Arthur Centino

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

Arthur Centino
Portrayed by Johann Urb
Codename:	Longshot
Affiliations:	X-Factor
Birthdate:	May 30, 1979

Journal:	xp_longshot
Player:	Walks

That would be something, huh? Luck without cost?

Actor, Stuntman, Survival Star. A series of twists and turns swept Arthur Centino into the mansion after being manipulated for ratings power by the villainous Mojo.

Details

Character Journal: xp_longshot

Real Name: Arthur Centino

Codename:

Aliases: Longshot

First Appearance: May 2, 2014

Date of Birth: May 30, 1979

Place of Birth: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Citizenship: South African, American

Relatives: Henrik Centino (father), Rita Jordaan (mother)

Education: United States High School Diploma

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Reality Star/Celebrity, Former Stuntman

Team Affiliation: X-Factor

Biography

Childhood in South Africa (1979–1993)

Arthur Centino was born to a middle class military Port Elizabeth, South Africa. His father was an administrator, and the family moved rarely from the port town. His mother worked as a doctor on base. They were relatively stable and happy.

Arthur’s early years were filled with a love and fascination for his father’s hobbies of rock climbing and sailing. He pursued interests that built upon this physical skills: football, marital arts, Cub Scouting, mountaineering, and surfing. Academically he did not stand out in his first cycles — instead seen as being more concerned with gym sciences as opposed to more general studies.

The abolishment of Apartheid did little to influence Centino family life, but the downsizing/diversification of the military that accompanied the End Conscription Campaign did. Henrik was discharged, but Rita’s contacts secured them opportunities abroad. At age 14, they moved to Boulder, Colorado in the United States.

Teenage Years in America (1993-1998)

Arthur may have not even noticed a change. He was, by this point, already incredibly adaptable and fairly happy to have the majority of his father’s attention with his mother’s success as a specialist. American high school was not a huge change, and the culture shock of grunge did little to wipe away the boy’s constant smile. And, honestly, Arthur’s young life was very boring in how average it seemed: he was blessed with no major diseases, ailments, or injures, and Colorado was a veritable playground of outdoor adventure.

He was noticed for his physical skills — to help supplement family income, Arthur competed nationally in climbing competitions and had a small, uneventuful gig modeling. He earned a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate at age 17. He was an all American Gymnast specializing in the High Rings and Tumbling.

Academically, Arthur was nothing special. He did take special interest in Drama, and enrolled in acting classes after some lucky casting in community theater (lead got sick) and high school productions.

After graduating, Arthur decided he was destined for Hollywood.

Hollywood Stunt-Double (1998–2010)

Things landed quickly in Los Angeles for Arthur. At age 18, he got a small background role in Paradise Point that, at age 19, matured into a few speaking lines with a “dramatic” reveal after meeting a casting director at the DMV. He spent these first few years getting his feet wet in a variety of television cameo appearances (Procedurals) and regrettable commercials. Downtime was spent in the traditional side roles of waiter and bartender.

However, this ultimately led to dissatisfaction. He never really had to try hard, but it was clear from the lack of calls and break-out parts that acting was, perhaps, not the best choice for him. Luckily, he diversified his portfolio by enrolling in several stunt instruction. This shift proved to be a much faster track: his good lucks and physical abilities landed him many high profile roles in the late 90s/2000s in film either as stunt doubles (mainly action) or one off characters (lots of one note villains, one Bond henchman).

Phase 1

Surviving Reality Television (2007–2014)

Arthur earned the nickname“Longshot” across the Hollywood set due to his amazing ability to pull off tricky stunt work, and soon found himself with a gigantic network and opportunities to produce his own work. He had never given up on his interest in countering and the outdoor — filming work was always punctuated by skilling or climbing trips — and he, under the encouragement of friends, created a series of survival webisodes in the style of Bear Grylls and Les Stroud that catch fire on the internet. This, in turn, caught the interest of United States media companies and Arthur had soon signed a two season contract with MajorDomo Studios.

Arthur has starred in two seasons of “Ways of the Wild” where he, armed only with a single shot camera and minimal supplies would document the case — and three of "Longshot for Survival” — another survival show intersected with commentary on technique and easy to learn first aid/defense maneuvers — (airing on US Cable Networks), becoming an international face for man against nature while wearing a smile and winking. Bloggers have noticed that the rise in difficulty of his adventures jumped drastically during "Longshot for Survival," putting him in more unlikely (and unsurvivable) conditions. They would also note that his event appearances began diminishing around the same time.

What the internet don’t know is that Major Domo Industries, a subsidiary of Discovery, is owned via back-channels by Mojo Enterprises. This company had, in fact, confirmed Centino’s mutant status and began to use a telepath (his agent, one Minnie Douglas) to limit Arthur’s downtime between “episodes” and mind wipe away trauma in an effort to limit lucksnaps and ensure radical probability shifts for drama.

Impossible Odds (2014)

Word came in mid-2014 that media darling “Longshot” was about to start filming a new, exciting series called “Impossible Odds.” In February 2014 he was spotted on the mutant island Avalon, filming before and after a tsunami touched down on the island. In June 2014 he outbid Wade Wilson for a date with Cecilia Reyes, spending an amazing amount of money on her, though when he met her again at a book signing event in October he acted like he had never met her. His attitude earned him a slap, and then lightning struck the building.

Several other chance encounters put Arthur into contact with mansion residents over the remaining months, including a phone call made in duress that went to Cecilia's voicemail.

Events came to a boil in December 2014 as a string of "lucky saves" (including vanquishing a dragon in Kansas and stopping a Black Friday robbery in Utah) put Longshot front and center in the X-Men's curiosity. All points of contact were cut short, however, as Arthur was unable to be reached. His contacts claimed he was "going on a brief holiday after recent prolonged stress." This, however, was quickly overshadowed by news that the train he was traveling to Salt Lake City in crashed with no survivors in the Nevada mountains.

Arthur's luck ensured this was not the case. He managed to spend a few days off the grid before reaching out, desperately, to Cecilia with an accidental phone call to Xavier's medlab. The X-Men mobilized quickly, but not quickly enough to stop an altercation between Mojo's goons and Arthur (and the subsequent luck snap that almost engulfed Lake Tahoe Valley). A quick intervention by Jennie Stavros and Wanda Maximoff stabilized the situation and Arthur was safely moved to the mansion.

The Dark Phoenix (2015)

Longshot laid low for the remainder of 2014. David Haller provided much needed therapy for the man's spotty memories, and Arthur bounced back quickly with a gung-ho attitude.

This was needed, however, when the events of The Dark Phoenix began to unfold. He provided initial support and hugs for the mansion's youth as several of the mansionites were lost (A Touch Of Brimstone). He was recruited by Wanda to provide support for X-Force as the team tailed Apocalypse into India (Fires From The Ashes) and then star in gratuitous action scenes during The Trial of Jean Grey. His powers proved key to helping calm Clarice Ferguson's breakdown after sacrifices were made to ensure the team's extraction.

There was little calm as the remaining X-Personages returned to find the mansion in ruins. Arthur was among the teams that worked to save buried children, and was among the survivors addressed by Xorn between reality went catawampus (The Dark Phoenix).

Phase 2

New Universe, New You

The fun-loving freedom earned by unemployment faded fast, and Arthur found himself recruited into X-Factor Investigations by Adrienne Frost. His luck proved valuable on initial cases, as well as his way with people. Turns out his acting isn't that bad, either, but it could be a side effect of his luck. He helped out in several investigations in 2015, and even helped Lorna rescue her kidnapped fiancee. In 2016 he helped to stop a mutant terrorist attack at Penn Station, as well as to clear Hope Abbott's name when she was framed for espionage. His luck continued to serve him in to 2017, when the Avengers attacked SHIELD and he aided in medical help for injured people (by distracting the attacking Avengers so the doctors could work).

Physical Characteristics

Arthur’s build can be charitably described as "reedy", or unkindly as "stringy"; in his teens he was full-on gangly, with far more knee and elbow than any one human being actually needs. These days, he is less ungainly; after a while of watching him, people begin to notice that he never stumbles, never reaches for something that isn't there, never loses his balance. He never gets lost. It isn't that he's graceful, like ballerinas or athletes or martial artists are graceful. He isn't graceful at all. It's just that he has an easy, carefree confidence in where — exactly, down to atoms and quantum mechanics — he is in relation to everything else in the world.

His eyes are deeply set and intensely blue; his skin is weathered. His early career was marked by closely cropped hair and handsome features, but for the past few years he’s let his blonde locks grow out to a medium length. He is rugged, but in the sort of affable and handsome way you’d want from a wilderness guide who moonlights on college girl’s walls.

His facial features are the rugged sort, too — what's typically described as "hawklike". His expression is usually glued in a congenial smile, unless he is really impressed or really surprised, or both. When he smiles it shows all of his teeth and goes to his ears.

Arthur lives outdoors; his skin is tough, his muscles are toned in a “constantly active, needs to eat more” kind of way, and he has long ago conquered sunburn.

Height: 6’0”

Weight: 170 lbs

Eyes: Blue (Right eye glows bright yellow when one of his powers are active)

Hair: Blonde

Other Features: Missing pinky on right hand from an Arctic campaign, Light Colonial British Accent

Powers

Uncanny Luck The world reorganizes itself to allow Longshot to be “lucky.”

This is manifested as probability manipulation centered upon altering “luck” in such a way that will benefit Longshot’s survival and goals. Longshot’s powers are a passive area effect in such a way to affect people, objects, or events localized around himself (or objects he is holding/people he is touching) while creating a karmic feedback loop (“lucksnap”) randomly for others within a two block radius — he gets good luck, you get bad luck. A lack of others in random proximity pools feedback in such a way that putting Longshot with others is essentially arming a luck time-bomb.

This effect is, however, dampened by population. If he were to fall off a cliff and survive without a scratch and there was only one person around, that person would have a very bad day. Yet if this happened at, say, a cliff-side mall or theme-park, many people would feel a small stub in their toe.

Longshot’s powers can also be affected by his own mood and disposition. Positive thoughts create good luck for himself, feeling down creates good luck for others and bad luck for him. This effect is largely tied to his intention: if Longshot doesn’t feel like something is right and true, his powers tend become less predicable and rebound luck in expected ways or fail to work to any effect at all.

His right eye glows when utilizing his powers to the point where a conscious manifestation will result in a brief starburst of light.

Psychometry Longshot can read psychic imprints that people leave on objects that they have handled as a form of retrocognition. This is directly tied to to strong emotions associated with the object — he'll get very little to see from a hammer only used in its intended purpose by a wielder, but stronger impressions if it was used to kill or injure someone in a moment of passion. He also receives the emotion felt during the event as a form of psychic backlash, meaning that Arthur feels exactly what happened.

He can also telepathically "read" the recent memories of a person by making physical contact with him or her. He can also use this to read the "lucky" or unlucky near-future a person might have based upon their current causality chains — decisions that create a clear pivot or choice can be seen as a limited sense of precognition, often manifestation of a vision of two different versions of the individual being read.