Mister Hyacinth
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Wizened Oracle |
|---|---|
| Court | Spring Court •••• |
| Freehold | Freehold of Misplaced Dreams |
| Player | Alan Mills |
Contents |
Overview
Alias(es): Robert Hyacinth
Real Name: Bobby Eden
Age: Real time: 10 / Apparent Age: around 40, but weathered.
Concept: Information Broker
Entitlement: College of Worms
Physical description: Mr. Hyacinth is portly and five feet tall (5'6" if he stands up straight). His wrinkled skin has a greenish tint. His ears come to a slight point, as does his nose. Despite those features, his green eyes have a boyish glint to them. His mask is that of a stooped man in his 40s who's hard labors have made him look older than he should.
Relevant Mechanics: Mr. Hyacinth's most infamous ability is the telling of fortunes. He often does this with the blessing of his Kith and other simple methods of insight, but he can also turn to risky Goblin Contracts, if you make it worth his while. His intimacy with visions of the future and past have granted him power over fortune itself. This, however, is not the limit of his power. His time spent tending the Vision Tree in Faerie has prepared him well for the Contracts of the Spring Court and has shown him how to make Contracts with the element of wood.
Character Livejournal: None yet.
Character Information
Known History
Basic Timeline: Bobby Eden was born in Brentwood, CA on April 3, 1997. He was lured through the hedge on May 18th, 2002. He escaped from Faerie on March 23, 2004.
Current Activities: Mr. Hyacinth currently runs a small cafe and florist shop called "Hyacinths & Biscuits" on the south west corner of Fairfax Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA. His culinary skills attract many friends and customers, as do his vibrant plants and flower arrangements. Unique gifts and books of poetry are also available for sale. After tasting on his Mr. Hyacinth's fresh fruit pies, guests often say that he bakes food for the soul. Of course, the desire his goods generate in his patrons is like food for his soul as well.
Merit Details: Mr. Hyacinth's store (along with his Spring Mantle) has helped him foster Allies and Contacts as well as Harvest. These relationships are still growing. He's taken Commonsense to improve his ability to divinate. However, the fruits he stole from the Vision Tree have granted him Encyclopedic Knowlege, which he often uses to answer easier questions. His hollow is being built in concert with his Motley, but those details will be saved for a later date.
Background: Bobby Eden was five when Tree Mother came for him. Bobby's father, Jack, was an agent and his mother, Sarah, loved to spend money. Both parents were in constant states of stress, and Bobby's little failures in school or among his peers just aggravated his parents more. Bobby slipped away one night as his parents screamed at each other over Bobby's current lack of direction. On a swing in the local playground, Bobby cried and swayed until a strange woman sat in the swing beside him. "Here, sweetie," she said as she handed him a succulent fruit. Entranced, he took it from her and bit into its juicy flesh. His vision slowly began to change, and it began to dawn on him that his parents' fight wasn't as important to him as the playground around him. And she changed, too, suddenly beautiful, wise and overwhelming, her green robes merging with the grass. "There's more," said the woman. "Follow me." And Bobby did, chasing the woman through the hedge behind the playground. On occasion she'd lose him, and he'd get tangled in thorny branches, but each time, he listened to his heart and quickly caught up with her again. "Good," she'd say, "clever. I can see there's more to you then just a funny name."
When the branches and vines opened up, Bobby found himself standing before a grand mansion that was like nothing he could have ever imagined. Beautiful and Victorian in style, the glittering estate was not a single structure but rather hundreds of structures mixed with lush and elaborate gardens. As he followed the woman through one room, he saw her take a turn and then go back into the garden, only to make her way again into a kitchen. As so it was, in her home, each room separated by trees and plants, some rooms connected by worn path stones, and others by stairs that lead up trees. Finally, the woman came to a stop before a massive tree from which hung countless fat and dewy fruits. She turned and said, "This, child, is the Vision Tree, and I, it's Matron, but you may call me Tree Mother if it pleases you. This tree is magic, its fruit contains knowledge of the future and the past, and I'd like you to help me care for it. Of course, if you don't want to, the way back to your parents is behind you."
Of course, Bobby stayed, and Tree Mother named him Mr. Hyacinth. She had other helpers, too, most wrinkly little men with names like Mr. Hollyhock, Mr. Primrose and Mr. Sweet Pea. But not all of Tree Mother's helpers were so old. Some were young or even children. Mr. Hyacinth's favorite was brown-eyed, brown-haired boy of ten, named Mr. Peony. Mr. Hyacinth and Mr. Peony grew close as the years passed, both boys so full of life and joy that they could not help but prefer each other to their colder peers.
As the years went by, Mr. Hyacinth continued to enjoy his life tending the Vision Tree. He saw many wondrous beings who would come to the Matron of the Vision Tree for the knowledge that each fruit possessed. Every now and then, when the Matron wasn't looking, Mr. Hyacinth would steal a fruit and lose himself in the random visions it bestowed. Mr. Peony, however, was a much better behaved young man. He refused each fruit that Mr. Hyacinth offered him. Every day, the Tree Mother took good care of her boys, feeding them wonders from her kitchen and teaching them they mysteries of her garden. After what had to be at least 30 years, Mr. Hyacinth began to notice how much older Mr. Peony was getting. Mr. Hyacinth was no young man, but no Mr. Peony was so much like the older helpers whose hearts had gone cold. And so it was that one day, Mr. Peony fell to the earth and died, and Mr. Hyacinth, with the help of several other gardeners, their names escaping him, slowly began the process of covering Mr. Peony with dirt. Afterward, he stopped and looked around at the mounds that nestled together among the Vision Tree's roots. Where were Mr. Hollyhock and Mr. Sweet Pea? These other helpers were both new and old. There were Mr. Marigold and Mr. Dahlia. Where was Mr. Periwinkle?
And then the Matron came, leading in a new young boy by the hand, and it suddenly came upon Mr. Hyacinth that the whole process would start again.
Slipping away, Mr. Hyacinth wiped away his tears and cleared his thoughts. Around him moist visions hung from vines, and all he needed was the one that would show him the future in which he could make his escape successful. Calm, calm, he told himself, and let his vision clear, and there it was, hanging just a few yards away. Moving stealthily, he reached out for the fruit and tore into it until salvation drenched his lips.
Once the Matron had retired to the kitchen to prepare a fattening meal for her latest helper, Mr. Hyacinth put his vision into motion and approached the new boy. “Hello,” said the child, “my name is Mr. Poppy.”
“Hello as well, young man. I am Mr. Hyacinth, and there’s something you should see. Follow me.” With that, he took the boy’s hand and led him away from the Vision Tree. Taking various twists and turns, each according to his vision, Mr. Hyacinth pulled the boy through numerous rooms and gardens and across the surrounding grounds until they had reached the Hedge itself. Ignoring the boy’s protests, Mr. Hyacinth pulled him through the thorny branches. The boy fought and the brambles lashed out, but Mr. Hyacinth didn’t stop, lest he diverge from the path that had been laid before him.
With each change of direction and sudden backtrack, Mr. Hyacinth avoided danger. And then it finally happened. As he and the boy burst into a clearing, the Matron of the Vision Tree descended from the canopy in an explosion of leaves. “Mr. Hyacinth,” she cooed, “you’ve been a naughty boy! Now, you two are coming home with me, before you both get hurt out here.”
“Don’t you know,” shouted Mr. Hyacinth, “that this is the place where I’m finally freed from you!”
She began to laugh, but her cackles were cut off when two other changelings ran into the clearing. The Matron’s grin turned to a scowl as she glanced at the unexpected arrivals. Only then did it dawn on her that Mr. Hyacinth had a plan, and only now did the unpredictability of what could happen next concern her.
“Bobby Eden,” she laughed, “you cleaver, cleaver boy, you have done me proud this day, so don’t think that I’ll forget you.” With those final words, the Hedge reached out for her, and like lightning, carried her away.
Mr. Hyacinth, exhausted from pulling the boy though the hedge, began to lose consciousness. So much of himself had been torn from him by the thorns. Already he began to forget parts of the vision that had brought him here. All the other visions he had seen began to disappear as well, and even his reasons for running away seemed impossible to remember. Who was this crying child next to him? Where had he come from? It was a garden, he thought, and there had been someone he loved, but he couldn’t remember who that person was. It all became an glassy blur, but he had to hold on. He had to do that one last thing he had seem himself doing, say those last words he had seen himself saying. As the two changelings approached him cautiously, he reached out to them, struggling to remember the final piece. He looked up at a pale face and fearful eyes and cried, “I need your help,” just as he had seen, even though, by now, he had forgotten he reasons for needing to say it.
With the help of Elijah Reve and Kurt N. Finis, the two changelings who had stumbled upon him, Mr. Hyacinth left the boy with the authorities. Warned about not going home, Mr. Hyacinth watched his family from afar while he tried to figure out what had happened. Only two years had passed since his abduction, and in his place a seven-year-old boy now lived with his parents. He looked like the boy that Mr. Hyacinth could barely remember being. He was crushed. Now, so much older, he had no hope of returning to his former life. And yet, was he older? Were those decades that passed, or were they just years? Two years? He couldn’t be sure. Was he still only ten, or truly middle aged, or something else entirely?
To make things worse, he could see that his parents were happy now. Their new son was smart and social and had direction. He was everything they wanted, and he seemed to want was to make his parents happy. It was difficult for Mr. Hyacinth to come to terms with this, for so much of his life had been stolen, but after just a few days of watching them, Mr. Hyacinth turned away and went looking for a new life for himself.
His new changeling friends helped him many ways, giving him a place to stay, and working with him to rebuild his memories of what had happened to him. Driven by an attitude of always looking to the future, Mr. Hyacinth quickly figured out how to use his talents to make his goals easier to achieve. The fruit of the Vision tree had transformed him inside, just as its roots and warped him outside. He opened his mind, looked into the future, and saw the path he had to take.
Three years later, his life is as happy as he can make it. His talents in both the garden and the kitchen are served well in his art café and floral shop, Hyacinths & Biscuits. He has friends and many people come to his café to enjoy the many treats and indulgences he loves to supply. But every night, he goes to bed and dreams of a young man whose face he can’t quite see, and every morning he wakes up sad, as he remembers just a little more about some boy named Mr. Peony.
Motley
Allies
Mr. Hyacinth has allies in the city government, but he also has contacts in the media.
Close Friends:
Associates in the underground Goblin Fruit trade:
Mentor in the Colleges of Worms:
Enemies
His previous Keeper: Matron of the Vision Tree, also called Tree Mother.
Interests
Hedgeapple Cookbook, Hedge Herbology
Character Inspirations
Truman Copote
The Oracle from the Matrix
Leslie Jordan
Goblins
This quote is etched on the glass door to his cafe Hyacinths & Biscuits:
"Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment. Poetry is a projection across silence of cadences arranged to break that silence with definite intentions of echoes, syllables, wave lengths. Poetry is a journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly the air. Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanations. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a theorem of a yellow-silk handkerchief knotted with riddles, sealed in a balloon tied to the tail of a kite flying in a white wind against a blue sky in spring. Poetry is the silence and speech between a wet struggling root of a flower and a sunlit blossom of that flower. Poetry is the harnessing of the paradox of earth cradling life and then entombing it. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." - Carl Sandburg
Soundtrack
- Rainbow Connection
- Mail Me
- The Cacaman - Ain't Got Much of a Smile
- Feist - 1234
- It's Not Easy Being Green
Quotes
"If you heed my advice and are alive tomorrow, you should bring me flowers...poenies...I do so like poenies."
Rumors
Mr. Hyacinth is rumored to be looking for a reliable source of Goblin Fruits.
