Nickolis Courte

Appearance: Grey, tan, and pale green skin cover most of his form. There is a swath of skin acrossed his face that is permanently changing colour, going from a pale tan tone to grey, then green, before it is replaced and the cycle starts again. Nickolis constantly has stitches crossing over his face, as well as other body parts that section off the same swath of colour-changing skin. At 6`10, Nickolis is dauntingly tall. He has very little muscle mass or weight behind him, most of his heft regarding his skeletal frame. His hair grows long, often hanging limp and draping over his face - he is not a big fan of water, and thus does not wash his hair as frequently as most (however, his hair is not oily -- he does not excrete oils like many). He is not particularly pleasant to look at, falling more towards the mundane spectrum (assuming one is not put off by mottled green flesh, sunken eyes rimmed with black, and very visible stitches where skin is fastened together). Nickolis' eyes are a deep red-brown, pink rimming the edges of the iris. He constantly gives off the smell of old leather and a dahlia/peony mixtures.

Personality: Nickolis is an extraordinarily helpful person. Out of a need/want to understand a variety of different curses, jinxes, and other misc unfortunate magics, Nickolis has offered to break these things for those that have been afflicted. Often for free, or asking a small charge of money so that he can acquire any related reading/study/incantation materials and etc. Nickolis does not work for profit in anything but understanding. There is a basement under his class (ground floor) that is reserved for attempting to break curses/etc. Upon a door that opens to stairs leading down is a sign up list for those that consent to having their curse/etc broken. Very few have signed up, but all of them have left either satisfied with keeping their curse or cured.

Careful - Nickolis takes great care and caution with all that he does. From preparing coursework to breaking a curse, Nickolis makes sure that very little can go wrong and if it does - it's not from him mishandling something or doing steps out of order. This is also active in his personal life, and causes him to usually think much too hard about something and never get around to actually doing anything -- conversations tend to go like this, with Nickolis overthinking all of the WCS a conversation could have - and, of course, being uncertian - never actually has the conversation. This, in a way, is a negative trait.. however, the pros of being so careful and cautious have helped him more than harm him, and gives him one of the highest success rates amongst professional curse-breakers and other misc professions he dabbles in.

Perhaps due to the nature of curses and the varieties of them out there, Nickolis is someone who is not against experimentation and often encourages it. While he does not like to act without seriously studying the new experiment he has in store, being extra cautious and meticulate with new things, Nickolis thoroughly enjoys finding new ways to do things, and using methods of breaking certain kinds of curses on new, different curses and etc. If his associate is fine with experimenting, it's something that Nickolis spends a lot of time absorbed in. He becomes almost excited while experimenting, smiling ever so slightly and moving around with a sudden quickness and inspiration.

Lonely - although self imposed for the most part, Nickolis is a very lonely creature. Many people mistake it for a sense of 'mystery', being that he pulls away from others and does not often talk about himself or his personal life. He does not relate to others when it comes to them talking about personal experiences or life choices and happenings - always commenting on their situation, never referencing his own. Nickolis has been through a lot in his life, has seen a lot of things, and has never felt comfortable speaking of them to any of his students or the people he has met in his life. Due to never sharing, or being expressive of himself (when he really wants to), Nickolis often feels lonely/apart from all others. He finds it difficult to be close to people, and is what some may call an extroverted introvert. At heart, Nickolis is introverted - social situations exhaust him, but he desperately desires being around other creatures and being social with them. Even if Nickolis is only at a distance and never active in social situations, he still leaves feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.

Some would call Nickolis secretive, as he rarely gives anyone information about his goals and plans for his studies and research into "unbreakable curses". He does not speak about himself, his work, his life before, his goals and intentions with his classes and students. No one knows where he goes after class, no one knows where he comes from, and very few really know how he is so knowledgeable of his own material and outside classes. There is less than a handful of others who know about his curse, and the details of it.

Personally pessimistic - if the situation is ever self involved, Nickolis has a terrible time looking at the situation positively. Even if it is merely making himself tea, Nickolis often feels that the tea will react negatively and he will feel ill, or the kettle will break, or someone will come around and he won't be able to enjoy the tea. When it comes to social situations, Nickolis rarely ever speaks as he outright assumes it will go horribly wrong before he has said anything at all - not to mention what might happen if he opens his mouth. Nickolis can often give great advice to others, but is very poor about giving himself advice and 'just going with it'. Nickolis is also extremely pessimistic about curing his own curse, feeling like it may be impossible after all of these years.

Fears: Staying alive forever. Even if his body breaks down, Nickolis has never been able to free his sentience from his bones. He fears burning alive will only free him to an incorporeal form, not finally release him from this life. Nickolis also has no natural boyancy; he cannot/does not know how to swim. Something about fire still sparks fear in him, though he doesn't feel pain from being burned (only a dull, throbbing warmth).

Weaknesses: Cannot walk on sanctioned, holy ground. Avoids churches and etc. It is like a barrier appears before him, and if he pushes past he begins to lose his mind/fall apart. Putting faith/hope/trust in others. Nickolis cannot rely on anyone but himself, for anything. Somehow, he still manages to find himself doing this after long periods of time with others around. Every now and then, after weeks of being absorbed in a new kind of magic or breaking a rare, previously unknown curse/etc... Nickolis can become eccentric. The magic swells and fills him and he can become zealous/fanatical, stopping at nothing to control the magic/use it against itself to unbind someone from the curse/jinx/etc. Nickolis loses his calm and composure, becomes erratic with his choices of what to do next. This is happened only a handful of times in his life, and only very early on. Lately, for the last century or so, magic has not called to him in the same ways and people have rarely come to him with hard to break curses.

Quirk: Can eat and drink anything he wants, whenever he wants. It seems to be absorbed into his system, and then seems to just.. vanish. If Nickolis becomes extremely worked up by anything, he cannot absorb the food/liquids and it will "sit" in him, causing him great pain and discomfort. Nickolis often over worries/becomes extremely anxious about having this happen, and will make food/beverages only to throw them away before consumption.

Likes:

Reading new books about new forms of magic, their relationships to curses/jinxes/etc.

Reading about zombies, types of undead, and different sorts of necromancies.

Teaching - has a deep fondness for those that share similar interests with him, and offers extra lessons/credits for any student interested in furthering their knowledge of the art outside of class.

Has a hard time smelling, but really enjoys the smell of fresh earth and bloody meat -- doesn't like the feeling of earth under his fingernails or to eat raw food, but secretly really enjoys the smell of both. Really, really loves marigolds - their scents, their colours (specifically enjoys bright orange/red ones).

Likes little more than an oversized black sweater, sweatpants, and a mug full of coffee/something warm on a rainy day. He likes sitting in his basement apartment and reading when rain chills the basement and makes it damp/cold. Feels like a coffin/crypt, and due to the different pots of soil he keeps in his apartment for different experiments, it smells similar to one as well.

Dislikes:

People calling him a zombie/asking if he's going to eat their flesh/making typical zombie jokes at him. Finds it extremely racist/species-ist and incredibly rude -- not at all funny. This has happened more in the past than recent years, but still experiences a lot of the stigma that comes with being undead.

Anyone nosing about in his business - has given detention to students that come into his classroom ahead of time and paw through his belongings, or try to get into the basement room intended for curse breaking/etc. While he is not necessarily cruel about it, Nickolis has no time/interest in anyone that is nosey/overbearing about their interest in him/his life/what's wrong with him/what he does/what he knows.

Holy grounds/priests/spiritually sound and faithful creatures - Nickolis cannot touch anyone that is 'holy', his body starts to fall apart/disintegrate wherever he's being touched. He also feels very sick/nauseous when in the same room with holy creatures. Nickolis has a few classes where he's physically uncomfortable and usually prefaces the classes by explaining why, and that it's fine and does not impair his teaching ability, but is a disability of sorts he must 'live' with.

Anyone that refuses to try fixing something wrong with them/that they don't like, that they let keep them from living their lives. Nickolis has tried his whole life after 'reawakening' to break his curse, to die and be done with it, and simply cannot. The mere act of not trying by others to break their curse/jinxes/etc and then complain about it infuriates him like nothing else in this world -- Nickolis doesn't get upset and yell, but will walk away and outright deny seeing/speaking to that person in the future, unless a necessity.