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[indispensabilis]

Content Warning: This character deals really explicitly with abuse by a narcissistic parental figure. Opt-out post.

Player Information
Name: Vee
Age: 30
Contact: PM
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information
Name: William James Henry (Will Henry)
Canon: The Monstrumologist
Canon Point: End of Isle of Blood
Age: 15
History: Wiki

Will Henry is the son of James Henry, the assistant to the monstrumologst, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop. When James is infected by a particular parasite while in the line of duty, he and his wife die in a fire related to it. At age 11, Will Henry is left orphaned, also infected, and in the care of Dr. Warthrop.

In his father, the parasite caused spontaneous combustion after weeks of illness and painful sores. In Will, the colony stabilizes, instead granting him 'immortality'. It's claimed he lived to be over a hundred years old, retaining his youth for decades. That doesn't really matter.

Living in the care of Dr. Warthrop is cold. The doctor is neglectful in his depressions and emotionally abusive in his mania. His mood swings revolve around how important to the world he feels at any given time, and what makes him feel most important of all is the study of monstrumology. This is the study of 'aberrant biology', aka the real and biologically fascinating monsters of the world. He enlists Will Henry as his errand boy and general assistant in dissecting them in the basement.

Sometimes they go afield to hunt and research these dangerous creatures. Their 'adventures' are grim, and mostly leave a trail of dead bodies behind them.

Have a few book synopses.

Personality:

Will Henry has been persistently ground down by his time with Dr. Warthrop.

There's the surface level of actual physical loss, Will Henry is repeatedly and sometimes grieviously injured in the line of duty. He is missing a finger on his right hand, which was presonally and decisively removed by Warthrop to prevent the spread of infection. There's also the reality that Warthrop doesn't cook, fires all the hired help, and often leaves Will Henry to fend for himself for basic necessities. Will Henry is often observed to be small and underweight for his age.

And then there's the longterm emotional abuse. Warthrop vacillates between brief and intense moments valuing Will Henry's loyalty to him deeply and then to completely ignoring his presence. Even when he does acknowledge Will Henry, it's often to impatiently order the boy around like a servant and relentlessly insulting his intelligence and capability. He uses Will Henry as a dumping ground for his personal emotional problems, and of the two of them Will Henry is forced to be the caretaker and adult to all of Warthrop's physical and emotional needs. Warthrop's needs always come first, and he doesn't consider Will Henry's at all.

While having put all the responsibility on Will Henry's shoulders, demanded his loyalty, and constantly challenged him to prove himself worthy of being there -- Warthrop also doesn't bother to hide he is conflicted about having taken the orphan in. He offers or implies to send Will Henry away repeatedly, and actually abandons him in New York during Isle of Blood. Will Henry is terrified of losing him, resentful of him, and constantly trying to earn the doctor's acceptance and approval; as it's the only thing that connects him to his own dead father.

Will Henry has forgotten how to be a child and how to love himself. He rarely understands his own emotions and doesn't emote outwardly either. He's definitely engaged a defense mechanism against Warthrop where he mostly ignores what he's feeling whenever possible; until it explodes out of him in a frustrated rage. He can also be petulantly stubborn when uncomfortable in a situation, unable to articulate his discomfort and thus preferring to just shut down.

He walks on eggshells and expects the worst, or doesn't know what to expect from a situation at all. After the death of his parents, Warthrop never sent him back to school. Will has a careful set of manners, but he's not socialized. He doesn't know how to talk to people.

He finds himself increasingly toxic, as he's killed both man and beast on the doctor's behalf before the age of 16. He sees his own stains as preserving the doctor's integrity, and the doctor warns him not to spread his parasitic infection to other-- it can kill them like it killed his parents. So even as Will Henry becomes interested in girls and adulthood, there's a barrier of his own tainted existence that leads always back to Warthrop.

Alone with Warthrop, Will Henry can also only take on some of the man's toxic traits. He brushes people off with the doctor's casual attitude, and doesn't like feeling or being shown to be stupid, so he'll bluff his way through with a know it all attitude.

Will Henry's sense of personal identity and empathy fracture throughout the books. He'll do absolutely anything to protect the doctor, but there's no one protecting him. There's a hole in him, carved out by a narcissistic parental figure, that can never be filled nor satisfied.

Abilities & Skills: Knows a bunch of esoteric garbage, current events & pop culture of the late 1800s, and some poetry but is actually under-educated for his age. Knows some weird bits and bobs about anatomy and medical science. Knows how to handle a gun. Sort've knows how to survive in the wilderness, even while starving. Can build a fire.

Inventory/Companions: His clothes, his hat, his journal.

Choice: Dragon, Naga, Chimera
Reason: Ouroboros / a great black snake is hugely symbolic within the canon. It's representative of the cycle of abuse throughout the ages and how Warthrop always feared that he would become like his father, while also turning Will Henry into himself. Eventually it's a symbol of the pain Will Henry now holds and is inflicting on others. I think Dragon really fits the canon and the theme, but I wouldn't sniff at still getting my snake on a different way.

Sample:
* TDM
* Quote Meme