Username: CallMeTash.
Character Name: Willow
Stage Name: Willow the Whimsical
Age: Almost 17.
Willow measures her birthdays from when puberty began for her with the pain that came with the development of her dragonfly DNA. She considers that her thirteenth birthday. She doesn’t know when she was born, and she isn’t sure the scientists know, either.
Gender: Female
Experiment Number: #058
Faction (and Expertise): The head of the Aerials, Willow specialises in the tightrope. Because most of her performances require dancing abilities, she enjoys dancing (although on solid ground, she doesn’t believe it to be as enjoyable) and choreographing. You couldn’t get her on any of the other equipment or doing tricks with the acrobats even if you paid her.
Mutation: Having been found at about two or three years old, Willow’s DNA was tampered with and spliced. After debating between inserting butterfly or dragonfly DNA into Willow’s genes, they picked the latter. The first three or so years after the ‘procedure’, Willow suffered from migraines and eye pain, due to the fact her human eyes were trying to adapt to the dragonfly DNA -- and in dragonflies, their eyes are compound. At times, Willow could see very well, and sometimes, barely anything at all. However, her eyes eventually settled, resulting in her skewed peripheral vision due to the fact she now sees things from it as if her eyes were compounded.
When WIllow hit puberty, however, the full extent (and pain) of her abilities surfaced. She began to grow wings, which are not very strong, but allow her to hover in mid-air and avoid possible fatal falls from high-altitudes. Her skin began to thicken as her body grew and stretched, making her impossibly tall for a normal human girl her age, and her bones became lighter. This came from the fact dragonflies have an exoskeleton, and have elongated bodies. She has a normal diet, like a normal human, but generally eats a lot of meat. When she’s really sick, she craves insects, but she tries not to eat them as she considers this mortifying.
Dorm Number: #18
Appearance: Willow’s body, due to her dragonfly mutation, is stretched out and elongated. She’s very tall for someone her age and has extremely long legs. Because of the elongation of her limbs, she also looks very skinny, almost as if she’s malnourished -- particularly at first glance. However, she’s quite healthy, it’s just that her body has become that way with the onset of puberty. She’s very bony and linear, but her ribs don’t tend to protrude.
Her clothes are generally too short and too big for her, resulting in some of her stomach being exposed and a bit of leg, even if she’s wearing the longest skirts and shirts she can find. She generally only wears skirts because they’re easier to belt up so they don’t fall off her almost non existent hips. All her clothes look baggy on her, as if they’ve been passed down from someone else. She generally doesn’t wear flats as they show off the bones in her feet and make them look strange, but the boots she generally wears make her legs look like sticks. Willow looks rather elfin like, although she believes she’s a lot less pretty, and without the pointed ears.
Like the rest of her body, her facial features have been stretched out, and she has a very pointed chin and a slim nose. Her eyes have widened as they developed the areas where she sees through compound eyes. Her irises, which are multicoloured, tend to be blue at the corners of her eyes, where, if she looks in that direction, things become compounded. They’re generally more a reddish-pinkish colour where she can see normally, and purple where these features overlap. Her hair is long, usually ending in a wave at her waist. She has long bangs, that are wavy as well.
Finally, she has small dragonfly wings attached to her back, but they are generally folded against her back. They do not retract completely, but they’re transparent so they can’t be seen when not in use. When in use, they are the size of her arm span, and just a bit shorter than her height.
Personality: Willow is generally cold and aloof, trying not to get too close to anyone. She believes everything is out to hurt her -- which, considering her past, is something to be expected. She knows of the pain that comes with mutations, but doesn’t believe it’s something to be shared with anyone else, and doesn’t like those who complain about it in public. She puts all her pain into perfecting her craft, knowing she can’t screw up. Her whole life has lead to being in the circus and putting on a spectacular performance, and she knows she’ll never be satisfied, even if the audience will be.
To others in the circus, she can come off as a graceful bitch, who isn’t willing to give people the time of day. Her Faction mates don’t think she’s got the best of personalities, but they grudgingly respect her. She makes sure the work gets done and that everyone is safe and healthy (or as healthy as they can be).
Her detachment and her unwillingness to connect is her way of protecting herself. Trust doesn’t get you so far, she finds. Only talent, hard work and respect. She doesn’t trust anyone as far as she can throw them -- and despite the strength of her muscles from dance, she can’t throw anything to save her life.
Background: Susan James was born into a world full of abuse. Of course, she doesn’t remember this, as memory isn’t stored properly as a young child, and the things she saw were so traumatic she can’t recall them, but she knows that there was pain. The scientists found young Susan on the streets, battered, bruised and crying about two or three years old. Because of her crying, they renamed her Willow, after the Weeping Willow, which was also seen in a park nearby.
Willow grew up believing whatever the scientists said, and although the needles and the procedures hurt, she believed that they were doing something good for her. Eventually, they stopped injecting her with strange things, and she thought the pain was over -- that was, until, her DNA started mutating and she began having migraines and eye trouble. The scientists assured young Willow she was going to be fine, and that this was for her own good. And she believed them, even while crying, her eyes unable to see in front of her.
When her eyesight came back for good and the migraines dimmed, she knew the scientists were unimpressed with their results (they had since told her her DNA had been combined with that of a dragonfly’s), but said the pain would stop. For a while, it did. But Willow didn’t trust the scientists anymore, and she grew weary. She didn’t know what the meaning of fun was, and how to be happy. They said what she had been through was for her own good, but they didn’t seem to think so. She was a failure, in their eyes. She couldn’t trust them. What if, for her own good, they brought the pain back?
Then puberty arrived. And the scientists didn’t intentionally bring back the pain, but it came back. A million times worse as her body stretched and stretched and stretched and she grew wings and she was tall, so tall, and she towered over all the scientists. She felt like crying all the time because it hurt but they were so proud of her now, so proud of what she was proving to them.
So she didn’t cry, but she didn’t trust them anymore. If this was so ‘good’, it wouldn’t hurt.
Finally, the pain became bearable, and she was able to live -- if you could call what Willow had been doing as living -- and they told her she was to train for a circus. Because she was so wiry and light-boned, they offered her the aerial tasks. Entranced by the tightrope, that was what she decided to do.
Relationships:
*Although she generally receives begrudging respect from her fellow Aerials, for some reason the new kid, Yuj, seems to think she hung the moon. She knows he practically flunked out of the Zanies and knows she's partly the reason why he's now in the Aerials, but doesn't know why. Everyone laughs about Yuj's childish crush on her -- but only behind her back. But she's heard rumours, and she doesn't want to believe nor encourage them. It's for this reason that she doesn't talk to Yuj very much, preferring to get someone to do her dirty work when it comes to the young boy, trying to disguise it as her not wanting Yuj to upstage her in her specialty. (Strangely enough, they believe her to some extent; but no one in the circus is stupid.)
Trivia:
* Willow can’t read or spell very well. She’s had the lessons, but due to her eye problems growing up, she doesn’t understand the phonetics of words so well, and it makes it difficult for her to sound out words or spell them. This is why when Willow writes notes, they are very short and simple. She doesn’t want anyone to know she has that problem.
* She has a soft spot for sweet food -- and she doesn't try to hide it.
* She has an obsession with socks, but wouldn't tell anyone about them. She likes long socks, and the more outrageous, the better. Although no one knows about this, she loves socks because they keep her feet warm, which she feels are always too cold.
Character Name: Willow
Stage Name: Willow the Whimsical
Age: Almost 17.
Willow measures her birthdays from when puberty began for her with the pain that came with the development of her dragonfly DNA. She considers that her thirteenth birthday. She doesn’t know when she was born, and she isn’t sure the scientists know, either.
Gender: Female
Experiment Number: #058
Faction (and Expertise): The head of the Aerials, Willow specialises in the tightrope. Because most of her performances require dancing abilities, she enjoys dancing (although on solid ground, she doesn’t believe it to be as enjoyable) and choreographing. You couldn’t get her on any of the other equipment or doing tricks with the acrobats even if you paid her.
Mutation: Having been found at about two or three years old, Willow’s DNA was tampered with and spliced. After debating between inserting butterfly or dragonfly DNA into Willow’s genes, they picked the latter. The first three or so years after the ‘procedure’, Willow suffered from migraines and eye pain, due to the fact her human eyes were trying to adapt to the dragonfly DNA -- and in dragonflies, their eyes are compound. At times, Willow could see very well, and sometimes, barely anything at all. However, her eyes eventually settled, resulting in her skewed peripheral vision due to the fact she now sees things from it as if her eyes were compounded.
When WIllow hit puberty, however, the full extent (and pain) of her abilities surfaced. She began to grow wings, which are not very strong, but allow her to hover in mid-air and avoid possible fatal falls from high-altitudes. Her skin began to thicken as her body grew and stretched, making her impossibly tall for a normal human girl her age, and her bones became lighter. This came from the fact dragonflies have an exoskeleton, and have elongated bodies. She has a normal diet, like a normal human, but generally eats a lot of meat. When she’s really sick, she craves insects, but she tries not to eat them as she considers this mortifying.
Dorm Number: #18
Appearance: Willow’s body, due to her dragonfly mutation, is stretched out and elongated. She’s very tall for someone her age and has extremely long legs. Because of the elongation of her limbs, she also looks very skinny, almost as if she’s malnourished -- particularly at first glance. However, she’s quite healthy, it’s just that her body has become that way with the onset of puberty. She’s very bony and linear, but her ribs don’t tend to protrude.
Her clothes are generally too short and too big for her, resulting in some of her stomach being exposed and a bit of leg, even if she’s wearing the longest skirts and shirts she can find. She generally only wears skirts because they’re easier to belt up so they don’t fall off her almost non existent hips. All her clothes look baggy on her, as if they’ve been passed down from someone else. She generally doesn’t wear flats as they show off the bones in her feet and make them look strange, but the boots she generally wears make her legs look like sticks. Willow looks rather elfin like, although she believes she’s a lot less pretty, and without the pointed ears.
Like the rest of her body, her facial features have been stretched out, and she has a very pointed chin and a slim nose. Her eyes have widened as they developed the areas where she sees through compound eyes. Her irises, which are multicoloured, tend to be blue at the corners of her eyes, where, if she looks in that direction, things become compounded. They’re generally more a reddish-pinkish colour where she can see normally, and purple where these features overlap. Her hair is long, usually ending in a wave at her waist. She has long bangs, that are wavy as well.
Finally, she has small dragonfly wings attached to her back, but they are generally folded against her back. They do not retract completely, but they’re transparent so they can’t be seen when not in use. When in use, they are the size of her arm span, and just a bit shorter than her height.
Personality: Willow is generally cold and aloof, trying not to get too close to anyone. She believes everything is out to hurt her -- which, considering her past, is something to be expected. She knows of the pain that comes with mutations, but doesn’t believe it’s something to be shared with anyone else, and doesn’t like those who complain about it in public. She puts all her pain into perfecting her craft, knowing she can’t screw up. Her whole life has lead to being in the circus and putting on a spectacular performance, and she knows she’ll never be satisfied, even if the audience will be.
To others in the circus, she can come off as a graceful bitch, who isn’t willing to give people the time of day. Her Faction mates don’t think she’s got the best of personalities, but they grudgingly respect her. She makes sure the work gets done and that everyone is safe and healthy (or as healthy as they can be).
Her detachment and her unwillingness to connect is her way of protecting herself. Trust doesn’t get you so far, she finds. Only talent, hard work and respect. She doesn’t trust anyone as far as she can throw them -- and despite the strength of her muscles from dance, she can’t throw anything to save her life.
Background: Susan James was born into a world full of abuse. Of course, she doesn’t remember this, as memory isn’t stored properly as a young child, and the things she saw were so traumatic she can’t recall them, but she knows that there was pain. The scientists found young Susan on the streets, battered, bruised and crying about two or three years old. Because of her crying, they renamed her Willow, after the Weeping Willow, which was also seen in a park nearby.
Willow grew up believing whatever the scientists said, and although the needles and the procedures hurt, she believed that they were doing something good for her. Eventually, they stopped injecting her with strange things, and she thought the pain was over -- that was, until, her DNA started mutating and she began having migraines and eye trouble. The scientists assured young Willow she was going to be fine, and that this was for her own good. And she believed them, even while crying, her eyes unable to see in front of her.
When her eyesight came back for good and the migraines dimmed, she knew the scientists were unimpressed with their results (they had since told her her DNA had been combined with that of a dragonfly’s), but said the pain would stop. For a while, it did. But Willow didn’t trust the scientists anymore, and she grew weary. She didn’t know what the meaning of fun was, and how to be happy. They said what she had been through was for her own good, but they didn’t seem to think so. She was a failure, in their eyes. She couldn’t trust them. What if, for her own good, they brought the pain back?
Then puberty arrived. And the scientists didn’t intentionally bring back the pain, but it came back. A million times worse as her body stretched and stretched and stretched and she grew wings and she was tall, so tall, and she towered over all the scientists. She felt like crying all the time because it hurt but they were so proud of her now, so proud of what she was proving to them.
So she didn’t cry, but she didn’t trust them anymore. If this was so ‘good’, it wouldn’t hurt.
Finally, the pain became bearable, and she was able to live -- if you could call what Willow had been doing as living -- and they told her she was to train for a circus. Because she was so wiry and light-boned, they offered her the aerial tasks. Entranced by the tightrope, that was what she decided to do.
Relationships:
*Although she generally receives begrudging respect from her fellow Aerials, for some reason the new kid, Yuj, seems to think she hung the moon. She knows he practically flunked out of the Zanies and knows she's partly the reason why he's now in the Aerials, but doesn't know why. Everyone laughs about Yuj's childish crush on her -- but only behind her back. But she's heard rumours, and she doesn't want to believe nor encourage them. It's for this reason that she doesn't talk to Yuj very much, preferring to get someone to do her dirty work when it comes to the young boy, trying to disguise it as her not wanting Yuj to upstage her in her specialty. (Strangely enough, they believe her to some extent; but no one in the circus is stupid.)
Trivia:
* Willow can’t read or spell very well. She’s had the lessons, but due to her eye problems growing up, she doesn’t understand the phonetics of words so well, and it makes it difficult for her to sound out words or spell them. This is why when Willow writes notes, they are very short and simple. She doesn’t want anyone to know she has that problem.
* She has a soft spot for sweet food -- and she doesn't try to hide it.
* She has an obsession with socks, but wouldn't tell anyone about them. She likes long socks, and the more outrageous, the better. Although no one knows about this, she loves socks because they keep her feet warm, which she feels are always too cold.