Niko "Herbal" Miller

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In Some States They Say You Can Burn For It But I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It

Birth Name: Niko "Herbal" Miller
Age: 25
Date of Birth: August 26, 1982
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185 lbs
Occupation: Cultivator and seller of Marijuana seeds, clones, dried bud, and many other illicit drugs, as well as a general black-market creep. His level of involvement is directly related to his need for cash.

And The White Tooth Man Who Sold Me A Gun

Niko has changed a lot since becoming a Ghoul. Where as before he carried himself whimsically with an air of confidence, he now seems to simply glide from place to place, every movement fluid and filled with an almost serpentine grace. Simply the way he carries himself has become undeniably sensual, and even the pettiest of small-talk seems like obvious flirting. Still, somehow he avoids seeming arrogant, instead coming across as incredibly feral, making it impossible to tell if he's oblivious to his bizarrely sexual presence, or plain shameless.

'Cause Every Girl Crazy 'Bout A Sharp Dressed Man

As far as his outfits, he really only has two looks when going out on the town, depending on the company he plans on keeping, but no matter what he can't stand being dirty, and his clothes reflect it, always crisp and clean. The majority of the time he's seen in loose fitting military cargo pants or baggy-as-Hell cargo Jnco's, a tucked in white undershirt, and a baggy button-up long sleeve shirt hanging open. When he knows he'll be spending time around Kindred besides Sora's close friends, he does his best to make a good impression, opting for black slacks with a tucked in matching long sleeve button-down and a grey-on-black pin-striped vest, along with a Hound's Tooth tweed cap. Regardless of his attire, even the odd days of jean shorts and white t-shirts, he is wearing his polished black Stanley steel-toe work boots.

Call Your Pals, And If You Ain't Got None Buy A Shotgun, I Got A Million Styles Around!

Niko doesn't have much in the ways of a personal arsenal, but what he does have he takes good care of. For the last 8 years, he's kept and carried a Glock 26, a sub-compact 9mm automatic pistol. Not only is it a wonderfully concealable and reliable, it was the first gun he found, and the one that led him down his (possibly inevitable) path towards a criminal life-style. He carried it until the Indulgence which took place in the summer of 2008, where Sora Marcellus brought him the Desert Eagle she had pulled off a guard's body. Though at first intimidated by the large size and caliber of the pistol, he began carrying it. In his mind, a 9mm was fine for protecting yourself against people. But, these days, Niko knows that there are far worse things, and a pistol firing bullets half-an-inch wide might come in handy. And, of course, what self-respecting criminal doesn't carry a knife? Unless nude, it is a very safe bet that Niko will have his switch-blade on him, an antique blade he picked up for style points as a youth, but it has actually served him very well. When ever the 5" blade begins to dull, he has it professionally sharpened, and though it has served constantly for years and years, the beautifully crafted stag-horn and bright steel handle still shows little in the way of wear-and-tear.

But Sometimes I Wish I Was A Kid Again

Niko spent the first 12 years of his life in the foster care system, his mother having died in labor, and his Father turning to the bottle. Even though his child-hood was one of abuse in all it's forms, he seemed to grow up strong, with a vast, unfaltering love for his friends. He was violent, and far too clingy throughout most of his teenage years. At 12, he moved back in with his Father, who had sobered up after putting himself in the Hospital, near-death from his alcoholism. Still, he had no idea how to raise a child, especially a maladjusted teenager. He gave him far more freedom than was healthy. Niko dropped out of school and moved out at 17. Still, he loved his Father deeply, and they had a strong relationship.

Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself A Gun

Niko got his break into the criminal life-style in a strange, but sensible way. He would patrol his neighborhood in the dead of night, and check for cars with the doors unlocked, and would steal everything inside, down to the change in the seats. After doing this on and off for several weeks, he found a gun. Then another... He kept the first one, and started looking for some way to sell the other. He sold it to Big Marcus, the Father of a friend. Big Marcus asked him casually one day if he'd be interested in learning how to move them on his own.

They Say It'll Kill You But Hell, They Don't Say When

That summer was a Hell of a journey for Niko. He dove into the gun market much harder than he should of, but the money, to him, was unbeatable. He was addicted to cocaine, top of the list, but kept a steady supply of heroine, morphine, and MDMA in his system among this and that when it came around. He was still small-time, but he liked it there. He made connections all over town, which would eventually lead to what he calls "The Incident."

Oh Lordy Now, Troubles So High

At 3:30 in the morning one night, there was a frantic pounding on his door. He opened it to find a skin-head screaming about being a "Soldier in the Race War." Niko wanted none of that, to be sure, and told the guy to fuck off. Niko was shot four times from a .25 ACP pistol and left in his doorway to die while his ratty garage apartment was ransacked. He was left there for over an hour before he could get to his cell-phone, and called his friends... They cleaned all the illegal stuff from his place before calling an ambulance. It was market down as a brutal B&E.

Let's Get Down To The Greenhouse, It's Where We Get Green, Where We Get Grown, No One Knows The Times That We Have Known

He certainly had a change of heart, that's for sure, but not in the way most would of expected. He quit all "hard" drugs, cutting his habits down to only cigarettes, alcohol, and weed. With no high-school diploma or plans for the future, he got a buddy of his to set him up as a petty weed dealer. Smart kid that he was, though, he began studying his product. This dirt was 40 an ounce, but to him it seemed much, much cheaper to just grow great stuff that goes for 20 a gram. He started small, just a 400-Watt HPS bulb and a table of paper-cups filled with dirt in his closet. Over the next few years, though, he'd expand his knowledge and skills extensively. Now, he lives in a ratty, but decent house on the West-Side where he grew up. His house looks stereotypical of a young "out-sider", dirty, sparsely furnished, with collections of street-art and band posters on his wall. In the basement, though, is a massively complicated hydroponics garden, ceilings lined with 1,000Watt HPS lights, and beautiful, healthy marijuana plants of exotic strains and in various stages of growth. He grows, cures, and sells his own stuff free of outside help, MOSTLY, but he still keeps his connections.

What Has Been Sold Is Not Strictly Made Of Stone, Please Remember That It's Flesh And Bone

Niko has also made another drastic change in recent history.. Becoming the Ghoul of Sora Marcellus. Though this was not his first brush with the Supernatural, it is his first time knowing the nature of the creatures he's tangled with. He was making his rounds through the West Side of town, looking like the tall, unimposing white kid that he is, when Sora noticed both how out of place he was for his air of confidence, as well as the respect that the brutal looking gangsters paid him in passing. She pursued him, and after some talk they made their way back to his place, where he had forgotten to clean up after a "date" he had had earlier that day.. Namely, a belt looped over the doorknob and a puddle of blood. He revealed to her that he was a masochist. She was glad to help with his fetish. Before long, he was Blood Bound to her, and she offered him the one thing he wanted above all else.. Power. It had been weeks since they met, and with his head in her lap she told him that upon acceptance of her offer there would be no way out. From the moment her nature was revealed, he understood full well the only exit was through the barrel of his own gun. Many things changed since then, of course. He was immediatley wrapped up on the out-skirts of a struggle he hardly understood between Sora and her friends, and the Pure. He saw many terrible after-maths, and saw Sora reduced to a Topor multiple times. He has also, in the process, been exposed to the existance of Werewolves, one of which he had a very close relationship to. As a Ghoul, he is very.. Forgettable around other Kindred, always standing tall, polite, and above all deathly silent. He could not be happier, to be honest. He loves Sora deeply, and the idea that she does not have the capacity for such an emotion thrills him in a bizarrely belittling way, and she still treats him adoringly. He is eager to better himself physically, par her request, taking many beatings and spending many hours in the gym to tone his body, which has for so long been used as only a vessel for survival and hedonism. Currently, there is only one fly in the ointment, as far as Niko is concerned, and his name is Edgar, a Kindred that Sora is Blood Bound to. After having believed that Sora could not feel love, he sees her giggling over him like a school-girl, and coupled with how bizzarely terrifying the man is, Niko has taken to heart a very silent, simmering, but intense hatred of the man. He has inspired one other goal in Niko, though, which is to one day be Embraced. Niko had heard that Sora's previous Ghoul had done so, and thinks that means he must have a pretty good chance himself. Though he has voiced this scheme to no one, and surely never shall, in his heart of hearts he would love to see nothing more than Sora obsessing over him the way she does over Edgar. He cares not at all for the implications of setting his aim on something so incredible over something so shallow as a Lover's blind jealousy.

See My Shadow Changing, Stretching Up And Over Me

Niko has a few tattoos, and plans on more. On the top left of his chest is a simple black-and-white 8-ball, about the size of a softball. On his right forearm he has a syringe that covers the whole underside of his forearm, with a beautiful, sleek viper coiling around it. On his right hand, in bold cursive are the words "Blood Dolls", underlined by an old, thin scar, with a red inked drop of blood at the end. There's a figure on his back wearing a black with grey-pinstriped suit, hands pushed into his pockets, matching fedora sitting atop his head, the entire face shadowed save for a huge, sadistic chesire grin standing out from the darkness. He's bordered by a razor blade at the base, a rifle round up the right side, a shot-glass at the top, and a switch-blade down the left side.

While Frank Sinatra Sings Stormy Weather The Flies And The Spiders Get Along Together

Just to give credit to all the songs I took lyrics from, here they are in order of appearance: Mandy Goes To Med School by The Dresden Dolls, White Tooth Man by Iron and Wine, Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top, Pistol Grip Pump by Rage Against The Machine, Back In The Day by The Pharcyde, Woke Up This Morning by A3, Cocaine Blues by Bob Dylan, Natural Blues by Moby, Green House by New Monsoon, Pawn Shop by Sublime, 46 & 2 by Tool, Frank Sinatra by Cake, and lastly Face to Face by Daft Punk.

It's Amazing What You'll Find Face To Face (Quotes)

"Adorable in the most fascinating ways... It's truly a pleasure when someone will so loyally give themselves to you body, mind, and soul. I just hope I don't break him before I've lost interest." - Sora Marcellus

" Sora does love her toys...unfortunately if this one steps out of line I'll be having him for myself. Not as a play thing but as a lab rat for my studies of hunger and blood." - Carl Thornton, Eater of babies!

"Interesting. Seems pretty harmless...smells pretty harmless...and yet I know for a fact all of Sora's children have teeth. Generally a good guy all around - and intelligent, too." - Brody

"Ah'm on you like a Teenage Girls father, Boy." - Edgar Moore, Haunted Dragon

"Sora's little pillow to bite when she goes all Emo... Still, I'm not one to judge to harshly. I have some things that need taken care of and I think he is just the man for the job. Just hope he sticks around longer than the last guy did."Max (Maximus) Petersen

"Okay. so he's a hot guy. Oddly interesting to talk to. He's the first guy I've run into who's as, uhm, free, as he is. Most guys would have balked at some of the things I said, and certainly would not have said the things he did. Definitely someone to keep in close contact with. Keep your mind out of the gutter, that's my job" - Grace "Belle" Quintain - Iron Valkyrie - Maiden of the Iron Spear

"Well, I suppose they got you too. Be careful of Sora, young blood. From the look of her, she'll cut you in half without batting an eye. Keep your manners in mind and maybe you'll live to see the end of this." -Craig Dalquest

"He seems a decent fellow. Too bad he's a dealer. Ah well, good to know people, I guess." - Michael Peteler - Transient

"Mmmmm Niko. Hot... sexy... we're going to have so much fun..." Carmen Martinez

"Okay, sure, I buy from the guy, but I knew him even before he got into that. Niko's a good guy in his own way, and there isn't a lot of those left anymore. I just hope his friends are dependable as he thinks they are." - Adrian Theis

"Interesting individual, only met him twice... The first time I was a bit disposed of with a friend so I really didn't have a lot of attention to spare. He seems like a nice enough individual however." - Benares

"Well, I haven't had much reason to notice him at all, beyond noting that he is my dear friend's servant. Being that he is a servant...that isn't a bad thing." - Irene Gardner, Ventrue Sheriff

"I like him. As a person, I mean. I get that he's got secrets, and I'm gonna try to respect that, because I think Niko's someone I want in my life." -- Sheila Casey

"I don't know him but he seems sooo attractive that my friends would be scared of the things running inside of my mind *giggles*" - Vixen