Ailly 'Jinx' Cully

by **Digital Muse** November 26th 2012, 9:40 am

Real Name: Ailly Cully

Super Hero/Villain/Renegade/etc Name: Jinx

Title: none

Alignment:Chaotic good

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Hair: Black

Eyes: dark brown

Height: 5’ 4”

Weight: 92

Costume Description/Image: Jinx does not have a ‘costume’ of any kind. She wears normal clothes because she believes she doesn’t need to hide. She can take care of any security camera footage if needs be.

Personality: Jinx is bouncy, frenetic, happy (nauseatingly so) and brightly curious. She *has* to know how things work. A new piece of hardware or a line of code she’s never seen before will instantly capture her attention almost to the exclusion of everything else. Because of this it is often difficult to get her to concentrate on her school work or a simple conversation. She was raised to do the right thing by her parents. But, she often interprets that maxim as ‘sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reasons”. She is not above breaking the law in order to help someone. Jinx has learned a certain caution, however. She’s been used before without her knowledge and she’s becoming more wary when someone contacts her with a job. Most especially the government.

History: Ailly was born in Astoria, Queens, NY to a very average family. The youngest of three, Ailly grew up coddled and loved by her family. Her two older brothers were 5 and 7 years older than her when she was born, and they doted on her like a new puppy. Ailly’s mother was a elementary school teacher and her father was a dentist. There was absolutely nothing that made the family stand out from the thousands of others in their home town. That is, until Ailly began to walk and talk at 6 months old. She began first by aping the announcers on the TV or radio. Full sentences replaced baby gibberish seemingly overnight. Stunned, her Mother began reading to her, Jinx took over the reading duties by the time she was two. More complex books very quickly became the norm and it seemed impossible to keep up with Ailly’s voracious inquisitiveness.

By the time Ailly was 4, she was enrolled in a school for gifted students, but her physical development hadn’t progressed at the same accelerated rate of her mind. She frequently fell trying to keep up with the older kids and suffered more than her fair share of broken bones. Children being what they are, they began calling her ‘Jinx’ and the name stuck. Oten confined to bed because of her injuries only afforded Ailly the time to read ever more complicated subjects. However, it became quickly apparent that electrical and mechanical engineering and computer programming was where her special skill lay. While she was bright enough in other subjects, they simply didn’t hold any interest for her.

During her time in the school, teachers had to pay particular attention to Ailly for fear that she would take apart any computer, vending machine or the dashboard of the bus to learn how it all worked. Ailly seemed to have no sense of the words ‘off limits’ when it came to her insatiable need to know. And that is exactly what caused her ‘accident’. While waiting for her Father to come to pick her up from school, Ailly became restless when he ran a bit behind at his practice. She wandered the school grounds aimlessly, her mind a million miles away, as usual. Eventually she came to a small power station several hundred yards behind the school’s main ground and she found the gate had been left unlocked by workmen. Fascinated, Ailly went into the small enclosed area, completely ignoring the warning signs posted everywhere along the fence. The deep hum of electricity almost had a mesmerizing effect on her.

This was powerful and new and it drew her like a moth to a flame. She examined the panels and switches, studying the relays trying to figure out how it all worked. Choosing a circuit board at random, Ailly pulled it from its housing to study. She easily traced the complex circuitry in fascinated glee. She put it back and pulled another and then another. She knew how it worked! She understood it! She nearly whooped with delight as she worked her way down the line of 15 panels.

Just as she reached for the last one, a male voice shouted from behind her, “What the hell are you doing! Stop!”

Ailly was so startled by the man that she reeled back, tripping over a heavy cable and fell into an open transformer’s housing. Thousands of volts coursed through her thin body, causing every muscle to contract harshly. She remained trapped and twitching at the mercy of the electricity coursing through her until the workmen was able to use his fiberglass rod to push her free. Her heart beat erratically, her body smoked from burns and her brain seized from the intense electrical shock she’d received.

Ailly was rushed to the hospital, but she wasn’t expected to live. Twice her heart stopped entirely, but the doctors were able to jump start it again. She remained in a coma for 6 weeks and her family was told to prepare for the worst. She was given last rights and taken off life support. But, Ailly didn’t die. Her heart kept beating, she kept breathing and her brain wave patterns began spiking. Each time there was a spike, a light would spark and burn out or the clock on the wall’s hands would whirl around crazily.

Suddenly, Ailly sat bolt upright in bed screaming until her Mother rushed to her and held her in her arms crying. While her Mother rocked her and tried to sooth her, Ailly tried to tell her what she was feeling, how she could sense the machines in the room, the watches on people’s wrists, her Grendmother’s pacemaker inside her chest, everything. But, her Mother just shushed her and lay her back onto her pillows, telling her to forget about the nightmares and go to sleep. Ailly tried to sleep, but she simply couldn’t; the machines were too noisy.

After further tests, Ailly was pronounced fine to the bafflement of the Doctors and she was allowed to go home. Once there, no one got any rest because Ailly began manipulating every device in the house. The dishwasher began spraying water everywhere, the TV began picking up shows from Mexico, the family’s desktop computer was suddenly blazing through files at lightning speed and the servers that her brother’s played games on shut down their accounts because they were being ‘hacked’.

Between the ages of 10 and 16, Ailly’s parents did their best to curtail Ailly’s using her new found powers. It terrified them and they feared even more that Ailly would get hurt or somehow that she’d be taken away from them. They insisted she not use her abilities, they drilled her about talking to strangers or to watch for strange cars. They went so far as to enroll her in martial arts schools so she might defend herself if necessary. Ailly didn’t understand her parent’s paranoia and she only very reluctantly went to her classes at their insistence. Gradually, Ailly gained more control over her abilities and random outbursts of her power became more rare. At 16, she was able to enroll in a local community college, but she still struggled with concentrating on her regular lessons. The only thing she really excelled in where her programming and computer hardware and electronics classes. She managed to gain her Masters in Electrical Engineering and had a promising career ahead of her.

Until she met Tim. Her fist hard-core crush. He was blonde, tall and slender and could make any line of computer code sit up and bark. And he paid attention to Ailly. They played games trying to hack one another’s laptops to leave messages on them for one another. Ailly was almost always faster than Tim. They watched movies, worshipped at electronics shops and built their own version of Rube Goldberg devices to pop popcorn in no less than 50 steps or wash the windows with a Leggo erector set, an engine from a blender and fan blades. It was all child’s play to Ailly. Then Tim challenged Jinx to another game. No one would know and no one would get hurt, he’d promised. He presented her with the schematics of an elaborate security system and gave her 1 day to bypass it. Ailly began to protest, but a soft kiss and a whispered “I bet you can’t do it” was all it took. She did it in just over 3 hours.

Hooting in triumph, she sent the information to Tim in a lengthy email and waited for his call. It never came. She texted him, but he didn’t respond. Concerned, Ailly went to his apartment the next morning, but it had been cleaned out. He was simply gone. Confused and hurting, Ailly returned to her own apartment. She didn’t know what to make of it all. The TV was turned on simply for the noise and there she sat for 2 days. It was late into the 3rd day when she heard of the unprecedented events from the high security prison in upstate New York. 6 of the most dangerous super-powered beings had escaped and no one seemed to know how it was done. The security grid had simply been shut down and they prisoners had just walked out, killing 8 guards and 14 other prisoners along the way. The report went on to explain briefly the basic set up of the system and Ailly suddenly knew. It was the system Tim had dared her to bypass. Oh the report didn’t go into detail for obvious security reasons, but she knew. Tim had played her. She’d never let it happen again. But now what? Would the authorities find out? What about the escaped supers? They killed people and it was all her fault! She had to…had to…do something.

That was 3 years ago and Ailly spent most of her waking hours tracking the escaped prisoners and ‘Tim’ through the internet, through security cameras and every possible device she could think of. Eventually, Ailly manipulated phone calls, electronic reports and more to lead the authorities to the capture of 4 of the prisoner, while the final two had gone down in vicious fire fights. She never was able to locate Tim at all. It was if he’d never existed at all.

Now, her shame and hurt are buried deep and she manages to lead a relatively normal life, but she never forgets.

Powers: Technomancy. Jinx can understand, manipulate, short-circuit or bypass most complex machinery or electronics. If she has encountered a particular system in the past, she does not have to spend more than 1 minute working on the item to alter it. If it is new to her (a security system or complex main frame computer) she has to concentrate on learning it (albeit at incredible speeds) for several minutes before she can manipulate it. She cannot alter the form of the item, but she can short circuit it, stop it cold, change what it was designed to do or simply hack and change the programming of a computer system.

For simple machines (vehicles or mechanical devices like elevators) she can manipulate them from a distance of up to 10 feet. For complex systems, she must touch them. She does not need a computer or special tools to manipulate electrical systems, it is all done with her mind and her innate understanding of the relationships of programming and hardware.

Anything that is lead shielded will stop her ability completely unless she can gain access beyond the shielding. If anything with deadly counter-intrusion measures (bio-feedback computer programs) may prevent her from manipulating that system unless she can bypass it before those measures kick in. She is not immune to bio feedback if she can’t stop them in time.

Power Grid:
INT: 7 - This is mostly limited to her understanding of machines and systems. Otherwise, she’s of slightly above average intelligence (a bright college student).
OCC 0
STR: 1 - average
SPD: 2 – pretty quick in short bursts (talented high school athlete)
DUR: 3 - she can focus so strongly that she can ignore her body’s normal needs for up to 24 hours. However, dehydration and exhaustion will still hit her when she comes back to reality.
ABIL: 8 – Technomancy (see above)
FS: 2 – slightly more than the average Joe. Jinx has some self-defense classes under her belt, but she will avoid any physical confrontations whenever possible.
MAGIC: 0
SPELLS: 0
Potency: 0
FLIGHT: 0
Wealth: standard starting

**7 points saved for future use**

Power Grid colours: green circuit board

Character Image/Description: [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Jinx is a skinny, homely girl with wildly razored black hair, a prominent nose and bright, wide eyes. She looks as if a good, stiff wind could carry her away. She’s impossible to miss because she favors brilliantly colored shirts or dresses with an obscene amount of flounces. She also loves to wear bracelets of every description. It’s not unusual for the number to reach her mid-forearm. She seems to revel in her unique looks and she’s absolutely impossible to ignore.

Roleplay Sample:An excerpt from another RP:

While Verchiel felt along the wall looking for the edges of the door, she peered around the tiny room chock-a-block full of potential trigger devices and groaned. “Crap. Anything could be a trigger. A figurine, a book, a pressure plate or even just pushing on it to see if it’ll swing open.” Jinx pursed her lips and tapped her chin in thought. Suddenly, she grinned brightly. “Hang on to your hat, Angel-face.” Barely had the cryptic warning been spoken when her body contorted, stretched and grew. Black feathers sprouted from her skin, she grew to an impressive 8 feet in height. Her normally pert features morphed into a menacing black beak and her frame gained an unnatural bulk. Huge leathery wings sprouted from her back as she took on her demon form. Backing up a few steps to give herself some room, she opened her wings to their fullest width and began to flap. Heavy gusts of wind blew through the tiny little living area. Figurines flew off tables and shelves, smashed into walls or onto the floor, books and papers took flight in the maelstrom that Jinx created.

After what must have seemed an eternity, Jinx stopped flapping her massive wings and paused to survey the destruction before shrinking once more to her more innocuous human guise. She shot a warning glance toward Verchiel and warned him, “Don’t you even laugh about how I looked….it’s the lamest Demon form ever.” That warning delivered, she ruffled her hair, setting her bracelets to jingling and looked around. One book held fast to hit perch on the mantle. “And there we have it.” Striding to the fireplace, she grasped the book by the spine and tilted it outward. She glanced toward Verchiel as a panel in the wall indented and then slipped into a hidden pocket revealing a darkened staircase leading down. “Ta Da.” She crowed.