Submitted by Soulless Zombie on Sun, 06/22/2003 - 09:09
Posted in
Real Name: Tiaret Lana Sanders
Chosen Name: ZaiLash (Lash for short)
Gender: Female
Race: Mutant
Group: A rogue with a neutral alliance to whatever takes her fancy at the time.
Position: Neutral
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Tiaret Lana "ZaiLash" Sanders
DESCRIPTION
Lash stands out in a crowd to say the least… at 5’11” she’s pretty tall. But aside from that, she also has a medium grey complexion with polygonal purply blue (PB) spots covering most of her body. Her ears are unusually large and pointed for a human (even an elf would be hard pressed to compete), and she has a long tail that sways languidly behind her with a tuft of PB hair at its tip (it has also been known to be a bit of a bastard when it comes to needing new clothes), but what really sets off her features are her golden iris’s and fiery red hair that she usually keeps in a long braid.
She struts about with an unmistakeable confidence, with no though to conceal her appearance. Her feet seem almost unnatural in the way they move as they glide fluently over the ground like water off a ducks back, her head not bobbing an inch. Many (when not describing her as the spawn of Satan) relate the way she looks and moves to be very similar to the feminine cat. And very much like a cat, her moods can often influence and effect the movements of her tail.
When in (what she supposes you could consider to be) her costume, it’s generally white, though she does have varying colours, and fairly sparse with thigh high boots and a three inch semi-stiletto heal that sets off and accentuates her body.
She’s proud of who she is and she’s not afraid to show it. Everyone else can think what they want as far as she’s concerned - This is basically her attitude in a nutshell.
NATURAL SKILLS AND FLAWS
- hates dogs and dogs hate her (no encouragement required)
- good at needle work and sewing (having to tailor your own pants to fit around your tail will do that to you)
- fluent in the use of her whips as an influenced result of her sparring and getting to learn how to use her tail much like one. Also, the main reason she keeps her hair long and wears it in a firm braid is so she can manipulate that too into another form of defence.
- has superb balance
- sharp hearing
- loves fake plants, hates the wilderness (she’ll agree it’s pretty, but she feels insecure when surrounded by things she can’t merge into for protection. This leads onto her next flaw…)
- hylophobic (and she can also get a little unnerved by open meadows or fields with nothing else around)
- she can read and write English, Russian (the writing intrigued her when she was about sixteen), a little bit of German, and a splash of Italian.
- she’s a trickster though and though (make what you will of it)
- a bit of a gambler.
- she likes puzzles and riddles until she still can’t figure them out a week later and they start to eat at her.
- loves to cook.
- hates fire in large quantities.
- computer literate.
- tendency to be over confident (this can be both good and bad)
- street smart.
- has a soft spot for cats (surprise, surprise)
- acting... to a degree
- she's obsessed by books and knowledge (even though she aint einstein, she likes to learn what she can. Knowledge is priceless to her, she longs to be able to enrole into a school)
- kleptomaniac
Tiaret Lana "ZaiLash" Sanders
BACKGROUND
It all started before Lash was even born….
Her parents were well-respected researchers for a silent Corp, taking part in the development of an ideal that was Bioware. Artificial limbs and organs that would have the ability to develop with the body as though they were already a natural part of its anatomy, enhancing human life. Of course it was a very close kept secret and there were few aware of the department.
One day, during the course of one of these such experiments that her mother was conducting, an unforeseen chemical reaction occurred in the formulae. The calculation that the team was sure had been thoroughly worked through from its original theory over the previous year had been checked and backed up up-teen billion times. All other experiments in the same line leading up to it had gone according to plan…except for this one.
Before her mother even had a chance to call out to one of her fellow researchers to run over and take a look, she fell victim to the experiments unexpected explosion. Thrown her back to the observation window, she crashed into the wall, accompanied by the eerie feeling of being covered in whatever substance had been contrived in the failed experiment.
There she lay. Over a year's worth of research gone within two seconds down the drain.
Later, after being put in quarantine and checked on by the departments leading physicians, her mother soon emerged, cleared as being perfectly healthy with nothing wrong. There were no traces of any foreign substance found on her either, despite how it had felt. She later put it down as being plain paranoia. Call it a stroke of luck.
All notes related to the experiment were filed away in the deep depths of the compound along with every other failed experiment. Everyone had had high hopes about this one too.
Unbeknownst to anyone, however, her mother and father had a little tradition they enjoyed keeping up on nights before a major experiment and proposed breakthrough… such as the one that had just taken place. And unbeknownst to her mother and father, they'd got more than they'd bargained for on that last particular night.
Needless to say, exactly nine months later her mother, with her father getting his hand crushed supportively at her side, gave birth to a bouncing baby… gray thing?
Fair enough… weirder things had happened. Or so the doctors told them, possibly in attempt though to comfort them. The babe was freaky enough as it was without need of the doctor proclaiming it was a boy… then realised his mistake when what he thought was a little winkle was, in actual fact, a little tail.
Part and parcel of the whole great gig of being a researcher for a silent Corp: personal medical attention within the facility! Much better attention and service than what you receive in even a private hospital.
As would then be expected, word of the mutated babe hadn't taken long in reaching the ears of the Corp‘s head. The physician recalled the incident that had taken place all those nine months ago, as he had been involved in seeing to the mother whilst she was in quarantine after the accident. However, when one of the head researchers (that wasn't the mother or father of the babe) was instructed to recover all documentation related to the particular failed experiment, the files were missing.
And so her mother and father nurtured their babe, Tiaret Lana Sanders, treating her with as much love and care as they would if she were 'normal', possibly even more so than they would a normal child on the mere grounds that they were trying so hard! Eventually, though, the trying went right out the window and they loved her for who she was, considering her a unique human that was their child. They fell in love with her and all her innocent little quirks.
A small panic had the parents for a while when she starting developing purpley blue patches on parts of her body only six months after her birth. Another visit from the company's physician that had delivered her turned over results detailing that she seemed perfectly healthy from what they could gather after considering their limited knowledge of her anatomy.
Some discussion between the parents had them finally agreeing to let the physicians study Tiaret for a few days and see what they could determine of her mutation, but only on the conditions that they too would be able to sit in on the study.
Occasionally one of the head people of the Corp would check in on Tiaret or request an update on any progress.
After all the time spent studying her, however, little was found out beyond your basic body structure. Even with the technology they had, they couldn't find anything much really that was out of the ordinary (aside from the fact that she had a tail, pointy ears and unnatural skin), only slight differences barely worth noting. They'd learnt enough to know she was healthy for whatever it was she was.
Afterwards, when Tiaret was discharged and went home with her parents, but not without being requested for regular checkups to see how she was progressing. Despite nothing turning up in the test results, she was still young and developing, if something happened, the Corp wanted to know about it.
Months passed, as they so often do, and Tiaret's parents were given the early parenthood blessings of witnessing their child's first step, first word, and of course, joyous toilet trained-ness which came unnaturally early from what they were expecting. But then again, they had a unique child and weren't going to complain if their child had learnt "pants bad, potty good".
Her visits to the physicians' kept up too, as requested by the Corp.
Tiaret was about eighteen months when the first signs of her power manifested. Unfortunately, for both her and her parents, it was during one of those requested fortnightly visits.
She was receiving a tetanus injection by her good birth physician and not liking the look of the pointy-ended needle. Bravely she held her ground, squirming somewhat and eyeing the needle warily.
Just as the needle was about to pierce her skin she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut to bare against what seemed an inevitable pain (she'd dealt with her physician before, he always got his way eventually). Strangely, however, she didn’t feel the expected prick, instead she felt the loss of the physician’s warm hand on her arm which was closely followed by the sound of his cursing.
Curiously, she peeled open one eye to peer at what was going on only to find that her arm had ghosted into some misty form and the physician’s needle had gone straight through her, pricking himself. Tiaret’s face was absolutely glowing with pleasure and joy as she smiled a big beaming grin up at her physician, her arm resolidifying as she did so. When the physician’s wits finally came back to him, he was naturally both alarmed and excited (perhaps a bit peeved) by this new found ability of hers.
After fumbling around, pleading, trying to keep Tiaret ‘solid’, she was soon convinced to take the injection and was quickly rushed out of the compound, back into her parents hands. A personal meeting with the head of the Corp came almost immediately the next day.
Her parents were obviously not oblivious to this newly discovered ability of hers (they do live with her after all… not to mention, Tiaret loved to play tricks…) and felt the sudden obligation to keep a closer eye on her, her progress, and most importantly: their place of employment’s growing interest in their daughter. They also took on a heavier duty of responsibility to pound particular ideals into their daughters mind, detailing privacy and the importance of keeping certain things secret.
Naturally though, being a child and all, Tiaret’s love of being the centre of attention as well as the sheer pleasures she found in being a bit of a trickster, proved certain things to be more of a challenge than hoped. She also enjoyed the praise she received from all the researchers, physicians, and heads of her parents employment.
And so more and more tests were conducted, testing the extent of her abilities and finding anything new. By the time she was two she already had a large enough file to compete with that of another’s whole life! Not a single thing about her went unchecked or unnoticed.
The prospects of having someone like Tiaret under their instruction was too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially with being young and all made her easy for moulding. However, there was still a slight warning hanging over their minds with how powerful she already was and how much she’d advance as she grew. Nothing could stop her from walking straight through walls to confined secure areas within the company and get her hands on any information she desired. Aside from her looks and abilities, Tiaret was just as human as the next person and there was no garauntee that she wouldn’t be persuaded by the right offer.
As far as they could make out at this point, she couldn’t even be shot, at least not without difficulty. Of course they didn’t shoot an actual bullet at her (are you insane?) but instead, they replicated an extremely mild simulation that involved piffing a ball at her. She easily avoided being hit by the unexpected attack by instinctively ghosting into her mist like replica of herself that the ball continued to pass straight through undisturbed like a plane in the clouds. They determined soon enough that if she was quick enough, she could do the same with a flying bullet.
All in all, it was decided that something needed to be done.
Years passed and Tiaret continued to grow, learning and living life, observing its little quirks along the way. Her visits were still regular, (they never really lessened. If anything, she was more likely to get the surprise extra visit) and they continued to get more intense with every session. Pushing her limits, seeing how far she could go. Her parents also continued to sit in on these tests, as was the agreement, and they too learnt the extent of her abilities.
One day, not much after Tiaret's fifth birthday, following one of her visiting days, an urgent knock pounded on their home front door.
One of the physicians, for some strange reason it wasn't her birthing one that usually appeared in an emergency, was revealed on the opposite side of the door. Flustered and gasping for breathe, he hurriedly explained that something had turned up on her previous days results and Tiaret needed to be rushed immediately back to the compound for follow up tests.
At the time it was only Tiaret and her mother at home. The father was out on some special research assignment he was, coincidentally, called out to that very morning.
Tiaret's mother was forcefully recommended to stay out of the theatre for reasons given over her personal relationship to her daughter and how it could blind her from clear thought at a vital moment. She had still refused to stand aside, only to soon find herself dozing in a vacant briefing room as her daughter was rushed from her protective grasp.
Hours later when her mother had finally come around, Tiaret was under close surveillance in a recovery room. Her father turned up a while later after he'd received an erratic call from his shaken wife explaining what had happened and how she must have fainted in theatre. He was there in moments to pick her up along with Tiaret, despite the warning protests of his 'fellow' work colleagues, now somewhat alienated from each other by the paranoia that grew within the parents minds since the birth of their daughter.
Once home, it didn't take long for her parents to suddenly notice a change in Tiaret's behavioral use of her power. They major giveaway being the fact that, when called for dinner, Tiaret used the stairs and made the effort to open doors.
An immediate issue was aroused and discussed over the following two nights, now that her parents worst fears had been all but confirmed, their was only one option left for them to take.
Tiaret wouldn't make it to her next visit.
If all went as planned, she wouldn't make anymore that followed, nor would she sleep another night in their home. Her parents were going to pack up and quietly leave with her under the shadowed cover of the night till she was safe from further harm.
However, an unexpected knock roused their attention to the door. No one usually visited at this time of night, and as fear rose within their hearts, they knew their time was up. They had to leave… and now.
They scurried desperately towards the back door when the front suddenly burst open admitting the sudden raid. Unfortunately, there was also a little welcoming party awaiting them at the back door, blocking their escape and leaving them with no place to go. Yet still, they refused to give up Tiaret. Even as they were apprehended and Tiaret stood frozen stiff with fright, a solid shove desperately managed by her father as he struggled to keep free was enough to push start Tiaret into a run before they could grab her too.
It was the last she saw of her parents as she fled from the nightmare. She could only hear their pleading cries for her to get to safety as she ran erratically about the house, weaving and dodging the bad people that had invaded her home. Someone grabbed her as she kicked and flailed wildly to get free. Slamming her up against the wall, they cuffed her hands together just in time to watch her disappear into the very wall she'd been forcefully acquainted with.
Orders to burn the house, once word reached the orchestra ter of the raid, were carried out swiftly. Tall, searing hot flames licked hungrily at the walls as the operators of the raid stood on to watch till their mission was carried out down to the very last cinder.
And so Tiaret was killed. Burnt within the walls of her very home along with some papers of a failed experiment…. Or so they thought….
After suffering against the searing flames that licked the walls she was merged within, there was a sudden change in the solid structures atmosphere: it was weakening. It had started to break down. With no other choices left for her and nothing to lose, Tiaret tried her luck and leaped out, re-emerging like a shot on the outside of her burning home.
She ran. As soon as she was free of the oversized bonfire, she ran. She ran into the night until her lungs burned just as much as her body, then she ran some more.
As far as she knew, her parents were dead. Burnt down along with her home and her childhood.
For the majority of what was usually most other children's childhood, Tiaret learnt how to survive on the street. Many condemned her for her looks, some even tried to kill her, calling her the very spawn of Satan and other such remarks.
Tiaret chose to ignore their accusations, she was who her parents raised her to be, only in her eyes: she was better than the lot of them!
Abandoning the birth name given to her by her parents, she took on a new name to change right along with her forced upon life. She didn't want to soil her old name. Too many good memories went with it, and she didn't know what the future was to hold for her. So instead, she only held her birth name close when she was alone, but otherwise, she is known as Zai Lash. Lash for short.
Lash learnt how to fend for herself, and as a result of surviving on her own, she became an extremely street smart individual. Over time she even made a few friends. She was at least ten before she got even a sniff education other than what her parents and the street had taught her.
She met a little boy called Jeremy (whom she came to nickname Jermy), he’d gotten lost whilst out shopping with his mum for a new pair of shorts. At first Lash just watched him with a sly grin on her face, wondering what lollies he might be carrying that she could swipe.
After taunting him for a while, making him think he was hearing voices, she went to make her move when the boy suddenly tripped clumsily over himself and she caught him by accident with her tail (he thought it was an act of kindness, when really, her tail just happened to be there). As freaky as she was though, Jeremy saw her as some sort of cool thing from a movie (but later found out she wasn’t, much to his disappointment).
Through Jeremy (under his parents disapproval at their sons association with Lash) she got an education as best as he could relay his classes. She grew fond of his English classes, much to Jeremy’s surprise and bad luck, developing a new love for books and languages. And from a young age the two started to play fight (as all little boys love to play their favourite action hero), Lash ended up finding a new use for her tail, this was soon accompanied by Jeremy’s whinging at his lack of one… so she continued to use it to her advantage. As they grew it became a ritual thing between buddies with the two of them inventing new moves and testing each other.
Lash currently lives in one her two houses. This one in particular is a special residency house in Mutantgrad, Russia (her other is a dilapidated building located in the country she was born: New York, America). For her they're both cozy, contrary to her New York ones appearance. The one in America came equip with a small network of an old underground sewerage pipes (more like tunnels really).
She makes own her way in life, living for herself. She’ll occasionally team up with others provided she personally gets something out of it. She generally wont go out of her way to do good deeds just for the sake of it.
So far she’s just a unique person with a unique ability who occasionally does some side acting to play the unique character (you may have seen her in LOTR: one of the departing elves in a cloak holding a lamp).
Tiaret Lana "ZaiLash" Sanders
VILLAIN
Coming soon to a forum near you!
Tiaret Lana "ZaiLash" Sanders
POWER
Lash is ultimately a form of Ethereal. She has the ability to merge/melt (depending on how you’d prefer to see it) into any inanimate object and move around within its boundaries. However, most Ethereal are able to pass straight through objects without hindrance, when Lash was once able to do this as a child, an experimental chip was implanted in her at a very young age (but by now has fizzed out) forming a block in her mind inhibiting her from being able to do so whenever she wishes.
Only under certain circumstances can she appear to pass through an object unhindered, and that’s on the condition that the opposite side of the object is not blocked off. In other words, she is still limited by some rules of the normal physical world. ie.
 This is a room…it is closed. If Lash is on the inside, she can merge into the wall and move around within its boundaries, she cannot pass straight through to the opposite side and get out of the room while the door is closed unless she, or someone else, opens it properly. But she can merge into the wall on one side of the room, appearing not to be in there, then step out of it on the other side of the room. Her speed whilst in merged within an inanimate object is only double that of a regular being.
This is the same room…but the doors now open. If Lash is still on the inside of the room, or outside even, she can merge into the wall and move around till she’s on the other side and remerge there via the door (a break in the boundaries). As long as the door stays open, she can remerge on the opposite side of the wall, but she can’t still just pass straight through like she should be able to do. Even whilst she’s merged within the wall, she is still aware of what’s happening in the room she merged from, but is also aware of the opposite side as well. If the door closes whilst she’s still in the wall, she’ll be aware of it, same goes if a door is opened.
To an onlooker, when she merges into an object she seems to disappear, then appears to have passed straight through the objects when she suddenly reappears on the other side. She still has to take the time to make her way around the rest of the object before she can get there though…but of course, an observer would be unaware of this, they usually only take in what they see and don’t think of the in between.
OTHER ABILITIES WITHIN HER POWER
Lash is able to carry other materials into objects with her provided she can cover most of it with her own body and has a good grip on it. This means that she can not merge into an object and take a double king size bed with her, even if she was strong enough to carry it, it’s by far too big.
The materials she can carry with her include living things.
If she attempts to carry something with her that she, either, doesn’t have a good grip on, or is just too ridiculously big, whilst she can still merge into an object whatever she was carrying will just hit it by the simple rule that two objects cannot occupy the same space. If she was, for some unknown reason, attempting to carry something into an object that was too big for her, depending on the object she was merging into, whatever she was carrying could very likely knock it over, if the object was delicate it could break even. Her presence within an object does not make it any stronger or sturdier.
This being able to carry other materials with her into inanimate objects also works in reverse. Once both are merged within the object, some form of contact must remain in order to keep the foreign material from rapidly ‘reforming’ within the object.
If the material is too big for the actual space within the object (obviously a solid object = no space!) it is probable that they will, depending on how strong/solid the object is, be crushed, suffocate, have the object break down around them, expand, or explode. Either way, some form of damage is dealt to whatever the foreign material is. Small, soft, flexible or malleable objects are usually able to ‘reform’ within objects without much hassle, unless it’s the case of a completely solid object.
Another ability her power allows is the absorption of smaller inanimate objects, but never anything too big for obvious reasons. A hundred mil-measuring cup cannot hold a litre of water.
VUNERABILITY
Lash can still be harmed whilst merged within an object. Smash an object, or the area of an object where she happens to be and she will be hurt. She cannot, however, be killed by a bullet, arrow or crossbow bolt shot at an object or area where she happens to be merged as she is not a physically present being, only the break down of an area she’s in can harm her.
When the breakdown of an object she’s merged in occurs, she ‘reforms’ to her physical self by default until she merges into another object.
Fire is a bastard for her, definitely able to cause damage whilst she’s merged into an object that’s set alight and will usually be successful in flushing her out unless, for some strange reason, she wants to die a horrible slow death.
QUIRKS
Whilst Lash is merged within an object she is still able to talk and be heard by others on the outside of the object. To observers, when she speaks her voice emanates off the object with which she’s merged, and in the case of a room that she’s merged into the walls of; her voice reverberates off the surrounding walls seemingly to come from everywhere, yet nowhere.
Another thing she is capable of doing whilst she’s merged within an object is being able to selectively stick out individual limbs at her own discretion. For instance; should she choose to extend her middle finger out at someone who’d made a wisecrack, she can do so without needing to step completely out of the object.
Tiaret Lana "ZaiLash" Sanders
ITEMS
- a whip
- a wok (birds gotta fly, gal needs to cook)
- a couple ‘o’ books (and by a couple I mean a lot! Practically a library, and she worships them all)
- and a makeshift double bladed staff (her attempt at wood and metal work that Jeremy helped her with when he was in high school)