[hider=Snow Flame WIP] [b]Anti-hero/villain Name:[/b] Xue Huoyan/Snow Flame [b]Civilian Name:[/b] Siobhan McKenna [b]Origin city:[/b] Galway, Ireland [b]Hometown:[/b] Transient/Shambala [b]Sex:[/b] Female [b]Race:[/b] Human [b]Height:[/b] 6’2 [b]Weight:[/b] 191 lbs [b]Age:[/b] 45 (physically 22) [b]Birth Date:[/b] April 28th, 2001 -------- [b]Costumed Appearance:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/145PxpB.png[/img] [b]Civilian Appearance:[/b] [img] https://i.imgur.com/CryRz8Y.png[/img] [b]Icon:[/b] [img] https://i.imgur.com/phX8K2b.png[/img] [b]Costumed Personality:[/b] Xue Huoyan is as playful as she is irreverent, holding little respect for any authority but her own. A free spirit with an insatiable appetite for the unknown, she is always eager to hone her abilities in the martial arts and unearth secrets thought lost to time. To this end, she’ll even feign respect for those whom she has need of, at least until they have ceased to be useful. Should one be able to earn her genuine friendship, however, then she will prove to be an unshakably loyal and dependable ally. She hates bullies, and those who lord their power over the weak and helpless. [b]Civilian Personality:[/b] As she doesn’t have a secret identity in the typical sense, there is no significant difference in her behaviour during her downtime. Still, when relaxing, Siobhan is slow to anger and is a generally friendly and upbeat drinking companion. [b]Super abilities:[/b] [b]-Skills:[/b] In the twenty-one years that she spent in the immortal lands of the Jianghu, Siobhan has studied a vast array of martial arts under the tutelage of the ancient masters of Wulin. Both her physical abilities and her mind have been pushed beyond the boundaries of even the finest athlete as a result. [b]Beyond Peak Human Conditioning:[/b] Even without using chi, Siobhan is superior to the very finest of athletes in terms of running speed, gymnastics, acrobatics, striking power, and reaction time. [b]Martial Arts:[/b] During her travels between the sacred cities, Siobhan was educated in the most ancient of martial arts by the Eight Immortals themselves. From them, she has learned the original forms of Jiao Li, the many styles of Shaolin Quan, and Changquan. From other Wulin masters she also learned Chen Taijiquan, Wing Chun Quan, Baguazhang, Xing Yi Quan, Choy Lai Fut, and Bajiquan. She also retains some knowledge of the Shotokan Karate that she learned before discovering Jianghu, though she seldom uses it as it was a point-based fighting form. [b]-Powers:[/b] Chi From her training with the Eight Immortals, Siobhan learned to channel and harness her Chi, the internal energy that flows through all non-magical creatures. This allows her to greatly enhance her physical abilities and attacks in a wide variety of ways, including: -The ability to augment her strength for either lifting, jumping, or striking purposes. -The ability to directly damage or destroy a target’s internal organs. This can even ignore a metahuman’s invulnerability to a degree. -Giving one’s appendages the properties of various weapons or creatures, such as knives or an animal’s claws. -The ability to glide along the air following a high jump. -The ability to become near-weightless, to the point where she can perch on light tree branches. -The ability to focus all her body’s chi into manifesting as physical energy, which she can then launch at her opponents for a devastating ranged attack. Doing so will leave her completely exhausted, however. [b]-Gadgets:[/b] None [b]-Weapons:[/b] Yu Chang Siobhan’s favoured weapon is Yu Chang, the sword of bravery. A jian (Chinese longsword), it can cut or pierce through nearly any material to reach its target. An ancient and legendary sword stolen from Nanda Parbat. [b]Civilian Occupation:[/b] Professional Thief Biography--------- [b]Character History/Origin:[/b] Siobhan McKenna was born in Galway, Ireland to Devin and Lydia McKenna. Due to her father’s out of control alcoholism, he had trouble keeping a steady job for long—they often found themselves counting on government assistance. Resentful of the turn his life had taken, Devin vented his frustrations through verbal and physical abuse towards his wife and daughter. At school, Siobhan was often picked on by the other children for her unusual height, being taller than any boy in her class. The stress from this caused her to eat and gain weight, which only caused their bullying to become worse. Nicknamed “Big Bertha” McKenna by classmate Beatrix O’Kelly, she spent most of her early school years in bitter isolation. The torment she endured at both home and school often bled over. For example, whenever Beatrix and her gang would trip her into a mudpuddle, potentially ruining one of her few outfits. Upon seeing her come home covered in filth, Devin would always fly into a rage about having to buy her new clothes with their limited finances, ensuring an already horrible day became that much worse. To escape her hated reality, Siobhan often enjoyed reading and watching fantasy novels and films. These allowed her to lose herself in another world, a world where she could go on endless, amazing adventures, free from her father or Beatrix. The aesthetics and elegance displayed in Wushu films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captivated her the most. After her father passed away from a heart attack shortly after she turned thirteen, Siobhan often found herself alone after school as her mother began working to support them. It was during this time that she decided to leave the realm of fantasy and actually train in the martial arts she had become so fascinated by. Unfortunately, there were no Kung Fu schools near her home, and so she ultimately had to settle for the Galway Academy of Shotokan Karate. It wasn’t quite what she had expected—instead of the exciting battles she had witnessed in many a karate film, her dojo was mainly concerned with calisthenics, aerobic exercises, and point-based sparring. Still, she fully dedicated herself to the classes, tired of being the butt of everyone’s joke. For an entire year, she would spend each and every afternoon after school (and the entirety of the weekend) training. In that time, she greatly impressed her teachers with the speed at which she learned techniques and kata. While most students only trained twice a week, Siobhan never missed a single day of her first year there, even when ill. By the time she turned fourteen, “Big Bertha” was no more—her weight had been burned away by more than a thousand hours of intensive training. She would soon after compete in her first tournament, which she easily walked away from with a trophy for first place, despite her youth. Her heart now swelling with a newfound confidence, Siobhan boasted of her skills to all who would listen. This, unfortunately, attracted the attention of her old bully, Beatrix O’Kelly. “Bea”, as her friends called her, was now the women’s champion of their school’s boxing team despite only being a freshman. Having been Siobhan’s most relentless tormentor throughout their younger days, Bea disliked how uppity the ginger had become in the past year. Challenging the other fourteen-year-old to a “friendly spar” one day after school, Siobhan chose to skip karate class for the very first time to meet with her. When she arrived, a small crowd of students had gathered to watch the exhibition. Her hands already taped and ready, Bea wasted little time in starting into Siobhan with her usual taunts, speculating on whether or not she was hiding drapes of sagging skin beneath her gi. When the match at last began, the first hit, to everyone’s surprise, went to Siobhan when she successfully delivered a hard kick to Bea’s stomach, dropping the boxer to her knees. Surprised by the sheer reach of Siobhan’s legs, the 5’8 Beatrix was nevertheless on her feet in mere seconds. Closing the distance between them again, Siobhan once more took advantage of her superior reach to strike her opponent in the face—only to find herself on the defensive immediately afterwards. It was then, as blow after powerful blow hammered her head and body, that Siobhan began to understand the shortcomings of the martial art she had been so zealously studying. During the tournament she had won, the fighting had always been stopped by the referee after one of them had successfully landed a strike on their opponent. In fact, throughout all her training, emphasis had been placed on Kiai, the act of posing and shouting after a successful hit. Indeed, that is what she had done after each of her first two successful hits, and now she was paying the price. Her offhand had remained down by her waist in proper hikite form, just as she had been taught, leaving her head an easy target. When she finally awoke to the sight of the sniggering faces of Bea’s gang standing over her, Siobhan was forced to admit a painful truth to herself: despite all her training over the past year, despite having won that tournament…she didn’t know how to [i]fight.[/i] In fact, her journey had only just begun. After this humiliating loss, Siobhan returned to many of her old habits—once again she wore a hoody to school to hide from those who might jeer at her from the sides. Once again, she avoided talking to others unless absolutely necessary. Once again, she had to endure the taunts of O’Kelly, who often would joke that they had to wave a donut in her face to revive her after she was knocked out. But she hadn’t given up. On the contrary, she was now training harder than ever. Not just at the dojo, but in her very backyard. Having explained the events of her match with O’Kelly to several of her fellow karate students, they began to meet in secret each day to practice full-contact sparring. Siobhan now understood that the only way she would ever learn to fight was by actually [i]fighting.[/i] For yet another year she trained relentlessly alongside her small gang of friends from Galway Academy of Shotokan Karate. Together, they honed the practical aspects of their martial art to a degree they never could have if they had merely followed their instructor’s teachings. Not long after turning fifteen, Siobhan was officially recognized as a black belt, earning her 1st dan in just two years. But Beatrix O’Kelly had once again outdone her. At the mere age of fifteen, she had just returned from Rio de Janeiro with a gold medal around her neck, having become the youngest boxer to ever accomplish such a feat. Naturally, her popularity at school exploded, and soon offers of scholarships to far more prestigious academies came flooding in. It was only a matter of time before Bea would leave their ruddy comprehensive behind forever. And Siobhan was livid. She was [i]infuriated[/i], in fact. After O’Kelly had humiliated her so, she was going to just prance off into the sunset? She wasn’t about to let that happen. Not before she at least had a chance to avenge all the years of suffering at her hands. Issuing another challenge to O’Kelly, Siobhan was shocked when she not only rejected it, but outright dismissed her. She had a reputation to uphold now, and duking it out with another student in the streets could endanger her scholarship. She called Siobhan’s grudge pathetic and childish, and told her to move on with whatever sad life she could achieve. It was a response Siobhan wasn’t about to accept. If O’Kelly wouldn’t willingly face her, then she’d have to [i]make[/i] her. Grabbing an old t-shirt from her heavier days and wrapping it into an effective ninja mask with the help of a youtube demonstration video, she stormed into the gymnasium during the women’s boxing team’s training hours. While Beatrix had taken a break from the team to recover from her long trip back home, that was just fine with Siobhan. She had often had her fellow karate students attack her in groups during their private training sessions, and so she knew that the first rule of fighting multiple people was to never let them surround you. Without a word, she attacked the first of O’Kelly’s teammates, who was busy taping up her hands. Instantly knocking her out with a hard kick to the side of her head, Siobhan quickly moved onto the next, who had only just realized what was happening. Another hard kick to the sternum sent this one to the ground, and a stomp to her head kept her there. Staying quick on her feet, Siobhan maneuverer around the gymnasium, taking full advantage of her superior reach to beat them down one by one. Their skill paled in comparison to Beatrix’s, and it showed. In the end, the only one left standing was a trembling freshman. Leaving her untouched, Siobhan told her to tell her captain that “Big Bertha” would be waiting for her in the park. And so she did, hiding in the bushes just in case Bea had decided to simply call the police on her. Fortunately, her rival’s anger had gotten the better of her, and she had indeed come alone, hands already taped. When Siobhan emerged, no words were exchanged between them, the only sound being a scream of rage as Beatrix launched herself towards the other girl. Once again, Siobhan drew first blood, countering Beatrix’s furious attack by imbedding her shoe into her face. Stumbling back, blood falling from her nose, Bea barely had time to think before a second kick slammed into her sternum. There would be no kiai this time, no hikite. Only kicks, punches, throws, and joint locks. Bea tried to fight back, tried to get inside her opponent’s reach, but Siobhan was relentless this time. She seemed to have a counter for whatever the boxer tried. Get inside? A throw or joint lock. Try and outbox? Exploit superior reach. Use your anger to push through it all? Siobhan had an entire childhood’s worth of suppressed rage for her. And then, at last, Beatrix O’Kelly fell. Down onto the grass, sprawled out on her back. She stirred, tried to stand, but Siobhan was now on top of her. One punch after another slammed into Bea’s face, her vision blurring. When her last punch landed without a grunt of protest, the newly christened black belt stopped. Beatrix was out cold. She had won. At last, after so many years, she had finally overcome her tormentor. The burning confidence she had felt after the tournament returned, and this time it had a solid foundation. O’Kelly never reported their encounter at the park to the police, for fear of what would happen to her scholarship. Siobhan didn’t care if nobody knew; she hadn’t done it to impress others. She just needed to prove to [i]herself[/i] that she was better. Optional information ---------- [b]Nemesis: Allies: Team: [/b] [/hider]