NAME: monarch

BIRTHNAME: birch vandel

NICKNAMES: the cannibal, murder butterfly, vos' cannibal, princess, princess butterfly, the feral one 

BIRTHDATE: march 3, 1376

AGE: 675 years / appears to be 20

SPECIES: half-pixie (dark), half-vampire. though the vampire side is pretty openly known about (within vos and of course with his cousin atlas), he doesn't exactly claim it. he's far more fond of his pixie blood, though not fond of his family (outside of aforementioned cousin). 

ORIENTATION: unrevealed ual and romantic orientations.

FACECLAIM: wang haoxuan

HEIGHT: 5'6 ("small." "it's a respectable height for pixies—")

 

APPEARANCE: monarch has a complicated relationship with the mirror and with what the mirror shows him. how slim, how slight, how delicate and fragile and soft and sweet his natural features are.

 

monarch's hair is long and dark, usually pulled partially up with two free sections that always hang to frame his face. he tends to wear a hairpiece to denote some kind of high standing among the pixie community, but not one that would give away his status as the runaway prince (not that any other pixie has ever mistaken him for anyone else). he only pulls his hair up off of his neck when he wants to make an impression or is in formal dress, and he only wears his hair loose and free if he's at home and alone or in the presence of a lover. usual hairstyle.

 

his features are soft and delicate, as could be expected of a pixie, but have the alluring pull of his vampire blood. spots of orange, white, black and brown coloration like that of a monarch butterfly are strewn haphazardly across his body in patches. there's a natural pallor to his skintone from his mother's side of the family, but monarch tends to cover that with the same foundation he uses to conceal the speckles on his face, while the patches on his body are hidden by his clothes. also hidden by his robes are scars on his chest from surgery.

 

pallid lips are always painted with color to make them seem more alive, generally drawn in some kind of smile or smirk that shows sharp, sharp, accented canines and straight white teeth, sometimes dripping blood from a fresh meal or a fight. vibrant golden eyes are hidden behind brown contact lenses, though sometimes an amber glow seeps through. delicate wings, those of a monarch butterfly, are also hidden unless he has to use them.

 

just like his features, his frame is delicate like that which would be expected of a pixie. despite being tall for his species, he's short in comparison to most men who aren't of pixie descent. his body is slim, soft lines—thin wrists, trim waist, dainty hands that look soft but are rough to the touch from years of swordplay and climbing trees when he could slip away.

PERSONALITY PRESENTED: one who meets monarch would think that he's genuine, albeit in the worst of ways, considering his reputation of being a murderous brute who eats people. (the reputation is, in fact, not wrong.) he speaks of what he eats without seeming to care of the responses it triggers in other people, he utters what seem to be thinly-veiled threats. in the presence of other people he's brutal with his words, he makes it clear that he gives no s and allows himself to be looked upon as 'scary'. and honestly, that serves him so much better than being thought of as friendly. 

 

yet despite the assumption that monarch is genuine, he talks and talks and talks but never says anything that will tell anyone anything about who he really is or what his goals are, what he does or what he's been through. one could feel as though their conversation is going somewhere but it will always lead to dead ends, with them often more confused about monarch than they were before the encounter. and he revels in it.  

 

monarch portrays himself as violent and reckless. when other people meet him, he smiles and it's all teeth. he presents himself as a threat, all danger and blood. he eats people, he's a haughty upstart with overconfident behavior and a lack of care about any form of repurcussion to his actions, from the law or from akaedi vos—or at least, that's how he behaves. 

 

TRUE PERSONA: intelligence. they don't see it, in the brash facade monarch wears. he hides everything that could provide a hint to his identity or to his weaknesses, chooses to be seen as a brute rather than a clever, dangerous little pixie with more power at his fingertips than he will admit to anyone.

 

manipulation, words on the tip of his tongue that seem innocent but bring people to do what he wants them to without ever even realizing they've played into his hands.

 

vindictive, vicious and violent, but also patient, monarch bides his time until he can bring his revenge about. in the meantime, he has no problem slaughtering the enemies of vos and eating citizens of the city of dreams. he has no concept of mercy or remorse for his actions.  and should he be brought 'to justice', monarch will expect no mercy.

 

monarch plays the role of the chaotic monster well, one has to give him credit there. but even though he may torment, he may kill, he may rip a person to shreds and devour their flesh, he has something that he tries to hide: morals, and what might be somewhat redeeming qualities hiding under the surface.

 

a protective nature that can be stirred easily, a ruthless desire to avenge those who were wronged in ways similar to his own traumas. a refusal to hurt people in certain ways, a powerful compassion for children and a quiet generosity he makes sure no one sees. ever. he covers everything with quips, sharp remarks about only doing what he wants, and insults to hide the truth. monarch has a soft side, a soft side he spends most of his time battling against because it doesn't fit into his curated image of monster.

BACKSTORY: monarch doesn't like talking about his past, even to the few he actually trusts. most of the things he went through are a secret, and he'd prefer to keep them that way. he's admitted that he doesn't know if his mother and stepfather are alive, that his mother was a and his birth father a cruel bastard, but monarch is smart and knows that if he reveals too much the pixie king will find him and will send soldiers after him again, whether to bring him back to the pixie realm or kill him is to be seen. so monarch keeps his mouth shut, and only divulges the barest of details when he has no other option. 

— likes.

– murder.

– cute animals. 

– intimidation and fear tactics. 

– torture. 

– the flower shop and the respite it provides from the violence of his routine. 

– physical contact. 

 

— dislikes. 

– alcohol. 

– his vampire blood. 

– hunger.

– ferns.  

– idiots. 

– his ability to bind people to owe him favors. 

 

— fears. 

– being powerless. 

 

— facts about monarch.

–  height comes from his vampire blood. pixies are a small species and though monarch is considered small among other people, he's not small for a pixie. however, he's surrounded by people taller than he is. 

–  he named himself monarch after the butterfly and after his status as the half-blood heir of the pixie court, and his plan to claim his rightful throne. 

– monarch lets people believe that he eats flesh because he wants to, but the truth is, he was always weaker before... before. he had never had fresh blood before. it had always been cold blood bags, cold and awful and stale enough to make him choke. but his first real feed changed things, when he tore the man's throat out with his fangs, when hot blood hit his tongue but wasn't enough. after that, blood could only hold the hunger for so long. he had to eat the flesh too, had to eat it hot and fresh, blood still trying to pump. 

– monarch has to eat every day in order to keep his urges and hunger under control. he usually eats half an adult to a whole adult daily in one large meal, rather than eating throughout the day. if he gorges once in the day, he can eat while everything is fresh and keep himself sated until his next meal (unless there are unforeseen circumstances that make him hungry or prevent him from eating the next day).

– basically, he isn't a monster by choice, but he lets people think he is.

– he didn't get lower surgery and he doesn't plan on doing so. that's just his personal choice. 

– monarch remembers all of the vandels, from his siblings' father to their mother to willow to juniper. he would know any of them if he saw them again. he would know immediately who it was.

– a huge brat, though he doesn't really let that part of him come out. it pretty much only appears when he's drunk, which is another reason he doesn't exactly like alcohol or himself when he drinks. has the capacity to be a shameless tease, but does he do that? not usually. 

– he listens to girls' day. that's his musical taste. thirsty is his anthem, darling is a bop. 

– beneath all of the bluster and bravado, monarch is actually teensy. his behavior, however, is enough to make him seem larger than he really is.

– actually a clean freak, when he's not eating (what happens when he eats is monstrous and messy and he doesn't talk about it). can't stand having a mess in his living space and his room is immaculate. his room is also borderline barren, but the two things are unconnected. he didn't grow up with much in the way of possessions and so he doesn't keep a clutter. this is a vandel family trait tbh

– extravagent tastes, rich and he dresses like it. even if the clothes he wears are sometimes plain to look at on first glance, all of them are expensive and made of fine materials and craftsmanship.

– call him a woman, a girl, look down on him for his size and stature or mistake him for something he isn't and monarch will gut you on the spot, with one of the knives that is never far from reach.

– fact.

MONARCH ONCE SAID...

"you couldn't arrest me. you'd have to be able to catch me to do that. you'd have to have reason to arrest me, darling. and you have no jurisdiction outside of this city." to demitri gautier.

 

"i won't be a report on your desk. i won't, because no one is going to catch me. i'm too good at covering my tracks." to demitri gautier.

 

"i'm not a toy for the two of you to play tug-of-war with." to basil and demitri gautier.

NAME: connections will be formatted later. for now have some rough babble

 

WILLOW AND JUNIPER VANDEL: willow vandel is better known as gisela yavetz. his half-siblings on the vampire side, willow and juniper are the only good things to come of his vampire blood. as of july 31, 2051, they are working toward getting to know each other. willow (gisela, now) is apprehensive and has no memory of his early life, so juniper and monarch are being patient and trying to help. 

 

ATLAS: the baby cousin that needs monarch's protection. not that monarch would say that. he's always giving atlas a hard time, bullying his cousin but if anyone were to say something to atlas, monarch would cut out their tongues and feed it to them. atlas is a precious thing—he's family, and not the kind that monarch wants to kill—he's someone monarch loves. monarch also changed his diapers and will never let him forget that because that's his baby cousin. emphasis on baby.

 

BASIL: they're the two pretty best friends. no really, they are. monarch and basil are two pretty es, and while monarch might tell himself he doesn't really have friends and he's just acting, blah blah blah, he really does care about basil and somewhere in the deep void of his heart he does consider basil to be his best friend. he would leave the world a bloodbath if someone had the audacity to hurt his precious lizardman.

 

AKAEDI VOS: notoriously, monarch never really listens to his boss except for when he feels like it. akaedi's seemingly-endless patience is always being tested by monarch, who has no desire to make akaedi's life easy and is always rebelling in his own little ways and sometimes in big ones. but as much as he pisses akaedi off, akaedi knows he needs monarch. and monarch knows it. he's infuriatingly good at his jobs. (and maybe they care for each other, in some strange way, despite their mutual abrasive tendencies.)

 

LEILA DANAUS: leila was ten years old when monarch found her, hungry and cold in siberia. he always had a soft spot for children and so he took her with him, bought her warm clothes and gave her a hot meal and when he left russia, he left with a small hand firmly tucked in his. in his year of travels leila went everywhere monarch did, and when he settled in the city of dreams he brought leila with him. though she grew up on the street, monarch refused to let her go back to the street and so she lives with him. initially, there was a secret house, but it was exposed by an unknown group and so now she lives in the vos house with him. he's put leila in school, fed her, and clothed her since she came into his care and she's adopted him as the brother (father) she never had to protect her. 

the surname danaus comes from the scientific name of the monarch butterfly. this is the surname monarch uses when pressed, and leila adopted it as her own.

 

NAME: connection

ALIGNMENT: vos

RANK: officer

ROLE: headhunter, negotiator

OCCUPATION: manager at akaedi's flowers

 

WITHIN VOS: within vos, monarch is a bit of a loner. the person he's most often seen with (outside of vos himself) is basil, and right after that comes kivari. he prefers to work alone, and remains distant in vos gatherings. despite being in one of the city's most tight-knit groups, he isn't a big team player. he works strictly toward his goals and what benefits himself, but despite being so quiet and withdrawn he manages to blend in and evade suspicion of being more than a hungry maneater.

 

WITH AKAEDI: monarch is a wild animal on a very loose leash. he has the freedom to do essentially whatever he pleases with akaedi's seal of approval so long as it doesn't bring trouble to vos. dating demitri has earned him a few scoldings, for all the times demitri has done what akaedi considers instigating a conflict, but akaedi does not push. his disapproval is noted but his "pet cannibal", as some rivals would call monarch, remains at the table. just... not the dinner table. 

 

TO RIVALS: to other organized crime factions in the city, monarch is a menace. they know who he is. they know what kind of work he does for akaedi and they know having him on their tail is worse than having kivari, because where kivari is a clumsy puppy monarch is a wolf on a scent. monarch, they know, is in charge of negotiations for vos—and it's not just because he's good at working a situation in his favor. it's also because of the fear he strikes in anyone who isn't on his side of the table. it's well-known that those who cross monarch have a habit of disappearing. 

 

TO THE DREAM GUARD: they know him as demitri's boyfriend, but klahan also knows him as a brutal killer and eden, too, knows of monarch's involvement in vos. he's a threat that  hasn't been entirely exposed yet, even if some (reina) are suspicious.

 

TO CITIZENS: in the eyes of citizens, monarch is one of two things: the manager of a flower shop, or the person who talks about eating people like he's talking about having a steak or a salad at a restaurant. either way, most citizens of the city don't know all that much about monarch or have a relationship with him. Most that he encounters outside of the flower shop end up as a meal, anyway. 

WEAPONS: monarch owns all manner of blades, but he's the most proficiently trained in swords and knives, so those are his preference. he also has a fondness for knives because of how they've served him since he was young. the weapons he will carry and use most frequently are: 

— knife that was gifted to him by demitri. 

— sword, which he can snap open into a double-bladed weapon. she can also separate into two different swords. when he summons the blade, she's usually in a small cylindrical form and the blades appear afterward, but she also has a sheath. diagram of her bladed forms. her name is ferity, meaning the state of being feral.

— an array of knives under his robes and in his sleeves, boots, and hidden between his belt and his body.  

 

NATURAL POWERS, PIXIE:

— dark magic

— flight (without wings)

— mischief

— binding people to repay him in favors if he so wishes. he hates this and he hates having people owe him favors, so he tries to avoid that happening, though some are adament that they owe him.

 

NATURAL POWERS, VAMPIRE:

— seduction

— mesmerism

— blood-bending

 

STRENGTHS: speed, agility, and a lightweight body, all of which make it easy for him to dance circles around opponents. cunning and a drive to keep going even when he might be on his last scrap of strength. brutal thirst for blood. 

 

WEAKNESSES: iron, which burns the fae and pixies are no exception even if they have separated from the fae court and claim their right as a species all their own.

delicate, gossamer wings which are very sensitive, and a simple cut can put his wing out of commission for a long period to heal. healing his wings takes forever, and the duration of his healing period is longer.

very lightweight. despite being physically strong, monarch's lack of body weight makes him a weaker opponent when it comes to things like grappling, wrestling, or anything that might require him overpowering an opponent merely with brute force. 

 

FIGHTING STYLE: monarch makes battle a dance, light on his feet and gleefully dancing a deadly dance with his enemies. he's beautiful to watch fight, but his style isn't beautiful to be on the receiving end of. his blades will rend and rip and tear until there's nothing left.

NYMPHALIS ANTIOPA: over the past five years since his departure from the pixie realm, nymphalis has been assassinating members of the pixie king's court, particularly those who tried to force him into a marriage or who had wronged him so many years before. nymphalis sends his father their heads in boxes when he successfully completes an assassination.

 

the names nymphalis and antiopa come from the mourning cloak butterfly, nymphalis antiopa. no one knows the identity of nymphalis. it is a name whispered quietly in the shadows.

 

no one has survived one of his attacks, so there are no witnesses to give him away.

CROWN: available, seeking a pixie.

you’re a pixie, and that’s a problem, because you know exactly who monarch is. you know who his father is, you know he’s the runaway prince and that his name isn’t really monarch. but you also know he’s ruthless, bloodthirsty, and everything that could be expected out of the mix of a vampire and a dark pixie. you could turn him in to the pixie court, but there’s a look in monarch’s eyes whenever you see him that tells you it wouldn’t be wise to cross him.

 

A PARTICULAR TASTE: available, seeking anyone.

monarch has some… strange eating habits, everyone in vos knows that. but you're (possibly) not in vos and you just happen to be the unlucky person who stumbles across monarch in the forest one night. there’s blood and flesh everywhere and the sight is enough to make even your stomach turn, because that’s not an animal he’s eating. and when he raises his head, his eyes meet yours and you want to run but you're frozen on the spot.

 

NAME: monarch

LOVER: demitri gautier

NICKNAMES: darling, my heart

PLAYED BY: prompto 

 

DATE: july 3, 2051

STATUS: dating

 

a whirlwind romance, one moment barely friends and the next drunk-cuddling and then professing mutual attraction in the forest. there might be individuals concerned about their relationship on many levels, but monarch is content with the lover he has chosen. after all, he wouldn't accept anything less than the best, and demitri is the best. 

MINTY SAYS: hi hello this is minty! welcome to the long ride that is monarch's profile sjsjsjs it's probably going to grow even longer as we go so let's chill and wait for that shall we? ahem anyway if you'd like to plot hit me up in a dm and please don't make any posts on my wall, thank you!!