SOFT HANDS, SHARP TEETH
the crescent moon fits the
line of your cheek
— HEADCANONS.
001 . he likes the ocean and walks along the coast most mornings, just before the sun rises. 002 . he doesn’t own a car or a driver’s license. he walks everywhere or takes public transport. he prefers it that way for no particular reason. the city he lives in is pretty walkable, so it’s easy to get around on foot. 003 . he lives above the bar he owns. it’s a small space, but he likes it. he prefers knowing where everything is.
005 . he’s got a soft spot for stray animals — cats especially. they seem to find him, and he never turns them away. 006 . loves to cook. he collects recipes from everywhere he’s been and likes trying new things in the kitchen. 007 . he uses his shirts until they’re nothing but threads and keeps shoes past their prime. he never wastes a thing, uses it all. 008 . always in winter clothes — long knitted shirts, thick coats, cotton scarves. this is partly because he’s always cold, and partly to cover the burns from sun exposure. most of the burns are on his right arm, across his chest and neck, with some on his fingers. 009 . his skin is cold to the touch, not in an overwhelming way but enough for people to notice. after eating, warmth returns for a few hours, sometimes a day if he’s lucky. it lingers while his meal is fresh in his system, then fades again. 010 . he’s always hungry. the feeling never really disappears, just comes and goes. living in a small town, he spaces out his meals because people notice if too many disappear. he doesn’t just drink blood anymore; he consumes everything down to the bone. keeps a few supplies hidden in the fridge for emergencies. 011 . he hunts drunks — the kind whose hands shake around cheap bottles, faces puffy and mean. they remind him of man-gil. it’s the sole reason he opens half-baked bars, rooms half-lit and cluttered with broken stools. he tells himself these men won’t be missed, using it to bury the guilt, though it never stays buried for long. 012 . he hardly ever dates or goes out unless he’s grabbing cat food or supplies. still, he sleeps around when the urge hits, using it to quiet his mind. man or woman, he doesn’t care. 013 . nature is his favorite place to be. some days, he just sits in the shade and watches the light change for hours. he always talks about starting a garden, but hasn’t gotten around to it. 014 . he is hostile towards other supernaturals, especially his own kind or any creature that feeds on humans. if they wander into what he sees as his territory, he makes sure they know they aren’t welcome. he doesn’t like sharing the population — more hunters means more missing people, more trouble. moving towns is something he hates and only does when there’s no other choice.
— KIM YEONG-SU.
BASICS
birth name kim yeong-su \ yeong-su kim
current alias tobias han bauer.
date of birth 11/21/1910.
date of death 10/9/1929.
age 114. 28 appearance-wise.
sex cisgender male.
birthplace boryeong, south korea.
current residence astoria, oregon.
occupation bartender/bar-owner.
orientation bisexual, preference for women.
PHYSICAL
ethnicity korean-german.
nationality american.
species vampire.
height 5`10" ft.
weight 168lbs.
hair naturally brown, dyed black.
eyes sea blue, almond-shaped.
build slim, but muscular.
scent iron, sharp and detectable.
MENTAL
positive traits attentive, organized.
negative traits deceitful, possessive, stubborn.
hobbies reading, cooking.
alignment true neutral.
languages korean, japanese, english.
likes cats, rain, horror movies, books, space, sunsets/rises, classical music, seashells, flowers.
dislikes dogs, thunder, lightning, loud and abrupt sounds, hallmark movies, fluorescent lights.
religion ex-buddhist.
fears isolation, fire, death.
disorders undiagnosed PTSD.
RELATIONS
father johann fischer.
mother kim bok-soon.
step-father park man-gil.
ex-wife seo hye-jin.
— BACKSTORY.
kim yeong-su was born in 1910 on the outskirts of boryeong, a town where the wind never stopped blowing and salt from the sea clung to everything. he stood out from the start. blue eyes, lighter hair—no one in the village looked like him. his father was a german trader who passed through town and never came back. people whispered, but no one ever said his name. for his mother, being pregnant out of wedlock was already a disgrace. carrying a foreigner’s child made it so much worse. her family rushed her into marriage with park man-gil, a widowed wheat farmer with a failing plot and nothing left to lose. he was desperate enough to pass off another man’s child as his own, just for two more hands to work the fields. everyone knew yeong-su wasn’t his.the kids of the village made sure he never forgot it. his mother tried to make their small thatched-roof house feel safe, even when it wasn’t. scraping up coins to buy a treat at the market, or stitch up his weathered clothes whenever they tore. she was gentle, but tired. always tired.his stepfather, man-gil, was a completely different story. drank too much, worked too little. when he was angry (which was unfortunately often), he took it out on the boy and his mother. bruises faded, but the words stuck. as yeong-su grew older, he learned to fight back. he didn’t like it, nor did his mother, but sometimes fists were the only language that made sense. the farm was always hungry. man-gil borrowed money from anyone who would lend it, and when the harvests failed, the threats started.yeong-su found quiet in the woods. the trees didn’t care who he was or where he came from. that’s where he met seo hye-jin. she was different too—not from boryeong. a traveler, apparently. though she never answered his questions on where from. her accent was strange, clothes a little too nice for someone just passing through. but she never asked about his bruises or his eyes. she just listened. sometimes, she felt cold to the touch, but he was too grateful for her company, so he let it slide. it started as friendship. every day at dusk, just after finishing all his chores he’d wait for her at the edge of the trees, heart pounding just to see her. she’d smile, take his hand, and the rest of the world would fall away. he loved her, quietly at first, then all at once. she loved him back, in her own gentle, secret way.
everything changed the night the fire started. smoke, shouting, an orange glow eating up the only home he’d ever known. it wasn’t an accident. that much was clear. it was a warning for man-gil’s debts. yeong-su doesn’t remember running inside, just the blazing heat. desperate to find his mother. he found her scarf in the kitchen, worn and frayed at the edges, but before he could reach her, the roof came down in a shower of sparks. darkness swallowed him.when he woke up, the world was ash and ruin. hye-jin was there, whispering words he didn’t understand. she pressed a bloodied wrist to his mouth. the taste was sharp, metallic, bitter on his tongue. he didn’t know what she’d done until later, when the hunger started.the villagers never found his mother’s body in the ashes, nor his. they buried empty boxes, called it a funeral, and moved on. yeong-su watched from a distance, hidden in the trees; only hye-jin by his side. couldn’t tell how much time passed. just knew he was the only one who cried for her.after her funeral, they left boryeong behind. new names, new places. always on the move, always in hiding. hye-jin taught him how to blend in, how to survive as one of their kind. for a while, it seemed to work. they were happy. he was happy. then, as usual, everything changed again. tragedy struck when some men in post-war Hong Kong, obsessed with the occult, found out what she was after stumbling upon her feeding. they killed her before he could get there. nothing left to show she ever existed but a pile of dark, trampled ash.after her death, yeong-su drifted. Shifting through places and identifies like old shirts. for thirty years, his life had resolved around hye-Jin, and it felt meaningless now that she was gone. he turned cruel in his grief, something that still haunts him to this day. hurrinf people, just to feel something. in the 80s, he decided to move to the states, settling in small towns. a new start, a fresh slate. he called himself tobias han bauer, running shabby bars that were just thinly veiled traps for society’s worst. every few decade or so, he moved again. never staying anywhere long enough for anyone to catch on that he didn’t age. to catch on he was different.
— ABILITIES.
001 : immortality this concept is self-explanatory. he does not age and cannot die from environmental elements or mortal wounds. 002 : regeneration his wounds heal themselves. cuts fade, skin stitches itself back together, and limbs regenerate. however, this process requires a significant amount of energy, especially for more serious injuries like lost limbs. as a result, he becomes incredibly exhausted and hungry afterwards. regeneration time varies on wound severity. 003 : shape-shifting he has the ability to transform into a bat or a swarm of bats, which grants him the power of flight and a birds’ eye view. he can also transform into other animals and even humans, although he must know the person/animal he wishes to turn into very well. he can only hold a form that isn’t his own for 90 seconds. 004 : weather modification with this power, he can sense, channel, shape, create, and manipulate the weather at will. it is the most difficult of his abilities for him to control, and he has only a loose grip on it. he primarily uses it to enhance his punches by putting wind behind them, making them heavier, or by creating shadows with clouds to move around discreetly during the day. 005 : illusion he is able to mask his more monstrous attributes—those being his claws, fangs, deathly pale skin, and pupils—from the mortal gaze. however, this human facade starts to fade when he is exhausted, low on blood, or simply angry enough to lose control over it.
— WEAKNESSES.
001 : sunlight the one thing that can kill him for good is exposure to the sun. yeongsu cannot regenerate any part of his body that has been burned away by its rays. the scars on his chest are from scuffles with other supernatural beings that lasted too long, leaving him vulnerable to the dawn. it’s an agonizing way to go, and it’d take about five full minutes of direct exposure to do him in. 002 : lack of blood yeong-su can only be without blood for a maximum of two weeks before he starts to weaken and lose control of himself. his human facade will gradually slip, and even his more monstrous attributes will fade. he will revert to his original form, a rotting, burned corpse. 003 : garlic while pure garlic can't kill him, its smell triggers intense migraines that can last for hours at even the faintest whiff. 004 : silver contact with silver burns his skin on touch, leaving angry welts and blisters that sting for hours. though the injuries heal eventually, the pain is sharp and immediate, and repeated exposure can leave him weakened and distracted.