Post by Vincent Meian on Oct 25, 2019 2:43:05 GMT -5
The Basics
Trigger Warning: Character death, foster care, child abuse, violence/war, graphic injuries, mental breakdown, drowning
Name: Vincent Meian
Nicknames: Apparently, hemokinetics like calling him "Vinny" for whatever reason
Age: 46 (October 31st, 1973)
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Orientation: Pansexual/demiromantic/polyamorous
Desired Rank/Job: Trainer
Powers: Spatial Dissonance - A personification of multiverse theory crossed with string theory. Vincent is able to "pluck" the strings connecting the multiverse, causing visions of alternate realities in anyone making eye contact with him. These visions alter the perception of reality (including a sense of time, distance, and gravity), but do not actually alter reality in any way - someone unaffected by the power would see/feel no difference. These visions are very controlled, and can last up to two minutes in real time before the strings "snap" back into place. This power can be used rapid-fire multiple times in a row, though side effects increase exponentially with the effort. The primary side effect is temporarily ceasing to exist, and happens with every use - length of vision and number of times used determine the length of time (often seconds, but never more than ten minutes). Additional side effects upon "returning" are: time loss and forgetfulness (during the time he was gone), spatial disorientation, and mental/physical exhaustion (for multi-use). Vincent will always return in the same position he was in when disappearing, and within 30ft of his original starting location.
Play By: Takeshi Kaneshiro
The Details
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Light brown
Height: 6' 6"/198cm
Any Piercings? No
Any Tattoos? Black tribal/flame design on right arm. Appears to be a serpent or dragon of some sort.
Any Scars? Many, though only one on his face.
General Appearance: Vincent is a surprisingly tall Asian male, roughly 6'6" with a wiry build and tan, weathered skin. His black hair is long and usually kept pulled back neatly in a ponytail, and he wears dark sunglasses regularly due to light sensitivity. His heritage appears to be Japanese, though through some mixed ancestry it is difficult to tell. He looks young at first glance (possibly too young to be a father), but a closer inspection of his face yields lines of age - both of laughter and less happy emotions.
Though only one scar cuts across his face (a horizontal line across his forehead), many scars adorn the rest of his body and from all sorts of wounds. He does not talk about these often, though the majority of them appear to have been rather painful. The numerous scars on his hands he will speak of readily, attributing them to both martial arts training and cooking lessons. Aside from mentioning the nature and cause of these scars, however, he is very vague with any others. The one across his forehead he tends to cover with a bandanna, and he will periodically adjust it when nervous or irate.
Vincent used to be rather stern and impassive, and while he does still hold a rather neutral expression most of the time, he is less concerned with hiding his emotions as he used to be. He still rarely laughs out loud, but will readily smirk and chuckle, both of which break his facade of youth. Still, his mask is second-nature by this point; many people have a hard time knowing if he's serious or joking until he smiles.
Rarely does Vincent dress in anything but dark clothes. He prefers black jeans to slacks, and wears mostly casual button-up shirts instead of tees or suits. He wears no jewelry save his wedding band and a necklace he keeps tucked away under his shirt. Aside from those two things, he doesn't even wear a watch. When he decides to dress up (or his wife demands he wear some color), he'll wear traditional Japanese or Chinese clothing, most often in shades of blue, red, and silver. He also has a yukata for summer days at home, though like the majority of his wardrobe it is also mostly black.
Personality: Vincent is a distant man with many people, though he has found that he enjoys being a teacher after so many years around children. He is strict yet fair, though many former students will only admit so grudgingly. He treats his students with equality - they all have to work for what they have in his eyes, and he'll take no excuses for laziness or failure. He has more respect for those who earnestly own up to their mistakes and will exert more effort into making them succeed, but any that take his attention for granted are in an almost permanent negative view.
Aside from students, Vincent tends to hold people at arm's length, though he has been friendlier since he returned from his abrupt Sabbatical two years back. He refuses to be treated disrespectfully in any manner and has more than once started a fight because he felt justified in doing so. Honor and justice hold a higher value to him than mercy or leniency, however he still adheres to a strict moral code. He prefers the company of his close friends and family on his own time, though he will always make time for someone who needs his help.
Despite earning a degree in Religion and Mythology, Vincent does not have a personal religious view. He keeps his beliefs to himself on just about everything, but if asked he will admit his ideas on the subject. He enjoys being a sounding-board for people when it comes to religion and politics as well, mostly to challenge what they know and make them aware of their choices. More than anything, he strives to make people see the whole picture and base their decisions on all the information at hand.
Your Vices
Likes: Most animals (especially cats), children, researching ancient religions and cultures, debating and discussion, teaching, cooking and baking, kendo and other martial arts
Dislikes: Willful ignorance, disrespect, European swordsmithing, most comedians
Strengths: Combat, debate, cooking, playing the violin, seeing the whole picture. Has an BA in Applied Religious Studies, a Japanese teaching certification, a Vermont teaching certification, and a work visa for the United States. Is a 1st dan black belt in iaido.
Weaknesses: Keeping his temper in check, feigning interest, telling anything but the absolute truth. Is afraid of deep and/or rapidly moving water (lakes, rivers, etc.) and will not swim or wade further than hip deep. He also does not have a driver's license and prefers to bike or walk everywhere.
Family Ties
Father: Unknown
Mother: Meian Hina, deceased
Siblings: Meian Yuki
Spouse/Partner: Dr. Nakia Kenjutsushi
Any Other Important People:
Meian Appoline (older daughter)
Meian Cassiopeia (younger daughter)
Kenjutsushi Hatsuharu (brother-in-law)
Minamori Suekeichi (best friend)
History
Vincent was born a twin to a woman by the name of Meian Hina, a Japanese scientist who died shortly after his birth. Because of her untimely death when the two were only months old, they were put up for adoption and never saw each other again.
Vincent bounced from foster home to foster home, never staying longer than a couple years because he "didn't socialize well". Up until age thirteen, nothing truly extraordinary happened with his upbringing aside from one "repossession" as he called it by Japan's child services for being abused. He was placed elsewhere, and the matter was forgotten by most but him. He lashed out in various ways by running away from home and causing fights at school between himself and other club members (both of the kendo and martial arts clubs, once even just before an orchestral concert). At thirteen, his powers suddenly manifested when a fight got out of hand and Vincent nearly lost. He willed that the person before him see him as a demon of ancient legend, something that could destroy the boy with ease. His will manifested, and his opponent collapsed in horror, screaming in absolute terror as Vincent collected himself and beat the boy half to death. He hadn't quite finished when the vision ended, and he vanished. He didn't know how long he was gone, but he returned nearly an hour later and up a tree eight blocks down. According to the trainers who taught him later (as well as a couple bewildered physicists), his powers had showed a realm of "could be" and made it "was/is/will be" for a short time, the resulting strain on reality and universal constants shunting briefly would of his home universe's existence. He had literally ceased to exist for nearly sixty minutes.
Days later, Eisai came for him. His current adopted parents were all to willing too release him to the school, but once there never returned for him and never allowed him home. Incidents of conflict increased at Eisai, but with more powerful people able to hurt him, they diminished again after about a year. By the time he joined the kendo team, they had almost completely ceased, and with his promotion to second string violin two years later he completely stopped. He took his anger out on his opponents on the kendo floor and martial arts ring - others without ability were not worth his time anymore. He was sixteen years old when he finally learned this, and had come a long way into controlling his powers. After four years, his control training was complete, and he had no further incidents of his powers manifesting. However, his powers were primarily under control by repressing his emotions and not fully explored; experimental and theoretical physics had a long way to go in the 1980's.
In the final year of his schooling, the Japanese military did routine recruiting visits to the normal schools in the area. Intrigued and excited, Vincent joined into their program against his counselor's advisement, deciding to earn his way through college with a military background. This would also give him an outlet for his anger after Graduating, something he'd been concerned about the entire year. A few more years passed with nothing of note - he rose through the ranks of enlisted men, trained well (though began neglecting his power training more each year), met a good woman and caused the problems hot-headed young men do. It wasn't until Vincent turned twenty-five that an incident occurred, causing him to vanish for a long time.
Vincent had recently married a half-Japanese woman named Nik Kenjutsushi before being called in for active duty in aid to local riot police in a small town. He and his unit (who were trained to subdue most people with non-lethal force and their own powers) arrived to find an effective warzone. Things had escalated when crimes started being committed during a peaceful protest, causing an escalation in the local police and the protesters to the point of many casualties on both sides. The squad, sent in as a sort of police action, struggled to calm the populous. However, during one particularly violent riot, Vincent himself was gravely wounded, caught between a frightened meta and an angry mob until backup arrived. As someone in the crowd threw a homemade pipe bomb at the meta, the latter reacted in a panic and destroyed the device improperly. The explosive detonated, raining shrapnel and fire on the two. Wracked with pain and angered beyond control, Vincent had no idea his powers had activated again until he heard something; the thrumming of plucked strings, almost like a bass too low to be heard.
Immediately after, the mob disbanded, fleeing in outright terror as the rest of the unit arrived to find the unfortunate meta, but no Vincent.
For hours the party searched, trying his radio and receiving no response. After forty-five minutes, the group was called back to their rally point, and reluctantly they went. As they approached, they saw something very strange; one minute there was an empty lot, and the next their comrade stood there, dazed and disoriented as if he had stepped from behind the fold itself. The group rushed to check on him, but his powers activated again in his sudden shock and he vanished, but not before scarring six soldiers with a vision more terrible than they could believe.
The chase went on for six days until Vincent was finally caught and brought in - between his injuries, emotional trauma, and loss of control, his powers continued to manifest each time he was approached until a counter-measure was established. He was retrained until he could go back to society (another year), then released into the custody of his wife who was not only a meta-human herself but also a doctor. She brought him back to a firmer stability in two years, and near the end she had had their first child as well; Appoline Meian.
For years the family lived in solitude, Vincent struggling to regain a semblance of his control and mental health. He succeeded shortly after his second daughter, Cassiopeia, had been born, and had decided that not using his powers was vastly superior to the blackouts and sudden vanishings, never remembering where he goes or what happens to him in that time.
He went back to college as he had intended and studied mythos and religion, earning a teacher's degree not long after. He took a position training the new generation of meta-humans after he turned thirty-four, and six years later Appoline showed (unsurprising) signs of powers as well. The family, suspecting this would come and wary after determining that their daughter was ill-suited to Japanese schooling, decided to make the move to the United States. Having not renewed his contract with Eisai, Vincent received notice of his acceptance at Hammel by the time the new year began in the spring of 2014.
Things went well for a while, however an altercation with a hostile local (an empath with emotional manipulation abilities) cause Vincent's powers to activate unwillingly in the winter of 2015. Though he nearly drowned under the thick ice of the lake (and ruined the iconic furniture of Dr. Sean Neville's office after using his powers to escape said near-death experience), no one else was hurt in the exchange. Vincent, unsatisfied with this, took responsibility and immediately left Hammel and Vermont on Sabbatical to retrain - this time for good. He met with a Hammel alum who had become a pioneer in theoretical physics, who helped him understand his powers enough for the trainer to master them himself. He returned to Hammel in the September of 2016 fully in control of his abilities and a better person for it, and has not had any incidents since.
Now, his troubles mostly seem to be with his increasingly distant eldest child; other than that, life continues as normal at the Institute.
Player Information
Name: Kallisti, Kalli, or Eris
Age: Old enough to know better, not young enough to care.
Player Pronouns: I like variety.
How Did You Find Us? laughs maniacally
Other Characters: Wayne Dietrich, Appoline Meian
