Avery Driscoll
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Out of Character
Avery Fitzwilliam Driscoll was created 31 May, 2004 by Scout, as part of an Eton-based online roleplaying game, A Field Sable.
He is one of three characters who comprised Dirty Life during its creation. (The others are Jack Dickon and Jake Griffith.)
In Character
Image
Specifics
Full Name: Avery Fitzwilliam Driscoll
Nickname(s): Puppy, Pup, and cariad from Jack. Often 'beautiful' from Jake.
Species: Crazy Angel
Birthdate: 4 June, 1989
Birthplace: Shimla, India
Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa
Currently Resides: Cape Town, South Africa
Family: Mother, Claire Camden. Father, John Driscoll. Siblings, Jameson Driscoll, Elizabeth Driscoll, Adelaine Camden and Charles Camden. Adopted sister, Annabelle Dickon.
Sexuality: Gay
Relationship Status: Committed to Jake Griffith and Jack Dickon
Schooling: Constantia Waldorf School, Eton College, Regents Park Secondary School
Occupation: Violinist with the Cape Town Philharmonic.
Detailed Information
Physical Description
Avery stands about 5'6", has bright yellow-green eyes, thin, light (very light) brown hair that waves and curls and rebels against most forms of taming. He has a small nose with a long, lightly freckled bridge and eyes with an unhealthy, slightly wrinkled dark skin around them. It only looks unhealthy, however. His eyelashes are dark and long, and his eyes are wide. He expresses everything through them, whether he realizes it or not. (Such is the way of the angel.)
He now has a fairly strong jawline and cheeks that gives his formerly perpetually youthful appearance a more mature, adult one.
His time playing rugby blessed him with rather muscular, somewhat stocky legs and lean arms. He also has a bum to die for. And a bum knee.
But because he's an angel, he doesn't look his age, but a couple years younger.
Personal Information
Avery is a child prodigy, a musical savant with the ability to bring people to their knees with his violin. And not just by beating them down, either. He was admitted to Eton a year early due to his genius, and completed school by sixteen. However, don't expect him to flaunt any of his knowledge. He was exposed to many people who did during his time at Eton, and refuses to be like them. He wants to be normal. It's not hard.
(He also plays fiddle, piano and harpischord and has found an old piano accordion and will soon be taking out his musical abuse on that. Except for the day when he bought himself a brand new piano accordion and decided to abuse that one. And he's learning the theramin, which he got for his eighteenth birthday. And now also featuring a zither.)
He speaks fluent English and Afrikaans, both out of necessity, and is nearly-fluent in Xhosa. He also knows a fair bit of Latin, Greek, French and German, all learnt at school. Because of Jake becomming fluent in Italian, Avery picked it up out of boredom and immersion. He's a bit of a sponge when it comes to general knowledge.
As stated before, he also played rugby for a time, and despite his size, was quite good.
He hates tea and sort of tolerates coffee drinks to an extent. He enjoys anything meaty (well, he is South African) and, er, cross-dressing. He is an avid enthusiast of androgyny and can sometimes be found wearing skirts. Just because. He has a pair of bitch boots that go up to his knees and give him the height he won't ever have.
Avery is a bit of an eccentric, really. He likes telly and jelly beans (as long as Jake has eaten the black ones out first) and often has moments of extreme hyperactivity, followed by long hours of naps. There is no real way to predict him unless you are his family or his boyfriends. Because of his nature as a supreme Mummy's Boy, Avery can also be found having sleepovers in her room with as many people as he can find.
His personality is rather intense and intensely random. He is a bit of a brat, but this trait only manifests around his family, and he's incredibly spoilt, but generally doesn't act like he is (unless it's around his family). He may be incredibly gifted and an extreme genius, but most people wouldn't realize it just by carrying on a conversation with him. As stated, he's a sponge. Learning and knowledge aren't as interesting to him, and his common sense is sometimes debatable, so what he picks up is usually somewhat accidental (Italian, for example). He is tactful and kind, but when you get to know him, he tends to be rather tornado-like. He has a bunch of energy and tends to take it out on everyone around him. And on learning how to join the circus. Sometimes this energy is funneled into music, where he'll play his violin until everyone around him CRIES.
His personal style is as ecclectic as his personality. He's one of those thrift shop babies, the kind of people who roll around in a Salvation Army storage facility and come out looking very cute. He likes sweaters with patches and unmatched, buttondown shirts and beat up Vans/Chucks. You know exactly what I'm talking about. He also likes ties, but worn with things that don't exactly support wearing a tie (ie, t-shirts), and slightly-fitted jeans with patches and holes (he makes those himself; he doesn't buy deconstructed anything). Avery likes what is easy, and hates shopping, so having cheap, easy, comfortable-to-wear clothes is the best thing for him. (He also has an affinity for breeches--yes, old fashioned breeches.)
He had his childhood robbed from him, so in many ways he is now attempting to make up for it.
His current profession is violinist in the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recently he has taken up the strong desire to join the circus. He is a man of very man oddball talents, and the circus is his home.
Circus Checklist
- Juggling DONE
- One-handed juggling DONE
- Insanely complex jugging DONE
- Juggling involving fire DONE
- Walking on hands DONE
- Fire eating DONE
- Tight-rope walking MASTERING
- Acrobatics MASTERING
- Sword-swallowing
- Lion taming TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET A LION PAST HIS MUM
- Plate-spinning
- Uni-and-other-cycles DONE
- Slight-of-hand (he's got the magic already)
- To copy every interesting feat accomplished in the Guinness Book of World Records
Backstory
Avery Fitzwilliam Driscoll was born on the 4th of June, 1989, two months early while his parents were on holiday in Shimla, India. Named for his mother's maiden name and her deceased best friend, Avery remained under heavy care in a nearby hospital until he was strong enough to brave the long flight home to Cape Town, South Africa, where his mother's family has lived for about two hundred years.
His brother Jameson (James), who is two years younger but now nearly his height due to the luck of being born when he ought to, looks nearly the same, but has darker hair and a slightly darker complexion. His eyes are bright blue, like their mother's. Avery has his mother's eyes, too. Simply not the color. He also has a sister called Elizabeth, who is about six years younger and their polar opposite, with long, dark brown hair and very fair skin. And an evil streak to put most villians to shame.
His family is wealthy, both sides containing great sums of money and large fortunes, but his mother, Claire, is the heiress to a prominent jewelry fortune that is worth over ZAR 265,735,795,453 (or about £20,000,000,000). The Fitzwilliam diamonds are some of the best in the world, and as a result, they are often invited to attend red carpet events... half-way around the world. Needless to say, they are not a family who enjoys the spotlight, so they never attend.
Avery spent his childhood as many rich children do: having everything and doing everything. For the first three years of his life, Avery was unable to speak English. His nanny, a woman who spoke primarily Afrikaans, taught him her language as an infant, and he refused to change until he was bribed with biscuits for every try. His mother's family all speaks fluent Afrikaans, but they picked it up out of necessity, and the shock of having a son unable to properly communicate with the family, made his father, John, unsettled. He was fiercely protective of his golden boy, and fired the nanny. Claire was displeased by his overreaction, but began to stay home with her son, instead.
Never able to sit still or be quiet for very long, Claire put Avery in a variety of activites from the age of three and on. At three, he picked up the violin, and this became his most essential activity for over a decade. He was gifted and intelligent, a prodigy that his violin instructor absolutely delighted himself with. They paraded him about in small suits, giving him solos in front of packed audiences, occasions that never caused him to do so much as bat an eye. At four, he began piano, and later other things were added to the list, which included: vocal lessons (choir boy), rugby (age six--became pleasantly addicted), cricket (hated it), football (liked rugby more), painting (talented, but better at sketching--thought it was all boring), French (blah!), Latin (helped him at Eton!), German (too similar to Afrikaans), crew (not enough kicking), swimming (too wet), ballet (dad pulled him out after a solitary week--Avery was seven, and actually excited about it), hunting (with dad--sang to the animals and saved the rest), polo (too snobbish), archery (broke a window and was banned from ever doing it inside the house--but where was the fun if not aiming at his young sister?), chess (fell asleep) and riding (still does it on occasion, but found the jodhpurs to be absolutely uncomfortable).
In conclusion: Avery had done it all.
Meanwhile, he excelled at school, starting at age four, and made a great deal of friends, the least favorite of which was Isabella Rosalinda Bartholomew. Family friends, the Bartholomews were rich, and as is to be expected, not fully aware of the fact that there are, indeed, other people with other incomes (and sometime none at all) in the world. Isabella was a direct reflection of their ideals, and at ten, they were nearly engaged--under her strict orders. Avery took to putting frogs in her tea, but she grew accustomed to it and took her revenge by requiring Avery to wear a suit and tie whenever they socialized.
During his school years, Avery was rambunctious; the typical boy that any parent dreads having. His father, a lawyer, was often away on business trips and working all day long when he was in town. His mother taught at schools for poor children and spent much of her time in the ghettos. She brought Avery on occasion, and he made a few lovely friends. At times, his mother would arrange for schools in England to write to her students, and once, she paid for a trip so that they could all meet. She quit just three years after having her third, and final, child, Elizabeth (who goes by Bess), when Avery was nine. So Avery got quite a bit of free time with nannies and the help in the house not paying him much attention.
He broke his arm twice in barely five minutes' time. Also broke ribs and his nose, and various fingers and toes, during rugby games. He was notorious for ignoring the injuries and heading straight back in to play.
At age twelve, he was accepted into Eton College. His mother thought he was too young, and that the school was out of its mind for accepting him early, but they gave him a Junior Music Scholarship, and after much coaxing from John, Avery was sent to London in August of 2001 to stay with a family friend of Claire's, whose son was older but also attending Eton.
Frank, the son, became Avery's first boyfiend, just weeks after his arrival. Avery, at twelve, and Frank, at nearly sixteen, were not a match, but he was entranced by the older boy's tattoos, dyed hair and piercings, and Frank was entranced by Avery's purity. So he immediately set out to tarnish it, and their relationship became a whirlwind of drugs, sex and sneaking into clubs. Frank, a dealer, had enough connections to protect their entry.
On the first day of Eton, Avery met Jake, who was quiet and attractive. Avery, who was not paying attention when he first saw Jake, walked into a door and nearly broke his nose. He spent his first week at school with a delightful bruise and an even more attractive bandage. But all was made up for when he and Jake spoke after that first day, and Avery kissed him--just barely making it before Frank appeared and called him over. Jealousy was laced through his voice as he took Avery back, then fucked him without warning. Avery hated sex for a very long time--until Frank started to get him high.
The drugs and drinking increased. They would sneak out and sneak in and during the day, Avery played his music, did his prep work, and excelled at rugby. But he nearly died of overdosing at a party that Frank brought him to, and the boys hosting it, frightened that they would be in trouble for more than simply having drugs, shut him in a bedroom and panicked. Though no one saw, this is when Avery's angelic traits first appeared, bringing back from the very brink of death. The boys found him crouched in a corner, blue and cold to the touch.
But miraculously, after they finally took him to hospital, Avery's system was clean of any signs of drugs. There was visible damage, but there was absolutely no clue as to how it got there. Frank was free, and Avery went back to school.
As the year passed, Frank turned abusive, swearing at Avery and striking him on a number of occasions because Avery had started to grow more independant. His self-worth had shot to zero, and he lived his life afraid that any misstep could result in another bruise. Especially when he interacted with Jake.
Jake had been a problem to Frank from day one. As they studied together and laughed together and smoked together, Frank grew more and more suspicious. He had a right to think there was something between them, because there was. They kissed a few times, fell asleep together on other occasions, and found themselves obviously wanting more. Jake was wary of Frank, as was Avery, but one evening, they made the mistake of not only kissing, but snogging until they fell asleep together.
The next morning, very early, Avery fled into the winter chill, wearing Jake's clothes where he could find his own, and Frank caught him. Not only caught him, but attacked him, shoving him against the wall and punching him. Avery began to scream about his attraction to Jake, saying very graphic things, just to piss Frank off. This was the end of them, he knew it. But when Frank disappeared behind a shed, Avery made yet another mistake: he kept following. Frank came at him, hitting him in the knee with a cricket bat.
His knee shattered, Avery spent several days in hospital and a few months in a cast, crutches at hand. He told Jake that they could no longer see each other, that it was too dangerous. Because Frank wasn't out of their lives enough to prevent anything happenin to either of them. Devasted with his choice, Avery spent the rest of that year bitter and upset, but he took Frank back, anyway, and the end of their relationship began.
Two years of Frank was enough. At fourteen, Avery took the final step and dumped him, enraging Frank, though he did nothing. Avery wanted to grow, to meet other people and live the live he ought to be. His marks had suffered and he was out of rugby because of the injury. Music was all he had. Until Jack.
He had dreamt of Jack, of a brown-haired boy and his blonde-haired sister, though he never understood them. The dreams occurred amidst nightmares during the end of his relationship with Frank, and they were a comfort to him. But he never expected them to be real, though he once touched Jack and it certainly felt much more than a dream.
So when Jack walked into his class on the first day of his third year at Eton, he was astounded. The boy, whose name he learned that day, looked different. His hair was dyed black, there was make up around his dark green eyes, and he held himself with an arrogance that could have been dangerous--but mostly, it attracted everyone who looked at him. The swing of his lips, the carefully-placed smirk on his lips. Their eyes met, and the recognition wasn't just in Avery's--it was in Jack's, too.
They became friends that year, and Avery slowly rekindled his friendship with Jack, as well as other boys, including the unfortunate Clydai Morgan, who was infamous for being an asshole and a player of all sexes. During June, Avery attempted to get Jake back in his life as more than best mates--as boyfriends. He kissed the now taller boy, but was horrified when Jake didn't respond. Crushed, he left, assuming it was over between them as anything beyond the platonic.
He found himself in the arms (and mouth) of Clydai soon after, and the brief fling left Avery feeling even worse. And it began to attract Frank's attention, especially after other classmates discovered what had happened and began to taunt Avery.
Frank started to stalk and threaten him, and when Avery hooked up with Jack, that was all Frank could take. He attacked Avery, nearly killing him. Clydai, and another boy from school called Addison, found him. It was soon discovered who had done it, and Jack pursued Frank, getting a broken nose in the process. But Frank was arrested because he had more than just battery to his name--he had drugs.
Avery was sent home to Cape Town, where he finished out the school year. But in between his work, he worried about Jack. Clydai had been moving in on him over their three weeks together, and even before that. His worst fears were confirmed, however, when Jack called with the news: he'd cheated.
Hopeless and enraged, Avery threw the phone against the wall and stormed through the house, out of his mind and out of his will to live. He punched a hole into a glass door of the conservatory, and as his mum called for him, worried about the noise, he took a piece of jagged, dirty glass and attempted to slit his throat. It worked well enough to pierce veins that left him unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where they assumed he wouldn't make it through the night. But, again, he did. He stayed in a psychiatric ward after his physical recovery, and the stitches and pills were harsh reminders of what he had done, of what Jack had done.
He was put under suicide watch for another week, and during that time, Jack visited. They started slow, but Avery craved him so much that they couldn't stay apart, even if it was against his better judgement. Though they did little more than kiss, Avery didn't want Jack getting away again. But there was another issue on the horizon.
Jake.
Jake had heard about what happened and after so many calls he drove Claire mad, he flew down and stayed with them. That night, as Avery was finally home from the hospital, they finally took the last step. Jack knew, of course, and Jake knew that Jack and Avery were still together, as well. But the limbo got too unbearable after so many weeks, and Jack left. Upset and hurt, especially when it was discovered he would have to appear at Frank's trial, Avery wanted nothing but to disappear again. Jake helped keep him sane until the trip. Avery told Jack he was coming, even though the other boy began to send flippant e-mails detailing what must have been his new sex life. And Clydai was still there (and apparently involved in a threesome at a club with the virginal Addison as the third party).
The night of Avery's arrival at his grandparent's home in London, Jack visited. The three of them fell asleep for a while, and when they woke up again, Jake was gone and Jack was there--and Avery went down on him, suddenly regretting it the instant that Jack came. He felt as though he was using both boys for a purpose he could not understand. He wanted, needed and loved them both, but it wasn't fair. And the night only got worse when they found Jake--drunk. Everything had gotten out of hand.
And spiralled out of control when Avery saw how thin and sick-looking Jack really was.
After taking the stand in the trial, Avey found Jack outside. He gave him an ultimatum: get help or lose me. Jack (reluctantly) got help. Frank was put behind bars.
Soon after, Avery was withdrawn from Eton, but he stayed in London with Jake for the rest of the summer, visiting Jack at hospital every now and again. Avery eventually realized that he was not the only visitor: Addison was also coming. And one day, at a time he didn't ordinarily visit, Avery found Addison and Jack snogging. Horrified, he ran off, staying out in the rain and eventually getting sick.
He visited Jack, anyway, but Jake came after him. Jack and Jake shared a moment, where they both realized that maybe, just maybe, they could accept each other. Jack dumped Addison and went to stay with Jake when he was finally released.
They slowly began a friendship, and Avery held them tightly together, especially when Frank was let out on parole and Avery's panick disorder flared up. That autumn, however, Avery began to experience severe stomach pains, and they only got worse, until one morning, Jake discovered that the whites of Avery's eyes had turned yellow, and they raced him off to hospital. It was discovered that he had liver poisoning, and Avery a long recovery, his mum came up and all of the boys flew down to Cape Town for an extended stay.
After going back to London, Avery, Jake and Jack began the second half of the school year at a local school called Regents Park Secondary School. There, they met new friends and had a run-in with the local arrogant asshole, Roger Sims. Jake punched him when he began to make advances on Avery, giving him a concussion and getting himself suspended. The rest of the school year was relatively uneventful.
Until March, when Avery and Jake had a terrible fight, and Jake scared Avery so badly that he ran off and hid--and his wings came out to shield him. He was horrified and the boys were shocked into speechlessness, but he soon discovered that he was an angel, and with many, many gifts.
Backstory: Simplified
Avery was born prematurely while his parents were on holiday in India. His family comes from a long line of old money and he is an heir to his grandfather's company, The Fitzwilliam Diamond Company. Avery is also an angel, as the rest of his family, save for his father, is, as well.
His mother doted upon him, placing him in dozens upon dozens of activites to find his niche. He did: violin and rugby. She nutured him and his two siblings, James and Bess, lovingly, before he went off to Eton College at the early age of twelve. He left his best friend, Oliver Caldwell, behind, and stayed with Frank Benedict and his mother in London, before the start of term.
Frank, unfortunately, became Avery's first boyfriend, but with Frank came drugs and hard partying and physical abuse that extended as far as gangbanging and a broken knee.
After three years, Frank was arrested and thrown in jail for a year. Avery got together with Jake Griffith and Jack Driscoll, both of whom he had been friends with during this difficult time at school, and Claire enrolled him in Regents Park Secondary School, a move that probably saved what was left of his sanity.
Soon after, all three boys finished school and moved back to Cape Town, where Avery's family has lived off-and-on since 1803.
External Links
Avery's Journal
Avery's Second Journal
Avery's First Journal
Inhabit the Garden: Avery's complete history at Eton, in novel form. (Though needing some retouches.)
Inhabit's Website: The official website of the novel.
100 Things About Avery
