Name: Eloise Wilhelmina Portsmouth
Age: 175 (appears in her late twenties)
Height: 5 feet and 2 inches
Weight: 65 pounds
Race: Nosferatu/Vampire
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Eloise always been somewhat scrawny due to her family's financial hardships. She stands at a mere five feet and two inches, and there was always something fragile-looking about her-like a strong gust of wind could blow her away. She has wavy, dirty blonde hair ending just under her shoulder blades that was usually pulled back from her face in a messy bun, though as of late it has been thin and brittle. Her eyes were a bright, shining blue before she was changed, but they have since turned watery and listless. Eloise has a pale complexion, and her cheekbones jut out of her face like knives. Eloise has a frail, diminutive stature and has frequently been described as "bird-like". Before her life (or should I say unlife?) went to hell in a hand basket, Eloise was never anywhere without a cheerful smile on her face. Nowadays, she can't even remember the last time she wasn't hungry or scared.
After being turned into a vampire, Eloise has become unhealthily thin and gaunt, her skin stretched tightly over her hollow cheeks. She has also become much paler, even for a vampire's standards. Her expression always appears to be nervous and anxious, and her eyes flit around the room erratically, filled with wariness and a thinly veiled fear. There is a haggard air to her, and Eloise looks like she barely has the energy to stay on her feet. She walks with a heavy limp.
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Personality: Scared. That's how most people describe Eloise when they first see her. Scared and frightened and weak. Nervous, anxious, apprehensive; timid.
Eloise herself can't remember much beyond the fear and exhaustion and hunger that pervades every fiber of her being, most days.
Once upon a time, she had been a gentle, cheerful woman who ran a bakery with her husband. Once upon a time, she had children she loved and happiness in her heart.
But that woman is gone.
Ever since she was changed, Eloise has been meek and obedient, her fearful, melancholy eyes perpetually lowered submissively. She keeps her head down and does what she's told without complaint. She doesn't speak unless spoken to. She doesn't ask for anything, and she makes herself scarce unless someone summons her.
Before, Eloise was carefree and kind. She was always an optimist, and she stubbornly saw the good in everything. Friendly, talkative, and impulsive, Eloise lived to laugh and loved to live. She was known to welcome anyone and everyone into the bakery that she and her husband ran with open arms. She was quite a gossip, but never in a mean-spirited way, and she would never, /ever/ intentionally hurt anyone's feelings. Loyal to people (but not ideas, nor causes), Eloise had been as flighty as a bird and as chirpy as one, too. An excellent listener despite her loquacious nature, Eloise was well-liked by the people of her village and famous for her delicious blueberry scones.
Before.
Now, though, Eloise knows there isn't much too her other than the never-ending cycle of pain and exhaustion and hunger and fear. She lives only because her sire allows it, and she is well-aware of this fact.
Eloise has become skittish and afraid, jumping at the slightest sounds and as timid as a mouse. She has begun to unconsciously try to shrink into the corners and make herself appear small and insignificant in order to avoid confrontation. Eloise doesn't really
have a personality besides deferential obedience. She is a shadow of a shadow of a shadow of her former self-indeed, Eloise has been through enough to last her
twenty lifetimes.
Biography: Eloise had always known that vampires existed.
Everyone in her village knew this: after all, it
was a Covenant base in the middle of the secluded English countryside, selected for its proximity to London. The Covenant needed to keep an eye on the vampires of London, after all. The name of the village doesn't matter; it's gone now, and besides, Eloise doesn't know if she remembers the name of it anyway.
Some days, she doesn't even remember her
own name.
But more on that later.
Eloise had a happy childhood, though her family was on the poorer side. All the people of her village were poor, minus the members of the Covenant.
They were extravagantly rich. All the young men talked of joining the Covenant; joining meant glory and gold. It meant instant fame (at least, in a tiny little village in the English countryside) and the admiration of their fellow villagers. They always seemed to forget the whole part about hunting and killing vampires, though.
Eloise had many friends as a child, but her
best friend was a tall brunette named Sarah. Nobody was sure why or how they became friends-Sarah was quiet where Eloise was irritatingly talkative; as steadfast as a mountain where Eloise was as flighty as a bird. The two were inseparable growing up, and even if Eloise can't remember Sarah's name half the time, she still remembers her soft laugh and twinkling brown eyes and comforting presence.
Eloise married the baker's son, John Portsmouth, when she was sixteen. She had children with him-three, in fact-but their names elude her, on most days. She remembers their faces, though, and she holds the memories tight and close when she's conscious enough to think and remember. Eloise loved John; he was kind and sweet and funny, and he made the best bread in the entire world. She was happy with him. That much, she remembers.
Sarah, on the other hand...when Eloise was twenty and Sarah twenty-one (and unmarried!), she joined the Covenant. It turned out that she had some distant aunt or uncle in the Covenant, which made her eligible to join, provided she go through all the required training. Although Eloise didn't see Sarah as often after that, their friendship never wavered.
Then, the winter of 1870 rolled around. It was one of the coldest yet, and one night, Eloise came home to her beloved bakery to find-
-to find an evil, sinister form hunched over her husband's body, blood dripping from its fangs, Eloise's three lovely little children already dead-
-and the
thing looked up at stared right at Eloise with emerald-green eyes that glittered like ice in the moonlight-
-and faster than humanly possible, the vampire had Eloise in her impossibly strong hands, and a searing pain tore up the side of Eloise's neck, and she thought that she was going to die, right then and there. But instead, the vampire turned Eloise, and suddenly she was weak with hunger, longing for the taste of human blood.
Eloise's sire is (was? Eloise isn't so sure if she's alive anymore) a vampire named Stella Havisham. After Eloise was turned, Stella immediately etched a rune into Eloise's forearm that bound her will to Eloise. From then on, Eloise would have to obey everything that Stella said.
Stella was a frighteningly powerful vampire who, along with binding others to her will, could manipulate pain (namely, transferring pain from one person to another). She was also a skilled assassin, sent to Eloise's village to kill a few key members of the Covenant. Stella had learned of Eloise's connection to Sarah, and Eloise became a pawn in Stella's plans to expel the Covenant from the village. At first, Stella ordered Eloise to do nothing more than cook and clean (which was still a nerve-wracking task, especially since Stella had quite a ferocious temper in those days), and she forbade Eloise from drinking enough blood on purpose; Eloise was to be nothing more than a temporary storage place for pain that Stella could readily transfer to her opponents in a fight. She needed Eloise's fast vampiric healing to be nearly nonexistent for her plan to work.
The last time that Eloise ever saw Sarah, she had been so hungry that just the smell of human blood made her dizzy. She remembers a heavy bucket and a well an hour before sunrise; the scent of blood and the the feeling of snow soaking through her thin skirts as she fell to her knees, her fangs elongating as the hunger moved through her in waves; Sarah's horrified face, the sound of her own voice weakly begging for help, Sarah's retreating footsteps and the snow feeling strangely warm against her gaunt, bruised limbs. And then Eloise's head starts to hurt and she can't remember anything except pain and exhaustion and hunger.
Shortly after that incident occurred, Stella beat Eloise bloody and then locked her in the cellar before leaving the house. Eloise didn't understand what was going on until the pain was suddenly sucked out of her, leaving her exhausted and empty.
When Stella returned, she ordered Eloise to clean the blood off her blades.
And so the years passed like this. Stella moved back to London, bringing Eloise with her, after finishing her work in Eloise's village. Eloise cooked and cleaned and obeyed, and Stella did nothing but hurt her. Eventually, she grew too weak to perform even simple household tasks, so Stella simply locked her in a closet or cellar and summoned her when she needed Eloise to feel pain. Ever since the 1950s, Stella has simply left Eloise chained to the wall in the cellar, and Eloise spends most of her time in a half-conscious haze. She doesn't have the energy to think, and remembering hurts too much. Stella keeps her alive-just barely-and Eloise's enhanced healing still
works, technically, though it doesn't do more than keep her half-alive at this point.
Recently, though, Stella had been using her more often. The beatings had increased exponentially, and there was something wild and frantic about Stella's blows, whereas they were even and methodical before. Eloise won't allow herself to hope-hope is such a dangerous, dangerous thing-but she speculates. Was her sire panicked because the Covenant was closing in?
The Covenant has found Stella, Eloise knows. Her sire has been missing for a month now...well, what felt like a month to Eloise, anyway. She knows that it will not be long before the Covenant finds
her as well. Eloise can only hope that the Covenant will spare her any further pain and kill her when they do indeed find her. At this point, a quick, painless death would the greatest gift that anyone could give her.
Faction/Side: If given a choice, Eloise would not affiliate herself with anyone, but as for now, she is
technically affiliated with the vampires
Abilities: Unbeknownst to anyone, even Eloise herself, Eloise is able to heal wounds and injuries with her bare hands, provided that she is physically strong enough to use her power. Silver sparks shoot from her fingertips, and when they make contact with the wound or injury, they start knitting the skin back together.
Skills: Eloise can cook (though Stella only ever required her to prepare blood for her) and clean very well, for 19th and 20th-century standards. Doing laundry and scrubbing floors is another area of expertise (she
does know how to use a washing machine, surprisingly). Before she was turned, Eloise was a very good baker alongside her husband, and she had the neatest, tiniest stitches in the entire village. Eloise was a skilled seamstress and enjoyed embroidery, but now she reckons that her hands shake too much to embroider, though her eyesight has improved.
Strengths: Eloise is a good listener and a very empathetic person in general. She was very well-liked in her village before she was turned for her friendly disposition and delectable baked goods.
Weaknesses: Eloise has little to no knowledge on how to use any technology beyond the 1950s-1960s. She is more than useless in a fight, and she can be easily manipulated by others. Eloise's healing ability saps strength and energy just like any other physically exerting activity, throughout her entire time as a vampire, Eloise has never been strong enough to use her ability, let alone hone it to perfection. Her healing abilities cannot be used to heal diseases.
Likes: sunny days (as rare as they are in London and the English countryside), birds, flowers, scones of all shapes and sizes, fresh fruit (especially blueberries), the smell of bread baking, tea with plenty of milk, sugar, and honey, the color blue, lavender, the village that she grew up in, horses, cats, spring and summer afternoons, early mornings and sunrises, meadows and streams, gossiping, socializing, not feeling hungry or thirsty, soft blankets, sewing and embroidering
Dislikes: Stella, rainy days and thunderstorms, the darkness, being a vampire, rat blood, violent people and vampires, the smell of death that always seems to cling to Stella, emeralds, sleeping on the floor, the cold
Other: N/A
