Arthur Kirkland

T H E C H A R A C T E R

Full Name: Arthur James Kirkland
Age: 35
Birthday:April 23rd
Gender: Male
Is this an application for a first or second character: First

Family: English
Rank: Head

Strengths: *Loyalty—his trouble in this area is expecting the same from others. He tends to respond violently and angrily when it isn’t reciprocated.
*Intelligence—Arthur plans things out, most of the time. He has an eye for detail, though occasionally the most blatantly obvious thing might escape him.
*Poisons—Before rising to the position of Head of the English House, Arthur was an expert with poisons. He knows which will show up in what sort of food or drink, what are best if delivered directly to a vein, etc. As such he tends to be a bit paranoid as to what he eats and where. If it isn’t from his own kitchen (and even then sometimes) he will rarely eat, unless it is likely to offend the host.
*Professionalism—Whether working a deal, choosing his clothes, discussing business with Family members, Arthur keeps a level of professionalism and poise about him. It would hardly do to be seen as less than the one in charge. It also works as a shield to mask his emotions.
*Tenacity— Arthur is stubborn, rather bulldog-like, in his tenacity. Once he’s latched onto an idea or ideal he’s unlikely to reverse his stance on it without an extremely convincing argument from the other side. Even then, he’s more likely to wait until it looks like it was his own idea to change his mind.

Weaknesses: *Bacillophobia—Arthur fears illness. He watched it claim his mother when he was quite young, and has himself suffered a bout with illness that very nearly killed him as well.
*Fear of drowning—He can imagine death in dozens of different ways, but the one that terrifies him is the idea of drowning. Of living through the inability to breathe, the sensation of the water entering your lungs and closing over your head. Water is an entity you can’t fight and one that is everywhere.
*Weakness in his right leg from an old wound. He covers the limp well, but it’s still present to those who are looking for a weakness.
*Cigarettes—You can spew all the science you want at him, he figures he’s not going to live long enough to have to deal with lung cancer anyhow.
*Stubbornness—Arthur is inclined to dig his heels in when someone tells him something counter to what he thinks or wants to think. Even if it may be detrimental to himself. There are benefits to it, but there are severe blind spots created because of it as well.

Personality: Arthur is a man who prefers to keep himself to himself, more through self-preservation than anything. He’s hesitant about even trusting those in his own House (after all, he came to power by repeatedly stabbing superiors in the back—sometimes literally). If you can gain some semblance of trust—treat it like a skittish horse and tread carefully. Consider very carefully if breaking the trust of the man running the English house is really worth it.

If he lets someone past his harsh exterior defenses of scathing criticism, temper, and stand-offishness, he really does turn out to be mostly bark. He has the ability to “bite,” but would rather not use it. He’s far more likely to keep his defenses up unless it’s beneficial to him to do otherwise.

The Englishman is very conscious of the necessity of behaving like a proper gentleman and so does his best to keep his manners in place but they tend to slip from time to time. When they do he doesn’t give a damn what he says. He sometimes suffers from “foot-in-mouth” disease, due to being misunderstood in what he meant by what he said.

Arthur is unafraid of using people as stepping-stones, and his ruthless in his defense of his positions. Any dissension in the House ranks is dealt with quickly—and often in ways that seem extreme for the offense.

History: Arthur was born on April 23 in London England as the youngest of four brothers. He only really remembers what he was told about his father and from pictures. He was four when his father was called away, never to return. The family was told he was lost at sea.

Arthur, even at that young age, was well aware of the difficulties between himself and his brothers. This got worse when he and their mother caught a rare strain of Influenza. The youngest of them nearly died from it (he was six at the time) and their mother did succumb to the disease. By this time Arthur’s eldest brother was old enough to act as guardian to the others, but quickly determined that four were too many to take care of and sent Arthur—the only one not working—to live with their maternal grandparents.

Arthur will never complain of the time spent living with his grandparents—after all they sent him to school—but he has little praise for it either. They had no idea what to do with a child and kept a list of strict regulations when they didn’t ignore him all together. He was quiet in his rebellions against the stringent rules—staying out late, taking up smoking cigarettes (pipe smoke being the only smell of tobacco his grandfather liked), etc—throughout his high school years.

The Englishman left his grandparents when he was 20 and did some travelling before finally ending up in Medezka at the age of 23. He rapidly got involved with both sides of the city’s politics—underworld and legitimate. He quickly began to work his way up through the ranks on both side of the law, finding that the double life suited his nature.

It was sometime in the next seven years that he sustained the wound to his leg. It was bad enough that the doctors told him that he would be lucky if it didn’t leave him crippled for life. The Englishman was stubborn, though, and has spent the last five years tenaciously working to minimize the evidence of the old wound. He still has a limp, but his leg is still entirely his own and he is able to get around on it with little difficulty.

His last superior in the House died mysteriously in October three years past and Arthur has been running the English House with the same precision as he runs his daily life.


Other Important Info: * The head of the English House carries a walking stick made of walnut and inlaid with cherry-wood rose vines and topped with a silver rose (which appears to be starting to bloom). The elegance of the cane implies that it is for decorative purposes. This is half-true. Arthur sustained a wound to his right leg a few years ago and uses the cane to disguise his limp. It also serve the useful purpose of concealing a long, thin sword within its shaft.

* The margins of any notes he’s taking will always be covered by doodles of fairies, unicorns, and knights. He’s always loved the stories of King Arthur and often revisits them
*He’s almost completely unable to cook.
*He can’t stand coffee—he’d much prefer a cup of black tea (or frankly any tea). He’ll resign himself to coffee when he’d desperate for caffeine. And by “desperate” he means “falling asleep while walking and in danger of running into walls.”


Roleplay Sample: Arthur Kirkland ran a hand over his hair again, knowing that it did nothing to help keep the blond locks tamed. He picked up the latest paperwork, skimming over it and frowning. Financial statements. Numbers weren’t his greatest strength, but from a cursory glance something seemed off. He reached across the desk, pulling the lamp closer and examining the figures again. The Head of the English House withdrew a pad of paper and picked up a pencil from nearby, starting to work on the calculations, scowling deeply as he realized he was right. There was nearly five hundred dollars missing. Just a little here and a little there, but it added up to quite the substantial amount. He’d have someone double check his math later, but for now….

The Englishman rose, smoothing down his suit coat, his hand closing around the handle of his cane. He leaned a hip against the desk as he withdrew a cigarette, lighting it up and moving over to the large window in the office. He stood there, frowning pensively as he mentally checked off names of people who could have been handling the money enough to skim that much off in the last five months without anyone noticing. What did they pay those idiot accountants for anyway? He startled slightly at a knock on the door, quickly stamping out the smoldering ashes that fell to the floor from his smoke. He turned, making sure his back was to neither the door nor the window, an elegant hand resting on the top of his cane. “Enter.”

O O C I N F O R M A T I O N

Name:Meadowlark4491, Lark, Meadow, I’ll also respond to the character name as well
Timezone:PST (GMT -8 )
MSN/AIM;etc:I prefer to leave this up to my discretion via PM
You read the rules, right?:
You read the ChatBox rules, right?: Yes, of course
Anything else?:Reposted for the sake of editing

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