Susurrous

Standing at an even six feet tall, the hero Susurrous has so far proven to be a valuable asset. Cooperative, kind, and embodying the heroic desire to help the city and the people living within. Though she is a relatively recent import to Paragon, Susurrous has jumped eagerly into the role of protector. She is by no means a front liner, preferring to stay back behind the physically inclined heroes and vigilantes to offer her support and to do what damage she can. Rarely staying in one place during a task, she is an effective member of a team.

The woman under the costume is tall, her body obviously cared for with muscle toning that comes from lifting and heavy labor.

Her costume consists of a blue, silver and black color scheme. While most of her outfit is black, the central panel on her torso is blue with a silver and black soundwave on the center. Her face is partially obscured by a matching blue visor which extends back over her ears to form what seems to be filtering ear protection. The outfit is finished with a silver belt and a pair of thigh-high boots that offer her a bit of protection from any debris or limbs or weapons that might find their way toward her legs while she is in flight.

With vocal cords that make speech difficult, Susurrous is able to project her voice in high-pitched screeches and shrieks that might put one in mind of a banshee. These often painful sounds tend to damage her targets. On the opposite side, she can project soft clickings and low tones to give her teammates extra protection during the task at hand. Her sonic abilities are accompanied by flight and a positive attitude that is sometimes difficult to find, making her a rather commendable hero for the city.

Backalley Books is the kind of place a real book lover goes. Not necessarily a collector, though they do stock some rather impressive first editions... The store is laid out in a labyrinthine maze, corners hiding old couches or comfy chairs which anyone is more than welcome to use. It smells like books. The glue, the papers, the ink... with just a hint of the musty smell that comes from stacks upon stacks of old books. The music shifts between blues, jazz, and classical with the random interruption of NPR's gameshow or a radio drama. Run by a retired English professor, it is home to his two cats Nick and Knack, who freely roam the store and have been known to chase more than a few loose shoe laces around the store.

^[1] Though he doesn't employ more than ten people, he chooses them carefully. Watching the expression of an applicant as they enter the store is a big hint to how they will work in it. One of his favorite employees and fellow bibliophiles is Annie Jackson. Standing at five foot ten, she is hard to miss physically. Her toned muscles and sun darkened skin are a testament to her love of the outdoors, but the near constant smile of slightly uneven teeth while she works, is a bigger testament to her love of her job and her friendly nature. She is quick to help any customer who comes into the store, but is most often found sorting and shelving the myriad books found in the store.

Annie is a girl next door type. Polite, thoughtful, often keeping herself busy, but willing to lend a hand. Her brown hair is cut a couple inches below her jawline, ensuring it is long enough to pull back from her face should she want, but short enough to stay cool. Her green eyes are the color of jade, and are typically scanning around the room when not focused on the person she is talking to.

What sets her apart from most girls of next door types is her silence. Annie does not, and for all anyone knows, cannot speak. Communicating primarily in sign-language, gestures, vivid facial expressions and lip-speak, she does her best to get her point across. Over the years, she has learned to be patient with people she is speaking to, and should things seem too frustrating for the other person, she has been known to grab her phone or a piece of paper to help things along.

When not at Backalley Books or on one of her runs, there are several places Annie can be found. Either at home in her one bedroom Skyway apartment, settled on the grass with a book in Prometheus Park, visiting her brother, or curiously parked in Pocket D. She is pretty easy to approach, friendly to people who treat her nicely, and... as might be assumed by her status... quiet.

Annie was the third of four kids born to George and Emily Jackson. By the time she was old enough to walk, Annie, as they called her, followed her brothers Jeremiah and Josiah around the farm. The boys were four and two years older than her, and she adored them. In turn, they doted on her, showering her with hugs and including her in games of hide and seek and tag.

^[2]The family owned thirty acres of Oregon land where they grew corn and raised several head of cattle along with a donkey and a handful of sheep and chicken. Annie's first chore was to gather any eggs laid by the chicken in the roost, excepting one month a year when they let the eggs hatch for a wildly soft brood of chicks.

When she turned four, the family grew again, this time with another girl they named Adelaide. Annie and Addie soon became close, and no one could deny the family was happy. Sure, they had the same problems most families did. Fights. Money concerns. But they worked through it and were found most Sundays at church. Days were filled with the typical sounds of a farm, nights filled with singing and laughter from every member of the family. Things continued normally for a good while. Waking up early to do chores that were then followed by home schooling and more chores was routine.

It wasn't until the week before her 14th birthday that things began to change. Annie had grown rather fond of books. Often times, she would finish all of her chores and school work only to hide out in the barn with a book. More often than not, hiding out meant using one of the family's dairy cows as a pillow. Sometimes she would go next door with her brothers and play baseball, but some days, the girl just craved the quiet and retreated to the barn with her books. Addie was, more often than not, inside with their parents.

On this particular evening, Annie was coming down with a cold. Stuffy, tired and admittedly cranky thanks to an increasingly sore throat; she went to the barn with a copy of Little House on the Prairie. Walking into the barn, she began to cough. The combination of her coughing and her sore throat caused a bit of damage to her vocal chord. When she began to speak to the cows, it was in a rough and raspy voice that seemed to startle them. Further speech only seemed to make them less at ease, and so Annie shut up and simply dropped to the hay next to one of the cows, snuggling up to mope.^[3]

The cold got much worse before it got better... her throat, however, did not heal. George and Emily took her to the pediatrician. Declaring her to be in good health, he could see nothing wrong inside her mouth. Her voice had changed without explanation. Over the next year it got worse. Moving beyond raspy to a harsh tone with high-pitched whining, it began to hurt her own ears, and those of the family. Another trip to the pediatrician revealed an odd look inside her throat. They were referred to an ENT specialist. Closer looks were taken, tests were run, and it was determined that she was in fact in perfect health. Her vocal chords, however, were changing.

The question of 'why' became a big one. Another specialist was pulled in, a few more tests run. When the results came back, it was revealed that Annie was a mutant. Genetically predisposed to a shift in her makeup, they declared that it was triggered by not only her adolescence, but that the severe cold had helped push it along. It would have happened sooner or later, there was nothing they could do. While there was no telling what it meant, the family accepted it, having found an answer. They went home with a much quieter Annie.

She spoke quietly from then out, hoping the softer tones would be less hard on her family's hearing. It worked for a few months...

The summer she was fifteen, Annie was attacked. Their farm was one of many in the area to be targeted by a pack of feral dogs. No one knew where the dogs came from, though there was a rumor of a fighting ring somewhere. Regardless of their origin, they had chosen the Jackson farm as a target that day. Annie was out in the barn checking on the cows and heading to gather the eggs that morning.

As she walked toward the hens, the dogs trotted onto the property. Annie had no idea they were there. Claiming the last of the eggs, the turned to head back to the house and found herself between five hungry dogs and her family's delicious looking hens. She stood still for a moment, then yelled at them to shoo. Unfortunately, her yell had the unintended consequence of riling up the dogs much like a dog whistle. They turned their attention on her, starting to growl. She tried shooing them again, telling them to get out. Whatever her voice did that time infuriated the dogs and they leapt at her.

Annie dropped the basket of eggs and began to run, screaming in fear. The dogs ran harder, growling and barking as they chased the girl. She ran toward the barn, snagged one of her brothers' baseball bats and spun to attack, only to fall down under the weight of one of the large dogs. They bit and tugged at her, tearing the jeans and shirt she was wearing, breaking her skin and drawing more than a little blood. The more they attacked, the louder she screamed.

The force of her voice sent one dog flying. Another dropped to the ground, pawing madly at his ears. The last three fought, ferally attacking Annie. She screamed once more, her voice cracking and snapping into a piercing tone that rose in pitch until finally being silent to normal hearing. The dogs dropped in place, limp. It was over in less than a three minutes.

She took the opportunity and ran just as her brothers made it to the barn. They had heard the screams, Jeremiah and Josiah quickly grabbing the noise-cancelling headphones they wore while running farm equipment. Even then, they felt the effects, ringing in their ears, temporary disorentation. Josiah got worse. His headphones slipped as he ran in, the last scream severely damaging his eardrums.

They tugged Annie out, locking the dogs in one of the stalls before calling animal control. A quick look at Annie's torso made it obvious that she would need stitches. A look at her face determined she would need more than that.

Josiah and Annie were sent to the hospital. Animal control claimed the dogs. Josiah was found to be 95% deaf in both ears thanks to the final scream. Annie had lost some of her own hearing and in addition needed upwards of forty stitches. The dogs were not only feral, but now deaf and were soon put down. She felt awful for all of it and withdrew into herself. Josiah never blamed her, if anything, he did more to make sure she was okay. The family knew Annie was different and had never treated her oddly for it, this was to be no exception.

After the incident Annie refused to speak, one word answers proving to be enough to make her sister wince or wobble on her feet... More often than not, they didn't come out as words, but as hisses, clicking, or screeches. For all intents and purposes, Annie had lost her voice. Between this and Josiah's hearing, the family hired a sign language instructor to come in and teach the family.

^[4]Annie never spoke after that. Not vocally, at least. The next five years were spent learning sign language, working on the farm and graduating high school. Annie's love for books only grew during this time. She still spent her reading time in the barn, but as time went on, she found Josiah joining her more often. With his newfound deafness, he began to appreciate books more than he did before, and found the company of the sister most fluent in ASL to be the most comforting.

Once she got her diploma, the conversations shifted to the future. What could she do? What did she want to do? She would have been happy to stay on the farm, but her parents felt she should stretch beyond her boundaries. It was Josiah who found something that tempted her into leaving. He had been searching the internet for help, not wanting Annie to be forever impaired by this mutation. In his search he came across a group of scientists who specialized in helping mutants adjust to their abilities and, should they want, get them set up to use them positively.

She was reluctant at first. Leaving her family was not something she had planned to do. Then Josiah dangled a proverbial carrot infront of her. He had applied to colleges, hoping to teach at schools for hearing impaired children, and one of the schools that had accepted him was located in the same city as this group. If she went, he would choose that school. It was definitely something that added to the option of getting help.

They presented it to their parents and siblings. After much discussion and prayer, Annie and Josiah packed up their belongings, loaded up the Amigo and headed across the country for Paragon City. Work in progress!

Powers:

Work in progress

Weaknesses:

Work in progress

♥ Having grown up on a farm, Annie is not used to being idle for too long. She has a fondness for running and swimming to keep herself active and busy. ♥ Another side-effect of the farm life is her ability to make a pretty darn good pie from scratch. From apple to coconut cream, Annie has quite the pie-making repertoire... Though she tends to make them only for herself at this point. ♥ Annie has a black 1999 Isuzu Amigo... However, she typically walks, (sometimes flies), or rides her bike around Paragon to save on gas and keep her insurance reasonable. ♥ When she left home, her parents insisted that she take one of the housecats, and so she has a rather large and rather fluffy orange tabby named Moose in her apartment. She sleeps on one pillow, he covers the other. ♥ Annie does not dance at all... Not like most women... spending your life on a farm and being homeschooled doesn't give you time to learn these things.

Friends Quick - One of several people she met in the D with the ability to read lips, Quick drew her into a rather long talk the first time they met. Each time after that has seemed to follow suit, and she finds herself enjoying it, considering him a friend. A friend who has asked her out on a date and offered to learn sign language... something she finds flattering on some level. They are totes dating now.

Neutrals Popevil - After having sniffed her, declaring she smelled like a pretty lady, Popevil claimed her wrist, drug her across the D and declared he was not letting go of her new friend. Although a bit unsure of the situation, he seemed to be okay, if odd... And he soon disappeared. H-3X - Though she is not entirely sure what Hex is, beyond attatched somehow to Kat, and a very reliable lip reader, Annie seemed to enjoy his company. Also introduced through Popevil, Hex quickly revealed he could read lips, which made the whole interaction run more smoothly. Besides, he likes books. That certainly gives him points in her book. Kat Kisses - A pintsized woman introduced through Popevil, Annie found what conversation they were able to have to be enjoyable. Despite ensuing awkwardness brought on by Kat's personal life, Annie liked her.

Enemies Name name name - Description

"What. This is a thing. Okay. Annie? She's pretty and smart and all that. I'm not too good with this stuff, but there's definitely a reason why I asked her out and why we're dating. I like her. I like her a lot." - Quickline