[ooc] capitalh application

[neonmonstrosity]

PLAYER STUFF
Name: Frank
Pronoun: they/them/their
Email address: simmichan [@] gmail [.] com
Preferred contact: AIM: AvoidedDrowning or FiremanSam
Other characters: Raiden (cyborged)


CHARACTER STUFF
Name: Chris Miles
Aliases: Neon (he tried to register as "Neon Fuckery," but understandably that was denied)
Canon: Skins
Role: Teen Trash Hero
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Appearance: Here's his face, and here's his hideous attempt at a costume. (aka Chris finally living up to his username.)

Origin story:

Chris grew up in Bristol, despite inexplicably having a midlands accent, part of a pretty normal family. Mum, dad. Older brother, Peter. He never managed to live up to the example set by his brother, already finding his niche as a bit of a joke(r) pretty much as soon as he was old enough to start attempting social interactions. But it was okay, because he had his brother and he had his family and everything was great.

When he was eight, Chris' brother died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage (a hereditary risk, apparently) and his home life started to fall apart. His mother began to unravel at the seams and never quite got over it and his father left them, deeming his mother a waste of space and Chris to be just like her. Only becoming more staunch in this assessment as the years went on and he began to see his son less and less, until the frequency of his visits dropped to almost never. Chris held it together, with laughter and good friends, until he realised he didn't care anymore. If his dad didn't want them, then they didn't need him either.

Life was. Pretty much normal for a long while after this. He picked up smoking in secondary school, much to his mother's disappointment. Though she wasn't nearly as disappointed at that as she was when he started to take to drinking, drugs and wild parties. It was easier for him to go that route than to try and fail and be the epitome of an upstanding, young man. That would've been Peter's job anyway, not his.

It was in college that things started to take a turn for the worst again. Some time into his first year, his mum took off with no warning, the combination of her own personal demons and knowing Chris could develop the same condition at any time as his brother did being too much for her. Chris never found out any of this, of course. All he got was a note saying she'd be gone a few days and a grand to tide him over. Which he promptly spent on a party, only to realise she wasn't coming back (and that he was utterly fucked) the next morning. He sold some of his stuff for money to tide him over (and more drugs) only to get kicked out of his own house by a hobo the day after that. With some moral support from a friend (read: getting pushed reluctantly) he went to his dad for help. His father - or rather his father's wife, since that's who he spoke to - was completely oblivious to his mother leaving and Chris willingly left them in the dark. Deciding fairly quickly that he'd been right and it was pointless going there, as his father wanted nought to do with him.

With the combination of a little love from his friends and a teacher (who he was totally not crushing on and actively persuing, and she most assuredly did not return any of those feelings, nor did they enter into a complicated relationship that ultimately failed for a myriad of reasons,) he managed to get back on his feet. Managing to salvage some of his stuff from the house and get put up in college housing.

He managed this for quite some time - Chris has always been an expert at having a sunny disposition no matter how shit everything around him gets. Things were harder than they used to be, sure, but he always tended to get along better with the side of his friends group who weren't always embroiled in drama for a reason. Until his health started to go downhill.

Initially he just passed it over like nothing, but he knew what it was. After the first surgery, his friends finally convinced him to actually seek out some real help. And he figured, hey. It's a terminal illness, so why not see if there's something that could be done. It took a lot of cajoling from other people, but eventually he managed to get a referral to some experimental treatments. They solved the heart problems, but the side effects were... Less than ideal. They managed to treat him before it got too bad, but his arms were on their way out.

Luckily for Chris, the folks in charge of the trial saw this as their error and paid for a brand spanking new set of arms from Mintaka Industries. One would like to say he was hesitant, but honestly Chris leapt at the chance. Fundraising (with his friends) as much as he could to pay for plane tickets out to the States to have the procedure done and the rent for at least a few months to be able to stay and get to grips with things. And once he was out there, he joined the Trailblazers. Again, one would like to say he did it for intentions other than the ones he had, but it has more to do with things like that time he punched out a mugger and decided that was a Good Choice, and also it was a way to stay in the US.

Personality:

Chris is kind of a mess.

More than anything, he's a guy who likes to have a good time. Which is all fine and dandy until you realise that his definition of "a good time," is generally lots of sex, drugs, alcohol, loud music and possibly getting into a fight. (The fights aren't generally part of the fun, mind, it's just a common hazard of his lifestyle.) He's the type of fellow who'll snort anything, drink anything, and generally do most things that aren't advisable for your health in any way, shape or form. (Including eating 268 apples in one sitting to try and beat a world record.)

He's someone who's easy to simply brush off as a gormless idiot. Certainly, he doesn't do much to try and change this image, he's long since given up on trying to prove that he can be smart or worthwhile, or. Well. Trying in general. More often than not, he'll simply say "fuck it" to the things he thinks he can't achieve or that he can't have and move on with his life. That ability to roll with the punches could be taken for an admirable one if not for the fact that it generally means that he never puts himself out there. Never tries to do anything with his life except being part of the most wild party that week.

Deep down, he has a lot of drive. He's just got no aim and no focus. When he wants something - really wants it - he'll go to great lengths to have it. But he's easily discouraged in this respect, too, often taking his failings as a sign of why he shouldn't try these things in the first place. In that respect, he passes off joining the Trailblazers as something that seemed like a laugh. And to be entirely honest, that was part of his motivation in the first place, but he's not actually that bad at it when he actually has his head in the game. Not a natural crimefighter, but he's always felt like people should be safe and happy, which is part of why he's always been so into all the stuff he is. This is just an extension of that. And moreover, it's starting to give him a sense of purpose and direction in his life, which isn't something he's ever had before.

Chris is an oddly closed off person, considering what a welcoming and warm personality he has. Whilst he's certainly all smiles and laughter and one of the first to want to turn a frown upside down, it's incredibly difficult to get to know him beyond that. He doesn't talk about his life or his problems out of a desperate want to keep this image afloat. Not that he'd really know how to communicate his problems if he wanted to. It's arguable that he's worried on some level that people will leave him behind like his family did if they get to know him beyond the smiles and the parties. Not that he'd know himself, it's not something he's ever thought about. In that vein, he's fairly distant, even with his closest friends. He considers himself to be alone in the world, largely in part due to the fact that he doesn't let himself open up and get close to all that many people.

Differences from canon:

Well he sure didn't have robot arms in canon, I'll tell you that.

Honestly, Chris is pretty much the exact same character as he would be in early s2 of skins, except with superpowers and the definitive knowledge that he's not going to suddenly die of a heart condition. (Rather than just opting to not care or think about it, like he did in canon.) He's a little less of a fatalist without that hanging over his head anymore, but he's basically the same aside from that.

Power level: C
Powers:

ROBOT ARMS.

That is it. It's robot arms. That is the sum total of his powers. He has the bare minimum required actual combat training and probably has people constantly pulling him back in for more of said training because one can't rely entirely on their fists to get them through life. His current power level is literally only C because his arms give him strength that is enhanced to a degree that someone, at some point, should have considered was irresponsible to give to an 18 year-old whose hobbies largely revolve around drinking and sex. (And looking after fish.)

At no point should that kid have the ability to punch through walls, is all I'm saying.

(Well, okay I'm hamming it up a bit. He's actually fairly effective when he tries, it's just that he doesn't try quite as often as he should.)

Team affiliation: West Coast Trailblazers

First person sample: have some links
Prose sample:

The rush of a good party was what he lived for.

There was nothing like the way his body buzzed and hummed with the thumping of the bass. The way he could let his body take over and do what it wanted wanted while he enjoyed the pleasant numbness of the E and the beers and whatever else he'd necked that night. He lost track of the pills after a while, but he never overdosed, not once. He was fucking lucky in that respect and he knew it, but in some ways he figured he deserved that little bit of luck. God knows he didn't have much luck left when it came to anything else.

So he'd enjoy the pills and the booze and the sex, and he'd share it with his friends and his fish and even strangers. Because he knew well enough by now that if you didn't grab life by the bollocks and say, "I'm having a good night, and you're not stopping me." Then there were no good times out there to be had. Because the only freebies life knew how to hand out were pain and loss and heartbreak, and Chris was sick of that. Even when he had no idea how he'd gotten to this house from the club, or whose house it even was. Because this night was his night. Every night was his night. And as long as he could keep this cycle going, he would. It didn't matter if he got arrested the next morning or if his friends were fucked off because he pissed on their computer. When you live in the future, you end up without a past, and Chris was nothing if not a man who was not pleased with the idea of stagnating.

So let the good times roll. 'Cause fuck knows he'd need 'em to look back on when they were gone.