… … A L T H E A D A V I D
what if our hard work ends in despair
what if the road won’t take me there
oh, i wish for once we could stay gold
01. A cry pierces the golden light of a spring morning. A fair haired child, eyes wide and skin red and wrinkled, brings new life into the David household. Althea, they call her. She is gentle and kind, hardened around the edges, if only to keep up with her two older brothers. She is smart and studious as she grows, attuned to nature in a way that simply can’t be taught. No one is a stranger as she passes them in the street, sharing a smile, a slice of the peace that the City of Wheats has cultivated. War rages outside of the city walls and she doesn’t understand why. The sense of community and togetherness is strong in her, a princess among warriors in her household as she takes up the role of caretaker. And she excels.
02. She is sixteen when her brothers pledge their lives to the war. Boys playing soldier, she thinks, and worries herself sick about them every single day they are gone. And since she has always been skilled in the art of healing, in understanding the medicines provided by the gods in the gardens they tend, she attends classes to hone her skills and occupy her mind in the quiet moments her brothers used to fill. It’s there she meets people that seem to understand her, people that can look at what they’ve cultivated here in the City of Wheats and understand that peace is possible. For years, Althea throws herself into her studies and beliefs, excelling in her knowledge and practice of medicine. They invite her along on peace missions past the wall, insist that her skills would be invaluable in the field. She politely declines, unable to stomach the thought of leaving her parents utterly alone.
03. Al is twenty-three when she learns that her brothers are not coming back from the war. Missing in action, they call it. She thinks it’s an annoying way of saying dead. She’s never understood the war, but she understands their loss even less. Her parents take the news even harder than she does. She finds the peaceful community stifling, a need to do something roiling through her veins like fire. She’s angry and she doesn’t know where to put it. She feels cheated and she doesn’t know who to focus that rage on. So, she tries to do something good with it instead. She volunteers herself for a peace mission, promising her parents that she will come back, that she’s doing this for the missing pieces of their family, that she needs this. She kisses them both and tells them she’ll be home soon.
04. She’s four days into her journey, heart heavy but hopeful. She’s never been beyond the city limits and it strikes her just how much suffering exists on the outskirts of her home. She can make a difference, she thinks. It might not change her life, might not fill in the empty spaces left behind, but it might change someone else’s. Their convoy is attacked before she gets a chance. Soldiers of Iron. They don’t have the weapons to fend them off, and even if they did, they’re untrained at best, hopeless at worst. It’s only at the moment when they all seem to accept defeat that salvation comes in the form of a group of pirates. The fight isn’t a long one, and the soldiers know defeat when they see it, so it’s only after their retreat that Al realizes one of the pirates has been injured. She runs on pure adrenaline and a desire to help, staunching the blood flow and patch it up quickly. It’s this deep-seated need to help that seals her fate.
05. She’s one of the pirates now, against her own wishes. She owes them her life, they say, but she doesn’t know what that means. She can’t go home, doesn’t even know how to get there if she could, so she bides her time. She tries not to think about her parents, waiting for another child that will never return home. And, despite herself, she finds some semblance of routine and sometimes even a sense of belonging. She’s good at what she does– if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have been here in the first place. But she still waits– waits until Wheats comes within reach, waits for her opportunity to run. She’s learned more than they think she has.
all of my dreams, they fall and form a bridge
of memories where i can get back to you
NAME : Althea David
NICKNAME(S) : Al (preferred), Aly, Thea (both given to her by her family and probably won’t answer to them if used by anyone else)
GENDER : cis-female
ROLE : the medic
ALIGNMENT : anti-war
PLACE OF BIRTH : City of Wheats
AGE : 24
FACE CLAIM : Erin Moriarty
HAIR : golden blonde with dark blonde undertones, long and wavy to the middle of her back, usually braided or pinned back and almost
EYES : brown
HEIGHT : 5′6″
SKIN TYPE : pale peach, a very light dusting of gold freckles over her nose and cheeks
what if to love and be loved’s not enough
what if i fall and can’t bear to get up
oh, i wish for once we could stay gold
01. Althea has a gold leaf hairpin that she is never without. It is incorporated into her hairstyle. Occasionally, when she’s alone, she will use it as if it were a conduit to speak directly to the gods. It’s one of the last remaining pieces of home she has.
02. Althea’s wardrobe has always consisted of whites and golds, a vision of peace and purity. Before becoming part of the crew, you’d never catch her in pants. As time has gone on, however, there have been small changes. It has been a slow evolution towards darker, more battle-ready garb.
03. Al was taken by the pirates five days before her twenty-fourth birthday. And while she’s been with the crew now for almost ten months, she’s never mentioned it. She holds onto it in silence, instead, reminding herself that she’s been cheated, that she should hate them, that they are not her friends.
04. Though Al has told herself that she’s accepted the fate of her brothers, she still finds herself looking for their faces among the people they pass and finding disappointment in place of recognition every single time.
05. Althea likes to sing (and she’s actually quite good at it). In the moments she thinks she’s alone, she’s often humming or singing to herself. She won’t readily offer her voice up to a crowd, but as she’s nursing the sick or wounded, she’ll often sing quietly to them in the hope that it brings some sort of comfort.
