User:LawnPygmy/Lily Speedwell

BASIC KNOWLEDGE

• Name: Lily Speedwell
• Age: 24
• Height: 5'3"
• Origin: Volunteer
• Clade: Cephalist
• Concept: Girl Made of Goesfast
• Aspiration: Find a New Dream
• Chronicle Threat Level: Dysplasia
• XP/Beats: 14/32

BACKGROUND

Lily Speedwell has been running competitively since she was a little girl. She started on her school's track team, running for fun. When the Athletics department saw she could run like the wind, they pushed her (they called it encouraging her to use her gifts) to train, in hopes of one day being able to say they trai-- so that one day she could be an Olympian. Dreams of gold filled her ears, urging her to run faster, to work harder, to be better. Those visions chased her all the way through to college, riding a scholarship to University of Florida's to compete for University of Georgia at Atlanta's Track and Field team.

Of course, training for the Olympics didn't bring home any money, it cost money. Mom and dad had cut her off once she got to college, figuring she would just work through it like they had. Lily could work hard, they and her coaches said. They'd seen just how dedicated she'd been to her training and reminded her of how much of a waste of her talents it would be if she gave up now. So she knuckled down, put her nose to the grindstone, and danced for her dinner. Lots of girls at UofA were with her, so it wasn't like it was anything shameful. It's just something you had to do if you wanted to succeed. Plus, she met her coach/boyfriend doing it, so that was a bonus. Life was hard, but good. Things were looking up for the young Olympic hopeful.

And then Superbowl XXXIX happened. She took a job with the NFL; one of their halftime promotion events, the Lingerie Bowl, was going to pay off bigtime and give her the breathing space she needed to catch up on her failing schoolwork. It was pure exploitation and she knew it, but she hadn't got this far by being shy, and as an actual athlete in a team made of models and actresses, she was sure to stand out. Maybe an endorsement deal would be right behind it. Unfortunately, amateur athletes don't know how to pull their punches, especially when they're mad that their tight end is showing them up. And, of course, the NFL couldn't be bothered to provide actual protective equipment. She remembers cleats coming at her, bodies, a drafty feeling, then nothing.

She came to in a local hospital to the news that, not only were her arms and legs nearly pulverized by the crush of nearly two dozen women, but that she was out the payday the NFL had promised her because she'd somehow violated her contract when one of them had stripped her during the tackle. There weren't going to be any endorsement deals, because scouts didn't sniff around the Lingerie Bowl for anything other than cheap, desperate ass. Not only that, but she was also on the hook for her hospital bills and her flight home. A woman in an old suit and blue nitrile gloves found her laying stunned in her hospital bed, too shell-shocked to even think. She promised her people could help, if she signed up for a study she was running back home in Florida. Still reeling, she signed, and found herself with a plane ticket and a phone number.

That's how she found herself in the hands of Shining Way's Psionotherapy Rehabilitation Study. They told her she would be able to run again by the end of her treatment. They told her that the scars of her initial injury would fade to nothing by the end of her treatment. They were right. Hell, halfway through the program, she was clocking times faster than she had beforehand. Sure, there was a lot of electricity involved, which wasn't pleasant at first. But she found herself tolerating, even looking forward to her electricially stimulating her energy meridians and the rush of power she was just beginning to feel. The treatment was working so well that, when she was asked to help keep some of the other patients at the facility in line, she thought nothing of it, and helpfully ratted out the odd behaviors of her fellow clients to the weird Security captain.

Then, one evening, she found herself digging open one of the vitals machines to yank out the battery and suck on it. She had half-drained it when she caught her reflection, a black plastic log stuck in her mouth, its terminals dripping with spit and still sparking. There were teethmarks where she'd chewed away part of the housing. Her eyes had a faint blueish-red glow, like a plasma ball. It was time to go. She went to the front desk and told the staff there that she would like to end her treatment.

Unfortunately, Captain Razor wasn't about to let that happen. All the privileges she'd earned while in the program for her cooperation, all the rapport she'd gained with the staff for her good nature and friendliness, all the free rein she'd been given as one of the program's most promising resul, er patients and all the goodwill she'd managed to build up over the year she'd been with them? It was like a switch had been flipped. She was shut out of everything, the nurses' faces were cold, security watched over her at all times, and even Captain Razor took it upon himself to interrogate her frequently, as if expecting her to keep reporting on her fellow patients even still. Unfortunately, they'd clammed up at the same time. Even the surprisingly tolerant doll-woman in the Mind-Upload Program that she swore she would stop calling a MUPpet one of these days stopped talking to her.

Yet another system promised one thing and gave her another. She was tired of it. She'd let herself be pushed and cajoled and wheedled into making the most of her gifts for the sake of some elusive dream, and run herself ragged trying to keep up with everything that was expected of her. Somewhere in her mind, a connection clicked together. Something inside her cracked, letting out all the pent-up resentment she'd been holding back. All she could think about then was getting out of there. With the rush of speed that realization had sparked in her, it was easy to break out, and even easier to lose her pursuers. Nothing could catch her, so she ran. When she arrived home, she collapsed under the weight of the realization she'd never be able to run again, that the last twenty years of her life had been wasted on a dream she could no longer fulfill.

Thankfully, she had help.

APPEARANCE

Lily Speedwell is lithe and supple, her skin rippling with lean muscle. She has the build of a career runner, and the ass of a goddess. That particular bit of anatomy has been her primary money-maker for years now, and its been put into service again in Miami getting her back on her feet.

THE BATTERY

Psionotherapy, at least as it was explained to Lily, involves electrically stimulating the energy meridians of the body via carefully implanted wires lain along the pathways of various blood vessels and nerves, including the spine, which has several nodes of wire looped around what they called 'Reiki energy points', or 'chakras' when they felt less science-y. They've since fused with her nervous tissue and metastasized into some kind of mesh around her nerves that feeds and feeds off the electrical impulses they generate. She's started calling it her battery, because its hunger for energy drives it to suck up and store ambient power, which she can later use to power the various weirdnesses she's learned how to do.

VITAL STATISTICS

ATTRIBUTES

MENTAL			PHYSICAL		SOCIAL
------			--------		------
Intelligence: 	2	Strength:		5	Presence: 	3
Wits:		3	Dexterity:	       	3	Manipulation: 	1
Resolve:	2	Stamina:		2	Composure: 	3

SKILLS

MENTAL (-3 Unskilled)	PHYSICAL (-1 Unskilled)	SOCIAL (-1 Unskilled)
------			--------		------
Academics:	1	Athletics: 	5*	Politics: 	0
Chemistry:	0	Brawl: 		2	Empathy: 	1
Crafts: 	0	Drive: 		0	Expression: 	3* 
Investigation:	1	Firearms: 	0	Intimidation: 	0
Medicine:	3*	Larceny: 	1	Persuasion: 	1
Occult: 	0	Stealth: 	2	Socialize: 	3
Logistics: 	0	Survival: 	0	Streetwise: 	3
Science: 	1	Weaponry: 	0	Subterfuge: 	1

SPECIALTIES

• Athletics ** (Running)
• Medicine * (Sports Medicine)
• Socialize * (Stagecraft)
• Expression * (Dancing)

MERITS

• Professional Training ***

• Networking: At the first level of Professional Training, your character builds connections within her chosen field. Take two dots of relevant Contacts.

•• Continuing Education: Your character tends toward greater successes within her areas of expertise. When making a roll with her Asset Skills, she benefits from the 9-again quality.

••• Breadth of Knowledge: As your character has advanced in her field, she has expanded both the depth and breadth of her expertise. Choose a third Asset Skill, and take two Specialties in your character’s Asset Skills.

• Safe Place * - Lily's got an apartment. It's not a big one, but it's out of the way in a place no one goes to, and it has AC and running water. Also, it locks, and the doorman actually sort of does their job.
• Allies ** - Lily's ex-bo-- coach is good for a lot. Mostly small stuff, but he can be counted on to help out where he can. He might still carry a torch for the speedy lass.
• Fleet of Foot *** - Lily adds her dots in this merit to her Speed.
• Striking Looks ** - She's not famous, but she's got legs for days and a cute face that even a few light scars can't mar. Unfortunately, Shining Way can pick her ass out of a crowd with little difficulty. She gets a +2 bonus (or penalty) to rolls where her good looks play a part.
• Shared Suffering ** - Lily has spent enough time around other Broken in Shining Way that she's learned how to deal with their special needs and spot when they're having trouble. She gets a +2 bonus to Medicine and Empathy rolls involving other Deviants. Also, when saving a Deviant not of her cohort, including showing it mercy, she may take a beat.
• Resources * - She's got a little bit of savings and has a semi-steady job at Twin Peaks. Some nights, she dances. It's a living.
• Multilingual * - Lily's fluent enough in Spanish to speak it conversationally, and picked up enough Creole French to order food and ask where the bathroom is.
• Contacts (Olympic Staff) (**) - She's made some friends in the Olympic training circuits. They might not be willing to help much, but they'll keep her abreast of goings on.

TOUCHSTONES

CONVICTIONS

• The Recruiter: This dipshit is the reason Lily is in the mess she's in in the first place. So what if some drunk hit her on the side of the road! That's what drunk drivers do. You might as well ask the rain not to fall. No. This guy, she found her. She is the one who spun those pretty lies about getting to run again, about getting to compete again. She is the one who told her that all she had to do was sign her name, and Shining Way would take care of the rest. She doesn't remember her name, but she's got a good head for faces. And hers is burned indelibly into the back of her mind.
• The Chief: Captain Johnny Razor represents everything about herself she hated while staying in that godawful place. She was meek, timid, accepting. She followed his advice, his commands, and so many others were stuck back in cages because she was 'only trying to help'. Yeah, sure. Their babbled pleas to not go back were signs of how she 'helped' the other patients. Even that one, the doll-woman, somehow made it clear that she didn't want to be there despite not having a face to look at her with. The whole time, Captain Razor assured her that she was doing good work, that she was saving these people from themselves, making sure they weren't hurting themselves further. She might even have believed that, if they all didn't look so scared.
• The League: Oh the NFL. The fucking NFL. Those grasping sons of bitches... if there is anyone she hates more than her Recruiter, it's the fucking NFL. Back in '05, she was in the Lingerie Bowl. It was dumb, but fun, she didn't mind showing some skin, and she needed the money they promised. Only, in the process of getting hurt at that stupid thing, her bare ass was shown on live TV, and the censors didn't cover it in time. Apparently, that put her in violation of her contract for being 'flagrantly indecent', and so she doesn't get to see a dime of the money she was promised. That they left her ass hanging out in the DVD release was just the bitter cherry on top of the shit sundae the NFL served her.

LOYALTIES

• The Coach: Nathan Jacobs is a rock. Not like a literal one, you know, but... He's a constant. He never left Lily's side, not even at her ugliest, when she was covered in casts and blood and metal pins. He always told her she was pretty, even when one side of her face looked like it'd lost a fight with a belt sander and one leg was... Well he didn't care. He believed in her. He couldn't stay during her recovery (there was some family stuff and Shining Way had a policy or something) but she knew he'd be there for her when he got out. And he was. And when she told him she had to leave, it was him that drove them from Tampa to Miami that night, without even asking any questions.
• The Girl: Rebecca Fastner is a scamp. Nate's niece has followed him to Miami because... family reasons, and because her aunt and uncle are in danger and need her help. This young lady was raised on comic books and stories, and has let it inform her powerful sense of right and wrong. Lily, of course, fell in love with the brat the moment their eyes met, and would do anything the girl needs. If Nate was the rock, Becky was the heart that helped her back up after her escape, and the daring grin that forced her to admit she could still keep moving.

STATUS TRACKER

CURRENT STATUS

• Health: [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
• Instability: [X][X][/][/][/]
• Acclimation: 0
• Willpower: 5/5

COMBAT VALUES

• Initiative: 11
• Defense: 11
• Armor: 0/0
• Speed: 96(16 base)
• Perception: 5 Dice

ATTACK STATISTICS

• BASIC ATTACK - (Strength+Brawl+Specialty) = 7 dice

• Accuracy: 0
• Lethality: 0B
• Penetration: 0
• Timing: +0
• Strength: 0

POWERS

ADAPTATIONS

• Stubborn Resolve: Forcing any Deviant to act contrary to a Touchstone, even by supernatural means, is difficult. Once per chapter, if the character is acting in support of a Touchstone (pursuing a Conviction one or helping a Loyalty) and is trying to avoid being persuaded or mind-controlled away from acting on that Touchstone, she may increase any Resistance Attribute by the Loyalty or Conviction rating for purposes of not being persuaded or controlled for the rest of that scene.
• Focus: Once per chapter, the Cephalist can increase the potency of her power through sheer will. The character increases the Magnitude of one of her Variations by one for the remainder of the scene. She can push this further by spending one point of Willpower per additional level of Magnitude added to the Variation. This is an exception to the normal limit of spending one point of Willpower per turn.
• Iron Will: The Cephalist may spend a point of Willpower to use a once-per-scene or once-per-chapter Variation or Adaptation that he has already used during the current scene/chapter. This is an exception to the normal limit of spending one point of Willpower per turn.

VARIATIONS

GOTTA GO FAST (Enhanced Speed 3)

• Keywords: Reflexive, Tiered, Toggled, Overt
• Dice Pool: None
• Action: Reflexive
• Entangled Scar: Cold Feet
• Description: Lily's enhanced neuromusculature links up with the power of her internal battery to propel her to incredible speeds. She has to go fast. It's a defining trait of her existence, the keystone of the identity she's managed to cobble together out of the scraps of her former life.
  • Lily gains the following benefits:

   • Lily adds her Scar Power (5) to her Initiative.
   • Lily receives a bonus to her Defense equal to half her Scar Power (3) rounded up.
   • Attacks against Lily do not reduce her defense against subsequent attacks that turn.
   • Lily multiplies her Speed by 1+Scar Power (5).
   • Lily can apply her Defense against Firearms attacks as long as she is aware of them and not tied up.

GAUSS TACKLE (Lash 2)

• Keywords: Discrete, Toggled
• Dice Pool: (Dexterity + Athletics) - (Defense + Armor)
• Action: Normal
• Entangled Scar: Painful Discharge
• Description: Lily sheathes herself in an envelope of kinetic energy and barrels forward into something. The envelope slams forward on contact, blasting whatever's in front of it. This is half the reason she can't run competitively anymore. The damn thing discharges randomly, slamming into things around her with whips of kinetic energy.
  • Lily's Lash has the following Tags:

   • [Bruising] - Gauss Tackle does Bashing damage.
   • [Crashing] - Gauss Tackle functions by ramming, tackling, or throwing Lily into the target. Its dice pool is Scar Finesse (3) + Athletics and it enables a Move Action to be used to attack. When running, her Lash gains a Lethality equal to whatever multiplier is affecting the Deviant’s Speed. The Move Action must stop at the target and the same target cannot be the target of the Lash again that turn.
   • [Piercing] - Gauss Tackle has Penetration equal to the lower of Scar Power or Magnitude (2).
   • [Forceful] - Gauss Tackle inflicts the Knockdown Tilt.
   • [Slamming] - Gauss Tackle knocks back those hit by it a number of feet equal to the greater of Magnitude or Scar Power (5). If the target can't move back, they take 1 point of bashing damage for every 2 yards they would have traveled.
   • [Hastened] - Gauss Tackle has a Timing Bonus equal to the lesser of Scar Finesse or Magnitude (2).
   • [Versatile] - Gauss Tackle is Tiered, allowing Lily to use only the tags she wants to.

INTERNAL BATTERY (Immunity 2)

• Keywords: Discrete, Perpetual, Reflexive
• Dice Pool: None
• Action: Reflexive
• Entangled Scar: Low Battery
• Description: Lily's internal battery can drain energy from the environment to power itself. While it craves electricity, it isn't particularly picky. The side effect of this is to shield her against a a great many things.
  • Lily is immune to the following Tilts: Leg Wrack, Knocked Down, Immobilized, Arm Wrack, and Stunned.
  • Lily is immune to the following sources of damage: Electricity, Fire, Falling Damage, Overpressure, and Friction Damage (road rash).

BATTERY TERMINAL (Electrokinesis 1)

• Keywords: Discrete, Perpetual, Reflexive
• Dice Pool: None
• Action: Reflexive
• Entangled Scar: Low Battery
• Description: Lily's connection to her internal battery not only lets her drain the energy of phenomena in the world around her, but also to safely draw out electricity as well. She can guide it through the air, and also use the energy stored within her to power other electrical devices.
  • Lily has the following Electrokinetic powers:

   • [Conductivity] - Lily can increase or decreases the conductivity of the air surrounding a target. This can shield electronic and non-electronic targets (including people) from electricity and EMPs, reducing electrocution damage by twice Scar Power. Alternatively, it can direct an existing source of electricity at a nearby target, potentially damaging a device (by overloading it or exposing it to a localized EMP) or inflicting damage no greater than twice Scar Power (4) (dependent on a viable source within range).
   • [Power] - Lily can feed or starve an electronic device, powering it on or off even in the absence of a viable power source. This can “hotwire” a device that usually requires a physical component, such as a switch, button, lever, or ignition. If the device controls other devices (such as a control terminal that directs an entire assembly line of robots, or the ignition of a car that is otherwise in operational condition), it is possible to control much larger machinery, as long as the subordinate devices have an existing power source.

SCARS

PAINFUL DISCHARGE

• Scar: Involuntary Stimulus 1 (Running faster than a good jog)
• Keywords: Physical, Subtle, Repeatable, Involuntary
• Deviations: Common

All Variations with this Scar may activate on their own in the stimulus’ presence, possibly at highly inconvenient moments for Lily. If the Variation is Directed, the Storyteller may offer a Beat to direct the Variation for a single turn on which Lily does not do so (or select its target and effect at random). Once activated, Lily can deactivate an entangled Variation as an instant action, even if the stimulus persists, but it might reactivate a short while later (turns in action scenes, minutes in other scenes) if the stimulus is still present.

COLD FEET

• Scar: Bane 1 (Cold, 40F and below)
• Keywords: Physical, Subtle, Repeatable, Continual, Common
• Deviations: Draining (Exposure to the bane reduces the Magnitude of all entangled Variations by 1 per minute/turn until the end of the scene)

Contact with her Bane resembles an allergic response. She might suffer a rash, migraine, or eye irritation. You take a Beat whenever the bane complicates a scene or when you capitulate to the demands of someone who inflicts it upon you (or threatens to do so).

LOW BATTERY

• Scar: Dependency 3 (Electricity)
• Keywords: Physical, Subtle, Repeatable, Common
• Deviations: Common

If Lily has not consumed a hearty breakfast of Coppertops since the beginning of the current chapter, she suffers the Fatigued and Sluggish Tilts until she does so. For every six hours she goes without sleeping, she suffers a cumulative -1 die penalty to all actions. At every six-hour interval, make a Stamina + Resolve roll (with the penalty) to resist falling asleep. As well, she suffers a -3 penalty to Initiative and Speed, and a -2 penalty to Physical actions.

INVENTORY

• Shoos: She got shoes.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

• 10/10 Experience
• +1 Ability Dot (Strength)

Wits 2>3, 7xp

Persuasion 0>1, 3xp

Brawl 1>2, 4xp