The truth will come to light. It always does.
Name:
James Patterson
Nickname:
Jamie (only by people close to him)
Age:
17
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Clique:
Fourth- Rock Bottom
Likes:
||Swimming||Reading|| Rain|| Thunderstorms|| Singing|| Listening to music|| Being with friends|| Being alone|| Pizza|| Spending time with his dad|| Laughter|| Ice-skating|| Sugar|| Cherries|| Instrumental music|| Meditation|| Detective novels|| Fun|| Night|| His Dad|| His friends||
Dislikes:
||People insulting his Dad||People insulting his friends||The Elite|| Corruption|| Authoritarianism|| Despair|| Mean-spiritedness|| People being humiliated for no reason|| Tomatoes||
Fears:
Losing his dad- His dad is old, but not that old. Still, he is kind of frail at the best of times and really, ever since he can remember, it was just the two of them together.
Heights- James maintains that it's not heights he's afraid of so much as falling and hitting the ground at breakneck speed and breaking every bone in his body.
Hobbies:
Swimming- James' dad has sometimes joked that he should have been a fish and that's, perhaps, not far from the truth. He is the best swimmer in school and would be the swim team's captain if it weren't for the fact that the ranking system even colors the faculty's perceptions, not that it's surprising, considering they were part of it too.
Reading Detective Novels- James always enjoyed good detective stories. His powers just happened to be a happy coincidence. His favorites happen to be the classical Sherlock Holmes novels, though, as a kid, he read both the Hardy Boys and the Series of Unfortunate Events novels.
Singing This is a rather secret hobby. Mostly, James just sings to himself or when there's no one else around. He doesn't really think he's that good, truthfully.
Walking in the rain- Perhaps it's just his affinity for water, but James has never minded getting caught in the rain. Some days or nights, he just likes to walk through the downpour.
Powers:
Truth Inducement- James is able to force someone to tell the truth to the best of his or her ability, at least as long as the person doesn't successfully resist his powers, which simply requires enough willpower. Still, James is able to tell when someone is intentionally lying to him and, in normal conversation, people tend to relax and let things slip they normally would not.
Weakness:
People with a sufficiently strong will can resist James' power and, pressing with his power can easily tire James out depending on the duration as well as the difficulty of the use of his power. People can also circumvent it by telling a half-truth and it requires some thinking on James' part on whether they used this loophole or not.
Strengths:
Swimming- As stated above, James is an excellent swimmer. He can probably swim faster than anyone else at school and works as a lifeguard during the Summer which, if things were normal, would probably have made him popular.
Critical Thinking- James is an excellent critical thinker. He is quite able to look at problems from different angles and come up with solutions to them whether it be unexplained events or people just being people.
Singing- James may not think so, but he is rather good at singing, able to switch tone and tenor quite easily without killing a note. He is somewhat self-conscious of this so he usually sings alone.
Flaws:
His Dad- James doesn't really care too much about what others think of him. After all, he can't really sink lower thanks to the rank system. Still, he is quite defensive about what people say about his dad and what his birth meant for him.
His Temper- James has a temper which features prominently when he sees people being mistreated. He can bear insults against himself well-enough, but his personal loyalty and his distaste for watching others suffer causes him to act impulsively.
Being Impulsive- James doesn't necessarily make many long-term plans or really thinks things through too much, which can cause annoyance on his father's part. James can do things or throw himself into situations without thinking too much about the consequences.
Personality:
James pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve. It might be a side effect to his powers, but James finds that he simply can't lie that often to people. Sure, he can keep a secret. He'd never betray another person's trust. However, James never bothers to hide what he thinks about anyone or anything. He doesn't bother to hide his opinion on you, whether favorable or unfavorable. This might not be such a good idea as his opinions often clash with the status quo of the school. He dislikes the hierarchy system which, in his own words, basically means that the strongest students are put on top with the weakest on the bottom. It reminds him too much of Social Darwinism, which he disliked learning about in history.
James is personally loyal to the people who are close to him. He wouldn't hesitate putting time, money, effort, and risk to himself in order to help people he cares about. He is close to his dad and a little bit protective of him due to his age and the way the town sees him. Politically, he is libertarian and doesn't hide that he doesn't really trust the government not to lock up the whole town for military research. He is mildly religious, but really thinks it's more spiritual to just lay in the pool and meditate/pray, though he goes to church to please his dad. He never went through the typical rebellious teenage phase. He didn't see the point in that.
James absolutely adores music and bodies of water. His fondest memories are of a concert in Los Angeles that he managed to save up to go to. The ocean is beyond anything he can imagine. He also enjoys mystery books and movies. He was obsessed with the Series of Unfortunate Events books as a child and he has a habit of trying to figure out what he sees as other peoples' mysteries, though he tries to temper this with a reminder for himself not be nosy. James is an impulsive person and tends to say what's on his mind and do whatever seems like a good idea at the time. He also has a bit of a sarcastic wit, though never cruel or vindictive. James does okay in school, but is, on average, a B student with a few A's thrown in.
|| Open || Loyal || Impulsive || Protective||
History:
James' father, Henry Patterson, was an older gentleman when he unexpectedly had a son. Henry owned the town's pool and rec center which was reasonably popular among the small town's youth and he was moderately well-off. Then, as cliche as it sounds, a new, younger woman moved into town. Henry was smitten, they married, and James' mother divorced him for his money and ran, leaving the older man heartbroken. Thankfully, though he lost the house, he kept the pool and rec center and was able buy a smaller one for himself when his ex-wife dropped by 9 months later with James. This, of course, made Henry the laughingstock of the town as Benjamin, like many small towns where everybody knows everybody, loves to gossip. Nonetheless, Henry didn't really care and James grew up happy with a loving father.
When he heard the tale, James decided that his mother was simply a bitch, though his dad forbade him from calling her thus. This was one of the few areas of disagreement between father and son. James grew up around water and his father often showed him his powers of manipulating water or aquakinesis. It was a surprise when James' powers manifested one day when he thought the teacher was lying about why he was late in elementary school, revealing an embarrassing secret. Still, James rather liked his power and he still does, even if the power doesn't really help in the After School Club.
Currently, James has a few friends and is content with his lot, though he worries about his father, who is in his 60's and still active along the pool. Business with the old rec center and the pool haven't been their best in the past few years, though he and his father get by, even if the business is no longer the cool place to be. James has a few friends at school and he is hoping to earn a scholarship from his swimming ability in order to get into a college.
Other: Anything else you want to add.
