Victoria Cruz AKA "Lacerta"

Real Name: Victoria “Vikki” Cruz
Super Hero/Villain/Renegade/etc Name: Lacerta
Title: Scale-face, Scales, Lizard Lady,Lizard Monster,Freak, Mutant.
Alignment: Renegade (Leaning to either side depending on self searching and persuasion)
Age: Twenty-Two
Gender: Female
Race: Mutant
Hair: Black
Eyes: Lime Green (originally Hazel)
Height: 5'9
Weight: 145 Ibs

Costume Description/Image:

Human Form:

Hybrid Form:

For clothing Victoria doesn't wear any fancy spandex or armor. She only wears what she feels is practical and comfortable. To start off, she wears a strapless top which covers her breasts and opens up at the cleavage with thin strings crisscrossing over the gap. The shirt is the color dark green. Her stomach is exposed until you reach her black and green cargo jeans. The cargo jeans reach to her upper ankles before they are bunched up. As for her shoes, she wears none and instead shows off her scale ridden feet. Lastly is her dark brown trench coat, in which she wears everywhere with her, it's worn but she loves it all the same.

Personality:

Victoria is a curious girl, with a penchant for being stubborn. She's a good-hearted young woman with a desire to make something of herself. Though she fears prejudice for being different she doesn't let it completely rule her life. When around most humans she tends to hide in her clothes scared of what they will do, however if someone treats her nice enough despite her appearance she is willing to open up to them. She's naive, living a sheltered life with her parents as a child, thus she can be easily persuaded by a few choice words and some manipulation. She's smart but tends to have 'dumb moments' once in awhile especially when dealing with new, complicated things. She enjoys nature and everything about it surviving of it for a while she had come to understand nature more.

Though far from a tree hugging hippie she still respects wildlife all the same. Due to living in the wilderness, she has gained a strong survival skill- able to discern what's good or bad out in nature. Despite for her love of nature she still loves the city, her favorite food is Italian subs and her favorite beverage is green tea, after a while she can't go with out them and returns to the city to get some either by stealing or actually getting money some how to buy it. Lastly Victoria is a conflicted person, unsure what to do with her life, she wants to be helpful but is afraid to being shunned, it would be so easy just to get what she wanted by force- however her morals get in the way, thus making her conflicted. She's a good person- however stuck in a crossroads unable to decide her fate. Maybe with a bit of persuasion she could choose her path?

History:
Born in Louisiana, in New Orleans- Victoria was born to a normal human couple, Sazh Cruz and Julian Cruz. Her birth was considered a mistake however as the couple did not want kids at such a young stage of their marriage- however a few drinks too many at their wedding reception ending up getting Mrs Cruz pregnant. Despite not wanting the child they refused to get an abortion, thus Victoria Cruz was born into the world... But something was wrong.... The baby was normal for the most part, she had the dark hair and skin, but on her body were small green SCALES.

The doctor's were baffled as the parents were horrified what in God's name happened?! Unsure what to make of it, they still took their new daughter home hoping to figure out what caused this mutation. The next month their relatives came over to see the baby- While the family was mostly shocked- Sazh's mom wasn't very surprised. When asked why she wasn't she explained that her mother- Sazh's grandmother was a mutant- Mutant genes were inheritable every couple generations, though it seemed to skip two generations it came back in the form of Victoria.

Unsure what to do the couple decided to keep their daughter hidden from the world, afraid that she would be hated for what she looked like. As Victoria grew her body went through more changes. She slowly began growing a reptilian tail much to her parents shock and horror. Her eyes changed from the hazel brown she was born with- to a bright lime green. By the time she was ten she had a tail as that could wrap around her waist twice! Her parent's had her home-schooled by a teacher and friend of the family who didn't seem disturbed of Victoria's appearance. They kept her sheltered telling her that people wouldn't understand her looks and that she was special, people didn't understand “special little girls”. As a child she was satisfied it but when she turned into a teenager she reached a point in her life where she didn't want to be confined anymore.

So- one night when she was fourteen- she snuck out of the house and explored the city. She was noticed by a small group of highschool kids who freaked out seeing her- they called the police saying there was a “lizard lady” near the highschool. The cops didn't believe them thinking it was a prank. She scurried home and went to sleep that night exhausted but feeling great. That marked her soon chronic habit of sneaking out at night. Soon news of a “Lizard lady” spread like wildfire as multiple people saw her at night exploring- when a nosy teenager followed her home he called the cops.

The cops arrived at her house at one in the morning scaring her parents, realizing that their secret was out the family of three grudgingly moved out of their home to get away from the fearful populace. Four years later, she left her parents place hoping to make a place for herself in the world. When traveling to Chicago at twenty years old after crossing half the country she stopped at convenience store for some quick food- unfortunately the place decided to get robbed the moment she was ordering a sandwich.

Hidden in her hoody and heavy clothes she couldn't help but try and stop the crooks. She took them down with ease, when the store clerk asked her who she was she froze- looking around she noticed an ad across the street about reptiles- a word struck her from her homeschooling, reptile in Latin was “Lacerta”- grinning she turned to the man and said “Call me Lacerta.” Just as the cops came she took her coffee and sandwich and left a confused clerk and disgruntled now busted robbers behind.

Unsure what to do with her life she realized that she could do more! However her “helping” caught her in a mess, she was forced to flee from the cops and ended up activating her powers for the first time- Cornered by a cop who found her, she became scared- fueled with the desire to survive her powers kicked in as she morphed into her hybrid form for the first time. The cop tried to shoot her but she fled barreling down the alleyway past some other cops who pinned their location. Deciding she couldn't stay there much longer she fled as fast as she could, ending up a few miles away from the city.

She ended up lying low for a few months, only going back into the city for food and water- she lived in the wilderness killing wildlife to survive. Soon stories of a “Lizard Monster” surfaced in that area but Victoria didn't do anything, fearful of what she was she hid behind her alias Lacerta in hopes of using the “Lizard Monster” story to get free food from some of the paranoid people who built a small offering shrine near the forest. Now at twenty-two she lives in the forest making herself a small home in a cave, but she knows she's still human and like any human is drawn to society... Victoria was going back to the city.

Powers:

Hybrid Lizard Form

Victoria has the ability to shapeshift into a lizard/human hybrid. In this state her abilities climb dramatically. Her normal human strength now increases to a superhuman level- able to pick up to 50 tons. Her speeds also increases giving her the ability to run up to 65 miles per hour if going in a straight line. Her senses also increase- her touch, smell, and taste increase to a super reptilian level granting her the ability to taste and smell with her tongue, and feel vibrations in the earth of three meters away. She can swim at high speeds underwater, able to last longer in water than normal humans. Going up to 60 MPH underwater when going straight.

She's also able to hold her breath for up to a half an hour underwater before needing to come up for air. However she has some drawbacks to her new form. In this form her sense of sight drops to a lower level, unable to see reds and purples and only able to see up to ten feet in front of her, when in battle she needs to see the person directly in front of her or she's basically fighting blind relying on her sight. Her hearing also lacks in this form, since reptiles don't have ears she mostly relies on vibrations, she CAN hear but only within a fifteen feet scope making her vulnerable once again when she can't smell or taste her enemies. Lastly with enough rest (forty-eight hours) she can regenerate lost limbs, either arms,legs, or her tail can be brought back if she rests for two days with out disturbance.


Pros:

+ Increased senses- Taste, Smell, and Touch.

+ Increased speed and strength.

+ Able to travel by land in sea with no difficulty.

+ Can regenerate lost limbs, after a long enough rest.

Cons:

- Intelligence drops, still able to discern friend from foe, but mostly runs on instinct.

- Agility is greatly decreased, moves more in a straight line now.

- Highly prone to extreme heat or cold. Due to being cold-blooded in her Hybrid form she can't be in extreme heat or cold- both making her extremely sluggish and tired. Forcing her to rest more often than usual when traveling long distances.

- Poor vision and hearing, unable to see reds and purples, and only able to see up to ten feet in front of her. Also only able to hear up to fifteen feet around herself.


Human Vikki

Power Grid:
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Hybrid Vikki

Power Grid:
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Character Image/Description:

Human Form:
Standing at 5'9, Victoria is a tall woman. Her body is more on the athletic side from years always on the move. Her skin is African in descent, coming off as a very light brown easily mistaken for a mixed heritage. Her body is lithe which fills in more in her hips and thighs. Her breasts are average at a size C. Her hair is medium length often in the form of dreadlocks, the color black. Her face is sharp with a small nose and almond-shaped eyes. Her irises are a exotic lime green, while she rarely wears make-up, her eyelids have dark green eyeshadow on them. Her lips are full and are usually bare of any form of cosmetics coming off as a light fleshy pink.

Her fingernails and toenails are painted a dark green as well. Next to her body is her unnatural features. Over her dark skin are dark green scales that dot and cluster all over her body, usually they bunch up along the length of her arms and legs, but also some cluster under her eyes and on the bridge of her nose. Just above her tailbone is a thin reptilian tail the color of her skin on the belly and green on the top, it's thicker at the base but gets thinner to the tip. The tail is like a second limb to her so when hiding in plain sight she wraps it around her waist to conceal her more obvious mutation.

Hybrid Form:
In her Hybrid she now stands at 5'10 with the same color scheme as her human form. Her scales are dark green while her belly is the color of her human skin a light brown. Her build is muscular unable to discern what gender she is despite being female. Her head is reptilian like in form with bright lime green eyes with cat-like slits for pupils. Her neck is thick, as are her arms and legs. Her tail is the same as it was when in her human form only slightly longer and more versatile. It's thicker at the base becoming thinner as it goes towards the tip. With her tail she can grab enemies or bat them aside making it a trusty weapon. On her back are small brown spikes that go along her spin down to her tail until reaching the tip. Her hands and feet are now tipped with sharp off yellow claws, and finally her mouth is filled with two rows of sharp carnivorous teeth, used for ripping and tearing flesh.

Roleplay Sample:

The air was humid in the summer of Chicago Illinois, people hid from the humidity inside their homes with their air conditioner and fans. Those not so lucky to have a cooling device sat outside in the shade hoping for a cool breeze to pass by. Within the the many back alleys however, a coat wearing figure appeared despite the hat she wore a tan coat to cover her body. What was odd was her avoidance of the people on the sidewalks. She gave a wide berth to anyone who came near as though scared of getting near them. The young woman had her reasons though- she was a mutant and her physical appearance was one was often ridiculed by the wary populace.

Thus she stuck to the shadows avoiding however came in close proximity to her. Walking past a woman and her child she hid more only to freeze when the child exclaimed with confusion at the girls' appearance somehow catching sight of her scales. “Mommy? Why does that lady of scales?” The mother looked at where her son spoke of, but the “scaly lady” wasn't there. “Dear.. what have I told you about that imagination of yours?” The child protested as his mom pulled him away as the young woman peeked out from an alleyway, seeing no one she let go of the breath she was holding. She decided to continue her trek and hopefully get herself her green tea and sub today...

Just another day living as a lizard mutant...