Vladimir Jimenez

PERSONALITY

tl;dr: energetic, supportive, brave, personally irresponsible, and naive.

Vlad is the very epitome of a good boy. It would be a surprise to no one if he could shift into the form of an amicable golden retriever than into that of an intimidating dire wolf. To his friends and family, he would ride or die for them, and to his enemies of which there are very few, he has a more live-and-let-live attitude about them. Unfortunately for all his energy, for his gung-ho nature and can-do mentality, the poor fellow seems to have some serious commitment issues when it comes to personal responsibility. Not only is he incapable of holding a job and keeping together his romantic connections, he also cannot seem to commit to his own goals. He wanted, ever since he was a kid, to become an actor. Trouble was, he did terribly in school, got discouraged easily, and had so much mental turmoil going on that he ended up letting go of that dream. Since he held onto it as long as he had, even dropping out of an acting school in his early 20s, he didn't prepare to go into any other kind of career or industry.

Despite that rather staggering flaw, he shines best when he is helping someone else achieve their ends instead. He might not be able to commit to his own goals, but he sure as hell will inconvenience himself for yours. The charity of his actions strikes him as far more fulfilling than sticking it out for himself. He is trying to work on stabilizing his own life, and he had a very positive attitude about it all, but he often sacrifices his time, work, and relationships for the beck and call of his family and friends. Still, despite changing jobs like one might change outfits, he has been surprisingly resourceful and has managed to have enough money on hand for some frivolous expenditures--though it mostly goes towards food or treatment.

Vlad is absolutely fearless though, and whatever it was that kept him from pursuing his acting must have been rooted in something deep. While he's touchy about the subject, he is more than happy to talk about anything else--perhaps too much--and has an affinity for comedy, musicals, ATVs (one of which he owns and prizes), and flirting shamelessly at local watering holes with anyone with (and in the case of vampires specifically, without) a pulse.

HISTORY

Born to Juancarlo and Ophelia Jimenez, Vlad was the first born to Ophelia and third to Juancarlo, technically making him a younger brother to two half-siblings that he only met later on in his life as a teenager. Those half-siblings never did meet him when he went by Carla, nor did they even know that he existed. Juancarlo married Ophelia mere months after they met, and it was not known at the time that he had a previous marriage and children with another woman. When Vlad was around five, this secret was uncovered and it drove a deep rift into their marriage. By then Vlad had one younger sibling two years his junior. It wasn’t long before their father walked out on them, leaving Vlad with a distraught Ophelia and his little sister Analise.

Vlad had to grow up fast, and he spent a great deal of his youth being most committed to getting his mother back on her feet and keeping his sister from being all too aware of Ophelia’s fragile state. He kind of knew from an early age that he was more than just filling his father’s shoes, but growing even less comfortable with being perceived as a girl by those around him. His mother would make remarks every now and then on his appearance, believing that her son merely had issues with his self-esteem. Vlad never felt the need, even as he was in his early teens, to explain to her that he simply wasn’t the young woman she perceived him to be. In a way, Ophelia started to get the message when her son only seemed to express that through his actions and behaviors. She was fairly supportive, if not a little worried that he might come to regret his decisions later on in life, but of all the decisions he ever made, such as beginning treatment in order to transition, it was definitely one of few he did not regret at all.

Besides, Ophelia and Analise were far more concerned about the crowds he got involved with. Since he was so friendly, and rather gullible, it made him an easy target for dangerous dealings. He ended up getting caught with pot at school a couple of times, and he ended up at one point running away from home after getting into a shouting match with his mother. That night, he had gotten attacked by the werewolf that cursed him, left for dead and found just in the nick of time before he bled out. As he recovered at the hospital, he promised his mother and younger sister that he’d be a little less reckless for their sake. He wasn’t particularly great at keeping that promise though, especially when he was becoming all too aware of what he was.

As a werewolf he could shift at will, though on full moon nights he was a slave to whatever whims that beast inside of him decided to play upon. He sought out the one who put this curse on him, only to find that it was a juvenile werewolf who was chastised for turning him in the first place. He was nearly killed on the spot for it, but working his charm in the same way that often got him out of a jam, they did let him live on the condition that he became an official member of their pack.

And since then, it had been a precarious balance between his life as his own man, his family’s pillar (despite Ophelia gaining some footing in his teen years), and a member of a pack where he was truly an outsider. Since most of his packmates are Native American Seminole, he is often alienated even within their cluster. They don’t call on or rely on him too often, which is quite fine by him. As long as they don’t come for him and his family, he’ll be whatever they want him to be. On the side however, he did barely complete his GED, he attempted acting school and dropped out after a couple of years, and now runs various side-hustles to keep money coming in while he can.