Character History //
Jul. 11th, 2013 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
losemyfaithHayley was born the second of two children to an impoverished family and spent majority of her childhood suffering the effects that came with growing up in the midst of the Great Depression. She and her older brother Ray were often left on their own while their parents were either searching for work or attending whatever job they were lucky enough to have at the time. Later after WWII broke out and the family's finances finally began to stabilize, their parents finally had the time and the money to properly provide for their children. this was met with differing reactions by both of them, while Ray was generally glad to make up for lost time, Hayley was much less receptive and usually made a point of being contrary out of spite. She was generally labeled a problem child from then on, never to her face but she was well aware of what other girls and their mothers said in hushed tones when they thought she couldn't hear, and she did her best to push the envelope throughout most of her teenage years. (Kids become what they are labeled, as they say.)
However, while Hayley was busy playing rebellious teenager, she failed to notice how far she and her brother had begun to drift. The split would come to a head the day he announced his intent to enlist in the army, and feeling betrayed, Hayley would incite what was significantly the biggest disagreement in the span of their entire relationship. Even Hayley's temper can't run high forever, though, and through brief conversations and exchanged letters the two were slowly beginning to come to something of a resolution.
And then he went missing.
Her regret would be immense after finding out, and the same tumultuous feelings that had caused that regret would lead her to make an even more brazen decision. It took a lot of digging in some shady places, but eventually Hayley would meet a man who could bring her brother home. It would come at a price, however. The man she'd found called himself Death, and had the ability to back the up the claim. He'd offer to bring her brother home in exchange for little more than her soul. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, she accepted, and the deal was followed through not long after.
Technically, anyway. When her brother was found, he had been long since killed. Still, though, the specific stipulations of their deal were adhered to as his remains were delivered home and he was given proper burial rites. Hayley was understandably distressed by this, thinking she had been cheated, and would ignore everyone at the services before noticing Death hanging around unobtrusively observing the proceedings. Enraged by his presence there, she would demand an explanation and the ensuing conversation would be the last certain sighting of him she would have for the next 40 years. Occasionally she may spot him in a crowd or lurking in a shadow but there was no way to be sure.
Over the next few years she would enjoy spectacular health, but nothing would really seem amiss until later when Hayley had taken a job at a textile factory and ended up accidentally crushing her hand in a piece of machinery. The incident occurred in front of several coworkers, so it was decidedly horrifying for all involved when an appendage that had resembled hamburger more so than a hand reformed itself to perfect condition in moments. Utterly confused and fearing a witch hunt Hayley packed up and was gone by the next morning.
She would then find herself in the employ of one Mr. Allen, a rich southern gentleman looking for a live-in maid. It would quickly become apparent that what the man needed more was a friend, as the house was ridiculously large for one person to be living in alone. After what happened at the factory she was hesitant to let the relationship be anything more than professional, but despite that the two would become close friends. Mr. Allen would eventually notice her lack of age during the 18 years she would stay there, but wouldn't mention it to her until he was on his deathbed. Hayley would have learned of this herself by this point as well, but the fact that he kept it in confidence for so long eases her paranoia about getting close to others somewhat.
The night he dies would also be the next time she would be able to speak with 'Death' and get some clarity as to what exactly it was he'd done to her. Explaining that because she'd relinquished her soul to him, his nature as a psychopomp operating on the mortal plane allowed him to manipulate aspects of her mortality. It was now his possession, essentially, and he could do with it as he wished. This answer was less than pleasing since it meant that she'd given up any say she might've had in the matter. Finding herself surprisingly well provided for in Mr. Allen's will, Hayley was then more than financially able to strike out on her own and begin looking into a way to get out of the deal.
However there is little to be found it seems, as her circumstances really do seem to be unprecedented, which leads her to do some experimentation of her own. She eventually took it upon herself to start testing the limits of 'exempt from human mortality.' The self-harm experimentation she put herself through wasn't always performed objectively as things progressed however, and it highlighted some of her deeper issues after she successfully achieved a temporary period of death. Coming to the conclusion that the experiments had, if not in the beginning then definitely later on, been motivated by an inability to reconcile her feelings of being unnatural and the fact that it is what she is, she ended them.
Hayley would finally find herself in the town of St. Talia following a lead on the town's library. Finding it closed, however, she'd be stuck in the town for several days. Many of the town's residents seemed closed off to visitors like herself, and she'd find herself inadvertently drawn into unraveling the reasons behind the secrecy. After a series of events involving a werewolf and a particularly obstinate game hunter, the visit would become permanent after she accepts ownership of the library following the whole debacle. The townspeople become much more accepting of her afterwards, and she fits into the community surprisingly well. To her ire, however, Death seems to make much more frequent visits since she took up residence, only citing 'that she couldn't have picked a better place to stay.' Coming from him she doesn't know what to make of it.
The most curious of her discoveries after taking ownership of the library ends up being that of a secret room housing the dusty remains of research material relating to something called The Lost Pantheon. As the name would imply, it outlines the presence of 4 demigods that somehow became lost and abandoned their task of maintaining the world and guiding it's development. More pressingly however is information that skews disturbingly close to similar threads Hayley has been following into the nature of her deal, placing the mysterious room and it's contents rather high on her list of priorities.
However, while Hayley was busy playing rebellious teenager, she failed to notice how far she and her brother had begun to drift. The split would come to a head the day he announced his intent to enlist in the army, and feeling betrayed, Hayley would incite what was significantly the biggest disagreement in the span of their entire relationship. Even Hayley's temper can't run high forever, though, and through brief conversations and exchanged letters the two were slowly beginning to come to something of a resolution.
And then he went missing.
Her regret would be immense after finding out, and the same tumultuous feelings that had caused that regret would lead her to make an even more brazen decision. It took a lot of digging in some shady places, but eventually Hayley would meet a man who could bring her brother home. It would come at a price, however. The man she'd found called himself Death, and had the ability to back the up the claim. He'd offer to bring her brother home in exchange for little more than her soul. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, she accepted, and the deal was followed through not long after.
Technically, anyway. When her brother was found, he had been long since killed. Still, though, the specific stipulations of their deal were adhered to as his remains were delivered home and he was given proper burial rites. Hayley was understandably distressed by this, thinking she had been cheated, and would ignore everyone at the services before noticing Death hanging around unobtrusively observing the proceedings. Enraged by his presence there, she would demand an explanation and the ensuing conversation would be the last certain sighting of him she would have for the next 40 years. Occasionally she may spot him in a crowd or lurking in a shadow but there was no way to be sure.
Over the next few years she would enjoy spectacular health, but nothing would really seem amiss until later when Hayley had taken a job at a textile factory and ended up accidentally crushing her hand in a piece of machinery. The incident occurred in front of several coworkers, so it was decidedly horrifying for all involved when an appendage that had resembled hamburger more so than a hand reformed itself to perfect condition in moments. Utterly confused and fearing a witch hunt Hayley packed up and was gone by the next morning.
She would then find herself in the employ of one Mr. Allen, a rich southern gentleman looking for a live-in maid. It would quickly become apparent that what the man needed more was a friend, as the house was ridiculously large for one person to be living in alone. After what happened at the factory she was hesitant to let the relationship be anything more than professional, but despite that the two would become close friends. Mr. Allen would eventually notice her lack of age during the 18 years she would stay there, but wouldn't mention it to her until he was on his deathbed. Hayley would have learned of this herself by this point as well, but the fact that he kept it in confidence for so long eases her paranoia about getting close to others somewhat.
The night he dies would also be the next time she would be able to speak with 'Death' and get some clarity as to what exactly it was he'd done to her. Explaining that because she'd relinquished her soul to him, his nature as a psychopomp operating on the mortal plane allowed him to manipulate aspects of her mortality. It was now his possession, essentially, and he could do with it as he wished. This answer was less than pleasing since it meant that she'd given up any say she might've had in the matter. Finding herself surprisingly well provided for in Mr. Allen's will, Hayley was then more than financially able to strike out on her own and begin looking into a way to get out of the deal.
However there is little to be found it seems, as her circumstances really do seem to be unprecedented, which leads her to do some experimentation of her own. She eventually took it upon herself to start testing the limits of 'exempt from human mortality.' The self-harm experimentation she put herself through wasn't always performed objectively as things progressed however, and it highlighted some of her deeper issues after she successfully achieved a temporary period of death. Coming to the conclusion that the experiments had, if not in the beginning then definitely later on, been motivated by an inability to reconcile her feelings of being unnatural and the fact that it is what she is, she ended them.
Hayley would finally find herself in the town of St. Talia following a lead on the town's library. Finding it closed, however, she'd be stuck in the town for several days. Many of the town's residents seemed closed off to visitors like herself, and she'd find herself inadvertently drawn into unraveling the reasons behind the secrecy. After a series of events involving a werewolf and a particularly obstinate game hunter, the visit would become permanent after she accepts ownership of the library following the whole debacle. The townspeople become much more accepting of her afterwards, and she fits into the community surprisingly well. To her ire, however, Death seems to make much more frequent visits since she took up residence, only citing 'that she couldn't have picked a better place to stay.' Coming from him she doesn't know what to make of it.
The most curious of her discoveries after taking ownership of the library ends up being that of a secret room housing the dusty remains of research material relating to something called The Lost Pantheon. As the name would imply, it outlines the presence of 4 demigods that somehow became lost and abandoned their task of maintaining the world and guiding it's development. More pressingly however is information that skews disturbingly close to similar threads Hayley has been following into the nature of her deal, placing the mysterious room and it's contents rather high on her list of priorities.
