Samuel Green

Sam's appearance is best described as hard to pin down. The average person is going to guess that he's in his early teens, and probably Asian, but beyond that most people will disagree. Some will insist he'd just Asian, while others while insist that he's mixed (although what kind of mix is yet another subject for debate). In truth, Sam is a mutt--a mix of a mix. His father was 'Asian' (he isn't sure what kind), and his mother is herself mixed--white American on her father's side, and Lenape on her mother's side.
Sam has straight, dark black hair that he tries to keep cut just above his shoulders, although it often ends up longer before he cuts it again. His eyes are a light brown that could be considered amber if he has the right lighting. Sam stands at 5'1", which puts him on the short side of average. A strong wind could knock Sam over, as he's little more than skin and bones, and he has heavy bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Samuel is best described as quiet, because for the most part it's what people will think of them. He doesn't often leave an impression, and tends to hang back in any conversation. He's that one kid that will hang out with a group for hours, but when asked no one will be entirely sure if he was actually there, or if he just went home early.

More than anything, Samuel is a people pleaser. He doesn't have much of a backbone. He'll agree with pretty much everything, even if he doesn't really agree, and then be forced to think to himself later about if he really agrees. He doesn't speak up often, and tends to go unnoticed. Really, Samuel just wants people to be happy. Sure, he wants himself to be happy, but he doesn't really place himself any higher than anyone else.

Academically, Samuel struggles. He's had a lot to deal with academically, and after missing so much school the decision was made to hold him back, leaving him repeating the 8th grade in hopes he'd be able to catch up. The issue isn't a lack of intelligence, because he can be quite bright, but instead a lack of options. Growing up extremely poor, Sam's time was better spent on things other than homework, and without adequate help when he struggled.

Another side effect of his childhood is that Samuel has an extremely unusual relationship with food. Samuel didn't get enough of it growing up, and now that he does have it, he has a hard time regulating his eating. He tends to steal stuff from the cafeteria to store in his room just in case, a completely unnecessary but entirely compulsive action.

Due to lack of exposure to non-humans, Samuel often finds himself nervous when exposed to people who don't look humanoid. The more inhuman, the more nervous he gets. In time he'll get over this, but at first glance he simply can't get used to watching giant beholders float around.

Sam is, technically speaking, a rainbow crow. The issue is that several generations of interbreeding with humans have left his species a bit diluted, rendering him mostly human. If he tries, or in times of great stress, he'll sprout patches of black, oddly iridescent feathers on his back. If he tries, he might one day be capable of summoning actual wings, but for the time being it's really just the feathers.

Samuel is fireproof. He simply doesn't burn, but he's unaware of this fact.

As thanks for bringing fire, the Rainbow Crow is honored by all creatures. Any creature that might wish to devour him no longer feels the need to. They still can, of course, but any sort of predatory instinct fails around Samuel. Vampires do not thirst for his blood, wendigos do not hunger for his flesh, and so on. Samuel is unaware of this ability.

Samuel's family background is best described as foggy. His father was an Asian businessman named John, but more exact details--like his last name--are lost to time. His mother's own history is slightly more obvious, although still extremely unclear to Samuel himself. Her father worked at a garage in a small town. Her mother was Lenape, and fell in love with him when she was quite young. They ran off to the city together, and... well, beyond that Samuel isn't sure. His mother tends to get upset any time he brings up his father, and she's never exactly explained what happened to him. Depending on his mood, Samuel either thinks he died, or thinks he ran off and abandoned them.

Mostly he just tries not to think about it.

Whether his father is dead or a deadbeat, Sam's early life was a struggle. He grew up in the city in a rent-controlled apartment, his mother working two jobs to try and make ends meet. Food stamps were the name of the game, and Sam was a latchkey kid from the world go. He raised himself, struggled with academia, and simply did his best to get through the day.

He was very much the type of child who would be expected to be bullied, but for the most part Sam escaped that fate. While he was targeted several times, he simply wasn't a very satisfying victim. He didn't fight back or get upset, instead simply accepting the abuse until the would-be bully moved on. He did his best to stay out of trouble to avoid worrying his mother, going home early and skipping out on social activities.

For the most part, things seemed they would carry on that way long into the future--until Samuel abruptly sprouted feathers.

His mother had never shown any sign of being anything other than a perfectly normal human being, so when Sam woke up with a mottled set of black feathers on his back, there was a lot of panicking. It was obviously not normal, and his mother took time off work--the first time in months--and kept Sam home from school.

To their relief, the feathers eventually receded after a few hours. To their despair, it wasn't the only time it happened. Regularly Samuel would find himself spontaneously growing feathers from his back, requiring him to be kept at home.

At some point, Samuel realized that his mother must have lost her job--she was staying home more and more to take care of him, trying to find out what was happening. Samuel went to school less and less as his fits became more frequent, aggravated by stress and anxiety. His mother seemed to get thinner and thinner, increasingly anxious that Samuel would be found out.

Eventually, the worst happened--Samuel's feathers grew in while he was on his way home from school. The process wasn't painful, but it was overwhelming, and drew attention from a small crowd. To his great relief, a polite woman swooped in to take control of the situation, getting him to safety and sitting him down for the talk.

She was a scout, she explained, for a school of people just like him. People who weren't quite human, who had strange an unusual powers. She took him home and sat both him and his mother down, explaining the entire process.

The answer was an obvious yes. The school would accommodate Samuel, and he'd be able to live without fear of being discovered. Samuel, of course, refused to go without his mother, and the woman insisted that would be fine too. Samuel's mother was obviously unwell, and rather than moving her directly into an apartment, she was instead admitted to Manta Carlos's main hospital for treatment.

Samuel himself was admitted to Starlight Academy, although he was held back a year due to the sheer amount of school missed.