Post by Ruin on Jul 14, 2011 8:47:35 GMT -6
[/size][/center]Alphonze
[size=3
]“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so?
There's a support group for that.
It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar.”
Name: [/b]Alphonze
Aliases: Al, Alph
Species: Human
Class: Skaa
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Primary Residence: Luthadel
Occupation: Dress maker at the prestigious Turner Tailors & an on-and-off Drunkard
Sexual Orientation: Straight (I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW HE IS STRAIGHT?!?!?!? HE MAKES DRESSES!!!)
Martial Status: Single
---------------
Appearance:
Much to Alphonze’s distress, he tends to stand out among the skaa due to his height. Although interbreeding his lessened the differences between skaa and nobles there is still an obvious discrepancy in height between the two classes. This doesn’t ring true for Al since he stands at 5’11, on the tall side for a skaa. Even though he makes an effort to walk slouched he still stands above the normal skaa street crowds. His slim rather then bulky build makes him different as well, he blames it on his ‘lack of masculine work’ but truthfully he was never really one to gain muscle, no matter how hard he tried.
Although he is not particularly handsome Al takes after his mother, something that may not always be a complement. Black hair and green eyes along with a rather delicate set of features, excluding his slightly crooked nose, can make Al rather distinctive. While doing his on-going “Quest for a Manly Job” he often lets his black feathery hair grow out and just ties it back with something. But when ever he goes back to his regular job of making gowns at Turner’s Tailors his employer (Turner) requires that he keeps his hair cut to somewhere around his ears and he can’t have facial hair either. Although Al doesn’t particularly care about the state of his hair he doesn’t like having to take the time to make his shorter hair cooperate with him. It tends to poke out at all different angles, refusing to lie flat or be put up in any style. (I call it his “eternal bed-head hair”)
Al believes in the power of clothing. He believes that nothing else is more powerful. After all, Nobles are well dressed and they run society, skaa are poorly dressed and they work in the slums. It is only logical right? This belief is what causes Alph to dress himself so well. He personally makes and designs his own suits from the left over material at his job. Everything fits him perfectly and is kept clean despite the Ashfalls in Luthadel. Although his clothing never includes any flashy colors it is necessary for him to dress like this for his job, even if he mainly makes dresses, not suits.
When ever he is with skaa Alphonze seems to radiate a “stay-away-from-me” aura. While this is not intentional, simply a side-effect of the scowl that Al wears outside of the Tailor’s, it does intimidate people. Certainly his usually crossed arms also help with this impression despite the fact that people who get a good look at him see his is rather un-built and un-intimidating. This vibe is almost non-existent when Alph is working because he makes an effort to smile slightly at the customers and help them chose the gown that looks best on them.
Personality:
Angry, apathetic and kind all at the exact same time. Yes, yes. You must be thinking Paradoxical, no? But this is EXACTLY what Alphonze is like! Let me prove it…
Alphonze prefers to keep to himself, rarely talking to people he doesn’t know and even those who know him only rarely get more then a few words. At Al’s job he has to talk to the Nobles but even there the voice he uses is almost completely emotionless. Usually when he is quiet it’s because he’s simply wallowing in self-loathing and looking forward to getting drunk as soon as possible but sometimes it’s because he is concentrating on those around him. He may not like talking but he enjoys watching other people interact.
Growing up on the outskirts of Luthadel, Alphonze knows what poverty is like. He understands what it is like to simply try to make it till tomorrow. But he is also used to the lavish tendencies of the Nobles with all their balls and gowns and to put it simply it makes him angry as hell. In fact during the rebellion he even considered joining the rebels simply to get back at the Nobles for all the money they posses. However, he eventually gave up on that idea due to his complete lack of self-confidence. But his anger still produces a fiery temper that he can direct at anyone, although he is rather hard to anger in the first place.
It is also due to his poor childhood that Al is so extremely frugal and careful with anything he has (this is the reason why he has plenty of money). He would rather use even the tiniest scrap of clothing to make a handkerchief then waste the otherwise worthless piece of cloth. Despite his hoarding tendencies he is also quick to lend a helping hand, or money, to those in need. He understands how hard life might be for others even if he is now living better then he once was. In fact he uses extra cloth from the Tailor shop he works at to design and make extra clothing for males and females of any age. Various beggars know that if they need something to wear that Alph will give it to them without charge. Children are even more of a weak spot for him then the regular beggars and he will sometimes go out of his way to even offer the kids clothing rather then waiting for them to come ask.
However despite Al’s kind nature he always puts up some show of reluctance when giving away clothing and money. Pretending to grudgingly give up anything he gives, as if the people didn’t completely persuade him that they were worthy. Alph knows he is a softy when it comes to other people but he also understands that it would be in his best interest to scowl rather then smile.
Despite my Alphie’s occupation he is in fact not gay. Al has to deal with women almost all day. Between the giggly seamstresses and the aloof Noblewomen, by the end of each work day he is absolutely sick and tired of females and their bubbly, vain personalities. It’s this that makes him generally disgusted when it comes to relationships. Although he has had a few girlfriends it never seems to last very long because they remind him of the other girls he works with and he then dumps them.
Although Alphonze is good at what he does (designing and making dresses, suits and ball gowns), he dislikes the fact that this seems to be the only thing that he is good at. Anyone who even stifles a snicker at the fact that he’s a dressmaker will get more of his temper then they bargained for, even if Al agrees with them
Due to his particularly humiliating occupation for a person of the male gender, Alph has a strong loathing of both himself and his job. He would probably give up everything he had if he could simply be good at something other than making dresses. In fact he has tried several different jobs, working in forges, being a soldier, a steward, a cook, a scribe, a thief and a bartender just to name a few. However he always seems to fail no matter how much effort he puts in. He will usually give up on different jobs after only a few weeks. His employer, Turner, is always happy to welcome him back since Al is one of the best. But the older Al gets the less and less he tries new jobs,
But in order to ‘make up’ for his failures he tends to be an on-and-off drunk. When Alph’s drunk he becomes completely useless. In fact his angrier side emerges and often he ends up simply sitting down and glaring at a wall. However when he’s drunk he often talks more then usual if people actually try to hold a conversation with him.
History:
Alhponze’s mother is the only family he has ever known. He has no siblings. His father died in a forge accident just a year after Al had been born. So his mother was everything to him. Ithaca, a seamstress in one of the villages near Luthadel who specialized in making ball gowns for nobles.
Al and his mother were incredibly poor and it was a struggle simply to eat everyday. Ithaca worked hard but even she could only get so many dresses done at a time. Al understood this and at the age of four he told his mother that he would help her any way he could. She immediately set him to untangling threads or unrolling things. Simple tasks that even a four year-old couldn’t mess up easily. Ithaca was kind and didn’t want to crush her little son’s hope of helping but with his help she was actually able to get rid of some of the simple, but time consuming, jobs she had to do.
Over the years Alph devoted himself to helping his mother as much as he could. By the time he was eight she allowed him to do the embroidery and seams on the dresses. On his tenth birthday he was allowed to sew an entire dress together. Ithaca’s fame had also grown along with her clientele. She and Al were now living better with a better income and more food, even a better home.
By the time Al reached the age of fourteen he was allowed to design and make any dresses he liked. In fact his designs were bought even more ten his mother’s because they looked “new and original”, or at least, so the nobles said. Ithaca was thrilled that both her business was thriving and her son enjoyed the same thing she did. The two had grown incredibly close, closer then most mothers and sons, because they shared something that they both loved to do. Even when Al had been teased for making dresses and helping his mom he had kept going. Ithaca had shared everything she knew about sewing and designing dresses with Al and whenever they worked together on a project it would always turn out perfectly.
Then Ithaca died.
It was a shock but it was also the first of many deaths as a sickness swept through the small village. Death rocked the town and each family mourned their lost loved ones. Alphonze sat for days in his mother’s shop, mechanically working on dresses. He trusted repetition to do the job and leave him to mourn his mother. He missed her. He thought he had known loss before but now he knew that one could live without bread for a time, even water could be withheld for a short time and the body would be okay, but loss, the loss of someone who had always been there, could the body live without that?
After a while Ithaca’s customers stopped coming. Who wanted dresses made by a fourteen year old boy? Al decided to leave, he would go to Luthadel and work in forges, in mills, become a soldier. Anything but making dresses. He didn’t think he could do it any more, it would remind him too much of his mother. Plus, why would a guy make dresses any way? And with that Alph packed up his belongings and left for Luthadel.
Finding a job was much harder then Al had thought it would be. Getting hired didn’t seem to be a problem it was keeping the job that was so hard for Al. Each time he only seemed to last a week before they fired him. No matter how hard he tried he messed up. In the forges and mills he just didn’t have the strength or endurance. With the Garrison he didn’t have the skill. Even the soup kitchens wouldn’t take him because he couldn’t cook. After almost two months of being fired Al knew he would have to go back to dressmaking.
After wondering around near the shops he miraculously manages to get a job after proving that he could indeed make dresses. His employer was amazed at the incredible designs and how unlike anything else they were. Alph was immediately put in charge of designing the dresses with several seamstresses under him. Although Alph enjoyed the job he was still reminded of his mother every time he made a dress or used her advice from so long ago.
The shop he worked at quickly gained a reputation for being original, all thanks to Al’s designs. Although he tried to avoid all the women who tried to avoid all the noblewomen when he saw some of the clothing they picked he found that he simply had to help them. Their sense of style was atrocious. Slowly Al’s own reputation grew. He could give any women the best corset, skirt, color or jewelry that could turn them stunning rather then simply beautiful.
After a while Al grew bored. He wanted to try again, maybe this time he could get away from dresses and find a real job. A manly job. His employer was shocked when Al told him that he was quitting. But he needn’t have worried. Al showed back up at the shop in a few weeks asking for his job back. For the past seven years it has been the same pattern. Al working for months. Al quitting. Al coming back within weeks. Eventually his employer got used to it and happily let Al have his little ventures. Alphonze had made his shop popular, one of the best in all of Luthadel, he deserved breaks every once in a while right?
---------------
Roleplay Example:
This was Al’s favorite bar. It was dirty, small, loud, crowded, full of the Luthadel Underground, but it had the cheapest alcohol he could find. After all cheap alcohol, expensive alcohol both got you just as drunk so there was no need for him to waste money on the “good stuff” right? His favorite spot in the room was what someone had once called the “paranoid chair”. It was a wooden chair in the very corner of the bar, a spot where Al could see everyone but no one could sneak up behind him.
It was from this chair that he was starring at everyone in the room. Most were men from the forges or mills in the nearby Industrial District. There were a few women though those were either working at the bar or sitting in the corners. The sound of the laughing drunks was booming, each man competing to drown out the other one. People were so hilarious…
The cheap alcohol in Alph’s hand was already his fifth bottle but his high tolerance meant that the room was only slightly spinning, there was only a small buzz in his head, and he was still rather conscious of his surroundings. Taking another glance around the room Al almost gagged on his drink as he saw the person from across the room. While he tried to turn away before the man noticed him it was already too late.
“Alfie my boy!” The loud voice reverberated through Al’s head. Maybe I’m more drunk then I thought. Reluctantly turning to the older man, Al mumbled an annoyed “Hello Hirst,” in response. This man was one of Al’s newest drinking buddies but recently he was beginning to regret meeting the middle-aged annoyance. Hirst was loud, persistent, much too happy, always wanted Al to pay for his drinks and worst of all had decided to call him ‘Alfie’ for some reason. He hated the name “Alfie”.
“Now, now. Is that any way to greet me my young friend?” Hirst said while walking over to Al’s ‘paranoid chair’. Although Al resisted the increasing urge to glare at his drinking partner, he couldn’t exactly stop his internal flinch at the thought of spending who knows how long with this man. I should probably buy dinner if Hirst is going to be talking to me for a while. Slowly and deliberately standing up from his chair he found himself looking slightly down at Hirst since the man was only 5’7. “I’m going to go buy myself dinner. I’ll get you a drink while I’m up.” Although he walked quickly to the serving counter he was not quite quick enough to avoid hearing the “Why thank you Alfie my boy!” that Hirst so loudly shouted after him.
The serving girl at the counter took Al’s order of one stew and two more bottles of the cheapest alcohol and while waiting he plopped down on a chair next to the counter.
---------------
Other applications ONLY
Player Name: Emere
Other Characters:Ruin, AenSitu, Kasumi Hasting
[/size][/blockquote]
