metemmods

Player Information
» Name: bri
» Date of Birth: 2/2/76
» Journal:

longwalks
» Contact: counselorbri@gmail.com

Deity Information
» Pantheon: Greek
» Deity: Adonis
» Reference: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/adonis.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonis
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/AphroditeLoves2.html#Adonis
http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/A/Adonis.html
» Divine Family: Myrrha and Theias {mother & father/grandfather}; Aphrodite, Persephone, Apollo {significant paramours}; Beroe {daughter, by Aphrodite}
» Mythology:

Adonis was mortal, though the events of his life, from birth to death and all inbetween, were quite extraordinary. He was conceived out of a union between Myrrha, his mother, and her father, Theias, King of Assyria. Myrrha had a desire for her father, and was convinced by Aphrodite to seduce him in disguise. When her father learned of her trickery, he was enraged to the point of wanting to kill her. Myrrha fled and cried out to the gods for help, so Aphrodite turned her into a myrrh tree to hide her. When Theias shot the tree with an arrow, the tree split open and the baby Adonis came forth.

When Adonis was born, Aphrodite was so struck by his beauty that she took him and put him temporarily into Persephone's care. When Aphrodite returned for the child, Persephone refused to give him up. The dispute between Aphrodite and Persephone was settled by Zeus, who decreed he child spend a third of the year with each goddess, then he last third with whichever of he two he chose. Adonis did so, though he always elected to spend the remainder of his time with Aphrodite. When he was grown, Aphrodite took him for a lover and bore him a daughter, Beroe. The young man's beauty was much renowned and sought after by many. Heracles is said to have been a rival of Aphrodite for Adonis's affections, and in retaliation, Aphrodite helped teach one of Heracles's foes how to ensnare him. For a time, Apollo, who was as fond of the beautiful young men as he was the women, took on Adonis as a lover. Beroe, the daughter of Aphrodite and Adonis, was also known for her beauty. Poseidon and Dionysus were both said to have tried to woo Beroe.

Adonis eventually was killed by a wild boar while hunting it. The boar was sent by the gods, though there is much speculation about which god it had been. Artemis begrudged Adonis for his hunting skills. Ares, Aphrodite's lover, may have been jealous. Any number of gods with grudges or jealousies over Adonis's lovers could have been suspect. A rose grew from each drop of his blood that was spilled. Even after his death, both Aphrodite and Persephone argued to have him in his afterlife. Zeus granted them each six months with him, the summers with Aphrodite and the winters with Persephone.

Character Information
» Played By: Taylor Kitsch
» Journal:

originaladonis
» Current Name: Benjamin Arthur Upshur
» Birthdate: 03/05/1986
» Height: 6'
» Distinguishing Marks: Medium-length light brown hair that gets a slight coppery look to it when sunned. He's an adonis, The Adonis. He possesses a striking attractiveness that demands notice from others.
» Family: Harold and Lynette Upshur {mother & father}; {marital status/spouse} Single; Harold, Gail, Lawerence, Maggie {siblings}; None {children}; None {pets}
» Occupation: Vice President of Guest Services, Luxe Resorts International, Inc.
» Currently Residing In: Ben's main residence is a penthouse apartment in Austin, Texas though he's rarely there.
» Ability:

Striking Beauty - Ben makes heads turn. He's benefited from the halo effect throughout his life, getting opportunities that others wouldn't based on his appearance. His appearance takes minimal effort on his part, it comes naturally.

Green Thumb - Ben has a way with plants, they thrive under his care.

Hunting Skills - Ben is a gifted hunter. He is an excellent shot with a bow or a rifle.

» History:

Ben has had a few previous reincarnations.

Rudolphus. Born in 1198 in Germany. Took part in the Children's Crusade. He and others boarded a boat in Italy that was said to be headed for the Holy Land. It was actually sailing to Tunisia to sell the lot of them into slavery, but the boat sank in a storm at sea and all aboard perished.

Quauhtli. Born in 1477 in Mexico. Quauhtli was a handsome young man chosen for the honor of being a sacrifice to the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. As was tradition, he was dressed and painted up as the god and celebrated for a month beforehand, during which time he was given four beautiful women to have. At the end of the month, there was a feast, then Quauhtli ascended the pyramid and allowed himself to be sacrificed by the priests and his heart extracted.

Ambroise Paré. Born in 1646 in France, son of courtiers. A talented hunter, but his looks earned him a reputation as a favorite among the resident artists and a muse for many a musician. He became reacquainted with a reincarnated Apollo for a couple of years before his untimely death at a feast at the age of 19.

Hugh Maddox. Born in late 18th century England. Hugh was a young soldier. He met a reincarnation of Aphrodite and spent as much time in her company as he could, possibly being a father to one of her children. He was killed in a fall from a high wall.

Benjamin Arthur Upshur. Born in 1986 in Texas. Ben was born the fourth of five children to a wealthy Texas businessman and his wife. By the time Ben came along, his parents' marriage was already near an end. They had been ready to split, but felt compelled to stay together after Ben was born. When his mother became pregnant again a couple of years later, it led to more fights between them, and this time his parents did split, the children all going with their mother. They weren't a burden to her, as between alimony and child support, she was still very wealthy and was able to employ a full staff of people to care for the children.

Ben never wanted for anything, not even for attention. He got more attention than his other siblings ever did, though he himself always felt partial to his younger sister, since his older siblings seemed to not care for either or the youngest two. Ben was seen by his parents and others to be a bright, attentive, and happy child. He was good at getting his way, and often used that to his and his sister's benefit.

Vacations were Ben's favorite growing up, as that meant more time with his parents. He and his siblings would be taken to resorts all around the world by his mother and treated like royalty. With his father, they would be taken to lodges in exotic locales, and taught to shoot and hunt. They were pampered at home as well, in the most exclusive private schools and given all they wanted in way of material things. Ben did okay with school. He didn't dislike it and was quite popular throughout it. His grades were good and his teachers weren't immune to his charms, so that helped some too.

Ben played sports, football through middle school and baseball into high school. He was hardly ever without a girlfriend in high school and was the focus of some amount of high school drama as he'd had girls fighting over him more than once. Ben went to college, getting into MIT (due as much to glowing references and an excellent interview as to his actual grades). Ben thrived socially in college, joining a fraternity. His grades remained good enough to keep him attending there, but only just barely.

Ben had taken an internship with a resort he would stay at with his family in Barbados. The internship went so well that he was offered a job. Ben seemed to be a natural at hospitality and was quickly promoted up in his new job. He hired his younger sister on as his executive assistant. The pair of them travel much for work, between the various resorts. At 27, Ben is by far the youngest v.p. in the company.

» Personality:

Ben is charismatic and friendly. He enjoys meeting new people. He has a way of putting people at ease, and making them feel like they are a part of something. Even people who don't want to like him for whatever reason can't bring themselves to hate him. Though a people person, Ben isn't always the most intuitive person ever. He tends to be more focused on what's immediately happening in his own situation and sometimes won't catch on right away if someone is in need of something. Ben responds best to direct communication about issues.

Ben is a bit of a playboy, not one for relationships, would rather have fun with no strings attached. He tends to have flings wherever he's at, and even workplace hookups have not been an uncommon thing for him. Relationships are messy in his experience, and cause more trouble than they're worth. He doesn't rule out relationships, but he hasn't had one since he was in high school.

Ben's moods fluctuate with the seasons. He is at his best in the summertime, lively and energetic and social. During the winter, Ben is more subdued, more lethargic, keeps to himself more. He still functions in winter, but it doesn't come naturally and takes much effort on his part. The change in him with the seasons is most evident with his sleep schedule, as he'll easily sleep two to three hours more a night in the winter than he will in the summer.

One weakness of Ben's is that he doesn't do independence that well. He doesn't see it that way, but his sister takes care of a lot of the more mundane details of his life for him. Even in his original life, he always had someone taking care of him, whether it was Aphrodite or Persephone. He isn't very tidy. He's never really learned to clean up after himself, as he's always had someone to do that for him. He's got some weaknesses when it comes to organization and scheduling, but his sister more than makes up for his deficits.

Ben is a very good 'big idea' person, and is pretty good at successfully implementing his ideas as well. He has a good sense of 'feng shui'. He is very creative when it comes to his work.

» Other Notes:

Ben depends heavily on his younger sister Maggie, who is 25. She was born 12/14/87, so she is just shy of two years younger than him. She's his executive assistant at work and goes above and beyond in her work, tending to take care of his personal life as well. She pays his bills, sends his laundry out, hires and fires his other help, even helps deal with his phone messages and emails. Maggie is also the language person of the two of them, speaking Spanish and some French, whereas Ben only knows English and not enough Spanish or French to get by on. Though Maggie has the family good looks and is fairly tall too, standing at 5'9". She's much more serious than her older brother and not prone to playing around the way he does. PB: Torrey DeVitto

Though he's close with Maggie, he's not as close with the rest of his family. He sees his other siblings and father once every few months. He's still fairly close with his mother, seeing her a little more often and speaking with her on the phone weekly.

Ben enjoys sports, both playing and watching. He has trouble keeping up with sports teams because of work and travel, but he tries. He gets sports score updates on his devices and tries to tune in to ESPN when he's able.

Ben is a 2 on the Kinsey Scale. In this current life, he has only been with women. He has had past-life dreams of his homosexual exploits. He can see other men as attractive, but has never acted on that attraction in this life.

» Sample Journal:
I think this has been the most stressful trip to Jamaica ever. There were a lot of issues to work through with the hospitality staff here, but we've gotten through it all well, I think. Now it's time to look ahead to my next stop. I'm all packed for Antigua. I'll be there for two weeks, then off to Fiji. I should be back home to Texas after that, finally, but probably only for a few days.

[Maggie]

Hey Mags,

What's the name of that girl in Antigua again? The one who worked the big poolside bar? She had the really long black hair in a braid? ~~I never called her after last time.~~

» Sample Log:

Ben felt the warm breeze against his back, blowing his hair forward. He was leaning forward in his deck chair, bringing his smoothie glass back up to his lips for another sip. It was their last day in Barbados, they would be leaving in the late afternoon. Ben looked across the table at his sister, who despite looking very nice in a white dress and straw sun hat, had an expression on her face that was all business.

"We have to discuss the itinerary now? It's still morning." He knew that look she'd just given him and amended himself, smiling sheepishly. "Technically. It is morning. It's not noon yet. And our business here is officially finished, so I'm allowed to sleep in. It was a late night last night. I lost track of you after the show. Where'd you go off to?"

"Bed. Like any sane person." Her tone was scolding, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. She took a sip of her own smoothie. "You will remember her name this time, right?"

"Of course I'll remember her name. Heidi."

"Hilde."

"Hilde. That's what I said." He flashed her a grin. "I'll give her a call in a couple of days." He always said it, but rarely actually did it. "So what's on the schedule for tonight? We're not actually doing anything tonight once we get into Puerto Rico, right? We'll be getting there pretty late."

"Not that late. And it's not like you'd be going right to bed anyway. But the answer's no. Nothing tonight. But you'll have to be ready to go with your presentation for the staff meeting first thing in the morning, so make sure to get some rest."

"Oh, I'll be fine", he told her.

NAVIGATION