Desmond Scott

The world that Desmond comes from is one very much like the ‘real world’, but with one very notable difference - most people in the world have some kind of special ability or power. This can range from the ability to understand animals, to being able to turn invisible or phase through walls, super strength, or any other thing you might be able to think of. Predictably, the various echelons of influence and power were usually based on these skills and how powerful or useful they were. Someone who could control the weather would almost always end up being more influential than someone who could manipulate ice, for example.

However, around one in every one hundred thousand births results in a ‘powerless’ child. These children are not ostracised by society officially, but they are unofficially looked down on as second-class citizens. While this is rarely formally acknowledged, powerless individuals are often not afforded equal opportunities in schooling, employment, and several other areas. This is usually framed as being ‘for their own safety’.

Desmond Scott was born in Warrington in the late 1980s, and when he failed to develop any discernible ability by the age of three his parents were forced to acknowledge that they had produced a powerless child. Despite this they made sure to raise him in the knowledge that he was loved, and they had no other children (something that Desmond - inaccurately - blames himself for). His mother was gifted with empathy and worked as a school counsellor, while his father was able to sense when someone was lying and worked with the police.

Despite his immediate disadvantages, Desmond did well in school and showed himself to be naturally intelligent. He made very few friends, in part because of his status and in part because of a speech impediment - a stammer - that affected him until his mid-teens. Though he was able to control it with speech therapy it was something that he never truly shook and would still come out when he was under stress.

After high school, he attended college and impressed his teachers with his inventiveness and ability to problem-solve. He went on to university and studied engineering, and after this was able to secure an intern position in a company that focused on producing technology to make the lives of powerless people easier. The things that they produced were more often than not marketed towards the general population, but the heart of the company was dedicated towards helping people like Desmond himself.

Though he found some fulfilment in his job, Desmond was often frustrated with his societal position. It would be this frustration that would provoke his first ‘mirroring’ incident, where he accidentally mimicked the powers of his mother while at a family dinner not long after his father passed away. She refused to express how she was feeling to him until he suddenly felt it and the ensuing argument caused him to quickly leave the house, not understanding what had happened.

The majority of Desmond's personality can be summed up in a single word - nervous. He is the kind of person who is constantly looking over his shoulder and fearing the worst out of every situation, and will often miss out on exciting or interesting opportunities because he talked himself into the most pessimistic outlook and then psyched himself out of it. He handles the cognitive dissonance of simultaneously wanting to do exciting things and being too scared to by simply telling himself that it's better if he just stays where he knows he's safe, but this has had the opposite effect that one might think. Rather than feeling safe, he has a somewhat fatalistic world view and the air of someone who is always expecting a piano to drop out of the sky and crush them.

Bordering on neurotic save for a medical diagnosis, Desmond is self-conscious and shy. He handles stress very poorly and develops a stammer when under pressure - a speech impediment that was prominent in his childhood and overcome through copious amounts of speech therapy. He is almost unfailingly cautious in everything he does, and his approach to new situations is often to... simply not approach them at all. Quiet, reserved and always trying to fade into the background, he does not make friends easily and most people around him would regard him as someone who is easy to overlook or even forget about entirely.

Despite his levels of self-doubt, however, he is a very intelligent man who could be very capable if he could get through the nervousness that overtakes him in almost all aspects of his life. He is dedicated to his job and his imagination and level of organisation is what has kept him employed in spite of how easily discouraged he can be when putting new ideas forwards. His personality overall, however, has kept him from the kinds of advancements through the company that others less capable than himself have been able to enjoy - he simply doesn't make much of an impression despite his achievements.

This isn't to say that Desmond doesn't make a good friend. He can be challenging to befriend as he doesn't tend to think himself deserving of the attention, but those few people who have managed to get close to him know him as a compassionate and kind person who would give them the shoes off his feet if they needed them. He is unfortunately easy to take advantage of as when he realises that someone is earnestly trying to be his friend he takes them on very quickly, but he's been lucky in the fact that his 'powerless' status puts him on one of the lowest social rungs. Generally, people don't try too hard once they find out.

He has a peculiar habit of collecting broken things and would say that one of his main hobbies is ‘tinkering’. If something is damaged and he thinks he will fix it he will take it home to his small one bedroom apartment and make a good attempt at trying to get it back in working order. A lot of the time he actually succeeds in this, being mechanically-minded and able to approach such problems with a laser-focused logic (inanimate things are so much simpler than people), but his apartment is full of things that he wasn’t able to fix but also wasn’t able to make himself throw away. His therapist tells him that his level of emotional attachment to broken things might indicate that he sees them as similar to himself, but he isn’t quite ready to process that particular line of thought yet.

While he's only in his early thirties he has resigned himself to a dull and unexciting life, where the brief moments of being perceived are ones to be dreaded. He tells himself that he prefers it this way. It’s very easy for him to believe his own lies.

Desmond's only ability is to effectively mirror or mimic the abilities/powers of people around him, within a certain proximity (around three metres). This is a power that he doesn't know he has, and he doesn't know how to activate it on purpose.

AGE: 32
HEIGHT: 5'11"
BUILD: Average
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Brown
APPEARANCE: Link
STATUS: Single
OCCUPATION: Researcher

POWER OPT-OUT: Click here!
BACKTAGGING: Y
4TH-WALLING: Y
THREADJACKING: Y
MIND READING: Y
FIGHTING: Y
ROMANCE: Y
INJURY: Y
KILLING: Y - ask first!