If fate is not willing to give me justice,

NAME: Hugo Vlad
CANON: Zenless Zone Zero
AGE: Unstated, but likely very gracefully aging into his late 30s/40s
HEIGHT: ~6'0" / 185cm
SPECIES: Not Vampire.
PROFESSION: He'll call himself "something of a collector". Surface civilian records point to ownership of an art gallery of some reputation in refined circles. But he'll often collect other things too...in other ways..... (He's a phantom thief. His full-time anonymous hobby is karmic thievery from the rich. The art gallery is a civvy shell gig. He leads "Mockingbird", a phantom thieves syndicate.)


VISUAL:
Pale, tall and lean. Leggy. Noted by passerby as strikingly handsome, though there are fangs in his smile and his eyes have complete heterochromia--one pale blue, one blood red. Pointed ears. Long blond hair, usually partially braided back. Sometimes carrying a metallic briefcase. Likes his jewelry: bracelets, rings, a few ear piercings. Always dressed very fashionably, with a suit jacket draped over his shoulders; subdued palette of pale lavenders under dark purples, in glossy satins; very nice business shoes. (Every time he idles he looks like he's posing for Vogue magazine like sir pls--) Large sun and moon-themed medals pinned on his coat strap situation, and a gilded mockingbird-shaped pin on a lapel.

SOUND:
I'll generally be pulling from his EN cadence in writing, though his CN VA is Liang Dawei, and his JP VA is Jun Fukuyama (of Joker from Persona 5 & Lelouch from Code Geass fame), to summarize The Vibes lol. Charismatic, well-spoken, just a bit posh; can swing from unabashedly theatrical to low and purring depending on the mood.

SCENT:
Almost always wearing a nice and expensive cologne that apparently lingers on anything he pockets. Likely mostly cool and clean notes, maybe with hints of bergamot in there.

DEMEANOR:
Initially acts like your typical wealthy eccentric, but generally cordially pleasant in day-to-day affairs. Likes to idly fiddle with a coin or two between his fingers when he's deep in thought. Does have a somewhat off-putting habit of being indirect and roundabout with the weirdest topics sometimes, alongside peppering people he finds interesting in oddly pointed questions here and there. Plus a worse habit of adding...a melodramatic flair to his phrasings at times. But he seems pretty candid--as a very effortless liar.

In business he will stay as on course as the act requires, and otherwise for the most part he keeps it fairly cajoling and restrained. Still, there will be occasions where he really starts hamming things up, and it's.......it's kinda chuuni sometimes, to be frank. Youths both on and off the internet have already canonly called it cringe rip--


PHYSICAL AFFECTION
Go for it, but he'll probably take it very stiffly and find an excuse to shrug out of it asap, unless he knows you exceedingly well. Almost never initiates this himself, save for perhaps reinforcing a certain role he's playing at a given time. Well, maybe Vivian gets a headpat on extremely rare occasions when literally nobody else is looking...

PHYSICAL VIOLENCE:
He knows it well. Initiate with caution, especially if he's carrying that metallic suitcase; it can unfold into a pretty big scythe, and he's quite proficient with it! (It can fire off icebeam rounds too....Ruby Rose wants her gunscythe patent back thx--) Suitcase aside, though, he's also almost always carrying knives and darts and other fun tools somewhere on his person, so chances are good that he's going to be armed even in more casual settings.

INJURING / KILLING:
ICly, he also knows these things well. OOCly, injuries up to limb-breaking are free game, but let's discuss anything beyond that first. Would also prefer to plan out any murder plots beforehand.

MENTAL INFORMATION:
When he's not saying shit like this to randoms on the street, he seems, fairly put-together! Externally! An aura of mystery, perhaps, but nothing egregious and at least half-intentional. Internally, well........let's chat OOC first before any mindreading that deep! But surface-level meta brackets in tags are fair game.

MAGICAL INFORMATION:
While he doesn't hail from a canon that attributes power to "magic" in name, there is a phenomena present called "Ether" that might flag like magic for the sensitive? Ether is an ambient energy within warped spaces called Hollows, and it can physically corrupt a human being over prolonged exposure...but it can also be refined, crystallized, and utilized for all manner of fantastical effects. Hugo possesses a high level of "Ether aptitude"--the body's ability to weather Ether before corruption--that enables prolonged exposure to Hollow environments without immediate ill effects. He can also channel this into somewhat preternatural combat prowess, and the ice effects of his scythe are likely powered by Ether to some degree.

MEDICAL INFORMATION:
Hugo has flatly stated that there are no such things as "vampires" in New Eridu--in fact it's one of the first things he talks about in his first canon appearance, because apparently he gets this misconception kind of, a lot. (Sometimes it's funny to lean on! Sometimes it's easier to clear the air upfront...) It can be assumed that he's otherwise fairly human, though I personally like to headcanon that he does have very mild bat thiren traits possibly, hence the fangs and ears. He normally seems perfectly capable of traveling in daylight with no ill effects, and has never been shown to consume human blood--in fact, he's hypoglycemic. So on a general basis he's probably a fairly healthy person otherwise...although. After certain life choices he makes over the course of 1.6-1.7, he goes on to suffer from lingering side effects that may yet persist for a little while, the symptoms of which most notably include a concerning paleness in complexion and a bit more sensitivity to bright light than normal. So. .........Yeah still absolutely fighting for his life against the vampire allegations lately lmfao--

OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS:
ICly: He'll roll with most unsavory topics if they happen, though he has a pointed dislike of "false accusations placed on others", and some hangups involving the song and dance of climbing political ladders. (He knows how to do it! He can emulate it beautifully! ...Going through the motions invokes unpleasant memories every time!)

OOCly: As a rule I'd rather avoid detailed descriptions of gore; clinical mentions are fine, lovingly elaborate paragraphs not so much. Otherwise, generally I'll give a heads-up if something else bothers me mid-thread.


TAGGING PREFS:
Player timezone is CST. I default to present-tense brackets, but can match any other formats and can swing regular prose just fine too if desired, so just lmk! Will backtag pretty much forever and trend on the slower side; generally faster with texting tags, but may sometimes have longer delays with meatier action threads.

My tags in general might trend on the longer end of things too sometimes (between too much fun with flavor text/introspection and Hugo also being a natural drama yapper lmao im sorry), but please never feel a need to match me--if something shorter can keep the thread moving, totally cool!

THREADHOPPING:
Please check with both me and the latter party first!

FOURTHWALLING:
Only if it's funny; narration jokes are fine, but would prefer avoiding extended in-character discussion.

CROSSCANON:
Always! Cross-genre, cross-media, I'm down. Lightly assumed CR is fine. Hugo can AU fairly easily into more contemporary modern city settings, retaining his wealthy art gallery-owning civvy identity and phantom thief hobby in most cases. Alternatively, a latter character either AUing into Hugo's canon or just dropping in there as their vanilla self is also great! (Hollows are canonically dimensionally fucked already, very easy entry portal for straight up crossovers tbh...though you might need help getting out of them--) Or maybe we just jamjar it up with a premise we can hash out a bit beforehand, why not.

Wrt Hoyoverse specifically, I am very familiar with Honkai Star Rail (and could AU Hugo into that verse pretty easily!), but otherwise only peripherally familiar with the other games. Still, I'm happy to work with other players with more knowledge if we wanna whip up any crossovers!

SHIPPING/SMUT:
ICly, 20+ adults preferred. Hugo can swing with the occasional mutually casual fling, though it's always 50/50 whether he's got an ulterior motive to bedding somebody or not.......and genuine romance is off the mental table at this point in his life atm. So it's a 100% chance that any overtly romantic approaches he makes are in the name of ulterior motives and Definitely Not Lasting.

OOCly, though, I'm a sucker for the good old Accidentally Catching Feelings Along The Way trope ✨✨ So I'm down to throw him together with just about anyone if the chemistry's there! Gender is no issue, m/m or m/f or m/* equally fine. For any ages below his IC preferred bracket, let's discuss OOC first beforehand. Overall open to threading smut of both the one night stand and slowburn varieties; kink list for that here, hmu if you'd like to further discuss any logistics! Fading to black is also cool if so preferred, just let me know!

I'm receptive to crosscanon or OCs with interesting dynamics, and as far as castmate shipping in specific goes, I'm usually willing to help contrive our way into encounters even if Hugo hasn't canonically met them yet. Naturally Lycaon/Hugo is encouraged with open arms...the divorce energy.....but I'm happy to try bouncing off most any other castmate at least once, including both MC twins! The burn will likely be slow in most cases, but lmk if interested 👀

NOTES:
I'm up to date through 1.7 of ZZZ's main story, though I'm not quite comprehensively up to speed with all previous event content and agent stories yet, so ty in advance for bearing with me as I gain my sealegs wrt the finer points of the worldbuild lore!