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This is his appearance in both civilian and cape attire, the only difference being that when in his cape costume, he wears a cheap biker helmet to cover his face.
Information
Name: Tony Nicholson
Cape Name: Poker Face
Theme Song:
Aspects
High Concept: Crook with a Heart of Gold.
Trouble: Greedy Soul.
Origin: Street Rat.
Growth: Ugly Truth into Beautiful Lie.
Adventure: Gambling Prodigy.
Bio
Personality: Tony is charismatic, somewhat loud, and clearly experienced. Just from his voice alone, it's easy to tell that he is used to manipulating people, kissing ass seems like it comes naturally to him. It needed to in order for him to survive. He is by no means malevolent, but using people to push himself forwards is something he just got used to doing - it's more a habit than intentionally malicious. While he is clearly just doing things for himself, he has no problem sharing his skills and assistance to anyone who asks... as long as they pay. Tony has a very distorted view of money, viewing it as the only motivation that people have. Other things, like a desire for power or love, are things that Tony can understand someone working for, but he has never done it himself. Tony hinges a lot of confidence on his material wealth and appearance, doing his best to look as attractive and wealthy as possible - this is something he is very sensitive about, and while he is usually calm and difficult to fluster, insulting either of these things will cause him to get extremely angry. Despite his rather cold and fake demeanor, he can be kind, especially to those less fortunate and children. He has no desire to be a hero or villain, preferring to keep himself hidden and making cash with his power. Still, he is willing to do nearly anything, as long as the price is right.
History: Tony was never really raised by his own parents - his mother was a crack head, and his father was always knee deep in bottles, so he spent the majority of his time on the streets of Boston. You could say the dark alleys and den of crooks were more akin to parents then his own, and he honestly thinks of it this way. He was already a perfect shot at pool by the age of nine, and this was when he began his first scam - Hustling. You would never believe the kind of people that would bet money with a kid who pretended to hold the cue the wrong way. You'd be even more surprised by the amount of people that actually paid. By the age of 11, Tony was a favorite among pubs as a sticky fingered brat that was always ready to play a game or two.
Family? Tony's family was always nice - they never abused him, and were sure to give him breakfast (He got his other meals at his hangouts). In all honesty, they were more indifferent then abusive - they didn't even yell at him when he skipped school. His father would just dismissively tell him not to let it happen again, before leaving to his room and doing god knows what. His father was actually fairly wealthy - some white-collared worker, affording the family a fair number of luxuries that you wouldn't expect a kid like Tony to have - such as a cellphone, or television.
By 15, Tony had found his own addiction to match his parents - Gambling. Tony had become an excellent gambler to add to his repertoire of hustling, and was always ready to play a game of poker or blackjack. For some reason, Tony was always very lucky - or maybe he was just good at talking with people. In poker he was able to win with absolute shit hands, and was always able to get the upper hand on those that weren't used to the game or thought they were playing against a dumb kid. Tony consistently won bets, and his reputation rose even more as time went on. To bad things came crashing down at 17.
November 4th. 3 days after his 17th birthday, Tony's mother committed suicide during a particularly bad trip. Tony's father, who was usually cold and distant, became much more abusive and quick to anger, going as far as to restrict meals and lock Tony in his room. While it never extended to physical violence, Tony was always careful to lock his door at night. Luckily, these incidents were rare - most of the time, his father kept himself holed up in his room, drinking far more than he should. By 18, Tony immediately left his home, as being homeless was a far better alternative to listening to insults and quiet threats from his door at night. For about 3 weeks, Tony remained on the streets, until he met a lone thug on the streets who offered an alternative.
The group was known as 'Wonderland', and they were the craziest motherfuckers Tony had ever met. If he wasn't so desperate for a place to stay, he honestly would have just stayed on the streets, but that was a great way to get mugged... In short, Tony was offered a place to stay, and in return, he ran the bets on the fights that were held. Considering how good he was with numbers and gambling, this was a pretty easy job. But everything can get boring after awhile. Nearly 2 years into his new "employment", Tony opened up a card table near the corner of the place he was staying, and he began to hold games whenever there wasn't a fight going on. He usually managed to trick a bunch of suckers out of their cash, but one day, someone played Tony's old trick against him.
The guy was bad - he had lost nearly 10k, and he was sweating more than you could ever believe. By the end of the third game, he was begging with Tony to let him keep his money. Tony grinned at him and said something he wished he would never have said.
"My time is pretty valuable... Tell you what - one more game. But this will have to be... Oh, I don't know. 50k?"
The man choked back a gasp, and gulped when he uttered out a simple "Ok". Tony dealed out the cards, and they started their final game.
Tony was hustled. The guy was a pro, and luck was clearly on his side. He mopped the floor with Tony, and he quickly began to demand his cash with a shit eating grin. The only problem? Tony had maybe 5 thousand at most. This was the moment where his mind went blank. The man led him into the nearby alleyway and, after roughing Tony up a little, demanded for his money. When Tony didn't respond, the man pulled his arm back to deliver a punch to the teeth.
The knife, the one he had bought in order to defend himself from angry betters, easily slit the man's throat. Despite this, it took nearly two minutes of him choking on his own blood to die. Everything rushed back to him - his father's words, his time cheating others out of their hard earned money, the occasional bar fight he would enter in his youth. It was too much. Tony passed out.
He was shaken awake by the same man who had given him the job two years ago - Robby. "Jesus man, what happened?" Tony panicked as the words escaped Robby's lips, and Tony gave the first response he could think of.
"He, uh... He fell. Cut his throat on some glass or something. I found him like this and passed out. You know I'm a wuss when it comes to blood, heh heh..."
It was stupid and never would have worked. Robby just shrugged his shoulders, responding "Jesus, I never want to die like that. I want to die doing something cool, like being shot with a laser beam or something." Tony couldn't believe his ears - the story was absolutely retarded. Someone like Robby had been working for Wonderland for years - he knew what a knife wound looked like. And he just... Acted like he didn't have a clue.
This was three weeks ago. Since then, Tony had managed to trick a college student - apparently named 'Daniel' - into thinking he was a roommate they were supposed to meet a week ago, and was thankful to finally be out of that hell hole. He liked the people, they were just... insane. But Tony owed them a favor for their hospitality the last few years - and he always payed back favors.
Abilities
Classified as a Master/Stranger 4, whenever Tony talks to someone, he can bluff and say anything - the sky is red, you owe me $50, I own this house - and the person he is speaking with will believe him. It doesn't matter how outlandish or unreasonable the statement is, the target will attempt to think of any possible excuse for any doubts they have about what Tony says. This bluff effects anyone within earshot, and they will all believe what he says. This power excels in deception and espionage, while having somewhat less effectiveness in combat situations.
While this sounds powerful, there are several drawbacks holding it back. First of all, while anything can be bluffed, things that the target has direct evidence against will cause the power to fail (He couldn't tell someone that he is the owner of a house if the person knows the actual owner). If the target discovers evidence against a bluff, the effect will wear off, and the individual will probably be pretty pissed. Additionally, while it effects anyone within earshot, it only works vocally - no writing down messages. Finally, Tony's power cannot be turned off.
Faction: Wonderland