Really just Miles, or Milaminute when he’s telling a story.
| ALIAS(ES): |
PsycheOut
| D.O.B.: |
10/10/2001
| AGE: |
15
| SEX: |
Nope
| SEXUALITY: |
Asexual
| APPEARANCE: |
Now coming to the tail end of his second round of that awkward “teenage development”, Miles is still adjusting to his latest growth spurt (standing at 5’8”). He’s more on the slender side, weighing in at around 120. His hazel eyes are typical filled with mirth and it’s quite easy to make him laugh. Fashion alludes him, even though his older cousin Illani has tried her best to help the poor kid out. He typically sticks to colored tees and fitted pants, ideal attire for getting into after-school shenanigans.
| ABILITIES/SKILLS: |
Magipsychic Energy Manipulation
On the night of November 17, 2013 Miles snuck into his Grandfather’s study, searching for things he shouldn’t have been. Magical objects lined the wall but he made a beeline for a simple yet elegant crystal pyramid known as the Crystallis Memora. Upon placing his hands on it, such concentrated magic, Miles reacted to it. His dormant Minerva Hype (Pyschometry and Vague Aura Reading) gene was activated in response, flooding him with his grandfather’s memories. The trauma was such that his own magic was activated in defense, mingling with his hype gene, it threw up a psychic defense: a magic empowered psychic manifestation that shielded him from the expulsion of magic defense that was sent out from the Crystallis Memora.
“Sticky Hands” - Primarily, Miles is able to generate psychic extensions of his own hands. His control over the hands allows him to enlarge them about roughly the size of a couch. He can use these hands to grab things, swat enemies and the like. He can only extend the “Sticky Hands” to about 10 feet and he can only produce two of them, stemming from his fists. Though they don’t feel pain, if they were to be severed or cleaved, Miles would feel it.
“Dome Time” - By expelling psychic and magic energy at once, Miles is able to quickly “harden” it, creating a barrier to block physical attacks and psychic attacks. It doesn’t do well against most psychic attacks as of now, while Miles still has a way to go. As for the physical attacks, it can withstand multiple rounds of bullets. However, Miles can generally only hold the dome for about 120 seconds. 60 seconds if he widens it accommodate more people.
“Fitz” - is the name Miles would come to call his initial manifestation of energy that saved him that night. Since then, Miles has only been able to generate a full Fitz twice, and both situations left him unconscious for a day. Fitz stands at about 6 and a half feet and encompasses Miles. In this form, Fitz is able to expel a limited number of psionic-magic blasts before his form is compromised. He is highly durable and mobile, but Miles is hard-pressed to hold his form for more than 5 minutes. him was a Magipsychic Energy manifestation. The name is mainly his way of describing what he can do in one term. Fitz has shown no external sentience besides Miles’ own. Miles is unconscious while Fitz is in full form and should he be woken, Fitz disappears immediately. He can typically only be woken by mental means as noises don’t affect him.
| BACKSTORY: |
It sucks when you know exactly where you went wrong. That one decision that led to This, and from This you wound up with That. That put you There and without a care you end up Here. November 17th, 2013.’In front of this damn crystal. Always this crystal. I know this black, this dark. Why am I still afraid?’ Does the knowing make it better? I don’t think it does.
’I just wanted to learn the secrets of magic like the rest of the Bergeron family. My family’. Which is admirable, a man for the family, right? Especially when as a member of this Magni family, you still hadn’t shown any magical inclinations. No knowledge of the denotation of magic. ’It’s her fault. I can’t help thinking it and feeling certain of it. It’s her fault for making me a half-breed. Some human and Homo Magnus combination….. But she tried her best, gave unconditional love to a child ostracized by the rest of the Bergeron family in Louisiana. And a father who had left before the pee on the stick could even turn blue. But even with no husband, being a mother was always at the forefront of her mind.
’Life was awesome, before 10. Always her and me and Cousin Bebe. Any day was a new adventure, and I knew was that our family was supposed to be a special one because we were on of the first free black families. That’s what they always told us. Why couldn’t they have just told us the truth? I could have started to learn earlier maybe. Something that wouldn’t have put me….here…’But a Bergeron child displays magic 7, on average. 5 if they are gifted and 10 if they’re a late bloomer. And then there are the Others, the Others that never do. Only a few in the history of Bergeron, but their lives are something to be dreaded. ’Dreaded heavily, as I soon came to find out. I just wanted to get away, I didn’t care at first. But the Bergeron family wouldn’t accept another “failure”. How do you excommunicate a child? From a family? And...I could see how much it hurt my mom. I couldn’t do that to her. I never imagined...
Oh that imagination. Overactive, always creating a scenario, an imaginary friend. Some that lasted longer than others. The boy with the mind that could go a lightyear a minute, the family always said. They had such high hopes in that imagination, that wonderment. Second only to that uncanny intuition for reading people. Maybe it meant the birth of another prodigy. Then age 5 went by, while 7 slinked over the hill 2 years later and 10 didn’t want rear its head of reality. But I guess not even the greatest can halt the flow of time.
’And that’s when they saw I was one of the Others. The smiles disappeared, uncles stopped clapping me on the back, aunts were hard pressed to invite me to family birthdays and even my cousins looked at me a little sideways. I hated it.’ Endured it for 2 years, until enough had passed enough and was starting to trickle into the realm of violent resentment. ’Because no matter how hard I tried to learn it, magic just wouldn’t come to me. And I got to wonderin’...wonderin’ and plottin’. And that’s when Grandpa Remy-Lou’s Crystallis Memora started tinkling just a bit brighter. None of the other cousin’s knew what it was really for. But I figured it out and he told me years back.
Everything that he’s ever learned and experienced, as the current Patriarch of the family. Passed down to the next, and so on. He’d been prepping it for the next heir. There it sat, in the midst of his study, deceived as a forgotten simple decoration. ’It was better that way, he said. That way no one would ever suspect it. And I got curious. Just one touch, was all. Maybe I could learn his trick, see his cheats...but I didn’t expect...I didn’t expect the pain. So many flashes of the hurt. That anger, pain, death...so many people. And then, nothing. But it’s okay to not remember. Sometimes, it’s even better that way.
’Curiosity killed the cat, but what if there was never any satisfaction to bring it back. What happens to it then, my little sly friend. What are you left with?’
You’re left with you and me.
| MOTIVATION/OBJECTIVE: |
Since leaving the Bergeron family, Miles has actually experienced a sense of freedom. He’s an intelligent kid and an innocently presumptuous one at that, he just wants to help and on another level, he wants to prove himself. Become something the Bergeron family never expected.
| SUPPORTING CAST: |
WIP So Far:
-Claire Bergeron: Miles’ mother. A magni herself, she sealed her powers in a vow of solitude with her son when their family attempted to Ex-Communicate him. Now that Miles is older, she’s debating telling him this information.
-Belina-Brooks “Bebe” Jackson: Miles’ cousin and childhood friend.
-Ilani Marie Jackson: Miles’ older cousin. She’s more like an older sister, having lived with him and his mother for a few years.
| REFERENCE POST(S): |
.....my intro to Rise of the Mavericks should probably be weight enough. XoXo
| NOTES: |
I think me and Ray-J could be friend, if we ain’t love the same bitch Yeah he mighta hit it first, only problem is I’m rich (I’m rich).
"Mother had a saying, something about how sometimes a favourable outcome requires a few ill-advised actions."
J O S E P H E D W A R D T H O R E A U ◼ 0 2 / 0 8 / 1 9 9 4 ( 2 2 ) ◼ M A L E ◼ H E T E R O S E X U A L
▼ A P P E A R A N C E:
"Yeah I know, I don't look like a Thoreau."
//STATS:
◼ HEIGHT |5'-10" ◼ WEIGHT |164 lbs ◼ BUILD |Athletic ◼ EYE COLOUR |Deep blue outer iris with an inner ice blue iris ◼ HAIR COLOUR |Dark brown with hints of ruddy auburn ◼ ETHNICITY |Caucasian
//DESCRIPTION:
Joseph has a slender frame that is covered in compacted muscle built up from years of exercising and toning his body. His torso and legs are built like someone who regularly competes in marathons and free running competitions while his arms and shoulders are built more like that of a boxer mixed with a martial artist. Joseph prides himself on being more balanced in his physique and as such has kept his flexibility and somewhat slender frame despite his well chiseled biceps and abdominal. Joseph is especially known for his keen piercing blue eyes. Deep blue with flecks of icy blue strewn throughout, Joseph's eyes are known for being able to look right through someone as though he is staring into their soul. Joseph has deep brown hair with strands of gold and auburn acting as natural highlights, these are most visible in bright light where as in dim and barely lit places, Joseph's hair can seem to be almost black. He keeps his hair anywhere from a short to medium length, often grooming it into various ways.
Joseph's general attire ranges from long sleeve mock tees to hoodies usually. Always paired with straight leg or boot-cut, dark-wash jeans. In collaboration with these, Joseph prefers to wear semi loose fitting tops in an effort to hide his more chiseled physique so as not to draw too much attention to himself. To that end he often will wear a t-shirt paired with a hoodie and jacket, or a long-sleeved shirt adorned with a hood and a jacket. Depending on the weather though Joseph may wear just a t-shirt, or a rolled up long sleeved mock tee. His outfit is almost always complimented with a leather jacket.
▼ B I O G R A P H Y:
"Words don't define us, actions do."
During the height of the Mavericks' career Joseph's grandfather, Forrest Emerson Thoreau was a officer with the Larissa Lilith Police Department, often providing support to the Mavericks themselves. Proud to call himself an ally to the Mavericks, Forrest often told a young Joseph tales of the daring heroics the vigilantes had once brought to Larissa and its surrounding areas. However, Joseph's father, Silas Edward Thoreau didn't see eye to eye with his own father and while Forrest had been aiding the Mavericks, Silas had been away at Harvard earning his law degree and developing a deep rooted seed of hatred against those who took the law into their own hands. Upon Silas' return to Larissa, the ambitious young lawyer set his eyes on the gross abuse of the law he considered the Mavericks to be. Appealing to the local district attorney, it was Silas who instigated the city's zero tolerance policy towards vigilantes and ultimately caused the Mavericks to vanish from history. Due in part to his contribution to the city's new anti-vigilante stance, Silas became a valued asset with numerous law firms trying to recruit the young hotshot. Having his pick of the crop, Silas settled in with Campbell and Reid quickly rising to partner over three short years. Eyed by the District Attorney's office, Silas was scouted to take over the position of state prosecutor. Settling into his new career with ease, Silas eventually met and impregnated a young woman by the name of Samantha Russells. Desperate to keep the bastard child out of public headlines, Silas married Samantha in a private civil ceremony. Nine months later, Joseph Edward Thoreau was born to his loving mother and career driven father.
Growing up distant from his father, Joseph spent most of his time with his mother and grandfather. His mother provided the love and care every growing boy needed while Forrest filled the void left by Silas and taught Joseph many numerous life skills. Drawing upon his years of experience as a former police officer, Forrest taught Joseph to listen to the beat of the city, to hear its voice and learn its rhythms. Due to the teachings of his grandfather, Joseph grew to a strong set of street-smarts, taught to remain constantly aware of his surroundings and how to read those within them.
But Joseph found he had trouble connecting to the city, especially on its crowded streets. Constantly overwhelmed, he found the only time he could clearly hear the rhythm of the city was from high above the street. Looking down on the world, Joseph learned how to pick apart the details and eventually found his groove. The city became his playground and Joseph would sneak out of the house to play among the roof tops. It was from this height that the corruption growing in Larissa first became clear to Joseph, he could see the city was sick and that the illness was only spreading. It was here that the idea to follow in his grandfather's footsteps was laid in Joseph's head, within him a fire had lit and the flames of passion ignited a need to help the people of Larissa, a need he wouldn't act on until quite a few years later.
Originally traversing them by climbing fire escape after fire escape before eventually growing bold enough to jump from roof to roof. From there Joseph's skills only continued to expand as Joseph learned to move more efficiently from place to place, learning the city from a whole new angle. At least he would have until his mother, Samantha caught Joseph sneaking in through a window one dark Larissa night. Never before had the boy seen his mother so scared as she checked him over for any sign of injury, acting as though he had been out re-enacting the stories of the Mavericks. Making him swear to never use the roof tops again, Joseph was literally grounded from that point on. But he learned to adapt, find new ways to hear the city as he moved through the crowded streets and eventually behind the wheel as his grandfather taught him how to drive and he succeeded in gaining his driver's license.
Despite never being the brightest in his class, Joseph never struggled through school. Maintaining above average grades and achieving honors upon graduation, Joseph had a wide selection of post-secondary institutions to choose from along with several sizable scholarships. However money had never been a concern for the Thoreau's thanks to Joseph's distant father. Deciding to take inspiration from his grandfather, Joseph turned his back on the numerous high brow institutions that had sent him accepted letters before deciding to pursue his education at the local community college. Enrolling for EMT certification, Joseph completed course after course until finding a career with the Larissa General Hospital as a paramedic. Never had Joseph felt so much pride as the day his grandfather shook his hand to congratulate the young man upon his first assignment. Silas however was disgusted with Joseph's career choices, his attitude towards Joseph causing friction between both Joseph and himself as well as Samantha and he. Combined with his constant distant behavior, Silas' negative attitude towards Joseph was the straw that broke the camel's back and Samantha and Silas divorced.
Having moved out during his time at college, the split did little to upset Joseph's living arrangements. His mother however relocated from the Olympus district to a country home in the more rural district of Mount Nysa. Making time to visit his mother over the weeks that followed, Joseph was rather confused by how little the divorce seemed to bother her. Silas on the other hand was working hard to keep the divorce out of his public image least it reflect poorly upon him.
On the night of the blackout, Joseph was awoken from his slumber in order to respond to an evacuation order at the Michaels' Nuclear Facility. Arriving at the scene just as the explosion rocked the area, Joseph's ambulance was rendered completely powerless. Nonetheless, Joseph wasn't deterred as he rushed the scene helping the wounded to safety until other first responders arrived. Working to clear the scene, Joseph worked into overtime, eventually being relieved after nearly eighteen long hours.
▼ A B I L I T I E S / S K I L L S:
"Time to level the playing field."
//ABILITIES:
▼ ABILITY AUGMENTATION
◼ STAGE 01 |Joseph possesses the ability to enhance the abilities of other gifted individuals. By laying his hands on another who possesses extraordinary abilities, Joseph can increase the potency of their abilities beyond what they are currently capable of. This increase only lasts as long as Joseph remains in contact with the ability's host and its effects almost immediately dissipate as soon as Joseph lets go. At this stage, Joseph can only boost the abilities of another in one aspect meaning if he increased the range of an attack, he could not increase its potency.
◼ STAGE 02 |As Joseph's powers continue to grow, his abilities are further able to increase those of another. The next growth in his powers allows Joseph to amplify all aspects of another's abilities. This means he increases the range, potency, duration and any other necessary aspects of the ability in question. Furthermore Joseph no longer requires physical contact with those he's familiar with. Joseph is able to form empathetic links with those who he's close to allowing him to amplify their abilities while they're nearby. However as with his early abilities, the effects are only temporary, wearing off an hour or so after Joseph terminates the link.
◼ STAGE 03 |At Joseph's peak, he is able to evolve the abilities of others to their fullest potential. This could lead to any number of outcomes and may even hurt the host as their powers become too unstable to control or contain. This effect can last for upwards of a day depending on Joseph's bond with the host, those he has an empathetic connection with will find themselves empowered longer than another gifted individual who Joseph has just encountered. That said, Joseph's ability no longer requires physical contact and can operate solely on a field of effect although he can choose his targets. Physically touching another increases the duration of the evolution and its potency. While the field of effect can amplify abilities and with sustained effect can evolve the host, physical touch from Joseph accelerates the process, making evolution almost instant.
◼ ABILITY NEGATION
◼ STAGE 01 |Joseph's secondary ability is the ability to negate the abilities of another gifted individual. When in physical contact with another, Joseph can choose whether to enhance or negate their abilities. Instinctively his body will always go with negate out of self preservation meaning that if Joseph were touched or assaulted while asleep or unconscious, his body will negate the abilities of his assailant. The negation of the host abilities only is sustained so long as the host is in physical contact with Joseph. Once physical contact is terminated, their abilities are returned within seconds.
◼ STAGE 02 |As Joseph's ability grows, he'll be able to emit a small blast which can temporarily stun and negate the abilities of another. This blast will only negate abilities for several minutes, acting like a small taser blast. Repeated blasts will build up the duration of the negation but only to the extent of three hours. After this the host will recover unless Joseph incurs another attack upon them. Physical contact with Joseph has increased potency now, immediately rendering a gifted individual powerless for several hours.
◼ STAGE 03 |Near Joseph's peak potency, his ability will be able to be projected in a field of effect, capable of rendering all gifted individuals in a set radius powerless. Furthermore, his offensive abilities will increase from a simple blast, to a prolonged beam or a wider-spread attack capable of targeting multiple foes. At this stage he is able to render most gifted individuals powerless for several days and may even be capable of stripping another of their abilities completely if prolonged physical contact is held.
◼ STAGE 04 |With his final evolution, Joseph gains the ability to enhance his own body. These enhancements are only temporary and can only enhance one aspect of Joseph's body at a time. These enhancements can only be added to one existing aspect of Joseph's body such as accelerating his healing factor or boosting his physical condition. Joseph is able to keep his enhancements active for a period of twenty four hours after which his body will be weakened and unable to undergo another enhancement until fully recovered.
//SKILLS:
◼ MEDICAL TRAINING |As an EMT, Joseph is able to treat numerous injuries and ailment in the field. In addition to this, Joseph can sustain the life of a person, postponing death in the events of life threatening injuries until they can reach proper treatment. Notably, Joseph's skills are hinged on having the proper supplies although he can be pragmatic and use whatever is at hand when necessary.
◼ PARKOUR |Although rusty, Joseph taught himself how to parkour during his youth before being stopped by his mother. His body still remembers the movements and he has since stayed in good physical condition both for personal interest and due to his chosen career.
◼ DRIVING |Although Joseph isn't by any means a stunt driver, he is capable of driving most vehicles, including large vehicles such as ambulances. Even with such a large vehicle, Joseph is able to steer it an a manner that would be considered agile, capable of weaving in and out of traffic nearly as efficiently as the average motorcycle driver.
◼ SELF DEFENSE |In a city as dangerous as Larissa, one knows better than to work on the streets without some sort of defense training. While attending college, Joseph attended several self defense classes in anticipation of picking up patients in Larrissa's seedier areas.
//LIMITATIONS:
Joseph can not use both of his abilities at the same, Joseph has to choose whether to enhance or negate constantly, he can't lay a hand on an ally to enhance while firing a negation blast at a foe. Furthermore, the effects of his abilities are not permanent, except in an extreme case when regarding his negation ability.
Range of effect is also a major limitation, as even at his fullest potential, Joseph only has a maximum area effect of a twenty five foot radius. His abilities are most effective with physical contact which combined with his lack of physical enhancement requires Joseph to constantly be pragmatic enough to get close to a foe.
In regards to Joseph's self enhancements, he can't just add any superhuman ability to himself. Joseph can only enhance his pre-existing physique. Once the enhancement wears off after twenty four hours, Joseph is left in a weakened state for upwards of twelve hours, requiring significant rest and nutrients in order to recover as he body deals with the 'devolution'. If Joseph tried to enhance himself within his rest period, he could potentially harm himself on a genetic level permanently corrupting his DNA and leaving it unstable.
//WEAKNESSES:
Joseph has no physical enhancements of his own, meaning he's vulnerable to every conventional form of harm. His abilities can be interrupted by a strike to his nervous system such as electrical shock from a tazer. A sustained electrical field, even at a harmless voltage would interrupt Joseph's abilities enough to render them useless.
While enhanced by his own abilities, Joseph can be reduced back to a base human forcibly through extreme voltages which will render his abilities null and void, potentially even temporarily blocking them. Energy based attacks, particularly electrical ones are extremely dangerous to Joseph due to the way his abilities operate through bio-electricity.
▼ M O T I V A T I O N / O B J E C T I V E:
"The city is hurting, it's time someone helped her."
Ever since he was young, Joseph has felt a desire to help others. This need was only further honed by his grandfather who was a retired member of the Larissa-Lilith Police Department. As an officer who had served during the Golden Age of the Mavericks, Forrest believed in heroes and Joseph inherited this belief but Larissa was long past the age of heroes and crime was beginning to resurface without any opposition. Taking to the streets as a member of Larissa's paramedics, Joseph decided to help in the best way he could by tending to those hurt in the rapidly growing crime wave.
▼ N O T E S:
"It's the people waiting for me at home that keep me going each and every day."
//SUPPORTING CAST:
▼ ALLIES
◼ BERGERON, MILES |TBD
◼ PLATEADO, ARTURO |TBD
◼ PRINCE, EVELYN |TBD
◼ WILLIAMS, ANDREW |TBD
▼ FRIENDS
◼ CALLAHAN, BRYNNE |Joseph's on again and off again girlfriend, they have a casual relationship.
◼ CASPIAN, WINTER |A childhood friend of Joseph's and his first girlfriend before a nasty break up put a wedge between them. Winter works for Larissa's Channel 42 News as a field reporter.
◼ THOREAU, SILAS |Joseph's father and Larissa's current District Attorney.
◼ THOREAU, FORREST |Joseph's grandfather and father figure. Forrest and Joseph have a bond that Silas is incredibly jealous of both due to his distance from his father and the attention stolen from his son.
◼ THOREAU, SAMANTHA (neé RUSSELLS) |Joseph's mother and one time lover to the billionaire Charles Micheals. Samantha had previously been involved in a whirlwind romance with the billionaire before being scorned and sent into the arms of Silas Thoreau. Finding herself with child, Samantha and Thoreau married giving birth to their son Joseph.
◼ YOUNG, TRAVIS |Travis Young is Joseph's paramedic partner, the two have been friends since the first year of college and have been nearly inseparable since.
▼ ENEMIES
◼ N/A |TBD
//STOMPING GROUNDS
◼ SOUTH BEACH |Owning a condominium in the South Beach District of Larissa, Joseph spends most of his off time on the beach, catching a few waves and mingling among the night time parties.
At 5’7” and over 180lbs, Andrew is a heavy man in a round rather than intimidating way. With a bit of a paunch, no obvious muscle and a penchant for smiling, he’s about as unthreatening as they come, and he likes it that way. His hair is brown, and straight but currently shaved close. He has small brown eyes that, more often than not, are complemented by dark circles beneath them. They are close set under straight, thin eyebrows, with a button of a nose and thin lips. He also has a bit of dark scruff on his cheeks and chin that he keeps short. He is of the opinion it makes him look older.
He has no distinguishing birthmarks, only a few small scars on his hands and arms from work or stupid accidents and a raised, angry looking scar about three inches long, running vertically from just under his left collarbone. It leaves him with slight difficulty raising his left arm above his shoulder, but he doesn’t do that very often anyway. Another, older scar runs down the middle of his chest to just past his sternum as a thin, puckered line. His voice is light, with an easy speaking rhythm, though it drops to a lower register when he’s speaking thoughtfully. His clothing choices usually consist of jeans and plain coloured shirts, sometimes vests, with comfortable shoes. Nothing fancy. He wears a medical alert bracelet on his right wrist.
| ABILITIES/SKILLS: |
Density Manipulation.
Andrew is able to alter the density of his body and other objects to great extremes. He can lower his density or raise it. With enough practice, he will be capable of stopping the alteration at any point between the two extremes he is capable of, and so, limit the effects it has on his body as well as using the partial changes to different advantage.
He is far more familiar with shifting to a lighter density, though he still hasn’t explored all it has to offer, but he has figured out that he can move through objects that are usually considered solid, such as walls, and let moving objects pass through him. He becomes lighter, making it easier to move him or for him to move himself, and he’s used this to move heavier things than he sometimes should, provided they’re small enough to affect the whole of them. He can walk on water and even air, though it’s not easy to move without something a little more solid to push against. He can also cool himself or something else down by lowering the density, and can withstand higher temperatures while his density is lower, but, so far, nothing that isn’t already humanly possible.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, while he has yet to realize that he can and so is completely unfamiliar with raising his density, it should have similar, though opposing effects on his physiology. Having a higher density would make it harder to inflict damage to his body or whatever he’s raised the density of. He’d also be harder to move, and far heavier in general(12 tons top weight, currently about 4 tons). At his highest peak, he could stop bullets and speeding cars, but he’d definitely be bruised afterwards. Explosions and heavier weapons would do less damage than usual, but he’d certainly feel it, and extremely small projectiles, like, grain of sand size, might penetrate his skin or pierce his eyes and do almost the same damage they would were he at normal density. Swimming would be impossible and fragile structures could break under him. He’d be stronger though, capable of dragging semis and lifting smaller cars. Though I doubt he’d ever throw them, both for insurance reasons and because he’d need both arms over his head and that hurts. He wouldn’t be able to heat himself up the same as he can cool down, as the latter is due to air movement, but he could gain a little extra heat from densely packed molecules, and would certainly lose heat much slower.
Through skin on thing contact, he can affect inanimate objects, and might develop the ability to affect other people, animals and plants, or at the least he’ll keep trying just to see if he can. Separate, small objects are easily isolated and altered, and he has to think about it as little as he thinks about changing his own density. He can change the density of part of a large object, like a wall or the floor or a car door, but it is much harder, and the default shape he manages each time is a circle, unless there’s already a line for his eye to follow, like an archway. With time, he might be able to change that. The amount he can alter is still limited to matching his mass. And provided he hasn’t gone over this limit, he can alter more than one substance at a time just as long as it is in contact with what he’s in contact with.
Knows he can -phase through things -walk on water -cool himself off -lighten/phase smaller things
He can’t change the density of particular body parts, though he can control the size of the area for other things, with his body it’s all or nothing, and with smaller things, it’s usually all or nothing as well, just by default. With practice and concentration, he might eventually be able to alter only a portion of the object.
He has to be touching the thing he wants to affect or the alteration will go back to normal on its own. Usually within 30-60 seconds.
So far, he has only been able to affect objects up to his own mass or down to a large pebble. With enough time to stretch his power muscles, the limit might go up by a fair bit, but it won’t go down by much.
While he can walk on both water and air, it’s rather like moving on very loose sand. Difficult to do at speed.
While he has the potential to maintain the density alterations indefinitely, or at least, for as long as he’s ever bothered to without it turning off on him, neither his heart nor his pacemaker appreciate the changes to their molecular structure. At lower densities, his heart rate speeds up due to the lowered blood pressure and at higher densities it slows down. Both leave him feeling lightheaded and might provoke fainting spells, though the former includes chest pains and the latter puts him at risk of his pacemaker shocking his heart out of sync, which at best means a few seconds of palpitations and at worst an artificially created cardiac arrest that won’t stop until he goes back to normal density and finds a magnet to switch it off and back on or collapses. Depending on his activity levels and amount of density alteration, 5 minutes might be his limit on the short end, though he has managed to walk for half an hour at his lightest before he started to suffer consequences. (This limit only applies to his own body, he can keep a thing’s density altered as long as he wants. And until he gets his pacemaker fixed, he's not at risk of the malfunctioning bit.)
Because he needs air to stay alive and there is an unsurprisingly limited amount within most solid objects, he can't stay phased inside them for long unless they are also at a much lighter density to allow airflow.
He can only keep up the alteration while conscious.
When he changes part of a thing’s density rather than a whole, there can be consequences. Such as raising the density of a car door causing it to become too heavy for the hinges holding it in place. Or making a part of the ceiling lighter might mean the things he didn’t realize were hanging from it fall down. Usually, unless it’s a small wall, the integrity wouldn’t be compromised, but it’s a good idea not to prolong the alteration. Also, there’s no visible change in the object’s appearance except that it might not move in the wind or stop water from moving through it.
He has limited, if any, protection against psionic, energy, or electrical(even less) attacks.
He can quote all of the Lion King, most of Lilo & Stitch, and still cries when Bambi’s mother dies. He also knows the lyrics to most of the better known Disney songs. He has no idea how this happened, and it has nothing to do with the number of times he’s watched their movies. Nope, nothing.
He is a bundle of useless trivia, from bug facts to flower meanings, from historical significance to the average number of people that can fit in an elevator or what the Guinness world record is for how long a chicken lived without its head.
He can drive. Car, forklift, golf cart, fourwheeler.
He knows CPR, first aid, and emergency response protocol.
He has taken several self-defense courses, because you never know (and his grandma insisted). He’s probably forgotten more than half of them though.
Balloon animals.
Fluent in English, yep. Also knows rudimentary Spanish and German.
He will try to make whatever food you ask of him, provided you can give him the recipe. It still might not taste great, but he's handy enough in a kitchen.
Pretty good gardener, too.
| BACKSTORY: |
Born in New Alexandria, Andrew didn’t stay there long as his parents very quickly decided to move closer to the bigger hospital on the mainland when his birth came with the major complication of hypoplastic left heart syndrome and the commute between there and home cost too much time and energy, not to mention money they didn’t have. He was in and out of that hospital more times than his parents cared to count over the next several years, occasionally due to false alarms, and his heart acting up, and sometimes from the more usual troubles children can get themselves into. But he was otherwise a happy enough child, eager to make friends and see his grandparents and ride the ferry to get to them. He was just lucky his grandparents had the money set aside for travel to be able to offer some financial help and forego their planned years of vacationing.
Although things had started to settle down a little when he was six, he was waiting for a new heart for two years during which his health gradually diminished again. Thankfully, the worst moment that year, was also instrumental in bumping him up the wait list. He went into full cardiac arrest when he was 8 years old, and though they managed to shock his heart into resetting itself, continuing to live was not the only ‘gift’ he thinks that shock gave him. He’s not entirely sure, but he figures something about the electrical impulses combined with the emotional rush must have sparked awake some dormant genes in his cells a few years before puberty might have flipped the switch naturally. Or it triggered something that would have remained quiescent his whole life. Either way, after that day, he had a few accidents that involved falling through things he shouldn’t have fallen through. Like walls and floors… It took him some time, witnesses, and several colourful bruises to realize he wasn’t hallucinating.
During this time, he also had a brief fling with his neighbor, who was a nice girl and a good friend, after a talk about boyfriends and girlfriends turned into him admitting that he wasn’t sure he’d get that far. So, she invited him to be her boyfriend, her ‘ghost’ boyfriend after she saw him fall through the counter he was leaning on, which mostly amounted to proudly holding hands when they were together and doing most of the same things as they always had. With an extra side of her encouraging him to figure out the whole falling through things… thing. They talked about lots of things that fall, from her collection of beetles to the sorts of things he’d do once he had his power under control. From their different teachers and the notes he’d missed while dozing off to what they wanted to be when they grew up. She wanted to be an astronaut for a brief stint; he wanted to be a doctor, or a clown.
The boyfriend thing lasted about two months before they sort of mutually forgot it and then his family moved again, to a more affordable place in East Beach when the project started up. He didn’t forget her though, or the plans he’d had to be a superhero. But it never amounted to much of anything. Never in the right place at the right time, and he didn’t know anything about saving people. The fact that too much stress on his heart made it act up worse than usual didn’t help. Gradually, the ideals slipped to the side and the power was just this thing he couldn’t do that well anyway.
When he finally got his new heart, things were looking up, he was feeling good and there was only one fright when his body tried to reject it. But that cleared up and he avoided all the other risks through chance and a very faithful following of the care plan his doctor put together. So, he focused on school, and friends, and asking the neighbours if they wanted him to mow their lawn or walk their dog for a dollar or three until he was old enough to work. He liked visiting New Alexandria and his maternal grandparents, occasionally managing to convince his grandfather to take him out in his boat (it really wasn’t that hard). He spent plenty of time, too, in figuring out how the whole slipping through walls worked, and what else he could do with it. He showed his grandma, because she always seemed to have the answer to everything, and his parents were fully aware that he was up to something and being sneaky. Ellen probably told them, because they did sit him down to talk to him about behaving responsibly a few days after he’d told her, but they never asked explicitly.
Unfortunately, in practicing and being unsure of what he was doing, Andrew wasn’t always balanced in shifting the density of his body, and it had a detrimental effect on the healing nerves around his heart. Eventually, they settled into a far slower heartbeat than was healthy, resulting in regular fainting spells that had his doctor reluctantly suggesting a pacemaker to regulate it. He didn’t enjoy the process, or the feeling of something else making his heart beat, but he got used to it eventually, and now it’s second nature to go through his daily routine with it and to talk about it if he has to. Because although he doesn’t do a lot of travelling, he has occasionally set off a store’s security. He is definitely relieved to be free of the fainting spells though, and has learned to be even more careful with his power than he was, but is far less limited than before.
He’s gone through the rest of growing up pretty normally, managing to keep in touch with Janelle, the girl he’d ‘dated,’ and meeting up with her as often as they could manage. He did have one girlfriend in highschool too, though that barely lasted a full school year before she broke up with him at the start of summer. It hurt, but thinking back on it now, he’s not sure how they even lasted that long, given their extremely different approaches to practically everything. He got a job as a grocery store clerk where he used his power to shelve heavy things until he graduated. Then he followed Janelle to the university campus since he liked spending time with her and wanted a change of scenery anyway.
They rent an apartment together in the Sound while his parents have moved back to New Alexandria to live with his grandfather. He took a semester of classes with an undeclared major, but found his attention constantly drifting no matter what class he was taking and decided not to use up his money until he could figure out what he wanted to take and stick with it. He has stayed on as groundskeeper though, and is saving up what he can while he works out what he wants to do with his life.
The explosion’s left him with a faulty pacemaker and, although he doesn’t realize it yet, the other side of his power’s spectrum. He’s more concerned about his friends and family being okay than he is about himself though.
| MOTIVATION/OBJECTIVE: |
Andrew’s daily goals include making the most of the opportunities he’s given, having fun, and brightening at least one stranger’s day. He doesn’t have the means to make it big or hugely generous, but if he can do something for someone else, he’s going to try; handing over small change or giving a bit of his time or just offering an encouraging compliment are easy to do and a good habit to have, he figures.
His motivation comes from wanting to do something with his life to give back to a community that helped his family through hard times. He just hasn’t managed to figure out quite what he’s capable of or what he wants to do. Maybe it’s the lingering childhood disappointment that superhero isn’t a viable career move, but part of him isn’t sure anything he thinks of would be enough.
| SUPPORTING CAST: |
Bailey & Harrison Williams – Mother and Father
Andrew is close to both of his parents, often getting into emoji wars with his mother and watergun fights with his dad. He tries to get out to see them at least once a month, and usually manages more. He is greatly appreciative of everything they’ve done for him and the support they still offer, whether it be through tough love or just telling him to take a chance because he only lives once. They’ve been together since their own high school days and although they aren’t always obvious about their love, Andrew’s rarely seen them fight and swears they can read each other’s minds. Bailey is an aspiring writer who leads tours and assists researchers depending on the season, and Harrison works as an archivist at the New Alexandria campus.
Dietrich Best – Grandfather
Rough around the edges and still bitching about the bridge that ruined the ferry business, even though there’s still some tourists that want to ride on them, Dietrich isn’t the most forthrightly kind person you’ll ever meet. But he has a gruff voice and an easier temper than his sharp tone implies and a great deal of love in his heart, for all he finds it hard to show. He and Andrew are often co-conspirators when it comes to getting into mischief. His spirit’s dwindled since his wife died, burning a little more fitfully, and his mind’s starting to wander, but he’s still a force to be reckoned with in his lucid moments. He worked on the Regal ferry from 14 to 65, with a break only for the war.
Ellen Best – Grandmother(deceased)
She was her grandson’s bestest friend, her daughter’s greatest supporter, the harshest critic of her son-in-law, and the light of her husband’s life. Now that she’s gone, they all feel her absence, and for all it’s been eight years, Andrew still catches himself sometimes thinking that he’s found something she’d love to hear about.
Janelle Foss – Best Friend and Roommate
Friends since before they can remember, they had an on again, off again method of keeping up with each other during their school years when they were living across the city, but now that they live in the same apartment, they’ve given each other pseudo-sibling status and bicker about the rent while leaving silly little notes around the place for each other in the hopes of winning a smile. She knows about his power and his heart problems and his penchant for singing Disney songs in the shower. He knows about her string of weird boyfriends and very real crush on Gerald Butler and fear of driving. They’ve both agreed that if no one comes along for them by the time they’re 35, she’ll pity marry him and he’ll settle for what he can get.
Maxine has a striking appearance; her gaunt facial features and piercing blue eyes make her look quite intimidating. The only makeup she wears is heavy eyeliner, and beneath her harsh fringe is a seemingly terminal case of 'chronic bitchface'. Occasionally this facade might crack, allowing a bemused snarl of a smile to curl her lips; this is usually at the expense of someone else. Were she not surrounded by an air of hostility, it would be hard to find Max imposing: she sustains herself on a diet of cigarettes and vodka, and her frame is decidedly frail beneath the oversized black attire she drapes herself in.
▼ B I O G R A P H Y:
"I hated school. Buncha jerks telling smaller jerks what to do."
Maxine had a rather uneventful youth; the oldest of three children in the reasonably wealthy Faraday family Max was always outshined by her well-behaved and academically brilliant siblings. And whilst they're on track for top-tier jobs after they graduate, Maxine didn't even make it into college; it was much more likely to find Max drinking in bars she wasn't old enough to get into, rather than revising or studying. But as she matures, Maxine has come to regret her past decisions and the obstacles they have created for her in the present.
She was on the cusp of turning twenty when her powers first manifested, and with them came inspiration, motivation and a new lease for life. She's left home in search of purpose, using her magnetic abilities to interfere with crime as best she can - a modern Maverick, of sorts - but never staying in one place long enough to forge any kind of meaningful relationship. After hearing of the incident at the power station in Larissa and suspecting foul play, Maxine has made her way to the city in search of an apartment. Of course, that is, once she has received her monthly allowance.
▼ A B I L I T I E S / S K I L L S:
"I don't got much going for me. My powers are the main attraction."
//ABILITIES:
▼ MAGNETISM
◼ STAGE 01 |Maxine can manipulate magnetism; that is, she can exert power over magnetic metals. This allows her to attract and repel these materials with relative ease, as well as cause them to levitate with further concentration. This puts her in a position that enables her to use her metallic surroundings in combat, by throwing them or using them as weapons to bludgeon her foes. Similarly, she is able to easily disarm an opponent of any magnetic weaponry they may be wielding; even able to directly affect her foe with her powers, if they are wearing a substantial amount of metal. She can also interfere with most basic technology by exposing it to her magnetic field.
◼ STAGE 02 |As Maxine's powers grow, her powers over magnetism increase, granting her the ability to influence larger objects with greater ease. Furthermore, she becomes able to create magnetic fields, influencing all of the metal around her at once. She has less control when utilising this approach, and thus her attacks are less precise. With greater concentration she can strengthen her magnetic fields to the point that they repel metallic objects, shielding those within it from attacks. This is especially useful for negating sprays of bullets, though the fields are difficult to maintain for extended periods and this power should not be relied on.
//SKILLS:
◼ DECEPTION |Maxine is a pathological liar, and after spending years of snaking her way out of bothersome scenarios, deception has become second nature to her. She is able to remain cool and flippant when interrogated, and is good at keeping tabs on the lies she has told in order to maintain consistency. Through this, Maxine is also good at masking her intents and emotions, and can be very persuasive.
◼ INTIMIDATION |Conversely to her own truth-concealing talents, Max is also rather good at convincing people to do things they might not want to. She utilises her intimidating nature and cruel apathy to extract secrets from her victims, or persuade them to part with belongings.
◼ SELF DEFENCE |She might not be all that strong, but Maxine should not be underestimated. A life of frequenting bars in the seedier sides of town has taught her to always have her guard up, and she is always ready to fend off anyone who might attack her. She wields a concealed knife at all times, beneath her baggy clothes, that she can whip out in seconds - and she knows how to use it.
//LIMITATIONS:
Maxine's abilities are limited by the fact that they naturally only affect magnetic materials. They can be nullified entirely by removing these materials from the environment, or using stronger magnetic equipment to overpower her abilities. She is especially vulnerable to artificially generated electromagnetic fields, which she finds difficult to perform within. Her abilities also take a great deal of concentration to use properly, and leave her mentally and physically taxed after performing large feats. She is limited also by the dimension of her target: in the same way that she cannot move an entire football field, she is also unable to magnetically affect microscopic traces of metal, such as the iron in ones blood. Additionally, she is constrained by distance: she can only affect magnetic objects within the range of her magnetic fields, which at this point in time is her immediate vicinity.
//WEAKNESSES:
Maxine's primary weaknesses lay in the ease of which her powers can be interfered with, and the physical toll that using them takes upon her body. This is largely because she is physically very weak, and whilst she can probably hold her own against another individual, she would quite easily be trumped by a group without her powers. Without her powers, she would also stand very little chance against another Hype.
▼ M O T I V A T I O N / O B J E C T I V E:
"We argue a lot, sure. But my folks are pretty cool."
The Faraday family was reasonably rich, and as an only child for much of her youth, Maxine was a bit of a brat. As she ventured into her teens, and younger siblings had been birthed, this brattish nature gave way to a spirit of rebellion and teenaged anarchy. She thrived in misbehaving and enjoyed doing things with the sole intent of pissing off her folks. And whilst she was raising Hell, her siblings managed to outshine her in every aspect of their lives. Now that she's older, Maxine struggles to shake off the bad-girl image she spent years creating - not least because it allows her to hide her Hyperhuman gifts from her family. Beneath the tough-bitch facade is a young woman who wants nothing more than for her parents to be proud of her, and what better way than to earn their approval than by saving lives?