James Garritsen

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Orientation: Heterosexual

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 201 lbs

Rank: Medial




The basis of James' powers is that they are psionic; they grow with his mind and are a projection of it. In other words, he is a psychic. With his mind, he can manipulate energy to do a number of the things. Of the things he knows how to do is create pure energy waves, manipulate objects, form fireballs and streaks of lightning. The extent of his powers are a direct relation to the expanse of his mind, which can be scary.



James has a sturdy build, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. His defined jawbone and growing beard can often give him the look that he's in his twenties, when he's still only a minor. Seldom does he shave his beard now, but hardly does it grow when it gets fuller. He also waits longer than normal than getting haircuts, as longer hair doesn't seem to really bother him. Usually, he wears cargo pants or baggy shorts and a solid colored, earth-toned t-shirt. However, for more modest occasions, he might wear a polo or button-up shirt.



James is rather quiet; he always keeps to himself and only does what he absolutely has to in school, having few if any friends. The extent of his powers and his control of them are hard to measure, so while he is barely passing Power Control, he is failing Power Expansion, as if he doesn't try. What he thinks he is a master at keeping a mystery for others, but the extent of thinking and his intelligence are surely shown whenever he plays chess, one of the few ways he interacts with other people. When people talk about something he'd rather not, he either ignores them, or if it's some criticism of his actions, he sometimes tells them something along the lines of it not being their business. He's also not one known to swear much.

Some other things he does outside of class is venture off into the woods; he's always back for lights out. If he's not off campus or playing chess, there are two other things he'd be doing, playing ultimate frisbee or lifting an excessive amount of weights. Keeping an incredibly fit body, like his powers, he barely applies his strength. When sparring, he'll usually just take the hits until he's beaten or rung out; he has never let people know why he lets himself be beaten. The only time he fights back is when people have powers to cause pain from within himself, for when he is confronted with such powers, those who might be able to sense his power can feel momentous surges of it at startling heights.

Though he goes through a school made to tame "special" abilities, James' powers are rarely displayed. As psionics mainly manipulates energy already there, he uses minimal pushes of energy in class to show he still should be there, sometimes firing off an occasional lightning bolt or fireball. Sometimes, when he's bored, he'll play around with rocks or water until class is over.

One of the struggles he's had with school is the ranking system, though he rarely voices his opinion about it, and when he does, he never supports it with a basis in reality. He just says "think about it, it is." He has a hard time accepting or dealing with people who think they're better because some fancy word is attached to them. Recently, his attitude has become more short-fused. A couple times in the past few months, he used his powers against teachers when they've reprimanded him for playing with floating balls of water or compacting rocks in class. While punishments were severe, there doesn't seem to be a big change in his overall attitude; he's only become somewhat reckless.

Likes:
-Chess
-Frisbee
-Nature
-Guns
-Rock and heavier music

Dislikes:
-Using his powers
-Elitism
-Class
-Most pop (songs/culture)

History

James has never discussed his past with anyone. However, as the school is a government operation, some guidance counsellors and higher staff members are most likely aware of it, though he refuses to discuss it with anyone.

James was born in West Virginia, raised in a primarily conservative manner in the countryside. Farming was the thing to do, and he was home schooled. When he was five years old, he became conscious of his ability, and had no siblings either. His father began trying to help tame the powers of his son, which could be considered out of hand sometimes when he was upset. One such incident when he was eight resulted in the quaking of an entire wheat field, something that took some time to level again and seed.

As he became older, his powers grew but he became more controlling of his emotions. He kept the use of his powers minimal, slowly expanding his horizons as a fighter. Sparring with his father time and time again after he turned ten, it was constantly proven to James that he had much to learn. But the happier days of James' life was cut short when he was 13, and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His mother would die in a year.

With all parental responsibilities falling on James' father, sparring became more or less a weekend activity. As the community had some shared home schooling activities, James' education was unaffected by the loss, and he got a considerable amount of support from the friends he had. However, it would be one day, during a sparring match, things would turn for the worse again.

Sparring one afternoon with his father in the open plains, James and his father were at a stalemate as two balls of psionic energy collided. His father was only trying to keep his son at bay, to not hurt him too seriously, but James was determined to not lose. Summoning all of his power, with lightning littering the field they were at, James won the battle. And lost his father.

With the disturbance having been noticed throughout the community, the American government did their best in trying to hide the unstable child from the media. It would be then that James would go to a very selective fostering program for those with powers, and end up in France to tame his powers.

The Promise