Day 19: Character-As promised, here’s the second part of Day 19.
Avignon: Avignon Church
Describe Avignon’s physical appearance, age, educational background, and speech patterns:
Avignon is 5’3″, shoulder length copper colored hair, pale skin, green eyes, round face, fit. She’s a 24 year old college graduate with a degree in political science. She excels at speaking to strangers and being understood by them so long as she has an end in mind. She doesn’t have a filter when it comes to things she believes in, speaking passionately about them and willing to show the dirty truth. Rarely confides her fears/inner thoughts unless she really knows the person.
What would a stranger notice 5 minutes after meeting Avignon?
Avignon is passionate about social welfare programs and can talk well about the majority of those programs.
What would a companion notice after 5 days of travelling with, working with, or being around Avignon?
Avignon keeps meticulous notes about everything she sees/does that relates to politics. Those notes are strewn around her work space when she’s writing speeches. Sometimes she forgets to eat while working, though she’ll binge on food when she finishes a draft.
Who are Avignon’s parents? Are they still alive?
Avignon’s parents were Alan and Irene Church. Her father passed away when she was nineteen and her mother when she was twenty one. While Ponderosa Industries denies that working in the factory caused their deaths, Avignon knows that it did.
What if Avignon met her parents? How would she behave?
Avignon was reserved around her parents, not asking for much because she understood the stress they were under due to their illnesses and the fact that they didn’t have much money. She did everything that she could in order to help them out.
Where did Avignon grow up? What if Avignon had grown up somewhere else? What if she didn’t like her home?
Avignon grew up in the northern section of the residential part of the capitol city, within walking distance of the factories. If she’d grownup in a more rural part of the country, she never would have worked at the Ponderosa Industries factory, her parents most likely wouldn’t have died, and she wouldn’t have become involved in politics. If she didn’t like her home, she would have she most likely would have runaway.
What if Avignon wasn’t born there?
If Avignon wasn’t born in the capitol city, she wouldn’t have been as intimately knowledgeable about the way that Ponderosa Industries has a huge influence on the government.
Who is Avignon’s biggest hero? What if Avignon met her hero?
Avignon’s biggest hero was the speechwriter for the previous president. If she met him, she ask him as many questions as she could about how he maneuvered the previous president into wording policies certain ways in the brief time before he was fired.
What if Avignon met her nemesis in a neutral public place?
If Avignon met her nemesis in a neutral public place, she would be uncharacteristically quiet. She knows that she’s not going to change his mind on her own and has already begun planning a “shock and awe” speech for the President that she believes will convince the majority of the legislature to convince them to support a measure against the nemesis.
What if Avignon had a family, kids, etc.? What if Avingon’s kids were part of Avignon’s problem?
Avignon’s parents passed away, and her younger brother currently lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in the Mississippi Territory. She has avoided any serious romantic relationship because she believes that she’s most likely dying. That’s also why she will never have children. While she doesn’t let herself think about the family she’s forced to miss out on, her mind does wander to the thought when she’s alone and feels depressed. She longs for the normalcy she was denied because of Ponderosa Industries.
How does Avignon fit into your speculative element? Does she not believe in it? Is she an expert in it? Is she an outsider?
Avignon grew up eating the food packets on a regular basis, though her family sacrificed electricity so that the family could have real food at least four days a week. She lived among families who ate it every day and understands the depression associated with not being able to adequately feed a family. She believes that the packet should be outlawed and a law passed that forces food to be affordable for everyone.
What if Avignon encountered something she didn’t believe could happen? How would she react? What would that something be?
Avignon would freeze up initially, taking several minutes to process the situation. Then she would write down a list of possible plans of action along with the consequences, positives, and all the possible outcomes. She wouldn’t look to anyone for help. That situation would be that Ponderosa Industries would accuse her of being part of a military group that specifically targeted them.
What secrets does Avignon have? What if her nemesis knew her secret? What if a love interest knew? What will Avignon do to protect her secrets?
Avignon’s biggest secret is that she is dying from radium poisoning, though no one will admit that radium is used at Ponderosa Industries. Her nemesis would stall her and her plans to reveal the connection between their company and radium poisoning, hoping that they could wait out until she died. If her love interest knew, he would be even more protective of her and try to force her to slow down as she becomes sicker. Avignon will go so far as to lie to others and hide herself when her illness becomes apparent.
What does Avignon not know about herself? What if Avignon wasn’t who she thinks she is? What if she learned about herself? How would she take the information?
Avignon doesn’t know that she has the charisma to become a public figure in her own right. All of her time in politics, Avignon has believed that she must be behind the scenes as a speechwriter and policymaker. She learned that her story, which she has been hiding, puts a face to the causes she supports. She works with the President in order to take advantage of this discovery.
What if Avignon left home? What if she returned? What if Avignon became an outsider or outlaw?
If Avignon left home, she would go to stay with her family in the Mississippi Territory because they are the only family she has left. If she returned to the capitol city, she’d most likely get a job in the government sector as a secretary. If she became an outsider, she would most likely head to the remote edges of the country to spend the rest of her time in peace and quiet. She would never join any of the violent protest movements because she knows that there is always collateral damage and doesn’t believe that anyone who is innocent should be harmed no matter what.
Paper, Pen, and No Plan 