Element: Earth/Metal
Construction: Domingo can break down the earth around him and compress it to create objects. Can be used to prevent someone from getting a stable footing, such as turning stone into sand; make it easier for him to move around, or swim through the earth like it was water; create a hammer or shield, or even armor himself in stone. He doesn't have much of an eye for detail, so he can't make something really fancy like a snake made of dirt.
Dig: By compacting a large amount of the ground into surrounding mineral, Domingo can near-instantly open a hole, even from a distance. It's much easier to do with less dense material, such as sand.
Seismic Sense: When Domingo is grounded, he can feel the pulses of the earth, giving him two abilities: to feel exactly where anything else grounded (or underground) is within an area roughly the length of a football field in all directions, and information about the material within this area such as density of the materials in the ground. He can then use this information to escape underground using his Construction spell, or perform more precise attacks.
Metal Mimicry: Domingo is able to mimic the properties of different metals with his body. Currently, he is only able to mimic iron and steel, as it takes much practice and time with the metal in question to mimic it. He usually uses this to harden his skin essentially into steel. Unfortunately, the hardness is not the only property he takes on. Naturally, having metal skin weighs him down and if he hardens the skin over a joint he loses the ability to bend or otherwise move it, forcing him to leave his joints exposed. Also, the effect does not occur immediately, taking a short time to manifest and spread.
Appearance: While in his old life Domingo's appearance was a common sight, he stands out quite drastically in the halls of Vale. Oversized pants, a shaved head, and an abundance of tattoos depicting various names, numbers, and symbols all tied to his past self are the telltale signs of Domingo's status as a former gang member. Scars litter his medium-brown body from knife and gunshot wounds. He is fairly tall at 6'1", and his decently muscular frame brings him to 188 lbs., which makes him a fairly intimidating person. Adding on to this impression are his strong, square jaw and his low eyebrows over sunken brown eyes.
Domingo currently only owns one set of clothes. Aside from the aforementioned excessively large pants, which are tattered and faded less-than-blue jeans, he also wears dark green sneakers that are in no better condition than his jeans, with once-white laces that have long since lost their plastic ends, and a relatively new black hoodie which he uses to hide the more impressionable features of his body. In terms of accessories, Domingo wears none. However, he owns a silver stud earring that he no longer has any desire to wear.
Personality: Despite the intimidating air he no doubt gives off, he makes an effort to try and be nice and friendly to others. However, he has a very short fuse which doesn't go well with the ignorance that comes with being alien to the United States' culture as well as his own stubborn attitude. If something frustrates him, he will make it known and abandon any attempts at niceties. This state of anger tends to be a temporary thing, and once he restores his calm he will often try to apologize. The problem then is that most won't give him the time for another conversation after one of his outbursts.
With most of his life having been consumed by work, and the latest portion of it consumed by what he would call Hell on Earth, Domingo has never really had a chance for a proper childhood. Because of this, he was never able to outgrow childish things, so he still holds a secret fascination with cartoons, games, and toys among other things.
When in a fight, Domingo is prone to losing control and going farther than he should. He struggles to shake the habits of the kill or be killed world from whence he came, something that will be even more difficult in a combat-centric institute such as Vale.
History:
Domingo Hernández was born in a small village in El Salvador, living his early life quite normally. Doing work at home such as fetching water from the river or chopping firewood, taking long walks to the school in a nearby town, playing soccer and other games with his friends, and dreaming of a future in the United States of America. His parents saved what little money they made to send their children to that land of opportunity and riches, and as Domingo was the oldest of his six siblings he would naturally be the first one to go once enough had been saved. To make sure Domingo had a better chance at success, his parents contacted a family friend who knew English, having learned much from the wondrous thing that is the internet. This friend would visit every so often to teach the language to the boy, and while he struggled at first he eventually picked up the basic rules and trends of the language, letting the rest come relatively easy.
As a child, Domingo was a great fan of cartoons featuring superheroes and the like. Thus, when one day he discovered his Geomancy on a walk back from school, he was understandably excited. Unfortunately, he was also young and naive. Latin America is a very Christian place with conservative attitudes. Domingo yet had little knowledge of his own religion beyond the commandments and basic biblical tales, so he had yet to understand what his magic would mean to his parents. He displayed his new talent for his parents with a proud smile on his face, one which quickly faded at the sound of his mother and father hysterically calling him a witch.
The sting of his father's belt was nothing new to Domingo, but this time it was different. What normally left him with no more than a few red marks that faded in a few hours this time left multiple scars over his body. It was a quick event that ended when Domingo repented for his sins. His parents were very distressed and went to seek out the local priest. Domingo was afraid that his parents might somehow discover that he could still perform his magic when they returned, so, in fear of another such beating he ran away. Knowing that his siblings might try to stop him, he wasted no time with packing and left with nothing.
Domingo left home at age 9 and wandered for a while, living off fruit he picked off the country's abundant vegetation. It was enough to keep him alive, at least. He eventually happened upon a sand quarry and its kind owner and found unofficial work doing miscellaneous tasks for a few dollars a day. He stayed there for years, eventually being officially hired when he was older. While he was there, surrounded by rocks and sand, he would practice his Geomancy whenever he was alone. It was during this time that he discovered that he could manipulate metal as well, although to a much lesser extent than he could earth. In the 8 years Domingo spent at that quarry, his dream of America remained strong. Throughout the entire time, he saved money until he finally had enough to pay a coyote, a smuggler, for passage to the United States.
Leaving the quarry after so long, Domingo sought out a coyote. Being in such high demand, it only took a little investigating to find one. Things proceeded as expected, with Domingo ending up broke and suffocating in a train car full of others like him, travelling across Mexico on their way to their new lives.
They didn't make it halfway through Mexico before the train was brought to an abrupt halt. The people inside the cars were dragged out by members of one of the country's drug cartels. What happened after was something Domingo would rather not remember, but it resulted in many dead bodies and with Domingo and several other young men as new members in the gang's ranks. Those of Domingo's crop, kidnappees forced into the gang, were constantly beaten and subjected to incredibly risky assignments. Domingo's fear of death was what got him there instead of with the dead bodies from the train, and it, alongside subtle use of his Geomancy that was passed off as coincidence, also helped him survive those early days with the gang. It was during this time of desperation and much "practical application" for his magic that he and developed his "Metal Mimicry" spell. He was fortunately able to hide the metallic luster of his "steel skin" under his clothes, keeping his abilities hidden.
Domingo spent several months with the gang, slowly rising up the ranks and eventually acquiring a reputation for the mysterious fortune that surrounded him and brought him success. However, he did not want any of it. His will to continue committing atrocities wore thin as time passed, and eventually he could stand it no longer. Resolving to leave that life he now felt he never should have joined in the first place, he began a trek North one night. However, the cartels have eyes all over Mexico, and it didn't take long before he was found out.
Members of the gang were sent after him to properly "dismiss" him from the gang. At this point, Domingo would be pursued by law enforcers and lawbreakers alike, and his friends and family were far behind. He no longer cared who branded him as a witch, and dispatched his immediate pursuers in a furious display of Geomancy. From then on, the world under the ground was the only place he was safe as he continued Northward. It felt liberating to be able to use his power without fear, and he did not hesitate to use it whenever he could.
It wasn't long after that representatives of Vale Institute of Magic found him, starving and almost suffocating in a hole in the ground. He was promised a new life at the school, and he eagerly accepted. The institute's influence allowed them to grant him a visa to study in the United States, and a chopper was sent to retrieve him. His long-time dream of living in the United States was finally coming true, the circumstances of which no longer mattered to him.
Other: Despite his fluency in the English language, he still speaks with a thick hispanic accent. He will also occasionally forget a word he wants and instead say the Spanish word for it, regardless of how well the listening party understands.
