Post by Declan O'Cassidy on Nov 26, 2019 0:13:20 GMT -5
The Basics
Name: Declan James O'Cassidy
Nicknames: He has a lot from his family members that no one else is allowed to use...and some not so nice ones from strangers, old classmates, or particularly horrible students
Age: 48 (November 26th)
Pronouns: he/him
Orientation: If you ask, he'll answer heterosexual. Though there was those "experimentation years" in college that he always wonders about reliving.
Desired Rank/Job: Head Librarian at Hammel
Powers: Telekinesis:
Declan has the ability to manipulate and control objects with his mind. Though he can control objects on his body (such as buttoning up his shirt) he cannot use his ability directly on his body. He is able to move things that are no more than twice his size (meaning nothing over around 200lbs). His side effects increase with the size of the object he is moving and the number of times he uses his ability. Similar to how a person would get the same sort of tired after lifting one huge weight and lifting a lighter weight many times. His power is also affected by his emotional state. If he is feeling an extreme emotion it's harder to control things he's trying to move and also sometimes things will just move without him meaning to. For example, waving around his arms in anger might lead things flying around that his arm hasn't connected with. The main side effects that Declan deals with are migraines and what he describes as "phantom limb weakness." He can't point on his body to which area is sore and tired, it's just there, like a third arm.
Play By: Peter Dinklage
The Details
Hair Color: Brown. It gets a little lighter in the summer and a little darker in the winter.
Eye Color: Green
Height: 4'4"
Any Piercings? Nope
Any Tattoos? Nada
Any Scars? Declan has some scars on his legs from corrective surgery to fix his bowed legs when he was in his late teens. They're fairly faded and hidden by his leg hair though.
General Appearance: Declan was born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism. He is fine with the term "dwarf" or "little person" but prefers "dwarf" when he has to say it himself. And since his height is always the first thing people notice about him, it's usually his defining feature. When he was younger, this bothered him some. But he has learned to own it.
Declan goes back and forth between whether he likes having a beard or not. It's often in various stages of growing it and then suddenly without any real notice he'll shave clean. He struggles because he likes the look of beard, but it's a pain to keep perfectly trimmed and he lives in horror of getting food caught in his beard without realizing it. He does tend to keep the hair on his head a little on the shaggy side, though.
Since most of Declan's clothing is custom made or, at the very least, heavily altered, he has great pride in his sense of style and knowing that he'll never have to worry about showing up at an event wearing an identical shirt with anyone. He prefers dressing in plain colors, usually in cool/earthy tones, or very simple patterns. Nothing that really calls attention. Though his job doesn't require it, he's often in at least a blazer or vest and sometimes even a full suit when at work. On days when he's just at home all day, he can be spotted in just a plain black t-shirt.
Though Declan could use his ability to never really have to lift a finger and he is conscious of the fact that his joints and spine are already under stress and vulnerable because of his dwarfism, he is active fairly active for his age. He goes on morning runs and isn't afraid of a little manual labor. In his younger years he was more concerned with the looks he might get trying to get into a chair not specifically made for him, but with age he cares less if people see him struggling a little.
Personality: Coming from a huge family, it's hard to imagine Declan ever surviving the constant amount of people. He has always been an introvert and prefers quite time alone to just about anything. Luckily, he doesn't take up much space. And even around his family, he's easy to overlook. It's the one area where his height has been both a curse and a blessing to him. In crowds and family gatherings, it was always easy for him to find a small, quite place to escape with a book. But also, his height makes him stand out in public and strangers are known to stare and sometimes even whisper behind his back.
Still, he's not a total recluse. He does enjoy conversations and spending time with people. He would just prefer one or two close friends having meaningful conversations versus a huge crowd and endless small talk. His parents raised him, and all of his siblings, to be polite and Declan is no exception. Some have even said that he is too nice and "I'm sorry" is his catch phrase. To that Declan always responds that people wouldn't say that if they knew what he was saying in his head. Not that he's fake, but just because he's being polite and nice to someone doesn't mean he actually likes them.
Though Declan was a very angry teenager, he has matured into a very calm adult. It takes a lot to rustle his feathers. He has even reached a stage where he will be the first one to make a joke about his height.
Declan is a neat freak. He jokes that it bothers him more than most people because he's closer to the floor, but really it stems from the years when he was learning to control his power. A tidy environment is important to his emotional well-being. It's not that he minds cleaning up though, it's just second nature to him and he'll often start picking up a mess before he even realizes he's doing it.
Your Vices
Likes:
Reading - everything he can get his hands all
Whiskey - not in abundance since his college days, but he often enjoys a small glass in the evening
Cats - he has only one at the moment, but often jokes he's just going to becoming a "crazy cat man"
Bad Puns - he may not be a father, but he has "dad humor" down
The Smell of Wood Polish and Floor Cleaner
Potatoes - he knows it's a bit of cliche, but he loves baked potatoes, and it's one of the few things he can actually make for himself
Dislikes:
Dogs - especially big ones
Audio Books - why? just why?
Horror Movies - he'll watch them, but usually in the light, and spend the whole time cursing at the main character for being an idiot
Yoga - he gave it a try, but really hated it
Coffee - he's more of a fruity tea guy
Strengths:
Organization - he will totally help you organize your work space, it's fun for him
Reading - he's a very fast reader
Running - he has great endurance
Weaknesses:
Public Speaking - never really mastered that skill
Most Sports - he never really played sports growing up either
Cooking - he just burns everything
Family Ties
Father:
Shane O'Cassidy
Mother:
Molly O'Cassidy
Siblings:
Fiona (older sister)
Colleen (older sister)
Shane Jr. (older brother)
Rory (younger brother)
Maria (younger sister)
Spouse/Partner:
n/a
Any Other Important People:
Patrick (Ricky) Shamus O'Cassidy (cousin)
Shamus Ryan O'Cassidy, III (uncle)
Elizabeth Moira O'Cassidy (grandmother - deceased)
Ernest Hemingway (his pet cat)
History
Declan is fourth child of Shane and Molly O'Cassidy and grew up in New Jersey, just outside of New York City. Though he has a huge family, none of his family (at least none that he ever met) had dwarfism. This meant that his parents had to do a little research. It also meant that his mother, aunts, and grandmother all babied him a little. This coupled with normal sibling teasing, meant that Declan spent a great deal of his early childhood alone. He wasn't exactly bullied and has good relationships with his siblings now. He just learned early on that it was easier for him to keep to himself than to try to keep up with the other kids and keep his mother from swooping in to say he was playing too rough every five seconds.
Declan tried to make the best of it, getting lost in the world of books, but he had an anger management problem and would often lash out at anyone who tried to help him. He couldn't stand to think how unfair it was that he couldn't be like his siblings, like the other kids in their community. It was just so unfair. He would often spend half the night praying that he would wake up in a "normal body," He thought that even becoming an alter boy at church would help earn him some points with the man upstairs, but that didn't last long after he yelled at a couple of the older women in church for saying something about his height.
It was during on of his moments of anger when he was almost 12 that his ability manifested. He was yelling, not exactly at - more in front of, his mother about his lot in life when the pots on the stove flew across the room. He was sure that not only was he cursed to be a dwarf, but now that he was actually cursed. But two days later, someone showed up from Hammel to explain to him and his parents the situation.
It wasn't that his parents hid the fact that he was a meta, but he found out later that something got lost in the translation (or the telephone game that is sharing information among such a huge family) and many of his extended relatives were under the impression that he had been sent to a Catholic boarding school to deal with his anger issues.
If anything, living at Hammel only increased his anger issues. He might not be legit cursed, but Declan saw being a meta as just something else wrong with him that set him apart from "normal" people. His room was often a wreck, either from him physically tossing things around or his power lashing out. He picked fights, talked back to teachers, and spent a great deal of time in detention.
Things started to change as he grew to control his power more. His trainer did a lot in teaching him to control his emotions, not just for his abilities but also for his day to day life. He rediscovered his love of books. And eventually he found a sense of community within the walls of Hammel. Everyone was different in some way.
After his time at Hammel he went to college, got his undergraduate and continued school until he'd earned his Master's degree in Library Science. At first, getting his Masters was just a way to procrastinate joining the workforce while he tried to work on writing something of his own. He learned quickly though, that he was a much better reader and academic writer than a novelist. He did finish one novel, but could never get anyone to publish it. And after re-reading it with a fresh eye, he can't say he blamed them.
But he had always been in love with libraries. He loved the books and the organization of it all. He loved the journey to find the answers you were looking for. He worked at a little library for many years in a small town in Pennsylvania before funding stopped and he lost his job. Afterward, he applied at a few places, but was having trouble securing a position. It was an odd feeling and suddenly he felt like he was back at square one. His savings was running out and he was starting to worry, when his mother and aunt took things into their own hands. They found out through his cousin Ricky about an opening at Hammel and before either of the grown men could really do anything about it, Declan found himself standing on Ricky's doorstep. It was a bit ridiculous, but Declan had long ago learned when the women in his family got an idea in their head, it was better to just go along with it.
Declan has been back at Hammel since the start of 2019 school year.
Player Information
Name: Abe
Age: 33
Player Pronouns:He/Him
How Did You Find Us? I was here.
Other Characters: Micah and Moses Grey
