Rhythm

Individual

Character's Full Name: Ashley Aran
Alias / Nickname / Codename: Rhythm
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Date of Birth: January 1st, 1992
Nationality / Ethnicity: Caucasian
Birthplace / Home / Place of Origin: Chicago, Illinois

Appearance

Hair Color and Style: Fire red, long.
Eyes: Gray
Height: 5'11"
Build: Slim, Athletic
Visible Mutation: None
Scars / Tattoos / Piercings: None
Other Features: None

Everyday Clothing Style: Rhythm will usually just wear what's comfortable. This usually consists of boy shorts and a t-shirt if she's at home alone, or plain jeans and a hoodie if she's out or if she has company. She usually keeps herself fully covered to avoid skin to skin contact with anyone else. She also almost always wears a pair of gigantic headphones.

Uniform: Usually whatever she's wearing at the time. In most cases, regardless of what she's wearing, Rhythm wears a tan trenchcoat that goes down to her knees and buttons up to cover most of her face.

Sleepwear: Rhythm sleeps in the nude.

Miscellaneous Clothing: N/A

Character

Personality: Focus and driven, all that's known about Rhythm's personality is how she shows herself to everyone; cold, distant and professional. In truth is mostly an act, a defense mechanism because of how socially awkward she is. Rhythm doesn't like speaking about her opinions, and rarely likes speaking at all because she's afraid she'll sound dumb when she does. So she masks this by using various techniques; from her patented 'Death Glare' when she's irritated to downright growling when she's angry.

Hobbies / Interests: Rhythm likes to cook, work out and listen to music (of course!). She's also an extremely talented dancer (using a smoother style akin to Michael Jackson mixed with belly dancing but also incorporates break dancing and pop locking when she's feeling frisky) and loves to sing. While she had no formal training by 'professionals' in this regard, she's merely developed this talent on her own by watching television, music videos, and copying video game characters on Bust-A-Groove and the like. There were also a few talented fighters that worked at her surrogate father's gym that improved on her dancing ability, most notable being the only female she ever met that taught her how to bellydance. She'll also tear it up on any Dance Dance Revolution or Pump It Up machine. Going along with her dancing talent is her amazing voice; she doesn't talk often in front of people and would honestly rather boil her head then do it front of people but she DOES have a beautiful singing voice.

Quirks: Rhythm has a number of quirks most would find odd, disgusting or cute, depending on the person. She likes to read manga but keeps it a secret. She blushes VERY easily. She also has a strange like for mayo to the point that it's something of an addiction. She puts it on damn near anything and she'll eat it straight out of the bottle if she can.

She also has a soft spot for women, especially if they're crying. Ashley tends to panic in an almost comical way to get the person to calm down, especially if she was the one to cause the problem in the first place. She honestly doesn't know why, but she attributes that to her surrogate father's upbringing and teachings of being a good person. To this point, she also hiccups when she lies. She doesn't know why this is and blames it on being a horrible liar.

Job or Part Time Job and Description: None

Fears / Phobias / Concerns: Rhythm isn't a very sociable creature; she likes to keep to herself and rarely speaks unless she has to. This is because she believes she's awkward and fumbles a lot when she's talking. These fears make her clam up and more or less use facial expressions to convey her feelings, which is odd since the most she does is scowl or glare.

Special Talents: She's an avid Muay Thai practitioner and works on her style every day despite not having a mentor. She can also read lips very well (as she listens to music a lot and people still insist on talking to her while she has her headphones on). She can also read body language so a certain degree, but not very well and really only looks for threatening postures and gestures.

Morality

Good / Bad / Neutral / Other: Neutral: Rhythm isn't a BAD person. She's made some bad choices to get where she is. On the flip side, she does what needs to be done. She makes judgments and sticks with them despite the consequences and will back those choices up with logical and reasonable thoughts. And while she knows that life isn't black and white and even tiptoes into the gray herself, Rhythm still views the world that way, if only to preserve her sanity.

Mutations

Mutation Description: When listening to music, Ashley physical capabilities are augmented to peak human levels, depending on the type of music she's listening to.

Strengths: All levels of speed, strength and stamina are raised to Olympic levels with subtle differences. They are as follows:

• Strength: Her strength is still limited to her body mass and weight; Rhythm still isn't very big so she can't life a metric ton but she can hit VERY hard. Currently she can lift upwards of 300 (136 kilos) pounds while her power is active at MOST (she would be struggling), while her average is anywhere between 200 (90 kilos) pounds and 250 pounds (113 kilos) (with minimal effort). This part of her power is activated upon hearing a song with more bass, heavy songs that naturally make one feel powerful or 'badass' when listening to them. "Remember the Name" by Fort Minor or "Never Forget Me" by Bone Thugs N Harmony are good examples of such songs.
  
  
• Speed: Her speed is probably the most enhanced as she's slim and athletic, and is only offset because she doesn't have the discipline of a seasoned track star and has trouble pacing herself. Her absolute limit would be 22 mph (9.8 m/s), but only if she's really pushing herself; at that speed she wouldn't be able to last long stamina wise. Her average would be 15 (6.7 m/s) mph to 20 (8.9 m/s) mph. This part of her power is activated upon hearing a song that's faster paced, something that would naturally want to make one get up and move. "Fire Burning On The Dance Floor" by Sean Kingston or "Calling" by Takeharu Ishimoto are good examples of such songs.
  
  
• Stamina: Likewise her stamina is affected in the way her other attributes are. She can last a long time fighting or doing anything she wants to but since she's not trained in the art of maintaining her stamina (and this is all despite her training in Muay Thai) she will still succumb to tiring quicker then she probably should. This is probably the hardest thing for Rhythm herself to measure, but if she were to continuously punch a punching bag, she could probably go for about four to five hours without stopping, with her max being seven before she collapses. This time is only her doing a repetitive, yet stressful motion for hours on end though, and reflects nothing on Rhythm’s stamina in actual battle. The time will change depending on who she’s fighting, number of opponents, and many other things. If she’s being particularly stressed in a fight against a strong opponent, the limit to her stamina would probably only be three to four hours, less if there were more opponents. This part of her power is activated upon hearing a song that inspire people, songs that make you want to try harder and work more. "Going The Distance" by Bill Conti or "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor are good examples of such songs.
  
  
• Combinations: There are songs that Rhythm listens to that combines two or more of her powers, but they are few and far between and seemingly completely random. "Bass Beats and Melody" by Brooklyn Bounce would be an example of a song that activates her speed and strength, while "Marvin Gaye vs Gorillaz" on the DJ Hero Soundtrack would be an example of song that activates her speed and stamina.
  

Weakness:

• Without music, Rhythm is merely...normal. She needs to be surrounded in her music (for lack of a better term) which is why she has her headphones that cover half of her head. These headphones have an iPod inside of them with a continuously shifting soundtrack of music that she plays all the time, though she does have them sorted to play what she needs if she needs a certain part of her power 'active'. She makes sure the headphones are securely on and once on they somehow don't manage to leave her head, no matter what she does (though sometimes accidents DO happen...).
  
  
• Her ability also seems to make Rhythm's skin extremely sensitive to the point that she's unable to come into skin-to-skin contact with other people, forcing her to cover up most of her body (with the exception of her face) in clothing if she wishes to do so. If someone DOES touch her, Rhythm begins to feel pain that gets more intense the longer she's touched (the pain begins at around five seconds of constant contact). All it takes is a good twenty-five seconds of constant contact and Rhythm will be knocked out cold for varying amounts of time. This weakness does go away eventually, but only after an hour or so after she stops listening to music entirely. As she cannot listen to music without her ability going off, these times are extremely rare.
  
  
• Random tunes she hears on the street will mess with her ‘flow’ as she likes to call it, though there are certain stipulations to how it does. First of all, whatever she hears (whistling, random singing, et cetera) has to be louder than the music she’s already listening to. Also, all music activates her ability, like it or not. In this regard if someone knew her power well they could manipulate what part of her power will activate, but only someone with intimate knowledge of that could pull this off.
  

Fighting Style

Explanation: Rhythm is a hand to hand fighter, plain and simple. She uses Muay Thai, as it's her favorite, and uses little else, at least for now.

Pros for fighting style: Advanced speed and strength when fighting usually helps.

Cons for fighting style: Inflexibility can be predictable.

Faction Allegiance

Unaffiliated

History of Your Character:

Ashley Aran (Rhythm to most everyone she meets now-a-days, as she doesn't tell anyone her real name) didn't begin her life until she turned 16 on a random street corner in Chicago.

But that's how life began for about fifty something other people as well, people's whose minds were suddenly wiped blank or somehow scrambled due to a nearby mutant that robbed a bank and used her power to get away from the authorities. She was successful in her escape and Ashley Aran was suddenly left alone as the scene went chaotic. It was all she could do to keep herself conscience as the screaming started. Her head burned, she felt weak in the knees but before she could stop herself she was out of the scene in a shot, running away from it all before it all could collapse back in on her.

She remembered only being scared. She heard the news later on in the day when she was near a hot dog vendor that many of the people that were near the bank that was robbed had their memories scrambled or some such thing, she didn't understand at all. In their haste to maintain order in a near riot, the police that arrived on the scene later had to use extreme force to keep the panicking people from going completely out of control, and more than a dozen were injured. A handful of others died, but their deaths were ruled not of the fault of the police department.

And Ashley Aran (she found out that was her name because it said so in the purse she kept in her backpack) was all alone, and she didn't know what to do.

Nightfall came and Ashley grew even more scared. Her mind was fuzzy and it was like she couldn't form a single coherent thought and she didn't know why. It was why she didn't notice the men that came from an alley to stalk her. It was why she didn't notice them behind her, just a bit too close. And it was finally why it was too late for her to run when they finally surrounded her, catching her and pushing her around while she could only whimper, frightened and truly alone.

Her savior came in the form of a man with a comical looking fedora and a leather jacket, rough jeans and a Brooklyn accent. Ashley remembered him walking into the scene laughing, cracking his gloved knuckles as he insulted the thugs that were playing around with Ashley like a cat plays with a mouse. The enraged thugs, six in all, fell easily to the man, who seemed to blow them off, all the while throwing barb after bard at the outmatched gangsters. Ashley could only watch in awe.

It was why she agreed, numbly, to accompany him to wherever he was, because she knew she could trust him. Well...she believed she could. And at that moment Ashley Aran needed someone she could trust.

Whistler was a mixed martial artist trainer, usually picking up guys who were interested in the sport or at least the conditioning portion of it. He called those people 'fakes' but said their money was good and hell, if they wanted to do the work then more power to them, right? His accent always made Ashley laugh and they fell into an easy routine after weeks of living together. Whistler made sure Ashley was taken care of and never asked her about herself until Ashley revealed that she had lost her memory and didn't know who she was.

At that point they had been living together for a few months and Whistler took the news in stride. He said he trained a few cops, the ones that were serious about the job anyways, and he would call in a few favors to find out where Ashley's family was. She was glad, but at the same time sad she would no doubt be leaving the man's care soon enough. Which was all well and good because she also felt extremely guilt about her other secret, a secret so big that she was positive Whistler would kick her back out on the streets if he knew.

She found out that she was a mutant. How? The iPod that Whistler had gave her was loaded with what he called 'inspirational music', and he let her use it when she was cleaning out the gym he owned or the apartment they lived in, the one about the gym. She remembered, not a week after being taken in that Whistler had her cleaning the gym that she lifted a dumbbell that was 60 pounds with little effort. Her young frame at that point could have never done such a thing, much less one handed, which is what she did. So amazed by her actions that she quickly cleaned up the gym and tried again, but this time she didn't have Whistler's iPod. Now the weight was heavy, way too heavy for her to lift it with only one hand. She thought back and recreated the scene inside her head, trying to figure out the missing factor. And then it hit her; the music!!

She felt happy knowing that she somehow became stronger when she listened to music. She felt like she could defend herself now against people like the men who once tried to beat her up before Whistler got to her. She contemplated asking Whistler to teach her like he taught the guys in the gym to fight, but decided against it. With her guardian going to the police it was only a matter of time before she went back home anyways, and then her parents would have no problems telling her why her memory wouldn't come back, despite the fact that, on the news, it said that all the people that were affected by that mutant were slowly regaining their memories.

Whistler didn't come back with good news, however. As it turns out her parents were with her on that fateful day and were later killed by the panicked crowed; both were trampled to death in the ensuing storm of confusion. Whistler told her this as gently as he could but it didn't matter; Ashley vowed not to cry. She found herself pouting, the tears stinging though, but she still didn't cry. It wasn't like she remembered them, right? Nothing about her childhood or past. It was all gone anyways, and for some reason they weren't coming back, just like her parents.

And while she found she was screaming this at Whistler, and as he looked on with much sorrow and pity on his face the tears came anyways. Even the hug that the big man wrapped her in couldn't muffle the wails for long, and that was all she knew until she woke up. Three days she had slept and Whistler had taken care of her. Whistler sat by her bed the whole time and waited, keeping the gym closed until his 'little helper' was back on her feet. Still depressed and very much feeling like she was alone in the world, Whistler told her it wouldn't have to be that bad; that things would go on like they had been for the past few months. And they would create new memories, better ones, right?

So Ashley told him about her power.

And he laughed.

He revealed that he too was a mutant, but his power lay in the ability to help people learn, which made him such a great trainer. He made people focus, sharp and absorb information and retain it as a greater rate than they would normally be able to. He'd had the power since he was a teenager, he told Ashley, and he would gladly use that power to help Ashley learn how to be a proper adult, and a strong woman.

And that he did. For years she trained under him and the various other gym goers. They treated her like something of a mascot at first but quickly began to respect the determination Ashley showed when it came to her chosen style of fighting; Muay Thai. Whistler told her one that it was his favorite style because it was so simple in its complexity that anyone who could master it could master themselves no problem. That sounded good to Ashley, who had yet to really master anything about her power, and the growing problems that came with it.

At first it was the random migraines, something she never had problems with before. Then came the sensitivity to touch, something she also had to overcome in the ring by covering up her whole body. This hindered her slightly and sometimes wore her out faster due to more profuse sweating, but it was something she adapted to. She learned this weakness to touch went away if she didn't listen to music for awhile before she went to train with the others, but anytime music was played and she found the beat or tune catchy, her powers would activate and the weakness would return.

But rarely did Whistler allow music in the gym anymore because of Ashley's power. He wanted her to earn the right to use the Muay Thai style and not dominate simple because she could use her advanced strength, speed and stamina to crush her opponents. Plus, he didn't like the way Ashley writhed in pain because of her weakness to touch. So with music being banned from the gym, Ashley could train in peace and quiet, with the exception of pummeling and sometimes being pummeled by guys twice her age and size. Still, she was a determined thing and kept up with the exercise regimen and katas she had to memorize.

They lived like this for years until a month before her nineteenth birthday, when Ashley came home to find the gym empty. That wasn't unusual as Whistler sometimes closed it when he wanted to give Ashley a special lesson. This time was different, and somehow Ashley could feel it, like the hairs on the back of her neck were tingling. She looked around and eventually came upon the body of her beloved guardian, dead in the kitchen with a gunshot wound to his head. Ashley barley registered her own scream when a sudden explosion of fire from the stove caught her off guard and knocked her flat on her back. The fire spread quickly and Ashley, though she was loathe to leave the body of the man she had come to love as a father behind, had no choice but to run away.

As she watched the flames lick away her home, Ashley knew there would be questions. She knew that, all that time ago when Whistler asked the police about her parents that he didn't tell them about her, or where she'd been, or anything. She knew that they would pin him with a kidnapping or something worse if they ever came to find out that Whistler had been harboring a minor, a minor girl for that matter, and decided to do the only thing she knew; she ran.

Chicago, Illinois was a big place, she knew that much. She just didn't know how big until she was actually out there again, walking its streets and trying to figure out what to do. This was like being sixteen all over again, and the strange yet familiar feeling of her chest compression came over her again, her head feeling fizzy before she stopped and willed herself to calm down. She was older now, and more mature and street wise. She may not be as smart as other people having never gone to school, but she could fight, and she was a mutant; she wouldn't be an easy target anymore. After calming herself she came up with a plan of attack, one that would send her far away from this place and to somewhere unfamiliar.

Through the years Ashley had been trying to find the mutant that stole her life, a name, anything that would mark this person so Ashley could one day track them down and...well, do SOMETHING. And while she never came across anything concrete she knew one thing; more than one road led to New York City, the place with the highest mutant population in the United States. Well, so the papers said anyways.

With nothing else to go on, Ashley dumped her meager bank account and began her trek to New York City. She knew she could have taken Whistler's own substantial account but decided against it. No more relying on others. She's had two years to learn to stand up for herself and one of the best teachers in the world to make proud. With a final farewell to her one time guardian and a determined nod, Ashley began her trek to New York to find the one person that destroyed her life.

Roleplay

Where did you learn about this site?: Google
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: N/A

Was it always so cold in New York?

The redhead shook those thoughts away, flicking away her cigarette and going back inside of her 'apartment' and closed the door. It was a cheap place, to be sure, but she didn't care. It provided a roof over her head, a place to crash and a shower and that was all she cared about. Her funds were low and she had spent most of the cash she had earned through her work with Whistler on a cell phone she needed and the room she was in. Looks like she had to steal more food tonight.

The investigation into the woman that had stolen her life had led her here, to New York. It's been so long, she thought to herself. Coming into one's own consciousness was a troubling experience, but in the two years or so she'd been living her own life with Whistler she'd found a great many things. Her powers, for one.

And while she enjoyed her power, she also found out a great many other things, including things about herself, little things that sometimes made her laugh. Like her affinity for mayo and how she could eat it on anything, up to and including Ritz crackers or simply with a spoon and nothing else. Or how she liked manga and read it at the bookstore whenever possible but hated how she couldn't get any because she had no money and MAN those places had some tight security. All these little things she had found out since she was forced away from Whistler because someone murdered him and, somehow, set his place ablaze.

It was enough to give a girl a complex.

She sighed as went and she curled up on the mangy couch that took up most of the small room, tucking her feet under her before falling over entirely and heaving a bigger sigh. It was these moments, these lulls into her investigation that she hated oh so much. She knew things would pick up eventually, but in the meantime she was stuck. She didn't know where to go or what to do. There were a few names she could look up, investigate and follow up on, but it was nighttime and even if she did she couldn't do anything about the information she found.

It felt like hours later when her phone gave a small squawk, a noise made from Final Fantasy's Chocobos. She blinked before reaching lazily to the table in front of her couch and pulled the phone to her. It displayed a message from one of her contacts, a man who called himself Domino.

'Now. Usual place.'

How uninformative. She mentally shrugged; all of his messages were like that.

Still, she was glad for something to do anyways. She got up and began to strip, simply leaving the clothes on the floor as she headed to the shower. She wasn't planning on going anywhere, but these calls could come at anytime so it really didn't matter. She pulled on her normal clothes since she wasn't stepping into anything serious. She liked the outfit, really. Tight black shirt, baggy cargo pants with combat boots. She pulled in her usual black gloves, followed by her tan trenchcoat that buttoned up to cover the bottom half of her face. Stylish, yes.

And her headphones. Can't forget those. Best thing she ever stole. Better to be prepared anyways.

She glanced back at the dirty apartment and sighed. Just another day in the life. “Perfect” she said to herself. "Just perfect."