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plz_gtfo_dragonUser Name/Nick: Catherine
User LJ: buywithme
AIM/IM: stoptheworld26
E-mail: michael heroin at g mail dot com
Other Characters: Billy, Prefect, Harper, Nathan, Jim
Character Name: Valmont
Series: Jackie Chan Adventures
Age: Never explicitly stated, but my guess would be he's in his mid thirties.
From When?: From half way through series two, just before the end of the Demon Gates plot. When Uncle was performing the banishing spell, instead of Shendu being dragged out of him, Valmont was dragged back with him through the demon gate. However, instead of actually falling through the portal? He falls onto the Barge! Yay!
Inmate/Warden: Inmate - Even before he was possessed by an ancient Chinese Demon, Valmont was the head of an international criminal organization known as the Dark Hand. He's a douchebag.
Abilities/Powers: In his own right, Valmont is an expert martial artist and is proficient with most kinds of weaponry.
Valmont's body is inhabited by ancient Chinese demon sorcerer named Shendu. This really sucks for him, since while he is frequently left unchallenged for control over his body, and he can try to resist and make some headway in preventing the demon from forcing his actions, when Shendu chooses to assert full control over him Valmont suffers extended periods of missing time, while his body is wandering around hissing and breathing fire at people.
When he's possessed by Shendu, however, the demon is able to use a handful of other abilities through his body. Throughout the course of the series he's shown to possess a degree of levitation, teleportation, and he can summon the aid of the Shadow Khan, a group of ephemeral ninjas who can rise out of any shadows.
The only ability I'd like him to keep on the Barge, is the ability to breathe fire, because Valmont's throat is just not up to this. After Shendu uses this ability, Valmont is shown clutching his throat in pain and gasping for water, and... I'm a jerk and find this really funny.
The other problem Valmont faces while under the possession of Shendu, is that he's unable to touch objects which are forged of, or strong in good magic. To do so results in painful shocks of energy which can render Shendu, or both of them unconscious.
Personality:
Valmont
Valmont is very much obedient to the whims of greed and vanity. While he spends most of the first series being more or less entirely competent, there are two occasions where he compromises greater victories for the opportunity to make a profit. He has a vast criminal syndicate, the means with which to fly his enforcers around the world nigh constantly, and equip them with high tech weaponry, and from his accent and the way he carries himself, not only this, but he was a man born into wealth, to put it simply, he doesn't need to take these risks, he doesn't need to be a career criminal, and he doesn't need the money. He just happens to be the kind of man who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'enough'. Money is the very easiest way to persuade Valmont to make extremely poor decisions, and to get him to do extremely stupid things, if he thinks it's worth his time financially? It's easy for him to forget the consequences of his actions.
Another thing to note about Valmont, is his tenacity. No level of defeat appears to be enough to deter him from fulfilling a goal, nor to persuade him to go straight. There's a part of him that finds the life of crime extremely fulfilling, probably out of a combination of the aforementioned greed, a certain thrill of power that comes from being able to feel as though he's above the law, and on a more shallow note, perhaps, the status that comes from being the head of The Dark Hand. In series one, we see that Valmont doesn't take kindly to being talked down too, he's extremely proud, and obviously accustomed to having to answer to no one. He barks orders at his enforcers and is short tempered and aggressive towards them, seeing them as vastly inferior to him thanks to his position.
This is perhaps, something that changes somewhat in series two, when he's possessed by Shendu, we see firsthand just how much Valmont hates being under the control of another, but his treatment of his underlings becomes more familiar, and less punishing. While technically he's still their superior, and they still answer to him, he's now in the same position of enforced servitude as they are, and his interactions begin to show a certain degree of vulnerability, and at times a desperation for their continued help. At the end of series two, Valmont reveals a certain personal dependency on his enforcers. After the Demon has dismissed all but one of them, Valmont fights to instruct the man to stay, since he is so fiercely opposed to being left alone with no one but Shendu for company. He also reminisces about the times he spent working with one of his enforcers who's gone straight, suggesting that even despite his aggression and belittlement towards them, he is fond of them.
This may be because outside of his work colleagues and his enemies, Valmont is never really shown to have any other relationships. The only character in the series who he refers to as a friend, is a bizarre Hannibal Lecter like man, determined to consume endangered animals, and Valmont never actually seems to meet up with him. In fact, the only contact shown with this character, is a business deal carried out by proxy. Valmont is never shown to have any contact with his family, nor any interest in pursuing friendships or relationships outside of work. When Jackie is told to try and infiltrate his gang while undercover, Valmont has less than no interest in being approached socially. This isn't because he's shy or socially awkward at all, nor even apparently because he dislikes people, but rather it's an example of just how absolute Valmont's dedication to his work is.
Another of his key features is his vanity, while this is underplayed in series one, it's another aspect which becomes more apparent when it's challenged in series two. He's furious at the prospect of having a change of clothing forced upon him, and complains bitterly at being made to wear a 'dress', as he refers to the ceremonial robe that Shendu has him dress in. In fact, the only time in the series when Valmont briefly overcomes Shendu's influence, and deliberately seizes an item of good magic, rendering him unconscious? Is when Shendu is resigned to the idea of remaining in his body, and decides that some magical cosmetic reconstruction is in order. Having scales, a horn, and the threat of gills are just too much for Valmont, and despite knowing that he could injure himself by doing so, he forces himself to take hold of the magical item, knowing that at least it will hurt Shendu as well.
His relationship with Shendu is... to be honest, somewhat peculiar. In the first season, when they're not sharing a body, their relationship starts out more or less professional, and despite it becoming progressively more antagonistic as the series progresses, their dislike of each other never becomes more personal than Shendu objecting to Valmont's failures, and Valmont becoming irritated by Shendu's demands and belittlement. Once Valmont is possessed, however, their dislike for one another quickly descends into the petty and personal. They fight, they bicker, they argue about what to wear, they call each other names, they never miss a chance to remind the other how much they hate them, and they both desperately anticipate the day their partnership can end.
Perhaps what's most interesting however, is how they treat one another when it doesn't end. Originally, Shendu was supposed to be released from Valmont's body after he'd released seven other demons (his brothers and sisters) from their imprisonment in a hell dimension. However, with each one, no sooner had the demon been freed than the heroes were on site to banish them once more. In the end, for some reason, the other demons thought this was a good reason not to hold up their end of the bargain, even if technically, Shendu had freed them all. After discovering that he wouldn't be freed by the demon, and a failed attempt to get an exorcism done, Valmont and Shendu seem resigned to sharing a body. Despite still arguing and insulting one another, and Valmont taking an obvious pleasure in Shendu's discomfort, there are also some hints that Valmont is sort of warming to the constant presence of the Demon. They're only small things, like smiling in the middle of an argument, having a long, apparently pleasant conversation with his reflection on a plane journey to Hong Kong, and just giving up on arguing about wearing the stupid dress, but there are early hints that Valmont may be developing a kind of Stockholm Syndrome towards Shendu.
Shendu
Shendu himself is actually fairly similar to Valmont in many ways. He's utterly proud and controlling. He finds having to share a body with Valmont extremely demeaning, and has little regard for it's well being beyond his own discomfort. If Valmont's bad decisions are motivated by greed, then Shendu's are motivated by his short temper, he's got an extremely short fuse, and is quick to scream and roar at people for things that may well not actually be their fault. He also does have a tendency to not think things through when in this state, and makes stupid mistakes, such as breathing fire at his enemies when his sister, a water demon is standing directly behind them.
Being an ancient demon sorcerer, who at times was completely unrivaled in his power, he's also prone to looking down on... well, on pretty much everyone. He holds Valmont and his men in extremely low esteem, and isn't at all shy about sharing his opinions on this matter.
Despite his impressive powers compared to other humans, however, Shendu seems to be something of a whipping boy to his brothers and sisters. They appear to hate him without qualification and are happy to blame him for their situation, while he in turn is openly afraid of what they can and likely will do to him as punishment for failure.
It is only in the presence of his family that we also see that Shendu has a degree of cowardice. At least, while he is trapped in Valmont's body, he doesn't challenge them when they talk down to and belittle him, instead submitting to their superior powers. However, he does seem to genuinely like certain family members, and is enthused by their return to the human realm with him, despite their treatment of him.
Not that this stops him from lying to them, of course. Shendu is a terrible liar. Sometimes he does it out of spite, sometimes he does it out of pettiness, and sometimes he does it for the sake of self preservation, but my god does Shendu lie. He even tells lies that he knows he'll be caught out on, simply to buy himself more time to come up with an alternative solution to them.
One other thing that Valmont and Shendu seem to share, is that while they are both ruthless and unpleasant individuals, neither of them are unbridled sadists. They won't feel guilty about killing someone, but nor will they kill someone purely out of boredom, or for the fun of it.
Over the course of the series, it's possible that Shendu develops... not a liking for Valmont, exactly, but a willingness to suffer him a little more easily, and perhaps even compromise on certain things (although he's never shown actually acquiescing to Valmont's demands). After the incident where Valmont rendered him unconscious, it's worth noting that Shendu never did follow through with his planned cosmetic changes to Valmont's body. In their last argument, Shendu resorts to trying to instruct Valmont to do things, instead of overtaking his consciousness completely and forcing him to do them, and in their last conversation together, as mentioned above, both parties seem able to be civil about it.
It should be made clear that from Shendu's side especially, to say that he actually likes Valmont would be going too far, but despite his arguing, there is a level of familiarity between them at this point, and Shendu doesn't seem to regard him with the same abject hatred that he once did.
On the Barge
On the Barge, initially, Valmont himself will spend a hell of a lot of time feeling extremely confused. This is because when arriving in a new environment, surrounded by new people? Shendu will largely be asserting control over their shared body. Once he's more or less figured out what's going on, and who on the Barge he feels like he should be dealing with, he'll relax his grip somewhat, and take control only when he has a specific reason for doing so. Basically, anyone who Shendu deems to be important, he will try and monopolize interactions with, since he has zero faith in Valmont not screwing such things up. It's likely that the first interactions with his warden will be exclusively with Shendu, until he's persuaded that this is really something that should be happening with Valmont, and not him.
Valmont will actually behave in a similar way. Since he'll have none of his enforcers with him, and as has been made clear he does not want to be stuck alone with Shendu, he will fairly quickly begin to crave positive social interaction, leading to him being somewhat more social than he is shown to be in the series. However in the same way that Shendu lacks faith in Valmont's ability to be professional, Valmont will be completely certain that Shendu will deliberately ruin any really significant relationships, so he'll try to emulate the same kind of distant, mutually abusive fondness he had with his enforcers with the denizens of the Barge.
Path to Redemption:
Despite the assorted complications imposed upon his life, Valmonts problems, in terms of morality, are actually not particularly complex. He's a greedy, prideful man, who lacks any respect for the law. He gets off on the thrill of successful criminal enterprise, and although his life right now is admittedly pretty dreadful, he spent a long time before this point as the head of a crime syndicate which was going from strength to strength. He's experienced the thrill of success, and now he's unwilling to settle for less than that.
In the series, after Shendu is torn out of his body, despite being financially crippled and having had his syndicate more or less dismantled by the Demon, Valmont makes several further attempts to remake his way as a career criminal, to the point where he's poverty stricken and destitute and still not prepared to just go straight. In the very last episode, he's shown to have taken a job as a bus driver, the implication being that he's finally so financially desperate that he's been forced to take a real job. It seems unlikely that a man who's walked with Demons and toyed with the fate of the world for the sake of making money would see this as a permanent solution to his situation, and most likely was only using it to tide himself over until he could attempt his next criminal enterprise.
In my opinion, this downward spiral of crime and failure is the future that Valmont faces without the Barge's intervention. Nothing else is going to change him because (putting it bluntly) he has nothing else. As was discussed earlier, he has no real relationships or family to speak of, no good cause to recruit him, and his only real passions are himself and his lifestyle as a criminal.
The reason why I'm taking him from the point I am, is that this is the point where he's going to be most open to the possibility of changing. He desperately wants his body back, and if graduation can give him that, then he will want to graduate. Or, more accurately, he will want to find a loophole to get the benefits of graduation without having to actually change, but the point is, there'll be an incentive. Something that he desperately, desperately wants. To get through to him a warden could use this to control his behavior to a degree, and to steer him towards graduation, they should try and give him things of value outside of his work. Encourage him to build relationships, and to find other sources for the happiness and pride that he gets from committing crimes.
In order to graduate him you do not have to graduate Shendu. Shendu is just like a really inconvenient jerk who will be perpetually trying to make things worse for you.
History:
Very little information is ever given about Valmont's history or childhood! The one bit of canon we have is that as a child he spent time on exchange in America and met three STRANGE MEN, who instructed him to kill Jackie Chan and needed him to boss them around. I LIKE TO THINK THAT THIS WAS HIS FIRST BRUSH WITH THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD, AND INFORMED THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
Everything other than that is pure headcanon on the matter, I'm afraid!
His parents were upper class, English conservatives, and while neither were necessarily criminals, they weren't necessarily good people either. His father was a particularly ruthless business executive, and was perfectly happy to export jobs, destroy local economies, and skirt health and safety regulations in the name of turning a profit, and his mother was a cheerily oblivious socialite. Neither of them had ever known a time in their lives when they weren't wealthy, so as a child, Valmont never knew this either. There was a certain degree to which the actions of his parents exposed him to the way money can separate you from the consequences of your actions. He also worked out at a young age that morality and the law were not necessarily aligned, and combined with the knowledge that it was possible to buy your way out of trouble, as a teenager, he began small criminal endeavors. Testing his parents, testing the police, checking the balance between how much money he could make and how much trouble he'd get into for it.
What he discovered from this was extremely encouraging. His father was just beginning to get involved in politics, so everything Valmont did was covered up and excused, and the only punishment he ever received was doled out by his parents, whom by now he had decided were an impotent force in his life. Valmont continued to skirt the straight and narrow through high school and university, taking a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, before breaking away into the Criminal Underground to apply his knowledge towards building The Dark Hand, the international crime syndicate which would go on to become one of the largest in the world, with connections to nearly every criminal organization in existence.
This all went swimmingly for a while, right up until... the series started! WIKILINK!
Sample Journal Entry: [5-10 Sentences]
Shendu
[A voice comes on over the communicators, it's a strange, throaty, hissing sound, with a slight echo to it, almost as though more than one person is speaking. At first the speaker seems unaware that it's broadcasting.]
What is this place? Neither consigned to the judgment of my brethren in the embrace of limbo, nor wandering the mortal realm in this frail form... could it be that I have found--
[The monologue becomes inaudible, as the speaker wanders away from the communicator to dramatically pace about his cabin. Finally the speech trails off entirely, and a few moments of silence broadcast. When the voice returns, it's loud again, as if the communicator is being held close to the speaker's face.]
Prisons within prisons, and ever more puzzles to be solved... [There's a slight clicking. Someone's fucking about with the communicator. It takes a moment, then the speaker emits a sound of surprise, as if he's stumbled across some fresh revelation.]
No... not puzzles to be solved... technology to be deciphered!
[And BAM! Video clicks on! The communicator is being held at a slightly strange angle, but the speaker is now revealed. You see a tall, tanned man in his mid thirties, with long, platinum blonde hair. He also appears to be wearing aceremonial robe dress. And... erm... he has glowing red eyes?] I demand to be told under whose authority I am imprisoned here, and under what terms am I to be serviced with release!
Valmont
[Audio clicks on, and there's a very, very frustrated English accent in the middle of a heated argument with someone.]
Shendu, have you completely lost your mind? We are in a prison, I am not wearing that in a prison because I do not want to be lynched!
[A second voice overtakes the first, the low hissing tones of a Chinese demon.]
If they wish to challenge us, let them try. I refuse to debase my attire to appease the sensibilities of a ship full of convicts!
[And back to the pissy, pissy English accent.]
Why not? You're practically inviting fisticuffs over your desire to wear the single most impractical item of combat garb I have ever seen! Your ludicrous pride is only going to result in--
[There's a slight grunt, and then silence, just the rustling of fabric. There's a slight creak, then the sound of a door opening and slamming shut a few minutes later. Guess who just got overruled?]
[Cue... maybe forty five minutes of silence, then the door hurriedly opening and closing and moments later, the feed switches to video, and there is a rather harried, irritable looking Valmont, wearing a ~*stylish*~ blue dress. He lets out a long breath, then places his hands together, looking utterly ill at ease.]
Right. Well. Hello there. [AWKWARD PAUSE.] It's been drawn to my attention that some of us may need to work on recognizing the distinction between ceremonial robes, and ladies dresses. [HAVE ANOTHER AWKWARD PAUSE, then, a SUDDENLY FRUSTRATED OUTBURST.] Look, let me just get one thing straight, were I a cross dresser, I would not be caught dead in anything attached to these hideous 1980's throwback shoulder pads! [Have one last GLARE FOR THE CAMERA, then he clicks off.]
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV]
Sometimes the walls that separated them were not as certain as Valmont would like them to be.
He would be watching television, or showering, or eating, and a stray thought would cross his mind that left him uncertain which of them was the origin. A thought, a phrase, a craving, and that was the very worst of it. He'd be sitting down to a meal, taking a bite out of a medium rare steak and suddenly getting the craving for a raw one, still wet with blood. Taking a sip of Scotch, or Gin, or Vermouth, and suddenly he'd be mentally comparing it to some ancient drink he'd never even tasted. It wasn't an everyday occurrence by a long shot, indeed, it happened rarely enough that when it did he found it utterly jarring, but as the months had passed with them trapped together, inhabiting the same flesh, it had become less and less uncommon.
There was an indignity to it, above all else. That as well as being subjected to Shendu's ludicrous aesthetic whims, having control over his body being taken from him, and finally, unbelievably, dying, because the dragons assorted plans had all come to naught? He had awoken into an afterlife where he still had to suffer exposure to the damned dragon's daydreaming.
He'd never had a particularly great amount of patience for Shendu, and since he'd awoken on the Barge - between the assorted shocks of being dead, having missed out on having actually experienced it, and still not having shook his passenger in the process - it had been worn down to practically non-existence. So it was that at breakfast, on his third day since arriving on the Barge. When Valmont was assaulted by a faint feeling of nausea at the smell of coffee, and the fleeting thought that the physiological human reaction to caffeine was a surreal and pathetic weakness to bend so easily too... he recognized it almost immediately for what it was. Without thinking, he blurted out loudly; "Would you please try keeping your opinions to yourself, for a change?"
Valmont wasn't sure exactly what it was he'd expected in response. Certainly not an apology, of course, but some kind of reaction at least. He expected to feel his throat tighten, to hear the rasping sound of someone else's voice coming out of his mouth, snapping a warning at him. Instead, Shendu responded with an uncharacteristic silence, the faintest trace of his thoughts seeming to snap back away from Valmont, withdrawing instantly.
Then there was silence.
If he didn't know any better, Valmont might have wondered if he could possibly have been embarrassed by this.
But he did know better, so he didn't wonder.
Special Notes:
User LJ: buywithme
AIM/IM: stoptheworld26
E-mail: michael heroin at g mail dot com
Other Characters: Billy, Prefect, Harper, Nathan, Jim
Character Name: Valmont
Series: Jackie Chan Adventures
Age: Never explicitly stated, but my guess would be he's in his mid thirties.
From When?: From half way through series two, just before the end of the Demon Gates plot. When Uncle was performing the banishing spell, instead of Shendu being dragged out of him, Valmont was dragged back with him through the demon gate. However, instead of actually falling through the portal? He falls onto the Barge! Yay!
Inmate/Warden: Inmate - Even before he was possessed by an ancient Chinese Demon, Valmont was the head of an international criminal organization known as the Dark Hand. He's a douchebag.
Abilities/Powers: In his own right, Valmont is an expert martial artist and is proficient with most kinds of weaponry.
Valmont's body is inhabited by ancient Chinese demon sorcerer named Shendu. This really sucks for him, since while he is frequently left unchallenged for control over his body, and he can try to resist and make some headway in preventing the demon from forcing his actions, when Shendu chooses to assert full control over him Valmont suffers extended periods of missing time, while his body is wandering around hissing and breathing fire at people.
When he's possessed by Shendu, however, the demon is able to use a handful of other abilities through his body. Throughout the course of the series he's shown to possess a degree of levitation, teleportation, and he can summon the aid of the Shadow Khan, a group of ephemeral ninjas who can rise out of any shadows.
The only ability I'd like him to keep on the Barge, is the ability to breathe fire, because Valmont's throat is just not up to this. After Shendu uses this ability, Valmont is shown clutching his throat in pain and gasping for water, and... I'm a jerk and find this really funny.
The other problem Valmont faces while under the possession of Shendu, is that he's unable to touch objects which are forged of, or strong in good magic. To do so results in painful shocks of energy which can render Shendu, or both of them unconscious.
Personality:
Valmont
Valmont is very much obedient to the whims of greed and vanity. While he spends most of the first series being more or less entirely competent, there are two occasions where he compromises greater victories for the opportunity to make a profit. He has a vast criminal syndicate, the means with which to fly his enforcers around the world nigh constantly, and equip them with high tech weaponry, and from his accent and the way he carries himself, not only this, but he was a man born into wealth, to put it simply, he doesn't need to take these risks, he doesn't need to be a career criminal, and he doesn't need the money. He just happens to be the kind of man who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'enough'. Money is the very easiest way to persuade Valmont to make extremely poor decisions, and to get him to do extremely stupid things, if he thinks it's worth his time financially? It's easy for him to forget the consequences of his actions.
Another thing to note about Valmont, is his tenacity. No level of defeat appears to be enough to deter him from fulfilling a goal, nor to persuade him to go straight. There's a part of him that finds the life of crime extremely fulfilling, probably out of a combination of the aforementioned greed, a certain thrill of power that comes from being able to feel as though he's above the law, and on a more shallow note, perhaps, the status that comes from being the head of The Dark Hand. In series one, we see that Valmont doesn't take kindly to being talked down too, he's extremely proud, and obviously accustomed to having to answer to no one. He barks orders at his enforcers and is short tempered and aggressive towards them, seeing them as vastly inferior to him thanks to his position.
This is perhaps, something that changes somewhat in series two, when he's possessed by Shendu, we see firsthand just how much Valmont hates being under the control of another, but his treatment of his underlings becomes more familiar, and less punishing. While technically he's still their superior, and they still answer to him, he's now in the same position of enforced servitude as they are, and his interactions begin to show a certain degree of vulnerability, and at times a desperation for their continued help. At the end of series two, Valmont reveals a certain personal dependency on his enforcers. After the Demon has dismissed all but one of them, Valmont fights to instruct the man to stay, since he is so fiercely opposed to being left alone with no one but Shendu for company. He also reminisces about the times he spent working with one of his enforcers who's gone straight, suggesting that even despite his aggression and belittlement towards them, he is fond of them.
This may be because outside of his work colleagues and his enemies, Valmont is never really shown to have any other relationships. The only character in the series who he refers to as a friend, is a bizarre Hannibal Lecter like man, determined to consume endangered animals, and Valmont never actually seems to meet up with him. In fact, the only contact shown with this character, is a business deal carried out by proxy. Valmont is never shown to have any contact with his family, nor any interest in pursuing friendships or relationships outside of work. When Jackie is told to try and infiltrate his gang while undercover, Valmont has less than no interest in being approached socially. This isn't because he's shy or socially awkward at all, nor even apparently because he dislikes people, but rather it's an example of just how absolute Valmont's dedication to his work is.
Another of his key features is his vanity, while this is underplayed in series one, it's another aspect which becomes more apparent when it's challenged in series two. He's furious at the prospect of having a change of clothing forced upon him, and complains bitterly at being made to wear a 'dress', as he refers to the ceremonial robe that Shendu has him dress in. In fact, the only time in the series when Valmont briefly overcomes Shendu's influence, and deliberately seizes an item of good magic, rendering him unconscious? Is when Shendu is resigned to the idea of remaining in his body, and decides that some magical cosmetic reconstruction is in order. Having scales, a horn, and the threat of gills are just too much for Valmont, and despite knowing that he could injure himself by doing so, he forces himself to take hold of the magical item, knowing that at least it will hurt Shendu as well.
His relationship with Shendu is... to be honest, somewhat peculiar. In the first season, when they're not sharing a body, their relationship starts out more or less professional, and despite it becoming progressively more antagonistic as the series progresses, their dislike of each other never becomes more personal than Shendu objecting to Valmont's failures, and Valmont becoming irritated by Shendu's demands and belittlement. Once Valmont is possessed, however, their dislike for one another quickly descends into the petty and personal. They fight, they bicker, they argue about what to wear, they call each other names, they never miss a chance to remind the other how much they hate them, and they both desperately anticipate the day their partnership can end.
Perhaps what's most interesting however, is how they treat one another when it doesn't end. Originally, Shendu was supposed to be released from Valmont's body after he'd released seven other demons (his brothers and sisters) from their imprisonment in a hell dimension. However, with each one, no sooner had the demon been freed than the heroes were on site to banish them once more. In the end, for some reason, the other demons thought this was a good reason not to hold up their end of the bargain, even if technically, Shendu had freed them all. After discovering that he wouldn't be freed by the demon, and a failed attempt to get an exorcism done, Valmont and Shendu seem resigned to sharing a body. Despite still arguing and insulting one another, and Valmont taking an obvious pleasure in Shendu's discomfort, there are also some hints that Valmont is sort of warming to the constant presence of the Demon. They're only small things, like smiling in the middle of an argument, having a long, apparently pleasant conversation with his reflection on a plane journey to Hong Kong, and just giving up on arguing about wearing the stupid dress, but there are early hints that Valmont may be developing a kind of Stockholm Syndrome towards Shendu.
Shendu
Shendu himself is actually fairly similar to Valmont in many ways. He's utterly proud and controlling. He finds having to share a body with Valmont extremely demeaning, and has little regard for it's well being beyond his own discomfort. If Valmont's bad decisions are motivated by greed, then Shendu's are motivated by his short temper, he's got an extremely short fuse, and is quick to scream and roar at people for things that may well not actually be their fault. He also does have a tendency to not think things through when in this state, and makes stupid mistakes, such as breathing fire at his enemies when his sister, a water demon is standing directly behind them.
Being an ancient demon sorcerer, who at times was completely unrivaled in his power, he's also prone to looking down on... well, on pretty much everyone. He holds Valmont and his men in extremely low esteem, and isn't at all shy about sharing his opinions on this matter.
Despite his impressive powers compared to other humans, however, Shendu seems to be something of a whipping boy to his brothers and sisters. They appear to hate him without qualification and are happy to blame him for their situation, while he in turn is openly afraid of what they can and likely will do to him as punishment for failure.
It is only in the presence of his family that we also see that Shendu has a degree of cowardice. At least, while he is trapped in Valmont's body, he doesn't challenge them when they talk down to and belittle him, instead submitting to their superior powers. However, he does seem to genuinely like certain family members, and is enthused by their return to the human realm with him, despite their treatment of him.
Not that this stops him from lying to them, of course. Shendu is a terrible liar. Sometimes he does it out of spite, sometimes he does it out of pettiness, and sometimes he does it for the sake of self preservation, but my god does Shendu lie. He even tells lies that he knows he'll be caught out on, simply to buy himself more time to come up with an alternative solution to them.
One other thing that Valmont and Shendu seem to share, is that while they are both ruthless and unpleasant individuals, neither of them are unbridled sadists. They won't feel guilty about killing someone, but nor will they kill someone purely out of boredom, or for the fun of it.
Over the course of the series, it's possible that Shendu develops... not a liking for Valmont, exactly, but a willingness to suffer him a little more easily, and perhaps even compromise on certain things (although he's never shown actually acquiescing to Valmont's demands). After the incident where Valmont rendered him unconscious, it's worth noting that Shendu never did follow through with his planned cosmetic changes to Valmont's body. In their last argument, Shendu resorts to trying to instruct Valmont to do things, instead of overtaking his consciousness completely and forcing him to do them, and in their last conversation together, as mentioned above, both parties seem able to be civil about it.
It should be made clear that from Shendu's side especially, to say that he actually likes Valmont would be going too far, but despite his arguing, there is a level of familiarity between them at this point, and Shendu doesn't seem to regard him with the same abject hatred that he once did.
On the Barge
On the Barge, initially, Valmont himself will spend a hell of a lot of time feeling extremely confused. This is because when arriving in a new environment, surrounded by new people? Shendu will largely be asserting control over their shared body. Once he's more or less figured out what's going on, and who on the Barge he feels like he should be dealing with, he'll relax his grip somewhat, and take control only when he has a specific reason for doing so. Basically, anyone who Shendu deems to be important, he will try and monopolize interactions with, since he has zero faith in Valmont not screwing such things up. It's likely that the first interactions with his warden will be exclusively with Shendu, until he's persuaded that this is really something that should be happening with Valmont, and not him.
Valmont will actually behave in a similar way. Since he'll have none of his enforcers with him, and as has been made clear he does not want to be stuck alone with Shendu, he will fairly quickly begin to crave positive social interaction, leading to him being somewhat more social than he is shown to be in the series. However in the same way that Shendu lacks faith in Valmont's ability to be professional, Valmont will be completely certain that Shendu will deliberately ruin any really significant relationships, so he'll try to emulate the same kind of distant, mutually abusive fondness he had with his enforcers with the denizens of the Barge.
Path to Redemption:
Despite the assorted complications imposed upon his life, Valmonts problems, in terms of morality, are actually not particularly complex. He's a greedy, prideful man, who lacks any respect for the law. He gets off on the thrill of successful criminal enterprise, and although his life right now is admittedly pretty dreadful, he spent a long time before this point as the head of a crime syndicate which was going from strength to strength. He's experienced the thrill of success, and now he's unwilling to settle for less than that.
In the series, after Shendu is torn out of his body, despite being financially crippled and having had his syndicate more or less dismantled by the Demon, Valmont makes several further attempts to remake his way as a career criminal, to the point where he's poverty stricken and destitute and still not prepared to just go straight. In the very last episode, he's shown to have taken a job as a bus driver, the implication being that he's finally so financially desperate that he's been forced to take a real job. It seems unlikely that a man who's walked with Demons and toyed with the fate of the world for the sake of making money would see this as a permanent solution to his situation, and most likely was only using it to tide himself over until he could attempt his next criminal enterprise.
In my opinion, this downward spiral of crime and failure is the future that Valmont faces without the Barge's intervention. Nothing else is going to change him because (putting it bluntly) he has nothing else. As was discussed earlier, he has no real relationships or family to speak of, no good cause to recruit him, and his only real passions are himself and his lifestyle as a criminal.
The reason why I'm taking him from the point I am, is that this is the point where he's going to be most open to the possibility of changing. He desperately wants his body back, and if graduation can give him that, then he will want to graduate. Or, more accurately, he will want to find a loophole to get the benefits of graduation without having to actually change, but the point is, there'll be an incentive. Something that he desperately, desperately wants. To get through to him a warden could use this to control his behavior to a degree, and to steer him towards graduation, they should try and give him things of value outside of his work. Encourage him to build relationships, and to find other sources for the happiness and pride that he gets from committing crimes.
In order to graduate him you do not have to graduate Shendu. Shendu is just like a really inconvenient jerk who will be perpetually trying to make things worse for you.
History:
Very little information is ever given about Valmont's history or childhood! The one bit of canon we have is that as a child he spent time on exchange in America and met three STRANGE MEN, who instructed him to kill Jackie Chan and needed him to boss them around. I LIKE TO THINK THAT THIS WAS HIS FIRST BRUSH WITH THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD, AND INFORMED THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
Everything other than that is pure headcanon on the matter, I'm afraid!
His parents were upper class, English conservatives, and while neither were necessarily criminals, they weren't necessarily good people either. His father was a particularly ruthless business executive, and was perfectly happy to export jobs, destroy local economies, and skirt health and safety regulations in the name of turning a profit, and his mother was a cheerily oblivious socialite. Neither of them had ever known a time in their lives when they weren't wealthy, so as a child, Valmont never knew this either. There was a certain degree to which the actions of his parents exposed him to the way money can separate you from the consequences of your actions. He also worked out at a young age that morality and the law were not necessarily aligned, and combined with the knowledge that it was possible to buy your way out of trouble, as a teenager, he began small criminal endeavors. Testing his parents, testing the police, checking the balance between how much money he could make and how much trouble he'd get into for it.
What he discovered from this was extremely encouraging. His father was just beginning to get involved in politics, so everything Valmont did was covered up and excused, and the only punishment he ever received was doled out by his parents, whom by now he had decided were an impotent force in his life. Valmont continued to skirt the straight and narrow through high school and university, taking a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, before breaking away into the Criminal Underground to apply his knowledge towards building The Dark Hand, the international crime syndicate which would go on to become one of the largest in the world, with connections to nearly every criminal organization in existence.
This all went swimmingly for a while, right up until... the series started! WIKILINK!
Sample Journal Entry: [5-10 Sentences]
Shendu
[A voice comes on over the communicators, it's a strange, throaty, hissing sound, with a slight echo to it, almost as though more than one person is speaking. At first the speaker seems unaware that it's broadcasting.]
What is this place? Neither consigned to the judgment of my brethren in the embrace of limbo, nor wandering the mortal realm in this frail form... could it be that I have found--
[The monologue becomes inaudible, as the speaker wanders away from the communicator to dramatically pace about his cabin. Finally the speech trails off entirely, and a few moments of silence broadcast. When the voice returns, it's loud again, as if the communicator is being held close to the speaker's face.]
Prisons within prisons, and ever more puzzles to be solved... [There's a slight clicking. Someone's fucking about with the communicator. It takes a moment, then the speaker emits a sound of surprise, as if he's stumbled across some fresh revelation.]
No... not puzzles to be solved... technology to be deciphered!
[And BAM! Video clicks on! The communicator is being held at a slightly strange angle, but the speaker is now revealed. You see a tall, tanned man in his mid thirties, with long, platinum blonde hair. He also appears to be wearing a
Valmont
[Audio clicks on, and there's a very, very frustrated English accent in the middle of a heated argument with someone.]
Shendu, have you completely lost your mind? We are in a prison, I am not wearing that in a prison because I do not want to be lynched!
[A second voice overtakes the first, the low hissing tones of a Chinese demon.]
If they wish to challenge us, let them try. I refuse to debase my attire to appease the sensibilities of a ship full of convicts!
[And back to the pissy, pissy English accent.]
Why not? You're practically inviting fisticuffs over your desire to wear the single most impractical item of combat garb I have ever seen! Your ludicrous pride is only going to result in--
[There's a slight grunt, and then silence, just the rustling of fabric. There's a slight creak, then the sound of a door opening and slamming shut a few minutes later. Guess who just got overruled?]
[Cue... maybe forty five minutes of silence, then the door hurriedly opening and closing and moments later, the feed switches to video, and there is a rather harried, irritable looking Valmont, wearing a ~*stylish*~ blue dress. He lets out a long breath, then places his hands together, looking utterly ill at ease.]
Right. Well. Hello there. [AWKWARD PAUSE.] It's been drawn to my attention that some of us may need to work on recognizing the distinction between ceremonial robes, and ladies dresses. [HAVE ANOTHER AWKWARD PAUSE, then, a SUDDENLY FRUSTRATED OUTBURST.] Look, let me just get one thing straight, were I a cross dresser, I would not be caught dead in anything attached to these hideous 1980's throwback shoulder pads! [Have one last GLARE FOR THE CAMERA, then he clicks off.]
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV]
Sometimes the walls that separated them were not as certain as Valmont would like them to be.
He would be watching television, or showering, or eating, and a stray thought would cross his mind that left him uncertain which of them was the origin. A thought, a phrase, a craving, and that was the very worst of it. He'd be sitting down to a meal, taking a bite out of a medium rare steak and suddenly getting the craving for a raw one, still wet with blood. Taking a sip of Scotch, or Gin, or Vermouth, and suddenly he'd be mentally comparing it to some ancient drink he'd never even tasted. It wasn't an everyday occurrence by a long shot, indeed, it happened rarely enough that when it did he found it utterly jarring, but as the months had passed with them trapped together, inhabiting the same flesh, it had become less and less uncommon.
There was an indignity to it, above all else. That as well as being subjected to Shendu's ludicrous aesthetic whims, having control over his body being taken from him, and finally, unbelievably, dying, because the dragons assorted plans had all come to naught? He had awoken into an afterlife where he still had to suffer exposure to the damned dragon's daydreaming.
He'd never had a particularly great amount of patience for Shendu, and since he'd awoken on the Barge - between the assorted shocks of being dead, having missed out on having actually experienced it, and still not having shook his passenger in the process - it had been worn down to practically non-existence. So it was that at breakfast, on his third day since arriving on the Barge. When Valmont was assaulted by a faint feeling of nausea at the smell of coffee, and the fleeting thought that the physiological human reaction to caffeine was a surreal and pathetic weakness to bend so easily too... he recognized it almost immediately for what it was. Without thinking, he blurted out loudly; "Would you please try keeping your opinions to yourself, for a change?"
Valmont wasn't sure exactly what it was he'd expected in response. Certainly not an apology, of course, but some kind of reaction at least. He expected to feel his throat tighten, to hear the rasping sound of someone else's voice coming out of his mouth, snapping a warning at him. Instead, Shendu responded with an uncharacteristic silence, the faintest trace of his thoughts seeming to snap back away from Valmont, withdrawing instantly.
Then there was silence.
If he didn't know any better, Valmont might have wondered if he could possibly have been embarrassed by this.
But he did know better, so he didn't wonder.
Special Notes:
