Jan. 20th, 2024
stats;
Helena 'Lena' Blackwood
NAME
28
AGE
October 30th
BIRTHDAY
Wolf Shifter
SPECIES
5'7"
HEIGHT (HUMAN)
3' at shoulder (Normal Size)
6' at shoulder (Shifter Size) HEIGHT (WOLF) Bridget Regan PLAYED BY
6' at shoulder (Shifter Size) HEIGHT (WOLF) Bridget Regan PLAYED BY
Her uncle's pack was not a place of love or warmth and consequently Helena has had very little experience with either. She grew highly self-sufficient with time, knowing that no one else was going to come save her should trouble arise and that she had to fend for herself even if she was surrounded by other people. She's a much better hunter than cook and in her wolf form can always be relied upon for catching meals and the like.
Indeed Helena might be far more in touch with her wolf side than her human one. Spending days out in the woods to escape her uncle and his pack was very common for her. Thanks to that she easily lets the wolf part of her be more in control of her actions than the human half. It leaves her to be a little more hotheaded, always ready to fight when the opportunity pops up and particularly willing to fight for her own sake. It also makes her a more impulsive, readier to run when the wolf in her says run and all that.
She also seems to lean on dry sarcastic humor as a crutch when interacting with others. She never got a lot of positive interacting after all but she's equally not mean. She can be blunt, engaging in gallows humor and tries not to talk about her past or herself much but she's mostly mean when other people are. Or when they grate on the wolf within's nerves anyhow.
Helena has a big soft spot for kids though. Children will generally find her very kind, willing to play games with them and listen to them intently. She'll also put her all into protecting them. One could say she treats kids as she wishes she herself were treated -- with kindness, love and respect. She finds it hard to make deep connections with adults however and often bitterly figures they all have their own schemes and ways of using others like her uncle and his pack wanted to use her.
While Helena seems wary of others proclaiming friendliness or love she does deep down want to know what genuine caring and love is like. She's denied herself the experience much of her life out of fear and now thinks packs or mates or simply friends are just things she can't experience. Would it be better to open herself up to hoping and to have that hope crushed or just never experience family or love? She's betting more on the latter at the moment. For shifters in Helena's world spending too much time in one form or another can lead to forgetting how to take one or the other form. Staying in your wolf too long might mean you can't go back to being human and the opposite is true. When one forgets how to shift then they have to be forced before they entirely forget. It's an agonizing experience to relearn how to shift all over again and as a pup Helena stayed in her wolf too long in an attempt to escape her pack's casual cruelty lobbed her way. She's been marked forever by it, closer to her wolf than to her human self at times. It leads to her being impulsive at times, more ready to fight, easily falling back into wolfish habits even when in her human form. Don't be too afraid if the smirk she gives you is just a little too sharp sometimes or the way she laughs comes out more like a bark than anything human. That's just her wolf pressing forward far too easily.
It became clear to Helena while she was growing up why her father had been picked to be Alpha over his close in age brother. Jeremiah Blackwood firmly believed in tying a pack together by guilt rather than love and control rather than truly helping one another. To give one's all for you pack was what you were supposed to do and to think of anything else was selfish. His lust for power was absolute and the Blackwood pack consquently closed itself off from other packs that might have tried anything to help ... or to hurt. The Blackwood pack became a ghost and a myth in their native Blood Mountain region of Georgia.
Her uncle made it clear that her father's death meant she wasn't considered the Alpha of the pack anymore. They cared for her to a minimum degree, emotional neglect rife in her upbringing. She would escape into the woods for days with no one the wiser until she was needed for a chore or some such.
This lead to Helena staying in her wolf too long at one point and forgetting how to shift back into a human form. When this happens to a shifter they have to be forced to shift before they entirely forget how. The process is painful and the mark of being too close to one or the other side is almost always permanent, leading to shifters who act more wolf than human (like Helena) or shifters who seem to almost forget they're a wolf on the inside.
In the end Helena left when she turned seventeen. She hasn't had contact with her former pack since, though they do try hunting her down now and then. Jeremiah Blackwood will never let go of the fear that one day Helena might come back to try and take her rightful position as Alpha.
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finickyfox) are from the same modern urban fantasy world where shifters generally live in small communities of their own or dotted out among the world itself. These are usually in backwoods or mountainous areas, tiny little places most will miss on road trips driving through the area.In general shifters in this world will often express similar characteristics in and out of human form. Helena has dark hair that matches her wolf's dark coat while Samantha is smaller in stature and frame since she's an arctic fox shifter. Other fox shifters are by and large redhead or brunettes given the coloration of a fox and a bigger-built wolf shifter might be a dire or timber wolf shifter versus a smaller wolf breed. There are all sorts of shifters out there in the world though and not all may play by these characteristics.
Shifters are encouraged not to spend all their time in one form or another. The animal side of a shifter needs room to come out and roam but someone who spends too much time as their animal side may forget their humanity too. There's also the possibility a shifter might forget how to get back to that other form if they spend months or years in one or the other. This is why many shifters choose to live in shifter towns and villages where they can let that animal side of them out now and then without fear.
Animals seem to recognize Helena for what she is beneath her human skin. Most prey animals are tentative around her while other predators aren't.
HEARING / SMELL
While Helena's sense of hearing and smell are both heightened above those of a human even in her human form those senses are naturally sharper in her wolf form.
SHIFTING
Helena can assume the form of a wolf at will. As a wolf she has black fur and those same forest green eyes. This wolf form comes in two sizes -- her default is 6' at the shoulders, secondary is 3'. Secondary forms are meant mostly for hiding or blending in with more normal wolves. Helena generally uses it when she thinks there might be a chance of someone stumbling across her.
SIGHT
Sometimes for a shifter the wolf in them will be closer to the surface than other times. This is chiefly in moments of high tension or during a full moon. At this times Helena's eyes may go from their usual deep green to something sharper and brighter
This also means her perception of colors change as well. Wolves can see blues and yellows, making then red-green color blind. They can distinguish between more shades of gray than humans though and have much better night vision.
SOUND
This also means her perception of colors change as well. Wolves can see blues and yellows, making then red-green color blind. They can distinguish between more shades of gray than humans though and have much better night vision.
Even in human form Helena can vocalize like a wolf is she needs or wants to.
Mid-range, more alto than soprano in tone. Has virtually no accent save some small bit of a southern one leaking through when she's upset.
DEMEANOUR
Aloof and mysterious, dryly sarcastic but not mean unless you get mean first. Always ready to pick a fight though.
SCENT
To humans Helena will mostly smell of very little. With her sensitive nose she doesn't like indulging in perfumes or very many products with heavy scents to them.
To other shifters or supernatural creatures in general she smells ... like a wolf. Others may note there aren't any scents layered with her own -- nothing of a mate, of children or even a pack.
VISUAL
Helena stands 5'7" in her human form with deep green eyes and dark hair that reaches somewhere around mid-back length.
In wolf form she can choose to shift into a form near the size of a normal wolf or one that is around 6' at the shoulder and 11' long. Generally she prefers the latter for hunting and the former for camouflage / hiding. If she's not thinking before she shifts she'll inevitably be in her larger form.