"Cooler than Ice- that's the only way to be."
"The pleasure is all mine."
Blake Reginald Fletcher
Nickname:
"It's only really got one syllable, you know?"
Just Blake
Age:
"I might look a smidge older than I am- I'm not complaining."
17
Sexuality:
"How forward of you."
Bisexual
Hometown:
"It's named for my family, you know. I was raised in Fletchersville, Virginia. My family has been stuck here for generations now, the major economic supporter of the town and all that. But yeah, the town was was averagely sized, with a flair for vintage hats, and I lived in the big mansion on the hill, overlooking the ocean."
Element:
"Can't you feel the temperature drop?"
Ice
Studies
"I'm actually still in High School, you know, but I plan to follow the family tradition and study Business. Maybe I'll double major and go for psychology as well- they go hand in hand, after all."
Cold Weather
Snow
Trench Coats
Books on Finance
Intellectuals
The Cello
Conversations on Current Events
Maturity
Flirting
Tailored Clothing
Financial Security
Mathematics
Icicles
Cats
Summer
Fires
Dogs
Loud People
The Ignorant
Childishness
Clingy People
Disorganization
Sensitivity
Debating People
Dull Conversations
Shyness
Rain Storms
Exaggerations
Fears:
Blake has a large fear of fire, which may or may not stem from the fact that ice is easily melted in the face of heat. Of course, he also has some burn marks on his arm that may also hint at a past event triggering this fear. He also is rather afraid of dogs, although only the bigger sorts, and will go out of his way to avoid them if possible. He's not going to scream and run like a little girl, but he's likely to be paralyzed, to an extent, at the sight of them. They aren't to keen on him either, to be honest. His greatest fear is of lacking financial security, though. He has been raised in wealth, but isn't stupid enough to think that wealth is certain for him- the idea of being poor or struggling for his next meal fuels his work and his determination to do well.
Quirks:
Blake doesn't really have any specific quirks that might immediately come to mind. When he's thinking about something and finds it amusing, he will only smile with half of his mouth, which may be considered a quirk. Also, he only writes in cursive, no exceptions.
"Brilliant- redundancy."
Ice
Powers:
Blake, as an Ice Elemental, has certain abilities over, well, ice. He has ice breath, and is capable of freezing things simply by blowing on them. Actually, that's the only way he can freeze things, not able to do is mentally or with physical touch. That's a bit inconvenient, and means that he's not really going to be freezing any lakes anytime soon, unless he can control it to make the ice spread or something. He's a lot better in the field of weather, anyway. He is capable of making blizzards, so long as he focuses, though the larger they are, the more draining it becomes. He can also create lighter snows, if he so desires, or anything really to do with snow as far as weather goes. He does this by lowering the temperature in the vicinity, something he finds much easier than concentrating the cold on one specific thing. Otherwise, the temperature naturally drops wherever he is, and the young man always has ice cold hands, regardless of humidity or heat in the area. He is not able to regulate his body temperature, unfortunately.
Rival Element:
"I can't imagine dealing with such a volatile element- it just sounds maddening."
Lightning
Weaknesses:
Unlike some people, who can fuel their powers with anger, Blake is unable to access his full potential when his mind is clouded by emotions. His best work is done when completely calm, almost apathetic. This likely has something to do with an ice cold temperament. Anyway, if someone gets him worked up, which is rare but not impossible, it becomes a good deal more difficult for the young man to use his abilities. Besides that, he needs to have water around him in order to create ice, of course, because he isn't advanced enough to use the water in the atmosphere for anything other than weather. Even as far as weather goes, he can only maintain control over it for a certain period of time, before the storm is either terminated or out of his control, to run its natural course. He also can't move ice around, outside of the snow, because that is more of a water bending stunt. Outside of his powers, he is a rather greedy individual who cares a bit too much about money to ever be entirely happy- in fact, he is the one who stands in the way of his own happiness, more than anything. Other than that, he is prone to getting sick in the heat far more quickly the others, often passing out- he's a bit of a Victorian lady, fainting wise, when it comes to heat. All animals but cats seem to have a natural aversion to the fellow, and he feels that every bird goes out of its way to shit on him, and every dog to try and tear out a chunk of his leg. He also doesn't do well at focusing when in a highly disorganized environment- messiness just bothers him. A minor thing would be his complete incompetency with music. He loves to listen to it, but can't seem to play to save his life. Unfortunate, as his mother was once a renown cellist.
Strengths:
Blake was raised, first and foremost, as the son of a businessman- and a good one, at that. As such, he grew up learning the tricks of the trade, and has become excellent as far as charm goes- he sells himself better than most people, and that's a crucial skill for anyone who wants to sell a product. He knows how to make people like him or, if he so desires, how to make people hate him. He could sell you the shirt off of your back, being a persuasive guy who has a way with words. Along with the charm part of business, he's also been practicing with economics ever since he was a kid. His father used to play fake stock games with him, or have him set up realistic business situations. Thus, as far as finances go, he can run a tight ship and knows how to maximize his profit. He's been dabbling in the stock market since he was thirteen, using allowances and money he'd earned working, and through that has created a rather impressive portfolio. Of course, he does have one or two skills outside business, the strongest being cooking. His family had a cook, but that cook taught him everything he knows, and now the boy is quite gifted in the kitchen.
Blake is, above all else, the sort of person who cares about what others think about him, and ensures that they do not know about this in the slightest. As far as he is concerned, people who say that appearances don't matter are just kidding themselves, and are destined for a harsh awakening when they get out of school and into the real world. Because people care about appearances when they are interviewing for jobs, choosing friends, dating, and deciding on which major company they want to merge with. It's just a fact of the world, plain and simple. So, yeah, he puts a bit of effort into how he looks and acts, because that's just business. And Business 101 is that, before you sell to other people, you have to be able to sell yourself, and do it well. This is something that he is quite good at, actually- selling himself, that is. Blake knows exactly how to dress and how to act in order to make people like or hate him- or at least how to make the people that he considers to matter think that way. He's a businessman, in the end, and he acts it. The young man dresses only in what he considers sophisticated or business-appropriate, never caught in jeans or a simple T-shirt. He is vain, in fact, about these things, as one might have guessed by his aforementioned emphasis on appearance. He knows that he is attractive, at least physically, and isn't going to hide it under baggy sweatshirts and ragged basketball shorts.
He does these things, selling himself, calculating, because he is clever. People may deny it and simply call him shallow, but that doesn't make the young man any less cunning when it comes to masses. He may not have studied psychology yet, but he has some sort of grasp over the way that people's minds work, how their basic urges and instincts connect to everything else, and he knows that people rarely want the thing itself more than they want the image which it presents. It's that simple- people are more likely to buy an image than they are to buy the product. He knows how to change himself to fit the situation and be more beneficial for himself, as well. He's got an adaptable personality that bends and twists to work best with his own needs, and he knows how to go with the flow, whilst twisting the flow to go his way. It should be obvious from this that, although ice is the hardened version of water, it does not prevent the Ice Elementals from being able to change and flow in a way that is reminiscent of the adaptability that the Water Elementals are known for. He is able to change himself because of a goal-oriented nature, which allows him to do whatever necessary in order to achieve or gain that which he has come to desire or require. He works best when there is a clear goal presented, or a way to win, otherwise being likely to stray off task to find something that is more suited to his own motives.
He's a greedy individual, after all, or at least is in most situations. He desires money above all else, because he has been raised to acknowledge it as a primary driving force in the world. Of course, power is also important to the young man, because he likes the be in a position to control the outcome of his own life and situation. The idea of being a dependent or underling is unappealing to the young man, who can't entirely understand the idea of being subject to the whims of others. He may change himself according to others at times, but is at least aware of the fact that he does it of his own choosing, to further his own self rather than others. Perhaps the most repulsive aspect of being beneath others, in his mind, is the fact that the work that one does can easily be taken away, so that others may claim credit. While he may be vain and greedy, he at least is willing to recognize when someone has done something that he approves of, and is unlikely to steal the credit for the actions or ideas of another. After all, when it comes down to it, he himself is a hardworking individual who expects credit for what he has done, even if he understands that rewards will not be immediate. He is capable of forcing himself to focus on things that he doesn't care about or dislikes, because he knows that doing such things will allow him to advance forward, until he reaches a point where such tasks can be delegated to others. If nothing else, he has a work ethic that puts work before play. He doesn't always use the most noble methods to complete his work, but he will get it done before he takes a break.
Still, when it comes to a goal or project, he loathes the idea of having to rely completely on another. He is not completely opposed to working with another person, to be fair, but dislikes it when the outcome in direct relation to him relies also on the other person. Nine times out of ten, if a project can be graded collaboratively or based upon the work each member did, he will choose the latter method. As far as he is concerned, there is nothing wrong with alliances and partnerships. In fact, they can often be incredibly beneficial to both parties. However, if it looks as though his partner is going to begin dragging him down with him, he does what anyone with his level of self absorption would- he abandons ship, throwing them maybe a life preserver or something minor like that. That's why he always has a backup plan of sorts that relies only on his own skill- like having a backup generator for when the electricity grid goes out. He's confident that he can handle himself, in fact bordering on being arrogant, and therefore has no problem with doing everything by himself. After all, that is the best way to get something done, isn't it? He may occasionally try tasks beyond his own capabilities, but for the most part, Blake will only begin something that he knows he can win, not being the biggest of risk takers. Even if he fails, he can always charm his way out of it, or persuade someone to give him aide briefly. He's a very persuasive young man, after all- he'd be a terrible businessman if he weren't.
Clever || Vain || Greedy || Adaptable || Charming || Sarcastic || Persuasive || Hardworking || Goal-Oriented || Confident || Independent
Hale Fletcher was born into wealth, as his predecessors had been, and it was expected that he would increase the family influence, as his predecessors had before him. The town he grew up in had been named for his ancestor's fishing business, back in the colonial days, but the family business had stretched beyond aquatic agriculture to manufacturing and investment. While the main income came form their domination of the boat and fishing equipment market, which doesn't sound particularly glamorous but managed to be quite lucrative, it was expanded through clever play in the stock market. In fact, it had become tradition for the children of the Fletcher family to be taught in stocks very young, playing games of fake stock markets and such, so that they would know how to play the game successfully when they grew older. He was no exception to this, and grew to become a cunning and charming man. He had decided that his marriage, whomever it may be with, must advance the family, though the girl having an attractive face would be a bonus. He'd never been particularly sentimental, one must understand, but then, neither was the woman he married: Veronica George, a girl only two years his junior who he met while attending Harvard, which had been a family tradition. She knew how to sell herself better than anyone he had ever met before, and seemed the perfect package: clever, beautiful, wealthy, and completely uninterested in things like true love. They were a match made in heaven, and realized it quickly. After they both graduated, the two were married in a large yet private affair. Three years later, they gave birth to what would be their only child: a boy named Blake, after his grandfather.
Blake was raised in the typical Fletcher way, living in a manor on the hill and raised to know how to play the game from a young age. He had two cunning business people for parents, after all, and learned at first through observation. He learned to mirror their speech, as it was the first he had seen, and had a rather sophisticated way of speaking when he first began to form coherent sentences. After all, Veronica and Hale had never wasted time with things like baby talking to their child, instead addressing him as though he were an adult from the very beginning. While this did allow him to mature quickly and wrap the town around his little finger, it also meant that he didn't really have time to become the spoiled little child that people expect of a rich kid. He learned to charm and manipulate early on. His parents were not distant, actually, though that appears to be the stereotype for successful parents. Rather, they made time for their only child, knowing that he was the heir to the Fletcher family name, and therefore should receive the proper education. This didn't mean being sent to the classiest private school in the area, or to some snooty prep school, however. Instead, it meant being sent to a public school where he could learn the way that things worked, for the most part. He learned how to get people to agree with him, how to create partnerships, but not to completely trust.
Elementary school had been a breeze for the young man, who was born as a big fish in a rather little pond, and continued to be this when he entered public school. It helped that he knew how to get people to like him, as previously mentioned, and thus was quick to gain a group of friends who, more like followers, were at his beck and call. There was that inner core of friends, consisting of his three best friends: Francis, his father's business partner's nephew; Heather, whose father was the hospital's director; and Joseph, who was the fastest kid in the school when it came to races. If cliques exist in elementary school, or some groups waiting to mature into the cliques of later years do, then they were the popular kids. They ruled the playground, so to speak, and in general were beloved by teachers and either resented or adored by their peers. Francis was a the class clown, Heather the smartest kid in class, Joseph the athlete, and Blake was every girl's first crush. They were quite the quartet, and adults joked that they were going to, upon aging, take over the entire town. They weren't far off, though it happened a bit sooner than they expected, and continued to mostly concern the younger generations.
They were those middle schoolers who were throwing parties and such, but the group became quite a bit more influential as each of them matured to realize talents outside of their elementary roles. Blake was already earning money, and doing it quite cleverly. Joseph was an expert of connections, and seemed to have a guy for everything, despite his young age. Heather was beginning to manipulate people just as well as Blake had, if not better. The only person who began to lag behind was Francis, who found himself drifting from the fast-paced group. He was falling into different crowds- not bad, just different. He had been Blake's closest friend before this, but the young man was startled by how easily he was able to turn away from Francis when he was no longer a member of the core group, instead one of those who mocked them as being the terrible trio, joking that they were aiming for world domination and mass brainwashing. It was also around this time that Blake began to realize he had abilities beyond that of normal children. There was always a chill around him, it seemed, and the little town began to get erratic and unexpected weather- snow days in the middle of spring. Blake was clever about this, though, and decided to keep it a secret from others, knowing that it was likely abnormal, to the point where it could set him apart in a negative way from his peers. He was far too comfortable on his throne, with his right and left hand by his side, to risk it by asking questions. Instead, he researched it himself.
He found, then, a school for Elementals, like himself. He sent in an application and presented his acceptance to his parents, who were pleased as punch to have their only son accepted into such an elite, selective school. Of course, it also took an explanation of his powers, which led to an investigation of his family background, to find that Veronica's great grandmother had been an ice elemental as well. So it came to be that he left his group, leaving the reigns in Heather's hands, for a new school, where he could form new connections, and sharpen his particular abilities.
