❝It is my nature. Would you love me if I was anything but what I am?❞
TIA DALMA FROM PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
Birthday: October 27th, 1988
Gender Identity & Pronouns: Cis woman; she/her
Orientation: Panromantic/Pansexual
Growing up in Jamaica was nothing like how it was in the States. She knew how to handle the pace of Jamaica, the people of Jamaica, knew what to do with the tourists and the locals that paid for the roof over her head. And the best part, she was always close to the ocean, the vast openness calming her, the sand grounding her, she could feel it in her bones that she belonged here.
She made her business by selling her services– divining or healing, whatever was needed. She wouldn’t pretend to be better than a hospital, but it was certainly cheaper coming to her and she was trustworthy. No one was turned away when they came to her for medicinal help and she was usually the first people came to for help. It was only if she thought her work wasn’t enough that she sent them to the hospital with her name in their mouth to pass along.
Divining was a simpler matter. Tourists wanted their fortunes told, the same old questions ‘Will I be rich? Will I find love? When will I die?’ and Tia had perfected the act of dramatics, but when it came to people who were serious, she had a gift for finding the answers in the way the bones fell or in the stories in the lines of their hands, reading their life story and showing them where they were headed in life.
But remember, she told them, you always have a choice in every matter, even life.
If they couldn’t afford to pay her fee for any of her services, then she took something else just as valuable– secrets, information, a memory. These pieces of other people she kept to herself, turning them over and over and examining them like a gold coin, putting together who a person was, keeping their secrets until she needed it. Pay her in knowledge worth what she gave and you were free to go with your secret tucked away for her to call on later.
Another good way to pay her was to trade. Food, clothes, sea glass, a trade of talent. Anything useful, gorgeous, and/or beneficial was good enough for Tia.
Her self confidence was something to be envied, she felt. She knew she was beautiful, she knew she was useful and she knew she was talented; it showed in the way she held herself, how she walked, how her eyes never wavered– she knew how to spin words and how to entertain and how to play the game. Her magnetism drew people in until she was ready to end the encounter. She craved attention, not towards her own physical vanity, but for people to be hypnotized, to almost worship at her feet while they were there.
In the streets, it was a normal day, a smile and a wave (despite the distance she kept) at locals who knew her, at children who kept their own distance. But in her space, in her time, when they came for help that wasn’t in need of immediate care, they had better pay her strict attention and respect.
Tia knew people. She knew there was more than anyone showed to the public, knew there were things that made them vulnerable or hopeful or damaged. She didn’t believe in letting people pass through her life as fleeting as the breeze and that was why if they couldn’t pay her in cash, they paid her in details.
It was just a matter of time before those payments came to bite her. And as outspoken and fiery as she was, Tia wasn’t a fool
A highly respected member by the people, her name known throughout the Caribbean for the services she provided, she was approached one day by a man. He asked her for a reading, wanted both a bone reading and a palm, the questions he wanted answered straight to the point. He paid her on a very handsome amount to ensure he would get the most out of this visit.
He was on the rise in politics, “you understand of course,” and he wanted to know what she could tell him about his career. When she informed him he could get what he wanted, she also told him he would have to be careful about the things he’d done in the past and the things he would do so he wouldn’t ruin himself. “Your arrogance will be your downfall.”
Her warning, however, made him paranoid about what she knew. It wasn’t a secret that Tia accepted information and secrets as payments and there were plenty of people that she could have and in fact did speak too that probably paid her in this way. That made her dangerous, made her in the way, and in an instance he decided she had to go.
Already understanding the situation she was in, Tia took things into her own hands. When he came back for her a few days later with reinforcements, they found her already gone, fled in the night.
Tia caught the first ship out of Jamaica and ran for the states, smuggling herself in and living day to day by selling fortunes. When the carnival passed, she saw an opportunity and she took it, going to Mufasa himself to show how right for the carnival she was, reading his fortune with her bag of bones. She earned her place and has stayed there ever since, even after Scar took over. However, Tia might be one of the few if not the only one to have an idea of how Scar became head, but she’d rather keep her head down and her mouth shut about it. Until due time, that is.
BLESSED: Tia can control saltwater and influence anything that might be living in the water.
CURSED: If she touches someone’s skin with her bare hands, Tia can see a memory of theirs, be it a secret or a thought they’ve had. However, whoever she touches can see a secret or a memory of hers as well.
TIA DALMA IS TAKEN AND PLAYED BY MORGAN.
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