Name: Sabriel Micah Phyero
Age:23 24
Birthday: August 4
Gender: Demi-boy (he/him/his and they/them/theirs are appropriate; Sabriel’s gender exists in a sort of wibby-wobbly space.)
Species: Mostly human, though his mother was a bogeyman, which means there is a bit of that in him as well.
Class: College
Grade: Collegesophomore junior
College Major: Photography
Appearance Description:
Sabriel is 5'7" and wiry. Though his shoulders are wide, they are not broad; they are thin, and sort of delicate, like the rest of him. He does not seem to have any extra weight on his bones, but if he is small-boned, he is also long-boned. His neck is long, as are his hands, his fingers, his abdomen, and his legs. His proportions are more languid than awkward, with some sense of grace despite his abundant nervous energy. He is often fidgeting. His leg under the table, his fingers against the sides of a coffee cup, or a pen against a notebook.
Sabriel constantly looks exhausted, as if every night he pulls an all-nighter. The bags under his eyes are near permanent fixtures. He has black hair, which sits messy on his head like a pile of crow’s feathers, the darkness of which make his pale skin look even paler.
His eyes are the color of liquid gold. They are lucid and intense, not only for their unusual color but because they often look anxious. They are his mother's eyes, and the one real physical clue to the part of his heritage he keeps secret. He does have another form—a shadow form, a bogeyman form—which he refuses to utilize. In this form, his body is mostly transparent, all black (like solid shadow), and he grows taller and grows claws, so that he looks less like a human and more like a beast you might catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye. In this form, his eyes may glow.
His clothing tends to be a bit large for him, not because he doesn’t buy the correct sizes but because they do not seem to fit his figure. He likes to cover up. He doesn’t like to show his skin or his body; he is self-conscious and would rather sweat more in the summers than be cool. He wouldn’t call himself stylish, though he might fit into the “art hipster” stereotype: black turtlenecks, slacks, and thick framed glasses when he has to read. He has a septum piercing, a labret, and pierced ears.
Personality Description:
What is clear almost immediately is that Sabriel is an introvert. Though he longs to be a part of things, he has difficulty finding a way to establish himself as part of a group. Small talk interests him little, and he second guesses his interactions, because he feels that he is doing something "wrong." He worries a lot about having an aura of bad energy thanks to his bogeyman half, and worries about people being afraid of him. Though he's come to mostly acknowledge that he may never be fully trusted or accepted by society at large outside of Manta Carlos Islands, he still longs for deep friendship and connection with others.
But it's difficult, of course. He is suspicious of of other people's intentions (especially their intentions with him). He feels paranoid and doesn't trust people at their word, no matter how sincere they may be. He is a cynic who doesn't want to be a cynic, but doesn’t know how to be vulnerable or let people him.
That's not to say, though, that he keeps people out. He just keeps them at arm's length until they've proven they're safe. And although his dark, exhausted, nervous appearance may make him seem unapproachable or closed off, he is actually very soft and gentle. Once he does let someone in and begins to trust them, he trusts them wholeheartedly. His trust is a sort of gift that he gives people who are willing to see him for who he is. He idealizes the people closest to him, and does not feel that people he trusts could be capable of any wrongdoing. Though he knows the world is not black and white, he is grappling with how to balance loving someone with also accepting the bad parts of them; there is, for Sabriel, a sort of cognitive dissonance when it comes to morality and life as it actually is rather than life as he thinks it should be.
His voice has a warm and relaxing tone. He is well-mannered, ever a gentleman, and advocates for the underdog and the downtrodden. He is afraid of becoming a monster, and so he tries, at every turn, to do what is good.
He is also a bit scatterbrained and forgetful. Though he’s always been this way, it’s become worse lately because he doesn’t sleep well. He isn’t the kind of person to remember important days or appointments, and he is most likely to be late to an event than on time.
Powers:
Umbrakinesis: Umbrakinesis is the ability to control and manipulate shadows. The most powerful weakness to this is light, both its presence and its absence. In the total absence of any light, there are no shadows, but the introduction of new light can also dispel shadows he is manipulating (like if someone were to shine a light directly onto a shadow he was manipulating, the shadow would disappear). He is working on strengthening his ability to keep shadows together even in the presence of strong light.
Species Abilities:
As a half bogeyman, Sabriel has the following abilities:
Biography:
Additional Information: Sabriel's core struggle right now is that he feels at odds, as a person, against what he is. He is a creature that needs to create fear to survive, but he is gentle and kind. He is fearful people will only ever see him for the terrifying part of him; the truth is, he's still afraid of the dark, and of the dark that lives in him.
Age:
Birthday: August 4
Gender: Demi-boy (he/him/his and they/them/theirs are appropriate; Sabriel’s gender exists in a sort of wibby-wobbly space.)
Species: Mostly human, though his mother was a bogeyman, which means there is a bit of that in him as well.
Class: College
Grade: College
College Major: Photography
Appearance Description:
Sabriel is 5'7" and wiry. Though his shoulders are wide, they are not broad; they are thin, and sort of delicate, like the rest of him. He does not seem to have any extra weight on his bones, but if he is small-boned, he is also long-boned. His neck is long, as are his hands, his fingers, his abdomen, and his legs. His proportions are more languid than awkward, with some sense of grace despite his abundant nervous energy. He is often fidgeting. His leg under the table, his fingers against the sides of a coffee cup, or a pen against a notebook.
Sabriel constantly looks exhausted, as if every night he pulls an all-nighter. The bags under his eyes are near permanent fixtures. He has black hair, which sits messy on his head like a pile of crow’s feathers, the darkness of which make his pale skin look even paler.
His eyes are the color of liquid gold. They are lucid and intense, not only for their unusual color but because they often look anxious. They are his mother's eyes, and the one real physical clue to the part of his heritage he keeps secret. He does have another form—a shadow form, a bogeyman form—which he refuses to utilize. In this form, his body is mostly transparent, all black (like solid shadow), and he grows taller and grows claws, so that he looks less like a human and more like a beast you might catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye. In this form, his eyes may glow.
His clothing tends to be a bit large for him, not because he doesn’t buy the correct sizes but because they do not seem to fit his figure. He likes to cover up. He doesn’t like to show his skin or his body; he is self-conscious and would rather sweat more in the summers than be cool. He wouldn’t call himself stylish, though he might fit into the “art hipster” stereotype: black turtlenecks, slacks, and thick framed glasses when he has to read. He has a septum piercing, a labret, and pierced ears.
Personality Description:
What is clear almost immediately is that Sabriel is an introvert. Though he longs to be a part of things, he has difficulty finding a way to establish himself as part of a group. Small talk interests him little, and he second guesses his interactions, because he feels that he is doing something "wrong." He worries a lot about having an aura of bad energy thanks to his bogeyman half, and worries about people being afraid of him. Though he's come to mostly acknowledge that he may never be fully trusted or accepted by society at large outside of Manta Carlos Islands, he still longs for deep friendship and connection with others.
But it's difficult, of course. He is suspicious of of other people's intentions (especially their intentions with him). He feels paranoid and doesn't trust people at their word, no matter how sincere they may be. He is a cynic who doesn't want to be a cynic, but doesn’t know how to be vulnerable or let people him.
That's not to say, though, that he keeps people out. He just keeps them at arm's length until they've proven they're safe. And although his dark, exhausted, nervous appearance may make him seem unapproachable or closed off, he is actually very soft and gentle. Once he does let someone in and begins to trust them, he trusts them wholeheartedly. His trust is a sort of gift that he gives people who are willing to see him for who he is. He idealizes the people closest to him, and does not feel that people he trusts could be capable of any wrongdoing. Though he knows the world is not black and white, he is grappling with how to balance loving someone with also accepting the bad parts of them; there is, for Sabriel, a sort of cognitive dissonance when it comes to morality and life as it actually is rather than life as he thinks it should be.
His voice has a warm and relaxing tone. He is well-mannered, ever a gentleman, and advocates for the underdog and the downtrodden. He is afraid of becoming a monster, and so he tries, at every turn, to do what is good.
He is also a bit scatterbrained and forgetful. Though he’s always been this way, it’s become worse lately because he doesn’t sleep well. He isn’t the kind of person to remember important days or appointments, and he is most likely to be late to an event than on time.
Powers:
Umbrakinesis: Umbrakinesis is the ability to control and manipulate shadows. The most powerful weakness to this is light, both its presence and its absence. In the total absence of any light, there are no shadows, but the introduction of new light can also dispel shadows he is manipulating (like if someone were to shine a light directly onto a shadow he was manipulating, the shadow would disappear). He is working on strengthening his ability to keep shadows together even in the presence of strong light.
- Travel: It is possible for Sabriel to travel through shadows, though the shadows must be close together for him to do this. He can sink into a shadow and arise out of another one. The distance cannot be greater than about twenty feet.
- Control/Manipulation: Sabriel can lift shadows off the ground and turn them into more solid creations. He can transform the shadow's shape, and turn it from something flat into a full object (like, for example, the shape of a cat). The shadows become more solid and can be touched when he manipulates them. The shadows, being more solid, can also be used as a protective or offensive force—he can turn them into a wall, or a rope.
- Creation: Sabriel is still working on this. This is the creation of new shadows without the use of any light. It is difficult to do as it relies entirely on his own abilities rather than the environment around him. Currently, he can only create small puffs of shadow no bigger than golf ball, but with time hopes to be able to create shadows that are stronger, larger, and less prone to dissolving in the presence of light.
- Shadow Stealing: Sabriel is still learning how to do this, and hasn't quite mastered it yet. He is learning how to steal the shadows of sentient beings, like people. Stealing a person's shadow forces them to tell the truth. A person's shadow is a heavy thing, though, because of what it implies. When he’s controlling or manipulating shadows, he generally can’t use shadows that belong to people (unless it’s his own) because of this truth-telling effect.
Species Abilities:
As a half bogeyman, Sabriel has the following abilities:
- Frightful Aura: Not an ability, per se, and more like a trait. Because bogeymen inspire fear, there is an off putting energy to Sabriel. This is not to dictate how other characters would feel about him or act around him, but rather, explains why he gives off an unapproachable vibe or gives the impression that he's more scary than he actually is. He isn't a full bogeyman, either, so the effect of this is sort of lessened and some people may not even feel that he gives off any "vibe" at all.
- Bogeyman Form: Sabriel is able to transform into a bogeyman form. He is only able to do this when it is very dark (like at night, or in a basement, or in a cave). His bogeyman form seems to be made out of solidified shadows. He becomes much taller, his hands become claws, and he transforms into a beast/human hybrid. This is the form his body naturally yearns to take when it is dark. Turning on a light, even a flashlight or igniting a match, will dispel this form and keep him human.
- Dreamwalking: He can enter a person's dream. To do this, he must be physically close to the person sleeping. Entering a person's dream leaves his body vulnerable, and he can only do this when he is in his bogeyman form. If anyone were to turn on a light while he was in his bogeyman form and dreamwalking, he would snap back into his body and would feel immense physical pain at having been interrupted.
- Nightmare Manipulation: While dreamwalking, Sabriel can manipulate the dream, but only so that it becomes a nightmare. He cannot make it a pleasant dream. The more successful a nightmare, the stronger a bogeyman becomes; inspiring fear allows a bogeyman's aura to become stronger and allows them to move more quickly and become less sensitive to light. (Inspiring fear is something a bogeyman needs to do, actually, in order to live healthily, but Sabriel refuses to do this on moral grounds; this results in him experiencing nightmares instead and not getting much sleep.) However, there is a catch: manipulating a nightmare makes the person dreaming more prone to realizing that they are asleep, and that what's happening isn't a real experience. As soon as a person realizes it isn’t real, the bogeyman is ejected from the dream, and feels weaker and more drained of energy for failing.
Biography:
- Sabriel might have had a normal family growing up if not for the fact that his mother was a bogeyman. He had a father, an older step-brother, and his mother, and growing up he felt happy and blissfully unaware of what he was and what she was as well.
- Despite being unaware, there was always something strange when it came time to go to bed. He was as afraid of the dark as any other child. Sometimes, during the night, he would call for his mother, and she would not come into his room because it was dark; she would stay in the hall, where the light was turned on.
- After a couple years, everyone in the family began to experience nightmares except for her. One night, she entered Sabriel's room and told him it was because she was a bogeyman, and he was too. She needed to create nightmares to live, and she didn't think there was harm in doing it to her family because she loved them best of all (she had terrible logic). She began teaching Sabriel how to enter dreams and create nightmares as well, which he always felt uncertain about, but when he did as she taught him she didn't give him any nightmares.
- Eventually, she told his father and step-brother the truth as well. She stopped sleeping in bed with his father and took over the basement, where she spent most of her time in her bogeyman form.
- Sabriel's father, truly terrified, sent him away to Manta Carlos Islands without telling his mother. Sabriel was ten when he arrived at the islands, and lived with his aunt, who had special powers as well. Sabriel began attending Starlight Academy at that age. He had a difficult time fitting in, and always did. He was never sure what anyone thought of him and felt more like a monster than a person worthy of being how to control his powers.
- At 13, his father and brother went missing, and so did his mother. Sabriel never knew who to blame. He never knew what happened. He grew far more lonely during this year without their letters or phone calls.
- After high school, Sabriel left the islands. He had enough control over his powers to do it, and even if he hadn't, he would have run away anyway. He wanted to be alone for a while, away from anyone who cared about him and anyone who was scared of him. He spent a year traveling, and then dropped off the radar for another year.
- During that year, Sabriel tried to search for his father and brother, but to no avail. He didn't know where to even begin looking, and he didn't know how to go about finding them without being found by his mother, who still frightens him because of her strength. He also began to experience nightmares because he refused to cause any fear. Starlight Academy had taught him how to do this without causing too much harm, but he came to feel that even a little harm was too much. He couldn't bear to even give someone the kind of nightmares people forget easily. It felt too awful to do, but it began to take a toll on him.
- Sabriel came back to the islands a year ago. Despite not always feeling welcome, he felt more himself here than anywhere else in the world. Elsewhere, people stared at him, unnerved by his golden eyes. Here, at least, it wasn't given a second thought. People here understood, or at least, always tried to. He re-enrolled at the academy on the college level to major in photography and to learn more about his powers and his species.
Additional Information: Sabriel's core struggle right now is that he feels at odds, as a person, against what he is. He is a creature that needs to create fear to survive, but he is gentle and kind. He is fearful people will only ever see him for the terrifying part of him; the truth is, he's still afraid of the dark, and of the dark that lives in him.
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