Beautiful People - Visance {September 2014}

Oh, look at that, it’s a new month. Oh, look at that, it’s. . .halfway through an apparently not-so-new month. Well then.

That’s right. New month means new Beautiful People, and per the Christine norm I’m late in jumping in the boat. But hey, it doesn’t leave the dock for another half a month, so not too late. Riiight?

I believe you’ve got this down pat by now. Beautiful People is a writerly linkup by the oh-so fabulously fabulous Sky and Cait. Each month they give us 10 questions to answer about any character of ours. Useful and fun. What’s there not to love? So creep your way over to Sky's post and/or Cait's post to link up and join in on the useful fun-ness.

Why are we creeping? Because this month is very special. It involves VILLAINS. Who, naturally, are the experts of all things creeping.

The idea of focusing on one of my villains was an exciting one, but it put me in quite a conundrum. What villain would I feature? My first thought went to Fallen Matter (I know you’re surprised), but to say that book even has a villain is stretching it. It’s. . .complicated. Revealing the villain in that and in other stories would be spoiling things. But, in the end, I came to a conclusion. I decided to revisit my currently biggest fantasy series, Colors of a Dragon Scale, the series I write each book for during NaNoWriMo. And since NaNo is actually not far off at all (meep), I thought it’d be fun immersing myself back in that world. Although, this particular villain probably won’t be making an appearance in the next book. Still, I couldn’t resist because, well, villain or not he’s captured a little bit of my heart. (Oh, come on, you know you love your villains, too. How villains become so loveable is something I’ll always be asking.)

So, meet Visance! He’s sort of the right hand man of the main villain in the Colors of a Dragon Scale series. He played a significant part in book three, More Purple than Amethysts, which was my NaNo 2012 project.

Visance pushed himself off the tree he leaned against and sauntered toward his sister. "Do I not get a greeting or anything? When was the last time we were together face to face?"

Terreth placed her hands on her hips and studied him. Though she held a stern expression, he could see the mischief in her eyes. "Months now I'm sure. You've been off romping through Aerigethel stealing away princesses and who-knows who else, while I've been stuck in Velnoroth taking up your slack."

He grinned at her. "Velnoroth would not even be able to function properly without you."

~*~*~*~

1. What is their motive?
Currently? Whatever the main bad guy, Vithen, tells him to do. Vithen took Visance and his younger sister, Terreth, in after witnessing Visance’s strength and Terreth’s unnatural skills in thievery. As payment, they do whatever he asks. When the story starts, his motive is stealing away the Princess of Sivral, one of the steps in a much bigger plan of Vithen’s.

Visance’s main motive of always following orders is because Vithen gave him and his sister work and a place to live, while before they were living on the streets struggling to survive. Visance feels he owes Vithen a lot for that.

2. What do they want, and what are they prepared to do to get it?
Visance’s personal desire is revenge. Revenge for the life he was thrust into due to one of the other main characters. He feeds off his need for revenge and it blackens his heart more and more daily. He will go as far as tearing down entire cities to destroy this one person.

3. How do they deal with conflict?
Visance isn’t past murdering if he has to. He’s experienced enough trauma and darkness that his conscience has hardened. But, I will say this, if it wasn’t for his experiences in life he’d actually be a pretty passive person, and that still comes out from time to time. Conflict isn’t his favorite thing. Naturally, he’d rather let things take care of themselves than get in the middle of it. But when it comes to the people he loves, he’ll go to great lengths to keep them from trouble.

4. Describe their current place of residence.
Visance is often traveling, Vithen sending him off on some mission or the other, but his home is in Vithen’s castle. He has a nice room, large, stone walls and floors, the usual medieval setting. It’s your run-of-the-mill bedroom—bed, dresser, oh, and a wall entirely covered in weapons. Necessities, you know.

5. If they were writing this story, how would it end?
Wow. Not well for a lot of people. Firstly and foremost, he’d have gotten his revenge, and the head of the person he hates so much would be hanging from his belt. Yeeeah, the dude has some issues to work out. After that, I think he’d want Vithen’s plans to come to pass, gaining him and his sister a comfortable life in Vithen’s castle. Beyond revenge, his main  priority is his sister’s happiness. He’s watched her struggle enough and is sick of it.

6. What habits, speech patterns, etc. are unique to them?
He’s not one to waste words. He talks in quick, short sentence and gets right to the point. But, he also likes to think about his words before saying them, so sometimes there may be pauses in his conversation. And while he does seem like the dark, brooding type at first, he actually enjoys having fun and making jokes.

7. How do they show love? What do they like to do with/for people they love?
His little sister Terreth is really the last person he truly loves left in his life, and his love for her triumphs most of his other feelings. He has sacrificed much to take care of her, even if she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. He doesn’t shy away from affection toward her. Mostly he gets amused by her antics, but he also takes his big brother role seriously and doesn’t hesitate to be stern if he has to. It takes a lot to keep Terreth in line. . .

As far as pastimes, well. . .their thing is kind of thievery. They were raised on it and used their skills to stay alive when they had nothing but each other. They actually enjoy thieving. They’re pretty good sports about teasing one another as well. Visance likes to joke around with Terreth. They also enjoy dragon riding. Speaking of which. . .

8. Do they have any pets?
Visance has an enormous red dragon named Koravek. But to call a dragon a pet may just turn you into a human torch. Companion would be the better term. Visance and Koravek are very close, which is always the case in this world where humans and dragons link together mentally.

9. Where would they go to relax/think?
Probably to the skies on Koravek. Or out in an open, empty field at night to watch the stars. He’ll take just about any abandoned, silent place though. He likes to be by himself to think on life.

10. What is their weapon of choice? (FYI: words, eyes/looks, and fists count as weapons, too.)
Visance uses a broadsword that matches his brute strength. But his fists can come in quite handy if his sword isn’t on hand. Which. . .never really happens, but you know.