Layla Akhtar
Layla Akhtar
Appearance
She is a young woman of fourteen. Her skin is a light olive. Lanky like most girls her age is 51 and 106 pounds. Worn long her hair is a dark brown. It is typically wrapped in a loose headscarf of light material. Her clothes prioritize comfort over style. Jeans and a loose sweatshirt had been her go to for years. She has piercing brown eyes that she emphasizes with black eyeliner.
Personality
As a teenager Layla is going through a transitional time. She struggles between her shy lack of confidence and her new found assuredness that pushes her to make the most of a new life. She wishes to be affable and accepted but her intrusive thoughts, in the form of a multi-millenial spirit of wrath, can give her a sharp temper. It has also lead to her talking to herself aloud and the occasional use of we.
Backstory
Layla Akhtar grew up on the East Coast of the United States in a small village of South Windsor called Podunk, Connecticut. She, her parents, and her sister, Setareh, lived a peaceful suburban life in the better neighborhood of the village. Her parents were very strict with rules, some of which seemed arbitrary and bordering on the ridiculous. Her parents were second generation American and completely areligious, so it made even less sense to her than it did to those outside the family. When asked her parents would just blame tradition and when pressed why none of it was part of Persian culture they hinted at a rare ethnic group from long ago.
Between snide comments and feelings different from others because of the rules she was shy and unsure of herself. Despite that she still had friends that she met in gymnastics or online from art forums. She wasnt allowed to do much with her friends and it strained their relationships. Layla chaffed under the strict control of her parents.
Origins
Layla was sick and tired of not being able to attend events with her friends because she wasnt allowed out at night. A friend was having a birthday at the movies and a party after all chaperoned by the parents. Layla snuck out and met them at the theatre. She had the night of her life laughing and enjoying her friends. They had pointed out a boy from school that kept looking at her and whispering to his friends. After the movie she took off her head scarf, handed it to a friend, and ran after him. She was summoning the courage to say hello when a voice boomed in her head. It informed her that she had bored herself to it on a new moon and it accepted the call. She was confused and thought she was loosing her mind like her mothers mother. She turned around and rejoined the others. Back at the house she excused herself early and snuck back into her home. It seemed so much easier on the way in like the shadows themselves wrapped around her.
She became openly rebellious again the rules. Finally her mother came clean. The story was the family had made a pact with a demon and the rules were to keep it from claiming any of the women in their family. It became obvious to Layla her parents saw her as unclean. They removed most of the rules for Setareh but kept them on Layla thinking it might keep her from totally giving into the demon. She resented it all event more.
The entity had its own side of the story, one she believed the more it revealed itself, the more they merged. It called itself Ashma, a spirit of Wrath. Her people had bound it to service for vengeance millenia ago. It showed her all the power that was now at her finger tips. The lure of power and freedom was too strong. She began using the plural and became even more wild.
Eventually she broke the law and got caught. Her parents had enough influence to get her off with no consequences. Layla felt grateful and guilty. She wanted to change the way she was acting. Then she learned this was the last act of her parents before washing their hands of her. They sent her away to a special school and forbid Setareh from speaking to her. Layla hoped her sister would disobey them in that regard. Loosing her parents was bad enough but she could not loose her sister.
Appearance 0, Presence 0 (-2 when not enhanced), Awareness 12