DICKERSON, DEANE CLARK

[deane]

* deane c. dickerson ,

* start with basics ,
[ I'M SWIMMING IN THE SMOKE OF BRIDGES I HAVE BURNED ]

FULL NAME Deane Clark Dickerson

NICKNAMES N/A

DATE OF BIRTH April 14

AGE Eighteen

GRADE/YEAR Sophomore

ELEMENT Wind

SEXUALITY Asexual

MARITAL STATUS Single

* into the mirror ,
[ AGAINST MY WILL I STAND BESIDE MY OWN REFLECTION ]

CELEBRITY CLAIM William Moseley

EYE COLOUR Blue

HAIR COLOUR Blonde

HEIGHT & WEIGHT 6’0”, 170 pounds

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES One 4x4 inch tattoo on his right shoulder of a topographic map of his hometown that he drew. Dozens of scars scattered across his body, mainly on his chest and back. Three deep, straight scars on the back of his neck hidden by his hair. One straight scar on the inner part of his wrist. One somewhat oval-shaped scar on his chest on the right side, just under his collar bone.

CLOTHING STYLE Deane’s general style includes jeans, Oxford shirts, fedoras, and oftentimes a vest. If he is not wearing a vest, he prefers flannel shirts or regular t-shirts with minimal logos. He generally wears Converse or Chuck Taylor shoes, though sneakers and boots are never out of the question. He has a necklace that he wears constantly that his sister gave him upon his departure to school.

* deeper than skin ,
[ TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE INSIDE & THROW IT ALL AWAY ]

POSITIVE TRAITS

• Supportive – If one of Deane’s friends is in trouble, he is almost always the first person to offer a helping hand. He’ll do anything to make a person feel better. No matter what they want, if it will help them, he will do it. He has convinced himself that it is his main purpose in life to help people.
  
• Studious – Deane loves studying. He has always spent every waking moment of free time studying up for class, and is prone to studying for classes he isn’t taking, in case he takes them in the future or someone who is taking the class needs his help. It’s not just school stuff that he is dedicated to studying, either. He has learned multiple languages in his free time, including Spanish, French, American Sign Language, and Norwegian, and he is currently working on German and Swahili. He has also learned ballroom dancing, fencing, and horseback riding.
  
• Protective – If you make the mistake of trying to screw with one of Deane’s friends, you are in for quite a shock. Though he prefers the pacifist route, and would never stand up for himself even in the times when his life literally depends on it, he is not afraid to get into a fist fight if someone else is in danger.
  
• Archaic – Spending more time studying than socializing has taken its toll on Deane. He tends to speak and behave in a very proper, almost seventeenth-century-British-esque manner. His speech is much more fluent than today’s language calls for, he never slouches or sags, and he prefers bowing to shaking hands.

NEGATIVE TRAITS

• Shy – Despite his need for social contact, Deane is surprisingly soft spoken. He rarely speaks up in public unless specifically addressed. He loves asking questions of people, however, and could listen to someone talk all day long.
  
• Pushover – Deane is the definition of pushover. His very life and soul are dedicated to making other people happy in any way, shape, or form, no matter what it takes. He lets people walk all over him and takes insults in a way that is so graceful it’s worrisome. Even though he has a fairly low income, he offers more than what he has to people all the time, just to try and make them happy. He doesn’t want the glory of thanks, either, or to be raised on a pedestal. If he got his way, he would work from the shadows and no one would know his face or name when he made them happier.
  
• Secretive – Rarely do you hear Deane talk about himself or his past, or any of the many things he wants to keep to himself. It takes a lot of talking and blackmailing to get anything out of the kid, and if it’s something he is determined to keep to himself, you can threaten and even carry out death and he still won’t talk.
  
• Obsessive – Once Deane has it in his mind to do something, he does it until it is either done or he drops. He has a strained sleep pattern where he stays up two nights in a row and sleeps on the third night, then repeat, simply so he has enough time to do all of the things he believes he must get done.
  
• Smoker - The day Deane turned 18, he bought his first pack of cigarettes, and he's been smoking ever since. He smokes Black & Mild Cigarillos currently, and occasionally he'll smoke a pipe, but he's definitely addicted and he's not sure how capable he is of breaking the habit.

LIKES

• Reading – Deane has always been an avid reader. When no one, not even his own family, would acknowledge his existence, he always had his books to run away to. They protected him, kept him sane, kept him hopeful. He knows that, even when the whole world is against him, books will never cease to entertain and uplift.
  
• Studying – Deane was raised to study. Literally raised. His entire upbringing was determined by how well he was doing in school. If he didn’t get straight A’s, then he would be put through more than he could nearly withstand. Because he was so thoroughly tormented for so long, Deane’s grown to be obsessed with studying and getting good grades.
  
• Dancing – Among Deane’s favorite releases is dancing. He has spent the past 5 years learning to ballroom dance, and he adores it. Unfortunately, partners are scarce, so Deane has had to practice on his own, but every Saturday, as soon as he possibly can, he finds an open space, plays some music, and practices the steps to various ballroom dances for a couple of hours.
  
• Fencing – Deane has always found a certain amount of grace and agility in wordplay, but since lessons involving broad swords are expensive and hard to find, Deane decided to take up fencing. It took time to learn, but once he began to get a handle on it, he quickly grew to love the sport.
  
• Horseback Riding – As a child, Deane thought little of horses. He knew about them and thought that they would be enjoyable to ride, but he never expected for them to become a major portion of his existence. After Deane’s father moved away, his grandfather bought horses for Deane, his older sister, and his mother. Ever since then, Deane’s been in love with the animals, and riding his mare is one of the most calming things he could ever think of doing, second only to reading.
  
• Peace and Quiet – Having grown up in a rather loud, imposing household, Deane cherishes peace, quiet, and tranquility more than most things. A moment of simplicity and easiness means more to him than a lifetime of adventure and noise.
  
• Children – People frighten Deane immensely, but there is something about a child that makes him go weak at the knees and want to keep him or her as happy as can be. Perhaps it’s the fact that he never had a real childhood, or that kids are so innocent and playful and sweet and caring. Perhaps it’s their honest demeanor, or their sweet, gentle temperaments. Whatever it is, children are to Deane as magnets are to paperclips.
  
• Mapping – Ever since he learned what maps were, Deane’s been drawing them. He prefers to draw topographic maps due to the amount of skill and attention to detail it requires. He has become so adept in the art that his shoulder now bears a 4x4 inch tattoo of a topographic map that he drew of his hometown.

DISLIKES

• Alcohol – Because Deane’s father was usually drunk when he hurt Deane, he has learned to absolutely hate alcohol. He’s terrified of drunks and the mere idea that a drink can change someone so radically frightens him.
  
• Bullies – This isn’t about people who bully him, because Deane sees being bullied as normal and acceptable, and even expected and warranted. It is when bullies pick on innocents that Deane gets riled up. He believes that everyone, especially the weaker ones, should be treated with love and care, and there is no reason to be hostile toward another human being.
  
• Pain – Most people fear pain, but Deane just doesn’t like it. He sees it as something expected and unavoidable, and he sees no reason to fear the unavoidable. He is no masochist, though. At least, he doesn’t think he is.
  
• Basements – Deane has always associated basements with beatings because of his father. Whenever he goes near a basement, much less in one, he automatically expects to be hit and screamed at for everything he’s done wrong recently.
  
• Confrontations – Whether it’s a simple, peaceful debate or an all out shouting match, Deane hates getting into a discussion where one party disagrees with another. He cannot defend himself or his opinions worth a darn, and he would rather avoid the situation all together.
  
• Attention – Deane greatly dislikes having anyone pay attention to him, especially when he is the center of attention. He cannot fathom why one would want to have all eyes on them at all times rather than being the one doing the worrying and fretting about someone else. He finds people to be far more fascinating than himself, and if everything was about him all the time, he’s certain he would lose his mind.

STRENGTHS

• Getting Good Grades – As stated before, Deane has always been a big studier, so the only way he wouldn’t get a good grade was if the apocalypse happened to distract him during a test.
  
• Sketching Topographic Maps – Deane has spent years honing his ability to draw maps, and now he can do it almost without thinking about it. Be it a place he is currently inhabiting, somewhere he’s been before, or a made up land, he can whip one out faster than one could believe.
  
• Helping People – Deane has dedicated himself to helping everyone he can in any way possible. His shyness gets in the way a lot, but once he gets to know a person and become comfortable around them, he basically dedicates his life to their wellbeing and making them happy.

WEAKNESSES

• Easily Falls into a Panic – From raised voices to a physical confrontation, it’s fairly easy to make Deane have a panic attack. They used to be rather severe, but nowadays he’s able to control them at least somewhat. Depending on the severity of the situation, they can leave him just having a hard time breathing to shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, trapped in the fetal position, and unable to respond to any outside stimuli until he’s either passed out or calmed himself down.
  
• Can’t Say No – The real life Ella Enchanted, Deane is incapable of saying no to someone. No matter what they ask him, he feels it a personal duty to comply and do whatever he is bade.
  
• Incredibly Shy Around Strangers – As mentioned before, Deane is terrible around strangers. He has a hard time looking people in the eye, and though he doesn’t have a speech impediment, he sometimes mumbles instead of talking clearly enough to be heard.

FEARS

• His father – For obvious reasons, Deane is terrified of his father. He loves the man dearly and believes that everything he did, Deane deserved, but still. The man abused him physically and verbally for most of Deane’s childhood, and that can cause some serious mental and emotional damage in the long run.
  
• The Dark – Whenever Deane was beaten as a child, it was always in the dark. He has come to associate pitch blackness with pain, and the idea of it frightens him beyond belief. He knows it is a silly association since it was his father who hurt him and he deserved the pain anyway, but he can’t help but keep a lamp on in his room at all times.
  
• Disappointing Someone – Deane has spent most of his life being a disappointment to those he cares about most, and he hates it. Whenever someone gives him the slightest look of disappointment, he just wants to shrivel in on himself and die.

BEST MEMORY Meeting his mare, Sarah, for the first time.

WORST MEMORY Being told that he would have to spend every alternate two weeks with his father

LONG-TERM GOAL Have 7+ PhD’s by the time he dies

* past reflections ,
[ SOMETIMES I REMEMBER THE DARKNESS OF MY PAST ]

MOTHER
Marie Calvin (38), Head Nurse.

FATHER
Eric Dickerson (41), Owner of Dickerson Construction, a construction company located in Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Southern California.

SIBLINGS
Sora Dickerson (19), Older Sister
Scott Alderman (12), Half Brother
Meagan Calvin (11), Half Sister
Thomas Calvin (8), Brother
Jean Calvin (8), Sister
Frank Dickerson (5), Half Brother
Cassandra Dickerson (3), Half Sister

OTHER Gregory Calvin (61), Grandfather, Owner of Calvin Tomes, a bookstore in Georgia

HISTORY
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Deane has a large family. How it got that way is quite an interesting story.

First off, if we are going to understand any of this, we need to start with the parents. Deane’s mother and father met in their first year of college. His mother was seventeen, his father, twenty one. His mother was planning on majoring in medicinal studies to become a doctor. His father was just getting his Associate’s Degree before going to work in the family construction business. His mother was a beautiful blonde southern belle, native to Georgia. His father was a burly, handsome Georgia man. His mother was naïve. His father was a smooth talker. His mother was a fine catch. His father was a fine fisherman.

Marie had the ability to control earth, but she never told Eric. She feared he would reject her for it, and in her seventeen-year-old mind, she loved him desperately and would die if he left her. The two married only seven months after meeting. Marie was eighteen when they got hitched, Eric twenty one. The pair moved to the little town of Denmark, Georgia, only a fifteen minute drive from Eric’s childhood home. The couple lived a life of bliss. That is, until little Sora came along ten months after they were married. She was two weeks premature, but she grew up into a beautiful black-haired girl, just like her Papa. By this time Marie was nineteen and Eric was twenty two.

A year later, Eric came home drunk as a skunk. He had recently made some new pals at his father’s construction site and the three had gone out drinking every night for the past month. That night, however, he returned home worse off than ever before. Marie frowned when she saw him, but as she always had, she stood up from her seat and went to help him to bed. At first, he didn’t seem to notice her, but when she rested a hand on his arm to assist him up the steps, he spun around and struck her in the face. She fell to the floor, astonished. He had never hit her before. Her shock only grew deeper when he grabbed her arms, hauled her up the steps, threw her onto their bed, and raped her.

Nine months later, Deane was born. Marie was twenty one, Eric twenty three, and Sora one. Things ran smoothly for four years. Eric stopped drinking, Marie stopped being afraid, and Deane and Sora grew up like good little children always do. When Deane was four, his father suddenly started going out for drinks again. His mother turned to locking herself and the children in the nursery when Eric came home, afraid of a repeat of what had happened before. And it did. It was five in the morning when he stormed up the stairs, barely coherent, and broke into the nursery. Marie stood up hesitantly, gripping her two crying children for dear life. Eric marched up to them, tore Deane out of his mother’s arms, threw the boy onto the floor, and forced the two girls into the master bedroom where he once again took advantage of Marie. He mercifully gave his daughter a reprieve, allowing her to go into their bathroom while he tortured her mother, but Sora could still hear what they were doing and was never the same after that.

Another year passed with several more incidents like the two before. One night, however, changed everything. Eric had come home, only half as drunk as usual, with a beautiful brunette Hooter’s waitress on one arm. Everyone who saw her could tell she was terrified, but she followed Eric into the house anyway. Marie hesitantly came downstairs when Eric called for her, and she and the waitress simply stared for a few moments.

Marie was twenty six, Eric was twenty nine, Sora was six, and Deane was five.

Nine months later, the waitress gave birth to a boy named Scott. Two days after that, the divorce was final. Marie Dickerson was once again Marie Calvin. Three months after that, Danielle Alderman the Waitress became Danielle Dickerson the Step Mother.

Marie was given sole custody of her daughter Sora, but Deane was forced to bounce between both parents every two weeks. He adored his mother and tolerated his step mother, but his father he feared more than anything. The man was never around before two in the morning, and every night he would march up to Deane’s room and beat him until he was unconscious. He blamed Deane for the divorce. If Deane hadn’t been born, then Marie never would have dreaded the sex. It was all his fault.

It was during the first year of the divorce that Deane got his first taste of the hospital. His stepmother, who had until that night feigned ignorance of the horrors that went on in her basement, noticed that Deane didn’t seem quite right. That is, if you can call vomiting, an inability to stand, and blacking out every thirty seconds or so “quite right”. Danielle rushed him to the hospital, told the nurses that he had fallen down the stairs, and Deane spent the night in his very own half room with a concussion.

Five months after the divorce, a blonde teenager showed up at Eric’s doorstep. Deane watched as the woman handed him a baby, told him to do whatever the hell he wanted with it, and left. Eric gave it to Marie. Marie named the girl Meagan.

Marie was twenty seven, Eric was thirty one, Sora was seven, Deane was six, Danielle was twenty three, Scott was five months, and Meagan was two days old.

When Deane was 6 years old, he was introduced to the wonders of broken bones. His father purposefully broke his son’s finger and “accidentally” broke Deane’s right wrist. It was less than two years later that the young boy learned of yet another form of injury. Coma. He was 8 years old when he fell into his first after being thrown against a wall and left unconscious overnight. The coma lasted three days, and when he woke up, Deane obediently told the social worker that he had fallen out of a tree when Daddy had told him not to climb it because it was dangerous. No one told them otherwise. They believed him.

A year passed without much incident. Deane was still beaten every night he was with his father, he could still hear Danielle willingly give herself up to her drunken husband, Sora still hadn’t said a word since that night in the bathroom, and Meagan was confused by it all.

One night, drunk as usual, Eric went to the wrong house. He had told the cabbie his old address, where Marie lived. It wasn’t until he woke up the next morning, next to a naked, beaten, trembling Marie that he realized he wasn’t home.

Marie was thirty one, Eric was thirty four, Sora was eleven, Deane was ten, Danielle was twenty seven, Scott was four, and Meagan was four.

Nine months later, Marie gave birth to twins. Jean and Thomas, she named them.

Two months after that, she was given three horses by her father. One for Sora, one for herself, and one for Deane. It would help with the healing, Deane’s grandfather had said. And did it ever. After only two months of riding, Sora started talking, Marie stopped locking every single window and door at night, and Deane stopped hiding in corners.

Four months after that, Deane’s father, step mother, and half sibling moved to California.

Marie was thirty two, Eric was thirty five, Sora was twelve, Deane was eleven, Danielle was twenty seven, Scott was five, and Meagan was four.

Over the next six years, Danielle gave birth to three more children. Deane grew into the brilliant, kind-hearted child he is today, Sora talked more and more until she won the National Debate Competition in Washington DC when she was sixteen, Jean and Thom discovered that they too could shift, and everyone that lived with Deane learned to hide their past well.
When Deane was 12, he noticed that his mother started behaving strangely. She watched him when she thought he wasn’t looking. She was constantly working on paperwork about some school in Canada. And then, one day, Deane realized. When he turned 13, he inherited his mother’s ability, but instead of being able to manipulate earth, his talent rested with wind. He was sent promptly to the north, to attend the Academy of the Elements.
To his surprise, he survived fairly decently through his high school years, and even his first year of college. But now it’s sophomore year, and with Deane officially a legal adult, problems are arising, particularly with his father.

* puppet on a string ,
[ SOMETHING INSIDE ME THAT PULLS BENEATH THE SURFACE ]

YOUR NAME Pariah

YOUR AGE 21

RP EXPERIENCE A decade this year

HOW'D YOU FIND US? ATF advertisement

SECRET WORD Correct

RP SAMPLE

It had been a hard day. Deane had been up all night studying for his tests on Thursday in Logic and American History. He had passed out at his desk at around 5:00 in the morning. At 5:58, he awoke with a jot. Nightmares. Damn them.

It had been a hard week. Two tests in one week would stress anyone out, really, especially with them being such big, important tests. But for Deane it was especially horrible. He felt the need to study harder than usual, which was nigh impossible, but he tried nonetheless. Already his days were dedicated to studying. He would spend three hours a day exercising, and every other waking moment that he wasn’t at school or work, he was sitting at his desk, slaving away. He told people that he loved it, that he lived to study. Honestly, the only reason he studied so much was to get straight A’s, and the only reason he was so desperate for straight A’s was because he was petrified of what would happen to him if he didn’t. Because of his obsession during the week, he had missed one of his twice-weekly jogs, and he was starting to go stir crazy.

It had been a hard month. He wasn’t quite sure why, but for some reason the kids at college seemed to be getting crueler rather than nicer. Perhaps it was the fact that summer would be here soon, and people were realizing that they might not see Deane next year. He was a favorite among the hateful kids. He was the easiest to pick on by far, never standing up for himself in the slightest. Whenever kids picked on him, he simply stood in a submissive pose and agreed with everything they said.

It had been a hard year. Deane had moved to New Hampshire during the summer before his senior year of high school, approximately three years prior. After his senior year, he had applied for and gotten into Uni, where he thought things would be better. They hadn’t, but he had hoped that maybe his life just needed time. No such luck. This year had been the hardest, with tougher classes, stricter teachers, cruel students, and too many all-nighters to count. Deane had more than once driven himself to hallucinations from staying up for too long, but he didn’t mind, really. He had always been alone when he had started hearing voices or seeing things, and a quick nap had always fixed them right up. But even so, he was stressed to the max, and he had never learned how to handle stress properly.

It had been a hard life. Born into a family with a father whose punishment for misbehaving was seen as “abusive” to seemingly all but Deane himself, Deane obviously had issues. His entire family did. But despite everyone telling him that it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t deserve any of it, his father was simply a sadistic bastard, he couldn’t believe them. He knew, as well and as firmly as he knew that the sky was blue because it absorbed every color except blue, that he was to blame for what had happened to him. The only reason his father beat him, the only reason his father lectured him, the only reason his father divorced his mother, was because he was a horrid child. He was a horrid child who only got what he deserved, oftentimes much less.

These were the thoughts racing through Deane’s mind as he ran. He struggled to focus on the sound his feet made on the pathway. There was no one around but him. Not a soul, human or animal. Even the birds were silent, leaving him to his brooding. He had forced himself out of the apartment, telling himself that he had to run, he had to keep to his schedule. Usually during his runs his thoughts weren’t so cluttered. Usually he was able to clear his mind with much more ease. But the past days, the past sleepless nights were starting to take a hold of his head and they were much harder to shake away than usual.

After what seemed like ages, Deane stumbled upon a strange setting. He had never really explored Ithian Ridge, and so didn’t know what he was looking at when he spotted the strange arrangement of stones. Curiosity got the best of him, and he slowly approached the setting. Trash was scattered about everywhere, making the place rather hazardous, but it somehow appealed to Deane.

Never one to sit down, and never one to like people ruining such beautiful settings, Deane stooped down and began cleaning up the mess that people before him had left. He knew he’d never be able to get all of it, but he was sure as hell going to try. As he worked, the sight of so many cigarette butts sent him craving, so he stopped for a moment to light a cigarette of his own. As he flicked his lighter, he heard a noise behind him, and he spun to face it, his face white with subtle fear.

[STARK FROM JOISEY]

_

* accepted ,

WELCOME___TO THE ACADEMY !

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