Aj Douglas

[beast]

NAME: Amara Josephine Douglas
(usually shortened to AJ)

AGE: appears to be between 19 and 24
(tends to be inconsistent between informing people. One moment, she'll claim she's 22, the next she'll say 26, so no one really knows for sure... except her of course)

GENDER: Female

RACE: Werewolf

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual
(meaning she has no preference based on gender alone)

OCCUPATION: None. Currently stalks around the forests, seemingly with no desire to interact with humans.

HOMELAND: Cashire Forest



APPEARANCE:

Being a bit of an anti-social bugger, AJ is normally seen not in her human form, but in the form of a very large half-wolf beast which she appropriately calls her "Beast" form. In this state, she can stand on either two legs or four and alternates between the two frequently, usually resting and running on all fours but choosing to walk on her hind legs. When up on two legs, she can appear very similar to humans and similar bi-peds, with powerful shoulders, long arms, and an overall rather flat rib cage and torso region. However, by werewolf standards, she is generally very animal-like and seems more accustomed to moving around on all fours. Her hands, for example, are more compact than a human's in terms of proportion, her fingers thick but slightly bent to better support her weight. They are more like dexterous paws than they are like hands, the palms covered in thick leathery pads and each finger ending in a thick, dull claw. By comparison, her feet are completely paw-like, totally mimicking the paws of a wolf in construction only much larger in size. Beast-AJ is easily 8.5 ft tall when standing upright, so compared to a mortal human or wolf, everything about her is comparatively larger.

Except her breasts. It is a minor point to make but, in beast form, AJ has no breasts. They'd get in the way during four-legged movement so her species sort of developed without them, and her gender while in beast form can be very difficult to decipher due to the resulting flatness of her chest.

Other than that, she is a pretty stereotypical werewolf. Very animal like but still capable of human speech, if rather crudely. Her body is built strong and muscular, covered in a thick coat of white and red fur. Her markings are what many people consider extravagant, with streaks and swirls of golden yellow darting between contrasting stripes of red and burgundy, all lying on top of a white undercoat. She'd probably be considered beautiful if not for her violent nature. Plus, a nasty run in with humans in her past resulted in her ears being cut short and her tail being reduced to a stub, making her look more like a huge, fuzzy pit bull more than an elegant wolf. But she seems no worse for wear on the matter.

AJ's human form is honestly more stereotypical than her beast form. She is a little tall for a female human at 5 ft 9 in, but nothing that would make people turn their heads as she wandered into town. Her skin is light, Caucasian, and dotted with little red freckles that are most visible on her face, back and the joints of her limbs (shoulders, knees, and elbows). She strangely does not have any on her hands or feet, the way most people with freckles do. But she does have red hair to match them, which she keeps short but otherwise does nothing with. It is naturally straight, if a little coarse in terms of texture, so she feels no need to constantly tend to it. So she just lets it be, leaving it looking a little tussled. Her eyes, in both forms not just her human one, are a strikingly bright hazel sort of color: the main part of her iris being a slightly yellow green with small golden yellow flecks dotted within. They glow in the dark in her Beast form, almost as though lit by a fire from the inside, and, as well with most people, her eyes are her most memorable feature.

Her clothes in human form are plain: a plain t-shirt of varying design (she has five or six shirts that she stores with her other belongings in her home in the woods), usually white or plaid, worn with a plain pair of faded green cargo pants. Often, she'll throw a leather utility belt over her torso as well as hang one loosely from her waist, which makes her appear very disheveled, as you can imagine. None of her clothes seem to fit her properly, save the occasional t-shirt, and almost everything is either ripped, torn, blood stained or some combination of the three. All except for a noticeably oversized military-style coat, which often appears a little messy but is otherwise well kept. It is noticeably cherished by AJ for reasons she reveals to no one, along with an old military hat that goes with it. Both are highly decorated war relics typical of the armies found in Faux Magnifique.

As a final note, AJ does have a third form that she can shape shift into. It is somewhere between her fully werewolf form and her human one, in which she appears more human but with some traits of her wolfen self. She has ears similar to her beast form's, as well as the stub tail that goes with them, but she also gains more muscle and gets a little taller in this state due to the fact that her legs shift from being plantigrade (whole foot is on the ground) to digitigrade (weight rests on the toes). She also gains the claws and teeth you'd expect of a werewolf, as well as a little fur. This "Midway" form is smaller than her hulking beast form, making it far more agile than both her beast and human forms. But it is a little difficult to maintain and is weaker than her beast form, so she generally doesn't care for it.



ABILITIES:

Shapeshifting
AJ can shift between three different forms (described above) all completely of her own free will. Unlike werewolves of myth and legend, she is not permanently affected by the full moon. Well, at least not in terms of her shifting. She does receive her power and strength from the moon itself, so when it is at its strongest, she is at hers. Adversely, on the new moon, when the moon is at its weakest, she is at hers. Specifically, she cannot shapeshift at all on the new moon and is actually forced to spend the day in her human form, due to the lack of energy that results from a lack of the moon. Other than that though, she is totally unaffected by the moon phases. However, shifting is still a physical event for her. She doesn't just "poof" into a werewolf, every part of her body has to painfully morph into their new shape, which means her shifts can take a bit of time (usually about 30 seconds) and during the process she is pretty much helpless, distracted by the pain of it. Though the pain is hardly... immobilizing, it is still present, despite her experience with shifting.

Heightened Senses
Standard for most creatures of this variety, AJ has incredible senses in all of her forms, including her human one. She has a sense of smell comparable to a polar bear's and can identify most of the basic information about another individual (ie- their gender, species and general age) from over a mile away. She can track blood for tens of miles and can pick up scents that are days old. Her sense of smell is by far her strongest supernatural ability and is impressive even by werewolf standards. She also has incredible hearing, though that ability has been downed some thanks to the cropping of her ears. So she can be a little lost in terms of the direction from which a sound is coming, but generally, she is very keen all around. Her eyes are the least impressive of her senses, probably only slightly better than a human's. However, she can see just as well at night as she can during the day, which makes up for it.

Heightened Physical Abilities
Also standard for werewolves, AJ is incredibly strong by mortal and even supernatural standards. She can stop speeding vehicles, knock over trees, and wrestle grizzly bears, all with her bare hands. Her strength is significantly less in her human form than in her beast form, but it is still present and prominent in both. She is also rather agile for a creature of her size and weight, able to reach 22 mph in a sprint in her human form (twice that in her beast form) but it is minor ability. She is more devoted to strength than she is to speed, as she lacks the running stamina to really be considered a "speed demon" of any sort. In fact, when doing a lot of running/moving around, she tires rather quickly, only able to sprint a few hundred feet before tiring. In short, she has some impressive speed when compared to mortals, but has no stamina to match it.

Healing Factor
Another standard werewolf ability that AJ also possesses is the power of limited regeneration and healing, which is a little different from limited immortality. You see, AJ is no more difficult to injure than any other human or mortal animal. Knives still cut her flesh and bullets still pierce her skin and make her bleed. However, her body can heal itself so quickly that such injuries are as insignificant as paper cuts to her. They still hurt, mind you, and if properly placed can dampen her physical abilities for a short time. But, for the most part, AJ is difficult to kill with mortal weapons that aren't made of silver. She does, however, have a noticeable weakness to supernatural weapons (ie- the claws and teeth of another werewolf). For whatever reason, supernatural melee attacks negate her body's healing factor, often dangerously so, resulting in gaping wounds that can take days to weeks to heal and are prone to infection. Silver weapons, of course, have the same effect on her, if not more so. Silver seems to burn her flesh on contact, her body being highly allergic to the substance, and even small amounts of it in her blood stream can make her gravely ill... or worse. She avoids silver at all costs. She also does not like steel or iron though, and throwing a piece of it over her head (so that it lands somewhere behind her) will automatically cause her to shift into her human form. For whatever reason, the action initiates a fear response in her brain and she tends to become nervous afterward. But outside of these instances, AJ is pretty injury resistant. She heals about ten times faster than mortals, assuming there are no complications. Not instantly, of course, but still rather quickly. A broken limb for example will heal in days as opposed to months. A gaping wound in her abdomen that would normally kill a human being would need some tending for a few days and would be completely healed within the month. That sort of thing.



PERSONALITY:
Amara here is everything you'd probably expect a werewolf to be and nothing you'd expect a woman to be. Gruff, rude and rather vile when first being introduced, she comes off as a serious character, the kind of girl to take no prisoners... well, none that are alive. She solves all of her problems with force and intimidation, never stepping down from an opponent and never showing fear or weakness, willing to get right up in the face of anyone who dares to threaten her and never short of some witty sarcasm or insulting remark to make sure no one takes her lightly. She is a violent individual with a mightily short temper, one of the few weaknesses she's really bad at hiding. She'd much rather throw punches first and ask questions later, her supernatural strength ensuring that there probably won't be a 'later' for whomever has ticked her off.

But, all of this only makes it clear that first impressions aren't everything. AJ is not an innately vicious animal who simply loves to bully or pester lesser beings. She does not have some sort of pompous superiority complex that she needs to feed with violent displays of power.

Quite the contrary, AJ is actually rather mild-mannered, to the point of being down right lazy. Once in an environment that she is comfortable with, she prefers sleeping and casual activities to actively seeking blood or the heads of children. Anyone who knows her well will tell you that she really is a giant puppy dog: laid-back, lazy, calm, peaceful even. She just isn't shy about letting people know what she thinks of them. Barbaric and animalistic, especially for a female, AJ simply lacks knowledge of human mannerism and customs. Instead, she lives by Wolfen law, where weakness is instant death and the whole world might as well be out to get you. She prefers to relax, and is surprisingly social, driven by an instinctual need to be surrounded by a secure group of friends. However, when push comes to shove and a threat comes her way, she would rather die than surrender, motivated by pride and a need to protect when she feels is hers.

She is a powerful ally to have, willing to bleed herself dry for her friends, yet noble and sensible enough to know when enough is enough. She honors other's surrenders, has a soft spot for the weak and/or innocent, and is really more thoughtful and compassionate than she let's on.

She just favors herself a beast, and therefore feels the need to act like one.

LIKES:

• Physical contact (ie- petting, scratching, anything you'd do with a common domestic dog), as it is a crucial part of socialization between werewolves. It causes the scents of the participants to mix and associates them with one another.
  
• Hunting and fishing, for obvious reasons. She's a wolf, it's in her nature.
  
• Naps in the sunshine
  
• Close-quarters combat (hand to hand combat)
  
• Sunrise and sunset
  
• Active play/rough housing/sports
  
• Anything that is simple and easy to understand (she's not very smart, I'm afraid, so figuring things out is a pain in the butt for her)
  
• Being outside
  
• Being outside at night in particular
  
• Animals (some of them are delicious)
  
• Meat, raw or cooked, fresh or... not so fresh, she is not picky
  
• Colder weather
  
• Non-threatening types of people
  
• Her father's jacket
  
• The idea of flying (though she has never actually flown before)
  

DISLIKES:

• Extremely harsh smells
  
• Anything that can be perceived as an attack threat
  
• Insults and disrespect (especially when it targets someone she cares about)
  
• Using human weapons
  
• Humans and their culture in general
  
• Others of her own kind
  
• When plans go array
  
• Attacks on the weak, helpless or innocent (ie- women, children, elders)
  
• Judgmental or know-it-all types of people
  
• The nights of the new moon
  
• Being seen as weak in any way or showing any weakness at all
  
• Being trapped (ie- tied down, caged, etc)
  
• Heat and extremely hot weather
  
• Any attacks on her sensitive nose or pawpads
  
• Her human form (though she will take it when necessary, usually so she can go into town and obtain goods)
  
• Herself/Her appearance (she does not approve of her docked ears and tail)
  

QUIRKS:

• Has a very distinct Scottish accent.
  
• Has an incredible metabolism, so she has a tendency to eat A LOT of food in one sitting and doesn't gain an ounce from it. It is all almost immediately converted into energy which she later uses to power her shifts... after which she tends to immediately become hungry again.
  

HISTORY:
Little is truthfully known about where Amara came from or even when she was truly born. Though she constantly insists that she is somewhere in her early twenties, when asked for a specific age, she often seems forgetful, as though she literally doesn't know exactly how old she really is. Similarly, her incredibly acute knowledge of past happenings, when compared to her overall lack of general intelligence, suggests that she might have seen more in her life than she really lets on.

However, what is known, at least to some of her closest companions is that AJ was born an only child, something that is very strange among werewolves. She was born in a secluded woodland village, entirely populated by werewolves, where she was treated as something of a princess due to the fact that her father was the alpha male of the pack that resided there. A powerful leader, stronger than most werewolves in body, mind, and of course his heart. AJ's mother died soon after she was born, so the little wolfen pup was literally all her father had left in his life, and he cherished her like a pirate does his treasure. She went everywhere with him, almost as if stuck to the back of his leg or something, and like a good little Daddy's Girl, she copied his every move, hung onto his every word, held fast to every piece of advice and praise he tossed her way. They were everything to each other.

But, of course, good things never last. When AJ was still young (probably about 10 or 11), a war broke out between the werewolves and a large group of human settlers planning to set up shop nearby. The two groups quarreled like kids in a playground over who gets what land, and, being the alpha of the pack, AJ's father was always right on the frontline. When that war became a battle to the death, AJ's father... was sadly defeated... by some selfish humans who just couldn't share.

Though she was furious at them, and at herself for being able to do nothing to help the most important being in her life, AJ was quick to flee the village, leaving her packmates to be skinned and mounted like hunting trophies. It was a sheer massacre... and she did nothing but run from it all. The guilt still ways on her to this day. Abandoning her packmates, the people who had protected her and loved her all her life... like some sort of yellow-bellied coward. How she hated herself for that decision. But little could be done. By the time she'd stopped her desperate flight, she was inches away from passing out from hunger and dehydration. Too young to hunt, too small to bring down game, she eventually collapsed, almost praying for death.

But, her wish would not come to pass. A wandering circus stumbled upon her and, quite contrary to her will, they nursed her back to health, both in body and mind. The circus contained a wide variety of freaks and strange critters for display. But, one critter that was incredibly common was the werewolf. Hundreds of werewolves were prisoners of this circus, some totally of their own free will. They were treated like dogs, trained to perform tricks and do silly demeaning things to the tune of some cheery music... something AJ found disgusting. She knew her prideful father would never approve of such mockery of the species and, wholeheartedly, she refused to take part. However, she did enjoy socializing with the other wolves when the lot of them were trapped together in their cages. One older wolfen in particular had taken a shine to her. His name was Brokken, and he was the one who shared his food, companionship and compassion in a way none of the other wolves could. He was sort of the only light in the dark circus and AJ thoroughly enjoyed his company and wise advice, as well as his witty sense of humor.

However, after years of abusive attempts at getting her to perform tricks, the humans that ran the circus eventually grew fed up with AJ and sold her to a sister company that ran a... different sort of entertainment business. Though AJ was totally clueless during the transaction, Brokken seemed to not only understand but was gravely saddened by it and the night before she was taken away, he hardly spoke a word to her. He didn't even look at her, even when the humans were dragging her away in chains, he just... stared at the floor. He didn't help her... at all.

Turns out AJ was sold to a werewolf fighting ring where her kind was pitted against each other for the amusement of others. It wasn't much different from the circus in terms of atmosphere. She was still hit with things when she didn't do what the "masters" wanted and they still burned her with silver when she was being particularly uncooperative. They still tortured her for a very long time, trying to convince her that everything she believed in was a lie. The difference is, this time, she did not have Brokken's support. Instead, she only had his betrayal to fuel her mind... and eventually, she gave in, tired of the seemingly endless battle with herself. She decided to take out her frustrations on others instead.

As she matured, AJ quickly became one of the best known wolves in the underground fight circuit. She was as big and strong as her father ever was, and with the extra edge she'd gained from his early teaching, she became a master of killing other werewolves, using her new found hatred of the betraying Brokken to fuel her violent nature. She fought for a very, very, very long time.

But eventually, during a rainstorm that kept the humans away from the fight compound, she got a chance to take a good look at her reflection in a puddle forming in the corner of her cage. Where once, the mirror image of her magnificent father stood, she found the bloodshot eyes of a beast staring back at her. For the first time, she really saw and felt the shortness of her cropped, ugly ears and the stub of her mutilated tail. She ran her paws over the scars on her face and muzzle, on her chest and neck, and relived every last cold blooded murder she'd committed over the years, seeing herself for the first time with her own two eyes.

She looked tired...

Due to her high status in the ring, the humans left AJ with a lot of trust. She was given more comfortable quarters and was not really heavily contained. So in the moment of realization it was easy for her to make her escape. But, in her leaving, she was sure to leave a message carved into the stone wall of her cage.

"I am NOT an animal"

Ever since then, AJ has made a point to avoid both humans and other werewolves. She has not yet decided for herself if this is because she fears hurting them or simply hates them for their combined foolishness. All she knows is that life seems better lived alone, and she has been living that way for quite some time now. But she cannot deny that she is an emotionally social creature and her isolation is beginning to weigh on her mental stability.