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writers_muses# 122.7: Mun Prompt
Jan. 13th, 2010 03:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adriengriffonReally epic length. I promise it answers the question somewhere in there. Not sure whether I'm going to post it to writers_muses yet or not. It's like...really off-topic for most of the response. Lots of info about Adrien, though.
WM # 122.7: Are you a multiple sex writer/RPer or do you find yourself only writing one or the other? What draws you to your preference? Have you ever rejected a muse solely on the basis of their sex, or sexual preference? Would you ever write a muse AU in the opposite sex just to allow you to bypass your preference?
I often find myself writing only for male characters, though in terms of personality and sexuality all my muses are different. I have never agreed with adding sex to a scene, story, or novel merely to add smut. Most of my characters, therefore, show very little real sex in my writing, until it serves a purpose. Adrien is, perhaps, my most sexual muse and also my most twisted muse.
Adrien is a vampire, yes, but he has several mental problems that have been present since he was a child. He was born with albinism in a time when people still believed in demons and witches. He was also the youngest of five children of a poor, rural French noble. His father was an alcoholic and would beat him when he was drunk. His two older brothers would pick on him mercilessly for his partial blindness and his too-pale coloring. His sisters ignored him completely. His mother became his safe haven, and he could often be found by her side while she was still alive. He was only nine years old when she died of cancer. He took it very hard.
His mental problems, therefore, were very quick to manifest, even as a human. By the age of seven, his temper had gotten him numerous beatings from his father. He very rarely took responsibility for these early transgressions, a trend which has continued into the present day. By the age of nine, he was suspected in the deaths of several doves, two cats, and his brother Andre's fox hound puppy, though it was never proven. Each death, though characteristic of fox predation, occurred after the owner of the animal teased, abused, or angered Adrien. Finally he was caught one day, using a knife his father gave him on his fox hound puppy, Belle. The puppy's ears had been cut off and her tail partially severed. She had severe lacerations to her face and her front legs, and the most horrific injury of all, her intestines had been partially pulled out of her body through a cut to her abdomen. Needless to say, she did not survive her injuries. Adrien was beaten severely for the incident, but maintained the dog made him do it, for not learning to hunt properly (she was only a couple months old at the time, and hardly trained).
There were other offenses during his teenage years, far more serious, that were never tied to Adrien. His brother Andre was found in the forest behind the family's residence with a crossbow bolt in his stomach. He was still alive when he was found, surprisingly, but once the bolt was pulled out he succumbed to internal injuries and infection. Adrien was suspected, but as he'd been helping his brother Jean-Paul for part of the day, he was never accused of the murder. His brother, Jean-Paul, also a frequent tormentor of Adrien, when their father away, was the next to die. The eldest de Moulins boy was found in his rooms, seemingly sick with cholera. He died shortly after. Adrien was never suspected, though he knew better than almost anyone where his mother left the bottle of arsenic she took from the doctor a few days before she died.
Adrien's father died of “natural” causes, a drinking binge gone too far. Adrien was left as head of the family. By the next spring, however, Vicomte de Moulins had a new wife, a daughter of Spanish nobility, a family wishing to ally themselves with the French throne during one of the many lulls in fighting between the two nations. Isabel de Moulins found her new husband to be unpredictable, to say the least. He was charming at first, a model husband and father to their first son. With the birth of their first daughter, however, he turned alternately cold or insanely jealous. Adrien became extremely possessive of her, and she was seldom allowed to leave the house. The Vicomte de Moulins's family stopped attending Sunday mass after Adrien accused several of the men of indecent behavior toward his wife and children.
Unexplained deaths continued to surround Adrien. One of the men from the village was found hung from the rafters of his home. It was officially deemed a suicide. Adrien and Isabel's third child, a girl, was killed shortly after birth by an enraged Adrien, who claimed the child looked nothing like either of them and was therefore not his. Isabel told no one, not even the servants, of the incident. She claimed the baby was stillborn.
It was only after the birth of their fifth child (the fourth to survive infancy), that Isabel de Moulins managed to get a bit of freedom for herself, when her husband began hunting for long periods in the forests on their lands. She took a lover from the village, a Spaniard like herself. They met only when her husband was out on his hunts. And then, one day, Adrien came home early and caught the man in their home. Surprisingly, no words were exchanged and no blows were thrown. Though he held a musket in one hand, he didn't attempt to shoot the fleeing suitor. Once the man left, however, Adrien beat Isabel as savagely as his father had ever beat him.
Ironically, the death that haunts his subconscious most is one that he didn't cause. Isabel caught influenza from her suitor. Both died.
After Isabel's death, Adrien became more detached from his family, leaving them in the care of servants and tutors for weeks on end, all except little Catherine, his youngest daughter, who inherited her father's albinism. His son's death, at the hands of King Charles's soldiers during the Wars of Religion, was what brought him out of the depression his wife's death caused. He became very protective of the three remaining de Moulins children, and life was increasingly difficult for the family's servants, who could do nothing to please him. With their father hovering protectively around them, it was only a matter of time before he showed violence towards the children. Servants caught him numerous times trying to drown his older daughter Marie in her bath water. It is likely that none of the de Moulins children would have survived to adulthood, even if their father hadn't been turned and left to kill them.
Thus it was, even before he was given Malkavian blood, he definitely possessed many of the symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder and was, perhaps, borderline paranoid-schizophrenic. After he was turned, it developed into true paranoid-schizophrenia. Also during this early time, he started having very vivid delusions, visions of startling clarity, hunger-induced fantasies of his Isabel with highly sexual and violent overtones. Two years after becoming a vampire, Adrien began killing women bearing striking resemblance to Isabel. It is a trend that has continued to this day.
“Sex” for Adrien can be defined many different ways. With women, it is most often the fulfillment of increasingly violent and sadistic fantasies. Given the vampire's abilities, these victims last far longer than a human serial killer's victims would, and in the end they are discarded when either their minds break from the strain or they grow too weak.
There is another definition for him, and that is true sexual contact with a partner he trusts completely. Given his delusions, these partners are few and far between, and when he does find them he often either loses interest after a while, gains predatory interest in them, or slowly he develops delusions regarding their loyalty and the relationship is violently terminated. He is susceptible to mental manipulation from a stronger vampire, however, and at least one partner has used that to his advantage.
I write for Adrien because he is a challenge. Getting his personality right, after 6 years of writing for him, is still as tricky as it was when I was first developing his mental problems, back when he was very new. He is a tricky muse, and habitually lies to himself and others. It is this challenge, more than anything, that keeps me writing for him. That and he's just a fun muse (I know that sounds horrible...).
I have not rejected muses based solely on their sex, or sexual preference, but that is because it generally doesn't occur to me to write for them in the first place. I don't write lesbian or bi-sexual female characters. I have found, on the whole, that for every successful gay, lesbian, bi, or transsexual character, either in a novel or in roleplay, there are far too many horribly over-sexed ones. Adrien, while he is technically bi-sexual, is mostly just completely indifferent. Human-style sexual relations, for him, require a level of complete trust that very few people (and VERY few women) ever achieve. As for my other characters, I seldom, if ever, roleplay sex unless it is absolutely necessary for the character's growth. This is a personal choice, based on irritation at certain professional writers who include far too much pointless smut in their books, and not aimed at anyone I roleplay with.
As for AU characters of the alternate sex, I do not agree with changing a cannon character to that degree. Some changes are great and can make for interesting roleplay, while trying to stay in-character. When the changes become too great, there is no point even keeping the same name on the character. Again, a personal preference.
writers_muses yet or not. It's like...really off-topic for most of the response. Lots of info about Adrien, though.WM # 122.7: Are you a multiple sex writer/RPer or do you find yourself only writing one or the other? What draws you to your preference? Have you ever rejected a muse solely on the basis of their sex, or sexual preference? Would you ever write a muse AU in the opposite sex just to allow you to bypass your preference?
I often find myself writing only for male characters, though in terms of personality and sexuality all my muses are different. I have never agreed with adding sex to a scene, story, or novel merely to add smut. Most of my characters, therefore, show very little real sex in my writing, until it serves a purpose. Adrien is, perhaps, my most sexual muse and also my most twisted muse.
Adrien is a vampire, yes, but he has several mental problems that have been present since he was a child. He was born with albinism in a time when people still believed in demons and witches. He was also the youngest of five children of a poor, rural French noble. His father was an alcoholic and would beat him when he was drunk. His two older brothers would pick on him mercilessly for his partial blindness and his too-pale coloring. His sisters ignored him completely. His mother became his safe haven, and he could often be found by her side while she was still alive. He was only nine years old when she died of cancer. He took it very hard.
His mental problems, therefore, were very quick to manifest, even as a human. By the age of seven, his temper had gotten him numerous beatings from his father. He very rarely took responsibility for these early transgressions, a trend which has continued into the present day. By the age of nine, he was suspected in the deaths of several doves, two cats, and his brother Andre's fox hound puppy, though it was never proven. Each death, though characteristic of fox predation, occurred after the owner of the animal teased, abused, or angered Adrien. Finally he was caught one day, using a knife his father gave him on his fox hound puppy, Belle. The puppy's ears had been cut off and her tail partially severed. She had severe lacerations to her face and her front legs, and the most horrific injury of all, her intestines had been partially pulled out of her body through a cut to her abdomen. Needless to say, she did not survive her injuries. Adrien was beaten severely for the incident, but maintained the dog made him do it, for not learning to hunt properly (she was only a couple months old at the time, and hardly trained).
There were other offenses during his teenage years, far more serious, that were never tied to Adrien. His brother Andre was found in the forest behind the family's residence with a crossbow bolt in his stomach. He was still alive when he was found, surprisingly, but once the bolt was pulled out he succumbed to internal injuries and infection. Adrien was suspected, but as he'd been helping his brother Jean-Paul for part of the day, he was never accused of the murder. His brother, Jean-Paul, also a frequent tormentor of Adrien, when their father away, was the next to die. The eldest de Moulins boy was found in his rooms, seemingly sick with cholera. He died shortly after. Adrien was never suspected, though he knew better than almost anyone where his mother left the bottle of arsenic she took from the doctor a few days before she died.
Adrien's father died of “natural” causes, a drinking binge gone too far. Adrien was left as head of the family. By the next spring, however, Vicomte de Moulins had a new wife, a daughter of Spanish nobility, a family wishing to ally themselves with the French throne during one of the many lulls in fighting between the two nations. Isabel de Moulins found her new husband to be unpredictable, to say the least. He was charming at first, a model husband and father to their first son. With the birth of their first daughter, however, he turned alternately cold or insanely jealous. Adrien became extremely possessive of her, and she was seldom allowed to leave the house. The Vicomte de Moulins's family stopped attending Sunday mass after Adrien accused several of the men of indecent behavior toward his wife and children.
Unexplained deaths continued to surround Adrien. One of the men from the village was found hung from the rafters of his home. It was officially deemed a suicide. Adrien and Isabel's third child, a girl, was killed shortly after birth by an enraged Adrien, who claimed the child looked nothing like either of them and was therefore not his. Isabel told no one, not even the servants, of the incident. She claimed the baby was stillborn.
It was only after the birth of their fifth child (the fourth to survive infancy), that Isabel de Moulins managed to get a bit of freedom for herself, when her husband began hunting for long periods in the forests on their lands. She took a lover from the village, a Spaniard like herself. They met only when her husband was out on his hunts. And then, one day, Adrien came home early and caught the man in their home. Surprisingly, no words were exchanged and no blows were thrown. Though he held a musket in one hand, he didn't attempt to shoot the fleeing suitor. Once the man left, however, Adrien beat Isabel as savagely as his father had ever beat him.
Ironically, the death that haunts his subconscious most is one that he didn't cause. Isabel caught influenza from her suitor. Both died.
After Isabel's death, Adrien became more detached from his family, leaving them in the care of servants and tutors for weeks on end, all except little Catherine, his youngest daughter, who inherited her father's albinism. His son's death, at the hands of King Charles's soldiers during the Wars of Religion, was what brought him out of the depression his wife's death caused. He became very protective of the three remaining de Moulins children, and life was increasingly difficult for the family's servants, who could do nothing to please him. With their father hovering protectively around them, it was only a matter of time before he showed violence towards the children. Servants caught him numerous times trying to drown his older daughter Marie in her bath water. It is likely that none of the de Moulins children would have survived to adulthood, even if their father hadn't been turned and left to kill them.
Thus it was, even before he was given Malkavian blood, he definitely possessed many of the symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder and was, perhaps, borderline paranoid-schizophrenic. After he was turned, it developed into true paranoid-schizophrenia. Also during this early time, he started having very vivid delusions, visions of startling clarity, hunger-induced fantasies of his Isabel with highly sexual and violent overtones. Two years after becoming a vampire, Adrien began killing women bearing striking resemblance to Isabel. It is a trend that has continued to this day.
“Sex” for Adrien can be defined many different ways. With women, it is most often the fulfillment of increasingly violent and sadistic fantasies. Given the vampire's abilities, these victims last far longer than a human serial killer's victims would, and in the end they are discarded when either their minds break from the strain or they grow too weak.
There is another definition for him, and that is true sexual contact with a partner he trusts completely. Given his delusions, these partners are few and far between, and when he does find them he often either loses interest after a while, gains predatory interest in them, or slowly he develops delusions regarding their loyalty and the relationship is violently terminated. He is susceptible to mental manipulation from a stronger vampire, however, and at least one partner has used that to his advantage.
I write for Adrien because he is a challenge. Getting his personality right, after 6 years of writing for him, is still as tricky as it was when I was first developing his mental problems, back when he was very new. He is a tricky muse, and habitually lies to himself and others. It is this challenge, more than anything, that keeps me writing for him. That and he's just a fun muse (I know that sounds horrible...).
I have not rejected muses based solely on their sex, or sexual preference, but that is because it generally doesn't occur to me to write for them in the first place. I don't write lesbian or bi-sexual female characters. I have found, on the whole, that for every successful gay, lesbian, bi, or transsexual character, either in a novel or in roleplay, there are far too many horribly over-sexed ones. Adrien, while he is technically bi-sexual, is mostly just completely indifferent. Human-style sexual relations, for him, require a level of complete trust that very few people (and VERY few women) ever achieve. As for my other characters, I seldom, if ever, roleplay sex unless it is absolutely necessary for the character's growth. This is a personal choice, based on irritation at certain professional writers who include far too much pointless smut in their books, and not aimed at anyone I roleplay with.
As for AU characters of the alternate sex, I do not agree with changing a cannon character to that degree. Some changes are great and can make for interesting roleplay, while trying to stay in-character. When the changes become too great, there is no point even keeping the same name on the character. Again, a personal preference.