Stacey "Ace" Demandred

Written by Jairinai

 Physical Description

Stacey has the most exquisitely prominent chin, with a ruggedly handsome face attached to it. His chiseled jaw has a scar on the right side. He stands at 7'1" tall, towering over even other witches. He is well muscled and his body has remained toned and hard, even though it has been 17 years since he used a weapon for anything other than hunting dinner.

His hair and eyes are brown and his complexion is tan and rough. His fingers are calloused and dirty and his hair is usually thick with an oily build up. He smells of alcohol and musk. He does not grow a beard, though sometimes it gets pretty close in between shaves. When he is hunting, he sticks to muted colors that will help him blend in, but otherwise, he prefers loud and bright colors that attract the eye.

He is is missing his right hand, at the wrist. No one has been able to get  straight answer from him how he came to lose it, but the truth is, he was too proud to ask those who had ostracized him for help and did not have the skill to heal it completely himself.

## Personality

Loud, drunk, and bitter, Stacey wasn't always like this, well maybe the loud part. He has a great booming voice that was meant to command others. Before  things got out of hand and he literally lost his, Stacey was suave, debonair, and other synonyms for smooth AF. He was charming and exciting and all the ladies swooned. Now, no one wants anything to do with him and the loneliness and the ostracization from such a tightly knit community has made him bitter and he turns to drink for his comfort. At the beginning of each buzz, he remembers the old days and the way things used to be, but by the end of the night he is usually crying himself to sleep or shattering his belongings against the walls of their tiny cabin. He puts on a brave face to others though, and shows them a cocky, carefree, no fucks given attitude.

He loves his daughter Keira, he really does, but he is overwhelmed and untrained and she has mostly had to raise herself, even taking care of him at times. Ace tries to make light of their situation and cheer his daughter up, but his jokes are usually more black than funny.

His twin brother is still employed by the castle and the two have a strained relationship. His brother is there for him, but is exasperated by the bottomless black hole Ace has become and doesn’t know what to do.

## History

Stacey grew up, one of the sons of a mother whose role in the community was that of a caregiver. She and her twin sister made it their main goals to procreate for the good of the community. Stacey and his twin weren't sure which witch was their father, but they grew up with a city full of fathers and thought little of it. They were rambunctious trouble makers as children and spent a good deal of their time exploring and getting into mischief. In an effort to teach them restraint and discipline, their mother sent them to train with the members of the Royal Guard. Stacey took to the bow as a natural, even with the handicap of not being born with the air element, he became their best shooter and was given the nickname "Ace". He was eventually promoted to the queens' guard, and became its youngest captain in almost three centuries when the new queens were crowned.

Ace was a bit of a ladies man and spent time in the company of any willing witch. He enjoyed the hunt and the kill equally and never thought he would settle down with anyone. That was before Belinda. Ace loved her and she loved him. They had one happy year together before she became pregnant. They were so excited and Ace was so proud. He was the youngest captain and now one of the youngest fathers. He had it all.

When the midwife told them there was only one heartbeat, Belinda was convinced there was a mistake. Such a child should wither and die in her womb, this child was strong and kicked enough for two. Belinda believed she had the most perfect set of twins they were so in sync that their unison made them indistinguishable from each other. Finally, the birth of her single daughter was the proof she had been denying. They had created…half a set. She was an abomination. It was too much for Belinda, when the midwife suggested they kill it, she agreed. Ace held his daughter and looked at her tiny helpless body and couldn’t do it. He refused and decided to keep the baby, even though Belinda decided she would have nothing to do with it and moved back in with her twin.

Hushed whispers followed him into town when he took his daughter. He built them a cabin outside of the city, in the woods of the mountain side. His fame turned to notoriety as he began to drink. No one wanted to trade with him, and the caretakers did not assist, even in providing milk for the infant. Belinda managed enough for a few months until the baby could be weaned, but that was her only contribution and it was expressed milk, she did not suckle, or even come in contact with her daughter.

Ace was a mess, and though he did his best for his child, he knew it was less than she deserved. The toll of the stress began to affect his work very quickly. After he was fired from the queen’s guard less than a year after Keira was born, he began hunting every day. He would hunt with her on a sling, strapped to his back, until she was old enough (around 4 or 5) to stay home and tend to things there. Keira had to grow up very quickly. With her elemental skills with nature, she eventually cultivated a garden for them that supplied enough to keep their bellies full whether her father hunted or not. His hunting only slowed however, after the accident. He stumbled home one night, not sober enough to be coherent, without a hand. His stump was bloody, but he was not in danger of bleeding out and six year old Keira did the best she could until her father sobered up.

No one knows exactly what happened to Ace’s hand, and some say he was too drunk to remember himself. When anyone asks about it, Ace gets a faraway look in his eyes and says, “There was something bad, it took Belinda, and then it came for me. It got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist.”

When Keira tried to run away, Ace knew he was failing her. He spoke with the counsel and managed to get her in the group chosen for Sator. Even though the council didn't really care if she lived or died, it did take every favor from the old days to get her added to the group.

## Storyline

Hail to the King, Baby

Plotter