Character Information

[twentythree]

History:
Little Eureka was a military town based in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by vast plains, there was nothing else for miles, and access to the town was severely restricted. Only the staff and the family of the staff of The Robertson Facility, as well as a few laborers, were allowed in, and rarely, if ever, were they allowed out. The Robertson Facility in the town of Little Eureka was designed to take children with a certain gene, and through years of medical manipulation, manifest certain higher mental capabilities in those children. The children weren't outright tortured; they were given private, warm rooms, three meals a day, and proper anesthesia any time they underwent a procedure. But the facility was a prison, make no mistake, and there were tragedies.

The rate of success of the facility's procedures was 90%, but unfortunately most of the children had a difficult time "meshing" with their new powers, or so was the term. They would find them difficult to control, or too weak, and side effects often included sudden seizures and migraines that would last for days. Sometimes, a child would seize, be carted away by the nurses, and never be seen again.

The Girl, or Subject 23 was in the facility for years. She knew she must have had a life before the facility, because she knew things about the outside world that they were never taught in confinement. Things like what a mortgage is and how to order food at a restaurant. Unfortunately, she couldn't even remember basic details of her life before, like her name or the faces of her parents. But she could remember what freedom tasted like.

Her best friend in the facility was Anna, the only child who could remember her real name. They kept that fact, and the fact that they were such close friends, a closely-guarded secret, lest the staff of the facility find out. They plotted and schemed together, gradually building an elaborate but workable plan to escape. Over the course of two years, they patiently laid everything into place, playing the part of docile participants in the program to keep the staff from suspecting. In the meantime, they had no choice but to continue undergoing the procedures.

On the eve of their escape attempt, everything went horribly wrong. While The Girl hadn't yet developed any powers, despite undergoing the same procedures as Anna, Anna had. Unfortunately, like all the other children, she couldn't seem to mesh. She seized badly, and was taken away on a stretcher. She never returned.

Distraught, angry and terrified, The Girl made a desperate and foolish bid for escape on her own, though the plan required two people to succeed. She was caught in the plains, the security guards tipped off by people in the town who were facility-loyal and could see her from the raised roadbed that circled the town. She was dragged back to the facility, but something had changed.

Sometime during her escape attempt, in anger and fear, The Girl's powers had manifested, and inexplicably, she meshed. The staff were briefly excited by the major success, but while a good meshing was unprecedented, so too were the extent of The Girl's powers. It became quickly apparent that she wasn't limited to mentally lifting teaspoons or predicting flash cards when, lashing out in teary frustration, she telekinetically crushed one of the facility's monitors without breaking a sweat. In the stunned silence that immediately followed, she knew cold purpose.

The staff died first, as easily as crushing insects. Moving to the roof, she extended her awareness, the part of her that could now locate every active, filthy mind in town, and began to systematically kill every last person in Little Eureka in a cold rage that literally crushed the town. The only ones she spared were the other children like her, the ones stable enough to make their way out of the facility before she demanded it collapse neatly beneath her.

Nameless, penniless, and directionless, they were all nonetheless finally free. The Girl decided that wherever they went, she would find a way to take care of the other children until the procedures got the better of them and they eventually passed.

Personality:
Most of all, The Girl has trust issues galore. She is extremely guarded and very slow to warm up to most people. She mistrusts people in general, but especially people in positions of authority, doctors, and scientists. This mistrust can be so great as to inspire violence if she's pushed or pressured by them in any way. With doctors at least, she understands their necessity and will put up with them if their services are required, but she'll ask a million questions about what they're doing and will refuse any test or procedure she doesn't understand. She wants to survive and be free at any cost, and finds the interference of authority figures threatening beyond measure because she believes that they'll try to contain her if they learn what she is.

When provoked, her anger is cold and disdainful. She'll kill with little remorse if she feels it's the only way to keep or earn her freedom. (Whether or not she truly doesn't feel remorse is debatable, but she needs so badly to be strong that she won't admit it even to herself if she does, and she is at heart still an angry, rather selfish teenage girl.) The Girl is capable of exercising an incredible amount of patience and understands the wisdom of biding one's time. In that respect, she's very mature for her age, able to suppress any anxiousness or desperation in favor of cool strategy and manipulation. But in everyday situations, she can still be rude and petty as a defense mechanism, and very much act like the 13-year-old she is.

If someone is obviously messed up or a freak of some kind (read: not a baseline human), she finds it easier to open up, and tends to develop a somewhat maternal behavior toward people she comes to care for if she feels they have any problems caring for themselves. She actually finds it easier to be a go-getter if she's doing it on behalf of someone she feels responsible for, like the other children she freed. On the other hand, she tends to be much more hesitant when deciding something for her own sake. New concepts and activities of any kind are both wonderful and frightening precisely because she's not used to them. However, she hates showing fear and once she's decided on something, she will suck it up and jump in the deep end more times than not. It's the only way she knows how to learn, and she doesn't fully understand that it's alright to ease into things so you're more comfortable.

Once drawn out and relaxed, The Girl is just that -- a girl. She can be surprisingly unsure of herself and generally has no idea what she's really doing. She's completely lacking in knowledge about things like how to cook or how to dress appropriately for certain occasions, and she'll always stubbornly try to work through it on her own instead of asking for help. She's determined to be independent. There are also many things she's never been exposed to, such as pop culture.

Her newfound lack of structure in life, while gratifying, is also terrifying. As much as she hates authority figures, she's used to order and routine, and now she has none. She has so much freedom it's too much freedom, and because of that, she has a tendency to take advice from adults even when she doesn't necessarily trust them. If it provides her with a clear goal that seems productive and good for her, she'll follow it even while outwardly brushing it off. She doesn't want them to know she's following their suggestions, in case they have some ulterior motive for giving it.

She likes terrible puns, cute things, and people who express genuine care for her. In her heart of hearts, she'd love to have parents, but she's realistic and jaded enough to understand that's a pipe dream and better off discarded. She's curious about the world and genuinely amazed by a lot of things, but these are things that will take people some time to figure out. Her shell is strong, her shell is secure.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
The Girl is a powerful psychokinetic and a limited telepath. She can only pick up clear thoughts if they are projected at her by another telepath. When projecting in return, she can express only a general concept or emotion rather than delivering the message in distinct words. In terms of normal people, she can register the "presence" of their mind, the basic purpose of which is only to tell that they're there. She can also pick up their surface emotions in the process, but no clear thoughts. She's basically like radar for people, and she has a range miles wide.

As for as psychokinesis goes, she's immensely powerful. She used her powers to destroy the facility and the entire town it was a part of. Every car and building collapsed or crumpled like paper, crushing anyone inside. People who were outside were crushed by light poles, swallowed by the ground, or simply made to hemorrhage in the brain until dead. This is the one and only time she ever used her powers, so they are almost completely untested. How to moderate her powers for less spectacular use is still something she has to explore (very tentatively), and there may be aspects of her powers she's not yet fully familiar with. However, she's stable and in control. She can turn her abilities on and off at will.

For the purposes of game play in Ataraxion, her psychokinesis will be somewhat limited. Instead of being able to crush the entire damn ship, she's more down to the level of bending metal walls. But please keep in mind that people are still squishier than metal walls. Still, demonstrations of the full extent of her psychokinesis will probably never happen unless there's a very good reason and a very thoroughly planned plot.