Next Backlog post, Derek Bliss, dear_multiverse, wing_line
8. What is your character's favorite holiday?
Until he reached the Nexus last year, Derek didn't really celebrate holidays, birthdays, or anything like it. He was usually either alone and/or working, and had neither time nor reason to pay much attention to that sort of thing. As with giving presents, he hasn't really shown any interest in Holidays other than Christmas--easy for him to acknowledge and keep track of ebcause of his religious upbringning, and New Years...because it's kind of hard to miss a holiday everyone celebrates, no matter how unsocialable he may be. Whatever emerges as his favorite holiday in years to come will likely depend on the best memories he builds with his new family.
9. What is your character's least favorite holiday?
He has no opinion on this. Although Mardi Gras makes it damned difficult to hunt on contract in New Orleans.
10. How close is your character to his friends? How well do they know him?
Most of his friends get treated with respect, honesty, and a willingness on Derek's part to answer any question they want to the best of his ability. It's been noted by others that what you see is what you get with Derek, and most of his secrets are along the lines of hurts from the past--most of which he's recovered from anyway, and when mentioned are mentioned casually and wothout undue attention. They're just less than happy facts from his life--no big deal, really.
11. What is your character's darkest secret? Who else knows about it?
Unless you count the still-living, but infected with vampirism, people he's had to kill (including a few children), Derek doesn't have much in the way of secrets.
12. Does your character have any siblings? What sort of relationship does he have with them?
Derek is the first of three siblings, and the only one to actually make it to birth. His two sisters are interred in the family plot in Malibu on his own homeworld. He's disappointed and sad that he never got to be a big brother for them, and has never forgotten them even though they were never physically present in his life.
13. What is your character's favorite hangout?
Any place wild--most often though at the beach or in the desert.
14. Where does your character feel most safe?
'Safety' is a relative term with Derek. On his homeworld, and with his job as a vampire hunter, no place is ever truly 'safe', and that sentiment has carried over with him to his wife's world, where not only have vampires cropped up, but there are also aliens and mafia-like corporations trying to take over the world from the under belly. Where he feels most 'relaxed' (which is as close to 'safe' feeling as he ever gets), is when he is with his wife.
15. Is your character a "regular" anywhere? What do the other people there think of him?
Derek frequents dear_multiverse on a near daily basis, giving advice and keeping an eye on the people with a more villaineous and immoral lean. Most people seem to get along with him there, except for a notable few--which are people that Derek himself has pushed a less than friendly relationship with.
16. If your character went to a zoo and didn't have time to see everything, which animals would he
look at?
The aviary, big cats and aquarium.
17. When your character goes shopping, which stores does he frequent?
Whatever stores other people drag him to. Derek's not much of a shopper--if he can walk into a store, get what he needs at a reasonable price, and leave quickly, he's happy. By the same token, he has the patience to keep his shopping nut friends company.
18. What is your character's financial situation? How does he feel about it?
Derek was both born to a wealthy family ('old money' supplimented by both parents having very well-paying jobs), as well as having a tendency of saving most of his earnings from his hunting contracts. As a result, he has a bank account that has him landed comfortably in the millionaire range. Thing is, though, that he's so used to not touching the money, unless he's buying things for someone else (like his wife), he tends to act and spend like he's lower-middle class instead. Money is not a driving force with him--what he has, he's kept so that he can take care of his loved ones easily.
19. What hobbies did your character have once, but has since given up on?
Surfing, music, and vehicle restoration. He's starting to get involved in them again now, but his interest is sporadic due to responsibilites elsewhere.
20. Has your character ever been fired from a job? If so, why?
Derek has only had one job--that of Vampire hunter. Although his fixer and contracts have changed over the years, he has never been taken off a contract, or fired by the organization that hired him in the first place.
21. Has your character ever quit a job? If so, why?
Derek originally trained with Jack Crows group. Although they wanted to keep him as a team member, Derek left them after a couple of years of training under them due to differences in attitude. He likewise asked a contract with the amry rangers to be voided after four years when the group of soldiers he was working with were completely wiped out by a master vampire due to bad intelligence.
22. Does your character have any children? What kind of relationship does he have with them?
No, although he wants some.
23. Does your character like to read? If so what does he read, and under what circumstances? Is he a
casual reader or a die-hard fanatic?
Yes, he does. He tends towards horror, thriller, mystery, and history books, alhtough he'll read anything that gets putin his hands. He's somewhere between the two extremes.
• Make up the titles of three books your character has read in the last year.
1) Relations Between Folkloric Vampirism and The Truth
2) The Well Watcher (Supposedly a Japanese book that's very much like The Ring)
3) One Cat Boogy (Thriller/Mystery based on a murder spree that took place in his world's New Orleans)
• Go to an online bookstore and find three real books your character has bought in the last year.
Has he actually read them?
1) The Once and Future King. Yes.
2) Le Morte De Arthur. Yes.
3) Hawkes Harbor. Not yet.
24. What is your character's favorite type of music? Does he have any favorite musicians?
Corny as it is, rock and roll. He tends to like all kinds of music though. Favored musicians are Poison, Steve Ray Vaughn and Deep Purple.
• Make up the names of three fictional bands your character feels strongly about.
Blaze of Glory--A tribute band he belonged to in school.
Gallows Pole--A band very much influenced by Led Zepplin
Maxine's Free--All woman rock group.
• Go to an online music store and find three real albums your character has bought in the last
year. Does he still listen to them?
He hasn't bought anything new in the past year, but he still listens to the music he does have.
25. Your character wakes up to find that war has been declared. What does he do?
Gets his weapons ready, prepares his 'safe spot' for his family, and waits to see if he needs to volunteer to help.
26. When he was a child, what did your character want to be when he grew up?
Again, corny, but a musician. Between sharing a world with Jon Bon Jovi, and getting sucked into the life of a vampire hunter, that obviously did not happen.
27. Is your character doing the job he always thought he wanted to do when he grew up? If so, is it all
he thought it would be? If not, why not and does he have any regrets?
No and no, but strangly enough, he doesn't regret it. As he puts it, he's had some really crappy moments, but if he hadn't lived through what he lived through, he wouldn't be where he was now.
28. What does your character wish he could do that he can't? How badly does he want it and what would he do to get it?
Derek is very much a believer in that he'll get out of life what he should get. So although he'll try very hard to reach any goal he sees, he won't compromise his basic belief systems.
29. What item does your character wish he possessed that he doesn't? How badly does he want it and
what would he do to get it?
There isn't much that Derek wants that he doesn't have--nothhing that would drive him to concentrate on it and nothing else.
• Think back to when your character was five years old, eight years old, twelve years old.
Write a holiday gift wish-list from his point of view.
At five, he really wanted a karate gi
At eight, a pony and a sword
At twelve, a guitar, a surf board, and a computer
• How does your character feel about physical possessions in a general sense?
They're good, but over all not necessary. He can get by on very little and be fine with it.
30. What is your character's most treasured possession?
His Jeep and his sensei's sword.
May
1. What is your character's secret dream? What one goal, ambition or desire does she keep hidden
from others, and why? What would she do to achieve it?
To be able to remove all vampires of the type that plague both his world and his wife's. The fact that he still hunts, even though he had retired once, says that he would put in quite a lot of effort to that goal.
• Write a list of your character's top five lifetime achievement goals.
1) Killing Jack Crow after the man became a vampire
2) Destroying the Cross of Berzier
3) Getting married
4) Setting up charities for various causes
5) Getting back into music
• Starting at age 15, write down one major goal for each five years of your character's life until
her current age.
15-20) Graduating Highschool, training to be a hunter
21-25) Passing Army Ranger training with his assigned platoon and fucntioning as part of their group.
26-30) Surviving longer than any other hunter in his field
31-Current) Getting married and starting a family of his own.
2. What is your character's worst fear? How far would she go to avoid it?
Outliving everyone he cares about. He would sacrifice himslf to avoid it.
3. If your character could be any famous person, whom would she choose and why?
John F. Kennedy. The guy was a playboy, but he was one of the straightest presidents American ever had.
• List your character's favorite celebrities.
He's not really fond of what he calls 'The Hollywood Scene', so has no favs.
• How does your character feel about the concept of fame and celebrity in general?
'Bleh'
• Is your character more interested in entertainment figures or historically significant figures?
Historical.
4. If your character could achieve any one position of authority, what would she choose and why?
He would just like to have to answer only to himself and his loved ones.
5. If your character could change the entire world in one tiny but pervasive way, what would it be?
He feels he does by hunting vampires and helping the other 'hero types' amoung his friends when they need a little extra hand.