Snow Song - For Deerington

[icywhatudidthere]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Snow Song
Played-By/Art Claim: Taemin (from SHINee)

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Across his chest, taking up the full expanse of his chest with antler spanning the length of each shoulder.
Current Health/Status: Fit and healthy.
Age: 18
Species: Human/Mutant

Content Warnings: Car Crash/trauma, stillborn mention (although it didn't turn out that way)

History: Stephanie King was a world renowned medical researcher in the private sector. She was a child prodigy and worked her way up in more controversial research fields bringing her to travel through Korea looking for alternative medications. While she was there, she fell in love with a doctor while attending a small charity event. Together, they moved into a more regional area of Japan where she was able to continue her research into cutting edge medicines while he set up a small general practice.

With this set up, she was able to continue her work for her parent company in the US but the type of work she did for them allowed for her to do everything via correspondence. It also helped that the small town that they lived in was surrounded by forest with undiscovered flora that would allow her to discover new treatments. She was in her late 20's when she became pregnant with twins and they were looking forward to new additions to their family. It was in the second trimester that she realized something was very wrong.

There was a gene mutation which meant that she was going to lose both children either during the pregnancy or they would be stillborn. Rather than give up, she decided to use a new drug that she was researching on herself to save their lives. It worked but not in the way she had expected.

Due to the nature of their treatments, they had a home birth when it was time. When Snow was born his body was cold, not even showing and of the residual warmth from his mother. She cried, thinking that drug had failed and he didn't make it. Before she had time to grieve for him, it was time for her second child to be born. Kim put his son into a prepared bassinet and went to assist Stephanie when there was a cry and they realized that the young boy was alive. At that cry, the young mother looked up in his direction, just outside the window nearby, she saw a gentle snow fall.

She didn't have the time to consider snow in Autumn when after another round of hard pushing, her second child was born. Except, this one wasn't breathing. Stephanie was devastated. She was unsure of what to believe when one child was born cold and the second child didn't make it. Her drug trial failed.

Kim put the two children into the one bassinet so that they would be able to say goodbye and it was in that moment that there was a small flame erupting around the second child and he gave out his first cry. Nobody knows whether the flame was hot to the touch as both parents were too scared to touch the bassinet in that moment but the flame caused no burns to either child. Stephanie was convinced that the first child was able to bring the second back to life. Whether it was due to shared powers or something else, she would never be sure.

However, Snow's body never warmed up, he was always cold to the touch and fearing that other children would make fun of their children, they had them both home schooled. Snow started realizing he had special powers at the age of 5 when he was playing with the family cat,Hime. When he was a little too exuberant in reaching for the cat, ice crystals started to form on the cat's tail scaring both the child and the feline. Since that day, he has been too scared to touch any other living thing asides from his brother and his mother. As Nic has the power to melt away any of Snow's accidents without a trace, he learned to not be afraid to touch him. His mother's touch was from sheer persistence on her part. She managed to convince him that even if he did accidentally hurt her, she would never leave.

The cat was aptly renamed Frosty, thanks to Nic after that incident. Short for, Mr Frostybutt. (Thanks Nic)

Snow worked extremely hard to learn and control his powers so that he wouldn't hurt anybody else in future but he never gained full confidence. He did focus on one ability hard enough so one day he was able to create a small transparent snowball in his hand. He would then make it snow inside the snowball when he shook it. It was a trick that he would show his mother every night before bed all the way up until his mother's passing. The one thing he knew that he could do to make her smile.

From a young age, he showed an aptitude for study. From about the age of 10, he would finish his school studies and then follow his mother into her study to look over her research. Unbeknownst to Nic, Snow and his mother had paired up to find a cure for their mutant gene. A cure so that they would both be able to maybe lead normal lives in future. Shortly after that, he was starting to contribute small amounts of help to the more mathematical and stats part of her research and by the age of 14, his mother was able to negotiate a contract with her firm for Snow to work for them for a salary.

It was also around this time where the twins had their first major fight. Nic had started sneaking out of the house and Snow didn't understand the reasons why. They argued and it was then that Snow accused his brother of no longer caring for him. The twins used their powers without resistance against each other for the first time. It was during that fight their parents realized just how dangerous the twins could be. When Snow was angry, a small flame enveloped his body. The flame remained only just above his skin and he had no control over it as a projectile but it burned hot enough to hurt anybody that touched him. That was, anybody except his own brother.

Directly after that fight, Nic left. It was the first time that Snow wouldn't see him for days. It soon reached a point where all Snow heard in his family home was arguing between his parents. How they were going to get the house repaired and soon, whether or not to call the police. What if he was hurt? Could anybody hurt a mutant child that could just torch anybody that went near him? When he was unable to take it any further, Snow also left the house. He ran until he was in the middle of their town and there, he tested his power again.

In the middle of the park, on a warm day, he started a snowstorm. Regardless of anything else, this was going to draw out the person he needed to see. The person that he yearned for with every fiber of his being and he was rewarded. He watched his identical twin show himself and they were able to reunite and go back home.

It was also the first time Snow received a one hour lecture from his mother about making sure he was discrete about his powers. Snow on a hot day made the national news and he had to lay low for a very long time. Prior to this event, Snow barely left the house as it was as he preferred to read or add to his research. After this event, he didn't leave the house at all. Except for major events that he attended with his parents or he had no other choice.

At the age of 16, when his parents were coming home from a fundraiser for a local charity that neither of the twins attended, they were involved in a car crash. Both parents didn't survive and Snow shut down as his world revolved around only his brother and his parents. He lived his life in a haze during that time. There wasn't much that he could remember of his parent's funerals or the people they had to see during that time. For months after, almost a year, Snow didn't talk much and would spend long hours just sitting in his room.

And then one day, he told Nic that he had made a decision. He would carry on their mother's research. He would continue earning funds for them to survive on or their savings would run out. Living on the inheritance from their mum and the sale of their dad's general practice was only going to last so long. Snow never picked up the courage to tell his brother about the true nature of the research they were doing. That was a secret he kept to himself and his contact at the company he was able to keep working for.

Through his research from that time until his 20's, he has become fluent in English as the parent company is based in the USA and Korean as his research has led him to further ties that his father had in his home country. He is fluent in Japanese as they live in Japan.

CRAU History & Impact: Not CRAU

Personality: Due to his experiences from a young age (accidentally freezing their cat's tail, accidentally freezing people when he touches them) Snow has developed an aversion to letting people in (both mentally and physically). He has developed the ability to socialize with people on a very surface level as he worked with his mum's company and occasionally attended functions with her but has never been able to move past that to develop a deep relation with anybody outside his immediate family. This is all by design as he spends the majority of his time at home surrounded by books and his research.

Although he can socialize with people on a one to one level, he gets quite awkward if he needs to speak to a large amount of people all at once as his mother tended to take over when that type of situation happened. Since his mother's passing, he hasn't attended any public events and has left it to his colleagues in the research company.

When he's not researching, he's nose deep in reading fantasy and romance books so he has a very idealized idea of what friendship would be if he were to experience one or let somebody into his life. It would just take a while to get there. He would be very loyal to that person and care about them deeply. However, on the flip side of this, upon experiencing betrayal for the first time he would learn quickly to compensate and it would be likely harder for the next person to get close to him. This is something that would need to be explored further as it hasn't happened in his own story yet. Any foray into the romance kind would be as cheesy as the stories that he reads as he doesn't know how to treat anybody any differently.

Since his life is mainly been about research and science, he is very logical in the way he thinks about things. He needs to rationalize emotions, feelings and reactions so that he can understand them better. He doesn't tend to do anything spontaneous as he would need to consider each of the outcomes before jumping into something. If he can't fit something into one of his boxes he can get very frustrated and close himself off while he goes into his "thinking mode" to try and sort it out by himself.

He has a very gentle nature as he believes that he should treat people the way he would like to be treated himself and he has developed a very high level of patience to most things due to having a very gung ho and outgoing twin brother.

Snow is not street smart so can be very easily manipulated into doing things and is easily led astray in that regard. He won't question that people have any ulterior motives when it comes to things because he doesn't think there's anything of his that people would even want to take advantage of. So while he won't let you into his personal space (in the mental and physical area) and won't show you his abilities and powers easily, he will happily go into your personal space if you allow him that access (as long as you don't physically reach out touch him).

He is very lawful good and won't do harm unless harm is done unto himself first and even then he is more defensive than offensive (or he tries very hard to be). Sometimes his powers take over and he's very remorseful after the fact if that happens. He has a very strict idea of right and wrong but that being said, he can be very easily manipulated into thinking that something that may be wrong is actually the right thing to do. Just have to say the right things to convince his logic. As long as the logic can be rationalised anything can be right or wrong.

His inability to create relationships isn't just due to his ice abilities and cold touch but also because he very abruptly lost the most important relation to him without warning. Since the loss of his mother, Snow hasn't been brave enough to create a bond with anybody else and is really fearful of also losing his brother one day. If anybody says anything about his brother or threatens to do him harm then all bets would be off. If anybody were able to get close enough to Snow for him to feel this type of attachment, he would also throw logic out the window and lash out at anything that caused the threat.

That is the one big trigger that he would have to cause him to lose complete control of his composure. For everything else, he tries very hard to compartmentalize into its own little box.

The one other thing that Snow is consumed by is his desire to create a vaccine that will "cure" himself and his brother. That is, he has never fully accepted the mutant part of himself. He believes that until that day, he will not be good enough for anybody. There is always a little voice in his mind that reminds him to be the best "normal human" that he can. The only two people that were able to see him in his full mutant glory are his twin brother and his mother. Even though is father knew everything about him and was his doctor all through his childhood, he never relaxed around him and showed him the full range of his abilities.

Although he struggles with being a mutant and is working on developing a vaccine, it's highly likely that he wouldn't be happy as a "normal human" and needs to actually work through his feelings to accept his powers. That's a struggle that he has locked into a box and refuses to think about. Instead, it's easier to think of his abilities as a curse and just work to get rid of them.

That's one of the biggest parts of his mind that he relies on. If something gets too difficult or confusing, it's better to lock it away, rationalize it with something else and not delve too deeply into it. Feelings are confusing and not required in day to day life.

Outwardly, though? He likes people to think he's an uncomplicated, happy go lucky, easy going guy.


Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:
- Materialize ice from water particles in the air - He can create objects to whatever shape he wants but not control movement of that object. For example, he can create an icicle in the air but it won't fly towards an enemy and kill it. He would physically need to throw it and with his strength, it probably wouldn't cause much damage. This is the ability that allows him to make a snowglobe in his hand. He can literally make it snow but that would be him creating flakes of ice and using gravity to pull it to the ground. He likely wouldn't be able to create large objects in the air to fall on people as gravity would have that item on the ground as it was being formed.
Warp: His control over the ability becomes erratic upon arrival. He doesn't have the control that he has fought to learn through his life. Instead, if he tries to create anything, he either makes something that is suddenly too large, causing damage to the area around him or something that is barely able to hold form before it melts into nothing. If he succeeds at making a snowglobe, it fills with fire and explodes within the next few seconds. Not a large explosion, just large enough to cause himself (or whatever it hits if he manages to figure out how to throw it) very minor 1st degree burns in a localized area.

+ Freeze upon touch - This is an activated ability which he is still uncertain about to this day. He can cause a thin layer of ice to form anything he touches. It only happens if he wills it or he is startled and his body is trying to protect itself. It is not a self activating ability.
Warp: As this is a subconscious ability, not sure if a warp would apply to this one. It would self activate if he gets startled causing a freeze to happen around an area he touches with his bare hands. It isn't enough to hurt anyone, it more makes them really cold and stops them from moving for a small period of time if he keeps his touch on there for long enough. Generally, as he's startled, it's a small patch as he jumps back.

+ Water/liquid detection (latent ability) - Can tell where there's sources of liquids he can use his abilities with. Leads to other abilities like being able to tell when someone has been crying (or wet their pants).

+ Flame/Warmth (limited) - If he has any passionate emotions he triggers into limited abilities from Nic. This happened when they touched as young children and he brought Nic back to life. If he feels passionate emotions such as extreme anger, arousal, or something like creative drive and something he is extremely focused on, his body will actually warm up and be a normal temperature to touch. The biggest flame he can create upon will is a very small ball of fire on his hand, nothing more than that. Or if he is in danger or extremely out of control, his body can be enveloped in fire but only just on the surface of his skin so it would burn anybody that touches him but he can't use it to hurt anybody out of his reach.
Warp: His ability to defend against the exreme part of this ability is removed upon his arrival to the world. He will still trigger warmth in his body with passionate emotions but if he is in extreme danger (or extreme other emotion that he can't control) and makes the switch from ice to fire, the flame envelopes his body which protects him from the danger but he feels the pain of the burn through is whole body. There is no actual damage except some first degree burns to his hands and his feet but the pain will be something he can't get away from. Unless something in the game allows him to learn how to get this ability back to normal.


Inventory:
1 - a bag that has a spare change of clothes (top, pants, socks, jacket, hat and 2 pairs of gloves)
2 - mobile phone with recordings of himself with his brother
3 - a small journal with a pen attached
4 - A small tightly sealed bottle of strawberry syrup (that he uses to make snowcones)
5 - A small medical kit (just the basics; a few bandages, antiseptic cream)
6 - A locket that has a photo of his parents

Writing Samples:
1.
Snow ran a hand through his hair as he stared down at the ground. He glanced at the person that sat before him for a split moment before staring back at the ground again. This wasn't something he had felt before as far as he could remember. The hammering in his chest, the butterflies in his stomach and this blank space in his mind. He was completely lost for words. Not only that, he was completely lost for all thought. It made things difficult when he looked up again to see that face staring back at him, expecting an answer.

He took a deep breath. Minutes have probably passed. Anybody else would have given up in frustration and walked away by now. The fact that they're still sitting there meant a lot to him. Giving him time to process this was exactly what he needed but he knew that even their patience would run out eventually.

Suddenly, he was scrambling. He knew that if he took any longer, it would seem like his answer would be negative. That he was just looking for an escape. Normally, he would. However, this time he didn't want to escape. This time, he wanted to reach out and actually...

A thought struck him. Something he hasn't shared with anybody for a very long time. A skill he hasn't used for so long that he could only hope and pray that it still worked. Snow reached out his hand, palm up, and with a soft smile that filled his chest with warmth, started creating a small transparent ball that he cradled in the palm of his hand. A few moments later, a small heart formed inside the ball.

There. Maybe that would convey everything more than the words that were out of his reach.

2.
No. NO. NO! This was not happening! He never signed up for this. He doubted anybody would sign up for something like this. He bit down hard on his lower lip to stop any semblence of sound as he tried to slow down his breathing. Snow's back was pressed against the hard tree trunk as he tried in vain to see through the darkness of the forest. He had no idea what the heck was chasing him but he wasn't waiting around to find out.

He needed to go somewhere, find somewhere safe but where was even safe anymore. He closed his eyes and focussed. Maybe, a body of water. If he could find the closest body of water, then at least he would have something to defend with. West. There was something in that direction. He didn't know what it was but he could feel a tug that way so it was worth a short. A small handprint of ice grew where he pushed away from his hiding spot. He had to hurry. Time wasn't waiting for anybody.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Mei
Player Age: 34
Player Contact: Plurk - nekomiao

Other Characters In Game: None
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Snow Song: Mei
Permissions for Character: here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes. Would be interesting to be able to play with this.

What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Playing with his fears. Losing his brother (since he's already lost his parents) or anybody else that he becomes close to and being trapped in a place where he can't escape. Completely losing his ability to control his powers or even losing his power completely as he's never lived a life without them. Even though he works towards getting rid of them, not sure he would actually be happy if they were actually gone.

Also things to do with losing his mind or ability to control parts of himself while being fully conscious of it. Being forced to do things against his will that he'll need to make up for later on.

Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Graphic violence such as dismemberment and the like.
Additional Information: No additional information that I can think of.