One x One Where Traitors Die and Cattle Roam - OOC

[SalemKitty]

Where Traitors Die and Cattle Roam
Out of Character Information
[SalemKitty x Gray Sage]

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Main Story (IC)
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[Out of Character Information Start]

Characters
World Building


more to be added soon​

 

[Gray Sage]

Name: Maria ‘Sings to Fire’ Monserat Gloriana De la Castillo
Age: 24
Height: 5’7
Occupation: Bounty Hunter, gunslinger, smuggler, retired cowgirl
Sexuality: Hetero
Relationship Status: Single

Eye Color: Black
Hair Color/Length: Black, lower back

Appearance/Image:



History: Pȟéta Lowan was born to a Sioux mother. She grew up in the most scenic areas of Montana and in a community that taught her to appreciate beauty and spirituality. Pȟéta Lowan never knew her father, and it was clear from an early age that he was despised by her tribe, so learned quickly not to ask about him.

When Pȟéta Lowan was eleven, she was woken one night by a cloth covering her mouth. The cloth was soaked in chloroform, and by the time she came to, she was in a foreign plain, the picturesque beauty of her homeland transformed to the barren prairie. Her mother was draped over a horse, and five men stared down at her as she awoke. When her mother finally woke up, she seemed terrified and furious with the man Pȟéta Lowan had pegged to be the leader. They spoke some unknown language Pȟéta Lowan had never heard before, and any time Pȟéta Lowan’s mother attempted to speak to her, the men would strike her. The fear only continued as her mother struggled to get them free, but the men just kept riding on, further and further south. After weeks of traveling with this group of men, crossing treacherous terrain, eating strange foods, and coming by many settlements Pȟéta Lowan could never have imagined, they finally arrived at their destination, an enormous villa overlooking the ocean.

That night, Pȟéta Lowan’s mother explained to her that the leader of the group of men was her long lost father. He had seduced her mother while driving cattle to the west. They had married and her mother had left with him for the south, but she quickly found that her new husband was not only an aggressive man, but his taste for life’s pleasures would not be silenced by a new bride. Drinking and whoring all down the western coast, Pȟéta Lowan’s mother quickly decided she would not return with this man to his home in Mexico. She escaped his clutches and clawed her way back to her tribe, though she was heavy with the man’s child.

Wopike Oka had been confident she would be protected from her husband, Bernardo, by her tribe. But because he did not attack with stealth, he was able to steal away his wife and child, bringing them to his home with the intent on forcing them to be a family.
The first year at the villa was the hardest. Pȟéta Lowan watched her mother slowly fade away in grief, fear, and fury. She would take to throwing fits at the mention of having to translate for Pȟéta Lowan’s sake. She hardly ate, and she tried to get Pȟéta Lowan to escape with her at least twice a month. The escape attempts slowed, though, as her mother’s health deteriorated. Everyone started calling Pȟéta Lowan, Maria.

The only thing that made the odd environment bearable was Isadora. A woman of about forty, she looked after the house, and she was the kindest woman Maria had ever met. She gently helped Maria adapt to the new situation, and guided her through the language barrier, even though she understood very little of the Sioux language herself. Maria leaned increasingly on Isadora for her help as Wopike Oka seemed less and less interested in life.

When another year had passed, Bernardo called on Maria. Through his broken Sioux and Maria’s broken Spanish, they managed to communicate well enough. Bernardo told Maria that he was going to begin training and educating her himself. That she would learn the English language, swordplay and self defense, mathematics, healing remedies, reading and writing, to the most important of all, tracking and cattle rearing. Maria’s father told her that she had no reason to fear him, despite what her mother had told her, and that he was no longer the man she once knew.

Maria both hated and relished her new intensive training. She had mixed feelings about her father too. He was difficult and stubborn, but there were times she caught herself feeling inspired and having a bit of fun with him, something she sorely desired in her prison.

After a year of training and studying with him, Maria returned to her bedroom to find her mother was not there. There was much fuss about the staff as the household was searched, but no Wopike Oka was found. It was discovered that a horse from the stables had gone missing and a search party went out for miles, including Bernardo himself, but to no avail. Wopike Oka had run away, leaving her daughter behind.

Maria held out hope for months that her mother would return, but eventually was forced to conclude that she had been abandoned, and she would likely never see her mother again. Maria threw herself into her training to distract from her grief and frustrations. She became an excellent student, and excelled at nearly every challenge her father gave her.

Bernardo had inherited his fortune, but he made good money by driving cattle too. Throughout her time at her father’s, he would periodically leave for two to three months to deliver cattle to some far away city. Maria had tutors to continue her studies while he was away, but she was always secretly thrilled to have him back.

When she was 16, having come far enough in her training, Bernardo took her out on her first drive with him. She was the only woman in the group, and it was made clear to her by the other men that she was not welcome and that she had better not fail them. But it was soon discovered that Maria could hold her own, not to mention, she was a good cook and an excellent singer, keeping the boring nights entertaining.

As Maria grew older, it became difficult to subdue her sexuality, and she carried out a number of affairs with the young men in the groups of cowboys she would travel with. Things changed for Maria when her father caught her and one of the young men she was with. Bernardo took his Colt Model 1860 and put a bullet through the head of Maria’s lover, claiming that if she would not protect her own virtue, he would protect it for her.

Maria was so devastated, furious, and disgusted with her father that she was never able to look at him the same way again, finally understanding the brutality her mother had warned her against. A year later, when she turned 20, Bernardo suffered a heart attack on one of their drives, and they had to bury him in an unmarked grave while on the plains. Maria’s anger with her father, mixed with her grief over his passing, changed her into something hard and colder than she ever thought she could be.

Returning home, she found her father had left her everything, but she detested the villa, and the tedious nature of running an estate. She put Isadora in charge of keeping up the house and employing the staff while she often went on cattle drives with cowboys, always becoming the undisputed leader of whatever group she was a part of.

As the years went on, the nature of her work changed however. She grew bored with cattle, and when the opportunity arose to change course, she took it.

A Sheriff in a town one night told Maria and her troupe that there was an outlaw named Bungalow Joe who had been thieving and raping around the area, but had alluded arrest. There was a significant reward for his capture, and Maria bet the Sheriff that if she and her men could find him by the next morning that he would have to add an extra 30% to the reward. The Sheriff agreed, thinking it was impossible, but with Maria’s tracking skills, she and her four men were able to hunt down the bastard who was sleeping in an abandoned barn three miles outside the town. Maria secretly thought it was a lucky find, but she didn’t argue with the results. She and her team split the reward, but once the drive was done, she diverted her attentions to her true calling. Bounty hunting.

Many of the jobs she did ended not in capture, but in killing. She became known as Bloody Mary, as her legend quickly grew with the number of finds she made, and her fortune grew considerably as she traveled all over the west, from San Diego, to Salt Lake City, to El Paso. She rarely returned to the villa, but sent them much of her earnings. She ventured into a few illegal passtimes, smuggling runaway slaves, stolen firearms, or anti-American propaganda, but she had no loyalties.

She lived a free life, yet she felt an emptiness that no amount of money, men, or adventuring seemed to fill. She went where she pleased and always managed to find work as the hunter known as Bloody Mary was in high demand.

Personality: Maria is proud of her heritages, both Hispanic and Sioux, though she does not share it often. She notices the discrimination around the Indians, and wishes to distance herself from the ridicule it brings. Deep down, she longs to look upon the mountains of her childhood, and to see her Sioux tribe again, but she feels a hesitance to return, mostly for fear of seeing her loathed mother again. Maria turns off her emotions while she works, trying not to care about the men and women she captures for a quick pay day. With the doubt in a woman’s abilities, she constantly works hard to prove herself and to be as tough as a man. She is incredibly determined, fearless, and strong. She has a great amount of anger holding her back though, and she doesn’t quite realize that it’s eating her up. She channels it into her work, and thinks she’s better for it, but it’s possible she just needs someone to help her work it out. Maria’s always had a soft spot for children, and that’s where her kindness comes out. Their hope and innocence always inspired her, and she is not merciful to those who mistreat them.

Abilities/Skills: An excellent shot and rider. Her tracking and investigative skills grow with each job, as well as her ability to lie and act. She is a really great cowgirl, though she hardly wrangles anymore. She has a really beautiful voice, and it’s often how she keeps herself sane while out traveling alone. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Sioux, and is managing to learn some Mandarin.

Religious Beliefs: Much of her spiritual side comes from her Sioux influences, but she has always felt a sort of kinship to the Catholic faith. Isadora, being the best woman Maria had ever known, was a huge factor in her attitude toward the Christian beliefs, and Isadora often told her biblical stories and took her to confession or mass. She’s never been totally convinced by any religion, but she’ll find herself praying once in a while, or offering up worship to someone in response to the beauty she sees on her travels.

Family: Isadora, her khaki brown Andalusian, Frida.

 

[SalemKitty]

Name: Thomas Blake
Nickname(s): Tommy, Tom
Age: 27
Height: 5'10
Sexuality: Bisexual
Occupation: Government Cryptologist / Languages Expert
Religion: Catholic

Appearance: Ben Barnes from Dorian Gray('09)

Hair: Brown, Wavy/Curly
Eyes: Brown
Way he dresses: Like this or this

Languages: English, French, Louisiana Creole French, German, Russian, Italian, Irish, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Greek, very little of the indigenous languages where he lives out west
Accent: When speaking other languages, he speaks with the accent that he learned, which is often city/noble speak rather than the common way. For English he is odd. It seems New England, but sometimes it seems as if he is forcing the New England Accent from a New Yorker accent or a Boston accent. It slips into a Georgian accent at times, with a slow southern drawl. And then sometimes at the very tip of his tongue with the way he says a few words it comes across as a New Orleans accent. Very clearly, whatever his natural accent is, he hides it well.

Spoiler

It's a Louisiana southern accent, specifically a thick New Orleans accent that he has to actively hide when he speaks, drawing from the other places he has lived, in order to mask it.

Skills: Polyglot (languages speaking, writing and reading), gun(well enough to know not to shoot himself), Etiquette, Riding Horses, some Politics, some Economics, and Managing Affairs of a Household, mathematics, sciences. He's a college educated boy, so he is well read and well studied in philosophy as well as a good public speaker and debater.

History Told:
Thomas does not talk about his life back home. He rarely ever reminisces about it outside of allusions to events or things he may have done. Otherwise he does not talk about his family, or even how he got his job out in the west, sending letters back to the US government about the happenings in the west and what he has learned or found. It is known that his legal name is not Blake, but that it is the name he uses for his government position. His mother's name is Jane(?). His father's name is John. He has two(?) siblings and some friends named Elliot and Lewis. Other than that, most details are obscure, as like where he is from or what schools he went to or where he has lived.

Personality:
He is not the type that you would expect to be out in the Frontier. As a clear rich boy who came out west he is not seen as a threat or worth fighting. Most people don't trust him, because he is a government agent, not that most people know why a language expert is out west other than for code deciphering. He aims to come across as charming and humorous over being intimidating or hard. He has a quick tongue for compliments, often being a flirt with most of those whom he comes into contact with. He comes across as as clumsy as he is charming. This makes people think he is "easy going" and "easy to read." Due to this, he is easily likable. He might not be trusted immediately, but he has a knack of getting people to like him, which is what matters to him. However, once people begin pressing, he becomes shadier.

He is evasive with answers regarding his past, passing it off onto others to ask about them. He is against talking about most everything in his life that is personal. He does seem to have a long list of enemies, and he does not trust others. He is very conscious of how other people watch him, and thinks about it in how he acts. The more people try to pry into his life, the more he will black list a person.

Easily irritable to things that he disagrees with, Thomas is very opinionated and strong willed in actuality. He is willing to fight for what he believes in to an extreme degree, regardless of the consequences to himself. Once he makes a decision, he is likely to see it through to the end, and thus he tries just not to make any decisions at all. Because he knows that what he values and cares for could be used against him, he tries not to care about people he does not know albeit to little success. He truly does care about people, with a bit of a hero complex to help others. He is argumentative, and knows it, which is why he bites his lip and does not say much, choosing to isolate himself instead of having to turn a blind eye to the atrocities he know he would witness. He is a coward in a fight, and hates the sight of blood. Knowing that his real personality could cause problems he shaped himself, as he had his entire life, to be amicable and to float through crowds, to charm people and to keep his true thoughts and feelings concealed. A person might think they know him, but they do not unless he trusts them.

Thomas' trust is not so easily gained.

Those who are particularly sensitive, might call him fake or a liar, seeing through his shields. Those people he tends to scorn or ignore, deciding not to interact with them as it is better for both parties. In general, when it comes to most things, if it's not languages he could care less. The only thing about living out west that he likes, is the possibility of learning new languages he never had contact with before. He slacks off a lot, and despite his college education, unless it is lecturing people he rarely uses it. Languages and those he cares for, are the only things that matter to him, so he often forgets other important tasks or things that others might consider important (it aids his image as being easy going and clumsy, however).

History True:

Spoiler

Thomas Beaufort was born to Mary Blake Beaufort and John Beaufort. He is the third son of a Plantation owning family in Louisiana, with deep ties to not only the government but trade companies along the coast. . In total there are six children to the Beaufort family: John, James, Thomas, Emily, and Henry. They are a a rich family due to the plantation and their business partnerships, with John Beaufort, a well known and influential man.

As the third son, Thomas’ future was in flux for most of his childhood years. He was not the heir or the spare, and thus his life was up to what his parents wanted. While his brother’s were trained in things that would be important for running and managing the estate, Thomas and later Henry, were tested for their aptitude in different areas, to find things that they were good. These skills had be able to be trainable and then later capitalized on, for the family. For Thomas, this was languages. By seven years old Thomas, a hypothesized possible hyperpolyglot, was considered fluent in English, French, German, and Russian, as taught by his governess who was a migrant from Germany. His governess, Lena Fischer, was a close friend of his mother’s sister: Aunt Margaret. Aunt Margaret had studied art in France for a few years, and traveled Europe for some others, which was how she met Lena, as well as others from across the countries.

John Beaufort decided that if his son could continue on his journey with languages, there was a option for him to become a diplomat to another country, which would propel the family’s rank in society, if properly accomplished. As such, and by the suggestion of both Lena and Margaret, Thomas was sent to New Orleans. While Thomas could have been enrolled in any boarding school to aid in his education or sent across seas, John decided to send Thomas to New Orleans for a few reasons. The first was for trade, which was the family business. Secondly, with Thomas in New Orleans, John Beaufort would have a reason to check up on his merchant and trade friends, and invest in different business opportunities. Lastly, as an international trade port and most important city in the south, it would open the door for Thomas to make connections to high classed individuals from all over the world.

In New Orleans, Thomas was subjected to not only new etiquette (from all over), but languages, and a broadened world view all at once. The city was perfect to set up his language teachers, as he attended academy to learn the basics of literacy, mathematics and sciences, politics, and other things young boys were to learn. With the three, traveled a few slaves, sent to aid in the comfort and support of the family. Two of these slaves were Lewis and Phibe, Lewis’ mother.

Lena and Margaret were focused on teaching Thomas, as were his teachers. And when they weren’t focused on making sure he learned, they were focused on making sure that he grew as a socialite. Feeling suffocated, Thomas acted out at first, resulting in Lewis taking his punishments. This, however, ripped back at Margaret, as many of her international friends looked down on the practice. In order not to make life difficult for his aunt, he stopped acting out when he could be seen. Instead, he left home, when he would not be missed. When his aunt and her friends were out, and only Thomas was left alone to study, he would leave the house.

The first time that Thomas did this, he ran into some trouble, getting lost and nearly finding himself falling off a bridge, which was how he met Elliot Monet. Elliot Monet and Thomas became quick friends, only meeting at dusk and night, never during the day. Thomas often invited Elliot over, but Elliot always declined.

Phibe, worrying about Thomas, asked him to stop going out as often. He always ignored her. One day she had Lewis follow Thomas to check up on him. On this day, that changed Thomas’ life forever, Elliot and Thomas were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had only been hanging around looking at shops, when another shop was broken into. The two were stopped by the police, as matching a minor description, of two boys. Lewis, who had been following them, called out to the two, calling Thomas by his title of young master, which startled the police. Elliot, who had not known Thomas' identity, jumped on it, and corroborated Lewis’ claim with little care if it were true or not. Lewis, who had also seen the way the burglars went, pointed them out and the police escorted the three home, after catching the culprits. For young boys were not supposed to be out this late.

This was how Thomas learned Elliot was a quarter black. Elliot had always worn hats, and met Thomas when the light was dark, so Thomas had never noticed. Upon arriving at Thomas’ house, Phibe took action and thanked the police. Margaret, who was home by this time, scolded Thomas for going out, but Lena and Thomas teachers’ convinced her that they were constricting him too much and he needed time off. Accepting their words, Thomas was given more free reign to leave the house, so long as Lewis was with him, and he was never to meet with Elliot again.

He met with Elliot again, almost immediately the next day.

Elliot and Thomas talked and the two became true friends, including Lewis in their agreement. From that point on, Thomas began to unlearn all the things his family had taught him about race and people. New Orleans became his real home. His accent shifted fully. He learned the streets and the stories they held. The boys hunted ghost, and learned stories from Elliot’s family. As Thomas learned more languages, he slipped about New Orleans as if he had been born there, and as if he had been born to live there. He brought Elliot and Lewis to social events, and taught them as they taught him. He learned of the dangerous, the occult, and propaganda, all while slowly becoming more and more distant from his family.

At first his family had not noticed, but as soon as they had, his father contemplated bringing him home. Knowing that there was a chance that Thomas could lose everything, he began to make himself useful for his father, befriending the sons and daughters of political and government officials, of traders, of high ranked people in society. He learned to become unsuspecting, charming, and to get people to like him. He did his best to stay in New Orleans and be allowed to stay friends with Lewis and Elliot, for they were his best friends. As such he slipped almost unnoticed past his father’s nose, who only saw the usefulness and not the waters that Thomas was wading into: the abolitionist movement.

But whispers that Thomas was not meant to hear of at first, became a cause that he was passionate about, quoting philosophers and theorists and literature on the matter to his friends and those who would listen, in multiple languages. At sixteen, Thomas helped his first slave escaped slaves. By seventeen, he helped Phibe, Lewis, and the slaves of their family, get their freedom. One by one, until they were all gone, and the help in the New Orleans estate was all hired help with contracts. Most people had not realized, because those who cared for him did not bother to remember the names or faces of most of the slaves with them, save a few. By the time that Margaret realized what had happened it was too late to stop what he had done, and she sent him back to the plantation.

In time, Phibe was recaptured, as well as a few of the other escaped slaves, but most had gotten away, including Lewis. Thomas, who had not seen his family for more than a few weeks at a time over the course of ten years, was a stranger to them. His father, punished those who had escaped, and Thomas tried to stop him from harming Phibe. His father, in a fit of anger, and the desire to both teach Thomas and those enslaved on his plantation, killed Phibe. Thomas, was then promptly sent to Georgia to finish his education at the university that he had gotten into. By this point, Thomas was fluent in most of the languages that he knows presently, save Greek and Latin which he studied while in university.

While in university, Thomas was watched by the sons of family friends, and made to keep out of “trouble.” He finished his education and graduated, and promptly went across the ocean to travel. Upon returning he moved to New York City by twenty-two. Upon reaching New York, Thomas applied for jobs with companies, and connected with those he had met in his time in New Orleans. Hoping job to job, Thomas made his way into a city job and then a state job, specifically for law and record keeping. Through his state job, he got his first united states government job, as a language specialist and later cryptologist. His family did not protest, because he was doing as they wanted and aiming for a diplomacy job, even though he was in New York.

Thomas had gone to New York to find Lewis, who had always dreamed of seeing the city. He had been unable to get in contact with Elliot, and had hoped to at least find Lewis. At one of the abolitionist rallies that he attended in secret, he found Elliot instead. Elliot was up from New Orleans on business for a trade firm that he worked with and their banking partnership, in New York. The two rekindled their friendship and Elliot told Thomas how to find Lewis.

Thomas found Lewis working in a bakery in Boston; Thomas was twenty-four. It had taken him three years to get to his government job, and seven years to see Lewis again, who had greatly changed. Thomas was working, helping escaped slaves make their way to Canada, or to find jobs in Boston, depending on what they wanted. When the two met, Lewis had not been expecting to see Thomas and Thomas had cried as he told Lewis of what happened to Phibe. Over the course of the next year, Thomas wrote to both Elliot and Lewis, learning about the world through both of them.

At twenty-five, Thomas moved to Boston to live with Lewis. The decision was made in haste more than anything. He was not sure what prompted him completely, until he was there and he did not want to leave. Thomas gave up his socialite flings, escapades, and parties, to live a quiet life with Lewis, save his job that required him to travel for weeks at a time. He really loved, and still loves Lewis, despite knowing that he can never and should never say anything about it and forget him for his own good.

Because, everything fell apart. Thomas was sent out west by his department, and forced to leave Lewis and the life he had made for himself. It is assumed, by Thomas, that he was sent away because of his close relationship with the abolitionist groups, and his living situation with Lewis. At first he had decided to quit his job completely, to ignore the order, and would have if it were not for a threat that he got from a superior: threatening to get Lewis back to Thomas’ father in the south. Thomas left so Lewis could be safe.

For the first time in years, Thomas contacted his family telling them he was going to the frontier and did not wait for their response. The Beaufort family was well enough known that he had to change his name to his mother’s maiden name as to not come across as a too much of a rich southern boy when going to the west. He has been out west for less than a year, and he absolutely abhors it, not that anyone would know. He works with Grace and John Love, who also work for the government. Their directive is to study for attacks and to decode any messages that they might find, as well as to help keep the general law.

Family:
Father - John Blake (?) (John Beaufort)
Mother - Jane Blake (?) (Actually Mary Blake Beaufort)
Unnamed Brother (?) (Probably a reference to Henry, James, or John Jr.)
Unnamed Sister (Emily Beaufort)
Unnamed Aunt (Lena Blake)

Other NPCs Mentioned or seen:
Lewis Brown
Elliot Monet
Phibe Monet
Grace Love
John Love