Aries Valiente
Legal Name: Niko Valiente-Blanco
Common Name: Aries Valiente
Alternative first-names: Vela, Indie, Lux/Lumi, Red, Blanco
Age: 27
ID: Puerto-Rican human
Gender: agender
Pronouns: they/them, ze/zir/zirs/zirs/zirself
Orientation: panromantic/bisexual
Misc: nomifluid
Level: infra, but often travels between levels for work
Occupation: professional supermoto racer
Physical Description:
Skin:
Aries' complexion is golden and relatively unblemished, aside from a number of old scars etched into their limbs from years of reckless behavior.
Hair:
Their dark brown hair is kept somewhat short and styled in moderation, usually straightened. It becomes very curly whenever damp or hit by the wind, making it even more difficult to wear a helmet comfortably; so during events or training, Vela usually gives up on trying to do anything with it. It ends up shaggy at the nape of their neck and falling in curls around their ears and above their eyes.
Height, Build, and Posture:
Zirs very tall for zir lineage, standing at about 5'9 and definitely an outlier in zir family of 5'7 adults. With a tall and sinewy build, it looks like ze would easily get knocked out by other racers.
Regardless of this aspect of zir figure, Aries is always one to stand tall, oftentimes picking fun at or legitimately criticizing competitors who notice this and choose to underestimate zir. What makes up for their understated build in an industry dominated by strong creatures is the undeniably confident way in which they carry themself, with a relaxed posture and set shoulders, looking comfortable almost wherever they are, something which often gets on others' nerves.
Miscellaneous Information:
- They have a horizontal burn mark on their forearm from messing around once in a summer cooking class.
- Ze develops sun freckles during racing season.
- They often wear cologne or perfume in order to mask the smell of petrol and dust prevalent at the track.
- Vela speaks somewhat loudly or not at all, due to growing up in a place that wasn't big on inside voices. They learned English a while ago but still have a noticeable Puerto Rican accent and break into speaking Spanish when attempting to subtly smack talk their superiors.
Clothing:
Vela has a strong preference for clothing that is light, good for movement, and has enough flair to make them feel confident in their appearance. Because of their sensitivity to heat, they layer in moderation and often wear clothing made of relatively thin fabric.
They often wear a mix of cropped button up shirts and graphic tees, along with any pair of comfortable cargo pants or ripped jeans.
They've worn the same pair of converse for the past three years and have begun occasionally stringing on loose beads in the sequence of their pride flag colors or whatever palette they enjoy at the moment. When it comes to accessories, Vela is a strong believer in "more is more." Their favorites are a set of craft bead bracelets made by some kids at a summer camp they used to work at.
Accessories:
- Fidget rings
- Beaded bracelet
- Acrylic jewelry
- Tinted sunglasses
- A sunflower lanyard worn during big outdoor events and tournaments
Personality:
inquisitive | hedonistic | absolutist | easygoing | passionate | self-assured | unapologetic | gritty | impressionable | lacks mental & emotional perceptiveness | wandering
Vela is a very straightforward person and strongly dislikes complexity as a result. They're not very good at thinking about anything in a deep or perceptive manner, leading them to often judge things shallowly. Their inability to understand moral complexity makes them judge people in a very surface level way, only ever looking deeper when it comes to those they idolize.
Because of their simplistic outlook on most things, they often do what they want and stay out of situations they don't care too much about. This leads them to live life very hedonistically, often turning away whenever presented with something meaningful in exchange for instant gratification and the simple pleasures of life. They're the type to hold themself unabashedly above all else, and despite appearing reckless to others, often subconsciously adapt to make things easier for themself. Despite this, they do deny the omnipresence of some of their shortcomings, which is why they've never thought about getting an SPD(sensory processing disorder) diagnosis even when they've been acknowledging their sensory situation for years.
Aries is completely comfortable in their skin and often uses egotistical jokes and affirmations to keep it that way. Due to growing up with some confidence issues, they still sometimes get bouts of insecurity when caught in a bad spot.
Likes:
- Coffee and energy drinks
- Confusing people's preconceived notions
- Chill mobile games
- Attention
- Strawberry milk and soft licorice
- Breakcore music
- Drumming to breakcore music
Dislikes:
- The smell of petrol
- Being forced out of their comfort zone
- White-noise
- Getting shots and blood drawn
- Small spaces
- Apathetic people
- Snobbishness and pretension
Patterns: opens up a mobile game whenever they're stressed or bored, walks through steps of processes out loud, has a couple repeated phrases, only drinks iced or scorching hot coffee, feints formality when irritated
Health: vasovagal convulsive syncope, sensory issues, dust allergy
History:
Aries grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Infracaelum with their mother and little sister when they were 16.
They chose to learn English through immersion while completing high school, learning by listening to podcasts and people-watching in their free time.
While still getting settled into life in Arcadia, ze befriended a couple of band kids and decided to take up the drums.
They got their own motorcycle after moving and joined a dirt bike club in high school before going on to professional motorsport.
Vela got signed onto their first racing team at 18, although they didn't become popular until they switched to a bigger company a couple years later.
Extra:
Because of Vela's dust allergy, they make sure to keep their flat almost absurdly clean and take medication with them whenever staying somewhere else.
Vela has a decent following on social media, despite not being very active and the account being partly managed by PR. They post their favorite clips from races and a couple of videos of their work behind the scenes.
Due to learning English mainly by listening, they aren't all too good at reading and writing and often use audio play to understand things.
They got locked out of changing their bios on social media because they kept adding new neopronouns and PR got annoyed.
Reporters default to calling them their last name in articles and during interviews, just because people know them by so many nicknames.
Ze is a proud and frequent emoji user. This trait annoys Priya, who also uses audio play to read text messages and doesn't appreciate its phone's emoji naming conventions.
Vela wants to learn to play bass guitar.
NPCs:
Priya
- 29
- Paragirl (they/it, sometimes she/her)
- Coworker
- Race engineer
- Residence: Infra
- Werewolf, Greek
Ezra
- 28
- Demiboy (he/him)
- Close friend
- Supermoto racer, stuntman, and financial advisor
- Residence: Gehenna
- Jengu, Cameroonian