Betsy Rose
Betsy Rose, currently identified as Nancy Mann, is the owner of the Retro Diner in Shady Brook. She insists that everyone call her "Mom," and she is highly fond of gossip. While she is kind, she is also superficial and judgmental. Betsy suffers from histrionic personality disorder and delusions of grandeur. HistoryBetsy Rose was born in 1912 in the small town of Auburn, New Hampshire and grew up with her parents and older sister, Anne. She lost her parents at a young age, and her sister got a job as a waitress at the local diner to support herself and Betsy. Betsy never quite got along with her sister. She felt immense jealousy and resentment toward her, as Anne had always been their parents' favorite. Unable to live with her sister any longer, Betsy moved out of their parents' home when she turned 18. Shortly afterward, Betsy's feelings were exacerbated when Anne married a carpenter named Evan Potland. As her anger festered, Betsy turned more and more toward the darkness, determined to never be the polar opposite of her sister, who Betsy resented for being "so pure." In particular, Betsy felt drawn to Dark Magick and ideals that centered around energy manipulation to make others do your bidding. Betsy always wanted to have her own family, but she was too eager to find a mate naturally, and so she began to perform pagan rituals in an attempt to summon the perfect man. Betsy and her sister visited one another on occasion, but the visits were not enjoyable by either sister due to their numerous differences, and the visits began to taper. One day, Betsy decided to leave her sister entirely and moved across the country to Trenton, Oklahoma. One day in 1942, a young girl named Eve appeared to Betsy and identified herself as a representative of The Old Ones, the true gods of our world. Eve offered Betsy a choice: she could have everything she ever dreamed off--a soul-mate and a large family to call her own--on one condition: she would have to be artificially aged by 30 years, forever giving up her looks...but in exchange, she would live forever. Betsy did not hesitate in saying "yes." Eve followed through with her word, and Betsy was transformed the next morning to appear as a 60-year-old, despite the fact that she was only, in actuality, 30. Betsy was shocked but also thrilled, and Eve swore her to secrecy. In awe of Eve's supernatural abilities--and what might happen should she disobey--Betsy agreed. One month later, in a local library, Betsy met her soul-mate through Eve, just as Eve had predicted--Robert Thompson. The two got along well and married almost instantly, sharing a love of the occult. They eagerly shared all of their esoteric knowledge with one another, though Betsy never told Robert of her deal with Eve. Both wanting a large family, but Robert, not knowing Betsy's true age, was concerned that Betsy was too old to bear children. So, one night, Robert and Betsy together performed a ritual that Eve assured them would culminate in the conception of a child. Betsy knew the ritual would work, as she was--in actuality--still young enough to bare child; and, sure enough, she was right: Betsy was pregnant. After the birth of their son, Peter, Eve directed the couple to the land that would later become the town of Shady Brook. She informed them that the land covered the ruins of those who once worshiped The Old Ones, long before recorded history. Here, she said, their magick would be strongest. And so it was in this place that the couple decided to start a family. But such a family required sacrifice. And so, in exchange for promised immortality, Eve tasked Robert and Betsy with the hardest task they would ever have to take: sacrificing their only child. Though Robert and Betsy were hesitant, Eve had already proven that she could perform miracles, and she swore to the couple that they would live endlessly and could form a new family here, in this place. After much thought, the two carried out their task and sacrificed their son in the name of The Old Ones. And in return Eve followed through with her word: neither Robert nor Betsy aged a moment from that day on. In the decades that followed, Robert and Betsy gave birth to many more children and formed the large family that Betsy always dreamed of, each member taking part in the same rituals first carried out by Robert and Betsy in service of The Old Ones so that they may all live forever until the end of time, ever-expanding their family. In order to keep the true affairs of Shady Brook a secret from the rest of the world, Betsy Rose changed her name to Nancy Mann. Her children were also assigned fake last names, to hide the fact that most of the town's citizens are, in fact, related. Shady BrookIn 2005, Betsy Rose unsuccessfully tried to befriend Jake Torrent after he moved to Shady Brook. At first, she liked the young author, but after he butted heads with town resident Curly Ford, and took an inappropriate liking to the married Kate Ekan, Betsy revised her opinion. |
Betsy Rose
|