Character Profile
Full Name: Erin Vines
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance: Toes slipped into black flats, knee socks deep gray and skirts heavily preferred, Erin finishes her outfits with deep colored sweaters or button down tops. She despises makeup for its gooey-ness and time-consuming nature. Her auburn hair falls in waves down her tiny frame, hitting her waist. Standing at 5’2”, she usually looks up to others and glares most of that time with bright brown, nearly orange eyes.
Disruption: Despite acting in her best interest at the time, burning down the house and a man of her nightmares, Erin was caught and arrested as a serial arsonist, convicted to have started several other fires in the area. The fact that the van made it to the detention center in one whole, hardly aflame, piece was because she had been so drained.
Power: The Human Torch would probably have a lot to talk about with Erin, not that she would listen. Currently, her power, Pyrokinesis, is controlled by her emotions, namely fear and anger. Erin has little control over how the fire is created or used, usually consuming her entire body in a flash of orange and red, eating away her clothes and striking out in twirling blasts. When the fire takes over her whole body, Erin is left barely conscious, drained of energy and weak. If controlled to one small flame, such as summoned in her palm, Erin can keep this lit for an extended period, about two hours if needed, as long as her emotions are in check. What easily keeps her power at bay would be water or ice, the water simply turning the flames and water into a harmless steam, while ice keeps her from producing flames altogether as she can’t warm her body enough to summon fire.
Strengths: Erin knows knots. Her father was a fisherman, a hunter, a very outdoorsy man, and taught her many different wilderness techniques. With her hair, sometimes it’s hard to execute camouflage tactics well, but Erin knows knots and can make fires.
Weaknesses: Erin has a shivering fear of thunderstorms. When she was young, she was home alone during a terrible storm that shook the house and lightning struck the house next to hers. Thunder makes her cower. Any reminder of her parents is devastating as well, their death her fault and the guilt enough to consume her completely.
Personality: Erin is the boss of Erin. She prefers to be alone and presents herself professionally, direct voice and honesty the best policies in her opinion. Although, she keeps her own secrets. Hypocrisy bothers her greatly, but revealing her past is a no-no.
Erin struggles with friendship and loyalty, mostly seeking common goals and personal gain through others’ skills. She admits that she uses people, not seeing anything particularly wrong with this mindset. Surviving is key and building relationships triggers emotions, negative ones at that. Keeping others at arm’s length is her best bet.
Despite her exterior, Erin does wish sometimes that she could soften up and allow herself even one measly friend. After years of this policy however, she is stuck in routine and hardly notices friendly qualities or kind gestures anymore.
Likes: Cats, sketching, writing and learning.
Dislikes: Birds, thunderstorms, hypocrisy, blatant lies, her power.
Bio: Normal human parents with a superhuman child. Erin always felt bad for the treatment her parents received because of her existence. A day after being born, Erin’s infant body had risen to temperatures unfit for the living. She had endangered the other babies in the wing as well, receiving her own room and early dismissal for taking up space she wasn’t supposed to.
Since then, her family was monitored and Erin’s mother, as much as she desired more children, refused to conceive in case more of her children were treated the way Erin was. Hiding Erin wasn’t easy. As a child, tiny fires destroyed public property or woodlands with people harmed in the process. Her parents worked awkward hours to avoid ridicule during the normal 9-5 work day. Erin was left alone many nights, living through thunderstorms and scary news reports on her own to deal with.
Over the years, threats of detaining Erin were rampant until her father decided to move them to the city where he heard of support groups for those of Erin’s…nature. Her gave up his rivers and frequent camping trips for her and Erin never forgave herself for this. Her parents didn’t belong in the city, her father a hunter and mother born on a farm. They needed the country like macaroni needed cheese and Erin’s disability, as she called it around the time of starting high school, tore that away from them.
To make up for it, Erin worked any jobs she could. She studied hard and researched emotion control options which resulted in her sketchbooks and journals. Making decent money by the time she was 16, she helped her parents buy a house in the suburbs. Well, helped as much as a 16-year-old’s income could help. All of her money went to her parents and by her junior year, they were comfortable, camping trips a little more frequent, family outings lessening in stress.
Until one night, when the family slept soundly in their two bedroom ranch home, a window was broken. Erin woke, always a light sleeper, and found the burglar in the hall as soon as she opened the door. He had a gun, and Erin’s body reacted in self-defense. Her body erupted in flame when she heard the shot, the man’s face covered with a mask, but it didn’t matter who he was after that. No one would be able to identify him later anyway.
The house went up in flames, her parents killed before lifting an eyelid.
Erin struggled at first against firefighters who hosed her down and pinned her down. Her clothes were gone, along with most of her home. She cried out for her parents, growing hoarse as her body shrank from weakness. All she could do was whimper by the time they covered her in an itchy blanket and shoved her into the police car.
There was no dispute now. She was taken to the detention center with round the clock sedatives to keep her under control. Erin cried constantly for the first week, but caused little trouble other than she wouldn’t eat. Only when she heard whispers of an escape, did she start to see sense and face reality. Glaring to the drab uniforms and controlled environment, she vowed to escape and find a way to reverse her powers so she would never hurt anyone ever again. She vowed to live alone and seclude herself from the world. In fact, she considered suicide a few times, but knew grew frightened every time she held a stolen razor blade inside the center. No, she would escape first and worry about the rest later.
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