Character Sheet
Name: Isaac Mendez
Background Information: 28 years old, Isaac is living out of his studio in Manhattan. The rent, his art supplies and a more-or-less steady supply of heroin tend to kill whatever money he’s making, and in his mind, food isn’t as crucial as a place to paint or his habit, anyway. His live has always waffled between periods of extreme extroversion and extreme introversion, and with the advent of his new powers, he’s withdrawn completely. Simone has walked out on him, something he resents deeply, certain that it has everything to do with his talent and abilities; his visions are growing more and more intense, and the amount of heroin he is taking in order to tap into them and escape from them simultaneously is increasing dramatically. In other words, Isaac feels that his world is spiraling out of control and he doesn’t know how to get it back. Worse yet, he doesn’t know if he can get it back, or if he even wants to. The visions disturb him, the art disturbs him, but at the same time, there is no denying that there is a sense of invincibility that comes with it all.
He has spent his whole life devoted to his art, to pursuing his muse, his dreams, his goals. He tapped into his talent in high school, taken under the wing of his mentor and put on the path to success. The only trouble is that Isaac has the sort of personality common to artists--he cannot resist pleasure, and he is always looking for a way to escape pain. Heroin has been the means for both of those, and it is only the concerted effort of those convinced of his talent that have kept him stocked with supplies, living anywhere other than the street, and really, in the strictest sense, they are all that have kept him alive.
Isaac has let a lot of the little things go. Simone has been in charge of a lot of his bills, little things like water and electricity, and Isaac is in for a rude awakening when there’s no-one to take care of that for him so he can focus on his work. But there is a good chance that as he steps up his heroin use, he might not notice at all.
Personality: Isaac is brilliant, there’s no doubt about that. Brilliant, perceptive, charming and deep down, he has a good heart, he means well, he wants to do good things, the right thing. He’s also obsessive, casually cruel and selfish. His art trumps everything, trumps every human interaction. He is obsessed with it, obsessed with creating something good, true and beautiful, something bigger and better than he is, better than what’s around him, better than the abattoir that the heroin turns his brain into. He wants to be something, someone, and in the process, he’s utterly destroying himself. Isaac is, above all, insecure. He’s dependent on others, especially Simone. He needs to be taken care of because deep down, he does not believe he can make it on his own. He’s afraid of failure, of being forgotten, ignored. He believes more in his muse than his skill, and because of that, he depends on the drugs and the visions to push him towards an artistic height he knows he cannot otherwise reach.
Beneath it all, and without the drugs, Isaac is sweeter, gentler. He cares about others, he tries to make the people around him happy. He has a good sense of humor, he can charm anyone. Even on the first rushes of the drugs, he’s all of those things, only amped up 100%. But every time, his addiction, his fear and his insecurity drags him back down.