Hanna Falk Cross (2/4)idkmybffzombieAugust 12 2010, 16:54:10 UTC
Setting:
Hanna's world is an urban fantasy/horror take on the modern day major American coastal city. All urban devices and trappings are here, implied by the author if not depicted outright, but the real world coexists alongside the supernatural. So far we've met a zombie, several vampires, a werewolf, a ghost and a half-selkie (and who knows what Hanna is). Knowledge of the occult is esoteric but the circles Hanna moves in are usually just as aware of them as he is; if they aren't, they learn to stop being skeptics soon enough.
Magic among humans is decidedly rare, and not recommended, as it apparently corrupts their blood and causes other ill effects. Hanna shows signs of having literally devoted his body to the craft, to who knows what ultimate price. Even vampires find him creepy and say he stinks of death, and this is a guy who's partners with a zombie.
There's little direct acknowledgement as to the power behind supernatural beings, like, for instance, if zombie still has a soul or how long Conrad will be able to sustain himself on blood packets. A werewolf we meet is unable to fully control her matured form without a pendant and a vampire we encounter early on has been forcibly sealed into bat form until she cons Hanna into freeing her.
It is established that while we don't visit the mundane side of this world very often, it does exist. Hanna sees an express difference between the sphere of his investigation into the paranormal and the police's job of covering more "factual" events like murder. He's more than happy to leave those messy dealings to the actual cops, while moving through the human-occult underworld populated by himself, his (witch-)doctor and several others. In addition to his exciting night life of being savaged by every supernatural creature he encounters, Hanna moondaylights as a department store clerk, a job apparently stable enough to cover his rent and any hats and coats for his zombie.
Personality:
Hanna Cross is what happens when you take a legitimate comic store fanboy, complete with lack of social skills and tendency to completely make up noises for his expressions, and toss in a tragic occult backstory. Far beyond being good at it (since he really isn't), Hanna's investigative work is propelled by a pure nerdiness for his subject matter. He doesn't need to hear a thing about the zombie's credentials before taking him on as a partner; just being a zombie is awesome enough.
He's not just the blissful fanboy, though, particularly when he realizes he's put important people in harm's way (namely, his partner and his client). Hanna can be very candid about expressing his regrets and other emotions, but there's always that threshold. He doesn't like talking about himself, or his past, or what's wrong with him. He will pout, change the subject and force through a veneer of nonchalance as much as necessary to get past the dicy subject of himself, rushing through a hasty explanation of the problem with his blood as though he's confessing to a bad case of acne, and insisting over and over again that he's fine and it's the other person he's worried about.
Hanna has a great capacity for selflessness, mixed with debilitating guilt when he lets someone down in a major way. He still retains a level of optimism, though, opting to work through problems and find solutions, as Machiavellian and potentially morbid as the other person might find them, because the alternative seems too raw to contemplate. Life as a member of the undead is better than death, right? And he will take that liberty with someone, without real consideration for their perspective. He's an idealist like that, unto a romantic in cases like trying to find out his partner's name, though the zombie could not be more apathetic about it. It's not that his own ideas for what people want totally supercede their own; he just doesn't always take the time to carefully weigh their feelings.
Hanna's world is an urban fantasy/horror take on the modern day major American coastal city. All urban devices and trappings are here, implied by the author if not depicted outright, but the real world coexists alongside the supernatural. So far we've met a zombie, several vampires, a werewolf, a ghost and a half-selkie (and who knows what Hanna is). Knowledge of the occult is esoteric but the circles Hanna moves in are usually just as aware of them as he is; if they aren't, they learn to stop being skeptics soon enough.
Magic among humans is decidedly rare, and not recommended, as it apparently corrupts their blood and causes other ill effects. Hanna shows signs of having literally devoted his body to the craft, to who knows what ultimate price. Even vampires find him creepy and say he stinks of death, and this is a guy who's partners with a zombie.
There's little direct acknowledgement as to the power behind supernatural beings, like, for instance, if zombie still has a soul or how long Conrad will be able to sustain himself on blood packets. A werewolf we meet is unable to fully control her matured form without a pendant and a vampire we encounter early on has been forcibly sealed into bat form until she cons Hanna into freeing her.
It is established that while we don't visit the mundane side of this world very often, it does exist. Hanna sees an express difference between the sphere of his investigation into the paranormal and the police's job of covering more "factual" events like murder. He's more than happy to leave those messy dealings to the actual cops, while moving through the human-occult underworld populated by himself, his (witch-)doctor and several others. In addition to his exciting night life of being savaged by every supernatural creature he encounters, Hanna moondaylights as a department store clerk, a job apparently stable enough to cover his rent and any hats and coats for his zombie.
Personality:
Hanna Cross is what happens when you take a legitimate comic store fanboy, complete with lack of social skills and tendency to completely make up noises for his expressions, and toss in a tragic occult backstory. Far beyond being good at it (since he really isn't), Hanna's investigative work is propelled by a pure nerdiness for his subject matter. He doesn't need to hear a thing about the zombie's credentials before taking him on as a partner; just being a zombie is awesome enough.
He's not just the blissful fanboy, though, particularly when he realizes he's put important people in harm's way (namely, his partner and his client). Hanna can be very candid about expressing his regrets and other emotions, but there's always that threshold. He doesn't like talking about himself, or his past, or what's wrong with him. He will pout, change the subject and force through a veneer of nonchalance as much as necessary to get past the dicy subject of himself, rushing through a hasty explanation of the problem with his blood as though he's confessing to a bad case of acne, and insisting over and over again that he's fine and it's the other person he's worried about.
Hanna has a great capacity for selflessness, mixed with debilitating guilt when he lets someone down in a major way. He still retains a level of optimism, though, opting to work through problems and find solutions, as Machiavellian and potentially morbid as the other person might find them, because the alternative seems too raw to contemplate. Life as a member of the undead is better than death, right? And he will take that liberty with someone, without real consideration for their perspective. He's an idealist like that, unto a romantic in cases like trying to find out his partner's name, though the zombie could not be more apathetic about it. It's not that his own ideas for what people want totally supercede their own; he just doesn't always take the time to carefully weigh their feelings.
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