Loren, Erik

[Erik Loren]

Erik Dean Loren
Assimilation

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General »

Nickname: Doesn't really have any although he's kind of become known amongst his 'enemies'--which is mostly everyone in one way or another--as the Assimilator.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Student/Professor: N/A
Subject: N/A
Birth-date: April 13, 1986
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Sexuality: Straight
Face Claim: Jensen Ackles

Appearance »

Eye color: Hazel-blue
Hair color: Typically sandy-brown
Height: 6'1"
Build: Stocky, muscular
Scars: Too many to count or name, but the largest scar his has is a jagged one that runs the length of his right arm from the inside of his wrist up to the inside of his elbow.
Tattoos: A flaming skull at the nape of his neck; a bursting sun on his left pectoral; his murdered sister's name around his left ankle; a pair of dice on the back of his right hand after gang initiation; and a crescent moon on the back of his left shoulder blade.
Piercings: None

Personality »

Likes:

• Luk (most of the time)
  
• Most of the rest of the team (again, most of the time)
  
• Almost anything alcoholic
  
• Women
  
• Cars (especially his own)
  

Dislikes:

• Mutants that can't control their powers or have powers he views as far too powerful
  
• Schneider (he has a complicated relationship with his employer)
  
• Himself (probably not the most healthy thing ever)
  
• Cigars and cigarettes (smoking in general)
  
• What he does for a living (also complicated... what can I say? He's a complicated guy.)
  

Fears:

• Failure
  
• Losing control
  
• Dancing... he's embarrassed by it because he can't dance to save his life
  
• Death
  

Brief Summary:
Protective: For those Erik considers his own (or for those he's paid to consider his own) he can be fiercely protective of. Take Luk for example. Over the years since bringing him on as part of the gang, there have been several times that he's gone and rattled the boss's nerves by getting in his face when Erik thought the kid was being mistreated. If Erik considers somebody under his protection, he takes that very seriously. Even he didn't have the upper hand of being able to turn bullet proof, he would still take a bullet for that person. He would probably kill for them. In fact, in a way, that's what he did for his murdered sister.

Likable: When Erik has the opportunity to be, well, himself, you'll be surprised to learn that he can be a fairly laid back guy with a great sense of humor. He likes women but gets nervous around them. Mainly because he doesn't have a lot of opportunity (at least he didn't until about a year or two ago) to have much interaction with them. You might be surprised to learn that Erik can be quite the gentleman when he puts his mind to it. His mom taught him (although his dad sure as hell never did any of it) that a good boy opened doors for women and paid for them when he could. He probably held so true to her lessons because the last person he wanted to turn out to be like was his father. Erik may not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to school stuff, but give him a gun (which he can take apart and reassemble in the dark in under a minute) and fertilizer (he makes the best homemade bombs) and he'll show you that he's no dummy. Not to mention he does happen to have a great sense of humor and a sharp wit.

Stubborn: This could also be called determination. When Erik puts his mind to something, or puts his foot down, it's almost impossible to get him to back down. It's one of the reasons he can be so intimidating and does such a good job when bullying others into doing what he (most of the time it's Schneider) wants. But he is also stubborn about learning new things. Particularly things that he sucks at. Once he puts his mind to learning and/or doing something, it's rare that he'll give up before he succeeds... at least once. Almost like a dog with a bone.

Short-tempered: Unfortunately, Erik has a short fuse. Typically this is only aimed at people that annoy him. He doesn't normally get annoyed easy, so lucky for the general populace. One of the reasons he fears losing control is because of his short temper. He beat one kid to death and almost beat Luk's dad to death. There's been other moments where he's almost beaten other people to death. Each time he was able to pull himself out of it (or someone was there to snap him out of it) before actually killing the person, but that's why he fears his lack of control. He fears his short temper. But just because he has a short temper doesn't mean he goes around pummeling everyone. When he loses it, it usually involves him yelling and getting angry, not fist action. And he's never hit a woman or a child. Ever. Unless you count the whacks upside the head he gives to Luk. But those are love whacks.

Power Description »

Erik has the power of assimilation. The best way to describe this ability is to share an example. If Erik touches stone, he will become a living being of stone. If he touches steel, he will likewise become a living being of steel. Anything he touches he can assimilate and become a part of. This is a touch-based power in order for him to access it. Theoretically, it could even be possible for him to become a gas or liquid if he's touching it (think of all the air around us). However, this is by far too impossible for Erik and it may always be so. He also needs a good amount of it to assimilate. Like, he can't just touch a small bead of steel and become steel all over. He would have to touch a car of something with at least as much surface area as he has in order for it to work. If he were to touch a small bead of steel, he would only be able to assimilate it to turn his hand into steel.

History »

Erik was born as the oldest son to Frank and Iris Loren in the ghettos of Chicago, Illinois. His mother worked her butt off as a waitress every day and his father was a alcoholic railway worker. Erik had two younger sisters. Jenna was two years younger than him and Sarah was five years younger. Growing up, Erik took all the beatings from his drunk father in behalf of all the women in his family. Often he would stand up for one of them--particularly his mother--and his father's anger would then be directed toward him. He became extremely protective and close to his sisters, especially Jenna. When Erik was 16, he got in the way of his father beating on his mother and ended up almost beaten to death. While he lay on the kitchen floor, broken and bleeding, ambulance and police on the way (his mother had finally gathered the courage to stop the abuse), was when his mutant gift manifested itself. Unbeknownst to him, his father was also a mutant. One who didn't understand his powers and drank to keep away the dead, because for Erik's dad, the veil between life and death was extremely thin.

Frank was arrested for abuse and they moved from Chicago to a small town in Idaho to live with Iris's parents until she got back on her feet and they moved to Phoenix, Arizona. It was there that Erik's younger sister, Jenna, met a boy. She was 16 at the time and Erik had just turned 18. He still lived at home and worked--as an underground ring fighter--to help with the bills. After all, beating in people's faces and taking a beating himself was something he'd always excel at. Despite having his ability, he wasn't able to use it professionally. That would be cheating, you know. Still, word got around about what he could do, and it was a few months before his 19th birthday that he got his first bodyguard gig.

In the meantime, Jenna was dating this abusive guy that Erik didn't like at all. He kept trying to convince his sister that John was a loser and for her to break it off now. But, unfortunately, daughter like mother and she ignored his advice. There were even a few times that Erik got in John's face about it... there'd been a few fights even, but that seemed to only make things worse and finally the only thing Erik figured he could do was back off. He's regretted that decision every day since. It wasn't two months later that John lost his temper with her, lost control of his power (which was electricity manipulation) and basically electrocuted her. Typically, it was an accident, but when Erik found out (and he had his ways), it didn't matter to him that it had been an accident. All he knew was that John had killed his beloved younger sister and Erik hadn't been able to stop him. That he hadn't been there for his sister when she really needed him the most.

Erik had never been very good at keeping his own temper. However, losing his temper usually meant angry words and shouting. He never once hit his sisters or Mom when he lost his temper. He reserved that for guys that were douche bags or just getting on his nerves. But that all changed when John 'accidentally' murdered his sister. Not that Erik needed his powers to beat the living hell out of John, he did need them to protect himself from fried via electricity. Erik didn't understand his mutant ability as well as he would have liked, but he knew enough about how it worked to use it and he had become good at using it. Practicing with it when he was alone often. Assimilating the cement, he faced John as a living being of cement... and ended up beating the 17 year old to death.

As Erik stood over the body of the severely pulverized John, he stared numbly at the blood on his cement knuckles and realized something. He was a monster. People were monsters. It was bad enough when they were just normal human without any mutant abilities, but like John and himself, look what they could do with something extra. It was in that moment that he realized the entire idea of mutants was a mistake. A danger. Especially when people like John (himself actually, too, for that matter) could do the things they could. From the moment on, Erik was not ashamed of what he was. It's not like he could change it. He simply knew that it was a mistake, and he desensitized himself to it. It was easy for him to later view himself as a kind of sword and/or shield then as an actual man. Even still, it's hard to describe Erik's view of himself in words.

To make a looooooong story a little shorter, Erik was in jail ready to be sentenced for life when a shorter man with greasy hair and a stick shoved up his ass (Erik's first impression) showed up during visitor hours. He offered Erik a job as his body guard, good pay, and a get-out-of-jail-free-card. It didn't take much thought for Erik to agree. That way he didn't have to waste away in jail (although he deserved to) and he could help pay for his mom and sister. A little sister who was still like 14.

He was Schneider's bodyguard/intimidator for about a year (and did a damn good job of it) before they ran into Lukan Moore. They had arrived at the boys house with the intent to basically kidnap him and sell him as they had done with others. For the most part, Erik justified what he did and/or completely desensitized himself to it. Money was money. A job was a job. As long as he was out of jail and could send money home to his mom and sister. But when they showed up, all but barging in like armed enforcers of the underground crime world, they just so happened to barge in on the kid's dad in the middle of a beating the kid half to death in a drunken stupor.

The sight hit home in Erik's heart--a flash of his own beatings punching him in the gut--and that was all it took for Erik to see red. He kidnapped kids sometimes but he'd never mistreated them. In fact, he always put up a fight when Schneider tried to. They sold them and that was that. But mistreating them, at least physically, was something he would never be able to abide by. It was too familiar a horror for him. So, when he saw Luk's dad beating him... well... Erik beat him back. Honestly, the only reason that he didn't end up beating the dad to death was because of Schneider's commanding, angry presence which managed to snap Erik out of it. He slowly lowered his bloodied fist and dropped the unconscious guy's body onto the ground before straightening and facing the kid they'd gone there to acquire in the first place.

Again, to make a loooooong story a little shorter, Erik felt a kinship to the boy because of the abusive home and managed to convince Schneider that Lu would be an asset--at least eventually--if they didn't sell him and kept him around instead. Somehow--miraculously--he did convince the bossman and Luk became a member of the illegal mutant trafficking operation. Everything got a little more complicated--if that's even possible--after that.

It's been almost 8 years later and Erik's still working for Schneider. And Luk's still around. But they have like the most messed up (but still adorable) brother bond. All I can say is: Good luck.

OOC »

OOC Name: Jez
Contact(s): PM
How did you find us? I was spawned from your dirty socks

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