Am I late? I think I'm late. I'll pop this here anyway.
| NAME(S): |Nicholas Turner
| NICKNAME(S): | Nick, Turnip, The Star Spangled Speedster (a name he insists on using but which has no chance of catching on)
| D.O.B.: | 25/09/1992
| AGE: | 23
| SEX: | Male
| SEXUALITY: | Heterosexual
| APPEARANCE: | Standing at a perfectly sensible 5'10", Nick seems to be one of those people who's constantly smiling, whether it's a big cheeky grin or just a sly cock of the mouth. In fact it can be pretty annoying. Physically he's nothing to write home about, appearing to be quite thin, yet this appearance does a disservice to the great athletic shape that Nick is in. His hair seems to be permanently stuck up one way or another despite all attempts by gravity to bring it back down.
When being just his plain old normal self, Nick sports a blue-checked shirt, with a light grey t-shirt underneath, tatty old blue jeans and brown trainers. hen 'suited-up', however, he dons a pale green flight suit, an old fashioned bomber jacket, a cream flight scarf, a set of ski goggles and a baseball helmet sporting a stars and stripes pattern, as well as gloves and pads on his knees and elbows.
| GENUS: | Homo-Virium
| CLASSIFICATION: | MERCURY
| ABILITIES/SKILLS: | Nicholas is fast. Really fast. Able to do 0-60mph in 8 seconds and reaching a maximum speed (as far as he's aware) of 213mph, Nick likes to consider himself the fastest human alive until proven otherwise. This abnormal acceleration extends to punches, kicks and other movements, giving Nick's attacks more power than otherwise expected.
This super-natural speed also extends to his reactions. Able to snatch an arrow from mid-air and dodge most blows from slow-mos (his name for non-super fast people), Nick's heightened reaction time is almost a necessity for him to be able to travel at such high speeds without crashing horribly into an unexpected object or person.
Limitations: Although Nick can accelerate to amazing speeds, he needs time to build up any kind of real pace, being subjected to the same forces of air friction as everything else. In total it probably takes him just under a minute to reach his current maximum speed.
Whilst Nick is extremely fit, he is also as susceptible as anyone else to fatigue and exhaustion. His current level of fitness could be compared with a 400m sprinter, and he's always trying to improve.
Though he can turn corners quicker than most cars or motorcycles, Nick still needs to slow down enough to do so, and needs to take steps to counter the effects of G-Force, hence the use of a flight suit to assist in this and prevent his blood circulation from being negatively impacted by the fast corners he takes.
Weaknesses: The speeds that Nick travels at are a constant strain on his body, and though he has gradually started to adapt over time, he is still causing havoc to his muscles every time he runs at any great speed, causing them to tear quite badly on a number of occasions. Such feats of speed also put a massive strain on his completely normal human heart, meaning he has to take care not to have a cardiac arrest.
Nick's ability also requires him to consume vast amounts of food in order to replace the massive energy he expends on running. This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that Nick simply cannot stay still for very long, always needing to burn off energy because of his ability. He can become so restless that he can't sleep, and if made to stay still for too long he starts to shake violently. He's never been allowed to stay still too long for fear of what might happen.
| BACKSTORY: | Born to a loving mother (Kathryn) and father (William) in Chicago, Illinois, Nicholas was provided with a safe and happy childhood along with an older brother and sister. Being the baby of the family, Nick was always protected the most, even by his older siblings...sometimes. His father was an all-round real American hero, a fighter pilot for the US Air Force, a star athlete during his days at school and a great believer in trying your best at everything. And like many young boys Nick was desperate to emulate his father. Though he always had to spend long bouts away from home during tours, Nicholas was always extremely excited to see his father when he returned. In the mean time his mother worked as a bank manager nearby, so they had a pretty comfortable life to say the least.
Being an enthusiastic and easy-going kid, Nick made friends easily at school and had a natural way to put people at ease with his genuine manner. His honesty could sometimes turn into bluntness, but it was very rare for Nick to intentionally hurt someone's feelings.
From a young age Nick had always loved to run. Day in day out he'd go charging around the playground and then do the same when at home. So naturally when he went into High School the young speedster joined the track and field team, already able to beat kids two grades above him in the sprint. He always competed in the championships, and always seemed to win. He looked set to be a future Olympic star. Until, aged 15, Nick went fast during a race. Too fast. In the 400m sprint he set off at a blitzing pace and accelerated so quickly that he had finished the race before any of the others were even halfway around. Rather than cheers the field suddenly fell into a state of silence. Confused and scared at what had just happened, Nick ran off before anyone could approach him, and just as before he set off faster than was humanly possible.
Later on his father found him sitting in the park which they had visited frequently. Nick was still visibly shaken, but his father didn't seem fazed at all. After convincing Nicholas to come home. About a week after (with Nick staying off of school), an unexpected visitor arrived. Someone from an institute called the Pacific Royal Collegiate and University. After a long discussion, it was agreed that Nick should attend for his own safety, and to help him develop his new strange abilities.
For over 6 years Nick honed his skills and trained like he'd never trained before, gradually developing his ability. Although people sometimes found his constantly upbeat personality a little grating, Nick made a good network of friends, whilst staying in contact with all his family back home as often as he could. It took a while to settle in properly, but eventually Nick felt happy at PRCU. He felt like he was really fitting in and that he could push himself to his limits.
And it was here where Nick was located when the whole fiasco with Kowalski kicked off, not too long before Nick was meant to graduate once and for all from PRCU. Forced out of PRCU with everyone else, Nick was lost for what to do. So the natural thing was to return home. But having being ousted as a Hype, it became abundantly clear that he was just causing an unnecessary risk to his family. Without telling them he one day took as much as he could, including one of his dad's older flight suits, and left his home for good.
Not one to stay idle, Nick travelled across the country a lot, laying low and picking up the odd jobs here and there. But something in him always compelled Nick to try and help those around him, and he couldn't help but get involved in issues which weren't his own. He'd only be able to stay in one place for a few weeks or so before getting involved in local affairs, donning his ridiculous outfit and going out to tackle crime himself, despite all the PRCU training and lectures which had been given about the harm which vigilantism could do. But Nick simply couldn't help himself. If he couldn't use his powers to help others, then what was the point?
After a year and a half of this, Nick caught word of a group of similarly outcast Hyperhumans slowly gathering together. Desperate to be amongst those whom he could identify with and feel safe around, Nick set off as fast as he could. Arriving a couple of weeks ago, he has been acting as an unofficial scout for the group and checking that the road ahead is all safe and clear.
| MOTIVATION/OBJECTIVE: |Nick is always striving to be better, faster and braver. He's constantly terrified that one day that he'll be too slow or too late to save someone he cares about. Having never lost anyone that he loves, Nick is desperate to make sure it doesn't happen if he can help it.
| REFERENCE POST(S): |roleplayerguild.com/posts/1394749roleplayerguild.com/posts/937789roleplayerguild.com/posts/455158| NOTES: | Nick has a tendency to unnecessarily salute with two fingers in casual situations.
Still does his best to call home as often as possible to catch up with everything at home.
Favourite pizza topping is another pizza. But also meatballs.
