D E V I L

Adam smirked at the man’s comment, shaking his head briefly. He should have known it was going to be the hair, it always seemed to be the hair. Adam was somewhat reminded of a comment Ethan once made to him what felt like a long time ago, you shouldn’t have your head shaved. it makes you stand out. you wanna get killed on these streets? grow it out. 

“Maybe I’m a skinhead.” he shrugged with an exaggerated frown at the possibility. He used to hear that label aimed towards him a lot when he first wore his head shaved. That and people would ask if he was ill. “You never know…”

Levi snorts and shakes his head at the notion. “Yeah, right -- and I’m Queen of the Netherlands, pleasure making your acuqiantance.” Extending his hand over the few empty seats between them as to shake the now-confirmed policeman’s, he offers a brief, but hearty shake. Retrieving it, he has another small chuckle before downing the remainder of his bourbon.

“Because you’re a fucking moron, is why. All this time and you still can’t fucking see it, can you?” And though he might usually mean this as a joke Levi appears to be at least partially serious this time, the smile that plays on his lips more bitter than humored as he shakes his head with disbelief and pauses only to take a brief drag off his vaporizer, fumes curling from the corners of his lips as he speaks. “Two thousand ten? The Bianchi trial?“ He gestures to his own face, as though to say Adam should be recognizing it by now, "I was convicted for murder two. Four years.”

A soft snort is given as Sebastian’s hands laid steady, stitching the marred flesh up in a contented silence. The smattering of scars is a subject he’s curious about, but knowing some of Levi’s history–he won’t get a full explanation. Needle is stitched through skin as the doctor glanced up to Levi, lips quirking briefly.

“I can at least make this one nice and straight for once.”

          Kaplan knows as well as he does that the information wouldn’t even be on the table if Wally didn’t trust the source. He sits silently, lets the other man have his moment, understands his anger, swirls the liquid in his glass.           “I do suppose there is. My people don’t make these accusations lightly.”            From the desk comes a thick stack of papers, some flat white, some beige, some in triplicate. Wallace uses his tattooed fist to knuckle the packet across the desk, then a finger to tap its front. “No one dies around me without my knowledge. I’m willing to aid you in your investigation as best I can; take the information here and use it as you like.” 

At the sight of the stack, the sheer size of it, there is a split second in which Levi tries to will these bad news away. He feels so utterly fucked that he tries, for the briefest of moments, to bargain -- with the universe or the god he doesn’t believe in or whoever is out there and might be listening. Knowing, however, that there isn’t anyone, he downs the rest of his drink in one sip.

If these are false accusations, then someone is trying to seriously fuck with the Bianchis. If they are true accusations, there doesn’t exist a scenario in which Marco will hear him out. Marco will kill him if he ever dares.

Either way, trying simply doesn’t cut it. Someone must be held accountable, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Levi arrives before the scheduled hour and lets loose his white, three-legged pit bull, Bear - watching him hop-hop-hop on his only front leg along with the other big dogs as he lights himself a cigarette despite the scolding looks awarded to him by some of the other dog owners. When Darrows finally slips into the empty space on the bench beside him, he spares him only a quick glance before returning his attention to the dogs running at the far end of the park.

“Thanks for meeting me here,” he begins, pausing only to take a brief drag off his cigarette, “I know this isn’t exactly standard procedure, or whatever.”

4. If your muse could change one thing about themself, what would it be?

Inwardly or outwardly?

Outwardly, it would definitely be the scars. Even if he didn’t mind them from a purely aesthetical point of view, which he very much does - they are the cause of his limp and plenty other unpleasant side-effects he would be very, very happy to live without. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still fit enough, even with the limp and the occasional hyperventilation but, at the same time, he feels like he can't rely on himself and his body as much as he used to which, in turn, makes him feel unsafe. Naturally, being a man of his position, he does carry a handgun wherever he goes, but that hardly makes him feel any better.

Inwardly, he would for sure get rid of his tendency towards depression if he could for much the same reasons – it makes it so he can’t rely on himself as much as he used to, his personal sense of resilience and self-sufficiency are not as strong as they used to be, because he doesn’t know himself when he’s depressed. Even in his darkest days back when Rachel and he were still living with their father, he always knew there had to be a way out because, well, he just had to – otherwise, it would have become a self-fulfilling prophecy and neither one of them would have ever made it out (which isn’t entirely true, it sort of makes Rachel seem helpless and unable of handling herself – but you get the gist). When he’s depressed, all that gets thrown away without so much as a second thought, and he’ll allow himself to sink farther and farther into it because, well, that’s just how depression is – everything is terrible all the time and you can’t see a way out because you don’t think there exists one.

5. What kind of first impression does your muse give off to people just meeting them? How does this change as people get to know them better?

That depends on who you ask, really, and the manner with which they’re involved in Levi’s life. If we’re talking about other individuals from the Bianchi family or other criminal organizations - Levi always tries to maintain a respectful air. He will always address people by their title, always keep his language clean (at least towards them), always hear them out and will always do his best to keep both parties satisfied (within his means, of course - and that being said, the Bianchis will always come first). He’s rather the impressive diplomat which often fares well, but not always. Some people view him as lacking authority, little more than Marco’s personal lap dog, and won’t take him seriously; some view his diplomacy as cowardice and compliance which, in turn, makes him unfit for his role as Marco’s second-in-command, even if Marco is much of the same (hell – some view Marco as cowardly and compliant, too). He knows it’s the right way to get anything accomplished, though, with minimum fuss and minimum damage for all parties involved, so I don’t see him getting all combatant and irrational anytime soon.

If we’re talking just ordinary people who are not involved in or unaware of his criminal status – I’d say he comes across as charming (or that’s the way I try to portray him, anyway), in a thinly-veiled brutish, violent sort of way. He’s obviously a thug, but he’s clever and kind of funny and, if anything, he’s a good listener. He doesn’t often want to involve people in his personal experiences or past due to obvious reasons (did anyone say trust issues?), which usually has him leading people to talk more about themselves and, lbr - most people want to talk about themselves, it makes them feel heard and interesting, so, yes. Long story short, Levi is a good diplomat and most times, people tend to like that about him.

I do think people tend to notice, at some point, that he’s a private man, that he doesn’t want anyone getting too close to him, and the reactions vary depending on things like the nature of the relationship or, simply, the type of person the other party is. Some accept it and hope he’ll eventually open up; some try to push him there (which usually leads to his distancing himself); some give up the struggle and, with it, the relationship. It doesn't feel too nice when a person you care about clearly doesn't want you all up in their personal shit and, after a while, the charm fades, and a good listener can easily turn into a secretive, emotionally-distant creep. I do actually really want someone to confront him about it, but I think I’ll need to have been writing him longer and have him develop more personal relationships for that to happen.

6. If your muse could erase a single event from their memory, would they take the opportunity? What would they erase?

Naturally, the first thought that popped in my head is Levi’s childhood/home life, but thinking about it, I don’t think he would’ve wanted to erase any of it. It would mean granting either of his parents forgiveness which he doesn’t feel like either of them deserves and, more importantly: it probably means he wouldn’t be as wary of people as he is today, which he would consider a disadvantage. It’s good that he’s always on his feet because, that way, it’s much more difficult for the current/new people in his life to hurt him and, with his type of job, that shit is necessary in order to survive.

He might consider wiping his memory of the incident that caused his injury and killed seven of his comrades, though I’m not sure whether he’d go through with that either. It’s far more likely that he’d choose to erase that memory if only because it doesn’t serve to “remind” him of anything, unlike his childhood and memories of his parents – it’s just a very painful, very traumatizing thing that happened that he can never take back or forget about, and he’s all too aware of how deeply he's affected by it. He knows he’d probably be much better off, much more stable and emotionally healthy, were he not to remember it but, at the same time, he is at least partially responsible for what happened, partially responsible for all those lost lives, and escaping that isn’t something he’d be interested in doing. It’s a burden he doesn’t so much want to bear, but recognizes that he needs to nevertheless (so much so that I’ve recently added a third tattoo to his medical diagram).

Silent, Sal knows how Isabelle’s death affected him. It was not as though she were kidnapped and then killed, or grabbed by a sadist, her death happened on a mundane way. In perhaps what was a common, but nonetheless freakish accident. Death is death, though. And Salvatore feels that in the aftermath of it all, he was fucked for months. The old burying their young is an awful experience. 

“Outsiders will always have their assumptions.” Sal notes, “People speak out of their turn, at things that’ll never know of. It’s the way of our species. Now, what matters is how Marco’s personally taking the tragedy.” 

Though the honest answer to that statement is real fucking bad, Levi keeps it to himself for the time being. It isn’t his place to make any sort of observation regarding Marco’s mental state; it is not the job he has been sent here to perform.

           She gives a laugh to his position  on the matter and if you think about it logically like that of course it sounds ridiculous and pointless – of course the whole purpose behind her job revolved around empathy and emotions so she couldn’t think that way .    It’d be pretty contradictory to her work ,    maybe even hypocritical if she didn’t believe in how all this give people closure and what not but arguing with him wont be in her favor considering he’s still sort of a client or part of the process with one at least .    So she just gives him a little nudge with her elbow and a little wink as an okay to his point .    “  Think tha’ just means you’re not’a total narcissist tha’ wants people worshippin’ even the ground you’re buried under when ya pass .  “

“  I think I have something perfect !!  “    It’s proudly stated as she saunters over to one of the more expensive caskets she has on display ,    walking around it with her arms out like those car models did .     Opening one side before she leans over the back of it and knocks on it’s surface .     “  18 gauge steel ,    and a velvet interior .      Can get the outside and interior whatever color ya want .  “

“Steel?” Levi echoes with surprise in his tone as his arms cross over his chest, gaze cast downward as to inspect the casket, even though he hasn’t even the faintest idea what he’s looking at. As far as he’s concerned, this casket could be equally as cheap as it is expensive and he certainly won’t be able to tell the difference. Even without his own personal opinions on the matter -- this whole casket and embalming ordeal has never been a part of his culture. “Shit, people really do wanna make it to the afterlife intact, or whatever, don’t they? That’s more reinforcement than some Humvees I’ve ridden.”

1. If you could only give one piece of information or one brief anecdote to summarize your muse, what would it be?

If I had to pitch him in just a few seconds, I’d probably just say disillusioned veteran turned criminal. However, seeing as to how that accurately describes about half my characters (what can I say, I am both a military and true crime buff), if I wanted to differentiate Levi from the rest of my boys, I’d say he’s definitely my trust issues guy. Don’t get me wrong, I have characters so fucked up by paranoia it’s demolished all other aspects of their personality (folks who know me from my previous blogs will know who I’m talking about) -- but trust and paranoia aren’t exactly the same and I definitely don’t feel like I can say Levi’s paranoid -- at least no more than his position requires him to be. Long story short, if I had to describe him in a way that would differentiate him from the rest of my boys, it would be something along the lines of man feels repeatedly betrayed by family and country, decides to look out for himself the only way he knows how.

3. What is something your muse won’t admit to themself, or hasn’t yet realized about themself?

The aforementioned trust issues, probably (and his ongoing battle with alcoholism, though I’d argue they both sort of feed one another). He’s not entirely oblivious, but I don’t think he realizes the severity of his situation yet. It becomes more apparent, perhaps, when compared to his sister, who, despite having come from the same lousy upbringing, has had the entirely opposite reaction and constantly seeks more people to have around her and call her family, whereas Levi’s circle of people he trusts keeps on shrinking.

It will, however, become more apparent in the future, if what I have in mind for future arcs comes into play the way I plan it to.

17. What is your muse’s least favorite part of their job or their everyday life?

NGL, it’s probably dealing with Marco’s kids. Or, well, kid -- he gets along just fine with Sofia, the younger daughter - but the eldest son, Luca, fucking hates his guts and Levi hates his guts right back. He frequents the Bianchi household on a near-daily basis, so you can imagine the two of them run into one another quite often. Mind, though, Levi will claim most of the problem stems from Luca’s attitude towards him, and he’s not entirely wrong; the two of them would have probably gotten along much better if it weren’t for Luca being jealous of Levi’s position both within the firm and within the household. He views Levi as a foreign threat trying to take over a throne that is rightfully Luca’s and it appears that sense can’t be talked into him, so Levi has voluntarily taken on the role of the villain and plays into their rivalry despite knowing full well that he shouldn’t.

He also most definitely hates having to deal with other criminal organizations. He recognizes the importance of alliances and maintaining the peace and he is a pretty decent diplomat (which is the reason why he became Marco’s second-in-command to begin with; that and his ride-or-die mentality) - but LBR, diplomacy is fucking frustrating and exhausting af even when you’re well-versed in it.