Spotlight on: Ambrose Lare

Full Name: Ambrose Saldin Lare
Birthday: October 23, 1989 (happy 19th!!)
Method of Creation: #3- He started with a dual purpose.

Creation Story:
First, I wanted a "where did he come from" story. I was toying with the idea of coming up with a very talented musician who would do State Solo Competition or Honor Band his senior year for the first time and blow the competition out of the water. He had to be from a small town that was barely on the map just to add to the effect of coming out of nowhere.

Also, I wanted to give Gary Charles a "sidekick," or a little kid who would look up to Gary as a mentor. Thus, he had to be a french horn player. It would work out so that this little kid was a year younger and when he arrived at college Gary would metaphorically take him under his wing and show him the ropes.

My original Character Sketch for Ambrose.
Even though this was before I was adept at drawing faces it's still very much like what he looks like!

Thus, Ambrose was born. At first I wanted Ambrose to be from up north but then I decided to make him local. He is from a small suburb south of Kennywood called, appropriately, South Kennywood. This town is basically all farms, with a very small amount of city in the middle. It's loosely based off of the city of Kuna, Idaho. South Kennywood is the kind of town where neighbors are half a mile away or more and backyards are huge and stocked with cows, horses, chickens, dogs, etc.

Now I just had to make a person out of him. I wanted him to have a signature something like everyone else, but what? That answer came from many sources. Ambrose's "claim to fame" is the massive scars he has all over his body from his unfortunate mishaps. Yes, Ambrose is extremely accident-prone. He thinks he might be cursed. This next part is pretty morbid so hold on tight.

I based this event on two "Rescue 911" episodes. You can find them on youtube even. In fact, you can just click here and here. Makes me cringe every time I watch them...

It all started when little Ambrosey was 4 years old. He was sitting at the dining table for lunch one day, with his little brother sitting across from him. It was hot outside so Ambrose was in nothing but pants, like a cute little kid would. He kept leaning back in his chair and his mother was repeatedly telling him not to lean back. Well, you know how little kids are, and he kept leaning back. Now, I mentioned this is morbid so you can guess where this is going.

Yes, he lost his balance and crashed through the sliding glass door behind him. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say he literally cut himself open and almost cut himself in half. He was stuck, speared by the broken glass. His right arm was barely hanging on and his... um... insides were on his outside. He was rushed to the hospital and along the way his heart actually stopped, because he lost so much blood. He arrived clinging to life. Miraculously after a blood transfusion his heart began beating again and the doctors spent the next several hours sewing him back closed. He lived through the ordeal and only lost his right kidney, some of his guts, part of his liver, and, most obvious of all, the top of his right ear. His right arm was fixed to the best of doctors' abilities and amazingly he has full use of it today.

Sketches of Brosey's scars on his back and of his casts...

This rather gross and life-changing event was followed by many more strange and serious accidents, including many broken bones, stitches, and the like. The other serious surgical thing he had done was when he burned his left arm and ended up getting an infection in his bone, which they had to remove and graft from his rib. He has also done things like chop wood and get hit in the face which removed a good chunk of his lip and other such graphic and gross things. Amazingly, he is very resilient and has a very high tolerance for pain.

OK anyway, now that that's out of the way, we can get to the good stuff. Ambrose is one of those guys I like to call "unlockers" because basically by creating him I opened up a huge new section of my world. The only other person who "unlocked" as much as he did was Eagle Rivers. Anyway, he unlocked two new cities, about 8 new people, their stories (which in turn unlocked lots of other things), and the location of a high school.

About that high school, remember that I like to make lists, especially rosters. Well, I wade one for the JKSO (the really good orchestra for youth from the cities of Kennywood) and had to have more high schools than just Kennywood, Lionel, and Clifford. I came up with Brassington High School. Where is it? Well, I knew now that it was in South Kennywood. Good ol' BHS and the people in it suddenly came to be.

So by now I decided that I wasn't going to have Ambrose wait to meet Gary. I was going to have them meet in JKSO together. Ambrose was discovered and began playing in the youth symphony. He and Gary met and were fast friends. Since Gary is from a rather rural place, he connected well with Ambrose and his buddies and was "adopted" by their school band. This friendship carried on into college although Ambrose isn't the small boy who looks up to Gary in wonder anymore. They are equal and are always hanging out together.

Ambrose's family was based off of some real things too. I really wanted someone named Ike somewhere but it didn't fit with the names I chose for Ambrose's family. However, it made its way into the family anyway as Ambrose's little brother, Sigmund Weldon "Ike" Lare, who was born on leap year 1992 :-). He has a little sister too. Her name is Eleora (pronounced illora). His father is a caricature of someone I know. He is very tall and looks angry and emotionless. However he is one of those people that listens to everything and is trustworthy.

So, since today is Ambrose's birthday, I thought I'd share him with everyone.

Five Fun Facts:
1. Ambrose can play unusually high on french horn.
2. He marches in drum corps on mellophone.
3. He's left handed.
4. His middle name, Saldin, is a variation on his mom's maiden name, Cinitah Salden. Surprise, it's also a Keòen name!
5. His voice is very husky and raspy, due to the number of times he's had a breathing tube put in.