Difference between revisions of "Steph Garreau"

One of the more distant cousins of the Garreau family proper, Steph was born and raised in New York City. Childhoods in the country at the Merriweather Manor and the nearby Vineyards were the extent of Steph's time in Vermont, until some thirtyish or more years into life. The only child of a biologist and a neuroscientist, theirs was a comfortable and unremarkable, if somewhat detached childhood.

Driven and ambitious as hell, they graduated early at the head of their class and started both college and subsequently med school early, flourishing under the high pressure and high demand circumstances. Graduating early and with honors, an excellent internship was found and Steph found growing renown among peers for steady hands and a cool head alike. All signs pointed toward an extremely comfortable and successful life.

And then one night, the huntsmen chasing one of his lovers stole said lover and Steph away to Arcadia. The decades spent there were dreamlike, hazy, and abstract on returning. Terrifying, and something she tried hard not to poke at too much. But that would eventually prove impossible, as something left in their place had gone about not just living his life, but doing it better, in some ways. In other words, Fetch had ta die.

Insult added to injury when the result of attempting to reclaim their life was getting to be married to a woman they'd unrequitedly fallen in love with years before and trying to raise the twins with her that his fetch had impregnated her with during Steph's Durance, and the entire thing went downhill immediately. The woman, it would turn out, was never in love with Steph to start with. Always having considered themselves somewhat agender, their fetch was 'all man' so to speak, and that made all the difference apparently. Within three months, she wanted a divorce.

The day the divorce was finalized was also the first time Steph ever lost a patient while operating. The patient died, and after telling the family, they stepped outside for a cigarette and found a text from the lawyer, letting them know the divorce had finally been finalized. Which was about the last thing remembered before 'coming to' in an institution about a week later. The dissociative fugue saw several laws broken, tens of thousands of dollars unaccounted for, and Steph's penthouse apartment sold.

And so once released, their legal name was changed from Stephan to Steph, 'hormone replacement therapy' (the excuse given for contracts to further pull their form into a murkier gender middle ground) was started, and life as a surgeon for Steph ended. Using excess pot and excess sex alike as a coping mechanism, life was uprooted, and Steph moved to the country to live near the family vineyard, opening up a psychology practice in Vermont.

Or a boy either, to be fair. Steph was born male, and grew up named Stephan, but was always agender. After her durance, his form both Mask and Mien alike reflects something of an androgyne with elements of both male and female physicality and the complete form of neither. They don't give a damn about pronouns, so throw whatever at them, and they'll generally roll with it.

I mean, once upon a time, sure. But bringing it up usually results in a very adverse reaction. For years now, Steph has instead worked as a shrink. A behavioral psychologist helping mortals through phobias via exposure therapy. And so what if the Fall courtier derives a fairly constant trickle of glamour that way? They say, if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. Among the Lost, though, she also acts as a psychiatrist, offering prescriptions to those who don't necessarily have the clarity or ID to fill that need elsewhere.

After his Durance concluded with a return to find his Fetch married to the woman he'd been in unrequited love with and having a pair of young twins with her. Of course, killing the Fetch was a mistake. Still not too sure of what the differences were between himself and the Fetch was which was responsible for the change in the woman's attraction, it took a matter of not even three months for the marriage to fail spectacularly. This culminated in a rather loud and disastrous breakdown when the divorce went through on the same day he lost his first patient on the table after returning. Ever since that day, they've rarely been seen more than two or three hours without a joint in hand, though pot and alcohol form the general limits of the substances they are known to indulge much in.