Asther



Asther the Man-Killing Plant the Second is the Leader of the Berk Village. She is currently 28 years old.

She is played by the creator of BerksDragons, Abyss.

Her Face Claim is Swedish actress Noomi Rapace.

History
Asther was born in the village of Berk twenty-eight years ago on a winter day. Though there was no snow which was a rarity in Berk. Asther's father was in the smithy when her mother delivered her, so her mother (a headstrong, stubborn, strong-willed warrior) named her after herself, with hopes Asther would become just as strong-willed. Though a bit disappointed not to have taken part in the naming of his daughter, Cabbich the Coalburn was proud of the name and accepted it without plight. Early on in her childhood, Cabbich noticed that he, his wife, and anybody that came to visit had to speak a bit louder than normal to get young Asther's attention...like they had to do for him sometimes. He soon came to the conclusion that he had passed on a rather negative trait to her - she was hard of hearing as he was. However, it was not debilitating. She was not deaf, but people would have to speak louder than normal until she learned how to read lips or focus on others so she could hear them easier by blocking out the sounds around her.

Cabbich consulted his wife about this and she was unconcerned, sure that if young Asther were anything like her, she would be largely unaffected by the difficulty to hear and would make a fine Viking otherwise. Her young childhood years came and went without much incident. Asther was first introduced to the magnificent dragons that roamed the village at the age of seven. Though she had always seen them around, sometimes even a Terror occasionally in the house, she had never had the courage to venture closer to them than an arm's length away. She had her first real encounter when she sat in her father's forge one evening and ate her lamb shank dinner while watching him work. A tiny, Terrible Terror snuck up behind her and tried to yank the meat right out of her hands. It was more scared of her than she was surprised to see it, despite the fact she had let out a yelp of surprise. It backed away, worried by competition it may have initiated. However, rather than scaring it further she offered it some meat. Sitting down to be more on its level and make herself look smaller as to not threaten it, the dragon cautiously crept closer to her and ate what she'd dropped on the ground in front of her for it. It continued to act something akin to a stray that wandered the village for food, though stopping by at least twice per week for a meal. About a year later after being taken care of, it wandered off and never returned. Asther didnt feel much at this loss, because she respected that it was never hers to begin with.

After seven long years of basic schooling (with books? pshaw, who reads? schooling in how to fight of course), Asther reached the age of fourteen. During that time, her father had experienced a mishap in his forge: some coals were left hot when he thought he'd put them out, and it set fire to the leather curtain infront of the fireplace. He had been taking a nap for his break when the forge caught fire, and he perished with it because he insisted on saving his tools when a support beam collapsed, pinning him in the blaze. He'd died doing what any blacksmith would have done, and he had his main goal accomplished before he died, so he had died free of goals. The goal had been teaching Asther how to read lips. To add to her basic training, her parents had wanted to make sure she could get around in the world without worry that her poor hearing would burden her. She was already smart, and she'd been living a fairly normal life, coping with the poor hearing. However, this was only an advance that her father said "might save your life one day".

Though it wasnt the easiest thing in the world to do, Asther mastered more than the basics of reading lips, she continued to improve, but had also gained some helpful tips from her father on how to zero in something making a sound and listen to it distinctly and block out any other sounds. After his death, Asther promised that somehow she would try to find a way to practice every day. She practiced with her mother, until the day she was fifteen. It was then that Asther the First decided Asther the Second were old enough to take on her own dragon as her rite of passage into full warrior status. Asther the First wanted her daughter to choose one of the offspring of the dragons from around town, but nobody had one that she wanted - she wanted one that was spoke of in legends, so rare that few had seen it and even fewer had tamed it over time, so legendary that the great hero Hiccup was the first person to tame one and gain its trust three hundred years ago....a Night Fury.

How She Met Puff
Asther bartered with her mother and pleaded...she wanted to go on a solo quest for one of the legendary dragons. She didnt care if she had to do some crazy things to get the dragon, but she would not give up. Reluctantly, her mother agreed. After proving herself in the Dragon ring by successfully subduing (not killing) the Monstrous Nightmare that set the standard to test young vikings' survival skills, she left the village. Bow and quiver on her back, she set out to take on the world without hardly a goodbye. She was ready for this, and she would stop at nothing until she had her dragon. She spent many days and many nights walking to the island's mountain. It was the largest sight on the island, and it was many, many miles away - almost on the opposite end of the island. She soon lost track of what the actual date was, but it had been fourty-five days until she reached the foot of the mountain. Now all that was left was the trek up it.

She hadnt traveled any set path, instead making her own. It wasnt a rocky path, more a winding, foresty path with the occasional narrow ledge she had to hug the mountain to get across. She climbed for three days toward the peak before she first saw it....a Night Fury. She had never seen one before in-person, only in drawings or in her mind from the Village Elder's vivid storytelling. It made a growl-like sound despite the fact she hadn't been seen, followed by a violent shake of its head. It released a puff of smoke through its nose, and blinked its emerald-colored eyes a good few times. She kept her distance, almost pinned in place by the awe-drawn fright that seemed to numb her legs. This was perhaps the most dangerous dragon around that she knew of (or that people at least were aware existed). Despite the fact she knew there was a risk of this trip being fatal, it was a chance she wanted to take to attempt to train it. The dragon didnt move more than a mile away from where it had first been seen for. Despite her growing hunger and exhaustion from tailing it around and taking extreme cautions not to be seen, she didn't leave.

Around noon of the second day she spent tailing it, a buck had wandered dangerously close to the Night Fury (which was perfectly camoflaged in the shadows but had no interest in the deer) and became Asther's target. Without a second thought as to the fact she would give away her position, she drew her bow and strung an arrow, shooting it precisely at the target. It had been a clean kill - an arrow to the heart.

Her thoughtless actions resulted in the dragon fleeing. Cursing her hunger on Ullr, Asther gave up on tailing the dragon, which was long gone by the time she finally reached the deer. The afternoon continued uneventfully - the long process of skinning the deer, stoking a fire, and cooking the meat to a point that wouldn't make her sick, all seemed to pass the time relatively quickly. Night fell and she ate, leaving the rest of the carcass of the deer to stay warm over the fire. Staring at the sky from within her deerskin tent she debated trying another mountain - the dragon had probably long fled. What she'd observed of it indicated that it didn't appear to live in the area, seeing as when night had fallen the day before, it had settled on a patch of land it charred then and there rather than in a den of sorts. Though her thoughts were more serious than they needed to be, they were disjointed, and her attention was elsewhere. After about two hours, Asther had the feeling she was being watched and decided to investigate.

Upon discovering it was the dragon, Asther automatically retreated before she tripped over the leftover meat she had. The idea came to her to offer some meat for the dragon. She figured it had to be hungry as well, so she piled some near where she had been standing.

This signified the first attempt from Asther to get close to the dragon, who she soon came to call Puff because of the smoke released from his nostrils whenever it appeared to be amused or frustrated. The next few months, Asther spent tracking the dragon and trying to gain its trust in various forms until one night, while tracking it in its leisurely nighttime flight, she accidentally slipped into a canyon, a very shallow one, but a canyon none the less, with no obvious means of getting out...which was bad, because she found herself facing a family of Monstrous Nightmares, two adults and one teenager.

Though Asther had no intention of harming them, she needed to defend herself, and she had no shield. Soon enough, her attempts were failing miserably, and the teenagers had already lit itself on fire, and was coming at her with an all-offensive. Fear rooted her to the ground, and she couldnt think of anything to do but scream. That was when things changed. Out of nowhere, she heard a sound that sounded like the tension of a spring about to fire, followed by an explosion of blue fire on the side of the teenage Nightmare. Following it was, silent as breath, fast as a speeding arrow was Puff ramming into its side, knocking it into the small lake that was in the canyon...the only color aside from the rocks.

Puff landed infront of Asther, back to her, wings spread, and a steady growl exiting her throat. The two adults came as one, one on fire, the other not. Fighting fire with fire, Puff took flight and performed a series of incredible acrobatics and aimed fire shots that eventually extinguished the Nightmare, forcing it to retreat, while also attempting to ward off the other one. Before long, all three Nightmares took flight, leaving the canyon. Amazed, Asther tried to approach the obviously tired Puff, she was warded off. However, the light of the moon hit his black scales just right, and she saw that Puff was wounded, a long gash down his right side.

She spent a bit more than a week trying to get Puff to trust her enough for her to tend to the wound, using some cloth from her legging and a mix of berries and leaves from the sparse plants, and water to make a plaster and ointment for the wound. This seemed to secure their companionship, to start. The next months were spent with Asther trying to communicate with Puff, trying to heal Puff, and even gaining enough trust between the two of them to try flying for the first time.

Though difficult, it was the most extraordinary uplifting feeling Asther could fathom. She felt as though she was one with Puff, and a month after their first flight, she returned to Berk on Puff's back, slowly introducing him to the life that she led, and what she wanted him to be a part of. She could tell that he was not familiar or comfortable with it to start, but he slowly grew accustomed to it.

Over the years, they grew closer, and their bond grew stronger. They learned new things about each other every day, and became friends with more people and their dragons around the village, soon to feel like one entity in the place they could live together, securing their bond as dragon and Viking...even though Asther still had alot to learn before she could call herself one with Puff and the rest of Berk...including how to play her romance cards correctly.

In these years, she has finally been able to reach her ultimate goal - becoming the leader of the Berk Vikings.

Personality
Ever since she was young, Asther has always kept her wits and self about her, even in stressful situations. It was odd for someone at her young age to be so self-composed and sensible. There are few things in the world that are capable of getting on her nerves. She is easily offended sometimes, and will fire right back at anyone who had the misfortune of offending her.

Asther is a naturally kind person, even if she is somewhat shy. She doesnt know why, it just seems to be right to be kind to people. She is nice to anyone she meets, and even if they are rude to her, she will try to be nice to them. Asther believes that kindness and peace are traits that could solve the problems that may arise in the world. She sometimes flatters others, using small lies to twist the truth around for the better...most often to help boost the self-esteem of some of her friends and villagers. Every day she tries to pick out the positives of what she sees and hears more than the negatives, and though she acknowledges this is impossible at times, she will always look forward.

She almost always wears a smile, and always keeps a positive mind-set. The only time you wouldnt see a smile on her face was if she was seriously thinking, dead, or fighting for her life...she even holds an unwavering smile when delivering death threats (which, needless to say, could be delivered without hesitation) to an enemy wanderer or a foreigner who invades Berk's territory. Though she rarely has someone that gets on her bad side, there are a few, and she will still respect them, and not seek out to degrade them morally or esteem-wise in any way. She believes that all people are equal, and that all people are born with an innate humanitarian sense. When fighting an opponent, if the match leads up to a death battle, she will respect their last wishes, and see to it that they are somehow carried out, provided they are not obscene, un-doable, or crazy -- like killing herself, Puff or someone else for no reason.

Timidity is probably Asther’s most defining trait to those who dont know her. She is a rather shy person, usually sinking into the background and being very quiet. She is more of a listener around people she is unfamiliar with, and she is a listener in general. She likes to learn about something, and sees that being quiet is a key way to learning successfully. She is a bit self-conscious about herself, and it generally takes a nudge from Puff...literally...to get her to meet someone. However, once she meets them, she will hold on to the friendship and never let go, and she'll always want to get to know the person better.

Appearance
Asther is a rather light figure. She has fair-ish skin which is no stranger to sunlight. In the summer months its sometimes darker given whatever kind of tan she may have gotten. She is outside fair bit, so it is generally about one to two shades darker in the summer than any other time. Her hair is a solid raven black and falls straight to her shoulders, no further. She rarely pulls it back, generally only for any sort of combat when she wears her helmet. She has a rather narrow face, framed by her hair. The most color on her face are her bright green eyes, a one-inch-thick row of freckles across her cheekbones and nose, and her red lips. She stands about 5 feet 4 inches tall and her light build makes her only 115 pounds. She has decent muscle in her arms and legs, but she prefers letting Puff handle things and staying out of skirmishes. She prefers long-range combat.

During the spring, summer, and early autumn, Asther wears a loose, short-sleeved brown deerskin shirt that is accompanied by light, loose khaki pants that fall to her ankles. She wears brown wineskin boots that are lined with rabbit fur in all seasons. In the colder months, though, she wears a black long-sleeved shirt and gloves lined with rabbit fur. Also in the winter, her pants are a darker brown and slightly heavier.

Finally, Asther carries a quiver of arrows on her back sometimes so that she can withdraw arrows with ease. The arrows she fashions herself of yew wood. The tips are made of filed onyx stones from the bottom of the lake in Berk's canyon. Finally, the feathers are made from any birds she shoots down or any feathers she finds. Her bow is made of cherrywood. She carved it herself and fashioned the knock and grip to match her grip alone. The drawstring is made of wool twine from the villages sheep. She carries about 50 arrows at a time, but there are many more in her house. Her bow, when not in use stays in her house as well, with her quiver. She prefers to not carry them with her unless needed.

Also, whenever needed, she dawns a pair of leather gloves for her hands that come up to just below her elbow. The leather stops just before the middle knuckle of her fingers on all except the middle and ring finger, which are fully covered by the leather. This is to prevent any arrow feather-made gashes on her arm, and to prevent the twine string of her bow from chaffing away her fingers.

Dragon
Asther's dragon, Puff, is a Night Fury. Puff is a rather strong, silent type. However, he will always listen to Asther, and he is completely loyal to her. He would never betray her, and he is highly protective of his human. Of course, it took many years to incorporate Asther totally into his life, and it took her a long while to get used to her once she chose her, they prevailed. Asther formed an inseverable bond with him, and they stay strong together. Puff is the one living creature that Asther will tell anything to, and do anything with. Although she cannot speak to him, she understands every word Asther says and reacts accordingly. If he senses danger, however, or he doesnt trust someone, despite what Asther says, he will act incredibly defensively. He knows of Asther's slightly gullible nature, so he sees it proper that he be the antidote to that poison. Also, Puff is able to communicate with other dragons.