--, angelus

[ANGELUS]

ANGELUS


IN-CHARACTER
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FULL NAME: Angelus ;; Liam Byrne as a human, nearly three hundred years ago ;; Angel when ensouled
NICKNAMES: The One with the Angelic Face, The Scourge of Europe
DATE OF BIRTH: 1727, sometime in October
AGE: 271
SPECIES: vampire
ABILITIES: Typical abilities of a vampire, enhanced by his advanced age: enhanced speed, pain endurance, superhuman strength; posseses a certain psychic link with the ones he sired, which allows him to sense their presence and even exeperience dreams based on their deeds; superior hand to hand and weapon combat skills; superior knowledge of demonology, history and fluency in several foreign languages; moderate skills in witchcraft and sorcery
FANDOM: BtVS

PERSONALITY:

The easiest way to sum up Angelus would be saying that he is the cruelest vampire known to mankind. Only minutes after his rising from the grave, he gave signs that he would be no ordinary vampire, and the years that passed just confirmed it. Angelus' sadism knows no limits. To Angelus, killing is not just a means of survival. Taking the life of a human is not something he likes rushing into head first, simply for the pleasure of the taste. What matters to him the most is to make the death of that human memorable. He could never really understand why the other vampires would just rush in for the kill, when it was so much more delightful to smell all that fear which they could draw out. The best music to Angelus' ears is the sound of a heart beating loudly and hurriedly in that horror which apparently humans feel in front of imminent death. Killing is an art and each death has to be a masterpiece, more beautiful than the one that came before.

Angelus is arrogant and self sufficient. He knows what fame he made for himself and he has no intention of being modest when it comes down to his own person, no matter what the subject at hand his. Angelus is incapable of warm feelings of any kind. Although he liked Darla as a companion, his feelings for her had nothing in common with love. If it would have ever come down to chosing whom to save, in a tight situation, it would have been his own person without a doubt. One hundred years later, it would still be the same. Not towards Darla, since his pathetic ensouled counterpart staked her, but towards anyone else whose company he would happen to enjoy. As for friends, Angelus finds the notion of friendship laughable. The only reason why he appreciates Angel's friends is because they make better victims for him than the ordinary human being. There is just something about the look in their eyes when they realize that he is going to hurt them, that can't be compared to anything. Everything Angel built in years, Angelus takes pleasure in destroying in minutes, mercilessly. Angel deserves vengeance for all the good deeds and life saving, in Angelus biased opinion.

Back to the issue of love, Angelus finds that the greater torture he could have been submitted to had been the love that Angel felt for the Slayer. It bothered him more than any other good deed Angel could possibly think of doing and he could barely find the words to describe it: ridiculous, absurd, disgusting. Admittedly, he appreciates that the tight blonde had been the key to his return, which is why Angelus' most ardent wish is to repay her how he knows better: by tearing her apart slowly and painfully - and not in the physical way, because that would just be much too easy and boring. If that means sending the entire world to ruin, then the more appealing to him. Angelus appreciates the idea of bestowing hell upon Earth and, in his arrogance, he is delighted by the thought that his name could be associated with -the- Apocalypse. A world gone to hell would ensure him an eternity without anyone forcing that pesky soul back on him.

HISTORY:

The story begins in Galway, Ireland, in 1727, when Liam was born as first son into the Byrne family. Such were the times that the birth of a son was an important event and all hopes and expectations of his parents were put into him, to become a man of virtue, noble at heart, although he did not belong to noblety on the social scale. Under the harsh eye of his father, Liam grew into the exact opposite of what his father expected of him. His ambition in life was to get to see the world and there was barely a night which he wouldn't waste in taverns, abusing alcohol and enjoying the company of women. His father grew more and more disappointed with him and one day, after Liam tried to seduce the house maid after a night of drunken debauchery, he threw him out of the house. Liam obeyed him and left, even though it hurt him to leave his mother and his younger sister, Kathy, behind. With the hurt he dealt the way he knew better: he drowned it into alcohol, getting himself involced in a brawl which caught the attention of someone that was to change his life forever. As he walked out of the tavern, he caught sight of the enchanting blonde and followed her into an alley. His mind, hazed by the alcohol, was easily seduced with the promise that she would show him the world. Liam only felt a little pain when the woman bit down into his neck and he was vaguely aware that she made him drink her own blood from a cut that she made across her chest. Then his world faded to black and nothingness.

Darkness and nothingness were strange though. While his family and the ones he knew were gathered around his grave, mourning him, Liam could hear their heartbeats from within his coffin, he could hear the blood coursing through their veins, as if they called to him somehow. Somehow, soon, he was conscious once more – and also confused, in pain and trapped inside a coffin. He clawed out of his grave and was met with the same woman that had drawn him inside the alley, who was welcoming him into the world. Under her eyes, Liam made his first victim, a poor keeper of the cemetery. That first drink was enough to give the newly risen vampire a whole new perspective on the world, to fully awaken the demon inside and give it control over the darkest of impulses which Liam ever had. When offered to chose someone in the village as his next victim, he warned that he would take the entire village and kept to his word. First, though, he needed to pay a visit to his own family. Kathy opened the door for him and, thinking that her dear brother had returned to her as an angel, she let him. Moments later, her angel ended her life brutally, before doing the same with his mother. With his father he took his time, showing him that he has managed to make something of himself after all, before draining him. Even if his sire, Darla, tried ruining his mood by warning him that his father was the victorious one, because his disapproval would forever daunt him, Liam ignored her and proceeded with murdering every single human being in the village. From that day forward, bemused by the confusion his sister made, he took the name Angelus for himself.

For the years that followed, Angelus and Darla caused chaos and bloodshed throughout Wales and Northern England, before they reached London, where Darla presented him to her own sire, the Master. Despite the Master's greater age and position of authority, Angelus openly mocked him, not being deterred from it even when the other vampire chose to physically retaliate. To make his defiance even greater, he challenged Darla's decision to stay by the Master's side, underground, when she could join him, when he could offer her the view which she always wanted. Winning her over by his side, the two left and started their travels. In York, 1764, Angelus took great delight in killing the family of one vampire hunter called Daniel Holtz. The man, eager to seek vengeance, followed him and Darla all across Europe, nearly catching them in Arles. It was then that Angelus learned just how quick Darla could be to save her skin without thinking twice about leaving him behind in a burning barn. Fortunately, he made it out safely and met Darla in Vienna. From there, Angelus visited more European countries, even North Africa, in Darla's company, all the while with Holtz on their trail. Eventually the annoying vampire hunter disappeared, so Angelus had time to have a little fun by siring a puritan called Penn, who started mimicking his sire by killing his family and carving a cross on his victims' cheek. Later, in Prusia, he encountered a demon called the Beast, which he declined to join.

The year 1860 found Angelus back in London, in Darla's company. And his sire drew his attention to something which was soon to become Angelus' greatest masterpiece: a young woman called Drusilla, gifted with sight. After killing her family, Angelus massacred the convent inside which Drusilla had taken shelter, driving the girl insane before finally siring her. His creation soon got bored and sired a man called William Pratt, for whom Angelus became a mentor. That didn't last for too long because Angelus made a point to exploit William's greatest weakness, Drusilla, earning himself a rivalry that would last for centuries to come. The group, which became known as the Fanged Four, continued their travels until the year 1898 found them in Romania, the place where Angelus' existence would change dramatically. One night, he returned to their lodging, to find a present which Darla had brought him: a young gypsy girl. Angelus never gave a second thought about killing her – until the clan which she belonged to, the Kalderash, cursed him by restoring his human soul, and his conscience along with it. Overwhelmed by remorse over more than a century of crimes, Angelus tried to seek Darla's help, but she threatened to stake him and threw him out, disgusted by his soul. Burdened by his soul, Angelus wandered from place to place, until he managed to get reunited with Darla in China, during the Boxer Rebellion. He tried to convince his sire that the soul hadn't change him, he tried to prove himself by killing criminals and wrong doers, but when he failed to kill a baby, he fled again.

From that moment onwards, he began living in isolation, in order to keep away the temptation of feeding off humans. Changing his name to Angel, he moved to America, where he continued to avoid unnecessary interaction with humans. The '50's found him staying at the Hyperion hotel in Los Angeles, as awe inspiring resident of Room 217. Though the hotel was less than normal and strange suicides were taking place, Angel ignored everything, refusing to care or get involved. Eventually he started opening up towards a woman named Judy, whom he found hiding in his room. He helped her hide from a detective that was following her and soon enough he felt compelled to help the hotel residents free themselves from a Thesulac demon, a paranoia demon which affected their thinking and their behavior. By the time he found the way to defeat the demon, the people in the hotel were already deeply under the demon's thrall. Their paranoia made them turn on Judy, which, in fear, revealed the fact that Angel was a monster keeping blood in his room. Infuriated, the hotel residents attacked Angel, beating him up and hanging him over a railing. Angel survived to see the Thesulac materialize himself as the paranoia had reached its peak. Embittered by Judy's betrayal, crushed by what the ones he wanted to help did to him, Angel left the Hyperion, leaving everyone inside as prey to the Thesulac. Roughly twenty years later, his existence came to another dramatic turn point. Angel witnessed a robbery at a doughnut shop. An employee was shot and Angel stayed by his side as he died. The smell of blood overwhelmed him and he succumbed to the urge and fed on the body. Disgusted by himself, Angel pushed his isolation from humans even further, living on the streets and feeding on vermin for the next decades.

In 1996, a demon called Whistler sought him out on the streets who persuaded him to change his life and start fighting evil. Whistler took him to Hemery High School, where, from the shadows, Angel saw Buffy Summers being called to her mission as Slayer by Merrick. As impossible as it sounded, Angel fell in love with the girl immediately and his purpose became helping her in the fights which she had ahead of her. He kept a close eye on her and followed her to Sunnydale, where he eventually introduced himself to her as Angel. He assisted her in a few fights, keeping an aura of mystery around him and secrecy over what he really was. Much to his surprise, Buffy had also fallen in love with him and when the two shared their first kiss, the inevitable happened and Buffy found out that he was a vampire. This lead to distrust, which Darla's presence in town and her scheming only served to deepen. Angel managed to earn Buffy's trust once more when he chose to stake his own sire in order to save her life. Soon after that, Angel discovered a prophecy that foretold that Buffy would be killed by the Master. Angel had to watch completely helpless how the prophecy nearly came true but fortunately Xander saved his beloved one and the Master was defeated.

The calm days didn't last for too long in Sunnydale. Drusilla and Spike came into town and Angel found himself targeted by his own rival, which needed him for a ritual to restore a weakened Drusilla's power. Buffy saved him before the ritual could be completed. Angel and her began dating and he offered Buffy a Claddagh ring, a traditional Irish token of love. The two became gradually closer until, on Buffy's birthday, they spent their first together and Angel experienced a moment of pure happiness. It was all it took to break the gypsy curse and make Angel revert to his soulless self, Angelus, who joined Drusilla and Spike with the goal of destroying Buffy for the fact that she had made Angel feel so human, that she had made him love her. Angelus tried to tear her down emotionally, by constantly stalking her or by sending her gruesome messages. When he learned that Jenny Calendar was a descendant of the Kalderash clan and that she was working to retrieve the ancient curse that had once ensouled him, Angelus brutally murdered her, then left her in Giles' home, so that he would also torment Buffy's Watcher. After that was accomplished, Angelus found out about a demon called Acathla, whose awakening would bring the end of the world. Delighted by the thought that he could be artisan of an Apocalypse, Angelus gathered Spike and Dru round to assist in the awakening of the demon. He performed the ritual and a flashing light engulfed them all. But when it passed, Angelus' eyes were not met with grimstone and demons.

ROLEPLAY SAMPLE:

”Suuure, Spike, sure. Keep telling yourself that if that's what helps you sleep at... whenever you bloodsuckers sleep”, Xander quipped back in a mocking tone. No, he was pretty sure that out of the two of them, Spike had to rank the lowest in terms of pathetism. Come on, he had been the loser for all of his life. His status of “pathetic” had been well-acknowledged well before he reached the age of kindergarden, when he met enough new kids to observe him in his full loser glory. Xander was used to it. Being pathetic and a loser defined him. It was what he had done the best during his entire life. He would have honestly been shocked to be called something other than pathetic one day. Now that he could have actually taken as an insult. Whereas Spike... oh boy... Take one vampire about which books are written, who has his own place in those famous Watcher Diaries, who allegedly killed two Slayers and who caused havoc by the side of none other than Angelus himself. Okay, now wouldn't anyone expect said vampire to be able to hold his own against some guys playing military? To like... don't know... rip their throats and escape? Being caught and neutered that way... that, right there, made Spike a whole lot more pathetic that Xander had ever been in his twenty plus years of miserable life. ”Keep dreaming, chip-brain. Not going to happen. You'll never hurt Buffy.” Not just because Spike had that chip to stop him from it. Xander trusted Buffy to be able to best the peroxide wonder even if that chip was out of the way.

Xander felt rage boiling inside of him. ”It's not!”, he emphasized between his clenched teeth, mentally going through all the tricks he knew that were supposed to calm someone down before they did something completely foolish. Well, that would have probably had more chances of actually working if Spike didn't just continue saying the very painful truth. God, he hated him and his insight so much! ”Newsflash, Spike: they didn't move on without me! We're still a team and we're still great friends. Not that you will ever be able to understand those two words.” Angered, Xander reached under his pillow and pulled out the stake which he kept there, for safety, tossing forward on the bed. ”Oh, be my guest! You're already doing that. If you would have been the hot shots you claim to be, you would have actually done something long ago. You're all talk. ”Ooh, look at me! I'm the big bad Spike and I'm going to kill Buffy so I'll just come up with a lame plan that's bound to fail and let her kick my ass every time!” Xander spoke that line imitating Spike's accent and mannerism as well as he could. If he'd had a chance, it was more than obvious to Xander that the annoying vampire never really tried to use it.

God, vampires punched hard! Hell, Spike shouldn't have punched him back, that moron! Xander had been counting on the vampire to be reluctant to get that chip to fry his brain. Obviously he'd been having false expectations. Still, the pain in his face was well worth it because it seemed like something so small compared to Spike's migraine. Xander used all the force he could muster for the other two punches he threw at the vampire, satisfaction obvious on his face when they connected with his chipped head. He was ready to call it a victory over Spike but he was forgetting that someone more pathetic than himself was bound not to know when to stop before making things much more worse for himself. Spike's move came as a surprise once again and Xander was tackled down and hit. He cringed with pain and tried to hit back but he was met with air as Spike was already up, victim of his own stupidity. While Spike had his little moment of anger, Xander rushed back to his feet and grabbed the stake which had earlier been tossed carelessly on the bed. Holding it firmly, he rushed towards the vampire and aimed another punch at his face, before trying to shove him back into a wall and aiming the stake to his heart. ”No, I should kill you. Buffy should have done this long ago, anyway. You're nothing, Spike, nothing! The only way in which you'll actually be worth something will be as a pile of dust on my basement's floor.”

OUT-OF-CHARACTER
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NAME/ALIAS: kmy
AGE: 24
ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE: 2
CONTACT: PM
FUN FACT! I can do Mr. Bean impersonations.[/BLOCKQUOTE]

[LIZARDBREATH]

ACCEPTED

[/b]

Oh dear, well this doesn't bode well for the
site, haha. Not for the inhabitants at any
rate. I'm excited to see the darker side of
Angel running amuck her in Terra. Feel
free to start posting with him.[/center]