Dez Vidal[]
Full Name: Desdemona "Dez" Vidal
D. O. B: 12/11/1982
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Last Known Location: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Sword-for-hire
Power (If DNA Alternate): Martial Supremacy/Superhuman Reflexes
Affiliations: Nemesis
Application: Desdemona Vidal
Personality[]
In regards to combat, outwardly, Dez can be summed up by the three C’s: calm, collected, and cautious. She has a high amount of confidence in her ability, but is conscious of her faults and vulnerabilities. She believes that, alone, she can strive and overcome; but accompanying others, she believes they can be unstoppable. Because of this belief, Dez also holds loyalty above all others. The difficulty in discovering this, however, is offset by her inability to trust many people, especially ones with overexerting personalities towards her. Basically, she’s more likely to befriend those with soft words and sympathetic smiles, rather than the overly outgoing party-type.
For the most part, Dez remains silent and professional – or, at least, tries to. There are no witty remarks, there are no snide jokes. Due to her extensive practice in Kali, she attempts to keep all emotion stored away. For the most part, it is effective. Dez does, however, have two emotional weaknesses – when her strength is questioned and when a male is actively abusing a female. Both are side effects stemming from being raped.
This leads to the non-combative side of her. Outside of fighting, Dez is quite a different person. She typically avoids eye contact with strangers, speaks quietly, and feels uncomfortable being looked at for more than a second or two. Her confidence is almost every other part of her life wanes at times.
Dez views herself as an honorable person. This is an incredibly complicated viewpoint, however. She, personally, would not kill except in defense of herself or another. Her vein of loyalty, however, overrides this sense of honor. So, whilst she may not draw blood unnecessarily, she can accept standing down and not preventing blood from being shed.
History[]
Dez was born on a military base in Virginia. Being an only child, much of her father's frustrations were placed into her, creating a heavy amount of discipline within the child. Her submissive mother did little to prevent the father's heavy hand within the family. Thus, early life for Dez remained very much the same, distilling a sense of family honor, discipline, and respect into the young child.
At age eleven, Dez's family was stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. At age fourteen, while exploring Mildenhall, Dez was attacked by a group of four teenage boys at knife point and was raped. Body and ego bruised and beaten, the young girl returned home and - while not admitting such details to her parents - expressed her interest in taking self-defense classes. Once her family returned to the states, they obliged.
The first half year of training seemed to drag on; it seemed dull. Her instructor - only known to her in Sensei - noticed her lack of interest in hand-to-hand and asked her to try other techniques. She found her love in eskrima.
Dez impressed Sensei, who assumed the young girl had not told him about previous training. When she revealed to him that she had, in fact, no training with weapons, he pushed her to train harder. At age sixteen, he placed her in her first competition - the youngest and one of only two girls across thirty enlisted roster. Dez scored perfectly across the board - posture, form, and combat.
Through high school and college (bachelor's degree in Physical Fitness), Dez continued her training. At age twenty-five, her Sensei died of heart failure. Taking her leave from training, she began enlisting in various competitions throughout the world, competing with the best of the best in melee weapons - even becoming sponsored by an international fencing competition.
For the past four years, she has lived a modest lifestyle (being supported by her sponsorship and tournament winnings. Dez's main place of residence is in a loft overlooking a dojo where she sometimes mentors. There she keeps a simple trunk of clothing, weapon-care supplies, and a fold-out couch bed. Though living in the dojo now, she spends much of the year walking and hitch-hiking across the country, looking for a purpose and - somewhere deep down - just hoping that someone attempts to take advantage of her again, now that she feels that she can handle herself.
Current Situation[]
Following the outbreak of Nemesis attacks across the country, Dez was approached by the leader of the group himself - Yomin Breise - and was offered both information about her place as an Alpha and a role in his new world order. Graciously, she accepted, and has since become the bodyguard to one Destiny Tysche of Tysche Industries.
Skills[]
- Fighter - Between her ability, her strength, and her continuous training, only another martial supremacist could hope to outmatch Dez's skill with a blade.
- Detatchment - Though, not a skill per se, Dez lacks the emotional attachment that people typically have.
- Cautious - Despite her skill with a blade, Dez appraoches every combat situation with the utmost caution. Her abuse during her teenage years has fueled her blood with the determination to never be taken advantage of again.
Training[]
In addition to her skill implementing a lifetime's worth of training with swords, the following are particular skills that Dez has trained on her own and her weapon of choice.
- Dez's choice of weapon, as pictured, are dual 24" blades with 24 1/4" hilts that allow for the blades to be interlocked and used as a blunt staff weapon.
- Ten years of continued training in Eskrima, beyond her original capabilities.
- Two-and-a-half years of hand-to-hand training - a mix of Sambo and Muay Thai's Te.
- In addition to the above, Dez has continued a regiment of two hours' practice daily, a separate hour dedicated to fitness, and has partaken in the Body for Life Diet for the last six years.
- Has competed in and won numerous swordfighting tournaments and has been given a sponsorship by Hanwei, a Chinese sword manufacturer.
Motivational Lyrics[]
- We were born to embrace, not accept it
We were given nothing more, and so we kept it
As the colors of our boots keep fading
We live a life that we hate without saying...
In the crowd of the dead and disappointed
We’re ashamed, giving up on what we wanted
Take a chance on a long shot this time
Aren’t we all just at least worth another try?