[C] Garrett Carnelian & Raphael Soutenir (A)

[LoveByLetters]

Garrett Carnelian and Raphael Soutenir

--- PROFILE: step by step description
--- RAPHAEL: how it is that a Guardian may have two names
--- THE CHOOSING: planned and organized in advance
--- GARRET'S THREADS: toes he's trod on
--- POSSIBILITIES: following the treadmarks

{Macaire -- Nortier -- Rosemarie -- Harmon -- Ghastly --The Friedrichs -- Georgios -- Ivon Skelet -- Lisette}

 

[LoveByLetters]

NAME Garrett Carnelian
AGE 24
OCCUPATION Heraldic Specialist
FAMILY Mother, estranged; several extended family members with whom he has only a professional relationship

POSITIVES focused, hard-working, brave
NEUTRALS analytical, intense, observant
NEGATIVE bitter, short-tempered, judgmental, vengeful, impatient

APPEARANCE
The first thing potential patrons notice when entering Garrett's intimate little shop is that he does not stand to greet his visitors, no matter how exalted they might be. At the sound of the bell at the door, he will come around the counter slowly, the wooden wheeled chair gliding across an exceptionally smooth floor with almost no sound. A childhood accident left Garrett's feet and ankles ruined beyond all hope of repair, leaving him permanently crippled. He goes to great lengths to ensure that his disability is as invisible as possible, with the chair and a thinness to his legs being the only outward signs. The chair he uses for toodling around his shop has small, narrow wheels, and is perfectly matched to the decor of his shop. He owns several other equally attractive options for when he leaves his shop, varying in size and design depending on the destination.

Understandably, he is thin, looking overall somewhat underfed, though his arms and shoulders are well built. he dresses as well as his purse allows, knowing that this is like to make his guests feel more at ease. His hair is a royal auburn mounded heavily on his head, his features lending themselves to a look which was -- until the arrival of the Queen's Pet -- considered elven. With a real example of that race available, it is now more accurate to say he is 'waifish,' his face also being thin and delicate. Moreover, there is generally a cross set to his expression which prevents him from being attractive despite his well-tailored clothes.

PERSONALITY
Garrett is a little rough around the edges; he is impatient, critical, and very intensely judgmental, forming instant (and generally negative) opinions of others based on minute details . He is not a naturally social creature, interacting with others only as his needs and duties require. To the wealthy and their highly placed servants he is cooly courteous, though he expects some acknowledgement of his own status as the top expert in his field. To those of little or no status he is more than cool, quick to express his irritation that he should be forced to deal with lesser beings. In truth, Garrett feels this way about everyone, high or low; it is simply that he knows it could be detrimental to his business to behave rudely to those with the wherewithal to pay him.

Oddly, those that bite back in the face of Garrett's sharp words are the ones that fare the best. Garrett seems to appreciate and enjoy resistance, and argument for the sake of argument appears to be something of a hobby for him. Anyone who spends time with Garrett may soon realize that there is not always actual malice behind his words -- much of his behavior stems from a desire to poke at others to see if anyone is actually brave enough to poke back.

SKILLS
Officially, Garrett is a scholar of ancestral history -- in his dry old tomes are the family lines for every family of note in Sunderland, tracking every daughter, son, and by-blow down to the last detail. Overall he is an incredible historian with a wealth of knowledge kept at his fingertips, visited frequently by scholars and suitors alike. His most profitable customers are the parents of noble children of marriageable age, first to determine which sons and daughters are also of age and well-blooded, and second to make certain that these sons and daughters are not too closely related.

What joy Garret gets out of life he finds in his work -- not just the purely scholarly elements of it, but when he delves into intrigue above his station, using his knowledge to make or break marriages, treaties, and trade agreements.

His memory is astonishingly good, though focused in the areas of his profession, and he is capable of reading several languages as well as deciphering messy handwriting with ease. Despite his cool demeanor he is a surprisingly eloquent writer, and his crisply worded tomes focusing on the histories of extinct families are much sought after in some circles.

HISTORY
Anyone discussing Garrett's history -- at least, those doing so out of earshot -- are quick to point out that the renowned scholar, who spends his time investigating, researching, and dissecting family lines, is actually a fatherless b*****d. His mother, a noblewoman of an entirely different surname, produced him prior to having obtained an honorable marriage. Rather then confess her sins before the gods, she claimed that the child was the work of a Fae prince who had come upon her when she had been riding in the forest. Though there had been some uneasiness when Garrett was born (his eyes are a reddish brown, unusual in some lights), this was largely regarded as a joke.

This unusual entry into the world could have been forgotten were it not for the disgraced lady's father, who insisted on believing his daughter's mad claim. The result of this is that Garrett grew up cosseted in private and spit upon in public, watching his mother's mental health slowly deteriorate as he grew older. At the age of eleven, Garrett was taken from his mother's care and apprenticed to an elderly scholar from whom he learned his trade. It is unclear exactly who happened to his legs and feet, but servant's gossip suggests the incident occurred just prior to when he began his apprenticeship. Though he still receives a small stipend from his grandfather, he no longer speaks to or of his mother and refuses to talk about how he was crippled. If nothing else, it is plain that his mother's care was less then ideal; women in general make him uneasy, and the prettier they are the more uncertain he becomes.

It should be noted that there are many things which Garrett prefers not to discuss, and takes exception to when they are brought up; the incident that crippled them is only one of many touchy topics. He will also grow quite angry with anyone remarking on the following: the circumstances of his birth, the color of his eyes and hair (neither of which are common in his mother's family), his lack of a wife, his mother, the fact that even if he could stand he'd be a head shorter then most men, and quite probably he'd get upset if someone suggested that the weather was particularly good today.  

[LoveByLetters]

Raphael Soutenir

It takes a strong personality to stand up to someone like Garrett -- and Raphael has personality in spades, enough that even two names do not seem entirely adequate to fully encompass him. Like Garrett he is loud, demanding, and at all times seems to push the very envelope of arrogance, though unlike his Chosen he does not seem to be so readily judgmental. At times it is easy to forget that he is still very young and as such some of his arrogance results in an overabundance of energy and a pure enjoyment of butting heads with others. He is still learning how and when to pick his battles, and has not yet learned that sometimes it can be prudent to step back from them. He has a great deal of learning and living to go before he will be able to forgive others for 'wronging' him, however small a slight that may be.

His pushy nature extends even to his own Chosen, whom he often regards as lazy or foolish; one-sided arguments between the two are frequent, and on more then one occasion Raphael has utilized his greater strength and mobility to put an end to such matters in his favor. This will grow only more common as Raphael grows older and begins to learn something of what Garrett is missing by hermiting himself in his home, and as Garrett grows more confident as a rider.  

[LoveByLetters]

The Choosing

The afternoon sun filtered through the trees, too weak to warm him but light enough to closely examine the tiny wooden shape he held in one hand. It was bitterly won, a prize he had not wished to seek, and his lower body existed in a state of such agony that he knew he would have to resort to a dose from the little brown bottle in the bottom of his pack to be able to sleep tonight. No trace of this pain appeared in his expression, such aches being so frequent a visitor during the course of his life that they occasioned no surprise nor, if he had been a conversational sort, would they have been considered worthy of remarking upon. A week's slow journey it had taken him, each jolting step of his little pony more painful then the last, to retrieve what he had had no interest in in the first place. It was a waste, he felt, to be given something by the gods who could more usefully have supplied him with a trained horse instead, or better yet, a laconic bondsman to serve as his valet.  

[LoveByLetters]

Threads

 

[LoveByLetters]

Possibilities

Often Found
In the small house that also serves as his shop -- it's rare that Garrett goes out into the world, though it does happen. He is not wealthy enough to command that traders come to him, and must therefore visit both tailors and cobblers, and can be caught traveling to and from these individuals. For such journeys, mostly he travels on the back of a small unassuming pony, although this will change now that Raphael is strong enough to bear his weight.

Opportunities
Raphael is a striking Guardian who does not hesitate to call attention to his own glorious self, as well as challenging and trying to impress those Guardians he comes across, much to Garrett's disapproval. Additionally, as a Chosen who is financially well off, he might attract some attention by being wholly uninterested in the various schools of thought regarding Guardians and their purposes. There is also his shop; anyone wondering if their ancestors might have been one of the original Wardens could stop by, provided (of course) that they are noble of birth enough for Garrett and his predecessors to have kept track of them. Then again, someone without such pretensions might well assume that Garrett knows more then he does .. and those willing to loudly argue the point with him are less likely to be shown the door.

The Dreaming
Raphael would be little different in the Dreaming; loud, proud, and no little rash in his undertakings. With the power of speech, his youth is far more apparent in the Dreaming then in the Waking World; he sees no reason not to loudly state his intentions, or rush madly off into disastrous plans at a moment's notice. Nor has he any fear of questioning authority here, and evidences no hesitation at asserting his own. The only time he moves with anything that can be called caution is when he first wakes: for reasons he does not understand, he often dreams of a foal with broken legs.

Breeding
*salivates a little at the thought*