Jed the Growlithe_Sky,Ace

PERSONALITY
- Painfully introverted, Jed’s most apparent attribute is his poor social skills. He struggles to get his voice heard, keep eye contact and even approach strangers, utterly clueless to how a typical conversation works. He is completely influenced by his mental condition, the possibility of rejection crippling enough to prevent him from even trying to make friends. Understandably quiet, Jed is happy to simply trail a group although is often too fearful of ridicule to openly contribute.
-  Jed is undeniably a sensitive character – both to physical aggression and verbal insults. Extremely uncomfortable around blood, the Growlithe hates violence and confrontation in general. He panics during arguments whether he’s directly involved or not, and will often flee, scared that the bickering could escalate into something more serious. He’s quick to offend at snide remarks, however makes an effort not to show the pain. Whilst accustomed to the insults of ‘coward’, ‘freak’, ‘weirdo’ and ‘loner’, Jed still hates to be reminded that the unpleasant comments are essentially true. As a result, his self-esteem is at rock-bottom.
-  Mentally unstable, Jed suffers from an unspecified mental condition that has a crippling effect on his confidence, sociality and behaviour in general. His troubles have only been heightened by his isolation in the desert, leading up to the development of erotomania. Although he hasn’t yet experienced this particular condition, he will become enamoured by a stranger whom he believes is actually in love with him. His attitude is extremely volatile – a rare aggression likely to surface as a result of his frustrations, and prone to breaking down completely in bouts of emotional turmoil. Despite his usually shy, awkward nature, Jed’s condition makes him incredibly unpredictable in times of stress.
- Although not from a wealthy background or high social status, Jed is polite and well-spoken. The Growlithe’s gratitude is endearing, genuinely touched when people treat him with respect.
- Despite all of the negative traits that mark Jed as an outsider, the Growlithe is desperate for friendship and love. Although scared of strangers, if Jed is permitted the time to get to know someone, a whole other side is revealed. Kind and gentle with a genuine desire to help in whatever way he can, Jed is not entirely ‘freakish’. Extremely affectionate, Jed becomes an endearing, deathly loyal companion. Desperate to keep people happy, many have taken advantage of the canine’s obedience in the past and whilst he knows that he’s being used, Jed cannot stand to see somebody sad or angry. He finds the emotions of his company contagious, thus does everything he can to ensure that tranquillity and peace remains.
- Virtually incapable of telling a lie, Jed struggles to fake any sort of emotion, his feelings always emerging powerful and sincere. He is, however, extremely trustworthy. The Growlithe takes the secrets of his company to the grave, seeing no gain in spewing out the private lives of others.
- Even though he’s the equivalent of his mid-twenties, Jed is often mistaken to be a lot younger. He’s not the smartest character and his childlike qualities are heightened by his introverted behaviour. When alone, the canine may even become playful, an unusual optimism emerging as he converses with the inanimate objects around him. He is naive of the world, not entirely clear on what the epidemic actually is – but the thing he understands well is death. It is about the only topic that he is able to think of in a rational manner.

APPEARANCE
Aesthetically an average Growlithe, Jed’s mental condition is almost imperceptible on first impressions. His fur is mainly in good shape, his body a typical size for his species and his watery, blue-grey eyes remain bright, though filled with apprehension. Often mistaken for being a lot younger than he actually is, an air of childlike innocent constantly follows the canine, a surreal optimism contrasting against his internal emotions.

The Growlithe’s true colours are revealed mainly in his stance, his introversion hideously apparent in the way he carries him. Head kept low, ears usually pulled back and tail tucked between his legs, Jed’s posture oozes submission. He usually walks slowly, dawdles aimlessly with his eyes firmly on the ground. When speaking with others, he often looks to be addressing an unseen presence – his focus everywhere but the person he is conversing with.

HISTORY
Born in Kanto, Jed was the son of a sickly Arcanine and a father he never knew. As soon as the egg had been conceived, the father fled, never looking for a committed relationship or the responsibility of caring for a child. The mother, already suffering from a crippling, genetic disease was determined to raise the child alone, using the little energy she had to ensure the egg was protected.

Jed hatched a healthy, bright-eyed youngster, arriving in the world with a smile on his face. His mother, however, had hit rock-bottom. The Arcanine succumbed to the illness only a week later; the bonding time between parent and child cut tragically short. Having died painlessly in her sleep, Jed awoke to the corpse, confused to why his mother wasn’t moving. Too young to understand the harsh reality of the situation, the Growlithe never left his elder’s side, crying for food, attention and a reaction as her body began to decompose. Jed remained with the body for just over two weeks, growing aware of the canine’s fate but clueless of how to carry on without the female’s guidance. Beginning to starve from his intense loyalty, Jed quickly grew sickly – his fur infested with fleas, a wheeze developing as he lost a hideous amount of weight. He would have died hadn’t a passing trainer spotted the heart-breaking scene.

The woman was distraught at what she saw, hastily capturing the pup to rush him to the nearest pokémon centre in a desperate bid to save his young life. Jed made it through – albeit in a weak state, his mind permanently scarred by the first painful weeks of his existence. He was traumatized by what had happened, almost destroyed to have been ripped away from the only familiar thing he knew, the corpse. The human took pity on the youngster, though. Eager to turn the canine’s life around, the human took the pup home, introducing him to the cushy life of a pet.

Whilst Jed’s physical strength quickly recovered, fixing his mental state was a far harder task. With minimal socialization, the Growlithe was hideously shy – practically terrified of anything new or unfamiliar. It took weeks for him to discover all the rooms in the house, each day the youngster stepping out of his comfort zone to look around a previously un-investigated corner. Despite the human’s attempts at improving his social skills by introducing him to her other pokémon, Jed remained akin to a hermit. Strangers scared him, and it seemed nothing would be able to cure his phobia. However, over time, Jed learnt to trust the human. She alone saw a different side to the Growlithe – a sweet, energetic and deathly loyal character that adored the love and affection she bestowed on him. A solid friendship blossomed between the pair, the woman hoping that Jed wasn’t entirely a lost cause as he remained totally devoted to her, obedient to her every request.

As he aged, the woman decided that it was time to re-introduce Jed to the world. Knowing that the canine’s obedience was incomparable, she began battling with him. Jed hated it. Naturally sensitive, the Growlithe was distraught to see others in pain as well as suffer physical damage himself – but he hadn’t the heart to disappoint his human. If she wanted him to fight, then he’d struggle on. His desperation to please against the ever-apparent discomfort towards the violence only succeeded in damaging the canine’s mental condition more so. Each battle was torture – his pain only revealed a few months after vigorous training. The change in Jed was startling; the human filled with immense guilt at the realization that she had only made things worse. Abruptly retiring the canine, the trainer turned her attention to battling with her other, stronger pokémon. Perhaps Jed was a lost cause after all...

In the years that followed, Jed spent his time divided between life in the human’s house and the PC. His loneliness escalated. He never had any friends and soon his connection with his trainer took a huge blow; instead he often began talking to himself and inanimate objects. Growing aloof to the woman that had almost ‘cured’ him, Jed effectively cut himself off from the world entirely – wasting away in the grips of his own fragile mental state.
When the epidemic hit, the woman made the decision to keep only a handful of her pokémon in a bid to escape with them to a safer land. However, Jed wasn’t chosen. Instead, the Growlithe was sent to the Orre region alongside the other pokémon the human chose to the sacrifice – the group of eight emerging in the foreign land as the humans fled. Confused to what was happening, Jed followed the human’s pokémon for the first few weeks – a clear outsider, only permitted to stay due to his silence, simply trailing the powerful group as they decided on the appropriate measures to take. He kept to himself, terrified of the monsters lurking in the darkness and knowing that his only way of surviving would be to stay in numbers. They didn’t like him – everyone thought the canine was weird, creepy, but Jed grew numb to their insults. He was unshakeable, a shadow to the troupe.

Eventually, disaster struck and the group was torn apart – literally. Jed watched horrified as the pokémon valiantly fought against the monsters for all their efforts to be wasted. They were slaughtered, nobody spared as the Growlithe took the opportunity to flee. Wracked with guilt for his cowardice in the face of danger, Jed never stopped running from the scene, caught between emotions. Though the group had hated him, he liked them - he didn’t want to see them die in such a way. Quickly loosing himself in the vast deserts of the region, Jed has recently stumbled across a ship in the dunes. Curious and hungry, the canine sought refuge in the construction – terrified of the new world.

USER NOTES
-Adopted from Cinderspark, formally Snitch/Blitz, Original Profile, last profile.
-Father was an Arcanine.
- In the roleplay, Jed will suffer from the mental condition, Erotomania (De Cleraumbault’s Syndrome) as a side-effect of his existing psychological disorder. Erotomania is defined as a delusional state where the sufferer believes that another person, usually a stranger, is in love with them. (In this case we have spoken to Ricxs and will be having the Aiveon Castiel be the subject of his delusions)
- Jed cannot stand the sight of corpses. Extremely distressed around bodies – gory or otherwise, the canine experiences powerful flashbacks to his childhood and cannot physically stay in the vicinity of the deceased.
- Jed is based off the character of Jed Parry in Ian McEwan’s novel, ‘Enduring Love’ and the film adaptation.

-We have spoken with Mew and will be joining the Sky team!