Lucas Mandel

Just a cute panda.

"*"Hey, I'm not crazy! Aeric totally exists, and he's always helping me with stuff!"*"
—Lucas, being crazy.
**Lucas Mandel**, who only ever goes by his first name, is a rather odd red panda with a very interesting relationship between himself and his pet imaginary friend. Somehow, despite his "childlike" personality, he still manages to function and live independently, if under a watchful eye.

Lucas' abilities rest in a penchant for alchemy and a rather unique blend of magic based around the EM Spectrum but best described as "light control." The keystone he always carries around is unique as well, having an artificially induced structure to work with his dual affinity.

## Appearance

An appropriately short red panda with fur in varying shades of "brownish orange" and eyes to match, all put together with a large, round, and fluffy tail. Even if he isn't physically weak by any stretch, Lucas isn't all that impressive to look at.

Lucas typically dresses in casual tunic shirts and cuffed pants, a fairly plain and comfortable choice of clothing, together with the constant accessories of a long petal-red scarf and a pair of blue crystal armbands. He always carries a unique yellow-orange keystone with him, slightly smaller than your average soccer ball. Between the persistent glows of this keystone and the crystal of his armbands, Lucas can be guaranteed to always be slightly visible in the dark.

## Personality

Lucas is fairly outgoing with a rather childlike outlook on things and just slightly too little respect for the personal space of others, very willing to talk to strangers and make friends. He tends to be more of a follower than a leader, usually more than happy to watch the situation and listen as others push it forwards, but he can be quite stubborn when it comes to defending the way he sees the world. Lucas adamantly demands that rather than being strange or crazy he's just slightly less normal than everyone else, and that's perfectly fine.

He always carries a yellow-orange crystal keystone on or near his person, pathologically believing that if it were ever shattered the world would immediately end. It wouldn't, of course, and if pressed Lucas will even admit that he knows the idea is irrational. If this crystal is kept away from his person for too long he tends to withdraw into a paranoid and panic-ridden state, shifting from being outgoing to avoiding most interaction with the outside world in favor of attempting to vocally console himself.

Lucas fully believes that he's able to speak to a god, referring to them by the name of Aeric. Aeric is an old imaginary friend of his, envisioned as a blond furred five-tails kitsune, and Lucas often has conversations with and takes advice from this entity. The strange part is that every once in a while, it really does seem that someone else is there.

## Abilities

### Innate/Learned

* **Vision:** Night Vision / EM Spectrum Vision (X-Ray, Ultraviolet, Infrared, etc)
	+ Lucas can give the same increase in vision to someone else, or otherwise blind them.
* **Light/Shadow Manipulation:** Control the level of light in an area, or block or redirect sources of more focused light.
* **Flashlight:** Can emit both "normal" and UV light, allowing the role of a light source or a black lamp.
	+ Usually used in conjunction with his keystone, in which case it emits the light rather than Lucas.
* **Magic Attacks:** Close range energy bursts or long-range pellets, both utilizing his crystal armbands.
* **Light-Based Magic:** Spells channeled through beams of light.
	+ "Flashbang"
	+ Healing Light / UV Sterilization (light injuries only)
	+ Burning Light (basically a really bad sunburn)
		- Each of these can be focused through Lucas' keystone for a weaker wide-area effect.
* **Keystone Focusing:** More varied and often more powerful magic achieved by casting through any elemental keystone. They won't all be listed here, simply because there's too many of them.

### Passive and unexplained

The following abilities relate to Aeric, Lucas' "Imaginary Friend", and the entity's way of seemingly sensing information and/or influencing Lucas' actions.

* **Uncanny Knowledge:** Every once in a while, Lucas will point out or act on a piece of knowledge that he should have no way of knowing.
	+ This usually applies either to things Lucas has forgotten or to minor details such as phone numbers and directions, but has been known to surpass the Fourth Wall on occasion.
* **Instinctive Thinking:** The ability to kick actions and planning off very quickly and calmly when pressed, despite having otherwise unimpressive reaction time and composition.
* **Stimulant Issues:** Upon taking any stimulant (notably coffee, due to its' commonness), Lucas will begin to act more impulsively and less rationally, almost as though he were intoxicated.
	+ Unlike being intoxicated, however, this is usually joined with a slight shift in personality to one slightly more collected, polite, and almost antisocial, in direct contrast to his apparent lack of self-control in this state.
	+ Lucas has been directly ordered to avoid caffeine as a result of this effect.

## Skills

* **Potionmaking:** The longer-term creation of potions of varied types, though this typically requires equipment and/or components capable of providing the intended effect.

## Gallery

Lucas and his "Sun" (by DimitriB1)The Easter... Panda? (by DimitriB1)