Name: Jamie Torrez Alvarado

Gender: Male, likely bisexual

Age/DOB: 25/1997ish

Origin: Armacham-Aperture Genetic Lab, Repurposed Earth

Family: none known, unlikely to have common genetics with others in program; he and Jayde hook up while he's training Peeper Puppies in the Ranch, their daughter is JJ; Rookery is known to have post-Hallow son Javi with Maroon of the Color Guard

Other: generally stays more with animals than humans

Height: 5'6

Weight: 100, athletic build and muscular but Icarus treatment lightened weight

Hair: Black with brown tint, straight, shaggy, usually in a pony tail to his mid-back, as an adult wears facial hair as shown

Eyes: dark strong green, also the color of his Vortal aura, usually seems happy and observant

Appearance: Tan skin that grows darker when outdoors, has numerous scars but no serious wounds from handling animals; typically doesn't wear shoes beyond sandals, has a hoodie with most of his gear bundled in it

Genetic Abilities: Very strong animal empathy and control. He can sense, summon, and to a strong degree manipulate the actions and responses of any non-sapient animal within a large area (grown from youth, can cover about a 4-block area). Can manipulate any number of animals at once, though specializes in Houndeyes, Headcrabs, and Ravens. Has a weak human telepathic power, but is easy to communicate to since he has a very distinct Vortal presence.


Image Credits: Icon/City of Heroes, Half Life / tektek

Icarus Processing: Yes, at age 4. This had an immediate effect on his size and weight, though he would never be tall Jamie's muscularity shows his love of athletic prowess. The processing reduced his overall weight by nearly half, and enhanced his flexibility as well as speed to about twice that of normal. It did not increase his raw muscular strength, but it clearly enhanced his Vortal presence. Before it, animals 'liked him', but he could neither sense nor control them. After, his abilities have grown steadily into his adult years.

Skills or Profession: Armacham would not really have much use for an 'animal trainer', however Jamie's abilities would work wonders at any wilderness park, guard dog training station, or for training seeing-eye, sniffer, or aid animals. In practical terms, Jamie's been of far more use in the Enrichment Center and its environment than almost any other powered individual. Though he could easily make other animals leave the area, he prefers to let them survive on their own and only manipulate them when needed. He hunts with the Houndeyes in the Outlands near the EC and around the Medusa frequently, and has been on hand at the Black Mesa ranch in order to help train their own sets of guard and hunting animals. He is typically hunting, scouting, or making sure that an area is secure from animal life (including off-world creatures) before any refugees come through.

Jamie's other skills are somewhat stunted. He likes reading, music, and watching old movies, but has very little interest in anything but animal-based sciences or technology.
Personality: Jamie is a pleasant, usually smiling young man, but generally enjoys being around animals rather than people. He's quiet, not really subdued but certainly more of an outsider in a large group of people. He feels much more at home with a group of Vorts than Humans, but he's never thought of himself as anything less than a confident contributor to the well being of the Pantheon. He knows that what he is able to do can help in a very tangible way, and has been rewarded on numerous occasions for doing so. He is in a word, content. He likes who he is, isn't really up in anyone's business, doesn't mind it when someone needs to talk to him or cry on his shoulder, but he rarely has an active role in making overall decisions about the Rookery or Pantheon.
Events or History: After the Events, Jamie's powers blossomed strongly. Not before: because he'd only been given very brief exercises with 'real' animals on a few training occasions by Armacham. He felt considerably less useful as a young child, and so the Events bringing odd alien wildlife close to him meant he could actually do something. Ever since that time, he's built up a collection of interesting animals - both alien and earthly - to learn more about them and see if they're of use. Jamie inspired Paxton to use a group of Houndeyes to check up on GLADOS before they destroyed her. After that point, and once they'd exited the facility, Jamie does regular patrols through the Outlands, and makes regular trips to a number of facilities (including Hoyle's Seattle estate and the Lane Mansion) to make sure that the local animals are friendly.

Dragon

Name: Rune
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Long Medium-small 7' shoulder / 55' l / 64' ws
Colors: body from head to rump medium green-teal, with darker teal muzzle, around base of neck, dots on shoulders, a narrow wave around mid-body, and hind socks as well as wing finger end joint; tail is pale seafoam green, with faint lighter seafoam green glow; wingsails are extremely transparent but quite dark green-black; horns are sea-green tinted white; eyes are sky blue
Features: Whiptail dragon - very long build, with 4 sturdy pawed legs; hide is very fine, soft and smooth scales in a dull finish; two wings with single visible fingers, nearly transparent wingsails; boxy face with prominent muzzle, horns split in the center; remarkably long tail which can be used as an attack cushioned by padding on hips. Wingsails can be easily torn and not so easily repaired. Omnivorous, meat for flight, and plant when flying is not needed.
Powers: Winged Flight, Rune is a swift, extremely silent flier, who tends to fly for short distances and carefully land on precarious spots, then take off once again. She is not particularly strong, so she isn't often relied upon to carry anyone or hold heavy objects, but she certainly can allow Jaime to ride her, as he is very lightweight.
Glowing Tail, In the darkness, her glowing tail is used as a lure or a guide. She can be halfway around a building with her 'business end' waiting for whatever is following that long tail, which might take a while to come near enough to bite or subdue. The glow can be seen from quite a distance if the air is clear, and produces a lovely soft glow in fog or dust which can be followed carefully. If she's meant to help guide humans, she stays on the ground and curls her tail into a knot, to provide a more steady and single location to follow; if she's luring creatures, she stretches it out quite long and waggles the end.
Parentage: Unknown, special nest, unrelated to any others
Origin: adopted from Dragonsandvideogames on Deviantart
Other Info: Rune is a steady companion for Jaime, unafraid of his other animal friends, though she does become a little spooked when much larger dragons are near. She enjoys their time at the Ranch, and may eventually decide to breed with Midnight, which seems to be a good plan for night-dwelling Whiptails, though it seems like she and her greener compaion would be a good match, Silo is a bit put off by the fact that Rune's basically an animal and not a proper 'dragon-shaped person' like he is.

Dragon

Name: Silo (short for psilocybe)
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium-small, 7' shoulder / 25' l / 44' ws
Colors: Body from nose to rump and under tail is medium green; back from neck to mid-tail is blobby darker green with fluted shape of very dark green around it; socks on all legs, tail tip, and wing arms/fingers on underside are sea-green for the most part; all areas have varied circular dots and shapes with dark green outline, on back includes grassy green centers matching hair and eyes; on chest, belly, legs, and tail sea / aqua green, with pale aqua and sea-foam green wingsails and tail tip; back of wings are very dark green with dark green circle markings; eyes and mane are bright grass green; horns are seafoam; claws are seafoam tinted white
Features: Tall, four skinny legs with 4 paw-like claws; fur-covered leathery wings with 4 visible stiff fingers and prominent wrist thumb, only wrist has large claw; neck and body are approximately the same length and size, tail is quite thin and whiplike; skin is velvety with very short fur that sheds in warm weather; head and neck has mane of silky longer fur; head is boxy with canine-like muzzle, external ears, two segmented sharp back-pointing horns
Powers: Winged Flight, with those strong wings, Silo is a solid lifter and hovering is a way of life for him. He does have powerful enough strength to be able to lift nearly his own weight, but only for short distances. He and Rune can race, but she usually wins, particularly if there are turns and obstacles in the way because of her tail used as counterbalance.
Physical Hypnosis, Because his wings are quite differently colored on under and upper sides, his flapping while hovering can be hypnotic. Jamie uses this to his advantage, if there are enemy types around, as this visual can distract almost any creature that has visual cognition.
Communication, Silo is quite vocal in terms of chirps and trills or other such draconic noises; in speech is very quiet and for the most part he speaks in short words and gets to the point, and rarely speaks with anyone other than Jamie or other dragons. It's unclear whether he understands Vort, but he has a decent grasp of the English spoken around the Mesa.
Immunity, Silo seems to be able to withstand a lot of toxins, poisons, radiation, and other such dangers - both ingested or on contact. That said, he cannot just shrug off damage from caustic materials for long, so he keeps his wingsails out of it, and bathes as much as possible (without licking himself clean beforehand) to prevent others from getting hurt if they touch him.
Hallucinogenic spit, Silo's mouth on the other hand, is gifted with spit that is capable of rendering human-sized creatures numb with visions and weird effects. This can cause enemies to fall over or run away, if they can still make out proper paths. It is not permanent, nor cumulative, so some of the scientists at the Mesa or even Rapture are working up ways to use this in combat for others to deploy. He thinks this is terrific. Normally he uses this to stun prey, before eating it.
Parentage: Unknown, unrelated to Echo and Devotion, but of the same breed.
Origin: Adopted from Ghost-flare on Deviantart
Other Info: Though he's considerably smarter than his counterpart Rune, Silo is still not the sharpest tack in the box when it comes to understanding advanced concepts. He's certainly equitable in intelligence to most Pernese type dragons, and likes their style, wishing he could teleport like they do. He knows he's often mistaken for a female Pernese, as they come in greens like he is, but none of those have his fancy markings - he is quite proud of those and likes to strut his stuff for the scientists while they're working on his hypnotic spit weapons.