Noir week, day 7

“You understand, don’t you?  You’re like me…”

Name: Casey Doyle

Alias: Noir

Birthday/Age: March 26, 16

Height/Weight: 6’0”, 136 lbs.

Relatives: Helen Doyle (older sister), Diana Doyle (younger sister)

Occupation: student, cashier at a local arcade

Interests: art, techno music, cartoons

Powers/Equipment: shapeshifting her body to produce such things like clamps, spikes, wings, etc.

Weaknesses: blows to the head, her own emotions, public exposure

Bio: Casey considers herself to have an infinite amount of problems.  As if being diagnosed with depression wasn’t enough, she also has a tendency to change into a chaotic shadow girl named Noir whenever she gets emotionally upset.  To her, it’s irony on a crushing level, as if the gods said “Hey, that one isn’t unstable enough, let’s give her the powers that rely on that sort of thing!”

It all started about half a year ago, after the superhero known as Nephilim had been assassinated.  Casey was walking home from a trip to the local café, watching her feet as she passed by pedestrians.  On the ground she saw a shadow move without anyone attached, and quickly followed it into an alley, recognizing it as the silhouette of the “dead” hero.  Nephilim couldn’t talk, but from what Casey could gather, she was the first one to ever notice her like this.  Out of sympathy, she offered Nephilim a spot in her own shadow, and since then they’ve been inseparable.  Literally.

The first time Casey got depressed after their attachment, the two of them bonded together to become Noir.  Neither was fully in control, but yet it was both of them at the same time.  Noir acts entirely on emotions, and since Casey was feeling testy before the transformation, Noir escaped out a window and proceeded to cause mischief downtown, eventually stumbling upon Mike’s troupe of villains.  Nephilim’s memories recognized them instantly, yet her desire to bring them to justice never kicked in, and Noir joined them.

Noir is making Casey even more easily upset than she was prior.  Her sisters realize something is wrong and have tried confronting her, but she dodges questions, only making her feel worse.  She needs to tell someone, but she doesn’t know how.  Nephilim is always there if she needs to vent, but the fact that it’s the ex-heroine’s problem too isn’t comforting.  At the very least, she wants to stop doing evil, but if that will ever happen is a matter of how well she can eventually control herself.

Character History: Casey and her sisters are recent characters, having originated from the superhero rp I keep mentioning on and off.  They were the future daughters of Eli Firth, and I had planned from the start that one of them would be “weird” in that superhero-ish way.  Originally, Diana was going to be some sort of tech-assisted hero, but ideas never came, and it was a little cliché (and a little railroading) to have it be sister vs. sister like that.

Noir was a design idea I had while listening to too much Nightwish, particularly “Wish I Had an Angel” (which is also why she has wings).  Symphonic metal would pretty much explain why she’s so cute and scary simultaneously, no?  Anyway, it was just a matter after that to connect the dots between her, Nephilim, and Casey.  When II came along, Casey made the perfect school friend for Gabe.  She’s endearing in an awkward way, yet relates to the plot, so she wouldn’t get shoved aside in favor of superhero endeavors.

“There are no mistakes—just accidents that can be advantageous with enough creativity.”

Name: Trisha Cunningham

Alias: Nephilim

Birthday/Age: April 10, deceased at 34

Height/Weight: 5’7”, 141 lbs.

Relatives: none known

Occupation: nurse, superhero

Interests: magic, mythology, medicine

Powers/Equipment: shadow manipulation, shadow travel, shapeshifting

Weaknesses: enclosed spaces, light, rival magic

Bio: Nephilim was the first superhero Fort North ever knew and one of the most successful in general, proving to be nigh invincible—until someone got her when she was in her civilian identity.  Her powers came from a small magic blunder.  Trisha Cunningham was a 27-year-old going into nursing, but wildly interested in religion and the occult on the side.  She was particularly interested in supernatural phenomena, such as spirits, and wished to contact something otherworldly.

In her basement she created a giant magic circle for the purpose of accessing the spirit plane.  However, such a huge circle would be very easy to get wrong; little incorrect details, tiny smudges, and things out-of-place could all go under the radar with such a large canvas to work with.  The spirit plane was also a “soul” experience more than “body,” and thus when Trisha conducted her experiment, she saw it fail, and her soul got “misplaced” in her shadow rather than her body.

Being soulless in body rendered her rather unsettling to talk to, as she hardly changed expressions and talked in a calm monotone.  The only upside is that she was no longer bothered by opinions, so she couldn’t really get upset that people found her creepy.  Nevertheless, she tried to find a way to put her soul back, and succeeded—by taking her shadow with it.  The abilities she soon discovered gave her all sorts of new freedoms, but she decided to do the best with them, and became a hero.

The detective at the police department, Matthew Stuart, was elated to have her help, and throughout the years Nephilim became a common name in Fort North households.  She had a solid seven-year run, ending the reigns of many villains, only to see more spring up in the process (particularly Mike’s gang, the headquarters of which still has yet to be located).  It seemed like Nephilim was indestructible, but reality hit hard for the citizens as Trisha was assassinated in her house one day.  The culprit has never been found.

Due to her soul’s placement, Trisha only died in body.  She wanders the streets as a shadow, hoping someone would notice her.  She has no way to communicate other than gestures, and even then it’s hard to grab someone’s attention when one isn’t actually physically there.  If anything, it’s making her go insane—unstable.  Eventually, a certain teenage girl managed to find her, but to say that was the end of her problems is wrong.  Horribly, horribly wrong.

Character History: Unlike Casey, Trisha is a rather old character, originating in the rp ‘verse that Gabe started in.  It’s funny, because she and Casey switched places, in a way—Casey started as an adult, but got reincarnated as a high schooler, while Trisha started in high school, but got reincarnated much older.

Her background was pretty much the same as it was back then, except with “magic circles” added in as a way to explain what exactly happened (in the old canon, it was vague).  However, she couldn’t force her soul back in, so the poor girl was stuck being emotionless all the time.

She wasn’t inspired by anything in particular; just my never-ending love for shadow powers.  When the superhero rp popped up, I jumped at the chance to add her.  I find it a little saddening that she’s already dead by the start of II…she has such a fun personality!  Oh well, there’s always flashbacks.

Next week: a shocking Frenchman!