[reference: heather's application]
Character: Heather Cameron / Lifeguard
Power Description:
Heather's abilities fall into two areas.
1. Ability to sense danger: yes, I know sounds like Spidey Sense. I didn't make this up. ;) Heather can sense imminent danger to people around her (that's how it's different from PP) as well as herself. This triggers her second ability...
2. "Situational Biomorphic Adaptation" - Heather acquires whatever powers she needs to deal with the danger that is incoming. She has a golden all over body armor that may be one of the first things she manifested - she did that when she met the X-men. She has grown wings, extra arms (to catch falling rescuees) and other adaptations. During an invasion attempt of Earth by an intergalactic/interdimensional conqueror, Khan, she went with a small group of X-men to Khan's ship/tower whatever and in that environment she suddenly manifested Shi'ar physiognomy, which was quite useful in the situation, it fooled Khan's people into not realizing she was an Earth person/enemy. However this change, unlike others, did not immediately disperse when she was back on Earth and folks were out of danger.
A note about Heather's powers: apparently when she appeared (in Xtreme X-men) there was some negative fan reaction, deeming her power a kind of deus ex machina (it is! XD). She's a Chris Claremont creation. Others thought it was a cool and creative concept (like me! ;D).
Character Background:
Heather Cameron was a life guard, living with her surfer younger brother Davis in Surfer's Paradise Australia. Heather was aware of her powers and used them to help save swimmers in line with her job, keeping her extraordinary abilities out of sight and secret. Her brother had no special abilities (later he learns from Sage that he had the mutant genetics recessive, and would have passed it to his kids).
Neither Heather nor Davis were aware that their real father was Viceroy, an underworld crime lord. Viceroy's murder, which was pinned on Gambit, put the brother and sister potentially in danger from rivals of their father battling for his place at the top of the crime world. Storm's team find them in order to protect them, a shark attack reveals Heather's abilities to the X-men, and afterwards an attack by assassins brings it out in public when Heather's armor forms as she shields the X-men and others, not realizing they at least aren't civilians. In the course of the subsequent storyline in Xtreme X-men, she and Davis hook up with Storm's team (which includes Rogue, Bishop, Thunderbird III and eventually Remy) to foil the schemes of the villain who killed their father and framed Gambit. After that, they are still with the X-men when there is an invasion of the Earth by aliens, centered in Singapore. Both Heather and Davis get involved. Davis agrees to let Sage cause latent mutant abilities he might never have had to manifest, and he acquires his powers of speed and travel, and a name, Slipstream. Davis and Heather are separated, Davis staying with Rogue and Heather going with Bishop and Thunderbird to rescue a captured Storm. While they are separated, Heather manifests ever more strange adaptations, wings, claws, Shi'ar features, which don't go away when they get back.
Upon seeing his sister, who looks so radically different than when he last saw her, Davis rejects her as a "monster". In spite of Kurt Wagner trying to talk to him, he can't handle the change and runs away from his sister.
Heather and Thunderbird search for him but as of the present time (Marvel continuity), Heather and Davis haven't been reconciled.
Personality:
Heather's strongest character trait is her need to help others in danger. She became a life guard to save swimmers and surfers at the beach, and her mutant ability lets her sense danger to others. Her first and last reaction is to head straight into the danger in order to put herself between it and any potential victim. This is a standard heroic character trait, but for Heather it is the purest impulse of who she is.
Her real father kept his association with his children hidden, even from them, so she wasn't raised as the daughter of a crime lord. Until meeting the X-men, she was normal, except for her abilities, well adjusted, happy. Her brother was her closest relationship.
Her choice of profession shows her instinct to help others, but no need to put on a costume and go out seeking trouble or injustice. She wasn't persecuted for being a mutant, and her rejection by Davis was the first situation of this kind she ever had to face (and being the person she was closest to, was devastating).
She's confident, open, honest, but smart enough to have concealed her ability.
When her physical changes became more and more radical, she reacted with shock, perhaps as much because those changes did not immediately go away and return her to her normal state, which is what she was familiar with. She has expressed frustration with an inability to control the changes. They come, she always has what she needs to save people in danger (including Sage, when Sage was under mental attack from Lady Mastermind), but she can't call any of these adaptations consciously.
After manifesting Shi'ar traits, she claimed that she now had the instincts of a predator, to hunt prey. This is extremely disturbing for her as it conflicts with her original strongest character trait.
In game, I'd rather take her from either before she manifested Shi'ar traits, or postulate that she eventually gets that much under control or that the traits eventually fade and return her to normal when danger isn't present. Being Shi'ar was an adaptation that helped in the special circumstances of the invasion. Though she didn't revert back immediately, I'd like to say she might eventually, once the danger of that invasion is more distant in time.
It has been speculated that she and Davis both might have had a Shi'ar mother, but so far this has not been established as factual in Marvel continuity.
Sample In-Character Post:
The moment Heather arrived, she started asking herself what in the name of joe she'd been thinking to sign up for something located in the middle of the coldest spot on the planet. She was hardly out of the transport before she admitted to being gut deep homesick, as the cold tried to eat into her through the thickest parker she'd been able to get her hands on.
Since she wasn't one to mope, (these days, except about one thing, and that was kept locked in a box, something to take out only when she was alone) Heather took a breath of that nasty cold air and bucked it up. She'd come to try it out. Find out if she could cut it, that had been the idea. If she couldn't, well running away never did suit but she could admit a mistake if she had to. And going home... the beaches of Surfer's Paradise would only grind it in that someone important wasn't there. Without Davis...
Not to mention she'd been outed. She didn't think that would be a problem, the folks knew who she was, respected her. But it would be strange. Different than before. She didn't know if that would be something she could handle, on top of the absence of her brother. So hence this cockamamie idea of signing on the dotted line, and trying to find out whether she could do some good somewhere else in the world.
Heather knew she'd seem like an odd fit here. She wasn't a fighter, wasn't any kind of soldier or assassin, or anything. But where there was combat, there were people getting hurt. Where there were people getting hurt, Heather would have work to do.
Maybe it would keep her from thinking too much about not knowing where her brother was. Or about the way Davis had said "monster", looking right into her eyes.
Sample Character Journal Post: {as small or long as you like, in First Person narrative}
So, I'm here. The place is cold as the inside of an esky, and full of diggers. So far I haven't seen that much but it looks like Siberia all right. Bout as far from paradise as a body could get. No way I'll find him up here, but you never know. Maybe somebody'll have run into him. I'm not going to stay up nights waiting for it though.
I don't care so much about not having a lot of space, I don't have that much to put in it. I wonder what kind of training they have here. Well whatever it is, I'll manage. Give it a go, try and make myself useful. Meet some new blokes and ladies. On the plus side, when I get out of here, I bet I'll have some stories to tell. Just hope I have someone to tell them to.