Name:

Leila Marie Holmes. Has gone by several nicknames, see-through aliases, and street names in the past.

Codename:

Equinox.

Age:

19

Power:

Leila's power is rather interesting, in that she cannot actively control it. It controls itself. Leila's shadow has become...sentient isn't the right word, but it's not the wrong word either. Lelia's shadow has become a protective guardian angel of sorts, capable of taking physical form and protecting her from threats. Its reflexes, speed, senses and strength far exceed that of her own, and it is highly observant, constantly vigilant. While she's incapable of commanding it (she can sometimes pose suggestions to it, and if it agrees, it'll help), the shadow is nevertheless a formidable close quarters fighter. It's capable of changing form to adapt to the situation at hand, from a direct silhouette of its mistress to a lion to some more eldritch thing that doesn't yet exist. The shadow, predictably, grows stronger in darkness, but is by no means crippled in harsh light (even if it's at something of a disadvantage). Her shadow's capable of speaking to her and observing the world around it, allowing it to give her advice, watch her back, so on and so forth. If her shadow stays "two-dimensional", like a regular shadow, it can move and grab onto other people's shadows. This causes no lasting harm, but inflicts a rather nasty feeling of phantom pain that can be somewhat startling. It's only capable of causing physical damage, or enacting physical changes, once it takes its three dimensional form. Her shadow is limited primarily by range-it is only capable of reaching out as far as her shadow would normally go. In dark spots, Leila's shadow can darken and deepen the shadows around her, making her harder to spot whilst not totally invisible. Its primary function, however, is as a fierce protector, while also serving as a valuable scout and adviser. For the purposes of guarding Leila or helping her escape, the shadow is extremely versatile, and can use its knowledge (everything Leila sees and hears and such) and formless nature to its advantage.

Appearance:

Leila's not exactly your standard eighteen year old girl. For starters, while Obsidian training and dieting has helped immensely, she still looks a little on the malnourished side-this is the first time in her life she's been eating properly for sustained periods of time. Leila's Caucasian, more or less pale with a faint hint of Eastern European heritage. Her hair is a dark brown, and typically bundled up in a bun or casually strung up in a ponytail. She doesn't seem to pay too much attention to it, and it doesn't have the sheen or glamour that someone who takes better care of their might have. Her eyes are a cold, distant blue, and when she converses with someone she (somewhat unnervingly) stares at them without blinking, holding eye contact regardless of how painfully awkward it becomes. Her face has a few freckles, but they're faint, and there's a scar on her right cheek that's hard to notice if you aren't looking closely (and looking closely at Leila would prompt a "What the fuck are you looking at?", so most people don't). She's definitely on the petite side-with the proper meals that Obsidian's been providing, she's starting to put on weight (in a good way), but she's only about 5'4, weighing just a smidge over a hundred pounds, with what muscle her body can metabolically afford stretched out lean across her arms and legs. Her chin is somewhat pointed, a contrast to her small round little nose and chapped lips. A filled-in teardrop hangs just under the edge of her left eye, and it goes with her choice of dark mascara and eyeliner in a rather macabre way. Her outer arms are nicked with scars that are a little more fresh than the one on her face, and don't appear to be the typical remnants of self-harm. There's a long gash running down her right leg, from the inside of her knee to about halfway down her calf. Her back is engulfed in a rather intricate tattoo job, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding out Judgment Day, and a pair of phoenixes curl down her right shoulder and chest onto her forearm, with their tails showing when she rolls her sleeve up or displays anything above the elbow. The left arm is marked by what appears to be the Angel of Death. Leila moves with cold, measured confidence, and tends to have a scowl permanently plastered across her face. She tends to dress in a way that wouldn't exactly be described as fashionable, with worn sneakers double knotted onto her feet and an equally worn, little-too-big hoodie draped over her shoulders and arms. She typically rolls the sleeves of the red hoodie up past her shoulders and holds up her jeans (which sport a few frayed, worn patches and a couple of holes, some of which are artfully held together with duct tape) with a belt that almost appears to wrap around her miniscule waist twice. Occasionally, a Red Sox ballcap will be worn on her head.

Personality:

Fuck you, that's her personality.

No but seriously Leila does not play very well with others. Leila's not a bad person ,per se, but she's not a good person either. Leila's endured quite a bit without a lot of help to rely on, and the result is a cold, hardened girl who can play with the best of them. While she may not have been privy to a proper education past grade school, Leila's cunning and sharp. She's known for pragmatic approaches to her problems: Leila, while true to her word, doesn't bother much with the idea of "honor". She has a clear concept of right and wrong, but it's...a little more twisted than most people's. Leila's code of morality is pretty self-serving, and allows her to steal and carry out several types of illicit activities without feeling too much in the way of remorse (she typically steals from the well-off). Leila's lack of strong familial ties has resulted in her latching onto close friends and allies with unshakeable loyalty: while she is very difficult to befriend (mostly because she has next to no tact and laughably poor social skills) she's undeniably faithful once her trust is earned. Leila thinks there's a special spot in hell reserved for those who let their family or friends down, and she doesn't intend on getting a seat in hell THAT deep. Leila's pretty worldly, and very street smart-while she may not be as well-read as most her age, she can fend for herself and survive where others can't. The girl's pride and self-confidence are annoying some, but in a way, a survival trait-pushovers don't last long on the streets. Leila takes shit from no one, regardless of how deserved it may be. While proud, her pragmatism reigns supreme: she loathes accepting charity but is open to it if there's no other choice. She's fairly cynical of the rich and any charities: she views the government and the church (doesn't matter which one, she lumps them all together) with equal disdain. Leila's not a hardened killer, but she's by no means a coward. She can handle stressful situations and keep her cool, and also possesses a remarkable poker face. She can come up with believable lies off the top of her head and is a decent actress, too-she spent some time as a con artist, exploiting the "I'm a poor girl all alone in the cold" angle. Leila's a tough one, and while she may not physically be able to throw down with anyone above 5'6 or so, she's tenacious as hell, and will exploit every advantage she can to win. Leila's humanity, however, shines through on occasion. She's particularly soft towards young girls, and is generous whenever she can afford to be. Leila does her best to avoid cursing (which is really, really saying something: she curses like a drunken, Tourettes-ridden sailor) around children and typically covers up her tattoos in their presence as well. Leila's a firm believer in "eye for an eye" justice and isn't one to compromise easily on moral issues. Similarly, she really, really doesn't like to admit she's wrong. While the pickpocket and drug runner may not be an ideal example of love and kindness, she's altruistic in her own way...sometimes. It's not that she's actively cruel or malicious, it's merely that she's learned opening up and trying to make things better just opens you up to getting burned. Hard. She's paid dearly for mistakes in the past and is determined to avoid repeating them. While bitter and easily irritated, she does have a good sense of professionalism, and for the money that Obsidian is giving her (and the food, oh Christ the FOOD) she's more than happy to get the job done, even if it means working with a bunch of jackoff, superhero wannabes. Leila? Psh. Leila could get this shit done without superpowers, understand? What, you doubt her? Bitch you best know who you're talking to-etc, etc, etc.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths first. Leila's cunning and brutally pragmatic. If she needs to kill someone, she won't bother giving them a fighting chance. She's good at sizing people up and coming up with good schemes. Leila's also physically quick, displaying considerable dexterity and also a remarkable ability to haul ass. I hate to say this, but she'd be good at parkour-she can run, jump, and climb like a monkey on meth. Leila's knowledgeable of the streets, common scams, and can see through bullshit very easily. Leila's not exactly Annie Oakley, but she's fired guns a few times before-her real weapon expertise shines with the switchblade she keeps tucked away on her person at all times. Lelia's very resourceful, and refuses to give up. She's learned how to survive on her own and fend for herself, and living a life like hers enables you to weather most of life's challenges. She's also a skilled criminal-she can pick locks, hotwire cars, pickpocket like a pro, and size up whether people are packing heat or not with ease. Leila's the person you want to go to if you need something less-than-totally-legal done. Her small size and experience make her adept at sneaking around.

Weaknesses? For starters, her lack of a formal education. She's clever and sharp, but if you ask her about history, chemistry, biology, so on and so forth, you're going to get an angry glare and probably a long string of curses. Her reading isn't the best, either-she's literate, but she takes her time. Leila's also proud and headstrong, a combination which has helped her throw down with the best and also get her ass kicked by the best. Playing to her pride is a pretty decent tactic. Leila's also been deprived of a solid home life and as a result is more vulnerable than she cares to admit to affection or being treated with basic respect. She's become bitter at the world that's wronged her and is desperately seeking a better life, an opportunity that presented itself with Obsidian. She can also alienate others ("FUCK ALL OF YOU!!!") occasionally (always) which usually comes back to bite her right in the ass when she needs allies the most. Hopefully, a stint with Obsidian will help with her team-building skills. Leila's also physically small and not very strong-she's got experience hauling ass away from the cops, but trying to fight is another matter entirely. If she has to fight, she'll rely on dirty tactics (shots to the groin and kidneys, scratching at your eyes, biting, etc) to compensate for her utter lack of physical strength. Any challenge that requires brute force, with no way to maneuver around it, will get the best of Leila. Also, she smokes, mostly because she figured somebody would do her in far before lung cancer would.

History:

Where to start? Her early years are a blur. Leila knows that she was born in Alaska, but from there it gets murky. Somehow, she wound up in the lower 48 in an orphanage for girls, unsure of what happened to her parents or how she became separated from them. She's not sure, but she thinks she was kidnapped. Leila's since lost hope in reconnecting with her parents-and very quickly grew tired of the orphanage. Around the age of twelve, she ran away, packing a small bag and getting out of the shithole that was by no means her home. Leila quickly found out that the real world is not forgiving on a twelve year old girl, and she was mercifully taken in by a man named Tyrelle. Tyrelle, while having benevolent intentions taking in Leila, was caught up with some rather nasty types. He did his best to keep Leila in school, give her a place to stay and so forth (her description of the orphanage was so horrible he couldn't bring himself to send her back, and was attempting to go about adopting her), but she gradually became more and more exposed to the criminal lifestyle he had. Eventually, as you may have guessed, this lifestyle came back to bite Tyrelle, fatally so. About two years after finding him, her surrogate father was gunned down in a gang conflict, at which point Leila...enacted revenge.

She's not sure how this happened. She truthfully isn't. She remembers standing at the crime scene, seeing the one decent person in her life in a pool of blood, bloated and stiff, and...and then things get murky. Leila's pretty sure she killed the men responsible, because looking in to the case years afterwards revealed they were dead, the killer never found. Leila has flashes of these memories-blood all over her hands, the killers' house...she can't recall anything more. Much like the first few years of her life, it would seem some part of her brain decided that it would do her no psychological good to keep those memories around. This, however, led Leila down a very, very bad path. Tyrelle's associates were able to take her under their wing out of respect for their friend, but they didn't attempt to shield her as he had. Leila quickly became a very profitable vassal, being next to invisible to the cops. Her desire to belong and prove herself made her an eager apprentice, and she was running drugs, picking pockets, and playing the lookout within weeks. As the years went on, Leila's acceptance into the gang became official, her body slowly inked with tattoos, her reputation slowly built up. Leila, while a nomad, never having a proper home to herself, had a family of sorts, and most nights had food to eat. There were people that paid attention to her, and she was caught up in what her surrogate father had attempted to prevent very quickly. 

Years passed and Leila spent time in juvy, but more time out of it. She got damned good at what she did, albeit a bit worried as her years of juvy started running out. She turned eighteen and, surely enough, got picked up for possession of a felony amount of drugs-cocaine she was taking to the other side of town. Gone was the fourteen year old girl who could deter cops with a sweet smile-in her stead was a hard looking, tattooed woman that had run with the roughest types in LA. She was taken in, but (I'm assuming this is okay), she was contacted first-it would seem a group called Obsidian (I'm guessing they go through lists of prisoners for people with "nothing to lose") noticed her lack of a family, lack of a home, and lack of reliable income, and made one hell of an offer...she figured she'd be kissing a few years of her life away regardless, but Obsidian seemed to have better food than prison.

Other:

I saw someone else had shadow manipulation about 4/5ths of the way through this sheet. I'm going to go ahead and saw Leila's shadow is immune to this power if that's alright with everyone, as otherwise she'd be nerfed reaaaallllyyyy easily.