Jane Portobello

Jane Portobello
daughter of aesculapius • the thorn

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Personal Information

Full NameJane Amelia Portobello (by choice)
Elizabeth Howard-Cooke (by birth)

BirthdayAugust 30th, 1539

Age479 years old

Zodiac SignVirgo

Sex / GenderFemale / Female

SpeciesDemigoddess

NationalityEnglish

EthnicityCaucasian

Sexual OrientationAsexual

Romantic OrientationHeteroromantic

Relationship StatusSingle

AccentBritish

BirthplaceHorsham, Sussex

Living SituationSecond Cohort

Languages SpokenEnglish, German, Latin, Chinese

Weapon(s)Imperial Gold *pugio*

Personality

The rather terrible life Jane Portobello has led for almost five hundred years drastically changed her personality. She used to be a bold and assertive, yet at the same time kind girl. The woman she is now is in a way a twisted, sick, distorted version of her old self. Jane’s most distinctive feature is the way she’s so easily scared by most anything. She’s constantly tense, on the lookout for possible dangers. When entering a room, she will probably try and think of at least two escape routes to use should her safety be compromised. Because of her general attitude and her life story, she’s afraid of and even repulsed by physical touch, no matter who should try to get closer to her. She’s extremely distrustful and suspicious, only considering a person “probably not harmful” once they have really proven themselves to her. Despite the constant fear she feels and often exhibits, Jane has a very sharp mind and is perfectly able to think logically. She can be actually adept at solving problems, when she’s not running away from them, of course. She considers her personal safety more important than anything else. She will not hesitate to save others, but only if it doesn't mean not being able to save herself. Being the constantly extremely anxious person that she is, she needs something to calm her down at least a little bit. Or two things, in her case. These two things are: mathematics (she recites the Fibonacci sequence when she feels she's about to panic) and the occasional (or, in other words, very common) cigarette.

History

Among the most controversial and scandalous figures in English history is most definitely king Henry VIII. The monarch is mostly known for founding the Church of England, which would have been an admirable achievement, if the other reason wasn’t his astounding number of wives. The six ladies to whom Henry was married are now subjects favored by novelists, playwrights and filmmakers. The list of his queens goes as follows: the well-educated Katherine of Aragon, the sharp-witted Anne Boleyn, the gentle and calm Jane Seymour, the docile Anne of Cleves, the cheerful Catherine Howard and the ambitious Katheryn Parr. Of course, Henry could only marry one woman at a time, and thus he found a way to dispose of each consort. Two of them he divorced, one died in labor, finally one outlived him. However, the other two, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, were removed from the royal family in a more straightforward manner . Namely, they were executed. But to execute them, he needed a reason.
The king’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was born in Lambeth around the year 1523. Soon, after the death of her mother, Joyce, she and some of her siblings were sent to live in the care of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, their father’s stepmother. Catherine now lived with the woman’s many wards in her household in Horsham, Sussex. However, the discipline there wasn’t enforced as successfully as in other, similar places at that time. The Dowager Duchess was often visiting the royal court, leaving her girls in the hands of rather incompetent caretakers. The older teenagers quickly learned to take advantage of the lack ineffective supervision. They found ways to sneak men into the house and were rewarded with gifts. And soon their behavior made a huge impact on Catherine, who, despite being very young, now saw sexual relationships as nothing to be ashamed of or any kind of taboo.
A brief break in her open stance towards sex happened when she was 13. Catherine had begun taking music lessons from the 36-year-old Henry Mannox. She would later reveal that the man would touch her private body parts without her consent. The two of them hadn’t had any intercourse per se, but did participate in some sort of intimate activities. These unwanted advances, to put it mildly, continued until she had lost all hope of them ending. One night, the now 15-year-old girl came to the sleeping areas so depressed, her friends persuaded her to join them in their… meeting with the young men they invited for the night. Both the girls and their guests indulged themselves in a little too much wine that evening, and even though she tried many times, Catherine could never remember it clearly. All she knew that some time later, she made a terrible discovery. She was pregnant.
One of the things she couldn’t remember or know was that a few of the men invited that night were Roman gods. Among them, dragged along for “some fun” was the patron of healers, Aesculapius. He’d agreed to come along, and was even looking forward to meeting some of the older girls. Despite it might have seemed that way, he didn’t want to sleep with a kid. That night wasn’t his finest moment. After way too many drinks, he ended up not even recognizing the girl he hooked up with. When he realized she was only fourteen, he decided to detach himself completely from the matter. Despite wanting to, he never visited the child or Catherine ever again.
The other wards and caretakers hid Catherine’s pregnancy as well as they could. They arranged for a family living nearby to take the child and raise it as their own. They pretended she was sick when the Dowager Duchess visited so that she wouldn’t find out. Fortunately the woman never stayed long enough to get suspicious. However, the household’s inhabitants’ luck ended just after Catherine gave birth. The Dowager Duchess arrived for longer this time, and it was impossible to keep the secret anymore. The outraged older woman gave the child away immediately.
Catherine’s new daughter, Elizabeth, now lived with the Cookes, a married couple from nearby. She grew up with their five biological children. Beth liked it in the countryside, it being the only place she’d ever known. However, like most young girls, she dreamed of adventures far from where she was. Little did she know that these dreams would later come true – at a great cost. For now, Beth didn’t even have an idea that the Cookes were not her real parents. This discovery would come when she was fifteen.
That day, the teenager was just completing all her daily tasks in the household. There was a lot to do at the Cooke farm, especially after her older sisters got married and moved away. She knew these were her last days at home. And they were indeed, although most definitely not why she thought they would be. It was getting rather cold, so she came back into the house to find something she could wrap around herself. There, she overheard her parents arguing. Being the inquisitive girl that she was, she couldn’t help but listen. Her father was just explaining to his wife that they should finally find Beth a husband. Her mother wasn’t very happy with that, and at one point mentioned that they’d “taken her in and raised her as their own”. Elizabeth was shocked by this, and couldn’t fully understand it. Before she could think twice, she forgot all her mother had ever thought her. She burst into the room, blurting out hardly understandable questions. Her father was more angry than startled, but her mother was almost in tears. The horrified Beth was told about her true origin, including her mother’s identity (but not her father’s, of course).
This was far too much for the young and impulsive Elizabeth to stand. At night, she gathered her few possessions and left her home, never to return. This choice seemed gigantic even then – and it had much more dire consequences than the girl ever thought. It was the first of many choices in her life she would later come to regret.
For now, she loved her new lifestyle. The spring was warm enough for her to sleep outdoors, eat whatever she found and move along any larger road she could find. She wanted to go to London and see it for the first time – she’d heard stories of its astonishing size and beauty, but she couldn’t quite believe them until she saw for herself how magnificent the city was. Now, she had a goal, and that gave her a sense of purpose she’d never felt before. It gave her the biggest rush of her life, to have such a clear objective, even one as simple as this one.
She was walking across Surrey, head filled with ideas of what she could do for a living in London – she was naïve enough not to even think about the profession she, in reality, would most likely have to commit too. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise in the field she was passing. Startled, she turned to see an ant-like creature near her. Beth was never afraid of insects, but she couldn’t look at this one without shivering. It was larger than any ant she’d ever seen, and it definitely didn’t look friendly. The girl didn’t have anything to defend herself with – unless you counted the stick she picked up on her way to help her walk. Without thinking too much, she hit the ant with it – only to have her hand terribly burned by some kind of acid the ant had somehow spit. Blinded by horrible pain, she turned the other way and ran – ran faster than ever in her life, faster than she even thought possible. After what felt like eternity, the ant apparently gave up. Beth finally had time to look at her hand – which turned out to be a horrible idea. After vomiting a few times at the sight of the injury, she began fantasizing about being able to fix this problem somehow. Slowly falling asleep, she accidentally touched the wound with her other hand. She expected to suffer even more, but to her shock and joy a small fragment of the palm began to look slightly better. For days, she continued using this gift on the injury. After about a week and a half, the hand was functional, yet obviously didn’t look identical as before.

Powers

Powers of a child of Aesculapius:

Appearance

Face ClaimEmilia Clarke

Eye ColourGreen

Hair ColourBrown

Height1.64 m

WeightDoes it matter?

Voice TypeSoprano

Blood Type0 negative

Distinguishing Marks

Body StyleEctomorph

TattoosSPQR tattoo

PiercingsNone

ScentRoses

Family Information

FatherAesculapius

MotherCatherine Howard

CreatorNone

Full SiblingsNone

Half SiblingsKlara and Aloisia Rosenkrantz

Guardian(s)None

SpouseNone

ChildrenNone

Other Relatives

Relationships

Significant Other(s)Logan McNamara †

Best Friend(s)None

FriendsNone

EnemiesLogan McNamara †

Other

Name Etymology

Given [ Jane ]Alternative feminine form of John (the usual is Joan), meaning "Yahweh is gracious".

Middle [ Amelia ]Variant of Amalia, from the name Amala derived from the Germanic element *amal* meaning "work".

Surname [ Portobello ]Taken after Portobello Road in London, where Jane used to live. Not an actual surname.

Trivia

Nickname(s)Beth (previously)

Favourite ColourRed

Favourite Movie*Roman Holiday*

Favourite Song

Favourite Food

Favourite Drink

LikesBeing alone, smoking

DislikesSports, singing

LovesMathematics, feeling safe

LoathesThe constant crippling fear

First Kiss

First Crush

First Love

First Time

Pet(s)

Occupation

Sports Played

Instruments Played

SmokerAlways

DrinkerNo

AddictionsSmoking, def

Goals

Achievements

Biggest Hope

Biggest Regret

Best Memories

Worst Memories

Mental Illnesses

Criminal Record

Medical Record

Custom Trivia

* **MBTI:** ISFJ-T
* **Love Language:** Words of Affirmation
* **Enneagram:** 6 with a 5 wing
* She took **her first and middle names**, Jane Amelia, after Jane Goodall and Amelia Earhart.
* Her **GoT house** is Stark.
* Her **Hogwarts house** is Ravenclaw.
* Her **theme song** is *Barbies*.

Images

TBA