Pretzel Heart
Afterimage of Broad Daylight
Player Name: Pretzel Heart (Pretz)
I tried to help with the gender balance. Key word 'tried.' I specifically wanted to join a Detailed RP so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about post length...and yet here we are but I shouldn’t have to worry, right? Right?
Also I stayed up till 5 to get these done and probably butchered my sleep schedule like a pig at the slaughter so I really hope at least one gets in. :’)
Character Name: Gavin V. MacDouglas-Cunningham
Age: 19 (Sophomore).
Gender: Male.
Basics: Dark, messy hair. Grey-blue eyes with stark lashes. Pale (almost sickly) skin with sharp, sunken cheeks.
Appearance: Gavin could be considered conventionally attractive, though more in a way that is pretty and alluring than roguishly handsome. However, he himself doesn’t seem to realize this. Standing at 5 feet 5 inches, his body is well-proportioned with a lean torso and powerful legs...perfect for swimming, though he has yet to try it. Growing up in the near-wilds of his tiny village has also lead him to have the constant presence of nature; the smell of the sea and the cool ocean breeze almost seem to cling to his person, even now that he is far away. Likewise, Gavin’s thick, dark, grey-brown hair is wild and hardly ever combed. As for clothes, Gavin has no fashion sense. He mostly just wears whatever is lying around - In other words, jeans and t-shirts. Wrinkles don't exactly bother him; neither do slightly dirty clothes since, after all, nothing really does. Yet he does always wear both a bracelet from his mother and a newspaper boy hat of a rough, greyish-green color flecked with spots of black. He can’t remember where it came from, but he’s had it ever since he can remember, and he suspects that he’s attached to it a sort of reassurance-codependency, as by having the hat always near him he knows that there is something that he can control, unlike the disappearance of both of his parents. He even sleeps with it next to him on his bedside table, and in the morning, it’s the first thing that he touches and puts on. Additionally, coming from Scotland, he has a thick Scottish accent, though a rather quiet, soothing voice.
Reference: http://i61.tinypic.com/a1og2e.jpg
Major: Undecided.
Reason for coming on this study: Batsuba really wanted him to, and the location reminded him of Lendalfoot which he has lately been feeling more and more nostalgia for.
Personality: Gavin is the very definition of nonchalant. Everything about his life stems from a very relaxed set of ideologies. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. What's done is done; you can't change the past. In other words, he feels as if life just happens. There's no point in trying to direct it, because it's going to do what it wants to in the end. Needless to say, he believes in pre-determination and has a very strong affinity towards “Fate.” But his attitude is not over-shadowed by negativity, instead being is upbeat. He's open to most things, gets distressed with very little, and whenever something does happen to bring him down, he's able to get through it with ease. Because of this, Gavin comes off as a friendly, laid-back individual. He has never held a grudge, not even to his parents, and keeps a calm and cool head about him, with the only exception being when he's excited about or very interested in something. When someone has a problem or worry, he’s the perfect person to talk it out with, and his simplicity and plain honesty make him even easier to confide in. Sometimes he can be seen as lazy or unsociable, as he doesn't often go out of his way to reach out to people or do much of anything, unless the perfect opportunity presents itself. He also has a tendency to doze off, having very little need or responsibility in his life, making him a bit of a “space case.” Whatever anybody else likes, Gavin is sure to like as well. Since his outlook on life is very carefree and laid back, sometimes Gavin wonders what would happen if he were to undergo some traumatizing experience….some event powerful enough to destroy the careful nets that he has wrapped himself in. Since he has been living with pretty powerful problems for so many years, though, he strongly doubts the likelihood of such an event ever occurring. The one thing that which Gavin really cannot deal with or comprehend is when people yell at him. He’s fine with raised voices or overall boisterousness, but when someone is pointedly angry at him, to the point of screaming or snapping, he freezes up. In such a scenario, Gavin has been known to grow very still with widening eyes, like a deer in headlights. He doesn’t know how to react or what to say. Otherwise he describes himself as an average person with no great strengths or weaknesses.
Background: Born in Lendalfoot, a peaceful village off the coast of Scotland's South Ayrshire county, Gavin can't remember much about his early childhood, though he has since concluded that it was fairly normal. His father, Ewart MacDouglas, apparently, had traveled to Lendalfoot in order to pursue a fishing career. He arrived penniless, but soon made a stable living in the luscious loch not far from the small town. Ewart was a bit reclusive, however, and preferred, more than anything, the company of his beautiful young wife, Ondine.
xxxxxOf his mother, Gavin recalls little but her ethereal, straight pale hair and sad grey-blue eyes. He has been told that she was a kind mother and a good wife; a gentle albeit introverted foreigner, although where she came from or where she left to has remained a mystery to him. For, when Gavin was just seven years old, his mother disappeared. Gavin has only saved himself sparing memories of her, but they are all very pleasant…Loving, but, rather than filled with warmth, covered in an enigmatic sort of coolness. Like the comfort of a tide pool. Perhaps related to the reason she left.
xxxxxBut what really changed the young boy was the fact that his father also abandoned him very soon afterwards, placing him the care of his teacher, Ronalda Cunningham, and her husband Devon.
xxxxxThe Cunningham family had been living in Lendalfoot for years. While, being so small, there is no school in the village, Ronalda had set up a temporary daycare and learning center for the few children who wander about there. Some other children from similarly small villages in the county also journey to Carleton Crescent, where Ronalda holds her lessons in a small cottage under the hills. She is a very compassionate, caring woman who was educated in University College in Dublin, Ireland, and has both Welsh and Scottish roots. Her husband, from Edinburgh, met Ronalda while on a silver-purchasing trip. For Devon Cunningham is a silversmith, and he and his wife decided to move to the peaceful town of Lendalfoot so that he could focus on his trade. The Silverster is the modest shop that they own in Girvan, a minor port city just a few miles away down the A77, to which Devon drives in his truck every morning save for Sundays.
xxxxxOn one such morning, Ewart left Gavin by the front door of the Cunningham household. Ewart had hurriedly negotiated a deal with the Cunninghams the day before, and as soon as his son was dropped off, left town, apparently for London, and he was never heard from again.
xxxxxFrom that moment on, Gavin has done his best to live a normal life, surrounding himself in the slow and steady pace of his surroundings and the calmness of his philosophies in order to shoulder the burdens of his past. And indeed, no ghost of his parents ever seems to haunt him, although sometimes others think of him as being a rather solitary child.
xxxxxFor in Lendalfoot there is really no one else his age. Ronalda did her best to give him a basic education, but most of the time he was content to wander around the rocky crags, the glistening Lendal stream, and the beautiful beaches of Lendalfoot Bay. Gavin’s best education has been his trips outdoors, and when offered the chance to attend Girvan Academy upon finishing his high school education, he refused, not really feeling the need and reluctant to place a further financial burden on his foster parents.
xxxxxThe Cunninghams have become very important to Gavin. They have, for the past twelve years, offered the young man a home like no other. Both are thoughtful and intelligent. Ronalda often cooks an old Welsh recipe that her mother passed down to her – Laverbread – which, being made out of seaweed, is Gavin’s favorite. Devon sometimes allows Gavin to come to Girvan with him and help out in shop, something which the young man is very fond of. The couple even try to take him on trips, provide him with food and clothes, and give him any support that he needs. But regardless of all this, there has always been a sort of distance between the two and their adopted son. The reason is unknown, as none of the three of them even realize that it’s there, although its presence is noticeable to others outside of the family. Gavin himself seems to be unaware, as he sometimes even calls himself Gavin Cunningham instead of MacDouglas, so integrated is he into the family.
xxxxxBy the time that Gavin came of age, he had no idea about where to go or what to do. It was around this time that Batsuba finally got into contact with her young half-brother imploring him to join her at Androscoggin University where she is pursuing her graduate studies, letting him know that finances would not be a problem. Slightly mystified but having nothing else better to go, Gavin decided to go along and was somehow accepted into the university.
Family:
- Biological Mother - Ondine MacDouglass
- Biological Father - Ewart MacDouglass
- Foster Mother - Ronalda Cunningham
- Foster Father - Devon Cunningham
- Half-Sister - Batsuba Codanelle
Relationships: Close to Batsuba. Otherwise he doesn’t really have anyone he’d consider a “best” friend. He’s good acquaintances with any number of people, though.
Belongings:
- His bracelet and newsie hat.
- A middle-sized tablet that he bought to serve educational, communicative, and entertainment purposes.
- Several random academic books on a wide range of topics partially bought from used book stores and taken from the university library on extended loan, so none are in particularly good shape.
- A sturdy leather wallet containing all manner of things from various currencies to business cards and photos the Cunninghams periodically send from Lendalfoot.
- A zipper case containing a hand-held gaming device and a few games, since he picked up a slight habit after leaving the technological isolation of Lendalfoot.
- Biological Mother - Ondine MacDouglass
Character Name: Lior Blumenthal
Age: 22.
Gender: Trick question. Lior would probably say ‘agendered’ but in truth they’re really not sure.
Basics: Light copper-honey-brown hair, nearly shoulder-length. Dark brown eyes. Medium-dark skin. Rather androgynous.
Appearance: While Lior almost always exudes a sort of careless wispiness, as if their acute sense of fashion was by accident, in truth they are very particular with how they look, and have spent hours pouring over fashion magazines and copying the hairstyles and even mannerisms of the poshest models and stars. Their hair is one of their top priorities, second only to their nails, and they used to wear it very cleanly cut, greatly inspired by Asian boy-bands and models. However, since the realization of their preferred gender identity, Lior has slowly been growing it out bit by bit, and finds that they are also comfortable with it this way as well. As long as there are no dead-ends, of course. Fashion is incredibly important to them, and they have well overspent their family’s budget in order to keep up with the hottest trends from Europe, Asia, and, of course, America. Anything just to be the cool kid, to fit in. A bit on the shorter edge for someone who was born male, Lior is only 5 feet and 6 inches tall. Likewise, they have a very slender body that cautious perfection and hours at the pool have even more greatly enhanced and toned. Lior is one of those lucky to be born with an incredible metabolism, making their appearance almost sickly thin at times, though their tendency is to over-eat, especially when it comes to fast food. With a mid-tan skin tone and a face that is a fusion of both European and Middle Eastern features, it is sometimes hard for people to place Lior’s race or where they come from. Lior’s thick, strange accent, encompassing all the countries they have inhabited, doesn’t do much to help. The only thing people can really be sure about when they first see or meet them is that Lior is a foreigner...a stranger. Someone who cannot belong to any one country or place, because they have been too-long somewhere else.
Reference: http://i61.tinypic.com/10gwb3m.jpg
Major: Comparative Literature / Theatre (specializing in Dramaturgy).
Reason for coming on this study: Who wouldn’t want to live in a freaking castle? In truth, they’ve been dealing with a lot since entering a gender identity crisis and trying to figure out what steps to take, so Lior just really needed a break. Also they hope to find literary inspiration in the old-timey location.
Personality: Lior is very much a “Type A” personality. Or, at least they used to be. When “they” were still fine with being “he.” While some traits of it do remain, it is massively toned down from what it was. The old Lior was obsessive, OCD past a fault. When someone told him rules, he insisted that they be followed, and even if there were no rules, or unspoken ones, he would be sure to figure them out and assign them on his own. A perfectionist, he would do everything to the best of his ability, and better. For example, preferring the community of handwritten letters to his international family and friends, he could be found agonizing over every letter stroke for hours, erasing them until they looked as good as print, and if the eraser marks began to saturate the paper, he would begin again from scratch. Then go over everything in ink. It was this sense of perfection, this constant need for immaculateness, that protected the old Lior, gave him confidence. Unfortunately, this also made him a rather smug individual. He wouldn’t slam his beliefs and opinions into other people’s faces, but he tended to look down on those different from the status quo. Not outright, but exemplified more with the raise of his eyebrows, the pursing of his lips, a contained puff of laughter, or a sad smile and the shake of his head. Because he knew the rules, and knew that those others didn’t know how to play by them. He was opinionated and proud. In groups he would always vie for a role of leadership, and secretly considered himself a king among men...someone quietly respected by all around him, and who deserved and commanded that respect, even without saying a word. Compulsively obsessed with the material world, he didn’t have time to ever truly try and understand other human beings, eventually coming to see them as commodities to be bought and earned and used as easily as the knickknacks he liked to order online or the clothes he brought back from the store. That was the old Lior, however. The one who made mistakes. Who got into trouble. This realization is what has watered down the once high level of their perfectionism, as well as their superiority complex. Given them some perspective. Marginalized by even their own family. Lior was always distrustful of others, more in a snobbish way than anything, but now they have even even greater cause to remain insular. They believe that the more they try to stand out, the easier it will be for others to see their faults. Whenever a situation gets too awkward for them, they find an excuse to back out of it immediately, and feel no shame in running away. Because inside, despite their once-prideful ways, Lior is and always has been very self-conscious. Perhaps it’s because they were never able to put a finger on that self identity, to the point where they can’t even be sure of their own gender. Perhaps this is also why it was so easy for them to retreat into American materialism, finding no judgement in their possessions’ still, lifeless bodies. Pride was their fault and their sin, and now they are left to contemplate and try to pick up the ashes.
Background: Lior was born male in a small Jewish community in Azerbaijan, which he loves to tell people since it always prompts an amusing response. Their mother’s side of the family, the Levis, is strictly Jewish. Her family began in Israel but has, over the generations, migrated more towards Eastern Europe. For a long time the Levi family thrived in Germany, granting them prosperity and wealth, but then problems there pushed them into Azerbaijan. Lior’s father Engel is of a mixed European heritage, with their grandfather from their father’s side being English and their grandmother from their father’s side being German. In any case, the two met through a business venture and for their marriage Engel decided to (uncomfortably) adopt the Jewish religion as his own before the family settled in Baku.
xxxxxStill, a large part of Lior’s childhood was spent on the move. While Lior’s school years were ostensibly Azerbaijani, their summers were Israeli, where they were able to bond with their mother’s side of the family, particularly their slightly elder cousin Chuldah. For Spring Break the family would tour Engel’s birthplace in Germany, staying in his old house which he was too nostalgic to sell, and enriching themselves in the history. Winters they would migrate to England where Lior’s paternal family made their home, even though Lior never quite got a good grip on the language. The long-term awkwardness of these stays made Lior a bit of a drifter, soon making friends and memories in a variety of different countries and cultures, never staying in one place for more than 3 months at a time.
xxxxxDuring Lior’s seventh year of schooling, however, the family decided to make yet another move, one that would prove much more permanent than its predecessors. This time they were traveling west to the United States to pursue an alluring business opportunity, and the family ended up making a more or less comfortable life for themselves in a Northern California suburb.
xxxxxWhile a bit of an odd child, never able to truly find the right balance between their colorful heritages, Lior still got along fine in Poland, making the move to America a major culture shock. Back in Poland Lior had one of those sweet “puppy-love” girlfriends, and (besides Chuldah) all their closest companions. They had attended Hebrew school, hated it, still learned a good portion of the language, and spoke Polish. Although their annual trips and international heritage had littered their vocabulary with German and English, with the latter being supplemented by their regular school classes, it was still very hard for them to get integrated into American life. In their European community they had a light obsession with cleanliness and organization, but the move to America exploded that into a near mental disease. And for the first time in their life, Lior realized how uncomfortable they really felt...neither Azerbaijani nor Polish nor German nor English nor Israeli...and certainly not American. The only stability that had ever remained in their life was Judaism, but even that, in a desert of Christianity, felt like a misfitting glove...not enough to keep Lior anchored. By remaining passively in the background, Lior was able to think about all these things, and, almost subconsciously, began to clear a path for themselves. Lior’s only peace was in the careful daily ritual that they had gotten so used to in Poland. Expanding on this, they soon found solace strictly hiding behind a wall of precise movement, neatness, and organization, and it was behind this facade that they finally discovered the solution to all the uncertainty that, before America, they hadn’t even known they had been living with. Buying the right clothes, wearing the right face...soon Lior was equipped with the confidence they needed to make it through the day-to-day rigmarole and slowly come out of their shell. Unfortunately, that only meant that Lior began to inhabit a different shell, although one that got them results.
xxxxxAs soon as they were out of the special classes designed to help non-native English speakers, Lior began attacking their middle school’s social system. Taking special care in their appearance and nature with their finely tuned awareness to detail and procedure, they made themselves into a person that everyone could like. This also helped to water down their rigid personality and caused a cultural rebellion to brew inside of them. They became an atheist and stopped attending Hebrew school (which their parents disapproved of but conceded to let them do), got into wild fashions, and developed an interest in collecting odd things and perfecting his outward appearance in an outright flaunting of their developing materialism. Their parents began to crack down on them when Lior got a bit out of control with both monetary and temporal debts wracking up, but they never really had any say. Lior was able to use their parent’s weaknesses against them to do practically whatever they wanted. The only way that they could tame their suddenly foreign son was to move them back to Europe, where he had been “fine,” before “all this” happened. But Lior didn’t like that idea at all; they had finally found their kingdom in America, what they thought of as their stability, and they were not about to give it up.
xxxxxIt was around this time that Lior began dating Melanie. A righteous, well-known face at their school, Melanie was the one to first come on to Lior, and, begging for social status, a possible anchor in the United States, and finding the bright, happy-go-lucky girl the perfect sidepiece to their new persona, Lior began to reciprocate those feelings, and found that the two actually complemented each other fairly well, to the point where their relationship may have even bordered on love. While their personalities couldn’t have been more opposite, Melanie helped to “tame” Lior, at least in their parents’ eyes, and so the two were able to wriggle their way through high school in America: The “nice guy” and “America’s sweetheart;” a perfect pair. Realizing the importance of their relationship, Lior’s parents were put at bay, and the trip to Europe continuously postponed. The two even ended up deciding to go to college together, despite the differences in their desired fields of study. It was during this time that Lior began to once again question themselves...to the point where "he" no longer even felt comfortable being referred to as such. Things happened very quickly in an avalanche of events, and hoping to get away from it all Lior applied to study abroad in Poland, hoping that it would help ground them. Of course, Melanie would have to find out and try to tag along...
Family:
- Mother - Hagar Levi.
- Father - Engel Blumenthal.
- Cousin - Chuldah Levi. Being close in age and having similar ways of thinking, the two are quite close and Skype on a regular basis.
Relationships: Melanie Siskin, his estranged girlfriend. No other close friends came on the trip.
Belongings:
- A very long laundry list of self-care items including fancy toiletry items and even a nail kit.
- Macbook laptop (mostly for writing; he specifically left his phone behind because he didn’t want anyone to try and contact him).
- A few of his favorite literary works including a collection of Samuel Bekket plays for a budding thesis topic and Borges’ Ficciones.
- Mother - Hagar Levi.
Character Name: Melanie Siskin.
Age: 21.
Gender: Female.
Basics: Light blonde hair, bright blue eyes, a confident, yet sweet countenance...Melanie practically screams America. She has fairly light skin that burns easily, a high forehead, and a heart-shaped face.
Appearance: Melanie is rather short, clocking in at 5’ 1’, but since her shoe size is almost always sold out in all the stores, she considered herself quite average. Her body is equally petite and childlike with very modest curves which she strives to (appropriately) accentuate as much as she can through clothing. Sometimes Lior would even give her fashion tips, and while she certainly never put as much emphasis on it as them, she has become quite proud of the way she dresses and looks. She also rarely wears makeup, only on special occasions where she really needs to look nice, like going to Church.
Reference: http://i61.tinypic.com/sxov8y.jpg
Major: Ancient Studies (she’s actually hoping to use it to go into Law).
Reason for coming on this study: Lior had been ignoring her for weeks, even going so far as to change their number multiple times. After finding out from a friend of a friend of a friend that they were going to Poland, she managed to slip in by the deadline to try and find a way to both talk to her long-time boyfriend and talk some “sense” into them.
Personality: She can be described as kindly possessive, loving too strongly without reason and having no way to control her affections. To people whom she does not firmly love, she appears as a mindlessly sweet and innocent girl. A little stupid, perhaps, but otherwise a perfect American poster child. A devout Christian, she has taken her religion’s mission to give aid to others very seriously, and is involved in many fundraising and volunteer clubs. This is related to her interest in history and mythology, particularly Greek mythology, which she was very inspired by. After reading the story of “Cupid,” she became fixated on the idea of “pure love,” and even though the more extreme colors of her personality had before bothered her, she began to think that they weren’t so bad after all. This is a problem. When someone becomes the object of her affections she almost tortures them with stalking and obsessive phone calling. Definitely a clingy type, she’ll glue onto a person with a wild sort of desperation, all in the name of “pure love,” which makes her affections tricker to deflect. Lior was no different...which is why they were terrified the most to tell her about their budding gender identity and the changes in their life. This reluctance lead Lior to make some mistakes...leading to some very unhappy changes in their and Melanie’s relationship.
Background: Melanie has lived a somewhat average American life. Her parents, though outwardly the “perfect couple,” divorced when she was in elementary school. It used to exasperate her although now she thinks of their failure as an example of the importance of true love. She was raised mostly in a Christian suburb in Northern California and never moved before going to college. Her parents were also born in the United Sates - her mother lived in a town in the same region as her current residence and her father never left town. Thus her grandparents on her father’s side are very close and she has grown with a thorough respect for them. Before going to college, she would switch between her parents’ households from month to month. Neither of them aren as religiously driven as she is and (her father especially) could be a bit whiny about having to drive her to and from church, which would make her uncomfortable. At school she has a close group of friends and can come off as active and charismatic, but she is not insanely popular. Her friends sometimes treat her like a little kid which she realizes and, although she is not too happy about it, has come to accept. She is very involved in school politics and is constantly pressing for more community outreach and positive change. In seventh grade was when she first started learning about world history, and she became very interested in the topic of war. Holocausts and genocides and other “acceptable” tactics drove her to the point of almost becoming a Dadaist before she was impassioned with the will to help those in need. She began dating Lior in the eighth grade and hasn’t let go of him ever since.
Family:
- Mother - Abigail Hudson.
- Step-Father - Garey Hudson.
- Father - Oliver Siskin.
Relationships: Lior’s (now) estranged girlfriend.
Belongings:
- A very elaborate copy of the Bible with illuminated text and gilded pages which she has had since childhood and never lets go.
- An Apple smartphone with cute animals on the lockscreen and a selfy of Lior and her in the “good old days” as her home screen.
- Mother - Abigail Hudson.
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