Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 27, 2011 17:59:48 GMT -5
♦Arthur Kirkland♦
Basic Information
Character Name Arthur James Kirkland
Age 35
Gender Male
Country The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Hometown Born and raised in London
House Position and Job Arthur is head of the English House and the mayor of Hale’iwa.
The Whole Story
Looks Don't Mean Everything Arthur is pretty average all around. He’s taller than some, and shorter than some, and his weight is average for his build. He makes sure to keep himself in decent shape, but could hardly be called muscular. His only truly distinguishing feature is a pair of thick black eyebrows that contrast too much with his blond hair for him to be able to hide them with his longish bangs—due to this fact he’s taken to simply slicking his hair back away from his forehead rather than bother with trying to conceal his eyebrows. His green eyes are constantly attentive to his surroundings and are occasionally hidden behind a pair of half-moon reading glasses (which he only wears when doing paperwork related to running the city).
Arthur wears elegant, light-weight, black or dark green suits with uniform green, crimson, or royal blue ties when working as the mayor. If he’s doing anything that risks ruining a suit coat he’ll often forgo that—provided he has a vest underneath. His cufflinks bear his crest ((Can be seen HERE)) and his tie-tacks are all two roses twined around one another.
The head of the English House carries a walking stick made of walnut and inlaid with cherry-wood rose vines and topped with a silver rose (which appears to be starting to bloom). The elegance of the cane implies that it is for decorative purposes. This is half-true. Arthur sustained a wound to his right leg a few years ago and uses the cane to disguise his limp. It also serve the useful purpose of concealing a long, thin sword within its shaft.
But Some of Us Are Ugly On the Inside, Too Arthur is a man who prefers to keep himself to himself, more through self-preservation than anything. He’s hesitant about even trusting those in his own House (after all, he came to power by repeatedly stabbing superiors in the back—sometimes literally). If you can gain some semblance of trust—treat it like a skittish horse and tread carefully. Consider very carefully if breaking the trust of the man running the city (for what that’s worth) is really worth it.
If he lets someone past his harsh exterior defenses of scathing criticism, temper, and stand-offishness, he really does turn out to be mostly bark. He has the ability to “bite,” but would rather not use it. He’s far more likely to keep his defenses up unless it’s beneficial to him to do otherwise.
Arthur is stubborn, rather bulldog-like, in his tenacity. Once he’s latched onto an idea or ideal he’s unlikely to reverse his stance on it without an extremely convincing argument from the other side. Even then, he’s more likely to wait until it looks like it was his own idea to change his mind.
The Englishman is very conscious of the necessity of behaving like a proper gentleman and so does his best to keep his manners in place but they tend to slip from time to time. When they do he doesn’t give a damn what he says. He sometimes suffers from “foot-in-mouth” disease, due to being misunderstood in what he meant by what he said.
Arthur is unafraid of using people as stepping-stones, and his ruthless in his defense of his positions. Any dissension in the House ranks is dealt with quickly—and often in ways that seem extreme for the offense. He’s not above defaming his political opponents and is quick to locate scandal int heir history that he can use in his campaigns. He’ll play his tune about being an orphan and a War Veteran who pulled himself up “by his bootstraps” to appeal to the populace when he can.
I Have a Past:
Arthur was born on April 23, 1912 in London England as the youngest of four brothers. He only really remembers what he was told about his father and from pictures. He was four when his father was called to war, never to return. The family was told he was lost at sea.
Arthur, even at that young age, was well aware of the difficulties between himself and his brothers. This got worse after the Influenza Epidemic of 1918. The youngest of them nearly died from it (he was six at the time) and their mother did succumb to the disease. By this time Arthur’s eldest brother was old enough to act as guardian to the others, but quickly determined that four were too many to take care of and sent Arthur—the only one not working—to live with their maternal grandparents.
Arthur will never complain of the time spent living with his grandparents—after all they sent him to school—but he has little praise for it either. They had no idea what to do with a child and kept a list of strict regulations when they didn’t ignore him all together. He was quiet in his rebellions against the stringent rules—staying out late, taking up smoking cigarettes (pipe smoke being the only smell of tobacco his grandfather liked), etc—throughout his high school years.
The Englishman left his grandparents when he was 20 and did some travelling before finally ending up in Hale’iwa in 1935 at the age of 23. He rapidly got involved with both sides of the city’s politics—underworld and legitimate. He quickly began to work his way up through the ranks on both side of the law, finding that the double life suited his nature. Then came war.
As soon as his home country declared war, Arthur enlisted—ignoring protests from colleagues in both of his professions. By the time the U.S. entered the war Arthur was able to ship out. And ship out he did—to Europe. It was during his service in Europe that Arthur sustained the wound in his leg. The doctors told him that he would be lucky if it didn’t leave him crippled for life. The Englishman was stubborn, though, and has spent the last four years tenaciously working to minimize the evidence of the old wound. He still has a limp, but his leg is still entirely his own and he is able to get around on it with little difficulty.
In 1945, having been back and recovering for two years, Arthur ran for mayor and gained the position. He is carefully upholding as many of his promises as he can to keep himself in the running for the next election. His last superior in the House died mysteriously in October of 1945 and Arthur has been running the English House with the same precision as he runs the city.
Other
• Arthur is borderline bacillophobic. He’s afraid of contracting Influenza again. Due to the number of symptoms that can look like the Flu, he tends to avoid people who are sick.
• Though Arthur doesn’t fear a large number of potentially fatal situations, the one that terrifies him is the thought of drowning. He’s had this fear for as long as he can remember. Nothing seems quite so horrific to him as water closing over his head and his oxygen being cut off completely. He’s had nightmares about the idea for years.
• Arthur was in love once. Her name was Colleen and he was half-convinced that he would marry her, but things came up and by the time they were back in contact she had moved on and gotten herself engaged. She’s married to the bloke now and expecting her second child.
• The margins of any notes he’s taking will always be covered by doodles of fairies, unicorns, and knights. He’s always loved the stories of King Arthur and often revisits them.
Give Me More:
• Scotch—but he tends to avoid drinking too much except on very specific days due to the fact that it tends to make him talk more than he likes.
• A smoke—he carries a silver cigarette case, engraved with his family crest, and a light everywhere. He avoids smoking while fulfilling his duties as mayor, but can often be found fiddling with one of the coffin nails.
• Magic—this means everything from sleight-of-hand to incantations, though he’s extremely sparing with incantations due to liking living and running the city. He’d rather not have to deal with an angry mob after him for witchcraft.
• A good book— if you give him something from the last century and you won’t hear much from him until he’s finished it.
• Horses—He hasn’t got as much experience with them as he would like, and living in the city he’s unlikely to get it, but he loves horses. He thinks he can trace that affinity back to his favorite myths. Unicorns and Centaurs have always been fascinations of his, and the idea of the Centaur—man and horse as one—is something he’s always been a little confused by. Talking to horsemen though he knows that it isn’t far off from fact when it’s a good rider and a trusted horse.
I Could Live Without:
• His inability to cook—He is fully aware of the fact that he can’t, but that doesn’t stop him from trying (and then foisting his concoctions upon whichever poor soul is nearby).
• Mention of his biological family—His parents died when he was young, his brothers were complete asses, and his grandparents were distant dictators. End of story.
• Glorification of war—War is Hell. Anyone who says otherwise is insane or recruiting.
• Threats to the family or his position—not necessarily in that order. He is quick to deal with threats within the House and ruthless as he does so.
• Coffee—he’d much prefer a cup of black tea (or frankly any tea). He’ll resign himself to coffee when he’d desperate for caffeine. And by “desperate” he means “falling asleep while walking and in danger of running into walls.”
Roleplay Sample: Arthur Kirkland ran a hand over his hair again, knowing that it did nothing to help keep the blond locks tamed. He picked up the latest paperwork, skimming over it and frowning. Financial statements. Numbers weren’t his greatest strength, but from a cursory glance something seemed off. He reached across the desk, pulling the lamp closer and examining the figures again. The Boss of the English House withdrew a pad of paper and picked up a pencil from nearby, starting to work on the calculations, scowling deeply as he realized he was right. There was nearly five hundred dollars missing. Just a little here and a little there, but it added up to quite the substantial amount. He’d have someone double check his math later, but for now….
The Englishman rose, smoothing down his suit coat, his hand closing around the handle of his cane. He leaned a hip against the desk as he withdrew a cigarette, lighting it up and moving over to the large window in the office. He stood there, frowning pensively as he mentally checked off names of people who could have been handling the money enough to skim that much off in the last five months without anyone noticing. What did they pay those idiot accountants for anyway? He startled slightly at a knock on the door, quickly stamping out the smoldering ashes that fell to the floor from his smoke. He turned, making sure his back was to neither the door nor the window, an elegant hand resting on the top of his cane. “Enter.”
Out of Character Information
Name Meadowlark, Meadow, Lark, Meg
Age 20 (in 8 days but still that’s only barely over a week so 20)
Time Zone GMT -8 (PDT/PST)
ContactsI would prefer to leave this to my discretion via PM, since I know the admins can reach me when needed.
Anything Else?
So, it’s lookling like this England is feeling a bit more pirateish than my normal one, if that’s a problem I’m willing to work on trying to change him.
Holmes and Watson through the years (and directors…and script writers…and who am I kidding Conan Doyle’s rolling in his grave).
Also, I posted this before my reserve was confirmed...I hope that's alright?
