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Post by gabriel on Jul 13, 2009 23:28:59 GMT -5
001. NAME• Gabriel Cross
002. NICKNAME• Nephim
003. REAL AGE• 682
004. HOW OLD YOU LOOK?• 22
005. BIRTHDATE• June 2, 1327
006. WHERE YOU LIVE?• London, England
007. AND YOU FEAST ON?• Humans
001. YOUR FACE• Alex Ceobanu
002. HAIR• Short, black, well trimmed, but often sporting a ruffled or bed-head style to suffer the fashion of present day. Bored or otherwise idle, Gabriel tends to flick one of the short tendrils that lay down over his brow; any close to him recognize this sign as an ill omen.
003. EYES• Bright, emerald fastidiously meeting the eyes of anyone he meets. If engaged in conversation and he finds a socially acceptable excuse not to look his guest in the eye, there's no need to panic, Gabriel's simply lost the desire to acknowledge you exist.
004. HIEGHT• 5' 10" -- Not exactly a tower in the 21st century, but in the 14th it was imposing.
005. WEIGHT• 136 lbs and all muscle. The fat on his body is pure necessity, hold the cheese burger.
006. BODY MODS• None
007. FASHION/STYLE• Refined. Often found lounging in a black sports jacket, white button down, and black slacks. Having lived as long as he has playing fashion monger has fallen in stature in his eyes. Keeping up with modern business and business casual, therefore, keeps him blending in with the upper classes. When not trying to come off as a respectable, albeit vampiric, business man, Gabriel doesn't mind wearing blue jeans, but only when he's actually going to bother himself with menial labor first hand and can't afford ruining the expensive fabrics mortals prize so much. While his hair may appear disheveled at times, his attire is always clean, pressed, and tailored. Ties are one accessory he tends not to wear unless the need presents itself. Lastly, if Gabriel has to travel during the day it's always in a vehicle with tinted windows, occasionally requiring wearing gloves, but rarely involving some strange, wide-brimmed hat. Oft times he relies on his driver to suspend an umbrella over his head for brief travel from vehicle to building.
001. LIKES•
|*| Feeding on Humans
|*| Sports, esp. extreme sports
|*| Lust
|*| Alcohol
|*| Control
|*| Fast Cars
|*| Guns
002. DISLIKES•
|*| Technology (record retention for an immortal is a pain)
|*| Cowards
|*| Religious people
|*| Disrespect
|*| Disease
|*| War
|*| Ignorance
003. FEARS•
|*| Boredom, as an Immortal
|*| Being Hunted/Outed
|*| The next World War
|*| Black balled
|*| Quarantine zones/wards
004. STRENGTHS•
|*| Confident/Force of will
|*| Raw strength
|*| Quick on his feet
|*| Handsome
|*| Adaptable
005. WEAKNESSES•
|*| Thrill seeker
|*| Authoritarian
|*| Cold Hearted
|*| Lawless
|*| Fire
|*| Sun
006. ODDITIES•
|*| Loves observing and even participating in fetishes, taboo acts, and the occult
|*| Enjoys cold and wet weather, especially lightning storms
|*| While not adverse to a quick bite, Gabriel enjoys taking his prey out somewhere to talk, eat, or to enjoy a view before consummating the moment in blood
|*| A fascination with pain and death of others
007. ORIENTATION• Bisexual, but prefers women
008. SPECIFIC MORALS• Humans are prey, but like any of nature's gifts must be tended careful to avoid driving the species extinct or what is enjoyed now will be lost forever.
009. PERSONALITY OVERVIEW• Some things never change; Gabriel was a risk taker and a thrill seeker when he was alive and it remains true even nearly seven centuries later. One of his favorite mottoes is if there's no risk it's not worth pursuing. Grown up in a less enlightened period, suffering the cloistered nations and the less informed medicinal practices, where life was short yet full, Gabriel had done everything possible to fill his waking moments with more than mere toil and labor. Even when the Black Plague itself swept over the lands, his feet never left the road. That time left its mark, however; you did not live through a plague that would claim a third of the entire continent and not feel a certain foreboding and even hopelessness at the Grand Design of all things. That acceptance, of life and death, and his adventuresome spirit was what'd attracted the woman that turned him in his prime.
Gabriel had accepted his vampiric nature with relative ease. The thought of draining blood was, at first, awkward, but he accepted that Vampire were simply higher on the food chain. At first this was a casual matter; higher, perhaps, but not better than Humanity. There were endeavors to actually improve the living conditions of mortals. Endeavors that came to a violent end after wading through the ocean of blood centuries brought with it and culminated with two World Wars in a thirty year span.
Some things never change, but some things do. Suffering the follies of Humans long enough, the "idealism" he'd had as a young Vampire was crushed and left only a bitter mote. Rather than improve Humanity it seemed they longer only for someone to bow before in fear and adoration. Those with power acquired more and the masses freely surrendered it. Vampires, then, became more than simply a higher beast, but a superior creature. They could appreciate the passage of time and how little man or woman had come while they congratulated themselves on trivialities. They could finish what so many mortals hopelessly began, constrained by their limited, mortal shell. Law, morality, ethics all became quaint ideologies of Humans looking for something more than themselves; meanwhile Gabriel came to understand Vampires were that something and should steer the course of time as they saw fit, from the shadows of course, and reap the benefits.
001. PARENT ONE• Erik, Merchant, Deceased
002. PARENT TWO• Olivia, Housewife, Deceased
003. SIBLINGS• Tobius, Younger Brother, Deceased
004. PETS• None
005. HISTORY OVERVIEW•
As a child Gabriel grew up in a modest household. His father, Erik, was a successful business man even if he was not a rich business man. They traveled, occasionally, but rarely at length from London. They visited the isles, perhaps France when there wasn't danger of being skewered or shot in the passing. Mostly, however, the youth was to be resigned to following in his Father's foot steps in order to put food on the table and a roof over his head. A lack luster future, but given the times it was hardly one to be ashamed of. Children always held lofty dreams of far off futures yet realized no matter when they were born.
Education and books weren't a well regulated occurrence. They afforded luxuries of the sort, when they could, but his family was not rich enough to enroll him full time in mastering an art. A generous tiding, enough to teach him rudimentary reading and writing. Pieces of foreign tongue were also bestowed upon him over time; skills a traveling business man would need in order to make sales to all manners of man, woman, and child on the road or in the city. Things that would suit him well as he grew older.
At fifteen they lost his mother, Olivia, to illness. She was thirty-three. At nineteen, his Father, from what was later called cardiac arrest. It was him and his younger brother, then. They struck out on the road, business men. A hard and treacherous road, but one Gabriel took to gladly; not for exchanging goods and money, but from the risks a man took on the road and in finding new or forgotten villages. Men and women everywhere were alike, of course, but there was always that subtle different and the air of the unknown settling over new faces that drove Gabriel onward.
At twenty-one, just before the Black Plague began truly tearing through the country side, Tobius decided he'd enough of the traveling. They had enough money and he'd ideas about setting up a shop in London and making a living there. It was a difficult decision, but seeing how the young Cross had come of age Gabriel had given his brother his share and his blessing. Settling down, however, was not in the elder's blood. To grow accustomed to the same streets and the same faces day in and day out would have driven him mad.
A year later and the Plague had settled into common discourse, however. It was difficult not to ponder one's fate or the brevity of life. No one knew who was next. No one knew where it came from or, more importantly, why. Divine punishment? Gabriel had never believed that even if his namesake had come from the Bible. He'd witnessed random acts of violence and disaster in his travels that caused him to question what people would, publicly, profess from their lips. Abandoning God hadn't crossed his mind, but accepting everything as the hand of God sweeping through the streets as punishment...no, he never accepted that.
So, one night, frequenting a tavern in London to have a drink and put all the woes of life behind, Gabriel chanced upon a truly remarkable woman. Absolutely gorgeous. Flawless skin, the most radiant green eyes put to shame his own, and a dress that spoke of riches befit of a princess. What few man were there couldn't help but stare, Gabriel amongst them as his mug lowered to the bar with a soft thud.
What miracles of miracles happened that she glided to his side with a honeyed smile of the reddest rose. The air in his lungs siezed as he was paralyzed to the stool beneath him. She leaned in and whispered softly in his ear of being kindred spirits. At the time he didn't know of the lady having overheard his conversations with others over the past few days he'd been in town trying to ignore everyone's hushed whisper of certain doom. Their conversation was at rapid fire pace and she seemed on par with his beliefs, all but the very presence of God, but he didn't hold it against her. Perhaps he should have; religion was a far greater force in his time than the modern world, but those eyes held him fast and he felt the woman could do no wrong.
They had sex that night. In the wake of their passion she breathed a strange thought; she offered assurance the Black Plague would never claim him and spoke of immortality itself as though she'd unearthed the fabled Fountain of Youth itself. He had laughed lightly at the time, but professed such a dream would be a marvelous one to share together. Ah, but he asked, what would be the cost? Life itself claimed much from a man, what would eternal life then require?
'Trust,' she'd said. 'Trust like the faith you give your God. Trust in me.'
A strange price to pay. Still, what did he stand to lose? His soul? Every man wanted to retain that, but did many truly believe such a thing could be lost in the first place? He loved hearing tall tales of mystics and spiritualists from all lands, but that's all they were--colorful fantasies.
Having already settled that Gabriel would be her's before they'd fallen into the bed together, she wasted little time in claiming his life on that very spot.
At first the man was awkward, but then who wasn't as a fledgling? However, forced to take blood of Humans was not as revolting as he'd first expected. It drew up questions on whether he'd truly ever felt at home with other mortals before, or had simply tolerated the daily grind as a mere necessity. Still, as his control and understanding grew Gabriel failed to shed mortality completely from him; at times he reached out to the less fortunate of the Human race in what aid he had to offer them. His Sire, Mistress, and Lover did not always agreed, but with a sly smile always watched from afar as he busied himself with his quaint little hobby.
They took to travel. Neither desired to linger longer than they had to. It provided stability, but with so much time at their disposal there were too many opportunities waiting for them and no constraints or societal demands to shackle them any longer. So swept up in her spell Gabriel hadn't even time or consideration to bid his younger brother farewell. He would, later, come to believe that while he had accepted Humanity as something to be cared for as a farmer might cattle, identifying them as individuals had been difficult much as a man might initially overlook the fact all cows looked alike, but for minute features. Such revelation took time. Gabriel was forced to learn to be a social creature as though he'd begun anew.
Years of playful romps teased their senses as they wandered. Mortal affairs came and went. Some better than others. Danger followed them and they welcomed it together. Nothing, however, lasted forever. Thirty years later, as he woke from slumber, Gabriel found himself for the first time truly alone in the world. For a few days he prowled the streets looking for his Beloved. The inevitable, however, set in; she'd left him. It was less of a shock then he'd thought such a thing would be. It hurt. It throbbed. He felt empty, but not surprised. A free spirit he imagined she'd gone off to look for another to pass the time; someone new, some place far away. Despite Gabriel's hardest efforts, he never came to love another the same way he'd come to adore his Mistress. Women came and went, but none held his interest for more than a few months at best. None understood him. He was a Vampire and most of them were mortal.
Nearly one hundred years later the pain of being alone--despite encountering a few of his kind every so often--drove him to fashioning another; a young man that could experience immortality with him, travel the world and experience wonders most only ever heard the most passing of whispers.
It was a mistake he never repeated again even five centuries later.
The one he chose went wild in Gabriel's absence. He lay claim to the village that they had inhabited for some time and held the villagers hostage as a creature more powerful and fearsome than anything they'd ever seen before. The young Vampire thought he'd done something wonderful, but Gabriel could see in the eyes of his "worshipers" all he'd done is embody hollow stereotypes and conjuring old ideas of demons and lost souls. Nonsense, all of it. A puppet's theater.
When the Childe refused to relinquish and cast aside what Gabriel had to say, the elder was, with the utmost sadness he'd felt since the loss of his Beloved, forced to kill the very man he'd chosen as his eternal partner. There was no longer speech or tear filled good bye as he strode out of the village with the young Vampire over one shoulder. No one bothered to stop him. He'd good reporie with the towns folk before this and they were too confused by the entire affair to know what to do with themselves. Taking his leave, the man simply vanished into the night to properly end the Childe's life under the stars.
After that he took to wandering outside of Europe. No place was too far or strange. No man, woman, or beast too dangerous that would bar him passage. He did not scale Mount Everest before the first recorded attempt, but he did marvel at its greatest while passing through the frozen peaks.
Years, decades, and centuries passed as he moved sometimes from one city to another and at others from one nation to the next. It was only years after he returned to London, perhaps for the third time, that the First World War left its scar on the planet. To be honest it didn't shock him nearly as much as it did people living in the moment. After all, how many wars had Gabriel heard of, participated in, or been an unfortunate "bystander" in the midst thereof? The American Civil War, for instance, involved a horrific loss of life to say nothing of all the lesser wars and skirmishes in America's history that led up to it. The World War, however, was on a grander scale than he'd ever desired to think possible. Nepoleon had waged war to conquer the known war. The Spanish had yearned to conquest England. The English Empire itself spanned the known world. But this... only to then be followed by a Second World War--as if Humanity couldn't even begin to grasp the very *fundamentals* of what they were doing and, more importantly, *why* they did it. There was no noble cause that sparked these wars. Precious few wars were ever noble and most assuredly none were pure, clean, or civil.
The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
Gabriel turned his efforts away from playing humanitarian and began seeking his own piece of the pie mortal men were so want to own. In time, which he had far more than enough of, perhaps his would dwarf any other and Gabriel would give them the thing Humanity, throughout the ages, seemed to desperate to have, but feared whenever it wasn't their chosen champion: someone to rule over them and handle all the dirty, bothersome tasks of those with power had to deal with as subjects languished in their medium of entertainment and banal concerns.
As a wandered this idea would require a good deal of "settling" down, but then there was much travel to be done to lay the foundation of his plot. Still, even if more "stability" was needed, Gabriel would find things to preoccupy himself in the city--any city. Unlike the ages of olde, the modern world was simply full of life crowded into tight, bustling cities. So much diversity to explore in all its subtlety.
 Yo', my name is Michael, and I've been the walking dead for twenty-six years, and I've been grave robbing for ten years, I dug up lovely Crimson Kiss by means of Google and adore it.
001. ANYTHING ELSE?• I don't think I saw a direct response in the rules, FAQ, 'races' threads, but can a vampire bite someone without killing them? I presume so, but I don't want to presume too much.
002. ROLE PLAY SAMPLE•
"That is... truly amazing. I never thought--"
Gabriel leaned forward, his elbows atop the table with his hands folded together hiding the broad smile on his lightly pink lips. The reporter in front of him was truly stunning. Naive too. They were meeting in a public place. A diner. He'd approached her offering all the secrets of the Vampire that she could stand. Such a curious woman; she wanted to put together a little piece about Vampires in London. Of course the entire thing would probably be laughed at, but then it was hardly a respected paper she wrote for tonight. Still, there were elements in society he would much rather remain completely oblivious. Besides, what Vampiric society wouldn't have a few writers in their pockets publishing dirty little, erroneous secrets to throw conspiracy theorists and "hunters" off their tracks? No, this one was naive. Innocent. Unsuspecting. She believed she was safe here. "Would you care for a walk, Miss Hamilton?"
Raising her eyes from the pages of notes, the woman's bright blues settled on those glowing, greens of the very real Vampire sitting across from her. "Well, I, I must get back...to meet my deadline...and..."
Tipping his head ever so slightly to one side, Gabriel's smile never left his lips as their eyes locked together. "I would really appreciate the honor of an evening walk with you. It has been such a pleasant evening and we've gotten along together so fashionably."
Little thoughts softly slipped into her mind, reassuring the woman he was a man to be trusted. The evening had gone without incident. He'd made no aggressive moves toward her. In fact, he'd been completely humble and unassuming the entire time. What was a night's walk with such a gentlemanly Vampire? Besides, it wasn't like someone could mug Gabriel. "Well... actually that sounds lovely."
Nodding his head in agreement then, Gabriel rose to his feet and stepped around to help slide the young lady's chair back so she could join him. "I know of a wonderful path in the park this time of night. I promise I won't keep you from your deadline, Miss Hamilton."
Feeling a little giddy, the brunette cleared her throat of the giggle that'd nearly formed. "Ye--Yes, of course. Thank you." Just as politely as they'd entered the fine eatery, Gabriel's offered arm was welcome in guiding her out into the cool, crisp night air. To think she'd actually be going out on a stroll with such a handsome Vampire after the honor of actually talking with one...it was absolutely mind blowing.
More or less the case as he slowly guided the woman down the street a short way before gently turning them down a back road with little to do about it. Gabriel felt the woman leaning against his right shoulder, her eyes closed, basking in the enchantment of the moment. It was hard to say if he actually felt anything for the poor creature. It was more of a strange fascination that they could just throw themselves at him with little or no resistance. Such romantic notions ran through them. Romance, however, was not his field of play. After all these years he was fully capable of being romantic and putting on all the necessary airs and pleasantries--he'd have been a clod not to learn and keep up to date on such an important facet of mortal life--but being truly romantic, feeling love, care, and even regret were beyond him. There was only one woman on the planet that could possibly draw such things out of the ice chest his heart resided in and for all he knew she'd died over the course of six centuries.
It was a dark, dank, forlorn alleyway. Little light here, not that he needed any to see as clear as day. If it were five centuries younger what he was about to do might have upset him or given him at least a day's uncomfortable rest. If he were younger. Older than Miss Hamilton could possibly comprehend, however, life and death had lost a bit of their distinction in his eyes; after all, Gabriel himself was 'dead.' So, not waiting on some barmy fool to happen upon the scene, the Vampire within stirred.
Looking down at his prey with the eyes of a predator, the woman had only a second to recognize something was amiss and try rousing from her walking slumber. A second after feeling the muscles in the man's body shift and tense in preparation of the strike. Turning in place, Gabriel's hands caught her on the shoulders and held her fast as his fangs flashing and buried themselves to the hilt into that soft, healthy neck drawing forth the wellspring of blood. His Mistress and Sire's 'Fountain of Youth.' He had all the time in the world by stealing it from others; but, then, what predator didn't? He was a Vampire, they were Human, it was simply how things were meant to be.
For Miss Hamilton's part he had to hand it to her that she endured the affair rather well for a frightened creature whose end had come. Perhaps she thought he'd stop. No matter, whatever kept her from crying out and trying to break free--mistaken belief or sheer shock--it made her passing into 'the next world' (which he had high doubts of since he was turned) easier on them both. A peaceful death. One of an oxygen starved brain simply...flicking off the switch. Gently. Oh, so gently. The pounding beat of her heart slowed. Slower. Slower. It grew quiet. It needed a moment to rest. Just a moment. A moment. And then it was gone. Silent. Slumbering. At rest.
Gabriel tore the woman's neck open as he drew back. There was little blood left to splatter with no pump driving the flow of blood. Still, the gruesome task would help deter detectives from making any "wild" accusations of vampires or what have you. Sad that he should need to mar such a pretty woman, but then he doubted she would much mind any more. So, the night's entertainment at an end, the vampire disposed of the body in a nearby trash receptacle and left the garbage men to clean up the mess. As for that little notebook, well Gabriel took it with him...as a memento.
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