JJ DoeHopefully, the downtime is gonna be much less now - Mahz (finally) got a Twitter account and upgraded the server, so it seems like there'll be more communication and updates from here on out.
Prisk, maybe it would be helpful if you told us a little more about the mood/style you're intending? You've already conveyed some of it, but I feel like there might be more. Personally, I love finding concept art for stuff, so odds are I'll find something that'd fit (though I usually do not include images in posts).
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She checked her uniform in the bathroom mirror. It was perfect. High heeled boots. Perfect. Hair. Perfect. Everything about her was perfect, Eliza thought. Her intestines clenched and seized at the thought. She was used to the feeling now, in fact, she'd been expecting it. It wasn't a big deal, she reminded herself. It was just pain. Pain didn't mean anything.
There was a little pill bottle in the cabinet in the bathroom, glass with a white cap, like you saw in old movies. Eliza pressed her hand down, wrenched it open, took out a tiny white tablet. She parted glossy lips and placed it under her tongue. It only took a few seconds to dissolve, but the bittersaccharine taste lingered when it was gone. She wasn't used to taking medicine; she had always been perfectly healthy. All the Herrings were. She resented the medication for soothing the cramps almost as much as the pain they created.
She hefted her bag over her shoulder. It was a beautiful thing, made of elegant black leather. A birthday gift from an older sister. It was probably worth more than some of the teachers' monthly salaries, and Eliza felt a little strange about relegating it to textbooks and a laptop, but it fit her look. She left the room, heading to her morning classes. Some people thought better while they were moving - Ace was one of those, always pacing back and forth - but not Eliza. She found the walk interminable. She felt most poised, most capable standing still. Every step made her wish more and more that the day was already over.
Classes went... fine. She didn't really pay attention to them. The student council assembly was also fine. She whispered encouragement to Acacia, kissed her boyfriend on the cheek as they left the stage. Normal. Nothing to worry about. Everything was going to be okay. The pain was gone. But there was an empty spot where it had been, and she didn't know how to fill it.
Eliza stared into her salad with displeasure. It wasn't what she'd expected. She picked through it with her fork, pulling out little bits of things that looked distasteful - mostly olives. She hated olives; they looked, she thought, rather like grapes covered in slime. She had always been a picky eater. For a time, when she was maybe seven or eight, she insisted on eating the same three meals every day, and they always had to exactly identical. One morning, someone had tried to add blueberries to her oatmeal, and she'd nearly thrown the bowl through the dining room window. She grimaced, thinking about it. Mom had yelled at her when she'd found out. It was disrespectful, improper. She was right, of course, but being right didn't take the sting away. Eliza just didn't like it when things were changed.
She had an early lunch period on Mondays, which wasn't ideal, but it wasn't all bad - she and Acacia were the only seniors in it. They were both so busy, Eliza worried about whether they'd find time to spend together. She scanned the cafeteria for her friend, and found Acacia still standing in line. Like most of the buildings at Caelbury, it was beautiful, but the dining hall was relatively new. It had a sort of modern-meets-classic theme that let it fit in with the other campus buildings while still looking modern, and Eliza felt the designers had really pulled it off. The main room was large, with high ceilings supported by dark, wooden beams and big, floor-to-ceiling windows lining the walls and heavy wooden tables. All the food was served buffet-style, down at the end, and Eliza was lead to understand it was surprisingly high quality for a boarding school. She didn't have anything to compare it to, but she didn't really care for most of it. That was fine, though. Salads were all she needed anyway.
Acacia was heading towards her now. She lifted her head a little to make eye contact, and smiled widely as her friend sat down.
"Good morning?" She said, intending it as both a question and a greeting.
"Good morning." Acacia returned with a nod and a smile. "How does it feel to be back in school?"
Eliza shrugged. "I mean, I guess it's nice not to be home. I miss my car, and having a big, empty house. Plus, my roommate's a bitch." She grinned.
Acacia absently poked through her own salad as she replied with a grin, "Tell me about it. I've heard that your roommate is terrible! But then again, mine is pretty horrible too."
"I'm sure you'll find some way to placate her," Eliza said. "Did you have classes yet?"
"Just the normal core classes so far." Acacia shrugged, "Anyways, guess what my mother said? She's being more pushy than usual."
"What does she want?" Eliza tilted her head and watched Acacia.
"No, actually." Acacia giggled, "You know how she's a fashion designer?"
"Sure, yeah. I mean. Does anyone not?"
"She wants me to advertise her latest designs..." She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple.
"Don't you wear them already?"
"Most of my clothes are her designs, yes. But she wants me to advertise her new fall line, the formal wear." Acacia groaned as she pressed her hands against her temple. "What am I supposed to do, organize a dance and make people wear her dresses and things?"
Eliza let Acacia perseverate before speaking. "I mean, it's not as though you'd have to force them. I love her stuff. I dunno, what did she mean by advertise?"
"Let everyone at Caelbury admire them, I suppose. We do have a lot of really wealthy people who could buy them." Acacia shrugged helplessly, "But besides for making a Caelbury fashion magazine or a fashion show or parading around school in the clothes... I have no idea what to do."
"You could totally do that, though," Eliza said. "A fashion show. Honestly. Just have Wren model everything!"
"A fashion show? You're kidding, right?"
"Well... I mean, why not?" Eliza said. "There are lots of girls who would do it, we have to plan a fall event anyway, it'd be lots of fun. We could make it really classy and impressive."
"So what, we're going to make a runway and have people walk with fancy clothes? Hmmm..." Acacia tilted her head, deep in thought.
"Yeah! Yeah, we could. We can make it a thing. Have cameras, music, all of that. Why not?" She repeated.
"If anything goes wrong, my mother is going to kill me..."
Eliza leaned in and said, quietly, "Won't she find some reason to anyway?"
With a grimace, Acacia gave a small nod. "Probably." Her fingers fidgeted around with her hair as she offered a strained smile. "Might as well go down having tried my best then, I guess."
"We can bring it up at the next meeting," Eliza said. "And you know as well as I do we'll make it perfect. We always do."
Seeing as his roommate was out doing god knows what, Max had taken the opportunity to invite Eliza over. He'd suggested that they watch some new disaster movie that everyone was raving about, but really, the movie had been the last thing on mind when he invited her. Still, he didn't hold back on the coziness: he had put out blankets and even lit some candles that he had found in one of the cupboards. Leave it to Caelbury to have candles stored in the dorms.
Even though Max and Eliza had started dating over the summer, it had dawned on him that he didn't really know his new girlfriend. If you took away all the superficial things - like her looks, her wealth and her smarts - he wasn't really sure what was under there. They'd talked about that, a little, but he was never sure he was getting through... so tonight, Max had his sights set on getting at least some information. When the awaited knock on the door came Max hastily stood up and opened the door. There she was, Eliza Herring, gorgeous as always. She had changed out of her uniform, into a pink-cream colored, very high-waisted getup that looked like a dressy blouse on top, and shorts on the bottom. Max realized that it was actually a one-piece; she was wearing a belt to make it seem as though the shirt was tucked in. The top two buttons on her blouse were undone. Her hair hung loosely over her left shoulder in perfect waves.
"Hello there beautiful!" Max shot her a bright smile and leaned in for a kiss. She pecked him on the lips, then stepped inside. He closed the door behind her, and couldn't resist looking her up and down as he turned back in her direction. She wore low-heeled white sandals.
"Hey," she said, smiling. She walked the outskirt of the room, looking it over. "This is nice... for a guy's room. Did it come with candles?"
"Well, you know I always go for the best." Max winked at her. "Uhm, yeah they stock these rooms with a lot of weird things." He sat down on the couch putting an arm up on its back indicating for Eliza to join him. She did, sliding in next to him so that their shoulders were touching. She smelled subtly like sweetness and vanilla.
"Nothing but the best..." she echoed. "So - Sharknado versus. Megaoctopus? I thought Europeans went in for artsy stuff."
"Yeah? I mean, I have Ingmar Bergman in my room, I'll go get it if you'd rather spend 2 hours trying to understand the Swedish depression."
He half got up, then sat back down "Come on E, it's a tornado filled with sharks fighting a gigantic octopus!" He exclaimed and smiled at her. "Besides, if it sucks, we'll figure something out..."
Eliza nodded. "Who am I to say no to shark-storms?"
"Precisely!" Max chuckled and pressed play on the remote. They watched in silence for a few minutes, but it was clear Eliza wasn't all that interested - deadly and monstrous as the sharks and octopi were. After a few minutes, she readjusted herself to sit more facing him, and let her hands slide around his neck. He kissed her gently, thinking that was it, but she kissed him back more strongly. They made out for a few minutes, the movie going on in the background, before she pulled herself onto his lap.
"Sorry I'm blocking the screen," she said, "I hope you don't mind..." She started to unbutton her shirt. She wasn't wearing a bra.
Max's eyes widened. It wasn't that he wasn't used to the situation. He just wasn't expecting Eliza to be acting so fast, and he, well - he had been trying to make a change in his own behavior.
"Come on, E..." He grunted and grabbed her hand to stop her from undoing another button even though every fiber of his body screamed for her to keep going. "I'm really trying here..." He slid her off his lap, down back onto the couch.
Eliza looked up at him, and frowned. "Me too," she said. She looked away and started to button her shirt.
Max sighed and took her hand in his "I know..." he shuffled uncomfortably, "I don't know what you've heard about me... or really what you think that I want out of this." He gave her a sincere look "I feel like, you know me better than most people do. For god's sake, you've met my family! And yet I don't know anything about you..." He trailed off, shaking his head.
She met his gaze. Her eyes were big and brown, and much less friendly then Max was used to. "Look, I don't-- you know me. I'm Eliza Herring. What else is there to know?"
There was a little pill bottle in the cabinet in the bathroom, glass with a white cap, like you saw in old movies. Eliza pressed her hand down, wrenched it open, took out a tiny white tablet. She parted glossy lips and placed it under her tongue. It only took a few seconds to dissolve, but the bittersaccharine taste lingered when it was gone. She wasn't used to taking medicine; she had always been perfectly healthy. All the Herrings were. She resented the medication for soothing the cramps almost as much as the pain they created.
She hefted her bag over her shoulder. It was a beautiful thing, made of elegant black leather. A birthday gift from an older sister. It was probably worth more than some of the teachers' monthly salaries, and Eliza felt a little strange about relegating it to textbooks and a laptop, but it fit her look. She left the room, heading to her morning classes. Some people thought better while they were moving - Ace was one of those, always pacing back and forth - but not Eliza. She found the walk interminable. She felt most poised, most capable standing still. Every step made her wish more and more that the day was already over.
Classes went... fine. She didn't really pay attention to them. The student council assembly was also fine. She whispered encouragement to Acacia, kissed her boyfriend on the cheek as they left the stage. Normal. Nothing to worry about. Everything was going to be okay. The pain was gone. But there was an empty spot where it had been, and she didn't know how to fill it.
Eliza stared into her salad with displeasure. It wasn't what she'd expected. She picked through it with her fork, pulling out little bits of things that looked distasteful - mostly olives. She hated olives; they looked, she thought, rather like grapes covered in slime. She had always been a picky eater. For a time, when she was maybe seven or eight, she insisted on eating the same three meals every day, and they always had to exactly identical. One morning, someone had tried to add blueberries to her oatmeal, and she'd nearly thrown the bowl through the dining room window. She grimaced, thinking about it. Mom had yelled at her when she'd found out. It was disrespectful, improper. She was right, of course, but being right didn't take the sting away. Eliza just didn't like it when things were changed.
She had an early lunch period on Mondays, which wasn't ideal, but it wasn't all bad - she and Acacia were the only seniors in it. They were both so busy, Eliza worried about whether they'd find time to spend together. She scanned the cafeteria for her friend, and found Acacia still standing in line. Like most of the buildings at Caelbury, it was beautiful, but the dining hall was relatively new. It had a sort of modern-meets-classic theme that let it fit in with the other campus buildings while still looking modern, and Eliza felt the designers had really pulled it off. The main room was large, with high ceilings supported by dark, wooden beams and big, floor-to-ceiling windows lining the walls and heavy wooden tables. All the food was served buffet-style, down at the end, and Eliza was lead to understand it was surprisingly high quality for a boarding school. She didn't have anything to compare it to, but she didn't really care for most of it. That was fine, though. Salads were all she needed anyway.
Acacia was heading towards her now. She lifted her head a little to make eye contact, and smiled widely as her friend sat down.
"Good morning?" She said, intending it as both a question and a greeting.
"Good morning." Acacia returned with a nod and a smile. "How does it feel to be back in school?"
Eliza shrugged. "I mean, I guess it's nice not to be home. I miss my car, and having a big, empty house. Plus, my roommate's a bitch." She grinned.
Acacia absently poked through her own salad as she replied with a grin, "Tell me about it. I've heard that your roommate is terrible! But then again, mine is pretty horrible too."
"I'm sure you'll find some way to placate her," Eliza said. "Did you have classes yet?"
"Just the normal core classes so far." Acacia shrugged, "Anyways, guess what my mother said? She's being more pushy than usual."
"What does she want?" Eliza tilted her head and watched Acacia.
"No, actually." Acacia giggled, "You know how she's a fashion designer?"
"Sure, yeah. I mean. Does anyone not?"
"She wants me to advertise her latest designs..." She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple.
"Don't you wear them already?"
"Most of my clothes are her designs, yes. But she wants me to advertise her new fall line, the formal wear." Acacia groaned as she pressed her hands against her temple. "What am I supposed to do, organize a dance and make people wear her dresses and things?"
Eliza let Acacia perseverate before speaking. "I mean, it's not as though you'd have to force them. I love her stuff. I dunno, what did she mean by advertise?"
"Let everyone at Caelbury admire them, I suppose. We do have a lot of really wealthy people who could buy them." Acacia shrugged helplessly, "But besides for making a Caelbury fashion magazine or a fashion show or parading around school in the clothes... I have no idea what to do."
"You could totally do that, though," Eliza said. "A fashion show. Honestly. Just have Wren model everything!"
"A fashion show? You're kidding, right?"
"Well... I mean, why not?" Eliza said. "There are lots of girls who would do it, we have to plan a fall event anyway, it'd be lots of fun. We could make it really classy and impressive."
"So what, we're going to make a runway and have people walk with fancy clothes? Hmmm..." Acacia tilted her head, deep in thought.
"Yeah! Yeah, we could. We can make it a thing. Have cameras, music, all of that. Why not?" She repeated.
"If anything goes wrong, my mother is going to kill me..."
Eliza leaned in and said, quietly, "Won't she find some reason to anyway?"
With a grimace, Acacia gave a small nod. "Probably." Her fingers fidgeted around with her hair as she offered a strained smile. "Might as well go down having tried my best then, I guess."
"We can bring it up at the next meeting," Eliza said. "And you know as well as I do we'll make it perfect. We always do."
Seeing as his roommate was out doing god knows what, Max had taken the opportunity to invite Eliza over. He'd suggested that they watch some new disaster movie that everyone was raving about, but really, the movie had been the last thing on mind when he invited her. Still, he didn't hold back on the coziness: he had put out blankets and even lit some candles that he had found in one of the cupboards. Leave it to Caelbury to have candles stored in the dorms.
Even though Max and Eliza had started dating over the summer, it had dawned on him that he didn't really know his new girlfriend. If you took away all the superficial things - like her looks, her wealth and her smarts - he wasn't really sure what was under there. They'd talked about that, a little, but he was never sure he was getting through... so tonight, Max had his sights set on getting at least some information. When the awaited knock on the door came Max hastily stood up and opened the door. There she was, Eliza Herring, gorgeous as always. She had changed out of her uniform, into a pink-cream colored, very high-waisted getup that looked like a dressy blouse on top, and shorts on the bottom. Max realized that it was actually a one-piece; she was wearing a belt to make it seem as though the shirt was tucked in. The top two buttons on her blouse were undone. Her hair hung loosely over her left shoulder in perfect waves.
"Hello there beautiful!" Max shot her a bright smile and leaned in for a kiss. She pecked him on the lips, then stepped inside. He closed the door behind her, and couldn't resist looking her up and down as he turned back in her direction. She wore low-heeled white sandals.
"Hey," she said, smiling. She walked the outskirt of the room, looking it over. "This is nice... for a guy's room. Did it come with candles?"
"Well, you know I always go for the best." Max winked at her. "Uhm, yeah they stock these rooms with a lot of weird things." He sat down on the couch putting an arm up on its back indicating for Eliza to join him. She did, sliding in next to him so that their shoulders were touching. She smelled subtly like sweetness and vanilla.
"Nothing but the best..." she echoed. "So - Sharknado versus. Megaoctopus? I thought Europeans went in for artsy stuff."
"Yeah? I mean, I have Ingmar Bergman in my room, I'll go get it if you'd rather spend 2 hours trying to understand the Swedish depression."
He half got up, then sat back down "Come on E, it's a tornado filled with sharks fighting a gigantic octopus!" He exclaimed and smiled at her. "Besides, if it sucks, we'll figure something out..."
Eliza nodded. "Who am I to say no to shark-storms?"
"Precisely!" Max chuckled and pressed play on the remote. They watched in silence for a few minutes, but it was clear Eliza wasn't all that interested - deadly and monstrous as the sharks and octopi were. After a few minutes, she readjusted herself to sit more facing him, and let her hands slide around his neck. He kissed her gently, thinking that was it, but she kissed him back more strongly. They made out for a few minutes, the movie going on in the background, before she pulled herself onto his lap.
"Sorry I'm blocking the screen," she said, "I hope you don't mind..." She started to unbutton her shirt. She wasn't wearing a bra.
Max's eyes widened. It wasn't that he wasn't used to the situation. He just wasn't expecting Eliza to be acting so fast, and he, well - he had been trying to make a change in his own behavior.
"Come on, E..." He grunted and grabbed her hand to stop her from undoing another button even though every fiber of his body screamed for her to keep going. "I'm really trying here..." He slid her off his lap, down back onto the couch.
Eliza looked up at him, and frowned. "Me too," she said. She looked away and started to button her shirt.
Max sighed and took her hand in his "I know..." he shuffled uncomfortably, "I don't know what you've heard about me... or really what you think that I want out of this." He gave her a sincere look "I feel like, you know me better than most people do. For god's sake, you've met my family! And yet I don't know anything about you..." He trailed off, shaking his head.
She met his gaze. Her eyes were big and brown, and much less friendly then Max was used to. "Look, I don't-- you know me. I'm Eliza Herring. What else is there to know?"
Okay, I fixed up Emily and added her to the depository. Thanks again, Prisk, for working with me and helping me keep her basically intact for the RP :)
The big changes are as follows:
1) Removed info on her skin condition; she just has cool hair, br0
2) Removed Parasite Infestation as an ability, it was cool but doesn't fit
3) Cut down the Limit Break description to bare-bones; I'll save the exact depiction for when/if she uses it IC
Looking forward to getting started!
The big changes are as follows:
1) Removed info on her skin condition; she just has cool hair, br0
2) Removed Parasite Infestation as an ability, it was cool but doesn't fit
3) Cut down the Limit Break description to bare-bones; I'll save the exact depiction for when/if she uses it IC
Looking forward to getting started!
Name: Emily Whitehall ("Em," sometimes)
Birthday: 07 August
Height: 1.68 meters (5 feet, 6 inches)
Appearance:
(using hiders because giant images, be warned)
Emily is in good physical condition, certainly up to Academy standards, but she's not the fittest of the group; she doesn't really enjoy exercise and she's got a curvy build. She dresses with what she considers to be style - and it is stylish, even if it's mostly the fashions of another time. She likes long dresses, skirts and hats, and she's got quite a collection of the latter. When she's training, or has to be out-of-uniform but expects action, she dresses for flexibility and comfort, preferring tank tops and pants which give her freedom of motion, even if they don't provide much protection (see Mirror's Edge runners as an example). Her voice is a calm, melodic alto that gets deeper and throatier when she's upset, higher and breathier when she's excited.
Emily's hair grows in light blonde, almost white, in some places, and black in others. To make it look less patchy, she's developed a routine for dyeing her hair which makes it more uniformly blonde on top, black underneath. Emily was self-conscious about her unusual coloring for many years, but doesn't really mind it now that's she's managed to develop a look she likes.
Personality: Stubbornness and arrogance may be unpleasant traits, but in the face of the impossible, they might be the only way to remain sane. Emily is intelligent and thoughtful, but since finding her spirits (whom she refers to as the Others), taking those qualities to their extremes has been the only way she's survived. Though she's nice enough to most (and can be downright charming when she needs to be), Emily behaves externally as though she's incredibly self-assured: She's judgmental, she insists on doing things her way, and she's always made up her mind on a subject before she brings it up with anyone else. She maintains this demeanor because she has to in order to cope: Internally, Emily is plagued by constant doubt and fear, punctuated by episodes of depression and all-encompassing uncertainty. Her experiences with the spirits has certainly contributed to this mental binary, but it was well-formed long before she had any contact with them. She's always wanted to be seen as powerful, capable, and in control, and perhaps she believes that if others see her that way, it will become true.
To be fair, Emily's temerity does make her a good leader. She's decisive, and she knows how to delegate responsibility. Perhaps the reason she was never tapped for more command-oriented work at the Academy, then, has to do with her priorities: Nobody's quite sure what she wants or what she cares about. To be fair, Emily doesn't really know, either - having powerful spirit beings from a timeless void appear to you and then proceed to show you the absolute unimportance of your existence on a universal level tends to do that to a person. When Emily gained spirits, everything became relative. She couldn't find anything worth saving, because reality would destroy it all anyway, given enough time. Emily hasn't responded particularly well to this revelation (as if anyone would), but she's slowly coming to terms with it. For now, she's decided, she will invest in the people who are important to her. She'll care about those who care about her, and leave the rest of creation to tend to itself. It's not the most complete or reasonable ideology, she knows, but it feels relatively comfortable, and it gives her some solid ground from which to start.
It's also easy, because Emily doesn't have particularly many friends. While she gets along fine in superficial relationships, and isn't incapable of being sociable, she has a very small inner circle. People don't become fast friends with her often, probably you really get to know her, she's not the easiest to get along with. She has a unique way of steering things towards argument, and she feels incapable of backing down or compromising, even when she knows she ought to. Plus, most of the activities you do with other people are less interesting to her then the ones you do alone. She's always reading, writing, drawing or painting, and she prefers to do all these things in absolute solitude. She rarely shares her work, even when she's proud of it; she doesn't want the real world intruding on her private time any more than absolutely necessary. That said, she puts the people who are really her friends above everyone else - she sticks to the priorities she's established for herself.
Emily's personality puts her at odds with other people who behave similarly; she's far from being the only strong-willed person in the world, after all. She comforts herself with the belief that, unlike others, she really has no choice; she has to believe in herself if she's going to survive in a world that doesn't care about her (or anyone). But faith in oneself doesn't necessarily demand compliance from others. Emily will come into her own for real if she can learn to acquiesce and compromise, to accept the rightness of others, even if she doesn't care for them. Real confidence is not born from arrogance or assertiveness, so Emily will have to reconcile that within herself if she's ever going to change.
Biography: Emily was always an unusually serious child. Her parents chalked this up to intellect - she learned fast, no matter what the subject, and she always wanted more. She was their only child, so she was more than a little doted on. Her family was middle-class but mostly financially secure, at least before the war, so Emily mostly got whatever she wanted. Her mother died during, though not as a result of, the First Contact War, and Emily grew incredibly attached to her dad as a result. He kept both of them safe for the remainder of the conflict, and the two were inseparable for many years after. He didn't agree with Emily's decision to enter the Academy, and never really understood the nature of the pain she endured as a result of her contact with the spirits, try as she might to explain it. He did accept it, though, and has cautiously accepted that the Academy is a path Emily feels she has to follow, even if he's terrified at the idea of losing his only remaining family. She, in turn worried about leaving him alone, but their relationship has mostly come through the experience intact, and even if they're a bit farther apart (mentally and spatially), they stay in contact as much as possible.
At the Academy, Emily performed extremely well, excelling in nearly all her classes. Though she's not the fittest, strongest, or fastest of her classmates and friends, her force of will and persistence have granted her incredible skill, as well as control of and familiarity with her spirits, despite her mixed feelings about them. The one area that's been most difficult for her has been social; she's still got few friends, and has had even fewer romantic relationships - something she feels she should correct, but isn't sure how. Even though she's graduated, Emily doesn't feel like an adult, not really. She looks at her peers - some are getting married, some have children, some already have missions and accomplishments under their belts. Emily still harbors fears that she might be inadequate compared to the others, that she might be unprepared for the real world in so many ways - not all of them related to "the job." Even though her training has prepared her for at least some of what's to come, she's not certain she's ready to face it.
Weapon: Emily eschews the more common swords and knives in exchange for a bo staff fashioned from two collapsible batons (inspired by Arrow's Black Canary). She fights extremely effectively with the staff, but is also proficient using the two batons separately. Her fighting style is a combination of a variety of martial arts; she doesn't adhere to a specific one, but will use whatever techniques she's found to work. Emily took up the bo primarily because of its relative disuse at the Academy. Learning to use it instead of some other weapon got her a lot more one-on-one training time, which in turn made her a much better fighter. She's absolutely no less deadly than any other properly-trained Academy student, and probably much moreso than many, especially those who aren't familiar with the way she fights.To facilitate her abilities with the bow, Emily also trained heavily in hand-to-hand combat (you might say she double-majored). Even without the staff, or with only one of the batons, she's a force to be reckoned with.
In combat, Emily tends to be defensive but pragmatic, dodging and ducking continuously and striking only at opportune moments. Her goal is generally to disorient and confuse her opponent until she can strike with her spirits, at which point, the problem will ideally take care of itself. In situations where this is impractical, however, she's likely to focus on quickly disabling as many opponents as possible - not because she's unwilling to go in for kills, but because it's easier to deal with someone however you like once they're on the ground. Though she purports to disapprove of flashy fighting, she's not above showing off a little on occasion, and her unusual weapons and style make it pretty impressive.
Limit Break: Wrath of the Void. Emily uses her connection to the Others to draw a bit of their malign irreality into our world, warping the fabric of our universe within a certain area. The Wrath is not just an attack Emily can command at any time; its severity and effects vary depending on her desperation and mental state. If circumstances are sufficiently dire, and she's extremely angry, scared, or (emotionally) hurt, she may invoke the Others in order to forcibly overcome whatever obstacle is causing her trouble. While theoretically, the Wrath could be invoked at any time, it would have no effect if Emily did not need an effect - at best, it would draw unwanted attention from creatures best left unprovoked (think of it like dialing 9-1-1 because someone looked at you funny from across the street versus calling because you just saw a triple homicide; which would have a bigger response?). The exact size and description of the attack's effects vary based upon Emily's needs, but The Wrath is a uniformly devastating attack, and merely witnessing it is enough to drain Emily physically and mentally for days or even weeks, though she always emerges apparently unscathed. Emily has never performed the Wrath twice in the same place, for fear of what would happen if she did, and generally refuses to do it at all unless she has no other choice. Though she discusses it with no one, her memories of previous attempts haunt her dreams (and sometimes even her waking hours) and fuel her fears about the nature of the spirits she commands.
Spirits:
While many think of their spirits as inanimate powers, unthinking things drawing on the properties of the world as it was formed post-Calamity, Emily doesn't truck with that notion. She believes her spirits are very alive, and very intelligent, albeit in ways that are incredibly far removed from anything humans might understand. She refers to them as the "Others," and while there are many of them, they're all cut from similar cloth. They all draw from the raw, untarnished power of some ancient, eldritch void - a world outside and wholly unlike our own. Their aims, if they have any, are impossible to understand, their preferences likewise. What Emily did to engender their interest is completely beyond her. Perhaps it was very substantial indeed, or perhaps it was nothing, and their attentions are merely the whimsical manifestations of something too ancient, too powerful to care whom it helps or harms. They first manifested as whispers and false shadows, echoing in the darkest corner's of Emily's mind and invading her dreams to make themselves heard, where they showed her terrifying vistas of reality, likely beyond anything anyone could interpert in their waking hours. Emily believed the dreams were real, believed the lessons they seemed to be teaching - that the universe is vast, empty, and uncaring - but didn't know how or why she was receiving them. For months, she believed she was sick, or perhaps insane, until her powers manifested, and she realized what was really happening.
These creatures, she decided, couldn't be allowed to control her. No, if she was going to survive, she had to be the one in charge. That was why she joined the Academy, against her father's objections and in spite of having no real desire to fight. Fortunately for her, the Academy was well-prepared to help her. Her control over her abilities is formidable, while the Others themselves seem to resign themselves to incomprehensible whispers and occasional dream-visions. For the first time since she originally possessed them, Emily feels more or less at peace with the Others, but the pain their arrival inflicted on her has left its mark on her behavior and beliefs.
The spirit-manifestations Emily calls the Others are mostly distinct from the powers she draws from them. All of her abilities have the designation "Cosmic/Eldritch," whichever you prefer.
Crawling Chaos - Waves of hallucination-inducing power emanate from Emily, affecting the vision and mental function of anyone or anything they meet (this affects humans, animals, and all forms of creature). In the eyes of those affected, the world is horrifically twisted. Trees and plants become writhing columns of intestine and tentacle. Blood pours from every wall and door; pain wracks the body and clouds the mind. Originally, Emily's mental state helped dictate what the visions were and how powerful they became, but training at the Academy has allowed her to control them regardless of her current thought process (provided she isn't too unstable). All manner of eldritch vision is possible, as well as more mundane hallucinations - Emily can direct the purpose and behavior of the hallucination to some extent by focusing on her intentions in creating it (i. e., to make herself seem more powerful then she is, to make someone believe they are under attack, or are trapped, etc.), but she doesn't control the exact vision itself. Regardless of the intent, the visions are nearly always horrifying, though Emily can also temper their power to some extent. At lower strengths, the visions are merely disturbing and unpleasant. More powerful visions can cause serious mental trauma and might be very difficult to fight off (through disbelief or simply acting without regard or ones' senses). At their most powerful, they can cause lasting madness or mental instability that persists long after the onslaught has stopped.
Alien Geometries - Unlike the Chaos, this ability manipulates the physical world. Emily can make limited, one-time alterations to geometry or space-time in a given location. For example, she can make a door lead to a different room, or create an unending staircase. These effects persist for as much time as she can concentrate to maintain them, and are limited by physical size (she can't affect an area larger than a few meters in any direction) and the complexity of the violation - for example, creating a ceiling you can stand on as if it were a floor is less complex then altering a room so that you can walk upright on any surface, or, a door between two places close together is easier than a door between two far-away places. This power requires intuition based on Emily's own spatial sense, and therefore can't be applied to physical effects humans don't instinctively understand (for example, she can't produce ionizing radiation). Emily primarily uses the geometries to obstruct enemy's paths and create distractions to facilitate her escape or their capture, but with a little imagination, there are many other uses for this power.
Curse of Life - The spirits within Emily are heavily invested in her survival, and will do their utmost to protect her from harm. The Curse allows Emily to weather attacks that would kill or severely injure a normal human with relative impunity; her strength, her threshold for pain and injury increases significantly. The Curse can prevent Emily from dying of mortal wounds, provided they are relatively slow - so a gunshot to the head would still kill her instantly, but a stab to the gut might heal itself before she bleeds out. Emily can't control or activate the Curse directly, but it's dormant most of the time. Its activation corresponds roughly to Emily's natural fight-or-flight response, which means it may activate at any time she's feeling anxious or stressed - but may not even activate in combat if she's caught off-guard (at least until she gets her bearings).
Though the Curse doesn't affect Emily's mental faculties, she cannot escape the feeling that it's a symbol of the spirits' increasing control over her mind and body, and its presence terrifies her even as it protects her. The Curse is purely an internal effect and cannot be used to heal others. Further, it is caused by spirits and doesn't reside in Emily's DNA, blood, or any other material part; rather, it lives in the "scab" above her heart: pulsating, tumorous flesh above the fatal wound given to her by the Caudata. While she'll have to be analyzed somehow to discover this, the "scab" cannot be removed without killing her, as it's what's keeping her alive at all (and it will fights attempts to remove it).
Birthday: 07 August
Height: 1.68 meters (5 feet, 6 inches)
Appearance:
(using hiders because giant images, be warned)
Emily is in good physical condition, certainly up to Academy standards, but she's not the fittest of the group; she doesn't really enjoy exercise and she's got a curvy build. She dresses with what she considers to be style - and it is stylish, even if it's mostly the fashions of another time. She likes long dresses, skirts and hats, and she's got quite a collection of the latter. When she's training, or has to be out-of-uniform but expects action, she dresses for flexibility and comfort, preferring tank tops and pants which give her freedom of motion, even if they don't provide much protection (see Mirror's Edge runners as an example). Her voice is a calm, melodic alto that gets deeper and throatier when she's upset, higher and breathier when she's excited.
Emily's hair grows in light blonde, almost white, in some places, and black in others. To make it look less patchy, she's developed a routine for dyeing her hair which makes it more uniformly blonde on top, black underneath. Emily was self-conscious about her unusual coloring for many years, but doesn't really mind it now that's she's managed to develop a look she likes.
Personality: Stubbornness and arrogance may be unpleasant traits, but in the face of the impossible, they might be the only way to remain sane. Emily is intelligent and thoughtful, but since finding her spirits (whom she refers to as the Others), taking those qualities to their extremes has been the only way she's survived. Though she's nice enough to most (and can be downright charming when she needs to be), Emily behaves externally as though she's incredibly self-assured: She's judgmental, she insists on doing things her way, and she's always made up her mind on a subject before she brings it up with anyone else. She maintains this demeanor because she has to in order to cope: Internally, Emily is plagued by constant doubt and fear, punctuated by episodes of depression and all-encompassing uncertainty. Her experiences with the spirits has certainly contributed to this mental binary, but it was well-formed long before she had any contact with them. She's always wanted to be seen as powerful, capable, and in control, and perhaps she believes that if others see her that way, it will become true.
To be fair, Emily's temerity does make her a good leader. She's decisive, and she knows how to delegate responsibility. Perhaps the reason she was never tapped for more command-oriented work at the Academy, then, has to do with her priorities: Nobody's quite sure what she wants or what she cares about. To be fair, Emily doesn't really know, either - having powerful spirit beings from a timeless void appear to you and then proceed to show you the absolute unimportance of your existence on a universal level tends to do that to a person. When Emily gained spirits, everything became relative. She couldn't find anything worth saving, because reality would destroy it all anyway, given enough time. Emily hasn't responded particularly well to this revelation (as if anyone would), but she's slowly coming to terms with it. For now, she's decided, she will invest in the people who are important to her. She'll care about those who care about her, and leave the rest of creation to tend to itself. It's not the most complete or reasonable ideology, she knows, but it feels relatively comfortable, and it gives her some solid ground from which to start.
It's also easy, because Emily doesn't have particularly many friends. While she gets along fine in superficial relationships, and isn't incapable of being sociable, she has a very small inner circle. People don't become fast friends with her often, probably you really get to know her, she's not the easiest to get along with. She has a unique way of steering things towards argument, and she feels incapable of backing down or compromising, even when she knows she ought to. Plus, most of the activities you do with other people are less interesting to her then the ones you do alone. She's always reading, writing, drawing or painting, and she prefers to do all these things in absolute solitude. She rarely shares her work, even when she's proud of it; she doesn't want the real world intruding on her private time any more than absolutely necessary. That said, she puts the people who are really her friends above everyone else - she sticks to the priorities she's established for herself.
Emily's personality puts her at odds with other people who behave similarly; she's far from being the only strong-willed person in the world, after all. She comforts herself with the belief that, unlike others, she really has no choice; she has to believe in herself if she's going to survive in a world that doesn't care about her (or anyone). But faith in oneself doesn't necessarily demand compliance from others. Emily will come into her own for real if she can learn to acquiesce and compromise, to accept the rightness of others, even if she doesn't care for them. Real confidence is not born from arrogance or assertiveness, so Emily will have to reconcile that within herself if she's ever going to change.
Biography: Emily was always an unusually serious child. Her parents chalked this up to intellect - she learned fast, no matter what the subject, and she always wanted more. She was their only child, so she was more than a little doted on. Her family was middle-class but mostly financially secure, at least before the war, so Emily mostly got whatever she wanted. Her mother died during, though not as a result of, the First Contact War, and Emily grew incredibly attached to her dad as a result. He kept both of them safe for the remainder of the conflict, and the two were inseparable for many years after. He didn't agree with Emily's decision to enter the Academy, and never really understood the nature of the pain she endured as a result of her contact with the spirits, try as she might to explain it. He did accept it, though, and has cautiously accepted that the Academy is a path Emily feels she has to follow, even if he's terrified at the idea of losing his only remaining family. She, in turn worried about leaving him alone, but their relationship has mostly come through the experience intact, and even if they're a bit farther apart (mentally and spatially), they stay in contact as much as possible.
At the Academy, Emily performed extremely well, excelling in nearly all her classes. Though she's not the fittest, strongest, or fastest of her classmates and friends, her force of will and persistence have granted her incredible skill, as well as control of and familiarity with her spirits, despite her mixed feelings about them. The one area that's been most difficult for her has been social; she's still got few friends, and has had even fewer romantic relationships - something she feels she should correct, but isn't sure how. Even though she's graduated, Emily doesn't feel like an adult, not really. She looks at her peers - some are getting married, some have children, some already have missions and accomplishments under their belts. Emily still harbors fears that she might be inadequate compared to the others, that she might be unprepared for the real world in so many ways - not all of them related to "the job." Even though her training has prepared her for at least some of what's to come, she's not certain she's ready to face it.
Weapon: Emily eschews the more common swords and knives in exchange for a bo staff fashioned from two collapsible batons (inspired by Arrow's Black Canary). She fights extremely effectively with the staff, but is also proficient using the two batons separately. Her fighting style is a combination of a variety of martial arts; she doesn't adhere to a specific one, but will use whatever techniques she's found to work. Emily took up the bo primarily because of its relative disuse at the Academy. Learning to use it instead of some other weapon got her a lot more one-on-one training time, which in turn made her a much better fighter. She's absolutely no less deadly than any other properly-trained Academy student, and probably much moreso than many, especially those who aren't familiar with the way she fights.To facilitate her abilities with the bow, Emily also trained heavily in hand-to-hand combat (you might say she double-majored). Even without the staff, or with only one of the batons, she's a force to be reckoned with.
In combat, Emily tends to be defensive but pragmatic, dodging and ducking continuously and striking only at opportune moments. Her goal is generally to disorient and confuse her opponent until she can strike with her spirits, at which point, the problem will ideally take care of itself. In situations where this is impractical, however, she's likely to focus on quickly disabling as many opponents as possible - not because she's unwilling to go in for kills, but because it's easier to deal with someone however you like once they're on the ground. Though she purports to disapprove of flashy fighting, she's not above showing off a little on occasion, and her unusual weapons and style make it pretty impressive.
Limit Break: Wrath of the Void. Emily uses her connection to the Others to draw a bit of their malign irreality into our world, warping the fabric of our universe within a certain area. The Wrath is not just an attack Emily can command at any time; its severity and effects vary depending on her desperation and mental state. If circumstances are sufficiently dire, and she's extremely angry, scared, or (emotionally) hurt, she may invoke the Others in order to forcibly overcome whatever obstacle is causing her trouble. While theoretically, the Wrath could be invoked at any time, it would have no effect if Emily did not need an effect - at best, it would draw unwanted attention from creatures best left unprovoked (think of it like dialing 9-1-1 because someone looked at you funny from across the street versus calling because you just saw a triple homicide; which would have a bigger response?). The exact size and description of the attack's effects vary based upon Emily's needs, but The Wrath is a uniformly devastating attack, and merely witnessing it is enough to drain Emily physically and mentally for days or even weeks, though she always emerges apparently unscathed. Emily has never performed the Wrath twice in the same place, for fear of what would happen if she did, and generally refuses to do it at all unless she has no other choice. Though she discusses it with no one, her memories of previous attempts haunt her dreams (and sometimes even her waking hours) and fuel her fears about the nature of the spirits she commands.
Spirits:
While many think of their spirits as inanimate powers, unthinking things drawing on the properties of the world as it was formed post-Calamity, Emily doesn't truck with that notion. She believes her spirits are very alive, and very intelligent, albeit in ways that are incredibly far removed from anything humans might understand. She refers to them as the "Others," and while there are many of them, they're all cut from similar cloth. They all draw from the raw, untarnished power of some ancient, eldritch void - a world outside and wholly unlike our own. Their aims, if they have any, are impossible to understand, their preferences likewise. What Emily did to engender their interest is completely beyond her. Perhaps it was very substantial indeed, or perhaps it was nothing, and their attentions are merely the whimsical manifestations of something too ancient, too powerful to care whom it helps or harms. They first manifested as whispers and false shadows, echoing in the darkest corner's of Emily's mind and invading her dreams to make themselves heard, where they showed her terrifying vistas of reality, likely beyond anything anyone could interpert in their waking hours. Emily believed the dreams were real, believed the lessons they seemed to be teaching - that the universe is vast, empty, and uncaring - but didn't know how or why she was receiving them. For months, she believed she was sick, or perhaps insane, until her powers manifested, and she realized what was really happening.
These creatures, she decided, couldn't be allowed to control her. No, if she was going to survive, she had to be the one in charge. That was why she joined the Academy, against her father's objections and in spite of having no real desire to fight. Fortunately for her, the Academy was well-prepared to help her. Her control over her abilities is formidable, while the Others themselves seem to resign themselves to incomprehensible whispers and occasional dream-visions. For the first time since she originally possessed them, Emily feels more or less at peace with the Others, but the pain their arrival inflicted on her has left its mark on her behavior and beliefs.
The spirit-manifestations Emily calls the Others are mostly distinct from the powers she draws from them. All of her abilities have the designation "Cosmic/Eldritch," whichever you prefer.
Crawling Chaos - Waves of hallucination-inducing power emanate from Emily, affecting the vision and mental function of anyone or anything they meet (this affects humans, animals, and all forms of creature). In the eyes of those affected, the world is horrifically twisted. Trees and plants become writhing columns of intestine and tentacle. Blood pours from every wall and door; pain wracks the body and clouds the mind. Originally, Emily's mental state helped dictate what the visions were and how powerful they became, but training at the Academy has allowed her to control them regardless of her current thought process (provided she isn't too unstable). All manner of eldritch vision is possible, as well as more mundane hallucinations - Emily can direct the purpose and behavior of the hallucination to some extent by focusing on her intentions in creating it (i. e., to make herself seem more powerful then she is, to make someone believe they are under attack, or are trapped, etc.), but she doesn't control the exact vision itself. Regardless of the intent, the visions are nearly always horrifying, though Emily can also temper their power to some extent. At lower strengths, the visions are merely disturbing and unpleasant. More powerful visions can cause serious mental trauma and might be very difficult to fight off (through disbelief or simply acting without regard or ones' senses). At their most powerful, they can cause lasting madness or mental instability that persists long after the onslaught has stopped.
Alien Geometries - Unlike the Chaos, this ability manipulates the physical world. Emily can make limited, one-time alterations to geometry or space-time in a given location. For example, she can make a door lead to a different room, or create an unending staircase. These effects persist for as much time as she can concentrate to maintain them, and are limited by physical size (she can't affect an area larger than a few meters in any direction) and the complexity of the violation - for example, creating a ceiling you can stand on as if it were a floor is less complex then altering a room so that you can walk upright on any surface, or, a door between two places close together is easier than a door between two far-away places. This power requires intuition based on Emily's own spatial sense, and therefore can't be applied to physical effects humans don't instinctively understand (for example, she can't produce ionizing radiation). Emily primarily uses the geometries to obstruct enemy's paths and create distractions to facilitate her escape or their capture, but with a little imagination, there are many other uses for this power.
Curse of Life - The spirits within Emily are heavily invested in her survival, and will do their utmost to protect her from harm. The Curse allows Emily to weather attacks that would kill or severely injure a normal human with relative impunity; her strength, her threshold for pain and injury increases significantly. The Curse can prevent Emily from dying of mortal wounds, provided they are relatively slow - so a gunshot to the head would still kill her instantly, but a stab to the gut might heal itself before she bleeds out. Emily can't control or activate the Curse directly, but it's dormant most of the time. Its activation corresponds roughly to Emily's natural fight-or-flight response, which means it may activate at any time she's feeling anxious or stressed - but may not even activate in combat if she's caught off-guard (at least until she gets her bearings).
Though the Curse doesn't affect Emily's mental faculties, she cannot escape the feeling that it's a symbol of the spirits' increasing control over her mind and body, and its presence terrifies her even as it protects her. The Curse is purely an internal effect and cannot be used to heal others. Further, it is caused by spirits and doesn't reside in Emily's DNA, blood, or any other material part; rather, it lives in the "scab" above her heart: pulsating, tumorous flesh above the fatal wound given to her by the Caudata. While she'll have to be analyzed somehow to discover this, the "scab" cannot be removed without killing her, as it's what's keeping her alive at all (and it will fights attempts to remove it).
Emily will be lucky if she has friends, let alone romance...
My post IS coming. It's halfway done, got the joint parts done. Just gotta write Eliza's solo parts.
PM sent... It turned out kinda long. I wonder if I'm developing some kind of antibrevity syndrome.
Prism, I'm gonna shoot you a PM - I'm not sure I'm grokking all of your changes. Unless you have some form of instant messenger, which might be faster even.
Here she is. Happy to hear any and all thoughts! You will tell me your thoughts. I mean. You won't tell me. But I'll know. Oh yes, I'll know...
Name: Emily Whitehall ("Em," sometimes)
Birthday: 07 August
Height: 1.68 meters (5 feet, 6 inches)
Appearance:
(using hiders because giant images, be warned)
Emily is in good physical condition, certainly up to Academy standards, but she's not the fittest of the group; she doesn't really enjoy exercise and she's got a curvy build. She dresses with what she considers to be style - and it is stylish, even if it's mostly the fashions of another time. She likes long dresses, skirts and hats, and she's got quite a collection of the latter. When she's training, or has to be out-of-uniform but expects action, she dresses for flexibility and comfort, preferring tank tops and pants which give her freedom of motion, even if they don't provide much protection (see Mirror's Edge runners as an example). Her voice is a calm, melodic alto that gets deeper and throatier when she's upset, higher and breathier when she's excited.
Emily has segmental vitiligo, depigmentation of the skin and hair on her back, neck and scalp. Though it doesn't make much difference on her skin (she's naturally quite pale), it means that her hair grows in light blonde, almost white, in some places, and black in others. To make it look less patchy, she's developed a routine for dyeing her hair which makes it more uniformly blonde on top, black underneath. She's had the disease since she was a little girl, but it has mostly stopped progressing. Emily was self-conscious about the condition for many years, but doesn't really mind it now that's she's managed to develop a look she likes. It has no other symptoms.
(note: While Emily's character model is probably just dyeing her hair, segmental vitiligo of the scalp is a real disorder and I believe I've described it accurately - for examples of how it looks when it occurs naturally, see doc hammer, or numerous others on Google. I don't want to overstate the importance of the disorder to Emily's character; it's just a side note, really, but I want to be clear that if I give a character a disease, I will try to portray it correctly.)
Personality: Stubbornness and arrogance may be unpleasant traits, but in the face of the impossible, they might be the only way to remain sane. Emily is intelligent and thoughtful, but since finding her spirits (whom she refers to as the Others), taking those qualities to their extremes has been the only way she's survived. Though she's nice enough to most (and can be downright charming when she needs to be), Emily behaves externally as though she's incredibly self-assured: She's judgmental, she insists on doing things her way, and she's always made up her mind on a subject before she brings it up with anyone else. She maintains this demeanor because she has to in order to cope: Internally, Emily is plagued by constant doubt and fear, punctuated by episodes of depression and all-encompassing uncertainty. Her experiences with the spirits has certainly contributed to this mental binary, but it was well-formed long before she had any contact with them. She's always wanted to be seen as powerful, capable, and in control, and perhaps she believes that if others see her that way, it will become true.
To be fair, Emily's temerity does make her a good leader. She's decisive, and she knows how to delegate responsibility. Perhaps the reason she was never tapped for more command-oriented work at the Academy, then, has to do with her priorities: Nobody's quite sure what she wants or what she cares about. To be fair, Emily doesn't really know, either - having powerful spirit beings from a timeless void appear to you and then proceed to show you the absolute unimportance of your existence on a universal level tends to do that to a person. When Emily gained spirits, everything became relative. She couldn't find anything worth saving, because reality would destroy it all anyway, given enough time. Emily hasn't responded particularly well to this revelation (as if anyone would), but she's slowly coming to terms with it. For now, she's decided, she will invest in the people who are important to her. She'll care about those who care about her, and leave the rest of creation to tend to itself. It's not the most complete or reasonable ideology, she knows, but it feels relatively comfortable, and it gives her some solid ground from which to start.
It's also easy, because Emily doesn't have particularly many friends. While she gets along fine in superficial relationships, and isn't incapable of being sociable, she has a very small inner circle. People don't become fast friends with her often, probably you really get to know her, she's not the easiest to get along with. She has a unique way of steering things towards argument, and she feels incapable of backing down or compromising, even when she knows she ought to. Plus, most of the activities you do with other people are less interesting to her then the ones you do alone. She's always reading, writing, drawing or painting, and she prefers to do all these things in absolute solitude. She rarely shares her work, even when she's proud of it; she doesn't want the real world intruding on her private time any more than absolutely necessary. That said, she puts the people who are really her friends above everyone else - she sticks to the priorities she's established for herself.
Emily's personality puts her at odds with other people who behave similarly; she's far from being the only strong-willed person in the world, after all. She comforts herself with the belief that, unlike others, she really has no choice; she has to believe in herself if she's going to survive in a world that doesn't care about her (or anyone). But faith in oneself doesn't necessarily demand compliance from others. Emily will come into her own for real if she can learn to acquiesce and compromise, to accept the rightness of others, even if she doesn't care for them. Real confidence is not born from arrogance or assertiveness, so Emily will have to reconcile that within herself if she's ever going to change.
Biography: Emily was always an unusually serious child. Her parents chalked this up to intellect - she learned fast, no matter what the subject, and she always wanted more. She was their only child, so she was more than a little doted on. Her family was middle-class but mostly financially secure, at least before the war, so Emily mostly got whatever she wanted. Her mother died during, though not as a result of, the First Contact War, and Emily grew incredibly attached to her dad as a result. He kept both of them safe for the remainder of the conflict, and the two were inseparable for many years after. He didn't agree with Emily's decision to enter the Academy, and never really understood the nature of the pain she endured as a result of her contact with the spirits, try as she might to explain it. He did accept it, though, and has cautiously accepted that the Academy is a path Emily feels she has to follow, even if he's terrified at the idea of losing his only remaining family. She, in turn worried about leaving him alone, but their relationship has mostly come through the experience intact, and even if they're a bit farther apart (mentally and spatially), they stay in contact as much as possible.
At the Academy, Emily performed extremely well, excelling in nearly all her classes. Though she's not the fittest, strongest, or fastest of her classmates and friends, her force of will and persistence have granted her incredible skill, as well as control of and familiarity with her spirits, despite her mixed feelings about them. The one area that's been most difficult for her has been social; she's still got few friends, and has had even fewer romantic relationships - something she feels she should correct, but isn't sure how. Even though she's graduated, Emily doesn't feel like an adult, not really. She looks at her peers - some are getting married, some have children, some already have missions and accomplishments under their belts. Emily still harbors fears that she might be inadequate compared to the others, that she might be unprepared for the real world in so many ways - not all of them related to "the job." Even though her training has prepared her for at least some of what's to come, she's not certain she's ready to face it.
Weapon: Emily eschews the more common swords and knives in exchange for a bo staff fashioned from two collapsible batons (inspired by Arrow's Black Canary). She fights extremely effectively with the staff, but is also proficient using the two batons separately. Her fighting style is a combination of a variety of martial arts; she doesn't adhere to a specific one, but will use whatever techniques she's found to work. Emily took up the bo primarily because of its relative disuse at the Academy. Learning to use it instead of some other weapon got her a lot more one-on-one training time, which in turn made her a much better fighter. She's absolutely no less deadly than any other properly-trained Academy student, and probably much moreso than many, especially those who aren't familiar with the way she fights.To facilitate her abilities with the bow, Emily also trained heavily in hand-to-hand combat (you might say she double-majored). Even without the staff, or with only one of the batons, she's a force to be reckoned with.
In combat, Emily tends to be defensive but pragmatic, dodging and ducking continuously and striking only at opportune moments. Her goal is generally to disorient and confuse her opponent until she can strike with her spirits, at which point, the problem will ideally take care of itself. In situations where this is impractical, however, she's likely to focus on quickly disabling as many opponents as possible - not because she's unwilling to go in for kills, but because it's easier to deal with someone however you like once they're on the ground. Though she purports to disapprove of flashy fighting, she's not above showing off a little on occasion, and her unusual weapons and style make it pretty impressive.
Limit Break: Wrath of the Void. Emily uses her connection to the Others to draw a bit of their malign irreality into our world, warping the fabric of our universe within a certain area. The Wrath is not just an attack Emily can command at any time; its severity and effects vary depending on her desperation and mental state. If circumstances are sufficiently dire, and she's extremely angry, scared, or (emotionally) hurt, she may invoke the Others in order to forcibly overcome whatever obstacle is causing her trouble. While theoretically, the Wrath could be invoked at any time, it would have no effect if Emily did not need an effect - at best, it would draw unwanted attention from creatures best left unprovoked (think of it like dialing 9-1-1 because someone looked at you funny from across the street versus calling because you just saw a triple homicide; which would have a bigger response?). The exact size and description of the attack's effects vary based upon Emily's needs (within reasonable limits, of course; I will obviously defer to the GM on that.), but it always follows a general pattern:
First, Emily and anyone or anything physically connected to her she is protected inside a bubble of real-space that protects them from effects of the attack. Anything external to that bubble is in danger, whether Emily would consider it friendly or not. The Wrath can have numerous effects: living creatures will mutate into horrible, even impossible forms. Water turns to ash, air turns into blood, buildings warp and fold in on themselves as space buckles under the exposure to physical conditions completely alien to even the farthest reaches of our existence. The ground seeths and roils into massive pustules, and from them burst colossal masses of tentacles, organs, flesh and screaming mouths, devouring anything they touch. Anyone possessing enough of a mind to comprehend the horrors unfolding before them hallucinates vividly; an unearthly chorus of Others descends upon them, singing tones beyond their range of hearing which somehow manifest directly in their mind as blossoms of pain and terror. Madness, while not inevitable, is highly likely, even if those affected somehow manage to avoid being transformed into gibbering, thoughtless hulks of flesh, blood and ichor.
As the attack peaks, color and light take on new and horrific dimensions, as parts of the spectrum that before were impossible to see appear vividly. Stars whirl overhead, impossibly fast and bright, but are not seen or followed as much as they are sensed and smelled, burning eternally in the tiny, feeble clusters of nerves that humans consider their brain. The boundless intelligence of the Others, infinite and varied, manifests directly on the earth, further twisting and altering causality so as to create the ends that Emily desired when the attack began (generally, to make dead whatever needs dead). Mercifully, they don't remain for long. Once their goals are accomplished, they vanish as quickly as they had arrived, and the laws of our existence begin to assert themselves again. The infernal constructs born from the maelstrom die, unable to sustain themselves using such alien biologies. The stars slide back into place. Gravity and causality begin to function normally at last.
The Wrath is a devastating attack, and merely witnessing it is enough to drain Emily physically and mentally for days or even weeks, though she always emerges apparently unscathed. Emily has never performed the Wrath twice in the same place, for fear of what would happen if she did, and generally refuses to do it at all unless she has no other choice. Though she discusses it with no one, her memories of previous attempts haunt her dreams (and sometimes even her waking hours) and fuel her fears about the nature of the spirits she commands.
Spirits:
While many think of their spirits as inanimate powers, unthinking things drawing on the properties of the world as it was formed post-Calamity, Emily doesn't truck with that notion. She believes her spirits are very alive, and very intelligent, albeit in ways that are incredibly far removed from anything humans might understand. She refers to them as the "Others," and while there are many of them, they're all cut from similar cloth. They all draw from the raw, untarnished power of some ancient, eldritch void - a world outside and wholly unlike our own. Their aims, if they have any, are impossible to understand, their preferences likewise. What Emily did to engender their interest is completely beyond her. Perhaps it was very substantial indeed, or perhaps it was nothing, and their attentions are merely the whimsical manifestations of something too ancient, too powerful to care whom it helps or harms. They first manifested as whispers and false shadows, echoing in the darkest corner's of Emily's mind and invading her dreams to make themselves heard, where they showed her terrifying vistas of reality, likely beyond anything anyone could interpert in their waking hours. Emily believed the dreams were real, believed the lessons they seemed to be teaching - that the universe is vast, empty, and uncaring - but didn't know how or why she was receiving them. For months, she believed she was sick, or perhaps insane, until her powers manifested, and she realized what was really happening.
These creatures, she decided, couldn't be allowed to control her. No, if she was going to survive, she had to be the one in charge. That was why she joined the Academy, against her father's objections and in spite of having no real desire to fight. Fortunately for her, the Academy was well-prepared to help her. Her control over her abilities is formidable, while the Others themselves seem to resign themselves to incomprehensible whispers and occasional dream-visions. For the first time since she originally possessed them, Emily feels more or less at peace with the Others, but the pain their arrival inflicted on her has left its mark on her behavior and beliefs.
The spirit-manifestations Emily calls the Others are mostly distinct from the powers she draws from them. All of her abilities have the designation "Cosmic/Eldritch," whichever you prefer.
Crawling Chaos - Waves of hallucination-inducing power emanate from Emily, affecting the vision and mental function of anyone or anything they meet (this affects humans, animals, and all forms of creature). In the eyes of those affected, the world is horrifically twisted. Trees and plants become writhing columns of intestine and tentacle. Blood pours from every wall and door; pain wracks the body and clouds the mind. Originally, Emily's mental state helped dictate what the visions were and how powerful they became, but training at the Academy has allowed her to control them regardless of her current thought process (provided she isn't too unstable). All manner of eldritch vision is possible, as well as more mundane hallucinations - Emily can direct the purpose and behavior of the hallucination to some extent by focusing on her intentions in creating it (i. e., to make herself seem more powerful then she is, to make someone believe they are under attack, or are trapped, etc.), but she doesn't control the exact vision itself. Regardless of the intent, the visions are nearly always horrifying, though Emily can also temper their power to some extent. At lower strengths, the visions are merely disturbing and unpleasant. More powerful visions can cause serious mental trauma and might be very difficult to fight off (through disbelief or simply acting without regard or ones' senses). At their most powerful, they can cause lasting madness or mental instability that persists long after the onslaught has stopped.
I haven't worked out the specifics of the next two powers particularly, so I'd be happy to hear any feedback on their functionality.
Alien Geometries - Unlike the Chaos, this ability manipulates the physical world. Emily can make limited, one-time alterations to geometry or space-time in a given location. For example, she can make a door lead to a different room, or create an unending staircase. These effects persist for as much time as she can concentrate to maintain them, and are limited by physical size (she can't affect an area larger than a few meters in any direction) and the complexity of the violation - for example, creating a ceiling you can stand on as if it were a floor is less complex then altering a room so that you can walk upright on any surface, or, a door between two places close together is easier than a door between two far-away places. This power requires intuition based on Emily's own spatial sense, and therefore can't be applied to physical effects humans don't instinctively understand (for example, she can't produce ionizing radiation). Emily primarily uses the geometries to obstruct enemy's paths and create distractions to facilitate her escape or their capture, but with a little imagination, there are many other uses for this power.
Parasite Infestation - Emily can generate a small parasitic sac which can be introduced into any living host (human, animal, even plants or other lifeforms of sufficient size) through direct skin contact. The sac usually looks like a sort of bulbous mass of tissue and fiber with a large eye in the center (the eye may be human, insect, or from some unknown creature). After enough time passes to permit the parasite integration into the host for feeding, the infestation allows Emily to track the locations of infectees and observe their immediate surroundings through their senses (for instance, if the sac infests a dog, she will smell as it smells and see as it sees; if it infests a plant, she will have none of these senses, but will still be able to track the plant's location). The parasite itself causes degenerative disease in the host - the exact symptoms and progression depends on the species, but in humans, usually manifests over a period of weeks, first as flu-like illness or gastroenteritis before proceeding to rabies-like symptoms, including high fever, vivid hallucinations, dementia and ultimately death. The only cure is removal of the parasite - either surgically, or through further physical contact with Emily, during which she "recalls" the creature through the skin or membrane of the infected (after recall, the parasite can be reused). Emily can generate as many parasites as she liked, but each one requires a certain amount of stamina to maintain her connection to it, and if the connection is broken, it cannot be reestablished. For this reason, Emily hasn't yet been able to infect and track more than three entities at a time. The parasites do not directly alter the behavior of the hosts, and cannot be used to control them; their abilities are purely "read-only."
Name: Emily Whitehall ("Em," sometimes)
Birthday: 07 August
Height: 1.68 meters (5 feet, 6 inches)
Appearance:
(using hiders because giant images, be warned)
Emily is in good physical condition, certainly up to Academy standards, but she's not the fittest of the group; she doesn't really enjoy exercise and she's got a curvy build. She dresses with what she considers to be style - and it is stylish, even if it's mostly the fashions of another time. She likes long dresses, skirts and hats, and she's got quite a collection of the latter. When she's training, or has to be out-of-uniform but expects action, she dresses for flexibility and comfort, preferring tank tops and pants which give her freedom of motion, even if they don't provide much protection (see Mirror's Edge runners as an example). Her voice is a calm, melodic alto that gets deeper and throatier when she's upset, higher and breathier when she's excited.
Emily has segmental vitiligo, depigmentation of the skin and hair on her back, neck and scalp. Though it doesn't make much difference on her skin (she's naturally quite pale), it means that her hair grows in light blonde, almost white, in some places, and black in others. To make it look less patchy, she's developed a routine for dyeing her hair which makes it more uniformly blonde on top, black underneath. She's had the disease since she was a little girl, but it has mostly stopped progressing. Emily was self-conscious about the condition for many years, but doesn't really mind it now that's she's managed to develop a look she likes. It has no other symptoms.
(note: While Emily's character model is probably just dyeing her hair, segmental vitiligo of the scalp is a real disorder and I believe I've described it accurately - for examples of how it looks when it occurs naturally, see doc hammer, or numerous others on Google. I don't want to overstate the importance of the disorder to Emily's character; it's just a side note, really, but I want to be clear that if I give a character a disease, I will try to portray it correctly.)
Personality: Stubbornness and arrogance may be unpleasant traits, but in the face of the impossible, they might be the only way to remain sane. Emily is intelligent and thoughtful, but since finding her spirits (whom she refers to as the Others), taking those qualities to their extremes has been the only way she's survived. Though she's nice enough to most (and can be downright charming when she needs to be), Emily behaves externally as though she's incredibly self-assured: She's judgmental, she insists on doing things her way, and she's always made up her mind on a subject before she brings it up with anyone else. She maintains this demeanor because she has to in order to cope: Internally, Emily is plagued by constant doubt and fear, punctuated by episodes of depression and all-encompassing uncertainty. Her experiences with the spirits has certainly contributed to this mental binary, but it was well-formed long before she had any contact with them. She's always wanted to be seen as powerful, capable, and in control, and perhaps she believes that if others see her that way, it will become true.
To be fair, Emily's temerity does make her a good leader. She's decisive, and she knows how to delegate responsibility. Perhaps the reason she was never tapped for more command-oriented work at the Academy, then, has to do with her priorities: Nobody's quite sure what she wants or what she cares about. To be fair, Emily doesn't really know, either - having powerful spirit beings from a timeless void appear to you and then proceed to show you the absolute unimportance of your existence on a universal level tends to do that to a person. When Emily gained spirits, everything became relative. She couldn't find anything worth saving, because reality would destroy it all anyway, given enough time. Emily hasn't responded particularly well to this revelation (as if anyone would), but she's slowly coming to terms with it. For now, she's decided, she will invest in the people who are important to her. She'll care about those who care about her, and leave the rest of creation to tend to itself. It's not the most complete or reasonable ideology, she knows, but it feels relatively comfortable, and it gives her some solid ground from which to start.
It's also easy, because Emily doesn't have particularly many friends. While she gets along fine in superficial relationships, and isn't incapable of being sociable, she has a very small inner circle. People don't become fast friends with her often, probably you really get to know her, she's not the easiest to get along with. She has a unique way of steering things towards argument, and she feels incapable of backing down or compromising, even when she knows she ought to. Plus, most of the activities you do with other people are less interesting to her then the ones you do alone. She's always reading, writing, drawing or painting, and she prefers to do all these things in absolute solitude. She rarely shares her work, even when she's proud of it; she doesn't want the real world intruding on her private time any more than absolutely necessary. That said, she puts the people who are really her friends above everyone else - she sticks to the priorities she's established for herself.
Emily's personality puts her at odds with other people who behave similarly; she's far from being the only strong-willed person in the world, after all. She comforts herself with the belief that, unlike others, she really has no choice; she has to believe in herself if she's going to survive in a world that doesn't care about her (or anyone). But faith in oneself doesn't necessarily demand compliance from others. Emily will come into her own for real if she can learn to acquiesce and compromise, to accept the rightness of others, even if she doesn't care for them. Real confidence is not born from arrogance or assertiveness, so Emily will have to reconcile that within herself if she's ever going to change.
Biography: Emily was always an unusually serious child. Her parents chalked this up to intellect - she learned fast, no matter what the subject, and she always wanted more. She was their only child, so she was more than a little doted on. Her family was middle-class but mostly financially secure, at least before the war, so Emily mostly got whatever she wanted. Her mother died during, though not as a result of, the First Contact War, and Emily grew incredibly attached to her dad as a result. He kept both of them safe for the remainder of the conflict, and the two were inseparable for many years after. He didn't agree with Emily's decision to enter the Academy, and never really understood the nature of the pain she endured as a result of her contact with the spirits, try as she might to explain it. He did accept it, though, and has cautiously accepted that the Academy is a path Emily feels she has to follow, even if he's terrified at the idea of losing his only remaining family. She, in turn worried about leaving him alone, but their relationship has mostly come through the experience intact, and even if they're a bit farther apart (mentally and spatially), they stay in contact as much as possible.
At the Academy, Emily performed extremely well, excelling in nearly all her classes. Though she's not the fittest, strongest, or fastest of her classmates and friends, her force of will and persistence have granted her incredible skill, as well as control of and familiarity with her spirits, despite her mixed feelings about them. The one area that's been most difficult for her has been social; she's still got few friends, and has had even fewer romantic relationships - something she feels she should correct, but isn't sure how. Even though she's graduated, Emily doesn't feel like an adult, not really. She looks at her peers - some are getting married, some have children, some already have missions and accomplishments under their belts. Emily still harbors fears that she might be inadequate compared to the others, that she might be unprepared for the real world in so many ways - not all of them related to "the job." Even though her training has prepared her for at least some of what's to come, she's not certain she's ready to face it.
Weapon: Emily eschews the more common swords and knives in exchange for a bo staff fashioned from two collapsible batons (inspired by Arrow's Black Canary). She fights extremely effectively with the staff, but is also proficient using the two batons separately. Her fighting style is a combination of a variety of martial arts; she doesn't adhere to a specific one, but will use whatever techniques she's found to work. Emily took up the bo primarily because of its relative disuse at the Academy. Learning to use it instead of some other weapon got her a lot more one-on-one training time, which in turn made her a much better fighter. She's absolutely no less deadly than any other properly-trained Academy student, and probably much moreso than many, especially those who aren't familiar with the way she fights.To facilitate her abilities with the bow, Emily also trained heavily in hand-to-hand combat (you might say she double-majored). Even without the staff, or with only one of the batons, she's a force to be reckoned with.
In combat, Emily tends to be defensive but pragmatic, dodging and ducking continuously and striking only at opportune moments. Her goal is generally to disorient and confuse her opponent until she can strike with her spirits, at which point, the problem will ideally take care of itself. In situations where this is impractical, however, she's likely to focus on quickly disabling as many opponents as possible - not because she's unwilling to go in for kills, but because it's easier to deal with someone however you like once they're on the ground. Though she purports to disapprove of flashy fighting, she's not above showing off a little on occasion, and her unusual weapons and style make it pretty impressive.
Limit Break: Wrath of the Void. Emily uses her connection to the Others to draw a bit of their malign irreality into our world, warping the fabric of our universe within a certain area. The Wrath is not just an attack Emily can command at any time; its severity and effects vary depending on her desperation and mental state. If circumstances are sufficiently dire, and she's extremely angry, scared, or (emotionally) hurt, she may invoke the Others in order to forcibly overcome whatever obstacle is causing her trouble. While theoretically, the Wrath could be invoked at any time, it would have no effect if Emily did not need an effect - at best, it would draw unwanted attention from creatures best left unprovoked (think of it like dialing 9-1-1 because someone looked at you funny from across the street versus calling because you just saw a triple homicide; which would have a bigger response?). The exact size and description of the attack's effects vary based upon Emily's needs (within reasonable limits, of course; I will obviously defer to the GM on that.), but it always follows a general pattern:
First, Emily and anyone or anything physically connected to her she is protected inside a bubble of real-space that protects them from effects of the attack. Anything external to that bubble is in danger, whether Emily would consider it friendly or not. The Wrath can have numerous effects: living creatures will mutate into horrible, even impossible forms. Water turns to ash, air turns into blood, buildings warp and fold in on themselves as space buckles under the exposure to physical conditions completely alien to even the farthest reaches of our existence. The ground seeths and roils into massive pustules, and from them burst colossal masses of tentacles, organs, flesh and screaming mouths, devouring anything they touch. Anyone possessing enough of a mind to comprehend the horrors unfolding before them hallucinates vividly; an unearthly chorus of Others descends upon them, singing tones beyond their range of hearing which somehow manifest directly in their mind as blossoms of pain and terror. Madness, while not inevitable, is highly likely, even if those affected somehow manage to avoid being transformed into gibbering, thoughtless hulks of flesh, blood and ichor.
As the attack peaks, color and light take on new and horrific dimensions, as parts of the spectrum that before were impossible to see appear vividly. Stars whirl overhead, impossibly fast and bright, but are not seen or followed as much as they are sensed and smelled, burning eternally in the tiny, feeble clusters of nerves that humans consider their brain. The boundless intelligence of the Others, infinite and varied, manifests directly on the earth, further twisting and altering causality so as to create the ends that Emily desired when the attack began (generally, to make dead whatever needs dead). Mercifully, they don't remain for long. Once their goals are accomplished, they vanish as quickly as they had arrived, and the laws of our existence begin to assert themselves again. The infernal constructs born from the maelstrom die, unable to sustain themselves using such alien biologies. The stars slide back into place. Gravity and causality begin to function normally at last.
The Wrath is a devastating attack, and merely witnessing it is enough to drain Emily physically and mentally for days or even weeks, though she always emerges apparently unscathed. Emily has never performed the Wrath twice in the same place, for fear of what would happen if she did, and generally refuses to do it at all unless she has no other choice. Though she discusses it with no one, her memories of previous attempts haunt her dreams (and sometimes even her waking hours) and fuel her fears about the nature of the spirits she commands.
Spirits:
While many think of their spirits as inanimate powers, unthinking things drawing on the properties of the world as it was formed post-Calamity, Emily doesn't truck with that notion. She believes her spirits are very alive, and very intelligent, albeit in ways that are incredibly far removed from anything humans might understand. She refers to them as the "Others," and while there are many of them, they're all cut from similar cloth. They all draw from the raw, untarnished power of some ancient, eldritch void - a world outside and wholly unlike our own. Their aims, if they have any, are impossible to understand, their preferences likewise. What Emily did to engender their interest is completely beyond her. Perhaps it was very substantial indeed, or perhaps it was nothing, and their attentions are merely the whimsical manifestations of something too ancient, too powerful to care whom it helps or harms. They first manifested as whispers and false shadows, echoing in the darkest corner's of Emily's mind and invading her dreams to make themselves heard, where they showed her terrifying vistas of reality, likely beyond anything anyone could interpert in their waking hours. Emily believed the dreams were real, believed the lessons they seemed to be teaching - that the universe is vast, empty, and uncaring - but didn't know how or why she was receiving them. For months, she believed she was sick, or perhaps insane, until her powers manifested, and she realized what was really happening.
These creatures, she decided, couldn't be allowed to control her. No, if she was going to survive, she had to be the one in charge. That was why she joined the Academy, against her father's objections and in spite of having no real desire to fight. Fortunately for her, the Academy was well-prepared to help her. Her control over her abilities is formidable, while the Others themselves seem to resign themselves to incomprehensible whispers and occasional dream-visions. For the first time since she originally possessed them, Emily feels more or less at peace with the Others, but the pain their arrival inflicted on her has left its mark on her behavior and beliefs.
The spirit-manifestations Emily calls the Others are mostly distinct from the powers she draws from them. All of her abilities have the designation "Cosmic/Eldritch," whichever you prefer.
Crawling Chaos - Waves of hallucination-inducing power emanate from Emily, affecting the vision and mental function of anyone or anything they meet (this affects humans, animals, and all forms of creature). In the eyes of those affected, the world is horrifically twisted. Trees and plants become writhing columns of intestine and tentacle. Blood pours from every wall and door; pain wracks the body and clouds the mind. Originally, Emily's mental state helped dictate what the visions were and how powerful they became, but training at the Academy has allowed her to control them regardless of her current thought process (provided she isn't too unstable). All manner of eldritch vision is possible, as well as more mundane hallucinations - Emily can direct the purpose and behavior of the hallucination to some extent by focusing on her intentions in creating it (i. e., to make herself seem more powerful then she is, to make someone believe they are under attack, or are trapped, etc.), but she doesn't control the exact vision itself. Regardless of the intent, the visions are nearly always horrifying, though Emily can also temper their power to some extent. At lower strengths, the visions are merely disturbing and unpleasant. More powerful visions can cause serious mental trauma and might be very difficult to fight off (through disbelief or simply acting without regard or ones' senses). At their most powerful, they can cause lasting madness or mental instability that persists long after the onslaught has stopped.
I haven't worked out the specifics of the next two powers particularly, so I'd be happy to hear any feedback on their functionality.
Alien Geometries - Unlike the Chaos, this ability manipulates the physical world. Emily can make limited, one-time alterations to geometry or space-time in a given location. For example, she can make a door lead to a different room, or create an unending staircase. These effects persist for as much time as she can concentrate to maintain them, and are limited by physical size (she can't affect an area larger than a few meters in any direction) and the complexity of the violation - for example, creating a ceiling you can stand on as if it were a floor is less complex then altering a room so that you can walk upright on any surface, or, a door between two places close together is easier than a door between two far-away places. This power requires intuition based on Emily's own spatial sense, and therefore can't be applied to physical effects humans don't instinctively understand (for example, she can't produce ionizing radiation). Emily primarily uses the geometries to obstruct enemy's paths and create distractions to facilitate her escape or their capture, but with a little imagination, there are many other uses for this power.
Parasite Infestation - Emily can generate a small parasitic sac which can be introduced into any living host (human, animal, even plants or other lifeforms of sufficient size) through direct skin contact. The sac usually looks like a sort of bulbous mass of tissue and fiber with a large eye in the center (the eye may be human, insect, or from some unknown creature). After enough time passes to permit the parasite integration into the host for feeding, the infestation allows Emily to track the locations of infectees and observe their immediate surroundings through their senses (for instance, if the sac infests a dog, she will smell as it smells and see as it sees; if it infests a plant, she will have none of these senses, but will still be able to track the plant's location). The parasite itself causes degenerative disease in the host - the exact symptoms and progression depends on the species, but in humans, usually manifests over a period of weeks, first as flu-like illness or gastroenteritis before proceeding to rabies-like symptoms, including high fever, vivid hallucinations, dementia and ultimately death. The only cure is removal of the parasite - either surgically, or through further physical contact with Emily, during which she "recalls" the creature through the skin or membrane of the infected (after recall, the parasite can be reused). Emily can generate as many parasites as she liked, but each one requires a certain amount of stamina to maintain her connection to it, and if the connection is broken, it cannot be reestablished. For this reason, Emily hasn't yet been able to infect and track more than three entities at a time. The parasites do not directly alter the behavior of the hosts, and cannot be used to control them; their abilities are purely "read-only."
My bio is done; I'm having some people proofread it before I post. Once I do, it'll probably go here, unless there are more posts.
Edit: Sorry, double posted by accident. But can't merge or delete on the new forum. :(
Edit: Sorry, double posted by accident. But can't merge or delete on the new forum. :(
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