[Rivkah]

bump uvu good luck to everyone

[Syra]

We have a winner!
Congratulations to SkySmoke! You have won Ciana!

Congratulations as well to Rivkah! You will be receiving a RU who I will make in just a moment ;]

Username:
SkySmoke
Name:
Ciana - pronounced see-AHN-ah - It is of Italian origin, and the meaning of Ciana is "light". Also a variant form of the Irish Gaelic name Ciannait, meaning "ancient, enduring". Ciana is a photographer (The word photography is derived from the Greek photos- for "light" and -graphos for "drawing"). There is also a variant meaning to her name that means enduring, and I think that fits her personality quite well.
Gender: Female

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The young kiamara stood at the edge of the majestic canyon, mesmerized by the colors that the setting sun cast against the rocky walls. Her awe was interrupted by the click of the shutter on her mothers camera.
“Mommy. Why do you take pictures everywhere?”
“So I can always remember.” Her mother smiled from behind the camera as she clicked a picture of Ciana with the canyon as the background. “Like you. You will never be this age again. We might never be here again. But if I take a picture, then I have part of this moment forever. The picture will never change, even when the people in it do.”
“Can you teach me?”
“Of course, here; put this strap around your neck.” Ciana took the camera carefully and smiled as the weight of it settled against her neck. “Now, look around, without the camera, and find something special. Something you want to remember. Take your time. The secret to a great picture is to take it of something special.”
Ciana looked back and forth across the canyon and her eyes kept coming to rest at the same place; a bend in the river at the bottom of the canyon where the light was hitting the walls just right, turning them a fiery red.
“There. That place right there.”
“Okay. Now, lift the camera and look through the view finder. Try to picture the picture in your mind. The rectangle it will be on paper. Center what you want in the picture most so it will look as close to what you see as possible. When you’re ready, hold your hands steady and push the button.”
Ciana followed her mom’s instructions and smiled as she pushed the button and the shutter clicked.

That Christmas
Ciana looked at her mother in shock as she put the neck strap over her head. "No WAY! OhmygodmommyIloveyou!" The words all rattled into one long excited screech as Ciana opened her christmas present; her very own camera. It was a simple red digital camera but it might as well have been a top of the line professional one.

"Really? My own camera? My very own and I can use it all the time and take pictures of anything I want?"

"Yes, your very own. I'm happy you like it." Her mother laughed as she gently took the camera off Ciana's neck to put the batteries in it. Her daughter barely noticed as she danced around the room happily then returned.

"Now you take care of it. You don't need to ask to use mine anymore." Her mom said with a smile as she put the strap back around the excited girls neck.

"I will mommy, I promise I will. Thank you thank you thank you! You're the best!"

She threw herself into her mothers arms and wrapped herself around her neck, squeezing her in a tight hug before letting go and skipping out the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To take pictures!"

10 Years Later
“Ciana. Would you stop taking pictures of me please?” Her mother complained from her bed. Ciana lowered her camera and smiled softly.

“But if I take a picture, then I have part of this moment forever. The picture will never change, even when the people in it do.”

Her mom laughed, then coughed as tears came to her eyes. A look of worry crossed Ciana’s face and she went and sat next to her mother. Her mom had been getting worse lately and it was starting to scare her.

“Are you always going to use that as an excuse to take pictures of me?” Her mom asked between coughs.

“For as long as it works yes. Come on, let’s take a picture together.

Her mom grumbled as Ciana got up and set up the camera and its self-timer but a smile spread across her face as her daughter came and snuggled up next to her.

“Smile mom.”

Her mom smiled and Ciana leaned over to kiss her check as the shutter clicked.

“There. Now I’ll have this moment forever.

Her mother smiled sadly and tears slowly ran down her face. Ciana rested her head on her mother’s shoulder.

“Don’t cry mom. Please.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just..I know…I’m so sick. And I know I’m not going to be around much longer…”

“I’ll always have part of you though, in pictures, and in here.” She put her hand over her heart. “And it won’t be the same, I know that, but it will be okay. Besides, you taught me to take pictures. Every time I photograph anything you’ll be with me.”

"Promise me something?"

"What?"

"That you'll keep taking pictures, no matter where life takes you. Take pictures. Lots of them. So no matter where you end up, you can always remember.

"I will mom, I promise."

One Year Later

Ciana lay on the floor with her camera hanging from around her neck. She had planned to go out and shoot something, anything, but the process of getting ready had brought on memories of her mother and it had become overwhelming. She looked up at the framed picture of the two of them on the wall and smiled through teary eyes. She missed her mother terribly and it felt like it was getting worse every day instead of better. She knew her mother wouldn't want her to be like this. She would want her to be up, out somewhere, taking pictures of something. She closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered the very first time her mother taught her to take a picture that day at the canyon. It hadn't seemed like a huge, life changing moment at the time, but it had ended up shaping so much of her life. It was that day when her bond with her mom began to grow stronger and stronger through photography.

She stood up and walked over to the wall and looked at all of the framed pictures that hung there. Some of them were her mothers pictures, some of them were hers, but they all brought back memories. By the time she was done looking at all of them one by one she realized she was smiling instead of crying. She remembered the promise she made her mom, to keep taking pictures, and laughed to herself as she realized that her mom knew all along it was what she would need. She took another look at the picture of them together and headed out the door to keep her promise.

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Personality Traits:

☆Introvert☆ – upon first meeting her people usually think Ciana is either shy or conceited; neither of which is true. She simply prefers to keep to herself. She can be social, she is even okay at social gatherings as long as there is one person she can hang out with. She doesn’t mind being around others to an extent, she just wants to get to know them on her own terms, if at all. She does need her alone time though. If she spend too much time being social she becomes very irritated and short tempered.

☆Observant☆ – Ciana is incredibly observant. She notices things that most people never do. Photography enhanced this trait in the visual sense, but she is observant in all aspects of life. This trait can be both good and bad. It means she often picks up on the moods of others and adjusts herself accordingly. She is a very good listener and has a knack for hearing things people don’t say. However, because she is so observant, she often over thinks things. She will read into someone’s actions and think about it so much she turns it into this huge dramatic situation that isn’t really there.

☆Independent☆ – Ciana wants to do everything on her own, just to prove that she can. She is fiercely stubborn in her independence and will often refuse to ask for help, even when she knows she needs it.

☆Sarcastic☆ – sarcasm is usually Ciana’s weapon of choice when it comes to keeping people away from her in the emotional sense. She uses her sarcastic sense of humor as a shield between herself and others. She is often times very dry in the delivery of her sarcasm, so others have a hard time figuring out if she is kidding or serious, which is exactly what she wants.
Empathetic – though she prefers a few close friends over being a social butterfly, Ciana is very in tune with how others feel. If a close friend or loved one is having a bad day, it directly affects Ciana’s day as well.

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Habits, Quirks And Random Facts

✪Though Ciana learned to take pictures with a digital camera, her mother also taught her how to use a 35mm. She can develop her own negatives and develop her own black and white pictures in a darkroom. She usually sticks to digital because she likes the instant gratification of seeing what she shoots right away, but the darkroom is very therapeutic for her and she will still shoot and develop traditional photographs occasionally. Nothing takes her mind off the rest of the world like watching a picture come to life in a tub of developer solution.

✪Ciana is more likely to open up to someone new if she has her camera. It might sound odd, but it’s almost like a security blanket for her. She feels like if she has it there is always something to talk about, or she can use taking pictures as a way out of a conversation. She feels like she gets to know people better through the lens of her camera than anywhere else.

✪She sometimes walks around with an old Polaroid camera and takes random pictures and gives them to people who seem like they are having a bad day. Sometimes she takes pictures of them, sometimes it is just a picture of random scenery given to someone to make them smile. Her favorite is when she takes pictures of couples or parents with their children. She finds something magical in capturing unexpected moments for other people.

✪Ciana can never get rid of a camera once she has owned it. Even though she very rarely shoots with it anymore, she still has the very first camera she ever owned; the red camera her mom gave her at Christmas. She knows she could give the cameras to someone else that would use them, but she just can’t bring herself to give them up. She feels like she would be getting rid of an old friend.

✪In addition to photography Ciana also loves to write. It started with a photo journal she kept with her mom one year. They would take and print a picture every day, tape it in a journal, and write about it. Most times they wrote about where the photo was taken, and what was going on that day, much like a traditional journal; sometimes though they would use the photograph as inspiration for a fictional story. Ciana loved the idea so much she now will have what she calls fantasy photo shoots where she goes out and looks for somewhere to shoot specifically so she can write stories to go along with the pictures.

✪Her most recent hobby is photo manipulation. She is just getting started so she isn’t very confident in her skills yet, but she loves taking parts of multiple photographs and using them to create and entirely new piece of art.

✪Ciana sometimes gets so wrapped up in photographing something she will forget to experience it. She will get so caught up in getting the perfect shot that she forgets to step back and look at things other than through the lens of the camera. It is something she works on constantly and tries to remind herself to put down the camera and live sometimes rather than trying to capture all of the moments in pictures.

✪In addition to her camera, Ciana always has a notebook with her. She uses it for a variety of things. Sometimes she takes notes about the location she is shooting in so she can record in it her album later. Sometimes she scribbles down story ideas if they come to her randomly. Sometimes she notes ideas for future shooting locations or possible themes for photoshoots.

✪Ciana keeps photo albums by year. She makes a note by each picture she takes. Sometimes it’s just the date and the location, but sometimes it’s more detailed than that. She very rarely lets anyone else see her albums.

✪When she is nervous she often plays with the feather ear-ring on her ear. If she doesn’t have her camera she feels the need to do something with her hands.

✪Ciana only likes photography if she is behind the camera. She actually hates having her picture taken. The exception to this is if she is the one setting up the shot and using a timer on her camera. She can’t stand having her picture taken by others

✪She finds passion in others very attractive. She is very passionate about photography and absolutely loves to listen to others talk about things they are passionate about; especially if they seem to loose themselves in the discussion and forget that she’s listening.

✪She can be a little bit OCD about certain things. The worst is the way her photography equipment is kept. No one else is allowed to pack it or put it away or touch it really.

✪She never knew her father. He left her mother before Ciana was even born. She found this odd as she grew up but any time she asked her mom she got the same answer; He left when he should have stayed. It wasn't anyone's fault, sometimes life just happens, but nothing is going to bring him back. It's always been a kind of nagging question in the back of her mind, but it upset her mother so she gave up asking.

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The Person Behind The Character

I thought I should take a moment to tell you why I want her and how her personality came to be. When I first saw her up for adoption I thought the design was stunning. The colors reminded me of an effect in photography called Sepia. I didn't think I was going to try for her at first, but then her character and story just kept invading my thoughts. Everything stemmed from that first impression having to do with photography. From there, this story and character just kept unwinding itself in my mind; so much that I knew I had to try for her. Thank you for your consideration.

*art in form credited to Cerestes & SilverMoonEmber, in order of appearance*

[kibbleeCat]

omf congrats !!!

[jcqll]

Congratulations.

You can have my stuff, except for the story.

[PolarizedVertigo]

v_v congrats.
the first time i really work on my forums too... sighs,i'll never get one of these kiamarias... oh well.
anyway take good care of her!

[FoxerOwl]

omg CONGRATS RIVKAH <3

And to Skysmoke of course!

[Rivkah]

oh my lord I'm crying
thank you so much Syra for RU ; U ;
Congrats Sky too
but omgggg
it's an honor
And my third RU too wow :'D

[SkySmoke]

I can't even...seriously....I won? You have no idea how many times I closed the internet on my phone & opened it to check again. SYRA LET ME LOVE YOU. Thank you SO much. I have been having a rough few days, and I was really down about trying out for her period because developing these characters that I really loved and connected with was getting really discouraging, but so many people in the fan club just said to keep trying, so I did. So thank you, thank you, thank you. You totally made my week!

Thank you everyone for the congrats.

v_v congrats.
the first time i really work on my forums too... sighs,i'll never get one of these kiamarias... oh well.
anyway take good care of her!

No no, don't give up. Seriously. You'll get there. You'll improve with every form. Don't give up. If you really connect and you really want one, give it your all and you will get there. If you want my help PM me and I'm happy to edit or look over stories for you if you'd like.

Rivkah! Congrats on the RU. I loved your form and can't wait to see your kia!

Thank you again...I'm so happy...I'm just rambling.

[mars]

Eek, congrats! <3
I can't believe I never got to finish my form lol
stupid stupid school

I'll go ahead and delete my avatar, unless you'd like to keep it? I can send it your way, I think I uploaded it to my photobucket (I never delete anything from there so it's good to go or you can save it) ^^
I don't think I had any art, or I'd let you have that as well xP

You guys had some amazing forms, it was truly an honor to compete against you and everyone else who entered <3
I can't wait for more kias to come out so I have another shot at competing for my first! I've learned so much about what it takes to write an amazing form from you guys, thank you all so much! ^^
And I just must see that beautiful RU

Congrats so much again, and enjoy your kias! I'll be stalking them, as always c;

[corviidae]

aaaa congratsss<333