[bg=e0d282][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; -moz-border-radius: 15px 15px 15px 15px;][atrb=width,480,true] There you go, making that face again Biting onto your lips You're hiding your weak side But deep in those eyes I can see you cowering If you had a true heart You could care, cry, feel lonely, and worry Why are you holding onto all of the pain? Share some of it with me Signs of love overshadowed by dreams Baby, don't worry coz you ain't alone M I S T CALL ME: Damhán Cook ALTERNATIVELY: Dammy I HAVE LIVED: He will be 17 on June 17th DEEP DOWN, I AM: Male ...MY PREFERENCE? Bisexual. I WORK AS: Foreign exchange student, 2nd year. YOU'LL SEE ME WITH: Soon to be Persona User Long days passing by from that door, Like late summer they slowly fade away your A F F E C T I O N HEIGHT: 5' 6" WEIGHT: 146 lbs. HAIR: Short, thick head of light brown hair that usually is kept however it winds up. It's straight, though, so he doesn't have to worry too much about untamable hair. EYES: He's heterochromic. His right eye is hazel in colour, while his left is a strange red. GENERAL STYLE: Dammy isn't one to really choose what he wears carefully. Normally, he just digs into his drawers and pulls out whatever's on top, or catches his eye that day. That's usually a t-shirt and jeans, btw. Well, when he's not in school, that is. EXTRAS: Usually wears a blue cord tied loosely around his neck for whatever reason. Up on your feet, tear down the walls Catch a glimpse of the hollow world i'll face M Y S E L F POSITIVES: - Open-minded. - Honest. - Friendly. - Cheerful. (Usually, at any rate) - Brave. - Level-headed. (or he tries to be) NEGATIVES: - Stubborn. - Can be obsessive. - Can't read others well. - Sometimes too honest. - Short temper. (Though he tries to control himself.) - Sometimes hides when he's upset so people won't worry. This includes faking smiles. - Lazy bum. 'Nuff said. - Tends to take things literally. Even jokes. - Sometimes ignores a problem if he doesn't want to deal with it, and pretends it doesn't exist. OVERALL PERSONALITY: Damhán is a pretty easy guy to get along with. Ever easygoing, and carefree, he makes friends easily once he gets to know a person. It tends to take him a minute to adjust to a new person, but once he does, he opens up almost completely and holds nothing back. This can work to his disadvantage at times, since he can be rather moody at times, and he also has a pretty large stubborn streak. He is rather non-confrontational, and will usually try to find a way out of a problem, if there is any way, at all. He will offer up any compromise he can think of as a solution, if either party is too stubborn to relent to one another, which is usually the case, or he will outright avoid the problem and pretend it doesn't exist. There is a downside to this, however, as it sometimes gets in his way and creates an unneeded, and also unwanted, problem for him. He was also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and often has problems understanding others in social situations, even though he underwent therapy sessions to improve his ability to interact with others. He often seems rude, or cold, to some people when he is actually trying to get a grasp on what a particular person could be feeling, since he doesn't completely understand some nonverbal cues. He also tends to take people by what they say, and often misses any underlying meanings and/or any sarcasm. He also doesn't like to look another person in the eye unless it's important, and will often stare at something else around him, like a poster or a cat, which makes him seem disinterested when he is actually listening. CHARACTER TIME PERIOD: The period of time known as the present. :B HISTORY: Damhán was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised almost solely by his single mother, who had left his father long before he was even born. His mother married a man she had met, and managed to talk into being his father figure when he was about 3 months old. The man accepted and immediately took to Damhán as if he were his own son, and told his 5 year old son to be nice to his new step-brother. Of course, this didn't happen. As Damhán grew up, and unfortunately idolized his older brother, he became victim to the jealousy the older boy felt towards him. This even extended to nights when Damhán would wake up from a nightmare. One night, Linden, his brother, came in and told him to be quiet and stop calling for his dad, since the only dad he knew wasn't his real dad at all. Damhán was four at the time. Hurt, and confused, he asked his parents about it the next day and had everything confirmed by them. But then, as he was about to start crying again, his dad scooped him up and pulled him into his lap, holding him tight as he told him that, while he wasn't his real father, he thought of him as his real son. Comforted by this fact, Damhán paid no further attention to the fact that he wasn't his dad's real son, and was able to ignore his brother's taunts...for the most part. There was still a lot of yelling, tears, and hair-pulling. One day at school, when Damhán was in the second grade, he was pulled aside by a child therapist and pretty much told that his parents were getting a divorce. Why didn't they tell him? They told him everything. Did they not trust him? Rather than be upset about the split, as most children would, Damhán focused on the fact they didn't tell him about it, instead. That evening, after everyone had gotten home, he tossed the therapy booklet he was given by the therapist and demanded to know why they didn't tell him. He never got an actual answer. Instead, he was told that it was just between his parents. Soon enough, his life was torn into two. Every two weeks, he went between his mom and dad, and all his friends that knew about it asked him questions about it. Managing the first faked smile of his life, he told them it was a lot of fun and they soon left him alone, like he wanted. He didn't want to be bothered about it much, and tried not to focus on how hard it was to have to go back and forth like that. He suddenly had new respect for his older brother, who had been doing that since he could remember. After two years, his mother took him to one of his favourite places to go in town, The Forks, which was this amazing attraction and shopping center at the spot where the Assiniaboine and Red Rivers intersected, and told him she was going to America. Shocked, Damhán wasn't sure what to think. Was she taking him, too? He didn't want that. Was she leaving him? He didn't want that, either. As those thoughts buzzed through his head like a swarm of angry bees, she asked him if he wanted to go with her. He thought about it for a few moments and then said he wanted more time to think about it, and that he wanted to stay with his dad for the time she went down to check out the area. She nodded, and he was soon completely moved back into his dad's house while his mom left for America. Some time later, she returned, but simply stated that he had only a few weeks to say goodbye to his friends, and get his things together, before he had to go back with her. He didn't like that very much. When it came time for him to leave with his mom, he was the biggest lump of misery his mother had ever seen, and he was not afraid to share in the slightest. In fact, he made the trip as hard on his mother as he possibly could. Once he arrived in San Jose, California, everything dissipated as he couldn't help but gape at the airport staff wearing their t-shirts outside, in the middle of November. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was this really a place that didn't ever have winter? Sure enough, as he stepped off the plane, he didn't even need the heavy coat he carried in his arms. It was cool out, but hardly even cold at all. For the next several years, he lived there, with his mother, his stepfather (whom he disliked), and his little sister, who was born the year after he had arrived. He struggled to understand, and get along with his younger sister, who was so different than anything, or anyone he knew. None of his cousins, and all of them were younger than him, were like her. His stepfather was the biggest source of stress for the boy. He treated him well one day, and then like garbage the next, and there was never any consistency between it all. He didn't seem to even try to understand Damhán the way he had tried to understand him, nor did he even slightly try to change his treatment, and understanding, of the boy when his mother took Damhán to get evaluated for autism when he was 11, and she made resources to learn about Asperger's Syndrome readily available. Eventually, Damhán could no longer just sit there and take the abuse from his stepfather and began to fight back, and facing many police calls saying he was the violent one. His mother took his stepfather's side, too, which upset him. Any and all communication with his dad had been forcibly cut off by his stepmother two years earlier, leaving him to feel completely all alone, and abandoned. One night, when his stepfather was yelling at him about something again, and after he was hit by an airborne tupperware tub, he outright snapped and ran at his stepfather. He flailed, kicked, and bit, attacking his stepfather with every ounce of strength his tiny 12 year old body had. After he was done, and could think clearly again, he panicked, and immediately fled the room, seeking a hiding spot befor his stepfather could pay him back in kind. Later, his mother found him cowering in his closet and gently coaxed him out before she tossed a jacket on the boy and escorted him to the car. Within the hour, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he stayed for two full weeks. It wasn't until much later that he found out his mother put him there to protect him from his stepfather. After he was discharged, his mother began the negotiations for a divorce and his stepfather moved out of the house. With the exception of his infant sister, it was pretty much the way it used to be. Almost. His mother was quite unstable, and it was obvious to him, now, that she had been badly abused as well. Almost instantly, Damhán regretted how he thought about her during the abuse and neglect, and he tried as hard as he could to open up to her once more. It was hard, and it took over a year, but eventually, he was able to overcome much of his problems, thanks to the therapy he was receiving for his Asperger's, and he was able to appreciate things again. Shortly before his 16th birthday, his mother decided to make a trip back up to Canada to celebrate his maternal grandmother's birthday. The three of them, his mother, sister, and himself woke up early and made an all day drive all the way up to Victoria, British Columbia, which they all swore to never do in one go ever again. It was too long for all of them, even though his sister was asleep in a Dramamine coma most of the way. They made it to Cumberland, their destination, the next day and were there for a week before they traveled back down to Victoria to attempt to cross back into the US. Unfortunately for Damhán, he was not allowed to cross with his mother and sister, since he did not receive his green card when his mother had received hers, and the border patrol labeled him an "illegal immigrant" and forced him to stay behind. Forcing a smile for his mother, Damhán insisted that it was better that way, and that he missed living in Canada, anyway, and that he'd see her soon. He hasn't seen her since, though he's talked to her on the phone. A full year later, Damhán was living with a friend's family, instead of any relatives. He was supposed to live with a relative, but most of his aunts, or uncles, had full houses and the one relative he could've stayed with wasn't able to support him, and so he had become a ward of the provincial government and his friend's family was granted temporary guardianship of the boy. This suited him fine. He was comfortable there, and they were nice, welcoming people. He almost felt bad to have to trouble them to take care of him, like they had been, but at least the government paid for any of his necessities, like clothes and the like. During that year in their house, he took Japanese, and took interest in the foreign exchange program his school offered. After looking into it, he found that he qualified, being able to speak and read Japanese to some extent, and asked his guardians, and then his mother, about it. He really wanted to go to Japan, and see what it was like to be a student out there. After he got the okay from both parties, he hurried to the teacher in charge, who happened to be the very teacher that taught him the language, and signed up to be sent over first thing in the spring. Come on, let go of the remote Don't you know you're letting all the junk flood in? reach out to the T R U T H ORIENTATION: God dammit All Rounder. WEAPON OF CHOICE: Probably a stick or fallen tree branch for now, but probably some sort of pole arm once he acquires one. Like a spear, or something. BATTLE STATS: FP: 35 SP: 35 ARCANA: The Fool PERSONA: Oisin SUMMONING: Watch. HIGH AFFINITY: Light, Wind, Earth. LOW AFFINITY: Strike, Ice, Dark, Fire. SKILLS: Garu, Backstab, Rakunda, Tera I swim in the sea of the unconscious I search for your heart, pursuing my true self heartbeat, H E A R T B R E A K FAMILY: Jane Cook, his mother, Matthew Paine, his dad, Linden, his older brother, Wynn Ann, his little sister, and Alex, his little brother. ACQUAINTANCES/FRIENDS: None that are here in Japan. RIVALS/ENEMIES: His stepmother. ROMANTIC INTEREST: None as of yet! OTHER: A little white kitten named Yuki. I won't forget, most of all The days we all spent together never M O R E HANDLE: Neroshii, but people seem to like calling me Nero lately. OTHER CHARACTERS: Gouto-douji, Shira, Raine, Seira. HOW'D YOU FIND US? Shanti, originally~! CONTACT INFO: PM me if you don't have my AIM or MSN. NOTES: This was interesting, considering he's supposed to be a male version of me from like... almost 7 years ago, lol. Only minus that awful BS. I also gave him my Asperger's. I fail at explaining it though. FACE CLAIM: Rikugou Tokidoki from Amatsuki TEMPLATE MADE BY SAGI FOR BRAND NEW DAYS