Little Bill

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

Shit. I forgot to edit that before I left, lemme patch that up right now. Glad Mark checks out, I'm sure we'll all have some good old babysnatchin' fun.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

Whatado. I'm stuck working on a farm in Maine without a computer, but in like, five days my phone should arrive in the mail so I'll be able to write tiny shitty posts with my thumbs. Here's Mark.

Mark Emerson

Basic Information

Name:

Mark Emerson

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Blackbird

Gender:

Male

Age:

32

Height:

5'7

Weight:

150 lbs lbs

Home District:

Eastover Woods

Appearance

Hair Color:

Black

Eye Color:

Brown

Ethnicity:

Caucasian

Physical Appearance:

Mark was born with a truly unexceptional face -- Although he has fairly well-proportioned facial features, they're balanced a bony square face and ears that have been described as "monkey-like". Fortunately, Mark was also born with wings.

Aside from his metahuman features, Mark is fairly average looking, even somewhat nebbishy, although it's very difficult to tell how much of his appearance is genuine, and not part of his feigned feebleness. He trims his beard to a neat chinstrap, while his hair is unstyled and short. His skin is fairly tanned from his mostly outdoor life, with the occasional pale scar on his face or torso, which he attributes to bee stings and car accidents. He normally wears non-prescription glasses and walks with a relaxed slouch to ward off any suspicion of his identity.

Attire:

The biggest reflection of Mark's illusion of meekness is in his clothes -- When traveling publically, he mostly dresses in clothes that are either ill-fitting, stained, outdated, or a combination thereof. Although at home, he mostly wears casual clothing, with an affinity for outdoorsy vests, when reporting for checkups with NEST operatives our shopping in the city, he dresses badly, but not too badly. Usually this means shirts that are too small, pants that are too big, and intentional stains of ink or mustard.

As Blackbird, Mark wears a suit and mask specifically designed for him by a member of The Hands of Science. Although it carried a hefty price, the creation of his suit was by many means a feat of superscience. Made of leather, kevlar, and steel, his suit is aerodynamic and lightweight above all else, designed for allowing him quick escapes whenever needed.

The suit is made mostly from leather, though the torso is a bulletproof kevlar, with stabproof padding along the chest and shoulders. Made of a strong waterproof synthetic leather, it is also partially shock-resistant, with his closeness to lightning during high altitude flying taken in mind during construction. Mark's Blackbird suit carries a number of pouches and devices. Most notably on his sides, he carries a knife (Designed for cutting through nets rather than combat) and a device jammer, which interferes with the signals of all wireless devices within 30 feet of his person. In his belt he carries a smoke grenade, a canister of mustard gas, and a small satchel of tire spikes. The containers strapped to his chest are a first aid kit, a strobe light, a ready-to-eat meal, and a small set of burglar's tools.

The most notable part of his suit is what Mark refers to as "The Helmet", although it is technically the helmet's mouthpiece that is a feat of extraordinary engineering. Designed specifically for Mark, the mouthpiece of the Blackbird suit connects to tubing made from a synthetic alloy that channels the sonic vibrations of his shouts into concussive blasts of air, with the nozzle concealed in the palm of his suit's steel gauntlets. Although mostly used for taking out security cameras at a distance, or shattering glass and thin wood for a quick escape, the creator of the suit designed it for more lethal purposes. Namely, if Mark can form a seal around a victim's ears with his hands, channeling his loudest sonic shout through the suit's mouthpiece and out of his hands would instantly kill his victim, similarly to a bolt gun used in cattle slaughtering.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Only two words are needed to fairly summarize Mark -- Deeply troubled. Although his line of work is very immoral, Mark has a fairly strong moral code that he simply chooses to ignore -- His coping mechanism for coming to terms with his day-to-day way of providing for himself and his daughter is a simple mantra of "Don't think about it".

Although Mark has intense feelings of anxiety and guilt, he rationalizes his actions with a combination of self-hypnosis and bitter truths. Holding a staunch belief that the ends justify the means, Mark rationalizes what he does by seeing it as a choice of sacrificing his daughter or sacrificing his morals, which is true in many ways -- The absurd amount of money Mark receives for his work in The Changeling Unit is the only feasible way to keep up payments for continued research on his daughter's condition through The Hands of Science.

Mark is troubled by his past, but he's not completely distraught with guilt at all times. After all, his mechanism of coping is reminding himself that he's doing what he has to because he needs to, and to a logical thinker like Mark, it's very successful. His devotion to his daughter is truly more important to him than doing what's right, which has granted him the sanity to do what he has for as long as he has, without snapping. If The Changeling Unit tells him to take a baby from their mother's arms, he doesn't feel guilt as he does so. After all, it's his kid or theirs, and Mark's drive is to make sure it's not his.

Aside from his anxiety and career path, Mark is a good, albeit strongly overprotective dad. He takes great care to make sure his work is kept a secret from his daughter, going as far as to contain his suit and equipment in a secret bunker underneath their cellar, and manages to frequently spend time with her, even hours after patching himself up. He is a people person at heart, and on the rare occasions he drops his act in public, he manages to quickly make friends.

In most public settings, especially when dealing with NEST Operatives, Mark puts on an act of feigned feebleness. Although he's not comically clumsy or stupid, he retains a certain "slow" demeanor, flying with an uncomfortable jerkiness. This entire assumed persona is a tool for keeping suspicion away from him, in the event that he was seen while working. Although winged metahumans aren't common, there are enough in Verthaven that he would not be an immediate suspect for having wings. Mark uses his act to lure any would-be investigators into a sense of security. After all, Mark's just some geeky treehugger with a daughter, How could he be a kidnapper?

Hobbies/Interests:

Mark's devotion to his daughter's well-being is intense, but is not a sole sense of tunnel-vision. Mark enjoys hiking, woodworking, and general outdoorsmanship. Most of all, he has always loved flying. He frequently takes his daughter on nighttime flights in the summer, either by Verthaven's beach or through the forest. Even when alone, he spends most of his leisure time flying, whether it's high in the clouds, or deep within the brush of the forest.

Skills/Talents:

Mark's greatest skill is his flight. An expert with maneuvering, even as a boy, Mark has things like midair rolling and sharp turns down to instinctual muscle memory. Second to his abilities with flying, Mark is a skilled actor, going as far as to trick nearly everyone who knows him but his daughter into thinking he's a harmless nobody, even going as far as hiding his sonic shout ability from NEST registry. As far as NEST knows, Mark's only metahuman feature are his large, cumbersome wings that he has trouble flying with at all.

History/Bio:

Mark was born in Colorado, to a human father and metahuman mother. Mark has few memories of importance during childhood, seeing it as a fairly average, wholesome life. He faced very little bullying for his metahuman abilities, and was known for occasionally giving his friends rides through the air. It wasn't until Mark's adolescent years that things took a turn for the worst -- Mark's mother was put into a coma after a particularly violent car crash, causing his father to take an extra two jobs as a garbageman and security guard to support his wife's medical funds. This is where Mark picked up one of his major philosophies; Devotion to your loved ones is all that's important.

Eventually, his mother's condition was no longer treatable, and she was let off life support, leaving Mark's father to grieve. His father never really recovered, leaving Mark for days at a time on trips he would disclose very little about. Eventually, Mark was emancipated, and began working as a sales associate with his cousin, his maternal uncle's son, in Denver.

His fatherhood was not planned, but a surprise -- A woman he had known briefly for a night eventually introduced him to his daughter over a phone call years later, and then in person a week later to tell Mark that her participation in a methadone program meant he must take custody of their child. It wasn't long that Sophia started exhibiting metahuman powers -- she would have violent seizures as she slept, accompanied by strong telekinetic waves. As his daughter's condition worsened, Mark began to look for more and more ways to turn a profit to afford her medication, often recalling days that his father would go days without sleeping to try to save his mother. At first, he began as a petty drug dealer, but as the cost of medicating his daughter with conventional hospitals increased with her slowly evolving condition, so did his criminal path. He quickly went from drug dealing to distribution, and distribution to smuggling, and eventually, smuggling to kidnapping.

Although at first appalled by The Changeling Unit's offer, there was a factor that eventually swayed him -- Due to The Changeling Unit's close proximity with The Hands of Science, his daughter's condition could eventually be cured, according to the men hoping to recruit him.

Although her fits are less and less frequent, the cycle of debt to The Hands of Science Mark is kept in is very much alive. As Sophia's fits are more intense with each passing episode, members of The Hands of Science need to spend more and more time on research, and so the price for the medication she receives increases with each visit.

Relationships

Family:

Jerry Emerson: Father (Deceased)
Carolyn Emerson: Mother (Deceased)
Sophia Emerson: Daughter

Dynamics:

Sophia Emerson | Good | Daughter | Sophie's my daughter. Love her to bits. |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super-System (Animal)

Power:

Bird Physiology
Mark's wings are the same shade of black as his hair, are about as tall as himself when pulled in, have a total span of 16 feet, and have a very flexible skeletal structure. Mark's entire anatomy is adapted for flight, having hollow bones, a body virtually devoid of fat that grants him enhanced proportionate muscle strength, eyes that can withstand high-speed winds, enhanced eyesight enabling him to see at distances far greater than the average human, and a special respiratory membrane that extracts oxygen from the air at extreme velocities and altitudes. He can reach a maximum speed of about 40 mph when flying, while using updrafts as he glides can allow him to go faster. His wings are very powerful, allowing him to push away most people with strong gusts if he flaps hard enough.

Supersonic Shout
Mark's birdlike-metahuman physiology allows him to tap into frequencies he should be incapable of reaching -- His shouts can shatter glass, damage delicate machinery, and render victims completely stunned, sometimes even unconscious. Hearing one of his shouts is comparable to a cross between a migraine and a stun grenade, as the resonance vibrates the delicate balance of fluid in his victim's ears, causing those who hear this noise to suffer from extreme vertigo, nausea, temporary deafness, and intense headaches.

Limits:

When wearing the suit, Mark has difficulty carrying anything more than 75 lbs. Although this is rarely an issue as his targets are all infants, Mark cannot carry a grown person, or heavy equipment while flying. Additionally, Mark's supersonic shout is loud, and with stealth being imperative to most of his jobs, he rarely uses it. Mark's shout is also nonlethal without his Blackbird suit.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

Reliance on Suit

Mark's career with The Changeling Unit has always involved his Blackbird suit, even in the earliest stages where it was little more than a black wetsuit. Because of the suit, Mark's planning is minimal -- If his suit is shockproof, why worry about being tazed? Without his suit, Mark fails to account for factors he wouldn't normally worry about with his suit on, like making an escape if seen, or evading someone who's chasing him by car. The suit's durability has made Mark somewhat reckless.

Anxiety
Mark knows what he's doing is wrong, although this knowledge is buried under mountains of self-assurance that he's doing what he has to. He will occasionally have moments where his current actions dawn on him, and he will freeze up mid-kidnapping. This has caused him to nearly be spotted on a few occasions, although he's managed to evade detection. Certain sites or sounds that remind him of his daughter cause him to think about his personal life on the job, which he finds deeply distressing -- Part of how Mark has managed to cope for so long is by dividing his thoughts, never thinking about work while at home or home while at work, making Blackbird feel more like a separate person altogether than an alter-ego.

Hearing
With his mask, Mark's shouts are channeled out of the palms of his gloves as concussive blasts of air, and are significantly quieter than they normally would be. Without his mask, however, he suffers temporary deafness for a few minutes every time he shouts, although he is spared from any of the nausea and dizziness others feel. The prolonged exposure to his own supersonic screams have left Mark somewhat hard of hearing, and he wears a discrete hearing aid most of the time, except for when he's working -- His jammer renders the hearing aid useless.

Vulnerability in Wings
Even from a non-combat standpoint, psychologically, Mark's wings are very important to him. His maneuvers reflect this -- He rarely flies in narrow passages, and when taking fire, he glides with his wings at an almost vertical angle to make them as small a target as possible, even if this sacrifices speed or maneuverability. They are also the only parts of his body uncovered by his Blackbird suit, and so he takes extra precaution to keep them safe. If he is completely submerged, he is unable to fly for a half hour, as his massive wings become too heavy and need to be completely dried. Having a majority of his feathers burned or cut would render him flightless for much longer, as he would need to wait for the damaged section of his wings to molt.

Other:

Mark is left-handed, and keeps his knife on the left hip of his suit. This is the only piece of evidence of his alter-ego -- Mark occasionally even plants black chicken feathers at his crime scene kidnappings to ensure that the DNA readings performed by NEST are very different from his.

Although this is mostly a compliment, many people who know Mark claim he bears a striking resemblance to the actor Pedro Pascal.

_{it's his faceclaim deal with it}

Southvale Investigations (urban fantasy/paranormal investigation + mystery)

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

The Previous Night

"Noo, Taffeh. Thassabad cat! Put'em doon. Dropet." Iorweth whispered, sitting up in his bed. Taffy, a large, fluffy raincloud of a cat sat at the end of his bed, holding a dead mouse tightly in his teeth. "'Taffy!" he quietly hissed, afraid he'd wake a sleeping housemate on his first night at Hogwarts. Taffy only growled, and laid down, chewing on his prize. Iorweth reached forward and grabbed the tail of the mouse, which was met on Taffy's side with another deep growl, that rumbled from his core with a surprising amount of malice for a cat. Iorweth quickly yanked the dead mouse from Taffy's possession, and slid back to his end of the bed, carefully tucking his toes under the covers to avoid Taffy's vengeance. "Poor timorous beastie." The boy said almost apologetically, softly petting the mouse's head with a single finger. "'Enthamernin' I'll finja a nice spot enthe sun to rest." He whispered, tucking the mouse next to a textbook by his bed.

"Is that a dead mouse?" a voice called out in the dark. Iorweth looked up, and met eyes with an older boy a bed across from him, who had been staring at the scene unfold. "Yes. M'gointeh bury'em tomorrow."

"That's gross." The boy said, narrowing his eyes and pulling his covers tightly to his chin. "Don't touch anything in here until you clean your hands."

---

"'Allo!" Iorweth said, stepping from behind the boy in Slytherin robes he had been following. He paid little mind to the collective jump of surprise gave off by the group, and paced a few steps into the room. Iorweth didn't intend to sneak up on the group or the boy by any means, he was just unaware of how quiet his footsteps were. Aside from his ghostlike footfall, he hadn't yet realized popping up behind his peers wasn't exactly the normal way to introduce yourself. After all, this was the first time he had been away from his farm, and he was still very, very excited. "Esthes the clab 'fer studyin' an' such?" The boy smiled inquisitively, tightly clutching a leatherbound textbook to his cloak. "M'not normally a book'erm, but ahlready know somma' what Professor 'Agrid's teachin'.

He paced forward a few more steps, and began to excitedly open his book, flipping through the pages. "I 'adn't benenvited, but I 'eard someone talkin' to 'im abou'the group." He said, nodding to the still somewhat surprised Rory who he had interrupted. "'Ah figured effa followed'em, I'd find the study group, and 'ere it is!" Without finding whatever page he was looking for, he set his opened book on a desk, and extended his hand to Hero and Andrew, who stood closely together, still trying to figure out what their uninvited guest was saying. "Yarweth Cardog. Spelled I-O-R, but etsa yar sound, like pirates or somethen'."

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

Hey guys. Might hold off on my post a little. I don't feel so good right now...I don't know if it's because of something I ate or something. Either way, if I feel better, I might get one up tonight (EST) or tomorrow.

@Strawberry425

Get well soon! If you need to take a day or two off, that's not a problem. Health is almost as important as Harry Potter RPs, after all.

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

Also, anyone who's not yet a part of the Skype chat, PM me with your Skype username to get added. If you're not there, you're missing out!

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

@dead anime dad
Woah, woah, woah... what happened? Bella was Gryffindor last night and now she's a Hufflepuff? I would like an explanation please...

Not to be rude... I'm okay with either, I guess...

@WhiteStar19

Explanation: We got it mixed up in the notes. She was meant to be a Hufflepuff, her name was accidentally put in one of the Gryffindor descriptions. We changed it after realizing the mistake.

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

Yo! We're still accepting, but opening tonight or tomorrow.

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

I'd like to see some detail develop in her as we go, and the GM consensus was that a specific higher power would be appreciated. That being said, neither is completely necessary for now since those are both extra things we can find out as we go along, so put her in the Character Sheets. Accepted!

Harry Potter: 2017-2018

Iorweth Llywelyn Caradog

_{Iorweth Llywelyn Caradog}

Blood Status

Pureblood

Age

11, Turning 12 October 20th

Gender

Male

---

Personality

Less-than-Respectable Lineage

The youngest of an ancient Pureblood family in Wales, Iorweth is the first in his family's current generation to attend Hogwarts. The Caradogs, one of Wales' oldest Pureblood families, are considered strange by most well-to-do wizarding families, with their Pureblood status tarnished by rumors that interbreeding with Goblins, Elves, and Trolls was a common Caradog practice before written records -- This is also the assumed explanation for the occasional short stature of Caradog men like Iowerth's father Elgar, as well as an explanation for their seemingly genetic strange behaviour.

Country Dweller

Growing up on the Caradog Farm, Iorweth is a boy of simple tastes. He enjoys hiking through the wilderness, sleeping in trees, and shearing sheep. He has an older brother and two older sisters, and is the only male in his family to fluently speak English -- His home village of Cerrigydrudion is one of the smallest in Wales, hidden away from the English language and muggles alike. He has a strong distrust of technology, and is usually the first to make word of it being "unnatural".

Eccentric Loner

Iorweth is strange, even by Hogwarts standards. He prefers his own company, or the company of plants and animals. When he ventures off into the forest, he's never seen practicing any spells or painting any landscapes, or even reading a book. He just sits. Aside from his penchant for lone hikes through the wilderness, Iorweth's odd mannerisms coupled with his near-unintelligible accent win him few friends. He has an oddly specific unhealthy diet, never stops smiling, and has a distinct damp smell. Iorweth is weird, to say the least.

All-Loving Pacifist

Although he's hardly the type to greet others with a hug, Iorweth has a deep-seated love for all creatures. He holds a firm belief that naturally, everyone is born good, and remains good deep down. He is almost unrealistically slow to anger, and only ever intervenes in situations without using violence. He considers himself a vegetarian, citing the cruel conditions animals are kept in factory farms, though he'll eat meat that's been hunted or farmed locally.

Disturbingly Imperturbable

Iorweth is very slow to anger, is always smiling, and has a calm outlook for every situation. That being said, his positive demeanor sometimes borders on classical stoicism. Even in the most heated argument, it is an extraordinarily rare sight to see Iorweth drop his smile, so much as raise his voice. His sense of peace with is sometimes downright annoying, or even creepy.

Shepherd of Men

Iorweth was raised as the son of a shepherd, and has the skills of one. Namely, he guides. He is too much of a loner to seek out problems to fix, but always seems to have good advice when sought after. He is strangely skilled with tasseography, and is the go-to source of information on Magical Flaura & Fauna, as well as Eastern Magic.

---

Appearance

Iorweth, while not exceptionally tall, short, fat or thin, Iorweth's appearance tends to stand out in crowds. He has a strangely alien look, as if he's both listening and drifting away, which isn't helped by the fact that he only ever smiles. He has brown hair which is never combed or brushed, but remains presentable regardless. His eyes are a deep reddish hazelnut, and his complexion is slightly sallow and pale.

He's known for having a feint damp smell with him, wherever he goes, and tends to carry himself with a relaxed fluidity when he walks, as well as a perpetual slouch. He favors simple clothes, and usually wears solid color sweaters, t-shirts, and jeans when out of uniform. He wears a thick plaid jacket in the colder months, although it's very apparent that the jacket is a size too large for him to fit, and wears the same pair of black boots twelve months a year, in and out of uniform.

---

Wand

Bloodwood, Phoenix Feather Core, 11 ¾ inches, Unyielding

_{"Bloodwood favors those who are kind-hearted, passive, reclusive, and free-spirited. This exotic wand type has the characteristic of working easily with all types of Elemental Magic (next to Birch and Ebony wands), but particularly in Water spells. Bloodwood wands help to uncover buried and/or long lost secrets, and are also one of the most powerful wand types for use in Divination and Healing Magic. However, Bloodwood wand tend to favor those who are reclusive and prefer to keep out of the limelight, thus it also makes for a good wand when used in the Logical Arts of Magic. This wand type is seen among all the Houses of Hogwarts and has no particular affinity to a certain House. However, it is suspected that Bloodwood wands have a leaning affinity to both House Ravenclaw and House Slytherin. Bloodwood has a brilliant red color that darkens with age."}

---

Boggart

The Kelpie. Although he has never seen one kill, he distinctly remembers almost riding one as a boy, seeing it as a beautiful white horse. When he came closer, whether it be from supposed Goblin-Blood or a lapse of concentration on the kelpie's part, he saw it in it's true form -- A hideous waterlogged corpse of a black horse, covered in layers of seaweed, with bulging, leaky eyes and pale blue gums holding rows of sharp teeth. He ran home screaming, and has only told the story to his family members.

---

Other

Iorweth has a 14 year old cat, named Taffy, who is known for frequently sneezing out thick globs of mucus, and coughing up hairballs at inopportune times. He has technically died twice, but was quickly revived both times with a Shock Spell administered by Iorweth's father.