ABOUT THE PLAYER

Time Zone / Country: GMT -7/Pacific Time/US
Expected Posting Times / Frequency: Once per day (except for weekends/maybe once per weekend)

ABOUT THE CHARACTER

Name: Ellis Fisher
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Nationality American
Place of Birth: Ocean Shores, WA
Blood type: O Positive
Student, teacher, or city dweller: Professor
Studying / teaching / occupation: Literature
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual (with a variety of other past memories)
Theme Tune (optional): The Moth & The Flame - Les Deux Love Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uQfqKYNPHo

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

Description

Ellis is an even six feet tall, lean and fit (though not without effort).  He has dark and thick brown hair that tends to hold a wave even when it's swept back over his head.  He tends to dress fairly well though generally without looking like he has to make much of an effort unless it's for a special occasion.

Whatever effort he puts toward his appearance (both physical and dress) seems to pay off as he moves with a certain confidence in his body, as though he full inhabits it.  Despite his height, he's fairly graceful and rarely clumsy, even though he rarely seems to pay much attention to his physical presence.  In fact, he often has a far away look, like he's daydreaming or thinking about something other than whatever is right in front of his face, though when there is something (or someone) in front of his face he focuses intently.  This came sometimes come across as off-putting, as though he's evaluating/judging, or inappropriate, as though he's imagining inappropriate things; in both cases, sometimes he is.

MENTAL ATTRIBUTES

The outer self

Ellis probably comes across as a stereotypical professor, and a stereotypical American one at that.  He's often thinking about a dozen things, none of which are right in front of him unless there actually is someone in front of him, in which case, if they get his attention, he's thinking of that someone and a dozen things about them.

He seems wise beyond his years and sure of himself, even when he isn't.

Despite his 'distracted' nature, he's fairly approachable and seems trustworthy.  That's not to say he is, he has a lot of flaws, he's just learned to hide them or incorporate them into his persona to get what he wants.

The inner self

Ellis is first and foremost, lonely, at least, lonely in this life.  He lives in a world of the past, in memories and imagination, sometimes he isn't sure which.  He questions truth (but doesn't really care that much for it, at least not in an immediate sense) and is happy to pretend and play 'games'.  That's not to say he lies, but he doesn't always go out of his way to clarify expectations or understandings.  He does however do whatever he can not to find himself alone for too long.  This has led to a string of brief relationships, a tendency to inject himself in other people's problems and a habit of pursuing anything other than his thoughts whenever possible.

List their desires and hopes

Ellis hopes to find new experiences to match or exceed past experiences.  That's a hope and not an expectation, though it's enough to get him to try (and keep trying).  He hopes to find inspiration in a new place among new people.  His own ideas are getting stale and he's hoping he can maybe take an interest enough in someone else's life (and lives) in order to get outside himself a little.  That or maybe a change of scenery might spark something he himself has forgotten/lost.  He also hopes to get a better sense of why he feels drawn to the place he's found himself.

List their fears and dislikes

First and foremost, he's afraid he's crazy.  He has a lot of possibly explanations for the things he thinks and feels and remembers, some mundane, some insane, some in between.  He's not really sure which is most accurate and has avoided exploring it through therapy or medical examination (and outright fears such examination).  He fears sleeping.  That's not to say has a lot of nightmares, but when he does, they're bad.  He worries he drinks to much (it helps him sleep) and questions his own sense of propriety, but neither of those things has reached a point where he's done anything about it.

Strengths

Ellis is extremely knowledgeable regarding the intersection of history, literature and myth.  He also knows several arts and crafts to varying degrees of skill, most notably drawing/painting.  None of  his work would wind up in a museum, but he does keep a sketch book by his bedside and often draws pictures from his dreams or travels (he takes classes when possible to improve on this skill).  He remembers how to play few songs on the piano and can read music but not very well, just enough to impress at a faculty cocktail party, assuming everyone is already pretty drunk.  He's a fairly good cook and an excellent dancer.

Weaknesses

He can't sing to save his life.  He has trouble sleeping unless medicated or exhausted.  He's easily distracted and sometimes forgets things unless he writes them down.  He's switches back and forth between believing his own imagination and writing it off.

FAMILY AND HISTORY

Character history, family member names, occupations, notable features, are they still alive?

History is a tricky thing.  He'd learned it wasn't much different from fiction.  It was constructed, created, first from memories, then from stories.  Did anyone really know what it was like growing up as a kid?  He'd thought his parents were happy, high school sweethearts who'd gotten married after graduation, his father working as a handyman for the local businesses in a small tourist town, his mother a school teacher after she'd gone off to the 'big city' to get a degree.

He'd never seen the truth until he'd graduated high school too, though if he looked back on it he could see the signs, the 'friend' of his father who only came by when his mother was gone, his father's face whenever talk of his mother's college days came up.  They'd been far from happy, far from perfect, and he, for his part, had been mostly oblivious to it all.

In part that was because he'd always had a vivid imagination.  He'd often spend time alone spinning stories or talking to invisible friends.  They weren't ghosts, he never thought they were, at least not in a traditional sense of restless spirits that still remained.  Now he had a few ideas about what they'd been, though he wasn't entirely sure.

It had been a nice town, but it was always too small for him.  Everyone around him knew that, knew he was meant for the wider world, so it was no surprise that he hurried off to the East Coast for college.  It also wasn't much surprise that he settled into the English Literature department, even if there wasn't much 'future' in such things.  At least, that's what he was always told by his parents, to which he had what he thought was a witty reply.

"I'm not interested in the future, I'm interested in the past."

If they could see him when he said it, they'd have seen him sticking out his tongue; he was younger then.

But it was the truth.  He was fascinated with the past.  The near past, the past past, the ancient past, so far back that it was a blur of information that blended not just one bit of presumed history, but several.  That's why he was so excited at the opportunity to come to England.  He hadn't traveled much outside the states.  Even when he wrote his first few novels, they were all about America, a country with such a brief history you couldn't go back more than a few hundred years unless you delved into the Native myths and stories, which though they fascinated him, he wasn't connected to in the same way he was with England, Ireland and northern Europe.  That wasn't to say he wasn't fascinated with other places as well, but it was the difference between being charmed as a scholar tourist and being drawn.

He was drawn to Cornwall, not Sennen exactly, but near enough.  That was the thing about history and memory though, it was all 'near enough' and never exact.  And so, he had packed his bags and boarded the plane.

CONTACTS

None at this time.

MYSTERIES

Psychic ability

Ellis doesn't consider himself psychic, but he does remember (or imagine) the past, especially past lives.  He's not sure if this is real or just something he does as a creative person.  Whatever the case, whenever he meets someone, he imagines how they got there.  Often this is just a mundane recollection of their recent life, traveling by train, cab, car, what they did that morning, the day before, the week.  Occasionally, he can imagine further back, sometimes back before they were born, some prior life or maybe ancestor's life.

He usually considers this an imagined past, but he's been right more times than not, so maybe it's something more.

Further, he seems to recall past lives of his own.  These he remembers vividly, sometimes so vividly he forgets who or where he is (though he's never had an episode so bad that he forgot who he was for more than a moment).  These past memories come most commonly as dreams, frequently as daydreams and occasionally as unexpected and disruptive flashes.  He's researched several of these past lives and found them to be true enough to be plausibly real memories though he wouldn't say that out loud.  They are however real enough that he sometimes comes away from them with skills or talents (for instance, he was never actually taught to play the piano, but still knows how to fumble through a few songs).

Dark and dirty secrets

Ellis has more than a few secrets, though they aren't all dirty or dark.  He's had an affair with a much older and married woman (and felt bad when her husband found out).  He's had a relationship with a much younger (though not underage) woman where they were not on the same page regarding its seriousness (which he also feels bad about).  His second novel might have been plagiarized from an unpublished work from a long deceased author (though it would be pretty hard to prove given most of the passages that were lifted came to him in a dream).  He's something of a voyeur, though not in a stalker sort of way.