<strong>Character Name:</strong>Blackout<br/><strong>Played By:</strong>mayovagn<br/><strong>Real Name:</strong>Julie Parish<br/><strong>Age:</strong>27 years old<br/><strong>Sexual Orientation:</strong>Bisexual leaning more towards women<br/><strong>Height:</strong>5'2<br/><strong>Weight:</strong>90lbs<br/><strong>Affiliation:</strong>X-Men<br/><strong>Face Claim:</strong><br/><br/><strong>Appearance:</strong><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://www.treksinscifi.com/babedaily/babes/2014-01-24_Steamgirl.jpg)</div><br/>Julie is Caucasian, with very pale skin, she often wears round sunglasses even when circumstances would not merit it. She has long jet black straight and fine hair that reaches down to the middle of her back. She tends to dress in dark and muted colours. Walks very, very quietly. She is reasonably outgoing, though can be sharp and unforgiving at times. Her bouts of sarcasm are justly famous but are usually meant in jest. Julie is pretty in the old fashioned uncomplicated sense of the word. Julie's dress sense is best described as 'Gothic', a fashion trend that she has not, and it seems does not intend to, grow out of at any point. Even when she is not 'dressed up' in full on goth girl getup with makeup and all, she will tend towards black and dark purple.<br/>Julie is very healthy and physically fit, though she has a very slim build, she maintains herself with regular exercise. Due to her pas Julie has a good number of scars that she isn't especially proud of and tends to keep hidden.<br/><br/><br/><strong>History:</strong><br/><br/>Julie grew up as the only child of a middle class family in the south coast UK city of Brighton. Her home life was happy and normal enough, until her school was rocked by the news that one of the sixth formers was a mutant. The school was called into assembly and the head teacher told the whole school how it was important to be tolerant of others, and that people should be judged on individual merit. None of which stopped the student in question being hounded from the school, and from the city, by the weight of public opinion. Julie knew however that it could never happen to her, and at least she had not been involved in any of the name calling and bullying...<br/><br/>Her exams out of the way, Julie returned just the once to her school, to return all her textbooks. The assembly hall was full of her contemporaries all doing the same thing. Julie was standing there in the middle of the hall, wandering which table to go to first, which one of her old teachers she should face first, when it started happening. It was subtle at first, a darkness at the edge of her vision, crowding in on her. Raised voices around her went beyond notice as things rapidly deteriorated until she was completely blind, plunged into a shroud of total darkness. Julie collapsed into a heap right there on the floor, totally confused. Confusion turned to horror, somehow her sight had been taken from her, and people around her were screaming... Which was odd. She started to become aware of the darkness around her, the sphere of dark that had leaked out of her, she was not sure how she knew about it, but it was there. It was her. She was doing it, she was the reason people were screaming. She had to try to bring this back under control, to regain a normal life, draw it all back inside before everyone started pointing fingers and calling her names... Pulling the dark back inside her was one of the hardest things she had ever done, and it took her a good hour, by the time she started to make even small progress the police had arrived along with the UK Mutant Affairs people. Everyone knew it was her, that she was a mutant, everyone in town. She was tainted. Wrong. One of them. She was lead away by UK Mutant Affairs and housed for the next three months for 'Mandatory Observation while she learned to at least not blind everyone else around her by keeping the darkness within her own skin. She herself it seemed would remain blind. She also found, by accident when people startled her, that she could 'leak' the darkness into other people and blind them, the effects temporary in others as it would bleed off within a few hours. The first time this happened Julie thought she had caused someone else permanent blindness which set her on a dark spiral for a few days even after she found out that the orderly in question had recovered fully. She was allowed home once she had been judged to have things 'under control'. She found that, when she had an area around her filled with the dark substance she could 'feel' the shape of the surfaces all around her quite clearly, it wasn't sight, and it robbed those around her of their ability to see, the dark substance she emitted was so very dark after all, but it allowed her to get about when she was alone without issue.<br/>The humiliation started soon after, and only became worse as the months went on. It was not long before her parents were desperately looking for ways to insulate their daughter from all the abuse.<br/><br/>The information pack arrived from Xavier's School for the Gifted about the same time that Julie started to see shapes and outlines. her 'sense of the dark it seemed allowed her to 'feel' even the low background levels of the substance she emitted when not actively blacking out a whole area. Much deliberation followed, and more than one phone call to the professor himself. It was decided in the end that the best policy would be for the whole family to visit the school, with the professor picking up the tab. The family took the opportunity to turn the whole thing into a holiday. Landing in Florida they took a week in Orlando, doing all the usual touristy things, crawling round the theme parks mostly. Then it was off up to JFK in New York, the plan was for them to take a couple of days in the big apple. To see the sights, then to hire a car and drive to Westchester, stopping off in a couple of places on the way. However on their first night, staying in a motel in Queens events took a turn for the worse. One of the robot army known as the Sentinel's landed close to the building. Too close, the jet wash flung vehicles around the parking lot like they were made of paper. The room Julie's parents were staying in was one of those crushed. Julie herself barely escaped with her life, fleeing into the night wearing only her nightclothes. A cold metallic voice ringing out behind her, 'Mutant Subject Julie Parish Not Found. Unit Returning To Base.'<br/>Julie was picked up a couple of hours later by a scouting party of fellow mutants, Morlocks, outcasts who choose to live in the myriad tunnels and chambers deep beneath the city.  These were 'Beta's' of the Talon gang the outcasts of the unwanted. They were vicious, callous, using Julie for their own ends, planning to discard her once they had become bored with their new toy. She was saved by a young Morlock calling himself Sticks, who became a firm friend, who she still communicates with on occasion. Julie spent two years down in those tunnels, learning to live the life of the hunted, the unwanted, the mistrusted. When she was rescued by the X-Men, by accident, two years later she had been deeply scared mentally and physically and took a long time to recover to the stage she is now.<br/><br/>Her years at the mansion were different. She learned to trust others, and to defend herself, taking very well to Logan, whom she saw as a kindred spirit. Someone dealt a bad hand by life. For many years she attended daily one on one training sessions with the grizzly old man, becoming very proficient in a very great many skills that have saved her life over the years countless times.<br/>She learned medical skills from Doctor McCoy, the furry blue man happy to help her use her 'scanning' abilities for the greater good, after all she was a living breathing human MRI. She could concentrate slightly and see right to the heart of the problem, literally. She is certainly no doctor, she has no colour vision using her 'dark vision and can't actually diagnose a lot of maladies, however she makes a fine paramedic.<br/>She has been an active member of the X-Men for twelve years now. She wears a mask that completely covers her face, and this, coupled with her ability to blacken an area around her bears the code-name Blackout.<br/>As her skill and understanding of her abilities have grown she has, just recently, discovered that can, if she concentrates, control the dark inside of her body to the extent that she can, after over ten years, remove the shrouds from her eyes. Her eyes are not what they were, she cannot bear the light for long and so continues to wear the dark glasses she used to that mark her out as blind, she is in fact still legally blind due to her light sensitivity but she can at least see further than a hundred yards or so, read normal books again, experience colour and put on makeup and actually see the results.<br/>She has seen a great many things since she joined the X-Men, but has never had any luck in relationships. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Julie has always been left behind when it came to love, this despite her being bisexual, and so not limited to one half of the population for suitors. She has just never found the right person, at least not the right one who either wants her in return, or stays around long enough to make a real difference in her life. This is something that she secretly deeply regrets, however outwardly, she makes light of it, its a running gag to her.<br/><br/>She still has deep ties to the Morlocks and helps them out whenever she can, especially those, like herself, who are at the bottom of the pile in the tunnels.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Powers:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list">Julie is blind. Her body is filled with darkness, an all pervading impenetrable darkness. The kind of dark that seems to just absorb light, with no reflections. It is in her eyes, and if you look hard enough, down her throat. Which makes surgery hard. Still by touch this darkness can pass into others. Their eyes go totally black, which though a cool effect, and sometimes handy at parties, also denies that person sight. The effects can last up to four hours before the darkness dissipates, slowly fading away over time, the last quarter of which light starts to seep slowly and lazily through the gloom. She can bleed the darkness into the air around her. It will totally block out all light, and any light based devices, out to up to a eighty metre radius around her. She is also able to direct tendrils of the darkness in any way she wishes, and to assume any form she wishes, within this radius, however it is at all times connected back to her by a thin cord of dark. She can do this now without too much effort or concentration, and is able to use this ability on the move and under fire.<br/><br/>Julie can also focus the darkness into up to three consecutive thin cohesive tendrils, these have a range of around twenty metres and are wickedly strong, they are capable of emerging at great speed from any open orifice in her body whipping and striking at any target she wishes. She can focus the dark matter into a skin tight highly compressed super dense but flexible 'armour' that she can use to protect her from damage, this takes a bit more concentration than the cohesive tendrils and will stop most small arms and protect her from concussion and shrapnel from explosives but not from many super powered attacks. Solid Dark is something that she spends a lot of time practising with as it has a lot of potential.<br/><br/>Lastly Julie has one power besides the darkness. Julie can see in some strange fashion using the dark matter, similar to radar or lidar, Julie senses the area around her. However she can see shapes and forms through it only. Colour, is lost to her but she can tell distances and directions better than most sighted people and can sense textures and very fine detail with just a little concentration. One advantage she has however is that the ability works in a sphere around her with a diameter of one hundred metres, and is somewhat penetrating. While it means she cannot see beyond that distance even while out in the open air, it does mean she can see though some walls and most doors. If there are even microscopic gaps in a surface the Dark Matter in it's gaseous form will penetrate and allow Julie to 'sense' some of the area beyond, if in reduced detail for thick material. Julie can use this sight to read braille very easily and normal books if she concentrates on the difference between the ink and the paper. Julie has been working on fine control of the dark matter within her own body recently and has been working on uncovering her eyes as above. This is new territory and is a work in progress but she can now share her dark blue eyes once again with the world. If in dark areas only for the time being until her eyes re-adjust to light once more.<br/><br/>Julie's hearing is very good, and she is also very good at telling who people are from their body shape, their stance, the way they carry themselves. She has adapted well to her powers coupled with her blindness.<br/><br/>While it isn't a mutant power, Julie learned during her time in the tunnels to move silently. She does this unconsciously still, her footfalls silent as she pads about, even wearing big chunky army boots. This was a survival trait for her for two years, and is deeply ingrained, besides she likes it. Julie feels it gives her a certain grace.<br/><br/>Julie was on leave of absence during the incident with Thanos, her whereabouts during that are not currently known but she has since re-emerged and is trying to find any of her former classmates/teammates.<br/></ul><br/><strong>Abilities:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list">Paramedic skills - Julie trained with Doctor McCoy and learned how to diagnose and treat patients in emergency/triage situations to some extent.<br/>Research - Julie loves to read and study and absorbs knowledge like a sponge. She is extremely skilled at tracking down nuggets of information.<br/>Hand to Hand - Julie trained under Logan and, when forced to, she is quite capable of defending herself and others, she finds the idea of using lethal force abhorrent, but would if it was to defend life. She is very well versed in 'dirty' fighting and using her small size, her stealth and her darkness to her advantage.<br/><br/></ul><br/><strong>Weaknesses</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list">When not wearing an unstable molecule X uniform or her Dark Armour power she is has all the frailty of a normal human and a bullet to the face will end her hero career very quickly indeed.<br/>Julie's normal sight is a work in progress and her Dark Vision is very limited in range and lacks for colour.<br/><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li><strong><span class="bbc_u">Mind Control</span></strong> Julie has limited defences to Mind Control from study with Charles Xavier but must recognize it to marshal herself against it.</li></ul><br/></ul><strong>Equipment:</strong>X-Uniform and limited equipment. Some reasonable personal resources.<br/><br/><strong>Personality:</strong><br/>Julie is still fairly insular and introverted around new people. However around people she knows and trusts she can be quite an extrovert, enjoying a laugh and a joke as much as the next person. Though quiet, this gives her insight, a keen sense for others that most people would never develop. As an active member of the X-Men she has a great deal of loyalty towards her team mates and towards the goal of humans and mutants living side by side in harmony. She is bookish and is rarely without some kind of literature about her. She is shrewd and cunning but couples these with a twisted and sometimes vicious sense of humour.<br/><br/>Julie is surly and sarcastic, but in a quiet and subtle way. She is almost never blatant, but will happily tease the hell out of anyone she actually likes. People she doesn't like and or respect she will generally just avoid. She likes to be by herself now and again, and always has a quiet spot picked out somewhere close by.<br/><br/>Julie, on the quiet, likes to hang out at clubs that a lot of the other X-Men would never dream of attending. She enjoys exploring dark and forgotten places. She has a small personal fortune gleaned originally from her parents death that, having invested in Stark industries among others, gives her a very considerable return. A lot of this, since she is living at one of Professor Xaviers safe houses pretty much of the time, she uses to fund several underground charitable organizations. Foremost among these is the Independent Morlock Program. She is a regular visitor and well respected envoy from the X-Men to the tunnels. The IM Program is dedicated to giving the Morlocks true and complete independence from the surface world. She helps aid this cause whenever and wherever she can.[/list]