Questionnaries 1-13 for Emory Bladefall
Questionnaire #1 - The Basics
1. Your Name
Emory Kale Bladefall
2. Your age
Twenty season-cycles
3. Describe yourself
Nothing much to tell, honestly. I'm average height, average build. I'm tan from working outside in the garden and with the animals so much, but nothing more than anyone else around here. I'm just another Mendale farmer, though I don't actually have a full-sized farm.
4. Describe your mate (if applicable)
Not applicable; I haven't had much contact with anyone besides my family since we were exiled to the outskirts of town when I was seven years old.
5. Where (and when) do you live?
I live on the outskirts of Mendale, during the third reign of King Gavin IV.
6. What's your favourite sweet? (It is so a basic!)
I used to love the apple pies my mother made, when she was alive. Since then... I don't really have a favorite.
Questionnaire #2 -- Favourites
What is your favourite...
1. Season?
Spring-- I love planting, and I love that the cold is finally gone.
2. Food?
As I said before, my mother's apple pie, even though I can't have it anymore.
3. Animal?
Favorite animal? I can't say I have one... I've always thought that animals should either do work, be eaten, or be gone. My sister has a cat that she's taken a fancy to, but I think that it's a bother to have around. What's the use of it?
4. Colour?
The blue that the sky gets when the sun is out, the clouds are gone, and the air is perfect.
5. Time of day?
After supper, when Sage and I sit together and talk. I love to hear her thoughts... it amazes me that my sister is only thirteen, for she often speaks far beyond her years. She reminds me of our mother in that way... she always is thinking about impossibles.
6. Weapon?
My father's dagger.
Questionnaire #3 - Background
Tell us about...
1. Your place of birth.
I was born in Mendale, in the house we used to live in.
2. Your childhood.
Until I was six, I lived with my mother and my father. Da was a trademan, so he was gone more often than not, but I remember the times he was home as the happiest times of my life; he always had a new present for me, as well as some amazing new tale of distant foreign lands. When I was six, Da vanished... the local authorities told my mother that they supposed he had been killed by raiders, but there was never any proof. Mum and I lived as best we could for the next set of seasons, and I remember being alone a lot... suddenly, Mum was pregnant, and because the law stated that a lost person could not be considered dead until they were gone for two passings of the seasons, she was tried for adultery. She would never tell who the father of her child was, and so we were exiled to the outskirts of town, where I still live. My sister, Sage, was born soon there after, and the three of us lived together, trying to have enough food to get by. I worked as a messenger for some of the local farmers, but because we were in exile, no one wanted to give me or my mother work. Finally, out of desperation, Mum married a man who was known in town for being a less-than-upstanding character, but who had been giving us coins to support ourselves ever since my father disappeared. I was ten when they were married, and Sage three. My step-father, Gregory Leold, was a tax collector, and so he found that life was easier living in exile, where he wasn't surrounded by people who hated him for his profession. Mum became pregnant again when I was twelve and Sage was five, but this time... she died in childbirth, basically. Gregory remarried almost instantly, and for the next two years, Sage and I were miserable. Gregory's new wife also died of childbirth, but this time, the loss drove him to the drink, which landed him in jail, where he still is. From that point on, Sage and I lived together alone, managing to get by. And... well, I suppose this has reached outside of the heading "Your Childhood," so I guess I'll end here.
3. Your parents.
As I said in the last answer, my father was a trader who vanished when I was six years old. My mother raised me almost single-handedly until her death, when I was twelve years old.
4. Your siblings.
Sage has been the only thing I've always been able to count on in my life. She's seven years younger than me, but she has a sharp mind, and a keen sense of humor. I've never seen a sign of weakness in her, not as long as I can remember. At times, I wonder if she's been my caretaker these years, instead of the other way around...
5. Your (current) home.
Sage and I live in a simple three-room cottage-- A bedroom for each of us, and a main room that serves as our kitchen, eating room, and everything else. The yard has an outhouse, a garden, and a make-shift orchard with our fruit trees. It's an hour's walk from Mendale, shorter if you run, and surrounded by bits of forest, enough to make you forget you're a part of any town.
6. Your favourite "hang out".
This question confuses me, but I guess you mean where I most like to be... if so, then sitting with Sage by the fireplace in the winter, remembering.
Questionnaire #4 - Skills
1. Can you read?
Yes-- one of the few things Gregory did for me was to teach me how to read. He told me that women were too weak to be burdened with such a skill, but I taught Sage anyway.
2. Can you write?
Yes, and the story is the same as with my reading.
3. Can you sing?
Only the songs my mother taught me, lullabies and stories of our culture.
4. Can you play an instrument?
No, although I have always wanted to learn to fiddle.
5. What languages do you speak?
Only the common tongue.
6. What weapons can you use?
My father's dagger, and a bow with arrows.
Questionnaire #5 - Secrets
1. Are you good at keeping secrets about yourself?
I have no secrets from Sage, and she is the only one to keep secrets from, so... I have no idea.
2. What is your best kept secret?
I have none.
3. What is your worst kept secret?
I suppose you could count the reading and writing... Gregory told me to keep it a secret from Sage, but I taught her anyway.
4. Are you good at keeping secrets about others?
I've never been given the opportunity.
5. What secret about someone else have you kept and wish you hadn't?
See above.
6. What secret about someone else have you not kept and wish you had?
See above.
Questionnaire #6 - Sex
1. Are you a virgin?
Yes.
2. Do you mate for life?
My mother told me that if I ever found a girl to love, I should love her forever, and no one else. I think she did that for my father, too... she remarried, but not out of love, rather out of need. So yes, I will mate for life, if ever I am given the opportunity.
3. Who was your first lover? (or, if you are a virgin -- Who would you like your first lover to be?)
I'll answer the second question-- I want a girl who, for fear of sounding far from how I mean to sound, is like my sister. I don't mean I have any attraction for my sister at all, for that would be wrong and horrible to even consider. What I mean is, my sister is a strong female; she has her own thoughts, her own ideas. She doesn't do what I say without question; she reasons with me, and doubts my logic just as often as she accepts it. I want a woman who will be herself, and moreover, will have a self.
4. Who is your current lover?
Not applicable.
5. What is your favourite sexual position?
Not applicable.
6. What are your kinks?
Not applicable.
Questionnaire #7 - Best and Worst
1. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?
Losing my parents. I can't compare losing my father and losing my mother... they were both horrible losses.
2. What's the best thing that's ever happened to you?
In a strange way, being abandoned by Gregory after his wife's death; living alone with Sage has given me an amazing new freedom.
3. Who is your worst enemy?
I have none.
4. Who is your best friend?
Sage.
5. Tell us about your worst kiss.
Not applicable.
6. Tell us about your best kiss.
Not applicable.
Questionnaire #8 - Mornings
1. What time do you wake/get up?
Sunrise.
2. What's the first thing you do upon waking?
I pray to the gods, as all civilized people do.
3. Are you a morning person?
Yes; I love the feeling of morning air on my face.
4. What is your typical morning like?
I first pray in thanksgiving to the gods, and ask for a peaceful day from them. I then get food together for breakfast, wake Sage, eat with her, then go out to work the garden and the orchard until lunch time.
5. Do you drink coffee?
I've never heard of coffee...
6. Do you need coffee?
See above
Questionnaire #9 - Are you?
Are you...
1. Smart?
I've never had a formal schooling, so in that sense, no. But I feel as though I have learned my life quite well.
2. Arrogant?
I should hope not.
3. Good-looking?
I don't clearly know what I look like, outside of reflections in water, but I would say I am neither attractive nor unattractive.
4. Sexy?
Silly question. No.
5. Capable?
Yes-- I can do anything that needs to be done, if given the proper tools and enough time to figure.
6. Dangerous?
I've never thought of myself as... Why would I need to be?
Questionnaire #10 -- Marks
1. Do you have any scars?
I have one on my side, from where I was hit by an arrow when Gregory was teaching me archery.
2. Do you have any piercings?
No.
3. Do you have any tattoos?
No. As far as I know, the only people with markings on their skin are the Hiruka, who live far east from here. They do it as some sort of a cerimony, I've heard, but for what I know not.
4. Do you have any other markings?
None beyond the ordinary.
5. Do you wear any jewellery?
I wear my mother's wedding ring from my father on a chain around my neck.
6. Have you ever broken any bones?
No.
Questionnaire #11 - Grab Bag
1. What is your favourite mode of transportation?
I've ridden a horse once, with my father, and loved it.
2. Can you cook?
Yes, quite well.
3. Do you have big feet?
Not beyond the normal size, I don't think.
4. What is the square root of 169?
I have no mind for maths.
5. If you could change your name to anything you wanted, what would you change it to?
Why would I want to change my name? My mother and father gave it to me... that's all I could possibly want.
6. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
...I don't understand you, stranger.
Questionnaire #12 -- Rituals
1. Do you believe in a higher power?
I believe in the gods and their control over all aspects of life; I don't, however, know how attentative they are to a small man like me.
2. Do you belong to a formal religion?
Everyone in the country is united in their belief of the gods. Why would this be questioned? It is the Truth, after all.
3. Do you have any religious rituals?
I pray every morning and every evening, as well as after every kill I make when hunting.
4. Do your people have any sort of coming of age ritual?
No.
5. Do you have any personal rituals?
No.
6. Do you have any sexual rituals?
No.
Questionnaire #13 -- Your lover
If you do not have a lover/mate/significant other/spouse, please answer the questions about your best friend.
I have neither a lover nor a best friend, so I will answer about my sister.
1. How long have you been together?
Sage was born when I was seven years old, and she is now thirteen.
2. What do you like to do together?
We live together, so... everything. But my favorite is our time together in the evenings, when we talk about everything we can think of.
3. What do you do to make your lover happy?
Sage loves it when I bring her apples. I think it's fairly silly, since we have five apple trees and she can get the fruit herself whenever she wants it, but she seems to think that it's better when I get it for her. Silly girl.
4. What do you do even though it upsets your lover?
I try not to upset her, but sometimes Sage gets upset when I leave for a few days to go hunting. She understand that we need to meat, but she hates being alone.
5. If someone was going to meet your lover for the first time, what one thing would they need to know?
If they hurt my sister, they will be hurt by me. I will not tolerate any harm coming to Sage, ever.
6. What's your absolutely favourite thing about your lover?
She's just so... smart. She knows how to think, not the thoughts that a common person would have, but the kinds that someone with a deeper self would have. I sometimes wonder if she has been blessed with unnatural wisdom by the gods, honestly.