BENEATH THE SURFACE

[Roleplaying Notes]

Most people can't decide whether Kestrel is a harmless flirt masquerading as a ruthless buccaneer--or the other way around. Truth be told, he's both. It all depends on which side the great cosmic coin of Court falls on...

In his Seelie manifestation, Kestrel is easygoing and friendly. His wit is clever and his tongue glib, and he's hardly ever without a grin. Though he's a shameless flirt, it's always good-natured at heart, and if he senses he's going too far he'll back off. Honor is ever important to him, and ranks second only to true love. His experience with the latter has been limited to a few whirlwind romances with a few girls in a few ports, with several weeks of daydreaming following, but that might well change. There's sometimes a glimmer of the wistful beneath the quick jests when he looks over the horizon, though, or speaks of sunrises over the sea and the solitude of the open ocean--almost as though he's lost something he'll never have again, and knows it. And there's always a hint of nobility in his stance, and in the tilt of his jaw when he thinks no one's watching. He knows Arcadia is closed to him; he knows the world grows cold, and he along with it. But he also knows his heritage, and he bears it with pride. He is Fiona. He embodies what it is to Dream; he will teach it back to the world. He is Sidhe. Even if he fights a losing battle, he will fight it to the end. And really, with him in the ranks? It ain't gonna be a losing battle.

And that's just the Seelie side.

When the coin falls on the other side, Kestrel is quite different. Quite. While the grins are still legion, there's a subtle but oh-so-perceptible difference in the tilt of his mouth, the gleam of his eye. Everyday conversation becomes a dangerous game in which the stakes are known only to Kestrel, and one misstep could well mean a blade at the throat, and the barrel of a gun at the temple. Unpredictable, tempestuous and edgy, he's not a man anyone would wish to call friend. Nonetheless, danger can be attractive--especially when the shadow side, oddly enough, is so much more...Sidhe than the light side, making for a darkly compelling mix of hedonism and arrogance, selfishness and hauteur. Those that come too close, though, may find themselves the victim of his vicious whims. After all, honor is a joke, and love is for fools--everything comes down to what he wants, and what he'll do to get it. If the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then he'll ravage it for all it's worth while it's still worth something. Hell, who cares if everything falls down in shambles? That's still a ways off, and he'll be long gone before it happens.

But no matter which Court he belongs to at the moment, both his natures are essentially geared towards living in the moment. One focuses on warding off whatever life throws at him off the top of his head, while the other focuses on throwing whatever comes off the top of his head at life. Either way, Kestrel doesn't have a long-term goal, and probably never will. He's happy being what he is, no more, no less. If the future's dark--well, then, he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it. In truth, he doesn't believe the Winter will set in during his lifetime. Fundamentally, he is sure that when the going gets too bad, he can always still sail off into the sunrise, and find a better land over the horizon...

[Character Sheet]

An Epilogue