Name: Preston Levi Arroyo
Age: 22
Gender: Male (He/Him)
Height: 5'10''
Weight: 146 lbs
Blood Type: A+
Appearance: Preston Arroyo is a biracial hispanic male that often passes as white hispanic rather than biracial. He has strikingly handsome features with no visible damage to his skin given his ability to rapidly repair himself. He has a messy dark brown head full of loose curls, and he has light brown eyes. Despite the lack of bags underneath his eyes he still carries an often apathetic and tired look about his face. Fairly large sized lips and a defined jawline are two striking features. Preston Arroyo is well defined, but not particularly muscular. His body's ability to rapidly repair itself means that he could potentially put on muscle quite easily, but has little to no interest in doing so. His lithe frame is easier to morph, and brings less discomfort during the process.
On a typical day it isn't unusual to see Preston decked out in jean jackets, loose fitting tank tops, and skinny jeans. He also often wears beanies, and is a sycophant when it comes to jewelry especially pertaining to his Native American heritage.
Musical Tastes: Preston typically enjoys anything
indie. While his knowledge is limited he does possess a sort of esoteric understanding of music history which often validates his narcissistic proclivities in comparison to fans of more streamlined music. He also joins
alternative music which stems from the angst of his teenage years. Preston also enjoys
hip-hop music, but much like his other tastes feels prideful in his more obscure collection within the genre.
Hobbies: Preston has always been a talented artist. He enjoys
sketching, painting, and less commonly sculpting. It's likely that should one visit his apartment they'd find his art scattered throughout. Preston also enjoys
writing poetry, but has little confidence in neither his oratory skills or his writing abilities. Preston has a distinct interest in
politics. He'd probably never venture willingly into that arena himself, but has rather strong positions and a desire for investigation. He's empathetic to less insidious
conspiracy theories. Lastly, Preston fancies himself as quite the
movie buff.
Personality: Preston, like many in Esperanza, is a man of varying complexities. He has an apathetically pessimistic view of the world and those with power. This often manifests itself in a deep depression stemming from unresolved childhood trauma. Preston has a sense of justice, of right and wrong, but his pessimism has perverted this vague concept in ways that prevent him from desiring to take action and even permit him to break his aforementioned ideals within reason. Preston has come to understand that Esperanza, and the world in general, is filled with selfish and broken people. Instead of channeling his justified outrage with political machinations and corruption into something positive he instead retreats to a macabre "c'est la vie" approach to human interaction. Rather than use his abilities for an actual cause he uses them as a means of "survival" by working for the highest bidders. While this often leaves him working for people that are, to say the least, morally ambiguous he does at least maintain a desire to keep from harming people he deems innocent or good. He's carried with him from childhood a materialism that tends to come with living in a society that measures worth and success via possessions. Instead of chasing his passions he attempts to use objects as a means of personal fulfillment.
Preston does invoke a self-destructive sort of narcissism that typically pushes people away. Quite contrarily, Preston actually craves human interaction and is incredibly protective of those people that he does become close with. His desire for interactions tend to lead to naive tendencies and dependency on those he manages to get close to. He's self-aware to notice many of the contradictions in how he processes these thoughts and interprets the world. It frustrates him, but as with most everything else he pretends instead to be apathetic to it.
Powers: Preston has the ability to restructure his phenotypic characteristics at an accelerated rate in such a way that he can mimic the appearance of nearly anyone. This process requires at least a day, and at most three days to complete. It also requires a good deal of preparation. In an idealistic scenario Preston rests in a tub of ice to reduce inflammation whilst his body is wrapped in protective bandages. An IV drip provides him nourishment, and after having studied his target's features he begins the process of copying them. Preston's abilities also allow him to heal at an incredibly fast pace, and allow him to take considerable amounts of damage to his body. His artistic capabilities give him greater assistance in studying features thoroughly when mimicking.
Weaknesses: Preston cannot mimic markings such as tattoos. He also cannot gain access to abilities or knowledge of the person he mimics. While, he is capable in combat he is has about the strength and speed of a normal human. He isn't impervious to damage, but is resistant. Enough sustained damage could still certainly kill him especially if done by another super-powered human. Critical damage can also cause rapid fluctuations in his appearance which can be incredibly harmful if not fatal for him.
Preston Levi Arroyo was born to Claudia Martinez and Victor Arroyo. Alongside two older brothers, Alfonso and Martin, Preston was raised in the Irish Hills. Claudia was a nurse that often made long commutes to work in Templeton at the hospital. Claudia herself had interned at the hospital as a university student. Victor worked a factory job in the Hills for a motor vehicle and parts manufacturer. For a time the family did well enough maintaining a modest living situation throughout Preston and his brothers' early years. However when the gentrification of the Irish Hills began forcing local populations to move or get creative the Arroyo/Martinez family felt the burden. Stifled financially both by an increase in rent payments and an increase in the price of local goods Victor and Claudia felt themselves with little other option but to work more hours.
Unfortunately Victor would soon lose his job as the factory laid off a number of workers. For most locals this meant finding new work in the menial commercial businesses opening up throughout the district. Victor, however, had a history of gang associations from his youth having grown up in San Luis. Having been convicted in his youth of a felony Victor found it nigh impossible to find employers that would hire him. Couple that with his anxiety, and there were little options that Victor had to provide for his family alongside his wife. Putting so much pressure on her to provide solely for the family, and months without work put Victor into a deep spiral. He took up drinking and became detached from his family in ways that at the time only Alfonso, being the eldest, could really understand. Constant arguments between Victor, Alfonso, and Claudia left Preston feeling unsure about the future of his family. Unable to process the unhealthy lifestyle he became more rebellious himself, and turned to his friends as a means of coping.
Claudia could see her family falling apart, and insisted that Victor seek counseling at a clinic attached to the Templeton Hospital. Here Victor learned about behavioral activation seeking to empower himself and battle his mental illness through forcing himself to be active. Still unable to find a job, but motivated by a new will to be the provider he'd once been Victor resorted to finding old contacts with ties to the gangs he'd worked for in San Luis. The jobs seemed simple enough at first. Victor was often a driver or courier for local gangs looking to communicate without police traffic. While he was paid rather well given the work he was also home far less, and struggled to kick his drinking habits. He'd often miss Martin's football games and Preston's baseball practice. He'd miss dinner, and the movie nights reserved for the last Friday of every month.
Victor found himself entrenched in a life that offered a thrill he hadn't found in a long time, but his neglect at home still ate at him. He missed his partner and his sons more than anything. After all this had all been for them, hadn't it. Victor resolved to end his ties with the local gangs once and for all. He'd take up one final big payout that would buffer the family income for a while.
However, the same gangs that Victor had once worked for turned on each other resulting in a massive shootout that left many of Victor's associates dead. Captured and interrogated for the knowledge of the gang that he had Victor willingly surrendered just wanting to return to his family. This mistake would prove fatal.
Preston had awoken one night to the sounds of his panicked mother as she tried her best to rush the boys out of the house. The smell was awful, and the smoke, smothering. Preston hadn't seen his father, and screamed for him amidst the smoke and ashes. There was nothing but the cries of a frantic Claudia. As Claudia ushered her children outside a car opposite of the house opened fire gunning all of them down. It was a cruel fate that Preston had survived that day practically unharmed while the bodies of the family he had to identify were burned char.
For a few years after this Preston lived with his aunt Maria in Avila Beach. She and her daughter Clarissa cared for Preston's sickly grandfather who suffered from dementia. The family house was a haunting memento of all that Preston had lost. Feeling even more dejected Preston often skipped school, and took to partying in a vein attempt to numb his sorrows. He found solace in his best friends Kate Jensen and Scotty "Scoob" Burns. Kate and he had a short fling, but even after that ended the two remained the closest of friends. Scotty worked at a record shop on the Avila Piers.
These two would continue to serve as Preston's main source of liberation from the harsh realities he was subjected to early on in his life. Unfortunately, even they couldn't stop the nightmares that plagued Preston. Preston carried with him a hideous secret that both disgusted and scarred him emotionally. In addition the nightmares that plagued Preston, he was also burdened with a strange condition that caused his skin and bones to move in uncomfortable ways. Even worse, his face and body would morph in ways that felt insidiously familiar. This progressed for a few months before the distortions worsened as Preston uncontrollable morphed into the likeness of his family. Some days it was his brothers, or his mom, and on the worst of days it was his father. Feeling his sanity slowly slipping from him Preston took out a loan, and moved into his own semi-cheap apartment in the same district. Preston was forced to pick up a second job, and dropped out of school in order to do so.
Life wasn't simple for Preston even after this. His body would still morph uncontrollably, and sometimes it wasn't even his family. Co-workers, his friends, etc. Preston felt invaded, and perverted all at once. On top of that the jobs he'd been working barely kept him above ground. When the pressures came creeping in from his lenders was when Preston was in far greater trouble. He was stalked, harassed via phone-calls, and threatened on a number of occasions. Feeling himself running out of options Preston turned to the strange abilities he seemed to possess. He'd done some digging into the history of Esperanza. Cases of humans with unprecedented abilities were scattered through the city, and the history of such individuals was well documented. Even still fringe conspiracy theories pointed to all sorts of strange occurrences with humans possessing inhuman abilities. There were a number of given explanations.
Alien abductions, government spies, Russian sleeper agents, God's messengers- you name it.
None of that was relevant. What mattered is that this wasn't complete bullshit. Preston devised a plan to keep the lenders off of his back for a while. The next time he saw the investigator monitoring the usual places he'd frequent he confronted him. Preston made an offer to work for his lenders to payoff his debts, and revealed his strange morphing abilities. Wary, but intrigued the investigator contacted his employers. Said employers were more than happy to forgive Preston's debts if he agreed to work for them.
Fast-forward to present day, and Preston has had two years of experience in working as a freelance agent for various organizations. It was haunting to know that some conspiracies weren't too far from reality, and to know that in some cases the seedier parts of government and elite circles were far worse than what one could imagine. Preston has been trained in the art of assassination, espionage, and combat but of course still has much to learn. He's grown distant from Kate and Scott, but still keeps contact with them despite his re-location to a modest condo in Morro Bay.
