Basic Information
Name: Shannon Jacqueline Balore
Nickname/Alias/Etc: Silkworm
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Height: 5'6ft
Weight: 147lb
Home District: Westgate
Appearance
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Blue
Ethnicity: Irish and Israeli
Physical Appearance: Shannon has the appearance of a Librarian, or a very nerdy girl. Shannon right off the bat doesn't make herself appear like the most receptive person out there. She either gives off an aura of apathy or temper. She doesn't like people, and she tries to make herself look unapproachable so she doesn't have to deal with them. Her movements are slow and controlled, hangs swinging back and forth gently as she moves. She doesn't move a lot if she doesn't have to, and likes to remain still as possible. Her most prominent feature is her red ginger hair, which is wavy, messy, and hangs back length, sometimes resting on her shoulders, or lying on her front. Not kept in a particular style, but she keeps this hair very well maintained. It's an effort, but it pays off in how clean it is. But, it gives everyone who looks at her the idea that she's Irish right off the bat - Which is true to an extent. Shannon is Caucasian, specifically Irish
and Israeli. Not that anyone would be able to tell exactly from a look. What supports this is the fact that Shannon is absolutely covered in dark freckles. The most people will see is the freckles on her face (Around her cheeks, nose - yeah, that area), but the rest of her body has plenty of freckles too. Her skin more or less has a freckled texture. As for Shannon's skin, she clearly has the appearance of someone who doesn't get too much sunlight as her skin is pale somewhat. Contributing to the theory that she doesn't do too much physical work is her general build and frame. She has the look of someone who seldom does any real physical activity and never lifted anything heavy in her life. I cannot say that Shannon is a skinny girl. She's a little on the pudgy side, not morbidly obese, but she has body fat packed in her stomach and limbs. Her body shape would have to be apple-shaped overall - few would really notice it due to the dress she wears accentuating her other features and making the best of her body shape. Because of her extra-weight, she has a bit mass in her feminine parts. Her breasts sag a bit however. Shannon herself has gotten one tattoo in her life. Usually in places that are hidden under her clothes. On the upper part of her chest, right above her breast, there is a tattoo of three flowers covered in a mass of leaves and vines. She has plenty of blemishes, stretch marks, and her face has a few pimples here and there. She hasn't done in life to warrant more than a few scars, so she doesn't have too many scars. There's a small scar on her right cheek from the one time she fell over. Shannon's face is square shaped, and her facial features are rather rounded. It all starts with her rather full cheeks, they are notably large, but they are rather round. Her nose is large, thick, and quite rounded in terms of the nostrils. It sticks out forward somewhat. Shannon has a small mouth, but she has rather big lips that have that feminine thickness to them. She has a medium sized forehead. Her eyes are medium sized, round, and usually have a sharp glare to them. Shannon's ears are medium sized and very round.
Attire: Shannon prefers to dress heavily, and comfortably, with loose clothes that don't stick to her in the slightest. However, her outfit tends to be brightly colored or flashy. She can make her own clothes, and what she makes tends to be on par with designer clothes. Clothes with beautiful patterns, embroidered with pictures, anything that she thinks is fabulous. It gives people the impression that she is a rich girl. She likes to wear jewelry, like bracelets, and rings, usually this is the cheap, dollar-store, brand of jewelry. Then, of course, there's her wide variety of thick-framed glasses. She either wears round, and more squarish glasses.
Personality
Outward & Innate Personality: Shannon a bit of an asshole, yes. People who come across her tend to find out that she's quite the bitter young woman. She's quick to dislike people, and is very quick to let them know that. Her attitude has earned her quite the reputation, and usually earns her more enemies than anything. It isn't something that bothers her that much due to her general disdain for a majority of humankind. Because she's her own brand of anti-social. Though, she does have a soft, sensitive, side that she shows to a select few. Shannon is incredibly cynical, jaded, and pessimistic. She rarely sees the good in things, and always thinks that nobody is nice "just because they are". She's very intelligent and observant. She tends to think things through well, she's good at making educated guesses, going off all the information she has. She's accurate most of the time. Though she has a habit of over thinking when she needs to act. To say the least, she always has her guard up at all times. In conversation, she is very snarky, sassy, and doesn't shy away from giving her opinion at every possible moment.
She tends to have the belief that every person she meets is an idiot, until proven otherwise, that is. She tends come off as condescending, stuck, and like she has a superiority complex. She has plenty of views on current "issues" like LGBT rights, the various wars going on, and the headline stories. However, she is very passionate about her views, and won't hesitate to argue with people who have different views. One thing people learn about Shannon is that, in arguments, she's stubborn as all hell and will rarely see things differently. In truth, Shannon generally likes to appear as if she's a super intelligent. Not hesitating to spot information, say big words, and generally acting smarter than everyone else. She tries hard to look like she's clever, when she really isn't as clever as she thinks. This has caused her a bit of problems when she messes up. She's very protective of the people she cares about. Friends, family, etc, she treats. Shannon has a bit of a temper, a very short one. When people annoy/aggravate her, even in the slightest, she tends to make it known that she doesn't like them. Because, in her eyes, she's not here to make friends with everyone, and if you're arrogant, or an asshole, then you're obviously not worth her time. She'll cut all ties with people she dislikes fast as possible, and never give them a second thought. Sexuality-wise, Shannon is a lesbian, and she's proud, however she keeps it to herself and lets everyone (annoyingly enough) assume that she's straight.
Hobbies/Interests: Fashion, fashion, fashion. It might come as a given because of her power, but Shannon is a fashionista. She seems to always know what the best outfits are, and who has the best tastes. It's just because of her love of high fashion. She also likes books, writing, and poetry - She does indulge herself in some writing in her free times. But her favorite would have to be classical literature. Shannon also likes media - her favorite genre would be crime and mystery, like Law & Order. She also watches some cartoons (Like Disney movies) sometimes. Sometimes meaning when no one is looking. Shannon is a fan of ancient History, and Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and so on, cultures.
Skills/Talents: Skills? Well, as it was stated above (And below), Shannon is rather intelligent because she was pushed towards academics. She knows quite a bit, mostly in the vocabulary fields. A particular skill that she has picked up is that she has the sharp eye of a detective. Both of these put together is why she fancies calling herself a detective. Shannon was also pushed into learning other languages. She picked the one that interested her the most, French. She has participated in quite a few French classes. Before her mother died, Shannon was also taught a bit of Hebrew - Not enough that she could maintain a conversation. Finally, Shannon is good at Chess (and Checkers somewhat). Not that she finds too many people to play with.
Prized Possession: There is no item that Shannon truly treasures.
Quote: "Oh, you're mad? Sorry that you couldn't match me in wits and had to resort to violence."
History/Bio: Shannon was born to a rather good life. Being the bastard daughter of her father O'Connor Balore, and her mother Avigail Durtang, whom quickly got married a few months after she was born. They each had rather modest jobs that granted her family with plenty of money to support them, and eventually indulge them in their hobbies - But they weren't rich. So in a way, Shannon lived in the upper-middle class. Nice house, plenty of nice people to be around, and everything was nice and dandy. Shannon was sent to school aiming to be above average. Her parents nurtured this growth in intelligence after and before school, but they didn't push her too far. It was just an activity they made her do so their daughter was. They tried to make it seem less of work, and more of something fun, and it quickly became something Shannon showed off to other kids - Something that made her better than them. This is how Shannon got rather close to her parents. While getting close to a teacher of hers named Reagan Boyer, whom her parents were friends with. Even after she left kindergarten, she continued to talk to him, and was someone she strives to be, the smartest person she knew.
There isn't much else to say about Shannon's early life other than she continued to grow and mature. However, at the age of six, her powers had developed, or rather, she had discovered them. She was in the middle of a birthday party for the child of one of her father's Co-workers, and she had gotten into a small scuffle with a rather aggressive boy. Who targeted her merely because she had red hair, and tried to pull it out. Shannon freaked out, and every piece of fabric in a good twenty foot radius had been warped and twisted into rather twisted constructs. Shannon and the boy's clothes were destroyed completely, leaving them both nude. Her parents had hauled them out. Not a soul knew what the hell happened, there was enough evidence to connect Shannon to it as everyone else.
However, after that, Shannon discovered that she had an affinity with fabrics. It wasn't anything special, she noticed that fabrics moved to her rhythm. She experimented a bit, and realized that it was all out control over fabrics. She could move them like the traditional elemental type. Shannon came to her parents with this news, and they honestly didn't renounce her or deem her a "freak". They were not oblivious to the world of Meta-humans, and accepted their daughter for what she truly is. But they highly recommended that she uses this power behind closed doors, just out of fear of the people who didn't understand it. So it became a bit of a hobby of hers, along with the rest of her activities, training this ability to it's fullest extent. Learning the ins and outs of this ability, and becoming a master seamstress by default.
She occasionally went to her old teacher Reagan for advice, who was a Meta-human himself (Ceramic Manipulation), and the only other. He taught her a few things, gave her a few pointers. He told Shannon that she could come up with some very creative uses with her power. All she had to do was think outside the box. Reagan acted as a mentor-figure for Shannon's training. Along with teaching her a few moves of his own that could be translated from ceramic to clothing.
Life was going rather smoothly for Shannon. By the time she was nine, she had gotten quite a grasp on her power. She had already learned how to create outfits in a few minutes, and had expanded her control beyond just fabrics. She strived to improve this power even further, and she gotten plenty of opportunities to do so by simple practices such as repairing an outfit, to changing an outfit all together. Just chalking it all up to her being very good with a needle. Personally, she didn't want to participate in sports, and rather focused on her school work and training her power. Though, while in school, she wasn't the type to get along with people that well. She was already quite condescending towards virtually everyone. Shannon had already gotten the firm belief that most people were simply not worth her time, or too much of a mouth breather that they were beyond saving. But her intelligence was something that made other people think she was a simple stepping stone. They made her think she was their friend, only to reveal they only wanted to use her to cheat at tests and ease their way through school. This was simply a catalyst for her belief that everyone wants something, and made her more distant from other people. She made few friends that shared similar beliefs to her.
But her life had changed drastically by the time she was ten. Shannon came home one day, and found her father drinking heavily, crying with his face in his hands. She learned what had happened while she was at school... Reagan had brutally raped and killed Shannon's mother - Apparently having harbored an obsessive desire over Shannon's mother. Using the information he had gotten from Shannon to learn about when and where she'll be, and when no one would be around to. Shannon couldn't possibly understand what happened, and went into a state of shock... Just locking herself into her own room, and never wanting to come out. She was horribly depressed, her entire world had collapsed in on itself. She just couldn't handle it anymore. This was a catalyst for her cynical attitude. One of the people she could trust most used that against her, and killed the one person she was close to. She had gotten the mindset that everyone wants something, no one is truly "nice", and always had something sneaky. It felt like days before Shannon left her room.
Shannon's father went to alcohol in order to cope, he honestly couldn't help his daughter. He got an addiction, but learned of how far he's fallen. He needed to be alone while he suffered. There was only one thing he could do; send her away. He had a friend over in a city called Black Fall, Jacob Javuant, easily his closest friend whom he would do anything for. Black Fall was an unfamiliar city to O'Connor, but he knew of how it was a hot spot for Meta-humans, he knew Shannon would fit in fine. Her father sent Shannon away on a bus to Black Fall, regardless of her protests. Eventually she gave up and accepted it. Mother killed, and sent away when she truly wanted to be close to her father was not a good combination for the rather unstable Shannon.
In Black Fall, Shannon lived in Westgate for what amounted to be a year. The Javuant household lived in a pretty nice house, and they had little kids to stay with (Young Jago and Newt). But Shannon kept herself distant, on many levels. She had no interest in connecting with anyone, or even
living. No matter how hard anyone tried. Until she had met her room mate, Deborah Javuant, a girl that was almost the same age as her. Deborah understood her thoughts, knew how she felt, and tried to help her, only to get pushed away by Shannon. Whom automatically assumed she had some ulterior motive. But Deborah was persistent, since she legitimately wanted to help the scorned girl. It worked, Deborah was the only person whom Shannon knew in this alien place, she had no choice but to stick with her. Over time, she had opened herself up to Deborah, and the girl acted as the therapist that Shannon had never gotten. Being the person who's shoulder Shannon cried on. Telling someone how she felt, and releasing all those bottled up emotions felt great. The two young girls connected on a deep level, they became friends fast, and Shannon stopped keeping herself closed off from the world.
That said, life went on as it normally did. Shannon wasn't as pushed into academics as she normally was, but she was still dedicated to school as anyone. After they took a decline, Shannon worked her butt off getting them back up. She figured that it wasn't the end of the world after her mother died, and was making the path to recovery. With the help of Deborah, whom over the months, she was getting very connected to. Hell, Shannon was even developing feelings for the girl - Which she had kept repressed because she was rather unsure of them herself and still had the notion that she
have to be hetero-sexual in her head. But no matter how hard she tried to repress them, she knew that they were there, and getting stronger.
But before she had the chance to explore these feelings, Shannon's father came straight to Black Fall, one year later, to get her daughter back. At this point, Shannon was eleven years old. But, she guessed all good things must come to an end. Her opinion of her father had severely degraded, to the point where she downright hated him, not saying a word to him - He had improved too, and respected her enough to give her space. She went back home, and what was easily the most surprising change was the fact that her father had met another woman, Cassidy Belmont, and were expecting a child. They were going to start a family, and her father wanted Shannon there. In all actuality, this made the girl furious, and she rejected her father even more now. Feeling as if he had betrayed her and her feelings. Fortunately, in the meantime, she had kept in touch with Deborah, they had talked to each other over the phone.
However, fate pushed the two together when her father announced that they were moving to Black Fall where they will get married after their first child was born. Shannon was excited to learn that she would be close to her only friend. In a few months, they had moved to a nice spot in West Gate suburbs. (Mostly) Free of crime and the perfect place to raise a new family. A few months later, this new child, named Blathnat Balore - Also known as Sugar. But her very existence made Shannon feel worse about herself. She knew that she was a relic of a life that was long gone, and it would only be a matter of time before she's discarded. Her fears never came true. That said, months after that Cassidy was married into the Balore family.
That said, the next few years were rather unremarkable. Yes, Shannon excelled with her school and her powers. At this point she was seventeen and had (mostly) gotten over the death of her mother. She hadn't gotten close to her sister, nor did she really like it when she got another brother. However, she had warmed up to Sugar after realizing how needlessly heartless and paranoid she was being. The girl was adorable, and she was a great way to practice her power. Making dresses and other outfits for the toddler. However, this was when Shannon and Deborah were closer than ever. They were best friends, but Shannon was on the end of a one sided crush. Shannon just couldn't take it anymore and she just awkwardly confessed her love to her best friend. As bad as Shannon thought it'd be, Deborah returned those feelings happily, having long known about them. However, Shannon nor Deborah's parents would approve of such a relationship. That was the point where they kept it a secret, and did romantic acts behind closed doors. That said, Shannon's life became far better. She graduated High-school not too long later.
Fast forward a few years, a few months before current events, when Shannon was just about to turn twenty, tragedy struck the Balore family when Sugar, and her father got into a car accident and were rushed to the hospital. Sugar had to get her leg cut off, and Shannon didn't hesitate to donate blood for her injured sister. Unfortunately, her father wasn't so lucky, while he didn't die, he was placed into a coma. Which put a tight hold on the Balore family's income. Shannon had to drop out of school for a while to keep the house afloat by using her power as a service, and making fancy clothes for whoever had the money to pay - but fortunately the Balore family got help from the Javuants. During this period, Shannon had noticed Sugar was acting strange. Like she made an imaginary friend, at that old of an age. With some other strange occurrence, Shannon had heavily suspected that her little sister was a meta-human - Which was all but confirmed when Sugar demonstrated her ability.
Shannon turned twenty-one and her father was still in a coma, with her family barely getting by.
Family:
Mother - Avigail Balore (Deceased)
Father - O'Connor Balore (Comatose)
Stepmother - Cassidy Balore
Brother - O'Brien Balore
Brother - Sean Balore
Sister - Blathnat Balore
Relationships
Deborah Javuant |
Perfect |
Secret lover |
"It might seem strange since she is my complete opposite… but yes, Debs is my girlfriend, indeed. We have so many excursions together when no one is looking... but the problem is that my family can't know about our relationship, neither can her family... They are too homophobic... I can only hope I can make them understand this is who I am." |
Blathnat "Sugar" Balore |
Warming up to |
Younger-Sister |
"I had to warm up to her, but I personally think she's cute... I'm just worried about anyone angering her "imaginary friend"...." |
Jago Javuant |
Neutral |
Debby's Brother |
"This kid's on the road to being just another egotistical swine, just the same as everyone else here... I hope Debby knows what she's doing." |
Aisha "Newt" Javuant |
Bad |
Debby's Sister |
"A young pain in the ass if you ask me...." |
Henry Olin |
Bad |
NEST Dog/Irrelevant |
"Sure, he appears to be an obedient pup. Sure everyone likes him.... But I want everyone to take a step back and wonder what he’d be like if he wasn’t leashed..." |
Karlie Davis |
Neutral |
Acquaintance |
"Yet another person who I met through Deebs. She isn't the person I wish to associate myself with, but she tries so damn hard that I had to warm up to her a little... I know our powers are related in a way, and the two of us can easily work together... Or I can easily disarm her." |
Abilities
Power Class & Rating: Elemental 6
Power: Clothing Manipulation. Alright, here's the 4-1-1, Shannon has the power to manipulate clothing, or more accurately, the materials they're comprised of. To start off, this gives her to ability to manipulate all fibers/fabrics (wool, silk, cotton, etc), denim, nylons, polyester, rayon, flannel, leather, feather down, linen, and spandex. These materials are what she can control the best. She can freely move it telekinetically with exceptional precision, and control - along with being able to move large quantities if she pleases. The most obvious use is that she can weave pretty much anything she can imagine out of these flexible materials. Clothes, weapons, barriers - you name it. But a major side-ability she has is that she can alter these materials properties (Absorbency, texture, weight/density, color, and structure). Shannon can also control the tensile strength of these materials. Tensile strength is more or less how much stress these materials can withstand before snapping. Thus, Shannon can alter that. She can give a single thread the strength of diamonds, or make any outfit bullet-resistant (Not proof, since they can't absorb the impact of the bullets). Which gives Shannon much, much, more flexibility with her power. There are other materials Shannon can control: Small quantities of metal (At least four forks worth), plastic, rubber, and latex. However, she cannot control these materials that well, and can only really move them. Which makes it easier for her to weave them into other outfits. All in all, this is a very versatile power that has plenty of flexibility and versatility if Shannon puts it to good use. She could fight some of the stronger Meta-humans evenly using her skill, creativity, and intelligence.
Abilities in her potential are...
Hair-Manipulation. Shannon will gain complete control of the hair of herself and others. She can alter, grow out, chance texture, color, etc., shape and manipulate it as if it was appendage, weave the hair into different shapes, etc. Along with the ability to alter the tensile strength of hair. But she cannot tear the hair off people.
Make-up Manipulation. Shannon will be able to telekinetically control various make up products (Eye-shadow, Lipstick, Mascara and so on). Whether it has been applied or not.
Jewelry Manipulation. An extension of her clothing manipulation, she can control jewelry, specially the metal and gemstones. This power is limited to only moving it.
Weaknesses/Drawbacks: For starters, Shannon can't pull clothes out her ass, while it's pretty much everywhere, there might not be enough resources for her to work with all the time. Shannon’s ability to manipulate the properties of clothes requires an active concentration to maintain, rather than just flicking her wrist and being done with it. If she loses concentration, the effects will begin to fade. It also takes far more effort to induce and maintain the more extreme changes in property, for example if she makes a single thread have the tensile strength of diamonds, it’ll take a fuckload of effort to keep it that way. In any case, fire and corrosive elements can easily destroy the clothes she's manipulating, regardless of any changes in property. Shannon's power has an effective-range of around twenty-five meters, she has difficulties using her powers outside this range. While she can pretty much make an outfit knife/bullet proof, it won't stop a punch or a really hard blow.
Other:
Themesong: Massive Attack - Black Milk