Name
Finnleigh Botha
(Finn-lee Boe-tuh)
Nicknames
Pretty much everyone calls him Finn, and when people do call him Finnleigh it’s mostly to annoy him. He despises the spelling of his name and besides, Finn reminds him of Mark Twain.
Gender
Male
Pronouns
He/Him
Age
17
Sexuality
Bisexual
Race
Warden
Character Role
The Scholar/Detective’s Child
Appearance
Now, Finn wouldn’t call himself ugly. But he wouldn’t call himself very attractive, either. Anyway, beauty is superficial and he doesn’t care to hold himself to those standards. That’s the easiest attitude to have when half the kids in your school are drop-dead gorgeous. Finn’s father is African-American, and his mother is very white. He has brown skin on the lighter side, with a strong jawline and a broad forehead. He has a fairly wide nose with large nostrils, fairly large lips that are naturally downturned, and thick black eyebrows. He has a thick smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose bridge. His almond-shaped eyes are fairly heavily lidded and are a plain dark brown. His hair is naturally coiled, a dark brown that looks black in darker lighting. It sits atop his hair and is fairly short, sticking out slightly but not falling down towards his shoulders.
Finn is a lithe young man, with long limbs and fairly fit. He’s rather sinewy and not noticeably out of shape, with more of a dexterous strength than brawny. He has long, somewhat skinny arms and long fingers with neat fingernails. His build is pretty straight, and his legs are also long, leading to narrow feet. He’s pretty thin, but not enough that it’s very noticeable. Nothing about his build is really very noteworthy, and he doesn’t have any scars or major blemishes.
Finn is almost always wearing sunglasses. His pair has a black wayfarer frame and mirrored lenses, and he wears them during day and night, indoors and outdoors. He gets cold easily, and to flaunt his total disregard for appearances, because he doesn’t care, he often wears large chunky sweaters or turtlenecks. Sometimes he has a light cardigan over this, usually darker. He wears jeans with this, with ample pocket space being a must. His shoes are almost always boots, usually fur-lined winter boots but sometimes black work boots when the weather is hot enough. He doesn’t usually go for much color with his outfits, preferring to give off an elegant vibe. Most of the time he also wears a knitted winter hat with a little tassel on top, a large grey scarf swept behind him, and tight wool gloves.
Personality
Finn has spent his life surrounded by elegance, mystery, and badassery the likes of which has never been seen. Everyone’s just so much cooler than him, but he’d die before he’d admit anything of the sort. He’s read enough detective novels to know what a detective is supposed to be. He likes that image, and it’s an image that his father embodies. Always cool, always collected, always one step ahead of everyone else. With a mind racing light years ahead of any so-called criminal’s, their master plan is so brilliant nobody sees it coming. That’s what Finn wants to be: shrouded in mystery, stoic and noble, with the unceasing knowledge that he’s smarter than everyone around him. In control. And maybe he’s not all the way there yet, but that’s why the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it” exists. Finn appears at first glance to be a pretty nice guy. He has a dashing air of mystery, a cool guy with a sharp wit and wry smile ready for anyone he meets. Most people like this about him, and before they get to know him very well, most people want to be friends with him. That’s the idea of the thing.
Despite his agreeably friendly nature, Finn quickly becomes irritating once you start digging. He divulges very little, and if there’s one thing he loves it’s withholding information. Knowledge is power to him, and to be the only person who knows what nobody else does is the ultimate power move. This also means he’s amazing at keeping secrets, and if you confide in him he’ll never, ever tell anyone. Finn has a desperate need to be in control in every situation, and even when he’s not he certainly will act like he is. He has no sense of respect for his elders or leaders, and no sense of danger when it comes to displaying a little humility to save his skin. His competitive streak is mean as hell, and when he’s competing against anyone, friend or foe, he doesn’t hold back. He doesn’t expect them to, either. It’s understood that both will fight their very hardest to wind up on the top, and he can’t begin to understand people who are alright with losing. He has something to prove to everyone, and he’s easily manipulated through his ego and desire to impress. He injures himself and gets into trouble often with things like this. When he loses, he’ll kick himself into overdrive, obsessing over whatever he lost at, going crazy trying to prove he can win. And this hasn’t failed him yet, so there’s no telling what he would do if he was really finally defeated. While there are many things he’s competitive about, the thing he prides himself on most is his intelligence. He’ll one-up anyone who claims to be smarter than him, and while his use of convoluted vernacular is surprisingly sparse, he makes up for this with obscure literary references. He’s an avid reader of all kinds of books, and reminds people of this constantly. He also knows more about supernatural creature lore than many supernatural creatures themselves, but this is less for bragging points and more of a necessity for any warden who professes to be a scholar.
He’s irritatingly self-confident, yes, but there’s more to being a detective than that. The thing Finn really struggles with is staying calm in crisis situations. He can appear calm and collected in school, around town, at home, but when things actually heat up he never knows what to do. He can pretend to know what he’s doing, and most of the time he has to. Finn is a particularly good bullshitter, and he can make up facts and reassurances on the fly to appear like he’s still controlling the situation. When things fall apart, he goes running to and fro trying to fix them by himself. He doesn’t want help. The last thing he wants is help. No insult is greater to him than an implication that he needs help, which is just a subtle way of telling someone they’re a failure. He’ll crack and crumble under his own thrashing attempts to take care of things himself rather than admit that he can’t do everything on his own. Most people who know him well know to leave him alone by now. Most well-meaning people who don’t know him will find his attitude offensively dismissive. Not that he outright insults people, because this is something he typically refrains from. But his condescending tone and superior attitude certainly make up for that. And when someone is openly rude to him, or has made themselves his enemy, he doesn’t hold back. He’s perfectly willing to tell them he doesn’t like them, and get into confrontations.
Finn isn’t often an easy person to get along with. But every person has their good and bad, and in the end Finn is still just a teenager. He may want to appear aloof and above everything, but every moment of his life can’t be spent on unraveling the mysteries of the world, and around people he genuinely gets along with he’s much more openly emotional. You’ll know when he’s angry at you, when you’ve hurt his feelings, when he’s enjoying himself. He doesn’t even seem fully aware of just how much his expressions give away. He’s a grand person who will go out of his way to do things for people he likes. This can be something like taking three months on an epic gift or getting up at three in the morning to pick up a friend halfway across the state. He goes above and beyond for his friends, but he can also be difficult to be around because he often has imaginary arguments which affect his real relationships. He overanalyzes people, trying to figure out what they want, whether they like him, and if he’s done something wrong. He has easily hurt feelings and will be very cold towards anyone who he thinks has wronged him. This typically confuses the people, who weren’t trying to hurt his feelings in the first place. Typically, though, if things can be explained to him, he’s willing to forgive and forget - or act like he knew the whole time. He’s also surprisingly honest with those closest to him. He shares what he does know, and admits when he doesn’t. He shares his feelings and lets them help him, though he doesn’t exactly ask for help. They’ve ascended past the crowds he’s striving to stand out from and have become his co-conspirators in life. It takes someone very special to earn that right.
Likes
Thick Novels
Hoarding Knowledge
The Dark
Horror Stories
Being in Control
Winning
Enclosed Spaces
Live Music
Guitar
Adventuring
Detectives
Being Relied On
Nighttime
Stars
Dislikes
People Smarter than Him
Failure
Offers of Help
Weak Endings
Waking Up Early
Excessive Walking
Drunk People
Witty Sarcasm (by anyone but him)
The Cold
Strengths
Booksmarts
Fearlessness
Determination
Loyalty
English
Initial Likability
Guitar
Research
Climbing
Biking
Weaknesses
Hubris
Over-Analytical Mind
Competitive Nature
Self-Confinement
Obsessiveness
Irritatingness
Telling Jokes
Working with His Hands
Money Management
Stamina
Relationship Status
Open
Finn has been with his fair share of people, but inevitably they wind up breaking up with him, and he takes it very, very hard. He’s never been known to remain on good terms with any of his exes.
Significant Other
Open
Crushes
Open
Exes
Open
Kin
Kimberlyn Botha
Mother
Finn’s mother is no longer with his father, and he lived with her until he was twelve, which is pretty much tradition in his family. She wasn’t ever involved in the warden duties of the family, and Finn goes with her on weekends. She’s considered a sort of trashy woman by most of the town.
Loretto Botha
Father
Loretto is a detective sort of warden, one of the smartest and typically the strategist and researcher among the wardens. He’s immensely respected, and has worked hard his whole life to keep the supernatural world a secret.
Tymothie Botha
Older Brother
Tymothie is ten years older than Finn, and is clever like his father. Loretto had high hopes for him as a warden, but Tym decided to leave the town and try to lead a normal life. He doesn’t visit often, and argues with Loretto when he does.
Qrystenne Botha
Older Sister
Qryssie is two years older than Finn. She’s trained as a warden, and has been doing fairly well. She’s not particularly close with Finn. The only reason she wasn’t chosen to be the one without her powers sealed off is because she’s not as enthusiastic and dedicated as Finn is.
Lilliana Nichols
Aunt
Aunt Lilli is a great warden as well, a methodical woman who won’t stand for rebels. She’s proud of her family, and proud to teach her children to follow in their footsteps. But she chose to protect them rather than put any single one of them in danger.
Murphy Nichols
Uncle
Uncle Murphy learned from Aunt Lilli to be a warden, and he’s worked very hard at it. Though he says he would have liked to have stuck it out, he is a family man, after all. Yeah, let the teenagers risk their lives. He’s quite intent on giving Finn as many pointers as possible, though.
Breanne Botha
Aunt
Aunt Breanne never liked that wardens had to do so much for the supernatural. They’re causing the problems, they should take care of themselves. She was the first in the family to suggest they protect themselves and seal their powers off. She believes it’s time for them to step down and let those monsters defend themselves once they’re outed.
Pamila Nichols
Cousin
Pam is as competitive and arrogant as Finn, and the two often clash. She’s just burned up with jealousy that he got chosen, and any time they’re around each other they snipe and bicker. Pam’s just not as smart as Finn.
Freida Nichols
Cousin
Like Pam, Frieda desires attention, and is jealous of Finn for being the “chosen one.” She’s much more clever than her sister, but is four years younger than Finn and considered too young to be placed in such peril.
Bella Nichols
Cousin
Bella is a grumpy little girl who hates talking to people. Nobody expects her to make a good warden. She spends most of her time alone, and Finn doesn’t really know her very well compared to the rest of his family.