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⇒ info
personality
The first thing to understand about Nicola Santos is that she is incredibly lazy. In stark contrast to most of her family, overachievers in their individual fields, she is content simply to exist in mediocrity with no drive to reach for anything more. She's incredibly content with her lot in life - granted her lot in life is pretty cushy - and anything that requires too much effort promptly gets taken off of the to-do list before she can start to feel bad about not doing it. The one notable exception to this has been her drug manufacturing and dealing, which somehow managed to capture her interest enough that she actually works to find interesting and potent combinations. Ironically enough the only thing that she finds motivation enough to get off her ass and work is indirectly responsible for her blasé attitude towards life, and it's a bit of a vicious cycle that continues throughout all of Nic's teenage years (and some of the adult ones too). It's not just that she doesn't complete magical schooling, that lack of motivation is present in almost every aspect of her life. Despite living alone she never learns to cook, an embarrassing amount of the cleaning in her apartment is done by her visiting friends, and despite the fact that her parents covering the cost of rent and bills means that she could literally do anything she wants, Nicola is still content to spend her days wandering up to the school and hanging with the friends she made through dealing, stick her head into a club to keep her social life active, and wander home - alone or not, it doesn't really matter. She's been in stasis for years now, never quite collapsing but never progressing either, and honestly she's perfectly comfortable with that.
The "Lets All Get High And Touch Each Other" crew have had a massive influence on Nicola's make up as a person. Though she was never attention-starved or neglected as a child, far from it, Nic has always been a bit too big for the space given in her family tree. Even the best parents in the world would struggle with seven kids, and while Nicola doesn't hold even an ounce of resentment or animosity towards her parents, there's no denying that she flourished once her friendship group expanded to include the kind of people that would gladly make out with a friend just because they were good buddies. While she is a very sexual person it isn't purely about being sexual, it's intimacy she craves and this is her particular brand of expressing it. She has admitted on several counts that she struggles to navigate a friendship with someone without expressing her affection physically, whether by sleeping with them or just holding their hand. She's an incredibly physical person, the first one to pull someone in for a hug or squeeze a shoulder, and since being surrounded by a group of friends that not only reciprocate that behaviour and encourage it, but actively enjoy it in kind, she has become a far more open person because of it. She could never have been considered 'closed off' or shy, but in the six or so years that Nicola has had this now tight knit pseudo-family, she's become a far warmer and touchier person.
While she's warmer and friendlier, to say that Nic is in touch with her emotions is a gross exaggeration. Her default state is happy, she spends almost all of her time either blissed out with pleasant company and lazy days or through her extensive drug use, and all in all her spectrum of emotions that she knows how to process is severely limited. It happens incredibly rarely, but when overwhelmed - whether through anger, sadness, or just feelings that aren't happiness in general - she has the tendency to shut down completely. If it's a developing relationship - as seen with her brief college sweetheart grant cooper - she'll pull the brakes before she has the chance to get more invested. In his case, it was right after the near-death experience of fourth year halloween exams, and the realisation that she was actually developing something akin to strong feelings for him made Nicola hit the emergency escape button faster than anyone could say "she broke up with him on the phone?". Because that was the other thing that she did. When in the process of a bail out she's not very sensitive to other people's feelings at all - only semi-intentionally, part of it is to push people away but mostly it's just because she doesn't think her actions through enough. If she experiences grief, she goes completely overboard with denial. She'll either pretend that nothing has changed, or spiral off the deep end with terrible life choices. There is no grey area, not with her. She lives her life in black and white, and if anything falls out of the limited spectrum that she is equipped to deal with, all hell can possibly break loose.
Her impulsive nature will one day be her downfall. As it stands, aged 21, she's on a rollercoaster that only goes down - and up, and down, and up, depending on what time of day it is. She's incredibly easy to persuade into trying just about anything at least once, if only for the story, and the natural inclination towards self preservation just isn't present in Nic. Most of her life is a series of questionable life choices strung up in a chronological order, from taking every dare presented to her as a child to taking unknown substances from strangers in clubs because they say it'll be fun. She's not too trusting, or naive, it just doesn't occur to her that something bad might happen to her. Up until this point in her life, Nic has been blessed by extraordinarily good luck, and despite multiple relatives and dear friends being thrown into potentially lethal situations over and over again, she's never lost anyone close to her.
( Incidentally it is when that changes and she loses her brother during his graduation that a lot of these behaviours shift, but she's not there just yet. Give it time. )
Ultimately, despite being a Literal Hot Mess of a human being, Nicola is a good hearted person. She lacks a lot of common sense, and when it comes to situations she doesn't feel capable of dealing with she can be incredibly blunt and selfish, but she lacks the capacity to be genuinely mean or darkly motivated. She is the epitome of the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", because she almost always has those good intentions, and if she could predict the outcome of a lot of her decisions she wouldn't make them, but unfortunately her divination skills are absolutely terrible - and even if they weren't, she's got a phobia of fortune telling that is near-paralysing. Her intentions are almost always good, if a little self-centred at times, and it's only the execution that sees collateral damage. She's a train wreck, that much everyone is certain of, but damnit at least she's a train wreck with a heart of gold. Mostly. Like 10 carat, probably.
IMPORTANT REATIONSHIPS a.k.a. the loser squad
august moreau. became friends while nic was still in her weird little kid worm eating phase. probably the closest thing she has to a best friend.
marco lorin. the first of her BCR friends and technically her first customer too, back when her enterprise was more of a mutually beneficial deal for snacks and pot.
tristan clark. basically nicola with a dick and a hotline to heaven instead of the ability to magic alcohol down a capri-sun straw.
max kiesler. their entire friendship is based around the fact that they're both massive trolls and nerds who like getting high and getting it on. it's a good life she leads.
grant cooper. everyone has a good old complicated ex and this is hers. they dated for all of a few weeks around the halloween of 2015, giving them enough time to get a tiny bit invested and (more importantly) have an emotional deflowering orgy (on his part) in the wake of the death and destruction that the halloween exams brought. she broke up with him a few days later, never giving a real reason why, and it's largely assumed that she just wasn't all that invested.
skills
CLASS: NATURAL | LINE: EMPATHIC DETECTION
⇒ NATURAL CLASS
As someone who possesses her main abilities from the natural plane, Nicola has a certain degree of control over anything natural and alive. Her magic is largely drawn from nature ( think traditional "white magic" ) and she feels a certain connection to anything rooted in nature. This isn't to say that her magic only comes from the natural plane, or that she can't access other types of magic, just that hers is strongest when used in conjunction with the natural world. Moon cycles, celestial events and old forests all help to boost her power and she is strongest when using these to her advantage.
⇒ SPECTRAL CLASS
As a relative ability (and one that comes from her family line) Nicola also has a certain degree of control over the spectral plane too, described as "controlling magic that affects those that cannot be seen, and are tied to the humane plane". This is nowhere near as strong as her natural magic, the class she was born into, and as a result can only be tapped into during particularly powerful events (see natural class for examples).
⇒ EMPATHIC DETECTION
Her speciality (or "line" as it is referred to in this verse) is empathic detection, which basically means she can sense other magic users and what their own personal classes and lines are. Since this is tied to her natural connection, she's more and less accurate respectively depending on the time of month/year/her location etc. Sometimes she may just recognise a magic user, other times she basically has a full dossier of their whole capacity sitting comfortably in her mind.
⇒ ELEMENTAL MANIPULATION
Her natural class comes with an innate connection to the natural world, and with it a basic control of the four main elements of the natural plane. She hasn't put much work into refining this and as such is still at a basic level of manipulation, and her limits with each element would be:
‣AIR - capable of manipulating something similar to a small tornado, able to move objects no heavier than a heavyset adult male.
‣ WATER - able to draw moisture from the air and create at will, limited to around five litres when creating and double that when drawing from other sources. Can be frozen but she's limited to what her own strength dictates (so weak as shit) if ever she tried to use this ability in an offensive manoeuvre.
‣ EARTH - Her strongest elemental connection by a long shot. Able to shape and manipulate the surrounding landscape at will, can only work with an area around three metres squared at a time (so no levelling buildings). Can also grow stuff, so if she wants flowers to spring out of the ground after your every step that's totally within her abilities, but again is confined to the same area limitations.
‣ FIRE- she's not very good with fire at all. She has no ability to create at will and can only manipulate what is already in existence. She can use this ability to resist heat by slightly repelling it away from her, but has a radius limit of around a metre around her, so no fireballs being thrown around. Basically it's limited to a defensive move and little else.
⇒ HEALING It's not her strongest ability by any means, but Nicola is capable of healing basic injuries and ailments through her connection to nature ( and sometimes with the aids of various herbs and poultices depending on the severity of the illness/injury). Anything immediately life threatening is usually beyond her abilities, but broken bones, cuts that would require stitches, the flu, tonsilitis, that kind of thing is right up her alley.
⇒ ANIMAL MANIPULATION
Arguably her least refined skill and certainly the one she practices the least, Nicola has a basic level of sway with non-humanoid animals. The more intelligent they are, the harder this skill is to use, but if used and improved upon regularly she could hold quite a strong level of control over animals. At the present basic orders are easy, and she can only focus on one being at a time - any more than that and she's likely to overload her magic and fritz out in a big way, likely turning the animal antagonistic.
⇒ DEATHLY CONNECTION
Nicola's spectral abilities translate into an ability to tap into recently deceased souls. There is a short window available, ranging from a few hours to up to a couple of weeks, and is basically limited by the individual. If they have left this world with unfinished business their soul is more likely to be tethered to this plane, and that gives Nicola her footing for contact. She can hold basic conversations, but not for long as this type of magic drains her reserves quickly. Unless there is an event or reason for her powers being amplified, she will struggle to continue past the half hour mark without exhibiting serious signs of exhaustion, and if pushed too far could well kill her. Fun.
history
Nicola Santos is born in a town near Brooks Range in Alaska on March 29, 1997, and for the most part her life is really, really normal. Normal by the standards within her family, at least, which include seven children by the time Nic is eight years old, a father who makes his living representing the all-but-guilty parties in nearby cities - and to add to all that, they’re magical. Running in both sides of the family - natural magic from her mother and spectral from her father - their name is fairly well-known amongst the members of the magical community who care about things like bloodlines, but for the most part the Santos family lives their lives separate from the politics. As far as they’re concerned, the only part they want to be involved with is the education.
For the most part, it’s a very dull life that Nic leads. Her older sister and two older brothers go on to magical colleges - an all-girls “liberal arts” college and Barrett-Crowley Reformatory respectively - and her and her younger siblings have a little more space within the house. Nicola’s powers begin to manifest at age eleven with a rather sudden bout of spontaneous combustion one evening (that ruins dinner, incase anyone is wondering) and her parents are both very proud of the fact that they have another special little girl within the family. After all they may not be traditionalists, but no one really enjoys the shame of producing a dud in as prestigious families as these ones. The intention is, of course, for her to follow in her sister’s footsteps, if not at Wellesley then certainly another institution similar, but even as a child Nicola has different ideas. She’s far more interested in messing around than discipline, and despite her mother and father’s best efforts that changes very little as she grows up. Who wants to sit in class when you can make worms wriggle out of the dirt in the middle of sport and freak your classmates out, right?
Her teen years bring a slight amount more focus, but for all the wrong reasons. She doesn’t exactly spiral into dodginess, but after an evening spent with a handsome friend of her brother’s with an affinity for recreational drug use she finds herself curious, and that starts the slippery slope into drug-induced laziness. For a while it actually boosts her powers, if only because she works tirelessly until she can grow perfect weed plants with minimal effort, but she stops improving not long after her sixteenth birthday. She finds herself fascinated by different herbs and spices, how new combinations can affect magic users, and soon becomes something of a savant for magically-inclined highs. It’s an art form, each poultice, potion and joint tailored specifically to the users class - and at last her special brand of magic comes in handy, because she doesn’t even have to ask what a person is, she just knows. As if a little dossier of information just drops itself onto the table of her mind (what a metaphor) Nicola can tell instantly if someone is a demonic or heavenly, natural or mechanic. On good days she can even see their specialities, their weaknesses, but that’s only on good ( read: sober ) days. At a loss, Nicola’s parents largely give up on trying to motivate her into doing something with her life, and by the time she turns seventeen she’s living in an apartment of her own - paid for in full by her parents, of course, they might disapprove but they hardly want a daughter on the streets. The benefits of coming from old money.
Her own apartment gives Nicola the freedom to basically do what she wants, and while she’d been involved with the party scene - curiously large, given the size of the town - before, this gives her the chance to completely let loose. With no job beyond her dealing and no direction, Nicola embodies the ‘live life in the moment’ attitude. While her brothers attend BCR Nicola is up there regularly, hanging out near the boundaries to catch up with their days, and once her interests shift to drugs they become some of her best customers - or worst, really, depending on how it’s looked at. The boys use a lot of her goods, but the cash flow coming back in is minimal. She’s a generous dealer. And she forgets to charge.
The class of 2016 graduates proves to be an exhausting few months for Nicola. Most of her tight knit group of friends graduate in the same year, and though none of her blood relatives are attending the school at that time her stress levels are still through the roof, so much so that she literally camps out in the woods surrounding the school while waiting for information after the Halloween exams. Somehow, miraculously, no one dies.
The following year passes by a little quieter than the last. There’s only a handful of her friends left in town now, most of them jumping ship on Alaska after the events of graduation, and she toys with the idea of leaving too. There are finishing schools, even options for those like her who irked all responsibility in their teenage years. In the end she stays though, the idea far nicer than any work it requires to actually get there and work for something.
The last of her friends graduate. No one dies, and Nicola’s always been on the fence a little about religion but at that point she thanks every god known to the human population for her remarkable luck. Nicola’s still dealing, less than she used to, still partying just as much as ever, and amongst it all she still finds time to pester every one of the Barrett-Crowley boys that have left. Everyone is spread across the globe at this point, facing their own troubles, and Nicola is in something of a standstill. They pass through occasionally, comment on how much they love that she hasn’t changed, and she never takes it as an insult. After all, why would she? It’s a good life she leads, a little meaningless but fun at least. Her brother enters his final year. Nicola isn’t worried. Luck is, apparently, on her side.
extras
Extra Note
Note description.
Extra Note
Note description.
| Name | nicola adriánne santos |
| Nickname | nic |
| Age | 21 |
| Date of Birth |
03/29/1997 |
| Occupation |
professional mooch / drug dealer |
| Sexuality | pansexual |
| Status | single |
| Nationality | mexican/brazilian |
| Mother | patricia marcia santos née días (47) |
| Father |
rodrigo santos (61)
|
| Siblings |
carla marcia (23) daniel rodrigo (21) samuel marcelo (20) sofia louisa santos (17) luis eduardo (14) gabriella maria (10) |
| Height | 5'3" |
| Build | slim |
| Hair | dark brown |
| Eyes |
blue |
| Tattoos | several less than stellar stick n poke designs, including a crude sun on the left side of her torso, a crescent moon on her ankle, several protective sigils on her wrists |
| Scars | one rather nasty looking scar across the palm of her hand (she botched the healing after a ritual) |
code by morethancostume