Name: Kyle Nucci

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Appearance: Kyle stands at 5'5” and is of average build, although a little pallid for one with strong Italian blood. His black hair is short but croppy, a mess that adamantly refuses to be tamed, even if its owner was so inclined. He's got a somewhat big chin and a flat nose, as well as a wide smile, but while this makes him look somewhat goonish he's not ugly. His eyes are brown, trending toward hazel around the pupils. He can typically be found in black v-neck with blue blotches, a big brown leather jacket with a hood, a black ball cap with a rather long, blue-lined brim, and really baggy dark blue pants plus black sneakers. His hood and sleeves have holotech projectors in them. When his hood is up he can completely mask its contents in holographic shadow before projecting various scary faces from it, and he can project claws over his hands as well.

Personality: In most regards, Kyle is a gremlin. He's mischievous and joking, sometimes to the point of being obnoxious, with the sort of personality that loves getting other people's goats. He doesn't particularly seem to care about what others think of him, and although he's not malicious, he's not very social either, leading him to be mostly alone in real life. Day to day out in the world -when he goes out- he's pretty normal, albeit content to mind his own business without looking beyond himself. His friends are in the virtual world, however, and when not playing games with them he loves indulging in his favorite interest: horror. He's a major horror geek and loves to be scared almost as much as scaring other people. While he's pretty composed for an introvert, he does have a habit of moving almost constantly, as if he's unable to sit still.

Backstory: Kyle's upbringing was one of comparative isolation, but not loneliness. Although sometimes he missed out on good times, he never really felt inclined to be around other people, nor bothered by their absence. He didn't push people away, but never tried to pull them in—and so the world left him alone. If people called him a weirdo or a freak, he'd accept it with a laugh and embrace the role of 'monster'. Eventually he would make some friends, mostly online, but over the years he became quite accustomed to keeping his own company, and during that time he developed his real passion. He had a real head for horror, with nothing quite matching the thrill of fear. Be it through movies, games, or even real life with scarehouses and such, he enjoyed it all. And never did anyone keep the spirit of Halloween alive than he. Of course, more than anything, virtual reality made this possible. Nothing could match its ability to simulate nightmares.

Kyle couldn't stand to keep his enjoyment bottled up. He wanted to share it with the world. For a while he'd been studying electronics in school with an interest in theater, and both of those came in handy as he pushed forward with the idea of making his own virtual reality house of horror. Given the improbability of that, however, he ended up joining an existing one with ambition fueling his efforts. In seemingly no time at all his passion carried him to a co-leadership role, and he worked to bring his own visions to bear. His eagerness to explore new horizons, however, brought him down a dark path. He got involved with a few individuals on the shadier side of the law, seeking to impart an extra edge to virtual reality by delivering stimulation to customers who took a hit in the virtual world. His contacts made it happen for the right price, and after a lot of testing the new feature was quiet slipped into the existing system. As Kyle would later bemoan that he should have expected, things did not go well. During the first day with the new feature installed, one customer's VR device zapped her strong enough to send her into a coma. Horrified, Kyle pulled the plug on his operation and fled, quickly cutting all ties while leaving the traces of his contacts available. In the end, the ensuing investigation narrowly passed him by in pursuit of the hackers, and Kyle himself got away scot-free. Rather, he got away with the crushing guilt that his gullibility and lack of foresight had nearly killed, and probably ruined the life, of an innocent person who'd been a kindred spirit in his love of horror. Kyle sank into a depression, feeling that he'd been on the wrong road all along, that he'd wasted his life with selfish indulgence rather than growing to appreciate other people.

Skills:

• Observant – Maybe he's just restless, or needing constant stimulation, but Kyle's always looking around. He checks corners, peers inside things, and looks up. Not everywhere is a thrillhouse with surprises lurking around every turn, but in his own words, 'in this reality, you never know what you'll find'
• Desensitized – Getting scared out of one's wits with some regularity and seeing a lot of what the virtual world has to offer will do wonders for one's susceptibility to shock and surprise. With as much resistance as Kyle has, it'd take a lot to faze him, allowing him to deal with situations that might leave others rattled
• Vigor – Strength isn't Kyle's thing, but he's got a surprising amount of pep in his step. Those nerves of his might be permanently wired, allowing him to spring into action at a moment's notice and go a while before he starts running out of gas
• Wise to the Act – When dealing with the unknown, one never knows what might happen, and impetuousness is how people die in horror movies. A little patience, self-control, and sense has carried Kyle through many tricks and traps, and he's done his research on horror tropes too

Abilities and Equipment: In the real world Kyle is unaugmented, with no abilities beyond his own wits and no equipment aside from his projectors. While his hood projectors are mostly for visuals, they can shield his face in a pinch. His wrist projectors are less adaptable, only able to generate claws over his hands, but those claws can actually be used if necessary. As such, they qualify as holo-weapons. However, he does have a third holomatter projector not attached to his coat. Very loosely resembling a spray bottle, it is capable of scanning normal objects in a certain size threshold (crates, barrels, trash cans, cabinets, etc) and then projecting a hollow copy of them around itself once set down. Kyle himself can hide inside the projected shell, which he can move by picking up and moving the projector, although this can easily give him away if someone sees it.

Arcana Code: The Moon card features a gradient of deep purple and blue lightening up to embrace the silver full moon at its center, with its phases from gibbous to crescent extending up and down toward the top and bottom of the card respectively. Just as the moon, unseen during the mundane day and shining, distant and eerie, amid the blindness of the night, Kyle is an outsider that presides over the dark whose affinity for stealth and stasis prolongs an uncertain battle.

Shadow: Kyle's shadow is himself with his hood on and projections permanently engaged, although perennially hunched over. Largely incoherent, he skitters around just out of sight, hounding everyone it contacts with vicious tricks, traps, and scares. He obviously cares only about deriving pleasure from the fear and pain of others, with no concept of human warmth or morality. In its berserk form, Kyle's shadow is a nightmarish combination monster meant to embody human fear in a single beast: a shark-scorpion hybrid. The monster's is capable of projecting its aura across the battlefield, coating the floor with water and the ceiling with (or if there's no ceiling, making one of) darkness. It can sink into and swim through the water, or climb into the dark to move around and attack unpredictably. When enraged, many more jaws, claws, and tails can emerge from the water and dark to attack than it actually has.

Persona: Bogeyman, the thing that goes bump in the night. Arriving always from behind or beneath things, silent and leering, the Bogeyman is a legendary tormentor that terrorizes its victims, and if they don't learn their lessons, steals them away for good. It appears as a gaunt man in rags with unnatural proportions, a sack slung over its shoulder. In battle it uses its abilities to employ a hit-and-run fighting style that starts out weak but gets stronger as the fight goes on. It swipes with its claws or swings around its heavy sack, attacking slowly but with respectable strength, chilling foes with every hit to slowly turn the tide. It is nimble and wily, elusive as a haunting shadow, which is good due to its primary weakness: durability. The Bogeyman possesses little staying power and will not hold up under intense scrutiny. Bogeyman's stat spread is 13-12-6, and it is resistant to water and dark, while operating loosely in those affinities itself.

• Stealth – Bogeyman's signature ability. With a wave of its hand it can fade from view, along with its user, in a wave of cold mist. Stealth allows attacks without worry of counterattack or defense, provided one's foes don't have acute holo-sense. While stealthed, Bogeyman emits a wide-range chill that gradually ices up all enemies, with the cold growing more intense the closer Bogeyman is. Any attack by a stealthed party has a chance to inflict Fear.
• Spine Chill – Bogeyman's touch has a freezing effect, inhibiting the movement of those struck by it. Even if its attack is blocked and does no damage, physical contact still imparts some chill
• Kidnap - if a target is sufficiently weakened or is willing, Bogeyman can stuff it into its sack regardless of size. While in the sack, an enemy sustains minor but constant dark and water damage. The enemy can struggle to break free, and if the sack is ripped, it must be reconstituted before it can be used again. If a kidnapped victim is struggling, Bogeyman cannot attack or use its other abilities, but it can move and throw the sack.