- Name: Maike Fuchs [MIE-kə Fyuks]
Nickname: N/A
Age: 8
Social Class: Artisan
Occupation: Exploring, Gathering, Keeping out from underfoot – Her parents work as Furriers
APPEARANCE
On a typical, cold and snowy morning nearly eight years ago, the Artisan couple Sieglinde and Anselm found a curious bundle carefully situated on their doorstep. Beneath the layers of rich, soft furs, swaddled in swaths of expensively colored fabrics, was an infant child. She did not cry, staring up at the adults with a quiet curiosity, the fair skin of her face rosy with cold. The baby had eyes a shade of blue the likes of which the couple had never quite seen, with flecks of gold and green to resemble a deep and distant sea, much different than the blue-white ice which they knew so well.
The girl was eerie, in a way, her inquiring eyes seeming to hold much more wisdom than her lack of years could possibly hold. Yet, the couple felt nothing short of blessed; the woman, Sieglinde, was barren, and the two had been wishing for a child for years. But why would someone have given away their child, without leaving so much as a note? The baby clearly came from wealthy parentage, where affording her care wouldn’t have been an issue. They thought, perhaps, there was something wrong with her… in the way she stared, the way she didn’t cry or fuss.
As the girl grew older, it became clearer. In as full of color as her eyes were, the child’s hair was lacking. Full, lustrous, holding a slight, natural wave, and completely white, whiter, perhaps, than the snow that they saw every day. Maybe she was one of those anomalies… those creatures who had come into contact with the evil spirits of the forest. They would take the risk. And so, the couple called the child “Maike,” a name whose oldest roots meant something akin to “wished for child,” and took her in to love her and raise her well.
Eight years later, those eyes are just as bright and that hair is just as devoid of color. Maike has grown a lot in the past few months, and now stands at 3’5”. Weighing in at a mere 57lbs, she looks like quite the delicate, gangly little thing, all signs of baby chub lost to her new, more elongated limbs. As a result, she doesn’t have the best coordination at this point in time, and can often be found tripping over herself.
As her father, Anselm, is a furrier, Maike has never wanted for warmth. Although they do not get to keep the richest or most expensive pieces, the girl can most commonly be seen sporting a long, white coat of Audenhair. She is also rarely seen without a pair of fur-lined mittens, to cover the strange scars that became more and more visible on her hands as she grew.
PERSONALITY
As an eight year old, Maike switches frequently from being brazenly self-confident, to almost self-deprecating in her uncertainty. This is a point in her life of great self-discovery! Yet, in a world that truly depends on survival of the fittest, she has to grow up fast, and learn everything she can as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Maike is an intelligent girl who observes things with a keen eye and a quick brain. Her curiosity runs in great abundance, but she’s not always completely confident in her analyses of things, and often relies on the wisdom and knowledge of those older than her, especially her parents.
The girl is not needed too much around the shop, especially now, when her clumsy lack of limb-control often means she’s more of a burden than a help, even when she’s really trying! Thus, Maike spends most of her time exploring the city, hunting for mushrooms and other fungi near the entrances of the caves, or sitting just outside the edge of the forest. She is a brave girl who finds the mystery surrounding the city to be more interesting than frightening. Of course, she still wouldn’t dare actually enter the forest, lest some evil monster come and gobble her right up… not yet anyway.
On these lonely excursions, Maike passes the time contemplating the stories she has heard, and devising more of her own. Stories are a thing which Maike adores. Her mother came from a theatre family and, although Anselm saved her from a life of performance, Sieglinde knows many stories, and loves to share them, especially with her eager daughter. Maike occasionally performs these stories for the city’s residents, but more often, the tales are told to an imagined audience. As it were, it would seem that people don’t quite know what to do with the bright and vibrant child.
For the most part, the city people accept her, as she is gentle and eager to assist, but many residents of Llywdbeinn are also wary of the girl, especially those who know the immense amount of mystery surrounding her birth. They often try to avoid the child, who some believe may very well have evil spirits lurking around her, and they do their best to keep their own children away too.
As it were, Maike is not the least bit magical, and although she can be the biggest, bossiest, most stubborn little brat in the world, she would like to think that she is not controlled by too much evil. Because of these reactions, it was not until very recently that Maike began to accept her appearance.
One evening, the girl’s father found her outside, wet and shivering, her beautiful, snowy hair matted with clumps of half-frozen soil, with which she had been attempting to turn her hair brown. It was on that day that Anselm showed her the Audenhair, whose fur matched her own colorless locks, and who Maike thought to be the most beautiful thing in the world. Her parents told her that she was beautiful. They said that she was unique, not a monstrosity. It is for that reason that she wears the Audenhair furs so frequently. Perhaps ironically, especially living in a world where animals, including Audenhair, are killed on a daily basis, and food can be scarce, it was also for that reason that Maike now possesses a sweet, small companion.
One especially clumsy, destructive day, the little girl boldly snatched a discarded scrap of animal skin from her father’s workbench and headed to her place at the edge of the forest. Determined to be of some use to her parents, she found a stone, loaded it into her makeshift slingshot, and waited for a critter to come by. Eventually, one did, a young, snowy Audenhair whose subtle movements the child’s keen eyes quickly caught. However, Maike had never used a slingshot before in her life. In fact, she only knew what their purpose was by subtly observing the hunters as they made their way into the forest. Thus, it was only by chance that the small rock ricocheted off of the frozen earth and struck the small animal in the leg.
At that moment, Maike’s empathetic nature took over. The creature was nowhere near death, merely stunned, his leg slightly bloodied, but the girl scooped it up and hurried home, crying and crying and apologizing over and over to the poor, innocent creature that she had injured. Her parents were dumbfounded at the child’s requests to not only heal the creature, but to keep it as a pet; Maike now believed strongly that it was her duty to protect the innocent animal. Because of her, the Audenhair would forever walk with a tiny limp; surely it would never be able to survive on its own in the wild! Her parents hesitantly agreed, just so long as they didn’t have to worry about feeding the critter. Fortunately, the Audenhair, whom Maike named “Leutwin,” is just as brave as his owner, and, despite his limp, is quite adept at foraging for himself.
Being so empathetic, Maike distresses over the effect she has on people, who sometimes go so far as to lock doors when they see her passing by. Thus, she tends to observe them from afar, spending most of her time with only Leutwin as company. With her Audenhair friend, she is content to learn through watching, although she dreams deeply of one day being able to perform her stories, and to have them be enjoyed by every person in all of Llywdbeinn.
ABILITIES
As it stands now, Maike doesn’t do well in most physical situations. Still getting control over her newly minted arms and legs means a lot of clumsiness a lot of the time. However, there’s an undercurrent of grace to the way she moves. She’s swift, and when she stops falling over her own feet, will probably be an excellent runner.
Mentally, she’s keen and observant. Maike is intelligent, capable of assessing situations at a level probably a bit beyond her years. Yet, she isn’t entirely confident in herself all the time, and often turns to her parents for the truth, or at least something to reaffirm her own suspicions. This lack of self-confidence comes, in part, from the fact that she is not completely accepted by everyone around her, although it is a characteristic that she is slowly coming to terms with.
With her parents, Maike is quite pleasant and charming. However, she tends to stay to herself most of the time, not wanting to make those who are wary of her uncomfortable. She wishes for social interactions beyond the relationship that she has with Leutwin, but for now is content with merely observing those around her.
HOBBIES
Maike spends most of her time playing with or caring for Leutwin, and trying to find ways in which to be helpful to her parents. She often hunts for common fungi to add to their evening meals, or heads to the edge of the forest with her makeshift sling (although she hasn’t actually used it since the incident with Leutwin). She enjoys making up stories and acting them out (often with Leutwin’s help) to an imagined audience and people watching.
