Theme Songs :
- Occupation : Loan Shark
- Faction : Roller Bandito
History[]
Reginald smuggled himself into Step City when he was a teenager, intrigued by the prospect of a new city. He didn't really understand the purpose of the research district and didn't really care until V-Day.
He took honing his vibe very seriously, trying different dance styles and techniques to get it at its peak. Not having an obvious offensive vibe meant learning a lot of tricks to keep opponents off guard, and Reginald became a master at managing his illusions. Of course, when James Cornell came recruiting steppers into the newly founded Funk Mafia, he couldn't resist the temptation to join and put his talents to use.
When the UG was headed by Greg Dorian and they became more of a nuisance, he took it upon himself to sabatoge them whenever he could. He was never ballsy enough to pull any of his stunts when Greg Dorian was around, but there was many a dance off and dance battle that he had a hand in ruining. In the Mafia's favour, of course.
Once the dance war was over, and a new Don was chosen, Reginald continued as he always did, but he was finding fewer and fewer Mafia encouraged him as they used too, in fact, they were getting angry with his interference. Still, he believed he had safety in seniority. After all, he'd been with the Funk Mafia for a long time, he didn't think they could get rid of him, not after all he'd done for the Mafia, so he still didn't stop interferring with other people's fights, even through the protests and anger.
Then Don Bonita, herself, confronted him. It didn't end very well, and he found himself out of the Mafia. He's lucky he didn't end up dead.
Even now, Reginald doesn't think of himself as a Bandito, still convinced to this day that it's all been a misunderstanding, and that he wasn't in the wrong. He spends most of his time loan sharking Squares and harassing the UG (when Mafia is watching) in the hopes that the Mafia will one day see the error of their ways and take him back.
Personality[]
In general, he's very reserved, and thinks of himself as a professional. Reginald can be quite charming if he's in the proper mood, but admittedly, those moods are becoming fewer and far between. Like the majority of steppers, it's not unusual to find him in any of the clubs around the city, but he's often by himself, watching people dance. Even though Reginald always wants to dance, he's been finding it hard to ask for a partner, not wanting to compete with the baby-faced pretty boys around the club scene.
Reginald tends to be friendly to strangers for the most part, but it's that sort of 'customer service' friendly. The kind where he's never particularly happy to see you, but he must be civil because it's unprofessional to do otherwise. There are very few that see a genuine smile from him. When annoyed he uses that trademark snarky tone that a lot of Mafia tend to use, but he will do everything in his power to not lose his temper. He finds people who lack control of their emotions to be childish and refuses to accept such behavior from himself or his peers. For that reason, he doesn't drink, smoke or do any of the drugs found all over Step City.
He tends to let loose in certain kinds of parties and gatherings..but he'll never tell which ones.
Dance/Vibe style[]
Reginald is trained in a lot of the classics, ballroom in particular, as well as more Latin American staples like salsa and rumba, but his primary style is any type of swing dancing. He used to dance competitively when he was younger, and it's something he wouldn't mind doing again if he had the opportunity. He prefers to dance with a partner, but will dance on his own if it comes down to it.
His vibe gives him the ability to create illusions. Usually this manifests in mimicking offensive vibes like fire or lightning, etc, creating visual distractions (smoke, random projectiles), or altering his appearance since this seems to use a minimal amount of vibe. Like Harold Brown, he can make himself to appear 'invisible' but he finds it too be too exhausting to maintain for too long, so he often doesn't bother with that.
Another technique he uses frequently is making copies of himself that will mirror his every movement, but they, themselves, are completely harmless, and is merely another distraction.
Because his vibe can't hurt anyone, he really tries to not engage in too many combat oriented dance battles, since the only way he could do any damage is to distract his opponent long enough to get in close and let a concealed weapon do the dirty work. Dance offs and throw downs are fine though, if anything his vibe really shines in these kinds of competitions for the flambouyant effects he can pull off.
Be warned, even though his vibe is harmless, he is not. He carries a number of knives in that massive black coat he wears, (mostly throwing knives, but he does carry a couple of more wicked combat knives, as well as a few more concealed ones hidden in his clothing) and he certainly knows how to use them if he feels threatened or cornered.
Relationships[]
Ardette Bombaerts - He's known her from when he was Mafia. Their relationship to each other is professional at best, although listening to them speak to one and other, it'd be easy to assume they didn't like each other. Still, he enjoys her dry wit and quick tongue, so he invites himself to her work to bother her visit her when he finds the time. Currently, only Ardette truly knows the nature of his vibe. However, recently, he's managed to break the one promise he said he wouldn't. There's nothing he wants more than to apologize, but he's not sure what he can do that would fix the situation.
Lucy Soloviev - He's managed to make her angry on more than one occassion now, and yet they keep running into each other. He's starting to suspect it's on purpose. The girl can swing though. He can't dislike anyone who would take the time to dance with him, even if she does tend to get a little too rough.
Cross - He's a little frustrated that someone like him got into the Mafia, but it seems like Cross wasn't planning on staying with the Mafia anyways. Ardette seems to not be very fond of Cross, to put bluntly, but her personal issues are not his, so he's civil with the man.
Frankie Valentine - It's complicated. It keeps getting increasingly complicated.
Dympna Brown - He's finally returned some of her flirting and has gotten to know a little about her. She's very attached to him, which isn't something he's used to, but he'll accept it.
Benson - Made him laugh, so that earned him some brownie points. He needs to learn to not be so grabby though.
Bella Bella - Too grabby. Needs to stop calling him 'Reggie' but what can he really do about it?
Miscellaneous Information[]
Reginald is very sensitive to bright lights. This is a pretty annoying problem in a place like Step City, but so long as he keeps his eyes protected, it's easy enough to get around. Bright lights trigger migraines, which are not only painful as hell, but often make him nauseated. He just stays indoors on those days. Certain foods (especially cheese and processed meat) and alcohol are also bad triggers. He keeps himself on a very strict schedule and an even stricter diet so that he doesn't have to worry about getting another migraine. Thankfully, and this may be a side effect of V-day, but he finds he's no longer sensitive to loud sounds or loud music unless a migraine has already been triggered,
Because of his sensitivity to light, his apartment is very dimly lit, and most of the time the blinds are closed and the lights are off. He does own a tv, but there's a blanket thrown on top of it, so he just listens. It's mostly music channels left anyways so he doesn't feel he's missing out.
He has an elaborate tattoo of an eastern red bat holding a rosary in front of a stained glass window on his right arm and another of a death's head moth his left shoulder blade. The moth he got because he's a fan of the Hannibal franchise (he owns all the books and movies). The bat is because a close friend said Reginald looked like one, so he adopted it as a sort of 'spirit animal', the religious symbolism is a reference to his Catholic background, though, since it's in the form of a tattoo, it's also symbolic of his falling out of the church. He still has Catholic habits, but he's not as devout as he used to be.
Although his apartment is really tiny (very much a bachelor suite, no bed even, just the couch), he's got an impressive selection of books. He mostly favours psychological dramas, and mysteries, but also he has a few romance novels that are purely guilty pleasures, but you'll never find them, no matter how long you look for them.
A few of the books in his collection were actually ones he'd written himself, vanity-published under the pen name Armand Turner. Purely works of self indulgence, but every once in a while he finds himself reading them.