NAME & MARK: Eddie Kaspryk - Guarded
NICKNAMES: Eds, Dr. K, Eddie Spaghetti
POWER: Pyrokinesis
HOMETOWN: Seattle, Washington
SOCIAL STATUS: lower middle class
ASPIRATIONS: travel the world
+ CHARACTER TRAITS: loyal, responsible, intelligent, compassionate, cares for others and takes care of others, witty, health conscious,
- CHARACTER TRAITS: hypochondriac, anxious, erratic, demanding, hesitant to try new things, obsessive, short-tempered,
AGE AND YEAR: 23 - 2nd year
GENDER: cis male he/him
SEXUALITY & RELATIONSHIP: Gay - bonded with @emmettrobling
CLASSES: History of The Guarded, Introduction to Dominance, Caring for your Guardian, and Human Anatomy
CLUBS: Astronomy, Glee, Drama
Eddie was born into a two parent, two income family that was doing very well for themselves within the middle class economy. When he was younger, too young to remember, his family really had everything. But then his father died unexpectedly and temperaments shifted within the Kaspryk home. When Eddie was 5, his father died of cancer and the two of them had to watch him disappear from existence; it wasn't so much that he died, he disintegrated and then one day, he was gone. This is where Eddie's fear of illness is rooted, though Sonia has since watered it greatly. Her response to losing her husband was less than ideal. The woman cracked and let fear take hold of her, and she made the decision to change how she acted with her son. She was still loving most times, which is what has fucked Eddie up the most; it wasn't obvious that she had changed. In fact, most people wouldn't see the difference in how she and Eddie interacted. It was behind the scenes; those little remarks; manipulating and abusing him. Sonia became less than functional in her every day life, dropping everything that she had been interested in before the cancer had stolen from them. She'd been on the PTA board and everything before, and while she'd dropped some stuff to take care of Eddie's father, she completely dropped out of the world after he died. Eddie can remember when his mother was less obsessive and possessive of him vaguely, but for the most part all he can remember is the way things are now. That means he doesn’t really remember his dad either, but he never had time to miss that father figure in his life, not with the way his mother smothered him. She fed him fears about sex and his sexuality, trying to keep him from finding a lover so that he'd never have a reason to leave her. He's still unaware that that's her only real reason for saying what she did. Eddie has always been adventurous, she felt she needed to be as extreme as she was because he was so strong and so curious. She knew he'd leave. She knew he'd leave her. If he ever seemed like he might leave, she'd tell him he was too fragile. It was dangerous. She did the same thing when they came to take him to this school, even. He’s always been smart, so she can’t use grades against him. Just guilt.
It was no wonder that it was his mother that first brought out his power over fire, and it’s something she has told him is a sign that he’s something bad because she is afraid that she can’t control him anymore; his fire manipulation makes him powerful in a way she can’t ever be because she is neither Guardian or Guarded. Nobody in their family had ever been anything incredibly, in fact... the Kaspryk family was falling behind. Their once high class home was now under a bit of disrepair-- not enough to not work, but enough to not be mint-- and their neighborhood was no longer as high class as it had been. It was more lower class, and it represented their fall to a single income home perfectly.
Growing up, he was so absolutely terrified of sex and sexuality and his own sexuality that it's a gateway drug. It might seem innocent and you might be laying with someone hot or someone that you care about, but secretly... they're could be infected, and then he’d be infected. Metaphorically speaking and literally. He's afraid having sex for the first time will be like injecting himself with a heroin needle, complete with all the risks for illness, death, and addiction. Any time he thinks on it, there's a push and pull in both directions. He's a boy that isn't asexual, he has some thoughts and some wants. But don't all addicts? He was also highly bullied; his friends all called themselves the loser’s club as a way to take the name back from the group of bullies that tormented them with that name and violence.
It wasn't that easy though, and he continues to repress himself, though he's sincerely trying to overcome his fears completely. He feels crazy, because he knows that nobody else in his friend group feels the way that he does about this stuff; nobody else is scared. He's considered doing some pretty stupid thing in the name of regaining control, like breaking rules, getting pierced, having sex (no going slow, no waiting for Eddie to be ready, just fucking sex; having it; it's done it happened), or doing something equally dangerous, but hasn't done anything about those impulses. It's this dichotomy, hidden inside of him, that's the root of why his powers are so difficult for him to control. He can't keep his head clear and under control, so the flames overtake him just like his emotions do.