Gladys Knight

[Gladys Knight]

The Basics

Name: Gladys Knight
Nicknames: Gladie (when she was a child), Grandma (even some of the students call her this)
Age: 69
Orientation: Heterosexual
Desired Rank/Job: Local/Retired Home Ec Teacher
Powers: Power Mimicry/Meta Sensing - Gladys has the ability to copy another meta's ability through direct physical contact. This power is involuntary. She can also tell if another person is a meta, but must be close enough to see the other person's eyes. If the person is wearing shaded lenses, or has something else covering their eyes, she is unable to use this ability. 

Gladys can retain a copied ability for a 24 hour period, but the strength of the ability starts to fade over time. For example, after touching a feline shifter she can also shift her entire shape. But after 8 hours she can only shift certain parts of her body, such as growing a tail. After 16 hours she can only shift very small parts of her body, such as her nose or ears. 

Gladys' control of her copied ability depends mostly upon the level of control of the meta she copies it from. That being said, with training Gladys has developed a level of control for certain abilities she has had a lot of previous contact with. This control only works on voluntary abilities.

Any ability she copes will be overridden by a new ability if she touches another person. Switching between too many abilities too fast leaves her feeling fatigued and increases the side-effects of each ability.

Gladys also copies the side-effects of a person's ability.

As she ages, Gladys has found that copying physical abilities takes more out of her than mental ones.  As does abilities she has never come in contact with before. 

Play By: Toni Morrison

The Details

Hair Color: Grey
Eye Color: Brown
Any Piercings? Just her ears
Any Tattoos? No
Any Scars? A few minor cut and burns from decades of working with students around sewing and cooking equipment.
General Appearance: Gladys is a short woman standing just s smidgen over five feet. And she swears she's lost an inch or two over the years. It doesn't help her height that Gladys is often sitting down. Her back and legs give her a lot of trouble these days and it hurts to be on her feet for too long. Still she is able to get around without and aid, though some days its easy to tell by her gait that she's in pain.

Gladys has been wearing her hair in dreadlocks for over a decade now. Before that she had it cute shorter. But she likes her hairstyle now because it is long and still semi-easy to maintain. She often wears a handkerchief of fedora to keep her hair from getting in her way when she is cooking, sewing, or working in her garden which is most of the time. She also enjoys wearing bright colors, but nothing too loud or neon. Her son gave her a bracelet with her grandchildren's birthstones in it one year for her birthday. She never takes it off unless she is doing something were it might get damaged. Along with the bracelet, Gladys is usually wearing several other accessories, such as big pins or necklaces. Gladys also is often wearing a pair of long cloth gloves, particularly when spending time around Hammel. The gloves are the only way to help her keep from copying abilities from the people she touches. 

Gladys is a very emotional woman and it shows easily in her face. She is usually wearing a big smile, but Gladys is never one to shy away from expressing herself. She gestures largely, talks loud, and laughs with gusto. She also has no trouble showing people she cares about whether it is by patting them on the arm or pulling them close for a long,tight hug. 

Gladys is often humming or singing to herself as she goes about her day. She also talks to herself out loud when she is upset or frustrated about something. Because of all the time Gladys spends in the garden or the kitchen, she often smells of a mixture of soil and baked goods.

Personality: Gladys has dealt with hardship in her life, but she's always managed to eventually see the positive side of things. Sometimes her endless optimism can get a bit frustrating for others around her. But to her seeing the world as the glass as half full is the only way to manage in this world. 

Gladys has always been a people person. She thrives off of helping others. Though sometimes her generosity can err on the side of spoiling people, especially her grandchildren. Still while she gives freely, Gladys has no place for people who aren't willing to try to help themselves too.

Gladys likes to be in control, especially in situations where she is playing host. She knows how she wants things to look and work and has trouble standing on the sidelines to let someone else run the show. And while she runs around making sure everything is just right, she forgets to take time for herself. This happens a lot. Though she's often told that she's going to bite off more than she can chew one day, Gladys has a lot of trouble saying "No" whether it be volunteering to help at the soup kitchen or one of her grandkids asking for a special kind of cake for dessert.

Gladys believes in the golden rule. And she's very strict about keeping to it. She hardly ever talks bad about others. The one big exception to this is people messing with her family. Don't cross her here. Still even then her bark is worse than her bite. After all there's not much a 5 foot 69 year old woman can do to be intimidating. 

Whether it comes from being married to an empath for fifty years, or because it was how she would have been anyway, Gladys really feels for other people. She cries easy seeing anyone in pain, whether in real life or in a movie. On the flip side, she also rejoices in other people's happiness. 

Your Vices

Likes:
gospel music - old, gospel music
baking - though sometimes the doing all the dishes afterwards is pain
M&M's - she loves this candy and also loves to give it out
gardening - flower gardens, herb gardens, vegetable gardens = all good
yard sales - it's fun to search for a good bargain, she also has a habit of picking buying boxes old movies to watch with her grandchidren
bright colors - particularly reds and purples
potatoes - mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, fries, fritters, hashbrowns, potato salad, potato chips, tater tots, ect
her grand kids
scary movies - though she has a habit of pointing out the background funiture that takes away some of the suspense to those watching with her
flowers - she tells her family to get her flowers while she's alive and not wait to put them on her grave
hugs - beware, she will hug you, she can't help it
Dislikes:
rap/screaming/dubstep music - this is not music
people who don't vote - she takes her public duties seriously
health food - why would anyone live off of this when there is high fat comfort food to be had?alcohol - she had a glass of champane at her wedding and that is the one and only time she ever drank
people who use Christianity to hate - she believes in love for everyone, big stong loud love
newspapers - they make her sad
Strengths:
baking - there's nothing she can't wrestle up in the kitchen
her purse could save the world - well maybe not literally, but she seems to have a lot in there that often comes in handy
singing - she'd never have her own album but she does have a nice voice
sewing - she made a patchwork quilt for each of her grandkids
volunteering - she is good at giving
listening - and giving out her "sage ol' wisdom"
Weaknesses:
math/numbers - she has dyscalculia though it was never diagnosed
saying "No" - especially to her family or those in need
playing an instrument - she's always wanted to be able to play the piano but it's not her talent
bad memory for dates - her calander is very through to help her remember everything without it she'd be lost
spanish - she knows a few cuss words, but beyond that she's hopeless
Fears: 
That one day she will have to be put in a nursing home.
Funerals - not just that someone she cares about is dead, but also bodies freak her out.
Secret:
As a child, she and her older brother tricked and old wino into drinking a bottle of piss. To this day she feels horrible about it.

Family Ties

Father: Sidney Carter(died when some was 2)
Mother: Ruby Carter(died when first grand kid was 7)
Siblings: Older brother - Orville Carter (died of lung cancer), Younger brother - Leland Carter (died in war)
Any Other Important People: Husband, Ezekiel(Zeke) - 70, Son, Elijah(Eli) - 46, Daughter-in-law, 12 grandchildren

History

Gladys was born the second child of Sidney and Ruby Carter in a small town in Georgia. Her father worked on a turkey farm and her mother was a house wife. Her father made enough money to pay the bills and keep food on the table, but Gladys and her brothers were left with their own imagination and creativity to keep them entertained. The brothers spent a lot of time at the farm. Sometimes Gladys went with them, but she also stayed home a lot to help her mother run the house.

At age thirteen Gladys' power manifested. The school year was just finishing up when she found that certain people seemed "special". She couldn't exactly put her finger on why. Having never heard of metas, Gladys was unable to connect this new sense with something like having an ability. Once summer started and she interacted with less people, she had almost forgotten about it.

Two months later after Gladys had turned fourteen, a Hammel recruiter happened to stop at the gas station in town. She was there with her brothers and after seeing the man, she knew he was different. When he dropped his keys, she ran over to help him. After touching his hand, she copied his abiliyt. The man was a precog and when Gladys touched him, she got a vision of her and her mother riding in the car with the man. It scared her and she ran away. Later that evening the man stopped by her home, having also had a vision of Gladys attending Hammel. It took a while for him to convince her and her family what was going on. Gladys' father was the only member of hte family who had even heard of metas. And he hadn't believed that they really existed. Her parents were hesitant to accept this idea, but eventually they conceded with the stipulation that Gladys' mother would travel with her to get set up at Hammel and meet the staff there. It was in the car ride on the way to Hammel that Gladys realized her vision had come true, jsut as she pictured it. And she started to allow herself to let this new reality and new life sink in.

Gladys had a rough time at Hammel for the first few years. Although she made friends easy and did well in most of her classes, she had trouble adjusting to her ability. Being at Hammel was like living in a minefield, touching the wrong student could be disastrous. Gladys had always been a very physical person and it was hard for her to remember to wear gloves and be careful when hugging people. Still she grew used to her new life and tried to stay positive.

Ezekiel had a lot to do with keeping a positive outlook. Being an empathy, he also had  difficult time with his power. The two of them bonded over their difficult days.  With their abilities they were able to see each other's point of view like not many could. Their friendship blossomed into love and Zeke and her started to date when she was 16.

After graduation, Gladys got a job as a Hammel dorm monitor. Her and Zeke were married a year later. Together they bought a small house in Pilot Ridge near the school. Zeke when to college part time. With both of them working and trying to make ends meet times were sometimes rough, but together they stayed positive as always and hoped for the future.

One of those hopes was for children, Gladys had always wanted to be a mother. But after two miscarriages, even her positive attitude was running out of steam And then her son, her miracle baby was born. During the birth there were complications and Gladys had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Still she and Zeke were thankful for his Elijah.

After Eli was born, Gladys continued to work at Hammel, eventually becoming a  teacher in Home Economics. Some people, including her mother, did not approve of her having a job while raising her son, but Gladys had come to think of the students at Hammel as her children as well. She couldn't imagine leaving them. And when Eli manifested it made even more sense for her to remain at the school.

She was sad to see her son leave when he graduated. And although she was happy for him to be starting a family of his own, both her and Zeke missed him while he lived in Spain. It was even harder after their grandchildren were born to be so far away. So they were elated when the family returned to Pilot Ridge.

Gladys and Zeke were a big part of their grandchildren' lives. They babysat, often dropped by for dinners, and had the children over for sleepovers and spoiling.

Four years ago, Gladys retired for teaching at Hammel. She was having health problems and being on her feet all day at school was too much.  After a lifetime of being connected with eh school, she found it hard to stay away. So she often drops by for visits, always with a load of baked good for the staff and students.  She also keeps busy by helping to run the local food bank and soup kitchen. 

Roleplay Example

Please see my horde.

What About You?

Name: Abi
Age: 27
Experience: Seems like forever
How Did You Find Us? Followed my heart
Ready To Play? Do you even have to ask anymore?

[Gladys Knight]

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