Owen Dauves

History contains implied suicide and suicidal ideatiation
Owen is a 6'2, white male with somewhat shoulder-length, curly, dark brown hair. He is covered head-to-toe in dense freckles. His eyes are dark brown-- almost black-- but strangely have a few barely-noticable, tiny green flecks. He has a relatively masculine-looking, clean-shaven face.

Owen always wears clothes with long sleeves, if ten in some bright colors. (Bright as in yellows and reds. Get that neon out if your head, you barbarian.) He wears a pink bead bracelet and a strawberry-themed watch on his right wrist, both of which have sentimental value. He can wear glasses, but almost always chooses contacts instead. Exceptions are mostly when he's alone or if he forgot to take his contacts out before sleeping.

Personality
Owen can be very introverted, with a lot of anxiety over himself, his future, and those around him. Despite this, he can also be cocky, confident, and outgoing. He is very intelligent and creative. He doesn't really know what he wants to do in life, but he also wants to make his family proud, so he dove headfirst into college, work, and life even without knowing exactly where to go from there. All he knows is that he wants to help others in some way.

(This has since changed. Turns out he really likes spending time with kids! We'll see how long that lasts if he ever gets a job actually working with them.)

Owen tends to make friends easily. He's never really had a huge friend group, but he also attracts and keeps people around a lot more easily than he ever expects or tries to. Perhaps it is because he tends to be very open about things, and most people can easily spot when he's lying... usually. He enjoys expressing himself in any way he can, especially theatre or acting. He can be a good liar if he tries hard enough to combat the guilt of doing it.

Owen is very hardworking, always trying to be a step ahead of the competition, but he also has a hard time believing in his own abilities.

He can become very close to specific people if they show him patience and kindness, and he needs those people to bring out the best in him and to show him that he is worth something. They're a huge part of his life, and they are one of the biggest things that keep Owen going when he's at his worst.

Owen is hopeless when it comes to romance, falling head-over-heels to the first guy who is nice to him. He's dedicated and loving, respectful and accepting, and also loyal to a fault: once he falls for someone, he keeps chasing after them even if they turn. Worst-case-scenario, he likes to think there is a reason a person might be an ass if they were and he didn't notice it from the start, because it doesn't make sense to him for them to change suddenly. He is always willing to give someone more chances, even if they hurt him.

It generally takes a lot to get him to snap at someone, but he does get angry. He's not all sunshine and rainbows (no pun intended).

Unfortunately, Owen also struggles with his mental health. He is prone to depression and has generalized anxiety disorder, though he manages it with therapy and medication. It also helps to have distractions, or to ignore his feelings sometimes. (His therapist says that isn't a healthy coping mechanism, but sometimes facing emotions gets so tiring.)

Owen loves children, which he found out only recently. His heart is huge and still has a lot of room left to letnother people in.

History
Major events and details only:

Owen grew up in Florida, going to a pretty crappy school in a pretty crappy neighborhood. However, he was very privileged in many ways, including his family and their financial situation. He had two loving parents- Joy and Felix Dauves- who did their research with raising children and were very open and accepting. He also had a brother older by a year or two- Max- and a sister about five years younger named Lily. His life had its fair share of ups and downs, especially when his parents struggled with mental health themselves, but he wouldn't have changed it for anything. They tried their best, and no parent could be perfect.

Lily died when Owen was twelve in a car accident, around the same time hormones in his brain were wacky and messing with his perception and his developing identity. He loved her more than anything, and it was devastating. At the same time, he was discovering his sexuality. He had a crush on this popular kid who really only hung out with them because they knew each other since they were little. He admitted his feelings to the guy, not fully realizing that liking members of the same sex was often looked down upon. His own parents always taught him that everything was valid and acceptable as long as it didn't hurt anyone else. This included everything from mental disorders to odd food combinations. So he assumed, against his parent's warnings, that the world would accept him too. He didn't see why they wouldn't. His parents never specifically talked about sexuality, because it just never came up.

So, Owen was the freak of the school. The only one stupid enough to out himself as anything other than cisgender and straight. The bullies turned on him, but especially his friends and his crush. They relentlessly mocked and harassed him, trying to break him since he was apparently different. Their words and actions weren't the ones that hurt most, though. They were considered friends by Owen, but they were never really close. The one that hurt the most was his crush, who avoided him whenever possible, and joined in the bullying when others were around. It got really bad after Owen kept trying to get attention, though. The crush quickly became his worst bully.

At home, Owen never told anyone. He wanted to, but he didn't want to get his friends in trouble. He knew them since they were kids. Surely they couldn't just turn on him like that. He could still win them back.

Owen's older brother, Max, tried to protect him, but Owen tried to defend those who hurt him. Max didn't end up beating the shit out of them-- the bullies got lucky-- but his intimidating aura still kept them at bay. That protection only lasted while Max was around, though.

Owen's parents were constantly at odds. His father was timid and meek while his mother attacked him viciously, blaming him for the death of their child. She always struggled with mental disorder, but it was the first time Owen ever saw the worst of it. It was terrifying, and he avoided it but he could still hear it. he loved both of his parents, and it hurt him to see them like that.

A while later, his parents finally separated, for more reasons than surface conflict. Most of their reasons were for the sake of their children and their own mental health. (They probably got back together after things calmed down and they could see clearly and forgive each other. Could have been months, could have been years, could have been on-and-off for a while

.

)

(Shadow is still figuring out where Max was from this point on. Max's story is important to Owen's, but they don't know where he fits in yet for sure.)

Owen moved-- his mother's attempt at protecting him and getting away from painful memories that she couldn't escape from-- and was introduced to a new school. He was away from his father, but his mother just seemed distant and depressed, and he didn't know how to help. He also missed his father. He was away from the house and the people he knew his entire life, in such a vastly different place. Not only that, but the bullying was even worse. He sunk into a really dark place, which he still isn't fully recovered from as an adult, though he likely would have fallen into a dark place from hormones and genetics even if his life hadn't gone to hell. (Yes, many people had it far worse, but it was the worst he had personally been through.)

At the new school, bullying was even worse. Owen couldn't handle all of it. All of everything.

Until he met Lukas. Lukas, he met in his last year of middle school when he genuinely thought he might not survive. Lukas was caring and nurturing, and very empathetic. He was good with people, and he shared a lot of the same core opinions and beliefs as Owen. They were very similar, but also very different.

Owen still struggled, and neither had a phone or another easy way to contact each other, so they rarely saw each other at first. Once owen gave Lukas his address though, he could always count on Lukas to be there for him. They hung out in his neighbor's treehouse, they played video games, they cuddled until they dozed off... And eventually they became a romantic couple. Best friends to more, and it was natural. It was easy.

Owen struggled a lot with anxiety the entire time, but Lukas was always there as support. Lukas always helped Owen through his darkest times. He was stubborn and wouldn't let Owen lie to him about his emotions.

Owen loved him for it, and for everything else. Lukas helped restore a lot of Owen's confidence in himself. (Owen's therapist, which his mother got for him, also helped.) High school was the best time for Owen.

 TRIGGER WARNING FOR THE NEXT PARAGRAPH 

In Junior year of high school, though, Lukas took his own life. Owen was heartbroken and in shock, and he blamed himself so, so much for all of it. He never did enough for Lukas while he was alive, and he lost his best friend- his boyfriend- because of it.

Owen was broken, grieving, and depressed over Lukas's loss the rest of his high school days and into college. He wanted to be a veterinarian to save as many lives as he could and make it up to Lukas, but his mother talked him out of it due to mental health risks and statistics with it. That, and she knew Owen would have to put animals down and he wouldn't have the heart for it.

So Owen considered trying to become a therapist, but how could he help others when he couldn't help himself, and especially the ones closest to him?

The only other thing he was even good at and enjoyed was acting. He didn't really think he wanted to act as his career, since it wasn't his biggest passion and since he didn't think it would help anyone, but he was running out of time and had to pick something. He really loved watching TV, movies, and especially musicals and seeing himself in the characters. Things like "Dear Evan Hansen" helped him feel less alone even as an adult, and probably got him through some things when he was younger. maybe as an actor, he could give that feeling to someone else.

Still wasn't exactly what he felt he would be best at, and he knew there had to be something else he would be good at and enjoy, but he didn't know what.

So now he is about to enter his third year of college. He met his new boyfriend Leo, he's trying to move on, but he is also terrified of chasing Leo away or somehow hurting him.

Despite what most people might think, Owen isn't always a terrible liar when he isn't playing a character.

He works part-time at a diner, where he met his best friend Cameron in his second year of college (I think). Chances are that when she first met Owen, he still had that far-away, dead look in his eyes and she managed to worm out Owen's most well-guarded secret. She is likely the only one who knows that Lukas died and that Owen more-or-less believes himself to be a murderer. (Update: now Leo knows too. Owen had forgotten that his parents had pictures literally everywhere.)

Owen also recently became a babysitter for a couple twins he met, Kestrel and Griffin. He doesn't know them well yet, but they help on darker days. They also made him question his career choice even more than before, and contemplate working with kids somehow. Perhaps their parents may also help him question his life decisions, since they work at an animal rescue without the emotional burden of veterinary work. He has to figure things out soon, and he's really stressed about it.

He has since changed his major to education, but either minors in Theatre or just stays involved with a Theatre club or something.

(At some point in middle school, his brother made friends with a girl named Dakota, who he got to know when he was in high school. She was pretty much part of the family, but left to pursue her career soon after Lukas's death. She was like a big sister to Owen.

She left to pursue her career when Owen was a Junior in high school, before Lukas died. At some point, Max dropped out of or graduated high school and eventually got caught up with drugs of some kind. There's some family drama involving that, but it hasn't yet been revealed as to what, exactly, happened with Max.)

Trivia

 * Owen is played by Shadow of the Raven's Wing
 * Owen has severe peanut and shellfish allergies, he is claustrophobic, and his favorite color is red. His favorite animals are birds like parrots and macaws.