Aaron Chandler

Wax Man

Male

24

6’5”,

190 lbs

Roseview

Brown

blue

White (British, German, and Icelandic)

To say that Aaron is pretty tall would be an understatement. He’s 6’5”, towering over most people. He has very long arms and legs and, despite his height, looks fairly scrawny without his shirt off. He has a low fat content but doesn’t have any musculature to show off. His skin is light and has a very strange quality of purity to it, as if it is completely free of blemishes. Nowhere on Aaron’s body will you find a speck of acne or any other natural imperfection, though he does have a small white scar on his abdomen and another on his left shoulder. He has long fingers, well-manicured nails, and calluses on his palms from working with tools.

Aaron has narrow shoulders and a long neck. He has somewhat large ears that lay back against his head. A diamond stud is in his left ear lobe. Aaron’s hair is cut in a fade-like haircut, short on the sides and long on the top. The top is usually combed over to the right. Aaron’s hair rarely moves, even in wind, and it’s very glossy. Aaron’s face is handsome, pentagonal in shape, with a squared forehead, somewhat pronounced cheekbones, and narrowing cheeks that come down to his chin. He never has any facial hair, and never even shows any kind of stubble. His cheeks are slightly rosy. His eyes are large, elliptical, and a little wide-set. His eyes are a dark blue color, bordering on navy. He has thin, dark eyebrows. His nose is somewhat large and not particularly fleshy. He has a small mouth with pink lips. His usual facial expression is one of thought and mild discomfort, as he is pretty introverted. His voice is about an octave higher than you’d think coming from someone of his size.

Aaron dresses pretty well. He wears a lot of v-necks and shorts in the summer, and is also fond of oxford shirts. He usually rolls the sleeves up to his elbows when he wears them, and over them often wears a vest. He usually wears dark-colored skinny jeans or khakis when it’s too cold for shorts. All of his clothes fit him extremely well. He has a lot of shoes, but most of them are leather oxfords or docksiders. He hates sandals with a burning passion. He wears a very nice silver Rolex on his right hand.

Aaron wants to be left alone. Really, he’d rather you not ask how he’s doing and let him go about his usual business. To say he’s introverted is an understatement. He stays away from large groups of people and spends most of his time at home or in his shop. He’s a hard worker, a workaholic some would say. He does a job that he really loves and makes it work with his hard-working nature. When outside or in a crowded place, Aaron appears pretty nervous and acts somewhat irritably or shyly. One on one, he’s usually much more confident and personable. He likes his personal space a lot and dislikes people getting in too close to him.

Aaron is very anxiety-prone, and sucks under pressure. When put under a lot of pressure, he often has panic attacks. As such, he always acts in such a way to remove stress from his environment. If something is irritating him, he will fixate on removing it until it is gotten rid of, and he has an OCD level of organization. He despises other people moving his things around or leaving a mess, which is why he says he lives alone. He’s a perfectionist, constantly striving to make everything he works on perfect. He makes lots of very strict plans, from designs for art pieces to plans for dates, and if anything goes out of whack he can become inconsolably anxious and frustrated. He practices meditation regularly to control his anxiety and sees a therapist once a month or so.

Aaron is very inside his own head. He analyzes every action he makes, and if he does something socially awkward or says something wrong he often scolds himself on it for a very long time. He apologizes a lot in conversation and will stop mid-thought if he thinks he’s saying the wrong thing. He is usually very thoughtful and thinks what he says over carefully. While anxious and anal about doing things right, Aaron is generally a fairly conscientious and caring person. He has a good memory for faces, names, and mannerisms. This helps him to avoid doing things that he believes upset people. For the most part, so long as he’s not in a large group or feels cornered, Aaron stays on people’s good sides. He is well-regarded as a generally good and considerate person by most people who know him, and only those who know him well pick up on how much of a nervous wreck he can be. When nervous, Aaron becomes very fidgety and wipes his forehead a lot to avoid wax from dripping from it. One reason why Aaron doesn’t like being around people is his power. Coming from a metaphobic family and living in a pretty metaphobic world, Aaron is embarrassed by his powers, as they draw the attention to him that he so dislikes. For the most part he doesn’t use them in public, and doesn’t let others see him work, preferring to do all of his wax working behind closed doors. If asked where his work comes from, he usually answers that he’s just very well-trained in wax working and doesn’t bring up his powers.

Aaron is about average when it comes to his intellect, with an IQ of probably about 110. He graduated high school and went through two years of college until he dropped out and opened his shop. His life of planning to avoid stressful situations has made him very good at making plans, though he isn’t very good at adapting to them on the fly and will usually lose his composure if a plan fails.

Aaron stays at home a lot, especially in the summer when going outside could mean exposing himself to others as a metahuman. He reads a lot and plays a lot of video games, something that he’s done since he was in high school. He is very interested in art, and on the weekdays when he’s not working will go to see art exhibitions (he never goes on weekends though: too many people). Aaron owns a black and white rabbit named Michaelangelo. The rabbit lives in an enclosure in Aaron’s apartment and wanders the house when Aaron is home. When Aaron is nervous about something, he will sit the rabbit on his lap and pet it. He is very knowledgeable in the care of small mammals. Aaron is religious and goes to church on a somewhat regular basis. He makes all of the candles that the church uses for mass free of charge. He often hangs out at his home or at a corner coffee shop called The Cool Beans, where he is friendly with the staff. He is fond of seafood and likes sushi.

Aaron is an extremely talented wax worker. Like, if he didn’t hate being in the public eye so much he would be like the Duff Goldman of wax art. He makes a living selling homemade sculptures and candle sticks at his shop in Roseview. The things he sells are of the highest quality and are mind-blowingly detailed. As such, they’re also quite expensive. This is Aaron’s most important and primary talent, and it’s one that he takes a lot of pride into. Besides that, Aaron really isn’t remarkably “good” at any skill, though in his time working in his shop he’s become somewhat learned in metalworking (he has a partner who works on fixtures for candles in-house.

To be left alone by all of this shit. It’s really quite bad for his health.

Aaron was born in Illinois to a rather traditional, working-class family in a small town. His father was a foreman at local construction sites and ran a craft business with his wife on the side. Aaron was always enchanted by his parents’ craftsmanship, and from an early age wanted to make art just like them. Aaron was never the most social guy, and in elementary school he didn’t make friends very easily. This was very concerning for his teachers, who often overlooked Aaron’s talents in order to focus on trying to get him to open up. Even for an eight-year-old, he was very talented in art class, and got overall good grades. His talents mostly went unnoticed, though, and he was kind of okay with that. He noticed when he was young that he didn’t like getting a whole lot of attention and preferred not being in the spotlight. Being in the spotlight made him sweaty and made his lungs feel like they were really heavy.

He lived his life pretty contently until the age of twelve, when his power manifested. It was an abnormally hot day for May in Illinois. Aaron was outside at recess, and he was walking through the school flower garden with his best friend Riley. She was tall, cute, blonde, and very nice to him, unlike how the boys were. She called him her “gay friend”. Aaron didn’t know what that meant, but it made the girls at school be very nice to him so he was okay with whatever it was. That day at recess they were sitting on a bench, talking while they watched a bee pollinate some black-eyed susans, when Aaron was thrown onto the ground by a large boy. The boy was an eighth-grader named Frank, a big muscly delinquent who was famous for beating up Brandon R. in the middle of science class. Aaron was shoved onto the ground, where Frank began to beat him senseless. Apparently, one of the other girls in class spread a rumor that Frank’s girlfriend Lindsey had kissed Aaron at a party, and the rumor came back around to Frank himself. It was a lie, as Aaron didn’t kiss girls and didn’t go to parties, but from the look of Frank’s face facts didn’t matter all that much to him.

As Aaron was punched repeatedly, he started to cry, and felt his skin grow very hot. He assumed it was just the heat mixed with his blood rushing from the adrenaline. He was proven wrong when Frank began to scream that his hands were burning. Indeed, all of the skin on Frank’s fist was burned clean off, and he’d need a skin graft. Aaron himself looked up from the ground to find that he was turning into a puddle. He was rushed to the hospital, where it was confirmed that he was an elemental-class metahuman.

Aaron didn’t take this very well. He heard the word “metahuman” on the TV sometimes, and it was usually associated with crimes. His father talked about how the metahumans should be killed because they were bad people. It was a popular point of contention that Aaron’s dad would bring up when he and his buddies watched football games. Aaron’s father didn’t talk to Aaron after that day. When Aaron got home from school, his dad would go into the basement and stay there until Aaron went to bed. Aaron came to hate his power and himself. He stopped talking to his friends, though the friends he had mostly feared him now, and went up to his room most days after school to cry and read. He didn’t use his powers in any way because he was afraid of making his parents hate him more. Aaron’s life basically sucked for the next year, until he was approached at his middle school graduation by a large lizard man in a black suit. The man told him about a place up north where kids like him were accepted and taught how to control their special abilities. At first, Aaron was hesitant, but the lizard man convinced him that the school would help him to have confidence in himself and his powers. So, that August Aaron flew to Alaska. His father came to the airport against his will, and all he did the entire time was smile as Aaron walked to the gate and say “Don’t make too much trouble.”

Aaron spent the next four years of his life at Academy 218 in Alaska. The cool weather did magic for him, as he didn’t melt when he went outside. He was an okay student, and his mental state improved drastically when he was on campus. He visited his family only for holidays, and spent summers at a camp at 218. He never stood out much, to his great relief, and had a few very close friends on campus. He spent his life in his dorm or at the art building, where he had friends who understood his introversions and anxieties. It was this time in his life that Aaron realized he was gay. He came out to his friends in April of his third year at the school. They accepted him as he was, and that made him happy. He got a boyfriend, another art student named Neal, and they were closer than any young couple could ever hope to be. Aaron knew this would make his father hate him even more, but that only made the kisses sweeter and the time spent together more precious.

That September, Aaron’s father had an accident on the job. He received a severe spinal injury and was put in the Indianapolis ICU. Aaron flew back to see him and, figuring he could have his coming out then, brought Neal with him. This was a poor decision. Upon arriving at the hospital, he went into the room where his father was with Neal and professed, in front of his father, mother, and several other members of his immediate family that he was gay.

There was a long pause. Everyone left the room except for Aaron and his father, who was much more conscious than he had been the rest of the week. They had a long talk alone. Nobody else heard a word of it. There were no loud voices, no crashes, just quiet talk and a blanket of despair. Then Aaron opened the door and left the hospital. He stayed in town for three days, and then left back for 218 with Neal. His father lived, but he never talked to his son again.

After Aaron graduated Academy 218, he went to an art college in New York on full scholarship. He fell in love with the closeness of the city and the ability to walk outside on warm nights and be anonymous. He got a new boyfriend while there, and had a job selling electronics in the nice, air-conditioned Apple Store. Life was good, but the stress of art school very quickly began to overwhelm Aaron. The deadlines, the horrible classes that 80% of students failed, the unforgiving administration, and the constant pressure of competition overwhelmed him in a way that nothing ever had before. He wasn’t like other students in the classes in that he wanted to be a sculptor and maybe work in set design or at an art gallery. He didn’t want to be a great artist in the Louvre. People had no sympathy for his anxiety, and it very quickly started to break him. In his second year of school he had a mental breakdown that caused him to set his desk on fire with burning hot wax and accidentally scar his roommate. He dropped out of school shortly afterwards, broke up with his boyfriend, and moved west.

He landed in Baybridge with nothing but the remains of his checking account and the despair of failing. He bought an apartment above a small shop in Roseview and worked for the old woman who owned the candy shop on the first floor. In his off-time, he sold exquisitely-decorated candles and wax sculptures on Etsy and saw a therapist who specialized in anxiety. He slowly picked himself back up and started a new life for himself. The old woman came to like Aaron a lot. She accepted him as he was, even when she found out he was a metahuman. When it came time for her to retire, she decided to sell him the old store for a very low price, with the promise that as long as he owned the property, he would use it to do what he loved, and that when he sold it he must make the next owner keep that promise.

So that is how we got here. Aaron lives on the top floor of his store, a shop called The Chandlery. It sells candles, wax art, and sculptures, all of which is made in-house by Aaron and an assistant. It’s not the most popular store, but those who go there fall in love with the beautiful artwork and the friendly faces of those who work there. Aaron lives a quiet and simple life, spending most of his time working on art and candles for his store. He lives alone and quite likes it that way. Every once in a while, his mother visits to see how he’s doing, and she leaves with a new candle for her home. His father does not. He sees a therapist once every two weeks to help with his anxiety, meditates, and goes to a local church every Sunday. He is happy with his life for maybe the first time, and that’s about all he asked

Warren Chandler: Father: Estranged.

Amelia Chandler: Mother: In contact.

| {Impression (Good/Bad/Neutral} | {Relationship (Friend, Rival, Crush, etc)} | "Quote Here." |

Elemental (Mimicry)

Candle in the Sun: Aaron’s lipids in his body has a chemical formula and consistency of candle wax. All of his cells are coated in wax, as well as the epithelial walls of his organs and his skin. Because of this, Aaron’s skin is firstly made of wax and is very thick, allowing him to shrug off minor cuts and scrapes when the wax is pliable. This doesn’t protect against deep cuts or piercing damage, however.

Secondly, Aaron can manipulate the temperature of wax within four meters of him, increasing or decreasing its temperature. This works much better for increasing temperature above body heat and not as good for lowering it below body heat. With this power, Aaron can increase wax temperature to over 600 degrees, though the wax quickly cools after leaving Aaron’s body. While Aaron isn’t combat-oriented particularly, this wax can be very destructive against skin, as it burns to the touch and then cools, sticking to the skin while still being extremely hot. Because Aaron is partially made of wax, this also allows Aaron to *kind of* heal from wounds, in as much as he can cool the blood in the area of the wound and melt the outer skin, sealing the wound and clotting the blood. Since this isn’t actual regeneration, it doesn’t work on injuries to bones or organs, and it has some downsides that I’ll talk about later. One thing I want to point out is that Aaron cannot absorb wax that does not belong to his own body, so he can’t do the “I touched a candle! Now I’m stronger!” thing.

Thirdly, Aaron can manipulate wax within a five meter radius of himself. The farther the wax gets from his body, the less Aaron can control it. Wax directly attached to Aaron’s body can be manipulated better than wax that is not. Aaron normally uses this power to make extremely detailed wax sculptures and candles, but can also use it to make just about anything he can think of, given the proper starting material. It is important to note that Aaron does not generate wax at a fast rate (he generates wax in his skin about as fast as human skin grows) so he cannot generate wax to fight with and must use what he already has or what is in his environment.

Aaron has a max range for wax manipulation of five meters and a max range of temperature manipulation of four meters. The farther away Aaron is, the weaker these powers get, so while Aaron can turn wax within a foot or two of him into complex shapes, he can pretty much only move it around a little at max range and can’t change its shape or temperature. Aaron also has a material limit, as he cannot produce wax at a fast rate, so he must use what wax he has in his environment to fight. As far as limits to his physiology goes, Aaron cannot repair damage to his vital internal organs like his brain, heart, or lungs, and Aaron cannot heal damage to his bones.

Firstly, Aaron’s healing isn’t really healing. When Aaron is damaged, he simply heats up wax at the site of infection to melt the wound back together and then cools the area, hardening the wound and sealing it shut. This process, while effective at repairing skin damage and stopping blood loss, leaves what is effectively scar tissue. This scar tissue is visible like human scars are, and is as deep as the wound is. Since this tissue is mostly solid, it causes a lot of stiffness in Aaron’s body and can be painful, as it can literally stab muscles in the area of damage. By heating and cooling the area, Aaron can eventually cause the scar to shrink, but this is a slow process, as melting the tissue too quickly could cause internal bleeding.

Aaron’s other big problem is thermoregulation. Anyone who has lit a candle before knows that wax has a very low specific heat, so it cools very quickly and melts quickly as well. Well, most of Aaron’s biomass is wax, so he has some big problems when it comes to temperature. If Aaron gets too cold, the wax in his body begins to harden, making it hard for Aaron to move or breathe. If Aaron tries to move while he’s too cold, his skin can actually crack and break, causing bleeding and internal damage. This usually isn’t a problem because Aaron is very good at heating up wax and, thusly, controlling his own body heat. He cannot do this while unconscious, though, so if Aaron is knocked out somewhere cold, he will probably harden and suffocate.

The bigger problem for Aaron is heat. Long story short, if Aaron gets too hot, he quickly begins to melt. Normal heat, like being outside in the hot sun, just melts the outside of Aaron’s skin and causes a melted wax effect to appear instead of sweat. This is bad because it makes Aaron very obviously look like a metahuman, but doesn’t cause any structural damage. Any heat about 120 degrees F, however, starts to cause Aaron severe structural damage. If Aaron stays in very hot temperatures like this for too long, is skin will melt off and his internal structure will deteriorate, killing Aaron.