James Melfton

Julia Melfton (Mother)

Thomas Melfton (Brother)

Audrey Cunningham (Sister)

**Dr. James Melfton**

## Appearance

James has pale skin, stormy blue-grey eyes that always have tired bags around them, and short, rusty golden brown hair. He's most often seen in his lab coat, typically with his go-to yellow dress shirt and tie.

## Personality

James is near-constantly stressed, between worrying over Klaus's well-being and being up to his eyeballs in projects for work. He loves his job, and is easily considered a workaholic; unfortunately, this often leads to him overworking himself, often leaving him tired and distracted.

## Relationships

### Klaus Melfton

Despite caring for his son very deeply, James's relationship with Klaus is a rocky one. They rarely see eye-to-eye on things, and James has never been particularly good at reaching out - especially not on an emotional level. Despite the pair not being all that close, James cares for Klaus very deeply, and is in a near-constant state of worry over Klaus's safety. He admittedly has a hard time understanding why Klaus finds his worries so overbearing, considering how often Klaus finds himself in mortal peril.

As of now, James is totally unaware of Klaus's secret identity as Lightning Dust. Not that James is much better; even outside of not telling Klaus much at all about his mother, James has plenty of secrets that he refuses to let the boy in on... All in all, he just hopes keeping these secrets to himself doesn't end up coming back to bite him, down the line.

### Klaus's Mother

James rarely talks about his late wife, but even so, he cares for her very deeply, and never quite recovered from her passing.

### Diane Shernall

James and Diane had met under unusual circumstances; circumstances of which led to James, with help from his then-girlfriend, saving Diane's life as well as her identity as an alien. Though he never quite forgot the event, it was somewhat of a shock when he ran into her again years later. The timing worked out that James and his now-wife were looking to hire help around the house, and upon hearing this, Diane was insistent on taking the job, as thanks for them helping her way back when. Diane has been working at the house ever since. James appreciates Diane's sensible nature, and is always grateful for her company, especially when the going gets tough.

### Arnold Arcson

Arnold was always James's best friend; they grew up together, and were always there for each other through thick and thin. Their bond only grew stronger over the years, and they were able to easily stay close when they were hired at the same lab and were able to work closely together on many projects. Better yet, they were able to do so alongside their other close friend, Josh Sharman. To say Arnold's murder hit James hard is an understatement; and finding out how it happened only made things worse. Similarly to when he lost his wife, it's a loss that James isn't sure he'll ever really recover from.

### Josh Sharman

Formerly one of James's best friends, who he worked with alongside Arnold. James and Arnold met Josh when they were in high school, and the three very quickly began to stick together. Though he was never quite as close to Josh as he was with Arnold, James still considered Josh very close, and had grown to trust him quite deeply over the years. Though the three worked well together, when they got older, Josh began to butt heads with James more often. Despite this, James wrote it off as Josh's usual stubbornness, not realizing when the petty jabs became more rooted in actual jealousy than they used to be. Needless to say, the reveal of Josh's betrayal hit James with a whole wash of mixed feelings - from stunned shock to absolute rage and utter disappointment. To no one's surprise, James has no intentions of forgiving Josh of his misdeeds anytime soon, no matter how close they formerly were.

### Phillip HighBrier

James and Phillip met when the latter was hired at the lab, and the two hit it off right away. As they became gradually closer, Phillip started being more blunt about having a romantic interest in James, who was far more hesitant at the idea. Against his better judgement, James agreed to giving it a shot, but quickly backed out when he realized that he was definitely not being ready for nor interested in a new relationship after all. Unfortunately for him, Phillip wasn't keen on taking no for an answer, and used his powers to alter James's feelings just enough that they remained dating. Once Klaus defeated Phillip and snapped James out of his spell, James's feelings regarding Phillip had - understandably - drastically shifted, and any hint at a potential interest was immediately dashed. Between him bending James's mind to his own desires and his meddling in Klaus's mind, James is particularly resentful towards Phillip.

## Skills

* **Intellect:** James has a natural knack for the sciences, and has a number of inventions of various sorts under his belt.