Winston P. Morina

Winston is a people person. He loves being around others, he loves talking and listening and interacting and taking in the energy people give off. He also loves writing. Somehow, he's gotten it into his head that he should take some time to be away from other people to improve his writing. Somehow, this has led him to meet a strange, distant demon that terrifies him. Somehow, he has fallen in love with said demon and now they're probably dating. It's been a wild life so far.Background

Personality

Winston's the kind of guy to try and play things cool while being entirely terrible at pulling off the cool and just aloof enough thing. He gets too invested and curious to keep apart from stuff. He's an extrovert who loves to talk to others and hear their stories, but he's not too fond of talking about his past. He's still a little bit in shock from his childhood and would rather keep pushing forward. The only problem is, he isn't sure how to productively do so. A lot of pieces of his present feel nebulous and confusing and he can't figure out how to piece his life together into something meaningful. It's something that bothers him a lot since he doesn't want to be a useless fixture. He wants to do something important and useful.

He can handle stress fine, but he doesn't enjoy unexpected situations and panics when things are beyond his understanding. Still, he's got that good old human perseverance in him and is always ready to work hard to adapt to situations, no matter how weird. It just takes him a little while.

It's been pointed out to him that sometimes he doesn't put enough effort into the important things in life, like living. He's working on this, but, his confusion with his life's direction has him feeling down about his survival efforts. He's been getting better about this recently, thanks to getting a sturdy, demonic support system.

Leaving Home

Winston was born and raised in Halfhollow along with a number of other siblings. He grew up working in a number of different factories doing dangerous jobs ranging from mule scavenger to a loom operator to a coal mover. At some point in his youth, he lost the upper part of his left hand ring finger and has been down half a digit ever since. He suffers from asthma and poor vision, and would no doubt have perished in the great industrial city if it was not for Hannah deciding they had to get out of Halfhollow and into the home of a local from Eriness.

A local woman named Gertrude took him and his siblings in and made him feel like he had a real place he could stay and live for the first time in his life. She became more of a mother to him than the woman who gave birth to him. He's pretty sure his siblings all feel the same way, especially Marielle. Unfortunately, he's terrible at cooking and baking, and felt like a burden while living there. Winston spent a number of years living here, getting to know the people around town, but he never felt like he fully fit in. Sometimes, he'd sit outside and watch the great storm clouds up on Storm Mountain and wonder what it would be like to stand in the middle of them. This led Winston to try his hand at writing up how he thought clouds would feel, and, in the process of this, he realized he loved to write. He eventually left, claiming he needed to discover himself and find a place to get inspiration for writing, and left Eriness.

He ended up in Merriley and stuck around there for a while, taking in the lively atmosphere and getting to know some of the people connected in the arts and theater sections of the city. He took up a number of odd-jobs to pay for a place to live, He became an instant fan of the new cinema in Merriley and took to visiting it on a regular basis. Still, he didn't feel like he had a real direction in life. The odd-jobs just felt like ways to waste his time, and his writing felt like it was going nowhere. The city was everything he thought he'd wanted in a city, and yet, he still wasn't happy here. At a loss for what to do, he packed up his things and headed off into the wilderness, heading for Storm Mountain. He wasn't sure if relocating to an isolated place would give him the introspection he needed to figure himself out, but he decided it was the best idea he could come up with at the time. Also? He thought it maybe wouldn't be too bad if he never managed to make it down again.

Storm Mountain and the Demon

While the climb up Storm Mountain was a challenge, Winston felt driven to make it up closer to the summit before he set up camp. He ended up finding a strange creature curled up in a crystal pillar. Both Winston and the creature were startled and Winston almost fell into a pit of spikes, getting saved by the creature, Cinema, before he got impaled on anything sharp. This wasn't the most graceful start to Winston and Cinema's friendship, but it worked out for the two of them. They formed a cautious truce after Winston hid in his sleeping bag for almost a solid day rather than leaving the mountain.

The two of them worked out their differences. Cinema came to realize that Winston was determined to stay up there and Winston came to realize that Cinema wasn't about to let him die. As the two of them spent more time together, they got to understand each other a lot better. Winston started to get familiar with Cinema after a few weeks with him and began to find out more about the demon's life.

Abilities and Powers

He has very neat handwriting and is fast with it, too. He's a bit slower when it comes to typing, mainly because it's a bit harder to type with a damaged finger. Also, he wants to make sure he doesn't spell anything wrong or making any terrible mistakes he'd come to regret. He's promised himself he'll learn how to type better in the future.

He's stronger than he looks. He's capable of lifting up heavy crates and moving over 100lbs of weight without too much trouble thanks to his past career. This has come in handy both in the bakery with large bags of flour and with his adventure up into the mountain. Apart from that, there's nothing too remarkable about him. He's never trained with any weapons or considered learning self defense. He could try to punch someone or hit them with a blunt object, but, he's got a real lack of nerves that would get in the way of things. He is also capable of using a magical fan that can blow away clouds.

He is incapable of cooking thanks to a curse. He literally cannot cook. Nothing will go right if he tries, even when it comes to simple dishes. His solution to this so far has been to rely off of other and to eat a lot of cold, canned food.

Relationships

Aether

• • Marielle's boyfriend and a literal god. Winston is still not entirely sure what to make of this guy, but he appreciates how kind Aether is when it comes to his sister and how happy he makes her. He's got a good heart and Winston likes that about him, even if he feels like an idiot every time he talks to him.

Claris

• • A demon who is also Cinema's old friend. Winston was a bit intimidated by them up until the point where they cornered him to talk about his sex life. Now he knows they identify as an absolute mess, just like he does, and he feels a small amount of kinship because of this. Still, he wishes all these demons would stop reading his mind, that's where he keeps most of his negativity and he'd rather that stay private.

Cinema

• The storm demon whose mountain Winston tried escaping to. He didn't expect to run into anyone up there, especially not anyone as terrifying as Cinema, but it all worked out ok. He's gotten a lot more comfortable with the demon, no matter which form he's in, and genuinely enjoys his company. He thinks it's cute that Cinema changes colors depending on his mood and likes it when the weather shifts around to sunshine. He doesn't have a problem with most of the other forms, just, he knows Cinema gets sunny when he's in a good mood.

• He loves Cinema so much and is kind of surprised that Cinema likes him back, especially since he's just some sad guy who came up to hide in Cinema's home and maybe let himself die there. The idea that this amazing, powerful demon thinks he's ok enough to keep around and smooch is such a foreign concept to him.

Einar

• Literally him in the past, according to a number of people. Winston is very uncertain about what to make of this man, but he knows that Einar loved Cinema very much and that Cinema loved Einar back. And that they probably had a kid? That part is really weird to think about. He feels pretty confident that this guy is the one that should have ended up with Cinema, which sometimes makes him feel like a cheap replacement, despite being told that he's not. It's something he's trying to work past.

Gertrude

• She's the closest thing to a parent he acknowledges, after she gave him and his family a safe place to stay when they left Halfhollow. He thinks she's a pretty remarkable lady. He's looked up to her for a while and used to memorize her recipes while he watched her cook and bake.

Hannah

• One of Winston's older brothers. Winston thinks he worries a bit too much, but, he can admit that Hannah's preparations have helped save the bakery more than once.

Jamie

• Orbit's apprentice side kick sort of person? They seem pretty sharp in general and Winston is glad that they're helping Orbit out with her weather research. He hasn't seen too much of them recently, but they are a decent sort of person and were pretty polite when they came through.

Marielle

• • His stoic little sister. He knows she's technically younger than him, but the amount of disapproving stares she shoots his way when he's in town sure brings him back to feeling like a kid. She's got a very good head on her, but he wishes she'd relax a little sometimes. She can be really intense to deal with.

  • She's dating a god and that is very confusing for him, mostly because most supernatural or divine things catch Winston off guard. He's really glad that she found someone she likes and hopes the two of them keep being a good team.

Nick

• One of Marielle's friends. He's hard working, steady, and loyal and became a bit of a fixture in his family's lives after Gertrude and Walter married. Still, he doesn't know as much about Nick as he thinks he should. The man is always busy with one thing or another. He's a little bit surprised that Nick and Marielle have never dated, what with their practical mindsets and steady friendship.

Orbit

• Cinema's mom's current incarnation. It hurts his head if Winston thinks about it too hard, so he tends to just abbreviate this to Orbit being Cinema's official mom. He thinks she's a little bit wild, but he appreciates how dedicated she is to her interests. She's also a really interesting person, and he can't help but enjoy being around her.

Penny

• • One of the rare people who seems more extroverted than himself. His older sister is wild, doesn't tend to think of the consequences of her actions, and is a certified party girl. She loves having a good time. It can get a bit weird to spend too much time around her. He wishes she would stop dragging him to parties when her other friends aren't available.

Sherri

• • She spent a while talking with Cinema, which is always good? He doesn't know too much about her in general, though.

Victor

• • Victor seemed to have good intentions, but gave Winston a lot more anxiety than Jamie did. He just has so much energy and it was a bit overwhelming. Otherwise, he seems like a good person.

Walter

• • Gertrude's husband and a really nice guy. He's a hard worker and is always pleasant to be around.