Post by Nightingale on Oct 26, 2006 6:14:13 GMT -5
Name: Heather Doherty
Codename(s): Bowerbird
Affiliation: X-men
Age: 28
Height: 5'4
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair Color: Glossy blue-black
Eye Color: Bright lilac-blue
Appearance: Bowerbird did not, as might be expected from her name, gain the wings of her namesake, although she does have certain physical aspects to her mutation that resemble the Satin Bowerbird. Much to her consternation, after her mutation kicked in, her hair began to resemble that of the male Satin Bowerbird - glossy black with a dark purple-blue sheen. While she likes the colour, she doesn't like it when anyone points out that she's got the colouring of the males, but her eyes - a bright lilac-blue colour - are thankfully the colour that both genders of the bird possess.
Aside from this, Heather gained no other physical signs of mutation. She wears her curly hair long, her skin is pale - appearing paler for the contrast with her dark hair, and she borders on the plump side. Her usual clothes during work hours are business-like, combining suits with victorian style or vintage blouses, while in her downtime she can often be found in simple pants-and-singlet combinations. Though she will occasionally dress up for a special occasion, Heather is usually found in comfortable clothes.
Personality: Essentially, Heather is a well adjusted woman. Though she often uses humour to defuse potentially emotional situations, and will draw away from people if she thinks that a deep attachment is forming, she is very easy going and easy to get along with in regular interactions. Proud of her mutation even if she doesn't necessarily see it as world-shaking in importance, Heather believes that every mutant should make up their own mind about things like the cure.
Heather possesses seemingly infinite patience, and is one of those annoyingly parental teachers - the kind that is more 'disappointed' when a student is acting up or has failed to complete the set work. She is unsure how she is going to go if she gets hired by a boarding school with students of all ages, but hopes to be able to keep the student-teacher line distinct - even if nowhere else but in the classroom.
Powers and Abilities: An excellent vocal mimic, Heather can imitate any sound that her ears can pick up. Everything from human speech (to the point of being able to fool voice recognition software) to the sounds of nature to the sounds of industry. She is capable of performing circular breathing, so she can sustain sounds longer than most usual humans would be able to, but she cannot project her voice to a volume beyond normal human range (around 70 decibels). What these means practically is that she can imitate the sound of a jet engine, but not loud enough for people to actually believe that a jet engine is flying overhead.
She is also an excellent singer, and because of her ability to imitate many different voices and accents, Heather is considered a fantastic storyteller.
Weaknesses: Blue. Heather shares the compulsion of many bowerbirds to collect interesting, unusual, shiny and especially blue objects. Her room is a clutter of these things - she has huge trouble throwing anything out, and can often be found simply touching parts of her collection. As a young woman, she had a bit of a problem with kleptomania, though she has managed to control herself now that she will buy objects, only taking what she thinks is abandoned. Of course, this may cause some conflicts between what she sees as abandoned and what others see as lost - Heather rarely lets anything go once it has entered her collection, and she is obsessive about things staying in their correct place. Put something interesting, shiny, or blue in front of her, and Heather has trouble focusing on anything else.
While her vocal cords are strengthened (she will never suffer from nodules), Heather cannot operate if her breathing is damaged or restricted.
History: Born in Queensland, Australia, Heather Doherty grew up on mountainous acreage outside a small town, surrounded by native animals and plants. Her family life, unfortunately, was not so idyllic as her surroundings, and her father moved back to his native New York when she was seven years old. It was an amicable parting - her parents remained friends, no doubt made much easier by the fact that they never had to see one another, and every year Heather saw her father for christmas. She loved her mother's house, loved their neighbours and drinking fresh milk from the dairy farmers at the end of the street, loved going to school with all of thirty other kids, but most of all she loved the bush. She loved exploring, finding out about the birds and animals that shared her backyard, loved climbing trees and walking through their property and getting into trouble when she came home with legs covered in leeches and pockets full of interesting things.
When she was fourteen, her life in the bush was cut off suddenly when her mother was killed in a freak accident, her four-wheel-drive losing traction and rolling over on a stretch of road that had never presented a problem before. Her mother's scream was the first sound that Heather ever imitated, and after the funeral she was sent to live with her father in upstate New York.
She hated it. Seperated from her bushland, without even a decent garden, Heather found herself more and more miserable every year. Though she did well enough in school, she became something of a class clown, using her mutation to make other people laugh in the hopes that it would help her to feel good again. Quickly enough, she'd adopted an American accent, though she still stubbornly clung to her Australian accent at home, in an attempt to keep her mother's memory alive. Though she graduated with good enough marks, Heather had trouble deciding what she wanted to do with her life, and she ended up working in various part time jobs - saving her money until she could decide.
At twenty-one, Heather took off for an overseas adventure and began working as an Au Pair for a wealthy British Family. She enjoyed the work, staying with the family for a year, and eventually returned to the States having made the decision to study to work as a teacher in english and biology. Nothing particularly remarkable happened while she was studying - a couple of boyfriends, a few encounters with anti-mutant sentiment, mainly good experiences.
At twenty-eight she has recently graduated and is looking for a job - though she is older than many starting teachers, she is enthusiastic and willing to work hard. She has answered the advertisement from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and is waiting to hear back from them about an interview.
Sample post:
"Alright, I want everyone to come and get a dissection kit, and start working on your flower."
Yes, they were dissecting flowers. Heather had drawn a diagram on the board, showing all of the parts that the students were to label. Though several of them moaned, and there were a few half-hearted comments about how boring substitute teachers could be, soon enough the kids were all working at their assignments in relative silence.
Learning about plants wasn't always the most exciting of prospects for students that would prefer to be watching television. Unfortunately, dissection wasn't as exciting when it was plants, but that was the lesson plan that Mr. Elliot had left for her. It was such a shame - Heather loved nature, loved being outside, and she wished there was some way to get that across. She walked around the classroom, nodding at the students that were doing things correctly and giving a few pointers where things weren't going quite so well.
A girl was copying her diagram in sparkly blue ink. Sparkly! Blue! She stood transfixed for a moment, until the girl spoke softly.
"I like your contacts. Where'd you get them?" Vivid purple-blue eyes moved from the paper to her face, and Heather smiled.
"Oh, they're... Special order." While things weren't so bad, it was probably best that she didn't come out with 'I'm a mutant,' and possibly lose her contract as a sub. She really needed to get a proper job - it wasn't like she could hide it too easily. Well, maybe she could have, but she didn't want to dye her hair and put in coloured contacts every day. She shouldn't have to.
"You know what? Let's go for a walk." The grounds weren't exactly the botanic gardens, but hopefully she'd be able to get them interested if she took them out of the classroom for once. If there was one thing Heather wanted, it was to pass her passion onto her students.
Player information: As per Nightingale
Codename(s): Bowerbird
Affiliation: X-men
Age: 28
Height: 5'4
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair Color: Glossy blue-black
Eye Color: Bright lilac-blue
Appearance: Bowerbird did not, as might be expected from her name, gain the wings of her namesake, although she does have certain physical aspects to her mutation that resemble the Satin Bowerbird. Much to her consternation, after her mutation kicked in, her hair began to resemble that of the male Satin Bowerbird - glossy black with a dark purple-blue sheen. While she likes the colour, she doesn't like it when anyone points out that she's got the colouring of the males, but her eyes - a bright lilac-blue colour - are thankfully the colour that both genders of the bird possess.
Aside from this, Heather gained no other physical signs of mutation. She wears her curly hair long, her skin is pale - appearing paler for the contrast with her dark hair, and she borders on the plump side. Her usual clothes during work hours are business-like, combining suits with victorian style or vintage blouses, while in her downtime she can often be found in simple pants-and-singlet combinations. Though she will occasionally dress up for a special occasion, Heather is usually found in comfortable clothes.
Personality: Essentially, Heather is a well adjusted woman. Though she often uses humour to defuse potentially emotional situations, and will draw away from people if she thinks that a deep attachment is forming, she is very easy going and easy to get along with in regular interactions. Proud of her mutation even if she doesn't necessarily see it as world-shaking in importance, Heather believes that every mutant should make up their own mind about things like the cure.
Heather possesses seemingly infinite patience, and is one of those annoyingly parental teachers - the kind that is more 'disappointed' when a student is acting up or has failed to complete the set work. She is unsure how she is going to go if she gets hired by a boarding school with students of all ages, but hopes to be able to keep the student-teacher line distinct - even if nowhere else but in the classroom.
Powers and Abilities: An excellent vocal mimic, Heather can imitate any sound that her ears can pick up. Everything from human speech (to the point of being able to fool voice recognition software) to the sounds of nature to the sounds of industry. She is capable of performing circular breathing, so she can sustain sounds longer than most usual humans would be able to, but she cannot project her voice to a volume beyond normal human range (around 70 decibels). What these means practically is that she can imitate the sound of a jet engine, but not loud enough for people to actually believe that a jet engine is flying overhead.
She is also an excellent singer, and because of her ability to imitate many different voices and accents, Heather is considered a fantastic storyteller.
Weaknesses: Blue. Heather shares the compulsion of many bowerbirds to collect interesting, unusual, shiny and especially blue objects. Her room is a clutter of these things - she has huge trouble throwing anything out, and can often be found simply touching parts of her collection. As a young woman, she had a bit of a problem with kleptomania, though she has managed to control herself now that she will buy objects, only taking what she thinks is abandoned. Of course, this may cause some conflicts between what she sees as abandoned and what others see as lost - Heather rarely lets anything go once it has entered her collection, and she is obsessive about things staying in their correct place. Put something interesting, shiny, or blue in front of her, and Heather has trouble focusing on anything else.
While her vocal cords are strengthened (she will never suffer from nodules), Heather cannot operate if her breathing is damaged or restricted.
History: Born in Queensland, Australia, Heather Doherty grew up on mountainous acreage outside a small town, surrounded by native animals and plants. Her family life, unfortunately, was not so idyllic as her surroundings, and her father moved back to his native New York when she was seven years old. It was an amicable parting - her parents remained friends, no doubt made much easier by the fact that they never had to see one another, and every year Heather saw her father for christmas. She loved her mother's house, loved their neighbours and drinking fresh milk from the dairy farmers at the end of the street, loved going to school with all of thirty other kids, but most of all she loved the bush. She loved exploring, finding out about the birds and animals that shared her backyard, loved climbing trees and walking through their property and getting into trouble when she came home with legs covered in leeches and pockets full of interesting things.
When she was fourteen, her life in the bush was cut off suddenly when her mother was killed in a freak accident, her four-wheel-drive losing traction and rolling over on a stretch of road that had never presented a problem before. Her mother's scream was the first sound that Heather ever imitated, and after the funeral she was sent to live with her father in upstate New York.
She hated it. Seperated from her bushland, without even a decent garden, Heather found herself more and more miserable every year. Though she did well enough in school, she became something of a class clown, using her mutation to make other people laugh in the hopes that it would help her to feel good again. Quickly enough, she'd adopted an American accent, though she still stubbornly clung to her Australian accent at home, in an attempt to keep her mother's memory alive. Though she graduated with good enough marks, Heather had trouble deciding what she wanted to do with her life, and she ended up working in various part time jobs - saving her money until she could decide.
At twenty-one, Heather took off for an overseas adventure and began working as an Au Pair for a wealthy British Family. She enjoyed the work, staying with the family for a year, and eventually returned to the States having made the decision to study to work as a teacher in english and biology. Nothing particularly remarkable happened while she was studying - a couple of boyfriends, a few encounters with anti-mutant sentiment, mainly good experiences.
At twenty-eight she has recently graduated and is looking for a job - though she is older than many starting teachers, she is enthusiastic and willing to work hard. She has answered the advertisement from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and is waiting to hear back from them about an interview.
Sample post:
"Alright, I want everyone to come and get a dissection kit, and start working on your flower."
Yes, they were dissecting flowers. Heather had drawn a diagram on the board, showing all of the parts that the students were to label. Though several of them moaned, and there were a few half-hearted comments about how boring substitute teachers could be, soon enough the kids were all working at their assignments in relative silence.
Learning about plants wasn't always the most exciting of prospects for students that would prefer to be watching television. Unfortunately, dissection wasn't as exciting when it was plants, but that was the lesson plan that Mr. Elliot had left for her. It was such a shame - Heather loved nature, loved being outside, and she wished there was some way to get that across. She walked around the classroom, nodding at the students that were doing things correctly and giving a few pointers where things weren't going quite so well.
A girl was copying her diagram in sparkly blue ink. Sparkly! Blue! She stood transfixed for a moment, until the girl spoke softly.
"I like your contacts. Where'd you get them?" Vivid purple-blue eyes moved from the paper to her face, and Heather smiled.
"Oh, they're... Special order." While things weren't so bad, it was probably best that she didn't come out with 'I'm a mutant,' and possibly lose her contract as a sub. She really needed to get a proper job - it wasn't like she could hide it too easily. Well, maybe she could have, but she didn't want to dye her hair and put in coloured contacts every day. She shouldn't have to.
"You know what? Let's go for a walk." The grounds weren't exactly the botanic gardens, but hopefully she'd be able to get them interested if she took them out of the classroom for once. If there was one thing Heather wanted, it was to pass her passion onto her students.
Player information: As per Nightingale
