Nico Cunen

A big thank you to Niko Kuparinen for this character concept, I hope I did him justice! :P

I think I can confidently and categorically state that no-one in the office was looking forward to this interview seeing as Nico Cunen is a lycanthrope and they rate pretty high on our ‘run as fast as possible in the opposite direction whilst crapping yourself’ list. Yes we made a list specifically for that, with rankings. Lycans in our minds are sneaky, dirty, feral and savage creatures who possess the ability to transform into bestial animal forms and wreak havoc from the shadows of our darkest nightmares.

Therefore, at 27years of age and standing 6ft tall we are surprisingly less traumatised than expected by Nico’s initial appearance. In fact while in the form of a man there is something we find quite appealing about his predictably hairy and a rough around the edges look. The coupling of a strong and rugged jawline with his glittering eyes and thick sweeping hair certainly sits well with several of the females in the office, at least until he switches into his wolf form at which point several of them promptly had panic attacks and scattered like the shallow harpies they are.

Yes we’re not so keen on the latest temp-workers; Nico on the other hand turns out to be a genial soul that we easily warm to. Whilst overall quite an intense and serious character who likes to keep his feelings to himself he displays a pleasant, generally optimistic outlook and most importantly has a good sense of humour. His voice is somewhat gruff yet bears a gravel-rounded tone to it that speaks volumes of his personality. Although he says his usual preference is to sit back and observe events he seems to have no trouble engaging us with a touch of charm and witty banter.

The fashion-conscious among us are less certain about his choice of ear piercing, green might match his soulful brown eyes but the small set stone is a mismatch to the rest of his attire. Noting some displeasure at his choice of jewellery Nico bluntly explains that the stone is a semi-precious gem called Seraphinite and that the earring was gift. 

A passionate man in many respects Nico is highly moralistic particularly when it comes to issues of loyalty and trust. He informs us that he is a firm believer in justice and equality who rigorously strives to do right by others. Whilst not devoutly religious he is suspiciously quick to confirm himself as a follower of Evyn, a fierce defender of the meek who shows an intense dislike of bullies, cheats and underhanded misers. Thankfully he keeps his beliefs and gritty nature tempered with an honest smile and a generous splash of that well-measured wit. 

Now Nico relates that he works as an executioner in vampiric society, which strikes us as unusual for two reasons. Firstly one would assume someone with such lofty morals would be against the death sentence altogether and secondly because lycans and vampires have a notorious history of bloodthirstily shredding each other into small pulpy morsels. Nico explains that in the civilized world lycans and vampires can and do work efficiently alongside one another. We get the feeling that he is using the word ‘civilized’ loosely and that he’d probably quite like to rip apart a few of his employers but social etiquette dictates that his personal hatred towards one species shouldn’t sully our interview. Which is jolly nice of him.

Globally speaking he explains that executioners are almost always vampires, set with the task of doing what comes naturally. This logically creates a win-win situation, the criminal is disposed of as society wishes and the executioner is fed so won’t be out wilfully slaughtering the innocent. Lycans on the other hand, whilst commonly seen to be violent creatures are not renowned for killing other species. Nico enlightens us further by explaining that he and the other few non-vampiric executioners are charged with killing those criminals that the vampires deem unfit to eat, primarily the diseased and genetically corrupt. Now we get that no-one wants to chow down on a leprous black pudding and that meat so mutated it resembles a heliotrope helix is probably not the best choice for supper but still find it strange that someone, anyone is then employed to murder the afflicted by hand because well, wouldn’t lethal injection just be more, dare we say, humane? Apparently that’s not a fitting punishment in ‘civilized’ society. One small saving grace is that most criminals are cuffed, bound and executed with a blade as opposed to by tooth and claw and only escapees have the delightful prospect of being ripped limb from limb when Nico catches up to them.

So does he enjoy his job? In short, no, he does not. Converse to our expectations it is by Evyn’s bidding that he continues working as an executioner and proof enough to us that once acquired, Nico’s loyalty never falters.

No doubt however as Nico openly confesses, he does enjoy a good hunt and will jump at any chance to utilise his incredible strength, speed and agility or test his cunning. A keen marksman at the best of times Nico admits that bringing down dinner in one’s own maw instead of with a bow and arrow is quite the thrill. He also finds it hugely amusing when we spout that this is fine by us just as long as dinner is a rabbit or a deer and not another person. 

Whilst talkative and amiable for the best part of our interview Nico confesses that he is sometimes prone to being extremely antisocial and quiet. He expresses that in those moments he loves nothing more than to take a long walk in the woods. We would never have pegged him for a daydreamer yet he tells us that when alone in nature he often lets his mind wander to the extent where he is almost oblivious to his surroundings. He calls them ‘rare moments of bliss’ and cites his favourite form of escapism as, ‘being precisely no-where with no-one and absolutely nothing to do.’

And did we sketch his portrait in wolf form? Of course we did!

As an end note to our interview Nico slips in that he actually studied to become a historian before taking on the role of executioner. We tried to fathom how he went from being a presumably placid history student to slaughtering malefic criminals, or even how one role might feed into the other but drew a blank. The best we could deduce was that it was either a feral eruption of the deep lycan instincts we feared from the start or that he felt he owed Evyn a favour. Either way Nico left us with a cheeky wink and no explanation, perhaps he is a little devious after all.