Chesterfield Act Registry of the Expressive Database
File #13 Jun 2018 02:10
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 Joe Dempsie |
Being born an with the SLC-E gene in the United Kingdom to be a very different experienced than being born in the United States in the years after the Evolved came to light. They handled their minority of SLC Expressives in a way some people only thought the United States had ever done. Rory had been one of that small minority, and even he had been far more fortunate than most.
Born in Nottingham, England in 1991. His mother was a retail clerk while his father, an outdoor enthusiast was an accountant. His father gave him a great respect for the outdoors and even mastered his scout troop when he was growing up. He grew up as a scout, something which continued into his teens and twenties. His mother gave him his retail experience and her easy smile and polite attitude.
He was never an ideal student, not a genius, not with the greatest work ethic when it came to numbers and papers, but had passable grades. He preferred life experience over lectures and classes, so as soon as he was old enough he started working, helping his mom at the shop, doing various labor-based jobs, staying part-time until he finished school.
The Bomb overseas and the revelation of Evolved did not affect him much at first. A few people he knew second or third-hand came out as having some kind of ability, but it had been more 'did you hear Martin's nephew's friend is one of those guys' and less anyone he knew well himself. Nothing major or flashy. It was something he saw on the news more than anything else. He felt like people were making a big deal about it, without really understanding.
Even then, it still didn't affect him at home too much. Not until the sudden and violent manifestation of Johann Newton in Parliament. It still seemed far away, but suddenly a lot closer. This finalized the passing of the DEH in 2009 and started the idea of Sectioning.
In 2010, the first person he knew got identified and Sectioned rather quickly and he never saw him again. One of his jobs required testing, at which point he too found out he was SLC-E. Unmanifested. He was Registered, and he knew that, should he ever manifest, there would be the chance of being sectioned.
He spent the next 3 years in fear of manifesting and noticed how people who knew he was unmanifested suddenly started to keep a distance or in some cases refused to hire him. As his status was publicly available, even some of his landlords got pressured into forcing him to move, because he could be a danger to other residents and their families. He moved seven times in those three years. There were few legal protections for Evolved discrimination, and fear enough of incidents that some did not want to take it seriously.
The war overseas and the UK's support of it had left a bad taste in his mouth, and he joined the various protests against Sectioning and the war, often in the form of passing out flyers and the like.
And then he manifested.
It was in the middle of the Second American Civil War, and tensions against Evolved were high, but when he discovered he could touch rocks and meld them as if they were putty in his hands, he hoped it would be considered safe enough. For the moment, it had been. He got lucky with a good tester who confirmed that seemed to be all he could do. They even tested to make sure he couldn't shape anything living organic, with bones and other such non-earth minerals. Nothing happened, and no other aspects had manifested, so he remained unsectioned, but now had Manipulation of Rock-based Matter listed next to his name.
Some companies sought him out at first when they realized he could fix cracks in concrete with a touch of his hands. He got a decent job that kept him for a while, working with construction. They treated his ability as a tool, an asset, a shortcut. Nothing he fixed ever seemed to change back, just wearing naturally.
One day he was rock climbing, which he still kept as one of his for fun activities when he discovered another aspect to his ability. When he pushed a rock out of the way. Without touching it. He learned he could feel the rocks and dirt around him. A new fear struck him. If they knew what he could do, they would Section him. There was a big difference between molding solid rock like clay and actually moving it with his mind.
The war in the US had ended. They had started to get their crap together. And Rory met with some of his friends from old protests and got himself passage on a boat to the United States. He'd hated being on the water, but he found himself dropped off in post-War America, without a proper VISA. To avoid getting sent back, he applied for Asylum, citing the discrimination and inhumane imprisonment of Evolved in the United Kingdom. He was not alone in this.
It took months to get an actual interview, to explain his circumstances, his SLC-E ability and how it had changed since he was Registered. An interview to say what little he knew about the Sectioning process. He also gave an interview about how he thought he might use his ability within the States, to help in the rebuilding process. He has no idea how many of those he was with received Asylum status, but after a year or two of paperwork and interviews, they made a decision on his case. He could stay.
And as he had said he would do, he sought out a job in the Safe Zone of New York City, to work with various construction projects, as well as sell some merchandise at the Market. He's currently living at the Spring's Creek Settlers Park in Ferryman's Bay.
A mix of easy-going and serious, this young man is patient but doesn't put up with things he views as wrong, like what had been going on in the United Kingdom. Part of him feels selfish for getting out when he did, but he also used his story to tell the story of what was happening overseas in hopes that it brought public attention on what was happening there. He doesn't go around talking about his story cause he doesn't have one, but if anyone said 'things must have been better in the UK' he would immediately have something to say about it.
He participated in protests, he feels strongly about personal freedom, and while the infrastructure in the UK is definitely far better than it is in the US, he respects that the citizens here fought a war to defend their human rights, and didn't agree with the role his country played during it (supporting the anti-Evolved section of the government).
He's generally slow to anger but does get there eventually. He's reserved, but polite and friendly and steadfast in his ideals.
Terrakinesis is traditionally the mental control over the earth in its various permutations. Often time it includes the ability to sense, shape, move and even alter the state of rock through various means. Rory is capable of all four forms of terrakinesis, within specific limits.
His ability extends to all igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, most native element minerals, as well as most dirt and sand and silica. He can also work with industrialized versions of rock like cement, mortar and even silica-based glass (though he can not affect non-native or smelted and worked metals). He can manipulate marble and plaster and fired bricks. He has found himself unable to manipulate asphalt (as a petroleum-based solid) or alloyed and worked metals.
He is most practiced at his ability to shape or mold that of an earthen nature, though he has limits in time it takes to effect and range. He must be touching what he shapes, often time molding it with his hand as if it were clay rather than solid rock. He can even shape concrete that has previously been poured and dried, allowing such feats as 'running his hand over damaged concrete and filling the cracks in with sediment that he has on hand. This makes him perfect for masonry or construction work, though it takes time since he needs near tactile contact with the stone he's working with in order to change its shape without actually altering the state the rock is in.
He has learned he can extend his ability through a few inches of stone tools, allowing him to do fine detailing on rocks with a pencil-shaped stone tool. This is mostly used to do fine detailing to rock when shaping it for his artwork, as the tool can be no longer than two inches from where he's holding it, allowing him to etch details into the rock.
He often used this aspect of his ability for his artwork (shaping rock, silica, cement or other rocks). But he also uses it to repair flaws in construction work, fill in gaps or cracks in a seamless way that doesn't affect the strength of the masonry or cement.
During the shaping process, he cannot add to the mass of the object unless he adds in some extra rock of his own (which to avoid weakness should match the minerals he's using as closely as possible), and he's only really limited in how much he can work by the time it takes to do it. Something small and simple might take a minute, while something more complicated or artsy will take hours and days of work with rest, just like a sculptor might do powerless. His version is just little faster because if he messes up he doesn't need to scrap the whole project. And he can sculpt many different materials.
For moving stone, this mostly allows him a kind of telekinesis, limited to rock, dirt, and sand mostly. He can also move concrete, masonry and even glass, but it's not a fine control kind of move and he's only capable of moving substances that fall under his purview within 25 meters of his position. He can't aim it very well and he can't combine this ability with others and shape or alter what he's working with. He would need to move it fairly whole. So silica-based glass, concrete blocks, small rocks, and sediments such as sand, pebbles, and surface dirt are easiest to work with.
Weight is also an issue. He can't move more than 300 pounds at a time, which limits in some ways what he can affect. He can, however, move rocks he can not see, in the ground. Shifting rocks in the ground can cause one of his most dramatic effects. Nudging 300 pounds of soil and rock 25 meters down can cause a sinkhole, for example. He could also destabilize a building foundation (which is unlikely to cause a building to collapse so much as sink or shift), or damage water or sewer or gas lines within a city through a shifting of the rocks in his range.
It also allows stunts like flying rocks or glass that might make people think his ability is telekinesis. He doesn't have fine control, he can't make sand creep into a specific place. He can not hold it in place or in the air for long periods of time (a few seconds at most). He is most capable of commanding it to go a single direction. Up, down, left, right, toward him or away from him. He won't be using the earth as a giant hand anytime soon. The force he can apply with a blow depends a lot on the weight of the object. Small objects might bruise or pierce (if sharp), larger rocks could cause more severe damage, especially if dropped on top of someone using gravity.
Also, while the human body has some hints of minerals, he can't affect or sense it. He can however potentially manipulate rock or gemstones they happen to be wearing on their body. Such as, potentially, move someone's hand using their own ring if their rings were made of a non-synthetic natural gemstone.
He can also alter the physical properties of rock and other earthen materials. As with shaping, this requires physical contact with the stone or rocks he is trying to alter. The effect is permanent unless he changes it back. While he doesn't change the mineral, chemical composition of the rock, he changes it fundamentally in ways such as changing its malleability, brittleness, ductility, hardness. He can not change one rock into another, nor can he change the mineral composition. He can, however, make glass harder or softer, make rock stronger or weaker, make a diamond soft or a rocksalt hard. He can also change the porousness of the ground, which effectively makes water seep up through it.
If he put his hand against the ground, he can extend this ability through the ground around him for 25 meters, softening or hardening the ground. The biggest effect he can cause would be a form of localized liquefaction of the ground within the 25 meters of his touch, essentially making it so that things will sink into the earth.
As an example, if he were touching a concrete sidewalk, he could liquify it just enough to allow someone to sink into it, then harden it back up around their feet. He could do the same in soil or sand. But he needs physical contact with the element he is manipulating as well as range. He is essentially making the rock more porous and weaker for a short time, mimicking the effects of quicksand, though it works on any rock, especially if there's water that can be allowed through the spaces he opens up in the rock.
The more personal use of this ability is used for rock climbing. He can adjust the rockface just enough to allow his fingers and toes to make footholds and handholds, allowing him to climb seemingly impossible climbs. Which he can mostly do because he physically took the time to learn rock climbing himself, this just helps him.
Doing small changes doesn't take much time or energy (like when he climbs), but big changes tend to be a draining situation. If he did the sidewalk trick in a large enough area to matter, he's actually pushing his limits and will likely get a nosebleed. If he is capable of no larger than a 5x5x1 foot area (five foot by five-foot square one foot deep), so he couldn't drown someone in stone.
Finally, he has the ability to sense rock and rock types within his general vicinity (a range of 50m rather than his usual 25m), usually while when in contact with the ground or rock. It's a blind sixth sense kind of vision, that he has to focus entirely on to use. In the first 10 seconds of concentration, he can feel the type of rock that is in the area (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic, etc). In the next 20 seconds, he can feel out the mineral composition of the rocks and dirt in the area, including blank spaces that he can't sense like oxygen or water or worked metals, but he could sense the absence of rock, like an empty pocket if it were surrounded by dirt, sand or rock.
At the time that is the extent of his ability to sense the earth.
Like others with elemental-based ability, he has some immunity to his own element. He is not immune to physical damage caused by being hit by rocks, or heat if the rock is hot or cold if it is cold, but he is immune to the toxicity of native minerals. This basically means his body won't suffer effects of poisoning from native elements. He won't suffer from the radioactivity of native elements and he's immune to led poisoning and arsenic, for example. His body is somehow able to filter out toxic minerals, this includes dust that he breathes in, whether toxic or not. As long as it is nonsynthetic, his body seems able to absorb and filter it out.
As a negative, he gets sick if not around rock. The one time he traveled by boat, he spent the whole time sea sick. Being in buildings can sometimes be okay if the building has plaster on the walls or stone in the floors and walls, but he tends to get dizzy. He wears bracelets made of stone around his wrists to help with this, as well as a small bag of rocks around his neck.