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| Spook | ||
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| Real Name: Tiago Ferruguento | ||
| Aliases: Spook | ||
| Identity: Secret | ||
| Occupation: Fashion Designer | ||
| Citizenship: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record; former citizen of Portugal | ||
| Education: Graduate of San Francisco Fashion Institute | ||
| Birthplace: Porto Salvo, Portugal | ||
| Date of Birth: September 25th, 1984 | ||
| Known Relatives: Caetano Ferruguento (father), Telma Ferruguento (mother), Matilde Ferruguento, Eugenia Ferruguento (younger sisters) | ||
| Group Affiliation: None |
Background
So this is the story of my life so far. I try to live my life to the full so I'm hoping this will be an interesting tale, but I figure it might not seem so impressive once it's all written down. You're just gonna get the broad strokes here but the devil is in the details, as they say. If I seem a little dull and unremarkable, I'm not. Seriously, I'm not. My whole thing is to never waste a minute because you can't get that time back, can you? People say it's my hot Latin blood that makes me that way but I don't buy into that. I knew plenty of lazy kids back home, believe me. No fire in their veins.
Anyway, I should start laying down some facts and figures here. My name is Tiago Ferruguento, born in Porto Salvo in Portugal, eldest child of Caetano and Telma Ferruguento. My parents must have figured they'd hit the jackpot when they had me because they tried to replicate their success pretty much straight away. It didn't work out so good though, they got landed with my annoying kid sisters instead. Can't win them all, right? I'm told Porto Salvo used to be a pretty little place and it's still nice down by the coast, but these days it's basically an industrial town. Taguspark, one of the largest Research and Development parks in the whole country, is right in the middle of Porto Salvo and it dominates the landscape. That's where my father used to work, doing… something with computers. My mom used to do the paperwork at a milk factory but she quit that job to raise the kids. I know that sounds old-fashioned but it's how it was.
My childhood was pretty regular, I guess. See, I told you this wouldn't sound exciting. I did pretty well at school. Not spectacular but not bad either. To be honest with you, I could've done better. I knew school was important but playing with my friends seemed pretty important too. Back then, I was always trying to find the balance between work and play, and I guess I still am. I did well in English (which turned out to be useful) but Art was where it was at for me. Painting, woodwork, sewing, I ate up all of that stuff and my teachers in those classes loved me. Creating beautiful things was something I got passionate about at an early age, not that my father was too thrilled about that. He thought all that stuff was girly crap. What he really wanted me to get into was soccer. That wasn't such a—
Wait. Did I just say soccer? I totally did. Soccer. Man. I've been in the States way too long. FOOTBALL. He wanted me to play football.
So yeah, I was never into football. That was a big deal back home. Every Portuguese boy loves football, talks about football, plays football, eats, breathes and lives football. But me, I never really got it. I mean, it's not bad, watching a match is an okay way to pass some time, but I can only get so interested in a bunch of guys kicking a ball up and down a muddy field before I want to go do something else. My father pushed the issue though. He wanted his son to be a glorious sporting hero, and I can understand that. I just wish he'd thought about what I wanted too. Still, I went along with it as best I could because I didn't want to let him down. I went to football practise regularly and joined the local team, jumped through all the hoops to keep him happy. And it did. But I think he knew deep down that I was only doing it for him and nothing was going to come of it.
Everything changed when I was twelve. The company my dad worked for was opening up a new office in San Francisco and they wanted him to head up the IT department. That was a big promotion for him and with three kids to feed, he couldn't turn it down, even if it did mean uprooting the whole family and resettling in America. I made a fuss at first. I didn't want to leave my friends and I was convinced the big move was just my dad's way of destroying my life forever. Once we actually arrived in the States, though, I changed my tune pretty fast. I fell in love with the place straight away, loved the big city and the accents and the people, all of it. It was mind-blowing for a kid like me. My English was stilted at first and the kids in my new school thought I was weird because of it, but I picked up the finer points of the language quickly, my accent softened, and eventually they accepted me. What can I say? My dazzling personality won them over.
Since we weren't in Europe anymore, my dad had to give up on the football thing but he was still determined to make a sportsman of me. I tried playing basketball for a while but it didn't stick. I kept fit but once I hit my teens, it became obvious to my dad that I wasn't interested in pursuing sports and my thoughts were elsewhere. He said it was all good and I should do whatever made me happy but I knew he was just saying that. I guess I felt like I let him down. He'd deny that, he'd tell you he loves me, he's proud of me, and he'll backhand anyone who says different. But I knew, and he knew, that I wasn't becoming the man he dreamed of. I could see it in his eyes. Some days, I still can.
I'm gonna skip a few years at this point. School happened, friends happened, first parties, first beers, first kisses, all that stuff. I was a teenager so I did teenager stuff. You know the drill. Through all that, I got more and more into my art stuff, and found the thing that really revved my creative engine - fashion. Yeah, my dad loved that, as you can probably imagine. I could talk for hours about why I love it so much but that probably wouldn't be too thrilling for you. Essentially, I like designing and producing beautiful things, but I like them to have a purpose too. Clothes are the epitome of that. Or buildings, I guess, but architecture always struck me as a little dry. I like the personal flair that goes into fashion design, the vision. And I guess the glamor appeals to me too. Sue me. So I was all set to graduate and go off to fashion school, and that's what I did, but I had to deal with the biggest and freakiest event of my life before first.
I don't think there's a way to make this sound less bizarre so I'll just say it - on my eighteenth birthday, I was kidnapped by a supervillain who wanted to sacrifice me in a satanic ritual. You know how it is. These things happen. Professor Pendulum was his name. Seriously. How goofy is that? Okay, I'm trying to make light of this but I'll be honest with you, the whole thing was pretty horrific. Pendulum was a magic user who worshipped some random demon and got it into his head that he'd be granted the demon's power if he made certain sacrifices to him. He needed a crab, a parrot, a horse, an iguana, and a human on the cusp of adulthood. I'd like to think he picked me out for some grand purpose but I think the truth is that I just happened to be local. On the morning of my eighteenth, he jumped out at me on my way to school and knocked me out cold. And then I died.
Well, almost. I was unconscious so I can't give you the details but I do know he took me back to his lair, slaughtered the animals while his followers chanted, then started draining my blood. He was using some kind of magic to keep me alive a little longer, waiting for the right moment before letting me pass over to the other side. I was half alive, half dead. Not that I knew it. I woke up in hospital. As it turned out, a couple of local supers had burst in before the ritual was complete, arrested Pendulum and his cult, and saved my life. Pretty amazing. It took a while for me to recover but the doctors said I'd be fine. Everybody freaked out for a while but life got back to normal soon enough. Because I was fine. Except I wasn't. I didn't tell anybody but I never got back to normal. Professor Pendulum's magic had changed me. During the ritual, I had one foot in life, one in death, and I stayed that way.
Sounds bad, huh? Well, it isn't, not totally. The ritual left me with powers of my own. I discovered I could shift to the halfway point between life and death at will. I become a ghost, basically. Invisible, intangible, floaty, that kind of thing. I can sense them too. Ghosts, I mean. You have no idea how many spirits are around you right now. I won't tell you exactly how many because it'd freak you out but man, nobody should ever feel alone because you never are. So in a way, you could say I'm more than human now, a super, and that's a good thing. It is. It just has its down side, for me. I'm way more in touch with death than any human is meant to be and that can have an effect on me. It's hard to describe. I can always feel it there, death, pulling at me, tempting me. There are times when all I want to do is give in to it, let myself fall to the other side. I can't tell you how seductive it is. But there's no coming back from death. If I ever give in, that'll be it. All over. I guess that's the real reason I try to live my life as fully as possible. Life is pretty seductive too, and it's easier to remember that when I'm living.
So, I got over the blood loss and graduated. I had been planning to go to the big fashion school in London but I guess the whole ritual thing had me pretty shaken up and I didn't want to be too far away from my parents, so I enrolled at the San Francisco Fashion Institute instead. No regrets about that either. God, I loved it there. A little too much at first, if you know what I'm saying. I don't think I got much actual work done in the first year. I knuckled down though, I loved the subject way too much to allow myself to screw up my opportunity. It turns out I'm pretty good at this fashion stuff. Really good, if I say so myself. Good enough that people got excited about the career ahead of me, and I got caught up in that excitement too.
The quake brought me back down to earth. I was lucky, I wasn't hurt and didn't lose anybody, but it was still… well, I don't have the words to describe how bleak everything seemed for the first few weeks. The Institute was closed down for a while, partially to repair some damage but mainly because most of the students and teachers needed some time to rebuild their lives, not to mention the state itself. As for me, I made a big decision. I'd been practising with my powers ever since the ritual because I wanted to be sure I understood them and wouldn't expose myself or hurt anybody with them. I'd never seriously considered becoming a hero because that seemed out of my league. I was just some guy with ghost powers. What could I do? The quake made me realise I was being lame. I could do something, I could make a difference, and more than that, I should. It was my responsibility. So I registered my powers and my identity as Spook (I can never decide if that name is dumb or awesome but I've stuck with it), and I went off to Virginia to get my Hero License.
By the time I got back, work had started on building a new city where Los Angeles and San Diego used to be. It was the supers who were doing the bulk of the work. Nobody knew who the hell Spook was but I helped out anyway. I wasn't super strong or telekinetic but it turned out to be handy to have a guy around who could get into enclosed spaces and ruins without being at risk. My contribution wasn't a big one but the fact that I made a contribution at all is something I'm proud of. Once the Institute reopened, I split my time between school and San Angeles, and eventually my services weren't really needed anymore so I was able to go back to my normal life. I knew things weren't going to be the same though. I couldn't be Tiago the fashion designer all the time because now and then I needed to be Spook the superhero.
I graduated and got myself a job at a trendy little fashion label called Delirium. It was a low level position, pretty much making coffee and occassionally being allowed to sort some fabric, but I worked hard and got a lucky break when one of the big dogs saw my designs and liked them. It's taken a few years but I've worked my way up the ladder way faster than I expected and now I'm doing well for myself. People in the industry are starting to know my name and my last couple of runways have caused a stir. In a good way. I'm far from rich but I'm not worrying about where my next meal's coming from either. I just bought my first apartment too, actually. It's pretty tiny but it's cool. I like it. Feels like home already and you can't ask for more than that, right?
As for the heroing, I admit that's taken a back seat since I started work. I've been out now and then, stopped some bad guys and saved some lives. It's an incredible feeling and I wish I'd been able to spend more time doing it but I knew I needed to get my own life on track first. Maybe that's selfish, I don't know. Anyway, I'm just about successful enough at my day job now that I can start indulging in some artistic eccentricities and nobody will mind. That means I can pull back from the studio and work from home more, and it means I don't have to show up to every party just to make sure the fashionistas don't forget me. So I have more time, freedom and flexibility now, all the things I need to finally do a decent job of being Spook. I finally feel like I'm achieving some balance but we'll see how long that lasts. It's always about balance with me. Social versus work. Tiago versus Spook. Life versus death. Balance. It's not easy but I've never been afraid of working hard. I'll make it work.
So there you have it. The story of me. Your average, run of the mill fashion designer by day, ghosty super guy by night. And sometimes in the day. And sometimes I design at night. But you get the idea. See, I told you this'd be dull. But hey, keep watching. Life (and death) has a habit of getting more interesting every day.
RP Logs
Fresh Air - August 25th, 2010 - Tiago and Colin meet over coffee and end up exchanging their fancy business cards.
A Brief Musical Interlude - September 1st, 2010 - Proton and Spook fight to stop Virtuoso robbing a bank, but she has a surprise up her sleeve in the form of Thorn.
Ships In The Night - September 6th, 2010 - Spook spots Thorn and approaches him to check he's okay after their encounter with Virtuoso.
Two Plus Two Equals Four - September 12th, 2010 - Secrets emerge over a beer when Colin notices his new friend Tiago has the same distinctive accent as Thorn's new friend Spook.
Back to the Future - September 17th, 2010 - An impromptu gathering of supers shoot the breeze until Rebecca Sharp suddenly appears in their midst.
True Colors - September 20th, 2010 - Tiago attempts a fashion intervention with Heather, but she quickly figures out who he really is.
Come Together - October 5th, 2010 - Colin invites Tiago and Heather over to hang out. The former receives an offer, and the latter brings her two little plants along for the ride.
Petrify - October 18th, 2010 - While looking out for infected types, Spook encounters a pair of muggers… and a woman with snakes for hair.
First of Many - October 19th, 2010 - Colin cooks a meal for Tiago which could be described as romantic, but it's abandoned when their feelings for each other become clear.
Alcatra - January 21st, 2011 - After being snowed under at work for weeks, Tiago finally has time to spend an evening with Colin, and celebrates by cooking a meal.
Magica - February 9th, 2011 - At the scene of a minor accident, Tiago and Colin encounter a paramedic who isn't all she seems.
An Angel Among Us - February 9th, 2011 - As arranged, Colin and Tiago meet up with Gloria, who is now less of a paramedic and more of an angel with a flaming sword.
Stats
Real Name: Tiago Ferruguento
Aliases: Spook
Age: 25
Hair: Sandy brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 lbs
Known Relatives: Caetano Ferruguento (father), Telma Ferruguento (mother), Matilde Ferruguento, Eugenia Ferruguento (younger sisters)
XP Log
September 15th 2009 - Gained .25 XP for August 2009.
