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Your name/whatever: Liisu!
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Timezone: GMT+12
Character name: Petra del Rey
Fandom & genre: Original character (originally created for The Elenium fandom)
Human/Nonhuman: Human! (Witch.)
Tell us about your character.
- Petra del Rey was born in Calais, France and raised in Corte, Corsica, the only child of Ames and Jacqueline del Rey. The del Reys were at this time operating a small café and art gallery in Corte, which was later their official reason for relocating to the USA when she was fourteen; a business opportunity when Rogatien Lefevre (an old family friend who'd already taken his family to Denver) offered to invest in a larger enterprise. It was a good reason, and a successful decision - but it might also have had something to do with the strong Corsican nationalist feeling in Corte, the FLNC, and the del Reys' relatively new presence in Corsica (a couple of generations, and with a varied background).
They settled in New York - Utica and NYC - where Ames and Jacqueline devoted themselves to business and Petra devoted herself to letting cute American boys help her work on her English. (What.) The family divided here, briefly; Jacqueline and Petra lived primarily in Utica while Ames established the gallery in NYC, and the two crossed over as suited everyone's schedule and temperament. The arrangement was unorthodox, maybe, but the del Reys had a marriage that made it an agreeable situation and one that resulted in Petra traveling often enough to be satisfied without complaint - she liked to be moving. During this time, she became closer to her longtime friend, Martel Lefevre; it eventually became her first serious relationship, albeit at a pretty young age for that.
She was a relatively indifferent student at school, busy mixing paint - or potions, channeling a natural inclination to witchery primarily through elixirs and amulets. With a series of ever-present cameras, she devoted her time most of all to photography; oil paints were a hobby and photography was what she hoped to parley into a profession. It was in her senior year - some months after a brutal, behind closed doors break up with Martel, with whom she disagreed about things ranging from the practise of magic to whether or not he was an irredeemable fuckhead liar - that her inability to pay attention to her classes without encouragement was noticed by her Lit teacher. Mr Howes paired her with Thrice Doul in order to get tutoring; Petra passed the class (...not remarkably, but she passed) and ended the year with a new fixation that she liked to call Troisiéme.
By college - Vassar, art major - Petra and Thrice were cohabiting comfortably. She worked part time and conceded freely that she was still mostly being supported by her wealthier parents (YSL isn't cheap), and at no point ever bothered sitting down and explaining that yes, Virginia, your girlfriend is a witch...but he was an observant kind of a guy. It wasn't an issue- especially since he had some 'idiosyncrasies' of his own that made sharing an apartment sometimes interesting. (Ranging from finding her coffee cup where she might have put it down but hadn't to the days when there was too much world for him to be capable of interacting with it.) They adjusted to each other where necessary; her efforts to devise some kind of probability-aspirin for her afflicted partner inadvertently solved the, er, intimacy problems they were dealing with. (A tonic designed to give him focus and cut down on the nigh-reality background noise and heavy black curtains to keep the outside out.)
It was Thrice's Petra-termed 'idiosyncrasies' that became the issue when he was taken by the Lovers as payment and gave her a choice between washing her hands of him or...not. She opted to adjust instead of abandon, and their relationship continued in letters and white gold rings. There were adjustments to make in the way she was living her life that had nothing to do with failing to discuss her partner beyond confirming his existence; the vampires coming out of the coffin was still relatively recent and the political and social upheaval surrounding all things supernatural drove home the necessity of being a lot more careful about a part of her life she'd previously considered to be discreet but largely not any more important than her preference to be driven rather than drive and use oil paints instead of water colours. Petra had never - obviously - been explicitly public, but she'd never devoted a lot of thought to secrecy before, either. Her interest in the vampires was minimal - the situation with the Lovers disinclined her to be sympathetic - but they were not the only ones facing persecution and she made more of an effort to make sure the contents of her cupboards appeared no more remarkable than any other young woman's kitchen.
On a more mundane note, she finished out her college education - getting a roommate after Thrice left, Katie (Ekaterina Mihaylova) - and went dutifully into the work force as an assistant curator at the del Rey Gallery. (If you think nepotism was involved...you are correct, Petra is a spoiled heiress.) Working for her parents and making periodic attempts to get her own art into other galleries kept her occupied, living in a small NYC apartment and getting herself into and out of trouble with friends and acquaintances. She wrote weekly (sometimes more often) to Thrice, enclosing photographs, keepsakes, sweets and periodic refills of his "tonic"; on rarer occasions they spoke on the phone. His letters were predictably vague on the subject of what he was doing, though they'd developed a short and sweet code before he left for the really important things. (Like 'run away' or 'I'm probably going to die'.) She's opted largely not to talk about this aspect of her private life - people whose business it wasn't knew she wore a ring and that's fine, people closer to her were generally aware that she had a significant other that wrote to her often and usually picked up on the fact it's better not to ask.
Recently, in the hopes of getting more experience outside the sheltering influence of Ames and Jacqueline and a workplace that has seen her grow up, Petra's been loaned out to a gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Petra del Rey is a Hawthorn in the Celtic astrology system:
Hawthorn signs in Celtic tree astrology are not at all what they appear to be. Outwardly, they appear to be a certain persona, while on the inside Hawthorn’s are quite different. They put the term “never judge a book by its cover” to the test. They live seemingly average lives while on the inside they carry fiery passions and inexhaustible creative flame. They are well adjusted and can adapt to most life situations well - making themselves content and comforting others at the same time. You are naturally curious, and have an interest in a broad range of topics. You are an excellent listener, and people seek you out as an outlet to release their burdens. You have a healthy sense of humor, and have a clear understanding of irony. You tend to see the big picture, and have amazing insight - although you typically won’t give yourself enough credit for your observations. Hawthorn signs match up nicely with Ash and Rowans.
If your character is from a different canon, how do they fit into the game's universe?
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