Willa Ainsley

Appearance
A petite woman, Willa holds herself with a confidence and poise that either comes naturally or has been second nature for so long she's forgotten anything else. With an eye for detail, she keeps herself in meticulous order. So much so, that even a single lock of hair or thread out of place can set her usually reserved countenance into a deep frown. This desire for neatness extends to her personal appearance as well as her gear, and the rapier that rests on her hip is always in good repair. And while she's small, she isn't weak. She may not have grown tall, but's grown fit from a life spent training. And beneath her gloves (and she so prefers to wear them) her hands have the calluses to prove it.

Her preference for cleanliness might call into question her willingness to get her hands dirty. But Willa has no problems with a little hard labor. She's simply the type to prefer being tidy, and one to strive for order in all things. And while this desire may also leave some seeing her as too uptight, or even humorless, she is capable of smiles and even laughter. Rare that they might be, but when she finds the occasion to smile it's positively radiant. And her laugh? It possesses a sweetness that might be surprising given her usual cool demeanor. Perhaps, under the outer layer of order and focus, there's something softer...and even friendly. Though, given the somewhat unkind expression she wears when her features are at rest, that friendliness might be hard to imagine.

Personality
Driven by a hunger for knowledge, Willa is more likely to have her nose in a book, than she is carrying on a casual conversation. Gossip isn't of interest to her, (Unless it aids an investigation! Then it's information gathering!) and she's more likely to walk off and pursue something more worthwhile than stand about and whisper about someone. When it comes to subjects and areas she is interested in, Willa has no problem in sharing what she knows. In fact, she can sometimes be a bit trying in how much and how often she wants to share these things. That some people might not possess the same desire to learn baffles her. What else is there to do in life besides better one's self? And while her preference for self-improvement largely lie in the realms of the arcane and often obscure, she admires anyone that makes efforts to improve the person they are even if it's not in the same manner.

This pursuit of more academic areas has weakened her people skills. While no easy mark for cons and scams, she sometimes has trouble with certain jokes or innuendos. A life spent around adults instead of her peers molded her into a more serious, studious child than a social one. And now, as an adult, she finds herself in dire need of lessons she already should have mastered. Not knowing something and being unable to easily research it -- as she would anything else -- has her uncertain on how to proceed. This uncertainty troubles her confidence, and oftentimes Willa will avoid such situations. Or, perhaps worse, try and apply logic to emotions.

Willa's desire for order doesn't only apply to her appearance or her possessions. No, this preference extends to all areas of her life. Logic rules her, and dictates how things should be in her mind. Some might find her a bit distant, or reserved, because of this, and she is well aware of it. Often lost in her own thoughts, considering problems she feels others don't even see and making plans to address them, she might be a little hard to connect with. It isn't that Willa is against feelings, it's simply that she feels so strongly and with little frame of reference for how to handle it, her feelings make her vastly uncomfortable. When faced with a situation like this, Willa is likely to fall back on logic and try and devise a plan of action for handling herself or the relationship. This behavior of tackling emotions like a puzzle to be solved or a problem to be reasoned out has left her with few friends and little success in romantic relationships.

Likes

 * Cleanliness, she enjoys long baths
 * Knowledge, secrets of the arcane especially intrigue her
 * Chocobos, and the racing of them as well
 * Magic, Willa is adept with both white and black magic
 * Sewing, she enjoys needlepoint especially
 * Books, both fiction and non
 * Puzzles, she loves a good mystery

Dislikes

 * Selfishness, preying upon the weak especially
 * Cold weather, she prefers the heat
 * Being late, punctuality is important to her
 * Disorganization, get your stuff in order!
 * PDA, she seems unsure of how to handle it
 * Insects, why do they have so many legs?
 * Drinking to excess, self-control is important as well

Fears

 * Failure
 * Loss of control
 * Needles
 * Snakes

Favorites

 * Favorite Food: Apples, especially apple tart
 * Favorite Drink: Coffee with hazelnut cream and two sugars
 * Favorite Color(s): Gold and red
 * Favorite Way to Relax: Long hot bath and a good book. It's probably nonfiction because she's boring.

History
For a woman who loves to solve mysteries, much of her past remains one. Her father? She hasn’t the slightest idea who he is, and she doesn't know his name. As for her mother, she can remember her name, Linza, and how when her hair caught the sun it was a radiant gold. Or how her eyes were always a lighter shade of blue when she was happy — and how rarely she was. That sweet apple blossom perfume her mother wore is still fresh in her mind even years later. But the sound of her voice? A clear image of her mother’s countenance? These things torment Willa as fragments she can’t quite pierce together.

One morning she awoke not in their small, cramped home in Ul’dah but in a large bed in a spacious house that wasn’t familiar to her in the slightest. Scared, uncertain, and only five years old she immediately began to look for her mother. Linza was nowhere to be found, but a somewhat familiar face was waiting for her in the kitchen. Her mother had few friends, but whenever their larders were low or their rent due and her purse lighter than the payment needed, her friend Torvald always seemed to know and was always there to help. Linza often kept young Willa from speaking to him, sending her to her room to play or outside to get some air, but she wasn’t there that morning to stop the inquisitive girl from bombarding the man with questions.

Questions he had few answers to. Linza had left the girl with a note pinned to her while she slept, letting herself in Torvald’s house with a key she had never bothered to use before. The note assured she only had a brief, but urgent, errand that took her unexpectedly out of Ul’dah. And not to worry, she would be back before Willa’s upcoming nameday.

The day came and went without her mother’s return.

Linza never came home, and young Willa was left to be raised by a man she didn’t know. Torvald was kind, but he wasn’t prepared for a child anymore than that child was prepared to be thrust into a home that wasn’t hers. And when it was clear Linza wasn’t coming back, he moved their things to his house and promised Willa that he’d do everything he could to find her mother. He ‘’was’’ a detective after all, and she could be his assistant in this matter. It wasn’t an idle promise. Torvald did everything he could, spent every gil he could spare, to find Linza but to no avail. But he kept good on his word, and saw to Willa’s education with as much determination as he did the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

He may never have found Linza, but he did find much promise in the child she left behind. What began as a rocky, often uneasy, forced cohabitation eased into a steady comfort for them both over time. Torvald may never have wanted to be a father, but he was a fantastic mentor and even if he didn’t intend for it, he served as both in Willa’s mind. He saw to her training, and from an early age she was taught swordplay and magic alike. Often he reviewed his cases with her, valuing an outside perspective and the ease in which she took to problem solving. Even as a young girl she leapt at the chance to try and connect the dots between scraps of information. Finding a connection others couldn’t see without her help was a delight, and that desire to figure it out often blinded her to the grisly nature of some of his work. And should he have shared some of those cases with a child? Absolutely not.

But Torvald never treated her as a child. He wasn’t cruel, he wasn’t heartless, but from the first day she awoke in his home he talked to Willa as an adult. It certainly helped her develop a confidence she may otherwise have lacked. But it did her a disservice in ill preparing her for the less mature behaviors of her peers. Their lack of logic, their emotional immaturity, it annoyed Willa and she found herself a child with no friends her own age. If asked, she’d swear it never bothered her. After all, she had her studies and training to attend to, and little time to idle because of those. And she wasn’t wanting for company. No, she had an amazing mentor who was far better company than other youths.

Until he disappeared from her life too.

While investigating a robbery from a wealthy merchant family, Torvald died. Everyone was convinced it was an accident. Simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was crushed beneath a large crate that was being loaded onto a wagon. While it was unfortunate, it was just bad luck. But how did a crate leave wounds that were most assuredly from a knife? How did a crate leave traces of one of the many poisons Torvald had taught Willa to look for? It wasn’t adding up, and she wasn’t shutting up.

Dismissed by many as a grieving young woman barely out of her teens, few were willing to listen to her. But she caught enough attention to merit an ‘’accident’’ of her own. A scuffle in her and Torvald’s home, it left her beaten and with a nasty burn on her arm. These wounds were warnings that if she kept putting her nose where it didn’t belong, she’d find it no longer connected to her face. Scared, without any support network thanks to years of depending solely on Torvald, and alone once more, Willa left Ul’dah. She had a decent inheritance from her mentor, and sold his house at a loss so she could get out.

The guilt of that inaction, of her faltering courage, weighs on her daily. She’s been wandering since, turning inn rooms into temporary homes as she takes on small cases in towns she has no ties to. Paralyzed by fear once, Willa seems reluctant to make connections now lest she lose it all again. Or maybe she’s just content to adventure and see the world she’d only previously viewed through the eyes of the author of her books. Whatever it is, Willa keeps her own secrets now. She prefers to be more of a mystery to her clients, and though some of them have been more than willing to extend the branch of friendship, she’s reluctant to take them up on it. After all, friends are only liabilities waiting to be used against you. And, considering her work, there are plenty of people that might just try and use that against her.

Relationships

 * Linza Ainsley, Mother: Linza has been missing since Willa was a little girl. While what memories she has of Linza are good, nineteen years have passed since Willa has seen her. Time perhaps has made her more fond of, and idolize, an absent mother who abandoned her. She's not someone Willa talks of often, and when she does she's very straightforward and keeps the emotional aspects to herself.
 * Torvald Cantrell, Mentor (Deceased): Left in his care at a young age by her mother, Willa was raised by him after her mother failed to return home. A skilled duelist and black mage, Torvald taught her everything he knew. He worked as an arcane investigator as well, and the circumstances of his death were suspicious to his young apprentice. Regardless of his death, he's still a guiding force in her life.'
 * 'Owais Whitefeather, Former Flame: Willa's first love, Owais is a highlander gladiator in Ul'dah and as skilled as he is handsome. Traits that he's well aware of, and uses to his advantage. Willa was swept up by his good looks, and her clever mind was fooled by his charming words. Misunderstanding the nature of their relationship, she found herself giving more of her heart than he anticipated or, more importantly, wanted. The two were left on unequal footing because of this, and parted ways on a sour note. While she may privately hold him in the lowest of regards, he might not even remember her name.
 * Percy, Bird Friend: Willa's chocobo, she loves Percy so much. Talking about him is one of the rare times she gets excited outside of an investigation, and she delights in rambling on about all the cute and clever things he does.

Rumours
WIP

Trivia

 * When deep in thought about something, Willa tends to talk through problems out loud. If interrupted, she acts like this isn't odd at all. She may also chatter away with Percy, and carry on a one-sided conversation with him. Some of her biggest breakthroughs have happened when she's chattering to the chocobo.
 * She keeps a small tin of cinnamon-flavored candies on her person, and often partakes of them.
 * When she wants someone to be quiet (usually so she can talk), she tends to offer them a taffy from a small bag she carries on her person. They're very sticky, and great at quieting people.
 * Innuendos usually go right over her head. But then again, so do lots of things. She's short.