CASTILLION, ARIANE

[Ariane Castillion]

Your OOC name: Pollen

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Name: Ariane Castillion

Age: 26

Birth Date: December 3rd, 2063

Height: 6'1''

Weight: 143 lbs

Skin color: Caucasian-African descent, a lighter brown.

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Dark brown

Build: Lean and willowy, slightly angular.

Psychological Evaluation: Notable intelligence, highly analytical and curious.  Rather reserved, unclear whether this is due to her muteness or minor sociopathic tendencies.  Relatively sociable overall, but does not form connections easily.  Exhibits a preference for routine activity, major disruptions to lifestyle or schedule may cause stress and/or changes in mood.  Otherwise, handles pressure extremely calmly.  Finds enjoyment in physical exercise, especially competitive situations.  Shows great interest in science and mathematics, particularly passionate about expanding the boundaries of knowledge and advancing technology, for the sake of future generations.

Volunteer? Y

Brief History: Born to a pair of factory workers, one of seven children.  Ariane was one of the younger siblings, and did not receive a great deal of direct attention from her parents.  She also reportedly had difficulty getting along with other children.  When she failed to begin learning speech by the age of two, she was subjected to medical examination, where it was found that a defect in her vocal chords prevented her from properly shaping sounds.  The defect was deemed inoperable, and Ariane began to receive additional tutoring in writing and sign language.  Though extremely stressed by the move underground, she was able to adapt to these forms of communication, becoming proficient in the use of both.  She performed exceptionally well in school, particularly in the areas of mathematics and science, and was accepted into University, where she was similarly successful in her studies.  Ariane took up several breeding partners over subsequent years, but rarely stayed with any of them for long.  Only one union resulted in a child, which was stillborn.  Because of this, Ariane's rations were penalized, and her career stunted early on.  Having trained at the University, she was still able to become a scientist, but was relegated to low-priority projects, tedious work that was only of minor use to Unica.   Frustrated by her position, she volunteered for military service at the age of 25.

[Frankie]

W E L C O M E T O G A M M A B A S E

You have successfully survived the experimentation process. Your awakened power is that of Telepathy and Chameleon Skin, which will allow you to speak telepathically with anyone within 20 feet (without eye contact, including through barriers) and anyone at any distance with which you can maintain eye contact. Your skin (not hair or eyes) can change to match colors and basic patterns of your surroundings, making you harder to spot, much like the camouflage of a tiger or flounder. This does not render you invisible, and your power does not allow you to adapt to advanced images (cannot look exactly like a brick wall, for example, and does not allow individual images such as leaves, chairs, rocks, etc).

We are your new family now. Unica above all.

[Bayla Naveen]

Bayla sat in the plastic chair beside Ariane’s bed, reading over her chart with eyebrows raised and a mix of an impressed and a confused look on her face. When the recruit stirred, Bayla looked up, dropping her chart on the bedside table, ”You’re awake I see! Take it easy, those drugs could knock out an elephant for a day, I swear.” She smiled in a friendly fashion, and once Ariane seemed to be capable, Bayla stood.

”I’m Specialist Bayla Naveen, and I’m here as your tour guide and oh-so-wonderful host!” Bayla opened her arms wide to gesture to the room… which was barren aside from the bed, table, chair, and a rather boring painting of the Triad. She shrugged, ”Get on up when you’re ready.” If Ariane seemed like she needed it, Bayla would offer a hand to help her up.

Once they were both standing, SPC Naveen led Private Castillion out of the room at a brisk pace; she had a lot to get done today and couldn’t linger. However, if Ariane was moving slow, she would slow down for her. She wasn’t heartless, after all.

She led the PVT to a large training room with a wide, tall wall in the center of the room dividing it in half. Each five foot-long section of the wall possessed a different painted background. A lush green forest, barren steppes, pockmarked cement, and one section that was completely black.

Bayla stood and crossed her arms, ”Now, your chart says you can change to sort of blend in with your surroundings. Take your time if you need to find that power within yourself, then go test it out on that wall. Your chart also says you’re a telepath, and that includes through things like walls. After you test your skin, go behind the wall and… well, talk to me. With your mind.” She hesitated at calling it ‘talking,’ having seen on the woman’s chart that she couldn’t speak… with her mouth, that is. Her new power would let her do something she never could before. Unica truly was amazing.

The Specialist stood back only a few feet from the wall and watched Ariane expectantly. She was more than curious to see this power at work, especially the telepathy - which she was sure no one in Gamma Base currently had.

[Ariane Castillion]

Whispers came seeping down into the inky black depths of a dream, falling like snowflakes from the cold reality above.  Each one a tiny point of light in the darkness, sound in the silence, minuscule crystalline pieces of some great puzzle.  They fell past the sleeping woman, who floated in the void, unaware.  Was it minutes?  Hours?  Years?  It was impossible to know, for time held no authority within the realms beyond conscious thought.

So Ariane lay still, cocooned within the soft silk of dreams, waiting for the end of her metamorphosis.

***

When her eyes snapped open, they stayed open, gazing up into the air, and then around the room as Ari shifted her head ever so slightly, so that she could see all of the room.  Her gaze drifted about, until it reached Bayla, then focused, alert.  Only then did she blink, once.

It took a little while for her to get up, but when she did, it was with a single movement.  Slow, smooth, never jerking or pushing herself too fast.  She pulled herself upright, leaning slightly on unsteady arms, then gently swung her legs off the side of the bed, one at a time, until the balls of her feet were gently touching the floor.

She gave Bayla a brief smile.  Her posture was still carefully held, her balance fragile as that of a bird perched on a twig, but now she could move properly.   Carefully, she pushed herself forwards, putting more and more weight on each of her feet, until that balance shifted, and she stepped forwards off the bed, standing sure and confident in the center of the room.  Taking a moment to roll her shoulders, stretch, and yawn, she nodded at the Specialist.

There was no complaint, nor indeed any sound at all from Ari as she followed Bayla to the training room, matching her swift walk with long, careful strides.  Every step had to be meticulous, for her muscles were still not all there, not quite working together as they were meant to.  Her arms stayed held out at her sides, helping center her weight and ready to catch herself if she happened to trip or fall- but no such crisis occurred.  Her body might have felt utterly exhausted, but its intricate mechanisms remained intact.

Or perhaps not only that- there was something new in there, now.

Ari listened attentively as the specialist detailed the chameleon ability, her expression serious and alert.  She could not hide her surprise, however, at the description of the second ability, her eyes widening and her mouth opening involuntarily for just a moment before she regained her composure.  Nevertheless, there was an unmistakable eagerness to her stride, a spring in her step as she approached the wall of many colors, looking at it thoughtfully before pressing one hand to the forest segment.

It didn't take her more than a few seconds to change.  The instinct was built into her now, the command hard-wired into her brain like any other muscle in her body.  Finding it was just a matter of focus, like when you deliberately tangled up your fingers, and then tried to figure out which one was which without moving any of them.  The color spread across Ari's skin, starting with the arm before washing over her like a wave, a dense pattern of greens and browns, dozens of different hues mixed in together.  There was no detail in it, but the colors were all there, as if a lens in the shape of her body had been placed in front of the image.

Next she stepped over to the steppes- the edge of her mouth quirking upwards as she picked up on the wordplay in that thought -and changed once again, her legs and hips shifting to match the more muted colors of the plantlife there even as her arms and torso and face became gray as the clouds above.  Moving faster now, she stepped back, moving herself back into the forest even as she held one arm outstretched over the border between the pictures.  Once again, she shifted into the rich hues of the woods- but her arm remained grey.

The second part of the test yet awaited, but there was still one thing Ari needed to check, one boundary she needed to push.  Slow and steady, she walked past each of the four backgrounds in turn, stopping at the end of the pitch-black one.  For a moment she waited, taking several deep breaths.

Then she turned, and sprinted across the room.

The colors moved, blurring across her skin as she passed each boundary.  The shift was a conscious thing. She hadn't been blending in with the walls on the way here, she had to command the change, which required, focus, but also came with an advantage.  If she knew what was coming, could see the next background ahead of her, then she could prepare the changes in advance, readying the next mix of colors just as sprinters readied themselves to charge forth when the starting gun went off.  There was barely any delay between her passing from one background to the next and her changing to match the new environment, as she swept past all four like a ghost.

Her skin returned to its normal hue as she slowed to a stop, drenched in sweat.  She could already think of another half-dozen things she wanted to try, now, but it was clear she wouldn't be able to make it through all of them, not without collapsing from the exhaustion.  Besides, if the Specialist was telling the truth, she had a far more interesting trick buried somewhere inside her.  With a brief, satisfied look towards Bayla, she disappeared behind the wall.

For two minutes, there was utter silence. 

The color changing had been easy enough, a simple signal sent through the nervous system commanding pigment-producing enzymes to match information being received through the visual cortex.   This, however, was far more complex in nature.  Speech was a highly intricate form of communication, the meaning present not only in the words, but in the way they were uttered: tone, timbre, length, context, pronunciation.  For an ordinary person, these were instinctive, they could imagine their own voice in their heads just as they knew how to shape each word exactly.  But Ari had never possessed a voice.  She felt the proximity of Bayla's mind, somewhere on the periphery of her consciousness, and yet she could not shape even a simple message for the other woman. 

This was no roadblock, however.  Ari knew she could control this ability, Unica would not have made such a mistake.  She only had to think for a while, and consider how her new power might function, before she came to a solution.

Out of nowhere, Bayla would hear her own voice whispering in her ear.  "Boo."

[Bayla Naveen]

Bayla was impressed. She was more than impressed. A power like that… she’d be a damn good Infiltrator, and that’s where she would be assigned. She was glad she got this recruit - Roman had gotten the invisible girl, which had made Bayla more than a little jealous, but now Ariane would level the playing field a little bit. Phoenix didn’t have a telepath in their Unit. Hah!

Hearing her own voice made the Specialist jump, but she quickly recovered and realized the source; she wasn’t a dumb woman, despite her pitiful grades when it came to schoolwork. ”Damn, girl, that’s sweet. I’m glad you’re on our side.” She grinned, then summoned Ariane back from around the wall. ”Come on, I’ll show you around base. Just don’t disappear on me!”

With a cackle, Bayla led Ariane out of the room, and if the woman had any questions (telepathically, of course) she would answer them. She showed her all the different locations within the base - the ones a Private had clearance to enter, that is - all the while explaining what her new daily schedule would be and what her new life would be like as a powered person.

Once they made it to Unicorn Unit’s barrack’s, Bayla turned and gave Ariane a professional nod, though there was a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. ”You’ve got today free; your regular schedule begins tomorrow. Welcome to Gamma Base, Private Castillion.” She held her hand out to shake the woman’s hand, gave another nod, then turned and strode away, leaving Ariane to her own devices.

A S S I G N M E N T S

Unit: Unicorn
Unit Configuration: Infiltrator
Work: Custodian