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Ambrose Mercier and the "domestic welfare call" (lesrevenants) wrote,
@ 2011-03-24 18:48:00

Bienvenue a Mercier Plantation, enjoy your stay. . .

OOC

NAME: Madeline
TIMEZONE: US Pacific [GMT -8]
BIRTHDAY: August 30
MESSENGER: getmeacampari
PB: Lee Pace
JOURNAL TO BE USED:

lesrevenants

Basics

NAME: Ambrose Louis Mercier
AGE/BIRTHDAY: 36 / 2 January 1944
BLOOD STATUS/RACE: Fullblood / Wizard
OCCUPATION: Owner and Operator of Mercier Plantation in New Iberia, Louisiana / reservations, management, food services, mental counseling, problem resolving due to ghosts and poltergeists, groundskeeper, housekeeping, etc. . . / Former American Auror, in cooperation with the American Ministry still when needed

About

In one of his most famous dialogues of the play, Hamlet laments to his friends that “I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth” and that his world has become “a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.” Hamlet only had one ghost to worry about. Ambrose Mercier has roughly 342 ghosts and poltergeists to worry about, and all by himself, too. If that doesn’t get you bummed out, he doesn’t know what does.

The Mercier Plantation was built in 1831 by the family of the same name, once Acadian wizarding settlers to the area turned prosperous farmers and growers of potion ingredients. The beautiful antebellum home and grounds have been passed down from one generation to the next, surviving the war, floods, hurricanes, and various other issues down along the line. Perhaps the Merciers have all got the coping gene, but nobody more than Ambrose. Somewhere or sometime in the last few decades, the grounds became a paranormal hotspot. Mercier always had two or three ghosts over the years, nothing too out of control. At the time of Ambrose’s childhood, the family was still living in the plantation home and operating it as a hotel and a touristing destination when seven more ghosts decided to relocate nearer to them - something strange and rare even for ghosts, they reckoned.

That number grew exponentially over the years - to the point where Ambrose had to come back to take care of the house, because his aging parents couldn’t handle the stress and upkeep. At the time Mercier had graduated from one of the most prestigious wizard academies in the states, the Salem Wizard's Institute - an elite all-male school like that of Salem Witches' Institute, and was working as an Auror and training to fight dark magic. He has a promising career ahead of him, and was very successful and popular among the rest of the squad, though his strong sense of obligation kicked in for his family. Ambrose tried hard to bring people back to the grounds, which proved impossible as there had been too many complaints from guests of noises and annoyances by spectres and even poltergeists damaging personal property. The ghosts of the mansion became too much of an issue, to the point where Ambrose’s marriage even fell apart - his wife took their daughter and left for Shreveport, or anywhere far from the haunted plantation. It was impossible for anyone living on the grounds to have any privacy, with ghosts always floating about, and more being added to the number each day. Ambrose has even had US Ministry officials out to investigate why the house seems to be drawing spirits to it from all over the country, but reports are always too tricky to carry out - poltergeists like to rip up papers and throw antiques at nosy intruders.

Ambrose Mercier has always been a southern boy, that’s all anyone can say when they try to explain why he doesn’t leave the plantation behind. He feels responsible for maintaining the beauty of the place, and there is a small revenue stream from being featured on Terrortours’ Top Ten Terrific Travels for the past ten years. Wizarding tourists like to say they were able to spend at least one night in the haunted mansion without a scratch, or like to vevnture out to the more dangerous slave’s living quarters behind the house itself. Ambrose is single-handedly in charge of the maintenance of the whole 300 acres of the grounds, as any employees only average about four days before complaining of spooks and scratches on their body or general stress from being surrounded by such a staggering number of ghosts in one place. He can’t have much of a personal life, as ghosts always intrude and want to know his business, interrupt his sleep, try to keep him on the grounds themselves. When he leaves, poltergeists are known to break windows and antique furniture. The house has him captive, but it’s a family obligation. He is quite ruled by the spirits, as they like to make demands of him as well. He’s come to know all of them almost personally, whether it be the Franciscan monk of the Spanish colonial age who stalks the kitchen holding his decapitated head - named Julio, or the former servant to his own family many years ago - Otis. Some are happy haunts, and some are more sinister - hence the off-limits servant’s quarters, and hence the range of emotions the spirits exhibit. Some like to watch Ambrose in the bath, and some like to leave long, sharp scratches on his skin while he sleeps. They truly don’t like to leave him alone, and guests to the plantation are no different.

To the muggle eye, Mercier appears to be a shabbier, broken down version of itself, thanks to helpful placed charms of Ambrose’s - however, more nosy muggles sometimes get the nerve to stand on the porch - before being scared out of their wits, which the ghosts happen to enjoy immensely.

Ambrose Mercier is like any man whose life was ruled by a mass number of ghosts in his home - slightly surrendering, stoic, almost cold a lot of the time. He’s had to deal with this for so long he knows no different. He craves human contact but knows not to wish too hard for it - it would be impossible. He’s gotten used to being watched by spirits all day and all night, and has become a very strong and unflappable man because of it. Now if he could just figure out why there are so many of them on his property, he might be able to live his life.

It’s not really in the cards now.

If Ambrose Mercier had free time that wasn't otherwise spent trying to resolve whatever problems the ghosts had at the time, he'd enjoy spending his time reading cookbooks, listening to old soul music (luckily the ghosts seem to like that), hunting and fishing, and perfecting his mint julep recipe. He makes them strong. It's easier to sleep in the plantation house that way. He sometimes plays the old piano in the parlor for fun and sings as well, and to entertain guests (as well as the spirits, naturally), who both like requesting songs for him to try to pick out on the keys. He's quite proud of his ability to sing "Sea Of Love" by Phil Phillips, a song he remembers as a kid. He doesn't have great singing skill by any means, but his deep voice is at least able to mask that.

Just for fun

FIVE THINGS:

• Reason 1 - IT’S THE REAL LIFE HAUNTED MANSION. Only no cheery songs. Sometimes the ghosts tell him to play soul music because they seem to like soul music, but that’s about it. Ambrose should sue Disney and make millions. There’s also some reason all the ghosts are drawn to the grounds, which either the Order or the Death Eaters or the Ministry could investigate. But most likely the Order. The ghosts don’t seem to fancy official-looking types too much.

• Reason 2 - Ambrose could very well become a regular character, but we’ll see. He’s looking to really figure out why the ghosts seem to be flocking to Mercier, and after that he’s really someone badass to have in your corner. “He ain’t fraid of no ghosts.” So probably not snakes or Death Eaters or other things either. After all, with paid admission for a room at the Mercier Plantation, you also get two free tickets Ambrose’s Gun Show:

SHAKE OFF DEM GHOSTS.

• Reason 3 - Eye candy for those lonely women in the game. I MEAN COME ON. REALLY. He does hard labor all day. With no shirt on. Because let’s face it. Temporary characters are effectively sexually objectified. Just look at Jose Carlos. Everyone wants to smang it.

• Reason 4 - We know the ghosts are hiding or protecting something or someone has been there before. . .could be a horcrux there, or information about one. Maybe a ghost is a victim of Tom Riddle’s? WHO KNOWS I’M JUST SAYING. It would be awesome.

• Reason 5 - Louisiana is just so amazing and excellent and I had to write a temp character for it. Had to. I’d also like to explore how American wizards function, what kind of government, schools, blood purity, etc. . .You know.