About
Name: Noël "Napolitano" "Poli" PourciauAge: 26 (Birthday is December 25th)Height: 6'3"Class: Nerd- though quite handsome and charismatic, his dorky nature is hardwired into him as a person and is clear if you talk to him for more than five seconds. (+3 to INT, disadvantage on STR.)Views:
Poli is, on most subjects regarding the supernatural, a firm skeptic. He has little to no belief in ghosts, ghouls, hauntings, cryptids, and the like, believing these things to have mundane explanations than the outlandish ideas people posit. He does, however, very, very firmly believe in the existence of aliens and intelligent extraterrestrial life and will defend these views passionately.
Stats
STRENGTH: 0DEXTERITY: 0INTELLIGENCE: 1+3SOCIAL: 2
RP Information
Timezone: PST (UTC -8:00)
Availability: I am fully open to RP, but please know I work a full-time job and so may be a little slow at times!
Style Preferences: Lit or Paragraph is preferred, but I am flexible and willing to do most styles of RP, just ask!
Platonic relationships: I am always open to explore character dynamics! Friends or foes, allies or enemies, I love digging into how characters dig each other!
Romance: I am open to ship with, whether serious or crack, though I do request you're clear on your intentions- Ambiguity can be tricky for me, and I want to make sure we're all on the same page! Also, Poli is gay, so please proceed with that in mind.
Dark/Unsavory themes: I am cool with injury, bloodshed, or violence as it arises, so long as there's some level of buildup to it and it's not entirely random. I am also down to explore dark themes/storylines/backstory, but I am not comfortable with heavy discussions/explicit depiction of hate crime or sexual assault - other than that, I'm pretty down for whatever you want to toss my way.
Personality
Poli is a man who lives behind man who lives life behind a façade. On a first glance one might see a charming and confident, if lovably dorky person, the kind of person one expects to be some eccentric university professor they hear stories about from their friends in other majors.
It's on a closer glance that his neuroses start to show. His need for control, for perfection, his eccentricities that reveal to be obsessions, his need for cold logic to prevail over wild assumptions; these cracks in the mask reveal the truth of his being- a heartbroken man clinging to what little order he can create in his life.
Logical to a fault. He does not like accepting ideas without corroborating evidence.
Eccentric, even amongst others with similar interests. He styles almost every aesthetic aspect of his life around his interests.
Witty and has a wry sense of humor that bleeds into his everyday conversation
Perfectionist in everything he does. Disorder bothers him to the point of distraction until he can set it right.
Prankster extraordinaire. Watch out for whoopee cushions and soap-flavored gum.
Obsessive. He refuses to give up the search for answers, even to the detriment of himself and the people around him.
Trivia
Poli owns two pet snakes- an albino Burmese python named Banana and a piebald ball python named Genevieve
He is left handed
He owns a small storage shed that he has converted into a 3-D red string conspiracy board regarding aliens
He has a massive sweet tooth and bakes pastries when he's stressed out
He has small tattoos on his shoulders depicting his own and his brother's star charts, but they're normally covered up
He carries sachets of lavender around everywhere in his pockets as a comfort object
Backstory
Noël Pourciau, better known to his friends and familiars as Poli, is a man who's road through life has been a long and winding path.Born and raised in Hackensack, New Jersey, where he had a rough start in life after being born with a large port winestain mark on his right cheek. This would lead him to be a shy and isolated child, finding the mark to be embarrassing and, in an effort to avoid questions, keeping mostly to himself and avoiding his peers. This solitude is what first sparked his interest of bugs and reptiles, spending hours collecting and studying specimens from the local park. His parents never let him keep them, of course, but he would collect pictures and notes in their stead.Poli spent most of his childhood in the shadow of- frustratingly enough- his younger brother, Francisco Dominic Aurelio Icilio Carmen Stefano Pourciau (Astro for short). Astro was taller, smarter, more athletic, more outgoing. Anything Poli could do, his younger brother could do better (at least, in the eyes of their parents). Although his parents were never cruel, nor did they openly compare the two, there was clearly a favorite and Poli knew he was not it.Now, one might imagine this would lead to resentment from the elder Pourciau boy, but as snubbed as he felt by his folks, he and Astro were inseparable from day one. Best of friends, thick as thieves, Poli and Astro were together against the world- or, in Astro's case, the universe. It was always his dream to one day explore the stars, and Poli wanted to help him achieve it in any way he could. He didn't fully buy into his brother's more eccentric dreams of finding life beyond the stars, but he'd happily put his own doubts behind him for his brother's sake.When Astro received a scholarship for a private secondary school in California, Poli found himself entering the terrifying world of High School by himself. It certainly did not help his confidence that, on top of the birthmark that already covered a little less than a quarter of his face, he had begun to develop acrofacial vitiligo- and yet, despite his insecurities, Poli found himself thriving in the new environment. Sure, it wasn't all sunshine and roses, but he quickly found a place amongst other like-minded students, and not having his brother to compare himself to started making him more confident in his
own abilities. He excelled in biology and found new hobbies, starting a tabletop games club, learning to bake, adopting his first pet snake, and finding other kids to geek out over movies and television shows. Life was going well for him.After graduating, Poli moved to New York City to pursue a degree in herpetology, while Astro had landed a place in NASA's space program as a prospect. The brothers were finally pursuing their dreams, the world was their oyster, and nothing would get in their way.At least, that was until Poli received a phone call that would turn his life upside down.There was no explanation given, no answers to be had. All he was told was that his little brother, Astro Pourciau, had disappeared without a trace.Poli found himself dropping out of university shortly after receiving the news, packing his bags to return back home to Hackensack to be with his family during this difficult time. It was there that he started putting together the pieces- or, in his case, the lack thereof. It didn't make sense. Things didn't add up. The information they were provided during the investigation was just a little too sparse, too many questions were left unanswered by the powers that be.And so, Poli started doing some investigating of his own. He looked into everything he could, every reasonable explanation for his brother vanishing. Then, when those explorations failed to tell him anything, he turned his eyes up at the stars.When the idea of his brother being taken by something otherworldly hit him, he changed focus, pouring his efforts into the study of extraterrestrial beings and the evidence that people claimed to find here on earth. It wasn't enough, though- he could only gather so much information in analogue space. Eventually, he translated his own findings into a webpage, both for his own ease of reference and to reach out to others like him seeking out the same truth. He could have never predicted The Alien Archive's success, people from all over America- no, all over the world- reaching out to him to provide their own accounts of the strange and otherworldly. His archive of evidence quickly grew into a grand online encyclopedia, each case and item carefully organized into the library with his own added commentary and any corroborating evidence he could find elsewhere. Alongside submitted evidence was an extensive vlog of his explorations, filming himself visiting sites of interest and discussing evidence he found particularly intriguing. He had found his new life's purpose, even as his brother's story remained frustratingly incomplete.It has been seven years since he started the archive, and someone on the organizational team of Freak Fest 1994 seems to have taken notice of his life work, offering him a chance to speak about his findings at the upcoming convention. How could he refuse an opportunity like this? This is the perfect chance to finally step out from behind the screen and talk to people face-to-face- and perhaps even answer some of his own pressing questions.
The Field
The field stretches as far as the eye can see, dry brush that reaches just past the knees and scratches against the skin. Everything is cast in the pale blues of a movie-lighting night, a warm breeze rustling through parched grass and wildflowers and cricket-song filling the otherwise silent night. Closer inspection of the flowers reveals them to be all pressed dry, as if between book pages, and carefully rearranged back in the field in a dizzying perfectly curated imperfection. The brown-tinged petals crumble beneath curious fingers, leaving behind only a faint aroma of faded sweetness.
The Telescope
The telescope sits by itself in the field ahead, pointed up at the clear, starry sky. It is a simple set up, the kind found in museum gift shops. The brass is smudged with small fingerprints, and the hull is decorated with a variety of well-worn and peeling stickers. Looking through the lens, one can observe The Planets and The Astronaut.
The Bed
The twin-sized bed sits opposite to the telescope, a handmade quilt covered in appliques of frogs on lily pads neatly made on top of starry cotton sheets. Several stuffed animals- most notably a tattered cat, a hand stitched triceratops, and a sock monkey- sit gently tucked in on top of blue-cased pillows. A nightstand sits beside it, a children's book about the planets of the solar system sitting next to a lamp the shape of the sun. Despite not being plugged in, the lamp is on.Inspecting the bed finds it to be very soft, if a bit small. The sheets smell faintly of lavender, and it invites you to lay on top of it for a while. Despite the cool summer night, the bed is warm, as if recently occupied.