Name: Anki De Roeck
Codename: Rook
Age: 16
Date of Birth: November 1st 1994
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 95 lbs
Hair Color: Red and black (naturally auburn)
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Origin: Salem, MA
Nationality/Race: American/Dutch
Classification: Mutant
Status: Trainee
Occupation: Student
Personality Profile: Kind of laid-back, mostly. Prone to get herself into trouble, fun-loving, a little bit mischievous but nothing intentionally malicious. Loves to pull pranks on people and catching them unawares.
Physical Description:
Anki’s not really tall, neither is she particularly short. Her body type is mostly average, a little round maybe but nothing even close to chubby. She tends to wear little makeup, if at all, but is pretty partial to thick eyeliner and mascara. Has a few tatts, mostly stars or birds, or wings on her back. She normally dresses for fun and comfort more than for flash.
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Powerset: Darkforce Manipulation
Ability One:
Teleportation
The manifestation of Anki’s X-gene somehow ties her into the world of shadows: The Darkforce. Through it, she can teleport herself and exit from another shadow somewhere nearby (at a maximum range of about 500 feet). Although she doesn’t need to see the point of exit, she tends to hesitate in porting anywhere she can’t see. Still does it, but is always kind of put off and apprehensive. When she enters into the Darkforce, it’s like she punctures the shadows – it causes a small feathery whirlwind, like a little tornado of black feathers; the same effect taking place when she exits. They have no effect whatsoever, but remain visible for a few seconds before dissipating.
Ability Two:
Shadow-meld
Because of her intimate ties to the Darkforce, shadows are kind of where she feels most at home. When she takes a moment to concentrate, she can meld with them to the point of becoming almost entirely invisible while under their cover. When she is shadow-melded, her body doesn’t seem to give off any heat, and any particles from her body also meld with the shadows; it means she doesn’t give off any smell, or taste so long as she remains melded. Anki can stay shadow-melded for long periods of time, and usually prefers sleeping in such a state since it allows her to be safely hidden.
Ability Three:
Black-feathered barrage
Although she doesn’t have the ability to control the Darkforce, she can summon it for an attack. Just by pointing, Anki can conjure up a barrage of solid Darkforce manifesting as a cascade of razor-sharp onyx-like feathers to shred at enemies caught in an expanding cone starting at her hand. The damage resulting from a successful hit is like being caught in a lacerating whirlwind of sharp blades whose nature is partly physical and partly ethereal – meaning that physical protection may soak some of the damage, but not all; ethereal protection will likewise only resist part of the damage, and not all of it.
Drawbacks & Weaknesses: (Mostly, her ties with the Darkforce make her more disposed to nocturnal activity instead of diurnal; but not to the point of being incapable of operating during the day (nor does being active in the daytime diminish her power and its effects). She tends to be a little bit sensitive to bright, glaring light – but, again, not to the point of being a special vulnerability so much as unaccommodating her more than it might someone else.
Projected Power Growth & Development: Eventually, maybe Anki can learn to tone down her offensive power to just distract and obtrude vision instead of inflicting damage. It’s also possible that her affinity with the Darkforce may progress to a point where she’s no longer just shadow-melding, but takes on a body made of it like Electrokinetics and Pyrokinetics sometimes learn to develop to adopt the shape and properties of their element. Should this ever happen though it’s feasible she may very well develop some sort of greater vulnerability to light.
Skills:
Urban Survival (dumpster-jumping, scrounging, scavenging)
Stealth
Larceny
Streetwise
Subterfuge
Pick-pocket
Sleight of hand
Dancing
Computer science
Being cute
Background:
Anki was born in Salem Massachusetts on November 1st, 1994 to a family of relatively normal people. Her great-grandfather (who immigrated to the US in 1904) was apparently a ship captain of some renown; at least, that’s what the family history speaks of. Her father would regale his two boys and daughter with stories about old man Eustatius and how he landed the Naglfar at Cape Cod. Whereas her brothers always seemed to love the stories, she mostly found them kind of boring (much to her papa’s chagrin).
In school, Anki wasn’t very cooperative nor extremely fond of her lot that she’d often end up in some sort of trouble. Like, say, for example, she’d not return to class after recess, preferring to meander the hallways, spark up cherry bombs in the toilets, and generally get herself into a whole lot of trouble for someone in elementary school. That got her suspended a lot, and transferred to different schools that, in the end, she really didn’t give a damn about any of it.
Her parents, of course, would reprimand her as they should (sometimes a little too severely for her liking) and she got lectured a lot, even spanked on several occasions. It didn’t do much to keep her from cutting classes in favor of exploring out, or have secret meetings with friends, or whatever else adventuresome children will do to while away the day.
Inevitably, school counselors and child psychologists were called in on the matter to try and right the girl done wrong before it’d be too late. Because of their patience, understanding and interest in her, it eventually worked out for the better that a young Anki was beginning to see the point of school and even started finding a certain enthusiasm for learning.
Things went on like this until puberty: when things took a turn for the worst.
Not only did the preteen have to go through the usual issues this change brings in life, but she also had to contend with discovering a number of pretty damned strange things about herself. Some cool, and some not at all. The first manifestation of her mutation took place in the form of accidental teleportation. One afternoon, she was sitting by a tree, playing with her PSP, when – just as she was about to kick the final boss’s ass – she sank into the ground. At least, that’s what it felt like. She didn’t understand how she ended up at the picnic table over there and neither did the three girls who were sitting there and chatting about whatever before Anki just like appeared right next to them. Everybody got freaked out, but no one more than Anki.
The event was quickly put out of mind – the school people made it to be a practical joke Anki had pulled on the others, and she was warned to quit it. Her parents did give her a bit of an enthused spanking that day, when she returned home – even if she kept saying she hadn’t done anything. Made her a little sore, and a little bitter. Similar events happened with increasing frequency and each time she got called to the principal’s office, her exasperated parents called (at work or at home), and punished her duly; not necessarily always with spanking, but always something she thought entirely unfair.
Eventually, she had enough and decided to just run away from home. The first time she did, she only was out for a day before, being utterly miserable, she returned home. Her mom got spooked by her disappearance, called the cops and everything. Her dad got angry and her brothers somewhere in between how their parents felt.
She loved her folks and her family – really, she did – but this was a little much for someone her age to have to deal with. Gradually, Anki just… tried her best to just not get noticed, or do anything that would attract attention to her or anything that might get her into trouble. She really just wanted things to be cool between herself and her family, and kind of felt guilty even if the weirdness wasn’t something she ever did on purpose.
It’s what led to the discovery of something else: if she really wanted not to be noticed, it seemed like she could – just as long as she stuck to the shadows, it’s like nobody ever noticed she was there at all. Oh boy, this was good – this was something she could do with. It put all sorts of mischief in her head and she started acting on it – partly because of a want to rebel against suffering what she believed were complete injustices and partly because, well, a girl doesn’t ever have enough money to buy what she wants. Mostly, at that age, it meant she’d go steal little bits of clothing and video games – nothing major, nothing mom would notice. Until the sudden increase in video games caught her younger brother’s attention and he’d start asking questions. Then talked to their older brother who, in turn, told on her, entirely disbelieving Anki’s claims that “a friend” had lent them to her – likely because the kid she named happened to be the cousin of his best friend.
Rather than face the wrath of her parents, the spooked thirteen year old decided to run away from home again – this time, for a few days until, cold and hungry, she very hesitantly came back home (strange that it never occurred to her she could use her discovered talents to fend off for herself). No spanking this time, not even a verbal reproach – mom had been worried sick, and crying the whole time. Dad’s heart had sank so low that, when they saw their daughter again, they didn’t even say anything, they just were crushed beyond measure. It made her feel incredibly guilty and ashamed and generally terrible about everything. Her brothers were more vocal, voicing all sorts of accusations on their sister and telling her how her bad behavior was killing the family. In the end, she couldn’t stay home anymore… it just didn’t feel like home at all.
When next she took to the streets, it was for good.
Over the next three years, she managed to learn what to do to look after herself: find where food and clothes could be gotten, sink in and take what she needed, without ever being noticed. She learned not to overdo it, that just taking what was immediately necessary helped her pass completely under anybody’s radar. She lived where she could, which – given her propensity for keeping out of sight and moving in and out faster than most people could follow (teleportation is neat) – ended up being pretty much anywhere she wanted to: sometimes in other people’s homes, in the basement, in an abandoned room. It kind of was funny how many old folks thought their houses were haunted. Heh, she grew fond of an old couple who felt ‘grandparent-y’ to her. Visited them often – well, not them per say, but she did crash in their attic and basement a lot, and wandered through the house when they were asleep. One day, she decided to knock on the front door and introduce herself.
The old woman was all smiles, and the old man was pretty friendly too. They didn’t have visitors very often, they talked and talked and shared their memories and everything else. Why she found them so… interesting… is something she still doesn’t completely understand. After that, she’d always come along with gifts – like, small things, little tokens of appreciation. Sometimes, it was cookies that one of them liked; other times, it was things they needed – like when their old radio died and she got one from a pawn shop (for free, of course, stealing it all stealthy-like). They were always happy to see her and she was always happy to see them.
One night, old man Erasmus said something really weird that caught Anki completely by surprise: “You’re like the rook, craftiest bird around.” And smiled such a knowing smile that the teenager felt the old guilt return to her. He said: “It’s okay to be different. None of it’s your fault.” Different? “Bertha and me are just like you. Well, not exactly the same, but similar.” Wait, what? “It’s not a good thing to steal, little rook. There’s a place you can go, for special people.” At that point, old Bertha chimed in: “We’d be happy to pay for your admission, but you gotta promise to at least try not to do so much stealing.” How did they know? She had to ask, shamefacedly admitting her guilt in doing so. “Erasmus can read your mind... been knowing you were coming for a long time now.” The kindly old woman responded with a warm smile. “We’re like you, and we can help. The school we want to send you to can help you better though.”
Meh, school. School sucks and is boring and blah blah – school for gifted children, huh? Okay, sure, she’ll give it a try… Besides, if it doesn’t go her way she can always just, like, vanish outta there and no one’s gonna notice. Uhm, that is, unless any of them’s like Erasmus. Meh, doesn’t matter – feels good to have people who care about you again. Alright, she’ll have a go and see.
Criminal Record:
Two counts of larceny (pick-pocketing)
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts: Loves watching movies, play video games, loves any kind of toy. She tends to scratch herself when nervous – usually her nose, or forearms – which happens more than she’d want. Has a thing for bubblegum, loud music, scratchy EBM or Aggrotech – needs a new IPod. Loves to dance. Has an addictive personality disorder, nothing major, but yeah, and kind of has klepto tendencies much. Fun Fact #n: Her mutation has somewhat altered her physiology in that the density of her bones is markedly lighter and somewhat hollow, resembling the likes which one typically finds in bird skeletons. It should be noted that their structure is no more brittle than is normal for a human (other than making her body lighter than it ought to be for her size): it has no real effect other than being a quirky side-effect of the X-gene's manifestation.