vera history
Sep. 27th, 2018 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leatherworkingVera was born in Pickering, a modest village in the Havlin Republic that has very little of note. The village is quite isolated and secluded, with it not being uncommon for its residents to only see someone of another race one or twice in their lifetime. This insular community created the basis for Vera's problems throughout her life, because unfortunately, she was born a Brooker. The Brooker family was viewed with distrust and distaste by the community of Pickering, largely being known as a family of thieves, drunks, and other generally frowned upon people.
However, Vera was different from her family, though the people of Pickering would never end up believing that. Vera also disliked her family, and unlike many of the people of her village, she took a special interest and enthusiasm to educate herself to set herself apart from her family. As a young girl, she learned to read from a traveling storyteller, and her literacy immediately set her apart from the Brookers. Those stories also fostered a sense of adventure, since while most of the people of Pickering also never left or even wanted to leave their village, Vera aspired to more.
It may have been this or simply a distaste for others that led Vera to her first taboo. As a conservative village, Havlins marry in their late teens, and women are expected to by wives and mothers more than anything else. This wasn't for Vera. She purposefully put off marriage, but as a young woman, she did meet Derik Tolman. The Tolman family was one of the more respected families in Pickering, and as such, the two of them even being friends would have been a cause for concern. Still, they grew closer, and even though Vera was starting to plan an adventure for herself that would let her leave Pickering, she fell deeply in love with him. The night before she left the village, Derik causally proposed to her, which Vera accepted, but was determined to leave and see what was outside of Pickering all the same. They had sex, and Vera left the next day.
Vera's particular adventures during this time we don't know much of, but several months later, she returned to Pickering pregnant. While this was a cause for intense gossip and doubt in Pickering, Vera had been absolutely faithful, so Derik and Vera both knew it was their child. His proposal became serious, and not long after their daughter, Alphanea (or "Alfie" for short) was born, Vera and Derik were married and began a loving, domestic life together. They opened a leatherworking shop, which Vera was especially talented with, and made a comfortable life as a new family.
However, Derik had also married relatively late for a reason of his own. He had never been especially passionate about relationships, though he did genuinely enjoy Vera's company greatly. It was never the kind of passionate love he expected, but he just assumed that it was something about himself, and his proposal was serious. However, while Vera was away, he found out why he was never so passionate in his relationships with women--he met Bernard, and fell in love with him. Derik was a gay man, but this was also extremely taboo in Pickering, and so despite this discovery, it had to stay secret, and even when he and Vera were married, he didn't tell her this. He also didn't tell her that the relationship was continuing.
Some time after they were married, Vera found out herself by finding them having sex together. Though she was horrified and angry, it was more because of his cheating than his homosexuality, though she justified it with the latter. Because Derik was the only man she'd ever loved, it felt like a sharp betrayal, but one that she also couldn't do anything about. They had a child together, and in Pickering, separating would be more cause for questions that would surely follow Alfie too. Because of this, Vera and Derik stayed together, but the bitterness that she'd been fostering because of her rough upbringing started to fester over the years, because Derik never stopped the relationship. It was a unspoken secret that Vera reacted with anger towards every time she was reminded of it.
This brings us to the beginning of the comic itself. Alfie, now a young woman herself, is a lot like her mother in putting off marriage. The reasons for that she doesn't completely understand herself yet (and are more her story than Vera's), but things change greatly for both Alfie and Vera when a caravan comes to Pickering. This caravan is an elven expedition headed by an elf named Alduin, but also includes many humans. Alfie meets Marco, one of these humans, and not long after, begins a sexual relationship with him that's also something of a sexual awakening for her. Vera, on the other hand, meets Alduin. Alduin comes to the marketplace to find a leatherworker to make him a custom item—a set of leather cuffs that are for his wife. However, Vera manages to bully the truth out of him that they're for himself. She doesn't exactly get it or even approve, but the pay is good, so she accepts his commission.
When she delivers the cuffs, Alduin is impressed by her craftsmanship, but also goads her into giving him a handjob. Vera agrees partially because, again, the money is good, but also out of a sense of spite towards Derik from cheating on her for so long. However, because Alduin is a masochist, Vera also has her own sexual awakening in discovering that she very much enjoys dominating him. Alduin is so pleased by her work that he offers her other commission, which she accepts.
The caravan stays for two weeks, and in this time, both women learn a lot about themselves and come to very similar revelations about what they want from life through very different circumstances. Alfie, who has been living in Pickering her whole life, wants to travel outside it to see the sorts of things that Marco has seen. She doesn't want to live a boring life in Pickering like she perceives her parents have. Vera, on the other hand, has a mid-life crisis about very much the same. Though she'd wanted to see the world, she hadn't seen as much as she had wanted in her months on the road, since she had returned to Pickering to have Alfie. Marco suggests that Alfie join the caravan, and she refuses. Alduin attempts to hire Vera as his personal leatherworker, which she refuses.
The day before the caravan leaves is a Havlin holiday, a festival where the entire village gathers, and the unwed are especially encouraged to form bonds and relationships. It's at this point that Vera has realized that she's been too harsh to Alfie, and wants to apologize and tell her that she loves and supports her, but she ends up doing the opposite. At this point, Alfie has also realized that she's bisexual, and she and her friend Melly slip away from the party and have a drunken encounter together. Vera stumbles upon this, and her anger is immediately triggered because of how she feels Derik's homosexuality has ruined their marriage, since she doesn't understand it as anything else but a conscious choice. She angrily chatisizes Alfie, calling her a degenerate and giving a strong (unintentional) implication that she isn't welcome. Alfie takes this as her sign, and after telling Derik that she'll be with her grandfather for a while, goes and joins the caravan with Marco.
The next day, Vera explains to Derik what had happened, and for the first time since they had gotten married, they finally talk and have a heart to heart. It becomes clear to Vera in that conversation just how much she screwed up (though she'd known it a lot already), because she realizes how much Derik does love her, but it's not the way she wants. She realizes and understands how his and Alfie being gay isn't a choice. She's still angry about his cheating and how they never talked about it, but she finally accepts that it's what Derik needs, just as he openly accepts her own admittance that maybe the relationship with Alduin is what she needed. She takes the criticism that her personality is what drives people away from her, and that the chip on her shoulder is too big. She takes all of this an actively tries to improve herself. Over a few days time, we see her actively making an effort to be nicer to people, to be a better person, and preparing to earnestly apologize to her daughter.
However, neither she nor Derik realize that Alfie is already gone.
However, Vera was different from her family, though the people of Pickering would never end up believing that. Vera also disliked her family, and unlike many of the people of her village, she took a special interest and enthusiasm to educate herself to set herself apart from her family. As a young girl, she learned to read from a traveling storyteller, and her literacy immediately set her apart from the Brookers. Those stories also fostered a sense of adventure, since while most of the people of Pickering also never left or even wanted to leave their village, Vera aspired to more.
It may have been this or simply a distaste for others that led Vera to her first taboo. As a conservative village, Havlins marry in their late teens, and women are expected to by wives and mothers more than anything else. This wasn't for Vera. She purposefully put off marriage, but as a young woman, she did meet Derik Tolman. The Tolman family was one of the more respected families in Pickering, and as such, the two of them even being friends would have been a cause for concern. Still, they grew closer, and even though Vera was starting to plan an adventure for herself that would let her leave Pickering, she fell deeply in love with him. The night before she left the village, Derik causally proposed to her, which Vera accepted, but was determined to leave and see what was outside of Pickering all the same. They had sex, and Vera left the next day.
Vera's particular adventures during this time we don't know much of, but several months later, she returned to Pickering pregnant. While this was a cause for intense gossip and doubt in Pickering, Vera had been absolutely faithful, so Derik and Vera both knew it was their child. His proposal became serious, and not long after their daughter, Alphanea (or "Alfie" for short) was born, Vera and Derik were married and began a loving, domestic life together. They opened a leatherworking shop, which Vera was especially talented with, and made a comfortable life as a new family.
However, Derik had also married relatively late for a reason of his own. He had never been especially passionate about relationships, though he did genuinely enjoy Vera's company greatly. It was never the kind of passionate love he expected, but he just assumed that it was something about himself, and his proposal was serious. However, while Vera was away, he found out why he was never so passionate in his relationships with women--he met Bernard, and fell in love with him. Derik was a gay man, but this was also extremely taboo in Pickering, and so despite this discovery, it had to stay secret, and even when he and Vera were married, he didn't tell her this. He also didn't tell her that the relationship was continuing.
Some time after they were married, Vera found out herself by finding them having sex together. Though she was horrified and angry, it was more because of his cheating than his homosexuality, though she justified it with the latter. Because Derik was the only man she'd ever loved, it felt like a sharp betrayal, but one that she also couldn't do anything about. They had a child together, and in Pickering, separating would be more cause for questions that would surely follow Alfie too. Because of this, Vera and Derik stayed together, but the bitterness that she'd been fostering because of her rough upbringing started to fester over the years, because Derik never stopped the relationship. It was a unspoken secret that Vera reacted with anger towards every time she was reminded of it.
This brings us to the beginning of the comic itself. Alfie, now a young woman herself, is a lot like her mother in putting off marriage. The reasons for that she doesn't completely understand herself yet (and are more her story than Vera's), but things change greatly for both Alfie and Vera when a caravan comes to Pickering. This caravan is an elven expedition headed by an elf named Alduin, but also includes many humans. Alfie meets Marco, one of these humans, and not long after, begins a sexual relationship with him that's also something of a sexual awakening for her. Vera, on the other hand, meets Alduin. Alduin comes to the marketplace to find a leatherworker to make him a custom item—a set of leather cuffs that are for his wife. However, Vera manages to bully the truth out of him that they're for himself. She doesn't exactly get it or even approve, but the pay is good, so she accepts his commission.
When she delivers the cuffs, Alduin is impressed by her craftsmanship, but also goads her into giving him a handjob. Vera agrees partially because, again, the money is good, but also out of a sense of spite towards Derik from cheating on her for so long. However, because Alduin is a masochist, Vera also has her own sexual awakening in discovering that she very much enjoys dominating him. Alduin is so pleased by her work that he offers her other commission, which she accepts.
The caravan stays for two weeks, and in this time, both women learn a lot about themselves and come to very similar revelations about what they want from life through very different circumstances. Alfie, who has been living in Pickering her whole life, wants to travel outside it to see the sorts of things that Marco has seen. She doesn't want to live a boring life in Pickering like she perceives her parents have. Vera, on the other hand, has a mid-life crisis about very much the same. Though she'd wanted to see the world, she hadn't seen as much as she had wanted in her months on the road, since she had returned to Pickering to have Alfie. Marco suggests that Alfie join the caravan, and she refuses. Alduin attempts to hire Vera as his personal leatherworker, which she refuses.
The day before the caravan leaves is a Havlin holiday, a festival where the entire village gathers, and the unwed are especially encouraged to form bonds and relationships. It's at this point that Vera has realized that she's been too harsh to Alfie, and wants to apologize and tell her that she loves and supports her, but she ends up doing the opposite. At this point, Alfie has also realized that she's bisexual, and she and her friend Melly slip away from the party and have a drunken encounter together. Vera stumbles upon this, and her anger is immediately triggered because of how she feels Derik's homosexuality has ruined their marriage, since she doesn't understand it as anything else but a conscious choice. She angrily chatisizes Alfie, calling her a degenerate and giving a strong (unintentional) implication that she isn't welcome. Alfie takes this as her sign, and after telling Derik that she'll be with her grandfather for a while, goes and joins the caravan with Marco.
The next day, Vera explains to Derik what had happened, and for the first time since they had gotten married, they finally talk and have a heart to heart. It becomes clear to Vera in that conversation just how much she screwed up (though she'd known it a lot already), because she realizes how much Derik does love her, but it's not the way she wants. She realizes and understands how his and Alfie being gay isn't a choice. She's still angry about his cheating and how they never talked about it, but she finally accepts that it's what Derik needs, just as he openly accepts her own admittance that maybe the relationship with Alduin is what she needed. She takes the criticism that her personality is what drives people away from her, and that the chip on her shoulder is too big. She takes all of this an actively tries to improve herself. Over a few days time, we see her actively making an effort to be nicer to people, to be a better person, and preparing to earnestly apologize to her daughter.
However, neither she nor Derik realize that Alfie is already gone.
Application History
Date: 2018-10-02 12:22 am (UTC)