Angelo Espinosa

Angelo is currently working for Elpis, living at the mansion, teaching self-defence and a member of the X-Men, as well as undertaking part-time college courses. He is effectively Cable's foster son, though it's never been said in so many words.

Details

Character Journal: x_skin

Real Name: Angelo Espinosa

Codename: Skin

Aliases: None known as yet.

First Appearance: August 27, 2003

Date of Birth: 22 July 1986

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, USA

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Juanita Espinosa (mother), Eduardo Espinosa (father; deceased), Gilberto and Inez (cousins; little or no contact)

Education: Graduate of Xavier's, taking correspondence college courses

Relationship Status: Single, tentatively beginning a relationship with Amanda Sefton.

Occupation: Elpis employee with no specified job title, Nathan's minder; teacher (self-defence).

Team Affiliation: Elpis, X-Men

Biography

Childhood

To say Angelo's childhood wasn't idyllic is the understatement of the century, starting at the age of five when he watched his father die after a mugging. And it was all downhill from there, as he got increasingly involved with the local gangs. Naturally enough, the rest of his childhood was a violent one, leaving him with numerous scars (not all physical). At the age of fourteen, he was forced to shoot a friend of his to save his own life, his first - but probably not last - killing. It left its mark.

However, it wasn't all bad, or not from his point of view. He had a group of the closest friends he could have wished for, including Miguel Torres, and when he was fifteen, he started dating Miguel's sister Alejandra. By this time, Miguel was the leader of the gang, with Angelo as his second in command, and gave his full approval to the relationship. Angelo was happy, at this point in his life, but it wasn't to last.

When he was almost seventeen, he manifested, and that was the end of life as he'd known it. His friends turned on him, knocking him out and leaving him in a burning car, from which he barely escaped at the cost of a new set of scars on his hands. Unknown to Angelo, Alejandra witnessed the first part of this, before her brother hustled her away. Two months or so later, Cyclops found Angelo on the streets and brought him to Xavier's.

Living At The X-Mansion

His life as a student was also up and down, including at least two near-death experiences (the attack by Pete's old employers, during which he was caught in Pyro's out-of-control fire, and the incident with Rack in Mexico), a year-long relationship with Paige during which she was also seeing Jono and a long-running epic feud with Manuel. It left him with more burn scars than he had on arriving and an intense fear of fire, but on the plus side, several firm friendships that continue today, especially with Amanda, Marie and Sarah.

Things went much more smoothly for him towards the end of his time as a Xavier's student, as he grew up and became steadier and less volatile. He owns a chocolate labrador called Joyita, a gift from Paige for his eighteenth birthday.

Graduation

Angelo graduated Xavier's in 2005, at the age of nineteen, and spent some time coasting while he tried to figure out what he wanted to do next. He was on the verge of leaving the school to find his path elsewhere when Nathan offered him the job with Elpis, which he accepted. He has recently changed his mind about joining the X-Men in the wake of Nathan's history with them and was made a trainee with the codename of "Sancho".

Things have gone from strength to strength since then. In January 2007, following the events of Epiphany Frosts, he was made a full member of the team, codename "Skin".

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'7

Weight: 142 pounds.

Eyes: Brown.

Hair: Black.

Other Features: One earring, numerous scars including a gunshot wound to his torso, burns to his hands and elsewhere, and an old gang insignia cut into his shoulder. Tattoos of elven runes down his spine.

Angelo's skin is a dull grey colour, and in times of stress can seem to sag if he loses his fine control of his powers. Generally he's able to pull it in firmly enough to maintain a regular appearance, apart from the colour.

Powers

The average human body is covered by about two square meters of skin. Angelo possesses almost ten square meters of skin that he has a degree of mental control over. His skin cells are more elastic and resilient than a normal human's, allowing them to remain viable despite limited blood flow. This limited blood flow accounts for the grey appearance of his skin in its normal state.

By force of will, Angelo can extend his skin from his body, stretching distances of up to fifteen feet and beyond while still maintaining his sense of touch and a degree of manual dexterity. The tensile strength of his distended skin is sufficient to exert enough force to lift the weight of small objects with little to no effort, and Angelo has been shown to support the weight of another full-grown human with some effort.

When contracted, the thickness of Angelo's skin offers him some protection against blunt force trauma, although other forms of injury such as burns are often especially traumatic due to the extensive nerve endings in his extra skin.

Equipment

The elven sword he brought back from Asgard. He keeps up his practice with this and has been known to take it on missions.
The superspy watch Alison Blaire commissioned from Forge as a gift for Angelo, before she left.
The state-of-the-art organiser Amanda gave him for Christmas. He relies on this. A lot.

Trivia

As students, Angelo and Amanda were known as the Nicotine Twins for the amount of time they spent on the back porch smoking. Until she arrived, he had been trying to give up. He has yet to manage it, though he smokes less than he did.