Orion Williams

Name: Orion Brandon Williams
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 12th (Senior)
Hobbies and Interests: Astronomy, hiking and camping, thrifting, theater, basketball (spectating)

Gift: Telepathic Speech
Power Details: Telepathic Speech allows Orion to telepathically speak to any person he can see, regardless of distance. Telepathic Speech can also work on multiple targets so long as they are all within Orion’s field of vision.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Telepathic Speech requires a direct line of sight and concentrated effort, and can be broken if Orion is distracted or the target moves out of his field of vision. It is a one-way form of communication, so his targets can only respond verbally. While he can communicate with multiple people at once, he can only comfortably communicate with up to three people—any more than that puts considerable strain on his brain. Orion gets a headache if he tries to contact a large number of people at once, or if he uses Telepathic Speech continuously for more than a few minutes at a time. There is no way to disguise his speech, and those who have heard Orion’s voice will instantly recognize it.

Appearance: Orion is 5’4” and weighs 145 lbs. He is African-American, with a medium brown complexion and wiry black hair he keeps cropped close to his scalp. It is currently bleached and dyed a light pink. He also has some light stubble, which he keeps in a goatee and thin moustache. A bulk of Orion’s wardrobe comes from thrift shops, and he is fond of patterned clothing. On the day of the trip, Orion was wearing a white, green, and blue striped t-shirt underneath a navy blue windbreaker, paired with black skinny jeans and white Converse sneakers. He was also wearing a black Portland Trail Blazers snapback.

Background:

• Orion was born on February 25th, 2004 in Corvallis, Oregon. He is the only child of Desmond and Tamra Williams. At the time of his birth, Desmond taught business at Oregon State University, while Tamra uses her water manipulation gift to be a firefighter. The family moved to Bend when Orion was ten so Desmond could teach at Oregon State University’s Cascades campus.
• Orion is trans, and officially came out during his freshman year of high school. He started HRT shortly afterwards, and had top surgery during his junior year. Orion is also gay, but isn’t romantically active.
• Orion was something of a troublemaker as a child, as he would often use his Gift to harass his classmates. This behavior stopped around the 8th grade, and now Orion primarily uses his Gift as a convenient way to communicate with his friends and family. However, he is still known to use it on others as a joke from time to time.
• The Williams family began camping and hiking much more often after their move to Bend, and Orion fell in love with the outdoors and nature. His parents signed him up for the Girl Scouts in an effort to nurture this interest, though he quit shortly before transitioning.
• His parents got him a telescope for his 11th birthday, which sparked a lifelong interest in astronomy. Orion would spend hours studying and identifying constellations, and named himself after his favorite one when he transitioned.
• Orion’s favorite sport is basketball, and he is a diehard fan of the Portland Trail Blazers. He played in youth basketball leagues as a kid, though he quit as a teenager because he couldn’t compete with his taller peers.
• Orion began thrift shopping in high school so he could have more masculine clothing, and eventually developed a fondness for the style. He works part-time in order to support his spending habits.
• Orion has been part of the drama club’s backstage crew all four years of high school, and his social circle is primarily made up of other theater kids.
• Orion is a bright student, and is especially good at math and science. He aspires to be an astronomer, and plans on studying physics at the University of Oregon after graduation.

Personality: Orion is laid-back and friendly. Around friends, he is known for his crass sense of humor and playful ribbing, usually with use of his Gift. While he can too harsh at times, Orion has a genuine affection for his friends, and is deeply loyal to them. He tends to be quiet around people he doesn’t know. Orion is also easily discouraged, and tends towards pessimism.

Other Skills: Outdoorsmanship

Designated Number: Student No. 032

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Orion Williams (sprite edit by Almostinhuman)

Conclusion: "...Mmm, yeah, I got nothin' this time. This Gift sees a bit boring, but it's also kind of frightening being in the hands of a theater kid." - Crocodile

Evaluations

Handled by: Aster

Kills: None

Killed By: Joel Foster

Allies:

Enemies:

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Threads

Below is a list of threads containing Orion, in chronological order.

SOTF: Supers:

• It's Just A Single Vice
• I'm Gonna Take My Horse to the Old Town Road, I'm Gonna Ride Till I Can't No More
• Do Not Go Gentle
• The Horse I Never Got For Christmas

Your Thoughts

Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF: Supers or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Orion Williams. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!

I liked how Orion started off his game as a voice of reason, interrupting Gary and Joel while they yell rude things at the camera to tell them to get it together. Being the person who questions why other people are doing silly things is an easy way to get me on a character’s side, and Orion had a nice vibe as a reasonable grounding influence in the group he joined up with.

He didn’t end up getting to do a lot before dying though, and his death was marred by what I think was mostly just overcomplication of a good concept and difficulty in mobilizing everyone in the thread to get to the deadline. I kind of suspected that he was going to get poisoned by Nora, but I wish that the presence of the poisoned water bottle had been set up beforehand to increase the tension of the scene where Orion drinks from it unknowingly. I also don’t know why his group made the decision to drag him halfway across the arena before finally mercy killing him, in-character. I know that out of character, it was done because their area had become a Danger Zone, but the more sensible thing to do at that point to me would have been to either have him expire from the poison right then, or make the choice to mercy kill him then and deal with the fallout later. I think there were simpler and more effective ways to put the pieces together, and the weird circumstances of his death end up overshadowing the rest of him somewhat. - backslash