Ava Maria Harrison

22

Female

Barista. In her fourth year of college.

Ava's skin has a lighter tan, as she is half Hispanic and half Caucasian. Her hair is a light chestnut color. She stands at an unremarkable height of 5'4", however she tends to stand with her head held high so she seems slightly taller. Her physique is lean and muscular, as she does like to keep in shape, however it's nothing remarkable. Her deep brown eyes reflect the light rather well. She wears multiple rings and necklaces, with one anklet on her right leg.

Ava is a bit of a fiery spirit. While she is normally a sweet girl with plenty of love in her heart, she is tough as nails when it comes to getting the job done. She's the kind to laugh and procrastinate on her responsibilities, able to work rather well under pressure. She tends to ignore things that aren't in her immediate future and as a result can be a little ill equipped for upcoming events. She loves to make friends and has a particular soft spot for kids and the disabled. If anyone weak is being abused by someone stronger than them, Ava's the first person to stand up, regardless of how bad of an idea it is. She struggles with maturity, but if you want to unload your troubles or have a little fun, she's the one the call.

Ava has a bit of a mouth on her, but not in the vulgar or offensive way. She tends to blather on about random things that pop into her head at any given moment, even if it isn't the wisest thing to say. Because of that, she enjoys people who will listen to her and laugh at her silly blunders. Quiet strength is the quality that she's most attracted to. Physical appearance doesn't really matter to Ava, however age is something she considers heavily. A few deal breakers for her are arrogance, ignorance (not naivety), and being uptight.

Ava was born as the daughter of a mixed family. Her mother was Hispanic, and her father. She was the only child born to the couple, and so she received every ounce of love they could give her. From an early age, they taught her to be brave and strong. She grew up with influences from both of her parents cultures, spending Christmas's with her mother's side of the family and Thanksgiving with her father's extended family. Because of this, she learned how to be patient during the long hours of traveling it took to get down to the border of Mexico, right above Mexico, where her mother's parents lived. Her paternal grandparents lived in Verona her entire life, which led to them helping raise her. She grew up a local girl, attending school in the small town her entire life. Eventually, she graduated high school and began going to the community college nearby. Her parents saw it as a pointless idea for Ava to move out, and so she has lived with them her entire life. She had a fairly mundane life, not getting into too much trouble, keeping up good grades, however there were a few instances where she got a little rough-and-tumble with a few more cruel-minded individuals.

Air Manipulation.

Ascendant.

Ava can manipulate the atmosphere around her to bend to her will, whether that be forming walls of air so compact that they are tangible, allowing her to manipulate her jumping capabilities, or creating vacuums to pull in objects. At first, Ava has a very restricted access to her power, mainly only able to manipulate the air around her to allow her to be more mobile.

While Ava can control the air around her, the girl still needs oxygen to breathe. If she uses her powers excessively with close proximity to her, she can remove her ability to inhale oxygen as the air is moving too fast for her to catch. Additionally, she uses her breath to assist her in controlling the air. If her breathing patters are interrupted (say the wind gets knocked out of her), she loses a great portion of her abilities.

Jackson Christopher Pryce

Nineteen

Male

Freshman/first-year student at the community college.

Jackson is tall, about an inch-and-a-half above six feet and admittedly pretty easy on the eyes, with his styled dirty blondish hair and big, dark blue eyes. Due to his height, he is inherently skinny overall but has a decent athletic toning from playing sports when he was younger. His skin is on the paler side and can be prone to mild freckling, easy bruising, as well as some breakouts in acne if he's stressed out for extended periods of time. Jackson goes for a simple clean-cut look, keeping stubble to a minimum, and while he tends to dress nicely, his wardrobe isn't overly conspicuous, maintaining a respectable balance between comfort and class.

Beginning with the good, Jackson is very polite, signifying a decent upbringing from his parents. He respects strangers and won't start anything negative intentionally unless someone starts it with him. He isn't one to pick fights but can fight if he has to. Basically, what you give is what you get from Jackson. In most situations around people he isn't familiar with, he stays rather quiet. This isn't out of shyness, rather he simply feels there's nothing to say. However, when he's around people he's comfortable with, he's pretty enjoyable, lively, and likes making other people laugh. Obviously, he would prefer to have a lot of friends, though he doesn't often actively try to make them. Knowing this, he also cherishes his alone time.

Jackson is also quite smart; obviously not a genius, but he catches onto things pretty quickly. Unfortunately, however, Jackson is a stellar underachiever, either wasting his talents or focusing them in areas where they're less useful. Like all humans, he comes with his assorted set of usual personality flaws; he can lie, his emotions can get out of hand, et cetera. He is especially emotional when it comes to relationships (additional reading: /Romantic Interests), as being cheated on three relationships in a row has led him to be more cautious, and at the same time more caring (a little too caring) about those whom he chooses to let in for fear of getting hurt again.

Heterosexual; unlikely to try anything with the same gender though isn't homophobic. Jackson, as of the beginning of the story, is single and wary of any kind of romantic interest for the time being. If he were to take on a girlfriend, she'd have to be loyal and be able to cope with his ensuing and sometimes annoying clinginess. Of course, he knows he can be, er, tedious to date, so he tries his best to be as romantic as possible to make up for it.

Jackson is one of the few non-natives to Verona, who actually chose to come live there. Why? Jackson comes from Alabama, born of two successful parents. His mother is a physician in Birmingham and his father works as a lawyer. Naturally, the two had high expectations for their children. Jackson, the oldest of their two children, never seemed to live up these expectations. He was quite smart, but to his parents' frustration, seemed to lack any sort of grand dreams or aspiration. Jackson wanted a simple life; to become a high school teacher and live a simple life in a quiet neighborhood, that sort of thing. Well, his parents weren't happy about that and they often voiced their disapproval with his careeer path choice. Jackson's only real solace were his friends, all of which seemed to be surface-level only, and his girlfriend of a year.

Unfortunately, during his senior year of high school, when Jackson found out Maggie, the girl he thought he loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with, cheated on him with his best friend, he wanted out. He wanted to get as far away from home and Alabama as possible where he could quietly pursue his lackluster dreams without catching shit from his parents or being around the same awful people he grew up with for the next four years at an in-state school. This is where Verona comes in. The community college was the tenth result on his Google search for "small town junior colleges," and it seemed perfect to him from the beginning. A fresh start, in what seemed to be a mystical, faraway land in a new time zone where the summers weren't sweltering and snow actually fell. Money was never a problem for the Pryce family, so Jackson probably could have flown out and bought a decent-sized home. Instead, two weeks after his high-school graduation, he gave an (admittedly) bittersweet goodbye to his family, he decided to take the week-long drive and spent 80% of his life savings on what is essentially a two-room shack and some entry-level courses, while he worked odd jobs when he needed the extra cash.

Jackson's first use of power was accidental. He was waking up the morning after having a "flu" for three days, and upon hitting the snooze button on his alarm clock, it shut off with a sort of frying sound. Later that day, with his phone in his hand, he noticed the charge symbol was on and the battery percentage was going up slowly... He knew something was very wrong about him, but he was afraid to guess what. He is currently terrified to tell anyone about it for fear of being labelled a freak.

Electricity manipulation

Ascendant

This is the ability to create, absorb, and manipulate electrical currents. Obviously, In it's dwindling stages, Jackson's power is both weak and uncontrolled. As described in his origin paragraph, he accidentally fried his alarm clock and was slowly charging his phone. Jackson is also able to discharge small amounts of electricity from his fingers if he concentrates, but that's most of it for now. He's still quite afraid of his power at the moment.

When full potential is reached, this power allows for the creation of sparks/bolts of electricity, allows for absorption/discharge of energy from/into electrical devices respectively. Nothing too fancy. Only other tidbit is his power is strengthened/amplified (though not necessarily enhanced/embellished) during an electrical storm when the air almost feels electric itself.

Jackson's ability has huge control implications. First off, it's vital to realize the many dangers that could arise when this power is overexerted or if Jackson loses control over it. Emotion is a big trigger for his power, so, heavens, imagine if he's going in for an emotional kiss and a spark comes from his lips and shocks his lover? It could be anywhere from a spark to an entire jolt. Or what if he gets momentarily angry at a friend and a bolt accidentally strikes him? What if he goes to start his car and putting the key into the ignition accidentally drains his battery dry? What if he tries to charge his phone with his power and it surges, causing it to explode in his hand? Also, while Jackson's body has heightened resistance to electricity, it doesn't mean he himself is immune to it either. If he were to summon a huge amount of power, all the electricity coursing through his body could literally disrupt his heartbeat and stop it.

Abigail Harlow, wrongly referred to as Abigail Lockwood

17

Female

High school student - Part time waitdress at the Salem Diner (Weekdays:Evening Shift)

A short, scrawny woman with pale blonde hair which reaches a little ways down her spine. Abigail’s nose is small and tilted upwards a little; she has dark blonde eyebrows, flawless teeth and thin lips to give her a bright and dazzling smile. Her eyes are the most notable feature - deep blue, exuding warmth. Abigail’s body is frail and flat - she has pale skin, bony wrists and small extremities. She’s almost entirely flat-chested - an A cup on a good day - and she has a multitude of faint nicks and scratches along her elbows, knees, hands, ankles, and feet. Standing at 5’2, she’s hardly an imposing figure.

The predominant trait that Abigail has is undeniably her energy. There isn’t a single movement that isn’t lively and animated; she exaggerates, yells, gesticulates, skips, jumps and fidgets her way through life. She has this childish playfulness and a very optimistic outlook on life that allows her to rarely take things seriously and compels her to do what she wants regardless of what other people may think of her. Couple this with a painfully short attention span and it becomes obvious why Abigail seems to always be the one neck-deep in trouble.

Perhaps it’s this natural flair for being at the receiving end of a good scolding that’s made her into a sympathetic individual, capable of understanding the underdog and every so often pausing to lend a hand here and there, but don’t get lured in by these moments of kindness - her default mode is ‘asshole’, and she learnt it from her asshole friends. She’s thick-skinned and takes an insult by throwing another, nastier insult in return or just generally getting pissed off. You’d have to do a lot to make her cry, even more to make her cry in public - which brings us on to her next charming trait. She’s dogmatic, stubborn to the point of making that pretty little face of hers seem temptingly punchable. Once she has an idea in mind there are very few who have the ability to make her stop and consider her actions.

Of course, it would be a bit too foolish to think Abigail hasn’t learnt anything from her mistakes; she’s a deceitful, disingenuous little shit too. She keeps what she knows to herself and hoards just as much gossip as she does freshly-polished cutlery, using those tidbits of information for blackmail material, insult ammunition or components in whatever devious scheme she happens to be planning at the moment. When she needs to be, she can be serious and she certainly doesn’t boast about her cunning, often masking it up with a generous helping of jokes and playfulness.

In short, a very cheery, upbeat and mildly eccentric kid who’s learnt enough in the back-alleys of the city to hold her own when she needs to.

Two legs and a dick.

Her memories start with one of those cheap toys you get out of a cereal box, the smell of stale cigarette smoke, and the TV running the 24hr news in the dark. Abigail grew up in a shitty apartment and her early childhood consisted of fuzzy impressions and the general feeling of apprehension and uncertainty; she doesn’t dwell over what happened aged 0 to 9. Late one evening in November, her life suddenly burst into colour and sound as the police sirens pulled up outside her door and the men in blue ripped through her home and arrested her parents. She offered one of them her cereal box prize.

Life got way more interesting after that. Abigail started talking with some of the cops who took her parents; she trailed around after one of them in particular as he sorted out the papers for her to move to a cleaner (but still undeniably shitty) foster home nearby. The official sentence on her biological parents was the possession of illicit substances, and Abigail got used to the reality she probably wouldn’t see them for a long time fairly quickly. Besides, the foster home was much bigger than her old place and she met a load of kids she hadn’t seen at school before. The first couple of years  sliding across the linoleum in her socks and getting to watch proper cartoons in this bigger, better living space were pretty enjoyable...but the allure faded pretty quickly. What was the point of staying cooped up in another building 24/7 when there was so much more that she could explore?

Abigail kept going back to the police station, for a start. She learnt the names of the officers and sometimes snatched a quick conversation with the men in handcuffs before they went into the interrogation rooms. It was pretty rare for a street kid to be wedged in between the gangs and the police like this and as Abigail started to understand her position she worked very very hard to maintain this neutrality; even as those fun kids from the foster home started staying out past curfew, spraying signs onto bus stops and throwing beer bottles at passing cars. She spent her days barely scraping by in class and wandering around the desks of the homicide division, annoying the cops and making paper aeroplanes to toss at the sergeant detective. She spent her nights with her arms hooked around the shoulders of guys who were probably able to carry her with one hand, laughing as they emptied their pockets of sweets and cigarettes they stole from convenience stores and gas stations. Abigail lived life in the moment and never gave much of a thought about her future - not until she went to Juvie.

It wasn’t even the shoplifting that gave her six months - if she kept her mouth shut and didn’t try to run away she would’ve probably gotten away with a warning. But being surrounded by jaded middle-aged cops and aggressive little runts trying to worm their way into drug dealing had given her a fierce arrogance and a mouthy attitude; she wasn’t thinking straight, half-drunk and fed up with flitting back and forth between crime and legality. Abigail made her choice by squirming free and running down the street, only to be tackled by another cop and dragged back kicking and screaming. Unsurprisingly, she regretted it when she sobered up - there wasn’t much to do behind bars and the other teens in there weren’t nearly as fun to hang out with as her old friends. Juvenile detention gave Abigail some time to reflect on her future, though - and she realised she was slowly starting to follow her parents’ example. If she kept this up she’d be peddling cocaine to hobos in less than a decade’s time. The thought of that future pissed her off.

Partially as a big ‘fuck-you’ to society and mainly out of a desire to improve her own conditions, Abigail started trying to find ways to break the stereotype - she tried to catch up on her grades and find part-time work. Those few months after she got out of Juvie were probably the most frustrating and depressing ones Abigail’s been through; she would have to re-do a year in high school and nobody would hire her because of the six-month stain on her criminal record. She worked her ass off trying to bring herself out of this rut, but it left her upset and annoyed when she didn’t see immediate results and she vented her frustrations by going out at night and getting involved in gangs again.

Just when Abigail was about to give up, fate threw a curveball. A certain personal contact from the police dept. saw her falling into bad habits and decided to foster her personally. Suddenly, Abigail had her own bedroom, a good house, and a carer willing to pay for her to take driving lessons. He used his connections as a cop to get her part-time work in McDonalds and used his free time to help her study. He’d given her another chance - but Abigail couldn’t quite shake off her old life. She met up with old friends, who were now fully involved in the drug war. She lost her job because she kept showing up late, and she kept losing her homework during her little night-trips. After a particularly bad night when she limped back home at 2am with a broken nose and cuts covered in butterfly stitches, Abigail talked all night with her carer about what she could possibly do to get out of this vicious cycle.

Verona was a last-ditch effort. The move wasn’t permanent, but the city held too much power over Abigail and she needed to be completely cut off from her old life if she had any chance in succeeding academically. It took longer for her to make real friends and she got a job in the diner as a waitress, but she still harbours a sense of alienation when she goes out past curfew. It wasn’t HER life, the kids here felt too sheltered. Too middle-class. It felt like she was on holiday for a very long time.

All she had to do was pass her exams and get an internship somewhere. Easy enough, right? Even though she was a bit of a trouble-magnet, Abigail was certain nothing exciting was going to happen in the small-town capital of the middle of nowhere.

Poor kid hasn’t even realised she’s got a superpower yet.

Unoticeability

Mastermind

The ability to shift a person’s perception so they are unable to register Abigail’s presence.

CCTV/infrared or any other forms of technology will be able to detect her. Her thoughts are not masked. At present, loud noises that she makes are easy to detect, and she can only consciously go unnoticed for a short period of time.