Poster drawn during her circus performances.
Code-Name: N/A
Real Name: Qiang Nuo
Ethnicity: Chinese
Sex: Female
Age: 19
Relationship Status: Single
Team Affiliation: Xavier
Position at the School: College Freshman
Appearance:
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Skin: Lightly tanned
Weight: 145lbs
Height: 5’7
Other:
Date Of Birth: 3/14/1991
Place Of Birth: Hong Kong, China
Citizenship: People’s Republic of China
Information:
Personality:
Nou has become a creature of contradictions. Few would know that she performed for thousands at one time, in truth craved the excitement of performance. Seeing her avoiding the larger crowds that plague many urban areas and seeming so distraught when pressed with enclosure. The truth being that without an outlet the crowds are near painful for her to experience. Often she is seen with her leg moving or hands shaking while she expels the accumulation. This has crafted a nervous figure for many to witness, yet inside the woman is quite calm with her environment. A clear mind was a necessity in her past life and she has carried that trait over to her studies.
The young woman is a serious student that does not tolerate relaxed behavior well. She is very hard on herself both physically and academically. Raised to believe that the best was the only acceptable place, she has a harsh nature of competition. Many times she finds peace in these acts pouring herself into either study of physical exercise with abandon. Late hours can find her perched over a book in the library, situated in the kitchen listening to lecture or running laps at the gymnasium. Nou does not take well to having nothing to do. Lately though she has found the therapeutic touch of video games due to the mental stimulation but physical inactivity.
Background:
Qiang Nou was to be the pride of her family. Born with some protest from other family members, her parents insisted that favor shined on her. Love and attention were showered on the young girl, such that she wanted for so little in those early years. While not without hardships her life was simple during those years and her ignorance a blissful state. Fortune would smile on her as her parents predicted when the government decided she should be accepted into a Wu Shu academy. At the young age of six she was drafted into the training program. Her parents proudly turned her over, hoping that she would one day represent her family and country abroad.
While the separation was meet with many tears from one so young, those tears were soon replaced with excitement. Nou took to the teachings with a second nature. Physical exercise and training were almost as play to her. The strenuous stretches taken with a smile and the harsh words of criticism born as a daughter would hear her father. Such love soon replaced even the memories of her loving parents. When other children might return home, she remained to practice and study. To bring them the honor they deserved would be her words, but secretly it was her love for the art of Wu Shu. Her parents would only write their understanding and pride in her dedication, while her coaches took notice of such loyalty to the sport. That set her apart enough to compete in their eyes.
Nou did not win all of her competitions, but she won far more than she did not. Even when not first her place was almost certainly second. Her rise through the ranks of her fellow students was swift and sure. The coveted place on the national team was within her grasp while she came of age. At thirteen she quietly bore the anticipation of being given such a spot. Strange occurrences began happening to her at this time. Often times at practice her nose would begin to bleed while her heart pounded in her ears. The trainer assumed this was simply part of the strenuous exercise or perhaps a diet issue. Then she began to sustain injuries from over rotation or micro fractures from her movements. Many such injuries involved over rotation, but soon the fact that her famous high leaps were damaging her legs became evident. Qiang Nou was removed from the team as her injuries mounted.
Sent home, she had little else to offer or do. Depression sank into her mind while she simply sat on her bed. At this time her diet also changed so that she ate a tremendous amount of food. While the food at her former life was abundant, now she began to eat through her parents rations with a single minded desire. Once more this was attributed to her growth, but then the bleeds began again. Soon a physician checked her resting pressures and pulse. The findings were frightening and the former Wu Shu star was hospitalized. Medications were run through her body to lower the pressure and heart rate to little effect. The medicine merely kept her tired and near comatose. Unknown to any, including Nou, her powers had now surfaced so that the movement around her was fueling her energy stores.
Nou remembers this time as the closest to Hell she could ever come. Kept to low activity by the medication, she was unable to work away the energy. That power turned inward to accelerate an already strained system. This meant more sedatives or more powerful forms to help control the issue. While the drugs worked on her body, they could not address the unknown problem. Soon the pressure inside her body began to cause bleeding internally. A headache that she still causes her nightmares echoed inside her head. Her fourteenth birthday passed without any notice. Nou did not care anymore. So with resignation in her soul she mustered the strength to leap from the third floor window of the hospital, a desperate attempt to escape. That she landed on her feet amazed her. That she did so without a broken bone amazed everyone else.
Able to release the energy inside her, she fled the city of her birth. The young woman ran until she could not anymore, expending everything she had contained for so long. If asked she cannot tell how long she fled or how long she slept afterward. Only that she had moved far into the interior of China when the circus performers found her. A rag tag group that had left the forming government in favor of a traditional life as they called their occupation. Nou could understand such a thing and when strong enough she volunteered to become a performer. A year passed before she proved her worth to them and none ever regretted the show she was able to perform. The former prize of the People’s Republic now dressed in gaudy robes while executing her intricately practiced maneuvers. Out here though she could let herself find freedom and truly embrace her abilities.
Over the years to follow she would train her abilities. Nou learned to temper herself, pace the force she used in delivering her strikes and performing her acrobatics. She learned to ease the flow of energy she drew around her. While the woman could not cease the flow, there was the possibility of bleeding off the excess so that she did not face the physical troubles. The training was kept in secret so much as she could afford. There was little true understanding of her abilities, but she learned to live and do so while enjoying the roar of a crowd. That was truly what kept her going through the ordeal. The excitement and need to display her talents and hear appreciation from someone, anyone. Faerie tales don’t last as one wise performer told her and soon the past came to call on her new home.
A mutant from the Americas had heard of her performance. Unfortunately too the Chinese government had heard of her appearance and saw the posters that were now being setup for her shows. The stranger told her as much while offering her a safe haven across the ocean. Nou only heard that she was being hunted and fled as abruptly as she had arrived. Time spent in the circus had taught her a more than healthy fear of the government and the value of a good escape. So her feet took her toward the Russian and Chinese border with the intent of a cross. She knew from talking to the other performers that Russia had a great value for circus performers and art. Somehow, someway she hoped to join their ranks as well.
That fate never came to pass. Settled at the border was the stranger who had greeted her before and the agents she so desperately sought to escape. She was given a choice then. Continue to run or join the foreigner across the water in the Americas. Nou did not feel much of a choice and took the offer. A student VISA was her escape then as he already procured one in her honor. Her place now came to be the school that Professor Xavier had established so long ago.
Mother:
Name: Qiang Shu
Race: Human
Father:
Name: Qiang Zhi
Race: Human
Other Relatives:
Powers:
Major Ability – Kinetic Redistribution
Nou has the ability to absorb the kinetic energy around her. This allows her to lessen the impact of landings and incoming blows. The kinetic energy she draws upon can be normal movement as well. Even at her most controlled, Nou tends to absorb at least a small amount of energy from around her. She can use this energy to give herself heightened speed, leaping ability and put that energy into her strikes. One of her more interesting uses for this ability is in ranged attacks where she applies the force to the power that the attack delivers. Even small needles begin to splinter wood while larger objects can dent metal.
Minor Ability – Increased Endurance
Due to the constant stress of her abilities, Nou’s body has managed to adapt itself to sustain. Bones have been grown over as fractures, becoming more durable and hardened. Blood vessels have reworked themselves to sustain the elevated pressure of her heart and lungs are stronger for the bursts of energy. Overall this makes her a harder figure than her size gives credit.
Minor Ability – Heightened Reflexes
Working with the potential for such a release of energy has forced her mind to adapt as well. Her brain has learned to disregard the unimportant, reacting within milliseconds to presenting dangers. This was a slow process that developed during her days in the circus where she needed to react to changes in other performers and the environment.
Power Limitations:
Major Ability – Kinetic Redistribution
Nou is limited by the abilities of her body. Containing too much energy causes disruptions in the regulation that her body provides, creating elevated heart rate and blood pressure. These can eventually lead to hemorrhages in her body if left unresolved. Typically this is done through actions that look to be nervous energy (i.e. shaking of the hands, bouncing, tapping of the foot). Currently her condition is under strict monitoring because none know how long her body can contain such stress or the impact of the previous bouts of hypertension on her life expectancy. Some fear she may be killing herself with every moment of absorption.
Externally the sudden release of energy could give her a punch to break walls, the wall will also break her hand. Her bones have grown stronger, but are still flesh and blood. Leaping and running have similar problems where the constraints, while high, or not unlimited. Overexertion can lead to debilitating effects. Likewise thrown items are limited by their construction. Knives are not suddenly going to pierce tank armor.
Minor Ability – Increased Endurance
The endurance is not to be confused with invulnerability or unlimited reserve. Nou is simply tougher than the average woman her size. The damage is still there and hurts, just more has to be taken in order to harm her enough to end the activity. Also this remodeling takes its toll as she must constantly eat in order to maintain the advanced levels. Nou is rarely seen without something edible in her hands.
Minor Ability – Heightened Reflexes
The ability allows Nou to perform impressive feats of dexterity, but is still limited by her body. A quick mind does not a dodge make. Also, while her mind can process the information quickly the reaction is not always thought out and can be exaggerated. Such as someone raising their hand suddenly to point out a direction might spawn a sudden urge to duck and block from her.
Hobbies and Interests: Wu Shu, exercise, video games, American rock music
