app for sanctums

[lacksgrace]

OOC INFORMATION

Name: dai
Contact Information: overcasts ; daiyaonna [at] gmail [dot] com
Personal Journal: adari
Age: 27
Characters Played: n/a
Who Referred you: candy & kat


IN-CHARACTER INFORMATION


Name: bells
Fandom: original
Age: Physically: mid-20’s. Actual: mid 500’s.
Canon Point: prior to the start of the war
Original Universe or Alternate Universe?

AU. Bells will be coming into the game with all of his memories from ataraxion in tact. The chronology of events can be found here, and Bells’ specifically picks up from jump nine (august seventh 2012).

Not too much has altered about him since waking up on board the Tranquility aside from slight physical changes. He went through a drug detox, which kick-started his healing abilities. Therefore, he now has both wings instead of just the original one, and he would also bear the tattoo as well, which reads 009 > 173. A semi-coherent growth chart can be found here for him, but the only noticeable difference in his personality from his original canon is that he’s learned to actually care A LOT about the others he grows close to, and that, in turn, leads him down some pretty nasty roads if one of them happens to get hurt by someone else or are threatened in some way.

Personality:

On the surface, Bells is a casually laid back kind of guy. He lives life in whatever way he feels like, regardless of consequence, and he never considers others’ feelings in the matter. Even if it affects them to a personal degree, Bells generally ignores it and does what he wants. Most of the time, he is the ‘act first, think and possibly deal with it later’ type of person. Generally, his attitude is somewhat careless and a bit childish; if he doesn’t get his way, he tends to be rather petulant about it until he either gets what he wants or decidedly doesn’t want it anymore and drops it altogether.

Beneath this initial trait, however, is the darker side of Bells’ personality. He’s an addict, a liar and a deceiver. Having first been introduced to HL before he even knew what it was, Bells consistently began to realize that, after having been cast aside, he could do whatever he wanted without any remorse or punishment. Since he was already part of the lowest of the low anyhow, what difference would it have made to be lawfully good? This makes him rather reckless in his decisions; they could be self-harming, and he would still stubbornly pursue them. He’s hooked on any type of drug that will give him a momentary high, a sense of other-worldliness, and he likes sex a little too much for his own good (and what is, most likely, considered healthy). Underneath that addiction, there’s also the part of him that doesn’t see the point in honesty either. If he says anything to get what he wants, it doesn’t take much to stretch the truth or leave it out altogether to achieve the same ends. His sense of loyalty, too, is severely distorted. Because he was cast out for trusting one person over another (and it resulted in someone’s death), he thinks that blind devotion and faith are inane. That a person could wholly devote themselves to a solitary being or a single cause their entire life, and then, without even being questioned or their motives taken into account, be so easily dismissed? He doesn’t like the hypocrisy of it, and he’s never going to subject anyone to that sort of disappointment himself.

He would rather use someone and have them know they’re being used than raise any sort of false hope. Unfortunately, Bells doesn’t give anyone the courtesy of even knowing that either. Whether they know the truth or not isn’t his concern. He likes to go with the flow and let things take their own course without conscious effort.

Perhaps this makes him seem uncaring and a little callous at times, but Bells is, mostly, decent. He won’t go out of his way to help someone, but he won’t be unnecessarily cruel either. If he gains something from it, then it’s more likely he’ll be willing to actually do something.

The only person to ever make Bells question his own flaws – and the way he treats others – is his best and only friend Lor. To be fair, though, Lor is on an entirely different level in Bells’ brain than that of anyone else. He highly regards him, almost trusts him, and therefore, nothing is as important as Lor’s opinion of him. It’s even more necessary than the one he has of himself, which isn’t very high at all, and Lor’s very presence seems to help keep him grounded. Though he’s still careless with his actions and his lack of self-respect, Bells genuinely cares if he hurts Lor and tries to prevent it. Due to an angel’s, and thus, a Fallen’s, inability to love because of a lack of ‘heart’, it’s the closest Bells will probably ever get to understanding that particularly human emotion. For Bells, Lor is his one solid source of humanity, how to actually feel, and he’s still slowly learning what that means for him. Without Lor, he’d become unstable and ultimately drown himself in drugs until there was nothing left to feel.

As a side note, though Bells is considered to be in a relationship with Cole, he doesn’t necessarily acknowledge it. Only when it suits him does he speak of it or bring it up, and that, sadly, is almost never. This stems from his lack of fidelity, and the fact he can never align himself to one particular cause or person. Needless to say, Bells has severe trust issues (since he was betrayed by someone he thought he could trust in the very beginning), and they’re a rather permanent factor in his behavior.

In addition to these quirks, Bells often has a problem controlling his anger. Since his Fall into the Fifth Circle, the level filled with those quick to rage (or sullenness), it’s steadily become apparent that, if not given his way, he’s more likely to explode if gone ignored or disregarded long enough. Cursing, inappropriate remarks, or simply being petty are only a few examples of what he’s capable of. He’s never been physically pushed to hurt someone, except Caim, but the capacity for him to actually do so is there. Usually, he’s much more composed – or too high – to surrender to that particular emotion; if the need arose, though, he wouldn’t even think twice about doing something so violent. This is also another reason why he tends to keep to himself; his old gift of being able to coerce those into doing what he asked wasted to nothing, and now, more often than not, it backfires on him.

Bells simply tries to get by with as little as possible and doesn’t take into account the people around him or the people he may (or may not) hurt in the process.

Background:

Bells' actual story begins several centuries before his current lifestyle; it starts with a father and brother he loved more than any one thing in the universe. He was born an angel, wings as green as his eyes and as bright as the sun, and his father, though he loved Bells too, had more children than one single being could possibly devote individual attention to. Even being ‘God’, there was little time for parental necessities. However, though many of his brothers and sisters experienced the same neglect, they never once spoke of it. They were happy, and Bells...

Well, Bells wasn't.

It never got better the more he began to question it, either. His loyalty slowly began to flounder, causing him to make particularly rash decisions, such as occasionally ignoring commands or outright dismissing those he was close to, but one brother in particular kept him somewhat sane for a longer while after the influx of human-based emotions. Caim, only a little younger than him, worked relatively close with Bells on more than one occasion. Caim was a soldier, one of the many higher-ups in Dietus' army, while Bells was something similar to a messenger; he delivered anything from notes to invitations to important declarations. He had the tongue for it, a gift he was born with that was used on behalf of easily persuading almost anyone to see his side of things without really trying. It just made things easier. But much of that changed when Caim grew jealous of Bells' position, of the friends he could make with only a smile or a few words. Arguments began to develop, and sin crept into their hearts.

Eventually, Caim's hate grew beyond capacity, and while he was considering what to do with it and how to do it, Bells had decided to cut Caim from his life—things were going well with him and a fellow angel, friendship-wise, and things almost seemed to be looking up for him. There were no impure thoughts; only that of what was expected of him and what he had been created for. Of course, it didn’t turn out so well in the end: orders were mixed up, Bells’ lack of providing direct (and rather helpful information) to Caim’s regime, and an absurd amount of bad luck resulted in an unfortunate end. Bells and Caim clashed, jealousy and inexperience fueling the fight until an innocent bystander, Bells’ friend, met his death at Caim’s hand merely by having tried to intervene and stop them. Bells, in a fit of rage, literally stabs Caim in the back with his own sword. As he “dies” [ the angel equivalent of human death is to simply cease existing; however, since Caim committed several sins, his punishment was eternal damnation despite suffering such an affliction ], Caim grips Bells by the wings and tears the right one, from the root, out of his back.

They are both cast into Hell.

When Bells comes to, he’s in an incredible amount of pain and in the Fifth Circle’s domain, the level reserved for those with the penchant for wrath. For Bells, this is his greatest sin—even at the cost of his friend’s life, it needn’t have ended in someone else’s death. Specifically, he’s found in the lower slums close to the Divide near the Sixth level. It can be described like this:

The homes were in shambles, leaning upon one another and lacking any true structure. Rust and decay had been breathed upon them as well, veritable shacks that had no business housing those living inside them. And the people—they were as hopeless and broken as the places they inhabited. Each junkie that was passed by, every victim of Hell’s carnage, swayed and were nearly as crooked as their houses. Even the children of their unions were affected, playing in the streets and filthy.

A random stranger happens by at the exact moment he’s trying to pull himself out of the inevitable ditch he’s found himself in – demon, human, Fallen; to this day, Bells still isn’t sure who (or what) it was – and offers to ease his pain with something ‘quick and easy’. Still in that heavenly mindset and greatly disoriented, he doesn’t refuse the small little vial he’s given, and without much thought to it, drinks its contents when the stranger bids him to. This is the start of Bells’ addiction to Hell’s soul-manufactured drugs. [ Later on, he discovers the name of this particular little drug is called Heaven’s Lips, or HL, because of its ability to synthesize the feeling of being somewhere else entirely. Mainly that of Heaven’s atmosphere. ] Several days pass before he even realizes it, drowning in his first taste of physical sin and hallucinating from the pain of his wing having been torn from his body, and in one of his particularly more lucid moments, Bells meets Loriel. He’s someone who becomes a very large part of his life after that.

Lor heals him, and despite being slow to trust him, Bells begins to sort through things and actually becomes functioning again—but with the addition of being an addict. He doesn’t associate himself with anyone, choosing to live in the slums; out of sight, out of mind. He picks up several odd jobs here and there, mostly through small-time dealers, and he becomes acquainted with his own personal dealer, Liam, this way. Most times, though, Bells relies on Lor for money or just a general pick-me-up, and his friend never seems to deny him. He eventually develops feelings for the other Fallen, ones that aren’t in any way familial, and to keep things generally calm between them (since he knows Lor is still very much in love with the human woman he’d lost his Grace for), he seeks out the brothels in the Second Circle. These brothels, though there are several located throughout Hell, are the most famous and most professional at what they do; it is the level of lust, after all. Bells meets with a prostitute named Dezso who, for reasons he can’t figure out, looks too much like Lor for his own good. After only a couple of these meetings, since Bells can’t pay and refuses to ask Lor to support him in this endeavor (for obvious reasons), he parts ways with him.

The next several years (decades, even) are spent torturously quiet, severely dependent on drugs, and withdrawn from much besides Lor’s occasional company.

During one such low point, he incidentally stumbles upon another in a similar fashion as Lor had found him in the very beginning. However, this being is nearly dead and looks to have been in a particularly nasty fight. Enter Cole, a demon who, once upon a time ago, had served under a particularly ruthless Fallen as his right hand. His anger and resent attracts Bells, and they form a love-hate relationship due to this fact. That, and Bells happens to look rather similar to the Fallen Cole had harbored feelings for. It’s some time later that Bells learns the truth: how his brother, Caim, had been the one to nearly kill Cole for no longer being of any use. This knowledge alone fuels his need to have revenge, and without so much as a word to Cole or Lor, Bells takes off to seek him out.

He seeks him out within the inner depths of the Fifth, having no clue that they’d been so close, but Bells doesn’t meet with him there. Caim, oddly enough, had been visiting connections in the Seventh, and he discovers that Bells had gone to finish what they’d started centuries ago because, just a short time later, Lucifer wages an all-out war against Heaven. Due to his nature, Bells refuses any part of it – though he has no loyalty to Hell, he has even less to Heaven – and he plans to sit back while the rest of the world destroys itself.

Other Notables:

OU setting:

The typical atmosphere of the world is a mix of modern versus early 19th century with a little steampunk thrown in to confuse its inhabitants. For example, things like refrigerators exist, but cars do not. Electricity is a very odd commodity in that, while it does exist, the majority of people still use candles and gas lamps for illumination. There are several mix and match elements in this universe; television is an unheard of device (as well as computers, the internet, and cell phones), so information is passed along via newspapers, books, and word of mouth. However, weapons such as guns are generally known, but it's rare a person (human) would have one in their possession.

In general context, though, Bells' world is literally Hell. It's the ugly part of the afterlife, adjacent to its counterpart, Heaven, and the natural world of Tophet, where humans live. Imagine a spiral staircase: they're interconnected by the steps between each landing; Tophet in the middle, and Heaven and Hell at the very top and bottom respectively. Only those with explicit permission may travel the boundaries between each individual location, but the hierarchy of Heaven and Hell are different in comparison to Tophet.

While the human world is a fixed plane, Hell (as well as Heaven) is divided into a total of nine levels where the first is shared with Heaven; it's the purgatory of the afterlife. Each level, or Circle, is inclined toward a specific sin. The damned souls are processed through purgatory and "placed" in the correct Circle with others who have committed similar crimes before death. These Circles, unlike the planes between, can be easily navigated through without much problem and are separated by what the locals call the Divide. The Circles are as follows: (2nd) Lust, (3rd) Gluttony, (4th) Avarice and Prodigality, (5th) Wrath and Sullenness, (6th) Heresy, (7th) Violence, (8th) Fraud. The ninth (and lowest) Circle is where Lucifer resides and houses only the most tortured. Each Circle is governed by a ruler, generally one of the original Fallen or the most powerful of demons that can be trusted with such a position, and they are backed by creatures called cahri. Their origin is unknown, and very few actually witness them in action aside from the rulers themselves.

This is the basic, accepted knowledge of Hell. Along with this, it is generally known that humans, though they make up the majority of the population, are not highly regarded. The hierarchy looks something like this: Lucifer > Circle rulers/cahri > Fallen > Demons > Half-breeds > Humans. And while most demons and half-breeds also have something similar to a human form, they are not the souls of the dead. Thus, they're regarded far more highly than humans. However, the human souls that do not take on a more corporeal body can be found in almost everything else: the food and drink, and most especially, the drugs. Bells, specifically, is more familiar with this use, and as he is housed between the border of the Fifth and Sixth Circles, in the slums, there's a particularly high market for that there.

As a note, there is not sunlight in Hell. It's mostly a colorless, slightly sulfuric wasteland. It's drab, relatively lifeless with hardly any vegetation at all, and the monotony alone could cause anyone to go insane. But despite the general lifeless nature of the Hell, many Circle rulers and Fallen tend to throw elaborate, festive parties a lot more than is necessary. It's usually on an invite-only basis though.

Also to be noted: the wardrobe style of Hell fluctuates between something like this or this depending on the person.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:

Though Bells is, essentially, an angel, he doesn’t have many abilities that would distinguish him from that of a normal human. He’s a little stronger, a little quicker to heal, and overall, a little faster, but it’s not something noticeably different and wouldn’t make him stand out. He’s not much of a fighter despite some inborn skills of knowing how to handle a sword. At one time, he was gifted at persuasion, but after losing what Grace there was left in him, it all became moot; he was left on his own to fend for himself. However, it should be noted that Bells possesses an odd sort of immortality. He does not physically age nor could he ever die from such things as a drug overdose. Nevertheless, mortal wounds to vulnerable parts of the body – the heart, brain, chest, etc. – could result in what a Fallen considers a second “death”. Wherein they disappear and cease to exist.

Since he only has one wing, he cannot fly, but he can, at will, make it visible or not to those around him. Considering how much strength it takes to do this, and since it’s rather heavy, he generally leaves them invisible, which lends him an entirely human appearance as well.

As for weaknesses, Bells has a rather addictive personality. Not only does this include the drugs he consumes, but it also refers to people. He’s attracted to certain types, and once he’s familiar with them, it’s difficult for him to dismiss them as nothing important. He also has a strong sense of distrust; it sometimes clashes with his addictive behaviors and may result in awkward friendships (or worse).


IN SANCTUM: Bifrons has done a little extra surgery to remove his wings and leave him without them entirely. He retains a slightly accelerated rate of healing and resistance to narcotic-induced illness, but it's only slightly above a peak human ability to do so.

Appearance:

Bells is, for the most part, a mess all around. He’s about 6’1, has incredibly poor posture, likes to slouch, doesn’t appear intimidating whatsoever, and does whatever he feels like to himself (when he thinks it’s a good idea). He has rather uneven blond hair, often cut short with whatever’s lying around when the length bothers him, that’s permanently streaked with a bit of red, and he has brown eyes. [ They were once green, but due to a combination of his Fall and consistent drug use, they’ve since then changed. ] His most noticeable trait, however, when it’s actually visible, is the one (left) wing that remains of his angelic...ness. Unfortunately for Bells, it’s a rather alarming shade of pink.

Inventory:


→ issued jumpsuit from the TQ
→ (1) pair of fitted sneakers (old)
→ (1) pair of jeans (fair condition)
→ (1) shirt
→ (1) bottle of strawberry lubricant

SAMPLES

NETWORK SAMPLE:
( taken from a post in ataraxion )

Hey, uh, ship.

[ Well, that's one way to start this out. Good job, Bells. His face is a little scrunched up, annoyed, and he looks like he's not really enjoying the weather all that much either. ]

Guess they thought we didn't have enough problems to worry about or something, right? But I've still got a couple questions, and it's gonna take more than a little heat or cold to keep me from asking 'em. [ There's a pause. ] Yeah, so.

Anyone else not all that human feeling this like I am? I'm kinda built for hot, but I don't think my body's getting the message. Hell's never frozen over either, so I dunno if that's a good thing or not.

[ At least there's no condescending tone in his voice this time. He just looks a little worn out and tired. Maybe there's the slightest shiver he doesn't bother suppressing as he continues, grin plastered to his face. ]

And are we still doing the pairs thing? 'Cause I might need a buddy to help me out. [ The smile only widens before he ends the message, vague as ever. ]

LOG SAMPLE:

He hadn't stayed long in that tiny room, feeling cramped and weird and just a little on the side of crazy. But that's what people think of him, isn't it? Not so much good as he is messed up. It's probably part of the reason why he can't keep friends, only minor acquaintances that eventually tell him to fuck off or can't deal with it too. It's why the ship keeps taking the people he likes or cares about. Just to see how much more he can take before he falls over the edge.

Bells doesn't mind though. Right now, he's cool and laughing and dragging his hands against the wall for the sensation. Right now, he's got half a bottle of HL in him, and it's like falling all over again without the pain. He remembers the sun, the rush of wind and clean air. So aptly named, his drug of choice. Just a touch, a reminder of Heaven.

If anyone's around, he doesn't notice. He's not even aware that his wings are out, high above his head but slowly drooping to brush part of the floor. The feathers are faded, ruffled. Some of them create a trail behind him, but he just smirks, eventually stopping before a lift to press his forehead to cool metal.

Fuck, he hated doing this all over again.

And it's almost too cold down this way too, dragging himself to the pool and feeling the water like a giant lure, something that wrenches some strange feeling in his gut. Bells is already floating, lost. Approaching the edge, he peers down into it and wonders... He fell to Hell, wasn't really much of an angel anymore with all the sin and lack of morality. What would it be like to fall here?

Would he find himself in Space Hell? What could be worse than this damn boat anyway? He much preferred the creatures lurking in the river of the Fifth than half the stuff they've run into here.

He sighs, digging the vial out of his pocket. It's not like he's got much to lose now, most of it already and the rest slowly dissolving. Better to be like this than try to emulate a human's capacity to care.