Ximeno

[Ximeno]

Player Name: James

Character Name: Ximeno
Age: 30
Race: Human
Height: 5'2
Weight: 68kg


===Physical Description===

Ximeno is a wiry and weather-beaten man whose tanned body shows the signs of a long life of physical activity. He is short, whip-like, and lean. Well-kept long drooping black mustachios are perhaps his one vanity.

If it weren't for the moustache, truth be told, his appearance would be mostly unremarkable and unremarked upon. A little man in a big city.

But for Ximeno, that suits him well enough.


===Possessions===

+~ A completely legitimate and totally-not-a-money-laundering Courier Service.

Ximeno always did like the courier business. And while circumstances (Ximeno's own moral compass) dictated he leave his prestigious position in one of the city's most reputed groups, that didn't make him any less of an industry veteran. So he started his own company.

Well, his wife Clarencia started one up for him. Then hiked the prices really high. So that only clients with a reason to siphon money to Clarencia ever used his services. Which seemed to happen a lot. So, business is good, stress is high, and Ximeno has started a little garden at the back of his office. For stress relief. The roses are growing nicely, thank you for noticing. Yes, they are a Haselian variety. The pale orange blossoms are very pretty. Clarencia hates them.

+~ A definitely illegal business in economic espionage and information brokerage.

Also set up by Clarencia. And Changers help Ximeno if he doesn't take it seriously and make it a profitable venture. It is a work in progress, because Ximeno is actively resisting Clarencia's not-so-subtle suggestion that he merge it with his courier business. But Ximeno has his pride as a courier. And if sometimes he walks a little funny, well, that's the price a man pays for his pride.

+~ A nice little house in the suburbs

Look, when your wife has a similar fear-factor to a Trivisana thug, you need to find comfort in the little things. And if Ximeno has developed a taste for housework and gardening, you can just shut up. You try marrying a crimelord, then come judging. Prat.

+~ Indentured servant: Zaveria.
You get what you pay for, I guess. Fucking dwarven conwomen and their unhygienic fucking hand-me-downs. Should probably include this under weaknesses. Yeah, damn right.


===Strengths and Weaknesses===

=Crimelord Wife: Clarencia La Corbacha (the whip)=

Clarencia's love for Ximeno is a scary and, to the casual eye, perplexing thing. Not that anyone is ever going to question her tastes within audible distance. Ximeno is, in some ways, kind of a strange trophy husband. It is clear that Clarencia has expectations of him.

On the bright side, this means a lot of people don't make a habit of making his life difficult because of that connection, and he has a certain amount of influence in her affairs - at least in the branch of the business she has assigned to him.

Unfortunately, anyone antagonistic to Clarencia consider him a weak link, which sometimes puts him in the line of fire.
He is also occasionally known as Ximeno el Calzonazos, the pussywhipped, which doesn't exactly do much to inspire fear in the hearts of those who know the small man.

=Ex-Militia=

Okay, he wasn't militia for very long. He was young, stupid, and thought girls would like men in shiny armour. Which they do, truth be told. But let's face it: small thin men don't do the best job keeping the peace, or impressing the ladies, when most people are taller, heavier, and can carry bigger weapons.

But Ximeno knows how they operate, which Clarencia appreciates, and how to avoid them if needs be. His only regret was that he never really had a talent for the weapons training. As his days grow more dangerous, Ximeno sometimes wonders if he should have stayed with the Militia all those years ago

=Highly respected courier=

When Ximeno first joined the Qadis Dockside Couriers, it was a few years after the scandalous disbanding of the Couriers guild after a Ducal enquiry proved corruption at the guild's highest levels.

Only couriers, and courier groups, with a perfect record were able to keep running their business as many brokers turned to using their own staff to delivering messages.

The Qadis Dockside Couriers were one of the few groups at the time still trusted, and still prosperous. Ximeno, cousin to one of their journeymen, learned his trade with them. Then he and Clarencia met and, out of a sense of moral obligation to his career, left the group to go independent.

Officially, it was because he no longer lived near the docks. Unofficially, Clarencia wanted her darling to put his skills to a more profitable use, like a good little husband. What could a man do? As it is, Ximeno still holds respect for the years he spent perfecting his chosen career. His loyalty is to his wife and her interests now but, even so, he will not turn his back on the Courier's Oath. And he still has friends at the Qadis Dockside Couriers that he sometimes drinks with and share each other's tales of marital woe.

=Fast, fit, acrobatic git=

A courier's life in Qadis can be a dangerous one. Lots of folks often want to get their hands on your courier satchel by any means they can. And while some will try and bribe or blackmail, most prefer to just shoot the messenger. Or stab them. Or... well, you get the idea.

Being able to run away, using the city's terrain as cover, is the principal skill of a courier. The better you are at running and avoiding danger, the further you go in the business.

Ximeno is a man who maintains peak fitness and flexibility, even now. Each morning starts with a stretching session and time spent working with gymnast's rings. He can still jaunt through the obstacle course of the city at high speeds. And, well, Clarencia likes the way his muscles move under lamplight.

=Trivisana troubles=

So, we've casually mentioned that Clarencia works in a not-exactly legitimate kind of business. Well, here's the thing. She runs gambling dens and protection rackets in a nice stretch of turf north of the slaver's harbour. Bloodsports, money-laundering, leg-breaking, she's not happy unless she's making someone's life miserable. It's something she has a definite talent for.

Unfortunately, she has recently done some business which edged out an affiliate branch of the Apthoni Trivisana League - a merchant group with a penchant for underhanded dealings. And the Trivisana are pissed. Bodies from both sides are starting to turn up in the alleys and waterways. And Ximeno, bless his morose and cantankerous soul, is the wife of a woman the Trivisana would like to hurt a lot. By any means necessary.


===History===

===Ximeno, Ximeno Xim-Xim-Xiree===

Ximeno was born to a poor family in a poor part of town. And in Qadis you can end up pretty poor if you enter into the wrong kind of rental agreement with the wrong kind of people and then your dear old militia-man dad Rodrigo dies trying to break up a brawl.

Now, Ximeno's mother Elena wasn't the kind of woman to wring her hands and turn to liquor when her love died. She chose a different crutch and just kept on working as an accounting clerk at a major brokerage. It was easy to forget grief if you overloaded yourself with a massive to-do list. Pretty easy to forget you have a kid too, so Ximeno grew up pretty wild as a lad. Running all over the place, climbing up whatever he could climb, because why not? His mother would never know.

When he was old enough to realise just how much she was struggling to do more than just pay for living expenses, Ximeno signed on for training with the militia. Elena's subtle hints might have had something to do with it too. For his size, Ximeno was fit and strong - all that running and climbing, you see - and he got through training alright. However, the reality of being in the militia was a very different thing. Having to wear that armour all the time? Can't bloody climb in that stuff, not the way Ximeno liked to climb. And you can kind of run, but the armour bite and chafing could ruin a man for days if one was fool enough to make a marathon effort.

Suffice it to say, after two years at it, and with his mother no long at risk of debt, Ximeno quit.


===What a glorious life a courier's can be===

Now, don't get it in your head that Ximeno was a momma's boy. He just had a strong sense of duty to family, was all. So when his mother convinced a distant cousin to take him on as an apprentice courier, well, it seemed like as good a way as any to get some coin.

Turned out, it was pretty fun. Ximeno was still young, and there was a certain sense of clandestine adventure in carrying messages of the utmost import for various mercantile concerns. Not that he actually got to carry the important ones for the first couple of years, but he stuck at it, because it was a job he was well suited to. The running, the running away, the making use of shortcuts learned in his use, the climbing to safety when cut-throat businessmen sent cut-throat goons to literally try and cut his throat... oh, Ximeno could tell you stories from the years he spent there.

He won't, though, because he can be a surly bastard at times.

His mother Elena passed away. Heart stopped. Everyone said it was from working too much. Ximeno dealt with the grief the way she had and threw himself into his work with a wild abandon.


===Enter Clarencia===

Love is a strange bird. Ximeno wasn't a man easily given to affection. Other couriers said he was married to his work. He'd had his dalliances, for sure. Probably had a bastard somewhere, knowing his luck. But he'd never taken the notion of settling down and getting married seriously. Seemed too much of a hassle.

When Clarencia first met Ximeno, it was a pure coincidence. Ximeno had taken on a particularly burdensome task, a message for a client well known to be under pressure from multiple competitors - not all of whom kept their hands clean in business matters. Most couriers had turned the job down with an apology, but Ximeno needed the money and the client was paying through the nose for the job. Danger pay, basically.

Ximeno found himself engaged in one of the more intense chases of his life. His pursuers were fast and agile like himself, but he had the finer knowledge of the city's eccentricities. Clarencia was passing through an alleyway to one of her business assets when Ximeno seemed to magically burst out of a window, curtains billowing, right across her path. Ximeno paused just long enough to offer a brief apology before springing up to haul himself onto a second-storey balcony ledge. It left a strong impression, and Clarencia knew she'd be able to recognise that face and moustache anywhere. So she put some of her people onto finding out who the mystery courier was. (As a sidenote, Ximeno got the job done and was paid well, but that isn't particularly relevant)

It didn't take Clarencia long. Nothing ever took Clarencia long. Their second meeting wasn't coincidence. Clarencia entered the bar where her men had told her Ximeno had stopped after a long day, strode up to him, and grabbed his jaw to take a good proper look at his face. Something she saw resonated. Whether it was the slightly grumpy twitch of the face, the moustache, or the taught muscles of his buttocks, or a combination of all the above and more, she decided Ximeno was the man she was going to court.

Ximeno didn't get much say in the matter, but then, Clarencia was a stunning woman. Not a classic beauty, per se, but her face told the story of a woman who had fought for everything in her life, had always got her way, and who was comfortable with all of that. It was the kind of face you either kiss or run the fuck away from. Ximeno said the hell with it, and chose the former.

Now there's no tearing them apart. More's the pity. Ximeno's life stopped being entirely his own.


===Married Life, eh? Yeah. Married life. Another drink, please===

Please do not misunderstand: Ximeno loves Clarencia right back, as passionately as she loves him. Their bedrooms always need rearranging in the morning, if you get what I mean.

It's just that Ximeno doesn't really enjoy the criminal life, even if he enjoys his criminal wife. He's tried to be as legitimate as he can within the confines of his new illegitimate businesses. Leaving the Qadis Dockside Couriers was one of the hardest decisions he'd ever made (and my, hadn't Clarencia been in a rage over that. He'd needed stitches on his back after that night of angry sex.)

He's had a couple of years to settle into the routine, and even taken up gardening as a way to relieve stress.
At least he still has his work and his drinking buddies


===Saving Zaveria: not quite the savings you'd want===

Then there was the fucking business with the dwarf Agha. Agha was the kind of business-minded woman that Clarencia liked, which was how Ximeno got introduced. Work ventures, that kind of thing. If Ximeno had a job that didn't quite fit the way his business was presented, he'd pass it to Agha. If Agha came across a job that couldn't be trusted to a streetrat, she'd send it along to Ximeno. It worked nicely, and Clarencia profited either way, so she was happy. And when Clarencia was happy, Ximeno was relieved. I mean, happy. Deliriously happy.

Until Agha needed to offload the little shit Zi. Unhygienic, undisciplined, ill-mannered Zaveria. It was true that Ximeno needed an apprentice. The workload was growing to the point he couldn't do it all himself. Which had been Clarencia's doing, of course. And at that stage Ximeno owed Agha a favour, which the bitch dwarf said taking in Zi would square off entirely.

First business was a bath. Zi didn't get to enter any of Ximeno's neat and tidy rooms until she was properly de-flea'd and washed. Admittedly, that took a while. Damn kid had some ongoing vendetta with cleanliness. It was only the promise of real food which eventually convinced her.

Strangely enough, it was Clarencia who inadvertently convinced Zi that she was in no danger of molestation from Ximeno.
Zi was spending the night outside one evening, thanks to smelling like a midden pit, when Clarencia paid Ximeno a visit. It was noisy, and violent, and enjoyable for the pair. A few days later, when Clarencia paid a daylight visit for more business-related matters, she took a moment to greet his new-and-presently-washed employee.

While he was busy with paperwork, Clarencia quietly whispered to Zaveria, wearing the kind of friendly smile that wouldn't make Ximeno worry as she said "Darling, just a friendly word by way of greeting. Ximeno is an attractive man, I know this. However, he is mine. Now I know this probably doesn't need saying - you seem like a sensible young thing - but if you ever look at my man with any proprietary intentions, I will jam a morning star so far up your cunt you'll be tasting steel. Do we understand each other? Good girl. Nice to meet you, sweetie. Kiss kiss. Run along now."

Which also kind of explained to Zi why Ximeno never showed interest in any woman other than Clarencia. Probably more than his life would be worth.

After that things settled back into the routines of day-to-day life for Ximeno. Training Zi, working, time spent with his wife, time spent drinking with friends. All in all, not a bad way to live. If you can just forget what his wife does for her job. And Ximeno tries very hard to forget, sometimes. By gardening.

[Ximeno]

Application ready for appraisal

I'm also going to link to Zaveria's character sheet here for convenience: http://www.tharshaddin.com/rp/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3628

[Saruna]

Approved.