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2021-02-04 05:27 pm

Vegasparty

Information
name Farrah Gille gender M location Boulder
canon OC age 23 employment Painter
About
Common Perception
Quiet, barely understands English. Friendly and well intentioned, but shy and awkward, doesn't seem to get social cues. Always drawing, will draw whatever you ask. Always just 'around'.
The Truth
Though quiet by nature, his silence and feigned incomprehension is intentional. He's fluent in both French and English, and knows a handful of common travel phrases in half a dozen other languages. It's much more fun for him if people think he doesn't understand what they say in his presence, believe he's incapable of repeating it, or is too ignorant to know they want him to go away. He doesn't lie about understanding, simply doesn't answer when he could. When people catch on, he'll sheepishly downplay it, laying his accent on as thick as they'll think plausible, "People assume, easy not to correct."

Farrah treats plausible deniability and minimizing negative behavior like an art form. He loves knowing things he shouldn't, making people uncomfortable or uncertain. It's not fun to be threatening because they catch on too quick, but he relishes playing stupid or pushing just enough to make them feel like they're the one in the wrong and it's merely a misunderstanding or cultural difference.

One example was painting portraits pre-plague: he would have people sit for far longer than he actually needed, frowning and giving little sighs if they move out of the pose, make a politely-big deal out of 'having' to move things around if they needed to reschedule, etc.

He uses art itself to discreetly bother people, too. If he knows something the subject is insecure about or is keeping secret, he'll reference it while leaving it up to interpretation. Self-conscious about the size of their nose? He draws it accurately but the lines are heavier or the color off ever so slightly. A couple's portrait where he knows one of them is having an affair? The pair are staring at each other lovingly, but the cheater's gaze isn't quite meeting their partner's, their smile not quite as enthusiastic.

When it goes sideways, however, he's extremely laid back and conflict-avoidant. He doesn't make trouble he can't explain away, doesn't test people who are already on edge, and is always quick to apologize and withdraw when he's upset someone. He prefers to simply leave a situation if possible, otherwise will put his hands up and submit. Neutral and indifferent in his avoidance, not meek or overtly afraid. Sometimes though, he just can't help himself and pushes the buttons of volatile people when he's reasonably certain that he can safely escape or de-escalate it.

Flagg
Without ol Randy, Farrah might have developed into 'kinda a jerk' in the way many famous artists get; obnoxious and privileged, careless with others feelings but stopping short of cruelty. Flagg's arrival in his life changed his course, steered him towards being a discreet danger junkie. He already liked having secrets, and there's no better secret than having the attention, the affection, and coaching of a deity (or demon, or monster, it never mattered to him exactly what Flagg is) that no one else knows about. Flagg showed him how to be even better at low-key bothering people, how to see the flaws people tried to hide, how to pick at them without getting caught, how to defend himself when he did. He got to be Flagg's hand in the world, and in doing so learned that he was not always so generous. He could be funny and playful, or horrible and hideous.

The contrast was intoxicating to Farrah. He was simultaneously safe and in danger, protected and threatened. He's terrified of the bloody-fanged wolf and elated that it's not his blood, grateful that he got to be the one who cleaned up rather than the poor sap who was eaten, and always aware that one day the wolf might take a bite of him anyway, just to keep him on his toes.

Once Flagg's focus shifted elsewhere, Farrah was left with a deep craving for a certain dynamic that is nearly impossible for a human to satisfy. It would be a little easier if he was an actual masochist or at least not asexual. While there are certain aesthetics and physical traits that he finds appealing, wanting to see them naked and up close so he can draw them is about as far as his physical wants goes.

There has to be some kind of power exchange to get things working for him. The only long-term relationship he's had was with a much older woman, Nelda. She was a powerful, wealthy, strong woman, who also happened to be committing quite a few financial crimes and liked being 'forced' to confess to her 'trophy boyfriend', so it worked out to be good enough for very little effort on Farrah's part. He'd probably have preferred finding a murderer to date, if he thought he could count on Flagg helping him evade prosecution again.
Appearance
height 6'
build lean
hair dark
eyes blue-green
overall Tanned skin with short, dark, curly hair; French-Berber heritage. Smattering of freckles and small moles, little body hair. Toned upper-body, still kinda lanky. Deep voice, but generally low in volume and tone, more heavily accented if he thinks the listener assumes his English is poor.

fashion Pastel and desaturated, simple and plain patterns, or dark and bold solids. Often long-sleeve button up shirts that are not properly buttoned, over slacks. When painting, shirtless with a paint-spattered apron over shorts. Olive-drab well-worn messenger bag usually slung over a shoulder. Wears dark coats, boring sweaters, and jeans when it's cold.

manner Speaks softly, grins easy, smiles with his whole face. Attentive listener. Almost always has pencil and paper, if not in hand then within reach. Sits still, watches mouths to avoid eye contact. Rides a bicycle all over.

History
  • French-Berber, youngest kid of a big old-money family, definitely a bastard but everyone pretends he's not
  • Good kid, quiet, smart and thoughtful, not interested in playing with other kids or doing "kids stuff", just wanted to draw. Clearly his mom's favorite, where she would've loved for him to be a momma's boy and tried to spoil him, getting him a private tutor and art lessons, and indulged his every whim. Said 'whims' were things like "no you ride the rollercoaster, I'd rather sit here and draw it then you can tell me about it later", or "can I come with you to [city] so I can paint [landmark]?" or "can we go to the zoo and sit in front of one animal so I can draw them for four hours nonstop?"
  • Often tagged along with parents and siblings on business trips and vacations because he was pretty much the easiest kid ever to travel with. Learned that he really liked seeing/hearing things he shouldn't and keeping secrets. "Oh, that's just my little brother, don't worry, he's cool" (except in french) got said a LOT
  • late-teens, decided to stay with his sister and her american husband in Boulder, as he was getting pressured to "be normal" and go to an actual school and spend time with people his own age, and at least in the US he could avoid talking/have some fun by pretending he didn't speak English
  • Senior year, one day a friendly crow he was feeding turned into a hot be-denimed dude that no one else could see. Farrah assumed he was a hallucination and thought "oh I guess whatever mental illness makes me like this is finally showing up", but hooray, it was Randall Flagg instead!
  • Turns out that even better than knowing peoples crimes and vices, is knowing a shapeshifting, teleporting, telepathic demon/god/something, that not only can do those things, but wants to help him be the best he can be. Yes, of course Farrah went through an edgy phase of lots of extra-creepy and intense crow and wolf paintings.
  • Flagg guided him in doing a little crimeing, murdering, and successfully evading getting caught. It's a terrifying and thrilling time for Farrah, and Flagg's very much his favorite drug.
  • But Flagg's not around most of the time, so while he's going to college and building a reputation as a portrait artist, he's still trying to scratch that itch. He's 100% that dude who brings a notebook to a bar to draw while nursing one beer. If some drunk takes offense and hassles him thats fine, if someone takes it as a challenge to seduce, or get real wasted and dump all their baggage on him, that works too. Either way, that's a little bit of the right kind of adrenaline.
  • He settles in with one long-term girlfriend who he's indifferent to but she's good enough at giving him what he needs. She died of Captain Trips, no great loss.
  • Once the dreams started up and he realized people are coming to Boulder, he hid his Flagg-related art in someone else's house and prepared to just be "that reclusive french art guy who was already here".
Art
Obviously these aren't his art, this is just to give you a vibe. Think realistic, unsettling, strong light and shadow.
sampler: (Default)
2020-07-18 04:23 pm

Farrah's Obsidian Inbox

Slip some mail under his cell door/in a book/whatever
sampler: (Default)
2020-07-10 03:53 pm

Info for Obsidian

Farrah Gille
alias: Fara, F.Gilly age: 23
cellblock: B inbox: here
personality
In brief | Quiet to the point a lot of people assume he's mute, reclusive/happy alone but also content to be around people and let them talk at him. Attentive, playful, likes jokes, just very low-key about it. A chill dude, happy to stay out of the way and maybe too eager to keep secrets.
Motivations | Farrah's way into power exchange, not necessarily in a sexual way. He grew up surrounded by people with wealth, power, and influence who always got their way. Getting to push them out of that comfort, to make them accept his his way or reveal to him something they wouldn't want to be known, is what makes him happiest. He loves when they commission him for a portrait and he can make them set aside their busy schedules and sit for hours in uncomfortable clothes under bright lights in his studio, then they say how much they love his painting and display it, even though there's a subtle evilness to their expression, or they look foolishly gaudy to everyone besides themselves. he's the best at this and all their friends have his work hung in their smoking lounges.Nothing they can do about it, and he has a policy of not making edits so if they protest, they lose the painting. It's petty and minor but oh-so-satisfying.

It's not just portraits, either. He loves anything that makes him feel like he's got something over someone who has everything else, even if it's a minor thing. It could be the being nice to him when they're usually mean to others, or telling them a secret they wouldn't want out. In essence, he doesn't want to fuck The Guy, be The Guy, or even be The Guy's Right Hand. He wants The Guy to notice him stealing a fry from The Guy's plate and let him. He wants The Guy to let him hog the blankets at night or put his cold feet on his legs. He wants The Guy to tell him the real story behind his scars. That's why he's stuck with Nelda for 4 years despite not actually liking her as a person. She has other lovers but it's him that knows all her secrets, him that she confesses to and would do anything for because he could tremendously fuck up her life if he wanted to. She made her bed and they both like laying in it.
Handling Conflict | Extremely laid back and conflict-avoidant. Doesn't make trouble, doesn't knowingly provoke people, quick to apologize and withdraw. Prefers to simply leave a situation if possible, otherwise will put his hands up and submit. Neutral and indifferent in his avoidance, not meek or visibly afraid. Unlikely to fight back if things become physical, but will attempt to flee. However, he'll push back or challenge if he's certain that it'll win him some power or favor with the other party (see above re: motivations). This can lead to some borderline bratty behavior as he tests out what a person will tolerate from him.
Romance | Farrah is more or less asexual. While there are certain aesthetics and physical traits that he finds appealing, wanting to see them naked and up close so he can draw them is about as far as his attraction goes. Romance is fine and sex is fun but it's just not something he's pursues or thinks of for himself. Nelda is the only person he's been with more than once, the rest were threesomes she arranged or impulsive one-offs. If there's an element of power exchange or the way someone shows interest in him gives him that same hit of dopamine, he'd at least consider hooking up with anyone. A kinky rendezvous where someone physically proves their desire for him is a good secret to have over someone, after all.
Hobbies | Draws constantly. When he can't draw, he reads. Doesn't matter what, he'll read it. Listens to music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Doesn't generally watch tv or movies; he gets frustrated when visual mediums don't match what he mentally pictures. His favorite way to 'watch' is pausing frequently to sketch a scene. It's not that he thinks he can do it better than professionals, he just can't not-draw and drawing what he sees is also how he processes things day-to-day. Hence the constant sketching. Don't watch movies with him is what I'm saying, you won't have a good time.
appearance
hair: dark, short, curly height: 5'6"
eyes: blue-gray build: lean
Description | French-Algerian heritage, gentle french accent when speaking in english which I don't type out because that can get obnoxious to read, deep voice but generally softspoken. Index fingers, thumbs, and the area between them on both hands are tattooed with delicate scales, so dense and tiny that they look solid from a distance. Often drawing with or carrying a pad of paper and stubby pencil from the commissary.

history
childhood
He's the youngest kid of a big, rich as fuck family, with a 15yr age gap between him and his siblings. His bio-father is definitely not his legal-father/mother's husband, but everyone pretends they can't tell because Farrah's birth seemed to strengthen his parents marriage. (And it would be way too scandalous to ever acknowledge)

Farrah was a good kid in general. Quiet, didn't make trouble, wasn't eager to socialize or play with other kids. Just wanted to draw. Did okay in school, a solid B+-A student who covered his homework in doodles.

At 10, he had a dream where a strange being showed him how to write it's name in sand. For weeks after, all he drew was a scaley hand pointing at the symbol. Eventually he stopped drawing the hand but the symbol remained deeply inspiring to him. He works it into almost all of his work as he feels like they're much more successful/unsettling and thus satisfying to him when it's there.

Started painting portraits of family and family friends as a teen, still secretly incorporating the symbol. His non-portrait style develops: realist, subtly surreal, often with a vaguely threatening aura.
adult
At 18 met Nelda, a 35yr old married woman who worked with his oldest brother, at a holiday party. She was extremely into him from the start, kept flirting and hinting and generally being an insistent creeper, but he wasn't interested until over a year later when she drunkenly offered to buy him a snow leopard "for his art". Suddenly he realized that's his thing: having a secret over a powerful person. Yeah a snow leopard is cool, but knowing she's willing to break laws to get with the teenage sibling of her boss to show her friends she can, is super fucked up and yet made him feel very powerful. They have an open-secret affair from then on.

At 20 gets his finger tattoos, blending the scales of the dream-creature with the symbols so that he feels like it's always there helping him paint :3 His work gets even more vivid and unsettling, hooray!
conviction
Turns out trafficking in endangered animals isn't the only illegal thing Nelda's willing to do. She'd been doing a ton of insider trading and securities fraud as well. She begged Farrah to take the fall for it since "someone" has to go down for it but it's in "everyone's" best interest it not be her. He did it, not out of love for her, but because her and her actual accomplices offer him a lot of money to say he did it because he "didn't know better", as opposed to the massive sentences and consequences that they would get. Plus knowing secrets is useless if they become common knowledge in a trial.

It doesn't quite go as easy as he thought. Even with a prosecutor and judge who were happy to accept his no-contest plea in order to sweep the whole thing under the rug, there's still a minimum sentence. Farrah was 2 months into his 4 year sentence when he's unexpectedly transferred to Obsidian.
abilities
Art | Draws and paints real good and fast. Prior to his conviction, he had a growing fame among the rich and affluent of europe for his neo-rococo style portraits. Outside of those commissions though, he favors realism with heavy brush strokes and an ambient discomfort. See the visual section below to get an idea of his work.
relationships
Name
Nothing yet!
Name
Nothing yet!
visuals
permissions
IC | Physical Affection: Sure
Physical Violence: Sure, check in with me about scene-specific elements
Shipping: Sure
Mind-reading: Probably fine, check in with me
Limits/Triggers: None. there's an age-gap relationship in his history though he's unlikely to bring up that element.
OOC | Backtagging: Absolutely
Threadhopping: Sure
Fourth-walling: No
Limits/Triggers: Incest, rape, and child sexual abuse/pedophilia. I know they'll be important elements to some characters, so I accept that I may be exposed to them and I don't expect a warning on every glancing mention; I'm not going to get upset at someone for playing their character accurately. Warnings on posts that heavily feature it and/or hand-waving cr and interactions that unavoidably deal with those topics is all I need.
sampler: (Default)
2019-07-11 05:22 pm

Northcliff Pass: Fall Flashback

WHO: Farogil and Leala
WHAT: Teamwork makes the dreamwork!
WHEN: Midday, late fall of 1311
WHERE: Leala's shop


Read more... )
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2019-07-03 07:13 pm

NCP IC Inbox

Leave Faro a message! This is a general open post so use whatever format is appropriate for whatever we're doing.