Elisa Burrell
Elisa_01.jpg
Full Name Elisa Burrell
Portrayed By Vanessa Hessler
Faction Union
Org Other
Sex Female
Age 24
Place of Birth New York, NY
Date of Birth December 26th, 1836
Profession Owner, Colorado Credit And Trust

Character Description

A slender young woman with a pale complexion and glossy blonde hair. She stands at a comfortably lofty height for her sex, with a rigid, straight-backed countenance wrought by a combination of prim mindfulness and iron boning. The posture, truth be told, seems to be the only markedly rigid part of her, as her quick smile, soft voice and gentle demeanour hint to a much more patient and soft nature, underneath the well-kept exterior. Her eyes are a dark, stormy shade of grey, the only touch of dark in her otherwise alabaster feature; blond lashes and too-pale lips giving her a washed-out, near-sickly air.

Her hair has been swept at her nape in a tidy bun and she wears a widow's black, her well-tailored gowns showing complex construction and fine detailing, even in the dark colouring.

Character Background

There appears to be both very little and a great deal to know about this young woman. Born to wealth in New York, transplanted to the South through wedlock and widowed already; it is said that the purchase of Grimwood's only bank was the very last enterprise of her late husband, and that she somehow decided to take it over in her death. Some rumours say her husband's family figured it'd be the best way to be rid of the childless reminder of the loss of their beloved scion, others that she asked to come to the frontier herself, others still that that's all a lie and she's really some bird on the run who stole some high society lady's threads (but that Donny Forrester's well into his bottles before noon on most days, God help him).

What is known is that she quietly arrived at Grimwood Terminal in early August, disembarked with what looked to be a substantial enough number of possessions to suggest she intends to relocate to the frontier for good, high society or not, and slunk her way over to the bank in her widow's weeds and introduced herself to the surprised guards and tellers as their boss.

Character Personality

It is a careful balancing act that she seems to effect, between what looks to be an innate propensity to be gentle and ladylike (compounded with what looks to be a naturally frail disposition), and mustering the iron will required to wrangle the men who will do her bidding on the frontier. Although one could scarcely find much evidence to speak to her acting inappropriately, with regard to her station, there is a hint of a rebellious streak to her - how else would she have received both the education and leeway to parlay her way into her current (if a touch unenviable) position.

True to her upperclass upbringing; however, it would be a cold day before anyone might witness a public loss of composure from her part, and her preferred strategy, when it comes to dealing with whatever obstacles are in her way, appear to be simple hard work and ruthless efficiency. She seems very well to know what she is doing and to encourage the dedication of those who work for her.

Relationships

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RP Hooks

A woman doing what? Swear ta yer! She come by Silas the teller an' he politely asks how he can help a fine lady, as you do. Then she tells him she's here t'take over. Madness.

Hey, didn't I see you around… She sure seems to be around the doctor's office often. Must be women's things, the prim ones en't cut up for life on the frontier.

…what's that sound? Y'know Mickey? No, the other Mickey, right? With the one eye what won't stay in place; says he saw her people haulin' some high falutin' set of keys from the train when she done got here, like she thinks she's better than what's played at the saloon. Sure sounds pretty when ya amble nearby her window, though, don't it?

Fish out of water Betcha five she won't last the month.

High socie-tea Where d'ya reckon a bird like that drinks when there en't no hoity toity tea parlour about? Saloon don't look her speed…

Tropes (OOC)

Elisa was, for a time, Happily Married to the scion of powerful Burrells of Atlanta. She herself comes from Old Money - in the New World, but also across the sea - and by all accounts, she and her husband tied their time in a plethora of projects which piqued their interests, as the Non-Idle Rich do. Her poor husband, however, would prove too weak a foe for the laws of plot, and a spectacular bout of illness, complete with Blood From Every Orifice, would make short work of her Temporary Love Interest (and even, one might say, her Lost Lenore). Her grief - and weak constitution - would render her ill for a time, and unfortunately make short work of what she Had to Remember Him By.

Their enterprise remains to be cared for; however, and her Heart Will Go On, as she sees to their frontier project, even while she suffers quietly from an Incurable Cough of Death (one in a line of the many Victorian Novel Diseases to have touched her life). She arrives in Grimwood as the proverbial City Slicker - some might even call her a City Mouse, if they were inclined to poke fun at how much of a Fish out of Water she is in the territories. She may not be the Naive Newcomer many would take her for; however, she is a Spirited Young Lady, whose Silks Hide Steel and who knows to use what strenghts have been given to her - she is, for example, adept at Politeness Judo - to her advantage.

She comes to the frontier a Determined Widow (as far as all the trops of Widowed Women go), her plucky tenacity encased in the Simple Yet Opulent cut of her Widow's Weeds.

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