Background

"The constraints of modern times, a blessing and a curse, if only time paused just for a little bit..." is something he would often sigh to himself, ranting about how times were changing so fast...until one day everything stopped for everyone, when the Daisies outbreak happened. He never once dared to say those words again, feeling unjustly guilty about his wish. Originally from Montreal, Russell was born in a decently wealthy family in the year 1948, growing up surrounded by a couple of siblings, loving parents and a rather large family that spoke both English and French. These loving parents encouraged them all to chase big dreams, and Russell's dream was to follow his father's footsteps and become a doctor himself one day, to heal those that were in pain and mitigate some of the damage of this 'oh-so-cruel' world. Deliberately ignoring social pursuits or forming his own family, Russell focused on his studies from a young age right after highschool. He showed a strong interest in surgery during medical school, and shifted towards it, finishing his surgery residency at thirty three years old by the end of 1981; by that time he had been studying, learning and practicing how to fix people's insides for a decade, and earned himself a good position at the city's hospital as a trauma surgeon. 1982 comes, and a newborn is welcomed into his family, Adeline. While Russell didn't get to spend much time with his family outside family gatherings and the occasional sunday barbecue, Adeline was the one niece that he was very fond of. Fast forward a decade, winter of 1993; triggered by a especially hard case that ended in life loss, the stress and the emotional weight of a hospital's ER after so many years got to Russell, he reduced his surgery shifts as much as he could and pulled some strings to spend more time as a general physician and consultant rather than actively practicing surgery. He started thinking about the future, the time he wasn't spending with his family and the fact that a few more years would turn him fifty years old, having spent half a lifetime in a hospital, was taking a heavy toll on him. Russell decided to visit a healing place for himself, a local 'Wellness resort & spa' hotel that promised peace of mind and much needed calm. He took a liking for the place, spending time there and evaluating his life options. As the resort became his new favorite spot in his free hours, management asked Russell to take up a consultant job with them, which would allow him to still practice medicine within the hotel boundaries and without the stress of an ER room, so Russell accepted and started acting as a medical consultant for the resort. During early 1995, Adeline became an orphan. She had to move in with some close -yet emotionally distant- family, and while they tried their best to take care of her, it just wasn't enough, so Russell decided to take on the mantle of adopting and raising her now that he not only had more time, but also a new goal in mind. This led him to eventually make an offer to the retiring owner of the wellness resort to become the new manager and run the place himself, financially backed by his family's wealth - this allowed Russell and Adeline to start a new life of sorts. The 'Wellness resort & spa' Hotel, located in Montreal, went under significant changes and reforms under the new management. Russell and Adeline made it not only their workplace but a place to call home and by the end of the year it was open to the public. It was almost five years of peace and calm where everything felt like a dream; they had a pretty home, within a safe place where people could find solace. And while the hotel was built to offer peace, that peace was only broken by the Daisies outbreak. A relatively small QZ was built nearby, with the hotel still inside its walls. Safe for a while, the hotel acted as a place for the sick, though very few recovered and most succumbed to the pollen. The entire QZ eventually fell during The Blackout period. Russell and Adeline escaped their now overrun hotel during its last hours, aided by a couple, Hayley and Telana. Their first destination would be the Boston QZ but after spending some months there and not having seen Telana or Hayley in a long while, they decided to travel west, into Fungal Followers territory. In this region, they encountered a quiet girl and a wounded stranger. Russell had no quarrel in patching up the stranger, but he also had no questions, as he thought it would be best not to ask. During the year 2007, Russell and Adeline came across a shy girl by the name of Felicity in Central Coalition territory. They convinced her they weren't a threat and offered her company and food, they learnt her story and decided to let her come with them. They were three now, wandering around, avoiding people if they could and surviving day to day but, at least they were in good company. And so, it wasn't until March, 2009, that a weathered 60 years old Russell, a 26 years old Adeline and a shy Felicity wandered into Kentucky, learning about the Northbank QZ by a local caravan trader. If it wasn't for their lack of travelling options, the lack of information, the deadly pollen in the air, the shady strangers on the roads and the endless list of precautions that such a defenseless group had to endure, they would've reached KQZ years ago, the sole reason why they're arriving now to Kentucky. An insufferable decade of travelling, sleeping with one eye open and not trusting any strangers, made Russell realize something: he missed his Hotel. His companions missed feeling safe. They all missed the comfort of having walls. They missed having a home. They missed having a roof over their heads at night. And Russell had all the intentions in the world to change that before he died. For them, at least.