Aiden Christopher Copeland

Aiden's world is one where creatures of all folkloric cultures are extant and wildly alive, even those that vary slightly from one interpretation to another. As far as vampires are concerned, nearly every single one abides by slightly different rules depending on who they were turned by--if they were even turned at all. There are some who are ravening, flesh-eating beasts; some who are closer to the true Dracula of Gothic literature; and some, like Aiden, who are kind of just a Hotel Transylvania type of guy.

Aiden was born in 1935 as the darling baby boy of his parents and their only child. The family struggled a little, but being as young and cared-for as he was, and because they never ended up in poverty, the devastation of the Great Depression was water off the duck's back.

He was always something of a troublemaker, scraping by in school and just wanting to have fun. In college it was much of the same. He wasn't failing but he wasn't stellar, getting more or less just what he needed to pass smoothly; he loved to have fun, and it didn't always mean parties, usually it just meant fucking around--but sometimes it was parties, and in September 18th, 1953, he got blackout drunk at a homecoming party and woke up the next morning with a hangover, sore gums, and a wicked case of blood munchies.

Aiden's parents loved him and he loved them. And maybe they were a little strict and a little exasperated with how Aiden always skirted their rules but they did still love each other, and they loved him when he told them what happened in a panicked call home. They kept his secret. He never lost contact with them. A year ago, Aiden got to see his parents die as almost every child does, but their baby boy never becomes more than what he was in 1953.

He is the college student perpetual. It is the home of his lifestyle, which he upkeeps through either incredible amounts of fraud or straight up pretending like he belongs there. He becomes older and a lot wiser and only a little bit more intelligent, but his career of choice is that of the student, and the college campus is no stranger to activism. Though he has never been stupendously sharp or keenly aware of politics, it doesn't change tension he'd found himself caught in the middle of. He was there at Berkeley when they arrested 700 kids over two months; he was there at Kent State when the police used deadly force; he knew kids from Georgia when they almost burned down the military building on campus in response; and in the 80s he, queer and untouchable by sickness, watched his latest graduating class dwindle.

As of late, Aiden has moved into a vampire household: a house rented out by an older vampire, for vampires, and all of his housemates are fellow vampires of various beliefs and mythos from all different times and places. (See "Relationships" for details.) No one's sure if he actually technically lives there or if he just showed up one day.

Enjoyer of the simple things in life: good food, good jokes, and good company. Easy-going, well-meaning, and lackadaisical. Air-headed and distractable, but not a slacker. He knows and understands more than he lets on. He's collected a fair amount of degrees during his decades as a perpetual college student--though to be fair, it's not as if he remembers a whole lot of it.

However, while he may not be quite on par with field professionals, he knows quite a lot about biology, ecology, and earth science; besides his own vested interest, it has direct practical application towards his abilities as a shapeshifter. He also watches a lot of animal and Planet Earth documentaries. They're pretty cool.

In the end, he lives the way he does because he's afraid of moving on. Where is he supposed to go from here? Aiden feels as if entire life was frozen the moment he was turned. After he woke up with fangs and drained someone for the first time, he still had to go to class. And he's going to look the way he does forever, and to him that comes with having to exist the way he does forever. There's no ending. He doesn't know what to do with this besides have a good time, and that to him means kicking back and sticking with what he knows.

His parents have died not very long ago. He's still not sure what to do about that.

Powers include:
- Unkillable except by wooden stake.
- Can shapeshift into any animal (no insects) the same size or smaller than a grizzly bear, in which the animal will have red eyes and black skin/fur/scales/etc.
- Cannot be intoxicated/poisoned/made sick except by supernatural means.
- Can see in the dark.

Weaknesses include:
- The sun quite literally cooks him, but an umbrella is a decent fix, even if it will still leave him uncomfortable.
- Garlic, vervain, and silver make him terribly sick.
- Must be invited across a threshold, and may continue to pass it until uninvited again.

Other things of note:
- Qualifies as undead and will be detected as such by anything that discerns that quality.
- Animal blood is fine, like subsisting off of snack foods and granola bars, but human is far better.
- Heals at a normal rate, but can regenerate stuff like lost limbs.
- Holy ornaments do not work.
- He has a reflection, but not in silver.
- Has control over whether a person he bites will become a vampire.

His parents are, well, his parents. He loved them and they loved him and kept his secret well. They are deceased from old age.

The following are original characters, each belonging to a different friend of mine in our shared universe:

Apollinaire St. Jacques is the house landlord vampire, hailing from 1754 rural France. He is physically 35. A proper man, he is incredibly out-of-date with no clue what is going on and asks for rent anywhere between twice a week and once per decade. Is along the lines of a typical vampire, with some specific adjustments.

Farooq is a fellow tenant from 1428 who was turned by a vampire who may or may not have been literally Dracula. He doesn't know how old he is, physically or technically, but looks like a young adult. After being turned, he walked into the woods, fell asleep, and when he woke up he was in 1800s London and has been disassociating ever since. He's a Redditor and a gamer. Is along the lines of a Dracula-type vampire, as in how he was in the actual classic literature.

Elvira of Tropea is a fellow tenant from 1647, Tropea, Italy. She physically 20. She is a charismatic woman and a frequenter of parties, who holds a temper, loves to bitch, fusses over her friends, and is a complete decadent hedonist. She has featured in many paintings over the years. Is along the lines of a typical vampire, with some specific adjustments.

Tessa Smith is a fellow tenant from 1842. She is physically 21. After being turned by her husband in arranged marriage, she tore his head off in a fit of rage and continued to impersonate him for some time. Is extremely decadent and dramatic and is "literally insane." Was clinically diagnosed with hysteria in 1864. Is along the lines of a typical vampire with some specific adjustments, including a grotesque "feeding form" a la Buffy.

Kim Cisneros is a fellow tenant of 1924, midwestern America. She is physically 20. She's typically dressed in and fashions herself after '60s and '70s sensibilities; outgoing and friendly and willing to entertain with stories of her life, but is prone to exaggeration as a woman with a very dramatic flair. Flighty and bad to go to for advice; a romantic, but tends to eat her dates. She is besties with Rita. Is along the lines of a typical vampire, with some specific adjustments.

Rita Fuentes is a fellow tenant of 1934, Manila in the Philippines. She is physically 29. She dresses like a Pinterest board of hollywood fashion; a probinsaya with a head full of glitz, glamour, and American beauty ideals. She is the pageant queen personified, equally absorbed with beauty and sociability; her heart is full of love and her mouth full of men's literal bleeding hearts. Besties with Kim, a woman from the 40s who pretends she's from the 60s, and Rita is much the other way around; they traded names to fit personas. Is a manananggal.

Darby Lavoie is a fellow tenant of

Opal Denisova (...)

Green June Marcher is a faerie who is an acquaintance of Aiden's. Xe is a self-centered diva of a faerie who often throws ragers that can last from weeks to months depending on xir whim and how bored xe gets, and maintains a large internet presence as well. She dresses xirself in glamour after glamour in order to enamor, beguile, and bedazzle all her guests, all in the selfish pursuit of adoration. As Aiden can only be affected by magical sources of inebriation, she's his dealer.