General Information:

Name: Rebecca Duffy

Nickname: Becca, but never Becky

Species: Epimeliad

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

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Physical information:

Gender: Female

Age: 28, but closer to ~100

Human Hair Color: Ginger

Human Eye Color: Chestnut

Human Distinguishing Marks: Becca is absolutely covered in freckles from head to toe, except in the areas where the sun don't shine. This is due equally to genetics and to a lifetime in the sun. Despite the time she spends in the sun her skin between the freckles is creamy white.

Human Description of General Appearance: In a word, Becca's appearance is effortless. If that's a compliment, though, is at question.

Most of the time she dresses casually, as if she might need to drop to her knees and start weeding a garden bed at a moment's notice. No use wearing designer jeans if she's likely to scuff up and stain 'em, right? Most often she's sporting a simple top and a light sweater, an old pair of jeans or shorts depending on the weather. Becca used to wear a hat before, but now she basks in as much sun as the PNW is willing to offer (it isn't much). Her hair is thick and healthy and supple, but usually tied back lazily so it's out of the way. Sneakers or short boots, depends on the expected terrain.

Of course, that's the day-to-day Becca when she's out working or moving around.

That effortless, thrown together appearance can work in her favor if it's a night out or a day off. She can wear just about anything casually and easily, her apparent comfort helping to pull off any outfit. She favors pastels and earthy tones, nothing too bright or fashionable.

With no attention of being an attention seeker, Becca wears as little as she can get away with, when she can. This is an act of self-sustainability. Clients might wonder why the gardener showed up in a flannel shirt and jeans, and is suddenly stripped down and wearing just enough to look decent. If they knew the answer (that she simply needs to sometimes, see <golden>Photosynthetic</goldenrod> below), they'd likely not be so curious... or maybe more curious.

She has an average figure lending towards the slender side but maintains natural curves in the right places. Her voice is almost mousey but not cartoonish, and she has a habit of smirking at conversation without realizing she's doing it. Becca wears the same pair of lightly shaded sunglasses she's always worn just about every day of her life. She's pretty but far from beautiful.

Becca is clumsy most of the time except when she's got her bare feet planted in the earth. At that point she is grace incarnate, though few get to see her in this state.

Alternate Appearance: On the solstices Becca disappears from the world and takes a solo journey in the Olympic Rain Forest. Here she takes on the full traits of an Epimeliad; her skin turns brown and hardens like bark, and her hair becomes a tangled mess of leaves and conifer needles. Her legs morph into solid roots and, if she could move, people might be freaked out by her appearance.

But she doesn't move, not when with her regional council. It's just a funny little circle of trees deep in the heart of the forests, as far as anyone looking can tell. They communicate but it's not with voices; the very rare hikers who might stumble upon them swear they're being watched and feel like the feel whispers in their bones.

Becca has the ability to assume a similar form in her own garden, though it's much closer to a small apple tree with strangely feminine curves.

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Society Information:


Occupation: Gardener 2 for Port Washington Parks - Becca is an employee of the PWP. She has several coworkers who are responsible for maintaining the public green spaces of Port Washington. Becca handles most of the ornamental trees on public streets and also designs and maintains the gardens around several buildings in Port Washington, both privately and publicly owned.


What brought you to Port Washington?: Becca lived in Seattle for most of her life and had always heard about Port Washington, but assumed it was something of an urban legend. Following a bizarre series of events, she found herself calling Port Washington home for the foreseeable future.


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Personality Details:

Personality: In a few words Becca is flirty and quick-witted, generous without pretense. She is kind to a fault and has a hard time admitting to what she really wants, preferring to mend her own disappointment than to cause pain or frustration for someone else.

Without fail she's bright-eyed around animals, fellow gardeners, and the lost or injured, though her nature can be reserved around people who intimidate her or make her anxious. She likes peace and quiet, often to the point of becoming a self-imposed hermit.

Strengths: Her mind is fast as a whip, and she's pretty good at spotting a liar. Becca has a great strength of finding common ground with people and is a natural diplomat. She's got a heart as kind and gentle as can be, and magnetically attracts runaways and the lost. Becca is mother-like in the level of affection she exudes to anyone and anything around her.

Becca has an artistic state of mind, always eager to improve the world around her creatively and aesthetically.

She has strong moral fiber and isn't easily swayed from her ethics.

Weaknesses: For all of her moral fiber and her supportive, loving nature, it's not all good for Becca.

She's stubborn in her decisions and can be quickly reactionary in her responses. On top of that she has a very long memory and has a difficult time forgiving people of their failings. Becca can be easily distracted and her moods seem to fluctuate with the weather.

Even at her best she can be rather irritable and bristles around too many people. It's a counterintuitive dynamic she has; she generally doesn't want to be bothered by too many people but has an exceedingly powerful urge to nurture and brandish affection on people.

Becca can be a slave to her appetites but is pretty good about keeping them in line. That said, she's been known to go on a serious bender once or twice a month before bottling it all up and assuming the mask of a responsible adult once again.

Fears: She's bluntly afraid of rodents and vermin of any sort. Just filthy little creatures, even if they have a place in the natural order. She's similarly scared of deep waters like lakes and the ocean. Becca can maintain calm as long as she has land in sight, but the open ocean is a serious no-no for her.


Background/History: Rebecca only just remembers her childhood. She was one of six born in a family outside of Port Angeles in 1919. Her memories are limited to a few flashes of her father and mother. What she cannot remember is that even as a very young child she could see and read the signs of nature. Her parents thought that perhaps she was slow or mentally ill, so they weren't very upset when Rebecca wandered off into the woods one day and never returned.

Mouths to feed and all that.

After she pulled a Rip Van Winkle and seemingly slept for eighty years, Rebecca followed the trail back out of the forest and into the modern world. She was picked up by social services and was quickly claimed by adoptive parents.

This is the part where she grew up with a relatively normal youth; went on dates and to dances, listened to bad music, made friends and grew apart from them, challenged her parents, dreamt about what she'd do when she grew older. Very typical stuff.

Her parents thought it was curious, almost concerning, how Rebecca ate so little food. It was a mystery how she could take a dying houseplant and get it to flourish again with a sprinkle of egg shells and some (honestly creepy) whispering. She'd lay out in the sun for hours and never burn, though her skin developed an incredible dense array of freckles.

Went to college, then left college. Got a few jobs, moved into an apartment with her friends.

It was on a Tuesday night in May when she saw the signs again. She was 25. A whorled leaf in the spinach she grew; six needles per bracket on a white pine; the sideways tilt of a daisy. It didn't take long before she followed the trail again and wandered into the Olypmic forests and found the Gypsy Grove again. It was the summer solstice, and she experienced her first transition into her Epimeliad form. It was a little jarring, to say the least.

Over night she learned of her new responsibility. The former dryad of Port Washington was retiring, and their replacement (Rebecca) was to assume the role. She didn't have much say in it all, but the surge of memories and lessons coming back to her all at once left in a state of eager acceptance.

Told her parents she found a job at Port Washington, moved out of her friend's house and broke up with her boyfriend (he was wearing thin on Becca anyway), and took off towards Port Washington. The town council leadership was ready for her and directed her to her new home.

Becca has been feeling it in Port Washington and has lived here for a few years now, enjoying the the lifestyle and the town very much.

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Skills and Abilities:

Education: Becca started but never finished a degree at university (those student loans are creeping somewhere, waiting to jump out at her at the worst time). She had changed her major from philosophy to horticulture to history before deciding she just liked going to school, and putting herself further in debt for something she could essentially do for free was foolish.

Non-Educational Skills: Becca's a good cook but terrible baker. She can sing passably well, has a natural talent for physical arts like sculpture (on a small scale), and retains information well (she wins quiz bowl type games regularly). Becca drives a manual transmission car. She worked in a coffee shop for two years and can make a mean cappuccino.

Magic: Becca is a born again* Epimeliad (* betcha thought that exclusively a Christian thing, didn't you?). The Epimeliad were a group of dryads in ancient Greece who protected apple trees, or sometimes of sheep, and rarely were protectors of both. The combination of affinity towards fruit-bearing trees and communal sheep leads most Epimeliads today to be caretakers for their local communities who exercise their responsibilities by feeding and providing for their flocks, whether said flock knows about it or not.

Epimeliad today are not born but are made. The signs and signals that lead one down this path are there for everyone to see, but only a rare few can actually read those signs. Becca is one of those rare few. Epimeliad are mostly human with a few other traits and abilities.

The "blessings" of an Epimeliad are double edged. A poet might call it a beautiful symbiosis, while a critic would call it vanilla vampirism. Most positive aspects of her nature has an equally negative trait.

• Photosynthetic: Becca can eat and drink like any normal human, but a majority of her nutritional intake is provided from sunlight. She eats out of habit and pleasure. While photosensitivity keeps the grocery bill low, it also puts her entirely at the mercy of the sky above. Her role as an Epimeliad in the Pacific Northwest brings with it the exceptional strain of living in a largely overcast region. Becca becomes grumpy and sedate during the long PNW winters, but is at her liveliest and best during the summer. Boy, talk about seasonal affective disorder.
  
  
• Earth's Embrace: Becca is very literally connected to the earth. She must maintain direction contact with the earth for at least a few hours of her day, or risk growing ill. In a pinch this can literally be a pocket full of dirt if she's traveling, but this is a bandaid at best. Her work as a gardener means this sort of connection is easy to maintain. If she does not maintain this direct contact she begins to weaken and lose access to her more potent abilities and conditions.
  
  
• Iron Bark: An Epimeliad, and any sort of dryad or nymph for that matter, is exceptionally hardy and physically tough, while still possessing soft and warm human flesh. For Becca, this means her skin is at once as hard and protective as tree bark, her bones sturdy as heartwood and her muscles and tendons resinous and impossibly supple. She's several factors stronger than a normal human woman her size and shape. However, dryads and the like are not born but made, at least nowadays. Because of this Becca subconsciously chooses between her protective and her human traits as the situation warrants. She heals faster than normal, maybe twice as fast as a normal human.
  
  
• Grove (or Flock) Communication: To say that Becca can talk to plants is an outright lie. Plants can't talk, after all! But she can communicate with them easily. Her ease of communication is reliant entirely on the type of plant: trees and perennials are easily spoken with with a dose of patience, while flashy annuals are go-go-go levels of speedy; don't even ask about those chatty houseplants and tropicals, Becca can barely get a word in edgewise. Becca can also communicate with sheep and goats, but on a far more basic level.
  
  
• Tree Form: Becca rarely takes this appearance on. It is saved for moments of true isolation or during her quarterly visits with the council in Olypmia. The form is described above in her physical description. It takes her several hours to transition into or out of this form and it leaves her completely defenseless. The best way to permanently kill an Epimeliad is to chop them down when they're in their tree form, as the damage they sustain is irreparable and they are unable to defend themselves.