Character Idea 1: Nikkos Theophilus
About Nikkos: General Info
Name: Nikkos Theophilus (Thee-awp-o-lus)
Nicknames: Nik, “Achilles” (He’s his mothers “Achilles heel”)
Species: Mystery
Age: 24
birth date: 11-26-83
Sun Sign:Sagittarius
Chinese sign:Boar (water)
Ethnic Background: Greek/Greco-American
Eye Color: Dark Blue
Skin: Light Olive
Height: 6'1"
Hair Color: Black
Build: Slender, swimmers build
Scars/birthmarks/etc: Has a small scar below his right shoulder blade, the only sign of a small skin cancer he had removed in 2004. Also has an inch wide birthmark on his stomach shaped like a lopsided and lumpy four leaf clover.
Hometown: Tarpon Springs, Florida
Last place of Residence: Juno Beach, Florida, on The Odyssey
Parents: Phyllis and Dion Theophilus.
Likes: Mythology, sailing, diving, custom clothing, Greek Coffee (vari glykos: Almost honey sweet), Dolmades, Ripened Olives, gum, open toed shoes and flip flops
Dislikes: Green Olives (for shame, Nikkos! For shame!), Pimento (red pepper put in green olives), Treated Black Olives (Blackened by chemicals rather then ripened), mass produced clothing, closed shoes, Getting called “Nikki” or “Nickles”, Sleeping on land.
Irrational Fears: Has a mild fear of walking the same direction of a crowd when in the middle or front row of the group, often feeling panic building in his chest until he gets at least three feet in front of or beside the group. He has no problem if the crowd of people is standing still or if he’s standing still. He can also cut through or go against them with no problem. This makes him a little out of place when people hang out in groups of four or more, since he must walk behind the group and thus left out of the conversation.
He also has a fear of flying. Airplanes make him nervous and feel sickly. This has transferred to some hights too -- when traveling by car over mountains, those "________ feet above sea level" signs make him have to park the car and let someone else drive. He's fine until he sees those signs or hits a drop off that lets houses look like ants on the country side. If the closest buildings look smaller then his pointer finger's nail, he starts having trouble breathing.
If he were to sky dive, he would likely die, passing out before pulling the parachute cord.
Strengths: Sailing, making dolmades, saganaki, and Greek/Turkish coffee, making clothing, knows how to catch fish with a sling, free diving, simple construction/wood work, making sandles/flip flops, will adapt to most situations by setting up a booth and making clothing for people.
Weaknesses: Making normal shoes and boots, jewlery/wirework, can’t dance or sing to save his life, picky about HOW his meals are made (usually cooks for himself or eats where he can watch the cook work), forgetful, easily distracted, worries about cancer often.
Personality: He often looks as if he is saddened by something, but this is actually just because he squints his eyes often, having spent much of his life out over the water, out in the sun, as well as squinting at sewing needles for fine detailing and heavier cloths.
In reality, while Nikkos is a quite and reserved young man, he is a relatively normal guy despite his hobbies, and attempts best to be adaptable to new situations, often relating situations to mythology and fantasy he has read to trigger a coping mechanism allowing him to not see them as strange.
Because of this, he tends to chatter endlessly to fill awkward silence until he find his zen, and when he finds it he usually just sits around with a cheerful mask on, out of sync with the world.
He’s very active (unless reading a good book), and tends to get lost in his activities. He’s basically a dreamer that can mentally turn a regular day into an adventure and an adventure into something mundane.
About Nikkos: Education, Jobs, and HobbiesGrade School: Home schooled
High school: Jupiter High School
Degree: an AA degrees in Fine arts and Technical Theater at Palm Beach Community College.
Goal: Fashion Designer
Pre-Changed Occupation: Custom clothing via internet, Ethnic and Fantasy Costumes sold at Fantasy conventions, Dive Shop worker, Deep sea Fishing Cruises, Student.
Hobbies: Building simplistic wooden structures (sets for plays, booths, ect), sailing, diving, treasure hunting, eatting
About Nikkos: recreationNikkos is caught somewhere between the lines of lazy bookworm and active athlete. His idea of downtime is to read a good book of fantasy, Science Fiction, myth, or culture while working the rigging of his sails. If he's not moving, sewing, or reading, he has feet up as he sketches his next outfit idea, or working on some sort of project. He keeps his hands busy, which may show he has undiagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which would explain his being easily distracted.
He also loves food. While he doesn't trust having his food made out of site, he often goes to restaurants that allow their patrons to watch their meals be prepared, or he cooks for himself. He has no problem with eatting raw foods such as oysters right out of the the water, having learned how to check to make sure they are good. If it wasn't for his active lifestyle, he would likely be twice his size. But an active lifestyle keeps him trim, but also keeps him hungry, much like many athletes.
Because of his fear of cancer, you would never see him hanging out by the back door with a cigarette or talking with the smokers while they are smoking, not wanting to take the risk. And if you smoke, don't expect a hug from him, since third hand smoke on your clothing will keep him away from you. However, he drinks alchohol on occation, and it doesn't take much to talk him into hopping up on a table and acting like fool when he has a few glasses of wine or beer in him, his hyperactive tendencies amplified by the sugars in the alchohol. The alchohol and sugars burns off quickly though, once again due to the high metabolism caused by his active lifestyle.
If left to his own devices without a book or project to do, he will make his own projects and the village might end up with a large hole in the middle of the street and a canal leading to the lake, causing the hole to fill up and making a waterway for the aquatic members with him hammering away, building bridges over the water, or the duplexes might end up getting a makeover, with fresh paint and "homey" touches... And possibly depictions of ancient stories on the walls if he gets bored enough. So, hopefully he will kept busy...
Skills: Other then making most types of clothing and costumes, he's a good freediver, able to do down a good distance with no breathing aides while diving relatively deep into the water (useful for gathering shellfish and sunken treasure of sorts when unable to use his scuba gear)
Background: Nikkos, the son of prominent Sponge fishermen for generations back, was born on the 4th of November, 1987, in Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, Tarpon Springs, Florida, to Phyllis Sebastian and Dion Theophilus.
As a young child, Nikkos’ parents would read him Ancient Greek Myths and introduced him to many of the Classical arts of their home country. As time grew on, Nikkos continued to devour books on World Mythology and Cultures beyond that of Greece. From the Hammer of Thor being Stolen and returned by the God of Thunder dressing in Drag, to the reincarnations of Buddha, he was enthralled by mythos as if it were a Sirens song. His favorites always involved traveling over the ocean to strange worlds, making Homer’s Odyssey his favorite.
Nikkos’ interest in other cultures drove him to want to be deeper embedded in them. At first it started with bed sheets wrapped around him into a toga, but as he aged and showed more interest in clothing, his mother taught him how to use her foot powered sewing machine and bought him pattern books. As if to attempt to keep his son from becoming emasculated by the “girly” hobby, his father Dion would often take his son out fishing and diving in shallow waters, teaching him the family trade of Sponge fishing. Nikkos thrived under the diverse learning experience, becoming a healthy child in such a loving environment.
In October of 1995, disaster struck as Dion was struck by a drunk driver as he walked back home. Three days later, he died, leaving Phyllis to raise their son and run the business herself.
Overrun with work, Phyllis sells the company to Dion’s business partner and some of their land to realtors in 1997, making enough money for her and Nikkos to move to Juno Beach and live comfortably. Phyllis doted on young Nikkos, making sure he wouldn’t turn sour without a father figure, and continued to teach him as much as she could about sewing. He was her pride and her weakness, her “Achilles heel” as she would sometimes call him.
Nikkos continued his hobbies of sailing and creating clothing for himself and others, and found a source of personal income selling his clothing on the internet, either making them ahead of time or making individual pieces on commission. After a few suggestions by his regulars, he started going to Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Anime conventions, setting up a booth to sell his wears during weekends when he wasn’t in school, often making outfits while at the convention as well.
Graduating from high school in 2004, Nikkos immediately went to Palm Beach Community College to get his AA in Technical Theater and Fine Art to give himself an extra edge for when he sets forth to try and make himself a name in the fashion industry, a dream that may never come true. In 2005 he bought himself a small sailing Yacht, christening it “The Odyssey”, after his favorite story. He soon moved into the Yacht with all of his worldly possessions, making it his home.
In 2006, Nikkos’ outdoorsy hobbies of sailing and diving caused his family a scare – A small Melanoma appeared on his back, right below his right shoulder blade. The skin cancer was quickly cut from his body and he was saved from having to undergo any more intensive treatments. Ever since then he has taken better care of his skin with sunscreen and covering his body better when outside, which caused his dark olive skin to pale to a softer shade when combined with him spending more time indoors finishing his two degrees.
In present time, he just graduated with both his Technical Theater and Fine arts Degrees and is taking a break before heading out-of-state to learn from “The masters” of fashion. Stocking up on supplies, updating his shots, and getting his Passport finalized, he bids his mother farewell for now and takes into the Atlantic, not knowing that he may never return to see his home…
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