Tatum Annabelle Reynolds
Jul 14, 2014 23:44:00 GMT -5
Post by Tatum Reynolds on Jul 14, 2014 23:44:00 GMT -5
The easy S T U F F . . .Name: Tatum Annabelle Reynolds
Nickname: Tate, T
Age: Eighteen
Member Group: Student
Power(s): Empathy- she can fully interpret and replicate the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another.
Her power stretches to the point that she can manipulate the emotions of others, but to a limit.
Her side effects are mood swings or emotional instability and insomnia which leads to fatigue.
Play By: Holland RodenLet it F L O W . . .I’ve always thought names were stupid. Just think about it: your parents, no matter how insane they are, have the power to call you whatever they want for at least eighteen years. Your mother could name you Fedora, because she likes to wear hats. Your father could name you Kansas because he was born there. After all, you can’t choose your family, but they can control your future with a name. I certainly consider myself lucky to have my father, Edward Reynolds, a perfectly sane dentist who kept my mother from naming me magenta.
I think that the world has a way of putting people together so they balance each other out. Unlike my father, mother was a little less on the sane side. Annabelle Worthson never worked a day in her short life, and would have ended up in my grandparents’ basement for eternity if not for my father. She had a passion for painting and said that she would rather do what she loves and have no money than do something she hates and have all the money in the world. So, in an attempt to start selling some of her artwork she opened a small gallery with the help of her parents. It wasn’t a complete failure, but the profit was nowhere near what she needed to live on her own. That’s how she met my father. He was sent by the dentist’s office he worked for to find some artwork to “liven up the building”, and walked right into her store.
The wedding was fast and so was the pregnancy. Less than a year after knowing each other, Edward and Annabelle eloped to Hawaii and got married. Nine months later, Daniel Reynolds was born. They tell me he was perfect even as a baby. They tell me he developed before his time and how he was always the smartest kid in his class. Daniel was so magnificent that my parents decided they wanted another child, since their first born was such a success. They didn’t expect the difficulties that came with my birth.
I only weighed 2.4 pounds when I was born. My mother says that I was exactly 12 weeks early to the day, and it took 4 months before I would be able to come home. She always jokes that I was destined to be a troublemaker, since I was a master at it even as an infant. They used to tell people that I was a miracle, but I think I was a curse. They weren’t able to have the perfect family anymore, no matter how much of an angel Daniel was. My first three years of slow development was the worst of it. After that, I was pretty normal other than having more checkups than the average toddler.
As I grew older I noticed that I was very different from my brother. He excelled in school, while I struggled to pass. He wrote essays for extra credit and I couldn’t even concentrate long enough write a few paragraphs for homework. My family tried to help me, my brother especially. He’d spend hours with me trying to explain things to me in a way that I could understand. My parents had no choice but to take me to yet another child doctor to get more tests done. They diagnosed me with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety. They put me on these medications that were supposed to help my ADHD and it did, but as I grew older I began to resist taking them. I began to hit puberty, and I wanted to be considered as normal as possible so I could fit in. I couldn’t do that while taking medication. I fought with my parents for months, insisting that I was normal and my ADHD was cured. They eventually agreed to take me off the medication as long as I kept up with my schoolwork.
Life tends to surprise you when you least expect it. I was always the one who people worried about. My heart, my lungs, my brain, all of it tested excessively and thoroughly since I was a newborn. I was the one who everybody expected to have something tragic happen to. Nobody expected for Annabelle Reynolds to die in a car accident on a foggy October 7th on her way to pick up groceries. I always imagined her looking down from wherever she was, laughing and saying, “Don’t you think that’s such a mundane way for me to die? In a car accident, on my way to pick up groceries…don’t you think that’s ironic?” It was ironic. That was life’s surprise for my family.
I guess my mother’s death is what it took to send me over the edge and send me into an emotional meltdown. In other words, I went crazy. I locked myself in my room for days and felt everything from grief to denial to anger. They say there are seven stages in the healing process after something tragic happens. For me, there were ten: shock, denial, pain, anger, depression, loneliness, hysteria, reflection, and acceptation; not exactly in that order. The tenth stage was unintentional. As I recovered from her death, I wanted my father and brother to do the same. I noticed that if I was around them, I could make them happier. The words ‘emotional manipulation’ never even crossed my mind until two recruiters showed up at my door to take me to the Hammel Institute shortly after the demonstration of my ability. I was scared, but what thirteen year old girl wouldn’t be? Everything was changing so fast, and I don’t think my brain could handle much change before going into another meltdown. So I did.
The first year I spent at Hammel was a low point in my life. I missed my family, and my schoolwork was hopeless without my brother to guide me. Friends had always been hard to come by, but exercising my powers only made me more unstable than I already was. You see, I have the ability to affect, or manipulate, people’s emotions. The side effects that come with it are extreme mood swings and emotional instability. That mixed with my ADHD and unreasonable anxiety pretty much tapes signs all over my body that say CAUTION in big black letters.
The next four years were a blur of long hours spent studying and trying to fit in. I eventually learned that fitting in at Hammel is really only achieved by not fitting in at all, because everybody has their own struggles that come with and without their powers. Without mine, I’d have no excuse to be the way that I am.
I have a long journey ahead and intend to make my next year at Hammel one that counts. Then...I don't know. I'm not sure if higher education is my forte. We'll leave that in fate's hands, for now I'll just focus on my senior year.
My powers have great limits, and I must work to break those barriers. After all, I need a good hold on them to graduate.
Have you ever heard of an empath that can't control her own emotions?
Oh, the irony.Behind the M A S K . . .Name: Lin or Linure!
Age: Mid-teens
RP Experience: Around six years
How did you find us?: AdShow your S K I L L S . . .
”I’m so stupid! I’ll never be able to pass the rest of middle school if I can’t even pass sixth grade! This is hopeless.”
She threw the general science and pre-algebra textbooks to the floor and tossed herself onto her bed in a huff. She would never be able to pass through classes as easily as Daniel does with his intelligence and charm. Teachers meet her for the first time and they smile, they tell her how nice it will be to have another brilliant Reynolds in their class. It never takes long for them to realize what a distracted student she is, with her consistently late work and low test scores. Even when she was on her medications she still struggled to keep up with even the most average kids.
”Oh, come on Tatum.” Daniel consoled, laying on his back next to her and brushing the hair out of her face. She wrinkled her nose and turned away, rolling onto her stomach to face away from him.
”Tatum,” her brother said sternly, ”This attitude is just making your anxiety worse. Better be careful, or mom will make you go back onto those crazy pills.”
Tatum spun around and looked at him like he was the crazy one, not sure whether to be angry or not. She narrowed her eyes and the corner of her mouth turned up in a sly smile.
”I have this theory, actually, that somebody dropped me on my head as a baby and nobody wants to admit the culprit, so you all just let me believe I’m this much of an idiot. Maybe you did it because you were afraid I’d outshine you.” She grinned as Daniel reflected the look of shock she’d had previously.
”I wasn’t allowed in the same room with you until you were at least two, so I suspect it was dad. He’s a bit on the clumsy side.”
She laughed and playfully smacked her brother on the arm before sitting up and idly picking at a thread on her faded blue jeans. She didn’t pull away as Daniel placed a hand on her back and stood up, kissing her forehead.
”You’re not stupid, Tatum.” He said warmly as he left her room. ”You’re just a different kind of brilliant.”
