Jonathan Darby Carver

the basics

full name♦ Jonathan Darby Carver
nicknames ♦ Carver, Carv | Selfproclaimed: "Nomad of Phalanx House", "The Rogue with an Irish Brogue"
age ♦ Thirty-two
birthday ♦ May 4th, 1986
occupation ♦
Recruiter for Phalanx
school ♦  Monroeville Hospital, LSU drop out formerly pursuing BS in Chemistry
species ♦ Human
ability/power ♦ Matter Mimicry
how the ability works ♦ Carver's ability allows him to alter his body's chemical makeup to match whatever solid substance he comes into contact with. While transformed, Carver's flesh, bone, and organs are converted into the mimicked substance while still retaining full functionality. He gains all of the physical and chemical properties exhibited by the imitated matter. When copying material of a sturdier disposition Carver's physical attributes, namely his endurance and physical strength, are heightened to inhuman levels. Inversely, if Carver absorbs matter weaker than the human constitution he finds his strength and durability dip into dire levels.

Carver's naturally devious personality sees him using the utilitarian uses of his power rather than its proclivity for brute force. Though, when pushed, he has no qualms about using his power as a bludgeon. Years of practice have allowed him to transform his body to varying degrees. He often favors altering a single limb when a full body transformation is uncalled for.

Carver is incapable of imitating any other form of matter besides solids and only a single homogenous chemical compound. Even when rendered unconscious Carv retains his altered form. He must make the conscious decision to revert to flesh and blood. Any damage Carver sustains while altered carries over to his human form. If he were to be shattered it would spell the end of the man. Carver must touch whatever compound he wishes to imitate and cannot recall any of his former forms once he leaves it. 

While stressed Carver loses the ability to return to his human form and can only shift between other forms of matter. During his tenure in Monroeville, he spent four years in his altered form. His only break coming from being in contact with power blockers. Carver must take care with his altered form when around those with physical element manipulation abilities and the power to change matter. 

gender ♦ Male
sexuality ♦ Heterosexual

the appearance

face claim ♦ Ricki Hall

height and weight ♦ 6'2'' 198 lbs
identifying features ♦ Carver bears, at last count, seventy-six different tattoos. The most prominent are a large severed deer head on his chest, the word "doll face" across his knuckles, and roses on the backs of his hand. Thanks to his ability he bears relatively few scars. Carver's pride and joy is his lusciously long beard. Painstakingly groomed and maintained, Carver's beard is a testament to his hubris and virility. At least, that's what he proclaims. 

overall appearance ♦ While not the largest, Carver is a solidly built man of slightly above average height. He certainly stands out in a crowd due to his long, unruly hair and neatly kept beard. Beyond that his colorful ink etched flesh tends to draw even the most discerning of eyes toward it. While out and about Carver wears whatever happens to be clean or passable for clean. Oil stained v-necks, tattered jeans, and a pair of engineer's boots that may be older than him are his most commonly worn clothes. When coerced Carver has been known to clean up his appearance. He possesses exactly one suit, obtained through questionable means, in his closet and loathes to wear it. 

the personality

likes ♦ Vintage cars | 8-bit video games | Gratuitous amounts of liquor | Cheesy Romance Novels | Antagonizing his roommates | His car 

dislikes ♦  The police | Waking up before 8 am | Floofy Drinks | Troublesome Housemates | Sedimentary lifestyles 

strengths ♦ Ingenuitive | Durable | Empathetic 

weaknesses ♦ Reckless | Amoral | Proud 

dreams ♦ Redemption | Discovering the fate of "Dollface"

fears ♦  Being stuck in a mimicked state forever |  Returning to Monroeville


overall personality ♦ Carver is a man consumed by his vices and a slave to his debaucherous ways. He has few qualms about satiating his own wants at the expense of others. Obstacles like morality, social norms, and even laws are subject to he ignored or simply outright forgotten. Carver often proclaims himself to possess a "roguish charm" about him due to his delinquency. He is no, however, malicious in his pursuits and enjoys the company of others to no end. His boisterous and brash personality prove to be a polarizing subject. Some find him obnoxious while others see the mimic as a genuine man full of life and love. 

Carver is quite aware that he is not the ideal role model for the children he whisks away to safety. He expresses the desire to change. While not turning over a new leaf he wants to be somebody that the children of Phalanx can look to for guidance. Until then he finds himself living a rather nomadic lifestyle. Unlike many of the other recruiters, Carver spends weeks at a time on the road in search of gifted individuals who could use the positive influence of Phalanx House. This also spares the residents of the home his corrupting influence and even when he is in town he tends to spend most of his time out in NOLA.

It is on these excursions that Carver's more positive traits come to light. He finds it easy to find common ground with even the most challenging of students due to his experiences. Coupled with his casual demeanor and nonchalant manner he finds it easy to put the troubled younger adults and teens at ease. He's remarkably candid with his words and emotions refusing to pussyfoot around the situation. Carver genuinely loves the members of the Phalanx House but his love language can come off a bit hard to understand. He viciously antagonizes those he holds closest, lovingly bullying them and taking any chance he can get to rile them up. He expects a similar treatment in return.

The scars that  Monroeville left on him are something Carver has tried to hide for much of his adult life. He harbors an intense hatred for the institution and a healthy amount of fear of it. This loathing is one of the driving forces behind his commitment to Phalanx and its students. 

the history

father ♦ Eric Martenson, 50, Cement Mason

mother ♦ Dell Carver, 48, Waitress, Deceased

siblings ♦ Madeline _____ Carver, 18, Student, Half-sister 

important people ♦ Gabriella "Crystal" Martenson, 38, Retired Exotic Dancer Homemaker

hometown ♦ Balbriggan, Ireland

overall history ♦ 
[ADDICTION | PARENT DEATH]


Carver was born from a wild one night stand between a waitress in Ireland and an American tourist. When his mother discovered she was with child she reached out to her one-time lover. Distance prevented any sort of relationship from blossom but Eric Martenson was adamant that he would maintain a presence in his son's life. He held true to that when the boy was born several months later. Eric tried desperately to make time for his son but the Atlantic Ocean and finances proved to be an insurmountable obstacle. The young Carver hardly seemed to mind. His mother was all he needed.

Carver, known as Johnny at that time, adored his mother more than the average little boy. Where ever she went he was on her heels and Dell doted upon her only child constantly. It was them against the world, a phrase she would tell him every night before bed. So often were those words uttered that it became their mantra. It truly seemed like that at the time. Living well below the poverty line young Jonathan often went without the finer things in life. He was fine with that what he was not fine with was watching his mother working herself to death.

Unable to contribute in any meaningful way Carver turned to petty thievery to supplement his family's income. It started simple enough, milk here, a loaf of bread there. Eventually, it began to turn to petty cash and more valuable objects. By the age of ten Carver had already had several brushes with the law and was banned from most shops in his small town. Still, Dell doted upon her boy and Carver did his best to alleviate the pressure of supporting their family of two. Eventually, Dell no longer had to worry about providing for her self or her son.

It was not some supernatural event that stole Jonathan's childhood from him. It was a little taste of poison wrapped in paper and cardboard. No one had ever expected the diagnosis when Dell went to the hospital for shortness of breath. They thought it was asthma or pneumonia. In their wildest dreams, they never expected her to walk back out with an expiration date slapped on her and a diagnosis that read stage four lung cancer. Dell Carver didn't even make it to the promised date of her death, passing away four months after her initial appointment. 

Jonathan had grown despondent in that time. His cheerful personality replaced by a dour mood and a penchant for acting out violently. When his mother finally passed on he nosedived, growing even more volatile. His grandfather was unable to handle him and was forced to ship him across the pond to the father who had tried to maintain a presence in his life. The uprooting process served to exacerbate his delinquent behavior. Shimmied from Dublin to South Bronx, Carver set out to make everyone as miserable as he was.

He refused to answer to his birth name of Johnathan or any derivative and would only answer to his surname. By the time he was twelve, he had been shuffled between three public schools before Eric was forced to place his son in an alternative school for children with behavioral disorders. Eric refused to give up on forging a relationship with his son. Fond of cars and anything mechanical Eric purchased a beaten down 1971 El Camino. He sat Carver before the car and told him that if he helped him with it that he could have the car when he was sixteen. Motivated by the promise of a "cool car" Carver began to spend every weekend with his father.

Their time together was tense in the beginning but eventually, conversation began to flow between the two. They talked and they laughed and somewhere along the line a familial love bloomed. When the project ended it was a bittersweet day. As they looked on to their completed car they instantly began to make plans for improvements, tasks that would give them more reasons to continue their weekend tradition. 

Carver's attitude began a gradual shift for the better. His behavior and grades steadily improved. If Carver was a normal child this probably would have been the final turning point in his life. Set on the straight and narrow he likely would have become a productive member of society. That wasn't in the cards, however.

At the age of fourteen Carver's powers manifested completely by chance. A casual touch of a wrench while helping his father with the car saw him change from a boy of flesh and blood into a living statue of zinc. Eric, a normal human, was taken back by the transformation that overcame his son. Carver too was surprised but marginally less so. His mother had been "gifted", their word for it. Able to alter the state of matter for short periods of time. As Carver calmed down his father the two began to realize that Carver had not changed back. They thought that they'd give it a day.

One day turned to two,

then a week,

A month.

Eventually, a year had come and gone and Carver was still stuck as a metal man. In that time his father had enrolled him in homeschool and the boy was forced to remain in their cramped apartment. Cabin fever set in as the boy watched the world pass by from his ninth story window. In normal circumstances, he struggled to follow the rules placed above him but after a year he simply couldn't take it anymore. Dressing in oversized clothing Carver stole away into the night, desperate for human interaction. His ruse worked for little more than an hour before he was discovered. As he jumped the turnstile of the subway his hoody caught on a jagged corner and torn from his body. There, amid a crowd of people, his chromium body glistened and cries rang out. Panicked, the boy fled as fast as he could before the worst case scenario came about.

Prowling through dark streets and back alleys, Carver eventually returned home. He was sure he would be able to reassume his daily routine without being discovered. That was until the morning news broke, displaying blurry images of his metallic form fleeing the subway. His father expressed his distress but was unable to deprive the boy of anything else, his freedom already stripped away by his current state. 

It was not long after that that Monroeville came calling. They came to his home offering help and a chance at being normal. With no other option at their disposal, Carver and his father agreed to the terms and bid each other tearful goodbyes.

Taken from his second home and dragged to New Orleans Carver found it hard to fit in. His raucous attitude and kleptomaniac tendencies saw him ostracized by many of the other patients along with his odd appearance. Old habits resurfaced in this new setting and Carver found himself labeled a problem patient by the staff. On more than one occasion he found himself being sedated and thrown into solitary confinement. The iron-plated ruffian became known for his gruff disposition and liberal use of his fists when angered. Two years passed with Carver playing the bully of Monroeville before he was called on his shit by the most unlikely of sources.

She was a tiny girl, not even five feet tall with delicate features. She stood up to Carver and when he attempted to intimidate her she put him on his ass. That was the start of the friendship that blossomed between Carver and the girl he would forever call "Dollface". With her guiding influence, Carver slowly opened up to the other residents of Monroeville. Friends began to enter his life and infatuation developed between him and his savior.

Eventually, the painful experiments, the therapy, and the questionable methods paid off and Carver once more became a boy of flesh and blood. He'd changed at the age of fourteen, trapped in his metallic state for four years. Now nearly a man, Carver looked much different than he remembered. He took to his new looks with aplomb, finally able to engage in the physical relationship he'd longed for. He was devastated when his beloved Dollface finally revealed to him that she didn't feel that way about him or any male.  Somberly, he was forced to accept that fact. The pair tried to remain friends, though the dynamics of their group grew tense. Eventually, Carver distanced himself from them and focused on his recovery and mastering his powers.

Once more the somber loner Carver developed a rapport with his therapists, unable to bring himself to speak with his fellow patients. They offered him some human interaction but for the most part, he was happy to retreat into himself and allow his friends the happiness they deserved. 

Apparently, they did not get that with his absence. Months later Dollface's girlfriend came to Carver distraught. Their shared love interest had been missing for days without any explanation from the staff. Filled with wrath, Carver began a one-man crusade to find his beloved Dollface. He never found Dollface or any answers to her whereabouts. Time passed slowly for the man as he and his friends eventually gave up hope and resigned themselves to the experiments and trials of Monroeville.

Carver was finally released from Monroeville at the age of twenty-three with a Highschool Diploma. He attempted to attend college but he found the memories of Monroeville and his past haunting his every waking moment. He only made it thirteen months before he tail spun and began a self-destructive binge. The next three years of Carver's life was a constant string of inebriation punctuated by moments of clarity.

He stole, he robbed, he threatened, and he had done so much worse just to keep his binge going. He was homeless, living in Seattle when he finally realized how far he had fallen. He checked himself into a state-funded rehab center where he found the tools to cope with his fears and anxieties. While he never got completely clean he found a happy medium with his drinking and gave up most of the harder drugs he had previously had an affinity for. 

Carver has made an attempt to clean up his act and found gainful employment with Phalanx House, a boarding school for freaks and misfits. Thanks to his hardy constitution and empathetic nature he's become rather successful at recruiting problem children into the school's ranks. He sees his work as a way to make up for his past errors and prevent children from facing the horrors he'd witnessed. While not out encouraging kids to control their powers Carver helps guide the children in exercises to master their own unique abilities.

the role player

alias ♦ It's your boi, Si
age ♦ Twenty-six
pronouns ♦ He/Him/His/Husband
code ♦ ADMIN EDIT

other characters ♦ if any