Alex (Smoke)

Player Name: Smoke/Green/Mark/that one

Name: Alexander Matsuoka
Age: 16
Grade and/or Occupation: Junior
Species: Kitsune
Race/Ethnicity: Multiracial
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Gay (technically panrom but eh)

Magical Powers/Abilities: Kitsune. Alex has the ability to produce small amounts of light, fire, or electricity, produce small visual illusions, or produce more complicated illusions if they involve changing his own appearance or how he "seems" to look. These powers can improve with time and effort. In theory he also ought to be able to shapeshift, among other things.

Right now Alex can produce about as much light as a weak flashlight, a palm-sized fire, or enough electricity to flicker lights or, if need be, to be very painful for a moment. Elemental powers must originate on his person, and he seems to be immune to them himself, though the fire and electricity can spread as normal afterwards. (It took him a bit of practice to figure out how to not set his sleeves on fire.) Illusions are line-of-sight and tend to be translucent or flickery unless they're small and not very detailed.

All powers require some concentration and mental effort to create, especially the illusions- if it didn't require constant upkeep he'd honestly just go around glamoured all the time...

Magical Weaknesses: As a technically fae creature, Alex is vulnerable to wards and has to be careful with his promises, but he has no special vulnerability to any non-magical material. Those with some form of True Sight may notice something strange about his shadow, as if he's got a tail. (Active magical perception will show him as a white-furred, three-tailed fox.) For his own part, he has no inherent ability to do that, even to see himself, and will have to learn like everyone else.

Lore: The reality of kitsune and other fox spirits are about as well-known in the magical community as their legends are known in the rest of the world, though they're uncommon outside of rural East Asia. Most of them are born as foxes and live their lives as highly intelligent magical creatures, and have as wide a range of reputations as you might expect. Those kitsune who gain great magical power can learn to extend their lifespans, and a mundane fox who strays too closely to Arcadia or lives a particularly virtuous life (however that works) has a chance of becoming a kitsune, though in the modern world such creatures don't often live long.

When in human form, a kitsune is biologically human as well as magically a fox spirit, and some have been known to marry and have children. These children are usually human, with a touch of magical talent at the most, though under rare circumstances they may become kitsune themselves. The mechanism for this is not widely known, though once a person (or a fox for that matter) is a kitsune, they're no longer what they once were.

Personality: Alex isn't inherently a bad person. He isn't inherently a good person either. What he is is someone with a preternatural amount of empathy, a natural talent for cold reading, and a history of having to balance the hell that public schooling can sometimes be with the love and discipline his family has tried to instill in him. He's an extrovert and a bit of a nerd; he isn't unusually intelligent but he loves reading and learning new things. He's usually polite, but sometimes fussy; he's neat and disciplined, but is easily emotionally overwhelmed; what he wants most in the world is friends he can trust, but second after that is power.

Alex could be a good person, but he may need to be eased into it.

Backstory: Up until a year or two ago, Alex was under the impression he was human. On some level he's still not convinced he's not, that this isn't some kind of obnoxious mistake, or that he's not at least some other kind of magical weirdo. He will be disappointed.

It started around sixth grade, when the bullying really kicked off. Lights would flicker when he was angry. He started glowing under the moonlight when nobody was looking directly at him. His parents got him a counselor and things got better for a while, though they were much less successful than Alex was at rationalizing it all as "nothing happened". Eventually, Alex hit high school age and his parents were able to send him to a nicer school with better academics where no one knew him. Unfortunately for him, the kids there weren't any nicer, just more subtle. Unfortunately for everyone else, he'd discovered a different ability- manipulation- and was determined to change his social status by any means necessary.

Alex has spent a lot of time and energy climbing to the top of the heap, but his parents have decided he needs to transfer. He's not looking forward to this Harry Potter bullshit interfering with his life.

Appearance: Alex is about 5'8", medium build, with pale skin, greenish eyes and curly, sandy-white hair in neat dreadlocks. He has rounded features growing more angular and prominent as he ages, though at the moment he looks a bit awkward, and tends to wear fashionable, somewhat conservative clothing.