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Alias Shazi Al-Adhra
Meaning
Shazi: "fragrant", Arabic [Shah-ZEE]
Al-Adhra: "the maiden", Arabic [Al-AH-drah]
Gender Female
Apparant Age ~19
Birth date September 20 (Virgo)
Blood type A-
Birth Place Alexandria, Egypt
Occupation Service Assistant, Biological Sciences Greenhouse located on the roof of Parking Garage K
Student Involvements N/A
Academic Standing N/A
Major N/A
Schedule N/A
Likes Honeybees, carnivorous plants (especially venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and sundews), light rainstorms & catching rain on her tongue, curling her toes around fresh dirt, sun batheing, playing frisbee with Shenti, when she understands technology.
Dislikes The crazy men across the hall in the Insectary who enjoy eating bugs, pomegranate juice (she's developed a taste for the seeds though), foods with lots of extra chemicals (she prefers organic, but isn't a stickler about it), running
late, strangers talking to her, cellphones (they always startle her when they ring), the Ancient Rebirths.
Hobbies Working at the Greenhouse (yes, work is a hobby for her), getting her hands dirty, walking her dog, reading bodice-ripper novels, making computers crash, eating at six, twelve, and six.
Skills
Remarkable Balance; This skill comes not so much from being a magically powered being as it does from years of utilizing her magical abilities and walking along thin vines and tree branches. And needing to not fall. Shazi is very much in tune with her center of gravity, though while she can walk along a thin path without falling, she couldn't jump around and dodge attacks without falling.
The Healing Touch – Plants; If a plant seems to be in danger of dying, it's brought to Shazi. Shazi has gained a bit of notoriety around the Greenhouse for what the Heads like to call her "Healing Touch." In truth, Shazi is capable of exercising small amounts of her power to cause growth and new life in plants, thus allowing them a second chance at the life cycle. Generally she runs her fingers along the leaves of a plant and in a few hours
it's returned to a healthy vibrant green.
It should be noted however that these plants never truly heal and if Shazi does not regularly tend to them they will not only brown and die, they'll rapidly decay into dust.
Solar-powered; No, she doesn't get strange cosmic and phenomenal powers from the sun, but it is what keeps her energized. When the sun is down, Shazi seems to just drag a bit more through her daily activities. Her reflex time becomes just a tad bit slower and her mood tends to become more pensive. Even rooms without windows will do this to a lesser degree. This of course plays a significant factor in her senshi performance, where she becomes more of a liability than an asset during a nighttime battle.
The Bees Knees; Though Shazi gives off no particularly exotic scent, during spring and summer she is almost constantly being trailed by bees. Generally once a bee manages to land on her and crawl around her hair for awhile, it's satisfied and goes on its way. Luckily for Shazi, she realizes these bees are benign and lets them go about their business.
Room
Imagine if Dr. Frankenstein had been a botanist. That is what Shazi's room in the AMO house looks like. For the past two years, she's brought home samples of her favorite plants from the Greenhouse and used her magical powers to let them go wild. Plants have interbred and some varieties of carnivorous plants have reached between five and seven feet in height. It is only thanks to her powers that she can move around her room safely. She sleeps in a vine hammock and as if the giant carnivorous plants weren't
enough of a deterrant, there are vines growing all around her wardrobe, etc that seals them shut to all but her.
Background; As an Ancient Rebirth, it's expected that Shazi be a little.. off. The truth is, if you met her on a street you'd find her to be on the quiet side, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Despite how she might seem on the outside, Shazi has not escaped the fate of her fellow Ancient Rebirths. Though she suffers from a unique situation, Shazi is undoubtably disturbed. Every aspect of Shazi is driven by the fact that she knows that she is dead. At least, that she is subconsciously aware
of it. Since her original death on Mythos, she has moved through a waking dream with only rare moments of lucidity.
Delusional; Shazi's reality is not a dream where unicorns romp among gumdrop trees, but simply one where things are 'normal'. Normal meaning that while, yes, she and her cohorts are secretly sailor-suited superheroes, they are not also secretly the walking dead. Shazi's mind locked this knowledge away many millennia ago as a defense mechanism; however, as will be discussed further on she uncovers this truth from time-to-time. Thus a strange paradox occurs wherein the rare moments that Shazi is actually
lucid are the times that most people believe she is delusional, as very few are privy to the knowledge she possesses.
Suspicious; Unfortunately while Shazi's mind has locked away the truth, she's been left behind with a feeling that something is being kept from her. Perhaps having influence over the life cycle, her mind has cruelly left her with just enough of a hint that she ends up being driven to seek the truth and ultimately meet her end once again. Whatever the reason, Shazi has been left with a distrustful and apprehensive manner. While she doesn't run around with a tin hat, extended conversations with her make
it clear that she is uncomfortable letting anyone in close.
"There are signs everywhere"; ...And here I just said she isn't a tin hat. While Shazi doesn't think aliens are controlling her mind, she does have a tendency to take meaningless events in her daily life and attempt to attach some higher meaning to them. At times she's even been known to perceive that something is talking about her, when it is very clearly not. In fact, she possesses a newspaper article that her mind is utterly convinced is about written about her and her 'parents', when in
fact it's actually an article about a completely unrelated incident.
Believer; Though Shazi is of an untrusting nature, she is a firm believer in the Word of Rage. This isn't through blind loyalty. Rage is the one constant every time she's been rebirthed in the past and she's come to view him as the only person (being?) that she can fully trust. She is also of the belief that unless all of the Mythos Soldiers accept Rage into their hearts that none of them will be able to reach Paradise. On some subconscious level she's become convinced that attaining Paradise is the
only way for her to finally have a natural death.
Distant; When Shazi smiles, there's rarely much warmth behind it. She often seems as if she's simply going through the motions, especially when it comes to social interactions. She talks to people when they talk to her, but she seldom initiates a conversation unless it's for a specific task-related purpose. Though she thinks she's being polite when she speaks to people, her social awkwardness generally makes her come off brusque and disinterested. Which isn't entirely untrue. When cornered into a
conversation, she is constantly trying to find an out and frequently glances at clocks until she is free to retreat back to the safety and comfort of her plants. It comes as no surprise that Shazi has few friends.
Routine; Aside from the overwhelming urge to find out what she is missing, Shazi has become content in her current rebirth. Her life might be the same thing day in and day out, but to her this is a good thing. Shazi takes comfort in routines and tends to be very methodical. She goes to bed at a set time, wakes up at a set time, eats at a set time, etc. One small disruption to her routine tends to have a domino effect and for the rest of the day she's on the irritable side. In general she does not
take change well, becoming very stubborn and inflexible if she feels a suggestion will disrupt her little world in any way. On that vein, it should be noted that while she is "saving up to attend college", she actually has little motivation to change her state from "saving up" to "attending". Shazi is very unambitious, perhaps subconsciously not wishing to rock the boat as she currently seems to have almost achieved normality in her life.
Worker Bee; Though unambitious, Shazi is anything but lazy. She is constantly on the move throughout the day as she moves from one scheduled task to the next. Lunch is almost always eaten while attending to some work-related task at the same time. If someone gives her a task to do, she will carry it out to the best of her abilities and as quickly as possible.
Folksy Charm; It may seem unbelievable, but Shazi isn't completely devoid of charm. When she isn't being completely antisocial and avoidant, she can be almost pleasant and though she claims to have grown up in Columbus, there's just that small town charm about her. Maybe it's how she always manages to be completely surprised and amazed by what computers can do or perhaps it's because she has seemingly found every way known to man to crash a computer. There is just something about the way that she gives
a crooked awkward smile and totally lacks in pretensions that can be downright charming.
Friend of plants ..and occasional humans; Shazi sounds rather like a killjoy and honestly she isn't the life of the party. (Though that isn't to say she isn't good for entertainment..) Still, to those she lets she is very steadfast and loyal. As with her plants, the needs of friends are carefully attended to and she is very likely to surprise someone with a small gift (though.. it's usually some sort of carnivorous plant) for no reason in particular except that they seemed to be having a down week.
On the flip side, she takes betrayals very seriously and does not forget past offenses. (..Unless they took place before the last time she died.)
Lucid; Though rare, it does happen. Lucidity is a state Shazi wishes to achieve until she actually does so. By unlocking her mind, Shazi unlocks the knowledge that not only is she dead, but that she has died countless before. Though fiction may have made being a member of the living dead seem desirable, it is anything but to Shazi. Lucid moments are fleeting with her screaming about being dead as her mind shifts to total insanity. When this state is entered, the only thing Shazi can think about is
ending her life to escape the truth.
Hair; Shazi has wavy black hair that reaches to mid-back. Yes, her hair is black. Not dark brown, but black. The style is generally worn loose without bangs, though when she is working at the greenhouse, she generally pins it up in a twist and skewers a chopstick through it. The texture itself is rather soft, but thick and the waves are on the tight side.
Facial Details; Shazi's face is heart-shaped and her features have an elegant, but cold feel to them. Her eyes are a pale brown, framed by thick dark lashes, and her skin is a light tan, leading one to believe that somewhere in her ancestry there was some intermingling with Europeans. Her nose is long and her lips are full.
Build; Shazi's silhouette is very pear shaped. While her chest is at a comfortable B/C range, her hips are what are referred to as "child birthin' hips". This mostly means that pants never fit her properly and she has a tendency to knock things with her hips if she isn't paying attention to where she's going. In general, she looks a bit on the fragile side, but her arms are actually quite strong from all her garden activities.
She stands around five feet nine inches tall.
Mode of Dress; Shazi's style of dress is rather casual, but she is very selective about what she wears. Her favoured clothes include tops that expose her shoulders, jeans, jean skirts, and anything made out of cotton. She is rarely seen without some form of jewelry as she is particular about accessorizing and frequently is seen with a bloom tucked behind her ear. During the daytime she is often seen wearing a labcoat, in and out of the lab as she seldom stops to change out of it while running errands.
Other Details; Shazi is frequently covered in dirt and other plant debris. It is also not uncommon for a bee to be flying around her.
Shazi Al-Adhra was born in Alexandria, Egypt and grew up an only child. When she was seven, her family immigrated to the United States (Columbus, Ohio - of course) so that her father could pursue a better career and when she was eight she nearly broke her neck falling out of a tree. She attended Columbus School for Girls for the entirety of her schooling and graduated in the top 10% of her class. She was expected to enter OSU two years ago, but during
that summer she and her parents were in a terrible car accident near campus. Her parents didn't survive but Shazi was saved by some members of the AMO fraternity who subsequently took care of her in her time of need. Unfortunately her parents' financial situation was far worse than she realized and she was unable to attend OSU as a student as she had expected. Instead she's spent the past two years as an employee of the Biological Sciences Greenhouse, hoping to earn enough money to attend OSU somewhere
further down the road.
At least, that's what she tells people. And that's basically what she believes.
The truth is a bit more complicated.
Little is known of Persephone's life, but a great deal is known about her death. During the conflict on Mythos, she was among the first of the Mythos Soldiers to fall casulty to Rage's army – if not the first. Rage rebuilt the fallen soldier, but when she awoke it was apparent that something was very wrong. It became quite clear that Persephone knew she was dead and things weren't supposed to work that way. The newly rebirthed soldier quickly went insane and ended her life.
When Rage finished rebuilding her a week later, the same thing happened.
This cycle continued and Rage allowed it because his army was still small and in desperate need of allies. Each time he tried something a bit different, but each time he failed and Persephone would come to life with not only the knowledge of her first death, but each subsequent death as well.
Finally her awakening from the rebirthing process was not met with the screams of horror and tears that Rage had come to expect. In fact, she had no idea what was going on or where she had been. This was not a result of Rage's continual tampering, but instead Persephone's mind had locked away the abilities that allowed her to perceive her true state as well as her former memories to protect any remaining vestiges of sanity.
This seemed like the breakthrough that Rage had been seeking, but while Persephone was no longer trapped in the cycle of death and rebirth, she was left feeling like there was something she was missing. Something big. She began searching for clues, but before she could discover what it was, she was killed in battle. Brought back to life once again, she was once again filled with this feeling and once again killed in battle before she could uncover the truth.
Unfortunately the third rebirth since Persephone's newly found 'sanity' didn't go as well. She was able to break down the barriers of her mind and the resulting inflow of information caused her to kill herself once again. Though Persephone knew she would be rebirthed once more, it was the only way she now knew to forget the truth of the situation. Thus the cycle began once again and thus it continued until The Great Final Battle. Sometimes Persephone would die in battle, sometimes she would end her own life,
and on rare occasions she would manage to lock the information away again before she could kill herself.
Persephone did not spend the past thousands of years killing herself only to rebirthed again. As much as Rage had come to enjoy rebuilding Persephone, he felt it would be preferrable to leave her in crystal form until they would be able to confront the Mythos Soldiers once more. Thus when Rage's forces arrived on Earth, Persephone was once again rebirthed.
Having slept for thousands of years, Persephone was understandably disoriented by being awakened and was aware that she had missed a significant chunk of time though she couldn't figure out why. The new setting was particularly confusing to her as everything seemed incredibly foreign. The explanation she received (minus the multiple deaths) only helped somewhat.
As it had been on Mythos, Persephone's cycles began once again. At first they seemed accelerated by the new setting, but they slowly began to have longer intervals between them and she managed to retain the knowledge of Earth culture she had learned through each cycle.
Somewhere along the line one of the Remnants had essentially become Persephone's caretaker. To put it bluntly, they were responsible for cleaning up the mess, whatever that might entail. While Rage might have the infinite patience in all his wise all-knowingness to continually put Persephone back together again, Persephone's caretaker had gotten a little bit tired. Thus the next time she died, rather than giving her the Cliffnotes of the AMO upon her rebirth, Persephone was fed a story. The story told in
the beginning.
It took little to convince the always unstable Persephone that this was the honest to God truth and her mind quickly took the story as its own, embellishing it with details where it saw fit. Any awkwardness with her setting was explained away as the result of fits of amnesia. (It works on soap operas, after all. And there are assuredly soap opera watchers among the AMO.) The only difference with the above and what Persephone believes is that she has of course been filled in on the conflict between the AMO
and the Mythos Soldiers. However in this version of Persephone's reality, she is a reincarnation of herself, like the Rebirths. Her mind perceives herself, when transformed, to look like the Rebirths, rather than the hugely tattered Ancient Rebirths that she is actually a part of.
This plan has actually seemed to work as Persephone has now gone for two whole years without uncovering the truth and ending her life once again. She's been encouraged to integrate herself into human society and has seemed to benefit a great deal from her work with the Greenhouse. Though she still keeps to herself in general, and in particular tends to avoid those members of AMO known as the Ancient Rebirths, as they tend to seriously creep her out.
Shenti; Though not a fan of dogs in general, Shazi has always had an unexplicable need to own a big dog. Shenti is a very large, long haired white dog which seems to fit the bill perfectly. Shenti is the sort of dog that loves to tackle people and lick their faces, especially those who seem utterly horrified by this.
Dr. Laurie Blumstein / Supervisor; Dr. Blumstein is what you would expect from the Head of the Greenhouse. She's incredibly perky, nerdy, and wears coke bottle glasses. The plants are her babies, which makes her not all that different from Shazi, though she finds the girl's preoccupation with carnivorous plants to be a bit strange. She is also having a not-so-secret love affair with the head of the Insectary across the hall and will mysteriously disappear for ten to fifteen minutes at a time.
Unknown / AMO Soldier of Remnant Rank; Currently there is little known about this soldier. They have become Persephone's unofficial caretaker over the years, in charge of cleaning up whatever messes she leaves behind. { Possibly: Demeter, Charon, someone else entirely. }
Rank Ancient Rebirth
Name Sailor Persephone
Elements of Influence Originally had influence over Growth, Grain, Underworld, the Afterlife, Life Cycle, since her 'rebirth' her influence seems to have manifested itself primarily around Carnivorous Plants
Challenge "I will lead you to the gardens of Paradise. By force if necessary!"
Locket
Originally a bright pink rose, Persephone's locket has severely wilted and lost most its color during her time with the AMO.
Primary/Secondary Color Scheme
Primary: #78866A
Secondary: #564839
Uniform
Uniform Reference / Color Reference
Persephone's uniform is the standard uniform of a female Ancient Rebirth with a black base and pieces done in the traditional primary/secondary color style. In addition to what comes standard, Persephone's hair is its own miniature garden, filled in particular with pitcher plants, venus flytraps and leafy vines as well as the occasional bee. Other vines wrap around her body throughout the costume and a large venus flytrap rests on her left hip with several vines encircling her waist. Her shoes are the standard
lace-up Greek sandal, but
the laces have been replaced with vines and a few smaller flytraps have sprouts around
here.
When she transforms, Persephone's hair becomes a very dark green (#2E462B) . There are also various dirt stains on both her skin as well as her costume.
Transformation
Persephone says her transformation phrase and lifts her arm as she pops her locket open. The requisite black smoke comes out and through the cloudiness of the smoke, seemingly hundreds of vines appear, shooting in every direction, along with one vine in particular that wraps around her extended wrist and suspends her in mid-air as her body hangs limply. The vines tear apart her clothing to reveal her uniformed self beneath and once they are finished the remaining vine lowers her back to the ground.
Signature Attack
Punica Granatum!;
Persephone calls out the attack phrase as she opens her hand. A small pomegranate seed materalizes in her palm and quickly grows into a full grown pomegranate. Persephone then throws the pomegranate wherever she desires, which explodes on impact.
Effect: When the pomegranate grenade explodes, the seeds scatter in every direction and are charged by energy. As well, a noxious fume is emitted from the pomegranate shell remains that causes nausea in anyone nearby.
The
effects do not last long, but are enough to temporarily give suffers an upset stomach / other symptoms of illness. Persephone can generally call up four of these grenades in a 6 hour period. The attack can be dodged as you would normally dodge a grenade and holding your breath can do wonders for the after-effect.
{ Persephone currently only has access to one attack, though it is expected that she will power-up fairly early on. (NB: Every time she is rebirthed, she loses any power-ups.) She generally favors utilizing her plant control abilities. }
Special Skills/Traits
"I see... zombies?"; Persephone has the ability to perceive the dead. Not ghosts, but the dead. This is the cause of her insanity as when she looks at herself (as well as the majority of her fellow soldiers) she does not see the flesh and blood being that the rest of the world sees, but instead she sees them as they truly are: a rotting decaying corpse. This ability is currently locked away, thus allowing her to go on with a semi-normal life.
Plant Control – Growth; Persephone is capable of causing unnatural accelerated growth in plants. A plant that normally grows only a few inches in height can become several feet in size with the help of Persephone. She is also capable of controlling the growth to a degree. While she can't take a dogwood and make it go Whomping Willow on someone, she could direct a tree limb to grow in such a way that she could use it to travel to a nearby building roof. In battle, this power most often utilizes the
ivy growing on various campus buildings to strike out and ensnare opponents. It is this same skill that she has frequently utilized in the past to tear herself apart.
Pandora
Persephone's pandora is a small incorpreal spirit. By itself, it is unable to do much of anything except fly through people, but should it enter a plant, it is capable of possessing it and turning it into a killer plant of sorts. Persephone's pandora is very skittish in personality and if it looks like it's going to be taken down, it will run away and possess a different plant instead, though at a lesser power. This pandora is particularly weak to fire as well as weed killers and darkness.
Weapon
Pomegranate grenades utilized in attacks. (Oh ho, not as weird as you think. According to wikipedia, "the pomegranate also gave its name to the hand grenade from its shape and size (and the resemblance of a pomegranate's seeds to a grenade's fragments)."
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