[ npc info ]

[vorbratta]

Sonia
Mod: Madi (runawayballista)
Full name: Princess Sonia Vorbarra
Alignment: Barrayar
Age: 23
Appearance: Tall and leggy at about 5'9 with a deep olive complexion, and long, dark hair that falls down her back in curls and waves. She has a cheerful, bright-eyed smile and a surprisingly effective pout for someone her age. Despite her status, she's usually dressed in prole clothing acquired from the hillfolk, partly for the lack of anything else, partly because it's much better for keeping warm. She does miss the pretty dresses, though.
(PB: Emmanuelle Chriqui)
Personality:

• Sonia is the bratty little sister ten years advanced. Mischievous and easily bored when she's not getting attention, she began playing tricks on her older siblings -- at first for attention, and then just because she could and because it was fun. She delights in starting (mostly harmless) rumors, and she's good at it, too.
  
• She has a remarkable talent for making up outrageous lies on the spot with a totally straight face. Telling increasingly absurd lies, especially about and to her family, was one of her favorite childhood hobbies, one that persisted even long after her family became wise to it. Which didn't take long.
  
• That never stopped her from telling the most outrageous lies to all of her older sister's Betan boyfriends just to see if she could scare them off. She's about 50/50 on that count.
  
• All mischief and manipulation aside, Sonia's really a sweet and good-natured person, and her demeanor tends toward girlish and cheeky. She's just a fun-lover at heart, and likes to laugh and have a good time, and while she's not the most Vorish Princess, she still holds honor high as a virtue. She's also a little bit vain. What girl doesn't like to be told she's pretty, eh?
  
• That her impish streak has persisted this long through the war is a testament to how hard her older sister Olivia has worked to shield her from the nastier parts of the war. She isn't oblivious by any means, but she's had the luxury of not having to deal with some of the harsher emotional aspects of the war. She's more conscious of it than Olivia might realize.
  
• That isn't to say she hasn't been shaped by the war at all. Ten years in guerrilla camps among fierce and increasingly desperate soldiers has matured her more than she generally shows. She might pout and stamp her feet from time to time, but she's well aware of the realities of the situation, and for the most part she elects only to pitch small fits over things of little consequence.
  
• Sonia's behavior mellowed out some as she got older, although she still pouts when she doesn’t get her way. Mostly, she's learned subtler ways of getting her way, and if anything, her talent for outrageous lies and pot-stirring has only become more refined as she's gotten older. She's much more discretionary about how she uses it these days, though.
  
• While she always enjoyed the attention of being a Princess growing up, the older she gets, the less she enjoys it, at least in the war. She's lonely for any friends other than her sister, now married, and she's developed a talent for ditching her bodyguard in favor of seeking out any soldiers who might not know her by face for a little conversation. And maybe a little something else. Look, hitting puberty at the onset of a war is no treat, okay.

Background:

• Sonia is the youngest child of Prince Xav Vorbarra, the half-brother to Crown Prince Yuri. Her sister Olivia, now Countess Vorkosigan, is the oldest, with their brother Dorca Evgeny between them.
  
• Xav became the Barrayaran ambassador to Beta Colony and married a Betan woman, so Sonia is half-Barrayaran and half-Betan. Due to their father's position, Sonia and her siblings mostly grew up in Silica, the capital of Beta Colony.
  
• They were Betan educated, but spent a considerable amount of time on Barrayar when Xav's duties brought him back to his home planet, and so are proficient in Barrayaran's particular cultural conduct. However, Sonia has always found it dry to the taste, and never quite fit in. She and Olivia were vacationing on Barrayar when the war started.
  
• Being the youngest and the most demanding of attention, Sonia was an absolute terror when she was a child. Playing pranks with either silly tricks or flat-out lies quickly became a favorite hobby of hers, and her parents learned early on to take all of her claims with a bucket of salt.
  
• Despite the five-year age gap and Sonia's remarkable talent for being bratty and obnoxious, she was attached to Olivia at an early age, and the two of them grew to be very close. That never stopped Sonia from trying to scare off all of Olivia's teenage boyfriends with outrageous lies, but she is extremely fond of her sister.
  
• As long as her cousin Ezar Vorbarra still lives, the prankster in Sonia will never die. They've had a long-standing prank war ever since she was a small child, sparked on one of her earliest visits to Barrayar. Both of them are too stubborn to ever admit defeat, and it occasionally escalates to dramatic heights.
  
• Sonia was only 13 when the war started, and she was thrust into a tumultuous and dangerous time with only her older sister to cling to. She and Olivia were always close, but the war brought them even closer; surrounded by soldiers, Olivia was the only real friend Sonia's had all these years, and coming of age in the middle of a war zone was tough on her. A lot of her acting out in her teenage years has been out of frustration and loneliness, and the only reason the war hasn't pressed that out of her is that Olivia has spent the last ten years shielding her sister from the emotional terrors of war as much as she can, taking the brunt instead. Olivia has worked hard to preserve Sonia's innocence, even if that innocence means giving her poor bodyguard no shortage of grief.
  
• She and Olivia spent the first two years of the war in Vorkosigan's District under the protection of the General Count Piotr, deemed a safer place for the Imperial Princesses than the capital district where the Emperor-their-grandfather leads the resistance. After that, they went back to Vorbarra's District for a few years – but not before her extremely Vor sister managed to fall in love with the General Count, whisked away before they could begin a proper courtship.
  
• Sonia took it upon herself to make sure that no one else would marry Olivia until she could get back to Piotr, because she might not be Piotr's biggest fan but she is Olivia's, and it was an excellent application of some well-developed life skills like lying, pranking, and being thoroughly obnoxious.
  
• She and her sister returned to Vorkosigan's District about five years ago, at which point Piotr and Olivia finally married. Sonia has not, however, retired her pranking skills for good.

Strengths & weaknesses:

• She can tell most lies with a straight face – the more ridiculous, the better. And she kind of loves doing it for the sheer entertainment value, too. She's become pretty talented at manipulation on a personal scale.
  
• She's not totally sheltered, but she's more naïve than you'd expect of a young woman who's grown up in a war. She has her sister to thank for that.
  
• She's gotten so good at dodging her bodyguard that she's unintentionally developed some considerable stealth skills.
  
• She's temperamental, and gets overwhelmed by her emotions much more easily than her sister does. Not as easily as when she was younger, but still.
  
• She's also very strong-willed, and knows that if she argues loud enough for long enough, odds are it'll pay off. And she is not above abusing her title to get her way.
  
• She is desperately lonely, however, and is starved for companionship aside from soldiers and her sister, who is now married. On the flip side, she's extremely personable and outgoing and is pretty good at drawing people out of their shells.