Eli Fresca
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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"So this is the kind of world we live in. I'm not sure I want to live in it anymore."</span>
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| . . . . . | |
| Eli Fresca | |
| Player: @Esoteric Requiem | |
| Basic Data | |
| Origin: | Scrapper |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Magic |
| Progress Level: | 50 |
| Occupation: | Chief Executive Officer |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Eliwood Fresca ("Elly-wood Freh-ska") |
| Known Aliases: | Fresca Man, The Gentleman of Ebon |
| Identity Status: | Poorly Hidden |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 19 |
| Height: | 5'10 3/4" |
| Weight: | 145 Pounds |
| Eye Colour: | Sapphire Blue |
| Hair Colour: | Black // Red Highlights |
| Blood Type: | B- |
| Biographical Data | |
| Place of Birth: | Cambridge, England |
| Date of Birth: | February 08, 1992 |
| Citizenship: | United States |
| Current Residence: | Founders' Falls |
| Religion/Faith: | Agnostic |
| Sexual Orientation: | Claims to be Asexual |
| Marital Status: | ...Taken? |
| Known Languages | |
| English | |
| Known Relatives | |
| Mother (Ellis), Father (Ryan - deceased) | |
| Known Powers | |
| Melee, Dark Armour | |
| Training / Abilities | |
| Ambidextrous | |
| Equipment | |
| A Fine Sash | |
| Footnotes | |
| Captain Customer Service | |
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Younger Days
"I don't believe in being hung up on the past. You can't get anywhere like that. I won't be held back by it, and you shouldn't be either." </span>
He was born in Cambridge London, to two very lucky parents, Ryan and Ellis Fresca. His parents had met young, married young, and settled down young, and unlike so many of the unhappy marriages in the world, they remained in a blissful state of love even after he had turned one, and two, and three. He grew up in the outskirts of the town to avoid the hustle and bustle of aspiring students reaching for greatness. This happiness didn't last long, however. Ryan had recently taken it upon himself to go into business with a close friend of his, one Aaron Dairm. This involved picking up his very happy family from the fields of green and moving them to Liverpool, a city with happening streets and hopping joints.
The business, Fresca Incorporated, was a success, an overwhelming one at that, which allowed Ryan to provide well for his family. In hopes that Eli would hastily grow with the impression to follow in his father's footsteps, Ryan left no stone unturned as he paved the road for his son's tuition. While Eli would have said that he was just thrilled to watch the tourists go by, there was so much more in that time that developed him into the man he would become than he possibly could have known. In the straight forward words of his father, however, his schooling would grant him the "extra push" he would need to make something of himself, not simply for the sake of their family, but for the ability to make Eli into a well-rounded young man.
Inept Times
"I've never been very good at talking to people. I mean, I have a lot to say, but I just get constantly tongue-tied. I've never understood it and I doubt I ever will." </span>
School was difficult for Eli. He was quiet and studious, the kind of child that most would think is a well-behaved boy and would never want to cause any amount of trouble or concern. That was more like a façade for him, however. Everything he did was more for the hope that his parents would praise him. Ryan grew busy at work and Ellis suffered from some type of long overdue postpartum depression, which resulted in either Eli being helplessly mothered to death, or despicably being neglected. There grew to be a lack of balance and Eli became dependent upon praise, unable to act without some form of motivation and incentive, akin to that of a pat on the head.
Secondary school were some of the worst years for him. Not bothering to consider how their son would react in the real world to specific situations regarding social etiquette, Ryan and Ellis placed him into a school for boys only, believing that he would be able to focus better. While this did pan out to be true, he suffered with the inability to properly carry on conversation with females and could only socialise on the basis of what his mother had taught him——mostly things from old books where all men were knights and all women were princesses. While it taught him how to respect women to a great extent, it caused not only him, but for his vocabulary to be hideously outdated and resulted in odd speech patterns.
He completed his schooling in 2008 in the top ten percentage of his class and with a sturdy hand upon the back, found himself traipsing in the direction of business management for the sake of his father and the ever growing industry. But he began to question his ability as his parents drew their attention onto themselves. Perhaps he couldn't measure up to the great things his father seemed to do with his free time.
The Rikti World Invasion
"It wasn't the first time I've seen something ugly. Really, if you think that's ugly, just wait until you see them. I mean, they're really ugly." </span>
Partway through his second-to-last year in secondary school, the Rikti came down upon Europe, just as they had the years before. They were overthrown, of course, but being the parents of two seemingly ordinary people, Eli was just as normal. Instead of rushing to the front lines like Eli had wanted to, he was evacuated to safety and forced to listen to his father complain over the possibility of his company crumbling apart. It was the first time he'd felt any kind of disappointment in his old man. Inwardly he vowed to never become so obsessed with work that he would prioritise it over his friends, his family, and the remainder of his loved ones.
When the Rikti were finally driven off by the heroes and the not-so-righteous heroes (hereafter referred to as "villains"), Eli found himself longing for a better existence and a better life. Although he kept his longings to himself, it eventually became too much and his mother saw the glint within his eye. She turned from her own selfish thoughts and with a gentle caress of the hair, reassured her firstborn and yet failed all the more in offering solace to herself.
The Sash He Wore
"Hey. I think it's fashionable. I'm a fashionable kind of guy. You take one look at me and I like to think you won't forget me. And if you do, well, can you really forget the voice?"
Ellis' secret love was archaeology. She'd filled Eli's head with nonsensical stories about magical worlds and mythology, things that her husband later countered, which wound up in the never-ending argument of concrete evidence versus faith and belief. Although she'd given it up when she was wed, the desire to help her son and to see him prosper was too great for her to ignore. When Ryan returned to the world of signing documents and supervising employees, she lent her assistance to recovering artifacts leftover from the Rikti World Invasion and dedicated herself to the study of the strange extraterrestrials.
In the midst of her studies, she came upon a sash of a deep bordeaux, something that could have easily been mistaken for a withered scrap of cloth. Believing it to be more, however, she took it home to research. Her intuition had not been incorrect. So entranced by his mother's work and her endless need for answers to her questions, he stole away into the study one evening. Perhaps it had been woven into the fabric, or perhaps the loom that had created it had been the source. His hands touched the soft material and he was stained by it forever, granted the ability to harness protective and offensive powers of the dark.
His own misjudgment of the situation led him to believe that he was gifted when in reality, what he really had, was a magical sash. He came to find later that only when he donned it would he be granted his abilities. Otherwise, he was rendered as normal as the next passerby. Still, it was something he held as precious to him as every meaningful glance given in his direction, all because it was his mother who had discovered it, and it was his mother who'd first begun to give him a greater purpose.
An End is not an End
"I really didn't want to go. This isn't my kind of place at all. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to go back to Liverpool and just live out the rest of my days there. I don't think that'll ever happen, though." </span>
Not even two years after his successful completion of secondary school and Ryan went to his family with a proposition. The business would need to expand. Aaron would remain in England and take care of things there. Ryan would relocate and all the way to a place known as Paragon City and expand his company across the United States. There were no appropriate words to use to describe exactly how put out Eli had been once the news had been delivered. Unable to support himself as Aaron had refused to keep him on the company payroll as "help", Eli had no choice except to pack his things and begin the trek to Rhode Island, someplace he was less than thrilled to be a part of.
Midway through 2009, he made himself reluctantly comfortable and proving himself once more to his father, landed a position as the company's accountant, responsible for invoicing the growing number of clients. The United States was a massive amount of land, with a good number of diverse people. As he grew more accustomed to the strange walks of life and the people that came with it, he became more tolerant and understanding. It was a vastly different world in comparison to Liverpool and never would it replace what he defined as "home", but it wasn't as horrid as he'd made it out to be when the move began.
Finding fault with his father's company policy, Eli began to notice the cracks in the foundation, and not the type that could easily be covered with spackle. They were the types that would completely destroy the corporation if something didn't change. It was with that in mind that from his desk on the fifth floor that he lifted his chin and began to reach for the position of chief executive officer. If only he could reach that, he could right things. If only he could seat himself in that position, he could bring about a great change, and all in the name of the broadened phrase "great customer service".
Like a Kaleidoscope
"I used to have one of these things as a kid. You'd turn these little things and everything would change. My mother used to say it was a magical world far, far away. She used to say that about a lot of things, though. On second thought, maybe she was talking about pinwheels." </span>
Updated: 07/03/2011
Eli now lives in Founders' Falls as the C.E.O. of Fresca Incorporated. Most of the time, he's busy working. And when he's not working, he's thinking about work.
No seriously. He's usually working. He doesn't get to visit with his friends as often as he'd like to. And most of it is his fear that he's become his father, which has forced him to recede as much as he has. He's trying to remedy this, however, and it seems with his group of friends he's got plenty of help.
...Even if he's a square.
Fresca Incorporated
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"There's only one thing I do more of than anything else. That's invoicing. That's why I'm here now. The owner of this particular bar actually owes us some money. I came to collect." </span>
Fresca Incorporated, the company that Ryan and Aaron had originally gotten together to build from the ground up. Ryan invested more of his time and his money into the cause, which had been the winning point in having the company take his surname, rather than it becoming Dairm Incorporated. Fresca Inc. is literally a company that supplies a variety of beverages to store chains, bars, and even some smaller convenient stores.
Drink types range from natural mineral water to soda pop, and potent wines. The headquarters of the company is located on Industry Pier in Independence Port, a nice train ride away from Founders' Falls for Eli's convenience.
Eli had originally joined the ranks of the elite in hopes of making his relationship with his father a better one. Instead, as time progressed, the things between them fell apart. Ryan's treatment of Plum Whine (when she was employed there) certainly helped with Eli's final decision.
At the end of September 2010, Eli, against his wiser judgment, hired a less than pure theatre troupe to storm Fresca Incorporated's headquarters. They took Ryan Fresca as a hostage. In an elaborate scheme, he arrived at his mother's request, a hair too late to save his father from an unfortunate fate. Ryan's death was announced briefly to the press, but Eli was not present.
Instead there was Fresca Man, who vowed to get some form of vengeance for the heartless murder of Ryan Fresca. To this date, no one is aware that Eli was the true mastermind behind the plan. And in the end, he reaped the rewards, obtained the seat of C.E.O. Strangely enough, however, when his father is mentioned, Eli grows quiet and more than a little aloof.
The Young Watchers
"That 'Sir' guy. He's pretty understanding. Has a way with sneaking up on people, though, so in a way, sometimes it's like talking to... Uh. Well. No one important." </span>
The Young Watchers was a group dedicated to helping adolescents with mutations and magical origins that had issues controlling and getting accustomed to their abnormal abilities. Given that Eli really had no such origin and simply was as normal as anyone else could have been, his time with the Watchers was not spent trying to understand himself.
Albert Drakinsky hired Eli to be the accountant for the Watchers initially. He later became more or less an unofficial supervisor, just to ensure that things ran smoothly. With his work in combination with Fresca Incorporated, Eli found most of his time swallowed up by the amount of paperwork he was given to keep track of. He did, however, meet a variety of people while he worked there, and acquired many friendships that he'll likely never forget.
Not all things can last, however, and there was a point where Albert disbanded the Young Watchers, leaving it in charge of some of the younger members who had a great amount of potential. Unsure of what else to do with himself, Eli begrudgingly dismissed himself from Blackstone Manor to concentrate fully upon Fresca Incorporated, which later became his own company.
The Watchers, however, and the people in it -- old and new -- have always been important to him. He's not forgotten the people who have helped him develop and better himself. Whenever there's a chance he might have the time to see anyone from the 'old days', he's more than thrilled to join them. It must say something about him.
Affiliates: Former TYW
"I don't really know how it happened. I can't even remember. It's just like one day we all tripped on each other or walked into one another. I just know that we're sort of stuck together." </span>
- "Plum always calls him 'Bossman'. I always call him 'Sir'. I don't even work for him anymore and I'd call him 'Sir'. To be fair, though, if he asked me to come work for him again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. In a way, he's almost fatherly, but he's not that much older than me. I'll just call him a brother and leave it at that. But he's still a vital part of who I am as a person."
- "I don't even know where to begin with this one. He got a kick out of making fun of me. Not the same way Jayden does. Worse. At least Jayden has a good intent behind it. I always thought Eddie was a little too mean-spirited for me. I've only recently seen him again and instead of stepping on my gonads, like I was sure he was going to, he helped me up. He might not be such a bad guy, after all."
- "Jayden's one of the original group of four. The guy has style and flair. You know, I think he looks better in a vest than I do, and I've always rather liked me in vests. He's an acquired taste, though, and requires some understanding. The guy's not mean. He's not rude. He's just honest and if he's teasing you, it means he likes you. If he has a problem with you, he'll tell you. I wouldn't replace him for the world."
- "Uh. Lacey is... interesting. Not bad. Just a little eccentric. I think Albert handles her a lot better than I do. She's friendly, though. I've never been able to fault anyone for being friendly. It's when they get too friendly that there might be a problem."
- "She's also one of the original group of four. Plum is a source of many issues for me. I've gone through many different phases of wanting to protect her, adore her, be everything I possibly can be for her. It's not really a known thing, but I've got a fondness for her that I really don't have for anyone else. She eats a lot. She's not the smartest cookie in the box. But she's cute and she's always been there for me."
- "Albert's other half. He also ran The Young Watchers and was a part of the hiring committee when they brought me in. I don't know too much about him personally. Sometimes he seemed more talkative than Albert and other times just as quiet. I remember learning he worked for the time stream stuff in Ouroboros and we were supposed to stop screwing around in them."
- "Teddy. What do you really say about him? He was kind of... hyperactive. In a good way! (Is that even possible?) He had some stuff in common with Plum in that respect. Those two were good for each other. Teddy was the real dedicated type. Real dedicated. If there was a will, there was a way and Teddy was going to find it. I haven't heard from him in a long time, but I'm going to guess that he's doing all right. I hope he is."
- "The last of the original four. I was close to Plum and to Jayden. Sometimes I feel like I was closest to Sky. We spent a good deal of time together, especially when he was having rough times and he's had a hell of a lot of them. Where is he now? I remember once upon a time he'd gone to do work in Cimerora, and I know other stuff has happened since then, but it's a bit of a killer to know that I've lost touch with him. I'll find him, though. Somehow."
Affiliates: Other
"It's not like I know everyone in the world. I don't. There are just some people I really click with. No, I can't say I get it either. Apparently squares attract others...?" </span>
- `Lucent
- Aldora Vladimire
- Oblique Gryphon
- Shey
- Alexis
- Jace
- Vicktor
Trivia
∇ Eli owns a cell phone. Specifically, a black LG EnV Touch. He uses it primarily to stay in contact with his father, although that's not public knowledge.
∇ He never gives his last name when he introduces himself. There's no one aside from his parents and Aaron Dairm, and his schooling institutions that are aware of his surname. This is his attempt to keep his relation to Fresca Incorporated a secret.
∇ Eli has an alter ego that he refers to as "FM", which stands for "Fresca Man". He also sometimes refers to himself as the "Gentlemen of Ebon". Plum and the others (predominantly the Watchers) seem to know they're all the same, however.
∇ Every weekend Eli goes to the Astral District in Skyway City to visit his parents. Mostly his mother.
∇ Eli and his father don't get along at all. In fact, Eli hates the guy with a passion.
∇ He's very particular about how he drinks his tea. Every cup has to be mixed with cream (or whole milk), two cubes of sugar, one teaspoon of honey, and a lemon wedge on the side. American tea is very different from England's.
∇ Speaking of tea, Eli owns a teacup collection, most of which were passed down to him from his mother. He doesn't see anything wrong with this.
∇ Eli is a big fan of musical theatre and various works. He tends to really belt out the songs when he thinks he's alone and really? His voice isn't bad.
∇ Eli's PB is portrayed by Gaspard Ulliel.
Heavy Rotation
(After the player taking forever...) Eli might be a square, but he's a square who listens to music! Here's the kind of thing you'll find on his fancy and too over-priced mp3 player that he probably doesn't need:
- "Denying" - Spice Girls
- "My Bonnie" - Tony Sherridan
- "And I Love Her" - The Beatles
- "Gypsy" - Shakira
- "Get Off of My Cloud" - The Rolling Stones
- "Heartbreaker" - Led Zeppelin
- "Goddess in the Doorway" - Mick Jagger
- "It's Not Unusual" - Tom Jones
- "The Kids are Alright" - The Who
- "Don't Stand so Close to Me" - The Police
- "All Night" - Def Leppard
- "Diamond Dogs" - Duran Duran
- "Shout" - Tears for Fears
- "Any Colour You Like" - Pink Floyd
- "As the World Falls Down" - David Bowie
- "A Night Like This" - Rod Stewart
- "Crocodile Rock" - Elton John
- "Caroline" - Status Quo
- "Beautiful Liar" - Beyonce (feat. Shakira)
- "Heart of Stone" - The Rolling Stones
- "Lucky in Love" - Mick Jagger
- "Naked" - Spice Girls
- "Waiting for the Worms" - Pink Floyd
- "P.S. I Love You" - The Beatles
- "Roxanne" - The Police
- "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" - Def Leppard
- "It's Me that You Need" - Elton John
- "Real Cool World" - David Bowie
- "Single Ladies" - Beyonce
- "Attractive Female Wanted" - Rod Stewart
Other
