Realistic or Modern The Golden City: A Tale of Two Flames - CS [Open]

[Misty Gray]

Grace Baker
​

• Basics
• Personality
• History
• Relationships

• 
  Name:
  Grace Marie Baker
  
  Age and Date of Birth:
  29 (20th April 1891)
  
  Sexual Orientation & Relationship Status:
  Heterosexual, Single
  
  Face Claim:
  Hayley Atwell
  
  Height:
  5'7"
  
  Affiliation:
  The Hawthorne Family
  
  Role/Occupation:
  PA to Walter Hawthorne
  
  Skills:
  Events coordination
  Typewriting & shorthand
  Multi-tasking
  Extreme patience (she works for Walter)
  Diplomacy
  
• 
  Likes:
  Socialising
  Baking
  Interior design
  Chocolate cake
  Dancing
  Drinking
  Being right
  Betting
  
  Dislikes:
  Hypocrisy
  Egotists
  Boring meetings
  Lecherous men
  Cigarettes and cigars
  
  Personality:
  Confident
  Hardworking
  Playful
  Dry-humoured
  Quick-witted
  Thick-skinned
  Friendly and approachable
  Assertive
  
  In her role as Walter Hawthorne's assistant, Grace has learned how to hold her tongue and exert a great level of patience. Though often ready to speak her mind, she knows to choose her battles wisely where her employer is concerned. This includes often overlooking the man's hypocrisy and double-standards. Outside of work, it's much easier to relax and be herself!
  
  Personality Type:
  ENFJ-A - Protagonist
  
  
• 
  History:
  Grace was an only child who knew the Hawthornes from an early age. Her parents were close friends of Walter's. As such, she'd also known his kids growing up, albeit not often spending time with them as she was encouraged to make friends with other girls.
  
  It was clear from a young age that Grace wasn't in a hurry to conform to the norm of rushing into finding a husband and having kids. Instead, she favoured education and wanted to work. After years of working as a barmaid and studying in her spare time, an opening came up five years ago as Walter's personal assistant. Although her parents warned her against it, knowing how difficult Walter could be, Grace decided to rise to the challenge.
  
  Working for Walter was every bit of the challenge Grace anticipated. She not only had to prove herself as capable of the job and everything that was thrown her way, but she had to make sure to look good doing it. Aside from the paperwork and organising the man's schedule, she has to show up and be the pretty face to greet his associates. Despite the many negative sides to the job, Grace still enjoys it and the challenges thrown her way. She especially takes pleasure in the fact that her continued employment proves Walter wrong, and an hypocrite, where his beliefs about women being incapable are concerned.
  
  Since starting her work for the Hawthornes, Grace has lost both of her parents. Whilst they had been something of a safety net for her where her employer was concerned, Grace remains unafraid to speak up when completely necessary.
  
• 
  
  Walter Hawthorne - Employer
  Hawthorne siblings - Family friends
  
  OPEN TO MORE
  

 

[Pagemaster]

John Hawthorne

​

• Basics
• Personality
• History
• Relationships

• 
  
  
  
  Name: John Hawthorne
  
  
  Age and Date of Birth:
  31 (Aug 20, 1898)
  
  Sexual Orientation & Relationship Status:
  Heterosexual, Single
  
  Face Claim (Realistic Only):
  Tom Hardy
  
  Height:
  6’1
  
  Affiliation:
  Hawthorne Family
  
  Role/Occupation:
  Second Son / Mine Manager
  
  Skills:
  Engineering
  Mining
  Boxing
  Driving/Racing
  Leadership
  Sailing
  Business
  Athletic
  Strong eye for detail
  Speaks gutter French
  Physically imposing
  
• 
  
  Likes:
  Fast cars
  Sailing
  Athletics
  Swimming/Diving
  Gold
  Fast women
  Dogs
  A good party
  The bagpipes
  Managing men
  Money and power
  The British and French
  
  
  Dislikes:
  Germans and Italians
  The Flemmings
  The Law/Authority
  Lazy people
  Those who have never worked with their hands
  Liberals
  
  
  Personality:
  Committed and hardworking
  Patriotic
  Brutal/Cruel
  Adrenaline junkie
  Clever
  Intimidating
  Judgmental
  Strong willed
  Prone to violence
  
  
  
• 
  
  John is Walter Hawthornes second son, and quite possibly his favourite. The apple has not fallen far from the tree here and John has a lot in common with the worst parts of Walter. Physically imposing, intense, and willing to throw hands with any fool that crosses him, it is rumoured he beat a worker to death several years ago. No one can say for certain, but the man was found dead in one of the tunnels and looked "as though a train had hit him" according to the medical examiner.
  
  While not academically bright like his older brother, John thrived on the ground inside the family gold mining operation. It turned out he had one heck of a mind for mining and enjoys being underground. In 1917 he, and about a dozen employees from the mines, volunteered and travelled to Europe where they served under British command as miners and sappers. It was here, in the heat of the war, that John found his calling. His penchant for violence, quick mind, and skill set, soon had him fighting hand to hand in the trenches.
  
  Some people bring home war brides, John brought back the man who now works as the assistant manager in the mine, Cameron Argyle, a hard fighting Highlander from the Isle of Skye who beat the wheels off John during a boxing match shortly after the armistice. He's the only man to ever best John and for that John adores him.
  
  Upon his return to America, John threw himself back into the gold mines to get the family back on track. Built like an Ox, he is a well known face in the local booze scene, obviously illegal, and shows little regard for the rules of men given everything he has seen. He bears a tattoo from the war, "A short life but a merry one", a quote from the Pirate Bartholomew Roberts. He has stuck to that since. Fast cars, fast women, plenty of risks taken, and little regard for the feelings of others.
  
• 
  
  TBD

 

[Kovacs]

coded by Serobliss​

attorney-at-law,

MILO CULPEPPER

• Basics
• Personality
• History
• Relationships

• 
  NAME.
  Milo J. Culpepper
  
  AGE.
  29
  
  D.O.B
  January 22nd, 1891
  
  SEXUAL ORIENTATION.
  Heterosexual (recently divorced)
  
  FACE CLAIM.
  Alain Delon
  
  HEIGHT.
  5'10
  
  AFFILIATION.
  The Flemming Family
  
  OCCUPATION.
  Criminal defense laywer
  
  SKILLS.
  Sharp, quick-witted communication skills
  Impeccable negotiatior
  Brutally critical thinker
  Problem-solving
  Stress management
  Adaptable
  Fair (?) judgement
  
  
• 
  LIKES.
  Finding legal loopholes
  Outsmarting prosecutors
  Reading obscure case law
  Courtroom drama, gossip
  The pride in defending unconventional clients
  The quiet intensity of legal research sessions
  The thrill of a last-minute case breakthrough
  Perfectly aligned book stacks and file folders
  Secretly collecting novelty paperweights
  His daughter's horrifically crude drawings of animals
  
  DISLIKES.
  Courtroom chairs that squeak during important arguments
  Judges who prefer long-winded legal briefs
  Clients who refuse to follow his legal advice
  Moralizers, black-and-white thinkers
  Colleagues who interrupt their work flow with unnecessary small talk
  Taking vacations, prefers staying busy at work instead
  Meetings that run longer than scheduled, cutting into his work time
  Interruptions from those who ask for help with non-urgent tasks
  The smell of too-strong perfumes or colognes
  
  PERSONALITY.
  VIRTUES...
  Resourceful
  Loyal
  Intellectually curious
  Persistent
  High attention to detail
  Detachedly charismatic
  
  VICES...
  Crippling workaholic
  Impatient
  Stubborn
  Arrogant
  Sharp-tongued
  Insensitive
  
  PERSONALITY TYPE.
  ENTJ
  
  
• 
  
  HISTORY.
  
  When Milo was born, it was his father's cold, clinical hands that brought him forth into the world. Dr. Culpepper, a highly regarded physician whose patients spanned from dock workers on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf to the bankers lined up on Montgomery Street, insisted on delivering his own son, trusting no other hands but his own. Unfortunately, as son drew his first breath, mother's labored on through her last, leaving father to cradle both newborn life and his inconsolable grief.
  
  Despite the tragedy, Milo flourished under the tutelage of private tutors and the watchful eye of his father, who, despite wearing an air of cold aloofness toward his son for much of his childhood, recognized in him a prodigious intellect and love of learning. Indeed from a young age, Milo had set his sights on forging a path away from the staid predictability of medicine that had defined his family's heritage; a path inlaid preferably in gold, mind you. And as fate would have it, that path led to law and to the prestigious halls of Stanford Law School.
  
  
  Throughout Milo's studies at Stanford, Dr. Culpepper's aloofness remained, a constant reminder of the void left by his mother's passing. Unlike medicine's sterile pronouncements, the law offered a world of debate and the thrilling possibility of shifting the narrative. He devoured legal texts, captivated by the intellectual sparring and the power to sway a jury's perception.
  
  One tumultuous year, a citywide scandal erupted. Gretchen Strauss, a foreign-born woman ostracized for her profession, stood accused of the brutal murder of a wealthy client. The city buzzed with speculation, painting Gretchen as a cold-blooded killer. Milo, then a fresh law graduate barely a month into passing the bar, was captivated. Assigned to assist a seasoned defense attorney, he witnessed firsthand the media's misogynistic frenzy and the public's eagerness to condemn Gretchen.
  
  Here began the dig: scouring through immigration records, unearthing a harrowing tale of deception. Gretchen, a young woman who fled political turmoil in her home country, had been lured to San Francisco with promises of a new life, only to be trapped in a web of debt and forced into a life of prostitution by the very man she now stood accused of murdering.
  
  Exhaustive interviews with other women in the same brothel revealed an eyebrow-raising pattern of abuse - threats, violence, and the constant fear of exposure by powerful figures in the city. Medical records confirmed long-healed injuries and years of psychological trauma. Milo pieced together a chilling portrait of a desperate woman, cornered and fighting for her survival.
  
  At one point during his tireless investigation, Milo stumbled upon a name – a gruff dockworker named Finnigan. It turned out the man had extensive contact with the brothel where Gretchen worked, delivering that day's catch. He witnessed, on multiple occasions, the cruelty inflicted upon her and the other girls.
  
  The gamble was risky. Finnigan, a man accustomed to the rough world of the docks, wasn't known for eloquence. Yet, his gruff testimony resonated with the jury. Here was an ordinary man, a stranger to Gretchen, who spoke not of fabricated alibis but of the raw, undeniable truth – the truth of a woman forced to a desperate act. The prosecution, caught off guard by this surprise witness, struggled to discredit Finnigan's sincerity.
  
  Despite the undeniable evidence, a full acquittal remained elusive. The jury, swayed by public pressure and lingering doubts, found Gretchen guilty of manslaughter. Yet, in that moment, Milo felt a surge of a different kind of victory. He hadn't just saved a life; he had exposed a network of exploitation, a microcosm of the very injustice he loathed.
  
  
  From there, Milo carried on to defend various cases; some were less trials and more baptisms by fire. Thomas Walsh, a charismatic but volatile union leader, stood accused of orchestrating a brutal bombing that crippled a steel mill owned by the city's most ruthless industrialist, Bartholomew Crawford. The evidence against Walsh was substantial – a witness placing him near the scene, incendiary pamphlets linking the union to violence, and Walsh's fiery pronouncements against Crawford in the days leading up to the attack.
  
  Milo, nevertheless, saw a chance; he unearthed evidence of Crawford's abysmal working conditions and his history of union-busting tactics. Witness interviews revealed resentment simmering amongst the millworkers, a resentment Walsh might have capitalized on, but not necessarily orchestrated.
  
  The trial became a spectacle. Milo meticulously deconstructed the prosecution's timeline, highlighting the inconsistencies between the witness's memory and the bomb's estimated construction time. He painted a picture of a desperate worker, possibly a disgruntled employee with a grudge, framing Walsh to ignite a violent uprising.
  
  However, Milo's greatest challenge came from his client. Thomas Walsh was a master manipulator. He insisted on taking the stand, despite Milo's reservations. Walsh's charisma evaporated in the sterile environment of the courtroom. His testimony, filled with self-righteous pronouncements and thinly veiled threats towards Crawford, backfired spectacularly, coming across as exactly what the prosecutor's side was painting him as: a firebrand inciting violence.
  
  The jury, swayed by Walsh's disastrous testimony and the weight of circumstantial evidence, found him guilty. The courtroom erupted in chaos – cries of outrage from the union supporters met with cheers from Crawford's camp.
  
  The loss stung. But Milo wouldn't let defeat break him. He saw the case as a harsh lesson – not just in the power of a client's self-destruction, but in the complexities of human nature. The ostracized weren't always innocent victims, and the powerful weren't always villains. The fight for justice, he realized, was a constant dance in the gray areas, and it was in the gray areas where he found the most meaning and depending on the client, money.
  
  
  Dr. Culpepper watched his son's career with growing disdain. Milo's clients, a growing motley crew of petty thieves, gamblers, and even gang lords, were anathema to everything the morally strung doctor stood for. Every acquittal, every overturned conviction, was a personal affront. Dinner conversations became a minefield of thinly veiled barbs and disapproving stares. Dr. Culpepper saw his son's path as a descent into moral ambiguity, a betrayal of his potential.
  
  "You squander your brilliance defending these... these dregs of society," his father thundered one evening, his voice laced with disgust. "Is this the legacy you want to leave?"
  
  Milo, his jaw clenched, held his father's gaze. "Justice isn't a privilege reserved for the wealthy and respectable, Father. Everyone deserves a fair shot."
  
  Their arguments grew more heated, a stark contrast to the sterile silence that used to define their interactions. Yet, amidst the disapproval, Milo couldn't help but sense a flicker of grudging respect from his father. The doctor, for all his moral rigidity, couldn't deny his son's brilliance and unwavering dedication to his clients.
  
  
  Now, not everything revolved around his career; Milo, too dared to take a detour. He in fact married young, captivated by one Isabella Montgomery, a vivacious spirit who wasted no time in tying the knot only months into knowing one another. Their daughter, Anna Sofia, brought immense joy, but the early spark between her parents quickly began to fade. The demands of his legal aspirations clashed with Isabella's desire for a more traditional, settled-down life in the country.
  
  The arguments became a constant. Public scrutiny exposed cracks in the marriage; Isabella, uncomfortable with the growing notoriety, resented the long hours and the emotional toll cases took on her workaholic of a husband. The distance widened, culminating in a painful, bitter divorce. Sharing custody of their daughter, Anna Sofia, became a constant tug-of-war, a source of unspoken guilt for both Milo and Isabella.
  
  In the meantime, news of Milo's victories, some narrow escapes mirroring acquittals secured on technicalities, spread through the city's underbelly. One day, a shadowy figure approached him, a representative of a notorious gang – the very same group Dr. Culpepper would have seen as criminal scum. They offered him a position: to become their legal shield on where he seemed to thrive the most: the fringes of the law.
  
  
• 
  
  TBD.