WHAT IS THE CHARACTER'S NAME?
Archie Flint
WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM?
Archie is the feeling of damp. He is cold wet clothes clinging to you on an even colder day, he is the weight of a lead balloon, he is air being sucked out of a room. As a kid Archie never understood why other children wouldn't play with him, it certainly wasn't lack of trying. But, over time, he adapted to the silent desperation and loneliness of that feeling of being other. It permeates him, from his overly lanky 6"7 form that seems all folded in on itself in all the wrong places, to his overly large clammy hands that he stuffs hastily into pockets. It's in his hoarse voice and the way his eyes never seem to quite lock onto you, but rather look through you. Archie is a giant packed in too small a suitcase, one who has learnt not to take up space.
WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION AND HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT IT?
Archie's day job is working a warehouse, lifting heavy things, packing things, moving thing 1 to thing 2 and occasionally helping with deliveries. He generally keeps to himself, brings a packed lunch cut into delicate tiny triangles, and occasionally folds himself into shadowy corners when he's avoiding social interaction like a frightened prey animal.
When he can, Archie studies welding. He slowly pays for a semester at a time out of pocket, and practices at his little home on the edge of town. It's the carcass of a couple carriages of a steel train painstakingly converted into passable living accomodations. Strangely, Archie sleeps better surrounded by so much metal.
HOW HAS (NOT) BEING A HOWL AFFECTED THEIR LIFE?
Frankly, Archie has long resigned himself to the belief he has gone quite mad. He doesn't entirely believe in all this Howl business, or at least if Howls exist, he is certainly not one of them. Howls are probably the kind of heroes who people look up to, who do good deeds and protect the weak as easily as breathing. They probably have lots of muscles, and know how to make a quiche without burning it, and get on with other people. Archie is none of these things. Archie is a person who sees things that aren't there, even by Howl standards.
WHY ARE THEY IN OAKEN CITY?
Archie took a train to nowhere once. He just wanted out, and he wanted to sit for forever, and he wanted the world to just be quiet. He happened to step out in Oaken City to grab some food on his journey, and as soon as he left the station it hit him like a wall:
Oaken city was a place holding its breath.
Something here was frozen, something here was waiting, there was a Moment encapsulated here that hadn't happened yet. As he stood in the street, passers by swerving round him, that sense of anticipation permeated him. Archie would be there when the world breathed out.
DO THEY HAVE A HOWL ABILITY? WHAT IS IT?
Archie cannot see Rue. He can only see where they will go, usually, or sometimes have been. This is terribly unhelpful, as he doesn't know how to tell yet which is which. To him, it appears as a shimmering space in the air, a fractal kaleidoscope of angry broken glass shards undulating and skittering over each other like cannibalistic wasps. It comes as a prickly pain in the base of his skull when he stares at it too long, but he always has trouble ripping his eyes away. Some part of him wants to look.
Memories. Particularly if he's close to the Rue he cannot see, Archie is plagued by flashes of sense memories. It might be mother's voice calling to him, the feeling of turning a page of a much loved book, or the smell of flowers he received on his sweet 16. The memories do not belong to him. They are invaders.