Bright Umbra
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Jessica Westwood's life was never one that was planned out. It was always rather nebulous. Go to college somewhere, preferably out of Paragon, get a husband, have a life.
Even nebulous plans can derail.
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Bright Umbra | |
| Player: @Stormy Weather | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Warshade |
| Threat Level: | 45 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jessica Westwood |
| Known Aliases: | Shadowy |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 17 |
| Height: | 6'1" |
| Weight: | 150 |
| Eye Color: | green |
| Hair Color: | blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | High School Student |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Patricia Westwood (Mother), Jesse Westwood (Father), Anita Westwood (Sister) |
| Known Powers | |
| Powersuit with Nictus-type abilities. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| ' | |
| Equipment | |
| Cell phone. | |
| ' | |
Contents |
History
The Joining
Origin
It was a beautiful autumn day. Jess was walking home from school at Steel Canyon High when the Rikti attacked. Jess attempted to run for cover, but one of the Rikti blasts blew off a chunk of one of the high rise buildings. The large piece of steel and mortar landed on her legs, crushing them, her life slowly fading.
And whether it was luck for her, or bad luck for another, or both, that same Rikti Blast tore through a hero, landing him right next to her. The hero was dead, but inside of him was a Kheldian. A Former Nictus, now Warshade, called Penumbra, that offered to join with Jessica. Jessica accepted, because other than that was death.
She didn't quickly take to being a hero. She let Penumbra take full control of her whenever they were out in costume. She did join the Youth League, to learn, and to interact with other heroes.
The Witch
While in the Youth League, Jessica met several people. Shifting Seraphim was one, who quickly became her best friend. And another was a witch named Zalyndra, or more accurately, Miranda. Miranda quickly turned Jessica's eyes, but it was complicated because Miranda had a girlfriend who had disappeared on her, and that she was loyal to. But the two slowly fell into a mutual infatuation. An infatuation that didn't blossom into more because another Rikti Blast sent Jessica to the hospital, scarring her permanently, she only survived thanks to the Kheldian inside of her.
But Miranda found out. She couldn't stand to see Jess that way, so she used her powers, her contact with a being outside of reality, to fully heal Jess. And went insane, fully possessed by an aspect of this Tenth Dimensional Being. Jess woke up to see the woman she was so infatuated with, gone. For what Jess thought was forever.
The Kheldian inside of her, seeing all the pain inflicted upon the poor girl, and the concern that the activities of having a Warshade inside of her, was twisting her mindset, left her. And she retreated for two months, away from her friends, and support. Just sticking to school and barely even at that.
The Nictus
Regaining Powers
One day, Jessica's apartment building was attacked by Hellions. A regular occurence in the Canyon, but frightening none the less. Frightening enough that Jess reached inside of herself, and found some type of Nictus Energy, left behind when Penumbra left her. She quickly used it to teleport people outside of the building and attack the hellions to drive them away, drinking in some of their life essence.
Jess quickly rejoined the Youth League, Misako doing scans of her to point out that she had nonsentient nictus energy in her, that was slowly feeding off her life force if she didn't feed off others. This put her back into the fray constantly, but with a constant fear she'd someday turn on her friends for food.
Taria
Jess met several new people. Neoweaver was a psychic, who became a close friend. And then Sagirus Vixen was someone she fell for, while Miranda was in a coma. Jess and Taria moved fast, way too fast, falling hard for eachother. And then Miranda awoke, without any memory of anything, causing Jess to doubt a lot of things. While she loved Taria, she felt a large dose of guilt for Miranda. And this whole thing caused Jess to stray.
Eventually Miranda recovered most of herself, flirting lightly with Jess. Jess started to be more outgoing, more of a flirt, causing more pain to fall on Taria. And eventually the two of them broke up, just as Miranda fell into a relationship with another friend of Jess'. This breakup, the new relationship Miranda was in, and a couple of pranks pulled that offended Jess caused her to go on Vacation to the Isles.
The Midnight Angels
Jess went to the Isles under the protection of Ms. Syntessa, production manager for a troupe of performers called the Midnight Angels. She went there mainly to get her head on straight. Which worked, for a while. She slowly grew to the point she wouldn't react negatively to things as easily. This worked for a time, but it was a slow process.
She met many people while in the Isles, some for good, some for Ill. Many who wanted to do no more than be with her, but Jess closed herself off to relationships, feeling she is a failure at being a girlfriend, and feeling one day she'd end up with Miranda and not wanting to jeopardize that again.
Unknown to Jess, her vacation had a side effect of her pushing the Youth League away from her. They would mostly walk away with what came next.
Losing Her Powers. Again
One day, while in the Theatre of the Midnight Angels, Jess learned that Syntessa lost her powers due to the actions of Devanna Jade. Jess flew into a rage, acting on inaccurate information, and busted into DJ's home and attacked her. Nearly killing her before being subdued. And then nearly having people attempt to kill her, before the intervention of Souma.
Jess, later captured by DJ, had her powers forced out of her (Giving her the side effect of no longer worrying about killing her friends), and was broken down emotionally with psychic torture. After being rebuilt, Jess learned of what happened to her friend Souma. Bound to DJ and Mina for betraying them. Jess now finds herself on the outs with the entirety of the Youth League, being blamed for Souma's current predicament. And finding herself powerless, but resisting any attempt by others to give her powers.
The Mess She Made
While powerless, she spent a long time trying to figure out her life. Most of this time was in the Pocket D, getting friendly with all sorts of people, but pushing them away if they got too close to her. Or by proving to herself they didn't truly want to be close to her.
Eventually, when those friends she allowed herself to have, kept pushing her away due to fear of her getting hurt, she sought out a way to get powers herself. She stumbled upon a devil and made a worshipping pact with it, and quickly went down the dark road. First were the many injured souls she put in hospitals, but soon she started to send them to a morgue instead.
Eventually, due to some conversations and a hand reaching out, she saw what she was becoming and recoiled in horror. She locked herself in her apartment for several months to try to get over her various psychological needs for sex and violence. After six months of this, she slowly started to venture out into the world.
A New Chance?
With the help of Zalyndra she was able to break the deal she had and get her soul back. Upon doing that, she recontacted her old friend Shifting Seraphim and slowly was introduced into her circle of friends.
Using the leftover knowledge from her temporary merge with a Warshade, and the secret lab in the basement of her girlfriend's mansion, she managed to create a powersuit that runs on Nictus energy. Hoping that keeping it contained like that would still let her actually be active in the super-powered world, but not feel the side effects of having these types of powers actually interact with her biochemistry.
Companions
Xaranda is Jess' on-again off-again girlfriend. She's shy, socially awkward, and constantly thinks she's not good enough for Jess. Jess, on the other hands, thinks she's not good enough for Candy. They've recently had a long heart to heart and came to several understandings.
Souma is Jess' oldest friend, who keeps coming back to her despite Jess' constant attempts to push her away.
Sarah Langley is one of the strongest friendships that Jess has made since coming back out and interacting with people. Jess often turns to her for advice.
Volcanic Lightning is the other strong friendship Jess made, though Jess has slowly cut back on turning to her for advice, because it seems whenever she does the Lilitu living inside of the woman ends up answering instead.
Eternal Bandit -,,,
