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{ALASDAIR DEWITT cue the violins | |||
| THE BASICS! FULL NAME: Alasdair James Malcolm DeWitt NICKNAMES: Allie AGE & DOB: 36 / June 6 RANK: Seven of Hearts PB: Joseph Gordon Levitt | ||
APPEARANCE! somewhere only we can find Alasdair stands at just a smidge above 5'10" with a lean dancer's build honed from years of tap dance and a variety of martial arts; his hair is dark brown with a tendency to wave, and his eyes are almost the same shade of brown. At thirty-six he still tends to look much younger than he is, thanks to his dimpled grin and generally boyish looks. Allie favors a slightly polished casual look, and usually pairs slim jeans with with refined t-shirts and either vests or blazers, a look he dresses up a little with similarly cut pants and suits for his day job as an English teacher. For most of his life he's had 20/20 vision, but in the last few years he's taken to wearing black-rimmed glasses for reading and computer work - and occasionally forgets he has them on. | |||
PERSONALITY! people change on a whim Alasdair is in some ways a classic Heart; he's warm, friendly and sympathetic, always willing to lend a helping hand, and extraordinarily patient - traits that have made him the favorite teacher of many a Deck teenager. He's highly intelligent and highly creative, and on occasion he's been known to fade off into his own world with little notice, as if an errant thought has caught his attention and had to be followed to it's conclusion. There has always been more to Alasdair than just that, however. He grew up the closest friend of a girl who was meant to be Queen of Hearts and instead became Queen of Spades - and as such, the sharp edges are just beneath the surface with this Heart. His sense of humor has a distinctly sardonic edge, and any person who doesn't look beyond the niceness will find themselves unpleasantly surprised. Alasdair is both an artist and a fighter, skilled in a variety of hand-to-hand styles, knife-fighting, and swords. He's chosen, over the years, not to show the second part of himself as freely. The Hearts as a Suit tend to be uncertain among those who are clearly capable of violence. They have, regardless, always needed a few Cards with those skills to stay around. | |||
BIOGRAPHY! let's not waste one more second Born the oldest of four children and the only boy, Alasdair is the son of Dougal and Catherine Hamilton DeWitt, both from Heart families that have been in the Deck close to three hundred years. The DeWitts, in particular, have a traditionally scientific bent, and Dougal is something of a mad inventor who has filled the family apartments with doodads of questionable usefulness for years on end. Catherine DeWitt, on the other hand, is a highly practical woman who has for years been the Head of Communications for the Hearts. The three DeWitt girls, Madeleine, Beatrix, and Amelia, were almost exactly like her: practical, forthright, loving, but somewhat no-nonsense. Alasdair, in contrast, was a wild card as a teenager and into his early twenties; he never completely fit the mold. He was kind and could be sweet, and he was a talented writer and storyteller who used to distract his sisters and Judith with tales as they were all growing up. At the same time, Alasdair's temper can run hot, and he was the only Heart their age who could keep up with Athena in sparring. His parents, and particularly his mother, didn't know how to deal with Alasdair, and Catherine was wont to refer to him as their wolf - something she'd not been prepared to deal with, coming from a family or practical and calm sorts. It was a blessing then, that Georgios Kattalakis and Maggie St. John could see the writing on the wall when it came to Alasdair. He trained with Athena, but also with them - and once Athena left for the Spades, training with the two older sharp Hearts kept him from tearing apart in his effort to be who his family wanted. Even with that balance, Alasdair went through several rough years when he struggled to identify who he was supposed to be. All the while, Alasdair continued to write, and when that wasn't as successful as he would have liked, he took a job in the Town School, first as an apprentice teacher and then as a fully qualified literature instructor. He moved first to a small apartment in Town in the wake of a painful breakup with Evangeline Huntly, practically papering the walls with rejection letters from publishing houses. When a story finally hit, it wasn't the kind he'd always envisioned writing. Instead of a literary masterpiece, Alasdair hit the big time with a potboiler of a murder mystery based loosely (loosely) on the disappearance of one of the Diamond Kings. All in all, it was best to keep his authorship on the down low, and so while Alasdair is now legitimately the hugely successful writer he always dreamed of being...only a select few know. He's gotten used to that secret. Challenges: Age 15: Enters Hearts as a Two. Challenges Kristal Otis (3♥) to prose recitation, wins with his performance of "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. Countered in verse recitation, wins with his performance of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. Age 17: Challenges Claus Mendelsohn (4♥) to an original verse composition contest. Wins with his poem "The Raincloud's March," which was also published in the Daily Trump. Uncountered. Age 17: Challenged by Aleksei Solokov (3♥) to swordfighting. Successfully defends his rank. Age 19: Challenges Conor Muir (5♥) to original storytelling. Wins with his story about how kisses were invented. Countered in fencing; wins counter. Age 22: Challenges Gwydion Llewelyn (6♥) to kickboxing. Wins in four rounds. Counter-challenged in archery; wins in three rounds. Age 30: Challenges Niall McDaniel (7♥) to 200 M butterfly race. Wins, and is countered in chess. Wins counter. | |||
For Elani: Golden star ornament
For Evan: An abacus, naturally
For Riley: A snood and matching legwarmers.
For Eileen: The Complete Jeeves and Wooster by P.D. Wodehouse
For Leigh: A madeleine pan, and a neatly printed recipe for lemon-lavender madeleines.
For Iggy: Noise-cancelling headphones, for reasons.
For Evan: An abacus, naturally
For Riley: A snood and matching legwarmers.
For Eileen: The Complete Jeeves and Wooster by P.D. Wodehouse
For Leigh: A madeleine pan, and a neatly printed recipe for lemon-lavender madeleines.
For Iggy: Noise-cancelling headphones, for reasons.
Tags:
Player name: Muzy
Characters played: Abby, Avery, Briony, Elisha, Jordan, Zoe
Character Name: Alasdair James Malcolm DeWitt
Age: 31
Suit/Rank: Six of Hearts
History: Born the oldest of four children and the only boy, Alasdair is the son of Dougal and Catherine Evans DeWitt, both from Heart families that have been in the Deck close to three hundred years. The DeWitts, in particular, have a traditionally scientific bent, and Dougal is something of a mad inventor who has filled the family apartments with doodads of questionable usefulness for years on end. Catherine DeWitt, on the other hand, is a highly practical woman who has for years been the Head of Communications for the Hearts. The three DeWitt girls, Madeleine, Beatrix and Amelia, were almost exactly like her: practical, forthright, loving, but somewhat no-nonsense.
Alasdair was always a bit more like his father, with one key difference. He wasn’t a scientist. Alasdair was, in fact, miserable at science, never had any particular desire to take the family toaster apart. Instead, Alasdair was the kind of boy who dreamed his way through classes, whose imaginary friends didn’t exactly go away - merely morphed into fictional characters - and who only really excelled in literature and creative writing. It was natural, then, that in time he started tutoring the other Castle-bred children in literature and writing, and that this sort of in-his-spare-time gig morphed into a more permanent one as an English teacher at the Town school by the time he was twenty-one. He liked teaching well enough, and he loved the expression on the students faces when they really got a story, or a poem, or even a film, but it was never what he intended to do his whole life. Since he was old enough to write, Alasdair had been scribbling down anything that came to mind - from stories to poems, even plays - and the one driving ambition he ever had was to be published, or to see one of his works performed. In teaching, he was biding his time until he hit it big.
For seven years, Alasdair grew more secretly frustrated as rejections kept pouring in - from New York, from London, even from the small Deck publishing house run by the Xius - and then an event occurred that altered his life more than he would have expected: the first Henshaw novel was published by the Xius to disturbing success. Alasdair spent six months scowling at the Deck romance novels until one evening, after receiving yet another rejection from Outside - and having caught his youngest sister Amelia reading one of the Henshaw books - he...sat down and penned his own Deck novel. The difference was that Detective Dabney Rush wasn't interested in the romances around Alasdair; he was far more interested in investigating the possibility that Lord Lindley, a gentleman of leisure who'd been traveling for several years - and bore a slight resemblance to the then King of Diamonds - had, in fact, been the victim of a nefarious plot.
It was a hit Outside and inside the Deck with all but the Upper Diamonds, and Alasdair found himself in the so previously unheard of position of having his work actually in demand. Writing as Jamie MacDougall - only the most obvious pen name in the world, though no one's actually ever made the connection - he was prolific, turning out three or four novels a year about the investigative adventures of Dabney Rush, fictionalizing almost every Deck event, including a not-yet-published account of the Arcana's arrival. As Alasdair DeWitt, he still couldn't get a damn thing published by anyone, no matter what form he writes in - novels, poetry, plays.
Personality: Alasdair is something of a dichotomy as a man. On the one hand, he's as enamored with the mystique and romance of the writer as he's ever been; he dreams of being like Hemingway or Fitzgerald, dashing, undeniably talented and admired, and he refuses to give up on the idea of having his more literary works published, even when it's clear that the demand is for his pulpier mystery novels. He believes that if he could just get one thing published under his own name, people would believe that all his scribbling has had some value.
Simultaneously, though, Alasdair is growing to be a fairly cynical man. His sense of humor has developed a sardonic edge over the years, and while his parents and sisters are very proud of him - at least of his career as a teacher - he feels that he's something of a disappointment. He's the oldest, after all, the only boy but also the lowest ranked at Six and with no particular reason to go higher. He thinks he's missing the ambition chip his sisters all got, and that people must be wondering when the DeWitt boy is going to get his head out of the clouds. He hides this streak of discontentment, though, behind a good-natured facade, and few people know how he feels - particularly perceptive people, however, might notice it, especially when Alasdair's working on things where he's almost got the opportunity to stretch his creative muscles...but can't do as much as he wants because of administrative restrictions.
For all of this bubbling underneath the surface, Alasdair is a Heart in a lot of ways. He's warm, friendly and sympathetic, and despite the fact that teaching isn't his childhood dream, he's a teacher who cares about his students getting it; he wants them to feel passionately about literature and use their creativity, and puts a lot of work into seeing that they do.
Appearance: Alasdair is about 5’10 and skinny; while he’s thirty-one, he appears much younger than his age, thanks to his ruffled brown hair, boyish looks, and dimpled grins. He dresses like a slouchy academic whether at work or at play: his work attire consists of jeans or chinos, sweater vests, corduroy and tweed blazers, and Chucks and Vans, and for play he mostly just switches out the collared shirts and skinny ties for vintage band tees.
Character PB: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Writing sample: Here!
Why this Suit? Alasdair was born in Hearts, and while he has an artistic bent that would let him be at home in the Clubs, his fairly warm, loving, and friendly nature makes him a good fit for the Suit of his birth, and he has no desire to change when his entire family makes their home in Heart Castle.
How did you hear about us? No clue whatsoever. :)
Family Tree: Evans-DeWitt-Carter-Woodward
Challenges:
Age 15: Enters Hearts as a Two. Challenges Kristal Otis (3♥) to prose recitation, wins with his performance of "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. Countered in verse recitation, wins with his performance of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene.
Age 17: Challenges Claus Mendelsohn (4♥) to an original verse composition contest. Wins with his poem "The Raincloud's March," which was also published in the Daily Trump. Uncountered.
Age 20: Challenges Zillah Fannon (5♥) to a dance-off. Judged the winner. Countered in nine-ball, loses counter. Three months later, challenges Sean Coel (5♥) to an impromptu essay contest, winning with his humorous look at the process of trying to get published. Countered in darts, wins.
Age 25: Challenges Emanuel Spalding (6♥) to impromptu storytelling, wins with his tale of how kisses were invented. Countered in a spelling bee, wins by spelling "staphylococci" correctly.
Characters played: Abby, Avery, Briony, Elisha, Jordan, Zoe
Character Name: Alasdair James Malcolm DeWitt
Age: 31
Suit/Rank: Six of Hearts
History: Born the oldest of four children and the only boy, Alasdair is the son of Dougal and Catherine Evans DeWitt, both from Heart families that have been in the Deck close to three hundred years. The DeWitts, in particular, have a traditionally scientific bent, and Dougal is something of a mad inventor who has filled the family apartments with doodads of questionable usefulness for years on end. Catherine DeWitt, on the other hand, is a highly practical woman who has for years been the Head of Communications for the Hearts. The three DeWitt girls, Madeleine, Beatrix and Amelia, were almost exactly like her: practical, forthright, loving, but somewhat no-nonsense.
Alasdair was always a bit more like his father, with one key difference. He wasn’t a scientist. Alasdair was, in fact, miserable at science, never had any particular desire to take the family toaster apart. Instead, Alasdair was the kind of boy who dreamed his way through classes, whose imaginary friends didn’t exactly go away - merely morphed into fictional characters - and who only really excelled in literature and creative writing. It was natural, then, that in time he started tutoring the other Castle-bred children in literature and writing, and that this sort of in-his-spare-time gig morphed into a more permanent one as an English teacher at the Town school by the time he was twenty-one. He liked teaching well enough, and he loved the expression on the students faces when they really got a story, or a poem, or even a film, but it was never what he intended to do his whole life. Since he was old enough to write, Alasdair had been scribbling down anything that came to mind - from stories to poems, even plays - and the one driving ambition he ever had was to be published, or to see one of his works performed. In teaching, he was biding his time until he hit it big.
For seven years, Alasdair grew more secretly frustrated as rejections kept pouring in - from New York, from London, even from the small Deck publishing house run by the Xius - and then an event occurred that altered his life more than he would have expected: the first Henshaw novel was published by the Xius to disturbing success. Alasdair spent six months scowling at the Deck romance novels until one evening, after receiving yet another rejection from Outside - and having caught his youngest sister Amelia reading one of the Henshaw books - he...sat down and penned his own Deck novel. The difference was that Detective Dabney Rush wasn't interested in the romances around Alasdair; he was far more interested in investigating the possibility that Lord Lindley, a gentleman of leisure who'd been traveling for several years - and bore a slight resemblance to the then King of Diamonds - had, in fact, been the victim of a nefarious plot.
It was a hit Outside and inside the Deck with all but the Upper Diamonds, and Alasdair found himself in the so previously unheard of position of having his work actually in demand. Writing as Jamie MacDougall - only the most obvious pen name in the world, though no one's actually ever made the connection - he was prolific, turning out three or four novels a year about the investigative adventures of Dabney Rush, fictionalizing almost every Deck event, including a not-yet-published account of the Arcana's arrival. As Alasdair DeWitt, he still couldn't get a damn thing published by anyone, no matter what form he writes in - novels, poetry, plays.
Personality: Alasdair is something of a dichotomy as a man. On the one hand, he's as enamored with the mystique and romance of the writer as he's ever been; he dreams of being like Hemingway or Fitzgerald, dashing, undeniably talented and admired, and he refuses to give up on the idea of having his more literary works published, even when it's clear that the demand is for his pulpier mystery novels. He believes that if he could just get one thing published under his own name, people would believe that all his scribbling has had some value.
Simultaneously, though, Alasdair is growing to be a fairly cynical man. His sense of humor has developed a sardonic edge over the years, and while his parents and sisters are very proud of him - at least of his career as a teacher - he feels that he's something of a disappointment. He's the oldest, after all, the only boy but also the lowest ranked at Six and with no particular reason to go higher. He thinks he's missing the ambition chip his sisters all got, and that people must be wondering when the DeWitt boy is going to get his head out of the clouds. He hides this streak of discontentment, though, behind a good-natured facade, and few people know how he feels - particularly perceptive people, however, might notice it, especially when Alasdair's working on things where he's almost got the opportunity to stretch his creative muscles...but can't do as much as he wants because of administrative restrictions.
For all of this bubbling underneath the surface, Alasdair is a Heart in a lot of ways. He's warm, friendly and sympathetic, and despite the fact that teaching isn't his childhood dream, he's a teacher who cares about his students getting it; he wants them to feel passionately about literature and use their creativity, and puts a lot of work into seeing that they do.
Appearance: Alasdair is about 5’10 and skinny; while he’s thirty-one, he appears much younger than his age, thanks to his ruffled brown hair, boyish looks, and dimpled grins. He dresses like a slouchy academic whether at work or at play: his work attire consists of jeans or chinos, sweater vests, corduroy and tweed blazers, and Chucks and Vans, and for play he mostly just switches out the collared shirts and skinny ties for vintage band tees.
Character PB: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Writing sample: Here!
Why this Suit? Alasdair was born in Hearts, and while he has an artistic bent that would let him be at home in the Clubs, his fairly warm, loving, and friendly nature makes him a good fit for the Suit of his birth, and he has no desire to change when his entire family makes their home in Heart Castle.
How did you hear about us? No clue whatsoever. :)
Family Tree: Evans-DeWitt-Carter-Woodward
Challenges:
Age 15: Enters Hearts as a Two. Challenges Kristal Otis (3♥) to prose recitation, wins with his performance of "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. Countered in verse recitation, wins with his performance of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene.
Age 17: Challenges Claus Mendelsohn (4♥) to an original verse composition contest. Wins with his poem "The Raincloud's March," which was also published in the Daily Trump. Uncountered.
Age 20: Challenges Zillah Fannon (5♥) to a dance-off. Judged the winner. Countered in nine-ball, loses counter. Three months later, challenges Sean Coel (5♥) to an impromptu essay contest, winning with his humorous look at the process of trying to get published. Countered in darts, wins.
Age 25: Challenges Emanuel Spalding (6♥) to impromptu storytelling, wins with his tale of how kisses were invented. Countered in a spelling bee, wins by spelling "staphylococci" correctly.
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