Snow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
icywhatudidthere) wrote2020-09-10 08:56 pm
icywhatudidthere) wrote2020-09-10 08:56 pm
Snow - The story
History:
When the children were born, they grew up as any normal family would. Snow acted like any other child, growing up and exploring the world and wanting to be social and interactive with everyone. It wasn't until they were slightly older that he started to notice slight differences between the treatment of himself and his brother with people in general society. His mother would let other people cuddle his brother, they would comment on how lovely and warm he was but she was always slightly more protective of him. She would hold him close. At first, he felt this to be wonderful. He clung to his mother and clung to that love. It wasn't until one day a neighbour's child came over to play when they were quite young children, just before the age of five that he realized this wasn't as much about love as he had thought it to be.
Being quite a secluded home to the outskirts of the rural village, his mother wasn't around that time as she hadn't expected any visitors. During this visit, by chance, the neighbour's child grabbed onto Snow's hand and recoiled so much and started to cry that Snow finally realized that something was wrong. That he was actually different to everybody else. He questioned his mother when he was able to get her alone that evening. While hiding the hurt in her eyes, she explained to him that he was special. However, other people wouldn't understand the special. He would need to hide it from everybody but his close family. That one conversation tinted every interaction he was to have from then on. She must have also spoken to his brother when he was out of sight as his relationship to his brother also seemed to change overnight. From that day forth, after seeing that interaction, Nic became much more protective and made sure nobody was able to get close enough to his brother to realize what was going on.
It was about half a year later that they realized the only difference between the two brother's weren't just body temperature. It was then that their powers started to blossom. As nobody was able to understand or help them with their powers, the brothers started spending more and more time together during the day exploring what they could and shouldn't do.
They tested their limits in play; usually ending up with a little damage around the house. They also tested their limits in arguments. This usually ended up with enough damage to the house that repairs needed to be made. Through this childhood of learning through play, their bond grew deeper. As they didn't play with the neighborhood kids in town during this period, they became inseparable. They ate together, studied together, Snow put out Nic's fires and Nic melted Snow's accidental oversized ice sculptures. While Nic was very outgoing with his abilities, Snow tended to be more delicate about things. He, just by chance with defending from his brother's flames, started focusing more on defensive tactics with his ice. It also helped that, since his brother was quite reckless at times with his ability, being able to pinpoint his ice and learn how to create thin layers over other people helped to reduce the burn damage that would be accidentally inflicted on his parents. Where Nic was loud and explosive, Snow compensated with his quiet and calm demeanor. Everything Snow quietly learned was to balance out his brother.
As the older brother, Snow felt like he should be responsible and look after his younger half. As their father wasn't around much, managing the clinic in town took up most of his time, he tried to take on the responsibilities of the home at a young age even though he didn't need to. The twins weren't close to their father. While he did try to come home as much as he could, when he was home, he was kind but distant. Their father felt powerless to save his own children from their fate as mutants and threw as much time as he could into his work to compensate.
Things went along this way until about the age of 10 when things started to go awry. Snow started becoming more and more capable in his study. He started showing a curiosity that helped him quickly advance through studies of maths, science and biology. Meanwhile, his brother lagged behind, albeit not subpar intelligence, being "normal" in this household didn't help how he felt. More and more, after study time was over, Nic would leave the house and venture down to the town to "visit his father" while spending most of his time making friends and doing what he wanted. Snow, reluctant to leave his home after being laughed at for wearing gloves in summer, spent more and more time with his mother in her study and in her lab.
It was during one of these sessions, when Nic wasn't around that his mother confided in him that her goal in life was to find him a cure. To find them a cure. She did this to her own children out of her own desperation and now she must fix what she created. Make then normal so they could lead normal human lives. So Snow could maybe find somebody that he would be able to be with. Someone that wouldn't judge him. He readily agreed to help her while also keeping this a secret.
He knew, from their nights talking together that Nic loved the way he was. After hearing the excited chatter from the other side of the room night after night about how "I'm going to perfect this fireball" and "I'm going to figure out how to turn the flame on different parts of my hand separately" that Nic was never going to be separated from his ability.
And that would be his choice. It wasn't something for Snow to decide. Nor was it something he really wanted to discuss with his twin brother. Not then. Maybe not ever. A part of him was always jealous of his brother but it was a part of him he was determined to keep locked deep down. It was a pandora's box that never needed to be opened.
As his focus on helping his mum sharpened, he lost sight of his own brother. Years passed without him feeling his brother drifting further and further away. If only he opened his eyes, he would have noticed. He would forever feel responsible for the fight that erupted that day. They were fourteen and had just finished up another lesson when Nic accused his mother of favouring Snow over himself. That nobody in the family had time for him and that's why he had to go and find another family with the children down in the village. Snow wasn't sure what hurt more at that moment. The words that were shot at him or the flame that hit his body.
The pandora's box opened. Although Snow never said any of his thoughts out loud, he let everything out in his actions. The twins fought as they have never fought before. At one point, Snow became so angry, his body erupted into flames and it was then that Nic felt like he was being completely replaced. Snow knew how to use fire. He had no place here. When Nic left, the fire dissipated as he broke down into tears. For the first time, he explained to his mother everything that he felt. They became closer from that moment. She renewed her vow to help him find a cure and then they spent several sleepless nights worrying about where Nic might have gone. During this time, Snow saw his father home more than he had his entire life.
It was only several days later that Snow hatched a plan to get his brother back. (Already talked about here) Which worked, much to his relief. When the twins met up again that day, they became closer than they had before. Snow started giving his brother more attention, as much as he could outside of helping his mother. They started play fighting again, learning to use their abilities as best they could but with Snow still preferring to focus on defense and using his abilities with healing when he could.
With the damage to the house, their father started taking time off clinic and took up learning carpentry. They couldn't pay people to fix the house forever. Nic helped out in that regard and started developing a bond with their father. This left Snow to get even closer to his mother. While spending time in the study with her, he started also studying the smaller nuances of his abilities. He learned to make a snowglobe in the palm of his hand. A skill that delighted his mother to the point where he found himself practising this ability over and over. A small part of him was starting to accept his ability even while a greater part of him hated how much this ability took him away from having, what he perceived to be, a normal life. What he read in books and saw in movies. Being able to be with another person. Have his own family. It was a mental battle that he would always go back and forth on and not quite find the finish line for.
On one hand, he had a bond with his brother through these powers. A bond that he knew nobody else would ever have with another being. Their powers were separate and yet intertwined. They understood each other and balanced each other out. On the other hand, nobody wants to be close to somebody that feels like they're dead. In this regard, he felt quite alone. Like nobody else would ever understand quite what it was like to be like this. It was a part of his life he locked back up again. These feelings would all go away once there was a cure anyway so why bother spending too much time on them.
At this time, their family grew closer. Their father started learning to communicate with his children better. He started seeing them as full little beings of their own despite their mutations. They started going out together as a a family to fundraisers and village events where Nic became a social butterfly. Snow learned to interact with other people as needed but kept himself a safe distance. Gloves always stayed on and never more than a surface friendship. Anything more and he may be asked to reveal parts about himself that nobody should ever have to see. He would allow himself to get close enough to people that they trusted him but never to the point where he had to open his own door to them. It was safer that way.
He preferred to keep things as safe as possible.
Things were finally starting to really find their place when the accident occurred. Snow lost one major pillar in his life. The one person that was helping him secure his future was gone. He completely broke down. He remained in his room for months while his younger twin stepped up and organized everything that he should have been there to do himself. The notifications, the funeral, everything was organized by Nic while Snow remained in his room. He would eat the food that Nic left for him, he would allow Nic force him to take care of himself in regards to showering and such but other than that, he wanted nothing else. It took many months for him to start the slow journey of recovery. Almost a year had passed when he turned to look at his brother.
He could see his parents in his brother. The sad look his mother gave him when he was a young child and realized he was different. The determined look of his father when "we will fix this house up" after that major fight. He told his brother that he was going to take up his mother's research. Her legacy. He never explained what the legacy was. Just that he didn't want to leave her mission unfinished. The company allowed him to re-take his place and he continued as best as he could.
There was a deep hole in his heart. A hole that he tried to plug up with research. Plug up with watching his brother go out and try to live a normal life. The normal life he quietly longed for himself. Plug up with immersing himself with reading more fantasy books when he wasn't surrounded by biology texts or walking out into their surrounding forests looking for herbs or insects that would be useful for his research. Just anything he could use or anything he could do to avoid delving into these thoughts too deeply. He liked to lock these feelings away. Deep down.
One day, these feelings would explode. Depending on the circumstance, the explosion could be big and physically damage everything around him. Or, if coaxed out by the right person, it might be just the release he needs to finally grow up and fully accept his abilities. If that right person exists, they might even be able to finally convince him to fully open up to his own brother. Or he might take all of these feelings to his grave.
He'll never discover the "cure" in his own lifetime. He'll discover the cure for many other diseases and help many other people but he'll never fully be able to help himself. Hopefully, one day he'll find the someone that will help him with this last puzzle to have his own happy ending.
[Purposefully left out as much of Nic's side of things as I could in regards to his reactions, feelings etc as I have another friend who may be taking him up and fleshing him out more.]
Personality:
Snow keeps things very close to his chest and his own feelings about his personal life locked up as much as he can. He's learned to overcompensate for this by trying to be warm and caring to other people as much as possible. Due to this people may consider him a great person at first glance but quite closed off when they try to get closer to him.
He's very attached to his brother and his mother due to his ablities and the research to get rid of those abilities. He's not as close to his father but he knows that his father cares about him from the time he finally came home after that incident. As his focus is about hiding himself from people, he's not very good with relationships that try to get deeper than a surface level friendship. He would be very awkward and not know how to have those deep and meaningful conversations that many people can have after a few meetings.
The biggest puzzle of his life that he is still yet to solve is whether or not he can truly accept those abilities. This would change depending on the course of life he takes (and depending on his development in the game). He keeps these feelings locked down quite deeply so he doesn't have to think about them. If he did give it some thought, he would realize that it's not his actual abilities that he hates but his lack of confidence to share these abilities with other people which stems from his mother's reaction and advise when he was a child. This is not something he would be able to learn about himself unless he were to open up to someone. Or find the one person that would take the time to force him to open up.
He also is quite skittish around technology that moves (think vehicles like cars, buses etc) as they live in a country town that doesn't really require them to use a car. But the truth is he hasn't trusted any mode of transport since his parents passed away. His brother gets him everything that he needs and a forty five minute walk in one direction isn't really that far, right? Since his brother indulges him a lot and takes care of him, he never has to really face these fears or emotions so he can be quite childish if he's forced into a corner and suddenly has to think about things outside his own pace.
A lot about Snow is taking things at his own pace, carving his own little safe space and surrounding himself with things that are comfortable. His lifestyle and his brother allows him to do this. He is quite dependent on his brother in that regard even though he would never say it out loud. He can give an outward appearance of being quite confident but inward, it's a completely different story. However, he'll keep up outward appearances as much as he can. Until things inevitably break down.
When the children were born, they grew up as any normal family would. Snow acted like any other child, growing up and exploring the world and wanting to be social and interactive with everyone. It wasn't until they were slightly older that he started to notice slight differences between the treatment of himself and his brother with people in general society. His mother would let other people cuddle his brother, they would comment on how lovely and warm he was but she was always slightly more protective of him. She would hold him close. At first, he felt this to be wonderful. He clung to his mother and clung to that love. It wasn't until one day a neighbour's child came over to play when they were quite young children, just before the age of five that he realized this wasn't as much about love as he had thought it to be.
Being quite a secluded home to the outskirts of the rural village, his mother wasn't around that time as she hadn't expected any visitors. During this visit, by chance, the neighbour's child grabbed onto Snow's hand and recoiled so much and started to cry that Snow finally realized that something was wrong. That he was actually different to everybody else. He questioned his mother when he was able to get her alone that evening. While hiding the hurt in her eyes, she explained to him that he was special. However, other people wouldn't understand the special. He would need to hide it from everybody but his close family. That one conversation tinted every interaction he was to have from then on. She must have also spoken to his brother when he was out of sight as his relationship to his brother also seemed to change overnight. From that day forth, after seeing that interaction, Nic became much more protective and made sure nobody was able to get close enough to his brother to realize what was going on.
It was about half a year later that they realized the only difference between the two brother's weren't just body temperature. It was then that their powers started to blossom. As nobody was able to understand or help them with their powers, the brothers started spending more and more time together during the day exploring what they could and shouldn't do.
They tested their limits in play; usually ending up with a little damage around the house. They also tested their limits in arguments. This usually ended up with enough damage to the house that repairs needed to be made. Through this childhood of learning through play, their bond grew deeper. As they didn't play with the neighborhood kids in town during this period, they became inseparable. They ate together, studied together, Snow put out Nic's fires and Nic melted Snow's accidental oversized ice sculptures. While Nic was very outgoing with his abilities, Snow tended to be more delicate about things. He, just by chance with defending from his brother's flames, started focusing more on defensive tactics with his ice. It also helped that, since his brother was quite reckless at times with his ability, being able to pinpoint his ice and learn how to create thin layers over other people helped to reduce the burn damage that would be accidentally inflicted on his parents. Where Nic was loud and explosive, Snow compensated with his quiet and calm demeanor. Everything Snow quietly learned was to balance out his brother.
As the older brother, Snow felt like he should be responsible and look after his younger half. As their father wasn't around much, managing the clinic in town took up most of his time, he tried to take on the responsibilities of the home at a young age even though he didn't need to. The twins weren't close to their father. While he did try to come home as much as he could, when he was home, he was kind but distant. Their father felt powerless to save his own children from their fate as mutants and threw as much time as he could into his work to compensate.
Things went along this way until about the age of 10 when things started to go awry. Snow started becoming more and more capable in his study. He started showing a curiosity that helped him quickly advance through studies of maths, science and biology. Meanwhile, his brother lagged behind, albeit not subpar intelligence, being "normal" in this household didn't help how he felt. More and more, after study time was over, Nic would leave the house and venture down to the town to "visit his father" while spending most of his time making friends and doing what he wanted. Snow, reluctant to leave his home after being laughed at for wearing gloves in summer, spent more and more time with his mother in her study and in her lab.
It was during one of these sessions, when Nic wasn't around that his mother confided in him that her goal in life was to find him a cure. To find them a cure. She did this to her own children out of her own desperation and now she must fix what she created. Make then normal so they could lead normal human lives. So Snow could maybe find somebody that he would be able to be with. Someone that wouldn't judge him. He readily agreed to help her while also keeping this a secret.
He knew, from their nights talking together that Nic loved the way he was. After hearing the excited chatter from the other side of the room night after night about how "I'm going to perfect this fireball" and "I'm going to figure out how to turn the flame on different parts of my hand separately" that Nic was never going to be separated from his ability.
And that would be his choice. It wasn't something for Snow to decide. Nor was it something he really wanted to discuss with his twin brother. Not then. Maybe not ever. A part of him was always jealous of his brother but it was a part of him he was determined to keep locked deep down. It was a pandora's box that never needed to be opened.
As his focus on helping his mum sharpened, he lost sight of his own brother. Years passed without him feeling his brother drifting further and further away. If only he opened his eyes, he would have noticed. He would forever feel responsible for the fight that erupted that day. They were fourteen and had just finished up another lesson when Nic accused his mother of favouring Snow over himself. That nobody in the family had time for him and that's why he had to go and find another family with the children down in the village. Snow wasn't sure what hurt more at that moment. The words that were shot at him or the flame that hit his body.
The pandora's box opened. Although Snow never said any of his thoughts out loud, he let everything out in his actions. The twins fought as they have never fought before. At one point, Snow became so angry, his body erupted into flames and it was then that Nic felt like he was being completely replaced. Snow knew how to use fire. He had no place here. When Nic left, the fire dissipated as he broke down into tears. For the first time, he explained to his mother everything that he felt. They became closer from that moment. She renewed her vow to help him find a cure and then they spent several sleepless nights worrying about where Nic might have gone. During this time, Snow saw his father home more than he had his entire life.
It was only several days later that Snow hatched a plan to get his brother back. (Already talked about here) Which worked, much to his relief. When the twins met up again that day, they became closer than they had before. Snow started giving his brother more attention, as much as he could outside of helping his mother. They started play fighting again, learning to use their abilities as best they could but with Snow still preferring to focus on defense and using his abilities with healing when he could.
With the damage to the house, their father started taking time off clinic and took up learning carpentry. They couldn't pay people to fix the house forever. Nic helped out in that regard and started developing a bond with their father. This left Snow to get even closer to his mother. While spending time in the study with her, he started also studying the smaller nuances of his abilities. He learned to make a snowglobe in the palm of his hand. A skill that delighted his mother to the point where he found himself practising this ability over and over. A small part of him was starting to accept his ability even while a greater part of him hated how much this ability took him away from having, what he perceived to be, a normal life. What he read in books and saw in movies. Being able to be with another person. Have his own family. It was a mental battle that he would always go back and forth on and not quite find the finish line for.
On one hand, he had a bond with his brother through these powers. A bond that he knew nobody else would ever have with another being. Their powers were separate and yet intertwined. They understood each other and balanced each other out. On the other hand, nobody wants to be close to somebody that feels like they're dead. In this regard, he felt quite alone. Like nobody else would ever understand quite what it was like to be like this. It was a part of his life he locked back up again. These feelings would all go away once there was a cure anyway so why bother spending too much time on them.
At this time, their family grew closer. Their father started learning to communicate with his children better. He started seeing them as full little beings of their own despite their mutations. They started going out together as a a family to fundraisers and village events where Nic became a social butterfly. Snow learned to interact with other people as needed but kept himself a safe distance. Gloves always stayed on and never more than a surface friendship. Anything more and he may be asked to reveal parts about himself that nobody should ever have to see. He would allow himself to get close enough to people that they trusted him but never to the point where he had to open his own door to them. It was safer that way.
He preferred to keep things as safe as possible.
Things were finally starting to really find their place when the accident occurred. Snow lost one major pillar in his life. The one person that was helping him secure his future was gone. He completely broke down. He remained in his room for months while his younger twin stepped up and organized everything that he should have been there to do himself. The notifications, the funeral, everything was organized by Nic while Snow remained in his room. He would eat the food that Nic left for him, he would allow Nic force him to take care of himself in regards to showering and such but other than that, he wanted nothing else. It took many months for him to start the slow journey of recovery. Almost a year had passed when he turned to look at his brother.
He could see his parents in his brother. The sad look his mother gave him when he was a young child and realized he was different. The determined look of his father when "we will fix this house up" after that major fight. He told his brother that he was going to take up his mother's research. Her legacy. He never explained what the legacy was. Just that he didn't want to leave her mission unfinished. The company allowed him to re-take his place and he continued as best as he could.
There was a deep hole in his heart. A hole that he tried to plug up with research. Plug up with watching his brother go out and try to live a normal life. The normal life he quietly longed for himself. Plug up with immersing himself with reading more fantasy books when he wasn't surrounded by biology texts or walking out into their surrounding forests looking for herbs or insects that would be useful for his research. Just anything he could use or anything he could do to avoid delving into these thoughts too deeply. He liked to lock these feelings away. Deep down.
One day, these feelings would explode. Depending on the circumstance, the explosion could be big and physically damage everything around him. Or, if coaxed out by the right person, it might be just the release he needs to finally grow up and fully accept his abilities. If that right person exists, they might even be able to finally convince him to fully open up to his own brother. Or he might take all of these feelings to his grave.
He'll never discover the "cure" in his own lifetime. He'll discover the cure for many other diseases and help many other people but he'll never fully be able to help himself. Hopefully, one day he'll find the someone that will help him with this last puzzle to have his own happy ending.
[Purposefully left out as much of Nic's side of things as I could in regards to his reactions, feelings etc as I have another friend who may be taking him up and fleshing him out more.]
Personality:
Snow keeps things very close to his chest and his own feelings about his personal life locked up as much as he can. He's learned to overcompensate for this by trying to be warm and caring to other people as much as possible. Due to this people may consider him a great person at first glance but quite closed off when they try to get closer to him.
He's very attached to his brother and his mother due to his ablities and the research to get rid of those abilities. He's not as close to his father but he knows that his father cares about him from the time he finally came home after that incident. As his focus is about hiding himself from people, he's not very good with relationships that try to get deeper than a surface level friendship. He would be very awkward and not know how to have those deep and meaningful conversations that many people can have after a few meetings.
The biggest puzzle of his life that he is still yet to solve is whether or not he can truly accept those abilities. This would change depending on the course of life he takes (and depending on his development in the game). He keeps these feelings locked down quite deeply so he doesn't have to think about them. If he did give it some thought, he would realize that it's not his actual abilities that he hates but his lack of confidence to share these abilities with other people which stems from his mother's reaction and advise when he was a child. This is not something he would be able to learn about himself unless he were to open up to someone. Or find the one person that would take the time to force him to open up.
He also is quite skittish around technology that moves (think vehicles like cars, buses etc) as they live in a country town that doesn't really require them to use a car. But the truth is he hasn't trusted any mode of transport since his parents passed away. His brother gets him everything that he needs and a forty five minute walk in one direction isn't really that far, right? Since his brother indulges him a lot and takes care of him, he never has to really face these fears or emotions so he can be quite childish if he's forced into a corner and suddenly has to think about things outside his own pace.
A lot about Snow is taking things at his own pace, carving his own little safe space and surrounding himself with things that are comfortable. His lifestyle and his brother allows him to do this. He is quite dependent on his brother in that regard even though he would never say it out loud. He can give an outward appearance of being quite confident but inward, it's a completely different story. However, he'll keep up outward appearances as much as he can. Until things inevitably break down.