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I didn't do it!
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— Himself
Nick is a bratty former stowaway, now member of the crew on
The Artful Venture. He's constantly getting himself in and out of trouble both with the crew and in general.
Personality
Brat. Smartass. Those two words sum Nick up. He's constantly pushing the limits and saying and doing things he knows he shouldn't because they seem like fun. This often gets him into trouble which again he manages to turn into fun somehow. Despite his hard upbringing he is surprisingly playful and fun loving.
Background
Nick was born to another name. One he doesn't remember, to a mother who lived in the urban sprawl of a planet somewhere. She worked as a server in a bar, and barely made ends meet. At some point in his early childhood he happened to be up when someone approached her about acquiring her son from her. And he was gone that night before the interested party could obtain him. He stowed away on some ship and was caught, but merely thrown out at the next port. He fell into a group of other street kids, and that started Nick's new life. He got his name from how he nicked things for his friends and always got out of trouble in the "Nick" of time. He grew up learning from those on the streets, but always managed to be in the right place at the right time and made some amazing scores. Sometimes instead of items, what he got was training, or just happened to be away when the authorities raided.
One day after a successful con job Nick had been on his way back to his current little gang of urchins when he got the urge to stop last second, and saw the entire group get busted by cops. This wasn't the first time he'd been the lone survivor and he did what he's always done. He ran trusting to his luck and instinct, to the docking bay and overrode the security on the hatch for the first ship that felt right. That ship's name was The Artful Venture.
SKILLS
ACROBATICS - Expert: Almost a subset of his thievery skills Nick is very agile and limber able to do complicated gymnastics moves and free-climb with ease.
ATHLETICS - Competent
CHARISMA - Competent: Another word for this might be grifting. He's talented for his age and convincing people of things and has talked himself out of many tough scrapes in the past. And has passed himself off as anything from an academy cadet to the son of a powerful aristocrat.
COMBAT - Novice: Nick's fighting skills are mostly hand to hand street fighting or bar brawling. He can take care of himself and get himself out of scrapes, but is by no means a match for a trained fighter, unless they aren't used to unconventional fighting styles.
PILOTING - Novice: Nick shows a real talent for piloting, but has had little to no training.
ROPE TYING - Competent: One of Nick's friends growing up got him interested in the various ways to tie and untie knots. Since then he has explored this knowledge to become quite adept at a variety of style and techniques, often using them in various ways, up to and including Kinbaku, both on himself and others. This knowledge also means that if he truly wants out of restraints, he can typically get himself out with ease.
SECURITY - Novice: This skill is set at novice because he knows better than to try and hack anything high level. He can easily bypass basic security systems and cover his tracks, be it cameras locks etc. He's never tries anything truly ambitious such as high level encryption or museum or bank systems. While he could in theory do those he thinks he'd need a lot more practice for that.
STEALTH/THIEVERY - Expert: Nick might be young but he's been living on the streets of various planets and space stations since he was a little kid, and has learned to fend for himself. He can go unnoticed by most and is an expert at such things as pickpocketing and picking old school physical locks. He very seldom pays for anything.
URBAN SURVIVAL - Expert
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL - Novice
POWERS
INTUITION - Supreme: Nick has an innate ability, which some might even call psychic, to almost predict things. He thinks of it as luck and instinct. In reality he can perceive in a very generic sense certain intutions about the immediate future: when it's time to leave, when it's time to make a big mark, etc. It's this ability that has let him survive, and even flourish, in some rather dicey situations in the past and (almost) always come out smelling like roses. He doesn't have any ability to directly or reliably see the future, however, as this all works on a purely instinctual level. He just has a "feeling" about a situation and lets that guide him, and it seldom steers him wrong. This also means he has greatly heightened perception and notices things that he shouldn't strictly be able to.
REFLEXES - Enhanced: Perhaps tied with his intuition, Nick has reflexes that are far beyond what a normal human can do. Whether this be in a pilot seat, in the middle of a fight, or noticing he's in trouble and getting out of there, his reaction times are simply superb.
WILLPOWER - Enhanced: Nick has a naturally strong mind that has been forged by having his education be on the streets. He doesn't have any shields or mental defenses in a traditional sense, but he is very hard to manipulate or read against his will, whether this be by mundane or more exotic methods.
ADVANTAGES
ARTFUL VENTURE - Whether he's a member of the crew or a permanent stowaway is a matter of contention. But he has access and a connection to the crew. Pretty much all his resources are from from the ship and crew.
FENCES - Having lived on the wrong side of the law most of his life he has a vast number of acquaintances and casual friends, who are fences, and he can typically find connections to obtain not entirely legal goods.
WEAKNESSES
LAST NAME - Contrary to what most believe, his real name is not Errant. He has no relation to their captain. However, he cheekily chose to use Captain Errant's surname when he was registered, which means that most people think they are related, and that makes him a tempting target to anyone who wants leverage on the captain.
POOR - While an expert thief Nick has never stolen more than he needed to survive, and maybe have a little fun. He has no real resources beyond what he gets as a member of the crew from the Artful Venture.
TROUBLEMAKER - One might think with his charisma and intuition that he was a smooth talker and seldom had any trouble. That would be the case if he wasn't such a brat. His smart mouth and impish nature often overrule his good sense and intuition and cause him almost constantly to be in some form of trouble.
