Application: Auslosen
Jul. 22nd, 2014 02:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kleptophileOOC:
Player Name: Callie
Player Age: 30
Player Contact:callie_chan/![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
lymmea
Current Characters: N/A
AC Link: N/A
Who invited you: Remi!
CANON IC INFORMATION:
Character Name: Lewellyn Bryse
Canon & Medium: Original Character
Species & Appearance: Demon. He's not actually that impressive in his demon form - he's roughly six feet tall(which is significantly larger than the 4'10" he is in human form - basically, six feet tall is a small demon), with grey skin, black horns that curve back from his head, fangs, claws, batlike wings, and a whiplike tail. Aside from the fangs, having pointed ears, and his eyes being flat black, his facial features are still relatively human. He looks like a very basic sort of demon - the kind a human would have no trouble dreaming up. This is actually an indicator of power; the stronger a demon is, the less humanoid it looks. Lyn's being very humanoid, with only the most basic demonic physical features, marks him as being at the very bottom of his race's food chain. Still, he's more powerful than even the most exceptional basic human in this form.
Age: 237. This is pretty young, for a demon, and when he takes human form his relative age is reflected in it - he looks around 17 or 18.
World Info: Lewellyn's world is a fairly standard example of the modern world with the addition of supernatural elements. Though they play a small and reclusive role in the world at large, many creatures that were once considered mere fantasy - particularly vampires, lycanthropes, angels, and demons - have been officially confirmed to actually exist in recent years, though it's rare for humans to encounter them directly.
With the exception of angels - a species with impressive powers, pacifistic tendencies, and an almost paternal concern for the human race - interspecies encounters are rarely peaceful or pleasant. The lycanthropes tend to be significantly more aggressive and feral than humans, with only the most clever and self-controlled being able to blend into human society(not that they're encouraged to try). Vampires naturally prey upon humans, and while not all the long-held lore regarding them is true, humanity has picked up on what obvious tells there are; they, too, would have difficulties concealing themselves if they wished. Meanwhile demons, which have nearly as much power as angels, also possess a seemingly bottomless well of maliciousness and bitterness toward the human race that they will take almost any opportunity to vent; it's rare for a demon to even try to pass as human for long. Covert cohabitation between species is rarely attempted or feasible. And since humanity outnumbers all of the supernatural species put together, open mingling between the races is expressly forbidden, and even singular encounters between the groups are discouraged by mutual agreement. Each society keeps to itself, while keeping a wary eye on the others. Any rogue elements that go against this unspoken agreement and blatantly cause trouble among another species will find themselves the target of both respective groups' versions of law enforcement.
The reason for this careful isolation is clear; tensions are very high between the races. None are particularly fond of any of the others, save for angels favoring humans somewhat - but as angels strive for impartial neutrality, they would neither support humanity in starting war nor could they be 100% counted on to openly fight in a war brought against them. Humanity hasn't even made up its collective mind how it feels about angels, despite their generally benign natures. (Especially considering the religious conflicts and schisms caused by the discovery of angels and demons, and the revelation that they're earthly species not explicitly tied to deities of any sort; angels themselves may be benign, but they've become the source of a lot of human problems.) Among the supernatural species, no society is strong enough alone to wipe any of the others out, and there isn't enough friendly feeling between any two groups for alliances. Humanity, being bigger than all four supernatural societies put together, could likely wipe them all out together if it chose, save for the fact that the four supernatural societies would be forced to band together for their own protection. Such a war as would result would be incredibly costly, if not apocalyptic, and every race recognizes that it's in their own best interests to avoid throwing any sparks that might light the powder keg.
And so the tentative truce maintains itself; angels and demons keep to their respective realms(called Heaven and Hell in all languages but their own, if only because these serve as concepts humanity recognizes - and in any case, as with vampires, there are at least some details about their realms that humans got right over the years), vampires are quietly fed by formal arrangement, lycanthropes keep to the most remote of wildernesses, and humanity carefully pretends none of them are there. How long this state of affairs can persist, with a five-way Cold War(although honestly no one can be sure if angels would take part in any war or not), no one is sure. Ironically, the monstrous races humans have always feared (again, angels are the exception) could almost be said to fear humanity more than anything these days, with many making bleak predictions that humanity will start a war; the greatest fear is that the angels might side with humanity rather than their more supernatural brethren, and thus remove any chance for the other three societies' survival. However, others argue that the numerous and heated schisms in human society over religion since their discovery of demons and angels (it's been only twenty-five years or so, and the topic is still burning hot) would make any concerted effort by humanity impossible, and they darkly speculate that a human civil war which might 'even the odds' is inevitable.
History: In the midst of all the confusion and tension of his world lives Lewellyn - a demon of no great strength or significance.
For all of his life, Lewellyn has had the bad luck of being a small, weak member of a society that has very little use for what amounts to a runt. After a brief stint of being a toady for other demons - something that didn't sit well with Lewellyn at all, as being kicked around by the other denizens of Hell made taking orders from them even less appealing that it might have been otherwise - he opted instead to flee Hell entirely. He surreptitiously entered human society to hide, even choosing a name for himself; he hadn't even merited one in Hell. The name he picked he didn't particularly like, but as far as he could judge, 'Lewellyn' sounds about as non-demonic as it's possible to get. As demons tend to be the most relaxed in regards to maintaining the truce, and as Lyn was a minor demon who went to lengths not to make any waves in human society, he wasn't even missed; if he had been, it's still likely no demon would have bothered chasing down a cowardly runt who wasn't making any (noticeable) trouble.
For once finding himself among those he outclassed in the human world, with no one to oppress him, it didn't take Lyn long to decide to make human society his permanent home rather than fleeing any further abroad. Of course, he couldn't really make use of his powers or even his demonic physique while hiding out, and he didn't have the power to just make possessions for himself, so he was forced to lurk in human guise among the similarly disenfranchised - usually the poor, the homeless, and the alienated. He wasn't particularly fond of them, especially at first, but having been on the bottom rung of his own society, he couldn't help but identify with them to some degree - to say nothing of the fact that he spent a great deal of time around them, learning human ways and mannerisms(to say nothing of the language; for quite awhile he had to pretend he couldn't talk because he didn't know any human language). Having acquired a strong distaste for working for anyone else as a demon, he's survived all these years mostly by stealing from others, sneaking in where he's not wanted, taking advantage of anything that's free, and bolting if anyone confronts him. He's something like a modern-day Aladdin without any of the charm or catchy music numbers. He takes a certain amount of pride in the fact that he's been able to make it as a human, with no help (...well, very little) from his demonic abilities. He's come so far as to even have some distaste for humans that (he thinks) don't do enough on their own behalf to get by.
The world did change over the years, which turned to decades and then centuries, but while the details changed, the situations remained the same; there were always outcasts for Lyn to hide himself amidst, and always people with could stand to have a little less so Lyn could have a little more. And so Lewellyn has continued more or less as he began, undisturbed and completely overlooked, for over two hundred years. Oh, he's made the occasional cautious foray back into Hell, for one reason or another - mostly to keep his ear to the ground - but Hell has never changed much either; certainly not enough to entice him to return.
Over the passage of all that time, however, Lyn has changed. For one thing, many of his demonic powers have atrophied significantly with disuse, and he was a fairly weak demon to begin with. For another, he's become far more human in nature than most demons are(or would ever aspire to be), almost without his noticing; part of this is from having to stifle his more obviously inhuman patterns of behavior for so long, and part of it is simply from having spent a great deal of time associating with other humans over the years...though, given the society he keeps, most of it hasn't exactly been pleasant interaction, which is why his personality still isn't what anyone would call polished. As it stands, Lyn would much more easily identify with a human than another demon these days, and he can easily pass as a teenager of unfortunate circumstances. He has no personal stake in the politics of any of the species or his world(indeed, he hasn't even encountered any species outside humans and demons personally, though he distrusts them all), and doesn't have the strength or station necessary to have even the slightest influence on current events if he wanted to. All that really matters to him is his day-to-day life, and his city; as very few humans have played any large role in his life, he's actually developed more of an attachment to the city he lives in than anyone he's ever known. He knows almost every square inch of her like the back of his hand by now - where to hide, where to stash his things, where to get free food any day of the week, any new developments going up or old ones being torn down - and as far as he's concerned, it's his city; he's lived there longer than any human alive in it. It's been decades since he's had any desire to leave it.
The only emotionally significant event in his long life, and the only really close attachment he ever made, was when he briefly joined a gang about ten years back. The leader of the gang, a man called JT, developed a very brotherly/paternal relationship with Lyn - who, of course, never let on he was a demon. Sadly, it might have been better if he'd known; during some tense negotiations with some people from a rival gang, Lyn got spooked and tried to jump forward to grab JT and teleport them out of there. This, in turn, spooked the man they were talking to, who took a shot at Lyn. JT shielded Lyn from it, was hit in the head, and died instantly. The rest of the gang was killed in the ensuing shootout, as well, along with heavy casualties on the other side. Lyn was traumatized - partially because his own nerves started the gunfight, and because he could have teleported away and JT wouldn't have had to shield him at all. Lyn hadn't ever tried to get close to people before this, largely due to paranoia, and after this event it hasn't exactly gotten any easier for him.
Powers: Lewellyn's abilities as a demon have deteriorated over time due to disuse; he only has two still in optimal working condition from frequent use. He has limited telekinetic powers; specifically, he can pull any item around him (of not completely unwieldly size - think breadbox or smaller) directly to his hands, from roughly a room's length away. As you can imagine, this makes stealing things remarkably easy for him. Further, he's very fast; while this occasionally translates into hand movements, mostly it comes into play for running away from threats he's not powerful enough to face directly. (He's also quite nimble, bordering on acrobatic, but no more so than a human who invested in those skills would be, so it's not really a supernatural ability.) His eyes occasionally take on inhuman properties when he's well and truly angry, which is really the last remnants of his ability to transform - they may glow an orange-red color or, in extreme cases, turn completely black.
He has a few demonic powers that he's gone so long without using that he's hardly able to use them at all anymore; if he ever gets these back, he'd actually have to retrain himself in their use before he'd be able to utilize them.
- Pyrokinesis
- Shapeshifting (not just between human and demon forms, but animal transformations as well)
- Teleportation
- Demonic strength/speed (aka, far more than simple physique would allow)
Personality: Lewellyn has spent almost all of his two hundred-plus years among humans, and most of that amongst the least favorable elements of society, and it shows. (The fact that a small, weak demon like him was largely relegated to the fringes of demonic society as well didn't help, as it meant he's played roughly the same outcast role everywhere he's ever been.) He is suspicious, cynical, selfish, surly, and uncouth, acting far more like the human teenager he looks like than like a demon with several centuries behind him. His wariness shows itself blatantly in his body language; he's already very short and thin even by human standards, and he tends to crouch or bend forward slightly in preparation to bolt from any threat which may present itself, which makes him appear even smaller than that. This usually has the side effect of making him seem furtive or even afraid, although he'll angrily deny that he's afraid of anything if asked.
Lewellyn is absolutely convinced that no one else is ever going to look out for him, and so he makes sure he gets his above all else - and if getting his means taking other people's, then too bad for them. (He probably needs it more than they do anyway.) This tends to translate into his appropriating (read: stealing) anything easily concealable that's around him not nailed down, with no regard to who it belongs to; indeed, stealing has been such a necessity for him for so long that it's become a habit, or perhaps even a compulsion. It's gotten to the point where he takes things automatically if he sees an opportunity, regardless of need, desire, or even his entirely conscious awareness - he may wind up with a pocketful of penny candy from a bowl, or an entire sheaf of 5ยข pens, or a paper clip necklace, just because they were there. (Interesting to note is that, if confronted about stealing something of someone's, he'll give it back quite readily - largely to avoid an angry and/or violent confrontation. Mind you, he'll just try to steal it again if you give him a chance.) He also tends to have a hoarder's mentality; even if he doesn't have a use for it now, he may later, so he's likely to keep even the useless things he 'collects' unless he has some specific reason not to.
Lewellyn isn't exactly a sociable animal, but he doesn't actually object to the company of others; he's simply so suspicious of their motives (and so acutely aware of the fact that he's ill-equipped to take on any serious threat) that it can be hard to have positive interaction with him. He'll associate with people, and may not even be particularly hostile about it, but he doesn't really trust anyone - especially other demons. And the truth is that most of his willingness to be around others is directly tied into his belief that he's fast enough to reach the nearest door or window before they can stop him if they decide to come after him. It borders on paranoia, although in the past it's been largely justified by the life he's led.
What Lewellyn has always lacked in size and strength he tends to make up for in animal cunning, if not intelligence(and, if pressed, in the kind of ferocious scrappy fighting of a rat in a corner, where desperation and pure anger take the place of skill and ability). He's not exactly well-educated - certainly he never makes any particular effort to learn anything - but he's smart enough to pick up on things quickly, particularly if he sees some logical reason for acquiring some knowledge or skill. Further, with the advent of the internet and free wifi spots, all Lyn had to do to get the knowledge of the world at his fingertips is to steal an unattended laptop; since then, he's learned all sorts of things, some of them rather unexpected. And when it comes to practical skills such as picking locks or evading pursuit - talents that are useful for helping him get what he wants and keeping him out of trouble, not to mention talents that many of the humans he's associated with over the years possessed - his practical knowledge is almost encyclopaedic in scope. On top of that, due to his compulsive 'collecting', he usually has any number of items on him that might come in handy. They may be your items, if you haven't been paying proper attention.
Lewellyn has learned a lot of things over the course of his life, but sadly, the ability to shut his goddamn mouth isn't one of them. If anything, he's learned that bragging and trash talk are a way to establish credibility even without the strength to necessarily back it all up. He's fiercely vocal about his capabilities purely as a defensive measure, like a cat fluffing itself up to appear larger, and may actually go out of his way to antagonize and harass others stronger than him just to prove that he's not afraid to. (Mind you, he tries not to go overboard with this and actually incite their wrath...but if he does, then he just bolts.) He tends to be sarcastic and dismissive in regards to others - yet again, to make himself look better by comparison. He's also a bit of a casual misogynist to women, less because he doesn't like them than because they kind of freak him out; he hasn't had nearly as much exposure to them as men, doesn't know how to deal with them, and tends to assume they look down on him - always the fast track to getting Lyn to dislike you - so he's more on the defensive with them than men. If you insult Lyn in any way - his height, his age, his strength, his hair color - expect to get both barrels full of furious indignation, even if he was mocking you first. The way he sees it is that other people should be able to take a little heckling, but no one takes him seriously to begin with so mocking him is a low goddamn blow.
Although he's a demon, Lewellyn has been sufficiently humanized by association over the years that he's not particularly characteristic of a demon anymore. He doesn't necessarily view humans as inherently inferior to him; he's capable of a broader and considerably milder emotional range than most demons(though, granted, you'd have to earn his trust or respect - no easy task - before he'll start treating you well); and he understands human language and society on an intimate level from first-hand exposure. By most standards, both human and demon, he is human now - just with some unusual skills attached and a long lifespan.
AUSLOSEN IC INFORMATION:
Character Name: Lewellyn Bryse
Appearance: Lyn is a short, wiry kid - and short is an understatement. Either he hasn't hit his final growth spurt or he's never going to, because he's still a pathetic 4'10" and can't weigh much more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. However, he tends to stoop to keep low to the ground and wears baggy clothing, so his real weight and build are often camouflaged to a degree. He has surprisingly dark blue eyes that tend to look kind of intense, perhaps because he watches the movements of anyone around him like a hawk. He has slightly shaggy, generally unkempt blond hair that looks as though it gets combed with his hands if it gets combed at all. He's usually wearing some kind of hoodie and cargo pants - anything with lots of big pockets.
Age: 18
History: A city with a lot of crime tends to have a lot of orphans, so Lyn wasn't the only child given over to the care of a church, in a section of the city that didn't have any proper orphanages(one of them was a slightly older blond kid he stills sees around sometimes). He doesn't know anything about his parents - if they died or just gave him up - nor does he really care. He had enough to deal with at the church, which was perhaps not as rough as the world outside but wasn't any picnic, either. Not surprisingly, the men at the church hadn't joined the clergy on the strength of their child management skills, and those who weren't simply bad at it often took out their frustrations and contempt on the kids. Lyn grew up sharp and rebellious, and only tolerated this for as long as it took him to get old enough to be sure he could take care of himself better than the adults around him could. He was only 7 when he took off from the church into the streets.
Unsurprisingly, it was a lot tougher for him out there; only a lot of bloody stubbornness (and a distinct fear of what the men at the church might do to him if he went back) kept him from going back within the first three days. He was still too young for any sort of pride to hold him back from begging, and as a relatively cute and pathetic child he was actually able to subsist on what people would give him most of the time. When he couldn't, he'd go so far as to steal things to supplement himself. He was caught more than once, in the early years, but being just a little kid with no parents to report him to, he usually got away with a cuff or a tongue-lashing.
As the years passed, Lyn inevitably got older(though not taller; likely poor nutrition stunted his growth), and his pattern gradually shifted. The older he got, the less pathetic a spectacle he was, and what people would give him diminished - so his thievery increased. And as he stole more, he got better at it. And the better he got at it, the more lucrative and reliable a source it proved - much more so than begging. Plus it imparted a sense of accomplishment begging didn't approach. By the time he was 12, he'd almost entirely ceased to beg and moved into full-time thievery, or mooching from what places he could find where things were given out for free. (Places that gave food samples began to recognize him on sight.)
Essentially, all that's changed in the years since has been Lyn getting older, polishing his skills, and growing more bold. From the start he's always sought to keep a low profile; at first it was because he was afraid the men from the church would be looking for him, but soon enough it was because he didn't want to get caught by anyone. To that end, he opted to keep all his crimes fairly low-profile; he stuck to taking things no one would miss, or things no one would ever expect to be able to track down and reclaim. Most of his crimes are done in public, often in moments of inattention - no one's watching that phone? What phone? - where anyone could have been the culprit and only catching him in the very moment of the act could implicate him. When he steals from houses, he tends to only steal money or food, or things he intends to keep to himself - nothing he can be tracked down by trying to pawn. If he breaks into a store after hours, he wears a hood, mask, and gloves. What things he does steal get split up between six different pawn shops. In short, he takes every precaution and never makes himself so much of a hassle that any concerted effort is made to chase him down particularly - especially in a city where crime is rampant. And so Lyn ekes out a fairly manageable living.
Personality: Lyn really isn't a whole lot different in Auslosen than he was back in his own world, save that he's a little less skilled (no demon powers to help him) and he doesn't have the tragedy of JT's death on his conscience, so he's perhaps a little more wild and not so wary of forming attachments to people; that incident quieted him a little bit, and closed him down a lot. Of course, in his own world he was hiding his true nature and was terrified of either humans or demons finding him out; in Auslosen he only has to worry about authority figures or becoming a victim of crime himself. However, his paranoia was out of control in his own world and it's not much better here, even with less to worry about.
Probably the biggest change with Lyn is his feelings about the city. Obviously his city in his own world wasn't nearly the size of Auslosen, and he had almost two hundred years to explore all of it. He considered the entire city his home, and knew it just about as well as any person might know their own house. Lyn in Auslosen has spent some years on the street, but he'd need a lot more than two hundred years to get to know Auslosen inside and out. He does know the neighborhood he lives in extremely well, however, and considers that his home.
Job: No official job; he's just a street thief.
Fix: Lyn's fix is when he breaks out of his cautious, paranoid mindset to take on some more challenging and risky thieving job. Obviously he has neither the skills nor the resources to play cat burglar; he's not stealing priceless jewels from museums and dodging lasers. But stealing something notable, valuable enough for people to track down, too recognizable to pawn, something that was pretty well-protected...that gets Lyn's heart racing, and makes him feel like he's letting people know that he could move up to big time crime if small time wasn't the choice he's made. In short, it's his way of telling the world - or at least a few parts of it - that he exists, and look what he can do.
Then he tends to freak out, ditch whatever he's stolen somewhere it'll get found, and lay low for a week. It's not about what he steals; it's about the fact that he was able to steal it at all.
ROLEPLAY SAMPLES:
Third Person: [Shit. Was the guy even coming?
Lyn's nerves have been as taut as piano wire since yesterday, which is a small step up from the tight as a bowstring they normally are. It's because of this damn cop. ...Well, okay, it wasn't precisely the cop. It was the goddamn lunatic who'd gone to ground in his neighborhood. Killed seven people, except apparently it wasn't so much 'killed' as 'ripped the fuck apart'. Just random people - not people who'd looked at him funny, or who'd mugged him, or a guy who ran off with his wife. Just...people who'd had nothing to do with the guy, except for being in the same place at the same time as him. They were pretty sure one lady he'd killed had just been walking past him on the street, and he'd killed her right there in the open. Nobody'd called the cops for like an hour, either, so he'd made the same fucking mess of the corpse he did with all the others. No wonder, either; nobody was gonna stick around while that guy was working. If anybody'd seen it, they'd probably been finding the thickest door they could lock behind them before they did anything else. And what the hell would cops do? Take the money the guy handed them out of the lady's own purse and wish him a nice night?
Well, not this cop. Not from what Lyn's heard, anyway, though he'd had to get it from five different sources before he'd really buy it. Apparently this guy is on the level, and for Lyn's purposes that's what he wants.
Lyn would never have fucking believed he'd turn informer to a fucking straight cop. But with a guy like this...fuck, Lyn would rather have the cops in his neighborhood than this batshit psycho. Besides, this is self-preservation. It isn't the same as selling out a guy breaking the law just to get by. This is selling out a guy who might consider somebody's skin this season's fashion accessory. And when it came to looking after his own skin, Lyn wrote the book.
That's what Lyn's been telling himself, anyway, crouched in the rafters of the warehouse he'd told the cop to come to in the note he'd shoved under his door yesterday. (He'd figured the guy would have to come home SOMETIME between then and tonight to get it.) But despite all the logic, he still feels dirty talking to a cop(even if - especially if? - the cop is clean). And his doubts are crawling up and down the back of his neck like insects. Did the guy miss the note? Just walk over it, maybe, or crumple it up and toss it in the trash as garbage without reading it? Did he read it but not believe it? Was he gonna come at all?
So yeah. Technically, the nutjob was to blame for Lyn's being on edge. But the cop was not fucking helping any by being twenty goddamn minutes late.]
First Person: (Written without caps or punctuation because that's Lyn's writing style on forums)
okay somebody explain this shit to me
is this some kind of big joke
or an arg thing or whatever those things are where its like
everyone pretends like somethings totally legit and real life and no one involved breaks character
but its all made up with actors and fake websites and shit and its just some kind of publicity stunt or whatever
i mean i guess its kinda cool if thats whats happening although fuck knows why id be dragged into it
but somebody gave me a phone
which is literally the first time in my life ive ever been able to type that sentence btw
said to push this button
i pushed it and here i am
i dunno what the point of here is
and when i tracked down the guy again to ask him why hed tell me to come here
he acts like im talking crazy
swears up and down hes never even seen the phone before
so seriously what the FUCK is this about
whats this forum even for
Player Name: Callie
Player Age: 30
Player Contact:
callie_chan/Current Characters: N/A
AC Link: N/A
Who invited you: Remi!
CANON IC INFORMATION:
Character Name: Lewellyn Bryse
Canon & Medium: Original Character
Species & Appearance: Demon. He's not actually that impressive in his demon form - he's roughly six feet tall(which is significantly larger than the 4'10" he is in human form - basically, six feet tall is a small demon), with grey skin, black horns that curve back from his head, fangs, claws, batlike wings, and a whiplike tail. Aside from the fangs, having pointed ears, and his eyes being flat black, his facial features are still relatively human. He looks like a very basic sort of demon - the kind a human would have no trouble dreaming up. This is actually an indicator of power; the stronger a demon is, the less humanoid it looks. Lyn's being very humanoid, with only the most basic demonic physical features, marks him as being at the very bottom of his race's food chain. Still, he's more powerful than even the most exceptional basic human in this form.
Age: 237. This is pretty young, for a demon, and when he takes human form his relative age is reflected in it - he looks around 17 or 18.
World Info: Lewellyn's world is a fairly standard example of the modern world with the addition of supernatural elements. Though they play a small and reclusive role in the world at large, many creatures that were once considered mere fantasy - particularly vampires, lycanthropes, angels, and demons - have been officially confirmed to actually exist in recent years, though it's rare for humans to encounter them directly.
With the exception of angels - a species with impressive powers, pacifistic tendencies, and an almost paternal concern for the human race - interspecies encounters are rarely peaceful or pleasant. The lycanthropes tend to be significantly more aggressive and feral than humans, with only the most clever and self-controlled being able to blend into human society(not that they're encouraged to try). Vampires naturally prey upon humans, and while not all the long-held lore regarding them is true, humanity has picked up on what obvious tells there are; they, too, would have difficulties concealing themselves if they wished. Meanwhile demons, which have nearly as much power as angels, also possess a seemingly bottomless well of maliciousness and bitterness toward the human race that they will take almost any opportunity to vent; it's rare for a demon to even try to pass as human for long. Covert cohabitation between species is rarely attempted or feasible. And since humanity outnumbers all of the supernatural species put together, open mingling between the races is expressly forbidden, and even singular encounters between the groups are discouraged by mutual agreement. Each society keeps to itself, while keeping a wary eye on the others. Any rogue elements that go against this unspoken agreement and blatantly cause trouble among another species will find themselves the target of both respective groups' versions of law enforcement.
The reason for this careful isolation is clear; tensions are very high between the races. None are particularly fond of any of the others, save for angels favoring humans somewhat - but as angels strive for impartial neutrality, they would neither support humanity in starting war nor could they be 100% counted on to openly fight in a war brought against them. Humanity hasn't even made up its collective mind how it feels about angels, despite their generally benign natures. (Especially considering the religious conflicts and schisms caused by the discovery of angels and demons, and the revelation that they're earthly species not explicitly tied to deities of any sort; angels themselves may be benign, but they've become the source of a lot of human problems.) Among the supernatural species, no society is strong enough alone to wipe any of the others out, and there isn't enough friendly feeling between any two groups for alliances. Humanity, being bigger than all four supernatural societies put together, could likely wipe them all out together if it chose, save for the fact that the four supernatural societies would be forced to band together for their own protection. Such a war as would result would be incredibly costly, if not apocalyptic, and every race recognizes that it's in their own best interests to avoid throwing any sparks that might light the powder keg.
And so the tentative truce maintains itself; angels and demons keep to their respective realms(called Heaven and Hell in all languages but their own, if only because these serve as concepts humanity recognizes - and in any case, as with vampires, there are at least some details about their realms that humans got right over the years), vampires are quietly fed by formal arrangement, lycanthropes keep to the most remote of wildernesses, and humanity carefully pretends none of them are there. How long this state of affairs can persist, with a five-way Cold War(although honestly no one can be sure if angels would take part in any war or not), no one is sure. Ironically, the monstrous races humans have always feared (again, angels are the exception) could almost be said to fear humanity more than anything these days, with many making bleak predictions that humanity will start a war; the greatest fear is that the angels might side with humanity rather than their more supernatural brethren, and thus remove any chance for the other three societies' survival. However, others argue that the numerous and heated schisms in human society over religion since their discovery of demons and angels (it's been only twenty-five years or so, and the topic is still burning hot) would make any concerted effort by humanity impossible, and they darkly speculate that a human civil war which might 'even the odds' is inevitable.
History: In the midst of all the confusion and tension of his world lives Lewellyn - a demon of no great strength or significance.
For all of his life, Lewellyn has had the bad luck of being a small, weak member of a society that has very little use for what amounts to a runt. After a brief stint of being a toady for other demons - something that didn't sit well with Lewellyn at all, as being kicked around by the other denizens of Hell made taking orders from them even less appealing that it might have been otherwise - he opted instead to flee Hell entirely. He surreptitiously entered human society to hide, even choosing a name for himself; he hadn't even merited one in Hell. The name he picked he didn't particularly like, but as far as he could judge, 'Lewellyn' sounds about as non-demonic as it's possible to get. As demons tend to be the most relaxed in regards to maintaining the truce, and as Lyn was a minor demon who went to lengths not to make any waves in human society, he wasn't even missed; if he had been, it's still likely no demon would have bothered chasing down a cowardly runt who wasn't making any (noticeable) trouble.
For once finding himself among those he outclassed in the human world, with no one to oppress him, it didn't take Lyn long to decide to make human society his permanent home rather than fleeing any further abroad. Of course, he couldn't really make use of his powers or even his demonic physique while hiding out, and he didn't have the power to just make possessions for himself, so he was forced to lurk in human guise among the similarly disenfranchised - usually the poor, the homeless, and the alienated. He wasn't particularly fond of them, especially at first, but having been on the bottom rung of his own society, he couldn't help but identify with them to some degree - to say nothing of the fact that he spent a great deal of time around them, learning human ways and mannerisms(to say nothing of the language; for quite awhile he had to pretend he couldn't talk because he didn't know any human language). Having acquired a strong distaste for working for anyone else as a demon, he's survived all these years mostly by stealing from others, sneaking in where he's not wanted, taking advantage of anything that's free, and bolting if anyone confronts him. He's something like a modern-day Aladdin without any of the charm or catchy music numbers. He takes a certain amount of pride in the fact that he's been able to make it as a human, with no help (...well, very little) from his demonic abilities. He's come so far as to even have some distaste for humans that (he thinks) don't do enough on their own behalf to get by.
The world did change over the years, which turned to decades and then centuries, but while the details changed, the situations remained the same; there were always outcasts for Lyn to hide himself amidst, and always people with could stand to have a little less so Lyn could have a little more. And so Lewellyn has continued more or less as he began, undisturbed and completely overlooked, for over two hundred years. Oh, he's made the occasional cautious foray back into Hell, for one reason or another - mostly to keep his ear to the ground - but Hell has never changed much either; certainly not enough to entice him to return.
Over the passage of all that time, however, Lyn has changed. For one thing, many of his demonic powers have atrophied significantly with disuse, and he was a fairly weak demon to begin with. For another, he's become far more human in nature than most demons are(or would ever aspire to be), almost without his noticing; part of this is from having to stifle his more obviously inhuman patterns of behavior for so long, and part of it is simply from having spent a great deal of time associating with other humans over the years...though, given the society he keeps, most of it hasn't exactly been pleasant interaction, which is why his personality still isn't what anyone would call polished. As it stands, Lyn would much more easily identify with a human than another demon these days, and he can easily pass as a teenager of unfortunate circumstances. He has no personal stake in the politics of any of the species or his world(indeed, he hasn't even encountered any species outside humans and demons personally, though he distrusts them all), and doesn't have the strength or station necessary to have even the slightest influence on current events if he wanted to. All that really matters to him is his day-to-day life, and his city; as very few humans have played any large role in his life, he's actually developed more of an attachment to the city he lives in than anyone he's ever known. He knows almost every square inch of her like the back of his hand by now - where to hide, where to stash his things, where to get free food any day of the week, any new developments going up or old ones being torn down - and as far as he's concerned, it's his city; he's lived there longer than any human alive in it. It's been decades since he's had any desire to leave it.
The only emotionally significant event in his long life, and the only really close attachment he ever made, was when he briefly joined a gang about ten years back. The leader of the gang, a man called JT, developed a very brotherly/paternal relationship with Lyn - who, of course, never let on he was a demon. Sadly, it might have been better if he'd known; during some tense negotiations with some people from a rival gang, Lyn got spooked and tried to jump forward to grab JT and teleport them out of there. This, in turn, spooked the man they were talking to, who took a shot at Lyn. JT shielded Lyn from it, was hit in the head, and died instantly. The rest of the gang was killed in the ensuing shootout, as well, along with heavy casualties on the other side. Lyn was traumatized - partially because his own nerves started the gunfight, and because he could have teleported away and JT wouldn't have had to shield him at all. Lyn hadn't ever tried to get close to people before this, largely due to paranoia, and after this event it hasn't exactly gotten any easier for him.
Powers: Lewellyn's abilities as a demon have deteriorated over time due to disuse; he only has two still in optimal working condition from frequent use. He has limited telekinetic powers; specifically, he can pull any item around him (of not completely unwieldly size - think breadbox or smaller) directly to his hands, from roughly a room's length away. As you can imagine, this makes stealing things remarkably easy for him. Further, he's very fast; while this occasionally translates into hand movements, mostly it comes into play for running away from threats he's not powerful enough to face directly. (He's also quite nimble, bordering on acrobatic, but no more so than a human who invested in those skills would be, so it's not really a supernatural ability.) His eyes occasionally take on inhuman properties when he's well and truly angry, which is really the last remnants of his ability to transform - they may glow an orange-red color or, in extreme cases, turn completely black.
He has a few demonic powers that he's gone so long without using that he's hardly able to use them at all anymore; if he ever gets these back, he'd actually have to retrain himself in their use before he'd be able to utilize them.
- Pyrokinesis
- Shapeshifting (not just between human and demon forms, but animal transformations as well)
- Teleportation
- Demonic strength/speed (aka, far more than simple physique would allow)
Personality: Lewellyn has spent almost all of his two hundred-plus years among humans, and most of that amongst the least favorable elements of society, and it shows. (The fact that a small, weak demon like him was largely relegated to the fringes of demonic society as well didn't help, as it meant he's played roughly the same outcast role everywhere he's ever been.) He is suspicious, cynical, selfish, surly, and uncouth, acting far more like the human teenager he looks like than like a demon with several centuries behind him. His wariness shows itself blatantly in his body language; he's already very short and thin even by human standards, and he tends to crouch or bend forward slightly in preparation to bolt from any threat which may present itself, which makes him appear even smaller than that. This usually has the side effect of making him seem furtive or even afraid, although he'll angrily deny that he's afraid of anything if asked.
Lewellyn is absolutely convinced that no one else is ever going to look out for him, and so he makes sure he gets his above all else - and if getting his means taking other people's, then too bad for them. (He probably needs it more than they do anyway.) This tends to translate into his appropriating (read: stealing) anything easily concealable that's around him not nailed down, with no regard to who it belongs to; indeed, stealing has been such a necessity for him for so long that it's become a habit, or perhaps even a compulsion. It's gotten to the point where he takes things automatically if he sees an opportunity, regardless of need, desire, or even his entirely conscious awareness - he may wind up with a pocketful of penny candy from a bowl, or an entire sheaf of 5ยข pens, or a paper clip necklace, just because they were there. (Interesting to note is that, if confronted about stealing something of someone's, he'll give it back quite readily - largely to avoid an angry and/or violent confrontation. Mind you, he'll just try to steal it again if you give him a chance.) He also tends to have a hoarder's mentality; even if he doesn't have a use for it now, he may later, so he's likely to keep even the useless things he 'collects' unless he has some specific reason not to.
Lewellyn isn't exactly a sociable animal, but he doesn't actually object to the company of others; he's simply so suspicious of their motives (and so acutely aware of the fact that he's ill-equipped to take on any serious threat) that it can be hard to have positive interaction with him. He'll associate with people, and may not even be particularly hostile about it, but he doesn't really trust anyone - especially other demons. And the truth is that most of his willingness to be around others is directly tied into his belief that he's fast enough to reach the nearest door or window before they can stop him if they decide to come after him. It borders on paranoia, although in the past it's been largely justified by the life he's led.
What Lewellyn has always lacked in size and strength he tends to make up for in animal cunning, if not intelligence(and, if pressed, in the kind of ferocious scrappy fighting of a rat in a corner, where desperation and pure anger take the place of skill and ability). He's not exactly well-educated - certainly he never makes any particular effort to learn anything - but he's smart enough to pick up on things quickly, particularly if he sees some logical reason for acquiring some knowledge or skill. Further, with the advent of the internet and free wifi spots, all Lyn had to do to get the knowledge of the world at his fingertips is to steal an unattended laptop; since then, he's learned all sorts of things, some of them rather unexpected. And when it comes to practical skills such as picking locks or evading pursuit - talents that are useful for helping him get what he wants and keeping him out of trouble, not to mention talents that many of the humans he's associated with over the years possessed - his practical knowledge is almost encyclopaedic in scope. On top of that, due to his compulsive 'collecting', he usually has any number of items on him that might come in handy. They may be your items, if you haven't been paying proper attention.
Lewellyn has learned a lot of things over the course of his life, but sadly, the ability to shut his goddamn mouth isn't one of them. If anything, he's learned that bragging and trash talk are a way to establish credibility even without the strength to necessarily back it all up. He's fiercely vocal about his capabilities purely as a defensive measure, like a cat fluffing itself up to appear larger, and may actually go out of his way to antagonize and harass others stronger than him just to prove that he's not afraid to. (Mind you, he tries not to go overboard with this and actually incite their wrath...but if he does, then he just bolts.) He tends to be sarcastic and dismissive in regards to others - yet again, to make himself look better by comparison. He's also a bit of a casual misogynist to women, less because he doesn't like them than because they kind of freak him out; he hasn't had nearly as much exposure to them as men, doesn't know how to deal with them, and tends to assume they look down on him - always the fast track to getting Lyn to dislike you - so he's more on the defensive with them than men. If you insult Lyn in any way - his height, his age, his strength, his hair color - expect to get both barrels full of furious indignation, even if he was mocking you first. The way he sees it is that other people should be able to take a little heckling, but no one takes him seriously to begin with so mocking him is a low goddamn blow.
Although he's a demon, Lewellyn has been sufficiently humanized by association over the years that he's not particularly characteristic of a demon anymore. He doesn't necessarily view humans as inherently inferior to him; he's capable of a broader and considerably milder emotional range than most demons(though, granted, you'd have to earn his trust or respect - no easy task - before he'll start treating you well); and he understands human language and society on an intimate level from first-hand exposure. By most standards, both human and demon, he is human now - just with some unusual skills attached and a long lifespan.
AUSLOSEN IC INFORMATION:
Character Name: Lewellyn Bryse
Appearance: Lyn is a short, wiry kid - and short is an understatement. Either he hasn't hit his final growth spurt or he's never going to, because he's still a pathetic 4'10" and can't weigh much more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. However, he tends to stoop to keep low to the ground and wears baggy clothing, so his real weight and build are often camouflaged to a degree. He has surprisingly dark blue eyes that tend to look kind of intense, perhaps because he watches the movements of anyone around him like a hawk. He has slightly shaggy, generally unkempt blond hair that looks as though it gets combed with his hands if it gets combed at all. He's usually wearing some kind of hoodie and cargo pants - anything with lots of big pockets.
Age: 18
History: A city with a lot of crime tends to have a lot of orphans, so Lyn wasn't the only child given over to the care of a church, in a section of the city that didn't have any proper orphanages(one of them was a slightly older blond kid he stills sees around sometimes). He doesn't know anything about his parents - if they died or just gave him up - nor does he really care. He had enough to deal with at the church, which was perhaps not as rough as the world outside but wasn't any picnic, either. Not surprisingly, the men at the church hadn't joined the clergy on the strength of their child management skills, and those who weren't simply bad at it often took out their frustrations and contempt on the kids. Lyn grew up sharp and rebellious, and only tolerated this for as long as it took him to get old enough to be sure he could take care of himself better than the adults around him could. He was only 7 when he took off from the church into the streets.
Unsurprisingly, it was a lot tougher for him out there; only a lot of bloody stubbornness (and a distinct fear of what the men at the church might do to him if he went back) kept him from going back within the first three days. He was still too young for any sort of pride to hold him back from begging, and as a relatively cute and pathetic child he was actually able to subsist on what people would give him most of the time. When he couldn't, he'd go so far as to steal things to supplement himself. He was caught more than once, in the early years, but being just a little kid with no parents to report him to, he usually got away with a cuff or a tongue-lashing.
As the years passed, Lyn inevitably got older(though not taller; likely poor nutrition stunted his growth), and his pattern gradually shifted. The older he got, the less pathetic a spectacle he was, and what people would give him diminished - so his thievery increased. And as he stole more, he got better at it. And the better he got at it, the more lucrative and reliable a source it proved - much more so than begging. Plus it imparted a sense of accomplishment begging didn't approach. By the time he was 12, he'd almost entirely ceased to beg and moved into full-time thievery, or mooching from what places he could find where things were given out for free. (Places that gave food samples began to recognize him on sight.)
Essentially, all that's changed in the years since has been Lyn getting older, polishing his skills, and growing more bold. From the start he's always sought to keep a low profile; at first it was because he was afraid the men from the church would be looking for him, but soon enough it was because he didn't want to get caught by anyone. To that end, he opted to keep all his crimes fairly low-profile; he stuck to taking things no one would miss, or things no one would ever expect to be able to track down and reclaim. Most of his crimes are done in public, often in moments of inattention - no one's watching that phone? What phone? - where anyone could have been the culprit and only catching him in the very moment of the act could implicate him. When he steals from houses, he tends to only steal money or food, or things he intends to keep to himself - nothing he can be tracked down by trying to pawn. If he breaks into a store after hours, he wears a hood, mask, and gloves. What things he does steal get split up between six different pawn shops. In short, he takes every precaution and never makes himself so much of a hassle that any concerted effort is made to chase him down particularly - especially in a city where crime is rampant. And so Lyn ekes out a fairly manageable living.
Personality: Lyn really isn't a whole lot different in Auslosen than he was back in his own world, save that he's a little less skilled (no demon powers to help him) and he doesn't have the tragedy of JT's death on his conscience, so he's perhaps a little more wild and not so wary of forming attachments to people; that incident quieted him a little bit, and closed him down a lot. Of course, in his own world he was hiding his true nature and was terrified of either humans or demons finding him out; in Auslosen he only has to worry about authority figures or becoming a victim of crime himself. However, his paranoia was out of control in his own world and it's not much better here, even with less to worry about.
Probably the biggest change with Lyn is his feelings about the city. Obviously his city in his own world wasn't nearly the size of Auslosen, and he had almost two hundred years to explore all of it. He considered the entire city his home, and knew it just about as well as any person might know their own house. Lyn in Auslosen has spent some years on the street, but he'd need a lot more than two hundred years to get to know Auslosen inside and out. He does know the neighborhood he lives in extremely well, however, and considers that his home.
Job: No official job; he's just a street thief.
Fix: Lyn's fix is when he breaks out of his cautious, paranoid mindset to take on some more challenging and risky thieving job. Obviously he has neither the skills nor the resources to play cat burglar; he's not stealing priceless jewels from museums and dodging lasers. But stealing something notable, valuable enough for people to track down, too recognizable to pawn, something that was pretty well-protected...that gets Lyn's heart racing, and makes him feel like he's letting people know that he could move up to big time crime if small time wasn't the choice he's made. In short, it's his way of telling the world - or at least a few parts of it - that he exists, and look what he can do.
Then he tends to freak out, ditch whatever he's stolen somewhere it'll get found, and lay low for a week. It's not about what he steals; it's about the fact that he was able to steal it at all.
ROLEPLAY SAMPLES:
Third Person: [Shit. Was the guy even coming?
Lyn's nerves have been as taut as piano wire since yesterday, which is a small step up from the tight as a bowstring they normally are. It's because of this damn cop. ...Well, okay, it wasn't precisely the cop. It was the goddamn lunatic who'd gone to ground in his neighborhood. Killed seven people, except apparently it wasn't so much 'killed' as 'ripped the fuck apart'. Just random people - not people who'd looked at him funny, or who'd mugged him, or a guy who ran off with his wife. Just...people who'd had nothing to do with the guy, except for being in the same place at the same time as him. They were pretty sure one lady he'd killed had just been walking past him on the street, and he'd killed her right there in the open. Nobody'd called the cops for like an hour, either, so he'd made the same fucking mess of the corpse he did with all the others. No wonder, either; nobody was gonna stick around while that guy was working. If anybody'd seen it, they'd probably been finding the thickest door they could lock behind them before they did anything else. And what the hell would cops do? Take the money the guy handed them out of the lady's own purse and wish him a nice night?
Well, not this cop. Not from what Lyn's heard, anyway, though he'd had to get it from five different sources before he'd really buy it. Apparently this guy is on the level, and for Lyn's purposes that's what he wants.
Lyn would never have fucking believed he'd turn informer to a fucking straight cop. But with a guy like this...fuck, Lyn would rather have the cops in his neighborhood than this batshit psycho. Besides, this is self-preservation. It isn't the same as selling out a guy breaking the law just to get by. This is selling out a guy who might consider somebody's skin this season's fashion accessory. And when it came to looking after his own skin, Lyn wrote the book.
That's what Lyn's been telling himself, anyway, crouched in the rafters of the warehouse he'd told the cop to come to in the note he'd shoved under his door yesterday. (He'd figured the guy would have to come home SOMETIME between then and tonight to get it.) But despite all the logic, he still feels dirty talking to a cop(even if - especially if? - the cop is clean). And his doubts are crawling up and down the back of his neck like insects. Did the guy miss the note? Just walk over it, maybe, or crumple it up and toss it in the trash as garbage without reading it? Did he read it but not believe it? Was he gonna come at all?
So yeah. Technically, the nutjob was to blame for Lyn's being on edge. But the cop was not fucking helping any by being twenty goddamn minutes late.]
First Person: (Written without caps or punctuation because that's Lyn's writing style on forums)
okay somebody explain this shit to me
is this some kind of big joke
or an arg thing or whatever those things are where its like
everyone pretends like somethings totally legit and real life and no one involved breaks character
but its all made up with actors and fake websites and shit and its just some kind of publicity stunt or whatever
i mean i guess its kinda cool if thats whats happening although fuck knows why id be dragged into it
but somebody gave me a phone
which is literally the first time in my life ive ever been able to type that sentence btw
said to push this button
i pushed it and here i am
i dunno what the point of here is
and when i tracked down the guy again to ask him why hed tell me to come here
he acts like im talking crazy
swears up and down hes never even seen the phone before
so seriously what the FUCK is this about
whats this forum even for
