stick with people whom take every opportunity to put him down if he's the only one affected. Ko is blind to abuse against his own person, and even if that is brought to his attention, he'll shrug it off. He's not affected by it. He might just be the exception and that's all right, so long as the person in question treats everyone else decently. Doesn't bother him -- or so he says. In truth, Ko will catalog every injustice done to him. It's just that he may never allow that catalog to surface.

On the other hand, Ko is deeply critical when those same injustices are made against others. While he doesn't always have the courage to call someone out directly for their behavior, he will step in discreetly and attempt to defuse the situation. At the very least, he'll try to get the victim(s) out of harm's way as fast as possible.

Komini also has a very curious nature. He enjoys talking to people and learning more about them, though he's a little more reluctant to talk about himself (out of modesty only; he doesn't feel like he has much to hide). In fact, Ko is always open to learning, through any means, on any matter. His early life felt so dictated and controlled by his father's opinions that Ko's more than ready to try and break free of them, to replace his father's words with his own experiences.

History:

Komini e Kodhi was born a whore's son, in a brothel, fathered by a (then-debatable) lord of the city named Bariyan. Bariyan was not a part of Ko's life at all for the first four years of his life. Instead, Ko lived a fairly happy life in the care of his mother Ethla, who grew quite fond of her son despite initial misgivings.

As a result, when Bariyan suddenly showed up in Ko's life to take him away, neither Ko nor Ethla were happy about this. Because of Bariyan's high rank (which while still debatable, was at least official), no one stopped him from taking Komini away. Ethla fought bitterly to get her son back in ensuing years, to no avail. The Court eventually ruled in Bariyan's favor.

Because of this, Komini's relationship with his father was strained right from the start. Bariyan clearly had good intentions, and tried to be as good a father as he could, but his intentions did not translate into satisfactory action. He was busy with political machinations on one hand, dealing with (and eventually overthrowing the rule of) his adopted brothers on another, and fighting with Ethla on top of everything else. In short, Bariyan simply did not have enough time to dedicate to his son's upbringing.

All of which Ko observed, realized, and fully understood. He did treasure what few moments his father could spare him, and he did appreciate Bariyan's intentions in taking him out of poverty to bring into nobility instead. More than that, he appreciated his father's genuine affection and care. Still, he could not deny to himself that he had been happier with his mother. That thought always remained at the back of his mind, as much as he tried to ignore it, as much as he wanted to be grateful for his father's actions. But his father's frequent absences made that hard.

As Ko grew older, he became aware of the fact that his father had quite a few failings in him. He kept a close eye on the political movements that Bariyan made, especially following the bloody coup that landed two of Bariyan's brothers dead and Bariyan as the ruler of Kodhi. Komini observed his father's disturbing penchant for turning on his allies in order to further his own goals, watched as Bariyan began to argue and disagree more violently and publicly with the Court (the church of their country's gods), stood by when Bariyan expelled the Court from the city, cringed as Bariyan quarreled with other lords, ladies and eventually, royalty itself. Ko saw his father edge closer and closer to declaring outright civil war on their country, all the while barely having any time to even see his own son.

Ko watched all of this unfold, and liked none of it. When he first found the courage to bring this up to his father, he was shrugged off. Bariyan was too busy to justify himself to a boy barely out of childhood. And when he did find the time, Bariyan justified himself to the point of lecture, practically browbeating Ko into adopting Bariyan's point of view instead. Ko, wanting to be as dutiful a son as possible, would always back down and accept it.

As the situation worsened, Ko became more persistent. More resentful. Resentful of how his father seemed convinced that he knew what was best for Ko, of how his father refused to listen, and of how distant he had been for most of Ko's life. So often absent, yet so insistent that his way was the only way. And so Ko began to subconsciously compile an internal list of his father's flaws, his mistakes, every wrong move that Bariyan made....

The two of them began to fight whenever Ko wanted to discuss Bariyan's worrying path towards war. Soon, they began to fight whenever they spoke. This all came to a head when, in one particularly bitter argument, Ko unleashed an entire lifetime's worth of pent-up anger and disappointment in Bariyan not only as a person, but as a father. Going all the way back into Ko's childhood, and ending with the conclusion that Ko would have been happier staying with his mother.

Bariyan's patience and temper, long-since frayed by all their previous disputes, snapped entirely at this point. He kicked Komini out of the home, and out of the city. Ko calmed down, accepted his father's orders with a shrug, and made as quiet an exit as possible so as to not aggravate the situation any further.

It has been about three months since then. Ko has spent most of that time traveling, moving from the eastern half of his country to the western coast, taking odd jobs along the way to make enough money to continue onwards. Neither Komini nor his father have tried to apologize yet -- or even contact one another.

Specific Abilities:

None, really. Ko's had some training with sword-and-shield, but not much, and he showed no particularly notable skill in fighting. He's just good enough to protect himself in battle.

Inventory:

Nothing but the clothes on his back. The only thing of note that he still has with him is a string/bracelet of prayer beads given to him by his mother. Also, he had a pendant made and gifted to him by his father, unfortunately iron-forged, and he'll notice it missing.

Additional Information:
Journal Sample:

[text]

i lost something on the way here. a small charm forged into the shape of the sun strung on hemp. it is of no monetary value to me nor anyone else but i would be glad to discuss an trade for its return. thank you.

Prose Sample:
He'd backed out of that room with a shrug and left the city without a word. It only took him an hour to pack, to set his affairs in order. A loan to pay off to Kaia, an explanation and a farewell to his mother down in the district of roses, and after a long moment of pondering, someone to look after his horse. He had thought about taking her with him, but realized he would not have the coin to pay for her way. (They said his father was rich, and it had to be true, didn't it? But Komini did not know. There was very little opulence in his life, and very little money in his accounts right now.)

There was a girl, down in the southern quarter... Komini went there last, hands in his pockets, forehead creased and eyes full of regret.

And now there was no one.

He was not so certain about the pendant, either, but while anger and disappointment clouded his judgment now he knew that it, too, would clear away sometime in the future. Perhaps a future that was many years away, but years were not so long in hindsight. So Komini kept it with him.

He left with just a single pack and the clothes on his back: clothes, rations for the next few days, two knives, what little money he had left after paying off Kaia's loan. He left by the main road, dodging carts and wagons along the way.

He stopped. Just once. The back of his neck prickled with suspicion and he turned to look up the black tower high above all. What he expected to see was a shoulder, a back, someone turning away to disappear into the shadows.

What he saw was his father, arms crossed, eyes sharp and critical and unforgiving. Komini looked, and Komini looked away.

He'd said goodbye already. Thinking back on it now, it was not a good farewell. What he should have said was: I'm leaving. I know. You tried. But it wasn't enough, you were giving too much and too little, you were trying to be something that you didn't have the time or the heart for. I can see you, sixty years old at thirty and heartless already. I know. I know. But I'm not sorry. You've got blood on your hands, you've done wrong, you'll continue doing wrong for years to come, but maybe, one day....

Ko wiped sweat out of his eyes, and looked forwards to the sky, blinking in the sun. He moved, his gait slow but purposeful. Letting the pedestrian flow carry him out of the city and away from what little family he'd had.

What he had said was Goodbye.