Your name or nickname: Ana Your year of birth: 1987 A reliable DW account the mods can PM to reach you:ana Who you currently play at 6I: N/A Link to your hold comment:here Referral: I saw a plurk ad by Dee, Bruce Banner (notsoangry)/Hawke (championofsnark)/Rinoa Heartilly (alittlelonger)’s player via Rae, Jason Todd (scathefires)/Tommy Shepherd (expeditiousness)’s player.
Character name: Blaine DeBeers Character type: fandom character Fandom/Canon: iZombie Character DW journal:debrains Does this character have previous CR?: n/a
HISTORY
Blaine DeBeers, previously Blaine McDonough, previous alias John Deaux, is a zombie and a villain. Blaine shifts and changes and swings back and forth as much as often as he changes his last name and career, a mostly-charming chameleon who can be whatever the situation demands but is typically motivated by selfishness and greed because that's who he was taught to be.
But he was not always. Let's begin at the beginning.
Blaine is the son of a far worse man named Angus, a successful multi-millionaire businessman who cares about nothing and no one but himself and his money. Blaine's mother committed suicide using his father's pistol, something Angus may well have not only driven her to but facilitated to get rid of her. For the most part Angus didn't even bother to abuse Blaine himself, after that. He paid someone else to do so -- Frau Bader took over those duties while Angus shifted to neglect and functioning as a piggy bank. At her best, Frau Bader beat the child and forced him to clean the muddy floor with his tongue. At her worst, she killed his beloved dog and made Blaine live in the crate. As a result of the abuse he received as a child Blaine became detached and cynical, selfish because he knew he was the only one would do anything for himself. The one loving influence and source of affection in his life was his grandfather. However even that was not to last; Angus had him institutionalized so that he could steal the family company and its assets. This broke something in Blaine - he realized he hated his father and swore revenge on the man, who saw him as weak and worthless. While Angus pulled strings to get Blaine into a good school, and bankrolled his son's first business scheme, it was with the expectation of greatness. Nothing else would suffice, and so when Blaine, unsupported and broken, failed, he was cut off. It was at that point that Blaine took what he thought was the quickest route to wealth and his father's concept of greatness, something he could excel in because he had already learned cruelty: crime.
Blaine's intelligence and knack for working smart as well as hard, allowed him to engineer schemes to eliminate the competition and rise through the ranks of Seattle's biggest crime syndicate quickly. Unfortunately for Blaine, being too smart didn't make him many friends. When we first meet Blaine he's recently parted ways from his old boss, Stacey Boss (yes that is his name), who is none too happy with him.
At some point pre-canon, Blaine had been turned into a zombie and had turned his attention to dealing both drugs and brains. Liv Moore saw him in a vision and remembered him from the boat party where she was infected. In fact, it was Blaine himself who scratched her in rage mode and caused her current condition. Liv had a police sketch artist draw Blaine's likeness from her description and posted it online. After spotting the image, Blaine arrived at the morgue, curious about who was looking for him and why. The first of many lies was told when he denied knowledge of infecting Liv, and of knowing any other zombies. He claimed that he got his brains via grave-robbing, which he declared was 'the hardest way possible'. To sell the ruse he implores Liv to share her brains from the morgue, but when she goes to deliver them she spots him among drug dealers and decides he is untrustworthy. He is. He was lying about everything, and is extremely convincing and sympathetic in his lies. Over the course of the episode Blaine was also shown having a consensual sexual encounter with a rich woman, his actual intention being to infect her so he could extort her to the tune of $25k/month for brains. He used this money to open an upscale butcher's shop, staffed with zombies including a chef, as a front to facilitate the butchering of homeless people, mostly runaway and endangered kids.
Yes, he is a monster. And he's okay with that.
(I wrote this far before Keaton said using the wikia page was okay! It is pretty sparse, so if you have any questions on character interpretation based off specific events I'm happy to elaborate!)
What is your canon exit point?: s4e3 "Brainless in Seattle pt 1", just as he accepts the deal to find Renegade.
PERSONALITY OVERVIEW
N/A
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS
What skills does your character bring to the situation?
Blaine is extremely intelligent and resourceful. He's a problem solver, although his solutions are almost always entirely selfish, and he’s skilled with a variety of weapons and is very tactically minded. I'm uncertain whether or not guns are available, but he's a total crack shot with one. He has run several lucrative (even without the side endeavors) businesses and is capable of being charming and personable and convincing people of things. Though he’s never been in a survival situation, he’s used to struggling to make it, having to rely on only himself. He’d be invested in getting people on his side here so is more likely to put on a helpful face as much as possible. He also has some non-criminal skills that might boost the mood of the place — he can actually cook well (though he can no longer taste most things) and he can play music and sing. He actually does a stint as a lounge entertainer just for fun in his free time.
Why did you choose this specific character for 6I, and how do you picture them fitting into the game?
Honestly, the draw of a Liv who actually wants a Blaine was part of it! But I also think that he could be a really interesting addition to the game cast, especially as for pure self preservation he'll try to make himself essential to people's survival in some way. Knowing there are people around who are aware of his actions back home, he'll do his best to make as many friends as possible before he can be outed as a criminal, so that maybe he can spin things. He may not have many friends, but doesn't thrive in isolation, either -- Blaine seems to want to be wanted and needed on some level, even if it's only through his criminal endeavors. He likes being important, and is generally more than capable of making himself so. I'm looking forward to exploring how he'll interact with people in this specific situation where they need to rely on each other but he isn't their boss. He's a bit of a control freak and used to having the upper hand one way or another, because when he isn't in control his life is usually in danger. 6i would turn his normal world upside down.
How do you imagine your character will survive in 6I, and in what ways will they contribute to the settlement, if any?
Blaine does normally require human brains to survive, but I understand that in game squirrel brains will do the trick! For contributing in a practical way: although Blaine was not the actual chef, he did own and legitimately contribute to a butcher shop in canon, and will be learning to hunt to feed himself. He'd find it easy enough to progress to larger game, knows how to butcher, and isn't afraid of getting his hands dirty. Also, he's hard to kill and is willing to deal with pain if it serves him in some way, I expect that his healing ability will be relegated back to human speeds in game but if it'll still take a head shot to kill him, he could be pretty useful in a fight even without zombie mode. He's inherently selfish but if he thinks a situation will benefit him he can do apparently selfless things to try and skew things in his favor, and this does involve putting himself in harm's way. When he actually has amnesia and condemns his past life, he takes a largely selfless risk as well, showing a capacity to care for others that his usual self denies. Maintaining the ruse was entirely to his benefit, but the behavior before it was a ruse was genuine. His grief for his grandfather and distress over the death of his abusive nanny and later father are also genuine, as no one is around to see. He's not a total monster, and this could be interesting to explore as well with him around people on an even playing field.
How will your character react to...
Being separated, possibly permanently, from loved ones and their previous life, including loss of powers, if applicable?
Blaine has no loved ones, and is used to losing progress in his business endeavors. Although it will gall him to be away or even possibly lose them entirely, he can rebuild. He can try something new and do his best to be successful at it. He's more likely to struggle with the old world setting than being around entirely different people, but the loss of powers will gall him. What's the point of being a zombie if you don't have super fast healing/invulnerability/superspeed and strength? He can't even make new zombies here to extort money for brains! This is some bullshit. I think he'll be fine overall, though.
Their environment being manipulated, possibly in strange or extraordinary ways, and possibly in ways which restrain them?
The environment being manipulated will be more fascinating than anything else, but Blaine hates feeling trapped if he isn't right where he wants to be. He is fine with being stuck in the walled city of New Seattle because that's where his home and businesses are, where he's built his enterprise. The aspect of it that bothers him is feeling like he's under someone's boot having to provide Chase Graves with information in exchange for being allowed to operate his businesses. Likewise, if he were stuck in a restricted space he did not want to be, he'd be extremely unhappy. The weirdness of the restriction is irrelevant, just like he's fine with making certain trades being a zombie because it serves his interests. If he gets cut off from something he likes in-game, Blaine will throw a hissyfit. If the environment changes to exclude something he doesn't like, he won't care. Everything in the world affects him only as much as it affects his own ability to get and do things he wants.
Being physically and/or mentally manipulated, such as having hallucinations or suddenly possessing special abilities they did not have before?
If he's gaining special abilities, Blaine will be elated, no matter their source. He doesn't know where the zombie virus came from either, but he's not complaining because overall it's made his life better. Changes he can work with and use to his benefit are great. Hallucinations, however, or any other changes to his person or his experience of the world that do not enrich his life, he'll be intensely unhappy about. Since he won't know where these manipulations come from or how to cope with them, he's likely to reach out more to others in the community, be it to rant about what's going on or ask people if there's a way to control or be rid of such things. He'll offer his own skills in exchange if there's anyone who can alleviate his suffering.
POWERS & SPECIAL ABILITIES
- near invulnerability (nothing short of destroying the brain will kill a zombie) - accelerated healing (of all injuries short of brain damage, though destroyed or removed body parts will not regrow, e.g. losing an eye) - increased strength when in rage mode - increased speed when in rage mode
Question: As I assume all these innate abilities will be lost, will Blaine now be able to die by non-head-trauma means? Or would someone still have to destroy the brain?
WRITING SAMPLES
SAMPLE 1 Why did you choose this sample? Although it is not from Blaine's POV, this sample is representative of my writing style and heavily features him interacting with another character. (One he considers to be working for him, and lesser.) Please note that it was written for a memory share event through Drake's POV for characters who would not recognize Blaine -- he is the white-haired jerk. Linked or pasted sample:
Drake is entering a large house. No, not a house, exactly. Well it is, but it's also a funeral parlour, obvious enough by the casket (currently closed) in a viewing room off to the left as soon as you enter. There doesn't seem to be a wake going on, though, and as the door closes behind him a shrimpy guy with a buzz cut wanders by, gesturing for Drake to follow him.
"Bossman's downstairs, chop chop."
"In the chop shop? Fun," Drake comments dryly, following the little guy. Down into the bowels of the morgue, where yes there is a sheet-covered body on one of the slabs... but more interestingly there's something of an assembly line going on. A man with an eyepatch cuts off a chunk of very fresh looking human brain and places it in a takeout container, then slides it down to a woman who seems to be placing garnishes on top, parsley and fancy-cut lemon wedges. She closes the container and pushes it into the shrimpy guy's spot, which he's taking back up now to put on a sticker and place the containers into yellow coolers. A ways behind them there's another guy with curly hair pulling little vials out of a casket packed full of them, slipping a few at a time into a dime bag, and packing the dime bags into blue coolers.
All of this is super questionable. But Drake just looks it over, sighs, and turns to a white-haired man sitting at a smaller table with a glass of red wine and two books -- one a novel, one some kind of ledger.
"Holloway! And what does my favorite rat have for me today? Perhaps I can rustle up some cheese."
"...screw you, Blaine, I'm not a rat."
"I believe Mr Boss would beg to differ." When Drake says nothing in response, presumably doing that pressed-lip glare he's so good at, Blaine continues. He sets down his wine and novel to open the ledger, clicking a pen to signal he's ready. "We're getting ready for a push. I want to know his importers, you've gotten those names by now, right?"
"Are you insane? If you keep feeding this much to the DA, you're gonna get me killed. There's like three of us that know those names."
"And only one of you that works for me. Too bad so sad, give them to me anyway."
"I can figure a way out from under your boot, you know. One way or another you won't have me over this barrel much longer, but I'm no good to anybody if I'm dead."
Blaine just smiles, everything about him screaming smug superiority. Drake's voice is low and furious as he spits out the names. Blaine writes them down, unclicks his pen. "Was that so hard? Get yourself a snack, rat. Not the good stuff."
"No thanks. I'm not hungry." Except he is. He just doesn't want to take shit from Blaine, who quirks an eyebrow.
"I insist."
Drake shakes his head, stubborn. "Fuck you, Blaine." And turns away, heading back up the stairs and out of the house, with an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach and a sense of creeping dread that maybe he's made a terrible mistake...
SAMPLE 2 Why did you choose this sample? I prefer to offer a sample that takes place in the game I'm apping to, whether threaded on a TDM or composed specifically for it -- these represent both my writing and how Blaine will behave around others in this setting, at least at first. Although the first thread (1) is network-style it shows voice, and there is a prose log thread beneath it (2). The second and third links (3 and 4) have only just begun but are also log style and an example of tag-ins. Linked or pasted sample: Sixth Iteration TDM Thread 1 & 2, 3, 4
ana