Nico Minoru

PHASE 1

Nico Minoru
Portrayed by Aya Ueto
Codename:	None
Affiliations:	X-Force
Birthdate:	October 31, 1992.
Journal:	x_staffofone
Player:	Aura

From a Runaway to a witch apprentice and member of X-Force, Nico's new life means a chance to know herself, and to deal with whoever she meets while doing so.

Details

Character Journal: x_staffofone

Real Name: Nico Minoru

Codename: None.

Aliases: "Grasshopper"

First Appearance: October 19, 2009

Date of Birth: October 31, 1992.

Place of Birth: Beverly Hills, California.

Citizenship: American/Japanese.

Relatives: The Minoru Family: Robert Minoru (Father), Tina Minoru (Mother).

Education: High School.

Relationship Status: Single, formerly dating Julian Keller

Occupation: Assistant to Amanda Sefton

Team Affiliation: X-Force.

Biography

Childhood

The Minoru Family comes all the way from Japan, and somewhere back on its roots, back from China. Robert and Tina, two children of Japanese immigrants, hold little of the Asian tradition though. Characterized for being extremely churchy people, the Minoru took her only child, Nico to church since she was born -and before that happened, of course-, and made her a proper altar girl as soon as she had the age. Both successful investors, the Minoru family was as wealthy as the rest of the Beverly Hills ones, albeit a little more discreet when it came to show it off; this didn't stop them from owning several houses though. Nico's childhood was defined by her intensely religious, elitist and strict family -maybe the only thing they kept from Japan-, which made her a very cute spoiled brat, daddy's girl and a future business woman without comparison, much to her parent's delight.

That, and Julian Keller.

Living around the rich and famous, a family like Nico's, who had earned every of the many pennies they had needed to make contacts and relationships with those beneficial and convenient, and the Kellers seemed to be the best option, among others. As a result of this particular friendship, and probably partnership, it was somehow considered best to have the children of both families spend time together every time they met, which happened with certain regularity. It was unexpectedly disastrous; neither little Julian nor little Nico had any desire to spend much more than a few minutes together, first sight hatred blossomed between the two of them for unexplained -or plain non existent- reasons. The parents insisted thought, but the situation didn't improve at all. Eventually they stopped seeing each other, mainly because they were blissfully sent to different schools, but the feeling of awkwardness was already in them.

Of Rodents, Princes and Witches

Nico's life was as boring as it could get until she hit High School, and it kept on the boredom path for a while there as well. She had grown to a brilliant yet uninterested student, with an ever growing attraction to the uses and tendencies of those denominated as Goths, although she never considered herself one of them, and would most likely dismiss the idea if presented. High School would had proved to be an equally boring experience as the others of it hadn't been for two elements that had caught her attention, as well as everyone else's on the school; the obvious mutant Doreen Green, who was the designated punch bag and target of all the cruel jokes that happened on school, and Julian Keller once more, but this time in a role she could never picture him, which was as the sole emotional support for the girl. Of course, Keller wasn't showing it right in front of everybody, but Nico, who had started to follow the harassed girl -more out of interest than pity- happened to see him being supportive towards her; while Nico had always tried Doreen as if she were just another person, partly because of her own latent mutation, she had never taken an active role on defending her.

Julian's "outing" was followed by his open choice to protect Doreen, and Nico found herself more and more unsure of knowing who was the boy by then. The boy vanished though, leaving Doreen served on a silver tray for the entire school to fall at her with full power. Aware she had been an watcher for too long, Nico stepped in, ruining the moderate respect she had along her classmates, but at least managing to partially shield the squirrel girl. Little Nico knew that was the first of many things ready for her to change her life forever.

The Family Business

Some time after standing up for Doreen, Nico was invited to a sleepover on a friend's house -most likely her last friend-, but the girl had to return home that very same day, since the friend in question was sick and the parents preferred to keep her moderately isolated. Upon returning home, Nico noticed her parents were around, which was an oddity due to the time it was; the Minoru usually had dinner by the time Nico arrived, and the house looked deserted...with the exception of some noise in the basement. Curious, the girl approached the basement, slightly opening the door to peek inside; while she wasn't used to spy her parent, the thought somebody else -somebody dangerous- could be in her house made her be silent. What she found couldn't be further from her thoughts. What she found, indeed, was her parents using a girl in a weird sacrifice. Talk about things not making sense at all. She thought she was being careful, but her parents noticed her hidding behind a the basement door, and a wild chase happened, Nico barely making it to the door. It didn't come free though, as her mother jammed the staff she was using right on her chest. It didn't hurt; the staff simply sank into her easily.

Terrified, the girl made it to the door, but her father attacked. And she hit back, using the Staff of One by the first time. The subsequent escape was a race against the ghosts of her parents for the next several months.

The Street Life

For about eight months, Nico lived on the streets of several different states, first pickpoketing and shoplifting, and then entering in darker business; this is a blurry time on her life, since her mind was completely focused on surviving and runing like crazy. She did end up offering herself, and apparently did that several weeks before a "client" tried to get violent on her, which caused the Staff of One to emerge, and the man was killed in a horrible, painful way. Seeing how her life had touched what she thought was the rock bottom. Finally breaking down, Nico used the Staff of One to cast a teleportation spell, wishing to go home.

But that wasn't were she ended.

Living At The X-Mansion

Nico's life at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters started when she fall from the ceiling onto the only person she didn't think she would meet again in her entire life; Julian Keller. She actually hurt him, and the guy passed out before things got weird when Nico and Amanda Sefton met for the first time, and it wasn't a friendly meeting. At all

She also met Doreen Green, who she hadn’t seen since her escape from her father's, and who she had also left to her own devices on school, something Nico regretted greatly. Realizing she would not be safe on her own, it was decided that Nico would stay on the mansion after it was confirmed by Amanda that while the Staff of One was certainly evil, Nico wasn’t, and she seemed capable of harnessing its power, although she needed practice. It was because of this that besides her enrolment on the usual classes dictated at the mansion, Nico would be trained by Amanda in how to properly use the Staff of One, as well as cultivating the little magic power she had on her own.

Nico’s first months on the mansion were filled with angst, being fewer the moments where she actually enjoyed her stay. She was, after all, dealing with realizing the people she loved were downright evil, and also considering herself a stranger around the mutants, to the point she almost ran away the very first night if it hadn’t been for Catseye, who offered her company so she could deal with the sadness.

Although slowly, Nico managed to open herself to the rest of the mansion, managing to re-ignite her friendship with Doreen, apologizing for leaving alone and taking to herself the task of not leaving her friends behind anymore. Her relationship with Amanda, which had been initially rocky, improved quickly, the older witch seeing how her now apprentice had much of her, and the “young grasshopper” feeling that Amanda was the role model she should be following.

With the improvement of Nico’s view of the world, the more easy going side of her resurfaced, and she started to actively take part of the mansion life. She even took part in a play! Which didn’t end so good when an illusion caster started to play games with them, but they sorted it out. Eventually.

Less than two months since her arrival and Nico was already travelling to meet Doreen’s family, with unexpected consequences as they ended up meeting with a figure of Julian’s past; Simon Gutierrez and ended up stepping into a drug deal, and successfully stopping it, even. Just when Nico was hoping to forget about having an exciting life, settling into the pace of the mansion. Things would further develop and become more complicated, with her magic turning to be something more evil than even Amanda had thought, and her unexplained attraction towards Julian, as well as her bonding with other mansion residents such as Kevin Ford and Bobby Drake, as well as Logan and her roommate, Megan Gwynn.

Valentine's Day 2009 was rather more exciting than Nico expected: she and Julian began dating and they wound up in jail as the result of another attack from Julian's old gang, the Lords of War. With Simon Guiterrez in the Vault, life continued as normal - lessons with Amanda, 'interrogating' Amanda's friends and associates about her mentor's past out of curiosity, and the occasional magical trick to impress her friends. She also participated in the Red X mission to Pakistan.

When Meggan Szardos was possessed by Selene, Amanda used Nico and the Staff of One to break the witch's hold on her little sister, which resulted in a frank talk from Amanda about Selene and her past and brought student and mentor closer.

The Staff of One proved to be more of a problems than a benefit, most of the time, such as when it interfering in a simple D&D game. Nico struggled to balance life as a witch and a student, especially with the Staff sometimes demanding to be used despite her mentor's warnings. Her relationship with Julian moved quickly too, with the young teens getting physical, sometimes in less than private places. And always the shadow of her parents lurked, with X-Force searching for them but never quite able to track them down.

The Gift

Things came to a head in late 2009 - early 2010. A prophetic dream on the eve of her birthday, in which a woman called Arcana Minoru appeared, warning Nico she was coming for her. A trip with Amanda to buy a birthday gift turned into an ambush as Tina and Robert Minoru attempting to snatch Nico. The attempt failed, with Amanda and Nico fighting back, although Nico almost overloaded herself in the process.

Julian in the meantime, had his own family issues, with the Lords of War making another attempt at Julian, this time by kidnapping his family. Julian went to LA to attempt to save him, with Nico and Dori following after, using the Staff. When the X-Men were alerted to the situation, Crystal Amaquelin was assigned to escort the two girls back to the mansion, but they never left LAX - the Minorus appeared again and this time succeeded in kidnapping their daughter, her friend and their teacher. Under the confusion of the LA situation, their disappearance was assumed to be a part of Gordon MacPherson's plan; when it was discovered not to be the case, Amanda immediately teleported to LA to join the X-Men in searching for them.

By a combination of X-Force's previous search results, Amanda's magic and the X-Men's own investigations, they tracked the Minorus and their cult to an abandoned mine complex in Wyoming. Unfortunately, they were too late - the Minorus had already conducted the ritual to give Nico to the First Minoru, and the girl was possessed by Arcana. While the X-Men battled the cultists, Julian freed Crystal and Dori and Amanda faced her student with the Staff of One, which had attached itself to her the moment she'd entered the cave. Ultimately they were successful in preventing Nico from harming her parents and Arcana was ousted at her own behest, saying it was 'too soon' for her to inhabit Nico. The Minorus escaped

The greatest casualty, however, was Nico herself - the huge amount of magical energies had triggered her latent mutation, the ability to drain the energy of living things to power her magic. Only Amanda seemed to be immune, and it was her mentor that talked her down out of the initial panic, during which she killed several of her parents' cultists.

On returning to the school, Nico hid herself away, terrified of hurting anyone while Jean and Amanda conferred on the best way to help the girl. Amanda practically bullied her out of hiding, dragging her out to a state park to 'feed' and telling her that removing herself from humanity would only make it easier for her to feed on them - the more isolated she was, the easier it would be to see others as a fuel source. With that admonishment in mind, Nico tried to return to school life, albeit cautiously. It wasn't easy, however, especially for her relationship - she and Julian both were frustrated by her fear of being physically close. Amanda did her best to help, taking Nico to visit her old mentor, Tante Mattie in New Orleans - although Amanda's job got in the way, as it often did, with a pit stop to rescue Marie-Ange Colbert from the Forger's Guild.

In May 2011, Nico and Julian attempted sex for the first time since her manifestation. It was a disaster, with Nico partially draining Julian and putting him in medlab. Jean and Amanda did their best to calm her, finding her on the brink of running away, and her lessons with her mentor intensified. The incident resulted in Nico ending the relationship for Julian's safety, something he took extremely badly.

In the wake of the break-up, Nico tried her best not to hermit again, spending time especially with her fellow New Mutants. An accident with a spell that resulted in the group being haunted by ghosts had her terrified she was in trouble, but her friends agreed to deal with the situation on their own and did so, successfully. Another incident, where her magic interacted with Artie's adoptive mother's empathy resulted in the entire group being influenced by the Morlock into believing the Morlock Tunnels were their only safe home, even going so far as to defend themselves against the X-Men who came to retrieve them. Nico graduated high school in June 2011, without incident, and went with Amanda for a few days to the Cotswolds, to meet Homily, another one of the magical network. The year ended with Nico helping to reverse a curse that had been accidentally cast on a Halloween party and later joining X-Force.

Genosha and Beyond

Nico was given the chance to prove herself in February 2012, when most of X-Force was mentally reverted to their sixteen-year-old selves, and Nico and Remy (who had escaped it) had to find a way to reverse it. In March she helped helped to break up a mutant trafficking ring and take down the trafficker. When a group of Xavierites and associates were kidnapped by the Genoshan Government, Nico went with X-Force to try and rescue them. When the raid failed, she escaped into the Genoshan wilderness with a few other escapees, where they found others and teamed up to make a plan to rescue everyone. She taking down the mutant monster Moreau.

Returning home was business as usual for Nico. She began going out and meeting contacts in the field, which ate up a lot of her time, but she was hardly bored when she was home. When a renaissance fair took a turn for the weird, Nico went with Amanda to help sort it out, thinking it was something magic related, and in October 2012 she helped rescue a young magic user in England. It was her bad luck that she was present for the Brownstone being invaded at the end of 2013.

In January 2013, she went with a few members of X-Force to help rescue the New Mutants from a pocket dimension where Slendermen had taken them. June brought with it a new challenge, when Nico faced her demons at a magical hotel, where she rescued Amanda from being possessed by a demon and the First came out to protect her. She continued her travels and was absent a lot, though she was also around for a demon invasion in August 2014.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'6

Weight: 110 lbs.

Eyes: Black

Hair: Black

Other Features: Gothic sense of fashion, silver pendant necklace.

Powers

Nico was a latent mutant; her X-gene was "sleeping", and was activated in 2010. She is an energy absorber, similar to Amanda, except that she requires the energy of living things to sustain herself, like Selene.

Nico possesses potential for casting magic, but her limits are untested. They are, at the moment, slightly over the average, and her ability to learn is more on the theory than the actual application due to the small amount of energy she can use on her own.

Nico's soul is linked with the Staff of One, an ancient artifact of uncalculated magical power. While most of the information regarding to it are legends and myths, all of them refer at it as an really powerful weapon, capable of incredible feats. It isn't known if it links with the user's soul every time, and Nico's abilities with the Staff are very specific. In order to "summon" the staff, Nico needs to bleed, the amount being unimportant; even the natural bleeding of a woman's period is enough to make the staff “summon able”. Upon bleeding, the phrase "When blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge" (Nico doesn't remember knowing the words until she said them)must be said in order to summon it. The staff comes out of her body then, phasing through bones, flesh, skin and clothes, but pushing aside everything else on its path.

While wielding the Staff of One, Nico can cast magic by focusing on sad or bad -"dark"- memories of feelings and then "projecting" them on a command that could either be a single word or a sentence, while focusing on a desired effect; Nico goes through the entire process unconsciously, actually. While Nico can cause any desired effect besides bringing the dead back to life, she is limited to being able to cause an effect once, and only once; trying a "recast" will automatically cause a random effect to appear, even one of the already used. There is no limitation regarding the language used to cast the spell, or a limit of words. After some time being unused, the staff will re-enter Nico's chest in the same way it came out.

Other people can wield the Staff of One as well, the conditions of use sometimes changing, but it will ultimately re-enter Nico no matter what.

Equipment

Staff of One.

Trivia

Nico HATES the feeling bringing the staff out and in causes.

Nico is an outstanding self-taught sewer, and loves to make just about everything, although most of the times she uses black, white and red on her works; she can be persuaded to use other combinations though.

Plots

2009

Stage of Illusions

Carry On

2010

Carry On

Noise and Confusion

Santayana Effect

Revenant

Lakshmibai Raj

Dungeons and Derangements

There Will Be Peace

The Gift

2011

New Orleans: The Pontchartrain Strain

Afterlife

My Long Forgotten Son

What Goes Around, Comes Around

2012

Operation: Teenage Wasteland

Operation: A Roving Commission

The Unwritten Alliance

The End of the Beginning

Step By Step

Savrola

Onwards to Victory

The Dawn of Liberation

Renfair

Operation: A Hammer To Fall

(Operation: Poisoned Honey) - off-screen but present

2013

Something Slender (and Awful)

Hotel California

2014

Darkness Within

Meta

Player: Aura

E-mail: File:Serraemail.jpg

AIM: auragifford@gmail.com

Player Icon Base: Aya Ueto

Meta Trivia