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[OOC] Kept In Mind - Arc X: it dont exist yet Page 2
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canaryrose
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15 days ago
mantou The Fried Kind
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6 mos ago
Halloo! Dropping my interest and starting work on a Hero archetype character. c:
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TruthHurts22
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8 days ago
@Dead Cruiser@Mintz
Just wanting to check in on you guys, see how your CS progress is going or if you need any help!
Just wanting to check in on you guys, see how your CS progress is going or if you need any help!
Dead Cruiser Dishonour Before Death / Better You Than Me
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14 days ago
@TruthHurts22 My monitor is busted so I won't be able to write a CS until my new one comes in.
@TruthHurts22
Spent a bit too long thinking things through, and now someone else is looking at doing the Hero Archetype; but hey, that's just on me for not saying what I was up to. xD. So I'm working from the ground up, trying to think up a new concept. I think I'll have something in store before next week. :)
Spent a bit too long thinking things through, and now someone else is looking at doing the Hero Archetype; but hey, that's just on me for not saying what I was up to. xD. So I'm working from the ground up, trying to think up a new concept. I think I'll have something in store before next week. :)
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Zoey Boey Spider!
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5 hrs ago
I suppose I should say I'm gunning for The Lover, just for clarity
Zoey Boey Spider!
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5 hrs ago
Hello hello...here's my character. Let me know if there's anything I should change or add or if I should just toss the whole thing out the window and start over. @TruthHurts22
• Name: Emily Dawson
• Appearance:
A very pretty blonde woman with short hair, 5 feet tall with a slender build. Bright, wide blue eyes with an intense look about them. Wears fashionable street clothes.
• Age: Twenty One
• Personality: Emily talks. A lot. All the time. Ever since she was a kid she's never been able to shut up. Her stream of consciousness is vocalized, she always needs something to talk about. If not talk to others, than talk to herself. Even when someone is speaking directly to her, she's murmering under her breath. She can't seem to help it. If it's not talking, it's singing, and if it's not singing it's whistling. The best you can get is very low humming.
She has a strange way of viewing the world, being very cheerful and optimistic, sometimes inappropriately so. If she's not being very friendly, she'll be trying to do something to cure her boredom. If she doesn't get her way she can become displeased and go for it anyway. Overall she is a very volatile person in both directoins. Recklessly curious, she'll follow whatever instinct or impulse or question she has to it's termination point. Very easily distracted, she'll go off on tangent after tangent, fixating on certain topics or ideas only to dismiss them the moment she finds a new one. Social boundaries escape her, and she'll ask offensive questions and violate personal space often.
In fact, Emily can behave like a cruel person, hurting others while not realising the depths of what she is saying or doing. A flippant disregard for safety that shows that while Emily does care a lot, she has a hard time putting herself in others shoes.
Emily loves very deeply, and more than anything strives for human connection. She hates being alone and being lonely. The idea that people might not like her stresses her out a lot. Which is unfortunate, because her off-putting nature means only people who can tolerate strangeness will want to be around her. Emily really likes helping people, and she really likes doing what she likes. But if she doesn't get praise of appreciation for it, it might ruin her motivation to do it.
For a very long time, self-esteem was a big problem for her, and in many ways it still is. Due to her past, her mental conditions, and her actions, sometimes Emily thinks she isn't worthy of love. To hurt herself she cuts herself off from her friends and family. When she hates herself the most she bites her tongue to prevent herself from speaking.
• Powers: Moving Drawings- Emily loves to draw, and she can make pencil and pen drawings move like cartoons.
The Dive- Has access to a two-way ticket into people's minds.
- Psychic Specialty: Octo-Pole Links
Within her, Emily has Eight psionic spheres, like glass. About two inches in diameter. She can draw them from her body telekinetically, and control them with her mind and limbs. These spheres can extended laterally for twenty feet. While they can move quickly with just her mind, their speed and power goes up exponentially if she physically guides with her body, say, her hands. The poles can 'weld', 'link', or 'connect' to objects with the rounded ends.
The poles can either be physically present, in which case they are highly durable, or transluscent and only used for welding things together. If the poles are damaged, Emily feels pain in the corresponding area of her body. If the poles are destroyed, that corresponding area of her body takes severe damage. Transluscent poles can be damaged by psionic attacks and are more vulnerable to them, but physical attacks pass through. They can still be affected by heat, cold, and other status effects.
The spheres that become poles are stored in her arms, chest, hips, and belly. Destroying or damaging the poles will destroy or damage those parts of her body.
The poles can do more than just link physical objects together, they can also link 'attributes', 'aspects' or 'traits' together. For example, the 'aspect' of frictionlessness of an ice cube can be 'linked' to a carpeted floor, causing people to slip and fall. Emily's attribute of 'hearing' could be applied to the wall of a building, allowing her to hear things more clearly on the other side. The durability of her steel pole could be linked to a cardboard box, allowing it to be used as a heavy bludgeon. She can only link solids. The poles are hydrophobic. Liquids and gasses can't be linked.
- Weak Link: Emily is easily distracted. If her focus is broken, her poles might lose links or durability.
Emily is particularly susceptible to illusions or other deceptions, falling for them or being tricked by them nearly every time, even seemingly obvious ones. If she tries to 'link' with an illusion, or she thinks an object has properties that it doesn't, she won't be able to tell it hasn't worked.
Non-solid things in the world are difficult for her to deal with. She cannot link with them and her physical attacks can't affect them.
Her poles are a physical extension of her willpower and body. While this increases their strength dramatically over more mind-based telekinetics and other constructs, this leaves her vulnerable to exploitation. If someone had the ability to cause blindness upon touching someone's body, touching one of Emily's psionic constructs would be a workable substitute.
- Archetype: The Lover- A cartoonish form of Emily, with a large head and big, expressive blue eyes. She wears a denhim blue jacket embroidered with intricate bead patterns, and skinny jeans that fall loosely over pink sneakers. Under the jacket is a pink crop top. Her belly button is pierced with a pink heart.
Skills:
Sketch Artist
Memorization
Practiced Gymnast
Saying the alphabet backwards
Really just a bunch of useless eclectic baloney and trivia
Can almost play many instruments
Oddly endearing to some people
Walking on stilts
Dancing, street and formal
History: Emily was a chatterbox baby. Spouting incomprehensible nonsense to herself or others was a habit that would follow her for the rest of her life. Her first word, debatably, was 'hippo hippo hippo' at 9 months old. Her parents, Trevor and Ashley, already had two children: Mackenzie and Eliza. Emily was nine years younger than Eliza, the middle child. Needless to say she was the newest addition to the Dawson family by a long while.
While her family loved her, Emily was a bit of a problem child. Despite her seemingly good intentions she did poorly in school and made few friends, often the target of bullying and ostracization. This just made her want people to like her more, which resulted in even more disastrous 'friendship attempts.' While the bullying was unforgivable, her parents couldn't exactly blame the other children for not wanting to be around Emily. She was... a lot.
Emily discovered her psychic powers when she was a little girl. Maybe, she thought, this was the reason nobody liked her? Because she was special like this? At first she placed the psychic spheres inside some baseballs and pretended to juggle them to impress some of the other girls at her school, all the while reciting that one part of the bible where there's like two thousand names of dads and their sons. At first it was kind of impressive but when she started juggling eight balls and they started obviously floating around the place, the kids at her school got scared. It really didn't help when she grabbed onto a baseball and started to float around, saying the bible names faster like that would somehow soothe their nerves. That was a bad Tuesday.
Reports of the incident put her on ESP's radar, but she was just a child and hadn't done anything illegal or damaging. The psychic community just had a new member. Her parents would have to move the family to Illinois, USA, and do some reading. "Ten things parents of psychic children should know." Yeah. As if raising kids wasn't hard enough.
Emily hung out with her sisters a lot, and while they did occasionally pick on her they were a lot nicer than the bullies at school. Her parents were also stressed out by Emily, who was by the hardest child to manage. They tried to hide it, but Emily was very good at spotting people who started to not like her. While internalizing these feelings she began to try even harder to win her parents approval. Needless to say, it didn't work. She only succeeded in ruining the kitchen of their new house. Emily just felt like she couldn't get it, no matter what she tried.
Through out all of middle school and high school, the only friends Emily had was her exasperated family their dog. Emily knew in her heart that she was just a freak, but ever the optimist, she kept trying anyway. Not like she could stop herself from shutting up anyway. Particularly strict teachers held a grudge against the teen for her behavior. They could really ruin her school year. Her grades did not improve. One of the only places she found solace was in gymnastics. Nobody could argue or downplay her results, right?
Everything changed come college. Emily wasn't sure what she was going to be, but she had to do something, right? There she met a quiet boy named Jerome, and the two really hit it off. Jerome was the outcasted quiet kid, she was ostracized loud kid. They quickly became best friends. Incidents with Emily became less and less common the more time she spent around Jerome. Around him, she felt like...a person.
One day after school, Emily accidentally revealed to Jerome she was a pyschic. While she was sure that was the end, he didn't seem to mind. He just smiled calmly and let her perform tricks for him.
In her second year of college, after being friends with Jerome for a year, Emily started walking the path that would lead to her Break. She began developing the symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenia. Emily became convinced there was a living tree stalking her. It sounds stupid now, but her literal magic powers lended credence to the idea in her afflicted mind.
While she kept it to herself due to fear of being dismissed or accused of lying, the symptoms got worse. Delusion gave way to hallucination. When she was over at Jerome's house, she became violent, and battered him away with her powers accidentally. Normally a breakdown like this could be more peacefully resolved, but Emily's powers were acting up because of her fear and confusion.
Emily locked herself in the bathroom and fell asleep. She became temporarily more lucid and when she arrived, she saw Jerome nursing his injuries. He hadn't called the cops, but Emily knew it was her that had hurt him. All at once she confirmed her own suspicions about herself. She really was a monster and freak, just like everyone had said. As the feeling of being watched once again crawled up her spine and Emily profusely apologized to her best friend, he looked at her and said.
"You're not a monster, Emily. You deserve love, okay?" Jerome had decided not to call the police for one reason or another. Instead he gave Emily the chance to go in on her own terms. It was a huge risk, but Jerome didn't want to betray his best friend.
That was the moment Emily Broke. Jerome gave her inner fears a solid haymaker that jostle her worldview out of position. Holding hands, she automatically dove right into his mind. Not sure what just happened, Emily began poking around in this strange new world.
She managed to withdraw without causing too much damage, although Jerome strongly disliked PB&J and liked Shrimp a lot more from there on out. But afterwards, Emily had to get her problems figured out. She was diagnosed and put on medication. Still curious about her new powers, she started diving pretty regularly into people's minds for fun, not really seeing the issue. Occasionally she wondered if her medicine was working, or if this was all some bizarre hallucination.
After causing the annoying head teacher on her college campus to forget how to read as a prank, Emily recorded it and posted it online. This got the attention of the ESP, who knew she was a psychic. When they sent an Agent named Morgan to investigate, Emily Dove into her mind and made Agent Morgan think Emily was her best friend. Afterwards ESP brought the hammer down and arrested Emily. There was a brief confrontation where a confused Emily barricaded herself in her room, but was subdued by sleeping gas and then brought in.
At the very least this confirmed that she wasn't 'crazy'...unless the shadow government organization was also made up by her mind. Tricky tricky tricky.
Emily's overall outlook on life is a troubled one but ever since the night she Broke she's been on a slow but positive trend upwards. Now she just has to figure out what to do with her life. Is there a spot in it for someone as strange as her? Maybe...just maybe.
Misc: She used to have her belly button pierced with a pink heart, like her Archetype, but not anymore.
Emily is bisexual.
Jerome is still Emily's best friend, though they are taking a bit of a break from hanging out with each other so much. Probably because of the assault.
She has an OCD comorbidity with her schizophrenia, manifesting in her chatterbox nature and a few other places.
"I'm a natural blonde!"
• Appearance:
A very pretty blonde woman with short hair, 5 feet tall with a slender build. Bright, wide blue eyes with an intense look about them. Wears fashionable street clothes. • Age: Twenty One
• Personality: Emily talks. A lot. All the time. Ever since she was a kid she's never been able to shut up. Her stream of consciousness is vocalized, she always needs something to talk about. If not talk to others, than talk to herself. Even when someone is speaking directly to her, she's murmering under her breath. She can't seem to help it. If it's not talking, it's singing, and if it's not singing it's whistling. The best you can get is very low humming.
She has a strange way of viewing the world, being very cheerful and optimistic, sometimes inappropriately so. If she's not being very friendly, she'll be trying to do something to cure her boredom. If she doesn't get her way she can become displeased and go for it anyway. Overall she is a very volatile person in both directoins. Recklessly curious, she'll follow whatever instinct or impulse or question she has to it's termination point. Very easily distracted, she'll go off on tangent after tangent, fixating on certain topics or ideas only to dismiss them the moment she finds a new one. Social boundaries escape her, and she'll ask offensive questions and violate personal space often.
In fact, Emily can behave like a cruel person, hurting others while not realising the depths of what she is saying or doing. A flippant disregard for safety that shows that while Emily does care a lot, she has a hard time putting herself in others shoes.
Emily loves very deeply, and more than anything strives for human connection. She hates being alone and being lonely. The idea that people might not like her stresses her out a lot. Which is unfortunate, because her off-putting nature means only people who can tolerate strangeness will want to be around her. Emily really likes helping people, and she really likes doing what she likes. But if she doesn't get praise of appreciation for it, it might ruin her motivation to do it.
For a very long time, self-esteem was a big problem for her, and in many ways it still is. Due to her past, her mental conditions, and her actions, sometimes Emily thinks she isn't worthy of love. To hurt herself she cuts herself off from her friends and family. When she hates herself the most she bites her tongue to prevent herself from speaking.
• Powers: Moving Drawings- Emily loves to draw, and she can make pencil and pen drawings move like cartoons.
The Dive- Has access to a two-way ticket into people's minds.
- Psychic Specialty: Octo-Pole Links
Within her, Emily has Eight psionic spheres, like glass. About two inches in diameter. She can draw them from her body telekinetically, and control them with her mind and limbs. These spheres can extended laterally for twenty feet. While they can move quickly with just her mind, their speed and power goes up exponentially if she physically guides with her body, say, her hands. The poles can 'weld', 'link', or 'connect' to objects with the rounded ends.
The poles can either be physically present, in which case they are highly durable, or transluscent and only used for welding things together. If the poles are damaged, Emily feels pain in the corresponding area of her body. If the poles are destroyed, that corresponding area of her body takes severe damage. Transluscent poles can be damaged by psionic attacks and are more vulnerable to them, but physical attacks pass through. They can still be affected by heat, cold, and other status effects.
The spheres that become poles are stored in her arms, chest, hips, and belly. Destroying or damaging the poles will destroy or damage those parts of her body.
The poles can do more than just link physical objects together, they can also link 'attributes', 'aspects' or 'traits' together. For example, the 'aspect' of frictionlessness of an ice cube can be 'linked' to a carpeted floor, causing people to slip and fall. Emily's attribute of 'hearing' could be applied to the wall of a building, allowing her to hear things more clearly on the other side. The durability of her steel pole could be linked to a cardboard box, allowing it to be used as a heavy bludgeon. She can only link solids. The poles are hydrophobic. Liquids and gasses can't be linked.
- Weak Link: Emily is easily distracted. If her focus is broken, her poles might lose links or durability.
Emily is particularly susceptible to illusions or other deceptions, falling for them or being tricked by them nearly every time, even seemingly obvious ones. If she tries to 'link' with an illusion, or she thinks an object has properties that it doesn't, she won't be able to tell it hasn't worked.
Non-solid things in the world are difficult for her to deal with. She cannot link with them and her physical attacks can't affect them.
Her poles are a physical extension of her willpower and body. While this increases their strength dramatically over more mind-based telekinetics and other constructs, this leaves her vulnerable to exploitation. If someone had the ability to cause blindness upon touching someone's body, touching one of Emily's psionic constructs would be a workable substitute.
- Archetype: The Lover- A cartoonish form of Emily, with a large head and big, expressive blue eyes. She wears a denhim blue jacket embroidered with intricate bead patterns, and skinny jeans that fall loosely over pink sneakers. Under the jacket is a pink crop top. Her belly button is pierced with a pink heart.
Skills:
Sketch Artist
Memorization
Practiced Gymnast
Saying the alphabet backwards
Really just a bunch of useless eclectic baloney and trivia
Can almost play many instruments
Oddly endearing to some people
Walking on stilts
Dancing, street and formal
History: Emily was a chatterbox baby. Spouting incomprehensible nonsense to herself or others was a habit that would follow her for the rest of her life. Her first word, debatably, was 'hippo hippo hippo' at 9 months old. Her parents, Trevor and Ashley, already had two children: Mackenzie and Eliza. Emily was nine years younger than Eliza, the middle child. Needless to say she was the newest addition to the Dawson family by a long while.
While her family loved her, Emily was a bit of a problem child. Despite her seemingly good intentions she did poorly in school and made few friends, often the target of bullying and ostracization. This just made her want people to like her more, which resulted in even more disastrous 'friendship attempts.' While the bullying was unforgivable, her parents couldn't exactly blame the other children for not wanting to be around Emily. She was... a lot.
Emily discovered her psychic powers when she was a little girl. Maybe, she thought, this was the reason nobody liked her? Because she was special like this? At first she placed the psychic spheres inside some baseballs and pretended to juggle them to impress some of the other girls at her school, all the while reciting that one part of the bible where there's like two thousand names of dads and their sons. At first it was kind of impressive but when she started juggling eight balls and they started obviously floating around the place, the kids at her school got scared. It really didn't help when she grabbed onto a baseball and started to float around, saying the bible names faster like that would somehow soothe their nerves. That was a bad Tuesday.
Reports of the incident put her on ESP's radar, but she was just a child and hadn't done anything illegal or damaging. The psychic community just had a new member. Her parents would have to move the family to Illinois, USA, and do some reading. "Ten things parents of psychic children should know." Yeah. As if raising kids wasn't hard enough.
Emily hung out with her sisters a lot, and while they did occasionally pick on her they were a lot nicer than the bullies at school. Her parents were also stressed out by Emily, who was by the hardest child to manage. They tried to hide it, but Emily was very good at spotting people who started to not like her. While internalizing these feelings she began to try even harder to win her parents approval. Needless to say, it didn't work. She only succeeded in ruining the kitchen of their new house. Emily just felt like she couldn't get it, no matter what she tried.
Through out all of middle school and high school, the only friends Emily had was her exasperated family their dog. Emily knew in her heart that she was just a freak, but ever the optimist, she kept trying anyway. Not like she could stop herself from shutting up anyway. Particularly strict teachers held a grudge against the teen for her behavior. They could really ruin her school year. Her grades did not improve. One of the only places she found solace was in gymnastics. Nobody could argue or downplay her results, right?
Everything changed come college. Emily wasn't sure what she was going to be, but she had to do something, right? There she met a quiet boy named Jerome, and the two really hit it off. Jerome was the outcasted quiet kid, she was ostracized loud kid. They quickly became best friends. Incidents with Emily became less and less common the more time she spent around Jerome. Around him, she felt like...a person.
One day after school, Emily accidentally revealed to Jerome she was a pyschic. While she was sure that was the end, he didn't seem to mind. He just smiled calmly and let her perform tricks for him.
In her second year of college, after being friends with Jerome for a year, Emily started walking the path that would lead to her Break. She began developing the symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenia. Emily became convinced there was a living tree stalking her. It sounds stupid now, but her literal magic powers lended credence to the idea in her afflicted mind.
While she kept it to herself due to fear of being dismissed or accused of lying, the symptoms got worse. Delusion gave way to hallucination. When she was over at Jerome's house, she became violent, and battered him away with her powers accidentally. Normally a breakdown like this could be more peacefully resolved, but Emily's powers were acting up because of her fear and confusion.
Emily locked herself in the bathroom and fell asleep. She became temporarily more lucid and when she arrived, she saw Jerome nursing his injuries. He hadn't called the cops, but Emily knew it was her that had hurt him. All at once she confirmed her own suspicions about herself. She really was a monster and freak, just like everyone had said. As the feeling of being watched once again crawled up her spine and Emily profusely apologized to her best friend, he looked at her and said.
"You're not a monster, Emily. You deserve love, okay?" Jerome had decided not to call the police for one reason or another. Instead he gave Emily the chance to go in on her own terms. It was a huge risk, but Jerome didn't want to betray his best friend.
That was the moment Emily Broke. Jerome gave her inner fears a solid haymaker that jostle her worldview out of position. Holding hands, she automatically dove right into his mind. Not sure what just happened, Emily began poking around in this strange new world.
She managed to withdraw without causing too much damage, although Jerome strongly disliked PB&J and liked Shrimp a lot more from there on out. But afterwards, Emily had to get her problems figured out. She was diagnosed and put on medication. Still curious about her new powers, she started diving pretty regularly into people's minds for fun, not really seeing the issue. Occasionally she wondered if her medicine was working, or if this was all some bizarre hallucination.
After causing the annoying head teacher on her college campus to forget how to read as a prank, Emily recorded it and posted it online. This got the attention of the ESP, who knew she was a psychic. When they sent an Agent named Morgan to investigate, Emily Dove into her mind and made Agent Morgan think Emily was her best friend. Afterwards ESP brought the hammer down and arrested Emily. There was a brief confrontation where a confused Emily barricaded herself in her room, but was subdued by sleeping gas and then brought in.
At the very least this confirmed that she wasn't 'crazy'...unless the shadow government organization was also made up by her mind. Tricky tricky tricky.
Emily's overall outlook on life is a troubled one but ever since the night she Broke she's been on a slow but positive trend upwards. Now she just has to figure out what to do with her life. Is there a spot in it for someone as strange as her? Maybe...just maybe.
Misc: She used to have her belly button pierced with a pink heart, like her Archetype, but not anymore.
Emily is bisexual.
Jerome is still Emily's best friend, though they are taking a bit of a break from hanging out with each other so much. Probably because of the assault.
She has an OCD comorbidity with her schizophrenia, manifesting in her chatterbox nature and a few other places.
"I'm a natural blonde!"
1x Like
mantou The Fried Kind
Member
Seen
6 mos ago
@Mintz Hey there, sorry about that. I definitely feel you on spending too long thinking things through, though. Until now I'm still mulling over a reasonable backstory! D:>
@mantou
Feel ya on that! Though recently an idea's cropped up in my mind for someone relating to the Jester Archetype, so with any luck I'll be getting that up soon. Maybe today, if I'm lucky!
Feel ya on that! Though recently an idea's cropped up in my mind for someone relating to the Jester Archetype, so with any luck I'll be getting that up soon. Maybe today, if I'm lucky!
Zoey Boey Spider!
Member
Seen
5 hrs ago
@TruthHurts22 hooray! thanks for working through it with me
1x Like
Here's a shit-head high schooler with a knack for burning stuff and causing trouble. All in good fun!....Normally.
Name: Declan Fulbear, Firestarter (nickname in the 'Baking Club' in High School....Which was a cover-up for what was essentially a Psychics Anonymous get-together)
Appearance: Declan is a young Caucasian male, standing at about 5'8 and weighing in just a bit over 150 lbs. His body build, while not overtly athletic, is strong and light enough for this kid to really get some moves going, known for his parkour skills (even discounting some Psychic assistance). His messy brown hair that is unkempt and a touch spiked shares that color with his eyes. As far as it comes to clothing, he wears anything comfortable, though he does stray towards a punk aesthetic.
Age: 18
Personality: Declan is certainly rough around the edges. He's got a mean streak for sure, having become a bit of a thug-like young man over the years, and has a knack for spreading chaos, which he delights in. However, in spite of his outward rudeness, he only really has the best time when he's around others, particularly those who can enjoy him and his antics. For him, having fun with others is the only way to live; but, of course, his unwillingness to compromise his own brand of 'fun' is typically what generates problems for him. Essentially, at his core, Declan is a benevolent trickster of sorts, though he has a record of either accidentally going too far....Or being pushed too far.
However, one thing he truly despises is authority figures; the idea of someone, anyone telling him how he should do something or live his life is infuriating to him. It was that mindset that cultivated his general barbed behavior of today, all too ready to push someone away because he believes they're just the next in line to tell him how he ought to be. One benefit of this train of thought is that he's very lax with people that he actually knows and likes, more than willing to offer some help or some good laughs, and he'll never question how you're running your own life. While normally that could be a bad thing, sometimes all a person needs is a shoulder to lean on, not a critic judging their every move.
Powers:
-The 'Dive': The ability to transport oneself into the psyche of another, and altering it from within.
-Levitation: While no master of levitation by far (as in the words of his levitation 'teacher', fellow Bakery Club member Maya "You seriously need to loosen up if you wanna really levitate!"), Declan can float small distances, slow down his falls, and even manifest his levitation as 'spring boards' of sorts, giving a bit of extra 'oomph' to his parkour skills.
-Mental Connection: An ability purely for use inside an individual's mindscape (as far as Declan's aware), where one can detect and connect thoughts and ideas together, potentially manipulating someone's mind. He's, uh...Not the greatest at this.
- Psychic Specialty:
-Pyrokinesis: A Psychic casually using Pyrokinesis might use the thought of something hot, or something that fires them up, to produce a touch of Pyrokinesis; enough to get the job done. Declan? He finds that boiling pit of anger that tends to sit in him is plenty enough. While he lacks much finesse in his Pyrokinetic capabilities (generally ranging between 'small flame to light a cigarette' or 'engulf everything in a general radius in fire'), he has incredible potency. All he has to do is look at something and get pissed off (which he can do all too easily), and bam; that's a toasted squirrel! No hand projection or anything required, which is especially something for a young man of his psychic level.
- Weak Link:
-Unfocused: Declan has had plenty of time to use his Psychic abilities (the few he can use consistently, that is) and has made good time trying them out ad nauseum. However, all the practice in the world can't save him from a lack of control in how he demonstrates these powers. If he had some proper focus, then he could levitate proper, or use his Pyrokinetics in a more controlled manner but instead all he can do is spring around and float for a few seconds and light anything he looks at funny aflame. In short, he has experience aplenty, but is lacking discipline.
-Hydrokinesis: Declan used to be quite proficient at Hydrokinesis, but....Well, he doesn't like to talk about it. He also has a strong aversion to water, and goes to great lengths to avoid it.
- Archetype:
-The Jester: A rather fiendish looking individual; what qualifies for a head is instead a construct of bluish flame, with red flames representing the eyes and mouth, the shapes of which are rather jagged and menacing on first glance, but can also be very expressive and almost cartoonish. It wears solidly black clothing, particularly a smoke-like jacket and sleek pants of a similar design, alongside coal-black dress shoes. The only part of its 'body' exposed beyond its head are the hands, which consist of the same smoky design as its clothes, with long fingers and sharp, almost claw-like nails. It stands far taller than Declan himself, but tends to hunch itself over. Its movements are also very jerky, which alternates between looking disturbing or rather funny.
Skills:
-Parkour
-....Baking (Okay, the Club wasn't purely cover!)
-Standing against The Man (general rebellious acts/antics)
-Pranks & general trickery
History: Declan's youth (honestly, even up to present day) sucked. Big surprise, yeah? Before he was old enough to really know them, his parents bit the dust, though he never learned the exacts, and his big brother Derek never liked speaking up about it. So most of his actual youth was spent with his grandparents down in Oakieland; good ol' Oklahoma. At first, things were fine. His gramps was a bit of a grump, but it was understandable considering he'd lost his only son, and he could've been much worse off (as Declan would eventually find out), and his grandma, from what little he could remember of her, she was as sweet as could be.
Unfortunately for the two brothers, things didn't stick like this forever.
When Declan was about five, and Derek was reaching for eight, gran passed on. They were young enough that the full weight of it didn't crush into the kids, but for their grandfather, it was what broke him.
After that, he went from being grumpy old gramps to a downright fiend. Perhaps he blamed it on the boys? Who knows. All Declan knows is that his grandfather kept getting harsher and harsher with him and Derek; strict curfews, stricker punishments, and impressing onto the two of them that life was full of lessons, and they'd learn that the hard way again and again. If he was a little kinder, then perhaps things would be different, but regardless, beyond school, their harshest teacher of all was gramps.
Things somehow got worse when Declan found out something cool when he and Derek were playing in a pool when he was around seven. The two of them were splashing each other, having a blast, and as if by second nature, Declan splashed back; but not with his hands, no. Mentally, he slapped water towards his brother.
For a moment, shocked silence held in the air. Soon followed by Declan thinking about how cool it was! And then, promptly followed by something that he didn't understand at the time, but he'd soon learn the reason behind...His brother warning him not to show that around folks, and especially not gramps.
But he was young, and, frankly, not the sharpest kid. Surely grandpa would think this was something, right? So only a few days after that, he managed to drag off the old codger to the pool to show him a 'cool trick'. When they got there, he nearly gave the man a heart attack by having the water shoot him a thumbs up. For a moment, Declan was grinning ear to ear....But that stopped when he saw the expression on grandpa's face.
Without warning, he snatched Declan up, screaming something about teaching him a lesson about what happens when you use 'hocus pocus', chucking him headfirst into the water. Perhaps if he was less terrified, and older, he would've simply used his Psychic powers to free himself, but instead, he panicked, beginning to drown in the depths of the pool. He only had his lucky stars to thank that his brother was nearby, diving in to save him as he coughed and hacked when he was dragged back under the scornful look of gramps. Ever since, Declan developed a severe case of Hydrophobia, and has since mentally locked his own Hydrokinetic powers away.
After that, he kept a tight lock on his Psychic powers, never wanting something like that to happen again. While he grew to fear water, he grew to fear and hate his grandpa, and other folks like him, even more. His brother had clearly felt the same way. By the time Derek was just getting into high school, he pulled some stunt that made gramps blow a gasket (though he never learned what he exactly did), and he had his brother sent off to a military school abroad instead of having to deal with him. Though from what he heard, somehow his brother had avoided going to the school, having ditched it to go to some kind of summer camp...
Once it became the old man and Declan on their own, his fear and resentment only grew. Every day just got crappier. He did poorly in school, and found little in the way of 'friends' more just hooligans who got a kick out of causing a ruckus with him, and some folks who got him to shake things up for their own ends. Assholes. And of course, every time trouble reached gramps' ears.....It wasn't good. He grew to dread his day-to-day life. There was no one to support him, he found enemies at every turn, and he had to hide his powers from everyone he met.
Luckily for him, things changed in high school. One day during Freshman year, after school hours, Declan didn't feel like going home; instead, he snuck into the football field to practice his Pyrokinesis tricks a bit. However, he got caught by the remaining member of the football team having to clean up equipment after practice. For a moment, he thought he was absolutely screwed; this guy was gonna report him, word would reach his grandpa, and then he'd really be up a creek without a paddle.
Instead, the guy did something....Different.
He motioned for Declan to follow him. With not much better to do, he followed, and what he got led to was a secret Psychic paradise. Turns out the school's Bakery Club got shut down the year prior, and a group of kids this year revived it. Though, it wasn't all bakery anymore...
That much was evident when he walked through the door, with a girl casually floating in mid-air, a guy seemingly holding a conversation with a bluebird (how'd it even get in here?), and another chick twirling an egg beater in the air out of boredom. When they walked in everyone stopped their activities in a panic, but just as quickly picked up once they realized who all had showed up.
The rest is history. For once, not only did Declan have friends, but he could even talk to them about Psychic stuff! And to add icing on the cake, the group was all for causing a bit of mischief here and then to put down the faculty that acted like asshats all the time. With the Bakery Club in full-force, Declan had gained a reason to start giving a shit again, and things became fun, for what had felt like the first time in his life.
But we all know what you're really here for, right? You wanna hear where it all went wrong again. Well....
It was a day like any other. By this time, Declan and most of the members were Juniors, with the head of the Club being a Senior. It was a pretty casual day for them; he was boiling water with his Pyrokinesis for Maya's tea she wanted to make before her Levitation 'lesson' today, Greg was in a little conversation with a cockroach he'd found hiding in one of the Club's pantries, Camilla was busy trying to push her Telekinesis to the next level by lifting a (plastic) table, and the head of the Club, Leon....Was actually baking something. Weird.
However, what they weren't prepared for was the class president casually walking into the clubroom, starting to ask something or other about if the Club had any spare sugar, when....He caught them red-handed using their Psychic powers. In an instant, Declan felt his reality crumble around him; under normal circumstances, sure, he'd be fine with getting caught for doing something done, and somehow handle what the school and gramps would dole out on him. But this was different.
He had no idea how the school would react to something like this, and more terrifying for him, he knew exactly how his grandpa would react. He'd probably get sent off just like his big bro. Or worse...Plus, if word of this got out, it'd hurt all his friends too. It was also in that moment he realized how powerless they were to stop this kid from darting off and snitching. Camilla definitely couldn't pick him up with her power; best she'd do is chuck a chair at him or something. Greg...Heh, even if he could do something, that guy was a complete softie, and he definitely had a deer-in-the-headlights kinda look to him right now. And Maya...No offense to her, but she could levitate towards him menacingly all she wanted; it wasn't gonna stop him.
He knew Leon wouldn't do anything, either; the guy barely talks about his own Psychic powers, and apparently they're super scary, so he never likes messing around with it. That left him. In the heat of the moment, sure, he could just try to cook the guy, but what then? He'd be a freaking murderer! With a dozen thoughts ramming at all angles in his head, in a moment of sheer panic he hadn't felt in so many years...
Declan Broke, reached out....
And connected.
Panic subsided once he realized he definitely wasn't in the clubroom anymore, but that just left way for confusion. Being inside a person's mindscape is never easy to take in, especially for your first time. Luckily, Mr. Class Prez kept things nice and clean in there; precise and methodical. It made it real simple to find what he needed. Scrounging around his psyche, he found it. That snapshot memory of the moment he just witnessed. Well....All of this was incredibly new to Declan, but he certainly knew how to handle most of his problems.
With that, the memory crackled with flames, turning to ash. Psychic ash? Whatever. It was gone. That's what he cared about. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed; every mind has its defenses, things that keep it in order, and most importantly, keep things out. Unluckily for Declan, he's one of the things those entities don't want around here. Burning a clear path through the assailants, Declan managed to launch himself out of the mindscape, back to reality....And to a briefly dazed Class President, who blinked a few times, and, apparently having decided that there was no reason to be in the clubroom, promptly left.
His friends erupted in cheer. They'd never seen anything like that! It was amazing! The rest of the day, they probed him for every little detail of the stunt he'd just pulled, even if he wasn't certain exactly what he had done. For the days to come, his clubmates tried to get him to teach how he did it, but no matter what he tried, none of them ever succeeded (though he incidentally helped Greg learn some Clairvoyance techniques, so hey; silver linings!) Eventually, the group conceded that whatever it was, only Declan could pull it off. And, oh boy did he pull it off!
Once they puzzled together the specifics of what he had done to the Class President, the group (Declan included), were eager for him to put that trick to the test. So, over the course of a few months, Declan dived into a whole slew of people, ranging from fellow classmates, occasional passersby on the street, and most certainly faculty members. While it was a surprisingly subtle shift (since Declan found himself unwilling to go too overboard with the power), teachers and the like became much friendlier...And perhaps a touch more chaotic. School certainly became more interesting.
However, what inevitably brought ESP forces down on his school was their biggest stunt yet. Until now, all they'd done was have Declan burn away a few choice memories in some folks, perhaps plant a few ideas here and there, but they had plans for Principal Nezbit. When the time was right, Declan dove into the Principal's head, and started doing what his pals had offered, something he hadn't tried yet; connecting ideas together in their mind through Psychic force of will. And once he started, well....Declan had found it very hard to stop.
By the time he did, Principal Nezbit was the raddest faculty member to roam the Earth....For about all of two days, when he started having a mental breakdown and seriously losing it. A perfectly sane man suddenly having a huge personality shift and then a breakdown of catastrophic proportions was ringing off alarm bells for ESP. By the time they got there, they didn't need to do any searching; Declan offered himself up.
Truth be told, while it was fun for the brief time it lasted, seeing his Principal so messed up due to his actions really ate away at him; he had let things get out of control, from harmless mental trickery to full-on psychic manipulation...So, for the sake of his friends not getting caught in the crossfire, he mustered up the courage to confront the officers and explain (roughly) the situation. 'Course, he was pretty light of details involving all his other Dives, but...Eh, what they didn't know couldn't hurt 'em!
With that, the kid's been in custody for a few days, quietly praying gramps didn't catch wind about this shitshow it turned out to be.
Misc:
Smokes cigs, but mainly to look cool; also to piss off his grandpa and other authority figures.
Has consistently earned Cs or lower in almost every class, besides Gym.
He actually enjoys baking quite a bit, but wouldn't be caught dead saying that.
Name: Declan Fulbear, Firestarter (nickname in the 'Baking Club' in High School....Which was a cover-up for what was essentially a Psychics Anonymous get-together)
Appearance: Declan is a young Caucasian male, standing at about 5'8 and weighing in just a bit over 150 lbs. His body build, while not overtly athletic, is strong and light enough for this kid to really get some moves going, known for his parkour skills (even discounting some Psychic assistance). His messy brown hair that is unkempt and a touch spiked shares that color with his eyes. As far as it comes to clothing, he wears anything comfortable, though he does stray towards a punk aesthetic.
Age: 18
Personality: Declan is certainly rough around the edges. He's got a mean streak for sure, having become a bit of a thug-like young man over the years, and has a knack for spreading chaos, which he delights in. However, in spite of his outward rudeness, he only really has the best time when he's around others, particularly those who can enjoy him and his antics. For him, having fun with others is the only way to live; but, of course, his unwillingness to compromise his own brand of 'fun' is typically what generates problems for him. Essentially, at his core, Declan is a benevolent trickster of sorts, though he has a record of either accidentally going too far....Or being pushed too far.
However, one thing he truly despises is authority figures; the idea of someone, anyone telling him how he should do something or live his life is infuriating to him. It was that mindset that cultivated his general barbed behavior of today, all too ready to push someone away because he believes they're just the next in line to tell him how he ought to be. One benefit of this train of thought is that he's very lax with people that he actually knows and likes, more than willing to offer some help or some good laughs, and he'll never question how you're running your own life. While normally that could be a bad thing, sometimes all a person needs is a shoulder to lean on, not a critic judging their every move.
Powers:
-The 'Dive': The ability to transport oneself into the psyche of another, and altering it from within.
-Levitation: While no master of levitation by far (as in the words of his levitation 'teacher', fellow Bakery Club member Maya "You seriously need to loosen up if you wanna really levitate!"), Declan can float small distances, slow down his falls, and even manifest his levitation as 'spring boards' of sorts, giving a bit of extra 'oomph' to his parkour skills.
-Mental Connection: An ability purely for use inside an individual's mindscape (as far as Declan's aware), where one can detect and connect thoughts and ideas together, potentially manipulating someone's mind. He's, uh...Not the greatest at this.
- Psychic Specialty:
-Pyrokinesis: A Psychic casually using Pyrokinesis might use the thought of something hot, or something that fires them up, to produce a touch of Pyrokinesis; enough to get the job done. Declan? He finds that boiling pit of anger that tends to sit in him is plenty enough. While he lacks much finesse in his Pyrokinetic capabilities (generally ranging between 'small flame to light a cigarette' or 'engulf everything in a general radius in fire'), he has incredible potency. All he has to do is look at something and get pissed off (which he can do all too easily), and bam; that's a toasted squirrel! No hand projection or anything required, which is especially something for a young man of his psychic level.
- Weak Link:
-Unfocused: Declan has had plenty of time to use his Psychic abilities (the few he can use consistently, that is) and has made good time trying them out ad nauseum. However, all the practice in the world can't save him from a lack of control in how he demonstrates these powers. If he had some proper focus, then he could levitate proper, or use his Pyrokinetics in a more controlled manner but instead all he can do is spring around and float for a few seconds and light anything he looks at funny aflame. In short, he has experience aplenty, but is lacking discipline.
-Hydrokinesis: Declan used to be quite proficient at Hydrokinesis, but....Well, he doesn't like to talk about it. He also has a strong aversion to water, and goes to great lengths to avoid it.
- Archetype:
-The Jester: A rather fiendish looking individual; what qualifies for a head is instead a construct of bluish flame, with red flames representing the eyes and mouth, the shapes of which are rather jagged and menacing on first glance, but can also be very expressive and almost cartoonish. It wears solidly black clothing, particularly a smoke-like jacket and sleek pants of a similar design, alongside coal-black dress shoes. The only part of its 'body' exposed beyond its head are the hands, which consist of the same smoky design as its clothes, with long fingers and sharp, almost claw-like nails. It stands far taller than Declan himself, but tends to hunch itself over. Its movements are also very jerky, which alternates between looking disturbing or rather funny.
Skills:
-Parkour
-....Baking (Okay, the Club wasn't purely cover!)
-Standing against The Man (general rebellious acts/antics)
-Pranks & general trickery
History: Declan's youth (honestly, even up to present day) sucked. Big surprise, yeah? Before he was old enough to really know them, his parents bit the dust, though he never learned the exacts, and his big brother Derek never liked speaking up about it. So most of his actual youth was spent with his grandparents down in Oakieland; good ol' Oklahoma. At first, things were fine. His gramps was a bit of a grump, but it was understandable considering he'd lost his only son, and he could've been much worse off (as Declan would eventually find out), and his grandma, from what little he could remember of her, she was as sweet as could be.
Unfortunately for the two brothers, things didn't stick like this forever.
When Declan was about five, and Derek was reaching for eight, gran passed on. They were young enough that the full weight of it didn't crush into the kids, but for their grandfather, it was what broke him.
After that, he went from being grumpy old gramps to a downright fiend. Perhaps he blamed it on the boys? Who knows. All Declan knows is that his grandfather kept getting harsher and harsher with him and Derek; strict curfews, stricker punishments, and impressing onto the two of them that life was full of lessons, and they'd learn that the hard way again and again. If he was a little kinder, then perhaps things would be different, but regardless, beyond school, their harshest teacher of all was gramps.
Things somehow got worse when Declan found out something cool when he and Derek were playing in a pool when he was around seven. The two of them were splashing each other, having a blast, and as if by second nature, Declan splashed back; but not with his hands, no. Mentally, he slapped water towards his brother.
For a moment, shocked silence held in the air. Soon followed by Declan thinking about how cool it was! And then, promptly followed by something that he didn't understand at the time, but he'd soon learn the reason behind...His brother warning him not to show that around folks, and especially not gramps.
But he was young, and, frankly, not the sharpest kid. Surely grandpa would think this was something, right? So only a few days after that, he managed to drag off the old codger to the pool to show him a 'cool trick'. When they got there, he nearly gave the man a heart attack by having the water shoot him a thumbs up. For a moment, Declan was grinning ear to ear....But that stopped when he saw the expression on grandpa's face.
Without warning, he snatched Declan up, screaming something about teaching him a lesson about what happens when you use 'hocus pocus', chucking him headfirst into the water. Perhaps if he was less terrified, and older, he would've simply used his Psychic powers to free himself, but instead, he panicked, beginning to drown in the depths of the pool. He only had his lucky stars to thank that his brother was nearby, diving in to save him as he coughed and hacked when he was dragged back under the scornful look of gramps. Ever since, Declan developed a severe case of Hydrophobia, and has since mentally locked his own Hydrokinetic powers away.
After that, he kept a tight lock on his Psychic powers, never wanting something like that to happen again. While he grew to fear water, he grew to fear and hate his grandpa, and other folks like him, even more. His brother had clearly felt the same way. By the time Derek was just getting into high school, he pulled some stunt that made gramps blow a gasket (though he never learned what he exactly did), and he had his brother sent off to a military school abroad instead of having to deal with him. Though from what he heard, somehow his brother had avoided going to the school, having ditched it to go to some kind of summer camp...
Once it became the old man and Declan on their own, his fear and resentment only grew. Every day just got crappier. He did poorly in school, and found little in the way of 'friends' more just hooligans who got a kick out of causing a ruckus with him, and some folks who got him to shake things up for their own ends. Assholes. And of course, every time trouble reached gramps' ears.....It wasn't good. He grew to dread his day-to-day life. There was no one to support him, he found enemies at every turn, and he had to hide his powers from everyone he met.
Luckily for him, things changed in high school. One day during Freshman year, after school hours, Declan didn't feel like going home; instead, he snuck into the football field to practice his Pyrokinesis tricks a bit. However, he got caught by the remaining member of the football team having to clean up equipment after practice. For a moment, he thought he was absolutely screwed; this guy was gonna report him, word would reach his grandpa, and then he'd really be up a creek without a paddle.
Instead, the guy did something....Different.
He motioned for Declan to follow him. With not much better to do, he followed, and what he got led to was a secret Psychic paradise. Turns out the school's Bakery Club got shut down the year prior, and a group of kids this year revived it. Though, it wasn't all bakery anymore...
That much was evident when he walked through the door, with a girl casually floating in mid-air, a guy seemingly holding a conversation with a bluebird (how'd it even get in here?), and another chick twirling an egg beater in the air out of boredom. When they walked in everyone stopped their activities in a panic, but just as quickly picked up once they realized who all had showed up.
The rest is history. For once, not only did Declan have friends, but he could even talk to them about Psychic stuff! And to add icing on the cake, the group was all for causing a bit of mischief here and then to put down the faculty that acted like asshats all the time. With the Bakery Club in full-force, Declan had gained a reason to start giving a shit again, and things became fun, for what had felt like the first time in his life.
But we all know what you're really here for, right? You wanna hear where it all went wrong again. Well....
It was a day like any other. By this time, Declan and most of the members were Juniors, with the head of the Club being a Senior. It was a pretty casual day for them; he was boiling water with his Pyrokinesis for Maya's tea she wanted to make before her Levitation 'lesson' today, Greg was in a little conversation with a cockroach he'd found hiding in one of the Club's pantries, Camilla was busy trying to push her Telekinesis to the next level by lifting a (plastic) table, and the head of the Club, Leon....Was actually baking something. Weird.
However, what they weren't prepared for was the class president casually walking into the clubroom, starting to ask something or other about if the Club had any spare sugar, when....He caught them red-handed using their Psychic powers. In an instant, Declan felt his reality crumble around him; under normal circumstances, sure, he'd be fine with getting caught for doing something done, and somehow handle what the school and gramps would dole out on him. But this was different.
He had no idea how the school would react to something like this, and more terrifying for him, he knew exactly how his grandpa would react. He'd probably get sent off just like his big bro. Or worse...Plus, if word of this got out, it'd hurt all his friends too. It was also in that moment he realized how powerless they were to stop this kid from darting off and snitching. Camilla definitely couldn't pick him up with her power; best she'd do is chuck a chair at him or something. Greg...Heh, even if he could do something, that guy was a complete softie, and he definitely had a deer-in-the-headlights kinda look to him right now. And Maya...No offense to her, but she could levitate towards him menacingly all she wanted; it wasn't gonna stop him.
He knew Leon wouldn't do anything, either; the guy barely talks about his own Psychic powers, and apparently they're super scary, so he never likes messing around with it. That left him. In the heat of the moment, sure, he could just try to cook the guy, but what then? He'd be a freaking murderer! With a dozen thoughts ramming at all angles in his head, in a moment of sheer panic he hadn't felt in so many years...
Declan Broke, reached out....
And connected.
Panic subsided once he realized he definitely wasn't in the clubroom anymore, but that just left way for confusion. Being inside a person's mindscape is never easy to take in, especially for your first time. Luckily, Mr. Class Prez kept things nice and clean in there; precise and methodical. It made it real simple to find what he needed. Scrounging around his psyche, he found it. That snapshot memory of the moment he just witnessed. Well....All of this was incredibly new to Declan, but he certainly knew how to handle most of his problems.
With that, the memory crackled with flames, turning to ash. Psychic ash? Whatever. It was gone. That's what he cared about. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed; every mind has its defenses, things that keep it in order, and most importantly, keep things out. Unluckily for Declan, he's one of the things those entities don't want around here. Burning a clear path through the assailants, Declan managed to launch himself out of the mindscape, back to reality....And to a briefly dazed Class President, who blinked a few times, and, apparently having decided that there was no reason to be in the clubroom, promptly left.
His friends erupted in cheer. They'd never seen anything like that! It was amazing! The rest of the day, they probed him for every little detail of the stunt he'd just pulled, even if he wasn't certain exactly what he had done. For the days to come, his clubmates tried to get him to teach how he did it, but no matter what he tried, none of them ever succeeded (though he incidentally helped Greg learn some Clairvoyance techniques, so hey; silver linings!) Eventually, the group conceded that whatever it was, only Declan could pull it off. And, oh boy did he pull it off!
Once they puzzled together the specifics of what he had done to the Class President, the group (Declan included), were eager for him to put that trick to the test. So, over the course of a few months, Declan dived into a whole slew of people, ranging from fellow classmates, occasional passersby on the street, and most certainly faculty members. While it was a surprisingly subtle shift (since Declan found himself unwilling to go too overboard with the power), teachers and the like became much friendlier...And perhaps a touch more chaotic. School certainly became more interesting.
However, what inevitably brought ESP forces down on his school was their biggest stunt yet. Until now, all they'd done was have Declan burn away a few choice memories in some folks, perhaps plant a few ideas here and there, but they had plans for Principal Nezbit. When the time was right, Declan dove into the Principal's head, and started doing what his pals had offered, something he hadn't tried yet; connecting ideas together in their mind through Psychic force of will. And once he started, well....Declan had found it very hard to stop.
By the time he did, Principal Nezbit was the raddest faculty member to roam the Earth....For about all of two days, when he started having a mental breakdown and seriously losing it. A perfectly sane man suddenly having a huge personality shift and then a breakdown of catastrophic proportions was ringing off alarm bells for ESP. By the time they got there, they didn't need to do any searching; Declan offered himself up.
Truth be told, while it was fun for the brief time it lasted, seeing his Principal so messed up due to his actions really ate away at him; he had let things get out of control, from harmless mental trickery to full-on psychic manipulation...So, for the sake of his friends not getting caught in the crossfire, he mustered up the courage to confront the officers and explain (roughly) the situation. 'Course, he was pretty light of details involving all his other Dives, but...Eh, what they didn't know couldn't hurt 'em!
With that, the kid's been in custody for a few days, quietly praying gramps didn't catch wind about this shitshow it turned out to be.
Misc:
Smokes cigs, but mainly to look cool; also to piss off his grandpa and other authority figures.
Has consistently earned Cs or lower in almost every class, besides Gym.
He actually enjoys baking quite a bit, but wouldn't be caught dead saying that.
GM
TruthHurts22
Member
Seen
8 days ago
@Mintz Huh, never expected someone to transplant a whole concept from Psychonauts... other than me, obviously. I'm not sure how Mental Connection would work just yet, since the interactions and changes would largely be confined to physical, uh, "physical" actions taken when Diving, but I won't discount the power just yet! Sure I can cobble something together.
Nothing seems out of order, so Declan's in!
Nothing seems out of order, so Declan's in!
Little Bird Caffeinated Lifeform
Member
Seen
0-24 hrs ago
I hope I made this on enough understanding of what's going on here. If I'm off the mark, feel free to slap me silly.
Name: William Charles “Liam” O’Neill
Age: 31
Personality: Stoic in his surface demeanor, Liam carries a sombre aire about himself through most times. His expression rarely shifts from a resting neutrality, and in the moments that it does, it may seem strained, weird, or even outright forced; this leads some to question whether he feels anything or has a true sense of empathy. His stone-faced nature is only reinforced by his preference for remaining silent unless either absolutely necessary, or otherwise entirely confident in his ability to speak to a topic or situation. He tends to be more a person of action, a doer rather than a sayer; even so, he’s not always the most decisive about when and/or how to act, and even less so against and/or for whom he should be acting.
Nonetheless, Liam can be well regarded as a reliable and trustworthy individual. One whose actions will fall in line with his words, and who wastes little time or energy in subversion or coercion. He speaks his truths outright, often bluntly, and though it may at times result in another’s hurt, he seldom, if ever, delivers his truth as anything other than an admission and acceptance of his own thoughts and feelings. His sense of ownership over himself and his general reliability do have the tendency to recoil on him, to the point that the mistreatment and neglect he’s taken from others occasionally frames in his mind as personal shortcoming.
The psychic power of Liam’s mind has a potent and strong relationship with his physical body. It is such that he is able to effectively divert the energy that his psyche would otherwise expel outward to a more inward focus. Through this, he is able to convert this power into a physiological energy, through which his body and brain are able to optimize and exceed their normal limitations. In doing so, Liam effectively replicates the popularized effects of manipulating forces such as Chi. By way of his psychic power he is able to hone his traditional senses, energize and strengthen his body to break beyond physical barriers, and even reinforce his willpower and resilience against the invasive proclivities of other psychic applications.
Just as Liam’s application of his psychic powers mimics the effects associated with chi-like concepts, so too does it succumb to the same faults. The reservoir from which he pulls this energy is less of a river and more of a pond or pool. It’s limit in any given period of time is finite, and is drained depending on the length of application and amount of power implemented through it. Sooner or later, he will tire. And due to the nature of his application, both his mind and body are left in need of rest and recuperation.
The unfettered, unrestrained essence of all that Liam is and aspires to be. The Hero stands tall above him and many others in the visage of a warrior or knight-like figure. Clad in armor not unlike the Gladiators of ancient Rome, he is fit, and powerful, with a presence that needs only to be and do, and forgo the need for words. An outward expression, it symbolizes Liam’s power with a sword wielded in one hand, and shield in the other. It moves with decision and precision, leaving nothing to regret from lack of action.
Skills:
History: Some people break hard all in one fell swoop. Others break steadily over time, small chips and cracks caving their resolve, casting them further into doubt until they shatter. Others expand until they snap like rubber bands. The latter adequately describes Liam.
From a seemingly stable childhood, he’s since reflected on a series of missteps in his upbringing. Parents that, good as their intentions were, never seemed keen on giving him room to spread his wings. An older sibling who was subtly favored, whose freedom was enabled in ways Liam never was, and whose accomplishments left the younger brother struggling to escape his elder’s shadow. Through his days in school he was generally without much beyond going to classes and going home; few, if any, friendships presented themselves beyond the walls of the school building, and Liam thus, resigned himself to the pursuit of his own interests, spending many years in self-reflection.
Much of his life between then and now was generally uneventful. Successes in his youth in regards to winning seasons with sports teams and other competitive ensembles brought their due joy, and by the time he was twenty three, he had traveled more of the United States than most people. He spent much of his collegiate life wandering and exploring, switching majors and attempting to shoulder courses that were generally over his head. All the while he developed a laser focus on his commitment to others, going out of his way to volunteer his time to tasks that others couldn’t be bothered with, and seldom asking for time off from work.
Entering adulthood found him lost, and, for a long while, having turned his back on his passions and ambitions in the name of responsibility. A long stretch of unfulfilling jobs followed. In tandem, came a run of broken relationships, and parting of ways with friends and some family. A few, in particular, left him in a state of abandonment. Depression setting in, and the idolization of ‘heroes’ that presented themselves in his life, drove him to regain his lost ground at the expense of his self care. Soon thereafter, came an episode of drug use… LSD visited his bloodstream on more than one occasion. Cannabis became a regular coping mechanism to the point of burnout.
Before long the realities set in: he couldn’t be everywhere and do everything. Not everyone that he stepped up to support was inclined to reciprocate his good will.
Thus he snapped, and thus, retreated inward to rediscover himself. Over months, he fortified his mind. He learned what he could of the sorts that would attempt to break his sense of self; a particular resistance to gaslighting manifested. Through a slew of vivid dreams exercising the veils of self doubt, he began solidifying himself once more…
It was amid this process, that ESP found their way to him… the rest… is a story yet to unfold.
Age: 31
Appearance
Personality: Stoic in his surface demeanor, Liam carries a sombre aire about himself through most times. His expression rarely shifts from a resting neutrality, and in the moments that it does, it may seem strained, weird, or even outright forced; this leads some to question whether he feels anything or has a true sense of empathy. His stone-faced nature is only reinforced by his preference for remaining silent unless either absolutely necessary, or otherwise entirely confident in his ability to speak to a topic or situation. He tends to be more a person of action, a doer rather than a sayer; even so, he’s not always the most decisive about when and/or how to act, and even less so against and/or for whom he should be acting.
Nonetheless, Liam can be well regarded as a reliable and trustworthy individual. One whose actions will fall in line with his words, and who wastes little time or energy in subversion or coercion. He speaks his truths outright, often bluntly, and though it may at times result in another’s hurt, he seldom, if ever, delivers his truth as anything other than an admission and acceptance of his own thoughts and feelings. His sense of ownership over himself and his general reliability do have the tendency to recoil on him, to the point that the mistreatment and neglect he’s taken from others occasionally frames in his mind as personal shortcoming.
Powers
The Dive: A Mind of Sword & Shield
The Dive: A Mind of Sword & Shield
- The Sword. There is no trickery. No sneaking around. No passive toying or finicking. No misdirection or deceit. There’s only a single, direct, piercing strike. Swift and decisive. With a force of sharpened will power, Liam focuses the power of his mind as a spear into the mind of another. To the non-psychic, it is, if not fatal, disabling. To the Broken psychic caught off their guard, it can be disorienting, or at least distracting. To the unbroken psychic, it carries a small, but real, potential to be the force that breaks them.
- The Shield. The sword is useless without a shield to accompany it. Liam’s power can, contrarily, serve as a barrier, blocking minds from the influence of others. It can prevent mind reading, retain controlling efforts, and even prevent or diminish the breaking of a mind.
- The Sacrifice. To fully use the Sword, Liam must compromise the protection of the Shield. To use the Shield to its fullest potential, Liam must withhold the Sword. To keep both up means to compromise their effectiveness, and to strain the mind. While he can bring his Shield to protect the mind of another, it means leaving his own exposed.
The Basics
- Kinetic Generation. This is, in a sense, a form of telekinesis. However, it trades in the refinement of concisely manipulating the movement of objects for amplified power. Application of this power results in the creation of concussive forces which can vary in terms of density and area covered; smaller, denser forces are generally the most effective in terms of ease of use balancing with the desired result. Applied more creatively, it may open the door to other abilities as well.
- Shockwaves. A related power to kinetic generation, but considered, at least by Liam, to be a separate one in its own right, shockwaves produce kinetic force outward in all directions, it is the bridge between offensive and defensive, allowing the waiving of assailment, while being capable of simultaneously harm those caught within its range. The further out the shockwave emanates from its epicenter, the weaker its effects become.
- Force Field. A more controlled variation on the Shockwave. Force fields maintain a flux of kinetic energy over a sustained time frame, while retaining a specified range from their epicenter from which any movement or adjustment is moderated so as not to explode outward. The larger the force field’s area of effect, the more difficult it is to maintain, and the more likely it is to have a conceivable “weak spot.”
Psychic Specialty
Vim & Vigor
Vim & Vigor
The psychic power of Liam’s mind has a potent and strong relationship with his physical body. It is such that he is able to effectively divert the energy that his psyche would otherwise expel outward to a more inward focus. Through this, he is able to convert this power into a physiological energy, through which his body and brain are able to optimize and exceed their normal limitations. In doing so, Liam effectively replicates the popularized effects of manipulating forces such as Chi. By way of his psychic power he is able to hone his traditional senses, energize and strengthen his body to break beyond physical barriers, and even reinforce his willpower and resilience against the invasive proclivities of other psychic applications.
The Drawback
Just as Liam’s application of his psychic powers mimics the effects associated with chi-like concepts, so too does it succumb to the same faults. The reservoir from which he pulls this energy is less of a river and more of a pond or pool. It’s limit in any given period of time is finite, and is drained depending on the length of application and amount of power implemented through it. Sooner or later, he will tire. And due to the nature of his application, both his mind and body are left in need of rest and recuperation.
Archetype: The Hero
Enter the Warrior (Today’s Tom Sawyer)
Enter the Warrior (Today’s Tom Sawyer)
The unfettered, unrestrained essence of all that Liam is and aspires to be. The Hero stands tall above him and many others in the visage of a warrior or knight-like figure. Clad in armor not unlike the Gladiators of ancient Rome, he is fit, and powerful, with a presence that needs only to be and do, and forgo the need for words. An outward expression, it symbolizes Liam’s power with a sword wielded in one hand, and shield in the other. It moves with decision and precision, leaving nothing to regret from lack of action.
Skills:
- Fighting. Not trained extensively in any form or style, but rather, learned and studied on his own time. Something of an improvised combatant, implementing bits and pieces of knowledge he’s acquired into his own brand.
- Jack-of-all-Trades. Liam has worked in theaters, in warehouses, and at parks to name a few. He’s been a custodian, a landscaper, an equipment operator. He spent a brief time formally studying music. In his youth, he enjoyed the outdoors, developing a competency in hiking and outdoor navigation by map and compass. He’s pulled the triggers of rifles and shotguns, and hit his fair share of bullseyes with a bow and arrow. He’s been no stranger to sports and athletic pursuits. Overall, he’s gone well out of his way over his lifetime to explore as many avenues as he could, creating a general sensibility that can relate to a vastness of topics on, at the very least, a surface level.
History: Some people break hard all in one fell swoop. Others break steadily over time, small chips and cracks caving their resolve, casting them further into doubt until they shatter. Others expand until they snap like rubber bands. The latter adequately describes Liam.
From a seemingly stable childhood, he’s since reflected on a series of missteps in his upbringing. Parents that, good as their intentions were, never seemed keen on giving him room to spread his wings. An older sibling who was subtly favored, whose freedom was enabled in ways Liam never was, and whose accomplishments left the younger brother struggling to escape his elder’s shadow. Through his days in school he was generally without much beyond going to classes and going home; few, if any, friendships presented themselves beyond the walls of the school building, and Liam thus, resigned himself to the pursuit of his own interests, spending many years in self-reflection.
Much of his life between then and now was generally uneventful. Successes in his youth in regards to winning seasons with sports teams and other competitive ensembles brought their due joy, and by the time he was twenty three, he had traveled more of the United States than most people. He spent much of his collegiate life wandering and exploring, switching majors and attempting to shoulder courses that were generally over his head. All the while he developed a laser focus on his commitment to others, going out of his way to volunteer his time to tasks that others couldn’t be bothered with, and seldom asking for time off from work.
Entering adulthood found him lost, and, for a long while, having turned his back on his passions and ambitions in the name of responsibility. A long stretch of unfulfilling jobs followed. In tandem, came a run of broken relationships, and parting of ways with friends and some family. A few, in particular, left him in a state of abandonment. Depression setting in, and the idolization of ‘heroes’ that presented themselves in his life, drove him to regain his lost ground at the expense of his self care. Soon thereafter, came an episode of drug use… LSD visited his bloodstream on more than one occasion. Cannabis became a regular coping mechanism to the point of burnout.
Before long the realities set in: he couldn’t be everywhere and do everything. Not everyone that he stepped up to support was inclined to reciprocate his good will.
Thus he snapped, and thus, retreated inward to rediscover himself. Over months, he fortified his mind. He learned what he could of the sorts that would attempt to break his sense of self; a particular resistance to gaslighting manifested. Through a slew of vivid dreams exercising the veils of self doubt, he began solidifying himself once more…
It was amid this process, that ESP found their way to him… the rest… is a story yet to unfold.
GM
TruthHurts22
Member
Seen
8 days ago
@Wayward I appreciate the effort put into the writing of this, it's really something. That said, the flowery nature of the sheet is, uh, leaving me with a few gaps in description for the character.
For one thing, the Powers section. No problems with the actual powers he's got, but instead I wanted clarification on what you wrote in the Dive section. Are you saying that Liam's version of the dive can be of a potent enough nature to fully 'damage' a person's psyche without the prerequisite of the Dive occurring? Is this just a default thing that can happen, like he's a speeding bullet, or is it a thing he needs to consciously do?
Then there's the History section, which is missing a couple of key points - namely, what Liam's use of Diving was and the consequences of it. The way you wrote it makes it come across as if Liam only reflected on himself after he Broke and hadn't actually used the power. There'd be no reason for the ESP to capture him if he hasn't done anything, you know?
For one thing, the Powers section. No problems with the actual powers he's got, but instead I wanted clarification on what you wrote in the Dive section. Are you saying that Liam's version of the dive can be of a potent enough nature to fully 'damage' a person's psyche without the prerequisite of the Dive occurring? Is this just a default thing that can happen, like he's a speeding bullet, or is it a thing he needs to consciously do?
Then there's the History section, which is missing a couple of key points - namely, what Liam's use of Diving was and the consequences of it. The way you wrote it makes it come across as if Liam only reflected on himself after he Broke and hadn't actually used the power. There'd be no reason for the ESP to capture him if he hasn't done anything, you know?
mantou The Fried Kind
Member
Seen
6 mos ago
Dropping my incomplete sheet here to reserve the Everyman! Will be sure to complete the history and break soon after I'm done with assignments.
PERSONALITY
Ethan is a steady man with a good sense of moral responsibility. A reasonably upright citizen, he works hard at his job and uses his powers to help people out - mainly because it's convenient, and also because he feels he might as well. Growing up as the eldest sibling, he's learned to be independent and reliable, carrying into his work as a fireman. A lightly pessimistic worldview keeps him cautious on the job. It helps him stay flexible and prepared for the worst, but sometimes he catches himself feeling anxious about things that could go wrong. After working with his fireteam, he's learned a more diplomatic approach when dealing with people, often preferring to look at both sides of a coin to understand others and settle grievances when need be. Overall, he is a loyal individual with a taste for mild ambitions, never one to pass up the sense of accomplishment that comes with succeeding in his line of work.
You can find him at the fire company's bunker, jogging around his block in the mornings, or presenting fire hazard orientations at school and business settings.
POWERS
DIVE: The act of diving into another human being's mind space.
RETROCOGNITION: Ethan is able to glean details behind past events. For work, he utilizes this ability to accurately pinpoint the causes behind fires, and the hazards that came into play. He finds this handy to review the basics every now and then before getting ready to present at school fire hazard and safety orientations.
DOWSING: The firefighter is also able to locate water. Pockets and bodies of it. While the accessibility to fire hydrants has never given him a reason to use this often, it has proved convenient in cases where he’s exerted all his stamina and is unable to generate water on the fly. With this ability, he is able to sense his increasing proximity to water via a refreshing feeling in the air, akin to stepping out of a stuffy car into an open field.
WEAK LINK
Other than hydrokinesis, retrocognition, and dowsing, Ethan has shown no signs exhibiting the presence of other psychic abilities.
ARCHETYPE
The Everyman: An overly-simplified version of Ethan in a bunker suit. The back of his uniform is an ironed-on picture of his goldfish. Chibi Ethan’s gait is upright, with his hands constantly wrapped around a water hose.
SKILLS
> Rescue operations (save people from burning buildings, extricate them from dangerous vehicles, spills, etc.)
> Salvage operations (clearing debris, laying tarpaulin landing space, finding and returning valuables)
> Maintenance and repair of fire equipment/apparatus
> Emergency first aid treatment
> Operates portable radios
> Knowledge of various rope knots
> Basic housekeeping and cooking
HISTORY
The Agnellos lived a fairly ordinary life. Ethan was born to a working-class couple settled in San Jose, California. They earned enough to send their son to school and hire babysitters until he grew old enough to look after himself. Eventually, they came home with Lucas. Given the nature of their job as part of the police force, they were away from home often, and Ethan was tasked with taking care of his baby brother. It was his job to cook and clean up after the both of them while studying just enough to earn him decent grades at school. After growing up mostly by himself, Ethan was already quite reliable for his age and so having someone to take care of didn't bother him. In fact, he welcomed the company.
Life continued this way up until Ethan started wetting his bed. Now, this would have been fine if he were a toddler, but that year he had just turned 16. He remembered waking up extremely fatigued after those nights. More importantly, his mattress was soaked through, every corner heavily drenched enough to drip a puddle onto his bedroom floor. After enduring a few days of soaked mattresses and waking up extremely tired, he opted to stay awake one night only to learn that he didn’t wet the bed that time. With the problem seemingly solved, his sleep-deprived self took a heavy nap on the couch. Then, a frantic Lucas woke him up after finding his older brother and the couch completely soaked. Ethan was at a loss. He worried about it being a disease, how it would affect their lives, and how his younger brother would fare without him - but Lucas on the other hand was ecstatic, and excitedly took his worrywart older brother to the interwebs for answers.
Thanks to Lucas’ unexpected familiarity with keywords, they discovered ”Hydrokinesis”. It was not a disease like Ethan thought. There was no way to get rid of it but they found that with enough practice, he could learn to control it. And so it was set, from that point on, they were a team. Lucas would be in charge of searching up exercises and activities online that could act as learning prompts for Ethan. They started with little things like pushing, moving, and lifting small amounts of water, to eventually manipulating the bigger volumes of their backyard pool. Every failure was a stepping stone that ultimately led their bond to grow inseparable. It took him a year at most to be somewhat proficient at using his powers, and he owed it all to Lucas’ help and endless support.
After Ethan turned 18, he brainstormed with his younger brother what to make of his powers when it came to the job field before him. Though Lucas was only 14 at that time, he was the only other person who genuinely cared about his powers and thus Ethan valued his opinion. Ethan kept his own shortcomings and advantages in mind, and so the written list looked like this:
Lifeguard
Fisherman
Marine biologist
To Lucas, the first option seemed to be the best, considering he would be surrounded by water and earn a lot of money. Ethan agreed but ultimately crossed it out because being a lifeguard seemed lonely and rather boring. The second and third options were decent, but he also felt like he wanted to do more than just sell and/or research fish. They threw ideas back and forth before finally settling on something they both agreed on.
After receiving his high school diploma and securing a driver’s license, Ethan went on to train as an EMT to pursue his career as a firefighter.
MISC
> Lives in an apartment building opposite his brother, Lucas.
> Carries around a 2L water bottle.
> Goes on daily jogs to keep his stamina up.
> Has a pet goldfish called “Maximillian”
> Keeps a journal to track the missions he’s been on, with a list of all the names of people he’s rescued. Gives him a reason to keep going under the pressure of daily life.
ETHAN AGNELLO | ||
|---|---|---|
 | GENDER, AGE, NATIONALITY M, 28, American OCCUPATION Firefighter APPEARANCE Ethan stands at 6'0", weighs 75kg, and sports a fairly robust build born out of necessity from his profession and having to accommodate the extra 20+ kilos with his bunker gear on. Wears his hair clean-cut and short, and dyes it a light shade of chestnut brown often. When off-duty, he prefers casual, loose-fitting clothing. |
Ethan is a steady man with a good sense of moral responsibility. A reasonably upright citizen, he works hard at his job and uses his powers to help people out - mainly because it's convenient, and also because he feels he might as well. Growing up as the eldest sibling, he's learned to be independent and reliable, carrying into his work as a fireman. A lightly pessimistic worldview keeps him cautious on the job. It helps him stay flexible and prepared for the worst, but sometimes he catches himself feeling anxious about things that could go wrong. After working with his fireteam, he's learned a more diplomatic approach when dealing with people, often preferring to look at both sides of a coin to understand others and settle grievances when need be. Overall, he is a loyal individual with a taste for mild ambitions, never one to pass up the sense of accomplishment that comes with succeeding in his line of work.
You can find him at the fire company's bunker, jogging around his block in the mornings, or presenting fire hazard orientations at school and business settings.
POWERS
DIVE: The act of diving into another human being's mind space.
RETROCOGNITION: Ethan is able to glean details behind past events. For work, he utilizes this ability to accurately pinpoint the causes behind fires, and the hazards that came into play. He finds this handy to review the basics every now and then before getting ready to present at school fire hazard and safety orientations.
DOWSING: The firefighter is also able to locate water. Pockets and bodies of it. While the accessibility to fire hydrants has never given him a reason to use this often, it has proved convenient in cases where he’s exerted all his stamina and is unable to generate water on the fly. With this ability, he is able to sense his increasing proximity to water via a refreshing feeling in the air, akin to stepping out of a stuffy car into an open field.
PSYCHIC SPECIALITY
HYDROKINESIS: Due to unknown circumstances, Ethan is able to generate and manipulate all forms of water. From being able to change its states, and shooting jets of water out of his hands, his excellence as a firefighter is in no small thanks to this niche ability. However, maintaining this control comes with its own limitations. Over usage of this ability will leave him fatigued and breathless, relying solely on his stamina to work.
HYDROKINESIS: Due to unknown circumstances, Ethan is able to generate and manipulate all forms of water. From being able to change its states, and shooting jets of water out of his hands, his excellence as a firefighter is in no small thanks to this niche ability. However, maintaining this control comes with its own limitations. Over usage of this ability will leave him fatigued and breathless, relying solely on his stamina to work.
WEAK LINK
Other than hydrokinesis, retrocognition, and dowsing, Ethan has shown no signs exhibiting the presence of other psychic abilities.
ARCHETYPE
The Everyman: An overly-simplified version of Ethan in a bunker suit. The back of his uniform is an ironed-on picture of his goldfish. Chibi Ethan’s gait is upright, with his hands constantly wrapped around a water hose.
SKILLS
> Rescue operations (save people from burning buildings, extricate them from dangerous vehicles, spills, etc.)
> Salvage operations (clearing debris, laying tarpaulin landing space, finding and returning valuables)
> Maintenance and repair of fire equipment/apparatus
> Emergency first aid treatment
> Operates portable radios
> Knowledge of various rope knots
> Basic housekeeping and cooking
HISTORY
The Agnellos lived a fairly ordinary life. Ethan was born to a working-class couple settled in San Jose, California. They earned enough to send their son to school and hire babysitters until he grew old enough to look after himself. Eventually, they came home with Lucas. Given the nature of their job as part of the police force, they were away from home often, and Ethan was tasked with taking care of his baby brother. It was his job to cook and clean up after the both of them while studying just enough to earn him decent grades at school. After growing up mostly by himself, Ethan was already quite reliable for his age and so having someone to take care of didn't bother him. In fact, he welcomed the company.
Life continued this way up until Ethan started wetting his bed. Now, this would have been fine if he were a toddler, but that year he had just turned 16. He remembered waking up extremely fatigued after those nights. More importantly, his mattress was soaked through, every corner heavily drenched enough to drip a puddle onto his bedroom floor. After enduring a few days of soaked mattresses and waking up extremely tired, he opted to stay awake one night only to learn that he didn’t wet the bed that time. With the problem seemingly solved, his sleep-deprived self took a heavy nap on the couch. Then, a frantic Lucas woke him up after finding his older brother and the couch completely soaked. Ethan was at a loss. He worried about it being a disease, how it would affect their lives, and how his younger brother would fare without him - but Lucas on the other hand was ecstatic, and excitedly took his worrywart older brother to the interwebs for answers.
Thanks to Lucas’ unexpected familiarity with keywords, they discovered ”Hydrokinesis”. It was not a disease like Ethan thought. There was no way to get rid of it but they found that with enough practice, he could learn to control it. And so it was set, from that point on, they were a team. Lucas would be in charge of searching up exercises and activities online that could act as learning prompts for Ethan. They started with little things like pushing, moving, and lifting small amounts of water, to eventually manipulating the bigger volumes of their backyard pool. Every failure was a stepping stone that ultimately led their bond to grow inseparable. It took him a year at most to be somewhat proficient at using his powers, and he owed it all to Lucas’ help and endless support.
After Ethan turned 18, he brainstormed with his younger brother what to make of his powers when it came to the job field before him. Though Lucas was only 14 at that time, he was the only other person who genuinely cared about his powers and thus Ethan valued his opinion. Ethan kept his own shortcomings and advantages in mind, and so the written list looked like this:
Lifeguard
Fisherman
Marine biologist
To Lucas, the first option seemed to be the best, considering he would be surrounded by water and earn a lot of money. Ethan agreed but ultimately crossed it out because being a lifeguard seemed lonely and rather boring. The second and third options were decent, but he also felt like he wanted to do more than just sell and/or research fish. They threw ideas back and forth before finally settling on something they both agreed on.
After receiving his high school diploma and securing a driver’s license, Ethan went on to train as an EMT to pursue his career as a firefighter.
THE BREAK
Several years of hard work later Ethan finished his training as a fireman. It was around the same that his younger brother Lucas also successfully got into university, majoring in computer science. They agreed to meet up one day to celebrate their accomplishments, but Lucas didn't show. Ethan had a bad feeling and rushed to his brother's apartment to find him on the floor, struggling to breathe like a fish out of water. After being hurried to the ER, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to the ICU. The severity of the infection left Lucas with a hole in his lungs, which would take more than several months to heal.
Though his brother survived, the whole experience scared the ever-living daylights out of Ethan. It injected into him a sense of fear and paranoia that never really left.
THE DIVE(S)
After Lucas' pneumonia scare, Ethan gained the ability to dive into peoples' minds. The first person he used this on was Lucas. It was absolutely unintentional, and the moment he found himself floating around in his brother's brain, he did his best to step out as soon as possible. Thankfully, nothing much changed, other than the fact that Lucas suddenly began acing all his classes at university.
In the beginning, Ethan refrained from using his Dive. He didn't know much about it and felt wary about the drawbacks of using a literal mind-altering skill. As it was, he was perfectly content with his job, his relationships, and his life in general. Even if he lived simply, he didn't feel the need to risk messing with other peoples' heads to change a thing. There was really no incentive to do so... until eventually there came a day that changed his mind.
It was a huge issue regarding a department building. It belonged to a small company that earned quite a bit of money. Unfortunately, most of it went to a CEO who was miraculously stingy and careless with his investments at the same time. The building itself was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, up to date on the latest trends that graced the front of architecture magazines - but it was far from structurally sound, and it simply wasn't equipped to deal with a fire. It lacked a good amount of fire extinguishers, emergency exits, and the nearest fire hydrant was half a mile away. The issue was not purchasing a badly-planned building, but refusing to renovate it according to the national building code. The CEO felt the building was fine the way it was and ignored the fire company's warnings until the department building actually caught on fire. While Ethan and his fireteam tried their absolute best, even to the point of him fainting after exhausting all his hydrokinetic energy, it was impossible to save everyone. The fire was too strong. With no thanks to the lack of consideration of fire safety, many people, both employees, and firemen were lost that day. The small organization had nothing left.
As a result, Ethan's fire company filed a lawsuit against them. While he strongly believed that the CEO was at fault, Ethan didn't want his fire team to win the case. They were up against a small organization with no future left for it after the fire. Not only would the organization lack the money to help pay for their deceased employees' funerals, but they would also be leaving the surviving employees with no severance pay. After balancing things out in his head, he dove into the mind of his captain and changed things around - after much effort, the lawsuit was dropped. Then, he dove into the mind of the CEO, firmly planting a strong sense of guilt and responsibility, coupled with a moral code that mainly involved listening to authorities. And finally, he dove into all the minds of the families of his fallen comrades. He split up all his savings to shoulder the cost for their funerals and also wired in extra wherever needed. They accepted graciously with no questions asked.
After things were seemingly settled, Ethan still had lingering doubts. He felt like he had done something - a lot of things - that he probably shouldn't have. He shouldn't have meddled with the lawsuit. None of it was his responsibility in the first place, but at that time, he felt the need to do something. There was a reason for his ability to dive, and he figured that maybe that was it... but he couldn't shake what he was feeling. He was just a normal person, and even with the ability to Dive, was it right for him to use it?
This ate away at him until he came to a decision. He made a phone call to his brother and dropped off his pet goldfish. The next day, he turned himself into the ESP, where he is currently being detained.
Several years of hard work later Ethan finished his training as a fireman. It was around the same that his younger brother Lucas also successfully got into university, majoring in computer science. They agreed to meet up one day to celebrate their accomplishments, but Lucas didn't show. Ethan had a bad feeling and rushed to his brother's apartment to find him on the floor, struggling to breathe like a fish out of water. After being hurried to the ER, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to the ICU. The severity of the infection left Lucas with a hole in his lungs, which would take more than several months to heal.
Though his brother survived, the whole experience scared the ever-living daylights out of Ethan. It injected into him a sense of fear and paranoia that never really left.
THE DIVE(S)
After Lucas' pneumonia scare, Ethan gained the ability to dive into peoples' minds. The first person he used this on was Lucas. It was absolutely unintentional, and the moment he found himself floating around in his brother's brain, he did his best to step out as soon as possible. Thankfully, nothing much changed, other than the fact that Lucas suddenly began acing all his classes at university.
In the beginning, Ethan refrained from using his Dive. He didn't know much about it and felt wary about the drawbacks of using a literal mind-altering skill. As it was, he was perfectly content with his job, his relationships, and his life in general. Even if he lived simply, he didn't feel the need to risk messing with other peoples' heads to change a thing. There was really no incentive to do so... until eventually there came a day that changed his mind.
It was a huge issue regarding a department building. It belonged to a small company that earned quite a bit of money. Unfortunately, most of it went to a CEO who was miraculously stingy and careless with his investments at the same time. The building itself was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, up to date on the latest trends that graced the front of architecture magazines - but it was far from structurally sound, and it simply wasn't equipped to deal with a fire. It lacked a good amount of fire extinguishers, emergency exits, and the nearest fire hydrant was half a mile away. The issue was not purchasing a badly-planned building, but refusing to renovate it according to the national building code. The CEO felt the building was fine the way it was and ignored the fire company's warnings until the department building actually caught on fire. While Ethan and his fireteam tried their absolute best, even to the point of him fainting after exhausting all his hydrokinetic energy, it was impossible to save everyone. The fire was too strong. With no thanks to the lack of consideration of fire safety, many people, both employees, and firemen were lost that day. The small organization had nothing left.
As a result, Ethan's fire company filed a lawsuit against them. While he strongly believed that the CEO was at fault, Ethan didn't want his fire team to win the case. They were up against a small organization with no future left for it after the fire. Not only would the organization lack the money to help pay for their deceased employees' funerals, but they would also be leaving the surviving employees with no severance pay. After balancing things out in his head, he dove into the mind of his captain and changed things around - after much effort, the lawsuit was dropped. Then, he dove into the mind of the CEO, firmly planting a strong sense of guilt and responsibility, coupled with a moral code that mainly involved listening to authorities. And finally, he dove into all the minds of the families of his fallen comrades. He split up all his savings to shoulder the cost for their funerals and also wired in extra wherever needed. They accepted graciously with no questions asked.
After things were seemingly settled, Ethan still had lingering doubts. He felt like he had done something - a lot of things - that he probably shouldn't have. He shouldn't have meddled with the lawsuit. None of it was his responsibility in the first place, but at that time, he felt the need to do something. There was a reason for his ability to dive, and he figured that maybe that was it... but he couldn't shake what he was feeling. He was just a normal person, and even with the ability to Dive, was it right for him to use it?
This ate away at him until he came to a decision. He made a phone call to his brother and dropped off his pet goldfish. The next day, he turned himself into the ESP, where he is currently being detained.
MISC
> Lives in an apartment building opposite his brother, Lucas.
> Carries around a 2L water bottle.
> Goes on daily jogs to keep his stamina up.
> Has a pet goldfish called “Maximillian”
> Keeps a journal to track the missions he’s been on, with a list of all the names of people he’s rescued. Gives him a reason to keep going under the pressure of daily life.
@TruthHurts22
Fair 'nuff! Yeah, I'm pretty big on Psychonauts, and when I was crafting him, I thought that it made for an interesting inclusion. If it don't quite fit in, I'll be happy to remove it, but otherwise be sure to tell me whatcha got in store for it! I'll be eagerly anticipating it. :3
Fair 'nuff! Yeah, I'm pretty big on Psychonauts, and when I was crafting him, I thought that it made for an interesting inclusion. If it don't quite fit in, I'll be happy to remove it, but otherwise be sure to tell me whatcha got in store for it! I'll be eagerly anticipating it. :3
Little Bird Caffeinated Lifeform
Member
Seen
0-24 hrs ago
@Wayward I appreciate the effort put into the writing of this, it's really something. That said, the flowery nature of the sheet is, uh, leaving me with a few gaps in description for the character.
For one thing, the Powers section. No problems with the actual powers he's got, but instead I wanted clarification on what you wrote in the Dive section. Are you saying that Liam's version of the dive can be of a potent enough nature to fully 'damage' a person's psyche without the prerequisite of the Dive occurring? Is this just a default thing that can happen, like he's a speeding bullet, or is it a thing he needs to consciously do?
Then there's the History section, which is missing a couple of key points - namely, what Liam's use of Diving was and the consequences of it. The way you wrote it makes it come across as if Liam only reflected on himself after he Broke and hadn't actually used the power. There'd be no reason for the ESP to capture him if he hasn't done anything, you know?
Ah. OK. All makes sense.
In terms of his Dive's function... if it can ben worked in the way I'm thinking, I would consider it in terms of his entering of peoples' minds results in less of a full immersion and more of a "pop the door open, throw something inside that goes boom and get out." Only Diving in a short ways, if you will, and focusing his psychic power to briefly disrupt another's mental state; I reckon it would be akin to causing a power surge in a person's mind, a telepathic equivalent of an emp. Or am I completely missing the point of Diving?
GM
TruthHurts22
Member
Seen
8 days ago
@Wayward You're missing the point a little bit yeah. Dives aren't just a means to an end, they're what the roleplay is gonna be based around. If Liam is incapable to "fully" Diving then that leaves him in the dust. Plus, I don't think the ESP would let him do anything if he's a walking brain scrambler.
WindsOfFate Divine Diva of Fabulousness
Member
Seen
2 yrs ago
I was thinking of it more on the lines of like a very dangerous form of telepathy in which instead of simply reading the individuals mind you can go in and do some serious damage which makes it forbidden because of how dangerous it is. I could be wrong with my assumption on what I thought it was.
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