Valkyrie

"I don't plan to stop drinking. But... I don't wanna forget. I can't turn away anymore. So, if I'm gonna die, well, it might as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag."

**TW: alcoholism and mentions thereof throughout, death/violence**

**RETIRE INFO:** Character - Retire, Dragon - Adopt

**NAME:** Valkyrie

**GENDER:** Cis female

**PRONOUNS:** she/her/hers

**ORIENTATION:** Biromantic bisexual

**BIRTHDATE:** Midsummer 2739

**AGE:** 27 as of spring 2767

**LOCATION:** Fort Weyr

**OCCUPATION:** Wingrider

**WING:** Aurora

**EYES:** Brown

**HAIR:** Dark brown

**HEIGHT AND BUILD:** 5' 4", lithe and strong

**PLAY-BY:** Tessa Thompson

**FULL APPEARANCE:** Valkyrie is five feet and four inches of kick-ass. She's lithe and strong, trained for both speed and power. There is an intensity and assurance to her expression that can make her seem taller than she is. She doesn't have a lot in the way of a figure, but isn't completely flat either. Her dark brown hair is long, reaching to her mid-back, and she maintains it well. Ever since restarting her life, she wears it down as much as she can. She's a fan of riding leathers, often being found in them when off duty. They remind her of her old leather armor. Her most prized possession is a masterfully crafted knife with blue leather wrappings on the hilt, far different from the simple belt knife she wears on the other hip.

**PERSONALITY:** Valkyrie was once a proud warrior, sworn to defend her home and her sisters. She will never be that person again. Seeing her lover and the rest of her sisters slaughtered before her eyes has changed her irreversibly. She is far more cynical than she once was, harder and less trusting. Before Ielleth, she worked for marks and for drink. Work, drink, and get so drunk that she would forget everything that had gotten her to that point. That was all she did. Now...now she has something to truly be *alive* for.

Both before and after her life was destroyed, Valkyrie did things on her own terms. She will not blindly follow orders. If she is to plunge herself into danger, it is because she *wants* to, of her own free will. She will not take crap from anyone, not even her own dragon, and isn't afraid to threaten people with her knife if they cross her. She has no patience for people getting in her way.

Her morals are beginning to resurface, though, and she will fight for the greater good. She is loyal to those who have earned her trust, but she doesn't indulge in sentiment. Ielleth is the sole exception so far. She will not fail her dragon as she did her sisters. She can't afford to lose everything twice.

**FAMILY:** Parents - dead, "sisters" (closest friends) - dead

**SIGNIFICANT OTHER:** None current; Freya (deceased, former)

**BIRTHPLACE:** Asgard Hold

**HISTORY:** Born to a long line of guards, Valkyrie began training almost as soon as she could be trusted to hold the right end of a knife. Her mother had been part of a group of women sworn to defend Asgard, before injury forced her to retire, and Valkyrie grew up surrounded by this close-knit group. They called each other sisters, no matter their age. Over the Turns, she grew especially close with one girl about her own age, and they started a relationship in their teens.

Hela, the former heir of Asgard, attacked a nearby hold allied closely with Asgard. The sisters were called upon to defend it, but were slain by Hela's might. Valkyrie's lover threw herself in front of her, saving Valkyrie from Hela's blade at the cost of her own life. Valkyrie fled, primal terror driving her away.

Broken, mentally if not physically, she fled through Fort territory, refusing to return home and be confronted by her failure. Living off wild plants and game, she was eventually found by a passing trading caravan in need of a guard. She proved her skills and was taken on. Her pay was all spent on drink. Drink to forget, to block out the memories in a haze. Some questioned her ability to fight, given her near-constant drunkenness, but the head of the caravan took a liking to her and kept her on. She never failed him.

The caravan stopped at Fort Weyr for a time, and thus so did Valkyrie. The head of the caravan, who kept his real name a secret but liked to call himself the "Grandmaster," wanted to attend the Hatching. And thus Valkyrie followed him, protecting her boss. She really did not expect one of the greens to barge her way through the Stands straight to her.

The Grandmaster was *extremely* displeased, but there was nothing he could do about it. He promised to keep Valkyrie in mind if she ever needed a favor, and left in search of a new guard. Valkyrie's recovery from her alcoholism, forced by having a weyrling dragon, was rough. She spent most of her time not in lessons in the infirmary, being slowly weaned off alcohol by the healers. It was a careful balance between her and Ielleth. By the time she graduated, she was mostly sober, but she still struggles with the urge to drink.

Ielleth helped her keep going. After Valkyrie graduated, she began to slowly reclaim vestiges of her old life. Letting her hair down, spending most of her time in the riding leathers that reminded her of the leather armor her sisters had worn. Now that the heir of Asgard is at Fort, she has vowed to ally with him and end the woman who took everything from her.