[hider=Justin Liào][CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/C4njhfP.png[/img] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pahnWF2f0SI[/youtube][/CENTER] [i]"Where ever I need to go, I'll be there. Whoever needs to be stopped next... well you know."[/i] [table][row][/row][row][cell] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5PuvsQX.jpg[/img] [sup]_______________________________________________[/sup] [sub][color=red]Justin Liao[/color] [color=red]He/Him[/color] [b]|[/b] [color=red]19[/color] [b]|[/b] [color=red]Chinese[/color] [b]|[/b] [color=red]6'1ft[/color] [b]|[/b] [color=red]182lb[/color] [sup]_______________________________________________[/sup] [color=red]Passion[/color] [sup]_______________________________________________[/sup] [color=red]Skills & Talents[/color][/sub] [i]"This ain't my first rodeo."[/i] [sup]___________________________________[/sup][/center][hider=] [sub][color=red][b]Supernatural-Experience ⫻[/b][/color] This ain't Justin's first rodeo. He was one of the few people there who helped defeat the Glutton (and gained friends along the way) and knows a lot about the world of the Extra-Normal. Not everything, but enough to put him above a novice. [color=red][b]Muai Thai ⫻[/b][/color] Justin took some Muay Thai courses when he was younger to help him defend himself from a group of bullies. He'd say that the training paid off because he's a competent fighter, able to use all of his skills to take down even the toughest of opponents. But, he's out of practice due to one; not training or even practicing, and two; not fighting. [color=red][b]Skateboarding ⫻[/b][/color] One thing that Justin excelled at was skateboarding. Learning from a friend, he became an expert in it and could pull off some sick tricks. His balance and precision are also pretty good because of it. [color=red][b]Cantonese ⫻[/b][/color] Because Justin grew up in a primarily Chinese household, he learned how to speak their language - though it comes second to him, he can still maintain a conversation.[/sub][/hider] [/cell][cell][sub][b][color=red] Appearance[/color][/b][/sub] [sub][sup]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sup][/sub] [i]"Pretty fly for an Asian guy."[/i] [indent]Things changed a lot for the young Liao. Back in the yesteryears, Justin was a lot more loud, rowdy, and full of energy... and after the defeat of the Glutton and losing several of his friends he learned to slow down and take in the moment and assess things. And this shows in how Justin walks... he takes large steps but he always has his eye open, keeping them on every person that walks by. Usually, as he walks with his hands in his pockets, but he still has that devil-may-care attitude about him as he always has a smile on his face. Justin usually is friendly and has an open and outward demeanor about him and rarely if ever shouts. Fortunately, the young Liao doesn't draw a whole lot of attention to himself. Though he is a little bit tall at six-one, and that is only because he inherited his family's monstrous height (his grandmother was somehow [i]six-two[/i]). Which is surprising given that he's way higher than the height average for Chinese men. Even before Justin, unfortunately, encountered the Glutton, he put a lot of focus into his physical fitness and personal health. Before he tried to get big looking to attract the ladies, but now he focuses on developing practical lean muscle. This shows that he's not a bodybuilder but you can tell that he definitely lifts, but his legs and disproportionately muscular due to the fact that Justin never skips leg day. Also running from an Eldritch Abomination has taught him that he needs to get good at running. Due to this workout routine, you can tell that Justin ain't the kind of kid to laze around. Justin is, in case you're blind, Chinese. He has an off-white skin tone with yellow overtones, and it's coated with scars and other marks from a lifetime of doing the wrong thing. Ironically enough, Justin never went through with getting a tattoo due to a fear of needles. Justin has two sigils: on his back behind his right shoulder is the [url=https://i.imgur.com/ZjzqD5o.png]sigil of a phoenix[/url]. On the back of both of his hands are the [url=https://img.favpng.com/2/11/23/computer-icons-diamond-symbol-logo-png-favpng-VZjyyMBvisrW8JyxHe47Zedkr.jpg]sigils of a diamond.[/url][/indent] [/cell][/row][/table][sub][b] [color=red]Psychology[/color][/b][/sub] [sub][sup]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sup][/sub] [i]"My eyes are opened, I can see the bigger picture now. No longer do I rush into chaos."[/i] [INDENT][color=red][b]MAIN GOAL ⫻[/b][/color] Justin's primary goal is to honor his grandmother's last wishes and stop the illusive Thorton Walters. He loved his grandmother more than anything and now that he understands where she comes from and what she's done, he understands what he must do. He's going to do all he can to help the Vanburen family break their curse and stop Thorton Walters in the process. Afterward, he plans on getting his fucking degree. [color=red][b]PHILOSOPHY ⫻[/b][/color] Now, Justin knows that there are horrors and powers out there much, bigger and frightening than him. Shit that makes him an insect. Does that make him a nihilistic mess? Hell no! He knows those threats can be conquered with passion alone - he's seen it done himself! He believes that strength, passion, and love are everything and they'll conquer the coming storm. Besides, he defeated an eldritch God, the most powerful thing in the multiverse; anything else is going to be a cakewalk. He also believes in bloodlines and family names, so that puts makes him a bit sympathetic to the Vanburen family blight. However, he believes in nothing ventured, nothing gained... you can't get anything done without some risks. In the past, he was a lot more hot-blooded, aggressive, and headstrong but now he can stop and take a look at things. [color=red][b]SEXUALITY ⫻[/b][/color] Justin used to spend a lifetime not being sure of himself. Originally he thought that he was into women but he realized that it was his family making him think that he should be into women. Every time he touched a girl he felt something that couldn't exist. Eventually, Justin realized that he must be gay but was repressing it until he could no one do so. Justin's homosexual and proud of it, but he's still a bit unsure of how to proceed in this new world of his given that his whole life he was raised to romance women. He keeps it to himself, however, given that there are bigger and more important things right now than finding love and sex. [color=red][b]FEARS ⫻[/b][/color] Justin fears that his life will forever be a puppet at the hands of his grandmother's whims and wishes. He feels that he'll forever be facing whatever comes his way because he knows with the return of magic the world's a lot different... a lot more dangerous. He also fears that he'll never be able to continue the bloodline and the Zhao-Liao family name because of his sexuality but he'll find a way. Also Justin does [i]not[/i] like needles. [color=red][b]REPUTATION ⫻[/b][/color] Given that he's an outsider: none. [color=red][b]THOUGHTS ABOUT FATHER ⫻[/b][/color] Justin never met the guy! But he heard a lot of good things about him from his grandmother and her recollections. And his grandmother [i]rarely[/i] slung praises. So that must mean he's something. [color=red][b]FLAWS ⫻[/b][/color] Justin has made strides in acting without thinking, however, he still makes actions without considering how people feel about them or how they affect other people. He doesn't act brashly anymore, he still has a hard time grasping that even the smallest actions have consequences. Justin, as a trait that's passed down his family, is prideful and overconfident in his abilities - believing that because he conquered a supernatural God that he's seen worse. That he can handle anything less [i]real[/i] easily - and sometimes lords that over other people who haven't. He also [i]really[/i] hates things being out of his control... his grandmother's death was the biggest thing on his mind, and he beats himself up for not being there to stop it. This leads to Justin being very prideful, and has a hard time asking for help - he wants to handle everything himself Also, he's haunted by some of the memories he's received from his grandmother's abstraction. [/INDENT] [sub][b][color=red] Backstory[/color][/b][/sub] [sub][sup]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sup][/sub] [i]"My bloodline is a lot deeper than I thought, whoo!"[/i] [indent][hider=Justin's Grandmother's history]Now you might be wondering [i]why[/i] I'm putting another character's history in Justin's. But, it's an important part of his character arc. So, Lihua Zhao was born in China before the age of World War II... in a dimension separate from the one that this story takes place in. This universe was much different from hours - magic will do that. The Axis forces were fueled by Extra-Normal powers and made pacts with Apparitions and demons to unleash unholy powers upon the world. The war went much differently with Germany taking over Europe and Japan taking over Asia... then the war began between the two sides as the all-out war began as every empire went against each other. Creating countless Apparitions in the war... and eventually, the war ended when the world was salted and rendered barren. The survivors decided that there were too few of them to keep going and fled to other universes. With the few stubborn enough to stay dying out shortly after. Lihua Zhao was a survivor, so was her brother Jiao-Long Zhao. She survived the Rape of Nanking, death of her family, and everything else that took place in this hellish world... and she Awakened with the abstraction to do so. So, Lihua took her brother and left. She had many adventures and fun as she met her many alternate universe counterparts but she desired something new. She wanted to build up a great family in one of these amazing universes. However, things changed when she met him... Thornton Walters. He was charismatic, he was driven, and he knew everything to say to get the young Lihua on his side. She formed the initial Inner-Circle organization with him and acted as his transporter... and eventually ended up as his third in command. The Inner-Circle participated in many crimes and done many experiments towards Thornton's ends. They battled so many organizations against the multiverse, including the League. Lihua was suspicious of him, but she knew he had their best interests at heart. Or at least that's what she thought. In time, Thornton was more and more ruthless until they came across a white crystal. Which he experimented on and she realized just [i]what[/i] he was after. The experiment went wrong and a massive portal devoured the universe they were in... and that was when Lihua drew the line. She teleported away, leaving Thornton to his fate and decided to go her way. She continued traveling the All-Verse but she ended up in Shimmer... and ran into her alternate universe counterpart Qiaolian Liu. Except Qiaolian was old enough to be her mother and wealthy. Lihua convinced this woman to take her in after proving to her that they're the same. And so Lihua lived a life of vanity and luxury... eventually becoming an Olympic athlete, representing her family. This is where she met her future husband and married him, having her first daughter, Meifeng. However, he died not too long after from cancer and Lihua decided to leave China behind to move to America (In Los Angeles) where she raised Meifeng. Lihua worked her ass off in an office making money while Meifeng was independent. Meifeng grew up into a strong confident woman who went into college for a master's degree in criminal justice where she met her future sweetheart Daniel Liao. After a few years of romancing each other, they got married, and Meifeng became pregnant with twins. Justin and Kaitlyn Liao, two siblings that would pave the way for the bloodline's future. After she got of age, Lihua retired to Farmer Hill, Montana in some hope that she'd get her old abstraction back and visit Shade one last time... and it is here where she was killed.[/hider] Justin's early life didn't have much of note, Meifeng was at home raising them while his father was making the money for them to live comfortably. This built up a deep innate connection between the twins and their mother, who imparted many of her ideas and philosophy upon the twins - though she was unhappy with staying home by herself. Their grandmother, Lihua, stepped in and offered to take some of the workloads off Meifeng so she could pursue a career as a forensic scientist. Their dual-earner family is what earned them a lot of money, and in turn, helped them live comfortably in Los Angeles. Though the absence of his mother didn't impact him that much, what did was his first bullies at a young age. Just a group of young thugs that thought it'd be funny to pick on Justin. It started light, then it got more intense as Justin let it continue. Eventually, it got violent, and Justin came home bruised and battered, as the teachers didn't seem to care. Well, Meifeng caught wind of it and was having none of it. She decided to sign Justin up for martial arts lessons - specifically Muay Thai. After a few months, Justin felt a lot more confident in himself and stood up to the bullies. It ended with some broken noses and teeth, but it also ended. This earned the attention of Lihua Zhao... whom he had a relationship he'd call "weird". He enjoyed driving his grandmother up the wall and Lihua returned the favor. By screwing with him in her way, but he loved her nonetheless. She tried to discipline him but she was... unused to raising boys. What she was used to was girls, and his sister, Kaitlyn, got most of the attention. Now, the two of them were the shadows of each other: Kaitlyn was wild and emotional. A force to be reckoned with when combined with Justin. Their relationship was great, they screwed with their grandmother, got into trouble, and had fun. But, once she got of age her grandmother started grooming her. Teaching her all sorts of lessons on "nobility" and being ladylike... and this put a wedge between Justin and Kaitlyn. As she was getting all the attention of their beloved grandmother and she changed a lot too. Which caused him to go to other places for companionship. Justin's confidence helped him make a scene for himself, and find people like him. He made a friend or two in the skater scene, and after a lot of fumbling, and falling on his ass, became a confident skateboarder (The coordination training from Muay Thai helped). Falling into the skating scene meant he fell into the punk crowd. The kind of kids that liked to smoke (both tobacco and weed). It leads him to become, in his own words, "an impetuous shithead." His behavior took a nosedive as he also became wild and disrespectful. Which wasn't going to fly in the Liao household. Meifeng took all sorts of measures to discipline Justin, but nothing short of drastic measures did anything to curb this ill behavior. After getting through school and graduation through sheer dumb luck, Justin didn't have any real commitments, so Meifeng sent him to stay with his Grandmother in Farmer Hill. A little shithole of a town in the middle of nowhere, Montana: perfect for somebody who doesn't like to be bothered. Of course, Lihua appreciated Justin's company... while Justin hated the town. He hated everything about it. From its location to the people in it. He wanted to get the hell out of there, but Meifeng didn't want to send him home until he learned how to act. Lihua made sure to discipline the child and give him a bit more perspective on life. It took him a while, but Justin adjusted to life in this backwater shithole of a town and was humbled over time (after many ass whoopings). Eventually, he came to like it over time, after making a few friends in the town, he decided to change. To try to become the best person he can be because of life's short. He decided to try to attend college, and get started on his education. His first attempt was to get into a college in Los Angeles that failed horribly and his mother got him into Grand Ridge. He was salty as any human being could be but accepted that this town would never let him go no matter how hard he tried. He aimed towards a master's degree in psychology, because of his interest in how the human mind worked (and because he wanted to have something to brag about). He bounced back and forth between school, hanging out with friends and his grandmother's house... until one day he came home from class, and saw a bunch of police outside his grandmother's house... carrying out a body in a black bag. Justin was immediately filled with dread, and he asked a cop what had happened, only for his suspicions to be confirmed: Lihua was dead. They said that somebody had broken in and killed her, but stole absolutely nothing. They said that they had no idea what could have happened to her, and absolutely no leads. Which was, from the way Justin interpreted it, their way of saying they were completely useless. The Liao family was devastated by Lihua's death, and they all had no idea how to cope with it. But, Justin wouldn't let it go. Even as the months passed, and he ended up getting a dorm in Grand Ridge, the haunting sight of what happened to his grandmother made it hard to focus. He felt that this was his higher calling in life: figuring out the mystery of his grandmother. He made a lot of friends in Farmer Hill... but the town got weird after a camping trip. Well, it started with the dickweed of the town, Scott Reese, hulking out and going on a rampage and ended with a godlike eye in the sky knocking them out. That was when he got close to the town misfit, Claire O'Sullivan, as he was dragged along by the support group from A to B... where they found out the real problem was this ancient thing known as the Glutton. They battled the thing where ever they could and Justin fought his hardest to avenge all the people who were killed by it. After it was defeated the deceased were resurrected and Justin talked with his ghostly grandmother who told him [i]everything[/i]. Along with giving him her Abstraction and some resolution about who killed her. And his task: Defeating Thornton Walters. He was unsure of his task, but she shunted him to Araminta, Pennsylvania, and told him to go find a man named James Vanburen. Cool. He managed to get in contact with the Vanburen Family and agreed to help them with their little plight. Justin would love to help anyway.[/indent] [sub][b] [color=red]Abstraction[/color][/b][/sub] [sub][sup]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sup][/sub] [i]"I'm who I should be. Are you who you should be?"[/i] [indent][color=red][b]TYPE ⫻[/b][/color] Awakened [hider=Pyro-Telekinesis - His abstraction] [color=red][b]ABSTRACTION ⫻[/b][/color] Pyro-Telekinesis, a telekinetic ability that shrouds whatever Justin manipulates in a fiery aura. [color=red][b]ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻[/b][/color] Justin underwent a second Awakening during a battle with the Hound and realizing the true nature of his original abstraction (which were two out of control flaming beasts he could summon). After his epiphany about how his abstraction works, he unlocked his true power: Pyro-telekinesis, a very destructive but powerful form of telekinesis. It functions like regular telekinesis: he can lift objects that are up to nine hundred pounds in a twelve-meter radius and move them any way he can think of. He can move it, twist it, and even do some stuff like crush it with telekinetic force and twist it. However, whatever he uses his ability is covered in a wreath of fire until he releases his control of it - in which the fire immediately disappears. This has the nasty habit of destroying objects that he controls but this is quite dangerous of ability and is versatile... just not as versatile as regular telekinesis. Justin also has access to a form of flight by using the telekinesis on himself - this a technique that Justin uses a lot, possibly more than his regular ability. He's capable of near limitless movement options as he can move much like he manipulates objects. Whenever he uses his ability he also glows with an aura of fire. Justin, seemingly, has an aura of protection around himself that shields him from all fires and he can probably take a lava bath. He can extend this aura to whatever he's touching - which is how his clothes don't burst into flames or he can protect other people. [color=red][b]AURA SENSING ⫻[/b][/color] The aura sensing for Justin's own abstraction is a strange one. Now while most other telekinetics or elementals can sense their own elemental in a way, he can sense what's two meters [i]outside[/i] of his control. When an object enters his range, the aura fades away and he can use it. [color=red][b]LIMITS ⫻[/b][/color] Justin can't directly use his abstraction on other Extra-Normal beings. So he can't do anything like bend someone like a pretzel or stop their heart telekinetically (though you'd also get your heart cooked). He has a wide degree of control but can only control stuff in about a ten-meter radius, which isn't that far. He can lift up to nine hundred pounds but not for long. Think of it like this: you may be able to lift two hundred pounds but be able to do it for a while. Lifting heavier objects takes a lot more energy out of him and its not as precise as his regular telekinesis. He'll strain himself in the process and it's like a muscle the more he uses it the more tired Justin will get. Justin can manipulate up to ten objects at a time, but again, nine hundred pound limit and he finds it easier to manipulate fewer objects. In addition, he can't influence gases or liquids - and has a hard time manipulating less solid materials like clothes, etc, etc. Also, any objects he manipulates aren't, you know, immune to fire. [color=red][b]WEAKNESSES ⫻[/b][/color] Now, while Justin's abstraction is more or less a more offensive form of telekinesis with fire. Which is the problem, he has a harder time using his abstraction outside of fights. The fire is destructive and can and will destroy what he uses it on and can spread. Now, let me get to the weaknesses of the abstraction: first and foremost if the fire around an object he's using is extinguished then he won't be able to use it. It can be by water, lack of oxygen, etc... and that means he can't use his abstraction where there's no air. Speaking of air, the abstraction burns up air pretty fast with all the spontaneous fire creation - which isn't a problem outdoors. Indoors and in close spaces is where it becomes a problem. Smoke is also, I imagine, a problem given that his abstraction is setting stuff on fire. Also, the abstraction can also create massive fires that Justin can't easily extinguish. Also, Justin gets headaches, nosebleeds, yadda yadda yadda. Now, The Soul-Self is kind of a limit breaker on his abstraction and with those limits, the checks and balances keeping him in one piece disappear.[/hider] [hider=Stone-Effigy - Lihua's abstraction] [color=red][b]ABSTRACTION ⫻[/b][/color] Stone-Effigy, his grandmother's abstraction, the ability to create replicas of her hands, face and... other features she found desirable out any stone surface in the environment. [color=red][b]ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻[/b][/color] Lihua Zhao was a very vain woman, but she desired to build something new... while also treating herself as the All-Verse's most beautiful woman. Lihua's abstraction reflects her vanity and to use it, Justin has to be vain, prideful, and haughty himself. Aaaaaaand that's not something Justin can channel because Lihua pretty much treated herself as a queen while Justin has a hard time wrapping his head around it. So, to get to the point, Lihua could create her best features out of stone in the environment. These were her hands, face, and... other body parts, but she mainly uses her hands due to their versatility and the limits on her abstraction. She could create dozens upon dozens of hands her size but two hands that are towering. Strangely enough, these hands can extend and stretch far beyond how they logically should, if Lihua willed it. This seemed to come with a weird spatial warping or stone generating ability as she can create hands with more stone than she logically should (for example, she created about a few hundred pounds of stone out of what Justin suspected was about a stone tile about an inch thick). However, this abstraction has not properly attuned itself to Justin and it still operates on "factory settings" as I should say. When Justin uses it, however, what he creates are copies of his grandmother's hands and features - not his own. These hands mirror Justin's hand's actions, however, so if he throws a punch, so does the hands, and if he grabs something then so does the hands. He should, logically, be able to replicate it but he has a hard time understanding what created her abstraction. So Justin can only create about a dozen hands about his size and can't even go beyond that. Besides, Justin can also create an effigy of Lihua face which does everything his face does (and he can even talk through it!) but he rarely uses this due to its... uncomfortable nature. There's also the fact that he can also create a Stone-Effigy out of Lihua's [i]other[/i] body parts but they're [i]even more uncomfortable[/i]. Not to mention kinda creepy, and useless. Mainly creepy. Naturally, being made out of stone and all that jazz these hands are way stronger than people - they can probably crush somebody real easily. They're also as durable as the surface they are created on so take that as you will. These hands will persist long as Justin focuses but once he stops the hands will recede into the ground. The abstraction also has a secondary ability to transform Justin's arms (up until his shoulder) into stone and augment his strength and durability. And before you ask, yes, yes he can except it's [i]waaaaay[/i] worse than what you're thinking. [color=red][b]AURA SENSING ⫻[/b][/color] Now, Lihua's aura reading isn't that strong... or useful at all. She can sense the auras of her children and grandchild and anyone else who descended from her in a ninety-meter range. [color=red][b]LIMITS ⫻[/b][/color] Justin can't use his ability that effectively on extra-normal beings, which sucks given that his grasp on the abstraction is already trash. He has a harder time holding them down and his strikes are less effective. When Lihua used this ability, it was probably the strongest abstraction in all of Farmer Hill (which probably reflected her perceived "inner-strength") but Justin has a hard time using it and finds that his arms crumble real quick. He'll have to try hard to keep them going but this can be straining on Justin. Due to the fact that they'll crumble, they're less durable than regular stone and will crumble a lot easier. Now, while this may be a weakness; but he'll overcome it in time so it's a limit. Now the main problem he has with the abstraction is probably range... he's limited to creating hands in about two meters radius around him where his grandmother could create these hands as far as the eye can see. Now the big limit is the space on the surface of the stone... so say if he was limited to a tile that was a foot-by-foot, he can only create as many hands as would logically fit on the surface. So to create the car-sized hands he'll need a car-sized piece of stone... which is easy to come across in the urban environment just not outside of it. Strangely enough, he can stretch these hands to be about twelve feet long. Justin also needs pure stone to utilize his abstraction properly and stone that is mixed with other materials makes it difficult for him to create his hands [i]and[/i] keep them maintained. Which really sucks. [color=red][b]WEAKNESSES ⫻[/b][/color] Lihua Zhao was a woman without weakness! Well, that's what she liked to boast but her abstraction has a wide range of drawbacks. For starters, if the stone hands were destroyed somehow that part of Justin's hands would be rendered slack for awhile. Now, whenever Justin uses his abstraction he begins to feel the weight of the stone bearing down on him. This means he'll be slowed down while he's using the Stone-Effigy and will have a harder time doing all those fancy maneuvers. Now, whenever Justin uses his abstraction cracks will form on his skin which will bleed and could get infected if he's not careful. Also, turning his arms into stone throws off his balance greatly and he could easily fuck up. Also, there are some aspects of this abstraction that makes him [i]really[/i] uncomfortable.[/hider] [/INDENT] [sup][b] [color=red]Other[/color][/b][/sup] [sub][sup]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sup][/sub] [i]"If that thing comes back, I'll just shove it back right where it came from."[/i] [indent]Justin is trying to break his smoking habit... by switching to using Juul's.[/INDENT][/hider]