Post by Paisley Amelia McIntyre on May 4, 2013 11:07:04 GMT -5
PAISLEY AMELIA MCINTYRE
FULL NAME: Paisley Amelia McIntyre.
NICKNAMES: Lee, Pai.
AGE: twenty-six
SEXUALITY: straight
STATUS: single
GROUP: citizen
GRADE: N/A
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: English Literature professor!
HAIR: Blonde, long and usually styled with a slight wave in it if she’s not tied it up for the day. She goes through phases with her hair and sometimes dyes it dark too. She’s kept it long most of her life though and doesn’t plan on changing that.
EYES: Blue.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: She has seven that are noticeable, but fading quickly. She had moles removed last summer after her doctor advised it, but really not many people comment on them; she’s lucky they’re mostly hidden away usually.
TATTOOS: She has a flower on her left wrist that she’s had since she was a teenager.
PIERCINGS: Ears once!
PLAY-BY: Jennifer Morrison!
LIKES: walks in the forest, reading, old books, libraries, indie-folk music, cinnamon, the holidays, Shakespeare, classic literature, strong female characters, teaching, writing essays, picnics, fireplaces, dogs, the colour red, the ocean, long train journeys, talking with her mom, hiking, fairy tales, quiet bars, the theatre, vanilla candles, chocolate cake, throw pillows, learning new things, the idea of endless opportunities and chances, dreams, the smell of gingerbread, fencing, pepperoni pizza, poker games, coffee, star gazing, mayonnaise, baking bread, white wine, beer, long bubble baths, old movies, chatting with her students.
DISLIKES: failing a student, having problems with students in general, rats, feeling trapped, carrot sticks, action movies, how depressing the news is, wearing too much black, when people don’t listen, feeling homesick, her car breaking down, arguing with people, earthquakes, feeling stressed, boredom, cold coffee, lemon juice, the flu, Kindles, movie adaptions of good books, people who don’t pay attention, losing her keys, wasps, honey, skimpy outfits, falling over, social pressure, breaking things, book critics, obnoxious people, feeling threatened, dirty windows, closed minded students, sleazy guys, hospitals, bullies.
FEARS: Getting trapped in a life she doesn’t want, failing herself, china dolls.
SECRETS: She was engaged to be married and called the whole thing off just a month before the big day.
PERSONAILTY: One of Paisley’s more noticeable qualities is her tough love approach to life. She’s helpful and caring but at the same time won’t tiptoe around someone and give them unnecessary sympathy if she doesn’t think they need it – this can sometimes come across as a little cruel but Paisley believes that everyone should deal with their lives and if they want a change then it’s up to the individual to change it; sitting around and crying will not help. She’s strong-willed and determined and refuses to let anyone keep her back from achieving her dreams now. She’s also got a curious mind and loves to read and learn more. Paisley is friendly and able to hold a conversation with most people but start arguing with her and she’ll shut you down almost immediately; she has better ways to spend her time. However, she can’t stand bullies and will always play the role of defender if she has to, even if she doesn’t know the person. As a teacher, Paisley does have her peeves. She’s not afraid to embarrass a student if they have their phone out in class, decide to take a nap or mumble something negative about the course. As an open-minded person, she will listen to anyone’s point and turn it into a friendly discussion if she can, but she has no time for people who take her class thinking that it’s an easy grade. She’s educated, working hard to get her doctorate, but she doesn’t boast about it; in fact, she’s rather modest. She’s a strong woman who believes that women shouldn’t be some damsel in distress and she doesn’t have time for petty dramas and much prefers to lose herself in a good book than go out to the cinema to gawp at the latest Hollywood hunk. Lee is very outdoorsy and would happily spend all of her days amongst the trees and hiding away or hiking far away from the city lifestyle she is fond of. She’s bookish and keeps to herself about her personal life most of the time, but she’s around for friends with advice and guidance if they ever need it from her. She likes to build a good rapport with her students so much that she can have a casual conversation with them if she bumps into them in the city; she might be their professor, but she’s the one who will come out with the colourful language and say the unspoken thoughts of the kids in her class, usually resulting in a few slacked jaws from her freshmen. Paisley is direct and won’t let someone push the blame onto another if they are at fault; herself included. She can be serious but only if the need calls for it; in class she’s usually game for some fun and laughs while she teaches, but she can turn on a student or two if they’re failing or wasting time. Paisley can be quite homely too and since she’s always been close to her mom, there are a few habits that have been passed down from that generation to her own and these come through especially around the holidays or when she’s feeling homesick. Paisley’s downfall is her pride; sometimes she struggles to see the difference between a kind gesture and someone thinking she’s weak. It’s always been her biggest fault and she is aware of it, but that doesn’t mean she’s about to apologise for it straight away either. For a smart girl, she can be stubborn as hell and sometimes it takes her nearest and dearest to make her see a bit of sense. She’s a bit of a romantic but tends to play that off and keep her no-nonsense exterior up around men. She’s not a big one on opening up her heart to others, but the right guy might just convince her otherwise.!
MOTHER: Alice Marie Scott, 50.
FATHER: Walter James McIntyre, 58.
SIBLINGS: None she's aware of.
OTHERS: Josh Carter Hummel, 59, the father figure in Paisley’s life.
Anthony David Greene, 29, ex-fiancé.
PETS: Blitzen, Alaskan Malamute.
HOMETOWN: Mill Valley, California
HISTORY: Walter and Alice met over a hot Californian summer. Their romance was built on promises and dreams, but when Alice fell pregnant it seemed like most of those things would never come true. When Paisley was born, times were tough and Walter worked two jobs and spent more time arguing with his girlfriend than he probably should have done. By the time Paisley was two, Walter was gone.
Alice worked in a local diner and the owner, Josh Hummel, had known the single mom since she was still a teenager, so on the days when getting a sitter was impossible, he didn’t mind at all if Alice brought the smiling toddler into work. She would sit in the office with Josh and occupy herself with games and as she got older the chefs and other waiters and waitresses would help keep her busy and treat her to “test” the new dishes they were offering; she was also a dab hand at a game of poker by the time she was eleven thanks to the chefs. She never saw her dad again after he walked out on them and no one in the town had any clue where he had gone to. Paisley had no paternal family that she knew of so for the most part it really was just her, her mom and the family she had in the diner staff.
She had a close relationship with her mom for as long as she could remember. They didn’t have a lot of money and their house was only small, but Alice found a way to make it work. On her days off she would take Paisley into the forest for picnics or to the library to pick out books for the week ahead. They may not have had much, but Alice had a vivid imagination and Paisley heard tales and stories about all kinds of lands and people from her mom before bedtime each night. She was a little girl who didn’t need money to be happy and if she didn’t have the latest toy or the fastest bike then it was fine, because she had her mom who would take her down to the beach or into the forests to camp and pretend to live in some fantasy kingdom. It was a childhood Paisley looked back fondly on.
As she got older, she spent a little more of her time at the diner, heading there straight from school when her mom was working and doing her homework in one of the booths, getting milkshakes and help from whoever was around, although Josh usually took some time out to check over everything and make sure that Paisley was doing okay. She had the usually teasing that came with school, but Paisley also had a voice and used it without hesitation until the bullies finally grew bored of trying to put the little girl down and failing each time. Paisley inherited the vivid imagination and love for books from Alice and English was by far her strongest subject, but she made good grades in the rest of her studies too, getting help from the chefs and Josh when there was a topic she couldn’t quite wrap her head around and her mom was clueless. Josh became the father figure in her life and Paisley loved him as one, since she couldn’t vividly remember her biological dad.
As soon as she was old enough, Paisley got a job at the same diner where her mom worked. It might have been the easiest solution, but she wanted to be able to spend time on her school work and be able to save up money for college at the same time. Her passion for English only grew when she was in high school and if her nose wasn’t buried in a book then she was usually working. She had her friends too, but she didn’t like wasting her hard earned money on trips to the cinema to see movies she wasn’t really interested in and sometimes she had to make sacrifices for her future. She didn’t regret doing so and she still had her best friends who would hang at her house or the diner or who would drive down to the beach with her when they had the chance.
When it came to college, Paisley didn’t want to leave home and go across country like most of her friends. She was accepted into UC Berkeley to study English and with the assist of financial aid and the second hand car her mom and everyone at the diner bought her for her eighteenth birthday, Paisley found the commute easy enough and it was soothing on some degree too. She still kept her job at the diner and took up another job at a hotel as the night receptionist. It was exhausting to keep on top of it all, but it was what she had to do to chase her dreams and Paisley will still say today that it was worth it all.
It was at this second job that she met Anthony Greene. He was one of the barmen at the hotel and a few years older than the young and slightly naïve Paisley. He was a good guy though and their friendship blossomed into a relationship in hardly any time at all. He was a graduate applying to law schools in the hopes of becoming a top defence attorney someday, like his dad. Paisley was completely head over heels for him and it didn’t take long before she was envisioning forever with him in it. Still, her studies came first though and Josh still didn’t like the idea of his “little girl” seeing a guy none of them knew about, which meant she had to squeeze an introduction in there somewhere too.
Paisley wasn’t satisfied when she graduated nearly the top of her class though and with the aid of a scholarship she returned to Berkeley for graduate school. Taking her love for English to the next level seemed to be a great idea and everyone supported her if it was what she wanted. Paisley was almost done with her Masters when Anthony fell down on bended knee after nearly five years of dating to ask Paisley to marry him. She said yes and thought that life couldn’t get much better…but it did. She was accepted back at Berkeley to do her doctorate and while it brought more hard work, Anthony talked her into cutting down her hours at the diner and quitting the hotel altogether. He had his first job with a good law company and his family had enough money if they needed it.
For a while things were great and then Alice had a heart attack. She survived, but she needed to rest and with that, Paisley began to take on more responsibilities again; working longer, spending most of her nights doing her work for Berkeley and the days spent earning money at the diner. Josh offered to lend the family money, hell he even offered just to give them it, but Paisley was proud and needed to do this herself, but she didn’t complain too much when she caught him slipping a few extra notes in with her tips at the end of a shift. Anthony was there for her, but kept reminding her that she had him to take care of things and that included her mom’s medical bills. At first, Paisley didn’t know what it was but she was uncomfortable with it.
Alice made a full recovery and was soon back at work but taking it easy. Paisley, close to getting her doctorate, began letting Anthony’s mom talk weddings. Eventually it was planned for the following summer; Paisley would be 25 and her schooling would be out of the way. She went along with the plans of her “mother-in-law” and found a dress and sent out the invitations…everything. All the time though, there was something niggling at the back of her mind and she couldn’t work it out. Anthony had a house picked out for them in Mill Valley and spoke about how keen he was to start a family. Paisley wanted kids too, had always dreamed of treating her own children to the same adventures her mom had given to her, but still something wasn’t right.
About a month before the wedding, Anthony’s parents hosted a party for the couple and there was a distinct difference between the company invited by the bride and the groom. Mostly Anthony’s father had invited clients and people of power and his mom had the women who came to her book club and who had some sway in the town. Anthony had his friends from college and work, but they all seemed different now they had their careers and money. Paisley had her mom, old friends and the people she had known her whole life. It was too much for the twenty five year old and she excused herself, making her way outside and finding one of her secret retreats in the forest.
It was Josh who found her first, though her mom wasn’t far behind. Paisley had realised that she couldn’t be like the people in that house. If she married Anthony then that was it. The rest of her life would be as his wife and she wouldn’t get to do half of the things she longed to do. Children, events, housekeeping…it wasn’t her – at least not yet. She needed the adventures of her childhood back and the freedom that was being sucked from her with the wedding. She had loved Anthony when they first met, but now they were older and their lives were going in opposite directions; he had his dreams and she was still chasing hers. Both Josh and Alice told Paisley to do whatever felt right to her, but Josh added that if she did go ahead and marry Anthony that she wouldn’t see outside Mill Valley apart from summer vacation.
She felt sick and terrified when they approached the house again with both Josh and Alice holding her hands until she called Anthony away to talk privately with him. She felt awful doing what she was doing when there was just a month before the big day, but she explained to him that she couldn’t do it. He was hurt and angry, but Paisley tried to explain that his hopes for the future weren’t hers and that she had been clinging to their old spark in the hopes that it might work. It was the most painful thing Paisley had ever done, but once she was out of words she placed the ring on the table and walked from the room with her head held high and straight out of the front door.
It was the first time that Paisley’s name was on the lips of the Mill Valley residents, but she put on a brave face and fought through it, with her friends and diner family to fight for her when she needed them most. She had her doctorate and the world at her feet, but people couldn’t seem to see beyond the cruelty of what she had done. It was hard, for a little while, but one night when Paisley was cleaning down the tables for the night, Anthony showed up at the diner. He had spent some time thinking about what she had said and the last thing he wanted was for her to be unhappy. He wished she had come to her realisation a little sooner, but what was done was done.
The next day she and Alice pulled out a map of the country and stuck pins in all of the places Paisley wanted to go and see. Something about New York called to her and even though it was on the opposite side of the country there was something about the city that had the butterflies come alive in her stomach like she was going on her first date or something. Alice encouraged her daughter and with a little help from Josh they made it a reality. Between everyone at the diner they had been saving up some money for the wedding, thinking that Paisley could put it towards something after she changed her name, but now it had the purpose of setting a down payment on an apartment and funding the initial move to the big city.
Once there, Paisley found her calling in teaching and after proving herself to be suited to the job was handed a position at NYU as one of the English Literature professors. She still got homesick and paid plenty of trips home whenever she could, but it wasn’t long before the students recognised her around campus and she had built quite the reputation for herself at the university. She found a new kind of happiness in teaching and educating curious minds and loved her job. There were frequent calls home to her mom and to Josh and she still thanks them for getting her here, pretty sure that if it weren’t for them she’d be 26 and looking for a divorce.
Love isn’t something she’s willing to rush into again, but travelling and finding out the secrets of the city keep her busy when grading doesn’t. She’s making a home for herself in New York, but it will always be second in her heart to Mill Valley and the place where her story started!
YOUR ALIAS: KIM.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: On a journey to the centre of the earth.
SAMPLE:Follow the Alley-Kat
