Series: Symphonia (I might add an Abyss version later, since well, this character wasn't originally Tales of, so)
Name: Daren Sader (say-dur)
Age: 18
Gender: Male

Weight: 117 lbs
Height: 5'5"

Hair color: Navy Blue
Eye color: Green

Sexuality: Bisexual
Crush/Lover: Aren (another OC of mine whose gender is unknown lol)

Description: Here's a chibi picchur of him I drew real quick:

More random pictures here that I also sketched up real fast, if you want a more realistic portrayal (psh still anime):
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p263/wi...nair/daren1.png
LOL BUT THEY STILL SUCK.

Persona:
Not the brightest bulb in the bunch. Somewhat short-tempered. Acts all wild and crazy usually, and most of the time doesn't make much sense. But he can be serious when he wants to be. He curses a lot, and doesn't care much about what other people think. His crush, Aren, is a childhood friend of his whom he still sees from time to time.

History:
This probably won't be very good since I'm not great at this kind of thing, and his backstory isn't very complicated in the first place. So yeah, I'll just give you the condensed version. Which is still kinda long, but it sure doesn't delve into any details.

Originally an elf boy hailing from Heimdall. His parents were killed when he was very young. Ever since then, he remained in Heimdall, never seeing the light of the outside world. One day, a man from Sybak showed up to the village. The lab he worked in there had fallen short on workers, and there was no other place to look. Most of the elves shunned him and treated them with disgust. However, Daren, curious about humans and the outside world in general, volunteered to assist. About 15 at the time, Daren worked in the Sybak labs for around a year. During this time, Meltokio took notice of him, and decided to use him in one of their summon spirit experiments they were conducting. They felt it was the perfect chance to see if a person could somehow be made into a summon spirit, and since elves had such control over mana, he would be the perfect subject. So, Meltokio's laboratory informed Sybak of their plan and offered them a large sum of money for the young boy. Happy to assist in summon spirit research (and to receive cash of course), Sybak agreed to help. After telling Daren that he was being "transferred" to Meltokio, he quickly set out, somewhat confused by the sudden change. Upon arrival, Daren admired the large city and all its intricate architecture (oooh big words).

However, he was so distracted and out of it, he found himself lost in the Meltokio slums. Desparately searching for someone to give him directions, he noticed a young girl sketching something in the sand. Upon approaching her, he noticed her drawing was actually quite well-done (like a steak!). He smiled and told her how excellent he thought her drawing was (or in his words: "That's f***ing sweet, dude!"). To which she only responded with a quiet "Thanks...". Feeling somewhat awkward, Daren skipped straight to the point and asked for directions to the laboratory.
The girl responded with a short silence, and answered "I'm sorry, I don't go to the 'heavenly side' very much, but I can muster you up some directions..."
Daren gave her a big smile and a thumbs up, but she just gave him a weird look and slowly turned away to jot down some directions. This made Daren very sad. He made a frowny face. Poor Daren.
So then, the young girl handed him the directions. After turning and waving goodbye to her, (to which she just stared blankly back at him) he started toward the laboratory that he hoped would hold good news for him.

Which it didn't.
Upon approaching the lab, Daren was immediately jumped by scientists (stop laughing, this is serious) who worked there. Daren, however, would not let them capture him, and he began struggling and screaming and cursing.
Of course, this didn't help at all, since the scientists had anticipated this and brought a heavy sedative.
So, they injected Daren with it, after which he almost immediately collapsed on the ground. The scientists carried the knocked-out elf into their "special experiments room" and tied him to the scientific table in the middle of the room. They began their experiments on him immediately, doing things like injecting him with mana from the summon spirits and using him to mix different kinds of mana. As he slowly realized what they were trying to do, he became more and more horrified. As experiments like this continued on for the next two years, Daren's body began to see side effects. Horns began to grow from his head, and he began to have magical powers that he never had before, including some of the spells used by summon spirits. Daren began to realize that their experiment might actually be working, and he might actually be transforming into a summon spirit himself. He knew he had to get out of there, or he would be stuck as an experiment for the rest of his life. He recalled a Summoner who stopped by from time to time. He believed her name was Sheena. Perhaps she could assist him in gaining his freedom...

The next day she visited was the day before Daren's eighteenth birthday. Daren called her off to the side as soon as he was certain no one was watching.
After explaining his entire situation to her, she stared at him, somewhat overwhelmed. She let out a long sigh, and leaned in close to him.
"Listen to me," she began, "I believe holding someone here and forcing them to become a summon spirit against their will is sick and wrong. So I'll help you. But it will be very difficult. The scientists here are extremely vigilant, and will most likely apprehend you upon ANY signs of suspicious behavior. We have to think this through clearly, or else we're BOTH done for. You got that?"
Daren nodded. He was beginning to get nervous.
"Okay, here's what we do..."
Sheena explained to him the plan of action she had in mind. Daren was to wake up the next morning and continue his day as he normally would. Then, after the scientist had performed their tests and their guard was down, Sheena would burst in and use a smoke bomb to hide herself as she grabbed Daren and got the hell out of there. It was rather simple, but still pretty risky.
I'm not going to mince words here. Their plan pretty much worked. The following day, Daren did just as he was supposed to, going along with the scientists, and after they were finished Sheena burst in and rescued him. Thethorked. The following day, Daren did just as he was supposed to, going along with the scientists, and after they were finished Sheena burst in and rescued him. They ran as fast as they could, making sure Sheena's face remained hidden. The scientists were thrown for a total loop, and began chasing the two in a panic, only to run into walls and trip over each other. Overall, it was a success, and Daren and Sheena soon found themselves outside the city. They both looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief.
"It worked..." Sheena laughed.
"Yeah, somehow. Thanks a lot for this. You're Sheena, right? I'm Daren."
"Ah, nice to meet you Daren. I mean, you obviously can't come back to Meltokio, but I'll see you around. all right?"
Daren nodded and smiled back at her. "Okay!"

So the two went their separate ways. Present day, Daren simply wanders around from town to town, trying to hide from the scientists who are no doubt searching for him.

(the whole Sheena thing happened sometime before she was asked to go to Sylvarant and kill the chosen...just to kind of set this timeline straight)

Lol. That's about all I have for now. I wasn't really intending to give him any Tales backstories, so all of that was pretty much made up on the spot. Hurr hurr.