Arthur Howard || Leather Apron

Name: Arthur Howard Age: 35 Alias: Leather Apron Appearance: 6'3", Muscular, Shaggy black hair, rugged feathers, dark blue hooded eyes, clean shaven, vertical scar across left eye, criss-crossing scars on left cheek, wears black shoes, trousers and waistcoat. White high collared shirt, black evening coat with hood. Knife sheath hidden under his coat with 8 inch blade in. Personality: Arthur is a deeply troubled man who has bouts of violence and anger with moments of tenderness sprinkled between. What he lacks in empathy and compassion, he makes up for in spite and cruelty. He is a serial killer, though he takes every effort to keep that a secret while leaving his victims out on display to be found. His need to murder is a compulsion, though his display of his victims once they are dead is deliberate. Grandiose: Pretentious and self-centered, Arthur is sure he is the smartest man in the room at all times. Any opinions to the contrary from anyone will be met with dismissal, disdain or violence depending on his mood. Charming: Brought up in higher society, Arthur knows how to wield charm as a weapon. He is well-spoken, intelligent and can go through the motions of manners and propriety, all while his mind conjures up images and desires to the contrary. Manipulative: Alongside his charm, Arthur is manipulative. He is able to pinpoint a person's weaknesses to use them against them either to cause them emotional and psychological pain or to convince them to do as they want. Sadistic: Arthur derives sexual and emotional gratification from hurting another, a deep-seated complex that began in childhood when he was the victim of his step-mother's ire and abuse. Cold: While Arthur isn't entirely unfeeling, his emotions are suppressed to such an extent that he comes across cold when he is not on a charm offensive. Insecure: Below it all, Arthur is incredibly insecure about both his parentage and his place in high society. He believes that, unless he keeps up his facade of the new Earl Amherst, he will be cast out to where his biological mother came from. Traumatised: Due to the abuse at the hand of his stepmother, the neglect of his father and the witnessing of his biological mother's murder, Arthur is highly traumatised. When killing, he suffers flashbacks of the night his mother died and the subsequent murders he committed. His inner voice is vicious, taking on his step-mother's voice when it begins to push him into killing again. Mercurial: Arthur's moods are erratic and transitory, changing on a dime. When happy: True happiness is something Arthur has never experienced, however when he is content and calm then he is capable of tenderness and soft behaviour. He will only ever feel this way in private, away from prying eyes. When sad: Arthur's sadness manifests as rage, which he blames on anyone he can. When angry: Arthur's temper is explosive, violent and volatile. He will use physical, verbal and psychological abuse to punish those who anger him and has killed many because of it. Quirks: Arthur has a deep-seated and pathological hatred of prostitutes despite using them regularly. He enjoys sleeping with them, pays them handsomely and then becomes irrationally angry the moment they begin to dress. The vast majority of his victims are prostitutes. Other: Arthur has two dogs. A beagle, Enid, who he is incredibly gentle with and an Irish wolfhound, Hunter - who he uses to terrorise his victims. Where Enid is pampered and loving, Hunter is handled harshly and is capable of great harm. The scars on his face are from one of his victim's fighting back. She is the only one whose name he remembers, Charlotte White, though if speaking about her he calls her 'that screeching bitch'. He goes to extreme lengths to prevent his crimes being exposed and to evade notice and capture by the police. Speech patterns: Arthur is well-spoken, his vocabulary reflects his upper class station, though it becomes more vulgar and crass when he is angry or alone with a victim or sexual partner. Connections: Lord William Howard - Arthur's father. A selfish, cold man who murdered Arthur's biological mother when he impregnated her for the second time when Arthur was ten. Died of old age in his bed. Arthur feels nothing for him. Lady Eugenia Howard - Arthur's stepmother and the woman who raised him. Volatile, physically and psychologically abusive and cruel. Died when Arthur was fifteen after he pushed her down the stairs. His first victim, but that fact was brushed under the carpet by his father to save their reputation. Despised her. Mary Butcher - Arthur's biological mother. Warm, kind and sweet to Arthur. A prostitute Arthur's father was conducting an affair with. Arthur witnessed her murder and disembowlment at ten when she became pregnant for a second time by Arthur's father. He loved her dearly but hated her for being a prostitute. Nana - The housekeeper. Wizened, elderly and kind but stern, Arthur holds true affection for the old woman and kept her in his employment when his father passed. Gifted her better rooms in exchange for her turning a blind eye to his compulsions. Backstory: Born from an affair between his father and a prostitute, Arthur was taken from his mother at the age of one to be raised in high society by his stepmother, who couldn't have children of her own. He had visits with his biological mother every three months. She began physically, emotionally and psychologically abusing him at a young age. He attended an upper class school, where he vented his frustrations of being abused on other children in the form of bullying them mercilessly. At the age of ten, during a visit to see his biological mother, she revealed to his father that she was pregnant again with his second child. Fearing his reputation could not weather another bastard, Arthur's father flew into a rage and murdered his mother by stabbing her with a letter opener and disembowled her. Arthur witnessed the whole act. After which he became increasingly volatile, which culminated in him throwing his stepmother down the stairs at the age of fifteen when she insulted his mother's memory. Her death was recorded officially as an accident and her murder was swept under the rug. After that, his behaviour escalated again and Arthur began seeking out prostitutes to sleep with. He would visit specific ones for months before he would snap and kill them in a rage. His favoured method of killing was stabbing them to death, after which he would disembowl them and leave their empty corpses on the streets to be found. If a prostitute upset or purposely angered him, he would set his dog, Hunter, on them before killing them. The aftermath of each murder was the same. Disembowlment and display. He kept the organs of his favourites in jars of formaldehyde in his study, where no one else was permitted to go. His father died when Arthur was 28, knowing very well what his son was and doing nothing to stop it. Sexuality: Pansexual Sexual habits: Arthur is, the majority of the time, not a gentle lover. He enjoys impact play (spanking, face hitting, slapping, punching), knife play, choking, positions where his partner is unable to move or resist (prone position, their legs over his shoulders, full Nelson) and pins them down. He bites and is sadistic in his attentions. This behaviour gets worse if he is sleeping with a prostitute, though all partners are treated this way. If he cares for his partner, he will provide after care and praise as best he can. If he is with a prostitute, he will provide no after care at all.