yoshua171

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Presidio

Activating her communicator as she saw ⁴Sight doing so, Kari awaited his debriefing with bated breath. Her forcefields continued to be generated low to the ground, shifting into complex mechanisms which began to float into place, building from her feet upwards, forming the beginnings of what might be armor. Kari’s attention split as ⁴Sight’s voice came through her comms, her expression going serious as their team leader mentioned the hostages. That was going to make this whole situation incredibly difficult. Nonetheless she took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders, a determined look coming onto her features. With a thought the forcefields worked into her crenellated tiara and the rest of her facial mask slid into place, giving her visage a faint blue tint. Similarly the growing construction of her armor--something she had practiced before and was always building on--had crept all the way up to her hips, where it slowed. Her entire lower body was covered in a complex array of interlocking translucent forcefields, which shifted soundlessly with each microadjustment of her posture. She barely felt them, in fact her awareness of them came more through her power than through their contact with her person.

Very slowly she began locking in most of the forcefields, particularly those on the outer two layers. As she did so, ⁴Sight bid them to make contact so he could transport them. Nodding she took a step closer and put her arm out, making sure that all her forcefields were physically in contact with her body, before she laid her hand on his arm. Anxiety had become excitement and it lifted her lips in a faint smile even as their surroundings changed in an instant. Her eyes widened and a small surprised laugh fell from her lips.

Her gaze fell on ⁴Sight’s face and she patted him on the arm while he recovered, disengaging. Still she found herself flinching against the noise of the helicopter. Orienting herself she took a few shaky steps and then took a breath, changing gears and then approaching the helicopter. Forcefields had begun forming again as she walked, narrow almost flat sheets draping themselves over the trailing cloth of her costume. More formed, latching into aspects of the thin pieces, which all played back into the forcefield armor that was creeping slowly up her lower abdomen. She made sure to keep breathing, ensuring enough room for her to do so once the shields locked into place. While everyone else’s clothes were whipped uncontrollably backwards by the harsh winds created by the helicopter, Presidio’s clothes seemed subdued in their movement, flowing in a disconnected way back from her person.

‘At this rate I’ll have time for more than just the armor before we arrive,‘ she noted internally as, covering her ears, she entered the helicopter and donned the protective gear, strapping herself into one of the seats loosely at first. She picked one facing towards the outer wall and at a corner with another seat to her right, that one packed between the wall behind them and on to its right as well. This gave her some room to generate and arrange her forcefields while they headed into the field.

She made sure to keep her forcefields close to her person or at the ceiling of the helicopter, making sure they stayed out of everyone’s way. She closed her eyes, contemplating how to deal with the threat without significantly endangering the hostages. First, she’d need to know the position of everything, after that...well, she’d need time. A thought struck her and she spoke into comms, asking a question “I’ve worked with ⁴Sight before, but what about the others. Shouldn’t we confer regarding our powers. It might help us deal with the situation if we can work together efficiently.”

She kept her eyes closed, hoping that everyone would collaborate without issue. She didn’t expect them to be an effective team right off, but if they knew eachother’s capabilities it would be a step in the right direction...she hoped.

---

Exactly

It had been a normal day, he’d gone to the bank to get a bit of money out for the week, and then things had just had to go completely wrong. His heart beating only a tad faster than normal, Kelly got down on his hands and knees and covered his head. Or, well, that was partially true. Technically, three of him got to their hands and knees, though only one was apparent. You see, the villains had gotten one thing wrong. They’d carelessly swept their gazes across the crowd, over and past him, more than once since their somewhat dramatic entrance. He kept the two images overlapped with his person for long enough for another cape to make an appearance. He glanced to the side, still on the ground, and looked them over. A smile lit his eyes and stretched his mouth wide. With the entrance of the crocodile man, he now had four duplicates. The one he walked around with all the time, the one generated by the two bank robbers, and another for the man. Fantastic.

He rose to his feet, but only one of the duplicates followed the motion, while another kept an eye on things from ground level. The one that had risen up was only visible to Basilisk and it raised a single finger to its lips, implying the man not mention anything. The invisible image approached a central point, putting itself roughly equidistant from both the villains. Then, it just stood there, totally motionless. Eventually it would become visible to them, but it would take some time.

He had plenty of time.

Glancing around he found his smile growing. Changing tact, he walked straight up behind one of the two villains (Vanish) and bent down. Gently he wrapped his fingers around the guard’s baton and then unclasped it and drew it out. The item was out of sight and as he drew it his power draped itself around and through the item, rendering it just as impossible to perceive as he was. Three duplicates had basically rendered him non-existent. Rising to his feet, baton in hand he regarded the back of the woman’s head. He considered bashing the baton across her temple and almost laughed as a result, barely stifling it. If he made too much noise they’d perceive him and that would quite swiftly put any hostages in danger.

While the man behind the counter addressed the monstrous cape, Kelly made his way to one of the other civilians that had stayed. No one was paying them any mind, but that was perfect. Kneeling down in front of them he tapped them on the shoulder. Immediately he felt his power open up and he used it, creating a fourth duplicate. Quietly, he spoke to the man through the duplicate and instructed him to remove his jacket and scarf. He did, very slowly all the while with Kelly making contact with both making them harder to notice. It took several seconds, but when done Kelly took the pieces of clothing from the man and bid him to stay there.

Donning the black jacket and wrapped the scarf around his neck and lower face he made himself a makeshift mask, with the hood of the jacket pulled up over his head, hiding his hair as well. Jogging over to the other guard--who could not see or hear him in the least, just like everyone else in the room--Exactly drew the man’s baton with his other hand and then strode away, the man not noticing in the least. Now equipped with two batons and a hidden identity he debated on who to target.

His grin became a smirk and then he commanded the duplicate that only the monster man could perceive “They can’t hear or see me. I’m going to distract the little lady. You should take the man. We can switch if it’s a bad match-up. Nod if you understand.” The duplicate shrugged.

Kelly, yet undetected, approached Vanish.

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Presidio

Smoothly. Things were going smoothly. No one seemed to have noticed the nervousness she hid. Matthew even gave her a lingering smile, and that felt good. It felt like recognition and success. Her heart rate slowed slightly and her smile became just that much more genuine as the idea that she was ‘selling’ her image of a calm, confident, and playful heroine settled in. A subtle warmth filled her chest, and the tapping of her finger on her hip slowed and then absently stopped without her noticing.

Matthew’s words washed over her and she absorbed them until his voice cut off and she blinked, stirred out of the moment by the physical interruption of John’s entrance. Her eyes widened the barest fraction before narrowing down, the smile slipping away as the seriousness of the situation crystallized in her mind. Though subtle, she noticed the shift in the room’s atmosphere as well, but she didn’t let it shake her, tightening her jaw before consciously relaxing. Despite her efforts some of the tension remained.

It seemed she’d be taking on more serious responsibility and action sooner than she’d expected; the thought made her twitch and simultaneously feel a small jolt of thrill shoot through her body. With the tension, the static of her own suppressed nervousness, and her own internal excitement, she briefly felt like a livewire. Her lips twitched upwards slightly, she swallowed, and then swallowed again, letting out a long breath as she slipped out of her casual stance.

’Time to make preparations.’

Immediately she willed her power into action, tiny forcefields forming near the ground and within a foot of her body. She turned part of her attention to taking in the back and forth: the organization of human resources, as it were. She understood resource management well, even if not so much in the human sense. Her gaze slid to ⁴sight, and then between John and Matthew, before settling on John. She considered addressing him directly for information regarding the Shaker in question, but thought better of it; something about him dissuaded her from that course. Instead she glanced at ⁴sight, wondering if he was going to be briefed or if this had been their briefing.

She frowned slightly and then wiped the expression from her face. Only several seconds had gone by, but already, the observant individual might have noticed the transparent, faintly blue array of forcefields forming around her feet and legs. Unencumbered by the forming pieces of the construct, Presidio took a moved to stand nearer to ⁴sight before turning towards John and Director Matthews.

Presidio had decided, despite her buzzing anxiety, to address the room: “May we have more information regarding the shaker or should we expect to be briefed further enroute?” With some half of her focus dedicated to the construction of useful implements for the coming exchange, Kari had actually managed to make herself sound almost…imperious. Calm, discerning, in control. A flicker of pride slipped through her mask, apparent only in a brief upwards tick of her lips.

This was real. She was a hero. She had a goal.

Now all she needed was information and to be placed before her target.

Kari as Presidio, was raring to go!

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Presidio

It was a fine speech, she thought as she mingled with the crowd, it made her respect the Director more. She’d not seen much of the man since her joining, there’d been little need for them to interact, which was fine, she supposed. Mostly she’d done a few patrols with her new associates, well...that and power testing and paperwork. She’d learned more than she would have expected from the power testing, funny that. Though, it wasn’t too unexpected seeing as she’d only had her powers for roughly a year. At the thought a small frown flitted over her features, before they smoothed out again.

Her thoughts flitting elsewhere she remembered his mention of the coffee pot needing refilling and how two of her colleagues had reacted. Her masked gaze drifted down to her hands and she fidgeted, they were empty. Maybe he hadn’t thought to acknowledge her? She was rather new after all. Her lips ticked up faintly at a new thought. Maybe he’d thought her presence was obvious and didn’t need to be mentioned. The thought, no matter how unlikely it was, warmed her.

As the speech ended, Presidio turned away from the stage and to the rest of the Final Guard’s team, or at least those who were present. Her head tilted faintly. She’d done her research on them, but had yet to meet them all. Mostly she’d interacted with ⁴sight and Dart, the two she’d patrolled with before, the latter twice in fact. Thinking back brought more of that bubbly warm feeling up through her chest, brightening her smile.

She took steps forwards, gently making her way through the edges of the crowd and back to the other parahumans even as the crowd thinned out, most people leaving. Her eyes drifted to the two present she didn’t know and she felt her heart briefly flutter, her breath catching for a moment before she forced herself back under control.

'Focus. It’s okay, you know of them even if you haven’t met yet. Can’t be too bad. Heard good things. They’re competent capes. Look! SWAT is even shaking hands with the Director. A man of integrity' Her gaze darted back to Slingshot, the hero looked...decidedly tired based on posture, or maybe bored? Those were natural, he couldn’t be too bad.

Gritting her teeth against the anxiety in her mind, Kari steadied her beating heart as she approached and then offered the group a friendly wave in tangent with a winning smile. “Room for one more?” She asked, her voice steady and almost teasing.

'Thank god,' she thought, realizing that all those days and nights of practice had let her slip into the persona of Presidio rather than resorting to the hopeless shyness of her civilian identity. It was a relief honestly and her shoulders relaxed slightly as the anxiety faded into a quieter sort of background noise. Feeling more confident now, she glanced at the Director after casting her gaze across each of her colleagues. The man was engaged with SWAT, that was fine. She moved to shift her attention but remembered that the others were paying attention to the Director as well. All this taken in, she tested a posture, resting a hand on her hip and swaying her weight to one side as she regarded the man, eyes no longer darting between people. She swallowed slightly, hoping the progression had looked natural.

Maybe she should have hung back till they’d finished talking? No, that would have been much more awkward. Ugh….

Why did people have to be so hard?

Unconsciously she’d begun lightly tapping one finger against her hip, one of the few pieces of evidence that pointed to the emotions she was trying to keep hidden behind the “easy” smile and relaxed demeanor. She desperately wanted to make a good impression.

AACM: Twilight Arena

Mikeil Thae-Araste

---

[+]

Absently, as the others each readied themselves in their own way, Mikeil wondered at the knight's senses. He'd come out on top in the previous battle--at the very least. This likely meant he had fought many adversaries at once, or perhaps his fight had been much like this one, against a single powerful foe. As the Champion moved, Mikeil tilted his head, noting that the fellow had utterly ignored his words and instead turned towards Akiva. A shame, really, but the man was still a fool. Whatever his senses were and even despite his armor, the knight should never have turned his back on a foe--even if he was surrounded. If it had been Mikeil he might have immediately changed his position to one more advantageous, but alas twas not he and so he would take advantage of his opponent's actions.

Deciding to shift the odds further in their favor, Mikeil casually gestured at the others, then pointed at the knight, before he took a careful step forwards...and then another. Approaching at a slow, measured gait, Mikeil shifted the position of Thrann slight and moved only his wrist, beginning the slightest of turning spins. The motion did not so much as disturb his cloak.

Then Akiva acted, a portal forming and Mikeil suppressed a chuckle. Deciding on a course of action, the mixed-blood warrior let his wings unfurl slightly beneath his cloak, spreading the garment outwards in the process. The lightness of his steps remained, but his speed increased all at once as he entered into a dash. Just walking he'd diminished the 20 feet between them down to 16, but now with his seemingly frantic approach, Mikeil ate up the distance like a famished beast; 16 feet rather swiftly becoming 12 and then eight in moments.

Akiva's attack occurred, Mikeil grinned, slammed a foot down, and ended his approach at 7 feet, transferring the momentum into a swift spin and whipping Thrann at the end of it, his gaze still on the knight as the heavy weight sailed through the air on its chain, intent upon striking the knight in the back of the knee.

While talkative before, he uttered not a word, utterly focused on the arena and the hunt.

AACM: Twilight Arena

Big apologies. Going to post tomorrow/today (technically depending on your timezone). Did a ton of unrelated writing today + work hence the delay.

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Presidio

"Alright guys! Let’s...um, make the world a better place, one piece at a time! Yeah…."

Hider

_{[ ♦ ] Bio}

---

♦ Name: Kari, Avalielle. Simmons.
♦ Age: 22.
♦ Loyalty: Final Guard.
♦ Appearance: Kari is short, measuring only 5’3 and is at a healthy weight due to her routine and fortunate genetics. Her neck length hair is styled in a relaxed way, with short bangs that frame her face and highlight her gentle features and hazel eyes. Her style varies depending on mood, but frequently has her hiding within her clothes as if self-conscious of her figure. As such much of her wardrobe is modest, rather than showy, with her favored color choices being soft, gentler shades accented by brighter complements that make everything pop! Though infrequently in display in her civilian identity, Kari’s figure is hourglass in shape with curves in all the right places--something which brings her far more attention than she would normally prefer.

On the other hand, when in costume, Kari attempts to combat her typically quiet diminutive nature by putting herself on display more prominently. To further differentiate herself Kari wears contacts in costume, whereas normally she would wear glasses. While she does not wear much in the way of a proper mask in costume, she does tend to alter her make-up, particularly around the eyes, choosing rather striking blue for eye shadow and liner to shift the color of her hazel eyes. Beyond this, she uses many incredibly thin layers of “locked” forcefields to create a mask of sorts, ringing around her eyes with angular, winged shapes that branch outwards in addition to skintight forcefields that hug her jawline and outline her lower lip.

A tiara-like set of forcefields define her hairline, holding her bangs back in addition to a hair tie. The aforementioned “tiara” is reminiscent of the crenellations on the top of a castle’s walls or towers, with the imagery being an intentional reference to her cape name and insignia. Beyond its ornamental purpose, this tiara actually contains a set of incredibly thin interlocked forcefields and a set of mechanisms, the former being compressed onto eachother to fit in the small amount of space. At will, she is capable of activating the mechanism effectively lowering a curved shield over her whole face. Furthermore, all of the forcefields that help make-up her mask are connected by thin threads of her power or other mechanisms all of which are “locked”. As a direct result of this, her mask is roughly the durability of steel.

Beneath the forcefields around her eyes, against her brows, and against the bridge of her nose there lies a relatively simple light blue mask, which is tied around her head tightly with several strong cords wrapped in dainty ribbons that she works into her hair--she often reinforces this with more forcefields. It is worth noting that in costume, Kari’s hazel eyes appear as a startling blue, whereas most times out of costume her eyes appear a rich brown or light mottled green.

[+]

Casual

Keep scrolling.

Costume

Due to the colder seasons coming on, Presidio has modified her original designs for her costume. She has donned a black turtleneck with sweeping arcs of light blue in place of the revealing top beneath her vest, as well as replacing the shorts with warm black pants that go into her boots.

♦ History:

[+]

James Clairville and Sarah Collins, a performer and an artist fell in love and married. A year or so later in 1993 the two had Kari who they lovingly nurtured. James, an actor, and Sarah did their utmost to support eachother and their daughter, doing double duty as they worked and raised her. Truly things were sometimes a blur in their household, but more importantly it was always warm and fun. Of course things became even more interesting as Kari matured, for as she participated in school her parents found that she was truly gifted. So, naturally, they edged for her to carry on in their footsteps, encouraging the arts--writing, acting, painting, singing, it hardly mattered, “just pick one,” they’d say. Seeking approval, Kari did so, taking part in little plays and helping design costumes. This trend carried on from her early schooling into middle school until finally her burgeoning personality could not simply conform anymore.

From then on Kari let what she’d long hidden beneath the surface out into the world, a curiosity not for the arts, but instead for what her parents would think their polar opposite. For, unlike her parents, Kari’s passion was the world, math, science, history and as she got older she only leaned into her passions more. In school she excelled, skipping a year in middle school and going into high school earlier than most. She was a nerd, but she found some acceptance among peers, as, while her parents supported her, they could not ever really understand her passions. Kari’s were just too different from their own. Of course, high school ended too soon as she breezed through courses and wowed both her parents and teachers in a frenzy wrought of diligence and ambition. She wanted to be a scientist, to enter the field of tech and much fell away as a result. Hobbies that she’d kept up with since childhood drifted away, only resurging as she required the skills honed through them.

Accepting her passion, even though he did not understand it, her father hired tutors and began the process of enrolling his daughter in college. All the while, Kari and her mother grew apart, a rift opened by what Sarah had taken as a betrayal. Once enrolled she worked hard, majoring in computer technology, intending to go into the field, designing new hardware for the world over. It was hard, but she loved it. However, just before she could graduate--though she’d been damned close--Gold Morning happened, the world collapsing around her. The months were filled with a quiet horror, fleeing, and the desperate hope that they would make it through. Eventually, they did, but not all of them. Many had been lost and among them...people she held beloved. Friends, colleagues, but most devastatingly...her mother.

Wracked by guilt and sorrow Kari and her father just tried to keep their heads up. Despite their loss they were fortunate in other ways, finding themselves in Samekh, and then Serstol, near its infancy. They settled in and her father was forced to take up menial labor--the world was not in a state to support the career he’d led before. She hated seeing him so, and she hated more the terrible loss that tore at her heart. So, naturally, she distracted herself, steeling her resolve and moving forwards. She picked up where she’d left off, teaching herself more skills and applying to jobs with a dedicated determination to ease her father’s burden and to make a difference.

After months of work she landed herself a job and immediately launched into development and customer service--using whatever spare money and resources she could to build and design something new...something that would benefit everyone. Soon her efforts earned her a proper place at her job, allowing her to leverage their resources with her skill to really begin the development of her project. Things were going well for awhile, the pay was good and she was happy, but soon misfortune reared its head. Checking her work one week she came upon an error in her work. Thinking it largely inconsequential she set about fixing the problem, replacing parts and altering code. However, the more she did the worse things got. She’d come back to it only to find things in a worse state than they’d been before. Worse still, a meeting was coming up where she was supposed to be showcasing her new product. The stress only worsened the issue and eventually things spiralled out of control, totally ruining month upon month of work. Feeling totally out of her depth and utterly overwhelmed--and baffled--by her situation she triggered, the fear of losing such a huge part of her life, and jeopardizing everything, breaking her down.

Having lost months of work and seemingly wasted resources, upper management demoted her to a junior position, shelving her project for a later date. Fortunately, they were much more understanding that she’d expected. In the interest of her mental health, they gave her a month’s paid leave and left things at that. Still reeling and feeling cast aside she spent many of those days aimless and lost. The only things that saved her were the preoccupation of experimenting with her newfound powers, research on the subject, and more importantly...escape by way of art. While not many of her mother’s pieces had survived the end of the world, they’d managed to reacquire a few. Kari surrounder herself with them and decided to give her mother’s passion a second chance.

Taking up the brush and pencil, she spread her emotions over the canvas and found that perhaps she’d never really had a particular dislike for the arts. Maybe she’d just been rebellious. Maybe that’s what had led her on this path? She wasn’t sure and it was impossible to go back and find out so instead she looked forwards. She still had a job to lead, soon, but now she had powers. She was a parahuman. Couldn’t she do so much more to affect the lives of everyone for the better?

Eventually deciding she could, Kari began designing a costume and after a time, returned to her work as well. While she has yet to rise to her former position, she still makes enough to get by. Though it is not just her former failure that has kept her from rising again, but rather that her ambitions have taken on a new form. With her costume finished and name chosen, Presidio has every intent to make the world a better...safer place and perhaps bring humanity back to its former glory.

Only time will tell whether her work with the Final Guard will truly make an impact.

_{[ ♦ ] Personality}

---

♦ Motivation: Kari wants to make the world a better, safer place. Specifically she wants to make a big difference, bringing civilization back to something of its former glory. She wants to give more people the opportunity to truly thrive. Similarly, though she’d never admit it, Kari is using her cape activities to branch out, to enrich herself, and as a result she’s trying to rise to prominence in her own way.

♦ Derangement: While perhaps not so life altering as some changes, Kari’s shard has indeed changed the make-up of her personality. First and foremost by shifting her closer to “dominant” than shy, reinforcing confidence and, to a limited degree, arrogance in the interest of causing additional conflict. Where before Kari was just very dedicated, now she is something of a perfectionist. While she’s always been ambitious, her shard has shifted that ambition to a world-scale and is angling for her to become more lofty and domineering, wanting her to attempt at rising above all others. Granted, all of this is very subtle and most of it is not so severe that Kari--or those close to her--would immediately notice. It is worth mentioning that over time some of this traits will be further accentuated, resulting in further change. Lastly, her shard has driven a sort of psychological wedge between Kari’s actions...and her actions as Presidio, allowing Kari to more easily rationalize anything she does as Presidio.

_{[ ♦ ]
Parahumanism}

---

♦ Skills: Having pursued a career in computer hardware and software engineering, Kari has all the skills one would expect. She is competent with numerous code languages in addition to a number of tools as well as familiar with the terminology. Beyond this she is a middling artist, preferring paint and pencil or charcoal on canvas or paper as her medium. She’s has some skill in costume and clothing design--though rather minor--which work well in tangent with her good fashion sense. During her very limited time--roughly two months--with the Final Guard she’s taken to some combat training, though she’s always made a point of eating well and staying in shape. Perhaps her most prominent skill is one of the mind, as she is an incredibly quick study on top of being exceptionally observant and dedicated. While she is fairly shy and a bit socially awkward--though not as much so in costume--she is very understanding and empathetic, allowing her to comfort and connect with people fairly easily in spite of her social hiccups. This, in tangent with the theater her parents had her participate with, has contributed greatly to her ability to act differently in costume. While she wouldn’t be terribly convincing as a liar or manipulator, she can still sell a character quite well.

♦ Classification: Shaker|Thinker.
♦ Mechanics: Kari’s power allows her to generate numerous translucent blue forcefields within a 30 foot radius of herself, which she is capable of shaping and interlocking at will. At most she can generate 12 forcefields per second, with the rate decreasing depending on several variables, including the quantity of active forcefields, the state of those forcefields, and a number of other unknowns to which she is not privy. Kari maintains awareness of her forcefields and is capable of controlling them telekinetically with incredible precision, implying an enhanced capacity to process information and multitask. In tangent with this enhanced processing, Kari’s power grants her an intuitive understanding of how components can fit together to form larger functional wholes. The aforementioned thinker power almost solely applied to her forcefields, but can be applied to things with similar constructions, thus excluding technology that possesses wires, circuits and the like.

Her shields do have their limitations though, with each Baseline shield being individually weak, capable of being broken by mundane, if well-placed, blows. Of course their durability and strength is a mite more nuanced than this as Kari may shift the focus of her shields from mobility and malleability to solidity and strength. At base, or in their baseline state her shields possess the aforementioned properties, being fairly brittle, but mobile and subject to change; conversely Kari may “lock” her forcefields, drastically reducing their mobility and maneuverability, but enhancing their durability and mechanical viability. Similarly, “locked” forcefields benefit from being part of larger constructs becoming increasingly durable relative to the quantity of shields that compose the larger whole. At the lower end, “locked” shields are roughly the durability of brass with the upper limit of their durability being similar to steel. It is notable that despite their generally being inferior to “locked” shields, forcefields in the baseline state are strong enough to very briefly carry Kari’s weight before shattering. This fact reveals an odd quirk to her power in regards to its behavior as her shields are far more effective at pushing, pulling, or interacting with eachother than they are at simply bearing weight more passively. As a result of this quirk, Kari’s forcefields more or less make things such as flight impossible.

The process of “locking” a shield takes roughly 5-15 seconds, with it taking more or less time proportional to the size of the forcefield in question. As an additional limiting factor, her shields require either active use or focus to maintain lest they decay--a phenomena which will also occur if they leave her range, eventually resulting in them shattering into formless dust. The decay of her shields within her range is slower than if they leave it. In a similar vein, her power’s range of influence is somewhat variable, capable of expanding if her constructs become large enough to exceed its size so as not to limit her experimentation overmuch. However, while the size of her constructs is not limited, the size of her shields is with the upper limit being roughly the surface area of a 3 foot wide disk and the lower end being roughly the size of a half dollar coin (1.2 inches in diameter); the average size measuring in at approximately 1.5 feet in diameter. The factor of size does alter her control somewhat, with forcefields becoming more unwieldy and difficult to control proportional to how large they are. Last, but perhaps not least, her shields are distinctly limited by the manton limit, meaning that they cannot be generated inside living matter and--until locked in--would be hugely ineffectual at cutting much of anything.

♦ Equipment: What sort of goodies do you have on you when you're in costume?

Gauntlets: Though their name implies heavy armor, the reality is that these implements are more like gloves than anything. They are mostly cloth, with thin metal fittings, including pieces that jut out and then hook in as well as slots. She has worked similar metal embroidery into her costume as well. The colors include light blue, silver, and gold with patterning to match the rest of her costume.

Med kit: She carries a small medical kit at the back of her belt in a pouch. Contains gauze, bandages, pain pills, small scissors, and several ointments for pain or infection. Similarly there is hydrogen peroxide, though only a small quantity.

Wireless communicator: Issued from the Final Guard. Often defended by a complex array of tightly bound forcefields.

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Presidio

"Alright guys! Let’s...um, make the world a better place, one piece at a time! Yeah…."

Hider

_{[ ♦ ] Bio}

---

♦ Name: Kari, Avalielle. Simmons.
♦ Age: 22.
♦ Loyalty: Final Guard.
♦ Appearance: Kari is short, measuring only 5’3 and is at a healthy weight due to her routine and fortunate genetics. Her neck length hair is styled in a relaxed way, with short bangs that frame her face and highlight her gentle features and hazel eyes. Her style varies depending on mood, but frequently has her hiding within her clothes as if self-conscious of her figure. As such much of her wardrobe is modest, rather than showy, with her favored color choices being soft, gentler shades accented by brighter complements that make everything pop! Though infrequently in display in her civilian identity, Kari’s figure is hourglass in shape with curves in all the right places--something which brings her far more attention than she would normally prefer.

On the other hand, when in costume, Kari attempts to combat her typically quiet diminutive nature by putting herself on display more prominently. To further differentiate herself Kari wears contacts in costume, whereas normally she would wear glasses. While she does not wear much in the way of a proper mask in costume, she does tend to alter her make-up, particularly around the eyes, choosing rather striking blue for eye shadow and liner to shift the color of her hazel eyes. Beyond this, she uses many incredibly thin layers of “locked” forcefields to create a mask of sorts, ringing around her eyes with angular, winged shapes that branch outwards in addition to skintight forcefields that hug her jawline and outline her lower lip.

A tiara-like set of forcefields define her hairline, holding her bangs back in addition to a hair tie. The aforementioned “tiara” is reminiscent of the crenellations on the top of a castle’s walls or towers, with the imagery being an intentional reference to her cape name and insignia. Beyond its ornamental purpose, this tiara actually contains a set of incredibly thin interlocked forcefields and a set of mechanisms, the former being compressed onto eachother to fit in the small amount of space. At will, she is capable of activating the mechanism effectively lowering a curved shield over her whole face. Furthermore, all of the forcefields that help make-up her mask are connected by thin threads of her power or other mechanisms all of which are “locked”. As a direct result of this, her mask is roughly the durability of steel.

Beneath the forcefields around her eyes, against her brows, and against the bridge of her nose there lies a relatively simple light blue mask, which is tied around her head tightly with several strong cords wrapped in dainty ribbons that she works into her hair--she often reinforces this with more forcefields. It is worth noting that in costume, Kari’s hazel eyes appear as a startling blue, whereas most times out of costume her eyes appear a rich brown or light mottled green.

[+]

Casual

Keep scrolling.

Costume

Due to the colder seasons coming on, Presidio has modified her original designs for her costume. She has donned a black turtleneck with sweeping arcs of light blue in place of the revealing top beneath her vest, as well as replacing the shorts with warm black pants that go into her boots.

♦ History:

[+]

James Clairville and Sarah Collins, a performer and an artist fell in love and married. A year or so later in 1993 the two had Kari who they lovingly nurtured. James, an actor, and Sarah did their utmost to support eachother and their daughter, doing double duty as they worked and raised her. Truly things were sometimes a blur in their household, but more importantly it was always warm and fun. Of course things became even more interesting as Kari matured, for as she participated in school her parents found that she was truly gifted. So, naturally, they edged for her to carry on in their footsteps, encouraging the arts--writing, acting, painting, singing, it hardly mattered, “just pick one,” they’d say. Seeking approval, Kari did so, taking part in little plays and helping design costumes. This trend carried on from her early schooling into middle school until finally her burgeoning personality could not simply conform anymore.

From then on Kari let what she’d long hidden beneath the surface out into the world, a curiosity not for the arts, but instead for what her parents would think their polar opposite. For, unlike her parents, Kari’s passion was the world, math, science, history and as she got older she only leaned into her passions more. In school she excelled, skipping a year in middle school and going into high school earlier than most. She was a nerd, but she found some acceptance among peers, as, while her parents supported her, they could not ever really understand her passions. Kari’s were just too different from their own. Of course, high school ended too soon as she breezed through courses and wowed both her parents and teachers in a frenzy wrought of diligence and ambition. She wanted to be a scientist, to enter the field of tech and much fell away as a result. Hobbies that she’d kept up with since childhood drifted away, only resurging as she required the skills honed through them.

Accepting her passion, even though he did not understand it, her father hired tutors and began the process of enrolling his daughter in college. All the while, Kari and her mother grew apart, a rift opened by what Sarah had taken as a betrayal. Once enrolled she worked hard, majoring in computer technology, intending to go into the field, designing new hardware for the world over. It was hard, but she loved it. However, just before she could graduate--though she’d been damned close--Gold Morning happened, the world collapsing around her. The months were filled with a quiet horror, fleeing, and the desperate hope that they would make it through. Eventually, they did, but not all of them. Many had been lost and among them...people she held beloved. Friends, colleagues, but most devastatingly...her mother.

Wracked by guilt and sorrow Kari and her father just tried to keep their heads up. Despite their loss they were fortunate in other ways, finding themselves in Samekh, and then Serstol, near its infancy. They settled in and her father was forced to take up menial labor--the world was not in a state to support the career he’d led before. She hated seeing him so, and she hated more the terrible loss that tore at her heart. So, naturally, she distracted herself, steeling her resolve and moving forwards. She picked up where she’d left off, teaching herself more skills and applying to jobs with a dedicated determination to ease her father’s burden and to make a difference.

After months of work she landed herself a job and immediately launched into development and customer service--using whatever spare money and resources she could to build and design something new...something that would benefit everyone. Soon her efforts earned her a proper place at her job, allowing her to leverage their resources with her skill to really begin the development of her project. Things were going well for awhile, the pay was good and she was happy, but soon misfortune reared its head. Checking her work one week she came upon an error in her work. Thinking it largely inconsequential she set about fixing the problem, replacing parts and altering code. However, the more she did the worse things got. She’d come back to it only to find things in a worse state than they’d been before. Worse still, a meeting was coming up where she was supposed to be showcasing her new product. The stress only worsened the issue and eventually things spiralled out of control, totally ruining month upon month of work. Feeling totally out of her depth and utterly overwhelmed--and baffled--by her situation she triggered, the fear of losing such a huge part of her life, and jeopardizing everything, breaking her down.

Having lost months of work and seemingly wasted resources, upper management demoted her to a junior position, shelving her project for a later date. Fortunately, they were much more understanding that she’d expected. In the interest of her mental health, they gave her a month’s paid leave and left things at that. Still reeling and feeling cast aside she spent many of those days aimless and lost. The only things that saved her were the preoccupation of experimenting with her newfound powers, research on the subject, and more importantly...escape by way of art. While not many of her mother’s pieces had survived the end of the world, they’d managed to reacquire a few. Kari surrounder herself with them and decided to give her mother’s passion a second chance.

Taking up the brush and pencil, she spread her emotions over the canvas and found that perhaps she’d never really had a particular dislike for the arts. Maybe she’d just been rebellious. Maybe that’s what had led her on this path? She wasn’t sure and it was impossible to go back and find out so instead she looked forwards. She still had a job to lead, soon, but now she had powers. She was a parahuman. Couldn’t she do so much more to affect the lives of everyone for the better?

Eventually deciding she could, Kari began designing a costume and after a time, returned to her work as well. While she has yet to rise to her former position, she still makes enough to get by. Though it is not just her former failure that has kept her from rising again, but rather that her ambitions have taken on a new form. With her costume finished and name chosen, Presidio has every intent to make the world a better...safer place and perhaps bring humanity back to its former glory.

Only time will tell whether her work with the Final Guard will truly make an impact.

_{[ ♦ ] Personality}

---

♦ Motivation: Kari wants to make the world a better, safer place. Specifically she wants to make a big difference, bringing civilization back to something of its former glory. She wants to give more people the opportunity to truly thrive. Similarly, though she’d never admit it, Kari is using her cape activities to branch out, to enrich herself, and as a result she’s trying to rise to prominence in her own way.

♦ Derangement: While perhaps not so life altering as some changes, Kari’s shard has indeed changed the make-up of her personality. First and foremost by shifting her closer to “dominant” than shy, reinforcing confidence and, to a limited degree, arrogance in the interest of causing additional conflict. Where before Kari was just very dedicated, now she is something of a perfectionist. While she’s always been ambitious, her shard has shifted that ambition to a world-scale and is angling for her to become more lofty and domineering, wanting her to attempt at rising above all others. Granted, all of this is very subtle and most of it is not so severe that Kari--or those close to her--would immediately notice. It is worth mentioning that over time some of this traits will be further accentuated, resulting in further change. Lastly, her shard has driven a sort of psychological wedge between Kari’s actions...and her actions as Presidio, allowing Kari to more easily rationalize anything she does as Presidio.

_{[ ♦ ]
Parahumanism}

---

♦ Skills: Having pursued a career in computer hardware and software engineering, Kari has all the skills one would expect. She is competent with numerous code languages in addition to a number of tools as well as familiar with the terminology. Beyond this she is a middling artist, preferring paint and pencil or charcoal on canvas or paper as her medium. She’s has some skill in costume and clothing design--though rather minor--which work well in tangent with her good fashion sense. During her very limited time--roughly two months--with the Final Guard she’s taken to some combat training, though she’s always made a point of eating well and staying in shape. Perhaps her most prominent skill is one of the mind, as she is an incredibly quick study on top of being exceptionally observant and dedicated. While she is fairly shy and a bit socially awkward--though not as much so in costume--she is very understanding and empathetic, allowing her to comfort and connect with people fairly easily in spite of her social hiccups. This, in tangent with the theater her parents had her participate with, has contributed greatly to her ability to act differently in costume. While she wouldn’t be terribly convincing as a liar or manipulator, she can still sell a character quite well.

♦ Classification: Shaker|Thinker.
♦ Mechanics: Kari’s power allows her to generate numerous translucent blue forcefields within a 30 foot radius of herself, which she is capable of shaping and interlocking at will. At most she can generate 12 forcefields per second, with the rate decreasing depending on several variables, including the quantity of active forcefields, the state of those forcefields, and a number of other unknowns to which she is not privy. Kari maintains awareness of her forcefields and is capable of controlling them telekinetically with incredible precision, implying an enhanced capacity to process information and multitask. In tangent with this enhanced processing, Kari’s power grants her an intuitive understanding of how components can fit together to form larger functional wholes. The aforementioned thinker power almost solely applied to her forcefields, but can be applied to things with similar constructions, thus excluding technology that possesses wires, circuits and the like.

Her shields do have their limitations though, with each Baseline shield being individually weak, capable of being broken by mundane, if well-placed, blows. Of course their durability and strength is a mite more nuanced than this as Kari may shift the focus of her shields from mobility and malleability to solidity and strength. At base, or in their baseline state her shields possess the aforementioned properties, being fairly brittle, but mobile and subject to change; conversely Kari may “lock” her forcefields, drastically reducing their mobility and maneuverability, but enhancing their durability and mechanical viability. Similarly, “locked” forcefields benefit from being part of larger constructs becoming increasingly durable relative to the quantity of shields that compose the larger whole. At the lower end, “locked” shields are roughly the durability of brass with the upper limit of their durability being similar to steel. It is notable that despite their generally being inferior to “locked” shields, forcefields in the baseline state are strong enough to very briefly carry Kari’s weight before shattering. This fact reveals an odd quirk to her power in regards to its behavior as her shields are far more effective at pushing, pulling, or interacting with eachother than they are at simply bearing weight more passively. As a result of this quirk, Kari’s forcefields more or less make things such as flight impossible.

The process of “locking” a shield takes roughly 5-15 seconds, with it taking more or less time proportional to the size of the forcefield in question. As an additional limiting factor, her shields require either active use or focus to maintain lest they decay--a phenomena which will also occur if they leave her range, eventually resulting in them shattering into formless dust. The decay of her shields within her range is slower than if they leave it. In a similar vein, her power’s range of influence is somewhat variable, capable of expanding if her constructs become large enough to exceed its size so as not to limit her experimentation overmuch. However, while the size of her constructs is not limited, the size of her shields is with the upper limit being roughly the surface area of a 3 foot wide disk and the lower end being roughly the size of a half dollar coin (1.2 inches in diameter); the average size measuring in at approximately 1.5 feet in diameter. The factor of size does alter her control somewhat, with forcefields becoming more unwieldy and difficult to control proportional to how large they are. Last, but perhaps not least, her shields are distinctly limited by the manton limit, meaning that they cannot be generated inside living matter and--until locked in--would be hugely ineffectual at cutting much of anything.

♦ Equipment: What sort of goodies do you have on you when you're in costume?

Gauntlets: Though their name implies heavy armor, the reality is that these implements are more like gloves than anything. They are mostly cloth, with thin metal fittings, including pieces that jut out and then hook in as well as slots. She has worked similar metal embroidery into her costume as well. The colors include light blue, silver, and gold with patterning to match the rest of her costume.

Med kit: She carries a small medical kit at the back of her belt in a pouch. Contains gauze, bandages, pain pills, small scissors, and several ointments for pain or infection. Similarly there is hydrogen peroxide, though only a small quantity.

Wireless communicator: Issued from the Final Guard. Often defended by a complex array of tightly bound forcefields.

AACM: Twilight Arena

Oh, my bad. I thought...no matter. I'll work on getting something up!

Capes of Samekh - A Post-Worm RP

Exactly

"Who?"

Hider

_{[ ♦ ] Bio}

---

♦ Name: Kelly B. Quinn.
♦ Age: 23.
♦ Loyalty: Revolution.
♦ Appearance: Standing at 5’11, Kelly Quinn is an attractive man with medium length raven hair, blue eyes, and an energetic pep to his enthusiastic step. He moves through the world lightly, but with the impact of someone used to attention. His hair is, most times, tied into a ponytail so as to be out of the way, and his eyes are frequently only partially open. While he does have irish blood, it doesn’t much show in his appearance and certainly not in any vocal affectations. Nonetheless, if he so chooses, he can be a joy to listen to. When out of costume he favors relaxed, but stylish clothes with somewhat subdued colors that lend a sort of effortless style to even his everyday actions. He’s got an easy smile and what lines there are on his face are largely upturned and at the corners of his mouth.

Similarly when in costume he will typically wear more subdued garb, lending to stealth or blending into a crowd unless attention is actively brought to it--with the sole exception, of course, being his mask. His hair and skin, in either state of dress, is always well groomed and cared for implying that he is the sort of man who takes pride in presentation...if not personal appearance.

[+]

Casual

Costumes

Unlike many capes, Exactly prefers not to be recognized correctly and so has spent time coming up with multiple costumes to make it even more difficult to discern the “Who?” of situations. Below are depicted some examples of his in costume attire, with the only unifying factor being his mask, which does not change. It is additionally worth mentioning that the mask he wears is made of a metallic, highly reflective substance that is always polished to a pristine shine, allowing observers to view only their own countenance when looking upon his visage. On special occasions, Exactly may choose to wear the bottom most costume, which he considers his… finest creation.

Examples

♦ History:

[+]

Born in 1993 to Hannah Burkley and Tomas Quinn, Kelly was a healthy baby boy. The earliest years of his life went by, surrounded by family and family friends, people who loved and cared for him. They fostered his playfulness and joy, instilling in him an enthusiasm that would last for many years to come. Like this he transitioned into kindergarten and pre-school, meeting new friends and faces; encountering new situations and learning as he did so. While there were hiccups here and there he became beloved in his way, the joker, the little troublemaker--harmless, cute, hilarious, endearing.

As the years passed he evolved from this point, becoming perhaps what one might consider slightly less harmless, playing pranks on his family and peers. Minor things, designed to illicit joy and do little to no real harm. It made him friends wherever he went, but alas with his parents moving from time-to-time he’d lose them. So it was that he had few truly close friends growing up, teaching him to survive largely on its own. Of course, the attention of his peers helped significantly, allowing him to thrive, feeding his ego and his boldness. Studies fell to the wayside and though he didn’t fail many classes, his parents noticed. He found further escape in comedy, planning elaborate pranks, making up new jokes, researching and practicing improv. They were all tools to bring joy to others and attention to himself.

As he entered high school his studies fell behind even further and his focus on popularity and comedy became even more pronounced. Yet, for some reason, people started responding with less enthusiasm. He came to the conclusion that his act had gotten stale, so he decided to escalate. Initially this did lead to more adoration among his peers, but eventually he went a half-step too far, dividing the school with the nature of his grand prank. Unsure how to deal with the disappointment of some and the amusement of others being so at odds he spent some time without doing anything drastic. He’d gotten in enough trouble for the first prank, so he needed to lay low for awhile. Weeks, then month after month he spent planning, laying groundwork for his grand performance. Sometimes he could barely contain his laughter when he imagined everyone’s faces.

Eventually…finally the day came for him to set the wheels in motion. Practically giggling all the while he set things up for lunch time when everyone would be there and he’d get the greatest shock and the inevitable laughter that would follow. He lay in wait, skipping class, risking everything for a grand joke that would wow everyone in the school. The time came and people began filtering in, little by little, and then all at once as those who had seen passed the word. The tension built and then once everyone had filtered in he sprung his little trap revealing his masterpiece and himself all at once.

There was a beat...and then another, but rather than seeing the comedy inherent in his piece, all his peers, even the teachers and staff, stared in silence. He frowned to himself even as it dawned on him, slowly, then all at once, that he wouldn’t be getting laughter. First, on their faces, was confusion and shock, and then disgust. Some fled, others threw up, and many more simply turned their glares on him. He wanted to throw up, he wanted anything other than all of the hatred and pity and revulsion that he saw in their gazes. He floundered, opening his mouth to explain, but finding he couldn’t speak.

Why had he done this? Why wouldn’t they stop looking?!?! He wanted to scream, yell at them to stare at anyone, anything else. Tell them to give him a break! It was just a prank guys. No big deal! He didn’t. He couldn’t. In his inability to do anything, to redirect their attention, to escape their gaze, and similarly...in his total inability to understand why they were all reacting this way, he triggered.

In the aftermath he used his power for the first time, adding insult to injury to get out and away from the crowd. In tears, he fled the lunch hall and hid in the men’s locker rooms. Eventually, the staff found him and he was escorted to the office, his parents were called, and he was promptly suspended. Confused, ashamed, and depressed Kelly was forced to endure the anger of his usually so supportive parents. With the decline of his grades and now this...this ”acting out” as they put it, well he wasn’t just on thin ice anymore. He was submerged and drowning. He felt like it too and eventually he took to using his powers just to avoid the notice of his parents. They never knew and after a few botched attempts he figured out how to get rid of his duplicates without banishing them and causing his parents significant discomfort. After all, he’d done enough already.

For his time suspended, well, he spent it as if in hiding. Essentially grounded, he forced himself to do the homework and project’s supplied. He’d need to to graduate, his parents said, and apparently that was the only way he might redeem himself in their eyes. Slowly, the focus, as well as his new hobby, brought him out of his deep slump. He found friends online and, for the first time, properly explored the complex web that was the interactions between hero, villain, and civilian. It all seemed like one big play. Like a joke, but at someone else’s expense.

After a whole semester of good behavior--and time back at school--his parents eased off their punishments and life tried to return to some semblance of normal. Of course, things were irrevocably changed, after all...none of his peers would so much as look at him without disgust, pity, or apathy in their eyes. Eventually he took to just ignoring their gazes, their judgement. They didn’t matter, just him and his jokes. Yet...despite all his efforts, they held him back a year. Fortunately though, despite the slump, they let him earn additional credits and he graduated halfway through the next year. By then, he’d pulled himself out of the deep well of trauma and even started socializing again, using summer school as a new place that he could test the waters.

Though half a year late, Kelly graduated from high school in a sort of unofficial way, getting all the necessary documentation, but no ceremony or farewell. Though he missed his peers and the many people he’d once considered friends, he also knew that those relationships were beyond repair, though he never really came to understand exactly why. In the interest of moving on he applied to a local community college, his parents unwilling to send him abroad to another state, but very insistent on his going. Fairly onboard with the idea he started a new school life, this time intent on making things work.

All in all, college was stressful, but having had to struggle and work so hard near the end of high school--and during the ensuing summer--it came more naturally to him than it may have to some. In much of his free time he studied or went out with friends, but behind closed doors he made use of his new powers, making quite a bit of headway in understanding how they worked while simultaneously entrenching himself more deeply in the knowledge of the world he knew he would one day become a part of. After a year of college, struggles and successes both, he needed an outlet, and so he began living a double life of sorts. It was hard, he lost sleep, and some classes suffered, but it helped. He’d go on nightly outings, in a poorly made costume and mask. He soon found that when he was out he didn’t have to hold back...he could do whatever he wanted--and with the assistance of his power he’d never have to pay the price.

Feeling like things were turning up for him, Kelly continued his experimentation, becoming more and more bold even despite the worrying things that came on the news on occasion. However, essentially all at once things took a drastic and dangerous turn for the worse, starting with Scion’s first attack in Earth Bet, and playing out in what would become known as Gold Morning. By and large, Kelly found himself almost totally powerless during the events that transpired, essentially being relegated to help evacuate civilians, scout, or assist with medical aid where possible. It was a horrifying four days, but ultimately he was always rather far away from the conflicts themselves, due entirely to the nature of his powers.

So it was that when things eventually concluded he was left in a corner world with very few other people and little in the way of resources aside from what they could find in the surrounding wilderness. So it was that, for a year he built something with the others who were trapped there with him. They got along well enough and together they got through it, settling into a new life. He found that his power was fairly useful for hunting, allowing him to quietly sneak up on animals and then create a duplicate to stun them before he acted. So, by necessity he learned to hunt, he learned to survive, give medical care to injuries minor and major, and all-in-all function relatively well in a community. Still, beneath the surface he itched for civilization, for interaction, for comedy. For how things used to be. He thought, quite often, about his parents and the friends he’d made in college...wondering if they’d made it. Hoping they had.

Kelly never found out, but he did find a portal. Having been searching far and wide for over a year Kelly and his compatriots finally stumbled upon a portal that--ostensibly--lead to what appeared to be a more populated world. While many had no desire to leave the home they had made, the place they had become accustomed and comfortable in, Kelly felt differently. So it was that he prepared traveling rations and equipment before setting out for the other world.

Later he would come to learn that the alternate Earth was known as Earth Samekh and that what beckoned was a place both better and worse in equal measures. Perhaps the first thing that stood out to him was the sheer quantity of process around getting to the alternate Earth. No matter, he had time and once he was in the queue he could easily fend for himself. Eventually he got his documents filled out, boxes checked, and it was a month or three after that that he finally reached Serstol proper. The Silver City, they called it. A fitting title, he thought. Of course, he had more important things to consider...like survival...citizenship...fostering a new identity. It was going to be a hard time for awhile, he surmised.

• Kelly gets into Serstol, but not as a citizen seeing as he has no money to his name.
• Meets and works with (Tuuj’s character) Penelope to get his citizenship. The two forge a close friendship over this period.
• Kelly works on getting money, partially illicitly via parahuman activities, all very low key and spaced out enough that it’s hard to track him down.
• Penelope and Kelly eventually reveal the fact that they are parahumans to one another.
• They decide to form a partnership.
• They form a team.
• Present day.

Notes: He does have an apartment and a job, but I do not know the nature of the job just yet. He lives not in the center of the city, but midway between the center and the outskirts. He’s had some cape activity, but he is in no way a known element as of yet. Has likely had interaction/”business” with the Lost, but is not directly affiliated with them.

May insert other details if bonds are forged beyond just Penelope.

_{[ ♦ ] Personality}

---

♦ Motivation: Much like his younger self, Kelly desires a world in which everyone is as happy as realistically possible. It’s a heroic dream, but Kelly--having been through what he has in attempting to achieve it--is no longer a particularly heroic person. Still, with Gold Morning not far behind them, Kelly believes that it’s something worth working towards...even if he does have to get his hands dirty to do so.

♦ Derangement: Kelly’s derangement is most well characterized by an enhanced imperative to utilize his power, combined with a reduced sense of guilt and social shame. This essentially creates a positive feedback loop that encourages him to escalate his unique sense of “humor,” through the use of his power.

_{[ ♦ ]
Parahumanism}

---

♦ Skills: Kelly, first and foremost, is a trickster, a prankster, a joker. He’s genial and while sometimes he goes a bit too far, he has learned--at least in his civilian identity--to temper his sense of humor and merely use it to bring smiles and win others over. In this way it could be said that he’s a people-person. Additionally, from his time in the wilderness, he’s quite the survivalist, having picked up how to make fire, forage, hunt, and provide relatively simple medical aid--though he’s hardly a professional by any means. From his time before Gold Morning he learned things like lockpicking, how to effectively distract and remain out of sight, as well as simply the attitudes necessary to just… look like he belongs. Playing into this is his time with the theater club. All-in-all, Kelly is a very resourceful individual and in the advent of the new world he has taken some self defense classes and has a few months of martial arts under his belt. He’s nothing to a professional or anyone who has trained significantly longer, but he’s decent in a brawl, even if he does prefer to stay out of them. Facilitating all this is a creative mind and a solid memory.

♦ Classification: Stranger|Thinker.
♦ Mechanics: Upon being perceived by any sense, Exactly may generate intangible, fully immersive, hallucination duplicates. Once generated, Exactly becomes increasingly difficult to perceive in addition to being impossible to correlate as the same individual as the identical hallucination clones. Any time they are perceived they may generate an additional duplicate, with the total active quantity being between 15 and 20 at any given time due to shard fluctuation. While active, duplicates supply him with all normal sensory information and on top of responding to stimuli to maintain the facade, they may be fed directives by Exactly. Additionally, Exactly’s power also supplies him with intuitive knowledge regarding whether people are paying attention to him or his duplicates. The greater the effectiveness of his duplicates at distracting and keeping the attention of people the more difficult it becomes to detect him, sans non-standard senses. Furthermore, the longer a given duplicate is active, the more insidious its hallucinogenic nature becomes as they spread a memetic effect causing the affected to attempt to spread the hallucination via word of mouth and bringing attention to them. This insistence and exposure can--and eventually will--lead more people to perceiving the ‘presence’ of the duplicates. Similarly, despite the fact that those who the effect spreads to were not originally able to perceive the illusions, Exactly’s power will generally cause its victims to rationalize in order to keep up the facade.

To compound upon the distracting and deleterious effect of his duplicates is the manner in which Exactly is capable of banishing them. At will, he is capable of dismissing a duplicate, at which point it will erupt outwards into multicolored particles of light that inflict incredibly immersive, distracting, disorienting, and often painful sensory stimulus in addition to intense cognitive dissonance. Once deactivated all sensory information rapidly diminishes at the same rate that the light particles fade and then vanish, leaving Exactly only with the knowledge of his memories and of whom is perceiving him at any given moment. Naturally, once the disorientation from banishment ends, the other aspects of the hallucination do as well, with the sole exception being the ability to correlate the nature and existence of the duplicates with Exactly himself.

Beyond this, it is worth noting that distance from his duplicates does eventually reduce the potency of Exactly’s power, with fall off beginning once he is roughly 40 meters away and increasing every additional 10 meters he moves from any given duplicate. This reduction in overall functionality takes the form of less distinct sensory information, reduced spread of the memetic effect, and less precise control of the duplicates themselves. This drop off will eventually result in the duplicates entirely fading out, rather than ever properly banishing and generating their deleterious light upon doing so. Last, but not least, Exactly’s power does give him a fairly minor ability to process, filter, and otherwise manage sensory information, giving him the capacity to do and experience a lot more without being overwhelmed or hampered significantly.

♦ Equipment: What sort of goodies do you have on you when you're in costume?

Telescoping Baton: A fairly straight forwards, largely metal, collapsible baton measuring in at 31 inches in length and weighing

Knife: A fairly standard knife used more as a tool or in extreme situations rather than to causing lasting harm. The knife’s blade is 5 inches in length, with an additional 5 inches or so for the handle.

Cellphone: Self explanatory. Fairly basic given the end of the world. Serviceable.

Lockpicking Kit: Self explanatory.

Yoshua's Character Storage Mark VII

Presidio

"Alright guys! Let’s...um, make the world a better place, one piece at a time! Yeah…."

Hider

_{[ ♦ ] Bio}

---

♦ Name: Kari, Avalielle. Simmons.
♦ Age: 22.
♦ Loyalty: Final Guard.
♦ Appearance: Kari is short, measuring only 5’3 and is at a healthy weight due to her routine and fortunate genetics. Her neck length hair is styled in a relaxed way, with short bangs that frame her face and highlight her gentle features and hazel eyes. Her style varies depending on mood, but frequently has her hiding within her clothes as if self-conscious of her figure. As such much of her wardrobe is modest, rather than showy, with her favored color choices being soft, gentler shades accented by brighter complements that make everything pop! Though infrequently in display in her civilian identity, Kari’s figure is hourglass in shape with curves in all the right places--something which brings her far more attention than she would normally prefer.

On the other hand, when in costume, Kari attempts to combat her typically quiet diminutive nature by putting herself on display more prominently. To further differentiate herself Kari wears contacts in costume, whereas normally she would wear glasses. While she does not wear much in the way of a proper mask in costume, she does tend to alter her make-up, particularly around the eyes, choosing rather striking blue for eye shadow and liner to shift the color of her hazel eyes. Beyond this, she uses many incredibly thin layers of “locked” forcefields to create a mask of sorts, ringing around her eyes with angular, winged shapes that branch outwards in addition to skintight forcefields that hug her jawline and outline her lower lip.

A tiara-like set of forcefields define her hairline, holding her bangs back in addition to a hair tie. The aforementioned “tiara” is reminiscent of the crenellations on the top of a castle’s walls or towers, with the imagery being an intentional reference to her cape name and insignia. Beyond its ornamental purpose, this tiara actually contains a set of incredibly thin interlocked forcefields and a set of mechanisms, the former being compressed onto eachother to fit in the small amount of space. At will, she is capable of activating the mechanism effectively lowering a curved shield over her whole face. Furthermore, all of the forcefields that help make-up her mask are connected by thin threads of her power or other mechanisms all of which are “locked”. As a direct result of this, her mask is roughly the durability of steel.

Beneath the forcefields around her eyes, against her brows, and against the bridge of her nose there lies a relatively simple light blue mask, which is tied around her head tightly with several strong cords wrapped in dainty ribbons that she works into her hair--she often reinforces this with more forcefields. It is worth noting that in costume, Kari’s hazel eyes appear as a startling blue, whereas most times out of costume her eyes appear a rich brown or light mottled green.

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Casual

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Costume

Due to the colder seasons coming on, Presidio has modified her original designs for her costume. She has donned a black turtleneck with sweeping arcs of light blue in place of the revealing top beneath her vest, as well as replacing the shorts with warm black pants that go into her boots.

♦ History:

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James Clairville and Sarah Collins, a performer and an artist fell in love and married. A year or so later in 1993 the two had Kari who they lovingly nurtured. James, an actor, and Sarah did their utmost to support eachother and their daughter, doing double duty as they worked and raised her. Truly things were sometimes a blur in their household, but more importantly it was always warm and fun. Of course things became even more interesting as Kari matured, for as she participated in school her parents found that she was truly gifted. So, naturally, they edged for her to carry on in their footsteps, encouraging the arts--writing, acting, painting, singing, it hardly mattered, “just pick one,” they’d say. Seeking approval, Kari did so, taking part in little plays and helping design costumes. This trend carried on from her early schooling into middle school until finally her burgeoning personality could not simply conform anymore.

From then on Kari let what she’d long hidden beneath the surface out into the world, a curiosity not for the arts, but instead for what her parents would think their polar opposite. For, unlike her parents, Kari’s passion was the world, math, science, history and as she got older she only leaned into her passions more. In school she excelled, skipping a year in middle school and going into high school earlier than most. She was a nerd, but she found some acceptance among peers, as, while her parents supported her, they could not ever really understand her passions. Kari’s were just too different from their own. Of course, high school ended too soon as she breezed through courses and wowed both her parents and teachers in a frenzy wrought of diligence and ambition. She wanted to be a scientist, to enter the field of tech and much fell away as a result. Hobbies that she’d kept up with since childhood drifted away, only resurging as she required the skills honed through them.

Accepting her passion, even though he did not understand it, her father hired tutors and began the process of enrolling his daughter in college. All the while, Kari and her mother grew apart, a rift opened by what Sarah had taken as a betrayal. Once enrolled she worked hard, majoring in computer technology, intending to go into the field, designing new hardware for the world over. It was hard, but she loved it. However, just before she could graduate--though she’d been damned close--Gold Morning happened, the world collapsing around her. The months were filled with a quiet horror, fleeing, and the desperate hope that they would make it through. Eventually, they did, but not all of them. Many had been lost and among them...people she held beloved. Friends, colleagues, but most devastatingly...her mother.

Wracked by guilt and sorrow Kari and her father just tried to keep their heads up. Despite their loss they were fortunate in other ways, finding themselves in Samekh, and then Serstol, near its infancy. They settled in and her father was forced to take up menial labor--the world was not in a state to support the career he’d led before. She hated seeing him so, and she hated more the terrible loss that tore at her heart. So, naturally, she distracted herself, steeling her resolve and moving forwards. She picked up where she’d left off, teaching herself more skills and applying to jobs with a dedicated determination to ease her father’s burden and to make a difference.

After months of work she landed herself a job and immediately launched into development and customer service--using whatever spare money and resources she could to build and design something new...something that would benefit everyone. Soon her efforts earned her a proper place at her job, allowing her to leverage their resources with her skill to really begin the development of her project. Things were going well for awhile, the pay was good and she was happy, but soon misfortune reared its head. Checking her work one week she came upon an error in her work. Thinking it largely inconsequential she set about fixing the problem, replacing parts and altering code. However, the more she did the worse things got. She’d come back to it only to find things in a worse state than they’d been before. Worse still, a meeting was coming up where she was supposed to be showcasing her new product. The stress only worsened the issue and eventually things spiralled out of control, totally ruining month upon month of work. Feeling totally out of her depth and utterly overwhelmed--and baffled--by her situation she triggered, the fear of losing such a huge part of her life, and jeopardizing everything, breaking her down.

Having lost months of work and seemingly wasted resources, upper management demoted her to a junior position, shelving her project for a later date. Fortunately, they were much more understanding that she’d expected. In the interest of her mental health, they gave her a month’s paid leave and left things at that. Still reeling and feeling cast aside she spent many of those days aimless and lost. The only things that saved her were the preoccupation of experimenting with her newfound powers, research on the subject, and more importantly...escape by way of art. While not many of her mother’s pieces had survived the end of the world, they’d managed to reacquire a few. Kari surrounder herself with them and decided to give her mother’s passion a second chance.

Taking up the brush and pencil, she spread her emotions over the canvas and found that perhaps she’d never really had a particular dislike for the arts. Maybe she’d just been rebellious. Maybe that’s what had led her on this path? She wasn’t sure and it was impossible to go back and find out so instead she looked forwards. She still had a job to lead, soon, but now she had powers. She was a parahuman. Couldn’t she do so much more to affect the lives of everyone for the better?

Eventually deciding she could, Kari began designing a costume and after a time, returned to her work as well. While she has yet to rise to her former position, she still makes enough to get by. Though it is not just her former failure that has kept her from rising again, but rather that her ambitions have taken on a new form. With her costume finished and name chosen, Presidio has every intent to make the world a better...safer place and perhaps bring humanity back to its former glory.

Only time will tell whether her work with the Final Guard will truly make an impact.

_{[ ♦ ] Personality}

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♦ Motivation: Kari wants to make the world a better, safer place. Specifically she wants to make a big difference, bringing civilization back to something of its former glory. She wants to give more people the opportunity to truly thrive. Similarly, though she’d never admit it, Kari is using her cape activities to branch out, to enrich herself, and as a result she’s trying to rise to prominence in her own way.

♦ Derangement: While perhaps not so life altering as some changes, Kari’s shard has indeed changed the make-up of her personality. First and foremost by shifting her closer to “dominant” than shy, reinforcing confidence and, to a limited degree, arrogance in the interest of causing additional conflict. Where before Kari was just very dedicated, now she is something of a perfectionist. While she’s always been ambitious, her shard has shifted that ambition to a world-scale and is angling for her to become more lofty and domineering, wanting her to attempt at rising above all others. Granted, all of this is very subtle and most of it is not so severe that Kari--or those close to her--would immediately notice. It is worth mentioning that over time some of this traits will be further accentuated, resulting in further change. Lastly, her shard has driven a sort of psychological wedge between Kari’s actions...and her actions as Presidio, allowing Kari to more easily rationalize anything she does as Presidio.

_{[ ♦ ]
Parahumanism}

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♦ Skills: Having pursued a career in computer hardware and software engineering, Kari has all the skills one would expect. She is competent with numerous code languages in addition to a number of tools as well as familiar with the terminology. Beyond this she is a middling artist, preferring paint and pencil or charcoal on canvas or paper as her medium. She’s has some skill in costume and clothing design--though rather minor--which work well in tangent with her good fashion sense. During her very limited time--roughly two months--with the Final Guard she’s taken to some combat training, though she’s always made a point of eating well and staying in shape. Perhaps her most prominent skill is one of the mind, as she is an incredibly quick study on top of being exceptionally observant and dedicated. While she is fairly shy and a bit socially awkward--though not as much so in costume--she is very understanding and empathetic, allowing her to comfort and connect with people fairly easily in spite of her social hiccups. This, in tangent with the theater her parents had her participate with, has contributed greatly to her ability to act differently in costume. While she wouldn’t be terribly convincing as a liar or manipulator, she can still sell a character quite well.

♦ Classification: Shaker|Thinker.
♦ Mechanics: Kari’s power allows her to generate numerous translucent blue forcefields within a 30 foot radius of herself, which she is capable of shaping and interlocking at will. At most she can generate 12 forcefields per second, with the rate decreasing depending on several variables, including the quantity of active forcefields, the state of those forcefields, and a number of other unknowns to which she is not privy. Kari maintains awareness of her forcefields and is capable of controlling them telekinetically with incredible precision, implying an enhanced capacity to process information and multitask. In tangent with this enhanced processing, Kari’s power grants her an intuitive understanding of how components can fit together to form larger functional wholes. The aforementioned thinker power almost solely applied to her forcefields, but can be applied to things with similar constructions, thus excluding technology that possesses wires, circuits and the like.

Her shields do have their limitations though, with each Baseline shield being individually weak, capable of being broken by mundane, if well-placed, blows. Of course their durability and strength is a mite more nuanced than this as Kari may shift the focus of her shields from mobility and malleability to solidity and strength. At base, or in their baseline state her shields possess the aforementioned properties, being fairly brittle, but mobile and subject to change; conversely Kari may “lock” her forcefields, drastically reducing their mobility and maneuverability, but enhancing their durability and mechanical viability. Similarly, “locked” forcefields benefit from being part of larger constructs becoming increasingly durable relative to the quantity of shields that compose the larger whole. At the lower end, “locked” shields are roughly the durability of brass with the upper limit of their durability being similar to steel. It is notable that despite their generally being inferior to “locked” shields, forcefields in the baseline state are strong enough to very briefly carry Kari’s weight before shattering. This fact reveals an odd quirk to her power in regards to its behavior as her shields are far more effective at pushing, pulling, or interacting with eachother than they are at simply bearing weight more passively. As a result of this quirk, Kari’s forcefields more or less make things such as flight impossible.

The process of “locking” a shield takes roughly 5-15 seconds, with it taking more or less time proportional to the size of the forcefield in question. As an additional limiting factor, her shields require either active use or focus to maintain lest they decay--a phenomena which will also occur if they leave her arrange, eventually resulting in them shattering into formless dust. The decay of her shields within her range is slower than if they leave it. In a similar vein, her power’s range of influence is somewhat variable, capable of expanding if her constructs become large enough to exceed its size so as not to limit her experimentation overmuch. However, while the size of her constructs is not limited, the size of her shields is with the upper limit being roughly the surface area of a 3 foot wide disk and the lower end being roughly the size of a half dollar coin (1.2 inches in diameter); the average size measuring in at approximately 1.5 feet in diameter. The factor of size does alter her control somewhat, with forcefields becoming more unwieldy and difficult to control proportional to how large they are. Last, but perhaps not least, her shields are distinctly limited by the manton limit, meaning that they cannot be generated inside living matter and--until locked in--would be hugely ineffectual at cutting much of anything.

♦ Equipment: What sort of goodies do you have on you when you're in costume?

Gauntlets: Though their name implies heavy armor, the reality is that these implements are more like gloves than anything. They are mostly cloth, with thin metal fittings, including pieces that jut out and then hook in as well as slots. She has worked similar metal embroidery into her costume as well. The colors include light blue, silver, and gold with patterning to match the rest of her costume.

Med kit: She carries a small medical kit at the back of her belt in a pouch. Contains gauze, bandages, pain pills, small scissors, and several ointments for pain or infection. Similarly there is hydrogen peroxide, though only a small quantity.

Wireless communicator: Issued from the Final Guard. Often defended by a complex array of tightly bound forcefields.