Basic Statistics

Alias Noah Vasquez
Meaning
Noah; A Hebrew name meaning "rest" or "comfort." In the Old Testament, Noah was the builder of the ark which allowed him, his family, and animals of each species to survive the great Flood. After the Flood he received the sign of the rainbow as a covenant from God.
Vasquez; A Spanish surname meaning son of Vasco, Vasco meaning "crow" or implying origins in the Basque region. An alternate meaning is "shepherd".

Gender Male.
Apparant Age 19
Birth date February 6 / Aquarius
Blood type A-
Birth Place Bexley, Ohio
Occupation Noah’s summer job at Campus Grind ended and he’s had little interest in getting a new job. His mother, worried about his stress level, has encouraged him to stay unemployed this year and has offered to help him with necessities, especially since his recent AMO scholarship includes free housing.
Student Involvements Alpha Epsilon Delta (a pre-med academic fraternity), Phi Sigma Pi National Coed Honors Fraternity
Academic Standing Sophomore

Major Pre-med, but he’s officially a chemistry major until that can be arranged. With both parents in the medical field, it seemed only natural to Noah.
Schedule
Chemistry 231 Introductory Organic Chemistry; Noah enjoys Chemistry, and though the teacher isn’t as exciting as he could be, Noah hangs on every word during lectures and spends hours studying.
Physics 133 Introductory Physics: Thermal Physics, Waves, and Quantum Physics; Noah isn’t as passionate about physics as he is chemistry, but the teacher is engaging. He gets along well with the professor, but is disliked by a couple of the other active students for being perceived as a suck up.
History 171 Latin American Civilizations to 1825; Noah took this course not only to cover a requirement, but also out of curiosity. It seems to be going well so far, but he stays mostly quiet in this class and just goes through the motions.
Theater 100 Intro to Theater; Despite having a disdain for more artsy pursuits, he does his best and has garnered the teacher’s approval for his amazing ability to mimic what he’s been told to do. Now he just needs to learn to be creative!

Likes Birds, but particularly ones that talk, Bath & Body Works (though he declines to shop there, he likes the smells), loud ties, the Olympics, people who work for their goals (bonus if he’s still better than they are), surprises, feeling challenged, mirrors, going to plays, weird technology
Dislikes Not having a goal, people who are “naturals” at anything, show-offs, routine, not having the option to change his mind, disapproval, mistakes, particularly making mistakes in public, avocados, inequality (but he‘ll turn a blind eye if it‘s in his favor), lazy people, not having any responsibilities or projects

Skills
It comes naturally; When Noah does something right, he makes it look easy. Ridiculously, disgustingly easy. Even if he is totally unsure of himself, he can put on a confident face and pull it off like it was nothing. He doesn't have increased chances of succeeding, but when he fails it just doesn't seem like a big deal and it‘s easy to forget, and when he does it right it's hard for the average onlooker not to find his seeming lack of effort but with optimal results frustrating. He always adds that extra flare that seems like he just did it to show off, which may be true. Noah looks like he breezes through life's challenges and tests while others work their asses off.

Contagious Enthusiasm; Noah is a passionate personality who talks easily, and though he lacks genuine leadership qualities he's very easy to listen to. He sounds so convinced and enthusiastic about what he's saying that people find themselves going along with his message before they know it. The thing is that when he gets really worked up about something, Noah faintly broadcasts his emotions. His anger, jealousy, happiness and other strong, fiery emotions are literally contagious. This helps him to sway people to his personal crusades, but it works both ways. Noah also picks up on the moods of others very easily and will alter his behavior based on what he just thinks is his intuition.

Mimic; Noah has an intense memory, and though he has a high success rate with names and faces he's much better at anything involving words. With a little thinking Noah can repeat entire clips of conversations word for word as long as it was something he was interested in and listening to at the time. As a result he tends to quote people easily and "You said…" pops up in conversations frequently as any inconsistencies are starkly highlighted for him. As well as this, Noah has an easy time mimicking accents, and when talking in Spanish or English he sounds like a perfectly native speaker.

Fine Feathered Friends; Noah likes birds, and for the most part they like him back. His affinity for the animals seems mostly mundane and based in intuition on how to move and speak unthreateningly. He's always been the one with the most luck getting talking birds to speak up, though, and in record time can convince them to learn a new phrase.

Hablando Español; From a fairly young age Noah was mostly bilingual, though there is a very pronounced difference between his English and Spanish. Thanks to schooling and more frequent use, Noah's English is very formal and precise most of the time. In contrast his Spanish is peppered with slang and he has a hard time expressing complex ideas because of a limited vocabulary. He's a little embarrassed about the state of his Spanish, but would be even more ashamed to be caught in a classroom trying to polish it up.

Persona

Cool exterior; Noah may not be the epitome of cool, but he has an attitude that could be. He never seems to second guess himself and each movement and word is careful but carefree. There isn't a moment or a situation in which Noah looks too flustered and he's just one of those people who life appears to come easy to. Noah was a fixture in the popular "in crowd" through the majority of his high school years, and he has yet to shake traits that he adopted there. He was the nice boy, the one who would talk to anyone but mysteriously disappeared as soon as one of the acquaintances outside of his core group needed him. Noah is nice, but he gives an impression of insincerity that's hard to pin down. The problem is that his kindness is mostly lip service, and it's rare that he'll back up his gentle words with actions. He slides in and out of groups of people without ever making much real impact, though he always seems to be one of the "leaders" for his ability to get along with most of the people there and his willingness to talk.

Pep-squad; Unsurprisingly, Zelus would be zealous. Noah covers that easily and has a reputation for being much like all those people on student council. He is happy, enthusiastic and outgoing and doesn‘t care that you really don‘t want to talk to him or come to the latest school function or hear all about his new academic endeavor. Noah is easily excited, but not in a way that makes him easy to entertain. He grows bored with easy tasks and quick-read books, but when it comes to more involved projects it's hard to calm him down. He has a heavy, overwhelming kind of enthusiasm that drives him to want to show people his progress and bully some feedback out of them. This is also easily applicable to advertising the greatness of a person he admires or any belief he subscribes to. As long as he has a hand in it, he can make even the dullest activity sound like it might be worth looking into. Alongside this, Noah is obnoxiously friendly and good humored, and while he may not always have the sharpest tongue for jokes and wit, he takes it well and enjoys poking fun at people.

Conformist; As implied earlier, Noah's position in groups is very misleading. He may look like a strong personality, but in the end Noah always ends up looking to someone else for what to do. Decisions are always made with everything he thinks people want in mind. He is a victim to peer pressure, or really any sort of pressure at all. Enough bullying and Noah will end up caving sooner or later but even without an aggressor he tunes into little hints very well. Noah mostly operates based on subtle opinions he picks up in conversations, struggling to make the choices that will keep the most people happy. Often these wants are conflicting, and so it's no surprise that Noah is indeed very conflicted.

Scattered; Noah is reacting to dozens of sources with opinions on what he should do and be at any given time. While he looks cool and collected, he is usually quite the emotional mess both because of the pressure to take the right side and follow the right trend, but also by the tolls these things take on his life. He runs himself ragged trying to keep up with what the adults in his life want versus what his peers want. Free time is limited when he's juggling a demanding social life and partying while still bending over backwards to make sure that he never gets below an A. Though Noah is often complimented for being a very smart, well spoken boy, teachers regularly comment that his assignments are always solid but he refuses to take risks or take on any controversial issues. Noah builds himself around other people so much that there isn't a "real" Noah waiting beneath the surface to be released. He simply refuses to think for himself.

Nosy; Noah has a hard time keeping his hands to himself. When left unattended in a room he has little shame in going through nearby desks and collections. He likes touching things and being hands-on and often had trouble while younger when it came to going to nice stores where he shouldn't be touching things. While this is generally not with the intention to find blackmail material, Noah is very curious about other people and their belongings and lifestyles. It's not out of the ordinary that he should pursue something simply because he's curious or there's a subtle (or overt) implication he's not allowed. This is mostly subdued by his unwillingness to make waves, but as long as he thinks he can get away with it he will manhandle that expensive display vase without hesitation.

Independent; Noah depends on no one but himself. He looks out for himself above everyone else and likes to assume that everybody is essentially doing just the same. To Noah this is the best favor he can do for friends as he won't ever be a burden on them. Additionally, if he has to support them, when will they learn to stand on their own? The best course of action to him is to never help them up in the first place. Though he realizes this is cold, he doesn't feel guilt because he justifies that he'd never expect help from them either. In fact, trying to help Noah is a prime way to offend him. He hates looking like he needs assistance and will refuse it even if he desperately needs some.

Selectively Generous; Despite his militant independence Noah can be very generous and kind under the right circumstances. Noah will avoid helping people when they ask him for it, but he will rush to slip in and lend a hand before anyone can say they want him there. On holidays he will never give something that was asked for and takes great pride in coming up with ways to please people that even they hadn't thought of. He wants to he helpful and likes without sacrificing his morals, which clearly state that giving people what they want really helps no one. While some of this is motivated by wanting to look good, there is a small spark of altruism in him. Likewise, it's much easier to get him to accept help if it's done in such a way that he can feign not noticing.

Ambitious; Noah is not ambitious for his own sake, but instead for the people around him. Since he was little his competitive streak has driven him to at least be better than the kid sitting next to him but this eventually made him into that guy who is going places with his life. Noah doesn't want to let down his parents and the need to become disgustingly successful is something that he pulled out of the situation. He wants to make sure his mother is right when she brags about him to friends, and he wants to prove to his father that he, not Milo, is the better, more admirable son. And that leads to the second reason why Noah needs to be successful: Noah hates seeing anyone doing better than him.

Envious; Noah is viciously jealous and can always find some reason to be envious of anyone. Though the feeling is more intense with certain people, he sees everyone as being better than him at something, and he is very much aware of the saying "There's always someone who's going to be better." This is especially frustrating to him when it's something he can't compete to overcome. He hates the naturally gifted or the people who were just born with it, like people who were born into wealth or who are effortlessly a talented musician. From Noah's perspective, he was handed nothing upon entering into the world and if anything he's been at but a disadvantage his whole life. It stings for him to think that there are people out there who are going to be better than him no matter how hard he works. Much of this anger is taken out on his half-brother, who is the ultimate example of someone who he feels he can't ever overcome. He can be very aggressive and spiteful to those who draw his jealousy, and he looks for excuses to hate them and poison the public's opinion of them. While he has enough warmth in him to hold his tongue for a kind soul or Milo, the prosperous, talented and unkind are enemies. With his gift of gab, this can be a bad combination.

Insecure; Noah has a very poor image of himself, and even the most spectacular success can't stop him from seeing what he could have done better. He's not satisfied with anything but the best performances from himself. In comparison he's much more forgiving of others and tends to overlook their mistakes in favor of what they did right. He is immensely ashamed of his background and seeks to blame it and sometimes the people involved when he is in a particularly poor mood. Eventually, however, Noah finds fault in himself to be the problem. He knows failure is a part of life, but hates when people see it happen. He is easily embarrassed when he messes up even if no one saw it happening. With particularly bad events he remembers them for years and continuously feels guilty and embarrassed by them, but in situations where Noah feels like he does know what he's doing he suffers from another problem. He can be an insufferable know-it-all and show off when he knows he's correct. It's impossible to see Noah in this strutting mood when he has any chance for failure because it's a risk he doesn't think he can take.

Dedicated; When Noah allies himself to a person or cause, he is there one hundred percent. Though currently this just means that he is in the running for Rage's number one fan, Noah's extreme loyalty saved him from forgetting his friends and families for AMO. Noah is not flaky in the least and though he can occasionally be difficult to pin down to help, after he has agreed to it there are no doubts that he will show up and perform to the best of his abilities. The same goes for goals and decisions he makes privately. Once he's set his mind to it, it gets done or he collapses in the process. Noah can be a little unhealthy in his dedication, as he will beat dead horses and wear his knuckles to the bone in his loyalty if he's not forced to take a step back. He will try and try again at something he failed until he got it right, and deep down he would bend over backwards for the health of a loved one.


Cycle; According to Noah's mother, he's always been a bit of an emotional basket case. However, his issues have gotten more extreme since the shock of rebirth. Something inside of Noah's personality has developed a rather worrisome crack down it that has made him appear unpredictable and hard to deal with. The Noah people are accustomed to periodically changes drastically, and it's far too early for people to realize that he is anything but unpredictable now. Noah goes through a cycle that lasts about two or three weeks on average if it's not interfered with, though it's not very hard to set him off balance.

The basic template, however, starts with a period of normalness. Noah adjusted well to Rage's influence on the surface and usually has a period of about a week or less where he acts perfectly sane. Eventually he begins to change and his behavior becomes more rushed and restless. This soon comes to a head where his energy is to the point where it's almost scary and definitely worrisome. These episodes of unhealthy energy can be triggered by any number of things, but usually it's caused by stress in his social life or teen drinking. The other common factor responsible is that when Noah transforms he is automatically launched into one of these phases regardless of whether he was previously depressed or normal.

On average this lasts five days before he crashes. To the outside world Noah seems to totally disappear from the world for another few days, refusing contact with most people. He falls into a very intense but very short period of depression, but after he pulls himself back out of it he starts the cycle all over. Noah is once again back to normal, at least for the moment.

Up; When Noah is swinging upwards on his cycle, he’s actually very fun. He’s frequently excited and happy, constantly full of energy and optimism. He’s in an amazingly good mood for days on end, and seems to have no limit to what look like excellent ideas. Well, at least to him. He seems overly ambitious and prone to creating grand schemes that are a little crazy to observers. Still, all of Noah’s beneath-the-surface self doubt disappears and he is filled with very real feelings of ease, power and competence. He doesn’t doubt anything he does, and for it he can be very charming, inspiring and fun. Unfortunately, he’s quick to temper as well. People who disagree or say something is wrong with him are likely to get snapped at. What’s more worrisome is that he tends to barely sleep and often totally forget to eat.

The worse side of it is usually triggered only by very bad events. A particularly upsetting or straining battle, another rebirth or a nasty argument could all possibly make him this way. Noah can be a source of great worry, as the happiness is suddenly gone and he’s constantly angry and frustrated. He can’t concentrate on anything and feels like he has no control over himself. There are impressions of being trapped and frightened since he can’t stay focused on anything for more than a few seconds and is continuously forgetting things that just happened and has no concrete handle on his emotions. Like this, Noah is totally nonfunctioning and avoids people at all cost, rarely leaving his room but never sleeping. Thankfully it usually only lasts a day except in the case of a rebirth.

Down; Noah does very little at all when he’s on the down side of his cycle. He’s overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and uselessness, and all the issues he usually has are just multiplied and everything seems worse than it really is. He has a hard time accepting anyone’s comfort and often argues against their well-meaning words, making it frustrating to try and cheer him up. He doesn’t enjoy anything and dislikes speaking to people, and as he loses interest in everything he was once so concerned about he becomes more of the mindless drone that’s a little more typical of a modern rebirth. In this mindset, the only thing he remains assured of is Rage’s presence. He can be cranky and difficult when pushed to snap out of it, but people who just want to keep him company are reluctantly appreciated and desired. When left to his own devices, Noah mostly just sleeps and despite what AMO told him, he‘s not suicidal. Ironically he has rage to thank for that, as the knowledge of that one reliable factor prevents it.

Appearance

History

Susana Vasquez was a third generation Costa Rican who found her way to Bexley, Ohio after graduating nursing school. She secured herself a good job in the nearby hospital where she met cardiologist Aaron Wiater . Their chemistry was strong and tension ran high, though eventually their relationship became an affair. Passionately involved with each other, it was hard to say it was love more than lust. Regardless, the union resulted in something they should have expected.

Susana found out she was pregnant four or five months into the affair. She felt confident that when she told Aaron he would leave his wife and one year old son for her and their baby. Unfortunately, this was hardly the case. Aaron panicked and tried to suggest alternatives, none of which were divorce from Mrs. Sniegowski-Wiater or running away with Susana. Susana refused and their relationship quickly turned into a very angry, unhappy one. Susana, as a result, had herself transferred into another department of the hospital. Her pride deeply wounded already, she was horribly offended to find out that there had been no resulting divorce in the Sniegowski-Wiater household. To express this, she refused any monetary help or child support.

Aaron's wife, blissfully oblivious to the presence of a half-son running around somewhere, obviously didn't know that her husband kept up contact with the boy, since named Noah. As angry as Susana was with the situation, she wouldn't deny him the right to know his son. Noah, tiny and oblivious, was just excited to see his father as often as possible. It wasn't until years later that he became aware of all the details of the situation beyond that his father lived elsewhere.

Noah ended up attending the same preschool as the original son of Aaron, named Milo, though he was usually dropped off by his mother. One day it was Aaron instead and Noah greeted him as his father without any hesitation. The teachers tried to tell him he was mistaken and that he was Milo's daddy, but the three-year-old was stubborn. When Susana was told of the "mix up" she was more than happy to tell them that her son was correct, and that Aaron was indeed his father. She didn't know that Mrs. Wiater hadn't been told about Noah, but it's unlikely that would have discouraged her. It wasn't long before word made its way to Aaron's wife, and soon after there was the divorce Susana had been waiting for.

Not to say that this changed her relationship with Aaron at all. Though their tempers both cooled the relationship was strictly business. Which was to say they talked to arrange times when Noah could spend time with his father, and that was that. However, as the divorce became more and more demanding, Noah saw Aaron less until visits were mostly limited to holidays, though phone calls were still regular. Noah meanwhile went about his life in a mostly normal setting. Susana's sister and her husband helped to raise him alongside his three cousins.

Noah grew up with a reputation of being a showoff and a know-it-all, constantly competing with his cousins and the local children. He was not a very well-liked child. Adults often found him to be a suck up and the other children thought he was annoying. As a result, friends were few and far between, but he had his claims to success. He was always a good student, tirelessly studying and always paying attention to class. The teacher's pet and nerd image didn't help with his popularity, and as Noah grew older it began to bother him. He was picked on a lot and grew less and less satisfied with just knowing he got better grades or knew more than these people.

Like many children, Noah wanted to be them. His need to conform, however, was just a little more intense. He started dressing like they did and stopped answering questions in class. Even though he continued to get the grades that made his mother look forward to parent-teacher day, he had suddenly cut off contact with the teachers that before he had pestered and spoken to regularly. By turning on the charm, by the time he was a freshman on high school Noah was considered to be part of the popular kid crowd. He was always assumed to be one of the dominant personalities in the group because of his willingness to speak up. He was their mouthpiece, and a very well-spoken one at that. He dated cheerleaders and was friends with all the athletes, but Noah's calling seemed to be school politics. He was easily voted into office every year.

Despite how accepted he was, Noah always felt like the balance was a delicate one. Although he could sway the people he hung out with, more often then not he was terrified of losing his position and instead paid careful attention to everyone's opinions and then just went with the majority. He was unable to shake intense feelings of jealousy towards these other students. She was a better writer than he was. He was better looking. That guy got a higher score on the test. Little things drove Noah to struggle to prove that he was better than them. Maybe not at their skill in particular, but in general he was better. This drive was not one of vanity or arrogance, but more self-improvement. With a poor image of himself, there was always room for improvement. If only he could be like one of them instead.

Noah did not actually make many close friends in high school. He was good at keeping people far enough away where he wouldn't feel bad about standing on their shoulders or going over their heads to better himself. He ruined more than a couple potential friendships this way. However, to his family Noah had blossomed from an ugly duckling into a swan who was going to make them all proud. He was going somewhere with his life, and there was no end to his mother's pride. This encouraged Noah further, needing and wanting more than anything to make sure his mother was right. It was in the middle of high school where Noah began to talk to his father again as well, receiving pride and praise from that angle as well.

Father and son became rather close. Noah seemed to be doing all the things he hoped that Milo would have, save planning on going into pre-med. Noah was ecstatic to have Aaron's attention, as above any of his friends in high school he was jealous of Milo. Lunches and phone calls increased in frequency and Noah once again was filled with a drive to make sure that everyone was really right about him and how successful they hoped he would be. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that to some extent he was a tool to try and make Milo strive and compete with him for honors. Noah tried to fight down the resentful feeling that Aaron would much prefer it was Milo who was valedictorian upon graduation, not Noah.

Despite these worries, Noah's relationship with Milo was not full of hatred. Milo was regarded as a threat, of course, but they were relatively civil and despite himself Noah felt concern for his somewhat estranged half-brother. He followed after Milo into OSU's waiting arms, maintaining a distantly friendly relationship. Noah was mostly too wrapped up in the college life, however. Between the demand to get perfect grades and the pull of his friends to be social, Noah was all over the place and rarely with a moment totally to himself. His time was mostly occupied by studying, student involvements and the regular parties he'd be convinced to go to.

However, bigger things were at work. Zelus, personification of zeal, understandably had a very energetic crystal that was quickly located by Geras. His locket was sent and received safely after a very unflattering yelp and a few well placed curses when it popped out of nowhere. Unfortunately Zelus' crystal was making enough of a magical racket that between it and Noah's presence on campus for summer classes Alpha Mu Omega noticed him as well. While out and about (And eventually to the MYTHOS house to return to them their creepy locket and see what exactly was going on. The curiosity was nearly overwhelming.) he was approached and courted to take a look at their organization and see all the ways that it could help Noah. He was not particularly interested in joining, but he had heard the story about the boy who had disappeared and been supposedly saved by AMO. He rationalized that there was little harm in pretending he was interested for a little while before backing out. He agreed to meet the girl at the house after his class, putting off the visit to MYTHOS one more day.

Charmed and chatted up all the way into the inner rooms, Noah was lured inside and quickly taken to Rage. As was protocol, he was torn apart and the rebuilding process began. Noah's roommate did realize he was gone, but figured it was none of his business, and thus three days went by before Noah's mother realized he was missing and began to frantically call everyone Noah could have possibly been in contact with. No one had seen him. Noah was a legal adult, she was assured, and perfectly capable of just deciding to up and leave for a while. There was still relief that was felt when a week and a half after his roommate had said he stopped showing up at night, Susana received a phone call.

It was Noah, and he claimed to be doing fine, but he sounded different. He sounded strained and stressed and spoke way too fast. He refused to tell her where he was or when he’d come back, but promised he was safe and with good people. After his rebirth, it became clear that he had taken to the transformation remarkably well. He wasn’t quite so mindless as modern rebirths were expected to be and though he was obviously suffering some weird emotional complications, the rare times when he would speak to his hosts it was often very insistently about his family and human life. Noah had not slipped into depression like those reborn before him, but rather was trapped in an episode of extreme mania for a week. Simple tasks were impossible and he remained hostile and withdrawn towards AMO members. He had a few final threads of loyalty to his old life that didn’t threaten rage’s authority, but did drive him to call his mother. It was clear that Zelus was still very much Noah. He was scattered, though, emotional and unstable. Noah seemed to have little concept of exactly how long he had been gone and none at all of what had happened. Things seemed to be coming at him too fast and he was feeling more and more desperate for any kind of release.

And then suddenly he snapped out of it. Noah quickly became the flurry of energy he had always been… and then some. He had embraced Rage’s word without question, of course, but upon learning he was free to occupy his time however he felt he needed to, Noah quickly threw himself back into his old life. He was awkwardly welcomed back by friends and family who received little information on what had happened to him. Noah was always known for being way too hard on himself and getting wrapped up in things, so when he said that he had just broken down and come to some realizations about himself and the future, it was more or less believed as truth.

Noah was told that a couple of AMO members had interrupted a suicide attempt on his part, but the news severely upset Noah who, when he was told, was still in no state of mind to be handling this information. He didn’t listen to the whole story and can’t remember much of what was said over that week anyway, though he certainly wasn’t willing to ask for another explanation. It was embarrassing and shameful to him to think about and so he actively tried to forget it.

Things had definitely changed, though. Versus the Noah directly after being rebuilt who was painfully depressed, new Noah was the complete opposite. He talked incessantly, had more energy than ever before and slept very little, and nothing seemed to get him down. Rather than his usual lack of confidence, he even seemed to have developed an inflated ego. On top of his odd behavior, he abruptly broke off ties to the majority of his friends. All the people he was kind of friends with but not really suddenly saw very little of Noah, though family and the closer friends experienced little change in his attentions. He insisted living with AMO was the best thing that had happened to him, and while he didn't wax poetic about Paradise, AMO and it's members became staples in his conversation and the organization was often at the back of his mind.

Relations

Susana Vasquez, mother, nurse; See history.

Aaron Wiater, father, cardiologist; See history.

Milo Sniegowski-Wiater, half brother, OSU sophomore; See history.

Finch; Noah was always very good about saving up his money, and even better about not spending it. However, as soon as he pulled himself out of the initial depression caused by his rebirth, Noah spent most of what he had to his name. He bought himself a greenwinged macaw christened Finch, and Noah’s influence has already done the bird good. Receiving the adult macaw from the animal shelter, he was warned that it was mean and unpredictable, but after a few days of skittishness she warmed up. Well, at least to Noah. Everyone else is still on probation in the huge bird’s eyes. Still, she’s affectionate with her new human and her hobbies include being excessively loud, showering with Noah and getting into everything she should clearly not be near. Since moving into the AMO house, Finch enjoys more attention from Noah than he usually bothers to give most of his housemates. She’s fawned over, spoiled and cuddled, and regularly repeats a lot of the things Noah says to her. In fact, Finch speaks and mimics a great deal more than her particular species is supposed to. Caution is appropriate if sharing secrets within Finch's earshot.

Alpha Mu Omega Soldier

Rank Rebirth
Name Hoplite Zelus
Elements of Influence Emulation, Envy, Zeal, Rivalry, Dedication

Locket A tiny mirror in a teardrop shape with a gold frame. The pointed end of it has three red glass panels that have a similar to the mirror itself with their pointed ends facing in towards the corner. The actual mirror itself has a small crack down it. (See picture.)

Primary/Secondary Color Scheme Tuscan red / pale blue with dull gold highlights. In days of old, Zelus was harder to miss in fire engine red and butane blue with bits of canary yellow. He was colored suspiciously like a parrot.

Uniform (See picture.)
Laurels; Crispy golden leaves make up Zelus’ laurels. They’re smaller and slim ash leaves and look very crispy and yellow colored. Several of the leaves are missing, and some are crushed or broken. Tucked behind each ear Zelus has a collection of feathers neatly lined up by size.

Armor; Zelus’ armor is Tuscan red leather trimmed in yellow. The breastplate has raised designs mimicking feathers or wings located in the center at the bottom of the piece and over each pectoral. His shoulders are covered by shoulder pads attached to the front with a black cord that fastens in the center with two yellow beads. The shoulder plates are trimmed in blue. The breastplate is separated from the skirt by a yellow strip, and on each hip over it there is a blue clasp holding some more feathers. The skirt itself is pieces of the same red leather. They grow longer towards the front, but everywhere else the length is consistent.

Cape; Long and blue, Zelus’ cape falls unevenly to his waist as if it were attached to his armor in the middle of the cloth’s edge rather than the corners. It comes around the front of him and the cloth crosses over itself and each corner clips to the opposite shoulder guard. The left side is held with a metal fastener and the right with his brooch. Both of these clips also hold another display of feathers.

Toga; Black with gold trim, Zelus’ toga is very typical. It falls asymmetrically above his knees, favoring the left side.

Footwear; Zelus wears elaborate sandals that nearly reach his knees, but aren’t typical laced sandals. They’re yellow leather for the most part and made of a series of thicker leather plates protecting his shins that connect to a more solid back along the calf. The toes of his sandals are mostly covered, but the sides are open and kept in place by criss-crossing straps.

Gauntlets; Yellow leather sheaths cover Zelus’ forearms, but they leave his hands exposed. Both the upper and lower come to a point on the top of Zelus’ arms. They’re trimmed in red and have more designs of feathers.

Wings; Zelus has a pair of very noticeable but small wings on his back, though they’re purely ornamental. They’re about the length from elbow to fingertip and are permanently fully extended. They’re grey with white highlights and identifiable as mockingbird feathers. The rest of Zelus is adorned with the occasional patch of matching feathers. Before his rebirth, Zelus’ feathers were like those of a scarlet macaw.

Transformation The scenery behind Noah becomes thick with black smoke and a huge mirror like his weapon fades into view right behind him. He falls backwards and through the mirror which shatters and tears off his clothes. As he continues to fall, more of a silhouette now, the glass shards become shaped like birds and attach themselves to him to form his uniform and weapon. He flips around in the air and lands in a crouch on his feet. When he rises, he’s left standing very proudly with final wisps of smoke around his feet.

Antanaklasi!
Description
Zelus holds his mirror out in front of him and braces it with both his arms as he calls out his attack. The mirror shines brightly as if it's reflecting a large light, and Zelus charges his chosen target. All he needs to do is make sure he hits the other person solidly with his mirror, but rather than causing an impact he passes straight through the person with another flash of light. If Zelus is dodged and the mirror doesn‘t come into contact with the target, there is no effect.

If it's a successful hit, however, both Zelus and his victim will feel intensely dizzy for a few moments. The target will have had their supernatural powers, abilities and surface memories stolen from them, and Zelus now has access to all that information. Zelus can then duplicate their abilities and use them against his enemies, though while he's borrowing what they have he loses access to all his other skills besides Tireless. That's alright, though, as he uses the stolen powers at approximately the same power level as their original owner. The biggest problem is that while Zelus no knows enough about what he can do now, his control over the new elements is a little unreliable. He tends to be excessively destructive and poor at aiming.

Another set of issues brought up are the complications associated with Zelus stealing more mundane information. He temporarily knows what the sailor's name is and possibly the names of a few allies, as well as anything that was on their mind at the moment. So if they were thinking about what they needed to get at the store after this, or that Amphitrite has a nice ass, these thoughts are now inserted into Zelus. (However, it should be noted that as soon as the ability comes to an end Zelus forgets everything he stole so if his allies want to know Hoplite Ares' real name they had better ask Zelus while he knows.) Meanwhile, the person who was robbed no longer remembers these things and is unable to recall their name or what they used to be able to do while transformed. Unfortunately, Zelus is unable to sort the new combination of his memories and that of his target, and he will temporarily forget that he is Zelus. He adopt these new thoughts and memories as his own and he'll often only respond to the name of the person whose attacks he just stole. Zelus' control is still lacking, so while he's convinced that he is his victim, he can be entirely useless. He'll see the allies of the victim as his own friends and can occassionally be... hostile towards his real allies. The Mythos soldies may have a very easy time swaying him temporarily to their side if he's not kept on a tight leash.

Zelus can only use this twice in a 24 hour period, and has to wait at least 15 minutes after it shuts off before trying again so that he has ample time to recover and remember who he really is. In order to stop it after it happens, the easiest nullifier is for the victim to power down. This will immediately take those powers away from Zelus and put them back in the original owner once they transform again. The other option is to wear Zelus down physically. A few solid blows, even if he doesn't really feel them, will usually be enough to exhaust his system.

Special Skills/Traits
Tireless;
After the first few minutes of heated battle, people start getting winded, maybe slowing down a little. But in comparison Zelus doesn't seem to suffer from this fatigue. In fact, he doesn't really seem to be discouraged by any physical or mental punishment. Not only does transformation automatically put Zelus in a high mood where he is maybe a little too optimistic and energetic, but he just doesn't get tired. He doesn't lose his breath, can't be brought down by anything but pure kinetic energy and performs unnatural feats of endurance. He's suddenly faster, stronger and braver.

But the really shocking thing to see is his ability to simply tune out pain. He will take huge amounts of damage with a few pretty serious injuries thrown in and be able to act like it's nothing at all. Zelus, for his part, doesn't usually notice these injuries. When he's in the moment, usually distracted by a fight, he won't be able to feel them. After he slows down he knows they're there, but it's not always a good thing that your stab wound feels like a scratch.

Zelus will keep on going despite that stab wound or broken bone and won't stop fighting until his body will allow it no longer. He has a high chance of just injuring himself more if he doesn't retreat because of a wound. Eventually the damage catches up to him, and he can feel fine one moment and then suddenly pass out because he's reached that limit. When he powers down this presents another problem, as while Noah gets some of these benefits, the potency is reduced greatly and the sudden onslaught of his injuries being felt often lead him to faint, or at least be temporarily unable to support himself.

Sparkle Sparkle;
Hoplite Zelus doesn’t create any light, but once he’s in contact with even the tiniest bit of it he’s hard to miss. Zelus shimmers, sparkles and shines in the light. Which one it is seems to depend on the dramatic effect and what’s going to look best in any given situation. So when he’s sneaking around he may faintly shimmer with any ambient lighting, but when he’s entering a fight the reflection can be nearly blinding and always likely to give sun spots. It seems like whenever there are dramatic rays shining through the trees and fog, they collect around Zelus. This seems to effect mostly his costume and his hair, which radiate delicate sparkles even in the dark. It looks almost as if he’s been dusted with glitter, which is something he finds a little demeaning. Either way, his entrances look like he’s only lacking a trumpet fanfare.

Weapon
Like the attack that uses it, Zelus’ weapon is named Anatanaklasi. It’s a large mirror around two feet long and four inches less long. The actual item is not decorated, only sporting a plain gold border to frame the clean, silvery mirror. On the back are straps like on a shield that Zelus uses to hold onto it. It also has a strong blue cord with slack that has a couple red beads on it. He uses this strap to sling it over one shoulder if need be.

Zelus' mirror isn't simply so that he and his allies can make sure that their garlands are straight. He is able to fight with it as if it were a weapon, blocking blows and swinging at his opponent. It's certainly not as effective as a sharp-edged weapon would be and it has a short range, though it hurts to be bonked on the head with it's edge. The real way that it shines is in it's defensive properties. When something strikes Zelus' mirror, the weapon or hand in question bounces back as if they just hit something very springy. Even a light touch of an enemy will be bounced back as if it were striking with great force. However, the mirror itself is really quite solid.

If Zelus can manage to block a magical ranged attack with it, that as well will bounce back at the angle that the mirror was set up. Usually this means approximately towards the caster, but sometimes the angle is off and it just flies off wherever. Zelus' aim isn't all that great, so usually people can dive out of the way of the runaway magic. However, if it's a spell that doesn't need to travel the distance between caster and Zelus and simply manifests, he can't use his shield to stop it.

Pandora
Zelus’ Pandora is a young woman made entirely our of mirror. Or is it actually an old man? Or maybe a preteen boy? This particular Pandora is constantly shifting and changing as it pleases to varied humanoid forms of limitless genders and body types. The things that remain consistent are that he or she is entirely made of a highly reflective material like a mirror and it has “Barbie and Ken” anatomy, so though the figure is nude there‘s not much but general shapes to be seen.

It’s a sleek, agile fighter and magical attacks mostly bounce right off it with little effect. It jumps huge distances, bends in impossible ways and climbs sheer faces. A non-offensive ability of it is that it can take on the appearance of it’s opponents, though it can‘t maintain the guise for long and often uses it strictly for “fun.” Despite what sounds like a troublesome amount of dexterity, Zelus’ Pandora is horribly delicate. Made of glass, he or she will begin to take heavy damage just from a few slung rocks, let alone an actual weapon.

Zelus’ Pandora is very playful and childlike, and if given the opportunity seems to enjoy toying with targets rather than just getting on with it already. It’s not horribly smart and if in trouble the favored reaction is to run so that any shattered limbs can be fixed. It cries a lot when hurt of frustrated.