The long and winding road

[*NotoriusDave]

Basic Information
Name: Travan Aranis
Aliases: Travan
Gender: Male
Race: Wood Elf
Age: 136 years old
Profession: Sent from the Forests of his birth to expand his knowledge of the ways of other races and to explore the Verse for himself.
Languages: Elven, Common, Sylvan
Accent: Somewhat plain, less formal than some Elves, more reserved than other.

Physical Information
Height: A shade under 5 foot (Still able to look a certain someone in the eye)
Weight: 135 pounds of pure lean muscle
Body build: Slim and wiry with well defined muscles
Skin type: Warm colored outdoor adapted look.
Hair style: Long auburn hair pulled back in a pony-tail at the back of his head.
Scars: A long thin slash in a very sensitive place that few will ever see.
Tattoos: None
Coloring:

[b]Hair:[/b] Auburn, long and silky. [b]Eyes:[/b] Green/brown (hard to tell, come see for yourself) [b]Skin:[/b] Warm colored outdoor adapted rugged skin with a hint of change to it. [/li]

Mental Information
Alignment: Neutral Good
Philosophy: “See but not be seen. Walk softly, but swing a mean blade. Protect and defend his true friends at ANY cost."
Deity/Beliefs: He is on a journey to discover where his beliefs may lead him
Personality:

[u]Resolute and firm[/u] [i]Has an open mind and hart, but is not easily deceived.[/i] [u]Silent and Introspective at times.[/u] [i]Has feelings he attempts to hide, sometimes to no avail[/i] [u]Cautious [/u] [i] Thinks before he speaks, calculates before he engages [/i] [/li]

Additional Information
Gear: Recently found a suit of Ceremonial Elven Plate-mail. Alternates between dual-wielding sword and rapier, or sword and shield.
Jewelry: Small silver stud in his left ear.
Habits/hobbies: Enjoys the company of proven friends. Prefers to be around one certain Elf even if from a distance.
General Health: 136 Years of training and worldly experience. It is not the beings and customs now around him that amaze, just this place called “The Cage”.
Favorite Drink: He has tried a large number of vices, beverages included, but has not settled on any one. Buy him a drink and he might surprise you.
Weaknesses: Keeping certain feelings bottled up inside. Honor before pleasure, prudence rater then face the possibility of rejection.

[*NotoriusDave]

“Once more into the breach my friends!”

Travan cleans and hones his blades in preparation for yet another jaunt to the Beastlands or where-ever this dayÂ’s journey will take him. He is amazed at the progress that he has made in such a short time in The Cage. He is progressing nicely. There are a number of others to thank for his good fortune of late, none more so than Lia.

Lia, his friend, oft companion, and kinsperson. Few have seen the Forest of their homeland. None from here will stumble upon that portal, for it is known only to the Elves that hail from there.

Many new faces flit across his mental canvas. Milan, a strange mage, an even stranger dark knight, a tall human female in a tight dress and a friendly smile, and Lia.

Ah, Lia. Someday there will be more to say. For now Travan will stand by his convictions and honor his promises. To protect and support at any cost. Sometimes it is hard to live your life true to your own convictions. But if you cannot respect and love yourself, how can you expect others to do so?

Travan mumbles to himself something once told to him by a wise person: “I am a beautiful being and I live a beautiful life.” One day at a time Travan. One battle at a time.

[*NotoriusDave]

Last night I became whole and I was not even aware of how incomplete I had been all these many years. Long did I hide my true feelings and conceal my longing for HER. SHE is the light of my life, the reason for my existence, the inspiration for my continued growth, and the cause of my now perhaps idiotic grin.

I have not been able to stop feeling like I’m floating above the world since SHE spoke those words. “I love you too Travan!” So simple, five little words that have transformed my life. I cannot stop grinning, my heart races at the thought of HER. I took a risk, and the Verse repaid me then-fold. My life has been made complete.

For countless years I have been aware of HER in my life. We grew up together and spent many happy moments as children running through the Forrest under the green canopy. I still remember as if it were yesterday the first time SHE made my breath falter. We were hardly more than children, swimming in the clear blue lake at the foot of the mountains.

It had been a long hot day and we decided to dive into the still somewhat cold water. When we were done splashing and dunking each other, she waded out of the water first in front of me. Her thin summer outfit sucked to her curves, accentuating every smooth lovely line nature has graced her with. The cold water had another effect on her that sent a sudden, almost magical charge, up and down my spine. My breath faltered, my hart skipped a beat, and SHE took up residence in my mind.

I have lived with HER image in my mind for so long, never thinking I could give voice to my feelings. Then last night the Verse brought me to a crossroads. I was offered the opportunity for happinessÂ… if I were just willing to take the risk. If I did not act, I stood to possibly loose HER to another. With the gentle encouragement of a friend, I was ready to take my life into my own hands once and for all, do or die, sink or swim. So I went in search of HER and when I found her, I took her hands in mine and did not waste any more time. I laid my soul bare to HER and any others who cared to hear, right there in the market of the Cage. I spoke my true feelings out loud at last. Then I held my breath and waited for my life to change one way or anotherÂ…

Lia Sali, I ~LOVE~ you! I canÂ’t hide my feelings any longer. :wub:

Bless the Verse and all its many entities. SHE RESPONDED IN KIND! I can breath again! Travan Aranis is in love with Lia Sali and she with me. I truly AM a beautiful being and now we both truly WILL live a beautiful life!

[*NotoriusDave]

Truth and consequences.

In truth, be they spoken or just acknowledged in the privacy of oneÂ’s own thoughts, there are consequences. We all define ourselves by what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we do in our daily lives. It is useless to lie to yourself. You cannot get away from your own thoughts.

For too long have I been passive, letting time and opportunity pass me by as I tried to hide and conform. First it was to honor my parents, to be a respectful and “good” son. Later, it was to honor and obey the teachings and customs of my homelands, the Elvin Forrest. I followed the rules, lived my life by the codes, made few waves in the fabric of life – I just existed. I was aware of wants and needs within me that would not be viewed as “honorable” to my people, so I shunned them, buried them deep inside myself. And I survived. I learned to live without, to live as other thought we all should. I had done so for long enough to have resigned myself to this life I had grown into.

Then came “The Upheaval”. I was chosen with a select few to journey outside our realm to the City of Doors, Sigil. Even at this fulcrum of opportunity, I was asked by the family of one I was to journey with to “honor and protect”, to “look after and keep safe.” I nodded my acceptance and I went forth, leaving behind all I had ever known. But what of me? What of MY yearnings and aspirations? What of MY hopes, fears, and fondest dreams? Who would nurture, protect and inspire MY growth in this strange place I found myself?

The answer has become apparent, TRANSparent, and crystal clear. Myself and one other, my muse, my Lia. Looking back over my 136 years of life so far (but a short and uneventful life by the standards of my people) I now see clearly that I had let myself become rooted in stifling custom and hum-drum mediocrity. I had resigned myself to that which I thought was “expected” and “normal”. It almost cost me the happiness I have been searching for all my life. When I took the plunge and laid my hart bare to Lia an professed my love for her, it was she who caused me to be re-born a more assertive and decisive male. I had traveled extensively in our realm and had more than a century of life experience under my belt. It had left me somewhat cynical and jaded as well as set in my ways and “resigned to my place in life”.

No more after I was reborn! Lia has been showing me the error of my ways. One cannot expect to get all in life handed to you without standing up, speaking out, and making your feelings known plain as day. It might make you uncomfortable for a bit, you might even have your feelings hurt to some degree. It is after all a form of letting your guard down, of giving others the opportunity to enter your life. But it is better to really LIVE and know where you stand, than to wonder years down the road and lament for things that “could have been”.

And when the Verse is on your side and your feelings are returned in spaded as mine were that day, then there is no better feeling! I have learned my lesson. I am more assertive, I do not settle for less, I love more freely and I live on a higher plain.

Even when my new-found confidence made me stake my claim more forcefully then I would normally have the other day, I felt satisfaction in my determination and stood my ground. I will no longer be ignored or walked over. This new resolve can become a tight-rope of moral consequences, for even though I was again vindicated, the encounter was not without its negative side. There were other feelings involved. As I have found out, all truths and actions come with consequences. On this long and winding road that is my life, I will have to find a way to walk the tight-ropes that life puts in my way and reach the other side without appeasement or compromising my own needs. Living this way might be difficult at times, but I feel like I am truly LIVING for the first time. I love my new life!