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[agoodsoul]

Player Information

Name: Maus
Age: 33
Contact details: PM preferred
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Dennis Severs
Canon: The Smoke
Canon Point: Post canon
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: 19

World Information: He lives in modern London in 2014. Nothing special just normal Earth stuff.

Personal History: The Smoke wiki entry.

So basically Dennis is a young man who's had a rough go at things, especially a year ago at the start of the show. He's a follower and that tendency of his kept him hanging around with Gog (or George), who was a childhood friend, but as they got older Gog became more a bully type who he stuck around because it's what he knew. Which gets him trouble and he's no doubt been a part of said trouble because he hangs around Gog, we see this more than once. Cue one bad decision to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gog wants to get back at a lady in the same apartment complex for what he considers a slight and it goes up in flames, killing her baby and severely injuring a firefighter who'd tried to save the baby's life.

No one will point the finger at Gog, because they're scared of him and what he'll do. Dennis more so because of his own involvement, even though he really didn't do anything initially wrong. Some nine months or so later he's starting as a rookie at the same fire house as the one the severely hurt firefighter. Dennis knows this, doesn't tell the guy, Kev, anything, ends up befriending him more or less. Has a hard time fitting in, he's anti-social and a little stand offish, but he's a good kid, just wanting to be a good man and keep himself out of trouble. Though the others instantly give him shit calling him "Asbo" cause he lives in an area where a lot of youths are upstarts and trouble.

He's still bothered a lot by what happened back at the fire of course, especially when he sees how it's effected Kev and later on the mother of the baby who died. Throughout the show he does try to break away from Gog's influence but is drawn back in a few times, but ultimately he does mostly break it off with him when he repays Gog for hurting his mother by beating his face in with a bike chain. Which has the threat of Gog doing something 'not good' through the rest of the show of course, not like he hasn't already done that.

Eventually he tells Kev about his part in the event from a year ago and things don't go well. At all. Lots of crying and Kev almost tosses Dennis over the stairwell railing, which would have killed him. Dennis even lets go of the railing feeling like he should be punished for his part in things, even though he wasn't really at fault for what happened. He still puts a lot of guilt on himself for it regardless. Dennis tries to confess to police for his part in the fire, but Kev won't let him. Saying he doesn't get to decide how this ends. Later on he'll attempt to sacrifice himself for Kev's fiancée later on too, wanting to save them from a tunnel fire, that guilt still eating at him, but Kev doesn't leave him behind to die. At this point he's not sure what else he can do to make things right between them.

Their tenuous relationship comes to an end when the mother of the child who died at the beginning of the show gets back at Gog, who never showed any remorse and continued to dog her, by setting his apartment on fire. Kev and Dennis manage to save Gog's sister, but when Kev has the option to save Gog, who he knows is the one responsible for everything he's gone through, he doesn't. He leaves him there to die and tells Dennis it's too late and they escape with Gog's sister. Dennis knows what Kev did and even though Gog was a terrible person, it still shakes him that someone who he considered a good man would murder someone like that. Kev is upset that Dennis doesn't seem to see things his way and they part with Kev lashing out angrily at him.

Some how through all of that the show ends on a hopeful note for Dennis. The rest of the fire watch all seem to finally start accepting him and even if Dennis can't agree with what Kev did, Gog's death is probably a weight off his shoulders in a sense. Nothing is perfect, but there's a little sunshine peeking through the blinds so to speak.

This show is happy. Yay.

Personality:

Dennis Severs under everything is a young man who wants to be a good man. He doesn't want to follow in his father's foot steps. His old man was deadbeat dad and ended up in jail for murder.

At face value he's a quiet standoffish youth, just your typical troublemaker from the poorer side of London. Even when shown in a friend group he seems to be pretty quiet and sits off to the side, not fully invested. Mostly he's just fallen into a poor friend group with the worst being Gog, a boy he's been best friends with since they were little. It's not much of a friendship at this point though. Everyone around them sees Gog as a threat, someone who will do anything and everything to keep people afraid of him and under his thumb, the only real reason Dennis puts up with him. Besides Gog it's shown that many people he meets judge him from the get go because of where he's from, instantly assume he's trouble and talk down to him, even give him a nickname to rub it in. So for him it's easier to keep his head down, just shrug and mutter in response than make himself a bigger target for ridicule, but that doesn't save him from still getting shit.

Mal, the second in command at the fire watch, dogs on Dennis right from the get go, never giving him any chance to prove himself. Only expecting Dennis to fail, wanting him to. Finds every little reason to get mad at him and yell or put him down. Even assaults him later on in the show, trying to choke him out and almost drowns him because Dennis rightfully brings up how it's not fair how he comes at him all the time when Mal is fucking his best friend's girl. After ALL of that, Dennis saves Mal when he in turn almost drowns.

Needless to say, Dennis has a lot of trouble with older male figures, so when he finally does get some positive feedback from Kev, the leader of the fire watch, he does start to blossom a little. Kev is the first to really believe in him and wants Dennis to succeed and sees that he's trying his best, helps him when he has trouble with Gog, is like a father figure to him. There's something Kev says about Gog, that he's a "stupid scared little boy", that he can handle him if he ever tries to come after either of them. Minus the stupid, scared little boy describes Dennis a lot too. Any time he gets even a little something good, there's always that fear that something will come and yank it out from under him. That he won't be good enough. Life always seems to be constant quick highs and very big lows, over and over.

Even with life and most people around him being negative and shit, he still has a big heart. The people he loves he cares about so deeply, like his mother, she's the one stable thing in his life and when Gog goes too far and hurts her when he feels like he's losing his grip on Dennis, he repays him for it. Dennis is a kind heart, but he's got a lot of anger in him too, it's something he doesn't want to let become a bigger part of him. He doesn't want to be like Gog, but he still puts a bike chain around his fist and beats Gog's face in for what he did to his mom. When a dog is kicked and beat so much sometimes it'll bite back. But back to having a big heart, even when he's wronged and treated poorly by people, he'll still see it as his fault, like he needs to apologize, he bakes a bunch of nice treats for the rest of the fire watch and apologizes for his attitude after he's hazed during a training session. Which he had every right to be upset for. Then there's Gog's little sister, they have a good relationship and he seems to treat her like a little sister too. He even makes sure she's not around when he beats her brother's face in, because that's not something she needs to see or be around. That violence that her brother incites in others.

Dennis is great with kids in general. Whether it's him wanting to be a better "father" than his own dad was, he just has a soft patience with them, listens and generally wants to make sure they're safe. Which of course could also have something to do with the baby dying in the fire and him feeling like that was his fault. He just has a lot of kindness for people if they'll give him a chance.

He's not got too much confidence in himself all around, from people immediately writing him off from living in a poor area where lots of troubled people are, from Gog and his dad calling him Chubs as a nickname to keep him knocked down a peg. Dennis is working hard to try and be better, has a job, wanting to help people and all they can do is pick on him having a little extra weight and possibly in Gog's instance trying to emasculate him, as it could be used as a derogatory term when coming from that boy's mouth. It does have connotations in the gay community, but who can say if Gog would know that, but he'd def be the sort to use that against someone. Mostly he'll just find any way to put Dennis down, keep him under foot.

Something that is great about his character is that a lot of times his sort would just be a quiet down trodden boy who's not allowed to express his feelings, but he is. He does. He's only nineteen and already dealt with so much in his life and he's not afraid to express his feelings, even if he might feel stupid about it later. The amount of times this boy breaks down into ugly tears in the show is impressive as it's only 8 episodes. When he's shit on he has a breaking point, he'll stand up for himself, er sometimes, other times his guilt is too much and he's ready to let his father figure toss him down a stairwell to his death, but look no one is perfect.

Key themes: Letting go of the past, guilt and striving to be a better person.

Main Motivation: Being a better man than most of the people around him. He's seen the worst in people and some of the best in others and he does his best to keep his head above water and not repeat the mistakes or down right evil of the worst. He just wants to be a good man and be seen for his worth, however little or a lot people think he has.

Skills: He's a rookie firefighter so if the train ever catches on fire he'll know how to handle that? He's also not too shabby with cooking, not a pro by any means, but he knows his way around a kitchen.

Item: Pack of cigarettes, his wallet. Nothing important really.

Sample: These samples are ages old, it's been a while since I've properly played him in a game. Hope that's okay!

Kinda stands up for himself a bit, but mostly crumples under anyone being rude or harsh to him.

Will mess up a shitty punk for almost burning a city down and hurting people he cares about.

Can be cute and cheeky if given the chance.

Notes:

He's just a nervous baby, your honor!