Ven Froidus

**Ven** is a contestant of Cascade Cabaret S2: EnCCore submitted by qnerdi. His partner is **Adelaide Spurling**.

## Appearance

Ven is a very large beast of a demon, towering above most of the people he meets. He is a shapeshifter and can change his appearance to suit his needs or wants, but he primarily takes on a very masculine form. His body is made of a tar-like substance that is smooth to touch when it is solidified. This tar is a deep black-blue color, with a lighter tone down his neck, torso, and the underside of his tail. Bone protrudes out for his claws on his hands and velociraptor-esque feet and can be seen sticking out of his kneecaps, elbows, and along his tail. His head is a skull based on a caiman crocodile and he has black eyes with small and expressive red pupils. All these bones can be moved around or added to as he sees fit and the skull can be switched out for a different one entirely. Ven most often wears a red flannel shirt and ripped blue jeans.

## Personality

Ven comes off as a jovial and sarcastic character, rarely taking things seriously. He is often blunt and honest, not one to spare another's feelings unless he finds very good reason for it. He is the embodiment of wrath, but that is seen less after 500 years. Ven looks intimidating, for good reason, but he is relatively harmless to most. It's easy to get along with him if you can just laugh at his jokes or sing along to his tunes.

Though he seems friendly, he has deep seated trust issues and does not open up to anyone around him. He deflects questions about his past with jokes or questions about the present instead. When confronted with insults or degradation involving his status as a demon, he rarely defends himself and accepts such criticisms as facts.

## Abilities

As a shapeshifter, Ven is able to take on any form he pleases. All his forms, however, still share the black tar coloring and make use of bones where needed. He can morph his tar into a multitude of things and use the endless supply of bone inside him as a weapon. The easiest thing for him to do is "unravel" his tar into multiple tentacles to strike at his opponent or grab at something.

If any part of Ven's body is cut off in some way, he can regenerate it, and any bone that had been lost inside, in a matter of seconds. However, if someone keeps coming at him with enough strength to do this multiple times, it will be harder and take longer each time. He can no longer control what is broken off of him, it all melts into tar after a short period of time.

## History

Very little is known about Ven's history because there is very little he shares. All that is definitively known is he has been around for over 500 years and at some point he amassed a substantial debt to **Blaire Dufort**, the meanest pixie in New York.

## Audition

When Adelaide shows hesitance at going through the door, **Cassiopeia** assures her she will have backup and calls in Ven and Blaire. Blaire assures her that Ven will do a good job of protecting her if he knows what's good for him and he promises the same. Cassiopeia asks if she is calmed, but starts to pull the offer away and Adelaide quickly insists that she can do anything Cassiopeia needs.

Ven and Adelaide are in front of the door discussing what might lie behind it. Ven looks down to Adelaide and asks if she is sure she wants to go through the door if Cassiopeia can't even predict what's behind it. Adelaide insists she can and Ven, sensing her annoyance, ruffles her hair and says he's only double checking. When Cassiopeia gives her final reassurance to Adelaide, Ven seems bothered, but says nothing. Instead he pushes her towards the door and they fall into the strange world of the Cabaret.

## Round 1

Adelaide and Ven are walking through the dilapidated halls of the Cabaret trying to get their bearings. Adelaide's panic is showing and Ven is quick to pick her up and place her on his shoulders in an attempt to ease her stress. Though she fusses, she appreciates the gesture and her mind wanders to questions again.

    As they're wondering if the Cabaret is completely empty, **Molly** appears and demands they come with her. They are hesitant and still filled with question, but Molly gives the bare minimum of information before shoving them into the lounge. She locks them inside, saying **Shears** will call for the four of them soon enough. Surprised at the mention of "four," they turn and see **Showtime** and **Ghaul** sitting at a table already.

The four all sit together and discuss their shared confusion. Ven primarily plays referee between the clowns and makes jokes where he can. Adelaide tries to piece together what the door meant and why they are all there, but the only definite conclusion that can be drawn is they are involved in some sort of competition. Before they can speculate more, Molly returns with **Dear** to take them to the stage hall.

At the stage, there are only a few audience members in the broken down auditorium. Molly directs them to get onto the stage, but Showtime is confused given no one is there yet. From the high seats, Shears reveals himself and **Canary** and says they are the only audience that matters. Ven is immediately annoyed by his attitude and his opinion does not improve when he confirms why they are here. They are involved in a competition, but the goal is to battle for the Cabaret's amusement with stakes that involve a way home for the winners and death or servitude for the losers. Ven follows Adelaide onto the stage, though he is antagonistic towards Shears the entire way.

    Adelaide has no desire to fight Showtime and Ghaul, especially considering the beginning friendship they'd already formed. Ven is hesitant as well, but his desire to protect Adelaide is stronger than his opinions of the clowns. As he's preparing to have to battle, he notices the piano player sitting behind them and gets an idea. He rushes past Showtime and Ghaul before she can. He requests a song from the man playing and, at Shears's outrage, tells him the best kind of battle is a dance battle. Shears is further enraged and the others are confused, but Ven says he's certain they'd rather do a silly dance battle and survive a round than die for nothing. The clowns end up agreeing (though hesitantly on Ghaul's part) and since the judges do nothing to stop them, they can only assume it's an acceptable loophole.
Up in the stands, Shears is fuming while Canary seems quite excited over the prospect of a dance battle. She finds it wonderful while Shears thinks it is wildly disrespectful to what they are trying to accomplish. As Canary clearly grows upset, her body shudders and **Other** takes over. Other tells him to stop whining and that the dancing is acceptable so early in the tournament. Shears still disagrees, but seems to defer to Other's final call.

    Showtime, Ghaul, Adelaide, and Ven dance on stage in the meantime. It's a largely silly affair that is more enjoyable for them than they'd expected. It ends on a flashy note from both Adelaide and Showtime's magic combined and the four all look to Shears for who won. Shears says the clowns win while Canary says she wants to vote for Adelaide and Ven to keep the scores even. As Shears grumbles, he shudders and looks upwards to the orange ether flowing within the Cabaret's ceiling. He then sighs and announces Adelaide and Ven as the winners.

Ghaul asks if that means they are now allowed to spectate for the time being, but Shears says that they have "orientation" instead. Dear opens up a stage trap door beneath them at Shears's order and the clowns fall into a deep pit. Adelaide almost falls, but Ven catches her before she can. He tries to catch Showtime and Ghaul, but the door closes harshly and cuts off his tentacles before he's able to grab them. Adelaide is distraught and says Shears would kill them with a fall like that, but Shears insists this is what happens to losers and that they can fix whatever gets broken. Ven is ready to attack, but Shears says that will only result in them becoming losers too. Ven appears willing to battle regardless, but Adelaide tugs on his shirt and tells him she just wants to go back to the lounge with Molly. As they leave, Ven has a protective hand on Adelaide's shoulder as Shears reminds them that their actions have consequences and they should be sure to take the next round more seriously.

## Trivia

* Ven embodies Wrath and he has six brothers and sisters on Earth that embody the other sins.
	+ Cainan of Pride (Brother)
	+ ??? of Envy
	+ Athanasios of Gluttony (Brother)
	+ Noel Magnolia Deveraux of Lust (Sister)
	+ Varonica Argent Froidus of Greed (Sister)
	+ ??? of Sloth
* Each sibling has a different animal as a key part of their design (I.E. Crocodile for Ven, Falcon for Cainan, Goat for Noel).
* As a demon, Ven is able to speak in a demonic language as well as any language spoken on his realm of Earth. Any language someone speaks in the Cabaret that is not spoken in that Earth realm will be unknown to him.
* Ven sings and hums often because music makes him feel good. He enjoys songs of all kinds, but catchier pop tunes and songs from musicals are his favorites.
* Ven has worked for Blaire for almost a century because of a debt that he owes her. How long until he actually repays that debt is unclear.
	+ Ven has worked with Cassiopeia for a decade. Blaire has her own deals struck with Cassiopeia that have her lending the demon over when she has need of him.