Editing Character:Justin Osceola (section)

== History ==
=== Background ===
Justin was born in the Big Cypress Reservation of the Seminole Tribe. His mother was half-Seminole, and his father (who didn't stay around long enough to even know he had a son) was a white man, making Justin a quarter-Seminole, just enough to qualify for tribal status. His mother died when he was only five, leaving Justin to be raised by his grandfather. His grandfather tried to instill a sense of responsibility and work ethic into Justin, but it never really took. Still, through the rest of his life, whenever he's seen something particularly bad, whether something he's doing himself or seeing someone else get up to, he's had a nagging sense that GRANDDAD WOULDN'T APPROVE.

=== Rising Conflict ===
When he was 15, Justin's Granddad died. At first, he was taken in by his maternal uncle, Joseph Osceola, in the Brighton Reservation. Joseph was a stern, demanding taskmaster, with little time for Justin's teenage rebellion. Justin soon ran away. He got his first inkling that Uncle Joe was more than just a strict disciplinarian that night, camping rough in the swamp. Justin had seen a pair of green eyes gleaming across the clearing, and had frozen. Then, in a rush of tawny fur and a snarl, an enormous cougar had sprinted across the clearing, knocking him down and baring its fangs. Justin thought he was going to die right then - when the cougar suddenly shifted into his uncle, kneeling on his chest. His uncle let him up, warning him that if he tried to run off again, it wouldn't end with just a scare, but if had the discipline, he could learn how to do the same. Over the next three years, Uncle Joe taught Justin the trick of shapeshifting, not to mention a bunch of other useful skills - surviving in the wilderness, hunting, scaring people, and so forth. Joseph wanted Justin to take up the "family business" of defending the reservation. However, his uncle's severe attitude had soured Justin on the idea of doing anything to help him. When he turned 19, and had learned all the shapeshifting tricks his uncle seemed likely to teach, Justin told Joseph it was time to WALK HIS OWN PATH, and left for Miami, the big city.

=== First Adventure ===
'''Manhunt'''<br>
Justin didn't do so well in Miami at first. He worked some odd jobs, but his resentful (not to say "surly") attitude and general lack of city-based skills made sure he lost work almost as fast as he gained it. Finally, he got a chance at something new when he overheard a local drug dealer ranting about someone who had stolen his stash and disappeared into the swamp. Justin steeled his courage, stepped up to the dealer, and told him that he could find the fugitive for him, in exchange for a quarter of the stolen cash. The dealer eyed him up, shrugged, and agreed. Justin set off into the swamp, and with some judicious use of his cougar shape, had soon tracked down the runaway money. The dealer held up his end of the bargain, and Justin realized he could make some good money, PUTTING THE OLD WAYS TO NEW USES.

=== Guest Starring ===
Justin catches wind of what's going down at the nightclub, and figures he'll pay off his debt to Meredith (and maybe score with a hot club chick at the same time!) by showing up and tracking down the killer himself. Unfortunately, he merely causes a near-riot and gets Animal Control called to the club, when he discovers that society is rarely welcoming for an OUT-OF-PLACE PANTHER.

=== Guest Starring Redux ===
Just as Dariyah's day was about to become a very terminally bad one, an oversized cougar charged out of the shadows of the swamp. In moments, it had disemboweled the chief cultist (or at least the one leading the ritual), gave a couple of others claw swipes that would leave them with scars to remember, and sent the rest fleeing. Then, in front of Dariyah's eyes, the cougar transformed into a human, who quickly began bandaging her wrists with torn bits of the cultists' clothing. While he was stopping the wounds, he introduced himself as Justin. It turned out that Justin had been tracking the head cultist for entirely non-black-magic-related reasons - he had ripped off the wrong gang leader, and Justin had been hired to show him the error of his ways. Saving Dariyah was a bonus, it seemed. In the next few months, Justin and Dariyah seemed to keep running into one another under similar circumstances - Dariyah's activities would keep end up involving people Justin was already after. Justin has found himself becoming friends with Dariyah from simple proximity, though he always has to ask: "DARIYAH, WHERE DO YOU FIND THESE PEOPLE?!"

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