CIVILIAN . BROWN, ELLIOT

Elliot is a quiet young man for the most part - not particularly an introvert, as he is friendly enough to people whom talk with him or visit his store, but he has always been a man whom, for the most part keeps to himself. Typically he can be found in his apartment, idly writing down notes for stories, or behind the desk at Cromwell's, waiting for anyone to walk in.

He enjoys reading, and will often be found in behind the desk of his small store or in his apartment reading. He especially loves fantasy fiction, and occasionally dabbles in writing it to varying but limited degrees of success. Having read many of the books of Cromwell's, he is also able to help anyone whom walks in find the book they are looking for, or suggest one that might be suitable for their purchase. In particular, he enjoys reading fantasy-fiction - it feels somehow like he can see in his mind's eye being a knight or a magician very easily, and enjoys imagining himself as one of the characters in the story on a tale of high adventure.
He also occasionally visits art galleries, if for no other reason than just to try an get ideas for his stories. He can be seen staring at the same picture or sculpture for minutes at a time, and just as quickly walking past several impressive-looking paintings depending on what he seems to be looking for.

He is not particularly fond of travel, but particularly enjoys walking aimlessly. He finds that walking in an aimless direction typically leads him to something eventually that will give him inspiration for his stories. As a bonus, he doesn't get lost particularly easy and can almost always re-traces his steps if he needs to quite easily.

He particularly enjoys coffee, especially a short black coffee. In fact, with some extra money, Elliot bought a barista machine for Cromwell's that he keeps in (what passes for) the staff room, and is often experimenting with it trying to perfect making coffee for himself. He can make 'basic' barista-style coffees, though his attempts at trying anything fancier have usually ended up failing.

History

Elliot was born in a relatively quiet suburb a ways away from L.A., born to loving parents. However, Elliot was always relatively quiet, even at a young age, as opposed to his boisterous and out-going parents - it seemed to be that he was slightly scared of their immensely outgoing personalities and tended to be a little shy in his younger age as a result.

At a relatively young age, his parents encouraged him to read, and once he did there seemed to be no turning back - there was barely a moment the young Elliot wasn't nose-deep in a book and imagining he was someone else, somewhere else, doing something else, and soon started to read at a level that was above what people would have considered for his own age. It got to be trouble in his early school life as he would often be so busy reading something that he was less social - and paid less attention to classes - than perhaps he should have. He especially enjoyed reading fantasy-fiction - in his mind's eye he could quite easily

Nonetheless, his time often endlessly spent in the school libraries seemed to prepare him well enough for school life, and he passed through school without any major incident. However, due to a lack of university studies in his local suburb, he instead had to move to one of the bigger cities, and he chose to move by himself to L.A.

He far enjoyed L.A. to his quieter town, where he started to come out of his more introverted shy shell. He would visit bars with a few friends, and tended to enjoy finding out-of-the-way cafés during his initial years in L.A. He also occasionally enjoyed visiting art galleries, trying to interpret the pictures, if nothing else in a way that could help him right better. It was also in L.A. that he first started what some joked to be a 'love affair' with coffee, and that he could often be found, even as early as university, drinking either a short black or, if his money was tight, instant coffee.

During university, he set himself to accomplish being a writer, taking any classes he could that he thought would improve his work. His teachers noted that he was brilliant when it came to fiction, but when it came to his non-fiction works he was found somewhat lacking as he seemed to subconsciously over-exaggerate details of common events at times 'to make them look more interesting', at times missing the point completely.

In between studying to become a better writer at university, he would often take up odd jobs in order to make enough money to keep studying - but he never truly held a stable job until about a year into his university studies. There, on the way to one of his regular cafés to buy an expresso, he happened upon an odd book-store that seemed to blend in in the middle of nowhere in L.A. called Cromwell's. The then owner of the store noticed how fascinated Elliot was, never truly reading a book but just being lost in the shelves of the small store. Though Elliot remembers him claiming he never took on assistants, apparently the book-store's owner made an exception and after six months of young Elliot constantly visiting and purchasing books, he decided to hire the young student. It was hardly the greatest wage, but it was a stable job that paid enough for him to get through university.

Elliot graduated from university and his first celebration was to write the story he'd always wanted to write - a medieval fantasy-fiction series set in a world called Lanarch, featuring the exploits of a town gripped in a civil war. The book was well-acclaimed by critics, though it never ended up being in anything like the top 10 of stories. Sadly, shortly after the book was published, Elliot's boss at Cromwell's suffered a stroke and died shortly afterwards, which rather negatively affected him - though his boss, he'd had a close friendship with him after working for him for nearly 4 years. After the incident, Elliot struggled and seemed to be unable to continue the series, though to this day he keeps attempting to finish the story. He has in the meanwhile written a few fiction stories for various tabloids and collections, but none have ever quite reached the same heights of his earlier stories.

The old boss of Cromwell's will left the store to Elliot in his death - some people thought this a frustration as there were a few people who would have preferred to take the bookstore down as it just never seemed to fit in with the surrounding scenery, but Elliot worked tirelessly in order to make sure the book-store still stood.

To this day it still stands and Elliot can often be seen behind the counter, with a coffee, reading one of his various books or attempting to write for a contract, where he cordially welcomes any visitors to his store, though as he travels L.A. attempting to write, he still seeks for the inspiration for his greatest story that he never quite could complete, though he feels that it lies in L.A. somewhere...

Roleplayer Information

THE D.J. C.J.;;

AFFINITES;; Trust your heart, let fate decide.

FACE CLAIM;; Loveless – Agatsuma Soubi