inflagranted | (no subject)

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: lyn

AGED 18+? 31

RESERVED? Yes

IN-GAME CHARACTERS: None; invited by Amber

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Tyrannus Basilton 'Baz' Pitch

CANON: Carry On

CANON POINT: The night Simon Snow comes to his house (for the second time)

ARRIVAL TYPE: Accidental, when opening the door to let Simon in

IC USERNAME: burningpitch

HISTORY:

- A wizard from a world that draws heavily on Harry Potter and related tropes; i.e., attends a special wizard school, exists in a society apart from the non-magical world (although physically integrated: mages don't live apart from normal people, but they don't reveal their magic, either, and they have many of their own systems of governance)

- Part of an old, affluent family that, until recently, wielded a great deal of influence and power among other mages. This power shattered after vampires raided Watford, the wizard school, and killed its headmistress--Baz's mother.

- Baz was bitten during this attack. As a result, he is both a wizard and a vampire.

- In his first year at Watford, Baz was paired with Simon Snow by the Crucible, a magical object that determines a student's roommate for the entire course of their academic career.

- This was immediately problematic, because Simon Snow was the Heir of the Mage; i.e., heir to the revolutionary leader who stormed in after Baz's mother died, instituted sweeping reforms, and broke the chokehold Baz's family once enjoyed on mage society.

- The situation became even more dire when Baz realized that, despite their necessary antagonism towards one another, he was hopelessly in love with Simon.

- Things came to a head in their final year. Prior to the start of term, Baz was kidnapped by numpties (troll-like creatures made of rock), kept in a coffin for weeks and deprived of food (albeit not blood, but he needs both).

- He missed a lot of school because of this. However, his aunt eventually rescues him, and after a short period of convalescence, he returns to school--finding Snow furious at Baz's unexplained (and, to Snow's mind, probably sinister) absence.

- After a bit of the usual back-and-forth, Snow reveals that he'd been visited by the ghost of Baz's dead mother with clues as to the true nature of her death.

- This, and the growing power of an overarching evil entity referred to as the Insidious Humdrum, forces Baz and Snow into a temporary alliance.

PERSONALITY:

tw: suicidal ideation/action

At first glance, Baz seems polished, affluent, and more than a little bit smug. He comes from an old-money family, and he was raised with a sense of tradition, of privilege and entitlement. He wears suits for Sunday dinners at home; he plays tennis at a (magical) club; he plays the violin also, impeccably. At school, he's always top of the class.

Externally, Baz is sharp-tongued, poised, and self-possessed. He's quick with a waspish comment and he has little patience for--just about anything. If he's not sneering directly at a person or a situation, he's distant from it, cool and bored. This behavior is not entirely an affect: he really does have an attitude problem.

Baz was raised to think he sprung from the best of the best. His family history is steeped in tradition, in money, in power and influence gained and retained (at frequently dubious cost). As a human mage, he feels like an apex predator; non-humans of any stripe and humans without magic are inherently lesser. Even humans with magic but just not as much must accept their lower standing. Baz believes fully in the politics of his family, even though they're frequently exclusionary and elitist.

However, his pride is his downfall. Behind the precisely calibrated front he presents to the world, Baz roils with doubt, angst, and self-loathing. Bitten and turned by vampires as a child, Baz is now, by dint of his own beliefs, the exact kind of scum that his society ought to reject--if not outright exterminate. His family accepts his condition, but he's aware that if his vampirism were general knowledge, he'd have his fangs ripped out and his wand taken away. So he denies himself in the face of any accusation, and he denies the shifts in his nature, too--he's never bitten another person (despite wanting to).

He suffers particular angst over his mother, whom he clearly idolized (to be fair: a lot of people did). She's drawn as a fierce protector of the old ways he so respects, a woman who valued education and intellectual freedom--but who also supported gatekeeping that knowledge for the elite. Baz loved her dearly, and misses her constantly.

He's also absolutely certain that his mother would kill him if she were still alive, and that she'd be right to do it. As a vampire, he isn't simply non-human; he's a monster. His existence challenges the natural order of things, and Baz more than once thinks he'd just be better off dead. At one point, he even tries to do the job himself, via self-immolation, but he's stopped by Simon Snow.

Of course, that's his other problem. First, that he's gay, which seems to be mainly an issue within his family due to expectations of marriage and carrying on the lineage etc (expectations which, as he points out, are moot anyway since he's technically dead). But, more importantly, that he's in love with the one person he must view as a mortal enemy. As the Mage's Heir, Simon Snow represents the new world. The mage's reforms, his tyranny, his control. Snow's power keeps all of that in place. Baz, as directed by his family and his own sense of right and wrong, has to oppose him. And he does. But he'd rather not.

It's his present hope that Snow will just take him out in a final showdown, thus solving all of his issues in one clean sweep.

All that said: Baz does have points to recommend him. He is intelligent, he's cultured, and he's disciplined. He works hard to be the person his family expects him to be; his inability to completely fulfill that expectation causes much of his turmoil. And, though he has massive privilege issues to unpack, he is not relentlessly cruel. He respects the skills and talents of Simon's best friend, Penny; he respects competency, in general. Baz does also truly love Simon, and softens towards him once they actually embark on their relationship.

But, of course, that softening came after seven years of terrible--sometimes unspeakable--bullying. Let's not get it twisted: this boy is in serious need of personal growth. But he's not a hopeless case. Not entirely.

INVENTORY:
Wand
Clothes on his back (dark green dinner suit)

CHANGES: I don't think he needs any: Baz has magic, but it's nothing likely to break the setting. He's framed as a talented magician, but he's no unstoppable powerhouse (like some people he could name). He's also a vampire, affected by holy relics but not, traditionally, too much else (he's not big on sunlight, but it isn't going to kill him). He does need to drink blood every day, but he's never gotten it from a person and would be loathe to ask; instead, he just seeks out wildlife. If wildlife isn't readily available, this could potentially become a problem, but it's one I'd have fun addressing. So I'd like to keep him as-is, if possible!