Nickel

"I just think everything should be tried at least once."

Nickel is precisely the type of person that is easy to underestimate on grounds of their lighthearted, often silly demeanor, yet they have their stuff surprisingly together and will turn the tables on you when you least expect it. For one, given how much he habitually spends especially on food and various nonsense, you'd expect him to be perpetually broke, yet he never seems to so much as borrow money from someone - in fact it always seems to go the other way around. For someone who's supposedly such a loose cannon, he's strangely neat and organized, even as he constantly seems to forget or misplace things.
It's good that he's able to always stay so optimistic because someone with such disastrous luck needs it. Accidents follow him, he keeps getting handed the worst cards, and for some reason he seems to be particularly cursed with regard to technology, constantly breaking or losing computers, phones, what have you. Some claim it's contagious, so... I mean I'm not superstitious, but if you're meaning to win the lottery or something, rather stay away from Nickel for a bit.
What's maybe strangest of all... Friendly, sometimes scarily observant, and an expert on adapting to what different people expect of him, Nickel somehow seems to be a favorite of just about every influential group in the Table. Starting as one of the guards of the platinum metals' palace, charming 'Mr. Niccolum' has worked his way all the way up to the personal company of Platinum herself, attaining a status almost like a sixth refractory metal - perhaps even more than that. Even the refractories themselves seem to accept him; among the Life Crew, he has the peculiar honor of being one of the very few people that Hydrogen will initiate a conversation with; and the list goes on. Yet, under all of his masks and (not least) his constantly positive, jokester attitude no matter what, it becomes hard to tell who exactly the real Nickel is... and suffice to say he's not always nearly as fluffy as it looks. In any case, to most he is the nice security officer that seems to spend more time on patrol goofing off than actually working and is a regular at several night clubs, and he prefers it that way.

Random facts

  Nickel is sort of a jack of all trades: he's not extremely good at any one thing, but decent at many unrelated skills, due to his eagerness to learn random stuff. He never seems to be able to sit still, always needing to do something (preferably new and exciting) to use up his excess energy.
  Through all the years of living with his bad luck "curse", often bad living conditions, and not to mention a certain overprotective and possessive family member whose influence he seems especially eager to leave behind, it can be said that Nickel has learned exceptionally well to fend for himself. He is an expert at efficiently managing resources, cutting corners wherever possible in order to survive on very little and taking every opportunity to improve his situation in some way. In fact, even now, with a stable job and certainly not considered poor in any capacity, he's still in the habit of keeping a VERY close eye on his finances to make sure he always has a reserve to fall back on, in case. That's how he can afford his sometimes ridiculous splurges on food (his infamous grocery store raids) and assorted nonsense - everyone sees these and wonders how he lives, but it's less well known how tight his rein is otherwise.
  He is dysgraphic and suspected to have a mild case of attention deficit disorder - well, at least Lithium says so, but an official diagnosis is lacking. Fact is that he is unusually easy to distract and often finds it difficult to focus for a long time at once.
  He keeps a garden, mostly of herbs (for medical uses, to put into food etc) but he has fruits/vegetables and flowers too; herbs are his main interest though and he knows a ton about them. He seems to be a natural talent at keeping plants.
  He has an odd affinity for water, not a particularly fast swimmer or otherwise fit to compete but incredibly graceful underwater, even himself calling it his second home. In fact, his associated mythological creature happens to be the Nix, a water-dwelling spirit found guarding lakes or rivers, and whether people want to believe him or not, he claims to have a certain kinship with these spirits.
  As for religion, Nickel identifies as Rodnover, returning to the legacy of old Slavic pagan deities. He's always somewhat leaned toward the mystical and magical, and he takes it all very seriously.
  He has a dog, a Boston terrier (sorry for the pic but... like owner, like dog).
  He has a certain affinity for mathematics, but just because (as he himself says) he sometimes has those moments where he suddenly spots a connection or pattern that others would miss, and an ingenious solution results. More often than not, though, he finds it near impossible to sit through a lengthy calculation or anything else more rigorous than an "aha!" moment, so that's where his interest ends.
  He's adorably afraid of insects. Whenever there's one in the room, he has to get someone to get it away. :)
  He has a bad habit of smoking - as much as he'd like it to appear that he doesn't get nervous, he does, and that's one of his methods to alleviate it.