Valentine

Valentine is a charming man. He can make anyone like him and trust him without much effort. However, Valentine's incredible narcissism and warped beliefs lead him to view life and human relationships as a game, one without permanent consequences. He believes he's greater than everyone to such a degree that he's convinced that every other human is a simulated being, one without free will or complicated thought, and as such, it doesn't matter what he does to them, and they can't hurt him in a way that matters.

He spends most of his time among others, despite finding most people intolerable. Despite that, he still finds people interesting, and realizes that people run the world, and if he wants to get anywhere in life, he has to interact with them. His charm makes it easy, and he automatically shifts in personality to best suit the preferences of whoever he's talking to, which would make it difficult for multiple people to agree on what kind of person he actually is. Valentine manipulates the people around him to get whatever he wants, and doesn't think of it as a bad thing, or abnormal. He assumes literally everyone behaves exactly the same way. But, of course, he's the only "real" one, so he's better at it and can't be caught in a trap by anyone else. Or so he believes.

Valentine values himself above all else, and will do whatever he can to improve his lot in life. He hates working, not only because it requires effort, but because he has no desire to help anyone for any reason. He instead prefers to con people out of their money and/or to gold dig rich men. His primary life goal is to be unbelievably rich, not only for power, but to satisfy his high standards of living.

There's very little he wouldn't do if it would get him what he wants, even if what he wants is to lash out at people to feel in control or powerful. Life is a game, and nothing matters. If he hurt a random stranger, what would it matter when he'll never see them again? Basically, what does anything matter, if it doesn't directly affect him in any way? He doesn't see the point in caring otherwise. It doesn't compute in his head, as he views everything from a selfish, coldheartedly "logical" lens.

Valentine's upbringing was an easy one. He was given up as a baby and quickly adopted into a middle class family that treated him well. With no siblings to contend with and moderate wealth, he was never left wanting for anything. Or he should have been, that is. But he wasn't satisfied.

He went to an expensive private school (trust fund) where he was mister popular, friends with everyone and a total angel to anyone you asked. The type of person people rally behind, drawn together by a common friend. But he had no interest in any of these people and secretly resented them for taking up so much of his time and attention. He found them annoying and spent time thinking about ways to hurt them.

One day he realized he could use his popularity to get whatever he wanted; people would give him gifts, they'd take him places he couldn't normally afford, they'd bend over backwards to please him. If he played his cards right, he could have anything. Though it came naturally to him, he put in extra effort obsessively studying the behavior of other people like one might a strategy guide to their favorite video game to learn the ways to best manipulate other people to satisfy his every whim. It worked flawlessly; no one suspected anything, and gave him whatever he wanted. From material possessions to carnal pleasures, he took everything he could get without a care to who he was taking it from, or what it did to them.

He grew with a desire for hedonism, where his only goal was to live luxuriously and with as little effort as possible. After graduating, he left home to pursue higher standards of living. For the most part he would hop from place to place, staying with lovers (of which he had many) until he grew tired of them, while doing whatever he could to drain them of every last cent to add to his own wealth. As a result, he's never worked a day in his life.

At some point, he got involved with Willow Aster, a local wealthy vintner that developed an attraction to Valentine with minimal effort. Valentine constantly lied to him, about almost everything, to paint himself as someone Willow could fall for; a feat that was marketed as impossible, for Willow has never had feelings for anyone that weren't exclusively sexual. The man's sister, Wisteria, saw through all of it, but wouldn't confront him directly; Valentine could tell she knew, and enjoyed lording it over her; not understanding that she's a million times deadlier than he'll ever be.

That couldn't last, however, and he gets beaten out by someone else, someone Valentine would consider grossly inferior to himself. Rather than seeing this person as a rival, however, it lowers Valentine's opinion of Willow greatly to the degree that he no longer wants to be around him.

Valentine owns a home with a private beach, which he stays in whenever he has nowhere else to go. He considers it a hideout of sorts, one which he doesn't invite people back to, ever. He doesn't even like people to know it exists.

• His aesthetic is a mix of seapunk and pastel goth