Autumn "Audie" Elkins- Tess
Stats
Gender: Female Age: 22 Nature: Bear Occupation: Child care worker Appearance: Audie is 5' 6" tall and weighs around 123 lbs. in human form. She has wavy, walnut-brown hair that falls just past her shoulders. She wears it loose or braided, parted in the middle. Her figure is slender, without any outrageous curves anywhere. Her eyes are very dark brown, and along with her olive skin tone, hint at her mixed ethnicity. She's usually dressed in something simple and practical along the 'jeans, t-shirt and hoodie' line. It isn't that she doesn't like pretty, flattering clothing. It's more that she is keenly aware of clothing's signalling ability, and she prefers protective anonymity over attracting attention. Especially attention from the opposite gender. |
|
Personality: By default, and normally, Audie has a sunny, bubbly, optimistic personality. She's not giddy or air-headed, but she does lean towards the Pollyanna end of the half-empty/half-full bell curve. She loves people, and children especially. While she has always kept herself predominantly to the company of other Bears, before the Great Reveal, now she feels more free to create friendships with those of other species, and with mundane humanity. Audie's favorite beings are children; any species, any color, any age. She usually works in day care and infant nursery situations, but she is just as willing and able to charm the older kids. She has the ability to meet them on their level, without condescension, and recognizes their own personality and preferences are as valid as any adult's-- even when she has to say 'no' and then deal with a tantrum.
But even happy people get thrown life challenges that bring them low, and Audie's going through one of those rough patches now. Despite her true desire to not make enemies, she has done so for a reason she cannot change, and cannot make recompense for. Audie is not a 'true Bear,' in the words of the Major of her birth Den, and her own parents. She's not a 'true Bear' because, for all her love of children, she abhors the process of obtaining children of her own. Oh, she gets along fine with males of all kinds, but friendship is as far as she's interested in going. Female Bears have a duty to their nature and to their species to pair-bond and give birth to the next generation. Audie is considered a useless, contrary and unnatural dead-end disappointment and disgrace to Family and Den and Beardom itself, because she is lesbian. This is not a choice, and from the time she was aware of her sexuality at all, she strove to change it, to talk herself into 'normality.'
As she's matured, that's changed. She accepts herself as she is, she accepts the unpleasant consequences her acceptance carries with it. That doesn't mean she's back to original Happy!Audie. She's angry, she resentful of both her parents, her Den and the society that instilled such hidebound prejudices. She's also keenly aware of how powerless she is to effect change on any one of those foundations, and that's extremely frustrating. She has resigned herself to the fact that, within the privacy of her own mind and heart, she will have to be a Den of one. She doesn't dare let herself hope that there's a life-partner out there for her, much less someone who a Den will recognize and allow a mate-bond ceremony with her.
History: Audie was born in a Den in Kentucky, to a Bear father and an East Indian formerly human mother, who had been granted the high honor of being Infected and made a member of the Den, a year before Audie's birth. She had the typical delightful, sylvan, isolated childhood common to the most traditional of Dens. She seemed likely to follow along with the societal script, until puberty, when it all shattered and crashed down around her ears.
She was transferred in disgrace to a Den in Idaho, who was desperate for genetically unrelated females, with a Major and Families certain that they could disabuse Audie of her perverse inclinations and bring her back onto the righteous path. That didn't go as planned.
She endured two moons with that Den before she bolted in the night with what little she could carry on her back. She'd heard rumors, salacious gossip, in the Idaho Den about a Den in Georgia plagued with Bears with the same stubborn perversion. That sounded like the most promising location she'd heard of, so as soon as she was far enough away from the Idaho Den to frustrate any pursuers, she made a beeline for Stone Mountain.
Audie is fully aware that her chances of welcome in the SM Den are more none than slim. Regardless, she can't be more alone than she already is, so why not take the chance? Like the lottery, the only sure thing is that if you don't buy a ticket, you aren't going to win.
Abilities: Audie has a natural rapport with children, and also with adults who are undergoing physical or mental challenges. If she can ever find a stable place to restart her life, she's considering going back to school, though she hasn't decided which of the spectrum of care-taking careers calls to her the loudest.
Weaknesses: Audie has a tendency to avoid confrontation by removing herself from the situation, rather than resolving it. Which means, oftentimes, that the issue festers into something much worse than it would be if she confronted it directly from the start. Her rejection by her people has made her lose hope in her life ever becoming anything better than what it is now.
Quirks: Audie sucked her thumb until she was six, and even now when she's stressed out, she'll often wake up with her left thumb in her mouth. A quirk that utterly humiliates her, as if she needed more of that sensation right now.
Weapons: None
Family:
Father, Mother and younger brother in northeastern Kentucky, who have all basically told her not to bother coming home or calling until she's decided to act normal and decent. So, estranged. Hard stop.
Vehicle: None
Home: Audie has been taken in by the Davis family. She and Andrew share his apartment, as roommates, wing-mates,
and best friends. She adores his cubs and her deep gratitude towards his parents has begun to evolve into true familial love.
Character song: Stranger In A Strange Place, TFDI
Character image portrayed by: Naomi Scott
But even happy people get thrown life challenges that bring them low, and Audie's going through one of those rough patches now. Despite her true desire to not make enemies, she has done so for a reason she cannot change, and cannot make recompense for. Audie is not a 'true Bear,' in the words of the Major of her birth Den, and her own parents. She's not a 'true Bear' because, for all her love of children, she abhors the process of obtaining children of her own. Oh, she gets along fine with males of all kinds, but friendship is as far as she's interested in going. Female Bears have a duty to their nature and to their species to pair-bond and give birth to the next generation. Audie is considered a useless, contrary and unnatural dead-end disappointment and disgrace to Family and Den and Beardom itself, because she is lesbian. This is not a choice, and from the time she was aware of her sexuality at all, she strove to change it, to talk herself into 'normality.'
As she's matured, that's changed. She accepts herself as she is, she accepts the unpleasant consequences her acceptance carries with it. That doesn't mean she's back to original Happy!Audie. She's angry, she resentful of both her parents, her Den and the society that instilled such hidebound prejudices. She's also keenly aware of how powerless she is to effect change on any one of those foundations, and that's extremely frustrating. She has resigned herself to the fact that, within the privacy of her own mind and heart, she will have to be a Den of one. She doesn't dare let herself hope that there's a life-partner out there for her, much less someone who a Den will recognize and allow a mate-bond ceremony with her.
History: Audie was born in a Den in Kentucky, to a Bear father and an East Indian formerly human mother, who had been granted the high honor of being Infected and made a member of the Den, a year before Audie's birth. She had the typical delightful, sylvan, isolated childhood common to the most traditional of Dens. She seemed likely to follow along with the societal script, until puberty, when it all shattered and crashed down around her ears.
She was transferred in disgrace to a Den in Idaho, who was desperate for genetically unrelated females, with a Major and Families certain that they could disabuse Audie of her perverse inclinations and bring her back onto the righteous path. That didn't go as planned.
She endured two moons with that Den before she bolted in the night with what little she could carry on her back. She'd heard rumors, salacious gossip, in the Idaho Den about a Den in Georgia plagued with Bears with the same stubborn perversion. That sounded like the most promising location she'd heard of, so as soon as she was far enough away from the Idaho Den to frustrate any pursuers, she made a beeline for Stone Mountain.
Audie is fully aware that her chances of welcome in the SM Den are more none than slim. Regardless, she can't be more alone than she already is, so why not take the chance? Like the lottery, the only sure thing is that if you don't buy a ticket, you aren't going to win.
Abilities: Audie has a natural rapport with children, and also with adults who are undergoing physical or mental challenges. If she can ever find a stable place to restart her life, she's considering going back to school, though she hasn't decided which of the spectrum of care-taking careers calls to her the loudest.
Weaknesses: Audie has a tendency to avoid confrontation by removing herself from the situation, rather than resolving it. Which means, oftentimes, that the issue festers into something much worse than it would be if she confronted it directly from the start. Her rejection by her people has made her lose hope in her life ever becoming anything better than what it is now.
Quirks: Audie sucked her thumb until she was six, and even now when she's stressed out, she'll often wake up with her left thumb in her mouth. A quirk that utterly humiliates her, as if she needed more of that sensation right now.
Weapons: None
Family:
Father, Mother and younger brother in northeastern Kentucky, who have all basically told her not to bother coming home or calling until she's decided to act normal and decent. So, estranged. Hard stop.
Vehicle: None
Home: Audie has been taken in by the Davis family. She and Andrew share his apartment, as roommates, wing-mates,
and best friends. She adores his cubs and her deep gratitude towards his parents has begun to evolve into true familial love.
Character song: Stranger In A Strange Place, TFDI
Character image portrayed by: Naomi Scott