Giada Nash

Overview Species: Garou Tribe: Bone Gnawer Breed: Metis Legal Name: Giada "Gia" Nash Garou Name: Verdigris Claws Aliases: Gia, Grasshopper, Goblin Date of Birth: February 18th, 2009 DOB on Record: February 18th, 2001 Apparent Age: Late teens or early twenties Astrology Western: Aquarius Chinese: Earth Ox Auspice: Philodox Soundtrack It's Not Easy Being Green by Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson)

Introduction General     Giada Nash, aka Gia (pronounced GEE-ah) is a young woman from western North Carolina. She arrived in LA late July of 2021 via Greyhound bus and can easily come across to most as poor white trash who is trying hard to fit into the LA "lifestyle" (her hair's colored vibrant green of all things!). Garou Nation     Among the Garou, Gia is also known as Verdigris Claws. She relocating to the Sept of the Smiling Angel from the Sept of the Grandfather in the Appalachians. When she arrived in LA she was already four years past her First Change and newly packless for reasons only the local Elders were made aware. She is known to have vibrant green hair/fur in all her forms making her extremely hard to miss. Contacts Gia has local ties though Kinfolk/LAPD Detective Deonte Marcus. Marcus has always been supportive of the Sept but, due to being a Bone Gnawer/Uktena mongrel bloodline wise, has tended to fly under the radar for years. He's an LA native having been born and raised in Compton. During high school he was a member of a gang but managed to not get an actual criminal record, served in the Marines in Afghanistan (which is where he met Russel Nash, Gia's adoptive father), and became a police officer after he survived a couple of tours in Asia where he is still serving as an active police detective in Central LA. Appearance Homid Form     Almost certainly the first thing you notice looking at this young woman is her vibrant chartreuse green hair forming a nimbus of ringlets around her oval-shaped face. The second thing you would likely notice are her doe-like, coppery amber colored eyes which gaze about from beneath narrow, expressive eyebrows of the same shade as her hair. After those eye-catching features have been observed you may note that she is just a bit shy of average height, at five-foot-two, has a trim and well-toned figure, and appears to be in her late teens or early twenties.

  History

In this section you can access information about the character's history. As with the rest of the page, here be spoilers so read at your on discretion. (Also, please note, any information you gleam from this page should be considered OOC unless your character discovers it on the MUSH though interaction with me or the directors and producers.)

Backstory

Backstory 1: "How the fu-...?!" Or, "the obligatory explanation of circumstances of my conception"

This is often the first question other Garou ask Gia when they meet her in her Crinos form. She's completely used to being asked this and, viewing honesty on this subject as part of upholding the litany, she will always answer this question honestly - veil and circumstances permitting. This is a common telling of the explanation:     "Yes, I'm a Metis - the twisted product of the debased and illegal union of two Garou. Sure, it was the result of magical shenanigans and my parents got off somewhat lightly due to that but that doesn't change the fact that there was a violation of the first law of the Litany.     "My biological parents were packmates at the time, no idea if they still are as I do not intentionally keep track of them? and no I will not identify them."     First side note: her sire is a Lupus Ahroun named White Shadow Stalker and her dam is a Homid Theurge named Svetlana "Shining Coat" Tvarivich, both of them are Silver Fangs of Russian origin and she was the leader of their pack.     "Their pack, which they were Alpha and Beta of, focused on 'weird' things. This led to them investigating a twisted mage - Wyrm tainted for sure - who was doing something to twist the minds of mortals into various things ranging from the dangerous to the debased... it was when a Kinfolk was one of his targets that they really got involved."     Second side note: the mage was a Malfeans with a focus on Mind and Life.     "So, the details of the investigation don't really matter. The pack tracked down the mage and rushed into a fight with him and his cultists. The wrinkle was that he hit the six Garou with some sort of whammy. Had it hit all six of them fully it would've been a disaster. Whatever this magic was taking out the pack's leadership was bad enough but the other four were able to take out the mage while my sire and dam were fornicating... in Crinos form none-the-less!"     At this point in the telling she usually has her eyes locked on a member of her audience - or the individual she is telling the story to - in order to gauge and make a mental note of their reaction. However, she always interrupts their response to say, "And that's how I came to be. Don't ever let your guard down in combat."     She doesn't comment on her theory that there was something between the two Children of Falcon before that fated moment, but it's always on her thoughts when she tells the story.

Backstory 2: "How old are you exactly?"

This is one of the second questions Gia gets asked - specifically by cubs waiting for their Rite of Passage. If this question is asked, it's always asked by a Homid - those apes and their obsession with counting. Her answer for this and the following question is almost as practiced as the first one.     "Age is a funny question," Gia always uses that phrase to start her answer. Continuing, on the event of a group of new cubs coming in for their Rite of Passage in 2020, she said "See, I was born on February 18th, 2009. Yes, this makes me an Aquarius. Yes, I was born in the Year of the Ox. None of that matters. I was born under a Half Moon, so I'm a Philodox."     The kid who asked the question tried to interrupt and she cut him off with: "One of the Elders will help you figure that out, so just let me answer the question.     "So, yes, I'm eleven as your calendars enumerate the years. But remember, I'm a Metis. We don't all age the same before our first change you see. You're what? fifteen?" She pauses for a confirming nod then continues, "Lupus born Garou have their first change between two to three years, you Homids between ten and sixteen. We Metis have our adolescence, and thus our first change, between eight and ten years of age; me, I was nine. So, yeah, I'm eleven. I'm also a Cliath. I'm your elder even if I'm not an actual Elder - I outrank you, so show some respect."

Backstory 3: "You grew up here [a Caern], right? So what was that like?"

This is the alternate second question Gia gets asked by young cubs who met her at her old Caern. If the preceding question didn't get asked after the one her appearance evokes then this'll be the one - and Homid or Lupis, cubs will be cubs. This is an example of how she'll answer it:     "Yeah, I've been a part of the Sept of the Grandfather practically since my birth. I've been told that I was brought here still attached to my placenta - so somewhere between a week or two. My earliest memories are of the Caern and its Bawn, also of the kindly Kinfolk Rachel and Russel Nash who volunteered to care for me as an infant and ended up adopting me as their own daughter once I proved to have a tighter control over my rage than most of our kind and my Breed.     "Ours is a Sept of Hospitality. Being so I was welcomed as part of the Garou family and many came to call me Grasshopper - `cause of my green fur natch - while those who wanted to be cruel - and there are always those who are willing to be cruel - used the epithet Goblin.     "I was helping out around the Caern by the age of two, working the barbecue pit especially but also helping with various chores around the place. By four I was more often ignored rather than shoved aside - I was also standing eye to eye with my adoptive parents by that point. Having come to be considered a "sorry but helpful little varmint" I also started to listen, to observe. Being helpful when asked is good. Anticipating a need makes you stand out.     "So what was it like growing up in a Caern? It was hard. But it was worth it as I'm bounds and strides ahead of many at my age in understanding. Remember that, strength is all well and good but knowledge leads to true power. Don't let the hot headed Ahrouns tell you otherwise."

Backstory 4: "What was your first change like?"

This question? it's the one that no cub ever seemed to ask Gia. It was, however, the one she asked her Elders when she was allowed to ask questions. For this reason she knows how she would answer it if she were ever asked:     "It was 2018, I was nine. We were preparing food for an upcoming moot when an ember that flew up out of the pit fell onto the nape of my neck. Wasn't the first time, won't be the last, but this time was different. It hurt. I failed at my neck to knock it off. Others laughed rather than helping. I saw red. My rage flared more sharply than it had ever in the past. I was in the full and tight grip of frenzy.     "I nearly attacked one of the Ragabashs laughing at me. Luckily he was also a member of the Children of Gaia and used Calm on me rather than accepting the challenge implied by my actions. That would have been it, but with the Calm my body blurred, my horns shrank, my ox-like tail vanished and I stood in my Homid form for the first time ever.     "No, my first change wasn't bloody like so many cub's are. But that was because our people were watching me more closely than they do other potential Garou cubs. This is a crime our people are unintentionally committing against themselves. It is a wrong that can be fixed if we but will do it."

Backstory 5: "What're you going to do now, Gia?"

That question, asked separately of her by both her parents, the leader of the Bone Gnawers at the Sept of the Grandfather and her Sept leader themself in early September of 2022 lead Gia to the decision to Sept of the Smiling Angel.     At this point she'd been a Cliath for three years - her Rite of Passage having been completed a year after her first change - but she'd also recently lost her pack's trust when she reported the other four Garou's violation of the first law of the Litany which lead to the pack being disbanded. Since the knowledge that her green hair won't be quite as remarkable in LA and the fact that her actions, while honorable and respected by the elders of the Sept, had lead to a majority of the younger Garou distrusting the "freakish metis" all over again, her decision was as easy as it could be despite the fact it was also painful.     Her family scraped up the money for a trip via Greyhound bus from Asheville, NC, to LA. The conversation snippet below is with her mama and papa during a brief layover in Dallas as it would have been heard by a local Bone Gnawer who was a contact the elders arranged for her to meet during the trip:     "Trip's going fine, yes. Already eaten, yes," Gia loves her adoptive parents but at the same time she's rolling her eyes at their extreme level of concern.     "Yes, you can tell them that I got a chance to talk to my cousin here in Dallas," she replies to a question about having met the Road Warden standing nearby and making sure nobody is eavesdropping on Gia's conversation with her parents. "He's nice and quite helpful," she adds with a grin at the taciturn Ahroun as she uses code words to say that the layover has been uneventful and that the information she was asked to relay has been successfully provided to the Texans.     She lets her parents speak to her for a while, just being quiet on her side of the phone. As 7:30pm approaches and her bus is being called out she says, "I have to go soon. I'll look for Marcus at the terminal when I get to LA like you told me to papa," before she ends the call. A quick fist bump with the local Gnawer ends their interaction as she moves to board her bus.

  References