Tillson "Till" Reidell

Synopsis
Tillson was born in LA and returned home after his time in the military. Wanting to get a tattoo to remember his time in the Army he went to Dead Ink where he met his eventual Sire Hannah Salib. After spending a year as Hannah’s Ghoul, he was embraced. He worked on creating his own firing range where he could train other kindred on how to use firearms with funding from Jaxson Redfern.

His post military time was not easy. He struggled with severe PTSD that followed him into his Kindred life. He was in high standing with most of The Valley’s kindred as a capable fighter, and over all friendly person.

Tillson only lasted in the world of kindred for only a few months though. The consistent stress of kindred life proved quite difficult for him and led to him making many mistakes that he would regret. In the end after a massive breach of The Masquerade he willingly decided to meet the final death at the hands of his lover Adi Kohavi.

Important Character Information

 * Former Army Ranger
 * Skilled shooter and field medic
 * Apprentice Tattoo artist
 * Had great skill with swords
 * Operated his own firing range
 * Had full tattoo sleeves and back piece
 * Had a sister names Sophia who died not long after him
 * Brought The Black Hand back with him from his trip to the Middle East

Important Relationships

 * Adi Kohavi - Lover / Mentor
 * Jackson "Jax" Redfern - Best Friend / Mentor
 * Hannah Salib - Sire / Friend
 * Maeve King - Best Friend
 * Oliver "Ollie" Decker - Close Friend
 * Jacob Blackman - Friend
 * Francis Byrne - Friend / Mentor
 * Sophia Reidell - Sister
 * Tiffany Anderson - Frenemy
 * Klaus Hohenheim - Friend

Backstory
'Warning this contains content that deals with suicide and self harm. Please read with caution.'

Tillson Reidell was an LA Native who joined the Army at 18 years old to make sure his widowed mother could afford to send his sister to college. He would serve in the Special Forces on an unofficial team partaking in ordered hits and intelligence gathering for six years before being forced to retire due to severe circumstances that were brought forth from his last mission in Afghanistan.

Leaving the Army hit Tillson hard. He returned home to find his sister doing very well for herself in school and that his mother had returned to her home country of Austria. He would spend his first few months back working odd jobs before finally stepping into a tattoo shop by the name of Dead Ink. It was there that he met his first friend and his future sire Hannah Salib. Over the next year and a half Tillson would go to get tattoo work done by Hannah all the while fighting the dark thoughts that he carried in him from his time over seas. After a few missed sessions Hannah came to Tillsons apartment to find him with a gun to his head. After a long conversation Hannah was able to talk him out of it and life returned to normal for him for another six months before he would have a motorcycle accident that would change things for him for the rest of his life.

The motorcycle accident would have ended his life as he was in the server trauma unit, but after a few visits from Hannah and the feeding of her blood Tillson started to heal and became Hannah's ghoul. Tillson after recovering from his injuries started working for Hannah at her tattoo shop as her apprentice. This would go on for a year with Hannah teaching him very little of The World of Darkness until one night she tasked him with learning about Kindred politics. She gave him four numbers and people to meet and learn from. That night Tillson reached out and met with each person that Hannah had passed information for. The first was a lovely elderly gentleman by the name of Francis Byrne. Francis a member of Clan Toreador spoke to Tillson about the three major sects of kindred society, but maintained that the Sabbat was the sect with the right ideals in mind for his personal interest.

Later that Night Till would meet with Jaxson Redfern who scared the living piss out of Till. After a few casual death threats Tillson would leave for club Maharani and meet with a kindred by the name of Tuck and his future lover Adi Kohavi. Of the meetings he had that night this one was by far the worst. Tillson argued with the two of them to the point where he walked away in frustration with the ideals that the two kindred seemed to hold. The next night Tillson reported back to Hannah with what the had learned and Hannah would embrace him a week later just as she left the country to return to her home in the Middle East.

Tillson's Kindred life was not easy. The night of his embrace his sire left and he was left with Jaxson Redfern to teach him about Kindred life. Jax and Till would soon become good friends as well as great partners on missions. He would move into Jax's Haven known as The Trees to live with him and his at the time girlfriend Maeve King. Hannah would return for a short stent for a few week until she was killed by a kindred serial killer that had taken the lives of a few kindred in The Valley. During the final battle with this killer by the name of Tito Tillson would defuse the bombs of hostages that Tito had taken and severely tortured. He and Jaxson would take Adi back to The Trees haven and Till would spend the next week helping Adi heal the wounds that Tito had inflicted on her.

Over this week long time Till would spend many hours talking to Adi and learning about kindred life. He would also start to develop feeling for her the more that they talked. When Adi was back to full health Tillson returned to doing missions for the Baron of The Valley Victor Temple, but this would not last long as he would soon find out that a Black Spiral Dancer by the name of Khalid had taken his sister. Tillson had a full mental breakdown and was intent on taking his own life. He did not know that putting a stake through his heart would not not kill him so he grabbed one of Jax's and was just getting ready to stake himself under the deck of the haven when Jax and Maeve found him, but he had prepared in case of this. As Jax started to come under the deck to try and stop Till a flash bang that Till had rigged on a wire went off in his face. Till started to make a run with the stake still in hand when Maeve stopped him. Maeve had played with his mind and talked to him starting to calm him down. Not that he could act against her will if he wanted to.

A few days later Adi would come by to visit and Tillson asked her out on there first date. The went to see a movie and later had a nice chat on the way back to The Trees. Adi would tell Tillson about the six traditions and further his education on the Camarilla. Not even twenty four hours later Tillson would participate in a Mass Embrace to repay a Major Boon that he owed to the Queen of The Valley Lilith. After the Embrace Tillson returned back to The Trees and admitted to Adi what he had done. She understandably got angry and left Tillson, but she would say something that would stick with him for the rest of his unlife. "You were a mistake. You were Hannah's mistake and you were my mistake." Adi left and Tillson ran into Angeles National Forest where he would spend two nights in a mine shaft with nothing, but a sharp rock, his own blood as ink, and the last words of the women he loved ringing in his ear.

after the two days in the cave Till came out of the shaft still lost, and at the restart of his mental downward spiral he would find that the time to fight the Black Spiral Dancer that took his sister had come. He would meet with the other kindred of The Valley caked in his own blood and hungry, but ready to fight. Over the course of the fight Tillson was burned with Balefire, but in his mind this was not enough to repent for what he had done. For damming a sole, and hurting the Adi. He would return to The Trees right after the battle with the wolf had ended and would inflict on himself the same wounds that Tito had given to Adi. Going as far as to take the rock from the mine and gauging his own eyes out, but not before he used a trick that his sire had taught him to give himself a tattoo with Adi's last words to him on his arm in scarlet red ink. It would be his reminder to himself to try and do better.

Eventually Adi would come back to Tillson and they would start to speak again. They went as far as moving into her own haven that she had not shared willingly where it's location was with anyone. Tillson would spend the next month returning to doing missions for the Victor until the night where he met Caine. Caine himself would take Tillson, Adi, Jackson, Hazel, Lilith, and Cassim on an adventure through time reliving past histories and being able to make changes to what had happened. The events of the night were many, but Tillson's and Jax's were connected. They had gone back in time to when the Lasombra had attacked castle Alamut the home of the Banu Haqim. Jaxson had actively participated in the fight, but for Till this was his first time seeing the castle he had read about. Caine after asking his lover if he was in fact a good man would not only restore Tillson's humanity to what it was, but in fact put him all the way to Humanity 10.

It was short lived though as only a few weeks later Tillson started to go on the decline, but for Adi it was hard to see the man she had come to know be so different. So Unkindred. One night she brought Till into a private room where she requested he fed from the waiting women in the room until the final beat of her heart. Failing to not obey his blood bond to her he did what was asked, but the toll on his mind was heavy and he needed to get some time away from The Valley and the Kindred there. He left with directions to Alamut from Jax and would go on a month long trip to learn more about his clan in what he thought would be a ruined castle, but was rather a stronghold for The Black Hand.

The Black Hand would find out about his relationship to a member of the Camarilla as well as the fact that Jax, the bishop worked with her as well. They hung Till up and used blood magic on him until he revealed everything that he had known about The Valley and the Kindred that lived there. He would return home in Torpor with a message for Jax burned into his stomach. "You need to take care of your Camarilla dog Bishop." With the new threat that now faced The Valley at hand Tillson would do what he could to help, but in the end he was a bigger risk to the ones he cared for and to The Valley himself. As The Black Hand caused mayhem Tillson's last card would be dealt. Not by The Hand, but by his own beast. While in the Maharani with Adi, Jax, Maeve, and Ollie Till attempted to attack a women that Ollie had come in with. In his mind his beast was sure that this women was a member of The Hand and Till had to kill her. Till made his attempt, but the others caught on to what he was about to do and tried to stop him. Pinned to a wall by his cotery mates, and terrified Till spit his Acidic blood on as many as he could in an attempt to get away and preserve himself, but Adi caught him and would put him into torpor.

Early in the morning of that same night Adi would wake TIllson knowing that there was only one way this would end. He was a risk to them all and he had created a massive breach of the masquerade. Opening his eyes he could see it in hers what she was thinking and he agreed. It was his time to go. He spent a good amount of time with his love saying goodbye before talking to his best friend and mentor in unlife Jaxson. After a short goodbye over the phone to his sire that somehow had come back to the world due to a shift in timelines Till was ready to go. Adi pulled him into her arms and sang him a beautiful song before putting a hunter round into his heart. He was ready and willing and his spirit now waits in another place for Adi so they can find their quite place together.