Jul the Fixer

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by Anuqa

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We never lived fancy. Well, yes, but not fancy, and all of that was really thanks to my mother. She was a master at fixing up even completely lost causes. Most everything we owned was patchworked, repaired, hand-me-downs, fixer-uppers... but we never went hungry, we always had the bare minimum of what we needed to survive. Of all the things that she passed onto me, this skill is what I value most. It has saved my life.

When I was a child, a very tiny child, I accidentally broke one of the few non-broken things we owned, a vase. A pot. It was a gift from a grandmother, and a very precious one. I cried for hours and went between wanting to hide it to trying to blame someone else to wanting to try and run to the market with my tiny, mostly empty jar of coins and see if I could replace it, but before I could do any of those, she walked into the room and saw me crying on the floor.

She looked at the broken vase, heartbroken for just a moment, then she looked at me. I expected her to yell at me, maybe even hit me, but she didn't... she just knelt down and gently lifted my chin and spoke calmly. "Don't worry Jul, we can fix it."

She gathered up all the pieces and began to carefully piece it back together, and then started sticking the pieces back together with the adhesive she always tried to keep on-hand. I saw her wipe away a few tears as she worked, putting the once-beautiful, uncracked pot back together. It took so many hours over several days to fix it, but she did.

"Just about anything that is broken can be repaired, Jul, even if it's not whole or as good as before... it can be fixed."

She put the vase back up on the shelf.

I took that philosophy into my life and applied it to just about every aspect, to everything I could... it isn't an understatement that to this day, it has saved my life.

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Name: Jul (generally goes by "Fixer" or "Salvager")
Only people she is very close to call her Jul, or even know her proper name.

She carries a tool belt and repair kit with her. She's had to learn how to protect herself on the roads as she took to wandering, but she only became any good at fighting with her hammer... she has a lot of experience using it, though.

Fixer is a crafter by nature, intelligent and very cunning, though without a lot of 'book-smarts' or learnings. If it can be broken, she will fix it- or at least try, whether that break is physical, or emotional.

In a word, she is stubborn and she has little patience for indecision. She may often come across as brash or rough from her rough upbringing, and she's not afraid to speak her mind. She isn't the kind to give up on a project, or on people. If someone comes to her and needs help, she has never been able to turn them away, even to her own detriment. She tries to be a rock, a stable place for others, even when she becomes scared or feels lost, though sometimes she has to employ tough love to get people through.

When she was still fairly young, her mother passed away and she was never entirely sure how to move on from there. After that, though, she found her light again in helping other and picking them up. She wasn't as whole as before, but it gave her a way to move on, though she doesn't talk about it.

Honest, sincere, stubborn, and loyal. Friend to the stranger on the street who might need just a hand to help them on their way.

"Anything broken can be fixed, and even if you don't know how, that doesn't mean there isn't a way."

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