(no subject)
Player nickname: Tiffany
Player LJ: arcesso
Way to contact you:
Email: live.infamy [at] gmail.com
AIM: to boldly trek
Other: invoke on plurk
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: Claire Bennet (autophoenix)
Character: Bela Talbot
Fandom: Supernatural
Character Notes:History:Bela -- or, more accurately, Abby was born in Cambridge in October of 1983. Her family was exceedingly wealthy leaving Abby with no want of anything except perhaps attention of a different sort than what she got. Between a neglectful mother and a sexually abusive father, the two were the first to start the road towards Abby being incapable of trusting another human being. She felt unloved within her home and alienated outside of it because of an inability to connect due to her own situation. At this time in her life she was, for the most part, a loner. She couldn't focus on making friends or connections of any kind because she was simply focused on coping with the pain and trying to find a way to make it stop -- which is why, at fourteen, she cut a deal with a demon who tricked her into selling her soul in exchange for the demon killing her parents. At the time, teenage Abby felt it was more than fair that she wouldn't have to do anything for ten whole years if the demon would 'take care' of her parents for her. It was a blessing. The demon cut the breaks to her parents' car and they were both killed, leaving Abby with an enormous inheritance that started her on the road to the materialistic woman she became.
Sometime in the next nine years, Abby changed her name to Bela Talbot and gained a reputation as a buyer, seller and collector of magical antiquities. On the side, she performs seances and sells charms to old, superstitious women. The validity of these seances is debatable. The more she learned about demonology and the supernatural, the more real her fate became. So, she buried it, as any good Supernatural character does. While she's fully informed and capable of performing the duties of a hunter, as alleged by Bobby, she instead chose to use her knowledge for personal profit to perpetuate the exceptionally wealthy lifestyle she'd been born into. Whereas hunters are (generally) motivated by revenge, Bela had no reason to want revenge on the demon who'd tricked her into selling her soul. Truthfully, it had saved her, so she instead welcomed this as a new chapter in her life -- initially, of course.
Gradually she became more bitter towards the demons, though she made no move to get revenge anyway because she was comfortable living how she was and she knew that going after them wouldn't do anything to get her out of her deal. Instead, she continued seeking artifacts to traffic, and eventually stumbled upon the Winchesters in the process. After asking the dead to help her locate a very rare rabbit's foot, which happened to be locked tightly away in a cursebox in John Winchester's storage unit, Bela has her first run-in with them and it goes less-than-swimmingly. After stealing the foot and getting prepared to sell it, she winds up unfortunately touching it herself and has to consent to letting Dean burn it. While she didn't get the $1.5 million for the rabbit's foot, she did steal $46,000 worth of scratchcards from Dean.
She proceeded to screw the Winchesters over again in her pursuit of another artifact. This time, a hand of glory (which, no, Dean, does not come at the end of a thai massage) in Connecticut. Bela invites the Winchesters along so she can use them as a cover to get in and steal the hand, only to nearly get killed because she sells it instead of burning it like she ought to. It comes out that Bela was responsible for the death of a family member; she shuts down and makes it clear that she's not willing to put forth personal information about herself, even after they save her life because Sam's a pussy bitch. She pays them $10,000 for saving her rather than saying thank you. Truth be told, it makes her uncomfortable to be rescued like some damsel because she doesn't like relying on other people -- she's always been able to rely on herself and herself alone and having to trust the Winchesters made her incredibly uncomfortable, which is why she couldn't say thank you.
In fact, to show just how self-centered she still is and how them saving her means nothing (since she's dying soon anyway), effectively deterring her own insecurities about relying on others, Bela sells the Winchesters' location out to Gordon for a priceless mojo bag when he holds her at gunpoint. She calls Dean and tricks him by pretending she's thanking him for saving her, and out of guilt -- her first actual character development -- she locates Gordon and calls back to warn them. Unfortunately, her good intentions don't last long, because she comes back and pretends to assist them with a dreamwalker claiming that Bobby helped her in Flagstaff just so that she can get close enough to steal the Colt. In this case, it's not even about proving that she still has it in her to be self-centered. It's genuine self interest and disregard for Sam and Dean's lives that motivates her to steal the Colt.
After setting Dean and Sam up to get captured by Henriksen, Bela sells the Colt to the demon Crowley in an attempt to buy back her contract. He changes the terms of the deal and tells her she needs to kill Sam. After getting accosted by an angry and desperate Dean who's looking for the Colt, she tries to hunt them down and shoot them in their beds, but winds up shooting sex dolls instead because the boys are two steps ahead. Rather than show any bitterness about their outwitting her, she rewards them by using her dying moments to provide them with information: Lilith, the demon who holds her contract, also holds Dean's and it's her that they'll have to kill to get him out of it. By this point, she's learned that maybe, just maybe, it's fair to trust these boys to be able to assist her in doing things, as difficult as it is for her to admit it. It took until her final moments for Bela to finally manage to put trust in someone other than herself, and she never got to live to find out if it was rewarded or not.
Personality:"You only look out for number one."
The most important thing to know about Bela is that she's self-serving. Even while she may appear to be doing something out of the goodness of her heart or for other people's benefits, you can bet your ass she's getting something out of it too, whether it's instant gratification or something much further down the line. She's got all kinds of patience, when the reward is good enough to warrant it. It earns her something of a ruthless reputation, one that's not anywhere close to unwarranted. She'll do what it takes to get what she wants, and she'll do anything to assure that she comes out on top. As far as Bela is concerned, self-preservation is the name of the game and people are simply there for her to throw down in front of her to use as stairs. She was willing to kill her own parents, her only family and the only people who loved her. The rest of the people in the world are worthless in comparison, particularly because of her difficulty building connections.
She makes a horrible habit of distancing herself entirely from everyone -- mostly because she's a victim of abuse and she fears that if she lets someone close to her, they'll simply wound her like that again. The closest she gets to people is conning them and even then, they're getting close to this person that doesn't exist. This Bela Talbot that isn't real. Even her "real name" is a pseudonym to further distance herself from her own identity of Abby, who's still this scared little girl that is easily broken and doesn't want to be hurt. She builds up walls and refuses forming connections with people because they'll only slow her down or become a weakness which is something she doesn't want to allow. She has no friends because she's too afraid to -- the Winchesters are the closest she comes, and she stabs them in the back -- rather literally, when she shoots them on orders from Lilith. The only time she willingly opens herself up to anyone entirely is when she pleads for help in her dying moments from Dean, putting herself in a vulnerable position that she avoids at all costs otherwise.
When she does make herself that vulnerable, the side of Bela that we see is far different than we've ever seen her. Normally, she's this strong, assertive, witty woman who is always in control. She has an air about her that demands respect and makes people want to work excessively hard to warrant attention or approval from her -- though this attitude has little effect on Dean. But, beneath all of her cool exterior and her wit and her sarcasm and abrasiveness, beneath the woman who's in control of her own destiny by manipulating others and being sexually assertive and having the knowledge and power of this male-dominated occupation, she's Abby. She's the terrified 14-year-old girl who sold her soul and is afraid of letting people hurt her, who's afraid of dying and how much worse Hell is going to be than anything her father could have done to her.
And, that person is someone that Bela herself despises. She tries her hardest -- taking on a pseudonym, leaving Cambridge, killing her family and taking on a different line of business entirely -- to squash Abby out of existence. As far as Bela is concerned, she'd be better if she could outrun her past and leave it behind her for eternity. She thinks horrible things of herself, as marked by her pleading with Dean in Time Is On My Side; ("Dean, listen, I need help. […] I know I don't deserve it.") She knows that she's a miserable, terrible person. She knows that her lack of connection is denying her some form of humanity, and she knows that she should show sympathy and empathy and not treat people like tools, and she feels guilt over that. But, she does it so that she can deny any connection to Abby and pretend that she's this stone wall, this impervious, formidable force that doesn't need to fear Hell or any of its demons, let alone a human. She just wants to be grown up.
The biggest wall that she puts up to hide this is her sarcasm and wit. She belittles people by making them feel like morons -- Dean in particular, as it's harder to get Sam to feel like an idiot -- so that she can feel like she's several notches up from them in the real life game of snakes and ladders. By knocking others down, she feels better about herself, and she likes it. Her flippancy is to make it seem like everything she does is easy for her so that she can intimidate people and have control over the situation, because Bela thrives on being in control. The last wall standing to hide her away from Abby is shown when she gets confronted about getting the demon to kill her parents in Time Is On My Side. Rather than be honest and garner pity or sympathy that is so honestly deserved, she deflects and acts like she doesn't care about her crimes. She alleges; "They were lovely people, and I killed them. And I don't give a damn. Just like I don't give a damn what happens to you." She'd rather people think she's cruel and heartless than to think that she's still that weak, scared little girl.
"You're one step away from being a serial killer. I get paid to do a job and I do it. So, can you really tell me you're any better than me?"
So, on the surface, she treats her job and her life like it's one big business deal. She doesn't fancy herself a mercenary, exactly, but as long as she can say she's just doing what she's paid to do, then she can convince herself that it has absolutely nothing to do with her own issues and that it's actually because she's very good at her job. She has no respect for hunters, because she feels they're just pointless buffoons who give into their agony and rage and let it fuel them into doing this job, whereas Bela fancies herself the type to take a more calculated approach. To gain something from it rather than just slaughtering hundreds of pointless, low-level demons. Bela focuses all of her attention and her emotions on the job, using it as a conduit to funnel all that negativity so that she can live her life in balance and apathy, pretending to be hollow inside.
"The last Martini served here was Italian, and he ordered a bourbon."
Being raised in an exceptionally high class family and inheriting millions has made Bela accustomed to a certain style of life -- one that she's very attached to and one that she's unwilling to give up. She has standards of class and propriety that she holds everyone around her to. This has led to her being constantly disappointed by Dean's utter lack of manners or any sense of tact, but after spending as much time as she does around hunters, she's become capable of reserving her judgment or at least hiding it behind a thin smile.
"I don't like it when people hold grudges against me."
Bela lives her live in a delicate balance. Her entire work hinges on being well-liked and trustworthy, but being clever enough and two-faced enough to rob men blind. When people are unhappy with her -- particularly customers -- it can affect her work. Over time, this has blended with her personal life as well and she's realized that everything just seems to work better for everyone involved if there's no bad blood, so she tries to avoid it when she can. Granted, that doesn't mean she'll hold off on screwing anyone over. Heavens, no, she'll just try to be more discreet about it so that they don't realize they're being screwed. Needless to say, she's become very good at it.
[Sam Winchester is the Antichrist.] "Did the Easter Bunny tell you that?"
Due to the potential presence of angels in the game, and due to the nature of the game itself, it should be noted that Bela is incredibly disbelieving of most things that she hasn't seen with her own eyes. She wants proof. She doesn't believe in all of that biblical silliness that Seasons 4 and 5 of Supernatural have monopolized on. She believes that there are demons and vampires and werewolves and monsters and she believes that money can be made from capitalizing on their existence. It's to the point where she's Dana Scully about her denial of a larger picture, coming up with all kinds of excuses and defenses to prevent herself from simply agreeing, because in Bela's mind, anything beyond the basics of Supernatural is absurd and on par with a children's fairy tale.
Other: Given an appropriate conduit, Bela knows how to communicate with spirits. She requires a ouija board or similar device, however. Despite the history and the sample's timelines, I'll be taking her from prior to her first canon appearance if that's okay. :3 So that she can be in the same ~world~ as the rest of the SPN cast. Also, as Bela is a collector and trader of rare, supernatural artifacts, I was wondering if it would be okay for her to have a worldhopping device in her possession already?
Additional Links: SPN Wiki.
First Person (entry type):As I've come to understand it, this community is for some ungodly reason host to several businessmen of impressive stature. As a businesswoman myself, I'm sure you can understand my interest. I'm in sales, you see, and I've recently come across an artifact that I believe many of you would hold immense interest in.
It's a ring. Commonly referred to as the andvarinaut, however, if you don't know what the term means or what this specific ring can do, you're honestly not the sort of clientele I'm looking for. In any case, if any of the members here may be interested in purchasing it, I'm sure it won't be too difficult for you to contact me privately, yeah? I'd love to work something out. Discretion and timeliness are appreciated.
Third Person:Bela Talbot was by no means a hunter.
She had no interest in being one. From the day she learned that demons were real, she knew she had nothing to gain from doing them any harm. It wouldn't change her situation, and really, if a person couldn't manage to defend themselves, that was their problem, not hers. No, of all the various reasons she had for not wanting to be a hunter, inability was nowhere among them. If she'd had the desire, she could probably become an exceedingly talented one. But, she'd chosen a different avenue, and since she was out of practice in tracking and killing demons, actually having to do it was showing off how rusty she was.
The king of the crossroads wasn't hard to find. Threaten one measly crossroads demon with the Winchesters' silly gun and they go running with their tail between their legs, telling you whatever you want to know. As long as you know how to ask, of course. That was where Bela's real talent laid -- manipulation and extraction of information. The difficult part would be getting inside -- and close enough to the demon to kill him.
Pulling her CLK around to the gate, Bela parked and climbed out, immediately adopting a personality vastly different than her own. Pulling a pre-paid phone that she hadn't actually activated, she smiled at the guards who immediately greeted her.
"I'm very sorry, I'm just looking for a place to use the phone. No service up here." Speaking in an American accent to disguise her own identity further, just in case, she indicated to the phone in her hand before putting it back in her purse. "I'll only be a moment, I assure you." Hopefully. Get in, get out, get on with her life that would ideally continue for more than another two weeks. Wouldn't that be nice. It took every ounce of restraint that she possessed to keep her lips from tightening in a firm line at that thought. She'd done a lot of imagining, where Hell was concerned, and she'd rather not actually see it for herself. At least not this soon -- surely, she was doomed to that fate eventually, but she wanted more than ten years. She'd always want more time.
She was jerked from her thoughts by the gate opening -- now, that was odd. She hadn't been expecting it to work. Hoping, surely, but she'd been expecting a little more of a fight.
"Mr. Crowley's been waiting for you, Miss Talbot." A terrified bile rose in her throat, but Bela covered it up with a pursed-lipped smirk. Of course. She should have guessed as much when it was so simple, but still she'd been caught off guard and there was no denying it. She allowed herself to be led onto the premises and directly to Crowley's living room, unable to resist the impulse for a witty repartee of her own -- Cambridge accent showing through now that she didn't have a front to keep.
"Already? And here I thought I was being rather punctual. I do hope he hasn't been waiting long."
The room was decorated as nicely as Bela could have expected in her own cozy Queens apartment. Regal, dark wood with intricate crown molding and rich, bold colors on the walls and carpets. Honestly, if she weren't so involved in her own mortality, she might have taken the time to compliment his decorator. Aside from the elaborate decor, the first thing Bela noticed was that Crowley was far shorter than she'd expected. The title king of the crossroads was rather misleading; it gave the impression that he'd be some kind of intimidating. In fact, for all intents and purposes, she could easily pretend this was just another business deal with another of her high society clients. The familiarity did a lot to ease the bile rising in her throat and she shrugged off the bracing hands of his demon security, shooting a glare that dared them to touch her again. Crowley dismissed them and as soon as the two were alone in the room, the thief began to pace as if she were finding a more strategic vantage point. Anything that could give her the leg up on this demon. Surreptitiously, she began to pull the colt from her purse.
"So, you're Crowley. Bit short for a king, yeah? But, then, I suppose Henry VIII set the bar rather low." She stepped out from behind a pouf chair and brandished the gun, pulling the hammer back with her thumb. "Straight to business, then. I'm here to offer you a trade. Your life for my deal." At first he didn't respond and Bela was certain she was somehow screwed. There were a million ways this could go wrong and while Bela usually took precautions to insure that those were eliminated, she simply didn't have the time for that this time around. A mistake that could prove fatal. Luckily, though it was unclear quite how lucky she was, he simply turned around and faced her.
"No, I don't think so. But, I will take that." He nodded to the Colt and for a moment, it appeared that he knew far more than he was letting on, but the look was gone as soon as it came and she was instead scrutinizing his very apathetic and smug expression. Being on the other end of it when you were this desperate stung, and she felt a surge of guilt that she quickly batted away. No need for that now.
"… The Colt? Why would you be interested in the one thing that can kill you. That seems rather absurd, don't you think?"
"Maybe I just want to keep it safely out of the hands of the people that would. Now, the Colt for your deal, how about it?" She begrudgingly moves to his desk and, disarming the hammer, sets the gun gently on the polished wood of his desk. He snatched it up immediately and tucked it away in the top drawer -- a locked drawer. The kind with a key, on he quickly pocketed. Very careful security. He wouldn't put it in the safe until he was sure she wasn't there to see where it was. He was smarter than the Winchesters. If the tables were more balanced, perhaps Bela would have felt a kind of warm respect -- kinship, even -- with how businesslike he was able to treat it all. A demon after her own heart. "Very good, then." For all intents and purposes, he appeared to have dismissed her, but Bela wasn't anywhere close to prepared to stand for that.
"Well?" She scowled, indignant.
"Oh, i'm sorry. I don't hold your deal -- Lilith does. If you'd like to amend the terms, it's her that you'll have to speak with." He looked immediately to the door and before she knew it, Bela was being escorted out -- no Colt. Nothing but a name. The emptiness in her chest grew and she felt herself being sucked further down the spiral of desperation. She was running out of options, and if she couldn't find this Lilith, she was doomed to an eternity of torment with the kind of creatures she'd only dealt with indirectly in the past. For the first time since she was very, very young, Bela allowed herself to admit something she'd been hoping to avoid. She was afraid. Not just of the monsters under the bed, no, this was a stronger kind of terror. The kind that gripped her and made her entire body tense and shake. The kind that made her sure that if she stopped moving, she might break down and cry.
Player LJ: arcesso
Way to contact you:
Email: live.infamy [at] gmail.com
AIM: to boldly trek
Other: invoke on plurk
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: Claire Bennet (autophoenix)
Character: Bela Talbot
Fandom: Supernatural
Character Notes:History:Bela -- or, more accurately, Abby was born in Cambridge in October of 1983. Her family was exceedingly wealthy leaving Abby with no want of anything except perhaps attention of a different sort than what she got. Between a neglectful mother and a sexually abusive father, the two were the first to start the road towards Abby being incapable of trusting another human being. She felt unloved within her home and alienated outside of it because of an inability to connect due to her own situation. At this time in her life she was, for the most part, a loner. She couldn't focus on making friends or connections of any kind because she was simply focused on coping with the pain and trying to find a way to make it stop -- which is why, at fourteen, she cut a deal with a demon who tricked her into selling her soul in exchange for the demon killing her parents. At the time, teenage Abby felt it was more than fair that she wouldn't have to do anything for ten whole years if the demon would 'take care' of her parents for her. It was a blessing. The demon cut the breaks to her parents' car and they were both killed, leaving Abby with an enormous inheritance that started her on the road to the materialistic woman she became.
Sometime in the next nine years, Abby changed her name to Bela Talbot and gained a reputation as a buyer, seller and collector of magical antiquities. On the side, she performs seances and sells charms to old, superstitious women. The validity of these seances is debatable. The more she learned about demonology and the supernatural, the more real her fate became. So, she buried it, as any good Supernatural character does. While she's fully informed and capable of performing the duties of a hunter, as alleged by Bobby, she instead chose to use her knowledge for personal profit to perpetuate the exceptionally wealthy lifestyle she'd been born into. Whereas hunters are (generally) motivated by revenge, Bela had no reason to want revenge on the demon who'd tricked her into selling her soul. Truthfully, it had saved her, so she instead welcomed this as a new chapter in her life -- initially, of course.
Gradually she became more bitter towards the demons, though she made no move to get revenge anyway because she was comfortable living how she was and she knew that going after them wouldn't do anything to get her out of her deal. Instead, she continued seeking artifacts to traffic, and eventually stumbled upon the Winchesters in the process. After asking the dead to help her locate a very rare rabbit's foot, which happened to be locked tightly away in a cursebox in John Winchester's storage unit, Bela has her first run-in with them and it goes less-than-swimmingly. After stealing the foot and getting prepared to sell it, she winds up unfortunately touching it herself and has to consent to letting Dean burn it. While she didn't get the $1.5 million for the rabbit's foot, she did steal $46,000 worth of scratchcards from Dean.
She proceeded to screw the Winchesters over again in her pursuit of another artifact. This time, a hand of glory (which, no, Dean, does not come at the end of a thai massage) in Connecticut. Bela invites the Winchesters along so she can use them as a cover to get in and steal the hand, only to nearly get killed because she sells it instead of burning it like she ought to. It comes out that Bela was responsible for the death of a family member; she shuts down and makes it clear that she's not willing to put forth personal information about herself, even after they save her life because Sam's a pussy bitch. She pays them $10,000 for saving her rather than saying thank you. Truth be told, it makes her uncomfortable to be rescued like some damsel because she doesn't like relying on other people -- she's always been able to rely on herself and herself alone and having to trust the Winchesters made her incredibly uncomfortable, which is why she couldn't say thank you.
In fact, to show just how self-centered she still is and how them saving her means nothing (since she's dying soon anyway), effectively deterring her own insecurities about relying on others, Bela sells the Winchesters' location out to Gordon for a priceless mojo bag when he holds her at gunpoint. She calls Dean and tricks him by pretending she's thanking him for saving her, and out of guilt -- her first actual character development -- she locates Gordon and calls back to warn them. Unfortunately, her good intentions don't last long, because she comes back and pretends to assist them with a dreamwalker claiming that Bobby helped her in Flagstaff just so that she can get close enough to steal the Colt. In this case, it's not even about proving that she still has it in her to be self-centered. It's genuine self interest and disregard for Sam and Dean's lives that motivates her to steal the Colt.
After setting Dean and Sam up to get captured by Henriksen, Bela sells the Colt to the demon Crowley in an attempt to buy back her contract. He changes the terms of the deal and tells her she needs to kill Sam. After getting accosted by an angry and desperate Dean who's looking for the Colt, she tries to hunt them down and shoot them in their beds, but winds up shooting sex dolls instead because the boys are two steps ahead. Rather than show any bitterness about their outwitting her, she rewards them by using her dying moments to provide them with information: Lilith, the demon who holds her contract, also holds Dean's and it's her that they'll have to kill to get him out of it. By this point, she's learned that maybe, just maybe, it's fair to trust these boys to be able to assist her in doing things, as difficult as it is for her to admit it. It took until her final moments for Bela to finally manage to put trust in someone other than herself, and she never got to live to find out if it was rewarded or not.
Personality:"You only look out for number one."
The most important thing to know about Bela is that she's self-serving. Even while she may appear to be doing something out of the goodness of her heart or for other people's benefits, you can bet your ass she's getting something out of it too, whether it's instant gratification or something much further down the line. She's got all kinds of patience, when the reward is good enough to warrant it. It earns her something of a ruthless reputation, one that's not anywhere close to unwarranted. She'll do what it takes to get what she wants, and she'll do anything to assure that she comes out on top. As far as Bela is concerned, self-preservation is the name of the game and people are simply there for her to throw down in front of her to use as stairs. She was willing to kill her own parents, her only family and the only people who loved her. The rest of the people in the world are worthless in comparison, particularly because of her difficulty building connections.
She makes a horrible habit of distancing herself entirely from everyone -- mostly because she's a victim of abuse and she fears that if she lets someone close to her, they'll simply wound her like that again. The closest she gets to people is conning them and even then, they're getting close to this person that doesn't exist. This Bela Talbot that isn't real. Even her "real name" is a pseudonym to further distance herself from her own identity of Abby, who's still this scared little girl that is easily broken and doesn't want to be hurt. She builds up walls and refuses forming connections with people because they'll only slow her down or become a weakness which is something she doesn't want to allow. She has no friends because she's too afraid to -- the Winchesters are the closest she comes, and she stabs them in the back -- rather literally, when she shoots them on orders from Lilith. The only time she willingly opens herself up to anyone entirely is when she pleads for help in her dying moments from Dean, putting herself in a vulnerable position that she avoids at all costs otherwise.
When she does make herself that vulnerable, the side of Bela that we see is far different than we've ever seen her. Normally, she's this strong, assertive, witty woman who is always in control. She has an air about her that demands respect and makes people want to work excessively hard to warrant attention or approval from her -- though this attitude has little effect on Dean. But, beneath all of her cool exterior and her wit and her sarcasm and abrasiveness, beneath the woman who's in control of her own destiny by manipulating others and being sexually assertive and having the knowledge and power of this male-dominated occupation, she's Abby. She's the terrified 14-year-old girl who sold her soul and is afraid of letting people hurt her, who's afraid of dying and how much worse Hell is going to be than anything her father could have done to her.
And, that person is someone that Bela herself despises. She tries her hardest -- taking on a pseudonym, leaving Cambridge, killing her family and taking on a different line of business entirely -- to squash Abby out of existence. As far as Bela is concerned, she'd be better if she could outrun her past and leave it behind her for eternity. She thinks horrible things of herself, as marked by her pleading with Dean in Time Is On My Side; ("Dean, listen, I need help. […] I know I don't deserve it.") She knows that she's a miserable, terrible person. She knows that her lack of connection is denying her some form of humanity, and she knows that she should show sympathy and empathy and not treat people like tools, and she feels guilt over that. But, she does it so that she can deny any connection to Abby and pretend that she's this stone wall, this impervious, formidable force that doesn't need to fear Hell or any of its demons, let alone a human. She just wants to be grown up.
The biggest wall that she puts up to hide this is her sarcasm and wit. She belittles people by making them feel like morons -- Dean in particular, as it's harder to get Sam to feel like an idiot -- so that she can feel like she's several notches up from them in the real life game of snakes and ladders. By knocking others down, she feels better about herself, and she likes it. Her flippancy is to make it seem like everything she does is easy for her so that she can intimidate people and have control over the situation, because Bela thrives on being in control. The last wall standing to hide her away from Abby is shown when she gets confronted about getting the demon to kill her parents in Time Is On My Side. Rather than be honest and garner pity or sympathy that is so honestly deserved, she deflects and acts like she doesn't care about her crimes. She alleges; "They were lovely people, and I killed them. And I don't give a damn. Just like I don't give a damn what happens to you." She'd rather people think she's cruel and heartless than to think that she's still that weak, scared little girl.
"You're one step away from being a serial killer. I get paid to do a job and I do it. So, can you really tell me you're any better than me?"
So, on the surface, she treats her job and her life like it's one big business deal. She doesn't fancy herself a mercenary, exactly, but as long as she can say she's just doing what she's paid to do, then she can convince herself that it has absolutely nothing to do with her own issues and that it's actually because she's very good at her job. She has no respect for hunters, because she feels they're just pointless buffoons who give into their agony and rage and let it fuel them into doing this job, whereas Bela fancies herself the type to take a more calculated approach. To gain something from it rather than just slaughtering hundreds of pointless, low-level demons. Bela focuses all of her attention and her emotions on the job, using it as a conduit to funnel all that negativity so that she can live her life in balance and apathy, pretending to be hollow inside.
"The last Martini served here was Italian, and he ordered a bourbon."
Being raised in an exceptionally high class family and inheriting millions has made Bela accustomed to a certain style of life -- one that she's very attached to and one that she's unwilling to give up. She has standards of class and propriety that she holds everyone around her to. This has led to her being constantly disappointed by Dean's utter lack of manners or any sense of tact, but after spending as much time as she does around hunters, she's become capable of reserving her judgment or at least hiding it behind a thin smile.
"I don't like it when people hold grudges against me."
Bela lives her live in a delicate balance. Her entire work hinges on being well-liked and trustworthy, but being clever enough and two-faced enough to rob men blind. When people are unhappy with her -- particularly customers -- it can affect her work. Over time, this has blended with her personal life as well and she's realized that everything just seems to work better for everyone involved if there's no bad blood, so she tries to avoid it when she can. Granted, that doesn't mean she'll hold off on screwing anyone over. Heavens, no, she'll just try to be more discreet about it so that they don't realize they're being screwed. Needless to say, she's become very good at it.
[Sam Winchester is the Antichrist.] "Did the Easter Bunny tell you that?"
Due to the potential presence of angels in the game, and due to the nature of the game itself, it should be noted that Bela is incredibly disbelieving of most things that she hasn't seen with her own eyes. She wants proof. She doesn't believe in all of that biblical silliness that Seasons 4 and 5 of Supernatural have monopolized on. She believes that there are demons and vampires and werewolves and monsters and she believes that money can be made from capitalizing on their existence. It's to the point where she's Dana Scully about her denial of a larger picture, coming up with all kinds of excuses and defenses to prevent herself from simply agreeing, because in Bela's mind, anything beyond the basics of Supernatural is absurd and on par with a children's fairy tale.
Other: Given an appropriate conduit, Bela knows how to communicate with spirits. She requires a ouija board or similar device, however. Despite the history and the sample's timelines, I'll be taking her from prior to her first canon appearance if that's okay. :3 So that she can be in the same ~world~ as the rest of the SPN cast. Also, as Bela is a collector and trader of rare, supernatural artifacts, I was wondering if it would be okay for her to have a worldhopping device in her possession already?
Additional Links: SPN Wiki.
First Person (entry type):As I've come to understand it, this community is for some ungodly reason host to several businessmen of impressive stature. As a businesswoman myself, I'm sure you can understand my interest. I'm in sales, you see, and I've recently come across an artifact that I believe many of you would hold immense interest in.
It's a ring. Commonly referred to as the andvarinaut, however, if you don't know what the term means or what this specific ring can do, you're honestly not the sort of clientele I'm looking for. In any case, if any of the members here may be interested in purchasing it, I'm sure it won't be too difficult for you to contact me privately, yeah? I'd love to work something out. Discretion and timeliness are appreciated.
Third Person:Bela Talbot was by no means a hunter.
She had no interest in being one. From the day she learned that demons were real, she knew she had nothing to gain from doing them any harm. It wouldn't change her situation, and really, if a person couldn't manage to defend themselves, that was their problem, not hers. No, of all the various reasons she had for not wanting to be a hunter, inability was nowhere among them. If she'd had the desire, she could probably become an exceedingly talented one. But, she'd chosen a different avenue, and since she was out of practice in tracking and killing demons, actually having to do it was showing off how rusty she was.
The king of the crossroads wasn't hard to find. Threaten one measly crossroads demon with the Winchesters' silly gun and they go running with their tail between their legs, telling you whatever you want to know. As long as you know how to ask, of course. That was where Bela's real talent laid -- manipulation and extraction of information. The difficult part would be getting inside -- and close enough to the demon to kill him.
Pulling her CLK around to the gate, Bela parked and climbed out, immediately adopting a personality vastly different than her own. Pulling a pre-paid phone that she hadn't actually activated, she smiled at the guards who immediately greeted her.
"I'm very sorry, I'm just looking for a place to use the phone. No service up here." Speaking in an American accent to disguise her own identity further, just in case, she indicated to the phone in her hand before putting it back in her purse. "I'll only be a moment, I assure you." Hopefully. Get in, get out, get on with her life that would ideally continue for more than another two weeks. Wouldn't that be nice. It took every ounce of restraint that she possessed to keep her lips from tightening in a firm line at that thought. She'd done a lot of imagining, where Hell was concerned, and she'd rather not actually see it for herself. At least not this soon -- surely, she was doomed to that fate eventually, but she wanted more than ten years. She'd always want more time.
She was jerked from her thoughts by the gate opening -- now, that was odd. She hadn't been expecting it to work. Hoping, surely, but she'd been expecting a little more of a fight.
"Mr. Crowley's been waiting for you, Miss Talbot." A terrified bile rose in her throat, but Bela covered it up with a pursed-lipped smirk. Of course. She should have guessed as much when it was so simple, but still she'd been caught off guard and there was no denying it. She allowed herself to be led onto the premises and directly to Crowley's living room, unable to resist the impulse for a witty repartee of her own -- Cambridge accent showing through now that she didn't have a front to keep.
"Already? And here I thought I was being rather punctual. I do hope he hasn't been waiting long."
The room was decorated as nicely as Bela could have expected in her own cozy Queens apartment. Regal, dark wood with intricate crown molding and rich, bold colors on the walls and carpets. Honestly, if she weren't so involved in her own mortality, she might have taken the time to compliment his decorator. Aside from the elaborate decor, the first thing Bela noticed was that Crowley was far shorter than she'd expected. The title king of the crossroads was rather misleading; it gave the impression that he'd be some kind of intimidating. In fact, for all intents and purposes, she could easily pretend this was just another business deal with another of her high society clients. The familiarity did a lot to ease the bile rising in her throat and she shrugged off the bracing hands of his demon security, shooting a glare that dared them to touch her again. Crowley dismissed them and as soon as the two were alone in the room, the thief began to pace as if she were finding a more strategic vantage point. Anything that could give her the leg up on this demon. Surreptitiously, she began to pull the colt from her purse.
"So, you're Crowley. Bit short for a king, yeah? But, then, I suppose Henry VIII set the bar rather low." She stepped out from behind a pouf chair and brandished the gun, pulling the hammer back with her thumb. "Straight to business, then. I'm here to offer you a trade. Your life for my deal." At first he didn't respond and Bela was certain she was somehow screwed. There were a million ways this could go wrong and while Bela usually took precautions to insure that those were eliminated, she simply didn't have the time for that this time around. A mistake that could prove fatal. Luckily, though it was unclear quite how lucky she was, he simply turned around and faced her.
"No, I don't think so. But, I will take that." He nodded to the Colt and for a moment, it appeared that he knew far more than he was letting on, but the look was gone as soon as it came and she was instead scrutinizing his very apathetic and smug expression. Being on the other end of it when you were this desperate stung, and she felt a surge of guilt that she quickly batted away. No need for that now.
"… The Colt? Why would you be interested in the one thing that can kill you. That seems rather absurd, don't you think?"
"Maybe I just want to keep it safely out of the hands of the people that would. Now, the Colt for your deal, how about it?" She begrudgingly moves to his desk and, disarming the hammer, sets the gun gently on the polished wood of his desk. He snatched it up immediately and tucked it away in the top drawer -- a locked drawer. The kind with a key, on he quickly pocketed. Very careful security. He wouldn't put it in the safe until he was sure she wasn't there to see where it was. He was smarter than the Winchesters. If the tables were more balanced, perhaps Bela would have felt a kind of warm respect -- kinship, even -- with how businesslike he was able to treat it all. A demon after her own heart. "Very good, then." For all intents and purposes, he appeared to have dismissed her, but Bela wasn't anywhere close to prepared to stand for that.
"Well?" She scowled, indignant.
"Oh, i'm sorry. I don't hold your deal -- Lilith does. If you'd like to amend the terms, it's her that you'll have to speak with." He looked immediately to the door and before she knew it, Bela was being escorted out -- no Colt. Nothing but a name. The emptiness in her chest grew and she felt herself being sucked further down the spiral of desperation. She was running out of options, and if she couldn't find this Lilith, she was doomed to an eternity of torment with the kind of creatures she'd only dealt with indirectly in the past. For the first time since she was very, very young, Bela allowed herself to admit something she'd been hoping to avoid. She was afraid. Not just of the monsters under the bed, no, this was a stronger kind of terror. The kind that gripped her and made her entire body tense and shake. The kind that made her sure that if she stopped moving, she might break down and cry.