Daniel Herrington (Fish)

Daniel Herrington (Born 5th September 1827) is a current member of Prince Lehmann's Teen Gang of Fellow False Youths, of which he serves as the leader of while the Prince is busy with other matters . Prior to travelling to New Zealand to seek out his sire he spent his years serving as a minor protective deity towards the street kids of London, simply known as Fish. This role has caused him to not feel very connected to the identification of kindred or vampire. He is Fish. Urban legend. Spectator on life rather than participator. He's known for excessive obfuscate use and the adhering to a few self made rules stemming from the mythos tied to his identity.

## Biography

### Mortal Years

Born during the first half of the 19th century, during the industrial regency era of London, from a very young age Danny was more or less fending for himself. A factory incident killed his father off before he was a year old causing his mother to have to go off and work. His first few years were spent in the care of older neighbouring street kids and the limited educational facilities available at the time. His mother would meet a similar fate to his father when he was around the age of four leaving him to the care of his peers & the authorities entirely.

It only took a couple of years before the abysmal conditions of the workhouse and school system of the time had him running off to live on the street.

He found community among other urchins in his position, the older ones would raise their younger peers and they'd try to keep each other fed. The hardships of living out on the street still felt better than those of the workhouse. Hardships that lessened when the group he fell in with ended up with a patron... of sorts. An older lad, apprentice aged, that would provide food, money, tobacco, etc... in exchange for having them run the occasional errand. If one was lucky they'd be invited to join the young man's gang which meant they'd get to start staying at his place and receive schooling. It was at the age of 9 that Danny found himself pulled into this group.

For the next 3 years he proved himself to be a reliable helper, eager learner, and incredibly adept thief. Like the rest of the group he was loyal to their older brother figure and respected the claims that it was better that they didn't question his odd behaviours. In exchange they were protected from the dangers of victorian slum life, received an education, provided medicine, and got regular meals that were usually leagues better than what the workhouses ever offered.

### Death and Years After

For the week or so after Danny's 12th birthday the atmosphere among the group in the house shifted. The majority of the household found themselves fatigued and sick. Their elder patron lingered only sparingly and shifted responsibilities onto the older members of the group. Having noticed this withdrawal, after discussion with peers, Danny was sent to follow after him. The resulting confrontation due to this led to him being left dead in an alley directed not to kill or inform anyone what he now was - and that he was in charge now.

After failing the 'do not kill' message with his first meal he tentatively returned to the gang. He'd been left with many questions and no one to answer them. He found himself stepping into the niche that Leonard had carved out for himself and modified it for his own uses. He stuck with the gang initially but never brought in new members. From his new position he was learning of ties and deals Leo had made to keep them safe, and easily picking up that he was out of his depth he opted to take a more subtle approach.

Despite his caitiff nature he happened to have an odd level of affinity for obfuscate, he managed to tap into it early, along with celerity not long after. What actions of fellow kindred he noticed on the peripheral scared him, still a kid he didn't want commit such actions, and he opted to hide away. Started playing the role of ghost from there. The need to feed however kept him close to his old community. And within Leo around acting as patron anymore there was a vacancy in the hierarchy he found he could fill with minimal direct contact.

Self isolation and self set rules from then on developed into the persona of Fish. Life would enter a relatively mundane cycle for a while until eventually the changes of society would drive him to feel disconnected from the city. Isolation provided plenty of time to think he'd find the old sense of betrayal over his murder, and all the unanswered questions he'd had for the vampire that made him what he was. This prompted a quest to seek out Leonard, which he was surprised to find success with.

He smuggled himself to New Zealand in 2019, spending some time in one of the independent cities before making the leap to Auckland. Despite a rough first meeting, and being briefly bond to Leonard, he has found comfort in the familial setting.

## Fish

### Predecessing concept

Before Fish there was the bizarre older brother figure of Leonard that had a personal gang and would provide food and goods to those outside of it in exchange for errands being run. Any decently paying work that didn't leave one covered in muck and risked their life was something that got attention for street urchins. With the number of those looking however asking for work could often be more of a optimistic wish than anything else.

### Early development

When Danny took on Leo's vacant position he abandoned much of the external work Leo had been doing that led to having errands for the urchins to run. He needed few things, blood to feed himself and goods that he could use to help others. The dynamic began to switch because of this, starting with the remainders of the gang that were still around in those first few years. The very name 'Fish' developing from Danny's nickname that had been derived from his last name including 'Herring'. Members of the now defunct gang became accustomed to the new arrangement and as things split apart they'd begin advising younger peers that if they wanted something that they could ask Fish for it. Provided they were willing to pay for it somehow down the line.

### Main lore

The legend around Fish is as such. Either find or make a shrine in some dark corner at night, marked with a fish, leave an offering or promise of one with a written wish - and simply ask for what you want. More often than not there would be no immediate result. The wisher would be left standing there observing no supernatural occurrences just as with the majority of urban legends. If they were lucky, presumably judged worthy by Fish, their wish would come true within the coming days or weeks.

*If you wish upon a fish...*

Very few claimed to have actually met with Fish for a face to face deal. Although tales of him appearing in their dreams or waking wishers briefly from their sleep was not uncommon, and tended to consistently report the first of a brown haired blue or glowing eyed 12 year old boy in an oversized coat.

There have been misconceptions from outsiders of Fish being some kind of uneducated children's misunderstanding of the Christian Ichthys. Something that likely helped the small shrines to him persist for the decades they did.

### Decline

As the social dynamics of central London changed so did the lore around Fish change. Moving into the later half of the 20th century reports of Fish became less common, allowing the niche legend to fall more and more into obscurity.

## Personality and Attitude

**Nature:** Survivor **Demeanor**: Enigma

Danny retains a sense of childness and playfulness. And tends to be very understanding of people even if the harm has been towards him... once he's gotten past initial anger. He displays a tendency to flip between being Danny and being Fish rather than being one and the same. The later of which involves a not being very inclined to talk, following people around unseen, collecting things he things to be neat, and generally acting a lot more on personal whims of the moment. He finds he does have to occasionally apologize for weird or unsettling actions taken while as Fish.

## Skills and Abilities

Shows a bizarrely strong aptitude for obfuscate and celerity for a caitiff.

Known to have relatively solid fortitude and an ability to charm those around him in line with presence.

Known to have eyes glow in the dark on occasion.

## Relationships

* **Leonard Lehmann** *(sire)* : Danny originally knows Len as being an elder brother and mentor figure to him. Despite having felt betrayed over his murder of him his extended unlife has brought about enough perspective that upon reconnecting he's found it in himself to forgive him. From his perspective Leo appears to be putting effort into reconnecting where he can and having been welcomed into his found family has been surprisingly comforting.
* **Wart aka: Arthur or Arty** *(childer - ripped from victorian london by night)* : Danny accidentally embraced the urchin boy after sustaining gave injuries. In a need for fuel to heal he'd pounced upon the first unfortunate soul he came across. Unfortunately his injuries provided ample opportunity for unintentional blood exchange. Danny tried to instruct and befriend him but failed to even manage to keep tabs on the childer. Their reputation bled together within the kindred sphere due to both being talented caitiff thieves which created issues for Danny as Wart riled up Haversham, and caused increasing conflict as Wart gradually shifted closer to wighthood. Using their friendship and the promise of food as a motivation Danny lured the boy into the tunnels under the city, staked him in the back, and buried him torpored. He couldn't bring himself to kill him nor had he wanted to approach other kindred for help on the matter. With Leo however he believed he had an opportunity - even if Wart couldn't be rehabilitated, in his bonded state at the time he believed that even if Leo could use him somehow to help his community than that would be enough.
* **Rathe Haversham** (deceased) : A notable Nosferatu of Victorian London that had kept a group of ghouled street urchins which Danny would occasionally have run ins with. His conflict with Wart caused an increased connection with Danny for a time who wanted to assure that they weren't the same person.
* **Violet Mary** *(London Harpy)* : Tried to mother Wart. Provided valuable assistance with getting Danny out of the city.

## Trivia

* Prone to kleptomania
* Shares the 'Early Riser' and 'Eat Food' merits with his sire.
* His coat was his fathers. However, it's been modified and had so many panels repeatedly replaced that he called it his Thesseus Coat now.
* Doesn't like silver.
* In the modern day, a way to stop Fish from watching or following you is to collect several soda can tabs, rattle them in a hand, then throw them in the opposite direct from which you're intending to go. This also works with the metal rings from keychains. **Disclaimer:** This only works if he lacks any current intent.
* Aura has the quality of a mortals.
* Has just placed a neat rock into your pocket.