Owen believes he developed a "Gift". His education at the Crossroads Chantry convinced him that his powers were much more than just psychic talents. And he's not daft enough to believe anime videos can make people turn into sorcerors. However, he does believe the incredible fiction of anime tales, from the colorful art to intense action and drama, can Awaken the minds of those who love the fantasy of these creative worlds. It did Awaken him, after all. The ancient (and not-so-ancient) Traditions aren't necessary to Awaken. They aren't even needed to practice magick. It's all about belief, and Owen realizes this much. And he believes strongly in the power of mind over matter, fantasy over reality, when one sees how the Hidden World really works.
It's like The Matrix: everything is just a sugar-coated covering for the real world beneath. Of course, no one's being tapped like batteries by evil robots. It's just that most people don't realize that there are undercurrents of energy in the world, energy that can be summoned, controlled, and manipulated solely by the power of will and belief. But will and belief is nothing in the hands of stodgy, power-mad old fools. It becomes a mere tool of oppression and in some lands, sociopathic religious zeal. The bearer of will and belief must have a creative spark and really want change for the world. Good change. And Owen does want good change.
Owen whimsically views himself as the hero of various anime films and series. His daydreaming keeps his mind open and eager for fantasy's glimmer. But he can't just dream. He has to feel and see the true energies (Quintessence) of the world and redirect them in the fashion he wants. He knows other mages do the same thing, just in different ways. And Owen knows his ways are rather unique: hence, he has no place in any Tradition, not even among the Hollow Ones, who are too "gothic" for his style. Owen finds his abilities take control of those energies best through animesque trappings.
And like many mages, Paradox sometimes strikes down his attempts at dynamic improvement to the world whenever the unbelief of the Masses (who are at whole stodgy and unimaginative, though individuals can be quite innovative -- and individuals are easier to "convince" with vulgar magick). But Owen struggles against this faceless force. He has no interest in the Ascension War. He does not believe the Technocracy is evil. He just believes their methods of "magick" are so different from the Traditions that it's just a matter of egos clashing over whose methods are best. Either way, he'd rather change the world in small ways, far from the frontlines of the "meaningless" Ascension War.
A keystone element of Owen's magickal repertoire, Forces is his ability to control and channel those underlying energies of the universe into physical forces. And those forces often take the form of heat rays and freeze beams and other science fantasy elements! Of course, heat rays and freeze beams don't just come out of thin air. A "ray gun" of some sort is needed. Indeed, to dream any of his Forces spells into reality, Owen must channel the energy through the "belief focus" (as he calls it) of a toy representation of those science fantasy gadgets. He has quite a collection...and uses it quite extensively for this Sphere, though they are not necessary.
His most important Sphere is Life. Life enables him to survive and excel at all the heroic physical activities a normal geek could never hack. Of course, Life can't teach him how to fight. But he Dreams up some special moves, while improving his physical abilities with raw "perfection" (and sometimes "extra" or "augmented" limbs) in the same medium. In other words, Owen affects the Patterns of Life through his animesque daydreams. All he has to do is daydream about the escapades of Vampire Hunter D, and suddenly he can jump as high as the Bionic Man, run faster than lighting, and even pick up a sword and fight as good as a samurai warrior (after adding his talent with the Dream Background...but it's all linked in his paradigm!). Owen has focused his inner life energies so greatly that he can pass on some of these blessings to other people. He couldn't turn someone into a tentacle monster (although he could grow tentacles himself), but he could heal them and view their current health as easily as he knows himself. So much of a constant daydreamer is Owen that it's become like second nature to the Orphan. Daydreaming is not necessary.
Mind is also a vital component of Owen's magickal field. It was one of the first Spheres he manifested during his Awakening's "Wild Talent" phase. Consequently, he never quite let go of the idea that it could related to psychic abilities. The powers of the mind are controlled by the mind, Owen believes. Psionics as some people call them, Owen just knows he's gifted in this Sphere like Professor Xavier of X-Men. Originally, he had to close his eyes and put his hands to his brow to stimulate and focus his frontal lobes (the "seat" of psychic power). But he's past that stage now, and must simply concentrate. So the little gestures of psionics are not necessary.
The essence of all magick is Quintessence. And Prime is the Sphere that directly views, taps, and controls that energy. Other Spheres reweave that energy into various forms and purposes. Owen concentrates on Quintessence to sense it directly, however. To his Awakened mind, Quintessence appears as underlying streams of energy in the world, under the ground usually. Ironically, this is not far from how many Tradition mages view Quintessence, too, especially those that recognize and study ley lines. The awareness of Quintessence is, to Owen's view, inherent to the Awakened. Therefore, he must only concentrate good and hard. To do this, he's learned some basic meditation and focus drills to block out all distracting, outside, and mundane stimuli. Owen is so easily distracted by his own daydreaming and fantasies that meditation is still necessary -- and probably always will be.
Avatar
The essence of Owen's Avatar, or "Dreams" as he calls his magickal soul, coincides with his love of all things anime. When he sleeps, and often when he's awake (and daydreaming), he sees these Dreams come to life in his mind. They always take the appearance of the heroes of various anime films and the like. How his Dreams wish to confer and guide Owen determines which hero appears to him. Their personalities and accomplishments in these films influences how the Avatar guides Owen. Some of the most common are Rick Hunter and Isamu from the Macross series, D from Vampire Hunter D, Ryu from Street Fighter, Jubei from Ninja Scroll, and Goku from the Dragonball Z series. Of course, Owen's favorite anime is Wicked City. And so his Dreams often include the hero of that twisted tale, Taki Renzaburo. His Avatar gladly takes this form anytime Owen might be stubborn about following the Avatar's advice. Taki's service to "the system" installs a bit of stoic obedience in Owen, helping him keep his nose to the grindstone of his Path.
Resonance
Dynamic (Weird)
Owen is quite the oddball. And it shows: in the way he speaks, acts, thinks, and feels. And as a member of the Awakened ranks, this pervasive veneer influences his very soul and Avatar. Consequently, the weirdness is that much more magnified, if on a mystical level of which Sleepers remain unaware. "Norms" are turned off by his weirdness, his love of anime and other "geeky" things, and he suffers a +3 difficulty to all Social rolls with these people. But to fellow "geeks", those who share his love of anime and comics and computers and video games, he appears to be the coolest and most knowledgeable fellow around. So he receives a -3 difficulty bonus to Social rolls with these people.
This also influences his magick. Owen receives a +1 difficulty to any spells that fortify the status quo of reality. This may include many coincidental Effects, but hardly all. On the other hand, he's weird enough that his fantastical nature makes most vulgar magicks easier: -1 difficulty to such Effects' rolls. Not all vulgar Effects would be counted under this bonus, of course.
