i. the ballad of the sad café - carson mccullers // ii. “why try to change me now?” - frank sinatra // iii. “comin’ back to me″ - jefferson airplane
( charlie barnett, cis man, he/him ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that LEVI ST. JAMES is a THIRTY-FIVE year old VETERINARIAN that’s been in Chicago for TEN YEARS. According to the file, they’re a mutant on LEVEL 3 with the power of LOVE MANIPULATION. That must be why they’re HUMBLE and CRITICAL. If you ask me, they remind me of the curse of pure dedication, a scratched irma thomas record that skips on the same line, the bright moon falling upside down. They are affiliated with NOBODY.
@forwardintros
QUICK FACTS:
full name: levi joshua st. james
date of birth: september 14th, 1987
zodiac big three: virgo sun, cancer moon, virgo rising
gender & pronouns: cis man & he/him
sexual orientation: bisexual
ethnicity: 1/2 black, 1/2 white
nationality: american
languages spoken: english (5), spanish (4), french (4), italian (4)
enneagram: 1w2
mbti: isfj
temperament: phlegmatic
alignment: lawful neutral
ability: love manipulation
affiliation: n/a
alias: aphrodite
BACKSTORY:
triggers: infidelity
the story of levi’s birth is... an unconventional one. the st. james’ were on an amicable break and, allowed to sleep with others, mrs. st. james unknowingly got knocked up.
eight months later, levi is born a bit premature !
however, despite being the child of another man entirely, levi was welcomed into the st. james family when they reunited. he never really considered who his biological father was -- the fact of the matter was that he felt closer to st. james dad than he could feel with any stranger who simply shared his dna.
everyone in the family had one mutation or another, be it as powerful as weather manipulation ( his dad ), as fun as power mimicry ( his mom ), as outlandish as hair manipulation ( kael just sent this to me as an example of how wild powers could be so i’m going with it ). that wasn’t even to begin with his eldest sister, january, and her reality warping. he always deeply respected all of his family -- of course he did, he was raised right ! -- but nothing commanded respect as much as the ability to warp all of time and space.
that said, it was only a matter of time until levi’s came to fruition (lol sorry lai).
it was minor, the way it started. he simply started becoming more popular, all the kids in his class seeming to either just naturally like him or have a full-blown crush on him. this certainly seemed odd, as it was only weeks ago that he was a wallflower, but... stranger things, right ?
his mother, however, managed to mimic his power: love manipulation. what had happened ? his general presence had become more alluring, more charismatic, and he could do nothing about that !
the powers he could do things with ? honestly, most were a curse in disguise. you’d think ‘love manipulation’ would only have kind things, but when you’re forcing love on people ? suffice it to say, while he and the other were working out he kinks, he got put in time out a few times for making x fall in love with y. ( r/sweethomealabama (jk, but im hilarious) )
with all of the mutants in his family who were able to give him tips and tricks, he was able to control it -- for the most part -- within a year. and, save for empathy ( lower grade than louis, higher grade than the normal empathetic human ) and the occasional inducement of self-love, he only used his ability if need be -- like if it could stop a violent crime or something ! robber falls in love <3 up until the victim can get away, at least :elmosmile:
in 2008, nearly ten years later, levi met blake while studying to become a vet ( because nothing screams love like the love of a pet ! ). he fell head over heels for them and, without even having to use his ability, they fell just as strong for him.
three years in, levi popped the question and they didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes!’
their was a lovely union. blake was to relocate to oak park, il for their job. levi was already behind the move, looking into job offerings nearby. he found the perfect one in chicago, and that ? well, that made him go from content to ecstatic ! not just because it offered a great salary and seemed, quite frankly, desperate, but because his eldest sister lived in chicago !
the two packed up and relocated and, a few months in, when they felt all settled in and at home, they decided to begin trying for a baby.
a year and a half later, charlotte was born. a beautiful little girl with a bright spirit -- a little girl who woke her parents up with laughter, not sobbing. she was his pride and joy. and he had never been so happy.
but all good things must come to an end.
perhaps levi grew too comfortable with their routine. he always felt safest boxed inside them, a coping mechanism that must have developed from one stressor or another ( honestly ? the man has to put dogs down... that career has the highest suzy side rate for a reason... ). in any case, he followed the same script every single day. spontaneity had left their relationship -- and he saw no problems with it, but they wanted more.
this led to a few arguments... that turned into a few fights... he was all but married to routine. and it wasn’t long before he found a condom wrapper -- that did not belong to him -- in the trash can.
but, instead of confronting them, he let things play out... he would see if they would come clean... and, three months later, they did -- three months later, blake was saying that they needed to get a divorce. they were unhappy, he wasn’t going to change -- so they would make him unhappy, and they didn’t want their child growing up with parents who were constantly fighting.
if he hadn’t gotten blind drunk later that night, maybe he wouldn’t have done what would ultimately be his biggest regret. but he had gotten blind drunk and, when he returned to their apartment, he cast his love spell on them.
the next day, it was as if they had forgotten entirely. blake was so happy to be with him, he was so happy to be with them. sober-minded ? he wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but he wasn’t going to question it. and he never grew the spine to bring up blake’s affair.
for the next year and a half, things were bliss. it was like they were in a perpetual honeymoon era. blake loved him so very much, loved charlotte so very much, and they were truly the ideal family unit ! exactly what you would picture the 1950s nuclear family as ( ...but, like... less waspy... ).
however, one day, it was as if the world broke. the family photograph was all wrong... but he didn’t know why. it was warped, but it was not warped. it was blurry, but it was not blurry. it was not there, but it was there.
absolutely perplexed by this sensation, he broke his own routine to do nothing but stare at this photograph. he didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. he just stared at the photograph, entering the world’s biggest daze.
two days in, blake approached him to remind him that their anniversary was coming up... in eight months and seventeen days. and this was more than odd. they loved him, yes, and he loved them... but their life had never revolved around it to the point that they walked up to him, a complete stepford smile on their face, to inform him. and to top it all off, their hand was bleeding. when asked what happened, they shared that bones nipped them -- but it’s okay ! they love him !
“OH SHIT.”
it hit levi like a brick: the past year and a half had been a complete lie. and he was now faced with a moral dilemma: keep his family... but keep blake captive in a spell, or let them go... but lose his family.
it didn’t take as much thought as most of his decisions did -- because he loved them, he had to release them. and he immediately admitted what had happened -- that he had done it blind drunk, had been unaware of what happened, but he had still done it and lived in it and hadn’t questioned it the way he questioned so many things.
he spent the next few nights at a motel and scrounged up the money to get an apartment of his own. they mailed him the divorce papers and, however painful it was, he signed them.
because he had not done anything to charlotte, he was allowed visits, but blake still gained sole custody. and he knew that that was how it had to be.
he eventually settled into a different routine -- remarkably lonelier, but still something to hold onto. he tries to branch out, he tries to make more friends, he tries to become a healthier version of himself. he swears off his ability, save for his influence ( something he can’t help ), empathy, and the occasional self-love for those who may need it. he will induce love when absolutely necessary again, but he cannot do what he had done ! he cannot slip again !
he knows that he’s lost blake, but there’s still hope for charlotte. if he can just prove himself well enough, he can be a proper father to her again -- and, god, he wants to be that so damn bad !
TIMELINE:
1987: levi is born in the st. james family. although he is not biologically his father’s, he is treated as such by all members of the family filled with powerful mutants.
1997: his ability begins to blossom. when people started flocking to him and finding him charming, it seemed a little strange. what was stranger ? his mother, ability of power mimicry, picked up on his: love manipulation.
1998: through trial and error, levi has gained enough control to not make strangers fall in love. he only uses it when need be ( when it could stop something violent, for example ).
2008: levi meets blake -- aka, the person who will wind up becoming his spouse. they hit it off, no powers needed.
2011: levi proposes and they says yes ! they have a lovely little wedding !
2012: they relocate to chicago, where january is residing, and start trying for a child.
2014: they have a daughter: charlotte.
2018: things have been... rough in paradise. they’ve been fighting more, a lot of it over his dedication to routine. he finds out that they’d been having an affair. blake figures the best course of action for all involved is divorce. the night they admitted to their affair, he got blind drunk. on a drunken whim ? he cast a love spell upon them. the next day, everything was back to the way it had been... and he wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to question it.
2020: everything has been going so well ! they were basically living in a perpetual honeymoon, but with charlotte too ! then he spent days, willingly broken from his routine, staring at this photo in their house that just didn’t look right. he couldn’t pinpoint it, but it didn’t look real. and he became obsessed with it. his spouse, suddenly stepford as he hadn’t talked to them in those past couple days, reminded him of when their anniversary was: eight months and fifteen days! in addition ? their hand was bleeding horribly from a bite bones dished out, but they waved it off and said they loved him. ‘oh shit, we’re under a fucking spell.’ he had a crisis of conscience, suddenly realizing that everything around him was, more or less, fake. he had two options: keep doing this, keep ruling his spouse -- but keep his happy family. or let them go and sacrifice it all. he loved them, so chose the latter. he confessed to what he had done with them already suspicious, what given the sudden shift. they left him that night with charlotte in tow and sent divorce papers in the mail. he hated it, but he signed.
2021: with what had happened, they gained sole custody of charlotte. he was allowed visits, but nothing more.
2022/2023: he’s been trying to get back into the habit of being... a good guy, to say the least. he’s been trying to branch out, trying to make new friends, trying to become healthier so that he may one day be able to have his daughter over for more than a few hours. he knows getting back together with his ex-spouse is hopeless, but seeing his daughter ? not yet... he tries to use his power as little as possible, just as he had when he was a kid. the fact of the matter ? it can do some serious gd damage. he might induce some self-love in others who need it, or induce love in the midst of violent encounters, but... that has to be it, right ?
HEADCANONS:
i want to make it COMPLETELY clear that blake was still fully autonomous until he went two days without giving them attention. the only difference was that they felt like they loved him like they used to. like... their life didn’t revolve around him or anything and i think that is... extremely, extremely, extremely important to note !
also i’m gonna steer clear of talking about what happened with their sex life during that time for right now, but if someone takes blake up, we can talk about it and what would’ve made the most sense but... not have been dubcon... i have ideas, but i just... want to make that clear ALDFHSJ
let me also make it COMPLETELY clear that he did not do anything to charlotte !
the kid he got to keep in the divorce ? their great dane, bones. blake had forgiven bones for the bite -- dogs are too smart, it’s very canon that bones knew what was going on and had to find a way to alert them both! -- but... he was levi’s concern now.
levi does not want to be a creep (or a weirdo), but he does hope to establish a decent rapport with blake again. he knows it’ll be a long time coming -- he knows he did more than fuck up ! he was a year and a half of both of their lives ! -- but they’re the co-parent of their child and he really, really, really wants visitations to go smoothly. hell, he really, really, really wants partial custody, if even just one night every other week ! he wants to be a proper dad.
on a less depressing-adjacent note, he still looks up to january -- and not just because of how powerful she is. that said, her power can make him underestimate himself. between her ability to warp all of reality and his father’s ability to affect the whole world by changing the weather, he’s like “look at this cool party trick!”
of course, he realized just how harmful it can be when he cast it on blake... but it’s still invisible -- it’s still harder for him to mentally equate.
he can be a little bit tone-deaf every now and again. he grew up as a rich boy, so he’s not... totally familiar with... everything he probably should be. but he is always quick to correct himself, my goodness !
coming from a double virgo (granted, sun and moon whereas he’s sun and rising), he is such a double virgo ! he overthinks the smallest things, he has a critique for everything -- and he’s extremely critical on himself, he finds comfort in routine and repetition. but he’s also so caring and gentle, hence his career path.
takes in every stray that comes to the vet and stays for over three weeks with no takers. he now has three cats and three dogs. cats: froot loop, frosted flake, mini wheat. dogs: bones ( the og! ), green bean, zucchini.
more tbd !
CONNECTION IDEAS:
his ex-spouse / co-parent of his daughter !!! depressing ! first of all, i genuinely couldn’t decide whether to give levi a husband or a wife... so i decided to make them totally gender neutral ! aka, gender will not factor into this connection ! anyway, name is blake, but that can be changed. as the spark left their relationship, they grew unhappy with how he just couldn’t seem to leave the comfort of his routine. they eventually had an affair, he found out -- but he waited for them to confess. the night they did was also the night they proposed a divorce. blind drunk, he made them fall in his love spell while they were asleep. the two spent the following year and a half in loving paradise -- and they probably felt like an npc during this period. when he dropped it upon realizing what he had done, he immediately confessed, and they immediately made him move out and served him divorce papers. they gained sole custody of their daughter, but he’s been allowed visits. he very clearly wants to be more present in their daughter’s life again, so he’s trying to repair things as much as they can be repaired, but he knows that the broken vase of their relationship will never be fixed.
besties ! there throughout the relationship through the divorce. ‘bro wtf is happening’ ‘bro idk’ // ‘bro i put my spouse under a spell oh my god’ ‘bro wtf’ ‘bro idek!!!’
co-workers ! some more vets or vet techs !
family ! i do believe the st. james family has been established as being fairly large, so... hit kael up first FAHODSUILAJS then me !
new people for him to love ! *eye-roll emoji*
use his powers ! wld luv a reason for him to use the big kahunas in his arsenal... will say that...
brainstorming !
