Personality: Daniel is, at first glance, a serious person. He speaks in an even (though not mono)tone, doesn't laugh out loud very often, and is usually the "straight man" to other shenanigans around him. He concerns himself with missions, tasks, and other things that he needs to complete, and will rarely let anything get between him and his goal. Because of his PTSD he also has bouts of depression or withdrawl; occasionally hard to encourage on the best days, on his bad days he is outright recalcitrant and difficult to be around.
Once you get to know him better however, or get the opportunity to observe him in a relaxed setting, you'll find him kind, friendly, and one who teases his friends well and often. He is, at heart, a gentle person who is dedicated to protecting others, a huge part of what makes him an excellent Sentinel. If you're someone who needs help (combattant or otherwise), Daniel will always be in your corner. He may not laugh much but he does smile easily, and seems to have a knack for attracting friends because of his warmer nature. He wants to prevent further tragedy in his world, but even without the background he's had, he'd still help anyone who needed it, it was how he was raised and how his heart is.
Daniel also has quite the temper. It simmers below the surface, and occasionally boils over without lead-up or reason, leading to him snapping at whoever's around him before the anger slips back wherever it came from. While becoming a werewolf does make this a little worse while also giving him a way to vent, he tends to offload most of his temper into fighting or other exercise, sometimes to the point of sheer exhaustion. He can get caught in a self-destructive loop (arguably this is what happened to him during his years travelling) by getting stuck on something, and continuing on until either the issue drops or HE drops, whichever comes first. In most circumstances he can manage his temper, but it can take his snarkier streak and twist it into an outright jerkish attitude.
There are those times when his mood drags into the dirt. This is most often following sleepless, nightmare-filled nights (particularly as Daniel has irregular sleep patterns in the first place) or as fallout from a particularly bad flashback event. It'll also rise on its own, though it can be hard to tell since he's fairly kept to himself in the first place. He has a number of coping mechanisms he has to try and deal with it (such as aforementioned "wearing self out with exercise"), but will also simply ride it out just as often, accepting it as part of his life now.
Something needs to be mentioned of the influence of family and friends, though. While Daniel was always serious and quiet, even when young, there's no escaping the fact that his tragedy and the PTSD has affected him deeply. It could even be argued that it's all he is, particularly with the years he spent travelling, deadset on his mission to the exclusion of everything else, up to and including proper care and downtime; subsumed by a shadow that didn't even have a name. Finding out he was adopted didn't give him much of an identity crisis, but losing himself in the forests of the world did. He was nothing but what he was trying to accomplish, a statement by his own admission when talking about that time, and when he had to stop for a while, there was an adjustment period of trying to remember just who he was.
That's where the people he'd met come in. Through finding family and gaining friends, Daniel started to find himself again. He's a people person, but not in the usual sense; he thrives when having someone to bounce off of, and to give him somewhere to focus outside of his own mind. He's found fighters that he can spar with and learn from; joining Bridge's band has given him a comraderie and outlet he so desperately needed; even meeting and learning from another werewolf has helped him turn the terrifying, berserker curse into something controllable that's just another part of him now. Through all this and more, Daniel is learning how to be "someone who just happens to have PTSD" rather than "someone who exists without living."
It wasn't easy, it'ss been a very long, difficult road. He had to learn how to manage himself, to stop closing himself off or get locked so much in the self-destructive loops. He also had to learn to control himself as a wolf, and like there are still days where he falls under the weight of his disorder, so too are there moons when the beast can't be tamed. The difference is that now he knows how to deal with both, that it's okay to ask for help, and how to start working on making the next day better.
Abilities: Daniel has gained some magical ability over time, mostly channeled through his gauntlets, which are enchanted. He has spotty control due to not being trained in any of it (though it should be noted he would have been), most of it activating when his emotional state is high.
Wind Manipulation: Some mild control of the wind around him, which he can use to deflect shots or increase his speed
Double Jump: Exactly what it sounds like. Nearly the only power he can use consciously, he can solidify the air underneath his feet long enough to give him a second, higher jump
Wind Blades: Usable only when he slips into a near control-loss state, the blades on his gauntlets channel solid slices of wind that he can create and send toward the enemy; rarely seen
Additionally:
Werewolf: He transforms by force every night under the full moon, compelled by the magic to look at it even he tries to avoid it. This comes with typical werewolf abilities like enhanced strength, speed, senses, healing, etc. Additionally, the nights before and after pull it closer to the surface, and though they don't force a transformation, they make it considerably easier for Daniel to slip into it. He can also start the change himself but at the moment, only when extremely angry, which is rare.
Alignment: Daimonia. Daniel's biggest hurdle in his life has been grief: grieving over the loss of East Hollow, his adoptive parents, a side of his past he never knew, and the loss of the past he did know through the tragedy of what happened. Though he slips into frequent depression because of his PTSD, this is still fueled by grief, and that feeling has been the toughest thing for him to deal with and get past. Still, he's gaining light in his life through family and friends, and little by little the negativity swings to a genuine, if tarnished, happy existence.
Other: Daniel would be coming in with a 2-3 year old German shepherd named Baron. This is a normal dog.
2/2
Once you get to know him better however, or get the opportunity to observe him in a relaxed setting, you'll find him kind, friendly, and one who teases his friends well and often. He is, at heart, a gentle person who is dedicated to protecting others, a huge part of what makes him an excellent Sentinel. If you're someone who needs help (combattant or otherwise), Daniel will always be in your corner. He may not laugh much but he does smile easily, and seems to have a knack for attracting friends because of his warmer nature. He wants to prevent further tragedy in his world, but even without the background he's had, he'd still help anyone who needed it, it was how he was raised and how his heart is.
Daniel also has quite the temper. It simmers below the surface, and occasionally boils over without lead-up or reason, leading to him snapping at whoever's around him before the anger slips back wherever it came from. While becoming a werewolf does make this a little worse while also giving him a way to vent, he tends to offload most of his temper into fighting or other exercise, sometimes to the point of sheer exhaustion. He can get caught in a self-destructive loop (arguably this is what happened to him during his years travelling) by getting stuck on something, and continuing on until either the issue drops or HE drops, whichever comes first. In most circumstances he can manage his temper, but it can take his snarkier streak and twist it into an outright jerkish attitude.
There are those times when his mood drags into the dirt. This is most often following sleepless, nightmare-filled nights (particularly as Daniel has irregular sleep patterns in the first place) or as fallout from a particularly bad flashback event. It'll also rise on its own, though it can be hard to tell since he's fairly kept to himself in the first place. He has a number of coping mechanisms he has to try and deal with it (such as aforementioned "wearing self out with exercise"), but will also simply ride it out just as often, accepting it as part of his life now.
Something needs to be mentioned of the influence of family and friends, though. While Daniel was always serious and quiet, even when young, there's no escaping the fact that his tragedy and the PTSD has affected him deeply. It could even be argued that it's all he is, particularly with the years he spent travelling, deadset on his mission to the exclusion of everything else, up to and including proper care and downtime; subsumed by a shadow that didn't even have a name. Finding out he was adopted didn't give him much of an identity crisis, but losing himself in the forests of the world did. He was nothing but what he was trying to accomplish, a statement by his own admission when talking about that time, and when he had to stop for a while, there was an adjustment period of trying to remember just who he was.
That's where the people he'd met come in. Through finding family and gaining friends, Daniel started to find himself again. He's a people person, but not in the usual sense; he thrives when having someone to bounce off of, and to give him somewhere to focus outside of his own mind. He's found fighters that he can spar with and learn from; joining Bridge's band has given him a comraderie and outlet he so desperately needed; even meeting and learning from another werewolf has helped him turn the terrifying, berserker curse into something controllable that's just another part of him now. Through all this and more, Daniel is learning how to be "someone who just happens to have PTSD" rather than "someone who exists without living."
It wasn't easy, it'ss been a very long, difficult road. He had to learn how to manage himself, to stop closing himself off or get locked so much in the self-destructive loops. He also had to learn to control himself as a wolf, and like there are still days where he falls under the weight of his disorder, so too are there moons when the beast can't be tamed. The difference is that now he knows how to deal with both, that it's okay to ask for help, and how to start working on making the next day better.
Abilities:
Daniel has gained some magical ability over time, mostly channeled through his gauntlets, which are enchanted. He has spotty control due to not being trained in any of it (though it should be noted he would have been), most of it activating when his emotional state is high.
Additionally:
Alignment: Daimonia. Daniel's biggest hurdle in his life has been grief: grieving over the loss of East Hollow, his adoptive parents, a side of his past he never knew, and the loss of the past he did know through the tragedy of what happened. Though he slips into frequent depression because of his PTSD, this is still fueled by grief, and that feeling has been the toughest thing for him to deal with and get past. Still, he's gaining light in his life through family and friends, and little by little the negativity swings to a genuine, if tarnished, happy existence.
Other: Daniel would be coming in with a 2-3 year old German shepherd named Baron. This is a normal dog.
General Sample: TDM
Emotion Sample: Top entry and first few comments have emotional effects
Questions: N/A