Byron
Beauregard 'Byron' Trask
Beauregard 'Byron' Trask
Portrayed By Jake Gyllenhaal
Theme Song "Title" by Band
Gender Male
Date of Birth March 25, 1980
Age 28
Zodiac Sign Aries
Aliases None
Place of Birth Seattle, WA, USA
Occupation Security Guard, Seattle Art Museum
Known Relatives David Trask (father), Suzie Trask (mother), Leonardo Trask (brother, deceased), Meredith Trask (sister)
Significant Other None Currently. One restraining order.
Powers Metallokinesis
First Appearance 7 Dollar Coffee

Background

First things first - his name's Byron, and to hell with whatever it says on his birth certificate, driver's license, and official paperwork. You'd go by an alias too, if your parents decided to name you 'Beauregard'. If anyone wonders where he got that chip on his shoulder, well, just look to his name and maybe that'd give them a bit of insight. So, he grew up in a lower-class family, annoyed as hell about his name, and somewhere along the line decided to express that with a can of paint. Thus passed his teenaged years, at least until the creeping realization that he wasn't going to change the world through messages on a wall set in. Reality wasn't there yet. He picked up a blowtorch and took it to some scrap cars to make sculpture. Nobody seemed to get the message or appreciate those, either. Hey, it's not like he could've gone to one of those fancy art schools or anything - that took money, and he didn't have any. Gang squabbles, relationships gone south, drugs, and the occasional family fight clashed in the background as he found himself inspired less and less.

Reality hit hard when his brother got gunned down in a gang fight, and he crashed and burned. A couple of weeks in seclusion in his crappy apartment were followed up by him picking up some nicer clothes and going out to find a job. His resume wasn't exactly impressive, so following some advice he picked up a security guard's license, and landed himself a job at the Seattle Art Museum with the help of some old contacts of his that'd actually liked his work. This wasn't what he'd planned to do for his life. This wasn't his dreams. But it paid the bills. A part of him, though, still rages against it.

Then all this madness with mutants and superhumans - and, hey, again he's left out of the deal. He's a security guard and a failed artist in a world gone mad, it's not like he's really got anything to contribute, right? Of course, he's taking iron supplements and eating red meat like it's going out of style, and he's going through silverware like it's out of style - but he hasn't figured out what's starting to awaken inside him yet. The stage is set for everything to change for Mister Trask…

Logs

February 9, 2009 - Byron meets Eleven over coffee.

Personality

  • Cynical: Once a dreamer, a visionary, or at least so he considered himself—maturity and adulthood's killed his ability to dream, and it'll take a bit to rouse that part of him from where it's sleeping. Until then, he's looking at life with a jaundiced eye.
  • Creative: His teenaged years were spent doing illegal graff on the street; his early twenties in scrap-yards with a blowtorch making what passed for sculptures. The fact that he didn't have any commercial or monetary success, or really recognition, hasn't changed the fact that he's a pretty creative and artistic guy at heart.
  • Courageous: When he was younger, Byron climbed the sides of bridges to paint them, and dealt with gangs who didn't like him tagging their territory. Later on, he dealt with art critics, burglars, and bureaucracy. At this point, there's not much that can inspire a fear reflex in him

Powers

  • Currently, not much more than bending spoons and the occasional metal bar. By accident.

Skills

  • Artist: An artist with a can of spray-paint and a wall, or a blowtorch and a pile of scrap metal, Byron hasn't done anything with these skills in years - but they're still there, and surprisingly none the worse for the intervening time period. He's actually pretty good, just bad at marketing himself.
  • Security Guard: The most reviled and joked-about tier of security professional, Byron is what is generally known as a 'rent a cop' - and has the skills to prove it, unlike many. The best ways to set up a patrol route, how to watch for people casing out security, how to navigate bureaucracy, and quite a lot about security systems. Conversely, this comes with the knowledge on how to circumvent security, too.
  • Self-Defense: The training for his security license came with basic self-defense classes and basic firearms and firearm safety classes as well - which built on top of a life of street fighting as a teenager to leave him in pretty decent shape to fight if he has to, armed or unarmed. He's no black belt or sharpshooter, though.
  • Stegophily: Call it stegophily, buildering, or urban climbing - a hobby in youth and still practiced on and off, Byron's got the skills to climb up and down bridges, buildings, and roof-jump with the best of them. It's always dangerous, often illegal, and there's still some unique places in the city bearing his old paint tags due to it.

Resources

  • Licenses: Byron's earned a license to practice as a security guard in the city of Seattle and state of Washington, and he also picked up a concealed weapons permit, because they're stupidly easy to pick up in the aforementioned state. Also, he's got a driver's license. And a fishing licenses. Even if he hates fishing. He was in the wrong line, okay?
  • Pistol: A Beretta 92FS's his sidearm of choice, properly registered, licensed and everything. Of course, he usually only packs it when working, otherwise it's kept safely at home.
  • Apartment: A one-bedroom place that looks like a scrapyard that's just exploded and was promptly attacked by an army of mad graffiti artists, his place is… unique in decor, low on amenities, and most importantly cheap. A security guard doesn't make a whole lot of money, after all.
  • Contacts: Sure, he may've gone straight, but he's got a lot of friends on the street that he still remembers - and might be able to get information from if he got in touch with them.

Goals

  • Recognition: Really, deep down, what Byron most wants is for people to recognize what he does - whatever it is he's doing at the time - and appreciate it. In today's selfish world, that's harder to come by than you might think.
  • Relationship: He thinks it'd be novel to maintain a relationship with a girl for, oh, more than a few weeks. For some reason he's not usually able to do that. That one restraining order was -way- out of line, and surely can't be a sign that maybe he should be less of an asshole.
  • Legacy: As age encroaches on him, he's starting to realize that he's unlikely to leave anything lasting behind - no great work of art, no sweeping social changes. He wants to make a difference in the world, somehow, and when he realizes what his ability is… well, this could lead him down several paths.

Flaws

  • Critical: Maybe it's because -his- art wasn't very well regarded when he was making an effort, but he's rather bluntly critical about the flaws of others - artistic or otherwise. Needless to say, this doesn't make him a lot of friends.
  • Magnetosensitive: If it wasn't a word, it is now. The much higher iron content in his blood and bones due to his abilities leaves him vulnerable to high magnetic fields, causing discomfort, disorientation, and physical pain at the worst.
  • Aggressive: Sure, he doesn't get scared easily. On the other hand, he gets into peoples' faces at the drop of a hat, just to make them react. Or maybe it's some sort of self-destructive impulse. Who knows?

Quotes

  • "My life isn't complete without something else to bitch about."

Gallery

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