Specialties:
Computer (Data Retrieval)
Larceny (Security Systems)
Stealth (Moving in Darkness)
Streetwise (Black Market)

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Mask
Thomas is a short, thin man, appearing to be in his early thirties. He is pale and dark-haired, with watery eyes and large ears. He dresses practically and comfortably, except for his penchant for wearing hats in an attempt to conceal his prematurely receding hairline.

Mien
In his true form, Thomas appears emaciated and pallid. His short hair is so rare it seems to be growing in tufts. His eyes are almost entirely without irises. His ears are even larger and pointy, and his fingers appear unnaturally long and thin.

Background:
Thomas Durkee was a neglected child growing up in one of Grimmtown’s poorer parts. He didn’t care much for school, and teachers didn’t care much when the troublesome teenager began to attend their lessons less and less often. During his truant escapades, Tommy started to fall in with the wrong crowd – druggies, thieves, vagrants and other, less pleasant types. He slowly convinced himself that he wouldn’t need an “honest” job to make a living, but could instead take what he needed from all the complacent idiots around him.

Thomas left the school as soon as he was old enough to do so and began putting his ill-conceived plan into motions. He began stealing – picking pockets, breaking and entering, sometimes just plain assaulting and robbing. He was nimble and smart enough to pull off most of the crimes, and quick enough to get away from the cops in case the things went awry. When Tommy’s parents finally threw him out of the house, he already had enough money to rent himself a tiny flat and continued to make a living for himself by selling off whatever he managed to steal.

Thomas is unsure how he got to Arcadia. One moment he was heading for a routine job, the next he was running away from a police patrol and then, bam, he found himself in some bizarre prison. The memories of his Durance are also rather unclear. He only knows that the warden - or whoever was running the place – offered Tommy small degree of freedom in return for various services. They mostly involved getting into other weird, dangerous places and either spying on their owners or stealing something from them. In an effort to make him smaller and less noticeable, the warden barely fed Thomas, which only served to make the imprisonment more painful. Every time Thomas failed to satisfy his captor, or when the warden needed some amusement, he was locked in a pitch dark cell block, along with a few other unlucky prisoners and some things the thief never bothered to get a good look at, due to their habit of tearing apart anyone stupid enough to get close.

Thomas managed to survive, somehow. Finally, after what seemed like years of captivity, the changeling got good enough at opening locks that he could open the door to his cell with ease. He waited for the right moment, when the block seemed to be mostly empty and made a dash for the Hedge surrounding the prison. The journey was long and painful, but Tommy went on, propelled by feverish hope for freedom on one hand and utter terror on the other. Finally, he emerged in one of Grimmtown’s parks. A discarded newspaper told him that he was gone for almost three years. Worse yet, all of his buddies acted like he never disappeared. Tommy soon found the cause – he bumped into his look-alike in his very own flat, on the same day he got back to mortal world. The impostor seemed to be just as shocked as the real deal, but before he could react, Thomas started to run, and stopped only when he was completely exhausted.

Scared and confused, Thomas hid among the homeless population of Grimmtown. He was soon found by other changelings, who explained the situation. Tommy got his act together as well as he could. He dug out some of the cash stashes he kept before the abduction, which was just enough to make a living for a short while. After some time he warmed up to the local Winter Court, changed his last name to Twist and forged a legal identity to go along with it and tried to settle down. Currently he gathers information and items, both for his court and as a freelancer, and sometimes latches on to short-term jobs.