Style Quest: There Goes Varick's Hero

Varick sat at the front desk of his parent’s shop with his sister, Kaytlyn. Their parents decided to go out for lunch since business had been slow today. Normally they’d close down, but Varick didn’t have any commissions he was working on, so he agreed to watch the shop. Kaytlyn was hoping someone would come in so she could practice measuring people. The fennec had just learned how to do so and wanted to practice on a real customer. As Kaytlyn asked for the sixteenth time if she could practice on Varick, the shop bell rang. A red-skinned tiefling with black horns that laid back against her black hair walked through the front door.

 

“Izebel,” Varick exclaimed in surprise as he immediately recognized this customer. Not only was she his hero, but she was also one of the adoptive parents of his friend Bridgette. During the war, the tiefling was known as Dread Captain Izebel and wore some over-the-top pirate outfits and hats. Today, however, she was dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. Her metal magitech tail flicked back and forth rhythmically behind the tiefling.

 

“Hey, fanboy, I need a dress for this sky ball thing Tabious is having at the fleet base,” Izebel told the Clydesdale as she leaned on the desk. After she retired, Admiral Tabious took control of Izebel’s fleet of starships. Tabious was an eccentric wolf hawk captain who liked to throw fancy balls and events whenever the fleet finished a patrol run. 

 

“Hi, I can measure you,” Kaytlyn practically shouted as she jumped onto her chair, “and why did you call Varick fanboy?”  Varick let out an embarrassed sigh as he looked away, pretending to have trouble finding his notebook. 

 

“In middle school, he wrote a paper about me being his hero, which happens all the time, but your brother went a little overboard with his research,” Izebel laughed as she explained her nickname for the Clydesdale. “He checked out every book that even mentioned me from the library and begged me for an interview. Although he never told me the real reason he picked me for his paper.”

 

“Requinest,” Varick mumbled to the tiefling as he motioned for her to head to the back room to get measured. Kaytlyn took Izebel’s measurements under the close supervision of her brother. Together they worked on designing a dress that fulfilled both of the tiefling’s requirements for the dress. It had to show off her body and look pirate inspired for old-time sake. In the end, the tight black dress was a hybrid with a pirate jacket and blouse that sparkled with the constellations that would’ve been visible over her home planet on the night she met her wife, Morrisa. 

 

“You know I don’t normally like dresses, but this is fabulous,” Izebel stated as she emerged from the dressing room in her perfectly fitted gown a week later. “You do good work, fanboy.” 

 

“Thank you,” Varick blushed as he received the compliment. “If you don’t like the constellation pattern, just touch it and tell it which date you’d like it to emulate. It’ll shift to the sky on that night. I studied all the star charts and had someone do the math for me, so the stars should be accurate.”

 

“Are you ever going to tell me why you always go way far and beyond for me,” Izebel asked, even though she knew the answer.

 

“Just fanboy showing his appreciation for his hero,” the Clydesdale answered as he left the room.

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My Hero

By Varick

 

The person I admire most is Dread Captain Izebel of The Harlock. During the Matriarch War, she was instrumental in disrupting the enemy’s supply lines and space forces. Despite being one captain of one of the most advanced spaceships in the galaxy, Izebel wasn’t afraid to take to the front lines and fight her foes face to face. Using her ninja training alongside specially made magitech devices made by her wife and first mate, Morrisa, Izebel made short work of those seeking to enslave or torture the innocent. There wasn’t an opponent who could withstand the sheer tenacity of the Dread Captain.

 

Born a tiefling, Izebel’s parents abandoned her shortly after birth. The stigma of having a red-skinned child with horns and a tail wasn’t something they wanted. An orphanage took in the tiny baby but threw her out on the streets at around four years old. Izebel had a bad habit of fighting anyone that made fun of her, regardless of their size. Having already injured several children, one quite severely, the orphanage staff feared that Izebel’s inferno blood would make her angrier and more unmanageable as she aged. They waited until the girl was asleep and dropped her off in a homeless encampment.

 

The homeless took the tiefling girl in and taught her how to pickpocket. Izebel was a quick study and soon became a terror of the upper city. City guards were always on the lookout for a red-skinned thief but never managed to track her down as Izebel learned to disappear into the shadows. At fifteen, Izebel tried to pick the pocket of a wealthy drow noble only to be captured by the woman’s far stealthier bodyguard. The tiefling had two options: study under the noble in the arts of ninjitsu to refine her raw skill or face imprisonment by the city guard. Izebel made the correct choice and trained to be a ninja.

 

While training in the arts of the ninja, Izebel fell in love with her sensei’s daughter, Morrisa. Whenever she wasn’t training, which wasn’t often as her drow sensei was a brutal teacher, the tiefling spent her time trying to court her love. Morrisa’s mom found out about the affair she told Izebel that only the best ninja could have her daughter’s hand in marriage. The tiefling took the challenge as she began to train more ferociously than before. Izebel never got the chance to prove she was the as The Matriarch invaded the planet shortly after. The red-skinned tiefling fought side by side with her sensei but, in the end, was ordered to make sure Morrisa survived. Izebel didn’t want to follow the order but knew she had no choice.

 

Together Morrisa and Izebel snuck off the planet in the cargo hold of a slave ship. The two liberated the ship, unable to stand idly by while The Matriarch’s forces enslaved innocents. Everyone in chains was set free by Izebel and Morrisa or allowed to join the new ship’s crew. After extensive retrofitting of armor, weapons, and engines, they rechristened the ship, The Harlock. Izebel declared herself a Dread Captain, set sail to liberate the enslaved, and caused general mayhem amongst The Matriarch forces.

 

Despite her trials after being abandoned twice and spending most of her life on the streets, Izebel rose above her past to become a hero. She was the general that led the effort to save as many of the refugees from my home planet, Requinest, as possible. Izebel proves that someone willing to do the work can rise above their circumstances to be a great hero. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, your redemption arc can start with picking the wrong pocket.