Nickname: Leo or Kitten. But he's trying to outrun that "Kitten" nickname, which he acquired because of his thick mane of hair and his tenancy to hiss or growl when annoyed, and is likely to kick anyone who tries to call him that.
Age: 18
Birthplace: Mysteria
Sex: Male
Occupation: Nothing yet, he'll be job hunting shortly.
Appearance: Mano is neither especially tall nor short, standing about five foot nine, depending on how badly he slouches. He has a rather strong build without being bulky, as he is used to being picked on, roughed up and generally messed with. His skin is neither tan nor pale, though it has always been at least slightly bronze, he spends a great deal of time outdoors. His eyes are a dark brown, though some swear that at certain times they appear red--but that has to be a play of the light, right? Mano is rather known for his hair, which is long, thick and copper in color, he having always worn it long. He tends to wear whatever he can get his hands on, not having any real care for clothing outside of what is functional.
Personality: Mano is what most would call a troubled youth, and few would blame him, due to his losing his parents at such an early age. He is withdrawn, often brooding and generally quiet, he is serious and frowning more often than not. He tends to avoid people because being around them... confuses and frustrates him more often than not for reasons he is sure exists but does not fully understand. Contrary to what most would expect for a youth in his position, he loves learning and could easily lose hours if not days studying astronomy books or solving SoDuKo puzzles. Around people, he is often distant and stand offish, this is because early in life, when he would try and explain problems or frustrations, people would either politely laugh and dismiss his troubles as a child's imagination, or straight out call him a liar. Due to this, he keeps most all his thoughts to himself whenever possible.
Special abilities/talents: He is very well read in hunting, camping and general wilderness survival.
Supernatural Affinity: Species/Group: Emapth Power(s): Mano has a powerful Empathetic power, he both feeling the emotions of others and leaking his own wildly. He also has a very weak Telepathic ability which cannot be trained or strengthened. If looking directly into someone's eyes or physically touching them and concentrating hard, he has a slim chance of having a 'flash' of the person's surface thoughts. This is only momentarily, generally a visual manifestation which is uncomfortable for him, rather like looking directly at a lightning strike in the middle of a dark night.
Level: 1
Affiliation/Rank: N/A Preferred Prey: N/A
History: Mano was born in Mysteria, but his parents left the town when he was an infant, living only three years outside of town before they were both killed in a tragic accident. At the tender age of four, Mano became a ward of the state, bounced from foster home to foster home due to a bad habit of mouthing off and a tendency toward fighting. Mano has always felt different, this feeling continued to become stronger as he aged. About the age of twelve, he began to feel drastically different, he felt his mood change from room to room, from class to class, his emotions would swing from cheerful to violent to the verge of tears just from walking across the lunch room. This only caused more trouble for an already troubled teen and he began to withdraw from people entirely. He found that if he felt more stable when he lost himself deep in the woods near his foster home.
There was little trouble to be found out alone in the middle of nature, and Mano soon found himself bringing books with him when he slipped out from under his guardian's eyes. At first his reading materials were what one would expect from a teenage boy, comic books and whatever porno mags he could swipe, but soon he began to think about staying away longer, ditching school and home alike in favor of the solitude of the woods. Before long he was reading survival guides, camping guides, even boy scout manuals, anything to improve his survival ability. Hunting and fishing guides followed and once he was able able to spend days and weeks in the tangled woods, he found himself becoming fascinated by the stars. Astronomy books quickly became his obsession, he learning the constellations, the cycles of the moon and how these effected the world.
Mano had never been good at limits and inadvertently pushed his. His being missing for a few days or weeks was no great deal to his foster parents, but after three and a half weeks without seeing hide nor hair of the seventeen year old, a search party was formed. The local police found his camp site easily once they set to looking, and Mano soon found himself in Juvie, arrested for running away as well as the possession of a large amount of knives and strike-anywhere matches. Yes, strike-anywhere matches were considered illegal contraband for a minor and pretty well sealed his fate for a week-long stay in Juvie. This was, simply put, hell for the young Empath. His head ached, he was forced to be around people every moment of every day, was constantly filled with hate, despair, fear, rage, injustice and an uncontrollable sorrow, he was beaten up by those stronger than him when the guards backs were turned, and ridiculed mercilessly whenever he could not hold back the tears of frustration.
It was during that week that he began to think of the town his parents had left. They had always spoken cautiously about it, as if speaking it's name would invoke some kind of magic spell. His memories of his parents were distant and foggy at best, but they were the only people he could ever remember feeling comfortable around. Perhaps the town they left had others like them? Once released, Mano kept himself cautiously off the radar, doing his best to keep out of mind as he plotted and saved up what little money he could scrounge up. Upon his eighteenth birthday, he was declared a legal adult and offered a job at a local factory for pennies an hour. Declining the offer with a simple grunt, Mano stuffed a change of clothes, a few books and the one pocket knife he'd been able to save into his back pack and turned his steps to the North.
Mysteria or bust.
Flaws:
Bad luck. The saying "If it weren't bad, I'd have no luck at all" has never applied more aptly to anyone. Mano has an uncanny ability to go from a bad situation to a worse one. Any decision he makes is, at best, a sideways movement. He says the wrong thing, does the wrong thing, and on the rare occasion that he actually makes the right decision, it is inevitably some kind of trick or set up, and he ends up worse off anyway.
Migraines. Mano often suffers from headaches which usually escalate migraines, sometimes visual migraines which only serves to make him more concerned for his sanity. These most often occur when he is around a lot of people or people/a person with very strong, distressing emotions.
Slipped Seeming. Mano's eyes often appear red... but that has to just be a trick of the light, right...?
Loner. "Leave me the fuck alone" has to be Mano's most uttered phrase. People confuse and frustrate him on several levels, some of which he simply doesn't understand. Things only seem to go badly when he's around others, and he always feels like he says or does the ass-wrong thing in any given situation. He would much rather be out reading a book or star gazing than 'shooting the breeze' with others.
Depression. Hey, he's all alone in the world. He's lost his parents, he's got no home, he thinks he might be going insane and all any doctor who has ever talked to him wants to do is give him pills for some mental illness he somehow knows he doesn't have. The kid's a little depressed. He's far too stubborn to be suicidal, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel like it's all pointless and useless more often than not.
Merits:
Determination. Mano just won't give up. No matter how bad the situation gets, he is GOING to get through it. What he will do once he's through it he has no idea, but he will deal with that (poorly, more than likely) when he gets there.
Sexual Orientation: Straight so far as he knows, bi in reality, but wants nothing to do with people, much less a relationship currently.