Born with the gift of second sight, Ryki (as he is known by his friends) is a precog with limited control over his ability. Receiving glimpses of the future, he can foretell significant events - some fixed points in time and others with the potential to be altered. Having moved to Port-Au-Feu from L.A. during high school to escape certain events in his past, he is now a junior instructor at a local martial arts studio.
Background
The Making of a Mentalist
Rykard was born... in a place. No, really, not even he has any idea of what his actual birthplace is. His earliest memories are of an orphanage in California, before he was adopted by a wealthy Brazilian couple who had moved to the United States and gained citizenship. They had no luck with a child of their own and chose to adopt one, rather than go through the expensive and potentially ineffective IVF options that were abundant in California. Growing up in Los Angeles went much as one would expect it to go, but Rykard never forgot his humble roots even though his parents were wealthy. Having money at his disposal was something he was always cognizant of and he never took it for granted, like so many others around him.
In order to stay active, Rykard decided to join a martial arts club at an early age. This eventually developed into a passionate study of Okinawan martial arts, specifically karate and later kobudo with a bo staff. He excelled at it, often feeling like he could predict his opponents' movements before they made them. The reason for this quickly became clear as something odd happened to him around the time he entered high school. All of a sudden, in his dreams and sometimes even while awake, he would get glimpses of events that would come to pass days, weeks or even months later. These glimpses left him weak and exhausted and he never shared what was happening to him with anyone.
Keeping silent about his visions changed one day at school, when he was suddenly overcome by a series of images in his mind playing out like a video. He watched, frozen, as the science wing of his school was set ablaze. For the first time, he felt compelled to act and shared his concern with the teacher in charge of the science labs. Days later, after Rykard's warnings were ignored, an entire section of the school caught fire, the result of some careless experiment gone wrong. To his relief, no one was injured. However, the blame for the event was quickly placed on him even though he was nowhere near the science lab when it took place. Once he was accused of arson, his parents immediately came to his defense, insisting that the school was looking for a convenient scapegoat and not admitting their own lack of attention and hazard policies were at fault. Although he was able to avoid any permanent consequences, Rykard learned a valuable lesson about sharing what he saw with others.
In the weeks that followed, Rykard's parents arranged for him to move to the New England town of Port-Au-Feu, on the opposite coast and far from the eyes of any who knew about the fire. Given that he was a minor and they were rather fond of their global travels, they convinced his grandmother to take responsibility of him and move to the east coast as well. She agreed and thus began his new life in Port-Au-Feu, where he graduated and soon took up a position as an instructor at a local martial arts hall.
SIGNATURE ABILITY
Sight Beyond Sight
When it comes to precognition it is very rare for a psychic to maintain full, if any, control over such a gift. In this case, Rykard will at times receive significant visions of an event that has yet to pass. These visions can take place at any time, often triggered by something in his environment. They put immense strain on his body, frequently resulting in him blacking out afterward. The only silver lining to this is that he is always able to recall the vision with perfect clarity.
The visions he receives of this nature are rarely pleasant. Often portents of tragedy, they may leave him shaken after he is able to process what he witnessed. He cannot tell whether it is a fixed event that is unavoidable or whether it is a potential future that can be averted. He is forever waging a war with himself on the wisdom of sharing what he has seen - both because of the effect it will have on how others view him and because he harbors the fear that revealing what he saw may be the very trigger that will cause the prophecy to pass.
SKILLS
Not the worst student nor the best, he did well in school and learned most of the important 'stuff' one is taught.
His body is honed from years of training in martial arts.
Awareness - Competent Level
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His innate gift and his combat training have combined to give him hyper-vigilance in all situations.
Charisma - Competent Level
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With a friendly nature and upbeat attitude, most people get along with and enjoy his company.
Martial Arts - Expert Level
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Having practiced karate from an early age and later adding kobudo, martial arts with a bo staff, he's adept at offensive and defensive combat.
Naturalist - Novice Level
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From his training out in the wild, he's learned what plants to avoid and which ones are benign.
He is light on his feet and good at staying unnoticed when he makes an effort.
More an outdoors than an indoors type, he is capable of fending for himself in the wild.
Woodworking - Competent Level
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He developed a hobby woodworking, partly because of his desire to keep his staves in good condition and also to keep his hands busy when not training or teaching.
ABILITIES
Power: Kinetic Field - Enhanced Level
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He has the ability to manifest a kinetic forcefield around his body, which acts as both a physical buffer against incoming attacks and also permits him to enhance his own physical strikes using the additional kinetic energy in the field. Since the forcefield manifests on the surface of his skin, it can even keep him from getting wet in the rain! His clothes, on the other hand, do not receive the same benefit.
Power: Mental Defense - Enhanced Level
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His mental abilities have given him superhuman willpower and psychic defenses, partially due to instinctively knowing the consequences of some of his actions. As a result, he is not easily swayed to do things against his nature and is resilient to attempts at manipulation. His mind is also more difficult to tamper with via magic or psionics and he is often alerted to such attempts.
Power: Precognition - Supreme Level
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Since precognition can manifest in many ways, in this case it has two distinct forms. The first is the ability to see visions of future events which may unfold and can be altered, or things that are guaranteed to happen as certain events are fixed and immutable in the fabric of time. The second is a much more precise component of the power, operating on a fractional level to give him an instinctive idea of what will take place around him. He uses this power to fight more effectively, able to anticipate the movements of his opponents, or to avoid dangerous situations entirely.
ADVANTAGES
As an instructor at the Black Estate, the Tatsumi family are willing to vouch for his character should he find himself in a compromising situation again.
Living with one's grandparent comes with a lot of benefits - free advice, free rent, sometimes free meals. In this case, all of the above and more as his grandmother dotes on her only grandson quite a bit.
Coming from a wealthy family, he has funds readily at his disposal. Although he is careful how he spends them, as they are not infinite, he generally doesn't lack for any of his wants.
WEAKNESSES
Although he escaped any permanent consequences as a result of the events that took place at his former high school in California, he is ever vigilant for anything from that time to rear itself and bring the past back into the present.
Due to his training in martial arts as well as a result of the incident wherein he was blamed for something he did not do, he has developed a strict code of ethics and morality which includes favoring nonlethal combat and not raising a hand against those who are innocent.
Forever indebted to his parents for adopting him, raising him and ultimately relocating him after things went south at his high school, he can never repay that debt of gratitude.
