ooc; luceti application

[calmbeforethe]

Name: Ororo Munroe
Fandom: X-Men Evolution
Gender: Female
Age: 29, but a lady never tells
Time Period: Post-Cajun Spice (After returning home from rescuing Rogue)
Wing Color: White

History:
(X-Men Evolution Wiki, Storm's biography in main comics continuity)

Storm’s origins are only very briefly covered in X-Men Evolution. Unlike her comic counterpart, she has an existing family in her sister Vivian, her brother-in-law, and their son Evan. What we are aware of is that Storm spent her childhood and some teenage years in Africa, where her mutant abilities of weather manipulation manifested and was then worshipped as a goddess by her tribe. (But I've written a headcanony history that makes up for those lost years here, if you're so inclined to read it!)

Some time between this and the beginning of Evolution, she made her way to the United States of America. It’s not clear how or why she came to live in the States, but eventually she was able to pursue an education, and even made it to university. It was during her grad student days that she met one Professor Charles Xavier, a mutant with exceptionally powerful telepathic abilities, when he gives a lecture on genetics at her university. He “discovers” Storm, so to speak, when he witnesses her save a student trapped in a burning car. Ororo helps save the student by summoning a quick torrent of rain over the wreckage. Charles, having previously believed that he and his friend Magnus Erik Lensherr (who would later be known as Magneto) were the only mutants alive, sought her out and explains to Ororo about who she is and what her powers mean.

Initially uneasy and disbelieving of him, Storm later comes to trust Xavier, and even helps him look for and reach out to more of their kind. It is Storm who in fact powers the first prototype of the Cerebro – a device that allows Xavier to detect other mutants as they use their powers - with the help of her generated lightning. Almost immediately, they find out the whereabouts of a runaway mutant known as Wolverine. Together they approach and offer him a place with them (instead of Magneto, who also attempted to “recruit” him), and thus marks the beginnings of the X-Men. It is just the three of them for a time, with Storm and Wolverine sent on missions to put a stop to Magento’s plots, until the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters is founded by Charles to help young mutants develop their abilities and learn how to use them for good.

While the Professor Xavier and his X-Men believe that mutants and humans can one day peacefully co-exist, Magneto and Mystique find and convince a rag-tag bunch of delinquent mutants to form a group that openly opposes the X-men's ideals. the Brotherhood. Their differences in opinion cause them to come into conflict frequently, but their first open move against the X-Men involved an elaborate plan where he pitted mutant against mutant to determine the strong from the weak. Storm found herself fighting against Mystique, won and was taken by force to Magneto's asteroid lair. She is later rescued by the remaining X-Men when they infiltrate the asteroid base, and together they put a stop to Magneto.

About a year later, however, Magneto strikes again - this time with a new team of mutants and executes a plan that exposes the existence mutants to the world. He pits both the X-men and the Brotherhood against the newly-developed anti-mutant Sentinel in a fight broadcasted on (inter)national television, fulfilling his intent of turning humankind against them. The government manages to capture several mutants - X-Men and Brotherhood alike - as well as brand them as wanted criminals/terrorists, making even Xavier's mansion (in ruins, because of a self-destruct sequence slipped in by Mystique) unsuitable for headquarters. To make matters worse, it appears that Professor X had never even been with them during the battle, because he was kidnapped before everything began. With the team divided, displaced and without Charles Xavier to lead them, Ororo steps up to take control of the situation. Though Mystique challenges her position, Storm ultimately helps organize the rescue of the captured mutants and later, along with Beast, confronts the US Senate on the issue of humans' hostile reaction to the "mutant threat."

Soon after, a mutant known as Mesmero begins putting plan of awakening Apocalypse into motion. Meanwhile, the X-Men have to learn how to live with the pressure of mutantkind being brought out into the public. The rest of humanity has not reacted favorably to their existence, resulting in a lot of bigotry and acts of mutant-hate. Ororo's nephew, Evan, falls victim to a faulty energy drink that triggers his secondary mutation and would ultimately drive him to join a group of mutants hiding in the sewers, the Morlocks. Ororo does not take this development well, but must learn to live with her nephew's decision, especially as Mesmero continues to, and later succeeds in, awakening the immensely powerful Apocalypse.

While Apocalypse started to put his own plans into motion, the X-Men had to wait for a suitable time to strike back. In that time, mutant and baseline-human relations have worsened to a point where the X-Men hear reports of Evan beginning to take a vigilante role for the Morlocks in an effort to protect them and ensure their continued survival. At first wary of Evan's drastic change in appearance and character, Storm would later tell him that she was proud of his decisions and who he had become. Later still, when Rogue is kidnapped by one of Magneto's Acolytes (Gambit), Ororo is part of the team who makes the trip to New Orleans and rescue her - only to find out that Remy's intentions had nothing to do with Magneto (now thought dead, anyway)

Storm is taken from directly after these events!



Personality:
Because her mutation is so closely tied to the state of her emotions, Ororo is the epitome of calm, cool and collected. She is reserved, doing her best not to let her emotions (and by extent, her powers) get the better of her. Her ability to manipulate the weather makes her a fearsome opponent indeed – that she possesses such great control over it is testament to the rein she has over her powers. It takes quite a bit to get under her skin, but once she gets angry, she really gets angry. For her to lose her temper or be forced into a truly scary situation would equate to flashes of lightning or even a violent thunderstorm.

Storm carries herself with a certain grace that gives off a regal, elegant air about her, one befitting a queen. (This may be attributed to her stint as a ‘goddess’ in her tribe when she was younger.) She is confident without being overbearing, knows how to take command of a situation, and is a natural leader but at the same time knows when to step back and let others who are better suited to handle things. When the Professor goes missing, she is quick to step up and take charge of the team, but ultimately lets Mystique (who, with the Brotherhood, briefly joins them, post-Sentinel) call the shots in order to avoid further conflict. She is stern without being too much of a disciplinarian, keeping the students in check and making sure they don’t slack off when they should be training.

Being the eldest female in the X-Men, Storm finds herself falling into the role of surrogate mother to many of the young mutants who make up their little family, but most especially to her nephew, Evan. She is kind, compassionate and nurturing - when she isn’t offering the younger girls of their family advice on school, X-Men training and love(!), she can be found in her attic greenhouse or the gardens, giving the plants their own, personal rain showers.

Storm believes in the Professor’s cause. Being a mutant is difficult - exposed to the prejudice and bigotry of humans is hard, but she has faith that Charles Xavier’s dream of humans and mutants living in harmony can one day be realized. It may not happen in the near future, but she does what she can to help that future become a reality - if not for herself, then definitely for the students and the mutants of the generations to come. In the meantime, she encourages the students to develop their powers and teaches them how to use their mutations to help people, and for them to show and prove to humans that they are not to be feared.

Strengths:
Physical; Ororo has a lean, fit build. Her lifestyle with the X-Men implies a lot of endurance training and exercise. She's also not too shabby in a fist fight - certainly not at the level of Wolverine, but strong enough to hold her own in a one-on-one fight against the likes of Mystique. In terms of her mutation, as her codename suggests, Storm can manipulate the weather with a thought - that is, call forth rain, hail, snow and sleet, summon winds, fogs, mists, tornadoes and hurricanes, and even generate/direct lightning to strike down her enemies. Storm can also do the opposite - she is as capable of dissipating such weather conditions as she is able to summon them. Her powers also give her some resistance to extreme temperature change, as well as the physiology to withstand sudden changes in pressure since her control over the wind allows her to fly at the speed of the wind and at differing atmospheric levels.

Mental; Because her powers are so closely tied to her thoughts, Ororo has had to gain very precise control over her abilities. She has the kind of mental discipline that lets her maintain steady control over her impulses. In fact, in the hands of a less experienced person with less control, her power is far too much to handle (as seen when Rogue accidentally absorbs Ororo's abilities.) Storm has the intellect befitting of a grown woman. She is shown to display thorough knowledge in battle tactics and mentors the students on what to do in rescue ops or when being attacked by enemies of all types. Along with Beast, they confront the US Senate following the hostile reaction of humans to mutants when their identities are revealed in the battle against the Sentinel. She's also able to speak three languages (English, Swahili, Egyptian Arabic), has finished up to (and graduated) college-level education and is smart enough to know how to pilot the Blackbird and the Velocity.

Emotional; Storm is confident in her abilities, but by no means is she arrogant. She carries herself like a queen might, but at the same time has no problem letting others take control (as long as she deems them worthy leaders) She also has a strong protective instinct - she's constantly looking out for the students (especially for her nephew, who has a knack for getting into trouble). She seems to be perceptive enough to able to tell when something bothers them, and is quick offer help and advice should they need it. Her hard-learned control over her powers came hand in hand with learning how to contain herself and her emotions

Weaknesses:
Physical; Most of Storm's skill depends on her control of the elements. She is powerful and she knows, and is not above taunting her opponents while on the field. But once that is taken that away, Storm has the disadvantage. She managed to beat Mystique with more than just her powers, so we know she can hold her own in a fight. But pit her against the likes of an opponent who is especially strong (say, Juggernaut) and she’s likely to lose, possibly even with her powers.

Mental; Due to a traumatic childhood incident, Storm has a severe case of claustrophobia. To trap her in any sort of enclosed space is to send her into a full-fledged panic attack. Her finely-honed control over her powers is shot to all hell, and it’s not uncommon for her to let loose wild, unrestrained bolts of lightning when in an enclosed space. If held captive long enough, she loses consciousness.

Emotional; Storm's mutation has led to some degree of emotional repression. While certainly not completely repressed, she has still had to keep herself from acting out on extreme emotions. As a result, she may seem a little bit cold and distant to her students and friends. She's a bit introverted, mostly because extreme emotion isn't good for her powers. Containing her emotions isn't always easy - and when her temper gets the better of her, it can have largely dramatic effect, often potentially quite destructive, which makes keeping extreme emotions like joy or anger or grief all the more important. Also, Storm has a very strong protective nature that in some cases, can be a sort of weakness. The instinct to protect Evan, for example, is so strong that she has a difficult time accepting that his place is not with the team.


Samples

First Person: Trainingwings link here.

Third Person:

Since her return to Luceti, Ororo had decided to split her time between putting the X-Household into order, making periodic visits to Luceti's version of the Danger Room and catching up with what she had missed while she was away. It surprised her that so much could happen in the span of so short a time. People often complained that time moved slowly in Luceti, but it seemed to her that a great many things had happened in the mere months that she was gone, and not all of the changes had been good.

One thing that hadn't changed, however, was the unsettling feeling of nonaction. It bothered her quite a bit that there was still so little that she, or anyone, could do to rid themselves of their captors and the demands they continue to make of them. Logan and Rogue had filled her in on the ongoing war, and if not for the persistent power dampening effect (one more thing she did not miss from this place), she was sure to have caused an off-season monsoon.

In an effort to calm her thoughts, Ororo took to tending the garden around House 16. A graceful lift of her arms brought forth two tiny, dark cumulus clouds into being on either side of her. With a flick of her wrists, a faint breeze sent the two contained rain showers on a slow, languorous circuit about the area. None of the plants were missed, as by now she knew where each plant was like the back of her hand. She folded her arms in front of her, smiling fondly as she surveyed her work. It was no substitute for her greenhouse sanctuary back home, of course, but it was a suitable replacement. She'd always felt most at peace among the greenery, finding solitude and serenity among the various plants that she so lovingly tended to. It was here that she could use her potentially destructive powers to nurture life, and growth.