(no subject)
PLAYER
✧ NAME: Noodles
✧ LJ USERNAME: thanoodles
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): PM! Or shootthamoon at gmail dot com.
✧ CURRENT MUSE LIST: n/a
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Lewis Adam Puckett.
✧ SERIES: Original character ; verse called Estranged.
✧ HISTORY:
premise
▌ In a world very much like our own, a soul was at odds with itself and split in half, becoming two different people. Each half has been unintentionally corroding and corrupting the other since their birth -- but both are inevitably drawn to one another to remain together, as they should have been from the start.
beginnings
▌ Lewis and itdisappeared Puckett were born on the 14th of December, sons to Grace and Ian Puckett, a successful couple with their own self-made careers -- a doctor and lawyer respectively -- and (not so) modest mansion. The boys were raised accordingly, taught good manners, given practically everything they asked for and fully encouraged to excel and explore their potential under the pressure of a society that expected no less.
They did get no less from Giles, a bright and engaged young boy in his early years, but Lewis was a considerably different case. A problematic child growing up, he would simply refuse to take part in most of his family's activities or obligations, showing no enthusiasm or regard for them. It was safe to say he felt no link between himself or his parents, not even his twin. He became increasingly reclusive, sometimes even violent, considered the main reason for tension and embarrassment within the household, either with his parents or the staff hired to care for the house and the children.
Lewis and Giles were considerably close for the first years of their lives, of which neither of them hold many memories. From then on Lewis started to display a troubling behavior, either facing challenges with apathy or distress. He eventually had to be pulled from school and given a tutor at home. This was when Giles began to omit his brother's existence in his social life, ignoring him almost completely at home, save for the occasions when his mother obligated him to acknowledge his brother.
Lewis stopped his education at some point, refused to see what it would earn him and became increasingly distrustful and uncooperative with his tutors and parents. By their twenties, Giles was fully ready to start his own life and career as an architect with a beautiful fiancée by his side. Lewis had nothing.
Despite his mother's sometimes overbearing concern and his father's resolve to let things simply happen, Lewis was still invisible in Giles' life, a completely reclusive man living in his parents' house. He should have been expected to grow some sort of resentment for it, but it was simply another factor he couldn't bring himself to care about. Instead, he continued to distance himself from his family and ran away from home on more than one occasion, brought back to helpless parents and a neglectful brother every time. The rare exception to his view towards his family was his mother's sister, Alice, a professional photographer with a very different lifestyle and outlook on life, who invested her visits in spending as much time with Lewis as much as she did with his mother, taking pictures of him on more than one occasion that he was later given as a present.
Something eventually compelled him to try and contact Giles again to little avail. He was becoming increasingly convinced that his own life and condition were part of someone's -- or something's -- elaborate plot to steal his life until his existence withered away entirely. His twin's refusal to contact him back only fueled the delusion and he was repeatedly forwarded to therapists, once again responding by offering no response at all. He continued to flee from the house to wander about and antagonize whoever so much as suggested the possibility that they were against him. On one last occasion, Lewis tried to track down Giles, brought back home to a mother in denial, screaming at her with demands to see his brother.
Convinced that it might be productive (and desperate enough to believe it), Lewis' mother arranged a meeting between them after long and exhausting arguments with Giles. Reluctant, Giles finally complied and the brothers met. This was the day that would define the rest of Lewis' life.
Spouting nonsense and bargains to be given back his life, he grew frustrated and violent towards Giles' confusion and dismissals. Lewis finally lunged at his brother, hands around his neck, and tried to kill him.
Their father interfered and Giles was taken away. Arrangements were finally made to put an end to years of feeble discipline and helplessness and initiate Lewis in some proper treatment for the following years, sheltering him in their home whenever he left it.
It look a long while to figure out the right kind of medication to balance out his disorder, with many ups and downs. By the age of 30 he was considered apt enough to start his own life. He was given his own apartment and job opportunities (few of which he held on to for long), all arranged by his mother. She was determined to help him, initiating a little project in which he was expected to take care of a few plants she offered him, which eventually earned him the company of a cat -- a Russian blue he simply called 'Blue'.
Lewis was determined to get along with his own and completely new life, now a mild and curious man exploring the perks of his delayed independence, some of which he knew his parents would frown upon. Lewis constantly swayed back and forth between a pursuit for normalcy and exploitation of his freedom, mostly in the form of encounters with people he never expected to see again. Danielle Young was one of them.
She tried to pursue a relationship with him when they kept seeing each other after the first night. Lewis had tried them before and had always ended them a bit disastrously, still incapable of trusting himself to open up emotionally with anyone, so instead they remained good friends. Danielle is now his closest one, calling him out on his bullshit and providing him with support and advice when he needs it. She also takes care of his cat.
He has had no contact with his brother since the attack.
GILES PUCKETT (brother)
GRACE PUCKETT (mother)
IAN PUCKETT (father)
DANIELLE YOUNG (friend)
✧ TIMELINE: End of the background section, now 33 years old.
✧ PERSONALITY:
▌ Mild and calmly opinionated, Lewis has no interest in originating or drawing out conflict -- which doesn't mean he's necessarily afraid of it, but he's grown and learned better since his reckless, angry youth. Lewis is harmless, maybe even sheepish at times; his head still buzzes with thoughts tugging at his paranoia, even (or especially) as he tries to make amends with his brother at a later point of the story. He both desperately seeks and fears approval.
Lewis crosses and rubs his arms nervously, always feels the need to do something with himself (usually as mind-numbing as playing sudoku) when he's forced to stay in one place for too long. People comment on his precious blue eyes -- which may or may not have gotten him out of a number of tricky situations (and into others) -- and he does crack some (very bad) jokes in a flat, dry humor, harmless in intent, even if he doesn't look like someone very prone to quipping at first glance. While he can be considered a mild extrovert around strangers with smiles and guarded but friendly answers, he turns into a defensive creature in any situation he has to face an acquaintance from earlier times, uncomfortable with the sense of judgment he immediately assumes is coming from them. He prefers casual acquaintances; shows a lot of restraint in front of the people he knows.
After years upon years or being sheltered by his parents and by professionals, Lou is now exploring all the perks and quirks of his recently acquired independence, be they commendable or imprudent. He sets off every other night to find a bar, probably get himself drunk and meet someone he can take back home, usually girls in their twenties. It's very likely that he might have been with someone younger than that, but he was either too distracted or inebriated to notice or give it much thought. Any lady closer to his age is probably looking for a stable relationship and he is most definitely not ready to offer anything resembling one. He doesn't trust himself to commit like that; knows he'd simply feel trapped and find a way to ruin everything disastrously.
He can either turn into a meek creature or a ticking time bomb when he's placed under stress, depending on the context, and turns to every kind of escapism he can, sometimes sacrificing some rules he really should not. He has made a very determined decision to not take illegal drugs, however; instead he plays around with his medication a little too dangerously, thinking he can skip it as long as he makes it mathematical, then suffering ups and downs until Danielle manages to slap sense back into his head. Lewis has pointed out that, despite wanting to explore new things, he is still very wary about anything that will take him far from his comfort zone. He has trouble accepting the strange and doesn't trust himself to find out any more than he might be able to handle.
Lewis lives with the constant, nagging feeling that his family and acquaintances all expect his mental health to decline again, ready to take him back in and repeat the process that took place years back. He's embarrassed by how much his mother (who calls him Louie) still fusses about it. He knows she cares about him, but to him it just means that she's waiting for him to break down again. His dad's silence and absence simply tell him that he's already disappointed him beyond repair. He wishes they could trust him more.
The basis for the catalyst that changes both Lewis and Giles' lives is the premise of their story: A soul was at odds with itself and split in half, becoming two people. The twins have been gradually degrading each other's minds because of this; the longer time they spend each near each other, the more their minds will be affected, which resulted in Lewis' condition and the amnesiac episodes Giles suffers later in his life. Neither have the slightest clue that they are causing each other's misfortunes and are fated to be inevitably drawn back together.
Needless to say the matter of his attack on his brother is one he tries hard not to think about for his own good. He's stopped wondering about him, thinking about him (since we all know how well that turned out last time) but still holds on to the belief that Giles is the shining example of the life he will never have, unaware of the decline of his married and professional life.
Lewis doesn't believe there are any ways of fully overcoming something, just means of ignoring it or pushing it away from you. His uncertainty towards himself and how he should act can make him an easily influenced and corruptible person. He goes into fits of paranoia in unfamiliar situations, blaming everything on someone else, even when there is nobody to blame. Constantly struggling to keep himself in control, he usually keeps his fears silent, which contrasts with his inability to sometimes know when to stop taking risks. The less they can see or find out, the better.
emprises
▌ emprises is a musebox where Lewis has been played and his character was elaborated, and though his experiences there will not be included in his canon point (so to speak), they may still be relevant for future CR reference.
It's generally assumed that the post's general setting is a nondescript city where characters have mysteriously landed, but their own universe and homes can be subtly and... weirdly incorporated into it, too. Lewis was a mix of both -- even though he often wakes up in strange places and/or ends up staring at random messages (also known as the post's respective prompt), Lou finds his way back to his apartment and lives the rest of his days as normally as he's allowed.
Lewis is reunited with Giles in what looks like a haunted house. This and following random encounters always demonstrate some awkwardness between them, Giles' desire to compensate for the years he spent ignoring his brother being continuously juxtaposed with Lewis' reluctance to force his way into his brother's life. They start to get to know each other a little better, even opening up in very small steps. They're still essentially strangers, but they're getting somewhere... we hope. That one time Lewis found his brother drunk in a bar somehow became a fond memory.
Then along came lady Zinc, a young, fearless and very sexual young woman who he so just happened to exchange glances with in a club. Does this sound like a familiar name? It should. Lewis hasn't the slightest clue that Zinc is a walking impersonation of Rule 63, though, and he doesn't really need to. Lou and lady Zinc seem to have hit it off after their one night stand, running into each other repeatedly and making their chance encounters sexually productive in some situations, casual and meaningless in all of them. She makes him nervous, since she's a corruptive challenge to his need to be a mild, normal guy, but there's no denying that she's got something about her that draws him in and makes him wonder if he can have just a little more. He trusts her only enough to let her into his house, little more than that.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: n/a! He's pretty much useless in the supernatural and professional sense.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Day.
✧ MASK DESIGN: Plain black mask to bring out his precious blue eyes.
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: A reproduction of his apartment. Modest in decoration, not so modest in size with little personal marks and a lot of interventions from his mother.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON: Two samples, both from emprises! Lewis' first interaction with Giles and Zinc.
✧ THIRD PERSON:
▌ He likes to take breaks -- that's what he calls it, a break --when he ends up home alone, the owner of his very own apartment, carefully decorated by his mother and disarranged by his hands with even more dedication. The jacket slips off his shoulders and skillfully lands on the back of the couch (he left the TV on again, he notices with some dread, reaching for the first button he can find to remedy the situation), left behind in the darkness of a click.
The so-called 'break' doesn't really have a beginning and certainly can't be appointed an end... Lewis doesn't know when he enters or leaves these stages, all he knows is that something will happen and something will be neglected; a bottle of pills for a bottle of drink, burning the back of his throat when he gulps it down with anticipation and a hiss. He'd like to know, though, if he could say when it's now and when it's over, even if just so he could announce it to the world and be properly left the fuck alone (by his mother, by Danielle, by his mother and Danielle), even by the cat that graces the kitchen with her presence. The creature doesn't quite need to demand or charm any food out of him, not when it's become a quiet agreement between a cat her owner, an arrangement he often forgets to deliver (--just like the TV. Was he even watching anything when he left the house?--), but poor Blue can forgive him for it; she has her ways of digging out compensation for what she neglects to provide her with. Thank God Danielle is a cat person.
"Nothing happened," he explains to no one, just to Blue, glass in his hand, fingers in his hair. "Just one of those days."
It's a quiet excuse. Neither of them should really mind. It can't hurt when there's no one around with enough feelings on the matter to criticize him. Sometimes he just wants to take a break from being quiet, mild and charming Lou, often dry in humor, never hot in conflict. Keeping yourself under control and in a routine is a work in progress that requires a constant numbness of the soul, he finds. The second you allow yourself to wonder about what else there is to your life, the rest of it just breaks into a caged panic and at the end of the day that's all you realize you are -- caged in a house, caged by your medication, caged by the consequences of your past and the promise of your future. It's a shame, really -- poor old Lewis, could've been just as brilliant and agreeable as his darling brother Giles, happily married, and, who knows, even with a grandson for Grace and Ian Puckett.
Wouldn't that be so fucking great.
✧ ORIGINAL CHARACTER QUESTION:
▌ Lewis will isolate himself and attribute the bizarreness of his situation on everything and anything remotely plausible he can think of. He will definitely think it's a dream of some sort from the start, have trouble coping with it when he realizes its full extent. He'll also have to figure out what to do about the meds that are slowly but surely running out.
He will also be bringing in his pet cat Blue, which will probably get inevitably lost until someone brings her back to him.
