Individual
Character's full name: Jacob "Jacky" Dawe
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Drifter
Gender: Male
Age: 35
Date of Birth: 05/08/1983
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: Welsh
Appearance
Hair color and style: Long, mousy brown hair - generally messy.
Skin Tone: White
Eye Color: Hazel
Height: 6'1"
Build: Medium
Visible mutation: N/A
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: N/A
Other features: A fairly unkempt beard.
Everyday clothing style: Long ratty coats, well-worn jeans, T-shirts.
Uniform and Miscellaneous Clothing: N/A
Sleepwear: Whatever works.
Character
Personality: Breezy, easygoing and altogether a bit lazy, Jacky tackles life with something that could only be described as "positive cynicism". He realises the world can be an ugly place, but feels like that makes the stolen moments in between of it all worth much more. He prefers to see the good in people, but realises that unfortunately "pricks will be pricks", and everybody makes a choice. He enjoys talking to people and learning about them, and if someone sat down next to him and started suddenly giving him their life story he would take it well within his stride.
Due to a life on the road, Jacky chafes under commitment and prefers not to get too heavily involved in the politics and machinations of others. This can cause conflict with his inclination to speak to people and listen to their problems, as he ends up knowing more than he needed to.
Jacky is not a healthy eater, and while his meals are further between than most it still mostly consists of street food - hamburgers, hot dogs, and burritos. He is the kind of person in dire need of someone to kick him until he relents into eating a salad. The same pretty much goes for his smoking, and he would likely be able to afford a lot more nutritious meals or more overnight stays if he cut back on cigarettes.
Though he means well, he may be given to putting his foot in his mouth with regards to those with a more "unique" appearance, due to his inexperience with the weird and wacky world of mutantkind.
He has a soft spot for kids in particular, and would go well out of his way to help them if he were to find one in need.
Hobbies/ Interests: Music, spicy food, history.
Job or part time job and description: Unemployed though does odd jobs and primarily makes (little) money as a street performer/busker.
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Children being put in dangerous or abusive situations is a pet hate for him, and one of the rare things that would outright elicit an instant violent reaction.
Special talents: Jacky is a talented musician and vocalist with a good sense of rhythm. He is proficient in several instruments, with his main area of expertise being the acoustic guitar and the saxophone being a close second. He fancies himself a history buff, though his thoughts on the subject are typically breezy. He also speaks Spanish, though he'd admit not particularly well.
Morality
Neutral/Good: An aimless soul, Jacky is used to a life of no commitments or responsibilities. Though he likes to see the good in people and enjoys interacting with others, he wouldn't go out of his own way to seek out trouble or right outstanding wrongs. Kids are a general exception, and he can't abide anyone or anything who would hurt or abuse them.
Mutations
Mutation description: Acoustic manipulation (increasing or decreasing the volume of soundwaves).
Strengths:
- Jacky is capable of increasing noises within a 2ft radius of his person (such as a clap, his voice, or an instrument he is playing) to the point of it being a cone-shaped concussive blast. This is instant and would cause equivalent noise and echo to an unsilenced weapon being discharged, and would be primarily used to knock people from their feet or shatter non-reinforced glass - not causing any serious lasting injury beyond a few scrapes and temporary ringing in the ears.
- He can amplify noise he can either see or hear the source of within 50 meters to around 130 decibels (equivalent to standing directly next to a fire alarm or jackhammer). This would cause someone with generally healthy hearing to cover their ears in pain.
- On the opposite end of the scale, he can reduce any sound he is aware of within 50 meters into total silence with the appropriate level of concentration.
Weaknesses and Limitations:
- Jacky can't affect sound that he isn't aware of, and his power has an operational range of around 50 meters. He needs to be able to either see or hear the sound source to affect it.
- Raising or lowering volume is instantly noticeable to everyone nearby and not just him, meaning he wouldn't be able to use it to eavesdrop etc.
- Increasing or lowering the volume of a constant sound takes some level of focus - to a greater extent, so does attempting to manipulate multiple sound sources at once. How much he has to affect the noise and for how long affects how exhausting the process would be - constantly cutting the noise of a fire alarm or raising a whisper to the sound of a lawnmower wouldn't be sustainable for more than a few minutes without him having to stop or pass out.
- Manipulating the sound of a device such as a television or speaker would only affect noise coming from the device, not the source of a live broadcast.
- Particularly loud or piercing noises would affect his ability to hear what he's honing in on, meaning he would have to put himself under stress to the intruding noise before he can focus on the one he needs.
- Particularly loud noises such as alarms, gunshots, and sirens would take a great deal of effort to reduce and would result in exhausting him if done over a period longer than a couple of minutes. Likewise, raising something very quiet to becoming suddenly extremely loud would have a similar affect on him over an extended period of time.
- Generally amplifying noise outside of a direct concussive blast also affects him, necessitating him either having to cover his ears or wear ear protection. This means it would be ineffective against prepared enemies with the proper equipment.
- Jacky can't alter any other properties of sound (such as pitch) other than volume.
- His sonic boom wouldn't cause much effect to particularly heavy or armoured enemies, and is only powerful enough for standard humanoid foes.
Physical Abilities:
General Physical Capabilities: Jacky is a smoker with a pretty unhealthy lifestyle, meaning his level of cardio or general overall health is below average.
Fighting Style: Street brawling (no formal training).
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: Relies on strong but inefficient punches, tackles, and kicks. Good against a distracted or unsuspecting opponent, but Jacky would be completely outclassed and beaten by anyone with a bit of formal fighting training.
History Of Your Character
Jacob Dawes was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, though never really spent too much time in the same place. Whilst still a toddler, he and his three brothers were split by the foster system after his mother was declared unfit to look after them, and he spent most of his childhood and teens drifting between one foster family or another. Reasonably well-adjusted (all things considered), Jacky was still an old soul by the time he became a young adult, weary of his hometown and keen to see what else was out there. His love of music was the only thing that stopped him dropping out of High School, and by the time he left he boasted a considerable talent in several instruments. Since that point, he has roamed far and wide, within the country and without. Jacky has always lived by the skin of his teeth, relying on his music and working odd jobs to maintain his lifestyle. While this has been rough on him over the years, he wouldn't trade it for the world.
No singular event caused him to discover his power, and in fact it was something he'd only noticed he'd been doing over a period of several years - whether making his street performing louder to reach more people or quietening crowds, Jacky knows there is something different about him. He hasn't interacted much with other mutants, and doesn't particularly consider himself one due to his lack of knowledge on the subject.
Roleplay
What’s your OOC alias?: Moonsaves
Where did you learn about this site?: Stumbled upon it looking for forum RP as I used to take part in a few and feel like getting back into it.
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: N/A
Sample RP:
He watched them come, then he watched them go. Flitting visitors in his own little world, stopping for one stolen second to listen, then moving on with their lives. Every now and then, he would hear a tinkle as one of them dropped a handful of change into his case. He'd look up from playing for a moment to gratefully nod at them, but they were already long gone into a sea of faces. Busy, busy, busy.
Busyness was something New York didn't have a shortage of. It was the city that never slept, but Jacky wished it would. It might look a little bit better for it if it put its head down for a few hours. So would he, if he was able to afford a room for the night.
He finished his song. The two or three kids filming him on their phones put them away and walked off without looking at him. He didn't mind - they'd heard him well enough, and he'd made them stand still for a few minutes of the day. Maybe it'd be habit-forming.
Even as he went to start his next song, a scarfed man set up a stool not ten feet away, taking out an accordion as though he hadn't even seen Jacky, even though he'd practically tripped over his guitar case walking past him. The drifter cleared his throat in polite a fashion as he could muster, and even over the din of the incoming subway train, it rang with odd clarity throughout the station. The man ignored him. "Spot's taken, sorry." He ventured, a bit more directly. The man gave him some obscene gesture, before immediately beginning to play.
Jacky winced at the untuned din, completely failing to recognise what song he was trying to produce. The shuffling crowd that had been around him started to move apart, scattered by the violent attempted murder of an instrument. He sighed deeply, watching them shuffle away in droves, before sifting through his suitcase. Apparently, the estate of Jacky Dawe totaled to twenty-seven dollars, thirty-seven cents and - he squinted - one peso. Fantastic.
He glanced up at the scarfed man still strangling his accordion, and grinned. Slowly, and (with the man's bewildered expression being anything to go by) quite obviously, the accordion began to make less and less noise. Its volume lowered, as if someone had simply held up a remote to him and turned him down. He violently shook the instrument, then started to give it some percussive maintenance. He snarled, and he raged, and he yelled. Then he realised his frustrated shouting wasn't shouting at all - his stream of violent curses came out as a pathetic, strained whisper. "Indoor voices, friend." Jacky said, picking his guitar back up with a wink, then beginning the opening of Overkill.
