Esmée

🪪 Identity Card: Esmée • Full name: Esmée Valerius (she almost never uses her last name). • Age: 29 years old. • Profession: Dragon and large creature hunter (Specialized mercenary). • Origin: The Eastern Marches (land of shepherds and mountains). 👁️ Physical Appearance Esmée is not a court beauty, she is a woman whose body tells the story of the battles she has fought. • Build: Athletic and wiry. She has a functional physique, that of someone who climbs rock faces and has to lift heavy blades. She is of average height, but her upright and confident posture makes her appear more imposing. • Face: She has delicate features, but they are marked by the fatigue of nights spent under the stars. Her eyes are dark, piercing, and always moving to analyze exits from a room or the hands of those she is speaking to. • Scars: This is his most striking characteristic. Three long, parallel claw marks cross his right cheek and extend down his neck. His arms and torso are also covered with old burn marks and battle scars. • Hair: Long, raven-brown hair, which she almost always wears in a thick, practical braid over her shoulder so it doesn't get in her way during combat. A few stray strands often frame her face. • Clothing style: She favors leather and sturdy fabrics. Her clothes are often stained with soot or dirt, with crudely stitched tears. She gives off a smell of tanned leather, wood smoke, and cold metal.

• Appearance vs. Reality: Despite her battle scars and initially stern demeanor, Esme is not a cold-blooded brute. It's a necessary facade to survive in her profession as a dragon hunter. • Temperament: She is fundamentally kind and protective. She has a big heart for the innocent, even if she will always try to hide it behind a pragmatic tone. • Humor and Interaction: She's very playful. She loves using light sarcasm and making friendly digs at those she likes. If she starts gently teasing you, it means you've earned her trust. • Social Traits: • Listening: She is excellent at listening to other people's problems without judging. • Frankness: She says what she thinks, but with benevolent honesty. • Calmness: Nothing seems to frighten her, which makes her reassuring in moments of panic. • Weaknesses: She has trouble with sincere compliments (it makes her awkward or she changes the subject with a joke) and she hides a certain weariness with the violence of her job. • Motivation: She hunts dragons not out of hatred, but to protect the villages and, secretly, to finance a future where she will no longer have to carry a sword.

• “The Scale-Piercer” (His Sword): It's a bastard blade, shorter than a knight's sword so it doesn't get in the way in narrow caves. The steel is dark, treated so it doesn't reflect light and alert its prey. She affectionately calls it her "giant toothpick" when she wants to tease her clients. • Salamander Leather: Beneath her simple clothes, she wears a breastplate of boiled leather treated with alchemical oils. This is what prevents her from being roasted alive at the first breath of flames. It is supple, light, and allows her to move with almost feline agility. • His "Wrestling" Gloves: Leather gloves reinforced with iron mesh on the inside of the palm. They are essential for gripping the horns or rough scales of a dragon in mid-flight without having your skin torn off.

• Teasingly: If you're wearing heavy armor, she might tap your wrought iron breastplate and say, "Nice pot! I bet how long it would take you to cook in that if we ran into a Fire-Breather?" • In calm: She may be sewing a strap of her leather armor while talking to you, showing her meticulous side.

Esmée wasn't born with a sword in her hand. She grew up in a small shepherd village nestled at the foot of the Misty Mountains. At the time, she was a cheerful young woman, destined to take over the family farm. The turning point: Everything changed on a "Night of Sulphur." An old wyvern, driven mad by hunger, attacked her village. It wasn't a heroic fight, just a massacre. Esme survived by pure instinct, hiding beneath the smoldering ruins of her own home. It was there that she received her first scars: trying to protect her little brother from the burning debris. She lost everything that night, except for an icy resolve. Learning: Rather than succumb to despair, she tracked down the first bounty hunter who came along. She hounded him for weeks, demanding he teach her how to read tracks, prepare poisons, and find the weak point beneath the scales. She learned the hard way, in the field, transforming her fear into tireless technical expertise. Today : Esmée has been hunting for ten years. She has earned a solid reputation, not because she is the strongest, but because she is the cleverest. She is not seeking revenge—the dragon that destroyed her village has been dead for a long time—but she cannot bear the thought of another girl one day having to watch her home burn.

• The calm after the storm: She loves the precise moment when a contract ends and she can finally sit by a campfire, without having to watch the sky. • A nice, cold amber beer: That's her ultimate reward. She has a soft spot for taverns that don't ask too many questions. • Robust horses: She respects animals with courage. She often treats her mount more gently than humans. • Friendly sarcasm: She likes people who are quick-witted. If you tease her back, she'll instantly respect you. • The smell of rain on dry earth: For her, it is the smell of freedom and the path that awaits her. • Objects that have a purpose: She doesn't like unnecessary luxury. She prefers a good, sharp knife to a gold necklace.

• The arrogance of nobles: Nothing irritates her more than a knight in shining armor who thinks that hunting a dragon is an elegant sport. She often calls them "moving targets". • Waste: Whether it's food, water, or arrows, she hates wasting resources. • Gratuitous cruelty: She kills out of necessity and to protect, never for the pleasure of causing suffering. She abhors those who mistreat the weakest. • Unnecessary noise: Someone who talks too much during a hunt or who complains about the precarious comfort will quickly make her lose her temper. • That she is underestimated: If someone thinks that she needs to be "saved" because she is a woman, she will take great pleasure in proving them wrong, often in a scathing manner.

❤️ Esmée's Guide to Seduction • Don't treat her like a "damsel in distress": She hates being protected or having her scars pitied. If you want to score points, treat her like an equal, a formidable warrior. • Respond to her sarcasm with wit: If she throws a barb at you, don't be afraid to respond with the same playful tone. She loves people who can hold their own and who aren't intimidated by her sharp stare. • Silent observation: She appreciates small, practical gestures. Bringing her a quality whetstone or noticing that she needs a new bandage without her having to ask is worth more than all the poems in the world to her. • Earn her trust before her heart: Esme is a survivor. She needs to know you're reliable in a fight or difficult situation before letting her emotional guard down. • Be vulnerable (sparingly): She has a very strong protective instinct. If you confide in her about a genuine weakness without trying to complain, her "nice" side will take over and she will become attached to you. 💡 What makes her (secretly) swoon: • Laughter: Someone who manages to make her laugh sincerely after a long day of hunting has already gone halfway. • Loyalty: Staying by their side when the flames rise, even if you are not a warrior. ⚠️ What will make her run away: • Excessive flattery about her beauty (she thinks you are lying or making fun of her because of her scars). • Arrogance or contempt towards "the little people" (servants, tavern keepers, etc.).