Name: Tess "TEMPEST" Williams

Gender: Female, Straight

Age/DOB: 21@Arrival

Origin: Aperturth, Saint Louis MO

Family: deceased before the RC, no current relationship either at that point or now, but is actually still looking

Other: even to Melissa, it's unclear whether Tess is fertile, and ... with exactly what species. But she might very well become a bridge species in and of herself, if Mel and she can work something out

Height: 5'7" at head, 6'+ at wings/antennae tip

Weight: ~180, strong and solid, her bones are not hollow, they're reinforced, but she's just massively tough and able to fly with those raggedy looking wings anyway, thanks to Vortal powers and control over air currents

Hair: brown with caramel highlights, what's left of it is more chitin like than keratin, leading Melissa to think that this is more an insect mix than anything mammalian; it's kept short and stands on its own just like a mohawk, the extra strands around her head are embedded into the scalp, forming armor, and the rest around her body may or may not be what's left of her body hair

Eyes: yellow, glowing, small and narrowed most of the time, they had been amber brown, before her transformation

Appearance: had been a fair skinned woman with a shapely body and ... you know, less wings and tail and more fingers and toes. However, her current form is adequately pleasing to some, including herself, being covered in strong armor that's still flexible enough to be called skin. The brown bits are quite dark and firm to the touch, and the orange masses are actually velvety and raised, not really 'furry', but textured softly with fibers. You may or may not want to pet her, they may or may not be highly dangerous if inhaled or embedded into your skin. Has very tiny insect-like feet, but she has never had issue standing; two wide but not voluminous wings with sharp claws; her face is still largely human, though she's grown antennae and long points to her ears; her hands have claws, and larger growths on them, these collect pollen, dust, or particles which she then uses, see below

Icarus Processing: none, but the Resonance Cascade heavily altered her after experimentation at Aperture

Image Credits: Paragon

Genetic Abilities: Tess has mutated strongly into a mashup of arthropod, mammal, and... maybe even dragon. She has certain dragonfly like features, that long tail and her teeny feet that are able to keep her balanced on virtually any surface for instance. Her physcial changes have made her quite strong and fast in the air, though she's not as quick walking or running, she'll just take to the air instead. She is masterful with flight, seeming to understand just how to move and where to place her powers for best results. Speed, agility, even strength are hers in the air. She can grip on to large things, and pull them up - but this is more her power at work than her wings. In flight, she's around 8 times faster than any human running, so... about 200 mph in the air for short bursts (at most she can sustain that speed for around 10 seconds, which is clearly enough to get virtually anywhere she needs to be). Along with that, perception and agility that allow her to spin circles around things while she's airborn. The Vortal component of her abilities is with air and air currents, pressure, and the like. Her control over air is still being mastered, but she seems to use it instinctively and has little need for skill downloads to interfere with how she already does it. After all, none of the Pantheon - or other Aperture experiments - have the same powers with the same physical configuration. She might, however, benefit from learning with one or more of the dragons... Her attacks consist of blasting quick vibrations and pressure waves in a cone focused from her hands, these can cause small items to be pushed around or break, and feels like a Power Fist if delivered close up to a human. They aren't remarkably strong as such, but her ability to be moving around and come at any angle can mean an enemy gets six or seven good hits to their belly, kidneys, groin, face, throat, and the back of their head in short order. The attacks are best at very close range, from her fist to around 2 meters, melee. But she is working on a longer distance version good for around 10 meters. Mostly she uses her abilities to allow her to fly at all, let alone with speed and precision, she just expects there to be wind or pressure available. Tess will certainly keep up practicing, at least now she has a focus and reason to do so, a clear enemy, and freedom to do it. Another ability she does have that's more physical than Vortal, is particulate collection. Like a honey bee, her wrists have large fluffy areas of armor that gather whatever is nearby. They begin taking on the colors of whatever's mostly there, so a lot of dust becomes grey, while pollens and plant matter might be yellow or green. And blood, yes, lots of that, in red and black. These particles can be projected with her attack, so she's also trying to figure out how to weaponize pollen - not a terribly hard thing, given allergies. Speaking of: she does have a strong aversion to alcohol and is highly sensitive to toxins that would normally just make a human a bit high. She's not the type to hang out in a smoky bar or opium den, and definitely does not appreciate booze the way she used to. (Actually, come to think of it, she was a very, very rowdy drunk...) She will become incredibly ill with about a shot of vodka, and woozy to the point of passing out if in a cloud of narcotic smoke. Anything injected would surely kill her, let's not go there. She does have her own version of an EpiPen. She does not have any further Vortal powers, but Melissa wonders whether that's actually true or if she's got latencies in other abilities.*

Transport Power: Average Waveform (Pressure)---1x normal power level---This power is out of control, or barely under control Transport Power: High Wind Riding---4x normal power level Weakness: Damaged by Substance (common) Weakness: Weirdly Mutated Body (little wings (can fly now))

Skills or Profession: Burglary in the first degree / Bail jumping in the second degree / Criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree that's her rap sheet - but... it wasn't what you think. She became good at stealing things because her family died and she had to live on the street for years as a kid and teen. So her survival skills are very well honed, as well as her keen eye for detail. She can appraise goods, locations, even people, and understand them almost Vortally*. An exceptionally good second-story girl, she fell in with a group of thieves that would normally go after tourists and fence goods around St Louis. Here in MoCon, she is as good at those skills as ever, and puts them to use when things go missing and someone needs it back. After all, working with the Followers means she has a supply of life-saving chems, and she knows how important that can be for others in the wasteland. She learns quickly, memorizing information needed for short jobs*. Old habits however, die hard - she can very easily fly around a location and case the joint with far greater ease than ever before, and does so before others go in for raids or rescues.

* this might be those latencies at work, who knows?

Events or History: though she's got a history of arrests and thievery, fencing, and the like, Tess was never a bad girl in particular. She didn't like partying, others in her group accused her on occasion of being a narc, in fact. When she would barf all over their stuff after forcing her to drink, they quit that shit right quick. She only did what she had to, to survive. Tess had certainly considered turning evidence against the same thieves she lived with, once she started... well, growing up and becoming a very busty, very pretty young lady. Because there was talk of their boss selling her off to whoever - and she did not want any part of that. It's highly likely that she got caught that last time on purpose, just to get away from that situation before it escalated. She served a full year in jail, and made some attempts at turning states evidence, which brought her to the attention of Aperture wardens. At the age of 20, she was placed into an Aperture experiment, and dosed with different things - almost dying again, but at least this time under strict supervision. Eventually she was meant to be sent west to another facility, and... well, the rest is history.

Since she is still reasonably young, and very open minded, she's learned more about the Rookery's situation than most in her group, and is fully prepared to head back there if needed for battles, rescues, and the like. For the moment, however, because she is rather ... scary, she can't hole up in the Rookery itself without being seen as a terrifying freak. Maybe once things are a little more normal over there, she'll be allowed to roam that world too. But out here in the Mojave, she actually thrives. She resides in the Followers of the Apocalypse Fort, delivering supplies and fetching items for the people in charge. Now if only folks would realize that she's not a monster...

Dragon

Name: Mesquite
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium-large (broad) 12'6" s / 56' l / 60' and 50' ws
Colors: face, belly from chin to mid-tail white (light grey); border armor on neck, body, tail, horns, wing armor crimson; leg armor, horn backs, face inset dark red; dorsal armor from head to tail tip bright red with deeply black pattern; bcks of legs and wing arms light warm grey; wingsails grade from carnation pink to white and are highly transparent; spikes and claws all white; eyes cyan
Features: pure Hivewing, with a burlier build than most apparently from an isolated gene pool
Powers: Winged Flight, sure and solid in the air, you know when Mesquite is coming. His wings have a distinct and loud hum, verging on a clattering when he's taking off and landing. He is far from a silent predator... Though he can easily lift several tons in his great muscular forelimbs, and carry it carefully to its destination, he must rely on a carrying harness for any and all human deliveries, or for very delicate items, because of those big spikes on his neck and back. Though some folks think they're brave enough to sit between them... they really are sharp, and they really will kill you if you get scraped by them. And he doesn't actually want that happening! When not carrying much weight, he can be relied upon to move swiftly but not super-fast across the skies, and he is equally good in low-light or low-visibility situations, though he does complain about 'the bugs getting in his teeth'.
Communication, he's got a particularly strong Vortal connection to Tempest, at fairly long distances (up to 50 miles), so if needed he can be wandering around in the wilderness and come when he's summoned. He speaks Draconic, English with a heavy hiss, and understands a good amount of the technical terms that the Followers like throwing around, so while he's out and about he's on the lookout for items they need.
Deadly Tail Venom, his tail hook isn't just for piercing things, he does use it to take down large prey more quickly. Both those at the Rookery as well as the Followers are quite interested in using this in dilute forms for both health and enemy control, so he donates what he can whenever he's around, knowing that there aren't all that many 'large' creatures running around for him to properly use it on. He knows perfectly well that on their home world, it would be 'other dragons'. The thought of that makes him quite sad.
Sound and Fury, not really furious, but certainly with a bellow he can damage even solid structures. A short range attack, less than 50 meters and best at 20, in a large cone, this sonic attack will deafen anything within range, and cause permanent damage to anyone that is closer than 10 meters to his mouth at the time. Of course they're usually food... But with this power, he has been learning how to disguise his flight and alter the sounds around himself - he can sound like a helicopter or vertibird, he's working on other noises and white-noise to nullify his noisy wings. Notably however, this attack has never damaged Tess.
Parentage: unknown pure Hivewings, with Night Revenant is the father of Vladina
Origin: Adopted from LunarSolstice981 with lines by PeregrineCella on Deviantart, WoF by Tui Sutherland
Other Info: Though he might look very, very fierce, he relies on that to chase enemies away rather than have to confront them. He certainly can do that, but prefers hunting over murder.