The ability to adapt to any situaton or need and alter the body and mind unintentionally. To some this may seem like a luxury, but Nicholas does not know what these changes could imply.
Nicholas, because of his condition, is a paranoid, secretive young man that often keeps his mouth shut and his head low. In reality he is kind, with a certain sense of empathy that few posses, but these traits have been buried by the desire to hide his own lifestyle and the ability he has discovered. He is currently unaware of the other Transcenderi, other people with abilities, and so speaks with few so as not to reveal any details that could lead anyone to investigate.
Despite Nick's good nature, however, his addiction often drives him to violence, revealing another side to him that most have come to regard as the true Nicholas Aldridge. This is false, but Nicholas feels no need to prove them wrong if it will stop them inquiring into his life.
Although he is secretive, Nicholas feels a desire deep down to discover exactly what he, with his ability, is capable of, for he does not understand at all what his power allows.
Nicholas does not carry barely anything at all. He wears a simple pair of tight, light blue jeans, and a slightly unbuttoned white shirt that reveals a bony part of his chest and a fake, thin gold chain around the neck. Like the rest of his clothing, his trainers are false imitations of well known brands.
In his pockets he carries a small knife that he never hopes to use, an almost empty wallet and what remains of his heroine in a small container with a single syringe. Nicholas possesses nothing more except for another set of similar clothes that he swaps between while they are being washed and the local laundrette.
Nick was born into a council estate family near the outskirts of London. Poor, living in bad condition, his life was never tragic, but his conditions were not ideal either. With no brothers to speak of, a mother addicted to heroine, and only a father to bring in a little money... mostly illegally, things could never turn out well.
Things ran more or less smoothly until Nicholas reached the age of fourteen. He rarely went to class, and fought over silly things on more than one occasion, but considering his circumstances life was better than it could have been.
By fourteen he had been introduced to alcohol and drugs, and many of his teachers no longer knew if he even went to class any more. This was when his father, Michael Aldridge, was caught stealing. The investigation into that matter was never a large one, but upon doing so far worse crimes were uncovered and attributed to Nick's father. Nicholas never did find out what it was his father had done, but he was incarcerated, leaving Nicholas alone with his mother.
His mother, Heather Aldridge, got by by jumping from job to job to pay for her own addiction. Nicholas abandoned school and followed that same process to pay for his 'luxuries' also. By sixteen he was addicted to heroine. This was the age when his mother was separated from him by social services, and foster parents took Nicholas in.
Things never did go well between them.
Nicholas' situation worsened, until reaching its climax one night in an abandoned flat, surrounded by obscene graffiti and what Nicholas would like to have called friends. It was there he applied such a high dosage of heroin to his body that everything seemed lost.
He woke up alone.
Five days had passed, and the smell was awful. The foster parents were already searching for a replacement, meaning Nicholas was officially either missing or dead.
Almost immediately Nicholas attempted to inject himself with his favourite drug once again, to clear his mind of worries, but only discovered that there was no effect. Even now, Nicholas does not understand what happened that day. In reality, the overdose should have been lethal, yet, his body had altered itself, granting him immunity to the venomous consequences of the drug to save him, and any other disease for that matter... something Nicholas is yet to find out.
It was then the fear grew. Nicholas, scared of what was happening, decided he would stay off 'the radar' and not return to his previous life. For the last few weeks he has been roaming the streets, searching for information regarding his strange new being, occasionally sleeping in the awful flats of other addicts, but mostly staying in the same abandoned home he first woke up in. Slowly, his addiction is disappearing, but the lack of the substance is causing Nicholas severe problems that are somehow nowhere near as violent as the experiences he has seen in others. This is mainly due to his ability, developing a psychological barrier against useless necessities.