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[img]http://i.imgur.com/78nTNC5.jpg?1[/img]

[h3]Matthias Haylee Draper[/h3]
[i]Living on borrowed time, swinging too low to fly[/i][/center][hr]

[b]Age:[/b] 39
[b]Mutation:[/b] Energy absorption
[b]Occupation:[/b] Funeral Director
[b]Face Claim:[/b] Javier Botet

[hider=Jackie]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/zd5C9bX.jpg[/img][/hider]

[hider=Stuff]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
Quite tall in an unfortunately slender way, Matthias is about 6’6”. His proportions seem stretched, his hands too big for his arms and his limbs too thin to offer proper support. He rarely wears short sleeved shirts, or at least keeps a jacket handy, both as cover and to keep more of him warm. The same goes for his pants, no shorts or ¾ lengths, and definitely no sandals. He is almost never too hot, but is probably one of the first to grab his winter layers and the last to put them away. His clothing preferences are a plain, professional look, solid colours and often enough a suit. His one accessory is a wedding band on a chain around his neck. Underneath the clothes, he is exceptionally skinny, to the point of looking starved. It certainly doesn’t help that his ribcage juts and that he has no excess fat or muscle.

His face is angular, with sharp cheekbones and deep set, hazel eyes and sunken cheeks. His hair is black and wavy, curling when it’s short, wavy when it’s past his ears. He doesn’t let it get too long, and fluctuates between preferring it shaved close or at about three inches, or anywhere in between, he really isn’t picky. His eyebrows are relatively thick and flat, which, when combined with an overhanging brow, gives him a pretty good glare. He does need glasses, and has a pair of thick rimmed, black, rectangular frames, but wears contacts almost as often, because he can’t help playing with the glasses when they’re on his face, which is sometimes a bad idea in his line of work. While he does plan on shaving every day, it is not uncommon for circumstances to ruin those plans and leave him with a bit of stubble on his chin and cheeks until he can find enough time to shave uninterrupted, or work up the energy to bother. 

His face is relatively expressive, though he’s more often smirking than smiling, and is as likely to use his words as rearrange his facial features to get his point across. He has a tendency to work his jaw when he’s thinking or restraining certain urges to be impolite. Sometimes, this gives him a look of jaw jutting determination or a bit of uncertainty. Other times he rubs the muscles there with a hand. It gives him a thoughtful air, but is more usually the consequence of irritation than contemplation.

Despite, or perhaps because of his height, Matthias rarely stands straight when others are in the room with him. He can, in fact, quite easily be observed shrinking into a slouch when someone comes across him. He certainly doesn’t make himself uncomfortable, nor makes it so blatant that it’s an insult, but he prefers being closer to the height of those he’s interacting with. Unless they annoy him or he should be presenting a more confident demeanour, then he straightens up. Or when his grandfather tells him to. He does usually stand straighter when alone or not conversing. For the most part, Matthias moves and acts as though he’s never in a rush; he doesn’t lag, he just tries not to get hectic even when others are. Unless well worked up, most gestures he makes are more idle than emphatic. And once he’s sat, one can be sure he’ll be staying sat for as long as he can manage. His voice is a low tenor with a slight rasp.

[b]Personality:[/b]
To do his job well and keep his clients happy with his service, Matthias needs to be patient, forgiving and calm, willing to make compromises or concessions that always put the client first while standing firm on those points that would get the business on the wrong side of regulations. Thankfully, he’s capable of it, or his grandfather would have been sorely disappointed. But while mild mannered might be a good description of his general attitude, it’s not his default state. For the most part, it is true that Matthias is not very excitable. Really, he seems fairly mellow. Some of this is due to a lack of excess energy, when being loud and aggressively extroverted with his emotions would waste precious resources. Some of it is learned from the habit developed at work. But for the most part, Matthias merely prefers to have good reason to let the lid off his emotions. Otherwise, he can express himself just fine through his voice and choice of words. This does mean that his words often do not seem to match his mood, but he’s not fussed about it. He can get downright vitriolic while looking merely bored. Or be extremely enthusiastic and hardly move.

While he is not afraid to speak his mind, Matthias is also not one to share [i]everything[/i] on his mind, and he is an accomplished liar to cover up his secrets. As such, he’s pretty good at shaping his words to suit the situation without completely compromising his freedom of speech in favour of circumspection. He does have a fairly abrasive manner once you get to know him, having a biting inner voice that sometimes gets let out and other times emerges only as a rueful observation. He can be sharp and sarcastic in most of his dealings with people and, outside of speaking with clients – whom he treats with a genuine, though sometimes hard to find, patience and understanding – mixes acerbic observations with straightforward talk. He’s also not afraid to use a bit of derision or pointed commentary to turn the conversation away from any subject he doesn’t want to talk about. It gives the, not entirely mistaken, impression of a defensive man.

This isn’t to say he’s not friendly, but spending any amount of time with him can be a bit of a roller coaster ride if you’re not used to his mannerisms. He doesn’t put his problems on anyone, though he can share them freely if they come up and it doesn’t seem ill-advised, he just doesn’t expect any help with them that hasn’t already been offered. He can and will, however, make himself a problem for anyone else when he’s frustrated enough by what he has to deal with to let it out. A really bad day or something that becomes the last straw in a string of annoyances, irritations or bad luck can see him getting positively explosive, for a short time. In the same vein, while he genuinely likes helping others, and has been known to do so without even being asked every once in a blue moon, he doesn’t like to accept altruistic reasons alone, and usually finds it fairly easy to come up with alternative reasons, or ulterior motives, for doing something nice. It’s not so much embarrassment at the possibility of being caught doing good as it is merely not a notion that suits him. He has a rough sense of humour, and a bit of a different take on things.

People, to him, are merely a mixture of good, bad, and idiotic, himself included, and it’s extremely rare that any one individual will strike him as only one of the three. He doesn’t really bother judging them, just noting what he should expect from them and to what standards he should hold them. If they surprise him, then they surprise him, whether pleasantly or not, and if they never move away from what he’s come to expect, that’s fine too. Matthias, in general, doesn’t react to surprise with the typical start and momentary taken aback freeze, or violent overreaction. Instead, he tends to break into a rough, genial rudeness that he may or may not apologise for later, depending on the nature of the surprise and what he thinks of it. Sometimes it’s almost immediately, and other times he simply backs off and moves the conversation on, he’s not afraid of admitting he was in the wrong or telling someone to bugger off if they think he was and he doesn’t. And he can be extremely stubborn about whatever he feels like being stubborn about, whether it’s not apologising or continuing an old argument for years if it’s not going anywhere to wear the other down or just having a different opinion. If he feels strongly enough about something to take action or resist the tide, it will take an exponential effort to change his mind. Thankfully, for his own efforts, he usually reserves this for things he thinks matter. Others having to deal with him might not be so grateful.

Of course, a certain lack of energy can see his mood shifting more unpredictably than is generally healthy, and though he tries to be aware of those moments and rein himself in, or leave the premises if he can (if his attitude is causing problems people shouldn’t [i]have[/i] to deal with), it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes, he’s just fed up enough that he feels if he has to deal with it, others can deal with him and tough luck if they don’t like it. Other times, even aware and trying not to be rude, his words just run away on him. And apologising is harder when he’s cranky. Usually, he just takes his annoyance out in little ways and has, quite often, done something similar in nature to, for example, draining more heavily from a stranger jogging by if they look too energetic.

While Matthias is a generally irritable man, he does have his moments of changing pace. He’s learned how to separate himself from society’s norms by seeing things his way rather than by seeing himself their way, but it’s not foolproof. So, it’s become something of a lifelong challenge for him to fit into society from the outskirts without falling into the trap of conformity. Occasionally, he loses, and ends up feeling unsurprisingly guilty and often despondent over his actions, sometimes even remorseful. When this happens, his defensive wall crumbles more into desperation and justification where usually he’d merely accept what happened as the way of things. Just another part of his life that he has to deal with. His calm breaks far more easily during these moments. When he manages to meet the challenge, Matthias is mannerly, sociable and mostly pleasant to be around. He can never really blend in, being built rather like a scarecrow, but he can slip into being a nice enough man that people don’t pay him any more mind once they’ve gotten over that part. He’ll hold doors open, be a good host, give someone a hand (provided they seem to need it), say please and thank you and excuse me, smile and nod if someone does the same and be overall agreeable, by rote. None of these actions are forced, but they aren’t thought about either. They’re merely habits that may or may not cover up his less friendly demeanour for the short term.

Less habit and more obviously sincere respect is only really found in his dealings with his grandfather or people he has known and liked for a fair amount of time. Even then, it can be hard to tell that he cares except to note that he’s more biddable and easily rattled out of his level mien when they frustrate or worry him. They don’t always get away with more though, since he cares enough to make sure they’re looking after themselves and not getting into trouble. They’re also the people he’s more likely to snap at when he’s reached his limits. His grandfather remains Matthias’ largest source of consternation. They’ve quite a close relationship, but he’s just as stubborn as Matthias, so they butt heads a lot. Around other, traditional, though not familial, authority figures, Matthias varies between ignoring them until they address him to being carefully familiar and always professional. In their case, he doesn’t talk back so much as picks which opinions to voice or agree with. He’s not much of a pushover though, as he’s difficult to intimidate. The harder they push, the less he feels like cooperating, but at least he’s generally smart enough not to push back.

To many, he might seem a little reckless in the company he keeps, but strangers rarely strike him as excessively dangerous, and while he can be cautious, he’s not really concerned for his own safety. Certainly, he doesn’t want to be injured, or killed really, but if it happens, it happens.[/hider]

[hider=Power]
Matthias’ one power, out of the few genetic differences he possesses, is that of energy absorption (chemical only). He can draw the energy from living things: plants and animals. He has to, because his body cannot produce it on its own and, without it, nothing would function as it should. His digestive tract is extremely faulty and too slow to absorb even a twentieth of what his body needs on a daily basis. In fact, it will react poorly if he tries to put more than two cups of liquid through it at a time. He [i]can[/i] eat solid food, but even just a few mouthfuls will leave him feeling nauseous, anything more will be rejected within the hour; the faster he ate it, the faster it comes back up. Even rich liquids, like milk or pop or heavy soups, don’t stay down easily and often unsettle him, and he’s developed a tendency to feel a little sick just from seeing food, even if he doesn’t have to eat it.

To remain at his peak condition, which is, admittedly, less than average anyway, he should draw steadily throughout the day from whatever sources he can, but as it is a draining experience, especially on the elderly, he ordinarily tries to limit the amount he draws from any individual and is one of those rare few to come out of a crowded event with more energy than when it started, literally, in his case. He can start the process of draining something from almost 5’ away, and can continue the process, though the efficiency diminishes rapidly after 12’, up to 25’ away through the siphon effect. If a person or thing is that far away to begin, he might reach them by working through the closer energy sources towards them via an energy chain. He also cannot begin to drain anything if there is a solid and thick, physical barrier between him and it, something like metal or wood, even thick plastic, but not thin film or cloth. If he’s already started draining, these barriers will diminish the speed and efficiency of the drain, but won’t stop it.

The effects of a drain can range from simple fatigue to chronic poor health to fatality, depending on how much he takes and how long or how often from the same thing. At his worst (skin contact, at his limit of going without), he can kill a healthy adult human within two minutes. Ordinarily, it would take him six. He does have a fairly precise control, even better when he’s touching the thing, but the longer he goes without, the harder it is to moderate once he starts up again. He also has a tendency to slowly start draining from anything nearby if he gets relaxed enough because this power is always active, and is merely held back rather than turned off by his efforts to control it. He can go for up to six hours, or as little as ten minutes, without energy before he starts to feel any terrible consequences. It just depends on how much he started with and how active he is during and before the time when he refrains. The symptoms start with tiredness and shortness of breath a relatively long time before things will get serious as an early warning. Then they move into general muscle fatigue, abdominal pain and numbness or tingling in his extremities. The latter three worsen pretty quickly once they begin, the stomach pain in particular.

If he doesn’t get more energy soon after they start (roughly within the hour), his body will react of its own accord and start absorbing energy from whatever he can reach, whether or not it is something he wants. He won’t be able to stop, though he can slow it a little, until he’s regained the equilibrium every body needs. Unfortunately, this means anyone nearby who attempts to help him would not be safe, nor would anyone who isn’t trying to help. Needless to say, he tries pretty hard to avoid reaching this point. He [i]can[/i] absorb some energy from dead things, but only if they are freshly dead, before their cells have a chance to breakdown. Recovery from going too long without energy is a relatively simple process if enough energy is available. The symptoms fade and he’s left to deal with the aftermath. It’s never pretty. If he [i]doesn’t[/i] get enough energy, he will die, and that is that.

Apart from the physical reactions, there’s nothing actively visible or sense-able to the casual observer when he’s draining someone. To him, it just feels vaguely, or extremely, invigorating, or as though there’s an empty suction making him listless if he can’t reach anything and is still trying to draw. For whoever he’s draining from, the experience varies, but it would always start with fatigue and then most likely affect the nerves. If the drainee is suffering from health problems, those will probably also be exacerbated.

One added benefit to this power, depending on how you look at it, is that when he drains enough energy at any given time, generally a fatal amount if there’s only one thing available, it boosts his digestive system enough to have it functioning normally for up to half an hour afterwards. The reason this is a questionable benefit is that while his digestion is ornery, he can feel hunger, but not as strongly as were it functioning normally. He would, technically, have died of starvation years ago were it not for his ability to drain energy from others, so when his digestive tract begins working, it is extremely empty and he is extremely hungry. If there’s nothing nearby to eat, he is stuck literally starving. If there is food nearby, he’s stuck having to hold himself back from stuffing his face so he won’t throw it all up anyway.[/hider]