Nico Minoru

PHASE 1

Nico Minoru
Portrayed by Lee Hyori
Codename:	None
Affiliations:	New Mutants
Birthdate:	October 31, 1992.

Journal:	x_staffofone
Player:	Aura

From a Runaway to a witch apprentice and student -much to her chagrin-, Nico's life in the Mansion 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: None.

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: Incomplete High School.

Relationship Status: Single.

Occupation: School dropout, former runaway; reluctant student.

Team Affiliation: New Mutants.

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

2009

Nico's life on Xavier's started by falling from the ceilling over 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 met for the first time, and it wasn't a friendly meeting. At all

((Working on it!))

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Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'6

Weight: 110 lbs.

Eyes: Black

Hair: Black

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

Powers

Nico is a latent mutant; her X-Gene is "sleeping", and won't activate by itself.

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.