Finch

Finch is horrifying. There's no way around it. While technically human, Finches powers have given him an appearance of a featherless bird. He has a a face shaped like a beak, bulbous eyes, and an awful, hunched posture. While technically around 5', most people would estimate him closer to 4'6" since he almost never stands up straight. The fact that he's missing his right arm (which healed badly and looks like it was chewed off) only adds to the generally horrific appearance.

Thankfully, he's at least somewhat conscious that most people would look at him and run screaming the other direction. He wears a thick blue cloak and a specialized plague doctor mask that hides most of his face, meaning most people assume he's just a short, weirdly voiced human under the mask.

His voice can only be described as screechy. He hmmms to himself a lot.

Finch is kind of a sad guy. Not that he acts sad, but that he's the subject of an awful lot of pity. His horrifying appearance and general seclusion mean that most people think he must be miserable, but for the most part he's fairly self sufficient. For him, birds are more or less as good as people, and there are a lot of birds. He talks to them. They talk back. Who needs people?

Okay, he needs people some of the time. He likes the defiant. He likes his clients. He especially likes his clients who pay in a timely manner and who don't bother his birds. He really likes his birds, and boy does he have a lot of them. They're well beyond the point where anyone could count them.

He's also really, really smart. As an eccentric, it's kind of assumed, but Finch knows chemistry more than he knows the back of his hand. He makes bombs, drugs, you name it and he does it in record time. That's why he was so popular on Halcyon despite all his weirdness: He was dependable.

More Bird Than Man: Finch is a birdman. Not a human with fancy wings and hollow bones, but an actual, honest to god bird man. He's got a beak. He's got a tongue with bones in it. He can talk to birds, and birds will (generally speaking) do what he asks of them. He can't fly (nor does he have wings), but his bones are in fact a good deal lighter than usual, for all the good and bad that entails.

Finch was born freaky. There was no normal childhood interrupted by a sudden random mutation or anything like that. He was just born looking like a terrifying monstrosity with a face that not even a mother could love. In fact, his original self was even worse. His parents made a vague effort to start, but the moment they could they simply left Finch to his own devices. He dropped out of high school and started pursuing his passions, becoming more and more reclusive. Unable to get an actual job, Finch turned to a perfectly acceptable alternative: Super villainy. He sold whatever he made to whoever wanted it, and the money kept him nice and comfortable. It paid for a nice lair, let him do his work, and most importantly made sure no one really bothered him.

Some very unfortunate involvement with a magical artifact resulted in the loss of his right arm, and led to significantly less solitude than he'd have liked. The risk of the world (where he unfortunately lived) potentially ending forced him out of his self-imposed isolation even harder, resulting in him briefly appearing to assist the combined forces of more or less everyone who wasn't already dead. Stuck on the backlines, Finch was more or less safe, pulling through the entire end of the world with minimal risk to himself.

Except, you know, that the world was on it's absolute last legs. The moment a portal was made, Finch scurried through, eager to be off the rotten husk that had once been his home.

Him and fifty or so birds.

Finch came through with more than most people, which was to say a literal cart of chemicals and other supplies. Several of them were confiscated, but getting a job wasn't too hard. Manta Carlos was pretty accepting.

Finch names every bird he talks to.

He's a dorm parent. Who trusted him with kids?

Art Credits: Finch's original design is by me. Banner and ICC Images by CircleJourney.