Name: JJ Torrez Tolliver (or "JJTT" or "JayTeez")

Gender: Female, bi

Age/DOB: ~20, 2026?

Origin: Repurposed Earth, BMRC Ranch, New Mexico

Family: Mother Jayde Tolliver, father Jamie Torrez-Alvarado, half-brother Javi

Other: Her genes have likely already been processed for future splices, being extremely successful; she likes that thought

Height: 5'7"

Weight: ~95* Icarus lightens her weight by quite a bit, strengthening muscles and though she looks curvy she's much more athletic than most

Hair: medium brown, heavy textured and usually shaggy, kept in braids, pony tails, or in rare formal occasions a nice bun, usually around mid-back with bangs

Eyes: brilliant aqua-green-blue, large and cheery, under heavy but pretty brows

Appearance: tan skin made even more tan by being outdoors almost constantly, but she seems to have extremely few scars or bruises, even though she's very physical; seems to never suffer sunburns, so she doesn't mind being outside in skimpier outfits as shown, but she really does love dressing up and has found some 'period costumes' in the ruins which let her run around in full on Western Victorian dresses or cowpoke duds

Icarus Processing: yes, at age 3 she was brought to the Icarus facility where she became a powerhouse of Vortal ability. The process improves her strength by a bit, though not too dramatically, as she's more flexible and speedy than being overly strong. She can run up to 3 times faster than a normal person, and do so for hours without needing a break, any physical activity she participates in she can usually out last even other Pantheon. Her healing rate dramatically improved, and she takes virtually no damage from ultraviolet or heat sources, she cannot walk through fire, but she can sprint through it unscathed, and stand in the sun - or even look directly at it - without pain or lasting effects. She also takes no damage at all from poisons or venoms that are animal-sourced, including non-Earthly animals. Her Vortal power improved strongly.

Image Credits: meiker clown girl

Genetic Abilities: though she only has a very modest amount of human type power, with a clear Vortal aura that others can home in on and a very close range empathic sense, her strongest powers are over animals, birds, insects, and Xenian or other imported creatures. She can sense the presence of horse-sized animals at ranges up to 1 mile with clarity, and close up can detect colonies of ants or individual crickets. She can discern the mood of animals that have a bit of intelligence, if they have a mood she knows what it is, within around 20 meters, longer distances for groups of the same animal (so a flock of sheep, or a nest of antlions). The physical condition of any creature larger than a field mouse (so, ping pong ball sized) can be detected at 5 meters, and that can include whether the animal has had injuries, is thirsty or hungry, pregnant or in rut, and other such physical traits. With some concentration she can then begin to alter the moods of animals, if they're close to human intelligence (a dog, cat, horse, other trainable creatures such as macaws) she can communicate her needs or desires directly. Animals can be controlled outright, at 25 meters if they're a single creature, and 15 meters for groups of 4 to 6 (a single earth dog, versus a small family of peeper puppies); lesser-intelligent animals the range and the quantity may increase dramatically. However, she doesn't control Earth-origin insects very well, but Xenian or other ones might easily fall into her power. To her power, it doesn't seem to matter whether a creature is native to Earth or from somewhere extremely distant.

Interestingly, Keenan has sent a few of 'his' ravens with her, not just the ones that reside already at the Ranch, but for her specifically, and she has been training herself to use them as eyes and ears, sending her own senses into one of them Vortally, and following it for up to 10 miles. She must be in a safe spot for this to be effective, as her body does slump into unconsciousness. That's fine, because the rest of that raven flock will guard her.

Skills or Profession: A ranch hand and animal wrangler through and through. She trains with her father for her Vortal skills, and then with mom and the others for practical applications. She has studied what she can of Earth animals, learning from books and stories told by others at the Ranch, but has to rely on either the Vorts or the Black Mesa scientists for information about those invasive species. So she can handle moving animals around from pen to pen, calling flocks or herds back in from the hills, or even calm them for the slaughter, which she doesn't really mind doing, it's been a part of her life so the emotional trauma some people have when an animal is killed nearby doesn't occur to her at all. She's been responsible for keeping the antlion colony away from specific locations below ground, as their caverns are quite far ranging, and she effectively tells a Guardian or one of the Spitters to 'mark' territories, and keep certain spots completely safe from their incursion. JJ doesn't participate in the actual antlion wrangling, that's the Vorts job and she appreciates how hard it is. Though she could keep up with them, it's easier to let the pros do their job. She also has a knack for 'sizing up' both people and locations, her visual ability to estimate distances and dimensions is very good, possibly because she can think in 'full 3-d' thanks to burrowers, birds, or ground-level animals perspectives.
Personality: charming and happy, she is full of energy but knows when to back off. If someone is feeling down, she'll try and cheer them up, but she knows there's only so much pestering people can take, and will leave them to others with maybe more suited powers? Hm? Could you go look at them? Thanks! She's always got some kind of critter near her, be it the ravens, a headcrab or two, or some peepers. They behave themselves while she's around, and it actually kind of freaks people out if she's alone without any form of animal to alert to her presence.

Events or History: Life at the Black Mesa Antlion Ranch was, truth be told, a little dull for many years. Even while the Pantheon and the eggheads of the facility were busy gathering intel and ruining the Combine's day, for the most part anyone living in the dusty New Mexico desert would be hard pressed to notice it. Life had been this way for most folks for years already, and when Jamie came by that one time with his newly trained Peeper Puppies and some chickens that seemed a little... large... Jayde finally took notice. More accurately, she was old enoug to notice. The pair would hit it off and spent a lot of time together, learning about the various beasts that had invaded, and how they differed from location to location. After all there were Bullsquid in the sewers at Black Mesa but they hardly progressed any farther than the toxic waste areas - but over in the Enrichment Center where it was quite moist and usually stormy with heavy rain? They were just crawling everywhere. From Barnacles and buzzing mosquitoes to Antlion guardians and the rare escaped elephant from local zoos, Jayde and Jamie compared notes whenever he would come around. Eventually JJ was born, of course, and both their lives changed a little. He was still on call, and she was still among the more important folk on the Ranch, so they didn't 'settle' together - but that has never meant much when the nearby facility has a teleporter...

JJ grew up in a post-Combine world, where only the occasional death-kick of a patrol or the remnant of Ulathoi would wander too close and get vaporized by now-practiced guards. She was a few years old when her parents decided that the Icarus processing would mean a world of difference to her, everyone could tell that she was 'an animal person' like both her folks, but to what extent was that just exposure to those animals, and what might be genetically inherited? Well, Melissa solved that question quickly - it was both, to a remarkable degree of overlap. JJ recovered quickly from the harrowing process, though she was not aged artificially like a lot of the kids from that era. Growing up on a ranch was a fine way to develop her skills and Vortal powers, after all. Besides: the only real skill downloads for such powers were in the form of her dad's memories, and he was right there to share what he knew already.

 

Dragon

Name:
Gender: female
Size/Shoulder/Length: medium 8's / 24' l / 20' ws
Colors: mainly charcoal black with yellow-orange, orange, and golden markings as shown
Features: mantis-based dragon, insectoid modifed by draconic, considerably heftier and more solid than a 'bug'; 6 legs forelimbs are meant for grabbing and slicing prey; wings include 2 sets of translucent flight wings and carapace to fold them into; boy is armored and looks segmented but is not insectoid in that manner; heavy head armor, antennae and long horns for sensing sounds; mane similar to flower petals are scaled; tail is heavily armored with a massive stabbing spike tip
Powers: Winged Flight,
Parentage:
Origin: adopted from Carolinafire on deviantart
Other Info: