Oswaldo Marx

[Little Boy†]

Name: Oswaldo Marx
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: Grade 12
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: BMXing, Snowboarding, Writing, Hanging out with Friends

Appearance: Oswaldo is on the smaller end of things, standing at roughly 5'1 and weighing only 120 pounds. Oswaldo often wears baggy hoodies bought from brand stores such as West 49, although he usually discards it in the warmer months.

His deep brown hair is thick, and is consistently unkempt and uncombed, only brushed when Oswaldo gets knots or needs to sweep it out of the way of his right eye. Oswaldo's hair is cut shorter on the right side, coming down to just above his eye. In contrast, the left side of his face is covered near constantly.

This is a conscious decision to obscure burns suffered during a house fire, several years ago when Oswaldo was only six. The burns themselves have improved with time and with several skin grafts, but the sight is still somewhat shocking at first, and Oswaldo loathes his own appearance. These burns cover the majority of the right side of his body, another reason why Oswaldo favours baggy clothing and long sleeves.

Biography: Oswaldo was born the only son of Jessica and Miike Marx. His Father, original name Arnold Gardner, is a reasonably successful fantasy novelist, with a very devoted fan-base. A local celebrity to some degree, Miike Marx initially moved to the area when Oswaldo was born, to settle down with his wife.
Arnold Gardner first started writing columns in a journalist magazine, before making the leap to novels. Initially experimenting with several pen names, Arnold eventually settled on Miike Marx, which stuck. He formally changed his name five years later, when he first married his wife. While his pen-name it may appear a nonsensical combination to some, Arnold was never known for normalcy.

A self-professed "King of the Eccentricities" his writing is filled with bizarre symbolism, black humour, and an epic scope, often set in inventive fantasy or sci-fi settings. Due to his niche appeal, and outright hatred for "typical" fantasy tropes his novels never hit the best sellers list. Despite this he has developed a cult following and an especially rabid fan-base on the internet. Since an early age, his personality has shined through his writing. A self professed anarchist and 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Miike is often outspoken in his views but is unique in having an undefeatably optimistic outlook on life and art, and is a frequent participant at charities in Seattle.

Oswaldo's mom, Jessica, first met Miike at an art convention in NYC. Almost a mirror image of him, Jessica served to balance out some of Miike's more provocative and eccentric ideas. The couple became inseparable near instantly, and married within a year of meeting each other.

Oswaldo was born, happy and healthy. Never for want of attention, Miike and Jessica opted to send him to a prestigious school, determined to give Oswaldo the best education possible.

All of this changed however just a few weeks prior to Oswaldo's sixth birthday. In the dead of night, a fire began in the Marx family kitchen, and soon spread throughout the entire house. Miike managed to escape with minor injuries, but Jessica was trapped inside and killed when the roof of the house collapsed. In the panic and chaos, neither parent was able to reach Oswaldo's room, the way left obstructed by debris. Risking their lives, three firefighters entered the burning home and managed to retrieve Oswaldo, who at this point was unconscious and badly burned. This bold action cost firefighter Lieutenant Cody Price his life, and the event made headlines in Seattle and the surrounding area.

For several months afterwards, Oswaldo hovered between life and death at the Seattle hospital. Sustaining burns to over 20% of his body, primarily the right side of his face and chest, Oswaldo underwent over the next few years several skin graft surgeries. This however, was not the end of his troubles. Awake through most of the fire that destroyed his home, Oswaldo developed a severe and crippling fear of fire in all forms. Most of his memories prior to the fire are muddled and unclear, and Oswaldo cannot remember his mother at all. The emotional scars of this event remain a prominent facet of Oswaldo's personality, and he becomes extremely defensive whenever the event itself is explicitly brought up, even around his friends.

Soon after returning to school, Oswaldo suffered a breakdown in the cafeteria when another student made fun of his scarred face. Fearful for his son's wellbeing, Miike pulled Oswaldo out of school for the next three years. Miike could afford to give Oswaldo tutors to keep him up to speed with the standard Seattle curriculum.

However, Miike soon realized that the fire had a much more damaging effect on Oswaldo than he initially thought. Oswaldo had a crippling fear of new situations and experiences, and it was proving to be difficult for him to make many friends. For this reason, starting at the age of 11, Miike began to send Oswaldo to therapy sessions in hopes that he could one day overcome his fear of fire, and put the past behind him.

Oswaldo has made a steady improvement from his early days since beginning therapy. Dr. James Mullings, who has been his psychiatrist since he was 11, has developed into one of his closest confidants and friends. Oswaldo since starting therapy, managed to overcome his fear of new experiences. Moving to another section of Seattle and starting at a local elementary school, Oswaldo managed to make friends.  His lack of self-confidence and fear of fire however, are still ongoing problems.

The cause of the fire that destroyed the Marx home was never accurately determined. For years afterwards, rumours persisted that the fire was actually arson; however there has been no concrete evidence to support this theory. Oswaldo's father, Miike, has refused to talk about the cause of the incident directly, and Oswaldo doesn't know if Miike holds any belief in these rumours. While his son was busy trying to overcome his emotional scars, Miike took to venting and releasing his anger about his wife's death in his own unique way. Miike began writing a new book series soon after Jessica's death. Naming it, "The Ashes Remaining" the book was a hit with both his critics and his fans, who praised it for its bleak themes. For the first time in his life, Miike won an award for The Ashes Remaining, and a wider audience. Soon afterwards, encouraged by the response, Miike began working on the next book in the series. With each new entry, the accolades continued to pour in, and soon talk began of a movie deal based on the series.

By all accounts, it looked as if Miike had successfully managed to put the past behind him, at least to his fans. In reality, it is a much different story. Those who know Miike are aware that he modeled the main character of his series, and his love interest, after himself and Jessica. More disturbingly, as the books have progressed, friends and colleagues have noticed that the character based on Jessica has taken on more and more of her characteristics and quirks, to the point that in the most recent book in the series she is a carbon-copy of her. While it was obvious from the beginning that the first book in the series served as catharsis for a grieving husband, Miike has written ten books since then, with an increasing focus put on Jessica's character.

Personality wise, Miike still remains upbeat and cheerful. But his writing has grown increasingly darker with an unhealthy emphasis on Jessica's character, who has been built up to be a Christ-like figure, incapable of wrong. More disturbingly, Miike refuses to admit that the character is based off of Jessica at all, despite the obvious parallels.

While his fan-base at large remains oblivious to this, Oswaldo is all too aware of the fact that the character is his mother. Lacking any real memories of her, and with Miike's refusal to speak on the fire or much of her past to Oswaldo, Oswaldo has developed an intense hatred for his fathers writing, and his father in general.

Oswaldo, a creative child, has bottled up that aspect of himself. While it is obvious to his friends that Oswaldo has a natural inclination to stories and writing, he is stubbornly opposed to sharing it, only writing in private, and refusing to show anyone his work. Miike is largely oblivious to his son's hatred for him, hurt by it, but not understanding the root cause. While Miike's stories are filled with hope and love, Oswaldo's writing is a cruel mockery of this, filled with cynicism and hatred. Miike hopes that eventually Dr. Mullings will help Oswaldo deal with his "issues", thus allowing the two to connect. For the moment, Oswaldo and Miike's relationship is strained, and Oswaldo often goes days not speaking to his Father.

Of his home issues however, Oswaldo speaks to almost no one except Dr. Mullings. In fact, only his closest friends are aware of Oswaldo's issues with his father. Even then, Oswaldo intentionally paints his father as a domineering asshole, and the villain in all their fights. While it is debatable whether his friends believe this, Oswaldo refuses to deviate from this portrayal.

Despite all of these problems and with the help of his psychiatrist, Oswaldo lives as normal a life as possible. He is intensely passionate about BMXing and Snowboarding, and is often outdoors biking with his friends. Oswaldo tries his best to fit in, a conscious decision on his part due to his scarred face and previous social problems.  It's because of this that he doesn't hold a lot of interest in things that the average person would consider "geeky". Oswaldo remains respectful of those who do partake in things like tabletop gaming and comic books, partly because he is all too aware of how terrible it feels to be ostracized. Even if he does possess an interest, he consciously neglects it. Although one might think that Oswaldo acts the same way about music, this isn't actually the case. Oswaldo prefers radio hits, his favourite band being LMFAO.  

Oswaldo, in part due to his scarred face, has never actually had a girlfriend. While Oswaldo has liked many girls, he has never actually asked anyone out because he is too terrified of rejection. Oswaldo is a hopeless romantic. He's been known to write love poems, the only time his writing is been positive. He's often very jealous of happy couples, and embarrassed to see any of his friends kiss. Oswaldo has never been kissed before.

Due to his appearance, Oswaldo has to contend with people constantly looking, talking or outright laughing at his burns. Oswaldo has never had the best self-esteem, and often times just a few of these comments can provoke a response in him. He's very self-deprecating at times and prone to insulting himself, especially after someone has made comments about his burns. This coping mechanism is usually a cue to his friends that he's been mocked recently. It is a well known fact around school that Oswaldo is terrified of fire- occasionally bullies have used this to their advantage. In Grade Nine, a boy used a lighter to set Oswaldo's shoelaces on fire. Oswaldo had a very public breakdown because of it and nearly left school over the incident, only his friends convinced him to stay.

Advantages: Oswaldo is in decent enough physical shape and his close-knit group of friends could earn him easy allies within the game. He's a nice guy, and although he has difficulties making friends he is very loyal to them.
Disadvantages: Oswaldo is absolutely terrified of fire, and his relationship with his father is shaky and could be exploited to make him do something rash. While he has gotten into scrapes before, Oswaldo is very skinny and very small, and would be easy prey for a larger student.