BIRTH CERTIFICATE = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = NAME ║ Odette Fleur Haymark, nice to meet you.
NICKNAMES ║ People usually just call me Odette, but I'm open to any suggestions.
AGE ║ Seventeen, last time I checked.
DATE OF BIRTH ║ February Seventh.
GENDER ║ Female
MORTAL PARENT ║ My dad, Aster Haymark.
GODLY PARENT ║ The one named... Persephone? I have to do more research, only just found out, eh heh.
ORIENTATION ║ I'm pretty sure I'm heterosexual. I mean, I've never actually had a boyfriend to confirm it with, but I'm not really attracted to girls, soo... yea.
xxxAS THEY GROW = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = PERSONALITY ║ Well, I like to think of myself as a positive person. I'm told by my friends, however few, that I'm cheery and all around optimistic. A lot of people tend to stray from me because I can get a little... quirky. Talking to plants, talking to myself, laughing randomly at my own little jokes. And my moods are less than stable. My attitude depends on a lot of factors, from the cloud formations to the star positions, and especially the weather and seasons. If it's raining, I'm usually ecstatic - unless there's too much rain, in which case I get grumpy. I realize that sounds stupid, "too much rain", but if there is I just know. I like it when it's sunny, but not too sunny to make it dry, and the cold, no matter the degree, makes me depressed. But anytime else, or when the weather and all the other factors are generally ambiguous, I'm a nice person. Kind, friendly, all that jazz. I'm honest - sometimes too honest. Part of the reason I don't have all too many friends. I just can't help but say what I mean. And I generally assume others do, too. I'm rather gullible in that way, and I know it. I fall for pranks and lies all the time. But hey, at least I assume the best in people. What else? Oh yea! While I try to be obedient most of the time, I have a bit of a curious streak that often leads me to stray from my elders' commands. If I think something looks like fun or seems interesting, I do it. If it's prohibited, or I've been told not to, well.... Just seems to slip my mind.
LIKES ║ ║ Springtime! Perfect for gardening.
║ My flowers. They're my babies~
║ Nighttime. I love the day, too, but it just doesn't seem as... bright as the dark. Does that make sense? Probably not, eh heh.
║ Working with my father.
║ Lazy days on the roof, staring at the sky.
DISLIKES ║ ║ Winter, or generally anything cold. Bleh. This is partially because of my hatred for itchy sweaters, but I mostly just dislike the cold. Even though the nights are longer, then. But I can't even stare at the stars, how freaking cold it is on the roof! Ruins everything.
║ Being caged or enclosed in small spaces. Bad experience during third grade involving a dog crate, do NOT ask.
║ Bullies. I can handle if you don't like me, but you don't have to be so admadant about it.
║ Fires.
║ Getting in trouble, though it happens frequently due to my curiousity, eh heh.
TALENTS ║ If you couldn't tell by now, I'm kind of a gardening freak. I seriously love everything about it - working in the dirt, watching things grow from my own hands. It gives me such a feeling of creation. It's almost like raising kids to me. I always make sure my plants are well cared for and given the attention they need. I usually stick to flowers, though, and don't really do any fruits or vegetables. One, it would just be a waste of food (see my weaknesses for a better explanation) and two, I just don't like them as much as flowers. More variety, more color, you know? Though I do grow some plants you could consider harvestable. Only for their medicinal properties, though. But besides gardening... hmmm... I'm a fan of track and field. I don't place in first often, but I can run pretty fast. And I'm alright at astrology, too, considering how much time I spend staring at the sky. I've gotten to know my fair share of constellations, and done a bit of research on the science of space itself, despite how hard it was to concentrate on all those looong paragraphs.
WEAKNESSES ║ As you could tell from before, I'm very... conditional. When I'm not happy, I'm unhappy, and though this mood can be effected by people, it's mostly just effected by the day itself. Yea, I can be cheered up on a cold day, but if not I'll just lie around lazily, not feeling like doing anything. I have the worst moodswings in the winter. Everyday is cold and soggy and bleh. It's awful. But when it comes to weaknesses that are not personality based, let me state right off the bat that I will be a horrible wife some day. I'm okay at cleaning, "meh" at organization and planning, but cooking... Oh god. All my creations explode within minutes. This is why I don't grow harvestable plants - it's not like I'll be able to use any of the fruit or vegetables, and I wouldn't be so cruel as to grow one of the darlings and not use it for it's intended purpose. Next to cooking and moodswings, I'm not good in cages or enclosed spaces. But that's pretty much it. Oh yea, ADHD and dyslexia. I've started to forget mentioning these, after meeting all these campers who have the same! It's almost like I don't even need to explain anymore. Really a load off. Wait, what were we talking about again?
xxxTHE STORY AS WRIT = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BIOGRAPHY ║ My life. Where to begin? Probably with my conception. So let's talk about my dad - Aster Haymark. Back in the day, a budding botanist, handsome, charming, coulda been a real ladies man if he wasn't such a nerd. I say it with love, we both know he's geeky. But back to the story. He worked (and still works) at an Arboretum in Manhattan. I know it sounds unorthodox, and it is - it's one of those rooftop garden deals. Totally legal, don't worry. He really worked in the attached lab, but he occasionally took a break from research to give tours to visitors for the side cash. This was how he met my mother. He always describes the story so vividly, so I know he loves her. "Spring was just yielding to summer, and she walked through the door, a near embodiment of the state, bright eyed and utterly beautiful." He says that for him, it was love at first sight, though it took some coercing on her part before a date. He really adores her, even now. Me? I've never met her, so there's not a lot I can say, and I don't look at her too fondly for never showing up after my birth, but I guess dad's descriptions have swayed me a bit. She sounds alright.
But anyway, he sees this girl and falls hard. He caters to her the whole tour, much to her delight and the grumbles of the other visitors, and after the tour is over offers to show her the lab. She already seems to know a lot about the plants, especially the floricultural sections, which only made my father love her more. She came a few more times, and after his practically begging, they ended up on a date. That's how I showed up. He tells me she only visited him a few more times after my conception, then disappeared. She had given him somewhat of a farewell, but he still thought about her everyday until he found me at the foot of his apartment buliding, with a note, splashed with floral perfume she'd worn everyday - "She's yours."
Dad was more than happy to have a daughter to look after, especially one with the woman he was so infatuated with. He raised me as well as a bachelor scientist could, and though this involved a lot of his taking me to work, I didn't mind - this is partially where I grew my loves for plants and flowers. As I grew, I would spend more and more of my time in the lab or arboretum, watering the plants or looking out from behind my father's hips at the documents and spreadsheets on all the different kinds of plants. I started my own garden, a window garden right outside our Manhattan apartment. I expanded it as much as I could, until my window was bursting with plants. Despite the city air and all the polution (not to mention the unpredictable weather), they flourished. I'm so proud of my babies! Whenever I'd have a bad day or just woken up feeling grumpy, I'd talk to them. And in my imagination, they answered back. When winter came, I'd transfer them into my room, though my dad hated the dirt and water that would inevitably fall to the floor. Despite working with nature all day, he's still a bit of a neat freak, the weirdy.
But don't worry, I wasn't a total shut in. I did, do have friends. Human ones - well, most of them human. Until recently I thought they all were. My best friend growing up was always Root. That's not his real name, but a nickname I gave him. I'm not even sure of his real name, and since he loves his nickname so much he refuses to tell it to me. He was a fellow scientist at my father's lab, and when my dad, above him in terms of noteriety and status, was too busy to let me tag along, he would volunteer to babysit. I'm not ashamed to say I had a teensy bit of a crush on him as a girl - we shared a love of nature that none of my other friends had. It slowly faded as I grew up and got to know the world better, but he's still very close to me. The only funny thing I'd ever noticed about him was how he never seemed to age. The most signs of aging I ever caught off him were the growing bags under his eyes and the stubble on his chin. It was only after the incident did I realize why.
The incident? Well... I don't really want to go into it that much. Let's just say botany experiment gone wrong. Explosion in the lab, not caused by a plant - more so by something big, muscled, and mean, throwing fireballs. The scientists were shouting something about a terrorist, though. Before I could do anything, Root swept me away, tugging me and my father out of the room and down the stairs. My mind swirled as we ran, but I heard a little bit of their conversation - Root was telling my father it was time for something, and dad was protesting. Saying something about how safe he'd been keeping me. But Root was having none of it, and told him something about how close some camp was, and how dangerous it was for me here. I didn't get any of it, though I do now. But the next thing I knew, I was in a car headed to Camp Half Blood, watching my dad through the rearview mirror. I turned to Root and yelled for answers, and he only asked me to look down. Instead of his legs and feet, a goat's furry hindquarters and shiny black hooves greeted me. He explained everything, and within minutes we arrived.
So now I'm here. It's been kind of a shocker, finding out I'm part Goddess and stuff. I wish I could see my dad and say goodbye, but a letter from him through Root is assuring me I need to be here - apparently he's reasoned with himself after the explosion. So I'll stay. Learn more about this Persephone person who is apparently my mother. I'll hope I get to meet her one day, though what the kids are telling me makes me thing the chances of that are slim. But there's still hoping!