Brent Bayle

Dream Anchorage
Steward of the Fleming Household

Description


~Brent Bayle boasts style and good looks. The mature gentleman wears the height of man's fashion. Brent stands in a custom-made double-breasted suit. No name brands can be ascertained; the man designs his own wear! He prefers conservative blacks, grays, and dark blues. A maroon tie rests between his lapels, pinned in place by gold. The rest of Brent's appearance conforms. His healthy features reveal no blemishes and only an affable expression. His brown eyes twinkle with levity. His dark-brown hair, nearly black, is worn short and cut in a traditional but fashionable style. Suede dress shoes click crisply on the cement. Brent approaches with talent, experience, professionalism, and an eagerness to serve and please.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Style 3

“Yes, well, we're going to have run that by Ms. Fleming...”

History


Youth

In the wine valleys not far from Sacramento, the Bayles lived. Brent, the older of two children, lived well in this “blue blood” household. The family fortune was built on investments in the region’s wineries. This “old wealth” also generated “old men” in the family. Brent’s parents were very conservative in outlook. They observed Brent’s growing capacity in the arts warily. He was very flighty, upbeat, and creative. He had more girlfriends than guy friends. They were terrified that the youth was gay and watched how Brent interacted with every friend he brought home to their large estate in the country.

And Brent found most of his friends in school. Despite their wealth, he attended public school. As much as he could, Brent developed his artistic talents and interests. Slowly but surely, he found his love not on the easel or in clay, but in fabric. Clothing design became his love by his high school career. He designed suits, outfits, and dresses in his spare time, using his allowance to purchase the materials. His parents grew more and more fearful as his hobbies were recognized. The fact that he was the homecoming king every year and that he was dating the prom queen meant no-nothing to them. He graduated with plenty of honors and scholarships.

So as if just to escape his stiff-backed parents, Brent traveled down to San Francisco. He attended Berkeley as if snubbing his nose at his homophobic parents. There he majored in fashion design, minoring in business. By 1988, Brent acquired a Master’s in design, and was satisfied with an Associate’s in business. He took his newfound expertise and natural talent and moved to the East Coast. He enjoyed working for Guess! in the Big Apple for awhile as a design consultant. It was a good start, he told himself.

Early Years

But soon Brent got sick of stifling “standards” that fixated the company. Indeed, he predicted their standards would put them “out of style” in a matter of a few years. And he had no interest on staying on a sinking ship. He sought a way out in the early 90s. Brent wanted to start his own private fashion design business. He wanted to at least be an independent consultant rather than fixed to a corporation, despite the fringe benefits. However, to do that he needed money. He needed a loan. And rich parents tend to be better than banks, he thought. So he appealed to his father.

Brent’s father was willing to lend his son the few thousand dollars he needed. But first, Brent was required to take a break from his career. Brent was needed to apply his business savvy and PR skills to work for his father. Their family’s investments in wineries depended upon the success of those wines. And part of staying successful often requires expansion. Mr. Bayle needed his son to make new business contacts -- interested merchants -- on the East Coast. And they struck a deal of two years working in this manner. Brent didn’t mind too much actually. Working for Guess! had stymied his creative touch and he wanted to take a break to recover it.

So for the next couple years, Brent helped his father’s business. Although it was a break from his life hobby that he chose to accept, it slowly began to bother him over the long months of travel and business meetings. Brent started working out, paying visitor fees to go to gyms and YMCAs. He worked out in weight-lifting and started learning kick-boxing, just to keep in shape and work off the growing stress.

Then in 1996, he met Natalie Fleming. It was in Baltimore, where she was hastily selling off some of her assets. Brent was sent by his father to oversee the purchase of some waterfront property. So the two got together over business. A few business meetings grew into casual dates. Casual dates became intimate dinners. The pair hit it off in a month. They discovered they had a lot of common interests, including their love of fashion design and textile manufacture. Unfortunately, there was a good reason that Natalie was selling fast. She wanted to get out of town. The fighting between the Camarilla and Sabbat vampire sects was rising again. And Natalie wanted nothing to do with it, so she was fleeing the city. On their last date together (and the final signing of contractual paperwork), the Jyhad fell into Brent’s lap with an explosion. Car bombs went off up and down the block. Mad, fanged monsters ran amuck in the dark streets. People were screaming and dying and Natalie was dragging the shocked and terrified Brent off out of sight.

Service

Together, they drove out of Baltimore as quick as they could. As frightened of what he saw as he was, Brent managed to maintain a cool head. In fact, his more gallant nature kicked into play, and Natalie was no doubt amused by his chivalrous behavior as they scooted out of the city with only a few suitcases. Once they were safely past the Beltway, they found a hotel. There Natalie sat Brent down and explained to him in brief “the truth”. She talked about the Kindred, the Jyhad, the clans. She revealed to him her own nature, a Cainite of Clan Ventrue. And that alone was enough to quash his growing fear. Because if vampires could be like Natalie, then they weren’t all horrible, marauding nightmares like Dracula. They were just…people. Some good, some bad. And he felt fortunate that he fell in with a good one.

After Brent heard all of these facts, Natalie gave him an unbelievable choice. The ultimatum was simple: work for her in, as myth called it, a role as a “ghoul”, or have his memories of all the Kindred erased. Brent was just shocked. He was shocked at the offer and shocked at the realization that she had that kind of power. But she had already sunk her nails into him, into his heart and soul. He trusted Natalie. And he wanted to stay with her, to work for and with her. She had spoken of her interest in opening a fashion design business of her own. And she had the money to do so. Brent quit working for his father a few months early. He allowed Natalie to feed him some of her blood (which he always mixed into wine of his family’s vintage). His father, of course, reneged on the loan promise -- but Brent expected that.

Thus began Brent’s training as a ghoul for Natalie. He became her only servant and the only one she’d ever need. For several years, Brent developed a variety of skills to be more well-rounded. He spent time at a shooting range. He looked over electricians’ shoulders to learn about house wiring and security set-ups. And, of course, he applied his business knowledge and design talent to help Natalie establish a foundational approach to their business partnership. Indeed, Natalie treated him almost as a equal instead of a mere servant. Their business was partnered and all. The only reason she didn’t want to Embrace the man was because of her desire to never kill an innocent like he. Pleased that he had such a generous and benevolent mistress, Brent excelled in his role.

Silken Pleasures

Then the pair traveled further west from Virginia. With their stock of new ideas and design plans, they were ready to open a small shop to appraise their business hopes. Slowly but surely, however, Brent was falling in love with Natalie. Over the years, he began to persuade himself that she loved him, too. And maybe she did. But they had not admitted it to each other no matter how much time and affection they poured onto one another. They weren’t Toreador. They were Ventrue. Business came first. And so it was that they came to Kansas City and looked to settle into a relatively peaceful city. Brent was prepared to establish their business here and branch out in both directions across the country. Their mutually-owned shop, “Silken Pleasures”, specializing in lingerie, skyrocketed as a local success. Brent sat back to enjoy a long life with a eternally-beautiful young woman and more than enough money to live comfortably. Brent found happiness. Now the question became: will something try to take it away?

Significant Other


Brent has served Natalie Fleming for years now. The ghoul is both faithful and dedicated to Natalie's needs and cause. And it is not just the Blood Bond that keeps him with Natalie. An undying respect and desire lingers for the dark woman. He can't help but crave Natalie's affections and he has long sought to draw them out of the Ventrue. So far, they have done little more than mess around and kiss. Natalie fears that she would drive Brent away if they made love and he discovered her body to be undesirable. She is undead, after all. But at this point, Brent simply adores Natalie inside and out. The fact that necrophelia would be the result of such passion is lost on the lovestruck ghoul.

Natalie

Weakness
The Steward's Fate


He and his Domitor do their best to avoid Kindred politics. But as good people as he and Natalie are, the Jyhad finds everyone eventually. And it has no mercy for even the good.

Likelihood of Corruption


Average.

Brent is as unaware of the potentially damning properties of Kindred blood as Natalie and most other Kindred are. He need only slip up on his principles a little and he will slide that much faster towards inhumanity.

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