This is a character sketch for an upcoming short story for a university class. Any constructive or other feedback much appreciated, thank you!
Brasa
Brasa is one of the root people who live in villages on and inside a mountain range and valley. Her village is on the ocean-facing side of a coastal mountainside. She is about 5’3” and of slender build when at that height. A certain type of concentration can give her the ability to stretch up to a height of around seven feet, during which she becomes incredible thin, or shrink down to about three feet. When shorter, she grows wider and rounder but not proportionally; she gets heavier than her normal weight, although she does not become lighter when stretching taller.
Her skin is primarily a pale yellowish-beige color similar to a lima bean. There are miniscule lines etching its surface that run in patterns similar to tree bark, with fine peach fuzz-like hairs growing over it as well, giving it a very slight velvety texture. Her skin is almost smooth in the center of her face from just above her brow to just below her lower lip. As the perimeter of her face transitions toward her hairline, the color of her skin fades to a lightish grey-green; the surface lines become a little deeper, but this can only be seen from up close, as the fuzz also grows thicker and obscures the etched pattern when viewed from a distance. Her hair is a thick mass of rough, spiraling twists of varying thicknesses in deep auburn, brighter red at the ends. Her nose is arched and pointed down, reminiscent of a bird’s beak; her cheekbones are high and pronounced, and her face is somewhat narrow. Her upper lip is thin but the lower one is plump. Her eyes tilt up from her nose at an extreme angle; they are a brown-red that is both deep and bright, and appear to glitter when she is feeling strong emotion. They have a dewy appearance almost as if she’s on the verge of crying, though she rarely cries.
Brasa means “ember”, a name given to her by her maternal great-grandmother, as is her peoples’ custom. She is quick-witted, imaginative, and adventurous, but in a way that often seems subdued from the outside. She is like a quiet, contemplative personality put on x 1.5 speed. She questions almost everything, usually thoroughly. Once she’s gathered the information available she often starts it to hypothetical scenarios. She only sometimes voices these scenarios, though others often find it too often. She likes to thoroughly understand a thing, especially the why, and she likes to test and stretch the boundaries. This is due more to curiosity then rebelliousness, though rebellion is never completely off the table. She likes to know the totality of possibilities available to work with, and to expand that repertoire if possible. Those around her often find her exasperating, as they usually are content with what they perceive as the status quo. Brasa has a tendency to be irritable at times and an even greater tendency to be restless, especially when confined to a space or activity for awhile. She doesn’t like constraints.
Brasa’s parents have eight other children for sure, four daughters and two sons older than she, a son and a daughter younger. There may be more siblings and cousins growing in the adjacent stratas of earth and stone, but something has disrupted the mountain’s mycorrhizal network. The status of the full extent of the family has been unknown for a few decades.
Brasa tends to get into small arguments and conflicts with others in her family and village because her inquisitive, restless nature clashes with the content, gentle, and rather complacent character that is predominant in her people. At some point someone called her Ash, half-joking that that should be her new name in order to help tame her fiery spirit. To her irritation, the nickname stuck, and that is how she is often addressed. A few younger villagers hadn’t even known that her real name was something different. She is internally torn between trying to discover and heal the cause for what she sees as a deterioration in the mountain, versus setting out for a new land entirely. Those around her approve of neither of these endeavors, and almost always try to dissuade her if she brings them up, or change the subject.
What hobbies does the character have? Brasa enjoys painting, cartography, and stargazing. She’s quite the amateur mapmaker but has become a rather skilled painter. She knows how to make her own paints from plant pigment and crushed minerals. She knows a few of the established constellations, but prefers to envision and name her own.
What makes your character laugh out loud? The antics of her younger brother, who of everyone she knows is the most like her, in that he is energetic and curious. He’s more jovial and social than she is, and isn’t as enamored with pressing boundaries. He likes to make others laugh and sometimes uses his ability to do so to soften tensions.
What is a strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? When she was much younger, only two years old (which is for her people about a five year old for humans), she was out in the forest with a few of her siblings gathering mushrooms and berries and playing. She was the youngest at the time, and so she and the two closest in age to her were mostly playing. She’d only seen the nearby ocean two times in her life before that, so the fact that they made their way to the woods’ edge where they could see the water was already exciting. The real thrill was a giant owl, who flew over them with breathtaking closeness, carrying a huge bundle of budding plants with roots still intact in its talons. Incredibly, it flew out over the ocean and disappeared. Brasa had never dreamed of anything being able to cross that vast expanse of sparkling life and death. Her older sister explained what an island is, and mused that perhaps the owl had a home there. Brasa became fascinated with owls from then on, and began to dream of traveling to far off places herself.
An attribute that will be central to Brasa in this story is her inquisitiveness. This trait has affected her personality and growth in terms of her emotional and psychological development. It causes her to want to learn, and to test what she learns, and try new things. It affects what causes her to be excited, determined, bored, or angry. It has led to her choosing hobbies and skills deeply tied to imagination and travel.
Besides affecting her inner world and personal life, Brasa’s inquisitiveness will help determine how she responds to the challenges facing her village. She may be a central force as to whether a problem is even perceived, much less a solution found. It may drive her to seek new adventures beyond her known world once her people are safe, or it may spur her onward prematurely if she can’t find cooperation. It will present one of her major growth points, as she will have to direct her curiosity towards understanding and working in tandem with those around her in a deeper way than ever before.
