Name: Paige Melody Leroux
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Occupation: Intern at a psychologist's office, having graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology
Appearance: Standing at about 4'3" and weighing a mere 61 lbs, Paige is certainly no heavy-weight. In fact, her petite stature works with her heart-shaped face, button nose, and general youthful features to make her appear much younger than she actually is to most people. Her eyes are a bright blue that seem to twinkle with emotion and her shoulder-length hair is a natural platinum blonde. Normally, her hair is adorned with a variety of ribbons, hairbands, or barrette clips, but she usually just lets it down. Her normal attire consists of loose, comfortable clothing of pastel and/or bright colors.
Personality: One's first impression of Paige is that of a kindhearted and cheerful young girl. But, it doesn't take too long before people realize that her personality isn't quite normal. And it most certainly isn't. See, Paige suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), a condition that results in her feeling emotions more intensely and for longer periods of time than normal, in addition to an inability to control her emotions as would be expected of someone her age. While this results in her being quite infantile, it is also responsible for her caring, joyful nature.
As Paige also suffers from slight Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD), she comes across as rather clingy and submissive to people that she's grown to trust, willing to let others take the lead and depending on them for guidance and stability in her life. She tends to view those upon whom she depends as essentially superior to herself, feeling that they can handle the pressures of life very well. Unfortunately, she also has a tendency to see herself as incompetent or helpless, which is what causes her to cling to others. Now, her condition isn't as severe as that of others or her BPD, but it does play a role in determining her personality.
Really, these conditions result in Paige coming across as very immature and childlike, unable to fully handle the responsibilities of adulthood or control her emotions and behaviors as would be expected of someone her age. It is important to note, however, that the symptoms of these conditions can combine themselves in strange ways. A good example would be a sudden outburst of rage at a perceived insult to someone that she is loyal to.
Magic/Abilities: Aura Manipulation with an Emotional Lens – Paige's magic revolves around her ability to manipulate auric energy, or the energy of auras, regardless of the source. This allows her to charge her physical attributes, like strength or speed, to heightened levels in addition to projecting it as an attack or making constructs out of it. In a sense, it is a very versatile power, though she starts off being able only to push it out like a bubble around her.
The emotional lens part refers to the fact that the auric energy is given a different attribute depending upon her emotional state. This doesn't change it from being auric energy, however, so it is still manipulated in the same way. Only the effects of the auric energy on the environment is changed. For example, anger gives the aura the attribute of fire, which means that it both appears to be flames and does in fact burn things. What is interesting about this is that it only depends upon what Paige is feeling at the moment. If she takes the energy from someone else to use, their emotions do not change the attribute at all.
Emotions that give auric energy attributes:
[list]
Anger (Red) – Fire (energy appears as flames and can burn just about anything it hits, though it rarely sets things themselves on fire)Joy (Yellow) – Electricity (energy appears as electricity, but doesn't move as fast; can knock people out by overloading their nervous system)Love (White) – Healing/Light (energy appears brighter than normal)Grief (Blue) – Water (energy moves like a fluid)Terror (Yellow-green) – Reflective (reflects all energy based attacks; only works when in the form of a construct)Envy (Green) – Poison (energy can poison upon prolonged contact with the skin, or immediately if it enters the mouth somehow)Courage (Gold) – Metal (energy is very strong, great for building constructs)Embarrassment (Pink) – Invisibility (essentially allows her to turn herself invisible so long as she is feeling embarrassed)Trust/Hope (Brown) – Earth (energy appears to be made of a rocky material)Apathy (Gray) – None (straight up energy)Serenity (Cyan) – Ice (energy has the ability to freeze things; constructs are also able to be shattered with a strong blow or intense vibration)Surprise (Silver) – Air (energy doesn't exactly hit very hard; feels more like a wind blowing than anything)Excitement (Orange) – Sound (energy produces a sound upon impact with a solid substance; the frequency/amplitude of the sound depends on how much energy is put into the attack)Hatred (Black) – Darkness (energy absorbs light, but is pretty straightforward)Though not able to control the emotional states of herself or others, Paige can detect what people are feeling at a glance. In a combat situation, it is relatively useless, but it does come in handy with her job.
Bio: Paige's conditions didn't exactly go unnoticed when she was a child, though that isn't to say that they were caught early on. Her parents merely believed her hyperactive, clingy behavior to be a phase that wasn't all that uncommon among children, and it wasn't until she was fourteen years old that they decided to have her checked. Incidentally, the prompting incident wasn't that they figured she wasn't acting in a manner that was appropriate for her age. It was actually a fight that she got into with another student when they made jokes about her older brother. Despite her small stature, she did significant damage to the other student. Granted, it wasn't really something that would be considered a 'win' because they both had to be taken to the hospital for treatment, but it was quite the eye-opener to her parents.
Unfortunately, it was still quite a while before the diagnosis was official and even longer before treatment could begin, as her parents were in the lower-middle class and were unable to afford the exorbitant fees for a psychologist. It also didn't help matters that, shortly after her diagnosis at the age of thirteen, the her and her father were involved in a car accident that totaled their vehicle and left them in the hospital for several weeks. Even after they were released, there were still complications, like her father's difficulty in walking long distances or standing for prolonged periods of time and her urinary incontinence. All of these costs is what delayed the beginning of her treatment by another four years.
Incidentally, the accident is when she discovered that she had powers. The immense terror of seeing the semi-truck bearing down towards them and the hopelessness that accompanied the thought that there was nothing they could do to stop it was what prompted their awakening. Though she was unaware of it, she had encased herself and her father in a bubble of auric energy. It wasn't enough to prevent them from getting hurt at all, obviously, but it did lessen the damage and save their lives. After that, she tried to forget what she had done. Her powers made her feel like even more of a freak than she already had, so she wasn't exactly proud of them.
Apart from the weekly meetings with her psychologist, Dr. Munroe, and her dealing with the aftereffects of the accident, Paige's life continued as normal. The therapy, though not as effective as desired, did do her a world of good. It helped her learn to manage her impulses a little better and to be a little more independent, while also giving her an outlet for issues she didn't feel that she could tell her parents. In fact, it was her experience with Dr. Munroe that prompted her to try and get into college for a Bachelor's degree in Psychology.
As most colleges were understandably apprehensive about accepting someone with personality disorders and, technically a criminal record, she only ended up getting accepted to a small college inside the city, which allowed her to commute, something that was probably for the best, as it allowed her a safety cushion of sorts while at college. After four years and a lot of work, she graduated and was able to get an internship at Dr. Munroe's office to try and figure out a way to go for her doctorate.
Extra: Paige suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD), and urinary incontinence due to an injury to her nervous system. The same injury also causes moments of numbness in her lower abdomen and legs and has actually resulted in her falling down when the numbness is particularly intense.
Paige loves to paint, even if she isn't the best at it. She's also a huge fan of playing video games with her friends. Though she doesn't admit it, she does enjoy watching cartoons, especially ones that focus on comedy. Her BPD causes her to enjoy them very much.