~Delaney O’Connor~

~Nickname(s)~
Del

~Age~
19 y/o

~Gender~
Male

~Sexuality~
Pansexual

~Appearance~
Delaney, or Del as he’s more commonly called, stands at 5’10. He's not tall, nor is he short. In terms of muscle, there's not much for him to brag about, he's got an average-looking body, at best, you could call it slightly toned but that would be stretching it. His skin is a nice warm beige color, slightly sunburnt from spending a lot of time outside.

The guy's face is speckled with light freckles that spread down onto his shoulders. His eyes have a dark blue color, almost to the point where they look black and his eyelashes are long and dark. Del’s eyebrows are rather thin and ever so slightly arched towards the end. His nose is nothing too out of the ordinary, average in size, slightly pointy, however it is a bit crooked due to an old injury. As for his lips, they are average in size, possibly leaning slightly towards the thinner side of the spectrum, and most of the time, they can be seen forming a playful smirk.

When it comes to hair, Del’s hair is a mess. It’s black in color and very fluffy, slightly curly and kept between short and medium in length. The man does cut it himself, and it's not neatly done, making it look more unkempt and messy than what it would if he just took proper care of it. He does leave it alone to do its own thing most of the time so the best way to describe it is simply, a mess.

When it comes to body modifications he doesn't have any tattoos but he does have piercings, a septum piercings, both ear lobes pierced, as well as a helix piercing in his right ear, nothing much really. As for scaring there isn't much to say either. As mentioned before, his nose is slightly crooked but there aren't any scars. The only notable scar is the long one going down the side of his right leg.

Del’s clothing style is nothing too impressive, a pair of jeans paired with a t-shirt or hoodie does it for him, sometimes he may wear an open flannel shirt over but that's about as exciting as it gets.

~Personality~
Delaney isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea, so to say. There isn't a serious bone in the young man's body, he survives purely on his ability to talk his way out of anything and joke about just about any situation he ends up in.

He can be quite sarcastic, something that others often mistake for plain rudeness. Really he's the type that you either hate right from the start or you tolerate and he slowly starts growing on you, pretty much.

Del is often pretty unbothered by whatever is going on around him, he's one to laugh through a near death experience. Honestly, he does have a few screws loose. As long as he's able to get through life relatively smoothly, he's not one to complain though.

The guy has always done whatever is convenient and most profitable for him so while he's quite the friendly and talkative guy, he's not oblivious, you can't take advantage of him easily. If he does something for you then that probably means you can, and will, do something for him.

He’s not easy to piss off but if you succeed, he’s not one to fight you or start yelling. His mouth is his most valuable asset and he puts it to use even when angry, poking at every little insecurity that he can find until he feels better.

~Likes~
The woods
Other people
Food
Cats
Reading

~Dislikes~
Relying on others/Getting attached
Physical labour
Being alone
Getting ignored
Thunderstorms

~Strengths~
Talking ~ Ability to talk himself out of everything.
Climbing ~ He can climb just about any tree or building, having climbed a lot since he was just a little kid.
Ability to adapt ~ He’s not bothered by plans suddenly changing, he takes life as it comes and if plans change in the middle of something, he just shrugs his shoulders and starts planning his next move.

~Weaknesses~
Trust issues ~ While it's not obvious at first, he's got trust issues and he doesn't want to ever depend on someone else. He’s learnt to use others before they get a chance to use him.
Fighting skills ~ Del doesn't know how to fight one bit, he's awful at it and it's a wonder he still manages to stay alive, he does rely a bit too much on the power of his own words.
Physical strength ~ While he can pull himself up into a tree, that's about it, he's not crazy strong, nothing out of the ordinary.

~Other~
Has a black, long-haired cat that follows him around wherever he goes, he calls her Shadow since she's sort of like a shadow to him. That cat is the only one who he lets use him, he feeds and makes sure she gets water before himself, caring for her as if she's his child. He absolutely adores the feline and would kill anyone who hurts her.

He also has a playlist if you're interested in listening to it: Delaney

The streets were quiet around the young man walking down them, dark clouds hanging over his head. Trotting in front of him was a black cat, head raised and alert, the man however was not nearly as alert as his companion. The black-haired man was far more preoccupied with the book in his hand, not being careful at all to not make any sound, instead he was stepping on every other leaf and stick that got in his way.

Delaney, as the black-haired one was named, had been sent out to go scavenging for supplies, something the man was not a fan of but after some debating the higher ranked ones in his group, he had left.

They were always told to be alert and ready for anything when leaving camp, especially alone, but to no one's surprise, Del did not follow that. Instead he trusted that the fluffy little cat in front of him would warn him if he needed to look up.

As if on cue, the cat let out a low hiss and stopped abruptly, causing the man behind her to stop and look up, “What darling?” He stepped closer to the cat as he glanced around. There was some rattling coming from the alleyway between two buildings and the cat stood staring right into the darkness. “Intruders, hm?”

Del reached behind himself, dropping his book into the slightly opened bag on this back and instead grabbed the crowbar. Crouching down, the man pet the cat while smiling softly, “Dead or not? Whatcha think Shadow?”

The cat let out another low hiss in response and Del grabbed a rock off the ground as he stood back up “Oi! Rotten or not, you’re intruding,” he called before he sent the rock flying the alleyway. Hearing the rock hit the wall, Del expected to see at least one face emerge, preferably rotting, that way he wouldn't have to deal with the lunatics from the other nearby group.

It was neither though. Instead of a humanoid creature peering back at him and making their way towards him, there was something else. That something else was something that surprised both him and Shadow. Out from the alley came a coyote who took off towards the woods instead of towards them.

With a light chuckle, Delaney picked his companion up and put her on his shoulder, “See? It was nothing,” his tone grew soft each time he spoke to the cat, he would baby that cat to the point where it would get ridiculous at times but how could he not? She was just an innocent little creature full of love, you would have to be inhumanely cold hearted to not like her.

“Let us find something quick so we can get this over with soon,” he spoke, telling Shadow the plan as he started walking again. If he was correct there were supposed to be a few cabins not far out in the woods from the city that no one should have touched yet, unless those leeches from the other group had beaten him to it but he doubted that they had. Well, he hoped that they hadn't. If they had then it would be far more work for him to find supplies and today he felt like working less than what he usually did, which already wasn't a lot. The young man could be incredibly lazy after all.

((Hope this is good enough for a starter!))

When the pair reached the woods, Del could feel how Shadow jumped off his shoulder before trotting ahead of him. The young man smiled gently as he watched the cat. They both liked the woods more than the rundown remains of the city, the forest always grew back on its own, often times stronger, something the city never could, not on its own and not with how the world was now.

The woods were quiet today, in fact, everything was quiet today, too quiet. The dark-haired man hadn't seen much life today, or undead life either for that matter. It was unusual, most of the time he would at least run into something no but today, nothing. Nothing other than a hungry coyote scavenging for food.

In the distance, hidden between trees and bushes, Del could spot one of the cabins and he quickened his pace slightly, ready to get this day’s scavenging over and done with.

Approaching the house, Delaney noticed how his cat slowed down, staying closer to him and indicating that there likely was something or someone here with them. Quietly the young man grabbed the crowbar from his bag again while looking around the forest, trying to find whatever Shadow was alerting him about.

Once he was certain there was nothing outside, he pulled the door of the cabin open, figuring that if it was the dead then there couldn't be that many and he was still hoping that the other group nearby hadn't found the cabin before him.

With quiet steps, the dark-haired man entered the cabin, his companion following close behind. Both their gazes swept through the cabin as they walked through it. By the looks of it, someone had already cleared the house of anything useful. If there were any undeads here, then Del was sure he would have known by now, they weren't exactly known for their sneaking skills, but since Shadow was still on edge, there had to be someone here. Maybe even the one who'd cleared the place?

Del continued walking through the house in silence and on high alert, searching through rooms before he soon entered the living room where he was met with the sight of a tall stranger's back. The person seemed to be looking at some picture so Del took a moment to look around the room, casting a glance at the black feline behind himself.

His gaze returned to the back of the stranger before he looked at a vase standing on a nearby table and with a soft smirk, the man used his crowbar to reach it and swep the vase to the floor, hearing it break into pieces as he looked at the stranger.

“Hey there, I think ya got what I came here for so how about making this easy for us and handing it over, yeah?” Del said as he leaned against the doorframe, resting the crowbar over his shoulder while waiting for the stranger's reaction.

"Who are you to demand such a thing?"

Del raised an eyebrow before letting out a scoff and shaking his head a bit, “Last I checked, this was Frenzy’s territory, so maybe I should be asking who you are to take shit from her land?”

Frenzy, or her real, less intimidating name, Flora, was the leader of his group and a pain in his ass. But since she had saved said ass from being ripped to pieces by a horde of walkers a few months back, Del had stuck around. There were also quite a few benefits of being with other people, even though he preferred to work solo. Although for a group called The Lawless, there sure were a lot of rules and laws he had to follow back at their camp, and just in general. No laws stopping him from smashing the head of this stranger open though, not that he wanted to. Not yet.

"Okay.. listen for a minute, yeah? Instead of throwing a fit over this, why don't we just split things?"

Now at that, he just had to laugh. It was just hilarious that the stranger thought he would agree to that. What made the whole thing even more fun was the flighty gaze of the man, it was obvious that he was searching for a way out, signaling that he didn't even intend to split things.

Calming down his laughter, the black-haired man glanced down at his companion, the long-haired feline, “Whatcha say Shadow? Do we believe him, hm?” He glanced over at the other man, a smirk playing at his lips. “What's that? Ya think he’s full of shit?”

The man cocked his head back a little, taking a moment to look the other up and down, studying him for a second, “Ya know, I agree. I think ya are full of shit, now hand it all over and I'll let ya leave with both legs intact. We got a deal?”

If the man was the slightest bit sensible, he would do as told and then leave. But most likely this was a member of that group of idiots, thinking that Frenzy’s territory was theirs, no one else would be stupid enough to come searching for supplies here.

Delaney had to be honest though, it was a bit refreshing to see a new face once and then, especially when it wasn't rotting and trying to bite your own face off. In fact, this stranger had a rather nice appearance, it would be a shame to have to ruin it over some supplies.

Normally someone would probably feel guilty or just agree to split with the man but this wasn't “normally”. It was the apocalypse where the only thing that really mattered was the survival of yourself. Besides, Del wasn't one to feel guilt, the idiot of a stranger had kind of brought this upon himself, stopping to look at pictures when he could have just taken off right away and maybe even gotten away with his theft.

Delaney kept his dark gaze on the stranger. For a moment it looked as if the man was going to lose his balance. He could see the tightening grip the stranger had on his bag but Del still took a step close figuring that if the other man wasn’t feeling too good, he could just swipe the bag from him before he had time to recover.

"Fine. Just let me have one thing?"

After a brief moment of consideration, the young man gave a nod, “Guess ya should have something since you did go through the trouble of finding everything, now hurry up and hand it over,” Del demanded as he moved the crowbar off his shoulder, tapping it against the floor impatiently.

The creaking of floorboards seemed to grab both of the men's attention as they both snapped their heads towards the source of the sound. By the door stood a woman who, much to Delaney’s dismay, seemed to be with the man in front of him. The usual smirk on Del’s face dropped as he glanced between the two, trying to figure what his next move would be. It was clear that the newcomer had no plans on giving up the supplies that her friend had collected.

"So, you can take us both on, or you can leave now. I would prefer the latter."

Gritting his teeth, Del raised the crowbar, gripping it with both hands. This woman was really getting on his nerves, walking into someone else's territory and making demands. Just who did she think she was? The black-haired man stepped closer to the woman, opening his mouth to sneer something at her when the sound of thunder filled his ears.

A flash of fear in the man’s eyes as he took half a step back. After just a brief moment he managed to collect himself again though, any hints of fear disappearing from his face again as he spun back around. With dark eyes, he pushed the end of the crowbar against the chest of the man, “You're lucky your girlfriend came to save your ass,” he muttered before lowering the crowbar again, “Keep it, see if I care. Not me who has to sneak into other people’s territory to find supplies, damn parasites.”

Another loud boom of thunder filled the sky once more, lighting turning everything bright briefly before growing dark again. Once more, Del had to swallow down his fear, not letting it show in front of the strangers. Suddenly he could feel Shadow stroking against his leg and he quickly glared at the two strangers before crouching down to the cat’s level. “No worries dear…” he whispered softly, reaching behind himself and putting the crowbar back into his backpack. Taking a second, he glanced at the two strangers again, making sure they wouldn't try anything funny before he grabbed Shadow and stood back up as another loud crackle of lightning made itself heard.

Frenzy would be absolutely pissed at him if he returned without any supplies and had it not been for the thunderstorm, he would have definitely found shelter somewhere else for the night but he wanted to get back as quickly as possible now and whatever punishment he got, he would just have to take. God he hated that other group, couldn't they just keep to their own territory?

Composing himself and trying to ignore the fear that the thunder filled him with, Del put the feline under his hoodie, her head sticking up underneath his as he held one arm to support her and with the other, he pulled the hood up. Shadow hated the rain and he hated the thunder so the weather was far from ideal for either of them. He glared at the two strangers once more before warning, “Better watch your backs and stay out of our territory from now on.”

Usually Del was not this quick to grow irritated and annoyed but this situation paired with the thunderstorm, not a good mix, to say the least.

Before turning towards the door, the black-haired man took one last glance at the other man, letting his gaze wander up and down the man’s figure before turning and pushing past the woman, purposely slamming his shoulder into hers while grumbling curses underneath his own breath.