Name: Charles "Charlie" Parson
Sex: Male
Age: 31
Nationality: Wastelander
Appearance:
Charles still resembles his once attractive self, although it's become hard to tell his age. His face is lined, there are bags under his eyes, and his skin shows clear signs of how much time he spends in the sun. Charles walks softly, his gaunt body moving across the desert with very little noise. Charles wears impossibly worn cowboy boots, a grey shirt, denim jeans and a jacket, covering it all with a tough, dark leather coat.
Personality: Charlie is soft-spoken, and he moves mostly silently. He tries not to draw too much attention to himself. He's thankful to his companions for taking him in, and they're probably the only people in a long time that he's been with long enough to trust. Using his gift makes him feel dirty, but he knows he's valuable to the Bastards, and he takes a kind of hesitant pride in it.
Background: Charles had only just passed into young adulthood when he realized his gift. Few people ever get to perceive the twists of fate, much less twist it themselves, so to the small farming town of Garnet, his awakening was a blessing. Birds and vermin stayed away from the rice fields, injuries seemed to heal quicker, and those who traveled to other towns to trade came home with a slightly bigger return than they otherwise might've. He did valuable work: for the first time in generations, Garnet prospered, and it was because of him. It seemed that old Snake-Eyes had finally decided to award them a lucky roll. It would be wrong to say that Charles was worshipped, but he received a lot of requests and positive attention, and although the nature of his gift embarrassed him, he thoroughly enjoyed it, happily trying to fulfill as many wishes as possible. It was a good three years.
Of course, when an untested, arrogant young man twists fate as much as Charlie did for Garnet, eventually fate twists back. While the crops still, grew tall and strong and traders still returned with full pockets, little by little people began to discover malignant growths on their bodies. His parents were the first to succumb to the cancers. After a summer of miscarriages and stillborn babies, Charles finally realized that he was to blame. To this day he's not entirely sure if he made the decision to exile himself before or after he was run out of town. He fled into the desert knowing very little about making it in the wastes. The gifts with which he had killed his people he now used to call vermin to him. Coyotes, rodents, and lizards would feel drawn to him, unsure why they were approaching the man who meant to snap their necks. Their meat was stringy and often foul-tasting, but meat it was. Little by little he learned to make it on his own, only approaching settlements if he had to. Even then, he never stayed long, afraid that his mere presence would call on the forces that he would eventually learn had entirely wiped out his town, nobody but the most desperate for shelter daring to move into the dry, empty houses of Garnet.
That's why he's with the Bastards: he's found a way to use his dirty magic for good. It took him twelve years to finally learn that his gift won't kill everything it touches. You can twist fate without bringing it down on your head like a crumbling house of cards, but you need to watch yourself. So he does.
Gear: Charlie carries a sharp knife in his belt and a bolt-action rifle slung across his back. For his magic, most of what he uses needs to be fresh, but he does carry a small pouch of animal bones, as well as a set of six dice and a deck of cards. Neither have ever been used for a game.
Skills: "Some people are born with the gift to peer at the cards of destiny, draw certain cards from the middle of the deck, even shuffle it entirely.
Me, I'm a cheater. I can stack the deck, fudge the dice. It's not pretty. It comes with a cost. But it works, at least most of the time."
Charles may be one of Snake-Eyes' lowest children. Whereas tribal shamans can look into the future, and the mages of Rhys are rumored to sling fireballs with a single word of power, Charlie deals with low magic. It's the burning of weeds arranged in a specific pattern, the drawing of symbols in fresh animal blood, the attempt to read the direction of a thunderstorm in a dice throw. It's often slow work. But it seems mostly reliable.
Simply put, Charlie, like he guesses others do, feels the run of destiny all around him, almost like standing in a river. Sometimes he can feel a delta upstream, other times he'll simply have an idea of which herbs to burn and which bones to break to have a look at where the water's flowing. He can't do much, but examples include compelling animals do perform simple tasks (this seems to be easier if the task makes the animal walk towards its death), lighting small fires, and making people trip and things fall over. Generally, his gift consists of making coincidences tip in his favor. He feels like he's cheating, and he's deeply envious of Kaz's gift. It might be complete chaos, but at least it's pure.
Sex: Male
Age: 31
Nationality: Wastelander
Appearance:
Charles still resembles his once attractive self, although it's become hard to tell his age. His face is lined, there are bags under his eyes, and his skin shows clear signs of how much time he spends in the sun. Charles walks softly, his gaunt body moving across the desert with very little noise. Charles wears impossibly worn cowboy boots, a grey shirt, denim jeans and a jacket, covering it all with a tough, dark leather coat.
Personality: Charlie is soft-spoken, and he moves mostly silently. He tries not to draw too much attention to himself. He's thankful to his companions for taking him in, and they're probably the only people in a long time that he's been with long enough to trust. Using his gift makes him feel dirty, but he knows he's valuable to the Bastards, and he takes a kind of hesitant pride in it.
Background: Charles had only just passed into young adulthood when he realized his gift. Few people ever get to perceive the twists of fate, much less twist it themselves, so to the small farming town of Garnet, his awakening was a blessing. Birds and vermin stayed away from the rice fields, injuries seemed to heal quicker, and those who traveled to other towns to trade came home with a slightly bigger return than they otherwise might've. He did valuable work: for the first time in generations, Garnet prospered, and it was because of him. It seemed that old Snake-Eyes had finally decided to award them a lucky roll. It would be wrong to say that Charles was worshipped, but he received a lot of requests and positive attention, and although the nature of his gift embarrassed him, he thoroughly enjoyed it, happily trying to fulfill as many wishes as possible. It was a good three years.
Of course, when an untested, arrogant young man twists fate as much as Charlie did for Garnet, eventually fate twists back. While the crops still, grew tall and strong and traders still returned with full pockets, little by little people began to discover malignant growths on their bodies. His parents were the first to succumb to the cancers. After a summer of miscarriages and stillborn babies, Charles finally realized that he was to blame. To this day he's not entirely sure if he made the decision to exile himself before or after he was run out of town. He fled into the desert knowing very little about making it in the wastes. The gifts with which he had killed his people he now used to call vermin to him. Coyotes, rodents, and lizards would feel drawn to him, unsure why they were approaching the man who meant to snap their necks. Their meat was stringy and often foul-tasting, but meat it was. Little by little he learned to make it on his own, only approaching settlements if he had to. Even then, he never stayed long, afraid that his mere presence would call on the forces that he would eventually learn had entirely wiped out his town, nobody but the most desperate for shelter daring to move into the dry, empty houses of Garnet.
That's why he's with the Bastards: he's found a way to use his dirty magic for good. It took him twelve years to finally learn that his gift won't kill everything it touches. You can twist fate without bringing it down on your head like a crumbling house of cards, but you need to watch yourself. So he does.
Gear: Charlie carries a sharp knife in his belt and a bolt-action rifle slung across his back. For his magic, most of what he uses needs to be fresh, but he does carry a small pouch of animal bones, as well as a set of six dice and a deck of cards. Neither have ever been used for a game.
Skills: "Some people are born with the gift to peer at the cards of destiny, draw certain cards from the middle of the deck, even shuffle it entirely.
Me, I'm a cheater. I can stack the deck, fudge the dice. It's not pretty. It comes with a cost. But it works, at least most of the time."
Charles may be one of Snake-Eyes' lowest children. Whereas tribal shamans can look into the future, and the mages of Rhys are rumored to sling fireballs with a single word of power, Charlie deals with low magic. It's the burning of weeds arranged in a specific pattern, the drawing of symbols in fresh animal blood, the attempt to read the direction of a thunderstorm in a dice throw. It's often slow work. But it seems mostly reliable.
Simply put, Charlie, like he guesses others do, feels the run of destiny all around him, almost like standing in a river. Sometimes he can feel a delta upstream, other times he'll simply have an idea of which herbs to burn and which bones to break to have a look at where the water's flowing. He can't do much, but examples include compelling animals do perform simple tasks (this seems to be easier if the task makes the animal walk towards its death), lighting small fires, and making people trip and things fall over. Generally, his gift consists of making coincidences tip in his favor. He feels like he's cheating, and he's deeply envious of Kaz's gift. It might be complete chaos, but at least it's pure.
