Character Name: Kate Boyd
Canon/Original: Original
Gender: female
Age: 22
Family:Father} Anthony Boyd; Keep Cook; 45
Mother} Rebbecca Boyd; Head of Organization; 42
Siblings} Taylor Boyd; Fixes clothes in the Keep; 20; younger brother
Spirit:: I know not of what you speak!
Occupation: Head of the Cleaning Staff for the Prince's Wing
Place of Habitation: Thiasa Keep
Physical Description:Starting at the head, Kate has bright red hair that matches her personality well. Though thick, like her mother's, her hair softer than one might think and falls in waves to her mid back. Her hair is often down when working or pulled up in a messy style to keep the dust from collecting in it.
Her heart shaped face starts at a broad forehead and falls into a pointed chin. Her cheeks, just leaving the mask of childhood, are still slightly rounded and less defined than one would define as "womanly". Her lips are thin, the bottom sticking out when she's vexes, giving the illusion of a pout. Her nose is in a straight ridge in the center of her face. Her eyes, though not thickly lashed, have a soft almond shape and are light brown in color.
Kate has broad shoulders, not masculine by any means, but broad enough to work with. They fall into long arms and a trim body. While Kate is small she is not "perfect" by any means. She has some stomach, but not enough to be classified as "over weight." Her chest is in a medium range, nothing too special. She isn't tiny, but isn't "ample".
Kate's torso falls into long legs which are usually covered by her dresses. She dresses quite well, her brother making sure all of her dresses fit her in the best ways. She prefers white, and wears dresses of this color when she is not cleaning. It has been known for Kate to don her brother's clothing while cleaning, however little the staff likes this. She lives on being comfortable and insists on practicality. Kate's cream colored skin, naturally fair and unable to darken by much, looks best in her dresses.
She is a short five foot, two inches tall and weighs about one hundred twenty pounds.
Personality:Kate is very serious when it comes to her work. She comes from a long line of chambermaids and has worked hard to achieve her position. Kate is not easily angered, a patient person if you will, but she lets things grate on her until she blows up on some innocent by stander. She's very work oriented, and takes her time to make sure everything is done right. She enjoys her job, seeing as it's the only thing she knows how to do and it's what her mother does. Kate finds herself proud of what she can do and is very happy to oversee when she can to make sure everything is done properly.
One thing that would be noticed about Kate head is that she isn't very strong in giving orders. While she enjoys looking over people and making sure that they're doing what they're suppose to do she often can't control an out of hand worker. When people don't want to listen she can't really raise her voice to make them. However, she is not weak. She doesn't let things like being ignored get to her. As far as Kate is concerned, people will do what they will, but all she has to do is report the misbehavior to her mother and those that ignored her will be in trouble. She is still childish in this aspect.
She'll do anything to make someone happy, no matter what it is. She hates when people hurt themselves and when they pace, it makes her nervous. Kate will try to calm people down if that's what it calls for. She's very kind when it comes to upset people.
One would have to know Kate to understand how different she is from work and from play. She can be rude if she's unhappy and she has been known to slap her brother from time to time for saying something she does not agree with. This doesn't anger him, of course, because he's a very patient soul as well. When one knows Kate they would see her as sweet, funny, and envious. She wants to be something other than what she is. Although she's proud of her job and happy to have it she wonders what it is like to be a lady, wonders what it's like to find love, and she wants them. She wants to know. Her desire to know is slight upon obsession and she's been known to snoop just a little to find out what she wants to know.
Kate has been known to gossip a little around the Keep, sharing things that she's found out while cleaning. It is no secret that she envies the queen because she's married to the king and yet has no redeeming beauty. Kate is a little vain, but rarely lets it show. She brushes her hair every night and tries to remain clean and good looking. She knows that eyes follow her (or is that her vanity speaking?).
History:Born to Anthony and Rebbecca Boyd in the early spring months, young Kate was never more than the daughter of the Keep's cook and the head of cleaning staff. Rebbecca always made sure everything was spic and span and spent many long hours every day cleaning and caring for King Aeden's father, King Aelfric's Keep. She was young when she started work and lives her life to this day working under King Aeden, whom she knew when he was a lad.
Kate was the first child and only daughter born to the two. As a baby she was left with some of the nurses' that spent time caring for noble children as her mother cleaned. Kate, of course, was kept away from the higher born children and grew up playing with children of her own rank, including her year younger baby brother, Taylor. Taylor was born in the Winter a year after Kate's birth. He was the only son born to Anthony and Rebbecca and therefore spoiled as much as a servant child could be. Anthony liked to watch women sew as a boy, and quickly picked it up when he was ready to start learning things. Kate adored her father's work, cooking in the kitchen but took more pleasure in humming to herself all day as she picked things up.
When she was a child she was assigned to children's wings. She would clean up after the children of the Keep, taking care to put their things away once she got older. Due to the harsh time period Kate grew up quickly, her mother teaching her her place by showing her what she was to do as she grew older. By the time Kate was eleven she was allowed to clean the bedrooms of the nobles, which was something that Kate took pride in being able to do. She looked at it as an advancement in ranks: from children's' playrooms to the bed chambers of the noble. She loved learning new things and learned early on that she could snoop. People would pretend she wasn't there as she cleaned, talking of their personal business as if Kate were not there at all.
This led to her gossip passion. She is, after all, a young woman with little to occupy her time.
Kate watched her brother as he grew at alarming speeds. He took up sewing as his profession and became, as his name implies, a tailor. He would make and mend clothes around the keep while the maids lower than Kate herself washed them. She didn't mind collecting the clothes, still doesn't mind.
Kate has lived a pretty basic life, her mother fell back, giving the position of head of one wing to Kate, while she took on other wings with her crew. Kate insists on cleaning all the bedrooms alone (mainly so she can snoop. She's a very curious girl.) She likes looking into things and having a fun time with simple tasks like dusting, changing bed clothes, and drawing baths. Kate is very proud of her job today and twenty one years of hard work have earned her position as head of a wing, no matter what the others say about it.
The only bit of scandal in her life was, at 19 years old, unwed because her father saw no one worthy, Kate slept with a stable lad, which, of course, got around pretty quickly. Due to the time period men thought her ruined for having sexual relations before being wed, which leaves her single at 22 years of age. Things have ended with the stable lad, sadly, he married and now has a young daughter. Needless to say that Kate despises him.
Plot Potential:Elanor and I came up with a plot with Prince Fergus which could equal romance or could equal personal gain. I'm not sure which direction it will go yet but the Prince wants someone to love him and not in the shape of a woman or a man, but as a child. I don't know what will happen- if it'll be romance, pity, or personal gain- but I think Kate will be there to bear a child to the Prince so he'll have a child to love. The child would be illegitimate and unable to claim any rights as the son of the prince, but that's jumping too far ahead. If this plot falls through Kate can be there to keep people in line around the keep. She doesn't mind caring for people in the keep, nor is she afraid of taking charge around the Keep, when it comes to cleaning.
Other than the plot I have with Fergus I think Kate would make for dramatics. (Fuuuun) If she was somehow unable to work in the Keep I believe she would become a good tavern girl. Not a whore because she was with child or because she's too picky, something like that. She'd be a serving girl at the local pub or join her brother in the tailor shop, perhaps she could even get her savings together for a pie shop! She knows how to cook. Right now the possibilities are ENDLESS. She has an open mind so she's able to do anything that she has to do.
SAMPLE RP:Her feet carried her up the steps one at a time, fresh bed clothes in her arms. The Keep was in a buzz today, mainly because the men had gone off to fight the barbarians and the women worried. Ladies sat their pretty little selves in their rooms and the common girl had to work. Well, pity for the ladies because those working had something to occupy their time as they awaited the triumphant return of their men. Kate's father had been too old and with a bad leg to join in on the attack, but Taylor had gone and he was a sweet lad. Kate did worry for him, yes, but she had nothing to fret over. He was quick on his feet and would do as he was told. He would come back to her, like every other Thiasan man would come back to their waiting women.
Yes, indeed that was optimism! Kate's foot nudged open the doors to the Prince's chambers, noticing right away that there were clothes littered among the floor and Fergus was gone. She worried for him, too, but it was only because she knew he'd be pulling his hair out if things got too bad. He shouldn't pull his hair like that. That was her thought on the matter, it was bad for him. Setting the bed clothes down on the chamber table, her eyes rolling at the sheer messiness of the room. "Ah, Prince," she mumbled as her hands took to stripping the clothes from the bed, "you are indeed a messy one, aren't you?" she threw the dirty sheets to the corner of the room nearest the door as she tucked the new cloth to the bed, humming as she went.
The bards had sung a song that stuck in her head. The words, of course, she had been too busy to recall, but the tune was a good one. She liked the tune, so light and happy, although she was sure it had held some sort of cryptic meaning to it. Didn't all songs that the bards sang? She was sure that they did. After the bed was done and made for the Prince's return, Kate collected his clothes from the floor. What a messy man! Ah, well, her mother was still cleaning up after her father. Now he was a messy man. She adored him, though. He was so kind and a great cook to boot.
Flipping her long hair over her shoulder, the young woman took to running a cloth over the wooden furnishings in the room, taking great care to get the dust from the pieces. How so much dust collected she didn't know. A voice called her name from below, her mother's voice, of course. "Coming Mother!" she responded, collecting the cloth from the floor and heading out of the chamber door, closing it with her foot, a skill she'd taken up many years ago, seeing as it was helpful.
With that, Kate carried herself down the stairs, one at a time.
What's the name of the Creator God the Endikai worship?: SAM! ((mmmm :P ))
**Thanks to Kenji for helping me revise.**