Basic Statistics Name Casper Chin-Hwa Kim Major Biochemistry, but interested in pursuing Entomology
Likes butterflies and other insects, fruit (mango, peach), blues music, westerns, samurai movies, strong mints, life stories, antiques and heirlooms, sunglasses Skills The Exorcist; Casper could walk into the most haunted house in Europe and you wouldn't hear a peep the whole time he's there. Ghosts, poltergeists and other restless spirits have a tendency of sitting down and shutting up in his presence. Séances and Ouija boards become totally lame when Casper's around. As well, places that are usually eerie because of death—graveyards, hospices, the morgue—somehow seem much less unsettling when you're with him. My Biological Clock Is Ticking; Casper knows when people are going to die—at least, those immediately around him. He can't look at you and state the time down to the last second, but he can differentiate between a matter of years, months, days or hours. The "feeling" is stronger closer to the person's death, so if you've got decades to go, Casper isn't going to be able to "feel" much of anything from you. For those who are already dead, he gets a good sense of how long "the clock has stopped" without needing to check forensic signs. For those who are already dead but haven't ceased walking and talking (such as the AMO soldiers), Casper can tell there's something slightly off about them, but wouldn't be able to explain why. Casper doesn't even really believe he has this ability; to him, it's nothing more than pretty good gut instinct, no more accurate or supernatural than the way some people think they can predict the weather through joint pain. Total Inability To Tan; The chief characteristic of the Underworld was its complete lack of sunlight—which is much to Casper's dismay, as he would really like to stop looking he lives his life hiding behind closed drapes. Casper's skin tone isn't alabaster, since genetics has afforded him a certain amount of natural colouring, but just at a glance, you would not guess that he spends most of his time outdoors or has an affinity for gardening. Oddly, Casper is still no more susceptible to sunburn than the average person, making him the envy of goth kids everywhere. Personality When describing Casper, the first word that comes to mind is often "quiet." In class, he's usually reading or doing homework while others are chatting with friends. At the beginning of his freshman year, he was largely unremarkable to people in his dorm hall, and anyone who did notice Casper thought he was aloof and unapproachable. Casper tends to possess a rather serious manner, and rarely joins in on goofing around or male posturing. While one might expect differently from the above description, Casper is not at all a loner emo hermit. He enjoys spending time in big groups and would cheerfully attend parties or go to a club if everyone else was going. He simply prefers to stay on the periphery—the type to start a conversation with a wallflower rather than shake it on the dance floor. If you're hanging out in a group and ask him to contribute a funny story, Casper will mostly likely try to get out of it by insisting he's just not that interesting. Casper isn't someone who's totally comfortable with being the center of attention, and will quickly try to deflect the focus onto more talkative and spotlight-starved people than he is. While his shyness is rarely expressed as prickly causticity or withdrawal from social situations, one still gets the distinct impression that Casper doesn't get out much. He's terrible at picking up on subtleties and has trouble refusing people when they ask him to do something. Not that he can't refuse—no amount of badgering will get him to take E, for instance, but if you ask the right way ("Please? I'm going anyway, and if you don't do it, no one else will, and at least if you're there, you can make sure I don't get into trouble ;.;"), he might hide your drugs or play look-out during a panty raid. So once you get to know him, Casper turns out to not entirely be the grave, straight-laced teen he appears. One-on-one conversations are where Casper sheds some of his natural shyness, and he can be somewhat appealing in his lack of pretension. He's the rare person who prefers hearing about others over talking about himself, and has a particular interest in life stories and memories from times he's too young to know. For this reason, Casper especially likes talking to seniors, and this coupled with his maturity usually means that many Casper's friends are at least a couple of years older than him. While he relates better to older people, Casper still enjoys spending time with people his own age—he simply seems less sure of himself around them, particularly when it comes to discussions about sex and dating. Casper likes girls, and has no trouble talking to girls, but once romance is brought up, he becomes nervous and hopelessly tongue-tied. Although not especially charismatic, Casper doesn't find it too difficult to make acquaintances. It helps that he's a remarkably patient person. Casper puts up with annoying or unpleasant people for far longer than others might, although he isn't above wryly ribbing them about their behaviour as a kind of hint. It's sometimes hard to tell if Casper's joking or not, as his sense of humour is mostly gentle teasing. He's also excellent at playing the straight man. He will humour you about anything and grin at the punch line no matter lame it is. Most kids become mortified when their parents start telling jokes; Casper loves to hear it. He doesn't get much of that at home. Even though not the most hilarious time, Casper's childhood instilled in him a strong sense of responsibility. He might not be the life of the party, but he's reliable—he'll make sure the party has cups, plates and plastic utensils. He usually keeps a cool head and would make a great leader in stressful situations, which would be the only time he'd want to be a leader. Casper's the type of person who doesn't volunteer as the team leader in group projects, but ends up making sure everyone gets their stuff done and knows what they're doing, and presents in front of the class because no one else wants to. Casper has no desire to control people, but he can't happily leave them alone to screw up as they will. As in the aforementioned example with drugs, Casper will bail you out but he'll have no qualms about slapping you afterwards and telling you you're an idiot. The angrily indignant side of him usually doesn't get a lot of play, as he only gets that riled up when someone he really cares about does something really stupid. He may be exceedingly patient and tolerant when it comes to most things, but he takes his friends seriously and expects the same. He doesn't often get close to people, but when he does, can be prone to somewhat possessive behaviour and is easily offended when he feels isn't being given the same honesty and respect that he's giving them. While outwardly quite forgiving, Casper has trouble with letting go of people's past mistakes and not holding it against them. Not that Casper will claim to be a pillar of morality either. In fact, the most he'd ever say about himself is that he's completely normal and boring, despite all the compelling evidence to the contrary. He studies bugs (with a particular fascination with corpse-eating ones), works part-time in a morgue and has a semi-tragic dead sibling in his past. Most people would look at this and think he's weird, if not completely morbid, but Casper would just shake his head and laugh—albeit a little sheepishly. He is not someone who could wear his negative social status as a badge of honour; Casper wants to fit in, and already feels like he has enough trouble managing that. Overall; Casper would be someone's perfect second-in-command: not charismatic or driven enough to lead, but reliable, efficient and long-suffering. He's a little shy in social situations and susceptible to peer pressure, but give him a straight-forward task and he'll do his best to make sure everyone gets the job done. He enjoys spending time with people despite not usually getting very close to anybody, and can often be counted on to look out for others, even if they're being morons. Appearance
Eyes; Casper has very pale almond-shaped eyes, greyish in colour. Although moderately nearsighted, he'll wear put on glasses only for reading. He does own contacts, but usually forgets to wear them. He has a dorky affection for sunglasses, although is aware that wearing shades too often makes you look like a doofus. Facial Details; Casper has a round face with broad, intelligent features, good-looking in a just-woken-up way. He doesn't bother to shave more than twice a month, as his chin is unable to manage anything beyond stubble. Build; Aside from his height (six-foot-one) and broad shoulders, Casper does not look terribly imposing. He's pale, skinny and awkwardly long-limbed, and could get his ass kicked by a motivated fourteen-year-old. The most that could be said about him is his carriage: tall and straight, making him seem competent and older than he actually is. Otherwise, there's not much about Casper that makes him stand out in a crowd. Mode of Dress; Casper is not terribly fashion-conscious; jeans and T-shirts have practically become his standard uniform. His style is very casual, but he's neat about his appearance, so while his clothes appear baggy due to his lankiness, they actually fit well so he's not flashing his underwear at people. If Casper's style was summed up in one word, it would be "unremarkable": he doesn't wear flashy or unique items, nor does he skulk around in all-black. Other Details; No tattoos or piercings. Has a few small scars on his hands from gardening, and one long one on his left leg from an accident with a rake. History Min-Kyu Kim and Wendy Choi were both first-generation Korean-Canadians — Min-Kyu's family worked themselves up from nothing just to be able to send him and his siblings to good schools, while Wendy's had already been affluent in South Korea before they'd immigrated to British Columbia. The two met and fell in love in their last years in university, and got married just in time for their daughter to be born. Both somehow managed to balance school, jobs and baby in the big city, but when Wendy became pregnant with their second child a couple of years later, the Kims decided to relocate to somewhere more easygoing. Casper Kim was thus born in the town of Prince Rupert, three years after his sister, Daphne, and one year before his brother, Gordon. Casper's childhood was quiet but comfortable; his parents made good money and the three kids were never in serious want, the people of Prince Rupert were very friendly, the town was a nice place to grow up—and that child's first brush with death was not terribly dramatic: his first pet goldfish went belly-up when he was five, and another magically appeared in the tank just days later. Casper's life thereafter was peppered with enough fish deaths to become almost routine. Perhaps subconsciously related to his succession of short-lived goldfish, Casper quickly realised that he disliked being on boats and feared deep water—a small thing, but an especially weird thing for a fishing town like Prince Rupert. He made plenty of friends, but that little fact would come into play every once in awhile when everyone would decide to go swimming. So Casper had a lot of time to himself, and got into reading while most of his friends would be hanging out at the beach or going fishing with their families. He didn't really mind. From early on, Casper was quite obviously the most introverted member of his family—Daphne was the athletic one, involved with tae kwon do and soccer since she was six; while Gordon almost immediately became the ringleader of his own group of friends upon entering school. Their parents were often busy with work and weren't able to spend much quality time with the kids, but this changed as Casper's age was entering the double digits. Casper's memory is iffy before the day his brother Gordon was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, and even the immediate changes following the diagnosis are fuzzy in his mind. But eventually, their mother left her job to care for Gordon full-time, and Gordon was often absent from school for tests and treatments. He and Casper naturally became very close at this time, being boys about the same age, and only became closer when the whole family packed up and moved down to the United States for improved medical care and a cancer clinical trial. Casper and Gordon developed a lot in common when Wendy began taking them on regular trips to the museum—both were fascinated by exotic relics and leftovers of the past, and agreed that the natural science exhibits were awesome. Gordon gravitated towards dinosaurs while Casper discovered what would become one of his life's passions: insects, and specifically butterflies; that first colourful sight of walls and walls of mounted butterflies and butterfly illustrations remains one of Casper's most indelible childhood memories. The next time one of Casper's fish died, he requested a pet spider instead, and received one in the form of a tarantula named Puppy, which creeped out Daphne and delighted Gordon. Such creepy things always appealed to Gordon, who had found his own ways to cope with cancer, ways his parents often worried about. For instance, there was a cemetery within biking distance of their house, and Gordon would often drag Casper out there to explore, read headstones and speculate about the lives of the people buried there. Wendy thought they were completely insane, but both brothers would assert that being at the cemetery never scared them as long as they were together. While bittersweet, the childhoods of the three children were content for the most part. Although she had the least common interests of all the siblings, Daphne still played a large part in the early teen years of her two brothers; in particular, she had time to bond with them after she'd gotten her driver's license and took over some of the zoo and museum duties from their mother. The three regularly went out up until Gordon passed away. Fifteen-year-old Casper had woken up early one morning with an uneasy feeling, and knew before he'd opened the door to Gordon's bedroom that his brother and best friend was gone. After the funeral, the Kim family decided to remain in Cincinnati, OH, having very well accommodated themselves to American living in the short time they'd lived there. Unspoken was also the fact that Gordon had requested to be buried there, in the cemetery where he'd often gone to with his brother, and no one could imagine leaving. Between the two remaining children, Daphne became the wild child, charming and adventurous and a little troublesome, while Casper took the position of the golden boy, studious and responsible and the repository of all of his parents' hopes and dreams. By the time Daphne left high school, she and Casper had grown apart, and their mother had gone back to work. When it came time to find a job, Casper sought a position in a retirement home, perhaps reminded of when he helped care for his brother in his final days. Casper enjoyed his job, particularly the part where he was able to spend hours at a time listening to stories of when the residents were young and the world was very different. If his parents were bothered about Casper's part-time job for whatever reason, they didn't have much reason to complain, for the work taught their son patience and tolerance beyond that of most teenage boys. If anything about this was unsettling, it was Casper's uncanny sixth sense about the residents' life expectancies—a sixth sense he never thought twice about, having always possessed those kinds of gut feelings since he was a little boy with a fish tank. The years swiftly went by, and Casper found getting ready for college. He chose to attend the nearby OSU, as opposed to his sister who had decided to head back up to Canada. The decision was probably helped by the fact that OSU had an Entomology program and most universities in Canada didn't, although his parents were quite persistently pushing Casper to go into pre-med. Casper made a compromise, choosing to go into Biochemistry while taking the summer session in order to lighten his load enough to sneak in bug courses for second year. He also moved out of residence then and found a cheap apartment with grad student—his parents had offered to foot the bill for a better place, but Casper turned them down, probably knowing that accepting would further indebt himself to their med school dreams. Still, Casper won some brownie points by securing an internship at the coroner's office, as a "this is good experience for a doctor!" thing. Relations Puppy; Pet. Puppy is a young female Chilean Rose Tarantula, so named because his sister told him he'd be weird if he didn't want to get a dog as his first non-aquatic pet. She still thinks he's weird. Puppy lives with Casper in Columbus, and is docile and friendly, if not kind of poisonous. Dr. Min-Kyu Kim; Father. Chiropractor. Due to the timing of his daughter's birth, Min-Kyu was never quite able to make through all those years of med school to become a "real doctor" and has placed his hopes on Casper. He is a stern, quiet man, especially so since the death of his youngest son. Wendy Choi; Mother. Architect. Casper inherited most of his practicality from his mother, although Wendy is far more socially savvy—a fact she sometimes frets over. Wendy is the dominant force in her family, and is especially determined to see her two remaining children succeed and achieve greatness. Daphne Kim; Sister, older by three years. Psychology major. Daphne recently completed her undergraduate degree and is planning to tour South-East Asia on an orphanage aid program. Although on friendly terms, she and Casper have never been extremely close as they are unable to see eye-to-eye on most subjects. Daphne is much more outspoken when it comes to resisting their parents' pushiness, and is determined to blaze her own path in life. Mostly. Excepting financial aid. Gordon Kim; Brother, younger by one year. Died of cancer at the age of fourteen. See History for further details. Mythos Soldier Alignment Mythos Locket The top half of the locket is a miniature white sheep skull, about palm-sized, with gilded horns and Hades' symbol engraved in its forehead. The bottom half is circular and silver, with five garnets inlaid along the edges. When the locket is closed, the silver half is concealed beneath the skull. Primary / Secondary Colour Scheme blue-white / charcoal grey Uniform [Lazy sketch of uniform base.]
Transformation "Hades Power, Make Up!" Cold blue flames erupt from Casper's locket and engulfs him in a way that mimics a closing coffin. As the flames swiftly burn up, a low unearthly rumbling is heard, at which point a huge split is seen forming in the earth, out of which rides Hoplite Hades on a chariot drawn by black horses. Hades descends and executes some kind of dramatic non-pose. No floors are harmed during this transformation. Casper's transformations (into and out of hoplite form) are occasionally accompanied by "typical" indications of paranormal activity, such as flickering light-bulbs or rattling windows. Signature Attack Special Skills/Traits Ticking Clock 2.0; A more powerful version of Casper's untransformed skill. The most noticeable improvement is that Hades is capable of noticing that the AMO soldiers are in fact dead, although untransformed AMO give off more of a "maybe?" vibe. Every once in awhile, Hades can also tell when a Mythos soldier is in a potentially fatal situation, no matter how far they are from him. Currently, this only applies to the awakened soldiers with whom he's been in contact, and it's only a vague "oh no someone's going to die!" without naming names or locations. With practice and power-ups, he may be able to expand to all awakened Mythos, get earlier warnings, and tell exactly who's in danger or the general distance and direction of the danger. Weapon Helmet of Invisibility; It's a crestless Greek-style helmet made of blackened bronze, engraved with patterns (Hades' symbol is etched on the forehead) but fairly simple in design. The engravings briefly glow blue before and after he's in the invisible state. [Reference, not exactly as shown.] The helmet is not immediately present when Hades transforms. When he puts it on, Hades merely appears translucent, like a ghost. He needs to concentrate on it to become invisible; the same for when he wants to reappear, although getting knocked out or put into extreme pain will also work. While Hades cannot make other people or objects besides his uniform invisible (such as by holding/grabbing them), the helmet can be worn and used by others.
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Hair; Casper's hair is of a cloudy violet colour with a highlight of light blue, cut slightly longer than chin length. His hair is parted on his right side, resulting in slightly too long bangs that often fall into his eyes. It's straight when combed, which he does every morning, but too shaggy to ever be very neat.