Elspeth Scrimshaw

Elspeth Scrimshaw
Born	November 2nd
Known as	Elle
Known for	Orphaned sailor who becomes a psychopomp
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Age	24
Eyes	Green
Hair	Long, blonde, curly
Affiliations	The Free Church of Alta California, the Antelope
Occupation	Bonesetter, former sailor

Elle reminded her of a day from her childhood. Rhea's grandmother had taken her out of the city to visit a farm, a place where the sunlight just hit different. She met a cow, a Guernsey, that was so big she almost didn't believe it was real. Rhea sat on the wooden fence watching that cow until she wandered over and snuffed around with her big, soft nose. Rhea was all too aware that the cow's hoof could crush her foot, her ribcage, her skull.

But she also knew that it wouldn't. Elle was like that. Too big to be mortal, too gentle to be real, a sun that burns less harshly and a big brown cow that could kill you but won't.

Rhea wanted her to. She wanted Elle to prove what she was capable of. You have all those muscles and sinews, those skull-crushing thighs, a hunter's eye. Use them. Elle didn't use them when she needed to, and Rhea could die happy if she died getting Elle to prove that she could.

Biography

Elle was orphaned as a young teen, and she lied about her age to get a job on a ship and support her two younger siblings. That led to an ongoing career with a church/cult/theocratic paramilitary organization/multi-level marketing scheme called The Free Church of Alta California. There, she met another young recruit named Rhea, and they developed a very intimate connection very, very quickly. Between Rhea and their other new friend, Tabitha, Elle began to feel like she had a family again.

Then Elle and Tabitha were selected for service as privateers on the church's ship, the Antelope, and Rhea was passed over. That alone wouldn't have been enough to end their friendship, but then things got worse. The Antelope was attacked by another ship, the Panthera, and its crew of ghosts. Elle managed to escape with her life intact, but she was the only survivor. The encounter with the ghost ship marked her, however. Now she has the uncanny ability not only to heal others, but also to send lost souls to the other side.

The ship ran aground on an uninhabited and rarely visited island, and it took Elle three years to make her way back home. There, she finds out that the church has retired its sea program, but she still has to serve out her (thousand-year) contract on land. To make matters worse, Rhea believes that if she was on the Antelope, she could have saved Tabitha.

While doing her job as an errand girl and unlicensed medical provider for members of the church, Elle met a variety of people who had been wronged by the church in one way or another. That gave her the opportunity to rethink her choices and evaluate whether she can keep living with them.

Fortunately, she doesn't have to think about it too hard, which she isn't good at, because Rhea's animosity towards her reaches the point where Rhea starts fucking with Elle's siblings. Rhea spirited them away on a quest to find and take revenge on the Panthera, with Elle close behind.

Elle's abilities came in very handy once she and Rhea reached a confrontation at the crumbling seaside castle that the ghostly ship's crew calls home, but not everyone could make it out alive. Elle manages to make amends with her siblings, but Rhea ends up sacrificing her life to save Elle and the kids from Tabitha's murderous ghost.

Appearance

Buff as fuck, and that's the first thing you need to know. She wears her hair in a bun that's always coming loose, and she prefers simple clothes and surfer-type jewelry. Her favorite necklace has a tooth from a sea monster she killed as a pendant.

Affiliations

The Free Church of Alta California

If the church reminds you of any real-life California-based religious organizations, no it doesn't.

Elle's manager, Sam, initially recruited her and has been secretly providing support for her siblings ever since. He's weirded out by the fact that she keeps coming to him for advice, but he does serve as an ambivalent father figure to both Elle and Rhea - another thing that they fight about.

Quotes

Elle: So, uh, have you ever thought about having a baby?
Rhea: Sometimes I think about adopting a little baby so I could abandon it at a mall.
Elle: That answers my follow up question.

Elle: You know how they say 'take a chill pill'? On the Antelope, I took one. Tabitha sold it to me for forty dollars. After I finished vomiting, I was more relaxed than I have ever been. Lost six pounds, too. That's how I want every day to be.

Elle: I know she was evil. And on more then one occasion, she actually stole my blood. But I wish I had Rhea back.

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