Ulysses, or Dori as he likes to be called, is a gentle, existential soul wrapped in a raggamuffin package. To most, he appears as a stereotypical hoodlum, and if one were to observe his piercings, tattoos, secondhand clothes and fondness of skateparks and bridges, one might assume that's all he is. He appears nonchalant about these assumptions and, on the surface, comes across as a very relaxed, easygoing person. But upon observation, one finds that he's soft-spoken, mild-mannered and deeply emotional.

He's proven himself to be highly intuitive and empathetic, keenly aware of the emotions of others and doing his best to keep them in the happy-healthy zone. He enjoys seeing people at ease and content, and wishes the best for everyone he interacts with. He has a broad sense of self-awareness, a healthy respect for his own fallibility and naturally limited perspective and thus gives credit to alternatives, even if he disagrees with them for his own life.

The only area in which this doesn't seem to extend is the topic of irresponsible behavior. Shirking one's obligations or chores, or missing a set date, is a sure way to disappoint him. He's patient and slow to anger, but seems particular about this issue. When he's disappointed, he often extroverts frustration while feeling a deep sorrow underneath, as anxiety dictates he wonder if the irresponsibility speaks anything in regards toward how the perpetrator values him and his time. He rarely allows anyone to be privvy to this wondering, however. He feels others don't need to know about his angst, aware that he's likely overreacting anyway.

History

When Dori's mother, Jennifer, was 15, she found herself pregnant with her then-boyfriend Oliver's baby. When she told him about it, he insisted she abort it and when she refused out of fear of her parents, Oliver broke up with her and cut her out of his life (as much as a sophomore in high school can cut out a fellow classmate, anyway).

Terrified, and with her conservative middle-class parents furious over her "promiscuity", she progressed through the pregnancy feeling lost and alone. She read books, researched what she could find with what was available on the internet at the time, and followed every guidance the family doctor gave her. Oliver's parents found out about the baby four months in and tried to get in contact with Jennifer in order to provide the support their son was neglecting, but her parents were so hostile towards them that Jennifer begged them to leave her alone. They complied reluctantly.

The pregnancy progressed without medical trouble and she gave birth to her son a week ahead of her due date. She fell in love with him the moment she held him, and she called him Ulysses, after a beloved cat her grandmother owned. Her parents insisted she put him up for adoption immediately and when she refused, they told her to pack her things and find somewhere else to stay until she could "get her life together."

With only her newborn, a handful of cash, and a single suitcase to call her own, she strayed into the city, and stayed under a stairwell at the nearest apartment complex for the first night. She took note that her baby was strangely quiet, so different from stories she'd heard about infants before. A woman she didn't know found her and woke her just before she dozed off and, after hearing that Jennifer had nowhere to go, allowed her to stay in her apartment for several days. Despite Jen's reservations, the woman proved nothing but kind and compassionate, and took care of them until Jen was able to find help from a nearby church program.

The program provided housing and other basic needs while Jennifer attempted to gather the pieces of her life. After the first month, Jennifer attempted to continue going to school, but could not find a balance between what Ulysses needed and the school schedule. So she dropped out for good and instead focused on trying to find a job, in order to earn money for a cheap apartment. As soon as she could, she left the special housing and moved into a shabby suite in Old Town, Lore, where Ulysses would spend the entirety of his childhood.

While Ulysses began to grow up, Jennifer went through three different low-paying jobs in a single year before she finally landed and kept two that made ends meet, but just barely: a graveyard shift as a waitress at a nearby nightclub, and a desk job answering phones from noon to 9PM. As much as she wanted to be with her son, she wanted to provide for him more, and so every day, she took him to a daycare during the day and asked the friendly neighbor woman (a vampire with a grade-school son of her own) to watch him during her shift at night.

Once he was old enough to sleep through the night, Jennifer had to stop calling the neighbor, Miho, over to watch him, since she needed any penny she could pinch. However, growing up in an area with vampire neighbors would later assist in giving him a unique perspective on them, leading him to be much more empathetic.

Dori's earliest memories are of camping in the apartment's main living space, sleeping on the couch and waiting for the door to open in the morning when his mother would get back and make him breakfast before crashing in her bed. He often scarfed down his food and crawled in bed beside her, where he would get the soundest sleep of the day.

He was distraught when he had to start public school, because suddenly those precious hours between 8AM and noon were suddenly ripped from him. In class, he quickly established himself as the soft-spoken black sheep who accidentally broke things, liked books and music too much and spent more time with his imaginary friends (his favorites were a big mama bear named Ersa and a vampire knight called Vladius) than he did socializing with his classmates. He made one friend by first grade, Kara, but lost her as soon as other kids started teasing them for being in L-O-V-E.

School never felt like a place he could belong, but as the months went on, home felt less like home too. Jennifer was never home when he got back from the bus stop (though he always noticed a vampire boy standing near the window at the end of their hall, and he was pretty sure it was the boy who lived in the apartment across the hallway). And when she did get back, she was so exhausted and raw that she would put on some music and collapse on the couch for a nap. Often, she slept for hours, and Dori learned to start foraging for snacks to feed himself dinner. Once, he actually gathered the courage to attempt baking a pizza in the oven (after much struggling with the instructions), only to burn himself in the process. His mother had to rush him to the nearest clinic and ended up an hour late for work that night. He saw the weight it put on her, and decided he never wanted to make her look that way again.

By third grade, Dori was so accustomed to playing alone during recess that it surprised him when an older boy actually stopped and got involved in his games. The boy called Sam played along, introduced himself to Ersa and Vladius, and aided them in their battle against the evil wizards and shadow creatures to save the world. Every recess was a new adventure to be had and, for weeks, Dori kept expecting Sam to get bored or mad or weirded out and leave, but he never did. He stuck by Dori longer than anyone else had. At least... until he moved away.

Not long afterward, Dori came home and once again took note of the lonely-looking vampire boy by the window and for once, decided to strike up a conversation. Though much older and not nearly as fun as Sam had been, this vampire boy didn't treat Dori like a child. He talked about serious things, like how everybody in the world was probably sad about something and just pretending not to be. Dori had never thought about that, but thought it made sense upon reflection. Later, they started talking about music and instantly hit it off. Ji, despite his attitude, became the closest thing Dori had to a friend during the following years.

The older Dori got, the better his classmates got at knowing just how to get a rise out of him. He was a decent student, a teacher's pet and a "tattle-tale" when he saw other kids getting picked on. They learned that calling him names didn't do much, but stealing his notebook full of doodles, stories, and songs definitely did. So did "spilling" water or milk on his homework to sabotage his A average, or telling the teacher that he stole something or said something nasty when he didn't. Sometimes, a group of them would even chase him home from the bus stop just to scare him, and he'd meet Ji outside his apartment sweating and breathing hard.

Ji told him that being scared reminded you that you're alive, because of how you feel your heart beating.

By middle school, Dori was averaging a B and starting to learn how to keep his head down. He reined in his enthusiasm for answering teachers' questions, kept his limbs and belongings close to his body as often as humanly possible, and found nooks and crannies to hide in during free periods, where he could listen to his music and write his own lyrics in peace. His walkman, a Christmas gift from his mother and the nicest thing he owned, was his prized possession. Teachers stopped seeing him as a model student and started calling him the daydreamer, the student who zoned out during class and saw his grades suffering for it.

At home, Dori forced himself to be as independent as possible. He learned to cook the cheap food they could get, whether frozen dinners or instant noodles. He earned small tips walking dogs and housecleaning for other tennants on their floor. He saved and bought himself a skateboard so he didn't have to take the bus every morning. By high school, it became an easy rhythm, leaving the house before Jennifer got home from her graveyard shift, getting home by 4:30 to an empty apartment, making himself dinner and doing his homework. He always got in the briefest of 'hi's when his mom returned from her day job, before she crashed in bed and slept til her next shift.

In his junior year, he'd saved enough to splurge on several ear piercings, inspired by Ji's, and an old clunker of a computer to use for typing assignments instead of skateboarding to the nearest library. He decided not to spare the expense; he had no plans for after high school. There was no way he could even begin to afford college, his grades weren't impressive enough for scholarships, and all he had for talent was several notebooks full of lyrics but no melodies. So instead, he allowed himself to spend his money on broadening his world a little bit. He used that computer to make his first social media accounts and, while looking for profiles of people he knew, happened to discover one belonging to an old friend--Sam Hambleton. With a few brief messages, they were reconnecting, but so much had changed since Sam left that Dori wasn't sure he even knew how to interact with him.

He did anyway, though, and as soon as Sam mentioned the idea for a business partnership, it was like the horizon opened up to him. In the twinkling of an eye, he suddenly had possibilities at his feet where he'd never had them before. It was an easy agreement, and was made even easier when he asked and Sam permitted for Ji to join them in their coming venture. Once he'd graduated, he and Ji and Sam worked together to move the two of them out of their respective parents' homes, and Dori kissed his mother goodbye before leaving that shabby old apartment behind, which he hoped was for good.

Magic Stats