CIVILIAN . BENNET, DORIAN

Dorian Bennet De Vere

DIGNIFIED. POLITE. DOMINATING.

Mr. Bennet, Lord of the Dance, Sherlock, Lord Oxford.

Twenty-Seven

June 17, 1985

Male

Heterosexual

Civilian

Professional World 10 Dancer. Dances the waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, tango, Viennese waltz, rumba, samba, paso doble, cha-cha-cha, and jive competitively on an international level. Heir apparent to the peerage Earldom of Oxford.

Personality

Dorian Bennet is a man who understands that the Victorian Era is long gone, that Pride and Prejudice is no longer the definitive subject material on how to treat others. He doesn’t care that the morals of a bygone age have passed by; he cares more that the people around him are as satisfied as they can be by the chalked up remains of a questionable period of morals. Victorian is what they call him: half lost in the prudish mannerisms of a society that split itself between the public and private faces. He would give his coat to a woman soaked by a puddle, offer her his hand and escort her to her destination with a smile and a kiss upon her hand. Dorian Bennet does not believe in a ‘private’ place in the way of the Victorians. Instead he believes that each hidden layer is another puzzle for him to unravel in the luxury of his own time, that each reluctant confession was a blessing in disguise. He's a mannered soul, tempers his courtesy with the cold grace of a born and bred noble. Dorian is a man possessed by the spirit of chivalry long dead.

His temper is almost legendary, a glacier of incalculable mystery. They say he could sink a titan with his quiet plotting from the background. Dorian is the sort who shows no offense no matter the slight, instead preferring to rip the very soul from their chest and watch the fools who test him writhe in agony all the way to the grave. It is said that he is fanatical about his 'hobby',so devoted to his professional career that he spends more time practicing than he does advancing the state of Oxford itself. There is nothing so offensive to Dorian than to say that dancing is a hobby, an insult to the profession and hours of work it takes to achieve mastery. Becoming a professional World 10 dancer isn't exactly what one would want for the heir apparent to Great Britain's oldest peerage, but he merely obstinately does it anyway.

Lineage

Dorian Bennet is as pureblooded English as one can get, a blueblood in the literal sense of the word. His is a pedigree that comes with a chart, a family tree longer than his arm, and an elitist sense to match. He is fluent in British English, complete with a delicious accent that taints his every word with class, and French. On a very good day, Dorian can manage Ancient Latin in both the vulgar and formal. Dorian learned his language skills from a series of tutors and the British equivalent to expensive private schools, and keeps his talents fresh by conversing with his relatives solely in languages both long dead and very much alive.

History

Dorian Bennet de Vere was born in the maternity ward of the Oxford University Hospital. As the first son and only child of the de Vere family, Dorian was heralded as the 33rd heir apparent to the Earldom of Oxford. His would be a life spent in the flash of cameras, sunglasses at night and tinted windows to keep prying eyes away. To make matters worse Dorian had been named not after the rest of his esteemed lineage, but after his mother's favorite classical characters. As he grew older his mother would read these novels to him, and Dorian grew up on the words of Oscar Wilde and Jane Austen instead of traditional children's tales. The discovery of fairy tales and the effects his status as an actual Lord had on other people during his primary education would ruin the man for life, setting him up for an unending quest to become the perfect noble. He ignored the more practical things his father tried to impress upon him, laughed in the face of the chamberlain when the man tried to redirect him to more fruitful pursuits. Dorian was set in his ideals from the young age of six and a half, and he would spend the rest of his life living up to the unending need to be a gallant lord on a shining horse.

Dancing was an unexpected hobby for him to start, born out of mandatory waltzing lessons for a formal dance at his parent's anniversary party. His tutor happily taught him the steps, absolutely delighted with this serious child who told her that as long as she was in his home she was just as much of a lady as his mother was. She taught him the waltz, and on the weekends she taught him how to hold a woman's hand and to be gentle as he led. Dorian would never let his dance instructor leave, using his allowance to pay Miss Giles for lessons that he quickly mastered with a fanatical devotion. The nine year old made her feel young again, his quiet attempts to make her comfortable while he practiced warming her heart. Dorian treated her like the Dowager Empress, and the usually crotchety woman delighted in her daily lessons with the boy. She taught him all the dances she could, persuaded the boy to spend his allowance on lessons with a variety of instructors. Some boys his age collected comic books or detention slips; Dorian collected hand holds and a swarm of little old ladies who thought him the perfect little gentleman.

Secondary school brought about the onset of granddaughters and nieces, friends of the family and next door neighbors all brought forth to attempt to be his dancing partner. Dorian wasn't picky about his partner, and found an almost perverse joy in wooing the various and sundry women his instructors set him up with. He danced with all of them, entered in competitions and merely did his best to make his partners into the princesses he claimed they were. At eighteen, Dorian Bennet was known across the dancing community as the maker of reputations for female dancers. His partners lingered with him as long as possible, and Miss Giles was fascinated by Dorian's sheer ability to acquiesce to his partner's wants. Dorian learned the Latin dances in a year, at the behest of his Brazilian born partner Isabela Costa who wanted a little touch of home. In return he seduced her to the world of European dancing, a world of fairy tales and nobility. A dynasty was born out of that partnership and an afternoon of tea with Miss Giles at her studio. The elder woman had laughed at them as they argued about which competition to enter, Isabela rather more vehemently than Dorian in her want to dance Latin that year.

The World 10 required the pair to formalize their partnership, and the nineteen year old finally found himself with a partner he would trust with his life. Isabela Costa was a frightening soul, less inclined to allow Dorian time for his lordly duties and oddly more than willing to help him with his university coursework. Oxford was a fantastic place for him, full of professors that would let their Lord Apparent leave his class for a competition so long as he kept up with his work. Isabela and Dorian took horrible advantage and swarmed the professional World 10 scene. They were good enough to make the finals, almost unheard of after only a year on the scene. They placed fifth that year, managed to gain the position of UK representative and third place in the world the next. It helped that Dorian refused to use his full name until the final interview where he was forced to reveal that he was in all fact the Lord Heir Apparent to the Earldom of Oxford. The next year's second place at the world finals branded the senior collegiate with a horrible nickname he has done his level best to ignore. The ‘Lord of the Dance' graduated Oxford with honors and returned home to stand as best man as his dance partner's wedding.

She retired to find her peace as a mother and Dorian decided that he would never dance again with a subpar partner, even if he had to train a woman in ten different dances from scratch. He took up instructing as a hobby, moved to Los Angeles to avoid the British press and his father alike. Dorian turned out to be a rather good instructor, and his studio gained fame as the best place in the world to learn how to dance like a professional and build your self confidence with laughable ease. The rumor mill delighted in telling the socialites and young ladies of Los Angeles that Dorian was handsome and attentive, a patient instructor who had a strict no nonsense policy when it came to men who did not treat women as Dorian felt their deserved.

Roleplayer Information

VIRTUOSO/ALLU;; Also plays Jesus Sanchez de Cepeda

PREFERENCE;; Pfftyes. Awaken him painfully.

FACE CLAIM;; Devil Survivor 2 – Hotsuin Yamato