Loveless Lovelorn

[Tragedies both afflicted and inflicted]

Loveless comes from a long line of theater workers stretching back to when the profession of being an actor was considered a shameful career choice. Actors marrying actors; theater people marrying theater people. If it's a job involving the theater, a Lovelorn has done it.

Loveless' grandparents, Linton Pierce and Minerva Lovelorn, were both actors. The two met because of a play they both had a minor role in. They married and had only one child, Erda Lovelorn, before Linton died at 26. Following Linton's death, Minerva built a reputation for herself as being a talented actress, and a charming but cruel woman. Minerva began courting a man named Conner Black when Erda was 17. Connor saw that even though Minerva was cruel, it was in an attempt to keep people from trying to take advantage of her as well as a means to toughen others to the harshness of life.

Erda did not have very much talent when it came to acting and didn't want to put in the time to practice. She did show an affinity for writing. However, she craved the instant gratification of knowing she did well that writing did not provide. Erda also didn't care much for the idea that there was a chance she could write a play and be dead for years before it actually gained any tangible popularity. Erda grew up to be a less than pleasant person. She imitated her mother's coldness and cruelty, but without the twist of her trying to hide her kindness. Erda was just mean.

Despite being commonly described as 'a girl more unpleasant than her mother', at 19, Erda married an architect and part-time stage designer by the name of Erich Nowell. The two divorced barely a year later. Erda had an affair not long after they were married with an elf by the name of Torin Vave. The only reason she was caught that quickly was that the child she gave birth to was clearly part elf. As both she and Erich were human, the baby was obviously fathered by someone else. Erda tried to pressure Torin to marry her through a mix of threats and claims she actually loved him this entire time.

Torin repeatedly refused to marry Erda. Out of spite Minerva spread a handful of rumors that, at best, would ruin the man's life. Torin opted to leave the country rather than deal with either Lovelorn. Shocked that Minerva could do something like that, Conner Black left her. He could handle her being cruel as a defense, but wasn't willing to stay married to someone who very well could have purposefully gotten another person killed. The two already had a strained relationship and not wanting to deal with her daughter, Minerva bought her a house on the other side of the country and told Erda that if she stayed well away from the city of Alpin, unless asked for, she would get an allowance to live on.

[Love less and love lorn]

Loveless Lovelorn was born March 31, 1822 and his mother fully intended his name to mean 'loveless and lovelorn.' He grew up in the northern part of Isador in the city of Wolden. Loveless' childhood lacked any consistent adult figures in it as his mother was largely absent, and housestaff and tutors rarely stayed more than a year as they would either quit due to their treatment or were fired by Erda to make herself feel better.

Erda spent most of her time with whatever group of adults she was calling her 'friends' that week and largely ignored Loveless. As he grew older, Loveless preferred it that way as wherever she turned attention to him it would only make him miserable. Erda would alternate from lavishing him with praise to violently criticizing him; this was especially prevalent when it came to Loveless excelling at the performing aspects of theater. Loveless dreaded when she would have guests over knowing Erda would make him sing for them, make him go play with their kids (who usually would bully him), and then later yell at him for any perceived flaws in his performance. He developed the habit of hiding whenever he didn't want to deal with his mother. His favorite hiding place was in the back of a disused bedroom turned storage room, underneath a table that was covered by a dust cover. Later in life, Loveless would come to describe his childhood as intensely lonely and that his mother considered more as a prop than a child.

Loveless didn't have any lasting childhood friendships as he didn't have many opportunities to make friends, and the friends he made his mother one way or another ended the friendship. He was very close to his grandmother, Minerva, even if he only saw her a handful of times a year. He thought she could be mean at times, but the fact she actually seemed interested in him and remembered things he talked about more than made up for it. She also pushed for his mother to keep hiring magic tutors despite Erda insisting there wasn't a point as Loveless was 'obviously had the knack for acting' so she didn't know why he had to bother with magic.

Erda thoroughly killed any want Loveless had to be an actor. At 11 he set his mind to being a costume designer instead after reading a book on it while visiting his grandmother. Minerva gave him the book to take home, glad that Loveless wasn't going to abandon the theater entirely. His mother threw the book out to spite him as Loveless embarrassed her by having a meltdown over not wanting to sing in front of her guest nor wanting to be left alone with her guest's children as they pushed him into a pond the last time they had visited. This wasn't the first time she did something like this. Loveless already hid things he cared about, but started hiding his things in places that were hard for even him to access.

A few weeks after Loveless turned 14, Lewis Blainewright was hired to be his newest magic tutor. Loveless came to adore the man and would have spent his every waking moment with Lewis if he could. Loveless found the man interesting and loved that he would answer pretty much any question he asked. Lewis encouraged his interests and let Loveless follow him around. Most importantly, though, Lewis was nice to him. As an adult, Loveless firmly believes that only Lewis and his grandmother were the only people who actually cared about him as a child.

Previous tutors had no success at teaching Loveless any combat focused magic. Lewis didn't either. He completely dropped the idea as Loveless was too nervous to cast any loud and flashy spells. Instead, he focused on teaching Loveless enchanting as the half-elf already had some ability to read magic. Loveless struggled to understand it at first, but soon found himself making headway due to stubbornly practicing in order to impress Lewis. Advancing his skill in magic was the easiest way to get Lewis to praise him and Loveless craved the validation.

Loveless came to enjoy enchanting and, while he still liked the idea of doing costume design, found himself wanting to divorce himself entirely from the theater. Knowing his grandmother would be upset about that, he confessed how he was feeling to Lewis. Lewis told him he might as well do a job that he liked. He suggested to Loveless that perhaps he go into making one type of clothing and do that. Lewis added that should look into apprenticing with someone who specialized in making enchanted clothing. Loveless liked the idea of that and admitted that is probably what he was going to do.

As a gift for Loveless's 17th birthday, Lewis gave him a book on techniques for enchanting clothing a few weeks before the actual day. On the cover page Lewis had written, "Good luck with your endeavors!" in ink that could only be read if you were used to reading enchantments. Of course Loveless was thrilled with the gift. He was fortunate that Lewis had given it to him early as Lewis was fired not long after.

Lewis had a knack for avoiding Erda, but after nearly three years of employment he finally slipped up. Erda caught him one day while he was playing a card game with Loveless. She fired him on the grounds that she hadn't seen him once since he had been hired and, even if he HAD been around, he clearly wasn't taking his job seriously. Lewis left without much of a fight. Loveless however absolutely lost it. He tried to explain to her through tears that Lewis had been teaching him this entire time and begged her to not fire him. She of course didn't change her mind because she WAS right. Lewis was fired whether Loveless wanted him to be or not.

Loveless skulked for the next few days before running off and hiding in the nearby meadows. Sure there was a chance of encountering a wild animal or a witch, but he would rather deal with that than stay home a moment longer. Loveless gave up and came home after almost four days; a surprising amount of time as March in Isador is cold and wet. When he arrived back home, Erda was beside herself with worry. With the amount of time he had been gone, she had become convinced that he had died. Erda tried explaining to to him that after he had run off, she had tried to get Lewis to come back, but the man had firmly refused. Loveless doubted his mother actually did that. She'd never changed her mind before. Besides, as far as he was convinced if she actually had, Lewis would have come back. Lewis knew how much he meant to him. There was no way he wouldn't have.

[An orphaned elf named Hollis]

His 17th birthday rolled around. His mother, like normal, bragged about how successful of an actor he was going to be after he got over his costume designer phase. Loveless interrupted to say that he was actually going to be a cobbler. His mother took it as a joke, but Loveless adamantly insisted he wasn't joking. As was yearly tradition at this point, she kicked him from his own party as he started to cause a scene.

While he decided to be a cobbler in a split second decision, Loveless stuck to it. He ran away from home again. This time with the plan of finding an apprenticeship with a cobbler who specialized in enchanting. To make it harder for his family to find him, he went by the name Hollis Carlyle, claimed to be an elf and only 15. Loveless was used to lying, pretending to be someone else wasn't that hard. What was hard was getting someone to actually take him on as an apprentice. He could demonstrate basic level enchanting and do some more advanced things, but without anyone to vouch for him, no one wanted to chance working with him. Besides, a young elf out all on their own seemed a bit suspicious.

His luck changed and was taken on by a man named Selby Driscoll. Selby didn't ask many questions outside of if Loveless could enchant and if he was going to behave himself. Selby also wouldn't pay him, but he would provide room and board. Of course, Loveless jumped at the offer. He later learned that the reason Selby even hired him was he had fired his last apprentice earlier that morning and immediately regretted the decision.

Loveless didn't like Selby much, but the man was good at his job and was an okay teacher (outside of the yelling). Loveless much preferred working with Selby 's wife, Peony, as she was nicer to him. She also had the patience to teach him the basics of being an adult. Selby had a suspicion that Loveless was lying about his past and guessed he was some rich boy who had ran off. He didn’t worry too much about the truth of Loveless’ past since the kid actually did his job.

'Hollis' was perceived as clever and a hard-worker, but who's mood could turn at an instant. Kind of a prick, could be very sweet if he wished. He was popular with girls because of his looks, but he only half-heartedly pursued any of them. Loveless did his best to behave, but still managed to get himself into trouble with the mean things he would say.

In the year 1842, Loveless was accepted into the craftsmen guild as a master cobbler at the age of 20, but his attempt to become a master enchanter was rejected. He very much had the skill, but managed to piss off the right people to prevent himself from becoming one. He does come to realize that he is bisexual at 23 after spur of the moment deciding to go home with another man after a party. Due to laws outlawing homosexuality, Loveless keeps this discovery very much to himself. Later the same year, Loveless finally manages to become a master enchanter due to bribing his way into it.

Set up to finally start a career by himself, Loveless wrote to his grandmother letting her know that he was very much not dead and what he had been up to. Minerva replied with a thick packet that admonished him for running off, lightly praised him for his achievements, and firmly stated he needed to visit her. Loveless had missed her terribly and visited her as soon as he was able. Minerva convinced him to move to Alpin to be closer to her, and to set up a shop there as Alpin is a large port city and she thought he would do well there. She lent him the money to relocate himself on the firm basis that he had to pay it back and include 'Lovelorn' in the store's name. Erda does find out he's alive through Minerva and only sees Loveless when she's in town to visit Minerva. Loveless does try to reach out to Lewis to thank him, but learns that the man actually passed away a few years prior.

Thanks to his family connections he is able to get his original customer base and manages to keep it and expand since he is actually good at what he is doing. As an adult, Loveless is perceived similarly as he was when he was a young adult. Clever, hard-worker, nice until he suddenly decides to be an asshole. Loveless often has the phrase "dishonorable in aspects, excluding business" used to describe him. He grows up to be a two-faced coward who would rather poison himself than take part in a duel, but he does make a quality pair of shoes and is capable of excellent enchantments.

For the next chunk of his life, it is basically just him running his store without any major events surrounding that up until he is 30. War breaks out in 1852 as Isador’s eastern colonies rebel, followed by the neighboring country Lucdona taking advantage of the chaos. Loveless does not fight in the war. The government of Isador does have him come to the capital to enchant some things. Outside of a few boots and uniforms, he mostly enchanted various piece parts. Though not totally certain he thinks he helped make magic mines based on the various enchantments they had him do. The war ends in 1855, Loveless weathers the following financial crash well enough. Homosexuality is decriminalized later that same year.

Loveless had already developed the reputation of being a promiscuous man. While he would sooner die than ever admit it, this was partially due to wanting to upset his mother with the salacious rumors that spread about him. Now free to openly explore his sexuality, though still very much influenced by Isador’s cultural views and the time period, he begins choosing to describe his sexuality as "I prefer the company of women, but I’m not against the occasional homosexual act." Except for when in the company of his mother, where he firmly denies he has any interest in women and is exclusively interested in men as he knows saying so violently upsets her.

Loveless met Barnabas when he was 36. Loveless hits on him at a fair because he thinks Barnabas is pretty. It was supposed to be a one night kind of thing, but wound up actually dating him for a week since he liked how interested Barnabas was in him. Loveless then decided that the only reason why Barnabas could be so interested was that the man had ulterior motives. So Loveless promptly broke up with him.

During the short time they were together, Barnabas had asked Loveless about being a cobbler/enchanter and he offhandedly mentioned the book his grandmother had given him. By chance, Barnabas found another copy of the book based on a few pages Loveless described. Even though they hadn't spoken to each in months, Barnabas bought it for him since Loveless had seemed rather sad about losing it. Loveless was shocked that Barnbas was able to find a copy. Loveless was both flattered and nervous that Barnbas remembered such a small detail about him. This act kicks off them becoming long-term partners.

The two start off as a very on-again off-again couple where they go through cycles of getting into huge fights, doing petty things to spite each other, one side inevitably taking it too far, and then reconciling. Things tone down as the years go on as the bar off "taking it too far" is lowered from wild things like stealing the pin out of all the top door hinges in the other's house to not stopping by to eat lunch together. They go from a weird, destructive pair that brings out the most unreasonable aspects of each other’s personalities to a strange, but actually good to each other couple.

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