NPC
sleep researcher
Name: Montgomery "Monty" Caswell
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Archetype: The Explorer
Alias: μ Mu
Ability:
Nonstandard Physical Profile. Monty's ability is popularly known as "cartoon physics." Simply put, his body doesn't obey the laws of physics. Injuries that would leave a normal person in a critical state or dead cause Monty to be cartoonishly flattened, diced, soot-covered, or stunned (with little birdies flying around his head), but he quickly recovers. The extent of his perceived invulnerability has not been exhaustively tested, but it seems to be inversely proportional to the damage dealt; minor injuries yield more realistic wounds.
Aside from his perceived physical invulnerability, Monty sometimes interacts with the world in other ways that would befit a cartoon, such as: his belly becoming grossly distended after a hearty meal, his eyes popping out of his sockets when he's terrified, and the classic "hovering in midair until he realizes he's falling."
Appearance:
https://imgur.com/YfpCGw3
Physically and perhaps genetically, Monty didn't resemble his birth mother in the least. He's had paper-white skin and inky-black eyes his entire life, while his hair has naturally changed color a number of times, but settled on a bright, carrot-like orange over the last few years. He wears glasses exclusively because he feels like they're part of his personality; he has not been prescribed them. Most striking of all, Monty is a thirty-year old who quite literally looks like a twelve-year old. His body ceased to age nearly two decades ago. He does not seem to have undergone puberty (no one's willing to open that can of worms with him), and his physical capabilities (in terms of muscular strength and so on) hover permanently around the limits of a child's. Monty's agelessness appears to be side-effect of his little-understood powers.
Monty dresses eccentrically and unpredictably. He has the wardrobe of a child: shiny, unusual, and mismatched garments tend to grab his attention. He has no real sense of fashion or elegance, though he does enjoy wearing a tuxedo from time to time. When simply lounging around, he tends to wear shorts and a nondescript sweatshirt. He has no interest in self-grooming, and his hair is a disheveled mop upon his head. He often neglects showering for days. In times like this, a small cloud of cartoon flies begins to follow him, loudly buzzing, wherever he goes.
Personality:
Monty's psychological profile is a mystery to be unraveled. To most people he appears as a lighthearted, eccentric, and tactless child. He loves excitement and adventure; he loves new things; he loves being perceived as special. His sense of humor is juvenile and he has no patience for adult matters. He has never expressed serious romantic attraction to anyone, as far as his siblings know. He has the hobbies typical of a boy half his real age: playing video games, reading comics, pulling pranks, eating junk food, making uncouth comments at dinnertime. More preoccupying, he doesn't always seem to have an adult's grasp on how the world works. His understanding of finance, geopolitics, history, science, math, or really any academic topic is frighteningly limited, colored by flights of fancy and boyish misinterpretation. He seems to totally lack the life experience of a thirty-year old.
And yet, Monty doesn't strictly behave like a child, either. There are hues and nuances to his personality that seem to betray a more mature, and sinister, person behind the loud and boisterous act. He's capable of sophisticated emotional manipulation. He can be callous, even cruel. He can sometimes say things that cut frighteningly deep, out of nowhere. And most troubling, he occasionally seems to express signs of extreme emotional distress, sorrow, or even suicidal intent. It's theorized that Monty's physical un-development has also had neurological consequences. He continues to live more, experience more, be more as a person, but his emotional profile doesn't allow maturation. He's constantly being pulled back into a state of naivete, despite being partially aware of it happening. Over the last few years, Monty's gotten a few shades darker.
History:
Monty's mother was a 25-year old grad student living in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, at the time of the Event. She was mortified by her sudden pregnancy, gestation, and childbirth. She wanted nothing to do with the baby, especially after seeing he didn't resemble her at all. She was only too grateful to give him up to the Institute and pretend it never happened. She has never attempted to contact Monty, nor has Monty tried, either.
At the Caswell estate, Monty was always one of the most troublesome pupils, because he rapidly lost his fear of corporal punishment. However, his handler developed psychological torture techniques as well as physical measures that bypassed Monty's defenses, and he was prodded back into complying. Even then, he always had a rebellious and uncontrollable streak which bucked against the strict, dour, abusive, and tiny world of his childhood. Father had nothing but contempt for him, and Mother could not get over her discomfort with his strange powers. However, Monty was always granted a certain degree of freedom that his siblings did not enjoy, because his powers were so mysterious and so apparently vast with potential. This earned him the disdain of many of his siblings; including Lucas, who personally couldn't stand him.
As a Ranger, Monty was always the wild card--and not surprisingly, a crowd favorite. Swinging into action, largely unafraid of death, when Monty arrived on the scene even the most delicate mission became an impromptu exercise in slapstick. Some of his siblings resented him for deriving the spotlight from their more serious efforts. Others pitied him. But most found him a riot. Monty quickly became regarded as the somewhat infuriating comic relief of the team, and the darling of the nightly news.
Monty's fame grew to such a degree that for a couple years he was virtually everywhere. He got his own TV show, rubbed elbows with celebrities, did parlor tricks for late-night talk hosts, recorded commercials, and even starred in a ridiculous comedy film, which was critically panned but commercially successful.
But as the years passed and everyone else matured, Monty began to look more like a freak. His arrested development became cause for concern, then quiet horror. His siblings grew distant, as they became embroiled in teenage (and later adult) concerns, while Monty lagged eternally behind. And the public became disenchanted, of not outright disturbed. How did one treat an ageless child? Could he drink? Could he vote? Was he a legal adult? Was his mind also arrested, or just his body? Monty didn't have the answers to the questions that no one dared ask him upfront. The world retreated from him and he didn't understand why. He simply accepted it as his lot in life, and while there were moments of apparent melancholy, for the most part he remained outwardly, well... the same.
In the last few years, Monty has become solitary and eluded the spotlight; he doesn't sign autographs or take pictures with his ever-dwindling (and ever-creepier) fan base. The small fortune that he made as a celebrity has been enough for him to live in relative comfort, travel the world, sample each country's finest foods, and keep himself entertained. He has never kept a job or had a formal tertiary education. His routine has remained largely static ever since the Rangers disbanded. And few, if any, of his siblings have reached out to him over the intervening years.
Other:
- Monty is largely unafraid of death and injury.
- Monty has no "inside voice."
- Monty refuses to eat most vegetables.
- Monty lives off a trust fund that was set up for his own use years ago; the law simultaneously considers him a minor and an adult, so he's the manager of his own trust. That is to say, he's his own guardian.
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Archetype: The Explorer
Alias: μ Mu
Ability:
Nonstandard Physical Profile. Monty's ability is popularly known as "cartoon physics." Simply put, his body doesn't obey the laws of physics. Injuries that would leave a normal person in a critical state or dead cause Monty to be cartoonishly flattened, diced, soot-covered, or stunned (with little birdies flying around his head), but he quickly recovers. The extent of his perceived invulnerability has not been exhaustively tested, but it seems to be inversely proportional to the damage dealt; minor injuries yield more realistic wounds.
Aside from his perceived physical invulnerability, Monty sometimes interacts with the world in other ways that would befit a cartoon, such as: his belly becoming grossly distended after a hearty meal, his eyes popping out of his sockets when he's terrified, and the classic "hovering in midair until he realizes he's falling."
Appearance:
https://imgur.com/YfpCGw3
Physically and perhaps genetically, Monty didn't resemble his birth mother in the least. He's had paper-white skin and inky-black eyes his entire life, while his hair has naturally changed color a number of times, but settled on a bright, carrot-like orange over the last few years. He wears glasses exclusively because he feels like they're part of his personality; he has not been prescribed them. Most striking of all, Monty is a thirty-year old who quite literally looks like a twelve-year old. His body ceased to age nearly two decades ago. He does not seem to have undergone puberty (no one's willing to open that can of worms with him), and his physical capabilities (in terms of muscular strength and so on) hover permanently around the limits of a child's. Monty's agelessness appears to be side-effect of his little-understood powers.
Monty dresses eccentrically and unpredictably. He has the wardrobe of a child: shiny, unusual, and mismatched garments tend to grab his attention. He has no real sense of fashion or elegance, though he does enjoy wearing a tuxedo from time to time. When simply lounging around, he tends to wear shorts and a nondescript sweatshirt. He has no interest in self-grooming, and his hair is a disheveled mop upon his head. He often neglects showering for days. In times like this, a small cloud of cartoon flies begins to follow him, loudly buzzing, wherever he goes.
Personality:
Monty's psychological profile is a mystery to be unraveled. To most people he appears as a lighthearted, eccentric, and tactless child. He loves excitement and adventure; he loves new things; he loves being perceived as special. His sense of humor is juvenile and he has no patience for adult matters. He has never expressed serious romantic attraction to anyone, as far as his siblings know. He has the hobbies typical of a boy half his real age: playing video games, reading comics, pulling pranks, eating junk food, making uncouth comments at dinnertime. More preoccupying, he doesn't always seem to have an adult's grasp on how the world works. His understanding of finance, geopolitics, history, science, math, or really any academic topic is frighteningly limited, colored by flights of fancy and boyish misinterpretation. He seems to totally lack the life experience of a thirty-year old.
And yet, Monty doesn't strictly behave like a child, either. There are hues and nuances to his personality that seem to betray a more mature, and sinister, person behind the loud and boisterous act. He's capable of sophisticated emotional manipulation. He can be callous, even cruel. He can sometimes say things that cut frighteningly deep, out of nowhere. And most troubling, he occasionally seems to express signs of extreme emotional distress, sorrow, or even suicidal intent. It's theorized that Monty's physical un-development has also had neurological consequences. He continues to live more, experience more, be more as a person, but his emotional profile doesn't allow maturation. He's constantly being pulled back into a state of naivete, despite being partially aware of it happening. Over the last few years, Monty's gotten a few shades darker.
History:
Monty's mother was a 25-year old grad student living in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, at the time of the Event. She was mortified by her sudden pregnancy, gestation, and childbirth. She wanted nothing to do with the baby, especially after seeing he didn't resemble her at all. She was only too grateful to give him up to the Institute and pretend it never happened. She has never attempted to contact Monty, nor has Monty tried, either.
At the Caswell estate, Monty was always one of the most troublesome pupils, because he rapidly lost his fear of corporal punishment. However, his handler developed psychological torture techniques as well as physical measures that bypassed Monty's defenses, and he was prodded back into complying. Even then, he always had a rebellious and uncontrollable streak which bucked against the strict, dour, abusive, and tiny world of his childhood. Father had nothing but contempt for him, and Mother could not get over her discomfort with his strange powers. However, Monty was always granted a certain degree of freedom that his siblings did not enjoy, because his powers were so mysterious and so apparently vast with potential. This earned him the disdain of many of his siblings; including Lucas, who personally couldn't stand him.
As a Ranger, Monty was always the wild card--and not surprisingly, a crowd favorite. Swinging into action, largely unafraid of death, when Monty arrived on the scene even the most delicate mission became an impromptu exercise in slapstick. Some of his siblings resented him for deriving the spotlight from their more serious efforts. Others pitied him. But most found him a riot. Monty quickly became regarded as the somewhat infuriating comic relief of the team, and the darling of the nightly news.
Monty's fame grew to such a degree that for a couple years he was virtually everywhere. He got his own TV show, rubbed elbows with celebrities, did parlor tricks for late-night talk hosts, recorded commercials, and even starred in a ridiculous comedy film, which was critically panned but commercially successful.
But as the years passed and everyone else matured, Monty began to look more like a freak. His arrested development became cause for concern, then quiet horror. His siblings grew distant, as they became embroiled in teenage (and later adult) concerns, while Monty lagged eternally behind. And the public became disenchanted, of not outright disturbed. How did one treat an ageless child? Could he drink? Could he vote? Was he a legal adult? Was his mind also arrested, or just his body? Monty didn't have the answers to the questions that no one dared ask him upfront. The world retreated from him and he didn't understand why. He simply accepted it as his lot in life, and while there were moments of apparent melancholy, for the most part he remained outwardly, well... the same.
In the last few years, Monty has become solitary and eluded the spotlight; he doesn't sign autographs or take pictures with his ever-dwindling (and ever-creepier) fan base. The small fortune that he made as a celebrity has been enough for him to live in relative comfort, travel the world, sample each country's finest foods, and keep himself entertained. He has never kept a job or had a formal tertiary education. His routine has remained largely static ever since the Rangers disbanded. And few, if any, of his siblings have reached out to him over the intervening years.
Other:
- Monty is largely unafraid of death and injury.
- Monty has no "inside voice."
- Monty refuses to eat most vegetables.
- Monty lives off a trust fund that was set up for his own use years ago; the law simultaneously considers him a minor and an adult, so he's the manager of his own trust. That is to say, he's his own guardian.