Lucille Evi Vanderbilt

[Lucille Evi Vanderbilt]

Lucille Evi Vanderbilt

BASIC INFORMATION

NAME: Lucille "Lu" Evi Vanderbilt
AGE: Thirty-four
RACE: Vampire
GENDER: Female
ALLIANCE: Azalea Alliance, Vanderbilt clan
OCCUPATION: Owner of Railroad Stop Bar
FACE CLAIM: Melanie Scrofano
ORIENTATION: Bisexual
RELATIONSHIPS:

* Cornelius Vanderbilt, ancestor, dead, human
* Cornelius "Neil" Vanderbilt IV, ancestor, dead, vampire
* Neil Vanderbilt V, grandfather, dead, vampire
* Neil Vanderbilt VI, father, dead, vampire
* Evi Lucille Vanderbilt, mother, dead, vampire
*Maisie Marie Vanderbilt, aunt, dead, human 

PERSONALITY

Independent | Quick-witted | Unstable

Independent: Ha! As if Lucille needs anyone. Have people been there for her? Sure. Like, two people. Have they stayed afterwards? No, they've always left. Plus, she likes to think of herself as a lone wolf. Er, vampire. Lucille has plenty of ways to take care of herself, and if no one else laughs at her jokes, then she will. Anyway, the point is, she's gotten this far in life, why should she depend on other people now? 

Quick-witted: honestly, if you don't laugh at Lucille's jokes, then there must be something wrong with you. Lucille as much of a silver tongue as she does a sharp one, and she uses both when necessary. Living on her own, milling around the world, has taught her a number of survival tactics that she's quick to employ. 

Unstable: Lucille has a bit to go in terms of settling into herself. She's not sure what she's doing most of the time and she grasps at whatever's available for any semblance of stability and satisfaction. She doesn't have a very good handle of her emotions because she barely has had any foundation for her to establish them. Right now, she owns a bar and that's going pretty well. Still, though, is that really her purpose in life? Who knows, and who cares? (She does, a lot.) 

HISTORY

Perhaps you are aware of the weight that Lucille's family name carries. The Vanderbilts have been in America for a long time, with their most famous ancestor being railroad tycoon Cornelius "the Commodore" Vanderbilt. Mr. Vanderbilt went on to establish a family with a large line of known descendants, some of whom have become famous by their own means, but there's one branch on the family that's been erased, even though its members are much still alive. Or rather, undead. 

Cornelius "Neil" Vanderbilt IV, born 1898 as the great-grandson of the first Cornelius, settled himself in Louisana for a while, unaware of its supernatural undercurrent, while working as a newspaper publisher. Misfortune struck him and one day he was attacked by a vampire, who subsequently turned him. When the Vanderbilts found out about how sick he was-- how abnormal he became-- they disowned him, although they refused to believe the "I'm a vampire" excuse, citing to the public instead that it was because he decided to pursue publishing, a seemingly unworthy career in their eyes. 

Neil went on with his life as best as he could, and established himself among the Azalea vampire nest. With their help, as well as his own business skill (a natural Vanderbilt gift, no matter who you are), he managed to live a relatively rich life and started his own family. 

Things were good for a while. The Vanderbilt vampires became deeply entrenched in the supernatural politics of New Orleans, fighting alongside their fellow blood-suckers. In 1980, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV was killed by staking, although he passed his knowledge onto his son, Neil. The family business now became were-wolf hunting, and the Vanderbilts were quite well-known for their success and strategy. Needless to say, they left behind their legacy as wealthy industry magnates. 

Lucille was born in 1986 as the most recent heir of all of this. Very quickly she was taught to hate vampires and was trained on the various weapons, traps, and schemes that her family used to kill their enemies. So much so, in fact, that many wondered whether they paid any attention to Lucille as a kid, and not simply as the future of Vanderbilt vampire soldiers. It was a lot for a child to take in-- but it turned out to be in her favor, because in 2000 official wars were declared against the two species and Lucille was 14. And while it may have been lucky that Lucille had acquired the basic combat skills necessary to survive long enough for her to escape, it was unfortunate that her grandfather and father were immediately captured and staked, effectively killing them. Her mother followed not long after, but not before helping Lucille into a hiding spot, where the young teen was forced to crouch in the bushes and watch her own mother get a stake driven into her heart. 

Lucille fled Louisiana altogether, and made it to Tennessee, where she hid out on Vanderbilt campus for a week (she would say she felt a kind of safety there, as if her ancestor Cornelius were watching over her). From its library she wound up obtaining information about the rest of her enormous family. She wrote an email to one of her aunts at random, blackmailing her with the threat to reveal the supposedly "dead" line of Vanderbilts after Cornelius IV's disinheritance in order to get money. It turns out, however, that the bad blood had faded and the aunt responded kindly, offering to take Lucille in. 

Having nowhere to go, Lucille obliged, planning to stay there for a while until she either found another way out or looted her aunt Maisie. But Aunt Maisie's house was warm and even though Lucille was a total troublemaker with a wild attitude and a penchant for running her mouth, Maisie took care of her. Unlike the rest of her relatives Maisie had not made any effort to have kids and her own husband passed away. Maisie, independent as she was, grew fond of taking care of Lucille. She owned a large plot of farmland that her side of the family had cultivated, and she paid Lucille an allowance in exchange for field-hand work. For many years, Lucille felt a sense of security and love, even though honestly? She hated working on the farm. 

Yet Lucille made no movement to try anything new beyond helping out at the farm, and she refused to tell Maisie why; in truth, she was terrified that werewolves were still out there trying to hunt her down and eliminate the line of Vanderbilt vampires that had terrorized them so. Maisie was not famous, but she was a prominent name, especially in Tennessee, and Lucille felt shielded by the idea that it would not bode well for anyone to murder a human Vanderbilt. So Maisie's land was the safe zone; the farthest Lucille ventured was the small town over. 

But misfortune caught up, and when Lucille was 17 Maisie came down with terminal breast cancer, passing away when Lucille was 18. After things had settled with her aunt's death, Lucille contemplated what to do. 

Once again, external forces decided for her. Lawyers showed up at the Vanderbilt farm homestead, with a troupe of strangers resembling Lucille. Turns out, Maisie had willed the farm to her cousins' family but all of her liquid inheritance to Lucille (she knew Lu hated working the farm and also wanted to push her out into the world; it was an insensitive move, given that she knew little to nothing about Lucille's past for 15 years, but one with good-intentions nonetheless). After a small struggle in which the cousins tried to seize the liquid assets as well (but failed), Lucille was left without a home and a fat bank account. 

For a while she moved around quietly, living on her inheritance and afraid to reveal too much of herself in case the werewolves got ahold of her. If it weren't for a couple of official government documents that bore her name, Lucille might as well just have not existed. She didn't make friends and she rebuffed any advances by anyone to do so. 

Then, Lucille turned 31. By then the pandemonium was over; the vampire-werewolf war had ended and what was more, the entire existence of supernatural beings were exposed to the world. So she finally decided to go back to New Orleans, back to the Azalea. There wasn't much of Maisie's money left for her to live another full year without work. New Orleans was the safest place right now, ironically, where she could live openly as a vampire. But the place was desolate, totally different. Yet people on both sides recognized her; there were whispers that Lucille, last of the Vanderbilts, was back. 

She settled into her old house, living off of her inheritance again. Actually, it turns out her father had left her an inheritance as well-- not the family business of werewolf hunting, that was done-- but sizable finances that had been passed down by Cornelius IV, their first vampire. Lucille was therefore, again, left with a lot of money but zero idea on what to do with it and the rest of her life. 

The idea of opening a bar came to her when she had been looking for a drink and realized that there was little to no bar that was open to just supernatural entities. Lucille was tired of running, tired of guessing if she was going to get secretly assassinated out of spite and so she decided to open her own bar on the side of the road, leading down towards supernatural territories. She settled on a rather neutral location that was not too close to any vampire nest or too far from any werewolf pack to arouse suspicion, and named the new roadhouse bar Railroad Stop, after her first ancestor Cornelius Vanderbilt's legacy. Word spread and today it's a dive bar for supernaturals to meet and socialize, with the strict promise of no violence and no aggression in general. 

Has Lucille found her purpose in establishing a safe space for supernaturals? Well, she's happy being in her bar and being with "her people." She is safe, for now, and she feels at peace. Most of the time. She still can't quite forget her mom dying in front of her (PTSD is a b*tch) and she still can't quite shake off the feeling she's harbored for 15 years of werewolves hunting her. But like, baby steps, ya know? 

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER ALIAS: Lionhearted
PLAYER AGE: 20
PLAYER PRONOUNS: she series
OTHER CHARACTERS: -

RAZZ ♦ ADOXOGRAPHY

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