Well…It’s been an "interesting" few weeks (only weeks?!?...), and everything’s seeming better now. Oh, wait. No it’s really not. But, I think I trust myself enough to give this another go now. I’ve gotten rid of some crap in my life, not all, but enough to give me time to return to a welcome distraction from the rest. So…with Shaun pestering me like NON-STOP and after a night of sudden and burning inspiration (ha, get it?) plus watching X2 far too much, I came up with Kyle. I've posted this here to save time, and 'cos Lou said so heh.
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Name: Kyle Ashton
Type of Character: Kaoshian Demon
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 12/02/1988
Group Affiliation: None.
Position: N/A
Played by: Aaron Stanford (you've all seen X2, right?)
Age: 19.
Place of Birth: Chicago
Personality: Kyle is a thrill-seeker ready to try anything to take his mind off of the real world. When not in the throes of an adrenaline fuelled high (or any other, for that matter) he is moody, quiet, and generally depressed. Because he has been betrayed so many times, Kyle finds it hard to open up to other people and trust them. After all his ‘friends’ ridiculed him, his mother ignored him, his step-father beat him and his gang rejected him. And, ultimately, his own father brought his fate upon him. Often this results in him being a remorseless bastard at times.
He does not hunt vampires because he hates them. He does not hunt vampires for vengeance. He does not hunt vampires because they kill humans. He does not hunt vampires because they are evil. Kyle hunts them because doing so is an adrenaline rush; something to tack his mind off his life and get a kick out of it at the same time. It’s also a challenge. In this way Kyle’s known to fight demons, but his main focus has been vampires. Some would say he does it to find a place in the world, to give meaning and reason to his life, but if this is so it is not something he is conscious of.
Word of him has spread through much of the underworld, so long as he sticks to low-level vampires and doesn’t start sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, he is spared from most of the retribution more puritan vampire-hunters earn. Many vampires see it as if the little thrill-seeking brat comes after them, they’ll show him what a real vampire can do. The more powerful vampires just either ignore Kyle or see him as somebody weeding out the weak vampires from the strong, which can only be a good thing.
Kyle has no qualms about living in the grey area of the world. He doesn’t care that vampires kill and in fact he has let a vampire kill their prey whilst watching, and then fighting them because they’re much tougher after feeding. On occasions he’s killed humans himself, but their deaths don’t plague his conscience. Because he is also a demon, other vampires respect this. More than once, he has holed up with a group of vampires or demons upon arriving in a city. In return for promising not to hunt them he stays with them and preys on others; perhaps rivals of one form or another. However, more than once he’s also had to flee for his life.
Having grown up with his demon ancestry, Kyle has come to accept it. What he doesn’t accept, though, is his father for forcing it upon them, blinded by his own greed. He also can’t accept why other people can’t accept him for being different. Kyle has learnt the hard way that sometimes it’s a good idea to keep his nature a secret to himself, those he can trust (read: nobody, as far as he is concerned), or those who have a life expectancy that can be measured in minutes.
Because of his life, he feels he cannot trust or put faith in anybody else but himself. To do so would lead to eventual pain and heartache later on, of which he has had his fair share. So he distances himself from other people, never letting anybody get too close. As far as Kyle is concerned he is a loner, always been and always will be, and that’s just fine by him.
Kyle is also something of a pyromaniac. Although he does not have a strong desire to burn things at all times, he does nonetheless enjoy a good fire. This desire seems to just border on the obsessive, but fire is a known weakness to vampires, so an be a good thing. He is a fire demon. Go figure.
Background:
Kyle grew up in a comfortable childhood in Chicago. His family was wealthy, with his father CEO of promising Biopharmaceutical Company, and so had little worries about money or want. Because of his father’s career, and the fact he was boss of some of the other kid’s dads, he was automatically eligible for a position in the ‘in-crowd’. But his ‘happiness’ was only skin-deep, and had come at a price.
His father got to where he was not through hard-work, but by, effectively, cheating. He entered into a deal with Wolfram & Hart. In return for becoming the CEO of an expanding enterprise, and of course rich, he would devote a great deal of funds and research to the lawyer firm. His company would be tied to them first, foremost, and no other. He must be loyal to Wolfram and Hart for all eternity.
Unfortunately, he didn’t pay attention to the small print. Just six months into his new life, during a heated argument on the phone, his skin darkened to that of hard marble, his eyes and tips of his fingers blazed with their own fire, a tail grew out of his spine, lighting at the tip, and his skull split down the middle to show an inner own fire.
He had become a Kaoshian fire demon.
Wolfram & Hart told him that the transformation was part of their agreement. He had sold high-valued research to a client other than them because they were offering more money than the firm. And this just four months after making his deal. His own greed had been his undoing. Becoming a Kaoshian was their punishment, and tied him to them. Now that his spirit was corrupted and impure, no longer entirely human, they could retrieve it after his death so he could continue to work for them, as they said, for all eternity. In desperation, he argued his family would not accept him. The lawyer shook his head and smiled. “That’s not a problem.” He replied. “They’re Kaoshian now, too.”
Fortunately, he discovered he could shift his appearance back to that of human again, and thus he and his wife were able to keep it secret from the world. Unfortunately, this did not include their new-born son. But over time they were able to teach Kyle how to hide his nature from the world and convince him this was a good thing. Kyle, though, despised his parents, in particular his father, for making him what he was. His anger increased when he entered his teens, spurred on and amplified by teenage angst. This caused a great deal of tension in the Ashton household.
In an effort to reclaim his son’s love, his father used his position and resources to look for a ‘cure’ or reversal. This started with magics, then later branched into physically reversing the transformation by chemicals and drugs. Because the lawyers would, in the very least, frown upon this, perhaps even kill him, it was kept in secrecy, even from Kyle. Many long and unfruitful years went by. His research and actual work called for him to spend much of his time away from his home. Kyle resented his father even more, now claiming he was avoiding his son because he hated him. Eventually, though, Kyle’s father must have come close, or word of his research got out, for a few days after Kyle’s 15th birthday, for which he was, like almost every other, absent for, his laboratory was destroyed in an explosion late one night where he was working hard. Environmentalist action was suspected, but in reality it was Wolfram & Hart.
Kyle’s mother slipped into depression. Kyle himself, already almost there, was pushed that little extra step when his mother told him why he had been killed, and what he had been doing. He felt unbelievable guilty for a few months, but eventually this guilt turned to anger when he remembered his father had brought it upon himself, and his death meant he couldn’t be with him.
Although the family was still well off from the legal work, the incident served another purpose for Kyle. He saw the death as an example of the weakness and mortality of life. To him there was little point in living so well if an end can come so suddenly and abruptly. After attempting to commit suicide and a number of students saw his demon side he was labelled a ‘freak’ by the ‘in-crowd’ at school and became a recluse. To take his mind off the real world Kyle began to invent fantasies. He often slipped into a catatonic state for short periods of time and blacked out. His girlfriend split up with him and ‘friends’ abandoned him. Kyle fell in with a bad crowd and got into many fights in and out of school. His schoolwork suffered, then ended when he dropped out completely.
His mother too wrapped up in her own world to notice him. This added to his depression, for like his father she hated him, and now nobody cared for him. There were all too focused on themselves. She met a man, Darrel, and quickly fell in love, mainly because she was so traumatised at losing her husband she would love any man who showed her the time of day, and began to feel better. Darrel and Kyle never got on from the start. For some reason he never trusted Darrel. Still, all seemed well for a while, but Darrel hid a bitter side from her. He took his own disliking to Kyle. Frequently beat and abused him for trivial matters. His mother pretended not to notice, caught up in her own fantasy that everything was perfect. Eventually they married, despite Kyle’s continued protests (that eventually lessened after repeated beatings in response).
His step-father spent all their money on gambling, drugs and alcohol. He was fired from a TV repair job for gross negligence and mis-conduct (cheating clients out of money, cheating company out of money, etc). Unable to find a job he became a drunkard. Then, one night, his mother revealed her demonic side to Darrel, hoping true love would overcome any revulsion.
They were not experiencing true love, though, at least for Darrel anyway. For him it was only sex on demand, money (to start with) and a roof over his head. And Darrel was by no means an accepting man. Overcoming his shock, he turned to beating his wife out of fear. As the money started to run out, they moved into steadily worse places until landing in an apartment above a dodgy electrical repair shop in a bad end of town. Kyle’s mother was forced into prostitution for money and too turned to drugs and alcohol, trying to forget her anguish at making such a mess of her life. Although she could overpower Darrel and flee with Kyle, she was too much of a state and too much believed herself in love to do so.
Kyle frequently ran away from home but always returned, either by his step-father’s accomplices or Darrel himself, and then ruthlessly beaten, mainly for being a demon. He also eventually tried drugs and took a liking to alcohol. He rarely spoke to parents and spent most of the day out of the house getting up to mischief: fights, theft, damage and other petty crimes. His depression continued as he became unhappy with life but felt trapped, just like his mother, unable to break free and do something about it. Kyle constantly believed there should be more to life and found himself looking forward to something, longing it, but unsure what. The fantasies continued and sometimes became full-blown daylight hallucinations, eventually getting so bad he tried to make them stop. He revealed them to mother and Darrel for help, but was beaten for being a ‘freak’ so eventually stopped telling them.
At 16, whilst on another run from home, Kyle came across his first vampire. Although he knew demons existed, none of his family were aware of vampires. He was nearly killed and lucky to escape with his life; more bloody and beaten than any punishment his step-dad could inflict. Several minutes after meeting the vampire, Kyle awoke at the scene with no vampire insight and no recollection of what happened. Questioning whether it had been real or another hallucination, he stumbled home half-dazed and in shock. The questioning went on for days, and in the end he decided to go out and find out for himself.
Kyle returned to the same scene, but found nothing. He spent the rest of the night out looking for the creature, but was unaware a creature was looking at him. A vampiress seduced him a few hours before dawn. He fell into the trap only to realise his mistake at the last minute, when her face morphed. Kyle fought as hard as he could, but was no match for a vampire. Even his pocket knife did nothing after he stabbed her repeatedly. With her mouth hovering over his neck, in a last act of frustration, shifted into demon form.
Suddenly realising her mistake, the vampiress shrieked and tried to get away from him. But Kyle grabbed her and held on tight until his own fire spread across her body.
The vampiress exploded, leaving him alone.
After that night, Kyle was addicted.
The thrill of the hunt and the fight, the adrenaline rush that came so close to death, the satisfaction of knowing he was stronger than vampires, that there were others of the non-human sort who were weaker than him, and then proving it, was a greater lure than any other drug. He wandered home on a high nothing in his life had ever brought him to.
Over the next few months, Kyle learnt vampire-hunting the hard way. His demonic side gave him an edge many humans of his age and stature would have lacked. Just so that he wasn’t reliant entirely on being a Kaoshian, Kyle improved his physical fitness. He gained valuable experience and steadily improved, but at a cost. On numerous occasions he was wounded, sometimes seriously. The healing process was sped up marginally by his demonic side, but often wounds would lay him low for weeks, sometimes months.
Kyle began spending most nights of the week out hunting. Upon returning home he was beaten for being out so late. It seemed he had found a purpose for life, but really he just enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. It replaced his life in ways that fantasies and drugs never could.
Unfortunately, the more Kyle learned about vampires, the more vampires learnt about him.
After getting food one night, there was never any in the house, the now 18-yr old was returning home, and looking forward to nothing more than a beating for coming home so late. Kyle got his wish, in a way. He was jumped by gang of vampires. Despite fighting with all his strength like he never had, despite shifting into Kaoshian form, it was not enough. Fate, it seemed, was not finished with him yet, and only the timely arrival of a vampire-hunting gang saved his life. They took the vampires apart that Kyle hadn’t destroyed, not catching his demonic appearance.
Over following weeks Kyle became more in touch with gang, learning fighting skills and then joining. His experience and skill was valued in the group and he finally seemed to have found a place for himself. He was now spending more time with gang than at home which had become his new family. When returning home he was beaten for staying away for so long.
In an after-fight party many months later, the gang was ambushed by a group of vampires. Hopelessly outnumbered and caught unprepared, the gang was slaughtered, but went down fighting. In an effort to save as many of his new family as possible, Kyle allowed his Kaoshian appearance to come to the fore. He was able to destroy enough vampires to drive them off, but the threat had not gone with them. Horrified and disgusted at Kyle, just like Darrel had been, the gang, bloody and battered, fought him. Unable to hurt these people who had taken him in and he had come so close to, Kyle also fled. Licking their wounds, there was no pursuit.
Kyle felt even worse than ever, even more than the pre-vampire times. He stumbled around in a stupor before finally returning home. There Darrel threatened him for worrying him and his mother so, for fighting again and for a dozen other inconsequential reasons. This time as Darrel raised a hand to beat him Kyle fought back; beating him into a merciless pulp with a cry that carried the rage of years. Tears running down his face, he gave his mother one last look, grabbed a bag full of his stuff, and left. Even to this day he does not know whether he killed his step-father or not, or even whether his mother is still alive, and does not care.
Catching a bus to wherever with nothing but the clothes on his back and a bag of essentials, Kyle left Chicago for good. In the haze of his depression, he felt that loneliness was the best way to be. His father, besides making him what he was, had died and set him on the dark path of depression and his mother to meeting his step-father. He had loved his mother, but that prevented him from doing anything about Darrel. He had had friends, but that only meant people to hide behind and to hurt him when they abandoned him. He was part of a gang, but they did not accept his real self and they almost killed him. No, the best way, then, was to stay a loner; not let anybody get close enough to later on hurt him. That there were people in the world that wouldn’t did not enter his mind; his experience had taught him otherwise.
Kyle continued hunting vampires across the country over the next few months. He celebrated his nineteenth birthday, his eighteenth he had forgotten, in a dingy demon bar in Miami by drinking himself into oblivion. Halfway to nowhere, Kyle began chatting to a vampire who recommended a place he would absolutely love, none other than Las Vegas. There was lots of fights always going down there, the vampire said, plus all the gambling, and a ‘kid like him’s sure to have a good time’. Kyle wandered home already planning to head off the next morning, and when the sun rose he began a decisive hitch-hiking campaign to take him to Vegas.
Powers:
In human form, Kyle can fight with marginally increased strength and toughness. His experience also helps him. He is extremely reactive and aware to drops in the temperature, and will suffer from cold far more than normal humans. At first, though sensing the cold, Kyle is unaffected by it for some time, sustained by his inner fire, but after that period it will begin to die, hitting him hard and he will suffer. In this way Kyle can only survive intense cold as long as humans can.
However, because of his inner fire will Kyle rarely actually catch a cold. As long as it burns strong, he will not catch the illness (and has never so far). His fire can be extinguished in very cold temperatures, and the colder it gets the weaker he becomes, until eventual death. A sign of his fire dying would be catching a cold.
It is difficult to detect that Kyle is a demon when in human form. His scent, albeit frequently unwashed, remains that of human. Likewise his aura, although tainted by close contact with demons and vampires, remains human.
When he shifts into Kaoshian form he becomes stronger. His clothes melt away, revealing skin that has darkened to obsidian and toughens finger tips and toes catch alight, a fire lights in his eyes, and his skull splits from the bridge of his nose to the back of his head; a greater fire blazing forth from there. Kyle also has the advantage of a tail, and can set alight to flammable objects, such as vampires or cigarettes, through touching them with fingers, toes or the end of his tail, and holding on till the fire catches. The tail is strong and aids lends him extra balance for a measure of agility.
Items: Stakes.
Author’s Note: Whilst I was writing him, I got the sense that he was fairly similar to Chance: The Early Days. Guess I’m just a sucker for that type of character. They’re both vampire-hunting poor homeless outcasts, but there are differences I’d like to make clear. Chance fought for vengeance and had a kind of honour about him (even before he knew about Dray’chen). Kyle has absolutely no sense of honour. He’s reckless, he doesn’t care who gets hurt if they’re in his way, he’s unreliable, he’s unsociable and not to mention the odd stick short of a bundle. Chance fought to avenge his parents (SO clichéd!). Kyle fights for the shear adrenaline rush and the feeling of superiority in victory that he lacks in life. Chance would stake a vampire on sight. Kyle would let it feed on an innocent first, then fight it. So, whilst there may be similarities (and, indeed, the character’s may talk and act similar from time to time), there are more striking contrasts. Just wanted to point that out…
And yes, I DO realise I've sent him to Vegas. I have a cunning plan...
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Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Well need I even bother posting this...I think its great. Shaun and Shaun give it two thumbs up!
* Now dont go and get all excited guys, that was a joke, there still is only 1 of me ;) *
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Wow.... wow... Matt is back in my book! That was mad good. I like this character, a lot.
*Gives thumbs up and proceeds to do a little Irish jig*
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Good description, like the character.
Simply: *gives thumbs up*
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Wow. Great character, Matt, even if I do feel like slitting my wrists now. :P
And since Matt is English the birthdate almost certainly is 12th Feb. (I'm sure our American/Canadian counterparts will undoubtedly look at that date and think 2nd Dec... 'cause they're weird...:wink:
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Oh! A cunning plan, eh, Bauldric :wink: hehe
SQWEEE! me likey :mrgreen:
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Awesome character Matt...
so hurry up and re-post it into the Character Descriptions forum so we can get him online.
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Agreed!
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
welcome back to the club
Character Proposal: Kyle Ashton (ACCEPTED)
Your wish is my command...
Glad y'all liked him.