n a m e
Micah Moreau
a g e
20
g e n d e r
Male
o r i e n t a t i o n
Bisexual
d i s o r d e r s
Undiagnosed anxiety and night terrors
r e a s o n f o r a t t e n d i n g
To care for his half-sister, who he is now the guardian for
a p p e a r a n c e
To put it kindly, Micah's appearance can be off-putting, but it is surprisingly aesthetically pleasing. Micah is bi-racial; his mother was French, his father Vietnamese, and he takes after both in a neat mix of features. He's tall, standing at just six feet, and is rather willowy, with a wiry build- one might even say slender. Micah's complexion trends towards the Vietnamese side of his heritage, but he has more of a angular, Caucasian face. Heavy brows etch low over small, creased eyes of dark brown, and a strongly chiseled nose leads down to lips with softly sloping edges. His pointed chin and upper lip harbours prickly black scruff. Perhaps his most defining feature, Micah's hair is thick, jet black, and naturally wavy. He prefers to keep it long, and it reaches his mid-back. Micah will often braid it, or put it into a ponytail or bun, and it is a source of pride and style for him.
Micah tends to dress darkly and carelessly. His favourite colours to wear are black and forest green. Often he'll wear black jeans, usually tight, a loose tank paired with a black leather jacket, and his dark green boots. Around his neck he wears a fine silver chain with a tiny letter 'B' on it. There is a story behind Micah's only piece of jewelry, but he's never shared it. Otherwise he has no other accessories, piercings, or tattoos, although he looks like the kind of guy who would.
Micah's rough outward look is mainly due to having to adapt to the tough world of the foster care system as a teen, and he's come to like it.
p e r s o n a l i t y
Micah's nature has gone through many drastic changes as he tried to cope with his unstable world, and he is far from the quiet, awe-filled little boy he used to be.
There are definitely two sides to Micah both with a mixture of good and bad traits. At his core, Micah is naturally reserved. He is cautious and careful, thinking analytically through every action. Paired with his abnormal educational start, this characteristic led some to believe Micah slow minded; however, it only takes him opening his mouth to dispel that notion, as he is quite eloquent in speech. He is very wary and testy around strangers, especially adults. Micah is extremely resentful of authority, leading those who hold it to view him as a troublemaker, when in truth Micah simply has his own rules and justice system he imposes on himself. Micah is slow to anger: he gained a lot of patience in the foster care system. He is also extraordinarily tolerant, but this can make him hard to get along with: he never reveals his true feelings, even if they're strong. Despite this, there are a few instances where his temper will snap, and then his anger is like rolling thunder, a crashing storm when it finally breaks.
While one side of Micah may be the watchful, incomprehensible feline, the second part of him is the loyal, loving canine, which is only present with his sister. Micah made a promise to her a long time ago to forever be her protector, and he holds intense love for her. Everything he is is dedicated to her, so much that he wishes nothing for himself. Why this relationship? Micah feels guilt. So much guilt is piled up inside him, every wrongdoing stacked up from throughout his life, it all weighs on him, rather unhealthily. Micah has taken on the role of being his sister's keeper to repent the guilt, and now he doesn't know if he can ever stop.
h i s t o r y
[Also's Maliah's]
Micah got the short end of the stick in life and he knew it. He had grown up knowing that his life would never be nice, nor would it be ever truly his. The circumstances surrounding his birth were not ideal. His mother was a French woman by the name of Marie Moreau, and his father was a Vietnamese man named Nguyen Giang. The pair's relationship was unstable and never truly official. Micah spent his early childhood being shuttled between his mother and father's apartments. His quality of living was poor: neither parent made much money and worked minimum wage jobs. Marie relied on government assistance to send Micah to daycare and later to school, which were the bright parts of his early life. The wary and watchful little boy was secretly enthralled with actually exercising his mind with toys and speech and books: he came to treasure learning immensely.
When Micah was three years old his life took its first turn. His mother began dating another man. Marie was taken to this new man to the point of unhealthy obsession. Less than a year from their first meeting, Marie gave birth to Micah's half-sister, Maliah. Shortly after, the man left Marie. Micah's mother was distraught, and became severely depressed. She no longer worked, rarely ate, and often spent the day in bed. Maliah was greatly abandoned, and her endless screams haunted Micah. He didn't want her screaming; it scared him. Nguyen, however, was still slightly hanging around. He supported Micah, bringing food to the house and sometimes taking him to daycare. Yet, he didn't spare much for Maliah. He bought formula for Marie and fed the child at times, but felt no responsibility towards the baby girl. Despite this, he did one thing right: he taught Micah to care for her. Not intentionally, but young Micah watched and copied. At little less than five, Micah was sloppily making formula, dribbling it into his half-sister's mouth, clumsily bouncing her, and singing soft, sweet lullabies in Vietnamese. He fell in love with the helpless infant. However, Micah wasn't there all the time. Sometimes he was with Nguyen, sometimes at school. He couldn't be a mother to his half-sister. As Maliah approached one, Marie recovered slightly and occasionally cared for her, but it was sparse as the woman felt anger towards the child. The neglect took its toll. Maliah was malnourished and sickly, with little healthy mental development. At age two she began show signs that something was not quite right. She screamed constantly, and it was a sound of pain. She sometimes shook uncontrollably, and sometimes Micah was unable to wake her up in the rare instances when she slept. To avoid the screaming, Marie returned to work. In the rough neighborhood where her apartment was located, no one called the police to report the neglected toddler. Marie also forbid Micah to speak of the existence of his half-sister. He never did in fear of his unpredictable mother, but he tried to care for Maliah as much as a child could. She was the calmest with him, and they developed a special bond from the beginning.
Yet, it could not be denied that Maliah's health was rapidly deteriorating. Her tantrums grew more violent, panicked, and intense. She shook more, and didn't listen or really perceive her surroundings. Even Nguyen, who rarely came around anymore for Micah, was alarmed by the now four-year old's behaviour. For a second time, he changed Micah's life. Nguyen walked out. He said goodbye and disappeared, but not before performing one act of compassion. Nguyen told his son to take care of 'that little girl'. Then he called social services, and left. Things progressed quickly. The children were taken into custody, and Maliah was hospitalized. Marie was charged with child abuse, and would later be sentenced to prison for eight years. Maliah was found to have a brain tumour. It was removed through surgery, but it had already damaged the temporal lobe of her brain extensively, leaving her deaf. The next few years of these children's lives were difficult, but improved. They were kept together by the State through funding and charity due to the popularity of their abuse case on the news and social media, and lived together in an institution, where Maliah could receive therapy. Micah attended school fully for the first time. It was a period of enrichment, especially for Maliah. She could function again, but was handicapped in many ways from her neglect, both physically and mentally. It was through Micah's constant support that she was able to grow so much. He was her constant companion, her protector, her teacher, her true brother. They didn't do things by halves. By age ten, Maliah could communicate through American Sign Language, and could take care of her basic needs somewhat independently. She was still behind, and considered mentally ******ed, but she was doing well. Micah had also flourished in the new environment: he was thirteen, incredibly mature, school orientated, and still his sister's champion.
Yet all good things eventually come to an end. Funding ran out for the children, and the institution could no long host them. Considering the pair rehabilitated, the youngsters were thrown suddenly into the foster care system. The abrupt unpredictability changed Micah and Maliah forever, especially when they were immediately separated. Most people didn't understand Maliah's unique needs or her behavioural idiosyncrasies like the institution and Micah did. Her condition worsened considerably, and she began to have episodes of strange behaviour. Micah also worsened as he realized his sister had supported him internally as much as he supported her. He had given her his life completely a long time ago. Without her, Micah was lost. He began to feel constantly anxious, and had night terrors. As was the case with the foster care system, as soon as kids had problems, they were usually given up. Thus began a trialling period of the siblings lives, as they were shunted back and forth between orphanages and foster homes. At times they were together and other times they were torn apart, forming good periods and bad periods. It affected their personalities dramatically, and it also further compromised their health. At age thirteen Maliah was formally diagnosed with schizophrenia, and while never treated or diagnosed, Micah suffered from anxiety and night terrors, thus imposing insomnia on himself at times. This made their experience as wards of the State complicated and difficult. No one wanted an odd bi-racial pair of damaged teens. Their only hope was time. Micah worked hard at various jobs and saved every penny. He forgone school in favour of work and often got in trouble for it. But for Micah it payed off. After he became a legal adult he was able to rent a tiny apartment and apply to be the legal guardian of Maliah. After a year, it was approved, but on a condition that Maliah would go through a summer therapy session at a place called Carroway Ridge. Micah agreed, and enrolled himself alongside to watch her.
[img width=510 height=364]http://allemieux.com/blog/wp-c…loads/2013/05/Sampson.jpg[/img]
h o r s e
Micah has been assigned to an old mare named Katie. A classic champagne quarter horse, Katie is fattened and slow with age, but perhaps still one of the best horses on the ranch and she's quite graceful and spritely. In her twenty-five years, Katie has raised many a foal, as she was used for breeding by her previous owners. The result of this is that she's extremely gentle and motherly: but that also means she's a bit bossy! She is the mother of Pony, who is her constant companion on the ranch.
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[img width=467 height=510]http://s21.postimg.org/7i2z3obh3/rsz_dfeingold90_10.jpg[/img]
n a m e
Maliah Moreau
a g e
17
g e n d e r
Female
o r i e n t a t i o n
Pansexual
d i s o r d e r s
Schizophrenia (Undifferentiated), and she is also deaf.
r e a s o n f o r a t t e n d i n g
Is attending through a State funded program.
a p p e a r a n c e
The first thing that is noticed about Maliah is that she's small, very small. It's as if she stopped growing at twelve, and decided to be little forever. Like a fragile bird, her limbs are thin and long in proportion, as if hollow, and she seems capable of collapsing, or being crushed. Maliah's skin is more tan than white, and her oval face hosts a strong jaw. Her eyes are rather round and large, holding rich brown irises and framed by thick brown lashes. Her lips are cute with a wide-spaced bow shape, and her nose is broad and a smidgen snubbed. Maliah's hair is a dark honey brown and tightly curly. It falls about two inches past her shoulders, and is naturally untidy; her bangs never seem to keep their place. Maliah most often wears colourful sundresses or smocks, and she doesn't like to wear shoes, or accessories of any kind. She always looks childish and innocent, but there are times when her expressions say otherwise.
p e r s o n a l i t y
No one knows what goes on in Maliah's head, not even Maliah herself. Her whole life she has been defined by her limitations, and it certainly impacted her personality and personal growth. A lot of the time, Maliah appears very far away cognitively, unfocused and turned inward. She can be extremely socially vague, or even behaviorally inappropriate, which lands her in difficult situations. Her schizophrenia can't always be fully controlled by her medications, and Maliah commonly experiences hallucinations. This and other symptoms caused by her illness or side effects to her meds make concentration and participation hard. Maliah also has trouble communicating, most notably when the people around her don't know sign language. This makes it hard for her to express herself, and thus much of her is hidden from plain sight. For underneath her challenges is a truly sweet girl, childish and naive, yes, but honest and sunny and wondrous. She can bring a lot of simple, true joy to people's hearts through her tiny triumphs in life and the placidity she uses to take her world in stride. Maliah is often misunderstood and talked down to. She has gone through rough times and still struggles. But because of that, she's a strong person, tolerant and compassionate. Her half-brother Micah knows this, but not many others do. And so Maliah always sits quietly waiting in the background, like a delicate little bird, with a song at her lips.
h o r s e
An eight year old gelding named Pony has been assigned as Maliah's horse for her stay. He is almost a carbon copy of his dam, Katie, except bigger and with more dapples. He is a friendly giant, and has inherited his mother's gentleness and understanding. Pony makes a great therapy horse, and is much valued at the ranch.
Rusty & Daisy