TaliPaendrag

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth will be in Adam's class.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

The boy with the bright pink stripe in his black hair stood up and left the table almost immediately after Beth sat down, though he did return Beth’s smile of politeness. Beth wondered, albeit briefly, if she had done something to upset him as she watched him leave the cafeteria before she began digging into her food. Though she hadn’t realized it until then, she was actually quite hungry, having thrown up most of her lunch during the boat ride over to the island due to her seasickness.

Needless to say, the chicken parmesan was absolutely delicious, with the texture and strength of the flavor being just right, though she wouldn’t say that it was quite as good as her uncle’s. Due to her small size, however, she became full rather quickly, even when she was feeling ravenous. That, in addition to the contribution to her fullness from the glass of root beer that she had gotten, meant that she would more than likely be unable to actually finish her meal, let alone get seconds.

As she was eating, Beth was joined by a woman of darker skin that could only be described, by Beth at least, as gigantic, easily being five or six times Beth’s size, if not more. Despite how intimidating the woman appeared outwardly, she seemed nice enough as she introduced herself as Michelle. Of course, she seemed to believe that Beth was an actual child, which wasn’t surprising at all, as that was literally everybody’s initial guess as to her age.

”Sorry to burst your bubble,” Beth said after swallowing her mouthful of food, turning in her chair to face Michelle, ”but I’m not a little kid. I’m actually just a really short fifteen year old. And my name is Elizabeth Carson, but you can call me Beth. It’s nice to meet you.” After Beth had said her piece, she loaded her fork up with more food and slid it into her mouth, inwardly hoping that she hadn’t ticked the other woman off with her tone. That wouldn’t end well at all.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

Although she had originally been excited to ride on a boat for the first time, Beth very quickly regretted stepping foot on the boat. Having never been on a boat before, she had no idea that she would be prone to seasickness, or that it could be so awful. The sea sickness she was dealing with had struck less than an hour after she had gotten on the boat, which she couldn’t help but feel was a little pathetic.

Somehow, she had managed to make her way to the infirmary that was located below deck without covering the entirety of the hallway in vomit, but, unfortunately, the nurse was unable to provide her with any medicine that would effectively treat her motion sickness because the doses were far too high for someone of her size. They were able to provide her with ginger ale, however, which did soothe her nausea enough that she didn’t feel the need to throw-up.

At the nurse’s insistence that going up to the deck would be better for her seasickness than laying down in one of the sick beds, Beth began stumbling her way out of the infirmary and to the deck of the ship where most of the other students would be, quickly locating a chair pointing off the port side of the ship to recline in. Once she was comfortable, relatively speaking, she tried to enjoy the view, spotting a few small landmasses off in the horizon.

Incidentally, having something stationary like the ground to look at also helped soothe her nausea to the point where it was able to be ignored. No longer quite so occupied with her stomach doing flips on her, the rocking of the ship as it sliced through the water was actually quite relaxing, and it quickly put her to sleep until she was woken up by the increase in volume of the students on deck and the announcement that the boat had docked at the Academy.

After she had finished stretching and whatnot, Beth followed the crowd of people who were currently disembarking by way of the large set of stairs that had been lowered from the ship. While she walked, Beth ran her fingers through curly, coppery red hair in a futile attempt to eliminate some of the tangles that had formed while she slept. It wasn’t a desire to look good that motivated her to try and fix her hair, as she really didn’t particularly care what she looked like, but rather her desire to be essentially invisible to those around her.

The outfit that she was currently wearing, a brown and white flannel short-sleeved shirt, a pair of faded blue jeans, and her green and black sneakers with Velcro fasteners, was chosen with this goal in mind, as it didn’t stand out particularly well against the flashier outfits most of the other students wore on their first day. In fact, the only thing that she was wearing that could be considered flashy was her silver and black bracelet made of tungsten carbide that allowed her to store some of the excess charge her body built up over time.

Of course, all of this that didn’t mean that she was truly invisible. Several people around her seemed to have noticed her and were whispering to some of the others around them. Though some might be paranoid about what was being said behind their backs, Beth figured it was a question or an expression of confusion as to why such a young child, as Beth appeared to be, would be at the Academy. Thankfully, however, such interest in her seemed to be short-lived as the crowd continued towards their destination, which was apparently somewhere inside the massive castle that was the Academy itself.

While the staff members that had welcomed them to the island guided them towards wherever it was they were going, they answered a seemingly constant stream of questions from curious students concerning a variety of topics like what they could do for fun or what kinds of facilities the Academy had to offer to them. By paying attention to the questions that were being asked, Beth could kind of ignore the anxiety that she had been feeling since boarding the boat. It also made the walk go by a lot faster, so much so that Beth was rather surprised when they stepped into the castle itself.

Shortly after that, they emerged into a beautiful garden where a stage and several rows of seats were set up. As the students filled the seats, Beth was able to get a look at the stage where a stern-looking woman in a sharp pin-stripe suit and a somber-looking man dressed in black everything were standing. Almost immediately after everyone was seated, the woman began speaking, though Beth could no longer see what was going on due to how short she was.

Though it was a good bit harder to pay attention to the speech when she couldn’t see the speaker, Beth did manage to keep focused on what was being said, particularly when it came to the rules that the Academy operated under, like the fact that everyone needed to be in their rooms by 10 PM or that fighting outside of a special place called the arena was prohibited. Overall, Beth was surprised by how short the speech ended up being, as they were very quickly dismissed to attend the annual banquet.

The journey to the cafeteria where the banquet was being held was, as expected, much shorter than the walk from the docks to the Academy itself. It also seemed louder too, as the students were beginning to loosen up and talk to one another in the hopes of making new friends or catching up with old ones. Regardless, the crowd arrived at their destination in no time, the students breaking up to grab something to eat before getting a table with their friends.

Due to her small size, getting a plate of food was a lot harder said than done for Beth, as people tended to either have a hard time seeing her or just not caring that she was in the way. Eventually, however, she managed to wriggle through the crowd and get a plate of chicken parmesan and a glass of root beer. From there, she had to wriggle back through the crowd and find a place to sit. Unfortunately, virtually every table had been taken by the time she had gotten her food, which meant that she was going to be forced to sit with someone else.

After scanning the tables that were nearby, Beth decided to sit at the one where a thin boy with a pink stripe in his black hair was already sitting, as he appeared the least intimidating and/or likely to be interested in her. And so Beth set her plate down on the table and sat down, her feet dangling quite a distance above the tiles of the floor, without saying a word, though she did offer a small smile to be polite. If he would try and start a conversation, she wouldn’t be rude and ignore him, but that didn’t mean that she was going to start the conversation. In all honesty, being ignored was preferable.

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

I'm still here. I've just been waiting on you guys. :P

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

Name:

Elizabeth Nicole Carson

Age:

15

Appearance:

Very short with bright red hair and green eyes. Usually wears flannel shirts and jeans or shorts. Seems to be quite young.

Personality:

At first, she appears to be cold and aloof, but is actually rather loyal and enthusiastic once she opens up, though she detests being pitied for her condition. It’s also important to note that she has very low self-esteem, viewing herself as inept and cowardly. She’s also incredibly disorganized, though not prone to procrastination.

Powers:

Beth’s power is electrokinesis.

Other key info:

Beth suffers from proportional dwarfism caused by growth hormone deficiency, which is why she's so short. She is quite handy with tools due to helping her uncle with his projects, and she’s quite flexible due to her years of gymnastics.

Hello, everyone! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. :D

EDIT: Just to be clear, the above is my character's summary and not the actual sheet. I just realized that that might be a bit confusing at first.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Elizabeth Nicole Carson

Basic Information

Name:

Elizabeth Nicole Carson

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Beth, Liz, Sparky, Squirt

Gender:

Female

Age:

15

Height:

3’8”

Weight:

52 lbs.

Type:

New Student

Appearance

Hair Color:

Red

Eye Color:

Green

Ethnicity:

Caucasian, primarily Irish

Physical Appearance:

Due to her body’s inability to effectively produce or use certain hormones that are necessary for physical development, Beth appears as if she has never aged beyond 5 or 6 years old, as she stands at only 3’8” and weighs around 52 lbs. A round face, tiny ears, and a button nose further cement her youthful appearance, as does her body’s lack of curves or lean muscles. If one looks closely enough, it’s also clear that she still has all of her baby teeth, and that she has several scars along her collarbone, shoulders, and arms. Though Beth does detest exactly how young she looks, her short stature works well for her, as it allows her to kind of slip away from the center of attention.

Perhaps the part of her appearance that Beth is most happy with would be her hair, as it isn’t overly childish. Though it can be a pain to manage, she really enjoys the bright, coppery mess of curls that rest on her head and extend down to about her shoulders. Her vivid green eyes, which are a little difficult to notice from a distance, contrast strikingly against her red hair and the freckles spattered over her face, arms, and shoulders. It is worth noting that Beth usually doesn’t take the time to style her hair, as attempting to do so is quite the chore. Not to mention the fact that she doesn’t really put that much stock into her appearance anyway.

Attire:

The best word for describing Beth’s typical attire would be plain. Because she doesn’t like to draw too much attention to herself, she tends to avoid fancy or flashy clothing of any kind, usually wearing simple flannel t-shirts, as they are easily one of the least-childish and most comfortable things that she can get from the local supermarket, along with a pair of shorts or jeans. The most common colors for her flannel shirts are green, yellow, brown, or black, all of varying shades. Much like the rest of her attire, Beth’s shoes are rather plain, if a little childish, with a simple black and green color scheme and Velcro fasteners.

One thing that is interesting to note about Beth is that she virtually never accessorizes or puts any make-up on. Apart from feeling like people will think that she’s just playing dress-up, she finds it rather unnecessary for most situations, though she will, reluctantly, don a headband or put on some lip gloss for a special occasion. The only “accessory” that she does wear constantly is a simple metal bracelet on her right wrist that allows her to help mitigate her power so that she doesn’t accidentally hurt someone with it.

Personality

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

The casual observer, Beth isn’t the kind of person that you would probably want to get to know better. She’s quiet, introverted, and cold, a real tough customer type, despite her small size. It honestly appears that she’s more trouble than she’s worth, and that is exactly what she’s hoping for. See, Beth’s tough, unfeeling demeanor is really just a façade that she’s spent a lot of time perfecting so that she wouldn’t have to make herself vulnerable to being hurt by people when they inevitably abandon her.

If you can get her to take off the mask that she so carefully put up, however, it turns out that she’s really quite loyal and enthusiastic. She still doesn’t say much and tends to avoid being the center of attention, but it’s painfully clear that the most visible aspects of her personality have changed completely. It’s also pretty apparent that she’s wiser than her years, or at least that she thinks a lot about what she says before she says it, because she always seems to have some sort of applicable advice or words of comfort to give a friend that needs them.

Unfortunately, Beth does have a tendency to run away, at least in her own mind if not in reality. She feels that, at the core of her being, she’s nothing more than a coward and a weakling. It’s easier to put on a mask and pretend to be someone she’s not than it is to deal with the harm people in her past have done to her and her feelings about them. This is the primary aspect of herself that she positively loathes, and it has resulted in her having far less self-esteem than she appears to have to strangers.

Stepping away from some of the deeper aspects of Beth’s personality, it is interesting to note that she is incredibly disorganized. Her room is in a constant state of disarray, with clothes, papers, and parts to various appliances or machines strewn about seemingly at random. While Beth doesn’t see the problem with her room appearing as if a tornado had touched down and done a little jig, she gets that people tend to disagree with her. As such, her room is quite the source of embarrassment to her, and she rarely lets anyone into it without a very good reason.
Surprisingly enough given her lack of organizational skills, Beth is actually not prone to procrastination. She prefers to get things over with right away instead of prolonging the work by putting it off to the side, which works very well with her methodical way of thinking things through. One of the things she absolutely hates is having to rush to finish an assignment on time, as she feels that she’s doing something completely and utterly wrong with no time to fix it. It can be quite a stressor for her to be unable to finish an assignment until the deadline is near, which can make her uncharacteristically irritable.

Beth also has a lot of trouble accepting the aid of other people, which is another, albeit relatively minor, part of why she tends to try and pass herself off as being a tough individual. The reason it is so hard for her to just accept the help of other people is that she’s used to it being offered because of her condition. She feels that people tend to think of her as helpless, and that that’s why they offer their assistance, usually without asking her first. It also reinforces her view of herself as weak or inept because it seems like that’s what others think of her. Of course, you would probably never actually know that any of this is going through her mind when you do offer to help, as she more than likely say anything about it and simply utter a quick word of gratitude.

It’s also important to note that this is not meant to be an indication that Beth doesn’t feel emotions like other people. She most certainly does have the same emotional range and intensity as other people. She’s just better at concealing those feelings because she spent most of her life living in a household where open displays of emotion were generally frowned upon, even from small children. It also helps her avoid attracting the attention of other people, as a blank expression usually gets glanced over pretty quickly.

Hobbies/Interests:

In her spare time, Beth enjoys partaking in do-it-yourself projects, which involve building, modifying, or repairing things without professional assistance. This has also led Beth to develop an interest in woodworking and metalworking in order to acquire the parts that she would need for her various projects. Apart from working on her numerous projects, Beth also spends her free time participating in gymnastics or playing video games of various genres.

Skills/Talents:

Due to having been a part of gymnastics since she was about four years old, Beth is exceptionally limber compared to most other people, and she has a pretty good reaction time. Nowadays, she doesn’t participate competitively, but she’s still good enough to get more than a few ooh’s and ah’s out of anyone who happens to be watching.

Beth also has a lot of knowledge when it comes to identifying different types materials that she could make use of in her projects, from the various types of woods to ceramics, plastics, and the numerous types of metal. She’s also quite handy when it comes to using tools or machines, as she’s made a lot of use of the supplies her uncle had in his garage when they were working on their projects.

Prized Possession:

Though she’s rather embarrassed to admit it, her prized possession would have to be the sparkly, pink stuffed unicorn that her uncle won for her at a carnival a few years ago. It has its own permanent spot at the head of her bed, and she sleeps with it every night.

Quote(s):

”I know I had that sketch somewhere around here…”

“I feel that what other people think of us doesn’t matter in the long run. What matters is what we think of ourselves and how we choose to think of others. But what do I know? I’m probably just spouting out nonsense.”

“People always seem to be leaving, especially when it comes to relationships. So, the way I see it, if you get close to people, you’re only going to get hurt when they leave. And they will, because that’s what they do.”

Beth’s Backstory

History/Bio:

Born to two, middle-class parents of primarily Irish descent, it might appear at first glance that the only strange feature about Beth’s childhood would be the fact that she was born a little more than five years after her older sister, Anastasia. By the time she was two years old, however, it became clear that something about her was off, as she had barely grown at all. The family doctor, after administering several tests, was able to conclude that she was suffering from growth hormone deficiency, which is a condition where the pituitary gland produces too little growth hormone. The treatments for this condition are, unfortunately, quite expensive, and her parents were unable to afford it.

Unbeknownst to the two year old Beth, the diagnosis of her condition brought back the tension that had existed between her parents while they were trying to have another child and increased it significantly. As is far too often the case when confronted with circumstances for which people have no explanation, they blamed each other for their struggle in having a child and then for the condition that Beth was born with. Somehow, they managed to make their marriage last for another three years, though it was far from a pleasant environment. By some unspoken agreement, Beth’s mother, Susan, retained custody of the children while the father, Anthony, just, for all intents and purposes, vanished.
Because her husband was no longer around to take the brunt of her anger and resentment and because Beth was, in a way, the symbol of her woes, Susan began to place the blame for her misfortunes upon her youngest daughter. While the bitterness that her mother directed towards her never lead to actual physical abuse, it did result in plenty of psychological and emotional abuse. The most common form of this abuse was the direct and harsh comparisons to Annie, who was essentially a genius. No matter what she did, Beth couldn’t reach the metaphorical bar that her older sister had set.

Unfortunately, Annie picked up on the way that their mother treated Beth and began to follow suit, though there was never really any malice behind it in her case. Still, this treatment from her mother and sister, in addition to being picked on in school for her diminutive size, seriously crippled her self-esteem and made her afraid of branching out and trying new things.

In fourth grade, however, a new girl named Mary moved into the area and seemed to take a shine to Beth for some unknown reason. Though Beth was shy and distant, Mary was persistent in talking with her and hanging out. For someone who felt that they were the scum of the earth, it was surprising that someone would care so much, and Beth found herself opening up a little more and growing a tiny bit more confident. Mary also managed to convince her to try out for gymnastics, with her mother offering to pick Beth up from practice and drop her off at home when it was clear that Beth’s mother wouldn’t.

Even though Beth was only really open with Mary, it was certainly true that their friendship had a remarkable impact on Beth’s life, especially after Mary stood up to Beth’s older sister when she began picking on Beth again, as it helped Annie realize that the way she had been treating her sister was wrong. Of course, this transition took quite a while to come to fruition, as habits forged over years become quite hard to break.

During the summer before seventh grade, however, Mary’s father was transferred to a different branch of the company he worked for, which meant that Mary had to move away. Due to the fact that Mary was Beth’s only close friend, it isn’t surprising that her leaving had a profound effect on Beth’s growth as a person, although not in a good way. Despite the fact that most of the other students in her school had become friendlier to her, she seemed to become more distant and depressed, not saying much to anyone and seeming to desire nothing but solitude.

To make matters worse, Beth was beginning to develop her powers. It began with simple little events that were out of the ordinary, though unnoticed by pretty much anyone other than Beth, like a pen rolling towards her finger even when it would mean going up the slope of the desk or a sense of other people around her even when she couldn’t see or hear them. Knowing very well what her mother thought of Metahumans, Beth made sure to keep these strange feelings she had a secret. She didn’t, after all, need to give her mother another reason to resent her.

She wasn’t quite as good at hiding her abilities as she thought, at least not from someone who actually paid a decent amount of attention to her, and it wasn’t long before her sister put the pieces together and figured it all out and confronted her. Unlike their mother, Annie understood that Metahumans were people just like anyone else, having known several in high school that were also afraid of their parents finding out, so her reason for confronting Beth was to give her some advice for keeping her abilities a secret and offer her support.

With her older sister’s help, Beth was able to keep the development of her abilities, and therefore her status as a Metahuman, a secret from their mother and everyone else. The next year, however, Annie had completed her senior year of high school and was leaving for Princeton University on a full ride because of her grades and performance in track and field as a sprinter, all while Beth was just entering eighth grade. Needless to say, the first few months alone in the house with her mother were quite difficult. It seemed that, in addition to being abandoned again, her mother was even more hateful in comparing her to Annie.

Although Beth was despondent for quite a while after her older sister went off to college, it wasn’t quite as severe as it had been when Mary had moved away, as her self-esteem was a little better than it had been back then. Beth was even able to make a few friends throughout eight grade. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, as Beth still had a nagging feeling that they were only hanging out with her to be nice to her. Her mother was also very good at picking out these insecurities and exploiting them. All in all, nothing really changed from before.

Everything was essentially static for the rest of eighth grade and even most of ninth grade, though Beth was beginning to feel more pressure and anxiety at school due to moving up to the high school where all the teachers clearly remembered Annie and expected Beth to match up to her. This delicate equilibrium was shaken up at the end of the school year, however, when Ben, her best friend, stood up to a bully that had been harassing their group recently. Though brave, it was a really stupid move, as he was a well-known Metahuman with toxic powers. Ben figured that the bully wouldn’t use his powers to harm him, but was sorely mistaken.

In a fit of rage at being embarrassed in front of his crew, the bully kicked Ben down and released some of his toxic mist. Unable to keep from breathing, Ben inhaled the mist and began entering cardiac arrest. The bully, realizing what he had done, dispersed the mist and fled, his group following after. Beth, who had been frozen in panic during the actual conflict, rushed to her friend’s side as he lay on the ground. Because she had been taught first aid in health class, she was able to begin checking for what was wrong, discovering rather quickly that he had no heartbeat. As she was far too weak to perform CPR, she decided that, maybe, she could use her powers to help him by shocking his heart to get it working again, like an AED.

Placing her hands where the pads of the AED would go, Beth summoned as much energy as she could and pushed it into her friend’s body. Unfortunately, Beth immediately passed out due to over-exertion, as such use of her power was beyond her at the time. When she came too, she was being lifted off of her friend’s lifeless body by a paramedic and placed onto a stretcher. Immediately, she tried to get up and go to Ben, but she was restrained by the paramedic, and, when she refused to settle down, sedated.

The next time she woke up, she was alone in a hospital room, the uncomfortable, sterilized scent of the air tickling her nose. A nurse happened to be walking by when she sat up and promptly called the doctor. The doctor explained that there was nothing wrong with her, and that she had probably just passed out from anxiety or something along those lines. Apparently, the police had originally suspected her of being the killer, as there were hand-shaped burns on Ben’s body. They found out after the autopsy that he had died by poisoning. That, in combination with the surveillance camera, exonerated her.

Despite being perfectly healthy, at least physically, Beth wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital because she was a minor and her mother hadn’t arrived to sign the paperwork and whatnot. After several hours, they had managed to track down her uncle, who agreed to hurry over, though it would be several hours before he arrived. In the meantime, Beth was given a hot meal and monitored by the staff “just in case.” Really, Beth didn’t mind all that much, as she was more focused on the fact that her friend had just died and that her mother had completely abandoned her.
Their reunion when her uncle did finally show up was short-lived, as he had to fill out the paperwork that would allow him to take her home quite quickly so that he could get home and get some sleep before he had to go to work the next morning. The car ride on the way to his house was also quiet, neither of them wanting to speak all that much, if for different reasons. After they arrived at his house several hours later, Beth collapsed in the guest bed that her uncle told her she could sleep in while he fell asleep in his bed.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Beth mostly just moped around, finding a nook or cranny here or there to settle into and play games on the tablet her uncle let her use, though she was always careful to wear rubber gloves when she did so. In the meantime, her uncle tried his hardest to get her mother to take her back in before realizing that it was futile and switching his focus to obtaining custody so that he could enroll her in the local school and whatnot.

Because it was already almost the end of the year, Beth’s uncle didn’t see much of a point in sending her to school as soon as he had full custody over her. So instead, he tried to spend that time, as well as the rest of the summer, making up for his sister’s failure to treat her daughter right. This involved everything from going to an amusement park to visiting the zoo and aquarium, though they also did things around the house together, like making a big breakfast together or working on one of her uncle’s numerous do-it-yourself projects.

Though the fun times they had together slowed down once the summer was over and her tenth year began, they never really stopped completely, as Beth and her uncle would continue to take part in a variety of activities during the weekends, which usually involved working on completing several projects around the house or some instruction in controlling her powers from her uncle. In short, her uncle became a replacement for her missing father, providing her with the love and encouragement that a parental figure should give their children.

As Beth’s tenth grade year drew to a close, an invitation to Academy 218 arrived in the mail for Beth. According to the letter, the people in charge of the Academy had seen the story concerning Ben’s death several years ago and had tracked her down to offer her an invitation to attend the Academy and better learn to control her powers. Though reluctant to go, her uncle urged her to, as he knew that it was quite the prestigious facility and that they would be able to teach her how to use her abilities better than he would. On top of all of that, they were also able to certify her to use her powers in public. All in all, it would have been stupid to say no.

Eventually, Beth did agree to attend the Academy in place of eleventh grade in the high school that she had been attending. She just hoped that she wouldn’t regret it, while her uncle hoped that it would help her overcome a lot of the problems growing up with his sister had caused her.

Family:

Mother – Susan Gabriella Carson (Disowned)
Father – Anthony Paul Carson (Disappeared)
Sister – Anastasia Marie Carson (Off at college)
Uncle – Robert Gregory O’Reilly (Meta-human with earth manipulation)

Relationships

Power

Abilities

Power Class:

Elemental

Power:

Electricity Manipulation

Beth’s power is, to put it simply, the ability to generate and manipulate electricity. Though she can leech electricity from nearby power lines, electronics, or other current-carrying objects, she usually uses the electricity that her body constantly generates on its surface, as it’s more instinctive and easier to acquire. While the most obvious application of her power is blasting targets with large bolts of electricity (with a maximum safe voltage of around 5 million volts, or enough to get an arc to extend 1.67 meters through air), it should be noted that her control over electricity is a bit more refined. For example, she can alter the general shape or thinness of electrical arcs, as well as being able to change their speed freely. She can even hold the electricity in place to form semi-solid constructs of varying shapes and sizes or generate an omni-directional blast of electricity.

Because of her ability to manipulate charged particles, Beth can also manipulate the electrostatic forces between two objects, which allows her to walk on walls or ceilings or make other people or objects stick to things like the ground or a wall they happen to be touching. Her power allows her to deliver electrical shocks through contact as well, which can be used to fry or charge electronic devices, incapacitate an opponent, or, if she generates a large enough current, heat an object, particularly conductive metals, up significantly. Because she can sense these electrical fields from a distance of up to two meters away, it is almost impossible to sneak up on her, as every living thing has their own electric field.

Future Abilities

Eventually, Beth will be able to interface with electronics like phones or computers directly by utilizing the electricity within, though this is a very time-consuming task that will require a lot of focus. It will also take her a while to learn how to interface with each unique model of electronic, as they all work differently, even when performing the exact same task. She’ll also eventually develop the ability to guess what a person may be feeling with about 60-65% accuracy by deciphering the electrical signals in their brain.

Limits:

The amount of energy it takes for Beth to launch blasts of electricity is dependent on the voltage of the blast. Higher voltages can do more damage, but also require a lot more energy to create and maintain. It also takes more energy to control electricity the further away it is, with a range of about 10 or so meters. It should be noted that she can’t extend a single arc of electricity that far; she can just move it up to that distance away. Any further than that and the electricity is prone to slip free of her control and hit whatever object it’s most attracted to.

It is important to note that it is impossible for Beth to affect the nervous system of a person using her powers without shocking them, as the electricity in their body is too well-insulated for her to manipulate. All she can do is sense that there is electrical activity in a body. As such, once she shocks someone, the electricity introduced into the targets body becomes free from her control and does what it will. This means that, unless she hits a person very close to the heart with her electricity, they will very often only suffer a severe burn and some muscle spasms under her average arc strength of about 100 volts.

Her electrical arcs also have to be formed near her, with a maximum range of about a third of a meter. This is because, as mentioned before, she most commonly manipulates the electricity that accumulates on the outer surface of her body. These individual charges don’t commonly want to leave her body because it becomes polarized, so she has to force a few of them off in order to generate a potential difference to pull more off. This becomes impossibly difficult if she were to try and do this at a distance greater than a third of a meter.

Despite what may be assumed about electricity, its motion is not instant, as it takes time for the charges to move towards the intended location. While this happens quite quickly with something like a circuit or lightning, maintaining control over an arc of electricity makes it take extraordinarily slower. This is because it is impossible to maintain control over something moving across kilometers in a matter of milliseconds. As such, it is quite possible to dodge any long-ranged attack that she lets off.

Holding electricity, as one might imagine, is quite taxing, as electricity wants to do anything but sit still. As such, it requires a lot of energy to maintain even a simple shape like a round screen, which means that Beth can only do so for about a minute at most. Higher voltages are harder to control of course, and lower the amount of time that she can hold it. Letting off an omni-directional blast of electricity is also quite exhausting and almost completely depletes the electricity that she’s stored up since her last discharge.

Electrostatic force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects, so her ability to make something, or someone, stick to something like the ground or a wall is effective only whenever they are already almost touching it. It is also not strongest force in the world, so it is really useful only as a slight delay tactic in combat.

Electricity is a very offensively oriented ability. As such, it is rather hard to defend oneself with, even when creating semi-solid structures. Sure, whatever gets thrown through the little lightning barrier she put up will be shocked and burned, but if it’s big enough, it’ll still go through relatively unscathed. They can also be shorted out by covering the surface with water or throwing a lot of particulate matter, like sand, through it.

Beth’s body is able to store around 20 Coulombs or so of charge before it starts to arc off to nearby objects. Considering the vast amount of electricity she uses comes from this charge deposit, it’s her “gas tank.” Once she’s out of that charge, she is unable to use her powers unless she can leech the power off of a live wire or some other source of electricity that she can touch. As a scale, running a current large enough to ensure that the target is killed through their body requires about 5 Coulombs per second for 3.5 seconds, with the excess accounting for the need to force the current to penetrate the flesh and reach the heart and the fact that it’s direct current and not alternating current. This number increases with distance (ie. anything over a meter is impossible to kill with), and, ironically, if she’s touching the person, as it’s harder to force the charge to penetrate when it’s not shaped into a point like it is in an arc.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

Water is essentially Beth’s Kryptonite in large enough quantities, as getting completely and unequivocally drenched is able to short her out, which means that, in addition to becoming disoriented, she would have to manipulate external sources of electricity until she dries off and stores up enough charge to use again. Because she’s always generating electricity, she kind of has to stay away from bodies of water large enough to submerge herself in, especially if other people are in that same body of water.

Her constant production of electricity is also a problem in her day-to-day activities, as she can end up frying electronics or hurting people through shocks if she isn’t careful to discharge most of the excess charge periodically. Her typical target for receiving this electricity is the ground, or, at the Academy, a generator. Typically, it takes several hours for her to build up enough charge that arcs begin jumping off her to nearby objects, but the time it takes can decrease if she’s overly excited or something along those lines.

Using her powers more than normal (i.e. simple, mundane uses like walking on walls or charging an I-pod) causes her body to burn glucose for energy at a rate similar to what she would experience after working out at a moderate pace. As such, she needs to be sure to get food and water after any extensive use of her powers to keep her body from starving itself or suffering the effects of dehydration. Extreme uses of her power exacerbate this aspect and can result in symptoms akin to extreme exertion sustained for a long period of time, from muscle spasms due to electrolyte deficiency and dehydration to arrhythmia and scarring of the heart. Going above her safe limit also has a very good chance of sparking the Ashing process in her body, which is obviously something to be avoided.

It’s also harder to affect objects that have a higher resistance to electrical flow, for obvious reasons. This includes things like Plexiglas, rubber, wood, and more. It’s important to note that it isn’t impossible for these objects to be affected by her powers, just that it involves a lot more energy than normal. Ironically, electricity is also incapable of going through metal because they are really good at spreading the charge over the surface. As such, anyone covered in metal is immune to being electrocuted by her powers, though the metal can be melted if given enough time. This also means that it is quite easy to trap her if you can get her surrounded by metal.

Beth also has to be careful when creating bolts of electricity with high voltages, as the heat they give off can result in the creation of thunder. Because her power grants her no protection against sound waves, she could very easily damage her ears permanently if she doesn’t watch what she’s doing with her electricity. These same blasts can also burn her if she’s too close or if the superheated air washes over her, which means that she has to pay attention to how close they are to her body. They can also be incredibly bright, which means that she could very easily render herself incapable of seeing clearly for a few moments if she’s not careful to avoid looking directly at them.

Finally, all of the bolts of electricity Beth creates cause the oxygen in the atmosphere to turn into ozone, though at different rates depending on their energy, though this effect is only present up to two meters away from the arc of electricity. Ozone, with its characteristic smell, is toxic to humans at concentrations above 100 parts per billion because of its powerful oxidizing ability. At her strongest, her arcs will convert 5 moles of oxygen into ozone per second. In a volume of 5 cubic meters, that grants her 8 seconds before all of the oxygen is used up, although the first 5 moles are already far above the toxicity limit. Unfortunately, Beth is no more immune to these effects than anyone else, and so constant, rapid-fire use of her power in this manner has to be carefully monitored or she could succumb to the toxin. Usually, she’ll move around to prevent the concentration from getting too high, as ozone readily decomposes back into oxygen when removed from the presence of the electricity that Beth generates. Because this occurs even when she’s pulling the electricity off her body for use in electrical arcs, she has to keep moving even while preparing them.

The radius around these arcs of electricity in which ozone is formed from oxygen is about 2 meters, which means that, when she’s creating the electricity, there’s a dome of about 4 meters in which oxygen undergoes this conversion process around her. As such, she needs to move even while making her bolts of electricity or else she could begin to damage the membranes in her nose or mouth by inhaling air with an unsafe concentration of ozone.

Other:

NEST Registration Number: 4L3GSK

Beth is severely dyslexic, so reading and writing are quite hard for her.

Her favorite food is chicken parmesan and her favorite drink is root beer.

Beth suffers from tritanopia, or blue-yellow colorblindness, which means that she has a hard timed distinguishing blue from green and red from yellow.

Due to the presence of charges on her body, Beth pretty much always smells like a brewing thunderstorm.

Sample Post:

Sample Post

”Do you see it yet?” her uncle Rob called out from below and, what sounded like, to her left. He was currently in the basement of the house trying to run wires from the speakers in the corners of the room to the spot where the surround sound system would actually go. By going into the basement, he was able to avoid making the wires potential tripping hazards for guests. Beth, on the other hand, was underneath her uncle’s massive television stand waiting for him to push the wires up through the little hole in the floor he had had her drill so that she could then hook them up to the system.

“Not yet!” she replied, shining the light on the little hole and peering in to try and see if she could spot the glint of the light of the metal of the wires. “It sounds like you might be a little too far to my left!” Almost as soon as she had finished, the wires poked up through the hole, startling her a bit and causing her to bump her head on the television stand above. Grumbling softly at herself for being stupid, she grabbed the wires and pulled them up further before wriggling forward and beginning to hook them up.

By the time she was done hooking them up, her uncle was back upstairs, though certainly a lot dustier than he had been before going downstairs. “We good?” he asked, a twinkle of excitement in his eye. When Beth nodded, he grabbed the remote and turned the television to the classic rock music channel before turning the surround sound system on. Unfortunately for the both of them, the volume was up quite a bit higher than was strictly necessary, causing the speakers to blare out the chorus from Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son.”

The two of them immediately covered their ears with their hands before her uncle managed to turn the surround sound system off completely, breaking into huge grins once silence prevailed. “I guess it works, huh?” her uncle asked as he walked over to turn the volume down a good bit so that they wouldn’t be deafened when they tried to turn it on again later.

“What!?” Beth exclaimed, making a joke on how loud it had been. Her uncle merely responded by rolling his eyes at how corny the joke was and mussing her hair affectionately, though inadvertently spreading the dust that had gathered on her head while she was under the television stand and the dust that he had gotten on his hand while in the basement through her hair.

“Whoops, sorry about that, Squirt,” he said in response to her mock glower, a smile still on his face. If she had thought that it might have been on purpose before, she was certain once she saw that smile. It was his go-to smile after he did some kind of prank or made a silly joke. Before she could come up with a witty retort, however, he continued. “Why don’t you go wash up while I order the pizza, okay?”

Nodding, Beth made her way to the bathroom so that she could get a shower and get some fresh clothes on. “Don’t forget to have them add bacon and pepperoni, please!” Beth called out right before she entered the spacious bathroom. He was pretty good about remembering to get her favorite toppings, though it wasn’t impossible for him to forget every once in a while, blaming it on having lived alone for so long every time it did happen.

Once Beth was in the bathroom, she quickly stripped off her dirty clothes and threw them in the hamper near the door, though she was forced to wait for the water in the shower to warm up a bit before she could step in and start getting clean. Though it would have been easier for her to reach everything had she taken a bath, her powers prevented her from doing so, as getting submerged in that much water would leave her nauseous and disoriented. She also wanted to hurry so that her uncle could get washed up before the pizza was delivered too. As such, she finished her shower in record-time, quickly grabbing a large, fluffy towel to dry herself off with.

Fortunately for her, the bathroom was attached to the laundry room, which meant that she didn’t have to dart all the way to her room to grab a fresh set of clothes to change into; she could just slip into the laundry room and grab some clean clothes, which she did, selecting a pair of white pajama pants with pink polka dots covering them and a matching pink long-sleeved shirt with a white bunny design on the front. Although they were quite childish, Beth didn’t mind wearing them because it was in private and they were super comfortable.

After she was fully dressed, she went back out into the living room while her uncle went into the bathroom to wash up as well. To kill time, Beth grabbed her uncle’s tablet from the walnut coffee table in the center of the room and opened it, although only after donning rubber gloves to keep the device safe. As usual, she opened a random game and sat back to play it until the pizza arrived.

About a half-hour later, her uncle had gotten out of the shower and the pizza guy had dropped off their meal, which meant that they were now ready to watch the movie, some sort of comedy, and begin eating their food. Like always, Beth only managed to eat one piece and a part of a second before she was full, though her uncle seemed like a bottomless pit with how many pieces of pizza he was eating.

Once they were done eating dinner, they paused the movie and journeyed out to the kitchen where her uncle got two mugs that they had frosted in the freezer earlier, dropped some vanilla ice cream into them, and added root beer, creating root beer floats for dessert. From there it was back into the living room to finish the movie.

As the movie was about to end, however, Rob noticed that Beth, who had been leaning into him the entire movie, had begun to breathe rhythmically. If that wasn’t enough evidence that she had fallen asleep while watching the movie, the fact that she was no longer drinking what remained of her root beer float was. Smiling softly, he carefully removed the mug from her hands and set it down on the coffee table before carrying her up to her room and tucking her into her bed, grateful that he could at least do something to reverse the damage his sister had done in raising her.

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

I'm here. :D

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

Well, I posted. I know it doesn't add much, but, given Dani's position in the compartment, hopefully it adds enough. :3 Also, Eyeris, are you still doing the sorting via pm? I responded a while ago, but I don't think that I ever actually got a response back. If it's just taking a long time, it might not be a bad idea to see if the other gm's could help out. :)

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

The way the older student reacted to their defiance, with a chuckle and a smile, lessened the anxiety that Dani had felt standing up to him with her friends. In fact, he seemed a little impressed with their bravado, asking them if they were hoping to become a part of Slytherin, which she recognized as the name of one of the four Houses, or join Quidditch, a term with which she was unfamiliar, though neither Pearleane nor Peter seemed to be confused by it. Pearleane crudely dismissed the boy’s question, stating that she wouldn’t be interested if he was there, the tone and directness of the statement a bit of a surprise to Dani, who was used to more tact being used. Still, she shook her head from side to side in response to his question. Peter, on the other hand, just ignored the question, imploring the older boy to leave and get a different, open compartment while someone from down the hall yelled that she would be interested in joining Quidditch. The boy seemed a little… exasperated with how the conversation was going, though his voice was still calm and even. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to express his thoughts before a commotion could be heard from the compartment across the hall. The boy seemed to know who was responsible, frowning and muttering something about someone named Wade. A couple flashes of light could be seen through the window before another boy’s voice as he shouted profanities concerning whomever was in that compartment. Seeing as how the boy in their compartment had the air of a leader, evidenced through his body language, Dani decided to take a shot and write a message to the boy on her whiteboard, erasing when she ran out of room before writing more of course. “Maybe you should try and stop him. I don’t think that the school would be happy with the Slytherin Quidditch team if whatever is going on over there doesn’t stop.” Hopefully, he would be able to stop the other boy before conflict spilled over into the car they were in.

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

I'm still around, but I'm not sure I have much to post with Dani as is. Most of it would just be reactions to what's going on, and it wouldn't contribute much. So, I'm thinking it would be best for me to wait until after you post again, Eyeris. :3