Main
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GALLERY
Also try his tag on my art blog.
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BASICS
NAME
(Alexander) Tennant
AGE
39
GENDER
Male
BIRTHDAY
March 14
HAIR COLOR
Brown
EYE COLOR
Brown
ORIENTATION
Gay
RELATIONSHIP STATUS
Committed
BUILD
6'2". Trim, long-limbed and broad-shouldered
PLACE OF ORIGIN
Originally from South Carolina, now from San Lupo, a port city in the Eastern US
VOICE
Affected, musical Southern drawl. Less so when he's not concerned with being cute. Uses a lot of nicknames.
OCCUPATION
2nd in command of the Uccello crime family, strip club owner and generally sketchy businessman
WORDS
Dandy. Sunny. Sweet. Affectionate. Wicked. Masochist. Flamboyant. Particular. Self-critical. Perfectionist. Cruel. Liar. Two-faced. Cocky. Affected. Strong. Resilient. High-strung. Energetic. Lively. Loving. Loyal. Brave. Motivated. Chip-on-his-shoulder. Stubborn. Opinionated. Playful. Dramatic. Underhanded.
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DESCRIPTION
A man from terrible circumstances who kicked life in the proverbial teeth and has never given up control of it. Second in command of the Uccello crime family, owner of multiple sketchy strip clubs, and a perfectionist who plays the role of exactly the person he wants to be.
Tennant is a sweet, charming, flamboyant Southern gentleman - sunny and warm. He speaks with a lilting, cheerful drawl and has a way of making people feel safe and comfortable. He's also two-faced at hell, tough as nails, shrewd, and cruel. He's not altogether fake or cold - he genuinely cares for his friends and allies, and he feels passionately about protecting their interests - but he's ruthless and has a blurry sense of right and wrong. He's a stubborn, driven, willful man who expends an incredible amount of energy trying to be what he considers to be a better person.
Enjoys wildly exceeding people's low expectations of him, solving disputes with his fist and getting to people by being unflappable - he sees the world as being against him, and he's eager to prove it wrong. Holds himself to an incredibly high standard of appearance, behavior, and success. He's only really able to relax and be his unaffected self when he's alone with his bodyguard and partner of 16 years. He's a little bawdy, genuinely cheerful, stubborn and argumentative, and extremely affectionate. That said - most people who know him well just think he's a dirtbag, because his ruthlessness speaks louder than his affection.
TELL ME MORE ABOUTwhat makes him tick
Tennant constructed an elaborate persona and faked it until he made it. He acts like the kind of person he wants to be and the outward parts of that have been his genuine self for a long time now. He's actually very friendly, loving to his friends, and a big ball of sunshine. But he polices himself constantly, he's hard on himself, and he feels like he has to be in control of what others think of him or they'll catch a glimpse of the version of himself he sees and knock him down like a house of cards.
It's not that he's not proud of himself and his accomplishments, because he is. He knows how hard he worked to get where he is from where he was, even though he had to scrape and claw and screw people over to do it. He knows that he has worth that he earned. But he internalized being worthless or less from his childhood, and thinks that if he ever rests, stops, or fails to tear down the competition, other people will replace him. They started from a better place. More human. He's been playing catchup this whole time.
He runs away from ALL his problems because stopping is death. Admitting weakness knocks the house of cards down. Not just externally, but internally too. He isn't honest with himself about how he feels or even what he is. Getting him to open up is very frustrating because he tends to flip a mental switch from "confident Tennant" to "useless inferior liar Alex" and can't see himself occupying any healthy space between the two.
bloodsuckers
In some universes, Tennant recently became a vampire. Given that the existence of vampires is generally known to people involved in the criminal underworld, Tennant sustained an injury Daniel knew he couldn't recover from and made a quick, desperate deal to make sure he'd live in some way.
Tennant is not terribly different as a vampire. He feels pretty comfortable with not being human. At some level, Tennant has always believed that he was a monster pretending to be a human and stealing what he needed to get by. Now it's literal. Tennant's selfimage is usually something that he avoids thinking/talking about much, and Daniel doesn't see him that way, so him leaning into that makes Daniel sad.
On the other hand, being a vampire kind of turns most of the aspects of Tennant that Daniel is attracted to up to 11. Playful, stubborn, cocky vampire. Less interested in the minutiae of running his businesses and more interested in entertaining himself. Everything feels just a little less important to him now.
He does an okay job getting by with blood bags acquired from the hospital, the occasional unfortunate sap he would've dispatched anyway, and any misguided Van Hellsing types sent his way. He figures he's not any worse for society than he was before and it's unfair that they won't leave him alone.
My OC's world is already very much a "reality level about a foot off the ground" modern day real world, so in this universe, rather than being some big supernatural conspiracy vampires are more of a taboo that people don't want to talk about.
The public as a whole is aware that they exist, but thinks of them as a far-off concept they probably won't encounter unless they live a sketchy or out-of-the-ordinary life - like pirates, evil cults, or scary deepweb hitmen. It's illegal to feed off people and super illegal to turn them, and being caught as a vampire gives you similar status to a felon, so most vampires are confined to a shadier below-ground life even if they don't really hurt anyone or want to.
A vampire can subside on a diet of mostly food with similar-to-blood makeup with occasional human blood, which will make them very similar to or weaker than a regular human with all their biological processes running very slowly. They can also be killed pretty easily and do age slowly. Drinking more blood makes them more "supernatural": regenerating, not aging, being stronger and faster, etc.
They are burned by sunlight and mildly so by UV light in general. Herbs make them nauseous. Superstitions about reflections/silver apply depending on how much blood they drink/how monstery they are. Their behavior becomes substantially less human as they drink more blood.
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APPEARANCE
Tennant is a 39-year-old white man, 6'2" tall, with a slim build and long legs. His right arm is cleanly amputated just above the elbow. His hair is brown, fairly short, and generally fastidiously styled with a swoop or flip.
He looks young for his age, with soft features and an upturned button nose; he has a classically handsome, good-old-boy sort of appearance, like a Disney prince or Ken doll. His eyes are dark brown, wide and bright. He has a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. His mouth is wide, making his big, white smiles all the more intense.
He dresses sharply but loudly, with bright-colored blazers and white pants. He takes good care of himself, and it shows. He carries himself to impress as well - elegant, composed, neck long, shoulders back, firmly grounded. He cares very much about the impression he gives off and rarely seems to have his guard down.
He speaks with a lilting, musical tone and a playful South Carolinian accent. His word choice is as careful as anything else - he keeps as much of his regional dialect as he finds cute and charming, but avoids words and phrases that he thinks don't make him come across as articulate.
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FACTS
- Rarely seen without Daniel at his side.
- Doesn't use his first name and hates being called by it.
- Masochistic, in and out of bed. He likes pain because he lives in his head too much and the raw physical sensory input makes him feel alive.
- Doesn't actually show any signs of being attracted to anyone but Daniel. Very much demisexual, although he has no interest in identifying as such.
- The only man in his family, with five older half-sisters he doesn't like.
- Speaks English, fluent Spanish, and decent Italian.
- Impressively unsqueamish.
- Collects gay romance novels.
- Cleans when he's stressed.
- More capable of surviving outdoors than he seems. When he was young he used to run off into the woods for as long as he could get away with.
- Similar to one of those high-maintenance dogs that needs lots of attention and exercise or he'll start getting destructive. He likes to run and has a treadmill in his apartment.
- Only a social smoker and drinker. (The fact that he can smoke but isn't really addicted would annoy Daniel a lot if he had any ambition to quit.) He keeps minimal alcohol around himself because he's afraid of becoming an alcoholic.
- Likes to use pet names and they all fall on a sliding scale of how much he likes you. "Sweetie" is Daniel consistently; "sweetheart", "hun" and "honey" are all pretty nice; "darlin" is more distant; "doll" means he's mad or thinks lowly of you.
- Lives in a nice, bright, neat apartment across the hall from Daniel's. He owns the building.
- Has a reputation as a great guy to work for. He is, if you do as you're told. Especially kind to those with a background similar to his, but don't mistake kindness for respect. He has no qualms about using people and convincing himself it was best for everyone.
- Actually very close to his wife, just has no romantic interest in her. They live apart but are close friends and meet for tea at least once a week.
- Notable tics: Singsong voice~, tight-lipped smiles, pursing his lips, running his hand through his hair
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RELATIONSHIPS
- Daniel Sunderland is Tennant's dear partner of 16 years and personal bodyguard. Though they aren't married and technically live apart, they're stalwart companions who spend much more time together than not, and they've had tremendous influence over each others' lives. Daniel likes Tennant for his resilience, confidence, and bright personality. Tennant is the more emotionally stable of the two of them in their personal life. He's sunny, sweet, and has the drive and enthusiasm that Daniel lacks to carry them forward. He's also very good about providing support and comfort when Daniel needs it, without letting him wallow or stagnate. Daniel looks up to Tennant as a one-of-a-kind, magnetic personality, capable of great and terrible things, resourceful and unbreakable despite their shared background of being profoundly unwanted earlier in their lives.
On the other side, Tennant thinks of Daniel as something like "his good half." Daniel is good-natured, reasonable, and hard to shake, but also a little wild and down for anything. Tennant can feel his loyalty, and appreciates him as one of the few who can look him in the eye and see his for all he his and tries to be. But Daniel also isn't a pushover, and is willing to challenge him and his worst impulses. Tennant feels more human around Daniel than anyone else, and Tennant makes Daniel feel alive.
On the other side, Tennant thinks of Daniel as something like "his good half." Daniel is good-natured, reasonable, and hard to shake, but also a little wild and down for anything. Tennant can feel his loyalty, and appreciates him as one of the few who can look him in the eye and see his for all he his and tries to be. But Daniel also isn't a pushover, and is willing to challenge him and his worst impulses. Tennant feels more human around Daniel than anyone else, and Tennant makes Daniel feel alive.
- Conchita is Tennant's wife of almost 20 years. Despite the clear lack of romance between them, they are old and close friends. Their marriage was a means to the end that has outlived its original purpose thanks to the trust and respect they built with each other. It turned out that they had a fair amount in common - likes, interests, and feelings of isolation - and trust each other much more than they trust their families.
Tennant has always been quite enamored with Conchita, who was very different from anyone he grew up around. She taught him to fight, and he modeled a lot of his personality on hers. On Conchita's end, Tennant has always been patient, bold, and completely ride-or-die for her.
- Tennant is Dom Uccello's second-in-command. They are friends and get along pretty well, but have their share of dirt on each other, too.
Tennant is the one who broke Dom's nose years ago. They got into a fight over Tennant's closeness to Carly, Dom's wife. Tennant was actually better friends with Carly than with Dom. He appreciated her straightforward attitude and liked having her around.
- Jilles works under Tennant. Tennant resents him a little for all the cushy treatment and allowances Dom gives him. He finds Jilles boring and unintelligent, and usually calls him "the drone."
Tennant is one of Jilles' bosses, and Jilles finds him two-faced and despicable. This is true but at least partially displacement, since he wants to like and be liked by Dom, so he ends up blaming Tennant for things Dom is actually responsible for. Tennant is one of the few people Jilles knows and isn't nice to.
- Daniel Sunderland is Tennant's dear partner of 16 years and personal bodyguard. Though they aren't married and technically live apart, they're stalwart companions who spend much more time together than not, and they've had tremendous influence over each others' lives. Daniel likes Tennant for his resilience, confidence, and bright personality. Tennant is the more emotionally stable of the two of them in their personal life. He's sunny, sweet, and has the drive and enthusiasm that Daniel lacks to carry them forward. He's also very good about providing support and comfort when Daniel needs it, without letting him wallow or stagnate. Daniel looks up to Tennant as a one-of-a-kind, magnetic personality, capable of great and terrible things, resourceful and unbreakable despite their shared background of being profoundly unwanted earlier in their lives.
