Aries / Vela(#99c68f) Valiente-Blanco
Legal Name: Nico Valiente-Blanco
Names: Aries, Vela, Indie, Lux/Lumi, etc
Age: 27
ID: Puerto-Rican human
Gender: agender
Pronouns: they/them
Orientation: panromantic/bisexual
Misc: poly+monogamous, nomifluid, term-collector
Level: infra but often travels between levels for work
Occupation: professional supermoto racer
Physical Description:
Aries' complexion is golden and relatively unblemished, aside from a number of old scars etched into their arms and legs from years of reckless behavior.
Zirs very tall for zir lineage, standing at about 5'9 and definitely an outlier in zir family of 5'7 adults. With a tall and sinewy build, it looks like ze would easily get knocked out by other racers. Regardless of this aspect of zir figure, Aries is always one to stand tall, oftentimes picking fun at or legitimately criticizing competitors who notice this and choose to underestimate zir. What makes up for their understated build in an industry dominated by strong creatures is the undeniably confident way in which they carry themself, with a relaxed posture and set shoulders, looking comfortable almost wherever they are, something which often gets on others' nerves.
Their dark brown hair is kept somewhat short and styled in moderation, usually straightened. It becomes very curly whenever damp or hit by the wind, making it even more difficult to wear a helmet comfortably; so during events or training, Vela usually gives up on trying to do anything with it, instead letting their hair do... Whatever it wants. They end up with their hair falling in curls around their ears and above their eyes and it being shaggy at the nape of their neck.
Bits+Pieces:
- They have a horizontal burn mark on their forearm from messing around once while in a summer cooking class.
- Ze develops sun freckles during racing season.
- They often wear cologne or perfume in order to mask the almost permanent smell of petrol and dust at the track.
- Vela speaks somewhat loudly or not at all, due to growing up in a place that wasn't big on inside voices. They learned English a while ago but still have a noticeable Puerto Rican accent and break into speaking Spanish when with other native speakers or attempting to subtly smack talk their superiors.
Clothing:
Vela has a strong preference for clothing that is light, good for movement, and has enough flair to make them feel confident in their appearance. Because of their sensitivity to heat, they layer in moderation and often wear clothing made of relatively thin fabric.
They often wear a mix of cropped button up shirts and graphic tees, along with any pair of comfortable cargo pants or ripped jeans.
They've worn the same pair of converse for the past three years and have begun occasionally stringing on loose beads in the sequence of their pride flag colors or whatever palette they enjoy at the moment. When it comes to accessories, Vela is a strong believer in "more is more." Their favorites are a set of craft bead bracelets made by some kids at a summer camp they used to work at.
Accessories:
- fidget rings
- beaded bracelet
- acrylic jewelry
- tinted sunglasses
- a sunflower lanyard worn during big outdoor events and tournaments
Personality:
inquisitive | hedonistic | absolutist | easygoing | passionate | self-assured | unapologetic | gritty | impressionable | lacks mental & emotional perceptiveness | wandering
Vela is a very straightforward person and strongly dislikes complexity as a result. They're not very good at thinking about anything in a deep or perceptive manner, leading them to often judge things shallowly. Their inability to understand moral complexity makes them judge people in a very surface level way, only ever looking deeper when it comes to those they idolize.
Because of their simplistic outlook on most things, they often do what they want and stay out of situations they don't care too much about. This leads them to live life very hedonistically, often turning away whenever presented with something meaningful in exchange for instant gratification and the simple pleasures of life. They're the type to hold themself unabashedly above all else, and despite appearing reckless to others, often subconsciously adapts to make things easier for themself. Despite this, they do deny the omnipresence of some of their shortcomings, which is why they've never thought about getting an SPD diagnosis even when they've been acknowledging their sensory situation for years.
Aries is completely comfortable in their skin and often uses egotistical jokes and affirmations to keep it that way. Due to growing up with some confidence issues, they still sometimes get bouts of insecurity when caught in a bad spot.
Likes: coffee (cafe con leche) and strawberry milk, confusing people's preconceived notions, chill mobile games (Dear My Cat, Good Pizza, Great Pizza, gudetama tap!, FairyBakery, etc), beaded bracelets, button-up shirts with patterns, "nice" textures, cologne/perfume, getting people's attention, chill jazz, bean bag chairs, soft strawberry flavored licorice, watching drum tutorials and random video essays, fruit juice, Steven Universe, instant pho
Dislikes: the smell of petrol, being forced out of their comfort zone, obscure violence and gore, scuffed pronoun usage, being forced to close up, white noise, getting shots and blood drawn, small spaces, name brand clothing, apathetic people, being controlled or constrained, snobbishness and pretension, dizzy spells, not being able to understand things, lint, certain stimuli (butter and oil, thick sauces, sandpaper, scratchy wool, shirt tags, the sound of zippers, clinky overlapping noises, etc)
Patterns: opens up a mobile game whenever they're stressed or bored, walks through steps out loud when anxious or overwhelmed, has a couple of repeated phrases (e.g: "Oh fuck you""In
this economy?""Who's going to stop you? The police? God?""We live in a society""Well that's not ideal is it"), only drinks iced or scorching hot coffee, feints formality when irritated, speaks their mind and isn't good at sugar-coating what they say
Health: vasovagal convulsive syncope, some sensory issues, allergic to dust
History:
Aries grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Infracaelum with their mother and little sister when they were 16.
They chose to learn English through immersion while completing high school, learning by listening to podcasts and people-watching in their free time.
While still getting settled into life in Arcadia, ze befriended a couple of band kids and decided to take up the drums.
They got their own legit motorcycle almost right after moving and joined a dirt bike club in high school before going on to professional motorsport.
Vela got signed onto their first racing team at 18, although they didn't get big until they switched to a bigger company a couple of years later.
Extra:
Because of Vela's dust allergy, they make sure to keep their flat almost unnaturally clean and keep medication on them whenever staying somewhere else.
When Aries' mind runs a bit too fast, they distract themself with a game or whatever objects they can find around them.
Vela has a decent following on social media, despite them not being all that active and the account being partly managed by PR. They post their favorite clips from races and a couple of videos of their work behind the scenes.
Due to learning English mainly by listening, they aren't all too good at reading and writing and often use audio play to understand things.
They got locked out of changing their "about me"s on social media because they kept adding neopronouns and PR got annoyed.
Reporters default to calling them their last name in articles and during interviews, just because people know them by so many nicknames.
Ze is a proud and frequent emoji user. This trait annoys Priya, who also uses audio play to read text messages and doesn't appreciate its phone's emoji naming conventions.
Vela wants to learn to play bass guitar.
NPCs:
29
Paragirl
they/it, sometimes she/her
Coworker
Race engineer
Werewolf, Greek
Vela and Priya met through the company that endorses zir races. When ze first joined the establishment, ze needed to have a team to make changes to zir vehicle and run tests to determine some of their stats. Priya happened to be in charge of the set-up for zirs first big race and they got along so well that they went on to continue working together. Vela and Priya often exchange technical tips and strategy ideas, more so with each other than others on the team because they're both usually too blunt and tone-deaf for everyone else's tastes.
- Whenever ze pass out at the track, they're the one to check on zir condition and gets them a sports drink
28
Demiboy
he/him
Close friend
Supermoto racer, stuntman, and financial advisor
Miengu, Cameroonian
Ezra and Aries hit it off at a multi-company party following a supermoto tournament they'd both participated in. Despite Ezra recently losing to them in a few too many races, they ended up getting along very well. Now they visit each other during events and whenever the other is in town, sharing drinks, anecdotes, and surprisingly personal information by others' standards, considering how rarely they get to see each other. They're both reckless, although in notably different ways, and are unwaveringly accepting of each other's shortcomings which many others find worrying.
- When hotel rooms in Gehenna are too dusty for Aries' allergy medication to work well, they crash at Ezra's place
- Ezra is one of the only people that tries to call Aries by their right name at the right time, and even sometimes makes up and uses nicknames corresponding with their current name, such as "Ari". Aries responds by referring to him as Ez.
**Notes: Change layout, put in links(playlist, Pinterest) + pictures(mood board type beat for names), colors**
**Concise edition complete, linked at top of thread**