Name: Tom Yarbro
Gender: Male
Age: 15 when he arrived, now 17
Fandom: Magic or Madness
Journal: invsbl_eyebrows
Typist: momentsplinter
Quick Biography
Tom inherited magic from his mother. She didn't know she was magic, and neither did Tom, for the first fourteen or so years of his life. Neither of them had ever used their magic (it's difficult to use magic that you don't know exists). As a result, Tom's mother went mad, and was institutionalized after she tried to murder both her children (this was a lot of fun for Tom and his older sister, as you can imagine). Tom was going the same way, and had started hallucinating, when he met Esmerelda Cansino.
They met on the street (Tom bumped into her, very literally). She could sense that Tom was magic, and he could sense something about her, too, though at the time he couldn't tell he was sensing her magic. She taught him about magic, and how to use it, and this saved him from going mad.
About a year later, Esmerelda's daughter, Sarafina (also magic), went mad too, leaving her daughter, Reason, in Esmerelda's custody. Tom met Reason, they became friends, and there was much drama when Reason decided to run away through Esmerelda's back door, which was actually a magic portal leading to Manhattan. Esmerelda and Tom went to look for her, and this was the first of many ~adventures~ in Sydney and in New York. (Though, for Tom, a lot of the adventures consisted of sitting in Esmerelda's kitchen in case the phone rang).
In the end, Reason found a way to cure people of magic, meaning they wouldn't have to go insane or die young. She cured herself, Esmerelda, Jay-Tee (another magic friend who Reason met in New York), her mother, Tom's mother (in the case of these last two, their sanity was restored). She offered to remove Tom's magic, too, but Tom couldn't bear the thought of life without shapes and being able to make cool clothes, so he turned the offer down.
Tom's going to be taken from the end of the series, after the epilogue, but before he has a chance to tell Reason that her baby is magic. Because his typist is mean like that.
Physical Abilities
n/a
Superhuman Abilities
Tom is magic. This isn't really a good thing. The way magic works in his canon is that every magic person has a certain amount of magic at their disposal, and once they use it all up, they die. And if they don't use it, they slowly go insane. So, they're faced with choosing between an early death or losing their sanity. Which is a lot of fun.
Everyone's magic is different, and Tom's has to do with materials and shapes. He mostly uses it for making clothes. The magic he puts into the clothes he makes means they fit really well, almost like they've shaped themselves around the person they were made for. It's possible that they literally do; the typist isn't sure. Tom's not just boasting when he says he can make anything.
He can also see the ~true shapes~ of things. Which means, he can close his eyes and see the world entirely made up of polygons, basically. Which are the basis of all things. Or something. Apparently this can sometimes allow him to see if another person also has magic abilities, but it doesn't always work. (He also seems to be able to sense magic in other ways so… his typist isn't really sure about this bit. At any rate, if somebody is magical in some way, there's a chance he might be able to tell). This also allowed him to see when somebody was being affected by magic (some of her shapes weren't true).
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the things Tom's magic can do. It's just general magic ability without any strict limitations. He can use it to make light, do protection spells, sense if somebody's been in a room, etc. Most of it's pretty instinctive. He just thinks about something happening, and it happens.
If Tom loses his temper, he can also lose control of his magic. Usually this results in some nasty magical effects on the person he's lost his temper with. It only happened once in his canon, but the target of his anger ended up with three badly broken fingers. Thankfully, Tom doesn't lose his temper very often.
His magic's main limitation is that he can't use it very often. If he uses it all up, he dies, so. He tries to use it only once a week. Often enough that he won't go mad, but sparing enough that he won't end up dead too quickly.
Unusual or Magical Possessions
n/a
Appearance
Tom is very pale. His skin is described as being nearly translucent, which is probably something of an exaggeration, but still. When he blushes (which he does often), it really shows.
His hair is even paler than his skin, so blond it's nearly white. His eyebrows are bushy, but so pale they can hardly be seen. His eyes are very blue and he has a lot of freckles.
He's also really skinny — the type of skinny that makes people wonder if he actually eats (and somehow he stays this way, despite living mostly off junk food).
In other words, he's a bit odd-looking.
Personality
Tom is self-conscious and easily embarrassed, but not shy. He's friendly, though often worries initially that people won't like him or will think he's a dork. He likes to make friends, and once he's made them, he's a bit too trusting, and has a bit too much faith in them. He's very loyal, though, and will go to great lengths to help a friend. When Jay-Tee had used up all her magic and was therefore dying, Tom willingly gave her some of his, shortening his own life to save hers. He would have done the same for any of his friends.
He has a sense of humour and is generally cheerful, though he's careful not to act too cheerful or enthusiastic, so people won't think he's a dag. In Tom's words, he must "kill his inner dag". He usually ends up acting like a dork anyway.
Tom's honest, and doesn't like to lie or keep secrets unless he really has to. He's a terrible liar, anyway. Lying makes him nervous, so he always messes it up. A lot of things make him nervous, actually.
He can also be rather dense sometimes. And something of a woobie. Both of these things amuse his typist.
Relationships
- Family:
- Lovers:
- Score card (People they snogged without dating):
- Friends: Angelique, Neville Longbottom, Kazutaka Muraki
- Enemies:
- Allies:
- Affiliations (to a particular group, of origin, or not):
RP Canon
(What's happened to them in previous RPs, and since they arrived here)