Post by Nailah Weaver on May 19, 2015 16:22:36 GMT -6
Nailah Weaver
FACE CLAIM: Elle Fanning
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AGE: 16
GENDER: Female
ORIENTATION: Homosexual, but not yet aware of it
POSITION: Bellefonte Student
POWER: Physical Mutation
Nailah has a very obvious physical mutation. Most notably is the pair of wings that sprout from her back. They’re brown in color and fold neatly against her shoulders. Their wing-span is about 6 feet, though they might still be growing slightly. In theory they enable her to fly, but that’s hard to put into practice and she hasn't learned how to properly use them yet, at best managing a clumsy gliding right now.
In addition to her wings her legs are those of a lion and are covered in a fine, light-brown fur. They don’t really enable her to run much fast, but they do come with retractable claws that can help provide some traction at the detriment of carpets and floors. At the base of her spine sits a three feet long tail that ends in a bushy clump of dark-brown hair. When she concentrates on it she has some control over which way it flicks but it’s not very dexterous and mostly moves out of reflex.
LIMITATIONS:
Nailah's potential for flight is somewhat limited in how fast she can go due to the size of her wings relative to the rest of her body. While she might potentially be able to fly a little faster than the average person can run she probably won’t ever break any speed records. Height is another factor because she’s not particularly protected against wind, the cold or the thin air at higher altitudes and fatigue is a significant factor. Of course right now her main limitation is that she doesn't yet know how to use those new appendages properly to begin with.
Strong winds would make it hard for her to stay aloft safely or to go the right way without just being swept along while rain would make it more draining to stay in the air just from the water making her wings less efficient. They're a little bit water-resistant, but there comes a point where they become soaked enough to ground her.
Taking flight from a stand-still would take incredible efforts and muscle-strength she simply doesn't have yet, so at least a couple steps of a running start with spread wings would generally be required while jumping down from a ledge would be more or less fail-safe with a story or more to glide into the air. Generally the more 'flapping' required the harder it would be for her to take off.
SIDE-EFFECTS:
Nailah is very obviously a mutant. While the wings can be hidden underneath an over-sized coat her legs have trouble fitting into regular pants and the tail is difficult to conceal. Because of that she faces some necessary isolation from regular people. Her powers are purely physical and so fall under the same restrictions as any strenuous activity would, which means using her wings takes a lot of work and is limited by how much she exercises them. The tail and wings also have a tendency to throw off her sense of balance, making her a little clumsy when she’s not paying close attention to where they are. Things tend to get swept down from surfaces when she turns around too fast and one is likely to get a face full of feathers (and a quick apology) when standing behind her.
HEIGHT: 5’5”
HAIR COLOR:Blonde
EYE COLOR: Blue
MISC: She almost exclusively wears skirts and dresses and pretty much never wears shoes because they’re awkward and uncomfortable to fit into.
PERSONALITY: Nailah is easily excited and generally tends to try and see the positive side about things. Unfortunately the onset of her mutation has put a little bit of a damper on this and caused her to try and put on a smile when she really didn't feel like it. For one, she is unhappy about the restrictions it places on her and two, she is a little self-conscious about how much of her doesn't appear ‘human’ anymore. Nevertheless part of her was incredibly excited to learn about the existence other mutants and how larger-than-life it all seems. Nervous and anxious too, but excited none-the-less.
Her mutation has left her a little bit shy about engaging other people and she can be a little with withdrawn because of it, but she’s determined to make the best of things. Because of that she’s generally friendly to the point of almost being a bit of a doormat to people, just to avoid upsetting them. When she does get angry it’s usually for a good reason, but most of the time she’s more likely to sulk than to yell.
She likes to draw and her drawings often reflect her mood. She wishes she could play the guitar but never worked up the courage to suck at it long enough to learn it, especially when she could draw instead, something she’s already decent at and that comes easier to her as a result. She likes to read and does alright at school, though she could be better if she would put some effort into it.
FATHER: Lewis Weaver, History Professor
MOTHER: Hanna Weaver, English Teacher
SIBLINGS: None
WORTHY MENTIONS: Jeremy, her childhood friend
CHILDHOOD: Nailah grew up in Eugene, OR and was home-schooled for a significant part of her life. Not so much for religious or political reasons but rather because they believed they could do a much better job themselves. And at least academically they did a decent job. Still, it meant Nailah never had a huge amount of friends and spend a lot of time playing with one of the neighbor kids, Jeremy.
They became inseparable and quickly became best friends to the point that Nailah envied the idea of getting to go to school and spending time with people there as well. She begged and pleaded with her parents that now that she was 15 she’d get to go to high school as a freshmen along with Jeremy. Her parents finally relented and for a couple of months everything was perfect.
ADOLESCENCE: Over the course of her time at school Nailah tried to soak up as much as she could outside of the classroom, which led to her grades taking a bit of a hit. She was still doing okay, but her parents weren't happy. Then, during February of that year, only a couple weeks after her 16th birthday, Nailah started noticing something on her back. It started as a rash but soon turned into tiny feathers. Scared and confused she tried to hide it as best as she could but one day after PE class somebody noticed that she was trying to hide something on her back and soon after she came running from the locker-room in tears, still wearing her gym clothes while the sound of people making chicken noises followed her. She didn't make it very far down the hallway when something in her foot suddenly twisted the wrong way, sending her sprawling to the ground. When people noticed her twisted ankle they took her to the hospital where they quickly noticed that something was definitely wrong with her.
Her ‘condition’ progressed while she was in the hospital and for a week they tried to figure out what was happening. As the changes grew more pronounced she noticed that less and less people were allowed in her room and that no one from school had come to visit. Finally, someone from the Bellefonte Academy came to talk to her and revealed to her what was happening and that she was going through a series of changes. Just knowing what was happening to her helped a lot in assuaging her fears but she didn't like the idea of being sequestered away from the world yet again. When she was told there would be other mutants she relented a bit, but only agreed on the condition that she’d be allowed to say good bye to Jeremy face to face.
SAMPLE: Nailah was lieing in her hospital bed. At this point it wasn't necessary anymore, she’d noticed that her new legs supported her just fine, even though she didn't feel particularly steady on them yet. She thought it was kind of stupid, but they had only agreed to her demand to see Jeremy under the condition that she would lie to him about why she had to go away. And it was pretty simple to cover her lower body in a hospital bed and hide the wings against the big pillow she was leaning into. Still, it felt wrong.
The sound of the door creaking open tore her out of her thoughts and she looked up, smiling when she saw the familiar face under the mess of black hair. Jeremy looked like he hadn't slept much and in some strange way that made her feel better, stupid and selfish as it may be. “Holy shit, you’re alive!” he jokes as he steps into the room. “We had a pool going that you actually died from the plague.”
Nailah's smile falters a bit, worried that some of the people at school probably did joke about that. And god knows what else. She’d never even gotten a chance to try and come up with some kind of explanation. Not that it mattered anymore. “No, it’s just some bone condition…” she lies, falling back on what the ‘official’ story would be once she left. “I’ll be alright, I just… they think it’d be better for me if I move to Montana. Somewhere higher up.”
“What are you talking about, Nailah? Moving up into the mountains is a horrible idea when you got brittle bones.” He says, stepping closer to poke her in the shoulder as if to reinforce his point. She flinches away a little and she bites the inside of her mouth when she sees his expression change at that. “It’s the air, it’s better there or something. They have a specialized place there that’ll help me get better. I… I probably won’t be coming back.”
“Nailah I swear to you, if you’re bullshitting me… You’re not actually dieing, are you? Tell me this is not some stuff you made up to make me feel better or anything. Is it gonna make you hideous? Because I don’t care, I promise!” Jeremy glares at her, probably just angry at the circumstances but for her it’s hard not to feel like he’s angry with her. After all it’s her genes that is causing this whole mess, right?
“I… I’m not, I swear! I just… It’s a genetic thing, okay? It probably won’t ever go away.”
“Can I at least visit you some time?”
“I don’t think so.” She says, trying to blink away the tears that are forming in her eyes. “I had to talk them into even letting you visit me here.”
“So that’s it? You’re just disappearing forever?” He takes a step back and angrily crams his hands into his pockets.
“I won’t be gone. We can still talk on the phone and chat and everything. You just… can’t ever see me again.”
“Can I at least give you a hug?” he asks, but he doesn't even take his hands out of his pockets as if he already suspects the answer. Nailah just shakes her head, chewing on her lips. Jeremy frowns at her and then whirls around, stomping out the door. “Good bye, Nailah!” he says, opting for anger instead of tears as he slams the door.
USERNAME: Atropha
AGE GROUP: 32
EXPERIENCE: 6 years+
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