MC Sample Applications
Updated 5/11
CHARACTER'S FULL NAME: Grace Ann Cereza Dimalanta
CODENAME: I'll think of one IC!
ALIASES/NICKNAMES:
SPECIES: Mutant
GENDER: Female
AGE: 33
ORIGIN: Pittsburgh, PA. (Filipino by heritage)
POWERS: Grace is primarily a telepath with some empathic ability, weighted slightly more towards receptive than projective. She is capable of reading and influencing thoughts, digging through thoughts for specific (or categorically specific) information, engaging in telepathic communication, tweaking memory, tweaking perception, and interaction with the astral plane. That is also roughly the order in which she is familiar with the use of her mutation, ranging from "reasonably" to "there's an astral what now?".
Her maximum reach is roughly 80m (This abbreviation means meters!). At that range, she can listen to one person's surface thoughts, though they would be fuzzy and indistinct, and manage very rudimentary communication (in that she could lob something along the lines of "duck now!" at the person's head and hope it stuck). The number of people she can pay attention to increases the closer she is, as does her ability to perform more complex tasks. She could listen to or communicate with up to 3 people at the 50m mark, 5 at 25m, and her absolute maximum of 8 within 10m. Juggling that much would devour most of her concentration, however, and would thus be a bad idea if there were outside circumstances she needed to pay attention to.
The more precise elements of her power require more proximity - a maximum of 25m, narrowing significantly the more involved the task becomes - and are not really useful on more than one person at a time. Physical contact heightens her mutation, and so is preferable for more intricate tasks.
Her empathy is a great deal weaker - her outer range is 25m, at which point she can focus on one person, and her inner range is 5m, within which she can focus on up to 3 people. Her ability in this arena is unrefined, limiting her to broad strokes of a single emotion, and unlikely to stick unless it is reasonably similar to what the target is already feeling. Again, physical contact heightens her ability to receive and transmit, but it does not (obviously) lend precision to what is effectively a clumsy mallet.
Like most telepaths, Grace requires a higher-than-normal sugar intake to support the use of her powers, and overuse leads to fatigue, vicious headaches, and eventually hypoglycaemia.
HISTORY: Grace was born to Amalia and John Dimalanta, the second of two children, and the first born on American soil. Her early recollections feature her mother more than her father, as Amalia opted to spend the first few years of her daughter's life at home before seeking to re-establish herself in the marketing sector of a pharmaceuticals firm. Once Grace turned four, her mother returned to work, leaving her four-years-older sister Caroline as her most frequent point of familial contact. Four-year-olds being rather boring to eight-year-olds, this contact was often as a life-sized doll or occasional scapegoat, though Caroline's excuses rarely fooled their babysitter, and never fooled their parents - especially their mother. Despite the fact that both John and Amalia were fairly busy, the family remained close-knit. As parents, the Dimalantas were middling-strict, and they endeavoured to ensure that both their daughters retained a connection to their cultural heritage. Grace and Caroline learned to speak Filipino at home, celebrated traditional holidays, and were brought up with Filipino values alongside the American ones they learned through exposure.
All in all, Grace's childhood was a happy one. She was popular enough, if not overwhelmingly so, and at her parents' urging, participated in more extracurricular activities than anyone over the age of twelve could possibly sustain. She played soccer and baseball and swam and played guitar, and dabbled in figure skating and jazz dance and ballet and piano, though none of the latter set stuck for more than a year at a time. Her best friend, Sarah, lived three doors down, and in addition to having a stellar fort in her backyard, had a father who worked with the local police's canine unit. This began Grace's love affair with the idea of law enforcement at the age of six, and though she eventually outgrew the PUPPIES stage, she never quite outgrew the fascination.
The summer she turned thirteen, Grace's life took an abrupt turn for the surreal. The circumstances surrounding her manifestation were not especially traumatic - an argument with her father over whether or not she should be allowed to go with Sarah's family on a camping trip. It would have passed with little more than short-lived hurt feelings, had Grace not, amidst a steady spiral of adolescent indignation, found herself suddenly able to hear her father's thoughts. And those of her sister upstairs, and her neighbour in the side yard. That she collapsed was due less to powers exhaustion, and more to hyperventilating to the point where she passed out.
Fortunately for Grace, her mother shared her mutation, if not quite so strongly. It was Amalia who calmed Grace upon waking, who explained what was happening, and convinced her she wasn't going crazy. Amalia who taught her how to keep herself from being inundated with others' thoughts, how to listen to a specific person, how to talk to someone silently. She also passed along her ethics - the why was as important as the how, and such a powerful tool was not to be abused. Or spoken of, except in circumstances of utmost trust. The rest, Grace learned on her own - slowly, piecemeal, by trial and error. She began reading up on the human brain, on the intricacies of the mind, standard and aberrant psychology. It didn't help, in most cases, but it was fascinating, both from a general standpoint and from the point of view of someone who could sense and alter thought.
In the early days and weeks following her manifestation, Grace kept everyone but her mother at arm's length. It was a self-protective gesture, and one she didn't feel she could explain to anyone but family. As such, it put strain on a number of her relationships. Some she repaired over time, as she gained control of her powers, and the confidence in that control to allow herself to seek people out again. Others remained damaged, which left her feeling as though she had somehow failed - as though she would have to try harder next time (and the next time, and the next time...).
By the time she was ready to go to college, her fascination with psychology was rooted almost as deeply as her fascination with law enforcement. After graduating from high school, Grace entered John Jay College to study criminal psychology, specializing in behavioral
analysis. She kept with swimming and soccer for fun and fitness both, and took up jogging in sophomore year at the behest of her roommate. She also took several self defense seminars, eventually translating into regular aikido lessons in senior year.
Junior year saw the dawn of her first serious relationship. She had dated sporadically from the age of sixteen, but hadn't ever stayed with one person for more than a month or two, and had gone long stretches without dating at all. The relationship dissolved at the year and a half mark - coincidentally not long after Grace came out as a mutant to her boyfriend. Though he insisted it didn't bother him, the sudden distance between them told a different story entirely. She wasn't surprised when he left, but she was certainly hurt. The scars lingered; while she was not turned off of relationships entirely, she was more careful, less committed - most lasted a few months only, with long dry spells between, and she never did quite work up the nerve to tell her future partners about her mutation.
Grace stayed on at John Jay College after earning her Bachelor's degree to take a two-year Master's degree in forensic psychology. She worked two years as a consultant, before applying and being accepted to the FBI's criminal investigative division. Following training,
Grace was assigned to the field office in Buffalo. She excelled in investigation and analysis, and slowly gained a reputation for quiet competence. The only visible blip on her record was a - perfectly reasonable - period of compassionate leave a little after the six-month mark, to allow her to return home for her mother's funeral. She made use of her mutation occasionally during the course of her work, though it was sparing - getting caught was something she
considered a real concern, if she wasn't careful. And atop that, there was the question of ethics: how far did telepathy count as duress? It was easier to justify to herself in those few cases in which timelines were crucial.
Three years after her initial assignment, Grace applied to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, hoping to join one of the Behavioral Analysis Units. Her application was rejected - competition was fierce, after all, and she'd only been with the Bureau three years. Disheartened but not defeated, she applied herself all the harder to her work. She put in another application three years later, and this time was deemed eligible for consideration - and for testing under the Sensitive Positions Act.
The positive result on the test put a sudden end to her career. She found herself quietly shuffled out, and at loose ends. She considered and rejected turning towards clinical psychology rather than returning to consultation or research - if people didn't want a telepath as an investigator or profiler, why would they possibly want one as a psychologist? She has currently turned to working towards her PhD, though she is discontent with the return to academic life after grasping for so long at something more hands-on.
X-FACTOR: Grace has a solid background in investigation and analysis, with a grounding in profiling. She has five years of work with the FBI behind her, and her record shows her to be reliable, competent, and able to function well within a team. While she's not outed in the
public sense, her mutant status is known within the FBI's structure, and so could easily trip X-Factor's flags.
RECRUITMENT: Off is fine!
DUTIES: Data Analysis, Basic Firearms, Language (Filipino), Self Defense
CERTIFICATIONS: Basic Fitness, Basic Self Defense, Basic Driving, Basic Firearms, Investigation, Data Analysis, Language (Filipino)
PERSONALITY: Grace's general demeanour is one of steady calm, responsible and reliable. If she gives her word, she keeps it. If she is given a task, she finishes it as efficiently as possible. She can be counted on to be there in a crisis, to hold up her end and help
those around her. She expects the same of others, which leads to occasional frustration and disappointment when those around her are falling down on the job. She functions best in a team of professionals, where she can use her skills to complement others', and have her own weaknesses shored up in turn.
She is friendly and generous, with a slightly off-beat and occasionally morbid sense of humour. She is fond of company, though not overwhelmingly outgoing - she is more comfortable with a small handful of people than with a crowd, a natural inclination that is
only heightened by her telepathy. She tends to be a little bit chameleonic - fitting in is important to her, and she goes out of her way to make those around her feel at ease.
That said, Grace isn't a doormat. She has a stubborn streak, and is willing to argue her point of view - respect for those around her does not, after all, have to mean rolling over and showing her belly at the first sign of confrontation. She is particularly difficult to budge
on issues of ethics or justice, and tends to deeply dislike those who don't seem to show a properly-developed sense of either.
Though she is mostly a cerebral creature, Grace does enjoy athletic pursuits - most of her hobbies that run along those lines are a carryover from childhood. With the exception of swimming, she prefers communal activities, both in sports and in recreation. Her solitary
pursuits tend to be more sedentary - if she needs to be alone, she prefers not to go out and risk snubbing someone in her efforts to maintain that solitude.
MISCELLANEOUS: Grace is a sound-colour synaesthete. This has very little bearing on anything, except in that it makes her a little better than average at recognizing and remembering voices and tones.
Between soft interrogation techniques used in suspect interviews and her mutation, Grace is probably partway to the Interrogation cert. However, it would take her some time (and some ethical wrangling) to learn enough of the harder coercion techniques to fully qualify. She
is also partway to the surveillance certification - she has the techniques down for distance surveillance, but lacks the grounding in stealth that would allow her to maintain a proper tail.
She is allergic to strawberries. This kind of sucks.
CODENAME: I'll think of one IC!
ALIASES/NICKNAMES:
SPECIES: Mutant
GENDER: Female
AGE: 33
ORIGIN: Pittsburgh, PA. (Filipino by heritage)
POWERS: Grace is primarily a telepath with some empathic ability, weighted slightly more towards receptive than projective. She is capable of reading and influencing thoughts, digging through thoughts for specific (or categorically specific) information, engaging in telepathic communication, tweaking memory, tweaking perception, and interaction with the astral plane. That is also roughly the order in which she is familiar with the use of her mutation, ranging from "reasonably" to "there's an astral what now?".
Her maximum reach is roughly 80m (This abbreviation means meters!). At that range, she can listen to one person's surface thoughts, though they would be fuzzy and indistinct, and manage very rudimentary communication (in that she could lob something along the lines of "duck now!" at the person's head and hope it stuck). The number of people she can pay attention to increases the closer she is, as does her ability to perform more complex tasks. She could listen to or communicate with up to 3 people at the 50m mark, 5 at 25m, and her absolute maximum of 8 within 10m. Juggling that much would devour most of her concentration, however, and would thus be a bad idea if there were outside circumstances she needed to pay attention to.
The more precise elements of her power require more proximity - a maximum of 25m, narrowing significantly the more involved the task becomes - and are not really useful on more than one person at a time. Physical contact heightens her mutation, and so is preferable for more intricate tasks.
Her empathy is a great deal weaker - her outer range is 25m, at which point she can focus on one person, and her inner range is 5m, within which she can focus on up to 3 people. Her ability in this arena is unrefined, limiting her to broad strokes of a single emotion, and unlikely to stick unless it is reasonably similar to what the target is already feeling. Again, physical contact heightens her ability to receive and transmit, but it does not (obviously) lend precision to what is effectively a clumsy mallet.
Like most telepaths, Grace requires a higher-than-normal sugar intake to support the use of her powers, and overuse leads to fatigue, vicious headaches, and eventually hypoglycaemia.
HISTORY: Grace was born to Amalia and John Dimalanta, the second of two children, and the first born on American soil. Her early recollections feature her mother more than her father, as Amalia opted to spend the first few years of her daughter's life at home before seeking to re-establish herself in the marketing sector of a pharmaceuticals firm. Once Grace turned four, her mother returned to work, leaving her four-years-older sister Caroline as her most frequent point of familial contact. Four-year-olds being rather boring to eight-year-olds, this contact was often as a life-sized doll or occasional scapegoat, though Caroline's excuses rarely fooled their babysitter, and never fooled their parents - especially their mother. Despite the fact that both John and Amalia were fairly busy, the family remained close-knit. As parents, the Dimalantas were middling-strict, and they endeavoured to ensure that both their daughters retained a connection to their cultural heritage. Grace and Caroline learned to speak Filipino at home, celebrated traditional holidays, and were brought up with Filipino values alongside the American ones they learned through exposure.
All in all, Grace's childhood was a happy one. She was popular enough, if not overwhelmingly so, and at her parents' urging, participated in more extracurricular activities than anyone over the age of twelve could possibly sustain. She played soccer and baseball and swam and played guitar, and dabbled in figure skating and jazz dance and ballet and piano, though none of the latter set stuck for more than a year at a time. Her best friend, Sarah, lived three doors down, and in addition to having a stellar fort in her backyard, had a father who worked with the local police's canine unit. This began Grace's love affair with the idea of law enforcement at the age of six, and though she eventually outgrew the PUPPIES stage, she never quite outgrew the fascination.
The summer she turned thirteen, Grace's life took an abrupt turn for the surreal. The circumstances surrounding her manifestation were not especially traumatic - an argument with her father over whether or not she should be allowed to go with Sarah's family on a camping trip. It would have passed with little more than short-lived hurt feelings, had Grace not, amidst a steady spiral of adolescent indignation, found herself suddenly able to hear her father's thoughts. And those of her sister upstairs, and her neighbour in the side yard. That she collapsed was due less to powers exhaustion, and more to hyperventilating to the point where she passed out.
Fortunately for Grace, her mother shared her mutation, if not quite so strongly. It was Amalia who calmed Grace upon waking, who explained what was happening, and convinced her she wasn't going crazy. Amalia who taught her how to keep herself from being inundated with others' thoughts, how to listen to a specific person, how to talk to someone silently. She also passed along her ethics - the why was as important as the how, and such a powerful tool was not to be abused. Or spoken of, except in circumstances of utmost trust. The rest, Grace learned on her own - slowly, piecemeal, by trial and error. She began reading up on the human brain, on the intricacies of the mind, standard and aberrant psychology. It didn't help, in most cases, but it was fascinating, both from a general standpoint and from the point of view of someone who could sense and alter thought.
In the early days and weeks following her manifestation, Grace kept everyone but her mother at arm's length. It was a self-protective gesture, and one she didn't feel she could explain to anyone but family. As such, it put strain on a number of her relationships. Some she repaired over time, as she gained control of her powers, and the confidence in that control to allow herself to seek people out again. Others remained damaged, which left her feeling as though she had somehow failed - as though she would have to try harder next time (and the next time, and the next time...).
By the time she was ready to go to college, her fascination with psychology was rooted almost as deeply as her fascination with law enforcement. After graduating from high school, Grace entered John Jay College to study criminal psychology, specializing in behavioral
analysis. She kept with swimming and soccer for fun and fitness both, and took up jogging in sophomore year at the behest of her roommate. She also took several self defense seminars, eventually translating into regular aikido lessons in senior year.
Junior year saw the dawn of her first serious relationship. She had dated sporadically from the age of sixteen, but hadn't ever stayed with one person for more than a month or two, and had gone long stretches without dating at all. The relationship dissolved at the year and a half mark - coincidentally not long after Grace came out as a mutant to her boyfriend. Though he insisted it didn't bother him, the sudden distance between them told a different story entirely. She wasn't surprised when he left, but she was certainly hurt. The scars lingered; while she was not turned off of relationships entirely, she was more careful, less committed - most lasted a few months only, with long dry spells between, and she never did quite work up the nerve to tell her future partners about her mutation.
Grace stayed on at John Jay College after earning her Bachelor's degree to take a two-year Master's degree in forensic psychology. She worked two years as a consultant, before applying and being accepted to the FBI's criminal investigative division. Following training,
Grace was assigned to the field office in Buffalo. She excelled in investigation and analysis, and slowly gained a reputation for quiet competence. The only visible blip on her record was a - perfectly reasonable - period of compassionate leave a little after the six-month mark, to allow her to return home for her mother's funeral. She made use of her mutation occasionally during the course of her work, though it was sparing - getting caught was something she
considered a real concern, if she wasn't careful. And atop that, there was the question of ethics: how far did telepathy count as duress? It was easier to justify to herself in those few cases in which timelines were crucial.
Three years after her initial assignment, Grace applied to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, hoping to join one of the Behavioral Analysis Units. Her application was rejected - competition was fierce, after all, and she'd only been with the Bureau three years. Disheartened but not defeated, she applied herself all the harder to her work. She put in another application three years later, and this time was deemed eligible for consideration - and for testing under the Sensitive Positions Act.
The positive result on the test put a sudden end to her career. She found herself quietly shuffled out, and at loose ends. She considered and rejected turning towards clinical psychology rather than returning to consultation or research - if people didn't want a telepath as an investigator or profiler, why would they possibly want one as a psychologist? She has currently turned to working towards her PhD, though she is discontent with the return to academic life after grasping for so long at something more hands-on.
X-FACTOR: Grace has a solid background in investigation and analysis, with a grounding in profiling. She has five years of work with the FBI behind her, and her record shows her to be reliable, competent, and able to function well within a team. While she's not outed in the
public sense, her mutant status is known within the FBI's structure, and so could easily trip X-Factor's flags.
RECRUITMENT: Off is fine!
DUTIES: Data Analysis, Basic Firearms, Language (Filipino), Self Defense
CERTIFICATIONS: Basic Fitness, Basic Self Defense, Basic Driving, Basic Firearms, Investigation, Data Analysis, Language (Filipino)
PERSONALITY: Grace's general demeanour is one of steady calm, responsible and reliable. If she gives her word, she keeps it. If she is given a task, she finishes it as efficiently as possible. She can be counted on to be there in a crisis, to hold up her end and help
those around her. She expects the same of others, which leads to occasional frustration and disappointment when those around her are falling down on the job. She functions best in a team of professionals, where she can use her skills to complement others', and have her own weaknesses shored up in turn.
She is friendly and generous, with a slightly off-beat and occasionally morbid sense of humour. She is fond of company, though not overwhelmingly outgoing - she is more comfortable with a small handful of people than with a crowd, a natural inclination that is
only heightened by her telepathy. She tends to be a little bit chameleonic - fitting in is important to her, and she goes out of her way to make those around her feel at ease.
That said, Grace isn't a doormat. She has a stubborn streak, and is willing to argue her point of view - respect for those around her does not, after all, have to mean rolling over and showing her belly at the first sign of confrontation. She is particularly difficult to budge
on issues of ethics or justice, and tends to deeply dislike those who don't seem to show a properly-developed sense of either.
Though she is mostly a cerebral creature, Grace does enjoy athletic pursuits - most of her hobbies that run along those lines are a carryover from childhood. With the exception of swimming, she prefers communal activities, both in sports and in recreation. Her solitary
pursuits tend to be more sedentary - if she needs to be alone, she prefers not to go out and risk snubbing someone in her efforts to maintain that solitude.
MISCELLANEOUS: Grace is a sound-colour synaesthete. This has very little bearing on anything, except in that it makes her a little better than average at recognizing and remembering voices and tones.
Between soft interrogation techniques used in suspect interviews and her mutation, Grace is probably partway to the Interrogation cert. However, it would take her some time (and some ethical wrangling) to learn enough of the harder coercion techniques to fully qualify. She
is also partway to the surveillance certification - she has the techniques down for distance surveillance, but lacks the grounding in stealth that would allow her to maintain a proper tail.
She is allergic to strawberries. This kind of sucks.
Jean-Paul
July 2009
---------------- IC Information ------------------
CHARACTER'S FULL NAME: Jean-Paul Beaubier
CODENAME: Northstar
ALIASES/NICKNAMES:
SPECIES: Mutant
GENDER: Male
AGE: 26
ORIGIN: Montreal, Canada
POWERS:
1) SPEEDY
Although classified as speedsters, the Beaubier twins are not speedsters in the same way that Pietro is; rather than a primary physical mutation that allows them to move and think with superhuman speed, they possess a psionic-type mutation that allows them to channel and direct atomic motion throughout their bodies. Because the mutation is psionic, use of it requires concentration and focus, and can be drastically effected by fatigue, drugs, or psionic naughtiness.
By directing their atomic velocity, they can accelerate their entire bodies in whatever direction they choose, allowing for flight as well as straight-line movement on the ground. In addition, they are capable of a more controlled release that accelerates a direct jab or kick. The main direction of the force must be a line, rather than a curve, when used over only a portion of their bodies. If they attempt to throw a superfast hook, they run serious risk of straining or tearing the muscles in their arms. They might be able to kick down a door in about half the time of one of their teammates, but if they try punching through a steel plate -- well. Durability only goes /so far/. They are capable of hitting with a force just over a trained baseline human, but only in very specific ways. A full-body tackle will usually do more damage.
As a result of drawing atomic motion from the molecules, the binding force within and between them grow stronger when the twins are moving at higher speeds. This conditional durability allows them to survive their own mutation, rather than have their muscles tear and skin shred off at high speeds. That would be awkward. They possess no additional durability when not accelerated, and the initial benefit at low speeds is fairly negligible. The durability essentially functions to a) Keep them in one piece at high speeds and b) Reduce the impact of, uh, impacts. If they hit a bug at top speed, the scaling durability -- tied always to their speed -- renders the impact about what it would be if they ran into a bug while walking.
Jean-Paul's maximum speed is 300 m/s with Jean-Marie topping out at 250 m/s. Alternately, her maximum flight-time at top speed is two hours, while Jean-Paul's maximum is one hour. They can achieve their top speeds only in the air. On land, they would be running into trees every two seconds.
Their bodies have heightened reflexes and shortened reaction times which support the manifestation of their mutation. Without those, they would be unable to really use their speed. They can react in a quarter of the time it would take the average human of their age and training, but they can't dodge bullets, and this effects only the physical, not the mental. They can't think four times as fast as the people around them. Additional enhancements to respiration allow them to breathe at their top speeds; beyond those speeds they would not be able to take in air quickly enough to keep oxygen supplied to their brains, and they would pass out.
2) SPARKLY
When Northstar and Aurora touch, whether they are standing still or moving at high speeds, they can release a cascade of photons from the atoms of their molecules. No. Really. The light has no other effect but distraction: they can't focus it, and it doesn't make people feel all peaceful and happy. This effect is under their control; they are capable of touching each other without the flash manifesting. It can be as mild as a glimmering sparkle or as bright as the flash of a lighthouse beam. It might dazzle someone for a moment, but it will not blind. On his own, Jean-Paul can produce an effect similar to the bright glare of a car's headlights for a few seconds, or weaker flashlight type effects for up to an hour.
HISTORY:
Jean-Paul is the first of twin children born to Jean-Baptiste and Danae Beaubier. He was born three minutes before his younger twin, Jeanne-Marie. They were close as toddlers, but bonded even more tightly following the death of their parents in a car accident. At five, they were sent together to live with their mother's cousin and her husband, Louis and Genevieve Martin.
Genevieve was a fairly strict Roman Catholic, and raised her godchildren in the same manner. Her particular focus was on Jeanne-Marie, while Jean-Paul's moments of wildness were treated with greater indulgence. Boys will be boys, et cetera. He went to an all-boys Catholic school, but it was not as strict as the school that his sister attended. The heavy focus that sports and athleticism received there carried through the rest of his life. With the pressures on him far less than those on his sister, he took pride in the role of protector for her. They were uncommonly codependent on each other due to their early childhood and subsequent separation. When they were together, they were all but inseparable.
Where Jeanne-Marie reacted to the pressures on her by becoming depressed as an adolescent, Jean-Paul became increasingly wild, even rebellious. His outlets were through sports, particularly skiing, and martial arts. It was at sixteen that his powers manifested. While Jeanne-Marie was busy attempting to throw herself off a building -- a dark moment in her life about which only Jean-Paul knows -- Jean-Paul was busy skiing. One second he's going down a lonely hill at a perfectly reasonable speed, the next second he's about to hit a tree at 100 m/s. As it happens, he missed.
At eighteen, after graduating high school, the twins left the home of their adoptive parents. Some of the friends that Jean-Paul had made in his wilder teenage years drew them both to the Mouvement de Liberation Nationale du Quebec -- an extremist movement favoring the creation of an independent socialist Quebec state. An important tenant of the group's belief includes the emergence of a people's militia. As such, they trained people themselves. What was an edgy identity and past time became dangerously scary when their friends actually pushed them to set off a bomb in a coffee shop. At that point, veil pulled from their eyes, Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie left the group. They saw no need to take innocent lives.
In an attempt to put their past behind them, the Beaubier twins immigrated to the United States, moving to Lake Tahoe, CA. Once there, they enrolled in a private Catholic college. While Jean-Paul joined their ski team and athletics, Jean-Marie enrolled in educational classes, intending to become a teacher. Bright, but with his focus elsewhere, Jean-Paul scraped his way through to a writing degree. On the slopes, however, he excelled. He drew attention in both individual and team events. Following their graduation, the twins stayed in Lake Tahoe and Jean-Paul was approached to join the United States Olympic ski team.
Shining in national and international competitions, Jean-Paul had a solid place on the national team -- and then the QuikID technology came out. With a few of the summer teams hit hard, the winter teams for 2010 moved quickly to be sure that they would not have to scramble at the last second. Jean-Paul resigned, rather than be tested, and his disappearance from that winter's competitions did not go unmarked.
Giving skiing lessons at Lake Tahoe is not the life he envisioned for himself. When approached by X-Factor, he was only too glad to join.
X-FACTOR: Although Jeanne-Marie is a registered mutant, Jean-Paul is not. The fact that they are twins, that she is registered, and that he dropped out of the public eye (what little of it he had) around the time of the 2008 summer Olympics ... is a little leading. Additionally, among his various athletic adventures are a series of martial arts dabblings and a steadier focus in Savate. The beginner skills that he learned as would-be-but-not-really terrorist will just be a pleasant surprise.
RECRUITMENT: Off.
DUTIES: Guard Duty, B. Stealth, B&E, Adv. Wilderness
CERTIFICATIONS:
Advanced Fitness - Olympic-level athlete.
Self-defense - He's borderline to a hand-to-hand certifications, but requires more training in grappling-type combat. He should be able to qualify in about three months, assuming average mission-load.
Basic firearms - From his time with the Quebec independence movement, he knows the basics of the use of guns, but it is something he will also need to brush up on and practice.
Basic driving - He can drive. Even if he sometimes still thinks the signs should be in KM instead of miles.
Basic Stealth - In their time with the Quebec independence movement, Jean-Paul was trained in how to break into places he shouldn't be. As part of this, he learned the basics of stealth, and a little more. To qualify for advanced, he needs to learn how to follow an alert target without being detected, as well as buff up in general. Should take about a month.
Breaking and Entering - See the above. He learned to pick locks and he learned to deal with the common kinds of security systems that would be used on commercial buildings, as well as the lower security
Basic Field Medicine - Need it in the mountains! Where you ski!
Advanced Wilderness Survival (Alpine) - Jean-Paul doesn't actually know basic -- he just knows what to do if things go wrong on a long, lonely ski run, as one must, if one wants to teach it.
French - HE SPEAKS IT. Quebec-style.
PERSONALITY:
Jean-Paul's tight focus and control can easily come across as a distant arrogance -- and while that is true in part, he isn't nearly so distant as he acts. His emotions can run with a young man's strength of passion, and he is particularly easy to wind up where his sister is involved. He is protective of her, and they are dependent on one another to a ... slightly unhealthy degree.
His frustration and impatience he has learned to keep under control, and the disciplined focus of his sports and martial arts have allowed him to likewise channel anger. He has a soft spot toward children that he would never, ever admit and an a tendency to white knight that he would likewise never admit. Especially where his sister is concerned. ESPECIALLY.
MISCELLANEOUS:
July 2009
---------------- IC Information ------------------
CHARACTER'S FULL NAME: Jean-Paul Beaubier
CODENAME: Northstar
ALIASES/NICKNAMES:
SPECIES: Mutant
GENDER: Male
AGE: 26
ORIGIN: Montreal, Canada
POWERS:
1) SPEEDY
Although classified as speedsters, the Beaubier twins are not speedsters in the same way that Pietro is; rather than a primary physical mutation that allows them to move and think with superhuman speed, they possess a psionic-type mutation that allows them to channel and direct atomic motion throughout their bodies. Because the mutation is psionic, use of it requires concentration and focus, and can be drastically effected by fatigue, drugs, or psionic naughtiness.
By directing their atomic velocity, they can accelerate their entire bodies in whatever direction they choose, allowing for flight as well as straight-line movement on the ground. In addition, they are capable of a more controlled release that accelerates a direct jab or kick. The main direction of the force must be a line, rather than a curve, when used over only a portion of their bodies. If they attempt to throw a superfast hook, they run serious risk of straining or tearing the muscles in their arms. They might be able to kick down a door in about half the time of one of their teammates, but if they try punching through a steel plate -- well. Durability only goes /so far/. They are capable of hitting with a force just over a trained baseline human, but only in very specific ways. A full-body tackle will usually do more damage.
As a result of drawing atomic motion from the molecules, the binding force within and between them grow stronger when the twins are moving at higher speeds. This conditional durability allows them to survive their own mutation, rather than have their muscles tear and skin shred off at high speeds. That would be awkward. They possess no additional durability when not accelerated, and the initial benefit at low speeds is fairly negligible. The durability essentially functions to a) Keep them in one piece at high speeds and b) Reduce the impact of, uh, impacts. If they hit a bug at top speed, the scaling durability -- tied always to their speed -- renders the impact about what it would be if they ran into a bug while walking.
Jean-Paul's maximum speed is 300 m/s with Jean-Marie topping out at 250 m/s. Alternately, her maximum flight-time at top speed is two hours, while Jean-Paul's maximum is one hour. They can achieve their top speeds only in the air. On land, they would be running into trees every two seconds.
Their bodies have heightened reflexes and shortened reaction times which support the manifestation of their mutation. Without those, they would be unable to really use their speed. They can react in a quarter of the time it would take the average human of their age and training, but they can't dodge bullets, and this effects only the physical, not the mental. They can't think four times as fast as the people around them. Additional enhancements to respiration allow them to breathe at their top speeds; beyond those speeds they would not be able to take in air quickly enough to keep oxygen supplied to their brains, and they would pass out.
2) SPARKLY
When Northstar and Aurora touch, whether they are standing still or moving at high speeds, they can release a cascade of photons from the atoms of their molecules. No. Really. The light has no other effect but distraction: they can't focus it, and it doesn't make people feel all peaceful and happy. This effect is under their control; they are capable of touching each other without the flash manifesting. It can be as mild as a glimmering sparkle or as bright as the flash of a lighthouse beam. It might dazzle someone for a moment, but it will not blind. On his own, Jean-Paul can produce an effect similar to the bright glare of a car's headlights for a few seconds, or weaker flashlight type effects for up to an hour.
HISTORY:
Jean-Paul is the first of twin children born to Jean-Baptiste and Danae Beaubier. He was born three minutes before his younger twin, Jeanne-Marie. They were close as toddlers, but bonded even more tightly following the death of their parents in a car accident. At five, they were sent together to live with their mother's cousin and her husband, Louis and Genevieve Martin.
Genevieve was a fairly strict Roman Catholic, and raised her godchildren in the same manner. Her particular focus was on Jeanne-Marie, while Jean-Paul's moments of wildness were treated with greater indulgence. Boys will be boys, et cetera. He went to an all-boys Catholic school, but it was not as strict as the school that his sister attended. The heavy focus that sports and athleticism received there carried through the rest of his life. With the pressures on him far less than those on his sister, he took pride in the role of protector for her. They were uncommonly codependent on each other due to their early childhood and subsequent separation. When they were together, they were all but inseparable.
Where Jeanne-Marie reacted to the pressures on her by becoming depressed as an adolescent, Jean-Paul became increasingly wild, even rebellious. His outlets were through sports, particularly skiing, and martial arts. It was at sixteen that his powers manifested. While Jeanne-Marie was busy attempting to throw herself off a building -- a dark moment in her life about which only Jean-Paul knows -- Jean-Paul was busy skiing. One second he's going down a lonely hill at a perfectly reasonable speed, the next second he's about to hit a tree at 100 m/s. As it happens, he missed.
At eighteen, after graduating high school, the twins left the home of their adoptive parents. Some of the friends that Jean-Paul had made in his wilder teenage years drew them both to the Mouvement de Liberation Nationale du Quebec -- an extremist movement favoring the creation of an independent socialist Quebec state. An important tenant of the group's belief includes the emergence of a people's militia. As such, they trained people themselves. What was an edgy identity and past time became dangerously scary when their friends actually pushed them to set off a bomb in a coffee shop. At that point, veil pulled from their eyes, Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie left the group. They saw no need to take innocent lives.
In an attempt to put their past behind them, the Beaubier twins immigrated to the United States, moving to Lake Tahoe, CA. Once there, they enrolled in a private Catholic college. While Jean-Paul joined their ski team and athletics, Jean-Marie enrolled in educational classes, intending to become a teacher. Bright, but with his focus elsewhere, Jean-Paul scraped his way through to a writing degree. On the slopes, however, he excelled. He drew attention in both individual and team events. Following their graduation, the twins stayed in Lake Tahoe and Jean-Paul was approached to join the United States Olympic ski team.
Shining in national and international competitions, Jean-Paul had a solid place on the national team -- and then the QuikID technology came out. With a few of the summer teams hit hard, the winter teams for 2010 moved quickly to be sure that they would not have to scramble at the last second. Jean-Paul resigned, rather than be tested, and his disappearance from that winter's competitions did not go unmarked.
Giving skiing lessons at Lake Tahoe is not the life he envisioned for himself. When approached by X-Factor, he was only too glad to join.
X-FACTOR: Although Jeanne-Marie is a registered mutant, Jean-Paul is not. The fact that they are twins, that she is registered, and that he dropped out of the public eye (what little of it he had) around the time of the 2008 summer Olympics ... is a little leading. Additionally, among his various athletic adventures are a series of martial arts dabblings and a steadier focus in Savate. The beginner skills that he learned as would-be-but-not-really terrorist will just be a pleasant surprise.
RECRUITMENT: Off.
DUTIES: Guard Duty, B. Stealth, B&E, Adv. Wilderness
CERTIFICATIONS:
Advanced Fitness - Olympic-level athlete.
Self-defense - He's borderline to a hand-to-hand certifications, but requires more training in grappling-type combat. He should be able to qualify in about three months, assuming average mission-load.
Basic firearms - From his time with the Quebec independence movement, he knows the basics of the use of guns, but it is something he will also need to brush up on and practice.
Basic driving - He can drive. Even if he sometimes still thinks the signs should be in KM instead of miles.
Basic Stealth - In their time with the Quebec independence movement, Jean-Paul was trained in how to break into places he shouldn't be. As part of this, he learned the basics of stealth, and a little more. To qualify for advanced, he needs to learn how to follow an alert target without being detected, as well as buff up in general. Should take about a month.
Breaking and Entering - See the above. He learned to pick locks and he learned to deal with the common kinds of security systems that would be used on commercial buildings, as well as the lower security
Basic Field Medicine - Need it in the mountains! Where you ski!
Advanced Wilderness Survival (Alpine) - Jean-Paul doesn't actually know basic -- he just knows what to do if things go wrong on a long, lonely ski run, as one must, if one wants to teach it.
French - HE SPEAKS IT. Quebec-style.
PERSONALITY:
Jean-Paul's tight focus and control can easily come across as a distant arrogance -- and while that is true in part, he isn't nearly so distant as he acts. His emotions can run with a young man's strength of passion, and he is particularly easy to wind up where his sister is involved. He is protective of her, and they are dependent on one another to a ... slightly unhealthy degree.
His frustration and impatience he has learned to keep under control, and the disciplined focus of his sports and martial arts have allowed him to likewise channel anger. He has a soft spot toward children that he would never, ever admit and an a tendency to white knight that he would likewise never admit. Especially where his sister is concerned. ESPECIALLY.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Jean-Paul is working on a book called 'Born Normal'. It is an
autobiography. Aww, yeah. Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie also have their own
sort of short-hand, based on numerous in-jokes and codes, structured around
their childhood French. It's nothing so neat as telepathy, but they can
easily understand each other in just a few words, or a glance.