Name: Nico Lehmann
Age: 17
Appearance:
Personality: Nico is a cowardly asshole. No one would think so on initial observations, or even a few subsequent observations, but Nico would be the first to admit it. Lazy and unmotivated, but still desiring all the fame and glory that a typical 17-year-old wants, Nico’s way of coping with the disparity between his impossible dreams and his reality is by belittling others—mentally. He doesn’t have the guts to start confrontations nor does he have the courage to assert his opinions, so he puts on a friendly, agreeable face for everyone. In his own words, he’s “the worst kind of person.”
With no motivation to change for the better and no significant talent to cultivate, Nico’s growing resentment of himself manifests as a palpable discomfort with social interactions, particularly friendliness. Even with his veneer of neutral amicability, most people instinctively find Nico somehow displeasing. Perhaps because his words and smiles never reach his eyes. He can’t handle the sparkling socialites (because he wants to be one, but can’t manage that kind of charisma), and he loathes the sniveling sycophants (because they remind him too much of himself).
Change starts with one’s own self, but Nico doesn’t even know where to begin changing. He has too much self-awareness to blissfully affix someone else’s motivation to the void where his should be, but has too little self-confidence to seek out his own. Knowing this, Nico’s daily mantra as he curls up in bed is a succinct “I hate myself.”
History: Nico grew up in a family of success and expectations. His older brother, Elliot, graduated early from a prestigious university and went on to pursue a doctorate in experimental particle physics with such notable success that he’s already been accepted into several large teams working with the Large Hadron Collider. Nico’s younger brother, Lucien, was a child prodigy with enough potential to surpass even Elliot, having already entered one of the country’s top universities at the tender age of 12 with a major in neuroscience. His parents, while not boasting astounding achievements like two of their three children, were both successful surgeons in one of the largest hospitals in the world.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Nico attended the local public high school while maintaining a GPA of 3.5.
In his family of ridiculous people, Nico stuck out like a sore thumb. All attempts by his parents to wring out any sort of exceptional talent in their middle son had ended in failure, and, by the time he was 14, they had all but given up hope. On a calm summer evening, as a 14-year-old Nico ate his dinner quietly, his father had suddenly announced that they would cease all tutoring sessions and extracurricular programs that involved only Nico.
“You can still participate in the ones you share with Lucien, though,” his mother had added as a consolation. “If you want.”
And that was that. Suddenly, all the expectations and subsequent disappointments were gone and Nico felt, with an alarming clarity, precisely how normal he really was.
After that day, no one was ever cruel to him. No one ever neglected him. No one ever said anything bad about him. But that only made his inclusion in their lives all the more difficult for Nico, who could never forgive himself for not being someone exceptional, too. Around this time, Nico learned how to block out his internal screaming.
The day Nico discovered his abilities also happened to be the day a fire hydrant blew up. He wasn't aware of it at the time, but the pretty girl he was staring at intently and following with his eyes as she crossed the street was a mage. He figured those glowing red circles on her hand were just some sort of glitzy decoration. She probably wasn't aware of the circles, either, because when a drunken driver veered dangerously close to the crosswalk, she had screamed and instinctively put her hand out, letting loose a blast of fire so huge it spanned the width of the street and licked at the porches of the nearby houses. In his panic, the driver veered in the opposite direction, crashing into a fire hydrant that quickly erupted into a geyser.
Several things happened in this moment: Nico turned and ran, the movement bringing his left hand into his peripheral vision where he finally noticed the sigil gleaming bright red on the back of his hand; the driver wobbled out of his car and collapsed; the girl screamed for help; and Nico clapped his right hand over the sigil and ducked into the nearest alley, suddenly realizing he was exhausted and, more importantly, somehow involved in that accident.
He wasn't sure how he felt it, but a lurking sensation throughout his body hinted he had something to do with that massive burst of fire, even as he tried to tell himself that the mark on his hand didn't look anything like the mark on the girl's hand. And as the sounds of panic and fearful whispers grew more prevalent from the growing crowd in the area, Nico quietly slipped away, feeling a tinge of guilt at leaving the mess behind, but also relieved no one had noticed him.
He told no one of the incident and had to leave the room when the local news came on, mentioning that a freak accident had occurred on a nearby road leaving one person badly injured. Hoping to bury the event in his memory, Nico suffered through his panic and confusion alone in his room until he convinced himself that everything must have been just a really insane trick of the light.
And then the letter from Jasper came and Nico choked on his dinner.
Skills: Nico is incredibly talented at making friendship bracelets. Potentially other arts and crafts in the same vein, but he's never tried his hand at anything other than thread/yarn bracelets.
Abilities: Galvanize (amplify). Debilitate (diminish).
Nico’s magic falls under the Hatsudo class, though the “material” he can alter is actually the abilities of others—and only the abilities of others. He can strengthen and weaken a target’s ability by a large degree for as long as he can maintain the immense concentration required to upkeep the spell. The further the distance from the target, the more energy the spell consumes per unit of time and the more demanding the concentration required. At the moment, Nico can only manage this on one target in close proximity for a short duration.
The indicator of his ability in effect is a bright, red sigil of ten hair-thin, concentric rings that appears on the back of Nico’s left hand and the back of his target’s right hand.
Inventory: Two hand-woven friendship bracelets of the same color and pattern on his left wrist. They’re chevron-patterned linked by a centered diamond pattern. The outlines of the diamonds and the chevrons are silver, the diamonds are red, the left sides of the chevrons are black while the right sides are white.
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