Post by Kai Baxter on Nov 30, 2016 23:31:14 GMT
Kaira Jane Baxter
FACE CLAIM:Benthe de Vries
♦ THE BASICS ♦
AGE: 15
GENDER: Non-Binary
ORIENTATION: pansexual
POSITION: High School Student - Bellefonte♦ THE ABILITY ♦
POWER: Physiological sensing
Kai has the ability sense the physiological responses of other people. Their power is a type of enhanced sense, allowing them to sense heart rate, breathing, sweating, body temperature and muscle tension. They only perceive information about the physical response, not why the response is occurring. For example, they can tell what someone’s body temperature is but not if this is a result of being sick or being flushed with embarrassment.
Although their power does not allow them to sense why someone is responding in a certain way, Kai -- with practice -- can glean information about someone’s emotional state. For example, they might be able to deduce that someone is nervous based on muscle tension and heart rate. However, they are not empathetic and these responses can be “misread”.
LIMITATIONS:
-Kai’s power is limited by range. If they are close enough, they can hear someone’s heart rate and breathing. This is limited to a few feet away, currently. In order to sense body temperature, muscle tension and sweating they have to be touching the person.
-Their ability is always “on”, meaning that the only way to mitigate side effects is to be away from people.
-Their power tells them nothing about why someone is responding a certain way. They receive only the physical information.
-Someone with a power that changes their physiology could confuse Kai’s senses.
SIDE-EFFECTS:
-Because they can’t turn it off, their power can be overwhelming. Being in a large crowd, Kai will hear the breathing and heart rate of everyone nearby, which can feel like a deafening drone. (They now carry earplugs for this reason).
-Although their power is always on, part of it does involve physical touch and proximity, so in that sense, Kai can control when they are using their power. Overuse of their power (prolonged contact) will result in fatigue. They will feel both mentally and physically drained, as if they have been doing something that requires intense concentration.
-Kai is very susceptible to matching someone else’s physiological state. For example, their heart rate will change to match the person they are nearby. Similarly, if they are touching someone who is very tense, their own muscles will tense up. The same thing will occur if the person is hot or cold or sweaty. On the one hand, this can simply be annoying if someone is nervous or out of breath. It also has the potential to be dangerous if they are near or touching someone who is sick. There is also potential for danger with mutants who have powers that change their physiology. If someone’s power causes their heart rate to increase beyond normal, Kai’s heart might try to keep up. As there is nothing special about their own physiology, this could be very dangerous.♦ THE FREEFORM ♦
“C’mon, just leave her alone.”
“Leave her alone? Isn’t that her whole problem? Everyone’s left her alone,” The boy laughs at what he perceives to be his own cleverness.
Kai picked themselves up off the ground from where he’d pushed them down, glaring at the boy. They wished they had a cutting retort, but how could they deny the truth? They had been in foster care almost their entire life, abandoned at just 2 years old. They couldn’t even remember their parents and they knew nothing about them. Over the past 5 years they had moved through a few foster families and group homes, with nothing ever working out for the long term. The truth in the boy’s words, however, didn’t stop Kai from wanting to get back at him for what he’d done and said. They couldn’t do anything in that moment, as they were outnumbered. Later that day, though, the boy would find that the pages of his math workbook had been glued together.
”Kaira, we have to leave now. I’m so sorry.”
“No, please. I don’t want to. Please.” Kai desperately holds onto their foster mother, Kathryn Samuels, as the adults try to gently loosen their grip.
As they are guided out to the car, Kai sobs. They thought they had finally found a family. They look back, tears stream down Kathryn’s face as she clutches her husband.
Kai had been with the family for over two years. It had been their best placement by far and the Samuels were looking to adopt them. Things didn’t work out, though, and the application was rejected. They were removed from the Samuels’ home for reasons that Kai didn’t understand. Things got worse after that. As they got older, Kai had more problems in their foster families and in school. They got bumped around different homes, often getting kicked out for their behavior. If Kai decided that someone had done something wrong, that person would be punished. Sometimes this was for legitimate reasons, like poor treatment from foster parents, but other times this undermined the parents’ authority over the entire household, making Kai difficult to control.
”Sooo… do you want to be a boy now?” Lizzy asks. She was Kai’s best friend. The closest friend they’d ever had, really. Making friends wasn’t easy for Kai, but Lizzy had stuck by, not letting Kai’s bluntness scare her away.
Kai runs a hand through their now short hair. They had wanted to have short hair almost as long as they could remember. They had gotten it cut recently. The short hair, with their generally androgynous clothes, had gotten them mistaken for a boy several times already. It made them feel good.
“I don’t know…. “ Lizzy was the only person Kai felt comfortable enough to talk to. “I just know I don’t really want to be a girl.”
For a few months that year, when they were 13, Kai tried presenting as a boy and using male pronouns. However, being referred to as “he” didn’t quite feel right and neither did “she”. They didn’t really know what to make of this and felt lost and alone. Eventually, they came across the term “non-binary” and learned about “they/them” pronouns. Finally they felt like they weren’t completely alone in their experiences and feelings. It made them feel validated. Even though they feel far more comfortable being referred to this way, things are still hard. Group homes are divided by gender and they always get placed with the girls. They’ve encountered a lot of people who simply refuse to call them by their pronouns or by their name. Kai tries to shrug it off, but it does get to them to be so thoroughly dismissed.
”You have things worth saying, Kai. And you’re talented. You deserve to have your voice heard.”
Kai shrugs, unsure how to respond to the praise. Mrs Dues is their writing teacher and had called them up after class to talk. Kai hadn’t been very interested in writing at first, but now they find they like it. They have always had trouble expressing their feelings, but somehow it is easier through writing. It was hard to let anyone read what they wrote, but Mrs Dues makes them feel comfortable to share.
Although Kai eventually left that school, Mrs Dues was immensely influential. They still write, keeping a journal in which they try to work out their feelings. They are still not very comfortable with sharing, Mrs Dues was special, but she did make them feel that there were people out there that they could trust enough to open up to. They still think these people are few and far between, but at least they know that people like Mrs Dues actually exist.
”You are breathing so loud. Will you shut the hell up?”
“Kai, manners.”
“Will you shut the hell up, please?” The tutor opens her mouth to chastise Kai again but seems to think better of it, too worn out for a fight. The girl sitting next to Kai looks up from her work in disdain.
“What are you even talking about? I’m breathing perfectly normally. Tell her I’m breathing perfectly normally.”
“She’s breathing perfectly normally, Kai.”
“It’s them and no you’re not, you’re breathing like a wounded rhinoceros.”
Soon after Kai’s power manifested, they were contacted by recruiters and told about Bellefonte. Although they didn’t completely understand their powers, they were, for the most part, delighted at the prospect of going to Bellefonte. The school meant getting out of foster care and they imagined anything was better than more group homes and foster families.♦ THE PLAYER ♦
USERNAME: Grace
AGE GROUP: 24
EXPERIENCE: 10 years
WHERE DID YOU FIND US? RPG-D
