OC BY MINTEMOTH
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NOTES
Dec 02, 2021: the owner of this character stated that lael is far from complete, but he has all the basic information, and even a little extra, so i judged him as i would judge any other oc
WARNINGS
Mild mentions of various upsetting topics.
Warnings have been chosen by the owner of this oc.
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𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄
𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: The FaCA Universe (name is subject to change eventually). This universe is centered around the existence of living puppets alongside humans, spirits, and anthropomorphic animals alike, reincarnation, and even includes alternate history.
Now that's one unique universe. This sounds like a complex universe, so make sure for it to have good worldbuilding (meaning that stuff makes sense, and fill in all possible loopholes). Though this description gives us a general idea of what this universe is, still include more details (how puppets weren't always treated properly, that puppets live in a smaller version of towns/cities, overview of the afterlife, etc).
𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒
𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞: Lael [Lie-el] Baines [Bi-nes], usually referred to by his first name or surname. He was given the name Lael, for its meaning "of God," by his mother. He doesn't have any nicknames (yet), nor a middle name.
The names Lael and Baines may be complicated for some to read, so good idea on putting the pronunciation. Overall interesting name, with an even more interesting meaning.
𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: Male
𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: Lael was bisexual, contrary to what others used to believe when he was alive; he's had crushes on women and a couple men. This occasionally led to moments of inner conflict for him when he was alive.
𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬: As of mid 2023 [present day], Lael is very dead, and has been since sometime in 1949. Because of this, Lael and his soul is said to be in Nowhere And Also Everywhere [the afterlife] -- or, alternatively, followed along with his best friend, Rhys [H'Reese/Reese], to live again on Earth. His exact location is unknown.
A unique status. I'd really want to find out more regarding the afterlife of this universe.
𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: The 22nd of August, 1882
𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡: Lael was born in a small, rural "puppet" town located in southern Brecknockshire, a historical country located in southeastern Wales (in what's now considered Powys, a preserved county, specifically).
𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Currently, in present times [2023], his exact location is unknown. Lael is either somewhere near Rhys/Trent or back in the afterlife, occasionally checking up on his son, who's still alive.
𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Lael was associated with small portions of the Maddox family, the Bravura family, and the Taylor family (although these interactions with the Taylors were slightly awkward). They were the families of people very dear and close to him. In his earlier years, he was also regularly seen around an older woman by the name of Mary Jane Higgsby, her husband Ariel, and their twin boys Cecil and Octave, most often at the church.
Aw, the last bit is sweet.
𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Lael never had a true job or career, as per se, moreso a series of "small" (usually factory/industry) jobs that he worked but later procrastinated on – he started working these jobs since he was a small caterpillar, but continued as he didn't have an education. These jobs took up a considerable amount of his time as a father, and he does regret it, but he had to support himself and his family somehow (..minus occasional funding from Lacy). During childhood, when he was "old enough" to work, Lael worked outside most often; his pay was very poor but whenever he was at work he was paid via food to eat -- oftentimes this pay in food was much more in comparison his monetary pay.
That's one original job! Good work!
𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘
𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥: Lael was very sweet, to put it simply. He was a very social man, and enjoyed gatherings a lot as he was often very curious about other people. He was also quite emotional..it was normally obvious what he was feeling via facial expressions, body language, or tone of voice. He made a habit of greeting random people on the street, occasionally approaching them to talk. But he wasn't naïve, as some could easily perceive him to be -- he had clear boundaries set. An important note about Lael is that he adored adventures -- they thrilled him, and he enjoyed the experience. He was also a huge procrastinator, which allowed him to go on so numerous small adventures around town. In TLP, you are guaranteed to either find him at the local bar, Rhys' workplace, Lacy's house, the local church, or just wandering around aimlessly. Despite his procrastination, he never actively missed out on going to church. Later on in life he did mature, but that childish element to his personality was still there, even if just a little bit. He was particularly interested in humans, including living with them, and strongly disagreed with the common belief that humans would just make puppets' lives worse again if they live with them again. To an extent, he disagreed with a similar belief about spirits too, but remained extremely wary about their presences. He didn't mind that most other puppets were either atheist or agnostic; many of those he considered his friends and even his own partner fell into either category. Even if he was friendly, and generally meant well, you'd have to be careful if you ever let him into your own place; Lael had an extremely bad habit of sticking his nose where it shouldn't have gone. Very subtle backhanded remarks tended to fly over his head, especially when he was by himself, but do it enough and he should connect the pieces (and he'd get very upset, like anyone else would).
Don't see anything bad here. Lael, like most other characters I reviewed, has a unique mixture of traits and a good balance between his flaws and strengths. Lael's personality, if you decide to make him a main character, would guarantee to move on the plot thanks to him being an overall outgoing and nosey person, and allow both good and bad events to take place because of his doings.
𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬: Being big into alcohol, listening to "upbeat" tunes, and being in public settings, it's not question that Lael liked the local bar so much; however, his favorite beverage was goat's milk. He also had many other likes too, including (specifically farm) animals, all kinds of adventures, playing instruments (particularly the piano and the guitar, thanks to Lacy, although could never play at all, despite his praying), automobiles, train rides, going to church, and writing letters to his friends (he really enjoyed seeing Rhys write, the view fascinated him), although the concept of the telephone fascinated him plenty as well. He really enjoyed the rush/thrill he got from stealing -- tiny little glass knickknacks were his favorite to steal and store inside his home...wherever he could place them. Other than storing these, he stored numerous records by Lacy that Lael bought himself and played in his own home constantly, especially whenever he wrote; most if not all of his music is by Lacy himself. He's noted to have gone to many of his concerts. In terms of music, Lael did plenty of singing, specifically at church, and was known to enjoy it; he put much effort into it, but never thought of it as more than just a fun hobby he enjoyed doing with friends.
These match up well with Lael's personality, and adding a slight description about certain likes (what he does with them, why he likes doing said thing, etc) makes him a more fleshed out character.
If you're looking forward to making Lael's profile more organized, note that some of his likes can fit into the hobby section. However, this is up to you, since hobbies (in most cases) are something beings tend to enjoy, and could be considered as likes.
𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬: Despite only being taught how to write this specific way, Lael disliked writing with his right hand very much, it felt uncomfortable, and so he only did it whenever people weren't staring him down -- which was at home. It was also bothersome to see all the ink smudges that would appear every time he tried to write. Being so used to the presence of other people, being left to his own devices was something he didn't take well, either. Leave him alone, especially for a long time, and he'll go find someplace he'd rather be. He was also a huge procrastinator, and would try nearly everything to get out of a job. He was very reluctant to talk about his stealing, despite being so proud of not getting caught. He'd very much prefer it if you didn't smoke around him...the smell was dreadful, no matter how long he hung around Rhys or strolled around town. To him, it was very shocking and saddening to learn about his species' history, and why he and millions of others were forced to only live with anthros and other puppets alike (along with the occasional spirits, but they were typically "invisible" to a majority of the public). Dolls and especially ventriloquist dummies were seen by many fellow puppets as extremely dodgy, too, as they were often used by humans for offensive purposes -- and they were banned in these puppet communities.
Nothing too bad here. Again, the descriptions are great, but it would be better for you to add more personal dislikes (dislikes that aren't immeaditly connected to Lael's personality. For example, the fact that Lael doesn't like being alone is an immediate connection to his personality. The fact that Lael doesn't like writing with his right hand isn't an immediate connection to his personality).
𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Like all skippers, Lael has the ability of flying remarkably faster than the rest of butterfly species; his species is said to easily be able to keep up with race horses, flying around 30-37mph. Lael was known to be very a very caring and considerate buddy, and kept many secrets (really, nearly any secret was safe with him) and constantly checking up on them; he had little to no problem sticking up for his friends. He considered himself a supportive outlet, and wanted those he saw as friends/acquaintances to know this. Due to his habit of stealing, he also learned to be more stealthy, as time went on.
Matches with Lael's personality, likes, and dislikes. Good work!
𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬: Until age 19, Lael was illiterate, and spent even more of his life without a "proper" education. No matter how caring/considerate he was, or saw himself to be, Lael was often extremely careless, whether it be in the form of making a decision without much thought or acting nonchalant in the face of danger. Lael considered himself to be a very good person..almost too much; in his eyes, he was a good son of his God who loved him dearly, no matter what. Despite this belief he held with high regard, he oftentimes found himself questioning his own feelings regarding other men, mostly Lacy, and sometimes chalked them up to be false, or as a result of him being "brainwashed;" he never spoke about this, and would immediately refuse this idea. Along with this, he also had both manipulative and lying tendencies, most notably about his father's origins, in order to keep his mother free from judgement. He always felt a sense of guilt every time he stole something, regardless of it being a "need/want," but never stopped doing it. And of course, his childish attitude and noticeably short attention span got him into trouble often; he wasn't exactly a "fan favorite" with his employers, and was often hired with the hope that he'd stay out of their hair and just do his job already. Post mortem photography scared him as well, he found out as he and Rhys were housekeeping a home belonging to someone much wealthier than the both of them; the photo's unnatural look was enough for him to get chills all over and make him want to leave. Alongside this, once he got word about the fairly popular "urban legend" floating around TLP of Johnny Doe, a 13-year-old rich kid who vanished from the town without a trace back in 1852, it never could completely leave his mind; like other Christians, he too was very afraid that Johnny was taken in by some demonic presence and/or even sold his soul to the Devil himself in exchange for a "less boring life," as it was rumored Johnny took a peculiar interest into the occult weeks before his sudden disappearance.
Lael needs more fears. Fears, no matter how big or small they may be, create tension and make the story more exciting. They also make characters more realistic, allowing them to be more memorable and likeable. Make sure to balance out smaller fears (like fires, the dark, deep water, heights, losing the bible/other religious items, etc) with bigger fears (failure, losing loved ones, feeling/being disliked by God, etc).
Apart from that, the rest of Lael's weaknesses originate from his personality, which make him a realistic character. Good job on that bit!
𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄
𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥: Lael was an anthropomorphic Essex/European skipper puppet, and thus expressed all the traits: he had honey colored scales/fluff,
orange striped antennae with black tips, and the light brown/orange veined wings with black stripes -- and white "wing fluff" all around their edges.
Scales and fur are different from each other, so does Lael have fur or scales, or both? Is it a mix of the two? Make sure to include where the scales/fur is too.
His ears were floppy, soft, and slightly large, and his nose was round and upturned. He had a light brown widow's peak, and 3 different colors of cream/brown/orange on his fluffy, rectangular body.
Were the colors spots, stripes, or something else?
He had a "ring," separating his upper half from his lower. His limbs were dark brown. Clothes wise, Lael usually wore a white button up dress shirt with a small dark bowtie, and the regular white gloves often seen on puppets; he either wore a dark jacket or a brown vest over his clothes, although wore the vest more often in his younger adult years. He also wore a simple pair of brown trousers complete with your average dress shoes.
Since Lael is anthropomorphic, what animal(s) does he look like? Bunny, cat, dog, fox, wolf, dragon, etc? Maybe he looks like a mix of multiple animals?
Overall, good description, and original design. The clothes are also realistic for Lael. Good job!
𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Similar to the vast majority of puppets, Lael was most noticeably shorter than a human or even an anthro animal (depending on the species); he was taller than Rhys [0.762m/2.5ft tall] and shorter than Lacy [0.94488m/3.1ft], another very close friend, standing at 0.85344m/2.8ft tall.
To not confuse your readers, I simplified the heights by rounding the numbers.
0.762m= 76cm
0.94488m= 95cm
0.85344m= 85cm
𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Lael was extremely lightweight, as expected, and could be picked up by an average human without much trouble.
He's a puppet, so makes sense.
𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧: His "skin" and ear fabric was a light cream shade, going with his light brown shades of fabric.
𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬: Lael's eyes were round and a warm, lively shade of brown, fitting for his personality. They were often bright, despite being such a deep shade. His eyelashes were small, but noticeable if you looked close enough.
Good description for Lael's eyes! Most just describe the eye color, but having a more detailed description makes the character (visually) more realistic, and sometimes adds onto their personality!
𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬: Features about him that stood out included his usual optimistic posture, his gaze, his genuine smile, his rosy cheeks, and his giddy nature overall. To an extent, his own accent/voice could be included here, as both his and Rhys' were different from much of TLP's [a "puppet" town founded in 1839 near the coast of Southeast England, roughly on the border of the English counties of Kent and East Sussex]; Lael had a medium pitched, "sing-songy" voice complete with the typical southern Welsh accent -- albeit, his accent/voice was also different from Rhys', too.
I love characters with unusual accents, since there's a lot of characters with an American accent, or their accent isn't stated at all.
𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬: Lael was one of numerous puppets. Puppets are not restricted to being a singular species, but rather, a lot of species represented via living, breathing forms, most notably the butterfly/moth; butterflies/moths are the most popular form of puppet in Western Europe by far, thanks to numerous past royals requesting prettier "servants," different from the hideous "bloody potato sack with organs" puppets that had been put into use at first. Puppets, with the exception of human puppets, have very birdlike organs (as these were commonly used in early puppets) and use ZW/ZZ chromosomes. They can be either born or built. As for puppets themselves, puppets are oftentimes very short and lightweight but extremely durable (making them ideal for war, or "servant" work, for example) compared to their human and anthro animal counterparts. Puppets came along, with the discovery that humans could create life, sometime in the 11th Century -- when a crazed city guard showed off a bag of organs that seemed to be pulsating..but died a few hours after. From day one that humans realized they could create other life forms, possibly ones even "better," there had been several problems with severe mistreatment of puppets -- this mistreatment was oftentimes justified via the belief that puppets were just emotionless toys/machines ["toy/doll/machine" are very offensive terms]. This especially got bad in the 1500s/1600s, the "Dark Age" for the species. Most puppets were finally granted their personal freedoms in the early/mid 1800s (most notably in the UK, on the 22nd of May, 1837). Unfortunately, humans wanted nothing to do with them at the time, either out of spite or feeling guilty, forcing them to create their own towns/cities to live in, oftentimes from the ground up. Puppet building was ruled as illegal until 1955, when new "mechanical" puppets were introduced, causing a massive spike in the puppet population (and in turn brought back object puppets, which had all died out previously due to the bans on puppet building). This quickly went out of style once 3D printed organs came along in 1972. As of mid 2023, the majority of puppets live in either Europe, North America, or Australia.
Lael's species sure isn't one you'd see everyday (not that more common species, such as humans and vampires, are bad). Amazing job on originality!
A lot of worldbuilding was mentioned here (like the Dark Age, how puppets are made, interaction between humans and puppets, etc), so make sure to do good of use that.
RELATIONSHIPS
Parents: Meredith Baines [Muh-RED-ith] and Gwendolen Baines, two Essex/European skipper puppets that were in an unhealthy relationship and had a nasty separation (due to extreme differences regarding religion) the very day Lael hatched. Gwen was left to raise him all alone in an empty house, and that she did. If you were to ask him to speak about his mother, he'd have nothing but positive affirmations for her. He never knew much about his father Meredith, as Gwen never told much about him...besides that he left, or "died," as he would say to you, the very morning he was born.The fact that Gwen's and Meredith's divorce was so bad, that Lael was told his father died, is very interesting, and I mean very interesting. Good work on that bit!
Siblings: While he never knew of his siblings' existences until years after his mother's passing, nor ever got to meet any in person, Lael is the baby of his family and has a grand total of 6 older brothers: Meical/Michael, Ellis, Emrys, Mackenzie/Morgan, Evan, and Trevor. They all went to a small and secluded town in Scotland, with their father.
Again, this is another intriguing and fun fact.
Children: Officially, Lael only had one son, Carwyn Baines [Kar-wen], but he often thought of a white nanny goat he "adopted" back in 1905 named Lily as his child, too. He loves both his children very much and wishes he had more time with both of them. Lael had a very close bond with Carwyn, and had his own nickname for his son -- Delwyn. Lily, on the other hand, could often be seen with him whenever he'd be outside, and even lived inside his home; in his mind, she was very similar to an "indoor" dog..a dog that could produce milk regularly. Cecil and Octave often mistook Lael for being their father in their early years, simply for him being around their mother so much. Once Lael had passed and was a few days in his stay in the afterlife, she had even come back to him in the form of a moth puppet, telling her father that she missed him very much (and he agreed, of course). Carwyn is still alive as of 2023, so all Lael could do is visit him in dreams or in person (as long as he has enough energy to, it's costly) -- but he really wished to see his son again, like the old times.
This is such a wholesome relationship, but it's a bit sad too:(
Other relatives: The only other relatives Lael is noted to have a relationship with were Nancy's family members: these were his brother-in-law Frank "Frankie" Taylor, and their parents. Lael found Frankie to be an alright guy, and a decent friend (whenever Nancy, Frankie's younger sister, wasn't the topic of conversation). On the other hand, he was confused as to why Nancy's parents clearly showed distrust towards him. He had many other relatives, but he hasn't met them yet. These include Margareta "Greta" Baines [daughter-in-law], Josephine Baines/Langlais [granddaughter], Jacques Langlais ["grandson-in-law"], Mignonnette "Mignonne" Langlais [great-granddaughter], and a girl in Scotland by the name of Paisley [a distant sister-in-law, Meical's partner].
Friends: Lael had many he'd consider his friends, but Rhys Maddox and Lacy Bravura were by far the closest people to him, and could trust them with anything, as much of what he did involved one or both of them, somehow; thanks to both of them, he had a knack for writing letters and playing his gramophone/radio to exhaustion....he just wishes that the two could get along with each other. Other than those two, he was fairly close with his "guardian angel (actually a spirit, though Lael was never aware of this)," Gabriel, although Gabriel was often times busy and had limited time to see Lael; Gabriel, opting to be his guardian angel, didn't think badly of Lael, but thought certain areas of his life needed major improvement, such as his habit of stealing. An older adult woman by the name of Mary Jane also befriended Lael, and they agree on many things in terms of religion, although he has noticed...certain differences with his friend's beliefs. Still, they both got along as decent friends, and he even got to look after her twins on occasions. At Rhys' workplace, Lael also bumped into a journalist by the name of Tristan Cross with a personality similar to his very own ; it wasn't too often that he and Tristan hung out, but they meshed well and had the same exact belief of humans. A peculiar friend he considered was Mary's own niece, and Lacy's good pal, Roberta Withercreek (although whether or not the feeling was mutual is tricky, as Roberta showed much resentment for her aunt), a remarkable violin player; these two never talked much and only talked when the other was in view, most of the time initiated by Lael himself. Their conversations could easily be described as awkward. He thought she was nice enough to him, however, and she even let him try his hand at the violin once (and embarrass the hell out of her in front of the rest of her fellow violin players in the studio). Of course, Lael had "stranger" friends too, one of them being a gentleman calling himself Brooke Visser; he seemed reliable, and was willing to see Lael often, and told him neat and oftentimes oddly specific things, but often said/did things that felt like he was constantly on the borderline of "challenging the word of God," in some strange way Lael couldn't put his finger on. He was also distant friends with a crow puppet named Samuel, who kept claiming he was a swan turned into a crow by "fairies." They were rarely in contact due to Samuel's aunt and uncle being restrictive on where he goes and what he does. One of his most peculiar friends was a lazy, "human presenting" spirit by the name of Willoughby "Will" Hurn; Lael didn't know much about what he did, besides for his strange past. Though, in a way, he did find Will's actions and his calm and calculated yet sporadic nature to be charming. Will's presence + his family's played a role in Lael's mildly forgiving attitude towards "modern" humans.
It's good that you stated Lael's friends who don't have much of a role in his backstory. It's still fun finding out who Lael's friends were, and why they were friends. It also helps add on to Lael's personality, showing what type of people he prefers to hang out with.
Acquaintances: He never knew too much about Mrs Caligrapha, a rather old woman that was oftentimes by herself (although did clarify that she was, in fact, a married woman); however, he knew she also had quite a bit to say about her old friend, Mary Jane. He didn't find her to be malicious, she was just an old lady, but he had doubts with what she was saying. Lael was acquaintances with Ariel Higgsby, a (rather decent) harp player, and Mary's husband; they simply weren't very close, and Ariel himself seemed rather distant, but Lael was willing to give him a chance. Cedric Hastings, another journalist, was also someone Lael wanted to get to know better, but he was also very distant and preferred to be alone or with those other than Lael himself. Lael never got to see Lacy's older sister, Janet Bravura, very much. All he knows is that she was kind to him, a sporty person, and good at playing the guitar.
Those are good reasons why Lael, an overall social person, didn't become friends with those people.
Enemies: Lael really disliked Russell Ruffsky, a coworker of Rhys', as he acted quite rude towards him specifically (and had a very smug demeanor) and was bothered with how much Lael went to see his good friend, even going as far as toying around with him one day, when Rhys wasn't at the workplace. He tried to get Lael to do various tasks until finally suggesting something that would seriously injure him if he dared to try it out. Russell also clashed frequently with Tristan, as Lael often saw. He thought Tristan was an idiot (specifically for his beliefs on humans, that all were capable of being good people). Lael was also told a bit about the Withercreek line, and what he heard shocked him beyond belief; specifically, he disliked Mary Jane's younger brother, Isaac, and both their extremely cruel parents. He's noted to strongly dislike those that wanted humans and puppets to be separated because "it is better that way." Or, their belief, rather. It's simple; this belief is quite racist in nature. Lael never knew the extent of the cruelty puppets went through for centuries prior to their freedom in 1837 (in the UK), but he also knew these beliefs were close minded and wrong -- it wasn't fair to judge humans for what their ancestors did. He, unlike them, had hope both humans and puppets could change their minds. Besides Lael disliking certain others, the opposite was true as well -- most notably, his own father, Meredith. He associated Lael with his "extremist and ignorant" ex-wife, from his biblical name to his own appearance. He refused to even look at him; he never desired to see his son, and hardly ever thought about him at all. A few of his employers also found Lael to be bothersome, although these dislikes were quite mild in comparison to his own father's dislike.
Enemies are good for character development, moving the plot forward, creating tension, and possibly even showing your character's weaknesses and strengths, their best and worst traits. Like most relationships, it also shows what kind of people Lael doesn't get along with, which helps add onto personality.
Love Interest: His one and only bride, Frankie. He loves her deeply and appreciates that the both of them have similar interests/ideas, especially their stances on other people and how they both enjoyed sneaking out and going on their own adventures. They first met in 1921, and eventually had a very close bond. When Lael first died and was sent to the afterlife, he was extremely sad and visited Frankie whenever he had enough energy to, whether that be through her dreams or trying to materialize in person (though this took a minute for him to grasp, as it does with any new spirit/soul); he was very happy to know his son Carwyn remained very close to her, and how she even got to know Rhys a little bit better than before.
Their relationship is so wholesome and cute! Again, Lael's death made it a bit sad, but at least he still visits and cares about her:)
Overall, everything looks good. Realistic reasons why Lael sees these people the way they are. Good descriptions of said people too.
BACKSTORY
Little Lael Baines hatched on the 22nd of August, 1882 around 8 o'clock in the morning to only one parent -- his mother Gwendolen. Due to the abrupt separation of his parents, very little of his early days were actually spent with his mother. Rather, he stayed bundled up in a spare apron belonging to his mother, and in the arms of some trusted members part of her congregation; the thought being that even if his mother was gone for most of the day, he could become familiar with her smell and thus would consider her to be his mother.
This continued until around 1883, when Lael met a peculiar looking blue/violet caterpillar who called himself "Rhys," for the very first time. The two of them enjoyed running and playing together -- a bond formed quickly between them. They ran and played in the outdoors, often times chasing each other or random animals they stumbled across around town grounds.
But Lael couldn't see his playmates all the time; eventually, he was at an age where he too had to go work to earn at least some money, leaving Rhys alone for several days at a time. Even if he and his mother were working, more often than not their pay, most notably Lael's, wasn't very much at all. This led him to resort to stealing whenever he could -- only the essentials, mostly extra food, as his mother told him to -- he was concerned and wasn't fully sure if his own mother was eating enough. And even then, there were moments when their diet wasn't always the greatest. He was still small, and could only fit so much in his small hands, and could only take so much without someone getting suspicious. Luckily, others occasionally cooked for them, those being Rhys' mother, Myfanwy [Muh-van-oi], (although she and Gwen weren't close by any means) and a few of Gwendolen's friends.
This new life of working and stealing didn't leave when he was almost 16, and planned to tag along with Rhys to go to the "puppet" town of Townlocationplace/TLP (as it was becoming more industrialized), it only became more prominent -- on the train ride there, he managed to snag someone's wedding ring and quickly stuffed it in his pocket before continuing as usual. This very ring became one of his most prized possessions; he was drawn in by its sheer elegance.
Under Rhys' assistance, Lael did pretty good in his first years in TLP -- he was becoming a lot more productive at the workplace, and didn't rely so much on stealing, and could socialize without getting too hung up...mostly. He even became literate and knew how to write, thanks to Rhys. This "grace period" only lasted a few years. Lael became bored of his new lifestyle, and soon enough he was only showing up to work on occasions, and finding himself spend a lot more time either seeing Rhys, staying at the bar a lot longer, at the local church with his new friend Mary Jane, or whatever other part of town he felt like being in instead. He preferred the idea of doing small "jobs" for sums of money.
In 1904, Lael was with Rhys, painting a much richer man's fence until he caught glimpse of a very peculiar stranger walking along the sidewalk across the road. Lael did what Lael did best -- stop the conversation with his friend and approached the charming man. He found out this man's name was Lacy and that he just moved into town..and that his left eye was covered with an eye patch for some reason. Nothing more. To his delight, he eventually found Lacy again playing the piano at a small studio nearby the church and found out Lacy visited here very often. After several meetings, and years, these two become close. The next year, Lael "adopted" a new friend, Lily, a small white nanny goat. She was left on the side of the street, and he couldn't not take her under his wing.
A few years pass and Lael was delivered some upsetting news via mail: he found out his mother, one of the most important figures in his life, had recently passed away. That year, 1907, instead of the usual two times, he visited her three times – on her birthday, at Christmas, and at her funeral. He continued to visit her twice a year from then on.
A few more years go by and Lael found himself closer to Lacy than ever; the two were in a pretty tight-knit relationship, lasting for around a decade. At this time, Lacy was starting to get the ball rolling on his music career and had to move to a different town westward. Lael, on the other hand, was too attached to TLP. It was decided that breaking up was the better (and safer) option for the both of them. Despite his thoughts, he took this breakup very hard, and started to question many elements about himself, including his own feelings, going as far as thinking what he felt was entirely artificial. It was months before he started writing back to Lacy at a normal pace.
But things didn't get better. The following year, Rhys fled the town and went back home after several desperate attempts of trying to get Lael to come with him so he "wouldn't get influenza." At first, he shrugged these attempts off, but his attitude changed after seeing the train leave with his closest friend aboard. He stayed fairly nonchalant about the illness, thinking he'd only die if God deemed it was his time, but being all alone in town made him fall into a depressed state. Both his closest friends still wrote to him, Rhys even promised to look after Gwendolen, and Gabriel was there to help, but it all felt different.
All his recklessness did catch up to him; before he knew it -- Lael was in his own bed, feeling ill to no end. He was extremely sick. Gabriel was there to help him, but was only there very sparingly. It took a few agonizing weeks of being ordered to stay in bed, and trying to let the virus run its course, much to his own dismay, but Lael eventually did get better. Under the impression that he was spared from death, he tried being a bit more careful in the future in regards to illnesses spreading around.
Rhys still visited his good friend, although very sparingly. It was during one of these visits that Lael fessed up and admitted to Rhys that he was lying the entire time when he said his father was dead. He wasn't..not during the first time Lael claimed he was dead. His father's whereabouts were unknown to Lael, but judging what all he heard about him in his earlier days, his father never died that day.
The 23rd of December, 1920 was a strange day. It started out as any other day he'd go to visit his mother: he'd get there, it'd be cold, he'd replace the flowers beside her grave, talk for a while, and he'd go meet up with Rhys afterwards. This day, he saw him earlier than usual, but the conversation was fairly normal. Before he knew it, Rhys was showing him a strange discovery -- snow and dirt was dug up around the bottom of the small stone to reveal in tiny print a phrase Lael had never seen before (specifically, a phrase that was vague yet included hints, something along the lines of Mother of seven). With this phrase, Rhys explained that it was very possible Lael wasn't an only child like he was brought up to believe. Later that night, he found out the same about Rhys, but only with the promise he'd never tell anyone. Nothing more came out from either of these statements.
The following year, 1921, marked something even bigger. One night at a party setting, Lael caught first caught glimpse of a butterfly puppet that stood out from all the rest..one simply named "Frankie" Taylor. Their first interactions were what you'd expect -- she was even a big fan of the car Lacy helped Lael get the year prior. It wasn't too long before they had their first date (which was very awkward, thanks to Lael himself not understanding that deodorant is not an acceptable gift to give just because he heard once that "women enjoy smelling nice," and his date's parents insisting on showing up), and by the latter half of the decade, he was a married man. Frankie was given his prized ring.
In the early months of 1927, he found out his wife was expecting a child. He was beside himself, having little idea what to even do about this baby. Needless to say, he was very excited as well; there were multiple occasions when Lael would sit and talk to his child's small egg as if it were an old friend. Whenever he wasn't working hard, he was either speaking with or speaking about his new baby.
However, this baby lacked something important. Lael and Frankie already agreed on a middle name, Gabriel(le), but a first name wasn't yet determined. That summer, when a name still wasn't determined, and the baby's hatch date getting closer and closer, he sent a letter to Rhys, specifically asking him for any name suggestions. "Carwyn/Carwen" stood out to the both of them from the list sent, and so their new child had a name.
Carwyn was born on the 9th of October that year, 2 days short of sharing a birthday with his mother. Upon holding him for the first time, Lael felt like a completely different person. He tried to spend as much free time as he could with his son; he didn't want to repeat what his own father had done to him and his mother. He also found himself slowly maturing throughout this new experience being a father and using his own experiences to teach little Carwyn -- or Delwyn, as he enjoyed calling him. A notable example of this occurred one winter, where instead of having Carwyn attempt to walk on the ice, he was given little ice skates and held onto his father's hand as they went around the perimeter of the frozen lake. Often times, whatever they did together involved cars, whether it be riding around in Lael's car (which Carwyn especially enjoyed), or seeing Carwyn take apart one of his numerous toy cars and put it back together to the best of his ability. He was especially proud of his son when he announced to his parents that he wanted to set up his own car repair shop some day.
The older Lael became, the less he worked and the more time he dedicated tried to spend with family and friends -- and the church (although he normally went by himself to services). He'd stay at home with Frankie, regularly speak to Carwyn, and always try to speak with Rhys and Lacy whenever he could..with the occasional encounter with Gabriel, or any of his other friends, if they were available.
Lael died suddenly in 1949, and was taken in to the afterlife by his mother Gwendolen soon after. He's noted to be buried in the old graveyard his mother was in -- right next to her, upon his request. Lael as he was known might be dead physically, kind of, but his soul lives on.
Don't see anything too bad here! The backstory had it's sad and happy moments, and clearly explained why Lael is the way he is. Though having a parent (or parents) missing could be considered cliché, you pulled it off well, so it added onto Lael's character development (now he tries to be a good father, wanting for Carwyn to experience a father's love, and Lael visits his family whenever he can).
There should be a reason behind why Lael died suddenly. If you don't have any ideas, then you can make it something that happens to puppets out of nowhere, that Lael had an undiagnosed illness, or somebody poisoned him (if so, then be sure to include why and who, or at least foreshadow the motive and/or person).
𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀
There isn't much to mention in trivia parts, but they do add onto personality and realism, and are fun to read/write.
1.) Lael was left-handed. His handwriting was often smudged and scribbly, and being "forced" to write with his non dominant hand made his writing's structure even worse. His signature roughly looked like "LAeL BAluaS."
2.) For a long while, Lael only had two simple goals in life -- to get one of those cool new automobiles he'd occasionally see rolling across town, and to get a girlfriend to go along with said automobile.
3.) He hardly ever stayed at home, ever, so the "apartment (more of a concept for a small apartment that was later abandoned)" he lived in prior to getting married was always dark, unkempt, and cluttered. Most of the time he didn't see any point in cleaning it. It had the bare minimum of a tiny apartment at the time, but still had a strange, abandoned look to it...and had a dodgy set of stairs. And a complete lack of electricity. Lael even went as far as to paste various news articles and headlines all over the wall that Rhys and other journalists, such as Tristan Cross, wrote, using them as some sort of wallpaper. It was eventually found out that he was living in the "abandoned" area, but instead of being ordered to move out, Lael was required to pay a fee each month as rent until he moved out to a more suitable place.
4.) Hand Lael a car, and he'll go way over the speed limit and almost wreck the thing multiple times (...assuming he wouldn't that time and just got lucky). He took his driving very seriously.
5.) No matter how much traffic there was, or even if he could simply fly over the road, Lael always ran across the road as quickly as he could. It felt more exciting this way. There's a running gag with this that consists of something on the road nearly running into him.
6.) His first crush was on quite a prominent figure in TLP, being the very first mayor's only daughter and firstborn child, Sylvia Fort. He'd make many advancements, either by following her or merely waving, only to get declined every single time. She was a grand total of 35 years older (he was 20 at the time) and all 13 of her (mostly adopted) kids were older than him too. His most notable advancement was sending flowers he picked himself with "LAeL" written on a small note, to her very own doorstep.
7.) He fell asleep outside/in public plenty of times, and Rhys had to drag him home...whenever he noticed.
𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋
Lael is an adventurous and outgoing character. It isn't a wonder me made so many friends. Lael isn't naïve, however, like most people perceive him to be, so don't be fooled when Lael lies, manipulates, or steals from you. Though he isn't a sadistic and cruel individual, and wouldn't do the said things unless necessary. And he usually feels guilty afterwards, especially after stealing from someone, stranger or not.
Lael is also quite confident with how he appears towards others. He lived in an abandoned house, fell asleep in public, and even sent flowers to a lady (who was obvious with not liking him back)! Many would feel embarrassed afterwards, but Lael? He just continues on with his life, and goes to take a walk or something if he gets bored.
Overall, Lael is an original and unique character, living in a diverse and interesting world. Apart from a few errors, and the world's lack of description, everything looks great!
Lael would make an amazing protagonist, and as mentioned before, with his nosey and adventurous attitude, he'd make a funny, confident, and enjoyable character that moves the story forward. And even if you decide to make Lael not the main character, he'd still make a good side character!