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| User: | fancyairs (211027) |
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| Name: | Isobel Wycliffe | |||||||||
| E-mail: | dolcedecorum@yahoo.com | |||||||||
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| Bio: |  I mean to rule the earth, As he the sky — We really know our worth, The sun and I. Concerning Isobel FULL NAME: Isobel Marie Wycliffe DATE OF BIRTH: April 12, 1848 SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Bisexual (by occupation at least, leans heterosexual personally) ETHNIC BACKGROUND: German on her mother’s side, English on her father’s. OCCUPATION: Former thespian, current brothel worker. Isobel fell into the oldest profession almost immediately upon moving out west. Without a husband or any useful skills, the career rather found her. FAMILY: Her father and mother are deceased. Her brother Sebastian is her only immediate relative still living. CURRENT RESIDENCE: Reed's House Brothel in New Shelby, CA SPECIAL SKILLS/WEAPONS USED: She can read both English and German and knows several plays by heart, mostly Shakespearean. Her acting ability means that she is also a skilled liar, a talent that comes in handy in her current line of work although by nature she is overly forthright and honest. She loves poker from playing with her brother growing up and is a decent player. As a child, she studied music and can sightread scores and play the violin. WEAKNESSES: Isobel could not be a farmer’s wife if her life depended on it. She has really no practical skills to speak of, especially when it comes to taking care of animals or crops. Her attempts at cooking tend to end in disaster. Regardless of actual skill level, her short temper and generally indolent personality would be a huge problem as well in any normal line of work. While she is attempting to learn to use firearms, her aim is atrocious and shows no indication of improving. She is also skittish on horses. LIKES: Dancing, investment opportunities, Shakespeare, the latest fashions, whiskey, jewelry, winning at poker, musical revues, silk stockings, sleeping in late, spendthrifts, opera, gifts. DISLIKES: Being scolded, menial tasks, practical shoes, penury, cooking, puritanical individuals, being ignored, going to church, Phoebe's biscuits, rustic furnishings, budgets. APPEARANCE: Nothing about Isobel’s lavish appearance seems to concede anything to the rough realities of life. Her long hair is always carefully arranged in elaborate styles and she never stirs from the house before it has had a chance to set into ringlets. She has dark auburn hair and large green eyes which always seem to be brightly appraising everyone and everything she encounters. Despite her occupation, her small, delicate features give her a guileless, even innocent air. Her style of dress would best be described as extravagant, even for a whore. She loves lace and rich fabrics in bright colors and a good amount of her money goes into buying gowns in the latest fashions. There is nothing modest or retiring about her appearance, she goes out of her way to stand out. While vain of her appearance, Isobel wishes she had a more hourglass shape and tries to compensate for this by buying dresses that accentuate her waist. Her relatively short statute of 5'3" is another source of irritation to her and she tries to get away with heels whenever she can. POSITIVE TRAITS: Self-confident, inquisitive, affectionate, extroverted, persistent, brave, resourceful. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Extravagant, vain, moody, selfish, greedy, conniving. Isobel's best and worst qualities are really two sides of the same coin. Her careless self-confidence is an asset to her, she rarely doubts her own abilities or charms but it all too easily blends into arrogance. No matter what the task, Isobel is convinced she is best suited for it. While not naturally unkind, her self-involvement can often mean that she is slow to empathize with others. Intense self-regard does not necessarily translate into selfishness in her case. While passing only a few hours in her company will undoubtedly demonstrate the full measure of her vanity, Isobel is more than the shallow, conceited girl she appears upon first acquaintance. Where she loves, she loves completely and blindly, and will go any length for a loved one. It is only that inspiring this depth of devotion in her is a difficult undertaking. She shows affection easily, however, and takes a ready interest in the cares and concerns of others. An optimist at heart, Isobel is able to take bad news with a Gallic shrug and a firm belief that things will end up all right in the end. In any situation, she tends to believe the most hopeful outcome is also the most likely. She will complain loudly over anything she doesn’t like but long periods of depression or despair are truly alien to her personality. Isobel is a superficial, extravagant creature bordering on the amoral and she knows it. Avarice and vanity are but two of the deadly sins that have full command over her personality. However, she is quite open and aware of her own failings and makes no show of modesty or virtue. She delights in material possessions and luxury and will do almost anything to secure them with few compunctions about whom she might injure in the process. Things like morality, the law, or simple decency do not concern her in the least. She has the reputation of never having turned down a single client or any money-making scheme. The penury of her youth still grates on her and she looks forward to a day when concerns about money will no longer weigh on her. Isobel fears nothing more than finding herself poor and alone and is constantly on the make to ensure this fate does not befall her. Her most obvious virtue, if one can count it as that, is her honesty. Isobel will always tell you why your dress is hopelessly out of fashion or recount a detailed list of her many perfections. Tact does not count as a virtue for Isobel, nor does pretending to have virtues one does not possess. Towards clients she masks this characteristic lack of diplomacy out of necessity, but everyone else can rely on hearing exactly what is on Isobel’s mind. She does not mean to come off as supercilious exactly; she simply sees no reason to hide her opinions. She may sulk or complain, but rarely will she nurse a secret resentment or grudge. In general, she forgives easily, her anger disappearing as suddenly as it appeared and soon forgotten. She is a hedonist and seems to take great pleasure out of life, finding it difficult to say no to any temptation. Isobel and her brother Sebastian had quite the unorthodox upbringing. Their father and mother were both actors and toured around the country performing mostly minor roles in classical plays. From an early age, she and her bother were enlisted in these productions and received strange educations from the acting company that combined both high learning (in foreign languages and literature) coupled with almost total ignorance in subjects such as math and the sciences. The family’s fortunes varied wildly from month to month or even day to day. At times Isobel would be doted upon and dressed in fanciful dresses, at others she and her brother would have to steal just to pay their father's creditors. There was never any security or real home life for the two siblings. The acting company would rarely remain in a city for more than two weeks and Isobel spent much of her childhood behind stage or on boats and trains. This bohemian existence was happy enough, and Isobel enjoyed reciting her few brief lines on stage most nights. Even as a child, she loved an audience. Tragedy struck in quick succession. She found herself at sixteen orphaned when both of her parents succumbed to a typhoid outbreak while in Missouri. The siblings tried to find employment in St. Louis but soon discovered that an ability to recite all of King Lear or sing German opera were not ones in great demand. Neither had any practical skills or formal education to speak of, Isobel did not even know how to cook and refused the lowly position of maid. After a year of scraping out a miserable existence in Missouri, the two moved out west together, hearing that there were dance halls and opportunities from a cousin who worked out in California. Once they arrived, however, it turned out that this relation had glossed over the realities of life out west in order to maintain her own pride. Isobel soon turned to prostitution over her brother’s vociferous objections while Bastian took whatever menial tasks he could find. Their combined incomes barely managed to keep a roof over their heads, much less save for the future. This was an intolerable arrangement for Isobel. Her complaints soon caused her brother to pursue more lucrative, but also potentially illegal, jobs. Isobel is nothing if not a survivor and would never let mere social mores or squeamishness get in the way of making a tidy profit. She had no patience for missishness and certainly did not fancy becoming a servant. However, she found prostitution was not exactly the safest of occupations. More than one client turned violent and few people were willing to intercede to help a mere whore. Madam Phoebe was thus a godsend in Isobel’s mind. She received shelter and protection, and clients tended to pay far better now that she was part of an establishment. The two might have incredibly different personalities, and Isobel might long for a higher percentage of her wages, but she is grateful to Phoebe for taking her in. She has been in New Shelby for nearly a year now and shows no inclination to relocate again. She has mostly lost touch with her brother, who has taken to blatantly illegal jobs in hopes of raising enough money to buy a saloon here in town. He has been out of New Shelby for the past six months and she only receives brief letters from him. Isobel's whole life now revolves around the brothel, her wardrobe, and various schemes to strike it rich. Disclaimer. I am not Anna Friel nor a 19th-century brothel worker. More's the pity! Banner by tomorrowpbs, header by scholarsicons. | |||||||||
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| Account type: | Free Patient | |||||||||
