muses who did nothing wrong: mercedes, inigo
muses who do some things wrong, but with good intentions: mercy, vieta
muses who do wrong, but largely against their own damn self: daniel
muses who pretend not to care but care immensely: claude
muses who believe the end justifies the means: cirila
muses who don’t give a good god damn about morality: hannibal, gabrielle
as i do bios/stats i just want to talk a little about vieta’s characterization.
she’s definitely a maternal sort, a permissive and gentle mother hen over those humans who she keeps the company of. it comes naturally given her own age weighed against the cyclical nature of humanity -- she sees them rise, make their mistakes, grow older and wiser. she has seen it all, and even experienced it for a time, so she readily succumbs to mentorship over her charges. of course, given her apparent age, this is easily laughed off as simple acts of ‘mom friend’ery, or she’s called an ‘old soul’ in answer to this unexpected maturity. the irony of the latter moniker is not lost on her, given what little she understands of her kind.
there is also, however, a sort of arrogance in this character quirk -- she is the immortal, and she knows better. while she allows her mortal companions to make their own way, she does not like to have her superiority challenged or derided. she has lived several lifetimes over, and does not like to be chided by ‘children.’ this might come as a consequence of her own history being derided and subservient to her own makers, and shows that in some ways she’s still clinging to whatever control she can claim in the wake of it.
mother knows best, and for the most part, she does have more experience and better view of the bigger picture, and she is willing to help. but god help whoever questions mother’s good advice, because why would you spit in the face of her charity? she is the adult. the mortals she travels with are the children. it’s an identity she’s built up and unwittingly holds tight to, because i don’t think she even realizes just how tightly she’s clung to it for definition among those loved ones and traveling companions to whom she can never truly be an equal.
born in the 1830s, the younger surviving daughter of a small family of krepostnoi krestyanin -- that is, the equivalent of a serf within the russian empire. kept by nobles of ancient rurikid stock, vieta’s early days were defined by working the fields and gardens of the land on which her family was tied, and then by the struggles she undertook to lighten the spirits of her loved ones. a serf does not lament that he is a serf, not with as long as her family had labored under the yoke. still, vieta was a tender girl, and thought things might always be better for her family, turning into quite the performer and angel in the house for her parents and siblings. she was the very definition of a diamond in the rough in mortality, hard-working but with a jubilant and giving spirit that made her shine even among the dirt.
she was turned at some point in her later teens by a female vampire whose intentions yelizveta still does not understand. her maker proved a proud and devilish woman who passed through the land for yuri’s day, taking the young girl in her wake. vieta had no warning and no real guidance in those early nights, feeding as she could and begging answers from the pale woman who took her for companion. traveling across the borders into austria, where vieta was introduced to her maker’s mate. for the next few decades, she was pet, servant, victim, and agent to the older vampire’s requirements. sometimes cossetted as a companion, often treated cruelly at the hands of her elder’s desires, and well-educated as their link to the outside world, the relationship was a many-layered nightmare not easily escaped.
she murdered them at the dawn of the 20th century. terrible business, that, a fire on their pleasure cruise across the mediterranean. neither they or their staff ever returned, just a few scattered sightings of a burnt-out ghost ship drifting across the waters. with her newfound freedom, vieta traveled the coastlines of europe, taking up whatever work would provide her the means to continue moving along. it was through this she rediscovered her love of performing for herself, and embraced it slowly over the coming years. has worked across theaters, cabarets, dance halls, and traveling shows. had a particularly successful stint as a sideshow psychic in 1920s france, under the employment of a certain circus. at some point she crossed the sea for the american life, and has been seen there on and off for at least the last 60 years.
privately resentful of her vampiric nature, though she owes it to herself to survive and make this life her own. she particularly detests the way her body becomes more to the standard, skin perfect marble and once merely pretty features growing all the more beautiful. she still misses the rough hands and various scars that were mementos of her humanity, and is discomforted by her good looks as a way of mirroring the angelic creature that brought her into the blood. despite this, she does have some talent with certain gifts, among them those of the mind -- a feat which seems to imply her maker was of particularly ancient and powerful stock. she avoids her own kind on principle, fearing that she might be an exception and her makers the rule of vampirism, that others will be just as wicked and predatory for more than blood.
despite her tragedies, vieta is an outwardly optimistic and gentle sort, making the conscious decision to put more kindness into the world than she ever received. she has a motherly side towards those humans she interacts with for an extended period, and despite her apparent youth has a certain grace and charm that speaks to prolonged practice. eternally diligent and freewheeling, she does not mind singing for her supper so long as that meal is in a new place every evening. despite this, she’s a skillful liar and quick to defend herself in the event she feels her control over a situation slipping -- by whatever means are necessary. though she has a handle on most of it as time goes on, her trauma does still exist in cracks along her public persona and internal motivations. for backstory reasons, she is very guarded about matters of romance and sexuality, longing for a connection with others while deeply repulsed by the powerlessness she associates with being desired.
i know i have the implication that vieta's maker was very, very old and thus vieta herself is more powerful and durable than she or anyone else realizes.
but the concept of vieta just being well hidden enough to escape qotd’s vampire murder spree is sending me. she literally blended into plain sight. spent so long among humans that she became indistinguishable from them with a shitty haircut and enough regular feeding to appear decently alive.
decades later she hears about only so many vampires surviving the events of the book and questions what actually went down in the 80s. she’s a recluse to her own kind, what do you mean there’s a vampire monarchy? cannibal twins? that one shitty hair metal band everyone nutted over? buddy she speaks 8 languages and this ain’t one.
