#vietahctba

[fortunebuoyed]

Vamps + Feeding Habits

DANIEL. as outlined by a book in later canon, daniel has become a perfect hunter of the evildoer, preferring to wait and make a proper selection than kill simply to feed. this gives me the impression that he’s something of a ‘picky eater’, and probably still sticks to his morals in undeath. i imagine he takes time to carefully assess his prey and, once sure of their impact on the world around them being negative, strikes quickly and efficiently. he doesn’t play with his victims, though on the odd occasion that a first strike is not lethal, he might let them know why this is happening, what they did to earn his inhuman ire. his feeding habits are as much a part of his moral crusade as his continued work as a reporter or his donations to certain factions. it’s all about making the world he wants to see, and making sure those who hurt others do not prosper. his ‘type’ is the malicious minded man, the abuser, the murderer, the monster still in human skin.

GABRIELLE. by contrast, gabrielle is far less discerning in their tastes. one might go so far as to call them arbitrary, going for whatever is available and the least hassle. the college kid walking home drunk, the geezer asleep in their armchair with the door unlocked, the late night worker who missed their bus. they exist to say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, a sort of anti-karma.  ever the noble snob, they care little for the loss of life of ‘ordinary, simple people,’ and make sure their dalliances with the mortals are duly distanced from gabrielle themself. i do not doubt they have been pinned as a serial killer whenever they have cause to settle for an extended period, though impossible to trace. gabrielle is a tried and true bogeyman when they hunt, without remorse or serious concern for what they do to survive. their ‘type’ is the haughty, arrogant man with an attitude problem, no doubt a proxy for their late husband the marquis.

YALIZAVETA. repulsed by her own nature, vieta prefers to avoid the hunt altogether. if the opportunity presents itself, she takes her chances as merciful death, haunting the dying as she finds them. if she can help even one mortal find their peace, then perhaps she can forgive this predatory existence. this being vieta, however, that moral crusader of our time who thinks herself the authority, means she is not always right. regardless, she approaches her need to feed with endless tenderness, easing her victims into their final moments, whether through conversation or a tender hand. she gets close to them, pulls them into the swoon, drinking deep and fast so they are gone into that final euphoria in a matter of moments. she might even take a moment to tuck them back into bed, treating the husk with respect for their sacrifice. her ‘type’ is the grievously ill, those already knocking at heaven’s door that, she reasons, might look to her as salvation.

[fortunebuoyed]

vieta.... KWEEN of shitty haircuts in modern.... her hair grows down to her waist every day, and she has to hack it off as soon as she wakes up at night. what is actually styling and cutting hair? fuck you.

[fortunebuoyed]

character basics: yelizaveta

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.

[fortunebuoyed]

like. i can clearly conceptualize vieta and daniel as friends. both are just normal for their time period people that got sucked into a bad situation with their maker and are trying to make their own way and define their own immortality. they care about the ‘little people’ and want to reach out and make a difference. both take a very moral stance on how one should go about hunting.

but i don’t see vieta and gabrielle as friends. that doesn’t mean they’re like. enemies or anything. in fact i think gabrielle sees vieta’s shitty self-cut style that is a very clear attempt to downplay her own vampiric beauty and says ‘i must have it.’ i mean this as kindly as i can. but gabrielle would use vieta to fuck up their hair. vieta gives them the worst lesbian haircuts and is paid in tea about the coven. she doesn’t even go there, she just knows every facet of the coven of the articulate’s dysfunction thanks to the one customer of her wretched salon. gabrielle doesn’t even know her name.