C.B. Schwartz

Appearance
CB looks, at all times, as if he rummaged through a pile of clothing on the floor blindfolded and made random selections. Part of this is deliberate; if people think he's weird, they're less likely to engage him in conversation. The rest is because shopping has always been an invitation to disaster, so he mostly makes quick grabs at thrift stores and hopes for the best.

He's also prone to avoiding haircuts like the plague (listening to people internally complaining about their appearance in the mirror drives him nuts), and consequently always looks shaggy.

Powers
Receptive telepath. CB can literally hear every surface thought of everyone in a metropolitan area, though if he's never met the person, he won't recognize the thoughts as belonging to anyone in particular. He generally keeps up walls to screen thoughts out, but they aren't foolproof and he'll sometimes answer things he thinks people have said that they haven't actually verbalized, or mention something he'd inadvertently picked up from their minds that they never told him.

Despite barriers he's erected to keep thoughts out, he can be overwhelmed if he's overtired, stressed, or under the influence (sadly, alcohol and drugs make it impossible to maintain his shields). If this happens, it's the equivalent of suddenly being dumped in the middle of the home team's bleacher section at the World Series - overwhelming noise that can't be blocked out. He can get it under control, but he'll end up exhausted afterwards

Additionally, CB isn't capable of delving any deeper than surface thoughts. No probing for deep, dark secrets. Or, for that matter, names. He just hears whatever people are currently thinking.

Talents
CB is a very intelligent cell phone software engineer. He's good at rigging electrical devices to do things they're not supposed to, and has informally studied enough engineering to enable him to throw together prototype "blockers" which, thus far, having been terribly effective. He's also adept at internet research, and is a font of useless historical, movie, and musical trivia.

Interests
Movies, musicals, books, people who actually say what they're thinking so he doesn't have to guess whether they've said it or not.

History
CB was born in Chicago to Patrick and Colleen O'Hanlon. His father died when he was two, and when his mother remarried a few years later, her new husband legally adopted him, changing his last name to Schwartz. After his mother died, his step-dad raised him as his own son, and despite the double tragedy, CB lived a fairly happy, uneventful life.

At least until 13, when he started hearing voices.

At first, it was just one or two - worrisome, yes, but not overwhelming. Instead of telling anyone, CB quietly started researching - and found that the most likely cause was schizophrenia. A few weeks later, though, the voices became overwhelming, and his step-father found him wrapped around his bed post, clinging to it like a lifeline.

CB, when he managed to pull himself together, claimed it was a nightmare, but his step-dad continued to worry, especially when CB started avoiding social activities, becoming more and more reclusive. He had cause, as it turned out - at fourteen, feeling overwhelmed, CB tried to overdose and learned three important things:

1. He hadn't taken enough pills.

2. Sedatives only made the voices worse.

3. Getting his stomach pumped was infinitely worse than hearing voices.

With those things in mind, he resumed researcing and started experimenting, and learned that he could erect mental barriers that would keep the voices more or less at bay. He also learned how to pick out specific voices, how to use reading and poetry and song lyrics as screens, and that things grew infinitely worse when he was in crowds (unless the people were reading - libraries made great refuges. He studied computer science and obtained a degree through an online university, dated very occasionally and without a great deal of success, and eventually ended up with a great job at Commspan, one that came complete with his own office in the basement, where he rigged the heater to not work so that no one would come down and bother him.

Fortunately for him, no one thought it especially odd for a programmer to be odd and anti-social, an image he cultivated carefully. It wasn't an especially fulfilling life, but he was working on an electronic solution, something that would hopefully serve to block the voices entirely (and preferably permanently).

Unforunately for him, before he could manage it, he walked through the door to the copy room...and ended up in Wall.