- Jun 18, 2015
- 10,109
- Gender
- Female
- Pronouns
- She/Her
- Posting Status
- Irregularly
BASIC INFO
Name: Emil VirtanenAge:
Birthday: February 22nd
Gender: Male
Category: Citizen
APPEARANCE
Most people won't see much of Emil. His clothing tends towards covering as much skin as possible. He wears gloves, jackets with high collars to hide his face, can often be spotted wearing wide variety of hats. In the winter, he tends to wear a knit cap pulled almost down to eye level.
His hair is an inch or two long, and tends to stick out from under whatever hat he's wearing. It's also white as snow, which makes him look significantly older than he is. His size, combined with his white hair makes people peg him for being in his thirties.
The white hair also makes people think he's albino, since he has both white hair and red eyes. He's not actually, since he has full pigment everywhere else. He genuinely has no idea why he's like that, and his best guess is that it might have something to do with his powers. He was born with blond hair and blue eyes, and the older he got, the less color there seemed to be. His skin, however, maintains it's color, which is a nice tan year round.
Emil stands 6'4", and is surprisingly muscular. It's hidden by his coat the most of the time, but he finds working out to be relaxing, and he has quite a few neuroses about being able to defend himself - no that anyone would blame him.
His hair is an inch or two long, and tends to stick out from under whatever hat he's wearing. It's also white as snow, which makes him look significantly older than he is. His size, combined with his white hair makes people peg him for being in his thirties.
The white hair also makes people think he's albino, since he has both white hair and red eyes. He's not actually, since he has full pigment everywhere else. He genuinely has no idea why he's like that, and his best guess is that it might have something to do with his powers. He was born with blond hair and blue eyes, and the older he got, the less color there seemed to be. His skin, however, maintains it's color, which is a nice tan year round.
Emil stands 6'4", and is surprisingly muscular. It's hidden by his coat the most of the time, but he finds working out to be relaxing, and he has quite a few neuroses about being able to defend himself - no that anyone would blame him.
PERSONALITY
Emil is a mix of things that most people would see as contradictions. He spends a lot of time online or playing video games, but he's also built like a tank and can bench press 300lb without too much of a struggle. He's soft hearted and polite (when you can get him to speak), but he also leaves creepy notes that sound like they were written by a serial killer.
The truth is that he's absolutely a sweetheart. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, and he doesn't wish for bad things to happen to anyone. He simply has an awful lot of social issues that two years of therapy isn't even going to be able to scratch at. For one, he's totally against any type of drugs. He's not even going to take an aspirin, and if he were to break his leg and needed to be sedated, the hospital better have some strong security staff to pin him down first.
He's not good with talking either. Years of nearly complete silence have made him hesitant to open his mouth. If he can get away without talking, he will. You'll get a lot of nods, head shakes, and gestures, but actual talking? Barely at all. His difficulties communicating are one of the reasons he spends so much time online. For him, it's a thousand times easier to just type a message to someone, rather than having to actually open his mouth and say something.
Unfortunately, his lack of communication can make him come off as more than a little creepy. He's started leaving notes in response to his visions, but they're so brief and unclear that they tend to sound more like something that a serial killer would write. He doesn't quite understand how it comes across - and even when he does understand, he's at a loss as to how to fix it.
The truth is that he's absolutely a sweetheart. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, and he doesn't wish for bad things to happen to anyone. He simply has an awful lot of social issues that two years of therapy isn't even going to be able to scratch at. For one, he's totally against any type of drugs. He's not even going to take an aspirin, and if he were to break his leg and needed to be sedated, the hospital better have some strong security staff to pin him down first.
He's not good with talking either. Years of nearly complete silence have made him hesitant to open his mouth. If he can get away without talking, he will. You'll get a lot of nods, head shakes, and gestures, but actual talking? Barely at all. His difficulties communicating are one of the reasons he spends so much time online. For him, it's a thousand times easier to just type a message to someone, rather than having to actually open his mouth and say something.
Unfortunately, his lack of communication can make him come off as more than a little creepy. He's started leaving notes in response to his visions, but they're so brief and unclear that they tend to sound more like something that a serial killer would write. He doesn't quite understand how it comes across - and even when he does understand, he's at a loss as to how to fix it.
POWERS
Emil possesses the power of precognition. While it sounds impressive, it's anything but. He can only see events that are at most two days in the future. The events are always bad (although how bad varies). He can't control when he has a vision, and they come on suddenly, without warning, leaving him standing stock still for however long the visions last. They tend to be short, only a few seconds long, and a part of the vision tends to be close by (whether it's the location, or the subject of his vision), which likely triggers the vision in the first place. He'll often have two or three visions a day, although the majority of them will be minor (such as someone dropping a glass and it shattering on the floor, or someone burning themselves cooking). He doesn't get headaches from his visions, although he's inevitably left with a sense of dread. After all, he's only seeing the bad things.
Emil's power operates within the idea that the future can be changed. If he warns someone (or, in the case the vision involves himself), they can avoid it by being careful.
Emil's power operates within the idea that the future can be changed. If he warns someone (or, in the case the vision involves himself), they can avoid it by being careful.
BIOGRAPHY
Content Warnings: Non-recreational Drug Use
Considering how socially stunted he is, most people would assume that Emil had a poor childhood, but it really couldn't be farther from the truth. He was born to two loving parents, both of which cared for him deeply. His father suffered from type 2 haemochromatosis, and he wasn't even two years old when he had the genetic testing done to confirm that he also had it. While it didn't crop up until he was ten years old, it was something he was always aware of. His body absorbed too much iron, and he needed to be careful with iron-heavy foods and vitamin C. While most kids were encouraged to eat things like oranges and red meat, Emil was taught that eating them was only going to lead to trouble - better to pick up some chicken and vegetables instead.
Life was normal until a chance encounter when he was thirteen - or what seemed like a chance encounter for him. In truth, it was arranged by the other party. He was randomly encountered by a strange man, who abducted him abruptly. The man told him the secret: That he was a vampire, and that Emil would one day join him as a vampire, when he was older.
He spent four long, long years in a small room. He remembers very little of it - just glimpses of the man going on long speeches about life, the afterlife, and the human soul. He was drugged heavily, kept sedated, passing in and out of sleep. He moved very little. He didn't speak at all, past the first month. His blood was drained regularly, the very reason he'd been picked up, as his illness made him able to donate blood more regularly than an average person.
His savior, as it turned out, was a real vampire. The man who had declared himself Emil's 'immortal master' was no vampire at all - simply a deranged wannabe who was convinced that if he drank enough blood, he'd become immortal. So when he found a real vampire, he was literally tripping over himself to show the vampire just how dedicated he was.
The vampire didn't take it well. Emil remembers an awful lot of blood, and then being picked up and carried into the main part of the house. He remembers someone making a phone call, and then the police were there in an instant, and people were asking a million questions.
It went without saying that no one would believe him - that there had been a vampire, and that the vampire had saved him. But he was so heavily drugged, and the body had been all but ripped apart, so it was obvious enough he'd had nothing to do with it. He'd been rescued by someone, one way or another. He was reunited with his parents, and began the hell on earth that was withdrawl. The vomiting, the twitching, the desperate cravings for a drug he'd never even wanted. He couldn't have even named the drug he'd been given until the doctors told him in the hospital.
His parents had a tearful reunion, and Emil began to withdraw. Things were different. His hair had lightened, and his eyes were no longer as blue as they'd once been. He was taller, and far skinnier than he'd been. He had effectively no muscle tone, and was completely unable to walk due to muscle atrophy. Even his voice sounded different.
Too much had changed.
He spent two years in therapy and nothing else. Therapy for his muscles. Therapy for his speech, to try and get him talking again. Actual therapy, trying to help him work through the emotional damage of four years in near complete isolation. Therapy after therapy, and every step forward was met with the realization that there were a thousand more steps to go after the fact. He still hated drugs, no matter how minor or useful they might be. School was still an impossible pipe dream, a far off idea that was right up there with being 'normal'.
He remained with his parents, who finally confessed that someone - an anonymous donor - had been donating towards his care, helping with the endless medical costs. His parents remained clueless, although Emil was entirely sure it was the same vampire who had saved him. It was around that point that he began having flashes, visions of things to come. At first, he simply thought he was losing his grip on reality, and it wasn't until he confessed to his father that they made him aware that he wasn't losing track of time - he was literally seeing things before they happened.
It wasn't long after that he received his letter to Starlight Academy. In the end, he only sort of accepted. He went to the island, received a private tutor, and managed to finish his high school diploma. After that, he knew he'd have to find a job, or else he'd simply wallow in his own misery without his parents around. It was the first time he'd been on his own, and it took far too long for him to find a job that wouldn't expose him to people much.
A mail carrier was not a terribly interesting job, but it got him out. It gave him something to do other than working out and using the computer. It required an absolute bare minimum of speech, and by the third week, he would be in and out to pick up the day's mail without a single word.
The visions were the worst part of it. The visions didn't go away, and soon he began seeing the fates of people whose mail he was dropping off. So he did his best to warn people - leaving alarmingly worded notes warning them that someone was going to rob them, or that they'd forget the stove and start a fire, or half a dozen other scary sounding things. At the very least, he tries to do it sparingly.
Life was normal until a chance encounter when he was thirteen - or what seemed like a chance encounter for him. In truth, it was arranged by the other party. He was randomly encountered by a strange man, who abducted him abruptly. The man told him the secret: That he was a vampire, and that Emil would one day join him as a vampire, when he was older.
He spent four long, long years in a small room. He remembers very little of it - just glimpses of the man going on long speeches about life, the afterlife, and the human soul. He was drugged heavily, kept sedated, passing in and out of sleep. He moved very little. He didn't speak at all, past the first month. His blood was drained regularly, the very reason he'd been picked up, as his illness made him able to donate blood more regularly than an average person.
His savior, as it turned out, was a real vampire. The man who had declared himself Emil's 'immortal master' was no vampire at all - simply a deranged wannabe who was convinced that if he drank enough blood, he'd become immortal. So when he found a real vampire, he was literally tripping over himself to show the vampire just how dedicated he was.
The vampire didn't take it well. Emil remembers an awful lot of blood, and then being picked up and carried into the main part of the house. He remembers someone making a phone call, and then the police were there in an instant, and people were asking a million questions.
It went without saying that no one would believe him - that there had been a vampire, and that the vampire had saved him. But he was so heavily drugged, and the body had been all but ripped apart, so it was obvious enough he'd had nothing to do with it. He'd been rescued by someone, one way or another. He was reunited with his parents, and began the hell on earth that was withdrawl. The vomiting, the twitching, the desperate cravings for a drug he'd never even wanted. He couldn't have even named the drug he'd been given until the doctors told him in the hospital.
His parents had a tearful reunion, and Emil began to withdraw. Things were different. His hair had lightened, and his eyes were no longer as blue as they'd once been. He was taller, and far skinnier than he'd been. He had effectively no muscle tone, and was completely unable to walk due to muscle atrophy. Even his voice sounded different.
Too much had changed.
He spent two years in therapy and nothing else. Therapy for his muscles. Therapy for his speech, to try and get him talking again. Actual therapy, trying to help him work through the emotional damage of four years in near complete isolation. Therapy after therapy, and every step forward was met with the realization that there were a thousand more steps to go after the fact. He still hated drugs, no matter how minor or useful they might be. School was still an impossible pipe dream, a far off idea that was right up there with being 'normal'.
He remained with his parents, who finally confessed that someone - an anonymous donor - had been donating towards his care, helping with the endless medical costs. His parents remained clueless, although Emil was entirely sure it was the same vampire who had saved him. It was around that point that he began having flashes, visions of things to come. At first, he simply thought he was losing his grip on reality, and it wasn't until he confessed to his father that they made him aware that he wasn't losing track of time - he was literally seeing things before they happened.
It wasn't long after that he received his letter to Starlight Academy. In the end, he only sort of accepted. He went to the island, received a private tutor, and managed to finish his high school diploma. After that, he knew he'd have to find a job, or else he'd simply wallow in his own misery without his parents around. It was the first time he'd been on his own, and it took far too long for him to find a job that wouldn't expose him to people much.
A mail carrier was not a terribly interesting job, but it got him out. It gave him something to do other than working out and using the computer. It required an absolute bare minimum of speech, and by the third week, he would be in and out to pick up the day's mail without a single word.
The visions were the worst part of it. The visions didn't go away, and soon he began seeing the fates of people whose mail he was dropping off. So he did his best to warn people - leaving alarmingly worded notes warning them that someone was going to rob them, or that they'd forget the stove and start a fire, or half a dozen other scary sounding things. At the very least, he tries to do it sparingly.
EXTRA INFO
- Speaks Finnish and English.
- His name day is August 30th.
- Plays a variety of video games in his downtime. He'd like to be able to read, but his reading skills aren't quite up to long novels, so games it is.
Emil suffers from type 2 haemochromatosis. This is a genetic disorder also suffered by his father which makes him absorb far too much dietary iron. Since humans lack an ability to get rid of excess iron, iron will build up and cause organ failure over time. The best treatment for this is regular blood donations, which will use up excess iron. While the average person can only donate every two months, Emil donates at least once a month, and has to watch his diet and avoid eating both red meats and vitamin C.
