Original Application
Return Post Count: 611
Individual
Character's Full Name: Thaddeus Chase Terrazas
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Ditto. Yes, because of the P*kemon. Goes by his middle name in the day-to-day.
Gender: Neutral. Settles for male pronouns.
Age: 13
Date of Birth: 01/23/05
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Poughkeepsie, NY
Nationality: American.
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: ½ Mexican-American, ½ German
Appearance
All features are variable based upon who Chase is mimicking. This section details his “Natural” and “Human” forms.Hair Color and Style: (Natural) Black at the roots, transitions to a lovely off-white at the tips. Thick and wavy, unkempt. (Human) Dark brown, same style.
Skin Tone: (Natural) Ugly greyish-brown with noticeable rope-like texture. (Human) Freckled tan.
Eye Color: Variable based-on mood. (Natural) Black sclera, neutral iris is white. (Human) Neutral iris is grey.
Height: Almost 5’.
Build: Bony and childish.
Visible Mutation: Clearly inhuman when he’s in his “natural” form, or shifting into something else. Blue tongue. Otherwise, not applicable.
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: A gouge in his left palm, apparent in all forms.
Other Features: Still a baby face. Hasn’t grown into his ears or his adult teeth (they seem too big for his head, and Chase is too lazy to revise that).
Everyday Clothing Style: Jeans with a fabric belt, t-shirt, hoodie with a coat, sneakers. His clothes seem too big for his small frame, in desperate need of new shoes. He’s noticeably dirty.
Uniform: No.
Sleepwear: T-shirt and boxers or flannel bottoms, when he’s got a place to stay. Same outfit he wears during the day when he’s on the streets.
Miscellaneous Clothing: He likes knitted caps (beanies or hats with ear flaps). No ball caps, because they make his ears stick out. Chase likes to cover his palms and forearms, so if he isn’t wearing an oversized hoodie, he also has a pair of fingerless gloves.
Character
As stated above, these traits are based-on Chase’s neutral form. Past a certain point in an object-based shift, he’ll start emulating traits of his target form.Personality: Some adults would say Chase is a difficult child, while others will chalk his behaviors up to his upbringing. Before Gemma found him, Chase had been passed around the foster system-- before the foster homes, he had lived in a house where he had to lie and act-out to get attention, and steal goods to meet his basic needs. Though he hasn't lived with his biological family for a long time, he still steals, lies, and acts-out to achieve his means. If he feels cornered or ignored, he'll often fall back on old behaviors-- lashing-out verbally or physically.
He isn't a stupid kid, nor is he a bad person... is just that what is morally right doesn't always make sense to him. He doesn't see a point to school and thus doesn't apply himself. The stuff you learn in school, Chase asserts, doesn't help in the real world. Despite this, Chase is curious and full of questions (though 90% of those questions are often off-topic). He's surprisingly observant, surprisingly sharp, but his is not reflected in his academic performance.
Chase is also sensitive in many ways-- keen on how others are feeling, but also temperamental and easily offended. He wants to be liked by those he looks up to, which leads him to occasionally do stupid things (sometimes with very little regard for repercussions) and act like an absolute imp. Much in the way of many adolescents, he can be churlish and argumentative at times. Self-righteous. But when he isn't too busy being a moody pre-teen, he's an okay kid.
Hobbies/ Interests: video games, playing Legos, climbing things, running, sports, games; vehicles, bugs, sharks, heavy machinery, “cool-looking mutants”, extreme sports
Job and Description: Student at Xavier’s.
Fears/ Phobias/ Concerns: Being attacked while he sleeps, mild PTSD from childhood neglect, storms, roosters
Special Talents: Old pro at hide-and-seek, climbing things that aren’t meant to be climbed. Understands Spanish but doesn't speak it.
Morality
Other: Chase isn’t a bad kid, he just makes bad choices. Chase acts on logic, and sometimes the “right” thing doesn’t make sense to him. He has been known to be dishonest and a thief in the past.
Mutations
Mutation Description: Chase is a human-shifter. He can change forms by two different means.
The first method is “freeform shapeshifting”, wherein Chase changes forms based-on visual/auditory observations. Freeform is generally attribute-based, good for a few features, quick changes, or small gimmicks. He could hypothetically do a free-form shift of his entire body (which his “Human Form” is) but this takes a lot of practice, familiarity, and fine-tuning.
The second method is “object-based shapeshifting”. When Chase gets his hot little hands on a personal effect of someone else—clothing, accessory, or belonging—he can detect the genetic residue left behind on the object and uses this to trigger a shift. This requires no creativity on Chase’s part because all of the information is already there. Best-suited for shifts where precision is important. (See “Secondary Mutation Description” for more details.)
Chase’s entire body is comprised of tiny tendrils of flesh, which look like muscle externalized. When Chase triggers a shift, the tendrils slither like an interwoven collection of snakes, unearthing the new form from within. (To a mutant with heightened hearing, his shifts are audible.) These tendrils remain visible until the new form is locked into place, at which point the surface of his skin smooths to emulate the flesh of his target-form.
Strengths: Chase can mimic any directly observable trait—physical attributes, voices, mannerisms, attire—regardless of whether you look human or not.
Freeform Strengths: Great for quickly altering a few attributes at a time. Can take two seconds to thirty seconds depending on the complexity of a trait. Does not require a personal effect to catalyze the shift. Chase can juggle three features in addition to his “human” form.
Chase’s “human” form was actually inspired by his twin brother, and is the only full freeform shift that he can currently do. If he were to live with someone for an extended period time, it would take three months to perfect a visual replica of them (with practice) and six months to perfect verbal and behavioral characteristics, a year to make the full-body freeform shift effortless.
Object-Based Strengths: This is the best, most effective way for Chase to do a freeform shift because it doesn’t require all of the extra research. If Chase gets his hands on a personal belonging, not only will he be able to seamlessly mimic another being, he will also be able to read behaviors/personality traits of the objects owner, and have access to memories the owner had while holding the object.
Weaknesses and Limitations: Chase does not mimic mutations, unless they are outwardly observable. He has one X-Gene and it’s preoccupied with juggling a new form, so it can’t accommodate an additional superpower on top of looking like another mutant. (So if Chase was trying to look like a fish-man, he’d look and sound like fish-man, and even have his nervous tick and know where his apartment is. But, if fish-man was also a water-manipulator? Chase wouldn’t be able to do that. Fish-man has gills? Chase might look like he has gills, but they wouldn’t operate like real gills… they would just look like them.)
Also, much in the way that kids who’ve just had growth spurts need to get used to their new height, Chase also needs to adjust to operating differently-sized bodies. The closer to his “natural” form, the better. His “human” form is the exact same size, so his transformation is seamless. It takes Chase a good three minutes to adjust to a form that is bigger than what he’s used to. It takes an hour to get “graceful” with the form. (This goes for humanoid forms. If the individuals is inhuman i.e. has a tail or strange morphology, it’ll take longer… an hour to start moving well, and two days to get “graceful” in the shift.) He cannot hold a form while asleep or unconscious. He cannot transform into someone smaller than him.
Finally, full-body shifts exhaust this kiddo. If he hits the time limit on a form and un-shifts, he tends to conk-out pretty fast.
Freeform Weaknesses: Freeform is volatile because it requires focus to maintain and creativity to create. The most effective shifts in free-form focus on less than three features (parroting a voice, changing hair color or eye color, adjusting a nose). Freeform does not lend itself to precision. A full-body freeform shift would take five minutes with additional tweaking afterwards, if Chase isn’t familiar with the person. (The new form would likely also “warble” after the fact as Chase makes adjustments to it. If Chase tries to mimic anyone in freeform and hasn’t been practicing for a year or more, most people who would know the target would get an “uncanny valley” feeling from Chase’s replica. Unless they’re really dense/distracted, or the lighting’s poor.) These kinds of transformations can be maintained for up an hour, and can be performed once every twelve hours. (Shifts that are instantaneous, however—like altering his voice to say a sentence—don’t restart the twelve-hour timer until they add up to an hour in duration.)
The only exception to this would be his “human” form. Since Chase has been utilizing this disguise for a majority of his young life, he can maintain this form for up to sixteen hours, and he’ll only slip out of this form (involuntarily) when he passes into an Adapted’s field.
Object-Based Weaknesses: Object-based shifts take fifteen seconds to perform, can be held up to three hours (with an ideal object). Object-based shifts can be performed once every twenty-four hours. Object-based shifts can only be performed with personal effects. (So, while your cherished sketchbook would be a perfect candidate for a shift, a library book would be too muddled to be of any use since it’s publicly accessible.) Object-based shifts are strictly for mimicry purposes—Chase has no creative license with forms acquired via object-based shifts.
Secondary Mutation Description: The second prong to his mutation is what enables his object-based shapeshifting. Through this capacity, Chase is capable of using genetic information contained in DNA by touching someone’s personal possession. He can then use the information to alter his form. The great thing about this method is that, beyond what he can actually see, Chase is actually analyzing the genotypes (genetic make-up) and phenotypes (outward, physical manifestations of genes-- including the morphology, physiology, behavior, and products of behavior) of other human beings. Thus, he doesn't only look like someone; he's their genetic and behavioral doppelganger. This is a touch-based capacity, centralized his hands and lower arms, yet it also seems to work in his head, torso, and upper arms to a lesser extent.
Through this capacity, Chase can also glean basic information from these residues, facts and pointers that make people who they are, which occasionally leads him to question as per whether or not this is wholly genetic. He also picks up on general information—the name of an individual, age, and other essential things-- and, after prolonged exposure, he might start having psychometric recollections, in which he remembers things that have never happened to him, but to the original owner of the object he's reading.
When handling an object, the information that Chase receives comes in layers. Chase always gets the genetic information first, including how the person looks, sounds and behaves. Next, comes the basic information-- their name, their age, that sort of thing-- before graduating into events that the owner experienced while in-contact with the item. Chase can look for specific information, but he is limited to what the belonging “tells” him.
Strengths: The perks to utilizing this, as opposed to free-form shifting, is that if he gets a hold of a personal possession, he could read the genetic residue that remained behind, and start taking this person's form. His appearance and voice would be just like the target individual and, while he's still in full-control of the form, he may even start acting like the person he's imitating if he's in the form long enough. Right down to the fingerprints, he would be a spitting image of the target he’s mimicking.
And, if he were to get a hold of an object of yours, or a lock of your hair, rather than straight touching you, he might start having recollections that aren't even his own.
Chase can resist the urge to read genetic residue, and thereby resist the urge to transform, but he has to consciously resist this urge.
Weaknesses and Limitations: He cannot shift by touching a person directly, and Chase has in fact said that touching someone or to be touch unexpectedly is almost painful when unexpected. Genetic is residue is too strong, directly from the source, thus Chase cannot read it. (He describes it as the shock of plugging-in headphones when the volume is way too loud, except you feel it in your entire body.)
When using objects, they need to be specifically one person's for one code to stand out. If he were to latch onto something publically accessible-- say, a shopping cart-- and tried to lift a code off of it, it would be too muddled with information to discern any, one originator. (He describes it as being like the pins-and-needles feeling you get from accidentally cutting circulation off to an extremity.) The best-suited objects are personal possessions, articles of clothing, or something else that is individual-specific. The best items are those that someone’s had for a long time.
His shifting is limited to humans, of either the mutant or non-mutant variety. And, as stated before, he doesn't emulate powers, because that is not in his X-Gene. His ability is to look like others, not borrow their powers—he could look like a mutant whose mutation was their appearance, can sense if someone’s a mutant or not (because that is something in your genes), but he can’t tell what their power is, and cannot copy it.
Based-on how deep Chase is into the shift determines what information he’s privy to, and how much of “himself” he is. With the most ideal objects, object-based shifts can last three hours:
- 0:00:00 – 0:03:00 … Form-shift, Chase acquires basic information
- 0:03:00-0:30:00 … Chase still “himself”, but is getting deeper into the target’s role by asking the object questions
- 0:30:00-0:60:00 … Chase is vaguely aware that he is not the target, but the lines are becoming blurred
- 1:30:00 – 2:00:00 … “Chase” starts believing he is the target, in this window of time. (If the genetic information allows for it.)
- 3:00:00 … Chase will lose control of the target form and revert.
If Chase loses a form (either by hitting his time limit or by running out of information to read), there are a few things that can happen. If he hits his time limit, but there is still genetic information available to read, he’ll revert to his natural form. He will likely complain about being “heavy” or “sleepy” and pass-out. (This is also what happens when he loses physical contact with the object he’s utilizing. If he has reached the point where he believes he’s the target, it’ll be comparable to getting knocked-out—he’ll be dazed and unsure of who he is or where he is. But if he loses a shift before 1:30:00, he’ll be tired and unable to move, but aware of who he is.
Depending on how often a person carries something with them will determine how long Chase can utilize said item. (So, if Chase stole a jacket that’d been worn for a month, he’d be able to pull genetic information from it for a month and a second, but it would be “blank” the moment Chase held the item for longer than the original owner.) But, once an item’s “blank” it’s useless. It can’t be used for an object-based shifts after that, because after that it’s officially Chase’s.
If Chase runs-out of genetic residue to read, however, this can be very dangerous. If Chase still knows that he is Chase (before the 1:30:00 mark) he will react similarly to if he hits his time-limit or loses a hold of the item. (At the time, he’ll be discombobulated and completely exhausted but will ultimately recover.) However, if Chase is past the 1:30:00 and he believes he is the target person, losing genetic information to read is akin to “resetting to factory defaults”. He won’t, after any length of time, remember who he is or where he came from on his own volition. As such, if someone isn’t looking out for him, it makes it easy for him to wander off and not come back.
Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: Chase is your average adolescent in regards to physical capabilities. He’s a quick little guy despite his small stride, he’s very flexible and has fantastic stamina. (He never seems to slow-down or tire-out, except after phasing-out of a shift.) He’s not particularly strong (re: he’s got little noodle-arms and noodle-legs that aren’t designed for heavy lifting. And he’s still a kid, so his reflexes aren’t very refined. When he transforms into someone else, his stats will mirror theirs, within the human realm of capability.
Fighting Style: Run to live and see another day. Sometimes he incorporates shapeshifting as a means of hiding, other times he’ll just hide. He has no reputation to uphold, so if he has to defend himself he’ll take cheap shots (his favorite technique is kicking shins or kneecaps, transforming his teeth into all incisors and biting someone who attempts to grab him, or something of the like).
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: Well, no one’s never lost a fight that they haven’t fought. He’s good at running, good at hiding, so it works for him. And cheap shots work if they’re unexpected! On the flip-side, Chase is not the fastest person, and cheap shots usually only work once.
History Of Your Character
Chase came to Xavier's when he was just six years old, after a brief stint in the state’s foster system. Unable to flourish there, Chase's social-worker finally placed him at Xavier's with the hope that by being amongst other mutants, he could get the specialized care that he needed.
Chase had become a ward of the state at the age of five after officials found him wandering alongside a highway outside of Poughkeepsie. The boy was shoeless, dazed, and carrying his father's wallet. When authorities stopped him, he wasn't sure of who he was or where he'd come from. They were however able to track down his residence easily due to the information in the wallet.
A more thorough investigation revealed that Tadeo "Chase" Terrazas was one of two children belonging to Lorenzo and Stella Terrazas. Being prominent figures of the community (Lorenzo was a lawyer, Stella a pediatrician with her own practice), Mr. and Mrs. Terrazas were exceedingly concerned with their image and reputation within the community. So, rather than report their mutant son to the authorities and/or send him to Xavier's (mind you, this was shortly after the Mutant Registration Act) they decided to keep him sequestered within the confines of their house. Using her background in medicine, Stella fabricated a lie about their ailing son, who was too ill to leave the house or be around other people. An elderly relative (who lauded Stella and Lorenzo for even keeping Chase around) would come to watch him during the day, but the young boy didn't get the necessary attention or care. He was often left to his own devices and even neglected from a very young age.
In her defense, however, Stella stated that it hadn't always been this way. Chase was born a perfect human baby. It wasn't until he reached eighteen-months that the discoloration began to tint his eyes. Finding no medical explanation for this, Stella guessed that it was a latent X-Gene revealing itself. In the following six months, his warm tan skin would flake to reveal the rotten-looking tendrils beneath. His hair, eyes, and tongue would all shift to garish, unnatural shades. She was robbed her cherubic infant son and, in his place, a gremlin was left. In Stella's eyes, her real son was dead, and she was doing the best that any mother could do.
Because of this neglect, Chase grew-up emotionally and socially stunted. He was never allowed to leave the house, and his twin brother frequently avoided him. His parents likewise ignored him routinely, thus chase resorted to acting-out, which was the only surefire way to get their attention. He used his mutation to augment his voice so that it was louder. He would parrot his mom’s or dad’s voice to summon the other one. (These were the first inklings of his transformative capabilities.) Sometimes he would steal food from the kitchen, if he was hungry, or take his brother’s toys, if he was bored. He threw tantrums and threw broke dishes or decorative pieces. He was often punished for these transgressions, but even "punishment" was more attention than what he got when he behaved.
At four-and-a-half years old, Chase learned that when he took things from Mommy, Daddy or his brother, he could see "secrets". He could see where they went or what they did during the day… what his parents did at “work” and that his brother went to “preschool” and that they did a lot of fun things there. Chase also learned that by listening to the “secrets” that things told him, he could like his mommy or daddy or twin brother. And, if he looked like his brother… he didn’t have to hide anymore, right?
Chase practiced looking like his brother for an entire year, mostly when his great-aunt was busy watching her shows, until it was almost perfect. Then, when Chase was finally able to look like his brother without using his belongings, he approached his parents with a plea:
If he could make himself look like his brother, could he go to kindergarten too?
His parents, having spent so long living the lie of their “terminally ill” son that to allow him to leave was unthinkable. Chase might ruin their carefully-constructed alternate reality. No, never in a million years, would he be allowed outside.
A day later, authorities would find Chase walking, un-shifted, down the highway. (He had stolen his father's wallet with the hope that he could take himself to school... but the genetic residue would wear off before he got there, and Chase reset.)
For a short period of time, Chase was bounced around in temporary foster care situations. After taking to the streets a number of times, he was finally placed at Xavier’s (at the recommendation of the school counselor, Gemma Taylor). Gemma would later come to adopt him, showering him with the tender care denied of him in his early years. He later, also found a father in Jorge Cervantes, who married his adoptive mother shortly after Chase was adopted.
Chase has since been a regular fixture at Xavier’s.
Roleplay
What’s your OOC alias?: Sophy
Where did you learn about this site?: I’m an oldie.
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: Chief [
x] and Gina [
x]
Sample RP: The rows of picnic tables were full of chattering school-children, before whom were various forms of lunch, either in the form of lunch boxes or cafeteria trays full of food. There was one particular cluster of boys, nearly half a dozen of them, talking over each other enthusiastically. One of them, a bespectacled, curly-headed kid with galactic eyes stood up on the bench and began flapping his hand at his friends, loudly proclaiming, "I got one, guys, I got one-- shh, I got one!"
The group gradually fell silent as the bespectacled boy got their attention, and he calmly reiterated, "I thought of another person-- are you guys ready?"
"Yeah, man-- let's hear it," a dog-faced boy agreed. The galactic-eyed kid hopped off of the bench, crinkling his nose and furrowing his brow.
He tilted his mouth into a sneer, and, increasing his voice to a shrill falsetto as he pretending to nag his friends as he said, "Children, now pay attention to the video and follow Monsieur Moustache. Boys, stop talking and pay attention--."
The raucous group of boys laughed on they picked up on who the boy was imitating, none of them daring to say it. A pudgy, pasty-faced girl declared, "It's Mrs. Whittaker!"
"Dude, Mrs. Whittaker doesn't sound like that at all," another boy chimed in, "She doesn't sound like that all."
"Come on, Matt, you're just saying that because you're nothing but a teacher's pet."
"No man," another boy countered, "Mrs. Whittaker doesn't sound like that-- Chase, show 'em what Whittaker sounds like."
Chase, the quiet brunette boy at the end of the table, shifted uncomfortably, finishing his sip of chocolate milk before letting his gaze flick to the other boys.
"I don't know," Chase murmured coyly, a smirk twisting at his lips, "The teachers really don't like it when I do that."
"Aw, please man, they can't hear you here!" the redhead whined.
"Yeah, man, we won't tell on you."
"They don't like it 'cos it's so funny! Please do it? Please?"
Chase held up his hands to silence them, which was much more effective than when the bespectacled child had tried such a thing. They all found Chase's tricks to be funny. Chase cleared his throat theatrically, and then turned to face the redhead. The kid started cackling with anticipation.
"Jeremiah, will you pay attention?!" Chase snapped, adopting a voice identical to that of a shrewd, cruel older woman, "Don't make me give you a yellow card--!"
"She gives me yellow cards all the time-!" Jeremiah agreed. The boys were now laughing, but kept the volume down. Chase wasn't yet finished.
"Now, children, repeat after me-- how do you spell together?"
"To-get-her!" the boys at the table chimed in raucously.
"To-get-her!" Chase confirmed in the elderly woman's voice, sending his friends into a loud fit of laughter. Chase smiled along with his friends, shook his head slowly, and returned to eating. Never let it be said that Xavier’s students were any different from typical children.
