FOUND
Ahh, I've had this gal planned for quite awhile. <3
Ahh, I've had this gal planned for quite awhile. <3
Name --
Lina [alias - Druet]
Summary of Her History --
--Lina was born sometime around the early 1800s, in England. Her family was one of the more underprivileged ones, despite her father being an artist. His already made works rarely sold, and no one wanted to commission a failure of a painter. This led to him lashing out at Lina and her mother. One of his more common insults was that they didn't do enough around the house, and that they both should find some form of income. He didn't want anyone in the higher classes to know that his wife and child were working, though. He thought it looked bad on him, fearing others would think he couldn't provide for his family.
--So he made his wife stitch together quilts and other various clothing items in the home, buying the fabric with what little money he made from his paintings. He later sold them to various people on the streets or friends of his. Lina, on the other hand, had been sent to work in a textiles factory that was a few blocks away. She was 11 years old when she'd started working, and for that time it was a rather late age to start a job if your family was poor.
--Lina's overseer was one of the kinder ones, lucky for her. He let the kids talk while they worked and didn't keep as tight a leash on them as other overseers would. This was Lina's first exposure to any kind of social life, as she'd been kept home for all those years. A few of the kids liked to pick on her, saying that upon first glance they'd mistaken her for a male. At the time this had been an insults to her, later on she came to see it was a great advantage.
--Eventually, with the mentoring of another great Kalon, Lina's father's paintings finally took off. Lina was no longer needed to work, and therefore in her father's eyes, no longer needed. More or less, she was kicked out of her home and sent off to find a husband. Things didn't go exactly as her father planned, though. Instead of finding a husband she stumbled into another job, one that offered a place to live and food to eat.
--She had been wondering the streets around sunset, looking for somewhere to stay the night. She stumbled across an elderly man who had just left his house, already wearing his nightshirt. "Boy!" she remembered him shouting at her, "come here a moment will you?" Shocked by being called a male, she looked around for anyone else he might be talking to. The streets were nearly empty, except a few women down the way carrying goods home. She looked down at the cloths she was wearing, old rags she had found tossed outside of a men's tailoring shop. Certainly nothing you'd expect even a poor woman to be wearing.
--Without knowing what else to do, Lina listened to the man, and walked up to where he was standing. In a slightly shaky voice she asked him what he needed. "I've been looking for someone to help me with my paints. I can no longer see the colors like I was once able to. You don't look like you have a place to stay, either. Is that right?" Lina only nodded her head, not making eye contact with the man for fear he'd realize she was female. "I can promise you a roof over your head and food in your stomach if you will agree to become my apprentice and help me with my paints." Lina stood there in front of the man, her head spinning from all the ways she could get in trouble for this. But she gratefully agreed to his terms. The promise of shelter and food outweighed any bad outcome she could think of.
-- The man kept both of his promises, giving her a place to sleep, a filling meal, and even a proper set of cloths to wear. The next day she also fulfilled her promise of helping the man with his paintings. He would say a color he needed, and she would mix it up (despite not knowing what the exact shades were. "forest green" could be any shade of green to her). It went on like this for several weeks, and pretty soon Lina was almost sure he knew she was female. He didn't treat her any differently, though. He never asked her any personal information, he didn't even know her name at this point. Once she came up with a fitting male name, Druet, she told him. Claiming that it had been long enough for him to at least know that.
--Pretty soon Lina no longer looked in the mirror and saw a female. She'd had to change herself even more since living with the old man, including her mannerisms and appearance. She didn't want the man to know, let alone anyone else in her town. They'd punish her for sure for doing what she was right now. Eventually she came to accept she now had to be Druet, at least if she wanted to survive.
--After nearly a month of helping the man, he'd started giving Druet a small salary on top of food and shelter. He'd come to enjoy watching the man paint and wanted to try it for himself. So after saving up for a bit, he bought some simple art supplies and a few used milk paints. Despite having watched a master for awhile, his paintings were certainly nothing to behold. The man noticed him struggling, and would often lend suggestions on what could be improved on. He would also explain different techniques while Druet was mixing paints for him. With the man helping him and his own trial and error, he eventually began rapidly improving with art.
--Years down the road Druet had become somewhat of a public protégé of the old man. Through the man's name and his own perseverance, people started to become interested in commissioning him. After taking several commissions for several smaller pieces, he'd made enough to start paying the man back for the food, shelter, and mentorship. He had even made enough to buy a small place of his own, but he stayed with the man to keep helping him. Druet made a promise to his mentor that he wouldn't leave him for as long as he was needed, and he kept that promise.
--Things went just like they always had for the two, mixing paints, talk about the new artists in town . . . etc. Druet was very content with the way things were. But of course things always change, and sometimes there are unexpected twists in our lives. That twist for Druet came in the form of a woman who feel in love with him.
Left off on the history right there because I will be fleshing out the rest of Lina/Druet's story in a form I'm working on for another kalon. qoq I will be writing out her story in full at a later date, this was just a summary of everything. I"D
