Keiran Lavelle-Kennedy

OVERVIEW

Growing up having been the target of bullies due to his Vitiligo skin condition Kieran is a soft-spoken individual who usually keeps to himself. He has a fantastic green thumb and can usually be found puttering away amongst plants whether repotting them or creating beautiful arrangements at the flowershop where he works.

BACKGROUND

Although he was born in Birmingham, England, Keiran has never really been able to call it home. Due to the nature of his parents jobs as affiliate marketers, he spent most of his childhood hopping between countries for various lengths of times, never really settling too long in one place. He learned fairly early on not too get too attached - though that was easy enough because Kieran never felt like he belonged anywhere. 
His parents would always enroll him in whatever local school was in the area - always with the intention that they'd be around for awhile. But that never happened. 

Getting constantly moved around made it hard for Keiran to make friends, he always kept to himself already knowing that in a short matter of time - weeks, maybe months, he'd be leaving again. This only got harder however, when at the age of 10 he began developing white patches of skin, as to which a doctor later diagnosed as Vitiligo. 

For a little while it wasn't a major issue, and didn't affect him on a day to day basis but as the patches began growing and spreading along his body and his face - becoming more visible, that's when things started to become a problem. It was always hard being the new kid, he'd get teased a little bit for that alone, but now with his skin condition he was being targeted for a whole different reason and on a whole different scale. 

Most of the bullying Keiran received was verbal, and he lived by the mantra "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me", which while comforting were empty words a lot of the time because kids were viscious and caustic with their remarks and their nicknames. Occassionally, depending on the school things would get physical. His worst experience coming in high school where a group of guys targeted him in the hallway between classes with the intention of seeing just how much of a "cow" he really was. He was just thankful that that weekend his parents broke the news that they were moving yet again. 
It was the first time he remembered feeling happy that they moved so much. 

Even though he grew up feeling like an outcast due to his skin condition, there was always something else niggling at the back of his mind that didn't sit right with him. Being an outcast provided him the opportunity to observe people and he'd seen how everyone seemed pre-occupied in flirting, with dating and with sex. He'd overhear conversations extolling how great it was, how sexy so-&-so was, or even generic conversations about masterbation or porn. But Keiran could never relate, he just couldn't understand what everyone's preoccupation was. 
He didn't understand it and he felt alone in his misunderstanding. 

He'd never felt the urge to masterbate, sure he'd get hard now and then, a reflex. But he'd never felt the need to take care of it. Had gone home once to try out porn to see if it was as exciting as all the other guys made it out to be - it wasn't. He'd tried straight porn, and gay porn but nothing happened. There was no spark, no zing, no interest whatsoever and he had given up. 

Out of highschool and finally growing his own roots in a small little apartment on the west side of the city, he thought to revisit that question of sexuality or the lack there of, had two short lived, open relationships in which he'd made his concerns known and when they proved true had met the gallows. 

The one constant that Keiran had throughout his tumultous years moving around was a love of plants. He wasn't sure where it had stemmed from, but at each new house he arrived at he was quick to cultivate whatever plants he could get his hands on. It was the thing that upset him the most about leaving. Not getting to see the Gardenias bloom, not getting to harvest the heirloom tomatoes, not getting to plant the new seedlings he'd germinated carefully. 

He'd lucked out in finding his apartment, it was a small studio space above a flowershop and the owner had been more than happy to lower the rent cost when he had made it known that he'd like to work at the shop as well. 
His skill at flower arrangements seemed to come naturally, and he was soon taking on a lot of the responsibility for creating the various bouquets and displays throughout the store and he was forever taking small clippings or new off shoots to squirrel away and add to his ever growing personal collection. 

MISC FACTS

• Is the head florist at the flowershop
• Loves the language of flowers
• Loves plants, tea and books
• Loves puns
• Feels guilty about turning people down because he's asexy
• Has a small group of close friends
• Is a bit of a homebody (doesn't like how people stare when he goes out)
  • Can be easily guilt-tripped into going out
• Gives great advice