4 and 9 for Lenore? if she even has her own bedroom that is
4. What is a noticeable physical attribute of your OC?
It’s probably her lovely red hair. It’s the only thing about her physical appearance that her great-aunt will admit is pretty. Her cousins call her Devil Child for it, though.
9. What does your OC’s bedroom look like? His/her living area?
Lenore has a small chamber designated for her. It’s one of the most plain rooms in the house aside from the servants’ quarters. She has a small desk and window with a seat. Her bed takes up most of the room. There’s barely enough space for her wardrobe and folding screen. It was probably originally meant as a side chamber for the guest room which adjoins it.
Hmmm, how about "When words aren’t enough" for Lenore.
Lenore Arkwright had never known what it was to want, not really, not until a certain vicar had come into her life. Wanting a person was so very different from wanting a thing, and that discovery had changed her; she could see that now. She had been molded into an obedient, quiet young woman by her great-aunt, never questioning, never desiring more than she was given or told to expect, which was very little. As a result, Lenore was not generally a very expressive person. She kept her head down and only spoke when she was spoken to in a way that demanded a response. She didn’t dance; she went to the corner and played the piano. She didn’t attempt to discuss the books she read with anyone else; instead, she kept silent and wrote her thoughts down before moving on to the next book.
All of that changed when Mr. Roland Overton had become the new vicar in town, fresh from university and just as prone to wandering the countryside as she was. He had happened upon her on one of her walks when she had stopped to sketch an intriguing plump little frog by the river. He had asked what she was doing, and she had not expected him to be excited by her answer or to be so complementary of her drawing ability, but he was.
From that moment on, he became interested to know about all of her thoughts and accomplishments, and they quickly discovered that they shared all kinds of pastimes and intellectual curiosities. Over the course of their many ensuing walks together, Lenore found herself talking more than she ever had to any one person in her entire life in only a few short hours. Even in her time spent with her dear friend, Miss Isadore Quinn, she more listened than spoke, content to hear the latest in news and gossip and Miss Quinn’s subsequent opinions. Mr. Overton had a way of making her feel as though even her thoughts on what most would consider dry topics were fascinating and worth sharing. How strange it was to be discussing the intricacies of Ancient Latin and joking about the habits of bees with a handsome young vicar when she had spent most of her life being told that no man would ever want to hear what she had to say.
Stranger still was the moment she found herself being asked to dance by Mr. Overton. She knew how, but she had never expected to be asked by anyone. Her great-aunt had been quite firm in the notion that she was far too homely and disadvantaged to be offered anyone’s hand, be it for a dance or for marriage. Mr. Overton did both, in time, and it sparked something in Lenore, something she could only call determination.
This earnest young man had proven her great-aunt wrong about many things, and it left Lenore wanting like she’d never wanted before. She wanted the new future she could see for herself. She wanted to be loved. She wanted to have the comfort and satisfaction of those country walks with her every day, not just occasionally. She wanted to keep her own house and teach her own children instead of being ordered around someone else’s house and teaching someone’s else’s children. She wanted to be seen as a partner, not a servant. She wanted him. And that was such a powerful feeling that she was driven to do things that directly contradicted everything she’d been taught.
Lenore disobeyed her great-aunt. She risked ruination with acts of impropriety that even she had not known herself to be brave enough to carry out, but here she was, standing in Mr. Overton’s home in the dead of night, alone with him as he stood there in his night shirt. Everything about this was utterly scandalous, but she had to be here. She had to understand his own reportedly brazen actions on her behalf. William Collingwood, her late father’s former business partner, had very publicly challenged Overton to a duel, and he had accepted, all because her honour had been impugned. Now he was facing death at the hands of a much more powerful man, because he cared more about preserving her reputation than his own life.
Such a display of devotion had taken her so by surprise that the fountain of words he usually inspired in her went dry. She struggled to properly express how afraid and yet deeply moved she was. In the end, all she could do was kiss him and pray that he lived to see their wedding day.
16. What is your OC’s strongest childhood memory? Why and how as that impacted him/her?
The memory most burned into Lenore’s mind is the day of her parents’ funeral, especially after the ceremony when she met Countess Avery and was told that she would be in her care from then on. Her parents’ deaths were so disruptive to her that even in adulthood, she still wears gowns of mostly dark greys and purples in half-mourning of them.
32. What subjects did your OC excel at?
Many. She plays the piano, the violin, and the cello. She sings. She draws and paints. She knows French, German, Ancient Greek, and Latin. She is an avid reader on subjects in naturalism, especially botany, as well as history and folklore.
68. What is your OC’s favorite season?
Autumn. It’s the best time for walking and many of her favourite fruits appear in autumn, such as apples, which she loves to pick when she’s out and about.
