Nari Reno

Nari hasn’t done what he considers enough in his years in life. Though the things he does acknowledge as something worthwhile, and even the things he’s not aware of, have shaped into the person he is today. Despite the ups and downs, he can still the positive about everything. He hated school due to feeling like an outcast, and even those people who were called friend by him were kept at a respectful distance most of the time. His natural abilities have made it hard for him to keep those he wants to be close to since his fear of hurting them haunts him daily. Being born an Elementalist, someone who is able to control elements especially those with a close affinity to their heart, made it very difficult for him to pretend to be normal. He’s not very good at manipulating people, and sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve the closer he gets so someone. He hates talking about his past, and has somehow over the years even managed to keep his abilities quiet. His older sister cut him and the rest of the family out of her life due to her fear of her little brother.

Born to a German father and an Irish mother, Nari looks like a perfect blend between the two of them. He keeps his hair short, and has a right blue eye and a green left eye (heterochromia). He would get teased as a child for his eyes, which he never really overcame, but never thought to wear contacts. Being the second child of a couple that moved around a lot, he grew up in a very multicultural environment, appreciating each country he went to as a new and exciting learning experience. His family didn't really practice any faiths. They left it up to their own children to decide what they wanted to do with their lives when it came to spirituality. He has always been close with his older sister Rociel, and they got into a lot of trouble whenever they ran away from their parents. These are some of his fondest memories of his childhood. His most painful ones were the ones where he hurt someone when he couldn’t keep his abilities in check.

As a child, Nari had a harder time making friends. He was teased about his appearance no matter where he went. He tried his best to get rid of the German accent he grew up with, and now speaks without even a hint of it except when tired. At the age of nine he was invited to an event of someone he hardly knew. His paretns wanted him to make friends his age, even though he did his best to throw a big enough of a tantrum not to go. The children there were cruel in their teasing, eventually locking him inside of a closet to be left there till the end of the party. Feeling as if the walls were closing in on him, he panicked and hurt the first person to open the door. The man was swallowed up by fire, later passing away in the hospital. Despite all of the partygoers seeing this happen, no one ever spoke of it, or even remembered Nari being at the party in the first place. This was the first time his ability was used out of fear. He spent a good chunk of time locked away in his room due to this. Afraid of seeing their son suffer, his parents decided to take him on trips. One trip was to the Midwest, where he became terribly lost in an open field. The lack of discernable markers made him afraid that he would die and never be found again. Due to being locked up, and then being in a wide open space with no way markers made it almost impossible for him to do things such as board an airplane. Counseling during high school had managed to give him tools to make these fears more manageable. Him becoming afraid leads to the consequence of using his abilities.

Since he mostly home-schooled as a child, a traditional school setting was terrifying for him. He had started to become withdrawn when his parents decided to finally settle down. He had never really been around kids his age too often, and with his sister being two grades ahead, he didn't really have anyone to talk to. At fifteen he started formally attending high school. The people who called him friend were kept at a distance. He was able to convince them that he pretended he cared for them with a lot of work, but always concealed how he truly felt until he felt they earned his trust. After hanging out one night with his 'friends', he was attacked by a girl who bullied him from the moment he entered school. This happened when he was seventeen, and he was hospitalized from the traumatic injuries for several weeks. He's been left with several large scars that he keeps hidden no matter what. The girl he attacked was hit by his ice elemental ability, and later on lost her legs due to frostbite. When he was released, he went right back into therapy to deal with his new anxieties which left him feeling emotionally crippled and incapable of dealing with daily life in a constructive way. When he had fully recovered from his injuries, he noticed a dulled sense of pain, made worse by his inability to feel painful things happening if he was distracted or just not paying attention. His sense of smell was also enhanced, which translated into him not being able to stand the smell of strong odors that some people had about them, and sickly sweet smells were especially noticeable and made him feel sick. His abilities went haywire more often, and it led to his parents confronting him about it. His room was furnished to accommodate this so he had a safe space to use his abilities.

Nari’s sister graduated, leaving him no one to run to when the bullying became almost unbearable. Having his sister cut them out of his life after didn't help matters. He fell into a deep depression coupled with a severe case of PTSD. He somehow managed to keep his grades up so he could graduate on time. The day he graduated was like a weight lifting off his shoulders. That summer he took his father up on the offer of taking a survival class so he could learn to be self-sufficient if ever caught out in nature. They had gone hiking on and off during his high school years, the few times he didn't have to worry about being bullied for being different. The woods made him feel at home. He went on several more hikes with his father that summer, camping out overnight in many different places, and watching the stars at night without light pollution. He felt understood by the woods, and went on every hike his father asked him to go on. It was during this time when he started feeling a draw towards plants and learned how to manipulate them to make them grow, and so on.

That fall, at the age of eighteen, he started attending a community college so he could attain an AAS. Science was a passion of his since childhood, even though he wanted to get into the medical field at one time, he chose to go a different route so he would have to deal less with people. The friends he actually considered friends were all from different departments, and they all shared one thing in common: their fear of people who saw them as different. He was far less reserved with them than strangers, showing them a side of himself he hadn't known he still had. Falling in love with his best friend during this time was his biggest regret. His best friend went on later during school to marrying a young man who Nari thought was perfect for his friend, though he still had lingering feelings for her. These feelings were never acted on, and he soon graduated with his AAS at the age of twenty-one.

A run in with the bully at a grocery store a year later reminded him of the beating he received by this person, and it left him paranoid and scared. Instead of taking a job he was offered, he ran. His parents owned several small properties around the country for vacation purposes, so he moved to the one furthest away first. Using the internet, he kept in contact with his friends, letting them know where he was and how he was doing. He took whatever small job he could get to supplement the money his parents sent him, trying his best to get used to being around people he didn't know. This didn't always work out, and he would go on to the next place. His friends would suggest places for him to see along the way, and he happily obliged, loving exploring the vast country. Forests were always his favorites. At one stop he adopted a small, orphaned kitten who grew to be his only physically there companion on his road to hiding. This cat grew to be a rather fluffy and sweet, and Nari named her Cream. When he finally decided on settling down in one place, after two years of traveling, it was back in the state he had fallen in love with when they first settle down in the US. The town had always been on of his favorites, and he made himself a home there. It was a decent sized cabin near a nature preserve with plenty of hiking trails for him to explore whenever he wasn't working. It also helped that no one could see him use his powers. Cream had become rather content with staying indoors, so she no longer joined Nari on his excursions.

Since Nari had taken gun safety classes and had a permit to own firearms, he bought himself a rifle to keep himself safe as he hiked. He had yet to use it in self-defense, though he made sure to use the scope in case he heard a sound far off that didn't sound like a small animal. He started carrying a hunting knife with him in order to mark trees that he would then use as quick guides home. The knife has seen more action than the rifle has, and he made sure they both stayed in good condition.

It was a quiet life in the woods. He had to rig some things in order to get internet out there, but he was lucky enough that it was close enough to the roads and other houses so he could make use of the sewer lines and have electricity. His neighbors never really bothered him, being quiet and keeping to themselves as well. The few times that his neighbors did come to him was to warn him of predators, or possible human predators. Thankfully, he was never in real danger. He has cordial acquaintanceship with the people in town. He will talk to them when they approach him, such as when he works or goes shopping. He's made sure not to become too friendly with anyone in town, but will go to town celebrations so no one will think of him as a pariah.

A fear of hurting others with his powers became a thing of the past. Slowly, he became used to spending a bit more time with strangers, and his reserved nature became more open and friendly. Since he became more comfortable with other people, he started showing signs of his temper, something he had been in good control of since he entered high school. There were few times where he exhibited signs of this temper, lashing out at objects, and one time, another person. He also started becoming more and more picky about the foods he would eat and the people he would associate with. He taught himself to learn to listen carefully for changes in a person’s tone and the words they use since he is horrible at reading body language. If the person starts teasing or joking with him in what he perceives to be malicious, it becomes an immediate red flag until they either drop it, or if they continue, he leaves.

To this day, he loves his quiet life and the time he gets to spend in the woods. This was a veritable paradise for him, an escape from the life he perceived as utter hell. His parents miss him dearly, and when they visit, they let him know this. He misses his older sister dearly, but keeps a respectful distance from her since he figures his sister needs to find out for herself what he wanted in life. As of his twenty-fourth birthday, he has started working at a library, sparking his love for books and anything that could be read and learned from. Hiking is still a form of therapy for him, and he will discuss in depth anything that has to do with being in nature with his friends and his neighbors. Nari technically has no formal training with his elemental abilities, since no one has ever shown they could use it, too. He still to this day has no idea how no one has gone after him for his powers, unaware that there was people in the shadows making sure they stayed hidden.