InsaneJournal

Bio: Ben Ferguson


OOC Information:
name: Alison
age: 45
rp experience: 6 years +, all done either on LJ, GJ or IJ
screen name: LJ: blacknarcissus2, IJ: tulliver, AIM: snakebittenraven, Y!M: black_narcissus2003
time zone: GMT

IC Information:
character's name: Benjamin Antony (Ben) Ferguson
character's pb: Kiefer Sutherland
journal link: b_ferguson
race: Werewolf
age: 26
date of birth: 5th July 1982
marital status: Single
sexual orientation: Straight
brief character history: Ben was born in North Carolina, in a little town called Climax, to Ben Sr. and Miriam. He's the eldest of three children - he has a younger brother, Seth, and a sister, Rachael, who's the baby of the family.

He was raised in a religious household and helped his father on their farm when he wasn't in school. Rules were many and strict, but consistent, and Ben didn't need punishing very often. His mother never took a strap to him - her hand was more than hard enough instead. It was initially expected that Ben would one day take over the farm from his father, but while he enjoyed the work and became proficient at it and all related duties, it wasn't what he wanted. Fortunately, it was clear from very early on that Seth had all the desire for farmwork that Ben lacked and there was a subtle shift in focus over the years as the boys grew. By the time Ben graduated High School all his father wanted to know was "Medicine or Church?" There was no question. Ben chose medicine.

He got into Duke University School of Medicine. It was sheer coincidence that it was less than 50 miles from there to Climax. His parents bought him his own car - more functional than fashionable, but at least it gave Ben some small amount of independence. Not that late nights or weekends away were countenanced anyway. Ben took his studies seriously and was more than happy to make them, and his regular household/farm chores, his priority.

Ben turned 20 - and completed his Sophomore year - in July 2002. Ben had enjoyed that year at Med School. At Duke they spent the second year doing clinical rotations and that had only served to make Ben even more sure that he'd picked the right career. He'd started mapping out his future, giving himself goals and deadlines, much as he'd done all his life so far. He was a firm believer in plans and routines, having learned such from his mother's running of the household.

The Full Moon that July fell on the night of 23rd/24th. Ben had been working on the farm all day, fixing up fences and mending a couple broken gates. He'd stayed out late, not worried about the darkness since he'd lived on the farm all his life and the kitchen light gave him an easy mark to find his way back. What he never expected to encounter was the biggest damn wolf he'd ever seen in his life. He'd heard it break cover and had turned his flashlight on it, which had caused it to stop for a second until the dazzle had cleared from its eyes. It wasn't a long head start, but it was long enough for Ben to be on his way up a tree by the time the creature reached him. It jumped for him but Ben was too high and had too secure a hold for it to drag him out. Instead, as it fell back, its teeth caught on the back of his right calf and raked right down it.

Ben stayed in the tree since he's an intelligent boy. He managed to tuck his mangled leg up, powered by adrenaline and some form of autopilot. He was there all night, since his parents, thinking he'd gone to bed, turned off the lights and left him there. Too scared to move, he managed to wedge himself fairly securely, and even dozed a little as the time passed.

The next morning, his mother opened the door just in time to catch him as he fell forwards towards her. He wasn't unconscious for long and was soon brought round by smelling salts. His father was oddly quiet when Ben managed to explain what had happened to him, but there was no talk of getting him to hospital. Well, there seemed little point. It was a large wound, to be sure, but it had already stopped bleeding and, once his mother had cleaned it out - under Ben's supervision - they were amazed at just how clean it seemed to be.

Ben soon recovered. Sort of. While his leg was healing as much as it ever would, he seemed to be having problems with his other senses. Although, "problems" wasn't quite the right word. He discovered within two days that he no longer seemed to need his glasses. He also no longer needed for anyone to actually enter his room to call him for dinner since he could hear the instruction being given to whichever sibling happened to be in the kitchen. And he found that, while he could still eat his meals and be thankful for them - which he was - he seemed to be developing strange cravings. His steak, which he'd always preferred well-done to cremated before, now needed to be just one step away from still mooing. This was fine, of course. But when he wanted his ham and eggs more... raw... he decided something wasn't quite right.

It was his father who told him what had happened. Ben hadn't been the first in the area to have encountered the unnatural wolf. He was the first to survive the attack, though. Werewolves had been encountered in the area over the years - not often and not many, but enough that nobody over 40 doubted their existence for a minute. It was also his father who prepared one of the sheds for Ben's first Moon.

He didn't do a good enough job, and Ben escaped. It was only the electric fencing that contained him. Crazed with fear and pain in a totally alien form, Ben frenzied. He awoke outside, battered and bruised and with his father's shotgun trained on him "just in case". It was then that Ben decided he had to leave. He couldn't put his family in danger like this and, if he was going to be killed by anyone, he'd prefer it was by somebody who wouldn't suffer for it afterwards.

He packed his bags, packed the car, and left without a backwards glance. He hasn't seen his family from that day to this. Oddly, he doesn't miss them so much. After all, they're a totally different species to him now, aren't they?

Returning to Medical School was out of the question, naturally. Ben still had his text books, though. And, as he drove from place to place, he carried on his own studies for his own interest. Naturally, he tried to find information on lycanthropy. At first he was rather heartened by the amount of literature on the subject... only to have his hopes dashed when the medical books really didn't seem to know what they were talking about. Then again, most of the so-called "occult" books that he looked at didn't really seem much better informed, although they did at least know it as a physical condition and not a mental one. Score one for the spooky side!

So, he became a drifter and learned more about the "new him" at time went on. At first it terrified him, mainly because of the complete lack of control. Gradually, however, he began to gain little bits of memory about what when on when he "wasn't quite himself". He also found that, as he got more accustomed to the approaching Moon, the agony of the Change itself seemed to abate. It was never a totally pleasurable experience - after all, his entire form completely changed shape and size - but he eventually got it down from a scream to a dull roar.

That was when he began changing outside the Moon. He can't remember what triggered his first one, but it scared the crap out of him since he felt as though he'd lost even more control. It was only after he tried it consciously a few times and it WORKED, that he realised this could actually be rather cool after all.

Of course, while he was getting used to all this, he was also exposed to a world he'd never experienced before. To say he never knew it existed would be a lie - after all, he IS a bright boy - but the old combination of cigareeeeets and whiskey and wild wild women had never been an attraction to him. He discovered a liking for tobacco, a taste for beer which was surpassed only by a taste for vodka, and he lost his virginity to a whore in Springfield, Missouri on his 21st birthday. He liked that, too.

So, since life had shit on him, Ben decided that he'd make the most of what he had. It was another reason he couldn't go home because he knew his parents would be disappointed in him. So he kept away and carried on taking jobs paying just enough money to keep him in his three main interests. He also continued in his medical studies, but more on a "freelance" standing.

Eventually, he found work with a Joe McCloy in New York state. Things were going really well. He worked hard and seemed to please the boss, and he'd found an empty shed where he could Change that Moon.

Of course, it all went wrong. It was bound to happen eventually. McCloy's son - some trainee veterinarian - decided to come poking around and Ben did what Ben couldn't NOT do. He attacked. He awoke the next morning, knowing he hadn't killed McCloy's son and knowing he'd run away from guns - not that they could kill him, but they could sure prove an inconvenience, and it wouldn't be easy to explain any residual wounds afterwards.

He'd have to move on. He spent the morning packing up his car while he worked out a few niggling aches and tweaks, then he was gone. On the way, and in a sudden fit of near-conscience, he drove to the nearest hospital. He knew McCloy Jr. had been taken there from what little he'd heard that morning - which was still a lot more than anyone thought he'd heard. If he'd been discharged, Ben decided, then he'd just drive on and the guy was on his own. As luck would have it, Aidan was still there. Ben asked for his room, claiming to be a family member - which he now actually was. He managed to procure a white jacket for himself and eventually found Aidan, high on painkillers, but not so high that he couldn't take in what Ben had to say to him.

Ben didn't waste time on apologies. He informed Aidan that he was now a werewolf, told him what to expect in the next few days, attempted to reassure him it was all natural, then checked Aidan's chart and took his temperature and blood pressure, noting them on his sheet and informing him that he'd be fine. Then he was gone.

He took the white coat with him just in case it might come in useful in the future, got in his car, pointed the hood south and, just as with his human family, took off without a backwards look. He really wasn't parent material. And besides, he'd already decided that his next stop would be New Orleans. He'd heard good things about the place, and it was about time he took a vacation.

personality: Ben is a creature of two extremes. Should the situation require it, he can be friendly and utterly charming - even gentlemanly. And it's not all a front - there is some residual part of him that is still the polite farm boy. However, he's had to learn to keep himself to himself a great deal. He does enjoy what he is - no point in not getting as much out of life as you can, after all. But he'll cheat you blind, pick your pocket while smiling in your face and you won't even know he's done it. It's how he survives after all. Occasional carpentry work doesn't pay too well. He breaks all the Commandments on at least an occasional basis - some of them extremely regularly, but on top of all this he is basically truthful. He doesn't see the point in lying - never has done, even when he thought it was bad - especially when the human he's telling the truth to has to accept it anyway. He takes what he wants, when he wants. That includes prey over the Moon, groceries whenever he needs them, and money whenever he can.

The other side of him is not quite so agreeable. Ben has a temper. He will not back down to anyone and he has NO problem with attacking first. He's strong, fast and agile and he will use all his enhanced abilities with no consideration for his - generally human - opponent. If you cross him he WILL let you know about it, and he's generally not forgiving. This side of his personality has developed since he was Bitten and he doesn't know if it was cause by the Bite or if it was always there, under the surface. Then again, he doesn't waste a lot of time worrying about it either.

Samples:
RP sample: (third person) *points to DD game*
Journal sample: (first person) *points to DD game*