Kresnik, Ellenore

Basics
Full Name: Ellenore Kresnik
Nickname: Elle, Silent Chef
Age, D.O.B.: 23 (September 2)
Gender: Female
Class: Persona User
Arcana: Priestess
Grade/Career: Chef in family's cafe
Ethnicity: European (German)-Japanese
Family:

William Kresnik, Father, 51, Deceased
Ryouko Kresnik, Mother, 49, Deceased
Isama Akiyama, Maternal Grandmother, 73
Hideaki Akiyama, Maternal Grandfather, 73
Hiroshi Akiyama, Maternal Uncle, 48
Vale Kresnik, Brother, 17

Appearance

Face Claim: Megurine Luka, Vocaloid

Standing at a max height of five feet and five inches tall, Ellenore doesn't quite match the height of some of her peers. She tries to make the best of her height deficit with a fit and lithe body built through her morning workouts alongside her above average bust and shapely form. Yet, what really allows the young woman to stand out in a crowd the most is her pink hair and violet-blue eyes. Naturally bright red, she keeps her hair dyed for reasons that she hasn't disclosed to anyone. It is normally allowed to fall and settle freely but is always kept up in a high ponytail when cooking.

Her choice of outfits tends to land within a darker color scheme, most often black with a few accenting colors. Black short sleeved or sleeveless shirts and tank tops are generally worn under light jackets of the same color during spring and fall seasons. These tend to be paired with similarly colored skirts or dark-blue jeans, jet black stockings and dark-brown knee-high boots. The few lighter colored outfits she does own are only worn on rare occasions. During her long shifts cooking at her family's restaurant, she always wears a plain white chef's outfit. Regardless of her choice of outfit though, she can always be seen wearing a black choker adorned with a sapphire affixed to its center.

Personality

Likes: Coffee, Rice-based dishes, Action and comedy movies, Music, Swimming, Strong and tight-knit communities
Dislikes: Picky eaters, Soda, Politics, Humid heat,
Hobbies: Cooking, Reading, Video games, Running
Goals:  To hone her cooking to the highest mastery she possibly can, to run her family's cafe and take care of her family.

From even a first glance, it's easy to tell that Ellenore leans towards an introverted and distant nature. This is due in large part to her condition of being mute. Her inability to speak or even utter the quietest of vocal noises makes communicating with others very tedious, often forcing her to resort to typing her thoughts through text on her phone or sign language. As a result, she has resigned herself to being the reserved presence; the silent friend that really only responds when spoken to. Her condition has unsurprisingly bred an aversion to louder and rowdier crowds that you might find at sports or celebratory events.  She instead enjoys quieter settings where she can relax and lose herself in her thoughts, focus on her studies, cooking or games and the company of smaller groups of friends much more. This doesn't mean that she's anti-social or uncomfortable in crowded areas though. She remains perfectly capable of mingling with others if approached, even if through unconventional means, as long as they have the patience to do so. It just so happens that being mute makes approaching people a more difficult and easier to keep to herself.

Anyone who takes the time to get to know the young woman will find an affable and kind character, often described as pleasant and patient with others. The silence forced upon her has turned her into an excellent listener, honing her insightfulness and empathy towards her neighbors and peers. She's learned to try and stay open-minded and understanding about most things; to try and learn about both sides rather than blindly following one side or the other. She is also very level-headed and calm, capable of staying composed even during intense, stressful and even chaotic situations. This combined with her willingness to help out forms a friendly, helpful and laid-back image. Yet, despite her empathy for others, the woman's introversion also causes her to be somewhat of an enigma. Friends and family alike note that while she always seems to keep an open ear for others, she almost never speaks much about her own worries, fears or doubts and has a tendency to get defensive and cold if pushed too much to talk about them. This stoicism doesn't only just stem from her inability express herself vocally though. She firmly believes that others shouldn't have to shoulder her burdens and thus isn't afraid to deal with difficult matters, her anxieties and her problems away from the prying eyes of others.

Of course, everyone has their demons and Ellenore's comes primarily from her perspective of the world. True trust in others comes hard for her. While she does not see everything and everyone as evil per say, she's seen enough to understand the underlying cutthroat nature of society. Political games for power, money and status are a constant struggle, tearing apart friends and families over the smallest, pettiest things. All the while, big corporations and politicians spread, maintain and abuse the status quo to garner more support and power for themselves. This growing sense of greed and similar issues that she sees as a growing insanity in humanity infuriate the young woman. She tends to keep herself as distant from such conversation as she can to avoid the vindictive and spiteful thoughts she has regarding them. She does her best to maintain her own little pocket of positivity through her restaurant and cooking while maintaining her own life and the needs of herself, her family and friends. Furthermore, while she holds a deep animosity for people who act haughty or arrogant, especially towards those who torment or abuse others for the sake of themselves, she also understands that everyone has the potential to turn towards that darker behavior.

History

The eldest of only two children born to her parents, Ellenore's tale actually begins in Germany. It was there that her mother, who was studying cuisine abroad to hone her craft as a chef, and her father, the owner of a small family owned cafe bar, met for the first time. Through a discovery of mutual interests and professions, along with a gut feeling from both, they decided to work together for a mutual benefit. Together, the Kresnik's bar flourished tremendously and in the short few years that the duo worked together, a love blossomed between them. A further few years further down the line and the two were happily married and expecting their first child; a daughter they named Ellenore.

The firstborn's early childhood was a fairly standard affair. Her parents both worked full shifts almost every day, so the most time that she got to spend with them was during dinner and later during the evening. Most of her days were instead spent in the care of her aunt and uncle, playing with various toys, playing video games with her cousins or playing in a nearby park with the other local kids. There were even a sparse amount of days that she spent at her family's bar, watching her mother cook and sparking the child's initial interest in the art.

It wasn't all fun and games though. From as early as her entrance into kindergarten, young Ellenore's mother was insistent that she be taught to speak both of her parents' native languages. Her father did not object, so a few nights of the child's week were spent being tutored in Japanese by her mother. On top of that, her blooming interest in food and cooking continued to grow as she began to spend more time watching her mother work. While it was rare that she got to handle anything in the kitchen, her mother continued to nurture her daughter's interest in her profession by teaching her about it. From her tender early age and into her preteens, Elle, now alongside a younger Vale, absorbed much of the knowledge her parents presented to them.

As Elle advanced into her preteen years, the Kresnik family began to make visits to her maternal family in Japan. To her and her younger brother, these visits were simply fun times spent with family that they did not get to see very often. They got along well with their cousins despite some difficulties presented by the language barrier and spent most of their visits enjoying the foreign arcades, attractions and, for Elle, tasting the foreign foods. However, in reality, her parents were using the trip to plan their eventual move to the far eastern country. A mix of financial and social troubles with the locals had begun to brew that would force them to shut down their business within the next upcoming year.

Though it came quickly and unexpectedly for the kids, their move to Japan went smoothly enough. Although their family offered to help them find a home nearby, the Kresniks declined the invitation. They instead decided to settle down in the City of Sanyo. A quick bit of negotiation earned the family both a nice home in the Sun District as well as a property in the town's Moon district to open up a new business. Their two children were enrolled in their respective schools and their new life adapting to their new home began.

Unfortunately for Ellenore, the transition was a bit more difficult for her than it was for her parents. While both of her parents were fairly well versed in the culture and mannerisms of the eastern nation, she had only known the bare basics. This along her flaming red hair made her stand out quite a bit among her peers and garnered her plenty of both positive and negative attention. She quickly became one of the favored targets for a few of the school's bullies, who often used her hair and accented Japanese as reasons to target her. Fortunately, the friends that she did make did a lot to blunt the blows and help both her and her younger brother adjust to their new home a bit quicker.

Despite all of the changes happening in her life though, Ellenore's new setting did nothing to bar her from continuing her studies on cooking and cuisine. In fact, her new setting proved to be a boon in disguise. With the new setting came a slew of new recipes and techniques she could learn and master. With her mother as her guide and teacher, she resolved to become a famous and talented chef herself so that she could both surpass and care for her parents later.

By the time she hit high school a year later, Ellenore had managed to settle into her new life fairly comfortably. Her quick learning and foreign beauty garnered her notoriety from her classmates at her new school while her time spent working in her parents' cafe earned her the respect of her teachers. However, her more reserved nature tended to keep her amongst the friends that she already knew and she was soon just as well known for turning down pretty much anyone who asked her out, even the popular kids. Fortunately for her, the other students attributed this to her being shy rather than conceited and she retained her popularity, much to her chagrin.

Her high school years passed by normally up until near the end of her third and final year. It was just after her midterms when tragedy struck. On what would have been a regular night, a simple mistake in the kitchen of her family's cafe ignited a fire that quickly spread and engulfed the building in flames. In the ensuing chaos, Ellenore found herself trapped in one of the inner rooms of the building. Blocked from escape by both fire and smoke, the young woman was forced to wait for rescue. She eventually lost consciousness as the fire swallowed the building and awoke a few days later at the local hospital.

It was from her bother, who had been out visiting family at the time, that she learned that their parents had not made it out of the burning building alive. The news was traumatizing for the young woman to say the least. When she tried to respond, however, nothing came forth. No words were spoken or even the slightest noise uttered aside from her panicked breathing. Her doctors hypothesized that the loss of her voice was due to either smoke inhalation or the trauma of the news of her loss, but assured that it would be temporary.

Yet, even a week, a month or even a year after the incident, Ellenore remained silent and even more reserved than before in her grieving. The truth regarding the cause of the fire, her own careless mistake, was buried and hidden from everyone; a secret she intended to take to the grave. She kept it tucked in the back of her mind, used as both a reminder of her failure and as fuel for her resolve to move on, honor her parent's memory and repent for her hand in their untimely demise.

The familial turmoil that divided their paternal and maternal families after her parents' death dyed down in the following years. She worked together with her maternal grandparents and paternal uncle to rebuild her family's cafe, though she allowed her experienced uncle to run the establishment under his own business rather than herself. Instead, she focused herself on her studies and on honing her craft into a mastery. It was, after all, one of the few things she had left after her parent's passing. Her hard work and delicious dishes earned back all the notoriety the small cafe had lost after the fire and from those who knew her from before the fire or met her after, she earned the moniker of “The Silent Chef”.

Her last few years of college went by quietly, both literally and figuratively. Turning down invitations to work in big name restaurants upon her graduation, Ellenore instead began working full time at her family's morning cafe as the one and only chef. She settled into a quiet life living alone in a small apartment in the Star district, using the money she made from her work to both continue mastering her chosen craft and help support her younger brother. Still haunted by her past mistake but resolved to move on, she continues to look forward towards an uncertain future.

Equipment

Replica Short Sword (Slash) - A short blade made mainly for decorative purposes. Its blade is dull, but it's better than having nothing.

Notes

Ellenore is naturally a redhead but began to dye her hair pink when she grew tired of people comparing the color to that of her late father's.
The young woman is completely mute, unable to make even the faintest of vocal noise aside from her breathing.
She secretly dislikes the title her title of "Silent Chef", but doesn't quash it because of its harmlessness.