Mitchell Terrell

[Mitchell Terrell]

The Basics

Name: Mitchell Terrell
Nicknames: Mitch
Age: 39, born 17th August 1975
Orientation: Homosexual
Desired Rank/Job: Local, unemployed
Powers: Animation
Mitch has the ability to make stationary objects temporarily take on a semblance of life. The larger the object the shorter the duration he is able to keep it 'alive' for; something small like a figurine could be held for up to four hours without much difficulty, whereas something much larger will last significantly less. Mitch can control up to three small items at one time, but only one larger one due to the amount of focus it requires. He cannot create something that isn't there, he can't give a cell phone legs to make it walk around, for example, but he can make a chair walk around on its legs. The main side effects of this are exhaustion and severe headaches if he has been animating things for too long, but it can also occasionally make him slightly awkward in his interactions with actual living things. Sometimes if he loses concentration while animating something, he can temporarily lose control over it and it will act of its own accord.
Play By: Joshua Jackson

The Details

Hair Color: Mid-brown
Eye Color: Blue
Any Piercings? No
Any Tattoos? No
Any Scars? His right leg is prosthetic from just above the knee and he has extensive burn scarring on his lower body and abdomen, with smaller patch burns on his upper torso and arms. The highest one is on his lower neck on the left hand side and is just about visible when he is wearing a t-shirt. He also has several graft scars on his back from where they had to take skin to patch up elsewhere on his body.

General Appearance: Mitchell is fairly tall at approximately 6ft 1 and has a medium build, but he has lost much of the dense muscle tone that he had when he was younger. He smiles and blushes easily, and despite his hardship his eyes always have brightness about them. Mitchell has lost his right leg from just above the knee, and has extensive burn scarring on his lower body and abdomen, with smaller patch burns on his upper torso and arms. The highest one is on his lower neck on the left hand side and is just about visible when he is wearing a t-shirt. He also has several graft scars on his back from where they had to take skin to patch up elsewhere on his body. He keeps his hair cropped short and he often sports some amount of stubble. He only tends to go completely shaven when it is for some special event.

Mitchell carries himself quite well but always has a slight limp due to the false leg, giving him a somewhat awkward amble as he still struggles to adjust to the new movement. He prefers to hide his body beneath layers of clothing, keeping his scars tucked away under jackets or hoodies and comfortable slacks. However in summer when it gets too warm he will wear three-quarter-length shorts and t-shirts, but only when he will be in quieter surroundings when there wont be as many people likely to stare. Mitchell has been told numerous times that he looks good in a suit but he is never comfortable in them, preferring to only wear them on special occasions.

Personality: Quiet, shy and fairly reserved, Mitchell is generally the sort of person who keeps himself to himself. Among friends he can be very chatty and personable and he has a bright sense of humour with a deep love of story-telling, and loves being able to relax and laugh without any kind of pressure. He is a bit of a nerd and loves movies and gaming in particular, especially arty and retro games and old movies. When he is around friends he can get very competitive and loves a challenge, and can always be counted on for ‘just one more’, even when it is 3am and they are all using toothpicks to try to keep their eyes open. Among strangers however he fades back against the wall and very much tries to avoid any kind of spotlight. He never used to be like this; there was a time when he was the life and soul of any party he attended, but his injuries have left him anxious and too self-aware, resulting in him becoming much quieter than he used to be. He knows it is a little irrational, but he is worried about people judging him based on his appearance or the way he moves or acts, especially when coupled with the PTSD he suffers from.

Despite his anxieties Mitchell is naturally very kind and generous and loves to be able to help others, even if sometimes it does take him a moment to pluck up the courage to ask if he can do so. He is the sort of person who would go out of his way to help another, and be happy to do so. He is endlessly patient and wouldn’t harm a fly, unless said fly upset his husband, in which case he would tear the world apart to try and get at it. Rob may be the protector and bread-winner in their little family, but Mitchell can also claw out of his shell and be a force to be reckoned with if their peace is threatened.

Your Vices

Likes:
~ Fishing and gathering wild food, especially in the fall.
~ Swimming. He used to swim frequently but now it is only occasionally, and only when he knows the pool or lake will be pretty deserted and he can get away with swimming in long shorts and a t-shirt. He gets very embarrassed about having to take his leg off to swim, since it is too cumbersome in the water.
~ Cheesy and old movies. If pushed he would probably say that Ghostbusters was his favourite, but he loves everything from Casablanca through to Princess Bride. He nursed a major crush on Westley when he was younger. He also adores cleverly done monster movies.
~ Video games. He much prefers the older arcade-style games, but he is a fan of some of the more recent releases too. His favourite game ever is Shadow of the Colossus, which he plays to completion at least once a year. To this day the ending makes him teary.
~ Bonsai trees. He has a collection of twelve now and he takes great delight in looking after them. His favourite is a ficus named Felix that he is training to grow over a rock.
~ Big cats, especially lynxes.
~ Happy, upbeat music he can sing along to. He enjoys singing and has a pretty decent voice.
~ Collecting fossils and gemstones. He has a small archive cabinet that is almost completely full of fossils he has collected over the years, and there are numerous clusters of crystals and gemstones around the house. He is a big believer in crystal healing, and uses them regularly to meditate and help as a form of minor self-medication.
~ Cuddles, especially from his husband.
~ Making Rob smile. Nothing makes him happier.
~ Watching sports, especially baseball, even if he does sometimes get a bit upset because he’s limited with what he can do sports-wise.

Dislikes:
~ 4th July and New Year, because the fireworks can trigger his PTSD.
~ People who stare or ask too many questions about what happened to him. He is slowly getting better at talking about it, but he’s still a long way off being comfortable with the topic.
~ People who use phrases like ‘specially abled’ or ‘differently abled’ to refer to his disability. He finds it condescending as hell; losing his leg didn’t give him super-powers, nor does he need reminding that he is still able to do things despite his injury. He’s disabled, that’s it.
~ The fact that he cries when he gets angry.
~ Summer, because it means he can’t hide under layers of clothing. However, he does enjoy lying out in the sun when he gets the chance to do so without prying eyes seeing.
~ Feeling incompetent/ useless. This is fading as he is gradually adjusting to the lifestyle he leads now and is finding other ways to make himself useful, but he still hates feeling like he can’t do something or that he is potentially a burden to Rob. He especially hates days when his anxieties are so severe they prohibit him from doing even simple things like turning on the stove to cook.
~ Audiobooks. He’s tried them many times, but always gives up because he has to keep rewinding to re-listen to bits he missed. He’d much rather just read the book.
~ A lot of modern movies, especially modern horror. He hates how simplistic many of them are, especially horror with its constant cheap and predictable jump-scares.
~ When Rob is angry or upset. It makes him sad and anxious, and he always does whatever he can to try and make him smile again.
~ Strawberries, thanks to his allergy to them.

Strengths:
~ Endlessly kind and generous.
~ Patience of a saint.
~ Highly intelligent.
~ Very brave when someone else’s well-being is on the line.
~ Psychologically strong, even if he doesn’t feel or act that way sometimes. Many would likely have given up rather than face all that he has been through.

Weaknesses:
~ PTSD.
~ Anxious and easily spooked.
~ Severe self-image issues.
~ Microcytic anemia.

Fears: Fire, and losing Rob.

Secret: Since getting burned he is terrified of fire to the point that just turning on the cooker makes him anxious. Therapy is helping him overcome this, but it is a very long and slow process. However, he would rather jump on a bonfire than lose his husband.

Family Ties

Father: Liam Shortt, 59, retired Marine turned builder, illusions.
Mother: Regina Shortt, 64, retired beautician, non-powered.
Siblings: Peter Shortt, 41, architect, non-powered. Nina Laker (nee Shortt), 35, make-up artist, illusions.
Any Other Important People: Robert Terrell, his husband of three years.
Emma, Rob's red and white English Setter.

History

Born with a few small wisps of brown hair and bright blue eyes, Mitchell was always a cute and very cuddly child who was very much a momma’s boy. This was largely helped along by the fact that his dad was in the Marines and often on deployment, with Mitchell and his two siblings largely being raised by just their mother. They were however a very happy family and his youth was full of love and joy. Mitchell got along well with both his siblings and was a fairly average student in school, getting passable grades but not really excelling in anything other than sport, which he enjoyed dearly.

When he was fourteen Mitchell manifested, which was a very underwhelming affair overall. Neither he or his family were aware anything was even the slightest bit different until a recruiter from Hammel turned up on their doorstep, claiming Mitchell was a meta-human and had to go with them now to the school in Vermont. Thankfully the recruitment was rather straight-forward due to Mitchell’s father being a meta and having gone through it himself, but saying goodbye to his family was still a deeply sad time for the youngster. Thankfully the journey from Massachusetts to Vermont was a short one and so his family were able to visit often, and he always went home for the holidays. It didn't take long to pin-point Mitchell's power, but it did take a while to get him to settle into his training because he always found it slightly unnerving. However one day one of the trainers showed him that it could be beautiful by getting him to animate an origami bird to fly around the room, and that helped Mitchell begin to relax about it and not be quite so unsettled by it. Once that bridge was crossed he began to take his training more seriously and started to improve quite quickly, though academic grades-wise he was only ever passably average.

In his second year at Hammel Mitchell met another young boy named Robert, who was also a student there. The two quickly became firm friends and spent every moment they could together, exchanging comics, watching movies and generally just hanging out. Over their time at Hammel they became inseparable, and it was no surprise to anyone that knew them when one day they were caught making out in an empty classroom. They were incredibly close, but when graduation time came they knew their paths were to separate. Mitchell wanted to become a solider like his dad but could not due to his anaemia, and so enrolled on training to become a fire fighter instead. He had fallen in love with Pilot Ridge and wanted to make his home there. Rob, however, received a scholarship to Stanford to study medicine with the eventual aim of becoming a surgeon. The two promised they would make their long-distance relationship work, but over the couple of years that followed daily phone calls turned into twice-weekly ones, then to weekly ones, then to the occasional email as they moved forward with their lives. Fives years later and they had lost track of one another completely.

In that time, however, Mitchell had managed to qualify as a fire fighter and was making a pretty good life for himself. He loved his job dearly, even the dangerous parts, and felt like he was really contributing something to the world. Through a friend he got into crystal healing and growing bonsai trees, and after doing some research and a couple of short courses he adapted them into his life. He had a couple of relationships with different men but none of them stuck for more than a couple of months at most, and he was okay with that. It was just him in his little apartment, doing what he could to try to make the town a better place.

Five years ago, tragically, Mitchell’s life was nearly cut short. A group of college students were drunk in their second-floor apartment and decided to try to make doughnuts. The oil in the fryer overheated and caught alight, and one of them had the bright idea to pour a bowlful of water over the burning oil to try to extinguish it. Thankfully the kid escaped the building with only fairly minor splash-burns on his face and hands, but the fire intensified quickly through the cluttered apartment, spreading swiftly into the neighbouring apartments and to the third floor above. By the time Mitchell and the rest of the fire crew got there the upper two floors were alight. Most of the fire fighters stayed outside, tackling the blaze and trying to get it under control, while Mitchell and a few others quickly suited up and went inside to check and evacuate the building. In one of the rooms Mitchell found a couple desperately trying to get to their young daughter, but unable to because part of the ceiling had given way and their path was blocked by fire. Making sure he had one of his team-mates spotting him, Mitchell used his tools to break through the rubble and navigate through the fire, picking her up to carry her to safety. The last thing he can remember of that night was her clutching around his neck as he tried to navigate back through the maze of flames.

Mitchell was woken from his medically induced coma two weeks later. He discovered that as they were all evacuating from the building another part of the ceiling had collapsed and landed on him. The girl had been thrown forward as he fell, fracturing her wrist but otherwise escaping unharmed. His team fought to free him, but by the time they had managed to get the debris off him his fire-suit was burned through and they thought he was already dead. For days it was touch and go, especially with complications relating to his already low red blood cell count due to his anemia, but the surgeons managed to save him except for his right lower leg, which had been crushed and burned beyond repair and had to be amputated. Mitchell suffered from extensive second, third and two fourth degree burns to a lot of his lower body and back, with first and second degree burns on his chest and abdomen, a hairline fracture in his hip and two broken ribs. Even with the intense pain killers he was on he was still in constant agony, and then he met the surgeon that had saved his life. That surgeon had a very, very familiar face.

Mitchell required nearly three months care in the burn unit, but with Rob’s help and the near-constant visits from his family he was making steady progress each day. Whenever Rob wasn’t on duty during the day he spent the time with Mitchell, and the two found themselves quickly bonding again and wondering why on earth they had never managed to keep in touch with one another after Hammel. When Mitchell was eventually discharged from the hospital he still went there often, both for check-ups and to arrange to meet up for coffee or a movie with Rob. In the months that followed they once more become very close and started dating again, and a year after the accident Rob asked Mitchell if he wanted to move in with him. Another year after that and Mitchell had a wedding band on his finger.

Now very much a house-husband, Mitchell still suffers greatly from what happened to him but therapy is helping him to come to terms with the event and adapt to life as it now is for him. He frequently worries about being useless and not being able to help Rob more with the bills, despite the fact Rob makes more than enough to keep them both comfortable, and he does what he can to try and make things easier for them both. All the confidence and easy-going nature he once had are gone but he is recovering slowly day by day, and he knows that he owes both his life and his happiness to his husband. Rob is the one thing he would once again wade through fire for.

Roleplay Example

*points at everyone*

What About You?

Name: Splatt.
Age: Late 20’s.
Experience: <That long>
How Did You Find Us? Google
Ready To Play? Sure, because I clearly don’t have enough ‘Local’ characters as it is.

[Deleted]

Accepted!

You know what to do! Go do your claims and have fun! ^^