<div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>THE PERSON</strong></span></div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br/><strong>Name:</strong>  Emma Hawthorne<br/> <br/><strong>Age:</strong>  21<br/> <br/><strong>Nationality:</strong>  American/British<br/> <br/><strong>Day job:</strong>  Student at the University of Texas in Austin and part-time tech support<br/> <br/><strong>Personality:</strong>  <br/> <br/>Emma is a bit of a strange cookie.  She’s a nerdy, gamer girl who is often attached to her computer, which doesn’t always make for the most popular girl, but she doesn’t seem to mind.  She finds it gives her the freedom to be herself and not have to cater to anyone else’s idea of what is ‘normal’, because she most definitely is not.  <br/> <br/>In addition, she’s also a wee bit sarcastic.  Okay, she’s a lot sarcastic.  This can be good and bad, as not everyone understands or appreciates that type of humor.  She tries not to come off as a total bitch and sometimes feels bad if she truly offends anyone when she didn’t mean to.  Then again, sometimes she means to...<br/> <br/>Besides her rather sarcastic streak, she is a generally pleasant person to be around.  She tries to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.  Because of this, she can sometimes get herself into sticky situations, but as yet she hasn’t had any trouble getting herself out of them.  Still, she’d rather say she lived her life than end up regretting never having done anything for fear of what <em>might</em> happen.  <br/> <br/>Emma loves her music.  She has a varied and eclectic mix with everything from rock and pop to ska and techno.  She even enjoys that cutesy type music, because it makes her smile and laugh.  And she loves to laugh.  <br/> <br/>She tends not to enjoy doing things ‘old school’, as she calls it.  An example being when she has to write things out long hand with paper and pen for more than just to jot down a note.  Even the simplest things, she’d rather text, IM, email, etc.  She hates being without her laptop or at the very least, her cell phone.  And the words “no signal” make her want to cry.<br/> <br/>She can also get annoyed with certain types of people.  Like those people who just have no sense of humor, no matter how hard you try.  It makes her sad to think that their life is so depleted of laughter sometimes.  Or people with closed minds.  Like those who are biased against things they never even took the time to try to understand in the first place.<br/> <br/><strong>Backstory:</strong>  <br/> <br/>Emma was the only child of Sandra Morgan and Sebastien Hawthorne.  Her mother, an American, had met her father, an Englishman, while on holiday in Paris.  Gotta love those holiday romances, huh?  Sandra was a good woman and they HAD used a condom, but you know that one percent they tell you about?  Well, that was Emma.  Thankfully the unexpected pregnancy didn’t ruin their relationship.  Indeed, it helped it grow stronger.  They married quickly and Sandra moved to London with Sebastien.<br/> <br/>Sebastien was an electrical engineer who worked for a communications company in the city.  Sandra had been an ICU nurse at hospital in the states, a field she enjoyed and continued part time throughout Emma’s childhood.  Her parents never had any other children, but they doted on Emma.<br/> <br/>When Emma was about fourteen, her father was offered a position in the states which he decided to take.  The family packed up and moved to Bethesda, Maryland, but they kept their home in London so they could make frequent trips to visit friends and family, most times in the summers when Emma was out of school.<br/> <br/>Ever since she was a little girl, Emma had loved computers and technology.  When most girls got Barbies and dollhouses, she was given old cell phones and computers to play with.  Emma was a natural with pretty much anything relating to technology, a trait she believed she gained from her father.  By the time she was twelve, her father was buying her used computers for cheap.  Emma would then fix them up, piece them together, and make better ones.  <br/> <br/>Another thing she found herself fascinated by was history and the fantasy world.  She was completely captivated by the days of knights and ladies, swashbucklers and highwaymen, castles and sieges, and so on.  She also delved into the gaming world, enjoying her times spent creating and becoming characters in the same lore in which she was so fascinated.  She was specifically interested in live action roleplay, but would also delve into the pen and paper play as well as online gaming.  She couldn’t beat doing two of her favorite things at the same time.  <br/> <br/>After graduating high school, Emma decided to attend the University of Texas in Austin, where she excelled.  By her junior year, she had her own place near campus, a part time job doing tech support for a local company, and a few close friends.  When she wasn’t studying or working, she was found gaming, with her friends or practicing with her swords.  Her interest in fantasy worlds spawned a real life interest in the craft and she started taking lessons after taking fencing her freshman year of college.  From there, she became involved in a club where they re--created various elements from the Middle Ages and Renaissance elements - crafting, riding, tourneys, and, of course, swordplay.<br/> <br/>In spite of her strange extra-curricular activities, Emma also occasionally enjoyed the typical college party.  She had her fair share of passing out drunk, unwanted hangovers and one night stands.  She’d even tried her hand dating - from jocks to geeks, but had yet to find the right man.<br/> <br/>It was during her junior year that the epic battle ensued between Starman and The Iron General.  She’d been on vacation in Paris, en route to her favorite museum next to the Hard Rock Cafe when she heard the commotion.  Little did she know how quickly her life would change in the next moments.<br/> <br/><strong>Appearance:</strong> Real person based image claims only please - <br/> <br/>(I imagine a bustier version of Izabel Goulart)<br/>(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q7/Zaytyll/Izabel_Goulart.jpg)</div><br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>THE HERO</strong></span></div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br/><strong>Codename:</strong>  Watts<br/> <br/><strong>Powers:</strong>  <br/> <br/><em>Electrokinesis</em> - Generate, manipulate and absorb electric fields.  She can create electricity in various forms, such as a ball or an arc, and hurl them at a target.  She also electrifies her weapons, adding to their sharpness and causing electric surge in her targets upon a successful hit.  In battle, she is often seen doing both - sword in one hand, alight with electrical arcs all around, and with the other hand, she creates balls of electricity that she arcs or throws at her target(s) or forms a lightning shield.  Her shield can be small, like the size of a buckler or it can encompass her entire body.  She is also able to power electronic devices with her ability, charging them up like a battery or overcharging them, causing them to superheat and explode like a bomb.  If there is a lightning storm nearby, she can pull it’s energy to recharge and amplify her ability.  <br/> <br/><em>Hyper Agility </em>- Super human dexterity, flexibility, melee attacks, throwing attacks, and so forth.<br/> <br/><strong>Weakness:</strong>  <br/> <br/>Since she will require concentration to perform some of the more complex applications of her power, high emotion may cause problems from missing a target to complete inability to use her power, based on the level of emotion and difficulty of the application.<br/> <br/>While she is immune to the effects, all normal reactions in other people or materials would still occur.  For example, if she electrified water, it would shock everyone in it (who isn’t grounded) no matter who they are (unless they are also immune).  <br/> <br/>There is a cost for using the ability.  It is not unlimited and she will weaken with continued use.  She will need downtime to recharge and/or some form of electrical surge from a powerline, storm, etc.  Overuse without a recharge can cause dizziness, loss of focus, even unconsciousness.<br/> <br/><strong>Skills:</strong>  <br/> <br/><em>Computers</em> - Very good with computers.  She’s a bit of a whiz with them naturally, plus she is studying programming at University.  She has low to intermediate level hacking abilities.  So she can’t hack the government, but local business with basic protections are no problem.<br/> <br/><em>Weapons </em>- She took fencing in school and has continued taking lessons beyond that in various types of melee weapons.  Specialization/preferred weapon would be a sword that she would electrify.  (Pic under equipment.)  <br/> <br/><strong>Special Equipment:</strong>  <br/> <br/>Sword - custom design<br/>(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q7/Zaytyll/lightning-sword3.jpg) (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q7/Zaytyll/lightning-sword1.jpg)<br/> <br/>Daggers - Two in similar style to the sword, though a bit more understated.<br/> <br/><strong>Costume:</strong>  <br/> <br/>(a la Sweet Pea from Sucker Punch)<br/>(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q7/Zaytyll/sucker-punch-sweet-801016.jpg)<br/></div>