Harper
Height: 4'9"
Weight: 85 pounds
Age: 12
Race/Species: Human
Tier/Influence: 3 (regional); An animal shape-shifter whose ability to maintain the form grows the more they use it.
Appearance: Harper has the stature for her age - relatively small and skinny as a result of undernourishment. She primarily wears a grey hoodie that is far too big for her that nearly reaches her knees, hiding her tattered black leggings. She has her brown hair cut short in a pixie cut she obviously did herself, and her fringe flops over a stare that seems to rarely blink. Harper is hardly seen without her pasty green backpack, a stark contrast to her white sneakers with pink LED lights.
Personality: Harper is a mute, though no one can figure out if it's by choice or by condition. She is rather distrusting of most, often following and observing people for days before approaching them. She possesses a large lack of empathy and will look at gruesome sights more with curiosity than with disgust. Those who do befriend her, however, will gain loyalty of a ferocious shape-shifter who will launch herself into any attack where her ally is threatened.
Powers:
Ability to turn into any animal she has previously seen (whether in reality or after studying in books). Her most common form is a cat or its larger variants (e.g panther) and the length of time that she can hold a form is dependent on her experience in it and her strength/energy at the time of transformation. When transforming, her clothes and backpack and things on her person disappear along with her human form, and reappear when it returns. Injuries sustained in human form are also present on her animal form (e.g a broken arm will result in a broken wing of a bird). Upon moment of intense adrenaline or anger, her powers may spasm resulting in more grotesque combinations of animals and human that are for the most part out of her control.
Items:
- 1 x Green backpack -- a child's backpack with two zip pockets
- 7 x Glitter pens -- a range of pens in a rainbow assortment
- 1 x Water pistol -- plastic toy that sprays a small trickle of water about 3 feet at most
- Assortment of papers -- drawings, travel pamphlets and ticket stubs
History:
Abducted from her home at a young age, Harper doesn't have any recollections of her actual family. Human traffickers soon realized they wouldn't get a good price for such a scroungy little kid and sold her to Evan, who ran a ranch with various other "gifted" children he had bought. Harper grew up alongside Honey, her older sister with a kind nature and Mark, second oldest sibling with more of a violent attitude.
The children were abused greatly abused their stay on the farm - physically they labored to keep the ranch running and were beaten severely at any mistakes. Harper never talked and was too young to control her supposed abilities, so Evan assumed she was human. Life at the ranch was miserable, and one of her only escapes was into town for the annual fairs - the townsfolk would usually gift her with items - glitter pens, a small wooden doll, her glow in the dark sneakers. She also watched all the theater performances. Mark once gave her a water pistol he got from the fair, which would soon become her most treasured toy and preferred weapon in a tight situation.
After watching Mark get beaten one day, she snuck in and took his hand, leading him outside. She had a backpack on , some food, and a wad of cash she'd stolen from under Evan’s bed stuffed hastily inside it. She started running, dragging her brother along, making a run for the fence. He shook her hand loose, stopping and yelling for Harper to come back but she carried on running. Pot shots from Evan’s employees rang out at the fleeing Harper, and she found herself wishing she could be anything but herself.Quite suddenly, she had taken on a bird form, and soared away from the ranch in search of anywhere but.
Harper traveled for a few months throughout various systems, relying on a combination of common sense, stowing away and pity to travel and survive. One of her more glamorous journeys on a cruise spaceship came to an abrupt ending when waiting staff discovered the child stuffing her face at the buffet before guests arrived. She was promptly deposited to the authorities at the nearest available stop and weaseled (quite literally) her way out of the containment cell before finding herself amidst a brand new, unfamiliar terrain...