"Life is one big mistake after another. And that's okay, cause I'm really good at making them."P O L T E R G E I S T
| N A M E: |Otto Whitestone aka Poltergeist
| A L I G N M E N T: || A G E: || G E N D E R: || S E X U A L I T Y: || H I S T O R Y: |â– 2001-2007 | Early years
Otto was born in 2001, just six days after the bombing that changed the world. The son of a British MI6 agent and a French fashion designer, Whitestone's early years were not very ordinary. Sometimes the boy moved for security reasons as his father worked in the counterterrorism section, sometimes he traveled to accompany his mother to fashion shows and numerous Fashion Weeks. Despite these experiences, Whitestone was able to develop into a smart and intelligent kid with a strong desire to succeed, to do well. He was always eager to prove himself to his parents, and his father's colleagues at MI6. His mother, on the other hand, saw him only as a child, and a rather lonely one at that.
He was born with a fair white skin and strong black hair. Otto never had many friends. He was an introvert at best, but even then, people rarely sought him out. He was shy by nature, unable to express much emotion or enthusiasm towards any activity. It didn't help that Clara's career, as a top fashion designer, often took him overseas on business. Otto was an old soul in a young body and loved going to art galleries, and museums. He was hypnotised by paintings above all things. Art was a form of magic for him, and it was one of the few things he found solace in. His family believed he could do anything. They were really suportive, and enrolled their son in a gifted programme in London, with private professors. He started painting cute animals and his mother proudly hung them in her living room and office.
It was around his sixth birthday that Otto's life changed dramatically. During a thunderous night, the boy had a nightmare in which he was floating on his own body. He couldn't communicate with anyone, not even his parents in the next room. But he saw other creatures occupying the spaces of his house that had always seemed so empty. Some looked like people. Others were indescribable. They didn't look like any of the animals he had known or used to paint. It was nearly dawn when Otto woke up screaming. He went straight to his mum who was sleeping peacefully. When she heard Otto's sobs, she immediately ran to her son, who was standing right in front of her, eyes still open wide. And a streak of white stood out among his dark hairs.
The boy's dreams became more and more frequent and always included the same strange creatures roaming the house. With each new dream a new tuft of hair turned white. No doctor could explain what caused the boy's head to whiten, but apart from his troubled state of consciousness, there was nothing that seemed to be wrong with him. When he had his dreams or got nervous, his mother noticed that strange things also happened around the house. Glass windows would break. Furniture or statues would fall. Electronic devices burned. It was then that Clara decided to hire a medium to understand what was happening in her house and with her son.
â– 2008-2010 | Training with the witch
It was around this time that Agatha Harkness, a self-declared witch, began to frequent the Whitestone residence. She was a middle-aged woman of average height, with short gray hair, green eyes, and pale pink lipstick. She was always polite and wore extravagant clothes. Most importantly, she was a woman Clara and Otto felt they could trust. She spent most of her time in Otto's room, teaching him to read, write, and play tarot cards. She taught him about the different types of spirits, demons and witches, and how to avoid them. She also taught him that he was gifted and that his dreams were actually a manifestation of his Astral Projection powers.
When Agatha arrived, Clara was surprised to see her. She was expecting someone older, maybe in her fifties. Sometimes Agatha would bring her black cat Ebony beside her. The animal seemed smarter than the others. It never came near the boy but seemed to watch over him while the witch spoke with Clara and the Otto. Agatha often called the cat “Creature of Imagination.” As soon as she sat down, Ebony would jump onto her lap. Clara's fashion shows became less and less frequent as she worried for her son. She wasn't sure she believed in ghosts and demons, but ever since the witch had come into her house, his bad dreams and weird accidents became less persistent.
Agatha's visits became less recurring each time. She had taught him everything the boy's childish mind could absorb at that moment. She had left him in a state where his involuntary projections during sleep could easily be stopped with concentration and started teaching the boy to do them while awake. His eyes went completely white as he did, taking on a dry, cracked porcelain look. Clara didn't like her son doing it. She thought he was having some sort of seizure or just joking and rolling his eyes to scare her. Anyway, she was happy to see her son's suffering reduced.
â– 2011-2015 | The accident
The more time Otto spent with Agatha, the more distant he became from his father. There was something foul about his presence. It was as if Otto felt repelled by the person he had once loved so much. And over time that disgust had begun to become visible. At the same time that the boy saw in his mother an aura of light and tranquility, he saw a terrible orange haze around his father. Looking at him felt like the equivalent of smelling an unpleasant smell from the sewers of London. It was much later that the boy understood that he also possessed the ability to read souls. And his father's face hid secrets that his soul revealed.
A few months after Agatha's last visit, Clara enrolled her son in a school specializing in visual arts. Along the way, Otto's paintings became more unique and he already demonstrated a signature trait. The pictures were almost surreal and each frame contained an easter egg of one of the creatures he claimed to see while projecting his soul. Although the school curriculum seemed adequate to help the boy develop his innate talent, Otto had become more introspective than ever. He couldn't make new friends and the few he had left drifted away. It seemed like he became so attached to Agatha and Ebony that he forgot about being a kid.
One fateful afternoon, while he was painting a sketch of Ebony in his sketchbook in the school grounds, one of his older classmates began to bully and tease him about his white hair. After a few nudges, the aggression started to escalate and the boy kicked Otto in the stomach, leaving him on the ground. In an outbreak of control, Otto released an electrical blast from his hands that left the bully in a coma and the three witnesses who were in the courtyard in shock.
The Whitestone family quickly became the target of British tabloids. The London population began a boycott of Clara's clothing brand Aether and the couple no longer felt safe living in public view, so they decided to move to the countryside. It didn't take long for the headlines to catch the attention of Charles Xavier who contacted the family and offered the boy a place at his prestigious School for Gifted Youngsters. Clara, however, did not want to see her son going overseas and decided to decline the offer.
Afraid of hurting anyone else, Otto insisted that he be homeschooled and strongly distanced himself from his parents. He couldn't get close to them, as he felt that at any moment he could have them trapped in a bed, as he had done with poor boy James back at school. He missed Agatha all the time. He felt that if she were still present in his life, he would have more control over his abilities. Despite moving away from his parents, it was during this period that he began to develop a friendship with Chord, the son of the mansion's cook.
The unlikely friendship began at the insistence of Chord Blarendale, who was not content to watch the son of his mother's employers holed up in a room painting sad and bizarre pictures all day. It took him a while to break through Otto's resistance, but once he did, he managed to bring out the best in the boy. Clara had been extremely happy to see her son with some spark of life back in his eyes.
The boys spent so much time in the kitchen around Mrs. Blarendale that Otto discovered a second passion. His best friend's mother, once a chef at a large Swiss restaurant, was thrilled to teach him the patient art of cooking. Otto felt that he was composing pieces with his plates, just as he was doing with his paintings. He was a perfectionist in everything he did. His paintings were meticulously painted, and his plates were painstakingly assembled. He thought of Agatha's advice as he did both activities. "Concentration is the key to control."
â– 2016-Present | Happy days
A few months after his 14th birthday, his father decided to return to London, but Clara insisted that the countryside was the safest environment for Otto. The boy wasn't sure if it was his safety or that of others that his mother was concerned about. He couldn't judge her anyway. At the age of 15, his relationship with Chord evolved and they ended up becoming lovers. When he was old enough, he applied to Oxford University's Fine Art program to which he was accepted.
Leaving Chord behind was a difficult decision, but one that Otto insisted on. Life felt different now. He had learned to suppress his powers and making friends in college wasn't as difficult as he remembered it being in his school years. His white hair gave him a unique look and no one seemed to remember the scandal a few years ago when a strange boy electrocuted a classmate into a coma.
At university, Otto was a popular boy. He attended parties and had many paramours, as he was a very attractive young man. But the best phase of his life so far came to an abrupt halt when his father enrolled him in a European Union military program without his consent or that of his mother. He didn't know the details of anything. But as soon as he was shown the picture of James, the boy he had electrocuted still in a hospital bed, he agreed to voluntarily leave for Italy. Istituto Nova per Giovani Eccezionali was waiting for him.
| S U P E R P O W E R S: |â– Astral Projection:
The first of the mutant abilities to manifest in Otto was Astral Projection. It is the skill in which the boy exerts the most control, but it still happens involuntarily while he sleeps. In this state, his spirit detaches from his body and he is able to travel at high speeds, communicate with the spirits present, and cause interference with electronic devices. However, his physical body becomes vulnerable as he loses complete control of it. The eyes on his physical body turn white and dry like cracked porcelain.
â– Possession:
An underexplored by-product of Otto's ability to astrally project is the ability to possess people and animals. Some people can be more difficult to control than others, and the host's memories and trauma affect the boy. Animals are easier to control in general.
â– Soul Reading:
Otto can see the aura that people's souls emit. At first, he was only able to do this with people close to him, with whom he had daily contact, but over time he acquired more control over the skill and can already tell a lot about someone's personality and past by the characteristics of their aura.
â– Chaos Chanelling:
This is the skill over which the young man has the least control. In a state of stress, Otto's body becomes a channel through which the energies of the spirit world manifest themselves in a chaotic way. The result is always unexpected, but it usually affects the weather, makes animals feel disconcerted and objects to break. It can also have an effect on people, making them feel intimidated or petrified.
â– Electric Powers:
When Otto channels the chaos energy of the spirit world at a certain frequency, the electrons in the air move around generating an electrical current that normally goes to the object of the boy's stress.
| H A B I L I T I E S: |â– Painting
â– Cooking and Mixology
â– Tarot
â– Etiquette| M I S C. N O T E S: |