Isabel Knight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hyperdrivemonalisa) wrote2025-07-22 02:52 pm
hyperdrivemonalisa) wrote2025-07-22 02:52 pm
Isabel--a history
Isabel Knight was born in a nexus-world to one Morgan Knight, Akashic Brother, and Carolyn Valkonan, the Cultist of Ecstasy daughter of the Son of Ether adventurer Drake Valkokan. This illustrious beginning set the bar very high for little Isabel; she decided to take it as a challenge and hit the ground running.
Having been born on this nexus-world, like her mother, magic of all sorts did not come as much of a surprise to Isabel. It seemed like the very best of science fiction and fantasy blended there. She spent her youngest days learning martial arts at her father's knee and having her grandfather read to her, and then exploring her grandfather's massive laboratory. All in all, it was good.
During the school year she attended the prestigious Northedge Academy, which was something of a college preparatory school on the nexus-world. She excelled there, but that was more due to a drive and a good work ethic than any actual genius. During the summers, she'd visit her extended family on Earth--her aunt Andrea, uncle Grey, and her cousin Eddie. On the other side, she visited her adopted grandmother, the martial artist Nhairis Tran. (This usually ended up involving even more training, as Nhairis encouraged that, even as her father did.) It was during these summers that her mother, Carolyn, instructed her in learning guitar as well--to her, music was important, and Isabel found it an enjoyable way to de-stress.
On some level, she knew that her father was somewhat important on Earth; they'd never seemed to want for money in the past. And despite him leaving his holdings in the hands of his twin sister, Morgan Knight was still a multi-billionaire--and thus, Isabel was an heiress. She'd never expected to be in the spotlight much, but that tended to change during the summer. She'd always lived frugally at home, and being thrust into the eyes of the paparazzi made her uneasy. Oh, she could handle it, but being able to handle it and actually thriving on such attention were two entirely different things. Not that Isabel didn't like to put on a show at times! She just preferred to do so on her own terms--like with an instrument, or putting on a display of her martial arts talent.
It was this martial arts talent that led her to become competitive in the sport. (She'd always had a small competitive streak, but it never got her into a serious rivalry with anyone--on her side, at least.) Since she spent her summers on Earth, and one of her cousins (Ronnie Volasko-Southfield, from her mother's side of the family) already was an Olympic athlete in gymnastics, joining in on training sessions and consequently being discovered came as no great surprise.
Isabel enjoyed the spirit of competition, but she wasn't particularly driven to win. It wasn't that she was slacking--she did manage to consistently place, but participating was more important to her than actually coming away with the gold. (Maybe once she hit 18, she'd change her mind, since she'd have to 'graduate' to the Olympics proper, or retire--she hadn't decided yet what she planned to do.)
At the age of 14, it was during one of the bouts for the gold medals that Isabel--who had never thought, despite her parentage, that she'd Awaken as a mage--misstepped. Instead of taking a fall and breaking a bone, or worse, suffering a more serious injury--it was as if time slowed for her, and she managed to see precisely how she could recover her footing. And then, she did so. No one there--save perhaps Ronnie and her father, both mages as well--realized what happened. And then her training began in earnest. She had already had the fundamentals of Do, the martial art of the Akashic Brotherhood, available courtesy of her father and adopted grandmother--now it was learning all of the other important tenets of being a mage.
Isabel took it seriously--as seriously as she took anything else she studied. And yet she still managed to cut loose and be a kid. There was one individual who helped her do this--friends of her parents had a son around her age. They might have entered into a friendly rivalry save for the fact that Rain Mischief was far too sweet-natured and laid back to ever get into an actual rivalry with anyone. But afternoons of shared homework and video games did wonders for them both.
Having been born on this nexus-world, like her mother, magic of all sorts did not come as much of a surprise to Isabel. It seemed like the very best of science fiction and fantasy blended there. She spent her youngest days learning martial arts at her father's knee and having her grandfather read to her, and then exploring her grandfather's massive laboratory. All in all, it was good.
During the school year she attended the prestigious Northedge Academy, which was something of a college preparatory school on the nexus-world. She excelled there, but that was more due to a drive and a good work ethic than any actual genius. During the summers, she'd visit her extended family on Earth--her aunt Andrea, uncle Grey, and her cousin Eddie. On the other side, she visited her adopted grandmother, the martial artist Nhairis Tran. (This usually ended up involving even more training, as Nhairis encouraged that, even as her father did.) It was during these summers that her mother, Carolyn, instructed her in learning guitar as well--to her, music was important, and Isabel found it an enjoyable way to de-stress.
On some level, she knew that her father was somewhat important on Earth; they'd never seemed to want for money in the past. And despite him leaving his holdings in the hands of his twin sister, Morgan Knight was still a multi-billionaire--and thus, Isabel was an heiress. She'd never expected to be in the spotlight much, but that tended to change during the summer. She'd always lived frugally at home, and being thrust into the eyes of the paparazzi made her uneasy. Oh, she could handle it, but being able to handle it and actually thriving on such attention were two entirely different things. Not that Isabel didn't like to put on a show at times! She just preferred to do so on her own terms--like with an instrument, or putting on a display of her martial arts talent.
It was this martial arts talent that led her to become competitive in the sport. (She'd always had a small competitive streak, but it never got her into a serious rivalry with anyone--on her side, at least.) Since she spent her summers on Earth, and one of her cousins (Ronnie Volasko-Southfield, from her mother's side of the family) already was an Olympic athlete in gymnastics, joining in on training sessions and consequently being discovered came as no great surprise.
Isabel enjoyed the spirit of competition, but she wasn't particularly driven to win. It wasn't that she was slacking--she did manage to consistently place, but participating was more important to her than actually coming away with the gold. (Maybe once she hit 18, she'd change her mind, since she'd have to 'graduate' to the Olympics proper, or retire--she hadn't decided yet what she planned to do.)
At the age of 14, it was during one of the bouts for the gold medals that Isabel--who had never thought, despite her parentage, that she'd Awaken as a mage--misstepped. Instead of taking a fall and breaking a bone, or worse, suffering a more serious injury--it was as if time slowed for her, and she managed to see precisely how she could recover her footing. And then, she did so. No one there--save perhaps Ronnie and her father, both mages as well--realized what happened. And then her training began in earnest. She had already had the fundamentals of Do, the martial art of the Akashic Brotherhood, available courtesy of her father and adopted grandmother--now it was learning all of the other important tenets of being a mage.
Isabel took it seriously--as seriously as she took anything else she studied. And yet she still managed to cut loose and be a kid. There was one individual who helped her do this--friends of her parents had a son around her age. They might have entered into a friendly rivalry save for the fact that Rain Mischief was far too sweet-natured and laid back to ever get into an actual rivalry with anyone. But afternoons of shared homework and video games did wonders for them both.