#sam henry ayuluk

[kylejsugarman]

12, 14, 21 :)

since u didnt specify, im going with demi on these because they skew a little more towards an adult/her 😔 i luv her and i luv u

12. Does your OC's family practice any faith or religion? Does your OC still practice? Why or why not?

demi's father came from a converted christian background and her mother's family practiced shamanism. sam henry was pretty firm on their family being christian but since he was away so often, their actual church attendance and worship was spotty and josephine was able to teach her kids some shamanism and tell those stories in his absence. their actual religious affiliation deteriorated by the time demi was a teenager, so she never felt particularly aligned with one or the other. currently, she doesnt practice any religion (demi voice: do u ever think about god and just kind of. feel nothing?? jesse voice: All The Time), but she has gone back to shamanism a few times to reacquaint herself with the faith so she could tell baby about it as it pertains to their yupik culture. demi appreciates and respects it, but shes never felt particularly moved by any faith or spiritual practice

14. Who was your OC's first love? How do they remember that person now?

demi had a few crushes in middle and high school, but her first "love" was a boy she met her sophomore year of college in an applied chemistry class—peter. he was from anchorage and had the kind of bright eyes and radiant smile that demi was used to seeing in celebrities; seeing that smile was enough to turn her to jello. demi was able to muster the confidence to talk to him since they were in the same group for class's lab component, and was just enamored with his intellect and easygoing confidence. the latter kind of reminded her of samantha, how she so easily slipped into any conversation or social arrangement. it was a trait demi had always admired. they got lunch on campus a few times and hung out and even made out, but demi eventually realized he wasnt really interested in having a relationship with her. it was like she was a practice round for him before he moved on to a "better" girl. for a long while demi just misses peter, but her recollections of him become tinged with bitterness and sadness as she gets older and recognizes how blasé he really was about her feelings.

21. If your OC could speak to their childhood self, what would they say?

oh my god. "it's going to be ok. it's going to be so hard, but it's going to be ok. u deserve peace and ur going to get it. the world is better because ur in it, i promise. don't let anyone convince u otherwise."

[kylejsugarman]

fuck it. little bit of ayuluk family history and background. demi's dad, sam henry ayuluk, was a truck driver who was raised by a conservative yupik family trying to fully integrate into western culture. her mom, josephine, was a elementary school teacher; her family was more in touch with their native culture, so they are all fluent in central alaskan yup'ik and josephine taught her three children to speak it. the two married in their thirties (sam henry had previously been married and divorced), and their first child was samantha. four years later, they had demi; five years after that, they had their only boy, mason. sam henry was an alcoholic and eventually a coke addict to stay awake during long drives, and was verbally and physically abusive towards his family. from a young age, demi voluntarily singled herself out for abuse to keep her mom safe, as he was particularly violent towards her; she did the same for mason when he was born. sam henry died of cirrhosis when demi was 16. shortly after his death, samantha was in a car wreck on her way home from a party and broke her leg and several ribs, for which she was prescribed hydrocodone. her genetic predisposition for addiction and the incredibly stressful, traumatic environment that she grew up in caused samantha to develop a severe opioid addiction. when samantha was 22, she was impregnated by a fellow user and friend: she wasn't able to access abortion care, so she tried her best to quit cold turkey until she gave birth to a little girl that she named baby. meanwhile, demi started attending university of alaska fairbanks when she was 17 on a full ride scholarship, where she obtained her undergraduate degree and immediately entered their department of veterinary medicine as a doctoral candidate. demi graduated with her doctoral degree when she was 24, shortly after which she returned home to haines because her mother was suffering with metastasized breast cancer (mason dropped out of high school at age 17 to take care of her) and her sister was in need of help for her addiction. just a few weeks after demi came back home, samantha overdosed in the family home and died; a four-year-old baby found her body. josephine died of cancer two months later. as baby's godmother, demi assumed custody of her and started living in the family home with her and mason while she tried to establish a sustainable veterinary practice from the underfunded kennel in town. at age 26, demi is getting her practice off the ground and still living in her old house with baby and mason, which is the age at which she meets jesse

[kylejsugarman]

what was baby’s relationship with samantha like before she died? did samantha live with josephine and mason and on her own? also, this is kind of a silly question but ive wondered about it for a while… is she named “samantha” after the ag doll or for some other reason or just because? all valid i have a cousin named samantha and it is a very pretty name

she's actually named samantha because theres a tradition in the yupik culture of naming newly born children after deceased elders!! their father sam henry was given the name "sam" and since samantha was the first born, she was given the feminized version of that name!! and yes, samantha lived with josephine and mason :) it was just more affordable and also samantha could easily leave baby with someone while she worked odd jobs to help support the family. even though baby was entirely an accident, samantha did care deeply for her and tried to be a good mother despite not having the experience and, occasionally, the sobriety. part of this was trying her best to find stable work so that at some point, samantha could secure their own place. this also meant being away from baby a lot and not getting to spend as much quality time with her as she wanted, but baby still loved her mom and was always excited to see her. josephine and mason spent more time with her and taught her more, but baby loved samantha just as much and enjoyed making drawings and crafts to give to her after long days at work. because josephine and mason were always around to step in, samantha was able to mostly hide her addiction and substance use issues from baby aside from episodes of extreme fatigue and forgetfulness. this means that most of baby's memories of her mom are very positive, if not a little fuzzy, but also that it was very sudden and shocking to suddenly lose her

[kylejsugarman]

hey i know baby's name is baby because well...she is the most baby to ever baby. but how did you come up with demi's name? did you just like it or it holds significance? i've never had oc's so i'm really interested in all aspects of creating them :D

to ever baby 😔 but yes, it does hold some significance!! "demi" has french origins and was actually the name of her father sam henry's sister, who was named demi after the french canadian nurse who helped deliver both sam henry and demi. there is a tradition in the yupik culture of naming children after their departed elders, so demi was named after her aunt who passed away in her late twenties. for extra lore that no one asked for, demi's older sister samantha was given the feminized version of "sam" as a name after her grandfather (who sam henry was also named after) and mason was named after a friend of josephine's who recently died.

also, demi as a name means "small" or "half" and it really captures how demi thinks of herself. she tries very, very hard to make herself as small and unobtrusive as possible throughout her life, keeping her head down and never trying to take up any space.

[kylejsugarman]

josephine time! when did she start her work as a teacher? what grades did she teach? did she teach samantha + demi + mason to read too, or just baby? how did she feel about sam's addiction, especially in relation to her husband? how did she handle the news of her cancer?

anon u are carrying me through this life like that one christian meme about jesus and one set of footprints.....josephine started teaching as soon as she got her degree!! it was her passion and also the most "suitable" job for a young woman to have, at least according to her family. she initially taught third grade before marrying sam henry and moving to the haines area, where she began teaching second grade and sometimes third grade depending on class sizes. she absolutely taught all three of her children how to read and would deploy all of her strategies to make sure they were truly literate, from sounding out words to putting flashcards around the house labeling each item. josephine also taught them all to read and speak some yupik to make sure they remained connected to their heritage. when samantha started using opioids, josephine honestly didn't know what to do, primarily because there had been nothing To Do about her husband's addictions. sam henry never listened to her and was violent with her and the children, so approaching him about the alcohol and coke was basically asking for further harm. josephine could only try to support the family while he was alive and she tried to do the same with samantha's addiction. it hurt her deeply to see her oldest daughter suffering and made her feel helpless, but josephine never stopped loving samantha. that was all she knew how to do. and initially, josephine saw her breast cancer as more of a bother than anything since it meant missing days or weeks of work and feeling fatigued most of the time where before she enjoyed being busy. it wasn't until the cancer continued to relapse and then metastasize, forcing her to retire, that josephine realized her life was going to be dictated now by the disease. again, she hated feeling so fatigued and not being able to provide directly for her family, which was why she focused so much on educating and raising baby: it was her New way of contributing. even as she became sicker, josephine never stopped trying to support her family. however, samantha's death had a huge impact on her mood and health, and josephine died soon after her, but she loved her family until the very end

[kylejsugarman]

16 and 21 for Baby, 6 for Demi, and I forget what their brother's name was i'msosorry but 4 for him!

thank u ro!!! 🥺 although 40 lashes for not remembering mason's name

16. What does your OC's childhood bedroom look like?

when baby is still living in the ayuluk house, she sleeps in the bedroom that was converted from a closet back when mason was born, which did its job but wasnt anything special. once jesse and demi decided to move in together, he got really excited by the prospect of turning the spare room into baby's new bedroom. he built her a trundle bed with drawers underneath to store her toys and books and a desk while demi painted the walls light blue. there's thick blue curtains over the window to keep out bright sunlight on snow light that have graphics of kelp and coral along the bottom half and fish to make it look like the ocean floor. one corner has all her doll stuff and is padded with a rug so she can comfortably play on her knees. it's a little eclectic and theres definitely a lot of blue, but baby LOVES it. her room is her favorite place in the world.

21. If your OC could speak to their childhood self, what would they say?

man. "we're kind of weird, but that's ok. we don't have to change that part or anything. but please don't think ur wrong or not supposed to be loved. ur going to be so happy. people will like u for real and u will like urself :)"

6. Did your OC have a teacher or a mentor growing up? What was your OC's relationship with them like?

demi definitely looked up to her mom and had a lot of love for her, but it was difficult to like. fully learn from and trust her because demi Was the lightning rod for sam henry's abuse and everyone Knew it, including her mom. she was really polite to adults, but didnt really trust most of them or expect them to understand her until her eighth grade science teacher. initially, her teacher was just impressed by demi's intellect and performance in the class, but she soon realized that demi was not being nurtured quite the way she deserved to be. this was a smart, sweet kid who didnt recognize those traits in herself. she gets to know demi and invites her to read or do homework in her classroom before and after school so demi doesnt have to wait outside. she's the one who encourages demi to start volunteering at the animal shelter once demi admits that she'd like to go into a caretaking profession and likes animals more than people. it wasn't anything like Monumental, but demi really needed this kind of encouragement and just attention from an adult and it set her on her career path. they're facebook friends and demi agonizes at least once a month over whether she should send a message to her to express her gratitude or if it would be Weird.

4. What was your OC's childhood dream? Is that still their dream? If it has changed, why did it change and what's their new dream?

mason was the kind of kid who wanted to do Only Cool Shit when he grew up. like he did Not want to be a doctor or a police officer, he wanted to be a BMX racer or helicopter pilot or just like. guy who drives monster trucks for a living. his dream was basically to live to the extreme and never, ever have a boring life. now as an adult, this isnt quite his dream anymore, but he still aspires to not live a boring life. working at the docks and manning industrial fishing boats injects some excitement into his life while also providing a pretty good wage for first his family, then himself. he and his buddies will do fun, risky shit—snowboarding, axe-throwing, jumping ice floes—just for the sake of having fun. mason has a little more self-awareness now and concern for his wellbeing since he had to take on a lot of responsibility before he was even an adult and currently wants to stay at least somewhat safe to be there for his sister and her family, but he's sticking to his dream of never letting tedium and fear win.