@alimariloasun Love the daughter face claim. Despite the only movie I've seen her in being Teen Beach Movie she's a good actress.
Either way, I like that Andy and Caiden aren't going to be the only people of the younger generation. Caiden would wonder about her but would hope she wasn't Andy's kid as if she was that'd be another reminder to every one of Andy.
Well, so far so good. The girl took the card and was reading it. She gave a nervous wave as the girl, well as Ramona, to be more precise, introduced herself. She seemed nice and cool so far. She was also in the same cottage. That was a pleasant coincidence. At least she already could know she wouldn't be the only new student in Zinnia. Even better was the fact that this girl seemed to be trying to learn ASL. A bright and genuine, as opposed to nervous, smile appeared on Elysia's face. The young girl put away the notecards and began signing, Yes, I know ASL. I'm happy someone else here does. I can help you learn--. At this point, Elysia paused. She realized when Ramona said she was learning that she probably meant it. Ely decided to slow down a little. She pulled out her phone to make sure that Ramona understood what she said so far.
But before the could continue much longer the two girls were approached by a tall man who seemed very kind and approachable. He introduced himself as their dorm leader. Elysia breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He seemed kind. She knew that the dorm leaders at private schools could be mean. But he seemed to be someone that wouldn't make life too difficult here. She began pulling out one of her notecards until she realized he probably already knew what was on the thing. So, she took out her phone and typed out a short, "Hello, pleased to meet you." She dared not type out his name in case Robot Elysia got it wrong. She shook her head when he offered to help with luggage. Other than her backpack, she only had one suitcase. Ramona had a duffel bag and two suitcases. If anyone needed help it'd be her. She followed along until the trio was stopped by a taller girl carrying a thermos and cup.
She must have known Nico, meaning she likely wasn't a new student, because she quickly addressed him handing Nico the thermos. She then turned to the two smaller girls, wait. No, she was looking right at Elysia? A momentary flash of panic crossed the youngest of the three girls wondering why her until the taller girl expressed why. Ely nodded her head yes when she was asked if she was Elysia. How did she know it was her? Ely didn't know anything about anyone here other than her roommate's name was Kassandra. But then the girl introduced herself as Kassandra. Guess that makes sense then that she could easily guess she was Elysia. Nico may have told Kass about her.
But then that also meant it was likely she already knew everything on her silly little notecards. Elysia started feeling like maybe she wasted her time with them. But she'd save that thought for after move-in week at least. She quickly typed out on her phone, "Pleased to meet you. Hope we have a good time together." Soon after the group began moving once again. Elysia fell back towards her quieter ways. There were plenty of people in the group so she didn't need to try and make conversation. Also, the fact that Nico began giving the tour to the newcomers of the group. She looked in awe at the amazing campus. Everything looked beautiful. She just couldn't believe that she was accepted to such a marvelous place. The seeming end of the tour brought the group to the front of the Zinnia Cottage. Ely looked at the building with a smile. It looked so wonderful. Nothing like the normal dorms she had looked up on the internet. She noticed that Nico had somewhat backed off from the girls. Did he want them to chat some or was it just that the tour was over?
Either way, Elysia looked to the other girls. But before she could finish typing on her phone she saw two more students approaching. A confused expression crossed her face as she realized one was riding piggyback on the other. That was certainly odd. When they reached the steps to the cottage the girl dropped the boy straight onto the ground. She was a little uncertain about the new girl but the boy didn't seem to mad. The girl walked by them addressing everyone nicely at least. Before she could think about it though the girl was gone before she grabbed her notecards. Maybe later was what Elysia thought. Then the boy introduced himself and even held the door open for them. Elysia gave a small smile and decided to go on in. For a moment, she paused and looked with mouth agape at the remarkable interior. Did anything in this place not look incredible? When she realized she was blocking the way Elysia quickly stepped the rest of the way in. She pulled out a notecard and waited for everyone to enter. She then held the card out to Sunny. If they were going to have some form of conversation then she might as well get her introduction to him out of the way first to avoid slowing down the rest of the group's chat.
Caiden Rutledge was the younger brother of Andy's. At the time of Andy's death, Caiden was five years old. As such the two didn't have long to be together in this world. But what little time they had together was good. Caiden looked up to his older brother and his older sister more fondly than he did to his parents. Caiden saw what Andy was, knew what his dreams were, and began developing those dreams for himself as well. A happy bright child because he had an excellent role model of an older brother.
Life is never fair though and tends to enjoy stealing the dreams away from the less fortunate. Andy's dreams weren't the only ones ripped to shreds by that fateful crash. The family all dealt with the death differently. Caiden withdrew into himself. He didn't see any of his family as someone to go and cry to so all of his grief became internalized. Nowadays, all he has to go on in regards to Andy is his vague memory of his brother and the years of the aftermath of issues his family went through. If he was honest he wished his family could forget about Andy. Maybe then they could recover and move on. For now, his family wallows in their various forms of grief and Caiden watches them fall further and further.
C H A R A C T E R I Z A T I O N
Caiden Rutledge. While his father was considered the town drunkard, brother the town's lost youth, sister the {fill in upon her sheet being posted}, and mother the town's example of denying the reality one is in; Caiden is the local punk who doesn't care about what anyone thinks about him. But that is just what he wants people to believe. Generally yes, most of the people in this town don't concern him unless they are a fan. He merely acts out and causes problems hoping that one of his parents will notice and get their butt in gear, moving on. His school years weren't good. Bullied as an elementary student. Became a bully in middle school. Then in high school, he started a band with some other delinquents at the school. All the while, staying with his dad who didn't seem to care. The old man was to busy doing nothing.
Before the start of his Junior year, Caiden was fed up with it. Ever since he has stayed in the garage of one of his friends. Which coincidentally is the same garage in which his band meets every weekend to practice. Despite the disdain that this group of punks receives from the town, the group was quite talented and had found a common passion that gave each of them a drive to be more than just the driftless of the town. After high school, college wasn't even a thought in Caiden's mind. Becoming a great musician was his goal and was a dream he found for himself which had no ties to his family. Sure, he still found himself going out of his way to check on his relatives. Deep down inside he wished the best for them. He wished to reconnect with them. He wished for his family to be whole again. But, if he left the town the likelihood of this happening would be slim to none. Dream or wish. Family or friends. Caiden constantly battled with himself on which to choose. He wanted both but as his brother's passing had proved many years ago, life will not let you have what you wanted.
O T H E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Despite how he feels about everything, Caiden visits Andy's grave every month. He makes sure that the grave is well maintained in case one of his family comes by.
Still here. Just haven't quite determined the character I wanna run with. The original character I had in mind was female but I didn't want to make the ratio to one-sided.
"-si. Elysia. LYSI, Wake Up!." The young girl groggily sat up from the backseat as she was, almost, gently shaken awake. She slowly rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes looking at the two sitting in the front seat who had been attempting to wake her for the last minute. In the driver's seat was Adelinde while her father Ryon sat in the passenger seat. "You were out like a log, Blueberry. Dreaming about what Wellington would be like?" Ely took a momentary glance outside the car. People. More people than she had expected. The girl looked towards her father giving a short nod. She had indeed been dreaming about what Wellington may have been like, but the not so great sleeping position, as well as her nerves, lead to the dream being a little on the bad side.
First, she dreamed that she missed Move-in week. Showing up late, not being allowed in her room, and being unable to unpack her things as she was stuck in the main room. She was at her first day of class, and every other student the school had was there. They were forced to take turns introducing themselves. She was nervous beyond belief, and her family caught on to this fact. "Hey, are you sure you want to do this?"
"Adelinde can turn the car right back around and I can try my hand at homeschooling you." Elysia shook her head no. She pulled out a piece of paper she had written on earlier because she knew that they'd try to talk her out of doing this. It reads, *I decided to do this. So, I can. Don't worry. Drive safe. I love you.* She quickly typed on her smartphone, the only remotely expensive thing the family owns. Even compared to the vehicle they were in now which on the outside didn't look like it could drive for an hour let alone nineteen. The phone piped out the message she put through it, "Tell Eliza I don't blame her for not being able to come. Work is important. Get rest before you leave for Iowa."
The two in the front gave each other a look before both exited the car. Adeline went to the back to get Elysia's luggage while their father opened the back door for Elysia, giving her a long hug once she got out. "You always worryin' about us too much. You stay safe, and if you start to panic just remember what Dr. Stiles said to do and you'll be fine. I have faith in you." The teenager hugged her father tight scared to let go knowing it'd be a long time before she'd see them face-to-face again. After they finished hugging, Adelinde gave Elysia a hug as well. Despite the rocky start the sisters had, they had grown very close in the previous few years. They hugged for almost as long as Elysia and Ryon had. Letting go, Elysia rubbed the starting of tears away. Elysia grabbed her backpack from the car throwing it on her back and then took her suitcase from Adelinde.
She walked over to where the other newcomers were waiting. She turned to look at her sister and father as they were about to drive off and signed, Bye. I love you. Then waved as they drove off. She looked at the others around her. There weren't all that many people here. The school was really small in number so not many new students usually came but they were all still new faces. There wasn't too much talking except for one girl who seemed to be talking to herself but also at them and the world itself all at the same time. There was also a boy sitting on the sidewalk that didn't seem all that approachable. Looking at everyone Elysia had settled on who to approach but then the coach arrived. Out of the driver seat emerged a man who looked like the ultimate gentleman butler. The impeccable suit, pristine visage, and excellent posture. Had she somehow found herself at an old-fashioned British boarding school? Despite his beanstalk physique, the man easily gathered everyone's belongings into the coach along with them themselves. He had a job and he was good at it. Was everything about this school so prim and proper?
Elysia quickly sat herself at a window so that she could watch the scenery as they rode up the mountain. Not long after she sat, the girl who could talk to anything sat right beside her. It felt like she had enough enthusiasm to match everyone else and then some. The girl talked so fast that Elysia couldn't find the time to get any type of communication across. She even fumbled with pulling out the note cards she'd made which had her name and other general introduction pleasantries written on them. The view outside the window drew her attention from the attempt to introduce herself. Sure, she'd seen a lot of forests but she had never been up a mountain. The sensation of her ears popping was strange but the sights more than made up for it. The highlight of the drive had to be the tunnel though.
The moment they entered the tunnel Elysia became glued to the window. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was so pretty. The fact that a student had made it caused it to be even better. When they finally exited the tunnel, the teen had a moment of sadness which soon became replaced with the desire to draw. She grabbed a sketchpad from her backpack and pulled a pencil from her pocket. She stared at the pad for a few minutes and was about to begin drawing when her attention was drawn to look out the window once again seeing that the coach had stopped. It was beautiful. Everything looked so amazing. So magical. She wanted to draw all of it but she noticed the driver was informing her that it was time to disembark.
She got up carrying the sketch pad under her arm putting her pencil back in its pocket. She looked around for the girl who she had sat beside to introduce herself but she didn't see her anywhere. Other than those who had been at the pick-up area there were a few more people to the crowd. Some had started talking with others but Elysia looked around unsure of what to do. She knew she was supposed to wait for her dorm leader to come to her but what should she do until then? Elysia looked at the people around her and determined she would introduce herself before she missed her chance. Setting her sights on someone, Ely walked with her head slightly down straight for that person, holding out to them one of her little pre-prepared introductory cards.
So, Aubrey's sister went missing a month ago and then she saw her in the woods. Now she was here. But wait, she had been missing for a month. Why would she have shown up now and how does that lead to Aubrey being here like the rest of them? '...' No! Stop thinking about that. She must be an outlier from the rest of us. Whoever or whatever did this just tested whatever gimmick they had on her before grabbing the rest of us. But no, if that was the case that doesn't rule ou- STOP! I absolutely cannot think about them being here. That would just be stupid.
While he had been reflecting on what Aubrey said, Marcus had missed what he had even spooked out of it's hiding space. According to some of the others, it was just some cat. Whatever. He could just watch the video back later and get a close look at it.
As Aubrey took charge and instructed the others to move Marcus fell right in line. He had some thinking to do and having someone else lead gave him the time to do this action. But the moment of reflection did not last long as a piercing scream cut through the silence like a knife through all those cakes that don't look like cake. At first, Marcus was startled. He felt like screaming would eventually happen again, but not from so far away. Which meant there were others. At this realization, Marcus on instinct rather than thought darted in the direction of the cry right behind Freya. She was a little faster than him so she easily got there first.
Marcus had to do a double-take looking at these creatures. They looked exactly like something out of a video game. However, they look much more real than could ever be displayed on a screen. Freya ran forward kicking one of them in the face. Marcus, however, was not the kind of person to play sports so his general physique, while well kept, was not very athletic. But, as almost every weeb who owns a katana has done, he has practiced swinging that weapon around a time or two. Not skilled but let's just say he knows how to smack things. So, Marcus, while dropping his GoPro, grabs the biggest stick he can see that he knows he'd be able to swing and tries to crash it down on the other mini-martian's head.
♦When someone tries to force her to speak - As she has selective mutism, anyone trying to make her talk just tends to cause problems. ♦When her phone runs out of battery and she doesn't have anything to write with - Yes she knows sign language, but not many other people do so if she loses any way of easy communication she will become unnerved making it harder to speak normally. ♦Being the center of attention - She is not fond of everyone's eyes being on her. She feels even worse about it when they are waiting for her to respond. ♦Untidy Workspace - Elysia enjoys having everything being neat and tidy. She likes knowing where everything is at all times and bonus points for it being symmetrical. ♦Team Sports - Playing a team sport tends to need communication, and Elysia has always been too scared to try and find a workaround.
Likes
♦Gardening - Her mother was an avid gardener along with one of Elysia's sisters. Despite not being very good at it the activity is good bonding time. ♦Baking - Like with gardening this is an activity that Elysia mainly likes for bonding with family. This time with her other sister. Also, just like with gardening she is not good at it. She is just too clumsy. ♦Drawing - She enjoys all kinds of art but you give her a few colored pencils and some sort of canvas and she'll be set. ♦All Seasons - Winter gives the perfect excuse to curl up on the couch with a cup of Hot Chocolate and a sketchpad. Spring is the best time to get the most beautiful sights in the garden with vibrant and wonderful flowers. Summer has people going out much more than usual for wonderful drawings of them having picnics or going to parks. Fall is when the leaves fall in their beautiful colors. Every season has something to offer. ♦Anime/Games - Particularly the ones with beautiful visuals and colors that seem to pop. ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
skills
♦Hand-Eye coordination. From years of speaking through either ASL or typing on her phone, along with her artwork, Elysia has excellent Hand-Eye coordination and is generally able to easily do small difficult tasks with her hands like putting a thread through the eye of a needle with little to no effort. She also tends to be very quick and precise whenever she is drawing.
Observant. Being someone who is rarely at the center of a conversation Elysia has become a really good listener and people watcher. She tends to pay attention to how people are feeling a little more than she should and, if not feeling nervous, will abruptly stop what she’s doing and try to figure out what is wrong.
Good Visualization. This is something she can only really do when making some sort of drawing or artwork, but Elysia can look at whatever her canvas maybe and visual a large majority of what she wants to make. Through this, she can tend to jump straight into the piece without the worry of making a mistake in how she wants it to look. She rarely if ever needs to erase a line or cover up a portion with different paint. But since she does it this way she usually spends way too long just staring at her canvas before beginning.
gift
♦According to Elysia, her drawings are simply that. Plain average drawings that shouldn't cause as much fuss as they tend to. To others, they almost appear to take a life of their own. When they say that a picture can say a thousand words, well it's quite true with Elysia's works and even a little more. She started young drawing in coloring books as a coping mechanism to deal with her anxiety. She would spend hours of her day drawing in these books running through so many of them so quickly. She quickly upgraded to blank canvas' putting her all into them. She doesn't find them all that impressive, but that is because she already knows how she feels and what is in her heart and mind. Some have described looking at her art as if they were having a conversation with the girl and that's her gift. Like how an expert musician can play someone to feeling certain emotions or an actor can move someone towards the same thing, Elysia can convey her emotions through her artwork and have a better conversation with them this way than using her phone or writing ever could.
•p e r s o n a l i t y
Elysia is one of the quietest children you could come across, and she has no control over it. Anxiety is an awful thing and the young girl has lived with it her whole life. Despite this, she tries her best to be happy. Most of the time she succeeds. She still has issues interacting with people she's close to, let alone complete strangers but she has the determination to change her life. She has a love for the beauty of this world and of people. Even if she has trouble interacting with the world and people around her she'll try to find the good in anything and make a drawing about it.
In regards to her anxiety, it manifests itself in a disorder called selective mutism. Despite the first word in the name, she isn't entirely in control of the selection. She has found various ways to cope. The main one being her artwork. She has also discovered that working side by side with someone in some sort of task, and if she can keep quiet while cooperating with them and doesn't need to talk then she can start to feel more comfortable with them around. As long as the other person doesn't inadvertently increase her stress, this can produce a good relationship and she'll find it easier to speak to them. Although she still relies too much on sign language, her phone, and writing to communicate.
If she can get close to someone then she will be a great friend. A great listener to your problems, able to tell when you feel anxious, and being someone who'll drop whatever they're doing to help you are key characteristics she exhibits towards those around her. Especially her friends. She's shy, reluctant, and clumsy but she always tries to put on a smile no matter how uneasy it may be. Around school, if she is even seen out and about, she's either heading for class while keeping her head down, watching everyone doing their thing from a distance, or sitting on the ground somewhere staring at a canvas or rapidly drawing on it.
•h i s t o r y
The circumstances around Elysia's birth were unfair. The whole pregnancy was difficult and then she came earlier than her expected due date. After the birth was over she had to be instantly admitted to NICU and it was unsure whether she would make it. Despite this, her parents Ryon and Mira Dey along with her older sisters, Eliza and Adelinde, waited for her to pull through certain that she would live. But Elysia wasn't the only one to have a rough time after her birth. Mira was also in dire straits and unfortunately didn't recover. The family was in a somber situation. The matriarch had passed and despite their initial hope, the fear for Elysia's life was still there. It was a long and arduous journey but eventually, she pulled through.
The situation affected each member differently. Ryon became depressed from his wife's death and feared that something may happen to Elysia. Eliza who was much older took it upon herself to get a good education and job to provide for them all, as Ryon's job wasn't very lucrative being a construction worker. Adelinde being a child wanted something to blame for her mother's death and that blame unfairly fell on Elysia. As a baby, Elysia was unusually quiet. She cried when she was hungry, tired, or needed to be held but as she grew older the usual babbling that one associated with babies was not there. She didn't say her first word until she was two when most babies would combine words randomly at this age. It was determined that she didn't have a learning disability so the family went on as normal. She began talking a little more easing the worries of those around her but that ended around when she was 7. She got in a big fight with Adelinde. In reality, it was more like Elysia kept trying to help Adelinde in the garden but messed everything up and was yelled at. Crying she ran off when Adelinde or Eliza weren't watching. She knew where her father worked and went where he was for comfort.
When she got there she watched from outside the fence waiting to see her dad. When she saw him she called out to him distracting him from what he was doing. In a lot of places getting distracted can be dangerous. A construction site is one of them. Cutting all the details out he got injured. He was no longer able to work and Eliza had to leave college to work enough to provide for the family. This is around the time that Elysia stopped talking almost entirely. Things were hard and the anxiety within the young girl didn't help. She would spend the next year in her room hiding from everything. She even stopped drawing for a while. The only time she left her room was for school or to grab something to eat. She was too scared to interact with anyone.
For a while, after her mutism showed, she'd often get in trouble at school for 'refusing' to speak despite her extremely obedient behavior in every other aspect. Kids were cruel and bullied the quiet girl. Some of her friends stuck close but others thought that she didn't want to talk to them despite her trying to find ways to communicate. It was hard. But eventually, someone thought to ask the question 'should she be taken to a psychiatrist?' It took a while but the psychiatrist was able to determine that she had selective mutism rather than autism. Making the correct diagnosis and Elysia realizing what was wrong was the first step to recovery.
They tried various methods to help her. It took a few years but Elysia found herself being able to talk to her family a little bit more. The main thing that helped was her family telling her that they didn't blame her for what happened. Even Adelaide apologized for how she had treated her. She was still having difficulties as the road to full recovery is long and arduous, but she was doing much better. She began learning sign language, she started using her phone and writing to communicate, and she began drawing again putting more effort into it.
When she became a teenager she was more determined than ever to improve so she brought the idea of applying to Wellington to her family. They were initially against it as this would mean she'd be so far from the rest of them for a long time. But she was certain that she could handle it. She also knew that despite her own beliefs that people thought her artwork was amazing. She knew that Wellington would be a good place to go to improve her skills. Both of her goals could be achieved by going there so she convinced her family to allow her to apply. She was surprised and terrified when she found out that she was accepted.
•cottage
Zinnia Cottage
•what did you pack?
Phone, Many Notepads, Picture of Family, Multiple Packs of Colored Pencils, Paintbrushes, Paint, Canvases, Sketchbooks, Basic Necessities, three stuffed animals(A bear, bunny, and dog), an old laptop previously used by Eliza when she was at college, a book with information on various plants(written in the margin by Adelaide is information on the best way to care for some of the plants), and a recipe book on baked goods.
She has two nicknames Ely (Ellie) and Lysi (Li-Sea). Ely is the more common nickname while Lysi is used by those that are really close to her.
When she talks through her phone she uses an app that uses a generally better version of text-to-speech. It was made by the recommendation of her psychiatrist. The voice is her own but it still flubs a few words and when the mistake is discovered Ely rightly turns red and will spend the next few nights trying to fix it by adding words to the dataset.
Almost always is looking down towards the ground. She still sports an uneasy smile while doing so.
She tends to pull her knees up to her body when sitting down.
Outside of required attire, Ely tends to wear hoodies as she can pull the hood far over her head when nervous.
♦Random Destruction ♦Fighting ♦Those who purposefully cause others to cry ♦Anyone who tramples or shows disdain towards his plants
Likes
♦His plants ♦A good hard day of work, the more physically taxing the better ♦The Wilderness ♦Games of all types, sports/board/party/even video games ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
skills
♦Taro is extremely physicly fit. Being born to a multi-generation family of farmers helped attribute to that. From a young age he worked the fields alongside his dad, mom, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Everyone helped out. So, it was easily ingrained into him a good strong work-ethic.
Taro is also skilled at camping. His love of the wilderness led him to often taking days at a time in which he'd go out to the woods to camp alone. Spending time with nature and studying every aspect of the forests around his home.
gift
♦Taro is a 'budding' botanist through and through. He may not be generally intellectual, often having trouble in most avenues, but when it comes to plant life he is as much an expert as a teenager can be. As long as he has been alive, Taro has had a burning desire to study and learn more and more about the natural world and how it interacts with everything else. Everywhere he goes he carries a book in which he logs information on plants, constantly adding information to it as he discovers new things. While he does also study animal life within the wilderness he is not as skilled at this as he is with plants.
•p e r s o n a l i t y
Taro is a good-natured and caring guy. He may look like a human tank of flesh and muscle but he'd throw up at the thought of purposefully hurting another life. Human, animal, or plant. It doesn't matter. If he did accidentally harm someone, even if it was something small, he'd go out of his way to make it up to them. In that aspect, he is a doormat. An easy target for people to get things they want from him. Unless you somehow find yourself on his bad side. This is a difficult thing to do though as he tends to be very forgiving and believes that people can change for the better but there is a hard line. But he's so simplistic that it would be easy to make him believe you wanted to be better.
Now while he loves being out in the wild, he is not a wild man like his oddly formed nickname may imply(His favorite movie is Tarzan though). He enjoys some of the finer things of life. He loves almost all types of tea. He enjoys watching the big summer blockbusters, after he has come back to civilization from his summer trips. Also, because of his siblings and cousins, he has developed a competitive spirit. He loves playing games even though he is absolutely horrendous at most of them. The one game he is good at is baseball. But that is because that was the main game his family played.
•h i s t o r y
Taro is a young man who was born to a Dutch farmer who married a Japanese woman. His extended family is a hotpot of a few other nationalities but they are mostly of Dutch origin. The family is quite large with Taro's Grandfather being the current owner of a massive amount of farmland in the middle of America. This family has owned this land for many generations going all the way back to an early Dutch immigrant who staked his claim early on in the years that the mid-west had become part of the States. Every descendent of this man has at least attributed a day of labor to the land. Even though this is the case, every member that has been born was given the option to choose their own path. All tended to take some time away from the family business but most tended to find themselves back with the family.
With Taro, things were no different. He found a fascination with the way the plants grew. He tried to find many ways to improve the growth and quality of the crops. He personally looked after as many plants as he could. His parents eventually made an area in their backyard for him so that he wouldn't spend so many nights out in the field. Eventually, he grew to want to learn more. The crops were amazing but he knew that the whole world was teeming with life. So, the summer before his Freshman year he snuck away to the closest forest. He had left a note and about a week into his camping trip, they found him dragging him back home. He was fine but in an extreme amount of trouble. Let's just say he didn't go off without permission again. But by that time next year they had finally allowed him to go on a camping trip by himself. Only that he had to be at a campground where others would be, and that he'd contact them every day.
It was during this trip, that his parents got the idea that maybe they should try and send him to a school in which he could learn more about what he wanted. A place where he could thrive rather than being held back by his issues with other subjects. A school that was surrounded by so much nature and had people that could keep him safe with a close eye while letting him explore the world he loved.
•cottage
will be assigned by GM
•what did you pack?
A lot of seeds to plant a large and extremely varied garden. A few notebooks with his various notes about nature. A couple pictures of his extended-family as they all can't fit in one.
theme song This is his second year at Wellington. He loved it the first year being constantly distracted by the beautiful world around him. He showed up a week early this year but went out somewhere to camp and will be coming back from is trip in his first post. Weller Stars: 2 | Weller Moons: 0
Just going to work on her here. May need to resize the image.
Her history isn't all sad, I just wanted to get the big details in there without it being like 'this is what happened and then this, etc', and I didn't want to make too big of a text blob so I sorta cut it off where it is.
♦When someone tries to force her to speak - As she has selective mutism, anyone trying to make her talk just tends to cause problems. ♦When her phone runs out of battery and she doesn't have anything to write with - Yes she knows sign language, but not many other people do so if she loses any way of easy communication she will become unnerved making it harder to speak normally. ♦Being the center of attention - She is not fond of everyone's eyes being on her. She feels even worse about it when they are waiting for her to respond. ♦Untidy Workspace - Elysia enjoys having everything being neat and tidy. She likes knowing where everything is at all times and bonus points for it being symmetrical. ♦Team Sports - Playing a team sport tends to need communication, and Elysia has always been too scared to try and find a workaround.
Likes
♦Gardening - Her mother was an avid gardener along with one of Elysia's sisters. Despite not being very good at it the activity is good bonding time. ♦Baking - Like with gardening this is an activity that Elysia mainly likes for bonding with family. This time with her other sister. Also, just like with gardening she is not good at it. She is just too clumsy. ♦Drawing - She enjoys all kinds of art but you give her a few colored pencils and some sort of canvas and she'll be set. ♦All Seasons - Winter gives the perfect excuse to curl up on the couch with a cup of Hot Chocolate and a sketchpad. Spring is the best time to get the most beautiful sights in the garden with vibrant and wonderful flowers. Summer has people going out much more than usual for wonderful drawings of them having picnics or going to parks. Fall is when the leaves fall in their beautiful colors. Every season has something to offer. ♦Anime/Games - Particularly the ones with beautiful visuals and colors that seem to pop. ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
skills
♦Hand-Eye coordination. From years of speaking through either ASL or typing on her phone, along with her artwork, Elysia has excellent Hand-Eye coordination and is generally able to easily do small difficult tasks with her hands like putting a thread through the eye of a needle with little to no effort. She also tends to be very quick and precise whenever she is drawing.
Observant. Being someone who is rarely at the center of a conversation Elysia has become a really good listener and people watcher. She tends to pay attention to how people are feeling a little more than she should and, if not feeling nervous, will abruptly stop what she’s doing and try to figure out what is wrong.
Good Visualization. This is something she can only really do when making some sort of drawing or artwork, but Elysia can look at whatever her canvas maybe and visual a large majority of what she wants to make. Through this, she can tend to jump straight into the piece without the worry of making a mistake in how she wants it to look. She rarely if ever needs to erase a line or cover up a portion with different paint. But since she does it this way she usually spends way too long just staring at her canvas before beginning.
gift
♦According to Elysia, her drawings are simply that. Plain average drawings that shouldn't cause as much fuss as they tend to. To others, they almost appear to take a life of their own. When they say that a picture can say a thousand words, well it's quite true with Elysia's works and even a little more. She started young drawing in coloring books as a coping mechanism to deal with her anxiety. She would spend hours of her day drawing in these books running through so many of them so quickly. She quickly upgraded to blank canvas' putting her all into them. She doesn't find them all that impressive, but that is because she already knows how she feels and what is in her heart and mind. Some have described looking at her art as if they were having a conversation with the girl and that's her gift. Like how an expert musician can play someone to feeling certain emotions or an actor can move someone towards the same thing, Elysia can convey her emotions through her artwork and have a better conversation with them this way than using her phone or writing ever could.
•p e r s o n a l i t y
Elysia is one of the quietest children you could come across, and she has no control over it. Anxiety is an awful thing and the young girl has lived with it her whole life. Despite this, she tries her best to be happy. Most of the time she succeeds. She still has issues interacting with people she's close to, let alone complete strangers but she has the determination to change her life. She has a love for the beauty of this world and of people. Even if she has trouble interacting with the world and people around her she'll try to find the good in anything and make a drawing about it.
In regards to her anxiety, it manifests itself in a disorder called selective mutism. Despite the first word in the name, she isn't entirely in control of the selection. She has found various ways to cope. The main one being her artwork. She has also discovered that working side by side with someone in some sort of task, and if she can keep quiet while cooperating with them and doesn't need to talk then she can start to feel more comfortable with them around. As long as the other person doesn't inadvertently increase her stress, this can produce a good relationship and she'll find it easier to speak to them. Although she still relies too much on sign language, her phone, and writing to communicate.
If she can get close to someone then she will be a great friend. A great listener to your problems, able to tell when you feel anxious, and being someone who'll drop whatever they're doing to help you are key characteristics she exhibits towards those around her. Especially her friends. She's shy, reluctant, and clumsy but she always tries to put on a smile no matter how uneasy it may be. Around school, if she is even seen out and about, she's either heading for class while keeping her head down, watching everyone doing their thing from a distance, or sitting on the ground somewhere staring at a canvas or rapidly drawing on it.
•h i s t o r y
The circumstances around Elysia's birth were unfair. The whole pregnancy was difficult and then she came earlier than her expected due date. After the birth was over she had to be instantly admitted to NICU and it was unsure whether she would make it. Despite this, her parents Ryon and Mira Dey along with her older sisters, Eliza and Adelinde, waited for her to pull through certain that she would live. But Elysia wasn't the only one to have a rough time after her birth. Mira was also in dire straits and unfortunately didn't recover. The family was in a somber situation. The matriarch had passed and despite their initial hope, the fear for Elysia's life was still there. It was a long and arduous journey but eventually, she pulled through.
The situation affected each member differently. Ryon became depressed from his wife's death and feared that something may happen to Elysia. Eliza who was much older took it upon herself to get a good education and job to provide for them all, as Ryon's job wasn't very lucrative being a construction worker. Adelinde being a child wanted something to blame for her mother's death and that blame unfairly fell on Elysia. As a baby, Elysia was unusually quiet. She cried when she was hungry, tired, or needed to be held but as she grew older the usual babbling that one associated with babies was not there. She didn't say her first word until she was two when most babies would combine words randomly at this age. It was determined that she didn't have a learning disability so the family went on as normal. She began talking a little more easing the worries of those around her but that ended around when she was 7. She got in a big fight with Adelinde. In reality, it was more like Elysia kept trying to help Adelinde in the garden but messed everything up and was yelled at. Crying she ran off when Adelinde or Eliza weren't watching. She knew where her father worked and went where he was for comfort.
When she got there she watched from outside the fence waiting to see her dad. When she saw him she called out to him distracting him from what he was doing. In a lot of places getting distracted can be dangerous. A construction site is one of them. Cutting all the details out he got injured. He was no longer able to work and Eliza had to leave college to work enough to provide for the family. This is around the time that Elysia stopped talking almost entirely. Things were hard and the anxiety within the young girl didn't help. She would spend the next year in her room hiding from everything. She even stopped drawing for a while. The only time she left her room was for school or to grab something to eat. She was too scared to interact with anyone.
For a while, after her mutism showed, she'd often get in trouble at school for 'refusing' to speak despite her extremely obedient behavior in every other aspect. Kids were cruel and bullied the quiet girl. Some of her friends stuck close but others thought that she didn't want to talk to them despite her trying to find ways to communicate. It was hard. But eventually, someone thought to ask the question 'should she be taken to a psychiatrist?' It took a while but the psychiatrist was able to determine that she had selective mutism rather than autism. Making the correct diagnosis and Elysia realizing what was wrong was the first step to recovery.
They tried various methods to help her. It took a few years but Elysia found herself being able to talk to her family a little bit more. The main thing that helped was her family telling her that they didn't blame her for what happened. Even Adelaide apologized for how she had treated her. She was still having difficulties as the road to full recovery is long and arduous, but she was doing much better. She began learning sign language, she started using her phone and writing to communicate, and she began drawing again putting more effort into it.
When she became a teenager she was more determined than ever to improve so she brought the idea of applying to Wellington to her family. They were initially against it as this would mean she'd be so far from the rest of them for a long time. But she was certain that she could handle it. She also knew that despite her own beliefs that people thought her artwork was amazing. She knew that Wellington would be a good place to go to improve her skills. Both of her goals could be achieved by going there so she convinced her family to allow her to apply. She was surprised and terrified when she found out that she was accepted.
•cottage
will be assigned by GM
•what did you pack?
Phone, Many Notepads, Picture of Family, Multiple Packs of Colored Pencils, Paintbrushes, Paint, Canvases, Sketchbooks, Basic Necessities, three stuffed animals(A bear, bunny, and dog), an old laptop previously used by Eliza when she was at college, a book with information on various plants(written in the margin by Adelaide is information on the best way to care for some of the plants), and a recipe book on baked goods.
She has two nicknames Ely (Ellie) and Lysi (Li-Sea). Ely is the more common nickname while Lysi is used by those that are really close to her.
When she talks through her phone she uses an app that uses a generally better version of text-to-speech. It was made by the recommendation of her psychiatrist. The voice is her own but it still flubs a few words and when the mistake is discovered Ely rightly turns red and will spend the next few nights trying to fix it by adding words to the dataset.
Almost always is looking down towards the ground. She still sports an uneasy smile while doing so.
She tends to pull her knees up to her body when sitting down.
Outside of required attire, Ely tends to wear hoodies as she can pull the hood far over her head when nervous.