~The horror of Fitzgerald Drake's features is concealed behind a long, gray overcoat. This coat has seen better days, beaten and stained, and it stinks of raw sewage and garbage. So do the crusty, ancient slacks and button-down shirt worn beneath. A stained, brown brimmed hat sits on the older fellow's head, shadowing his features along with the upturned and stiffened collar of the coat. It remains difficult to see anything besides gleaming eyes from that face. It's obvious Jerry lacks hair, and that he has some sort of…skin problem. Closer examination -- if he permits the scrutiny -- reveals that his skin is patched with overlapping flaps of partially-slagged off flesh. That flesh seems marred with mottles, pocks, and barren strips that seems to reveal raw muscle beneath. His cheeks and eyes are both sunken deep, lips stripped of skin to reveal only the bone of his facial structure. Fingerless gloves encase Jerry's hands, yet those shriveled digits appear longer than normal. Something cursed this poor man, clearly. Those fingers curl and uncurl in anticipation of a crueler fate to come.~
OOC: Appearance 0
~Jerry does not adopt the Mask of 1,000 Faces often, believing the Curse of the Nosferatu as something he should bear as openly as possible, without threatening the Masquerade. However, when he does take the time to carefully sculpt an illusion, he reenacts an image of what he once was. The illusion is rarely perfect, but no one who knew him quite remembers what he looks like anymore anyway. The stench of the sewers and of decayed flesh is gone, as are the horrible, stained clothing. Instead, Jerry wears a pair of casual jeans and what was once his favorite printed blue shirt. The man's skin appears normal, if pale and wan. He even has hair again -- dirty-blonde scalp just starting to turn gray as the man appears just over the hill. His lips stay drawn into a firm line, too serious to smile anymore it seems. His eyes appear less predatory, the brown-eyed gaze softer and more open. There's still something slightly…off…about the man. But few can put their fingers on it, and he's seems too nice a guy to press the point.~
OOC: Appearance 2
"What I have done is unforgiveable. This Curse is just part of the Hell awaiting me."
History
Youth
Life began simple and good for Fitzgerald "Jerry" Drake. He grew up in a decent middle-class family in Kansas City, University. Jerry attended church regularly, and seemed to love participating in every function. He attended public school, where he achieved good grades every year. His parents loved him and he loved them: he was their only child, born late into their marriage. Jerry's parents were both always too busy with work to angle for children until his birth in 1954.
But it was a mistake to allow his cousin, Franklin, to baby-sit young Jerry. Frank had secret family problems…and he passed that befouling bite onto naïve Jerry. Frank touched the boy in unspeakable ways. The negative impact this inflicted on Jerry's vulnerable psychology went unnoticed for a few years. Finally, an emotional breakdown caused Jerry's parents to pay more attention.
Unfortunately, the damage was done. Jerry never saw Frank again. But the boy's social skills were permanently hampered in ways no one saw. Jerry got along fine in school. He had good friends throughout high school. Jerry just never dated. He felt far too uncomfortable with his own sexuality to date. This social problem took a back seat eventually. Jerry found his calling during his senior year. He wanted to join the Lutheran ministry and become a pastor. He loved church and he loved to help people. Why not?
Nevertheless, Jerry approached his career plan carefully. He wanted to be sure he was on the right path. So the young man first attended Penn Valley Community College. He acquired a two-year Associate's Degree in liberal arts. And Jerry still felt certain about the Church, even if he felt isolated from people. He decided that even if he could never be happy with people, he could be happy helping people be happy themselves.
Service to God
Thus, Jerry attended the Lutheran House of Studies, a seminary in Kansas. He excelled in homiletics, in part due to his speech class honors in high school and college. Seminary breezed by in just a few years. Not even 25, Jerry served his first mission in Independence, Missouri. As assistant minister, he befriended the entire congregation. He gave many enjoyable sermons. And Jerry attended youth group functions. Older, more confident, Jerry still felt a pang of want, especially when he looked upon the faith-seeking teenage girls. He restrained those base urges wholly, however, and left St. Matthew's with a lasting good impression.
For Jerry was then called to serve back in his hometown, as he requested. The Church of St. Mark's accepted him gladly. And like before, Jerry impressed his flock with smooth, fun, and interesting homiletics. Yet as a few more years ticked by, Jerry felt the yearning for the flesh grow stronger. The desire to love and to be loved was becoming overwhelming. The young girls he administered were too tempting. It was on his first youth retreat in 1984 at a lake resort that he drew the most vulnerable teen, Megan, aside. She was too easy to seduce, the poor thing. They kept a secret relationship up for a couple years. Though Megan always seemed so very unsure of it. After she was gone onto college and away from home, Jerry abused Nancy, then Jennifer, and Anna.
Jerry honestly hoped no one would ever find out. But Anna confessed sobbingly to her parents in 1996. And that was the end of that! Once Anna's story was brought to the police's attention, Jerry was arrested. And all three other girls stepped forward to the claim the same abuse. The indictments were brought to court. But the charges hurt Jerry deeper than the guilt he felt. Aggravated? Malicious? He agreed that statutory rape and corruption of minors occurred, but it was consensual. So he thought. Yet when it came to try Jerry, the victims backed down. Perhaps they felt too ashamed to confront their abuser. Maybe they felt awful about the nature of the charges brought against Jerry. But without their testimonies, the allegations appeared to the judge as whimsy. It could not be helped: intuition was not proof enough to imprison a man. And Jerry refused to confess from day one -- not to those charges!
So Jerry was cut loose. His career was over. The allegations alone assured that. But he was free. Yeah…free to curl up into a bottle at home and die a slow, whiskey-driven death. That would have been Jerry's fate had Kindred interested in his crimes not intervened… In 1997, not long after Jerry was freed, he had an unexpected caller. He identified himself as Zeke White of Clan Nosferatu. Zeke threatened that Jerry's sick crimes could not go unpunished. Horrified by the monster's deformity, stupefied by the liquor, Jerry could do nothing to stop the vampire's intrusion and assault. Zeke was not gentle with Jerry at all.
The Change
But that wasn't the end. Zeke Embraced Jerry and the painful Change made him scream for hours. When the horrid process was over, Zeke dragged the weak fledgling from his home and into the sewer system. There Jerry learned all he needed (or wanted) to know about the Kindred, about the Nosferatu, and the Traditions of the Camarilla. He was hauled before Prince Solomon Winfield of Kansas City. Then Jerry was dragged back to the sewers. Zeke heaped abuse upon his miserable new childe constantly.
However, Jerry was always a very thoughtful person. He knew how horrifying he had become. Jerry recognized the monster inside him and began to work against those base urges -- urges now directed at the lust for blood. Jerry learned he could subsist on rats. And he found solace back in his faith to God. The beatings Zeke inflicted mattered less and less as he found his center again. His sire's punitive wrath was blunted. Perhaps that was what Zeke intended all along. Either way, Jerry's penitence was clear as they day they could never witness again. His Becoming was over after a long year of torment under the streets.
Once freed of his sire's "care", Jerry had no desire to remain in Kansas City. He knew how despised his clan was. Worse, he was despised even in his clan, at least locally. So he retreated to a smaller nearby town, Centropolis. Jerry kept to the sewers as before, growing accustomed to their foul but isolated solitude. He discovered an empty crawlspace in the tunnels, perfect as any Nosferatu's hideaway haven. Not far above was an alley in which a party of homeless folk resided. They never saw his face clearly, and he came to them as a minister of God. He offered heart-warming advice and stories. They in return paid no mind as he gently fed from each on a nightly basis.
Otherwise, Jerry kept to the sewer. He spent much time alone in his tiny haven. Jerry contemplated existence, God, and forgiveness. He had one possession down there: a broken mirror. With it, he peered at his ugliness, remembering what he once looked like. Soon he discovered the Mask of 1,000 Faces. Jerry could almost hide his Curse. Not that he really ever did. Jerry knew he deserved it…and much worse.
The Return
Yet all this time below, Jerry made little effort to contact any other Nosferatu. He didn't even introduce himself to the Prince. Frankly, Jerry wasn't sure if there was a Prince. The few encounters he had with other Sewer Rats suggested that the Sabbat were in charge, too. Finally, in 2004 Jerry made an effort to find out for sure. After talking to clanmates who were around longer than he, Jerry came to a decision. With his oration skills, he could represent his clan to the local Camarilla chapter. There was a Prince, after all. It was time that Fitzgerald Drake paid his dues.
Significant Other
Name: Vinessa Cooper, 2009 Nature: Companionship
Vinessa
Weakness Wicked Deeds
Fitzgerald is a reformed "man". He's paying his dues for the crimes he committed while he breathed. But so disgusted with himself is he that he thinks this is just the first pains of much more hell to come. He will never forgive himself, even if he were to believe God does forgive him. And he can't even believe that yet.
Likelihood of Corruption
Average.
Jerry is whole again, improved by the Embrace rather than worsened. But for how long? The Beast Within may claw its way to the surface and make him far worse than he ever was in life.
