Arden Frye

Name: Arden Christianne Frye
Age: 22
Zodiac: Virgo
Sex: Female
Gender: Genderfluid
P.O.B: Cois, Rhoynar
Residence: Skørravir, Falkreath
Religion: None
Magic: Therionology
Sexuality: Omnisexual
Relationship status: Single

Parents:

+ Cain Asbrændsson (father)
+ Emilia Hodge née Frye (mother, deceased)
+ Philip Hodge (step-father)

Siblings:

+ Devon McConnell (half-brother)
+ Teren Santoro (half-brother)
+ Gwendolyn o’ Castamere (half-sister)

Other:

+ Abel Asbrændsson (uncle)

Positive traits: Seemingly confident, loyal, analytical, animals over people, hardworking, kind, practical, protective
Negative traits: Critical, unable to turn the other cheek, withdrawn, worryguts, insecure
Description: There are few people who really know Arden. At a glance, she seems like a kind and confident young woman (or man, depending on the day) with a passionate temper and a mouth that can land her in trouble. To a certain extent, this is true: she’s fiercely protective of anyone she considers a close friend or loved one and sticks up for the people close to her at all times, even when it puts her in danger. She’s friendly and smiles easily.
___What most people don’t realise, is that most of this is a mask. She’s very practical and thinks things through to determine the best thing to say or do at any given time. She doesn’t like big crowds, preferring to spend times with animals over humans, and worries – extensively, about almost everything. She’s constantly on guard whenever she feels out of her depth, careful not to reveal too much of herself. She will stick up for herself when she feels slighted – or, more likely, if someone else has been wronged – but generally tries to avoid landing herself in such situations. She doesn’t like taking the easy way out, but is very much aware of her options and looks out for herself; after all, if she doesn’t, who will?
Notes: Overall, Arden is much the same whether she’s female or male, with the notable exception that he’s more forward and outgoing when he’s male. It’s not a conscious decision and Arden probably isn’t even aware of it. He’s more flirty when he’s male, too, even though it rarely leads anywhere. For reasons unknown, he’s also a little more gentle and less likely to get into an argument whenever he identifies as male.


0
On an unusually warm day for Falkreath, Emilia Frye sat in one of the taverns of Skørravir, feeling almost nauseous with nerves. The next day, she would trade in her familiar home town to return to Rhoynar, the country her parents and grandparents had once called home, until circumstances – her parents never had told her what circumstances those were – had forced them away and to Falkreath, where Emilia had been born and raised. Now, thanks to Emilia’s betrothal to a Rhoynar man she had never met before, they were to return on the first ship in the morning. She had come to the tavern on impulse, looking for a drink to calm her jittery nerves.

When asked later, she wouldn’t be able to recall what had made her fall into conversation with Cain Asbrændsson, whom she had seen in passing but never really spoken to. She remembered he was charming and easy to talk to, and that he listened without judgment as she admitted to her anxiety. She couldn’t recall how she had ended up in his bed, only that she had, and that, for once, her mind hadn’t been on her upcoming nuptials to a complete stranger. The next morning, she dressed hurriedly and left to meet her parents at the docks. They set off for Cois without Emilia ever saying goodbye to Cain.

She met with her betrothed, Philip Hodge, and was swept up in the final wedding preparations – until, a month later, just before her wedding, she realised that she was over a week late with her monthly bleeding, while she had always been eerily regular before. She didn’t think much of it, attributing it to nerves, until, some weeks after her wedding, she discovered the unmistakable signs of a pregnancy. Everyone was beside themselves with joy, seeing her easy pregnancy as a sign that her union with Philip would be a blessed one, but Emilia only felt dread.

When, eight months later, she gave birth to a baby girl, she didn’t tell her husband it wasn’t his. He assumed the baby was premature, given her small stature, but Emilia knew. Arden had arrived exactly on time, nine months after her conception in a tavern in Falkreath.

1-8
Knowing nothing of her parentage, Arden grew into a carefree and happy child that was most happy chasing the other children around the city. Her childhood was unremarkable and very much like anyone else’s; she spent most of her time outside with the other children, few as they were; attended classes as she grew older. She was loud and cheerful, sometimes to the embarrassment of her father, who told her to be quiet, and the amusement of her mother, who doted on her daughter at any opportunity.

9-13
Arden grew older, as everyone must. Her early teenage years wouldn’t have been that remarkable if Arden hadn’t slowly become aware of days where she felt uncomfortable inside her own body, when she looked at the curves she was developing and loathed them. For a long time, she didn’t know what it meant, what she felt was missing, until, one day when she traded in her usual dress for a pair of breeches and a shirt while she had her dress mended. She looked at herself in the mirror and, on impulse, tied back her hair so it didn’t seem so long. After that, she folded her hands across her chest and pressed slightly to hide the curves of her breasts. She looked around the room for a cloth or bandages and wrapped them tightly around her chest before putting on her borrowed shirt again. When she looked back in the mirror, she thought she could almost pass for a boy – and something clicked into place.

She started experimenting, referring to herself as ‘he’ and ‘him’ in her head on days where she didn’t feel at home in her body, binding her breasts with bandages and nicking some shirts from her father’s closet. Over the next few months, she slowly grew more at ease with her gender identities, until she felt like they had become equally part of her. For a while, she was happy, even though she had to hide a large part of herself from the rest of the world every day.

14
It took a year and crushes on three different girls for Arden to find out she wasn’t just different because she was genderfluid; she was also attracted to both men and women. Over the past year, it had become more of a struggle to try to act normal whenever Arden didn’t feel like a woman; on days like that, wearing the clothes he had bought years ago, when he didn’t have these feelings yet, could wear him down and make him want to lock himself in his room until he felt like her again. Adding her bisexuality to that made her decide to tell her parents, hoping to ease some of the strain she felt on most days. So she sat her parents down after dinner one evening when she was fourteen and carefully broke the news to them.

It didn’t go well. There was a lot of shouting – at Arden, from Philip’s end, and at Philip, from Emilia and Arden’s end. There was a lot of crying, mostly from Arden’s end. There were a lot of slamming doors, from Philip’s end, as he left the house with a snarled command at Arden to get out and never come back. Once he had left, Emilia turned to Arden and immediately wrapped her arms around her, trying to comfort her and making it clear she loved Arden unconditionally, no matter what gender she felt like or who she was attracted to. She told Arden to pack her belongings; they were leaving Cois. When Arden asked where they were going, Emilia merely said, “Home.” They left Cois the very same evening, boarding a ship that took them far away from Rhoynar altogether, and to Falkreath.

There, Emilia arranged for a small cottage that was just large enough to house the two of them, and took up work as a seamstress to make ends meet. While she made a point of always telling Arden how much she was loved, how proud Emilia was of her for her bravery, Philips’s reaction had messed Arden up. Knowing she was the reason her family was incomplete messed with her head, making her emotional for a long time.

15-20
Falkreath quickly grew as familiar to Arden, who had taken on her mother’s surname so as to not be reminded of her father’s absence, as Rhoynar had been. She missed the ocean, but found that she felt equally at home among the colder winds of Falkreath. She relished the contact with the animals around their cabin and didn’t actually mind doing chores around the house that she had despised while still living in Cois. Since the cottage was located some distance away from Hillerød (close enough that Emilia could make the trip every day to get to her job, but far away enough that few people stopped by) Arden felt that she could be herself – or himself, as it turned out – without fear of being prosecuted or ridiculed. Life, despite the fact that it could be lonely, with just Arden and Emilia, was well.

21
For five years, Arden was more or less happy, and it seemed as if life would continue easily. But then Emilia, who had been working herself to the bone, fell ill. She deteriorated quickly up until the point that even the healers couldn’t do anything other than make her comfortable. Realising she didn’t have very long left to live, Emilia called Arden to her, sat her down, and told her the one secret she had kept from everyone for twenty-one years: Arden wasn’t Philip’s daughter, but Cain Asbrændsson’s. She made Arden promise she would go and find Cain once she was gone, as she felt that Arden needed someone to get her settled in another transitional period of her life.

Three days later, Emilia passed away. Arden, numb with shock and loss, stayed until the funeral before making good on her word. She packed her stuff, sold the cottage and everything in it she wouldn’t be able to use, and made the journey to Skørravir, where Emilia had thought Cain still lived – or, if not, Arden might find someone who could point her in the right direction.

Once she had arrived, she asked around the city until she was pointed in the direction of a large mansion with a large plot of land surrounding it. She hesitated; just going up to the front door and knocking in the hope of having her father open the door seemed like an incredibly foolish thing to do, but since she couldn’t think of anything else, that was exactly what she did. The door was answered by a servant, who bowed low for Arden despite her ragged appearance and told her she would take her to her master. Arden was bid to follow and was led through a series of hallways to an elaborate study. (She didn’t know, at the time, that the servant wasn’t a servant at all, but one of Cain’s slaves.)

When she stood before Cain, her carefully rehearsed speech completely left her and she could only blurt out her name and something that resembled “I’m your daughter.” She expected to be kicked out right away – what use would a man of Cain’s wealth have for a too-thin girl that looked as if she had been rolling around in the mud – but, to her surprise, the man regarded her quietly and told her to sit. They talked; Arden told him of what had happened to Emilia, that she had nowhere else to go, that she would make herself useful and that she wouldn’t be any trouble. Then, after a slight moment of hesitation, she told him about her predicament, that she didn’t feel like a woman on some days – she figured it was best to tell him straight away, so he didn’t find out later and kick her out anyway. To her shock, none of it seemed to bother Cain, who told her she was welcome to stay.

And so, to Arden’s eternal astonishment, she was free to settle in to a house that was at least three times bigger than any she had ever lived in, including her youth in Cois. She took on the task of tending to the many animals that Cain kept on his estate, which she excelled at. She rarely left the mansion grounds, speaking only to the servants and Cain, whenever he was around. Her existence was almost as solitary as it had been the past five years, living with only her mother in a cabin in the woods, but she was alive and safe, and that was all that mattered.


+ Arden only identifies as female a little more than she identifies as male; probably 51% against 49%. During her teenage years, it was the other way around.
+ Arden knows how most of society thinks about gender roles and is usually very careful where to appear in public as either male or female. She never mixes the two.
+ As a rule, Arden doesn’t have sex when he’s identifying as male. It’s just too much of a hassle to have to explain the entire thing to his partners, so he leaves that particular activity be. Doesn’t mean he can’t flirt or kiss and cuddle. He’s all about that. He’s just not into activities that involve him stripping.
+ She discovered the nature of her father’s business within weeks of arriving through sheer coincidence, by stumbling across a small group of slaves waiting to be shipped off. Though she disapproves heavily of her father’s trade, she keeps her mouth shut about it; she feels like she has nowhere else to go, and fears Cain will kick her out if she voices any criticism. She does sneak out to bring any captured slaves some extra food and water, but only when she’s absolutely positive Cain won’t catch her in the act.
+ Another reason why she sticks around despite Cain’s business is that he hasn’t made a big deal of her genderfluidness. She’s smart enough to recognise a sanctuary when she sees one.