Name: Kieran Bradshaw

Age: 18

Appearance:

Kieran stands at 6'2", with a lanky beanpole build. He has pale skin and soft, narrow features. His wardrobe consists of simple hoodies, T-shirts and jeans, all in black - he views dressing up as an unnecessary hassle, hence his perpetually messy hair, but he'll accessorise with the occasional skull ring or chunky neck chain. He has a few tattoos he designed himself; on his upper back is a black crescent moon with wispy clouds across it, and on his right forearm is a fountain pen with a swirl of ink.

Personality: Despite his dark and gloomy appearance, Kieran is one of the most laid-back, upbeat people you'll meet. It takes a lot to anger or upset him. While it means he isn't the most responsible person and has trouble taking life seriously, it makes him easy to get along with - as long as you can handle his pranks, his dark sense of humour, and the spooky stories he likes to tell. He has a mischievous streak, quietly watching and waiting for the best moment to pull a practical joke.

He's a coolly confident young man, and tends to think he can handle situations that end up getting him in over his head. He'll think up a plan, only to overlook something important, leading to his friends having to bail him out. To which he'll keep up as much of his usual chill attitude as possible, and say he was sure could've gotten things under control (all while being grateful deep down).

He has a strong creative side, and carries a sketchpad around with him at all times, filled with everything from quick scribbles to intricate drawings. He knows inspiration can strike anywhere.

History: Being the son of an established horror graphic novelist, Douglas Bradshaw, has its advantages and disadvantages. It meant Kieran grew up admiring his father as a role model, and developing a keen creative sense himself. Unfortunately, it also got him viewed as a weirdo at school. "Eerie Kieran", his peers would call him. Whenever anything went wrong, other kids would spread rumours that he secretly made deals with demons to put curses on people. Kieran became withdrawn, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible, which only made him more of a target.

Thankfully, as many jerks as there were in the school, there were also those who didn't judge him, and even thought it cool who his dad was. He gravitated towards a group of other boys his age, and their friendship gave him confidence. Throughout his teenage years, he learned to own his dark and spooky reputation. He started making up ghost stories. He developed a liking for classic goth rock music like Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. He became open about enjoying things typically seen as odd or macabre. And if anyone gave him flack for it, he'd either shrug it off, or go along with how the bullies viewed him and try to deliberately creep them out. He was Eerie Kieran and proud.

He didn't really consider what he wanted to do with his life until his late teens - there didn't seem to be a great deal of options for creative types - but his friends and family encouraged him to pursue art college anyway. He's decided to work towards becoming a tattoo artist. Still, he wants to hang out and have fun with the group as much as possible before he starts higher education.



Magical Form:


Weapon: A pair of curved black and white twin daggers.

Abilities: Kieran's element is Shadow, which grants him a few different abilities. While in a large enough shadow, he's able to "shroud" himself in darkness, blending into it to become invisible. His main power, though, is the creation and manipulation of constructs; he can pull a smoke-like substance from shadows, which solidifies into shapes of his choosing, including those of animals or wraithlike figures that assist him in battle. While strong in terms of attack power, they can't take much damage before dissipating. The more shadow he has to work with, the more constructs he can create. He also has enhanced night vision while transformed, although he can't see in complete darkness.



Name: Melanthe, or as she constantly reminds people, Melanthe the Magnificent. Kieran just calls her Mel, to her displeasure.

Appearance: A small fluffy black cat with green eyes and a perpetually grouchy expression.

Personality: Once a prideful and revered sorceress, Melanthe is bitter about the loss of her powers and her human form. She's a grump with little patience for poorly thought out antics, which considering the group, she'll have to deal with a lot. Occasionally she shows she has more affection for her charge and the other heroes than she lets on, but she'll do so in her sassy Mel way.

Name: Niles de Rochefort
Age: 18
Appearance: 5'7" with dark hair, brown eyes, and a smile that doesn't quite reach them. Niles deliberately cultivates an aesthetic of sprezzatura, with carefully styled hair that sticks up in wild yet deliberate arrangements. He never uses hair gel, though almost always uses some type of hair spray. In accordance with his business classes, he's required to dress up in formal attire, and always chooses to do so at the extreme lower end of business formal (no suit, black slacks, black tie) despite business casual being acceptable. Outside of school or on days without business classes, he tends to look like he's between photo shoots for typical men's fashion magazines. When attending high-profile events, he tends to dress in suits with small ornate designs on them, always making a statement albeit never a loud one.

Personality: Niles is high-strung, self-destructive, and powered almost entirely by red bull and spite. He's calculating, manipulative, and can't help but think that he knows better than most of the people around him. He has a tendency to take on the problems of those he cares about even if he isn't asked to do so, and will prioritize his friends over strangers and especially himself.

Niles tends to maintain a nonchalant attitude, and is slow to anger, albeit not annoyance. He's good at keeping his cool under pressure, but in emotionally difficult situations, he tends to get trapped in analysis paralysis, freezing up or resorting to avoidance. He has a deep-rooted need to prove his self-worth, and suffers horrible anxiety over his perceived failures and inadequacies. Claims to hate being touched, which isn't entirely untrue since he's scared of opening up to people, though, in reality, it's the complete opposite, a self-perpetuating problem originating from his abandonment issues.

History: Niles is the scion of the deRo tech company, a multi-billion dollar enterprise that spans the globe. From a young age, Niles has always been described by his parents as self-sufficient and independent, capable of taking care of himself even from the young age of eight. Niles is no stranger to modern high society, nor the constant networking amidst social vipers within, and he's become fairly good at it over the years, since securing opportunities for his parents are one of the few things he can do to earn their praise and momentary attention. He's been taught to know better than to bother his parents with trivial matters or his 'childish' habits. His parents are very busy people, and if it does not concern their enterprise or particularly meritorious schoolwork, then it is a waste of their time. His parents have always said he was too clingy, and, 'logically' speaking, he agrees that they're right. They really have better things to be doing than waste time sticking around at home.

Ms. Mariel, a housemaid hired by his parents, comes by once a week to clean their manor and restock their kitchen. She's quite nice, although they don't talk much, since she tends to grow upset whenever they talk at length. He tries not to bother her too much, since his parents told him that the last housemaid quit because of that a few years back.

Magical Form: When transformed, Niles' irises begin to exhibit a pair of squares that rotate around his pupils in opposite directions, and a single streak of hair in his bangs changes color to a dirty shade of orange. Niles' outfit changes to a dark brown three-piece suit, including a long coat covered in ornate darker brown geometric patterns, a waistcoat with a gold trim, and trousers with a golden angular pattern going down the sides, but detouring twice to wrap around his lower thigh and upper shin. It resembles yet contrasts with the ornate swirling pattern that appears in gold on his tie, the only patterns on his outfit that don't consist entirely of sharp angles.

Weapon: Niles is able to create and shape metal into daggers or swords when needed for close combat, though his weapons of choice are his throwing stars, which he can manipulate autonomously for as long as his concentration holds.

Abilities: Niles has the ability to create and manipulate Earth, including metals and fine particles. Although creation ex nihilo of large masses is not particularly fast, he can still create and shape weaponry on the fly provided he isn't pressured too heavily. By comparison, his manipulation of preexisting Earth is blisteringly fast and devastatingly powerful. Although not quite as fast as a gun, a speeding pebble compelled forward with great force can accomplish much the same against undefended soft tissue. Beyond that, no element is capable of throwing around more sheer mass than his, at least not with the ease he does it.

Niles' personal specialization lies in his ability to go underground, sinking through the Earth as if it were water or even air. Once there, he can manipulate the Earth around him to reposition and even launch himself out at his opponents at great speeds. Assuming he can't just let his shuriken do all the work, this is his preferred method of attack, and he can do it all without actually getting dirty, using his powers to keep him and his clothing utterly immaculate. He doesn't even need to let the Earth tousle his hair.

Companion's Name: Oro, so named because of her unwillingness to divulge her true name and her tendency to grab if not bite on her own tail to stay curled around a limb when Niles is in motion.

Appearance: Oro is a particularly large blind snake, about a foot long from head to tail and a diameter slightly less than that of an American Dime. Like most blind snakes, she's very round on either end, lacking the head shape or pointed tail of other snakes, though she still has the signature forked tongue used by snakes to test the air. She's mostly a dark grayish color, though the scales on her underbelly are a milky white, and all of her scales shine a bit under light.

Companion's Name: Oro is cripplingly shy as well as a rather unhelpful guide, owing to her abrupt loss of all limbs as well as almost all of her sight, only able to see changes in light levels. As blind snakes live mostly underground, she finds herself suffering from the mild instinctive photophobia of her race, and has generally taken to wrapping around Niles' arm at all times, under his sleeve. Trapped by the practical considerations of her perpetual disorientation, she lives in constant fear that she'll become lost and end up all alone, unable to find her way back to another intelligent being. She tends to remain silent when people other than Niles are around unless something important comes up, though when it's just her and Niles, she's pretty level-headed and sweet. She occasionally makes offhand mentions of her previous life as a sorceress that imply that she used to be an alarmingly different person.