Margaret Andersen | 16 | Female
Appearance:
Maggie has dark red hair that never looks brushed and dark brown eyes. Her skin was cream colored at one point, but is now consistently dirty-looking due to all of her freckles. She has an innocent face without any wrinkles or scars. Her arms and legs are covered in faint scars, though. Maggie is not self-conscious of them. She stands at 5’7”. Her build errs on the side of lanky with evidence of enough muscle to stand up for herself.
Powers:
Energy Manipulation: Maggie has the ability to extend both static and kinetic energy from her body. Static energy has the potential to electrocute people (though only ever static shock), overwhelm electrical interfaces, and burn out light bulbs at its strongest. Kinetic energy manifests itself in “force fields” which Maggie can use to push people and objects with minor force. These "force fields" are like blast waves in the way that they can be resisted and even broken through.
Weaknesses/Limitations:
Sporadic: Maggie has a hard time controlling her abilities. She, often times, does not willfully trigger her static energy, nor can she pull it back in. Maggie does have the ability to willfully manipulate her kinetic energy. It is difficult for her to start projecting energy, but once she has established a strong enough force, she can keep it going. The attacks are triggered by adrenaline spikes, an increase in blood sugar, or rapid heart rate.
Weak: Neither one of Maggie’s energies are strong enough to do tremendous harm to anyone or anything, at least on its own. On the onset, both were strong enough to break lightbulbs and fling things across rooms. If Maggie is in a stressful situation, she can extend her energy farther and use much more of it, due to adrenaline, but for the most part, the energies are weak. With kinetic energy, Maggie can move objects slowly, but only ones that she can see and that she would be able to lift with her own muscles. Static energy mostly relies on contact, but even then is never strong enough to kill anyone. Maggie can cause minor surface burns and short bursts of small group muscle spasms.
Painful: Using either kinetic or static energy causes Maggie immense pain. She gets an instant headache and motion sickness. The projection of kinetic energy creates an out-of-body experience which makes her dizzy. Static energy causes the synapses in her brain to fire more rapidly, in turn forcing higher blood pressure in order to move more oxygen and faster. Afterwards, Maggie is left in a state of mild shock, so it takes her a while to recover from using her abilities.
Personality:
Maggie is the physical representation of naïve. She does not know a lot, but is quick and eager to learn. She does not have any problems with authority unless it threatens her values or her brother. Maggie is no stranger to following orders. She is not easy to manipulate, however, and can be extremely reluctant and stubborn if she deems necessary, which is not very often.
Backstory:
Margaret grew up in the deep mountains of District 1. She and her large family primarily lived in a system of bunkers. Her father and his family lived in fear of the nuclear war. They were conspiracy chasers who believed anything they heard. When the first bomb was launched, the Andersens grabbed everyone they knew and headed underground. In the first month of the nuclear attacks, the area above their shelters was bombed, justifying their fear. No one left the bunker, which was the principle rule.
Margaret was not the first of her father’s children to be born in the bunkers, but was the first and only of her mother’s. Her mother was one of the younger members of the family, who became pregnant at 17 and gave birth to Margaret when she was only 18. Margaret was mothered by every woman there. She was deeply loved by every member of the family, in fact. Her job while growing up was to cook and clean with all of the women. By day, Margaret was perfectly happy and normal, but at night, she struggled. At the age of fifteen, Maggie began to have trouble sleeping. She would often wake up screaming in pain. Her half-siblings, who slept in the same room as her and their mothers and father, noticed their things would be strewn about the room as if someone had torn the room apart. The lightbulbs would still be faintly glowing with vestiges of an electrical current. At first, the sleepless nights would be few and far in between, but as Maggie got older, they became more frequent and were eventually no longer assigned to the night. In the course of only one month, the powers were too powerful to deny any longer. In the kitchen, the lights would glow brighter as Maggie dropped to her knees, hands pressing into her head, screaming in pain. Pots, pans, knives, and food would fly around, the water would turn on, and women would be pushed back by concussive waves. The other children stopped talking to her, aside from her older half-brother, Vincent, who was 18 at the time and had been experiencing some abilities of his own. Margaret’s father was forced to take action. He, a middle aged man who had been raised in an extremely ignorant environment, thought it would be best for her to be exorcised. She was moved from the family room to her own private one. The walls were lined with poorly constructed crosses in hopes that whatever demon they thought was tormenting her would be discouraged and go back home. Margaret was not tortured by her family; however, she was confused and personally insulted by their sudden distance from her. The only person who stayed close to Maggie was Vincent. They were the closest, not only out of their father’s children, but of all of the children in the bunkers.
Though she was no longer doted on, Margaret never saw the stress caused by dwindling resources, conflict in the family, or the fear of what would await them above ground when they were forced to leave. However, her mother saw everything. She knew that, soon, the bunkers would not be a fitting place for a fifteen year old girl. She feared the consequences of running off, but knew that, whatever the outside world was like, it would be better for Margaret than staying inside for the rest of her life. The next month was filled with deception. She took more food from storage, claiming to be pregnant again. She gathered survival books from the makeshift library, guns from the armory, and began to tell stories of what the world was like before the war, in hopes that the outside was even remotely the same as she remembered it.
One early morning, before anyone was awake, she woke Margaret and Vincent. She led them to a part of the bunker that they had never seen before, the exit. She gave them their bags, filled with clothes, food, maps, and a GPS and sent them on their way. Margaret was, of course, crushed. She spent a good hour sitting on a nearby fallen tree and crying. Once the shock wore away, she watched the sun rise for the first time in her life. She explored what was left of the burned forest around the bunkers, and, when she was done, she followed Vincent towards the nearest city.
It took them nearly two months to find any humans. Margaret learned how to hunt and which plants were okay to eat. She went from a little girl to a resourceful young woman within those two months. Without having to worry about being set apart for her powers, Margaret taught herself how to control her kinetic energy. She could only work in small amounts of time, but she made incredible progress. Although, no matter how strong she became, Margaret had no idea what the real world was like. She had been isolated her whole life and so never prepared herself for what was to come.
When the pair stumbled upon New Denver, she was eager to build a life, but Vincent was reluctant. He noticed that the rules here were much different from what Margaret’s mother said. It was his idea to stay low. Margaret was heartbroken, but followed suit. They fell into a life of petty crime. Pickpocketing was how the two managed to get money for food and medicine. They camped out in some abandoned buildings on the outskirts of New Denver. This peaceful, but still isolated life lasted for only six weeks.
Margaret’s powers, at this point, had mellowed out and were barely there anymore. She was barred from using them, due to Vincent’s worry of what might happen if somebody noticed. Occasionally, they would spring up again. The pain, which Margaret was not used to, was too much. On the last day Margaret and Vincent were in New Denver, they were spotted by some local police who had been following their case. Just as Vincent told Maggie to run, her powers relapsed. The shock wave pushed everyone in the crowded plaza back by ten feet all around her. The lights grew brighter and some even burned out. Margaret passed out after three seconds of blood-curdling screaming. To say that there was panic in the area would be a gross understatement. The police immediately arrested her, still crackling with static electricity, and Vincent, who was more panicked than anyone else. The next thing she knew, Margaret was waking up, without Vincent, in a strange room.
Talents/Skills:
Margaret is good at reading maps and memorizing floor plans. She is talented at tying knots and cleaning animal bodies for meat. Very good with knives and guns.
Quirks/Habits/Other:
She pulls at her bangs when she is feeling shy or anxious. Margaret also has a habit of latching on to people she knows, even if she doesn’t know them well. She gets squirmy and anxious when asked about her powers, for fear that someone will ask her to show them.
TL/DR:
A sweet, naïve girl who knows little to nothing about how the world actually works, but will not hesitate to stand up for what she believes in. Margaret also fears her powers.
Vincent Andersen | 19 | Male
Appearance:
Vincent is 6’3” and built like a brick wall. He spent three years lifting bulk-sized boxes of rations and gallons of water, which helped develop his muscles alongside the testosterone rush of puberty. He has brown eyes, which he inherited from his mother. He is one half Ute, also inherited from his mother. Vincent’s hair is dark brown, thick, and always formed into a crew cut.
He was arrested in a blue t-shirt, a thick canvas jacket, roughed-up dark wash blue jeans, and brown sneakers that were once white. That is what you’ll find him in, seeing as the police failed to find the rest of his clothes.
Powers:
Clairvoyance and Psychometry: The ability to see, hear, smell, and sense moments from the past or future. The visions manifest in clips of sound, vision, smell, temperature, and other such samples of experience. They are brought on by a trigger which could be touching an object or hearing a word/phrase/sound.
Weaknesses/Limitations:
It’s Like Scrapbooking
Instead of episodic visions, Vincent’s visions are more like sensory clues. He does not see complete scenes with sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. More often than not, Vincent only receives one element of experience. When more than one is present, they appear as if from different moments; the smell of vanilla and the panicked inability to breathe, for instance.
Paralyzed
It’s not exactly difficult to tell when Vincent is having a vision. His eyes gloss over and he tries his hardest to stand still, lest he bump into someone or fall into a hole. When a vision manifests as a specific sense, Vincent loses the ability to use that sense on his own. This is particularly troublesome when sight is involved.
Disorientation
Vincent, when coming out of one of his stupors, looks a lot like a confused newborn horse. The transition between alien memories and his own is jarring. It takes a while for Vincent to adjust to the ‘real world’ after foreseeing something. The longer the vision, the more disoriented Vincent gets. He has gotten better at coming back from a vision, though. When the power first appeared, Vincent got dizzy and threw up after the visions ended. Now, it’s reduced to a mild headache and remembering exactly where he is.
Personality:
With a build like his, there’s no wonder where Vincent’s intimidating confidence comes from. He walks with perfect posture and quick steps, which gives him an air of authority no matter where he actually lies on the food chain. His resting position, legs at shoulder width apart and arms crossed, added to his unerring eye contact makes Vincent seem like a scary young man. Truthfully though, Vincent should have been a high school counselor. He is more in tune with the needs of others than his own needs. He’s very good at picking up when something is wrong and is so willing to help that it’s disgusting. To those who know him, he radiates ‘nurturing big brother’ vibes.
Vincent is, outwardly, very optimistic, not to mention a strong leader. He’ll be the first to look at a situation and say, “We can do this.” Inside his brain, he is just as frightened of the world as a person could be. This whole outside business makes him more uncertain than he’s ever been. The only person he’d ever tell is his sister, Margaret. Secretly, Vincent is happy to be in a facility that provides food and doesn’t ask too many questions.
He is not afraid to fight anyone or anything that comes at him or those he cares about. If he gets tested, Vincent will prove exactly how tough he can be. Generally, Vincent isn’t a fan of fights, but won’t hesitate to end one if someone starts something.
Backstory:
Vincent’s family is part of an underground community that, as far as the government is concerned, went missing at the beginning of the nuclear disaster. The Andersen family had a mansion sized bunker built during the onset of the cold war. When they caught wind of nuclear bombs hitting the U.S., they escaped underground, along with nearly every other family in their small mountain town. Years after the first bombs hit, fear of the outside still kept them from leaving the bunkers. Fear didn’t stop them from having kids, though.
Vincent was the seventh child born underground, third child born to his mother, a Ute woman, and his father’s first son. He grew up working with the men of the community; resolving conflicts, moving supplies, and caring for the elderly. He loved spending time with his younger siblings. Vincent quickly took the role of leader among them, up until one of his half-sisters, Margaret, was moved away from everyone else. Vincent spent most his last few months in the bunkers with her. He had no idea what was happening to his half-sister except for the thought that she might be going through what he was, a malfunction. Vincent’s malfunction started happening when he was fifteen. Luckily for him, it manifested during a particularly bad cold. He saw burnt trees and heard screaming. Vincent blamed it on the fever and nothing was said about it afterwards. He knew to keep it to himself. People who were different weren’t accepted into the family, which is a fact he saw the effects of every day as a makeshift police officer.
(Everything lines up with Margaret Andersen’s bio after this point. Basically, one of his non-biological moms was like, yo, get outta here while you still can, and shoved him and Margaret out. Then they were in the woods for a while and then they got caught by the fuzz cuz Maggie freaked out. I'll type it all up eventually.)
Talents/Skills:
Vincent is very good at listening and making sure whoever is talking feels heard. He is also a good marksman and tracker. He can climb trees and tie knots like a good boy scout.
Quirks/Habits/Other:
Vincent has a petrifying fear of the dark. He isn’t afraid of the night, when it’s naturally dark. He’s afraid of man-made darkness. It manifested when he was 4 years old, during a game of hide-and-seek with his siblings. He locked himself in a lit closet which was, unknowingly, out of bounds. After a while, the lightbulb went out, leaving him alone in the dark for the entire day. Since then, he’s had to ask someone else to turn the lights out after he falls asleep.
TL/DR:
Vincent is a soft spoken, clairvoyant young man with a terrifyingly strong will to survive and protect.
