~ Faron Alexopoulos ~
Faron Alexopoulos is the husband of Ctimene Alexopoulos; both watch over the town of New Ithaca after having inheriting the role from Ctimene's parents. After a turbulant decade-and-a-half of being separated from faer wife, Faron serves as both partial-leader and town doctor, having spent most of faer time apart learning medicinal skills. Nowadays, fae sticks close to the town of New Ithaca, not eager to be re-separated.
Faron, originally named Faron Grankvist, is the younger son of the two children born to Henrick and Annika Grankvist in the city of July, the largest on Gunsmoke. Faron was born a year or so after Dahlia- however, faer birth was very rough, and resulted in the death of Annika during labor. Faron miraculously survived, but the death of Annika forever affected faer father: Henrick turned to alcoholism to cope with the death of his wife, leaving Dahlia to help a great deal with the raising of Faron despite her being close in age. The two children grew up witnessing their father's worsening depression- and while Henrick was never angry with them, they often had to help take care of him. They would lead him to bed when he got too drunk, would cook, and generally do a lot of caretaking for him when the depression was too much for him. Despite all of this, they both had a very close relationship with their father.
Faron spent a lot of time with Dahlia. As a young kid, fae followed her everywhere and preferred to just listen to her and go along with whatever she was doing. Faron grew up listening to her rants and eventually her developing idealogy about the planet they lived on: Dahlia believed that there was too much hate for this desert planet. Sure, it wasn't Earth, but maybe if people worked more towards seeing the beauty in it, they would find it isn't impossible to live on. She worshipped the planet, not any sort of religion, and was set on making sure Faron understood that loving something was stronger than hating it. There was one other thing she passed onto him: she thought murdering someone was absolutely the worst thing a person could ever do. People who intentionally killed others were evil. Faron takes this to heart.
Into faer early teen years, however, an issue arose: July is difficult to live in when you cannot do much for work, and to support his children, Henrick made a few shadier deals with people- one of which resulted in Dahlia being taken by the Eye of Michael. Dahlia Annika Grankvist... Henrick loses another important woman in his life, this time his own daughter, and Faron loses faer older sister. It's devestating to both of them, and Faron harbors resentment for Henrick for being the reason Dahlia was taken from them.
...Loving is stronger than hatred though, isn't it? Despite how badly Faron wants to hate faer father for it, Faron cannot bring himself to- though their relationship is permanently hurt by this event.
Faron at least attempted to keep in contact with Dahlia via letter. The two kept consistant letters at first- Faron got to hear about a kinder boy named Kiran, who wore something called a pardah?- but eventually, the letters tapered off, and the last one was horribly concerning before the letters stopped entirely. ...The two could assume what happened to her. Henrick was already a bit emotionally unstable- so knowing that the taking of his daughter- and what both remaining Grankvist's know must have been her death- was his own fault, the tragedy struck him deeply, making his mental health begin to rapidly decline until Faron could no longer stand to be around him. Both are grieving, and in faer grief, Faron even briefly considers trying what faer father drinks. There is one incident, where Faron does actually partake in it- and the two of them wind up shitfaced in the tiny house they live in, grieving.
Both of their mental healths are going nowhere. Henrick's is too late to salvage, but Faron's isn't. Henrick loves his son, and doesn't want faer to turn out like him. So... Henrick tells Faron that fae should go see the world a bit and get out of the house. Faron had come to a similiar conclusion: fae wants to leave July and see what is out there. With both of them on the same page, Henrick prepares Faron to leave by gifting fae his old traveling coat and hat. Despite how rough these past few years have been, this is still father and son: they care about one another. They embrace, and then, age 17, Faron leaves July and begins traveling.
Faron's travels landed fae in the town of New Ithaca. Faron decided to stay for a short time: young and not very financially sound at all, Faron offered to help a doctor - a man named Charon who was one of the few people there who spoke English- with keeping his place cleaned and his chores done in exchange for staying in the his extra room. Faron is a very polite person and Charon cannot find it in himself to turn faer away, so fae was allowed to stay, where Charon started teaching fae basic Greek and, eventually, warmed up to the little guy. He even started teaching Faron about some of the work he did as a doctor, trying to educate Faron on basic medicine- which Faron took an interest in. Faron intially intended on staying there only a short time, but that stay was extended after Faron came across a certain young girl in a garden: Ctimene. Now, Faron was unaware of Ctimene's status and the fact she was the daughter of the family that headed this town: the two of them actually met very simply in a fig tree, of all places. Faron adores climbing and was sitting in one of the few fig trees the town had managed to grow via their GeoPlant when fae saw Ctimene, who was escaping suitors, climb up in the tree beside fae. Faron just stared quietly for a long time, unsure of what to say, before finally speaking up- which scared Ctimene so bad she fell out of the tree and scraped her knee. Faron hopped down and checked over her, and the two of them create a friendship from there.
Faron was unaware for a short while about how many suitors were after Ctimene- once he learned, though, it didn't particularly change anything about the two's friendship, which Ctimene was appreciative of. The two of them over the course of a year become very close friends, and both develop interest in each other romantically as well- though neither ever says anything about it. They're just two kids with crushes- very, very strong crushes. Really, they're hopelessly in love with one another. Faron anxiously writes her poetry and gets love advice from Charon (who... has none. He's not good at this either) and is just generally completely enamored by her. At the same time, Faron is also getting closer to Charon, and begins to even see him in a fatherly light.
The two's eighteenth birthdays pass, and then Faron soon learns that Ctimene is now being expected to choose a suitor, as it is tradition for her family to do so when they reach the age of eighteen. This is devestating news: fae knows that fae's not likely to be chosen for this. What could he offer after all? And Ctimene said that she had to pick a suitor- a role that Faron does not have. Faron debated not even coming to the ceremony, but... Faron goes to Charon about it, who tells faer that fae needs to go. Fae will regret it for the rest of faer life if fae doesn't after all- and he's speaking from experience. Despite the hurt that comes with watching her choose someone else, Faron does decide to come to the event- but finds that when fae gets there, Ctimene, over all the other eligables, chooses to marry Faron. Faron accepts, of course, and the two of them wed one another despite the issues that Ctimene's parents have with Faron. It's quick for sure, but the two of them come to find that they are absolutely head-over-heels for one another.
Shortly after getting married, the two of them move to the town of Paradeisos to escape Ctimene's family problems - a town over a GeoPlant - where they live for a about five years together. They even plant a fig tree in their backyard in homage to where they met. It's after these few years that Ctimene becomes pregnant with Faron's child. That's great! However- about three-to-four months into the pregnancy, Ctimene winds up having a few complications, ones that normal doctors around the town of Paradeisos cannot help. It is around this time too that Faron, for the first time in years, recieves word from faer father. Faron hasn't heard from him since fae left all those years ago. And Faron learns that faer father... isn't doing too great, from the sound of the letter. He's not doing good at all, and its not just involved with his depression: he is developing severe mental problems, and Faron wants to visit him before his mental health declines entirely. Ctimene urges Faron to do so, stating that Faron might be able to find a doctor while there as well- something that convinces Faron to go through with it. Ctimene elects to remain home, not wanting to travel while carrying child.
Faron arrives in July. The meeting is... complicated. Despite everything these two have been through, they do not hate one another- they cannot bring themselves to, when they are the only remaining members of this family. Faron sits and tells Henrick everything he has missed: Faron has a wife now. Fae even has a kid on the way. The meeting is sweet, genuinely, and Henrick admits to messing up with Faron and Dahlia so badly, but is so proud of who Faron has become. It's a good meeting, Faron does not, at the time, regret coming at all.
While here, Faron runs errands for Henrick and makes sure he is taken care of. Faron only plans to stay the week, so fae focuses on making sure Henrick will be okay while also looking for a decent doctor for Ctimene.
On one of the days leading up to when Faron is to depart again, Faron gets into a very minor spat with Henrick over something. Faron leaves the house to go grab what fae needs to for Henrick- before stumbling into an altercation going on in city center.
Faron at the time does not understand what is happening: there is an altercation between the people of the Junight Catchbasin and that of July, caused by leniant access between the two of them. Faron is a small man and winds up getting caught up in it- so when the guards finally snap and manage to shove the citizens of the underground back down, Faron is whisked away down there with them. The security is raised then so a fight will not break out once more: nobody is allowed above from below, and vice versa.
Faron is stuck in the Underground, leaving behind faer pregnant wife and sick father, neither of which know what happened to faer.
Faron winds up spending fifteen years underground unable to escape home; however, with the help of a smaller mailman, named Ikaros, Faron manages to escape and make it home safely to faer wife, whom survived her pregnancy and had a child, whom she named Syceus- "fig tree". The two are reunited, and now happily rule over New Ithaca in place of Ctimene's parents.