Character Info
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Skin Deep
Canon Format: Web comic
Character's Name: Alec Orville Hyde
Character's Age: 24
What form will your character's NV take? A basic cheap laptop.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Alec is a bugbear, which in the Skin Deep canon is an English hobgoblin that traditionally scares wayward children back home. This means in his natural form, he is a 15-foot tall bear with massively oversized claws and glowing white eyes. However, Alec, like most mythological beasts in his world, owns a medallion that allows him to appear as human, or any state in between (dude with glowing ears, bear man, etc.). The way this magic is described as working is that the spell only hides what Alec really looks like, and doesn’t actually change his shape. However, somehow the magic deals with the clothes he wears as a human, and allows him to fit into spaces a huge bear shouldn’t, etc, while still allowing him to keep his bugbear strength and powers. All of Alec’s other supernatural abilities are tied to his form, and mostly revolve around fear and creepy crawlies. Arthropods are naturally attracted to him, and he seems often to have spiders on or around him. He can emanate a general air of creepiness that makes others uncomfortable, or downright afraid, and can make his voice sound super spooky. As a giant bear, he’s naturally pretty strong, and he also has the ability to innately know where people are at. It makes it very easy for him to find people, though the power doesn’t work on other bugbears.
Weapons: None.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: (Like many side characters in webcomics, there’s not a whole lot of history on Alec in the actual comic. Some of this is taken from the comic, but some is taken from scattered author’s notes about the character, one mini comic about his childhood, and the Skin Deep wiki.) While many mythological creatures in the Skin Deep universe spend their childhood, and sometimes early adult years believing they’re human, Alec was reared by his bugbear father, Orville, and always knew what he was. Orville raised his son by immersing him in the world of the creepy and horrific, as is traditional for their species, and so his early years included horror movies, trips to the zoo to look at snakes and spiders, and eating various disgusting things. He and his father got kicked out of a few places permanently due to their father-son bonding moments, and Orville often threatened his son affectionately.
When he got older, Alec moved to the Liverpool Avalon (LA), a section of Liverpool hidden from humans (in an enormous warehouse), in which the business and lives of mythical creatures could thrive without worry of discovery. He made good friends there, including Ike Sanford, a manticore/buggane who was considered a monster because he didn’t have a medallion to give him a human appearance. They moved in together, and Alec went through a period of playing with several different bands (he is a talented bass musician). Eventually, though, he formed his own band, The Boney Kings of Nowhere, with Ike as his keyboard player, Jeremy Harrod (a Nemean lion) on guitar, and Silas (a satyr) on drums. The band gained some popularity in the LA, but like many bands, chafe a bit at not being able to play to human crowds.
Point in Canon: I am taking Alec from shortly after Jim, one of the main characters, leaves for America. At this point Alec is living in LA with Ike and his two wolfhounds, Ivor and Igor, playing the LA with his band, and working as a guard of the LA, lurking in the halls of the enormous building to scare off any humans that might accidentally get inside with his bugbear powers. He also does some work as a door guard for The Underground, a bar/nightclub run by a harpy who has been secretly trying to allow humans in through a magic door, to hear the mythical bands. Alec is supposed to make sure no “bad” humans get in.
Character Personality: Alec has certain traits in common with most bugbears - he is interested in all things macabre and creepy. One of his great joys in life is scaring people, and his work as a LA guard allows him to wander dark hallways and freak people out. He’s happy to target other mythical creatures and ‘accepted’ visitors - at one point, he’s seen successfully intimidating the human guest of one of the residents, and he often uses his horror voice in casual conversation, when he’s trying to be dramatic or spooky. But he isn’t just interested in genuinely frightening others - he likes just being gross or startling people, too, playing with spiders in public, or doing other things most adolescent boys would enjoy doing to bug people. Alec is also attracted to and fascinated by other frightening or dark creatures. His roommate, Ike, is shunned by much of Avalon society for being a monster that is considered untrustworthy and dangerous, but Alec gets along well with him. According to the author, this is normal for bugbears.
Alec’s whole life isn’t centered around being scary, though. He has multiple good friends, and though several of them claim not to trust him, they seem to get along with him just fine. He’s social enough to not only have been a part of several bands, but to have started his own, and he enjoys music a great deal (though of course he has a predilection for horror-themed rock). He spends a lot of his spare time hanging around The Underground, helping out other musicians, or offering unasked for advice and rude commentary. The bugbear enjoys a good joke just as much as a good scare, and he’s always ready to make fun of other people, though it’s usually in a friendly sort of way. Mostly. While he has a band and some good friends, it’s unclear whether he’s generally well liked, or just tolerated in the LA. It might be a bit of both.
Alec is 24, but bugbears age a bit slower than humans, which makes him essentially still in his late adolescent years. That probably explains a lot about his behavior - a lot of his jokes and the way he communicates can be pretty juvenile, though not generally downright childish. He also likes to show off, and frequently changes his shape from more human to bear and back again, or makes a big deal out of his ability to find other people. He is prone to making stuff up, too, or talking up bugbears, insisting they invented Halloween and the myth of werewolves. On the other hand, he’s not quick to anger, and seems to take most things in stride, being hard to offend. But he’s also willing to go a little far at the expense of others. Other things he enjoys include comic books (he’s a big Batman fan), skeletons, and his two dogs, wolfhounds named Ivor and Igor.
Character Plans: Alec’s not the kind of guy who’d really want to join any faction, but will probably end up with one because it’s easier, and he’s not particularly noble. I think he might not be interested in any overarching plot stuff, but instead will focus on his own interests - getting involved in whatever music scene Siren’s Pull has, especially, and trying to put together a band. Likewise, he’ll look for work in a bar or club, probably one of the ones that run all night. He’ll be very interested in the monsters, though, and what happens at night, and may get himself into some trouble checking it out, because it’s creepy.
Appearance/PB: Turnaround sheet here, though Alec is actually a bit heavier set than that, and bigger in his midiform (this was an earlier concept), but that gives a basic idea. Also here (top bear).
