Kurt Wagner

## Personality

Kurt is equal parts charmer, prankster, gentleman, and listening ear. He has a playful side and has absolutely no problem with being silly or cheesy and will do so shamelessly. He enjoys cracking jokes and quips, loving to make people laugh and smile. He’s comfortable with being the center of the attention and embraces it when he is, but does not feel the need to seek that attention out on his own. When the mood strikes though, he can have a flair for the dramatic which has often led to him ad-libbing lines in the middle of an act. He can be a flirt too and, taking his cues from the classic Hollywood films he loves, chivalrous.

Despite having faced prejudice all his life, Kurt hasn’t let it turn him bitter. Instead, he has learned from it and is a very compassionate, understanding, and empathic person. He feels deeply for people and cares very much for them. He’s also good at trying to see things from another person’s point of view even if he may not agree with it and knows full well that there is more to people than what we initially see. He’s forgiving, sometimes to a fault, which can be seen in how he harbors no ill will toward the people who hate and judge him for his appearance.

None of this, however, means Kurt is a pushover. He will stand up for what he believes is right and he will tell you what’s on his mind. If you’re acting like a jerk, he will let you know and if a quip or a gentle nudge doesn’t get the point across then he will be blunt. And while he is inclined to forgive people for whatever harm they’ve caused him, he is far less likely to extend that same courtesy to people who cause his friends and loved ones harm. He can be very protective and will readily step forward in their defense.

Kurt’s faith is another thing that has shaped him into who he is and it is also what helped him come to terms and accept his mutant heritage. He strongly believes in a kind, loving, and accepting God and while he openly talks about this faith he doesn’t expect anyone to share it or try to force it upon anyone else.

## Powers

**Teleportation:** Travel from one place to another seemingly instantaneously. This is accompanied by a rush of air that makes a distinctive ‘bamf!’ sound and a flash of purple/black smoke. As teleportation is still new to Kurt, the extent with which he can use it is fairly limited. Under optimal conditions, he can only go about a half a mile in one teleport. If he were to push himself he might be able to manage one mile, but would exhaust himself in the process. Rapid teleportation tires him out quickly as does teleporting with additional weight. As of now, he can currently only carry one person with him when he teleports, but only for a short amount of time and the distance he can travel with them is compromised based upon their mass. The ability is also affected by direction – going north/south along Earth's "magnetic lines of force" is easier for him than going east/west against them.

Kurt has also not yet perfected it. While he does possess, a spatial awareness which prevents him from teleporting into solid objects (an incident that would result in injury or death), it is limited and he is very reluctant to teleport somewhere that isn’t within his line-of-sigh unless he is extremely familiar with it (ie his room). His teleporting also becomes more erratic under duress. If he is panicked or frightened, he can miss a mark or have difficulty teleporting as much or as far.

This ability can also be blocked by a telepath, leaving him unable to teleport out of danger.

**Wallcrawling:** Manipulation of inter-atomic bondings between his molecules and those of other objects allows him to cling to solid surfaces.

**Shadow Blending:** The extra-dimensional wormhole surrounding his body (which he uses to teleport) absorbs light constantly to cast his body into shadow and, with the help of his coloring, make him transparent in darkness.

**Mutant-neomorphic physiology:** A result of his X-gene since birth, this gives him his demonic appearance as well as a few other perks. He has very short, very soft, blue fur as well as completely yellow eyes, elfin ears, and pointed canines. He has two fingers and one thumb on each hand, and two toes on each foot. It also affects his bone and musculature structure, granting him heightened agility, reflexes, coordination and flexibility. His tail, which is prehensile and ends in a spaded-top, can be used like an extra hand, holding onto/picking up objects with relative ease. It is strong enough to not only support his body weight, but also the weight of another’s, including lifting someone completely off the ground. His eyes give him somewhat heightened night vision.

## Talents

Kurt is an accomplished acrobat and trapeze artist. He has other circus/showman related skills such as juggling, tightrope walking, and acting. He is an accomplished fencer and can fence with both his left and right hands and is currently learning how to fence with his tail. He’s also a pretty good dancer.

## Interests

His interests include movies (especially classic Hollywood cinema), fencing, European football, pirates, history, reading, acrobatics/gymnastics, acting, and yoga.

## History

Kurt was found, or so he has been told, on a cold November night by a roadside where his father lay dead of a heart attack and his mother dying of birthing complications. At Kurt’s dying mother’s request, Margali Szardos, the woman who found him, unofficially adopted him as her own. She took him with her back to the small traveling circus, Der Jahrmarkt, where she worked as a fortuneteller/psychic and, there, amongst people who had no prejudices against those who were different, he grew up.

For the most part, Kurt was happy in the circus. He had a family in the troupe, and friends in their children (his closest being Margali’s children, Stefan and Jimaine). He was home-schooled and he helped out around the circus, first with chores and then eventually also as a performer. His natural agility quickly made him a star act as both an acrobat and aerial artist and he performed in every show with audiences assuming he was nothing more than a person in a devil costume. While Kurt was sad that the only way to perform was as a “demon” (and more than a little hurt that Margali suggested the act and his role in it) and wondered if he was demeaning himself by doing it, he understood it and was grateful that he got to perform at all.

Though Kurt was not allowed to leave the safety of the troupe, he often snuck out anyway. At one point during this time, after an accidental and particular nasty run-in with a villager, Kurt, looking for some time alone, stumbled upon a church. Thinking he could find solitude there, he climbed up onto the rafters inside. Once there, however, he discovered that the church was in session. Instead of leaving though, he stayed there and listened as the priest preached about love and acceptance and God, of being *created* and not a mistake. *God loves all his creatures,* the Father said. *No matter who we are or where we come from, he loves you.* Though Kurt had always been religious, that was the day he truly found faith.

When he was fourteen, Kurt’s powers manifested and he teleported for the first time. During a trapeze act that both he and Jimaine were starring in, there was an accident and Jimaine, missing her mark, didn’t catch the trapeze. Kurt, in the middle of his own jump, saw her fall. He reached out for her, and suddenly found himself right next to her. He grabbed hold of her and, without even thinking about it, teleported them both to safety.

Not long after his 16th birthday, a Texas millionaire named Amos Jardine saw Kurt’s act and subsequently bought out Der Jahrmarkt. He intended to move its best acts to his circus based in Florida. He convinced Kurt to be part of that move, promising him that he would be the circus’ star attraction. Kurt agreed, but when he arrived there he discovered that the ‘star attraction’ Amos Jardine intended him to be was as the main attraction in the freak show. The realization came to late and Kurt was drugged before he could escape. Kept drugged, he was locked in a cage like an animal and held prisoner in Jardine’s freak show.

Fortunately, Jardine’s victory was short-lived. A month within Kurt’s imprisonment, a man showed up at the circus. Professor Xavier freed Kurt and then wiped the memories of everyone who’d worked for Jardine, making them forget all about the blue “demon” boy. The Professor then offered Kurt a position at the school, explaining that there were others there just like him, and Kurt accepted. Word was sent to Kurt’s family and Kurt was on his way to Westchester, New York.