![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Name: Kristine
Age: 29
Pronouns: she/her
Email: krharbek on gmail
Aim/Skype: krharbek
Backtagging: Yes
Threadhopping: Often yes, but ask first so we can work out when/how.
Fourthwalling: Go for it.
Canon puncture: Go for it.
Offensive subjects: I have no particularly triggering topics.
Warnings: Drug use, PTSD, suicide ideation, self-destructive behavior, self-blame, anxiety, imprisonment, emotional and physical abuse, torture, medical experimentation, claustrophobia, aquaphobia...
Age: 29
Pronouns: she/her
Email: krharbek on gmail
Aim/Skype: krharbek
Backtagging: Yes
Threadhopping: Often yes, but ask first so we can work out when/how.
Fourthwalling: Go for it.
Canon puncture: Go for it.
Offensive subjects: I have no particularly triggering topics.
Warnings: Drug use, PTSD, suicide ideation, self-destructive behavior, self-blame, anxiety, imprisonment, emotional and physical abuse, torture, medical experimentation, claustrophobia, aquaphobia...
Permissions
Jul. 15th, 2024 21:00| Sexual/romantic orientation: Hugging this character: Flirting with this character: Giving this character a kiss: Something more intimate: Relationships: Dub-con/non-con/sexual assault: Fighting with this character: Injuring this character: Using telepathy on this character: | Finally realised he's bisexual. Please do, he needs hugs. Please, but he's usually pretty awkward. See above. See above, though I probably won't play much out. Possible, though he has shit to work through. Ask first, depends, but probably not. Please do. Talk it over first, but yes absolutely. Go for it. |
Personality
Apr. 4th, 2024 02:20Seth is a very reserved person, and is used to being the only sane man in a bunch of pretty weird people. He's reasonably clever and logical, though it's not unknown for his emotions to get the better of him, particularly when driven by guilt or protectiveness. He can be a bit shy and awkward when he's not entirely sure how to interact with someone, and he keeps his cards close to his chest, often putting on an act to hide his true feelings until he trusts someone. When he does, though, he's generally friendly and likeable, with a sarcastic and snarky sense of humour, and actually quite sweet and thoughtful. He can be incredibly self-sacrificing and sensitive.
Generally he's pretty cool and calm, and capable of being both polite and rude depending on the situation, with enough sense to have tea with someone's grandma, but enough guts to stand up to people and tell them to fuck off. He's not afraid to handle difficult subjects, though he often has trouble knowing what to say. If he gets attacked, he'll get defensive and apologetic if it's by someone he cares about, but will merely smirk it off if there's someone he doesn't care about. He can have a temper when provoked, but he's not too touchy and will usually brush things off.
While he's patient and reliable, he doesn't shy away from action, and he's not squeamish. He loves the rush of dealing, and cares very little about the law, thanks to growing up in an environment where the law cared very little about him. His power and all the messed up situations his friends get into have gotten him involved in some pretty fucked up shit, and he generally takes thing as they come without too much fuss. He's had to bury quite a few bodies by now, though it's not a thing he enjoys. He's never willingly cruel, and will always go for the least harmful option - if he doesn't, you can be sure you've struck a nerve with him. However, he is much more likely to steep himself in guilt than thoughts of revenge.
He's independent and self-reliant, and can sometimes find it a bit difficult to imagine things from others' point of view, at least initially. He can be a bit selfish or thoughtless, but he comes through in the end, and he usually criticises himself for such things far more than anyone else does. He tends to keep most people at an arms length, but he loves and trusts strongly once you've gotten through to him, and he's pretty forgiving. He is, however, not quite as forgiving of himself, and he will always apologise when he considers himself in the wrong.
Seth doesn't consider himself a hero or even a particularly moral person, and he often tries to brush things off as not his problem, except if it affects someone he likes. He doesn't always consider how his actions affect other people - often because he underestimates how important he can be to someone - and it takes a long while for him to realise he needs to use his power dealing more responsibly. However, he's a lot more righteous and kind-hearted than he gives himself credit for.
After his imprisonment in the Rebel base, he suffers from PTSD. He's gotten better at functioning day to day, but he still has frequent nightmares, and a particularly strong reminder can launch him into a panic attack or strong flashbacks. He's still struggling with lack of self-worth, anxiety, and feelings of detachment. He's not unfamiliar with suicidal impulses and self-destructive behaviour, though it's not as big a problem anymore. However, he'll often be quite nervous and vigilant when in a public space, and he's become intensely claustrophobic thanks to both his imprisonment and nearly being crushed to death as a result of a power that backfired - something which has also caused him to be a bit more selective about which powers he takes from people.
Generally he's pretty cool and calm, and capable of being both polite and rude depending on the situation, with enough sense to have tea with someone's grandma, but enough guts to stand up to people and tell them to fuck off. He's not afraid to handle difficult subjects, though he often has trouble knowing what to say. If he gets attacked, he'll get defensive and apologetic if it's by someone he cares about, but will merely smirk it off if there's someone he doesn't care about. He can have a temper when provoked, but he's not too touchy and will usually brush things off.
While he's patient and reliable, he doesn't shy away from action, and he's not squeamish. He loves the rush of dealing, and cares very little about the law, thanks to growing up in an environment where the law cared very little about him. His power and all the messed up situations his friends get into have gotten him involved in some pretty fucked up shit, and he generally takes thing as they come without too much fuss. He's had to bury quite a few bodies by now, though it's not a thing he enjoys. He's never willingly cruel, and will always go for the least harmful option - if he doesn't, you can be sure you've struck a nerve with him. However, he is much more likely to steep himself in guilt than thoughts of revenge.
He's independent and self-reliant, and can sometimes find it a bit difficult to imagine things from others' point of view, at least initially. He can be a bit selfish or thoughtless, but he comes through in the end, and he usually criticises himself for such things far more than anyone else does. He tends to keep most people at an arms length, but he loves and trusts strongly once you've gotten through to him, and he's pretty forgiving. He is, however, not quite as forgiving of himself, and he will always apologise when he considers himself in the wrong.
Seth doesn't consider himself a hero or even a particularly moral person, and he often tries to brush things off as not his problem, except if it affects someone he likes. He doesn't always consider how his actions affect other people - often because he underestimates how important he can be to someone - and it takes a long while for him to realise he needs to use his power dealing more responsibly. However, he's a lot more righteous and kind-hearted than he gives himself credit for.
After his imprisonment in the Rebel base, he suffers from PTSD. He's gotten better at functioning day to day, but he still has frequent nightmares, and a particularly strong reminder can launch him into a panic attack or strong flashbacks. He's still struggling with lack of self-worth, anxiety, and feelings of detachment. He's not unfamiliar with suicidal impulses and self-destructive behaviour, though it's not as big a problem anymore. However, he'll often be quite nervous and vigilant when in a public space, and he's become intensely claustrophobic thanks to both his imprisonment and nearly being crushed to death as a result of a power that backfired - something which has also caused him to be a bit more selective about which powers he takes from people.
Seth got the ability to deal powers a few years ago in a supernatural lightning storm. He can permanently take powers from people, store them in his body, and then give them out again (regardless of species, so humans, pets and aliens alike). The powers also often become more user-friendly (easier to control) after he has held them. He needs physical (skin) contact to do this, but it only takes a handful seconds. It's an intense experience for him, and takes a lot out of him, but it can also be a rush. When he does it, a bright light shines from where he's touching the other person - usually he takes their hand. He can also fake this effect, however, to make it seem like he takes/gives a power without really doing it - he merely opens the connection, but doesn't transfer anything. He also has control over what he's giving or taking, if he or the other person has multiple powers.
When he came through the Rift, his ability got expanded to be able to do this with all kinds of powers, not just powers from his home universe. After prolonged contact with the rift and active use of his ability, he can now also use absorbed powers himself, but only one of each type (one active and one passive) at a time, and switching between powers can be tiring.
Current powers:
- Phasing (active ability): He can make himself and other people/objects intangible. Very effective for getting into locked places, walking through walls and doors for example. He has control over what he's intangible in relation to, so he won't accidentally fall through the floor unless he really messes up. He can bring one other person along with him, but two is usually far too much mass. He'll need to be touching the person/object for it to work. This power can also be used to pretty lethal effect, for example by phasing objects into people and then letting go. Thankfully it is nearly impossible for him to do this by accident.
- Accelerated healing (passive ability): This is a pretty low-key and limited - no fancy visibly healing or regrowing of limbs or anything. However, it's probably what's let him be regular morphine user for so long without severe health effects. The worse the injury, the stronger/faster the power, but it still doesn't magically fix everything. It won't stop him dying if things are bad enough, but it might prevent him bleeding out, for example. It's more effective in dreams.
- Mini-rifts (active): The ability to open portals, as seen here. They are temporary little tears in the fabric of spacetime, from one point to another, though only within the reach of the Rift/Darrow. They usually can't be held open for long, minutes at most. He creates them with his mind, but the physical act of pulling them open is a way to focus his thoughts. Technically they can also function as time travel, but that's nearly impossible to control. It does however mean that time-displacement can be an occasional side-effect.
- Protection (active): Being able to shield others from harm or pain. Only works for one or two people at a time, though it can help with both mental and physical attacks. He has to have some sort of awareness of the person, like either being in close proximity or on the phone or watching them on a screen or something - he can't just think of a person and protect them. The big drawback is that not all the damage/pain gets absorbed into nothingness, but a portion of it instead gets transferred to him, so he'll have to suffer to protect someone.
- Touch telepathy (active): A form of telepathy only usable when touching the other person. It's a very different kind of communication than speaking - sharing concepts and feelings is much easier than sharing words. And even if he does manage to convey words, it probably won't be without some sort of emotional association or memory fragment. It will also make him more aware and able to protect himself from others using telepathy on him, and a bit better at identifying and manipulating dreams.
- Music manipulation (active/passive): The ability to make speakers (and in a few cases, instruments) play any song. Currently often uncontrollable, or rather controlled by the subconscious, as speakers will start playing songs relevant to the situation or feelings involved, without the user's intention.
Past powers:
- Architectural manipulation (active): Taken from Johnny per his request. The ability to change the size and layout of buildings to logic-defying extent. This power came with a severe psychological side-effect, and nearly caused Seth's death before it was returned to Johnny.
- Teleportation (active): Taken from Peter mostly on his request (after some convincing). The ability to spontaneously disappear and reappear in a different place, in a flash of flames and smoke. Returned to Peter at Gabriel's insistence.
When he came through the Rift, his ability got expanded to be able to do this with all kinds of powers, not just powers from his home universe. After prolonged contact with the rift and active use of his ability, he can now also use absorbed powers himself, but only one of each type (one active and one passive) at a time, and switching between powers can be tiring.
Current powers:
- Phasing (active ability): He can make himself and other people/objects intangible. Very effective for getting into locked places, walking through walls and doors for example. He has control over what he's intangible in relation to, so he won't accidentally fall through the floor unless he really messes up. He can bring one other person along with him, but two is usually far too much mass. He'll need to be touching the person/object for it to work. This power can also be used to pretty lethal effect, for example by phasing objects into people and then letting go. Thankfully it is nearly impossible for him to do this by accident.
- Accelerated healing (passive ability): This is a pretty low-key and limited - no fancy visibly healing or regrowing of limbs or anything. However, it's probably what's let him be regular morphine user for so long without severe health effects. The worse the injury, the stronger/faster the power, but it still doesn't magically fix everything. It won't stop him dying if things are bad enough, but it might prevent him bleeding out, for example. It's more effective in dreams.
- Mini-rifts (active): The ability to open portals, as seen here. They are temporary little tears in the fabric of spacetime, from one point to another, though only within the reach of the Rift/Darrow. They usually can't be held open for long, minutes at most. He creates them with his mind, but the physical act of pulling them open is a way to focus his thoughts. Technically they can also function as time travel, but that's nearly impossible to control. It does however mean that time-displacement can be an occasional side-effect.
- Protection (active): Being able to shield others from harm or pain. Only works for one or two people at a time, though it can help with both mental and physical attacks. He has to have some sort of awareness of the person, like either being in close proximity or on the phone or watching them on a screen or something - he can't just think of a person and protect them. The big drawback is that not all the damage/pain gets absorbed into nothingness, but a portion of it instead gets transferred to him, so he'll have to suffer to protect someone.
- Touch telepathy (active): A form of telepathy only usable when touching the other person. It's a very different kind of communication than speaking - sharing concepts and feelings is much easier than sharing words. And even if he does manage to convey words, it probably won't be without some sort of emotional association or memory fragment. It will also make him more aware and able to protect himself from others using telepathy on him, and a bit better at identifying and manipulating dreams.
- Music manipulation (active/passive): The ability to make speakers (and in a few cases, instruments) play any song. Currently often uncontrollable, or rather controlled by the subconscious, as speakers will start playing songs relevant to the situation or feelings involved, without the user's intention.
Past powers:
- Architectural manipulation (active): Taken from Johnny per his request. The ability to change the size and layout of buildings to logic-defying extent. This power came with a severe psychological side-effect, and nearly caused Seth's death before it was returned to Johnny.
- Teleportation (active): Taken from Peter mostly on his request (after some convincing). The ability to spontaneously disappear and reappear in a different place, in a flash of flames and smoke. Returned to Peter at Gabriel's insistence.
Appearance
Feb. 3rd, 2023 21:05Seth is an attractive young white man, 5'9", 29 years old, with short dark hair and brown eyes, and usually sporting stubble. He's got a tattoo of a Chinese dragon on his neck, usually peaking up from his collar, and he's fairly fit, though not particularly muscly - maybe a little on the skinny side, but stronger than he looks. He also has a jagged tattoo between his shoulder-blades that reads J-19-5-20-8, gotten against his will.
He's very restrained and reserved in his body language and expressions. Hunched shoulders, hands in his pockets, occasionally a little twitchy and nervous. Definitely pretty awkward. He doesn't smile particularly often. He becomes a lot more relaxed in good company however, and his dry sense of humour can definitely show on his face. He's also got a strong Manchester accent, though he's softened it a bit to be more easily understandable to Americans.
He usually defaults to casual clothing; unremarkable button-ups, t-shirts, jeans, hoodies or a leather jacket. Up to August 16th, he almost always wore long-sleeved shirts to hide track marks. He's used to putting up a facade, and when he did his power dealing, he always wore a suit, and a smarmy, callous smile, carrying himself with a lot self-confidence than he's ever felt. He still often puts up a bit of that front when he meets new people, a practiced ease to hide how guarded he is.
He's very restrained and reserved in his body language and expressions. Hunched shoulders, hands in his pockets, occasionally a little twitchy and nervous. Definitely pretty awkward. He doesn't smile particularly often. He becomes a lot more relaxed in good company however, and his dry sense of humour can definitely show on his face. He's also got a strong Manchester accent, though he's softened it a bit to be more easily understandable to Americans.
He usually defaults to casual clothing; unremarkable button-ups, t-shirts, jeans, hoodies or a leather jacket. Up to August 16th, he almost always wore long-sleeved shirts to hide track marks. He's used to putting up a facade, and when he did his power dealing, he always wore a suit, and a smarmy, callous smile, carrying himself with a lot self-confidence than he's ever felt. He still often puts up a bit of that front when he meets new people, a practiced ease to hide how guarded he is.
[Many trigger warnings apply. See this post.]
CHILDHOOD:
Seth is an only child, born and raised in Manchester in a working class family, and his parents divorced when he was a boy. His dad was emotionally absent, and his mum worked two jobs - which was better than being unemployed, certainly, which was fairly common back then - so he spent a lot of time on his own. They lived in a council flat, in a poor neighborhood, where gang activity, drug trade and gun related violence was pretty common, particularly during Seth's early teens.
He managed to keep himself in school throughout most of his teens, but the education system didn't really work in his favour. Due to a combination of lack of motivation, concentration problems, and somewhat troubled home life, he flunked out of school and never got his A-levels, even though he was smart enough to have managed it if his circumstances were better. He had a couple boring jobs that didn't really teach him much - except for being trained in first aid by St John's ambulance, but that's pretty much it.
YOUNG ADULTHOOD:
In his early twenties, he started dealing drugs. Mostly small stuff to begin with, stuff for his mates, but he enjoyed the excitement he was unable to find elsewhere, the money was good, and he was good at it. He was actually really good at it, and wanted to be the ultimate dealer.
He had a few girlfriends. A childhood sweetheart, a relationship that seemed very important at the time, the way it does when you're young, but who was ultimately very unsuited for him. As he started dealing drugs, he suddenly attracted a lot more girls, and he ended up falling in love with one of them, until it turned out she was only really interested in him for the money and access to drugs. After that pretty upsetting breakup, he moved to London and set up shop there.
Seth had decided girls weren't worth the trouble, and were bad for business, and then a few months later he met Shannon and he fell for her hard. She didn't even seem to like him at first, but it turned out she preferred his more sensitive, gentle side than the tougher, confident persona he was projecting. They were together for over two years.
GETTING HIS POWER:
Then the Storm hit, sudden and intense. Seth was struck by a bolt of lightning that gave him his power, though it took him a while to realise, as his power only did anything when interacting with other people who had powers.
Not long after this, Shannon ended up ODing on drugs Seth had given her. He's never stopped blaming himself for her death. He was a mess after she died, sulked, got drunk, got into fights, and generally had a bad time of it. It's debatable whether he gave up drug dealing because of what happened to Shannon, or because he simply wasn't in any state to do it anymore.
A few months after Shannon died, he discovered what he could do, quite by accident - someone was attacking him using the power of super strength, but they never had time to hurt him much, as Seth sucked the power out of him in self-defense. He realised he could put this new-found skill, not to mention his experience with dealing, to good use. He eventually gave the strength power to his bouncer, once he opened up a place where he could buy and sell powers. Since then he's been looking for someone with the power to bring back people from the dead.
EVENTS OF CANON:
He eventually got the Misfits (a group of superpowerer youths on community service) as customers, though he kept out of their business even when Kelly came to him for help. She later helped him fix his car when it had broken down, and then made him buy her a drink, and they flirted. The next time they met, Seth rejected her offer of a date, still not over Shannon, and had to admit this reason to Kelly. A week later, Kelly came and told him that she'd been to an alternate timeline where Seth was kept prisoner by Nazis, and him and Kelly had fought them together. The alternate Seth had then kissed Kelly just before dying. The news of this spurred the regular Seth into finally asking Kelly out. His search for a resurrection power had continued to turn up nothing, and he tried to accept that he couldn't keep mourning forever.
Of course, it didn't go smoothly, as Kelly ended up standing him up - but for a very good reason: she had swapped bodies with a girl in a coma, and Seth and the gang had to rescue her. After that, though, they had it nice for a couple of weeks, Seth even inviting Kelly to come along for a holiday. She turned out to be exactly what he needed, perceptive enough to see through his shell of self-preservation, and stubborn and caring enough to break him out of it. She also challenged him and made him remember his damaged idealism, making him a better person.
But then his search for the resurrection power paid off unexpectedly, and Seth couldn't say no. He had to bring Shannon back, because it was his fault she died - he had to repair the damage he had caused. He told Kelly he had to stop seeing her because Shannon was alive again. Unfortunately it turned out that anyone brought back this way turned into a zombie - not rotting and shambling or brainless, but definitely with a craving for human blood. When they found out, Seth first tried to make it work, having her feed on animals, thinking it was better than nothing.
Unfortunately it soon became evident that Shannon was unable to control it, when she killed their neighbour, and he knew to his despair that she had to die before infecting anyone else. However, he was unable to do it himself. Shannon had more control of herself because she was brought back, but people infected by her were more or less mindless monsters. Soon the gang had the start of a zombie apocalypse on their hands, and they had to kill a few dozen zombies to avert disaster. Seth also had to come to terms with the fact he also loved Kelly. Shannon overheard this, and tried to kill Kelly, and Seth ended up killing Shannon to rescue Kelly.
After those events, Kelly convinced Seth to stop dealing powers because of the serious consequences it could have. The death of one of their friends made them decide to take a break from the worries of London, and they went on vacation to Uganda together. While there, Kelly used her powers to defuse a land-mine, and they decided to move there. Seth went back to England to pick up the rest of their stuff.
While back, he ended up being affected by a guy's powers to become completely obsessed with a suitcase of money and lose any kind of conscience. Him and the gang did pretty terrible things to each other and others while under the influence of this, including Seth pretty intensely torturing a guy. Thankfully it didn't last, and they ended up not hurting each other too badly, though Seth definitely has some issues with having his mind meddled with after that. The gang convinced him to come out of retirement to take one last power, and then he went back to Uganda to stay with Kelly.
FALLING THROUGH THE RIFT:
On the plane ride south, Seth ended up getting sucked up by the rift, and landed in New York on the 10th of October, 2012 - a few weeks back in time, but in a universe where he knew no one. He was immediately taken in by the rebels, who provided him with money and shelter. When they discovered his powers not long after, they convinced him to work for them, putting a rather idealistic spin on things. He hoped that using his powers for a good cause, helping the Rifties, was a much better plan than just doing it for money. At first it was alright, but he ended up being part of things he didn't approve of, and as he started questioning their methods and motives, a few really shady things were done to keep him there, including heavily implied threats regarding the safety of friends he'd made.
On November 12th, just over a month after he arrived, he warned the people he'd befriended, then tried to make a break from the city. He made it to Jersey when he was hunted down. They attacked him in an attempt to capture him, and in self-defense, Seth ended up accidentally almost causing the death of a rebel. This was enough for them to deem him a danger to others and lock him up, while still making use of his powers. The people he'd befriended assumed he had made it out of the city.
He was held prisoner for almost four months. He was given the designation J-19-5-20-8, which he also had tattooed on his back at one point as a reminder that he was stuck there. During this time, he was severely dehumanised, neglected, abused, exploited and experimented on. Just how badly depended on whether he behaved and followed their orders. He tried to escape several time, and he tried to commit suicide twice. They also discovered that morphine made his powers stronger, and also made him more compliant, another way to control him, and he eventually developed a dependency on it as a result.
Eventually he developed the ability to use the powers he was holding, and he assumed it was a result of the morphine. He kept this secret until he got hold of a power he thought he could make use of. Finally he got hold of the power of phasing through walls or objects, and he took his chance. On March 7th, two weeks after his 29th birthday, he managed to escape from the base. At this point he'd been in the city for about 5 months.
START OF GAME: (See threadlist for links.)
As soon as he got out of the base, he bumped into the archangel Gabriel, who teleported him away and offered him refuge. Seth left early the next morning, not trusting anyone, and needing to make sure Gabe wouldn't do anything to keep him there. It took him a little while to remember the basics of how to function on his own, and he kept on the move, stealing what he needed, and phasing his way into empty hotel rooms to sleep. He also continued his morphine habit, scared his powers would go away if he stopped, and also using the drug as an extra coping mechanic. After about a week he returned to Gabriel, deciding he was trustworthy enough. After this, he often spent the night on Gabe's couch, when he didn't want to be on his own.
He soon got an apartment of his own, down in the financial district. Most of his efforts for the next few months went towards two things. One: readjusting to society, slowly trying to rid himself of the conditioning and trauma he'd gone through at the base, coping with his PTSD. He eventually moved his income source from stealing to drug dealing. Two: getting more powers to ensure his continued survival. This one was a bit trickier. While he had certainly been damaged and hardened by his imprisonment, he refused to do anything outright immoral to achieve his goals. He took a healing power off a rebel he knew didn't deserve to have it. He also took the teleportation power of a willing Peter Vincent who wanted rid of it, though Gabe made him give it back later.
Near the end of May, Gabriel called upon him for help, to fight... an actual Godzilla. Seth was pretty miffed when he found out the giant lizard had been an illusion all along, and that Gabe had even faked his own death just for dramatic effect. Then again, Gabe was pretty miffed that Seth was selling drugs, though he was mollified upon learning it was just pot, rather than anything harder. A while after this, Seth moves into an apartment underneath Gabe's, as he had bought an entire building and lets Seth stay there for free.
CHILDHOOD:
Seth is an only child, born and raised in Manchester in a working class family, and his parents divorced when he was a boy. His dad was emotionally absent, and his mum worked two jobs - which was better than being unemployed, certainly, which was fairly common back then - so he spent a lot of time on his own. They lived in a council flat, in a poor neighborhood, where gang activity, drug trade and gun related violence was pretty common, particularly during Seth's early teens.
He managed to keep himself in school throughout most of his teens, but the education system didn't really work in his favour. Due to a combination of lack of motivation, concentration problems, and somewhat troubled home life, he flunked out of school and never got his A-levels, even though he was smart enough to have managed it if his circumstances were better. He had a couple boring jobs that didn't really teach him much - except for being trained in first aid by St John's ambulance, but that's pretty much it.
YOUNG ADULTHOOD:
In his early twenties, he started dealing drugs. Mostly small stuff to begin with, stuff for his mates, but he enjoyed the excitement he was unable to find elsewhere, the money was good, and he was good at it. He was actually really good at it, and wanted to be the ultimate dealer.
He had a few girlfriends. A childhood sweetheart, a relationship that seemed very important at the time, the way it does when you're young, but who was ultimately very unsuited for him. As he started dealing drugs, he suddenly attracted a lot more girls, and he ended up falling in love with one of them, until it turned out she was only really interested in him for the money and access to drugs. After that pretty upsetting breakup, he moved to London and set up shop there.
Seth had decided girls weren't worth the trouble, and were bad for business, and then a few months later he met Shannon and he fell for her hard. She didn't even seem to like him at first, but it turned out she preferred his more sensitive, gentle side than the tougher, confident persona he was projecting. They were together for over two years.
GETTING HIS POWER:
Then the Storm hit, sudden and intense. Seth was struck by a bolt of lightning that gave him his power, though it took him a while to realise, as his power only did anything when interacting with other people who had powers.
Not long after this, Shannon ended up ODing on drugs Seth had given her. He's never stopped blaming himself for her death. He was a mess after she died, sulked, got drunk, got into fights, and generally had a bad time of it. It's debatable whether he gave up drug dealing because of what happened to Shannon, or because he simply wasn't in any state to do it anymore.
A few months after Shannon died, he discovered what he could do, quite by accident - someone was attacking him using the power of super strength, but they never had time to hurt him much, as Seth sucked the power out of him in self-defense. He realised he could put this new-found skill, not to mention his experience with dealing, to good use. He eventually gave the strength power to his bouncer, once he opened up a place where he could buy and sell powers. Since then he's been looking for someone with the power to bring back people from the dead.
EVENTS OF CANON:
He eventually got the Misfits (a group of superpowerer youths on community service) as customers, though he kept out of their business even when Kelly came to him for help. She later helped him fix his car when it had broken down, and then made him buy her a drink, and they flirted. The next time they met, Seth rejected her offer of a date, still not over Shannon, and had to admit this reason to Kelly. A week later, Kelly came and told him that she'd been to an alternate timeline where Seth was kept prisoner by Nazis, and him and Kelly had fought them together. The alternate Seth had then kissed Kelly just before dying. The news of this spurred the regular Seth into finally asking Kelly out. His search for a resurrection power had continued to turn up nothing, and he tried to accept that he couldn't keep mourning forever.
Of course, it didn't go smoothly, as Kelly ended up standing him up - but for a very good reason: she had swapped bodies with a girl in a coma, and Seth and the gang had to rescue her. After that, though, they had it nice for a couple of weeks, Seth even inviting Kelly to come along for a holiday. She turned out to be exactly what he needed, perceptive enough to see through his shell of self-preservation, and stubborn and caring enough to break him out of it. She also challenged him and made him remember his damaged idealism, making him a better person.
But then his search for the resurrection power paid off unexpectedly, and Seth couldn't say no. He had to bring Shannon back, because it was his fault she died - he had to repair the damage he had caused. He told Kelly he had to stop seeing her because Shannon was alive again. Unfortunately it turned out that anyone brought back this way turned into a zombie - not rotting and shambling or brainless, but definitely with a craving for human blood. When they found out, Seth first tried to make it work, having her feed on animals, thinking it was better than nothing.
Unfortunately it soon became evident that Shannon was unable to control it, when she killed their neighbour, and he knew to his despair that she had to die before infecting anyone else. However, he was unable to do it himself. Shannon had more control of herself because she was brought back, but people infected by her were more or less mindless monsters. Soon the gang had the start of a zombie apocalypse on their hands, and they had to kill a few dozen zombies to avert disaster. Seth also had to come to terms with the fact he also loved Kelly. Shannon overheard this, and tried to kill Kelly, and Seth ended up killing Shannon to rescue Kelly.
After those events, Kelly convinced Seth to stop dealing powers because of the serious consequences it could have. The death of one of their friends made them decide to take a break from the worries of London, and they went on vacation to Uganda together. While there, Kelly used her powers to defuse a land-mine, and they decided to move there. Seth went back to England to pick up the rest of their stuff.
While back, he ended up being affected by a guy's powers to become completely obsessed with a suitcase of money and lose any kind of conscience. Him and the gang did pretty terrible things to each other and others while under the influence of this, including Seth pretty intensely torturing a guy. Thankfully it didn't last, and they ended up not hurting each other too badly, though Seth definitely has some issues with having his mind meddled with after that. The gang convinced him to come out of retirement to take one last power, and then he went back to Uganda to stay with Kelly.
FALLING THROUGH THE RIFT:
On the plane ride south, Seth ended up getting sucked up by the rift, and landed in New York on the 10th of October, 2012 - a few weeks back in time, but in a universe where he knew no one. He was immediately taken in by the rebels, who provided him with money and shelter. When they discovered his powers not long after, they convinced him to work for them, putting a rather idealistic spin on things. He hoped that using his powers for a good cause, helping the Rifties, was a much better plan than just doing it for money. At first it was alright, but he ended up being part of things he didn't approve of, and as he started questioning their methods and motives, a few really shady things were done to keep him there, including heavily implied threats regarding the safety of friends he'd made.
On November 12th, just over a month after he arrived, he warned the people he'd befriended, then tried to make a break from the city. He made it to Jersey when he was hunted down. They attacked him in an attempt to capture him, and in self-defense, Seth ended up accidentally almost causing the death of a rebel. This was enough for them to deem him a danger to others and lock him up, while still making use of his powers. The people he'd befriended assumed he had made it out of the city.
He was held prisoner for almost four months. He was given the designation J-19-5-20-8, which he also had tattooed on his back at one point as a reminder that he was stuck there. During this time, he was severely dehumanised, neglected, abused, exploited and experimented on. Just how badly depended on whether he behaved and followed their orders. He tried to escape several time, and he tried to commit suicide twice. They also discovered that morphine made his powers stronger, and also made him more compliant, another way to control him, and he eventually developed a dependency on it as a result.
Eventually he developed the ability to use the powers he was holding, and he assumed it was a result of the morphine. He kept this secret until he got hold of a power he thought he could make use of. Finally he got hold of the power of phasing through walls or objects, and he took his chance. On March 7th, two weeks after his 29th birthday, he managed to escape from the base. At this point he'd been in the city for about 5 months.
START OF GAME: (See threadlist for links.)
As soon as he got out of the base, he bumped into the archangel Gabriel, who teleported him away and offered him refuge. Seth left early the next morning, not trusting anyone, and needing to make sure Gabe wouldn't do anything to keep him there. It took him a little while to remember the basics of how to function on his own, and he kept on the move, stealing what he needed, and phasing his way into empty hotel rooms to sleep. He also continued his morphine habit, scared his powers would go away if he stopped, and also using the drug as an extra coping mechanic. After about a week he returned to Gabriel, deciding he was trustworthy enough. After this, he often spent the night on Gabe's couch, when he didn't want to be on his own.
He soon got an apartment of his own, down in the financial district. Most of his efforts for the next few months went towards two things. One: readjusting to society, slowly trying to rid himself of the conditioning and trauma he'd gone through at the base, coping with his PTSD. He eventually moved his income source from stealing to drug dealing. Two: getting more powers to ensure his continued survival. This one was a bit trickier. While he had certainly been damaged and hardened by his imprisonment, he refused to do anything outright immoral to achieve his goals. He took a healing power off a rebel he knew didn't deserve to have it. He also took the teleportation power of a willing Peter Vincent who wanted rid of it, though Gabe made him give it back later.
Near the end of May, Gabriel called upon him for help, to fight... an actual Godzilla. Seth was pretty miffed when he found out the giant lizard had been an illusion all along, and that Gabe had even faked his own death just for dramatic effect. Then again, Gabe was pretty miffed that Seth was selling drugs, though he was mollified upon learning it was just pot, rather than anything harder. A while after this, Seth moves into an apartment underneath Gabe's, as he had bought an entire building and lets Seth stay there for free.
Extra Info
Nov. 5th, 2014 06:03PERSONALITY TYPES
A/B Type: Type B
Alignment: True Neutral (leaning towards Chaotic Good)
Common Archetype: The Innocent and The Explorer
Colour: Blue
Daemon: Margay (tree cat), Sephronia
A/B Type: Type B
Alignment: True Neutral (leaning towards Chaotic Good)
Common Archetype: The Innocent and The Explorer
Colour: Blue
Daemon: Margay (tree cat), Sephronia
Dark Triad Susceptibility: Machiavellianism
DiSC: Support/Steadiness (internal), Dominant (projected)
Element: Water
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff (Slytherin secondary)
Holland Code: Enterprising
Intelligence type: Musical, intra-personal, existential (order: 284516739)
MOTIV Personality Type: Depressive (xoex|D|)
Meyers Briggs: INFP
OCEAN Type: Introversion/Neuroticism (O55, C35, E2, A23, N80)
Philosophy: The Cynic
RHETI Enneagram: The Observer
Season: Winter
Soul Type: Spiritualist/Creator
Temperament: Phlegmatic
Tarot: The Moon
VAK: Aural primary, solitary, kinesthetic
Zodiac: Pisces
DiSC: Support/Steadiness (internal), Dominant (projected)
Element: Water
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff (Slytherin secondary)
Holland Code: Enterprising
Intelligence type: Musical, intra-personal, existential (order: 284516739)
MOTIV Personality Type: Depressive (xoex|D|)
Meyers Briggs: INFP
OCEAN Type: Introversion/Neuroticism (O55, C35, E2, A23, N80)
Philosophy: The Cynic
RHETI Enneagram: The Observer
Season: Winter
Soul Type: Spiritualist/Creator
Temperament: Phlegmatic
Tarot: The Moon
VAK: Aural primary, solitary, kinesthetic
Zodiac: Pisces
