Xandra 'Xia' Melbourn

Like many others of my Kingdom, Xia has silver-grey locks, that when not tied up, it falls to her waist.  Unlike many of her Kingdom, her eyes are bright red.  She's petite with a lithe built, perfect for distraction or running; it's the body of the greatest thief these lands have known, what do you expect?  Her body isn't built for heavy lifting, but for speed and evasion.  She stand about 5'2", which is about average for women from her nation and she weighs about 98 lbs.

Xia's attire is simple in some ways complex in others.  She wears a deep purple halter top that disappears underneath a nearly black looking leather corset.  The top was something she stole while the leather was made from creatures she killed for food.  The corset also has deep purple trim and accents as well as long leather strips of the same dark leather and accents falling from around the corset to her calves.  She wears a dark purple skirt with black trim skirt that's made of a light flowing material, black and purple stockings and a pair of black combat-style boots.  Other than her corset, the rest of the items were stolen.

It might actually surprise you to hear that I'm actually a Neutral person.

As a neutral person, Xia very much looks at all options from a level prospective.  What some may call evil, she may not, what some may call good, she may not.  It's not that she doesn't choose a side, but she looks at what she believes to be good and bad in all situations.  Her opinion may change on things too; just because she says she doesn't like on thing, it doesn't mean that she will always have that stand point.  She's the type to change her opinion or standpoint on something should evidence exist to cause her to do so.  She will fight for what she believes, but she won't spearhead such a movement, it's too much work for her and at some point, she may find the operation to be stupid.

She's a lighthearted individual, not taking to heart what the world throws at her.  Being from the Shadow Kingdom, she understands that people don't look at them in a very good light and her profession?  She knows just how many people she upsets with it.  She lives life in a way that she sees fit and is quick to cut ties with those she views as either toxic, a threat or no longer useful to her.

The idea of being involved with others is definitely a grey area for the woman.  She's the type to work better alone as her work can often be dangerous and having other people with you means more people to look after and protect and more people that could turn on you.  She's cautious about whom she really lets close to her, though you may not believe that when you meet her.  When she has to work with someone, she's insanely loyal to the mission at hand, doing what she has to to protect those needed for it.  Once the mission is done though, she would usually be the type to seemingly vanish, none of her mission-mates knowing where she is or what happened to her.

She loves to pick on people, saying that everyone takes life too seriously.  Even in her own "career", she will steal silly things from those she feels are being too strict.  She's even gone as far as to steal the underpants from many of the guards; that one was tricky and they weren't too pleased with finding them hanging from various store signs of the more "rich" stores in the Kingdom.  The store owners weren't too happy either, but the normal folk?  They loved it.

Xia views herself as a Robin Hood of sorts.  She doesn't want much for herself and when it comes to her, she only takes what she needs to survive and for her, surviving just means not dying so she doesn't steal enough food for herself to have a full belly but enough to survive.  She steals for those that cannot help themselves in the way she could; she finds medicine and treatment for the sick, food for the hungry and money for those most in need of it.  Those that receive her help know of her, but have never personally been given their gift, it was always wrapped in a dark cloth, hidden somewhere nearby.

She's really a simple person, finding joy in the simple things of life.  She's the type that will talk your ear off, about nothing at all.  She's also much louder than one would expect from someone in her profession.

Xia's view on relationships is just as cloudy as her views on having connections with people.  To be in love could be a weakness, to have a strong partner could be a strength.  She's never gone out to find a partner, never really had much of an interest in it either.  She had always preferred solitude for at that point, she only had herself to betray her and she only had herself to look after.  It's almost as though she fears having a deep connection with people, either fearing that they will be her downfall or that she will have to focus more on them than her own work.

Just as there have been those to get close to her family to betray them, Xia doesn't have an issue in lying about much.  For any that get close to her, the lie, depending on severity, does eat at her, but most can never tell if she honest or lying let alone how she feels about it.

Another trait that seems to have followed the lost generations of Melbourns is their dedication to the Snake.  Though it is the symbol of their Nation and many claim to honor the sacred creature, none seem to be as loyal to the Snake as the Melbourn family.  To them, the Snake is law and guide; to go against the Snake is to go against Xafier and one should always live by the Snake in order for Xafier to prosper.  When in doubt, Xia will rely on the snake and should one appear before her, that is her, its message is her answer.

Melbourn's have always favored bladed weapons, usually daggers as they're small enough to easily conceal, but still able to get the job done, others have favored bows for the stealth and ranged attack.  Xia falls with the majority with preferring small, bladed weapons.  She's quick and skilled with the weapons, having been one of the very few to actually have a "family weapon" when she came of age.  She's able to keep up with many of the trained guards for short periods, for even with how she grew, she never had formal training like they did.  Not having formal training is both a strength and weakness for the woman as it allowed her to create her own form, but at the same time, those with formal training have more controlled form than she does.  Knowing that, she trying to keep confrontation short, choosing to flee if things start looking bad for her.

Xia needed a way to be able to make up for any short falls she would have in her sword play so she made sure she was fast, quiet and could practically "disappear".  While not being able to actually disappear, one chasing the woman would say that the woman could quite literally become a shadow.  She's able to jump high above others and when they look for her, either in the air or on the ground, she seems to have vanished.  She fast, her footfalls light which makes her difficult to hear.  She's learned and can quickly identify places that would make great hiding spots.

Like many thieves, Xia is knowledge fit for her role.  She's skilled on trap making, whether it being trying to catch something or trying to delay it.  Her favored "trap" style weapon would be smoke bombs, especially ones that stink, those always delay people quite a while.  She makes her own bombs and traps, though from time to time she's able to find a shady dealer that's willing to sell her something that's beyond her skill level to make on her own.

Poisons are something she's been toying with, mostly through coating venom from various venomous creatures she killed.  She's been experimenting a bit with poisonous foods and animals as well, though those are quite a bit more difficult to work with; the animals more than the berries and such.

Flexibility and agility; two key skills one must pick up in this profession, Xia had master both, for the most part.  She's very nimble and agile, flips and bends being as natural as breathing.  She's the fearless type that will jump from building to building, swinging from things and rolling to help keep her momentum up.  Yet, for as graceful as she can be, it's not entirely uncommon for her to cut herself with her own weapon from time to time.

First aid is something very important for thieves or those "against the law" need to know.  Though she obviously doesn't have any sort of medical degree, she'll bandage you up, stitch you up or come up with some sort of concoction that looks and tastes like death but helps make you feel better.  Her mother was an herbalist of sorts, taking after her mother and learning more to help her husband so Xia learned a lot from her.  Feeling even more risky?  She'll cauterize a wound for you!

Cooking, ok, don't expect much with this.  Xia's cooking skills go as far as edible can pass and even the phrase edible could be questioned at times.  Her food really isn't anything to write home about, ok it is, but more because of how bland, boring and almost deadly it looks.  The food really doesn't have much flavor at all, even the natural taste of the food (such as chicken) seems to be gone; it's almost a skill in itself to cook the flavor out like she does.  At times, it's hard to tell if the food is poisonous or if she just built up a tolerance to whatever it is that could kill you she mixed in; likely it's a little of it just not being great and her building up that tolerance.

With the calling to the Cove, a pair of tonfa lay hidden in the shadows, silently calling out to the woman.  Most would overlook them for they were not graced with the fall of light, but rather seemed to hold their own dark glimmer within the darkness.  Sleek and silent like shadows, like snakes, the very creature unraveling itself from its coil upon them telling Xia that these weapons were the ones that would offer their service to her.

Xia's tonfa grant her the ability to actually disappear, vanish within the shadows and reappear somewhere else.  She requires her blades in order to do this, without them, she has to once again rely on her speed.

The Melbourn's have always been a well known name in Xafier.  Once we well to do, noble family reduced to literally nothing.  The fall didn't happen with her parents, but generations before when her great-great-grandfather (whom had married into the family) betrayed his wife, turning her into the authorities.  You see, though the Melbourn's were nobles, they had always been thieves.  They sat on many aristocratic seats, holding many positions in government and though they had more than enough income from that, by night they were the runners and gatherers for the underground; stealing valuables and anything else worth something and selling it on the black market.

Someone within Xia's great-great-grandfather's family had been a victim to the Melbourn's, a deed of theirs stolen that showed them as the sole owner of a prized, champion race steed.  There had been many conflicts between them and another family who claimed the horse was theirs.  When the family was able to produce a deed for the stallion, her great-great-grandfather's family was not only charged with theft of the animal, but had to relinquish the earnings from both race winnings and stud fees, on top of the theft charges.  Generations later, the family was still upset, though they were under a different name.  They married into the family to prove that the Melbourn's were the thieves that no one could catch.  His wife was hanged, though she had already given birth to a child.  The husband sent the child to an orphanage and kept the Melbourn riches and rank for himself, under his own family name.

Each descendent was more than aware of their family history and their name because if any were given up to the state (usually from a betrayal of the couple, the non-Melbourn turning in the child), the orphanage and all that dealt with the child treated them differently, telling the stories under their breath.  Melbourn children were rare adopted and were reluctantly allowed to leave once becoming adults.  All knew how it would turn out though, they always did.

Her parents were very much the same way.  Xia's father was a Melbourn, her mother loved him dearly and tried to persuade him to stop the foolish thievery, that it was putting their family at risk.  Her father, the owner of a small bakery, had already disowned his daughter for marrying into the Melbourn family which left them poor, their only earnings and items coming from her father's theft.  No one would hire either for real work, not that her father was interested in that.  Growing tired of her husband constantly ignoring her wishes, she turned him into the authorities, planning things out so that he could be caught.  Rather than taking him to a proper trial, he was hanged the next morning.  Not being able to handle the grief of what she had done (for all she wanted was for him to be scolded, to show him he needed to stop), she killed herself, leaving at that time, 10 year old Xia alone.

Xia wasn't helpless though, with her striking Melbourn-red eyes, she knew what her father was doing and had watched him, learned from their secret lessons when he was home and her mother was trying to find work.  She had probably been the most well-off Melbourn since their days of nobility for she was actually able to spend time with her family, learn from her father.

The state tried to bring the child in many times, but never seemed to be able to find her or, if they did, they could never catch her.  She continued to elude the guards and authority to her present day life where she "rains terror onto the populace".  Xia holds no scorn for men or women, rather her family's history of being betrayed has led her to be cautious, never letting anyone too close, even if they seemed sincere.  She was bound and determined to break the curse her family seemed to have and if being alone meant it broke, then so be it.