Terrance Layton

[Terrance Layton]

Terrance Layton

FACE CLAIM: Hugh Dancy.

---------------------------------

AGE: 27 years old
GENDER: Male
ORIENTATION: Heterosexual
POSITION: Trainer at Bellefonte. (Can focus on mind related abilities or emotion controlled ones.

POWER: Dream Walking and dream manipulation
Terry has the ability to walk into other people’s dreams when he sleeps and interact with elements of said dream, managing to change slight details about them or even interact with the owner of the dream. He often uses this ability to figure out what’s wrong with other people’s emotions, noticing small patterns and symbols in order to create a diagnosis of their psyche. His 'dream self' can move things around inside their dream, much like any person could in real life, but is still tied to any physics the dreamer would have, usually real world physics since it's what most people dream like. He can sometimes fly inside their dream, but that depends completely on the person who's having said dream.

If you want to get technical about it, what Terry does is nothing more than a sort of mind control. When he sleeps, his mind waves collide with others nearby, when they too are sleeping, and mix them up, making him appear in their dreams and their dreams appear in his head. It's all an illusion, since they're still dreams, but it makes him feel like he actually steps inside their head. His physical body is still resting in his bed when this happens though, and he acts very much like any other sleeping person. Because of this, most people wouldn't know Terry's seeing other people's dreams. They'd still see Terry sleeping in his bed like any other normal person.

LIMITATIONS:.
Terry’s power can only be used when he sleeps, something that he barely manages to do. He’s also tied to visit the dreams of people close to him, more often than not, his neighbors dreams (so many ladies shoes for some reason) and nearby stay dogs (usually just chasing rabbits or cats, sometimes the random giant steak). Since he can't control where he ends up in, and nightmares have the strongest waves, he often times ends up having other people's nightmares. He's gotten a bit better at handling them, considering how long he's been doing this, but sometimes they get the best of him and his physical body acts out, tossing and turning, sometimes suddenly waking up, at the sight of something particularly frightening.

If someone's having a nightmare close enough, their dream will most definitely end up swallowing his dream self. Because of this, if he wants to see a particular person's dreams, he has to sleep in the same room as them, which means that his 'patients' have to willingly let him peer inside their dreams. 

SIDE-EFFECTS:

Terry can’t have dreams of his own and ends up wandering through someone’s dream without meaning to every single night. His mind gets no rest and  this means Terry is often tired and drowsy in his daily life and is, although won’t admit it, slowly losing his mind. He’s also often times grumpy because of his lack of sleep and will constantly lose his cool. He’s found one way to keep himself from dreaming: if he manages to pass out, he loses his powers and manages to have dreamless sleep, but that only can happen when he’s taken pills to sleep or enough alcohol, which he may or may not be addicted to. He could have dreamless sleep if he was relaxed enough, but his personality won't let him have that. He’s also addicted to caffeine. 


 


HEIGHT: 1.86 mts.
HAIR COLOR: Brown
EYE COLOR: Grey.

MISC: Terry looks tired. That’s all you can get from his appearance. He has messy curly hair that often stands all over the place, messy unshaved beard and dark circles under his eyes. He’s often seen wearing very formal clothes at his work, wearing clothes that seem better fit for an older man than him, even wearing glasses to complete his ‘smart’ look. A big contrast to when he’s alone or during weekends, usually wearing sweatpants, old t-shirts and sneakers. He takes his resting time VERY seriously. Well, it’s not like he cares for his appearance outside of the work place, really, even if he tries to stay in shape by taking long walks. Seriously, he walks everywhere. It helps him get tired enough to sleep at night. He’s also careful about his hygiene, even if he doesn’t shave regularly or even combs his hair, but he always smells nice and showered. He’s particularly picky about his teeth, not sure why.


PERSONALITY:
Terry is actually not that bad when you get to know him. He cares deeply about his students and tries his best to be useful to Bellefonte, actually loving his former school. Sure, perhaps when you first meet him you’ll notice his impatient way of talking, the way he seems to analyse your every move and how just plain freaking smart he seems to think he is. He is a pain in the ass to most, but as annoying as he can be, there’s still a caring person underneath it all.

This dream walker usually seems tense and serious, not really caring about anything else other than his students and his work. To be honest, he’s just tired. No, really. That’s why he seems so grumpy all the time. He feels he has no time for idiocy, much less from drama queen teenagers, and he’d often, very tactlessly, tell them exactly what he thinks without any consideration of his words and what effects they might have. While some of his evaluations are spot on, sometimes his ego gets the best of him and makes him see things that aren’t there, particularly when dream walking. Sometimes a dry fountain is just a dry fountain. And sometimes a dry fountain is a reflection of an unsatisfying sex life. Hey, who’s to know what’s true?

What Terry appreciates more than anything is his sleep. His dreamless sleep, I should point out. While he loves his job and checking those little symbols that make people be who they are, he sometimes just wishes he could sleep. Thank whoever for addictions! Terry’s an alcoholic, often drinking whiskey or brandy most nights so he can pass out and have powerless, dreamless nights. He also tends to combine this with your usual sleeping pill, which isn’t the healthiest nor safest habit to have. He’s also addicted to caffeine during the day, often drinking up to ten cups of black coffee in order to stay awake for his job.

Because of his powers, Terry almost always looks tired and drowsy and doesn’t seem to have much time for any physical activity that’s too time consuming or even too difficult. He has a thing against sweating. It’s just yucky, okay? Another thing he hates are clubs. He just doesn’t understand them. Sure, he’s gone to your usual bar now and then, wanting to get himself started for the night with some drinks, but the music? Awful! Really, any loud noises annoy him to no end, may that be club music, bells, or awful shrieking teenage girls. Gah, he hates those and will make sure to let them know that. He’s quite vocal when something annoys him, often times responding with sarcasm. He also hates pretence, all that glittery nonsense about fashion and stupid displays of wealth. He appreciates class though and will try to force it onto anyone, a residue from his upbringing, no doubt.

If someone manages to get close to Terry, look past his sarcasm and his grumpiness, they’ll realise he’s just a very lonely man. He doesn’t get attached to people, mostly because he just never had anyone to care for. It’s not like he doesn’t want to, he just doesn’t know how. Even if he manages to make diagnosis about people through their dreams and understand their psychology, he has no idea how to relate to them, or even how to talk to people other than business like manner. He’s learning though. Slowly. Maybe that’s why he has issues with physical contact, not really liking being hugged or standing close to others. Odd, considering the things he’s seen inside their dreams.


SECRET(S): He’s stinking rich. No, really. He inherited a large amount of money from his father and that’s why he doesn’t try to move out and look for a “real job” like his mother likes to put it. He just doesn't like talking about it because he feels it might make people treat him differently.


FATHER: Sebastian Layton (Deceased)
MOTHER: Mary Layton
SIBLINGS: None
WORTHY MENTIONS: None

CHILDHOOD: Terry was born to Mary Layton, a big socialite in New York city, and Sebastian Layton, a popular lawyer among the rich and wealthy. He never truly wanted anything, other than getting out of there. As a cute little boy, he was constantly forced to behave like some sort of show pet, wearing ridiculous outfits, even hats, and look presentable to those around him. It was demanded of him, very early on, that he behaved like an adult and not some pampered little boy, which was what he was in reality. He was mostly brought up by his nanas, even if they constantly changed, and he never truly had any sort of parental affection other than constant criticism. A lovely childhood, all things considered.

This rich city boy was sent to the best schools in the city, always private, with their silly uniforms and their sillier rules. He was taught to be a gentleman and to fight like one too. Never with his fists, always with his words. And how good he was at it. Even from a young age, it was obvious he was smart and had a very sharp tongue, managing to make even adults uncomfortable. Other than that, his upbringing was what you’d expect from such a boy. Full or riches, lessons on manners and hatred against all around him. Poor little rich boy. He never really had any friends, he never really had any attention from anyone to begin with, so his entire childhood was spent thinking he was just nothing special.

ADOLESCENCE: Terry’s powers started when he turned thirteen. It was just one night, one dream. That’s the night he stopped having any kind of dream. It’s not something he likes to remember, since he ended up inside one of some guy’s head. You so don’t want to discover your powers by wandering aimlessly in a dark void only to find yourself in some twenty something’s wet dream. No, really. Talk about traumas. But that’s totally what happened! Terry had just been dreaming, maybe, or at least he was aware it was a dream. What he didn’t know was that it wasn’t his dream, that much was obvious when he found this random guy, perhaps the security guard of the building he lived in, and two lovely ladies he didn’t know. Oh, the things he learned that night. But anyway, the next day he’d been shocked at what he’d seen and plain… confused. Wet dreams were supposed to be about you, right? Not the random guy who dozes off at the entrance desk! He didn’t tell anyone anything about it, why would he? So life carried on as usual. That was, until two suited up guys from some school visited his house a week later. And what a week that’d been! He’d wandered through seven different dreams those nights, slowly getting more and more tired. So he ended up in Bellefonte. Nice school.

As soon as Terry got to Bellefonte he felt his life changing. He wasn’t treated any differently, he was allowed to wear his uniform and nothing ridiculous and, more importantly, he was finally feeling special. He slowly grew to accept his power. He learned little tricks and bits he could do to make his stay in other people’s dreams more pleasant. He learned to interact with their dream, talk to the people there, even the figments of imagination. Dreams made little sense at first, but with enough research he could see patterns and start to understand people better. He even made friends, had one or two girlfriends here and there, nothing serious and finally, for the first time in his life, felt at home.

It was during his time in Bellefonte when his father passed away. Heart attack. Terry had been seventeen when this happened, went home for the funeral and came back to finish his education. He never truly went back home after that.

ADULTHOOD: After Bellefonte, Terry studied psychology, focusing on dream therapy. He was quite good at it, but there isn’t much opportunity to have a job as a therapist in Kalispell, and he really didn’t want to leave the place he’d known as home for so much time, so he started working at Bellefonte as a trainer. It gave him enough time to keep researching, always studying, while still putting into practice what he learned. He analyses students thoroughly, though that sometimes doesn’t click well with said students, particularly those with behavior issues. He has little patience for personal drama too, especially when it comes to teenagers, so that might be a problem. He sees no problem in being cold against people who’s problems don’t interest him enough, and that includes his students.

Terry’s been living in a small apartment in Kalispell, pretty much focused on his job and little else. He has enough money to keep living like that and just doing what he loves, thanks to his father’s inheritance, and that’s exactly what he plans to do.


SAMPLE:


Well, was this a crap day or what? Jen walked down the streets of Pilot Ridge somewhat briskly, pouting down at her cellphone, her cheeks puffed up, staring at the message she'd been looking at since morning.

You've got to slow down, sweetie.


Ugh. That was so totally unfair. So what if she thought it'd be funny to max her credit card with game points. She got so much stuff! Besides, she'd been bored and she lost the first time she tried the stupid game. And! And! they made those games for you to obviously buy lots of crap. So what if she'd already bought some comic books... and shoes. Ah, the shoes. Plus there were the special edition games and the pre-releases and the- Being a nerd was hard, okay?!

So now she was out of money. Well, out-ish. She still had her credit cards (thank you, daddy) and she obviously could still afford basic living necessities. She stopped, huffing again and turning away from her cellphone, placing it inside her jeans pocket and looking sideways. That's when a cute and delicious looking cake caught her eye. Her pout stopped and she broke a smile. You know what she needed? Chocolate. Lots of it.


Entering the shop, Jen made her way to the nearest table. Sure, the place wasn't packed but it wasn't exactly alone either. Perfect balance, if you asked her. She sat, dropping herself on the chair as if it was actually a sofa. She puffed her cheeks again, looking around as she waited for someone to tend her. Her patience was slim though. Grabbing the salt shaker placed on the table, she started to play with it, making motions as if it was walking.


"I'm a big Mayor!" She said in a deep voice, "I'm rich and handsome and get everything I want. That's how you should be, sweetie. You're a Mitchellson! You get all you want!" She reached for the pepper and moved it as well, this time talking in a higher pitch, "Oh, darling! But Jenny is such a sweet child! She's not a fighter like you!" Again, the salt. "She's a Mitchellson! We're fighters! We're strong! We throw away our kids to the press and kick out the ones who bug us!" Now the sugar, "But daddy! I'm sad!" Yup, that was K. Salt again, "Gah! A bad feeling! Kill it with fire!"

Jen smirked down at her little play and turned to the person in the next table. "Sorry, you mind lending me your sugar." Her smile widened, "Because I'm joining in with the family and I'm definitely sugar."


USERNAME: Maggie

AGE GROUP: VERY late twenties. <<

EXPERIENCE: About 7 years-ish?

WHERE DID YOU FIND US? Word of mouth. ;D

[Deleted]

Welcome to the Bellefonte Academy,

Here's a link to the CLAIMS!

[/span][/div]