#darkskies.task

Damien Elias Mercer

Future Timeline Muse

Faceclaim / Inspiration: Andy Biersack Nickname: Daze (Riley Lockwood only; others rarely earn it), Mercy (Bandmates started this nickname and it quickly caught on around him) Age: 31 Species: Vampire Origin: Future Timeline (post-collapse supernatural world) Affiliation: Independent / Riley Lockwood’s trusted ally

✦ Core Identity

Damien Mercer is a future-born vampire survivor who exists entirely outside formal factions.

He is not Triad. Not resistance leadership. Not council. Not governed by any supernatural authority.

He is what remains when institutions fail.

A courier, fixer, and ghost-network operator who moves between fractured safe zones in the post-collapse world.

✦ Appearance

Hair: Dark, usually unstyled, falls into his eyes when tired

Eyes: Brown shifting gold-red when hunger or emotion spikes

Build: Lean, agile, runner’s musculature rather than brute force

Style: Black layers, worn leather jackets, band tees from eras that no longer fully exist

Tells: Smirks when he’s lying, goes quiet when he’s thinking, always scanning exits

Presence: Feels like static before a storm — not loud, but impossible to ignore

✦ Personality

Damien is controlled chaos wrapped in calm humor.

He does not “perform danger.” He simply never learned how to stop being it.

Core Traits:

dry, sharp humor used as emotional insulation

intensely observant and strategic

deeply loyal but selective with trust

emotionally private but not emotionally absent

calm under pressure in ways that unsettle people

avoids attachment until it becomes unavoidable

He doesn’t soften easily — he adapts around people instead.

✦ Abilities

Damien is a product of survival, not lineage prestige or politics.

Vampire Traits:

enhanced speed and reflexes

high compulsion skill (refined through necessity, not teaching)

stealth specialist

interrogation-level psychological reading

combat style favors knives, ambushes, and exits over confrontation

Strength Profile:

excels in infiltration and extraction

excels in information gathering under hostile conditions

operates best alone or with one trusted partner

Weaknesses:

sleep deprivation cycles from long-term survival work

emotional suppression that can snap under stress

unstable feeding patterns in high-conflict environments

refusal to rely on authority structures (even helpful ones)

✦ Backstory (Future Timeline Canon)

Damien comes from the fractured future timeline after supernatural systems destabilized.

There are no clean governments in his origin era. Only:

survivor enclaves

collapsing safe zones

shifting supernatural territories

intermittent war between factions, predators, and hunters

Damien survived by becoming useful to everyone and loyal to almost no one.

He worked as:

a courier for displaced supernaturals

an identity broker for people trying to disappear

a message runner between broken safe zones

a fixer for people who couldn’t afford to be seen

He never aligned with any faction permanently.

Because every faction eventually stopped protecting people.

✦ Riley Lockwood Connection

Riley Lockwood is the only constant Damien recognizes as “real continuity” between timelines.

They met in the future timeline during an extraction gone wrong — not as allies, but as two people stuck in the same impossible moment.

Damien helped Riley survive it.

Riley returned the favor later without asking for credit.

Since then:

Riley = anchor, trust exception, chosen family

Damien = operational ghost, backup plan, quiet protection

They do not function like partners in a formal sense.

They function like survival memory.

If Riley moves, Damien recalibrates.

If Damien disappears, Riley knows where to start looking first.

✦ Occupation (Present Timeline)

Underground Musician

Damien performs in small, often unlicensed venues across New Mystic Orleans Falls and surrounding sectors.

His music exists outside of politics, factions, or organized networks. He does not use it as a tool for messaging, coordination, or survival systems — it is simply what he does to stay anchored in a world that never fully stopped feeling unstable.

His work includes:

intimate club performances

stripped-down acoustic sets in backrooms and basement stages

occasional traveling gigs that blur into rumor more than schedule

His sound is raw, emotional, and atmospheric — often carrying a sense of nostalgia for places that don’t exist anymore.

He writes about:

memory

loss

identity

the quiet weight of living through too many endings

Some people try to read meaning into his lyrics beyond the music itself. Damien never confirms or denies anything. He just plays the next song.

✦ Relationships

Riley Lockwood

Primary bond. Found-family level connection.

mutual trust built in collapse conditions

shared survival history from future timeline

emotional communication mostly indirect (jokes, silence, timing)

Riley is the only person Damien consistently reappears for

Supernatural Community (General)

Damien exists around systems, not within them.

vampires see him as “too human-thinking”

witches see him as “useful but unpredictable”

hunters see him as “high-value but non-cooperative”

civilians rarely realize what he is until he’s already gone

✦ Aesthetic & Themes

neon-lit streets with power outages

abandoned venues still playing music after shows end

cigarette smoke and broken amplifiers

quiet laughter in unsafe places

maps drawn and redrawn until memory replaces paper

survival that looks like confidence from a distance

✦ Keepsakes

battered cassette tapes from pre-collapse eras

Riley’s old communication tag (never returned)

handwritten lyric sheets that double as coded logs

a broken guitar pick he refuses to replace

an old burner phone that still turns on sometimes, against logic

✦ Core Truth

Damien Elias Mercer does not belong to systems.

He survives them.

𖤐 Kaela "Kae" Sunforge

Faceclaim: Adrianne Palicki Age: Appears 30s | Actual age: 340+ Species: Dawn Fae Court: Dawn Court Title/Role: Dawn Court Guard — Captain of the First Light Affiliation: House of Dawn (Gwendolyn Song, High Lady of Dawn Court) Residence: Dawn Court Enclave (New Mystic Orleans Falls)

✦ Aesthetic Snapshot

Sunlit steel • burnished gold armor • linen cloaks Battle-braided hair • scarred knuckles • warm eyes Dawn sigils etched into blade hilts Smells of clean air and heated metal Carries the quiet of mornings before war

✦ Personality

Ride-or-die loyal. Grounded, steady, no-nonsense. Protective without being smothering. Dry humor, battlefield calm. Holds the line when others waver. Believes in mercy, practices discipline. Will stand between her High Lady and the world without asking why.

✦ History

Kaela Sunforge was born at first light on the Day of Renewal, when the Dawn Court’s bells ring low and gold across the terraces and even the elders pause their quarrels to breathe. Dawn Fae say children born in that hour are given two gifts: clarity of sight and a temper that burns clean. Kaela grew into both. She learned early to read the air before storms—political and otherwise—and to stand her ground without mistaking stubbornness for strength.

She met Gwendolyn Song in the sparring courts when they were barely old enough to hold practice blades without dropping them. Gwendolyn had a strategist’s patience; Kaela had a breaker’s instinct. They made each other better. Where Gwendolyn planned three moves ahead, Kaela taught her how to plant her feet when plans failed. Where Kaela rushed the line, Gwendolyn taught her when to wait for the light to change. Their bond wasn’t ceremonial. It was forged in scraped knuckles, shared contraband sunrise buns, and the quiet promise made between children who realized too soon that their lives would be public property.

As adolescents, they were separated by station—Gwendolyn pulled into courtcraft and diplomacy, Kaela into the Guard’s early trials. Kaela took the oath of the First Light Cadre, an elite training path reserved for those meant to stand closest to the throne. The trials were not simply martial; they tested restraint, judgment, and the capacity to hold a line without becoming the line. Kaela failed the restraint trial once—stepping forward to shield a novice who froze under null-light. The reprimand stayed with her: protection is not possession. She learned to shield without smothering, to be present without eclipsing the will of those she protected.

Centuries tempered her steel. Kaela served on the borders where Dawn Court light thinned into Winter shadow, where treaties were inked with smiles and enforced with spears. She escorted emissaries through Night Court veils, learned the cadence of Autumn Court negotiations, and memorized the ways predators test a perimeter before they strike. In one border skirmish—never named in the Court annals—Kaela held a broken causeway long enough for a refugee column to cross, taking a sun-scar across her ribs that flares when Dawn magic runs thin. It is the scar she keeps uncovered as a reminder: hope does not move unless someone stands still for it.

When Gwendolyn was named High Lady, Kaela refused the ceremonial captaincy that would have tied her to chambers and councils. She chose the field command instead. Over time, necessity elevated her to Captain of the First Light—the Guard unit tasked with immediate protection of the High Lady and Dawn Court envoys. Their doctrine is simple: proximity without spectacle; presence without provocation. Kaela trains her Guard to look like a sunrise—soft at the edge, blinding at the center.

The Convergence changed everything. Dawn envoys were cast into human cities where the light was filtered through glass and grief. Kaela became the shield in unfamiliar streets—learning human choke points, adapting formation tactics to narrow alleys, and negotiating with factions that mistook Dawn mercy for weakness. She coordinated evacuations when Triad probes tested Dawn borders, quietly rerouted patrols when Night Court routes shifted, and stood the line during public appearances when the High Lady’s presence became a lightning rod.

Privately, Kaela carries the weight of being the one who lives so Gwendolyn can lead. Their friendship has matured into a vow neither speaks aloud: Kaela will be the steady ground; Gwendolyn will be the rising light. Kaela allows herself little softness outside that bond. When she does—at sunrise, with bread still warm and steam curling off stone—it is a discipline she practices as fiercely as the blade. Dawn Fae say the sun does not rise by accident. Kaela agrees. Someone has to hold the horizon.

✦ Abilities

• Dawnfire blade-work (sun-charged steel) • Radiant warding & protective sigils • Enhanced strength/speed (Fae physiology) • Formation tactics & close-protection doctrine • Light-weaving for concealment at first light • Battlefield triage & evacuation protocols

✦ Weaknesses

• Will overextend for Gwendolyn • Carries command fatigue • Hesitates to ask for rest • Sun-magic wanes at deep night • Old scars flare under null-light fields

✦ Reputation

In the Courts: “If Kaela stands the gate, the gate stands.” Among allies: “She doesn’t posture. She ends problems.”

✦ Defining Quote

Willow “Billie” Salvatore

Future Timeline Muse

Full Name: Willow Elizabeth Salvatore Nickname: Billie (used by family, chosen family, and anyone she trusts) Age: 24 Species: Human (Cure-born lineage) Origin: Future timeline Parents: Caroline Forbes × Stefan Salvatore Residence: New Mystic Orleans Falls (often between Mystic Falls sectors & neutral corridors)

✦ Species & Cure Lore

Willow was born human, but not ordinary.

After the Cure passed through both Caroline and Stefan, its effects altered their bloodline permanently. Willow carries a stabilized, inherited Cure imprint—not active magic, not a spell, but a genetic echo that makes her uniquely resistant to vampiric turning, compulsion, and resurrection magic.

She cannot be turned. She cannot be magically resurrected without catastrophic backlash. Death, for Willow Salvatore, is final—and everyone around her knows it.

This has shaped every choice her parents made… and every risk she refuses to let others take for her.

✦ Appearance

Hair: Ash-blonde with darker roots, usually worn loose or in a low knot

Eyes: Steel-blue, sharp but kind—Stefan’s calm with Caroline’s fire

Build: Lean, runner-strong, deceptively gentle

Style: Soft utilitarian—worn jackets, boots, vintage sweaters, rings she never takes off

Tells: A habit of touching her wrist when anxious; smiles with her eyes before her mouth

✦ Personality

Billie is quietly formidable.

She doesn’t dominate rooms—she stabilizes them.

Observant, emotionally intelligent, deeply self-aware

Dry humor, inherited Salvatore restraint with Forbes bite underneath

Fiercely values consent, choice, and personal agency

Carries guilt she doesn’t talk about—especially regarding supernatural violence she survived because others didn’t

Believes hope is something you practice, not something you feel

She is gentle without being fragile. Human without being helpless.

✦ Skills & Training

Raised by two people who knew the cost of immortality too well to romanticize it.

Trained in self-defense, situational awareness, and emergency triage

Deep knowledge of supernatural politics, factions, and histories

Skilled mediator—often used as a neutral voice between supernaturals and humans

Excellent memory; keeps detailed journals she never lets anyone read

Knows how to survive a city that wants to eat you

✦ Relationship to Her Parents

Stefan Salvatore (Father) She inherited his stillness, his moral spine, and his quiet terror of failing the people he loves. He taught her restraint—not as repression, but as power.

Caroline Forbes (Mother) From Caroline she learned confidence, adaptability, and how to walk into chaos without apologizing for existing. Caroline worries constantly. Billie notices—and pretends not to.

They love her fiercely. And they fear her mortality more than any enemy.

✦ Place in the Dark Skies World

In a city shaped by resurrection, immortals, and second chances, Willow Salvatore is a fixed point.

She represents:

What it means when death matters

What legacy looks like without supernatural shortcuts

A future built by people who chose humanity again

Supernaturals protect her instinctively. Hunters don’t know what to make of her. The city seems to listen when she speaks.

✦ Aesthetic & Themes

Candlelight in ruined rooms

Coffee gone cold during hard conversations

Old journals, new maps

Human heartbeat in a supernatural war

“You don’t have to live forever to matter.”

✦ History

Billie learned control before she learned confidence.

From her father she inherited stillness — the Stefan kind, quiet and deliberate, like a lake pretending it doesn’t have a bottom. From her mother she inherited polish — the Caroline kind, bright smile, straight spine, don’t let them see you shake.

She is not loud. She is not fragile. She is precise.

Defining Experiences

Age 12 – The Training Room Stefan taught her how to throw a punch she’d hopefully never need, how to breathe through panic, how to leave before pride convinced her to stay. Billie learned that discipline can be gentle — and that fear handled early never grows teeth.

Age 15 – The River Incident A boy from school nearly drowned during a summer storm. Billie dove in without thinking and held his head above water until help arrived. Everyone called it bravery. She called it the first time her body moved faster than her doubts.

Age 18 – The Slow Burn She met Lucas Reed during her last year of high school — older, charming, the kind of attention that felt like sunlight after a long winter. At first he was patient. Then possessive. Then careful about which bruises showed. Billie told herself she was overreacting. Told herself she came from a family that expected danger everywhere. The night he left bruises she couldn't hide, she heard Stefan’s voice in her head instead of her own: leave before pride takes your life She did — at 3:12 a.m., barefoot, with her phone at 7% and a lie already rehearsed. He spent months trying to reach her. Flowers on the porch. Messages that sounded like apologies and read like warnings. Damon changed the locks without asking. Billie learned that love can feel like a hallway with no exits.

Age 21 – The Backroom at Paper Moon It happened on a Thursday, the kind of ordinary day people forget. Billie was closing the bookstore when a delivery driver stumbled through the back door, hand pressed to his side, shirt already dark and blooming. He’d been caught in the wrong argument on the wrong street — a knife, a bad temper, and a man who ran. There was so much blood. More than movies ever prepared her for. It smelled like pennies and hot iron and something alive trying not to be. Billie did what she knew how to do: towels, pressure, her voice steady even while her knees weren’t. She kept talking to him about nothing — the weather, the terrible radio in his truck — because silence felt like giving up. The ambulance took too long. He bled through three of cloths. He died with her hands still holding the wound closed. Afterward she stood at the sink scrubbing until the water went cold, convinced the red was still under her nails even when it wasn’t. For weeks she woke to the sensation of warmth spreading across her palms. She started wearing gloves to bed without realizing. The nightmares come less now — but sometimes she still smells copper in clean rooms and has to sit down before the floor tilts.

Age 22 – The Breakup She dated Evan Morales for a year — kind, funny, determined to be her safe place. But safety curdled into control. He hated how she checked windows. Hated how she wouldn’t share locations. Hated that she flinched when he raised his voice. The last fight ended with him blocking the doorway “to talk.” Billie heard the click of a lock that wasn’t there and realized she was repeating a story she already knew. She left without packing. He called her paranoid. She kept the word like a medal.

Relationships

Stefan — Father Their bond is built in quiet rituals: early runs along empty streets, oil under fingernails while fixing an engine neither of them needs, sitting in the same room without speaking and understanding everything anyway. Stefan taught her that restraint isn’t weakness — it’s choosing who you become.

Caroline — Mother Sparkle and spine. Caroline taught Billie how to take up space, how to be kind without being small, how to walk into a room like she deserves the air. They fight in matching tones and forgive in matching smiles.

Uncle Damon — Anchor & Agitator Damon is the one who refuses to let her pretend she’s tougher than she is. He taught her how to play pool, how to lie convincingly, and how to admit when she’s scared without losing dignity.

He calls her Kid even though she’s grown.

Slips cash into her jacket “for emergencies” she pretends not to notice.

The only person allowed to tease her about being “Stefan with better eyeliner.” Billie trusts him with the ugly thoughts — the ones too sharp for her parents — and Damon trusts her with the softer pieces of himself he doesn’t show anyone else.

Unnamed (Connection Open) — Friend Fellow insomniac who meets her at 24-hour diners and never asks why she watches the door.

Occupation — Human & Very Billie

Used Bookstore Buyer & Restorer – “Paper Moon Books”

Billie spends her days:

repairing cracked spines with careful hands,

cataloguing stories other people forgot,

choosing which books deserve a second life.

It suits her — quiet, deliberate, full of small rescues. She says she likes fixing things that don’t fight back.

Keepsakes

From Stefan: The thin leather bookmark he made from an old tool strap — plain, slightly crooked, no initials. He told her, “Keep your place.” Billie moves it from book to book like a quiet promise to stay in the story.

From Caroline: A silver bangle bracelet, simple and a little scuffed, something Caroline wore when Billie was small. Her mother slipped it onto Billie’s wrist after the funeral and said, “You don’t have to carry everything with your hands.” Billie twists it when her breathing gets loud.

Present Life

Billie closes the shop most nights, counts the register twice, and walks home on well-lit streets. She trains three mornings a week, drinks coffee she pretends to like, and practices taking up space without apologizing.

Trauma markers: hates hands on her wrists, double-checks locks, avoids parking lots after dark. Flaw: confuses vigilance with control. Strength: tenderness that survived being scared.

Core Truth

Billie Salvatore isn’t fearless.

Kolton Mikaelson

Future Timeline Muse

Faceclaim: Lorenzo Zurzolo Full Name: Kolton Ezra Mikaelson Age: 27 Species: Witch (Mikaelson bloodline) Bloodline Anomaly: Cure-infused veins (inherited from Kol Mikaelson) Parents: Davina Claire × Kol Mikaelson Sibling: Claire Mikaelson (younger sister) Residence: New Mystic Orleans Falls (moves often; never roots for long)

✦ The Cure in His Blood

Kolton was born a witch with a dormant Cure echo inherited from Kol Mikaelson.

He cannot be turned

Dark magic extracts a physical cost, not a metaphysical lock

✦ Magic Balance (Clarified)

The Cure doesn’t stop death from being undone—it ensures that power always leaves scars, not closed doors.

Kolton still walks the razor’s edge between legacy and consequence—just without artificial hard stops.

✦ Appearance

Hair: Dark, loose curls—often falling into his eyes

Eyes: Stormy hazel, sharp with curiosity and restrained chaos

Build: Lean, restless, coiled energy rather than brute force

Style: Structured chaos—tailored coats over worn shirts, rings etched with old runes, boots meant for running

Tells: Fingers always moving; smiles that don’t always reach his eyes

He looks like someone who has learned how to survive being powerful.

✦ Personality

Kolton is controlled fire.

Brilliant, sarcastic, painfully observant

Inherited Kol’s defiance—but filtered through Davina’s conscience

Protective to the point of self-destruction where Claire is concerned

Distrusts institutions, factions, and promises

Believes love is a liability—and still chooses it anyway

He is not reckless. He is intentional.

Every spell is measured. Every risk is weighed.

✦ Magic & Abilities

Kolton’s magic is precision-based, built for disruption rather than spectacle.

Advanced ritual magic and spell-weaving

Counter-magic specialist (wards, reversals, magical shutdowns)

Resistant to possession, compulsion, and body-hopping magic

Can burn through cursed artifacts—but suffers physical backlash (nosebleeds, tremors, loss of sensation)

Dark magic doesn’t whisper to him. It breaks its teeth trying.

✦ Relationship Dynamics

Davina Claire (Mother) She taught him restraint, ethics, and the cost of power. He respects her more than anyone—and fears disappointing her above all else.

Kol Mikaelson (Father) Kolton inherited Kol’s brilliance and his rage—but not his hunger for chaos. Their relationship is layered with love, arguments, and the quiet understanding that Kolton represents proof Kol could change.

Claire Mikaelson (Younger Sister) His anchor. His weakness. His non-negotiable line.

He would burn cities for her. And then hate himself for how easily he could.

✦ Place in the Dark Skies World

Kolton Mikaelson is known as someone you call when magic goes wrong.

Not to make it pretty. To make it stop.

Feared by corrupt witches

Watched carefully by Triad

Respected by older factions who know what his bloodline means

Uncomfortable reminder that immortality has consequences

He exists between legacy and extinction—too powerful to ignore, too human to control.

✦ Aesthetic & Themes

Ink-stained hands and bloodied sleeves

Spell circles burned into concrete

Midnight wards that hum like warning bells

Siblings clinging to each other after the world almost ends

“Power doesn’t make you a god. It just makes your mistakes louder.”

✦ Emotional Layers

Fears He Won’t Admit Kolton’s real fear isn’t becoming a monster — it’s becoming ordinary in his violence. He’s afraid of the moment when crossing a line stops feeling like a decision and starts feeling like efficiency. He doesn’t fear darkness; he fears how good he is at navigating it.

He also fears being reduced to a cautionary tale: Kol Mikaelson’s son, but worse, someone people use as proof that power always rots.

What Calms Him Down Motion and focus. Long walks with no destination. Repetitive physical tasks that burn off excess energy without demanding introspection. Playing music late at night when the compound sleeps. Silence shared with someone who doesn’t try to fix him. Claire calms him because she doesn’t monitor him. She trusts him without conditions, and that trust keeps him from crossing lines he knows he could.

How His Anger Shows Up ✦ Anger & Control

How Anger Shows Up Kolton’s anger wears a smile.

It sharpens his humor into something barbed — jokes that land a second too precisely, amusement that feels like a threat rather than relief. He laughs at the wrong moments, eyes bright with interest instead of rage, like he’s already three steps ahead and enjoying the math.

When truly angry, he becomes pleasant. Polite. Curious. He asks questions that corner people, offers choices that aren’t really choices, and watches carefully to see which way they break.

It’s not explosive. It’s surgical — and deeply Kol-coded.

Those who mistake it for playfulness usually realize too late that they’re being dismantled.

Aftermath When it passes, there’s no catharsis. No relief. Just restless energy and the urge to keep moving before the edge comes back. He doesn’t apologize for what he says when angry — only for what he does, and rarely even then.

What Stops Him Not guilt. Not rules.

People stop him. Specific ones. Claire most of all. The

✦ Reputation

Rumors That Kolton Mikaelson is unstable. That he enjoys breaking other witches’ work. That he escalates situations instead of de-escalating them. That he’s charming until he decides not to be.

Triad’s View Triad classifies Kolton as High-Risk, Non-Compliant.

Not because of his blood — but because he cannot be reliably controlled. He questions authority instinctively, adapts too quickly under pressure, and does not break cleanly. Interrogation attempts historically escalate rather than contain him.

Triad knows better than to corner him again unless they’re prepared for casualties.

✦ Limits & Consequences

The Habit He Can’t Break

Kolton doesn’t stop when he should. He stops when it’s done.

✦ Aesthetic Deep Dive

Presence Kolton changes the pace of a room. People either slow down around him or rush to finish what they’re doing. Magic reacts subtly — wards hum louder, spells tighten.

Body Language Always angled, rarely still. He uses proximity deliberately: close enough to unsettle, far enough to disappear if needed. His hands give him away — restless until something demands precision.

Visual Texture Clothes chosen for durability and movement. Jewelry worn until it’s softened by skin and habit. Nothing ornamental without purpose.

Atmosphere He feels like someone who makes decisions people don’t want to make — and lives with them.

✦ Limits & Consequences (Triad-Coded)

Kolton’s limits were learned in captivity.

Triad didn’t try to suppress his magic. They didn’t care if it hurt him — pain was noise. What they wanted was data. They pushed him past safe thresholds on purpose, over and over, forcing precision after fatigue, restarting spells mid-cast, demanding control when his body was already failing.

They taught him exactly how far he could go after he should have stopped.

That’s why his body reacts the way it does now.

When Kolton overuses magic, his hands are the first to betray him — tremors, locking joints, fingers that refuse to obey even when the spell itself is still intact. Migraines hit fast and hard, vision narrowing, sound dulling, the world flattening into something he has to push through on instinct alone.

It isn’t random. It’s familiar.

Those reactions mirror the moments Triad marked as acceptable degradation — points where his body faltered but his magic still worked. His nervous system learned that failure didn’t mean stop. It meant continue anyway.

That conditioning never left.

Even now, exhaustion triggers the same internal countdown: how much longer he can function, how much precision he can force before collapse. He knows the numbers because someone else once kept them for him.

Which is why he doesn’t respect his limits.

Not out of arrogance — out of survival logic that never updated.

Stopping early once meant someone else paid the price. So Kolton learned to finish the work first and deal with the damage afterward.

The shaking hands. The locked muscles. The moments where he has to sit perfectly still until his body remembers how to move again.

Those aren’t side effects of magic.

They’re reminders of a place where endurance mattered more than safety — and where he was rewarded, punished, and measured for how long he could keep going.

Kolton doesn’t stop when he should.

He stops when it’s done.

And his body remembers exactly why.

✦ History

Kolton was raised between legends and lullabies.

Being the son of Kol Mikaelson and Davina Claire meant growing up in a house where spells were dinner conversation and grudges had family trees. He learned early that the Mikaelson name opens doors — and puts targets on backs.

His magic arrived like a storm he didn’t ask for.

Defining Relationships

Davina (mother): His moral compass. She taught him that power is a language, not a weapon.

Kol (father): Brilliant, infuriating, fiercely loving. Kolton inherited his wit and his temper — and spends his life trying to use only one.

Claire Mikaelson (sister): His soft spot. The only person he’ll be irrational for without apology.

Elijah & Freya: Unofficial mentors; he learned diplomacy from one and precision from the other.

What He’s Been Through

Age 15 — The Silence

The spell wasn’t ambitious. That was the cruel part.

It was meant to be simple — a layered working he’d practiced before, something well within his capability. When it collapsed, it didn’t explode or backfire spectacularly. It just… stopped.

So did his magic.

Not blocked. Not bound. Gone. Like a limb he could still remember moving but couldn’t feel anymore.

Weeks passed. Then months.

Kolton couldn’t sense wards. Couldn’t feel the hum of magic in a room. Couldn’t reach for anything no matter how instinctively he tried. Everyone told him it would come back, that magic didn’t just leave like that — but certainty didn’t help when his body no longer responded.

That’s when the panic started.

Shortness of breath. Tight chest. The sudden, irrational certainty that something essential had been severed permanently. He learned to hide it fast — steadying his voice, controlling his expression, riding it out in silence so no one would worry more than they already were.

When his magic finally returned, it came without warning.

Relief didn’t follow.

Kolton never fully trusted it again. Even now, he double-checks his connection before major spellwork — subtle, compulsive, a habit he pretends is just thoroughness.

What that year taught him stayed:

That power can disappear quietly. That control can be an illusion. And that fear, when it’s invisible, is easier to survive alone.

Age 20 — The Fight About Fear

By twenty, the future they lived in was already hostile.

Triad controlled the streets, the systems, the quiet spaces where people disappeared. Names mattered. Bloodlines mattered more. Kolton’s existence alone was enough to put a target on his back — a Mikaelson born into a world that had already lost one.

Hope Mikaelson had been missing since 2030. Gone long before Kolton was even born. A mass resurrection, a fracture in the world — and then absence. No body. No answers. Just proof that even legends could vanish.

Everyone lived with that knowledge.

Freya and Davina were scared.

They never said it outright, but it showed in the rules that crept into daily life. Don’t go alone. Don’t be visible. Don’t remind the world who you are. Don’t give Triad a reason to remember another Mikaelson.

The argument started over something small — where he’d been, how noticeable he’d made himself. A warning wrapped in concern.

Kolton snapped.

Not because he didn’t understand their fear — but because no one was asking about his.

He told them he wouldn’t live like he was already dead. That even Hope wouldn't have let Triad force her to shrink just for survival. That caution hadn’t stopped the world from taking people anyway. That if Triad was going to come for him because of his name, he refused to spend his life disappearing in advance.

What he didn’t say was how afraid he already was. How every step outside felt like borrowed time. How Hope’s absence lived in the background of everything — a reminder that survival didn’t always mean safety.

So he masked it.

Recklessness. Sarcasm. Chaos framed as choice.

The argument escalated quickly. Kol accused him of tempting fate. Davina begged him to slow down, to stop acting like nothing scared him.

That was when Kolton saw it clearly.

They weren’t angry. They were terrified.

Terrified that one wrong night would end the same way — another Mikaelson gone, another name added to the list of people who never came back.

Kolton left before it turned into something worse — not because he didn’t care, but because staying meant admitting how close to unraveling he already felt.

That night taught him something he never unlearned:

Fear doesn’t always make you hide. Sometimes it makes you louder.

And from then on, Kolton chose chaos over silence — not because he wasn’t afraid, but because he refused to let fear erase him the way it had erased others before him.

Age 21 — The Facility

Triad didn’t take him violently.

They took him correctly.

Containment spells tuned to his thresholds. Questions asked politely. Compliance framed as cooperation. He wasn’t treated like a prisoner — he was treated like a system they needed to understand.

They pushed him to cast past exhaustion. Interrupted spells mid-formation and made him restart. Logged tremors, reaction lag, precision loss. Watched how long his body could fail while his magic still worked.

Pain wasn’t the point. Endurance was.

Sleep came in fragments. The lights never turned off. Time blurred into cycles of demand and recovery that never fully reset. He learned how much he could function through before something gave — because they made sure he knew.

Davina burned half the facility to get him back.

Kolton remembers the fire only as a sensation — heat, smoke, the sudden shock of darkness after too much light. What stayed with him was everything before it.

Even now, his body reacts before his mind when he’s pushed too far. Tremors. Locking joints. Migraines that flatten the world into something narrow and survivable. His nervous system learned lessons it never forgot.

The worst part isn’t that Triad hurt him.

It’s that they proved he could keep going anyway.

And once you know that, stopping never feels urgent again.

Age 24 — The First Door He Opened

She was the first person Kolton let close after Triad.

Not immediately. Not easily. It took months of half-answers and careful distance, of her sitting beside him without asking questions he couldn’t survive yet. She didn’t push. She didn’t flinch when he went quiet or woke up shaking. She treated his boundaries like something sacred, not suspicious.

That’s why he trusted her.

Letting her in felt like proof that Triad hadn’t ruined him completely. That whatever they’d taken from him hadn’t made him untouchable. He told her things he’d never said out loud — about the lights, the tests, the way his body still reacted before his mind caught up. She listened like she was anchoring him to the present.

When he proposed, it wasn’t dramatic. No speeches. Just certainty. A quiet promise that this was real, that he was choosing to believe in something that extended beyond survival.

Then she didn’t come home.

The night it happened was painfully ordinary. No warning signs. No reason to think this was the night the world would split open again. A wrong place. A wrong person. A moment that turned irreversible before anyone could stop it.

Kolton found out the same way he’d learned everything else lately — too late.

At the hospital, the lights were the same ones he’d learned to fear. Too bright. Too clean. He stood there while someone spoke to him slowly, carefully, as if he might break if they moved too fast. He didn’t correct them. He didn’t react. He just nodded and let the words land where hope used to live.

What destroyed him wasn’t just losing her.

It was realizing that the one time he let himself believe he was safe — not powerful, not prepared, but safe — the universe took that as an invitation.

He blamed himself in ways that didn’t make sense and wouldn’t go away. For opening the door. For letting her see the damage. For daring to imagine a future that wasn’t built around containment and vigilance.

After that, Kolton didn’t just grieve her.

He closed himself again.

Not loudly. Not obviously. Just carefully enough that no one could tell where the door had been. He learned that love, when it’s real, is the most dangerous thing he can touch — not because it weakens him, but because it gives the world something irreplaceable to take.

And the worst part?

A part of him still believes that if he’d never let her in, she might still be alive.

That belief never leaves him.

Age 26 — The Silence, Broken

Triad didn’t target Claire directly.

They mirrored what they’d done to him.

Subtle surveillance. Casual proximity. Questions framed as coincidence. Pressure applied slowly enough to feel deniable. Kolton recognized the pattern with sickening clarity — because he’d lived it.

He didn’t think. He reacted.

What followed wasn’t clean or controlled. It was volatile, panicked, and vicious. Kolton intercepted the agents before they could close the net, and whatever restraint he’d built since captivity shattered under the weight of memory and fear.

He killed them.

Not efficiently. Not neatly.

Magic flared wild and brutal, fueled by terror and rage he hadn’t let himself feel since Triad took him. He didn’t stop when the threat was neutralized — he stopped when there was nothing left that could ever follow her again.

When it was over, Kolton stood shaking in the aftermath, surrounded by evidence of what he was capable of when pushed far enough.

Claire never knew. She still doesn’t.

But Kolton did.

He realized then how far he would go to keep the people he loved from suffering the way he had — and how easily the monster Triad had carved into him could surface when given a reason.

Laikyn Archer Reeves

Present Timeline Muse

Faceclaim: Sadie Sink Age: 24 Species: Human — Hunter Timeline: Present Residence: New Mystic Orleans Falls — Bywater (small apartment, creaky floors, too many locks) Occupation: Neighborhood Bar Manager / Bartender (cover)

✦ Species — Hunter (Independent, Human)

Laikyn is a hunter with no banner and no mythology attached to her name.

She wasn’t raised in a compound. She didn’t inherit a legacy arsenal. She learned because something hunted her first—and no one came to save her.

Trained in tracking, reconnaissance, and close-quarters defense

Avoids kills when possible; prioritizes containment and prevention

Weapons are practical, legal-adjacent, and hidden in plain sight

Knows the difference between a monster and someone trying to survive

She hunts to stop things from getting worse, not to feel powerful.

✦ Occupation — Bar Manager (Cover & Listening Post)

Laikyn runs a small neighborhood bar—low lights, cheap beer, strict rules.

No fighting

No feeding

No spells

No dragging trouble inside

People talk when they think no one’s listening. Laikyn listens like it’s a skill—because it is.

The bar functions as:

a pressure valve for the neighborhood

a quiet warning system

a place where problems surface before they explode

Most people think she’s just sharp and tired. The ones who know better respect the rules.

✦ Background

Laikyn grew up fast.

She learned how to read exits before she learned how to drive. Learned that adults lie when they’re scared. Learned that if you stay calm, people tell you more than they mean to.

When the city started changing, she didn’t go looking for answers. She made herself harder to corner.

No speeches. No vengeance monologues. Just preparation.

✦ Appearance

Hair: Copper-red, usually loose or pulled back when working

Eyes: Blue-gray, sharp, always clocking movement

Build: Lean, wiry strength

Style: Black tees, denim, boots; leather jacket when she needs weight

Presence: Quiet intensity—people lower their voices around her without realizing why

✦ Personality

Laikyn is controlled fire.

Observant, blunt, dryly funny

Keeps emotions close and decisions closer

Loyal to civilians first, always

Doesn’t posture, doesn’t threaten

Carries exhaustion like armor

She doesn’t want to be feared. She wants nights to end quietly.

✦ Reputation (If Known)

Other hunters consider her “careful”—high praise

Supernaturals clock her as dangerous only after it’s too late

Triad has her on a list they don’t fully understand

Locals just know she’ll walk them home if something feels wrong

✦ Aesthetic & Themes

Neon signs humming in the rain

Last call before disaster

Knives cleaned, never shown

Youth forced into vigilance

“I don’t need to win. I just need you to stop.”

✦ Core Truth

Laikyn Archer Reeves isn’t legendary.

She’s still alive.

And in New Mystic Orleans Falls, that’s not luck—it’s skill.

✦ History

Laikyn’s world split the night her brother vanished.

The police report said “voluntary disappearance.” The voicemail on his phone said something else. She learned to hunt because no adult wanted to admit monsters were real.

Defining Experiences

Age 18 – Storage Unit: Her first confirmed creature; she cried afterward and still finished the job.

Age 20 – The Wrong Mercy: Spared someone who later hurt another family; she wrote the victim’s name on the inside of her boot.

Age 22 – The Recruitment: A private organization offered her a badge and budget; she declined after reading their fine print.

Relationships

Mara Delaney — Employer / Anchor Owner of the bar where Laikyn works. Knows more than she says and less than Laikyn fears. Their rule is simple: no hunting inside, no questions asked outside.

Unnamed (Connection Open) — Childhood Friend Auto mechanic who patches her car and occasionally her knuckles. Thinks she does “private security” and chooses not to look too closely at the rest.

Dr. Nguyen — Therapist Believes Laikyn manages risk assessment for event venues. Focuses on grounding techniques and getting her to eat before noon.

Unnamed (Connection open) — Former Roommate Left after finding a duffel of gear under the bed. They still text on birthdays but avoid the word “why.”

Unnamed (Connection Open) — Informant A source she pays in cash and distance. They meet in daylight, always with a receipt between them.

Unnamed Reeves (Connection Open) — Missing Brother The open wound at the center of everything; she measures every decision against the question of whether it would help find him.