Biography: Festus Hunnicutt

[peccadilloparlour]

{ Festus Hunnicutt }

Faceclaim: Hugh Bonneville
Age: 52
Gender Identity & Pronouns: man, he/him
Sexual & Romantic Orientation: biromantic homosexual, ID queer
Occupation: antiques dealer
Religion: indifferent Anglican
Tag: c: Festus victorious

Starters

History

Festus’s father Roger was a professor of classics at Eton for twenty years, then at the university of Aberdeen, which left his sons Festus and Julius a mixed accent of Southern posh with undertones of Scottish. Their mother Julia was a homemaker until her 60s, when her paintings suddenly began to sell. Now she has a gallery in London. Roger Hunnicutt died in 1997.

Festus developed an interest in antiques at a precocious age, though it took him a while to realize this, as discussions at home had led him to think everyone knew the difference between early and late Victorian woodwork. He trained himself to pick up bargains at antique fairs and apprenticed at an auction as a teenager before going off to university, which was a whole different adventure altogether. He graduated a little overdue with a degree in English history. Despite his father’s wishes that he would become an educator, he knew he was headed right back to the auction hall.

Now with nearly forty years of experience in the business he runs a successful auction house and showroom at Hunnicutt Antiques. His relationship with his mother is warm, and with his brother, complicated, verging on antagonistic. Julius Hunnicutt never achieved the kind of success Festus did and the imagined disapproval of their deceased father is a bone of contention between them.

Personality

Festus thinks quickly when it comes to items for sale or assessing a potential buyer or a market–a skill that comes from years of experience and loving focus. Otherwise he likes to mull things over, especially embarrassing things like wants, needs and fears. He has had a lot of quiet contemplative time to himself, however, and believes he has ordered his mind and emotions as well as could be expected. He likes his privacy, but truth be told, he is a little lonely.