Steven Chen (from Psi High)

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Steven Chen (28)

Project: YA Novel (Psi High)

Known as: No nickname

Real name: Steven Chen

Group affiliation: The Alphas

Physical description: Steven is a good-looking Asian young man of 16. He has long, black hair that is styled in many ways day-to-day. He is always dressed stylishly, and many people believe he wears everything only once.

Personality: Steven is both cocky and judgmental. He’s also witty and throws shade like a baseball pitcher throws sliders. On the other hand, he loves art, beauty, music, and indy films. To him, art is all that matters. It is what is eternal and the only thing that wakes a dull, sleepy world. There is no one else quite like him at Coldwater and at a normal high school he would be one of the outcast art/theatre kids. At Coldwater, he’s an Alpha due to his exceptional ability and wealth. He does however like his fellow Alphas (as much as he likes anyone) as they are elite, beautiful, and provocateurs.

History: Steven’s father is an extremely successful businessman who married a beautiful Electi. As a result of his business being always his highest priority, he was a bit of an absentee father and husband. As a result, Steven and his mother were extremely close and relied upon each other for companionship. Steven is much like his mother, who is also an artist (painter) and someone who feels a bit separate from most people. From an early age, his mother was Steven’s best friend.

His family’s wealth allowed him and his mother to travel the world taking in concerts, culture, and museums. Tutored and home schooled, Steven’s closest friends other than his mother were elitist artists he bonded with on-line. Steven inherited her mother’s abilities and seemed pre-ordained to follow in her footsteps.

Then his absentee father realized his son was not on a path to take over the business. He demanded Steven be sent to Coldwater to develop his social skills and personal network. Steven’s father also demanded a course load focused on business. Steven is making he best of it though he has no intention of having a business focus. He knows his Electi art might afford him a fine living and, if not, he is confident his mother will always care for him. So he does enough to pass his courses while doing what his passions demand in art.

Strangely, Steven is known as the social center of the school. Not because he has a wide range of friends but because he throws the best parties (his Alpha status helps as well). To Steven these parties are a form of art and he primarily enjoys planning and building them. He has even been known not to attend his own parties but this is rare as he has been disappointed in their execution when he hasn’t.

Role in the narrative: Steven was fun to profile because I don’t have specific plans for him yet. As I was starting to share members of the Council (which would be late-saga story telling), I realized that the Alphas and Omegas both felt a little thin in membership. I’m not much of a writer so I rather like it when a Steven comes along that might help me take things in a way I didn’t plan. For example, I’m now wondering what a Prime shaper might be able to do.

Abilities: People with powers like Steven’s are known officially as shapers, but colloquially as “spoon benders.” Steven can make typically harder substances softer. This is not melting, as there is no heat. Against the laws of physics, marble can become soft clay in Steven’s hands.

There are some limits to this power. First, it affects pure substances the best. He can’t affect things like flesh at all, as they are simply a mix of too many “things.” Pure metals are easiest to affect and while any substance might be affected eventually, the harder the substance the more work it takes. Add to this that only a small area can be affected at a time. As a result, Steven could technically affect something like a diamond. But this would be a ton of work and effort to very minor effect (maybe he could embed a permanent fingerprint on a diamond).

Still, this makes Steven a tremendous sculptor. He cannot only easily add details extremely difficult for other marble sculptors to do, he can also repair mistakes. Furthermore, he is artistically gifted as well.

Inspirations: I wanted another Alpha and was thinking of psychic abilities. Of course, a classic one is spoon bending. Once I decided to apply it in Psi High as the ability to shape pure substances, an artist type naturally followed. Probably things like She’s All That influence me here (“Be silent, be still”). I tried to subvert expectations by making him one of the rulers of the school, which also gives me room to make him a “bad guy” if I want to (I’ve found the line between a provocateur and a jerk can be pretty thin).