From Changeling Venue

Name: Laurel Thorn
Seeming/Kith: Waterborn Elemental
Court: Spring Mantle: ooooo
Freehold: Unforgiving Sun, Ft. Lauderdale
Approximate DoB: Summer 1975 Apparent Age: 29
Religion: Atheist
Concept: Black hat. Good things done for bad reasons, bad things done for bad reasons. Neo-conservativism; building a better future - our future.
Player contact: D Beutel

The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the light was spoken.
--Robert Frost

Contents 1 Laurel, Lady of Thorns 2 Approximate Timeline 3 Arcadian Kelp Grows Thorns 4 The Sea Was Her Master 5 Life on Land 6 The Sea Told Me 7 Swim With The Selkie?

Laurel, Lady of Thorns

Mask: Laurel's long dark blue hair marks her as a creature of the depths. Yet despite her fondness for black and sardonic streak of humor her dress and manner of action show that the Caribbean is her home. Her skin is darkly tanned, her clothing is lightweight and flowing, and she moves with the easy grace of the islands.

Mein: The depths of the ocean are not meant for man to know. To trespass here is death or worse. It is here where Laurel resonates; far below where any currents flow or pulse exists. Cold deep water, places where light cannot go.

Employment: Lady Thorn is suspected of running a smuggling island. It is unsure what she smuggles but seems rather to allow an open port to all forms of unsavory types. While a very proper and respectful woman on United States soil her ties to the underworld at home are well known to the shippers of the Caribbean. She also owns property, such as the House of Thorns and ThornHedge Apartments.

Approximate Timeline

Born: 1975
Taken: 1988
Returned: 1999
House of Thorns purchased: 2001
ThornHedge Apartments purchased: 2002
Joins Spring Court: 2003
Achieves Paradise: 2008

Arcadian Kelp Grows Thorns

"How'd Thorns get here? That is a good question. Once upon a time there was a broken little boy who needed some light and hope. A broken little girl gave it to him. The little girl grew up and fulfilled her promise, but the broken little boy turned out to be craven and couldn't handle his own dream. Some people just make terrible fairy tales."

Laurel's heart and soul is focused on a group of Lost that have chosen to affiliate themselves together in a grouping called Thorns. There are various levels of involvement from her personal friends to the large association that seeks a better world to those who just happened to fall into it.

House of Thorns - The home of Laurel Thorn. Also living here are most of those immediately sworn to her. As a note, "house" refences a property and not an order/entitlement/grouping.

ThornHedge Apartments - An apartment complex Laurel owns in Ft. Lauderdale. It provides a home to Lost trying to get on their feet and houses some established Lost under a complicated rent structure. The rooftop of ThornHedge is also the home to large social gatherings for Unforgiving Sun.

Sea of Thorns - The Sea is a grouping of Lost that either believe in Laurel's dream of making a safe home and rebuilding what they were able to experience (ie: Arcadia) without the Others or Lost who have gotten caught up in the excitement/friendship/family of those involved.

The Enthorned - This is a group of the Sea that has either sworn to Laurel (or one of the other Enthorned) or who has chosen to take on the title of _______ of Thorns for some other reasons.

The Sea Was Her Master

Keeper: The Duke of Darkwater

Laurel was captured by a slave trader specifically for the Dutchman. Her younger brother, Thomas Thorn, was taken at the same time. Laurel was first put to menial tasks until she found her place with the Duke; she was to be the water that was used to drown incoming slaves to see if they were worthy of serving him. She preferred to stay in a liquid form with her reward being able to guard the sea outside his rocky home and her punishment being forced into human form and enduring the horrors that can be inflicted upon it.

She was the water. She was the depth. And she was to drown.

Life on Land

Laurel lives in the Unforgiving Sun, the freehold of Ft. Lauderdale. She holds no position in the court of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, but the residence of both have a noticeable amount of "of Thorns" titles. She has been stable in the area since 2001.

Laurel is active in the Spring Court. While she does not host many parties she nonetheless preaches the 'look to the future' attitude. She is comfortable with the city she lives in and thus is outwardly active.

Laurel maintains many enemies from her time in Arcadia and beyond. As all were, she was a slave to her Keeper...but she grew to do her job without mercy, pity, or emotion. There are some who have not forgotten this. Laurel is also known to be ruthless in her pursuit of her idealized home. Those that have come between her and the dream of Thorns also speak very darkly of her. They still speak of her, though...Laurel doesn't seem to have a deathcount behind her. The warriors of The Enthorned are another matter.

The Sea Told Me

Everything below this point is open for public edit. Feel free to contribute!

"It's magicy stuff, right?"
"Well, it's GHB with glitter in it. I guess that's magicy."

Currents, Eddies, and Tides:

Althea Sexton - They are strangely dear to one another.
Quinn Denton - He buys things for her. And everyone else.
Aaron - They dated. They broke up. Drama, drama.
Velios - They didn't date. They didn't break up. Perhaps they should date so they could break up...
Joey Shears - Raw lightning on a guitar ... and just as fleeting. The ride should be interesting, though ... if he can survive.
Nevermore - Because every girl needs a Darth Vader...
Andros - A charming, gentle, dear lad. Really.
Gaius - We don't talk to, or about, Gaius. Now, if only he'd stop calling...
Jandori - Laurel holds the key to her...heart?
Thomas Thorn - Laurel's younger brother
Merlin - Cute boy. Tells big lies.
Candy - The teacher who taught the student to smile a little too sweetly...
Jonathan Brooks - A favor.
The Wise Woman - Another pair of eyes around is always a good thing.
Justice Drago Verdetti - A genuine peacekeeper for when the costs cannot get too high.
Ed Clerogen - Promised me anything. So far, he hasn't lied.
Vermin - We all did bad things a long time ago. You did bad things too, no?
Tucker Thorn - A coward who is afraid to dream. Pity, really.
Stephen Daedalus - A pretty face who knows where to find most anything. Thankfully he's not too preachy about her trade
Myo - Such a sweet face, such a gentle touch. But what lies beyond the pale...
Doktor Steffen Krieger - One bad decision damned so many around her. No wonder he lives nearby...
C.J - Up-and-Coming criminal kingpin of Washington D.C.
The Black Prince - As long as one person believes in you, you can do anything. Anything.
Dust - A prophet Laurel would pay not to tell the future...
Jimmy Quick - Jimmy taught Laurel to run. He just didn't run fast enough himself...
Cerannen - Blood. Dripping blood. Lust. Fear. Run. Run.
Manju - Drink. Gossip. Party. Good.
Gryphon - Nothing makes a girl feel as pretty as getting what she shouldn't have.
Mister Greenbriar - Business associate, would be dance partner, but sailors only jig.
Nemo - She may have drowned him once. He seems to have survived the experience. Good for a favor in a pinch.
Gilded - She's seen his work, she has his number.
Sin Right - Every bad guy needs friends who abandoned everything to turn "good." Laurel thinks Sin'll come back to the dark side. So does Sin.
Jack Sprat - They do not know each other in any way, shape or form.
Summer Wind - One word... "How??"
Dominic Thorn - He makes her smile. What sort of man could do that?
Cole Grainger - Who?

Waves Crash, Seagulls Cry, the Lost speak:

• "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? Not gonna happen." - Horace "Race" Ardent
  
• "Talk to her? Why on earth would I want to do that?" - Gaius
  
• "Laurel my love, you really must control your temper. After all, how can he tell us the information if he is at the bottom of the ocean?" - Velios, Lord of Leaves
  
• "I showed her some of my best tricks - then she showed me one of hers. Man, I hate cement shoes!" - Jimmy Quick
  
• "The trick to surviving a stormy sea is to weather out the storm. Fight it and your shark bait." - Mister Greenbriar
  
• "Somethings you just know are bad, like holding your hand in a flame. Some things things leave you oblivious to the danger, like candy coated poison. Looks bad, tastes so good. Guess which one Laurel is?" - Gryphon
• "Things never turn out like first expectations, and sometimes in the heart of dark lurks the greatest kind of good." - Jonathan Brooks
• "A bit of sport...so strange a thing to come between two of our kind. A pity." - Cerannen
  
• "I can breathe water just fine. It's a good thing, too, 'cause she's got a temper and I'm not smart enough to mind my manners." - Nemo
  
• "Personally I have always found her polite and welcoming. One hears things but I find its better to trust your own knowledge than to believe gossip, especially when it comes to important business." - Gilded
  
• "So beautiful... like the broken reflection in a carribean wave, thus is my sister..." - Althea Sexton
• "Thorns dig deep where flesh is bare. If thorns are near, fools best beware." - Jack Sprat
• "I don't know if you know her, and honestly, I wonder if I ever did. I mean...we were so young, then, a lot of things can change in so many years, but I don't know if I believe that a person can become so fundamentally wrong that there is no coming back. She kept her promise, and she's still helping people, but I can't live the way she does. The world doesn't really work that way, no matter what she says. - Thorn
• "Your destruction at my hands is only held back by her command... remember that." - Nevermore
• '"She's been called the "candy coated poison". I like to think that's because of me." - Candy
• "Laurel is the keeper of our Arcadia. Fuck with that, and you're as good as dead" - Dominic Thorn
• '"She gets it. You listen to the cacophony and find noise ... she finds rhythm. The best predators do that ... the web's vibrations are pulse to one, death throes to another. She never closes her eyes to the truth of it ... " - Joey Shears
• "I've met her twice. I can't say I liked her either time. She's the type of person that thinks my type of person is weak. I'm the type of person that thinks her type of person is blind. We co-exist in the same state by necessity and recognition of mutual abilities but don't expect us to have tea and crumpets my dear." - Edria Meredith
• "Thomas asked for me to protect her from the coming dangers of the angriest of Lost. I feel sorry for those who try...I am much more than a wizard in a cloak."-Revenant
• "I may have been wearing Rift's face at the time, but I'm willing to bet money that I'm the only Lost who's ever flashed Laurel Thorn for beads." - Dzxoxian Brokehorn
• "I’ve only met her once, but that was enough. She didn’t say anything of importance, nothing of any consequence and I’m sure she doesn’t remember the exchange, but in that moment I felt owned, controlled, and utterly inadequate. She’s evil. She’s dangerous. She is someone to keep away from. So why do I keep bringing her up in conversation?"-Van Silverstorm
  
• "It can truly be said that that the classic villians walk amongst us. And there is no other class act like Laurel Thorn. Beautiful, callous, eloquent, heartless ... merely a few things that can be said about her that I would ever say in kind passing" -Drake
• ". . ." - Whisper

Rumors, Lies, and Truth:

• Merlin's lies fall sweetly on Laurel's ears.
  
• Laurel has been prophesied to be the cause of Gaius's death.
  
• Laurel is holding Jonathan Brooks prisoner in her home against his will.
  
• Laurel really lives in an underground cavern protected by sharks with lasers on their heads.
  
• Nevermore was once a bright happy soul until he met Laurel. She ruined his life.
• Laruel has a long term, torrid love afair with Hawthorne that has blossomed into full bloom.
  
• Capricious is Laurel's mortal daughter.
  

Swim With The Selkie?

For background ties contact Dee Beutel.