Ernest Giles

PLAYER

Name: Albion

Age: over 21

Contact: AlbionRaine and @AlbionRaine#1439 on discord

Permission Post: Here

Reserve: none

CHARACTER

Name: Giles

True Name: Ernest Giles

Canon: Changeling: The Lost (basic info can be found here)

Age: Approximately 30, but chronologically 116

History:

Ernest Giles was born in 1906 to a family of servants, and was largely content with what that meant for the way his life would play out. He was a hard worker, and took pride in his work. Starting as a hall boy for the same family his parents worked for, then finding work as a page in a household closer to London with his younger sister Dot. He worked his way through the ranks, promoted to footman after four years, and then becoming the personal valet to Mr Oswald Wuthridge, the lady of the house's nephew, after another three years.

However, despite the picture perfect model of a domestic servant Giles presented to most of the world, he lived something of a double life. Spending his weekly night off with Dot, sneaking into the parties held by London socialites and acting as though they belonged there just for a taste of how the half lives.

In 1931 this would all be ripped away, as Oswald was invited to dinner with someone who seemed entirely harmless, but who was decidedly not. He and Giles were held captive in a place where decades would pass in moments, and seconds stretched on for centuries. Forced to perform a twisted mockery of their old lives, Giles was kept below stairs except for those moments when he was required to wait at the neverending party that Oswald was made to participate in, with screaming furniture an ever present reminder of what happened to those who dared step out of line.

Eventually though, they managed to escape, a joint effort between the two of them that neither could have hoped to achieve without the other. Emerging in late 2019 they found themselves in a world that was incredibly different to the one they'd left behind, with everyone they'd ever known long dead.

Still they soldiered on, learning to operate in the modern times they found themselves in, and becoming a part of the community of other Changelings - those who had been through similar experiences to themselves. But clinging to some sense of normality amongst everything else, Giles remained employed as Oswald's valet, something he would have been happy to do for the rest of their lives, even if deep down he really wanted more from their relationship.

Powers/Abilities:

• Can sense emotions linked to his court (Autumn, fear)
• Can magically seal promises and agreements made with him
• When unobserved, mundane tasks take half the time they otherwise should. And this time can be halved again with more effort
• Contracts:
  • Light-Shy: become invisible to all senses and recording equipment unless taking an aggressive action
  • Walls Have Ears: Learn something from an object, such as who last handled it and what they were doing, how it was made, or how best to use it
  • Shared Burden: Heal someone by taking an injury of your own, damage from this cannot be healed by anything other than the natural progression of time, and healing a fatal wound will be fatal.
  • Glimpse of a Distant Mirror: Look into a reflective surface and see out through any other surface that has reflected your face before
  • Mien of the Baba Yaga: Take the form of a target's worst fear
  • Tasting the Harvest: If someone speaks a fear they have, render them immune to normal fear more hardy against supernatural causes of fear for the rest of the thread, by taking the fear into yourself and 'eating' it
• Shares Oswald Wuthridge's cottage, which sits in a pocket dimension and can be accessed through any door by using a particular knock.

Inventory: A book of matches, a small leatherbound notebook and pencil, and a necklace that used to belong to his sister Dot

Job History:

Valet to Mr Oswald Wuthridge

• cooking
• cleaning
• maintaining Mr Wuthridge's wardrobe and assisting with dressing
• bookkeeping
• extricating Mr Wuthridge from unwanted engagements

Footman

• serving food
• polishing silverware
• valet-ing for visitors
• assisting with heavy lifting
• being visible as a status symbol for his employers

Suppressions:
Giles has spent a lot of his life concealing some part of himself, as such he's incredibly good at it. While he's in 'work mode' as it were, he emotes very little in favour of staying professionally indifferent, although the right person can usually get under his skin anyway.

He misses the 20th century. He'll say it's because he can't see his sister any more if asked, but really it's knowing exactly what his place in the world is that he misses. Even if he broke out of the mould his life was meant to fit into, knowing precisely what shape that mould took gave him great comfort and security.

He's also desperately in love with Oswald, although you'd be hard pressed to get him to admit that even to himself.

Greatest Fear: Falling under the spell of his keeper again, and more mundanely: being surplus to requirements

Greatest Desire: To help and protect those he cares about, and to find the place he fits best

Greatest Regret: Abandoning his sister

Sample: Right here