Zoelle Heroux
Oct 22, 2014 21:16:32 GMT -5
Post by Zoelle Heroux on Oct 22, 2014 21:16:32 GMT -5
The BasicsName: Zoelle Heroux
Nicknames: Zo or Z, never Zoe
Age: 17
Orientation: Bisexual
Desired Rank/Job: Student
Powers: Shadow Manipulation - The most basic use of her ability is being able to blend into shadows which makes her effectively invisible to the human eye but she is still there physically. All uses of her ability have the side effect of both light sensitivity and insomnia. The more complicated use of this ability allows her meld completely into the shadow, meaning that she is physically a part of the shadow, rather than simply hiding within it. An extension of this ability allows her to move from one shadow to another. However, her range is somewhat limited, only being about 15 feet which means to effectively travel sometimes she has to make several shadow jumps to land where she wants to. It works best if she is able to see the shadow she is traveling to, though it is not necessary. If she knows where she wants to travel to, she will travel to the nearest shadow to that area or the nearest within her range. Traveling in this manner generally causes nausea and this is increased if she is travelling blind so to speak. Making too many shadow jumps in a period of time will result in full body fatigue.
She is also able to manipulate shadow, rearranging and shaping it. This means she can extend a shadow, making it larger or smaller, moving it here or there. She can also summon shadows to her in that same manner, creating shapes out of it, though these remain insubstantial shadows. Doing so usually worsens her insomnia and occasionally results in migraines.
Play By: Elizabeth GilliesThe DetailsHair Color: dark brown
Eye Color: Gray
Any Piercings? left eyebrow, two in each earlobe, right cartilage,
Any Tattoos? A feather on her left hip
Any Scars? No
General Appearance: Probably the first thing one would notice about Zo is her hair. Naturally it is a dark brown color, but she had a fondness for dyeing it. Recently she’s been keeping it her natural color with several colored streaks added in in varying hues of green blue and purple which she often changes. Her hairstyle is long and layered, the longest layers falling about six inches below her shoulders and the shortest at her chin. On rare occasions she straightens her hair but usually that is way too much work for her.
Zo has a soft oval face, a slightly upturned nose and extremely pale white skin. Her pale gray eyes have an intensity about them that only seems to be increased by their lack of coloration. The light color is a sharp contrast with the dark eyeliner she nearly always sports. Framed by thin, dark arched brows, one of which is pierced, her eyes are quite commanding. Likewise her lips are quite noticeable given their fullness and pronounced cupid's bow. Zo is the sort who seldom smiles and when she does it is more accurately called a grin with more than a touch of mischief to it. It is little surprise then that she seems to perpetually wear a smirk.
At 5'7" Zo has always been one of the taller girls, something that is often accentuated by her tendency to wear heeled boots. She is a very curvy girl - something that has earned her the attention of her peers for years now. Even at her thinnest she was never truly skinny but rather slender. She has a true hourglass shape, not that it is easily seen beneath the many layers she tends to wear. Her weight is easily underestimated as it is distributed rather evenly on her tall frame which is something that she is very fortunate for. As far as her clothing style goes, the first thing one would notice is her tendency towards dark colors. No outfit of hers is without some degree of black. Much like her hair, she generally dressed in dark colors but with punches of bright shades. She varies between dressing for comfort and practicality and dressing for style, but her style always falls into the realm of edgy and even slightly punk. She is also nearly always seen wearing sunglasses when outdoors due to the light sensitivity caused by her ability.
Personality: Zo has what can certainly be called a strong personality. She bends for no one and makes no apologies for who she is. She is an extremely independent person to the point where not only can she not ask for help - she refuses to accept it either. If she cannot figure something out on her own, then she just deals with the consequences, no matter how dire. This goes deeper than just her pride (which she admittedly has no shortage of). Truth be told, she is deeply afraid of needing anyone because that sort of dependence requires vulnerability. In her mind, being vulnerable just means asking to get hurt.
That aside, the first thing one is likely to know about Zo is her propensity for trouble. The reason for this is that more often than not, her reputation proceeds her. Indeed, she is quite the trickster. She also has more than a few issues with authority which leads to a very rebellious nature. She's never been good at taking orders, tending to do the precise opposite simply out of spite.
Other than being known as trouble, Zo has been called a witch with a b more times than she could possibly count - sometimes thrown as a slur and other times said with a hint of affection. She is blunt to a fault - never holding back. The world isn't a soft place and so she refuses to coddle anyone, instead dealing in harsh truths that more often than not people do not want to hear. She also has more sass than one person needs, easily able to hold her own with near anyone. Verbal sparring is one of her favorite pastimes in fact.
Zo is an extremely tough girl, both emotionally and physically. She can hold her own in a fight (she's been in more than her fair share) and it takes a lot to bring her down. Even if she is hurt, whether by someone's words or fists, she won't show it, instead playing the stoic role to the point of folly. Denial is her bread and butter - if she can ignore it, then she can go on as though it doesn't exist. Given how guarded she is emotionally, it is little surprise that she avoids any sort of commitment. That's not to say that she isn't social - in fact she is extremely extroverted - but rather that she prefers to keep everything casual. Even calling something a relationship is more binding than she is comfortable with.
Ultimately, Zo is a survivor. She does what it takes to get by. Which has landed her on the wrong side of the law more than a few times. Her only saving grace is that all but once her wits kept her from getting caught - the last time, the manifestation of her powers saved her. Some would say she has a talent for getting out of things. That aside though, she is a very accomplished thief, though this is something she doesn't advertise at Hammel.
Despite her academic record, Zo is actually very intelligent. She is good at thinking on her feet and applying her intellect practically. As such it is often that people assume she is just 'street smart' given her troublesome personality, but in truth she has a lot of potential for academics if she can learn to apply herself which is something she struggles to do. When she does apply herself (like when Mike finally agreed to teach her how to pick a lock), she is a very fast learner.
Among Zo's more dubious skills (lock picking included) is her talent as an actress. While she has never acted in any sort 'official' capacity - she's never exactly been into school activities - she has always been good at knowing what people want and presenting herself as that. As she grew older this grew to becoming a very convincing liar, being able to invent excuses and sell them convincingly.
After being abandoned by her mother, naturally Zo developed some insecurities. However, this channeled mostly into anger for the young girl and she quickly learned to project a false confidence and indifference. In time, that confidence became true. While a part of her still feared being abandoned or hurt too much to let anyone close, she did learn to love herself, perhaps out of spite if nothing else. Her confidence borders on arrogance at times, but despite her many narcissistic boasts, she is fairly level headed all in all.
Though she is not one to open up to others, she is not without a gentler side. Though she can come across quite intimidating, she has a soft spot for underdog types. Every now and then a gentler person gets under her skin just enough to make her soften her attitude, though such occurrences are rare. Much as she pretends to not care, she doesn't want people to end up like her, so full of anger and fear and alone. So she tries to give helpful nudges when she can, even though she believes that it is too late for her to change.Your VicesLikes: loud music, body art, pranks, parties, fighting,
Dislikes: condescending people, pretentious people, tattletales, cowards, giving up,
Strengths: Getting into trouble, acting, lock-picking, stealing, fixing things
Weaknesses: obeying the rules, accepting help, tolerance, patience
Fears: needing someone else, being abandoned/rejected, claustrophobia
Secret: Despite her insistence that she is better off alone, she loves to be the center of attentionFamily TiesFather: Unknown
Mother: Desiree Heroux
Siblings: None
Any Other Important People: NoneHistoryZoelle Heroux was born into an already unstable family. Desiree Heroux was a desperate woman. She was alone with no family, and Zoelle's father - whoever he was, she wasn't entirely certain - was not in the picture. Which left Desiree with a newborn, 3 jobs and no one to depend on.
So it was that Zoe spent most of her childhood next door at the neighbors. The Collins family had 4 children of their own, the youngest only a year older than little Zoe, so it was little trouble to watch one more while her mother worked. It was hard not to feel sympathetic for the poor mother, trying to do it all on her own.
Life took a turn for the worse whenever a particularly bad day resulted in Desiree being fired from one of her jobs. Soon after, the two moved in with Desiree's then boyfriend to a smaller more run down apartment in a worse neighborhood. The neighbors here weren't so nice, which left Zoe in the boyfriend's care. He worked the night shift so he was home during the day, though he spent most of his time drunk. Luckily, at 5 years old, she was able to start school soon after and they were able to make do until then.
Things didn't get much easier for Zoe after that. School never really held her focus and she was always getting in trouble for this or that. Trouble that her mother had no time or patience to deal with. The boyfriends changed through the years, but the pattern was more or less the same until Zoe was 10.
It was then that Desiree ran off with her newest boyfriend. Zoelle was left alone, wondering why her mother had abandoned her without so much as saying goodbye. Still, she didn't tell anyone. Part of her hoped that her mother would come back - she couldn't really leave could she? In the meantime she got by stealing what food she needed. She lasted two weeks, until the electric got shut off and the rent was overdue. Desiree had been late on the rent often enough that the landlord didn't look into it immediately, and when he did, he discovered Zoelle, entirely on her own.
When a social worker came to take her away, Zoe knew only one thing for sure - she hated her mother for leaving, and she hated everything that reminded her of the woman who had abandoned her, including her own name.
She went into the foster care system after that, but things were off to a rocky start from the beginning. Zoe was an angry girl and one who didn't respond well to authority. Which meant that finding a home for her was difficult. Her record in school wasn't much better. Her attendance was awful, she seldom did her assignments and she frequently got into fights with her classmates. By the time she was 12 she had been through 2 homes already. It was that year that she ended up with Ms. Jean Barstow. This foster parent had no interest in actual parenting - she just wanted the paycheck that came with a ward of the state. But she was an expert at playing a doting patient mother for the officials to ensure she was always deemed a good mother. With this came some rules - for example that she had to actually attend school. So long as Zoelle - or Zo as she had begun going by at that point - didn't cause trouble for her, she could do as she pleased. That meant at least keeping up appearances, but it was worthwhile to not have to deal with someone ordering her around constantly
It was that point that Zo learned how to get smart. She figured out the bare minimum she could get away with, and managed to accomplish just that. She attended school, however reluctantly, and learned how to calculate precisely what was needed to just squeak by, passing all her classes with minimal effort.
She started hanging out with kids from around the neighborhood - they were all tough, or at least they thought they were. Criminals in the making. At first they scoffed at Zo, but she quickly proved she could hold her own in a fight and even take down a couple of them from time to time. That earned their respect quickly enough. Things began innocently enough - just lifting snacks from the convenience store and such or hanging out in abandoned buildings where no one bothered to care about trespassing. Easy things that didn't really make a difference.
At 13, the kids in her crew started giving her a hard time more and more about the fact that she always went to school. So she applied her intelligence to that too, figuring out how to forge realistic notes from her foster mother - notes that she knew Ms Barstow would agree to in order to maintain appearances. She started skipping more often, and soon people were coming to her for her forgeries, allowing her to make some cash on the side.
It was during this time that things began to escalate with her friends. They started breaking into places and stealing more and more valuable things. Zo was uncomfortable with this at first, but she got pressured into helping. She started as keeping guard, but after a close call where they almost got caught, she started being the one to plan. They were taking stupid risks, and she for one didn't want to end up in juvy. If they were going to do this, she was making damn sure they - and she - didn't get caught.
However, her friends were too impulsive for their own good.
They had broken into a building for kicks. It was easy enough to get into - they never expected the police to be called. When they arrived, everyone panicked. Z was cornered, unable to run, and so she simply sank into the shadows, watching in fear as her friends were rounded up. Yet somehow, no one seemed to see her. Then a cop shined a flashlight in her direction, and suddenly she found herself on the opposite side of the room.
She was never caught by some miracle - a miracle that was in fact the manifestation of her shadow abilities. Needless to say, she was freaked out by the whole experience, so she went into hiding, actually returning to her foster mother's house, and skipping school the entire next week. It was at the end of that week that a recruiter from Hammel arrived, saying she had meta abilities and needed to come to the institute to learn how to control them.
For once, Zo was freaked out enough that she didn't put up a fight. She never told anyone the circumstances in which her power manifested - she wasn't about to be branded a criminal.
So she relocated to Hammel and has been there for almost 4 years now, having just turned 17. For the most part, she's followed the rules, keeping the trouble down to small outbursts or pranks. However, she has maintained her tendency to simply do the minimum. The one exception is with her training. She actually has an interest in developing her ability and so actually puts in more effort there - though she tries to act as though it doesn't matter to her in order to maintain that indifferent attitude she is known for. On a personal note, keeping people at arm's length is a particular talent of Zo's but that doesn't mean she hasn't managed to get into more her fair share of trouble or have some good times.Roleplay ExampleSee Alanna DarlingtonWhat About You?Name: Faraday
Age: 23
Experience: a long time
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