MoonLegend101
Member
Vincent Rivera
Name: Vincent Isaac Rivera
Nickname(s): Vince, Vin, Vinny
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Based off of: Varian (Tangled: The Series)
Face-Claim: Finn Wolfhard
Voice Claim: Jeremy Jordan
Height: 5'0
Weight: 120 lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Deep Blue
Body Figure: Fairly thin and scrawny, and might appear fairly weak at first glance, though he is actually quite quick and nimble despite his rather unimpressive stature and scraggy appearance.
Clothing Style: Due to his rather self reliant and poor lifestyle, Vince never wears clothes that are expensive or fancy, and instead ones that are always plain and sometimes a bit shabby. At times he might wear clothes that even have patches on them, or old chemical stains that never quite washed out. He usually prefers to have long sleeved shirts with rolled up sleeves that are muted, darker colors, often camouflage green, dark navy, faded plum, grayish blue, or dark gray, as well as denim jeans and large boots most of the time. All of the clothing he prefers to wear is quite thick, and at times he'll wear an old, large apron while experimenting or working with any chemicals that could potentially be harmful in order to protect himself. One other thing that he is known to wear quite frequently are a pair of nearly oversized pure black gloves, which he also uses for protection when working on his experiments and keeping his hands safe, but also ends up wearing them in public so often that it seems almost as if he is hiding his hands.
Distinguishing Feature(s): Vince has a light spattering of freckles scattered across his cheeks and nose. He has fair skin that can appear quite pale, but also has rather rosy cheeks in contrast. He also has a slight overbite and a missing tooth, and a bright, cheerful grin that is usually made all the more endearing because of these features. He almost always has slight bags under his eyes from fatigue and lack of sleep, which become even more noticeable whenever he's embroiled in working on a project or invention of some sort. Another noticeable feature is the streaks of color that stand out in his otherwise pure black bushy hair, which are streaks of dark brown that are more natural in appearance, and a large streak of faded cyan blue that run down part of his bangs. Vince also has rather bad burn marks on his hands from experiments gone awry, which he manages to hide with his gloves most of the time, and faint scars from an old illness which are scattered across his hands and arms. He has a tattoo of a darkly colored circle with three lines struck through the edges of it on the back of his right hand, which is also hidden underneath his thick gloves.
Vice(s): Bitterness, cynicism, manipulativeness, hopelessness, recklessness, self loathing, pessimism, anger, loneliness, guiltiness, emotional instability, clumsiness, messiness, singlemindedness, solitariness, misguidedness, vengefulness
Virtues: Creativeness, problem solving, genius intelligence, leadership, analyticalness, adaptiveness, resourcefulness, strategicness, braveness, determination, observative, well intentioned, intuitiveness, thoughtfulness, outward cheeriness, maturity, patience, selflessness, sincerity, a good sense of humor; compassion, sensitivity, and a good heart deep down inside.
Likes:
Science
Alchemy
Racoons, and other small critters
Sandwiches
Sticky notes
Doodling
Books
Old legends
Coffee
Cookies
Warm and cozy atmospheres
Natural environments
Cool summer nights
Helping people
Inventing things for others (and himself from time to time)
Being acknowledged for his work
Being accepted or liked by others
Getting revenge on those who've hurt him
Doing what he thinks would have made his father proud
Dislikes:
Perfectly organized workspaces
Too much physical exertion
The sight or stench of blood
Swimming
Pointy rocks
Magic
Poverty
Snowstorms
Sickness
Doctors
(Most) Wealthy people
Broken promises
Not being able to accomplish something
Feeling forced to do wrong things
Failing to save those he cared about
His inventions backfiring or accidentally harming others
Being alone
Quirks: Vince owns a pair of science goggles that he rarely ever takes off, and instead wears them on the top of his head even when out in public, and over his eyes at times when he's working on his experiments. He has a pen tucked behind his ears at times as well. Whenever talking about or showing off one of his inventions or experiments, he can often get a bit showy, having a dramatic and exaggerated flair to his words and gestures due to how excited he would be for someone to see them, as well as seeming quite proud of himself and happy during these times, which is a very rare occurrence. Before he ever even takes a step into a pool or any other body of water, or even drinks anything from a new location, Vince will always insist on taking a sample of the water to test for any unsafe chemicals or contamination beforehand, always extremely paranoid about water in particular.
Habits: Vince often will take a pen and repeatedly click it at a rapid pace whenever deep in thought or brainstorming ideas, usually pacing around restlessly while doing so, but he'll sometimes do the pen clicking whenever struggling to explain something complicated or complex to someone else. Whenever he's responsible for something that went wrong unintentionally (supposedly), or an accident of some sort, he'll always flash a sheepish and slightly embarrassed grin, holding his hands behind his back and drumming his fingers together nervously. He'll reflexively bite his lower lip occasionally as a show of nervousness as well.
Vince has great acting abilities, and usually is able to fake a cheerfully sincere and energetic grin with relative ease. Because of this, putting on a falsely cheery and naive exterior quite a bit of the time to hide what is lying underneath is just a habitual occurrence. At times though, sometimes he ends up struggling and the act comes off as a bit forced, and begins to show just a fraction of the anger and pain that is boiling beneath the surface. Whenever feeling especially upset or lonely, Vince will sometimes gently take out an old, faded letter that he keeps carefully tucked in a pocket, the last one that his father ever wrote him, to either read it over for the millionth time, or just hug it tightly against his chest.
Vincent Rivera was born to Isaac and Minerva Rivera, a family that was struggling to live in the rather poor conditions they were forced to endure. The couple lived in a fairly small sized city, one which was nearly consumed by poverty, squalor, and corruption, all because it refused to ever progress. It used to seem like a potential place to settle down and raise a family, back in the day. Now however, it was anything but. Crime ran rampant and was barely punished, jobs were few and far between, and many families lived in very poor and unhealthy conditions, all while the richer upper class leaders turned a blind eye to all of it. The biggest problem that was beginning to plague the city however, and quickly became one of its most lethal aspects, was the sickness that was beginning to spread around it. Various illnesses were starting to be passed around, first to the homeless living on the streets, and then gradually it came to other families. At first however, it seemed to be nothing to worry about, since the worst thing to affect the people en masse so far was the common flu.
Even though Vince's father had to work all day finding whatever work he could as a carpenter and his mother also had to work several tiring jobs while their young son grew, the family was a relatively happy one, since they still loved each other, and made the best of their situation whenever they could. Isaac was still an influential member of the community who had some say in things due to how his family had been there for so long, and so he often tried his best to help the city towards becoming what it once was, while Minerva helped the homeless and poor at every opportunity there was, even if their own family was also struggling.
Vince spent his toddler years as a bright eyed, curious little youth, who would go to explore everywhere and discover everything, even finding inventive ways to sneak out of the house at times in order to do so. It was hard for his parents to shelter him, due to how curious and intelligent he was. He enjoyed figuring out how things worked by taking them apart and putting them back together, and often watched his mother cook, curious about how mixing certain things together caused them to taste so much different. Even though the family had a brief time of being having a happy life together however, unfortunately this was not to last. The sickness around town was starting to spread more and more, and as people were beginning to find out, it wasn't something that was harmless anymore.
When Vince was 3 and a half years old, his mother started to become ill. She had come down with illnesses before, always having been a bit sickly in nature, but unfortunately this particular case would prove to be much more of a serious one than any others. At first it was nothing too serious, and just seemed like common flu symptoms and a few rashes, but before long the sickness became much, much worse. The state of her health simply seemed to devolve further and further, and they just did not know why the symptoms would not go away, as she seemed to simply be fading away right before their eyes. By the time the symptoms grew life threatening, Isaac tried to take her to the hospital, despite her protests or any of the costs, but even though she was taken there, it was too late. Minerva passed away, only a few days before her son's fourth birthday.
Vince was too young to fully understand the implications of what all of this meant, but he was confused and scared by the fact that his mother wasn't around anymore, and just seemed to be... gone. That lack of presence in his life was something very hard for him to understand. Isaac was heartbroken by losing his wife, one of his main motivations to continue on through life's struggles simply being lost to him. All he had left was his son, who he became very protective of, all while pushing everyone away and putting up emotional barriers that could never be broken through. Vince tried to reach out to his father since he was all he had left as well, often trying to show him toys he had made for himself and new projects he was working on, but his father never really seemed quite there whenever he was around him. He always warned his son about doing any dangerous activities or wandering around town, but his presence in Vince's life as a caring and supportive father was practically lost to him.
As the boy grew, so did his curiosity and intelligence, not to be hindered by even his father's warnings. Vince did extremely well in school, loving the thought of learning and discovering things, and did especially well in science. While he never had much, with a tiny chemistry set that he had gotten for one of his birthdays, he was able to learn so much from messing around with it that he was eventually able to replicate some of the chemicals that he had used once they had run out and soon even make entirely new mixtures all on his own. He first started using his knowledge and some of the unique mixtures that he had created for practical purposes, such as cleaning the house much more efficiently, or making carpentry work much easier in various ways as well, since that seemed like what his father might want. While at first these attempts were anything but successful, and instead just made more of a mess than anything, after a lot of hard work on the young boy's part, some of his homemade solutions actually started to show some results.
While his accomplishments with being able to do such impressive things at such a young age were incredible, no matter what he showed his father, the other one never really gave him proper, full-hearted acknowledgement, and might instead scold him for using something that he shouldn't have for his experiments. It was true that at times, Vince's little science experiments and machines did end up either blowing up in his face or making a mess, but he always did his best to clean up afterwards, and only did it because he wanted at least a small shred of approval from his father, since he still really looked up to him. Unfortunately Isaac was only a shell of the man that he once was, having given up all hope, and because of this he wasn't always there for his son when he should have been.
Growing up without his mother, and practically without his father really hurt the boy, but he was determined not to give up so easily. He was still in some respects the bright eyed, cheerful boy that he had been, even though now there was a little more sadness and maturity beneath the surface. He was fueled on by his growing passion for science, excited to learn all he could about the field. Whenever he could, Vince went to the library, and got all the books about science that he could find. Even though he couldn't understand most of them at first, it wasn't long before he began to gain an understanding of some of it, excelling when it came to chemistry specifically. He also became quite interested in history during this time, particularly the Middle Ages and what they practiced for science at the time, which was called alchemy. Alchemy soon became a secret passion to explore for Vince, even though it was an outdated science, while chemistry was still what he did best.
During this time, the boy pretty much operated freely without his father interfering all that much unless he was caught, since the other one was either too tired from looking for work, or too occupied with his visits to the bar. Despite his initial protective intentions, he had become neglectful, and very hard on his son even when he was around him, partly due to him being such a painful reminder of his mother. Vince was still sympathetic to how his father had become however, and wanted to help him in any way he could, even though his father always made him feel as if there wasn't ever much that he could do. Nevertheless, he still felt the desperate urge to do something that would make his father proud, to really see him for the first time, and finally realize that he could do good things to help their family, and maybe even help the whole city.
His father had given up on the city, no longer rallying for its revival like he once had, and instead thinking that it was a lost cause, and that there was no use trying to get any help for it. Vince thought differently however, and shared the more idealistic view that his mother once had, which was that there had to be some way to change how things were, and help it become better than it was now. Everything was only growing worse and worse than it ever had been, and so was certainly in desperate need of help. While wandering the streets in search of new things to use for his homemade chemical experiments, he had begun to observe the conditions around him, and how terrible some parts of it were. He realized how most of the people he saw on the streets looked sick, very sick... just like his mother had.
Feeling sympathy for them, he decided that he wanted to figure out what was making them all so sick, and began brainstorming about how he could. Vince, who was only 10 at the time, had the rather simple intention of helping all of the sick people get better, so that he could figure out what was causing so much suffering in order to prevent what had happened to his mother from happening to so many other people too. It was also because, admittedly, the thought of discovering the source of all of this was a fascinating and exciting challenge to the boy's young mind, one which he was eager to accept. While looking around the streets and even outside of the town sometimes as part of his investigation, he began to figure out what one of the causes was, all by watching and testing the river.
The river that ran right outside and partway in the city was extremely dirty, and very polluted. It had started to flood some insignificant back roads years back, and had never really risen too far beyond that, so that it didn't really seem like something that had needed immediately attending. But this oversight proved to be extremely consequential, as eventually the river water started to contaminate the drinking water due to leaking pipes that were in bad condition and hadn't had maintenance in a long time. The people on the streets had been the first to feel the effects, due to some of them having been desperate enough to drink the bad water, and now because of the pipes it was slowly but surely starting to affect everyone. Unfortunately, just on the cusp of discovering all of this information however, the young boy began to show symptoms of the illness as well.
At first it seemed like nothing serious, just like with his mother, but then the rashes started, and the painful sores that came with it. Isaac was immediately panicked by this as soon as he realized what was happening, and immediately took his son to the hospital, even though it would take practically every penny they had to do so. The doctors there were very reassuring to the panicked father and his frightened son, seeming to be very confident when it came to knowing what to do about the illness since they had dealt with quite a few cases of it before, and did all of their work quite efficiently. Fortunately, because of his prompt treatment, Vince was able to just barely recover from the illness eventually, even though it still took awhile to heal. It had been terrifying for him, having the same illness that had been the cause of his mother's death, but as soon as he had recovered he treasured his second chance to live, and was very thankful for it.
He couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty though, since they had spent pretty much everything they had to pay the hospital bills, and now his father would have to work harder than ever just so that they could survive. He couldn't help but feel as if that was his fault, and was just another of the countless reasons for his father to be disappointed in him and never truly love or acknowledge him, because he was just a troublesome burden to him. He had always acted as if Vince was just an embarrassment to him when they were in public, and now this seemed only to verify how far he really was from earning his father's respect and love.
But despite all of these feelings, he was more determined than ever to push his feelings aside and fix what had happened to the city, now that it had a determinable cause. While Isaac had been desperately afraid of losing his son, he was now more hard on him than ever rather than becoming more loving, not wanting him to leave their little house to wander unless he had to, and to not do anymore of his dangerous experiments on the water or anything else. Vince was distraught upon receiving this command, since he really didn't want to go behind his father's back to do anything, but he wanted more than anything else for him to see how useful his experiments could be, and how useful he could be. Growing up in poverty for so long, he just wanted to do something to help change all of the pain and suffering that he saw every day- even if it meant going behind his father's back to prove to him how wrong he was. Everyone was trying to ignore the problem as if it would just go away somehow, but it wouldn't. If he was the only one who would do something about it, then so be it.
And so every day after school, Vince snuck down to the river in order take samples, locate where the leak in the pipes was that caused the contamination to the water, and figure out how exactly to fix the problem. During his frequent visits to the river, Vince encountered quite a few elements of nature that were around it, including some of the creatures that had started to inhabit the area surrounding it. One in particular, a friendly little baby racoon that didn't seem as scared of the scrawny young human as it usually would have been of others, often followed him around, admittedly at first just to see if he had food most of the time, but then it followed him around just because it seemed to like him. Unfortunately though, all of the poor animals living around the river and drinking it whenever they were thirsty, could not do so without eventual consequences.
Vince was always very distraught and horrified whenever he came across a dead or dying animal that looked very sick and unwell, and though he tried to to help any sick animals be comfortable to the best of his abilities, all he could really do was keep working so that hopefully the water could be fixed. What really struck the boy's young heart however, was when the friendly little baby raccoon that had liked him so well began to get very sick too, and was obviously very thin and malnourished. Vince couldn't take it anymore, and so he brought the raccoon home with him one day, hiding him in the basement so that his father wouldn't find out, and then started to tend to him in an attempt to nurse the poor thing back to health. Now, even though the boy might have had potential in chemistry and science, he was no veterinarian.
There were some points when he thought the raccoon wouldn't make it through the night and he was on the verge of in tears, having thought that even if he hadn't been able to save his mother, he could at least save a little animal in need, but even doing this was proving to be extremely difficult. But he kept doing his best to help the little critter, giving him nearly all the food from his meals and clean, pure water, as well as even a natural remedy that he managed to whip up at one point, and the raccoon continued to make it through every night. Soon, the baby raccoon gradually began to return to a healthier state. Unbeknownst to Vince, his father was actually aware of his raccoon related escapades and had known about the sick stowaway in his basement for some time, but he actually allowed his son to continue doing so, knowing how much saving the raccoon meant to him at this point.
Eventually though, the raccoon no longer needed any care, and was healthy enough to go back out into the wild. It was then that Isaac gently but firmly encouraged his son to put the creature back out where it belonged, and Vince agreed, knowing that it wouldn't be fair to try to keep the wild animal, even though he had begun to form a bit of a bond with it. He soon released the baby raccoon into the wild, with his father stoically but supportively standing by his side as he did. He tried not to interact with it anymore later on, aside from trying to make sure it had pure water sources to drink from just in case, and after that his father forbid trying to save or mess with any other wild animals, due to how dangerous it could be. Vince begrudgingly saw his point, but still, he was glad he had managed to save the young creature. The moment when he released the little raccoon into the wild to live out its life again, and knowing that he had managed to save that precious life, was probably one of the happiest moments of his life so far. Soon it seemed however, that while Vince did his best to avoid crossing paths again with the raccoon he had saved, the raccoon had other plans in mind. Whenever the boy came down to the river or even nearby it now, the young raccoon would come to meet him, or at least would always be there, watching.
While Vince had already concocted a way to keep away wild critters from their home using certain chemicals to get them to steer clear without harming them, the raccoon came around anyway, not even seeming to be feral or anything of the sort like some of the other animals. Because of this dedication, the raccoon eventually began to become a bit like a companion to the twelve year old, who fondly nicknamed him Rudy. He had no other friends his age, mostly due to most of them thinking him weird and no fun with his constant experimenting and reclusive nature, and no one left to take care of him except for his father, so the little racoon became the closest thing to a friend that he had ever had before, and he didn't mind having it around anymore. And so he kept working, always bringing along little crumbs from what barely constituted as his meals for his new little companion and sometimes even taking time to play with him, before resuming his investigation.
When working or even when he was at school or around his dad he kept his cheerful and upbeat exterior that he had always expressed, always determined to keep positive, and enjoying what he did so much that doing so usually came pretty easily to him. Usually folks around his neighborhood thought that the boy carting around strange contraptions or having various vials of chemicals attached to his belt was rather odd, to the say the least. It wasn't long before he began to gain a reputation in that part of town for being "the weird science kid", who parents usually wanted to keep their children away from due to thinking him dangerous, but Vince did his best to shrug off the shunning and the strange looks that other people would give him, and keep on cheerfully whistling while he went down to the river anyway. His hope was what kept him going despite all the odds, along with his passion for his work. It was during one day however, when going down to the river with his racoon by his side, that after a lot of thinking and brainstorming, he suddenly realized what he had to do.
He had to build a machine that would not only fix the leaks in the pipes, but also help purify the water in order to solve the problem of contamination. He ran home and started sketching designs for a machine that very evening, one that would not only fix the leaks on the submerged pipe, but also purify the water flowing through it so that it would be clean and healthy to drink once more. Vince worked day and night on this machine, working so hard that sometimes he nearly fell asleep in school due to working himself to exhaustion, but nevertheless he kept going. It required a bit of construction work to actually put it together, which he wasn't the total best at actually doing, and the first dozen or so versions of it met rather explosive ends. Vince didn't always install safety features on his machines, being rather reckless and careless in this regard, mostly because he had never really received discipline or advice about taking the necessary precautions, and so he just continued to haphazardly do what he wanted to with the best of intentions, but not always the best of executions.
Eventually he managed to improve and nearly perfect his machine, until he got the version he needed. He had improvised the best he could in order to get the materials he needed, and after much hard work and time spent building it in his house's basement, what he had aspired to build for so long was nearly completed. Vince was delighted, now needing only to run a few more tests and work out a few more bugs before he could actually start trying to operate it. Unfortunately though, soon there was a hitch put in his plans. There was an unexpected chemical reaction that part of his machine triggered, one which was rather concerning, considering that it nearly shook the house every time it happened.
While he tried to solve the problem of the reaction, he could not do so easily, and so his progress began to slow to a halt for the moment. It wasn't because the reaction was dangerous that he was concerned, even if it should have been, but rather that the machine couldn't function properly while that was still a problem. So until he could fix it, he'd have to wait before working any further on it. He did continue to work very hard on fixing it, determined not to give up on it, though until then the machine did continue to act up and shake the house, doing so enough to most definitely be noticeable.
While Vince was in his backyard, conducting a few tests on their water tank and some samples of river water that he was keeping in open containers, suddenly he was startled by the sound of his father's shout coming from right behind him, jumping in surprise and in fright as he whirled around to face the other one, trying to hide all of the testing equipment that was behind him, but failing quite miserably. His father had discovered the invention that he had made downstairs, as well as what he was doing now, and was furious at him, shouting how he had told him not to mess with the water or make any more of his dangerous inventions, which would just end up getting him killed.
As the boy listened to the other one continue on, it wasn't so much the shouted words that hurt him, but rather the expression on his father's face, and the look in his eyes as he shouted them. There was worry and tiredness there, but disappointment was most definitely the strongest emotion above all the others. All Vince had wanted to do was to impress his father, and to make him proud of how he was going to save an entire city, and that way... finally see his value and worth. But it seemed that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he worked, nothing that he could do with his own skills would ever be enough to truly impress or please his father, and maybe... maybe it wouldn't even be good enough to save everyone, or to ever change their perceptions of him. He still couldn't help but deeply care about what the other one said and thought about him, since he was all he had left in the world, and he just wanted to make him happy... but now that his father was so angry at him and seemingly hated all that he had done, he felt trapped. He just didn't know what to do.
In the heat of being yelled at about all he had done, and all of the trouble he had caused with his actions, Vince eventually felt forced to stand up for himself. He stopped his father midsentence, and then defiantly told him that he had to do those things, because nobody else would! He told him what he had seen on the streets, of all the people sick and dying, all because of a problem that could have been fixed a long time ago. The time to run away from their problems and ignore them was over, and if Isaac wouldn't do anything about it... then he would. He had to. That was what his mother would have wanted. After saying this, Vince ran away from the water tank and his father, and into the house. He hurriedly got a few things from his room, specifically a couple of bags that seemed to have already been packed ahead of time, hopped onto a bicycle he had cobbled together in order to travel from place to place, and then left the house.
He was leaving indeed... but not permanently. He was instead going to do what no one else would do. He was going to ask for help. It would be a very long trek to the next city,even with his bike, but Vince determinedly began on his journey despite this fact, and got started riding, and walking at points when the terrain was too rough. Little did the boy know, though, that when he had first been testing on the water and his father surprised him, he had been so startled that he had accidentally knocked one of the containers of contaminated water into their open water tank with his elbow and dumping the contents inside, which he hadn't noticed because of having turned around so fast. He didn't know at the time how unfortunately, this particular clumsy accident of his would end up having very big consequences later on.
As Vince went on his journey to the other city, he took some of the back roads that he had found while exploring the river, and even though it was very tiring to keep riding and walking non stop, he continued on even through the night. He couldn't stop, he was determined not to stop, in case he would start rethinking his plan. The scolding that his father gave him spurred him in to doing something that he had planned to do for a while, due to how hopeless and desperate things were beginning to seem. One way or another, he would make his father proud, even if it wouldn't be entirely by his doing. Some of the terrain made the journey very difficult to travel, especially since some of the roads were muddy from several rainstorms that had washed through recently, so his perseverance and determination to continue on in order to accomplish his goals was most certainly unmatched.
It was many hours before Vince reached the other city, but finally he did. He was relieved, but took no time to rest, as instead he immediately headed for the place's city hall, haggard appearance and all. He burst into the place determinedly, coming in at the tail end of a city council meeting. He waited for whatever was being said to be said already, but that wasn't too much of a problem, since all of the people in the room immediately turned to look at the disheveled, shabby, panicked looking thirteen year old that had just burst into their midst.
For a moment there was nothing but silence in the room, everyone just staring at him. Then Vince began speaking, to explain why he was there. Once he started talking he actually seemed quite confident and composed, getting out some of the things that he had kept in some of the bags that he had taken from his room while he was explaining to the people. He was asking for help, for any sort of help that could be given. The two cities were fairly close together, even though they usually did not prefer to be thought of as twin cities. Nevertheless, it was obvious that either way Vince's city desperately needed help, as he did his best to plead his case for it.
He had evidence of the poverty and sickness that was plaguing his home, all of which he had kept in the bags he had brought, most of them being pictures and samples. Many of the citizens had already appealed to his city's leaders and those temporarily unaffected by what was happening to it, to no avail. That was why he stood before the most influential people of a foreign city now, remaining brave and calm, but nevertheless pleading for their assistance, pointing out that even if none of this affected then now, it would certainly begin to once people that were sick started coming to them and spread the contagious disease. The least they could do was just give a few resources, anything, to help fix the problem that he had plainly and clearly laid out to them, and which shouldn't really be too hard to fix in the long run.
Internally Vince was a bit nervous as he spoke, but he was also confident and proud of himself, sure that if his father heard about what he had done just now, surely he would have been proud of his courage. Unfortunately however, the responses that the boy received to the presentation he had given were not quite the ones he had expected. While he had made a stirring argument, the council people just didn't see what happened in his city as much of a concern, as of now anyway. It wasn't their problem, and there was apparently nothing they could do to help since it wasn't their city, not even help alert their people to what was happening to see if they might even want to help.
Vince continued to try to plea, to try to make them see how desperate the situation was, but none of it did any good. He had to leave the place empty handed, all of that time and effort wasted, and his spirits lower than they had ever been. He had just thought that, if he wasn't good enough to help, then maybe he could inspire others to do so, but it seemed that no one was interested. He would have to continue to try to fix things on his own. Vince had to trudge home, having to go completely on foot this time due to his bike having broken down beyond repair. For this and many other reasons, the journey back seeming much longer and harder than the journey there. It was evening of the next day when he finally made it home, immediately heading into his room since he didn't expect his father to be there, considering that he usually wasn't until midnight. Once he was going in there though, his shoulders slumped and head hung low, he heard a loud and raucous cough coming from another room.
Vince ran to see where that noise had come from, only to stumble upon his father. He was horrified upon seeing the other one, who was lying on his bed, looking sickly pale and ill... with rashes and sores all over his arms. He was coming down with the illness too, and by the time Vince returned, he was already feeling too weak to work anymore. The boy panicked, more frightened of his father's life being lost to the sickness than he had ever been for his own. He didn't understand how it could have happened, since he had made sure their water was purified and safe to drink. When going out to re-check on their water tank however, he made a heart-wrenching discovery. He found the tipped over container that he had been using for testing, in which the contaminated water had been kept, and the open water tank that it had been spilled into. It was his fault that his father was sick, his own carelessness and clumsiness. All he had wanted to do was help by figuring out things and making sure they were safe, but now... now...
Vince didn't really know how to process this revelation, all of the guilt and pain that fell onto his shoulders being too much to bear, and so he did his best to push all of these feelings deep inside where they supposedly couldn't bother him, for now, and instead focused all of his attention and energy on tending to his father. They didn't have the money to take Isaac to the hospital and treat him because of having spent everything on past hospital bills already, and they both knew it.
Vince did everything in his power to help his father during this time, making sure that everything he drank or ate was pure and healthy, and even trying to create something of his own to cure him using natural things he found outside of the city. Despite everything he did however, working himself to the bone until he could hardly even function anymore, the boy had to watch his father fade away right before his very eyes, just like his mother. His father had been right... there really was nothing he could do. Vince had never felt so helpless and useless before in his life, even though everything that was happening was because of his mistake, and his ambitions.
As Isaac grew to the point of hardly being able to talk to his son anymore, often seeming to be in great pain and being so weak that it was hard to even manage it, Vince began to get desperate. Even though he didn't want to do it, and regretted every moment of doing so, he decided to steal a very expensive medicine, something that could possibly help his father. As much as he hated it, it was a fairly easy task for him, since he used some of his many homemade chemical formulas to blur the lenses of the security cameras, and wore protective gloves so that no fingerprints could be detected. Even once he returned and started giving some to his father however, it was too late. Even though Isaac was a little better for a while, it was only a temporary solution, and soon the pain of the sickness and the inevitable fatality of it returned.
While Isaac didn't usually speak to his son during this time, he would at times do so, either to solemnly talk to him as if he was in his right mind and apologize for something that he could never quite say, or just irrationally yell either at Vince or at nothing at all. In any case, any of it was quite damaging to the boy, but he still treasured hearing almost any word his father spoke, since that meant that at least he was still alive and with him, as well as in the hopes that perhaps one of those times the words might be comprehensible and loving, which was what he yearned for the most. It wasn't long before Isaac was laying on his deathbed, all while Vince was helpless to do anything but watch his father die. Even if he did steal again, nothing would help anymore. The medicine that he had stolen and still had in stock wasn't doing any good anymore, and that had been the best option.
What was absolutely insufferable and unbearable for the young teenager however, was watching his father be in such pain and suffering so much before he died, especially now that the coldness of the winter months was upon them, which was only making things worse. One freezing night however, when Vince had to use all of their blankets to try to keep his father warm, the other one became much, much worse, obviously not having much time left. The boy was heartbroken to hear his father's cries of pain and anguish, his desperation rising, never having felt so guilty and panicked. He had to do something; he just had to! How could he not help his own father when he was in such pain?
And so in the midst of a howling blizzard, and after promising his dying father that he would go get help and finally do something that would finally make him proud, Vince ignored any of the other one's weak protests and set out, wearing only a threadbare old coat to protect him from the winds and the freezing cold as he traveled. The nearest hospital was several miles away, but nevertheless he traveled the entire distance, keeping up a steady running pace the entire time even when frozen snow chunks blowing into his eyes blocked and obscured his vision, and strong gusts of wind tossed him back several feet. This was his last chance to make his father proud, and to save the other one after so long of causing him nothing but pain and misery. He couldn't help but feel more determined than ever because of this as he traveled, as even though the situation was extremely dire, he knew that he was doing the right thing and would keep doing so, no matter what it took to get to that point.
Vince eventually arrived at the hospital, bursting in through the doors in a completely panicked state. He begged the receptionist to see a doctor, and when this was refused, to send any doctor at all to see and help his father, and to help ease his pain. The boy had to admit that they hadn't had the money to take his father to the hospital beforehand, but they desperately needed help now, even if they couldn't pay. Despite his desperate, heartfelt pleas, and even seeing a couple of doctors pass by in the hallways, the receptionist refused him, saying that there was nothing that they could do to help him, and that they were all just too busy. Vince was so desperate however that he ran past the receptionist altogether and dashed up to the doctors that he saw in the hallways, begging them for help, or at least to tell him what he could do to ease his dying father's pain. The last doctor he ran up to was one he recognized, since that doctor in particular had been there for a long time, and had been one of the doctors that had so comfortingly reassured him when he himself had been ill. Vince desperately appealed to the other one's conscience as he looked up into their eyes with his own pleading gaze. He just wanted some advice or help with easing a dying man's suffering, that was all, and he swore he'd never bother them again after that. He just needed one small favor, from the kindness of their heart, for the sake of his father. The doctor stood blankly looking down at him, looking as if they were simply unsure as to what they were going to do, and appeared quite uncomfortable with the situation. It wasn't long before the receptionist caught up to him however, and it was then that the doctor that he had just been talking to slowly asked if he could be escorted off the premises. The receptionist full-heartedly agreed, and then promptly dragged the boy out of the hallway then threw him out the hospital doors, all of them having simply refused to help him because it hadn't been convenient to them, or had just been too difficult.
The fourteen year old boy was thrown out shivering into the cold, not sure what to do, except to go back to his father and try to help him anyway, even though he had no idea how. There was no more time to do anything else even if he could find a way to take what he needed, after finding out what that even was. His father obviously needed him, and he couldn't waste any more time before returning. Vince again had to return home empty handed, stumbling through the blinding snow and trash that littered the sidewalks, barely able to see one foot ahead of him because of how bad the blizzard had become, and very nearly freezing to death because of his lack of protection from the cold. He eventually managed to make it home, running into the house as soon as he spotted their old iced over water tank sitting where it usually was in the yard. Vince headed shivering into his father's room, calling out to the other one that he was home, and was going to do the best he could to help him feel a little better... only to get no response.
The house was completely still, aside from the blizzard winds that shook and howled against it. There was no other sounds to indicate any other life was in the house, not a cough, a groan, nor even a stir... nothing. The boy hurried into the room, calling for his father again in a much more panicked voice... only to stop dead in his tracks, his eyes widening in horror. His father was there, laying in the bed, completely still, his face gray and pale. He was so still... he did not even seem to be breathing. At that moment, Vince's world started to crumble apart and end. He dashed to his father's bedside, tears filling his eyes and flowing freely down his cheeks as he threw his arms around him and cried out, begging the other one not to be dead, to please not leave him, not yet, please! But just like all the others, his father ignored his pleas. It all seemed surreal, like a dream, and yet it wasn't. It was a living nightmare, and his father... was gone. For the first time in his life, he was truly and utterly alone.
Vince remained hugging his father for a long time, his small body shaking with silent sobs. At times he muttered tearful apologies to the other one over and over again, sobbing repeatedly that it was all his fault, that he really hadn't been able to fix it, and that he was so sorry that he hadn't ever listened. He couldn't help but blame himself for what happened, and the enormous guilt of his father's death resting on his young shoulders was simply overwhelming to him. He was there going through intense grief for hours, and no one ever came, not even to try to check up on him after his cries for help at the hospital. There was no one there for him, and it was obvious that there wouldn't be anyone anytime soon.
Eventually Vince had to pick himself up, wipe away his tears, and try to figure out what he was going to do now, even though he didn't even know where to start when it came to that. As soon as the boy got up however, and looked around the room, he noticed something. There was an old piece of paper laying on a nightstand close to the bed, paper that had just barely legible writing scrawled on it. His father had written something on it before he had passed on. With trembling hands, Vince picked up the paper. It was a letter, one last letter, to him. In it, his father had written an explanation for everything and an apology, for not raising him as he should have, for not ever listening to him, and letting his grief over their first loss blind him to what was happening in the present, and caused him to stop showing how much he loved his son. He was deeply sorry that he had to leave him now, and wished there was another way. But there wasn't. Vince would have to do the best he could to survive in this cruel world, but also never forget how much he had been loved, even though his tired old father had never been able to truly tell him so, until the end.
Vince sat there against the bed for a long time, just holding the letter close and reading it over and over again, his reddened eyes taking in and savoring every single word that was on that paper. Even though it was very comforting, and provided a small amount of closure for some of his conflicted emotions, it still was very painful that his father couldn't have told him that personally, and instead he had been gone during the other one's most painful moments, yet a time when he had still been in his right mind long enough to want to talk and reconcile with his son. He hadn't ever really been able to make his father see who he was beyond the embarrassment of a son who often screwed up and recklessly didn't listen to him, he had never gotten to truly show the other one his worth and his value in what he was growing up to be, something which was what he had wanted him to have seen the most. As Vince sat there reading that letter, thinking about what had happened, the pain and sadness that was fresh in his heart began to harden. He had lost his father, and had been denied even a few more moments with him, not only because of his own mistakes, but also... because of them.
It was the fault of the people of the hospital for turning him away in the cold, of every person that lived a much more luxurious life than him and others like him, and chose to ignore troubles going on right under their nose just so that they could continue on living with a false sense of security. It was their fault that much of this had happened, as much as it was his. While he still blamed himself for everything deep down inside, trying to cope with all that guilt in the midst of his grief was just too much for him. Because of this, he was beginning to redirect some of that pain and anger onto other sources. He would make sure that no matter what happened, as much as he would make his own self suffer with the guilt and pain of what had happened, he would make sure that the people that were also partly to blame for what happened would also feel the consequences. That was the night that the child within Vince officially died, all of his idealism and hope being drained and sucked out of him, and carried away on the blizzard winds.
Three agonizing days passed before the storm had cleared and the ground wasn't frozen, and then Vince had to bury his father, alone. It was very difficult for him, but nevertheless he had to do so, and so did his best to pierce the frosty soil in his backyard despite the weak and exhausted physical state he was in, and then very tenderly but shakily bury his only parent. After burying the other one and saying his last goodbyes, promising one last time to do something that would've made him proud, the boy then struggled with knowing what he was going to do next. If he stayed at his home and just waited for someone to eventually come and find him, he would be probably be taken to an orphanage or put into foster care, and he didn't want either of those options. He didn't want total strangers taking care of him or living with him, not after all that he had been through. He didn't trust anyone to truly be trustworthy or genuinely caring, as it just didn't seem possible anymore. He was better off on his own, taking care of himself, and letting no one else hurt him or get in his way again. That was how it had to be, and he realized that now. No matter what, he was going to be do what would have made his father proud, but this time he would do it on his own... even if it meant living on the streets rather than having to live with total strangers.
And so after having stayed at his house for about two more weeks, Vince packed up all of his things, took whatever was important, and left the house for good. He had almost completely given up on his dream to fix the contaminated water, as he didn't even believe in his ability to do so anymore or what use it would do to try any further anyway, even though it was true that he certainly had the ability. The boy started to wander the streets, at first not knowing where he could even sleep for the night, but eventually he found an abandoned cellar that he could hide in for now, and set up a temporary living space there. The plump and fluffy racoon, Rudy, who had been his companion for a long time now, lived with him there, seeming to remain quite kind and loyal to him if racoons could even be capable of being such, and even though he had been free to leave him at any time, an unspoken and yet unbreakable bond had formed between the two, one which would never be gone back one, by either of them.
Vince didn't have much regard for his own personal safety anymore, and so even the more rough types that hung around on the streets didn't exactly frighten or faze him, though he did take some necessary precautions. There were various traps and security measures laid around the cellar, mostly crude and improvised in nature, but still effective. He used his knowledge of chemicals, along with his natural aptitude for inventing various kinds of creations and gadgets, to make sure that no one could come into or even near where he lived without him knowing. He also carried various vials of chemicals with him wherever he went for self defense, always able to make a quick escape and confidently hold his own even if confronted.
While he didn't always like to do it, it wasn't uncommon that he would steal food for himself and Rudy, though at times he might do some odd jobs for struggling business owners and do his best to help them, only asking for a small meal in return. For a while, even after able to survive on his own somewhat competently, Vince had nothing much left to live for anymore. He had no internal motivations or goals, except for the faint one of getting some sort of revenge and retribution on those who had ruined the lives of so many, including his. He was still in the midst of his grief and denial, and so still felt the urge to lash out at others because of his pain and suffering. Besides, there was still a great injustice in what was happening to both him and the city, one that should not be ignored any longer. He had to help those that were dying and suffering, just like his mother and father had. For the sake of everybody, and himself because of the terrible losses he had suffered at the hands of corrupt, uncaring people, he could not remain silent any longer. He had to do something to expunge these people, one way or another, both to get revenge... and to finally do what was right, in his eyes.
The first people that Vince targeted with this goal in mind were the ones who were in charge of the hospital and its financial handlings, which were very corrupt in nature and completely uncompromising, never making any effort to reach out to the more unfortunate. Since the boy could no longer really let himself be seen in most normal neighborhoods without people looking at him strangely and whispering about his presence to others because of the greatly exaggerated stories of him having burst into the hospital and nearly threw himself onto the staff there in an insane and totally unreasonable state, he had to be much more stealthy and careful about what he did. Fortunately though, that wasn't much of a problem for him.
Late in the evening, during one of the business meetings that the hospital board members were leading, Vince snuck into their houses. Instead of stealing anything, he simply took skin samples and something that had their fingerprints on it, and then was ready to go. Right before he left each place however, he sabotaged their water generators, efficiently damaging it so soundly that they would take a while to fix; finally they might start to
understand what it was like to have to live for a while without such a convenience. Later that night, he then snuck into the hospital, deliberately took some of the money from there, and then planted the evidence. It was a painstaking process, but to him, it was worth it, and soon things went as he had expected them to, and the intended person was framed as responsible for the whole affair, and lost their position and all of their respect in no time.
Vince was fairly pleased with himself for having accomplished what he had wanted, but deep inside, he felt no true satisfaction or pleasure for doing such things. It was all he felt that he could do anymore however; it was the only way he could silence the anger and pain that kept boiling keenly beneath the surface. It was the only way he felt that any true form of justice could be achieved. The emptiness remained however, and his bitterness and forlornness only grew worse as time went on. It never had the chance to ebb or fade, not when every day he walked the streets he saw people that hadn't been there before, and familiar faces that he would never see again despite any efforts he made to save them. Before the end of the year, Vince had targeted more of the people that had hurt others, including almost all the doctors that had denied him that night, except one of them that had already left the facilities for another job somewhere and had escaped his grasp.
He never quite hurt any of them directly, since he was never really able to bring himself to, but he still made sure one way or another they did pay for what they had done. He even tried to blackmail the city leaders so that they would have to do something about the condition of their city, going to pretty serious lengths to do so, but by the time they actually started to pay attention to what was going on, some of their family members began to come down with the spreading illness as well and spread it to them. On top of that, even when they managed to fix the broken city pipes, the city water was all so contaminated at this point that it would be a long and difficult process to purify it, and even when it was, people were still getting sick. Something was wrong, and very irregular about the way people who hadn't even been exposed to the illness were still getting sick, but Vince couldn't figure out what that could be, as it seemed to be a complete mystery. There just seemed to be no way to stop this disease. Because of this disturbing fact, he felt compelled to keep pushing others to investigate what was going on and figure out a solution, while he continued to use nearly all of the time and energy that he had to tirelessly and relentlessly do so as well. In any case however, it just seemed like nothing could help the city anymore, no matter what attempts to fix the problem that the young teenager made.
All that he had done in the past year was most certainly despicable and completely illegal, but even though deep down he knew this, he couldn't find it in him to care about adhering to the law anymore. He still felt some regret and hesitance about what he did, especially in those moments that he reflected on all that he had done and how far he had come from being been a bright eyed young boy with an idealistic view of the world, but he always redirected his blame for why this was, so that his bitterness and relentless determination would return. In his eyes it was necessary, for the best even, and was the only to make anyone listen to him anymore, to make them care. He committed any of his crimes so inconspicuously and anonymously that no one could ever catch him or pinpoint him as responsible for the deeds, no matter how many people most likely suspected him.
While to the world he might as well practically not exist, to the people in the city he was known only for his strange science experiments and mental instability that he was rumored to have, which made him extremely dangerous in their eyes, even though he had never been caught for doing any specific crime. For one his age, it was incredible that he could accomplish such things, and while sometimes he just barely pulled it off, his amazing resourcefulness and genius ingenuity made him quite a formidable and tricky lawbreaker, as well as his unstable teenage psyche and massive guilt complex that only fueled on the determination to see his actions succeed and seen through to the end.
Eventually as things continued on, Vince kept doing all that he could, no matter how futile, and no matter how extreme his methods might become. He did things such as make a small purified water system for some of the homeless that like him had nowhere to go, but at the same time anonymously threaten to spread the disease to an influential household by secretly exposing them to contaminants, unless they started giving opportunities for the poor to receive treatments or at least some medicine as well. It was during the time when he was fifteen years old though, that he made the choice to continue his education. He was going to go to high school, which he certainly hadn't been doing ever since he had started living on the streets, mostly because it just hadn't been a priority or a concern to him. Nothing related to himself, not his personal health nor his well being, had been on his mind for a very long time now. It just seemed practical to him to finish his education and learn whatever he could while he had the chance, and... maybe his father would have been proud of such a choice, or at least approving of it.
He could fortunately still go to school without having to have a legal guardian, though going there would attract more attention, which was something that he certainly did not like. Fortunately though, once again he was barely paid attention to by his elders when he started, since most people were quite distracted by the issue of the plague that was increasingly becoming worse in the city. Vince went through his classes without much care about what other people thought, even though his teachers were obviously unsettled by him and the other students either avoided him or tried to tease him mercilessly. He didn't really react to any of it however, doing his best to solely concentrate on his studies and give no one any more reasons for giving him grief.
There weren't that many students in his class anyway, or the school for that matter, since the worsening condition of the plague served to distract many families and take their children out of school altogether in order to avoid exposing them to anything. The teachers still gave him some trouble, since they were very hard on him and tried to get him in trouble for the slightest thing, mostly because of paranoia, but it still made things annoyingly difficult for him while in school. Still, even when someone did try to give him trouble, there was a certain cold bitterness in the young teenager's eyes and expression whenever he interacted with anyone anyway, something cold, silent, and dangerous that usually warned off people from trying to bother him any further, even if he did otherwise try to hide most of these emotions under sarcasm or forced normality.
Vince excelled in his studies, particularly when it came to the intellectual subjects such as science or algebra, more artistic subjects simply not peaking his interest that much at the moment, though the drawings and diagrams he made for scientific purposes were quite good. After a couple of more listless years of more fruitless attempts at solving the mystery of the illness and hard work with studying and experimenting, he was eventually ready to graduate already, with pretty good scholarships. Vince was unsure about how to feel about this fact, since he didn't know what he would do when it came to colleges, even if he wanted to do such a thing. But leaving the small city he had lived in his whole life seemed to be the only option left. Almost everyone was leaving now, everyone that was left that is, wanting nothing more to do with the spreading plague that had started affecting anyone who was exposed to it, and even those that weren't.
The city was quickly draining of its people, becoming only a hollow, empty shell of what it had once been. There was nothing to do now but leave, and while Vince was devastated by this fact, he couldn't help but be resigned about it as well, since he had already become hopeless about his city's predicament a long time ago. Because of people's ignorance, and their refusal to acknowledge the problem, now the lives of so many were in shambles, and his family was gone. The bitterness in Vince's heart festered, but so did the aching pain and vulnerability that was there as well. He might have to leave his home behind, but he would never forget what happened there, he would figure out what had exactly caused his city's deadly illness, and one way or another... he would make sure that all those responsible didn't forget it either. But first, before he could do anything, he had to find a college that he could even go to first.
It was a long and difficult search, but eventually one day when Vince had trudged to the library as he always did, his raccoon companion trailing faithfully behind, that particular time proved to be very fruitful, and he finally got his answer. He was searching on one of the computers for various universities, his mind in different places as he absentmindedly looked through each one, when suddenly... one in particular looked very familiar. Vince straightened up in his seat a bit, a gleam of interest lighting up his blue eyes as they scanned the name of the college that had caught his attention. It was called Walt Disney University. Suddenly, it clicked. That was the university that one of the prestigious doctors at his city's hospital, the last one to deny him help he had so desperately needed that night and ordered him to be taken out of the hospital, had left for in order to teach there. He hadn't really thought about it much before, but now that he remembered where that doctor was now, what that person had done, it all became clear. He knew where he had to go to college, now.
And so Vince immediately began preparing his application to the university, working tirelessly on it until it was ready, applying all of his skills and talents that he had developed over many years of study and practice. He sent it in, and then waited tensely for a response, one that would decide his fate. Once he got one, the answer was affirmative. He was accepted. Vince was very satisfied and glad to get this response, simply relieved that he had somewhere to go now, and pleased that he had clear goals in mind.
It wasn't long before the teenager packed up his things, mostly chemical vials and equipment of all different kinds, and was ready to leave. His trusty raccoon companion, who had remained completely friendly and loyal to him through all those years, would also accompany him to this new place- even though he'd probably have to spend some of his time outdoors rather than on campus. And so, all of his things in hand and his pet raccoon sitting curled snugly around his shoulders, he got on a bus and fled the city, along with nearly everybody else who could. It wouldn't be long until he would arrive at the university of his destination, and once he did, he'd continue with his plans.
While part of him really did want to do well at this place in order to do what would have made his father proud, which would be to make something of himself and truly do something good, like perhaps even learning something that would help his dying city rebuild, another part of him had become warped and disillusioned. He also believed at this point that getting revenge on those that had wronged him, not allowing himself to be duped or getting his hopes up about anyone's sincerity or willingness to help again, was also one of the only ways that would live up to what his father seemed to have wanted him to be, or at least all that had been acceptable by both his and the world's standards.
That was all he knew anymore, and the only solid truth that he could truly rely on, so he determinedly stuck with these bitter principles. While he would spend all of the time and effort that he possibly could researching and developing something that would cure the spreading sickness and identify the source, that didn't mean he would forget about those that had ruined the lives of so many... instead, maybe he would do something that would ruin their lives a bit, too. He would put on the act that he had become all too used to feigning and almost living out by now, of an overenthusiastic, idealistic, and peppy kid that he had buried deep down inside of him a long time ago, in order to get by with other students and faculty members. Still though, despite anything that happened or no matter how far his facade went, nothing would ever be forgiven, nor forgotten. Anyone that stood in the way of his goals, of what he was fully intending to do in order to right old wrongs, would regret doing so... no matter what became of him in the process.
No matter how much he truly longed to embrace that optimistic, childlike part of him again, and dare to believe that somewhere out in that cold, bleak world... there were actually people that cared.
But for now, after all he had been through, and done even... that was completely out of his realm of belief.
Theme Song:
Year: First
Elective(s): Theater, French
Major: Chemistry
Club(s): Art and Writing, Student Activities
Relationship(s): TBA
Crush: TBA
Other: Vince has a pet raccoon named Rudy, who is based off of the raccoon companion, Rudiger, that he has in the series. Rudy usually lives somewhere off campus, but will frequently come to visit Vince in his dorm, and secretly runs errands or fetch things for him around the university whenever Vince needs him to as well.
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