TW: suicide attempt, depression

Name: Pearl Hampton

Nicknames: Pearly, Beacon

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Pansexual

Species: Werewolf

Looks:

(Faceclaim: Jessica Villa - @you.can.call.me_flower)
She's 5'5
(Her hair is currently the blue-patterned one in the first couple of images)

Personality: Pearl is a fairly light, bubbly individual. A lover of life, brightness, and love, she tries to embody those principles in her day-to-day life. If she can put a smile on someone's face, why shouldn't she try? If she can brighten someone's day with her smile, or a compliment, or even just her bright hair and outfits, why shouldn't she embrace it? She holds - or seems to hold - little concern for the way people perceive her. Confident, and fairly unwavering in her confidence, she still remains kind and compassionate. Now, that's not to say she doesn't have her hard or bad days, or that she's an over-the-top bubbly individual, but she harbors little negativity in her body and mind. She does her best to hold back any judgements until she knows a situation or person better, but she's only human - well, only a werewolf - who isn't perfect by any means. Fully believing people should just embrace what makes them happy and ignore any cringey stereotypes or stigmatization around enjoying such things, Pearl lives that philosophy to the max. She presents herself as someone with litte shame, at least when it comes to what she enjoys. However, Pearl isn't all sunshine and rainbows. She does have some hard days, where getting out of bed just seems like too much. She does snap at people when her thread is frayed and unraveling, and she makes plenty of mistakes. However. when she's in a better place, she always goes the extra mile to make up her behavior and apologize for any harm she may have caused. Always able and willing to stand up for others, regardless of what the consequences may be, Pearl does have condemnations - within reason. She has her morals and she is unwavering in them, but she is also open-minded and willing to listen and learn from those with different perspectives and backgrounds to her. Sometimes she's in an inquisitive mood and asks a lot of questions, other times she falls more on the quiet side and just observes the people and world around her. Still, she is glad to be alive and spreading little bits of joy and happiness wherever it is that she goes. A good person with a kind heart, she is so human in a sea of the supernatural.

Likes: people, brightening people's day, seeing someone smile, laughter, kindness, enjoying her hobbies, bright colors, hair dye, fresh air and nature, making a difference no matter how small

Dislikes: when people judge others for being themselves or enjoying what they want to, the stigmatization around certain behaviors and hobbies, the hard days, letting negativity and darkness win, when people are sad or upset or angry

Powers: shifts into a wolf (looks above); heightened speed, senses, strength, durability, and reflexes while in human form

Backstory: For a long time, Pearl had your typical American Dream life - two parents who worked hard to end up where they did, 2.5 kids to the family, a picket-white fence. Everything was so picturesque and perfect on the outside. Now, it wasn't a total disaster under all that perfection, but it wasn't exactly perfect either. Pearl loves her family and always has, but she also has never fit into the 'traditional' values that her family upholds. While not traditional in a sexist sense, her family still believed that certain careers should be avoided, certain family dynamics and ideals should be upheld, and that talking about your problems and mental health and breaking that perfect image was frowned upon. As Pearl grew, it became clear that the latter value would prove detrimental to her. There was nothing in particular that set it off - she had a good life, wonderful parents, two amazing siblings, great grades, friends, and the best extracurriculars. But there was always just something so off, like she was living a performance of her life rather than actually being in it. Like everything was happening to someone else, not her. When Pearl was 16, she attempted to take her own life. She was just so numb and it seemed like the best way not to be numb anymore. Thankfully, Pearl's genetics kicked in long enough to keep her alive until her sister found her and got her to the hospital. Up until that point, they thought Pearl perhaps had no wolf, that something was wrong or she had some sort of sickness or mutation that made her human despite her werewolf family. But no - no one knows why, not even Pearl, she just had no access to it. The only way to trigger it was that near-death experience. Still, the recovery process took a very long time and she stopped her education and extracurriculars until she was better. She graduated high school a year late, when she was 19 years old, but in the end it was the best thing for her. She got into therapy, started recovering, and while she's had her slips now and again, she is a far better place than she's ever been in her whole life. While she was initially from a small pack in Connecticut, Pearl very recently moved to the Redwood pack - as in, only a few months ago. Moving for a truly fresh start, but also to see a famed psychologist (Gwyn's mother), and to finish her medical degree at the Redwood hospital, Pearl is in a better place than ever and cannot wait for this new chapter of her life to unfold.

Other: Pearl is the middle child of her family, with an older brother and a younger sister
She is called Beacon because of her fun, bright style - this style came after her attempt and her father said she was now a "beacon for all to find some happiness" because of the bright and fun style and coloring
Pearl now lives completely across the country from her family, and while the adjustment has been hard, she absolutely loves her medical training and cannot wait until she can become a full doctor
She is a student at Luna Scientia, a university just for the supernatural, no humans allowed
Pearl has become friends with Dustin Nathaniel Rose, as they work alongside one another; he has also become a mentor to her in work
She hasn't made the most friends in Redwood yet, but she is venturing out more and more
She dyes her hair every few months, typically, if not sooner than that - but she always keeps it shaved short and bleaches it between dyes so she has a blank canvas
Sometimes she just shaves designs into her hair rather than dying it
She does love to match her outfits and makeup to however her hair is dyed
She lives in a small apartment by herself, in the apartment building closest to the hospital
Even on her hard days, she doesn't let others see - at least, not her patients - and she does her best to keep others happy and upbeat because it makes her feel even a little bit better
She has therapy appointments once a week
She can fight, but not more than the basics - she typically relies on her speed and smaller size to run away, if she does end up in that kind of situation
She likes to go on long walks through the woodsy area of the pack territory and just take in the beauty of it
She is teaching herself how to cook, and while she's nailed some dishes, others she nearly burns her apartment down
She dyes, shaves, and maintains her own hair, she never sees a stylist for it
Instead of fake nails, if she wants them long she leaves her claws out and paints those; this doesn't happen often
Despite her bubbly demeanor and appearance, she's actually training to be a trauma surgeon; most expect her to be in pediatrics
She wants to be a trauma surgeon because a trauma surgeon is the one who saved her life
Pearl can actually be kinda awkward around kids though she really does want some of her own someday, but she just doesn't know what to do with kids and babies
Pearl loves getting to know people through their music taste, and loves to share songs that she loves and listen to songs that people recommend her
Pearl's love language is gift giving in terms of her love for others, but receiving it's words of affirmation
She loves to experiment with different colors and styles, but most of her outfits are a tad more 'understated' in compared to her hair, which to her is the "star of the show"
She has a necklace that she never takes off, and it's just a heart locket that her siblings bought her for her 18th birthday; inside is a photo of the three of them on a day that they spent altogether - it was one of the best days of Pearl's life
She has a semicolon tattoo on the inside of her right pinky finger
She's never actually dated anyone as she gets incredibly self-conscious about the scars on her thighs - it's one of the few things that outside opinion and judgement on she actually gets scared of, so she just hides herself away instead; she's only had her first kiss and that was years ago - she is not a flings kind of person, she would date with the intention of being long-term partners