Daisedconfused

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

I had to reread my post this morning 'cause I was a teeny bit drunk when I wrote it last night. ;o I changed what she said at the end a tiny bit.

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

Marlowe Tolfell

Marlowe realised a little too late that, "Are you okay?" was a dumb question in their current situation. Undoubtedly, not one of the forty inmates Malfunctions piled into this room were okay, and they probably didn't want or need to be reminded of that. The boy - er, man - took a minute to organize himself and his thoughts, so she spent that time looking him over. He seemed a bit cramped in his bunk when he was sitting up, and his legs were long, so he was tall. She didn't mind that sort of thing but she was kinda glad that she'd met him when he was sitting down, or else he might've been a bit intimidating. He looked strong, too. She realised she was being a bit judgmental, and he still hadn't responded, maybe she shouldn't have said anything after all. Luckily, he didn't seem all that bothered. He gave her a nice face and a fake answer, and she wasn't going to call him out on it.

Well actually, she kind of was, but not in a mean way. Of course he wasn't fine. She swallowed hard and gave a smile, although it didn't come out right.

"It's okay," She said, hoarsely. "I'm not fine either." She didn't mean to sound like she thought he was a liar or anything, but in this situation it was pretty obvious that none of them were actually okay. She was shooting for "comforting", or "relateable", or at least she was trying to. She just didn't know how.

Marlowe's cheeks went hot when he pointed out her wrist. It wasn't too bad and she hadn't been trying to draw attention to it. When he leaned closer to inspect it she gave an awkward, breathy laugh, though it didn't sound much like one, and started chewing on her lips out of nervous habit. Being looked at that way had always made her uncomfortable, like she had to explain herself. She probably wouldn't have to here, but she couldn't stop herself from reacting awkwardly.

"It's just a little swollen." There were plenty of other injured people, she wasn't a exactly a special case. Marlowe cracked another smile, a little easier than the last one, and gave a gentle squeeze to her wrist to prove to him that it wasn't a big deal. She wasn't lying, it didn't hurt. She just didn't think it was necessary to go into the details.

They were both too exhausted to try and keep up with false pretenses or fake conversations. Marlowe sighed and leaned her head against the wooden bar of her bunk.

"I don't really know what to do with myself." Marlowe didn't know why she was forcing the conversation, but she was. Talking was helping keep her mind off of things. "This is probably the worse thing I've ever been through," It made her life sound so cushy, and maybe it had been. She'd just been taking it for granted.

"How about you?"

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

@SecretlyDiscord Sounds like a good number to me. I figured I would ask, 'cause everyone likes to run things a little differently. And yeah, I like this site a lot, that's why I came back. :B

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

@Witch Cat Thanks! I actually used this site last time I was roleplaying. Which was like... two years ago. :c

@SecretlyDiscord I wanna reply right away, eep! Since it's a group rp I should probably wait for someone else, right? Or does it not matter?

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

Well, I hope it isn't dying. :O

And I just got an IC post up. I haven't written anything in forever so I'm having a hard time finding my style again, buuut it's something, haha!

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

Marlowe Tolfell

There's a certain type of hopelessness that can't be ignored. No amount of day dreaming calms the nerves or makes things better, and no number of reassuring words or muttered prayers bring comfort. This was a problem for professional day dreamer, Marlowe Tolfell, who wanted nothing more than the illusion that things were less bad than they really were. It was there now, filling the train like a bad smell. A sort of sadness that was loud in the quiet. You could hear it if you listened: tapping fingers from nervous habit, quiet sobs from scared children, and the intense silence. No one wanted to say anything, they were too scared. Some feared being disciplined, but most just wanted to be able to pretend that this wasn't happening, if only for a little longer. Or at least that's what Marlowe wanted. She didn't know what to do with herself. She was tired and hungry, but she couldn't sleep and the chances of a hot meal in her future were less than slim. So she did nothing. She kept doing nothing for a long time. After a while the minutes and hours all blurred together into one big headache. Time became just a word rather than a concept, or a study, or a definition. This went on until finally the train eased to a stop, wheels creaking tiredly, and then there was light.

With the light there came shouting, pushing, pulling, and a man in an olive jacket. It was, bluntly, a hot mess. Even once they had been ushered off of the train, there was still more shoving and squeezing and even some trampling. Everything had felt surreal up until now, but it was starting to get to her. Marlowe was getting scared. She felt so tiny in the bundle of hysterical people. There were so many of them, but she thought she could have been the smallest of them all. It was overwhelming. The guards were being unnecessarily rough, people were packed so tightly that it was hard not to knock into someone else and she was no exception. Everyone was forced closer to the center, where the man with the olive suit stood impatiently waiting.

He talked loud and stood tall. He was trying to be intimidating, and it worked. There was something about Sir that was like a slap in the face. It all felt very real now, and she was scared. So, so scared. Marlowe couldn't do anything as she was nudged into line, questioned, ID'd and given her sleepwear. She couldn't even hear her own thoughts over the sound of her heart racing. For a long few minutes she just stood there, unable to process everything that was happening. The last however-long had been a blur, she was supposed to find a bed, change her clothes, but did it really matter? Marlowe couldn't think straight. After wasting some time digesting the situation, she managed to find an open mattress. She didn't see who was on the top bunk, she didn't even know if there was anyone on it yet. Marlowe got dressed quickly. She was too shocked to be embarrassed and too scared to care how big her pants were. Everyone was too busy getting the grips on themselves to care about some flat-chested girl getting changed, anyway. This was a place full of scared kids, not perverts. She considered it safer in here than any of the other places she'd been these last twenty four hours, although that didn't mean she felt safe.

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Marlowe wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting up in her bed, but her hands had finally stopped shaking. Now that she'd calmed down, she saw that her wrist was swollen and a little bruised. She'd probably done it during the hectic speech earlier but she couldn't feel it, and either way it didn't matter. For the first time she took a minute to look around her. Everyone was very focused on themselves. It wasn't a bad thing, most of them didn't know anyone there, although she saw a few people coupled up here and there. She wasn't exactly in the mood to make new friends herself, but it was a little reassuring to see that she wasn't the only one freaking out. She was one of the oldest ones there. Marlowe saw plenty of red eyes and solemn faces, a good amount of people were nursing minor wounds from earlier, and there was a lot of anger.

There was an older boy at a nearby bunk who looked especially stressed. He had his hands over his ears and he was muttering to himself, but Marlowe didn't know whether or not she should say anything. Why would she? She didn't know him, and she didn't know how to comfort herself right now, let alone anyone else. After a few minutes the murmuring stopped and he sat up, looking as tired as she felt. Marlowe realised she was staring when he suddenly looked right at her, his eyes glossy. She went stiff, but after a few seconds she figured out that he wasn't really looking at her so much as looking at anything. Marlowe was pretty sure she'd been like that, too, up until a couple of minutes ago.

"Are you, er, okay?" Marlowe asked him quietly.

She felt extremely awkward. It was the first time she'd talked optionally since the beginning of this whole ordeal and she hadn't really meant to. It just happened. Her voice was thick and crackly, and she spoke so quietly she wasn't even sure if he'd heard her. If he hadn't, it might be for the best. What kind of a conversation could they possibly have right now? Not a healthy one.

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

Just posted her CS. I'll have a post up not too long from now. :>

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

Marlowe Tolfell

Marlowe Tolfell| 19 | Female

Appearance:

Marlowe isn't considered conventionally attractive. Her hair is thick and gray and riddled with split ends, despite being kept short above her shoulders. Her eyes are dark and tired looking. Her pale completion and pointed chin can make her look like a doll, and in Marlowe's opinion her button-nose is one of her only cute features.

Marlowe stands at an intimidating 5'0" and is built like a little stick man: flat, skinny and tiny. Not exactly built for life in prison TEF-149. Multiple, pearly-white scars cover her arms, legs, face and every other visible part of her body. Most, if not all of the scars, are tiny and hard to see. Because her skin is so pale they almost blend in, but not quite.

She has a mole on her right shoulder and a birthmark on her butt. ;B

Powers:

Pain manipulation: Marlowe can manipulate her body's ability to feel pain. More specifically, she can both amplify and numb out her pain by messing with how her brain registers it. This is very hard to control, and seems to work more subconsciously than anything else. Maybe with training she could use it on other people, too?

Sickness (anti-healer): She can cause sickness in herself and others, as long as physical contact is involved. There doesn't seem to be a difference between the different kinds of illnesses, but there's a lot about this ability that Marlowe doesn't understand yet. It would be more accurate to say that Marlowe causes symptoms rather than actually causing sickness (i.e. she can cause a fever but can't cause pneumonia.), however if she were to get good at using her powers maybe she could do more than that. As of right now all she can really do is give someone a cough or fever, or maybe make 'em puke.

Weaknesses/Limitations:

Her inability to control her powers makes her prone to hurting herself unintentionally. She spends most of her time unable to feel pain, which is a lot scarier than it sounds. Half the time she doesn't even know she's been injured, so she lets wounds go untreated (it's the main reason she's covered in teeny little scars). She also gets herself sick without meaning to, but it's less common because she finds that ability naturally easier to control.

When she does focus on using her powers, it's extremely draining. She'll usually become nauseous and suffer from hot and cold flashes for a while after using her abilities for long periods of time. Another side effect is a loss of pigmentation, so far it's been limited to her hair. Her eyebrows and eyelashes also have a few gray patches.

Progress:

N/A

Personality:

Marlowe is reckless and blunt, even when she doesn't mean to be. She's naturally bold and pushes situations, and herself, to the limit. A lot of people mistake her for being rude because of the way she says things, so she's never really had someone her age that she was close to, and spends a lot of her time day-dreaming. After being taken the wrong way one too many times, she became very awkward and self-conscious about what she's saying, and stopped trying to make new friends. It only encouraged her playful imagination. At heart, she has a goofy sense of humour, she's a little bit of a dork, and loves to try new things. One of her goals was to travel around all the different Districts by herself, but there's no way of that happening now. She's good at "handling" uncomfortable situations by zoning out.

Backstory:

Marlowe grew up in a nice house hold. Her parents always seemed a little emotionally detached, but they were also extremely over protective of her. It's not like they were bad parents, they just weren't the kind that you could talk to openly. Very judgmental. From a young age, Marlowe was encouraged to hate Mal's. It wasn't something that came up often, but whenever it did they were very stern about Marlowe agreeing with them. For a long time, she thought it was natural. It wasn't until she was older that she realised her parents had their own reasons for being so resentful: they'd had another child before, and he tested positive his first test and was executed. But she didn't find that out until she'd started to develop her own abilities.

At school she felt invisible. She didn't have any bullies, but she also didn't have any friends. She wasn't picked on, but she was never invited to parties and she always ate by herself. The combination of growing up an only child and her isolated school experience made her an expert day-dreamer. She grew to love long car-rides and window seats, and she became comfortable in her own head. Unfortunately, it only made it harder for her to make new friends. She didn't have much of a filter and hated long-winded conversations. Even though Marlowe wasn't rude, she was definitely blunt and her lack of smooth social skills only encouraged her to keep to herself.

It was her third year of high school when Marlowe started experiencing problems with her body. Err -- more problems than the average teenage girl had with her body. Random bruises turned into random scabs turned into random gashes she couldn't remember getting. Her first ability was starting to manifest itself. Brief periods of time where she wouldn't be able to feel any pain were followed by lots of tests at the doctors, lots of questions from school and parents, and Marlowe never had any answers for them. Even though it was worrisome these occurrences came few and far between, and they didn't exactly scream "weird magic power" so much as "strange medical occurrence". Marlowe didn't realise for a long time that it was an ability, because for almost a whole year it was completely subconscious and hardly ever happened.

She took her fourth test and tested negative.

Marlowe started getting allergies all the time. Or maybe it was food poisoning? Or maybe she was sick. The doctors found it hard to diagnose a fever of 103 that came and went within a 24 hour period without any medication. They found it even harder to explain to her overprotective parents that nothing was wrong her, or at least nothing was wrong with her that they could figure out. Marlowe was becoming more and more suspicious of herself. Was it just a funny coincidence that her symptoms usually showed up when she was thinking about getting sick? When had she become such an unhealthy and frail girl? She wasn't sure. But sometime between her 3rd year and her graduation, she figured it out.

She was terrified, but she didn't say anything to anyone. Marlowe did her best to not even say it to herself, in the privacy of her own head. When her last test finally arrived, she knew she wouldn't pass, but she hoped that because she had never said anything it would somehow not be true. Just unwarranted superstition.
She tested positive.

Talents/Skills:

Marlowe doesn't have useful wilderness skills, physical training, or even a smooth tongue. She's recently realised she's... kinda useless? But she can: A. Keep fighting past the usual restraint of pain (but this is also a bad thing, she doesn't know when to stop for the good of her own body); B. She's very flexible. Because she knows she's prone to hurting herself accidentally, she spends a lot of time stretching in order to avoid unnecessary injuries; C. She's very adaptable and takes to new skills quickly.

Quirks/Habits/Other:

She's lip-biter and a scab-scratcher.

TL/DR:

Marlowe is full of contradictions: introverted, but bold. Sickly, but able to control illnesses. Her life wasn't especially bad or good, and her powers showed themselves in strange ways. For a long time she didn't even realise she was a Mal, and her very last test landed her in District 1's Training and Education Facility.

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

@SecretlyDiscord I got lazy, haha. I think her CS is pretty much done, except I gotta find a picture for her. Should I post her in the character section and start on a IC post, ooor?

@Treue Thanks. :B I read over your character, too, I dig him!

Malfunction -- The RP Where Having Superpowers Sucks (New Thread! Now with added friendship!)

I ended up having to write the whole thing on my phone so if there are any weird auto corrects, please forgive me. I'll look over it again when I'm not half asleep!

Marlowe

Marlowe Tolfell| 19 | Female

Appearance:

Marlowe isn't considered conventionally attractive. Her hair is thick and gray and riddled with split ends, despite being kept short above her shoulders. Her eyes are dark and tired looking. Her pale completion and pointed chin can make her look like a doll, and in Marlowe's opinion her button-nose is one of her only cute features.

Marlowe stands at an intimidating 5'0" and is built like a little stick man: flat, skinny and tiny. Not exactly built for life in prison TEF-149. Multiple, pearly-white scars cover her arms, legs, face and every other visible part of her body. Most, if not all of the scars, are tiny and hard to see. Because her skin is so pale they almost blend in, but not quite.

She has a mole on her right shoulder and a birthmark on her butt. ;B

Powers:

Pain manipulation: Marlowe can manipulate her body's ability to feel pain. More specifically, she can both amplify and numb out her pain by messing with how her brain registers it. This is very hard to control, and seems to work more subconsciously than anything else. Maybe with training she could use it on other people, too?

Sickness (anti-healer): She can cause sickness in herself and others, as long as physical contact is involved. There doesn't seem to be a difference between the different kinds of illnesses, but there's a lot about this ability that Marlowe doesn't understand yet. It would be more accurate to say that Marlowe causes symptoms rather than actually causing sickness (i.e. she can cause a fever but can't cause pneumonia.), however if she were to get good at using her powers maybe she could do more than that. As of right now all she can really do is give someone a cough or fever, or maybe make 'em puke.

Weaknesses/Limitations:

Her inability to control her powers makes her prone to hurting herself unintentionally. She spends most of her time unable to feel pain, which is a lot scarier than it sounds. Half the time she doesn't even know she's been injured, so she lets wounds go untreated (it's the main reason she's covered in teeny little scars). She also gets herself sick without meaning to, but it's less common because she finds that ability naturally easier to control.

When she does focus on using her powers, it's extremely draining. She'll usually become nauseous and suffer from hot and cold flashes for a while after using her abilities for long periods of time. Another side effect is a loss of pigmentation, so far it's been limited to her hair. Her eyebrows and eyelashes also have a few gray patches.

Progress:

N/A

Personality:

Marlowe is reckless and blunt, even when she doesn't mean to be. She's naturally bold and pushes situations, and herself, to the limit. A lot of people mistake her for being rude because of the way she says things, so she's never really had someone her age that she was close to, and spends a lot of her time day-dreaming. After being taken the wrong way one too many times, she became very awkward and self-conscious about what she's saying, and stopped trying to make new friends. It only encouraged her playful imagination. At heart, she has a goofy sense of humour, she's a little bit of a dork, and loves to try new things. One of her goals was to travel around all the different Districts by herself, but there's no way of that happening now. She's good at "handling" uncomfortable situations by zoning out.

Backstory:

Marlowe grew up in a nice house hold. Her parents always seemed a little emotionally detached, but they were also extremely over protective of her. It's not like they were bad parents, they just weren't the kind that you could talk to openly. Very judgmental. From a young age, Marlowe was encouraged to hate Mal's. It wasn't something that came up often, but whenever it did they were very stern about Marlowe agreeing with them. For a long time, she thought it was natural. It wasn't until she was older that she realised her parents had their own reasons for being so resentful: they'd had another child before, and he tested positive his first test and was executed. But she didn't find that out until she'd started to develop her own abilities.

At school she felt invisible. She didn't have any bullies, but she also didn't have any friends. She wasn't picked on, but she was never invited to parties and she always ate by herself. The combination of growing up an only child and her isolated school experience made her an expert day-dreamer. She grew to love long car-rides and window seats, and she became comfortable in her own head. Unfortunately, it only made it harder for her to make new friends. She didn't have much of a filter and hated long-winded conversations. Even though Marlowe wasn't rude, she was definitely blunt and her lack of smooth social skills only encouraged her to keep to herself.

It was her third year of high school when Marlowe started experiencing problems with her body. Err -- more problems than the average teenage girl had with her body. Random bruises turned into random scabs turned into random gashes she couldn't remember getting. Her first ability was starting to manifest itself. Brief periods of time where she wouldn't be able to feel any pain were followed by lots of tests at the doctors, lots of questions from school and parents, and Marlowe never had any answers for them. Even though it was worrisome these occurrences came few and far between, and they didn't exactly scream "weird magic power" so much as "strange medical occurrence". Marlowe didn't realise for a long time that it was an ability, because for almost a whole year it was completely subconscious and hardly ever happened.

She took her fourth test and tested negative.

Marlowe started getting allergies all the time. Or maybe it was food poisoning? Or maybe she was sick. The doctors found it hard to diagnose a fever of 103 that came and went within a 24 hour period without any medication. They found it even harder to explain to her overprotective parents that nothing was wrong her, or at least nothing was wrong with her that they could figure out. Marlowe was becoming more and more suspicious of herself. Was it just a funny coincidence that her symptoms usually showed up when she was thinking about getting sick? When had she become such an unhealthy and frail girl? She wasn't sure. But sometime between her 3rd year and her graduation, she figured it out.

She was terrified, but she didn't say anything to anyone. Marlowe did her best to not even say it to herself, in the privacy of her own head. When her last test finally arrived, she knew she wouldn't pass, but she hoped that because she had never said anything it would somehow not be true. Just unwarranted superstition.
She tested positive.

Talents/Skills:

Marlowe doesn't have useful wilderness skills, physical training, or even a smooth tongue. She's recently realised she's... kinda useless? But she can: A. Keep fighting past the usual restraint of pain (but this is also a bad thing, she doesn't know when to stop for the good of her own body); B. She's very flexible. Because she knows she's prone to hurting herself accidentally, she spends a lot of time stretching in order to avoid unnecessary injuries; C. She's very adaptable and takes to new skills quickly.

Quirks/Habits/Other:

She's lip-biter and a scab-scratcher.

TL/DR:

Marlowe is full of contradictions: introverted, but bold. Sickly, but able to control illnesses. Her life wasn't especially bad or good, and her powers showed themselves in strange ways. For a long time she didn't even realise she was a Mal, and her very last test landed her in District 1's Training and Education Facility.

And ohmygawd she's so useless-- I had no idea what to put under skills, whoooops!