Name: Hale

Gender: Male

Age: 22

Appearance:

  Years of living on the streets have left Hale with a smaller form, lacking the normal nutrients for a healthy growth spurt. He stands 5 foot, 9 inches, and below a mass of mismatched layers, a thin form, scar covered and with tight muscles running everywhere. He wasn't built to hit, but he was built to dodge and run. Because of this, many people have seen him parkouring high above, or appearing in odd spots knowing the city like the back of his pale hands. He has a mess of dark brown curls he calls hair, and icy blue eyes that seem to glow in the dark sometimes. They often cut through people, making them feel like he is looking through them, into their souls.

    Hale is often seen wearing some sort of cloak and scarf, enjoying dark, neutral colors or blacks. He keeps a sack with him constantly, with a few changes of clothes, herbs and books hidden inside. Underneath the cloak, he often wears more layers, long sleeved shirts under short sleeves, and baggy pants. What is odd, though, is Hale rarely wears shoes. He prefers to run the city barefoot, and when the weather gets too cold, he wraps his feet in cloth, instead of actually wearing shoes. It has worked so far, and his bare feet help him sneak around without making noise. Around his wrists are a series of bracelets, metal in material, and when relaxed, or around people he is comfortable with, one could hear the gentle jingle of the bracelets. Still, when he is going stealth, they rarely make any noise.

Personality:
   Growing up alone, Hale learned quickly it was best to see than be seen. He keeps his mouth shut and his eyes wide open. Everyone who knows the streets of Sias have seen the quiet street urchin at one point or another, but few have actually talked with him. Hale learned long ago people tend to only look out for themselves. He is no different, of course. Survival is key. Anyone who says differently has found a use for you. He is quite closed off. It takes quite a bit to get past his defenses.

   If you do break through, though, you will find a lost child, just trying to make his way in a world that threw him away. Hale hates fighting, but has a drive to survive, and can hold his own if he has no other options. He is quite smart, and knows a lot of the underground. He is reckless with his own life, often diving into fights only if someone who got through his layers is in trouble. He also is quite efficient at healing.



Fighting Style: His choice of weapons are two daggers, often concealed beneath his cloak, in the sleeves of his shirts, or sheathed, hidden at his hips, underneath the length of his shirts. One dagger is half the size of the other, and very rarely does he actually bring them out to fight, just mostly intimidation, or if he is making a difficult leap and misses, Hale has a habit of trying to use the twin blades to slow his descent. Both are very old, but well taken care of, often cleaned and shined.

Artes: Majority, Hale uses healing Artes, the magic bound mostly to his bracelets. He tends to cause them to jingle right before triggering the Arte of Healing. He has a secondary Arte, one he only uses in desperation. In fact, he uses the Arte of Shadows so rarely, he doesn't know exactly all he can do with the Arte. They are connected to his daggers, and when he is cornered and out numbered, he taps the ends of the daggers together, and summon a Shadow Barrier, before escaping while his enemy is distracted. Once, he created spikes of darkness, but the power scared him too much, and Hale avoids getting into that situation again.

Strengths:
 Stealth- Being small in size, and enjoying the shadows, Hale can blend in with the background easily, or appear when he needs.
 Dexterity- Realizing it was easier to avoid a punch, Hale has trained his body to been and contort in odd angles, and it also helps him escape when need be.
 Small Appetite- Years of limited food has made Hale need a lot less than most people to survive.


Weaknesses:
Small Figure- Because of the lack of food, he grew up smaller than most, and when put one on one, in a fist fight, he will almost always lose.
Light Sleeper- Having always been on his own, Hale does not often get restful sleep. Instead, he will often wake up to slight noises.
Fear of Betrayal- Because he has been burned over and over again from past dealings, Hale tends to avoid others. He doesn't easily make friends

Backstory:
  Hale is all alone, and has been. His first memory is begging on the streets, watching as people dart this way and that past him, barely glancing his way. It would not be the last time he would go hungry, but it would be the first he remembered. Sometimes he would go to shelters, but soon they asked questions about who he was, where he hailed from. Hence how Hale developed his name. Still, they often tried to make him stay, make him move in with others, with strangers. Sadly, most were not nice, and Hale ran away, returning to his streets. He learned how to heal himself, using bandages and learning about plants from a few of the kinder residents of the streets. One of them, an elderly lady who lost her home and shop to the booming business of the city of Sias, taught Hale about the Arte of Healing, and as she aged and passed away, she handed him her lucky bracelets. At the age of 10, he met death for the first time. Lonely, Hale left, and entered the world. For a very long time, he would not meet a nice soul like the little old lady, but he kept her bracelets as a gift, remembering there is kindness still in the world.

  By the age of 12, the silence and the shadows were Hale's friends. His only friends. But, a curiosity came into his world in the form of a young teen, barely a few years older than him. He had a mop of blonde hair, and a desire to fight. Hale watched for a while, but soon, whenever the blonde actually lost, Hale felt bad, and practiced his Healing Artes. And that is the story of how Hale met the boy named Leroy. ((Expand on this later once I talk with Leroy a bit)) By the time he was 14, and Leroy was 16, Hale would count the other as a friend. The Silence and the Shadows slowly drifting away into the background. In fact, loneliness became a stranger over the years. He never feared the young man with the flying fists, understanding he was fighting something more than the flesh he hit. Suddenly, something shifted at Leroy's home, making his visits less common. Soon, Hale found the young man working hard. Hale began to visit his workplace quite often, just to hang around. It was obvious he didn't come to distract Leroy from work, just enjoyed the presence of the other. Leroy visited his streets every once in a while, but for 3 years, nothing really changed, the boys just continued to grow.

  Then, Leroy lost his parents, and focused more inward. Hale tried to help, but when one never had parents, one never understood the loss. Still, he could relate to feeling like something was missing. He tried to visit Leroy often, noting his absence on the Streets more and more. Nowadays, Hale spent more time alone, 18 and learning the Shadows and Silence again for the first time in many years. And then one day, a few days before his assumed 19th birthday (Hale didn't really know, but Leroy made a joke about the first time they met being Hale's birthday), Hale went to visit Leroy, to find his house all boarded up, and he was alone. Alone. For 4, almost 5 years, loneliness had been just on the edge of his mind, but now it swarmed, taking over the mind of the young Healer, drawing him deeping into the Shadows. Hale cut himself off from any and all contact, the fear someone else would up and leave like that making him colder than before. One day, a group cornered the boy, and left him with no escape. It was the first and only time a Shadow Spike appeared, cutting away the main leader, and scaring off the others. Hale found a small shelter and hid away from the world for a while. He stopped living, and returned to what he knew best- Survive.