Cain [WIP]

Do I perform tarot readings on myself? Ahaha, I used to-- but there are only so many times you can pull The Tower before you start to take the hint...

-- Cain

Known locally as "The Psychic" (complete with capital 'T' and 'P' to match his showman persona), Cain is the sole owner of The Hourglass, a small shop chock full of mystic and magic wares-- and his personal psychic services. Unbeknownst to the general public, however, his act as a psychic is just that: an act. He has not a single iota of psychic power; everything he passes off as psychic abilities is either smoke and mirrors, observation, sleight of hand, misdirection, cold reading, or just plain theatrics.

Backstory

Cain has been living in Crossroads for about a decade now, having hailed from... well, somewhere else. He doesn't really talk much about where he's from, his family, or his past prior to showing up in Crossroads, but word around town is he's let a few tidbits slip after a couple drinks: he allegedly mentioned that he "learned his trade from his parents" but had to "move to a city to find any success in it", apparently adding that he sends the majority of his money back to his family for reasons yet unspecified.

Unbeknownst to anyone in Crossroads (sans perhaps The God Eater herself), 'Cain' is not his real name. If you wanted to find out what his real name actually is... well, you'd have one hell of a time coaxing that out of him; Cain is incredibly guarded with that information.

Along the way, even prior to arriving in Crossroads, Cain acquired a steep debt to an impatient and unforgiving debtor. While it seems that he owes money, he's never actually stated that money was what he owed-- only that whatever it is was "too much". Trying to get more information out of him about it is nigh impossible. It's likely that revealing too much would incur the ire of this already ruthless debtor. What is clear, however, is that he's been set up to fail: the interest climbs ever higher, and it looks as though Cain will be in debt for the rest of his (self-proclaimed "short") life.

Personality

✦ The Façade

Ever the showman, Cain is exceedingly charming and personable, able to gracefully maneuver his way through conversations with even the toughest of personalities. He has the ability to entertain, coerce, and convince most to whatever it is he may be trying to peddle (or glean) at the moment, all of which comes quite in handy as a salesman. Keenly observant while also empathetic, Cain is able to combine both traits to understand how others may think or feel, using that sense to manipulate situations toward the outcomes he desires; both traits also help him with his "psychic" services (which is to say, as a professional liar). Confident, charismatic, congenial; Cain is either well-liked or detested, there is rarely any middling indifference to how others feel about him.

A few more notes about Cain with his façade:

• Life of the party
• Probably an ENTP-esque personality
  • Minus the obsession with debating
• Rolls with "Yes and-"
• Chameleon
  • Will literally alter his own voice/accent to appeal to someone
  • Appears well-off
• Very skilled liar
  • Though ironically doesn't enjoy lying

✧ Under The Façade

Rather surprisingly, Cain is actually reserved and quiet deep down, not at all a showman by nature. For reasons he has not yet revealed, before moving to Crossroads, he forced himself outside of his comfort zone and learned how to play the role of the entertainer. While the extroverted charm is manufactured, his keen senses of observation and empathy are true to his core, leaving him frequently laden with a deep guilt due to lying being part of his current livelihood. As such, even while Cain is still technically lying for certain psychic services (such as séances, for example), his end goal is still to help his clients, and will therefore do every ounce of research he can in preparation and suss out what is the best possible thing (in his opinion) for his client to hear. In a way, he's a bit of an unintentional life coach-- just with a lot of theatrics thrown in. Hidden under that extroverted façade, Cain is simply a lonely depressed man who feels trapped in his circumstance.

A few more notes about Cain's true self, under the façade:

• Guilted and lonely
  • Doesn't really believe he deserves happiness
• INTJ-esque personality
• Poor
  • Has the one nice outfit that he's learned to repair/tailor himself
  • Basically starves himself to save funds (hence being so thin)
• Depressed

✦ Socializing & Relationships

Charming as all hell, Cain can be very suave and smooth when socializing-- and he has a knack for making it convincingly genuine under normal circumstances.

Despite his secret financial hardship, Cain takes pride in his appearance and tries to look good regardless of his circumstances. A good example of this is in the one nice outfit he owns: unable to afford any additional expensive outfits or to have the one he has repaired by a professional, Cain has learned to repair and tailor it himself as needed. Not too overblown, he has a healthy amount of vanity. Dress the part and fake it 'til you make it, he tells himself.

No rancid skeezy car salesman vibes here; even when he is trying to sell a product or an act, Cain holds having satisfied customers in high priority. In fact, should any typical client walk away feeling unsatisfied with a psychic service from him, he will unquestionably issue a refund. There are exceptions to this, however. While thankfully not common, any client that Cain can discern is (or recognizes as) up to no good, a deplorable person, or otherwise someone he distinctly dislikes, will not be issued any refunds-- and Cain is not above being smug about it, should the client be an especially deserving piece of work. This, of course, doesn't always work out so well for him, sometimes leading into the client becoming heated (or worse). In the face of a threat, Cain will always attempt to charm, outwit, or simply talk his way out of the situation. Should those methods fail and a physical altercation occurs, he will try to use his agility and dexterity to attempt an escape rather than fight back as he is painfully aware that he has very little in the way of strength or fighting skills.

Despite it seeming like Cain loves to socialize, he genuinely finds it exhausting and often sticks to himself when he doesn't have to interact with others. It's a complicated issue, mainly due to how draining it is to constantly keep up the act. An introvert pretending to be an extrovert is strenuous. It isn't helped by his guilt and self-loathing either, causing him to believe he doesn't deserve any sort of happiness via relationships. There's also a practical reason: the longer he's around someone, the higher the chance increases that his secret could be discovered. The complication really becomes obvious in the fact that Cain is also lonely and dislikes being so alone, even if it's of his own doing.

Relationships are a thing Cain typically has tried to avoid for various reasons, some of which have been already mentioned. While there are others he considers his friends, he still tends to keep his distance, even from them. When it comes to romance, however, Cain has never had any romantic partner, ever. Just as with platonic relationships, he doesn't believe he deserves that happiness-- let alone thinking he'd just end up accidentally ruining that person's life. This doesn't mean he can't end up with a romantic partner eventually, though. While it wouldn't be easy, someone could get him to push past his fears and allow himself to fall in love.

With that in mind, it should be noted that while Cain can flirt expertly, it is entirely manufactured and not at all genuine.

That being said, if someone wanted to instantly and undeniably destroy his façade, there is not a more surefire way to ensure that than to make the flirting become more real, aka: getting physically intimate with him, showing genuine love and desire to form a romantic relationship with him, etc. Taking it beyond simply flirting will cause Cain to suddenly become nervous and nonplussed, rendering him unable to hold up his flirtatious act convincingly. He'll then try his best to talk his way out of whatever the flirting is turning into or find an escape as subtly as he can-- either way, it'll be a struggle for him to hide the sudden anxiety and fear, but he'll certainly try.

[Possible expression sketches to be added]

• Observant & perceptive
• Reading others
• Agile & quick
• Sneaky
• Silver-tongue
• Improvisation & thinking on the fly
• Dexterous
• Persistent

• Every normal human weakness
• Self-loathing & guilt-ridden
• Low stamina
• No magic, no powers, no extra-human anything
• Physically weak in strength & defense
• Weighs very little
• Stubborn
• Loner