📓 General Info


Legal Name: Shelley Reiher
Height: 5'11"
Weigh: 160 lbs
Age: 45
Zodiac: Scorpio
Gender: DGAF
Sexuality: Bi
Pronouns: he/him (honestly doesn't care)
PB: Icons made on Potato Lord's Picrew

📓 First Impressions

🖋️ VISUAL: Looming. Shelley is not an exceedingly tall figure, but he manages to both hide in the background and appear as a looming figure of quiet intensity at inopportune moments. He hunches over like a crane at rest, and quietly flutters on the outside of the action like a moth around a lantern.

🖋️ FASHION: Plain. If he could get away with wearing the same clothes every day, he would.

🖋️ DEMEANOUR: Disaffected. Tired. Long-suffering. He doesn't want to do the things he does anymore, but no one else who is Responsible will step up.

🖋️ AURAL: Shelley has a rasping voice not unlike the undertones of Claudia Black. He doesn't have a particularly distinct accent, but definitely tracks as someone from the North Eastern USA.

🖋️ OLFACTORY: coffee, paper, damp earth still clinging to his boots after a recent hike.

🖋️ PERSONALITY: Shelley is both Analytical and Disillusioned. He entered his profession in hopes of helping the world be a better place; now he only wishes to help it be less of a cause of suffering for others... and he's not sure how much more he can take.

🖋️ MEDICAL INFORMATION: Years of stress and familial disposition have taken a toll on Shelley. While he to be average in his health and physical abilities, he is distracted enough by his work and life situation that he has not taken appropriate care of himself in manner of eating, sleeping, and other matters. This has caused him to have chronic fatigue issues and blood sugar regulation issues that have necessitated wearing a device to alert him of his levels being disregulated. He could handle this fine with the other members of his extended family, but it's harder to deal with when it's in himself.

🖋️ MENTAL INFORMATION: Living in modern society is itself traumatizing, but coming face to face with the worst humanity has to offer has started to run him down. He's stressed, and jumpy for it.

🖋️ MAGICAL INFORMATION: Minimal. His recent NDE that necessitated an extended hospital stay has left him able to see ghosts. He doesn't know what to do with this, either.

🖋️ BRIEF SUMMARY:

Shelley is a private detective, and someone who has never stayed in one town for too long due to the careers of his parents. He did cultivate a small group of friends whom he stayed in contact with through his teenage year and adulthood-- the siblings John Aubrey Lee and Gordon Lee, and their schoolmate Persephone 'Percy' Koulias-- but he was still largely isolated and on the opposite end of the country from besides visits over the summers.


The overwhelming cultural patriotism of the early 2000s was enough to convince the sassy but idealistic college student to volunteer himself for the military and, thus, be deployed to the war zone, and the traumas in the field overseas have created a man who has no patience left for the madness of the world. He wanted to take care of his family and his community-- this meant putting everything of himself as secondary to the needs of others. He helped take care of his grandparents at the end of their lives, and now does his best to hold together a family that had grown fragmented through uncultivated connections and the sheer passage of time. It hurts, but he is adult enough to know that they all just did their best... and that sometimes, doing the best for others is not the same as doing the best for yourself.

Work as a private detective came naturally for a highly observant loner, and it allowed him the ability to work out of the public eye while also giving him the flexibility to do what he needed to do for his family and his own health. The situation with his family led him to move back to the town he grew up in, Wellspring, and after getting his licenses in order it allowed him to start over.

Shelley ended up as the inheritor of a large parcel of land that was forgotten about for years, and the deed for the parcel resurfaced as his family was sorting through his grandfather's affairs after his death. The land contains a not small acreage of undeveloped woodlands and a spring that was used as a swimming area in the 1950s before it was shut down due to danger and forgotten. The spring had become a place for people wanting to hold secret parties over the years, and a number of missing persons in the surrounding area drowned in the depths of the spring.

Having spent much time in the outdoors with his grandfather in his youth, Shelley was listed as the conservator of the property. However, it was a parcel of land that Shelley didn't know how to manage, secure, or even deal with.

The combined stress of sorting through the bad blood that resurfaced in his own family over the intergenerational mismanagement of resources, caring for his aging parents, and lack of ability to cope were starting to take their toll. Gordon Lee heard about the struggles that Shelley was quietly dealing with and surfaced with an offer of aid. Recent years had seen him become a real estate manager in the area,and Gordon had been making plans to buy a parcel of undeveloped land to turn into a legacy for his teenage twin nieces, Phoebe and Junco. They were about to enter into legal adulthood, and Gordon planned to be their guide and show them how to make the most of the trust that they were inheriting-- and how make it work for them. Shelley, however, was aware of Gordon's reputation as an impulsive man who had an uncanny knack for making problems 'disappear'-- including an inheritance dispute between himself and his brother John years before that resulted in John dying by unknown means-- and staunchly held his ground in the little cabin he had taken to residing in on the property.

The two fought over this, at times aggressively. Given Shelley's situation, wasn't it more rational to just take the money and run? It was a rare instance where Shelley clung to the emotional appeal of a decision; he didn't want his family's legacy to be used, abused, and ultimately forgotten.

Kicking Gordon off of the property, Shelley stormed out into the foggy woods to clear his mind. The sounds of the quiet wilderness had always been a welcome reprieve from the madness of society, and for a few moments Shelley found that peace by the rocky edges of the abandoned spring off of the unkempt dirt paths that cut through the woods. While out there, he found that the metal barrier protecting people from the depths of the wellspring was unlocked. Someone had cut the chain, and recently. Shelley, curious, went to investigate-- and found something in the depths that shocked him.

It was Percy, his long time friend, wife of John, and Gordon's sister-in-law who had been missing for days... dead, floating face down in the spring.

This was the last straw. Life's challenges were heavy, and he couldn't keep holding them up. Dizziness took him and he slipped into the frigid depths as well-- and, blinded by the fine silt that had been kicked up by the commotion, Shelley nearly gave into the darkenss... until a strange girl caught his hand and dragged him back to safety.

The girl called herself Loveday, and she said that she lived nearby and had seen a lot of the recent troubles. She offered help... and Shelley passed out while holding her hand.

He awoke in the hospital, connected to various wires and drips and unable to see anything with any clarity... except a girl, or maybe a bird, sitting at the foot of his bed.

Shelley couldn't believe his eyes, or the news he received from the doctors, but he knew what he needed to do.


📓 OOC

🖋️ BACKTAGGING: Always!
🖋️ FOURTHWALLING: Sure! If there's anything to Fourth Wall!
🖋️ PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Go ahead. Just don't expect reciprocation
🖋️ PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: I'd prefer a warning, but Shelley can defend himself
🖋️ RELATIONSHIPS: Totally open, for men, women, and everyone in between. Let's just talk first if you want anything involving smut. Shelley has next to 0 thoughts on romance, but anything is possible.

📓 EXTRA

If it's easier to AU, I can easily AU. Shelley has been an OC of mine since 2010 and has existed in multiple different forms over the years.