Muster Roll #4 – George Reed

George Reed – c.1780
George Reed only ever had one job - running the Moth & Moon. It was also the only home he'd ever known. He and his sister, Pearl, were raised there by their parents, helping them to run the massive inn from an early age. After the death of their mother, their father began a relationship with another man. Despite a rocky start, George grew to think of this man as his second father. Fearing a life of being trapped in the colossal Moth & Moon, Pearl left the island, leaving George to run the place alone.

By the year of the hurricane, 1780, George was in his mid-sixties. A short, grumpy man with a neat, white beard, George had a lifelong love of lepidoptery which had taken him to every corner of the island. He believed he had catalogued every moth and butterfly species on Merryapple and proudly displayed most of them in cases at the tavern.

The only thing he liked more than moth hunting was telling ghost stories, which he collected from visiting sailors. More often than not, before he told them to the next visiting crew, he would embellish the stories by filling in gaps or exaggerating some parts but it was all in the cause of being a better host.

George had his fair share of admirers and proposals over the years and while he had been known to enjoy the company of a burly sailor from time to time, he never wanted a romantic relationship with anyone. Despite his curmudgeonly persona, George was held in high esteem by the villagers. He was everyone's friend and nobody's lover. And that's exactly how he liked it.

He also thought of himself as the unofficial historian for the village. If anyone needed to know anything about life on the island in days gone by, George was the man to ask.

In We Cry The Sea, he'll take his role as custodian of the village's history to new heights.

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