The Mask called Cécile Henriette. Work-in-progress.

[Cécile Henriette]

Have you seen the Hellsing OVA and/or Read the Manga? How many volumes have you seen/read? (We recommend that you have seen up to OVA 6 or read up to Volume 6 of the manga). PLEASE NOTE that the original 13 episode anime is NOT Canon! You must have read the manga or watched the OVA:

Read, watched, even the less-than-mediocre excuse for an animation that was the original anime.

Name:
Given her nature and modus operandi, the woman is known by many names in many places, but in more recent times, she refers to herself as Alexandra. Of course, her birth name is Cécile Henriette.

Age:

249.

Apparent Age:
Late Twenties.

Gender:
Female.

Race:
Category A vampire.

Affiliation:
Currently unaffiliated.

Rank:
Unranked, at current.

Personality:
Howbeit the moment that quickening kindle of creation wheezed baleful pulse of life into her tiny conscienceless form, and from whence time she was possessed of wits such that independent assessment could be formed, she understood that, somehow, she was not like the rest. Like all things, aberrations must mature; unlike deviations, those things do not grow up to dance with the Devil. Alexandra is a monster, and she knows it well—most of the time. Although she is fully aware of the majority of her eccentricities, her cognizance concludes at the encyclopedia definition of the word—monster—it holds no real meaning for her. Uninterested by the prospect of a mythical label born from some fool’s perforated voyage to quantify the morality of one to whom it is applied, Alexandra banishes the thought. In much the same impromptu manner, the woman mentally dismisses all that fails to interest her.

Frequently showing her biting wit and dexterous intellect, Alexandra takes pleasure in the ridicule of others, making a habit of mocking their weaknesses and shortcomings. Conversely, her feeling toward being the one mocked is less than reciprocal or fair; her antipathy is such that she harbors a deep repugnance for being criticized or ridiculed. Often, this insult to her ego spirals her into a vindictive rage, and she responds more than ably with ample condescension and an antagonistic sense of superiority. And it is this egomania that dominates her interactions. Short, volatile outbursts swiftly turn to frigid dispassion, hot to cold, in an instant, a Vesuvian mood melted into a stunning lack of care. She just as rapidly reverts to a state of composed self-superiority. Gone back to the original state that annoys others so.

Alexandra lies like she breathes, and it is by the advantage of her acumen in language and psychology that grants her ability to slip into any skin. Many people, many things, and many soiled things that she has done—she has an identity to suit every occasion. One would have difficulty finding an actor as seasoned as she. In fact, most of her life is built on aliases, people conjured from her imagination. It is debatable whether any part of these is genuine, or if all is merely a product of that occasionally-mile-a-minute mouth spouting more pathological drivel. And it is to the belated horror of others (by then it is much too late) that when the woman, previously theatrical and entertaining, does decide to bear her fangs, she expresses zero empathy for other people. Perhaps it is then that the glimpse into her truest nature becomes stingingly apparent. No amount of makeup in the world can conceal the carnage. All one need do is look. The irony is that rarely, if ever, do they do just that.

It is a deceptively laborious endeavor to measure that which cannot be seen in the physical sense. Then, it is left up to the imagination and mind to fill in the blank lines beside bullets on a form that is not existent. Empathy is such a thing. Spoken of in quantifiable words with indefinite measures of a thing of uncertain qualities—zero, empathetic, shallow, insensitive, unknowing—truthfully, how can it be known? The deceitful souls with an inability to construct a mental and emotional facsimile of other people, unable to ‘walk a mile in their shoes,’ unable to really ‘get into their skin,’ except in the purely intellectual sense. Traits of the psychopathic personality—this applies to Alexandra as well, a woman whose callousness parasitically bleeds those around her of their possessions, funds, and dignity. A woman who aggressively does and takes what she wants without compunction, with the telling of lies, the ability to deceive, and manipulation her natural talents. As well as some more of these ‘traits.’ Criminal versatility, there are little in way of criminal acts she hasn't committed. Not a woman one would want on their bad side, essentially nothing keeps her from the most depraved, inhumane acts imaginable. The ultimate survivalist.

To elucidate:

In the midst of a robbery, caught between terrified clerks and security guards attentively watching for any opportunity to disarm the robbers, Alexander calmly eyes the situation. She entered First National Bank approximately twenty-five minutes ago, and a few minutes after, the bank was taken by storm. Armed assailants drew their weapons, made every move to assert authority and show how dangerous they were. The robbers spread throughout the bank—two hurried to the back to empty the safe, one combed through the drawers up front, then rushed to the area where the safety deposit boxes were, and another kept on eye on the situation out in the lobby. Alexandra had merely complied with their every whim, dispassionately watching the situation unfold. Figured most robbers didn’t care much for murder, too high profile, so the safest thing to do to ensure survival was to simply comply. That didn’t stop her looking for leverage, trying to find a way to turn the tables. And she knew, observing, that it wouldn’t stay peaceful for long.

People were too moronic to see what was good for them.

The rent-a-cop darted forward with haste, tackling the lone offender, managing to knock the assailant’s firearm to the side; it slid across the floor, to Alexandra’s luck, landing just a few feet from her reach. Quietly and carefully, he acquired the pistol and hid it away. The robber grabbed hold of the rent-a-cop’s gun which was secured early, discharging a round into the man’s torso. Alexandra saw him stagger backwards and slump to the ground like a chunk of meat being tossed through the air and onto the ground.

The assailant fell to the ground, before he got his bearing, a stream of red seeping from a roughly spherical hole in his forehead. Pistol in hand, Alexandra oriented herself to the back entrance, firing off four accurate rounds as another of the robbery team came out into the room to check on what happened. With agile mind and cold calculation, in a few short moments, she had crafted a plan and dispatched two of the perpetrators. Periodically looking behind, she sauntered toward the exit… only to be stopped momentarily by the protests of the dying security guard.

“Where are you going? Please, you gotta get help. Call the police!”

“I don’t gotta do anything,” Alexanda muttered. “Who do you think you are?”

“Who are you? What’s wrong with you! Don’t leave me here! I got a wife and two kids…” he begged.

“I’m Peter Pan, here to take you to Never Never Land,” she said in a half-sung sigh. “You’re the one who decided to ascend to sainthood. I’ve got my own problems to worry about, and you aren’t one of them. I’ll look up your family; tell them why Daddy’s dead, and what an idiot your wife married.”

Alexandra ducked out the exit, without a care for what transpired in that bank after.

Oddly, Alexandra’s stunning lack of concern for the effects that her actions have on others is shrouded by the act. To be sure, she could not care less about the devastation and ruination she wrought upon others. But when she plays one of her roles, this fact is attenuated, sometimes so much so that even she herself forgets that she doesn’t really give a rat’s ass. How do you act so well that you fool yourself, if only momentarily? She probably owes this to the same remarkable ability granting her a lack of guilt or remorse and that allows her to rationalize her behavior and shrug off personal responsibility for her actions.

Even so, having that mindset had its benefits, perks not everyone had. One could sully oneself to an extent. One could ever make oneself into a grotesque caricature of what once was—evil, black, tainted, corrupt, biased, and selfish, like a demon—but what one could never truly attest to having achieved naturally was the killing of one’s conscience and sense of guilt. These things were not easy for one to sever from the original package. Alexandra sensed not a pang of remorse since the moment when first aware. The shooting pains and wrenching spams of anxiety and that indefinable feeling of ‘badness’ that overcomes one, the inner policeman that directs and sets aright the wrong. He never showed up for duty. Simply as that: His box, faded blue and impoverished, sits on a blustery, desolate corner with nobody to occupy it.

By grace of a predatory lifestyle, the malignant woman rarely remains attached to anything; to her, people and objects are, for the most part, disposable commodities to be used for gain or convenience, and neglected the moment the object or person in question ceases to be of value. On particularly uneventful days, out of boredom, or during times when irritating stimuli is abound, she vents her frustrations in vengeful forms of abuse. In all her operations, seldom does she feel a pang of regret or remorse for her actions; little regret or remorse is experienced, excluding the times when it adversely affects her plans.

A sort of emotional poverty limits the depth and range of her feelings. At times appearing cold and unemotional, the seemingly robotically temperamental woman is prone to shallow, short-lived displays of feeling, often dramatic. The impression is often that Alexandra is play-acting, with little going on beneath the surface. But only to the careful observer can this simple observation be apprehended. To most, many an action seems the genuine article. For Alexandra, fear is largely cognitive in nature; she does not experience the physiological responses and the unpleasant bodily sensations of fear and apprehension; they are not part of the experience.

She is a witty, articulate woman, always ready with a quick and clever comeback. With a propensity to tell the most unlikely stories convincingly, she finds it no difficult endeavor to place herself in a good light. A high verbal intelligence allows her a fluent command over words that puts a good orator to shame. Why, she’s even been known to pit friend against friend, with startling ease. Offhand, the woman cunningly turn lover to vehement enemy, causes others to vow a lifelong vengeance against the sworn enemy—all for her own amusement. In light of what others know about their friends, the silver-tongued Alexandra still manages to sway more than her fair share of individuals to her designs. Actions, thoughts, dispositions all altered with the flapping of her lips. Indeed, she is a very capable talker, very effective in presenting herself well—a likable and charming lady.

But to the careful, observant eye, she is just a little too slick, a might bit too smooth, too insincere, too… superficial. Oh, yes, as the astute observer will note, the impression that Alexandra is acting, mechanically reading her lines, is apparent, on the tip of sight. Still, there is something to be said, depending how one looks at it, for someone who manages to fool the majority of those whom she encounters. The fact that some people are not taken in by her charades does not elude her. With incredible ease, the reality is brushed aside, with the merest of shrugs.

And even with the rare instance manifesting itself, front and center, as one immune to charms, those who normally can spot a phony before them usually are conned by Alexandra. It is a simple enough concept to twist and manipulate whatever weakness is made known. Vanity, emotion, past, present, future, ambition—all tools in a most overwhelming metaphoric toolbox. Sit it down and open the lid, unfolding the layers and compartments, and in each one is a line or compliment to suit the occasion. Detecting flaws and weaknesses, no matter how seemingly minute or transparent, is a well-practiced and well-developed skill in her arsenal, one which she employs ruthlessly. Not a single thing escapes her field of vision. When all is done, the one who came to and realized just what occurred will often wonder, “How in the world did I fall for a line like that? I can’t believe it!”

Alexandra does ramble. She is never without story to tell. With what is discovered about her, much of it seems much too fantastic or improbable. Acquaintances never get the opportunity to be made privy of this information, so it matters very little. In the grand scheme, the past is typically kept close-chested. Either that or it is so bubble-wrapped in fiction and exaggerations that it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish which is what. Erudite though the woman is, with comprehensive knowledge gathered over the long years, she attempts to establish familiarity with most forms of studies. The difference between knowing and not knowing is a thin line. The only indicator is that the smooth lack of concern with being found out a fraud or a liar; she could not care less. Smart and with such confidence, a quick learner, that is Alexandra. Glib, too.

Whether from boredom or out of a particular need at the time, Alexandra has amassed a great deal of practical knowledge and book knowledge. If you can think it, it’s likely to have passed her mind at one point or another (or at least heard of it). She’s quite profoundly intelligent, after all, a level of cognition far above those above the norm. Her keen, advanced, and cultivated cognitive abilities serve her well. In fact, her intellectual capacities often open windows otherwise barred shut. Rich in resources, abound in wit, and not once at a loss for words, she is nothing if not creative. Many seminal ideas rushed from her mind as the flood from a great wellspring overflowed. Concepts of great innovation in the here and now were her musings back in the day. Under many aliases, she toyed with this and that, publishing ideas of promise, incomplete because of tedium.

The world revolves around her, not that she is the only authority in the universe, but the only one that truly matters. Looking out for number one, she is, in her mind, the center of the universe, a superior being who is justified in living according to her own rules. Society’s laws and rules are of no consequence to Alexandra, but she never breaks her own internal rules. But the rules can change, and it is perhaps most hypocritical that she is willing to latch on to any rule which benefits her, milking it for all it is worth. This is a tactic employed without ethnics and without moral scruples. At times, the outrageous extent to which she will sink to win puts to shame the seediest lawyer.

The world Alexandra lives in suffers her narcissistic and grossly inflated view of her self-worth and importance. A sense of entitlement and egocentricity pervades her being. A shameless braggart, she is pompous and arrogant, seldom embarrassed about anything; a conniving, opinionated woman, seen as electrifying or charismatic—subtly and overtly domineering—cocky and self-assured, mentally and physically. Power and control are her love—absolute control, absolute power—an unwavering adoration. Rarely will she accept the blame for anything; it’s always something, or someone, else’s fault. Whatever the matter is, it is simply a temporary setback, the result of disloyal, treacherous friends, the consequences of bad luck, PMSing karma, or failings of an incompetent, unfair, partial system—sometimes all five! Anything but her fault.

Appearance:
Long hair of golden blonde flows in waves—shades of deep black interspersed among dark and light golden blonde, well-kept and lustrous, not a split end in sight—reaching to mid-back in length, resting upon her shoulders, bangs uncut, ending just beneath the brow, which, as well as the nose, has quite a bit of definition. Peach skin, with clear complexion, unblemished, is accentuated by her gold locks, set in stark contrast with ashen eyes. Mischievous grey orbs with unsettling intensity continuously fix on the subject before them, without a single interval; the eye contact is so direct and intense that it quite regularly causes others to earnestly wonder if ever they had truly looked anybody in the eye before; an unrelenting stare not indulging in the brief glances away used to soften the force of a gaze. Standing at five-foot-eight-inches and weighing one-hundred-thirty-five pounds, the air around her seems to buzz intensely, a bewitching and charismatic presence, supremely confident with every move, a gait that betrays nothing that it does not wish to betray.

Spoiler:

Alexandra typically wears casual attire, though her outfit is subject to change, generally consisting of comfortable tennis shoes, jeans and hooded sweatshirt above, with hood perpetually pulled up over her head and around her face and all sides about the mask below, which conceals all but a tiny portion around the eyeholes, exposing cold, languid grey eyes. But she dons a less unusual costume where required, and she’s been known to wear rubber-soled combat boots and army fatigues.

Spoiler:

Choice of Weaponry:

Spoiler:

McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle.

Caliber: .50BMG (12.7x99mm)

Operation: manually operated rotary bolt action

Barrel: 736 mm

Weight: 11.8 kg

Length: 1448 mm

Feed Mechanism: 5-round detachable box magazine.

Spoiler:

HK416 carbine with 9 inch barrel.

Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO

Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt

Rate of fire: 700-900 rounds per minute

Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

Spoiler:

Customized Colt Government model Series 80 .45ACP.

Action: Single

Caliber: .45 ACP

Capacity: 7 Rounds

Barrel Length: 125 mm

Weight: 1080 g

Overall Length: 216 mm

Spoiler:

Atchisson assault shotgun (ca. 1972), blowback operated, with 20-round drummagazine.

Gauge: 12 (2 3/4" Magnum)

Length: 991 mm

Barrel length: 457 mm

Weight: 7.3 kg with loaded 20-round drum

Capacity: 20 rounds in drum magazines

Rate of fire, cyclic: 360 rounds per minute

großes Messer:

Spoiler:

Naturally, the arsenal is alternated; Alexandra isn’t going to be hauling all these weapons around at once…

Abilities:
On the field of battle, Alexandra is more than capable of being a highly disciplined combatant, when she sets her mind to it; a warrior, through and through, seasoned by over a century of countless battles, life and death struggles, both victories and defeats, and forged by thorough practice and harsh training. Armed with her specialty blade, she is a fearsome enemy; a master swordsman with decades of diligent practice in many styles, she combats her foes with a superhuman degree of skill. She employs her advance swordsmanship skills, effortlessly, her style and movement an elegant, refined flow, so finely tuned that it is child’s play to cease an attack at but a moment's notice and subsequently execute lethal attacks with absolute precision, fluidity like water but not lacking force.

Her intelligence is put to work in combat, giving her an almost-obsessive degree of focus and concentration. It is her great understanding of combat and its many forms and the penetrating understanding she has into the methods behind an opponent's skill and intentions that allow her to discern the proper course of action easily. In fact, Alexandra is quite gifted with great insight and understanding of situations at hand. Highly analytical and perceptive, she remains calm and in control in situations where others fear for their lives. Perhaps it is this quality that makes it so easy for her to deduce the basic idea of his opponent's plan, figuring out their strengths and weaknesses and subsequently making every effort to pick them apart. Skill such that splitting a high-velocity bullet in twain in mid-air is not such an unreasonable feat.

Although a competent marksman, Alexandra does not favor any arsenal; she can wield a wide variety of weapons well enough, if need be, but she is no master with all of them. What is used is what is required. That said, there are particular tools she uses frequently. That is not to say that she is completely disinclined to employ alternative means of doing battle (Lord knows she likes her mind games and psychological warfare). It is just that there is a specific type of weapon that she prefers. It is not favor; it is what is useful. For combat, the woman would much rather take hold of a melee weapon of some sort, particularly a sword, to gracefully and skillfully slash and cut and stab and chop her enemies to bits and pieces, or open fire with pistols, shotguns, or assault rifles. She’s an old-fashioned girl, after all. And the occasional explosive.

If she is to shoot at all, she would rather, first, settle down into a comfortable position and pick off her foes, one by one, using a sniper rifle, to decrease the numbers or gauge the enemy. Highly accurately, highly disciplined, highly patient, she is skilled to the point of evaluating a person’s movements and aiming accordingly. It’s all in the patterns.

As befitting a category A vampire, Alexandra wields proficiently all the powers and traits inherent in a vampire of such level, possessing the supernatural capacities of her ilk—such as the manipulation shadows and the ability to defy gravity to an extent.

In addition to her merit as a swordsman, she utilizes her immense physical strength to augment her lethality in hand-to-hand combat. Superbly trained, Alexandra is an expert in this sort of combat, particularly close-quarters-combat. Her versatility might give one reasonable cause to wonder if her learning was out of need, extreme boredom, or some demented desire to become as lethal and multifaceted in battle as possible. In reality, it’s just a consequence of living long in a deceptively dangerous world… and vanity.

Among her absurdly extreme physical capabilities are a few protrusions, all of which are related to her ability to amalgamate her combat prowess and supernatural powers effectively. Primarily, in this sort of tactic, she uses quick thinking to employ ruthless strategic assaults that leave little time to plan and react accordingly.

Alexandra is a synesthete, and through her supernatural prowess has obtained a remarkable level of control over her own synesthesia. Combined with a thorough knowledge of the condition itself, she is capable of exerting complete control over the condition and even turns it to her benefit. Thus, she is able to control what type of synesthesia she exhibits, or nullify it.

The unique extension of this ability directly uses her synesthesia to affect the surroundings, a creative ability incorporating the synesthesia with a psychic generation of sound to issue a system of causes and effects involving music and color.

When the music resounds, it evokes not only sound, but color. The colors are the primary manifestation of the ability, denoting an effect or influence specific to each color, mixture of colors, mass of colors, or color sequence. It is therefore the color which brings about the power’s reality, not the sound, propagated by the disembodied music. Music generated acts as a carrier of the color, not the body through which it engages the objects outside its exterior; for instance, while the color manifests after the music begins, it need not rely on the music to prolong its existence or reorient itself multi-directionally. In fact, the music is not essential to the color, meaning that the color can manifest with or without sound. A symbiotic relationship it seems, but it is more a correlation of style and preference than a symbiosis of dependence, cause and effect. The cause—the color—and the effect—a sort of force that is imposed—is controlled by a system, hence the spectrum of colors. Particularly, each color brings upon a different sort of force—for example, the color grey bringing about a pure, flat force directed at something, and a mixture of colors, with that color as the base, would impose the same force, but in a different sort of... shape; for instance, a 'sharp' shape, to penetrate, and a wide, spherical shape, for a larger damage ratio but less penetration and more crushing, as the end would be ‘flat.’ The spectrum of red is edged sharpness, the spectrum of yellow pointy, and the spectrum of blue blunt.

It should also be noted that Alexandra is fluent in quite a few languages and that she is capable of imitating a colorful variety of accents convincingly (often to cover up her heavy French accent).

Biography: (The past of your character, how they became who they are and go to where they are now)

Sample: (At least one good sized paragraph. 3 paragraphs required for Canon roles, including a combat sample.)