Nero Ihejirika

OGHENERO NTHANDA IHEJIRIKA

 

 NICKNAME Nero

 AGE 18
 BIRTHDAY April 10

 SPECIES Human
 ETHNICITY Igbo

 GENDER Female
 SEXUALITY Bisexual

 DORM Serpens / Fourth Year

 POWER  Effectively called "Unloveability Inducement", Oghenero can make others or herself disliked and unwanted by anyone. However, the inducement only lasts for a limited period of time depending on her will of intent. Inducement done with very strong emotional intent, such as anger, will last longer, while inducement done with weak intent only lasts a short period of time. Inducement cast with very strong intent has lasted at most two months, and the average weaker inducement lasts only a day or two. If Nero's will of intent is too strong, it can cause the person the inducement was cast upon to hate her strongly enough to attempt to harm or kill her.

On the other side of the coin, though she does not know she can, Nero can also do the opposite- "Loveability Inducement", if you will. It has the same rules- stronger intent means a stronger inducement that lasts longer. If the will of intent is too strong, the person it was cast upon will become obsessed with her. Since she has only accidentally cast this once at the age of 12, Nero has no idea how to use or control it.

Nero first discovered her abilities at the age of 9 after accidentally willing herself to be unloved and temporarily becoming an outcast to all except her immediate family. It is unknown if she had her power before that point, but Oghenero believes that a witch cast a spell on her in order to exact vengeance on someone else, using her as a tool. Whether or not this is the truth is unknown.

 APPEARANCE A Nigerian born to Igbo parents, Oghenero has dark, soft skin, a nubian nose, plush lips, and near-black, round-almond shaped eyes. She has a round face and a small chin with thin eyebrows and naturally blonde hair. She colours her eyebrows and eyelashes black, but keeps her hair blonde with an ombre silver length. Her hair is long and curly and she changes its style bi-weekly depending on her mood- she most often wears a natural afro, long braids, or afro pigtails. Nero has a curvy, muscular body, having been in ballet from a young age. She has thick, strong thighs, broad shoulders, and toned arms and abdomen. She is tall for a female, standing at approximately 6'1.

Nero carries herself confidently and has perfect posture. She has a very heavy Nigerian accent and speaks very properly, primarily in an attempt to dispel the "african savage" trope. She prefers to exclusively wear clothes in greyscale, preferring dresses and skirts and almost never wearing pants. She has an acute fashion sense and loves expressing herself through her clothing. She is almost always found wearing knee-high socks, a black-banded watch, oxfords, and a crossbody purse. She loves wearing clothes that show off the figure she's worked tirelessly for, most often showing off her legs and arms. Since clothing is one of her primary modes of self-expression, she enjoys shopping to find new things to wear.

 PERSONALITY Oghenero is confident, ambitious, and manipulative. While she does see people as individuals, most of the time Nero finds people to be a means to an end and isn't afraid to use or threaten use of her powers to twist people in her favour. She tries to keep her power a secret, as she finds vague threats with dire consequences to be the most effective threat.

Nero is very good at appearing outwardly friendly and sympathetic, but most often has some sort of ulterior motive in her interactions with people. Be it winning over their good favour, getting others to do things for her, or otherwise, Oghenero will always find a use for someone and will befriend people if only so she can have their skills and assistance at her will. She is very social and, although she loves using people as tools, is also terrified of abandonment and tries her hardest to appear trustworthy so that others will like her- a fault that stems from her first use and discovery of her power.

Oghenero presents herself as a confident, intelligent, and sociable person. She has an upbeat attitude and is very expressive with her body language, using large gestures and facial expressions to convey her emotions visually. She is simultaneously very feminine, and presents her body in a strong but gentle manner (i.e walking with swinging hips, crossing her legs when sitting, keeping her posture perfect). Nero has zero tolerance for racism and "white people nonsense" and will often use her social prowess to lull perpetrators into a false sense of security before using her powers on them. 

Raised in a wealthy family in Nigeria, Oghenero finds appearance and other's perceptions of her to be extremely important. She finds physical exercise to be imperative in reinforcing the confidence she exudes. As a child she was given ballet, violin, and piano lessons among other skills she has since abandoned, and because of such she absolutely loves using ballet and dance as a way to stay in shape. Musically inclined, Nero also loves playing instruments to keep her mind sharp and her body coordinated. Her favourite instrument is the piano, but she also enjoys playing various string instruments. 

 WEAKNESSES  Oghenero's manipulative nature has caused her to be emotionally and romantically stunted, and she finds it very difficult to make lasting, meaningful relationships with people. Nonetheless, she is terrified of being alone and will strive to maintain friendships and aquantanceships that are otherwise needless in order to feel secure in her social life. If she feels insecure in her friendships, she will reach out to everyone she can in ways that best suit each person she's attempting to maintain a relationship with- be it planning a party for outgoing friends, inviting an introverted person for private tea, or going for a fancy dinner with a socialite, she finds no measure too far or too unreasonable (although money not being an obstacle helps substantially) in trying to gain the favor of others. Threats to her social standing, accidental self-inducement, and rejection for new friendships are only a few ways that she may begin to feel inadequate.

Growing up in a wealthy family, Oghenero is also very hard on herself. She feels like she has an innumerable amount groups to represent: the Ihejirika family name, wealthy people of colour, the country of Nigeria, African immigrants, and the black community, to name a few. She strives to be perfect in other's perceptions of her if only to make sure these groups are properly represented. Although she enjoys practicing perfection in every manner, she puts an excessive amount of effort into everything, which often means that she is overly stressed and restless (though she's good at hiding it) and will often miss sleep to make sure her grades and extracurriculars meet her expectations. Because of this, she has a slight dependence on caffeine.

 STRENGTHS Once again, Oghenero is fantastic at using other people to her benefit. Though she doesn't have an overarching goal in mind that she uses other people to work towards, she is great at using people and connections to accomplish everyday tasks and increase her social standing. Nero is a very crafty and clever person and is fantastic at using the resources she has to accomplish whatever she sets out to do. Although she isn't necessarily "book smart", she is successful in classes and academic affairs because she knows how to play her strengths and ask for help when she needs it. Although she is manipulative and somewhat materialistic, she is not prideful, and is always willing to admit the rare occasion where she fails at one of her endeavors.

Nero is also very good at covering up her tracks and coming up with excuses for her lies and manipulation. Although she doesn't have much to lose from people realising how manipulative she is (other than her social standing) primarily because she doesn't quite realise just how much she abuses her connections, she is good at covering for herself and retaining her good name.

 HISTORY Oghenero was born into and grew up in a wealthy family in Nigeria. Her parents and the majority of her friends being Igbo in a large city, she was raised on pride, poise, and perfection. She grew up around Nigeria's elite, her father having been the owner of a relatively successful diamond mine he had inherited from his father.

Her life was absolutely perfect until the age of nine, when her childhood best friend was killed in a high-profile murder, committed by a mine worker protesting the mistreatment of workers in her friend's father's mine. Oghenero found herself torn, mournful of her friend's murder, but also angry at her friend's father for breaking law and treating his employees as inhuman. This duality of emotion caused her to use her power for the first time against herself, which left her completely rejected by all except her parents for two months- they accused her of witchcraft and said that misfortune had fallen on her friend's family because of her. She couldn't leave her home until the inducement passed, as every time she went outside people avoided her in the streets or threw rocks at her. Her parents only stuck by Nero for the sole sake of appearance, although they profusely apologised to the then-10-year-old Oghenero once the inducement passed.

After the publicity of the human rights violation and her friend's accompanying murder passed, Nero's parents decided it was time to remove themselves from the diamond business and move outside of Nigeria. Selling their mine to Nero's paternal uncle, they used their wealth to move to America, Nero's father already having a pre-arranged business job once they were to move there. At the age of 11, Nero was officially an American immigrant.

Once she had settled in the states, Oghenero found herself the subject of bullying and abuse by students who used her accent, nationality, and race against her. Slowly realising the use and extent of her power, Nero learned that through threats and inducement she could manipulate those who once bullied her into her favour.

By the age of 13, almost all of Nero former enemies were her friends and cohorts. She had created her own tiny empire within the private school she attended, using the strength of the student body to pressure the school's administration to her will- she had the dress code changed, school lunches made more culturally inclusive, and breaks between classes lengthened before her school hired someone to help them deal with the problem of students' and parents' pressure- a Foresta graduate, it happened to be. Upon learning just how Nero had come to such a position of power as a middle school student, the graduate scolded her for using her power to her own benefit and informed both her and her parents of Foresta- the first time that they even learned that she had any sort of power at all. 

With no regrets, her father ordered her to immediately transfer to Foresta upon her 14th birthday. Slightly bitter at how quickly her father was willing to "get rid of her", Nero hasn't visited her family but twice since then, although she still receives monthly stipends from them and their still-growing wealth.

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