Post by Erik Vaughn on Feb 15, 2024 10:44:27 GMT -5
WELCOME TO LOS EUROSIA,
ERIK VAUGHN
"I can smell your ambition like blood in the water."
BASICS
NAME: Erik Vaughn
AGE: 31
BIRTHDATE: March 5th
PRONOUNS: he/him
SEXUALITY: Bisexual
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Lawyer
NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown
MEMBER GROUP: Human
POWERS:
n/a
THE LOOKS
HEIGHT: 180 cm
WEIGHT: 75 kg
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown
FACE CLAIM: Steven John Ward
OVERALL APPEARANCE: Erik is man that takes pride in always looking his best. His dark hair slicked back, clean-shaven, and always dressed in sharp outfits that compliment his build and complexion. He would be described as handsome, if it wasn't for the fact that his expression tends to default to a disdainful sneer. It is rare to see Erik expressing any kind of emotion that isn't disdain or amusement at the cost of someone else. In many ways his well-tailored suits and arrogant demeanor functions as his armour, a shield between the world and himself.
He's not a big man, of average height and a bit on the slender side. Erik has never been particularly muscular, spending more time at a desk than exercising, but he's vain enough that he puts in the effort to keep in shape. There are also faint scars left in his earlobes from when he used to have piercings during his more rebellious teenage years. Well-hidden underneath layers of clothing is a tattoo of a taipan snake winding it's way up his left ankle, though he lets few people close enough to see it and he's not the type to relax at the beach.
Erik moves with confidence. His posture is excellent, he'd rather be caught dead than be caught slouching. There is a certain degree of calculation to the way he moves, every gesture made with purpose. At least when he's paying attention and not distracted. He could be compared to a cat really. At times moving with graceful dignity, but sometimes he'll overestimate his own grace and instead stumble clumsily before trying to pretend he meant to do that all along. Really.
INSIDE
LIKES:
- Peace and quiet - His work has him quite busy, and as such he's learnt to appreciate the rare moments when he can relax.
- Romance novels - A guilty pleasure, one that he will staunchly deny should anyone bring it up.
- Verbal sparring - He enjoys any opportunity to verbally tear someone apart really, but it's more fun if they try to fight back.
- Expensive clothes - Call him vain, but he enjoys looking good and having a refined wardrobe.
- Cats - Well, more specifically one cat. His pet cat Findus.
DISLIKES:
- Showing weakness - Erik despises showing any sort of weakness, he would rather chew glasss than be vulnerable in front of other people.
- Altruistic idiots - He feels nothing but disdain for people who will let others walk right over them, or always prioritizies others over themselves.
- Citrus fruit - He's allergic and they trigger migraines anyway.
- Loud sounds - Erik suffers from chronic migraines and loud sounds are a common trigger.
STRENGTHS:
- Sharp analytical mind - His biggest strength is his intelligence and the ideal battlefield is that in the court room. He's also got a very good memory (and a tendency to hold grudges).
- Ruthlessness - Erik has never been one to let morals get in the way of winning, no matter how underhanded the methods.
- Razor-sharp tongue - He's good at making verbal jabs and digging into where it hurts.
WEAKNESSES:
- His brother - Erik's biggest weakness. Mathias is one big glaring weakness and Erik knows this, and yet there's nothing he can do about it.
- Arrogance - One big flaw is his arrogance. Erik has a tendency to overestimate himself and underestimate his opponents, which has and probably will again come back to bite him in the ass.
- Chronic migraines - Erik suffers from debiliating migraine attacks that leave him curled up in a dark room for sometimes up to two days. The subsequent migraine hangovers does nothing to help his already surly disposition.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Erik could in a few words be summed up as prickly, vindictive, and utterly without morals. At least that is the front that most people get to know, and while all of it is true about him to some degree it isn't all he is. He values his family over all else, and if you win his loyalty he's willing to do anything for you. His trust is hard-won, but once you have it it's hard to lose. It is perhaps the only real positive trait he still has, even as he loathes that part of himself and wishes he could turn it all off. The need for other people.
To those he's close to he's still a petty bastard, but there is a softness there that isn't usually seen. His love manifasting as teasing comments, frustrated nagging, and the certainty that if you need to hide a body he will have the means, place, and an alibi waiting for you. Beneath all the sharp edges and snark is a nerd who likes smutty romance novels and who's closest friend is a cat.
To the world he's a cold, emotionless bastard. Ruthlessly taking advantage of any weakness to further his own ambitions and secure his victory. He takes a certain pleasure in ruining people, after all, he is not a happy man, so why should anyone else be? Beneath the superior sneer is a man who is furious at the world and is making that everyone else's problem. Those who knew him while he was in law school would find a stranger in the place of the quiet ambiable young man he once was. While he was never the cheerful or outgoing type, who he was back then is a far-cry from the surly cold man he is now.
He is highly competitive and a sore loser, both in his professional and private life. He can hold a grudge like nobody's business, and is unlikely to let any slight pass without noting it down in the back of his mind. He will use any means to win, no matter how under-handed or cruel they might be. Don't let him smell weakness or he'll hone onto it and exploit it for all it's worth.
BACKGROUND
HOMETOWN: Los Eurosia
FAMILY: Mathias Vaughn (younger brother, alive)
PETS: A cat named Findus
HISTORY: Erik had a happy childhood, which most people wouldn't guess from their interactions with him. He grew up in a middle class family, his parents happily married, and with a 7 years younger brother. Erik had been 21, studying law, when his parents were killed in an accident. The details at the time were confusing and conflicting, before it was all declared to be caused by their car crashing due slipery roads. This left him having to raise his then 14 year old brother while juggling law school and his internship. If not for his parents' life insurance he would have had to drop out of school, but he stubbornly refused to give up even as his life fell apart. Perhaps if he had, if he'd focused on healing, on being there for his brother, then he wouldn't be in this damned mess.
Mathias had lashed out, a grieving teenager not dealing well with now living with his much older brother that he'd never been particularly close with. Erik did his best, but he'd been just as overwhelmed. He thought the worst had been over with until a few years later, when Mathias was 17 and had gotten himself involved with the Guild. The dark tattoo on his little brother's arm had seemed to mock him, declaring him an abject failure at raising and keep his brother safe. His brother had become convinced that their parents' accident had been because of "gifted" people with powers of all things. A laughable idea.
Until it wasn't.
Erik knows that such a thing isn't such an impossibility now. Working for the Guild has opened his eyes to the things that most of the world seem ignorant to. He's not a thug, he's not stooping that low, even to keep an eye on his brother. And the idea of him hunting down gifted is laughable, he knows where his strengths lie, and it is not in that. But criminal syndicates need lawyers skilled enough to keep their members out of jail. His brother isn't a teenager anymore, but Erik isn't about to let him out of his sight or sphere of influence that easily again. He's going to keep his family safe even if he has to sell his soul to the devil to do so.
He has a tattoo as well now, a brand marking him for life and he hates it. A taipan, the slender snake winding its way up his ankle.
THE PLAYER
NAME: Aardvark
AGE: 26
TIMEZONE:GMT+1