Welcome to Gaia! ::

Name: Orestes Benjamin Gaunt.

Nickname: Prefers to go by his middle name. Most often called “Benjy.” Performs as Benjy Trevelyan, but that’s just a stage name. Accepts a whole host of endearments (e.g., dollface, mon brigand, kitten, mon p’tit chou, sweetie-pie, mon p’tit bête, etc.) from his best friend and his mother, but you aren’t them, so these aren’t for you.

Gender/Pronoun: Cis man, he/him.

Age: 39.

Birthday: June 13th, 1986.

Sign: Gemini.

Gemstone: Moonstone, pearl, and alexandrite.

Blood Type: A–

Fav. Food: His mother’s or grandparents’ cooking, doesn’t matter what they’re making. Pretzel sticks when he feels snacky.

Hated Food: Venison. Also, he maintains that anyone who claims to make “Cajun” food without being Cajun, preferably from Louisiana originally, is a liar until proven otherwise.

Occupation: Writer and host of The House on St. Ann Street, a horror podcast.


Hobbies:
“An Old Soul”: Benjy revels in all things vintage, especially favoring the 1920s and 1930s, aesthetically. Catch him wearing thrift store finds he spruced up and modified to better fit the styles he likes. Antiquing is his idea of a special treat (he’d go more often if he could afford to). For a night on the town, he prefers piano bars and places where they play live jazz to anywhere else. He’s more open to literature from other periods, but even then, several of his favorites were published before 1950.

Horror: The best stories, in Benjy’s mind, leave you deeply unsettled. As an audience member, he reads new horror novels and short stories voraciously, makes time for new horror films (though he tries to avoid “90 minutes of jump scares with no substance” pictures), and keeps up on other horror-genre podcasts. As a creator, most of his time goes to writing short stories/novellas to dramatize for his own podcast, or doing research for his more analytical or discussion-based episodes. He also participates in some book clubs and discussion groups around town (and he’s always on the lookout for engaging, opinionated podcast guests).

Accents and Vocalizations: Something of a lifelong fixation, Benjy is fascinated by people’s speech. What they say is fine, but how they say it is far more interesting. As a kid, he copied specific movie characters or TV personalities, rehearsing with himself until he got their voices/accents right. Over time, he’s learned more technical aspects of voice-work and prosody, like how to read IPA, the names for and social connotations of different accents, the interplay of speech and overall physicality, etc. He has a wide array of accents and voices in his back pocket, and regularly works on new ones.

Piano: As a kid, he started because piano lessons were one of the only Nice, Extracurricular Things that his mother could afford to give him. As an adult, Benjy continues playing because it helps clear his head. Regular practice helps him create a sense of order in his life. Playing when he’s emotionally riled helps calm him down; he can often express himself better by running through a song or improvising something than with words. This is mostly a private hobby, but Benjy also plays piano in and arranges music for a local band that specializes in vintage-style covers of popular contemporary songs.


Virtues:
Charming: In a harsh and complicated world, Benjy strives to put his best foot forward. He may not always enjoy working with people—Benjy can be a control-freak, and personalities can clash so easily—but he doesn’t want to show that off. Meeting people with a (more or less constant) smile, he chooses his words, his tone, and his rhetorical devices carefully, all to ease any potential social stress and win people over to his side. He practices the compliment sandwich even when he thinks people only deserve the criticism because it makes people more inclined to listen.

Genteel: In addition to his unflinching smile, Benjy strives to meet people politely, holding himself to a high standard for etiquette and (at least ostensible) interpersonal respect. He tries to address people sweetly but not with undeserved familiarity, he doesn’t often raise his voice or interrupt people, and he always hits his “please”s and “thank you”s (though he may forego one on purpose to make a point). He also tries to mind when etiquette rules shift and adjust accordingly. People in the neighborhood where he grew up might call it “putting on airs,” but Benjy calls it good manners.

Adaptable: Nobody ever gets anywhere in life by being too static. Benjy has his priorities, values, and deep personal ideals, and he doesn’t believe in sacrificing those—but compromise is an art. He tries to keep plans flexible, and while he will set boundaries with people, he adjusts to work with theirs as well. He regularly fights his own first impulses to keep himself open to feedback and making changes as necessary. Working with people and staying fluid amidst changing circumstances will make everything easier.

Besides, it’s easier to control and come out on top in any given situation if people think that you’re ceding ground to them.

Positive: Benjy is not immune to frustration or exhaustion, but even with odds against him, he works hard to look on the bright side. Benjy sees it as a low-key propaganda spin game with himself, or sometimes as a way of gaslighting himself—but better that than succumbing to despair. Bad situations can always be negotiated to his advantage. Nothing is hopeless or impossible if he refuses to give up. Yes, things may look bad right now, but the silver lining is here somewhere, alright? Benjy may simply need to roll up his sleeves and work a little harder for it.


Flaws:
Vindictive/Petty: Holding grudges comes as second nature to Benjy, so much so that he will do it about “personal slights” that don’t really matter but did sufficiently annoy him. Likewise, sending just desserts toward the people who’ve “wronged him” is an Olympic sport where he aims to take home the Gold. Sure, he could let his smiling façade slip enough to talk about his problems with someone like an adult, but where’s the fun in that? If he doesn’t nurse that grudge until he gets one over on the “offending party,” he doesn’t get to win.

Performative: Benjy is what happens when you let a theatre kid take “All the world’s a stage” a little too seriously. Normal conversations, to him, aren’t much different from being on stage, or from putting on his podcast host persona. While he doesn’t make a habit of outright lying, his need to control how others perceive him leads him to overly tailor how he presents himself in ways that make him struggle to connect with people. Really, darling, it’s fine! He’s simply giving the audience what they want (never mind that the “audience” is one person, who mostly wants Benjy to be real with them).

Arrogant: Hubris, thy name is Benjy. In theory, he knows that he doesn’t know everything and can’t do everything himself. In practice, however, Benjy strives to feel perfectly in control of every situation, and clings to that feeling until he’s lost every justification for his stubborn pride. Benjy knows more than you. He has thought further ahead than you have and considered more possible outcomes. He’s right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it. In addition to making him an annoying p***k to deal with, this often leaves him scrambling in messy situations where he could’ve asked for help a lot earlier.

Unhinged: Underneath the polite manners and near-permanent smile, Benjy has a lot of feelings. While he keeps them on a tight leash, he still feels them very intensely and he doesn’t always have a good outlet for them. Day-to-day, he has enough incentive to prevent him from going entirely off the ******** chain, and a lifetime of practice restraining himself has helped. But when Benjy gets riled, he easily gets swept up in his own emotional hurricane—and depending on how severely he feels he was provoked, it might be a while until he calms down again.


PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Eyes: Rosy pink. #FD92C3.

Hair: Black with some natural wave to it (sort of between 2b and 2c, texture-wise). Wears it long (about mid-back/upper-waist length) and tied back in a ponytail, with the hair in the front cut shorter so it can frame his face.

Face: Angular, pointy. The individual parts of his face are nice, but when put together, there’s something ever so slightly off that keeps him in the realm of “character actor” good looks standards rather than “classically handsome leading man.” Perpetually smiling, give or take the shifts of his micro-expressions.

Skin Tone: #D28E5E. Medium brown with some golden tones. He both darkens up and freckles when he spends more time in the sun.

Body Type: 5’11” and lanky. He’ll tell you he’s six feet, though.

Clothes: No, seriously, Benjy’s sense of style is stuck in the 1920s and 1930s, and he likes it that way, thank you. Only rarely is he caught outside the house while wearing less than a button-up shirt, with some kind of tie (be it a classic necktie or bow-tie) and a fitted waistcoat (oh, boy, does he have a sizable collection of those). No, he’s not going anywhere special; he just feels his best when he’s dressed like a Jazz Age dandy. Most of his modern-style clothes are for sleeping in, working out, laundry day, etc.