#aurelie steerpike

[caporushes]

I'm really pleased with how these all turned out... I love my girl.

[almostlifesize]

I've made these little profiles for posting to my stories on Instagram, but I want to share them here, too! Just for fun. I'm not done with all of my dolls (not by a longshot!), but I'm workin' on it.

Text-only version below the cut! (With bonus info I added after I made this, lol.)

Character Name: Aurelie Steerpike Sculpt Name: Xagadoll Sylvia Date of Acquisition: July 2021 Age: 24(ish)

About the Character: Aurelie is a rather nervous baker with high levels of mom friend energy and a hidden stubborn streak. She is Desiderius' wife; they were engaged at a young age and have known each other all their lives. After being separated for many years, they reunited unexpectedly and were immediately devoted to each other. They have two twin children: Giacomina and Camille.

Aurelie adopted their "dog" Shadow when he was a "small" puppy; she is in denial that there is anything strange about him (like being a large wolf). Love is blind.

Likes:

Cooking and baking

Needlecrafts

Her family

Being practical

The color yellow

Dislikes:

Being the center of attention

A dirty kitchen

Doing the laundry

Staying idle

[caporushes]

Spoons... (It’ll sure take them a while to get here, but, you know. Spooms...)

[caporushes]

Practicing dresses with a baby Aurelie 💕 https://www.instagram.com/p/B8r0GiuDm_l/?igshid=6cy9l6g9t31b

[caporushes]

I was thinking about Aura (an old RP character) during lunch. I had fun trying to give her a kind of Tang-style top merged with the setting fashion (though i regret the belt situation).

[chomp-monster]

A vestige of the 'Passives repurposed to a Mech anime' thing that cropped up one Thornschat eve presents: Aurelie Steerpike (property of an artist friend) badly wielding weaponry and mostly looking cute. Soon after she manages to shoot someone in the shoulder. Granted, as this artist is bad at drawing guns, it looks more like she picked up something that shoots signal flares.

[morganebrewer]

That's a girly bedroom you got there, Gannon. But that's also a fairly pleased wife you got there.

[rottenrushes]

Who wants to read something I wrote for an RP character 2 years ago sure you do 

The sheets laid out on her bed were clean and soft, good linen in a fresh color that eased the toll of the summer on her spirit. Similarly was the rest of her room outfitted, flowers carefully tended and replaced by servants who barely spoke, who watched her only with a close sort of wariness. They did not want her here, Aurelie could tell. Well, that was fine. Aura didn't need to be liked by humans and wicks in the employ of her sister.

She sat at her dressing table and brushed her hair in the mirror, so much longer now than it had been before. It curled softly below her chin. Humid Vienda weather. It was funny, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd really looked at herself. Lately she felt as if she did nothing but, the strangeness of her own visage drawing her eyes to it over and over. Who was this woman, then, in clothes that fit and were tailored for her, in new shoes and all the current fashions? An array of cosmetics spread out before her, thoughtfully provided by Ana because she'd asked. Because Aurelie wanted them, they were there.

Aurelie stood, crossed to her window. Look, there spread out all of Vienda! The clean streets bustling with all sorts of activity, men and women and children. Good people, bad people. Free people. Human children stood on street-corners and sold newspapers they couldn't read for a hat, galdori business men passed them by without seeing. Aurelie passed them by, too, the novelty of walking about without being watched not yet without thrill. She'd taken up the habit of brisk walks-- none too far, mind, though she'd come to know the few blocks about Ana's home quite well. Taken up flower arrangement, on a whim. Aurelie was even trying to teach herself to read, shamed by her illiteracy now in a way she hadn't been before. These were furtive, secretive efforts, quickly abandoned in frustration.

In short, Aurelie Steerpike had been given her freedom only to find she had nothing to do.

Aurelie crossed to her wardrobe and pondered the selection before her. (This, too, remained a novelty.) The Roalis heat was oppressive, even broken by light scatters of rain. Something light, then-- a sensible and modest day dress in golden-brown and green tartan. Yes, that would do nicely. She spent an idle half an hour fussing with her dress, her unaccustomed layers of undergarments, her hair fastenings. Only when she had polished her appearance as best she knew how did Aurelie leave her room and head downstairs.

"Ana," she called, "I think I'll be taking a walk." She got some vague reply-- the content wasn't important. Aurelie left.

To market, then, she decided. Ana gave her a rather generous allowance of pocket money, with more if she should ever need. Aurelie wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to spend it all, but Ana evidently felt it necessary. She thumbed the cold coins in her pocket. Flowers, perhaps, or ice cream. Fruit, certainly. Cherries were in season, she could bake something when she returned to Ana’s? Yes, yes that would be just the thing. She started off the general direction of the Kingsway Market, boot heels clicking smartly against the stone streets. (She had not had shoes sturdier than her ragged slippers in longer than she could really remember.)

It was the overwhelming presence of humans and wicks that struck Aurelie the most in Vienda. There were plenty, of course, in the Stacks. It wasn’t like she had never seen a lower race person before, and yet... This was different. No one was here to tell her to stop idling, and none of these people knew just what she was on sight. Or at least so she liked to believe. Perhaps all they noticed was an unattended young lady. Did they know her as galdori on sight? Did they wonder at her lack of field? Oh, but why should they care? Humans had no field at all. Perhaps (and here she grimaced) they thought her a well-dressed wick. She did not know if this was any comfort, that people would think her to be something other than what she was. A reassurance, maybe.

Better, she supposed, to be thought a human than a broken galdor, in some ways. At least humans didn’t get locked away just for being born. Aurelie’s mouth set into a thin line.

The fruitseller she stopped in front of was older than her, a woman well into her 30s with a wide face and a sharp eye. Beside her sat two children, the eldest fifteen at most and the youngest no older than five. They were dark-haired, rambunctious children with dark skin and freckles everywhere. The little one was following her older brother about as he tried to talk with what Aurelie assumed were his friends. Children, she marvelled, were always the same, no matter where you went. She remembered with startling clarity following her own sister like a lost duck when Ana would come home for the holidays. A thorough pest, she must have been. Her dreamy smile was wiped off her face by a sharp sound from the seller. Time to purchase her goods and go home. She lingered a moment more, watching the little one follow a stray dog. Then she turned and went back to Ana’s home.

Instinctively she headed to the kitchen with her purchases. Tarts, Aurelie would make cherry tarts and they could have them with tea, she and Ana. Aurelie began to hum as she approached the kitchen. Baking, that was certainly something she could to stave off this boredom that gripped her.

“Miss? Pardon me miss, but what are ye doin’ in here?” The not-exactly-unfriendly human voice from the kitchen doorway startled her. One of Ana’s servants, and it shamed her to say she did not know the woman’s name, stood there, hands folded under her apron.

“Oh, uhm. Well.” Her dark-eyed gaze pinned Aurelie to the floor. “I was... Tarts...” She tried to collect her thoughts. Another member of the staff had come in from outside, to watch, perhaps. The gardener, and she knew his name was Thomas. While the woman’s face froze into a mask of politeness, Thomas looked more openly unfriendly.

[i]I am not welcome here.[/i]

“I would... I would like some tarts for tea, please.” She mumbled. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Yes miss.”

Aurelie left the kitchen to stand in the hall. There was a great clock ticking there. Breathe in one three ticks. Breathe out on three more. In this manner she passed some minutes before Ana drifted into her line of sight.

“Aurelie?” Her white brow creased in concern, and absently Aurelie thought that if she kept being so concerned for her, Ana would develop wrinkles before her time. “Are you alright, dove?” Aura contemplated telling her-- what, she didn’t know. Something, anything. Talk about the children at the market, about how strange it felt to not be welcome in a kitchen anymore.

“I’m fine.” She smiled, and it was thin. “I’ll take my tea in my room today, I think.”

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I miss Thorns, I guess! Being nostalgic. Mostly for people.