HowlingWoods
"And she heaved the forest upon her back"
VINCENT
"Call me Vinny again and you'll be walking out of here with a bloody nose."
Full Name: Vincent Vangoli
Nicknames: Vinny
Opinion of Nickname: Calling him that is a good way to get punched in the face.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Species: Demon
Cardinal Element: Air
Minor Element: N/A
Vincent was purebred poor. His mother was poor, his father was poor, and as a result, he was poor. Dirt poor. He grew up in the slums of Riwa City, sharing a one room apartment with not only his own family, but a pair of orphan siblings who only managed to contribute to the rent through thievery, as well. His parents argued often, over this or that. They were not married, and hadn't planned to have a kid. Not much changed when his mother found out she was pregnant, though. She still smoked and drank as usual, and did little to prepare herself for parenthood. When he was born, he was largely ignored, and only survived his infancy because the two thieving siblings who shared the rent took care of him as if he were their own. So it was natural that as he aged, he saw the older kids as his parents more so than he did his actual blood. It wasn't until he was five years old that he realized the other two adults in the house were his biological parents.
It had been a traumatic experience for any five-year-old. His mother had packed her suitcase and left in the middle of the night. When Vincent awoke that day, his father was stupid drunk, like he'd never seen him before. Vincent's first instinct was to hide until the danger passed, but there were few places to hide in such a small apartment. He must have looked too much like his mother, or maybe his father just needed an outlet, and the small child searching desperately for a hiding spot seemed an easy target. Regardless, Vincent was cornered quickly, and what followed was 3 hours of verbal and physical abuse in which he stated he couldn't believe his son was such a weakling, after which his father promptly collapsed, and later died of alcohol poisoning. The two siblings who raised him were helpless to defend him against his father's rage, and it was during this incident that Vincent got the scar across his left eye, when his father smashed a bottle against the wall and a shard sliced him. His vision in his left eye is fuzzy at best, and nearing complete blindness at worst.
After his mother left and his father died, the two siblings could not afford to pay rent with any amount of thievery. And so they were kicked out on the street, Vincent along with them. The siblings who he considered his parents left him behind not even a week later, no longer able to take care of him. Vincent nearly died of starvation, and when he attempted to steal from the marketplace he was almost arrested. He would have been, if a criminal gang hadn't made a mess of things at the right time. It was pure coincidence that Avery Vangoli and her thugs showed up at that moment with the sole intent of creating chaos and stealing as much food as they could manage. Even so, Vincent was saved by their interference, whether intentional or not. And when they left the marketplace, he managed to track them down when the police could not by the smell of fresh bread. When he stumbled into their hideout with his eyes set on their stockpile of freshly-stolen foods, Avery saw promise in him. She took him in as her own, and taught him how to survive.
Avery was a tough teacher. She would refuse to feed him until he managed to steal his own food, letting starvation become his motivator. He learned to fight, steal, lie, and cheat his way out of any situation. He even began to master his element, although Avery, as a water elemental, had little to do with teaching him that. And as he grew, he naturally grew inclined to smoking, like many of the others in the gang he considered his family. However, he still avoided alcohol like the plague, scarred by the vision of his father collapsing after hours of ranting. He took on Avery's last name, having never known his real one as his parents had never told him. One day, Avery told him she had nothing left to teach him. He was seventeen at the time. She told him that he couldn't stay with them anymore. That he had to make a life for himself outside of the slums. That he deserved more than to continue living like a criminal. Vincent didn't understand. He argued, of course, but in the end Avery knocked him out and when he came to, they had moved on from their base. Lost and without a purpose, Vincent came across an ad for hire looking for slavers. The job offered the opportunity to travel far and wide across Agea, and in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to get away from this blasted city.
He took the job, and spent four years in the slavery business, raiding beast-born villages and selling them into slavery. He felt so numb from the betrayal of not only his biological family, but both his adoptive families, that he hardly stopped to think about the beast-born lives he was ruining. On one snowy night, however, he was tasked with capturing a family of beast-born that had been hiding in the countryside. The mother and the father were apprehended easily with the element of surprise, but the daughter escaped into the woods. He chased her down, but when he had her cornered, something within him shifted. He looked within her eyes, and he let her go.
After that, he quit the slavery business, unable to stomach it anymore. He still doesn't understand what happened to him that night to change him so, but he couldn't look at a beast-born the same anymore. Six years later, he's returned to the slums of Riwa City, and lives in a one-room apartment again, this time on his own. Not much has changed in the past ten years, and he's still a criminal at heart, making his living through thievery alone. He's still reeling from the betrayal of everyone he cared about, and finds it difficult to trust others. His jaded world view will make convincing him to help find Audra's family difficult at best, but he's still got connections in the slavery business and might be able to gather information she could never possibly access.
Nicknames: Vinny
Opinion of Nickname: Calling him that is a good way to get punched in the face.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Species: Demon
Cardinal Element: Air
Minor Element: N/A
Vincent was purebred poor. His mother was poor, his father was poor, and as a result, he was poor. Dirt poor. He grew up in the slums of Riwa City, sharing a one room apartment with not only his own family, but a pair of orphan siblings who only managed to contribute to the rent through thievery, as well. His parents argued often, over this or that. They were not married, and hadn't planned to have a kid. Not much changed when his mother found out she was pregnant, though. She still smoked and drank as usual, and did little to prepare herself for parenthood. When he was born, he was largely ignored, and only survived his infancy because the two thieving siblings who shared the rent took care of him as if he were their own. So it was natural that as he aged, he saw the older kids as his parents more so than he did his actual blood. It wasn't until he was five years old that he realized the other two adults in the house were his biological parents.
It had been a traumatic experience for any five-year-old. His mother had packed her suitcase and left in the middle of the night. When Vincent awoke that day, his father was stupid drunk, like he'd never seen him before. Vincent's first instinct was to hide until the danger passed, but there were few places to hide in such a small apartment. He must have looked too much like his mother, or maybe his father just needed an outlet, and the small child searching desperately for a hiding spot seemed an easy target. Regardless, Vincent was cornered quickly, and what followed was 3 hours of verbal and physical abuse in which he stated he couldn't believe his son was such a weakling, after which his father promptly collapsed, and later died of alcohol poisoning. The two siblings who raised him were helpless to defend him against his father's rage, and it was during this incident that Vincent got the scar across his left eye, when his father smashed a bottle against the wall and a shard sliced him. His vision in his left eye is fuzzy at best, and nearing complete blindness at worst.
After his mother left and his father died, the two siblings could not afford to pay rent with any amount of thievery. And so they were kicked out on the street, Vincent along with them. The siblings who he considered his parents left him behind not even a week later, no longer able to take care of him. Vincent nearly died of starvation, and when he attempted to steal from the marketplace he was almost arrested. He would have been, if a criminal gang hadn't made a mess of things at the right time. It was pure coincidence that Avery Vangoli and her thugs showed up at that moment with the sole intent of creating chaos and stealing as much food as they could manage. Even so, Vincent was saved by their interference, whether intentional or not. And when they left the marketplace, he managed to track them down when the police could not by the smell of fresh bread. When he stumbled into their hideout with his eyes set on their stockpile of freshly-stolen foods, Avery saw promise in him. She took him in as her own, and taught him how to survive.
Avery was a tough teacher. She would refuse to feed him until he managed to steal his own food, letting starvation become his motivator. He learned to fight, steal, lie, and cheat his way out of any situation. He even began to master his element, although Avery, as a water elemental, had little to do with teaching him that. And as he grew, he naturally grew inclined to smoking, like many of the others in the gang he considered his family. However, he still avoided alcohol like the plague, scarred by the vision of his father collapsing after hours of ranting. He took on Avery's last name, having never known his real one as his parents had never told him. One day, Avery told him she had nothing left to teach him. He was seventeen at the time. She told him that he couldn't stay with them anymore. That he had to make a life for himself outside of the slums. That he deserved more than to continue living like a criminal. Vincent didn't understand. He argued, of course, but in the end Avery knocked him out and when he came to, they had moved on from their base. Lost and without a purpose, Vincent came across an ad for hire looking for slavers. The job offered the opportunity to travel far and wide across Agea, and in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to get away from this blasted city.
He took the job, and spent four years in the slavery business, raiding beast-born villages and selling them into slavery. He felt so numb from the betrayal of not only his biological family, but both his adoptive families, that he hardly stopped to think about the beast-born lives he was ruining. On one snowy night, however, he was tasked with capturing a family of beast-born that had been hiding in the countryside. The mother and the father were apprehended easily with the element of surprise, but the daughter escaped into the woods. He chased her down, but when he had her cornered, something within him shifted. He looked within her eyes, and he let her go.
After that, he quit the slavery business, unable to stomach it anymore. He still doesn't understand what happened to him that night to change him so, but he couldn't look at a beast-born the same anymore. Six years later, he's returned to the slums of Riwa City, and lives in a one-room apartment again, this time on his own. Not much has changed in the past ten years, and he's still a criminal at heart, making his living through thievery alone. He's still reeling from the betrayal of everyone he cared about, and finds it difficult to trust others. His jaded world view will make convincing him to help find Audra's family difficult at best, but he's still got connections in the slavery business and might be able to gather information she could never possibly access.
coded by natasha.
VINCENT
"Call me Vinny again and you'll be walking out of here with a bloody nose."
Six Years Ago
When it snowed in the countryside, it was almost like a heavy white blanket had fallen down upon the world, so clean and pure it was almost magical.
And it pissed him off.
He threw the remains of his cigarette out the open window of the van, his steely blue gaze watching the sleepy village they had staked out with critical distaste. He hated the snow. Not just because it was cold, although that was certainly a factor. Rather, he was bothered by what it represented. Every time a fresh blanket of snow fell, he felt as if it were mocking him with it's purity. As if the tiny snowflakes that landed on his shoulders as he opened the vehicle's door and stepped out into the world were saying in tiny, chanting voices, We can purify you, Vincent. You don't have to be a criminal anymore. Sometimes, he swore he heard Avery's voice calling those same words to him in a flurry of snowflakes driven by a gust of wind. He knew, of course, that these voices were not real, but rather a manifestation of his annoyance. And yet, that made them little less annoying when they called out to him.
He didn't want to be purified. Being the bad guy was part of who he was. He didn't know how to live life without his hands in someone else's pockets, or someone else's blood smeared on his face. He pulled another cigarette out of the box, gripping it between his teeth and clicking his lighter with his hand cupped around the struggling igniter to protect it from the cold wind. Click. Click. Click. A flame sparked on the third try, and he pressed it to the cigarette hanging loosely on his lips to light it before tucking the lighter into the pocket of the wool-lined denim coat wrapped around his shoulders. He leaned against the van, breathing out a plume of smoke and watching the wind pull it away. His gaze was centered on the bottom of the hill the van was parked on, watching the treeline intently. Waiting for something, or someone.
In this case, it turned out to be two someones. His business associates emerged from behind a tall conifer into the clearing, climbing the steep hill to meet him where the van waited. "So? How'd it go?" Vincent's voice was rough from the effects of his addiction as he took another drag, closing his bad eye so he could better see the village over their shoulders. As far as he could tell from this distance, the lights were off in every house. Things were looking good.
"We found a whole family of hawks. They'll fetch good money in the falconry circuit. Their daughter is pretty young, too." The scrawny man with a sleazy voice reported, rubbing his gloved palms together. Whether the motion was a nervous habit or an effort to keep out the cold was anyone's guess.
"Anything else?" Vincent asked, pushing himself off the van he'd been leaning against.
This time, the young woman with wavy black hair answered, "Nothing of any importance. A few low-value items. The hawks are the real prize." Her voice was smoother than that of both of the two men before her, unstained by alcohol or cigarettes. But she, too, had her own vices. Namely, her addiction to money.
"Alright. Here's what we'll do..."
---------
Twenty minutes later, the group had developed their plan of action. While Vincent would bypass the lock on the front door, the other two could cover any possible escape routes the hawks could take. There were three windows in the house, but two were positioned close together. The weaselly man, ironically named Earnest, would cover those. The dark-haired woman by the name of Emma would cover the window on the opposite end of the house. Vincent would create a ruckus in the house near the front door, causing them to flee out their perspective escape routes...and directly into the cages waiting for them outside each window. If they decided to fly out, it would make things all the easier for them, as they likely wouldn't notice the cages before they had already fled the window. However, even if they stayed in human form and noticed the cages before they were inside them, Vincent was more than prepared to deal with them. If need be, he could suck the air out of their lungs until they collapsed, gasping for breath. They would not escape.
Everyone was in their positions. The lock on the front door was picked. Stamping out his cigarette on their front porch, he slammed open the door, stomping inside, intending to make a loud noise and, if he could, make it seem like there were more people at the front door than just one. He picked up a wooden chair from the modest dining table and threw it into the wall. It splintered and broke, the pieces falling to the floor loudly.
The game of cat and mouse had begun.
When it snowed in the countryside, it was almost like a heavy white blanket had fallen down upon the world, so clean and pure it was almost magical.
And it pissed him off.
He threw the remains of his cigarette out the open window of the van, his steely blue gaze watching the sleepy village they had staked out with critical distaste. He hated the snow. Not just because it was cold, although that was certainly a factor. Rather, he was bothered by what it represented. Every time a fresh blanket of snow fell, he felt as if it were mocking him with it's purity. As if the tiny snowflakes that landed on his shoulders as he opened the vehicle's door and stepped out into the world were saying in tiny, chanting voices, We can purify you, Vincent. You don't have to be a criminal anymore. Sometimes, he swore he heard Avery's voice calling those same words to him in a flurry of snowflakes driven by a gust of wind. He knew, of course, that these voices were not real, but rather a manifestation of his annoyance. And yet, that made them little less annoying when they called out to him.
He didn't want to be purified. Being the bad guy was part of who he was. He didn't know how to live life without his hands in someone else's pockets, or someone else's blood smeared on his face. He pulled another cigarette out of the box, gripping it between his teeth and clicking his lighter with his hand cupped around the struggling igniter to protect it from the cold wind. Click. Click. Click. A flame sparked on the third try, and he pressed it to the cigarette hanging loosely on his lips to light it before tucking the lighter into the pocket of the wool-lined denim coat wrapped around his shoulders. He leaned against the van, breathing out a plume of smoke and watching the wind pull it away. His gaze was centered on the bottom of the hill the van was parked on, watching the treeline intently. Waiting for something, or someone.
In this case, it turned out to be two someones. His business associates emerged from behind a tall conifer into the clearing, climbing the steep hill to meet him where the van waited. "So? How'd it go?" Vincent's voice was rough from the effects of his addiction as he took another drag, closing his bad eye so he could better see the village over their shoulders. As far as he could tell from this distance, the lights were off in every house. Things were looking good.
"We found a whole family of hawks. They'll fetch good money in the falconry circuit. Their daughter is pretty young, too." The scrawny man with a sleazy voice reported, rubbing his gloved palms together. Whether the motion was a nervous habit or an effort to keep out the cold was anyone's guess.
"Anything else?" Vincent asked, pushing himself off the van he'd been leaning against.
This time, the young woman with wavy black hair answered, "Nothing of any importance. A few low-value items. The hawks are the real prize." Her voice was smoother than that of both of the two men before her, unstained by alcohol or cigarettes. But she, too, had her own vices. Namely, her addiction to money.
"Alright. Here's what we'll do..."
---------
Twenty minutes later, the group had developed their plan of action. While Vincent would bypass the lock on the front door, the other two could cover any possible escape routes the hawks could take. There were three windows in the house, but two were positioned close together. The weaselly man, ironically named Earnest, would cover those. The dark-haired woman by the name of Emma would cover the window on the opposite end of the house. Vincent would create a ruckus in the house near the front door, causing them to flee out their perspective escape routes...and directly into the cages waiting for them outside each window. If they decided to fly out, it would make things all the easier for them, as they likely wouldn't notice the cages before they had already fled the window. However, even if they stayed in human form and noticed the cages before they were inside them, Vincent was more than prepared to deal with them. If need be, he could suck the air out of their lungs until they collapsed, gasping for breath. They would not escape.
Everyone was in their positions. The lock on the front door was picked. Stamping out his cigarette on their front porch, he slammed open the door, stomping inside, intending to make a loud noise and, if he could, make it seem like there were more people at the front door than just one. He picked up a wooden chair from the modest dining table and threw it into the wall. It splintered and broke, the pieces falling to the floor loudly.
The game of cat and mouse had begun.
coded by natasha.
Last edited:
