marcuspeek @ 2008-03-09T16:35:00

2008-03-09T20:38:17Z

Character Name: Marcus Peek
Alias: No one's ever given him an nickname that really stuck, though he answers to Mark or Peek.
Age: 19
Faction: Independent for now
Alignment: Neutral
Occupation: Busking/Odd Jobs
Species: Half Human, Half Hellhound
Background: Marcus is the unfortunate combination of a Hellhound in heat attacking a women. Such a combination was never intended to happen. The mother, a devoted conservative Christian, carried the child to term than than abort him, but feared what would come of it. Almost immediately after giving birth, the women left her child in the hands of God at the top of an Appalachian foothill in Southern Ohio (thus earning the last name Peek as a joke). Marcus has never met his mother and has no idea of his true heritage. He's always known he was different, but still does not know about demons and magic.
As an abandon child, social services tried their absolute best to provide for Marcus. However, they had no idea how to deal with a child with such an extreme range of odd cognitive quirks. He was misdiagnosed with various illnesses at different points, including: schizophrenia, synaesthesia, ADD, ADHD, OCD and a veritable alphabet of other acronyms. None of them explained all his behavior and none of the traditional treatments worked. As a result, Marcus was batted around the system from foster homes to institutions and everything in between. It didn't help that shortly after puberty Marcus grew a layer of short, dark tabby striped fur on his back.
When Marcus turned 18, the system couldn't keep him any more. As abnormal as he was, Marcus could take care of himself and wasn't a danger to anyone else. There were others who needed more care. Arrangements were made for Marcus to join a halfway house. He only stayed one night before acquiring a van and striking out on his own. He's been slowly traveling, make money doing odd jobs and busking as an acrobat/gymnast with a side of card tricks, unknowingly meandering towards the Hellmouth.

Personality: Marcus looks like a regular human - so long as you don't see him without a shirt. What really gives away his demon heritage is his mind. To put it succinctly, it's alien. A human mind and a hellhound mind are so foreign that combining them creates something unique. As a result, Marcus can be confusing to deal with. There isn't a language that's built to express the way Marcus perceives things so he made up his own. A conversation with Marcus is filled with dense ideas, non-sequitars and seemingly random word salad.
The key to Marcus' psyche is his perception and memory. He was born with both supernaturally enhanced. He has no base line for comparison. Every experience he has is cataloged in his mind and since his senses are so greatly enhanced the catalog is pretty extensive. When something in the present stimulates Marcus, his mind makes associations freely and rapidly down a long chain of past experiences. He can't separate his past from his present. He's just not wired that way.
In addition, Marcus' behavior is erratic. He response to stimuli that other people can't perceive. Sometimes it's just that he's reacting to something, say an odor so faint that only a werewolf near the full moon could detect it, or maybe he's tracking an aura in other room - a skill hellhounds developed to track pray. Sometimes he's reacting to a memory.In addition, Marcus has quite a few odd quirks. He's obsessed with detail and seeks square numbers all around him.
If you can get past the language and behavioral oddities, Marcus is a genuinely nice guy. Not necessarily a 'good guy,' but almost always a nice one. He enjoys the company of others, even he doesn't always 'get' them,and has been know to ask lots of embarrassing questions attempting to get to know them. While Marcus wishes that he could relate better to regular people, and gets very frustrated with it sometimes, he accepted a long time ago that he would never be normal and doesn't angst much over it. He likes his street performance because it makes people smile. Despite his demonic heritage, he doesn't have a violent bone in his body. As a result of the pack mentality of the hellhound, once you have his loyalty you have it takes a great deal for him to ever give it up. Threating a friend is one of few ways to turn the normally passive half-demon aggressive. This sense of loyalty can be manipulated. On more than one occasion Marcus has gotten into trouble helping out a 'friend' of a dubious nature.
Powers/Weaknesses: Enhanced agility, balance, speed, and memory. Extremely enhanced senses. Aura reading.
Skills: Juggling, card tricks, endless amounts of trivia.
PB: Jamie Bell