o. application to underground

[akillersmile]

Player information
Name: Ange
Contact: thedarkfields
Are you 18 or over? Yeah
Other characters played: Ringer None

Character information
Name: Kyle Sutton
Age: 23 24
Date of Birth: March 1, 1992
Canon: Original
Species: Human
Role: Kyle will be joining Hillingdon as a hunter right after discovering the supernatural exists in London, with the hope/potential to transfer as an ally to East End Pack (because there a billion people in Hillingdon right now). In his day life, he'll be looking for work.
Rank: 1

Background:
Kyle was born in a small town in Ohio, in the States, to two wonderful and caring parents. Though his parents made him work hard to earn his privileges, he was never left wanting. Everything was golden for the majority of his youth. Kyle had a younger sister whom he was very protective of. He rose in popularity in school, playing football and being the all-American kid that everyone can't help but love. Life was good.

Everything changed a month before graduation. His house was broken into by a trio of addicts looking for a major score on bad information. His parents were both killed in the incident, his father shot and his mother suffocated. Kyle was beaten and, when it came down to it, ran to protect himself, leaving his sister behind to an unknown but presumably terrible fate. It's a choice that deeply influenced the rest of his life.

After a brief hospital stay and a surprisingly upbeat attitude for the tragedy, Kyle did what he had to to graduate high school (He still suffers PTSD from the event but does his best to push it down and stay chipper). With no family other than some estranged relatives in England, little money, and a deep self-hatred born of his cowardice, Kyle enlisted in the military. He worked hard, made a good impression, and was deployed to South Africa at the age of 19.

Eight months into his deployment, Kyle became very ill. He contracted Lassa Fever with complications and ended up in critical condition in the hospital. The doctors first assumed it was Ebola, allowing the disease to escalate into near fatal conditions. This was helped by Kyle's mostly hidden depression. Around this time, he had pretty much given up on living and was ready to die, ceasing even to eat or help intake necessary fluids.

Enter Sergeant Major Cooper. The man had overseen Kyle's unit and taken an interest in Kyle specifically. Cooper visited Kyle on his deathbed. The two talked for quite some time, with Cooper forcing Kyle to face his past and the horror of what he'd done, dredging up everything the kid had been keeping hidden away inside for the past two years. Kyle eventually broke down and could finally begin moving on. Cooper helped Kyle find his will to live again and promised him that, when he recovered, he could choose between a general honorable discharge or joining a specialized unit that Cooper oversaw. Kyle eventually chose the latter, finding a mentor and hero in the man.

After fully recovering and training back up to his normal standards, Kyle was assigned to the new unit with Cooper as his new Commanding Officer. This is how Kyle was introduced to the supernatural; the unit was hunting vampires in the area. Although vaguely aware of some other supernatural creatures, they were concerned only with the bloodsuckers of the night. His squad was solid, made up of a mishmash of personalities and skills. Although Kyle wasn't the best soldier, he was a natural leader and, within a year, was treated as squad leader despite all being of the same rank.

Cooper promoted Kyle to Sergeant and official squad leader. It was the last thing he did before disappearing without warning. The unit spent nearly four months in enemy territory, without support, before finally making it safely home to the United States, at which time they were told their contracts had been fulfilled and they could choose their future. Confused, angry, and determined to find the man who had left them stranded, Kyle accepted the honorable discharge in order to follow a lead on his mentor.

With a livable amount of money saved and a clue that Cooper was in London, Kyle reached out to his estranged relative(s) – open to plotting – for help finding his feet. He only recently arrived in the city and is still adjusting. Kyle is, at this time, oblivious to the supernatural presence in London and will assume Cooper's disappearance is related to their being here.

Kyle has his own place in London and a job at the chocolate shop, Chocolatier du Monde. He works the odd security job for extra money as well. As part of Hillingdon, he feels a little bit aimless. His main goal right now is to help try to take down Islington and save humanity and everyone else from the vampire scourge.

Personality:
Kyle grew up without many obstacles in his world. He was reckless, carefree, and often quit before the going could get tough. Popular in school, with plenty of girlfriends, friends, and fans in his casual sports playing, he'd never known loneliness or been left desperately wanting. That's not to say he got everything he ever wanted, having had good parents who taught him to put in work for the things he loved – although he was never strong academically – but he was content with what he had.

Things changed when he ran away rather than protect his baby sister, then again when he was near death. In a sense, he was broken to be built back up into someone better and stronger. He worked harder than ever before, pushing himself beyond his limits and surviving each time.

At his core, he remains, in many ways, the popular jock. Kyle isn't the smartest guy in the room and never will be. Even though he's fairly sharp when it comes to battle tactics and strategy specifically, he's lazy about studying, preferring the tangible or those which can help him in the here and now rather than those which may benefit him in some abstract way in the future. For example, his grammar and vocabulary can be pretty lackluster, and he's too willing to trust people who could pose a threat as long as they present well.

While he's fairly realistic and can go to dark places as needed thanks to his past, recognizing situations for what they are, he'll try to spout humor and smile whenever he can. Kyle cracks jokes frequently, enjoys flirting, and tries to keep things lighthearted. Overall, this is a defense mechanism and a way to deal with the pain he feels at both the loss of his family and his difficulty in the military. He knows if he spends too long dwelling in the past, he might break down and lose his strength again and that's just not an option.

Unfortunately, Kyle spends a great deal of time metaphorically running from the demons of his severe traumas. He doesn't like to talk about them and avoids dealing with them as much as possible. He's no longer carefree in any sense. But, having compartmentalized it all so deeply, it's not something he thinks about daily and he lives his life around these issues rather than as a direct result of them in his conscious mind.

He remains confident, sometimes to a point of arrogance, and often plays up his high opinion of himself to hide the weak coward he used to be. When he fears becoming that person again, he's too quick to do something stupid and "brave" just to prove that he isn't (if only to himself). If things are good, he's the type to seize the day. When things are bad, however, he'll revert to the soldier and focus on getting through.

The soldier has a killer smile and great charisma. While this serves to aid him in getting what he wants in a general sense, it also helps in making him a great leader. His former weakness allows him to empathize better with others, while his newfound strength enables him to better lead. He's the type who's very aware of his shortcomings and all too happy to take advice that he knows to be good. He's a team player in every sense, from football to the army.

Kyle prefers honesty, though he'll lie to spare someone's feelings, and doesn't take it too personally when people lie to him if they have good reason. Casual conversation is a breeze for him and he's fairly open as a person, enabling him to make friends quite easily both at shallow and deeper levels. As mentioned before, he's the type to default to trusting and seeing the good in people, sometimes to a naïve level. This is a result of his extroversion, his desire to keep things lighthearted, and his defense mechanism of avoiding the darkness. Only if people pose an obvious or immediate threat to him, or the people he cares about, will Kyle have reason to doubt or distrust them.

Once he's attached himself to someone, or they to him, Kyle is extremely loyal and becomes protective to a fault – mostly to make up for failing to protect his sister.

Death is complicated. He doesn't like death, because no one does, but he's seen – and caused – enough that it doesn't faze him much anymore. Because he came close enough to expect and accept death, only to survive, Kyle doesn't have the same healthy fear of death now that he probably should. He can be too reckless with his own life and will risk it for others without a second thought (more because of his own hang-ups than out of a selfless desire to save them).

His relationship with Alex burned fast and deep and was a reminder of all the things he'd been putting off, including his own happiness. Her leaving him meant trying to find that in other ways and from other places. While he's too responsible to be flat out self-destructive, he's now more likely to err on the side of reckless in the little things (more drinking, more willing to place a bet, etc). His hatred for the vampires has grown with all the recent events and he'll be returning better and stronger to combat the menace.

Powers & Possessions:
Kyle is a Sergeant in the US Army. He's been trained in both the average skills of a soldier and those specifically of hunting vampires. While he's a great leader and has a good sense of military tactics and strategies, he's a fairly mediocre shot. Melee combat is average. He's fast and built well, which helps, but his skills generally lack precision.

He owns a combat knife and some other basic survival gear, smart phone, etc. Nothing fancy.

Samples:
1 & 2

World building
Locations: N/A
Items: N/A
Magic: N/A