Player Info;

Name/Handle: L2
Are you 18 or over?: Yes.

Character Info;

Source work and author: OC.
Door: Marvel
Character Journal name: setbacks @ ij
Character Name: Declan Christopher Murphy
Character Age: 34.
Character Played By: Taylor Kinney.
Character History and Personality: Half old money and half hired help, Declan's naming was the byproduct of his father's affinity for the old world and his mother's blind devotion to a man who never loved her. Declan was born a Murphy, but only just. His father's extramarital affairs rivaled the notoriety of Olympian gods, and Declan was (one of?) the first to be brought to light. He was certainly the first to be born within the Murphy home, just prior to when the lady of the house had children of her own. The first son, he was acknowledged despite being a bastard. His mother, an American girl named Teresa, was a housekeeper with big dreams and little confidence. She was frail and quiet, and Declan remembers nothing of her at all. There were never any pictures of her, no stories shared with him by the nannies that had known her. No one mentioned her, as if the name had become a curse in a home otherwise camoflauged as perfect. Teresa left the Murphy household shortly after Alexander was born, when Declan was only a few months old. There was no reason behind her sudden departure, although it was suggested that she believed her son would fair better in the household without her.

For those first several years, he was raised alongside his half-siblings. Separate, but equal to his father's affection. Acknowledged as his father's son, and ignored by his father's wife, Declan's childhood was one of hot and cold affection. The Murphy home was a starched, depressing place to grow up. Everything was meticulous and scrutinized, perfection was anticipated, and all the while, there was no denying his otherness. His father's wife was never cruel to him, she barely batted an eye to acknowledge his existence. She merely tolerated him, and after awhile, Declan stopped taking it personally. He wasn't the only smear of imperfection on the family, a girl named Clementine soon began to visit during the summers. Another half-sibling, this one with a strange accent and a knack for annoying him.

When Declan was 9, he was sent to a boarding school in the United States. Later came Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, and he only returned to England during those painful stretches of summer when campus was closed. Those summers came like clockwork, and Clementine came with them. Adolescence at the Murphy house was games for days, dangerous liasons, and the quiet plotting of teenagers who'd inherited their father's knack for politics. There was nothing so terrible it couldn't be hidden behind closed doors, no cruelty that couldn't be salved with pretty words, no power plays left without exploration. By the time summer was over, Declan was more than ready to fly back to school. Every year, he returned with a whole new set of trust issues.

He lost his accent by graduation, a testament to the control he cherished. It was control that made him feel more like a Murphy. A Murphy knew how to manipulate their surroundings, a Murphy knew how to pave the way no matter the circumstances. A Murphy knew how to build the impossible, and Declan desperately wanted that. He'd never been quite Murphy enough, so maybe that portion of his mother's genetics counted for more than just half. He'd always been more furious, more prone to fits and breaking things, more destructive and more reckless than a Murphy was supposed to be. A Murphy was rarely violent(there were better ways to accomplish things than getting one's hands dirty). A Murphy always knew the right thing to say. A Murphy was always on their best behavior while in the public eye. Declan certainly tried, but he never quite mastered the illusion of being a true Murphy.

He admired his father. The man wasn't perfect by any means, but outsiders all thought that he was. To a Murphy, that was really what mattered. After graduation, Declan's father loaded up his bank account and cut the ropes. College came and went, a semester here and there. It didn't hold much interest for Declan, although he entertained classes on politics and law to maintain his father's good will. In between, he explored sailboats, hiking the Appalachian trail, and woodworking. A motorcycle accident when he was 26 left him in a coma with a shattered knee and fractured skull. The coma lasted for two years, and when Declan finally woke up, he fell in love with the first girl he saw.

Josephine was a nurse in the trauma ward, and she just so happened to be the one on duty and reading to Declan when he awoke. She was beautiful, delicate, and shy. Much more fragile than the sisters he'd grown up with, he found her gentleness and naivete exotic. He fell for her hard, and pursued her without games, without power plays, without wanting to control her at all. Jo didn't creep into his heart, she broke the door down with big eyes and a bright laugh. After Declan completed his physical therapy, they got married immediately. His father never verbalized as much, but Declan knew that his father disapproved of the choice.

In the end, it was really Declan's fault for forgetting. Everything in the Murphy home was about power, about control. Declan hadn't gone through the proper channels or shown the proper respect to his family name when he'd gotten married so recklessly. It wasn't long before his father took Declan's happiness back down to proper levels in the untrusting pond where it belonged. His father didn't keep the affair quiet after he slept with Declan's wife, and the annulment was finalized that summer after less than six months of marriage.

His relationship with his father was, needless to say, strained after that. Declan returned stateside and buried himself in odd jobs that would have infuriated his father due to their lack of promising careers. Winter came, and with its cold, pain settled into old injuries. Declan developed a nice painkiller tolerance, and he didn't return to England until years later when he recieved notice of his father's death.

Ammends were never made, and the guilt felt deeper than the pins that held his knee together. After the funeral, while Declan was packing his bag and preparing to return to the home he'd made for himself in upstate New York, he thought maybe he wouldn't go home at all. He had the urge to go somewhere entirely different instead.

Journal/Key: Samsung Galaxy s6.

External Door items: A truck and a cabin in upstate New York, an apartment in the city, and his collection of woodworking tools. Strangely enough, once surfacing in Marvel, Declan will find himself with an established work history as a firefighter despite having a very limited idea of how to fight fires. He's a quick learner, though.

Storylines;


Murphys: Clem sister, Alexander predacious, [Others avail]
The Ex: Josephine, or w/e you want to name her.
Other sibs: From his mother's side. She disappeared shortly after Declan was born.