Name
Natalie Willow

Age
27

Sex
Female

Description
Natalie is of a petite stature, standing at a whopping 5’ 1” (61 inches). Her hair is a rich chocolate brown color that contrast with her fair, sometimes pale, skin. It is fairly long, sometimes reaching all the way to the bottom of her back and is naturally straight. She has round blue/grey eyes with dark lashes that encompass them and eyebrows that, when she doesn’t keep up with them, tend to grow faster than the norm. While she is short, Nat has flattering curves that only came to her after the birth of her child, before she was a skinny mini with nothing to show really. There is nothing truly special about her in regards to tattoos or piercings, having always preferred to not delve into the wild side. The one thing she does have to show for that she isn’t a complete stick in the mud would be the hoop she has on her nose piercing that she got when she was drunk for the first time in college. There are no ink markings on her or scars except for the ones that came during giving labor to her baby. Her clothing preference is pretty simple; loose tops and workout leggings. On the rare occasion does she actual dress up for herself, leaving the nicer clothes for work since they have a business casual/professional rule.

Power

Regenerative Abilities (Healing)

In the long run, Natalie’s ability will not only be able to help her in regards to self-healing, but also heal others. As they develop at first though, there’s not a flashing sign that points to her saying she has abilities. She may fall and scrape her knee but all that happens is that by the next day she’s almost completely healed. The only time that she thought something was off was when she fractured her foot and within four days the pain went away, so she went to see her doctor before her set appointment and when the x-rays were taken, the foot had gone back to normal. Still she thought it was perhaps the doctors diagnosing her injury incorrectly. Qualities of her healing ability include:

• Cellular Healing/Healing Factor/Regeneration
• Rapid Regeneration

Limitations of the ability are that at starting stages the healing is very small and at times very slow. It takes up much of her energy which might take time to recoup as well as a bit of help from Nat, for example, drinking plenty of water and making sure that eats constantly because her ability is constantly working and of course sleeping plenty. A major con to her ability, that will come in effect as she masters it, would be that too much healing could cause damage to others. If she chooses to heal others, her healing works in ways of the cells regenerating, but if she were to slip up and focus too much of her self onto whatever is being healed, she could begin the stages of cancer. The regeneration would trigger spontaneous and uncontrollable duplication of the cells, leading someone to become fatally ill.

History
A wild ride would be one way of describing Natalie’s life. She was an only child to her first family, her father a firefighter and mother was a stay at home wife/mom. Trying to remember her first family tends to be difficult for Nat, not because of the traumatic experience, but because she was too young. At the age of two, Natalie’s father died in a fire accident when a building collapsed while a group of firemen were performing a rescue. Her mother was not the only one grieving, and had a large support group whom loved her, but the desolation took over and in the early hours of the day she decided to take her own life. How Natalie was found, she does not know. All she knows is that she was sent to live with her godmother and godfather. She lived a fairly normal life with them, learning how to live life not being the only child and having constant reminders of her parent’s deaths.

During high school Natalie was always the quiet one that read her book and ate lunch alone, until her senior year when she met Liam. They were high school sweethearts who went off to marry at a young age of 20 years old. They were born and raised in the small town of Dipping Springs, Texas where it was common to marry young and fall into a common job such as a teacher or a librarian. For the first couple of years being married, Natalie was content with her life. She would go and help out in the community library while her husband went into being a fire fighter like many young men. At the age of 25 the happy couple found out that they were going to be first time parents which brought on the question, could they afford to bring in a baby to their already financially tight home? The arguments began and seemed to never stop as Natalie insisted that she had to get a real job in order for them to be able to live comfortably, and in order for her to get a real job, moving to Austin was the only way. Needless to say the marriage ended up falling apart before the baby came when Natalie decided to pack her bags and leave town to head to the city. With little to no contact with Liam, even through out the divorce, Natalie learned her ex husband’s true colors.

Nat lived with her “sister” from the moment she left their small town, getting help where she could in regards to baby sitting while she went to her job during the day, worrying about how her following day would be.

26 | Male

Description
Matthias is average in most regards when it comes to his physicality. Standing at 5' 11" he is taller than most women but shorter than many men and, although he would rarely admit it to anyone, this deals him some strong feels of inadequacy. His hair, once a bright blond but now darker, is of a chestnut colour and is wavy, always brushed neatly to form a semblance of a side parting although when it grows longer it becomes better at resisting his attempts to control it. The only bright colour in his rather bland natural appearance, for his skin is pale and is stubborn at accepting a tan, shines from his eyes which are a light brown, like his hair, but they seem somehow brighter and shine from behind his glasses with ever present amusement.

His face, although still youthful, shows the marks of age with faint lines on his forehead and around his eyes although they only become noticeable when he is thinking or smiling, both of which he does a great deal of. He usually wears glasses, although he may change to contact lenses during summer or when he plans on physical activity, which are square with a thin black frame around three edges of the lens and thick arms.

Of an athletic build, Matthias is still in good shape and regular exercises through sports like badminton, cricket and swimming but he never spends time in the gym, unable to get himself to commit to a proper workout unless he is competing with someone else. He has broad shoulders but otherwise a slim frame.

Generally, Matthias choose to dress formally, a suit jacket and trousers with a smart shirt although he will not wear a tie unless the event calls for it. His clothing is not particularly expensive, on the budget end of formal and shows signs of extensive wear although never so much that it could be considered run down. Colours of choice for Matthias are generally neutral, particularly blues on the paler end of the spectrum. During the cooler months he will not be found without his scarf, a fraying and hand-knitted item gifted by his now deceased grandmother some years ago, and black wool and cashmere winter coat.

Power - Chronokinesis
An infallible sounding power, to be sure: the ability to manipulate time. Even with the necessary caveats about the dangers of messing with the natural flow of time, such an ability seems unstoppable but the way in which Matthias' Gift manifests itself is unusual.

Matthias can only amend time in a small, fixed area. To put it simply, he drops a 'speed bubble' in which time is either increased or decreased. Once anything enters the bubble its time is also changed. For example, if a bullet were to enter a 'speed bubble' that had increased time within, it would appear to be moving slowly to those within the bubble but would suddenly accelerate to normal speed once it entered the bubble although in actuality its velocity never changed.

One, unusual, use of this ability is that Matthias can 'see' past events by turning time back within the speed bubble (he cannot turn time forwards, only increase its speed). He cannot interact with the past and is like a spectator.

Limitations
-Cannot stop time
-Can only affect a small area around himself
-To begin with can only place the speed bubble in a small area around himself and not remotely
-The Gift is exhausting to use, even small changes and areas require considerable energy
-Can be extremely disorienting, especially with repeated or prolonged use resulting in Matthias moving too slowly/quickly even outside of the bubble

Brief history
A British national born to a Welsh mother and an English father whom he has never met, nor has any desire to, Matthias was raised by his mother and her parents along the west coast of Wales. Despite its remote nature, the town of Aberystwyth held both a university and the National Library of Wales at which he spent a great deal of his younger years reading. Such a regular visitor as he was, the curator soon found a kindred spirit in Matthias and allowed him privileged access to some of the older, and otherwise off-limits, material held there although always under his own strict supervision.

Encouraged by his mother, a steel worker who was made redundant after her mill was closed down and then retrained as a car mechanic, Matthias pursued a more academic path than his recent forebears. His enthusiasm and passion for history, imbued in him as it was at such a young age, carried him rapidly through university both as an undergraduate and then as a masters student both in the same town in which he grew up.

Throughout these years he developed a great affection for the sports of badminton, cricket and swimming although, as a Welshman, he also adored rugby even if he was considered too small to play it in the highly competitive leagues of Wales. His primary passion, though, was always for history and, upon finishing his master's degree, decided that he was lacking in the profession of archaeology and sought after funding for a research degree in the subject.

Surprisingly, his best offer came from the USA in the form of a generous grant and invitation from Yale. After lengthy consultation with his mother, and ageing grandparents, Matthias left to begin his degree in America. His now longtime partner, a medical biologist graduate from his same graduate year, was less pleased although just as supportive of his choice. Matthias and Rhiannon are still maintaining their relationship, despite the challenges the trans-Atlantic distance poses.

Alchemy

Mercer Blaine

26

Male

Mercer is a tall young man. Standing at 6'4" and 205, he lacks the muscular definition to be deemed intimidating. In fact his height is the only "intimidating" thing about him. He meets the eye as a run-of-the-mill twenty-something, complete with coffee-addiction and all. His hair is always cleaned, well-kept, and styled. He maintains a trimmed stubble on his jaw, though he rarely grows his facial hair out. Style-wise, Mercer often wears muted or dark colors (black, blue, gray, maroon, etc). He only wears pants, never shorts, and usually sports a jacket of some kind, often his favorite denim and wool jacket.

Mercer has the power to teleport from one location to another. Upon activation, himself and everything within a two foot radius is pulled into dimensional tear of sorts, and is spit back out of the other end of the rift. Mercer can choose where the other side of the rift appears and which direction he is ejected. When a Mercer teleports, he leaves behind a dimensional tear that lasts for about five seconds. This means that any one can enter the rift and appear through the same exit. Another potential flaw is that the portal sends an object out of it at the same velocity at which it enter. For instance, if he fell from a high place and teleported himself away, he would shoot out at his destination at the same speed he was falling.

Mercer's abilities spawn from his deepest desire: escape. He wants to escape his circumstances and seek a better life, he desires to travel and see the world, he desires never to be trapped again.


Mercer Blaine was born and raised in Los Angeles California to his mother, a restaurant manager, and his father, an aspiring film director. His family was never wealthy, as his mother made less than average pay and his father's film career never really took off. He went to school and played sports like any other kid in elementary, but his high school life changed him forever.

His father, though he was a good man, fell into an affair with a co-worker. Though his dad tried to cut the affair off and repair his family, Mercer's mom wanted a divorce. His parents split up and he and his mom moved to Nashville, Tennessee with his grandparents. Though he miss LA, Nashville suited him well. It was the center of the "hip" culture scene, littered with coffee shops, music venues, and record stores. He worked most of his life at a coffee shop downtown, but always aspired to become a music producer. He taught himself to use sound technology, programs like Logic Pro and Abelton. His unmotivated personality got in the way, however. He always found himself working on a project, quitting, getting pissed at himself, and drinking himself to sleep that night. While he isn't an alcoholic, in his lower points, he quite commonly drowns his sorrow with drink.

Name
John Dexter Severin

Age
47

Sex
M

Description
6' tall, 210 pounds. Dirty blond hair and beard, sharp blue eyes. Still in good physical shape, although combat and the intervening years have worn him down to a certain degree. He almost always rugged, practical, outdoor clothing.

Power
JD can generate and channel vibrations from his hands. He will be able use this gift to shake whatever he touches. Depending on the make-up of the object, he could reach its resonant frequency and cause it to shake apart. If he touches a living being, he can "shock" them with a high-frequency buzz (think of a giant joy buzzer). Once he manifests, his power level would be very low to start with (like maybe being able to shatter a juice glass or a window), and get progressively stronger. (I'm also toying with the idea that his medication limits his power, so that the only way to reach his true potential is to go off his meds... not sure what you think of that notion...)

Limitations
He can't "shoot" vibrations through the air at people. The effect is not instantaneous; the larger and tougher the object, the longer it would take JD to shake it apart. The longer it takes, the more of a drain it is on him.

Brief history
JD grew up in a small farming town. He didn't care much about school, but he did enjoy athletics and hunting. Bored of his hometown, JD joined the Marines right out of high school, and wound up doing a full 20 years. He saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Due to problems with fighting and insubordination, JD bounced between ranks, and was a Private First Class when he retired.

JD's military pension was held up and eventually reduced due to some legal wrangling that was never adequately explained to him. Feeling betrayed by Uncle Sam and dealing with PTSD, JD bounced from town to town and job to job, until he finally found a job in the warehouse of a national wilderness supply store chain. Looking for the stability the military had once provided, JD fell in with a local "militia," and began to get steeped in anti-government dogma. He became convinced that the U.S. government was on the verge of instituting national martial law, and he plotted with fellow militia members ways to bring down government institutions and fight the imminent takeover.

JD began struggling with virulent nightmares, and eventually went to see a VA doctor. The doctor prescribed antipsychotic medication that JD was very reluctant to take, but after a particularly bad night, he started the medication routine. To his surprise, the drug reduced his nightmares and daytime episodes - at which point JD realized he was hanging around with some very dangerous people. While he hasn't "broken ranks" with the militia (he still feels that the government is up to something very sinister involving overthrowing the democracy, and the recent treatment of the Gifted hasn't brightened that outlook any), he is now aware that there are some very unstable people in the "movement," and he is considering distancing himself from their efforts. He is still very much in favor of stopping this action through violent means, but he is taken aback by the lack of concern for civilian casualties some militia members express.