Post by Crush on Aug 21, 2011 19:36:36 GMT -5
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SHOW ME WHAT IT'S LIKE
TO DREAM IN BLACK AND
WHITE SO I CAN LEAVE
THIS WORLD TONIGHT
TO DREAM IN BLACK AND
WHITE SO I CAN LEAVE
THIS WORLD TONIGHT
FULL NAMEGraydon Konrad Taylor
NICKNAMESGray, Idiot (fondly, by brother and a few close friends)
AGETwenty five
GENDERMale
RACEHuman
SEXUALITYBisexual
POWER(S)Gray draws on emotions as the root of his powers. The most prominent is his empathic abilities, though he usually has them turned off. He finds that once he opens that door to figure out how you feel, it unfortunately goes backwards too and the person who's emotions he feel ends up feeling, and occasionally seeing flashes of, the emotional trauma he has experienced. As a side power, though one he much prefers, he is also able to speak and understand all languages. He mostly uses this to communicate with animals, which makes him one of the best messengers.
HAIR/FURGray's hair is an average brown, though it is on the longer side and is often messed up from the wind. It is easily long enough to block his sight in the right cases, but he just doesn't care to keep it short anymore as it's far too much a hassle in his opinion.
EYESHi eyes are a light gray. Most would assume this makes them appear cold, but this isn't true at all unless he's angry or remembering his days as a soldier.
BODY TYPEHumanoid
APPEARANCEGray is, by no doubt, something to feast your eyes upon. Tall, almost-dark, handsome. The man has everything you could ever wish for. Piercing gray eyes that reach your soul, brown hair that make them pop all the more due to the contrast between the two. The hair itself isn't short, though it isn't excessively long either. It's just like he's waited too long for a haircut, really. Oftentimes, that's truly the case, though he never gets it shortened much anyway. His features leave him looking younger than he is. In truth, you would never assume that he was a soldier by looking at him. His hair is a little messed up, despite his decent attire, often including a dress shirt or fitted t-shirt of some sort, the clothes are a bit rumpled. It leaves him appearing a little rough around the edges, and certainly not neat and tidy like one would imagine a soldier to be. If anything, it has only made the girls flock to him more than the caring or the uniform ever did. If it wasn't that, it was the smile. The perfectly white, straight teeth. They get you every time, if you manage to see them. He just doesn't find much to give a full, proper smile for these days. Instead, his usual smiles are crooked, one half of his mouth lifting in a smile and the other only twitching up the slightest amount. It looks sarcastic or cocky, depending, and sometimes it is, though not always.
LIKESHealing, helping, dogs and horses (more so than most other animals), animals in general, space
DISLIKESSudden and loud noises, gunshots, fighting for no reason, abusive pet owners, small spaces, war
STRENGTHSPhysical strength, good at dealing with abused animals, good at keeping his anger under control in most situations
WEAKNESSESTakes in way too many strays, tends to take on more than he can handle in any situation, doesn't usually take no for an answer even when he should
HABITSHe's been known to be quiet some days, while others you can't shut him up. He also jumps onto random topics, losing people in conversation, on occasion.
SECRETSHe only became a soldier because it was his brother's dream and Gray's way of remembering him and honoring his memory. He doesn't openly talk about his time as a soldier to begin with, but why he became one is held closer.
PERSONALITYGray is a bit strange sometimes. Not strange in a bad way, of course. He just... varies his personality a bit. Most the time he's sort of cocky and confidant, not afraid to speak out but not talking all the time either. He's never been afraid to tell you when something was wrong, and he's never had the eloquence to be polite about it. You will always know exactly where you stand with him - whether he likes you or not, whether he approves of you or not.
What he hides more is his caring. If he falls for you, trust me, you won't know until it really counts. If you need him, he'll be there to the point you may wish he'd leave you alone. His methods are not always acceptable, but they're straightforward and blunt. Despite his detest for violence, he can be quite the violent man when ones he cares for are threatened, falling back on his training as a soldier.
There are days when he's quiet and pensive, often reflecting on his time at war with his mind plagued by the gunshots and explosions. It is these days when he can be rather sharp and rude in his tone to anyone, even those closest to him, as the phantom pain from the four bullets he took lace across his upper body, making him entirely irritable. The only thing that seems to calm him these days is his work with running messages, as he loses his mind to it, focusing on the open space and the wind in his hair.
There are also days when he can't shut up, a reflection of his childhood when he was fascinated by the smallest things. He'll catch the smallest point in a conversation and jump on it with rather impressive knowledge, for he is in fact rather smart and spent much of his time learning about random little things when he got the chance. He knows strange facts most would never even bother to think about, and it is days like this that make him seem almost child-like in his innocence, although he isn't truly innocent at all.
FATHERLuke Taylor, 51
MOTHERSophie Taylor, 50
SIBLINGSJack Taylor, deceased
LOVE INTERESTSNone
CHILDRENNone
IMPORTANT FIGURESNone
HISTORYGray was always an intelligent child. He learned to speak quickly, and never stopped asking questions after that. He always longed to know more, see more, experience more. He wanted more of just about everything. Most of the time, his parents were too busy to keep up with his antics, so the duty of caring for the young child fell to his brother, who was five years older.
Expected to follow in his brother's footsteps and become a model child, Gray was put into a program similar to boy scouts at an early age. He never cared much for it, not really. But he kept it up. Him and Jack had become very close, very fast, and Gray admired his brother. He wanted to be just like him. In truth, he was better. He excelled in school, skipping a grade and still landing in the top of his class each and every year. Not top ten, mind you. He was actually the student with the highest mark in every single class. He was modest about it, he never boasted. Not until he hit that lovely time in his life known as high school.
He was a freshman, his brother a senior. They were at two different ends of the spectrum. Jack was a jock, through and through. He partied, he drank illegally, he hung out with cheerleaders and other jocks. Gray wanted in. He wanted in so bad. He missed his brother, the time they used to spend together. So, alongside keeping his marks sky high, he slipped into sports. He hated every minute of it, but he kept trying. If he was good enough, maybe Jack would let him hang out with him and his friend. Maybe, maybe. It never happened. Gray was supposed to go to a party with Jack, the first time, but there was a big physics test the next day. He had to study. He just had to. He had his eye on medical school, after all, and for that you needed the best marks out there.
On the way home, the carriage his brother was driving hit a pothole, sending it flying as the wheel fractured beneath it. Jack was sent head first forward, landing under the horse's hooves and getting trampled before the broken carriage, still attached to the horse, got dragged over top him. He was killed almost instantly. For weeks, Gray was distraught. His marks dropped, his attendance was at an all time low and he was considered clinically depressed. But then, suddenly, it just changed. Suddenly, he was okay again. He had found a purpose, a meaning to his life. He threw himself into scouts as his brother had, earning himself as many honors as he could. He threw himself back into school work, grades shooting up again and going higher than before. He powered his way through high school and on the day of his graduation, he enlisted in the military. It was what his brother had been planning, and it was Gray's way of coping. He had a need to honor Jack's memory in the most physical way possible. He was going to live Jack's life for him.
Due to his exceptional test scores, grades, and activity in scouts, he was placed on a special squad which was all supplied with guns. Then, he was sent out into the field and an active war zone. He regretted joining the moment he got in his first fire fight. To this day, the gunshots and explosions echo in his ears. Slam the door a bit too hard, he looks startled. The boom of thunder leaves him shaking in his boots. God forbid he hears an actual gunshot - he might just breakdown. He's always been mentally strong since his brother's death, even more so since he pulled through from the brink of death. His last day as a soldier ended with him shot four times and sent to the hospital. They almost didn't save him. The blackness that he saw there, the moment his heart stopped beating even though they got it back... that abyss scares him. He knows, deep down, that Jack is living there eternally, that everyone someday will.
When he recovered, he couldn't bring himself to go into medical school. That darkness, and knowing he'd lose patients, it scared him. He knew he could no longer handle it. So, he turned to the one thing that calmed him. Riding horses. He went to an auction, bought himself a beaten down black stallion and saved the beast's spirit. Since, him and Ricochet have become almost inseparable and he has turned to delivering messages. Ricochet is easily one of the fastest out there, and it earns him regular work, though he always returns home to Carvalo in the end to take care of whatever stray animals he's sheltering that week.
NAMECrush
AGENineteen
EXPERIENCEEight
CHARACTERSVitae
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