Kevin Ford
| Kevin Ford | |
|---|---|
| File:Kevin.png Portrayed by Kevin Zegers | |
| Codename: | Wither |
| Affiliations: | Xavier Institute, Elpis |
| Birthdate: | July 17, 1989 |
| Journal: | Transparent Horizons |
| Player: | Nichole |
Kevin Ford is a Georgia boy who finished his high school diploma via correspondence courses while at the Muir Island Research Facility. He's an amateur artist, specifically focusing on abstract sculpture made from discarded pieces of metal, employee of Elpis, and general doom cloud totting fellow.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: x_wither
Real Name: Kevin Ford
Codename: Wither
Aliases:
First Appearance: June 2, 2006
Date of Birth: July 17, 1989
Place of Birth: Atlanta, GA
Citizenship: US
Relatives: Tyler Ford (Father, deceased), Charlotte Ford (Mother, deceased)
Education: High School Graduate
Relationship Status: Suddenly and painfully single
Occupation: Employed by Elpis, amateur sculptor
Team Affiliation: None
Biography
Roots
Kevin was born to Tyler and Charlotte Ford in Atlanta, Georgia where he spent nearly all of his life. His mother died when he was four years old, killed by a drunk driver while she was walking across the street. He'd been quite attached to her, as most children of that age are, and he wept for days once he truly understood she'd never come back. His father assured Kevin he'd always be there for his son and it assuaged his sorrow some. As he grew older, Kevin still missed his mother, but he was grateful even more so for his father whom he'd grown quite close to. Tyler worked hard in the Ford Automotive factory down near the Atlanta airport. He managed a lower-middle class living for himself and Kevin and they got on alright, all things considered. Kevin never wanted for the things he needed (meals, heat, clothing, braces).
Kevin was all over average as a child. He got B's and C's in school. He wasn't particularly bright, lazy, stupid or bored. He had a small group of friends, though like all kids there were those who liked to bully him every so often. Mostly he didn't notice. Kevin never really found much of a niche academically. It was all stuff he had to learn because the school system told him that he had to. The average teenager deal came crashing to a close when Kevin was sixteen.
One morning Kevin woke for school just as he had countless days before. He dressed for school, and then his clothing was melting. The cloth disintegrated off of him as if acid burned through it. His brain started to race and he thought of plants, flowers and patches of grass that had withered into lifeless brown things when he'd come in contact with them over the past week. It'd happened faster after a couple days. And now his clothes? His pulse jumped into his throat and he did the first thing he could think of, yelled for his father. Seeing his son so distraught, Tyler tried to comfort and calm Kevin. The skin contact took its effect quickly, though. The decaying was almost instantaneous. Kevin held on, trying to help, prolonging the contact and ultimately reduced his father to nothing more than dust due to his own attempts to help.
Absolutely horrified, Kevin took off. He found clothing that, for some reason, did not disintegrate, and took up residence in a junkyard. The guard dogs of the yard posed little problem. Kevin simply grabbed on and did not let go until there was only ash left. Life on his own was not something he was prepared for, but he adjusted. At first he used what money he had, then he sold his metal constructions. Life in the junkyard was hardly stimulating and Kevin had taken to creating sculptures of the spare metal around the yard. He found he had quite a talent for it and managed to make money by selling his art to buy things like food. He couldn't figure out why he could eat food without it decaying, but if he held it in his bare hand it would. None of it made any sense to him.
Meanwhile, the death of Tyler Ford was ruled as a homicide. The cops set out to not only locate the deceased's son, but also his killer. Kevin was unaware of both facts, as well as a third, the police suspected him as the killer but had no proof to substantiate such a theory. Rumor did manage to circulate about a boy with a "death touch." It came to the attention of members of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters who set out to find him. Kevin agreed to attend the school provided he could learn to better control his abilities.
School for the "Gifted"
Once at the school Kevin took the time to explore art in ways he had been previously limited. He made a few acquaintances during the few months he was at the school, but nothing particularly close. That was, of course, until he accidentally touched Jono Starsmore while the older boy was playing soccer and nearly completely reverted him to an energy-based state. Kevin, being reminded of his father's death once more, agreed to go with Jono to the Muir Island Research Facility in hopes they could help him gain better control of his abilities, and hopefully tell him there was an off switch to his powers.
Kevin stayed at Muir for nearly a year. Finally he simply grew too frustrated. They poked and prodded. They took blood samples, urine samples, tissue samples, DNA samples. They ran tests, MRIs, and radiographs. All they came up with was a big "So, you decay things at a molecular level if they're organic." Well, thanks to all those brilliant minds for coming up with something he already knew from his time at Xavier's! So he ditched out. They asked him not to but all the doctors and scientists and researchers at Muir had were untested hypotheses, theorem, and conjecture. A whole lot of guessing which had yielded no answer beyond "Damn, not that one," so far.
Home, Sweet Home
Returning to the States, Kevin's flight landed in New York City. Unsure of where he wanted to go, Kevin resorted to old habits. He knew he didn't want to return to Atlanta and the ghosts there and he wasn't really sure he wanted to take up residence at Xavier's again either. After life at Muir he wanted to figure out something that would pass for normal. While he figured it out he collected small scraps of metal, made art out of them and sold them for food and hopefully somewhere to sleep most days.
Kevin's destination was chosen for him after a run in with a stoned, hippie girl calling herself Chakra. Chakra came over to Kevin in Central Park, asking him about the art he was making. After deciding he needed a hug she laid a hand on his cheek. She pulled away in time to save her life but not her arm which was mummified from the elbow down.
After a night of reliving the moment in agonizing detail Kevin finally accepted his fate. He had to return to Xavier's. Doing so found him assigned to share a suite with Jay Guthrie who had also returned to the school only hours before on that day. Their first meeting did not exactly go well. Afterward he took to avoiding his roommate, which seemed to go well enough. Until he was arrested.
Georgia Ghosts
Garrison Kane, realizing there was an outstanding warrant for Kevin's arrest, took him into the FBI field office in connection with his father's murder. After some plea bargaining done by Nathan Dayspring as Kevin's lawyer, the final verdict was as follows: Kevin pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He received a suspended three year sentence. The Muir representative at Xavier's is officially in charge of Kevin's genetic counseling, which is mandatory until his powers are under control. Powers training at the school is also mandatory. Leaving school grounds is permitted for up to three days at a time without permission needing to be granted as he is of legal age, however any lengthy trips in distance or time must be granted permission by both Kevin's genetic counselor and one of the headmasters of the school.
Much of Kevin's time at the school after his conviction was spent in as much isolation as possible. Forge gave him the keys to the mostly unused metal shop off the garage after finding out Kevin did metal sculpture. The shop became his daily refuge from the many people in the mansion and it was where he spent nearly all his time. Somehow that wasn't enough for him to avoid his roommate who had taken to pressing as many of Kevin's buttons as possible, which sometimes led to panic attacks. While hiding out with others of the evacuated sect at Angel's dad's house during Thirteen Days Jay managed to press the final button he seemed to be after: he kissed Kevin. The two started to date after the encounter.
Playing Hero
Kevin found himself in Whistler with a group of others from the mansion when an avalanche hit. Since he was there he became absorbed in the efforts to help those who were trapped. He over used his powers, which up until then he hadn't willingly more than a few times since his junkyard days, which caused him to black out for several hours afterward. It was then that Kevin decided he really did not like playing hero. As a result of his blacking out Kevin had to finally concede to powers training, which he had been avoiding despite court orders until now. It was Haller who suggested to Kevin using his powers to sculpt wood when Kevin voiced disgruntled complaint over the uselessness of his training.
Despite his aversion to hero antics, or perhaps because of them, he signed on for the Red X Mission: Reconstruction. He was elated to be of some use for a change, to be able to build and create instead of destroy. It was his experience here which prompted Kevin to go to Nathan and ask for a job at Elpis. He wanted to help people, he just didn't want to sign up to play hero. This was a point hammered home for him once again when he ended up in Havana a few weeks later and found himself being shot at because Jay wanted to help people when a priest requested aid of them.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 145
Eyes: blue
Hair: brown
Other Features: none
Powers
Kevin's power is that of Organic Decay
While it appears that his mutation enacts itself through his skin and his hair it is not actually either of those which make him a danger to organic material. It is the sebum his sebaceous glands secrete which acts as a catalyst in the decomposition process. It first injures the membrane of the lysosomes which then release the digestive enzymes which cause the first state of decomposition, autolysis, to occur. The sebum also carries the bacteria in it which cause putrefication, the second stage of decomposition. His touch sustains the outward secretion of the sebum which is produced at a high and unceasing rate when Kevin has contact with an organic material and it will spread as far as it can reach, essentially moving over sebum already there to find the next exposed area on the material. His sebum literally triggers and catalyzes the organic matter's natural decomposition. As long as he's touching the organic matter the affect will spread to consume the entirety of the object/animal/person until it is broken down to nothing more than ash. Even if he is only touching ash the original shape will be retained until he is no longer in physical contact with the organic material at which time the ashes will fall to the ground.
There are no sebaceous glands found in the lips, making that the only part of his outside anatomy that can be touched without effect from his mutation. His mutation, however, causes Kevin to have sebaceous glands on his hands and the bottom of his feet where they are not usually found.
Full disintegration time depends on the size and the density of the object, but it can happen in less time if his temper is particularly hot. Something small and of relatively little density would be turned to ashes in mere moments, such as a flower or a feather. A person would take up to ten minutes if he was calm, but only need five to be consumed if he was angry. A full-grown pine tree would take him closer to an hour to consume entirely.
Kevin's touch does not actually hurt. There is never any trigger to the nerves to register a pain reaction. The nerves themselves are destroyed, making the decomposition he spreads actually having a numbing feeling rather than inflicting the pain many would assume would be associated with the act of decomposing. It is panic, instead, which has led to the few people who have been on the receiving end of his powers to scream.
What Kevin does not realize is that using his powers actually feels good. He carries around a constant tension, never truly relaxed unless he's used his powers enough. Use relaxes that tension and improves his mood. How lasting the effect is depends upon how long he used them for. Kevin's powers do have an addictive quality, of which he is not aware. The more he uses them the more their "hunger" grows, however he rarely uses his mutation if he can help it. Without sating the hunger of the decay noticing the hunger itself has not occurred. Essentially he's become numbed to its hunger, carrying it with him always.
Equipment
Kevin has no special equipment. He does, however, wear only clothing made of synthetic fibers, including gloves and long sleeves all year 'round.
Trivia
• Kevin's voice is naturally very, very soft. Louder inflections of his voice when he speaks quickly or rushes to explain something he's worried will be/was taken the wrong way still doesn't raise his volume even to the level of most people's normal tone.
• Kevin has recurring nightmares about the day his mutation manifested and he accidentally killed his father. If caught right after the nightmare he'll speak in his natural accent until he stops talking for a few hours, then it will revert back to it's current accent.
• He goes into a near panic attack whenever people get too close to him, especially if they have a lot of exposed skin.
• Kevin wears at least three layers of clothing on his upper body at all times which consist of full-fingered, elbow-length gloves; a long sleeved shirt; a short sleeved shirt. He wears a full-length jacket outside unless it's actually hot out. He tries to always have a hood on some layer of clothing he's wearing.
• Kevin's skin is very sensitive to touch because of the fact that he's always covered in so many layers and hasn't been touched much in the past two years.
• He's actually a decent cook, but it's all comfort food and meat 'n potatoes type stuff he makes.
• He craves biscuits and gravy for breakfast seemingly non-stop.
• People doing just about anything nice for him tends to leave Kevin utterly speechless.
• Nathan Dayspring gave Kevin a fiddler crab Kevin named Eddie as a pet after he was released from FBI custody.
• He is none too pleased to officially be an convict, sealed record or no.
His Accent
• During his time away from his hometown of Atlanta Kevin's accent has unconsciously abandoned its native sound for a thicker, composite accent that is immediately identifiable as Southern but cannot be pinned to any one area. This is due to a combination of having picked up the speech patterns of others and an unconscious change in the potency of his accent to immediately identify him as a Southerner to those not from the South, particularly when he was in Scotland.
• His accent tends to lighten and thicken of its own accord. Often it'll lighten with those who don't speak English well so they can understand him. When he is being particularly polite his accent reverts back to its original Georgian sound. His accent gets much thicker when he talks to people like Jay who have thick Southern accents though it lightens closer to his natural accent with people who have Southern accents of a softer variety.
• The biggest reason his accent has changed is because while he loves Atlanta and where he's from, Kevin does not wish to think about the place or the people there as it always reminds him of his father whose death he has still not fully come to terms with.
• Kevin picks up cadence and speech patterns of others very easily, often slipping into their accents slightly or way of phrasing things without realizing it.
Plots
2006
2008
Meta
Player: Nichole
E-mail: 140px
AIM: winter withers
Player Icon Base: Kevin Zegers
Meta Trivia
Formerly played by Margaret.
