Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Character - Epiphany 'Pip' Verity

[LydaLynn]

Name: Epiphany Verity

History:

Pele had been a young dancer before she erupted. Tigerhawk a young surfer. Both had erupted into a world little prepared for super-beings. Pele had tried to continue her life, performing in both dance and song but a riot that resulted in the deaths of two people and the hospitalization of more than a dozen others convinced her that she shouldn't perform publicly any more. Tigerhawk embraced his new powers, overjoyed to no longer be a gawky teen with acne.

Pele turned to DeVries and, having learned the importance of a contract lawyer from her days with dance companies, ensured the employment would be on her terms. Tigerhawk also joined DeVries though without the aid of a lawyer. Both in their late teens, their new powers were a bit overwhelming.

A simple bodyguard mission was contracted to DeVries shortly after the two joined, and they were each assigned to the job with a few other Novas new to their powers. A simple contract suitable to shake down the new hires. It was there they met.

They didn’t fall instantly in love. Actually, Pele’s mind was the furthest thing from love. She hadn’t been out of the all girl performing arts boarding school she had been more or less raised in for more than a couple months when she erupted. She still wasn’t comfortable around guys and the near devotional awe she now seemed to generate made her exceedingly uncomfortable.

Tigerhawk had never had much success with girls, before he had erupted he had been a geek who spent most of his time surfing. Now he didn’t even look human, covered in white fur with black stripes, the tail and ears and digitigrade feet making him look like an anthropomorphic tiger. The fact that he could now fly on his surfboard was the only thing about him he considered ‘cool’. Of course, he was a young man full of bravado and wouldn’t admit he didn’t know how to talk to a girl he was interested in.

That Pele interested Tigerhawk was something of a foregone conclusion. That she recoiled from the idea of even talking to a guy wasn’t hard to see. The pain she felt when a man would look at her and see nothing but her body was almost physical. She hadn’t ever been with someone and had already been assaulted and nearly raped more than once since her eruption.

So Tigerhawk and Pele didn’t really even talk to each other during that first mission. But with the other members of their team they not only performed as expected, but were able to foil an attempted assassination. The group worked so well together, DeVries decided to keep them as a unit. And because of Pele’s contract, they were a unit that could decline any jobs she wasn’t willing to take. This kept them on protection details, transportation runs, and retrieval assignments.

The other members of the team didn’t seem to mind at all. There was Suit, a former FBI agent who kept to himself but was scary efficient with a gun and could get information on just about anything, he normally took the lead on missions. Then there was Sparky, an impulsive, hyper, and annoying man who could get under Suit’s skin like no one else but was one of the quickest Novas around. Pat was quietly there, androgynous but always stable, and more than capable with shis chosen element of water. Joshua, a Jewish Rabi, was diplomacy incarnate, and always willing to lend a shoulder to cry on. Mathew, a ten year old boy who was ‘an angel’ at least in his mind and by the Pope’s decree. And last was Spike, with the mind of a eight year old and the body of a ten ton rock giant.

Pele was most comfortable with Spike, he was ‘safe’ in being mentally immature and yet physically imposing. While she was with her ‘brother’ she didn’t have to worry about the advances of the male populace. And, he was impervious to her fire, she could cloak herself in flames and dance in his upturned palms. Often she would sing while she danced, her voice having become something angels would weep to possess.

Tigerhawk would often be ‘around’ when Pele danced. She danced for herself, not wanting to be the source of another riot, but once she was dancing, the world disappeared and she no longer knew who was around. Tigerhawk was careful not to be seen to care too much, knowing it would cause the opposite reaction to the one he hoped for. He had seen how Pele reacted to the interests of other men. And even if he hadn’t been afraid to spook her, he wouldn’t have been comfortable talking with her anyway.

Of course, after they had worked together through many life threatening assignments, Pele had noticed Tigerhawk. If there was danger, he was always there protecting her. And when he ‘surfed the wind’ Pele loved to watch his dance-like aerial acrobatics. The fact that he had fur didn’t bother her in the slightest and the way the muscles of his chest rippled under the white and black fur was defiantly something she found intriguing.

It took Tigerhawk almost dying trying to protect Pele to break the tension between them. After that, the courtship was quick and the ceremony small when Joshua and Mathew, in an odd mix of religions, legally married the pair.

Their first night together, both of them inexperienced and nervous, was magical. The next morning Pele was sick. After a week, it was obvious neither of them were sterile. Her pregnancy was advancing quickly, but she was healthy. Until the morning she woke up in a strange and sterile lab.

Tigerhawk was frantic when she wasn’t beside him that morning. No one knew were she was or had seen her since the night before. Suit was able to examine the room and could tell quantum energies from someone other than the newlywed pair had been used, recently and of great strength.

Pele was alone and cold and unable to access her powers. The room smelled of astringent cleaner and every inch of it was clad in stainless steel. Terrified she reached out with her meager Telepathy, a power she rarely used and wasn’t very good at. She touched a mind so gone with pain and horror that she recoiled into herself.

But then she felt another mind brush against hers. A questioning, feather-like touch that danced in her thoughts for a moment. It went away for a few hours and Pele thought she was alone again. After struggling and screaming for what felt like days, Pele felt herself start to sink into despair. And the mind was back, sudden and precise it delved deep into her thoughts, reading, accessing, copying. She screamed at it, thinking it was one of her captors, defiant and yet unable to stop it’s questing grasp.

Eventually a man in a white coat came in, a few drops of blood on his shoes the only thing not precise and neat and orderly. His cool reserve was frightening. Without saying a word or acknowledging Pele at all, he drew some blood, took her temperature and blood pressure, performed an ultrasound and ran a few other tests. Then, in emotionless silence, he left.

The other mind was back, suddenly. The fear that radiated from it tugged at Pele’s heart and she wordlessly projected reassurance. It took her another few moments to realize it wasn’t one of her captors. Another moment and she knew who it must be. A silent inquiry was projected towards her unborn child. The mind responded; She responded.

The female fetus was developing quickly, more quickly than a normal pregnancy. But now it was ‘awake’ and it’s mind had been exploring. She had sampled thoughts and absorbed her mother’s memories. Pele’s daughter was aware and afraid.

Calming her unborn child was instinctive and the process calmed Pele as well. Once they were both able to think without being overwhelmed by terror, they knew Tigerhawk and the others must be looking for them. Pele’s baby had picked through the memories of the other people in this place and knew where they were. Pele, upon learning they were in a research station in the frozen north of Greenland, despaired.

But her daughter had seen Tigerhawk in her Mother’s memories and knew he would come for them if he only knew where to find them. She needed her Mother’s awareness of Tigerhawk to find him, but was confident she could be heard that far away. Working together, they were able to make a brief contact with both Tigerhawk and Spike. Spike, though less mentally adept, was able to understand more quickly what was needed than the distraught Tigerhawk.

Tigerhawk and the rest of the team descended upon the research facility with the fury of a family of thunderstorms. Ripping their way through the building, they found Pele bound to a stainless steel table, her belly large with pregnancy. Quickly freeing his wife, Tigerhawk barely paused in his destruction of the site, his rage overwhelming. The front of the building, it’s support destabilized from the damage, collapsed. They would have to fight their way through and out the back.

As they continued deeper into the compound, they discovered rooms full of horrors. An operating theater with a body still cooling on the stainless steel table, the head cut open and the node removed. A room full of cells with only half conscious inmates that had obviously had skin surgically removed in strips and left open to the air, or with grafts of foreign skin stapled to their own. Another room full of jars with brains suspended in a thick liquid, each with cords and tubes leading too and from the vessels.

It wasn’t until later, when they were free of the building and heading away, that Pele realized her daughter had not only ‘seen’ all of that, but experienced it, as questions from the unborn baby reflected what could only be the thoughts of the people who had been experimented upon, the scientists there, and the members of her team.

In horror and grief, Pele wept, unable to comfort her child. When the group rallied after the rescue, they all realized that Pele wouldn’t be safe if she returned home. A long talk later and it was decided that Pele, Tigerhawk and Spike would leave the Earth, find safety beyond the atmosphere. The others would scatter, laying as many false trails as possible, hoping to keep the small family safe.

So Pele and Tigerhawk, with Spike in tow, left Earth. They made their way to the moon, Spike hollowing out a cave for them to live in while Pele rested and dealt with her accelerated pregnancy. Tigerhawk made runs for supplies and equipment to oxygenate the cave, not sure if their baby would be able to survive in space as both her parents were capable of doing.

And so it was Epiphany was born on the moon. Her fur slicked to her body and her wings small and folded close, she blinked her eyes at her parents and ‘told’ them her name. In the lighter gravity of the moon, she had little trouble adapting quickly to her surroundings. Still an infant, her mind was well advanced, holding the experiences of dozens of people.

Of course, emotionally and physically she was still a baby. And the frustration of being stuck in an immature body was often overwhelming for the young nova. But since Epiphany, or Pip as her father called her, didn’t look like a normal child, she wouldn’t be safe on Earth. They took occasional trips to remote parts of the planet so that she could experience the world she would one day live in, but they were always cautious, always on guard.

For ten years this was Pip’s life, her parents and uncle Spike and the moon. But Pele was distraught that her daughter would never learn to love the Earth and it’s people, would never know what it was to really be human and to want to protect the planet and all its people. So she started looking, putting out the word through the members of their scattered team. There must be some promise of safety, someone who could help them raise Pip on Earth.

And so Pip’s parents learned of the Traveler. Though perhaps, he learned of them and offered his help, Epiphany was never quite certain. It was another two months before Pele and Tigerhawk trusted him enough to think about sending Pip with him. And by then, Pele was pregnant again. Hesitating to send their daughter with Traveler when Pele was expecting again, they were not expecting Motherhunters. Pip was able to give warning to Tigerhawk and Spike who turned and lethally defended their family. Torn by the decision to let her daughter leave and the emotions of the new pregnancy, Pele was nearly insensate with worry and fear.

Very aware of her parents and the pain this was causing them, Pip decided to help ease the situation for them. It took her several weeks of careful and subtle work, but Epiphany was able to lock their memories of her away. Pele and Tigerhawk thought this was their first pregnancy and that the events at the research facility had just happened, despite it being ten years later. With the removal of their memories, she placed the thought in their minds that they would be safest if they left the solar system, pointing them towards a planet that they could reach just before Pele was due to give birth and that seemed suitable for raising her new sibling. Pip talked to Spike, who’s mind had grown with time so that now he could think as any eighteen year old. He would travel with them, his memories of their first daughter intact. One day, he would tell them the phrase that would trigger their memories, what they would do then, Epiphany couldn’t guess, but it was all she could do for her family.

Once they were gone, Pip contacted the Traveler, ready to go with him. Epiphany joined the others with the Sufu seven years ago. Quiet and reserved, she found that being on Earth triggered memories from her pre-infancy. While she no longer copied the memories of those around her, she still found she could easily understand the others. But they were so different from her, their experiences so unlike her own. She didn’t confide in them, didn’t tell them about her past beyond very basic information. She had lived on the moon for a time and her parents were gone. Otherwise, she kept her thoughts to herself, ironic as that was. After all, she joined their minds together, able to see each of them for who they were and in understanding them, keep tensions from raising too high.

She’s often mistaken by the others as being shy and she never argues about what they should have for dinner or do for an activity. Epiphany is happy to go along with the group, but sometimes she longs to return to the moon and she can often be seen looking up into the night sky. She wonders where her parents are, if they are well and how her unknown sibling is doing. Pip still keeps in touch with her ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ on Earth, those of her parent’s team who helped save them. And in her nightmares she remembers the terror of the research station and knows that those behind the facility weren’t there when it was destroyed.

[LydaLynn]

Click to reveal.. (Pre-Apotheosis)

Click to reveal.. (Post-Apotheosis)

Click to reveal.. (Quick Reference: Psychic Network)

Psychic Network
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Range: Special
Area: Special
Duration: Special

Psychic network is a much more powerful version of psychic shield and psychic link, as well as other mental powers, merged into one mighty whole. It also contains a few other effects beyond these two, a few techniques, like mastery power, the easiest effect, and the one that comes with the first purchase, is that of psychic Network. For each dot in the power, the nova gets access to one of these techniques. As with Elemental Anima (see that power for details), having this power allows one to work any of the techniques, at double cost with a difficulty roll of 1.

Psychic Network

The initiator of network, the central mind, is the one with this power, and they can add a number individuals to the network equal to their Quantum + Psychic Network dots, making it much stronger then that of psychic link, however, due to the collective connection of the link, it only gives a + 1 to difficulty every two people in the net, rather then every three. This effect costs 8 quantum to activate, but once active it remains active until dropped, or until someone goes out of range, which breaks the entire link. Furthermore, the nova must select the initial group to include in the powers effect, if they want to add and subtract folks, it must be dropped and new Network must be formed. Range is equal only to 800 miles x (Quantum + Psychic Network)

Psychic Shielding

Costing three quantum to activate, this technique allows the Nova with this power to protect anyone in the network should they be attacked mentally. It can only be used after the network is active, but it allows the nova to protect the network, it gives a +1 difficulty or soak to psychic or mental attacks for each dot of Quantum + Psychic Network.

Psychic Intuition

While the Network is active, the Psychic may activate this effect for everyone in the link, for three quantum, it is a maintenance based power. In essence, it becomes a form of mental scanning and awareness that allows anyone in the network to know if they are in danger, which is seen as danger to the network as a whole. In essence, however the only one who rolls is the Nova who is the center of the network, the one with this power. Rolling Perception + Psychic Network, it then works identical to intuition, though it only warns against threats that are related to other minds, a landslide or avalanche would not be detected unless it was initiated by another mind.

Sensory Network

This is a maintenance based technique, costing 3 quantum to activate, it allows the network to share senses in the same way they share thoughts, letting anyone in the link see, hear, smell, taste or feel whatever anyone else in the link senses. This can create effects like ultraperipheral perception, if a group circles around, or if one person has night goggles or the equivalent, eliminate the effects of darkness for everyone in the link.

Ability Network

This particular technique allows any in the link to share abilities with anyone else, in essence, allowing the abilities of anyone in the the network to become the abilities of the network as a whole. This is a maintenance effect, that costs the Nova with this power 3 quantum to activate, and it only allows ability use, but the number of dots may never exceed the number of dots in this power. In essence, if one person has 4 dots of academics, and the Mistress of the Psychic Network only has 3 dots in Psychic Network, only three dots can be shared.

Empathic Shielding
This is a mirror of psychic shield for emtional effects, identical to psychic shielding but focusing on emotion effects, it also only provides only 1 soak/difficulty increase per dot, like the above psychic shield.
Reference: http://www.rpg-post.com/powers/aberrant/emotion-shield.html

[LydaLynn]

Experience

Standard 			Baseline		  Nova

42   			    24 				   26

Spent

18   				 3 					20

Current Total

25   			    21 				    6[/code]

[LydaLynn]

I'll add art as I can. I have an awesome sketch that I need to get scanned in with a scanner that has a higher resolution than what I have. I'll add it when I get it. For now, a Chibi and Kokeshi version of Pip:

[LydaLynn]

This artist is awesome - though it looks like she's heading to an anime con or something.