Luminous Beings

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Hahaha I know right? I haven't even tried, I'm wholly confident I'll fail.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Posted Anastasia, don't ask me to pronounce her last name.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Anastasia Lytvyn

Basic Information

Name:

Anastasia Lytvyn

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

The Nightingale

Gender:

Female

Age:

29

Height:

5'4

Weight:

110

Home District:

Downtown. She lives in a penthouse apartment.

Appearance

Hair Color:

Dark black.

Eye Color:

Light, frigid blue.

Ethnicity:

Eastern European. A blend of Russian and Ukrainian.

Physical Appearance:

Anastasia's lithe and slender, the build of a dancer. She moves with natural grace, stepping with a subtle, gentle rhythm that tends to mute her very presence. She's small-framed and generally does little to draw attention to herself. Her dark hair is wavy and parted down the middle, normally curling up a bit before the bottom of her ears. Her features are pale and her complexion is very nice, any teenage acne or blemishes long since forgotten. A dark scar runs sideways across her face, etched over her nose and reaching to each cheek. She's somewhat self-conscious about it, but is working on embracing it whole-heartedly. She normally appears somewhat tense-her arms are crossed over her chest or dangling ready at the sides, eyes always on the move. Her lips are a light pink, thin and small. Her nose is small as well, and coupled with her round face it tends to make her appear younger than she truly is. One could believe Anastasia was a college-age student. She has a birthmark on the inside of her right thigh as well as a tattoo on her right bicep. It's in Cyrilic, three letters running down the blade of a combat knife. She keeps her legs shaved and her appearance exudes a quiet femininity. She's not over-the-top with makeup and such, but she does take notable effort in her appearance and generally tends to look rather nice. Whether it's her body language or her mutism, her general vibe is a rather demure one, and Anastasia, while pretty, is not a striking enough beauty to truly stand out in a crowd. She's somewhat unassuming without putting considerable effort in, and she likes it that way. She shies away from confrontation in conversation, and her mannerisms and demeanor reinforce her reserved nature.

Her chest is modest, and her legs and hips are equally slender. Years of dance and gymnastics as a child were a blessing and a curse in this regard. While she's generally pretty reserved, when Anastasia gets into a conversation her somewhat blank affect can change considerably. After a lifetime of communicating without speaking, she can convey her mood and intention rather clearly through her facial expression and hand gestures, and a single raise of an eyebrow or the beginning of a smirk can reflect quite a bit of her mood. Her fingers are slender and dexterous, and often blur in front of her as she talks, "speaking" rapidly and with a thick "accent" that even ASL speakers have trouble keeping up with at times. Her teeth are well cared for and perfectly straight, perhaps due to Anastasia still wearing a retainer even now (Anastasia figured as a child that, if she couldn't put her tongue to any good use, she might as well have the best smile-over the years, this desire's faded a bit, but she still does most of her dentist's work for him). She smells faintly of sweet perfume.

Attire:

When in casual settings, Anastasia wears simple clothes-fashionable, but not extravagant. She generally prefers jeans or pants to skirts and dresses, and is clearly used to warmer weather with the selection of jackets, scarves, and beanies that she tends to employ. Unfortunately, the Verthaven coast is no place for such attire, and she's learning to acclimate to her new surroundings-if slowly. She enjoys coordinating outfits, and takes pride in looking well put together. Her ensemble is expensive, but not ludicrously so.

For business, she has a certain suit. Skintight neoprene underlain with spandex clings to her form, and it has a Kevlar weave over more important areas. Anastasia favors mobility over protection-over her chest and vital organs, she could stop a few bullets, but its design is intended to never give them a chance to shoot in the first place. The material is a deep blue, one that's but a shade away from twilight black. MOLLE webbing is strapped to her chest and back, allowing her to attach gear as needed to the suspender-style webs stretching over her chest and down her back. A utility belt (not like that) is cinched tight to her waist, and the harness is suitable for rappelling. Tested combat boots are laced to her feet, and they fall silent and firm on the floor as she moves. Dexterous gloves fit within the suit, ensuring that no pesky fingerprints or hairs come free, and there's no exposed flesh. It's clearly designed for cold-weather, what with the water-proof neoprene and the insulating design. Over her head she wears a simple mask, one that slips under the suit a la the gloves and keeps her hair held down.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Anastasia is introspective, a thinker and less a doer. Perhaps this is a result of a childhood spent knowing the right answer but not being able to convey it in time, or only being able to speak freely with the handful of people whose hands could talk as well as their tongues. She is independent and self-sufficient-Anastasia may like looking nice, but if you dropped her and a hundred others in separate cells for solitary confinement, she'd be the last one to break. Because of this, some of Anastasia's actions could be seen as selfish. This isn't entirely true-it's merely that for a long time, and perhaps even her whole life, Anastasia was one of the few constants in Anastasia's life, and as such she treats herself to things. She dresses herself nicely, takes long, luxurious baths, and enjoys the fruits of her labor. Anastasia lives a contented life, even if she's struggled with loneliness. She's kind, but withdrawn. She generally keeps to herself and isn't familiar with the ideas of community or even family. Hers was a large and cluttered family, and she was but one child of money. She loves her brothers and sisters of course, but there was never the close-knit bonds others have. They get emails occasionally. She has a firm sense of honor and believes in repaying one's debts-Anastasia does not lie and does not look kindly upon those who do. She's pragmatic and loyal, and understands the value of hard work. She's a perfectionist, and sees things through to the end. Her determination and self-sufficiency are admirable, and Anastasia, with a stronger faith in herself and a voice to match, could've done quite well in politics. She suffers from a lack of real social skills, and Anastasia's never been a master persuader. If she can't buy someone, her options for influencing them are somewhat limited. Anastasia's bisexual, but not too terribly interested in dating. It requires opening up, and that's always been a bit of a long and messy process. She's not necessarily comfortable with a future alone, but she has accepted it. Anastasia's job history and past have led her to believe in the necessity of force, and that killing is sometimes the answer. She doesn't believe in wanton violence or catastrophe, which makes these opinions somewhat contradictory, but the paradox is a firmly held belief. Anastasia dislikes violence, but understands the need; even personally. She can understand taking morally grey paths to reach an ultimately good destination, and understands crime, criminals. She's sympathetic, but stern: if Anastasia were a judge and the man being tried stole a loaf of bread, she'd sentence him appropriately and then make sure his family got enough to eat that week. Her sense of justice is, however, equally limited. She believes in an eye for an eye in the original sense-that you stop after retaliating equally. No more, no less.

Hobbies/Interests:

Music, namely the violin. She's an amateur ornithologist and astronomer, and enjoys learning constellations and birdsong. She is a painter as well, and tries to sketch or paint something once a week. She enjoys fashion and studying up on new designs and trends, and is also a savvy shopper. Anastasia grew up in a household-nay, a region-where money was not always steady, and as such she has learned not only to cherish luxury but to value thrift. Anastasia's a gentle presence, and is generally relaxing to be around.

Skills/Talents:

Trained in WLC, the Russian variant of NEST (one that may have overlapped a bit more with their wetworks agencies than they publically admit), Anastasia is competent in hand-to-hand combat, survival techniques, and counter-interrogation. She's no master of hand-to-hand: her techniques put her above the average person, but she would be outmatched by someone who devoted their life to the craft. She's in excellent physical condition, and could still pass that WLC entrance exam. She's a skilled operative, both an excellent markswoman and a reliable operator. She's familiar with security systems and the processes of infiltration, as well as how LEOs function. Anastasia's also used to the cold (WLC headquarters were located in Siberia), and can weather harsh conditions without complaint. After decades of dance and gymnastics (she was an alternate for the Junior Olympics), she's incredibly flexible and lithe, and is able to perform feats of contortion and self-discipline that are beyond the reach of most-so, yes, that WAS something you heard in the airvents...

Prized Possession:

Probably her suit, or her mother's necklace.

Quote(s):

*no words, but a quick, soft smile*

History/Bio:

Most will get revealed IC-side, as I won't have lots of dialogue to expand her characterization with.

Relationships

Family:

Several, all overseas. Current whereabouts unknown.

Dynamics:

| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super-System/Elemental

Power:

Silence
Anastasia is capable of exuding total and absolute silence. She can manipulate this considerably, having had a lifetime of experience with it. The one thing she can't fix is that she is unable to speak. Other than that, she can selectively silence individuals in her presence or an area as a whole. Used effectively, this has many uses-she can sneak past people rather easily, and sudden (seemingly) deafness is also very disturbing to most.
Shadows
While not darkness manipulation, Anastasia has an affinity for the dark. In dimly-lit areas, Anastasia receives a physical buff-nothing extreme, but it merely energizes her, giving her an added oomph.
Physicality
All-around, Anastasia has slightly-superior physical abilities, most notably endurance, agility, durability, and flexibility. She's not superhumanly strong, but is a bit more powerful than someone with her muscle mass should be, and has very keen eyesight, reflexes, and hearing.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

Namely, she cannot speak. Additionally, harsh lighting will dampen her superhuman abilities a bit, making it harder for her to control her silence and making her endurance erode a bit more quickly.

Other:

Anastasia, after coming over from Russia (enough of her backstory for now-she, perhaps, had a hand in the events currently going on in Ukraine, and may have been involved with a certain catastrophic Polish flight several years ago), came to the United States, figuring that a consumerist paradise was a wise choice for someone with blood money to burn. She has retained considerable knowledge and some of her assets from her days in the WLC, including weaponry, gear, and her suit. She has a few black market connections as the result of her doing wetworks jobs (she generally chooses the White Spider Society, and exclusively takes hits on individuals who she feels "have it coming"-Anastasia may be a hired gun, but she has a soul), and launders her money rather well. NEST is aware of "The Nightingale" but is unaware of who, exactly, she is. WLC's not going to sell her out anytime soon.

While totally mute otherwise, she is capable of whistling and imitating birdsong.

Sample Post:

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Andy and Selena Royal

The motorcycle idled in front of Springwater High School, nestled under the shade of a cluster of trees. The heat wasn't much of a nuisances (quietly, subtly, the warm air rolled out down his back) but given that he was wearing a jacket, cradling a helmet under one arm, it seemed natural that someone would park in the shade. That's what people naturally did when they were warm, wasn't it? And that was Andy. Natural. Completely.

He drummed his fingers against the throttle, humming softly to himself as he waited for baby sister. Probably talking to someone. Andy's brown furrowed a bit as he considered the possibility of her talking to any boys. Ugh. Too young for that. Far too young. Andy threw back the kickstand with the heel of his left foot and rested his legs on the front of the bike, leaning back a bit and admiring the quiet chaos that ensued at the end of a testing day. Saturday-so no school-but he'd cajoled Selena into taking the SAT. She came storming out the front doors, some hundred yards out, furious eyes scanning the parking lot. Andy considered just taking a few laps around the parking lot and letting her cool down.

He paused.

He really considered it.

He raised a hand to his ear and presumably flipped a Bluetooth on. "Over here. By the trees," He murmured. Selena's head turned, made awful, glaring eye-contact, and began coming his way. Andy appreciated the subtle irony of there now being absolutely no way she could talk to any guys. "Perhaps I should annoy her off more often," he mused.

"What the hell was that?" Selena whined, giving her brother a playful shove as she slid onto the back of the motorcycle. "Don't bother making me wear the helmet," she interrupted. "If I die-actually, no, give it to me, if I die right after taking that, I will be pretty pissed off. Gimme." she took the helmet and sidled it down over her head, for once not issuing up complaints about the effects the helmet had on her hair (complaints which were always met with the rebuttal of "Would you prefer to see the effects of asphalt on your skull?", which were met with the rebuttal of "Would you prefer to see the effects of my foot in your ass?". Repeat ad nauseum.)

"Where to?" Selena asked. "I'm feeling ice cream. Lots of ice cream."

"Summer festival," Andy replied, starting up the motorcycle. He let it rev to life for a moment before taking off-he kept it in pristine condition, but it just seemed prudent. He checked over his shoulder twice before pulling out, sidling into the road and going slow. The speed bumps were a bit jarring, but Andy's weight kept them from getting jostled about too much. Only good thing his dense ass did for that bike-he was changing the tires pretty often. Still, it saved on gasoline, and he was a careful enough driver to be confident that Selena wouldn't get hurt on it. Worth it.

He rolled to a complete stop, ("Nerd," Selena muttered) before turning and beginning to make his way towards the festival. It would be a bit of a drive, but this didn't bother Andy so much. Selena, on the other hand, wanted to be there-and Verthaven traffic on the day of the festival was not making things too terribly easy on her. She'd dressed for the weather, at least-blue jean cutoffs and a tanktop-which made the frequent traffic stops more palatable. Andy, as always, displayed his usual level of easygoing nonchalance. Selena closed her eyes, resting her helmeted head against Andy's shoulderblades for a few moments.

"Traffic's gonna take about fifteen minutes extra," Selena sighed. "I'd almost rather park out here and walk."

"Really? Well I suppose we cou-" Andy stopped abruptly, thinking to himself. "...no....wait. There's a Baskin-Robbins right around the corner, isn't there?"

"Damnit!" Selena said, leaning back on the bike for a moment. Andy jerked the bike forward just a hair, prompting a yelp and a frantic lunge forward from his little sister. "Asshole! Asshole!" she smacked him playfully and resigned herself to an immediate future devoid of ice cream. It was a terrifying and nihilistic prospect, but our Selena is a brave one, and they weaved through traffic (Andy stayed a solid three miles under the speed limit the entire trip, with the sole exception of when they passed by the ISD building, at which point Andy drove considerably faster, his eyes flickering nervously behind his sunglasses) without much difficulty. Downtown Verthaven was always a fun jaunt-not far from Andy and Selena's apartment in Las Palmas, there was plenty to do, and in relative safety. Relative being the keyword, there-for metas, Andy felt (as did Selena, although she was far too cocky to admit it, even to herself) there was no absolute safety.

Well, he thought, sliding off the bike and hooking the helmet over one of the handlebars, there was one way to ensure you never got bothered anymore. Wasn't an option he was quite willing to consider yet. Selena jumped off with far more enthusiasm than her older brother, surveying the labryinth of cars, motorcycles and bicycles alike that filled the parking lots. They'd tucked into a small spot on the side of the street, easy to get in and out of in a hurry. Not that Andy expected trouble-there were NEST agents and vanilla cops crawling all over the place. Selena walked close with Andy (the girl didn't admit to fear, not now and not ever, but she, shall we say, held a healthy respect for NEST operatives) as they made their way towards the festival, Selena's eyes drawn to the fresh-cooked treats displayed at every corner, Andy eyeing the art and trinkets.

"Meet back here in, say....two hours?" Andy asked. Selena raised an eyebrow.

"Look at you, letting me wander off on my won. You going soft?" she asked, giving him another playful shove. "You want me to wear a leash? Or should I text you every five minutes? How about-"

Andy rolled his eyes and walked off, which was generally an effective method for handling Selena's comments. He nodded to a NEST officer stationed on a corner, a tall and broadly built woman carrying a shotgun. He glanced at it for a moment-AA-12. Glock on her waist. Taser. Hm. He didn't let his gaze linger-didn't want them thinking he was looking for any trouble, but he couldn't resist a bit of childlike curiosity for firearms. Andy would've owned a few (and with good reason-the streets of Verthaven were dangerous, and he was confident in his abilities to use them without collateral damage) save for the cost and legality. Still, they were machines, honed to cause chaos, but capable of being used for things like protecting little sisters. He appreciated that. Andy strolled down the Verthaven streets, a casual walk that lingered at every vendor, looking over all they had to offer. He stopped at one selling paintings-a dozen or so watercolors, mostly of the beach, a few of Verthaven's more noteworthy sites. One captured Las Palmas in all its casino-ridden splendor. He smiled softly, watching what else they had to offer.

Selena, meanwhile, crossed the street, snapping her back left and right far too quickly to notice if any cars were actually coming before jogging through ("HONK HONK!" "SORRY!") and coming to a stop at a Greek vendor. Gyros. She didn't really know what a gyro was, but it smelled absolutely delicious. Food was something Selena enjoyed, moreso than the normal teenager already did-given Andy's...rather...nonexistent eating habits, food was almost something private to her. He never really objected to what she ate, which had led to young Selena becoming quite the cook. With nobody else around, she figured if she wanted to eat well, she'd have to learn how to cook well. It was a bit depressing, at times, not ever having anybody to cook for, save herself, but still-food's food. She emptied her pockets of money, ordered whatever the hell a gyro was, and stood to the side, eagerly awaiting a well-deserved treat after three hours and forty five minutes of hell. She glanced around, looking at everyone and everything. It brimmed with energy-a few familiar faces, school friends mostly, darted in and out of the crowd. Handful of cute guys. She saw Andy a few hundred feet away, staring at some boring ass paintings, which was about how on-par for the course. Selena mapped out her next moves, figuring she could walk and eat at the same time, seeing what all they had. There were some improv guys, she thought, somewhere around here. Or maybe some of those carnival games. She'd get Andy to go win her some cheap shit if that was the case. After a few minutes she accepted her gyro and, walking and gnawing simultaneously, she followed down the other side of the street, observing everything Verthaven's most bitchin' festival had to offer.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

My characters are always open for interaction once I get a post in. If you want to establish a prior backstory I'm totally down.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Anyone looking to interact with my characters hit me up.

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Andy Royal

Basic Information

Name:

Operational Unit Thirteen

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Andy Royal , Thirteen,

Gender:

Andy is male.

Age:

He's about 23 years old. He's reached maturity and will not age.

Height:

5'11

Weight:

350 lbs

Home District:

Las Palmas

Appearance

Hair Color:

Black.

Eye Color:

An electric blue.

Ethnicity:

African-American. He's biracial, leaning towards the lighter end of dark skin.

Physical Appearance:

Thirteen is, to the casual onlooker, an entirely normal human being. Even to touch him, his skin is soft and warm. The subtle details are what loses people-he doesn't blink unless he remembers to, he exhales a little too infrequently for it to be entirely natural. Pressing hard against his skin-if you were throwing a punch or giving a deep massage-you'd feel the resistance of hard polymer and microfiber, the cold steel beneath warm, synthesized flesh. But for the most part, he looks entirely the part. His teeth are pearly white and his blue eyes, while a rarity, are seemingly natural.

Thirteen's in great shape. He has the toned musculature of someone who hits the gym frequently, although his powers prevent this from ever being a necessity. His jawline is sharp and his face is slightly angled and hawkish. His nose is a touch too small, and both the nose and ears seem ever so slightly...off. Perhaps the specifics of cartilage were trickier to mold than the rest. He has no body hair, although he does have a belly button. He was born human, after all-and perhaps there's still a trace of it somewhere between the wires and spark plugs.

He walks briskly, and seems perpetually tense-he's a rather stressed person, given the weight of the secrets he harbors, and his smiles tend to be brief and not altogether genuine. His body is devoid of scars, and there's a softness to his features-despite the firm "muscle" clinging to his arms and legs, the sharp jawline, he gives off a vibe of warmth and easygoingness. He's gentle, and this helps to mute som eof the physical harshness, masks the minor irregularities. He doesn't have the hulking brawn of a bodybuiler, nor the wiry build of a runner-he gravitates towards the center rather than either extreme. Were you to strip him down-how scandalous!-you'd, to put it crudely, see a lack of genitalia, merely smooth skin where sex organs should be. There are faint lines on his skin, almost imperceptible-one would have to be very close, in very good lighting, looking very hard, old assembly scars that will never really go away. He has thin lips and a small forehead, although it looks a touch bigger due to his close-cropped haircut. His appearance, above all else, seems soft. Perhaps it's the effect of the thin-lipped, half-grin that usually sits on his face, or the quiet demeanor, but Andy generally comes off as non-assuming, the sot of person you ponder for a moment in a crowd and forget as you walk past.

Attire:

Thirteen dresses pretty fashionably. The heat doesn't bother him so much (although it seems that his clothes always seem to sway a bit, as if he's perpetually standing in the breeze), which lets him wear jackets and jeans even in the height of a Verthaven summer. He's fond of tighter-fitting clothes, although has an eye for pragmatism. Given the at times perilous life of a metahuman, he generally wears things that he knows he can fight-or, more accurately, run away-in. Andy's style is professional but nothing attention-grabbing. He's fond of a soft brown bomber jacket and usually sports a pair of sunglasses. He wears well-matched, stylish shoes, generally Vans or Converse.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Thirteen's a gentle soul. Frequently, androids struggle with their humanity, their nature, but this seldom troubles him. It's all he's ever known, and there were never any pretenses, never a earth-shattering revelation of his flesh and blood being something other. At times, there are wistful moments-he gets them a lot when he plays with kids, or sees couples walking hand in hand, but generally, Thirteen attempts to go through his life like anyone else. His physical constraints, his predetermined personality tweaks, he views these as his equivalent of genes, deciding factors that he would've had in any form, any body. He has a firm sense of morality-some of this is the result of programming, but for the most part it's self-employed. Even if he may not have the same parts, he's determined to cling to humanity in that regard, and Thirteen can be generally trusted to keep to his word and fight honorably. He's no stranger to hard work, and is reliable. He avoids harming children at all costs, and has quite the soft spot for them-to an extent, for women as well. Thirteen is pretty reclusive, and avoids forming emotional bonds very quickly-while actively trying to determine whether someone is android is not a hobby of most, he's leery of his secret gettig out. While metahumans may be commonplace, there are more than a few groups-the US Military, the Iron Cross, the Hands of Science-who would absolutely LOVE to get their hands on the world's only functional metahuman android, and he'd prefer to live his life quietly. This is, above all else, Andy's overarching goal, the great fear that gives him pause before doing anything. Andy avoids confrontation, avoids fame, avoids attention. He, to use a perhaps fitting cliche, wants to stay off the radar.

To that regard, Thirteen's morality at times bends. He would enjoy nothing more than helping remove some of the scum that plagues Verthaven's streets-the Pure, the Iron Cross. However, his necessity to maintain a quiet lifestyle is paramount. At times, Thirteen's turned his back on those who he could've helped to ensure that he was not discovered. It's a lifestyle that pains him, but one he accepts as necessary. He is pretty soft-spoken, and rarely raises his voice or gets angry-if he becomes assertive, it usually means he's ready to throw down, and those times come quite rarely. His views on the government are somewhat ambiguous, and while he pays taxes and goes with the system, he's not exactly dripping with patriotism. He follows his personal morality rather than the laws-however, he's always sure to follow the speed limit. Secrets a plenty. Andy views his capabilities as a blessing, and believes in the responsibility to do all the good that one is capable of-he is not proud of his moments of survival-based cowardice, but grimly accepts the necessity of them. He offers kindness where he can, and hopes to do the best within the limits his power binds him to. Andy detests being photographed, recorded, or really monitored in any way. He dislikes big crowds and is somewhat shy.

He has a fascination with a great many things, just as most people do. For the most part, Thirteen functions as a normal human. His mind and thought processes (in Mk.I, at least) are no different, and he enjoys art, literature, philosophy. He's read extensively in these fields, and is even considering his own spirituality, having attended church a few times. Thirteen is open-minded, and generally doesn't cling to any beliefs very firmly. He's not very political, although he'd throw in his support with whoever promised to clean up the streets and cut down on poverty-he doesn't care who or how. Thirteen has a long memory-literally-and isn't one to quickly forgive heinous crimes. He holds grudges, and is suspicious of others. Polite and courteous, sure, but Thirteen's cynical but the motives others present. Too many ways for things to go wrong. Just too many. This isolation and loneliness does haunt him at times, and he's struggling to roll with the same coming-of-age difficulties anyone else would. He firmly believes in metahuman rights, and hopes that, by the end of his lifetime (whenever that may be-Thirteen's not sure of his mortality), he'll be able to live a more open lifestyle.

While asexual-owing to his total lack of genitalia-he is a hopeless Romantic, and coupled with his self-imposed sheltered lifestyle, he can fall head over heels in no time at all. That being said, he's hesitant to act on it, and would prefer silent heartache to the risks that come with a full-fledged relationship. He prefers nonviolence, and attempts to use diplomacy and compromise before resorting to physical force. He dislikes the wilderness, and especially dislikes water. Thirteen enjoys natural beauty, however to him there are more marvels in the architecture of a skyscraper than the clouds of the sky. He enjoys tinkering and fiddling with technology, and his apartment is full of half-completed projects he picked up when he got bored and never finished. While driven and very self-disciplined, he does enjoy fun in his own, introspective way. Gives people the benefit of the doubt.

Andy, while idealistic, is a realist, and struggles with reconciling the two at times. He watches over his "sister" with fierce protectiveness. If there will be anything that causes him to go public and bring down all manner of hell upon himself, it'll be her. As she's the only family he has remaining (Andy attempted to seek out his biological parents, but no such luck), he guards her viciously. Andy is jealous of her, and at times overprotective. Such is the natural duty of an older brother. He does not take chances in general, but especially not around her.

Hobbies/Interests:

Mechanics, tinkering with objects, reading, studying philosophy, marksmanship. He enjoys learning new subjects, and especially enjoys beautiful things. Art, nature, music, poetry. While Andy's automaton dysphoria isn't the center of his psyche, it's naturally a driving factor, and he finds peace in the fact he can still appreciate the simple beauty of things. Andy enjoys the little pleasures in life, and finding quiet times to sit and be still. Any hobbies geared towards this-whittling, birdwatching, so on and so forth, he's probably picked up at some point.

Skills/Talents:

Thirteen's good with electronics and machinery alike, and could clean up your computer or repair your broken car with relative ease. He enjoys the challenge of it, the joy of seeing tangible progress. He's good with tools, and has made a bit of money on the side working odd jobs with carpenters and mechanics. He's a skilled mediator, and his soft-spoken nature tends to help de-escalate conflicts. While very poor with first aid and medical care (human anatomy is so terribly confusing), he is a competent fighter, both in terms of hand-to-hand and marksmanship. Thirteen can certainly protect himself, and is used to the dangerous Verthaven streets-he's savvy and capable, and able to hold his own in most environments. He's no black belt, but knows enough of basic wrist locks and grapples to thwart a mugging, or, more destructively, lay down an ass-beating on someone trying to mug Selena. His quiet determination and willpower are notable, as is his humility and patience. He is willing to wait and work hard to see his goals realized, and is not willing to sacrifice his long-term goals for short term gratification. Andy is not the best leader, likely due to his aversion to taking charge and being the center of attention, but he can maintain a level-head and follow orders well.

Prized Possession:

Well, it's not his, but there's this gorgeous Walther P22 that he stares at in the window of a gun store every time he goes by. He's gonna save up and buy it one of these days. The machinery of a weapon fascinates him-so well-engineered, yet so capable of destruction. He feels an almost fraternal affinity for firearms.

Quote(s):

"What? Oh, no, I'm not hungry. Thank you though."

History/Bio:

I'll cover this with Selena's sheet.

Relationships

Family:

None.

Dynamics:

| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super System

Power:

Andy was at one point a regular human with the rather minor ability to ignore the normal rejection process that accompanies most transplants. This, and how it relates to Andy as he is now, will be explained in Selena's bio.

Currently Andy is almost entirely synthetic. Andy operates at three basic levels: MkI, MkII, and MkIII.

MkI is Andy's default state of operations. In this form, Andy has slightly enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and senses. He's on par with a physically adept human, albeit one with a flair for martial arts and keen senses. As such, he's more than equipped to handle everyday tasks in this phase-he could move furniture with ease and do fine at sports. He has some marksmanship programming, primarily augmented by his ability to calculate vectors and such on the fly. His most enhanced feature would be his durability-Andy has a steel/polymer "shell" that's pretty tough. This stays constant throughout the phases. Andy's heightened weight, condensed into the smaller frame, makes him rather dense-hitting him with your bare hands will...not feel pleasant. His synethic skin is soft-warm, even-but applying enough force will let you feel the steel and wiring underneath.

MkII is Andy's second level of operations. In this form, his processing unit diverts power from some of his personality clusters to free up more of his combat programming. Andy's hand-to-hand skills improve by an order of magnitude, and he gains a boost to strength, speed, and reflexes. His marksmanship programming becomes more advanced, and he's able to account for recoil and more subtle ballistic complications (Coriolis effect, etc) improving his accuracy. A HUD-style program begins to gather intel based off what he can see, and keep track of details for him. Andy no longer feels pain in this state, although he does register damage to his system in a detached way. He is capable of using infrared vision, and his radio systems are able to function as short-wave echolocation.

Mk III is Andy's third and final level of operations-the "shit has hit the fan" last resort. In this stage, Andy devotes everything he has fully to freeing up his combat protocols, receiving another all-around boost to his capabilities. Accessing this stage releases the nanobots that function as his immune system-he'll have an immediate regeneration boost, but be very fucked after the fight is over as his body must create more, a process which takes a substantial amount of time. This is his highest tier combat software, and makes full use of his abilities.

There are a number of other minor benefits that accompany being an android. Primarily, the lack of normal organic weaknesses-say, poisonous gases, etc. He's got an intuitive knack for fixing machinery, and while he's no repair god, he'd make a decent living as a mechanic with little trouble. He fatigues rather differently from most people. Instead of a gradual decline in ability leading to total muscle failure, Andy stays steady until his reserves are depleted, at which point there's an immediate and total loss of ability. Andy was designed to be self-sustaining. While he's unable of going to a hospital and receiving medical care, he has the aforementioned nanotechnology that will fix his wounds-over time. Andy's not able to recover from anything immediately, and will need time to go lick his wounds just as any human would. Additionally, he has a small (and this will sound OP as hell but I promise it's not), very contained fusion core. This allows him to recharge-slowly. Just as humans sleep, Andy will need time to stop and let everything recharge, let the hundreds of instances of wear-and-tear be polished up before he's able to go again. This effect is much more pronounced in his higher stages of functionality-he might squeak by with less down-time than a normal person on a day-to-day basis, but when the going gets tough, Andy's gonna need time to stop and lick his wounds. He has a built in radio, which he can tweak with to patch in to most communicators. It's not getting any international calls, but he can contact most people in the city. He's attempting to learn how to tweak this-cell phone jamming and such-but has only been successful with very, very short range projects thus far. With time, he hopes to advance his abilities in this field and boost his communications technology.

Andy, leery of the rising gang violence in Verthaven, has also considered weapons-related upgrades. Nothing's taken place yet, as he's yet to figure out how to do it himself or find someone who can, but it's a possibility he's entertaining.

Limits:

Quite literally so. Normal people, when adrenaline kicks in, well, their limits become fluid. Not the case for Andy. He has a finite limit to all that he does, and attempting to push past those limits can cause pretty severe internal damage.

Andy, additionally, does not have the capability to harm children. The definition of children can be somewhat fluid-its not the "under 18" level, but his programming won't let him raise a hand against kids. If there's an action which might accidentally harm a kid, it's difficult for him to carry it out. Andy is also rather heavy for his size, and this can make moving him if he's incapacitated rather difficult. Additionally, his weight means that falling into bodies of water could be...problematic.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

While Andy is powerful, he has a number of significant weaknesses.

The more physical vulnerabilities are heat and electricity. Andy, above his shoulderblades, has exhaust vents. These look like little more than faint scars normally, but when he needs to let off heat (given that he can't sweat, pant, etc, this is his only means of doing so) they open up and allow the hot air to escape. Generally, this is mostly unnoticeable. However, when he begins to really get going, he has to let out more and more heat to avoid overheating. In incredibly warm environments, against fire-based attacks, so on and so forth, Andy runs the risk of overheating, or being forced to downshift in order to focus on channeling only heat out. Blocking these vents will effectively lock Andy down, as he can't retaliate without risking seriously messing himself up.

This is the primary reason Andy dislikes water. While he's not going to explode if he gets hit with a Super Soaker, the vents are the main way for water to get inside his sensitive wiring parts and such. This is, of course, not good, and no amount of metahuman science will keep a circuit board from getting fucked when a gallon of water hits. Coupled with his weight and density, Andy stays far away from deep bodies of water. Water forces him to close his vents or risk short-circuiting, and as such locks him down just as overheating does.

Thirdly, electricity. While Andy is capable of charging himself from electrical sources, there's a difference between hooking your car up to a battery and hitting your car with some of Zeus' finest lightning. Overwhelming amounts of electricity are especially potent on Andy, and he generally shuts down to avoid getting anything really fucked up. While, say, accidentally getting zapped by static electricity would pose no more threat to him than it does you or me, a Taser or crossing wires could very severely damage him.

In the same way that the human mind, when flight-or-fight kicks in, loses the ability for fine motor control, Andy loses functionality when he kicks it into overdrive. If you were to use your computer for typing a document, it could run other programs at the same time. But if you were running a video game, trying to have a bunch of other stuff going would slow it down, use up the battery faster, etc. This is true for Andy as well. If Andy accesses his higher levels of functionality, not only will he burn through his energy reserves more quickly, he will lose some of the other aspects of his personality. To free up processing power for his combat protocols, Andy has to shut down several other things-namely, a lot of the programs that give him sentience and free will. In the higher stages of functionality, Andy's ability to resist commands and function autonomously becomes more limited-whoever his mind has labelled as "owner", whatever he's deemed as "the objective", it gets followed. He loses the creativity and free will that defines humanity, and that understandably terrifies him. He's very afraid to step into this phase, not knowing what someone might have him do.

He's capable of recharging the old-fashioned way-getting a large source of power and refueling-but normally he needs to rest like any other person after using his abilities extensively. In fact, Andy arguably needs it moreso than regular people. While humans can strain their limits with adrenaline and biochemical last resorts, Andy has hard and fast limitations to what he can do. He may have better endurance than your average guy, but once Andy hits his limits, he's done. End of story. This forces Andy to approach confrontation strategically, and ensure that he will be able to survive a prolonged conflict-and, if it is going to be prolonged, Andy has to stay in his lower functionality stages or risk wearing himself out. Generally, Andy can produce enough power to let him walk and talk normally when he "burns out"-much like a fatigued human, he'd have enough left to stagger away and lick his wounds, but when he runs out of power, he'll be out of the fight.

Other:

Sample Post:

Selena Royal

Basic Information

Name:

Selena Royal

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

A fair number of nicknames, most of which can't be repeated in polite conversation.

Gender:

Female

Age:

14

Height:

5'6

Weight:

115, although this is prone to drastically fluctuating.

Home District:

Las Palmas

Appearance

Hair Color:

Her hair is a very, very light shade of platinum blonde-nearing on white.

Eye Color:

Blue

Ethnicity:

Caucasian, with a hint of African and Mediterannean ancestry. While the "I'm Andy's sister" line isn't wholly believable, they do share a certain resemblance, and Selena's skin is dark enough/Andy's skin light enough for it to pass with most people.

Physical Appearance:

Selena's cute, but unfortunately caught in the gangly no-man's-land of pubescence. She's another year or two out from hitting her stride and being a woman, but a little too old to pass as a child. She stands at 5'6, most of it long, lanky legs. She's skinny, almost a hint too much, and despite all those dieting tricks she can't seem to get her hips and waist to form that so-sought-after hourglass. Her complexion is pretty good, albeit there's the occasional splotch of acne and blemishes that seem to plague all teenagers. Her teeth are straight and shiny with the "just got my braces off" level of dental hygiene, one that's bound to fade. She has a long face, a somewhat oval shape, with soft cheeks and a small button nose. Her eyeshadow and mascara are bound to be any number of colors, given that she's still working on figuring makeup out-Andy, while generally a good brother, is not exactly much help in the cosmetics department, and she's gone through a number of "I have no idea what I'm doing" beauty phases. Thankfully, she seems to be getting the hang of it. Her arms are likewise thin and a little long, narrow, spindly fingers suited for typing or piano work dancing at the ends of her hands. Her skin is fairly light, but dark enough for her to almost pass as Andy's sister-generally, most people assume an issue of parentage and accept it without too much question. Her blue eyes are thoughtful, if one takes thoughtful to mean mischievous-she's frequently glancing around, surveying her surroundings, looking for anything and everything interesting. Her hair is usually back in a ponytail or draped over her shoulders, with her bangs cut back a bit. She tends to chew on her lip when she gets preoccupied with a thought, and stands with her weight on one leg, rocking back and forth. She's hit a growth spurt, and tends to trip and stumble a bit as she adjusts to her new height. Her feet have decided they want to be a size of their own, and she's usually either grimacing as a result of how tight they are or cursing how loose they feel. She doesn't wear very much jewelry, but does have the most simple of ear piercings. She's bound to be lovely in a few years, but for now she's caught in the awkward growing phase of early high school, and simply tries to roll with it best she can. Her face is, at rest, a blank grimace, although she's pretty animated when she speaks, eyes wide and glowing with energy, hands gesturing wildly. She tends to smirk a lot, and is bound to have laugh lines a few decades down the road.

Attire:

Not even going to pretend like I know women's fashion here.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Selena, in many ways, is a foil to her older brother, as most younger siblings tend to be. Whereas he is experienced and composed, reserved and quiet, Selena is energetic, volatile, ready for action. Her outlook on life differs wildly from Andy's, possibly a result of her being younger and less experienced. Selena is far less concerned with the long-term concerns of her actions, living int he moment, being focused on the short-term. Andy is the sort who would rather lobby politicians to enact homelessness legislature; Selena would be busy giving them what money she had. Selena's driven by a strong moral compass, one that's augmented by a teenager's willingness to stick it to anyone and the defiance that accompanies that. Selena calls it like she sees it, and doesn't tolerate shit from anyone. This is not to say it is entirely a bad or good trait; it's merely who she is. She's much less able to handle morally grey situations, and firmly believes that there is always a way to do the right thing.

To this end, however, Selena is more of an "ends justify the means" type. Selena has trouble seeing boundaries, limitations. She sees the power she was born with, the things she is capable of, and then she sees problems. Where she fails is the reasons why she can't simply tackle things head-on. To Selena, it would be justified to use her powers to prove her friend's boyfriend is cheating on her, to go in and wipe clean bank accounts in order to save someone from debt. Selena has trouble grasping the larger ramifications of her actions, and often causes more problems than she fixed-but that being said, she's truly good at heart, and one can't fault her desire to help. It's merely misguided at times.

She's fun-loving, and enjoys teasing and playing. While she's quick to anger-the world, particularly the world of Verthaven-is so full of injustices, after all-she loves a good time. Selena likes hanging out, socializing, and is an extrovert to the extreme. She's never one to be without a friend or something to do, and bores quickly. Selena's impatient, energetic, spontaneous. She's the sort who would go with you if you showed up at her door and offered to take her on a road trip, right then, right there. She's adventuresome, curious of all the depths the world has to offer. Abrupt at times, she can offend, but is rarely her intent. She can be a harsh judge of character while at the same time being gullible and susceptible. She's naive, and wants to believe people do have the best intentions and will do the right thing if presented with the opportunity to do so. Selena's a bit lazy, and prefers creative solutions and quick-fixes to the style of hard work. As a result, her grades can...fluctuate...a bit. She's clever, however, even if she lacks the patience to put up with assignemnts she feels are dumb. Selena enjoys problem-solving and outwitting others, and spends a fair amount of time playing strategy games where she's able to do this. Not a natural artist, Selena's envious of those who are talented with song or dance, and struggles to get her right brain functioning at times. Selena's a moral absolutist, although often winds ways to justify what she was doing. Proud and stubborn, she rarely heeds the advice of others, and has trouble stomaching her ego at times.

Hobbies/Interests:

Electronics and technology. She's also very interested in world events and current affairs, and likes reading up on political news.

Skills/Talents:

Selena's a clever little bastard when she needs to be. She's good at conniving, scheming, and creativity. She's an expert with electronics, namely software, programming, etc, and can generally fix whatever's wrong with whatever electronic device you happen to need help with. A quick learner and good improviser. She's also very driven, and can focus hard on a task when she needs to.

Prized Possession:

A worn, well-loved teddy bear.

Quote(s):

"Hey, wanna see me throw a magnet at Andy?"

History/Bio:

Okay, this wound up being a shitton of writing, so this bio is going to be bullet points. I'm aware it's totally barebones. Sorry, I'll flesh it out when I get the time.
-Andy was born with the power to take organ transplants without rejecting them. This was noticed when, as a baby, he was accidentally given the wrong blood type following a surgery and...he survived. Without a hitch. Similarly, he suffered no symptoms of rejection from the organs he received during this surgery. One of the doctors, who had ties to a local chapter of a major criminal syndicate, alerted them to the future of organ smuggling. Andy was hustled off in the dead of night many years later and used to carry organs from destination to destination, solving the issue of how to keep them from spoiling. Iced coolers were a thing of the past-hearts and kidneys now thrived as they waited to be delivered.
-While this organization was garnering a sickening amount of money with their newfound organ smuggling method, it began to take a toll on Andy's body. He was sold to the Hands of Science for a hefty fee. From there, the Hands of Science began to test a number of bioengineering experiments, ones that regular humans couldn't endure or would reject. Andy, slowly but surely, grew older.
-The Hands of Science, making full use of their advanced bioengineering facilities, began to test the limits of the human body. Andy, otherwise normal save for his rejection-less anatomy, offered the perfect sandbox. As Andy grew older, he had less and less sinew, more and more synethetic parts. His body simply adapted and incorporated them, forming pathways between new and old, organic and synthetic. It was beyond what the Hands of Science could've hoped for, and represented a future for prosthetics (and, subsequently, a fuckton of money) if his abilities could be replicated. Similar experiments were done on a similarly-powered child, Selena, who bonded with Andy in captivity.
-With time, the two became only more powerful, and their captors only more lax. Eventually, the two broke out, and Andy maintained a careful guard over young Selena. She would not remember most of it, and while Andy was certainly negatively effected by the incident, he had grown up very quickly. He balanced his newfound role as older brother with being a runaway, and managed to earn a place in Verthaven. While he'd missed too much school to really jump back into the system, he managed to get Selena enrolled in a public school and began working odd jobs to make ends meet. Their talents-and Andy's tenacity-enabled them to avoid a number of prying eyes, and in the chaos of the Verthaven streets, there was simply too much noise for them to stand out. They eluded their captors, and have survived to this day.
-Andy currently works any number of day jobs, shifting between cashier and occasionally mechanic when necessary (he prefers to stay away from more obvious fields such as mechanic work, but it's easy money). At night, he works for the Order of the White Spider, usually serving as an enforcer. Andy does not wholly enjoy this work, nor does he find it entirely moral, but he views this society as one of the more benevolent of Verthaven's gangs, and knows that he does need an aegis for he and Selena to hide behind. He does his best to keep these lives separate, and most importantly, keeps Selena very strictly out of all of it. She is happy, for once, to comply.

Relationships

Family:

Andy Royal-adopted brother.

Dynamics:

Andy Royal | Brother | Very Good | "Oh, he's a little too uptight, but he's the best. Me and Andy been kicking ass together for a while now." |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super-System

Power:

Selena is capable of absorbing technology and interfacing it. In short, Selena can absorb any technological device and then use it as an extension of herself. If she absorbs a calculator, she can perform those calculations herself, as if she were holding it in her hand. Additionally, Selena can interface directly with technology. By holding your iPhone, she can pick apart its programming and software pretty quickly. Selena's able to augment technology pretty well. When she's absorbed it, it generally runs more efficiently and more powerfully, as a result of having all of Selena's body to serve as the processing muscle. She's also a wunderkind with programming and hacking as a result of this ability, and is picking up the mechanics angle of technology rather quickly.

Limits:

These devices retain their weight, adding it to Selena's mass, and also require power. While a smartphone wouldn't slow her down much, if Selena tried to absorb, say, all the servers at Microsoft, she'd crush herself with her newfound weight, and wouldn't be able to power them even if she could move.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

First and foremost, Selena can only absorb devices that require electricity. Her cells communicate with the devices with eletrical pulses, far more nuanced and efficient than the average person's neurons.

Selena, as mentioned earlier, still requires energy to power these devices. While she is able to harness electricity as a source of power, if she's not sitting down and hooked up to an outlet, that means she's running off her body's metabolism. Sure, checking Twitter with a blink of the eye isn't that taxing, but absorbing multiple devices and using them constantly will take their toll. This also limits Selena's combat potential. Sure, she could absorb a power saw, but Selena would only be able to get one good blow with it before she completely drained herself-not to mention the weight drawback. Selena functions best in a support capacity-using her abilities to gather intel and augment the capabilities of those around her, and not enter the fray herself. In a direct fight, she's extremely vulnerable.

Selena also can overload herself and crash. If she runs out of energy or simply taxes herself by trying to do too much at once, she has to reset. This is not as messy as it sounds-her body expunges any technology she's absorbed and she has to rest for a while, letting everything sort itself back out, before she's capable of devouring any more technology. Any devices she absorbs will simply re-materialize in her hands, with Selena's nano-machine infused cells doing the heavy lifting. Electricity will usually cause her to lose control and lose a device or two, as can magnets.

She lacks Andy's same, utter resiliency. Selena's anatomy is human, and while her body has a touch of machine, she's as vulnerable to poison, etc, as any other human.

Other:

Sample Post:

I'm co-GM and I have written a shit-ton today between these sheets and the writeups on everyone's sheets. So, in a total dick move and abuse of privilege...

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

I've been told I'm more of a Buddha, actually

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Gotcha. 5'0 and 115 I think is a lot better than the original weight. This looks great now. And I hope I didn't offend you (or anyone, for that matter), there's a large number of sheets in the RP's Lone does that get characters who have martial arts as a skill solely for the purpose of "I want my character to be able to win fights when it happens", and I'm just suspicious about that in general. However, you obviously know what you're doing and judging from Felicia it's more than a tacked-on trait, it's a part of her character. All's well.

Also, don't come kick my ass

Verthaven: Moved to a higher level of existence

Barring the fact that this is dangerously close to gravity manipulation, which is banned, there's the issue that it's still way too easy to kill someone with it. She has to touch someone's head, make their skull way about a million times more than their spine can support, and even when their head drops past her finger, they're dead.

Not to mention that, since f=ma, if your character lowers their mass to move faster, they're still hitting with the same amount of force. In other words, near light-speed, your character hits with the same force while being impossible to hit back. Your character could also dodge any attacks thrown at them. Also, the ramifications of moving that quickly would utterly destroy them, as we already touched on with Didact's speedster, who runs into the same problems at far lesser speeds.

Her being able to increase her own mass means she can become pretty much invulnerable whenever she needs to, and there's not even the drawback of her falling through the floor because she can increase the mass of the floor beneath her as well.

Objects being weightless while she's carrying them is a nonissue. Again, run past someone with a car/aircraft carrier/family of rhinoceroses and drop it on them. She's gone because she can move so absurdly fast before they know what's happened. She could stop bullets as they hit her, do the same with punches, any objects, etc. Given that she can move at light speed, her being limited to things she can touch isn't that much of a drawback.

Your character is incredibly powerful and I don't see any way this power will work. I think a new one would be better.