I guess this is the opposite of "staying true to one's convictions", given what I said on page 1, but I'll give it a shot (this RP is too appetizing to pass up). I'm more worried that I'll be out of my league than anything else -.-'
Name: Adam Randi
Age: 18
Appearance: Adam has short white hair, compliments of his late mother. His skin is tan and his eyes are wide, sharp, and a glorious deep blue color. He's about 6'4", owing his height to his long legs. He doesn't have much apparent physique, but he's not exactly skinny, either; he's a little lower than the average for his height and age group. Most of the time he wears an unbuttoned blue polo with with tan khaki pants with dress shoes, as he feels they make him look more refined...or at least, that's what his father fashioned him to think. In reality, he finds them to be uncomfortable and far too normal for an everyday setting. So, one rarer occasions one can see Adam can be seen sporting a black T-shirt and blue jeans with sneakers.
His Arcana is placed on the back of his neck, slightly under his hair. The Arcana depicts a man raising his fist to the sky in front of a skyscraper that looms over him. The man's figure is undarkened in front of the black skyscraper, making the man's figure seem like an inverted silhouette. He keeps his hair just long enough that the Arcana is hidden under his hair, though it is still rather short. He does this for a few reasons, but probably the biggest of them is that he would rather everyone not know of his abilities.
Personality: Adam is a seemingly pompous and somewhat childish individual. He takes pride in his mastery of logic and his philosophical views, and as such, he tends to look down on those whom he deems "average" in those areas. Granted, he does not act as if he were above these individuals to them, he merely keeps his thoughts of them to himself. He can't completely keep these thoughts to himself, though, often smirking or chuckling at simple minded statements and the like. He's not unapproachable, though. He is able to carry himself in a conversation, but he's not too quick to start a conversation himself. This isn't to say that he's anti-social, but he finds that making conversation is difficult since he has a hard time thinking of what topics to start with. Because of this, he doesn't have too many friends. This bothers him to the point that he actually envies people who are able to do so so easily. It boggles his mind that with his intellect and prowess, he is unable to do something so simple as to start a conversation.
Having said that, he is quite the philanthropist and loves competition. Despite his Arcana being that of justice, he far prefers to use his own mind for debate rather than manipulating others. In this sense, he's somewhat childish. One could say he does this out of pride, but it really seems as if he's playing a game when in a battle of wits or logic. He doesn't do it for merit or for personal betterment, he does it for fun. This could be considered a flaw, as he tends to lack the right judgment of when to use his abilities, and if not that, he ignores his judgement in favor of desire on occasion.
He has a distinct hate for those whom he sees as closed minded. There's no real bias for what the person's views are, he hates all closed minded people. Few other things try his temper as much as stubborn, closed minded people who try to impose their single mindedness on others. What's worse, he can't actively make someone open minded, much to his chagrin. He does not have much patience for these types of people either, which can lead to him making some rash decisions.
Arcana Card: #11 Justice - Ability to influence someone's opinions
Secondary Effects: Given that the Justice Arcana is not all too suitable for combat, Adam is able to temporarily control those who are weak willed or those who are in his favor to fight for him. It's not "mind control", as he cannot actively make them fight. Rather, he simply creates or inhibits a drive in the subject to defend Adam. It doesn't always last very long given his current limitations and the subjects actually having a will of their own, even the aforementioned, so in a sense it's a wild card.
Other than that, he's been gifted with great eyesight and incredible precision with projectile weapons. As such, his weapons of choice are often darts, throwing knives, and arrows. This is to compliment the first effect, as he sometimes favors taking his aggressors out from afar while his comrades, temporary or otherwise, battle them on the front lines. Though, more often than not, one will see Adam carrying around a dagger, one that he won't keep only for temporary use.
Ability to control powers: Normally, Adam can control his powers quite well. He limits its use mostly to the closed minded and those who he deems are necessary to be manipulated. Thus, its use is varied, and he's pretty selective with whom he uses his powers on. That being said, Adam does have a tendency to get carried away. In various instances, such as when he's bored or when he thinks things are going to easy for him, he will go out of his way to turn people against him. More often than not, he does this simply for the satisfaction of logically tearing them down. This does well to keep him at the top of his game, but it can be a little dangerous.
Because of Adam's hate for those that reject subjectivity in favor of objectivity, the limits to which his Arcana's powers can be used are limited. His apathy, in a sense, makes him the very thing he hates, though he is not completely self aware. There are some people in Adam's life who call him out on this, telling him that he should not reject such a large percentage of the world, as it would be for his own good. However, it's not simply that he wants to hate them, but rather that the hate is so deep rooted in him that he is actually unable to tolerate them, even with effort. He does take such words into account, and at times makes efforts to accept them despite their "fault", but it usually ends up with him either avoiding them or losing his temper.
Section of the house & position: Apprentice of Coin
History on the island: Adam was born to a normal family trying to live a normal life. Prior to Adam's birth, his parents, Maya and Victor, went out of their way to make normal lives for themselves as they wanted to enter their children into a peaceful world. At least, that's what Maya was devoted to; Victor, on the other hand, was very interested in the Arcana. He had no exceptional skills himself, so he was never to be chosen; therefore, he decided that he would instead use his children to explore such an opportunity. When Adam was born, he was deeply attached to his mother. Even as a child, his father tried to force him to do better, to become extraordinary, but his mother, protective as she was, stopped his father from imposing on him. Her caring and tender character rubbed off on him, and made him an overall happy and rather pacifistic child.
When Adam turned four, his sister, Marta, was born. However, during the delivery, his mother died due to complications. This struck Adam hard, sending him into something of a depression and causing him to keep to himself to sulk and cry. Normally, this would have lasted for a month or two, as Maya was such an important character in his life. Victor wouldn't allow this. He forced his son to start reading books- not easy one, though, middle school level books. He was only four years old at the time, and this was far too much for him, but Victor would not let up. Chess and Go were the only games Victor ever played with his son, and because of this and the frequency by which they played the game, Adam started to loathe them. Adam also had to read the paper in the mornings everyday. Probably one of the more odd things that he had to do on occasion was to eavesdrop on people. It was something that Adam didn't understand for the longest time, but Victor seemed to know what he was doing. All of this culminated in Adam gradually hating his father more and more each day.
Adam would have been robbed of a childhood had it not been for Marta. She was a cute little one, that she was. She, unlike her brother, was not pressured to be great. Adam was unsure why, he thought that maybe it was because she was a girl or maybe it was because he only wanted to train one of them, though he deemed that neither of those reasons seemed fair to him or his sister, especially the former. Still, she loved him to death, and she really didn't approve of her dad's treatment of Adam. Strangely, what she said, went. It seemed that Victor had a weakness for her, probably because she started to resemble her mother more and more each day. She would take Adam out to play normal kids games, she would actively try to help him make friends, and most importantly, she tried to make him feel his age. This was ironic, as she was surprisingly mature for her age. It almost seemed unnatural, since she didn't seem like the type to be the "inspirational mother figure" of the family.
When Adam turned 16, his father introduced him to Coin; He felt that Adam was old enough to learn of the Arcana and those who wielded them. After listening, Adam told his father that he was completely uninterested in the idea of making a contract. He felt that he was fine with the abilities that he already had, and that the implication of needing some sort of "magic" to have power was an insult to him. His father didn't much care about his opinion, though. The way he put it, "The explanation is not to help you decide your fate, it's merely a foretelling of your definite future." From that point on, Adam was forced to work much, much harder than he already was. Finally, Adam had enough and ran away from home.
A few days after leaving, Adam was accosted by several members of Sword. They arrested him on a count of murder. A witness said that they not only saw him flee the scene, but he was also reported as having run away from home not long afterwards. Adam was annoyed by this, as he certainly didn't know of any murder. He was taken to a courthouse, where he was represented by none other than Victor Randi. As much as he loathed his father, he felt safe knowing that the one to represent him was his father, he knew that he'd vouch for Adam.
But something was wrong.
Victor was spouting lie after lie, saying things that Adam knew weren't true. He gritted his teeth and bore the onslaught of falsehood, shouting in his mind "No!" "That's not true!" "I didn't do that!" "What are you saying?" But what could he say? He was the accused, and the defending attorney, his own father, and the case's most trustworthy source of information, was the one he would be going against. It was too much. He couldn't bear it anymore, and yelled, "STOP!" He was told by the judge to be quiet or he would be held in contempt, but he didn't listen. He denied all of it, and he didn't stop there. He tore down all of his father's points, analyzed them down to the last detail, and used them to strike back. His father was filled with such pride that he actually fell to tears. The judge continued to bang his mallet against his desk and told the defendant to be quiet, even calling the security guards to take him away, but he wouldn't stop. He wasn't actually even conscious of his actions or his words, he was acting off of pure instinct and logic. However, he awoke when he raised his pointer finger to his father and yelled, "It was you!" The courtroom fell silent, all of the evidence and all of Adam's statements pointed to Victor as being the killer. Victor's tears grew thicker, though not out of melancholy or regret; the tears were born from how proud he was of his son, even if his son hated him. The guards let go of Adam and, on the judges orders, took hold of Victor, instead. He was charged with murder, and sentenced to life in prison.
About a year later, Adam received a letter which said, "We watched how splendidly you preformed in court. La Famiglia welcomes you." Despite his complete disinterest in the Arcana, he was not quick to discard the letter. Marta noticed this, and she told him that maybe it wasn't that he was disinterested in the Arcana, he simply hated to follow his father's plan. It made enough sense to him, as much as he hated to admit it. Then, a jarring paradigm shift occurred. Marta actually endorsed the idea of joining the house. It wasn't that she was so in favor of her father's plan for him, but rather, that she knew how much he cared about Adam. He killed a man for Adam. He wanted Adam to be a better man than he ever was and to make the right choices in life...at least, that's the way she saw it. She told him how he would always talk to her about Adam, even at a younger age, and how he appreciated her help in raising Adam, even if he was four years older than her. Adam was stunned. This man that mostly deprived his son of a childhood...that made his life a Hell on Earth...that had him accused of murder...did all of it for his son to lead a better life, even if it cost him his own.
So, Adam listened to his sister and joined the house shortly thereafter. He was given the Arcana of Justice, something he always found to be ironic, and became an apprentice of the Coin section. His sister went to live with his aunt and uncle, being that there was no one home to take care of her. It's been a year since then, and Adam hasn't progressed much. Other members of Coin have been pressuring him to work harder, since otherwise he will simply be a weak link that's only hurting the rest of them. Therefore, as of late, he's been using his powers for mostly mercantile purposes (as well as for fun), so that he won't disappoint his father or his sister. He felt that not using his abilities would, in a sense, be a waste of the first 17 years of his life, and all that Victor and Marta did for him would have been for naught.