LAUREL ELSWOOD

Laurel elswood

the basics

full name • Laurel Anita Elswood
nicknames • Lau
age • 22
birthday • September/1993
occupation • Camper
godly parent • Posiedon
claimed • No
gender • Female (she/her/hers)
sexuality • Heterosexual
face claim • Lyndsy Fonseca

the Personality

likes • Equines, Physical work, Alchohol, Men, Iris flowers, Calming music, the sound of the ocean, swimming, storms
dislikes • Pressure, Expectations, Insects, darknes, winters, cows
strengths • Smart, Determined, Stubborn
weaknesses • Stubborn, Temper, unintentionally Selfish, Sarcastic
dreams • Owning her own horse Ranch, Finding out about her dad, Making her mother proud
fears • Losing everything she's gained, Disappointing her mother, Dying
overall personality • Desire. Strength. Passion. Fire. Sarcasm. All traits that Laurel possess in large quantities. While Laurel certainly takes after her mother, there's a definite difference between the insistent, pushy woman and her daughter. Laurel has found herself at peace, calm, and balanced since discovering the very thing that ignites her passion and desire. Horses are very much Laurel's driving force, and she's become adept at her passion. She's learned discipline, and more importantly, patience, while dealing with the beasts. Laurel's life, of course, isn't just about horses but they are a very large component of her life.

Laurel can be a highly stubborn woman, she's gained her mother's determination and that can lead to her being abrupt and occasionally irritating. She doesn't give up on the things that she has put her heart into, and she doesn't tend to let up easily. That's where her temper can come into play. Laurel's learned patience, but she tends to have a fuse that lights swiftly. Much like an earthquake, swift, devastating, but gone soon after. Of course, the aftershocks can be just as devastating as well. Laurel tries hard to contain her anger, if only because she's had issues with it in the past and she knows that a calm, clear head is the way to go about situations. It's hard to keep that thought when someone riles her up, however.

Her sarcasm is probably the most prominent part of who she is and she has a sort of way about her that leaves her nearly incapable of finding herself completely serious. She is a very playful creature, tending to resort to teasing in serious situations rather than finding herself sobering. That doesn't mean she is incapable of taking a situation seriously, as she most definitely knows that in dangerous situations, having your wits about you is far more important than remaining lively. Laurel tends to take things in stride, disaster can be easily handled and shock doesn't tend to affect her terribly. She knows in situations that might end up nasty she needs to think quickly and act just as quickly. Several unruly horses have taught her that much.

the History

father • Poseidon, 2,700+, God
mother • Alana Elswood, 48, Lawyer
siblings • Percy Jackson, Half-brother, 17, Demi-god (missing), any other Poseidon kids
important people • Ares (future irritating love interest)
hometown • Massachusets
overall history • She had been a driven person. Entirely consumed by the goals in her life, she hadn't given a single thought to the idea of dating. By the time she was twenty-nine she was a force to be reckoned with, a high powered lawyer with a nasty bite and more than enough confidence to go after exactly what she wanted. The man had been different, he wasn't looking for her advice, nor was he looking to be dominated by her over-bearing, high powered attitude. Instead he seemed to slow the world down for her. Calmed the literal beast that strained to drive her further and farther than any woman before her. He didn't last long though, obligations to her job and his own odd behavior left her alone once more, but not for long.

As her belly grew with child, she realized that there was more to life than the constant drive for power. A sweet little babe rested within her and she found that for the first time in her life her goals shifted from that high powered desk, to a sprawling home and endless love for her daughter. It wasn't easy, however, to give up what she'd strained her entire life for, and part of that strain seemed to drip down to how she treated her daughter. Laurel, named because her mother always referred to her as a 'plant growing within my belly', seemed to gain the brunt of her mother's need to be the best. Laurel listened to classical music before she was even out of the womb, she played with toys meant for toddlers before she could even lift her own head in an attempt to set Laurel ahead.

Her mother never used baby talk with Laurel, she spoke in full sentences as if the babe would understand her. She read to her every night not from children books, but from full novels. Laurel, if she could think back to her earliest thoughts, were probably her mother's voice reciting words unfamiliar to her while she lay staring up at the woman. Life progressed and Laurel seemed to take after her mother in the aspect that she learned quickly. She was talking at an early age, reading before she entered school, and tended to speak in full, fluent sentences.

But then she got into school and the desire that her mother had firing within her didn't quite reach Laurel as well. She loved to socialize but her mother's intense scrutiny caused the other kids to pick on her because she would constantly choose to follow her mother's words. Laurel might not have inherited her mother's desire for greatness, but she did inherit a deep, perhaps one day dangerous, fire. The hitting started early in school, when other kids would laugh at her or if she would find someone talking about her or one of her friends. She wouldn't let anyone make fun of her, and when sharp words weren't enough she'd turn to pushing, shoving, and eventually hitting.

Her mother was extremely disappointed and it took several weeks of corrective, strict action before Laurel stopped resorting to hitting as a way of fending off the hurtful words of others. It was around the age of eight that Laurel discovered her actual passion. Her mother had decided that they would go visit a friend, who owned a sprawling ranch filled with lanky, shiny thoroughbreds. Laurel was immediately captivated, springing from the vehicle and rushing to the brilliantly white fences. Her fingers curled tightly around the fence as her eyes locked onto the large beasts. Eventually one made it's way over to her and she lifted a hand, reaching to feeel the velvety soft smoothness of the animal's muzzle.

She was hooked instantly. Her mother arranged for her to take lessons at that large sprawling ranch and for the next ten years Laurel focused her life on little else but riding. There were boys, of course, and Laurel did well in school. She still had that fiery temper, but she had learned to let it slowly boil instead of allowing it to erupt easily. Riding had taught her patience, given her discipline, and direction in her life. School wasn't as important to her, because she had found something to put her heart into. Eventually Laurel graduated from school and decided on a private school Massachusetts.

She entered into the Business program, taking classes also at another technical college that had an Equine Science program. Her intentions were, of course, to have a sprawling, beautiful ranch with several dozen horses. Three years into her college career Laurel found her world nearly turned upside down.

the Sample

Dusk had slowly started to cover the ground in shadows, leaving only streaks of golden light laying across patches on the landscape. Despite the sun starting to dip below the skyline, the heat was still palpable, easily bringing a thin sheen of sweat covering her smooth skin. Once more she had to wipe away excess sweat from her brow, taking a deep breath as she hauled the saddle back into it's spot. It was light-weight, but because of the heat even the action of simply moving through the barn. She'd turned several fans on for the horses in the stalls, knowing the heat was only going to abate a little during the night. She stepped out of the tack room and shut the door firmly, eyes sweeping along the aisle. Everything looked good, she could hear the occasional snort from one of the horses, and the crickets created a soothing symphony outside.

Laurel wasn't sure why she had agreed to do the chores for the night, she'd worked up quite a sweat doing so, but she supposed that the hard-work certainly wouldn't kill her. In fact, she almost appreciated the way that her muscles ached after going through and emptying all the water buckets, and then hauling hay from the hay barn to put hay into the stalls for horses. Laurel brushed the loose hair from her face as she started to walk towards the opposite side of the barn. She'd just check on the few horses that were occupying the paddocks outside. Her eyes dipped to the left, peeking into the stall that housed her beloved Moe. He was a tall horse, probably one of the biggest in the barn, and his coat was such a dark bay color it shone mahogany in the sunlight.

Her lips curled into a smile as she noted that her horse was patiently waiting for her to visit. She paused in her travels to reach a slim hand through the bars of the stall, rubbing her hand against the gelding's forehead. "Hey big guy. Done with your hay already?" She asked gently, fondness coating her words before the woman noted that the barn was silent. Her brows pulled together when she noticed that there was no longer the sweet chirping of crickets, or the soft snorting of horses. It caused Laurel to abandon her soft scratching of Moe, and instead make her way out to the back side of the barn. What she found nearly made her heart stop. All four horses that were grouped together were stock still, ears pricked forward and staring intently at the forest that lined the property.

It was not normal for them to be like that, and even more so concerning when they did not stir at all when she slipped through the fence line and made her way between them. Not even when she pressed a hand against one of their shoulders in an attempt to break away their attention from whatever had put them into something similar to a trance. Her eyes left the horses when they didn't even flinch, her eyes drifting to the darkened forest. Her brows pulled together as she attempted to see what exactly was causing the horses to freeze like they were, and her heart leaped into her throat as a pair of eyes stared back at her for a moment before disappearing into the dark woods. The moment seemed to pass there, the crickets returning and the horses returning to their grazing. Laurel stared for a few more moments before convincing herself that her eyes were playing tricks on her.

So she slipped back through the fence and made her way back into the barn, only to stop short as she entered the barn once more. While the lights on the half of the barn she was at were still on, darkness swallowed up the other half of the barn. Laurel found herself frozen as she stared into the darkness, not understanding how the lights got turned off. She was the only one here, the people who lived in the house on the property were gone for the weekend and she was the last person who was at the barn. She was alone. Silence had taken over again and she wondered if the horses could hear her heart beating within her chest. "Hello? Is someone there?" She called out, her voice far stronger than what she felt. When it came down to it, whoever was fucking with her would probably get one hell of a fight. If they were there to hurt the horses, she'd rip their throat out, easy.

If she was the target, well, she wouldn't go down easy. Laurel attempted to soothe herself, that was worst case scenario. It was probably someone just fucking with her. She took a step forward, only to hesitate as someone came out of the shadows. She had to blink twice, her brows coming together as she found herself not sure if she was seeing correctly. Because what she saw was nothing short of a monster. It appeared to be a lady, except she had dark, spanning wings, legs that did not match, and her hair was....fire. Laurel gaped at the woman, not sure if she was going crazy or what was going on. Laurel didn't have much time to think before the monster lunged forward at her.

Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps just very good reflexes, but the woman didn't turn and run. Instead she snatched the shovel that fortunately lay against the wall to her right, her teeth gritting as she swung at the monster. She struck it with a resounding thud, sending the creature sprawling to the side. Laurel hesitated, shovel raised before the thing sprang at her again. Fright overtook fight and Laurel's hesitation caused her to be too slow in trying to escape. The shovel was dropped as she was knocked to the ground, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. Laurel's eyes flashed upwards just in time to see the monster leap at her, her hand raising up to protect her face and neck from the thing and her eyes squeezing shut.

alias • what you'd like us to call you
age • 22
pronouns • she/her
code • the one in the rules
other characters • Persephone (incoming)