UNDERGROUND APPLICATION

[baisant]

Player information
Name: Teresa
Contact: PM; lycanthropy101
Are you 18 or over? YES
Other characters played: Faolan, John Childermass

Character information
Name: Jean-Claude
Age: Physically, early 30’s. ACTUAL age, going on 629 years
Date of Birth: July 21, 1387
Canon: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter
Species: Vampire
Role: Islington Nest - Earl of Poplar. Jean-Claude is a well-established business owner with several establishments to his name, some expected, some unexpected.
Rank: 3
Background:

Jean-Claude was born, as he describes it, on the dirt floor of a very poor family in France. He is very beautiful even as a child, he is chosen as the whipping boy for the only son of an aristocratic family in the area, who happens to be the same age as Jean-Claude himself. He is raised with the boy and the family treats them very much the same despite Jean-Claude's birth. He is given everything the son is given, and receives the same tutors and education as the boy as well. When the boy misbehaves however, Jean-Claude is be the one who would be punished with the strap. Even as a vampire, he still bears these marks from his human childhood and past, centuries ago.

When he is just a little over thirty, he is killed and raised again by a vampire named Belle Morte, an old and powerful vampire in the area. There in her Council, Jean-Claude meets another vampire named Asher, who -- despite some initial reluctance regarding Jean-Claude -- quickly forms a tight bond with the new vampire, fast becoming friends and then lovers (something of a menage-a-trois with Asher's human lover, Julianna).

Jean-Claude and Asher eventually end up leaving the Council for Julianna's safety, as Belle More grows increasingly more jealous of their affections for her (believing she is the most desirable woman in all of the world and the fact that they should want another, and a human at that, proving to be something of a stressor). They travel together for nearly twenty years and live a very happy life. That is, until Jean-Claude must leave them to attend his dying mother and see to her funeral. While Jean-Claude is away, Julianna and Asher are captured by a local mob on suspicion of witchcraft. Julianna is burnt at the stake and Asher is kept to be tortured. When Jean-Claude realizes what is happening, he appeals to Belle Morte for aid. She agrees to save Asher, but in return Jean-Claude must agree to five hundred years of service to her, however she so desires. Out of love for the other vampire, Jean-Claude accepts.

Jean-Claude travels with Belle to save Asher and is nearly killed himself for his efforts -- one of the only other marks he carries is a scar burned into his chest from this ordeal. Asher is horribly scarred himself, but he is rescued, and thus does Jean-Claude's servitude begin. At first he is imprisoned in a coffin lined in silver so that he cannot escape and left to starve for several years. Then when he is finally let free, Belle Morte uses him in whatever ways she can. As her lover. As a lover for whoever she desires. She gives him to people she knows will repulse him, people who frighten him, she gives him up to people who enjoy his fear and his pain and take pleasure in the knowledge that he is helpless and entirely at their mercy. For Belle Morte is his creator, and whatever commands she gives him, he must obey. He is known in the city, and in fact on the underground of France itself, as Belle's pet vampire. Gaining himself a reputation as little more than a pretty sexual plaything. All of it punishment for leaving her, and for loving Asher and Julianna more than he could have ever loved her.

After his time is up, Jean-Claude leaves Belle's Council, and since their agreement is through, she lets him. He moves on from France into London, establishing himself in trade and business, building himself a sturdy and practical foundation to stand upon. By the simple fact that he is already as old as he is, he is given status in his new area, but because of his lowly reputation they assign him to the least favorable area they can think of -- Poplar, a borough ravaged by poverty and war. But Jean-Claude makes the most of it, as he always does, and rises from the ashes to establish himself there and go on to aid those in turn who have seen the less favorable side of being a vampire in turn. (A weakness, in the eyes of the Old Ones.) Sometime within the last few decades he has established in the city his flagmark business, a strip club by the name of Guilty Pleasures.

Personality:

Jean-Claude is a complicated personality, but I will do my best to explain him here and now. To those who do not know him well he is perhaps even mysterious. This is largely due to the fact that he has spent centuries in the company of vampires who would have used his true emotions against him. He has learned how to hide what he truly feels about any given situation from his face and his reactions behind a mask of pleasant indifference that may or may not come off as typical French haughtiness.

Part of that mask is flirtation. He's pretty and he knows it, and he uses that to his advantage. He was chosen to be made a vampire by his good looks, and he was chosen to be the nobleman's whipping boy because he was pretty as well. He is not the most powerful vampire, nor is he the biggest nor strongest. But he knows he is pretty, so in most given situations he defaults to falling back on that. Even in the darkest of times for him, his desirability was one of the only things he had left to him. He has learned therefore to use it as a weapon. Seducing his way past people's defenses. Out of necessity he has come to enjoy such things as well, although not all flirtation that Jean-Claude offers is meant from the heart.

He likes to keep his cards close to his chest and does not want to reveal any more information about himself, his history, those closest to him, his past, etc. than necessary. He keeps a tight control on everything he says and does. Jean-Claude is the epitome of cool, calm control. Born from his white-knuckled clinging to what little hope and dignity he had left, as the years went by. Knowing if he let anything slip it would be used against him, for better or for worse. It is moments when he lets the mask slip that he is at his most beautiful, or terrifying, depending on the situation. For the rest of the time, however, everything is carefully chosen and calculated, and this too might be frustrating especially to someone who would rather a straightforward answer. He knows how to play the game of words, and sometimes enjoys toying with someone who is not as good at this, like a cat with a mouse.

That is not to say that there is not a softer side to Jean-Claude. In some of the other vampires' eyes perhaps he is too soft. Sentimental. The common stereotyping of treating humans like food does not apply to him. He does believe himself to be on a higher level than them, with all his strength and powers, but they are more than just something to be drained and dumped. Think of him as something of a gourmand, if you will. He loves to enjoy himself. He loves to enjoy what he eats, and since what he eats is humans, he treats them well. He does not delight himself frightening them, as some other vampires do, although he does not feel guilt if he frightens them either. Fear is smart, and intelligence is pleasing to him. Jean-Claude is known to be a great deal more friendly with the wolves than the regular vampire as well, and has no real prejudices against any of the other groups besides. All of his food is given by donation, most of it willingly, he never kills his victims, and in their eyes more than likely he is the perfect kind of vampire.

He can be cruel, however. Just because he is kind does not mean he is not still a vampire. It has been over six centuries since he thought like a human. He tries not to let this cruelty show to others if he can help it, but he has played the game of politics for so long, even his friendships are calculated games of give and take. He is not afraid to use his friends as pawns when it suits him, although he will be more protective of them over all others in the end. Jean-Claude is a survivor, though. He is practical, pragmatic, and he is not afraid to do what he must in order to ensure his own safety, followed by the safety of those who are 'his'. Most of the time his own survival comes first in his mind, although there is usually also reasoning for this, for if his safety is not ensured, how can he be of use to anyone else?

When he makes friends, he has a tendency to hold himself apart from even them, having learned from what happened to Asher and Julianna that anyone he shows a fondness for will in turn become a target for his enemies. Only those who have proven themselves to be capable enough of defending themselves against threats are the ones who get to see more of the real Jean-Claude, for better or for worse.

Powers & Possessions:

• All Vampire abilities listed in the Vampires page
• Daylight Ring

Samples:
• TDM in November
• TDM in December/January

World building
Locations:

Guilty Pleasures
A strip club and bar employing mostly male dancers (though there are special nights to be more inclusive to those who enjoy the womenfolk as well). Jean-Claude's premiere business enterprise, it's one part camp and one part class, with a whole lot of sex appeal tossed about on the side for good measure. (Read more.)

Items: N/A
Magic: N/A