Hayes, Connor

[piscula]

Connor Hayes

....the mask

Your Name: Lore
Where did you find us?: Googled Fantasy RPGs, found a site with an affiliate section, though for the life of me I can't find it again.
How long have you been roleplaying?: Started when i was 12, stopped when i was 17, started again last year, so total active years, 6ish?
Password: [admin edit!]

...basic character information

Birth Name: Connor Anthony Hayes
Nickname: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Grade: 11
Birth date: October 10th
Program: Bachelor of Arts
Major: Linguistics
Major Explanation: Connor has always been interested in studying how languages work and how languages other then his own are put together. He is also fairly intuitive with languages and once he knows a little bit he can make fairly good educated guesses about how other things work. Dingoes are similar to this in that they can understand human gestures and are good at communication with each other.
Animal Identity: Australian Dingo

...personality

Likes:(at least 10)

• Learning New Languages
  
• People Watching
  
• Reading
  
• Meat of all sorts, Rare Steaks are his favorite
  
• Night time
  
• Beaches
  
• Being a Shifter
  
• Hats
  
• Hanging out with close friends
  
• Most any type of music that doesn't involve vocals
  

Dislikes: (at least 10)

• Sudden Loud Noises
  
• Being Trapped Indoors all the time
  
• Small Talk
  
• Strangers
  
• Playing mind games
  
• Diets and Girls who engage in them
  
• "Rabbit Food"
  
• Music with lyrics (for the most part)
  
• Reality television
  
• Uncontrollable shifting
  
• Too clean rooms
  

Fears: (At least 3)

• Guns: One too many times getting shot at while shifted has instilled a deep fear and hatred
  
• Snakes: He was bitten when he was a child, luckily the snake wasn't poisonous but ever since then he has been very wary of them.
  
• Being Completely alone. Despite not liking strangers, he would prefer strangers to feeling like there was no one left. He is a pack animal at heart.
  
• Accidentally Shifting in front of a human.
  
• Heights
  

Strengths:

• Loyalty. Once he has claimed someone as one of his "pack" he will do anything for them
  
• Intelligence. It is not hard for him to pick up on subtle clues and school has always been almost boring.
  
• Self Control. If there is something he wants to do or not do he will set his mind to it. This also extends to his shifting, he gets better and better at controlling his shifting all the time.
  
• Leadership. Despite being on the quieter side, he can exude a calm authority and if he wants to be heard he can usually accomplish that. When something needs to get done he has no problem taking charge
  

Weaknesses:

• Changing Places: He hates having to move. He gets depressed and doesn't function very well.
  
• Building New Relationships: He is shy and very quiet around new people, and he often doesn't even approach them. If they approach him first he takes a while to thaw to accept new contact
  
• Thinking before he acts: He tends to jump into new experiences and when he decides to do something he does it without much thought to consequences
  
• Aggression. Can be over aggressive, can over protect and use more force then necessary when he feels threatened.
  
• Organization. His room is usually messy enough for his things to be completely unfindable even to himself. Ever heard of organized chaos? This is not that and Connor would never try to write it off that way. It is just chaos.
  

Overall: [400 words minimum]
It would take only two slightly different situations to show the polarity of Connor Hayes. On the one hand if he were observed with his friends he would be happy, talkative, full of ideas, and a clear leader. Even without everyone bowing to his every whim it would be clear that he had some influence. His intelligence and propensity for rashness allow him to make even normal activities seem a little bit more fun. He laughs a lot and if him or his friends were threatened one might be reminded of a mother bear defending cubs or, perhaps more appropriately, a German Shepherd set to guard. His loyalty and inability to deal with strangers encroaching on his circle of friends mean that no one who trusts him will be left on their own should the need for protection arise.

This of course is only the first side though. Connor, when he is not with a close circle of friends, becomes withdrawn, shy, quiet, and some might even call him anti social. He will talk to a stranger, but only if the stranger approaches him first and seems terribly non-threatening. Given time he could warm up to someone new, but his guarded demeanor means that many people never try. It is this side that the majority of the world sees and this is the side that gets him labeled as outsider more often then not. In these sorts of situations Connor's expression is often very somber and he does not seem to show much emotion, except in the rare case anger. Getting him to crack a smile while he felt strangers surrounded him would be very difficult.

For Connor, the stress of being surrounded by strangers could only be worsened by having to do it indoors. A new school orientations or a conference where he was by himself would be enough to send him over the edge. He tends to avoid crowds indoors, only allowing himself to be immersed fully in a crowd activity if he can be breathing the open air while he does it. He doesn’t like closed windows and if given the chance he would probably rather sleep outdoors then in. He loves to hike and run, but also to swim or just lay in the sun. Climbing is not really an activity he enjoys but he also hasn't ever given it a really good chance due to his intense fear of heights.

For this reason Connor desperately hates moving. He doesn't like starting at new schools or moving to new towns, he doesn't like it when new people come to his school or his town. He isn't so much afraid of new people as protective of the ones he has. He learned long ago that the majority of people are only human; they don't understand differences so he doesn't allow for them to get close enough to comment.

His humor is very dry and as such many people don't think it is that funny. His deadpan delivery and dry wit can cause awkward situations to become ten times as awkward if the person he is with does not understand the joke. The flip side of this is that his friends, who are used to it, think that he is usually quite funny.

...appearance

x x

Celebrity Play By: Wakeupnaked from deviantArt
Appearance: [400 words minimum]
Connor has pale green eyes and if it were allowed to grow on its own his hair would be copper colored, though he keeps it bleached. His hair is kept fairly long, down to his ears and then some, and he is constantly pushing hair out of his face. His skin is extremely fair and he has to constantly be wearing sun block outdoors to prevent himself from burning. His nose is straight and small and his lips are average size, left to their own devices they look like they are turning down the corners just a bit.

He is slightly over average height at 5'11 inches, and he walks with his shoulders back. One could almost imagine a cape flying out behind him from the way he walks. He is slender but he is not squishy and anyone who would care to look would be able to tell that he worked out, though he doesn't lift weights. When he runs he seems to be running not just to get somewhere but like he is trying to catch something. His run seems ordered and very controlled, and it is clearly the run of someone who has been doing it for a long time.

He can usually be found wearing hoodies or baggy tee shirts and jeans, though he does wear sweatpants when he works out and cargo pants when he goes hiking. All of these clothes seem just slightly too big for him, and as such he seems to be a bit skinnier then he really is. He doesn't much like shorts and even the idea of wearing them in public makes him feel a little squeamish for unexplainable reasons. There is almost always a hat of one form or another on his head. He owns fedoras, sock hats, baseball caps, and everything in between. He has loved having hats since he was a little boy and so his collection is quite large.

In his Dingo form his fur retains his original hair color, and its copper coloring looks quite stunning. His eyes are alert and he can usually be seen slinking close to the ground. When he hunts in this form he takes off, and his red fur can become a blur. Though he doesn't often hunt while in this form because he prefers to be a pack animal it does happen occasionally. His ears are large and while he has been shifted hikers and campers have often mistaken him for a loose family dog, though he is much more dangerous. His fur is thick and on his tail a bit fluffy, and under his chin the red fades a bit to a very light red almost white.
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...history

Parents: Leo Hayes and Unknown
Siblings: None
[400 words minimum]

Baby Connor came into this world with unmarried parents and an unstable financial situation. His father was in university studying to become a zoologist and one of his classmates was particularly impressed with his ability to deal with the lions. 9 months later baby Connor was born. His mother wanted to put him up for adoption but Leo knew that there was a chance his son was a shifter just like himself, and he couldn't put his own child through the confusion of shifting for the first time without having someone there to guide him. So he took custody of his son. From that moment on father and son had been inseparable.

Connor had grown up in a big house with his father, his "Uncle" Todd and his "Uncle" Marty. Uncle Todd and Uncle Marty were his father's best friends and they had grown up together. They had all been going to school together and when Connor was added to the mix, he was accepted as the house child, and not only his father's son. All three helped to raise him equally. When he was very young his father would take him to work with him at the zoo where he had gotten a job during the day. When he was finally old enough to go to school Connor was extremely close to his father and his uncles and going to school was not high on his priority list. In fact, the first day he was in school he spent the first half of the day crying in the corner refusing to comply with any of the teacher’s wishes and the second half sitting at his table ignoring the rest of the class.

Though he warmed up to the class eventually he did retain his dislike of new people.

When Connor was 11 a new birthday tradition was started. Instead of the normal birthday party Leo, Uncle Marty, and Uncle Todd began celebrating behind locked doors. They told stories about shifting and Connor got to hear of all of their experiences at The Academy. It sounded awesome but at the same time Connor did not want to have to make all new friends. While at these parties one of the adults stayed near a door and was ready to shift in order to distract him once Connor's first shift really did happen. Usually it was Leo, as his form was the only large animal of the three. Connor was 13 before he finally shifted. It was during one of their birthday celebrations.

He knew it was going to happen eventually but when it happened he wasn't expecting the pain. Of course his father had told him it would hurt, that it would feel like all of his bones breaking at once, that the adrenaline rush would be intense, and then the need to attack to get out, the fear of being surrounded. He felt his ears growing, fur sprouting through his skin at an amazing rate, his skin felt like it was pulling and stretching, his bones snapping and shrinking and growing and changing. His teeth felt like they were sprouting and shifting and getting longer and pointyer. He felt like he was changing completely, he didn't know his own body. When his eyes finally opened the world was in duller colors, not black and white but very muted. The world was much louder too and the scents were completely entrancing. He smelled meat, someone had raw meat, probably the neighbors. He felt his mouth start to water and though he didn’t know what was happening he leapt at the nearest creature, which happened to be a fully-grown lion. Within seconds a falcon and a rabbit appeared, and both used their abilities to get under or over something protective. The lion met him mid air and knocked him down, pinning him easily. He was struggling and trying to get free but the lion had him completely stuck. He felt his head start to go woozy and before he knew it he had passed out. When he woke up he was laying in his bed and his door was closed. His heart was pounding.

The next day his father explained to him what had happened again, and this time he listened completely differently. Now he knew what it was like, now he could relate. He was allowed to finish his school year with a lot of caution on his fathers part, but the next year, his freshman year, he left for The Academy.

...connecting human to animal

[One Paragraph Minimum (Can be point form)]

First and foremost dingoes are pack animals. They have a small group that they call family and the rest they are fairly shy of. This is reminiscent of Connor. Dingoes, however, are not only a pack animal. They are also able to be on their own and if they find another group of dingoes they will very slowly and very carefully begin associating with the group. This slow to warm nature and being nervous around strangers are both traits of Connor. They are intelligent animals and they are able to pass tests that normal housedogs and wolves both can not. Not only can they problem solve but they are adept at identifying human hand gestures if given some time, something most if not all wolves cannot do. This is like Connor in that he is very good at picking up new languages and problem solving is fairly easy for him. Finally, Dingo's can be domesticated and they will usually bond with one person for their lives. They don't like a shifting cast of characters and they don't move for the most part if left to their own devices. If moved by force most of them will fare badly at least for a while, this is extremely similar to Connor.

...literacy

RP Sample[/i]

Xavier extended his hand over the open air, spreading his fingers and feeling the updraft. Standing 25 stories over the city streets would scare most, but he wasn’t frightened. He was used to this spot. This was his spot. Other people meditated, or gorged on ice cream and watched old movies when they were upset. He stood here, barefoot and totally alone, and thought what his death would entail.

It would start with his falling toward the earth, or was it flying? Falling was involuntary, caused by a misunderstanding between a mass and gravity, where gravity wins. But flying, flying was a choice, something that certain creatures used to get from point a to point b. Forget that he was flying straight down, and the eventual point would be his death. He would fly there.

Next would be the crunching and a sound similar to a watermelon exploding on concrete. His internal organs would break, his neck would probably snap. He would be gone. He spread his arms from his side, like a bird, lifting his face to the wind.

His family, they would be surprised and possibly hurt that he would want to soil their family name like that. They would show up to the funeral, cry and act sad, but their lives would go on, people had a way of making sure that life always went on.

It was a survival mechanism he was sure. Humans want to survive, or most of them do. Whether they are middle-aged losers or skinny emo boys wearing girl pants, they wanted to find a way where they could continue to live and possibly spawn.

Xavier knew he wanted to live too, even if he sometimes stood up here and felt the slightest breeze threaten to send him flying over. If he didn’t want to live, he wouldn’t still be here, he would have thrown himself over the ledge years ago, hurtled past the windows of his parents pent house, past the Russians who lived below him, all the way down to land among the crowded city streets, where he would become a spectacle.

He wouldn’t, couldn’t, kill himself knowing that he didn’t know anything at all. He didn’t know if there was somewhere better to go, or if, as his mind shut off forever, he was done and he would float into nothingness. The idea that random electrical pulses flitting between neurons dictated his entire existence was disconcerting to say the least.

And the worst part of the problem was his inability to voice any of these concerns to anyone. He didn’t want to be labeled depressed, or angsty, or attention seeking. That wasn’t his goal, he just wanted comfort, and he wanted to know that this wasn’t all completely useless. He wanted to know that mother Theresa was going to be rewarded for all the kindness she had done and that Hitler would be punished.

He closed his hand into a fist, closed his eyes, and let his senses come alive. He could hear the honking of taxi horns and the screech as some car narrowly avoided an accident. He could smell the street vendors; somewhere close by there was a hotdog salesman. He could taste the smog of his city, the slow death that pollution was besetting the world with. The ledge was firm under his feet, the weight solid, and unchanging as he curled his toes around the concrete. It was the possibilities weighing down on him that he enjoyed. Even the slightest disruption in the world could send him toppling to his non-existence. He would sputter out like an old candle, dry up like a lake.

And then he turned, and stepped off, his need to consider what his own suicide would inflict upon the world (the answer: pretty much nothing, as usual) had been satiated.
~*~*~*~*~
He had ended back up in his room. It was dark and felt more like a cave then part of an expensive apartment in New York. His blinds were always closed, and he hardly ever turned on a light except for the small desk light that he actually used.

He had his feet on his desk, a sketchpad in his lap, and his away message up on AIM. Anyone who attempted to contact him would be reprimanded with a simple “no” and ignored. He didn’t have many friends at his high school anyway, not anymore at least.

He used to be one of those kids who could smile at anyone walking down the hall. Nobody hated him because nobody had any reason to.

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