character :: Evan Fletcher
Evan is the only son of Elizabeth and Benjamin, King and Queen of the Gold Region. His one sister, Ella, is his equal in birth alone: his twin couldn’t be more different from him. But despite these challenges, having the most detested and feared family name in the region – Evan has found himself a sanctuary. Or, rather, he’s built himself a sanctuary right into the hillside next to the Gold Mine that runs the country. Evan is a talented apothecarian, accomplished at a very young age with all of the intelligence of his father. His tonics, salves, and remedies are purchased by proxy far and wide – and with a family who wouldn’t care if he’d turned up dead, well, it’s Evan’s little sanctuary.
the things that can go wrong
This boy is smart, almost rivaling Benjamin in terms of intelligence. Evan knew from a very young age that the Fletcher name was dammed by his mother’s terrible actions: hopefully, his sister knew as well. She is a terrible woman responsible for countless deaths and the cruel and unusual punishment for treason: and these days, anything could be treason. Evan works among the peasants, obscured by his doctor’s mask – and the things he hears on a daily basis reaffirm everything he knew to be true on his own.
Elizabeth is a murderer. And somewhere out there, someone would be sure to set the record straight.
His father isn’t much better. Evan knows that Benjamin fears his mother: but any man worth his weight in gold would have fought back somehow. His father’s best friend was slain in cold blood, and there’s no looking past the cowardice and pure selfishness displayed by Benjamin to stay with a woman like that! And so, Evan turns to the affections of his sister in order to get through the day: it’s a shame that her head is buried so far up her own arse that she couldn’t care enough to see the truth. Whether Ella is pretending to be stupid and so care-free doesn’t quite matter to Evan: she won’t talk to him about the reality of their situation. She might as well be a toddler, forever mucking things up in his workshop and threatening to tell mother on him. Secretly, he knows she never would…but it’s not even worth the effort to put time into building that bond. Evan is exhausted from birth of social obligations, it seems.
Evan spends his time and ample access to money into his late teenage years and early twenties repairing a small minority of the damage his parents have caused. He provides the peasants with healthcare that they can afford, treating mining injuries like scrapes, bumps, bruises, and burns during the summer. During the winter, colds, flus, and even plagues sweep the poor community – very likely due to improper sanitation – and Evan finds himself swamped during the holidays. All for the better, given that all of the grandeur and warmth of the season is a complete farce in the dysfunctional family.
One bitterly cold winter, Evan finds himself lost to his work and careless. Somehow, a young woman lands on the doorstep of his public practice with no signs of illness. No, the wild-haired woman wants something more from him: something he absolutely cannot provide. With an impassionate plea to throw his hand in to a revolution, a new and startling emotion sweeps over Evan: fear. If he were to throw in his abilities as a healer – which would come very in handy with any violent uprising – it would be against himself. But if he were to reject the woman’s offer, it would also arouse suspicion: also an option with deadly consequences.
and more for waiting.
Evan accepts Emma’s proposal, and begins midnight meetings with the girl and her brethren. Giovanni is a previous patient of his, young, built like a brick wall and armed with carefully-designed prosthetics. To his shock, Giovanni is the son of his father's late best friend and a disabled miner that Evan poured his time into at the time of her injury. Emma, as it turns out, is the scorned daughter of the Shaffer family: the rightful King and Queen that were overthrown many years ago. Gael and Fatima are a young, curious couple who likely plan to flee the Gold Region after the revolution, as they are not natives. Evan also has a keen eye out on an evesdropper, but doesn't pay the beggar much mind...for now. But the most shocking member of their ragtag group could see immediately beyond the darkened glass eyeholes of his plague mask: his very own sister.
Maybe Evan and Ella have more in common than they once thought? And with the help of some old revolutionaries, who knows…maybe it would be possible for order to be restored once more. But there’s a little catch: Evan knows his mother will never descend from the throne unless it were with a bullet between her greedy little eyes. No matter how much Evan hates her, how much he pities his father and pines for a normal life –
She is still his mother.
There’s no telling where this story may go. Evan’s only hope is that his sister has a bit more courage?
