Post by chase on Sept 23, 2011 16:39:41 GMT -5
BRANDON CHASE DAVIDSON
"Nevermore"
[/size]"Nevermore"
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Alias: Jaime
Other Characters: Count Monte Cristo, Medea Kekelidze
Rewritten City Found Via: Ad on another site, long ago.
Contact: Email or PM
Comments: And yes, I am a Mac.
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00I. full name Brandon Chase Davidson
0II. canon Edgar Allan Poe - "The Raven"
III. years of age Twenty-five
0IV. orientation Straight
00V. social status Middle class
0VI. occupation Student and teacher's assistant at New York University
00I. play by Justin Long
0II. body type lanky - Chase is fairly tall, and very slender.
III. height Five foot eleven
0IV. eye color brown
00V. description
Formerly a very well-kept individual, Chase's manner of style and dress has slipped in recent months. His dark brown hair falls seemingly randomly around his face, and is outgrown, somewhat wild and unkempt. His facial hair is much the same, though he does at least try to keep from growing a Santa Claus-like beard. His clothes are in need of ironing more often than not. Once confident and friendly, his stature is now somewhat bowed and introverted, almost forlorn. He does not speak often, and when he does, it's in a soft voice, barely above a whisper, and he uses as few words as necessary. It almost seems as though the sight of something has spooked him, shaken him to his core, and any errant gust of wind might carry this frail shell of a man away.
00I. overall personality
Chase is usually very laid-back. He does not let things bother him too much, and can laugh at himself easily. He is not very popular- he prefers to remain in the background, where people usually do not notice him- but he is very well-liked by the people who do know him. He gets along with others and is an excellent team player.
Sometimes, though, Chase becomes temperamental. There are a few things that do set him off unexpectedly. He doesn't mind it when people bully or make fun of him, but messing with his friends is another story. He also gets jealous occasionally. While he does not have a history of violence, he has been known to lash out without thinking his actions through beforehand.
Recently, Chase fell into a profound depression, brought on by a realization regarding the death of his love, Lenore - specifically, that he caused her to sustain the injury that eventually ended her life. The word "inconsolable" does not quite capture the desperate nature of his depression. He has shunned most of his friends, finds little satisfaction in anything, and has developed a morbid paranoia that someone, possibly the spirit of Lenore, bears ill will toward him. He spends much of his time sleeping, drinking, and otherwise dragging himself through life.
Chase's professors consider him very studious and serious, as that is the side of him they most often see. His friends would describe him as goofy and fun, although he does have a bit of a temper and can "fly off the handle" quite unexpectedly. A stranger would view him as clumsy, aloof, or temperamental. He enjoys reading, especially horror or tragedy, whether fiction or non-fiction; attending concerts of any musical genre; and finding opportunities for which to use the word "quaff."
0II. strengths Caring, amiable, humorous.
III. weaknesses Naive, impressionable, easily hurt.
0IV. goals Once, Chase wanted to discover who it was that killed Lenore. Now that he knows the truth, he doesn't want to know. His goal is to forget, and go back to the life he led after Lenore's death but before his epiphany with the raven. That time was not as pleasant as when Lenore was with him, but he has finally accepted that she is not coming back. So he wants to forget her - or, failing that, bury himself in never-ending tomes of forgotten lore or the depths of a bottle of wine. His short-term goals are more simple. Get through this next hour of class, get through this next hour of work, get through this night. He takes his life one event at a time.
00I. notable family & friends
Sarah Ann Davidson - mother
Caleb Brandon Davidson - father
Jack Anthony Davidson - younger brother
Emma Ann Davidson - baby sister
Harry "Hamlet" Chandler - probably his best friend
Jane Eyre - also a close friend
0II. overall history
Chase was born and raised in Briarwood, a small and little-known neighborhood in Queens, New York. He is the oldest of three children born to a doctor (his dad) and a lawyer (his mom). He had a fairly uneventful childhood. Occasionally it fell to him to take care of his younger siblings when his parents were too busy with their careers, and he wound up babysitting often once he was old enough to be left in the house on his own. The Davidsons were very successful and provided for their children financially, but they missed a few important events in their children's lives, including some of Chase's band concerts and awards ceremonies for his literary work.
Chase received high grades in school, although he seldom studied. Naturally intelligent, he has a knack for learning and remembering things. His parents hoped he would follow in one of their footsteps and become a doctor or lawyer, or a politician, or something equally important. This hope was strengthened when Chase graduated from high school near the top of his class and was accepted on scholarship to New York University.
To his parents' dismay, Chase declared a major in classics in his sophomore year. They questioned what exactly Chase would do with such a degree, and really Chase had no idea what he was going to do with it either. He had chosen classics because he enjoyed reading and studying civilizations, and because his parents had accidentally bred in him a disdain for such high-profile careers.
Chase graduated from NYU with a bachelor of arts in classics, and minors in Latin and Greek. He moved out of his parents' house and into an apartment near the NYU campus. The apartment was small and contains a lot of violet furniture and decorations, but it was cheap by New York standards. He was able to make rent and pay for graduate school by taking a job as a teacher's assistant at NYU.
During his first year of grad school, Chase met a young woman named Lenore Michaels, an undergraduate classics and theater major. They began dating, and became serious shortly thereafter. For the first time in any of his relationships, Chase began to get jealous over anyone who got too close to Lenore, which became problematic because Lenore was an actress. Chase defended his actions by reasoning that he was falling in love with Lenore. Whether Lenore felt the same way was unclear, but she did confront Chase about his jealousy several times.
Almost a year after Chase and Lenore began dating, Lenore suddenly disappeared. A few days later, her family filed a missing-persons report, and the police began to look for her. Her body was later found in the Hudson River. This, of course, prompted an investigation. According to the interviews the police conducted of Lenore's friends, family, and acquaintances, Chase was one of the last people to see her alive. Chase insisted that it was a normal night for them, and that Lenore left his apartment around midnight to study for an exam.
Lenore's death had a profound impact on Chase, though he did not show it very much. He was as calm and unassuming as usual, albeit a little less cheerful. What bothered him most about it was the fact that he really could not remember much of the last night he had seen Lenore, and that her case remains unsolved.
During a holiday gathering in December 2010, Chase encountered a raven, who he believed was speaking to him - specifically, repeating the same word, "nevermore." He suffered a meltdown and eventually passed out - but not before finally remembering the circumstances of Lenore's death. A fight between the pair had led to Chase pushing Lenore into a wall, jarring loose a bust of Pallas just above Chase's apartment door. The bust hit Lenore, and while she was fine when she left the apartment shortly thereafter, the concussion worsened (possibly due to another hit to her head) and she died on her way home.
Chase has been struggling with this realization since that December night, and has kept the news to himself for fear of being imprisoned. However, his depression has become far more noticeable, causing his family and others to question his mental and physical health.
III. sample post
From the thread "Having Flown."There were people around him, talking to him in comforting tones. Chase could see and hear them, somewhat. The raven was what he saw and heard; everything else faded into the background. Things were becoming blurry, too, thanks to the tears in his eyes.
Why was Lenore haunting him? He had loved her, more than anything, more than anyone - yet it was he she tormented, not her family or her old friends. They had already let her go, given up their grief. It was Chase who needed peace, but she seemed insistent on torturing him, through his memories of her and now even through this raven.
He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and a familiar face swam into his vision. Harry. Jane was there too, Chase had heard her. He knew he was probably scaring both of them. He was being a terrible host. God, why did he have to fail at everything? He tried to hear what Harry was saying, but his focus was shattered and it was like translating the words from some other language.
"Chase? Who... who are you talking to?"
Wait, what? Didn't they see the raven? Chase felt mildly annoyed. Of course they did; both Jane and Harry had been suggesting ways to get rid of it. Then what was Harry talking about? Obviously, Chase was responding to the raven. It was taunting him, it knew something about Lenore, maybe it even was Lenore, Chase didn't know, but he had to try something. He needed closure. He had to figure this out.
Chase's brain felt as if someone had set it on fire. His eyes were blank and unseeing. Transfixed, he stared up at the bird, willing it to speak again.
"Nevermore."
The word sank in, and Chase drew in a breath. The sadness and heartache left him then, replaced by a growing, seething fury. He leaped out of the chair, nudging past Harry in the process. "Get out!" he screamed, waving his hands as though to scare the raven away. The raven never moved. "No more of your lies! No more! Get out of my house; go back to whatever hell you came from! Take your beak fro out my heart, and take your form from off my door!"
"Nevermore."
As suddenly as he had leapt from his chair, Chase froze. A look of terror grew on his face, but that was the only movement in his body as a series of forgotten images flashed through his mind. An argument, one night, in the same apartment he was standing in; then pushing, and a fight, and a body hitting the door frame, and the bust of Pallas crashing down from its perch above the door.
"Oh God." The words came out in less than a whisper, with all the breath Chase had left. "I killed Lenore."
With barely a blink, he fainted, his body crumpling to the floor as if lifeless. Above him, the raven's eyes regarded him impassively, and those eyes were the last thing Chase would remember seeing before his eyes fluttered closed and he blacked out, almost hoping, vainly, to find some solace there in the dark.
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SYR INTEGRA of CAUTION 2.0 created this, modified by Yols with Shakespeare lines.
