Name: Kathryn Bryne

Clan: Shadowfur Clan

Occupation: Therapist

Alignment: Neutral

Actual Age/Apparent Age: 30

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Demisexual, gender doesn’t matter

Race/Species: Werewolf

Appearance: Physically, not much about Kathryn stands out as “Leader of a Clan of Wolves”. Blonde waves cut in long layers frame a pale face, bringing out her expressive blue eyes. Her short, lithe stature makes it hard to even believe a wolf could possibly come from her, making most dismiss her as a threat. Kathryn tends to have some form of a smile to her features, and while hiding her aura of power, is often mistaken as simply the assistant, someone glossed over while looking for who is actually in charge.

She is found more often in comfortable clothing, loose sweaters or tops, and either a comfortable pair of jeans or other pants that aren’t business attire. While she has since learned control over her shifting, Kathryn still prefers clothing that is either easily removed or easily replaced for the times when the need to shift forms becomes an emergency.

Kathryn has made serious efforts into making herself approachable, whether she is at home with her Clan or about in the city. She is often one of the first to help, and somehow manages to hide the dark circles and exhausted lines that would crease a lesser woman’s face.

Personality: Kathryn is often quick to a smile, allowing others to find comfort in her usually carefree attitude towards life. She is a warm presence, one many come to with problems large and small, whether they need help from her, or simply somewhere safe to talk something out. She is more than willing to give people a moment of her time, especially if it is one of her wolves or another close friend.

While most often in control, her ruling image comes across more as a carefree aunt that allows the children to learn by making mistakes, as long as those mistakes aren’t detrimental to the Clan as a whole, or any member of it. She welcomes many into her home, often not realizing that someone brought a friend over, but rather simply treating them as part of the family. She has found that with such a large group, it is easier to go with the flow and remain flexible than to try to instill any sort of iron fisted set of rules, and for the most part, her Clan tends to appreciate it, having been nearly suffocated by such tight rules in the past.

Away from everyone, and with a very carefully select few, another side of Kathryn shows, one much less in control. The worry lines start to break through, and the self-doubt becomes a touch more prevalent in her gaze. She worries over her Clan, over the traumas they have been dealt, often at the hands of the last leader, and the bits of distrust that break through the cracks here and there. They are all relearning how to trust, and how to trust each other, as well as how to trust their leader, and Kathryn is not immune to any of it. She, too, is learning how to lead, as well as how to trust herself to lead them down a decent path.

It is easy for her to forget that the Clan has trusted her implicitly to lead them through the trauma at the hands of their last leader, and because she was unaware of the way the others looked to her, in those quiet moments, the lack of confidence in herself that her Clan has in her shows more. However, almost as if they see it, there are a few that have taken on the self-prescribed role of bodyguards, not because Kathryn needs much help in defending herself, but because they could not live with themselves if anything happened to her.

ALL of that goes out the window in a second as soon as anyone in her Clan is threatened. Then, her wolf comes out, protective and suddenly the laid-back sweetheart turns into an intimidating wall between the threat and her clan. Her Aura of Power gets turned all the way up and suddenly the small woman seems very large and very scary. She does not play around with such things in the least.

Abilities/Skills:
       Aura of Power -  Dominant wolves have a tendency to project an aura of power, usually noticed by the way heads turn when they enter the room as people realize they’re in the presence of someone important. Often considered as just the way they carry themselves confidently, but this aura goes much deeper. Noticeable to those sensitive to auras even if the individual is slumped and frumpy looking.

       Healing Touch - Just as it sounds, the ability to heal through physically touching the injured. Whether it be placing a hand gently on them to curling up next to them, the more physical contact, the better the power works.

       Taming the Beast - As an Alpha, especially of a Clan, this power allows for settling conflicts before they get out of hand, by essentially placing an imaginary blanket over the volatile moods filling an area. This power also allows the Alpha to calm a panicked wolf, helping the emotions to give way enough that reason can be heard, especially useful when a new wolf is panicked enough to hurt themselves or someone else. **It does NOT control the wolf, however, simply dampens the volatile emotions that tend to take over when extremely worked up (ie: fear, anger, panic)

       Mask Aura - While most dominant wolves have an aura of power, the really strong ones can mask that aura, making it seem like they are no more important or powerful than an average human.

       Resist Moon’s Call - Werewolves have always been tied to the moon, and while some are able to resist the call of a full moon, it simply makes it easier to work through the need to shift with the moon rather than remove it entirely. They can avoid that call while new wolves might not be strong enough to do so. This comes with age and practice, more than how strong a wolf is.

       Sense Mood - Kat has a particularly unusual ability as a wolf, perhaps from her psychological training, perhaps from some latent empathica ability that was with her before she turned, but she can sense a mood. While not able to tell what causes it, she can tell when someone is happy or sad, upset, angry, hurt, on a deeper level than just body language. She can feel the mood coming from them.

Weaknesses:
       Shifting - Shifting forms is not a quick process, and a wolf opens themselves up to a very real vulnerability while shifting forms. They find themselves distracted, their inherent defenses considerably weakened, and in a fair amount of pain during the minute or two it takes to shift forms.

       Use of Powers - Some powers come with a naturally weakened state where the wolf has to lower their natural defenses to use a power. For Kat, this state of lowered defenses happens most prominently when she is healing, the power requiring her to lower her defenses as much as possible in order to work. One cannot heal while they feel threatened. Likewise, the same happens when she is aiming to Tame a Beast, dropping all her inherent defenses in order to garner trust by way of that power. To a lesser extent, it also happens when she is sensing someone’s mood, but she only has to open herself up a little bit for that one to work.

       Moon Phases - Much like how they are naturally stronger during a full moon, wolves tend to be weaker during a New moon.

       Silver - While silver will not poison a wolf, wounds caused from it take much longer to heal, weakening them further during that lengthened time. Shifting forms takes much longer and grows far more painful, they move slower, react slower, and any powers they have aren’t nearly as effective, the silver from the wound creating an effect similar to a strong, body-wide infection for a human. This can be used as a method of controlling a wolf, by making them wear a silver necklace or piece of jewelry causes the same slowed reaction and shifting, and lack of strength.

History: Kathryn found herself a member of the clan after a friend dragged her along to a meeting one night, or rather someone she considered a friend. It wasn’t until enough alcohol had been passed around under the guise of a group of college kids hanging out in the trees that the large wolves appeared, tearing into certain people in the group, while others seemed to stand by, watching.

Later, when she finally woke a week later, feeling as if she had been run over by a truck only to have a plane fall out of the sky to land on her, did she find all the injuries she vividly remembered receiving...completely healed. It wasn’t until the next full moon that she understood why. From then on, she was part of a Clan she neither agreed to join, nor wanted any part of, yet had no way to leave the moon called, and the Alpha called his pack, and then, Kathryn was too weak to stand up. It wasn’t until years later, after she had gotten her degrees and found her footing, learned the abilities that came with being a wolf, and finally got fed up with how the others were treated enough to do something about it, that she stood up, refusing to sell herself for “the good of the pack” and took on the role of caring for those that weren’t strong enough to stand up for themselves instead, sticking to the point that what she did was more “for the good of the pack” than anything he ever sent the others out to do.

Because of this, once Jasper died, Kathryn found the others looked to her as their leader, much to her surprise. She had flown under the radar, remaining mostly unnoticed, she thought, until she asked how they should go about finding a new Alpha, only to find the Clan had already unanimously agreed that their Alpha was standing right in front of them.

Other information: In wolf form, Kathryn stands tall, often between whatever threat and her Clan, fur as dark as the shadows, save for the piercing, unflinching blue eyes glaring back.

(Any specific thing you wish to build or accomplish with your character?): TBA