Grant Matthews (_eyeofthetiger) wrote, @ 2009-05-01 21:04:00 |
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Grant Matthews
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Others
Appearance
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1 Physical Description 2 Personality 2.1 Strengths 2.2 Weaknesses 2.3 Special Skills & Abilities 3 History 3.1 Before the Light of May 3.2 After the Light of May 4 Race 5 Miscellaneous 5.1 Family & Living Conditions 5.2 Additional Information Physical Description Grant is a rugged sort of guy: broad shouldered, muscled arms, the body you think must require hours in a gym. Granted, he is in the gym a lot, and runs in his tiger form often, so that helps keep him in shape, too. He keeps his dirty blond hair on the shorter side, and he remembers to shave, most of the time. Most people remember his eyes, though - big and green, and they always seem to be taking in the entire room at once. When it comes to his clothes, right now Grant has the luxury of staying casual. Tees and jeans are his staples, and unless he's heading out to a job interview, you'll be hard pressed to get him into anything else. Now that it's summer, you can usually see the lower edge of the curved bite mark on Grant's left shoulder, peeking out from underneath the sleeve of his tee. He doesn't really try to hide it, but he doesn't talk about it either. No matter what he's wearing, Grant always has his wedding band on a chain around his neck. He's not actually wearing it anymore, but it's still important to him that he has something of his wife on him. In his were form, Grant is a large white Bengal tiger with black stripes. [top] Personality The first word that usually comes to mind when people describe Grant is "brooding." He's not the type who often shares a lot about himself, and can seem like he's intentionally distancing himself from those around him. This isn't always the case, but it sure makes things in Grant's life easier when he's not worry about what everyone and their grandmother thinks about him. In truth, he's been dealing with a lot of issues over the past few years: losing his wife, becoming a were, raising his son alone and more recently, getting into a huge custody battle with his former in-laws. All of which are things Grant would rather not unload around some unsuspecting stranger, thank you very much. Once he gets to know someone, Grant does eventually open up. He has something of a dry sense of humor and he loves to tell jokes with a straight face, just to get people going. It's rare that he lets anyone in completely, however - in Grant's mind, no one stays forever, and it's only a matter of time before he's alone again. This is why he hasn't been in a steady relationship since his wife died; Grant doesn't know if he's ready for that commitment again, and as such will stick to the occasional hookup and doesn't want all that goes with it. What matters is that Robbie, his son, is taken care of and Grant is finally in a place where he can figure out what to make of his life. [top] Strengths
Weaknesses
Special Skills/Abilities Like all weres, Grant has heightened senses and accelerated healing, as well as the ability to shift between his three forms, human, were and hybrid. He's actually a decent artist if he puts his mind to it, mostly making concept drawings for different buildings. Grant also has a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together, such as his car, or a broken dishwasher. [top] History Before the Light of May Grant Joseph Matthews is the only child of Donna and Darren Matthews, born in Chicago in March 1979. From the start, Grant was always something of a quiet child, very selective in who he hung out with, but he never seemed unhappy. With both his parents working good jobs - his mother a homicide detective, his father an engineer - it wasn't like Grant ever wanted for much. His mom spent a lot of time at work, something he'd later come to worry about once he was old enough to realize what she did for a living, and as a result Grant spent a lot of time with his dad. Darren taught him a lot of the basics - reading, writing, simple math - before Grant reached kindergarten. It gave him a leg up on the other students, and it often left him bored in class. This lead to him starting to build things out of whatever was around him, be that blocks or cards or boxes, he'd make it work. To this day, Grant will still build tiny structures out of habit, like a nervous twitch, needing something to do with his hands. When Grant was ten, a new girl moved into their Chicago neighborhood. Her name was Raya, she was the only person who knew who could speak two languages and tell all these stories about living overseas. Grant thought Raya was fascinating, and the two of them quickly became friends by the time that school year started. He made sure no one picked on her for being the new girl, because even back then, a pissed off Grant was no fun for anyone to deal with, and he was quickly protective over Raya. The years passed, and Grant and Raya were hardly apart. Of course he was her "date" to her bat mitzvah, and they were often told they had to be more than that, just based on how they acted around each other. Grant laughed it off at first, but the older they got, the more he started to realize that girls weren't so icky after all. By the time he and Raya had their first kiss, at age 14, Grant was pretty sure he knew what he wanted. If Raya just wanted the "practice," as they called it, he'd be happy with what he could get. Grant too had been devastated to learn Raya's family was leaving again, but there was one upside: they finally admitted how they felt about each other. For the last few months she was in the States, they were inseparable, and putting Raya on the plane to Israel was, at that point in his life, one of the hardest things Grant had ever done. He truly believed they'd find a way to make it work, if it took letters, phone calls, whatever, Grant would do it. He was even saving up money to make the trip to Israel to see her. And then Raya decided to break things off, thinking the distance would be too much, and that he'd be happier with someone else. Grant disagreed, but when the girl you love is on the other side of the world from you, what could you do? Everyone kept telling him it was for the best, but Grant never really forgave Raya for breaking his heart. They say the first one hurts the worst, and Grant was no exception. They tried to keep in touch as friends, but after a while they completely lost touch. That has always hurt Grant, but like most of his personal issues, he buries them and doesn't let anyone else know what's going on. He's still though about Raya on and off since high school, wondering where she might be now. When it came time to start college, Grant decided to study architecture, taking his fascination with building things to the next level. College, of course, brought with it a wealth of new experiences, new people to meet, and it helped Grant fill the void Raya left in his life. He soon found himself going out every other night, how his grades stayed up and all his work got done, who the hell knew. Grant was having a good time, and for him, that was all that mattered. Grant was 21 when he first met Sabrina Landow at a party. She was the bubbly social type with dreams of becoming a park ranger someday, and Grant was the quiet guy in the corner smirking behind his beer. How the two of them first hooked up, even Grant doesn't know, and how they were still together after that night was an even bigger surprise. All Grant knew was that it worked, and he wasn't going to question it. It was the first time since Raya that Grant let anyone in, romantically speaking, and that was a huge step for him. Thing weren't easy between Grant and Sabrina, by any means. The first sign came when he met her parents, Elizabeth and Jeremy, and needless to say, it didn't go well at all. They thought their precious daughter could do so much better than middle class and Grant thought the Landows could take the stick out of their ass, and told Sabrina as much. That fight resulted in their first breakup, only to get back together a couple weeks later. It seemed, at least to Grant, that their issues weren't big enough to get him to walk away completely, and he couldn't lie, he didn't want Sabrina to leave the way Raya had. Meanwhile, Grant graduated from college and started working with a decent architectural firm in Chicago. Sabrina was working with the Lincoln Park Zoo and loving every minute of it. They'd been together for almost a year and a half when Sabrina told him she was pregnant. Grant had been raised to be a decent guy ad to do the right thing, so he proposed a week later. It wasn't like he could, in good conscience, tell her to get rid of his kid. As much as it scared him, he was determined to see it through. And, knowing the Landows would never approve, Grant talked Sabrina into eloping. They were married on a beach in Bali, with a few friends as witnesses. His parents were sad that they weren't there, but Donna and Darren genuinely liked Sabrina, and if Grant was happy with her, then they'd be happy for them. The Landows, on the other hand, were furious. Not only did Grant ruin their little girl, but they refused to acknowledge him as their son-in-law. Grant told them that, if that was the way they wanted to act, then they could not see their grandchild, either. It took a while, but by the time little Robert Gabriel Matthews was born, in 2002, the Landows were over it, mostly. It meant rare visits from the in-laws, and that made Grant happy. Sabrina ended up getting a job offer to work for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in 2003, and the family relocated to outside of Denver. Grant was able to do a lot of his architectural work from home with occasional travel into the city. They had a small home in one of the more remote parts of town - a little too remote for Grant's tastes, being a city boy at heart, but Sabrina was beyond happy with the change, so he obliged. Things weren't always sunshine and roses, but they worked through it; they were a family now. One summer night in 2006, the family had just turned in for bed, four-year-old Robbie tucked in, none the wiser. Looking back, Grant would never be able to remember if he'd locked the doors or not; he thought he had, just out of habit. Grant and Sabrina had just turned out the lights when they heard rustling noises coming from downstairs. Figuring it must be Robbie, Grant got up to wrangle his son back into bed. Instead he found his back door open and some sort of wild creature was in their kitchen. In the darkness, Grant couldn't tell exactly what it was - a were mountain lion, starving, having broken into their house in his animal form. Grant startled the were, and it attacked, latching onto his shoulder. Try as he might, he couldn't keep the mountain lion off of him - and then Sabrina followed him downstairs to see what was going on. She was the one who was a trained park ranger and had the experience training wild animals. But even Sabrina was helpless and the were abandoned Grant to go after her. Sabrina was no match, and Grant struggled to pry the mountain lion away, the three of them fighting until it ran off. Though his left arm and shoulder felt like dead weight, and Grant knew he was losing blood, he had to take care of Sabrina first. Her breathing was shallow and her wounds wouldn't stop bleeding. She died before the ambulance arrived. The next few weeks were something of a blur to Grant. Between burying Sabrina, trying to explain to Robbie that his mommy wasn't coming home, not to mention his in-laws blaming him for her death, it was too much to handle. Grant was forced to leave his job, relying on the money they'd put away for their future retirement. At the same time, Grant knew something was wrong with him. The bite wound on his shoulder was healing, yes, but he was experiencing so much more - stronger smells, louder sounds. Having no idea what he'd actually been bitten by, he tried to brush it off and act like it wasn't bothering him. He had bigger things to worry about, like his son. It was by a stroke of luck that Grant arranged for Robbie to stay with some friends the night of his first full moon. He had no idea what was coming for him and as a result, he woke up in a trashed basement feeling like he got hit by an 18-wheeler. It was then that Grant knew he'd been changed. The first shift was instinctual, and where he'd been standing, there was a white Bengal tiger. And the shifts where he blacked out for the entire night were brought on by the full moon. One doesn't just adjust to that change overnight. Grant pulled away from people more than usual; he never talked to the Landows if he could help it, and even his own parents rarely heard from him. His architect work stopped altogether and if it wasn't for Robbie needing to be in school, Grant might have fallen apart completely. He worked whatever jobs he could to make ends meet, and he made sure Robbie was never near him for the full moons. Grant built himself a stainless steel reinforced cage in his basement, making sure there was no way in hell he'd be able to get out. For three years, he struggled on his own - and then the Light of May hit. Grant finally came clean to his parents about what he was, and to his surprise, Donna and Darren didn't hate him. Instead they offered for him and Robbie to move out to Michigan, where they were now living, so they would be able to help him out. With little to keep him in Colorado, Grant agreed, and moved to Scarlet Oak shortly thereafter. [top] After the Light of May Going through a change such as Grant did alone is terrifying and nerve wracking. Learning that there are others like him, and help if he ever decides not to be stubborn and accept it, is a great relief to him. Robbie thinks it's awesome that his dad is a tiger, and isn't afraid at all. As much as Grant is proud of his son's ideal outlook, it's far too optimistic. He knows there's bad things out there, like the were who killed Sabrina, intended or not. And he wants to keep all of that as far away from his son as he possibly can. The downside to the Light of May? The Landows found out what really happened that night Sabrina died, and shit immediately hit the fan. Elizabeth and Jeremy are convinced their grandson is in perpetual danger while living with Grant, seeing as he's a bitten were, and filed for permanent custody of the boy. With the current political climate, with the right judge, Grant fears the Landows might actually win and take Robbie away even though they've never spent much time with him. Rest assured, Grant is not giving up without a fight, but it's becoming clear that he needs to get a good lawyer who knows supernatural law, and fast. [top] Bitten were Grant's son, Robbie A newly bitten were will begin to feel the effects of the bite within the 48 hours. Their senses usually advance first, particularly scent and hearing. Loud sounds will hurt their ears, strong scents will repel them. It will take time for them to adjust, and if they don't know they've been bitten, this can be very confusing and frightening. If bitten on a full moon, they will shift at the next full moon. Bitten weres are forced to shift to their hybrid (monster) form on the night of the full moon, and lose all control of themselves. They do not possess the consciousness that a born were possesses, but are instead rage driven and prone to attacking anything that resembles prey. A bitten were will also be forced to take their uncontrolled hybrid form to defend himself. This occurs when the were is either injured, cornered, or extremely agitated. If a bitten were is driven into a rage in human form, they may accidentally shift in defense, putting everyone around them in danger. Once forced into this form, they will remain there until exhausted, knocked out, or until the next sunrise. Grant's were form is that of a white Bengal tiger. More information about weres can be found over here. Powers: Ability to shift between human, tiger and hybrid (though he will not remember taking his hybrid form). He is also forced to take his hybrid form every full moon. [top] Miscellaneous Family & Living Conditions Robbie Matthews - Grant's seven-year-old son, and vanilla human. He's the most important thing in Grant's life right now. Sabrina (Landow) Matthews - Grant's wife, who died three years ago in the attack that made him a were. They were a college on-again, off-again couple who married when they found out they were expecting. Donna and Darren Matthews - Grant's parents, who now live in Ann Arbor. They only recently found out what happened to their son and are helping him out with Robbie as needed. Elizabeth and Jeremy Landow - Grant's former in-laws. They weren't too fond of him when he married their daughter, and they really hate the fact that Grant has Robbie. They filed for full custody the moment they learned Grant was a a bitten were. --- Grant and Robbie share a two bedroom apartment in the Court. It's not great, but it's what he can afford, and Robbie's room is pretty well stocked for a seven-year-old. [top] Additional Information [ coming soon! ] [top] |