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Dusya Medveditsa

Dusya Medveditsa is a BIG WOOF

1.  Characteristics

1.1  Appearance

1.2  Personality

An intimidating exterior -- that of a cold-eyed, stoic bodyguard -- gives way quickly to raucous boisterousness. Sometimes the speed at which this transformation occurs is the most startling thing; Dusya goes zero to one-hundred in a split second, throwing herself immediately into whatever shenanigans are about to occur.

Dynamic and sensuous, Dusya delights in her physicality and is unafraid to grapple with the world head-on. A fighter and hunter by trade, she is hot-blooded and enjoys challenging herself. She's equally at home in the setting of a populous and exotic marketplace, packed tavern, or an expansive and cruel wilderness. Little deters her, and while she isn't the type to start trouble, she's happy to interject herself into it. While able to keep cool under pressure, she sees a threat as an invitation.

While proud of her strength, the woman greatly values intelligence, and her only point of self-consciousness is the worry that she isn't smart enough for her companion or others. She's curious about skillsets that lie outside her wheelhouse, and eager to try new things and explore new lands -- often prone to a spontaniety that would surprise anyone who doesn't know her.

This is just one trait among other contradictions. She's impulsive, but in control of herself. She can be crude, but also gentle. She'll rouse herself to become the life of a party, but is equally content waiting and observing, with a laugh quieter than one expects. She has an incorrigible sweet tooth and a tendency to tease with pet names whose inanity matches their length. Dusya is emblematic of the untamed wilds from which she hails, and not about to change for anyone else.

2.  History

Dusya grew up along the banks of the Volga, a river that would guide the events of her youth. It was the life-blood of Volgograd, a city that would serve as Dusya's home-base for many seasons. Dusya's father hunted game that slaked their thirst along its tributaries, and Dusya's mother drafted blueprints for ships that it would carry along its current to other ports. And Dusya's sister, Chernava, would disappear on it one night, taken far from home -- by brigands, by unknowing merchants, by the spirits of the river; none of them found out -- never to return.

While she could never have been called a shy puppy -- always underfoot, always wrestling with her littermate and indulgent father -- Chernava's disappearance seemed to make Dusya bolder, rather than frighten her. She was driven to seek clues that might reveal Chernava's fate, as well as seek other things: tutors, jobs, strength. She served as a bodyguard and guide for visitors to the city, spent weeks in the Russian wilderness with a bear-hunting dog, and learned snippets of different tongues from sailors passing through the port. But despite a building desire, she never ventured too far -- until she met Solovei.

The circumstances that found Solovei threatened in a dockside tavern were arguably of the jackal-dog's own making, but Dusya was intrigued by the shrewd woman and was compelled to defend her. This served as the catalyst that spurred Dusya to finally leave Volgograd -- with the underlying thought that, just perhaps, Dusya might find her sister on her travels.

Their journey followed overland trade routes west, often in accompaniment of caravans that Dusya helped guard, sometimes only with each other for company. A third was added to their number when Dusya rescued an old raccoon dog (playfully nicknamed Babushka). Eventually, they found themselves in Lisbon, the end of the line unless they wished to cross the expansive Atlantic Ocean.

Spontaneous and unafraid, as ever, Dusya argued: why not?

Landing in the New World, they traveled northeast and reached the Maritimes, driven by impulse, adventure, and a lingering hope.

3.  NPCs