[hider=Damon Howard][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SzBGLtT.png[/img][/center]

[b]Name:[/b] Damon Howard

[b]Age:[/b] 16

[b]Gender | Sex | Identity:[/b] Male

[b]Personality Description:[/b] At the core of it, what Damon most wants is to be liked, so he does what he can to make himself likeable. He desires admiration, and popularity…but perhaps the most of it all, [i]acknowledgement[/i]. He is friendly, approachable, charming, polite, and respectable. He is a tad vain, but willing to play it off for laughs. He can be sarcastic, passive-aggressive, and too fixated on some things (e.g. his appearance, the notion of success), but at least he does have [i]a[/i] backbone…Socially speaking, that is. In a physical altercation, Damon is almost next to useless. That is why he’d rather defuse tensions with words if at all possible.

It is known that Damon has aspirations to go to the city, and to ‘make it big’. He’s been enthralled with the metropolitan lifestyle since he was a child, and hasn’t given up on his dream since he’s first thought of it. This despite all the opposition, tensions, and stress he’s faced due to it. Despite his best efforts, this has caused him many issues in a town so insular as New Hope. Though he’s been determined not to look down on them all the way some of them do to him, it'd be a lie to say Damon has no resentment. He does, and has many frustrations and insecurities to boot. He just hides it all.


[b]Physical Description:[/b] Of average height for his age and gender at 173 cm (5’8), he is hoping for more of a growth spurt. He has a very lithe, delicate frame, and a pale complexion which bruises and burns very easily. He is decently agile and dexterous, and is a good dancer. Despite having put quite some effort into improving it, his endurance is still middling at best. As far as any other athletic activities go, he is ‘ok’ at best. In group sports especially, he is rather the wild card; sometimes, he will pull off something remarkable, and others, he’ll fail disastrously. Whichever happens, most people assume he was just trying to show off…which is not too far off the mark.

Even from a distance, and at first glance, it is apparent Damon is trying to stand out. He dyes his hair, which is always neatly styled, trims his eyebrows, wears coloured contacts, has several earrings, paints his nails when the mood strikes, and even uses makeup for most of his online content. He orders most of his clothing online, preferring a city chick style. He moves with grace and purpose, many of his movements carefully studied and deliberate even when they seem entirely casual.

[b]Backstory: [/b]The single child of Ashton Howard, of the Howards. The Howards were one of the early pioneers to New Hope, and have stuck around ever since. They’re responsible for the banking business, and other financial matters, and have often worked with or on the council. On the other hand, Damon’s mother, Mirabel (née Blanchard) moved to this small, calming village when she was 23. She’d come due to her poor constitution, and the environment seemed to suit her well. She married Ashton when she was 25 (and he was 31), and they had Damon but a year later.

While his mother was still alive, things were good. Damon went to school, had friends, and a decent family. Sure, there were conflicts between his two sets of grandparents, but since his maternal ones lived away, it was never that much of an issue. Mirabel, who worked as a private music teacher, taught her son the piano, and to sing. She encouraged all his interests (dancing, acting…), even if they were considered ‘unusual’ by many others. She took him out to her home city the few times that she could, and was the one to expand his horizons, as it were.

But then, when he was 13, she died of a terminal illness at 39 years of age. That’s when everything changed. Damon’s father most especially. Ashton’s parents renewed their criticisms for his having married some out-of-towner, and have been trying to push him towards a remarriage. Though he resisted that, for some (to Damon inexplicable) reason, he veered hard towards traditionalism; whereas he’d been previously more or less neutral, he now associated closely with the likes of Ezekiel the Elder.

In turn, Ashton has been pressuring Damon, wanting him to stay in New Hope, and to take over the so-called family business. He’s been far less supportive of him; in fact, it’s almost as if the more time passes, the more he opposes all that his son wants, and does, and is. Damon feels that he has to fight for each and every inch of freedom – and that far too often, he is the one forced to make concessions. 

[b]Notable Connection[/b]
[i][b]Ashton Howard, Damon’s father, banker (48).[/b][/i] While Mirabel was still alive, Ashton was often too busy with his work to be there for him as much – but Damon remembers that he was affectionate both to him and his mother while at home, if subtly so. He was the silent support Damon hadn’t quite realized had been there until he lost it. With his mother gone, his father has begun to more actively involve himself in his life – but in the form of trying to control it. Needless to say, it’s a tense, strained relationship between father and son.

[i]Open to other connections too![/i]

[b]Respond to these prompts in character:[/b]

[i][b]You're in class and the Fire Alarm goes off. Everyone begins to panic.[/b][/i]

“Panic? Me? Why would I panic? I know what to do. Just keep calm; act it, look it, and you’ll feel it, too…And! And! ‘Cause I so obviously know what I’m doing, it’d keep others calm, too, and we could all get out like we’re supposed to.”

[i][b]You've made plans to go to the festival and are running late, but may make it in time to see the fireworks with your friends. On your way, you see a stranger with a flat tire on the side of the road.[/b][/i]

“Yeah, sorry, but I don’t wanna let down my friends or miss the fireworks...Oh, but, hm. Maybe if I gave them a hand, they’d give me a ride over? Win-win, right?”

[i][b]You fall asleep in class and begin to dream; you're atop a ruined tower and a massive dragon circles overhead. You reach for...[/b][/i]

“…Gold to give to the dragon, so it doesn’t eat me in exchange?”

[i][b]The world is so boring; you wish you had a super power. What do you wish for?[/b][/i]

“Hmm…A way to get people to do what I liked? But maybe then it really [i]would[/i] be too boring. Oh, what about staying young, good-looking, and healthy?” Then, he visibly became more somber than usual. “…If I had had a way to help my mother…That. That’s what I’d pick.” 

[i][b]You are suddenly reminded that tomorrow is the Midterm Exam.[/b][/i]

Damon picked up his phone, and the following could be heard, his tone polite though his expression was clearly annoyed:

“Yes?”

“I know…thank you.”

“[i]Of course[/i] I studied.”

“Yes, father, I am ready.”

Blankly, he removed the phone from his ear and stared at the ‘call ended’ notification on it. “Goodbye to you, too,” he snarked.[/hider]