Tabitha Bishop

[Tabitha Bishop]

The Basics

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Name: Tabitha Bishop
Nicknames: The name she usually goes by on a day to day basis is merely Tabitha. People who are unafraid, exceptionally daring or just plain stupid sometimes call her Tibby (at their own risk). The few close friends she has call her Gabriel on occasion (a name derived from the Bible), and she has also been known by some as the White Witch. This has never been said directly to her face by anyone who has lived to tell the tale, however.
Age: 40 years old
Orientation: Homosexual (lesbian)
Desired Rank/Job: Tabitha is a little bit of everything. Her main responsibility is being Hammel’s official lawyer, and she handles everything from cases where the parents of meta-humans try to prevent their children from going to the Institute, to cases where they try to disinherit or emancipate them. She will also represent any student, teacher or official Hammel representative who needs it in court. In addition to this she keeps updated on current trends in the legal system and political development in regards to civil rights.
Whenever there is a student in need of aviating lessons she assists with this training, having vast knowledge of the field herself. Sometimes she will go abroad to the Institutes in Switzerland or Japan for the same reason. She helps out as a substitute teacher in math and physics on lower levels if there is a need for it.
Powers:
Flight:

Tabitha’s meta-human ability is that of natural flight. She achieves this thanks to her large feathered wings, giving her the appearance of an angel (albeit people tend to rephrase that assumption after they actually meet her). Unlike most birds her wings have a flexible skeletal structure that both makes it possible for her to fly indoors more easily, and also enables her to conceal them by fastening them down onto her back. She does this at the risk of looking like a hunchback, however.

To make it possible for her to fly, Tabitha’s bones are hollow like those of normal birds. Her body also processes food more efficiently than a normal human body would do, and stores less excess fat, giving Tabitha a slightly skinny appearance. This means that her strength, speed, agility, hearing and in particular eye sight is slightly better than that of a regular human. Thanks to this her eyes can withstand high-speed winds which could damage a normal eye. Even so, Tabitha often wears protective goggles if she’s planning on flying long stretches or at high speed. There is nothing even remotely charming about getting insects in your eyes after all. Tabitha can also breathe at high velocities and altitudes and can deal with low temperatures.

As a side-effect of her ability Tabitha is in danger of developing osteoporosis at an early age. This means that she is dependent on a regular intake of extra calcium and has frequent check ups with her doctor. Because her metabolism is a bit faster than a regular human she also needs smaller portions of food but eats more often than what is usual.

Play By: Katherine Matilda Swinton

The Details

Hair Color: From birth Tabitha’s hair color was a light blonde color, almost bordering to white. Over the years she has colored it quite often, however, habitually to red or brownish shades. At the moment she’s back to blonde again, but who knows how long that is going to last. No matter what color it is she always keeps it fairly short, reaching to just under her ears.
Eye Color: Piercingly green and constantly attentive.
Any Piercings? None whatsoever.
Any Tattoos? She has one, but you would have to know her very well to know about it.
Any Scars? Several.
General Appearance:
Describing Tabitha is not an easy feat. One key word to her appearance would probably be ‘memorable’, even though the people who have met her might disagree on how she actually looks. If you ever encounter her when she’s trying to pass herself off as a regular normal woman (which, to be fair is hardly ever), the first thing people tend to notice her is back. Whenever she doesn’t want to show her wings, she straps them to her back and legs so that they become less noticeable. In a sense it works, because rather than thinking of the angelic creature in the Bible, people’s imagination drifts to the Hunchback in Notre Dam. It’s the elephant in the room that no one dares to mention, and Tabitha rarely does anything herself to take the tension out of a situation, finding people’s hesitation and concern to be amusing.

When she does let her huge grey wings show uninhibited, they are naturally a normal focus point for the people meeting her. From a far she is often mistaken for an angel, but anyone thinking of the slightly melancholic and serene version often reevaluates their assumptions when they come a little closer. Her face is sharply angled, giving her a hard and uncompromising appearance. Her sharp green eyes and generally impassive facial expression help set off this look. Whenever she does smile, a lot of people find the gesture disconcerting. In a crowd she would be the sort of woman who people instinctively give half a meter space, simply because she appears cold and intimidating.

In build Tabitha has always been skinnier than your average woman, an impression that is intensified by her height (5’11). This is a side-effect of her meta-human abilities, but also a result of leading an active life. There is hardly an ounce of fat to her body, but there is a substantial amount of muscle. In regards to her skin tone Tabitha will have to be descried as downright pale. A few minutes in the sun is enough to burn her red as a tomato and she gets through the summers under a tick layer of sun block.

When it comes to her style in clothing Tabitha is slightly challenged. Having to find any outfit with the room for two huge wings is a problem that could give any woman a headache. To make her life a little easier Tabitha usually gets all her clothes specially designed. Her work uniforms have always been a little androgynous, and in time this has morphed over to her general outfits as well. She’s not a big fan of primal colors and prefers the wide specter of nuances reaching from black, brown and white. Whenever she’s out flying for longer periods of time, she wears a pair of old aviator goggles made out of brown leather. These make her look like some sort of deranged fighter out of World War One.

Personality:
When it comes to her personality Tabitha is anything but an angel. While her appearance makes her come off as cold, arrogant and intimidating, her personality solidifies this impression. More than any other personality trait, Tabitha can be said to be highly intelligent, however. She has a mind like a razor and an uncanny tendency of picking out things said in a normal conversation and twisting it out of context. This can often make her come off as being a… well, arrogant bitch, but anyone who manages to answer her back in kind will win her respect.

Having grown up under rather hard conditions for a meta-human, Tabitha has formed a cynical view on humanity as a whole. Her meta-human power is one with a physical aspect which makes it more difficult than for a lot of the others to blend into a crowd inconspicuously, and she has at times suffered the consequences of this.

Despite the fact that Tabitha has often been accused of not being able to feel empathy with others, this is more a smokescreen than the real truth. With those she cares about, Tabitha does have a softer side, although she often finds it difficult to show this in practice. She will instinctively root for anyone representing the underdog and often find ways of assisting those who needs it without really appearing to do so.

If you don’t understand irony or sarcasm you won’t last a second in Tabitha’s company. She’s always testing other people’s attitude and if you want to spent time around her you have to learn to push back when she does. Her humor is down right dark, and usually at the expense of someone else.

Another fact about Tabitha is that she loves a challenge but hates to loose. She is competitive by nature and will keep on fighting until the battle is won. This makes her an excellent lawyer, but a poor partner for a relaxed evening of board games.

If you dig down to the very core of Tabitha Bishop there is a somewhat wounded quality to her that is hidden under all the other layers. In the end her constant need to test those around her is really a way of testing herself. She can’t tolerate anyone to see any weakness in her, and as a result she hardly ever lets anyone become close enough so that their abandonment can really hurt.

Your Vices

Distant, cold, intimidating, condescending, arrogant, a bad looser

Likes:
+ Puzzles and riddles: “Keeps your mind sharp.”
+ Her job: “The smell of a courtroom in the morning…”
+ Knowledge: “Represents power in the real sense of the word.”
+ Challenges: “Contrary to common belief I like people who dare to challenge me.”
+ Winning: “In the end I will still win, however.”
+ Flying: “Is the feeling of freedom.”
+ Individuality: “Without it you’re simply wasting my time.”
+ To play the piano: “and I’m damn good at it as well.”
+ Dark chocolate: “Tastes like slice of heaven.”
+ Surprising someone: “Will usually mean they have underestimated me.”

Dislikes:
- Children: “If their not able to stand up straight and quit crying I really don’t want to see them.”
- Codependence: “Learn to live your own life.”
- Whining: “Gives me a headache.”
- Storms: “Make flying a living nightmare.”
- Ignorance: “Voluntary stupidity.”
- Loosing: “Not that I ever do…”
- Cats: “Some of those stupid felines has made the mistake of thinking that my wings makes me a bird. I have of course corrected their error.”
- Inactivity: “Is a waste of time.”
- Being manipulated: “Now, I don’t mind it, but if you’re going to manipulate me you better be damned sure you’re going to get away with it.”
- Overly emotional people: “Ends up in the same annoying category as babies.”
Strengths:
Intelligence: Her mind is Tabitha’s first and foremost important weapon. She is downright bright, and annoyingly so. From the first day she put her foot into a school building she has surprised and irritated every single one of her teachers. Do not be fooled into thinking that she’s merely a bookworm, however. Her smarts also extend into the material world as well, and Tabitha has always been observant and quick-witted. You’ll have to work hard to fool her. She has way of seeing patterns in the world around her that other people might miss, and the vast knowledge she has gathered during her life as a teacher and lawyer lets her sharpen this intellect to the fullest.
Persistence: When Tabitha has taken it upon herself to do something there is few people who can change her mind. Like a force of nature she will carry on whatever goal she’s trying to reach until she has conquered the challenge she has set for herself.
Rebellious: Even though this might not always count as a strength, it often is in Tabitha’s case. From she was a little girl she’s been unafraid to question authority and go her own ways. Even though she is loyal to those she cares about she will never blindly follow anyone and if she thinks something doesn’t make sense she will always tell you so.
Weaknesses:
Showing emotion: Somehow, showing emotions ended up being the same as showing weaknesses in Tabitha’s inner dictionary. She’s not a person who likes to sit down over a cup of tea and discuss her feelings, and normally she has little patience for other people doing so as well.
Social skills: Whether it is a conscious choice or not, Tabitha has an unrivaled ability to say just the things that rubs people the wrong way.
Impulsiveness: As an aspect of her individuality Tabitha can sometimes do things without thinking or consulting the people her action concerns. This makes her an impulsive person to be around.
Fears:
Even though she would never admit it, Tabitha worries that she’s going to end up alone for the rest of her life. At the same time she would also be the first to admit not having the patience required to maintain a relationship for longer periods of time.
Secret:
Tabitha has a lot of things she hide from the world. She hides her insecurities and weaknesses, and she hides the fact that she cares more often than she lets on. She has also never let anyone know that she once almost settled down with a woman back in England.

Family Ties

Father: Neil Sebastian Bishop (deceased)
Mother: Carol Bishop (71), retired and currently at a nursing home.
Siblings: None
Any Other Important People:None

History

Tabitha Bishop was born in London on the 18th of February, 1971 to catholic parents. Her father was a Major in the British Army, and as such the family moved around a lot during her childhood. Luckily he was never posted abroad, so Tabitha didn’t have to leave her home country. Even so, it was sometimes hard for the young girl to let herself become attached to places and people when she never knew how long they would stay.

At the age of three years old Tabitha began experiencing back troubles. She was sent to various doctors and hospitals, all of whom concluded that she had a bone growth deficiency, but no one could come up with a definite answer as to what to do with it. Her condition caused her quite a lot of pain, making it hard for her to function as a normal child would. The year she turned five two protruding growths showed up on her shoulders. Had there been more recruiters in Britain at the time and had it not been for the fact that her condition could easily be mistaken for more common growth disorders she might have been spotted for what she was at an earlier stage. As it were her problems merely baffled the experts.

Her parents both wanted her to have the offending bones removed, but the doctors advised against it, stating that since so little was known about the effects of her ailment one could end up doing more damage than good. A decision was reached to wait for a while and monitor her development.

When she turned ten Tabitha was sent to a catholic boarding school for girls. This was at the insistence of her mother, who felt that her daughter could benefit from having the chance to stay at the same place for longer periods of time, rather than following along in her parents’ constant trail of relocation. Although Tabitha was a bright student she hated the school she was sent to with passion, and often ended up in trouble with both her peers and teachers. By now the growths on her back were big enough to make it impossible for her to dress normally, and they were still growing at an alarming rate. Her strange appearance alienated her from her classmates and in combination with her defensive personality this left her with very few friends. She also struggled with accepting the hard regime of the religious professors at her school, who had no patience for a girl who questioned their teachings constantly. She was regularly reprimanded for talking too loudly and being impolite.

As a twelve year old, Tabitha was hospitalized once again. The skin on the growths had begun falling off, and they were now so big that the doctors saw few other options than to try to surgically remove them. Before the procedure could be started, however, her parents were contacted by a private Swiss Institution claiming to know of their daughter’s condition. The explanation they gave to it was unfortunately not something Neil and Carol Bishop were prepared to accept, and without consulting Tabitha they decided to proceed with the surgery. To stop the young girl from being crippled, officials from the Swiss equivalent of Hammel Institute got her out of the hospital. At their then secrete location she was given the option of going back home and have what would most likely turn out to be her wings butchered off, or to stay on as a student. Tabitha chose to stay.

The coming year was the hardest in her life. Her growths were still becoming larger by the day, and the pain this caused her was so intense that she hardly moved out of her bed during the following six months. For someone as active as Tabitha, this was a nightmare come true. By the time her wings were fully formed and coated with a thin layer of soft grey feathers she had been immobile for so long that she had not had the opportunity to get gradually accustomed to the changes occurring in her body. As a result she needed to learn how to walk all over again, seeing as the balance point in her body had altered. Another problem was the fact that no one at the meta-human Institute in Switzerland at that time had powers similar to her own. Due to this there was no one there who could teach her how to use her new abilities.

The solution was found by sending her to the U.S. Tabitha arrived at Hammel Institute as a serious and bitter fourteen year old. She put all her energy and effort into learning how to fly, and though her body’s condition gradually improved, her social skills did not. It was as if she simply didn’t understand how to behave so that other people liked her, and in truth this didn’t seem to concern her much either.

She returned to England as a twenty year old woman and went on to study law at Cambridge. By then her father had died from cancer, and she did not even attempt to resume contact with her mother. Her social circle was made up out of fellow students and some meta-humans living in the same area as she did. Her relationships with others were still very polarized, however. At some times she would lock herself away from the world entirely, and then at other times she would feel a sudden need to be around people.

For the first time she also found herself being attracted to other people, and surprisingly this turned out to be women rather than men. Over the years she spent in England she had several short lived relationships. Each time something seemed to be getting serious she would freak out and back away, however. To this rule there was only one exception. During her last year of studies she was introduced to a woman by the name of Eleanor Harper at a party she hadn’t really wanted to attend. Ella studied art, and was in many ways completely different from Tabitha. She was warm, emotional and easily came into contact with others.

Every fiber of her being told Tabitha that the two of them didn’t go together, and yet she still couldn’t help but to feel intrigued by the strange woman. Over the next couple of months the two met frequently, and although Tabitha always thought she would break it off she never did. The two of them were together for over a year, and some real changes in Tabitha’s personality could be spotted. Even so, she was constantly testing the boundaries, and couldn’t seem to accept the fact that Ella loved her. In the end this became too much, and Ella left her with the final statement that Tabitha made herself too hard to love.

With no reason to stay in England and nothing but bad memories keeping her there, Tabitha returned to the U.S. She studied for a couple of more years, to make up for the differences in the British and Anglo-American legal systems and then went on to work as a lawyer for several prestigious law firms. As a 31 year old she returned to Hammel and offered her services there. She has worked for the Institute ever since.

Roleplay Example

Amelia was lying on her bed, staring a hole in the ceiling of the roof above her. She was doing her very best not to think of anything that was going on in her life at the moment, as if not focusing on it would somehow make it go away. Unfortunately she was failing miserably. Downstairs she could vaguely make out the sound of her mother moving about in that random manner she would always adopt when she was nervous. Her father was trying to calm her down, his voice a steady and low stream. That had always been his own way of feeling in control. As long as he had someone else to comfort he was calmer himself.

The doorbell rang and Amy felt her body tense up. A part of her hadn't actually thought anyone would bother to come if she just showed her disinterest strongly enough for long enough. Half-sitting up on her bed she glared at the door, daring anyone to try to come in. At the moment this was her fortress, and she had no plans of inviting her enemies inside. A part of her regretted having come home at all. Perhaps she should have stayed over with a friend. Deep down she knew that was only pushing the problem in front of her, however. If she wanted this to end she would have to face it head on.

By the sound of it she would have the chance to do that very soon, because her problem was currently walking up the stairs. She sat up fully and gave the still closed door the full weight of her stare. "Amelia? My name is James Campbell. You did something remarkable the other day, and I want to talk to you about it. Just talking, that's all this is. You can do something special, and it probably scares you. I know a lot about it, and can answer questions. I promise, you're not going anywhere you don't want to today. Please just talk to me."

Was this guy for real? Did he honestly think that the whole concerned and friendly tone of voice would impress her one little bit? On the other hand she felt slightly interested by the fact that he hadn't tried to actually get inside her room yet. Perhaps his powers didn't enable him to break down the door or somehow make the key turn? Well, then she wasn't going to help him. She had a stack of mars bars hidden away in her closet and if she really wanted to she could stay inside this room for a very long time.

Huffing she got up from her bed and walked over to her desk. She could talk to him she supposed, but that didn't have to involve opening the door. "I'm afraid you've been misinformed Mister Campbell," she said in a reasonable voice, "I haven't done anything remarkable at all. I was shot at. What's remarkable is that the man doing it missed. If you think that might be some special power your school would be interested in you can go take it up with him. As far as I know he's still at the local police station down town."

Flipping through her CD collection she finally found what she was looking for and loaded it into her stereo. A small part of her felt appalled at how she was acting, but the majority was cheering her on. She wasn't in the business of making Mister Campbell's life any easier after all. "I am sorry that you had to take the trip all the way out here, but whatever you've heard about me it's incorrect. I'm not a freak."

And with that she turned on the CD-player, letting the sound of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture fill the room. Perhaps not the normal way of instigating a teenage rebellion, but it was a pretty definite signal that she considered the conversation to be over. The only problem with her plan was that she had forgotten the fact that her father kept a spare key to her bedroom. He had never used it before, that had always been an unspoken agreement between them up until now, but apparently normal rules no longer applied.

Twirling around on her heels Amelia turned and stared at the three persons who were cramped together in the narrow hallway outside her door. Her father had that serious expression on his face that meant business, and she realized that he wasn't planning on letting her off the hook this time. "That will be quite enough Amy," he said, "you haven't been acting like yourself lately and you can't avoid this anymore. You're always complaining about head aches and lately you've been acting as if the whole world is out to get you. It's time you stop this nonsense and listen to what this man has to say."

His words caught her completely off guard, so much that her mother used the opportunity to place a gentle arm around her shoulder and usher her into the living room downstairs. She ended up sitting in between her parents, something that did nothing to sooth her already frayed nerves and she treated the Hammel official to the deadliest glare she could muster. James Campbell had just gone from being mild annoyance to enemy number one in her book.

What About You?

Name: Mshana. Or whatever else Tony comes up with in the c-box (shahananana!).
Age: older than dirt.
Experience: since the dawn of time.
How Did You Find Us? Actually I have forgotten… Check Amelia Blane’s application.
Ready To Play? Hell YEAH! (oh and by the way I tried to respect what you said about the Hammel universe Tony. If I’ve missed something just tell me and I will change it).

[Admin!]

A-C-C-E-P-T-E! (D)
...That joke makes a lot more sense when I say it out loud. Anywy, look at the CLAIMS, and have fun.