Character's Full Name: Desmond Kline
Nickname: Des
Birth date: January 17, 1984
Death date: December 9, 2005
Species: Vampire
Clan: Daeva
Bloodline: Zelani
Covenant: The Carthian Movement
Real Age: 23
Age Appears: 21
History
Desmond
had never been the most innocent of boys. Having been given far too much
freedom in his youth because both of his parents worked, he had ample
time to nurture his mischievous streak. It began simply in his early years:
writing with white chalk on teachers’ cars, strategically dumping
clear glue on a teacher’s chair when she was out of the room, and
so forth. But as time progressed, his plans became more involved. Dressing
up, he’d go door-to-door in neighborhoods asking for donations for
a fictitious school fund, and he’d keep the money for himself. He’s
sneak out of class in order to tie trip wire on school stairwells. By
high school his schemes were utterly calculated and intricate. Desmond
was intelligent, sneaky, and left no evidence at the scene of the ‘crime’
that would point to him being the perpetrator. His favorite high school
prank was sneaking out in the middle of the night to construct a faux-brick
wall that completely blocked the main entrance of the school building
– and because of his stealth, he was never caught and therefore
never received punishment for the action.
His actions all boiled down to the fact that he disliked authority, disliked other people telling him what to do, because that’s what he’d grown up with at home: parents busy enough with their careers that they didn’t have the time to discipline him as harshly. It wasn’t that he was an evil kid; he just had too much time on his hands and wanted to test just how far he could push authority.
As for college, he began his program in Strategic Communication, and his classes taught him just the right things to say in the right situations, something that he’d already been practicing to get out of trouble, but college enabled him to fine-tune it to an art form. He really didn’t have any interest in public relations or diplomacy; what appealed to him more was getting other people out of trouble too, which made him ponder switching majors so that he’d be able to become a defense lawyer instead.
However, he didn’t really have the chance. The members of the local Kindred Carthian group had been watching him for some time, and even if other humans couldn’t catch Desmond or sense his scheming nature, they certainly could. Sure, this particular Carthian group favored equality for all, but that didn’t mean they didn’t need defenders, spies and anyone else who was sneaky enough to help with their cause, and that is where Desmond fit in. Because the decision for his Embrace was a group choice, because the purpose of it would be aiding the movement, the group chose the best-suited mentor for Desmond, a Daeva of the Zelani bloodline which was known for its luck – something that Desmond seemed to possess a good deal of already because he hadn’t received much severe discipline for his bad actions.
Understandably, he was not happy having his education cut short, or having to deal with the never being able to go out into the daylight ever again. Anger was all he felt at first, loathing the idea of giving up his former life. Gradually he became more comfortable with the idea out of necessity because there was no way to get out of being a vampire. At the beginning he tried every way that he could think of to get back at the vampires who had decided to make him like this, though he discovered very quickly that vampires were not as easy to trick as humans were. He made that a personal goal of his at first, he find ways to get revenge, though eventually he abandoned that goal because he actually was fairly well taken care of and he figured it was best to make an effort to keep some allies.
In terms of Carthian beliefs, he didn’t agree with everything. The other Carthians paid little attention to this, figuring Desmond would grow out of that way of thinking because the Carthian Movement had many, many good points that they assumed Desmond would grow to appreciate in time. One thing that he could agree on was that he didn’t want some lofty prince telling him what he could and couldn’t do, so he had that in common with the Carthians – authority issues. Being so young, it was impossible for him to have any extremely important position in the group, so begrudgingly he did and still does small tasks like delivering messages, even though he thinks that sort of work is so very beneath him. Eventually, if he shows continuously that he is trustworthy, the Carthians will give him more responsibility.
The leader of the Carthian group, Clara, often uses her childe Greg as an example to the newly embraced vampires – he was utterly unruly at first, but gradually became more comfortable and now is deeply involved in the movement. On occasion Greg counsels Desmond because Greg isn’t that old himself, has only been a vampire for twenty years, so he can relate to Desmond in a way that vampires who are older cannot.
When he first began attending Carthian meetings, he couldn’t remember everyone’s names so he resorted to calling them ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ instead, which is common with this Carthian group anyway to create a sense of community and familiarity. Now, he pretty much calls everyone those nicknames if he doesn’t know their real names, and he calls Greg ‘brother’ as well just to make the older vampire roll his eyes.
And now Desmond continues his small involvement with the movement, even though he still does not feel entirely comfortable with the belief system. He doesn’t like the idea of equality; he likes the idea of being above others, which is a belief that directly opposes that of the group. But he tries to just deal with it, because honestly his unlife at the moment really isn’t that miserable. This Carthian group is quite forgiving as a whole, and if he’d been embraced into a stricter group, he might have suffered greatly for his impertinence and alternative beliefs.
Appearance/
Personality
Desmond is 5’10 with short, dark-brown hair that he oftentimes slicks
back with gel. His eyes are brown just a touch squinty, so when he’s
frowning he can likely look angrier than he really is, and when he’s
smiling he can look smugger than he might actually be. He has expensive
taste in clothing, and tends to prefer mod suits, or other designer clothing
but with a bit of an edge to it. He loves boots with pointed toes, but
tends not to wear much jewelry, if any at all. How does he get all of
this? Well, he has few qualms about snagging the cash off of the people
he feeds from – after all, humans steal from lesser creatures, like
taking honey from bees, so why can’t vampires steal from humans,
who are also lesser creatures? That makes perfect sense to him. His fellow
Carthians don’t agree at all, so he tends to keep that opinion to
himself.
Unless he makes an effort to play up that signature Daeva charisma and charm, which he often does, especially around humans, he’s relatively crude. Greg often notes that Desmond is the crudest incubus he’s ever met. He’s blunt, he curses, and tends not to sugar-coat his speech (unless, of course, he’s getting something for sugar-coating, and in that case, he’s all smiles and pleasantries). Desmond is manipulative, though in particular to humans. He’s really not the sort to sneak up on someone in an alleyway to feed; instead he skillfully lures a victim home and has his way with them.
If he does get emotionally attached to anyone, he tends not to admit it; he doesn’t want to appear vulnerable to anyone. If he actively seeks someone out though, it’s a good sign that he wants to be around that person. Regardless of the fact that he likes someone or not, he’s still by nature manipulative, so if he wants something from that person, he’ll try to get it. In that sense, he’s really not familiar with healthy relationships.
He’s really not a terribly nice person and he doesn’t care if people like him or not. Again, he’s not evil, just… blunt, scheming, and sneaky. Desmond doesn’t kill humans and wouldn’t think of even trying something like that to a vampire, as he knows he’s young and most vampires are more powerful than he is. That being said, he still likes to test authority just like he did during his human life.
Interests
The Daeva characteristic of indulging desires gradually made its way into
Desmond’s way of thinking over the few years that he has been a
vampire. Desmond rarely feels intense hunger because he never lets himself
go too long without feeding. He rarely feels any sort of uncomfortable
withdrawal from lack of any vices, because he happily indulges in them
all. His clan relishes indulging vices, and it would really hinder his
mental state not to do just that. He enjoys feeding, on preying on the
desires of others, on indulging every whim, fetish, and desire that he
might have at any given moment.
Desmond and his sire live in two connected hotel rooms in the same building that Greg lives; the building itself houses several other members of the Carthian Movement, and because the Carthian meetings take place at the hotel, it’s quite convenient. His hotel room is separated just by a door that leads between both rooms; he doesn’t want to share his room any more than this though, because feeding to him is an intimate experience and he’d rather his sire not interfere - unless he’s feeling in the mood for a ménage à trios, of course.
When he’s exceptionally bored, he can enjoy a game of Battleship, Chess, Checkers or Stratego. Or picking the brains of other Kindred to learn more about things – the more he knows, the better of he’ll be, he thinks.
Because of Desmond’s Serendipity discipline, he has the ability to appear in the right place at just the right time, which enables him to frequently run into people he knows. He’s also just luckier in general than the normal person because of this. Obviously he’s very young so it doesn’t always work, but regardless it’s obvious to anyone who knows him that he is just luckier in general when it comes to running into people he knows and so forth. Because he’s had the luck to run into Greg both while Greg was selling his lacrima and during Greg’s alternative method of feeding, he feels as if he can confide in Greg a little more than anyone else, simply because he can use the threat ‘if you tell anyone else about such-and-such, everyone in the city’s going to find out you’re a disease-ridden druggie.’ Charming, no?
The originator of the Zelani bloodline, having had a terrible experience with vampires invading her home, grew an aversion to entering any building without permission. This aversion grew through the bloodline to become so bad that Desmond cannot enter buildings without permission lest he cause physical harm to himself. It’s so bad that entering a few buildings without given entry can literally turn him to ash. So, obviously, he avoids that. Using his Serendipity discipline, he generally arrives at just the right time to be invited inside, so it’s rarely a problem. Even though it’s gotten old by now, there’s not much he can do about it. While he doesn’t have to ask permission to enter his own hotel room, he does have to ask permission to enter the hotel itself every time he wants to come back inside.
Beliefs/Goals
The Zelani bloodline
from the start has always been deeply involved with the Carthian Movement,
but Desmond’s involvement is fairly selective because he doesn’t
altogether believe the complete philosophy behind the movement. It’s
beginning to come to the point that he doesn’t feel as if he belongs
at all there, though he doesn’t make a habit of telling the general
public that. He’s beginning to have short daymares, the content
of which only reinforces the fact that he feels as if he belongs somewhere
else. It’s frustrating because he feels torn; he’s certainly
well taken care of in his current standing in the Carthian Movement, however,
he feels as if he’s living a lie following the motions without really
believing the philosophy. It’s an inner struggle that he hopes to
tackle as soon as possible.