Oɴᴄᴇ Uᴘᴏɴ A Tɪᴍᴇ: • Jeremy spent most of his life in North-Central Mass. A quiet, withdrawn kid by nature, his introverted tendencies only strengthened with his parents’ divorce. He was thirteen and doing gymnastics, and his older sister was fifteen and focused on art. She was the only one he ever really opened up to, and he definitely felt closer to her than with either of his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Burtan were always too busy either arguing about religion or arguing about the kids.
When the parents decided to split custody of the children as part of the divorce settlement, Rem was devastated. He only withdrew deeper into himself the following months, and his mother’s inability to settle down only worsened the condition. They never stayed in one place for very long, so he was never really able to get comfortable enough in a given location to try to make friends. The most outgoing thing he would do was join the school’s parkour club, if it had one, or some kind of running or track group. Even then, he tended to run off on his own. Keeping physically active gave him a physical outlet for his frustration at the whole divorce and wandering situations.
Believing him to be suffering from depression or possibly something worse, Rem’s mother sent him to a psychiatrist to figure out what was wrong with him exactly. Keeping contact with Abby via e-mail and video chats was what ultimately helped him stabilize though. As hard as the situation was for him, he could see that Abby was living through a worse kind of hell, especially once her mutant powers manifested. Once he saw how their parents handled it, he was just too afraid of going through all of that too. His single greatest regret was that he never told her that he was a mutant too. It was the only secret he ever kept from his sister.
His concern for Abby’s wellbeing only grew, and knowing that she was suffering greatly under the care of their father, Rem wasn’t all that surprised when she ran away. He missed her greatly and worried about her all the time, but he knew that she was doing what she thought was best, and he hoped that she would find his way to him and their mother. Their mother would hopefully have treated Abby better than their father. There came a time when Rem stopped hearing from Abby, and he worried that something bad might’ve happened to her. Without his mother’s knowledge, he started secretly monitoring any and all mutant activity on the news and on the internet, hoping to find his sister again. He couldn’t hack his way into things, but he knew enough to dig for more obscure sites, knowing the media would hide most events or give scewed facts, depending on the group presenting the information. This ultimately leaves him with more questions than answers, but it’s better than nothing.
Uɴᴅᴇʀ Tʜɪs Mᴀsᴋ: • If anything can be said about Jeremy, it’s that he’s quiet. This is partly because he’s upset with his mother and doesn’t talk to her unless absolutely necessary. It’s partly because he was really close with his sister, and now that they’re living on separate parts of the country, he has no one to talk to. And it’s partly because there are just too many things he can’t say, regarding his mutant abilities and his parents’ divorce and their treatment of Abigale. It’s better to just be silent.
Jeremy is often angry with life and with the weight of the secrets he bears, but even his anger is covered in silence. He gets most of that angry energy out in running and parkour. When that’s not enough, he drowns himself in music or forces himself to read to calm down. Reading has always been one of his favorite hobbies, but the chance to escape into the written page usually helps cool his temper. He’d really like to not have to hide. He’d like for his sister and all the other mutants to not have to hide either.
Because of his self-imposed silence, he often finds it hard to make new friends, though he tends to get along alright with the other kids on whatever parkour/running team he’s on, united by a common interest. There tend to be more guys than girls in these activities, at least in the schools he’s been to, which might explain why he gets along better with guys than girls. Girls baffle him. He usually ends up making a fool of himself if he tries to talk to them, and then his ears turn red in embarrassment.
Also, because he’s constantly active, he’s constantly eating. He’s got a talent for shoving food into his mouth in large bites. Rather unattractive, so he tries not to do that in public.
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Wʜᴀᴛ Mᴀᴋᴇs Mᴇ Sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟ: • Wiry frame, good for running and Parkour, not necessarily good for lots of heavy lifting
Wʜᴀᴛ Mᴀᴋᴇs Mᴇ Dɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ: • Enhanced Jump
Super Jump – At maximum, he can jump about 30 feet straight up in one go, but he usually keeps it very contained, usually only using it for small assists when doing parkour, most of which he can do without the aid of his power.
Super Run – Sometimes he lets his powers give him a little more spring to his step when he runs, but only a little
Ricochet – Sometimes to get higher than his max height, or to get higher in a less obvious fashion, he can hop quickly from ledge to ledge, faster than humanly possible.
**He does not need to use both legs for smaller jumps, and his legs also have the ability to absorb and handle the shock of landings.**
• Typical Teenager Abilities
Silent Treatment – He’s good at staying quiet for very long periods of time. If he sets his mind ot it, nothing short of excruciating pain can get a peep out of him.
Agility – Both his gymnastics training and free running have made him somewhat physically fit and rather limber. He can be stealthy if he needs to be.
Invisibility – Not really, but he’s really good at blending into crowds, and he knows how to hide his mutant ability.
Tʜᴏsᴇ Wʜᴏ Lᴏᴠᴇ Mᴇ: • William Burtan (father); Audrey Burtan (mother); Abigale Burtan (sister)
