Character Profile | ANIMUS

NAME
Sophie Czepiel

ALIAS
Animus (she thinks it’s funny, as it sounds like animal – her morphing powers – but it’s also from the Latin word that means “soul,” hinting at her empathetic abilities)

AGE
17

OCCUPATION
Student

RELATIONSHIPS
None (will be continuously updated)

PERSONALITY
Sophie is normally very up-beat and cheerful.  It’s hard to put her in a bad mood or make her angry, as she tends to look on the bright side of things.  She can be a bit of a spaz and is the kind of person who’ll make a cry of exclamation in the middle of a completely unrelated conversation and laugh at a joke that was told five minutes ago.  She’s also extremely empathetic and sympathizes with people very easily.  She is probably one of the most forgiving people you will meet, and cannot hold a grudge for her life.  However, this often leads to her being quite a bit of a pushover, and not standing up for herself for fearing of inconveniencing people.  
She also thinks in a very chaotic way.  Her brain takes “the scenic route” as she likes to put it, and though she quite often does get to the correct answer, her mind takes a very confusing path to it.  She’s also got an extremely creative mind, tends to daydream, and also has an extreme love for all things British.  She watches some form of British Sketch Comedy every day – whether it be Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Black Adder, a Bit of Fry and Laurie, or Jeeves and Wooster – and has taken onto using some British terms, such as “lift” instead of elevator and “post” instead of mail.  



FEARS
Sophie’s biggest fears are letting people down, causing people pain, and not doing her very best to be the best person she can be.  She also has a strange fear of being buried alive.

HISTORY
Sophie was born to a fairly normal family – normal meaning that there were no psychopaths or mutants in it.  The family itself was quite eccentric at times, but Sophie happily joined in the antics, and she was content.  
However, from an early age, her parents noted her extreme compassion and strangely accurate judge of character.  One day while her mother was on the bus with a year-old Sophie, a man with brightly dyed hair, multiple piercings, and various tattoos.  Her mom automatically was wary of him, but little Sophie turned towards the man and smiled, and the man gave the most friendly, non-creepy smile back.  
There were many other such instances of Sophie’s empathy as a child – she would on multiple occasions go up and talk to complete strangers, often bringing large smiles to their faces.  Now, her parents didn’t think much of it – they just thought their daughter had a big heart.  But Sophie started noticing something was different about her compassion.  She had an inkling of doubt when she discovered that most other people weren’t as insightful as she was, but the kicker was when her “empathy” started getting stronger.  She was soon feeling what people were feeling, able to actually sense people’s emotions rather than just have an inkling that something was up.  This took quite a bit of getting used to on Sophie’s part – as feeling the emotions of everyone within a fifty-foot radius of you can get a bit overwhelming.  For a while, she kept to herself, acting shy and not talking to many people.  But she realized that this didn’t really fix anything, so she hid the massive emotions she was feeling by being as random and goofy as possible, trying to both make herself feel better, and the people around her feel better.  
Well, a few months after she turned fourteen, Sophie happened to be downstairs dogsitting for their neighbors.  She was petting their dog, and happened to be daydreaming that day about how cool it would be a dog and what it would be like to be color blind and have super hearing and be able to smell everything . . .
. . . and her thoughts were interrupted by her finding herself on all fours, covered with fur, seeing everything in black and white, and the neighbor’s dog barking at her.  
Sophie was confused and a little bit frightened, and it didn’t help that the neighbor’s dog was barking and letting off some extremely hostile emotions and that she had an extreme urge to scratch behind her ear, but she managed to clear her head enough to try thinking really hard about being a human again, and sure enough, she was herself.  
Sophie was flabbergasted, but at the same time, her excitement was piqued.  So, next chance she got, she tried morphing again – though into something different.  
And it didn’t work.  
Sophie was disappointed, and wondered if she had just imagined the whole thing, but as a last try, thought about being that dog again.  And this time, the morphing took.  
It took Sophie a while to get the hang of the rules of her power (see Powers/Special Talents for full details), but she was a quick learner, and as soon as she had figured out the primary rules, she took every opportunity she could to acquire the DNA of any animal she could get her hands on.  This resulted in many scratches and bites, but it was worth it.  
Of course, her parents had noticed Sophie’s change in behavior, and that she was going out more and coming back looking a mess.  So, knowing she couldn’t keep it from them forever, she told her parents about her abilities.  And gave them a demonstration to prove it.  
Her parents were shocked, and it certainly took a while for them to get used to the idea that their daughter was a mutant, but once they had gotten over that initial fright, they acknowledged the fact that their daughter needed help.  So they sent her to a school that was supposed to help “people like her.”  Sophie was a little unsure at first, but quickly took to the idea, excited at the prospect of meeting other people with powers.  



POWERS/SPECIAL TALENTS
Sophie’s primary mutant power is her empathy.  She is able to tell and feel what other people themselves are feeling.  This partially accounts for her kind nature, and for her naturally forgiving, up-beat, and playful personality.  She could potentially use this ability to manipulate people by gouging their emotions.  This also allows her to be pretty good at telling lies from the truth – unless the person in question is extremely comfortable lying.  She’s also an extremely good judge of character.
Sophie’s secondary mutant power – that didn’t show itself until she was fourteen – is that of shape shifting.  She can turn into any animal, insect, or even person that she wants to.  However, there are some limitations on this – she can only take on the shape of a creature that she’s touched – or “acquired” the DNA of.  The DNA is then stored in an organelle that resides in every cell in her body.  When she wishes to morph, that organelle is activated and every cell in her body is rewired so that it fits the DNA of that particular animal.  Because of this, Sophie can’t morph instantaneously – it takes about a minute for the entire process to work.  In addition to this, the animal’s instincts may take over Sophie’s brain for a little while, so it’s best if she has time to practice in her morphs before actually using them in the field.  Also, morphing doesn’t include clothing, but if she’s wearing skin-tight clothes, those normally are included in the morphing-package.  She’s very self-conscious about this, though.
In addition to these talents, Sophie has the few odd talents – such as being able to speak Latin and use a bow and arrow.  





Is my imagination running away
Or is all this really happening to me
Am I a prince in a far away land filled with fantasy

Where is reality and what are the actions that will define who I am?
I am holding onto the visions I've seen of what I could be
It's what I should be

More than it seems these dreams inside (show me the way to these dreams)
Blur reality's line ('til there's nothing that's left of me)
If I could believe the dreams aside (show me the way to these dreams)
I am capable more than it seems

(Few things to note: that is not my actual last name, I switched it out XD.  I obviously do not have any of the mentioned superpowers, I am only a beginner at archery, and I WISH I could speak Latin fluently, but I’m only barely getting a passing grade in the class, and I’ve been taking it three years now XD)