Midshipman Mathew De Guarde

OOC Info
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Character Info
Canon/Original: Original
First Name(s): Mathew Amadeus
Surname: de Guarde
Nicknames: Buckles, none other he would appreciate
Age: 15 (in 1809)
Sex: Male
Place of Birth: England
Occupation: Able Seaman - Foretopman (Former Midshipman) on H.M.S. Terpsichore
Family:
Description: Small to barely average for his age, which is at present 14 years old. He will be turning 15 in 1809. Brown blond, mostly straight hair, curling a little at the bottom where it's bound by a black cloth. Sunbleached at the front where the hair is exposed the most. Eyes are baby blue and quite pale. Considerably fit for a young midshipman he leans more to being a bit too light weight. A handsome face which still possesses childish attributes. He doesn't look all that strong, although if lucky he can still land a good punch. He has a visible scar on the back of his hand. Other scars (received at his old ship) and bruises are hidden away by his clothes. When he first arrived on H.M.S. Terpsichore he appeared unfriendly and manipulative, a dissatisfied individual who has experienced caning as an injustice. He had since lost his rank of Midshipman and strives to help when needed, but at other times is slowly becoming more withdrawn and quiet. He lost hope that he would either be able to impress enough to regain his rank, or that things would change for him. A notable trait may be his habit of drinking.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Small and lean and quite agile, he can squeeze through most narrow places, and has no trouble with enclosed spaces.
- Capable seaman (better Midshipman though) and a great climber. He looks at home in the tops.
- He has a good voice for singing and an ear for music. He can also play a cello.
- He is good at pretending. A smile on his face may not mean that he is happy, a cheerful disposition can be done for the show, a letter of everything is just great in the navy can be written even if not meant.
- He has very good eyes and has put them to use in the past to spot distant things at sea.
- He has interest in some wildlife and is apt enough at drawing them. This of course will improve with practice.

Weaknesses:
- He drinks. The habit has started on H.M.S. Confidence where it had reached its peak, and continued into his service on board the new ship. The extent of his drinking habit can be easily shown by the fact that he had gotten terribly drunk on his first night on board ship, at the captain's dinner. He also has become dependent of laudanum because punishments were often followed by a dose of it and he had had plenty enough of those. Both habits have been in some portion forced to be stifled while on the new ship. He does try to get his hand on drink however and has smuggled a few bottles aboard before.
- He cannot swim and has no intention of learning it if he can help it. He fears deep waters and drowning.
- There are certain things he loathes to do. One of them is bathing in public since he does not like to be seen nude by others. He has thrown a rather unpleasant tantrum before over this.
- As stated before he is smaller and leaner, so he does have the sort of bear strength one could find in a larger individual, but he does try to make up for it with the use of leverage or other tricks.
- When he was a Midshipman his temper had room to be expressed, as a seaman however, he has become quite withdrawn, since a bad temper could only mean trouble and he does not have much to back his own. He does still lapse and forget himself sometimes.
- There are certain people he fears. When nervous he will tug at his sleeve, and when intimidated (officer, or bigger fellow seaman) he might choose either fight or freeze (rather than flight - though if opportunity arises he'll run too, not with officers of course) .

Background: Born to a fairly well to do family, as the last of the four siblings. His eldest brother died in a horse accident, falling of a horse on the way home, before De Guarde was born. The memory of his second brother is hazy, mostly deriving from the letters sent home. The brother left home at an early stage in Mathew's life, running an estate under the family's heirloom. His third sibling, a sister, is a proud woman who finds entertainment in art, music and chess among things. A skilled tactician when it comes to the game she joins hunting parties when an occasion is ripe for it.
From his birth onward, he was doted on, spoiled with what his family could afford and taught in the manner of numbers, letters, math – mostly home-schooled. He was spoiled mostly by the number of things he was given rather than the general affection. At the death of his uncle in a dispute over a woman, his family received his title which of course enabled their life to blossom further.
With better life came better connections, and soon his family met a new friend, a man of good stature and considerable age, who had served on ships since he could remember. Word came and word was given, till he convinced them that the best place for a young gentleman such as Mathew, would be right on such a ship, learning the crafts of seamanship.
So started his journey. A ship used to transport him to his new assignment held a kind, aging captain which offered promise and enthusiasm to the young heart.
As fate wished it though, the young midshipman was chosen to be sent to a different ship. The captain of his post had been a tyrant. Stern, cold and paranoid (though with good reason) the captain and the young midshipman rarely met in good spirits. Unfriendly fellow midshipmen, -no play- lieutenants and the atmosphere cracking with tension, caning for the poorest of reasons, soon shattered the joyous image that Mathew had in mind before.

Anything Else: (formerly H.M.S. Confidence ) presently H.M.S. Terpsichore
Writing Sample/Past Roleplay: A glare of light blue met with the navy blue dyed back of the coat belonging to the first lieutenant. It shifted cooly towards figure of his captain then. His eyes held little admiration for the man whom the crew should have looked up to. Loyalty was a word written on a piece of paper and duty was good to the point of need, but no further. With a slight grimace he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, feeling the coarse fabric rub lightly against his sore bottom.

"Master De Guarde." The youth straightened his back with a sharp jerk. "Aye sir?" Admirably his face was void of the tension and displeasure he was experiencing a second ago. Instead it carried a sense of purpose, pride and expectation to what the order he would be given might be. "It would be a pleasant ordeal should you give an end to your daydreaming and return to your post. Or am I inclined to insist on taking a more convincing course of action?"

"Aye sir.." A pleasant enough smile and salute was given to the other man, yet the moment the youth's back was turned to him, his eyes grew unhappy, hateful again. "..aye sir." He repeated, his voice a mere hiss beneath his breath.

Present status: Disrated to able seaman, in Leat's division - under Chase's care.

Former ship crew:
Captain: Captain Adams, in command of H.M.S. Confidence
Senior midshipman: Mr. Hollow - Least favoured, most disliked by the boy and also secretly feared.
Other midshipmen:  
Mr. Ackart - By appearance he resembled a skinny freckled rag, wiry in constitution,
with a pair of beady dark eyes, and a face that but for the lack of
whiskers reminded De Guarde of a rat or little weasel. His voice was
squeaky and often gained an unpleasant pitch, when the youth was
especially angered. Second youngest.
Mr. Baber - 4 years older than De Guarde

That looks good...

We are having some fun with the Navy guys at the moment; consensus seems to be that everybody wants to be on the same ship (fair enough!). So we are looking at backtracking a little, putting everyone on the same ship to start with and taking it from there.

This should hopefully happen in the next week.

If you want to get involved before then (and I hope you do), we have a PC middy aboard Sparrow, so you might consider putting young Mr de Guarde there.

A small side-note. Could you please use the British/American quotation marks ( " or ' ) when showing direct speech? Thanks.

And I look forward to playing with you.