dreamingflowers

ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs: __ɢᴇɴᴇsɪs

@6slyboy6
Damn I thought Malena would be the oldest :P

ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs: __ɢᴇɴᴇsɪs

Cast is growing bigger #excited!!

ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs: __ɢᴇɴᴇsɪs

Nice characters you guys!
Great to see some more girls, I thought this would become more of a guys thing. Glad I'm wrong :P

@t2wave
I have a character in my roleplay vault named Floure. She's my favorite character to write as and the only one who made it to the end of a roleplay lol

ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs: __ɢᴇɴᴇsɪs

Malena Tessaro

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"Your heart is the softest place on earth. Take care of it."

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NAME

Malena Tessaro

OTHER NAMES

Her friends call her either Mal or Lena, her brothers usually use the latter, most guys do for some reason.
Her grandmother refers to her as Magdalena, of which the name Malena originated.

AGE

20

GENDER

Female

SEXUALITY

Heterosexual

PERSONALITY

Malena is kind with a good heart. She has a warmth to her that puts others at ease and which makes it easy for them to confide in her. It is a task she takes on willingly as she needs to be needed. She thrives on taking care of others, to see them happy makes her happy. As perhaps a contradiction to her caring nature Malena is very introverted. She often disappears for a while, to someplace where she can be alone, to sort out her thoughts and feelings.

Even when around others she keeps up a well practiced facade. It's tough to know what she's thinking as her expression remains largely the same, like a beautiful statue. Rarely seen sad or angry, she is a serene and steady presence to be around. Only a handful of people who are close to her can see through the cracks and figure out what she's really thinking. She can come across as secretive, while that may not her intention. She has a hard time letting people in and she is very particular on who she decides to share her life with.

She is plagued by crippling self esteem issues. Growing up people always said she was too kind, too pretty, not cut out for the job she wanted, decisions were taken out of her hands before she could even entertain a thought. She doesn't believe in herself or her ability to achieve the things she wants. Complimenting her is like throwing a paper ball through fire, it will have gone up in flames before it reaches her. It's not a feigned modesty, nine out of ten she really doesn't believe you. You wouldn't be able to tell though, she is great in faking a smile and saying thank you.

She is what people would call an old soul. Often feeling misunderstood on multiple levels. Malena is deeply spiritual and takes comfort in her beliefs. In many ways she's lost, lost on who she is outside of her family and lost on what she wants in life. She takes a back seat, waiting for others to take the initiative.

Malena is an enigma, with multiple incomprehensible contradictions. Her friends often joke her personality doesn't match the way she looks, but looks aren´t everything, Malena knows that. While it has helped her or rather forced her to deal with her shyness, it was also cause for unwanted attention. If you didn´t know her you would think she´s constantly playing hard to get. She´s gotten better at it though. If her own discomfort wasn´t enough encouragement to deal with guys hitting on her, her inability to make physical contact will do the trick just fine.

APPEARANCE

Malena is a petite young woman with a pear shaped figure, narrow shoulders and a wider hip. She's 5'4'' and weighs around 120 pounds. She has a classic face with a fine nose, full lips, well groomed slightly arched brows and warm brown eyes. Her hair is thick, dark and reaches down to her mid back. She usually wears it down and wavy.

Malena is into clothes, make-up and fashion but doesn't follow any trends. To her dressing up is more a medium to express her personality, a way to make her feel good about herself. Her style is very feminine and elegant, soft muted colors, floral patterns, off the shoulder tops, wavy cardigans, flowing dresses. She wears minimal make up, jewelry and sticks to what she knows looks good on her. Less is more. She is never seen without a pair of thin cotton gloves, in an effort to contain her ability. She passes of her wearing them to having chronic dermatitis.

ABILITIES

Life-Force Absorption: The power to absorb life-force/energy and utilize it in some way.
Malena's ability is tactile requiring skin contact. She absorbs health and vitality removing it from the source and into her body. The source does not need to be (super)human, it would also work with plants and/or animals. Using the absorbed energy she is able to gain various advantages, ranging from healing herself to temporarily using powers absorbed from other superhumans. She can also transfer energy from one source to another, healing her target, or giving them an energy boost. The strength and effectiveness depends on the duration of physical contact.

If the target submits to the absorption it is relatively painless and you´ll be left feeling slight dizzy. If they resist it will be painful and very draining, possibly deadly for both parties. While her target my be completely drained Malena can´t contain that large an amount of energy without redirecting it somewhere else immediately. If she doesn´t, well who knows what will happen....

Current level:
Malena doesn't know most of these things. She's used her ability rarely, usually on accident. She knows she can heal herself and other people from minor injuries, scrapes, cuts etc. She's afraid what will happen if she holds on for too long and isn't very keen to try.

Limitations:
Her ability is constantly active, rendering her incapable of touching others without the absorption process taking place. Her inability to control her ability is psychological, a result of the combination between her introvert personality and low self esteem. It´s like her ability is a manifestation of her returning need for exclusion, as it limits her physical closeness to people around her. At the same time it forces her to deal with her issues, if she ever wants to learn how to control it.

As for her absorbing other abilities and using them, it´s not as easy as it sounds. First of all she doesn´t know she can do this,
and second absorbing an ability doesn´t mean she knows how to use it, or worse be able to control it.

SKILLS & WEAKNESSES

+ Basic nursing skills. Malena is a freshman nursing student. She knows how to apply bandages, basic wound care and first aid.
+ Alternative medicine. As a hobby Malena has studied alternative medicine, including herbal medicine. She can recognize most commonly used plants and can tell the difference between poisonous plants and ones that are safe to use.
+ Calm composure. Malena is generally a calm and serene young woman, and she remains that way in stressful situations, keeping a level head.
- Self esteem issues. She as mentioned before suffers from extremely low self esteem. Doing something she hasn't done before will trigger such strong feelings of fear and anxiety she'll often refuse to do it. It will take a lot of patience and numerous reassurances to convince her she isn't as useless as she thinks she is.
- Physical prowess (or rather lack thereof). At 5'4'' she isn't very strong or intimidating. She has the average strength of a young woman her size.

BACKGROUND

Malena grew up in a close knit Italian immigrant family, living in a quiet suburban neighborhood. It was a very mundane town for a child to grow up in. The community was strongly religious, many people having lived in the sleepy town for most of their life. Her immediate family was made up out of her father, mother and two older brothers. Malena's father was a buyer for a large firm dealing in chemical storage. Her mother worked in a health care centre as a receptionist. Both jobs were located out of town and both of her parents worked full time, to ensure she and her brothers had a good education. Most of her extended family still lived in Italy, save for her maternal grandmother and her children (Malena's aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews).The Tessaro family was known around town as a hard working family, a loving couple with well behaved children.

Her childhood was fairly uneventful. She had a sheltered upbringing, her parents making many of her decisions for her, her brothers protecting her as if she was made of glass. As she got older Malena started to see her family wasn't all that perfect, her aunt was in deep financial trouble, one of her brothers dropped out of school and her parents were arguing more and more each day.

At 17 her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. A terrible blow which brought the family even closer together. She delayed going to college to take care of her mother, alongside her family. As her mother's illness got worse Malena slowly but surely took over her mother's role in the household. It was during this difficult period that her ability manifested. She kept it a secret, faking a skin disorder. Malena didn't want to add on to their problems with some freak medical affliction, at least that's what she thought it was. After two long years of fighting against cancer her mother passed away. Struck with grief the family lived on auto pilot for many months.

For the next half year Malena started to work from home, selling baked goods for parties and birthdays, while figuring out her next move. She decided to confide in her grandmother, a wise and experienced woman. While her grandmother showed her understanding, her brothers and father did not. They didn't understand why she hadn't used her ability to save their mother. After the initial anger her brothers came around, but her father held onto his resentment. His grief also drove him to date multiple women, creating an even larger distance between him and his children. Despite all this Malena enrolled in nursing school at 19. Her life exists mainly of school and taking care of the household with an absent father and two older brothers who are in between jobs.

She struggles with her newfound reality, way more than she lets on.

Apotheosis planning/ic

Interested!

Garden of Shadow (Horror, Human Mutations, and Monsters)

F R A N C E S C O S A P I E N T I
^{The Bronx - Fordham University | Sector Br6}

The hastily constructed barricade was faltering quickly. With each crash of feral bodies against the door, the bed shook dangerously, the legs of the table screeching across the floor. The strength of the unnaturally grown ivy was being tested to its limits. The woody vines squeaked under the pressure, some of the leaves falling off in the process. One by one they started to unravel of the wall, making a snapping sound. With each snap his chances of staying alive were getting slimmer. Francesco didn't want to think what would happen if they got through the door. They would eat him alive and he would feel all of it. They could tear off his limbs like plucking the petals of a flower. Claws ripping through his skin like a knife through butter. Maybe it would be better to throw himself out of the window, that would be quicker and hopefully less painful.

His poorly improvised suicide plan was thwarted by an act of unexpected heroism on the other side of the door. Francesco didn't know what was going on, a flash of bright red light shone through the small window at the top of the door. It was quickly followed by the screeches of ferals, howling in pain, like they were being attacked themselves. From what he'd seen these beasts worked together, so why would they suddenly turn on each other? If that was what was going on anyway. If that wasn't the case and the ferals were being attacked by something else, what could be strong enough to take them on? He got up from the floor, returning to his full height after being reduced to a lump of misery and despair. The frenzied sounds of crazed ferals clawing at the door were gone. In their place the nauseating smell of burned flesh. It filled his nostrils which in turn caused the sides of his mouth to draw down in disgust. He tried not to breathe through his nose too much, which left the other option of breathing through his mouth. He didn't even want to know what he was breathing in if he did that for too long. So he braved the smell and cautiously made his way to the door.

He wanted to know how he was saved, or better yet if he was safe. Who knows what could have caused this to happen. The red light made him think of a flare gun, but flare guns weren't strong enough to cause the disturbing smell of burned flesh. Not as bad as he was smelling anyway. Moving carefully, eyes fixated on the door he pushed past the hospital bed and whatever else had remained of his barricade. Francesco was two steps away from the entrance when he froze in his tracks, hearing a knock and soon thereafter a male voice.

"Umm... hello? Anyone alive in there? I, uh... I need help. And from the looks of things, so do you."

"...Look, if there's 'alive inside,' ya gotta tell me now, dude. We gotta move, and fast, before more of those fuckers show up."

Francesco nearly burst into tears of relief, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but he had never been as happy to hear a stranger's voice in his life. His felt his heart skip a beat, hope came flooding back in waves, at just a few simple words. The thought of someone else having survived whatever was going made him feel a lot less desperate and alone. He needed help and so did the guy on the other side of the door. It was enough for him to spring back into action, a person in need had always been a good motivator for Francesco.
He gathered up his stuff when a sudden and wholly unimportant thought crossed his mind. They would probably be going outside and in his rush to escape the dorms he hadn’t had the sense to bring a jacket. He did bring his schoolbag, since it had his laptop and some other personal items in there, which he wouldn’t trust his roommates not to snatch. All he had on were a pair of slim fit jeans, grey all stars and a chunky wool sweater which although warm left his neck completely exposed. It had a boat neck neckline which he normally loved but now despised for two reasons. One it did nothing to hide the thorny scabs on his neck and two it would be pretty cold.

Yeah…..only he could worry about his outfit during an apocalypse. Normal had their priorities sorted but no he was thinking about the neckline of his sweater. Speaking of which he grabbed the pillowcase which held the medical kits he made. It was time to get a move on, he slung his school bag over his shoulder and took a last glance in the mirror. He looked like crap, his messy bun was looking beyond messy and the green skin didn’t help much either. Then again nobody would really care what he looked like, everyone was trying to stay alive, so was he.

He pushed against the door and with little effort it swung open, the ivy hanging limb where it was still attached to the door. Nothing could have prepared him for what he ran into on the other side. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. Half burned bodies of what had previously been humans were scattered around the hallway. They were unrecognizable in their blackened state and even though these might have been people he once knew, he couldn’t tell them apart, their wounds were too severe. As far as he could bear to look there were around six or seven of them. His hand came up to his mouth involuntarily, shocked at what he was seeing.

He was so caught up in the display of gore that he hadn’t seen the guy who was probably responsible for this standing next to the door, next to him. Francesco tried to keep his face composed and refrained from making eye contact right away. It was hard not to look at the crystal-like growths, or his hands which seemed to be completely covered in them, fingers, and all. Francesco wasn’t grossed out, not like he was when he’d seen his own mutations for the first time. All that he could think of was that the mutations of this guy must hurt, a lot.

“I’m….I…” He croaked, his voice wasn’t cooperating at all. His throat was still dry and he simply didn’t know what to say, he was still shocked about all this. Obviously, he was alive so that question was answered without any words. He took a deep breath, he was too rattled to even act normal, it was ridiculous.

“Thank you…..I thought I was a goner for sure” He was used to looking up at people but this guy was about his height just a little taller. It was easier to make eye contact, though his eyes were admittedly kind of scary. The whites had gone black and his iris was vivid red, just like the crystals. He smiled a bit nervously and noticed the scratches on his cheek. They were deep and he had no idea how this guy wasn’t flinching in pain right now.

“That looks pretty bad.” Francesco said, touching his own left cheek so the guy knew what he was referring to. He glanced over his shoulder still a bit on edge, despite being relatively safe for now. More could always be coming. He’d seen groups of ferals outside of the building and there were probably many more still inside. If they wanted to stand a chance, the best option would be to sneak out of the building and hole up elsewhere, somewhere less crowded.

Where the hell could they go that would be safe? At least safer than the University. He didn’t know much about these ferals. All he’d seen was how they reacted to sound, they didn’t have great eyesight either. If they were quiet and avoided areas were large groups of them were stalking they would be okay……well kind of. He was far from okay, but he could deal with his own drama later.

“We can take one of the emergency exits, then we’ll be at the back of the University”

The emergency exits were at the bottom of the emergency stairway, usually no one was allowed in there, unless it was an emergency exercise. He was betting on them being empty so they could sneak out unseen.

Garden of Shadow (Horror, Human Mutations, and Monsters)

F R A N C E S C O S A P I E N T I
^{The Bronx - Fordham University | Sector Br6}

It had grown quiet outside of the medical supply room. Francesco could still make out some faint growling and distant screaming. It sounded like most of them had gone to the far end of the hallway. His arms sank down beside his body and he allowed himself to relax slightly. His entire frame had been tense, in a constant fight or flight response, wedged in between the wall and one of the closets. He let out a quiet breath while staring blankly ahead, studying the grey wall opposite to him.

He listened for a little while longer, trying to judge if the hallway was completely empty while also gathering up the courage to leave his hiding spot. Eventually he got out, the movement positioning him right in front of the window. Something was terribly wrong, whatever was happening wasn'’t limited to his school. It stretched much further than that. The sky had darkened ominously. Down on the streets he could see the gas station. The lights of the sign above the entrance had gone out, but much more disturbing was the horde of beastly humans throwing themselves at the concrete walls of the establishment. They were clawing over each other, pushing without any sort of coordinated movement.

An awful thought crept into his mind. What if there were people hiding in there? They would be trapped just like him. The beasts didn’'t seem to tire either, the horror of the scene compelled him to see what was going to happen and he couldn'’t tear his gaze away from the attack. Somewhere in the back of his mind a little voice warned him that they could look up and spot him, which ignited a tingle of unfounded fear in his stomach. Then he suddenly remembered what floor he was on. The fourth. It would be impossible for those things to see him. He closed the blinds quietly, turning his back to the window. The magnitude of the events weighed down on him, feeling like something heavy was pushing down on his shoulders. It made him sick to his stomach. There was nothing he could do to help them from up here, he could barely keep himself safe.

He kept wrecking his brain on what could possibly have caused this to happen. If the entire city was like this, maybe it had something to do with the government and the war. They might have released some type of biological weapon. Maybe the water resources were tampered with? As if to test his theory he went to the sink and turned on the faucet, a steady stream of clear water ran down into the drain. He frowned, well what was he expecting anyway? Fluorescent yellow or green, something radioactive like you’ would see in the movies. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, laughing at his own ridiculous thoughts. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

Another terrifying realization dawned on him. If this was happening everywhere……...... He immediately got out his phone, noticing his hands were shaking. He raced through his caller list looking up the phone number of his little brother Massimo and pressed call. Francesco felt his heart pounding in his chest, so fast it almost started to hurt. His brother rarely picked up when he called, but he really hoped he would right now. He needed to answer his phone.
“"Hey…."” The low voice of his eighteen-year-old brother sounded through the other end. Francesco felt a lump form in his throat. He was relieved because if his brother could pick up the phone it meant he hadn’'t gone crazy like everyone else.

“"Fransh …what the hell is going on outside?”" Massimo asked his brother in his typically irritated tone of voice. Usually Francesco would snap back at him to watch his tone but right now he could care less. His phone beeped right through his call with Massimo, it meant his battery was running low.

Damn it. He thought cursing at himself. Why did he always forget to charge his phone? He didn’t know how long the call would last and started to panic.
“"Mas listen to me, lock all the doors and draw down the blinds”." He began to give his brother instructions. If these beastly humans were everywhere his brother needed to haul up in his room and call for help. But what if the police were affected too? Who the hell did he want his brother to call then? Francesco lost himself in thoughts of worst case scenario’s but was brought back by his little brother’s annoyed voice.

"“I already did that, why..? What’s happening?”"
“"I don'’t know what’s going on, just listen to what I say”!" He snapped at Massimo. He had no time to argue, he just needed him to be safe.
“"Go to my room and grab the knife set on the top of my closet, the one I kept for when I would be moving out.” “Take out the biggest one and keep it with you at all times."” He was spewing out instructions leaving no room for his brother to interrupt.

Another beep, his battery was almost dead. Francesco'’s heart skipped a beat. He was not’ done…

“"Call everyone, see if they pick up. Don’'t leave the house under any circumstances.”" He was talking increasingly faster as he went on. Massimo was used to his brother talking this fast and he could follow. The seriousness and panic of his usually calm brother freaked him out though.
“"Yeah okay…..."” He replied in an equally serious voice. He started to realize something was very wrong.
“"I’ll be there soon…..I lo…."”

The phone died. Both brothers looked at their phones. Massimo saw the picture of one of his brother’s favorite video game character. He had attached that picture to his big brother’s caller id. Francesco on the other hand only saw a black screen.

A drop of water splattered on the dead screen of his phone, followed by a second one and right after a third. Francesco dropped to the floor, laying down his phone next to him. He pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his head into his knees. Quiet sobs shook his body, while he cried soundlessly, trying to be as quiet as he could. It was all coming to a head. The adrenaline rush of earlier had allowed him to escape the dorms relatively unharmed. But the images of his roommates turning into beasts, the desperate call with his brother and being hauled up in the medical supply room had no mercy on his mental stability.

It would be useless to try and hold it in like he usually did. He just cried and cried and cried some more. He didn’'t care about his dripping nose dirtying the sleeves of his sweater. When he couldn’'t press out any more tears, crying became painful until it eventually stopped. He gently wiped his raw face with his sleeves, a blank look in his eyes. He let out a shuddered breath and he wrapped his arms around his shoulders, studying each corner of the room.

Closets full of medical supplies lined the walls in a u shape. Their lineup was interrupted by the sink, which was placed rather awkwardly between yet two more closets. A mobile hospital bed sat in front of the two closets right of the entry door. Two sets of IV poles were placed randomly inside the already cramped room. Next to the door tugged away into a corner sat a potted plant, but you could barely make out what kind. Some smart ass figured it was a good idea to plant a creeping ivy in the same pot. The winding plant had nearly taken over its host. Placed in the center was a long table filled with all kinds of hospital stuff, most of which he wasn’'t even allowed to use yet, heck he wasn’t even allowed to be in here under normal circumstances.

Francesco hauled himself up from the dusty floor. He crossed his arms and let out his last sigh. He was done crying. If the world was really going to hell, he'’d seen enough movies to know what to do. Even though Hollywood logic usually didn'’t make any sense it was his best reference point. He hadn’'t lived through a world apocalypse recently so…..

He searched through the closets to inspect the contents, opening, and closing each one very quietly and carefully. He kept his rummaging to a minimum, instead judging what he saw by sight to make as less sound as possible. He only took things which he recognized and knew how to use. Slowly but surely, he had assembled his own personalized first aid kit. He made two kits in case he’d run into anyone who needed it. They were too big to put into his school bag seeing what was already in there, so he stuffed them into an empty pillow case. He emptied one of the tables, throwing whatever was on there into one of the closets.

Keeping his hands busy also kept his mind distracted. Ideas came flooding one after the other, he made a mental to do list. He had packed a first aid kit, now he needed to let any hopeful survivors outside know he was in here. After that he would barricade the door. There weren’'t any empty pillowcases left, he was planning to make a sign and hang it out of the window but there was nothing to write on. He'’d already managed to find a black marker pen. He bit his lip, searching the room for the fifth time in a row. All the while he failed to spot the pillow on the hospital bed, which had a perfectly usable fabric casing around it. Francesco only realized this when he flopped onto the bed in defeat.

Really…?
Did he just not see the pillow sitting there this entire time? Not for the first time that day he smiled at his own stupidity. He spread out the pillowcase on the table neatly, smoothing out the folds. Writing the word HELP on fabric wasn’t as easy as you'’d think. It ended up readable and luckily large enough to be seen from the floor he was on. He made two small holes in the top corners of the pillow case with a scissor and looped a thread through it, which he then tied to the iron bars of the heating system underneath the window. He opened the window carefully and wind rushed inside. He lowered the pillowcase against the walls of the building, it flapped in the wind resting just underneath the bottom edge of the window.

He really hoped it would stay visible and not get blown away by the wind. SOS sign done, he checked it off of his mental to do list. A growling noise which rivaled the human beasts escaped from his stomach and his face flashed hot with embarrassment, even though there was no one around to hear it. He grabbed his bag and took out his lunchbox. He looked at the two sandwiches contemplating if he would eat both of them. He didn't know how long he'd be in here. It could hours, maybe even days. What if he was discovered by those beasts before he escaped? Eager to dismiss the last thought he munched down on a peanut butter sandwich. He was thinking of the best way to barricade the door. Moving one of the closets would make way too much noise and he doubted he had the muscle to move it anyway. His best bet would be to wheel the hospital bed in front of the door, maybe move that potted plant too, with one of the tables for good measure. When he finished his lunch he got to work. The plant was the smallest of his three makeshift barricade materials so that was up first.

He wiped his hands on his jeans, they were kind of clammy, before grabbing the plant at its base using his left leg to guide it to the door. It was deceptively heavy, probably because of the soil inside the pot. He grunted while he moved it into what he thought a strategic position, when suddenly he looked at his hands. The veins were swollen, just like the ones on his face but they were glowing a crazy traffic light green. Startled he let go immediately, the glow dimming after he released the plant. What the hell was that?! He blinked a few times, the glow was gone.

He tentatively touched the plant again and the glow returned, only now he felt the leaves stir against his skin, the base of the plant seemed to move underneath his palm. It kind of felt like a pulse, slowly beating against his hand. A loud crash erupted somewhere down the hallway, it sounded like doors being demolished. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and fear toyed with his stomach. The glow of his veins increased to a bright green and then something extremely disturbing happened. It was like his panic was feeding the ivy plant. It started to grow at an unnatural pace, like something you'd see in a timelapse video, where seedlings grew into full formed plants in a matter of minutes. It wrapped its vines on anything that it could find, weaving like a spiderweb across the door. It snaked around the handle,creeping underneath the door. All the while Francesco watched with wide eyes, unable to let go, not knowing what he was doing. The ivy seemed to fortify the door, creating a net on the inside of the medical room, covering most of the wall, in which the door was placed. If someone would open the door they would push into a hedgework of tough leafy vines.

"Oh my....god"

It felt like the room was spinning for a second and he steadied himself on one of the IV poles. He was feeling really light headed. His throat was dry, like he hadn't had a drink in hours. He swallowed a couple of times, waiting for the dizziness to fade.

There was no time to admire his handiwork, because he could hear them stalking through the hallway like before. Francesco quickly wheeled the hospital bed in front of the door. He pushed one of the tables against the bed. The fact that he was creating noise by doing that was lost on him, he still couldn't get over what he had just done. The barricade wouldn't get any stronger than this, because one he was out of material and two, the room was already cramped. He moved as far back as possible, hoping somebody would spot his sign before.......

Garden of Shadow (Horror, Human Mutations, and Monsters)

I have a test tomorrow, but the weekend should be good for a first post.
Still need to figure out a few things for my starting location/situation too.

Garden of Shadow (Horror, Human Mutations, and Monsters)

F R A N C E S C O S A P I E N T I

M a l e ● T w e n t y - F o u r ● A B - P o s i t i v e

M U T A T I O N S

✦ Plant manipulation
Francesco’s mutation has given him the psychic ability to connect with and manipulate vegetation such as plants and flowers, and control their growing process. All he needs is fertile soil, a place where plants can grow naturally. He can make plants bigger and larger, push them beyond their limits like a 50 feet apple tree, but the size of the apples will remain normal. No basketball sized fruits. Plants without a wood base seem to take him the least amount of time to grow. He can grow a potato or lettuce in a matter of minutes while a small, let’s say shoulder height apple tree might take up to half an hour. He also seems to be better at growing plants that yield food, as that is the only type of plants he’s had practice at growing. His ability is erratic and uncontrollable. He needs his full concentration to cause something to happen.

✦ Pheromone generation
A second mutation which lies dormant and is connected to his bloodstream and the veins popping up to the surface. It is as if the veins are trying to emulate vines, the little flower buds that have appeared randomly will eventually enable him to release a plant based pheromone from his body. The type of pheromone dictates the effect it will have on its environment e.g. calming, arousing, fear inducing. The scent is vaguely floral but almost undetectable by the human nose.

[+]

A P P E A R A N C E

After the change set in Francesco’s skin changed into a greenish hue. His veins have pushed themselves closer to the surface in a permanently swollen state, kind of like the veins you see on old people’s hands. The skin that covers these veins has darkened and toughened to protect the fluids running underneath. In some places, small dots have appeared which seem to grow slightly bigger each day. They look like dark green skin tags, shaped similarly to a flower bud. When he uses his powers his veins glow a bright green, the intensity of the glow depends on the amount of power he uses.

Thorns grow on random places but are seemingly focused on the more vulnerable parts of his body, E.g. the neck, chest. They have attached themselves like scabs and can be torn off which is painful to him. His eyes give off a pale light when it is dark, a form of bioluminescence like that of a glowing fungus.

Aside from his mutations what is left of his appearance has remained human. Francesco looks young for his age, like he’s in his late teens. He has dark brown wavy hair which he usually wears up out of his face. His eyes are light brown and slightly almond shaped. He has an oval shape face with a pointed nose, full lips, and thick long brows. Occasionally he keeps a bit of neatly trimmed facial hair. His body is slim and toned but without much visible muscle, also he’s not the tallest guy in the world at only 5’5’’.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Helpful and naïve are two words which sum up his character pretty well. If you need help with anything, anything at all you should go to him. Even if he can’t help you he’ll find someone who will. He tries to see the good in everyone and the upside to every downside. He’s an introvert, calm, shy, and somewhat withdrawn. A very sensitive young man who often feels misunderstood. He hates to argue, or see other people argue and is a peace keeper, crossing his own personal limits to ensure group harmony. Often lost in thought he can come across as dreamy, passive and a push over. Add to this the fact that he has a very strong drive to care for others, a maternal instinct he has no qualms about hiding and you have an eccentric guy.

Francesco wasn’t slow to realize that he’s not your typical guy’s guy, but doesn’t attempt to act differently. Instead he’s accepted the fact that he is the way he is. He’ll always be a bit awkward around guys and more at ease around girls. In social situations, he tends to speak only when spoken to and sticks with the people he’s comfortable around. He’s always the last one to voice his opinion and often only when asked for. He’s a late bloomer and while he has experience in some areas he has a complete lack of experience in others.

B I O G R A P H Y

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Francesco grew up in a very close knit Italian immigrant family in New Windsor. He was born prematurely and spent three months in the hospital, luckily with no apparent ill effects on his health. This early event in his life resulted in an overprotective and sheltered upbringing. In school Francesco, didn’t really fit in but then again what teen ever does? He made a couple of friends and wasn’t bullied much. All in all, he survived high school and passed his exams at 16.

When it was time to select, a follow up education he came up blank. With no idea, what to do Francesco simply followed the advice of his high school English teacher. He told him to go and do something with his language skills. He enrolled in a commercial type of education where he was taught business skills. Basically, he was destined for office work, the way his life was heading anyway. He didn’t realize business was all wrong for him until he nearly had his degree. After his graduation, he made the switch to become a social worker.

Every single one of his friends and family told him not to do it. He was too nice, too soft, not cut out for the job. He enrolled despite of what they said, or in retrospect maybe he did it to prove them wrong. It was a fresh start, he finally felt like he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.

He made some lasting friends who he also liked outside of school, a big deal for him. Right after he finished his first year of college his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was devastating news for the entire family but they never gave up hope for recovery. Sadly, it got worse each year, until he eventually dropped out of school to take care of her. After a near three-year struggle she passed away. To Francesco this entire period was a blur, he had been living his life on auto pilot. He took a gap year and went to work at a clothing store, trying to figure out his next steps, a plan b. The way he’d taken care of his mother made him consider becoming a nurse and after extensive (yes, this time around he gave it much more thought) research and soul searching he decided to enroll in what would hopefully be his last time in school.

With a lot of hard lessons learned and some life experience under his belt (he hates belts) he was more focused and less dreamy. He realized one day that even though he was grieving his life wasn’t all that bad. He was starting school again, lived together with his dad and little brother under one roof, with family living either in the same street or a few blocks away. He had people who loved him, an important job to do, keep everything going. It was like he took his mom’s place and seeing how they were so much alike it went very smoothly. If that’s a good thing remains to be seen.

The First Day

A pair of frightened brown eyes were staring at the door of the medical supply room. Francesco had locked himself inside. his eyes fixed on the door trying to convince himself that it would stay closed, as long as just kept looking at it. Outside he could heard them, his friends, class mates, teachers, school staff. Their screams ripped through him, it was unlike any other screams he'd ever heard before. They were screams of people who were trying to survive, screams of true horror and fear.

He had no idea what was going on. What was the cause of all this chaos? How did he survive whatever had happened to everyone in the building. He hadn't turned into a mindless killer like of the others. Some survived seemingly unharmed, but they were quickly outnumbered and most likely dead at this point.

It might have been selfish and very much unlike his usual character, but after finding out he "survived" for the lack of a better word Francesco was only concerned with his own survival. He couldn't help his class mates even if he wanted to, they didn't even recognize him anymore. The teachers were no different. He had only caught a glimpse of the monsterous humans, with their blackened veins and eyes like botomless pits. Sadly they hadn't been the only who's appearance had transformed. He looked at himself through the mirror above the sink. He was scared to stand at that spot for an extended period of time. The sink was dangerously close to the door but he had to see what he'd turned into.

He could not believe his eyes, touching the thorns on his neck and letting his fingers slide over the swollen dark veins on his face. The thorns felt exactly like the ones that grew on roses, but how could they grow on top of skin? His skin had changed from a healthy tan into a pale greenish hue. He was in a place somewhere between humanity and a monstrosity.

Someone or something passed in front of the door. Francesco jumped back from the sink. With no real hiding places he pushed himself in a small crevice, between the closet and the wall. If anyone would get into the room they would not spot him right away. He just needed to stay really still. He held onto the naive hope that maybe after a couple of hours the building would be empty, and he could escape. Figure out what the hell was going on.

E Q U I P M E N T

✦ Smartphone- Not much to say here, only that his battery has nearly run out, which isn't unusual for him by any means.
✦ Wallet- Most of the paper in there are receipts he forgot to throw away, pictures of his family and friends and cards from psychics and mediums he saved from a fair he went to.
✦ First aid kit- He "compiled" (stole) at school. It has the standard things in there, bandages, pain killers, stitching thread and a needle.
✦ Housekey- Doubtful if he'll be going home anytime soon.
✦ Schoolbag- The contents aren't extraordinary, a small laptop, notebook, pencil, a bag of nuts, a lunchbox with two sandwiches, a stale apple and a bottle of water.

P R O F I C I E N C I E S

✦ "Nurse in the making" Francesco is in his first year of nursing school and has a lot of know-how but lacks the practical experience. For example, he knows how to measure blood pressure, apply bandages, check a pulse or basic first aid, but he has zero experience with these in the field. He practiced on either his super healthy class mates or on human dolls.

✦ "Herbals are the way to go" A hobby which has gone completely out of control. He has tons of books about the subject and can name an herbal medicine for most common ailments. Some are better than regular medicine and others don’t have much noticeable effect. It works on a case to case basis as everyone’s body has a slightly different genetic makeup. He knows the basics and it comes in handy especially with his new powers.

✦ "Kitchen Prince" A home cook but good at what he does. He knows Italian food inside and out and can cook a mean dish of pasta among other things.

✦ "I’m here to listen" Years of family arguments, a failed but instructive education as a social worker and now studying to be a nurse has left him with the talent of listening to someone’s burdens. He tries to not be judgy or come up with solutions that never work. People often feel at ease around him and trust him with difficult life issues. It comes natural to him.

L I M I T A T I O N S

✦ "No family no bueno." Without his family or friends, he’s an emotional wreck, he becomes a recluse and refrains from making much contact with strangers. He needs someone to care for as that is what he does best. Knowing someone will have his back no matter what eases a lot of fear he has for the future.

✦ "No...No way I can't do that!" Francesco has extreme self-esteem issues. He thinks very lowly of himself and what he can do, or rather what he can’t do. The things he’s done right and the stuff people admire him for are barely registered by him, if at all. His confidence is easily shaken and all around he’s just easily discouraged.

✦ "Right.....or left?" Maybe not one of the worst quirks to have, but Francesco has a horrible sense of direction. He can’t read a map to save his life and never pays attention to where he’s going.

✦ "No plants without dirt" His powers only work when there is fertile soil. If the area is tainted by toxic waste, radiation, or any other kind of pollution he can’t grow anything, not even a patch of weeds.

✦ "Death by fire" Due to the nature of Francesco’s mutation his physicality has developed a dangerous and possible life threatening sensitivity to fire. He has a severe asthmatic reaction to smoke. Minimal exposure is required to burn his skin and his burns are much more severe than they would be on other Changed or even The Pure.

✦ "Close to nature" Whenever Francesco overextends the use of his power, either by using a large amount of power at once or continuous strain, he will begin to suffer adverse affects. His psychic connection to vegetation has a downside. The plants seem to sap moisture from his body when he pushes them and himself too far and at this point it will become dangerous. Symptoms not unlike those of dehydration will start to impare his bodily functions. At best he'll experience dizziness a headache, tiredness, dry lips, eyes and mouth. A loss of strength and stamina. At worst he'll start to shrivel, his skin will crack and his organs will seize to work. If he doesn't increase his intake of water, or receives moisture in any other kind of way he'll most likely die.

R E L A T I O N S

TBA

Garden of Shadow (Horror, Human Mutations, and Monsters)

Oh sorry!! ;(
I feel terrible now. Maybe as a compromise I can help you think of something new?
We can brainstorm in the chat.