Description 

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Appearance

Aiden is very easy to spot, his pale blonde hair, rich blue eyes, and angular features only rivaled by the dark freckles that paint the skin of his cheeks and travel up into his hairline. His skin is soft, and he has no scars visible when he is fully dressed, his fingernails manicured and his hands soft and free of callouses. His hands themselves he seems to take care of as much as his face, strong, but deft and nimble, soft and slender, clearly meant for music over mining. His skin is rather pale, and he's often worried about catching a burn. He keeps himself bathed regularly, travelling into town often to pay for a bath, even if he has to rob to get the money for it, he has a high value on staying clean and hates to remain dirty for any period of time. He is religious about keeping his hair slicked back nicely with a can of pomade, and if he's out, he's likely to be prioritizing nothing else but replenishing himself with a new can. Likewise, he always takes the time to darken the skin around his blue eyes with charcoal, drawing more attention to their stark color.

Scars

Aiden has three types of scars on his body, none of which are visible in his normal attire, but would be under any circumstances which such parts of his body were exposed.

The Cross: The most prominent of his marks is the scar in the shape of a cross over his left breast. It clearly cut into the muscle when it was made, but seems not to have been healed through any help of proper stitches, the skin pocks down along the length of the scar, bumpy and ridged, and against his pale skin, the pink mark stands out quite clearly.

The Grazes: Over his right hip is a deep graze from a bullet wound. It is cleanly healed and is obvious against his fair skin, but makes only a 4 inch line. The other graze is across the right side of his neck, though this scar is thicker than the other. Just because it appears to be only a line, does not mean the wound was not grave. He often pulls his collar around it to try to hide it from view.

The Amputation: 6" below his right knee, his right leg is amputated clean off, only a stump in it's place. It's higher than a traditional below-the-knee amputation, much closer to the knee joint than should be desired for prosthesis. His prosthetic does have a shorter socket and it dislodges sometimes easier than he would like.

Fashion

Aiden dresses in neutral, most often dark or black colors, though his clothing is often quite fashion forward. He likes to keep his garments clean and tailored well, and even when dressing in mostly blacks, he often has a bit of flair (like his usual striped grey and black coat). He doesn't like mud on his boots, nor blood on his gloves or clothing, and while unavoidable most times, he certainly will make sure anyone around him knows his displeasure, and the first priority of his when getting back into town is to clean the muck and blood from his garments, or see to any repairs to his clothing. It often gives him a rather prissy or manicured reputation, though the reasons for his being are deeper than aesthetics alone.

Temperament

Aiden value's comfort, and he values quality goods, something thieving has allowed him to enjoy. He will rarely, if ever, do any manual labor like mining, farming, herb gathering, etc, though he has taken a liking to hunting (something about shooting a gun seems to sit well with him). He does greatly enjoy bow hunting, a skill taught to him by his first partner in state, and will do so on foot, enjoying the slower pace break from society.

He seems to have little issue with death, and seems to be a bit confused as to why people are bothered by the topic of death and killing. This does not mean he has a low value for life necessarily, and will always resolve a conflict without killing a man if possible, but he does not see a point in mourning that which becomes necessary to move forward. Perhaps this is because he truly does not care, or perhaps it is a defense he has built into himself to comfort himself because of the inevitability of tragedy when he was young. This said, he does value life highly, and his parameters for death being a necessary end are high. He does not threaten people's lives lightly, and when he does, he will absolutely try to follow through on such threats.

He acts as though he is fine on his own and always assumes his lifestyle will take his life in his young years, though it's very plausible that he's searching for some kind of connection with people like anyone else.

He's a famous flirt, and often does so without much meaning behind it at all, seeming to just enjoy the responses he gets out of people, whether positive or negative. He will often poke and prod at people even knowing he's going to get a negative response or a response of irritation.

Talents

He has a single and very treasured talent that sets him apart from any other useless member of New Alexandria's society, and it is his extensive talent for playing the piano. It also seems to be a pastime he enjoys, sometimes playing for hours on end in the saloons of the state, with small breaks to talk to locals or bartenders. It is an activity that seems to bring him much playful joy, and it is not uncommon to see a bloodflower resting on top of the piano, to indicate his recent presence. These flowers have become a bit of a time clock for him and those that have noticed the calling card, the state of the flower's wilting a good indication of how long has passed since he has passed through.

Early Life 

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His Babe Years

Aiden could not tell you who his mother or father were, nor could anyone else for that matter, though the nuns that raised him eventually came to conclusions concerning his parentage. For all anyone knew though, when he was dropped on the steps of Lady of Grace Orphan Asylum as a babe, was that he was yet another one of the babes had unplanned by the poor immigrant class of Irish Catholic people flooding the city of Boston at the time. Aiden was treated no different than any other babe in the Orphanage at first, one among a collection of many like him under the same circumstances. He was passed over often as a babe for adoption, born with a larger and more prominent nose, he was passed over simply for looking less desirable than the others, an easy way to decide upon one child or another, in a city flooded with orphan infants so alike to him.

As he grew into his toddler and young childhood years, it seemed that he would grow into that nose which caused him so much trouble as a babe. It was not the only thing which improved for him in those years, however, his earliest childhood memories of staring at the old dusty piano in the orphanage's common room. Donations to the orphanage barely covered the meager portions the children were given, let alone music tutors or lessons, and the nuns did not even pay to have the piano kept in tune, only there simply because it had always been, an early donation when the place had been established. But Aiden took a liking to it all the same, and even at the young age of 5 years old, he climbed himself onto that bench and began to play. It seemed a simple amusement for him, a break in his day as he grew into his social years and began forming friendships and connections with the other orphans. There was no reason to bring the piano to tune for the few times he touched it's keys, but his passing interest soon turned into a passionate one.

His Childhood Years

"Orphan Trains" were a common use in Boston during this time, the Children's Mission to the Children of the Destitute solving the overcrowding problem by taking many of the orphans up North, further into New England, to smaller rural towns to be adopted out to families who would not otherwise travel into the city for adoption. As Aiden developed friendships with the other children of the orphanage, they would be listed on the roster for the train, and taken North. It made it difficult for him to form any relationship of trust as a child with his peers, expecting always that anyone he took more care to than the rest would be shepherded away inevitably, and he turned his attention to the piano more often. Even out of tune, the amount of hours he spent at the piano, figuring and self-teaching, it was clear he did not just have a passion, but a natural gift. Curious to see if they could usher his talent to grow, the sisters elicited the sponsorship of one of the orphanages most frequent donors, a devout Catholic man by the name of Henry Goodwin. Henry was a purveyor of the arts, and gave on loan one of his nicer pianos to the orphanage, as well as a donation for the payment of a tutor for the boy. The nuns were not wrong in what they had seen in Aiden, and under proper musical instruction, he quickly excelled beyond his years.

Aiden was hopeful, still, despite the world having taught him until this moment that he was to be discarded and alone. From the ages of 6 years to 8 years old, he asked often about any inquiries on his adoption, hoping that his talent would make him a desired candidate for searching couples. What he did not know, was that the nuns, having seen opportunity to better the orphanage through his skill, and feeling justified in his use by the good it would do for the living conditions of the children of the orphanage (and their own living conditions) as a whole, they had removed Aiden's adoption file from the list of those that were given to visiting couples, and it was likely that visitors were not aware of his existence at all. It was a trust he had placed in the sisters to look after him, and a trust that he would discover later, had been betrayed.

When he was 8 years old, the sisters of Lady of Grace orphanage did a test on him. They told him that they were going to have guests to the orphanage, and that he was to play for them that he might show them what delightful and talented children the orphanage raised, helping himself and his peers this way. It was easily, even happily, that Aiden agreed, and it was both with his desire to share his talent and passion for the instrument with others, and his hope of a brighter future, that he played that first show. He was unaware that the sisters had advertised and charged a meager admission, a boy wonder on the piano, out of a class of children that were assumed to be going no where in the world, no less, often becoming pick pockets, street mongrels, and otherwise societal menaces. He was proof that it did not matter a child's parentage, only the dedication and passion of his soul (and of course, the good care of the sisters of Lady of Grace). Interest was higher than even the sisters could have expected, and it was clear to them immediately that Aiden was their path to "fundraising" success (though the children often saw little of the money that came in).

He had been right, in assuming that his talent would make him a desirable candidate for adoption. What he hadn't realized, though, was when the sisters found out just how desired he was, fearing losing their new prodigy, one of the elder sisters, Sister Madeline, filed legal adoption papers to adopt him as her son. It was on paper only, and it did not make the woman treat him with any love. It was, in fact, concealed from him for quite some time, contributing to Aiden's discouragement when year after year passed, and no matter how often he performed, it seemed it was not enough to catch the eye of any benefactor besides Henry Goodwin, who seemed to loom over him at every one.

Teenage Change

It was not until he was 14 years old, that after pressing the issue profusely, the sisters came clean about his legal adoption years prior, and why he was not on the list of children eligible. It was a betrayal that cut deep, not only for the prolific and obvious reasons, but also because his apparent guardian, was a woman who did not treat him as every orphan dreamed a mother might treat them some day. She was a cold disciplinarian, and he was afforded no care over the others for being his legal mother. This betrayal caused him to sour, and he acted out often, kept in line by the sisters through manipulation. It was most often that what meager portions the orphans received, were withheld from him entirely for a meal, or sometimes two. He was neither a stranger to receiving a beating via switch to assure his compliance. He grew so accustomed to the poor treatment, that he developed a coy and jaded sense of humor in order to feel like he had taken some power back over his powerless situation. He joked often about expecting the beatings, would force himself into a loud laughter instead of tears, and would often encourage the sister's into physical anger, claiming to feel more comfortable while he was being beat than when he was not. A dim outlook for a boy of his age, he knew at least that the beatings were times which he could trust the honesty of the words, actions, and attitudes being given to him by the sisters, highly suspicious of moments in which the sisters acted kind. He prayed often in the chapel that the sisters would not awake from their beds, something he did quite publicly in front of them often, likely simply to get a rise out of them.

It was the death of a healthy young nun in her 20s which changed his life. Dying in her sleep, the doctors could find nothing wrong with Sister Agnes, and no reason for her death, though it was likely the reason was one medicine at the time simply did not have the tools to recognize. This lack of explanation, however, turned the sister's eyes on Aiden, assuming his very prayers had come true. But their God would not have granted such a sadistic wish, rather, they gathered that he must have been praying to the Devil. They reasoned it had made sense all along, the large prominent nose he was born with, his early natural, perhaps even supernatural, musical talent. They gathered in their minds that his mother must have been a witch who had copulated with Moloch himself, and this unholy pairing had produced the demon that had been sent as a Trojan horse into their godly house. It was clear that Aiden had inherited such supernatural powers, manifesting the death of Sister Agnes through his prayers to the Prince of Darkness himself. While none of it was true in reality, it did not matter next to what had been perceived. The sisters wanted him out, though they did not want to sacrifice the benefit they drew from him. He was offered out for adoption to the man Henry Goodwin himself, though a man of deep Catholic routes, he agreed only to adopt Aiden if he was permitted to exorcise the demonic hold that Satan had on the boy. Left alone in a room with the man who desired to exorcise his demon without the pesky involvement of the local papacy, Henry cut a cross into Aiden's left breast with his knife, spraying the boy with holy water, and chanting. Aiden could not be blamed for his next action, though certainly the sisters would later see it as a lashing out of the devil's child. Frightened for his life, betrayed in trust by most anyone he'd known in his young life, and tired of allowing himself to be taken advantage of, he took the knife that Henry had used on him, the man too cocky to assume that Aiden would dare turn harm on him, and plunged it into the man's stomach.

A New Life

Angry, frightened, and vindicated, he fled the orphanage immediately to those streets which he would have grown up on if not for his introduction to the orphanage as a babe. At 14, he'd not the slightest idea how to fend for himself, never having had to cook for himself in his lifetime, or provide in any way. Even pickpocketing he was shit poor at, and the mass of homeless children, many much younger than himself, made begging a difficult way to sustain any livable income. On the run from the law in Boston, and failing to barely survive, he smuggled himself into the back of a cargo carriage leaving the city, and didn't look back.

From the ages of 14 into his 18th year, his talent, it seemed, did one thing for him. Taking up jobs in local saloons, bartenders would allow him to play for what tips he could generate, and he learned that if he turned those tips back into his clothing, his appearance, his cleanliness, the next time he worked, folk were likely to tip him more, mere appearance giving him the air of a professional worthy of greater pay to be listened to. Never having had much to his name before, he found he enjoyed the nice clothes that he earned, keeping them tailored well and clean, seeing to his appearance with immaculacy. He traded his entertainment often for a meal and a place to lay his head, unaccustomed to cots, tents, or any manner of wilderness trekking, and having little desire to begin now. He seemed always to be able to barter for a meal, or be given things by rich folk that came to listen to him play, and one of his favorite purchases after collecting his pay from the tip dish at the end of the night, would be a jar of cherries to eat at the saloon table before bed.

Present Life 

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The Coleman - Ashen Era
It was this working his way west, that dropped him in New Alexandria, quite used to being the travelling musician at this point. Though, the further west he travelled over his teen years into adulthood, he realized that people valued such entertainment with their money less, and their appreciation more. While it did not kill his passion for the piano, and it would be remiss to say his playing did not buy him some social connection or standing, he knew it would not sustain his income alone. No skills to hunt, no ability to cook, no trade to his name, he took up working in the mines, a job not friendly to his scrawny form. It was a job, as well, that was dirty, laborious, and allover, unenjoyable entirely for the man.

He decided immediately that he'd rather make money easily than the hard way, taking up petty crime in order to fill his pockets with cash each time he ran low. He fills odd jobs, though he is particularly grumpy about the more laborious ones, often spending his time better at poker or blackjack to try to grow more money out of what he has in his pocket, and often having to rob or loot to replace what he loses.

Since coming to New Alexandria, he made it quite a mission to play politics with the underworld of New Alexandria. He's a name that is easy for most folks around state to recognize on either side of the law, and his reputation varies based on who you ask. Some folks think he's kind and benevolent, while others would tell you he's a manipulating murderer. The truth is likely somewhere in between. He made it his mission to stoke many of the important figures of New Alexandria's criminal community, and over time, earned himself a buckle and identity as a Coleman.

While he was a prospect of the gang, during the notorious shootout in the Old Light Saloon in Van Horn with the law, it was that night that sealed his influence in the gang particularly. Unplanned, Aiden proved himself in blood that night, standing with The Colemans against Jacob Allen and Merilee Holland, two deputies which seem to be quite set on seeing the gang behind bars. Since that night, his fierce loyalty has been proven many times over, active in many of the gangs activities, from bank robberies, breakouts, chases, shootouts, and jobs.

He was extremely close to Edward Coleman, the relationship he held with the man being almost brotherly, though Aiden would likely never call it such. He also seemed to have a similar relationship to William Stockton, the man he brought into The Colemans. Aiden and Olivia Cabal seemed to have a particularly striking friendship, playing off each other's bantering nature, and while it was never set to any level of legality, nor did the pair speak about it with much seriousness, the small jokes that passed between them about being mother and son seemed to hold more weight than their joking nature would suggest. Aiden looked to her often for advice and guidance, and would protect her violently if need be.

He was also quite close to many members of The Ashen, a regular information resource to Jethro Vern and "Razor", and a business resource to "Lucky" and Rowena Gardener. He had taken a very strong romantic attachment to one of their newer members at that time, Whelan Wodehouse, and would often sleep at The Ashen camp or have Whalen crawl into the nook in the Coleman Cave he'd stuffed with stolen pillows and comforters that he's taken from many of New Alexandria's hotels.

For a time, Aiden seemed to settle into his life with the two gangs, originally intent on being alone, and looking at both groups as some sort of found family. It was this mistake that cost him dearly. Dealing with a member of the law, Jacob Allen, frequently, and with rising aggression during each encounter, it was a day outside of Valentine that begun to spiral him. Nearly losing his life to the defensive gunfire of the man, and some confusion among the law that day leaving him bleeding from his neck for quite some time before he fell unconscious, he became fearful that the same would happen to one of the others. Cashing in a favor with Rex Moody, a close ally he'd made during his time with the gangs, he got his hands on Jacob Allen, and while other members of The Colemans dealt some of the more torturous pain, Aiden is the one who took a finger from Allen, something he'd promised for some time. Intending to take his trigger finger, he changed it slightly as he stared back at Allen in a Bacchus cave, removing his middle finger instead, finding amusement in the message, and breaking one of the Coleman's gang codes not to commit torture.

The Ashen, unwilling to continue affiliating with him after such an act, and the Colemans, widely split on the matter of the broken gang codes, Aiden found himself ostracized from even outlaw society unexpectedly. Coupled with his recent friendship with Demonica, a known heinous torturer and wanna-be follower of Cobalt Fish, there were very strong opinions about that part of Aiden which could not apologize for the torture of Allen, and saw no reason not to affiliate with and befriend Demonica. The Ashen and Whelan broke their affiliations with him entirely, and soon thereafter, he left the Colemans, unwilling to be the source of their turmoil any longer, handing Eddie Coleman a gun and telling him to do as he must, and Eddie refusing to put a bullet in him, as was the only way a Coleman was ever supposed to leave the gang.

For a time after that he would often commit criminal activities with two of the other late Colemans, George Dune and "Dove", but eventually broke the relationship after an altercation following a bank robbery, and his loyalties being called into question.

Out on his Own

Aiden found himself out on his own for the first time since before he'd joined up with the Colemans, and while he lived a rather ostracized life at this time, he found himself building relationships with people on his own merits rather than those of a gang or group. He spent a frequent amount of time in the early days of this time with a man by the name of Sebastian "Wicket" Seeton, who greatly influenced the way he saw the world and the situation he'd been in through their long talks and time spent together. While Sebastian made it clear that he was married and his dalliance with Aiden was nothing more than that, and Aiden was willing to pretend as much himself, it was obvious that there was a level of genuine affection between the two.

Sebastian was a fickle man, though, and to this day remains as much, and Aiden enjoyed his company often, but was not coddled by the man, often out on his own and dealing with periods of stress on his own terms, Sebastian's guarman treehouse, and the man himself, a sort of respite for Aiden to run too when things got too much.

Being out on his own did not stop Aiden from doing as he pleased, though, often kidnapping deputies and civillians from towns and taking them out around the state, forcing them to farm and work for him at gunpoint in order to obtain the materials he needed without suffering through the labor himself. He seemed to kidnap folks sometimes just for the chatter, or the company, and while no one ever returned from these trips harmed, it was not favored by lawful society, for clear reasons. One of those he kidnapped was Poppy Beckett, sister to Marshal Fletcher Beckett. He became a nuisance, and like nuisances, people grew tired of allowing him to carry on.

One day after being brought in by a collection of Marshals (Rose Smith & Fletcher Beckett), Undersheriff August Bishop, and Bounty Hunter Harry Harris, the lawmen dismissed the bounty hunter and took Aiden out for a taste of his own medicine, forcing him to pick tobacco outside of Rhodes before dragging him into the woods and beating him for his insolent behavior. During the altercation, Aiden goaded them into untying his hands and drew a knife hidden in his boot, driving it into Fletcher's stomach before being shot, kicked, and left to bleed out in the woods while they rushed Fletcher to St Denis for medical.

Barely alive and falling into the hands of allies, it took him a long time to recover his wounds, and the flight from the law thereafter was a violent and hard fought one. Eventually he was brought in, and while he was in custody, Harry Harris returned, driving a knife back in his gut in return, puncturing his spleen, which had to be removed.

Learning a New Way

While he was in Sisika, he was visited by a man named Ulrich Braun, someone he'd met during his previous period of life and had largely blown off, but had checked up on him periodically. Ulrich, a co-owner of a Ranch named Sky Pony, wanted to try to help Aiden out of his violent cycle, and Aiden, tired and now missing a leg, a spleen, and the desire to continue losing parts of himself, accepted the help with a very wary warning to Ulrich and a very wary response to the judge who tried him, that he didn't really know how to live in a civilian lifestyle.

It was a difficult transition, and one that Ulrich, ultimately, gave up on after Aiden struggled to let go of his old life entirely, but it set the stage for his re-integration into polite society. The night Ulrich asked Aiden to leave the ranch for the night so he could host a party for Andy, the other owner of the ranch and Ulrich's partner, without the complication of Aiden's criminal history and company overshadowing the event, Aiden found himself trekking up the side of Hagen with a few of his old friends from the Ruski family for a Yule party, a party that became more important than he'd realize.

During the celebrations he met a man named Kaahache "Birdie", the current leader of The Hagen Crew, host of the party, and man dealing with his own bit of loneliness. Birdie handed Aiden a pine cone, a piece of paper, and a stick of charcoal, and told him to write down his wish for the upcoming year and throw it in the fire to be consumed and sent out into his future. Aiden wrote down a single sentence, "Remember that I'm not running from the places I used to be, but to find a place to belong."

The Hagen Era

Aiden and Birdie continued to meet up and talk about their past lives, their hopes for a new life, and their loneliness, finding a sort of solace among each other's misery, and eventually their friendship budded into more than as much, a very grumpy and resolute "I think I'm fucking falling in love with you, if that's okay?" from Aiden, the start of a new love for them both. Birdie, rescued into the Hagens from a prior Cult, showed Aiden how he could live in the world he was used to, the criminal world, without completely rejecting society. He was patient with a very difficult Aiden, the adjustment not clean in the least, but seems to have figured out how to adjust Aiden into a less violent way of life without demanding he give up those things that have shaped him.

While the duo is willing to get violent, and very violent, if need be, Aiden had begun the process of repairing his standing with society, and his standing with the law. He fell into friendship with a few Ranchers from Lone Elk Ranch, namely James Dunn and Isabel Gray, two Ex-Ashen who shared a very similar experience that he did upon leaving the gang, and their distaste for their shared histories seemed to bring them closer together, as well as Aiden's willingness to help them during a time their family weathered through turmoil. Aiden grew particularly close to James Dunn, the ex-leader of a gang that he met back when he was a Coleman, and someone he'd warned about Jethro, that had had to find things out as difficultly as Aiden had in his time affiliating with the group. They became like brothers, and while Jamie, now clean, resented Aiden's propensity to continue getting involved in petty crime, he seemed to be someone Aiden could run to and rely on no matter the trouble.

While his new shift in how he approached the law, his closeness to gone-clean ex-criminals, and his new learning how to do things in the way that Hagen had taught each one of those it had brought in did bring him some tension with old gang contacts, the Hagens themselves seemed unshaken by his troubled past and shaky present, the extended and welcoming hand that he'd searched for for so long. While it took time, Aiden was confirmed as an official Hagen in his own right, after a period of time spent as an unofficial Hagen-around.

.... To Be Continued ...

Affiliations 

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Partners

Eden Wells: Ex-Partner - Neutral

Whelan Wodehouse: Ex-Partner - Neutral

Sebastian "Wicket" Seeton: Partner

Kaahache "Birdie": Partner


Gangs/Groups

The Colemans: Ex-Member - Friendly (with most members)

The Ashen: Ex-Ally - Hostile

The Remnants: Ex-Ally - Hostile

The Hallocks: Neutral

The Callahans: Ally

The Hagen Crew: Member

Personal

Rex Moody

Demonica "The Silence"

Ulrich Braun

James Dunn & Isabel Grey

Quotes 

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"I'm more of the damsel in distress type, and less of the white knight type, if you catch my drift."

"Everything has a price. Let me pay mine."

"Everyone's an asshole. Some people are just lying to themselves about it."

"I'm not running away. I'm running toward."

"That's the point of this life. Freedom."

Trivia 

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• Aiden both cannot, and refuses to cook or learn how. He is often eating very old jars of peaches to hold him until he can get a meal out of someone (It is also true that this once caused him to pass out face first in the mud one day when he ran out of cherries.)
• Aiden can swim some, but is not a strong swimmer in the least and is very nervous about being around water that he cannot stand in.
• It is true that he robbed a store in Strawberry to just to get the PO Box of Boyd Langston, whom he had a propensity for harassing.
• The Old Light Saloon in Van Horn seems to be his preferred Saloon.
• He has a strong preference for Blood Flowers, but the color of prarie poppies seems to catch his eye as well.
• He is relatively difficult to rile outside of specific circumstances. Disrespect is a pet peeve for him. He's also deeply prone to possessiveness / jealousy despite also being a many of many partners.