Alexandra Gibney-Young

by **Neon** January 30th 2016, 12:23 pm

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ALEX GIBNEY-YOUNG
SKYSCRAPER

Basic Biography

Real Name: Alexandra "Alex" Gibney-Young
Hero Name: Skyscraper
Alignment: Neutral Good
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian (British)
Hair: Light-brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'7" (in normal size)
Weight: 136lbs (in normal size)
Blood type: AB+

The Looks

Appearance: In her normal size, Alex stands at 5'7" and weights 136lbs. She sports an athletic body, thanks to her training in swimming, gymnastics and horseback riding. She usually keeps her long light-brown hair loose, but tends to put it in a ponytail when doing hero business. She usually dresses casually, wearing comfortable rather than fancy clothing. It's common to see her in jeans and tennis sneakers, although she also enjoys wearing sandals with heels. She likes to wear casual armbracelets and stuff like that, but again, nothing fancy. She is left-handed and speaks with a British accent.

Spoiler:

Her daughter, Rebecca:

Spoiler:

Costume: Alex's hero costume is a form-fitting beige/blue dress, made out of 'super-silk' material. She has an unitard version, covering her legs, as well as a shorter, leotard one. (See them above.) It's form-fitting enough to make her comfortable when growing into a giant or shrinking to miniature size. She has enough of the material to make new costumes when one is damaged or design/create other pieces of clothing from it.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

The Legacy

Personality:
The first impression you get about Alex is that she is extroverted. Being a truly outgoing person, she loves to socialize with people and make friends. Her personality grabs potential friends as a magnet. She loves to talk basically about anything. You can get into a conversation with her about moon craters and she doesn't get bored of it. She loves to hang out with friends, enjoy a night-out with beer and dancing, etc. (although as a single mom she doesn't really have the time for it). She loves to laugh and has a soft spot for humor and good jokes, and a weird sense of humor.
She's not afraid to speak her mind, and she often tells people her opinion even if it's not flattering. On the negative side, she can be truly stubborn, and she tends to go after her own head, even if she knows it would be wiser to follow the others. She is not a team player, and needs to improve her collaborating skills. She follows the rules until they stand in her way. In that case, she invents her own ones. She is also somewhat hot-headed and often acts before she thinks, something she has to learn to avoid.
Alex has a lot of friends, but only a few who are actually close to her. But she deeply cares for those few, which of course, include her daughter on the top spot. She truly loves Rebecca and tries to give her the amount of care she would receive from two parents. Also, Alex is a person of deep emotions. When she is happy, she's truly happy, when she's sad, she feels tragic. When she's angry, noone can stand in the way of her anger. She is highly intelligent and learns new things easily. She loves animals, especially sea creatures, dogs and horses. She enjoys reading classics, going to the cinema/theatre, and listening to loud music (she's the rocker type of girl). She is agnostic and fairly liberal.

History:
Alexandra Young was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1990, as the oldest of three daughters. Her parents, doctors Stephen and Patricia Young, originally hailing from England, worked as marine biologists on the ocean coast. Growing up in a rich and experience-heavy environment, Alex soon became a smart and very curious girl. From an early age, she helped out her parents' research and got first-hand experiences with the rich ocean flora and fauna. It was common for her to greet the dolphins on her way to school or to hitch a ride on the family's pet giant turtle. Alex was similarly bright at school, much to her teachers' delight. She was also truly outgoing and socializing from the very start: never the girl to sit at home besides a computer, she loved to go out and have 'adventures' with friends - and getting into trouble quite often, of course. In her freetime she practiced swimming, gymnastics and horseback riding as a hobby, which she all continued in later life.
When Alex was 14, her parents moved back to London as their assignment in Australia ended and they needed to find another project to work on. She severely missed her old home, her friends, her school and the overall environment she grew up in. It took her at least a year until she could adjust to her new-old country, the fact that she's living in a cold, rainy urban atmosphere without the ocean, without her 'pets', without anything which reminded her of her awesome childhood. However, this did not affect her studies, on the contrary, she buried herself in studying and sports, to escape the cold reality.
Alex graduated high school in 2009. Deciding to follow her parents' footsteps in science, she applied to learn psychology at the University of London. At the university, Alex met a young physics professor, Howard Gibney, and realizing love at first site exists, the two soon began dating. Howard was an ambitious young scientists, who was not afraid of pushing the boundaries of science, and often embarked on experiments beyond the average safety boundaries. Graduating from the university with a degree in behavior studies, Alex and Howard soon got married. In 2014, their daughter, Rebecca was born. However, their happiness did not last long.
A year later, Howard received an offer for a high-paid job by a mysterious benefactor, an eccentric millionaire named Garrett Huston. Despite Alex's doubts and worries about it, her husband accepted the assignment. The project: the study of a strange alien object, an apparently damaged piece of metal, which Huston's research staff found in and stole from a government lab. For the next two years, Howard worked day-and-night in the lab on Huston's property in the near-London countryisde, to uncover the secrets of the mysterious material.
Getting closer and closer to finding out the secret of the strange alien substance, Howard worked like crazy, obsessed with the thing. On a fateful day, he finally managed to unlock the object, which suddenly emanated a strange and immense radiation from itself, flooding the small lab and possessing the scientist. In a blink of an eye, only witnessed by his panicing wife, Howard disappeared without a trace, leaving only his clothes behind. Alex was struck by the tragedy. What she did not know at the time was that Howard, in fact, did not disappear, but accidentally shrunk to 0.1 mm (0.004 inches) tall. Given the expected survival rate of a man that size, he didn't last long. Alex, although heavily affected by the strange radiation, apparently suffered no damage at all. The case was closed and the project abandoned. Trying to cover up the fatal accident and the whole research itself, Mr. Huston paid a large 'sponsorship' sum to Alex. The grief-stricken woman first refused the offer, claiming that he's been offered 'blood money' from her husband's murderer, but she soon realized there is no use in fighting against the man - she would lose anyway. Taking the money, Alex decided to move on and start a new life on yet another spot on Earth, and moved to the United States.
Settling down in Los Angeles, Alex found work in a psychological research institute, studying sea mammals near the ocean coast. She buried herself in her work, and in raising her daughter alone. Being a single mom wasn't always easy, but with enough determination and strength Alex tackled the job. She and her daughter share a special and close relationship, a bond which cannot be surpassed by anything else. She cares for Rebecca like the most precious gem in the world - which she probably is.
Then, on another fateful afternoon, something unexpected happened... Preparing lunch, Alex suddenly felt a strange sensation and as she almost fainted, the whole world suddenly began to expand around her. As she soon realized, she had shrunk to about 4-inches in height, a small doll-sized figure in a gigantic home. Trying to desperately find help, she could not reach anyone except her now colossal 4-year-old daughter. After spending about an hour miniaturized, Alex suddenly returned to her normal size. Soon, similar accidents began to happen: she suddenly became small for different periods of time, then returned to normal like if nothing happened. Once she shrunk and fell into a water tank at her work place, and only survived thanks to her expert swimming skills. The opposite also started to happen: she would suddenly expand in size, grow to ten-feet tall or even larger.
However, she soon realized these sudden size changes can be controlled by her own will. She needed to concentrate on getting smaller or larger, and then, it happened. Step by step, she learned how to master the art of size-shifting, making her changes willfull rather than accidental. This opened a whole new world of possibilities for Alex. She experimented a lot with her new-found powers, learning to operate in a world much larger or smaller than normal. After a while, existing in various sizes became natural for her. Using Mr. Huston's money and connections to purchase a large quantity of 'super-silk', a material able to stretch or shrink to any lenghts, she created costumes for herself in which she could easily grow or shrink without any problem.
Then, on yet another fateful day about a year ago, a terrorist bomb detonated in a power plant in the California desert caused an explosion about to expand into an economical disaster. Local superheroes rushed to the scene to help. Driving her car home, Alex heard the news on the radio - and suddenly decided to help out herself. Concentrating on growing to the largest stature she could, she ended up standing about 90 feet tall. Rushing to the scene, she was able to rescue people from the building and divert its collapsing, and in a joint attempt with the other heroes, they prevented the escalation of the disaster. The local news broadcasts were full of images of these brave superheroes, among them a mysterious gigantic woman noone has seen before, but everyone watched in awe.
Consequently, Alex decided to use her powers as a way to help people and fight against evil. Studying the history and work of superheroes, she created an alterego for herself called 'Skyscraper', complete with self-designed costumes she made out of the 'super-silk' material, and began to regularly use her powers publicly to find for the good cause. She is still in a rookie regarding superhero business, but she's learning fast, gaining experience day by day.
Currently, Alex is living in a nice suburban home of LA with her daughter and their Dalmatian dog named Largo. She also reguarly goes out to ride in a local horse stable, where she owns a mare horse named Chanson. The public of course, is stunned by the colossal woman rambling on their streets, and hence Alex became sort of a minor 'celebrity' like most superheroes, occasionally interviewed by the media or spotted by paparazzi. Hiding her true identity was impossible, of course, especially with having a distinctive British accent, but she tries to keep her personal life out of public sight as much as possible. Fortunately, it's not so common that people recognize her on the street, mostly because they don't expect her to be 'so small'.

The Powers and Weaknesses

Powers

Power 1:
Size-shifting: Alex is able to change her size at will, becoming either smaller or larger than her normal stature. This is possible due to traces of the alien radiation she was exposed to, which allows her molecules to expand or reduce themselves in size. Her weight, mass, strength, speed, etc. also grow or lessen exponentially with her size-shifting. When in giant form, she is able to lift heavy objects, walk faster because of taking large steps, and hit harder. When small, she can't even lift everyday objects. She is only able to modify the size of her entire body exponentially and at once - she cannot grow or shrink only a certain part or stretch herself, etc. She can only grow or shrink herself, no other person or object or clothing (except for those made from the 'super-silk' material).
The limit of her powers is still unknown even to her. The largest she ever got was close to 200 feet tall, once in the desert for about ten minutes - but that is neither normal for her, neither her usual 'routine'. Her 'hero size' is usually between 30 and 50 feet, and in special cases she can be 90-100 feet tall if needed. The smallest she ever got was about 1/4 of an inch tall, and she is able to shrink down to ca. 2 to 6 inches in height without problem. When 50 feet tall, Alex weights around 48 tons and can lift 20 tons.

Weakness(es)

Weakness 1:
Alex can't maintain a size for an undetermined time. The larger or smaller she gets the less amount of time she is able to remain that size before reverting back to normal. The same applies for concentration and effectiveness: the larger/smaller she gets, the more energy it requires and the less likely the change will be successful. She needs to concentrate to apply her powers, and requires energy to maintain a larger or smaller size. The success of her size change depends on her level of concentration and tiredness / health condition. Also, sometimes these powers still work unconsciously - like shrinking or growing without her intending to or not changing her size when she wishes. She's still not a full master of these skills.

RP Mechanics

RP Mechanic(s):

Items/Minions

Physical Priority
Agility: 2
Endurance: 1
Reaction: 4
Strength: 3

by **Silus** January 31st 2016, 5:34 pm

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Approved until stated otherwise.

Alexandra Gibney-Young

Alexandra Gibney-Young

Re: Alexandra Gibney-Young