Handler

Name: Alexius
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Unknown; certainly likes women, might like men as well
Craft: Weaver; tailor/embroiderer
Rank:

History: Alexius’ family was successful and fairly wealthy but he wasn’t too aware of that as a boy and his life was fairly normal until he was ten, when he started to have seizures. There were no clear triggers for his symptoms, and though he could tell when one was coming on a few minutes in advance by an onset of dizziness his parents fretted about him, and kept him very much indoors. His closest friends still came to see him and play with him in their free time, but for three turns he had very little interaction with anyone but them and his family. He continued to progress in his father’s craft however, and was determined to contribute to the community despite his condition. He did, however, become very defensive because of it as well; he always expected people to expect less of him, and so tried to do better than everyone else to make up for it.

For his thirteenth name day his parents bought him a wher egg, having had the brilliant idea that it could look after him. At first Alexius didn’t care for the idea - he didn’t want to be coddled! - but when the wher hatched he blood bonded to her all the same, and from that moment on he adored the tough green he dubbed Alexisk. As his family was also able to acquire the special herbal mixture, a little of it anyway, Alexisk has turned out to be a fairly bright wher but hardly stunningly so. Once Alexisk was a few months old Alexius got out a lot more, but by then he found himself not quite as fond of dealing with people he didn’t know well as most might be; he did start to make new friends but the process was slow, and a lot of patience was needed on the part of the other person.

Now aged thirty one turns, he is hardly a recluse but he counts far more people as acquaintances than he counts as real friends. Alexisk remains and integral part of his life, and he won’t go anywhere without her. He has his own small home not far from his parents’ house, but is unmarried as yet.

Appearance: Already quite tall and imposing at six feet, Alexius holds himself ramrod straight at all times making him seem even taller. He is a gaunt individual, not enough fat on him to grease a pan, and only enough muscle to get by in every day life. His hair is long, straight, and predominately black but already greying quite heavily at the temples. Signs of premature age show on his face as well; it is as gaunt as the rest of him, and lines are beginning to show around his eyes and on his brow. Grey-blue eyes combined with a pale complexion and usually quite chilly expressions finish the man off; all in all he doesn’t look like the friendly type at all. Even when around people he considers friends his smiles tend to be slight, and he laughs seldom; a reserved, austere man to be sure.

Personality: Alexius is by and large a detached, unemotional man. One the plus side this makes him collected and difficult to fluster, but on the minus side it makes him pretty uncaring; unless he’s really close to somebody, he’ll avoid them rather than comfort them if they look sad, and fail to sympathise with their problems if they insist on sharing them with him. Just as he doesn’t appreciate hearing about the issues of any but his nearest and dearest, he won’t share things that are worrying him with people he doesn’t know well and trust completely. Very quick to expect criticism if anyone seems to imply that he’s doing something wrong or not doing enough he will pretend not to care, but will really be desperate to convince them that he is not only working hard enough, but working harder than pretty well anyone else around him too, even if this isn’t actually the case.

As can be deduced from this, Alexius is also a workaholic; he hates the weakness his seizures give him, and seeks to ‘redeem’ himself by slaving away with needle and thread for as long as possible. When he’s socializing, he’s usually also working on one piece or another at the same time as chatting; no sense wasting time after all! The constant stress he puts himself under to work long hours and achieve high standards has taken its toll on him; he certainly looks older than his turns and often seems rather tired. He cannot stand to see anyone working harder than he is, and if he does he will do his best to surpass them; he has to be better than the rest, to make up for his hated weakness. If he can’t beat someone for workaholism, he will find himself uncomfortable around them, and try to find other ways to be better than they are. He is certainly not above starting unpleasant rumors to make himself look better than somebody he sees as a rival. Some of the rumors he starts up are extremely vindictive, but he does his best to make every single on of them, big or small, believable. After all, if they’re too fantastical everyone will just dismiss them, and then all his effort would be wasted.

Though Alexius is not close to many people, those people he is close to he is extremely close to. He would do just about anything to help somebody he considers a real friend, and his friends also have a huge amount of power over him. A lot of his self-esteem is invested in how other people see him, but this is even more true with his friends. If one of them seems to imply he’s not working hard enough, his self worth takes a real hit. On the other hand, if one of them suggests he’s working too hard, he assumes they mean ‘too hard for somebody like you’ and feels just as terrible as if they had said he was lazy.


Other: Alexius suffers from tonic-clonic seizures. They occur fairly frequently, usually once every couple of days. He is never without a satchel that contains a couple of pieces he’s working on along with needles, thread and so on, along with a clean change of clothes, as his seizures sometimes cause him to lose control of his bladder. When he feels a seizure coming on, he will find a private place to go and lie down; the very last thing he wants is an audience. As such, whenever he is going somewhere new, or to a place he isn’t too familiar with, the first thing he will do is scope out possible hiding places.


Wher

Name: Alexisk
Function: Assistance wher; she makes sure Alexius is safe during seizures, and if anyone happens to approach during one she will chase them off
Size: Average for a Ghenza green

Personality: Alexisk is neither the brightest or the dimmest of the whers at Ghenza; she could perhaps be compared to an emotionally mature child of around twelve turns. Her memory is reasonable: back to around a turn it is comparable to a human's, but beyond that she remembers only very fuzzy details save for a few very important events.

She takes her duty to Alexius very seriously, and is very attached to him. Being separated from him for more than a few minutes puts her on the edge of hysteria; she is convinced that something awful will happen to one of them if they are kept apart. When they are together she can’t stand to be ignored, and will get very petulant if she thinks he has been paying attention to somebody else for too long. Physical attention is enough to satisfy her, so he does actually get to carry out a conversation so long as he remembers to stop sewing every so often and stroke her.

If Alexius happens to be outside, Alexisk will take the chance to charge around and burn off energy; she loves to be active, and will be grumpy, and more attention seeking than usual if she hasn’t had enough exercise. Her favorite way of exercising is playing games like tag; she’ll play with anyone who seems willing, and attempt to play with plenty who aren’t. Though she never means to be rough, she has bowled over plenty of human playmates (both willing and unwilling) in the past, and will no doubt continue to do so. No matter how much she is enjoying play however, she will make sure to go right up to Alexius every few minutes to be stroked, and to firmly assure herself that they’re both alright.

Alexisk hates being shouted at, or told off in general, but especially by Alexius. If he reprimands her, she will spend several days trying to make it up to him by not moving more than a few feet away from him if she can help it, but not asking him for any attention. If somebody else tells her off, she will flee back to Alexius seeking reassurance. If he agrees that she deserves to be told off, she will be extra miserable, and convinced that she is totally useless for a couple of days; there aren’t many sights more pathetic than a wher slinking along after her handler like a canine that knows it’s been bad.