Bain Oliver Aquin

Henri Lockery · March 4th, 2010, 5:37 pm

''Name:''' Bain Oliver Aquin
'''Age:''' 25
'''Race:''' galdor
'''Place of Origin:''' Vienda

!!!Backstory

Bain was born the first son of Lady Ellenora Marcella Valenti of her second marriage. Her first had been a marriage of convenience to an aged man of poor health by the name of Havel Leigh Valenti. The man had been her private tutor for the harmonium and had fallen deeply in love with the young woman, and she being of a less well off family, indulged him until he died.

Her second marriage was all the raging love affair that her first had not. Five years her younger, Sir Gulliver Richthofen J. Aquin III was a strapping young Seventen officer having freshly received his third snap. Constable Aquin swept the lovely widowed woman off her feet and they were married within the year of their first meeting. Gulliver was a practical and earthbound man, and saw no need for such frivolous goings on with wooing, engagements, or any other such time-wasteful things; a trait that permeated his personality and one of the many Ellenora came to adore.

Bain was the long awaited son for Gulliver, to be his heir and follow in his fathers footsteps and pride. Gulliver was ridiculously proud of his tiny son, showing him to all he could as he proclaimed the boy would grow up to be just like his father in word, look, and deed; ignoring the fact that the small child was obviously taking after his mother more. Bain had his mother's mouth and delicate features, same burnished copper-brown hair and, as he grew, his mothers same slight build of long limbs and tallish height. His eyes however, were the same topaz-gold as his fathers since the day he was born, and of such Sir Aquin never failed to point out.

As Bain grew it also became clear that the boy not only took after his mother physically, but also in temperament and interests. Bain was an amiable child, never one to cause much of a fuss despite the regular mischievousness a child of his age indulges in. Always agreeable, the boy saw no reason not to please his parents. With his mother, in accord to the impulsive and creative creature that she was, it was a round robin of music lessons, dance lessons, and various arts and never the same thing twice in a row. With his father, when his work did not call him away, it was a rigorous routine of physical conditioning and the beginning basics of the training he would need to become a Seventen officer as his father desired.

Not even a day after turning ten the young Aquin was sent to Brunnhold for his testing. Bain had not worried or been nervous about the test, as the child was remarkably unflappable even at that young age, one of the few traits he picked up from his levelheaded father. As it turned out there was no need for him to be worried, as to his fathers pride he scored an 8.6. Clearly his firstborn son was on his way to bigger and greater things.

Bain did relatively well in his studies, although his relaxed take on things often led to getting less than absolutely perfect marks on his assignments; he wasn't terribly bothered about that though as he did well enough to please his father as he always had. In accordance to that, much of his studies were focused on subjects that would benefit him when he joined the Seventen after graduation. His mother, however, often encouraged her son through their regular letters to not allow his father to bully him so as she knew her son to be to gentle spirited for such a hard occupation. So finally in his fifth year, Bain augmented his schedule with some of the softer arts, painting to be specific, to please his mother of course...

It made all the difference in the world.

Bain came alive. Where before he had been just living through life, now he burned with a passion he had not known he had been capable of. To him, the beautiful flow of colors to canvas was like magic itself. Immersing himself in this art of expression, Bain would find that he could feel himself fall into an almost meditative trance, his insides would burn and his skin would tingle as if he were working with the mona instead of mere oils and powders and delicate brushes.

Despite his new-found passion, Bain kept his change in career as a dire secret from his father for as long as he could. All his life he had always done what was necessary to please his father, rebellion never having entered his mind before this, and he feared the inevitable consequences that were sure to come about when his father finally discovered what he would see as a personal insult and foolishness to the utter extreme.

Still, that did not stop him from pursuing his desire with all the passion it had inspired. He had been taking courses in the static magical arts, and although his heart had never been in it, now he was focused with a drive that both surprised and pleased his teachers; simply by turning his focus from how it would aid with the Seventen, to the many possible ways he could integrate these two wonderful disciplines.

Upon his graduation, his secret could be kept no longer. His father had thrown a party for his son, informing him and the party goers that he had already found a place for him, waving the majority of the usual training and was to be an Ensign under his father, expecting him to join the Seventen immediately. Bain could not have chosen a worse time to tell him, and unsurprisingly the argument that was the end result did not go over well at all. It was only through the delicate soothing of his wife that Constable Aquin did not disown the boy immediately and cast him out in disgrace.

Tensions within the Aquin household continued to run high for the better part of a year; neither man agreeing to compromise and Bain showed that he had indeed inherited at least some of his fathers spine and stubbornness, a thing that would have pleased the man had it been under any other circumstances. Arguments and 'discussions' that would more often than not boil down into shouting matches with a frightening frequency in a household that had always had such domestic peace.

Thankfully all that changed with the graduation of Bain's younger brother Kendrick. Where Bain had taken after Ellenora, Kendrick took after Gulliver, the younger boy merely having the misfortune of being born second and as such not as important in the eyes of their father. Kendrick had long been aware of their fathers favoritism, and had envied his brother's high place in their fathers eyes and strove to claim that attention for himself.

Kendrick succeeded. Upon his graduation the younger Aquin was granted the honor of receiving a similar wave like that of what their father had arranged for Bain, but approved by Gulliver's superior officer. Pleased, if not completely satisfied with having his second son be the one to be his lineage, Kendrick took Bain's place as fathers favorite and the oppressive tensions slowly bled away from the household. Bain couldn't have been happier. Now, without the fear of being disowned or a disgrace to the eyes of his father the elder Aquin was free to pursue his career of choice.

With his mothers generous consideration, Bain was moved into a quaint little flat in Vienda. Although it is perhaps too generous a size for a young bachelor, Bain really only uses two rooms within, that being the bedroom and the adjoining studio for his artwork. While the rest of the flat remains in pristine condition of untouched save for the occasional tending of the few servants his mother provided, those two rooms of his inhabitants are in a state of near constant disarray. The studio appearing more like a supply house of paint had exploded in some tragic catastrophe, splattering the walls, ceiling and floor with its ichor and littering every remaining open space with the debris of the trade. The bedroom itself is in perhaps slightly better condition, with a lesser degree of 'creative clutter' that is skillfully replaced with haphazard piles of washables.

Despite this state of 'artistic bachelorhood', Bain does clean up nicely, and often does so when going about in the public eye. His agreeable nature makes him a fine companion for polite company, although his dreamer-tendency to drift off from the main flow of conversation does put a damper on his reputation. Some see it as a sign of lacking sense, and possibly a show of ignorance, others however find it to be charming and endearing at times... But when speaking upon the topic of his passion, his intelligence and intensity are quite apparent- almost to the point of seeming to be another personality all together.

And Bain is passionate about his work. He will work for days, often forgoing food and sleep in his pursuit of capturing the essence of his imagination, his emotion, or whatever essence it is that he is trying to capture. One of these is his desire to somehow merge the spirituality of the mona with his first love of canvas and oils of color and pigment. He has tried multiple things with varying levels of success. One of which are the bold unique shades of color he uses in his paintings; created by t himself as he applies a creative use of static mona spells when making the pigments.

However, his experimentation did not come without its consequences: his beginning attempts often had a tendency to become volatile and his hands are littered with scars from glass cuts and oil-burns. In polite company Bain wears gloves to hide the scars, but he himself is not ashamed of them, nor is he completely foolish in viewing them as badges of honor or as 'suffering for his art'. To him, they are merely scars, and often ignored unless it interferes with his work.

!!!Personality

Since the day he was born, amiable has been the best word that has ever described the young Bain Aquin. He was a good-natured child, and rarely quarreled due to the fact that should someone rebuke him or attempt to insult, he would merely smile and agree and in this he takes after his mother most. He is rather a ditz though, often lost in his thoughts that jump from topic to topic. His stubbornness he gets from his father, but also the intensity and sheer focus he puts into his passions as well.

To humans, wicks and passives, he is very condescending and belittling; but in all honesty Bain really does mean well. They are children that need care and clear, precise instruction; instruction that he will give freely and in very simple language so that they can understand. The fact that the reality of the situation is that it is he who needs them does not even occur to him. In truth, the house would fall to shambles without his maids care, and a good deal of his productivity would be cut in half as many times Bain will impress a servant into aiding him in his work, teaching them rudimentary painting skills so that the projects will be finished with greater speed. The servants aid or contributions are never mentioned and Bain claims the work all as his own; however, on rare occasion Bain will make mention to a human servant girl whom he taught that had impressed him.

!!!Physical Description

Bain is a rather pleasing figure to look upon, on most occasions. He is slightly above the average height for galdor, although that still makes him relatively short when compared to human standards, not that any self respecting galdor would. He has the topaz-gold eyes of his father and burnished copper-brown hair of his mother that is mostly straight but curls slightly where the hair meets the nape of his neck as well as a pair of finely trimmed sideburns.

His wide, open face and near constant smile, as well as his slight build often mark him as a rather unimposing type of a man, but Bain is no pushover. Since childhood he had been training to join the Seventen, and although his career of choice has been changed for near ten years now, old habits die hard. Bain has maintained the routine of regular calisthenics, and although his body may not be at that peek of physicality, he has retained a muscular tone and strength deceptive to his build.

On all respects he should cut a rather dashing figure, where it not for his careless disregard for any sense of neatness. Due to his love of his art, and his overt single mindedness in the task, Bain will often neglect to change out of his nicer garbs before delving into his paints. All but two of his very best outfits have been marred with the stains of paint, and no matter how well the young man has scrubbed, there will always be found some smudge of paint on his person or in his hair- hair that always seemed to become mussed in some way or another.

!!! Artist:
*Knowledgeable in the making and creating of his own paints
*Skilled in the proper use of the tools of the panting profession
*Very skilled in the realistic recapturing images and portraits
*Creativity in formation and subjects
*Painting Maintenance

!!!Other Skills:
*Basics of Seventen training
*Physical prowess
*A passable dancer
*Can read music
*Vaguely charismatic

!!!Inventory:
*Small Flat in Vienda that has been payed for by his mother
*A few house servants, also supplied by his mother
*A verifiable warehouse of art supplies scattered about his studio
*Modest wardrobe containing 2 unsoiled outfits out of 10

!!!Personal Effects:
*A relatively paint-less blue-green overcoat over a white undershirt and cravat along with an equally white pair of gloves, a pair of dark brown slacks and a pair of dark brown men's dress shoes worn soft.
*A rather embarrassingly feminine pocket-watch that had been a birthday present from his mother.
*A traveling bag containing a box of containing a generous allotment of charcoals and drawing utensils, a pair of sketch-books, and a set of watercolor paints.

!!!Goals

Bain's ultimate desire is to combine the essence of mona with his passion for art. The actual form that this union will take place in however has been eluding him for quite some time. He has tried various methods, the most successful of them being the use of magic to make unique pigments of paint. However, after several months of quiet contemplation and spiritual meditation, Bain is beginning to believe himself to be on the brink of a breakthrough... what that breakthrough will be however remains to be seen.

On a more personal note, Young Aquin also strives to smooth things over with his father. The tensions of his 'betrayal', however faded, still linger between the two stubborn men and their relationship has been severely changed from what it once was.

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