~Velia Leonora Fox~
The Spy

'keep your secrets safe, the walls have ears'

||Role||
High Fae of the Autumn Court

||Name||
Velia Leonora Fox

~Velia~
Velia's first name means 'hidden'. It seemed fate knew at her conception exactly what her life would become, how the shadows would become her family and secrets would become her elixir of life. It's fitting, she supposes. She is hidden, in so many ways. If her name reflects that, then she supposes that's just fate exercising it's sick sense of humour.

~Leonora~
Velia's middle name means 'compassion', but the meaning is largely irrelevant to Vel. Unlike her first name and her last name, this was one she chose for herself later on in life, after the death of her brother. Leo had been a creature of laughter and love, and Vel carries this small part of him with her everywhere she goes.

~Fox~
Rather fitting for the Autumn Court, is it not? Cunning and sly and feral. Everything Velia feels and channels into her work. She chose it when she left home, so she wasn't associated with her parents, and has been using it ever since.

||Nicknames||
~Rayne~
Technically this is more of an Alias than a nickname. It is the name Vel uses when delving into the shady side of the courts, when she needs black market goods or forbidden snatches of information. After all, she doesn't want any of her dirty business catching up with her, does she? Far too much blood. 'Rayne' was a childhood friend who got taken away one day and never returned, and Vel figured since she wasn't using it, she might as well utilise her name. It's worked well so far.

||Age||
231

||Gender||
Female

||Court||
Autumn

||Species||
Fae

||Powers||
~Fire Manipulation~
Like many in the Autumn Court, Velia has the ability to create and manipulate fire. Her use of this skill isn't perfect but it's good enough to get her what she needs, though she often envies the Night Court's powers. What she wouldn't give for mind reading.

||Sexuality||
Bisexual

||Appearance||

||Personality||
What makes a good spy? Well, one of the most important qualities is blending in, and Velia has that down to an art form. Years of stalking through the forest with her brother taught her how to be light footed, unheard by all as she slips from place to place, but being unnoticed is more than just physical capabilities. It's about being unassuming. Vel is very good at not drawing attention to herself, about being forgettable. It makes hearing things no one is supposed to hear so much easier. Another quality essential to her profession is her memory. It is as sharp as a knife and twice as useful, and she makes sure to keep it in very good condition. What use would she be if she couldn't remember all the information she'd heard? All the details about what faces look like? Though perhaps the most useful trait she possesses is her unwillingness to put up with other people's shít. A big part of her profession is bargaining with buyers and sellers of information, and they can be intense and terrifying creatures. Velia is quick to cut any attempts to threaten her life or her salary at the root, and has quite a temper to back up her threats.

Velia is not a naturally likeable person. The easy charms and banter that are effortless to most are somewhat troublesome to her, though she long since stopped caring (or at least, started telling herself she didn't care). Vel is all dark humour and sharp sarcasm, a constant blend of disdainful and yet conspiratorial. She wants people to like her, however much she denies it to herself, and often the people she likes get the softer version of her prickly words. Another reason she can be unlikable is due to her unrelenting and often intense ambition. She knows what she wants, what she needs, and she will do pretty much anything to get it. Although lying is a part of her job, she is a painfully honest creature when not working. Even the hard truths that no one wants to hear come tumbling out of her mouth, even when she wished they wouldn't.

Velia is, underneath everything, someone who feels things very deeply. It is both a blessing and a curse to have the depth and breadth of emotion fill you up every day at every minute, and it something Vel is not always great at dealing with. Her anger is a fast and scalding thing that arises often enough for her to be wary of letting herself be riled. Her fear quickens her heart beat and adds to her scowl, distancing her from those she wishes to be near. But her compassion is the hardest to combat. She feels sorry for the humans. Perhaps it's just grief and stupidity, but every time she looks at one she sees the horrors they endure and the love her brother held for them. So she often does her best to help them, never hurting them and never cruel. She's still not entirely nice to them, but then she's still learning how to be nice to anyone at all, even humans.

||Background||
Vel's father, a high fae named Evander Francis, had fallen into ruin when he met Vel's mother, Alencia Xeraph. Evander's influential family had crumbled to the ground after a group of humans burnt their family home to the ground, and Evander's family with it. It was by simple coincidence that he stumbled into Alencia, the daughter of a wealthy fae, and it didn't take long for them to become infatuated with one another. But Alencia's parents didn't approve, so the two young lovers took what money they could and moved to the farthest corners of the Autumn Court to live their lives in seclusion. It wasn't long before they had a son, a red-headed baby boy named Leo, who had a natural ability to make people fawn over him. His dimpled cheeks and polite smile had a way of winning over all who saw him, so it was quite a surprise for the couple when their second child was a scowling and ill-tempered baby girl, who came out of her mother screaming and didn't really stop for the next few years. But as Velia grew older, her temper levelled ever so slightly and she spent most of her time exploring with her brother. She was still starkly unlovable beside him, his manners and charm seeping out of every pore, whilst Velia was all sharp eyes and untrusting looks. But it mattered not to the siblings who everyone perceived them to be, because they knew each other better than anyone else. Their parents tried to love them as best they could, but they were still healing from the wounds life had given them, and often ended up lashing out rather than comforting. But that was okay, because Leo and Vel escaped to the forest whenever there was trouble, preferring the company of the trees and the wind to the stifling house they lived in. Their house was also full of secrets. Closed doors and whispered arguments and strangers coming and going, and this is where Velia learnt how to spy. She mastered the art of eavesdropping, of gathering all the information she could to understand what was going on. Unfortunately for her, she never I'd figure out what he parents were hiding, but it didn't really matter. The fun was the game, not the results. On a whole, Vel's childhood wasn't bad. The trouble started when Leo reached adulthood, and met a human girl called Issie. They quickly fell in love, but Leo knew he could never tell his parents. Evander had held a hatred of humans ever since they'd taken his family from him, and both Velia and Leo had seen him kill a human on more than one occasion. So Velia helped Leo plan an escape with his lover, wanting him to be happy even if it meant leaving her behind. But things never go to plan, do they? Evander found Issie and Leo, and killed Issie before Leo had a chance to say a word. Destroyed by grief, Leo walked into the woods and never came back. Velia found his body two days later. After that, Velia left home with nothing but the clothes in her back and vowed to fend for herself from now on. She found jobs to keep her going, eventually slipping into the secret keeping business. Spying. She never looked back.

||Skills||
~Being Unnoticed
~Remembering Things in Great Detail
~Negotiating Skills of a Champion

||Aesthetic||
TBA

||Quotes||
'information is pricey and i don't have all day'

'i don't work for free and i don't work for morons'

'secrets are the fastest way to topple a society'

||Trivia||
~Velia is actively trying to help the humans out and bring some equality about, though she's very careful about it
~She travels regularly as part of her job in order to get information on the other courts
~She is an awful reader, partly because whenever her parents tried to teach her she'd run away to the forest
~Terrified of falling in love or finding her mate. She's seen what love can do, and she doesn't want to let it kill her too.