Individual

Character's full name: Zoe Olsen
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Date of Birth: (mm/dd/year) 06/30/1990
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: West Seneca, NY
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: British and Norwegian

Appearance
Hair color and style: Blond, slightly curly, normally worn in a ponytail
Skin Tone: Slightly tanned
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5’6”
Build: Average, but not quite lean
Visible mutation: (if applicable) N/A
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Two holes in each ear lobe. Belly button ring.
Other features: (if applicable) N/A

Everyday clothing style: Jeans/shorts, tshirts, sweaters, running shoes
Uniform: (if applicable) Khaki pants/shorts, and shirt, steel toe hiking boots (zoo uniform)
Sleepwear: Cotton pj pants and tshirts
Miscellaneous clothing: (if applicable)

Character
Personality: People tend to think that Zoe is weird or eccentric with how she talks to animals. Most of the time, Zoe prefers to converse with animals, a habit left over from middle and high school when she was picked on for being weird. But Zoe is friendly and outgoing when she does decide to talk with people. She likes joking around, and loves a good academic/scientific discussion.

Hobbies/ Interests: Drawing, running/jogging in the mornings to hear news from the birds and squirrels.
Job or part time job and description: Trainer at the Central Park Zoo
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Worried that her family would treat her badly or shun her if they find out that she's a mutant and not just eccentric. She's also scared of venomous creatures that she can't communicate with, and refuses to work with them.
Special talents: (not related to mutation) Drawing

Morality
Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: (please explain) Good. Zoe tries to do the right thing whenever she can, and when she’s able to, she tries to help people. However, after being made fun of in high school, Zoe tends to keep to herself a lot.

Mutations
Mutation description: Able to communicate with animals

Zoe is able to talk to and understand animals. While it is technically a telepathic ability, Zoe always speaks out loud when she talks to animals.

Strengths:
* It is easier to learn how to communicate with an animal when Zoe already knows how to communicate with a similar animal (example, it would be easier for her to learn to talk with a wolf after learning how to with a dog).
* Once she has learned to talk with a kind of animal, she can talk to any animal of that species.

Weaknesses and Limitations:
* Zoe is limited to being able to talk with animals within about 30’. This limit in the distance is the main reason that Zoe speaks verbally; if the animal is too far away to hear her voice, it’s too far for the telepathic communication too.
* Zoe is only able to communicate with animals that are able to make sound. (example: not fish or worms, but can communicate with dolphins, grasshoppers, etc)

It takes a fair bit of time to learn how to talk with a kind of animal. If she is actively listening (such as talking to animals at work and “listening” to the noises they make in response), it takes about 40 hours for basic understanding, 100 hours for fluency. Learning through simple exposure requires a minimum of 500 hours of being able to hear the animal well (that’s 21 full days, or 63 8-hour days)

Current Fluent Animals
- dogs
- cats
- squirrels
- chipmunks
- pidgeons
- song birds
- donkeys
- snakes
- frogs
- zebras

Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: (Strength/Speed/Reflexes/Stamina/Flexibility) Completely average for a woman of her size
Fighting Style: Zoe has never learned how to fight, and if found in a situation like that, would run before attempting a physical confrontation.
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: Because she doesn’t fight, she doesn’t look for them and avoids them whenever she can. However, she will be all but useless (and likely get quite hurt) in a fight.

History Of Your Character
Zoe is the youngest of two children. Growing up, Zoe was always a bit of a nerd. She liked science, reading, and for the most part preferred to keep to herself reading a book rather than running around with the other kids. Her older sister Jane didn’t understand this as she was very outgoing and loved being the center of attention. As such, Jane had a tendency to make fun of Zoe. But only ever at home, and she never let anyone else make fun of her sister.

That changed when Zoe was 12. She had been up late reading one night, when all of a sudden she heard her cat. But it wasn’t the normal meowing sounds the cat made when Zoe kept the light on late. Instead, she actually heard the animal complaining about wanting to sleep. Zoe dismissed this as a dream, thinking that she had fallen asleep while reading. But the same thing happened again the next day, and the day after that.

Zoe didn’t know what to think. She seemed to able to understand cats, and later also dogs and birds. She didn’t tell her parents about this, or Jane, but there was no hiding the fact that she had started talking to animals. But everyone including her parents thought she was just being weird because no one else heard what Zoe did.

No one ever even thought the word mutant in relation to Zoe. But everyone now thought she was weird, and not even Jane tried to stop people from making fun of Zoe anymore. How could she when Zoe would sit under a tree at school and talk to the birds?

That made life for Zoe difficult through middle and high school. A lot of the kids made fun of her, and no one really wanted to be friends with someone who was so strange.

At least things got better for Zoe when she went to university in New York City to study biology. She had a few friends, and even had a couple of boyfriends. But she continued to still talk to the animals around her, and many of the other students thought that she was weird. At the same time, she was in NYC, and a lot of people just considered her to be eccentric. That suited Zoe quite well, she’d much rather be looked at as eccentric than be picked on for being weird.

After she graduated, Zoe started working at the Central Park Zoo. After starting as an assistant, she moved up to be a trainer as she proved herself with the animals. And it was great, Zoe was no longer the only one who would talk to the animals. Most of the people who worked at the zoo, at least those who worked directly with the animals, talked to them. Sure, there were some people who still thought Zoe was a little odd because she talked to the animals the most, but she was by far no longer the only one who did it. Even if she was the only one who understood when they talked back...


Roleplay
What’s your OOC alias?: Jess
Where did you learn about this site?: Google?
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: Lee Smith

Sample RP:

As Zoe walked through the park, coffee from home in her hand, Zoe was listening to all of the early morning chatter. But it wasn’t the people Zoe was listening to. Rather, it was the birds in the trees, and the occasional squirrel running through the branches.

”Look at the sun!” -- “Look at me!” -- “Where did I hide my nuts?”

Nothing very exciting, to be honest. But every so often Zoe would hear a tidbit of actual news, or something that was really of interest. Apparently, this morning was not one of those times.

Continuing on along the path, Zoe eventually made her way to work at the zoo, walking into the building behind the zebra enclosure. And while she could hear them braying outside, she was too far away to hear what had them so excited that morning. Shaking her head at all the noise, Zoe set her mug down on the table and turned to the door. It was just about feeding time. Zoe figured that she should find out what they were all going on about as soon as she went outside.

What a fun character. It's realistic that she'd be considered odd for talking to animals while she sees it perfectly natural. Wish I could hear the news from the birds and squirrels too. (-:

Excellent new character! Communicating with animals is always a fun power to play with. Hope she's fun to play.

YAY! Love the new charrie~

Congrats on the new character!!!

Congratulations! Zoe seems like she will be fun to thread with!!

Congrats on the sparkly new character, Jess.

OMG!!! This is such a awesome power!!! Love her, Jess!

AV Profile

Individual

Character's full name: Zoe Olsen
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Isabella
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Date of Birth: (mm/dd/year) 06/30/1990
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: West Seneca, NY
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: British and Norwegian

Appearance
Hair color and style: Dyed brown, long, and curly
Skin Tone: Slightly tanned
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5’6”
Build: Toned
Visible mutation: N/A
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: One hole in each ear lobe. Belly button ring.
Other features: N/A

Everyday clothing style: During the day, generally a cute dress or skirt outfit. For work, it completely depends on who she's with and where they're going.
Uniform:
Sleepwear: Shorts and a t-shirt.
Miscellaneous clothing:

Character
Personality: Zoe tends to keep to herself for the most part when she’s not working. Sure, she takes part in group activities such as yoga and the occasional class to keep busy, but she doesn’t get close to anyone there. When she does speak, it’s rarely more than small talk.

Zoe enjoys the good life: good food, expensive drinks, nice hotels, that sort of thing, and so she treats the men she sees well so that she can continue to have those things.

Hobbies/ Interests: Good food, good alcohol, partying. She runs and does yoga regularly to keep in shape. Reading.
Job or part time job and description: Escort
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Zoe is worried about being found out as a mutant, afraid that her family will hate her, and afraid of what will happen to her. She’s worried that she won’t be able to provide for herself, which is part of why she does what she does. But at the same time, that adds to her fear that she’ll always be alone.
Special talents: (not related to mutation) Great at figuring out what people really want from her.

Morality
Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: Neutral. Growing up as a mutant in a family that hates mutants has taught Zoe to look out for herself first and foremost. She would like to be good, but what’s best for her isn’t necessarily approved by society as a whole (such as her choice of careers).

Mutations
Mutation description: Same powers, just a different list of fluent animals.

Current Fluent Animals
- dogs
- cats
- squirrels
- chipmunks
- pidgeons
- song birds

Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: Strength, speed, and reflexes are completely average. Zoe’s stamina and flexibility are above average thanks to working out.
Fighting Style: Zoe has never learned how to fight, and if found in a situation like that, would run before attempting a physical confrontation.
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: Because she doesn’t fight, she doesn’t look for them and avoids them whenever she can. However, she will be all but useless (and likely get quite hurt) in a fight.

History Of Your Character
Zoe is the youngest of two children. Growing up, Zoe was always a bit of a nerd. She liked science, reading, and for the most part preferred to keep to herself reading a book rather than running around with the other kids. Her older sister Jane didn’t understand this as she was very outgoing and loved being the center of attention. As such, Jane had a tendency to make fun of Zoe. But only ever at home, and she never let anyone else make fun of her sister.

When Zoe was 10, she and her sister were at the mall with their mother when a mutant’s powers went out of control. Jane was hurt fairly badly, and their mother died of her injuries, but Zoe was lucky (she had been trailing behind) and only had superficial injuries. This caused their father to become angry and bitter, blaming all mutants for his wife’s death.

Because she was still young, Zoe started modeling her father’s attitudes toward mutants until her powers emerged when she was 12. She had been up late reading one night, when all of a sudden she heard her cat. But it wasn’t the normal meowing sounds the cat made when Zoe kept the light on late. Instead, she actually heard the animal complaining about wanting to sleep. Zoe dismissed this as a dream, thinking that she had fallen asleep while reading. But the same thing happened again the next day, and the day after that.

Zoe didn’t know what to think. She seemed to able to understand cats, and later also dogs and birds. Which made her a mutant. But she hated mutants, they were bad, right? This contradiction was hard for her to process, because she didn’t think that she was bad. But she didn’t dare tell her father, or even her sister, so Zoe kept it to herself and withdrew. Since she wasn’t upset or depressed, the counselor told her father it was just her way of dealing with going through puberty without a mother.

Once she had come to grips with being a mutant, Zoe hid that fact from everyone, only speaking to animals when she was alone. If she told someone, word was bound to come back to her dad before long, and then how would he treat her?

Then she entered high school, and she became a bit promiscuous in a misguided attempt to get the connection she was missing with her family. But Zoe didn’t really do any real relationships, just superficial flings; to get that close to someone would mean her secret was bound to come out, and she wasn’t ready for that.

When high school was over, Zoe worked for a couple years before heading to college. Jane was already in school, and Zoe knew that her dad was struggling to pay for that. Plus, Zoe wasn’t entirely sure she wanted the money from him since she was sure he would hate her if he found out what she really was. And so Zoe was 19 when she started college in New York City. At first she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to major in; it only took half a semester for her to decide on psychology. But school, and the city, were harder than she expected, and her part time job on campus was barely paying for groceries. Finally, halfway through her second year, Zoe made a decision: if she was going to continue to sleep around (which she had been throughout her time at college), she may as well make the most of it and get paid to do it.

So at 20 years old, Zoe started working part time as an escort, going by the name Isabella. What she hadn’t expected was how much she would actually enjoy it, and she ended up not going back to college for her third year, instead working full time.

The longer that she worked, and the more clients she had, and was thus able to be pickier about which ones she saw, the more Zoe enjoyed it. And those clients she didn’t like, she simply stopped seeing. Life was good, if a little lonely at times, but at least it was fun.