froshwolf: (my fingers claw your skin)
Liam Dunbar ([personal profile] froshwolf) wrote2015-07-10 07:54 pm
Entry tags:

App [City of Ariel]

→ OOC
□ Name: Ember
□ Age: 23
□ Contact: [plurk.com profile] colorilluminates
□ Journal: [personal profile] colorilluminates
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: Percy Jackson @ [personal profile] kelphead
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character? If yes, when was the character dropped?: N/A

→ IC
□ Name: Liam Dunbar
□ Journal: [personal profile] froshwolf
□ Series: Teen Wolf
□ Canon point: Episode 503
□ History: Here.
□ Personality:

When first introduced to Liam, we’re given a picture of an athletically gifted, self-assured teenager who isn’t afraid to take pride in his own considerable skill. He’s fast, he’s strong, and he easily outplays the bigger, older, and more experienced lacrosse players in every position. He appears to bask in the attention and cheers of the coach and the other players, grinning and giving them high-fives when he makes a shot.

The first clue that there’s more to him than an arrogant jock comes in the locker room, when Scott and Stiles confront him after an early-morning practice, under the suspicion that he’s some kind of supernatural creature; he can’t just be that good. Upon being asked why he wasn’t at Beacon Hills High School the previous semester, he says that he transferred from a prep school, and Scott hears his heartbeat speed up, indicating that he’s lying. Scott correctly guesses that he was kicked out. Liam angrily asks why they care--he’s here to play lacrosse. With an almost bitter edge, he adds “and yeah, I guess I’m just that good.”

His primary motivation to succeed, though, is not his own glory or reputation--he wants to succeed for the sake of the important people in his life. He wants to be the star lacrosse player to make his stepfather proud of him; he wants to keep control of his temper because he hates hurting his mother. He is determined to be the best beta he can be for Scott’s sake and for the rest of the pack.

Liam is not only talented, but driven, ambitious and proud. His stepfather, who taught him lacrosse, made team captain when he was a sophomore, same as Scott; determined to prove his skill when put against Scott and Stiles, he pushes himself, hard, and injures his ankle so badly he eventually has to be taken to the emergency room, although he initially tries to brush it off and continue the try-out until he realizes he can’t put weight on his foot.

He tries to push through his own pain, insisting there’s nothing wrong, on a regular basis--not just with physical injuries. He also finds it difficult to talk about his emotional problems even to those closest to him; rather than tell his best friend he’s having nightmares, he tries to convince him to spend the night with the excuse that he wants to continue playing video games. He continues to insist he’s fine, even in the middle of flashbacks, and when Mason begins to pick up that something is wrong, he begins to push Mason away to keep from having to open up about it. Although he doesn’t succeed in alienating himself, when called on his avoidance and told to talk when he’s ready, he simply smiles and picks up another video game for them to play.

Although he strives to keep them buried, Liam’s emotions are his Achilles heel. His angry outbursts caused his coach at Devenford’s lacrosse team to bench him for the rest of the season, which escalated to him trashing his coach’s car and scratching the phrase “this is all your fault” into the side, which got him expelled and sent to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. He was diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder and prescribed an antipsychotic to control his outbursts, although he doesn’t take it due to the side effects and ultimately learns to keep himself from destroying any more property without it.

It’s worth noting that on his first full moon, although he breaks through the chains holding him and lunges at Scott and Kira with a roar, he continues to run away from them once they’ve ducked, running through a glass window and shattering it, which leaves him covered in cuts from the broken glass. Once again, he hurts himself to avoid hurting someone else. Scott eventually corrals him, and once he has calmed down enough to return to his human state, he spirals into self-loathing. He admits that he can’t face putting his parents through seeing him become a monster again--the first time being when his anger got him expelled from Devenford. Scott comforts him, telling him “you’re not a monster. You’re a werewolf, like me.”

Liam also struggles with intense anxiety, although he has an easier time suppressing it. He immediately volunteers to go with Kira to check out a snag in the pack’s plan to draw out the main antagonist of season four, and doesn’t falter to defend her against an attacking berserker; the experience leaves him with what appears to be posttraumatic stress in the form of flashbacks and nightmares. Once again illustrating his bravery, in the final episode of the season, Scott is forcibly transformed into a berserker and attacks his own pack--to save Scott, Liam again shows no hesitance in fighting what appears to be a berserker to get to him, and once they realize that the berserker and Scott are one and the same, Liam calls out to him, repeating his own words: you’re not a monster. You’re a werewolf, like me. His voice reaches Scott when nothing else does, enabling him to call on his own strength of character to break free from the bear skull that transformed him.

Despite his clearly demonstrated inner strength, Liam feels that he is never good enough. “I’m not like you. I don’t mean I’m not strong or I’ll never be in control, I mean everything else.” He is quick to fault himself. When relationships break, he takes the blame and tries to repair them, as when he reaches out to Brett, his old friend from Devenford Prep, to wish him a good game. When Brett laughs in his face and makes it clear that he still holds a deep grudge, Liam digs his nails (claws) into his palms until he draws blood, injuring himself as a first line of defense against what he is convinced is a monstrous temper.

Although he is perpetually afraid of losing it and hurting someone, he manages to get to the locker room with Scott and Stiles before he loses his grip on his wolf side. He is in much better control of himself than he thinks he is, although his methods err on the side of self-destruction: he is shown again at the beginning of season five to keep control by digging his claws into his palms, which he hides, but Scott later asks to see, implying that this is a regular occurrance.

Proud but compassionate, intense but brave, Liam is a layered but ultimately heroic character.

□ Age: Fifteen
□ Gender: Cis male
□ Appearance: Liam is petite but compact, standing at 5’5 with a slender but athletic build. He has closely-cropped light brown hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin that tans. When transformed, his nails become claws, he grows a set of fangs, his ears become sharp and his features distort into a snarl. His eyes glow yellow. When human, his face is symmetrical and square, but his features aren’t harsh, and he seems to be considered good-looking.
□ Abilities/Powers: As a human, Liam is naturally adept at pretty much every position in lacrosse. He’s strong, he’s fast, and he’s agile. Having been kicked out of a prep school for anger issues, it’s implied he’s academically adept as well. Once Scott turns him into a werewolf, his athleticism and senses become supernaturally enhanced. He gains the ability to detect an individual’s scent and the scents of emotions, and can control his shift to and from wolf form with some effort and concentration.
□ Personal Items: A lacrosse stick, a set of lacrosse pads, a helmet, a jersey (number 9), a tank top, running shorts, and running sneakers.