Application for repose Character Info; Town Opening: Assistant Medical Examiner Housing: One of the Old Houses Character Journal name: ~sombria | sombria Character Name: Sylvie Murphy Character Age: 26 Character Played By: Aubrey Plaza - http://i.imgur.com/n6Wrnkh.jpg
Character Personality & History: The only thing gift that Sylvie ever received from her mother was the name she was given on the day she was born. The pregnancy had been difficult on the woman, childbirth even more so, and only three hours after Sylvie came crying into the world, her mother passed away. So it was left on her father, the head of the Murphy household, to take the infant into his household despite the cold stare that his wife gave him. Another bastard child to join the ranks of the Murphy family, darker than her siblings, it was quite clear that she wasn't a pureblood.
Being different from her siblings (or rather, half-siblings) never seemed to bother Sylvie in the slightest. She did her own thing and was her own person, regardless of whether what she liked or wanted was in line with the standards of anyone else around her. "Different" was the word attached to her, whether it was by her father in a voice that bordered on fond, or from her stepmother in a tone that could only be called condescending. But labels didn't bother Sylvie, nothing really seemed to bother Sylvie when it came down to it, but that didn't mean she was decidedly easy-going. No, Sylvie edged towards a mercurial temperament, and it was difficult to judge how she'd be on any given day.
So there might have been a sigh of relief when she was sent off to boarding school the fall after she turned eight. Sylvie certainly did miss her family (or rather, her room and the nannies that were in charge of taking care of the children), but she settled in quite easily at school. Friends were made, classes were attended, and while she wasn't the best academically, she found her a comfortable place right around 'average'. Summers were spent at home, holed up in her room as much as possible, making her way through the books that filled the shelves of the family library, trying to make time pass as fast as possible before she could return to school and to the people that had become more of a family than her biological ones.
Her group of friends at school was definitely a misfit little band of characters. It wasn't that they were outcasts, per se, just people who didn't really fit in with the other groups that formed throughout the grades. None of them were particularly interested in trying to change themselves to fit in with everyone else, instead more interested in embracing the things that made them different. And for Sylvie, that was an interest in the macabre. True crime novels, stories about infamous serial killers, the dark things that lurked beneath the bright and shiny surface of the everyday world, those were the things that Sylvie found fascinating. It wasn't that she idolized the killers or had those kind of inclinations herself, but she found the psychology behind it fascinating. What made these people tick? What made them do what they did? Why did they do it?
This fascination led to a burgeoning interest in biology, in human anatomy. The dissection labs were among her favorites, gleefully cutting in and identifying the major organs of the fetal pig they had been given whilst the rest of her classmates recoiled in horror. It wasn't gross or disgusting to her; she wanted to see what was there, what made these creatures tick.
There was some urging of her school counselor (and her father, for that matter) to take this interest into the field of medicine. She had the interest, if not the grades, to succeed, they told her. But Sylvie had no real inclination to become a doctor, or at least not the traditional sort. During her first year of university, she found the route that she wanted to take: Forensic Pathology. The perfect mix of the macabre and anatomy for her.
Her grades weren't the best, but the desire to succeed (a Murphy trait that even she had to admit to) was definitely there. For her, it wasn't about earning her doctorate (though having those letters after her name was definitely a bonus), but about satisfying that curiosity that had gripped her for so many years. Hard work put her through school, and it was eventually in the United States that she earned the doctorate that she was actually kinda proud of. She had just started her internship with the Coroner's Office in Miami, FL, when the hotel snatched her up.
Sylvie didn't come into the fold in the traditional way, no. It was two months ago that it happened, two months spent living deep in the Southwest, on a little ranch miles from any other building. And it was there that Sylvie's life changed in a most permanent way.
She didn't know his name, didn't know who he was or what he was capable of, only that he offered her a place to sleep when she had nowhere else to go. Charming and handsome in a way that she found particularly appealing, it was difficult (if not impossible) to say no. And when he asked for her gratitude for the help he had offered, she couldn't say no.
Several days passed before she woke again, the gap between filled with nightmares of pain that she didn't fully understand and a hunger that left her worried and confused. The hunger grew until her entire body ached, and it was then that he returned, then that he explained the change that had overcome her.
It felt like some strange dream, the explanation that he offered, but perhaps life had somewhat led her to this point, had prepared her without even knowing what would happen. No matter the explanation, Sylvie took to the new darkness that had gripped her quite easily. She was an eager student under her tutor's wing, and though his visits were few and far in between, Sylvie felt no anxiety in the solitude she kept in the small flat he had given her access to. The world was different, old, but comfortable in a strange way. But comfort didn't mean this was the sort of place she wanted to stay forever. There was still a desire to return home, and whether this was actually real or some sick fever dream, it didn't stop Sylvie from trying.
The urge to leave happened on a Friday, just before sunrise. The curtains were drawn, the door was locked, and she was alone. With the hunger still gnawing at her, she made the decision to leave. Without a note left for her maker, Sylvie packed her bags and headed out on foot.
There was hitchhiking and a lot of walking, but Sylvie eventually found her way to New York City. A flat in Brooklyn and a job at the OCME (night shift, of course), and Sylvie was settled faster than should have been possible.
Sylvie is a person who is difficult to pin down into any one category. More comfortable with the dead than she is the living, her social skills are, at best, strange and difficult. Despite being an average student in school, she is surprisingly intelligent in the areas that she has the most interest in, namely death and everything that goes along with it.
Even before she was turned, she was very much a night-owl. Late nights spent in coffee shops or the library, or the occasional night spent out dancing with her small group of friends. Most of her days are spent inside, every window in her studio blocked off by black panels to keep out the sunlight. She does, however, have a cat, Luna to keep her company.
Sylvie has never been very close to her other siblings, the breaks between years at school spent mostly locked up in her room, so finding any of them here will be the biggest of surprises, especially considering she had largely fallen out of contact with her family since entering medical school in the states.
Update: New York wasn't that much of an adventure for Sylvie. There was family, there were snacks, and she was even a little bit social time stuck in there somewhere. But mostly, it was an experience. City life wasn't for her, she figured that out, so her bags got packed and she headed for the center of the country.
Repose was quiet. Small. Completely unlike New York. But Sylvie, she liked it. She particularly liked the abandoned house she found for sale in the woods. It was secluded and decidedly creepy, and its shabbiness didn't deter her in the slightest. She still had her secrets, after all, and keeping them would be easier in the woods than smack dab in the middle of town, small as the town was.
So she started fixing things up, if anything to keep the rain off her head, and she found a job as the Assistant Medical Examiner in town. Odd hours, an odd house, and Luna at her side, Sylvie was unafraid of whatever came next.
Town Connections;
Snackfood: That vampire thing? Yeah, it's still here. No, Sylvie doesn't talk about it. But finding a willing snack would be a great alternative to cold blood and animals. Family: The siblings. Many and varied. Colleagues: Work friends. There's got to be some of them.