KEEPER
Name: Gideon Pinel
Age: 34
Intended Faction: The Fellowship
Region: Eve, Mishkan
Personality:
Quiet and long suffering, Gideon is used to a life of continuous work that revolves around monotony. He likes the complexity of numbers and that there is an answer to every equation as long as you plug in the right formula. It’s the knowing of the outcome that soothes Gideon. He has no constitution for surprises and generally avoids them at all cost. He likes his life and his work to be well organized. Just short of being obsessive compulsive, Gideon does put extra care in making sure everything is in the right spot. He has held this kind of cleanly attitude since he was a child and it served him well during his time with his father as it allowed him to organize the stock and know just how much there was to sell and buy. Like his house, Gideon strives to keep his life as orderly and uneventful as possible.
Outside of his neatly put together home though, Gideon tends to turn into a bit of an anxious mess. Large crowds make him nervous and strange people make him cautious. He is always very polite to a fault, but only because he doesn’t know how to act any way else. He’s not sociable and struggles to relate to people because of their diversity and spontaneity. Gideon likes to keep all spontaneous things in his lab where he can control the outcome, at least to a point. He can’t control people and thus never knows quiet what the right thing is to say, always unsure when the next word will leave him with a punch in the face. It’s Gideon’s social anxiety that leaves him unable to achieve anything higher than a seer in the Fellowship. He is filled with knowledge and potential, but his timid natures leaves him lacking in all the qualities that are needed to be a sage.
While Gideon is not a social butterfly, that doesn’t stop his kindness from shining through. He is a very gentle and kind man who wants nothing more than to use his knowledge in magic and science to heal people quietly from the shadows. He doesn’t strive to be someone recognized and his easily embarrassed when he’s congratulated on one finding or another. While humble, Gideon’s modesty cripples him, leaving him feeling insecure. Always the pessimistic, he never expects anything in exchange for his work and while he may sell his spells and potions for a living, he’ll just as easily commit himself to works of charity from time to time.
During his time with his father as a traveling merchant, it became woefully obvious that it was a trade that Gideon would never excel in. Oh, sure, he did fine with keeping stock and the books balanced, but he lacked the finesse needed to negotiate with traders and patrons alike. It he ever wanted to be a merchant, he’d need a man like his father to always be the one in the limelight.
Just like as a when he was younger, Gideon always needs that extra little push from someone to convince him to do something. If he was ever meant for greatness, then Gideon would need the steadiness of a constant companion to guide him. Juno will eventually become this person to Gideon, constantly pushing the mage to strive more and do more, whether Gideon wants to do it or not. As his relationship progresses with Juno though, Gideon learns to let go just a little bit more as well as not let people, namely Juno, take advantage of his shy nature.
Appearance:
Gideon is of average height and build, though his hands are a little on the large side, contributing to his clumsiness. He has curls of chestnut brown hair tied at the nape of his neck and his eyes are blue. His face has an open and kind look to it and he wears the garb of a middle class merchant when he's not out doing work for the Fellowship.
History:
Gideon was born in the cold of the north, but while the weather may have been biting, Gideon’s home life was warm and full of love. His mother, Yvonne Pinel, died in child birth and while Gideon never knew a mother’s love, he grew up as a happy child. Surrounded by a doting father and tender nursemaid, Gideon spent most of his youth either playing outside or engrossed in reading book. His father, Steward Pinel, while loving, spent much of his time abroad, traveling around as a merchant, selling his wares far and wide. Gideon wanted for nothing though and when he turned thirteen, he too began to travel with his father, learning the ways of the merchant.
It became quickly apparent thought that Gideon’s shy and awkward nature was not suited for the boisterous life of a merchant. He was good with numbers though, and smart, and soon took to running his father’s books and keeping inventory. For a time, Gideon and his father were a dynamic duo of brains and charisma.
At the age of sixteen, Gideon began to study for university after discovery his latent magical ability as well as his curiousness over science. By the time he’d turned eighteen, Gideon’s father had amassed enough fortune to gain a title and land for himself, leaving Gideon able to attend University with both a stipend from his father and grants he’d earned from his higher test scores.
For the next seven years, Gideon studied and worked. At the age of twenty two he pledged himself to the Fellowship and the work to better mankind. When he turned twenty four, his discoveries and work as an alchemist earned him higher status within the Fellowship. When he turned thirty two, his aloe cream concoction won him both an achievement award as well as status of a seer.
And that is where much of Gideon’s troubles began. His structured and thought out life is suddenly thrown out of balance with the appearance of his plague and he’s constantly trying to keep himself from flying out of control due to the volatile and very different Juno.
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PLAGUE
Item: Laurels
Name: Juno
Personality:
Juno has the headstrong ways of a fiery and ambition person, reminiscent of what the golden laurels represent. He is constantly wanting to go and do and see, getting as much out of life as possible. Far from being loud and obnoxious, Juno holds a quiet poise and can be impressive to some if he isn’t looked at too closely. On the outside, Juno looks like a well put together plague who is both articulate and charismatic. Juno knows how to make his way around social circles and always seems to know what kind of impressive thing that needs to be said to awe people. However, not everything Juno says is true. He’s not a pathological liar, but he will say anything that he thinks will make him look better and smarter than the average person. If he thinks he'll get somewhere if he pretends he's good friends with the Grand Magus, then he won't hesitate to say so. More often then not, Juno will pretend that he knows someone better than he does.
Juno’s tendency to name-drop may dazzle the unwitting, but anyone who isn’t half as gullible will see that sometimes Juno isn’t all that truthful.
It’s because of Juno’s need to succeed that he is always trying to make himself seem larger than life. In the beginning though, that is clearly not the case and Juno is obviously just another creature born of a plagued item. That doesn’t mean he lacks in ideals or lofty goals, he simply lacks the way in which to achieve them. Due to seeing himself as being unable to get what he wants because of his status as a chaotic plague, Juno shoves his determination onto others, namely Gideon. Stubborn and manipulation, Juno tries anything he can to push Gideon further into the limelight. The mage already has the tools with which to succeed, something Juno feels he is lacking. Gideon’s lack of ambition infuriates Juno to no end and he is often left sulking for days if his latest schemes to elevate Gideon’s current position fails. And while Juno is prone to deep sulks, he rarely every gets angry enough to get even, at least where Gideon in concerned. Once angered though, Juno’s vindictive side becomes clear and he always gets even in the end, especially if he has been slightly socially in some way.
Juno takes a leaf from Gideon’s book when it comes to feeling not good enough. Juno may talk big, but words hurt and that’s why he strikes so deeply against anyone who says anything bad about him. These feelings clash with his need to be number one and he is constantly battling with himself over feeling both insecure and good enough to do anything. Needless to say, Juno is not a mellow person and can swing between one emotion and the next at the drop of a hat. Because of this, Juno is prone to moping as well as sulking.
Another important trait to note in Juno is that he is lazy. He’d rather lay about the house than go outside for a walk. He acts like he were the king, wanting to be waited on and never picking up after himself. While Juno works to get what he wants and to achieve his goals, he’ll still try to do it with the least amount of work possible. Working smarter not harder is Juno’s philosophy and he aims to do just that every time he wakes up in the morning. Odds are, if he can convince you to do something for him, he’ll do so.
Item history:
The history of how Gideon received the golden laurels was both an odd and fantastical time in his life. He’d just spent the last two years working on a very important project regarding the healing and magical properties of aloe. In the end, he’d created a cream based salve that not only promoted healing for small cuts and burns, but also offered the wearer just the smallest amount of luck.
The cream is made out of a mixture of olive oil, beeswax, almond oil, jojoba oil, sandlewood, water, a little flour as thickener, and just a bit of Gideon's magic. His aperture is located in the palm of his left hand and he only needed to do a simply gesture over his cream base to solidify both the healing and magical properties. Much of the cream's ingredients came from Gideon's own garden. For much of his work, Gideon keeps beehives, studying the worth of honey that is produces from bees when exposed to different flora. That's beside the point though. Gideon's real discovery came when he was traveling the countryside and happened about the aloe plant in the early stages of spring. Intrigued by the plant, he took it home and cultivated it. In time, Gideon broke down the physical and magical aspects of the aloe plant, discovering that not only did the sap offering healing, but the magical being of the plant itself offered luck, whether in plant or cream form.
Applying the completed salve not only helps with burns and other skin ailments, but can be liquified to drink as a tea to soothe stomach troubles. If it is rubbed on the skin, whether to heal or just moisturize, the wearer is offered just the tiniest hint of luck, whether it be not stumbling over anything in the road, or finding that missing glove from so long ago. It offers just a little bit of luck to get a person through the day. It retains such luck because of the latent magic in the aloe plant. Gideon draws said luck out, breaking it down into its most potent and raw form before applying all the other ingredients.
Of course, the aloe is most potent when it is made fresh. The older it is the more useless its magic gets. Thankfully, aloe in general has longevity so it can still be used to heal just fine if stored properly in a room temperature environment.
It was because of this discovery that the Fellowship had decided to honor Gideon for his accomplishments. Not only was Gideon elevated to the status of seer for his creation, but he also received the golden laurels for services rendered to the good of the Fellowship. Gideon was crowned with the laurels by a sage by the name of Elliot Berk. Unbeknownst to everyone, Elliot had already been infected with the plague and his body was in the early stages of the sickness. It was his touch that had infected the laurels. A week after Gideon’s award, Elliot died and unbeknownst to Gideon, the laurels sitting so magnificently on his mantel burned with plague.
A time later, Juno manifested, much to Gideon’s horror.
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PROMPT
“You can’t continue to avoid me like this, Juno.”
“I’m not avoiding you.”
“Yes, you are,” Gideon said, finally having cornered Juno near the back gate of their private garden.
“No, I’m not. We’ve been through this Gideon and I’m tired of it. I’m not having this conversation with you, again, especially not out in a back alley.” Juno crossed his arms over his chest, looking sour and worn out over the questioning. While he refused to admit it, he had been avoiding Gideon. Sure, they may have lived in the same house, but that didn’t mean Juno didn’t do his fair share of skulking around. It was easy, anyways, to avoid someone who spent most of their time holed up in a musty study.
“We need to resolve this. Now,” Gideon replied. He stood firmly in Juno’s path, even when the plague tried to go around him. There was a brief scuffle, neither wanting to back off. Out of breath the two stared each other down, Juno growing more ireful by the moment. “Now,” Gideon said again. “Did you or did you not kill a man with the pestilence inside of you?”
“Do you think I wanted him to die?” Juno bit out suddenly, not giving a damn that his raised voiced echoed down the darkening cobbled street. “Do you think that I’m so heartless that I could just stand there and watch him waste away to nothing? Dominic was my friend too, Gideon, a good friend. I don’t know what those fools in the Fellowship have been whispering to you, but dammit, I was not responsible.”
“He died of plague, Juno, and you’re the one he saw most often. It’s not that I don’t believe you. I do, I really do, but, the others,” Gideon gestured helplessly, “they need proof. Give me your word that you did nothing and we’ll leave it at that. I’ll be able to tell my fellows in clear conscience that you are innocent.”
The silence that stretched between the two men was more stifling than the hottest summer. Juno stared hard at Gideon, his mouth a thin, tight line. He wanted to tell Gideon the truth, ached to do so even, but the thought of seeing the censure in Gideon’s eyes was enough to make Juno’s stomach turn. He steeled himself though, quelling whatever unnamed feelings that were welling up inside of him.
“I did it,” Juno replied, his voice as icy and toneless as he could make it, even as he was crying out inside. He’d questioned himself on his decision over and over again, but Juno knew he’d do it again in a heartbeat. The fools in the Fellowship could all go jump off a cliff. At least the pestilence had killed Dominic swiftly and without further pain. The man had died on the very next hour after Juno had met with him, having seized and choked to death on his own fluids. The very memory of that morning had Juno biting the inside of his cheek and turning away from Gideon as he waited for the mage’s response. When none came, Juno continued.
“I won’t make excuses for myself, nor will I apologize. I did what I thought was right, Gideon. Dominic was dying. It was not of plague and you and everyone else knows it. The wasting sickness had taken tight hold on him and there was nothing to do but wait as he died slowly and painfully. At least my way offered him a quick and painless death.” Juno fell silent, pretending to be calm as he stood before Gideon. He didn’t tell Gideon how Dominic had begged him for death or how he, Juno, had cried over the other man’s body, railing against the hand fate had dealt. Juno had harbored hope for a time, hoping that Gideon and his potions and poultices would help. The pain and sickness had never been alleviated and Juno had taken matters into his own hands. He would never tell what Dominic had asked of him. Dominic might as well have committed suicide himself with those words and Juno would never risk letting Dominic’s body go unconsecrated.
“Juno you—“ Gideon finally tried, only to be abruptly cut off.
“No. It’s done, Gideon. You know the truth. Do what you must.” Juno darted swiftly around Gideon and disappeared through the gate, his tall figure disappearing into the dark of the garden. For many long moments, Gideon stood out on the street in the dimness of the growing night before he finally turned and left Juno to the empty house to go and speak of what he had learned.
