Contrary Mary
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Ogre Farwalker |
|---|---|
| Court | No Court |
| Freehold | Unknown |
| Player | Elizabeth Leming |
Contents |
Overview
Alias(es): Contrary Mary
Real Name: Mary Siglan, but now she is known as Mary Estober
Age: 29
Concept: Hedge Botanist
Entitlement:
Physical description: Mask- 6ft tall, very tan, very muscular, shaggy, shoulder length, blonde hair, green eyes, generally dressed in a lab coat, and glasses. Mien- 7ft tall, brown skin, very muscular, shaggy blonde mane, thin blonde fur covering everything except face which is riddled with scars, wears a green lab coat, and small pair of reading glasses.
Relevant Mechanics: None yet
Character Livejournal:
Character Information
Known History
Basic Timeline: Born in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1957
Father died in 1951, mother and her moved to Ever Shade, Arkansas to live with grandfather
Graduated from Arkansas University with a Doctorate in Botany in 1982
Taken in 1974
Keeper used her to test the effects of different types of poisons found in the Hedge on subjects who had been captured trying to escape only spent a year beyond the Hedge.
Escaped from the Hedge in 1997
Drove in car she had stolen from her fetch all over the states until it eventually died in
Kansas City, Missouri where another lost helped her obtain a new identity. Started working as a Pharmacist at Walgreens in Downtown Kansas City. 2004
Began relearning her lost knowledge of the various effects of Goblin Fruits 2005
Current Activities: Researching the effects of various goblin fruits Trying to learn her way around the Hedge
Merit Details:
Background:
I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the year 1958, like most kids I had a very vivid imagination. My dolls and I would have long conversations. My father used to try and tell me that I needed to grow up and not talk to dolls all the time. He would tell me that I needed to try and make friends, preferably with something alive.
I remember, just before he died, I had told him that I didn’t like any of the kids around our neighborhood and didn’t want to play with them. He yelled at me a lot and took away my dolls and sent me to my room, without dinner. He left to go for a drive to “cool his head” as he called it and got into a car accident and died on his way to the hospital.
Mom became sick…I think it was because she had a broken heart, and I never touched another doll again. I still didn’t play with the other kids…I think I was afraid that if I upset them they might die. Mom and I moved to a tiny town called Evening Shade, Arkansas; with a grandfather I had never met. He was strange, he would spend all day out in his green house and would only talk rarely to either of us. The only rule was to stay out of his green house and to not pick the flowers, Mom told me it was because the flowers had lives, just like me and to pick them would kill them. I loved to play in his gardens and smell the flowers, I would pretend that I was a flower princess and they were my ladies in waiting. The butterflies would be handsome suitors coming to sweep them off their feet. The bumblebees were knights (their stingers where their swords) and the wasps were the evil knights coming to steal my treasure. Of course the dragonflies were good dragons who would protect us. I had a very vivid imagination.
I was always curious about the green house, or the forbidden land, as I would call it and really wanted to sneak in and see what my grandfather was hiding in there. I waited and waited, until one day, this lady who would come over to clean the house every week, came out and called for my grandfather to come quick. I took advantage of his leaving the forbidden land and snuck in. The plants in there were amazing! He had flowers I had never seen before, they all seemed to follow me about the room as I wandered around. He had sweet smelling herbs and some strange fruit that smelled heavenly. I loved it so much that even though I knew that I would get in trouble if he caught me, I just had to see everything.
My mother had tried to kill herself, she had slit her wrists in the bath tub…that was what the maid was calling my grandfather for. I managed to stay in the garden for what seemed to me an hour, but in fact, several hours had passed. Long enough for my grandfather to drive my mother to the hospital, they forgot all about me.
I spent a long time, forgotten, in the green house, talking to the strange flowers that seemed to watch my every move. I sang to the fruits that seemed to dance to my voice, and I told them all stories of my adventures with the other gardens. Finally, my grandfather came back…but he didn’t seem angry at me, he looked down at me with a sad look, tears were brimmed on his eyes. He came in and looked down at me, “Are you satisfied?” He asked, “You happy now that you have violated my secret place?”
I never entered the green house again, but I never forgot the magic.
School year began, I was to attend a school in which everyone knew who I was and what had happened to me. I didn’t like the others, they were mean and asked questions of what had happened to my mother. I became with the plants, the way I was once with my dolls. I refused to be friends with kids who were so mean as to keep secrets from me. I would sit under this old tree during recess and talk to the leaves as they fell, imaging them to be coming down to sit with me.
One of my teachers quickly figured out my love of plants and had me help care for the plants in her classroom. I had a natural talent, she would say, as I could nurse any plant back to health. She and I planted a small flower garden in the school yard together and when spring arrived I would go sit by the garden to coax my new friends to bloom. The children used to sing “Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” It would hurt my feelings so much that often I would wind up in the bathroom crying at their cruelty.
Of course, like all children, I eventually out grew my imagination phase. I still loved plants and I still would talk to them, but no longer did I believe they were magical. Eventually the rhyme never bothered me and I even ended up dating the guy who started the whole thing in high school.
My mother, who couldn’t stand living in a town where everyone knew everything about everyone, remarried to the doctor from the “institution” as she called it. I opted to remain with my grandfather and finish high school, we had grown very close with our shared love of plants and while I still wasn’t welcome in the green house, it wasn’t so necessary to me. I had my own garden that I tended and I loved to simply be in it.
I discovered that I was really good at science and since I had always loved plants decided to go to college for a doctorate in Botany, the hopes were to someday discover the cure for a disease.
I managed to get enough scholarships to go to Arkansas State and began my life as a college student in the dorms. I quickly worked my way through college and after only six years I graduated with the doctorate, just as I had wanted.
I managed to get on a team to the jungles of South America and studied the thousands of plants that grew there. I spent a year in the jungle and nothing bad (other than mosquito bites) ever happened to me, then one day I received a message from my grandfather begging me to come home. He said that it was a matter of life and death, so of course, I got back as fast as I could. At this point my grandfather was very old, but he didn’t seem to have aged as much as one would expect. Even though he was seventy-six, he looked, maybe fifty and had never been sick a day in his life.
He told me that he had someone that he needed me to meet, that if I didn’t go with him he would die, I figured he was just being over dramatic. All day, he kept looking out the window, not once did he go into his green house. Then after he cooked me my favorite meal (speghetti) he took me to the far corner of our back yard and on into the woods of our neighbor's farmland. “Where are we going, grandpa?” I asked several times, but he would just shake his head and mumble, “Surprise.” I gave up, thinking that I would humor him, worrying that he might be sick or suffering dementia, but not sure of how to go about talking to him about it. He started mumbling, something about not knowing how they found him… but he was doing what he had to. He said he wasn’t going back. We walked on and soon the woods started to look very strange, my eyes started playing tricks on me (or so I thought), I saw him change, his hair seemed longer and he looked as though he was covered in fur, the plants started to seem warped and alien. If we didn't have to keep walking I would have loved to stop and collect samples, instead I simply broke off a few stems as we passed.
Then as we started to travel down a path that I had never been on before, he stopped, “Go look, Mary,” He said, “There is something there that you have to see.”
I know now, that my grandfather was a changeling…I know that all those years ago when I had thought his green house was magic, it is because it really was. I don’t know for sure if the plants in the greenhouse really could talk, but I wouldn’t put it past a goblin fruit.
The thing in the woods, I knew right away was evil. It felt no need to conceal it’s nature from me. I also knew that it was a predator and having been in the jungles of South America, I knew that once you ran from a predator, it would hunt you and it would kill you. “It tells me that you are…good with plants.” The thing said and I knew right away that “it” was my grandfather. “It is too old, but you…” It smiled at me, at least that is what I decided the fangs were, a smile. “If you do as you are told, heal the Hedge, maintain my garden, I shall be a kindly master and reward you. If you disobey me…” It, the “master” smiled at me, or rather I hoped it was a smile, for it vaguely reminded me of the monkeys bearing their teeth before attacking someone. The Master had several…creatures attending it, they snarled and snapped in anticipation of a hunt, it seemed as though hoping that I would run. I took a deep breath and stood as solid as a tree. I knew that to run would bring me pain, possibly even death.
Forcing my self to ignore my impulse to run, I managed to walk with the “Master” carefully keeping a steady pace so I wouldn’t make myself a target. Despite the fact that I was terrified beyond belief, I found myself staring in awe at the wonders of the Hedge. As we neared a strange, crystalline tower, the Hedge became a sickly brown as plants might if too much pesticides are applied. As we neared the front gate the Hedge was dead, fruits were withered on the vines, and strange insect like creatures were burrowing into the thicker parts of the plants. The “Master” took me through the gate and I discovered that the fenced around consisted entirely of the dead Hedge. Monstrous beasts roamed to ensure that the slaves didn’t use the weakness as a means to escape, and I am certain that many were capable of doing so during this time, and great mountainous ogres were standing ready with whips as I began to assess my “patient”. Of course, being a mortal and having not idea of the properties of the plant life of the Hedge, I did not know what it was that I was looking for. Knowing from my brief conversation with the “Master” I knew that he wasn’t smart. So I carefully thought back to my days in college when I learned of the different diseases that plants sometimes suffered and chose the strangest name that I could recall. “It suffers from Anthracnose…a varied form…but it is most certainly that.” The “Master” nodded feigning wisdom, “I had suspected as much.” It told me, “How long will it take for you to cure it?” I looked closely at one of the nasty crawling things, it had a strange spotting on it’s back that made it look rather like an angry baby’s face and made strange squalling noises that were barely perceptible to one who isn’t closely listening. For a moment I found myself staring at it, and the horrid squalling noise became louder and louder. I felt as though my ear drums were about to burst, when suddenly, the “Master” placed a clawed hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from the insect. “How long?” It repeated. I blinked my eyes, several times as I processed the question, before answering, “Surely no more than a week or so…if you will permit me to return home for my supplies.” It made a strange rustling sound in the back of it’s throat and I realized it was laughing. “Do you think me a fool?” It asked, “I am the Master, I do not become Master by falling to human tricks.”
It left me, that first night, beaten and tethered near the Hedge. I stayed awake all night, so that I might prepare myself for the beasts to come at me. I listened to the screaming of the nasty “beetle babies” as I called them and I prayed for god to save me from this demon. Of course god didn’t answer and I was left alone in the cold.
I learned quickly their over my next few days, how to survive. As the “Master” became more and more impatient, I knew that I would have to do something drastic in order to heal this hated Hedge. I carefully began moving the dead thorns to reach the roots in order to investigate them closer, but as I did so, one of the thorns pricked me and the plant began to turn green right before my eyes. The beetle babies on this plant instantly let out one last scream and fell off the vine, dead. Thrilled to learn the secret and happy to finally be able to give an answer I ran to the “Master” announcing that it was blood, the Hedge needed blood to survive. As soon as I blurted it out, I knew that I had made a mistake, but I was so hungry by this time, I didn’t care! For the whole time the “Master” had refused me food until I could complete my task. The “Master” smiled, his terrifying monkey smile and ordered fruit to be brought to me. I ate the fruit quickly, out of fear that any moment the “Master” would change his mind. He waited until I finished and ordered me to accompany him. I followed, tentatively, wondering if it would be my blood that would be given, but he had other plans.
He took me down into the gardens and up to a large cage in which many changelings were kept. Reaching through the bars he grabbed one of them, this one looked as though she were a harpy, right out of the Greek legends. Drawing his great, war axe from his back he hacked off her left wing and handed it to me. “Make sure that any blood will do.” He ordered. Terrified that I would be next I ran to the Hedge and dripped the blood over it. Hungrily it began sucking it down. I heard the “Master” approach from behind me, he looked over it, and with a strange gleam in his eye, announced “We are going to need much, much more.”
That night he slaughtered the caged ones, the ones who had tried to escape only to be recaptured. By morning the Hedge looked healthy and green. I was given food for doing so well…but I would not eat it. I was disgusted with myself for my stupidity in telling the “Master” the truth. I prayed that if there really was a god, that he kill me for my weakness.
God did not oblige. One cannot survive without food and before long I could not withstand the urges of my stomach. I stayed, living tethered in the garden, my job now was to study the plants of the hedge and learn of their properties. I was to keep the garden well maintained and if I pleased the Master, for now I knew that he truly was master, he would give me everything I could possibly need. I was provided with test subjects, the caged ones, to experiment on. Some died, others grew strong, some went to sleep, some were healed…it was an interesting study. The Master was more impressed with poisons than healing draughts and so I began to experiment more closely with how to use them. My skin turned to a deep brown to help me blend into my surroundings and became tough to help me take the beatings from the Ogre whip crackers, from sleeping tethered in the garden, my body grew a fine blond fur to protect me from the elements, the strangest change was my eyes, I believed that it had to do with the toxic fumes of the poisons that I brewed, but they took on a toxic green color. While avoiding the whips was a great motivator, truly, I enjoyed the work given me. Despite the fact that countless died do to my experimentation and often I had to fight them to get the subject to do what I needed, it was a great opportunity for me to study new varieties of plant life, the likes of which I had never seen.
For a year I did tests for the Master, I learned how to best combine plants for their best effects. I learned to make great healing balms and sleeping potions and terrible poisons, then one day, I got a subject that for some strange reason caused me to remember my mother, she was pregnant when I left, finally I was to have had a sibling. Of course, this caged one, was not pregnant and truly only barely resembled my mother. I forced myself to continue steeping my latest concoction in a tea, methodically telling her what was in it, just as I did with all of my subjects. Then she did the strangest thing…she smiled at me. I knew then that there was no way that I could cause her harm, taking a deep breath I walked over to the table and set down the teacup and began undoing her bonds. Tears started pouring down my face as I began going over everything that had happened to me in my mind. Slowly I straightened up the lab, just as I always do after a test, the woman stood there, rubbing her wrists to get the blood flowing once more. I turned and looked her in the eye and in a soft voice I said, “I will handle the guards.” She nodded, understanding. Then she walked over to the cage and released her fellow caged ones. I gathered the pores of a dried plant from the hedge, which I had discovered to cause any to inhale to fall deeply asleep. Carefully, making sure not to inhale the spores I opened my door and called for the guards to come remove the body of my subject. Immediately they came, without question, it was standard procedure and as they started to enter the room I blew the spores in their faces and almost instantaneously the hulking ogre fell to the floor, asleep.
Together, the caged ones and I ran, somewhere along the way, we became separated in the Hedge. Behind me I could hear the snarls and roars of the Master’s hunting beasts, I heard the great horn of the Master calling them to order. I clawed and scratched my way through the gaps and holes in the unappreciative Hedge that I had once cured. I climbed over the rotted bones of the caged ones who have been fed to keep the Hedge alive and fought the stench of the dead who have been left for the Hedge after my experimentations. Always behind me, I could hear the beasts hunting, and on I clawed. I clawed for several days, ignoring the scratches left by the thorns, forcing my way up and out, always up and out, until, at last I reached a clearing.
I stopped a moment to catch my breath and spotted snow on the ground, I knew then that I had escaped! I began making my way out of the woods and up a hill, until I saw, my grandfather’s house. I ran, I ran as fast as I could to the door, and found it…locked. I banged on the door, loud as I could, but no one answered. Then I thought, of course! He would be in the green house! I walked around the house, and looked in the green house…but all of the plants inside were dead. There was a middle-aged woman who bore a striking resemblance to, me, or at least an older me. She was simply sitting in a lawn chair looking out through the frosty glass. “I sensed you were coming.” She said, not bothering to turn around. “I don’t know why, but I sensed that you were coming to kill me. You know, they say, that predators don’t notice you till you move, so I just sat still and waited.” Confused, I asked, “Where is my grandfather? Why hasn’t he been taking care of his garden?” She turned and looked at me, “He died…about fifteen years ago.” I looked at her, trying to find the humor in her demented joke, “Not funny.” I stated simply. “I was only gone for a year, where is my grandfather?” She shook her head, sadly. “No, the master made me to look like you, he gave me your memories and he told Grandpa that he had to let me stay with him or the Master would come back and take him too. I have lived your life, and I have had your children and am now expecting my first grandbaby.” She smiled, “I did hope to get to see that baby before you came back…”
I turned around and walked out of the green house. I didn’t bother speaking further with what I would later learn was called my fetch. I forced the door open and stole the food I would need to travel. I knew that the Master knew of this place, I would not be foolish enough to let him find another of his lost here. I took her coat and her purse and I left slamming the front door so hard that the glass in it’s window shattered. I walked down the drive way, while I searched through her purse and found a pair of keys to her old beat up pickup truck. Opened the door, started the car and drove off. I don’t know if she ever even bothered to call the police or if she managed to get another car and quite frankly I don’t care. I just drove, I headed South and eventually came to Texas and I sort of drove around there stopping at various hotels and motels to sleep, using her credit cards. I met with many others like myself, but never really felt comfortable staying. I eventually headed North, took a tour through many different states and cities, half the time never really knowing or caring where I was, and eventually I traveled on into Kansas City where my pickup finally just died, apparently you are supposed to get routine oil changes and such. I left it where it sat at the side of I-29 and just walked. Eventually someone saw me and offered me a lift.
I don’t remember that person’s name, or even if they were a man, woman, or another lost one like myself. All I remember is that I was tired. They dropped me off at some hotel where I discovered that my fetch had stopped paying the credit card bills. I spent my first night in Kansas City under a bridge before I managed to get a hold of someone who could help me get on my feet again. I got myself a new identity, not a great one, I believe that any accomplished detective could discover that it was a fake. I became Mary Estober, pharmacist. I have gone from a Doctorit in Botany to a mere pharmacist. I managed to find myself a tiny apartment built in an old office building. The rent was cheap and that was what I was really going for. The apartment had inside of it a strange door that had a large metal key hanging on a hook next to it, when you unlock and open the door the only thing that was behind it is a brick wall. When the owner had the apartments built the construction crew (his son and some friends) thought it would be funny to leave the door that originally led into an adjoining office on the wall and simply brick in the actual doorway.
Later I learned through drunken revelry, that if you knocked on the door three times before turning the key it would open to the hedge. The one place that I was trying to avoid!! However since I had come to learn more of the hedge within the past few years that I had been out, I learned the it was possible to create a hollow. However, when I tried to put my knowledge to good use, I found that Kansas City's Hedge is acting different... everytime I would attempt to clear it away to begin the construction of my green house, it would regrow almost instaneously. I have relocked the door and it shall remain locked from this side until I am able to gain some control over the Hedge that grows on the other side. Now I pass my time exploring the various possible uses of the goblin fruits in the hopes of reclaiming some of the information I have lost since my escape.
Motley
Allies
- Vayne Cruxis - A Fairest of the Spring who was found wandering around in a horrid growth within the Hedge. He was a bit lost but after giving some assistence he was able to get out. Since then we've became friends and travel companions.
Enemies
none that I am aware of.
Character Inspirations
Soundtrack
Quotes
Don't worry, if this draught proves toxic, I can quickly reverse the effects...What? Yes I am sure, don't worry.
"Her fruits are some of the best I've come across. Whenever I'm in need of a few interesting pieces she has always been able to track some down for me. Excellent service." ~ Nathaniel Fellows
Rumors
Mary has restarted her experimentations of the various effects of the plants found within the Hedge. She has started trying to experiment with inter mixing and splicing them to come up with new types of poisons and healing goblin fruits.[[
Categories: Ogre | Farwalker | No Court
