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 Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:16 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:18 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:30 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:32 am
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Alae Greaves
The Keeper
Name: Alae Greaves
Age: 25
Region:
Born & Raised In → Nylle, Auvinus
Lives In → Gadu, Imisus
Moving Back To → Nylle, Auvinus
Occupation: Unemployed; formerly, a confectioner
Appearance:
Alae's physical appearance now is just a shell of what she used to be. Before her drinking problem was established, the woman was a healthy 5'6" with a bright smile, cheeks that always seemed to be rosy, and a plump but curvy figure. All of that has changed now. Not only has her drinking made her a waif of her former self, but it has also caused her to have insomnia. Her inability to sleep has thus resulted in even more prominent bags and dark circles under her eyes (she had them before her problem, but they were much less pronounced). Her strawberry blonde hair has become dull when it used to shine in the sun, and her mossy green eyes never seem to sparkle anymore. Basically, she let her physical looks go completely by not putting much effort into taking care of herself. Her clothes are plain and simple, though she was never really into designer fashions. All of her outfits have been made by her mother. In Auvinus, she tends to wear dresses of lighter cotton material in either neutral greens, grays, or creams. Her clothes for Imisus tend to differ depending on the weather. She has heavier dresses for the colder months, along with a cloak or two. Alae keeps things to a bare minimum with her hair tied back in a messy bun. She also wears almost little to no accessories, as she can't really afford them.
Personality:
In terms of her personality, Alae is actually quite pleasant to be around when she hasn't been drinking.
She is a soft-spoken, quiet individual. This isn't because she is shy or anything. On the contrary, Ms. Greaves has an easy time making friends. She would just prefer to sit in the background and take everything in, rather than just jump in and be the life of the party. This was something that came about in her later childhood years. When she first started school, Alae was a bit more outgoing, but slowly retreated into a more solitary nature as she got older. She doesn't really mind this, and would actually prefer to be with one or two people for some nice conversation rather than a big, loud gathering.
Another thing about Alae is that she is very hardworking. If there is something she wants with all of her heart, then she will set her mind to it, go out there, and do whatever it takes to get it. This can mainly be seen when she had to work for a number of years in order to raise the money up for her candy shop. The young woman did whatever sort of work she had to do in order to raise the money for it. Whatever she sets her mind to, if she wants it badly enough, Alae will get it done.
Unfortunately, people aren't without their flaws. Alae is this same way. Her biggest issue came with a depression and self-doubt that arose when business in her shop started to suffer. Although she doesn't mean to, this young woman tends to let her feelings get the better of her. In short, she is known for letting things getting her down, and she has a tendency to not only worry, but to look at things negatively. Anyone in her family and Franz would have told you that she lets everything, even the simplest of things, worry her. Her dad will even joke that she worries about not having anything to worry about. It was the stress that came from all this worrying that eventually led the confectioner to the bottle in an attempt to relax her mind.
Young Miss Greaves’ personality seems to take a bit of a twist when she is under the influence of alcohol. Her typical quiet nature is replaced with a suddenly loud and boisterous individual. She will say whatever comes to her mind, unafraid that her words might hurt or even offend someone. Some say the truth comes out when a person is drunk, and if that’s true then Alae has a lot on her mind that she’s too afraid to say when she is sober. After she’s had a few drinks, Alae also tends to become lazy. Work is the last thing on her mind, and she would rather drink herself into a stupor than think about how she’s going to get customers into her shop.
With her excessive drinking came a staggering, if not harsh reality. She had caused herself to lose her very own shop. This was a big blow to the woman’s ego, and the point where she realized that she needed to get help. Now aware of the severity of her problem, Alae hopes to finally kick her drinking habit with the help of her family (and God, as her mother always includes) by her side.
History:
Alae Greaves came into this world on one of Auvinus' particularly humid days (though, within the southern country, what day isn't humid). She was the Greaves' first child and her parents, Rhyker and Oola, couldn't have been happier. Their little girl was everything her father and mother could have asked for, and with their new baby, their little family was now complete. The day after giving birth, Oola took her daughter with her husband and they all returned home back to their modest farm.
The young girl grew up with a relatively simple life. Both of her parents had been born and raised in Shyregoed, but ended up moving to Auvinus shortly after they had gotten married. Rhyker was tired of living a nomadic lifestyle with his wife, feeling that the living conditions within their country weren't good enough to raise a family. This was one of the main reasons the two decided to pack up and move to the southern most country. It enabled them to make a meager, but sustainable living as farmers. Due to her parents' upbringing, Alae was raised in a particularly religious household as well. A deeply rooted faith system and spiritual support was one thing Oola felt her child could not go without. In her eyes, every child needed that kind of support for a good upbringing.
Alae didn't go to school like regular children. Public schools were few and far between in the desolate lands of Auvinus. Because of this, her parents thought of another way to educate their child, if only slightly. In order to learn to read and write and her basic sums, the girl was sent to the local priest. He educated her on those simple things in trade for some of the Greaves' best produce when the harvest came around. After she mastered the basics of all that, her education seemed to stop, however. The pursuit of knowledge, while intriguing, wasn't really meant for her. She would have to work in order to help provide for herself and her family.
When she was younger, it was more commonplace to see her playing with kids her own age. As she got older, however, the Greaves' child became more of a solitary girl, preferring to be by herself or with close family members than large groups of kids. Not wanting Alae to grow bored or feel lonely, her mother decided to show her something that would change the little girl's life forever. At age seven, on a particularly warm summer day, Oola showed her how to make candy. From that moment, she was hooked. She knew what she wanted to do with her life.
Now the Greaves family didn't each much candy. Since they did what they could just to get by with the bare necessities, such treats were a luxury. And yet, every so often, Alae's mother managed to save a bit here or a little there in order to raise up the money for ingredients. After she had all the proper things that she needed, the woman then proceeded to show her daughter ways to make different candy. Chocolates, cookies, taffy - she soaked it all in, until the point came where she had memorized everything her mom had to teach her. It was at this time in her life that she had made a decision: she was going to open up a confectionary shop of her very own. At twelve years old at the time, her family and friends chuckled at the idea, but supported her nonetheless. Most coined it off as being the ambitious dreams of a young girl.
In order to make her dream come true, the strawberry blonde had to work in the years that followed. She did whatever she could in order to scrape up funds: cleaning houses, taking care of animals, pulling weeds, picking vegetables. Whatever it took. Alae was determined to reach her goal, and in the end all of her hard work seemed to have paid off. By the time she was nineteen, she had managed to raise enough for not just the shop, but transport to Imisus as well. The girl was headed off to the big city of Gadu; a place she knew for sure that her business would flourish. Thus, the girl left home and finally set off on her own.
Alae had enough money for a shop, alright. Unfortunately, as it turned out, though, it didn’t end up going very far. Everything she had worked so hard to scrimp and save was only able to get her a rundown, ramshackle corner shop in one of the seedier areas of town. Regardless of the condition of her newly acquired shop or its location, it didn’t seem to matter to her. A shop was a shop, and she was eager to get everything cleaned up and ready for business.
Everything started off well in the beginning. Miss Greaves’ shop, which she had dubbed Tickle Your Fancy, was a hit with the nearby locals and even a bit of the upper class within Gadu as well. The store had regular customers, and the cash was coming in at a steady rate. Unfortunately, the young woman’s good fortune was not to last, and by the time she had turned 21, things started to go downhill.
Sickness started to overrun cities throughout Panymium. It was only natural after the plague started to spread that panic set in amongst the people. Things weren’t so great for the economy anymore. Instead of buying things, people were too worried about getting sick or having medicine for their families. Eventually, people stopped coming to her shop. The regulars came less and less until finally few people came at all.
Despite the sudden lack of interest in her store, Alae understood their reasoning (but at the same time, she didn’t want to). Stressed out and depressed from a decline in business, the woman did the only thing she could think of in order to relieve her troubled mind: she began to drink. It was her neighbor, Franz Ulstein - an elderly man who lived in the apartment across the hall from her - that gave her first drink. It would calm her nerves, he said, and relax her.
One drink turned into another, and then another and another. It started off with something simple, just a small glass of wine. Before she knew it, though, Alae was drinking harder alcohol: whiskey, scotch, brandy – anything she could get her hands on. Eventually, it even got to the point to where she would do anything in order to get a drink. She would sweet-talk guys in bars, say she needed it for medicine, or even would steal it from neighbors and friends. Franz even introduced her to something she was relatively new to: absinthe. Apparently, you could use it for more than just medicinal purposes with some ice water and a little sugar. Regardless of how much she drank, the confectioner always managed to keep her shop running at the bare minimum.
That is, until she stopped making candies or doing work completely. After six years of being in Gadu, her shop finally ended going bankrupt. She had lost it all in such a short period. Around the time her shop foreclosed, Rhyker ended up coming to the city to visit his little girl. Over the years he and his wife had an inkling of what she was getting into, and his thoughts were confirmed when he saw her sitting in the living room of her tiny apartment, empty liquor bottles littering the floor. That was all he needed to see. Alae’s father was upset and distraught over what she was doing to herself, and immediately told her they would be leaving the next morning. She was coming home where she belonged and they were going to help her with this addiction.
That same night, Alae managed to sneak out of her apartment after her father had fallen asleep. There was no way she was leaving without saying goodbye to Franz. He was her neighbor, after all, and the closest thing she had to a friend within the city! It was the least she could do. By the time she got to her neighbor’s apartment, however, the man was asleep at the table. Or, at least, it looked like he was asleep. From a combination of exhaustion from her father’s lecture and the dire need of a drink, in the end all the woman managed to do was mumble a quiet goodbye, but she didn’t end up leaving right away. On her way out, a glass on the table caught her eye: it was a reservoir glass of absinthe, and Franz’s fingers were dipped in its contents.
Oh, well. A drink was a drink, right? The former confectioner took it without hesitation, making her way back to her apartment without a word. As someone addicted to the poison of alcohol, the poor woman needed a drink. Regardless of the fact that Franz was her friend and neighbor, regardless that they were close, she took the absinthe. An addict does whatever they need to in order to get a drink, and young miss Greaves was no exception.
Just like her father had told her, the two of them ended up leaving back for Auvinus the next morning. Alae still hasn’t been able to bring herself to drink the absinthe in the glass. Shortly after she returned from Franz, her father ended up catching her with the alcohol, but instead of throwing it out, he had something different in mind. He let his daughter keep that last bit of alcohol, telling her to keep it as a reminder. Perhaps if she saw it all the time, it would remind her of the horrible spiral she had gotten herself into. Whether the constant reminder will help her not, only time will tell, but for the moment, Alae Greaves is in possession of some rather special absinthe. |
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:38 am
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Haraia
 The Plague
Name: Haraia
Gender: Female
Item: Absinthe
Type: Caedos
Personality:
Since she was brought into this world by a doctor, Haraia seems to be under the impression that she was put on this earth to help people. In her early stage, she tries her best to see what she can do to help anyone who might need some assistance (Alae, in particular). Initially, after providing some help, things seem to go quite well. This usually doesn't end up lasting, however, and the Plague's help somehow backfires. She always ends up blundering up somehow or making things worse.
History:
Believe it or not, Haraia wasn't originally intended for alcoholic consumption. This little bit of green liquid was distilled by a doctor, no less, by the name of Wylin Noveau. The doctor was born and raised in the country of Imisus, growing up and even going to school there. Throughout his years of education, Wylin never once desired to venture out into the other countries of Panymium, and it was just as well. Shortly after he opened up his own practice, things throughout the continent began to get bad, and they began to get bad quickly: the black plague was spreading.
Up until the time of the plague, Doctor Noveau had gotten very few customers for his private practice. There was the occasional elderly man here, a sick child with her mother there, but not all that much in terms of regular customers. All of that changed with the onslaught of the Black Death. Every time someone showed even the simplest sign of illness, there was a person at the man’s door waiting to be examined. With the sudden influx of the incoming sickly needing to be treated, the physician needed to come up with a way to treat them all, and he needed it fast.
Absinthe was the remedy that provided that very solution. One night while flipping through his old medical texts, Wylin came across a particular article that spoke about wormwood being used for medicinal purposes by those back in the olden days. An invisible light bulb went off in the man’s head with that in mind, and thus he got to work. Absinthe! That would be the answer that all of his patients were looking for! The doctor wasted no time after that and began work straight away.
In the beginning, Wylin only ended up distilling about three or four bottles every week. He figured that would be enough. The man was surprised, however, to find out that his supply of homemade absinthe didn’t last for very long. People snatched them up faster than a winning lotto ticket on Saturday night. His so-called cure all was an instant hit and in such high demand that he had to start distilling even more. His life became a routine of eat, sleep, treat the sick and distill more absinthe to soothe their needs.
Haraia’s particular bottle of absinthe was one of the last few the doctor ever made. It was purchased one day by a man named Franz Ulstein – the same man who was neighbors with Alae Greaves and the one who introduced her to absinthe. On the day he purchased the bottle of Noveau’s remedy, Franz looked rather well, the doctor noted. Alae’s neighbor noted, however, to feeling a bit under the weather in the past few days. The medicine was just a precaution he claimed. Little did the doctor know that the man before him had been abusing the liquid, stealing it from others and getting it from other physicians around the city. With his cure in hand, Ulstein properly paid the man and made his way back home.
Unfortunately, Franz never got to finish Haraia’s bottle. In the days that followed, his health took a quick turn for the worst. The man ended up passing away from the Black Death – the very thing he was trying to avoid – on a chilly night. When all was said and done, the elderly gentleman had managed to drink most of the contents of the bottle. The last bit of bottle’s contents could be found in a reservoir glass. But the green liquid wasn’t the only thing in the cup. Franz’s tainted fingers had ended up slipping into the glass when he passed away, as he was in a last ditch effort to try and drink away his illness. He never managed to.
Hours later, Alae Greaves managed to find Franz in his home. By this time, mind you, she had already thrown herself into a drunken depression. Her shop was closing, but not only that – she needed another drink. Her family was coming to take her back home to try and cure her of her addiction to alcohol. That was when her eyes fell upon the glass of absinthe. The woman did the only thing that came to her mind: she moved the old man’s fingers out of the glass and took it with her. Miss Greaves had officially come into possession of tainted absinthe.
As of today, the young woman still hasn’t been able to bring herself to drink the liquid. She is back home in Auvinus with her family now, currently trying her hardest to kick the dark habit she had brought upon herself. Though, with Haraia as a constant reminder, one has to worry whether she will kick the addiction or end up falling prey to it all over again. |
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:43 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:51 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:53 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:55 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:56 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:59 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:00 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:01 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:02 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:04 am
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