Michael

Description

Michael is blessed, as with all Trolls, with size.  A meaty tower standing at nine feet, eleven inches and weighing 592 pounds, he would be considered by any normal standard to be a hulking wall.  Yet for Trolls, Michael would be considered the runt of the litter with his dermal deposits seemingly thinner due to malnourishment. His horns, starting in the middle of his forehead and sweeping back and over his shoulder length, unkempt black hair to end over his ears, yet they seem thinner and smaller than they should be.

Curiously, his face reflects a trio of scars that begin above his right eye and slash straight down, ending at the bottom of his jaw.  They don’t give Michael a rakish air(though his street name, Scratch, now makes perfect sense), but instead augment a grim expression(when he cares to use it).  Even with the scars of an encounter best left untold, Michael’s green eyes show a spark of innocent joy at the world around him as would a stray released from its cage, though the thousand meter stare makes it fade from casual inspection.

Michael takes a no-nonsense approach to fashion.  Now and forever in the past, the Approved Corporate Style has given way to big, hardy boots and utility pants festooned with pockets coupled with comfortable shirts and a thick, slightly oversized jacket.  Adding to his optional scowl and tri-claw scar, Michael can be found chomping a cigar and squinting downrange.

Background

Michael was born in Seattle as one of four siblings to an all-human family.  A precocious child, his upbringing was largely unremarkable save for his tendency to maintain imaginary friends long past the usual developmental phases yet remain perfectly well-adjusted, if not at odds with his father.  Already a large child, Michael’s quiet nature and tendency to bluntly speak his mind when he did feel the need to open his mouth made a trifecta of qualities to earn ridicule from his peers. As a result, he did not maintain many childhood friendships – instead finding solace on zoological Matrix sites and learning about the many species of animals that arose in the Awakening.  

After all, animals were easy to understand.  They didn’t make fun of your size, or the glasses you wore, or the lack of a commlink.

Michael’s relationship with his father was strained, as he didn’t fit Dad’s ideal for the perfect son.  He wasn’t interested in sports; wasn’t popular, wasn’t gregarious. Michael was quiet, bookish, and interested in what his father considered to be passive or weak-willed fields of study.  Michael, his father decided, should be a business executive or a police officer or enlist in the UCAS military. Michael, being ten, was slightly confused. His imaginary friends were supportive, at least.

The relationship took a turn for the worse as Michael hit puberty, as the changes his body went through were more extreme than your average metahuman.  His already large size increased threefold, and at the age of thirteen he towered over his parents. His bed broke under his weight. He missed school for a week, and when he returned the ridicule was even worse.  

His thirteenth year was one of pure hell.  His fourteenth is when he discovered that not only did he Goblinize, but he Awakened as well.  His ‘imaginary friends’ started to take shape and form when he lost focus, and their whispers were more insistent.  If his family already had problems, Michael’s puberty made them that much worse.

It wasn’t long after that a representative from ParaDynamics came to offer the family a way out in the form of an all-expenses paid education at their corporate facility.  Sweetening the pot was a focus in study in parazoology, a guaranteed atmosphere of positive support and reinforcement, and specialized training to control the bubbling power of magic that was growing inside him.  What spirit friends he had did not like the deal, but it was not Michael’s decision – it was his father’s call. A day later, he was in a car driving away from the only home he’d ever known and a family that had suddenly forgot he existed.

Life at the corporation wasn’t bad, but it was also exceedingly specific according to the Marketing pitch that the rep had offered his family.  There was a focus in study in parazoology – but that was the only thing he was allowed to study. There was a guaranteed atmosphere of positive support and reinforcement – as long as he succeeded in his tasks the first time.  Finally, he did receive training in controlling and learning about his magical talents – but at the direction the corporation demanded.

He chafed somewhat at this change in his life, but when news of his family’s death in a tragic accident involving a bus, a bridge, and the family car, Michael resigned to make the best of what he was offered – a laboratory that was akin to a gilded cage, dreaming of freedom.However, freedom does come with a price.