Post by zanra on Dec 30, 2008 23:47:24 GMT -7
The Handler
Name: Zanra Vitikae Dayo-Kiti’c
Nickname: Zi, Zen
Classification: Human
Gender:Female
Age & Birthday: 13, January 5th
Appearance: Still going through the golden years of puberty, Zanra’s frame is still considered petite. Muscles have yet to gather along her slender bones, although she isn’t anything close to anorexic or the like. She still maintains a childish figure, her torso and limbs a bit disproportioned with not only each other but the rest of her body. Her eyes, a honey yellow marbled with an icy blue to create a speckled hazel color in the irises, are almost always wide, not with fear, but curiosity.
Due to her heritage, and the way she was raised right among the fields in the sun, Zanra’s skin has a coppered tone to it, which lightens up along her palms and in places like the hollow of her knee or her armpit. Her ebony hair is cut far above her shoulders, tousled around in a mix between a pixie and a bob cut, streaks of blended crimson left from a few experiments with hair dye during her first month or so in the wide world of the Americas. Another experiment has left her with pierced ears, two holes on the right side, one on the left.
On her left arm, Zanra bears the mark of a girl entering her ‘aging years’, a complicated henna tattoo which leads from the knuckle of her middle finger to the base of her tanned shoulder. The intricate designs, laced with a dark blue ink, contain images of things like animals, including a dove, which is her namesake, along with name in her native language. While she refuses to translate the writings, it can only be assumed that it is her own name, or the names of family members.
Attire: Zanra’s quite lax about what she wears, in public or out. Since her body is constantly growing and reshaping itself during the coming tentative years, most of her clothing is either too tight or bought much too big for her small frame, so that she has room to grow into it. Most of the time, she’s seen with a pair of jeans that are about one size too big, with a belt just managing to hold them at her waist, with a T-shirt sloppily tucked in to make the entire presentation seem a bit more presentable. Shoes aren’t much of a necessity for the teen, but more of a liability, so she often goes around barefoot.
When it’s a bit colder outside, Zi tends to dress a bit better. Not being used to any temperature under about 70°F, at least 2 well fitting parkas or sweaters are kept in the depths in her backpack of a closet, along with some good pants, and even some shoes to match. One special item, a sleeveless fur-lined vest that she received as a gift, has fit her for over a year or so now, so it still remains a staple of her warmer collection. With no living family to celebrate with, she sees no need to keep a hold of some nicer clothing, for things like a birthday or a holiday.
The Creation
Name: Zanra, ‘Tamer’
Power List: Sound Manipulation (Specialized)
Inter-species telepathy
Detailed Power: Zanra’s powers, in a horrible over-simplification of words, give her the tools to ‘tame’ or ‘control’ animals, mythical beasts in particular. A special grade of sound manipulation is used to change the normal range of tones and sounds from the human vocal chords into something more understandable for the species in range, a bald eagle, for example. Such tones would not catch the interest of a fox or a bear nearby, but were more than one bald eagle in the range of the sounds, all would be able to decipher them into their own terms of communication. The closer the beast is, the easier it is to communicate with it. Farther than a certain radius, the ‘voices’ become gargled and inaudible.
From there, the actual productivity of her powers relies in the beast’s own ability. Even with the use of her sounds, the animals Zi ‘talks’ to will not follow her commands if they do not wish to, but they are often drawn to by the basic need to protect those of their own kind, a feeling which is given by their mutual communication and understanding, like between a dog and it’s owner. A form of telepathy allows Zanra to view into the minds of the beasts she communicates with, in order to see if they will be useful to her cause, but she lacks the power to control such thoughts. Unable to determine that, any opponent may believe that she is controlling the beasts instead, or ‘taming’ them, which is why she has been given the code name ‘Tamer.’
On another note, her powers work best if she works with the same animal multiple times. Working with, for instance, a unicorn, only one time, will not work as well, as the animal will still remain somewhat skeptical. After many more attempts, however, a small bond with be forged between Zi and that unicorn, to the point that the beast will follow any command with just a hint of a signal.
The Potential
Alignment/Occupation: At the moment, Zanra is attempting to gain entry into the BPRD
Weapons: Other than what her powers provide, Zanra has a small collection of Swiss Army Knives, but only two or three work. Most are rusted over after spending time before their recovery in places like the bottom of a swamp or between the roots of a tree.
Personality: While she’s not the type to huddle up into the darkest corner possible during a party, Zanra isn’t much of the bubbly type. She’s much more of a wallflower, more than content to sit on a park bench and read a book instead of going clubbing at midnight with a gaggle of giggling, goofy girls. With her English skills still requiring some assistance, the one or two friends that she even started to talk to were driven away after they became sick of hearing her stutter over the same word five times. None of that has kept her down, however. Somehow, Zi always manages to keep an optimistic view on everything going on around her.
However, that doesn’t mean she isn’t driven down to begin with. Zanra’s very sensitive to the thoughts of others, so school has become nearly impossible for her, due to all of the teasing received by the harsh student population of the area. No kidding, she would jump a cliff for others if they assured her that it would make her seem cool. Part of this may be due to how easily she trusts other people, something gained over her time honing her special skills.
Skills: Growing up on the dry plains of Zimbabwe, Zi has become quite the speedy runner. After all, when trying to herd the wild zebra or antelope away from the village, the need to keep up with them is apparent. Although she’s not as fast as she used to be, since she’s had no need to use that speed up in the city, Zanra is still a bit faster than most teenagers her age. Another skill gained from her years in Africa is woodworking. Using a small knife or blade, she’s able to carve a relatively complex picture from a good piece of wood, as long as the metal is sharp.
After going from the quiet of Zimbabwe to the hustle and bustle of the city, Zanra found a need to hone a much more marketable skill. So far, all she’s been able to do is get herself up on a bike, to do a mediocre paper route. Even though the pay’s bad, she enjoys riding her rented bike.
Strengths: Again, Zanra’s pretty fleet-footed. If needed, she could outrun most people these days who are twice her age, considering by then that they have enough fat to create a clone (No offence, but it’s slowly becoming the truth of America).
Other than her slick feet, and her gifts, Zi’s pretty average, considering her age and all. In school, at least while she was still there, she maintained a B average; at least, that’s what everyone else knew. Her mind’s no super calculator, or a mental camera, although she does pride herself in the knowledge of not only one language, but three: Swahili, Farsi, and soon to be English, even if it’s not good English.
Weaknesses: Zanra, no matter how hard she tries, is just unable to hold a basic conversation. She stumbles over the basic of sentences, and stutters over words that go longer than about three syllables or so. Given the chance, Zi’d much rather speak in Swahili or Farsi any day, but in New Jersey, she doesn’t get much of a choice. Just to add to the frustration, her handwriting, although she can write English better than she can speak it, is pretty much illegible. It looks more like scribbles than words.
Considering the age she’s at, Zanra’s at a stage where her self-image is quite low. She doesn’t see herself as pretty or beautiful, but she doesn’t go around calling herself ugly either. She considers herself plain. Just plain. Able-to-blend-in-with-the-wall plain. Some people argue the fact, and while Zi does trust them a bit, that image never seems to leave her head. As her body begins to shape and even out, that image should slowly begin to rise.
The Story
History:
On a dark night, in a small village near the center of Zimbabwe, Zanra was born to an impoverished mother, the only little girl among 3 brothers, one of which was her twin, Chui. Sadly, Chui passed away from an unknown cause mere hours after birth, leaving her to raise her only daughter with an already broken heart, ready to mourn for the young life which had been lost so soon. The village people blamed it partly on the mother, for giving the baby a name which means ‘returns to the light.’ However, some blamed newborn Zanra, as the baby had been much bigger and healthier than her sickly twin. To rid their family of the evil spirit who killed the baby boy, Zanra’s father took her to be sacrificed, only for her to be saved last minute by her mother, who wasn’t ready to lose yet another child.
So, for the first four years of her life, Zanra was raised by her mother and two older brothers, until her mother remarried to a German man when she was four. He only remained with the family for about a year or so, before being deployed to a station back in his home country to protect them from some unknown danger. Her mother, with a heavy heart, left the household to wait for her husband, leaving toddler Zi in the care of the eldest son Enzi, who was about 14 at the time, and Kanu, who was about 8.
Emanuel Johann Kiti’c didn’t return home to his children.
Neither did Chihana Dayo.
For about 6 more years, the boys took on the role of caring parents, running the household as well as they could without the aid of their parents. Once she was old enough, Zanra even helped around the house, gathering fruits and plants for food in the crop fields, and learning how to carve wood pictures to sell for some money to keep the family going. Even though Zanra’s powers had surfaced over this time, no one seemed too upset over it. Although the village elders were shocked, her brothers protected her with every fiber of their being. It was near the end of her 11th year that Zanra was given her tattoo, to symbolize the beginning to her ‘aging years,’ otherwise known as puberty, even though hers didn’t start for another year or so.
Then life was thrown upside down.
First, Enzi, the glue that managed to hold what was left of the Dayo-Kiti’c family together, was deported away, to protect his country. Without him, Zanra and Kanu slowly began to get into more trouble, even having to steal to keep alive in the cold nights of the winter. Then, an epidemic spread throughout the village, and Zanra was infected with the African Sleeping Sickness. Slowly, the disease spread, and as she was getting close to the end, American troops arrived in an effort to save those who had been infected. Along with Zanra, about 7 other people, ranging from young children to the elderly, were taken by plane to multiple hospitals across North America, to go through treatment. After being cured in Children's Specialized Hospital, Zi was let loose on the streets of N.J. to pick herself up off of the concrete.
After her brush with death, Zanra found herself in junior high school, attempting to get herself a decent education while in the States. However, after an incident with three dogs, a hummingbird, a nest of yellow jackets and a bunch of annoying cheerleaders, everyone figured out about her powers. Even the teachers prodded her relentlessly, until she was driven out of the school. Although she has tried going to others schools at least three times, there have been no opportunities for her to stay long enough for her to graduate, so she has found the need to educate herself, even if living from the streets.
Somehow, Zanra has managed to live over a year and a half off of the streets of New Jersey. With a new haircut and some new jewelry to add, the teen has begun to search for someone, or something, to help her hone her outlandish gifts. After the unveiling of the BPRD to the general public, Zi has slowly made her way closer and closer to her goal. While she misses her family, and yearns for the chance to go back to them, she knows that this is her once chance to use her gifts for the good of everyone around her.
((Oh, I hope it's good! I was up at 2 in the morning doing this!!))
