Annie and Oliver- Runaways

Annie & Oliver

Place: St Mary’s Roman Catholic Orphanage, Glasgow (Founded c.1832). Location: Glasgow. Close to the River Clyde, which was the heart of Scotland’s shipping industry in the 1800s. Soot-blackened stone, cramped dormitories, priests enforcing silence. Busy harbour with boats leaving for Greenock, Belfast, or the Isle of Man.

Time period: Late 1800s.

• Name: Annie (no last name). • Gender: she/her • Hair: Light blonde. Long, and thick, down to her lower back. • Eyes: Clear blue, with dark lashes. Looks like dolls eyes. Perfect, long and C shaped. • Height: 154cm. • Age: 18. • Cute, sweet face. Dollface. Makes her look younger than she is due to malnutrition. • Clothing: Annie likes happy colors, like pink and blue and yellow. But she is usually dressed to survive, so she’s hardly living with such colorful luxuries. • Sexuality: Bisexual. Equally attracted to men and women.

• Name: Oliver Sawyer. • Gender: Him/he. • Hair. Short hair, otften messy. Dark brown. • Eyes: Blue. • Height: 181cm. • Age: 18. • Striking face, no one knows where he’s from, but he looks aristochratic. Sawyer never says a word about his past. • Clothing: Brown coat, button ups. Practical clothing. • Sexuality: Bisexual. Equally attracted to men and women.

Oliver’s Backstory: Oliver was born in a fishing village on the west coast of Scotland, one of those places where the air always smelled of salt and coal smoke, and the sea was both lifeline and curse. His mother, Margaret, was a washerwoman for the local inn; his father, a fisherman who went out one winter and never came back. People said his boat capsized in a storm, but no one ever found the body. After that, Margaret did everything she could to keep Oliver alive, mending nets, washing clothes for pennies, skipping meals so he could eat. She used to hum old folk songs as she scrubbed, the kind that made the air ache. But poverty is cruel, and so are people. When an outbreak of fever swept the coast, Margaret caught it. Oliver was eight. He remembered her coughing blood into a rag, whispering his name even when she couldn’t open her eyes. When the neighbors found her, she was already gone. They took Oliver to the nearest parish home, a cold stone orphanage inland, where the sea couldn’t reach him anymore. He fought the whole way, screaming that his mother wasn’t dead, that she’d come for him once she got better. He believed that for years.

Annie’s Story and How They Met: Annie had been at the orphanage longer than almost anyone. She’d come as a baby, left on the steps in a basket one foggy morning, no name, no note, just a wool blanket and a copper brooch shaped like a bird. The matron named her Annie because she thought it “sounded respectable.” She grew up learning to keep her head down, to say yes, ma’am, to eat fast before the older children stole her food. She didn’t dream anymore, not really. Just survived. When Oliver arrived , angry, loud, wild, she thought he was an idiot. The kind who’d get a beating before breakfast and deserve it. But one day, in the kitchen yard, she saw him take a hit meant for a smaller boy. Didn’t even flinch. Just spat blood and laughed. Later that night, she found him sitting by the stove, holding a scrap of fabric, the hem of his mother’s shawl, the only thing he had left. She asked what it was, and he told her. After that, they started talking. Whispered conversations under blankets. Sharing stolen bread. She mended his torn shirts with bits of thread, and he stole her apples from the pantry. They became inseparable, not because either of them had anyone else, but because for once, someone stayed. When he started talking about running away to find his mother, Annie told him he was daft. But she never laughed at him for believing. Deep down, she wanted to believe too, not that his mother was alive, but that somewhere out there, something better existed than the smell of lye and rot.

The bond betwen Annie and Oliver: They weren’t sweet about it. They bickered constantly. She called him “a daft boy with too much heart and no sense.” He called her “a wee old woman trapped in a lass’s body.” But they looked out for each other, bandaged each other’s bruises, shared food, kept watch during punishments. They were two kids clinging to the same broken piece of driftwood, trying to keep their heads above a world that wanted to drown them. When he told her he was leaving, she knew he’d go with or without her. So she went, not because she believed they’d make it, but because she couldn’t bear the thought of being left behind again.

Core traits for Oliver: • Fiercely Determined: Oliver doesn’t give up. Ever. When he sets his mind on something, whether it’s escaping the orphanage or crossing the sea, he’ll find a way, no matter the cost. It’s part courage, part stubbornness.

“If there’s a door, I’ll break it. If there’s no door, I’ll climb through the window.”

• Defiant/rebellious: He can’t stand being told what to do, especially by anyone cruel or self-righteous. His defiance got him punished often, but he’d rather bleed than bow. That’s part of him: he won’t submit, even in chains.

• Deeply loyal: Once he loves someone, that’s it. Loyalty to the bone. He’d starve before he let Anne go hungry. He’d take the beating meant for her. That loyalty gives him strength, but also blinds him to danger.

• Restless/adventurous: He hates confinement, locked doors, routine, walls. Even as a child, he’d sneak out at night just to see the stars. He’s always wanted more: more land, more sea, more freedom.

• Hopeful to the point of delusion: Oliver’s hope is almost painful. He truly believes his mother might still be out there, even when logic says otherwise. It’s not naivety, it’s survival. Belief is the only thing that keeps him alive.

• Hot-tempered: He’s quick to anger, especially when he sees injustice. He speaks before thinking, fights before planning. It’s gotten him in trouble more times than he can count, but it also makes him brave.

• Soft at the core: For all his bluster, Oliver’s heart is painfully gentle. He cares deeply, especially for the weak and voiceless. He hides it under sarcasm and swagger, but that tenderness leaks out in small, quiet moments, like how he talks to stray animals or tucks Anne’s blanket higher when she sleeps.

• Resourceful/clever: He’s street-smart in a way that comes from surviving hunger and cruelty. He can pick locks, steal bread without being seen, bluff his way past adults. Not educated, but sharp as a knife.

Annie core traits: • Careful/pragmatic: Annie doesn’t dream easily. She weighs every risk twice before moving. If Oliver’s the spark, she’s the water that keeps the fire from burning them both alive. Her instinct is always: “What’s the smart way out?”

“Hope’s a fine thing, but it won’t fill your belly or keep the rain off.”

• Intelligent/observant: She sees everything, expressions, motives, cracks in people’s armor. She’s learned that paying attention is how you stay alive. She reads people the way others read books, even if she can’t read words all that well.

• Guarded but deeply caring: She doesn’t trust easily. Years in the orphanage taught her that attachments hurt. But once someone earns her care, like Oliver, she becomes fiercely protective. Her love shows in quiet acts: sharing food, mending his coat, staying up to keep watch.

• Brave in a different way: Not reckless-brave like Oliver, her bravery is quieter. It’s the courage to face fear head-on, even when her hands shake. She doesn’t run toward danger, but she never backs down from it either.

• Self-reliant/capable: She knows how to sew, barter, clean, cook, sneak, steal, patch wounds, all the invisible survival skills that keep them going. She’s practical to the bone, which makes her indispensable on the run.

• Pessimistic(outwardly): she’ll always assume the worst because she’s seen the worst. It’s not that she doesn’t believe in hope, she just doesn’t trust it to last. Her realism balances Oliver’s wild optimism.

• Emotionally strong but lonely: Annie’s independence hides a deep loneliness. She’s never had a family, never been held, never heard her name said kindly. Oliver’s friendship is the first real warmth she’s ever known, which terrifies her, because she knows warmth can be taken away.

• Sarcastic/sharp-tongued: She’s got a biting wit when she’s annoyed (which is often). It’s how she hides fear, by talking back, by mocking danger, by pretending she doesn’t care. But her humor keeps Oliver grounded, and their banter is part of what makes their bond feel so alive.