Clark Red



Clark Red's Family: No siblings. His mother is still alive but effectively catatonic, still in shock over his father's death over a decade ago now. His dad, obviously, is dead.

Clark has a considerable number of cousins, however, including one very pretty one named Griselda. None of his numerous cousins are male, however.

He is related through his mother to the Boot, Briskby, and Nail families, and his own family, the Reds, have been around since the town began, and will be here when it ends.


History: Clark's history is pretty well-known in the village, mostly because it's sad.

He spends a lot of time taking care of his poor mother, who's been more or less in permanent shock since his dad died when he was very little of a disease that struck quite suddenly and without warning, and didn't seem to spread to anyone else. His dad just got sick and died.

Worse, Clark wasn't there when his dad died- he had been by his side day and night while he was dying, but had finally passed out from exhaustion. A friend of the family had stuck him next door to sleep. He woke up to a world without his father.

As you might imagine, this has had fascinating effects on his psychology. Clark's got his thoughts together- he's not emotionally ruined by it, like his mother was (and partly because his mother was; he's spent a lot of time caring for her and it's helped him get over it himself)- but has a bit of a problem with abandoning people in trouble. The experience has stuck with him.

From an early age, then, he has been the sole provider for his family, and it was at his tender age that he entered the salt mines. He still works at the dying old salt mining operations dotted around the town, dangerous work; there is constant risk and danger of dehydration from all that contact with salt, plus the very real problem of cave collapses or running into a sandsnapper. Clark still keeps plugging away, working with long experience at the job.

While fairly young, and looking younger despite his thick beard, Clark was once the toast of the town three years back when he managed to pull other miners out of a collapsed salt dome he and they had been working. When it had suddenly given way, Clark had gotten out- and seeing that others hadn't, had burrowed straight back in to find them. It's been a while, but people still remember Clark's heroism that day, and he occasionally bums a free drink for it.

As for the town's recurrent gang problem, Clark has wandered into a few of the fights from time to time, especially if they're picking on younger kids; he's too nice of a guy not to. While he has yet to win any such fights, being one man with little backup, he hates seeing people get picked on, so he always lumbers forward anyway.

Clark doesn't particularly hold a grudge, though. He knows they're just angsty teens- though he's probably looking at Evren a bit askance at this point.


Attitude: Clark is friendly and gregarious, pleasant, even. He doesn't seem to take anything personally and is simply so affable that it's easy to kill a few drinks with him. Clark can drink on an almost ludicrously prodigious scale, and only a few of the old drunkards in town can keep up with him whenever he gets serious about alcohol. His main concern is his mother, which is why he's not married yet- he's worried about leaving her, since she can't take care of herself- but his secondary concern is always people. He hates to see people unhappy or in trouble.

Appearance: Despite the name, Clark Red has nothing red on him. He's brown all over- he kind of looks like walking mud- and he's a bit shorter than average. He has impressive hair, though, and is relatively hirsute all over.

Relationships: Dotes on his mother, protects his cousins and family, kind of likes everybody in town, backs up his fellow miners, and is generally pleasant.

Employment: Salt miner.