Age: 2.5 years (approx. 24 in human years)
Birthday: June 10th
Gender: Male
Career: Bodyguard / Student
Species: Kunming Wolfdog
Class: College
Major: Masters in Canine Psychology and Behaviour
Appearance:
Zhong wouldn’t be considered the conventional tall, dark and handsome sort. He stands at around 5’9”, with a very slender build. All his muscle is lean and not very visible, not to mention being buried under layers and layers of fabric most of the time. His posture seems borderline immaculate and he walks with a certain air of confidence, always taking sideways glances and making sure he’s well aware of his surroundings.
His hair is brown-black and almost reaches to his waist. He often ties it back with a ribbon to keep it out of his face and to prevent it from becoming a distraction, though he’ll leave it out if he’s in a comfortable place and not ‘on duty’. His eyes are brown and soft looking and his skin is very fair.
His clothes are often considered very traditional. Of course he owns jeans and t-shirts, and regular jackets do hang in his closet, but he gravitates more towards traditional or at least traditional looking Chinese clothing. This includes silken fabrics, elaborate clasps and long, flowing sleeves. The fabrics are often strangely coloured, perhaps even mismatched if nobody tells him otherwise, because of his relative colourblindness.
Often hidden by the high necks of his attire is a small, red collar with a pearl attached to it. If anybody does see it, he often says it’s just a tight fitting necklace.
Personality:
First and foremost, Zhong is as loyal as… well, as loyal as a dog. He will steadfastly stick by the side of his master no matter what they do and will fiercely defend them if anything so much as shoots the stink eye in their direction. He will protect friends and those he loves, of course, but there is only one true master and they are held above all. He’s completely obedient and will instinctively react to commands like ‘heel’ and ‘play dead’ just as well as he would to ‘attack’ and ‘pay attention’ when it comes from a person he respects.
His loyalty often means he’s wary of strangers and becomes either aggressive or standoffish if they don’t smell right, or if they seem to be suspicious. His decisions on whether or not he likes a person will often come from the first impression, within a minute or two. A new person can be perfectly nice, but if they meet Zhong when they’re angry or aggressive, he’d treat them like that’s their personality until he’s won over.
This leads him to being very knee jerk when it comes to his reactions, especially when he’s anywhere near his master or what he considers his home or territory. He would rather be on the defensive and have a threat turn out friendly than have anything bad befall what he thinks as his. Of course, this can end very badly for him on many fronts, like the ‘intruder’ actually being an important person or if they’re much stronger than he is.
Zhong is extremely intelligent for a dog. For a person, he’s a little below average at best when it comes to book smarts. Though very alert and aware of his surroundings, probably more so than many humans, his problem solving and communication abilities with other people are more on par with a very well trained canine. He has issues with complex math and dealing with technology, especially screens because it often screws up his depth perception.
What Zhong lacks in abstract intelligence he makes up with practicality. He will often be the one to chime in with a simple solution when everyone else is trying to wrap their heads around complex answers. He might not be book smart, but he can survive in the wilderness and solve the issues that come with those kinds of situations very well.
Zhong is of a working breed, and so he needs to be given tasks or else he’ll start exhibiting self-destructive or nervous behavior. Oftentimes guarding his master and his home is enough for him, though patrolling territory (or long walks) will help him calm down as well. Without constant work, he will start becoming restless, which progress to nervous behavior like pacing in circles, chewing things up, etc…
Around people he feels comfortable with, Zhong is actually very calm and actually a little playful. He is especially patient and gentle towards children; they can be tugging at his hair and sleeves and he wouldn’t bat an eye. It isn’t uncommon for him to be seen sitting calmly by his master’s chair during meetings or looming at his back at gatherings.
Powers:
Canine Physiology: Zhong’s senses reflect those of a dog’s, as opposed to a human. Physically, he is also closer in speed, stamina and agility to a dog.
Senses: Dogs are best known for their superior sense of smell, and Zhong is no exception to that. He can tell people apart by their scent, sniff after trails, follow people and figure out where you’ve been by smell. He can get a whole story from the smell of something alone, but it makes it difficult to focus in areas with strong scents (perfume section of the department store, anyone?). When meeting people, he will more often than not lean in and give them a good sniff, as weird as it is to the person being smelled. This gives him a baseline story to go off of, and it determines whether he puts his guard up or becomes friendly.
Zhong isn’t exactly colourblind, but he can’t see a full spectrum of colours either. Most things in his world are shades of grey, blue and yellow. He has better vision than humans in low light situations, like dusk and dawn, but overall his vision isn’t better. He has trouble seeing things at a distance, or items that are very close to his face. Though he can track movement very accurately, things that stay completely still are better left to his nose.
His hearing is very often a sticking point for him. His hearing is about four times better than a regular human’s and he can hear a larger range of pitches, but mechanical sounds often send him into a frenzy because of the high pitched noises they produce that humans can’t pick up. It isn’t uncommon for him to react to sounds that people can’t hear.
Zhong’s sense of taste is… questionable at best. He isn’t very picky when it comes to taste or texture in food, and he’d easily eat a fancy meal and then some unidentified thing straight off the floor without batting an eye.
Physical: Zhong doesn’t look too different from a regular human, but there are a few physical traits that he takes from canines that translate over. Most notable is his ability to project his voice for much longer distances, similar to barking and howling. His bite strength is also several times stronger than a human’s, and he’d be hard pressed to let go if he doesn’t want to. He has a tendency to shake anything large he gets in his mouth.
Being a breed of dog that was made for guarding and exercised well throughout his life, Zhong is above average when it comes to speed, stamina and agility. He isn’t paranormally fast, and he most definitely cannot run down a motorcycle. People, on the other hand, will often find themselves being outchased.
Canine Companionship: Zhong can communicate fluently with dogs. It isn’t uncommon for him to be seen sitting at a park, having a ‘conversation’ with one as if it were a very normal thing. He socializes with them in the same way that people socialize with other people. In a way, he can tell a dog what to do, but a dog will only listen depending on how friendly he is with them and how strong willed they are. Interacting with dogs is very much like two people interacting to him, and he approaches it accordingly.
Biography:
Zhong was born a Kunming Wolfdog. Not a werewolf sort of situation, not a shapeshifter, but an actual four legged dog. His parents were dogs, his grandparents were dogs, every generation of his ancestors were loyal and furry.
He was born into the Su household, a family of very prestigious reputation both among humans and magical users. Among the former group, the family was thought to be incredibly rich and living lavish lives in their impossibly large Hong Kong seaside mansion. Among the latter, there were rumours that they were a family of ancient dragons.
But of course, Zhong was more or less oblivious to that. He was a dog. What business did he have, knowing the intricate history of the family who owned him?
He was a very playful but attentive puppy, and it was noticed that he was a particularly quick learner and very obedient to boot. He was singled out by his human family, destined to fulfill a role he couldn’t even grasp with his doggy brain. He was given obedience training first, then as he grew older, more advanced jobs in guarding the home and members of the family.
Ma Tian, or Matin, was the family member he was assigned to guard most often. The young man was almost never seen anywhere without his dog, either hiding underneath the table at his feet or following close at his heels. Zhong grew to understand him as his master, and he was trained to guard and protect him first and foremost. Not a bad life, he’d say.
The young man had a somewhat difficult life, unbeknownst to Zhong at the time. It was decided by the Su family as a whole that it was about time Matin had a guardian, but not any regular one. They needed complete loyalty without any chance of betrayal, and who’d be better for that role then someone who’s been groomed to do so their entire life?
There were many family traditions and secrets Zhong was unaware of until that point. He was taken by the elders of the Su family and spells were placed upon him. It was a surreal and strange transformation and, by the time he landed back on the ground with a thud, he was a grown human man.
So there he was, a grown man who thought clothes were lame. Integration into human life proved to be difficult at best. He had to learn not to bark and snarl at everything and that running around without clothes was unacceptable. Sniffing butts was also a huge taboo among humans, so he compromised and sniffs behind the ears. Humping legs was also now something humans called ‘inappropriate’ and ‘assault’, so he had to cut that out, too.
But there was a reason he was chosen out of his litter and, despite the difficulties, he learned how to be human enough even if he still carried over some canine tendencies. He learned the secret history of the family and his role as protector, as many dogs in his own lineage had done so before him.
He has followed his master to the island.
Additional:
- It is possible for Zhong to be turned back and forth from a dog to a human, but he cannot do this on his own accord. He needs to find someone with the correct magical knowledge to do it.
- Zhong will age at the same rate as a dog even when he is human. Without magical intervention, by the time he is 12 years old he will look like a man in his 60s, and he will more than likely be dead by the time he reaches 17.
- Every dog turned into a human as a guardian of the Su family is given the surname ‘Wu’.