The smoke settles to reveal KANG DANIEL, also known as LOTUS, a 20 year old human of Sunseong. He is a university student and florist who appears to be gifted with precognition â but like most things in Sunseong, there seems to be more to him than meets the eye.
FACECLAIM: Kang Daniel, mmo trainee (produce 101)
APPEARANCE:
notable physical characteristics include a minor case of heterochromia iridium (mismatched eyes), with a hazel right eye and a light brown left eye, and standard lobe piercings.
BIOGRAPHY:
his story starts off like any tragedy does, with a bright, naive child who only sees the world through rose-colored glasses and lives only golden tinted days. the boyâs world is one of vivid colors and glowing lights, with even rain appearing as something happy and wondrous to his wide and impressionable eyes. his childhood is one of blooming flowers and blossoming plants, with an earthy petrichor clinging to his every movement.
he spends his days in his motherâs garden, always smiling and always laughing.
(perhaps, if you really tried hard enough, you might still smell the subtle scent of soil on his clothes.)
heâs still a kid when his roots are torn out of the ground and moved elsewhere. his father doesnât come with him.
he finds himself chasing after the manâs shadow on the late, lonely nights where he would stare at the deathly still ceiling from his small bed and wait for his mother to come home from work, missing the warm smiles and gentle touches that had been painted over by indifferent pats on the head and lackluster quirks of lips. soon, the world around him grows grey and cold, and his smiles grow smaller and smaller.
it is only when the grandfather enters the picture that the wilting blossom begins to rejuvenate.
he begins to spend more and more of his time in the elderâs store, marveling at the beautifully crafted jewelry, and how the smooth metal almost felt otherworldly against his skin.
they grow closer and closer, his mother becoming farther and farther away, and in his head, the store becomes his real home, his grandfather his real family.
on his eighth birthday, he receives a pair of silver earrings. his mother immediately disapproves and forces him to return them.
the boy is left devastated when his roots are upturned once again two years later when he opens the apartment door to find a small, neatly wrapped box at the doorstep.
he opens the door to the familiar store with a wide beam, holding the open black box in one hand, only to smell iron and see red seeping across the floor, with knocked over and emptied shelves covering a body he doesnât want to look at, a body he doesnât want to even think for a moment is -
clunk.
a silver earring falls out of the box as it falls, hitting the wooden floor with a clink, and disappears under the large burgundy recliner that he had spent many lazy summers lounging on and listening to stories.
the sound breaks him out of his stupor, and he turns quickly, feet moving to get him somewhere, anywhere, anywhere but here. In his fear, he loses his footing, and he vaguely remembers almost making it to the door before his body lands on the wooden floor with a crack.
he wakes up in a hospital bed barely remembering his name, saying the first words that came to his mind.
âwhereâs grandpa?â
his mother, disheveled from lack of sleep and ruined by worry, lets out a soft cry at her sonâs curious expression, and says the first thing that would soothe his poor heart.
âheâs sleeping now, dear.â
the kids looked at him weirdly nowadays, he found, pointing at his eyes and making faces.
as he begins to pick back up pieces of his memory, he finds holes and loose ends - his grandfather had passed away of old age, and his mother had requested him to stay away from the store for the sake of honoring his wishes. funny thing was, he couldnât remember the last time he had visited the old man.
they called him names for his strangely colored eyes, laughed at the fact that he only wore one earring - a gift from his late grandfather. There had been two originally, his mother had said.
that was weird. he only remembered having one.
it didnât bother him, though. to be fair, he thought himself strange, too.
it wasnât until they started calling him a supernatural that things began to change yet again.
âlook at the witch! heâs trying to save his familiar. â
he outstretches a hand towards the skittish feline, holding onto the treeâs trunk with one hand.
here kitty, kitty.
âyou know, my dad told me that really bad witches snatch children away from their families.â
âreally? donât let him get down, then!â
slowly, carefully, it inches towards him, about to touch his hand when -
thunk.
a rock bounces off the branch, scraping against his palm and causing the cat to lose its footing.
no!
and in that moment, he loosens his hold on the trunk and presses his feet against it, ready to jump.
screams. he hears them faintly, growing louder in his mind. and for a split second, he sees his twisted and broken body on the ground, eyes wide open and unseeing. he sees every horrified face, every pair of eyes trained on him that were as wide as saucers, swimming with fear. he sees the cat struggling to remove itself from his limp and useless arms.
a hot white pain bursts through his head at the grotesque image, and as time slowed, his arms move on their own, instead grabbing onto the branch and swinging his body over to catch the creature by its scruff.
he hears the shouting of teachers as he hung onto the treeâs limb with one arm, head buzzing and black spots covering his vision.
they fade away as his grip slips and his arm is relieved of its strain, and he sinks his face into the felineâs fur as he falls into warm, firm arms, eyes closed.
from that day on, his head was constantly swarmed with visions and sleep was hard to come by. quickly falling into an endless cycle of pain and fear, constantly slipping between reality and dream, the boy became an exhausted, empty shell of his former self. every step hurt, every sense was heightened, and visions of himself getting scrapes, bruises, hell, even paper cuts haunted him.
soon he stops going to school, stops leaving his room, stops getting out of bed because it was simply too dangerous.
his mother gives him a ring one day, telling him that it was a âgood luck charmâ. he doesnât buy it, but wears it anyways - an apology for the worry and anxiety heâs inflicted on her.
he doesnât believe it, of course, until the depictions of his death that hang around his dreams, the fear of his future injuries, suddenly donât seem as bad, donât seem as harmful. breathing seemed so much easier for some reason; nerves were only small distractions.
and for once, he thinks.
he begins to think that not everything he saw was a truth set in stone; at least, it didnât have to be.
he starts to realize that he has a power - a power that could change his life.
so he takes a step into the outside world, and, for once, heâs not afraid of it.
CHARACTERIZATION:
a delicate balance between sanguine and grounded, daniel is a star that tries to hide its glow by blending in with the others. he tends to shy from the spotlight, preferring to remain as a background character, although his work ethic and modesty tends to attract more attention than he seeks. he is candid - although easily embarrassed - and carries a strangely endearing charm to his subtly awkward persona, whether itâs by the way he smiles or interacts with others. despite being the designated âstraight manâ, daniel is exceptionally agreeable, and, unfortunately, an owner of a bleeding heart. a supernatural sympathizer and animal lover with a knack for putting anyone in his vicinity at ease, kang daniel always speaks from his heart and with a strong moral compass.
however, he is often a little too grounded; a natural worrywart and inherent skeptic, daniel frequently views the world through jaded lenses, internalizing much of his conflict. he is, in fact, often overwhelmed due to his inability to control his specialty, and subsequently carries a heavy burden on his shoulders, second-guessing himself on multiple occasions and showing brief moments of indecisiveness or being consumed in thought. at his very worst, he can appear either much too insouciant or exceptionally perturbed - with occasional fits of silence or emotional meltdowns thrown into the mix - although he has a good sense and tends to shut himself in during these times to avoid troubling others.
SPECIALTIES:
Precognition [Rank I] (20 pts) precognition, often characterized as foresight or some form of supernatural premonition, is the ability to fathom future events moments (or even years) before they occur. thus, the holder is capable of altering their actions as to bend time to their will - assuming that they are able to manage their ability well, of course.
Limits:
danielâs ability currently only operates as a form of danger intuition; when threatened, he unconsciously casts a spell in which visions occur in brief âflashesâ that, when uncalled for, can quickly overwhelm the mind, drain energy and render him vulnerable - this is due to an unconscious internal barrier that prevents him from utilizing the entirety of his power.
likewise, he can only see into the immediate future, and is incapable of controlling when âflashesâ occur due to lack of mastery. however, his ward allows him to mitigate the impact / shock value of their content, and he can sense them seconds before they occur, causing the likelihood of complete vulnerability to be exceptionally unlikely.
on the other hand, depending on how emotionally charged the visions may turn out to be, the probability of backlash from the spell (manifesting as - on a smaller scale - migraines and sluggishness, and in the worst case scenario, momentary blindness, paralysis or unconsciousness) is fairly likely - effects can last from a few minutes to an hour.
Ward of Time Reduction [Major] (10 pts)
manifestation: a sterling silver earring - horseshoe circular barbell (right ear)
background: having received a pair of earrings at a young age from his grandfather (and later losing one due to unknown causes), daniel frequently refers to the remaining piece as his âlucky charmâ - despite being completely unaware of the magical properties that it holds - and is always spotted wearing it.
ability: highly in tune with its userâs emotions, the earring is capable of âslowing downâ, or simply skewing the wielderâs perception of time so that they are given extra seconds to think or process thoughts. symptoms include experiencing a âlullâ in surroundings, as well as various other visual effects.
limits: the wardâs effects occur only within the mind, and are purely internal - thus having no impact on any external sources. Its powers only span a few moments, and when not utilized properly, can appear as simply sluggishness or a figment of the wielderâs imagination.
Ward of Calming [Major] (10 pts)
manifestation: a plain, silver ring (right index finger), with a width of roughly four millimeters - incapable of rusting and with the inscription K.D. on the inner ring.
background: a ring given to him by his mother, who hoped to âcureâ his fits as a child with a ward from a supernatural friend of his late grandfather. Â despite initially wearing it as a reminder of his family and home, he begins to wear it permanently after experiencing complete vulnerability once taking it off.
ability: also exceptionally empathetic, the ward enables a calming feeling that slows abnormal increases in heart rate and immediately stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. this ward is also capable of using its owner as a vessel for its magic, therefore allowing them to spread this effect to other hosts through contact.
limits: the ward works of its own accord, only activating once it picks up on discrepancies within the userâs nervous system, and is tailored specifically to and only for daniel. this renders it useless if any other person were to attempt to utilize it. the magic is purely initiated through touch, and its benefits are unable to be bestowed upon the other lifeforms it comes into contact with unless two requirements are met: (1) the host (i.e. - daniel) is wearing it, and (2) the host has made physical contact (that hasnât been broken) with said lifeform.
Unspent: 60 pts
