Individual
Character's full name: Thomas (Tom) Barker
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Tank
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Birthday: 12 April
Nationality/ Ethnicity: British (in America illegally)
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: West Hampshire, London, England.
Appearance
Hair color and style: Black messy spikes. Short in length (2-4 inches). Left completely uncared for.
Eyes: Bright green
Height: 5’10”
Build: Slightly underweight, thin. Though this build hides a well tuned body. He knows his limits and is strong despite his size. As one would expect he is lithe and agile and has improved this by martial arts throughout his entire life.
Visible mutation: None.
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Tom went into a tattoo parlor made them turn off their music in order to give him a small tattoo of a cartoon tank on his right shoulder blade.
Other features: He has a few small elements of stubble across his top lip and around his chin. He doesn’t tend to shave often enough, once a week could stand to be bumped up to twice or three times per week. He would shave more but it is an annoying process, as in these times there is normally enough music around to protect him from a half-blunt razor, so unless he want’s to shave with cheese wire and risk cutting his face off, he has to block out all sound. He has relatively pale skin, lightly tanned from some time in the sun, but he clearly doesn’t go out of his way to get a tan. More or less average face, not forgettable, but there’s nothing particularly odd about his look. He gives off an air of being a little bit rough and ready, which is not surprising given his life so far, but after a few minutes in his company you will see he is more of an uncut diamond. It is also to be noted that Tom has a relatively strong English accent.
Everyday clothing style: Tom is most often found in his cargo pants and his favorite jacket. He wears loose cargo pants with pockets dotting the outside. These pants are white in colour but they are beginning to have a permanent tinge of grey and they’re wearing a bit thin in the knees and the ends are becoming frayed. His jacket goes everywhere with him, it is a blue high-collared jacket with a black strip which runs along underneath the arms and then down the sides of his torso. He always rolls up the sleeves to just under his elbows, showing his lightly toned forearms and wrist wear. The jacket has a zip running straight up the front in the middle and he normally has this zipped down to his collar bones. On his right wrist he wears a tight to the skin material strip, and on his left he wears a sports watch. On his feet he wears white and green skate shoes with black soles which are what he finds most comfortable.
Uniform: He fights in his normal clothes.
Sleepwear: Boxer shorts and not much else.
Miscellaneous clothing: Tom is often seen wearing a one-shoulder bag, red, white and black in colour. He is also almost always carrying his favorite fashion accessory, a metal baseball bat, with a dark grey grip and dark grey powerspot.
Character
Personality: Tom has been through a lot, as many young mutants have, but Tom's path has been less one of being hurt, and more one of hurting others. As a member of his father‘s pro-mutant gang, he was used as a fighting machine, barely better than an attack dog in his opinion. This had molded the boy into a hot-headed, often angry and aggressive boy. He is one to lash out if he is annoyed, though this is an aspect of himself he is less fond of in the times it happens when unfounded. Predominantly, he believes people deserve what they get from him, but sometimes he snaps unnecessarily and it chews him up. He is more or less quiet, he keeps to himself and his ipod most of the time. It is his little haven and an emotional and physical defense mechanism.
When around people of his age, Tom can start to come out of his gloomy shell. If they seem like normal teens with normal problems, Tom starts to believe that he too is a normal teen with normal problems. He has a keen wit which can be revealed in these circumstances. If he finds something truly worth smiling about, his cheeky, infectious grin will stay in place for a long time. When Tom finds something that makes him happy, it makes him really happy.
Tom has also turned into a thrill-seeker. Knowing that he cannot be hurt, he has taken to doing extreme activities, like the time he skydived without a parachute. Quite the crater, believe me. These Tom finds very enjoyable as he is pushing himself to do things that few people (if anyone else) can. But it is frowned upon by some of his friends and seen as signs of mental instability.
Hobbies/ Interests: Tom is an avid follower of motorsport, especially drifting. He loves to drive cars, and considers just going for a leisurely drive a hobby. He knows a lot about cars and can even do a little work on them.
The second sporting passion he has, is football (also known as soccer elsewhere). This is something ingrained into every English boy, football is like air for them. It’s life. Tom is an average player at best, but it doesn’t stop him from loving the sport.
He also, as dark as this may be, likes to fight. The thrill and adrenaline of a good punch-up is something Tom finds he can not top.
Tom also does have a creative side. He draws funny little cartoons in his spare time, more often than not in class too. He especially likes it when he can draw a funny picture of the situation. He loves music, it calms him and makes him feel safe, it is his other true passion.
Job or part time job and description: None. He used to work for a sports store in West Ham, but with him being in the States illegally he knows he can’t get a job here.
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Tom is not afraid of many things traditional due to his power. But what he is afraid of is loosing his power. Without it he feels unprotected and everything scares him the way it might a child.
Tom is also afraid of being “tied down”. He has a fear of being controlled by the actions of other, forced (directly or indirectly) by them to act a certain way.
Special talents: Exceptional martial artist. More a brawler, Tom uses a very rough around the edges method of fighting but it more than gets the job done. He commonly uses his baseball bat or other improvised weapons from around himself. He knows a few throw moves, and is an avid fan of kicks from his time doing tae kwon do. He also possesses some skill with cars and their operation.
Morality
Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: He is a morally based person, and has been since a young child, but his recent upbringing in the gang has shaken this morality and left Tom with a somewhat skewed morality. He will always try to do the right thing, but his way of getting it done can be a little off the mark at times.
Mutations
Invulnerability: Tom’s cells, almost every one in his entire body, has its own personal force field. These force fields are the exact same size and shape as the cell itself, thus making the cell impervious to harm. All of the cells in his body except for his brain, spinal cord and nerves all possess this. Those three parts are the only parts of his body not physically invulnerable. The force fields are a natural harmonic frequency, which must be properly synchronized with his brain. This effect could possibly be achieved by meditation and emotional focus and calm, but Tom has never been able to achieve this and due to his rough past, he doubts he ever will be able to.
The only way Tom has found to far to achieve wave synchronization and hence physical invulnerability, is through music. If Tom can not hear music, his power is not active at all, it does nothing and he is not only vulnerable, but also scared due to his lack of powers. If there is music that he can hear, but it isn’t loud and clear, then he achieves some of his power but not all of it. The force fields partially generate, but not completely, and damage done to Tom’s body is reduced but not eliminated. Only if he can clearly hear music do Tom’s abilities properly activate.
While Tom’s cells may not take any damage, they still press on the unprotected nerves and cause pain when he is hit. The pain is reduced, somewhere in the vicinity of a quarter of the pain that would normally be felt by such a hit is felt by Tom. The pain fades quicker than normally too, even the hardest of hits take at the most ten seconds for the pain to dissipate. However, if his power is disabled he feels all of the normal pain and takes all of the normal damage. If the boy is injured then his power can not be reactivated until the wound his healed.
The last facet of this power is that it does not offer any protection from mental attacks. Psychic powers are completely uninhibited when it comes to Tom, and this is one of his greater weaknesses.
Strengths: When active, his cells take no physical damage and he feels reduced pain.
Weaknesses: If he can not hear music his power completely fails and he is left defenseless. He still feels pain, so a painful attack, even with reduced sensitivity could still put Tom down for a short time. If he gets hurt he can’t use his abilities until it heals. Lastly he is weak against mental attacks which he has no defense against.
Fighting Style
Brawler (Street wise mix)
Explanation: Tom uses a mixed martial arts style developed from years of practice. He used to do Judo and Tae Kwon Do at different times earlier in his life and he uses elements of these styles in his fighting. Kicks from TKD and throws and ground-game from Judo. Throughout out his time with the gang, Tom fought a lot and refined this style into a rough and ready style, utilizing many impromptu weapons found around himself and often his baseball bat he carries with him.
Pros for fighting style: Fierce, rough and ready, refined through real fighting, no controlled environments. Brutal use of weapons, kicks and anything around. A true street fighter style.
Cons for fighting style: Lacks control at times, can get the user caught up in the fight and have them go overboard. The techniques aren’t refined and thus don’t achieve maximum power. A mix stops the style from having one distinct focus.
Faction Allegiance
The X-men/ The Order/ The Kabal/ Other/ Unaffiliated
Current heading for the Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
History Of Your Character:
Tom was born into a normal family with normal problems, goals, and all the rest. But what mummy didn’t know was that daddy was a mutant. He could sense other mutants and identify their powers. But he never used it and he had never told anybody. Not a soul. That was because he didn’t know himself. But then came the day it all went to hell. Things started to go bad between humans and mutants and Tom's father was discovered to be a mutant. His perception changed, suddenly he hated those who campaigned against mutants. But his human wife kept him related to the human race, and he refused take up pro-mutant action.
At school Tom became involved in the rougher group of children, all avid fans of football. They play fought and got in trouble a lot but it was mostly seen as harmless boy will be boys behavior. That was until they hit thirteen and began going to the stadiums for the football games. Afterwards they would get in big, and very dangerous fights with hardened men much older than themselves. Tom had been doing Tae Kwon Do and Judo for a good portion of his life however and had become a relatively skilled fighter through combining that knowledge with a street fighting style.
On his fourteenth birthday he was given an ipod and he filled it up with music straight away before heading down to the game with his friends. Afterwards, just as usual, they got themselves into a big brawl with supporters of their team, fighting against the other team’s supporters. That fight went down well, they won even, but on the way home, the boys were ambushed by some of the other team’s men who attacked them. One had a gun. Luckily Tom’s headphones were in at the time as he was enjoying his new ipod. The man gunned down Tom’s friends in hot blood, one died, but the other four survived their bullet wounds, severely shaken and never to go to a game again.
Tom’s story was a little different though, he was shot multiple times in the chest, he felt it, it hurt. But then the pain faded, he got up and took on the gunman, beating him thoroughly with an unsecured road sign. London being the most watched city in the world, the cops were on the scene in minutes, Tom had called the ambulance but they were already on their way anyway. They inspected him and marveled at how he could be shot and come off unharmed. But they were suspicious that he was a mutant. They took blood tests and confirmed it. His mother wondered how this was possible, but then she saw his father’s half-hidden guilty face. And she knew. Her family were mutants. Freaks. She left that day and Tom never saw he again.
From then on, Tom’s father became hateful, he started an pro-mutant gang and forced Tom to be a part of it. He turned Tom into an attack dog, there to beat up those who he couldn’t. When they discovered that it was the music that channeled his powers, his father bought him a better ipod to improve his effectiveness as a weapon. Tom got along well with the other mutants, even though they were older than him. But that was ok because they let him do what he wanted, he got drunk with them and fought along side them. But there were times, there were always times where Tom’s good nature showed through, every time he beat someone who hadn’t done anything to him, he felt terrible.
Then one night it all went wrong, they were escaping from a light mall robbery and the rent-a-cop tried to stop them. They fought him, but he fought back viciously, that was until Tom’s father his him so hard in the back with his baton that the man’s spine broke. He more or less lost his spunk from then. When Tom found out that the man was paralyzed and in incredible pain he was severely shaken. The man had been completely innocent. He couldn’t do it any more. He quit the gang but his father didn’t want to let him leave. After being chased through London by his father for a few weeks Tom had an idea. This would settle it once and for all. He snuck into the airport and got into the pet storage area of a small but flash plane. He didn’t know where it was headed, but he held on for the ride and ended up getting off in the New York airport. He was in America.
He found that people were even worse in America than in England with regards to being anti-mutant however, and he is having a rough time of things here in the big apple.
Roleplay
Where did you learn about this site?: Thanks Google
Sample RP: Tom laughed as he walked through town with Matt, his new friend from the institute. They walked up to a hotdog stall and waited in line for a few minutes before getting to the counter. They both ordered and Tom began to fish money out of his jacket. He had scrounged up almost enough when Matt stopped him and offered to pay. Tom smiled and thanked him for the food.
They turned to walk away and a tall muscular man dropped his shoulder into the black haired boy, causing him to drop his hotdog into the gutter.
“What the f*@% you tart! My friend just bought me that ‘otdog and now look at it!”
Tom yelled at the man. The guy laughed and went to turn away.
“Oi! Retard! You had better buy me anotha friggin’ ‘otdog mate.”
Tom threatened. The man turned angrily,
“You wanna go a round kid? Is that it? Cos I will beat your ass up.”
The meathead returned.
Tom raised his chin.
“Bring it mate.”
He man charged and dropped a shoulder to tackle his younger opponent. Tom reached for his baseball bat but found it absent without official leave.
S*&@! Matt told me to leave it at the ‘ouse, he said it would look weird. Just great. Time for a new plan. Tom ducked and twisted sideways, whipping his foot around as he got out of the way of the mad bull of a man he was fighting. That leg swept around and into the man’s shin, toppling him like a game of jenga. He barreled head long into a parking meter, knocking himself out cold. But like hydra, with that one head gone, two more appeared.
Two other men just as big stepped out of a car parked beside the road.
“You kicking our man’s ass kid. Now you’re gonna get it!”
One yelled and they both ran around the car at him. Tom looked around and decided on his weapon of choice, he grabbed a nearby rubbish bin lid and Frisbee’d it hard at the closer man’s head. It bounced of with a resonating
thunk and Tom twisted to catch it again, using it to swat the man across the face, knocking him down. Suddenly, there was a crack from behind and Tom arched his back.
“Ahhh!”
He stifled the cry and turn to face the man. The man held a smoke gun up and wore an expression of shock at seeing someone he’d just shot still standing. In fact walking towards him and looking very very annoyed.
“Now ya just getting’ on my tits mate. Now more of that aye?”
He cooed in his English accent.
The boy was now fairly close and made a running leap to plant his size ten skate shoe right in the man’s face. Tom fell backwards and landed into a roll as the man recoiled. The bigger of the two swung, and Tom ducked under it, coming up with a strong punch to the chin, which dazed the man long enough for Tom to deliver a knock out elbow to the man’s face. With all three opponent’s down, Tom raided them for some cash and ducked back for another hotdog. He caught up with Matt and began to eat.
“Typical rude yanks aye?”
He grinned.
Welcome to MRO!
