{application | teleios}

[untilmydarknessgoes]

Player Info

Name: Crystal
Age: 23
Contact: roomwithamoose
Characters Already in Teleios: n/a
Reserve: Boop

Character Basics:

Character Name: Damon Salvatore
Journal: untilmydarknessgoes
Age: 170
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Canon Point: 'The New Deal' 3x10
Debt:

Class A: 18312 years
Class B: 1916 years
Class C: 66 years
GRAND TOTAL: 20294 years

Canon Character Section:

History: TVD Wikia

Personality:

On the surface, Damon Salvatore is a dick. Actually, he's also a dick on the inside. He's just not as much of a vapid dick as he tries to pretend to be. He has more substance than he would like to acknowledge and numerous insecurities that he tries to bury beneath sarcasm, alcohol, and bad behavior that's going to piss people off. To really understand Damon, one must know both who Damon tries to be and who he really is deep down. Having only one piece of the puzzle--regardless of which it is--quickly misrepresents Damon and leaves him two-dimensional.

Damon is incredibly charming and witty without much effort. He carries himself with confidence and says what's on his mind without hesitation--usually with excessive smarm and snark--regardless of who it may or may not offend. Even when people are offended, they cannot help but still respect him and still crave after his attention and approval because he's only handing out harsh doses of reality. Most of the time, people don't want to like Damon, they just can't help themselves. And even if they didn't still respect him, it wouldn't make a difference to Damon because he doesn't care. In other words, Damon has very carefully crafted a particular power dynamic in which people are dependent upon him, but he is not dependent upon other people. Damon is the reluctant antihero who does the bad things that no one else is willing to and people always like him or they're always trying to save him.

There's one slight problem with this: it's a load of bullshit.

Damon tries desperately to convince himself that he is that construct he has created for himself in his head, but it's littered with half-truths that make it quickly fall apart with the underlying reasons for Damon's behavior and that boil down to an insecurity related to rejection from others due to his own shortcomings and inadequacies.

Much of this insecurity is rooted in Damon's life as a human. Although the television series is not as explicit as the book series, it is still implied that Damon's relationship to his father was combative and resentful because of the constant comparisons between Damon and his younger brother Stefan. In their father's eyes, Stefan could do no wrong while all Damon could do was wrong. Damon did not shift the blame away from their father to Stefan (that came later with Katherine), but he did quickly attempt to convince himself that he no longer wanted his father's approval. Instead, he wanted to do everything he could to anger and irritate his father since he appeared to be better at that than gaining his praise. Damon saw history repeat itself with Katherine as well. Although he never had to be compelled to stay with her and he was eager to turn in order to spend eternity with her and although he spent 145 years waiting to release her from her tomb, Katherine avoided him and still chose Stefan over him.

Damon barely existed while he waited for Katherine in the beginning. He was still somewhat the mild-mannered man he had been as a human, simply waiting for the one person he thought gave a damn about him and accepted him exactly as he was. It wasn't until he met the older vampire Sage that things drastically changed for Damon. Sage taught Damon to not just indulge in the hedonistic and addictive qualities of being a vampire, but to thrive in them. Damon learned quickly that he could have the power over and attention from people he never had as a human. If he could not charm on his own merit, he could fall back on compulsion. Damon didn't have to feel miserable about his sheer existence any longer. He could bury his insecurity about his worth beneath a very convincing and charming bravado. That's when Damon's rejection of Stefan through avoidance and ignoring quickly turned into malicious attempts at actively disrupting and destroying every part of his life.

But Stefan is not the only person that Damon actively tries to destroy. He also repeatedly tries to destroy parts of himself throughout his lifetime. While Damon does have a sense of victimhood that comes along with any addict, Damon is not like his brother in that he possesses learned helplessness. The opposite is true of Damon and, despite usually very insistent claims he doesn't care about the consequences, he accepts responsibility for the things he does. Deep down, Damon fears the pain he experiences in response to rejection. He is so acutely aware of rejection that rejection by proxy when someone dies is enough to set Damon off. And when that happens, Damon quickly resorts to lashing out. His usually light verbal jabs meant to just deflect the minor things he doesn't want to talk about--or stroke his own ego--become accurately fired weapons of mass destruction. He hurts people and makes them angry, shoving them away before they have a chance to reject him. To Damon, pushing people away and actively isolating himself is the lesser of two evils when compared to the thought of disappointing someone else to the point they reject him instead.

When in one of these episodes, Damon also quickly falls back into hedonistic behaviors. He starts compelling people--particularly women--to want to be with him and ready/willing/eager to fulfill his every need. He drinks both blood and alcohol to excess. He starts to refuse to lift a finger to help with anything. He does everything in his power to convince everyone around him and himself that he is the bad guy and he sure as fuck doesn't need anyone's approval with further rebuffing. He even goes so far as to kill and torture people important or unimportant to whoever he is trying to avoid rejection from. Damon does these things without any signs of remorse and, in fact, with both eagerness and some enjoyment because this is when he subscribes to the idea that he is the vampire who doesn't care or need anyone else most. While normally Damon is stubborn and adheres to the notion that he is always right with very minimal wavering, he is adamant when he lashes out that he's in the right with everything he does. He acts on every impulse he has because thinking things through seems more like second-guessing himself.

Now, as mentioned earlier, Damon is, in fact, a dick. He knows it and rarely apologizes for it. However, just because Damon does despicable things and does a pretty convincing job of seeming as though he has no positive qualities to speak of, he is capable of doing good things. The biggest lie he's ever told is not that he is a bad guy who does bad things or the lie that he doesn't need anyone; it's actually the lie that he does not care. When Damon is self-destructive in response to rejection, he feels horrendously guilty about the terrible things he did to hurt and push other people away. He also cares enough to want to change and to try and make better decisions. (It's also really important that it's Damon who wants to change as well. He views any attempts to make him change in a way he has not agreed upon or too difficult as a form of rejection in of itself.) Damon is just not always very successful in that venture because, once again, he's afraid of disappointment and rejection from other people. Making the right decision is not something that comes naturally to Damon. He's not comfortable in being the hero and would so much rather be the antihero who makes those tough decisions that no one else has the balls enough to make.

In short, Damon is someone who has experienced so much rejection in his lifetime that he's developed an acute sensitivity to it. For Damon, it is better to be feared and hated than to disappoint someone. When someone is disappointed and they reject him, he lashes out and pretends as though he doesn't care. Normally, he simply deflects or strokes his own ego with his sense of humor and sharp sarcasm, but once he's been rejected he turns it into a weapon. In fact, he turns everything he does into a weapon if need be. Otherwise, he buries himself in hedonism and his addiction to power and control over other people. But Damon is not a victim and he is not helpless. While he is paranoid and fearful of that rejection, Damon understands that he causes the rejection that happens to him (or, at the very least, worsens it) through his behavior and, try as he might, he can't ignore the guilt and pain he feels as a result. However, despite these bundle of problems in his behavior, Damon is still someone that other people can like. He knows how to flirt and charm people as he sees fit and his sarcasm can actually sometimes even be a touch affectionate. Damon knows how to make connections, he knows how to make better decisions, he just really struggles with his fears of rejection to actually go about things in the right way and instead convinces himself he's as bad as he behaves. To an extent, he's right. To an extent, he's not. It just depends on the day.

Powers/Abilities:

STRENGTHS
Compulsion: By making eye contact, a vampire can compel a human to say/do anything as well as erase whole memories or change characteristics of their victim. Victims are unaware that they've been compelled. Vampires like Damon are only able to compel a human through eye contact, but Originals are able to compel vampires and hybrids as well as humans. The older a vampire is (and with more practice), the stronger and better their compulsion is. Compulsion is also affected by diet. A vampire who is feeding on human blood over animal blood has an easier time compelling their intended victims. Also, if the victim is wearing or consuming vervain, they are immune to compulsion. This is also true in the case of an Original compelling a vampire.

If a human has been compelled and then is turned into a vampire, they remember everything they were compelled to say/do or forget.

Dream Walking: Vampires are able to manipulate and project themselves into the dreams of others, including other vampires. This isn't often utilized in the show so there's really no firmly established limitations, but it's generally safe to say if someone has been ingesting or wearing vervain, this becomes impossible like compulsion.

Healing: Vampires heal at a much faster rate than a human would. Also most injuries that would be fatal to a human (ex. breaking their neck), they'll be knocked out for a while, but will eventually come to again.

Immortality: Vampires live forever and stay young forever, but that doesn't mean they can't be killed. More on weaknesses below.

Super Senses/Agility/Strength: Vampires can smell, hear, see, and taste above what a normal human can. They basically have the nose of a bloodhound, can eavesdrop from quite a distance away even above other noise, have the eyes of a cat when it comes to night vision, and they've got pretty sensitive taste buds that I lack some sort of analogy or description for beyond it's hype. Diet & age also affect strength and agility for vampires. They are generally able to move at inhuman speeds. They have faster reflexes and when running appear to be blurs to the human eye. They're also able to jump to and from high places with ease and would look a bit like flying, but it's not. They use their strength in conjunction with their agility to fight/throw people/things. Vampires are stronger than werewolves when the werewolf hasn't changed shapes. But once that happens, a vampire's more likely to run than try to fight (if they're smart anyways).

Day-walking Vampires need the assistance of a witch to walk in the daylight. Damon possesses a ring that allows him to walk in the sun, but it's not 100% foolproof as the magic can be tampered with and make it useless.

WEAKNESSES
Starvation: A vampire weakens without consuming blood. Starving a vampire will cause them to gradually dessicate/mummify.

Vervain: Arguably a vampire's biggest weakness is vervain. Touching vervain burns a vampire and causes intense pain. It often cancels out many of a vampire's powers as mentioned above and injecting a vampire with vervain can weaken or otherwise incapacitate them. Vampires are able to build a tolerance to vervain over time in order to avoid compulsion by an Original, but they're never fully immune to vervain itself.

Fatal Weaknesses: Staking a vampire in the heart will do exactly as the movies tell you it will. Vampires can also be severely injured by wood if stabbed with it anywhere else. For example, running a vampire through with a sword hurts, but it's more likely to piss them off. Run them through with a tree branch though and you'll still piss them off, but it will take a while for them to rip it back out and get enough strength back to twist your head off. Vampires can also be burned to death either by fire or through exposure to sunlight (without the help of a ring). It's not an instant burn-to-death though when it comes to sunlight. It would require a few seconds before they would really catch fire. Ripping out a vampire's heart or decapitating them is another way of destroying a vampire permanently. Finally, if an Original vampire dies then its entire bloodline will soon follow.

Werewolf Bite: A bite from a werewolf is also fatal. Werewolves have a venom that once it gets into a vampire's bloodstream will result in a very slow and awful death for the vampire. The vampire often becomes delirious and exceptionally violent. The only known cure for a werewolf bite is drinking Klaus' blood. Same rules apply to a bite from a hybrid.

Magic: Vampires are affected by witchcraft for better or for worse. Examples would be the day-walking rings or when Bonnie more or less crippled Damon by giving him intense head pain.

Invitation: Vampires cannot entire a private residence (so a hotel room would not count) without being invited by a living occupant first. (So, a trick most vampires use to create a safehouse is after being invited inside to compel the human to not let in anyone else without their permission.) There's no way to rescind the invitation other than changing the ownership to someone else. The only way around the invitation is if the owner dies. So the aforementioned trick does have a work around. (Murder the human occupant.)

Appearance:

Oh nooooo, it's a hottie!!!

CR AU

Game You’re Transferring CR from: paradisa

How has your character changed from their canon self?

The changes to Damon from Paradisa are subtle ones. First and foremost, he does not remember who Elena Gilbert is. Because of this, Damon is far less motivated to behave himself and a little more inclined to be bad or do the bad thing. It's not that he's incapable of doing good, obviously. Time and time again, Damon has proven that he has a small capacity for doing the right thing, but he's inherently far more selfish without memories of Elena providing him some motivation for trying to do and be a better person. He was able to have some small semblance of that, but more on that in a second.

Damon also has more experience in waking into another world, but another world where there was another him running around and making connections. Damon didn't fake remembering everything he did when he was apparently first there in Paradisa. It's up in the air as to whether or not he might for Teleios. It just depends on what's going to give him the greater advantage. In Paradisa, it was easier and a stronger advantage into getting him what he wanted by being at least somewhat honest about what he does and doesn't remember.

As predicted, Damon did not remain single during his time in Paradisa. When he first arrived, Katherine thought she was Katerina and he was ready to take some revenge out on her. However, he ultimately couldn't do it because she wouldn't understand and so where's the fun in that? Katherine was then lying and pretending to be from 1864 which Damon fell for like the schmuck he is. Their relationship became immediately more antagonistic and more true to form then. So, while that was going on, Damon was taking more of an interest in Lana Lang who was somewhat of an analogue for Elena. Ultimately though, Lana chose Ezio Auditore over Damon - because of previous Damon's douchey behavior and the likelihood there would be a repeat - so Damon got extremely pissy about that and threw a tantrum. He was also pretty angry because she would continuously hold him accountable for bad things he did before that he has no recollection of. So, all-in-all, it was an unhealthy and bad relationship. He'd also like to generally overlook the fact he pressured Lana to make her choice and look at it more as she did it all by herself and wah wah poor him. He took more of an interest in Morgana Pendragon once Lana made her choice, but more surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, depending on your perspective), Katherine came back around.

Now that she was done pretending to be from 1864, she was prepared to start gloating at Damon about how he was once again someone's second best. But the two ended up falling into a relationship with Katherine encouraging more of Damon's darker impulses. It's around this time that Damon's being plopped into Teleios to try and figure his way around once more.

Are they gaining any abilities from their time in game? Did the game setting take something from them? Damon lost all memories pertaining to Elena Gilbert. He won't recognize her by any means and while he has canon memories up to his canon point, there's just a void where Elena is concerned.

Samples:

Actionspam Sample:

Post @ lastvoyages

Prose Sample:

Damon unceremoniously lets the body drop to the ground with a loud thump. It was filling, but not satisfying. He still doesn't have any of his normal abilities back. He's still weak. So, he moves on down the hall to find his next victim.

Damon doesn't have an explanation for any of this. One second he's running a fever, hallucinating, and with Elena who's urging him to hold on until Stefan gets back even though he's pretty sure doesn't get a say in that and is royally fucked. The next, he wakes up here, fine and dandy if you could overlook the distinct lack of everything that made him a vampire outside the fangs and need for blood. Damon's pretty sure this isn't the afterlife. Not that he exactly knows for sure what the afterlife is, but there's supposed to be a lot more fire and brimstone or winged people running around singing with harps and flowing robes. Or something. Hell, maybe all he'll do is just stick around and watch everyone he left behind. He doesn't know. But this just isn't it.

His first thought is that he just passed out and this is some kind of ridiculous dream he's experiencing. Someone is crawling around in his head because he's not strong enough right now to push them back out. That's far more annoying than just being straight-up dead because that means another vampire or a witch's gotten involved.

Why couldn't Elena just let him go?

It's not that Damon had a particular death wish. He happened to like the prospect of staying alive for an eternity all thing's considered. He could have fun and do what he wanted that way. But Damon was also realistic. He watched Rose deteriorate the same exact way he had started to fade. She was possibly in even more pain than Damon with how long she held on. Damon just gave up and stopped trying to fight it almost right away. It's baffling and endlessly frustrating for him that Elena couldn't just do the same damn thing and save herself some goddamn pain. There's no reason she should care anyway. It's not like she didn't have every right or reason to hate him. But she still did. She still thought that he could be saved.

Damon spots a young twenty-something standing on her own on the deck. Perfect. Maybe if he feeds enough on these people, whoever's crawling around in his head will come out finally. Either way, he approaches with the full knowledge that Elena--and even Stefan--cannot seem to accept.

He can't and he won't be saved.