Aaliyah "Sparkles" Khouri

"You have no idea what's it's like, do you Celia? To be looked down on, spit on, physically attacked, sexually assaulted. Just because of where you're from. I'm a nobody. I'm worse than a nobody. I'm worse than the dirt that Dragonians walk on as far as they're all concerned. The empire? They're no better. Only difference is that while the general people consider us to be the lowest of the low, the Empire doesn't even think of us as people. Ironic as fuck considering my father is Dragonian. So I guess I'm AcDragonian then and I stick by that. AcDragonia. But don't misunderstand, the Empire, I hate them. I hate them all and I will kill them." - Aaliyah ranting after she executed two injured Dragonian soldiersAaliyah “Sparkles” Khouri is a Lushanean-born woman who came
to Dragonia with her mother illegally right after she was born.  Born to a Dragonian man, Aaliyah’s father
abandoned her and her mother when her mother was pregnant with her.  As a half-blood, Aaliyah would normally be killed in conjunction with the Dragonian laws, which most likely could explain
why her father abandoned them.  Aaliyah’s
mother wasn’t permitted to live on Dragonia at all due to the fact that she was
not only Lushanean, but her people were currently at war with Dragonia.  Sneaking onto Dragonia, her mother raised her
as best she could while moving place to place, hiding from the ICA and other
Imperial agencies.
When Aaliyah was 16, her mother became ill and needed
treatment but she couldn’t get any official work as she wasn’t a citizen of
Dragonia so she took odd jobs and anything that paid secretly to avoid the
ICA.  Unfortunately, these jobs may have
been plentiful but they didn’t pay anything nearly enough for the bills her
mother was accruing from the Shadow Doctors.  After several bad payouts, Aaliyah turned to a
club and signed up to be an exotic dancer. 
Shady clientele paid well to see her; an underage and exotic beauty not
from Dragonia and she made extraordinary tips, helping her to pay for her
mother’s bills.  When she was 18, she
eventually became an escort for wealthy clients, trading sex for decent
money.  Unfortunately, this led her to be
raped on multiple occasions.
Aaliyah eventually left the sex trade due to these
occurrences and she continued to work odd jobs and she continued to dance at
high-end clubs now that she was no longer underage.  She coined the stage name ‘Sparkles’ as her
signature dance involved native Lushanean clothing and lots of sparkling jewels
and powders.
When the rumors of the ICA re-education operation began to
spread through Lower Mahanon, Aaliyah began looking for ways to get into the
militia to fight.  She wasn’t strong
enough and she started to train incessantly to strengthen up for when she could
join.  When the draft finally happened,
Aaliyah volunteered under Captain McKay to help the insurrectionists strike
back against the Imperials for their intolerance and plain hatred for her and
others in her situation.  It was here she
discovered her love for explosives and began training under a demolitions MOS.  
Although sometimes sarcastic and appearing cold, she is a
caring person who acts more like a bigger sister to her friends than simply a
friend.  During an operation, she is
cornered by a Dragonian snatch squad and subsequently raped by each of the men
in the squad after they discover where she came from.  After the squad was killed, Celia and Aaliyah
become close when Celia comforts Aaliyah, who then confides to Celia where she
got her name ‘Sparkles’ from and about her past.
Category:Person of Interest
Category:Supporting Character