Personality
Dale is kind soul, though sometimes he may be a bit moody. He also has a tendency to be gullible. Though he is normally a quiet and calm man, he is prone to outbursts of emotion, large swells of both positive and negative emotions. Despite the stereotype of the introvert, he likes to party hard and work harder. He just tends to expel all his energy up front and then later needs to retreat for personal time. He also has issues with the concept of personal space. An outburst of gratitude, for instance, may be expressed with a big hug, even if he barely knows the target. Or he may snap at someone in frustration, even if doing so might be socially detrimental. The steady tides of the sea can be wrought with storms sometimes.
Background
Though his birth certificate listed his name as Richard Dale Kerr, Dale has never gone by Richard. First adopting the nickname Ricky, then adopting his middle name once Ricky sounded too childish, Dale also was adopted by his mother's now husband, Keith Overmeyer. So his legal name is Richard Dale Overmeyer. He has chosen to go by Dale Kerr ever since his step-father got him involved in activities that got him arrested and sent to prison.
Before that, Dale lived a typical life -- if you're on the outside looking in. Otherwise, Dale would be seen as the exceptional youth he is. See, Dale is a sea witch, descended from an ally of the Kerr family, back when the Kerr name was untarnished by their devolution into an overzealous and xenophobic Hunter family. (Refrence: Zachrael Graham Background). His mother is a Kerr, who ran away from her father when one of his foster boys left her in the family way. She fled first to the man she would wed and, ultimately, to her mother's family, who were active practitioners of witchcraft. So, Dale was left with a father figure to teach him about the sea and ships and a family of sea witches to teach him about sea magic and the importance of keeping things under wraps.
Dale proved to have raw talent as both a mariner and as a sea witch. When he was old enough, he took to ships like a fly to shit. Before that, he displayed a very strong affinity to the magic of the sea, to the detriment of some other areas. Then his step-father got a little too greedy and vengeful and got Dale tangled up in an embezzlement and eventually larceny scheme. Dale's relatively short time in prison hardly left a mark on the resilient youth, though. He's already abandoned his step-father as dead weight and has struck out to the sea again, to find his currents and ride them.