Application for Empatheias

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⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Kiriani
Contact: Rain_Demi
Age: 29
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Skwydd
Age: Teenager (approximately 16)
Canon: Generator Rex
Canon Point: Episode Remote Control

Background:
Prior to the incident that infected the world with nanites around six years ago, Skwydd was human and living not unlike others. When the time came that his nanites activated, the situation turned bad. It wasn’t until Rex came into his life that things took a turn for the better.

Rex had rescued not only him, but several others including two fellow EVOs known as Tuck and Cricket. Although Rex attempted to cure the three, all of them proved to be incurable EVOs, those with nanites that he could not deactivate. Rather than leaving them to fend for themselves, they formed a small crew with Rex as their leader. Living in Hong Kong, the group would steal, often enough straight out of the ATM or storage, and while with Rex, no one messed with the group. Rex had informed the three of his experiences with memory loss to explain the electronic journal he kept and to prepare them for the inevitable, but during the time with his crew, Rex never had a black out. Everything seemed to be going right. Even when they experienced problems with a shapeshifter, Rex used his technological savvy to help them outsmart the troublemaker. As a result, the four still carry a symbol that links them together.

Rex had promised that it would be fine, and for a time, it was just that. Then without warning or any knowledge of the transaction, Rex traded Skwydd and the others to the Hong Kong mob run by an EVO named Quarry in exchange for his own freedom from the syndicate and walked away. Rex had been a lieutenant for Quarry, but this was something none of the three knew. He simply vanished from their lives, leaving them at the mercy of Quarry.

It wasn’t until almost two years later that the three would see Rex again. During that time, Skwydd, Tuck, and Cricket were forced to do as ordered by Quarry, including stealing numerous top of the line cars for his private collection and performing bank robberies. The higher level criminal activity drew attention from Providence, and resulted in Rex being deployed to Hong Kong to stop them. As they exited from another bank, detonating explosives as they came out into the open, Rex along with Providence grunts moved in to try to stop them. Although during the chaos only Cricket got a good enough look at Rex to recognize him, after the three EVOs were forced to separate and flee with Skwydd covering their retreat, Tuck recognized Rex when he followed him. The arrival of other agents spurred Tuck to leave, but he told Rex to find them at their old hangout. It wasn’t long before Rex found his way to them, the three still living inside of an empty water tower with the space filled by items they had lifted. Excited by the return of their former leader, Rex was welcomed back eagerly despite the memory loss he had suffered while absent. Rex made a promise of protection once more to the three, but Skwydd was reluctant to get his hopes up.

In his usual fashion, Rex began to break the ties between the three and Quarry by fending off an enforcer threatening them, turning in Quarry’s private collection to the authorities, and even fighting off the three top enforcers of the mob boss. It was only when confronted by Quarry himself that all four of them learned the truth directly from the electronic journal Rex had once kept. Rather than risk being betrayed a second time, Skwydd followed Tuck and Cricket in accepting Quarry’s control. From him, they knew what to expect.

Soon enough, the three were sent on another bank heist and returned to Quarry with the stolen loot only to have been followed by Rex. After pounding down the EVO underlings, Rex confronted Quarry and the mob boss ordered the three to attack Rex. There was no hesitation as the three rushed to fight Rex, but they were all too quickly overpowered. With no one else to stand between them, Rex went after Quarry. Rejecting the chance to recover his electronic journal and his past in order to fight, Rex found him to be a much tougher opponent than any of his underlings. Skwydd watched on with Tuck and Cricket as Rex fought for them, and when Quarry had the upper hand, the three intervened to protect Rex. It gave Rex enough time to recover and he brought the fight to an end. With Providence taking Quarry into custody, Rex lied to keep the three from being taken in, and told them that Providence would not be an issue if they didn’t do anything stupid.

Following their release from Quarry, Skwydd separated from Tuck and Cricket and left Hong Kong. He had always wanted to join the circus, and as far as he figured, if he was going to be a freak forever, he might as well get paid for it. Searching for work, Skwydd finally found the sort of opportunity he had been hoping for in the United States. Working for a human named Atude, Skwydd joined up with a group of EVOs to entertain at an underground party in the Sonoran desert. He made a call to Rex to invite him, and was pleased when his friend showed. Although it was no surprise to him, the entertainers had been receiving threats and he informed Rex about the matter.
While Rex was investigating with Agent Jones, Skwydd was attacked by one of the other EVO entertainers. As a result of the other EVO overcharging his nanites, Skwydd lost control of his powers. Spewing up his ink in a solid form, the ink spread through part of the back cavern tunnels and attacked anyone that was within reach. Rex rushed back to help along with Agent Jones. Unable to stop himself, Skwydd passed out after Rex pulled him from the ink. When he woke, the EVO that had attacked him had already disrupted the party and was overcharging himself in order to turn himself into a living bomb. With Rex and Agent Jones unable to stop him, Skwydd stepped in as the EVO was about to go off and used his juiced powers to wrap the EVO in solid ink and contain the blast. Despite the brief moment in which he could control the solid ink, Skwydd felt his powers returning to normal with the effects of the attack wearing off immediately after.

Following the end of the party, Skwydd returned to Hong Kong to rejoin Tuck and Cricket. The three of them began rebuilding the water tower together. It wasn't long after though that a female EVO named Circe showed up in Hong Kong, and she was immediately accepted into the group after being sent to the city by Rex.

With the tower restored and an even split of boys and girls to inhabit it, Rex returned to Hong Kong following Breach through one of her portals. After emerging in the city with no sign of Breach, Rex went to the tower only to find Skwydd and the others having breakfast. Of course, in his haste to catch up to Breach, Rex had kicked the door down and flattened Tuck while also defeating their breakfast. After receiving assurances from Skwydd and Circe that Breach was not there, the group went out to get food at their favorite restaurant. Sharing a menu with Circe, Skwydd settled in for the meal with his friends with Rex being forced to sit on a box to make room for five at the small table hidden in the storage room. Before finishing the meal however, Rex left to deal with an issue at the local Providence center.

Upon his return, Rex notified the four that Breach had not been after Circe as he had thought, but instead had freed Quarry from his holding cell. Circe became alarmed at the realization that Breach may have followed him, and right on cue, Breach tore away the metal supports for the upper shelf area of the tower, effectively burying Skwydd, Cricket, Tuck, and Rex long enough to get Circe and take her. Rex assisted Skwydd from under the debris and left him to help Cricket and Tuck while Rex went to deal with Quarry and retrieve Circe.

Arriving at the scene, Rex faced Quarry armed with a destructive weapon described as a molecular destabilizer that operates by suppressing the atomic charge, resulting in a separation of protons and electrons. During the fight, Skwydd, Tuck, and Cricket arrived to give Rex back up against their former boss, and Skwydd blew an ink cloud around Quarry, causing his next shot to go off target and miss an unarmed Rex. Rather than accepting direct help against Quarry though, Rex directed them to help the construction workers put in danger by Quarry’s weapon. Without hesitation, the three jumped out of the warehouse and hurried to retrieve the construction workers from the unstable frame of the damaged structure.

Completing the rescue, the three EVOs returned to the warehouse just in time to see Quarry weak and at Rex’s mercy. Although Quarry egged him to finish him, Rex instead traded Quarry to Breach for the safe return of Circe; though that required a bit of a run and catch from Skwydd to keep her from landing on the concrete. Prior to parting, the four Hong Kong residents set the record straight with Rex that none of them were dating.

Time passed again, and with it came the disappearance of Rex. After Rex vanished, changes in Providence became evident rapidly following Black Knight’s replacement of White Knight. Soon enough, Providence was employing collars created by Caesar Salazar that utilized the presence of the active nanites in EVOs to control the wild ones and sentient EVOs by forcing both to follow commands like a robot. Providence took the wild EVO types and put them to work, such as using them for mounts or in field work. Sentient EVOs were hunted just the same, to be collared and locked away, even as Providence released propaganda to the media to promise a better tomorrow. Skwydd, Cricket, and Tuck were forced to leave their water tower behind and go on the run.

On a rainy night while running from the black outfitted agents of the new Providence, Skwydd knew that the agents were too close to them and directed Circe to leave. She could pass as human, and that would allow her to get away safely. Before Skwydd could convince her to go the agents spotted them, and pushing Circe behind them, Skwydd blew an ink cloud and threw himself into the fight after Cricket and Tuck. Circe escaped as the fight ensued, and after the brawl, the three EVOs escaped the agents.

Getting in touch with Rex, the gang arranged to meet up in Hong Kong in a particular spot down in the sewers. Waiting for him, Skwydd assumed that Rex had bailed on them when he didn’t show up on time, and rather than being met by Rex, the three were surprised by Providence agents. Skwydd took charge, blowing a cover of ink and leading the three towards an escape. When fired on with collars being launched at them, the three EVOs turned back and knocked out all three agents. Trying to escape the scene, the three went above ground only to be caught by Providence agents in restraining foam. Collared and effectively subdued with no way to fight the nanites now suppressing them, the three should have been taken in by Providence….but Quarry intervened.

Quarry had escaped from Van Kleiss and put himself back together after facing his wrath for the botched job with the molecular destabilizer. Quarry took the three teens back to a warehouse, leaving the collars on them, and hooked them up to the new systems he had stolen from Providence; systems designed and created by Caesar Salazar to give complete and precise control of the collared EVO to the controller in the machine to which it was remotely linked.

Under the guise of a businessman paying the best video game players to work with ‘state of the art equipment’, Quarry used children and teenagers to control the collared EVOs linked to the new machines. At Quarry’s direction, Skwydd, Tuck, and Cricket were controlled and sent after Rex. While Rex separated with Cricket and freed her from the collar, Skwydd and Tuck were still under control and made their way back to the warehouse by stealing a high-end ride to lead Rex there. Knowingly walking into the trap, Rex fought with the controlled EVOs there and a collar placed on him to free Tuck and Skwydd as well. Immediately after his collar was removed, Skwydd apologized to Rex.

Quarry decided that the gang was no longer valuable enough, and sent the other collared EVOs at them. With Kung Fu moves programmed into the software to enhance the fighting of the controlled EVOs, the three defended against the EVOs as Rex initially fought with Quarry. After learning the scheme from Quarry, the three tried to detain Quarry while urging Rex to go to the arcade to shut down the systems. Quarry threw them off and latched onto Rex’s ride, and Skwydd, Tuck and Cricket remained behind to deal with the small puppet army of EVOs without hurting them.

Just as it seemed as though they were going to get a serious beat down from the group of EVOs, the systems were shut down by Rex. The three EVOs quickly returned to the arcade to find everything, including Quarry, dealt with, and all four of them went out for dim sum.

Personality:
As a teenager Skwydd is often moody, and he takes it to the point that it is rare to see him smile. That said, he does not complain much either. Serious in nature, he will usually provide straight and obvious answers, but does rely on sarcasm as well. In the right setting, Skwydd can be forward and social with strangers, but prefers to keep it on a small scale when interacting directly with new people.
Although Skwydd has accepted his status as an EVO, he still regards himself as a freak. Over time, he has grown used to hassling, and even death threats. He hesitates from getting his hopes up regarding future prospects or other people, but that doesn’t stop him from pushing forward to keep living. Given the opportunity, Skwydd goes after what he wants to make of his life, regardless of the potential for stirring up trouble. It was only after being freed from Quarry that Skwydd was able to pursue his desire to be an entertainer. He enjoys seeing others smile.

It is rather difficult to scare or intimidate Skwydd, allowing him to judge situations more carefully when faced with danger. Despite this, he knows when the odds are against him, and he would much rather hightail it than face a beat down. However, when someone he cares about is in trouble there is no way to deter him from fighting to protect that person. He maintains a constant awareness of safety, both for himself and those he cares for to try to avoid danger when possible. Immediately upon reuniting with Rex for the first time in Hong Kong, he pressed for proof of his identity. Later, he was the one to step up and take charge of the crew when Providence occupied Hong Kong, and even sent Circe away when he knew it would be safer for her.

With the changes in Providence following the transition of control from White Knight to Black Knight, there had been some resulting changes in Skwydd as well. The loss of friends, the escalation of mistreatment of EVOs, the fear, the propaganda, and being forced to live in the streets and constantly move only to then wind up the toy of Quarry once more, had all negatively impacted Skwydd. His sulky demeanor had been his protection from being hurt further, but after so much abuse, even he harbors anger.

Abilities:
Skwydd is aptly named for his appearance and one of his abilities, though he has several. Most notably, Skwydd is able to expel a black, ink-like mist from his mouth to occlude vision and cover an escape. Although it usually billows out in a cloud, he does have the ability to control that cloud once released to take on a particular shape of his choosing, though this is easily disrupted simply by passing through it. That said, he is capable of sustaining a large cloud in conditions such as rain for cover for at least a short period of time. The shapes hold enough detail that he is able to make an ink cloud statue of Rex. An unfortunate side effect of his ink production, Skwydd has to manage occasional leaks of liquid ink through his skin, such as his hands during contact.

In addition to his ink ability, Skwydd has thick forearms that both are quite durable and under volitional control to shape. He is able to stretch his arms to at least double the length of his own body to swing in attack, and can flatten them in a swing in order to create a blade. His strength is enhanced, and with his blade swing is strong enough to slice straight through a stone pillar. When under attack, Skwydd is shown as being able to use his arms for protection to deflect high caliber bullets at near point-blank range, but he generally seems to be fairly durable overall (as noted when taking a close-range shot from Rex’s canon build to the chest and getting back up without apparent injury).

Alignment:
Piphron
Trust is an emotion that is extremely important to Skwydd. He has been betrayed, used, and hunted, all of which have worn on his ability to trust. Despite everything he has gone through, he was able to rebuild his trust in Rex and has relied on his trust in Cricket and Tuck.

Other:
Living in Hong Kong, Skwydd is fluent in both English and Chinese.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample:
Skwydd at the Test Drive Meme

Questions:
Additionally, I would like to mention that I am transitioning to the spelling of 'Skwydd' as shown in the credits of the tv show for the game rather than the fandom 'Sqwydd' spelling seen in the TDM samples.