Cress

Weary resident doctor of a spacefaring locomotive, H.M.L. the Orphean. Sie’s a surgeon first and foremost, but sie has a physician’s degree and apothecary experience.

Cress is very pragmatic and blunt. Not with the aim of being an asshole though; sie genuinely believes honesty is the best policy in most situations. People deserve to have all the relevant information. Sie’s got a very deadpan sense of humour. Hir bedside manner may leave something to be desired, but it’s undeniable that sie’s good at what sie does.

Sie keeps a couple pack of playing cards that sie fidgets with when hir hands are otherwise unoccupied, it helps hir anxiety. Sie can do a few shuffles and flourishes. Sie doesn’t have many hobbies or skills that are not job related. Sie can play the piano, though sie’s rusty at it.

Cress maintained very low rates for her services when sie lived in hir little practice in old Fallen London, before the underground city moved to the stars. Sie’d regularly lower those prices even further for those in desperate need. While Cress is not always nice, altruism and self-sacrifice have been the backbone of hir career. With the amount of work sie took on, sie made just enough to keep hir practice open, barely.

Sie's not a very social person. Nearly everyone she could call a friend is someone she’d been in close proximity with already. Even with the crew, Cress finds it difficult to open up and break past the professional side sie’s relied on for years to avoid having to deal with social matters. Cress hasn’t spent much time getting to know hirself as a person and learning to build friendships. Sie’s had about a year to start, and sie views the crew as more than just coworkers, but still a level removed from seeing them as family.

Cress doesn’t really know how to interact with children, but surprisingly good with them. She doesn’t treat them much differently than she does adults, which seems to be the key. She treats them with the same respect, doesn’t condescend to them, or fuss over them, or brush off concerns that may seem ‘childish’, or sugarcoat matters that they really ought to know. She believes they’re more capable of understanding serious topics than most people give them credit for.

Cress has dealt with a lot over the course of their career. Though they’re arguably pretty well adjusted, they have plenty of self-destructive habits that have gone unchecked for a very long time. Sie’s aware of these and will acknowledge them, but sie doesn’t know how to confront and unpack issues that are so very deeply rooted in hir. Cress is still feeling the consequences of a lifetime of overworking themself. They have a tendency of handing out advice they’ve gained through experience, only to disregard how it applies to them and neglect their own wellbeing. But all things considered, they’re content now. They don't really have any long term goals or plans, for the first time in a long time they're happy with their work and situation. The Orphean and crew has been good for them.

Cress was born in London, underground. Sie was raised in hir aunt's large home alongside other adopted children. Hir father had been unfit to care for hir after hir mother's death in childhood, and fully left hir life when sie was only an infant. Cress had a good enough relationship with hir aunt, growing up. Cress’s aunt was a strict, no-nonsense parental figure, but she was still kind and Cress respected her greatly. Emotionally, they were never very close, but they did care for each other. Unfortunately, Cress learned hir stubbornness from hir aunt.

They got into an argument over Cress's chosen career. When sie lost hir adoptive sibling and best friend, Philip, to sudden childhood illness, Cress's aunt was supportive of hir taking an interest in medicine. When Cress was ready for college, hir aunt paid out of pocket for the best physician's course avaliable. Unfortunatly, Cress realized soon after obtaining the degree that, for all the book learning on disease and injury and the latest medical research, those years of schooling had given hir very little practical experience.

A physician's career is lucrative and secure, but that wasn't what drove Cress to become a doctor. So, they put aside the degree to apprentice under surgeons in local hospitals. Their aunt didn't take to the idea of abandoning such a comfortable life and all the time and money to set them up for it. In the resulitng argument, Cress declared they didn't need her support any longer, and they'd manage just fine alone. So, they left home.

The frustration faded with time and space, but Cress never really ended up reconnecting with their aunt again before her death. Cress had already distanced themself from most of their siblings following the death of Philip, starting their habit of self-isolation and throwing themself into study and work, so they didn't have much reason to visit home.

Cress found new family of hir own in hir soon to be wife, Danièle, and mother-in-law/mentor as a surgeon, Louane. Cress's surname comes from them, sie's held onto it even now despite the fact that she hasnt seen Dani in years. The start of their marriage was sweet and blissful, but grew turbulent following the death of Louane; Cress had found her at her desk. The young wives found they had different, incompatable responses to grief. Cress threw hirself into work and spiraled, but Dani would not stand by and let another loved one work themself to death. Their relationship grew strained and their arguments more heated, until they came to the mutual decision to seperate.

Cress moved into hir medical practice. Dani soon left Fallen London for the surface world where she was born, and Cress bade her farewell, knowing that they would not hear from eachother again. Cress still loves Dani and regrets the way their relationship ended, but sie doesn't see much point in dwelling on it now. Sie wasnt capable of being a different person that sie was.

Decades later, Cress followed London to the stars. Sie was a travelling surgeon for a time, trying to fight burnout through changes in scenery. This led her to Amelia Whitlock in 1903, the then captain of the Orphean. She was certainly more than qualified for the role of ship's doctor, and the locomotive became her home.

• Cress cooks for hirself but the stuff sie produces is horrible. Its just 'survival food'. The bare minimum to live off of. If sie endulges hirself, hir favourite foods are fresh fruits, pomegranite in particular.
• In her years of work she's acquired a taste for cheap gin. She perhaps relies on it a little too heavily sometimes. She actually has a pretty low tolerance for alcohol and finds this fact annoying.
• Cress is decent at card games. Sie can been tempted into gambling but plays it safe; the point is that it's fun and sie's socializing in hir own way. Sies more inclined to deal in news and secrets than money.
• Sie's actually very nosy and inquisitive, though sie stresses hir stance on doctor-patient confidentiality. Any info that Cress collects will not spread by her doing.