Taibhse Steiner-Finlay (Keme)

Player Name:  Keme

Name:  Taibhse Steiner-Finlay
Age:  17  (or 16.  or 18.  There was a span of time lost and he doesn't know how long it lasted.)
Grade and/or Occupation:  Academy Junior.  Doesn't really have a job, but he'll tell your fortune.
Species:  Vampiric something or other.  He started to become a Changeling, and then things... happened.
Race/Ethnicity:  mixed
Gender:  male
Sexual Orientation:  Eh... pan?  He has trouble telling the difference between “in love” and “emotionally attached” and just kind of guesses most of the time.  He does seem to have a weakness for feminine creatures that he feels need his protection in some way.

Magical Powers/Abilities:  Taibhse can, with a single taste of a person's blood, get flashes of their past or future.  The detail and intensity of these visions depends on the amount of their blood he consumes.  A pinprick of blood will result in a short That's So Raven style flash.  A full sip will give him a legitimate scene from a person's past or future, lasting anywhere from several minutes to half an hour.  Letting him drink from a person will put him in a state similar to an acid trip that lasts anywhere from half an hour to three hours in which he mentally lives out a matching portion of that person's life.
Magical Weaknesses:  Taibhse grows emotionally attached to each person whose blood he consumes-- he's lived in their head for however long a time, he's felt what they've felt and thought what they've thought.  He feels a heartwrenching connection to each and every one of them, and the blood donor feels none of this.  All they see is Taibhse taste their blood, and then his eyes close for however long his vision lasts.  As one might imagine, this causes problems for him.
In addition, anything portion of blood larger that what one might get from a papercut will incite varying degrees of bloodlust in Taibhse.  The more he consumes, the stronger he feels the need for more.  (Taibhse has since learned that the safest practice is to make the donor drip their blood into a spoon or shotglass from which he may drink.  If he has flesh under his teeth, he has a very difficult time stopping his feeding.)

Personality:  Taibhse is awkward, and terribly sweet, and very much like a puppy that grew too much too fast.  He doesn't always seem to be aware of his own body (he goes through growth spurts often, or at least he did for a while, and never seems to be used to his height.)  His favorite things in the world are dancing, and listening to the heartbeats of others, but given that things like respecting personal space exist and are terribly important, he does not often have the chance to partake in the latter.  When he dances, he llikes to be barefoot and place at least some of the speakers against the floor, so that he can feel the music as well as listen to it.  He grows very attached to certain people for certain reasons, and though he's used to heartbreak it doesn't make each instance of non-reciprocation hurt any less.  He's generally good about staying calm amongst chaos (provided there is no blood involved) and very rarely loses his temper.  When he does, he counts to ten.  Out loud.  Anyone still remaining at the end of the count has willingly forfeited any and all chance of mercy.  
He learned this from Seele.  It has a high success rate.

Backstory:  Taibhse's pre-Arcadia years were spent as a child bearing mild psychic ability-- he dreamed of things happening, and these would be reflected in his life days or weeks or even months afterwards.  He always knew when the phone was about to ring.  His parents thought it a funny stroke of luck for their preteen son to have.  And then there was the crash.  He and his parents had been driving home from a dinner out and it was raining, and it isn't hard to guess what happened.  When he came to-- cold, sore, and being dragged from the wreckage by a shadowy figure who smelled of freshly turned earth-- he had no recollection of anything before bright lights and car horns and muffled screaming.  The Fae that pulled him from the wreckage was a hag who had been watching him for some time, and may or may not have played a large factor in coating the roads with mud to help facilitate the crash.  She gave him no name, and offered him no title.  She simply existed, and taught Taibhse to read the fate of those who came to her.  She would wash a person's clothes, and if the water turned red, violent death was in their future.  If the water ran black, illness would take them.  If the water turned gold, they would die a noble death, and if the water grew muddy, the hag would drag the person in and devour them.  
Taibhse was repulsed, but fascinated.  He lost track of time learning this work, often days or weeks at a time.  He would wash the clothes as he was told, and explain his readings.  Red, violence.  Black, pestilence.  All of that.  But when his water grew muddy for the first time, Taibhse refused to feed.  
The hag was not happy.  She dragged him to market and sold him, saying he was defective and useless but that he could clean and cook without too much trouble.  She also encouraged that he be kicked often, simply out of spite.  
Someone approached and made an offer.  She had pink hair and was missing an eye, but wore a decorative eyepatch to match her elaborate clothes.  The scent of flashpowder and fresh tobacco barely covered an underlying perfume of roses.  Seele Steiner-Finlay bought the lad for a generous price, and proceeded to buy him new clothes.  “You look an absolute fright,” she'd told him, amusement making her one amber eye sparkle.  “All gangly and covered in mud.  A right young boogeyman, you are.”  
And then she named him.  Taibhse, her little boogeyman.  Taibhse blossomed under the vampire's care, learning various forms of fortune-telling as his interest in the field grew, and even helping Seele with her alchemical studies.  
Years later, the Hag came back for him.  Said that she had washed his old rags, and that the water had grown muddy.  Taibhse fought her, as best he could, determined to stay with the woman he had come to regard as his mother.  The Hag was stronger, and more vicious, and she had managed to tear several gashes in Taibhse's body before Seele bore down on her, eye ablaze, fangs bared.  The Hag was dead within a minute.
“You look an absolute fright,” Seele had said, tears welling in her eye as she pulled him to her.  “All gangly and covered in blood.”  Taibhse had clung to her, and managed to cough out the syllable “ma,” and Seele knew that she had to save him.  She drained his blood, mixed it with her own, and revived him.  As a vampire.  
It took months for him to recover, but her little boogeyman came back in force.  With a few new talents.  He traveled with her for a long while, learning all he could from his surrogate mother and her friends, clients, and allies, and plying his own fortune-telling trade.  Traveling helped with the attachment he developed for each client.  But he wanted to make friends, ones he could see often, and Seele offered to enroll him at Dunehelden, where she herself had gone to school.
Of course Taibhse said yes.

Appearance:  Taibhse went through a growth spurt recently, which has him at 6'4” with room to grow still, if the size of his hands and feet are any indication.  His hair is kept short and is white-blonde on one side, umber-black on the other.  His eye color varies depending on whether he's ingesting blood or not-- a soft chocolate-brown normally, they grow black when he's tasting blood, or in a fit of bloodlust.  He's stronger than the average mortal for vampire-related reasons, with boosts to strength and speed during bloodlust, and this shows itself in his ropy musculature, which seems to have gotten most of its definition from his dancing.  He has a wide jaw and an overall rectangular face shape, and eyes that are prone to smiling.  
Character Model: Choi Junhong “Zelo”