Quincy Atterton

Quincy stands at a height of 5'8 with a lithe build, a very lax stance, and an expression that's maybe a bit hard to take seriously. His features are generally androgynous but not really hard to tell. His eyes are tilted upwards with a relaxed gaze, giving him that playful look. His dirty blonde hair sits in waves on his head reaching just a little past his ears, parted on the left, with the left side held up by clips of random designs, and the other side left to its own devices. His eyes are an odd shade of light green, appearing somewhat gray under the light. His skin tone is a bit tan, with a small beauty mark just above his lip. Just by how he dresses on a day to day basis, it's easy to see his personality. His color choices are often times rather quirky, while still looking comfortable in a rather avant-garde fashion. Though one thing is common: he tends to prefer clothing that have hoods and rarely shows much of his arms. He's sometimes seen with a set of thick-framed square glasses with transition lens to fend away the sunlight off his sensitive eyes. He never goes without a parasol during the day. As a Shade, Quincy possesses an alternative form which is a mass of smokey blackness that is malleable and easy to shape however he so desires. While not mimicking the shape of others, his nearly shapeless form can reach up to a size of 7 feet, appearing like a weird smoke formation surrounding a feathery mask. He moves rather quickly and is hard to spot in this form when blended into the shadows.

The quickest way to describe Quincy is that he is a child in a teen's body. He's quirky, playful, impulsive, and sometimes just seems like he can't read the air at all. He comes off comfortable and maybe a bit self-absorbed. He doesn't seem like the most reliable person in existence either, considering he sometimes acts more confused about what's going on around him than anyone else, but that's not all completely true. Quincy's the kind of person who's always just trying to do his best on a daily basis, even though he doesn't always succeed in doing the right thing. Quincy can easily forget what boundaries are, for one and he has some difficulties discerning what is actually right or wrong -- but it never means he doesn't care. While a bit questionable during most times, he's a caring young man, always ready to help a friend or two. He hardly can say no to anyone asking for help, and while that seems nice and all, sometimes he really doesn't know how to say no. It doesn't look it at all, but Quincy can be quite a doormat, given the right circumstances. Given also the right circumstances, his grey morality becomes a double-edged blade and can bring harm when provoked. Possibly due to having a half of his life's memories missing, Quincy is less consistent than he comes off to be. While he normally has a grasp of his composure, his temper can make a quick turn within the minute with the right trigger. It's not something he's unaware of, and for the most part, it does frustrate him when it happens and keeps this on the down low. While there are things he keeps to himself, Quincy doesn't shy away when it comes to his interests. Hes very open about them, and it's something people can easily pick up on when talking to him. He's not anyone who would be considered "deep"; in fact, he can be pretty shallow. He heavily relies on common interests when connecting with others, otherwise he chooses not to interact rather than awkwardly fumble around. He chooses to back off when he feels there isn't much he can do, which is why it's uncommon to see him appear out of his element. Quincy is secretive when it comes to his fears and insecurities. As loud as he is of his interests, he is simply the type to refuse addressing any troubles he has, which can easily make room for misunderstandings and the like. Even so, he firmly believes that it is for the best that he doesn't open up about these.

Shapeshifting: As a Shade, Quincy naturally has access to two forms: a human form and a shadow form. As he is inherently a shadow creature, he may seem to manipulate his own shadow when in human form. In actuality, a Shade's human form is more like a puppet they can use to easily interact with others, containing their shadowy form into a human appearance. In this form, they are quick on their feet, produce little to no scent, and have muted footfalls. They also weigh significantly less than what a normal human would. Shadow Manipulation: Shades are a specific species of shadow creatures that can manipulate their (shadow) forms into almost anything from tendrils to grapple surroundings to shaping their entire forms to whatever their imaginations can supply. Quincy, being young of age, has a volume limit that can stretch only about 15 to 20 square meters of floor space. Just as Quincy can stretch himself out, he can also squeeze his body into tight crevices, allowing himself to travel through shadows much faster than in his human form. When using his human shape, he can use his shadow like an extra limb, appearing to move independently of him to others. He is not able to control shadows he did not cast and making contact with a bigger shadow does not make a difference in his overall volume. It does offer shelter. Nightmare Theater: Shades have the inherent ability of inducing nightmares or nightmarish illusions for a certain amount of time. The spell itself fools the senses of the target, but are not capable of doing physical damage (unless the target harms themselves, or puts themselves in harms way while in the state). The content of the illusions are often formed by the mind of the target so most of the time, Quincy never has control of what comes out. Quincy has never used this ability at its full limit but theoretically, he can make a person suffer nightmares for about 30 minutes up to an hour. The only ones capable of breaking the spell is himself or if the target overcomes the nightmare.

Night Sight: Along with being a creature of the dark, Shades have excellent night vision that allows them to move in the dark with ease without the need for any form of lighting but this is countered with their weakness to light, especially in shadow form. Camouflage: Their shadow form allows them to melt into the darkness (whether its from the lack of light or the presence of shadows) as a form of camouflage. They can still be picked out of the darkness though with a level of difficulty, feeling like a warm, thick smoke within the dark space. This camouflage does not protect them from any instance light is directed towards them. Immortality: Shades are also functionally immortal. They cannot die by normal means such as diseases or old age, but that does not mean they are indestructible. They can sustain injuries, and also toxins but they are able to "reset" this by breaking down their human form, going to their actual shadowy bodies and retreating into the darkness for an amount of time, depending on the damage. This will require them to recreate their human casing for a few days before they are able to use it again.

Bad Luck Magnet: Shades tend to be attracted to negativity (emotional or otherwise) and also attract them in return, bringing out the worst in others that gets directed onto themselves. This also applies to them attracting misfortunes as well, raising the probability of misfortunes by a couple of degrees within the immediate area. Because of this, he tends to come of as something like a bad juju to himself and the surrounding people within the vicinity. It's not something Quincy can turn off. Species Weakness: A Shade's main weakness involves light in general including light (or fire)-based magic, artificial lighting, and pretty much the average everyday sunlight. Shades are naturally light sensitive even in their human forms that even being out during the day without any form of protection (that is, shade cast by other objects such as sun parasols or even clouds) can be consequential. While poor lighting can benefit them (shadows cast in a larger area), proper lighting does the opposite. In their human forms, direct sunlight exposure can result to exhaustion and fatigue just being under it for just a couple of hours. Camera flashes sting, lights on the eyes can temporarily blind them, and spotlights make them feel like they're getting roasted more than normal people would feel. On the other hand, direct sunlight exposure in shadow form can become lethal within minutes. For this reason, it's quite impossible to see Shades in their true forms in broad daylight as they choose to hide away from light. A Shade's mask is also a weak point as it is the only wholly tangible part and can be damaged with almost anything. Additionally, it has a direct link to their psyche. Breaking or even just leaving a crack on a Shade's mask can incapacitate and even cause lasting mental effects such as memory loss, disruption of motor skills, etc. Sometimes these damages can be permanent/irreversible.

Quincy Lou Atterton was a child that grew up with a simple life. While he had to live his life without a single memory of a father, he was content living with just his mother, and occasionally, his relatives from his mother's side in the countryside. It was fun, it was nice. Quincy lived most of his life in normalcy -- well, as normal as Manta Carlos can offer, really. What no one talks about though, is that Quincy was only found by the person who he now know as his mother. He remembers nothing from before he was found at around age 9 other than sitting around in the dark before he met his guardian. After which was a struggle to understand how anything worked at a bit of a later age compared to other kids. In the following years, it became obvious that Quincy was... a little weird, though that never really got in his way. Despite the occasional harassment he got for no justifiable reason, Quincy was rather adaptive to his environment. He was a smart kid for the most part, always trying to be at his best behavior for his mom. Even though, at times, life just wanted to try him. And oh, it wanted to try him. Quincy did keep on his best behavior as much as he could but sometimes the worst can get the best of people. His mother didn't fail to be a good model to him, except when Quincy sometimes forgets where boundaries are supposed to lie. He still trying to figure out a lot about himself, even though it doesn't look it.

Quincy currently lives with his mother in an old town housing the Residential Area. His mom has relatives in the farmland side of the island where he spent his recent summers. His mom's currently working in retail downtown.

• Art credits @ me.