| Junayd ala al-Din | |
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| Portrayed By | Oded Fehr |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Cursed (Were-feline) |
| Date of Birth | October 13th, 1965 |
| Age | 36 |
| Zodiac Sign | Libra |
| Aliases | June, June-Bug (if you're Emeline), Princess, Andrzej, HOLY SHIT |
| Place of Birth | RaHamat Sharon, Israel |
| Current Location | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Occupation | That Guy Who Helps Around That One Chinese Herbal Store Sometimes (also demon/creature hunter) |
| Known Relatives | Arik ala al-Din (father; deceased), Cairo ala al-Din (mother; deceased), Janan ala al-Din (fraternal twin sister) |
| Significant Other | Any eligible woman with a pulse (pulse is negotiable) |
| Special Powers | Advanced healing, advanced senses, turning into something huge and bloodthirsty three nights a month |
| First Appearance | N/A |
Junayd is a demon- and creature-hunter who is sporadically employed in various jobs (usually having to do with the occult) when he's not helping Emeline around Lin Sister Herbal. He's a little bit off in the head due to having spent a long while changed into a housecat. But then again, he was a bit off in the head before that, so it was really just the proverbial nudge over the proverbial edge.
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Table of Contents
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History
Junayd ala al-Din was born in RaHamat Sharon, Israel on October 13th, 1965. He was born into the minority Muslim population in the area, and while his childhood reflected this, Junayd did not have what could be considered a "hard life" growing up. His father worked as an engineer and kept the family living well, while Junayd and his fraternal twin sister, Janan, grew up under the watchful care of their mother. He progressed through school as any normal child of his situation, even going so far as to earn a degree in English literature with a hope of one day becoming a teacher. But of course, that never happened.
When he was old enough, Junayd went into service with the Israeli Defense Force, where he was trained in a variety of combat techniques, including weapons and the ever-effective martial art known as Krav Maga. While with the IDF, Junayd came upon a fortune-telling witch who offered to "bless" him with anything he so desired after he saved her during a mugging. Scoffing at the idea, Junayd asked to be blessed with super senses. He got what he wished for — sorta. The witch, annoyed at his skepticism, cursed him instead to change into a large, bloodthirsty feline at the waxing crescent moon.
By the time the waxing crescent moon came around and Junayd realized what was going on, the witch had already gone about her life and disappeared. Desperate to get things righted, he went in search of her and, when he found her, demanded that she change him back. After some lengthy arguing and threats of all sorts, she agreed — but no sooner had she done so than a demon and his cohort broke into the woman's home and proceeded to kill her. Despite his best attempts, Junayd was unable to stop them, and he was injured in the process.
Though he survived, the witch wasn't so lucky, and Junayd found himself cursed for a lifetime, as the curse could only be lifted by the original caster herself. He threw himself into study of the paranormal, supernatural, and occult in a desperate attempt to find the demon who took away his chance for a normal life. In the meantime, rumors had begun circulating about his "disease" and, fearing for his life (and following a lead), Junayd pulled up stakes, cut all ties with family and friends, and fled to New York City, where he continued his studies and search. He also did a little creature-hunting on the side, finding the business thrilling, good practice, and an excellent way to keep his senses and body keen. His search led him to Emeline Wendell — Junayd got along quite well with her and started to befriend her.
Unfortunately, this association would ultimately lead to Junayd's being cursed yet again, though his odd and somewhat abrasive personality didn't help matters. He managed to get on the bad side of the warlock who also cursed Emmy, and the man turned Junayd into a cat — permanently. Junayd did not retain much of his humanity (though he did have a higher intelligence than the average housecat) and moved with Emeline to Los Angeles. Which he did not like. He wound up running away from Emeline in an attempt to go back to New York (homing instinct and all that) and was taken in by Seth Ward. As a cat, he managed to meet a number of other magically inclined sorts — associations which ultimately led to his return to human form. Or as human as Junayd gets, anyway. This transformation was not without its consequences, as it's left Junayd with some permanent personality quirks that only make him all the stranger.
Timeline
- To be added.
Quotes
By Junayd
[Don't Call Me "June"]
"My name is Junayd. Call me June again, and we'll be having a very big 'misunderstanding'."
— to Ezekiel
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| When confronted with supernatural horrors and ex-girlfriends, Emeline and Junayd know how to handle things: with sharp pointy stabbing implements and small explosives. |
[The Unf]
"And yes, I very well could kill you. Why do you think I keep the cage? Those pants do very good things for your backside."
"Do you do that on purpose? The whole 'not taking anything seriously' thing? Or do you do it just to annoy me?"
"Well, you do have this appealing look you get when you're annoyed. And I was being serious. Have you seen yourself in a mirror today?"
— example of a typical conversation between Junayd and Emeline
"Y'know what's good for anger management? Sex. So let's you and I go back to the apartment, get down to our nothings, and manage a bit of anger."
— putting the moves on Emeline … again
[On Shifters]
"I'm not looking to get into a ridiculous little pack and help protect all the beasties out there from the big bad guys with the silver bullets. I don't view what I am as something to take pride in. It's a disease. It needs to be controlled so it doesn't spread and doesn't cause me to tear apart innocent people."
— to Hannah about shifter dynamics
"Sorry, we don't serve your kind here. Try the local pound."
— giving Hannah some award-winning customer service
"I don't want your help."
"Don't you? Who do you hate more, your animal, or mine?"
— Hannah gives a convincing argument
[Miscellaneous]
"That's cute, you have a little bodyguard who parrots your horseshit and tosses out haughty little insults. For his next trick, you should teach him how to keep his nose out of other people's business."
By Others About Junayd
"Sorry. He's…eccentric."
— Emeline makes an understatement
"I can handle him myself, Mr. Wyndham-Pryce. And I think it's more that there's someone who kicked him in the head when he was younger."
"It must be difficult for you to be so ashamed of yourself that you have to turn it into such outward hate for others. I've yet to meet anyone who asked to become what they are, but I refuse to live my life with the sort of shame and hate that keeps you going."
— Hannah to Junayd about his attitude toward shifters
"Why can't you be normal just sometimes?"
— Emeline ventures into futility
Powers
Junayd's most obvious power is that of turning into a very large and very mean cat during nights of the waxing crescent moon. But this also comes with all sorts of fun little abilities:
I Feel You: While in human form, Junayd has an uncanny ability to pick up on the emotions of those around him. It's not telepathy (he can't read minds), but he can tell when someone is happy, sad, angry, tired, horny, or afraid. This ability lends itself well to detecting lies and other deceptions, but it's not perfect and can be fooled by one skilled enough at masking their emotions.
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| When all else fails, screaming in terror is an acceptable reaction. |
I Hear You: As both a human and a cat, Junayd's senses are keen. As a human, he sees, smells, tastes, feels, and hears things much better than others — and during the day on waxing crescent moon nights, these senses become even sharper, which often leads to headaches. His ability to hear and feel are especially sharp, and he has exceptional night-vision.
I Heal, Dude: Being forced to turn into a rabid feline three nights a month kinda sucks, but it also comes with the ability to heal quicker than the average person. Junayd heals at a much faster rate as a cat than as a human — while he's rampaging around trying to kill everything that moves, he's able to repair major and even critical wounds in a matter of hours; as a human, he can repair deep cuts and broken bones twice as fast as others (one week as opposed to two). The only exception to this, of course, are beheading, wounds inflicted by fire, and wounds inflicted by silver. Burns heal at the normal human rate. Silver is only effective on Junayd if it gets into his bloodstream — he can (and sometimes does) wear silver jewelry without burning his skin or anything of the sort. However, wounds inflicted by silver repair at a rate slower than a human, and they will only begin to heal once the silver is removed from his body. Despite this fantastic and wonderful healing ability, Junayd cannot regenerate limbs, though it's theoretically possible to reattach them if they're stuck back onto him within a certain timeframe.
AI KEEL YOO: As a cat, Junayd is a rampaging hellbeast with a one-track mind: kill things, eat things, kill more things, eat more things. While he maintains most of his human reasoning and problem-solving capabilities, he has a very high inclination toward violence and an extremely overactive prey-drive. Human reasoning allows him to usually prevent himself from killing anyone he knows, however there's no guarantee that he won't at least injure them — thus it's best if friends try to avoid him during shifts, if at all possible. This proclivity toward killing serves a very good purpose, however: if Junayd doesn't eat (and eat a lot) during change-nights, he becomes weakened due to the amount of energy spent during shifting. If he starves during all three change-nights, it's entirely possible that he could go into a coma and die. What he eats doesn't really matter, so long as it's meat — he can sustain himself on cattle, chickens, pigs, goats, horses, cats, dogs, or fish just as easily as he can sustain himself on humans (which he tries to avoid killing). Theoretically, he can also keep himself alive by eating large quantities of food during the day, but he would have to spend most of the day eating in order to survive this way.
Trivia
- Ink'd: Junayd has many tattoos. Many. They are mostly centered on his torso and thighs and are thus covered by clothing, however there are also some visible on his hands, feet, and face. Some of them are protective spells, symbols, and incantations in a variety of languages and cultures; others have special meaning known only to him.
- All Kinds of Kick-Assery: Thanks to military training and lots of work in his own time, Junayd is fairly knowledgeable of most weapons ranging from "primitive" blades and crossbows to machine guns and rocket launchers. Personally, he prefers the former, as they seem to work better against most of the beasties he fights anyway. Junayd is also skilled in Krav Maga, which is exorbitantly helpful in his work.
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| "Ohhh shit, Emmy's going to kill me." |
- Speakin' Tongues: Thanks to his upbringing, Junayd fluently speaks, reads, and writes Arabic, Hebrew, and English (he even has a degree in English literature! Who knew!), however he's also acquired a base knowledge of some archaic and even demonic languages. He's far from fluent in any of the two latter, but he knows enough to understand or even cast the occasional spell. Sometimes. When he's not dealing with the problem by beating it senseless with something blunt and heavy.
- Felineccentricities: Junayd has always been a little eccentric. Since spending a good long while permanently stuck in the body of a cat, however, he's gotten even worse. When happy or feeling possessive, he's been known to rub his face and neck on things. And he purrs. He sometimes has little concept of personal space, and yes, yes sometimes he does knead things. He also still has a taste for and love of catnip and is fascinated by small mammals, wriggling things, and laser pointers (which he can amuse himself with for at least five minutes). While not all these quirks are constants, he does have to struggle sometimes to keep them in check
- Contributions to Cryptozoology: Junayd has been to the UK, but he ardently denies that he has anything at all to do with the continued sightings of large black cats there. Ardently. In fact, don't even bring it up around him.
- Junie B. Hatin': One would think that Junayd would feel a little kinship toward other shifters, but they would be very, very mistaken. His relationship with others like himself is a bit complicated, but the most glaringly obvious point is: Junayd hates shifters. A mixture of instinctual dislike and self-loathing for what he is fuels this hatred, and it runs pretty deep. He's killed other shifters on more than one occasion without remorse (in fact, he finds it therapeutic), but he has never and likely would never kill one in its human form.
- Pluckapluck: Junayd plays the sitar sometimes. He's not half-bad, but he's far from a master.
- ILU IDINAAAA: While he was living in New York, Junayd discovered Idina Menzel and became utterly obsessed. Rent is the only musical he's ever seen in his life, he owns her solo album, has seen every movie she's ever been in, and might possibly accrue a restraining order at some point in the future. Nobody knows why he's so obsessed with her.
Playlist
Relationships
Emeline Wendell
If ever Junayd had someone he could call a friend, Emeline is that person. While they're certainly not in the realm of total trust, Junayd does trust her with more things in his life than anyone else. Of course, what he shows in genuine friendship and feelings of companionship, he makes up for in obnoxiousness. As is typical with Junayd, the more comfortable he is with someone, the more antagonistic and teasing he gets — and since Emeline is his best friend, she gets the worst of it by far. But if she couldn't handle it, she wouldn't be his best friend.
Logs:
Lewanda Livingston
When Junayd was stuck in the form of a housecat, Lewanda took him in for a while and treated him very kindly. She was also one of the ones who helped return him to human form, and he's been devoted since. He likes to bring her dead things (for her bone store, of course) and is probably more gentle with Lewanda than any of his other friends owing to her overly sweet, child-like nature — which would also explain his extremely protective attitude towards her. Nobody screws with Lewanda and gets away with it in Junayd's presence.
Logs:
