Tongs
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Tongs | |
| Player: @Mendicant | |
| Origin: | Technological |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 42 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Fiona Wassail |
| Known Aliases: | Fia |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 15 |
| Height: | 5' 0" |
| Weight: | 102 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Irish-American |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Place of Birth: | Confidential |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Father, mother, older brother, grandfather. |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Athletic, getting skilled with hammer and shield | |
| Equipment | |
| One battered mystic hammer. One high-tech shield. One armored costume with jump jets. | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Before Hammer
Growing up, Fiona spent many happy hours with her maternal grandfather; a retired archeologist and explorer. She'd listen to his stories of places and people in faraway lands and times, considering her Grandpa to be better than a TV. He would show her trinkets and artifacts of ancient cultures and spin tales about their former owners and uses. As she entered her teenage years she spent less time with her grandfather than she had as a child, although she still managed to fit in a story or two every month; particularly if she had a history paper to work on.
Discovery
One late summer afternoon Fiona was helping her mother clean the house, which included hauling things to and from the attic. In the act of storing a box of summer clothing in a little-used corner, she upset a precariously balanced case, sending it tumbling to the floor. The lid popped upon upon impact and the shattered pieces of an ornate hammer spilled out onto the floor. Worried that she might have inadvertently damaged part of her grandfather's collection, she bent hastily to pick it up only to sit in shock as a voice murmured in her mind.
Hammer
The hammer spoke to her mind; filling it with a history of battle and strife, a history of fighting evil times and dark days. It told of great glory and noble struggles, of desperate times and determined heroes. And finally, it spoke of last stands and sacrificial victory. Of being shattered upon the defenses of its foe in order to hold the line long enough for its allies to prevail. Events of long ago, faded and almost forgotten, like the hammer itself. Fascinated, Fiona gathered together all of the pieces carefully, a plan forming in her mind.
Reforged
The next few weeks were busy ones. Fiona had a friend who knew a guy who talked to this dude who worked with someone who once helped a hero get some high-tech equipment. A relentless stream of questioning, favor-invoking, promises, and shameless teary-eyed pleading later, the hammer was repaired and Fiona herself had a fancy ultra-tech shield and a costume with armor padding. While the hammer's long-ago mystic might is all but spent, it retained enough power to advise Fiona in battle and even occasionally gain a sense of where the pair may be needed.
Hammer and Tongs
As the hammer's name is one that Fiona insists that is too tongue-twisting to pronounce, she's whimsically dubbed it 'Hammer' or 'Mr. Hammer', taking her own name, 'Tongs', to compliment it. While fairly unskilled in combat to begin with, her techno-shield combined with Hammer's occasionally caustic mental advice has kept her out of major difficulty so far. With Hammer's relentless insistence upon grueling training sessions and his ability to implant the detailed imagery of complicated techniques into her mind, Tongs has been rapidly growing more skilled and confident in her abilities.
Hammer's Abilities
While the vast majority of Hammer's powers were lost in the battle that shattered him, he retains his vast knowledge of fighting techniques from a thousand battlefields, which he shares with Fiona via one of his few remaining mystical abilities, the ability to communicate with his wielder via mental images and speech. In addition to tactical and strategic advice, Hammer has, on more than one occasion, taught Tongs a new move or technique in mid-battle via a split-second impression of past battles.
The other ability that Hammer has is an uncanny knack for knowing just where some villainy is taking place. While his sense of evil-doing is erratic in its activation, when it does appear it has yet to be wrong.
Just recently, while eating lunch with some of her teammates at Spanky's Boardwalk in their civilian IDs, the group was jumped by a swarm of ghosts. After the fight, Fiona did not remember how Hammer got into her hands from where she had placed him several yards away.
(Note: The inner voice of Hammer has been described as a cross between the Caged Demonwolf from Empowered and Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon )
Allies
Soon after beginning her foray into the costumed world of crime fighting, Tongs met up with other teenage heroes. She's most recently teamed up with some members of the All Star Teen Sentinels, including Sister Snow, Automobile, and Eternal Youth.
After several teamups, Tongs was asked to join the ranks of the ASTS and accepted gladly. Since then she's met several more of the members of the Sentinels as well as many of their allies.
Personality
Fiona's early love for dramatic stories and epic tales, while dimmed for a while, have been rekindled by her discovery of Hammer. However, she now sees herself as the new center of one of those ancient sagas. While Hammer is too wise a veteran to allow his student to remain unaware of the cost of battle, it still is not quite real to Fiona and she throws herself into fighting crime and trouncing villains with all the energy and enthusiasm of youth. With her friends and allies at her side, she sees her life as a thrilling adventure, an epic tale of good versus evil.
Relationships
Tongs has grown particularly close to Victory Lass, who she sees as a close friend and surrogate big sister.
Just recently one of her teammates, US Cavalry, asked Fiona out on a date. Her first date. She is excited, nervous, and giddy.
Family
Tongs' mother and father are aware of her super-hero activities, having caught her sneaking into her room with her newly-acquired armor one night. it took several days, but she did get them to agree to let her at least try heroing, given certain conditions. Being home by a curfew most nights, calling if saving the city keeps her out past curfew, schoolwork coming first, and similar restrictions. This has worked out fairly well so far, except for the occasions she has to babysit and can barely get in any patrolling before curfew.
Her grandfather is not aware of her activities, having not visited Paragon City since her discovery of Hammer. Likewise, her older brother remains unaware of his kid sister's double life, being away at college.
Fiona's mother also makes absolutely delicious fudge double chocolate brownies.
